Celebi Like Them (13)

Quinn found a fully automatic door waiting at the upper balcony, made of a sturdy-looking metal. Lights came on as he approached, and a camera followed his movements, pivoting as his antennae twitched.

A second later there was a click, and a tiny metal compartment opened beside the door. A voice echoed through speakers there, slightly distorted by the volume and their low quality. "Place the inhibitor around your neck. It will make a sound when it is working correctly."

"Inhibitor." Quinn didn't much like the sound of that word. But for Avery's sake... he gestured, levitating the object out from beneath. It looked like an adjustable collar, made from several layers of banded metal, with flat plates on the inner side. A tiny light flashed when he moved it, beeping out status indicators.

It stretched easily, expanding wide enough to get around his oversized head. Then it contracted, until it rested against his neck. Metal plates touched his skin, and a faint energy buzzed through them.

Quinn dropped an inch to the ground, feeling a sudden press of gravity that hadn't been there moments before. A faint headache pulsed in his mind, along with the charge coming from the device.

"Do not attempt to remove the inhibitor. It will detach automatically when you return to containment." The door clicked, then slid upward, opening a tiny space beyond: an airlock, with sprayers on the walls.

Quinn had seen enough secure labs in his time to guess what would happen when he got in. The door closed again, then the lights got much brighter. Air hissed and the tubes began to shake.

He got his eyes closed in time to stop from getting foam blasted into his face. It stung his skin, particularly the singed parts where Vitari had held him against the wall. But it didn't keep going for much longer.

The foam was replaced with water, then hot air. About twenty seconds later, the door on the far side opened.

Through the doors was a visiting room, not that different from those he'd seen in prison photos. A few tables and chairs around them, scattered far enough to give everyone some privacy. One wall was a window overlooking containment, showing the environment below and the apartment doors. The others were all plain white, broken only by notices in the local language he didn't read.

There was the guard he'd observed from outside, sitting at a control booth behind a layer of glass. There were two more guards waiting by the other door, also felines. Only these wore uniforms of reflective fabric over most of their bodies, with helmets that lacked even an opening for the eyes. He could only imagine what would happen if they drew the weapons on their backs.

He should've been able to sense their feelings, if only boredom at the routine job they performed. But he couldn't feel anything anymore.

"Quinn! You're alive!" That voice was high, mewling and childish. Even so, it was familiar. Avery!

He turned, and found the kitten waiting for him above a chair. He made his way over, halting and unsteady on weak limbs. His wings buzzed, but imparted little lift to steady him. He shuffled over to the table, and stopped on the opposite side. "I bet I'm not supposed to—"

But she didn't care, zipping up and into his chest. She wrapped her forelegs around him, and touched her tiny head to his belly. "It's been forever! I thought they would never start your treatment."

He looked down. The kitten hadn't changed much since the last time he saw her; maybe a little longer? She wore a flexible shirt of sorts, almost a dress, except it wouldn't effectively cover anything. She had a bracelet wrapped around a foreleg too, just above her paw. But the writing there wasn't a language he could read. At least they hadn't stuck an inhibitor on her.

"What are you talking about? I've only been out for a day."

She whimpered. "A day?" Avery let go, then circled around him. She really flew this time, though still somewhat halting and uncoordinated. Her tail smacked into the table as she did it, but she didn't need his help to stay up.

He couldn't have helped her no matter how bad he wanted to.

"It's been... a lot longer than that, Quinn. It's hard for me to think about time like I used to. But maybe... six months? Or weeks? A month is the bigger one, right?"

"A month is the bigger one." He eased himself down into the cushion. Not a chair exactly, though it was about chair shaped. "You forgot how long a month is?"

The kitten didn't sit down, not for long. She eased herself towards the seat, then straight back up, zipping through the air around him. "I'm just glad you're okay! I didn't know if they were ever gonna wake you up. I mean they told me they would, but—" She stuck out her tongue, and thoughts came directly between them.

Apparently she could still do it, even if he couldn't. "For Mew, they don't like Pokémon very much. It's so weird!"

Were the guards watching closely? Not that he could see. So maybe what Avery was doing wasn't against the rules. He had all the more reason to be cautious if these people didn't like... Pokémon?

"Collar," he said, nodding towards it. "I can't use telepathy, or anything else." He was lucky they didn't leave the stupid things on everyone in there, or they would all be in even worse shape. It wouldn't be just the Shaymin dying if no one could use their powers in there.

"Oh." She flicked past him, smacking him with her tail. "Okay. Well. I guess I should try to update you about everything. I know some stuff! Some they told me, some I figured out on my own, because I'm so smart."

He waved towards the chair. "Would be easier if you did it sitting down. You're getting distracted, and running into innocent Pokémon."

She stuck her tongue out, then settled down on the seat like a cat. Not at all like he was sitting—she even paced around in a little circle, testing the cushion before she found a comfortable spot.

Then she did, her tail curling around and around her body. But instead of saying anything, she started grooming herself.

"What happened while I was out?" Quinn prompted, annoyed. "I don't think we get a lot of time to talk, Avery."

