“Do you think this is a good idea?”

“No but we’re going to do it anyway.”

“You’re so reckless Erzsi!” Timo replied nervously. “Shouldn’t we have gotten the police involved in this?”

Erzsébet took a peek around the corner to see if any grunts were guarding the area. But the coast was clear and gave a signal to have her companions follow her as they ran down the brightly lit and almost sterile-looking hallway.

“By the time the police launch their investigation, my Haxorus, Ed’s Vikavolt, and many other Pokemon will have already been sold on the black market. I’m not letting that happen.”

While Timo agreed with her ideals, this entire situation still didn’t feel right to him. They were infiltrating an organization that was generally seen as a positive force globally. They had several facilities around the world to allow Pokemon to thrive in their natural habitat. They cared for injured and abandoned Pokemon. They had multiple departments where they studied everything there was to know about them. But in reality, it was mostly a front to commit crime behind the scenes. They were hiring criminals to steal Pokemon from trainers. Depending on the trainer’s worth, a seemingly average Pokemon could fetch more than a million dollars. A rare Pokemon associated with a big name trainer could go for twice or three times more. They were mostly rumours but Erzsébet knew the truth. She followed the thieves to this facility where she saw a group of men being paid with a brief case full of money and drugs by a man and a woman in lab coats.

No one knew what was truly going on behind the scenes and that was their advantage. There was nothing was stopping them from calling the police on them.

“Eduard, you’ve been awfully quiet this entire time,” he said.

“I’m just here to make sure no one gets hurts and get back Vikavolt,” Eduard replied in a flat tone. His mind’s in other places so Timo didn’t press him any further. He hoped that everything would be okay in the end.

The group had arrived to a dead end but they were exactly where they wanted to be as they were greeted to a steel door in front of them.

“Are you sure this is the place?” Timo asked.

“I’m positive.” Erzsébet replied. One of her trusted partners, Breloom, had been out with them since the beginning and had been a huge help breaking down doors and destroying the security cameras. Breloom knew what it had to do and without hesitation it broke through the steel door using Brick Break multiple times. In the corner of Eduard’s eye, he caught a glance of something in the wall to the left of them.

He gasped, “Erzsi! There’s a camera in that wall!”

Erzsébet and Timo froze with shock as they turned their heads but Breloom jumped into action using Sludge Bomb. Parts of the wall disintegrated as did most of the camera.

“Nicely done Breloom! Now let’s go.”

The group quietly entered the room and few lights were on, making it appear dark and gloomy compared to the rest of the building. The sight of Pokeballs went on forever as the space was filled with more than three dozen large bookshelves and the balls carefully placed on specially designed metal stands. Erzsébet suggested they split up; Timo to the left, her down the middle, and Eduard to the right. Before they parted, two more Pokemon joined their crew. Timo released his Dragonite while Eduard released his Chandelure. If they were to go alone, they at least had to be smart about it.

They went their separate ways and began glancing through the shelves. Every now and then they’d spot a camera or two and had them destroyed to cover their tracks. Their search was tiresome however as most of the Pokeballs looked the same with their traditional red-white colour scheme. But with a cry from the back of the room, Timo and Erzsébet ran as fast as their legs could carry them. When they arrived, Eduard was on his knees smiling gleefully with two Pokeballs in his hands and showed them off to his companions.

“I found them!” he said as he held out his hands. The Pokeball in his left hand was that of his Vikavolt’s while the one in his right was that of Erzsébet’s Haxorus. Both Pokeballs were unique in their designs as they featured traditional folk patterns of their homelands and made them easy to spot amongst the sea of items to find.

Erzsébet was emotional as she took the Pokeball from Eduard and held it close to her chest. Timo rubbed her back to comfort her. She was overjoyed that Haxorus was safe and sound. She couldn’t imagine what would have happened has she had lost her for good. She didn’t want to think about that. All that mattered was that both Haxorus and Vikavolt were safe and back where they belonged.

“You there! Stop right there!”

Their moment was cut short as a group of grunts spotted them from behind, a mixed batch of male and female members who were ready to battle. They had tried to flee but another group blocked them from other end. They were forced to huddle together as the sounds of heels clicking against the floor grew louder until a tall short-haired brunette wearing a lab coat joined the group of grunts. Erzsébet gasped as she recognized the woman from earlier. She was the one handing out a suitcase to the criminals who stole their Pokemon.

“You have some nerve breaking into our facility, damaging our property, and stealing our Pokemon.”

“Your Pokemon? Bullshit, these are far from yours. We came here to take back what is ours. I know you’re stealing Pokemon to sell on the black market. Your organization is a phony.”

“Those are some pretty big accusations you’re throwing out there,” she smirked. “Not like anyone is going to believe you.”

She cut through her group of grunts and slowly walked up closer to the three of them. She kept a bit of distance between herself and them. Breloom, Dragonite, and Chandelure all took their positions in front of their trainers and growled however she was not intimidated by their presence.

“I know who you are. Eduard Tamm, Erzsébet Héderváry, Timo Vainonen—all respected trainers from your home countries. Do you know how easy it would be for me to pick up the phone and call the police? What a joy it would be to see the headlines tomorrow! ‘World champions arrested and charged in Team Platinum incident.’ Your careers would be ruined and you’d get a stint in jail too!”

Erzsébet was not deterred and stood her ground. She would not let her words get to her head.

“You think you’re tough but you hide behind your grunts who do your dirty work for you. Stealing Pokemon is not something I let slide and if you do it to me or my family, it gets personal. You mess with me, you mess with all of us.”

There was a brief pause but with a booming voice, she made herself appear powerful as she held out Haxorus’s Pokeball, a sign of a challenge.

“You, Team Platinum, are no match for us, Team Uralic!”

The woman stared at them expressionless but a grin crept up on her face as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a Pokeball with the Team Platinum logo on it and out came a Porygon-Z. The rest of the grunts followed suit and released their own Pokemon—a mixed bag between Magnemites, Golbats, and Raticates.

“Let’s see if your words match your skills. Don’t be crying now if you lose!”

Erzsébet wasn’t worried for a moment. She was strong. They were strong. With her cousins by her side, there was no way they could lose. They were level-headed and observant, never cocky. All they had to do was remain calm and do their best.

And their best was what they did.