Ch. 7
…where...am i? he wondered off-handedly. The tunnel Jay was in seemed to never end. It was dimly lit by an unseen light source, and pressed around him so the walls and ceiling where mere inches away from his sides. Being a Trapinch, Jay would've felt right at home here, had he known where he was.
A circle of light finally appeared at the end. Oh, good, Jay thought. Here's the exit. He eagerly started walking even faster, then stopped. Something had just occurred to him. Wait…is this…the road to the afterlife? The part Psychic Delta Species thought it over, then shrugged. I guess I can always wake back up if I don't go all the way into the light. Curious as always, he carefully stepped forward, blinking as his eyes met a change in brightness.
"Oh, honestly, Jay," a voice laughed, sounding like gently chiming bells. "You don't need to hesitate. Please, proceed forward."
"Um…" Jay thought this over. "Okay."
The tunnel widened out into a colossal cavern, shrouded by shadows. A single ray of light shone down through an opening in the ceiling, almost seeming to pulse with a rhythmic breathing motion as dust swirled within.
"…where is this place?" Jay wondered out loud. He felt as if he'd been here before…
"So you have," that melodious voice said again. "It's just been a long time, is all." The light dimmed slightly, and took form. From it materialized a small Pokemon that resembled a green, fairy-like insect. Her top half was a cool musty green that ended at midtorso in a V-shape, and changed to darker green below. The back of her head swept upward at a gentle angle, and she had two antennae tipped with blue, and large blue expressive eyes rimmed on the outside with black.
"Hello, Jay," the Pokemon greeted.
"…who are you?" Jay asked. He didn't think he'd seen this Pokemon before…had he?
"Me?" The Pokemon smiled. "My name….is Celebii."
"…Celebii…okay." Jay nodded and looked around, his eyes unable to penetrate the darkness. "Where are we, anyways?"
"Like I said, you've been here plenty of times before, Jay," Celebii said. "I thought it would be easier to communicate with you through a place you were familiar with." The shadows suddenly disappeared, and Jay's eyes widened in startled recognition.
This was the central area of Dad's team base.
The cavern had been neatly hewn out of the rock in the mountainside, and though it was void of furnishings or decoration of any kind there was still an awe-inspiring sense of formality about it. From the room spawned a complex network of tunnels and stairs leading to the rest of the headquarters, and a large stone platform lay in the middle of the room. Everything was virtually untouched, despite the long period of time it had seen.
"Wh….this…" Jay stuttered.
"The time has arrived, Jay," Celebii said. "Fate has taken a new turn. You and the two other prophesized heroes must meet and stay together. You MUST stay alive; if one of you falls, the world will surely meet an end."
Jay nearly stopped breathing. Hero? HIM?? And what about…. "But who..?" he began, then yelped as an icy feeling crept down his shell.
"YAHAH!!" Jay bolted upright, now wide awake and breathing rapidly. The dream had ended; Celebii and the team base had disappeared, and he was back in his snow-filled burrow at Furnace Desert…
Wait. SNOW??
But it's the middle of summer… Jay climbed to his feet, still kind of groggy with sleep, and shook the clump of snow off of his shell. Any questions about the off-beat weather would have to wait; right now, his main priority was figuring out the dream.
Prophesized heroes, huh..? Jay wondered as he crawled up out of his den. The normally arid desert he called home was covered in at least 3 iches of snow. He shivered slightly at the drop in temperature. Celebii had said the world was in danger…what did she mean by that? Another falling star? And what was he and these two other Pokemon (whoever they were) supposed to do about it..?
Maybe he'd ask Alakazam to help him figure it out once he got to the Square. Or maybe even Razor, if the clan hadn't left yet. Jay started walking down the road to the main village.
By now, the snow was 4 inches deep, and still falling.
Aura was slowly dragged out of sleep by a scuffling sound outside. Suddenly alert, she got up and looked around. Dai was gone…maybe she had left?
WHUMPF.
There was that noise again…..somebody was definitely outside. Aura cautiously stepped over to the door and looked outside.
A thick blanket of snow was coating the landscape nearby, and still falling steadily. Despite the rate at which the snow was coming, there was still a jumble of messy footprints evident in the snow. They couldn't possibly belong to Dai…unless she'd been in a struggle. Feeling an escalating sense of fear, Aura stepped further out of the team base.
"BONZAI!!" Startled, she looked up to see a tan and yellow blur rocket over her head. The Raichu curled into a ball, cackling manically, and plummeted into a snowbank. A large wave of snow was thrown up on Aura.
"WAH!!" What the-?! Aura thought. Was she under attack?!
The Raichu popped her head out of the snow two seconds later. "Holy Kazoo, that was cool!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Did you see that?! It was just, like, sailing through the air, and then BAM!! I'm gonna do that again!!" She kicked her way out of the snowdrift, emerging completely covered in white; the Abominable Snowchu! Aura almost giggle at the thought.
