Gotta Catch The Pretty Ones

© 2011-2014 by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Chapter Forty Eight

Monday morning bright and early Penny boarded the bus for Warren Hill as Sara and Patricia watched worriedly. Patricia had quickly become accepted as a full time resident by the locals of Stonehome, her position seen as that of an emotionally shattered woman trying to get her life back together. That Sara and Penny had hired her as house help only improved the couples reputation. Patricia did have a strangeness about her now though, what with believing that fairies had cared for her while she was wandering the forest alone. Pokemon, that would have been acceptable but fairies? Everyone knew that fairies were figments of the imagination.

The two women watched as Penny headed off to her sisters, Sara cursing lightly just after the bus had disappeared. It hadn’t been until the bus had departed that Sara remembered that she wanted to tell her wife no hunting. ‘Ah well’ the Poketech thought as she headed home to open shop while Patricia went about the morning shopping. ‘It’s only for three days, what trouble could she possibly get into in that short of time?’

Later in the day, near lunchtime and another battered pokehunter walked into the door, two very different carrying bags carefully unloaded on the long bench at her shops front. “And what may I do to you today?” Sara asked with a smile.

Instead of a smile back at the light joke the forties something old hunter looked around as though he were the hunted. “Is anyone else here?” he asked in an oddly soft voice.

“If you’ve come to rob me I only keep twenty P in the register, the rest is in the bank” Sara answered, her one hand slipping under the counter for her old revolver. “Don’t bother with a weapon, I’d rather just give it to you.”

Both hands went out palms facing her as the man backed up a step. “No no nothing like that” he gasped, quickly putting his hands up even though Sara hadn’t shown her weapon as yet. “I need help, serious help and well, I don’t want everyone in town knowing.”

Keeping her hand on her weapon Sara carefully placed her right arm on the counter, her stump drawing the mans eyes. “I’ve had my share of trouble sir, I don’t think that I will survive anymore.” She noted Patricia on the phone just out of the mans sight. ‘Smart woman Patricia’ Sara thought, keeping her eyes on this strange visitor, ‘I knew there was a reason that we took her. Now is this another Watermen?’ she asked herself.

“Please, I’m in trouble, I captured my wife” the man almost cried. “Please help me.”

“Whoa, your serious?” she asked. “From everything I know that is impossible.”

“I know I know, we thought so too. We did the stupid things as kids, burned out a pokeball or five, played the role playing games but this.. It just happened and we don’t know how.” He gave Sara a lost look. “We were drunk, neither one of us have any idea what happened, I just woke up and she was gone. I thought she’d gone out shopping, we were staying at an inn but then I found this.” He laid a pokeball on the counter, its display facing her.

‘Kara, Huntress’ it stated. Sara swallowed, she knew exactly what she had to do or she’d lose her licence, why the fine alone for not reporting this would probably be more than they had and they had a lot. ”You’re certain?” she asked, forcing disbelief into her voice, the horror was easy enough though, tThis would blow their cover straight and simple unless she made that call.

“Absolutely” the man answered. Constable Hendricks chose to enter through the kitchen door just then, one of his temporary deputies entering from the front door at almost the same instant. “No” the man cried, reaching out to take his ball back. It was a short battle, two on one and it ended the second that Sara cocked the hammer of her revolver. “No, no no no nooo...” the man cried, breaking down as he realized that he was captured himself, then he simply collapsed and started muttering to himself.

While Hendricks was cuffing his prisoner Sara slipped her revolver back in its place then did a bit of juggling with the pokeball and another. Sending his prisoner off with the man who had helped him Constable Hendricks turned to Sara. “Sorry about tha mess” he apologized even as Patricia hurried to repair the damage. “What were tha anyway?”

“I think he’s gone mad” Sara answered. She tapped the pokeball now on her counter causing it to roll towards the older man. “He claims that his wife is in there.”

Picking the rolling ball up Hendricks looked at its display, it was blank. Pressing the release button with practiced ease he satisfied himself that what was on the display was true, “If he is crazy, we ain’t got help fer him here.” the older man admitted sadly.

