Chapter Thirteen

Chargestone Cave was a place of amazement. The cave was bathed in a mysterious blue hue of light as jolts of electricity jumped across the walls and floor. Magnetized rocks and boulders were held aloft off the ground. Amira stepped inside and stared around with awe. She reached out to touch the wall and the current ran through her like a plasma lamp. It was harmless but made her hairs stand on end.

"Try it Theodore," she said with a laugh as she took his paw and pressed it against the wall.

The cub closed his eyes tight in anticipation of the shock to come but to his surprise, felt nothing at all. He opened them and stared in amazement as his fur stood straight up, making him look twice as big. She put him down on the ground and giggled as he turned into a ball of fluff that looked nothing like a bear, but more like a poodle.

She ran after him as he began scampering around trying to shake off the effects. Unable to see where he was going, he ran straight into the leg of a figure neither of them knew had been there.

A man with shoulder length white hair and dressed in all black stood blocking their path. A black mask covered the bottom half of his face and his eyes. Before she could take a step in any direction, two other men, identical to the first, appeared behind her. She ran to pick up Theodore and as long as she made no movement away from them, they remained still.

"Come."

Their voices and movements were completely impassive as they guided her further along into the cave.

"Lord N, we brought the one you wanted."

They spoke in unison and seemed to fade out of reality as they disappeared before her eyes. N looked at her and smiled.

"That was the Shadow Triad just now. Ghetsis enlisted them in Team Plasma. They were the ones who prepared the Galvantula nest at the cave entrance."

"You hired ninjas to track me down?" She glared at him with all the contempt she could muster.

"I told Ghetsis about you and your friends. After I did, he used the Shadow Triad to find out more about you."

"And about Bianca?"

"He told me I shouldn't get involved with such a person," he answered as his face clouded with despair and confliction. "That it would stop me from achieving my destiny… It would only be an interference to-"

"N, do you have any thoughts of your own?"

Her words were harsh. The gears in her head started turning and she was starting to see that most of what he said was just a rehash of what she had heard from Team Plasma's speeches.

He stared at her in a mixture of shock and anger. No one had asked him such a thing before. Never was he led to believe that his thoughts, independent of Team Plasma or of their goals, were of any importance. He took in a deep breath of air and let out a sigh as he struggled with himself for an answer. He grunted and became more agitated at his failure to maintain coherence. He put the palms to his forehead and shut his eyes tight. He roared in response to the questions in his head that she had pushed into a free-fall.

"It doesn't matter," he yelled. "You are the one that has been chosen!"

He turned to her again and let out a heavy breath in an exhaustive attempt to regain his composure.

She stepped back with her hand on her Poké Ball. Theodore jumped from her arms, ready to battle. N's breathing softened and the vacant look in the eyes of his serene façade appeared again.

"Cheren pursues the ideal of strength," he continued. "Bianca has faced the truth that not everyone can become stronger. Your aimless pursuit makes you a neutral presence. That's why... Ghetsis thinks this is a good thing. Team Plasma will be waiting for you ahead. He wants to see what kind of Pokémon Trainer you really are."

He walked away, leaving her and Theodore alone where they stood. She stared after him feeling more unnerved by his presence in that moment then she ever had during their previous encounters. Something was definitely wrong with him, more then what she could just suspect.

Theodore let out a small growl and she knelt down to reach into her bag and get out a treat. She dropped it with a scream of surprise as yellow balls of fur with many legs poured out and scuttled off into the cave. Only one of the furry balls remained. She picked it up with care and examined it in the palm of her hand. It was a tiny spider with yellow fur and blue eyes.

'Joltik, the Attaching Pokémon. They cling to larger Pokémon and absorb static electricity, which they store in their special pouch.'

"Aww, aren't you cute," she said as she petted it with gentle strokes, "but still kinda… creepy."

She didn't like bugs in general but she decided that these were okay since they were fuzzy. Theodore looked at it curiously but growled again. He didn't care what it was or if it was cute or not, he only cared that it was eating his food.

"Sorry Theodore." She set the tick down and went through her bag. "Yep, it's just as I thought. It's all gone."

An open box of cookies and the scent of sugar was what had attracted them to her bag. They climbed in and took the opportunity to go through it and everything else as well. She took out what they half-finished and laid it on the ground. The Joltik watched her then let out some sort of vibration. The others came out of their hiding places and took cautious looks around but stayed where they were.

