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Chapter 15

From Capture To Rescue

Headmaster Vincent returned to his office after an eventful Astronomy class, slipping an SD card into a large desktop to backup footage of the recent lesson. This headmaster always stressed on making sure his lessons were recorded for not only attendance purposes, but to ensure the semester smoothly progressed on the right track.
“Vincent, he’s ready to see you now.” The Headmaster’s intercom buzzed with a new voice, supposedly the PRT Commander’s Vincent appointed recently. “I’ll be over there at 2:30 am tonight I hope, I’ve run into personal matters.”
“Thank you, Remus. I’ll let him inside now. See you in a few hours, commander.” Vincent replied, unlocking the door and stepping back to his desk.
The door opened a few minutes later and a flareon walked into the room in silence, sporting a professional posture and a firm silence as he kept a fair distance from the headmaster. From what Vincent could tell, this flareon appeared to be quite physically strong, one of the species’ signature traits. However, He did not wish to ask about that since there were other matters to deal with.
“So how many rejection letters did we get this week?” Headmaster Vincent asked the flareon as if to check to make sure he paid attention to tonight’s lesson. Another reason was Vincent routinely checked on if his students had good attention to detail since that subject did not come up once in the six-hour lesson. It was true that Vincent sometimes ran six hour long classes on the weekends, but he only offered them to his most dedicated students that desired to spend that much time with him. The class in question lasted from 6 pm to Midnight so that the headmaster gave everyone a chance to get a full night’s rest since the following day classes did not start until after 9 am.
This flareon when addressed merely looked over the sableye without responding. Vincent walked over towards the eeveeution after a few seconds passed.`
"You have my permission to speak, just so you are aware.” The headmaster nodded, trying to form a small grin to assure the fellow pokeuman.
“Yes, sir.” Finally, the flareon glanced over at Vincent with a small nod. “My apologies. I’m not used towards my protectee being so accepting of me.”
The word protectee sparked some interest for the sableye, so he spoke up after a pause.
“That’s not a common term used to describe me. That’s naturally reserved for political matters by the Secret Service—oh…” Vincent’s eye gems dimmed for a moment. “Are you the agent assigned to protect me, is that correct? I remember getting an email last week about needing additional security since the assassination…”
“That is correct, sir.” The flareon slowly nodded. “Pleased to meet you.”
“You’re also welcome to address me by name.” Vincent returned a slow nod. “Name?”
“It’s Ander, of Pokeumans LRC, Headmaster Vincent,” the flareon introduced, holding out his paw. Vincent shook paws as he lightly smiled. “LRC being code for Liberation and Resistance Corporation. Consider us to be Secret Service to the Pokuman leaders such as yourself—well, that’s the plan anyway. We’re not making ourselves public just yet and just formed a few weeks ago.”
“And this LRC is involved with the PRT?” Vincent asked without hesitation.
“No, sir. We have zero connection to them.” Ander closed his eyes after turning aside for a few moments. “And before you ask, I have no intention towards invading your privacy or anything.”
“Nice of you to say that. Just a small question, do you expect me to believe you?” Vincent asked as he formed a wide smirk.
“Not really, no.” Ander shook his head, opening his eyes to look at the headmaster with honesty. “I expect you to take everything I tell you with a grain of salt. It’s good of you to doubt me, Vincent. But know this: I wouldn’t be stupid enough to risk my life and the lives of my family and friends to be dishonest to someone of your caliber. You already scanned me, I take it?”
“Funny enough, the only reason I have to really trust you is because Joshua insisted you guys were legit—and I trust that guy with my closest secrets every day.” Vincent replied, not losing his calm, collected down as he walked over towards the front of his desk. “Besides, I’m already dead so killing me is pointless and trying to salvage any info on this base—which will be soon to be obsolete anyway—won’t get you anywhere.”
Ander glanced over towards Vincent as he also stepped over. “Joshua? Who’s that?”
Vincent chuckled. “Short version, raichu…my co-headmaster. He’s busy making the final preparations towards a great migration on base. 2.0. And I feel comfortable telling you that because I know you have zero gain in backstabbing me.”
“Fair enough,” Ander replied. “Since you’re that confident I cannot help but remain loyal. So what’s first?”
“Follow me.” Vincent gestured Ander over towards the door after he had walked over and opened it slowly. “I want to see how strong you are.”
The bipedal flareon paused for a few seconds, but he eventually stepped out of the office and followed Vincent down a corridor. As they were walking, Ander noticed students roaming the hallways and rooms in the base, despite the late hour. He was quick to ask about this due to curiosity.
“We’re a nocturnal base,” Vincent replied as he nodded. “Our operations are done nightly, not during the day. It’s much more interesting that way.”
Ander eventually spoke up after noticing they were not really walking deeper into the base, but towards the entrance. “Why are we headed towards the front of the base? Are your training rooms this way or something?”
Vincent shook his head in silence as he kept walking. He added after some hesitation. “I’m not taking you to a training room. I’m taking you towards our teleportation room. I want to see your strength against enemy fire for myself. Besides, I was going towards off the coast of Rhode Island tonight anyway.”
Ander flinched as he was quick to pick up on what Vincent was getting at. “S-sir? Are you suggesting you want to battle PX directly?”
“Indeed, I am suggesting that.” Vincent snickered as he opened another door towards a small room. “I’m impressed you’re able to pick up on things quickly. Now, can you handle using a sidearm? PX doesn’t use blanks, neither should we.”
“Sir, you have a duty for this base—“ Ander began.
“I have Joshua, my PRT commander Remus, and Ridley to watch over things in my absence. Besides…this is personal.” Vincent frowned. “Don’t ask so surprised. Did you expect me to just sit around at my desk all day while this war goes on?”
“Forgive me, sir. This is just really surprising…” Ander mumbled. “I’m just concerned.”
“You barely know me, yet you already are developing concern for my safety?” Vincent asked, losing his frown as he stared with curiosity. “Very good… but as I said, I have personal matters to take care of tonight. As soon as Remus gets here, we will go.”
“Can you, at least, tell me what’s so urgent?” Ander frowned.
“I’m going to go fetch Leon Momento myself…he’s in huge danger from that man.”
***
“Are you quite sure about this, Xavier?” Noland asked after listening to the lucario give a report about Riley and Quark. “How did you uncover this information?”
“Your son, Admiral,” Xavier replied, gesturing down towards me. “Apparently that riolu’s a friend of Leon’s. This might be an excellent chance to tip the scale in our favor for once against that sableye.”
I blinked a few times, confused. “Pardon? Why?”
“isn’t it obvious? That riolu would make an excellent hostage…” Noland formed an extremely wide grin. “Vincent would have no choice but to hand over his secrets in exchange for his son’s safety.”
Hearing this caused me to instantly frown in disapproval. “Father…”
Noland stared down at me before he walked over, placing a paw on my shoulder. “Leon, this sableye is extremely dangerous. Not only a technical genius but very resourceful. Hell, it took an antimatter bomb to finally dispose of him for a short time, and even then that was not enough! But no more—this time I get the upper hand, with your help Leon.”
