The Devious Download

It was a slow day at the police station in Harmony Town. At the front desk sat Officer Barlow the Marshtomp, chomping away on a half-eaten donut. The small desktop fan spluttered abruptly, slowing down to a snail’s pace until it stopped entirely. Barlow exhaled wearily before getting off his chair, kneeling down so that he could find the socket.

The sound of the front doors bursting open and smashing against the walls caused him to jump, making his head collide with the bottom of his desk. He cussed under his breath while he rubbed his sore head.

“Just when I thought the rest of my shift would be peaceful,” he moaned, standing back up, using the edge of the desk as leverage.

Standing before him was everyone’s favourite masked hero of justice, Cutey Punny. She was looking at the officer, her left paw raised in salute. “Officer, I have apprehended the notorious Dr. Clefarious,” she stated.

Glancing down at the Lopunny’s feet, the officer could see Clefarious plopped on the tiled flooring, tied up with some rope. “So you finally got her, huh? She is some piece of work!” he remarked, earning a hateful glare from the sinister Clefairy.

“I have removed all gadgets, equipment and any other nasty surprises from her. A cell jail will far suit this sinister scientist than a laboratory full of diabolical devices,” she stated with a smile.

Barlow nodded. “Indeed. Thank you for all your hard work, Cutey Punny,” he said, holding out his hand for a congratulatory handshake. “You make my job less stressful, that’s for darn sure. I will take a boring desk job over hunting down psychos any day.”

“You haven’t changed one bit, Barlow. Still the same from when my aunt had this job,” Cutey Punny thought to herself as she took the Marshtomp’s hand to shake, managing a polite smile.

With her cargo deposited, the heroine departed from the station at a quick pace, leaving another officer to escort Clefarious into a cell. She leaped onto the rooftop of the building, using the protruding sign as a stepping stool, landing with a graceful forward flip. From there she jumped over to the next building, then onto to the next, her speed only increasing with each impressive bound.

“Clefarious may have been stopped, but who knows what is left at her lab?” she wondered out loud. “Someone with her mind will surely have a robot that will self-activate. The only sure-fire way to prevent any future trouble is to destroy her lab!”

Cutey Punny hopped off the final roof before the end of the town and rushed into the forest on the outskirts. Remembering precisely where the secret entrance to the underground lab was, she swiftly cut through bushes and even worked her way through trees like she did with the buildings. Nothing would hinder this heroic rabbit from ending the threat of Clefarious for a long time.

She eventually arrived at the fake hallow tree stump that concealed an elevator. Taking the lift into the dark depths, Cutey Punny prepared herself for any traps that may have been reactivated since her last visit. With her trusted sabre drawn, she was ready to slice anything that sought to hurt her. Under the dim lighting she could see the brown earth gradually be replaced with tough reinforced steel, signifying that the descent was nearing the end.

The elevator pad came to a jolting halt, and as soon as the doors opened, Cutey Punny sped off down the corridors. With her sabre, she swiped at all security cameras along the way, reducing them to sparking pieces of junk. There were no patrolling robots, nor were there any other dangers lying in wait for her, which surprised her; but she preferred it that way.

Reaching the end of the corridor, she darted into the main room, passing through the door she had destroyed previously. Everything was almost as she left it with the only new eye-catching thing being the flashing monitor at the far end of the room. Cautiously, she approached it, stepping over the crushed parts of several robots that were spread out all over the floor.

“All I need to do is activate the self-destruct system and skedaddle,” she spoke, eyeing the control panel that had numerous buttons, switches and a lever or two. “Of course, she wouldn’t make it as obvious as making the button big and red....”

Scanning the panel for a good couple of seconds, her eyes came across a blue button that stood out from the others. Not wanting to linger in this dire and ominous environment for any longer than required, she pressed the button. She stood patiently, waiting for alarms to blare a computerized voice to announce that the laboratory will suffer a devastating explosion. However, nothing appeared to happen.

