Hi everyone!
Wow, it has definitely been a while. But the good news is that the school year is almost over! No more research papers and presentations. No more tests and quizzes. I can finally interact with sunlight! This is the end of the semester we have all been waiting for!
Anyways, this actually means that I will be starting to write again for fun! Expect more writing during the summer. This chapter was something I had started to write before the semester took over my life and I finally finished.
Thank you all for being patient and expect more writing in the future.
Thanks, villomaru for editing!
Chapter 12:
Kahili frowned as she searched through the tall grass. She had been off her game today for some reason and had been missing every single shot. This time, she used too much power and sent her ball flying near the Ten Carat Hill cave. It was an embarrassing shot that she hoped no one had noticed.
Her hand wrapped around a familiar small golf ball and sighed in relief this time as she straightened back up. Route 1 wasn't an ideal place to practice golf with all of its tall grass, rocky ground, and uneven planes, but Kahili loved the challenge. Plus, it was a nice change of scenery compared to the resort.
She was about to head back when she noticed something different. The boulders that usually blocked the cave were broken recently, judging by the color. Kahill wondered what Pokémon had done this. The air suddenly turned chillier, and she shivered as gray clouds gathered. Odd, the weatherman didn't mention the possibility of rain today. She needed to fetch her jacket and head back before the rain came.
A flash of light brightened the sky, and a booming cannon sound blasted through the air.
That was loud, Kahili thought, bewildered. Then in the cave, there was a soft rumble that grew louder and louder. Widening her eyes in realization, she scrambled out of the way as groups of Pokémon came charging out – Zubat, Carbink, Mawile, and Sableye. They all had the same wild fear in their eyes. Before she could even comprehend the situation, she heard a rather loud howl from the cave. It echoed and reverberated against the rocky surface. She stared at the opening with uneasy fear.
What's going on?
…
Don't breathe… don't breathe…
Covering his mouth in fear, Liam tried to calm his pounding heart as he hid behind the large boulder where the tall grass wrapped around him. Cold sweat dripped from his back. He couldn't see it from his position, but the monster's large shadow had engulfed the entire area, casting darkness everywhere. It seemed to be searching for something and wasn't leaving until it found it. It snarled angrily and slammed its clawed hands into the ground, leaving a cracked imprint. Liam winced, trying to assess what had happened in the last fifteen minutes.
Tauros was a couple feet away. It had tried to fight against the creature but was immediately blown away by some powerful psychic attack. It hadn't gotten back up since. Rotodex had gone missing, and Liam hoped that wherever it was, it managed to escape to find help.
He clutched Smoky tightly in his arms. After that thing came out from the sky, Liam's first instinct was to grab the Pokémon and hide. Smoky was about the same size as Rowlet, but the hold was not the same. It was lighter, wispy, and cooler to the touch. Unlike Liam, the Pokémon didn't seem fazed or scared. It had the same curious look that it gave Liam, though, thankfully, it had remained silent this whole time.
Focus… Liam tried hard to breathe calm breaths without giving his position away. He needed to think. He had to get out of there, but he couldn't leave Tauros behind. He needed to get everybody to safety. To do that, what he needed right now was someone to watch his back.
"Rowlet," Liam whispered frantically to his Pokémon who had somehow been asleep through this whole ordeal. The sleepy Pokémon opened one eye and then hooted angrily when it saw that its spot with Liam had been taken over by a wild Pokémon.
"SHHH!" Liam whispered frantically, covering the Pokémon's beak before it could peck Smoky. "Rowlet, we're in serious trouble. I need your help." He paused, making sure the monster hadn't overheard. For now, it seemed like it was making its own great deal of noise to have noticed. Liam turned back to Rowlet.
"Tauros is hurt; I need to go help it. Can you watch my back? If that thing spots me, try to keep it distracted for a couple of minutes. I promise once Tauros is back on its feet, we'll get out of here as quickly as we can." He gulped. "If… If something happens, I need you to fly out of here and get help. No arguments."
