HITCHHIKERS MAY BE ESCAPING CONVICTS
The tiled floor, bathed in a pale purple light, seemed to twinkle up at the five strangers as they delicately snaked their way through the deserted corridors, dotted by the occasional research machine. Large cylindrical structures, filled with amber fluid that held small bodies in their depths, hung from the high roof some twenty feet above the featureless steel tables spaced across the stone-cold floor. Dotting the sides of the room were several computer terminals, glowing eerily as they powered down for the night. The moss-green walls were lined with charts of chaotic lines and points, as well as a myriad of pictures showing the anatomies of several Pokémon, which ranged from Squirtle to Lairon.
The tallest of the group – an enormous beast of a creature clad entirely in hardened plates of silver and grey steel – noticed the poster of the latter, and clenched its teeth, growling murderously. Its two silver horns quivered with rage the longer it stood there, knowing exactly what this facility was used for. After a few almost unbearable seconds, it tore its eyes away from the picture and continued with its mission, following the four other figures across the nearly pitch-black floor towards their destination, its long metal tail swishing silently through the air. The group approached the entrance to a particularly narrow corridor, which bore three triangles inside a circle upon its door, a red warning light mounted above the metal frame. Next to the door, on the right side, was a mechanical keypad, set securely in the dark stone wall.
The first figure to reach the door paused at the sight of the contraption, its cobalt ears twitching. It looked back across the room they had just crossed, its piercing red eyes scanning every tiny detail; from the liquid filled cylinders that hung from the ceiling, to the dead, grey tables that lay like islands on the floor, to the posters emblazoned with images of Pokémon; its burning eyes saw them all. They lingered momentarily on the lifeless monitors that lined the edges of the room before they swivelled back to the keypad, their irises contracting slightly in the harsh glare given off by the warning light.
The creature surveyed the device with its arms folded, the silver spikes on the backs of its hands jutting out towards the keypad as it looked. It too, had a tail, but unlike its companion's it was not made of tempered steel, instead being the same colour as its large ears and composed of fur. The creature paced back and forwards in front of the machine, its thick, navy-blue legs moving with a fluid, yet urgent efficiency as it furrowed its brow, its eyes staring down its nose at a random spot on the floor. After several seconds, it stopped, returning its attention to the device, which glowed a sinister green, apparently awaiting a command. The blue Pokémon studied the keypad closely, noting the six lines upon the entry field, racking its brains for the correct entry code.
Turning back to the rest of the group, it said, in a low voice that echoed quietly off the large steel-clad Pokémon, "Code Four."
The furthermost member from the door nodded, stepping forwards and removing a small item from the back of the tallest one. Resembling a large dragon, it folded its leathery red wings as it approached the door, holding the item in a three-clawed hand. As it moved, its tail swished lightly across the ground, the fire at the tip casting a faint orange glow across the floor, stretching twenty feet around the burning flame. Upon reaching the door – and the Pokémon that stood in front of it – it opened its hand, revealing a small note, inscribed with six figures. The blue Pokémon quickly snatched the note away, and the dragon held its tail in one hand, casting its light across the piece of paper.
A second later, the blue creature returned the piece of paper to the dragon, who promptly dropped the scrap into the fire on its tail. The slip of paper was instantly incinerated, sending a small puff of smoke into the air. Knowing that the room was well equipped with delicate smoke detectors, the dragon inhaled a deep breath, the smoke rushing into its lungs along with air, the fire on its tail swelling with the extra fuel.
"Come on, Lucario," the giant grey Pokémon at the back whispered, impatiently swinging its tail through the still air. Lucario, the blue one next to the keypad, nodded in response, extending a paw towards the machine and inputting the six characters that had been on the note. Two seconds later, it stepped back to double-check the command he had typed in. The device, blinking in its almost inactive state, read: EX8772. Lucario nodded, and pressed a small green button on the top left of the keypad.
An almost inaudible buzzer sounded immediately, signifying an entry. The light atop the door disappeared, to be replaced nearly instantaneously by a green light, which seared into the retinas of the five Pokémon. Shielding their eyes, they watched through narrowed vision as the door noiselessly rose into a slit above the frame, allowing them to enter.
"Told you," the dragon muttered, striding forwards into the now open corridor, closely followed by Lucario. The three remaining Pokémon exchanged glances before the first two ambled through. The first one looked like nothing more than a brown skeleton, its flat head resting upon a rock hard frame of bones as its black eyes studied its new surroundings. It arms were almost non-existent – unless, of course, you counted the three-foot-long sickles that had replaced them. It raised one of these weapons into the air as it crossed under the frame, as though expecting an attack to launch itself at it at any moment. The Pokémon was, of course, a Kabutops. Following the Kabutops through the door was a second blue Pokémon; large in size, but not as large as the armoured Pokémon standing at the rear. Lighter in colour than Lucario, it simply looked like a giant turtle, except that it stood on its hind legs. Its shell was a light brown shade, covered in a tessellation of hexagons. Protruding from the top of the shell were a pair of enormous water cannons, although right now, they were safely contracted inside the shell. Its stubby head bowed under the door as it made its way through, followed a few seconds later by the giant silver Pokémon, an Aggron, who ducked under the frame to avoid scraping its dual horns against it.