“I know, Guild regulations require that I call the closest Guild Hall and they will send a team over to take him in for treatment. We aren’t medical Constable but something like this, well it would hurt the reputation of all Pokehunter’s so we have medical personal to care for people like him until we can transfer them to an accredited hospital. You’ve seen the Pokehunter’s that come through just as I have, Waterman comes to mind and honestly I thought he was another one. Too long alone out there, only pokemon as companions. Who knows, maybe he had a Pokemon that his unhinged mind saw as his wife.” She pointed at the bench and the two battered bags laying on it. “Those are the bags he brought in with him, if you will just keep him quiet, come up with a story to cover I will call Warren Hill’s guild hall, Penny is in Warren Hill buying us computers so they can talk to her if they need too.”

Holding up the Pokeball Hendrix raised an eyebrow.

“Yes take it as evidence” Sara laughed. “Just don’t go chasing pretty girls with it, like say Yuki Kurosawa.”

“Donno” Hendricks replied, looking the still open ball over. “Her boy, ‘e said no, she’s kinda broke up, claims she’s gonna run away and she is ah real beaut.”

“That I am sorry to hear about, who was he?” Sara asked.

“Lars Winston” Hendricks answered. “‘es got another on tha hook, Melissa Fryer. Well, gota get tha doc tah calm, this boy. Take care.”

“I’ll call Yuki today then” Sara promised. “Maybe she just needs another woman’s shoulder to cry on.” Waiting until the Constable had departed Sara pulled out the real object of this problem and walked into the kitchen, motioning Patricia to watch the front for her. It was a matter of five minutes to get the Warren Hill Guildhall on the line, less than a minute before her memorized code words had someone very high up on the line. Very calmly she explained what had happened, what she had done and that she suspected that the man either had named some exotic animal Kara, Huntress or had actually managed to do the deed. Then she asked what she should do next.

“We will send a medical flight for the husband by helicopter” the very old voice answered. “Transfer the ball to your own ownership using the codes given you in school then open it. If what he claims is true interrogate then recapture, if it isn’t this is only a problem of madness, either way immediately call me back, ask for Master Rogerts. You are certain that he does not remember what happened?”

“Sir, he claims that they were drunk and neither know or remember. This means that if she is in there she has been out at least once. Sir? Are Penny and I going to disappear?” she asked, worry heavy in her voice.

“Do you know how this was done?” the man asked.

“No sir” Sara lied “And I never want to know.”

“You are known to keep your mouth shut, therefore you will be working in Stonehome until you die of old age.”

“Thank you sir, good-bye.” Sara hung up and turned to find Patricia watching. “This is as bad as it gets next to Penny being found out” she told the almond eyed woman watching her. “We will have to hide your and Penny’s pokeballs, can you handle that?”

“As long as I am within a hundred feet of it a few minutes once a day yes” Patricia answered. “Wouldn’t it be better if you simply held me in my own ball until this blows over?”

“That could be decades and you are too well known here now, no you and Penny will just have to manage until I discover the secret and release you both. Take the collection to our home and put them in the steel box, your’s too or she will hear them when the transfer is complete. You might as well start getting practice, I need to hook this thing up then it will be two hours before I can take possession.”

“Yes Mistress” Patricia answered, then she smiled to Sara. “I’ve wanted to say that for months now, I don’t feel that way Sara but I’ve wanted to say it.”

“I’d rather you say my love” Sara admitted. “Now get too it, we’ve trouble now and only careful work will keep us from becoming display pieces in some museum for the next three or four thousand years.”

After Patricia left Sara made another call, this one to Penny’s sister. She left her wife a carefully coded message then hung up and went downstairs to her secure workroom. Though the important parts of those two tech stations were now hidden in the same grounded metal box that Patricia was storing the pokeballs in she decided to leave the two machines open and on her worktable. Booting her secure workstation she opened the pokeball, and with a little difficulty hooked up the flat cable that allowed computer access to the device. Taking a deep breath she entered the codes that started a program that would wash the original owners data and transfer ownership of it no matter what type of pokeball it was.

It was already a rough day and it was going to become a lot rougher.