Author's notes: Hello, everyone. Unfortunate it's been a while since I last updated. Well here it is! I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 9:
A Candle in the Darkness
"We gotta move right now!" I shouted. The time with which we had to work without interruption was just cut to zero. "Zac! Guard the entrance! Keep them out as long as you can. Elizabeth, help me get as many Pokemon as you possibly can out the way we came." They both begin to do so without acknowledging my command.
"Let me out! I'll fight!" Came from the Weavile. Perfect. Any additional bought time would be significantly helpful. I heard the sound of the red mist from Elizabeth as I moved over to the Weavile and tapped the Poke Ball against his paws just like I did Rose. I immediately let him out at my feet. As soon as he formed, I heard a loud roar.
"What the hell was that?!" I shout. Zac suddenly shot a bolt of electricity through the opening. Weavile ran up next to him. Shit. It's that Golem that was standing guard.
"Zac, don't use electrical moves!" I was pretty sure Golem was at least partly ground-type, against which electricity has no affect. "Weavile, use ice if you know any!" The Golem grimaced as he was hit by attacks and was now trying to break the opening up wider, likely to try to fit through.
While I was talking to them I moved down to a Vulpix and Elizabeth was letting her Pokemon out through the back entrance. I pushed the Poke Ball against his paws and… nothing happened. C'mon… work… what's the problem! I looked at the Poke Ball in my hand a moment, then pushed the button with my finger. It suddenly opened up and sucked up Weavile mid-attack. Shit, this Poke Ball is now assigned to Weavile.
"How do you erase a Pokemon from a Poke Ball?!" I shouted as I released the Weavile once again. He looked at me a moment and then returned to the fight. I suppose the Golem was slowing down, but he was definitely still, successfully I might add, breaking the walls around the opening.
I swung my backpack off and began quickly rummaging through it. "Please be in here…" The other Pokemon in cages seemed to be getting antsy. I ripped out a folded up piece of paper that came with the Poke Balls. I unfolded it as quickly as I could and began to read through the headlines.
"Thank you for choosing Silph Co. brand Poke Balls!" No… "How to effectively catch a wild Pokemon!" No… "How to transfer your Pokemon to another trainer or Poke Ball." Any day now. "How to release a Pokemon back into the wild." Finally!
I begin to skim the section, out loud to myself. "To unregister a Pokemon from any given Poke Ball, please hold the button for five (5) seconds." I did so as soon as I read the line. The light on the button began to blink slowly. "Once you see the flashing light, confirm you want to-" I was cut off by a loud crash. I look over to see that the Golem had busted out the wall on my right side, making it big enough to fit in. Elizabeth had begun to help Zac and the Weavile attack the Golem, as she could no longer help release Pokemon until I figured out how to permanently release a Pokemon from a given Poke Ball. I saw Elizabeth emit a wave-like distortion toward the Golem. He immediately began to sway and fell over, rolling slightly from his spherical body. Hypnosis. That will buy us some time, but who knows how long he'll be asleep for. I continued reading.
"…confirm you want to permanently release the assigned Pokemon by pressing the button five (5) times rapidly. The light will blink slower than previously. Hold the button for five (5) more seconds to confirm the Pokemon data erase from the Poke Ball." Seems tedious… but I guess it's better than accidentally releasing your Pokemon.
I followed the instructions as I read and the Poke Ball let out a unique sound. Thank God… "Elizabeth! Did you hear that?"
"Loud and clear." She answered. She still had the Poke Ball in her hand and I imagine she was already doing it. I tested it by tapping the Pokemon against the Vulpix's paws as I did previously and sure enough he was sucked in. "Okay… we're moving along…" I went over and released him out through the crevice as Elizabeth selected another Pokemon. As I was moving back I heard a deafening bang that caused me to freeze in my tracks almost out of shock at the volume of it.
"Don't just fire in you dumbass! You wanna deal hitting one of the fighters?!" They have a gun. They have a gun.