I flinched before backing away, a cold wave of uncertainty washed through me. “Wait, what!? Why should I use my brief friendship with Riley to help you?”
Noland leaned in closer. “Well, put it this way—if I have to dispatch armed soldiers to bring the riolu in, I shall. And believe me, it will not be a peaceful experience. My soldiers shoot to kill, Leon. How about that little chespin fellow? Would he die defending the riolu from my men?”
My heart skipped a beat when I heard what Noland was implying. I silently glared at my father.
“You son of a—“ before I knew what I was doing, I lunged for the luxray with rage. Before I could even get close enough for a strike, I felt a hard paw grasp my throat and lifted me up into the air. Xavier threw me backward onto the floor where I landed with a hard thud, dazed for the impact.
“Hmph, care about that chespin, do you?” Noland asked, smirking. “Good job, Xavier. Now I don’t have to physically touch him to enforce discipline. Hiring you was my best idea. Now Leon, would you like to try that again?”
I growled in response, refusing to believe Noland thought this through. “Damn you! I won’t let you use me as a method of getting to them!”
Noland, at once, turned to the lucario at his side. “Hey Xavier…do you think we can beat resistance out of Leon? I was hoping for a more peaceful method of getting his cooperation.”
“Do remember that we already have one of his friends in our custody,” Xavier added, smirking.
My heart skipped a beat as my icy glare turned to the lucario. “That’s just cruel. Leave Troy out of this! This is between you and me, father!”
“I’ll involve whoever I need to in order to make progress.” Noland snickered as he stared at me. “Now, either you help us and ensure your friends aren’t shot on sight or don’t help us and end up losing more you can ever imagine. So pick an option...now!”
I sighed as my eyes closed, wondering how I got myself into this mess in the first place. "I can't even help you on that. I don't know where they're gone. All they said was something about raiding the nearby PRT base and I'm not even sure where that is even located."
Father then glared at me. "I don't believe you. Last chance, Leon. You have three seconds before I give the order."
My eyes opened, looking at the powerful luxray. "...You know what? All right, I'll tell the truth."
"Good to hear! Now let's hear it." He actually smiled at me.
I had a small idea that I was not sure was going to help matters much, but I went for it anyway. I opened my backpack and dropped a few of the burnt files I've recovered from my old house. "The truth is right here, written away in files my stepfather secretly documented that I had managed to recover."
When I placed the burnt folders on the desk, I was already retreating towards the door. Xavier looked at the folders with confusion. "...wait, what? Noland, you never told me your sleeper agent was writing details behind our back like this."
While they were busy looking at the pile of burnt papers concealed inside the supposedly intact folders, I quickly slipped out of the office without hesitation and closed the door.
"I cannot read this, it's in Latin." Noland appeared to sigh in frustration. "Never mind, most of this is burnt out and unreadable. We can dispatch our soldiers to help with this. Leon, what--"
I bolted down the nearest corridor at once, not wishing to stick around since I knew Xavier was about to tail after me. I did not look back to see if anyone had followed me, only feeling a chill of regret course through my veins.
Wait, why was I feeling cold all of a sudden? The air had not declined in temperature, I hoped. The answer was made clear the instant I heard a chilling blast behind me. After spinning around, my gaze focused on the rather familiar marshtomp companion--who had just lowered his hand to his side. In front of me was a wall of thick solid ice, dividing us from the rest of PX for the time being. As the ice solidified in the corridor, there was a scoff from the water-type. Not surprisingly, it was yet another thing he would find annoying, even I was not too sure on the reasoning. Troy glanced over towards me, and instead of looking disappointed, he appeared to house an expression of satisfaction--like I actually impressed him.
"A-are you actually smiling at me?" I asked, getting worried about this sudden shift in his mood.
"Well, sure. I was pretty much expecting you to side with PX here--given their boss is your father." Troy replied, stepping closer before taking my hand as a means of comforting me. "The fact that you rejected going down that path to go with me proves you actually give a damn."
"W-why the change in attitude?" I asked as Troy led the two of us down towards a doorway at the end of the corridor. "You're kinda a jerk. Are you deciding to abandon that annoying trait?"
"I guess you can say that..." Troy's tone shifted to a more regretable one. "Honestly? It's not fun to be cold to people that actually care about you. I'm not blind since I notice how much you and Quark hate it when I'm that way." Then he sighed, shaking his head. "Not to mention, you're welcome to blame me fully if being like a jerk has caused us to be transferred here."
"I don't blame you for this, Troy." I replied with a small sigh. "I blame Noland, Xavier, PX and... myself for all this."
The marshtomp, most likely not expecting that, turned aside to face me. "...excuse me? Why are you blaming yourself? This isn't your fault."
I shook my head as Troy and I flung open the door towards a large room with a few security monitors, noticing it was quite empty.
"Because I..." I hesitated to continue. What was I going to say that would not have Troy think I was an idiot? Not much, if I was being honest with myself. He was free to judge me, so a few moments later I gave him the answer. "I did not trust that dragonite to take me to safety."
As predicted, Troy froze in complete shock at hearing my answer. I bet he was thinking if somehow he misheard me or if I was being straight with him. Naturally, the marshtomp did his best to sound both surprised, yet horrified at the same time. As he walked over towards one of the big screens in the room, he asked something simple.
"Leon, do you believe I think less of you for making an error like that? I'm glad you did that."
"Tch, what for, if I may ask?"
"Because that dragonite...is not going to be the one to take you to safety at all. I won't let him." The marshtomp replied with confidence as he pressed down on a large power button to click the system up. "If he dares try to take you away again, I WILL kill him...mark my words." to which he clenched his paw into a tight fist, resisting the urge to punch a wall as well.
I trembled, hearing the chilling words sent a spike of alarm through me. "W-what..."
At once, Troy stepped closer to me and leaned in to make sure I was not able to avoid hearing what he had to say next. After a small exhale, the marstomp gave me one of the most determined stares I had ever seen from anyone, and then he spoke in a cold manner.
"If someone or something backs you into a corner, don't ever let them know they got to you. If that means killing someone you love, or going against who you are...then by all means do this. I don't want you to hesitate in acting when it comes to prolonging your life by any means. Leon..promise me something: if at any point I become a threat to your survival that you, without hesitation, deal with me however you see fit. We clear?"
I fell silent at once, looking down towards the floor. He was asking for something really extreme of me, and I had to give him an answer right now?
"So...promise?" he asked in a more determined tone, not wanting to walk away without any answer based on his stare. As much as I did not want to give him the pleasure of knowing I was upset to say this, my reply came near impossible to hear.
"I...promise."
The words weighted against me like an intense gravitational field. Was I hearing myself just now, telling that I'd strike him down without mercy if he was a threat to my life? Was that something I could rationally give my word on, let alone something I'd have to uphold?
"Very good," Troy replied with delight, quite unlike him. "Now let's get the hell out of here."
"H-how?" I asked feebly, trying not to cry or give Troy a sign I was hurt.
"We'll fly out, of course! They won't expect it." Troy snickered, smirking widely as he generally believed we could fly out.
"Hate to break it to you, Troy, but... we don't have wings, so how would this work?" I asked, generally convinced he was crazy.
