Gotta Catch The Pretty Ones
© 2011-2014 by Mr. David R. Dorrycott
Chapter Nine
At lunchtime Penny came to get Sara, only to find the redhead carefully lifting the innards of a pokeball from its case. Waiting quietly she watched as the love of her life gently placed the obviously battered device carefully onto a black foam pillow. It was a special anti-static pillow as the librarian remembered, having found a forgotten half case of the things in the basement several months ago.
Behind Sara on the other side of the counter a rugged looking young man watched silently. After attaching a battery to the Pokeball Sara abruptly turned to him. “This may work” she announced “or it may not. Either way even if it doesn’t the attempt is expensive.”
“How much” the young man asked.
“Two hundred P if it fails because it will destroy the other Pokeball. Four hundred if it works.”
“I can borrow two hundred from my friends” the Pokemon Hunter promised. “I have two hundred myself.” He fumbled in his pocket, taking out a common cloth wallet. From it he withdrew the lower requested sum. “Please, Illumise and I have been together over five years, I can’t bear the thought of anything bad happening to her.”
‘Two hundred profit’ Penny thought. That was a months income plus a little. “Sara” she said softly, getting her wife’s attention. “Lunch is ready.”
Sara turned to her wife just long enough to nod yes, then returned her attention to the Hunter. “I’m going to use a type eleven, the newest Pokeball version. Since it will take another hour to remove the Type Elevens systems for the transfer attempt what say we break for lunch?”
“But Illumise?”
“Is as safe as she can be. Her Pokeball’s battery was almost dead so I’ve hooked up a shop battery that will last centuries if I need it too.” She shrugged, “Maybe even longer. Illumise is safer now than she was when you put her Pokeball into my hands. Go get lunch, be back in forty-five minutes and you can watch. Penny is right though, without a meal I might make a mistake and that I do not want to happen.”
“All right.” The hunter went to the shops door, Sara just behind him. “I’m just so worried.”
“I would be to if it were my Pokemon” Sara assured him, carefully locking the shops door behind him before putting up the Lunch sign. Only then did she join Penny.
“Bad problem?” Penny asked after they had served themselves.
“Type nine Pokeball. Some kind of argument between him and his girlfriend. She threw the Pokeball over a cliff.” Sara glanced towards the open shop door. “If the battery had broken worse the ball would have tried to eject the Illumise. But its even odds if that would have been successful as damaged as the thing is.”
“What happens to the girl?”
Sara ate a bit, thinking. “She’ll lose her hunting licence, her Pokemon and her balls plus a Guild fine and have to repay her boyfriend his costs. That’s if Illumise survives. If Illumise doesn’t... I don’t know. A trial of course. Pokemon accept us and trust us because we don’t hurt them as even the worst battles really don’t bother them too much. If Illumise dies she could be looking at a murder charge but that isn’t my legal business, I can only make my report. Her boyfriend will have to make the charge and it isn’t like he has a choice in the matter.” She ate a bit more, silent.
“Can we do anything?” Penny asked.
“Neither of us can. I can only hope that my skills and training are up to the task. The rest? That my lustful bed slave is completely out of my hands.”
It was mid-afternoon before the last cable was slipped gently into its slot. Sara had left her business closed, letting Penny explain the why to those who came to the door. Only the Pokeball’s owner was inside the building with them for this delicate work. Turning to her computer system Sara brought up the transfer protocols, carefully checking the syncing before activating it.
“That’s all I can do. It will take two hours then I have to rebuild the Type Eleven before we can test the results.”
“What about my old ball” the hunter asked.
“Scrap. I’ll have to remove the capture screens but you can have the rest of it back if you want.”
“No thanks, I just want Illumise back safe and sound” he decided.
With nothing else to do Sara updated her shops log while she waited. Finally surrendering to reading a manual while the minutes passed. It was near eight P.M. when she finally seated the last screw back into place on the type eleven. Closing it she handed it to her customer. “Take it out front and try, no promises, but I honestly hope it works.”
She watched from her chair as the hunter went outside. There was a flash moments later followed by a cry of joy. In seconds the hunter was back, his Illumise following. “She has a little memory loss, the last six days it seems but she says she is okay” he nearly screamed even as he put the second hundred on Sara’s counter.
Tired but happy Sara wrote out his receipt. “For the record who was your girlfriend” she asked. “I need her name for my report.”
“No one” the hunter answered.
‘Lucy Lynn De’Hind’ came into Sara’s head.
She looked at the Illumise. “Your filing charges?”
‘Yes. She almost killed me’ the Illumise answered. ‘She must be punished, she might kill next time.’
Looking up at the hunter Sara realized he had heard what she had heard. “It’s out of my hands” she explained to him. “Constable Hendricks office is next to the library, at least she will only lose her licence and Pokeball’s and have to pay the fines.”
“But...” The hunter shrugged his shoulders. “I thought that I was in love with her.” He looked up into Sara’s eyes, defeat showing. “My names Yad. Illie Yad. Thank you for your hard work.”
“Wasn’t anything” Sara lied.
‘Was’ the Illumise countered. ‘I thank you for my life.’
Sara just smiled and thought back ‘Your welcome. No charge.’
Locking the door again she pulled down the cloth window blinds, taking the time to shut down her equipment before ending her day. Having disconnected the battery from the type nines junk, it was as she was preparing to shut off her computer that she saw the last command.
‘COPY COMPLETE.’
With a gasp of horror she reconnected the battery but it was, she realized, already too late. The ball’s lights were dead, even the ready lamp, never seen unless the ball was open like this was dead. Copy instead of Move. That meant that the original Illumise might have still been within the memory core. It was too late now, there was nothing that she could do. Leaving the battery attached just in case she also left her computer on and walked over to her home after locking up her shop. This problem could wait until morning.