Eddies

Chapter 16: More trouble...

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

­___________________

Eddies 16

The next few days passed swiftly, with Chris's dad making time to assist the Rangers in tracking down the business systems of companies they suspected of having ties to Sinnotech.  In this, Paul's help was invaluable.  While there were many similarities between the two worlds, it was the smaller details that caused the most problems for the Rangers, and they found themselves frequently trying to come to grips with the differences.

In particular, the insidious interlacing of smaller electronic technologies into the everyday lives of the people of this world caused them a lot of confusion.  Things such as "mobile phones", which while released some years earlier back home, had never seemed to take off to the same extent as here.  Seen mostly as an unwieldy, unnecessary gadget, most people in the Ranger's world made do with landline telephones, or even their pokedex at a pinch.  With the 'dex providing emergency contact as needed from most locations, inbuilt into a wrist mounted device, carrying around yet another fragile device seemed superfluous.  At best, mobile phones were the exclusive realm of the central city dwellers, who were able to work and live within range of the few reception towers that had been built.

Perhaps it was also the population differences, Scott mused, as he sat next to Chris's father.  Earlier, when Chris's father had mentioned that the population of this planet had exceeded six billion, Scott had shook his head, thinking he had simply misheard what Paul had said.  But on clarifying the number, and even going on to say the two million inhabitants of the state's capital city was considered small by many, just blew his mind.

At best, the combined human population for the entire planet back home barely reached three million.  That was even taking into consideration the dwellers in the outer islands, where the local populace moved around regularly, muddling the figures.

To add to the confusion, the vastly different cultures and backgrounds of the people here was bewildering.  Thousands of different languages, uncountable religions, extreme ethnic diversity; it was enough to drive someone crazy getting a handle on it!

No wonder technology had run rampant on this world!  It needed to keep up, simply to provide the required advances needed to feed so many mouths, and stop them from starving!

Most surprising to Scott was Storm's instant taking to the computing systems used by the humans here.  Back home, things were relatively primitive.  Most correspondence was still sent by fax, or slow mail generally carried by pokemon couriers.  The reliance of these people on their gadgets and gizmos was astonishing, and Scott shuddered to think what might happen to them should some unforeseen disaster occur to shut everything technological down. 

But Storm took to it like a psyduck to water.  While he ruined one keyboard quickly enough through the over enthusiastic application of claw tips to keys, his gruff apology to Paul was shrugged off with a laugh, as the human went and retrieved another from storage.  More careful this time, the typhlosion was soon putting his typewriter training to good use, fingers flying across the keys as he gazed intently at the screen content, occasionally guided by Paul as he pursued their goals of tracking down Sinnotech's activities.

Feeling somewhat excluded by the pair, Scott smiled at himself grimly, contemplating the irony of the pokemon outclassing him on human technology.  Mentally shrugging, he stood up and stretched, cricking the stiffness from his back and excused himself.

The pair barely noticed, Storm giving him an absent wave as he left the room in search of caffeine.

Scott made his way to the kitchen, where Gwen was busy preparing lunch for the group.  Rather than simply making one meal, she insisted on catering for their individual preferences, and Scott had to laugh at the large stack of pancakes forming on a plate beside the stove that she'd prepared for Raikou.  Gwen had developed a soft spot for the big, polite legendary, and had lost all fear of his ferocious appearance.  In the preceding few days, Scott had encountered the pair animatedly talking, and she had clearly overcome any hesitation in having such discussions with a giant cat creature. 

Exchanging a few pleasantries with the busy woman, he poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot, and slipped from the room to the front veranda, leaving her to her own devices.

Strolling absently through the yard, he didn't register the sound of the approaching vehicle until it was close, as it pulled up before him in a cloud of dust thrown up from the driveway.  Suddenly tense, he clandestinely gazed around the yard, ensuring none of the pokemon were visible, before moving forward to intercept the pair of uniformed men who vacated the police vehicle and approached him.

Nodding politely at the individual in the lead, Scott took another sip of his coffee, aware of the intense scrutiny he was receiving as the pair halted before him.  While their smiles reached their eyes, they extended no further.  Scott had no difficult recognising the hint of hostile caution they carried, even as a hand was extended towards him for a shake.

"Howdy", said the first officer, gripping his fingers tightly, before releasing them to cross his arms on his chest.

"Hey there", said Scott in reply.  "Quite a nice morning we're having".

