Belly Up in a Gut
#2 of Diary of a Ranger
Silence. Powerful, overwhelming silence. It practically choked the air out of the room as he looked around. A beam of light was shining in the distance and almost on a whim, he felt his feet start to walk towards it. Warmth seemed to surge into his body the closer he got to it, his world unfocused around him... could he see the shape of a forest beneath him, the cut of a brook in the middle? No, that was impossible... There was no way he was...
***
"JAN. WAKE UP!" A voice suddenly shouted in his ear, startling the vulpine pokemon out of his hammock as he tumbled down to the ground, landing with a thud. The Glaceon's crystalline eyes looked over, catching a glimpse of a pair of dark green feet before his gaze lifted up.
"Oh... heya boss..." Jan muttered before slowly rising to his feet, groaning a bit as he held his head. The lizard in front of him was wholly unsympathetic, arms folded across his chest, blades of grass seemingly sprouting from his elbows.
"You've been asleep for at least fifteen hours since we found you. I figured all you needed was a nice shout in the ear, but the doctors wouldn't let me." The Grovyle grinned devilishly, letting his arms fall back to his sides. "Now, what did you find in Illusion Forest? You were gone for a whole day and night before we found you!"
Memories, like a dam that had been burst open, poured into the Glaceon's mind. It was all he could do to hide the look of horror from his face as he distinctly remembered gurgling away inside that Alakazam's belly. "It was a rogue Alakazam, sir. He's been capturing and eating pokemon that wander into his lair. Whole, sir."
"I see... and you know this how?" The Grovyle's eyes narrowed and Jan groaned inwardly. If only he'd never lied about where he'd been while on missions before!
"Saw him through the trees, sir. That poor Weedle never stood a chance... shame I couldn't save the boy..." Thankfully, the Grovyle seemed satisfied with that explanation, giving a curt little nod.
"All right, I expect a report on my desk by day's end, and then we have another assignment for you. You'll be going north this time... more pokemorph disappearances, very messy, I'm afraid... anyway, I'll leave you to your work." With that, the Grovyle turned on his heel and marched out the door, adjusting his uniform before leaving.
Jan sighed as he was finally left alone, sinking slowly onto the hammock in his room. There was no way he'd survived what he did, but here he was. Did Jirachi really hear his wish, or was this just some kind of divine prank? Oh, there were so many questions to ask, but for now the Glaceon had work to do.
Pen and paper were procured from his desk, a clipboard from his bedside table, and soon Jan was typing up his report of events as he'd told the Grovyle. Though to appease his conscience, he wrote up a second report detailing the true events which he promptly threw away.
'Illusion Forest Mission.
Assignment: Find the location of missing pokemorphs and cause of disappearances
Culprit: Rogue Alakazam.
Report: Rogue devoured pokemorphs as his only form of sustenance, using the forest as his method of wearing down intruders to 'his' forest. Works using a mixture of illusion and psychic powers to erase the mind of prey, then swallows whole if possible. Subject then enters a state of rest for at least one day, not budging from the shade of a tree. Do not approach without reason. Air assault recommended to avoid illusions in forest.'
Personal status: Found unconscious some ways away from forest after watching a Weedle morph get devoured. Possible assumption: Fainted from powerful psychic blast attack, but left alone because subject was full.'
Satisfied with the resulting report, Jan put it into a folder, smiling to himself as he walked out of his room and down to his boss's office. The nameplate on the door signified that this was 'Lyre's Office' and that he was head of Pokemorph Rangers South Division. Jan drew himself upright a bit more and knocked on the door, waiting for the response on the other side.
"Enter!" Came the Grovyle's voice and Jan walked right on in. "Ah, Jan. I assume you have my report of what happened?" Without a word, the Glaceon handed it over, settling down in the chair across the desk as Lyre started to read it, drumming his fingers on the desk.
"... I see. Well, we'll follow your recommendation to take this rogue out. Now, as for your next assignment..." Lyre stood up, stretching out his back a bit as he turned to the big map behind him. "You're going to be going here." A green finger pointed out a mountainous area to the north, labeled the Kanjoh Mountains.
"As for details of the assignment, there have been mass disappearances recently, and all eyewitness reports are about as vague as 'red lights flashing in the distance, just over Mt. Kanjoh'. You're going to be taking a Dragonite there so that you'll be there before nightfall. I can only hope you do a bit better on this assignment than something so vague on your report."
Jan nodded firmly as he stood back up, flashing a salute and smile to the Grovyle across from him. The motion was returned and the Glaceon was dismissed. Leaving the office, it was a quick walk up two flights of stairs to the Dragonite dock, where several of the feral beasts were standing around, messenger bags slung over their shoulders.