"Find cover!" I yelled. Zac ignored me and let out a roar as he shoot a beam of electricity at the two men currently right outside the opening. They both instantly became stiff and fell over. I'd imagine it's like getting tased, assuming they're even alive right now. Zac leaped over the Golem and landed on the men. He grabbed the gun in his maw, grimaced a little, and crushed the pistol out of shape in his maw. Definitely can't fire with a bent muzzle.
"Get behind the Golem!" Zac yelled. Being a bad time for questions, I, Elizabeth, and the Weavile obeyed. Zac let out a discharge attack. Discharge has a decent sized radius of effect, I knew it would hit anyone that was relatively close to the entrance that had either come to try and stop us or just to see what was going on. From behind the Golem I could see some waves of electricity come in through the opening. Half of the opening was blocked by the Golem which, thanks to his type, shielded us from the blast. Unfortunately, I heard a few Pokemon yelp as it appeared that the blast had hit some of the Pokemon in the higher cages. Almost just as quickly as he left, Zac jumped back over the Golem and us and landed back inside.
I had already erased the Vulpix from the Ball while I was taking cover. The Weavile began attacking the Golem and Zac followed suit. Hopefully they could knock it out while it was sleeping, and who knows for how much longer it would be sleeping. I went up to a Growlithe in a cage. It began to growl and bark at me. No… it's feral. I felt bad for it but decided that I needed to prioritize non-feral Pokemon. This Growlithe, or any other feral Pokemon, could attack us or any of the Pokemon currently leaving if I let it through the crevice. Poor thing didn't know any better.
One by one, I continued to release Pokemon that didn't act aggressively when I approached, or that could speak. The Weavile and Zac stood their ground. I'm assuming most of the people outside didn't have many Pokemon to fight back with. They probably entered any one they got their hands on… I was paying more attention to my task so I could be wrong, but I believe a few of them did have Pokemon. Thankfully our duo was coming out on top. It was also helpful that any foes only had a single, narrow entrance into our room which made it easier to defend.
"Wait… Zac, get his keys!" He stopped for a moment, then jumped over Golem again, who I assume at this point was knocked out. Zac quickly jumped back over with a key ring that only had a few keys on it in his maw. He tossed them at me and turned back around. I grabbed them right after they landed at my feet. This would have been helpful before… but better late than never, I suppose.
I unlocked the remaining cages that contained non-ferals. As soon as I freed one, they would run to the crevice. About half of them could fit out on their own, the other half I still had to capture and release them so they could fit. A few more had even offered to help defend the entrance.
This is good… this is great. The entrance was now heavily guarded, thanks to the brave ones that stayed to defend. There hadn't even been much fighting the past few minutes. I imagined at this point most of men and Pokemon who were fighting back were either incapacitated or dead… especially with Zac having jumped out there twice. I wouldn't be surprised if he gave at least the first two men a quick bite that would ensure that they not get up again…
"What should we do with the ferals?" I ask. There were around 8 remaining Pokemon that at this point who were all growling, barking, hissing, or otherwise making whatever aggressive sound they make.
"We're not just leaving them here." Zac said.
"What do you suggest?" I answered.
"I know." Elizabeth came into the discussion.
"Jake, unlock them all. I'll hold the doors closed with psychic. Let's go. Even though they don't know what's going on, I'm sure at least try to chase after us, leading them out of here." Zac and I nodded and I began unlocking them. I could see a faint purple aura appear around each door as I unlocked it as Elizabeth held them closed.
"The rest of you, go too. Get to freedom." I said. All of the Pokemon that stayed to help began to move to the crevice. They seemed wary of the entrance we were guarding, ready to jump back and defend if need be. But one by one they squeezed through the crevice and disappeared. The Weavile was the last to exit. He stopped and looked at us.
"Thank you," was all he said before also escaping.
"Jake, you go too." Elizabeth said. I nod and squeeze through and look back in.
"Let's go! We don't know if reinforcements are coming!" I shouted. Zac moved away from the opening the same way the others did: keeping a close eye on it. He got to the crevice and, just as difficultly as when he had entered, squeezed himself out.
