Chapter XI
Into the Depths
We all jumped down into the gaping hole. I caught Jessica and May, and Jack and Rob jumped, but Rob landed on something soft. I looked at it in the light from above.
It was a red dress, covered in dirt. I brushed the dust off. Jess, who was still wearing her black jumpsuit, took it and walked off into the shadows to try it on. She came back and said, "It's just my size."
She looked beautiful. I thought I'd died and was seeing an angel.
Shadow's flame lit the way through the tunnel. "It looks like it was dug recently," said Rob. "How can you tell?" asked May.
"Well, I don't see any Pokemon that have wandered in and made it their home, so the diggers must have scared them off. Also, these tread marks are still fairly fresh, like from about a month ago. They could've used a drilling machine to dig it."
"Wow," I said. "That long ago? They've had this planned."
We continued through the darkness, following the tread marks, which probably led to Team Rocket.
I saw a Rattatta once, but it wasn't big, so I didn't tell the girls. I wasn't sure if May was afraid of rats, but Jess was.
What I didn't see was the large Ariados that dropped down behind us. I heard a clicking noise, and turned to see what it was. The Ariados' long legs clicked on the dirt.
"Um, guys?"
Jessica turned around first. She screamed a lung out. May turned around and just crossed her arms. Jack and Rob both pulled out Pokeballs, but I said, "No, wait."
Shadow also turned to see what we were looking at. Its flame grew brighter. Ariados backed away. Even brighter. Farther still. The brighter Shadow's flash grew, the more scared the spider got. "The brightest you can, Shadow!" I called.
Ariados jumped onto the ceiling and scampered away.
Houndour howled in triumph. "No!" I yelled.
The ground began to shake. Pebbles fell from the ceiling. The pebbles grew into rocks, then entire stalactites! I dived to protect Jess. Rob and Jack ducked, and then Rob grabbed May's hand and pulled her over to the rest of us. Shadow recalled itself.
"Cave-in!" I yelled. Sparky let itself out and used a Reflect to keep the rocks off of us. We huddled close together, Fastforwurd in the middle of the ring.
Suddenly, the shield gave out. I recalled worn-out Sparky and covered Jess. Rob covered May, and Jack huddled by himself.
A huge rock hit my back and knocked the wind out of me. I fell over, leaving Jessica unprotected. I couldn't get up. A pointed stalactite fell towards her, and I wasn't able to save her.
Everything seemed to slow down, as if someone had pushed the slow-mo button. The rock fell, and she turned. Jess screamed. "Jessica!!!" I yelled.
It was over. The rock would land on her and crush her. She would be killed. The other rocks would crush the rest of us, and Team Rocket would never be stopped. They would take over the rest of Johto, then Kanto. The entire world.
The pointed rock continued to fall, then Jess suddenly began to glow. A blue hue enveloped her body. The rock flew into the wall, sticking.
"Jess?"
She floated up into the air. A huge flash erupted, and…
* * *
I awoke in the cave. The others lay all around. The way in which we were headed was blocked by fallen rocks. I tried to get up, but my back was sore from the rocks.
Slowly, the others woke up. I checked Sparky's stats, but he was still at full health, with full Power Points for Reflect. How in the…
"Jess, are you okay?" I asked her as she sat up. "Why?" She looked confused. "What do you mean, am I okay? I was just sleepin'!"
"Sleeping?" I asked. "But…but…the cave-in…"
She looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was.
"What the monkey happened to the tunnel?!?" Monkey was G-rated.
May was ranting again. "Do you guys not remember?" I asked. "There was an Ariados, and Houndour scared it off. He howled, and the cave collapsed…"
The others now thought I was crazy. "Okay, Jim. Last night, we walked until eleven. We decided to set up camp and sleep till this morning. You must've dreamed all this about a cave-in."
Was I going nuts?!?
* * *
We were forced to turn around and head back to Celadon.
There was a hotel, so we all got rooms; guys in one, girls in the other. Rob volunteered to sleep on the floor, so Jack was in one bed, I was in the other: that's the way we like it.
Heh heh.
That night, I had another strange dream. I saw the zoo in Fuchsia City. A small girl and her parents were near the new Ursaring exhibit.
Her father held her up to get a better look at the bears. A small Teddiursa baby sat with its mother. The girl looked at the baby and laughed.
The bear began to cry. The mother got mad, and reared up on its hind legs. It charged the wall of the pit. The force was so hard, the father stumbled, dropping the child.
The girl landed on a rock, going unconscious on contact. The mother looked over at it, and lumbered over to have a look. The baby was motionless, so the bear apparently thought she was dead, or knew she was hurt.
