Chapter 2: A Spark of Trouble!
Touko was staring at the face of the person she thought had left her life. Forever. It was N, the misled, strange former king of Team Plasma, an evil organization who tried to take over Unova by using N as their 'spokesperson'. Touko didn't blame him though, but she still preferred being as far as possible from him.
Touko didn't know how to respond to him, his question or anything. Her mouth was opening and closing like a washed up Magikarp's.
"What's wrong Touko? Meowth got your tongue?" N asked, looking at Touko as though she were insane.
"Oh shut up," were the first words that left her mouth, surprising herself and N. "And don't look at me as if I lost it. Last I checked YOU were the insane one, jumping out of a damned hole in the wall from like the third fucking floor."
N sighed. "Your appearance might have changed, but you're still the same spit-fire."
At the mention of appearances, Touko noticed N looked somewhat different too. His hair was slightly shorter and not as all over the place as it had been. He had ditched the white button-up shirt he always wore, leaving only the black turtle-neck he wore underneath. His pants, hat and shoes were the same, that, or looked close to what Touko remembered him wearing. He still wore his necklace and the black and white band that was around his arm. On his other arm was one of the square, gold bangles he used to wear, instead of the three of them. The menger sponge was also gone.
There was one thing that shocked Touko, a belt holding three pokéballs. Something you only saw when N fought you. They were never in plain sight.
'So… he became a trainer after that fight.'
"And you still act as though you're perfect…"
"Believe me… I don't anymore. I was stupid enough to be led on for almost all my life by someone I though cared of me…" he said remorsefully. "I'm anything but perfect."
"Glad to see you're not so full of yourself. Now keep quiet before someone hears us."
Nothing truly interesting or eventful happened in the hour of silence Touko and N spent watching the group. Touko was unable to find anything out about the group and they were busy packing up now. It was as the female had said, they only needed an hour. Everything was going smoothly for the group. Until they switched the machine off.
A strange electrical buzz could be heard buzzing through the cave, one that wasn't there before. Looking up, Touko and N could see the yellow clumps of Joltik start to spread out, revealing Galvantula.
"What the hell…?" Touko blinked, not understanding fully what was going on.
"They were protecting the Galvantula…" N stated.
Small boulders stood up off the ground, revealing that they actually were Boldore and Nosepass.
"This isn't good… The Pokémon are extremely aggravated." He added as some of the Galvantula lowered themselves from the roof, whilst the remaining shot elctrowebs at the intruders.
Touko noticed the female smile. "Useless cave dwellers, they can't even share." She said, taking two pokéballs and releasing their contents.
Out of one a black dog emerged with horns, bones along it's back and a skull around it's neck. It had a red underbelly. From the other came a large silver snake like Pokémon. It's body looked like it was composed out of different shaped rocks stacked on top another. Touko could identify them as Houndoom and Steelix.
"Listen up! Three quarter of you help the commander clear up, the rest of you are with me, keeping these bugs and boulders at bay until we're ready to go! Understood?"
The people yelled out in understanding, then quickly split up, some of them releasing Pokémon. Soon there were just Liepard,Corpish and Spearow fighting against the Galvantula, Joltik, Boledore and Nosepass.
Touko felt someone pull her up. It was N.
"Come on, this can get extremely dangerous. Either will attack us." There was a sense of urgency in his voice. As if he was torn between two choices.
Touko looked back at the battle, allowing N to drag her along, noticing that they weren't just holding the Pokémon back, but they were attacking in such ways to fatally hurt them. Especially the female commander. She understood the conflict in N's voice. Innocent Pokémon were going to die most likely. But he wanted her to be safe too.
Touko knew that N had a point in getting out before things got worse, but she couldn't let Pokémon get hurt. She abruptly stopped all movement in her legs, causing her wrist to slip out of N's hand with the sudden movement. She spun around and ran back toward the battle.
"Star!" The instant she called his name, he was at her side. "You too, Itsuki!" Touko released the large grass snake, a Serperior, from its ball. The three were heading the commander's way. "Use aura sphere and leaf storm on Houndoom and Steelix!"
The sharp bladed leaves summoned by Serperior cut across Steelix's body whilst the Aura Sphere knocked Houndoom back with extreme force.
"Seems to me like people don't know when to stay out of other's affairs. You'll regret seeing us here, little girl." The commander sneered. "Steelix, Houndoom! Get up!" Both Pokémon were up within seconds of the command.
"Star, Itsuki, be careful, they're stronger than they seem." Touko warned. "Go ahead and use Leaf Blade and Force Palm."
"Steelix, use Rock Polish then dodge the attack, countering with a slam. Houndoom, use flame thrower."
Itsuki sailed quickly towards the Steelix, tail starting to glow. As she spun to hit the steel snake he moved away with the greatest of ease before bringing its own tail down onto Itsuki. There hadn't been a second for her or her trainer to respond.
In the meantime, Star had narrowly missed being char-grilled by the flame-spitting hellhound. Finding the smallest of openings, he struck Houndoom's collar with his palm, stopping the flames and sending the dark fire-type into a boulder.
"Nice try little girl. Your Lucario certainly has the right speed to go up against my Pokémon, but your Serperior clearly needs some work done. It'll be years before it can match my dear Steelix. Now, Steelix, finish her Serperior with Crunch. Houndoom, use fire blast."
