Chapter 3

Talban and Fenton entered the conference room at exactly 10:00 hours. Two Pokémon were already there and turned to look at them. The Leafeon who appeared to be male was seated next to a very obviously female Articuno. They seemed to be having a pleasant conversation before their attention was drawn to the newcomers.

Talban made eye contact with the bright and alert yellow eyes of the Leafeon and smiled politely. The Leafeon got up and went over to Talban and Fenton.

“Salutations! I'm Verde Lineas. You must be members of our crew.” Verde shook hands with Talban first and then with Fenton. He used the double handshake method which made Talban wonder where he was from.

Talban smiled. “Good morning, Verde, I'm Talban and this is my mate Fenton.”

Fenton blinked double take fashion and Talban smiled in his reassuring way. That was the first time Talban referred to them as a mated couple. He hoped Fenton would accept this change. In this new chapter in their life, Talban wanted more than just their job to be a step forward.

“Oh you two are mated? How nice for you. I haven’t found anyone yet.” Verde said.

“Um sorry for the confusion we’re not mated yet.” Fenton said. Talban put a firm hand on Fenton’s left butt cheek. Fenton looked at him with uncertainty but not really with protest.

Verde laughed. “You seem to be wrong there. I think you were meant for each other. It’s a wonderful thing really. I’m just a tad jealous.”

“Well love might be around the corner, you never know.” The Articuno said. Her aqua blue feathers had an icy look to them as they shimmered in the simulated daylight from the spectra enhanced fixtures above. She put her arm around the Leafeon. Talban didn't hide his smile. It only made sense for a water aspect Pokémon to be attracted to a grass aspect Pokémon. They were a natural complement to the other.

“I've never met a legendary before.” Fenton said.

“It’s just a label. It hardly means anything anymore. My name is Polara, and if we all get along I won’t have to put out any fires.” She winked.

While she had a friendly attitude, the warning was real. So far each of them possessed an elemental advantage over at least one other. Even Talban who was immune to Kalinta’s psychic powers had an advantage over her and she was the team lead. It was an interesting observation but it was only a coincidence and didn't mean much yet.

Talban looked at Fenton who had that nervous look again. He wondered if he might be afraid of Polara.

“Shouldn't there be six per team?” Verde asked.

“Well, our lead hasn't shown up either so maybe we’re just early.” Talban said.

As if on cue, the sliding door opened and Kalinta strode in. “Morning team.” She smiled at each member as she passed them on her way to the front. “Have a seat and we’ll get started.”

They took their seats, staying together in the same row. Fenton sat next to Talban with Verde on his right. Polara sat next to Verde.

“For the time being this will be our team. In case you are wondering and I know that you are, the other two didn't pass my screening process. A pity, most certainly. And I liked the Pikachu so much too. ” she shook her head and sighed.

Talban found that an interesting bit of info. A Pikachu would have had an elemental advantage over Polara. And one more? A rock or ground aspect to match with the Pikachu? It had to be intentional. He smiled to himself, and saw Fenton with a puzzled look over it. He placed his hand on Fenton’s thigh and rubbed the fur there. It felt nice to touch him there and he knew it would calm Fenton a little. Such a mess of nerves.

“In any case it should be just fine to start you off on your first mission with just the four of you. Any questions so far?”

“I think that was a little over the top for just a training exercise” Polara said. She had her arms crossed in disdain as she leered at her but it had no effect on Kalinta.

“That wasn't training, my dear. It was a screening. Some Pokémon have what it takes and some don’t. I’m the beginning. If you can’t make it with me you won’t get far at all. In my opinion it’s best to send people home before they get hurt – “ she looked sternly at each of them, “Or worse.”

Fenton flinched from Kalinta’s gaze. Talban squinted his eyes at her in almost a warning. He didn't want Fenton wound up anymore. He’d never get him to settle down if she kept doing things like that. He sighed.

“Be mad. I don’t care. I’m still your lead and if you have any sense at all you’ll listen to everything I say. We don’t play games here. You succeed or you meet your end. We face real threats out there. It’s not a place for the unprepared. If that scares you, then leave, right now. I’m not a baby sitter.”

Fenton looked at his feet. Talban wanted to know what he was thinking after what Kalinta just said. Was he scared? Would he leave?

He coughed to break the silence.

“Now looks like a good time for a break. We’ll reconvene at 11:30. You can use that time to decide if you really want to be here or not. I trust you’ll all make the right decision.”

Kalinta walked passed them and went out the door.

