So… this update took 5 months. … Hmm…
Some more Dex Holders' teams have been overhauled and edited. The overhaul posts are on my Tumblr. So far in Legacy, the following Dex Holders have overhauled teams: Blue, Gold, Emerald, Pearl, Platinum, and Y. The following Dex Holders have updated teams: Crystal, Diamond, Black, and White.
Chapter 6: The Raid
August 11, unknown location, Johto, 4 pm…
Platinum and Y plummeted towards the water far below them. Y was used to freefall and thus was able to stay focused, but was terrified of the fact that she was going to be in deep water. The water was approaching far too quickly for her comfort, and could already feel the panic starting to grow in the back of her mind.
Y glanced to her side and saw Platinum also in freefall. The heiress had never really been in freefall like this in normal gravity, and either because of that or the fact that she hadn't fully recovered from her trance, she seemed to be locked up and tensed as well. Y gasped as her panic was starting to surface. She was definitely going to sink underwater. She would need Platinum to save her and pull her out of the water. But if the heiress was also tensed up and thus was not able to save her…
"Miss Platinum!" Y cried out, unable to suppress her desperation. "Please! You have to-"
Before she could finish, she hit the water surface and immediately sank deep underwater from the momentum of the fall. And Y quickly realized that she hadn't prepared for this. She didn't breathe in deep and held her breath. She was in the middle of screaming out to Platinum, thus had barely any air in her lungs already.
Platinum had also sank equally deep as Y, but unlike the Kalos Dex Holder, the heiress seemed too relaxed, almost as if she had lost consciousness again. But thankfully, she opened her eyes as coming into sudden contact with cold water greatly helped her in snapping out of her strange mental trance. She blinked a couple of times and met Y's eyes as the younger girl frantically clawed and kicked at the water despite sinking deeper.
Platinum noticed that she also hadn't been holding her breath, so she quickly kicked at the water to reach the surface. Y watched in horror as her senior and her lifeline swam up towards the surface and away from her, as if abandoning her. She quickly stretched a hand towards the heiress, as if screaming at her for help. Platinum reached the water surface and gasped for air. She kept kicking at the water so that she could keep her head above the surface, until she took enough breaths. She shook her head to clear her mind and after taking a deep breath, she dived underwater to try to save Y.
Y felt relief washing over her when she saw her senior diving underwater once more. She kicked upwards as much as she could and stretched her hand towards her again. She could feel her vision beginning to tunnel as she began to suffer the effects of suffocation. Platinum reached down with her hand as well, but much to Y's horror, she stopped just before grabbing her hand.
'Miss Platinum! What… what are you…' Y thought in panic, as she looked into her senior's eyes. Platinum looked as cold and calculating as ever, as she stared at her with unblinking eyes. 'Please! Save me!'
But Platinum pulled her hand back, keeping out of her junior's reach. Y's mouth fell open in shock, and the last of her air bubbled out of her mouth.
Platinum winced as she saw the pained and betrayed expression on her junior's face in between the air bubbles. 'I am so sorry, Y…' she thought as she clenched her teeth. 'But… I cannot save you right now. … I have to wait. … You are too panicked. If I reach for you, you will end up pulling me down. I cannot match your strength, and we will both drown… I will save you, Y. But you must wait a little longer…' She averted her gaze to not see her junior's hurt and betrayed expression and let a little bit of her air escape past her lips as her natural buoyancy slowly dragged her up towards the water surface.
Y frantically shook her head as she saw her senior slowly drifting further away. 'No, no! Miss Platinum! Don't leave me! No!' She opened her mouth once more in an attempt to cry out and in her panic, she gasped for air. And instantly, a mouthful of water entered her body, causing her to immediately try to take another breath, which only allowed more water to enter. Y reached towards her mouth with her hands as she realized her fatal mistake. But it was already too late. More water kept entering her system. She briefly thrashed around in panic but her body soon locked up and she began to sink as her world turned black. She made one last desperate reach towards her senior before she passed out, but as her vision faded, she could see her senior quickly swimming towards her…
…
Meanwhile, New Bark Town…
…
Gold opened the door to the basement, ready for some post-snack pool game. Perhaps now that he had a tasty snack before dinner, he'd be able to break his personal record? But as he entered the basement, he realized that his attempts at breaking his record weren't possible anymore. One of his new Pokémon, Houndour, was currently napping on the pool table, lying flat on its back with its little paws resting while pointing upwards. The Houndour's hind leg occasionally kicked up at the air as it snored happily.
