Eddies

Chapter 23: The Defenders.

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.

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Eddies 23

It took most of the following day to arrange, but by dusk a dozen friends of the family, as well as three officers from the local police unit, we're drinking coffee and munching their way through the mounds of food that Gwen had cooked up for them.  Barry and Paul had spent most of the morning wheedling and cajoling the different men into coming to the meeting.  Paul had the day free, but Barry had a busy day ahead.  The vet had taken the simple course of contacting his reception staff at home later the prior evening, advising her he was not going to make it the next day, and to clear his books of appointments.  His head nurse, not usually the demanding sort, let out an aggrieved tirade at the short notice, but he was adamant in his decision and she reluctantly agreed to get onto it first thing in the morning.

Paul had objected to his friend’s choice, telling him that sacrificing his business for this was overkill.  But Barry gave him a droll look, telling him that it was his choice to make, and he'd already made it.

Paul shrugged helplessly at his friend, chuckling at his obstinacy, and went back to making more calls to their friends and neighbours.

Their initial phone call to the police station was less fruitful, with the officer on duty taking lightly his initial concerns.  However, when Paul made it clear J.B was involved, and perhaps in some significant danger, their attitude changed surprisingly quickly.  A hard man their boss may be, but the officers under him had a great deal of respect for him, and they promised to send a few men down to discuss things further.  Paul asked them to come early, before the rest of the crowd arrived.  There was hesitation on the other end, and Paul held his breath a moment, expecting them to refuse.  However, after a whispered conversation just out of earshot, they agreed to come an hour early.

What Paul hadn't counted on was who they were sending.

Most of his friends and neighbours were curious, especially at his reticence to give them further details over the phone.  Several grilled him on his motives, but he refused to clarify further, simply telling them "it was important".

They knew him.  More to the point, they knew he wouldn't have asked if he wasn’t truly in need.

By lunchtime, their plans were set.  Barry had kept a close eye on luxio, but she seemed to be recovering nicely.  Still tired, the big cat lounged at his feet, neck outstretched to receive a further caress, and he laughed inwardly at his bizarre situation.  Had anyone told him yesterday he was wagging a day from work, stroking a big feline pokemon, he'd have sent them packing. 

Luxio had settled with the strange humans, taking time to recover her spent energy.  Gwen kept her bowl stocked up with tasty morsels, and she lay back and relaxed as she waited for the evening excitement.  Not 100% comfortable with being the centre of attention, she shrugged inwardly.  Pokemon or not, she knew how important this was to her trainer, not to mention the Rangers, and wasn't about to let him down.

Wherever her trainer was, anyway, she sighed, hoping he was alright.

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While Barry and Paul had expected a simple police presence at the meeting, what they ended up with was a little more "presence" than they expected.

Area Supervisor Cameron Marshke rocked up with two junior officers in tow; one of whom Paul recognised as being a part of J.B's original raid team on the farm.

A good two hours earlier than the official meeting start, and an hour earlier than expected, the trio pulled up outside the farm house in a police 4x4, blocking the driveway circuit as they debarked to join the two men on the veranda steps.

Barry gave Paul a loaded look, although kept his mouth shut as the officer in charge introduced himself.  The group went straight through the house to the rear veranda, where a nervous Gwen offered the group refreshments.  While the two younger officers declined, Cameron nodded politely.  Accepting a lemon tea, he sat back on a couch opposite Paul and Barry, taking long sips from the hot mug.

Finally, once the pleasantries were completed, Cameron leaned forward and said "I believe you mentioned there was a situation here."

Paul nodded, and said "You could say that."

Cameron's eyes narrowed, and he paused a second before continuing.  "What concerns me more is the involvement of one of my senior officers.  So, why don't you explain where J.B is, and how he and Campanile involved themselves with this?"

Paul sighed, exchanging a look with Barry, who shrugged.  "Don't look at me, mate.  It's your party."

Giving him a dirty look, Paul turned back to the officer and said "OK, let’s start at the beginning..."

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Cameron had heard a lot of tall tales in his time, some of which even beat this farcical story.  However, what didn't gel was that it was coming from two supposed stalwart members of this community, neither of whom had any prior history of mental illness.  Not to mention the involvement of a senior officer who was anything but unreliable.

As the pair continued with their tale, up to the point where Chris, J.B and his friends had returned to the other world, the two junior officers exchanged a loaded glance, and he overheard one say to another "I told you so."

Curiouser and curiouser.

Leaning forward, he placed his now empty cup on the timber table top, and said quietly "I assume you have some proof of this, then?"