Fenton turned to Talban. “What do you think we should do?”

“About what? You’re not seriously thinking of leaving already are you?”

“No. I mean should we tell someone what she did? Do you think she was out of bounds?”

“Not yet. I think we both learned something valuable from that experience.”

“It’s just.. I’m afraid she’ll do it again. What if she doesn’t stop next time? How can I defend against psychic power that strong?”

“Fenton… you worry way too much. She’s not our enemy.” Talban petted his head hair, smoothed it back and rubbed the cheek fur with the side of his index finger.

“So she did something to you too. If she does it again I'll go with you to report her.” Polara said.

“Same here.” Verde said.

“Well she has shown restraint.” Talban said. Verde winced when Talban used the word restraint.

“I need some water. I’m going to find our ship’s common area.” Verde said and left.

“Wait, Verde, I'll go with you.” Polara went after him.

Talban heard Fenton exhale a breath he’d kept in too long. What was it going to take to calm his flare?

“C’mon. We have to do something about this.” Talban said and headed out the door towing Fenton by the hand.

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going to find a way to get you to relax. Haven’t you noticed how tense you are? It’s really bothering me, fen.” Talban said. He stopped in front of a display panel. Talban used the controls to bring up a layout of the ship. The common area was one deck above them, easy to get to if they wanted to talk with Verde and Polara again. Their own room, or shared room as it were, was one deck below. Talban didn't want Fenton to relax quite that much but one more option presented itself. Talban smiled.

“Do you want to see the hangar? You wanted to see the fighters right?” Talban studied Fenton’s expression and mannerisms as he said this. He wasn't an expert on reading body language yet but he certainly knew his flare well enough. Fenton's shoulders became a bit less stiff but that was all.

“We could I suppose. I hope we get good models, not something cheap.” Fenton said. It wasn't a very enthusiastic response and Talban wondered just how much longer he would be like this.

“We’re only going to find out by going down there. It’s either that or go find those other two to talk to. But we’ll have time to get to know them later.” Talban said.

Fenton smiled. “Ok. Lets go to the hangar. It might be fun.”

“Good. I like to see that cute smile of yours. Let’s go.” Talban headed down the corridor once more and stopped at a lift. They waited for it and stepped in when it opened. The hangar deck was further than the other places they could have gone but Talban wanted to see what they’d be flying as well. The double shielded doors to the hangar observation deck opened without a code. Talban' s memory of security protocol was excellent and he recognized immediately that someone had tampered with the lock control. He would have to report it as soon as possible.

They walked along the deck which overlooked the hangar and launch bay. The deck spanned the perimeter of the hangar's top floor. The other areas were viewable through the observation monitor panels. Each had the words "No signal". Talban stopped to ponder this.

"Something wrong?" Fenton asked.

"Not sure. Let's have a closer look down there. The monitors don't seem to be working."

"Right. Let's go up close!" Fenton said. They took the nearby lift down to the first floor.

The first floor of the hangar housed 20 ships. Each was the same type at least from an outward inspection. Fenton’s eyes lit up with interest. Apparently he recognized what they were which is more than Talban could say for himself.

“Well? Are they good?” Talban asked.

“Yeah. Real good. Expensive too. Sr-tt91 class b. Full shields plus half-light drive. No folding obviously. They’d be fast both in space and in atmosphere. They didn't spare any expense. Only the military has better."

Fenton stopped to look at something on the underside of one of the jets. Fenton's eyes moved rapidly in that hyper focused way he had when he was thinking critically about something important.

“What is it?” Talban asked.

“These models have a false hull. There’s something underneath. Tal, I think these might be stolen military models.”

“Well, the Rescue Corps wouldn’t do anything illegal.” Talban said. Fenton didn't look fully convinced of that. Talban could understand why it would be hard to trust the corps after what Kalinta put him through but it was too early to start making presumptions. Talban tried to move the observation to the back of his mind.

“There’s gotta be an explanation, fen.”

Talban watched Fenton for a moment.

“What are you thinking about?” Talban asked.

Fenton’s eyes swiveled to his right as his ears twitched. “Hold on... I’m listening…”

He turned his head to the left and sprinted in that direction down the catwalk to the stairway in an intersection. Talban gave chase and caught up in time to see Fenton tackle a shimmering figure.

“Fenton!”

Fenton wrestled with the figure which seemed unarmed from as much as Talban could see. The floor shimmered and Fenton’s body appeared suspended except for the notion of someone wearing a camouflage suit. Fenton tore the helmet off revealing the head of a Raichu.

