Disclaimer: I really wish I owned Pokemon. If I did, shoot, there would be a Poke`wars anime, and a game. One released only on next gen consoles, it would be epic.
An: I hate writing dialogue. As you will all likely see as you read further into this chapter. Well, I did my best, and I think I did alright. Let me know how I did in a review please. I do my best to respond to all input, and I look forward to discussing it with any of you.
Aug31 - early
~{x}~{x}~{x}~
We walked until I collapsed from exhaustion. My knees hit the soft earth, the wet soaking through my pant legs, I don't even try to catch myself. Just flopping the rest of the way to the ground. Laying there in shock.
We'd walked in silence. It wasn't like the last times we lost party members. Those times we'd been too tired, or injured, or hyped up on adrenaline for it to really fester, to take root. It had hurt but it had been in combat, in battle. I think it was easier for the mind to process it, there was a reason. We'd been fighting. This though, this was like the pain I'd felt for my mother. A helpless agony. It was just, I should have noticed the Muk sooner, should have realized what was wrong, should never have let this happen, should have never left home, should have left a Pokemon with her, should have been there.
Intellectually, I know it wasn't my fault. Know there was nothing I could have done, but here, laying in the wet and cold of the woods at night, it festered, and I fell into a fitful sleep of nightmares and self hatred.
In the morning, the sun wakes me as it crests the horizon. Golden beams shining through the trees, entirely too beautiful for my dark mood.
It feels like I've been washed out, stonewashed on the inside. Empty, but focused, oh so focused. A slow fury building in my gut. Antithesis to the hot snapping furies of Bic when he was in battle, or the sharp burst of rage of Lu' when I'm in danger. It's a cold and cruel anger that burns low in my belly twisting my guts into near sickness from it's intensity. I don't rant or rage or curse the world. I simply stand, taking the hilt of my sword in hand and continue walking, something inside me has rotted away. Leaving a home for bitter anger.
Out of the corner of my eye I can see Lu' share a worried glance with Bic, both speaking low where I can't hear them. Once I would have said it didn't matter. That I can't understand anyway, now though, I remember last night hearing Lu' speak. A ghost of a smile flits on to my face and dies soon after.
"Lu'." I croak out, just to get his attention. To see if I'd been imaging it before in the heat of the moment, consumed by panic and sadness.
"Father?" He answers back, his voice soft but firm every word coming across clearly in a language I can understand. He speeds up until he's right next to me, head inclined up at my face attentively. I continue walking while staring at him in wonder. Bic sidles up next to us. His lip peeled back in an anticipatory grin.
"You can talk?" I ask, a chuff of laughter escaping with the words. Lu' tilts his head to the side in question, brow furrowing behind dark cloth, his mouth half opening to reply when a gravelly voice cuts across my thoughts sounding for all the world like someone who'd gargled razors their whole life, or perhaps eaten charcoal like it was candy.
"We've always talked. You're just learning to listen." I incline my head at Bic in thought for a moment, before nodding in acceptance of the point. Part of his speech was still coming across as his name but I could infer the parts I couldn't understand.
I can't think of anything else to say. They'd always been able to understand each other and me when I talked. Maybe I really was just never listening. I sigh and continue on, my mood turning sour again as the conversation dies. None of us ever having been particularly chatty individuals, we continue in silence.
~{x}~{x}~{x}~
I smell it far before we reach it. A stink like all the worst things you could imagine. The fetid rot of a bloated corpse, the ripping, rancid bite of vomit, the sharp, lingering odor of ammonia, the acrid whiff of ozone, and more, sweat, must, tar, rot, more and more. More than even my considerable sense of smell can pick up on.
I see Lu's snout curl in distaste, and Bic begins shrouding himself in smoke to try and kill some of the stink. I envy him a little as my stomach starts to churn at the odors. It's not for another moment that I see the tell-tale purple haze off in the distance that I pull a Bic's pokeball from my belt and call him back with a few words.
"I'd hate for your flame to send us to hell smelling like burned feces" I almost quirk a grin at him as he snorts, then call him back but the dark thoughts linger, and it makes it hard to feel anything but resolve and anger. I catch Lu' giving me another long look, and I almost ask him why, but as we draw closer to Celadon in silence, I'm not sure I want the answer.