There were several responses he might have waited for, but what he hadn't expected was the vet snorting in laughter as Paul gave him a wry look.

"Something funny?" he asked the pair coldly, as Barry grinned broadly, pointing to the officer's side.  Turning, he met the yellow gaze of the largest cat he'd ever seen, staring at him mere inches from his own as it watched him with intelligent eyes.

Cursing, he recoiled from the creature, nearly falling back over his chair arm as the policeman who had commented to his colleague earlier gave a chuckle.  Turning to the other, who stood watching the creature in disbelief, he said "And you thought I was making it up, huh?  This is nothing!  You should have seen the BIG ones!"  

Cameron took a moment to gather his thoughts, before leaning forward to examine the creature cautiously.  It simply stood there, blinking slowly and didn't move as he reached out and ran a hand against its cheek.  Instead, it cocked its head and gave him the driest look he'd ever been given as he withdrew his hand from the warm pelt slowly.

Paul called her over and she obliged, dropping to her haunches before him as he rested a hand on her neck.

"This is luxio.  She's the partner of one of the two Rangers left to guard the portal.  The other Ranger; well, he and his partner were killed."

Giving him a sharp glance, Cameron said "Killed?  What do you mean, killed?"

Paul gave him a long look.  "Killed as in dead.  He's been shot, and luxio found his body, as well as the other pokemon, when she regained consciousness up in the mountains.  Luckily for her, after knocking her out they assumed she was dead too, or we'd not know anything about any of this."

The officer paused.  "I think you need to finish this tale of yours, Paul" he muttered, fixated on the bizarre creature sitting calmly before him.

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With the story complete, Cameron sat back in the chair with a sigh.  "So, what you're saying, is that we have a private corporation running potentially clandestine covert paramilitary actions in the mountains, a whole "beam me up, Scotty" thing happening involving an alien world, and now you're telling me we have two corpses, one human and one not, up in the wilderness at a location where two of my officers have now disappeared literally off the face of the planet.  On top of this, you feel the corporation behind this are likely to come back up here, and shoot the whole lot of you to protect their vested interests?"

At Paul's nod, Cameron grunted, and turned to his men.  Eyeing the outspoken one who had commented earlier, he said "And the reason you didn't bring this up before was?"

The officer sweated, and held up his hands in defeat.  "What was I going to say, Sir?  Would anyone have truly believed me if I'd offered this information before now?  You'd have either run me out of the force, or sent me for a psych evaluation!"

Cameron glared at him, before relenting.  "Perhaps you’re right.  Certainly, it explains why you were so insistent in coming up here with me, and why the others relented when you offered so profusely.  But I'm still surprised J.B didn't bring this to me earlier.  Had he done so, we might have been better prepared for this."

The young officer shrugged, and said "He discussed it, Sir.  However, he felt it warranted further investigation first, to determine how genuine the story truly was, and he considered himself up to the task of getting the information needed.  Between him and Tim, they felt they were quite capable of handling anything they encountered, Sir."

Nodding thoughtfully, Cameron turned back to luxio, who stood and stepped forward at his call.  Looking down into the eyes of the creature, he said "So, everything I've been told is true?"

She nodded, and he pursed his lips, before grinning dryly.  Taking statements from a big cat now, he thought, as she looked at him curiously.  Whatever would HQ think?

After a time, he turned to the group of officers, and said "Alright.  I've heard enough.  This is how we're going to handle it from this point onwards..."

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The plan was simple.  In the morning, they would return with reinforcements.  A small group were to accompany luxio back to the portal area and recover the remains of the deceased, as well as confirm the story as far as that went.  The rest were to take watch shifts here on the farm, keeping out of sight of anyone contemplating an armed attack on those still here.  He advised the policemen that this was a need to know operation, and in his words "No one else needs to know."

That the Area Supervisor clearly believed their story (or at least enough of it to take them seriously) was a relief to Paul.  His stoic nature had him disbelieving even himself at times, and the fact they had become embroiled in such an odd situation still had him uncomfortable.

However, for his son, and those he cared about, Paul would do anything to ensure their safe return.

Cameron had directed the officers who had spoken up earlier to remain behind with him for the "civilian" meeting, to both ensure things stayed under control if anyone became overly excited, and to provide a little authority to back up Paul's claims.  The other he sent back to the office to arrange matters for the next day.  Paul welcomed their presence, but hoped it wouldn't be needed.  Most of those he'd invited were level headed enough, and he'd left out the few red necks that might have caused a situation.  Even so, he was taking nothing for granted.