"All right, Elizabeth!" I shouted into the room. She made her way out, still focusing on keeping the doors shut. Once we were out, she looked at us.
"Ready?" She asked. We nodded.
She let the cages fly open. The Pokemon inside quickly came out, the ones higher up having to jump down. They still seemed aggressive and some of them began to fight with one another. Uh oh. These Pokemon were feral killers.
"C'mon! C'mon!" Elizabeth yelled at them, but they seemed too preoccupied with themselves. Elizabeth closed her eyes, and they slowly stopped and begin to move to the crevice. I think she was doing the same thing she did to me to guide me here to them. I started to get a little worried. Even though these Pokemon weren't that intelligent, they've still fought their whole life and were no doubt dangerous.
"Run." Elizabeth said. "They'll follow us, but I have a plan." As soon as she finished her sentence, she began to run back the direction we came from. Zac and I looked at each other for a quick moment before following after her. I quickly found myself stumbling and tripping on rocks or the terrain itself for being uneven.
"Zac, light!" He seemed to grumble a bit and lit up his fur with electricity and I could see fine. I could feel my adrenaline running and felt like I was running at a good pace to be keeping up with Zac, although I'm sure he wasn't running as fast as he could. I glanced back and could see the feral group of Pokemon chasing us. "Elizabeth?" I said interrogatively.
"Stop!" She said. I almost fell over trying to abruptly stop after running almost full speed with adrenaline. I looked at her like she was crazy. Zac didn't seem concerned. I looked back again at the group of Pokemon that were approaching alarmingly fast. "Ssshhh…" Elizabeth simply said. I kept looking back at the group as they got closer and closer and… ran right past us. I looked at Elizabeth. Of course. The same cloaking technique she used earlier.
She smiled a bit and we all began walking, albeit quickly. The adrenaline buzz began to dwindle, which I realized was the first time it's began to go down since we were beginning this operation. At this point I really wanted to bring Rose back out. But… I figured it'd be best to wait, just to make sure we were 100% safe before bringing her back out. I knew she'd be scared whenever I let her back out. I wouldn't help if it was in a dark cave that looks virtually indistinguishable from where she just was. So I decided to keep her in there for now.
Zac stopped and turned around. We also both stopped and looked at him. He dug his paws into the ground as best as he could. Electricity began to cackle through his fur and he let out a cry as electricity shot from his body and to the roof of the cave about 50 yards away from us. The whole cave felt like it was shaking and parts of the ceiling collapsed down, creating a large pile of rubble. Good idea… no one can even follow us now. He simply turned around and continued walking, and Elizabeth and I followed.
Now that the adrenaline was dying down, I could feel how tired I was after this. Zac and Elizabeth didn't seem all that exhausted. I guess I shouldn't underestimate the strength of Pokemon. With every step I could have sworn it was getting brighter… which would mean that we were getting close to the exit.
The rest of the way out was relatively quiet from the three of us and I had a moment to process what had just happened. I started to feel… scared. I thought how at any moment a Pokemon could have shot an attack into the room that got past Zac, the Weavile, or the others and significantly hurt or even killed me. How that randomly fired pistol could have done the same. These fights and the people who ran them were no joke. I didn't realize how glad I was that we were leaving. We had not only let free all the Pokemon in the room, therefore saving half their lives that would have been lost just tonight, but had also gotten Rose out of there before anything happened. Just like I promised… just like I promised.
As soon as we emerged from the cave and into the forest, I eagerly dropped down and lay myself on the grass and let out a sigh.
"I'm glad we did this." Zac said.
"Me too." Elizabeth chimed in. "The lives of all those Pokemon would surely have been lost eventually due to those battles, even if they won tonight."
I didn't answer. I just took some deep breaths with my eyes closed, but I'm sure they knew I was silently agreeing. After lying down a few minutes, I sat up and grabbed the Poke Ball off my belt. I put the other Ball I was using in my backpack, as had Elizabeth. I took the Ball from my belt, enlarged it, and pressed the button.