"… Well, there goes the game," Gold said with a sigh.
He walked up to the pool table and looked at his Pokémon. … Normally, a Pokémon like Houndour would prefer to sleep on its belly, and not flat on its back. But this one was either mimicking a sleeping human, or is just… weird, since it was fast asleep while lying flat on its back.
Gold carefully put a hand on the Houndour's belly and scratched it, causing the little Pokémon to whimper happily. It began to lightly kick at the air with its front legs now, but still remained asleep.
Suddenly, there was a loud static like noise from upstairs, as if someone just turned on the TV and went to an unavailable channel. The static noise soon got replaced by random disjointed voices and other sound effects, as if that person was flipping through a variety of channels with the volume on annoyingly high. Gold sighed as his Houndour woke up from the annoying noises.
"Sorry, Houndtaro," he said as he pet the Houndour's head. "Looks like that freeloader is getting too comfortable around here."
The Houndour growled and Gold could feel its body temperature rapidly rising. He gave it a series of gentle pets to calm it down, and the Houndour acknowledged its trainer's wishes and calmed down. It still looked a bit disgruntled at having its nap interrupted rudely. It then looked up at its trainer expectantly, wagging its little tail.
Gold understood what the little Pokémon wanted and went over to fetch a snack from the shelf. He held the snack high above the Houndour, and it rose up to its hind legs while trying to reach the snack with its front legs. Gold soon let the Houndour have the snack, which it devoured pretty quickly. The Houndour looked off to the side and let out a satisfied burp in the form of a small flame, which dissipated shortly.
"Must've been a spicy meatball, eh?" Gold said with a chuckle, petting the Houndour again. The Pokémon barked a couple of times in happiness, and wagged its tail again. "Want to go out for a walk, bud?"
The Houndour barked excitedly and hopped off of the pool table, eager to go. Gold chuckled and grabbed the Pokéballs of his other Pokémon. His Houndour reached the door at the top of the stairs and began to lightly claw at the door. Gold opened the door and shook his head with a sigh as he heard the unfortunately familiar theme of a certain robot show. His Houndour momentarily growled at the loud noise, but headed towards the front door, clawing at the door again.
"All right, all right, Hountaro," Gold said as he quickened his pace. "Let's get out of this loud place and start having some quiet fun!"
…
Gold watched his Houndour sprinting towards the thrown compressed billiard cue. The little Pokémon bit the cue to grab it and then ran back towards its trainer.
"Good boy, Hountaro," Gold said as he took back his billiard cue and petted the Houndour. The Houndour barked excitedly and waited for him to throw the cue again. "All right, now let's see how quickly you return this time!" He pulled his hand back and prepared to throw the cue as far as he could. But as he did so, he heard an annoyed whistle of sorts from above, forcing him to stop. "Whoops. Sorry, Litaro," he said as he slowly reached with his other hand to the top of his head, where his Litwick was resting. The Litwick let loose a small burst of flame from its tip, expressing its frustration at being swung around like so thanks to its trainer's sudden movements. "Okay. Here goes!" Being careful to prevent the Litwick from swinging around so much again, he threw the cue as far as he could.
The Houndour sprinted towards the cue once more, barking excitedly. Gold watched the Houndour run before shifting his attention to his last new Pokémon to see what it was up to. The Larvitar was digging a small hole in the ground with its hands. And Gold couldn't help but think that the Larvitar looked like one of those little orphans in the Violet City orphanage, playing at a sandbox.
Gold walked over towards the Larvitar, and just as he was a step away, the Larvitar shoved a handful of dirt into its mouth. … Yep. Definitely like that orphan…
"Hey, Li'l Tartaro," he called out, crouching next to the Larvitar. "… Let's not eat too much dirt, huh? We don't want dozens of potholes all over New Bark Town."