Theodore's eyes grew wide at seeing his beloved cookies being sacrificed. He put his paw on his forehead, let out a cry and swooned.

"Oh come on," she said picking him up and resting him on her shoulder. "The sooner we get through this cave, the sooner we can go buy some more."

As she walked away, the Joltik swarmed the food she had left and continued their feasting. Theodore stared as tears streamed down his sobbing face.

"You're being so dramatic," she said as she petted him.

The walk through the cave was leisurely but she couldn't enjoy it. She clung to the knowledge that Team Plasma was waiting for her somewhere ahead. What would she do if they tried to harm her this time? She had her Pokémon with her of course but no one else was around if that wasn't enough. She tried to think of a possible escape route or strategy as the path in the cave started to descend. As it became steeper, she lost her footing and had to break into a run to remain upright. She reached the base of the trail and crashed with full momentum into one of the ninjas from earlier, sending both of them to the floor.

She was pulled onto her feet by another member of the trio as the first one righted himself. The third one approached her carrying Theodore, who had done a full tumble before ending up at his feet. The first one stood up and glared at her. She caught a glimpse of a few strands of green hair sticking up through the white.

"Your Pokémon," said the member as he handed the still dizzy Theodore over to her.

She took a moment to stare at the man and looked to the others, noticing that the shapes of their masks were different. One pointed upward, one was straight across, and one had a point down that rounded on both sides. Well at least they had a way of telling themselves apart.

"Come," said the second, who tore her from her thoughts.

They escorted her down the path until they reached another slope.

"Down there," they said in unison, "they wait."

They disappeared much faster this time and without a word. She clutched Theodore close as she walked and held onto the wall for support.

At the end of another path, she found another old man in colored robes, this time they were brown. Theodore growled and she readied herself by placing a hand on her Poké Ball but continued to approach him. He made no efforts to stop her nor shouted any epithets or outbursts like she had expected. Instead, he let her get close enough so that they were face to face before speaking.

"I am Bronius," he said calmly, in a thick German accent. "You, Amira, are the strange trainer our Lord has taken interest in. Ghetsis has tested your abilities in the Desert Resort. Once again, we shall test you here in the Chargestone Cave. We will learn what it is you are. Team Plasma, come out!"

Before she could ask just how he knew her name or to explain the 'interest' he spoke of, a horde of Team Plasma grunts ambushed her. With only four Pokémon in her party, she was heavily outnumbered. She called Theodore into her arms just as the first grunt sent out his Pokémon. It was an orange lizard with a gray belly, yellow scaled pants and cowl, and a red Mohawk. Its stomach was rapidly moving in and out as it swallowed. The realization hit her that it was preparing for an attack.

'Scrafty, the Hoodlum Pokémon. It can smash concrete blocks with its kicks and can spit acidic liquid from its mouth.'

"Sludge Bomb!"

She moved just in time to narrowly avoid getting hit by its toxic vomit. She kept running, hoping to find help in the form of other trainers. She could take them on but wasn't fool enough to try to do it alone.

"After her," shouted Bronius.

She turned a corner and threw herself forward as a rock shattered behind her from the force of Scrafty's Hi-Jump Kick, causing Theodore to let out a shriek. She held him tight in her arms, rose to her feet and kept running. There was no choice but to keep moving as any time she wasted was an opening for the Scrafty to attack.

She ran through the cave, making sudden twists and turns to avoid being hit by its venom or furious punches but it stayed close on her tail. Finally her path came to a dead end as she found herself at the bottom of a cliff. Trying to climb it would be no use as there wasn't enough time. She turned to face the advancing Scrafty as the grunts looked on with malicious glee.

'Okay. Now or never…'

"Go Lea!"

Lea came forth from her Poké Ball but Scrafty was already in the middle of an attack. She cut through him with a cross. It sailed through the air and with its arc broken, was thrown off course and into a rock bed nearby.

"Get up! Use Sludge Bomb!"

Scrafty turned to Lea and readied its attack.

"Block it with String Shot!"

Lea shot silk threads of string but they corroded upon contact with the caustic substance. She was hit and stumbled back as the bile began to eat away at her skin.

"Lea, hold on!"

She quickly reached into her bag and pulled out two vials of medicine and a spray pump. She attached the pump to the first medicine labeled 'Antidote' and sprayed the Leavanny down. The bile stopped spreading but the damage was still done. In her current state, Levana could neither attack nor defend.