She lowered her foreleg back down. "Right! Sorry. So... I got adopted! The mew here are... nice to me. There's not a lot of other kittens here, something about the fertility rate... don't know what that means. Think I forgot."

She floated over the table towards him, touching her foreleg against his tiny hand. "I was so wrong about how parapsychology works. I thought it was one way, but I was backwards! Upside-down, and maybe a little sideways. When I get back, I'm gonna write the best thesis that ever got written."

You still remember your degree. That was good. With her strange behavior, Quinn had started wondering if his friend was still in there. "You said back. I guess you still want to go home?"

She nodded absently. "Oh yeah, obviously. Once I've grown up a little, and I'm not a kitten anymore. But there's so much they can teach me before that!"

"Ancient civilization," Quinn said. "One never imagined. I think they call this the Silurian hypothesis. Ancients so old that their existence left no trace. I don't think anyone ever imagined they would be Pokémon."

"Five minutes!" called the guard, his voice loud and harsh. As though there weren't just two of them in the whole room. "Wrap it up!"

Not even half an hour! What kind of hospital is this? Not a hospital, obviously. A prison.

"Don't answer right away," he asked. "Did you see those cruise tickets? Where we were gonna go?"

Avery floated off the table again, beaming. "I remember that! You thought you were so clever keeping them from me, but Professor Fennel told me you were gonna ask. She could've told you no if I didn't want to go. Except I did, so..."

"So think about it," he said. "I don't know what's gonna happen to me inside. This isn't a very nice place, Avery." He lowered his voice, antennae sagging in front of him. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to change you back."

"Are you kidding?" Avery nudged him with her oversized tail. "Why would I want that? Lumpy bumpy, thoughts like falling sand. Slow and slow and slow and slow some more."

"You just said—" His mouth fell open. "You want to stay like that? I thought you wanted to go home!"

She giggled, nudging up against his shoulder. "I've never felt more like me than this, Quinn. I'm real. I'm not taking chemicals to pretend. I don't have to do a whole study to use these powers. I just am."

She landed back in the chair, looking serious for the first time in their entire conversation. "My adoptive mother doesn't care that I used to be human. She doesn't really believe the whole future thing. Doesn't approve of me coming here to talk to you either. But she doesn't care that I used to be bulbous and different. It's not even that weird: most of the grown-ups have been lots of Pokémon before. They transformed. Like the ones in the hospital with you. They changed, then got stuck."

"Don't forget," he said, gripping her foreleg from across the table. "Please. Even if it's confusing, even if you have lots of distractions, don't forget where we came from. And if anything happens to me, remember the cruise."

"That's enough!" the guard called. Any pretense of neutrality was gone from her voice. "Time to go. Leave the kitten and get back here."

He stood up, with difficulty. Every passing second made the weight of his own body more pressing, as though the collar on his neck was made from heavy iron. His wings buzzed, but even that offered little relief.

"Guess that's it, Avery." He lowered his voice, for all the difference it would make. Cats already had good hearing, before being Psychic type. "Do you feel safe here?"

Avery followed him from the seat. "Of course! They take good care of kittens here. Which means me!" She puffed out her fluffy chest, then made a little mewing sound. "I could stay here forever! But I won't, because I gotta bring back what I learned. When I'm ready."

"Told you that was it." Someone appeared behind him, an obviously feline shape in the meeting room. He hadn't heard the guard move, though clearly she had. A teleport?

"I'm going." He turned slowly in place, towards the exit. "I was just saying my goodbyes to an old friend."

"Right, sure. Now on you go."

"I'll visit again when I can!" Avery called after him. "Soon, I hope! Next time my mom is away on assignment! I'll come back!" She flew right up to him, touching her face to his chest in a distinctly inhuman way. Quinn could still get the idea, anyway.

"Stay safe, Avery. Maybe my... treatment... will go well, and I can get out of here."

She followed him all the way to the security door, but couldn't go any further. That guard pushed against her with unseen force, urging Avery away.

"Alright, kitten. Back to your mother now. These patients are too dangerous for you to be visiting, anyway. Who stamped your visitor's permit?"

Can't help you with this one, Avery. Quinn hurried away from her, approaching the metal doors. They opened when he approached, then slammed closed behind him just as quickly. Fast enough to smash against his wings, shoving him the last few inches through the doorway.

The inner door remained closed, and stayed that way until the guard finally returned to her post. Avery vanished through a heavy door beyond, into a round room covered in buttons. Elevator?

Of course I'm underground. He had already guessed that, from the awful cold lights and the walls covered in screens. It was nice to have confirmation.

Something clicked around his neck, and the awful collar finally loosened. A plastic drawer opened in front of him, with a blinking light within. "Return the inhibitor," said the guard, projecting entirely familiar annoyance. "Then you may return to isolation."

He gestured, and the collar levitated off from around his neck, clattering into the waiting drawer. Breath and life returned to him along with freedom of motion.

I hope she got the message. I don't think I'll be here long enough to tell her a second time.

Quinn had seen about enough of mew prison. It was time to make good on a promise.