The Dark Reign of Cipher
Chapter 14
The final approach to the island was filled with an erie silence. The boat driver kept his thoughts to himself as he steered the small boat closer to the island. Alex still stood at the head of the boat, glaring at the landing crafts as they slowly descended to the stadium. Alex's Gardevoir stood right behind him.
"Alright, this is far enough, we can take it from here. You should turn back before they find you," Alex said to the boat driver. The boat driver blinked in confusion at the young trainer's words. "All right Gardy, you know the drill," Alex said to the embrace pokemon.
Gardevoir huffed at him as she was enveloped in a red light and disappeared into her pokeball. The trainer turned his attention back towards the island before diving from the boat into the ice cold water.
"Crazy kid," the boat driver mumbled as he waited a minute before turning around and headed back to the harbor.
As Alex swam through the cold water to the island, he saw schools of Magikarp, Goldeen, Horsea, and even Feebass. He took note of their swimming patterns and realized that they were just now making it back out into open waters as the more prededorous pokemon went back to their dens to sleep. Off in the distance, a herd of Wailmer and Wailord swam in the deeper waters.
Eventually he made his way to the rocky island cliff side. As Alex stepped onto the rocks, Gardevoir burst from her ball and walked along side the boy. "They didn't spot you, did they?" Gardevoir asked. Alex shook his head. The embrace pokemon sighed in relief and went to using her psychic powers to dry her trainer's clothes.
The two of them continued along the rocky coastline. Alex noticed that his head began to hurt, but he didn't let it show. Once He found a suitable spot, he started climbing.
"What are you doing?" the embrace pokemon asked.
"We can't go up the main path, They'd expect that. So I'm going a different way," Alex answered. As the boy continued to climb, he stopped on a small rocky outcrop that had, over time formed into a small cliff. Gardevoir teleported the distance from the ground to her trainer to join him.
"We could always teleport," Gardevoir suggested.
"We could," Alex confirmed. "But I know how much it tires you out to teleport with someone else, and I would much rather have you at your best," he added with a smile. Gardevoir sighed in defeat.
Gary had been up and about all night, so by the time Dawn had woken up and found that her husband wasn't in bed, she exactly where to look for him. As she opened the door to the lounge that was Gary's office, she was shocked to find him not in it.
"Where did he go now?" Dawn asked herself. As she left the building, she found her husband, sitting on a rock watching the sunrise. She walked over and sat down next to him. "You all right?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
"I-I don't know," Gary mumbled. Dawn gave him a curious look. "It's just that, sometimes I feel like there's more to this war than we know," he said. "And that data pad didn't help a single bit. I know Ash and May knew something; they had to! Why else would they have fled?" he continued.
"What do you mean?" Dawn asked.
"This has been bugging me for years. Why would they have fled? This island is a fortress; it could withstand any kind of attack. Even more, they took an entire regiment with them. It was as if they were looking for something," Gary said.
"I think," Dawn started before a small smile appeared on her face. "I think that you're over thinking this, and that you should have gotten some sleep."
Gary chuckled. "Yeah, you're probably right," he said. The brunette rose to his seat. "Well, I guess it's time to mobilize, Alex won't last long before he gets into some kind of situation."
"True, I still wonder where the reckless side came from," Dawn added as she rose to her feet as well.
"Oh, that's easy, from both of them!" Gary said, causing both to laugh. "Right, well, we best get to it then," he said once the laughing died down. Dawn nodded in agreement.
As Ash woke up with a yawn, so did his faithful Pikachu. The raven haired trainer turned to the bed next to his and saw May sleep peacefully. Ash smiled at the sight before getting up and went into the bathroom. Pikachu followed close behind.
The sound of the bathroom door closing woke Eevee. The small evolution pokemon's ears perked up as she slowly rose to her feet.
With the sudden loss of warmth against her body, May woke up. The brunette coordinator yawned and stretched before she adjusted her green bandana before getting up and checking the time.
When Ash walked out of the bathroom, ready for the day, May walked in, with Eevee following her. Once the group was done getting ready for the day, they left the bedroom and made their way to the cafeteria for some breakfast, they knew they would need it.
They found Blue, Yellow, and Lucas already waiting for them. "Morning guys," Ash said. Yellow responded with a warm smile, Lucas with a nod, but Blue wasn't paying attention. She was too busy staring off into space.
"Um, Blue?" Yellow said to get her best friend's attention.
"Huh? Oh! What's up?" Blue asked. "Hey Ash! Hey May!" Blue said with a wave.
"Off in dream mode again?" Yellow asked with giggle, cause Blue to glare at her.
