Chapter Four: In Need Of Help



At that point in time, Bill honestly wished he had an accomplice. At least an accomplice that was actually available and didn't have an awful habit of chewing on other people's bones. The last time he'd been turned into a Cubone by a vindictive redhead (and without his memories to boot), he'd happened upon his Zigzagoon hench-mon within a PC box affectionately known as Thunderwave Cave. It had not been a happy reunion.



Although given his current situation, locked up in chains in an underground dungeon somewhere in presumably Cerulean City with a number of flies and spiders, trapped in the body of a small brown reptilian Pokemon that looked vaguely like a baby armadillo, having his Zigzagoon for company wouldn't be that bad.



Deputy Chu Roberts was a brute. One would have thought that a Pikachu wouldn't have done much to a Cubone, but Bill had zigzagging Iron Tail scars all over his body, and a bit of frosting as well from that one time Roberts had paused to wipe the blood off his tail and Bill decided to risk craning his aching neck far enough to try to nab a bite of his doughnut. Actually, Bill had almost managed to snap the whole thing up in his jaws before being whacked on the side of the head with Robert's police baton. But tonight, he went hungry.



Peh, the thing probably had dairy in the frosting anyway. Bill had only tried to eat it because it would annoy Roberts. Unfortunately, as he mused from his cell, it didn't take much to annoy Roberts.



"My..." Bill's throat was parched from lack of water. "My... lady..."



As could be expected, Giratina, Lady of the Shadowlands, did not show up. Bill remembered Misty's warning regarding cleanse tags and shuddered. These Gatekeepers have thought of everything.



There were no guards in the prison cell, and from what Bill could gather, they didn't need them. The entire place was tight as a drum. No one going in, no one going out.



"My lady..." Bill breathed. "Lady... Griseous... please..."



"You're not coming out of there any time soon," said a strange voice beside him.



Bill jumped a little, rattling his chains. A being beside him in a strange black cloak, which definitely hadn't been there before, put a finger to its muzzle to signal silence.



Bill caught the hint immediately. He was clever enough not to give the game away, and the facts that this creature had gotten inside the cell without even touching the bars and was cloaked to conceal itself were both good signs that it 1. wasn't a prisoner and 2. was there to help him. "About time. Who are you?" he quickly whispered.



"Embargo," said the hooded figure, and at that same time, Bill's rusted metal chains were surrounded by mystical white ones that wrapped around them and made them fall harmlessly away. But at the same time, the user's cloak briefly shimmered, and the form of a small female Abra could be seen behind it.



"Not here," the Abra said quickly. "Teleport."



---



Cubone-Bill suddenly found himself not in Misty's dungeon, but in a small and somewhat homey shack that had the familiar sound and smell of terminals running. Call him sentimental, but he'd always found it comforting to be around technology. And the shape of the devices around him seemed to indicate...



"This is my house," he said, rather surprised. "I mean, Bill's house... not the lighthouse, but the--"



"Your predecessor's summer home. You may speak freely here, Scion of Dome," said the Abra. "There are protections in place to prevent the Gatekeepers and the Unseelie Court from eavesdropping."



"Unseelie Court?" Bill asked. Something about the name gave him the feeling that he ought to be duly concerned about this. "What's the Unseelie Court?"



"Not what; WHO." The Abra removed her outer cloak, revealing an inner garment of white that reached down farther than the normal Abra armor, almost like a dress. "But first, some introductions. I am HELP."



TO BE CONTINUED...