Chapter 6 – A Hailstorm
He held up his new mechanical hand, opening and closing the spider-like fingers that had a smooth shine to them. He looked at it, knowing that the situation was very bittersweet. He had a new, highly powerful and mechanical hand, but he now lacked the feeling of being whole. It made him feel as though a part of himself was missing.
"Sir, it appears that the installation of your bio-mechanical hand went right as planned. There doesn't seem to be a problem with the functioning." One of Richard's many scientists was examining the hand carefully, scribbling notes on a clipboard.
Richard sat silently, still turning the mechanical hand around. He was leaning on a bright white desk, and after some more turning, he used his real hand to cover his face. The scientist stood still when this happened, a curious expression on his face. Then, without warning, Richard roared and smashed the mechanical hand into the desk, which went straight through.
Richard's anger was extinguished, and a mixture of excitement and shock took its place. An evil smile began to form on his face, before began to speak. "This could be helpful in the future." This brief moment of excitement was quickly smothered when Richard remembered the incident which caused this. He needed to think, so he ordered the scientist out of the room.
As the scientist gathered his paper and quickly shuffled towards the door, Richard stood up and began to pace the room, deep in thought.
'These Pokémon have incredible power… But I cannot utilise it without the others. Recovering the first one was hard enough… We lost so many men on the expedition. Then there was the desert situation… They should've been more careful. I told them the ruins would be dangerous.'
Richard stopped his pacing and seemed to stare in thought at something that wasn't actually there.
'We still need to attempt Mt. Coronet… But it would take days to reach those hidden ruins. Helicopters can't reach it, so the expedition must be made on foot… But what if those men are killed also? All those precious days… Wasted… But it needs to be done. Time to send a team out to Mt. Coronet… I hope they don't fail, for everyone's sake…'
Richard extracted a fancy mobile phone from his pocket, and then began to type a bunch of numbers into it. He put the phone up to his ear and waited for someone on the other end to pick it up.
-- -- -- --
It was still before noon when Zane passed city boundaries on the eastern side of Jubilife City, his new found battling knowledge locked safely away inside his head. As he made his way past the large billboard saying, "Welcome to Jubilife" he turned to get one last look at the city. He knew he didn't spend much time there, but he was a new trainer. He could return later.
Spinning back around to face the long dirt road that led off along Route 203, he set off at a steady pace, reflecting on his battling lesson. He hoped this fresh knowledge would assist him in future battles. As he thought, he remembered the Pokémon handbook he'd received at the end of the class. Not stopping, he pulled his backpack off and rummaged through it, careful not to trip on anything on the pathway. Before long he managed to remove the new-smelling booklet.
After hoisting his backpack back onto his back, he started to flip through the pages in search of a page on Snover. Before long, he found the page he was after and began to read through the information, still walking.
'Snover is a unique Pokémon in that it is both Ice and Grass type. Although short in stature, it is still rather heavy, with an average weight of one hundred and eleven point three pounds.'
He already knew this information, having owned Snover for quite some time. He then spotted a little section devoted to the Pokémon's hidden ability.
'Snow Warning: When in battle, Snover can whip up a small hailstorm around the battling area that will only damage the opponent Pokémon. With refinement of this technique, Snover can control the size and strength of these hailstorms.'
Zane was pleasantly surprised at this. He never knew that his Snover had the power to generate a hailstorm over a battle, and knew that this uncovered information could prove to be vital in a battle sometime. Zane thought this was too good to be true, so he stopped walking and let out his Snover.
Snover appeared out of its Pokeball, stretching and grunting tiredly. After it found it's feet and finished waking up, it looked around to see where it was. Both Snover and Zane were now a fair distance from Jubilife City, which could be seen in the distance. The road ahead only led around a corner and out of sight. Snover figured there was a reason for being called out of the Pokeball, so it turned and faced Zane.
"Hey Snover, it says here in this booklet that you can create small hailstorms. Can you really?"
Snover looked at Zane, slightly puzzled. "C'mon Snover, are you sure you can't? It could be a real advantage in battle." Snover seemed to understand what Zane was on about and turned around to face the lush, grassy field beside the road.
"Snooooooooo!!!" Almost instantly, a small cloud appeared up above Snover. It was dark grey, but with a hint of green mixed inside it. The cloud started dropping small pieces of hail onto Snover, who didn't object. But only after about twenty seconds or so, the cloud fizzled out and vanished entirely, much to the disgust of Snover.
"Hmm… well it says that it can be improved with practice. Don't worry Sno! We will get it!"
Snover seemed content with this statement and nodded happily. Zane recalled Snover and continued along the dirt road. It was a good two hours before anything happened. Zane found himself outside a large cave entrance with a sign stuck into the ground next to it reading, "Oreburgh City cave connection."
Wary of entering, Zane peeked his head inside the entrance and his fear was washed away when he noticed that the ceiling had been lit with a long string of light bulbs. He was more relaxed, so he entered the cave and began to follow the lonely cave. He made his way around a corner, and then realised that the tunnel opened up into a much larger area. He just continued to follow the string of lights, which had now become three strings. The ceiling of the cave was incredibly high up, and he noticed that there was a massive crowd of sleeping Zubat hanging upside down. All around the massive opening were illustrious rock formations and markings engraved into the walls.
Lost in marvel at the brilliant sight, Zane suddenly tripped over a relatively large rock that seemed to be stuck in the ground. He rolled onto his back and sat up to look at the offender, and noticed a pair of white eyes staring up at him. Suddenly, the eyes started rising out of the ground, and Zane noticed that they were attached to the very rock that he had tripped over.