“I'll fucking kill you if you don’t get off me!” The Raichu snarled.

Fenton flinched as the Raichu bit into his shoulder. Fenton yelped and fell off of his attacker and lost his good grip. The Raichu sprung to his feet and ran. Talban growled. He wanted to retaliate on Fenton’s behalf but his flare was hurt and making sure he was okay took precedence. Talban knelt down and looked at the wound. It was just four bleeding bite marks in his shoulder. Nothing serious. Fenton tried to get up but even if Talban let him, the intruder was down the next ramp and heading out of the hangar.

“Don’t move around like that or you’ll traumatize the wound.” Talban said calmly.

“But we can’t just let him get away!”

“Yes we can. He can’t get far, we’re in deep space. Someone else will find him.” Talban said. Fenton’s gaze fell upon the helmet, now fully visible and pokeball red. Something small and blue lay next to it.

“Hey… that guy dropped something.”

Talban looked at what Fenton saw. He picked it up and looked at it.

“It's a memory stick. What the hell? That was careless of him.” Talban said and handed it to Fenton so he could see it too.

“But now we have it. I bet it’s important.”

He sighed and looked up at Talban. “Can I get up now?”

"Not quite yet." Talban said. He found a first aid kit nearby and used the healing spray on the wound. "You should be okay now." he smiled at his flare.

“It’s not bad. I’m tough right?”

Talban smiled. “Foolish. Why did you attack him without me. You didn't even know what species he was.”

“I… just thought…”

“Did you think at all? Don’t rush off like that again. You worried me. Maybe he really could have killed you just now. Sometimes your fire is too hot, my flare.” Talban didn't wait for one of Fenton’s usual apologies or excuses, he leaned in to kiss him. It made his heart race. If it wasn't for the meeting they had to get back to, he’d see how far he could go right there on that metal mesh flooring.

“Wait… don’t stop at one like you normally do.” Fenton said with more of a pleading tone.

“You want more? Maybe after the meeting in our own room we can do more. But we need to get back so we can report what just happened."

He helped him up and they left the hangar.

They returned to the meeting room. No one else had shown up yet. Fenton looked pensive and Talban could tell that he just couldn't leave the prior issue alone. After everything that happened Talban would need some serious alone time with Fenton to calm him down. It worried him because of what Kalinta said earlier. If it was this hard at the beginning how would he make it on the missions. He growled in frustration and nudged Fenton.

“Stop.”

“What?”

“You know what. Haven’t you worried yourself over enough already?”

He sighed. Talban prepared for an excuse.

“I can’t help it. It’s just how I am.”

“You can if you try. I’m here to help.”

Kalinta strode passed them and up onto the podium. She gave them direct looks, first to Talban then to Fenton.

“Are you the only ones that came back?” She asked. She looked prepared to be disappointed.

“No we’re here.” Verde walked in with Polara behind him and took their seats. Kalinta smiled. It certainly would have looked bad for her if two of her team members quit because of her. It wasn't clear if the two had resolved anything but the fact they came back said a lot. He was glad they did.

“Well then. I’m glad you made the right choice. Tomorrow morning we will be going on our first mission together. Since you’re all the best from your respective classes it should be a cake walk. Even if we are short two members but don’t worry about that. I’ll get us a full team before it becomes a problem.”

Fenton sighed as his gaze remain fixed on his hands. Talban put his arm around his shoulder.

“We’re going together. Stop worrying already.” He whispered. He nodded but sighed again which wasn't quite what Talban wanted. It was one of those automatic nods. It told Talban that Fenton knew he was right but didn't want to do anything about it. His flare needed a distraction.

“Well if there are no questions, and it seems you all have decided to ignore me now, this concludes our meeting. Meet on deck 4 suite 499 for the mission briefing at 0900 hours.” Kalinta said.

When Kalinta stepped off the raised platform she looked at Fenton and then at Talban.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We went down to the hangar and we found an intruder in a camouflage suit. I attacked him but I got bit." Fenton said.

She seemed to analyze what he said and nodded. "Well you look like you're a wreck, fen. Try to get some rest. I'll look into this myself."

"Don't worry miss Darktale he'll be fine. I'll see to it." Talban said and smiled at Fenton.

"My dear, Kalinta is just fine. No need to be so formal around me. This isn't the military." she smiled and excused herself as she left the conference room.

"C'mon, Fen let's go to our room."

"Gladly." Fenton said and smiled.