"But we do have.... a fighter jet," Troy replied, giving me the most confident of smiles. "In particular, my fighter jet I had transferred here a few months ago for something like this."
"...What?" My eyes widened. "You cannot be serious!"
"Would you believe me if I told you I'm a pilot?" Troy asked busy glancing over at security footage. "Also, where the hell is my jet now!? If they moved it within an INCH out of my comfort zone, I am going to carpet bomb them!"
"I-I...umm... I believe you wouldn't lie to me?" I stammered out quite a weak answer. "Also, let's not yell so that we don't draw their attention in here."
"Does it matter since they got that lucario to scan for us?" Troy countered with his own wise sense of logic--and I was not sure why I felt the need to put it that way.
"All right, good point. You know what? Screw thinking about this since we might not have the time...let's get this jet of yours going. Where's the hanger bay?"
"Right where we would've gotten in, most likely." Troy replied, checking the related footage. Then he smiled a little. "All right, I see they haven't moved it! We can get going now if you want, Leonardo."
Before I could reply, I saw Troy cast more ice out onto the door to freeze it solid, gesturing towards the nearby vent. Without really having to ask, I ran over and forcefully pulled off the grating to allow us access, cursing due to how heavy the grate was drilled in. Troy proceeded to then smash the monitors to disable them for good, hopping into the vent. I followed him inside, deciding not to bother asking if he knew the way. If I was right about Troy, he would've had this planned since the start, given his crafty nature.
***
In the hanger bay, Noland had ordered the PX soldiers to fan out in the hopes of finding Leon trying to escape without having too much success. The tech bay, for the most part, was empty minus a few lone troops. It would've been easy to sneak around, provided caution was made. Troy silently unlocked a vent above his supposed fighter jet and looked down at it. It was a high-class military jet, but not like anything I'd seen before. Troy mentioned this was a custom-built jet, and I did want to ask how the hell he got the materials, funds, and time to build something like this and if he was even allowed to. The marshtomp, naturally, assured he'd answer later after we were out of danger. I just figured he did not want to talk about it, for reasons I could only assume were personal. Nonetheless, with a small leap down we both landed next to the jet, so I could get a closer look at the bloody thing myself.
That's when I saw this was not just a simple fighter jet--it was one of the most expensive jets in the world. A fifth generation military fighter, with fourth generation stealth compatibility--said to super mobility, supercruise, stealth, and sensor fusion on its weapons platform. The jet had clipped delta wings on its sides and a reserve sweep on its rear design, four empennage surfaces, and retractable tricycle landing gear present. From what Troy mentioned,
among only a few aircraft that can supercruise, or sustain supersonic flight without using fuel-inefficient afterburners; it can intercept targets which subsonic aircraft would lack the speed to pursue and an afterburner-dependent aircraft would lack the fuel to reach. There were many technical details and features this thing had, from what Troy was trying to explain to me, but I mostly got lost in trying to take this all in. This was downright insane to believe, and yet the proof was right here in front of me. I sighed as I tried not to get into information overload, but was helpless in that regard. The final details I could absorb about this fighter jet was that it was modified to have more than one fighter seat to make room for both Troy and I. There was just something that bugged me suddenly: Why was there a padlock on the side of the jet? My answer came when I saw Troy gripping at his chest--seeing the skeleton key tightly held and raised. I chuckled in amusement, unable to help myself. "Troy, you planned this from the start, haven't you? You keep this locked up with the key you always carry with you!"
Troy prevented me from gazing for too long, as he inserted the skeleton key into the padlock and turned it. A load clicking noise was heard: one I had not expected from the locking mechanism. Moments later, I felt a funny rush in my body, which resulted in me seating inside the fighter jet itself, with Troy in front of me at the controls--if I could see any.
"By the way, in case you want to look it up on Wikipedia," Troy added, "This is a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, with a more-or-less customized rig to suit my needs."
"...how much was this to build?" I asked without warning. "Also, how'd we teleport into this!?"
"$150 million, maybe?" Troy shrugged, slipping on piloting gear and advised me to do the same. "Hell if I know--I didn't fund this directly. You'll have to speak to my commander."
"...commander?" I paused. "I thought you were--"
"Later! We got company approaching!" Troy yelled, raising the skeleton key and jamming it into a keyhole, sharply turning it. The F-22 jet fighter jet quickly turned on, a few lights blared out. PX soldiers, with their guns, ran in towards the jet! I growled slightly in annoyance.
"Then what are we waiting for!?" I hollered. "Get us out of here!"
Troy silently nodded, using his other hand to navigate the flight controls--which for some reason were glowing blue...in fact, they looked all holographic. Wherever I looked, this fighter jet was looking less ordinary by the second. After a few button presses, the F-22 began making a humming noise as I saw it rising into the air. At once, laser fire was blasted out towards us, a barrage of red beams streaked across the hanger bay. I thought were-were going to be shot down, but Troy had pressed his hand down on one button in particular that was admitting a shield that absorbed a majority of the laser and redirecting the energy outwards aside--or something like that. All Troy told me was the shielding was not going to last long but called it a "deflector" or something. The F-22 did not wait long to move forward, causing widespread panic for the soldiers. I sighed in relief once seeing things were going okay so far, only to be told to avoid taking it easy--PX were not ones to just give up.
When I glanced back, I noticed someone blue was rushing into the bay--two figures, actually. "Well then..."
"Well, do the honors and deal with them," Troy ordered. "Put on the cloak!"
"Oh, sure, let me just see about--HOW CAN I!?" I hollered in frustration, annoyed he expected me to activate something like that in a jet I was in for the very first time.
"The 2nd button from the left in front of you!" Troy cried back, to which I just looked down. Without thinking, I pressed down said button after looking at the panel, resulting in seemingly nothing occurring, other than checking outside and noticing the wings had vanished from view.
"Um, I know this is a stealth fighter, but that's just seemingly impossible..." I was going to complain, but Troy gestured me to relax, pointing towards the blue figures.
When I turned over, I noticed a blue energy sphere headed right in our direction, detonating nearby after having just barely missed. I took a guess that was Xavier launching an aura sphere at us--just freaking great.
"Welp, that was worth a shot." Troy shook his head. "Door should be opening now."
Trying to hear Troy over the attention I was giving to the blue spheres, laser fire, and now the sound of electricity blasting outwards was not really that easy. I sighed a little, not going to bother Troy in explaining it. He seemed to be busy with, you know, piloting this jet in the first place. I decided to keep my cool and alert him if anything happens.
"How are we getting out!?" I hollered, getting scared by now.
"The front door, silly!" Troy held back a frustrated sigh, gesturing in front of us. It seemed that the vech bay's door was opening to let in a PX truck. In the meantime, I was wondering if the smoke I was now seeing needed Troy's attention, but I was not able to think on that too long--Troy was in the process of pulling up on a lever to have the F-22...go up?
