Chapter 7: A Boy and a Rescue (Blake)
With a grunt, I stumbled through what remained of the front door and took a few steps away the staff building, stopping to put a hand on my stomach. Most of the structure behind me was ablaze by now, brilliant blue flames streaming from a hole just above my head. Across the way, Dragon's Claw was torn in half and still burning. The cabins had holes in their walls and ceiling, some worse than others; Bug cabin suffered only a few here and there, Steel cabin had lost half of its upper floor. The bell in the middle was gone, and sitting in a hole in the courtyard was an unconscious salamence, green-band on its arm. A staff member stayed crouched next to it, spraying the fallen beast with a potion of some kind. Shattered glass and bits of rock covered the ground, scorch marks dotted the asphalt and small fires kindled in the grass. Several campers were lying in the courtyard, on the asphalt, and by the buildings, covered in blood, dirt and ash. They were surrounded by other campers, who were trying their best to clean their fallen friends and care for their injuries.
"Blake!" a voice called from the masses. Gently sliding past a group of campers by Fire cabin, Matt ran across the courtyard and towards me, soot covering his arms, shoulders, grey shorts, white tee and blonde hair. I waived him down with my free hand, the other still holding my gut.
"Glad to see you're alright, Matt," I spoke up, taking a deep breath.
"Yeah, where were you?" he stopped in front of me.
"Oh, you know," I took a few more paces away from the staff building. "Meeting our new friend up-close and personal."
"You got close to that charizard?!" Matt gawked, following by my side.
"Yeah, and it packs a hell-of-a gut-punch… Where's Yorick?"
"Yorick? I think I saw him going to the clinic, regrouping with his staff. Or whoever's still standing, I guess."
"Then let's go," I picked up speed, turning left towards the clinic. "We need to talk strategy."
"Strategy?" he walked faster to keep up. "For what?"
"…Emma was taken by that dragon. I guarantee Yorick's planning to rescue her."
"…Oh no," Matt's eyes fell to the asphalt.
We passed a group of campers on the edge of the grass, surrounding a girl who was lying on the ground. She laid completely motionless, staring blankly at the sky. Her long, blonde hair was knotted and dirty, her narrower face was still. A leather jacket was laid over her chest like a blanket, and one of her jean legs was soaked in blood, a little piece of bone sticking out of her calf.
Matt and I looked back up, turning towards the clinic and starting up the path. Three staff members were standing in front of the slightly damaged building, and Yorick was standing in front of them.
"…If the salamences can fight, then they will escort our search party," Yorick spoke firmly. "What are their statuses?"
"Three of them are uninjured," one of the staff responded, wiping some dirt off his gaunt face with the back of his hand. "Two can be healed within-"
"Don't bother with the dragons," I stepped past the camp staff, stopping between them and Yorick. "They were nothing to that mega charizard. It'd make more sense to keep them here, protect the camp as best we can."
"Trotsky…" Yorick turned to face me. "You're late."
"Forgive me, it hits like a truck," I gingerly pressed my fingers to my midsection, and winced slightly. "Do we know where it went?"
"Reports say it went North," another member of Yorick's staff answered, scratching his head through buzz-cut blonde hair, and adjusting the thick-rimmed glasses over his blue eyes. "We're beginning to form a search party, though we took heavy losses from the attack."
"How many can we afford to send, Ross?" Yorick turned to the blonde-haired man.
"Counting all of us here…" he looked down at his clipboard. "With Tomez on the salamence in the courtyard and Kaber getting a casualty report, we have four capable staff."
"Hmmm…" Yorick put a hand to his chin, his eyes turning to the ground at Ross's feet. "We could run a standard search team with one more person…"
"…I'll do it," I straightened up. Yorick looked me straight in the eyes, his thumb slowly stroking the hairs of his beard.
"…Fine," Yorick turned back to his staff. "Ross, I need you to finish Kaber's casualty report and prepare five sets of-"
"Yorick!" a quiet voice spoke from Yorick's hip, a girl's voice. "Can you hear me?! Yorick?!"