The five Pokémon cautiously moved through the narrow space, trying to keep a distance between themselves and the walls, a difficult feat for the two Pokémon bringing up the rear; they were both quite bulky, almost not fitting through the door. The corridor looked slightly different to the room that preceded it; the pale glow still emanated from the dim roof lights, and the walls were dotted with the occasional terminal, only this time there were several glass cases embedded in the walls. As they walked past, Blastoise notice a small skull lying dead center in the middle of one of the cases, which looked like it had once belonged to a Vibrava; the small holes where the eyes once were, the tiny bones which gave shape to the antennae, and the lack of a nose were all a dead giveaway.
"Any of you guys see…?" he trailed off as the three in front gave simultaneous yet almost imperceptible nods.
"They're used for genetic manipulation," Lucario said quietly, keeping his eyes averted from the sickening sight. "That's what they do here. That's why we're here," he added, his voice a deathly whisper that chilled his fellows to their bones. He paused as he reached a second door, identical to the first. In less than a second, Lucario turned around to look at Kabutops and said, "Code Two."
Kabutops rapped a sickle on her hard head, which gave off a sound like stone on steel, a muffled echo which only just reached the ears of Aggron, all the way down the back, now staring at the Vibrava skull. He nodded, and with great difficulty turned around, making sure not to make a noise, as Blastoise did likewise, before the latter reached up and pulled a second note from his back, the light given off by Charizard's tail flame sending a glare across Blastoise's face. Blastoise then did another half turn, attaching the note to Kabutops' sickle, before Kabutops swung around, holding the sickle at arm's length for Charizard to take. Charizard whipped his hand over his shoulder the moment the note was in his claw, and Lucario, once again, snatched it out of his grasp, entering the nine character code written on it into the keypad's entry field. The note was then dropped into Charizard's tail and the great dragon took another rasping breath, swallowing the smoke given off. The five Pokémon turned around to stare, single file, at the keypad, which now bore the message: DXY-74201.
"Here we go," Lucario muttered emotionlessly. "Remember, all we need to do is find the survivors and get them out. If our informant is correct, there should be three Pokémon left: an Umbreon, a Staraptor, and a Cradily. We free them and then we get out. We'll fight our way out if necessary. No need to bother the dead. Let them rest. Understand?" he said, pushing his paw against the green button. The other four Pokémon stood silently and gave a quick nod as the door gave a quiet hiss and opened, revealing the room that lay beyond.
Twelve cylindrical tubes were mounted against the far wall, the liquid inside each of them giving off an eerie green glow which danced off the marble floor that occupied the space between the tanks and the door. Each one had a mass of cables slithering out from the top, winding across the wall to a colossal monitor perched atop a workstation to the far left of the room. In the ghostly glow emanating from the sinister holding cases, the five Pokémon could just make out the shape of an operating table leaning against the frame of the door, having been knocked askew by something earlier. However, the ten eyes gazing into the room were all instantly drawn to the third tube from the left, the only one emitting a guttural humming noise.
A Pokémon was floating inside the tank, suspended in the dense liquid which surrounded it. Lucario, standing at the archway of the open door, wrinkled its nose in disgust, for the Pokémon inside the container had a look of pure terror splashed across its dark face, still perfectly preserved from the moment the tube had been flooded with the strange liquid. It hovered two feet from the pitch-black base of the container, one of its paws, identical in colour to its prison, resting against the glass. Its sunflower yellow rings gleamed through the greenish haze cast forth by the tank, its red eyes piercing through the ghastly image above everything else, paralysing the rescue party.
Lucario recovered first, stepping out from the protective shadow of the doorway, and walking slowly over to the cylinder, resting a paw of his own against the glass, so that the only thing separating him and the Umbreon which was held captive was two inches of glass. Giving a heavy sigh, he turned around to see the other four Pokémon gently make their way across the marble floor, Aggron making the ground tremble with each laboured step he took. They reached the tube Lucario was stationed at, and the Aura Pokémon let his arm fall limp, his paw slipping off the glass and swaying softly at his sides.
He looked at the eleven remaining tubes, his mind divided. He didn't want to see any more Pokémon suffering like the Umbreon did, for the use of such a machine made his sick to his stomach. He half-hoped there were more here, so he could feel like he'd made more of a difference in the world today, having saved not just one, but several Pokémon from this horrendous fate.
Alas, the other eleven tanks were empty, devoid of all matter except for the strange green liquid. Lucario gave another heaving sigh, before addressing the remainder of the rescue party, who all bore an identical look of disgusted horror on their faces. "Well," he said, his heart heavy, "Only Umbreon survived," he motioned to the tube in front of him, where the Pokémon floated stock still, "But while we're here, let's save him. Let's make a difference to this little guy's life," he said, letting a remorseful sniff escape him as he finished. He saw the others bow their heads, and he banished all traces of emotion from his mind as he calculated their next move. He rapped a spike on the glass, a muffled tick returning to his fox-like ears. He walked to both sides of the tube, repeating the move, and came to a decision.