"Finish it," yelled the grunt.

Scrafty drew back for another kick and leaped. Sudden shots of glowing yellow thread from above stopped its attack and suspended it in midair. Descending from the cliffs above were a herd of spiders with blue eyes, purple underbellies, and terrifyingly, were twice the size of a full grown adult. At first, she mistakenly thought they were all yellow but could see that riding on each one were hundreds of tiny Joltik.

The sight itself was somewhat amazing and terrifying. Her skin crawled and she froze in terror. A few of the Team Plasma members were clearly freaked and made no effort to hide it as their faces contorted into disgust and fear. She couldn't be sure but thought she heard the words 'what the fucking fuck'.

'Galvantula, the Electric Spider Pokémon. When attacked, they create an electric barrier by spitting out many electrical charged threads.'

As the Galvantula got closer, they shot more and more thread at the struggling Scrafty. Each jolt carried more and more electricity until it was completely immobilized. The tiny Joltik walked along the web and out to the Scrafty. They crawled along its body and buried it under more and more thread until it was completely cocooned.

Amira used the distraction to attend to Lea and sprayed her down with two doses of the potion.

"What… What in the unholy name of an unloving deity are they doing," asked a grunt in horror and outrage.

"Uhm… I think they're going to, like... eat it," she answered while trying to remember if spiders did in fact eat lizards or only other bugs.

She didn't know if it was true or not but the Joltik had started draining the cocoon of electricity as the Galvantula pulled it closer. Theodore shrieked again and buried himself in her chest to shield his eyes from the nightmare. Even Lea moved closer, ready to defend her as the Galvantula reached them. One of the Galvantula pulled the Scrafty towards it and held it tight in its mandibles.

"Dude, call it back," she yelled. Sure, the Pokémon had just tried to kill her but it was only following orders.

The grunt was paralyzed with fear. He covered his mouth as he looked at the sight, though worse still, was the image in his mind of the huge spiders tearing apart and eating another Pokémon.

"Return," he shouted as he pointed Scrafty's Poké Ball at the cocoon.

It was to no avail as the Galvantula retreated up the cliff with their prey. Those that stayed behind turned to the grunts and opened fire with shots of their electrical webbing. A few Joltik rushed towards them, gnashing their tiny fangs and discharging electricity. There was a chorus of screams as the grunts turned and fled. As they began moving toward Amira, Lea let out a low buzz of anger.

"No, its okay," she said to calm her down. "I don't think they're going to hurt us… Hopefully..."

She turned toward the Joltik with an apologetic smile but stayed close to Lea in case she was wrong. With all but a few Galvantula gone, the Joltik were less intimidating but still a scary sight to behold. She held up her hands in surrender and spoke to them in a friendly voice.

"Hey... Remember me? The one that gave you cookies? Thanks for saving me. Could you guys help me again by showing us the way out?"

The crowd of Joltik were still for a moment as they chattered among themselves. Then only a lone Joltik began to move, first towards her then away in the direction Team Plasma had fled. With a chorus of squeaks, the others soon followed.

She withdrew Lea into her Poké Ball, scooped Theodore up in her arms and followed the Joltik, jogging alongside them just to keep up with the swarm.

As they retraced the path she had come, there were more and more Joltik lining the walls. It seemed that when Scraggy busted the walls and rocks into pieces, they gave off more of the electricity that they fed off of. She let out a petty laugh as she imagined Team Plasma running through a nightmare that they themselves had created.

The Joltik led her to where she could see the sunlight from an exit ahead but they themselves stayed in the shadows.

"Thank you!"

To show her appreciation, she reached into her bag and pulled out the only box of cookies that remained. Theodore caught the smell as she opened it and started whining loudly.

"Hey, learn to share okay?"

She broke the cookies into pieces and held her hand out to the mites. Theodore growled and stood up on his hind paws as he advanced towards them. More curious then intimidated, they circled him and began taking turns shocking him with his own static. Unable to even see, Theodore was forced onto all fours and could only swipe at the air as they not only moved much quicker but could also in fact crawl over him unharmed.

"Alright, say bye-bye to your friends," she teased. "It's time to go."

She picked Theodore up without harm to herself and thanked the Joltik again as the cub gave a sullen snort. She walked closer to the exit and saw N sitting on one the rocks waiting for her.