"Why is it going up--"
"I inverted the normal flight controls! I hate the default on these kinda things!" Troy hollered to quickly explain, with the F-22 now rising into the air near the ceiling. Moments later, I understood what Troy's plan was--he was going to fly over the truck instead of blasting through it. We might barely have enough clearance, but I was too scared to point this out. The truck was busy screeching to a halt and drawing their guns. Before I could figure out what to do, Troy cried out as I heard something impact the side of the F-22 near me, causing a shockwave of pain to erupt due to a small explosion of energy. I had the assumption that Xavier's aura sphere finally found its target--me. There was smoke emitting from the impact site and I saw a small hole now. The deflector had been depleted and the hull breached...thanks to the barrage of lasers and the aura spheres are thrown at us.
"L-Leon? You okay!?" Troy yelled, as my senses were starting to darken from the pain.
"Want to sleep..." I groaned, my eyes quickly closed and my head leaned back in the chair.
"Not now! Stay with me! That's an order!" Troy hollered in desperation.
I barely saw what was going on, only noticing the PX truck passing underneath the fighter jet. In my struggle to stay conscious, I forced my head to raise up to look outside once clear of the PX base. The wonder of the bright stars in the sky was the first to get my attention, the second being the fighter jet was landing on the rooftop of a nearby building on a helipad. Without waiting, Troy pressed down on yet another button, causing Troy and me to teleport outside onto the helipad.
We were not as alone as I wanted; due to hearing a panicked voice in front of us, followed by footsteps.
"Leon!?"
That was Quark's voice, to be precise! Why was he here?! Sure enough, with my diminishing strength, I noticed the familiar chespin running over, joined also by a familiar riolu--both of them were wearing armor--Riley, in particular, was giving me first aid to make sure I did not pass out. A few moments later, relief flowed through me as I managed to stand up.
"Okay, I think I can afford to answer a few of your questions," Troy replied a few seconds later. "Riley, scout out for headmaster what's-his-name and keep us updated. Quark, try to get the F-22 repaired so I can take him to our meetup point."
Then the marshtomp turned to me after watching Quark and Riley get to work. "All right, now I'll answer whatever you'd like to ask."
"All right, fine. First off: where the hell did you get 150 million to fund building a kind of fighter jet modeled after something from the USAF!?" I hollered at him without meaning to.
"Oh, I stole it all," Troy said in a non-joking manner, forming a grin on his face. "Spent the last few years making VERY small robberies from bank accounts that belonged to PX. Took a lot of effort to get by undetected."
I glanced at him in total shock. "You're serious?"
"Completely." Troy nodded with a wider grin now. "Hell, if they're willing to murder me just because I've no longer got the appearance of a human, they can be fine with losing millions. Now do me a favor: don't bother trying to arrest me for that. I got clearance to do whatever I must to get the plan going from the commander."
"...What commander?" I asked, frowning as doubts were starting to occur.
"I "forget" his name...starts with an R..." Troy shook his head. "That's not important right now: what matters now is you. It was important you understand that as long as you live, Noland cannot win."
"All right, fine, next question: what is so important to me that you're all willing to go after me?" I asked, sighing with impatience.
"You're the son of one of the highest ranking PX Admirals. You tell me that's important, all right?" Troy replied. "And I'd hate to break it to you: but we're no longer focusing on staying natural--not with the risk involved."
"I was worried you'd say that. So...we don't have a choice, we'll have to join up with PRT?" I sighed more, not liking this idea at all.
"That's up to you," Troy told me with a small chuckle. "But it wasn't PRT I'm planning on joining...you'll see what I mean."
"Ready!" Riley cried out as he and Quark stepped back. "You can pilot the F-22 far enough to get out to the coastline, at least."
"That's in the direction of the Atlantic Ocean, What would go towards the coast of our state be for?" I cried out, annoyed this was going to turn into a bad idea.
"Well, that's where the meetup point is. You'll understand why once we're there. Here's a hint." Riley chuckled before handing over a stellar score from his backpack, gesturing out into the distance towards the Atlantic ocean. "Just look out there and tell me what you see."
I obeyed, raising the stellar score up and glancing into it--noticing a sight I could not believe. I placed the stellar scope aside, looking at Riley. "What the hell? We're meeting on that thing?"
"Indeed, we are, so let's get going. Off to the USS Marlin." Riley nodded.
Out off the coast of Rhode Island at the moment was... something I nearly refused to believe could exist here of all places. I was hurried into the F-22 fighter jet after Troy unlocked the additional room for the other two to join us. The backset expanded just enough to avoid conflicts, with Troy promising me that the tech was going to make sense soon enough.
Without much delay, we were back into the air and flying the F-22 towards the coast of Rhode Island, staying high in the sky to avoid any grounded PX soldiers that might've followed us. On the way, Quark and Riley were busying providing an update on current events. Supposedly, this Headmaster Vincent, a sableye, was the one who arranged to meet up on this USS Marlin in a few hours and that we were to decide on a course of action on how to best deal with Noland.
"But if this headmaster of yours is all the way in Montana, how is supposed to meet us here in a few hours?" I asked, frowning.
"Well, he'll be teleporting here," Riley replied, nodding with confidence. "Our technology should be underestimated, Leon. The USS Marlin has limited teleportation, but it gets the job done."
Eventually, the F-22 was in the range of this USS Marlin, so I looked down to get a better look; not expecting this to be one of the biggest ships I had ever seen.

According to Riley, the object I was staring at looked to be a U.S Gerald.R.Ford Aircraft Carrier.

"H-How the?" I stammered in total shock. "How...is there...an Aircraft...Carrier...?"
"Cliffnotes version: Headmaster Vincent and Commander Remus Lupis built it over the span of several years, and no--we didn't steal it," Riley replied quickly. "We just 'borrowed' a few blueprints from the military and added a few modifications to suit our needs."
Without anything further, Troy spoke into the communications array. "This is LRC Agent Salvador of F-22 with a Code Beta 93. I have extracted Leonardo Momento successfully. Repeat: I have extracted Leonardo Momento successfully From PX Rhode Island base. Please respond."
"Copy that Agent Salvador," replied a new voice from might be a control room on the carrier. "Permission to land authorized."
Before I could even ask what was happening, the F-22 fighter jet began its descent and touched down on the large runway of the aircraft carrier. It took only moments for the jet to slow down and come to a full stop at the end of the runway. I could tell other pokemon were around, staring at the newly-arrived fighter jet with caution as expected. It was easy to spot the anti-aircraft weaponry and a few dozen or so fighter jets ready to be dispatched to deal with threats.
At once, we were teleported outside onto the runway and noticed someone was approaching. It looked to be a lizard-like pokemon, yellow in coloration with a long orange-striped, black-tipped tail. The pokemon also had zigzag patterns with orange bands on its legs. While having a nearly-black colored head and a lower yellow jaw, the pokemon also had a pair of points over the eyes and blue irises. Around its neck was a yellow frilled collar in the pattern of the sun. Finally, this pokemon looked to be dressed in a blue military uniform much like a naval officer, having quite an intimidating aura and was supposedly a male. This pokemon, called a "heliolisk" according to Troy, looked at us with a firm stare of both amazement and concern.
Before I was ready, the heilolisk spoke in a commanding tone, towards me.
"Good morning, Leonardo Momento. I have been waiting a long time for us to finally meet. Welcome aboard the USS Marlin. I am Vincent's PRT Commander Remus. J. Lupis."

