Dusty air swirled away as the girl screamed, her consciousness returning to reality. Norah's heart was racing.

 

"Shut up, you brat!" a rough voice echoed from some distance away. "Hey Boss! Seems like she woke up."

"Marvellous!" a man with a british accent replied. "We shall check on her later."

 

Norah obeyed and held her breath. Something was terribly wrong. She wanted to perform a reality check, hoping to verify that she was dreaming - only to notice that her limbs were tied.

She checked her surroundings, her eyes gradually adapting to the dim light. A leaky pipe oozed drops of water that splashed down on the mossy tiles she was seated on. The moist, cool air within the improvised prison made her shudder.

There were no windows in sight. A pile of worn tyres in the far corner almost reached the ceiling, while a collection of unsorted tools were scattered over a slanted table that might have served as a workbench once. Shelves and racks stuffed with miscellaneous items covered the walls. A heavy, fire safe door led towards the voices, and an old electric gate let in thin bands of artificial light between its panels that illuminated nothing but the floating, coarse dust.

 

"Ace." she whispered, "Are you there?"

I certainly was. Kinda. Being trapped in a ball didn't really help me telling her. Recalling how the monsters shook during escape attempts, I decided to give it a shot.

Norah must have sensed the vibration I caused. Her hand held the Pokéball that Pierce had materialized with the remaining power.

"Ace. I choose you.", she said, letting the sphere drop to the floor.

I've never before heard anyone, let alone a girl, say such sweet words to me.

 

A list of Pokémon that Norah had caught during her career unfolded in front of me. Most of them, especially the more evolved and higher leveled ones, were blanked out. What remained were three low level specimens. Pidgey, Zigzagoon and Weedle. After some consideration, I decided to go for the Pidgey. It had a small profile, some basic attacks - and wings, too.

I feared for the worst, remembering my painful rebirth as Trainer Norah in the battle arena. Luckily, my anxiety was unfounded. Being part of the system now meant I never had to endure such things again - or so I hoped.

 

A purple beam of light released me in the form of the selected Pokémon. Assuming this form was unsettling as my body sprouted feathers and thin feet. With my mouth reformed and covered in a keratinized layer, I lost my ability to speak.

Norah was enamoured as I stumbled in front of her, tilting my head. "Piiii…", I chirped, as silently as I could. The tiled floor made me feel uncomfortable, as my talons couldn't gain a hold on the smooth surface.

I wobbled towards the moss, which had to allow a better grip.

With each step I made, my vision blurred. As if it wasn't bad enough to hardly actually see anything directly in front of me. My peripheral vision expanded highly, I could basically see what was behind me - but only when I stood still.

Apart from these issues, everything felt so huge and far up. While Norah used to be on eye-level with me, back then in my human body, she now was a few times my size, even while seated on the prison floor.

 

"Awww… You're the cute Pidgey, Ace?", she asked in her breathy voice, stating the obvious. "Look, you need to help me get out of here, do you understand?"

Turning my head to even see her properly, I nodded. Twice, just to be sure, since my erratic movements might have confused her. I awkwardly jumped around her, until I found the rope that tied her hands. Wings and claws didn't really do what I wanted them to. Only then I began to appreciate what an amazing invention human fingers were.

Norah forced herself not to chuckle, but my feathers kept on tickling her arms and hands. "Oh, come on, stop it! Eeeeeh! Ace. We can't let them hear us. Stop. Stop! Tee-hee-hee! Use your beak, okay?"

 

Actually, she was right. Attracting any attention at all would be suboptimal. I gently started pecking at the rope, severing thread after thread, careful not to hit her skin. 

My friend tore apart the weakened cord; she lifted me up on her shoulders and untied her feet. "Thanks, Ace."

Neither of us knew how long we were gone, nor where we had ended up, just that Team SPECTRE definitely was behind all of this. Norah's bag was nowhere to be seen, but at least her smartphone was still in her pocket.

Still unable to control my Pidgey-self properly, I half fluttered, half stumbled off Norah's shoulder towards the light rays shining in through the electric door. She followed me closely until we were near enough to take a glance into the next section that looked like a garage.

The floor was brightly lit by the strong striplights that were messily chained together along the ceiling, so it took awhile for us to adapt.

 

A handful of goons patrolled the area, guarding the vehicles within the garage.

There it was - the black SUV. A dark, red liquid was splattered over its hood. The windshield was cracked in its center in a way that vaguely followed the shape of a human body.

 

I turned to the side and vomited as I reimagined the brutal way that had ended my life. Norah lifted me away from the sight and tried to comfort me. "They'll pay for this. I'll make sure they will."

"Pidgey!" I confirmed.

 

Norah rushed back to the place where she was previously caught as footsteps announced a visitor. I returned to my Pokéball, and she decided to bring a torque wrench before loosely covering her arms and legs with the restraints she woke up in.

 

"I heard something, Cris. I'll check on her." The rough voice croaked in approach.

"Would you please use the bloody code names we've decided on, you son of a bucket!" his superior demanded.

"Sorry. Damned code names…"

"As your superior, I demand that you operate according to protocol."

"Uh," the goon seemed to think, "… I got it, Big Cee. I'll check on the girl now."

"You do that. I have more urgent matters to attend to. I'll be back in half an hour and expect her unlocked phone on my desk when I'm back."

The subordinate released the fire door's lock, sending dust bunnies flying in the turbulence of the swing.

 

"Hey there, little one," he said, glancing at her from above, "I'm To- uh Little… uh… Tea... yeah. Hehe. My boss wants you to be quiet. He also wants your phone and PIN uh... number. Maybe you could - write it down? I don't remember numbers well."

Norah tilted her head. "Luckily, my hands are untied, and I do have access to my handbag, where my pens and paper are. Kappa."

The ruffian nodded and lazed for a moment. "So… why are you not writing, kid?"

If looks could kill, then Little Tea would have flooded the floor from Norah's glare. "Hands. Tied. Can't. Write. Besides, my cellphone is none of your business!"

Norah counted on him not trying to unbind her. I was impressed by the way she had faced him so far.

"Calm down, kid, okay? I don't want to hurt you. I'll get you something."

 

She was speculating the outcome of a potential escape as he left the room. The lock clicked behind him.

It seemed as if there was only one possible way out. Escaping through the protected garage - which just had to be connected to the outside somehow - wasn't viable. The remaining option was to surprise Little Tea, fleeing through the fire escape route.