Pokémar Episode V, A Clone's Destiny

Interrogation

"Why should I trust you?" I ask her. If she wants answers, she's going to have to fight for them.

"We treated your wound, didn't we?" She replies. If she's keeping up an act, it's pretty good.

"Yeah. after you shot me."

"I just told you, they weren't supposed to use lethal force."

"Tell that to the dead Mew back there." I start to raise my voice. "You come in to our world, start kidnapping pokemon and killing at least one, and you expect me to believe you have good intentions?"

"Sir, you're making assumptions based on limited information. We'll tell you what you want to know if you tell us what we want to know."

"Not until you can prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'm not putting pokemon in harm's way."

Her calm demeanor begins to crack as her voice takes on an air of frustration. "You're in no position to make demands of us." There it is. She's resorted to veiled threats. My mind is made up.

"I have nothing more to say to you. I will not jeopardize innocent lives."

"Does that include your Pikachu? Because we'll use him if you force us to."

"Thunder?" My bravado and defiance vanish instantly the moment she mention him; and her frustration appears to subside as my hostility fades. "Don't you dare hurt him!"

"You insisted on doing this the hard way. Now, are you going to tell us what we want to know?" A tense silence engulfs the room as my mind scrambles to find a way out of this. But my captor holds all the cards. All I can do is be selective with what I tell her and feign ignorance where I can.

"...What do you want to know?" I mutter with a defeated sigh. Judging by her restrained smile, she's happy with the result.

"Finally. So, You're a human that exists within this parallel reality. You took the form of a Snivy and apparently know how to use moves, speak their language, and are adept as one. I want you to tell me how you did this. And how we can do it." So that's what they want. A way to blend in. To perform reconnaissance. But to what end? To kidnap pokemon? There's no way I can let that stand. I'll need to choose my words carefully.

"I... I learned through trial and error. I was a bit of a mess the first month or so."

"But you figured it out. Tell us what you learned."

"There's so much to talk about. I have no idea where to start. Besides, it was years ago so my memory is a little rusty."

The woman glares intensely into my eyes, as if to try to pressure me into talking. Her gaze is extremely unnerving, making me squirm uncomfortably in my cot.

"Miss Siana? Do you copy?" The static-laced sound of a portable radio on her belt breaks the silence. She groans as she unclips it and brings it up to her face.

"Jonathan... This better be important..." She lowers the volume of the radio and brings it up to her ear, presumably to keep me from hearing anything. All I can get from it is muffled speech with nothing of substance filtering through. But whatever this "Jonathan" said to her, it's enough to worry her. "Oh... I'll be right there." She clips the radio back onto her belt before pointing at me. "You. Stay put. We're not done with you." She gets up and rushes for the door. It opens to reveal two men with pistols wearing the same garb as the ones who shot me.

"If he get out, shoot him." She orders.

"You got it boss." One of them replies. The door slams shut, locking with a click. I am now alone in this room.

Immediately I sit myself upright, forgetting about the gunshot wound in my gut. Blinding, fiery pain screams out from the wound, making my yell out in surprise.

"Frick..." I mutter, clutching my torso. "Well, this is deja vu... No Hydreigon to help this time..." I take a moment to scan over the room. There isn't much, just the cot, footlocker, and table I noticed when I first woke up. There does appear to be a vent grate in the floor off to the corner, but it's way too small to fit into. and even then, crawling through a ventilation duct would be incredibly noisy.

With difficulty, I shift myself over to the footlocker and open it up. Empty except for a single paperclip. Do I dare try to lockpick? I don't even know how. Might be my only way out. But the moment I open that door I'll be staring straight down the barrel of a gun. Only other option would be to lure them inside by pretending I'm dying or something. But there's no way I could overpower them both. There must be a way out...

A shudder in the room cuts my train of thought short. The lights go out briefly before sputtering back to life.

"What on-" I hear one of the guards cry out in surprise. I limp my way to the door, propping myself up against it to listen. I can hear a klaxon blaring along with a voice calling out over the PA.

"Attention. Lockdown protocol is in effect. For your own safety, remain where you are." Did they just say lockdown?! What is happening out there!?

"Wait, they can't lock us in here!" One of the guards say.

"How much you wanna bet they did something in the lab? Like made some supervirus or something. Who knows what sorts of messed up crap they're doing in there." Their conversation is interrupted by sounds of gunfire and screaming echoing from somewhere else in the facility.
"Arceus... Are they dying over there? Screw this, they're not paying me enough to deal with whatever that is!

"I hear ya! Let's go!" I head frantic footsteps as they race away.

"Hey! Wait! Don't just leave me here!" I scream while banging on the door. I get no response in return. They're probably long gone. Meanwhile the sounds of conflict continue. Whatever this thing is that triggered the lockdown, it's tearing this place apart. And if it crosses paths with me, I have a feeling I won't be walking away alive.

With effort, I lumber back towards the footlocker and take the paperclip. Lockpicking it is then. Returning to the door I unravel the paperclip and stick it into the keyhole. Alright, how is this supposed to work... There are pins that need to be pushed up, right? I gotta feel around for them and... is that one? Can't tell. Let's try it. ...Is it good? Augh... I have no idea what I'm doing.

With no other option I keep trying. Outside the sounds of destruction and chaos continue. Slowly I start to get a feel for it. What I'm looking for and what to do with it. And after a few tense minutes it happens. I can hear a click as the lock mechanism shifts. A turn of the doorknob later and I'm free.

I am greeted to a hallway comprised of grey metal, a place that could almost fit into an old 80's sci-fi movie. Red lights illuminate the empty halls and klaxons continue to blare. And Thunder is somewhere out there in the chaos. I choose a direction and limp as fast as I can. I pray that whatever is loose doesn't get to him first...