"No, I was just thinking. Actually Yellow, I'm surprised you're even up this early," Blue said.
"We were up all night helping mom and dad with their stupid magnifier thingy-ma-do," Lucas answered.
"It's not stupid!" Yellow contradicted. "It'll help Celebi move all of us at once!"
"Oh yeah!" May said as she remembered the device. "I hope my amulet really makes a difference."
'Nearly there,' Alex said to himself as he got closer to the ledge just a few more feet above him. As he brought his foot up to the next rock, it gave loose and he turned his end just enough to be able to see the rock tumble all the way down the cliff and crash into the waves close to a hundred yards below him.
"Be careful!" Gardevoir told him, but he already knew that.
"Gardy, can you scan the top of this ledge for me?" Alex asked. Below him, Gardevoir nodded her head, and focused her psychic powers to locate anyone above her trainer.
"It's all clear!" she told him.
"Good," Alex muttered under his breath. He forced himself up and over the ledge and kneeled on the grass to take a breather. He shifted his gaze towards where the stadium would be, on the other side of the mountain. 'There's no way I can climb over that,' he admitted to himself. Alex turned his attention to the road that was just visible beyond the large group of trees and bushes that hid his presence. He could hear the footsteps of patrol units going back and forth. 'that way won't work either.'
Alex continued to look around until he spotted a small cave. 'Bingo!' he thought with a smirk.
Gardevoir teleported to his side just as Alex began to hunt through his bag for a flashlight.
"Ok, here's how this will go," Gary started as he stood before the team leaders. "Dawn and I are leading the Sinnoh group. So, Max, Paul, you two are on the Hoenn team. Misty, Tracy, you have Kanto, and Brock, Richie, you two get Johto," Gary finished. "Any questions?" he asked to which no one responded. "Good! We're gone in 15!" he ordered.
The group quickly dispersed and went back to the landing zone, where all of the landing crafts sat waiting. As Gary walked out of the tent, he saw Dawn waiting for him.
"You think he went to Sinnoh, don't you?" she asked.
"I know he did," Gary answered.
"Then why scatter the attack groups?" the blunette asked.
"To cover my bases, just incase Cipher spread they're forces out. That way, they won't know which group is the main group. Plus, if we get ambushed, then there's still hope for reinforcements," Gary answered. Dawn sighed in defeat.
"Tracy has the amplifier all set, all we need is a go signal,' Dawn said.
"Thank you Dawn," Gary said as he kissed his wife.
Blue, Yellow, Lucas, Ash, and May, along with their pokemon looked across the field as it was covered with the large landing crafts. They looked like jets and helicopters combined, and on each of the wings, they had colored stripes. The stripes were blue, red, green, or yellow. Although they didn't have as much armor as the Cipher crafts did, they were defiantly much faster.
"Look!" Blue exclaimed. "There's blue team! Dad always leads blue team!" Blue continued as she made her way over to the blue squadron.
"Blue! Wait!" Yellow exclaimed as she followed after Blue. Ash and May both shrugged and followed them. Lucas shook his head and followed suite.
Once on board the crafts, Blue lifted a floor panel. "Quick! Get inside!" she ordered. They all got in and Blue closed the panel back over their heads. "These rooms are used as mobile emergency rooms," Blue explained as she gestured to the room they were in.
There was a single bright light on, and the group was surrounded by shelves and drawers filled with medical supplies and equipment. Up against the wall were three stretchers. The compartment was as large as the room above them, but the ceiling was so low that they had to bend over.
"Well guys, get comfy," Blue said as she sat down. The others followed her example and sat down as well. "This is gonna be a bumpy ride," she continued.
The group began to her voices and footsteps above their heads. "Hey, they're boarding," Yellow stated.
"Shh!" Lucas and Blue said at the same time as they placed hands over Yellow's mouth.
Gary stood in the cockpit of one of the landing crafts. Sitting in front of him, were the two pilots as they made their preflight checkup. Behind him, in the next room, were the troops on board.
Over the sound of the radio headpiece in his ear, he could hear all four squadrons checking in. He shifted his gaze down the row of crafts to the next one where he knew Dawn was. They had to ride in separate crafts, so that incase one got hit, the team could still have a leader.
"Sir," one of the pilots spoke, getting Gary's attention. "Birds 2 through 15 are good to go," he said. Gary nodded.
"Good, then lets get going," Gary ordered.
"Yes sir!" the other pilot spoke. "Blue squadron, its dust off time!" the pilot spoke over the radio. The confirmations from the other crafts could barely be heard over the roar of the engines as they started up.
The aircraft jolted to life as it suddenly rose into the sky. The rest of the crafts with the blue stripes followed suite. Once they were high enough off the ground the crafts lazily hovered into a straight line, with Gary in front.