Description

Chapter 15

From Capture To Rescue

Headmaster Vincent returned to his office after an eventful Astronomy class, slipping an SD card into a large desktop to backup footage of the recent lesson. This headmaster always stressed on making sure his lessons were recorded for not only attendance purposes, but to ensure the semester smoothly progressed on the right track.
“Vincent, he’s ready to see you now.” The Headmaster’s intercom buzzed with a new voice, supposedly the PRT Commander’s Vincent appointed recently. “I’ll be over there at 2:30 am tonight I hope, I’ve run into personal matters.”
“Thank you, Remus. I’ll let him inside now. See you in a few hours, commander.” Vincent replied, unlocking the door and stepping back to his desk.
The door opened a few minutes later and a flareon walked into the room in silence, sporting a professional posture and a firm silence as he kept a fair distance from the headmaster. From what Vincent could tell, this flareon appeared to be quite physically strong, one of the species’ signature traits. However, He did not wish to ask about that since there were other matters to deal with.
“So how many rejection letters did we get this week?” Headmaster Vincent asked the flareon as if to check to make sure he paid attention to tonight’s lesson. Another reason was Vincent routinely checked on if his students had good attention to detail since that subject did not come up once in the six-hour lesson. It was true that Vincent sometimes ran six hour long classes on the weekends, but he only offered them to his most dedicated students that desired to spend that much time with him. The class in question lasted from 6 pm to Midnight so that the headmaster gave everyone a chance to get a full night’s rest since the following day classes did not start until after 9 am.
This flareon when addressed merely looked over the sableye without responding. Vincent walked over towards the eeveeution after a few seconds passed.`
"You have my permission to speak, just so you are aware.” The headmaster nodded, trying to form a small grin to assure the fellow pokeuman.
“Yes, sir.” Finally, the flareon glanced over at Vincent with a small nod. “My apologies. I’m not used towards my protectee being so accepting of me.”
The word protectee sparked some interest for the sableye, so he spoke up after a pause.
“That’s not a common term used to describe me. That’s naturally reserved for political matters by the Secret Service—oh…” Vincent’s eye gems dimmed for a moment. “Are you the agent assigned to protect me, is that correct? I remember getting an email last week about needing additional security since the assassination…”
“That is correct, sir.” The flareon slowly nodded. “Pleased to meet you.”
“You’re also welcome to address me by name.” Vincent returned a slow nod. “Name?”
“It’s Ander, of Pokeumans LRC, Headmaster Vincent,” the flareon introduced, holding out his paw. Vincent shook paws as he lightly smiled. “LRC being code for Liberation and Resistance Corporation. Consider us to be Secret Service to the Pokuman leaders such as yourself—well, that’s the plan anyway. We’re not making ourselves public just yet and just formed a few weeks ago.”
“And this LRC is involved with the PRT?” Vincent asked without hesitation.
“No, sir. We have zero connection to them.” Ander closed his eyes after turning aside for a few moments. “And before you ask, I have no intention towards invading your privacy or anything.”
“Nice of you to say that. Just a small question, do you expect me to believe you?” Vincent asked as he formed a wide smirk.
“Not really, no.” Ander shook his head, opening his eyes to look at the headmaster with honesty. “I expect you to take everything I tell you with a grain of salt. It’s good of you to doubt me, Vincent. But know this: I wouldn’t be stupid enough to risk my life and the lives of my family and friends to be dishonest to someone of your caliber. You already scanned me, I take it?”
“Funny enough, the only reason I have to really trust you is because Joshua insisted you guys were legit—and I trust that guy with my closest secrets every day.” Vincent replied, not losing his calm, collected down as he walked over towards the front of his desk. “Besides, I’m already dead so killing me is pointless and trying to salvage any info on this base—which will be soon to be obsolete anyway—won’t get you anywhere.”
Ander glanced over towards Vincent as he also stepped over. “Joshua? Who’s that?”
Vincent chuckled. “Short version, raichu…my co-headmaster. He’s busy making the final preparations towards a great migration on base. 2.0. And I feel comfortable telling you that because I know you have zero gain in backstabbing me.”
“Fair enough,” Ander replied. “Since you’re that confident I cannot help but remain loyal. So what’s first?”
“Follow me.” Vincent gestured Ander over towards the door after he had walked over and opened it slowly. “I want to see how strong you are.”
The bipedal flareon paused for a few seconds, but he eventually stepped out of the office and followed Vincent down a corridor. As they were walking, Ander noticed students roaming the hallways and rooms in the base, despite the late hour. He was quick to ask about this due to curiosity.
“We’re a nocturnal base,” Vincent replied as he nodded. “Our operations are done nightly, not during the day. It’s much more interesting that way.”
Ander eventually spoke up after noticing they were not really walking deeper into the base, but towards the entrance. “Why are we headed towards the front of the base? Are your training rooms this way or something?”
Vincent shook his head in silence as he kept walking. He added after some hesitation. “I’m not taking you to a training room. I’m taking you towards our teleportation room. I want to see your strength against enemy fire for myself. Besides, I was going towards off the coast of Rhode Island tonight anyway.”
Ander flinched as he was quick to pick up on what Vincent was getting at. “S-sir? Are you suggesting you want to battle PX directly?”
“Indeed, I am suggesting that.” Vincent snickered as he opened another door towards a small room. “I’m impressed you’re able to pick up on things quickly. Now, can you handle using a sidearm? PX doesn’t use blanks, neither should we.”
“Sir, you have a duty for this base—“ Ander began.
“I have Joshua, my PRT commander Remus, and Ridley to watch over things in my absence. Besides…this is personal.” Vincent frowned. “Don’t ask so surprised. Did you expect me to just sit around at my desk all day while this war goes on?”
“Forgive me, sir. This is just really surprising…” Ander mumbled. “I’m just concerned.”
“You barely know me, yet you already are developing concern for my safety?” Vincent asked, losing his frown as he stared with curiosity. “Very good… but as I said, I have personal matters to take care of tonight. As soon as Remus gets here, we will go.”
“Can you, at least, tell me what’s so urgent?” Ander frowned.
“I’m going to go fetch Leon Momento myself…he’s in huge danger from that man.”
***
“Are you quite sure about this, Xavier?” Noland asked after listening to the lucario give a report about Riley and Quark. “How did you uncover this information?”
“Your son, Admiral,” Xavier replied, gesturing down towards me. “Apparently that riolu’s a friend of Leon’s. This might be an excellent chance to tip the scale in our favor for once against that sableye.”
I blinked a few times, confused. “Pardon? Why?”
“isn’t it obvious? That riolu would make an excellent hostage…” Noland formed an extremely wide grin. “Vincent would have no choice but to hand over his secrets in exchange for his son’s safety.”
Hearing this caused me to instantly frown in disapproval. “Father…”
Noland stared down at me before he walked over, placing a paw on my shoulder. “Leon, this sableye is extremely dangerous. Not only a technical genius but very resourceful. Hell, it took an antimatter bomb to finally dispose of him for a short time, and even then that was not enough! But no more—this time I get the upper hand, with your help Leon.”