Once his fellow officer had left, and Paul and Cameron retreated to the kitchen with Barry, the younger officer remained in the lounge room with luxio, who was receiving enthusiastic attention.  Not that she minded, as it was refreshing to have someone as attentive to her needs as she was, and her trainer had a lot on his plate most of the time...

No.  She wouldn't think of him just yet.

It hurt too much...

She was grateful that the human treated her as an equal, although the other one hadn’t seemed so enthusiastic.  Indeed, he seemed more petrified of her than anything else, and her earlier attempt to get him to relax only made the situation worse, as he let out a loud squeak as she pushed herself under his hand.

Not a pokemon person, she growled to herself, leaving him be.  The fact she was four foot high at the shoulder and sprouted large fangs and claws, had escaped her for the moment.

She had just never considered herself as “scary”.

The young officer, Bill Watson, scratched the big cat's side and neck, wary of the large stitched gash on her head, and grinned broadly to himself.  She was a beauty, for sure.  He was also young enough to have been an active gamer, and he remembered fondly the many, many hours playing Pokemon B&W. While he rarely had time nowadays for such a luxury as pulling out the DS, he recognised immediately exactly what she was, and that she was hopefully friendly.

Admittedly, being one of those taken down by the Raikou was still a shock.  There was a big difference between battling virtual creatures on a hand held game, and being stuck in the middle of a thunderbolt attack in real life. 

When she eyed him, he leant down and said "Do you have a name apart from luxio?"

She blinked, surprised at the question, before shaking her head.

He thought a moment, before continuing "Well, we can't really keep calling you that can we?  Anyone who knows the game might recognise what you are, and that could cause problems.  Hmm..."

Thinking aloud a moment, he brought up a few names that seemed suitable, presenting her with each in turn and pursing a lip as she shook her head negatively at each suggestion. 

"So, how about...Shadow?"

Luxio thought about it for a moment, before nodding.  She then surprised the officer by rubbing against him firmly, knocking him over and pouncing onto him happily."

Gwen, who had entered the room with more titbits for luxio, and a cold drink for him, grinned dryly at their antics and said "I think she likes it."

She received a muffled chuckle and a loud purr in reply.

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When the rest of the group finally arrived, it was to a fairly sombre household.  They'd decided to keep the pokemon presence a secret until Paul had explained the situation to the group, especially given the sort of response the pair had received to date.  When explaining it to Azil and luxio, the big cat had shook her head when he called, turning to the young officer, who grinned sheepishly. 

"Umm, we thought calling her luxio was a bit obvious, so we talked about a name for her".

Paul and his commanding officer looked at him in surprise, before Cameron raised an eyebrow and sighed.  When Bill shrugged his shoulders in apology, Paul said to luxio "So, what do we call you?"

She looked again at Bill, who said "She likes Shadow."

Paul grunted, and chuckled.  "Shadow, huh?  Quite appropriate!" he said, receiving a vigorous nod of the furred head in reply.

"Well, you two will need to stay in the TV room until we call for you.  Jimmy will keep you company till then.  Once we explain the situation to the others, you can come out and shock them speechless, too" he said, and caught the dry look exchanged between the charmander and his younger son, who smirked at the small lizards look.

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The meeting didn't go down exactly as Paul and Barry expected, although in hindsight, they shouldn’t have been all that surprised.

"You've got to be shitting us!" called out one of his friends, once they'd given them the same information provided to the policemen earlier.

Another swore, and said "Paul, I came here expecting something important.  I have better things to do than listen to some bullshit fairy tale dreamed up by your kids!"

As the grumblings grew in intensity, Cameron stood abruptly, and shouted "Enough!"

In the ensuing silence, he glared at the group who had turned their turned disgruntled looks at the officer, and said "Do you really think I'd be here wasting my time if this wasn't important?  Believe me, my time is as valuable as yours, and I expect you to shut up and let them finish the story!  However, since you're acting like a pack of children, let me give you a bit of an example on what you're dealing with here!"

Motioning to his junior officers, they retreated into the house, returning with Jimmy and the two pokemon in tow.  The gasps from the audience when they first viewed the pair silenced any further heckling, as Cameron pointed to shadow, and said gruffly "You!  Go and show them just how imaginary you really are!"

Giving a surprised blink, Shadow headed towards the crowd, who shrank back from her approach.  Rolling her eyes at the policemen, Tim approached and laid his hand on her shoulder, as she eyed him in thanks.

