Hearing a scuffle from out in the hallway, Dido came fully awake. She leapt off of her bed and dashed out the door. The Skitty slowed as she entered the hall, attempting to return to her usual elegant demeanor. Ah, that Mewtwo had gotten one of the locked doors open, the one that she'd suspected contained more of the Rocket's captured Pokémon.She crept up to the open door and peeked in, just enough so she could see... yes, Pokémon. Unlike the other two rooms, however, there were two different kinds of Pokémon: Bulbasaur and Charmander. Both of these were fairly rare, especially here in Zatao, she knew, being 'starter' Pokémon from Kanto, often gifted to young trainers by Pokémon Professors. But what were these Bulbasaur and Charmander doing? All along the wall to her right, they were unplugging cables from sockets in the wall, then plugging them into others of the many, many sockets, apparently at random. Dido tilted her head, watching them for a moment, but then shook her head as if to clear it. There was no way she was going to be able to figure this out.
But, still... Those Pokémon were moving awfully strangely. Almost as if they were sleepwalking... Hypnosis? Did the Rockets do this to them? She knew her Eros would never do something like this to Pokémon. But maybe these Rockets were different than her Eros. They'd certainly proved that by capturing her. As standoffish as she usually was towards other Pokémon, Dido knew this was just wrong, and she had to help these sad creatures. They were like... The Skitty shuddered. They were like zombie slaves, in those nasty movies Juno liked and kept getting Eros to watch.
Dido looked around the room. Ah, there, on the far wall. There were four machines ticking ominously. Chances were, they were somehow connected to controlling the Bulbasaur and Charmander, so disabling them seemed to be the best course of action.
Now, how to get over there? She couldn't take the risk of catching the Pokémon's attention. If the horrid so-called Rockets could hypnotize them to do this... plugging thing, chances were good they were also hypnotized to attack anyone who disturbed them. All right, no problem. One of the hallmarks of a lady was never to raise her voice, and never to make any noise as she walked, ever so elegantly across a contest stage. And the cables stretching across the room? Also no problem. Her natural grace would serve her well.
All right then, here she went.
Quiet step, quiet step, duck under a cable. Quiet step, quiet step, quiet step, reach tiny legs out as far as they can possibly reach and step over a cable. Quiet step, under. Quiet step, over. Quiet step, quiet step, under, over— "Ow!"
A stray spark arced up from the cable Dido was stepping over, striking her in the forepaw. Before she could stop herself, she'd let out a yowl of pain that echoed out into the hallway. With a tiny paw held over her mouth in shock, she slowly turned to look at the zombie Pokémon.
"Oh, Spoink."
Here they came, maybe not as fast as they might have, had they been under their own power, but certainly not shuffling as slowly as the zombies in those nasty movies.
Backed up against the wall across from where the Bulbasaur and Charmander had started, Dido racked her mind for ideas. Would her signature moves work? Charm, Attract, Charm, Attract, Charm, Attract, the Skitty thought to herself, repeating the makeshift mantra over and over, spewing a series of tiny heart-shaped clouds at her attackers. Halfway across the room, three of the Pokémon stopped, apparently dazed, looking around, at each other, and at her in confusion. But one of the Charmander kept on toward her, until, finally it had her leg.
Dido squealed in protest as it... nuzzled her. "Eh?" She looked down to see the orange head rubbing affectionately at her foreleg. Her moves had worked, maybe too well. Aw, this was... kind of cute. But she had a job to do. Gingerly, Dido tried to extract herself from the Charmander's grasp. But the zombie Pokémon simply would not budge, even growling a little as she tried to move. All right, scratch that. What else did she have in her arsenal? Ah...
Dido began to Sing. She hummed, she mewed, she sang along with "Skitty, skitty, skitty." It might not have been the most tuneful melody in Zatao, but it did its job. Slowly, slowly, the Charmander's eyes closed, and it slid off of the Skitty's leg and onto the floor. Even the other Charmander and the two Bulbasaur slumped together in sleep, halfway across the room.
The Skitty sighed in relief, and, thankfully, the last few cables between her and the ominous machines gave her no further trouble. That only left the problem of the machines themselves.
Dido had only one really good attack in her repertoire, and she was loath to use it once, let alone for each of the four machines. She almost turned around right then and there, but, once she saw the poor, pathetic creatures crumpled behind her, she simply couldn't leave them to the mercy of these horrid so-called Rockets. Very well.
Double-edge. Dido hissed in pain as the recoil from the attack hit her. But, thank Cresselia, one of the machines lay in ruins. Double-edge. She only winced this time, the pain duller. Double-edge. She yowled weakly. Double-edge. With the last of the machines destroyed, Dido mustered up just enough strength to totter to the door before collapsing, panting, on the threshold.
POKEBALL GO!!