The smell becomes truly unbearable as we reach near the toxic cloud. The tallest buildings of the city proper barely visible in the distance not long now, I think as I begin to gag on my own vomit. I'm trying to keep from retching. Until a furred hand grasps mine and I'm shrouded in an aura like flickering flames that filters out the stink. Allowing nothing through but clean air. My head automatically bobs in thanks towards Lu'. Even as his free hand is coming up in a thumbs up.
"How long?'' I ask softly, remembering the struggle he had at maintaining this technique only a few days ago. It wouldn't do for us to be in the middle of the cloud if it were to falter. He looks to be in deep thought for a moment when he answers.
"A couple hours." I don't quite laugh, what escapes is a combination of an amazed exhalation and a chuckle, making only a "Hah." but He preens as if I'd showered him in praise, Pokemon truly are amazing to improve in such a short amount of time.
"We'd best hurry then." I say and take off in a run. I note it's oddly fast for me, but Lu' easily keeps up.
~{x}~{x}~{x}~
The city itself is like something out of a nightmare. Muk and Grimer ooze along the streets leaving a hissing spitting path of waste over everything they touch. The gasses from their bodies issue forth adding to the cloud that is around the city. It becomes denser with every second the poison types continue existing. It's like looking at a purple dawn, in a few days it would probably be so dense it completely blocks out the sky. The air itself slowly eats away at the walls of every building I can see, those being actively touched or moved over by the Pokemon have already begun to be completely broken down. Falling away in great pieces, as they're melted by sludge and the acidic nature of the many bodies. The ground is almost completely covered by a layer of slime the same color as the many soft bodies.
I shake my head in amazed horror. In such a short time they'd already begun to completely change the ecosystem to be perfect for them and deadly to everything else.
"This could be a problem." I state. Voice low as I kneel behind the rotting wall of a building with Lu'. Poison oozes around my knee, and feet where they touch the ground, but none of it touches us. Lu's aura keeps it well away.
I look around near frantically for a solution, the finite nature of the aura shroud keeping us alive very much at the forefront of my mind as I look for a way to proceed. I bring up the map of the city on my pokegear. Saying a silent prayer of thanks to the old man from Cherrygrove for giving me the map chip as I come up with a plan.
"Alright, here's what we're gonna do." Lu' snaps his eyes to me, and I nearly flinch at the overwhelming faith I can see in them. Dear, Arceus. Don't let me fail. I pray as I lay the plan out to Lu' and we proceed to put it into action.
~{x}~{x}~{x}~
Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. I think as I'm suspended thirty feet over the ground. The only thing holding me up the strength of the Pokemon I'm clinging to, as his claws dig into the side of the building, slowly dragging us upwards in defiance of gravity and good sense. His easy breathing is a testament to his endurance as he carries us both upwards while maintaining the shroud of aura that is keeping us from death.
As of yet it seems like the poison types have kept to the lower levels of the city. As they expand I'm sure that will change but for now the only path forward I can see is up and over. Thus, my plan is simple. Climb the nearest building and make our way across the city. One building at a time. The map on my pokegear shows the clearest path.
The first building appears to be an apartment building. It, like everything else in this once beautiful city is starting to rot. The stone and metal of the buildings exterior have begun to decay under the combined noxious fumes of countless poison types.
The third floor. I judged it to be high enough. As the walls have far less damage and much less slime thirty, or so feet up than they do farther down. He(Lu') lets go with one hand for a moment. Causing us to swing sideways. My heart flutters at the sudden movement. For an instant I'm afraid we'll fall, and then I notice what he's doing. Thumbs up, and a motion for me to go ahead and climb through the melted window.
Climbing through the window while making sure that I keep in constant contact with Lu' is nerve wracking. If I lose contact with him for an instant the shroud of aura will leave my body, and I'll be killed by the poison in the air.
He helps the process along by pushing me up every step of the way. Still it's not something I look forward to repeating. Contrary to my difficulty, as I clear the floor and maintain contact, Lu pulls himself up like it's nothing. I sigh, and turn my eyes to the room.