The Ursaring picked up the girl, handling it carefully, as it would hold its own young. It carried her over to its nest, which was off to a side. The baby Teddiursa followed on its short legs.
After looking at her for a few minutes, the kid woke up, and started crying from pain, because it had landed kind of hard. I looked up and saw the parents, who were petrified with fear for their child.
I wanted to help, but I was unable. The girls crying attracted other bears, who came over to see. The mother tried to fight them off, but was forced back.
A large dominant male was in the group of Ursaring that had come to check out the baby. It thought of the crying as a call to others of its species, so it knew to defend its group of bears.
It picked up the girl, but suddenly dropped it. It held its paw as if it had been burned. The girl began to glow blue, and I realized that this was Jessica at a younger age.
She continued to glow, and started rising into the air. There was another flash similar to the one I saw in the tunnel, and I woke up.
* * *
"Good work, Paul."
Our newest agent, Paul, had kidnapped Erika. We were going to ransom her to a Kanto prison to free our best agents.
We had also gotten a new type of Pokeball, which we called the Thief Ball. Jessica still had a tracking device which we had implanted in her brain. We saw her looking at her cousin's Pokeballs, so we stole the last few.
There had been some modifications, like a red R on the front, but they still captured already-owned Pokemon.
We also saw them go down into our tunnel, so we let out an Ariados, which should have finished them off. It was defeated, but there was a cave- in, and we lost the signal to Jessica's brain. As far as we knew, they were dead.
* * *
"Okay, Greenbat, let's go!" It flew up into the air, May on its back. I waved, then turned to the others.
"Well, we'll have to go one at a time, since Zubat is small."
That was okay, though. We were headed to Saffron, but they had closed down Route 6, since they found a body lying there, supposedly attacked by a rabid Pokemon.
Or a psycho nutcase, I thought, remembering our encounter with Harris.
So we decided to fly there on Greenbat. We could only go one at a time, so May went first. Jessica would go next, then Rob, then jack, then me.
As Greenbat returned fifteen minutes later, it sparkled in the sunlight. But, it was now a Golbat! Somehow, May had gotten it to evolve!
Jack and Rob got on, since it could hold two riders now. Jess and I would go next, just the two of us.
On to Saffron!
Into the Depths
We all jumped down into the gaping hole. I caught Jessica and May, and Jack and Rob jumped, but Rob landed on something soft. I looked at it in the light from above.
It was a red dress, covered in dirt. I brushed the dust off. Jess, who was still wearing her black jumpsuit, took it and walked off into the shadows to try it on. She came back and said, "It's just my size."
She looked beautiful. I thought I'd died and was seeing an angel.
Shadow's flame lit the way through the tunnel. "It looks like it was dug recently," said Rob. "How can you tell?" asked May.
"Well, I don't see any Pokemon that have wandered in and made it their home, so the diggers must have scared them off. Also, these tread marks are still fairly fresh, like from about a month ago. They could've used a drilling machine to dig it."
"Wow," I said. "That long ago? They've had this planned."
We continued through the darkness, following the tread marks, which probably led to Team Rocket.
I saw a Rattatta once, but it wasn't big, so I didn't tell the girls. I wasn't sure if May was afraid of rats, but Jess was.
What I didn't see was the large Ariados that dropped down behind us. I heard a clicking noise, and turned to see what it was. The Ariados' long legs clicked on the dirt.
"Um, guys?"
Jessica turned around first. She screamed a lung out. May turned around and just crossed her arms. Jack and Rob both pulled out Pokeballs, but I said, "No, wait."
Shadow also turned to see what we were looking at. Its flame grew brighter. Ariados backed away. Even brighter. Farther still. The brighter Shadow's flash grew, the more scared the spider got. "The brightest you can, Shadow!" I called.
Ariados jumped onto the ceiling and scampered away.
Houndour howled in triumph. "No!" I yelled.
The ground began to shake. Pebbles fell from the ceiling. The pebbles grew into rocks, then entire stalactites! I dived to protect Jess. Rob and Jack ducked, and then Rob grabbed May's hand and pulled her over to the rest of us. Shadow recalled itself.
"Cave-in!" I yelled. Sparky let itself out and used a Reflect to keep the rocks off of us. We huddled close together, Fastforwurd in the middle of the ring.
Suddenly, the shield gave out. I recalled worn-out Sparky and covered Jess. Rob covered May, and Jack huddled by himself.
