7

[1:59 PM. Celadon City Department Store. Celadon City. Earlier the same day.]

Molly was in the elevator the minute everything changed.

She was on her way down after enjoying a meal on the roof. It started as a low rumble, muffled by the steel of the elevator. An old building is bound to have some creaks and groans, she thought, maybe boiler trouble. She would bring it up with the lady at the front desk when she reached the bottom floor.

Then the whole elevator shuddered. Molly froze, then heard the steel cable snap.

Suddenly she felt

a flutter in

her stomach

as

she

began

to

fall.

[5:22 PM. Ruins of the Celadon City Department Store. Celadon City. The same day.]

Molly woke to the sound of frantic beating against the door of the elevator. Her entire body felt numb. She reached instinctively for her head. It was cool and damp; blood painted her hand. She was drenched in sweat.

The beating continued. Through the daze, Molly forced herself to focus. She could faintly hear a female's voice. "Hello? Hello? Is anybody in there? This is the Celadon City Fire Department. If there is anyone in there, please answer us!"

"Hello!" Molly croaked. Her throat was bone dry. "Help, please! There's somebody in here!"

"Did you hear that, Harley? Someone's in there!" A male voice boomed.

Harley returned. "Hold on in there, we're gonna get you out. Miles, open the door."

The heat intensified as the door began to glow orange. As it grew brighter, Molly shielded her weak eyes. "One sec, friend," Miles said. "We're cutting through."

Molly heard the sound of a thin stream of water connect with the glowing door. As the stream cooled the door, she saw a pair or large hands and a set of chitinous claws grip the metal and begin warping it until the sunlight struck Molly.

Miles dropped his hand inside the steel coffin. "Go on take it. You're home free. The worst part's over, sweetheart. I got you."

Molly grabbed the hand and was surprised by how firm the grip was. Miles singlehandedly pulled her up through the open door. What Molly saw made her woozy: the skyline was on fire, everything washed in a thick orange haze. Ash rained down from the sky like snow. The woman stood next to a small Vaporeon, and the man had a large Typhlosion and Pinsir flanking him.

Miles set her straight and brushed her off. "Welcome to Celadon City."

"We're Squad 16- Emergency Response Unit," Hayley said. "Formerly volunteer fire fighters. Welcome aboard." She noticed Molly's blank stare. "You don't get used to it."

"What the hell happened here," she asked as Miles handed her a blanket and a bottle of water.

"Bombs. Exposions. Lots of explosions—simultaneous and all over the city." Miles waved a second man in a similar uniform over. "This is Dr. Garth. Let him take a look at you."

Dr. Garth was a young man, probably just out of Med School. He had sandy blonde and his chin was decorated with a tuft of unkempt hair. He immediately took a look at Molly's head. "Not too bad. Surface damage. Entirely cosmetic. You're gonna have some headaches and a nice lump, but other than that, you should be good."

Even at the end of the world, Molly seemed sarcastic. "Fantastic."

Miles, a built man of about twenty-eight, brushed soot off his jacket. "Could be worse." He jammed a thumb over his shoulder, and Molly saw rows of body bags. Not many people made it out of the department store. That elevator probably saved your life."

"I never want to step in another elevator ever again."

Miles chuckled. "I understand."

Harley was a young girl, a pretty blonde, though her long hair was put up in a hasty bun. "Can you walk? We need to get you to a shelter."

Molly struggled to her feet. "Yeah, I can walk. But I'm not going to any shelter."

"What?" Harley gasped. "Of course you are. Miles, tell her she can't be out here like this."

Miles looked at Harley, and then to Molly, then finally to Garth, who merely shrugged. "If you think you're up to it, we could use the extra hands. Doc's cleared you. You got pokemon on you?" She flashed three small pokeballs from her lapel. "Great, we need to keep moving. Doc, Harley, we're moving out."

The four moved through the debris-strewn streets of Celadon. It was now that Molly had a chance to marvel at the destruction, at the beautiful totality of it all. The once imposing skyline, rivaled only by Silph Tower in Saffron, was now a burning shell, smoking and hollow. The buildings she knew, the friends that had lived there, gone. Almost as if they hadn't existed at all.

"Who could have done this?" she asked to the orange sky.

"There's been no word from either Indigo Plateau or Viridian City," Miles said.

"Has this happened everywhere?"

Miles shook his head. "Hard to say. However, we've got refugees in Vermillion, and that wasn't touched.