"Okay," he said confidently. "Aggron," Aggron looked up at Lucario, a fearsome determination burning in his grey eyes, "You're gonna have to use Iron Tail on the glass. Not yet," he added, as Aggron growled and moved forward, his tail flashing white for a moment before returning to its usual dull grey. "It's gonna make a heck of a loud noise, and it's more than likely that it'll set off the alarm," he continued, "So everyone get ready. We will probably have to fight our way out." His companions exchanged brief looks with each other, none of their faces giving away the slightest hint of surprise or fear, before they returned their gazes to Lucario.
"Blastoise," he said, and Blastoise stepped forward, his eyes identical to Aggron's, "Use Whirlpool to hold the water in place once Aggron shatters the glass. I'll use Psychic to get Umbreon out. Thankfully, he won't feel a thing because he's a Dark type. Once I do, we all run. But before that," he went on, turning to the last two Pokémon, Kabutops and Charizard, "We're gonna need you two to hold open the doors, in case the security system closes them. Can you do that?" he asked, receiving two confident nods in reply.
"Alright, let's do this," he said, and everybody moved themselves into position; Aggron stepped up to the container, his tail glowing brighter with each passing moment. Blastoise stood halfway across the floor, facing the tank with his teeth bared. Charizard stalked over to the first door, the one with the six character password, and stood under the doorway, bracing himself. Kabutops stood at attention at the door leading out of the containment area, mimicking Charizard. Lucario simply stood next to the tank, tensing himself, powering up his Psychic attack.
I must not fail…, he thought, closing his eyes and focusing as much energy as he could. They have gone too far with their experiments… They cannot continue. They cannot go unpunished! His eyes flew open as Aggron leapt forwards, his tail thundering into the glass with all the force of a wrecking ball.
The tank exploded, sending shards of glass flying in all directions. As they bounced harmlessly off Aggron, who absorbed most of the impact, Blastoise fired up his Whirlpool, causing the water to spiral upwards in a spire of green liquid. As a siren blared overhead and the room was engulfed in a murky red light, Lucario thrust his hand forward, and the Umbreon flew forwards out of the pillar, the fluorescent liquid dripping from its limp body, landing on Lucario's shoulder with a muffled thump.
Without hesitation, he launched himself towards the door, Aggron and Blastoise already dashing down the tunnel ahead of him, the thundering of their footsteps not even registering over the deafening din being produced by the siren. As Lucario passed under the doorway, Kabutops, struggling with her burden, let the door go. She did a barrel roll before springing lithely to her feet as the door crunched into the ground with a crash, with Aggron, Blastoise and Lucario at full sprint down the narrow hallway.
As they four of them reached the second door, the one being forcibly held open by Charizard, Aggron hit the brakes, skidding to a stop just outside. He thrust his mighty arms upwards, taking the burden off Charizard's shoulders and gave him a quick nod, signalling for him to go. Sirens still blazing, Charizard ducked out from under the frame, Blastoise, Lucario and Kabutops all hot on his tail. Lucario burst out of the corridor, panting slightly, with Umbreon securely held on his shoulder, and Aggron released his hold on the door, which dropped like a stone, crashing into the tiled floor.
Taking a split second survey of his surroundings, Lucario saw a faint light gleaming at him from across the room, where they'd snuck their way in after incapacitating the Vigoroth on guard duty. He could just make out the snow white body of the monkey lying on the floor, a trickle of blood running down the side of its face, courtesy of Aggron's Iron Tail, and he ordered the group towards it, knowing that they had only a few seconds before the door ground shut. As luck would have it, the moment they ran towards it, it thundered shut, barring their only means of escape. With the sirens blaring in a monotonous, yet shrill, tone overhead, Lucario desperately thought of a new plan. Before he could execute it however, the emergency doors on either side of the room flew open, and five figures appeared in the doorways. Stepping out from the confines of the shadows, they advanced on the group of six, looks of pure murder on each of their faces.
The first Pokémon stepped out into the sights of the group, smashing a claw-tipped, blue arm thundering into the ground and sending a tremor throughout the dark room. It shuffled the rest of its body into the faint glow given off by Charizard's tail, moving on four thick, metal arms, each step sending another shock wave across the tiled floor. A silver cross was splashed across its craggy, cobalt face, its red eyes boring into the eyes of its foes. The giant blue spider locked eyes with its fellow steel types, giving a roar like a chainsaw as it came to a stop, raising its head so it was level with Aggron's, who gave a rumbling growl in response, thrashing his tail against the ground and splintering the tiles.
Following the Metagross into the dead-man's-land that was the expanse of tiled floor was a gigantic spheroid of a shape. Its massive white belly dominated its hulking frame as it sluggishly came out of the shadows, its squinting eyes surveying its new victims. The dark blue ears atop the bear-like Pokémon's head twitched in rage as its large feet pounded forwards, its goliath body weight cracking every tile that fell under it. It gave a low rumbling growl that echoed loudly off the high ceiling and its eyes snapped to the Pokémon that closest resembled its shape; Blastoise. Blastoise took one look at the Snorlax and gave a raging bellow, the two cannons hidden inside its shell rocketing out, pointing straight at its adversary's head.