I smiled softly as I watched the mist swirl out and form my fluffy brown little Eevee. As soon as she was solid, I watched her wipe her eyes and squint as she looked around, not used to the stark contrast of light out here versus in that cave. The sun suggested it was early morning.
"Rose…" I picked her up and hugged her. "You're safe… just like I promised… you're safe…" I may have been hugging a little more tightly than I realized because she let out a little squeak. I set her on my lap and looked at her. "I'm so sorry you had to go back… You're so brave for agreeing to go back… thanks to you, we set free every Pokemon that was in those cages."
She looked at me quietly for a moment, her mouth slightly agape. "Because of me…?"
"Yes… because of you, we were able to find the room where all the Pokemon were kept, and prevented Zac and Elizabeth from having to be branded to find them." I wiped the fur under her eyes as I spoke, which still looked wet from when she was crying when I found her.
She didn't say anything and pushed herself against my stomach and curled herself up on my lap. I hope she didn't feel betrayed by me… now that I think about it, she may have only agreed because we asked her to… not because she was ready. I can't really imagine ever being ready to return to an environment like that, let alone in such a short time after she left.
I petted her back slowly. "You're safe… you don't have to go back… you're safe…" I found myself repeating this phrase to her as I petted her. I noticed Zac and Elizabeth were watching me. "We should… probably head back to Floaroma Town. How does some food sound?" Rose nodded softly.
I stood up and look at the other two Pokemon for a moment, then began to walk back on the path we had taken to get here towards the town. The others followed me.
The walk back to town was uneventful.
Once the surrounding area became more and more littered with flowers, I knew we were about to be on the town. Hopefully the town's beautiful surrounding would help Rose feel better. I looked at Zac and Elizabeth. "You two can head into town… I'm going to talk to Rose for a bit." They nodded and continued walking. I walked over near a tree and sat down at its base, surrounded by flowers. I had been carrying her as we walked back.
"Rose?" I looked at her. She looked at me. "I'm so sorry you had to go back…" The more I thought about it, the more I felt as though we had forced her to return and she had no say in it. The more I felt as though I had betrayed her. "I care about you so much… You'll never have to go back…" She sniffled.
"I hate that place… I hate everything there." She said. It looked like she was about to start crying again and my heart broke for her.
"I know you do, sweetie." I replied softly. "I do too. I shouldn't have even asked you to go back… but… on the bright side, we did save all those Pokemon." I answered. I felt terrible. Even though it's true that we saved many Pokemon, I felt like saying that was only me trying to justify reentering her. I put the flower clip back on by her ear. I had removed it before we started our mission.
"How about something we get something special?" I asked her. "To celebrate never having to go back there?" I continued. I really wanted to get it across that she would not have to return.
She thought quietly a moment. "That… what was it called… cotton candy? That was really good…" She looked at me. "Can we get some?" I smiled softly.
"Of course. It's a little early… the place we got it last time may not be open, but we can sure go and check." I stood up and picked her up.
As I began to walk back toward the town, I saw that Zac and Elizabeth had not walked back to town and were just waiting a little ways away among the flowers. It looked like they were talking. As I approached them, I spoke.
"We're going to go get some cotton candy." They looked at me.
"What's that?" The Gardevoir asked. Man… all these poor wild Pokemon have never had any human treats before.
"It's really good!" Rose chimed in. I smiled a bit.
"Yeah," I agreed. "I'll get some for you guys too." I didn't even have to ask if Zac had had it before.
We all started walking on the dirt path through the flower fields. I remembered that the concession stand was relatively close to the town. I knew it would stand out so I wasn't worried about missing it. It was nice to be able to walk through a flower field on a nice, early morning after what we just did, even though I still felt like I was a bit shook up from it. Surely Rose was too.
It didn't feel like much time had passed until we could see the town in the distance, and the concession stand. Thankfully, there was someone there working it. Once we got to the stand, I got two bags of the fluffy candy: a blue one and a pink one. Rose seemed to wag her tail a little.