I flinched before backing away, a cold wave of uncertainty washed through me. “Wait, what!? Why should I use my brief friendship with Riley to help you?”
Noland leaned in closer. “Well, put it this way—if I have to dispatch armed soldiers to bring the riolu in, I shall. And believe me, it will not be a peaceful experience. My soldiers shoot to kill, Leon. How about that little chespin fellow? Would he die defending the riolu from my men?”
My heart skipped a beat when I heard what Noland was implying. I silently glared at my father.
“You son of a—“ before I knew what I was doing, I lunged for the luxray with rage. Before I could even get close enough for a strike, I felt a hard paw grasp my throat and lifted me up into the air. Xavier threw me backward onto the floor where I landed with a hard thud, dazed for the impact.
“Hmph, care about that chespin, do you?” Noland asked, smirking. “Good job, Xavier. Now I don’t have to physically touch him to enforce discipline. Hiring you was my best idea. Now Leon, would you like to try that again?”
I growled in response, refusing to believe Noland thought this through. “Damn you! I won’t let you use me as a method of getting to them!”
Noland, at once, turned to the lucario at his side. “Hey Xavier…do you think we can beat resistance out of Leon? I was hoping for a more peaceful method of getting his cooperation.”
“Do remember that we already have one of his friends in our custody,” Xavier added, smirking.
My heart skipped a beat as my icy glare turned to the lucario. “That’s just cruel. Leave Troy out of this! This is between you and me, father!”
“I’ll involve whoever I need to in order to make progress.” Noland snickered as he stared at me. “Now, either you help us and ensure your friends aren’t shot on sight or don’t help us and end up losing more you can ever imagine. So pick an option...now!”
I sighed as my eyes closed, wondering how I got myself into this mess in the first place. "I can't even help you on that. I don't know where they're gone. All they said was something about raiding the nearby PRT base and I'm not even sure where that is even located."
Father then glared at me. "I don't believe you. Last chance, Leon. You have three seconds before I give the order."
My eyes opened, looking at the powerful luxray. "...You know what? All right, I'll tell the truth."
"Good to hear! Now let's hear it." He actually smiled at me.
I had a small idea that I was not sure was going to help matters much, but I went for it anyway. I opened my backpack and dropped a few of the burnt files I've recovered from my old house. "The truth is right here, written away in files my stepfather secretly documented that I had managed to recover."
When I placed the burnt folders on the desk, I was already retreating towards the door. Xavier looked at the folders with confusion. "...wait, what? Noland, you never told me your sleeper agent was writing details behind our back like this."
While they were busy looking at the pile of burnt papers concealed inside the supposedly intact folders, I quickly slipped out of the office without hesitation and closed the door.
"I cannot read this, it's in Latin." Noland appeared to sigh in frustration. "Never mind, most of this is burnt out and unreadable. We can dispatch our soldiers to help with this. Leon, what--"
I bolted down the nearest corridor at once, not wishing to stick around since I knew Xavier was about to tail after me. I did not look back to see if anyone had followed me, only feeling a chill of regret course through my veins.
Wait, why was I feeling cold all of a sudden? The air had not declined in temperature, I hoped. The answer was made clear the instant I heard a chilling blast behind me. After spinning around, my gaze focused on the rather familiar marshtomp companion--who had just lowered his hand to his side. In front of me was a wall of thick solid ice, dividing us from the rest of PX for the time being. As the ice solidified in the corridor, there was a scoff from the water-type. Not surprisingly, it was yet another thing he would find annoying, even I was not too sure on the reasoning. Troy glanced over towards me, and instead of looking disappointed, he appeared to house an expression of satisfaction--like I actually impressed him.
"A-are you actually smiling at me?" I asked, getting worried about this sudden shift in his mood.
"Well, sure. I was pretty much expecting you to side with PX here--given their boss is your father." Troy replied, stepping closer before taking my hand as a means of comforting me. "The fact that you rejected going down that path to go with me proves you actually give a damn."
"W-why the change in attitude?" I asked as Troy led the two of us down towards a doorway at the end of the corridor. "You're kinda a jerk. Are you deciding to abandon that annoying trait?"
"I guess you can say that..." Troy's tone shifted to a more regretable one. "Honestly? It's not fun to be cold to people that actually care about you. I'm not blind since I notice how much you and Quark hate it when I'm that way." Then he sighed, shaking his head. "Not to mention, you're welcome to blame me fully if being like a jerk has caused us to be transferred here."
"I don't blame you for this, Troy." I replied with a small sigh. "I blame Noland, Xavier, PX and... myself for all this."
The marshtomp, most likely not expecting that, turned aside to face me. "...excuse me? Why are you blaming yourself? This isn't your fault."
I shook my head as Troy and I flung open the door towards a large room with a few security monitors, noticing it was quite empty.
"Because I..." I hesitated to continue. What was I going to say that would not have Troy think I was an idiot? Not much, if I was being honest with myself. He was free to judge me, so a few moments later I gave him the answer. "I did not trust that dragonite to take me to safety."
As predicted, Troy froze in complete shock at hearing my answer. I bet he was thinking if somehow he misheard me or if I was being straight with him. Naturally, the marshtomp did his best to sound both surprised, yet horrified at the same time. As he walked over towards one of the big screens in the room, he asked something simple.
"Leon, do you believe I think less of you for making an error like that? I'm glad you did that."
"Tch, what for, if I may ask?"
"Because that dragonite...is not going to be the one to take you to safety at all. I won't let him." The marshtomp replied with confidence as he pressed down on a large power button to click the system up. "If he dares try to take you away again, I WILL kill him...mark my words." to which he clenched his paw into a tight fist, resisting the urge to punch a wall as well.
I trembled, hearing the chilling words sent a spike of alarm through me. "W-what..."
At once, Troy stepped closer to me and leaned in to make sure I was not able to avoid hearing what he had to say next. After a small exhale, the marstomp gave me one of the most determined stares I had ever seen from anyone, and then he spoke in a cold manner.
"If someone or something backs you into a corner, don't ever let them know they got to you. If that means killing someone you love, or going against who you are...then by all means do this. I don't want you to hesitate in acting when it comes to prolonging your life by any means. Leon..promise me something: if at any point I become a threat to your survival that you, without hesitation, deal with me however you see fit. We clear?"
I fell silent at once, looking down towards the floor. He was asking for something really extreme of me, and I had to give him an answer right now?
"So...promise?" he asked in a more determined tone, not wanting to walk away without any answer based on his stare. As much as I did not want to give him the pleasure of knowing I was upset to say this, my reply came near impossible to hear.
"I...promise."
The words weighted against me like an intense gravitational field. Was I hearing myself just now, telling that I'd strike him down without mercy if he was a threat to my life? Was that something I could rationally give my word on, let alone something I'd have to uphold?
"Very good," Troy replied with delight, quite unlike him. "Now let's get the hell out of here."
"H-how?" I asked feebly, trying not to cry or give Troy a sign I was hurt.
"We'll fly out, of course! They won't expect it." Troy snickered, smirking widely as he generally believed we could fly out.
"Hate to break it to you, Troy, but... we don't have wings, so how would this work?" I asked, generally convinced he was crazy.