Snorlax made another rumbling noise just as the third Pokémon stepped out from behind its massive figure. Another sphere of a creature, it was composed entirely of stone, rolling around Snorlax and crushing two of the small metal tables into the ground before coming to stop on Snorlax's left. The giant boulder bounced off the ground, popping its head, arms and legs out of its protective shield and landing with a loud thud. It raised a clawed hand, taunting Lucario, who calmly stood some twenty feet away, and stomped a thick foot on the ground, more tiles falling victim to Pokémon antics. Lucario stared back emotionlessly at the Golem, weighing up every possible option and calculating their best means of escape, taking Umbreon – motionless except for its light breathing – heavily into consideration. Golem gave a roar at Lucario's indifference, narrowing its small eyes and assuming an imposing stance, eager for the temporary stalemate to end, as a fourth Pokémon soared over its head.
Resembling something similar to a vampire bat, the Pokémon whizzed over the Golem's head with unimaginable speed, flying around the room at what Lucario thought was nearly half the speed of sound. The Pokémon's four purple wings seemed to beat as one as it flew circles around the Pokémon who were present at the standoff, emitting a high-pitched shriek that tore at their ears. All nine of the conscious Pokémon, except Metagross, Aggron, and the circling fiend of a Pokémon, cringed as it continued to make the noise, magnified off the metal bodies of the two aforementioned Pokémon.
The final of the five Pokémon lumbered its way around Snorlax, halting itself between Snorlax and Metagross. A searing crown of red and yellow flames burned atop its space-black head, the dead black eyes being held in their sockets staring at the six Pokémon across the room with the utmost contempt. A thick black ring which hung low on its neck gave way to the rest of its body, a brightly burning pattern of red-orange flames, which evaporated the moisture in the air as it stood still. It raised one its arms, a massive flame burning on its shoulder, with a long pipe of light orange extending down to its clawed hand, and pointed it directly at the head of the only other fire type in the room, as if demanding a challenge. Charizard stepped forwards, breathing a cloud of fire which lit up the room, and its foe, the Magmortar, retracted its claw into its arm, revealing a gaping hole. The Flame Pokémon shot a geyser of hot air out of the end, roaring at the prospect of battle.
Making absolutely sure not to break eye contact, Lucario recalculated his plan; the exit was closed, and five new obstacles had presented themselves. Barely moving a muscle he said out of the corner of his mouth, "Aggron, on my signal, knock the escape door down with the best Iron Tail you've got and then get ready for battle. Take out the Snorlax whilst I get Umbreon out of here." That being the entirety of the short conversation, Aggron subtly swung his tail behind his back, and began charging his Iron Tail. In the meantime, Crobat had perched itself on top of Metagross' head, who had taken a step towards Lucario and his group, quickly followed by the other three. "Ready…" he whispered, his red eyes staring dead straight into Golem's, slowly raising his free hand to his forehead.
"NOW!" he roared. Aggron leaped forwards and somersaulted to build up his velocity, before slamming his tail into the door. The door was knocked clean off its hinges, flying fifty feet down the tunnel which led out of the facility. Lucario, using his Extremespeed ability, bolted out of the room faster than the eye could follow, taking Umbreon with him, just as Metagross launched itself across the room at Aggron, who rolled out of the way in the nick of time to avoid being pummelled by a Meteor Mash. Charizard countered, launching a colossal ball of white hot flame at the Steel-Psychic type, who took the Blast Burn attack full in the face.
With an explosion like cannon fire, the force of the attack lifted Metagross off its feet, sending it flying across the room and into a computer terminal, leaving a massive hole in the laboratory wall. Magmortar bellowed and fired a Thunderbolt at Kabutops, who jumped to the side as the electric attack speared into a second terminal, causing it to explode. Metagross, charred black and partially melted from the intense heat, collapsed inside the hole, the Blast Burn too much for it to handle, and Crobat, seeing its fallen comrade, went into a rage, knocking Charizard to the ground with a vicious Night Slash. Blastoise, watching Crobat out of the corner of its eye, fired a Hydro Pump at Golem, who countered it with Rollout, the jet of water sent straight back at Kabutops.
"One down…" Kabutops muttered slyly, before she shrouded herself in a spray of icy water and sped to the side of the reflected Hydro Pump, which left a considerable-sized crater in the stone wall. Using its newfound speed, Kabutops darted across the room, slamming into Snorlax and slashing it across the belly with its twin scythes. Snorlax gave a grunt of pain as the blades left two large, red gashes in its stomach, and gave a roar of fury as it fired a Shadow Ball at the prehistoric Pokémon. Kabutops nimbly sidestepped it, causing the attack to careen into Aggron's side. Aggron gave a furious bellow, beating its fist against its hardened chest and sprang back into battle, knocking Snorlax into the wall with the most powerful Double-Edge it could muster. Snorlax picked itself up off the ground, only to be struck across the face by an Iron Tail, and it slumped to the ground and felt no more as Aggron turned its attention back to its three remaining foes.
However, it barely had time to blink before Golem knocked Aggron off of Snorlax's defeated form with its second round of Rollout. Aggron was sent sprawling across the tiled floor, which was littered with debris from previous attacks, narrowly missing a speeding Crobat who hit it with a Night Slash for good measure. The attack barely registered to Aggron, who lithely jumped to his feat, roaring with anger.