The slime at this level is patchy at best. Paths of it eat at the tile floor, pitting it, even eating clean through in places, but it isn't a complete coverage, I can easily plot a course through the room that doesn't take us through any of the corrosive material. This high up the air looks cleaner as well. The fumes don't seem to have built up enough to be truly thick at this level, and the building helps somewhat in keeping it back. It crosses my mind that a good air filter could let a person breath in this without too much issue as long as they avoided the slime they'd be alright in an airtight suit. The walls are little better. The same sort of patchy damage has been done to them. Though, it might actually be less on the vertical surface. The windows are in various states of melted or broken. A light wind pushes through the room. Making the fumes swirl in strange patterns, but I can't feel it through the aura shroud.
"Focus." shaking my head to clear it, I admonish myself for letting my thoughts wander in such a situation. Lu' looks at me quizzically. His head nodding to the side, in a decidedly canine way. I'm not sure if he can hear me or not, but probably. He shoots me a thumbs up with his free hand that coupled with the rest of his body language comes off as questioning.
I sigh at myself. Bowing my head slightly before nodding, moving forward across this floor. Careful to avoid the holes, and stepping around the slime whenever possible. To avoid any potential mishaps. We pass though many different rooms. At times even passing through holes in the wall that were obviously melted through it. Or that were created by a Pokemon attack of some kind.
The atmosphere is oppressive to say the least. There is a constant fear in the back of my head that at any moment a wave of purple bodies is going to crest the wall and crush us with sheer force of numbers. The darkness and the misty quality of the air don't help, creating strange shapes that have me jerking to draw my blade before a smaller, surer hand stops me.
Lu' is nothing but cool confidence. Every step he takes is a fluid threat, every swivel of his head promising to lay waste to anything attempting to harm us. I grip the hilt of my sword tighter and calm. I need to be strong for the ones counting on me. For the only two I have left.
~{x}~{x}~{x}~
"This is the tricky part." I mumble, eyeing the expanse of air between us and the next building. The Celadon department store. I look down, and take a step back at the mild vertigo that takes me from staring down the thirty foot drop. Lu' grasps my hand tighter in a reassuring way as I look for our entrance to the next building.
"Can you sense any threats through that opening?" I ask. Pointing at a good sized opening melted into the opposite wall on our same level, it's the electronic entertainment floor if I remember correctly.
I'd let out a relieved breathe after seeing it. There had been no guarantee that there even was a hole big enough, or at all on this side of the building. Lu' goes completely still for a moment as I ask the question. The aura around us dimming for a moment as he puts his focus into sensing enemies further away. It doesn't worry me. I trust Lu' and all of my Pokemon with my life. With my very existence even.
"None." He says finally, his voice barely more than a whisper as it comes to me. The shroud returning to its full strength as his concentration is un-split. The ordeal not even seeming to wind Lu' in the slightest. He's growing in leaps and bounds. It makes me proud beyond belief.
"Can you make this gap?" I ask him, turning to look at his face so I can gauge his reaction. He looks at me for a moment before turning his eyes to the task. Head cocked to the side in apparent thought, before he nods sharply once. Not even a moment of doubt in his mind. Seconds later he's flinging us bodily through the air.
An energetic grin splits my face for a second as the weightlessness of flying through the air takes hold. I hold back an exultant scream as we soar, and grunt as our feet touch down on the department stores floor just a moment later, and hold in a startled curse as I realize if we'd jumped even six inches further we'd have fallen the full thirty feet to the ground below. This floor and those below it are simply gone, save for some beams and parts of the floor. We'll have to go up. Going down is not an option.
~{x}~{x}~{x}~
It takes only second for Lu' and his ability to sense aura to find the stairs up, only a few seconds after that for him to confirm that they were safe and void of hostile life. It's likely that the large amount of damage to the bottom few floors of this building is due to the large number of trainers and other humans that were on it and the Trainers Market of one floor down. Floors four and five were generally less populated. The cost of the items on the fourth and fifth floor keeping the average person from ever going up there for more than curiosity sake. I can only ever remember going there myself three times in my entire career as a trainer.
As we crest the top of the stairs and come up to the next floor I sigh at the site. Nearly everything is covered in the toxic sludge. The racks of evolutionary stones. The high end Pokemon dolls. The various types of expensive stationary, all covered in slime. I don't hold much hope for the latter two, but I am going to at least check into the stones. Something good should come out of this even if it is just Evolutionary rocks I don't have Pokemon to use them on.