The first officer nodded, pointing to his partner, and said "This is Sergeant Campanile.  I'm Captain James Brook, although my friends call me J.B."

Scott nodded again, aware that he was a long way from being eligible to call this man by his nickname.  "Welcome to Darken Ridge.  I'm Scott Rivers."

J.B's eyes narrowed slightly, and he said "Thanks.  Can't quite place the uniform, though.  I'm figuring you're not from around here?"

Shaking his head, Scott thought furiously, and used the first country he could remember from Paul's descriptions to fill in the gaps.  "No, Captain Brook.  I'm visiting all the way from America.  Staying with Paul and Gwen for a few days, before heading home."

J.B nodded again, spying the Ranger patch on his shoulder, with the odd looking red and white ball emblem beneath.  A ball that curiously matched one attached to a clip on his belt

"Rangers, huh?  Like Texas Rangers?"

Suppressing his ignorance, Scott chuckled.  "Something like that, yeah."

J.B replied "I bet.  Well, is Paul in?  We want to have a word with him about his son's disappearance."

Thinking through the implications of the statement, Scott said "Well, you're in luck!  Not only is Paul in, but just last night, Chris found his way back down from the mountains.  He's a bit worn out, but had managed to survive on what he could scavenge from the land.  With the phone line acting up, Paul hasn't been able to call anyone to tell them the good news, but I'm sure he'll be more than happy to see you about it."

"Really?" said the officer thoughtfully, eyeing Scott with renewed interest.  "Just came home, huh?  What a lucky turn of events then."

As Scott lead them back to the house, he caught the loaded glance the pair of policemen exchanged.  Not that easy to mislead, he thought.  He'd have to be extra cautious around them.

Knocking on the front door, Scott led the pair through to the kitchen, where Gwen had been setting the table for nine.  Looking up with a smile, she started slightly as the two officers accompanied Scott into the room, her lip dropping slightly before the smile returned, albeit this time a little forced.  As the two policemen removed their hats politely, she offered them drinks, which Campanile declined, although J.B nodded readily, leaning back against the rear counter as Gwen poured him a fresh cup.

Scott could just make out the voices coming from the study, and quickly excused himself. "Bear with me.  I'll just grab Paul, so he can come and chat with you".

J.B looked at him, and said "Sounds like he's already with someone.  It can wait till they're finished."

Scott raised his hand and said "Oh, no bother.  Paul is just showing my partner some stuff on the internet.  It's not urgent."

J.B nodded, staring down the hallway towards the study, eyes following Scott as he strode down towards it.  With his thirty years in the force, if there was one thing he knew well, it was judging character, and everything about this "Ranger" screamed "professional".  Wondering whether "partner" was business or personal, he mused at the fact the man remained in his uniform even out of the country; an odd thing to do if one was simply "on holidays".

Something was going on here, he decided grimly.  What it was exactly, he didn't know.  Not yet anyway.  But he had every intention of finding out.

As several minutes passed without Scott's reappearance with Paul, his patience began wearing thin.  Motioning for his partner to follow, he stepped silently down the corridor towards the closed door, aware of the tense look thrown towards him by Gwen as she made to object, telling him they shouldn't be much longer.  He continued regardless, reaching the room and gripping the door handle firmly, just as a bright flash of blue light exploded from around the door frame, startling the two officers.

Stepping back, he motioned his colleague to take up position besides the frame, as he quickly opened the door.  However, nothing seemed out of place in the room, and Scott remained calm as he returned the red and white ball to his belt, although Paul did jump at their entry.

After a few seconds silence, Chris's dad cleared his throat, forcing a grin onto his face as he approached the pair and held out a hand to shake.

"Heard the good news, I see!" he spoke heartily, gripping J.B's hand tightly.

J/B wasn't buying any of it.  "So, what was the flash of light there?" he spoke quietly, as Paul looked swiftly at Scott.

The Ranger shrugged.  "Camera flash.  I was just replacing the cover, and it went off.  Surprised us both, it did."

Raising an eyebrow, the officer stared at him "Blue flash, huh?  Bit of a weird colour, isn't it?"

Nodding, Scott agreed amicably.  "Night camera.  Helps keep the red saturation down, so it's good for wildlife."

Looking around the room, the officer said "Thought I heard more voices in here.  Where'd your partner get to?"

Scott hedged his words, and pointed to the open French doors leading from the study to the garden.  "Ducked out to find where Chris had gotten too.  He thought it'd help if he saved you some time in locating him for you.  I'll go see if I can find them, and leave you guys to it."