"You want some of this, eh?!" the Iron Armor Pokémon bellowed, charging back into the fray.
A second bellow from across the room got Crobat's attention as it swooped down to deliver a Cross Poison attack to Kabutops. It whirled around in mid-air to see Charizard, screaming at the top of its voice, its flame tail, now a ghastly white-blue colour, which was slowly overtaking it in size. Charizard gave a final shriek and launched a giant fireball at Crobat, whose form wavered once before it split into twelve identical copies. The Blast Burn ripped one to pieces, the heat wave behind it disintegrating another four, but the Bat Pokémon was unharmed by the powerful attack.
Blastoise, deciding to call Crobat's bluff, split itself into no less than sixteen clones, which spread out across the room, hoping to distract the attention of its three remaining foes. Golem changed course mid roll as it thundered across the floor towards Kabutops, now heading for one of the Blastoise. The clone disappeared into thin air as Golem mowed through it, instead ploughing into the wall with a crash that sent a mighty tremor through the floor and left a colossal hole in the stone wall.
Golem dusted itself off, and Kabutops, sensing a weakness, struck it in the leg with a Slash before racing back around the room at high speed. Magmortar loosed a Fire Spin at the speeding Rock-Water Pokémon, but it was travelling too fast, and the spray from the Shellfish Pokémon's Aqua Jet quickly smothered the flames. Golem gave a guttural scream of fury and rolled itself into a ball again. Only this time, a twister of sand erupted from the five new ports it had created, filling the room with a whirling sandstorm.
The furious mass of particles reduced the Blastoise and Crobat clones to dust, although they did little to harm the Kabutops and the Aggron, who each gave a pleasured roar as Golem resumed its Rollout. Charizard let out a tortured shriek and started indiscriminately launching fireballs across the room, somehow managing to land three of the searing volleys on Golem's tough shell, although they did little to slow the Pokémon down. As Kabutops sped around the room in pursuit of the racing boulder, Crobat nimbly followed it, letting out a soft hiss as it charged its next attack.
It caught up with Kabutops and discharged a stream of poisonous gas at the Shellfish Pokémon, who was too focused on the rampaging Golem to notice, and the attack struck Kabutops in the face. The cloud of toxic dust seeped into Kabutops' lungs, and she gave a muffled wheeze as she staggered to the ground, victim of Crobat's Toxic attack. Crobat gave a joyous laugh at Kabutops' crippled form, and resumed its role of swooping around the room, landing scathing blows on the three remaining Pokémon at every possible opportunity.
"Kabutops—!" Blastoise roared worriedly, but its yell was cut short as Crobat swung a wing into its face with such ferocity that the Water-Type was knocked backwards a step. "Get here, you little runt," it growled, firing off a Hydro Pump attack at the purple blur. The jet sailed wide of speeding Bat Pokémon, crashing harmlessly into the far wall, and Blastoise gave an annoyed hiss before turning its attention to the rampaging Golem.
Aggron, deciding to chance his hand against the juggernaut that was Golem, bowed its head and charged recklessly into a head-on collision with the spinning boulder. A shock wave erupted from the point of contact, sending both Pokémon sprawling twenty feet across the ground. As Golem spun into position for another Rollout, Aggron, despite its colossal body weight, cart-wheeled in mid-air and launched itself at the stationary rock, slamming into the Megaton Pokémon with a crushing Iron Tail. The force of the blow embedded the Golem firmly into the ground, but it wouldn't have been able to move if it wanted to; it was unconscious the moment the vicious strike had connected, its shell now bearing a rather noticeable crack in it.
"YOU LIKE THAT?!" Aggron thundered, surveying its conquest. However, in the momentary lapse of concentration, it was struck by a Brick Break from Magmortar, its eyes burning with the joy of battle. The Iron Armor Pokémon was sent flying into the far wall, its metal plates offering some form of protection from the impact. As Aggron picked itself up off the dust-covered floor, Blastoise gave a furious scream and launched a mammoth jet of water towards the Blast Pokémon. Magmortar managed to evade Blastoise's third Hydro Pump, jumping over the attack and landing on Snorlax's unconscious body, bouncing off its stomach and landing gracefully on the dusty ground a few feet away, just as Kabutops succumbed to the effects of the Toxic, slumping to the ground, her breathing fast and shallow.
"Come on, hold in there, Kabutops!" Blastoise rallied, seeing its friend fall, before it turned its attention back to the scarred battlefield. "Great, we're down to three-on-two. Now we just gotta—" But the Water-Type was cut off as a deafening roar filled the room.
Upon seeing Kabutops' barely moving body, Charizard went into a frenzy, releasing a spire of white flames from its fang lined mouth, which swept across the room in a motion similar to a lighthouse's beacon. Magmortar fired a jet of hot air form the cavity in its claw, effortlessly blowing the roaring flame away from its body, and Aggron summoned a pillar of stone from underneath the floor to protect itself. Crobat wasn't so lucky, bearing the full brunt of the attack across the two left-handed wings, which caught alight. Despite Crobat's frantic attempts to put out the fire, the flame soon engulfed its whole body, and Crobat feel like a stone to the hard ground below it, the fire mercifully extinguished by Blastoise once Crobat was unconscious.