"Huh? Wait." A blank look suddenly overcame Raichu's cheerful expression. "You're…Aura, right?"
"…yes," Aura said warily.
"SWEET!!" Raichu bounced. "I knew it was you! Dai's over at the Square, she sent me to get you."
"What for?"
"Dude, how am I supposed to know?" Raichu shrugged, still grinning crazily. "I guess there was something she wanted to tell you. So let's go already." She started to lope off in the other direction, then suddenly froze, wide-eyed. "Eh..."
"What? What is it?" Aura asked nervously.
"O...OMIGOD!!" Raichu exclaimed.
"Who? What?" Aura whirled to see...nobody.
"..PSYCHE!" Raichu lightly whapped her on the head with her tail and darted away. "You're it! Can't catch me!" Aura followed her from behind, still ruefully rubbing her head. This Pokemon was just flat out HYPER. She didn't think she'd ever known anybody so...bubbly.
"So you're a friend of Dai's, then?" Aura asked once she'd caught up to the Electric type.
"Yup." Raichu nodded and slowed to a walk. "I've known her since she and Blaziken first joined the whole rescue team business. 'Course, back then it was Dai, Torchic, and Squirtle. It wasn't until a year or whatnot later that Squirtle left to, like, travel the globe or somethingorother, and Absol joined. But anyways, yeah, Dai's pretty cool. Y'know, for a human and all."
"Huh?" Aura stopped walking. "You just said...could you run that by me again?"
"Sure. I've known her since--"
"No, that last sentence," Aura said. "About Dai being...what did you say she was?"
"A human." Raichu suddenly stopped and stared wide-eyed at her. "Y'mean you honestly didn't know??"
"Well, considering I just woke up with a case of amnesia..." Aura resumed walking.
"Oh...oh, right. Sorry." Raichu sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "But, yeah. Even Torchic didn't believe her at first. To tell the truth, we thought she must have been delirious. Until they went on the run. Long story, ask Dai to tell it to you sometime. Something to do with a Gardevoir, and a Pokemon called...Ninetails? Anyways. Turns out she came to save this world from a falling star that was about to crash into us. We thought we'd lost her afterwards..." Raichu fell silent, an oddly solemn look of remembrance overshadowing her previously cheerful expression. "But, then she came back. That was a happy time."
"...I see," Aura said quietly. She hadn't even come to question Dai's past.
"It's cool and all that Dai's on a team and all," Raichu continued. "I can support that. But personally, I'd much rather stay home, where I know things better. Live life to the fullest." An impish look stole into her eyes. " 'Cause Tom's a piece of grass, but he's CUTE! And I think he likes me!" She finished this off with an insane giggle, and Aura blinked. Here she'd been starting to think Raichu was actually capable of acting normal for at least two minutes. Goes to show you.
"Hey, all!" Raichu greeted as she and Aura approached the crowd grouped together near the Bulletin Board. "Zappychu has arri...uhh...oops." She fell silent as the tension in the air reached them. Dai, Blaziken, and Absol were standing there, along with Alakazam, Charizard, Tyranitar, Razor--who was gnashing furiously at some sort of reed--, and two Pokemon Aura hadn't yet met; a Trapinch, and a Charmeleon.
"Hey." The Trapinch raised a forelimb in greeting. Razor merely nodded and continued gnawing at her reed.
"She always gets her appetite worked up when something big's going down," the Charmeleon whispered. "Don't ask."
"...why is everyone so quiet?" Aura asked.
Blaziken held out the newspaper clip he'd been holding. "Read it," he pressed.
Rescuers
Gone Missing!
With
the recent discovery of the coastal dungeon, Delta Pass, there has
also come an ominous thread of occurences. Located in the south-east,
the climate in Delta Pass has allowed several species of Pokemon to
stake claim to the area as home. However, despite the tranquil air
about it, Delta Pass may be hiding some sinister secrets.
Scholars
have confirmed that this is the exact dungeon where Lucario's team
went missing towards the end of their legacy. Almost immediately
after this information was released several rescue teams departed to
the Pass, some in hopes of exploring further into the mountainous
valley, and others intending to return with treasures. As of yet,
none have returned.
The following rescue teams have been
pronounced missing in action (ordered by Rank from lowest to highest)
:
--Shifty
--Meanies
--Hyuta
--Rumblerock
--Hydro
--Eleflor
--Dawn
--Ragepointe
--Sea
Dragons
--Lunicae
--Elementgem
"...this is terrible..." Aura looked up from the article. "Do we have any idea about what could be causing this?"
Nobody spoke up. Feeling a crushing sense of anti-climax, Aura looked back down to finish reading the article.
Her breath caught in her throat.
"Gold-rank Team Zakuro has volunteered to investigate into the matter. Very little is known about the dungeon, and thus the Rescue Team Organization is strongly urging all remaining teams to avoid the Delta Pass area. We can only hope that Zakuro will return safely..."END
TBC...