Once I had the bags we walked over to one of the benches and the others followed me. I sat down and sat Rose on the bench. I opened the pink bag and ripped of a big chunk and handed it to Rose. I then gave the blue bag to Elizabeth. I took a few bites from my bag as Elizabeth opened her bag and ripped off a small piece. She felt the fluffy texture and eventually put it in her mouth. I saw that they both noted how much Rose seemed to be enjoying it. Elizabeth smiled.
"Good?" I asked. She smiled. I looked at Zac. "You're gonna try it too, right?"
"I'll pass." He said.
"C'mon," I argued. "Look, Elizabeth and Rose likes it. I paid good money for this." I looked at Elizabeth.
"It's very sweet." She said.
"Please?" I asked Zac. I started to feel slightly embarrassed that I was basically begging this big, strong Pokemon to try a fluffy, sugary treat. He rolled his eyes.
"All right, fine." He said. Elizabeth ripped off a larger piece and held it down for him. He sniffed it a few times and took it out of her hand in his mouth. I chuckled, and noticed that at the very least he didn't grimace from it.
"Yeah, it's all right." He said. Better than disliking it, I suppose. I got the feeling that in general Zac mostly trusted me now. Elizabeth took another bite and looked up to the sky.
"I should be getting back soon." She said softly. "Ben will be worried sick..." We both looked at her. "Oh, Ben is my mate. I just went out to do some scavenging. I've obviously been out way longer than we were expecting." I don't even think Rose was listening to us, she was just enjoying her cotton candy.
I nodded. "Sure, why don't we get some food and we'll walk back with you?" I suggested. It looked as though she was about to politely decline us having to walk with her, but just smiled.
"Sure, thank you."
"Zac, you're welcome to come too." He just nodded. "Would you like some more?"
"No, thank you." I chuckled.
"Well, let's head into town and get some food somewhere." I stood up and ripped another chunk of cotton candy off and gave it to Rose. I then picked her up and set her draped over my head so she could still easily hold her treat.
We closed the distance between us and the town. I just picked a breakfast joint and we entered.
We made small talk as all of us ate a lovely breakfast.
It was maybe around 11 or noon now, and with our bellies full, Elizabeth began to lead the way back to her home.
"I'm glad you guys are coming with me." She said. "Zac has reminded me a lot of Ben, in regards to his attitude towards humans. I've been trying to convince him otherwise, but so far nothing has convinced him. Maybe you can." She looked at me.
I felt slightly embarrassed. "Maybe I can." I answered. I looked at Zac, as he was brought up in the conversation, but he was just listening.
"Luckily," Elizabeth continued, "I don't live very far away. When I was caught in that trap, though, I was too far away to send what is basically a psychic S.O.S. to my mate. So again I am eternally grateful that came along and helped me." She smiled warmly at me. I smiled back and rubbed the back of my head a bit.
I noticed that Zac had been pretty quiet since our mission ended. "Zac?" He looked at me. "Are you okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be okay?" I had a slight paranoia that he had gotten injured on our mission and was too proud to ask me or the nurses at the center for help a second time. "I'm fine."
"Zac, if you're not fine, tell me." I said, a bit assertively.
"I'm fine." He said again, looking at me. I hope he was telling the truth. Rose started tapping my head. I looked up at her as best as I could without moving my head back so she wouldn't fall off.
"Cotton candy?" I chuckled and ripped a piece off for her.
"That's it for now, we don't want you to get an upset stomach from all that sugar." She eagerly took the other piece.
Elizabeth suddenly stopped. Zac and I both looked at her. "He's close." She said. Before I had a moment to question what she was talking about, I was completely blind-sided with a tackle from my right. My head smacked against the ground and for the moment it was difficult to focus my eyes. On top of me was Gallade, with his arm positioned horizontally at my neck, and it was glowing. I could feel heat radiating from it. Rose got knocked off my head and I didn't know where she currently was. I could hear Zac growling.
"Stop!" Elizabeth shouted and the Gallade looked over at her. He was also making a growl-like sound.
What now?
Author's Note: I sincerely hope that all readers, old and new, enjoyed the newest update. Hopefully next chapter will be out soon. Don't be afraid to review or send me a PM