A huge rock hit my back and knocked the wind out of me. I fell over, leaving Jessica unprotected. I couldn't get up. A pointed stalactite fell towards her, and I wasn't able to save her.
Everything seemed to slow down, as if someone had pushed the slow-mo button. The rock fell, and she turned. Jess screamed. "Jessica!!!" I yelled.
It was over. The rock would land on her and crush her. She would be killed. The other rocks would crush the rest of us, and Team Rocket would never be stopped. They would take over the rest of Johto, then Kanto. The entire world.
The pointed rock continued to fall, then Jess suddenly began to glow. A blue hue enveloped her body. The rock flew into the wall, sticking.
"Jess?"
She floated up into the air. A huge flash erupted, and…
* * *
I awoke in the cave. The others lay all around. The way in which we were headed was blocked by fallen rocks. I tried to get up, but my back was sore from the rocks.
Slowly, the others woke up. I checked Sparky's stats, but he was still at full health, with full Power Points for Reflect. How in the…
"Jess, are you okay?" I asked her as she sat up. "Why?" She looked confused. "What do you mean, am I okay? I was just sleepin'!"
"Sleeping?" I asked. "But…but…the cave-in…"
She looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was.
"What the monkey happened to the tunnel?!?" Monkey was G-rated.
May was ranting again. "Do you guys not remember?" I asked. "There was an Ariados, and Houndour scared it off. He howled, and the cave collapsed…"
The others now thought I was crazy. "Okay, Jim. Last night, we walked until eleven. We decided to set up camp and sleep till this morning. You must've dreamed all this about a cave-in."
Was I going nuts?!?
* * *
We were forced to turn around and head back to Celadon.
There was a hotel, so we all got rooms; guys in one, girls in the other. Rob volunteered to sleep on the floor, so Jack was in one bed, I was in the other: that's the way we like it.
Heh heh.
That night, I had another strange dream. I saw the zoo in Fuchsia City. A small girl and her parents were near the new Ursaring exhibit.
Her father held her up to get a better look at the bears. A small Teddiursa baby sat with its mother. The girl looked at the baby and laughed.
The bear began to cry. The mother got mad, and reared up on its hind legs. It charged the wall of the pit. The force was so hard, the father stumbled, dropping the child.
The girl landed on a rock, going unconscious on contact. The mother looked over at it, and lumbered over to have a look. The baby was motionless, so the bear apparently thought she was dead, or knew she was hurt.
The Ursaring picked up the girl, handling it carefully, as it would hold its own young. It carried her over to its nest, which was off to a side. The baby Teddiursa followed on its short legs.
After looking at her for a few minutes, the kid woke up, and started crying from pain, because it had landed kind of hard. I looked up and saw the parents, who were petrified with fear for their child.
I wanted to help, but I was unable. The girls crying attracted other bears, who came over to see. The mother tried to fight them off, but was forced back.
A large dominant male was in the group of Ursaring that had come to check out the baby. It thought of the crying as a call to others of its species, so it knew to defend its group of bears.
It picked up the girl, but suddenly dropped it. It held its paw as if it had been burned. The girl began to glow blue, and I realized that this was Jessica at a younger age.
She continued to glow, and started rising into the air. There was another flash similar to the one I saw in the tunnel, and I woke up.
* * *
"Good work, Paul."
Our newest agent, Paul, had kidnapped Erika. We were going to ransom her to a Kanto prison to free our best agents.
We had also gotten a new type of Pokeball, which we called the Thief Ball. Jessica still had a tracking device which we had implanted in her brain. We saw her looking at her cousin's Pokeballs, so we stole the last few.
There had been some modifications, like a red R on the front, but they still captured already-owned Pokemon.
We also saw them go down into our tunnel, so we let out an Ariados, which should have finished them off. It was defeated, but there was a cave- in, and we lost the signal to Jessica's brain. As far as we knew, they were dead.
* * *
"Okay, Greenbat, let's go!" It flew up into the air, May on its back. I waved, then turned to the others.
"Well, we'll have to go one at a time, since Zubat is small."
That was okay, though. We were headed to Saffron, but they had closed down Route 6, since they found a body lying there, supposedly attacked by a rabid Pokemon.
Or a psycho nutcase, I thought, remembering our encounter with Harris.
So we decided to fly there on Greenbat. We could only go one at a time, so May went first. Jessica would go next, then Rob, then jack, then me.
As Greenbat returned fifteen minutes later, it sparkled in the sunlight. But, it was now a Golbat! Somehow, May had gotten it to evolve!
Jack and Rob got on, since it could hold two riders now. Jess and I would go next, just the two of us.
On to Saffron!