"No ninjas this time?"

"I have a question to ask you…," he asked. He was staring off into the distance with his eyes cast downwards, not even bothering to lift his head as he addressed her. "Do you have a dream?"

She stood still at the question that had no simple answer. She thought back on everything she had thought she wanted when she started her journey. She weighed them against how things had changed since that day.

"I… don't know. I mean, I had a dream once but now, I don't."

N rose to his feet and furrowed his brows as he tried to understand what she was saying. To him, existing without a dream, without a purpose, was an inconceivable notion.

"What happened," he asked in a morose tone.

"Things change," she shrugged. "Life changes things. It happens."

"My dream is to make Pokémon perfect beings," he said with a smile and a dissonant arrogance. "I will separate people and Pokémon. I will become friends with the legendary dragon and change the world. There will be no… mixing of values! No grey! Black and white will become clear! That is the destiny I must fulfill!"

Just when she thought N had learned some normalcy, he seemed to dial the crazy back up to eleven.

"There's a lot you don't understand about the world," she began.

"No, you don't understand," he shouted, "as if a person without a dream could ever understand! This world is unforgivable!"

"Ami?"

They turned to see Bianca heading towards them but she stopped in her tracks when she saw N. The hurt and confusion on her face was clear.

"Bianca, you have good ears!" Not too far behind Bianca was Professor Juniper. "I can't believe you heard her from all that way. Hello there Ami. Who's this trainer?"

"Professor Juniper..." N pulled down his cap to shield his eyes but his voice turned cold. "You appear to have no qualms about the relationship between Pokémon and people. You put Pokémon into categories using arbitrary rules and think you can understand them like that. The very idea of a Pokédex revolts me! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"That's disrespectful," yelled Amira.

"It's not like that at all," yelled Bianca.

Their voices drowned each other out as each had immediately jumped to Professor Juniper's defense. But where Amira's voice was angry, Bianca's was much more patient.

"Now girls, settle down," said the Professor before turning her attention back to N. "You may not be my biggest fan but your opinion is understandable. It happens to be different from mine, which is equally understandable. How about if all people get to decide for themselves how to relate to Pokémon?"

"You're saying I should just allow people to think whatever they want?" He questioned her in outrage. "To treat Pokémon however they want, no matter whether the Pokémon suffer!? I will not tolerate the existence of a world like that!"

He made a quick march toward the exit as he stewed in anger. Amira looked after him with her hand on her hip. She didn't know whether to feel sorry for him or angry, but somehow, she felt both, no matter which was right. Bianca stood still, trying hard to hide her tears. Professor Juniper was confused but quickly brushed it off.

"Well, I didn't expect him to change his mind right away. Hopefully he'll spend time thinking about it. I'm going to go collect some more data," she said with a wink. "There's been a rise of activity with the electric Pokémon in this cave recently and I have a theory it has something to do with the damage to their ecosystem. It might be the work of some sort of excavation team!"

Amira blushed and didn't bother to correct her at all.

"I'm going to go with Professor Juniper," said Bianca. "I'm her bodyguard now."

Amira ran over to her and grabbed her hand as Professor Juniper walked along ahead.

"It'll be okay," she said in a low voice with a gentle hug. "Everything will be okay."

"Thanks."

She waved goodbye as she watched Bianca hurry to catch up with Professor Juniper. She reached Mistralton City without any further problems and found that the Pokémon Center was right in front. As she checked in her Pokémon, Nurse Joy put her down for a party of five.

"Uhm, I only have four Pokémon," she corrected, as she counted each of them on her fingers.

"What about that one there," asked the nurse, pointing to her bag.

She looked down at her side to see a Joltik that had hitched a ride by attaching itself to her messenger bag. She picked him up and held him in the palm of her hand.

"Hey! I dunno, are you with me little guy?"

It closed two of its four eyes and shook in her hand, making a solid vibration.

"Okay, yes please! Party of five."

As Nurse Joy took them away, she sat in the waiting room and went through her bag to make sure she didn't have any more hitch hikers. Not finding any, she leaned back against the chair and closed her eyes.

For some reason, she couldn't get N's words out of her head. She was chosen for her 'aimless pursuit', as he had put it. She had been chosen for what? And why? What did it matter that she didn't have a dream? So many questions and no one seemed to have the answer. No one except for, and she shuddered at the thought, Ghetsis.