“That’s odd,” she noted, followed up by a sigh. “I suppose it’s too much to ask for a button clearly labelled 'Warning: Self-destruct!'"

While she resumed her frantic search for the right button, a pair of metal hands quickly descended from the darkened ceiling. They tightly snatched her from behind, lifting her up into the air. She struggled with all her strength, but with her arms bonded, there was no way to reach for her sabre, which she had dropped when she was grabbed.

“I guess she anticipated me returning and messing with her stuff,” Cutey Punny deduced, kicking at the air wildly in a futile attempt to free herself.

Under the mercy of the mindless mechanical hands, the troubled Lopunny was taken over to one side of the lab. She could see a metallic table with many unidentified bits and bobs surrounding a helmet. An additional hand came into Cutey’s point of sight, grabbing the helmet to put on her head.

“No way in hell I am going to be brainwashed!” she screamed, gaining a second wind as she fought against the cold study grasp with an increased burst of might.

Unfortunately, her valiant effort was ceased when the helmet activated. She was instantly blasted with mind-numbing energy, sending her escape plan into oblivion. With what little free will that still lingered, Cutey Punny mustered a weak moan before her conscious mind slipped away. Her body fell completely limp and now it was time for her mind to suffer a similar fate. The hands whisked her away to the swivel chair, softly placing her down before releasing her.

Cutey Punny remained totally motionless as she sat with a slumped posture, her mouth hanging open. The helmet was invading her memories, mercilessly deleting every scrap it came across. No matter how precious the memory, they were erased from the Lopunny’s mind without a single caring thought. Her personality was the next target; washed away as if it meant absolutely nothing.

With her mind emptied out, a new one was gradually being downloaded. Rather than being the typical obedient robotic drone variety Clefarious was infamous for, Cutey’s head was being filled with the mindset of the evil doctor herself. Memories of Clefarious also flowed into her mind to go along with it, replicating the original one to a tee. With the installation now complete, the last task the helmet had to accomplish was to snap its wearer out of the deep trance. After a zap aimed directly for the brain, the Lopunny was brought back to reality. She moaned as she sat upright in her chair. The robotic hands made a return for a final time to take off the helmet before disappearing into the ceiling's shadows.

“Urg, I feel awful,” she groaned, almost stumbling when she stood up, saving herself by quickly slamming her paw onto the nearby control panel. “Where did this headache come from all of a sudden?” She regained her composure and stood up with little difficulty. “Regardless, this won’t stop my plans; a genius mind overcomes all that plagues it.”

---

Sometime later, Tony the Whimsicott strolled into the lab merrily munching on potato chips. “Doc, I am back, yup!” he called out after swallowing the last one. “It sure was nice of you to let me have a vacation! Without you around there were no Pokemon screaming for their lives, yup!”

“When you are done with your childish chatter, Tony, I need you to do something for me,” came the voice of his employer, Clefarious.

Cutey Punny – or what used to be her – stepped out from behind a machine, dressed in a lab coat and wearing a pair of half-glasses. A new addition to her attire was a collar around her neck with some type of miniature device strapped in the middle of it.

“Who are you and why do you sound like the doc?” Tony asked, summoning a hard-shelled seed, which he proceeded to coolly juggle whilst beaming innocently. “Answer or else I’ll pelt you with my powerful Seed Bomb, yup!”

“You idiot, I am the true Dr. Clefarious, just with a new and admittedly stronger body," she responded, pushing her glasses up with a finger. “I foolishly assumed that with this voice modifier that even you would be able to know it’s me. Now stop slacking and pass me those blueprints! With this Cutey Punny out of the way, the world is that much closer to being ruled by my superior intellect!”


The end


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After finally putting her long-time foe, Dr. Clefarious, in jail, Cutey Punny returns to the villain’s lab to destroy it once and for all. Will her mission end in success or does the evil Clefairy have one last scheme up her sleeves?


Dr. Clefarious is owned by me

I don't own Pokemon