Magmortar stared dead ahead at the odds facing it, taking no consideration for its own health as it charged forwards, firing a screaming bolt of lightning at Blastoise, who summoned an impenetrable blue shield from out of nowhere to block the sizzling bolt, which raged against the sapphire wall with all the force of a real lightning bolt. Magmortar kept up the assault until the wall finally gave in, Blastoise forced to withdraw into its shell to avoid being roasted by the sheer power of Magmortar's attack. Aggron, knowing that Blastoise wouldn't last long against the super-effective attack, threw its fist against the stone spire it had created to defend from Charizard's Overheat, shattering it and sending colossal pieces of earth whizzing across the room in all directions.
Magmortar was forced to call off its Thunderbolt and leap to the side to avoid being sliced apart by the jagged shards. Blastoise renewed its sky-blue shield, the rocks smashing to pieces against it, leaving the Turtle Pokémon unscathed, whilst Charizard reduced the rocks to magma with a searing Heat Wave. The Blast Pokémon steadied and fixed its attention back to the three still-standing foes, but before it could move a muscle, Blastoise dropped the shield and volleyed a fourth jet of water at it. The spire smashed straight into Magmortar's chest, driving it across the room, where it slammed into the unmoving body of the Snorlax, whose body did little to cushion the blow. Once Blastoise stopped its attack, its adversary dropped to the ground like a stone, as still as the body next to it.
The three remaining Pokémon gave no victory cheer, nor even an acknowledgement of what they'd just achieved, for Kabutops' withered body pitched forwards and fell to the ground at the same time as Magmortar's. Aggron bounded over the battlefield and gently picked up Kabutops' body despite the adrenaline rush he was experiencing, slinging her over his shoulder, the siren still ringing in his ears. Without a word, the three headed for the exit, Blastoise taking extra care to kick the Vigoroth's body as they walked past. Within a minute, they'd caught up to Lucario, who was waiting with Umbreon at the exit; an enormous double-door made of carbon fibres reinforced with a steel alloy.
"Nice to see you guys pulled through," Lucario said as they dashed up the slope, redoubling his grip on Umbreon, just as the sirens finally gave a final piercing wail and died down.
"Yeah, we got 'em," Blastoise rumbled, "But Kabutops went down. Toxic," he added, pointing to the unmoving skeletal figure on Aggron's shoulder.
"Well, I didn't expect all of us to get through unscathed," Lucario commented. "She's still alive isn't she?"
"Only just," Charizard growled. "That Crobat was nasty piece of work; needless to say that Toxic got a boost from it being a Poison type."
"No point standing around here then," Lucario said, handing Umbreon to Charizard, who cradled the limp figure in its arms, before striding over to another keypad mounted on the wall. The device gleamed at him in the light from Charizard's tail, awaiting the access code. Lucario, thinking of the twelve character code it had seen on its way into the facility, punched in the same series of numbers and letters; ST73-A24-196. Checking his handiwork, Lucario turned to its three conscious companions, who all nodded in agreement of the code. Blastoise impatiently stomped forwards and mashed the green door release button, concerned for Kabutops' health. The light emanating from the keypad swapped from a neutral white shade to a violent red colour, and the dead sirens kicked into gear again, blasting their shrill noises across the entire facility.
"Isn't this the right code?!" Charizard bellowed, his voice barely discernible over the sirens' wails, handing Umbreon back to Lucario, who gingerly tucked it under his arm.
"Apparently not," Aggron countered, his hollow voice effortlessly cutting the air.
"Must have been an 'I' instead of a '1'…" Lucario mused disappointedly, shaking his head.
"Screw this!" Aggron roared, launching himself at the door and bringing his glowing tail thundering down on the metal shield that was barring their exit. A noise like cannon fire rebounded off the point of contact, drowning out the siren that blasted another shriek across the room, but the door didn't give an inch, standing as resolutely as ever as Aggron bounced off it, landing with a crash of steel plates on the ground. "Grrr…" he grumbled as he picked himself up off the ground.
"My turn," Charizard said, his voice finding the gap between the sirens, "Try this!" he opened his jaws as wide as they would allow and spewed forth a stream of white fire from the depths of his body, the spire of fire roaring into the metal door with a sizzling sound like meat on a spit. Slowly, but surely, the door melted under the intense heat it was being subjected to, and thirty seconds later, all that remained of the once impenetrable barrier was a pile of liquid metal, seeping sluggishly across the floor. Charizard gave a small chuckle as he looked; it reminded him of a shiny Slugma he'd once seen.
"Let's go!" Blastoise yelled, as an explosion in the last room brought them back to reality. The group of four thundered out the door and into the long corridor beyond, just as a legion of Pokémon burst out of the emergency doors in the previous room. Chancing a quick glance over his shoulder, Charizard saw Pokémon ranging from more Metagross to a Nidoking, and even a Regirock, which led the charge.