Lu' looks at me worriedly as I sigh for the umpteenth time, as I stand away from where I'd been looking through the stones. One thunder stone, two leaf stones, two fire stone, and one water stone are all I could find. Of the dozens of stones these are all that are left. I shove them into my pack and tell Lu' we're going to look into the pharmacy. The medicines and supplement are of far more importance anyway.
I blink in surprise as I step carefully off the sludge covered stairs. The next floor is nearly completely devoid of slime. I can see definite signs that some of the poison types have moved across the floor but for the most part there is very little sludge and the air seems if not clean, then cleaner. The shelves and displays of medicine and supplements are largely undamaged, if not undisturbed.
That however is not what's surprising, Lu' inhales sharply only nanoseconds before we come off of the stairs. His ability to sense aura is definitely getting better, but he still has trouble expanding it into a sphere of awareness without concentrating very hard, for now it's more like an awareness disc. Flat but able to extend further without taking as much concentration, or at least that's how I understand it.
That breath is all it take to get every helmeted head in the room to sharply turn and look at us. We freeze. No freeze is the wrong word, it's more like time stopped and the universe took in a breath as we all wait to see if the situation is a good or bad one. Then the moment is broken as one of the – for lack of a better term Ninja snaps out a sharp command to the rest of them, and they immediately resume throwing the medicines into heavy bags.
The one giving the orders approaches in an obviously non-threatening manner. His heavily gloved hands open to his sides showing me his palms. His slow pace gives me a moment to take him in and try to get over the shock of finding people alive in this city where nothing but death seems to preside, for that I'm grateful.
They're all wearing body covering suits of heavy leather and ceramic. It has a dull gleam I notice as he moves, the material likely treated to make it retardant to everything imaginable, and less likely to absorb or let in harmful liquids and toxin. Thin ceramic pauldrons rest on the mans broad shoulders as he walks forward. The entire ensemble is dyed a toxic purple that makes them blend into the very air around them.
All in all he looks like what anyone would expect a ninja to look like in all cases except for the helmet. It too is made of heavy leather, but the mouth piece is definitely metal two cylindrical filters feed into tubes, that feed into a box like apparatus it's likely a multi-chamber filter of some kind. Meant to insure the cleansing of toxins from the air. Couple with some sort of anti-toxic solution soaked into the filter and they have little to worry about as long as they don't dally. All I can see of the man is his eyes, sharp as a tack as they assess me assessing him.
He speaks first, his voice distorted as it comes out of the heavy filter, but strangely familiar all the same. "We are of no threat to you, young trainer. I am Koga. Fuschia city Gym leader. Come to this forsaken city with my Shinobi to find the lady Erika. I am afraid that she is likely dead." His voice goes from a strong if not distorted tone to one of sadness as he mention Erika. I don't know how to feel, I hadn't know the women, or given her a second though after Bic tore through her Gym like a knife through air. That is to say, with no resistance.
I don't say anything for a moment, still watching his Shinobi as he calls them move around the room, finishing up their appointed task before I speak. "I am Hiiro, a trainer from Pallet Town. This is Lu'." I can think of no more to say, still stunned that there were people here, and not just any people, but Koga a Gym leader, it is more than I could have hoped for.
Koga touches a hand to the side of his head then, replying softer than I can hear into what is likely a short distance radio of some sort before he returns his focus to me. "We are done here. If you wish to come with us you may, we are headed to a safe place." He says not unkindly and I nod. Yeah, that seems like a good next step.
~{x}~{x}~{x}~
We made our way to the roof of the department store after that, silent as their namesake would demand we ghosted onto the highest level of this building. They already have a zip line ready. They are, in a word – efficient. Everything about them from the way they move to their order pf operation is done without the smallest margin for error. One by one they sail across the gap to the next building on a heavy rope, apparently treated the same way as their armor.
Far to quickly my and Lu's turn comes up. It is not as fun as jumping. I feel sick as Lu' and I grip the handle of the device meant to ferry us across each with only one hand, and we're off. Thankfully we don't fall the several dozen feet to our deaths. Well, I amend as I look at Lu' my death at the very least.
With nary a moment to breath as we alight on the far roof, we're off again. The shinobi leap the next gap onto a lower roof with almost inhuman grace and ability. Lu' flings he and I across with inhuman grace. We don't stop running after we land intent to get out of the Arceus damned city as quickly as possible. It's all going well we're nearing the eastern exit of town when my Poke`gear begins chirping with the map lighting up, I curse as everyone scrambles to hide at the unexpected noise. The shinobi quite simply disappear, none smoother than Koga behind blankets made to absolutely resemble the walls of the building. Lu' grabs me and drags me behind a wall as I slam my free hand over the device, and mute the sound.