The Larvitar raised a hand as acknowledgement as it munched on the dirt. There was a muffled bark from behind and Gold turned around to see his Houndour with the billiard cue in its mouth. Well then… another round of fetch!
And for a long while, Gold played with the Houndour. Sometimes he would throw his billiard cue. Sometimes he would run around and get the Houndour to chase him. And sometimes he would chase the Houndour.
Gold came to a stop when his Pokégear started to ring. He checked the device and noticed that it was Crystal calling him. "Oh, hey, Crys. What's up?" he asked. "Our Week 21 check-up isn't for another day or two."
"No, it's not that. Listen, Blue just called me," Crystal began, her voice shaking a little. "… And to put it simply, Platinum and Y have gone missing somewhere between Goldenrod and Ecruteak. And it seems that they were taken by someone. Can you and Silver come over here to Violet City? We'll need to search around northern Violet City and Route 36."
"Right. I'll be there shortly," Gold said with a nod. "But… if those two were taken… searching from the skies isn't really going to do anything. It's not like they'll be in plain sight somewhere."
"I know, but we can't be doing nothing," Crystal said. "At the very least, we'll be in the vicinity ready if they show up somewhere, or we get a new hint."
"Okay. I'll see you soon." Gold hung up and stared at the Pokégear briefly. … Another call to action, huh? … So be it. He put his Pokégear away and looked at his Pokémon. The Houndour looked up at him curiously. The Litwick was no longer dozing off, as it recognized the serious tone in its trainer's voice. And the Larvitar was lying on its back with an extremely satisfied face, as it had just finished eating its own volume's worth of dirt, looking like a miniature Snorlax. "All right guys. Time to move. We're going to Violet City to maybe kick some bad guys in their rear. So let's get going!"
He returned his three Pokémon and headed back into his house to fetch Silver. The freeloader was seated at the couch, watching a rerun of his damned favorite robot show… very loudly. Gold stepped in front of the television, blocking his view.
"Dude, move," Silver said, looking quite annoyed.
Gold simply lowered the television volume to acceptable levels before shutting it off. "We have to go to Violet City right now. There's been a call to arms, freeloader. Crys needs us to meet up with her right now."
"… Call to arms?" Silver asked, tilting his head. "… Like what?"
"Super Formal Gal and Sky Girl have gone missing somewhere between Goldenrod, Ecruteak, and Violet City. And apparently they've been taken by someone. And so we're going to look for them. So, you know the music. Time to dance." He turned away and headed towards the front door, but paused midway. "Unless of course, you want me to tell senior Blue that you didn't want to come because you didn't want to miss a rerun of a robot show."
Silver slowly rose to his feet. He briefly checked his pockets to make sure he still had his Pokémon on him. "All right. Let's roll."
…
Meanwhile…
…
Platinum reached the surface of the water and gasped for air, as she kicked at the water below to stay afloat. She grunted with exertion as she tried to keep Y's head above the water surface as well. The Kalos Dex Holder was unconscious, but still very tensed up, making it difficult for Platinum to keep herself afloat with her junior.
She looked up the cliff where she had jumped. Her pursuers were out of sight. … Were they not going to see where their captives were, or if they're even alive? … Did they not care anymore, since they already got what they wanted?
Platinum clenched her teeth. … Her kidnappers were going to regret this. Once she regrouped with the others, she would tell Red and Blue where this base was, and they would assault this base together.
… But first things first. She had to get out of this water, resuscitate Y, and then find a way to contact the other Dex Holders.
Platinum glanced around for the nearest shore. The nearest shore was to her right, and it wasn't too far away. She proceeded to slowly kick at the water while pulling Y, being careful to keep her head above water. And as she swam, she noticed that the body of water was not an ocean as she had initially thought, but a lake. This wasn't salt water, which certainly helped in the event of accidentally swallowing the water, but not when trying to swim.
Platinum mentally brought up the map of Johto she had studied not too long ago. If she was in an ocean near where the train was derailed, that would mean she was currently either east of Ecruteak City, or west of Goldenrod. But if she was in a large lake, then she had to be near the northern end of Violet City… Then would it be possible to reach Crystal?