"Shit!" he yelped, putting on a burst of speed to keep pace with his fellows. "They've got a Regirock!" he bellowed ahead to the others, who in unison whipped their heads around to confirm the message. A split second later, their eyes widened in shock as they saw the great golem storming up the room they'd destroyed in their battle, and they turned their attention to one thing and one thing only. Running.
"Charizard, get Code One ready!" Lucario yelled over his shoulder to the dragon, who raced forwards towards Aggron like a relay runner, arm outstretched. Aggron reached its free arm – the one not securing the barely breathing Kabutops – over its shoulder and pulled the last note from its protective plates, holding it at arm's length as he ran. A second later, the red-orange dragon swooped past him, snatching the note out of his hands as he flew ahead to deliver the vital scrap of information to Lucario, who was powering along with its thick legs.
The moment the note was concealed safely in Lucario's paw, he put on a burst of speed and disappeared up the hallway, towards the final gate which led outside, leaving the three other Pokémon in his wake. Barely a second had passed before he had covered the two hundred metre gap between the others and the door, and he was furiously typing commands into the corresponding keypad as his companions caught up. Aggron whipped his head around to see the giant Regirock break through a section of the wall near the destroyed door, and it gave a resounding bellow as it began lumbering across the hall, more than forty enraged Pokémon in tow behind it, all screaming for blood.
"Hurry up!" Aggron said, a hint of fear seeping into his voice, but he needn't have worried, for the door whizzed open as the last word escaped him, and the six Pokémon – two slung over shoulders – ran out the open door into the snowstorm that was battering the secluded outpost. A torrent of frozen particles whirled around in the fierce winds, the snow-capped trees in the distance almost bent over by the force of the gale that had consumed the surrounding area. The barren white land in front of them stretched nearly a kilometre ahead to a range of indiscernible mountains in the distance, the tundra devoid of all traces of life.
Devoid of life, except for the gold figure staring at them from just outside the door.
As the group stared at the Pokémon in front of them, it raised a hand, holding a small metal object inside it, and in a low sweeping motion, it swung it through the air in front of it, the colossal door behind them thundering shut with an ear-splitting crash. A large head dominated the Pokémon's slight build, framed by two pointed ears and a golden moustache which flowed off the sides of its face, looking too big to be held up by the Pokémon's spindly neck. Its hands, the same colour as the rest of its body, were clutching two silver spoons, which amplified its fearsome psychic powers and wrapped it in a sinister purple aura which disappeared once it released its telekinetic hold on the door. Stepping forward on a two clawed foot, it addressed the six Pokémon by using its telekinetic powers.
"Good to see you made it out alive," Alakazam said with a chuckle. She nodded her vast head towards the unmoving figure on Lucario's shoulder, "I take it—"
"No time, Zam," Aggron said, his growl lost amongst the swirling winds. A rumbling behind them, which echoed up through the ice they were standing on, signified that the Regirock – and the battalion it was leading – was gaining ground. "We need to get back to base!" Aggron roared, making sure that this message was not lost.
"I'll take Umbreon back first," Zam replied, motioning for Lucario to give the Dark-Type to her. "And…" she pointed a spoon at Kabutops' unconscious form, slumped over Aggron's shoulder. Aggron leapt forward, pulling Kabutops off the plates and handing the fallen Pokémon to the Alakazam, just as Lucario did likewise with Umbreon. Alakazam disappeared in a swirl of wind; her, Umbreon and Kabutops whizzing back to base thanks to her Teleport.
"She'll be back in thirty seconds," Lucario yelled, "In the meantime, we need to hold off any Pokémon who—" but he cut off and dived to the ground as a beam of blue light zoomed over his head, crashing into the security door and covering it in a five inch thick layer of ice.
The four Pokémon spun as one to see a dozen Abomasnow glaring at them from a small hill halfway across the frozen plain, their eyes as cold as the weather they were enduring. One of them gave a piercing shriek and fired a second Ice Beam at the group, the beam of blue light arcing across the snow filled air, freezing the air in some places. Blastoise gave a guttural roar and summoned an elastic yellow sphere out of the frozen air, and the Ice Beam slammed into the shield, the yellow barrier conceding some space before it repelled the attack, the Ice Beam flying off the surface of the shield and into the door, which, already encased in a layer of ice, was buried in a foot of solid frost.
"Blastoise, keep up that Mirror Coat!" Lucario bellowed, knowing that until Alakazam returned, there was no escape. "Charizard, get rid of those blasted Abomasnow! Aggron, get over here and help me keep this door shut! I get the feeling that a foot of ice isn't going to stop that Regirock!"
The quartet of escapees gave a roar of defiance and moved into their positions for the second time today. Blastoise clenched its teeth and powered up its Mirror Coat, the yellow shield instantly doubling in size and intensity, just as a third Ice Beam attack was fired, the blue bolt bouncing harmlessly off the regenerated barrier. Charizard, using Blastoise's defensive move as cover, flapped its mighty wings and threw its head over the shield, spewing a pillar of blue fire from its gaping maw, which melted the air and ice in its path, knocking down two of the Abomasnow with a direct hit. Charizard scream as the two victims keeled over backwards, and ducked as a fourth Ice Beam narrowly missed the shield and Charizard's head.