The owl Pokémon blinked in confusion for a second before nodding. It hopped onto Liam's shoulder and turned its head 180 degrees so that it was staring behind him.
"Okay," Liam quickly crouched down and started to walk on all four. The grass was not tall enough to hide his entire figure, but hopefully, the monster's eyesight was poor enough to miss him. He was perhaps a good couple of feet away when Rowlet was digging its talons deep into his shoulder. Liam almost cried in pain before he realized something was terribly wrong. It felt like the time stopped. He then realized it was quiet, too quiet.
For the first time in that horrifying moment, Liam had a good look at the creature. Standing on two legs, the monster looked like some black origami beetle but was made out of crystal rather than paper. Its eyes were perhaps the scariest thing of all. There were none. Embedded in their place was glittering quartzes of all different colors.
Rowlet cut Liam's skin with its talon as it took flight.
"Hoot! Hoot!" A flurry of leaves shot at the creature's face and it growled in irritation. Rowlet continued to weave around the monster as it sent out another Leafage attack.
No longer needing to go into stealth mode, Liam ran and crashed through the tall grass until he reached the Pokémon.
"Tauros, hang in there," Liam grabbed a Potion from his bag and immediately sprayed the medicine onto the bull Pokémon. It gave a feeble moo and weakly opened its eyes. Liam took out another one and repeated the same process. Liam glanced up and saw that Rowlet was still attempting to distract the creature, though his Pokémon was more like an annoying fly to it.
"Can you stand?" Tauros slowly got to its hooves. "Okay, lean on me. We're going to make it. We just need to get to the cave and… NO!"
In its attempt to swat Rowlet, the monster slammed its clawed hands into the side of the hills, and stones came crashing down. Tauros threw itself over Liam and protected him from the falling rocks. It cried in pain but stood until the noise stopped.
"Tauros! Are you-?" It grunted and collapsed back onto the ground again. "No, no, no!" Liam tried to find another Potion in his bag but realized he used up all of the ones Lillie gave him. Now what? A dark shadow cast over him; Liam looked up to see the monster towering over him and, to his horror, reached out to him with its crystal claws.
"Mar!" Something cried out and stood in front of Liam.
"Smoky?!" No… something is different. The Pokémon's head turned into blazing forest green, and its eyes glared angrily at the monster before it. Before Liam could react, it sank into the monster's shadow.
"Wait! Where are you-?"
There was a thunderous blow from above and the monster howled in pain as it went down on one knee. Smoky dropped down from the sky and had two dark orbs in its hands. It threw the two orbs at the monster, but it had already recovered and shot up into the air. The monster was in pain from the previous attack but sent out the same powerful psychic move it used earlier on Tauros. Smoky was sent flying into the air, but it used the cliff's wall as a springboard and shot straight at the black monster.
Confused but realizing this was his chance with the distraction, Liam stumbled towards the cave entrance that was now blocked by the avalanche. He needed to move these rocks if they were to get out of here. However, he soon realized a dilemma. His arms were screaming in pain as he tried to pull one rock out from the mess.
Desperately, Liam looked around and considered his options. Smoky and Rowlet were busy keeping the monster distracted. Tauros was down… Wait! He had…!
"Rockruff!" The Pokémon came out and blinked in confusion from its Poké Ball and then stared in terror as it realized what was happening. "I need your help. Can you… destroy these rocks?"
"Grr…" Rockruff glared up at the monster with its fangs bared.
"Ruff! Ruff!"
"No, Rockruff!" But the Pokémon went after the creature that was attacking its former home. Great, Liam groaned. He couldn't even get his Pokémon to obey him.
Gritting his teeth in frustration, he realized that his last option was to get Tauros' help, but how was he going to do that? He had no Potions, but… maybe… He reached through the grass, hoping for some sort of herb or medicinal plant. Where is it? What was it supposed to look like? Roars and explosions rang in his ears as he tried to keep his mind focused.
He stumbled to the ground and tried to stop the burning tears from running down his cheek. He should've never come here. How did things turn out like this? He pushed himself up and spotted something glittering in front of him.