She soon reached the shore and pulled Y onto dry land. The blonde girl wasn't breathing, and had a trickle of water flowing from her mouth. Platinum tried shaking her first, but nothing happened. Her pulse was strong at least. Platinum tapped her junior on the cheek, first lightly but gradually increasing in power.
Y soon stirred and began to cough up the water she had swallowed. Platinum sighed in relief and pulled back, giving her junior some space. Y coughed violently for a minute or so before finally calming down and opening her eyes. She saw Platinum and she quickly sat up, a mix of emotions appearing on her face.
"I am so sorry, Y," Platinum said, lowering her head a little, as she immediately noticed one of the emotions visible on her junior's face. "I did not have a choice. You were too panicked. If I had tried to rescue you, you would have pulled me underwater, and we both would have drowned. I had to wait until you were unable to struggle."
Y clenched her teeth, feeling very angry, but not at Platinum. She admitted that if the heiress had reached out for her, Y would've pulled her under while trying to reach the surface. The feeling of betrayal hurt her, but she more felt angry at her own helplessness. … Maybe after things had settled down again, she could start taking swimming lessons or something…
Y put a hand on her chest and took a couple of shuddering breaths as she recalled the terrifying moments where she thought that her senior had abandoned her to her fate. She still felt the urge to lash out, but held her tongue. And besides, in that kidnapper's facility, when Platinum had that weird machine on her head, Y didn't save her immediately either, as she knew that doing so would only be bad for both of them. So… they were even now.
"I… understand," she managed to say eventually. "You still saved me, so… thank you for that."
Platinum smiled and gently hugged her junior. "And thank you for saving me in that facility. You were incredible, having freed yourself and single-handedly breaking out."
Y blushed at the sudden compliment and rubbed the back of her neck embarrassedly. "Um… yeah, I guess, hehe…"
Platinum slowly rose to her feet. "Now come. We must find a way to contact the others. They are probably looking for us from above. They will be easy to spot if we are close enough."
Y rose to her feet and took a look around. "… Where even are we, anyways?"
"The water is not salty. It is not the ocean," Platinum said, pointing at the water where they had fallen. "From what I have seen on the map, the only lakes close by the train wreck site is the ones in the northern parts of Violet City. So assuming we were not taken somewhere too far away, we should be close to Violet City."
"So then we can spot the Sprout Tower in the distance," Y said, looking around once more. "Ah, these trees are too tall though…"
"We will head towards the direction of the sun. Given the current time, the sun should be in the south-southwest direction. If we head a bit to the east away from the sun, we should be heading towards Violet City."
With that, the two girls began to walk. There was a small trail between the trees, but since they didn't know where this trail led, they opted to follow the shore of the lake, but from the forest. They didn't want to be spotted by their kidnappers, but being close to the lake meant that if they spotted anyone familiar flying around in the skies, they could get out to the open quickly to signal them.
Within half an hour, as the two girls walked, the lake grew wider and wider until it seemingly blocked their path south. But from here, they could see the Sprout Tower of Violet City on the other side of the water. And in the distance near the top of the Sprout Tower was a small dot of an aerial transport Pokémon flying around.
Y jumped and waved at the small dot while Platinum tried to reflect sunlight off of her Pokétch screen to get the dot's attention quickly.
From the other side of the lake, Crystal quickly turned to look at a shining object in the distance that caught her eye. She squinted to get a better look, but it seemed like a glass-like object reflecting sunlight… that wasn't there a few minutes ago. She got her Xatu to fly over much close for a better look, and sure enough, she was able to see Y jumping up and down while waving at her and Platinum standing next to her.
"Gold, I found them!" Crystal quickly reported through her Pokégear. "They're north of the Sprout Tower. Tell Red and Blue, and we'll meet up in the Pokémon Center!"
The Xatu flew over to Platinum and Y as fast as possible, allowing Crystal to meet up with her lost juniors quickly.
"Crystal!" Y shouted happily once her senior was close enough.
Crystal freed herself from her Xatu's telekinetic grip and ran over towards her juniors. "I'm so glad you're both safe!" she said as she embraced the two girls. "Are you two hurt?"