Safe behind the protective barrier, Aggron bounded over to the door to join Lucario, both of them using their powers to pile up a wall of ice against the metal door; Lucario using Psychic to hurl giant snowballs, nearly three feet in diameter at the slowly thickening ice wall, Aggron using brute strength to rip chunks of earth out of the ground, where they joined the growing icy barrier. Small pieces of the ice wall fell to the ground as Regirock came closer, and the rumblings grew louder, the vibrations dislodging small pieces of their defense.
"Come on Zam!" Aggron yelled into the air, dislodging a huge boulder form the ground and slamming it into the ice wall, firmly embedding it in the ice, and Lucario buried it with another snowball, the snow whipping around in the gale gradually settling on it. Three of the remaining Abomasnow – another three having just been knocked down by a Blast Burn from Charizard – let out a strangled cry, lost in the howling wind and simultaneously launched three blobs of pulsating brown energy at the shield Blastoise had conjured. The Mirror Coat buckled under the tremendous force of the attacks, managing to deflect the three Focus Blasts before giving a shimmering waver and disappearing. Blastoise collapsed to the ground, exhausted from maintaining the Mirror Coat for as long as he had.
"Hang in there Blastoise!" Charizard screeched, loosing a Flamethrower at an Ice Beam an Abomasnow had just fired. "We just need to hold out for a few more…" the Flame Pokémon's reassurances were drowned out by the rumbling noise from behind the metal door. Three pairs of eyes swivelled around to the door, which fell silent for the briefest of moments.
The Regirock thundered a massive stony fist against the metal door, denting the metal and sending the boulder Aggron had just stacked against it flying out of its icy prison. The ball arced across the sky, knocking down another Abomasnow and crushing it under its weight. Aggron and Lucario jumped away from the wall as Regirock pounded the wall again, shattering two of the three feet of ice they had piled up against it, leaving another huge dent in the reinforced metal.
"We don't need this now!" Charizard yelled, flying into the air and launching another Blast Burn at the six remaining Abomasnow. The Frosted Tree Pokémon too concerned with removing the boulder that had crushed one of their fellows, didn't see the searing fireball, which incinerated the small group, reducing them to a pile of watery cinders. The metal door, along with the foot of ice still clinging grimly to it, was knocked off its hinges by a third fist from Regirock, knocking Aggron to the ground and soaring over the heads of the other three.
"Aggron, no!" Blastoise cried weakly, struggling back to its feet, but its words were lost between the swirling winds and the thundering growl from the Rock Peak Pokémon standing in the now open doorway. Easily twelve feet tall, it let out a rasping bellow from the depths of its seemingly lifeless body and charged forwards at the four escapees, just as a swirl of wind between them signified Alakazam's return.
Lucario, seeing Aggron getting shakily to his feet instantly calculated that Aggron wouldn't have enough time to evade Regirock, especially considering how fast the Pokémon was advancing on it. Out of desperation, it conjured up and fired an Aura Sphere at Regirock, who twitched as the powerful attack slammed into its side, feeling no more than if the attack was a snowball. Turning its head to the Pokémon responsible for the attack, it charged at Lucario, leaving Aggron unattended. Lucario, once again utilising its Extremespeed ability, ducked under Regirock's legs as it lumbered towards it and swung a fist of stone into the icy ground where Lucario had been only a split second earlier. Blastoise and Charizard rushed over to Alakazam, who was preparing another Teleport.
"Lucario, hurry up! Knock it down and get over here!" Alakazam barked at the Steel-Type, as the Regirock turned on the spot towards the same Pokémon. A cacophony of noise echoed up from the corridor leading to the facility, and all pairs of eyes – even Regirock, who didn't even have eyes – turned to the gaping hole, just as the swarm of Pokémon the Regirock was leading began to pour through the gap towards the vigilantes.
Regirock gave another rumbling bellow which echoed off the ground, and in reply, Alakazam disappeared, rematerialising in front of the legendary Pokémon in a swirl of frozen particles, right next to Lucario and Aggron. In the blink of an eye, it had vanished into thin air again, this time taking its two allies with it and reappearing behind the Rock-Type golem. Alakazam quickly motioned for Charizard and Blastoise – standing only a few feet away – to rush over, but it seemed the Regirock had other ideas.
The gargantuan Pokémon swung its massive frame around, glaring at the five Pokémon, and charged at them, just as the group linked hands in a circle. It raised one of its colossal arms high into the air as it ran, before it swung it down at the troupe, expecting to hear the snap of the bones that would break under it. However, all it met was the flat expanse of frozen tundra beneath them as the five Pokémon disappeared in a final swirl of chilling wind.
Well, it took me a while to go through and make the revisions to this chapter, but I've finally done it. It's a LONG time overdue, but hey, I've been working with my brother on his story, and it's looking really good. Hope you can excuse my cross-advertising, lol.
Anyways, hope you enjoy the first chapter, and let me know what you think, eh? You can say whatever you want; I appreciate what you have to say. I mean, I'm certainly grateful if people spend time reading this.
Oh, and yes, the chapter title is a reference to the final sub-level of Halo: Combat Evolved. Go ahead and sue me for copyright, lol.