Houndoom forced itself onto his feet, clearly still having some fight left inside it. It's mouth glowed with the embers from the fire forming inside it. Steelix removed its tail from Itsuki's form to allow it to attack.
"Star! Counter it with Dragon Pulse! Itsuki, try and use Frenzy Plant, fast!" Touko yelled out, praying to Arceus that Itsuki was still able to move.
Steelix had pulled back, teeth glowing in preparation for the attack. This had led to the opening in which Touko's prayers were answered. Itsuki slammed her tail down, causing roots to shoot up under Steelix, throwing it down and damaging it.
Houndoom spat the fireball it had been creating at the Lucario, while Star sent the pulse of energy towards the foe. The two attacks collided, causing an explosion that threw Houndoom and Lucario back, shaking the cave.
As the smoke cleared, Touko heard a deafening crack. The vibration from the explosion had caused one of the stalactites to start cracking. The one that was cracking was over Touko's head. She looked up and saw how it cracked by its base. She knew after a certain point it would just break off and crush her and that she had to move. But her body was paralyzed in fear.
Then everything happened all at once. She heard someone yell the command "Rock Smash", feel herself get tackled down, scraping her arm on the rough floor, just before hearing the stalactite break off. She could hear rocks fall to the floor, so she opened her eyes. She saw N and a light purple Pokémon with long sleeves that hid its hands. It also has what looked like a band around its stomach. It was a Unovian fighting type, Mienshao. It took her awhile to realize that N was the trainer of the Pokémon, and the one who saved her life.
"Dammit. Steelix, Houndoom, return!" The command called, returning her Pokémon to their pokéballs.
"Commander Lauren, we are set to leave, Commander Caeden went ahead with the equipment. I suggest we take our leave quickly." One of the males reported.
"Well, the timing of the cave's destruction is just perfect, isn't it? Alright. Knights! Fall back immediately!" She looked at Touko. "You'll pay dearly for this, remember that."
The group was quick to take its leave, but they weren't the only ones. The Pokémon who had been fighting were also fleeing quickly.
Touko accepted N's help in getting up, returning Itsuki to rest. "Why are the Pokémon leaving so fast?"
"I think that the vibration caused by the Fire Blast and Dragon Pulse is causing this part of the cave to collapse. We better move, and fast."
This time round, Touko had no objections to getting out of the cave. The whole trek through, Lucario and Mienshao had escorted the two, destroying any falling boulders that would either hurt their trainers or block their path. Once outside the two caught their breaths for a few minutes. The earth beneath them shook as the park of the cave collapsed.
"I hope the Pokémon that were down there got out safely." Touko said.
N stayed silent for a moment. "They're all safe. I don't hear anybody calling for help." He confirmed.
Touko nodded and returned Lucario, clipping his ball back onto her belt.
"It's good to see you've come back to Unova." N said.
"It's my home; I'll always come back here sooner or later. I take that it's the same for you?"
"Yes. I caused a whole new level of trouble here three years ago, I can't run from that anymore." N said solemnly.
"How long have you been back in Unova?" Touko asked, straightening herself.
"A year now." He replied, acting like he wasn't ready to talk about it yet. N looked at Touko and looked through his bag, taking out a bandage and a tissue.
"What are those for?" She asked.
"Your arm is bleeding; I think it's from when I pushed you down."
Touko blinked then looked at them, noticing her left elbow had been scraped open. N walked over then wiped the blood off before putting the bandage on. Touko noticed that he was actually very gentle because he didn't hurt her in the process.
"Thank you…" She said shyly, not appreciating the unneeded closeness.
"You're welcome." N said, a genuine smile spreading across his face.
Touko scowled when she felt the blood rush to her cheeks. She remembered why she never wanted to be close to N again. She didn't like the attraction she felt towards him, so she though that staying away and convincing herself that she hated him would help get rid of it. Clearly, it hadn't.
"S-so, what were you doing in Chargestone anyway?" She asked, hoping to distract herself.
"I heard the Pokémon in there, they sounded upset. I decided to see what was going on. That's when I saw you and that group. How about you?"
"I noticed the behaviour of the Pokémon were off so I decided to investigate. Do you even know who those people are?"
N nodded. "I've seen them here in Unova before, not much though. Probably only twice. But then they were just lurking around. It's the first time I've seen them actually do something."
"Are they like Team Plasma? You know, wanting to take everything over?" Touko asked, sitting down on a tree stump, watching as the sky gained an orange hue due to sunset. She knew she was going to have to camp out tonight. She'd be fine with that, but she knew N was going to stick around.
"I don't know, but, they don't seem to care for Pokémon. Plus they're pretty destructive. Arceus knows what they want with all the electricity they gathered." N said, looking up at the sky, closing his eyes as a gentle gust blew by.
"Do they have a name?"
N nodded, still keeping his eyes closed. "Knights of Errant."
Next time on Omega-Delta-Die! :
A pursuit for knowledge of the unknown faces. A rivalry surfaces between those least expected.
In Driftveil Touko meets her old friends, causing more trouble then she expected. What will Touko do?
Chapter 3: Not a Friendly Feud!