None of us dare move for minutes. Five turns to ten turns to fifteen before Koga pulls his blanket away and advances on me. "What was that?" he demands. Almost advancing into my personal space before a single harshly spoken word from Lu' stops him cold.
"Stop." He said, I swallow heavily realizing my lack of forethought to turn the sound off could have cost us all our lives. Having looked at the map extensively while we waited for the all clear, I give an answer.
"Some sort of distress signal." I hold the gear at an angle he can see, it is still blinking slightly with the map open a red dot appearing over the Game corner's prize center. I can only assume he scowls at the device as his eyes narrow. "Impossible, there is nothing there." I do scowl at that. My vow to save people warring with my good sense.
"Someone could need our help." I say angrily. He looked at me then, eyes still narrowed, I hate that I cannot get a read on his face. "We are wasting time,' he says, "Come that is likely an old signal." He speaks into his headset and the rest of the group moves on, Koga waits for me to follow, but I stay still, free hand clenched on the hilt of my blade. I look at Lu', I can tell he will do anything I want him to, even if I were to order him to attack this man or even battle every Muk in this city. His loyalty is terrifying.
"Mark your base on my map, I'll meet you there." I won't give up, even if there is only a slim chance that there may be someone alive in this city I can't not try and save them. Never again.
Koga seems to deflate then. Speaking quietly into his headset he rights himself and looks me directly in the eye. "You are a young fool," He says, I nod in agreement. I won't deny what I'm about to do is foolish. I get the impression that he smiles then. "But so was I once, come, as a Gym leader I cannot let you get yourself killed."
~{x}~{x}~{x}~
With all of the other shinobi already having moved out of the city, following Koga becomes exponentially harder. He is like a ghost, moving from shadow to shadow, disappearing at a moments notice at the slightest hint of an enemy. Lu' follows him unerringly however. Through any and all disguises. He cannot hide his aura after all. This allows us to keep up without him having to double back. With the Gym Leader scouting ahead, and Lu' looking out with his aura, it's almost child's play to get to the game corner. There are a few close calls, Koga even hides all three of us behind his camouflage once when a Muk oozed its way out of the floor in front of us, its eyes thankfully facing away from us, but we made it. Lu' is breathing heavily, the strain of keeping the shroud up for so long starting to get to him, but he soldiers on with a single minded focus that is frightening.
Lu' gives us the all clear, and we move into the dilapidated building. There is nothing. A bare counter is before us, corroded prizes and empty Pokeballs litter the floor. "Hello." I call quietly, stepping further into the room with Lu' as Koga stands watch by the door. "We got your signal, hello!" I try again louder as I go behind the counter.
A light flickers on, at the counter behind us. My blade is half way out of it's sheath before Lu' stays my hand. A computer screen flickers before us, badly damaged a general error message plays across its screen. I sigh as we draw closer. We came all this way for a malfunctioning computer sending out a general distress beacon.
"Typical." I mutter, as Koga silently watches, arms crossed from the door. As a beam of rainbow colored light lances from the screen into my Pokegear, and the computer goes dead as I slash it in half before Lu' can stop me. I glance down at my gear, and think I see an eye staring back through its small screen, I flinch and when I look again it's gone, the device now showing a page of number and symbols I don't understand until a progress bar appears, with two words above it in bold capitals.
ACTUATING SYSTEM(s)...
I sigh, Typical. "You see," Koga says, as he approaches. "Foolish, but perhaps not worthless. Come our time here is at a close."
He rushes out of the building, we follow. It takes no time at all to get beyond the city and its noxious cloud. As soon as we are passed it, Lu' drops his shroud panting, but still giving me a thumbs up as I praise him.
The group of shinobi wait in the trees. As we approach Koga speaks into his headset and we keep running intent on making distance between us and the toxic city before we stop. I don't know what the future hold, but for now I just throw myself into the running. Not thinking, just running. I am with people now, but will that really change anything? Only time would tell.
~{x}~{x}~{x}~
I hope it was worth the wait, see y'all next time. Drop me a line and let me know what you think.