May 17th, 2009
Finally, New York City!
I kept to the shadows, being careful not to be seen.  However, to a country boy, cities are marvelous no matter where you're viewing from.
I had a look in my laptop case, where I'd been keeping the money that I'd stolen over the past few weeks.  Every time, I'd emptied exactly half of the wallet, but that added up fast.  I had counted the previous night, and had a total of $4,829.  This would probably be enough for a bribe or three.
I pulled out my laptop, and sent out an email to Meowth and Chimchar.  “I'm in New York now.  There are a series of warehouses in the suburbs.  I'll be in number 84.  See you then.”
I snuck out to said warehouses, and slipped a note under the door of the main office.  “$2,000 says that nobody is in Warehouse 84.”
I then doled out said cash.  While I was doing so, I spotted something that made me stop entirely.
There was a missing child poster with my face on it on a nearby telephone pole.
I completely stopped what I was doing.  I stepped toward it, even risking coming out into the light to do so.  I reached out, and took the poster down.  There was my address, the names of my parents, even the exact time that they thought that I left.  I realized that I was still in the middle of the street, and retreated back into the shadows.
“You're lucky to have someone who cares enough about you to look.”
I jumped a little, then spun around.  Chimchar stood behind me, a bag in one hand and his laptop in the other.
“How long have you been back here?”
“Since you pulled the poster off.  It's a good thing that nobody saw you.”
I relaxed a bit.  “It's good to finally meet you in person.  Do you want me to call you Chimchar, or by a nickname, or...”
“Just Chimchar.  Given our current circumstances, it'd probably be a very bad idea to be tied back to our previous lives.  We should go by aliases based on our Pokemon bodies.”
“I understood about half of that.  Do you know when Meowth is going to be here?”
“He told me that he'd be late.  Believe it or not, the guy isn't as bad as my first impression of him.  Where'd you get the cash?”
“I stole it.”
“You stole it?  When?”
“Along the way here.  Don't worry; I didn't completely empty people's wallets.”
“All I can say is that I'd better not have a juvie record by the time that this is over.”
“Did you have any trouble on your way up?”
“I had some trouble with the mode of travel.  I eventually hid in the luggage area of a commercial plane.  I also caught a bit of a cold on the way up, but that was fixed rather quickly.”
“What's in the bag?”
“Food.  You wouldn't believe how well beef jerky travels, as opposed to sandwiches.”
“I just picked up the occasional hot dog or bag of chips on the way here.  I never stockpiled.”
We finished up pushing the full $2,000 under the door, then departed for Warehouse 84.
***
Meowth arrived two hours later, and we started to set up shop.  We found a hiding place in the back to charge our laptops, and Meowth supplied some sleeping bags that he'd “acquired.”  I curled up in my sleeping bag, and was about to go to sleep, when Chimchar spoke up.
“Hey, Grovyle?  You can hack anything, right?  Nothing is an issue for you?”
“I have hacked the pentagon before.  They couldn't even detect my presence.  I found out, however, that Lee Harvey Oswald had an accomplice, and the real purpose of Area 51.”
“How long have you been hacking?”
“I started with a Pokemon Crystal cartirige that belonged to a friend, but soon continued to Linux machines, then Windows, and finally Mac.  I even hacked my school.  I'll tell you more about that later.”
“One more question.  What is the true purpose of Area 51?”
I paused.  “Okay, you got me.  I've contemplated hacking the Pentagon, but never had a reason to.  However, everything else is true.”
“Okay.  G'night.”
***
Well, did you honestly believe that the note and bribe were a good idea?  Of course not!  They called the cops.
I was woken up by the sound of something metal falling over.  Meowth was on his feet immediately.  We nudged Chimchar awake, and then quietly tried to make an exit.  We took everything with us.  We were about to escape, when a few dozen cop cars pulled up.  We split up in opposite directions.  Chimchar grabbed our stuff, and ran off to find a new hiding place.  Meowth took off in the opposite direction from Chimchar.  I, however, just kind of stood there, stupidly.  A couple of cops strode forward with flashlights.  The moment that they saw me, one pulled a gun on me, and the others followed suit.  I tried to think of something, but the best I could do was shout, “I want to see a lawyer!”
This brought the whole thing to a stop.  Apparently, they didn't think that I would be able to talk.  I saw that I had done the right thing, and kept talking.
“”That's right.  The Constitution guarantees the rights to a fair and speedy trial, along with a lawyer and habeas corpus.  On what grounds am I being arrested?”
The one who was in charge was dumbstruck.  He spoke into his walkie-talkie.  
“Um... We have... er... something interesting to bring in...  Um... a lizard who just recited his constitutional rights.  We're... ah... bringing him in for questioning.”
One of the other cops pulled me into the backseat of the car.  “You're being arrested for trespass.”
“Okay.  Take me to your leader.”
He didn't find it funny.  In fact, he seemed anxious to get away from me.  I bode my time in the back seat, and checked the clock.  11:45 PM.  I figured that I should at least get some sleep, so I quietly fell asleep, amidst the rolling and bumping of the car.