Ambling back to the kitchen, he poured himself another cup of coffee, shaking his head slightly at Gwen as she made to ask him where Storm had gone.  Mouth snapped shut at the gesture, she resumed her cooking, leaving Scott to slip outside and look for the others.

Shit, he thought to himself, lips pressed tightly together.  Another complication we don't need.  Now, where have the rest of this lot gotten to?

As it turned out, locating Chris, Jim, Azil and Sky wasn't all that difficult, as he could just make out their faint voices coming from the farm workshop.  Finding them examining the mangled remains of Chris's trashed motorcycle, he entered, before closing the garage door behind him.  When the group looked up at his approach, alarmed at the grim expression on his face, he leaned down and spoke quickly with the two pokemon.

"The local constabulary are here, and they're clearly suspicious.  I'd appreciate it if you two would return to your pokeball until they leave, to defuse the situation."

When Skyy made to protest, Scott held up a hand, forestalling his objection. 

"Yes, I know what you're going to say.  Storm gave me the same complaint, as he hates being in that thing.  But even he saw the sense in it, and he's in his own ball now.  If it's OK for him, you should understand the urgency."

Patting the ball at his belt, he looked at the two humans, and then smiled as Skyy reluctantly agreed.  Azil had no complaint, and jumped up as Jimmy pointed his pokeball at him, but Chris gave his friend a grin as the lucario rolled his eyes at the ignominy of it.

Even as the two pokemon disappeared into their balls, a voice spoke from the entry.

"More photo's huh, Ranger Scott?"

Spinning to see the Sergeant opening the doorway, Scott pleaded to Arceus that the policeman hadn't witnessed anything further. 

Forced grin on his face, he nodded politely and said "Yeah, this bike is a real mess.  Chris wanted some pics.  So, when I came out here to get him, I thought I'd kill two pidgeot's with one stone".

"Pidgeot, huh?" said the officer, and Scott mentally cursed himself for the slip.  "Don't know if I've ever seen one of those before?"

"Scott chuckled.  "One of those critters from back home.  Damn things are everywhere."

"Back in America, you mean?" said the policeman, and Scott nodded again, while ignoring the loaded look he was given.

Turning back to Chris, the Sergeant said "Well, kiddo, you lead us on a merry chase.  Good to see you're clearly OK then.  How about you come inside, and give us a running commentary on your adventures the past few weeks."

As Chris agreed, moving past Scott and Jim to follow the policeman back to the house, Scott patted his back, and said quietly "Yeah, tell them about being lost in the mountains the past few weeks, and hurting your shoulder, huh?", and receiving a clandestine wink from Chris in return.

As they left, the Sergeant called back to Scott.  "Oh, we're looking forward to meeting your partner, too.  Seems he's gone off again, so we'll catch you back at the house once you've found him."

Shit, cursed Scott.  Yeah, looking forward to it, my arse!

Thinking quickly, he came up with a backup plan.  Obviously, dragging along his real partner was out of the question, but perhaps...

Well, perhaps he could find a temporary substitute.

Trouble avoided for the moment, he rubbed his forehead and walked back outside.  He knew Jasper and his raichu were around somewhere, but prayed to whatever Gods these people held dear that Raikou kept out of sight.  The two policemen were twitchy enough as is, without seeing them calling in all reinforcements for a bloody lion hunt!

It turned out Jasper wasn't that far afield.  Scott found him out behind the barn, resting in the shade and smoking a cigarette he'd filched from Chris's dad.  Sparky was nowhere in evidence, and on asking, Jasper patted the ball at his belt, telling the Ranger she "needed some time out".  Relieved at not having to deal with a raichu with P.M.S, Scott filled him in on the new developments, outlining his plan for Jasper to act as his partner.  When the gym leader gave him a sudden grin, Scott rolled his eyes and again hoped the guy would behave!  There was too much at stake to fuck everything up now, especially with their search already producing invaluable information on Sinnotech.

As the pair made to return to the house, he almost ran into Raikou, who had been standing quietly behind him for some time.  When Jasper chuckled again at his startled expression, Scott swore, shaking his head in disgust as the big cat's eyes narrowed at the perceived slight.

"Raikou, there's no time for this!" Scott hissed, as the big legendary blinked in surprise.  "We have two strange humans from local law enforcement in the house, and they're already suspicious of us.  I need you to vanish for a bit.  Can you do that?"