He froze in place, then looked to his hip and grabbed the radio attached to his belt. The staff around us hastily followed suit, raising the devices to their ears and turning up the volume.
"Emma?" Yorick answered. "Emma, is that you?! Are you alright?!"
"Yeah, I'm okay!" Emma's voice spoke from the radios around us.
"Thank Arceus," his chest rose and fell with a massive sigh of relief. "Do you know where you are?"
"I'm on a mountain, some kinda, half peak, I guess. A big half-circle 'a burned stuff all 'round."
"Can you see the camp from here?"
"Nah, but I see a big pillar 'a smoke. I think it's south 'a here but I dunno."
"That must be the fires from the camp. Can you move towards it?"
"No, I'm stuck. There's this chain locked 'round my leg and I'm tied down."
"A, chain? A metal one?"
"Yeah, right 'round my ankle! It was melted into the rock!"
Yorick blinked, looking up at his staff. The three men stared back. Ross gave a small shrug.
"…Understood," Yorick looked back down at his radio. "Any sign of the charizard?"
"It's… here," Emma whispered back. "But it's just, lookin' at me…"
"Eyes down, Emma," he lowered his voice, barely more than a mumble. "It might see a challenge if you look at it directly, understood?"
"Yeah, got it."
"I'm forming a rescue team now," Yorick spoke a little louder. "We don't know how far you are from the camp, so we could be several hours. Keep your head down, stay out of the charizard's way, and we'll be there as soon as possible, alright?"
"Okay, please hurry!"
The camp leader's brown eyes remained on the device in his hand. His worn and calloused index finger reached for the wheel embedded within its side, and he scrolled it down by half a spin before attaching it to his belt again. Yorick kept his gaze on the radio, his chest rising and falling with another sigh. Matt glanced at Yorick, then at me, before turning his eyes to the ground.
"…You heard the boss," I looked to the other three men. "This isn't a search team anymore, this is a rescue party. Get moving, double time."
"Ross, you will be in charge while the rest of us are away," Yorick looked back up. "Send Kaber to the clinic, prepare five sets of equipment, and finish his casualty report."
"Yes, sir," Ross immediately turned and started walking back towards the courtyard. The other two staff members stayed close behind.
"Both of you, follow them," Yorick added. "Matt, I want you helping Ross with his casualty report, and Blake, Ross will have a vest and a set of fatigues for you by the staff building. We will depart as soon as possible."
"Understood," we answered in unison, then turned and started back down the path we came. I glanced over my shoulder; Yorick stared at the back of Matt's head for another moment, before slowly marching to the clinic's front door, opening it and stepping inside.
"…Matt," I turned to him.
"Yeah Blake?" he looked up.
"…There's a bigger picture here," I leaned in close, dropped my tone. "A picture that we are not seeing. Mega charizards don't just show up from the wild and kidnap people, someone has to be behind this."
"I've been thinking that, too," he whispered back. "But how can a pokemon do all that without its trainer?"
"That's what I'm going to find out," I slowed as we approached the courtyard, stopping at the edge of the grass. "Yorick's only concern right now is getting Emma back, so we're gonna start piecing this together ourselves. Stay here, help Ross with the wounded, and be ready for whatever comes next."
"…So the whole 'Team Gamma' thing," Matt stopped next to me. "We're not worried about that anymore?"
"No. Team Gamma is irrelevant. We deal with the dragon first, and whatever's behind it second."
Matt nodded, looking up and letting out a sigh. Just 20 feet away, the green-banded salamence remained in the hole, eye closed but still breathing. The man next to him finished wrapping a bandage on his neck, before picking up another potion from the ground and spraying the beast's shoulder.
"…We better get moving," I said. "No time to lose."
"Right," Matt nodded, starting diagonally across the courtyard towards Fire cabin. "Be careful out there, Blake."
"Take care, Matt," I waived him off, and turned to follow the edge of the grass towards the other side of the staff building. I looked back to the hole in the front of the structure; bright blue flames were pouring out, rising to the sky.
