Ash Ketchum: Hunt For Jade Dragon

Prologue

The ES Faraday

Port of Callao Harbor, Peru

"This is a cattle ship," Cyrus shouted, throwing his half-full glass of Scotch against the wall. "Do you hear me? I'm living on a stinking cattle ship!"

"Yes, sir," his servant her said, scrambling to clean up the mess. Even though she was accustomed to Cyrus's volcanic temper, his outbursts her still frightened her.

After the Electroclan sank the Ampere--the Galactic's luxury superyacht--Cyrus and the remaining Galactic onboard had taken up residence on the Faraday, the Galactic troop ship and the largest boat of the Galactic fleet. "Ketchum and his terrorist friends will pay for this," Cyrus grumbled. He reached for his glass before remembering he'd just thrown it. "Hurry and clean up that mess," he said to his servant, who was still on her knees collecting shards of glass in the palm of her hand. "Then get me another drink."

"Yes, sir," she replied.

Someone rapped lightly on the door.

"Who is it?" Cyrus said.

"It's Captain Steven, sir. I have a report." Captain Stevens was the head of the Elite Global Guard and one of the few Galactic allowed to speak directly to the admiral.

"What are you waiting for, EGG?" Cyrus said.

Steven saluted as he entered the room, forcing himself not to look at the woman kneeling on the ground. "Excuse the interruption, Admiral. But we've captured the Chinese girl. Jade Dragon."

"Where is she?"

"She's in the custody of the Lung Li. They've smuggled her out of China. They're now in Taipei on their way to the Starxource plant."

"Have they gotten her to talk?"

"No, sir."

"Why not?"

"There's a problem."

Cyrus's eyes flashed. "I don't want problems, EGG. I want results. Make her talk. Threaten her. Threaten her family. Threaten her dog if you have to."

"Sir, I'm afraid it will take more than threats."

"Then torture her!"

"We don't think she'll understand torture."

Cyrus pounded his fist on his desk. "What is there to understand about torture? Quit talking in circles, Stevens."

"The girl is deaf and mute. And she's autistic. It's unlikely that she'll make the correlation between the pain we inflict and the information we're trying to get from her. Torture may have a deterring effect."

The servant set another glass of scotch in front of Cyrus, which calmed him. He took a drink, then said, "This genius we've captured is a deaf, mute, autistic child?"

"Yes, sir. She's an autistic savant."

He nodded slowly. "A savant. How did we not know this?"

"We knew little about her except the brilliance of her work, sir."

Cyrus pondered the predicament, then said, "Get her to our scientists on the Volta. They'll know what to do with her."

"Shall we fly her there?"

"No, the Volta is already at sea. Have them change course to Taiwan. And find an expert on autism. I want someone who knows how to make the girl talk, so to speak."

"Shall we leave her in the custody of the Lung Li?"

He shook his head. "Not just the Lung Li. I want my Eagles to personally guard her."

"Your Eagles?"

"My Glows," he said. "Brendan will be in charge."

"Where are the youths, sir?"

"They're in Beverly Hills. I want them in Taiwan by the day after tomorrow, except for Alain and Selene. I'm going to need their services in Switzerland."

"Yes, sir. Anything else, sir?"

"While you're waiting for the Volta to arrive, I want you to spread the word around the plant that we have the girl."

"That seems unwise, sir. Word may leak to the resistance."

"I'm counting on it," Cyrus said.

"I don't understand."

"If they know we have the girl, they'll send that snake, Ash Ketchum, to rescue her."

Stevens's forehead furrowed. "You want Ketchum in Taiwan?"

"More than you can imagine," Cyrus leaned forward over his glass. "You know how to kill a snake, don't you? Decapitation. You cut off its head and the body dies. We've underestimated Ketchum. He's been at the head of every Galactic conflict. Without Ketchum, there is no resistance." Cyrus drained the glass, then his voice fell to a low, guttural tone, almost as if he were talking to himself. "I've had enough of this boy and his Electroclan. It's time we cut off some heads."

Heyllo all. This is book 4 of my adaptation of Michael Vey with Pokémon. Hope you all are enjoying the last three and enjoy this one-with the potential long breaks between uploads.

The story is taken from the source book and main characters are from Pokémon. Credits and ownerships of them are to their owners, Richard Paul Evans and Game Freak. Not all characters are changed like some teachers mentioned once or twice. This is the forth book of a seven book series so when(if) I transcribe all the books, I'll come back and recast some minor characters.