One in particular, his horns pointed downward instead of up like the others, waddled over to Jan, that goofy smile affixed to its face. "Dragonite?" It asked in its own language, before turning around and giving Jan room to jump on his back.
"Yeah, I'll be taking you buddy. To Kanjoh Mountains. We're looking for red flashes of light, all right?" The feral nodded before Jan jumped on his back. With a surge of those small wings, Dragonite was up in the air and rushing off to the north.
***
The moon was high overhead as they finally made their approach to the mountain region, several frosted peaks jutting out over just as many valleys. The fires from campsites were visible even from so high over head and the Dragonite Jan was riding on made good use of the thermals to keep aloft.
"All right, buddy. Be on the lookout for those red lights... try to focus on the campsites, specifically. Doubt they're picking up hikers, otherwise no one would notice for a while..." The Dragonite gave a noise of confirmation as he slowly swooped around those mountain tops, the chill air thankfully not affecting Jan or Dragonite.
Almost as if right on cue, a bright flash of red light shone near one of the campsites. The Dragonite didn't need to be told at all, immediately turning around and swooping down towards that campsite as another light flashed near one of the tents.
"Go, Dragonite. Get back to Lyre and bring back a party! I think there's more than one!" Jan shouted as he jumped off of Dragonite's back. Another noise of assent, and with a flurry of wings and wind, Dragonite was off back towards the Ranger Compound.
"In the name of Pokemorph Rangers South Division, I'm asking you to stop your assault and come out peacefully!" He shouted into the darkness, watching as a red flash shone inside of one of the tents, briefly silhouetting two attackers and a third camper disappearing. "You are illegally using pokeball technology, and as such are hereby sentenced to time in jail." Jan stepped toward those silhouetted forms, before the tent burst open.
A stream of water was shot just over his head, the fire behind him getting quickly extinguished as he cried out in astonishment, ducking behind another tent. "We won't stop what we're doing, Ranger. I hope you have backup nearby..." There was a sinister tone to those words, almost matching a ghost pokemon's normal voice pattern.
"Identify yourselves and give up! I have sent my Dragonite back to the Ranger Compound and he will be back in thirty minutes with assistance." The Glaceon defiantly shouted, feeling confident that he had the upper hand.
"Oh no no no, my poor deluded Glaceon. That's not quick enough. Not at all..." A click of something being pressed, followed by the tell-tale chime of a pokeball being readied... it was a sound to send a chill down Jan's spine. Too late, he tried to roll away from his position, but a flash of red light surrounded him and he felt a sharp jerk against his head as he slowly turned into processed data.
***
Faintly, through the confines of the capsule, he could hear the voices of his attackers, groaning a bit as he sat up in the simulated snowstorm of his ball. Dammit... that was the only thought in his head now. He was caught, and now he was being taken to wherever these two wanted him...
"Good job, Gengar. You did well tonight for your first capture. That Glaceon is surely a good catch..." Came a feminine voice, somewhere next to where he was.
"Oh, it was nothing Mismagius. He was a scared little Ranger... probably just a rookie or something. Poor guy, they sent him on a suicide mission!" The voice, probably the Gengar, cackled.
"Anyway, we're here. You ready? I've taught you all there is about swallowing these things, now it's up to you to actually do it." Came the other voice, possibly the Mismagius. Wait... swallow? What did that mean?!
Already, Jan was confused. If they weren't running a pokemorph slavery ring, what were they doing with everyone they captured? It was enough to make the Glaceon infinitely concerned as he felt his ball being picked up through the simulated interior.
"Mmm... right. I'm gonna start with this pesky ranger... down the hatch!" Came the menacing shout before gravity quickly turned topsy-turvy, making the Glaceon sick to his stomach. Slurping noises resounded around the pokeball interior before a loud, firm gulp squeezed him downward.
Oh gods... he was being eaten. In a pokeball, no less... soon, more of the same noises came and went, and he even felt a few pokeballs clack against his in the dark confines of what was surely the Gengar's stomach...
Already he heard the hiss of acid wearing away the exterior of his pokeball... he was going to die, and not just from being eaten this time. He was going to die as soon as his pokeball was forcibly cracked open, nothing but a stream of data lost inside of a Gengar's stomach...
Almost as if on cue, that one noise that was ingrained in a pokemon's psyche resounded around his simulated environment, a shark crack as acid poured into the pokeball, destroying the microcomputer contained within...
There was silence as the snowstorm faded... pure, crushing silence... and then there was no longer anything...