"Small miracle," Harley said.

"It would be foolish to believe in miracles today," a voice from above said. The four trainers tensed, scanning the skyline for the source of the voice. "There!" Garth pointed towards an old billboard leering dangerously. A Mandibuzz flew lazily overhead. At the top stood a young woman, with cropped red hair and blood-red lips. Even as the billboard swayed in the wind, she stood firm. With a small hop, she landed with extreme grace on the ground below, sending up a cloud of residual ash.

"You are the third squad of noble volunteers I've encountered today." She smiled wickedly, her body encased in leather trappings.

"Who are you?" Miles bellowed. Harley and Garth had already released their pokemon: A Vaporeon and Dragalge respectively.

"You can call me Mistress Naomi as you beg for your lives," the woman said.

The Manidbuzz shot downwards towards the trainers. Miles dove for Molly as the Dragalge threw itself in front of the vulture. Naomi laughed. "I've posed this scenario before to the other two squads: on the one hand you can stay and fight me, there are four of you, of course. On the other hand, if you all stay and fight, then you won't be able to save the people I have hidden somewhere in this area. Both times, the squads of noble volunteers have made the wrong choice. What about you four?"

Miles grunted, mulling over the options in his head. Molly could see that the others looked to him as their de facto leader. An impossible choice that Molly was glad she did not have to make. "Harley, Garth: you stay here. Hold this bitch off as long as you can. Molly and I will look for the survivors."

Harley flinched, but nodded in agreement. "Right. We've got your back."

"Good luck."

Molly and Miles hauled it over towards the direction Miles predicted Naomi had come from. Most of the buildings in this area had been gutted by flames and had cooled off. The area was uncharacteristically quiet.

"Miles, I don't think anyone's here."

Miles scanned the area. "It almost feels like—"

A tall man pushed aside a slab of concrete. "You're alone?" The building, or what was left of it, crumbled. From the wreckage, a hulking Aggron roared triumphantly. Molly reacted first, releasing her Sceptile. The leafy lizard fired off a horrible storm of leaves, twigs, roots, and, thorns at the Aggron. The tall man scoffed as the Aggron charged headfirst towards the storm. It began to glow red as it charged until flames ignited in a cone around it reminiscent of a comet. The Aggron weathered the nicks and cuts as it burned its way towards the Sceptile, catching it head on, sending Molly's pokemon flying, flames licking its body.

Molly rushed to treat her injured pokemon. Miles stepped in between the man and Molly, sending out his Typhlosion. "Two can play that game," he mocked. "Typhlosion! Melt that bulldozer!" The Typhlosion spewed a massive column of flame. The man laughed as the Aggron assumed the same position, charging until flames formed.

"You can't hope to fight fire with fire!" Miles said.

"I don't plan to!" the man retorted. The Aggron let the flames from Typhlosion merge with the heat of his brilliant streaks. The Aggron lowered its head this time before savagely connecting with the chest of the Typhlosion. The Fire pokemon tried to hold its ground but the Aggron would not be stopped; it kept going until Miles was forced to return it to its ball.

"Now I suppose all that remains is taking care of you two. A messy business, to be sure, and not one I enjoy. But it is necessary." The Aggron lowered its head once more pointed at Molly and her wounded Sceptile. Miles ran forward in between the titan and its prey.

"A noble gesture! Charming, to the last."

He commanded the Aggron to charge. Miles closed his eyes and braced himself.

An earth-shattering crash sent him to his back. As he opened his eyes, Miles saw the Aggron mashed into the ground; a triumphant Machamp and a curiously dressed young woman stood barefoot on top of the steel behemoth.

"I take it you're Gillian, huh? Yeah, I recognize you," Gaap said. "How about you pick on someone your own size? Not cool, grandpa. Not cool."

Miles recognized the woman from a magazine his girlfriend had showed him. She was Gaap, superstar and one of the youngest members of the Elite Four. He gave himself a moment to breathe.

Gaap turned to face him. "Don't just stand there, get out of here!"

Miles nodded and helped Molly up. He muttered a word of thanks before sprinting off to find the others.

Gillian returned his Aggron to its ball. "Ah, Mistress Gaap. We finally meet. I had hoped I would be the one to take you down. Heavens know it's all Naomi could talk about."

She scoffed. "Hmph. I guess you're pretty strong, and I do need a work out. Alright, old man. I'll humor you."