Nodding solemnly, the legendary padded off on silent feet, quickly disappearing into the scrub as Scott sighed in relief.

Thank God for that!  Everything had been taken care of, at least for the moment.

Scott and Jasper headed back inside, to find Chris giving an animated portrayal of his time "surviving" in the bush.  Scott winced, hoping beyond hope that he wasn't getting carried away with the story, but Chris had enough bush skills to know what did and did not work.  The Sergeant was jotting down notes in a flip pad, occasionally pausing in thought and touching his pencil tip to his tongue.  J.B simply sat and listened.  Scott recognised the typical "watch and absorb" demeanour his own force used when interrogating someone. 

Once Chris finished, J.B grilled him further, and even Scott had to admit the man was competent at what he did.  More to the point, Chris did an exceptionally good job in covering himself, and it didn't take long for the officer to run out of questions.  Leaning back, J.B looked at Chris thoughtfully, before glancing at his partner.  Receiving a confirming nod that the Sergeant had it all down on paper, J.B rose, thanking Chris for the information and telling him he was glad he got home safely after his ordeal.

Turning back to the Ranger, J.B stared blankly at the surfie-type next to him.  Definitely not his professional partner, he thought snidely.  When he questioned it, the hippie laughed, throwing a casual arm across the shoulders of the mortified Ranger, and giving him a hug.

Picked it! J.B thought with satisfaction, putting a negative tick against the Ranger's mental profile.  No accounting for some people's taste, but they were coming out of the woodwork everywhere, these damned queers. 

Shame though.  The guy seemed professional enough otherwise.  Unfortunate he had such poor bed habits.

Interview concluded, the two policemen made to leave, nodding at the Ranger and reaching out a hand.  "Be seeing you around, Ranger Scott" J.B said, gripping the proffered hand hard. 

Scott stepped back and replied "Look forward to it"; knowing full well J.B meant every word.

Turning to Gwen, J.B said "Well, we will let you get back to your dinner preparations.  Got a few people coming around, I see?"

Gwen hesitated, before nodding.  "It's going to be a busy afternoon, officer!" she said, and he nodded in return.

Sure it was. 

Thanking the group for their hospitality, and telling Chris again he was glad to see him safe and sound, the two policemen donned their hats and made their way to the front door, accompanied by Gwen, Paul and Chris.  After a final farewell, the pair left the property in another cloud of dust, J.B giving a final wave from the open car window.

Neither officer spoke as they drove down the dirt driveway, until they cleared the property boundary.  J.B motioned for his colleague to pull up on the side of the road, where the pair sat for several minutes staring across the fields and scrub land to the distant farmhouse, barely visible through the trees.

"Something isn't right there" said J.B, and his partner nodded in agreement.

"Reckon we should send a few guys down to question them further?" said the Sergeant, but J.B shook his head after a moment’s thought.

"No.  But I want someone down here for the next few hours waiting near the farm entrance, to see exactly who turns up to eat that big lunch she's preparing.  I have a hunch we won't be seeing many vehicles pass by."

The younger officer nodded, and said "So, what was with all those red and white balls on their belts, do you think?"

"You noticed them too, I see?  Camera, my arse!  I have no idea, but I think we need to find that out."

Nodding, Sergeant Campanile made the arrangements for the stakeout via the car's UHF radio, and the pair drove away shortly afterwards.

­___________________

Back at the farm house, Scott released a grumpy typhlosion from his pokeball, while Chris and Jim did the same with their friends.  Chris's parents, not having seen the process occur before, watched with stunned disbelief as the three pokemon materialised before their eyes.

Arms crossed as he regarded his partner intently, Storm said gruffly "Well?"

Scott chuckled at his partner's irritation.  "Oh, they're suspicious, alright.  Unfortunately."

Storm groaned, running claws through his fur to straighten it out.  "Never bloody rains; it pours!" he said, turning to where Skyy stood grinning at Chris.  As the pair became aware of his gaze, the typhlosion narrowed his eyes, and said "We need to be careful about that lot, then.  We can't have them getting in the way of our investigation; it's too important."

Chris exchanged an uncertain look with Skyy, before turning to his parents, who looked at him blankly.

"What do you thinks’ going to come from it all, then?" he asked Scott in concern.

The Ranger looked at him intently for a moment.  "The same thing that always comes from situations like this."

"Trouble..."

­___________________