"But we do have.... a fighter jet," Troy replied, giving me the most confident of smiles. "In particular, my fighter jet I had transferred here a few months ago for something like this."
"...What?" My eyes widened. "You cannot be serious!"
"Would you believe me if I told you I'm a pilot?" Troy asked busy glancing over at security footage. "Also, where the hell is my jet now!? If they moved it within an INCH out of my comfort zone, I am going to carpet bomb them!"
"I-I...umm... I believe you wouldn't lie to me?" I stammered out quite a weak answer. "Also, let's not yell so that we don't draw their attention in here."
"Does it matter since they got that lucario to scan for us?" Troy countered with his own wise sense of logic--and I was not sure why I felt the need to put it that way.
"All right, good point. You know what? Screw thinking about this since we might not have the time...let's get this jet of yours going. Where's the hanger bay?"
"Right where we would've gotten in, most likely." Troy replied, checking the related footage. Then he smiled a little. "All right, I see they haven't moved it! We can get going now if you want, Leonardo."
Before I could reply, I saw Troy cast more ice out onto the door to freeze it solid, gesturing towards the nearby vent. Without really having to ask, I ran over and forcefully pulled off the grating to allow us access, cursing due to how heavy the grate was drilled in. Troy proceeded to then smash the monitors to disable them for good, hopping into the vent. I followed him inside, deciding not to bother asking if he knew the way. If I was right about Troy, he would've had this planned since the start, given his crafty nature.
***
In the hanger bay, Noland had ordered the PX soldiers to fan out in the hopes of finding Leon trying to escape without having too much success. The tech bay, for the most part, was empty minus a few lone troops. It would've been easy to sneak around, provided caution was made. Troy silently unlocked a vent above his supposed fighter jet and looked down at it. It was a high-class military jet, but not like anything I'd seen before. Troy mentioned this was a custom-built jet, and I did want to ask how the hell he got the materials, funds, and time to build something like this and if he was even allowed to. The marshtomp, naturally, assured he'd answer later after we were out of danger. I just figured he did not want to talk about it, for reasons I could only assume were personal. Nonetheless, with a small leap down we both landed next to the jet, so I could get a closer look at the bloody thing myself.
That's when I saw this was not just a simple fighter jet--it was one of the most expensive jets in the world. A fifth generation military fighter, with fourth generation stealth compatibility--said to super mobility, supercruise, stealth, and sensor fusion on its weapons platform. The jet had clipped delta wings on its sides and a reserve sweep on its rear design, four empennage surfaces, and retractable tricycle landing gear present. From what Troy mentioned,
among only a few aircraft that can supercruise, or sustain supersonic flight without using fuel-inefficient afterburners; it can intercept targets which subsonic aircraft would lack the speed to pursue and an afterburner-dependent aircraft would lack the fuel to reach. There were many technical details and features this thing had, from what Troy was trying to explain to me, but I mostly got lost in trying to take this all in. This was downright insane to believe, and yet the proof was right here in front of me. I sighed as I tried not to get into information overload, but was helpless in that regard. The final details I could absorb about this fighter jet was that it was modified to have more than one fighter seat to make room for both Troy and I. There was just something that bugged me suddenly: Why was there a padlock on the side of the jet? My answer came when I saw Troy gripping at his chest--seeing the skeleton key tightly held and raised. I chuckled in amusement, unable to help myself. "Troy, you planned this from the start, haven't you? You keep this locked up with the key you always carry with you!"
Troy prevented me from gazing for too long, as he inserted the skeleton key into the padlock and turned it. A load clicking noise was heard: one I had not expected from the locking mechanism. Moments later, I felt a funny rush in my body, which resulted in me seating inside the fighter jet itself, with Troy in front of me at the controls--if I could see any.
"By the way, in case you want to look it up on Wikipedia," Troy added, "This is a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, with a more-or-less customized rig to suit my needs."
"...how much was this to build?" I asked without warning. "Also, how'd we teleport into this!?"
"$150 million, maybe?" Troy shrugged, slipping on piloting gear and advised me to do the same. "Hell if I know--I didn't fund this directly. You'll have to speak to my commander."
"...commander?" I paused. "I thought you were--"
"Later! We got company approaching!" Troy yelled, raising the skeleton key and jamming it into a keyhole, sharply turning it. The F-22 jet fighter jet quickly turned on, a few lights blared out. PX soldiers, with their guns, ran in towards the jet! I growled slightly in annoyance.
"Then what are we waiting for!?" I hollered. "Get us out of here!"
Troy silently nodded, using his other hand to navigate the flight controls--which for some reason were glowing blue...in fact, they looked all holographic. Wherever I looked, this fighter jet was looking less ordinary by the second. After a few button presses, the F-22 began making a humming noise as I saw it rising into the air. At once, laser fire was blasted out towards us, a barrage of red beams streaked across the hanger bay. I thought were-were going to be shot down, but Troy had pressed his hand down on one button in particular that was admitting a shield that absorbed a majority of the laser and redirecting the energy outwards aside--or something like that. All Troy told me was the shielding was not going to last long but called it a "deflector" or something. The F-22 did not wait long to move forward, causing widespread panic for the soldiers. I sighed in relief once seeing things were going okay so far, only to be told to avoid taking it easy--PX were not ones to just give up.
When I glanced back, I noticed someone blue was rushing into the bay--two figures, actually. "Well then..."
"Well, do the honors and deal with them," Troy ordered. "Put on the cloak!"
"Oh, sure, let me just see about--HOW CAN I!?" I hollered in frustration, annoyed he expected me to activate something like that in a jet I was in for the very first time.
"The 2nd button from the left in front of you!" Troy cried back, to which I just looked down. Without thinking, I pressed down said button after looking at the panel, resulting in seemingly nothing occurring, other than checking outside and noticing the wings had vanished from view.
"Um, I know this is a stealth fighter, but that's just seemingly impossible..." I was going to complain, but Troy gestured me to relax, pointing towards the blue figures.
When I turned over, I noticed a blue energy sphere headed right in our direction, detonating nearby after having just barely missed. I took a guess that was Xavier launching an aura sphere at us--just freaking great.
"Welp, that was worth a shot." Troy shook his head. "Door should be opening now."
Trying to hear Troy over the attention I was giving to the blue spheres, laser fire, and now the sound of electricity blasting outwards was not really that easy. I sighed a little, not going to bother Troy in explaining it. He seemed to be busy with, you know, piloting this jet in the first place. I decided to keep my cool and alert him if anything happens.
"How are we getting out!?" I hollered, getting scared by now.
"The front door, silly!" Troy held back a frustrated sigh, gesturing in front of us. It seemed that the vech bay's door was opening to let in a PX truck. In the meantime, I was wondering if the smoke I was now seeing needed Troy's attention, but I was not able to think on that too long--Troy was in the process of pulling up on a lever to have the F-22...go up?