Pointing at the luxio, Cameron said "Does that look like a figment of my imagination?"  When no one replied, he pointed at them, then turned his finger to their seats and said "Now, shut up, sit down and let the man finish!"

They shut up, sat down, and let Paul continue with the story.

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In the end, it took little further push to get the group on side.  Having living, breathing evidence thrown into their face satisfied even the harshest critic, and once Paul had finished, the crowd offered plenty of suggestions on how to approach the problem. 

Cameron took a leading role in the discussion, ensuring some of the wilder options were discounted early, and keeping things calm.  When some of the men protested, he slammed his hand down on the table, cutting off their objections.

"Let me explain myself very carefully. The only reason I'm letting you lot have the slightest input in this is that I do not have enough evidence to call in more trained staff from HQ.  If I could do so, I'd be sending the whole lot of you home, as you're likely to be as much a danger to yourself and my men as others."

When one of the would-be troops interrupted, he eyed the man coldly until he returned to his seat without further comment.

"You may think you know something about this, but I'm telling you, you're experience means squat.  If trained, armed troops become involved, you'll melt before them like ice cream left in the midday sun.  I don't plan on turning this situation into a fully fledged fiasco, with a whole lot of civilian casualties.  We do NOT know what we're up against, and we do NOT act without thought!  Anyone who does will answer to me, and I promise you, it won’t be pleasant.  Understand?"

They understood.  The objections ceased.

In the end, they chose a rotation of four people to do eight hour shifts around the property, accompanied by at least one police officer.  They were given strict orders that no shots were to be fired unless they were fired upon first.  While not happy, the farmers agreed eventually.  It wasn't as if they had much of a choice in the matter.

In addition, Cameron arranged for formal details of the operation to be forwarded to his administration, requesting further resources to provide a more reliable (in his opinion) watch on the farm.  Arranging this without causing even more suspicion from HQ was difficult, but he called in a few favours himself, and was assured at least a dozen officers would be in attendance the next morning.  At the least, the minimal involvement of the head office ensured that, should anything "mysterious" happen on the farm, there would be others looking into it, and this company Sinnotech.

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Paul leaned back on the kitchen table, opposite Barry and Gwen, and sighed into his coffee.  It was approaching 1.00am, and the last of the group had finally left.  While a big farmhouse, they didn't have the resources to put up so many people overnight without preparation, so they'd found rooms for the two junior officers, and six of their friends.  Several others remained awake to patrol the grounds immediately around the farmhouse, keeping in UHF radio contact with each other and another individual who acted as the base operator in the study.   The rest had headed to their rooms to sleep, expecting to be rousted from their bed when their shift was due, or headed home to return the next day.

Groaning, Paul got to his feet and helped Gwen rise, before he clapped Barry on the shoulder, wishing him a good night.  The vet wasn't far behind, following the pair to his room, and dropping to the sheets with relief.  It had been a long day, but productive enough, he thought, as sleep came quickly.  Certainly, the following day was likely to prove interesting!

Shadow rose from the couch in the living room, exhausted and sore, but unable to settle.  Too much had occurred for her to so easily relax, and she wandered around the house unhappily looking for relief.

Truth be told, she was desperately lonely.  Her missing trainer bothered her terribly, and she let out a quiet sigh as she finally rested her head against one of the bedroom doors, debating whether to enter. 

Hardening her resolve, she reached up a paw, turning the lever handle and slipped quietly into the room.  It was dark inside, but enough light entered past the curtained windows to allow her to make out the sleeping form on the mattress.  Approaching slowly, she put a paw to the human's shoulder, shaking it gently to wake him.  As the eyes fluttered open, they started slightly seeing the glowing golden eyes of the big cat before it, before she began shaking heavily, as the stresses and emotion of the previous few days overwhelmed her.

Bill blinked at the luxio in surprise, eyes softening as he observed her obvious distress.  After a moment, he moved backwards beneath the covers, patting the bed next to him and allowing her space to climb up.  Jumping onto the mattress which groaned under her weight, she dropped to her side, pressing her back against his chest.  With the contact, he could feel her trembling.  It was all he could do to wrap a comforting arm around her, drawing the miserable cat tightly against him, and caressing her through her distress.

Long minutes passed until she calmed, his fingers running through her fur keeping the dark despair at bay.  When her eyes finally closed and she slipped off to sleep, the young officer nuzzled against her neck, shutting his eyes as he pondered just how truly strange life could become, and how amazing it could get when you least expected it.

It only took moments before he joined her in slumber.

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Author's note:

Have a nose-dripping, body aching cold.
Still got through this.
I’m even amazed at myself.