What is this? Liam immediately reached out for it and felt the smoothness of the blue crystal. Etched in the center was a pair of wings. The shape looked familiar… Could it be?
Liam immediately took out his Z-Ring and sure enough, the slot matched the shape of the crystal.
Your Z-Ring can draw out a mysterious power that lies deep within your Pokémon.
Without thinking any further, he inserted the crystal into his ring and prayed that Kahuna Hala was right.
"Come on, Rowlet!" He yelled and aimed the ring towards the general direction where Rowlet was hovering. However, the small Pokémon continued attacking without any change in power.
Why isn't it working? Liam desperately shook his Z-Ring. Work! WORK!
"KID!" Liam looked around wildly and saw a woman at the top of the broken cliff, high above where the rocks had fallen from. She had some sort of stick in her hand and wore rather sporty clothes. Right next to her was a familiar floating and slightly battered Rotodex.
"Help!" Liam yelled desperately, waving his hand. "Please! Tauros is hurt, and the entrance is blocked!"
"DO THIS!" She flapped her arms and shot up with her fist in the air. She repeated the movements over and over again.
What?! She wants me to… DANCE?!
"The Z-Ring!" She yelled. "DO THE DANCE TO ACTIVATE IT!" The prism monster slowly turned around and spotted the female trainer. It lifted one of its arms, ready to strike.
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Deciding to place his trust in her, Liam followed the movements. He flapped his arms and punched his first to the sky.
Please, please, please work!
And as if the ring could hear his thoughts, Liam could feel the energy burning within him until it grew larger and larger, enveloping him. Gaping in shock, he saw the energy leaving him and wrapping around Rowlet. He didn't question this time. "GO, ROWLET!"
The little owl shot toward the sky at great speed, disappearing into the gray clouds. Then it was like the heavens opened up as a powerful blinding light crashed into the crystal beetle.
"Yes!" Liam gasped in relief, realizing he had been holding his breath the entire time. Rowlet stumbled to the ground, flying in a zig-zag pattern before Liam managed to catch it in the air. When the dust finally settled, the monster was still standing. "No…"
Wasn't the power supposed to take down the monster?
"MARRRR!" Smoky suddenly slammed straight into the monster's chest, causing it to topple over.
"Smoky!"
The creature snarled angrily as it shuddered from the attack. There was a thunderous boom and the same wormhole Liam saw earlier appeared. Before Smoky could react, the crystal beetle disappeared into the hole. And then just like that, the world seemed to have returned to normal – blue sky and warm breezes. It was like the monster never appeared.
Was it over now? Liam sank to his knees and breathed a sigh of exasperated relief. "Rowlet, are you okay?"
"Hoot, hoot!" The Pokémon said, sleepily. That Z-Ring attack clearly drained all of its energy and so it went back to sleep.
"Raff! Ruff!"
"Rockruff!" The little Pokémon stumbled over as well.
"Did you hurt your paw?" Liam gently took a look at the injury. "We'll get you to the Pokémon Center as soon as we can."
"Kid!" The girl had managed to find a way down the rockslide and hurried over to him. "Are you okay? What was that thing?"
[Bzzzt… I found this young lady outside of the cave and asked her to come… I'm… Bzzzt… sorry it took so long…] Rotodex looked apologetic for once.
"Thanks, Rotodex," Liam finally said, still trying to focus on the issue at hand. "I need to get to the nearest Pokémon Center. Tauros is hurt and Rockruff injured itself."
"Don't worry," the girl said, checking Liam for injuries, "I've called the helicopter. It should be here soon."
"Helicop…" Liam stared wordlessly as the buzzing sound grew louder and louder. He looked up in shock as the swirling wind from the rotating blades stung his eyes.
Today was just full of surprises.
Author's Notes
WOOO! We've finally got some action. Looks like Liam is slowly learning about Z-ring and Z-moves. And what was that monster? What happened to it?
We also met Kahili! Good thing she was there to save Liam!
Question, what do you guys think of the Detective Pikachu game?
Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter!
-JapanDreamer