"Why is it going up--"
"I inverted the normal flight controls! I hate the default on these kinda things!" Troy hollered to quickly explain, with the F-22 now rising into the air near the ceiling. Moments later, I understood what Troy's plan was--he was going to fly over the truck instead of blasting through it. We might barely have enough clearance, but I was too scared to point this out. The truck was busy screeching to a halt and drawing their guns. Before I could figure out what to do, Troy cried out as I heard something impact the side of the F-22 near me, causing a shockwave of pain to erupt due to a small explosion of energy. I had the assumption that Xavier's aura sphere finally found its target--me. There was smoke emitting from the impact site and I saw a small hole now. The deflector had been depleted and the hull breached...thanks to the barrage of lasers and the aura spheres are thrown at us.
"L-Leon? You okay!?" Troy yelled, as my senses were starting to darken from the pain.
"Want to sleep..." I groaned, my eyes quickly closed and my head leaned back in the chair.
"Not now! Stay with me! That's an order!" Troy hollered in desperation.
I barely saw what was going on, only noticing the PX truck passing underneath the fighter jet. In my struggle to stay conscious, I forced my head to raise up to look outside once clear of the PX base. The wonder of the bright stars in the sky was the first to get my attention, the second being the fighter jet was landing on the rooftop of a nearby building on a helipad. Without waiting, Troy pressed down on yet another button, causing Troy and me to teleport outside onto the helipad.
We were not as alone as I wanted; due to hearing a panicked voice in front of us, followed by footsteps.
"Leon!?"
That was Quark's voice, to be precise! Why was he here?! Sure enough, with my diminishing strength, I noticed the familiar chespin running over, joined also by a familiar riolu--both of them were wearing armor--Riley, in particular, was giving me first aid to make sure I did not pass out. A few moments later, relief flowed through me as I managed to stand up.
"Okay, I think I can afford to answer a few of your questions," Troy replied a few seconds later. "Riley, scout out for headmaster what's-his-name and keep us updated. Quark, try to get the F-22 repaired so I can take him to our meetup point."
Then the marshtomp turned to me after watching Quark and Riley get to work. "All right, now I'll answer whatever you'd like to ask."
"All right, fine. First off: where the hell did you get 150 million to fund building a kind of fighter jet modeled after something from the USAF!?" I hollered at him without meaning to.
"Oh, I stole it all," Troy said in a non-joking manner, forming a grin on his face. "Spent the last few years making VERY small robberies from bank accounts that belonged to PX. Took a lot of effort to get by undetected."
I glanced at him in total shock. "You're serious?"
"Completely." Troy nodded with a wider grin now. "Hell, if they're willing to murder me just because I've no longer got the appearance of a human, they can be fine with losing millions. Now do me a favor: don't bother trying to arrest me for that. I got clearance to do whatever I must to get the plan going from the commander."
"...What commander?" I asked, frowning as doubts were starting to occur.
"I "forget" his name...starts with an R..." Troy shook his head. "That's not important right now: what matters now is you. It was important you understand that as long as you live, Noland cannot win."
"All right, fine, next question: what is so important to me that you're all willing to go after me?" I asked, sighing with impatience.
"You're the son of one of the highest ranking PX Admirals. You tell me that's important, all right?" Troy replied. "And I'd hate to break it to you: but we're no longer focusing on staying natural--not with the risk involved."
"I was worried you'd say that. So...we don't have a choice, we'll have to join up with PRT?" I sighed more, not liking this idea at all.
"That's up to you," Troy told me with a small chuckle. "But it wasn't PRT I'm planning on joining...you'll see what I mean."
"Ready!" Riley cried out as he and Quark stepped back. "You can pilot the F-22 far enough to get out to the coastline, at least."
"That's in the direction of the Atlantic Ocean, What would go towards the coast of our state be for?" I cried out, annoyed this was going to turn into a bad idea.
"Well, that's where the meetup point is. You'll understand why once we're there. Here's a hint." Riley chuckled before handing over a stellar score from his backpack, gesturing out into the distance towards the Atlantic ocean. "Just look out there and tell me what you see."
I obeyed, raising the stellar score up and glancing into it--noticing a sight I could not believe. I placed the stellar scope aside, looking at Riley. "What the hell? We're meeting on that thing?"
"Indeed, we are, so let's get going. Off to the USS Marlin." Riley nodded.
Out off the coast of Rhode Island at the moment was... something I nearly refused to believe could exist here of all places. I was hurried into the F-22 fighter jet after Troy unlocked the additional room for the other two to join us. The backset expanded just enough to avoid conflicts, with Troy promising me that the tech was going to make sense soon enough.
Without much delay, we were back into the air and flying the F-22 towards the coast of Rhode Island, staying high in the sky to avoid any grounded PX soldiers that might've followed us. On the way, Quark and Riley were busying providing an update on current events. Supposedly, this Headmaster Vincent, a sableye, was the one who arranged to meet up on this USS Marlin in a few hours and that we were to decide on a course of action on how to best deal with Noland.
"But if this headmaster of yours is all the way in Montana, how is supposed to meet us here in a few hours?" I asked, frowning.
"Well, he'll be teleporting here," Riley replied, nodding with confidence. "Our technology should be underestimated, Leon. The USS Marlin has limited teleportation, but it gets the job done."
Eventually, the F-22 was in the range of this USS Marlin, so I looked down to get a better look; not expecting this to be one of the biggest ships I had ever seen.

According to Riley, the object I was staring at looked to be a U.S Gerald.R.Ford Aircraft Carrier.

"H-How the?" I stammered in total shock. "How...is there...an Aircraft...Carrier...?"
"Cliffnotes version: Headmaster Vincent and Commander Remus Lupis built it over the span of several years, and no--we didn't steal it," Riley replied quickly. "We just 'borrowed' a few blueprints from the military and added a few modifications to suit our needs."
Without anything further, Troy spoke into the communications array. "This is LRC Agent Salvador of F-22 with a Code Beta 93. I have extracted Leonardo Momento successfully. Repeat: I have extracted Leonardo Momento successfully From PX Rhode Island base. Please respond."
"Copy that Agent Salvador," replied a new voice from might be a control room on the carrier. "Permission to land authorized."
Before I could even ask what was happening, the F-22 fighter jet began its descent and touched down on the large runway of the aircraft carrier. It took only moments for the jet to slow down and come to a full stop at the end of the runway. I could tell other pokemon were around, staring at the newly-arrived fighter jet with caution as expected. It was easy to spot the anti-aircraft weaponry and a few dozen or so fighter jets ready to be dispatched to deal with threats.
At once, we were teleported outside onto the runway and noticed someone was approaching. It looked to be a lizard-like pokemon, yellow in coloration with a long orange-striped, black-tipped tail. The pokemon also had zigzag patterns with orange bands on its legs. While having a nearly-black colored head and a lower yellow jaw, the pokemon also had a pair of points over the eyes and blue irises. Around its neck was a yellow frilled collar in the pattern of the sun. Finally, this pokemon looked to be dressed in a blue military uniform much like a naval officer, having quite an intimidating aura and was supposedly a male. This pokemon, called a "heliolisk" according to Troy, looked at us with a firm stare of both amazement and concern.
Before I was ready, the heilolisk spoke in a commanding tone, towards me.
"Good morning, Leonardo Momento. I have been waiting a long time for us to finally meet. Welcome aboard the USS Marlin. I am Vincent's PRT Commander Remus. J. Lupis."