"GEOOOODUUUUUDE!!!" the Pokémon roared at him. Zane suddenly became terrified and fumbled stupidly at his belt for Snover's Pokeball. The Pokémon roared again and Zane finally laid hands on the ball. With a quick click of a button, Snover was out in front of him, facing Geodude.
He started to calm down, realising that it was only a measly Geodude. He had beaten plenty of young Geodude when battling against those amateur trainers back home. He looked at the Pokemon carefully, taking it all in. It was as normal as any other Geodude. Round and rocky with two strong arms on either side.
As Zane was taking in his opponent, the Geodude made a sudden move and was charging at Snover.
Thinking quick, Zane ordered Snover, "Quick, duck down beneath Geodude and fire a Powder Snow attack up at it." Snover did as it was told, and as the levitating Geodude reached Snover, it was suddenly being blasted upwards by a small column of snow.
This didn't seem to faze Geodude much, who stayed up high and curled itself into a ball. "It's using Defense Curl. See if you can knock it down with some Razor Leaves."
Snover sent some razor-sharp leaves curling up towards the Geodude, but they couldn't quite reach. Stomping on the ground, Zane swore under his breath. What could he do now? The Geodude was up too high to reach, and he didn't want to lose a second battle, especially not to a wild Geodude.
Then it hit him. He snapped his fingers as the idea came into his head. "Snover, I want you to concentrate as hard as you can to create a hailstorm right above Geodude."
Snover understood, then with all the power it could muster, it cried out, "SNOOOOO!" and a large cloud appeared above the Geodude, blocking out the dim light of the light bulbs, and creating total darkness. Zane did not expect this, and was shocked.
There was a sudden rumble of what sounded like thunder. It seemed to echo throughout the entire cave, rattling the walls and the ground. Then without warning, a strong buffet of hail stones could be heard falling and hitting the stone surface of the cave floor. Zane dived onto the ground, half-scared, half-knowing he wouldn't be harmed by the hail.
The hailstorm was extremely powerful, and it seemed to make the cave colder and colder with every passing minute. Soon enough, it was almost like a refrigerator. Zane couldn't take the cold anymore. He yelled above the sound of hail, which was almost like a band of snare drummers. "SNOVER! STOP! STOP THE HAILSTORM!"
The hailstorm vanished as quickly as it had formed. When the dark cloud had vanished and light was returned to the cave, Zane stood up to inspect the damage. Mysteriously enough, there wasn't a single piece of hail on the ground, and it seemed that the cold had completely disappeared. Snover was standing in the same place, panting heavily. In front of Snover lied the Geodude, unconscious and seriously hurt.
Zane rushed over to the suffering Geodude and could notice instantly the damage done by the hail. There were many indents and bruises over the rocky surface of the suffering Pokemon. He couldn't just leave it here to suffer and possibly die. He needed to bring it to a Pokemon centre. He weighed up his options. He could either turn back to Jubilife City, or he could continue on to Oreburgh, not knowing how far away it was.
"I know Snover, I will have to catch it with –" Zane broke off. "Oh you have got to be kidding me." He suddenly realised he had forgotten to purchase Pokeballs whilst in Jubilife. "Urgh… looks like we will have to carry him…"
Zane heaved his pack over his shoulders, then bent to pick up the slowly breathing Geodude. "We need to hurry Sno."
Zane recalled Snover and set out at a fast jog. He could feel the weight of the Geodude slowing him down, but he pushed on. This was life or death for Geodude. The cave weaved around bends and occasionally went in a straight tunnel. He ran for only about half an hour, but it felt like days, especially with the heavy Geodude weighing him down.
Hardly paying attention to his surroundings, he was astonished to realise that he was already about forty feet out of the cave. Slowing down for a second to take in his whereabouts and find his bearings, he noticed he had already passed a couple small houses. The area directly ahead of him was all city life.
The ground on which the city was built was the same as the cave: a rocky-brown surface. All around the area where he stood were heavy machinery vehicles sitting there unused. He proceeded to continue his running. It wasn't hard to find the Pokemon Centre, as it stood out in this industrial-style city like a colour image in a black and white newspaper.
Once inside, he rushed to the front desk where he found a surprised Nurse Joy. "Oh my! What happened to Geodude?"
"It got badly hurt in a battle. Snover created a hailstorm and it was more powerful than I'd expected."
"Oh! So this is a wild Geodude?" Nurse Joy asked curiously.
"Yeah, I couldn't put it in a Pokeball because… well… I didn't have any on me. Can you save it?" Zane was quite worried.
"We should be able to help, but we need to be quick. Chansey, take Geodude." A Chansey that Zane had not previously noticed came around the desk and took the nearly dead Geodude from his arms. Zane didn't take his eyes of the Chansey until it was through a pair of swinging doors.
"Can you give it a Pokeball? I want to look after it." Zane asked quietly, still looking at the doors that Chansey passed through.
"Yes, we can do that. Geodude's healing might take a few hours, so you can sit here and wait if you'd like."
"Oh… thankyou, but I need to stock up on some items. I will be back soon." Zane answered calmly.
"OK then, I shall see you soon."
Zane exited out the large automatic doors of the Pokemon Centre, and finally began to take in his surroundings properly. He had to find a shopping centre. Zane set off down the brown road and into the city, wondering how on Earth his Pokemon journey could get much more disastrous. It was only his second day still, but it felt like his tenth.