"We are okay, senior Crystal," Platinum said with a relieved smile. "… But… we do have a problem…"
"You were kidnapped, right?" Crystal asked. "Blue told me that you two were probably taken. … We'll have to deal with that. But first, come on, let's go to the Pokémon Center and meet up with the others. We'll discuss what to do next."
…
Half an hour later, 6 pm…
…
Diamond and Pearl were the last to arrive at the Violet City Pokémon Center. Diamond rushed in as soon as he returned his Skarmory, and ran towards Platinum.
"Lady! You're okay!" he said as he quickly hugged her.
Platinum put an arm around him and smiled warmly. "Yes. I am okay. I apologize for worrying you."
"I'm really glad you're safe, Miss Lady," Pearl said with a smile. "So… what happened to you?"
Platinum and Y took turns in explaining what had happened to them since the train wreck, and Platinum's analysis of the situation.
"That's… really scary," White said, putting a hand over her heart. "They pulled off such an elaborate kidnapping, and got what they wanted… They… succeeded…"
"We'll have to raid this base of theirs," Red said, crossing his arms. "Do you remember where it was?"
"Yes, senior," Platinum answered. "It is on top of a cliff overlooking the lakes up north."
"That would make it easy to spot," Black said. "I doubt there'll be too many similar looking buildings in similar hills near the similar lakes."
"Then let's raid them right now," Red said.
"… The fact that they didn't bother chasing Platinum and Y when they jumped is unnerving," Blue said with a sigh. "… That means they either thought you two died, or they don't care. If they don't care, that means they're aware of the possibility that you two would meet up with us again, and that we would raid them. So it's possible that they're waiting for us to attack them."
Gold glanced around their tables in the Pokémon Center. "But there are 11 of us there. Surely these kidnappers won't be ready for all of us at once."
"True," Blue said. "… All right. Let's go, then, before the sun sets. The sun won't fully set for another couple of hours, so we don't have too long."
…
A few minutes later, the Dex Holders were able to locate the warehouse which served as the kidnappers' facility. Fortunately, there was nothing remotely similar in the vicinity, which made identification very easy.
Gold landed near the warehouse first, and hopped off of his Togekiss. He slowly stepped towards the warehouse window and peeked inside. … There were no movements anywhere.
Red and Blue landed next, and Blue began to scan the area with her modified Silph Scope. There were no readings on her thermal, and night vision showed nothing hidden in the dark shadows within the warehouse. She sent out her new Starmie, which promptly camouflaged itself to match the interior of the warehouse and floated up towards the ceiling, scanning on top of the boxes and between the rows of the stacked boxes for anything like an ambush. … So far, nothing.
One by one, the other Dex Holders landed near the warehouse. Satisfied that there was nothing like an ambush here, Red and Blue signaled the others to gather around.
"Okay, so far so good," Red began. "Now, we can't all go in there, so half of us will have to stay outside and make sure nothing comes in to surprise us."
"Platinum and Y, you two are coming with us," Blue said. "You two have been inside, so you'll know what we're looking at. Gold, Silver, Pearl, Black, and White, you guys stay up here and watch our backs."
"Got it," Silver said with a nod. "I'll be on lookout in case something comes our way."
"Good. Let's move," Red said. He crept into the warehouse and looked up. He spotted the faint red glow of Blue's Starmie. Since the Pokémon was not flashing its core, Red assumed that all was clear and proceeded forward.
They soon came across the door that led downstairs. Blue stepped towards the door and quietly pushed her snake camera under the door to see what was on the other side. She looked at her Pokégear's screen as she moved the snake cam left and right, but even in night vision, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Thermal vision revealed nothing either.
Blue withdrew the snake cam and quietly opened the door. With her modified Silph Scope, she checked for any kind of traps, cameras, laser sensors, and the likes, but found nothing.
"This is where those guys came from," Y whispered, pointing at the door where the kidnappers' buddies have emerged from. "We didn't get to see what was inside though."
Blue checked with her snake cam again before opening the door. The room was pretty big and there were old dusty furniture scattered around, as if this was some kind of abandoned recreation room. A break room perhaps, for some employees who used to work in the warehouse.
"Status report," Crystal whispered into her Pokégear.
"All clear up here," Gold replied. "How are things on your end?"
"All clear here too. But that's what worries me," Crystal answered. "… I'll keep you posted."
"I will too. Good luck."
Y stopped in front of the only remaining door. "… This was a keypad locked door," she said, looking at the old wooden door that was in front of her. "… How did…"
Blue checked with her snake cam once again before opening the door. She glanced around here and there, but… this large room was completely empty. She reached for the lights and flicked them on, illuminating the whole place.
"… Are you sure this is the right place?" Red asked as he walked into the large empty room. "This place looks like it's been deserted for a decade," he said, looking at the dusty floors.
"Yes, I am certain that this is the correct place," Platinum answered. "There were no other candidates in the vicinity. This has to be the place. … I do not understand what is going on…"
"Let's search the area. Who knows what we'll find," Y suggested, entering the large room.
Blue switched her modified Silph Scope to electromagnetic mode, to see if she could spot any electronics. But everything remained dark in her view, as there was nothing electronic anywhere, other than the wires that were connected to the lights above. But given what Platinum and Y went through, this had to be the right place. Seeing it empty like this… it was very unnerving. Blue kept her guard up and meticulously scanned the walls and the floors.
Platinum and Y were looking around as well, shocked by how different everything looked. Y walked up towards the wall where she had been hung upside down. She glanced at the entrance to the room, and noted that the wall where the keypad had been was simply eroded away. But the angle and the view of the door matched her memories. … This was the right wall.
"… There was a hook here that the guy raised while I was hanging upside down," she said, putting a hand on the empty wall.
Blue stopped at a particular wall. Her modified Silph Scope's electromagnetic vision caught something that the naked eye would not have been able to see. She leaned in a bit closer and raised the scope a bit to check with her bare eyes first.
"What's wrong?" Crystal asked as she walked up to her senior.
"This wall…" Blue began, putting a hand on the wall. "… This one has faint traces of wiring behind it. All the others don't, but this one does. The only other wire connects to the lights above, but these wires don't seem to be connected to anything."
"Wait, this wall doesn't have anything either?" Y asked, pointing to where she was hung upside down. "But… the hook was raised by a machine…"
"If they unplugged the machine, the wires would be inactive, and then I wouldn't be able to see it in the EM mode," Blue explained. "But there are a few wires behind this one that are still active. They're still powered up by something."
"What does that mean?" Crystal asked.
"It means that this wall is probably a secret doorway," Blue answered. "And those wires used to connect to a button or a panel or something that would be used to lift a secret hatch that would be impossible to see otherwise. But it looks like the wires had been severed so that we can't trigger the hatch anymore."
"So we can't open the secret door anymore," Diamond said. "So… what now?"
Blue crossed her arms and thought for a while. "… Right now, we can't do anything. But… this is real bad. This means that whoever took Platinum and Y are very organized, has a ton of assets and manpower, and is smart enough to have predicted that we would raid this place, so they preemptively evacuated and cleaned up the place to make it look like an old abandoned warehouse. … This is not a random kidnapping. These guys knew exactly what they were doing. And worst of all, they got what they wanted without consequences. So… what's next on their agenda?"
"And we don't know anything about them," Y muttered. "… Yeah, this is real bad…"
"Platinum, you'll have to trace your bank transfers," Blue said. "These guys got their money from you through a bank transfer. If these guys were very thorough, they would've made sure to use an offshore account that won't be pointing in their direction, but it's worth a shot anyways. At the very least, it'll give us an idea of how competent these guys are."
"Yes, senior. I will begin the investigation as soon as possible," Platinum said with a nod.
"And everyone, listen. Whoever these guys are… they're dangerous. I don't think they'll be targeting Platinum and Y anymore since they already got what they wanted, but we'll all have to be very careful. We don't know who these guys are or what they want. So we don't know when they'll strike next, and who their next target is, if there are any. But based on what Platinum and Y went through, it seems that these guys know who we are, so it's likely that we are still their target. Our only option is to remain as vigilant as possible until they strike again. So everyone, be very careful…" Blue slowly put a hand over her heart, as she suddenly had a terrible feeling about all this. "… We'll all have to be very, very careful…"
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