"Ok, have Celebi activate the portal," Gary instructed into his radio. A moment later, a large green portal appeared. The ships flew straight into it at blistering speed. The craft shuddered a bit as it exited the portal.
Gary was amazed as he saw the island looked exactly the same as it did before they built their base on it. It looked almost exactly the same, only without their buildings built into the mountainside. "Blue squadron, form up, we're heading to Sinnoh!"
And so the 15 crafts formed three wedge formations, five crafts each. All of them listed to the right, until they faced north, then they raced off.
"Well, it's better than I expected in here," Alex said as he shone his flashlight across the walls of the cave they were traversing through. The stalagmites near the ways of the cave gave the tunnel a gloomy touch to it.
"I don't think this cave has been explored in years," Gardevoir said as she walked with her trainer. "I mean look at this place!"
"That's probably because everyone takes the nice road outside nowadays. This cave used to be known as Victory Road, back in the day, this was the route trainers had to take in order to get to the Pokemon League," Alex explained matter of fact.
"And you know that because?" Gardevoir teased.
"Because sometimes your too stressful and I need to read something," Alex teased back. The two shared a quick laugh, before continuing on their path.
"These caves are filled with mazes, all but one will lead back to the entrance. During travels through here, trainers would often battle with one another. Those that made it out were considered true league competitors, cause they managed to over come the hardships of Victory Road and all those inside of it,' Alex continued.
"And you're saying all of this because?" Gardevoir asked.
"Look down," Alex said as he flashed the flashlight down. Gardevoir went wide-eyed as she saw that they stood on a narrow bridge over a great chasm. "So, as I was saying," Alex started as he continued to distract the embrace pokemon from the drop below.
"So let me guess, you chose this route so you could relive the travels of old trainers?" Gardevoir asked.
"Partially, and that it seemed a lot better than trying to fight through over a hundred soldiers," Alex answered. "Besides, I always wanted to be a trainer like those of old, and a coordinator like mom and dad. And if I get a chance, that's what I'm going to do with my life once Cipher is finished," Alex said with a smile on his face. But the smile quickly disappeared into a frown. 'But I'll never get that chance,' he thought to himself.
"What do you want to do with your life Gardy?" Alex asked. The embrace pokemon thought about it for a second before answering.
"I want to stay by your side and help you make your dream come true," she answered. Alex smiled, although he didn't let it show.
"Thanks Gardy," Alex said, a hint of sadness, and relief in his caught the tone of his voice, and by judging from the way the boy was walking she could see just how scared he was, but she didn't press him.
The two of them continued through the mazes of twisting tunnels and open chasms. "Hey look!" Gardevoir exclaimed. "The exit!" she said as she pointed to the gap in the walls. The light shone in giving no need for the flashlight.
"Well, it's not the same as the entrance, so I guess it has to be the exit," Alex said as he turned off the flashlight. The two of them exited through the gap in the walls.
They found themselves on a high ledge on the side of a valley. In the middle of the valley was a small city that surrounded the large stadium in the center, and was surrounded by woods on all sides. The only gap in the woods was for the large road that ran through a large tunnel under the mountain, and linked up with the outside of the valley. The streets surrounding the stadium were covered by the large bulky landing crafts that Cipher had lazily parked in a circular formation as if to form a perimeter.
The cliff they were standing on was several dozen yards above the ground. But a narrow path curved along the side of the mountain and deposited itself on the forest ground.
"Shall we?" Alex asked. Gardevoir reluctantly nodded, and the two started down the path. As they made their way down, Alex often glanced in the direction of the stadium.
Gary pressed a button on his radio. "All teams, check in!" he ordered.
"Red team here. All green so far, arrival at Indigo Plateau in about five hours," Gary heard Tracy say.
"Green team reporting, arrival at Hoenn stadium, eta three hours," Paul's voice said.
"Yellow team, Johto stadium is about seven hours away," Richie's voice said.
"Good, blue team is about ten hours away from Sinnoh stadium. All teams keep heading at your current trajectory," Gary said as he turned his radio back to local.
"Ten hours?" he heard Dawn ask.
"I'm afraid so Dawn, let see if we can give these birds some more juice," Gary said. He turned to the pilots.
"Increase to full, I want us there in seven hours," Gary told them.
"We can get you there in five sir," the pilot said confidently.
"Then make it happen!" Gary ordered.
"Anyone got any cards to pass the time?" Blue asked with a bored tone. The others all shock their heads until Lucas tossed her a deck. "Lucas, you have cards?" she asked, astonished.
"Yup," was all he answered. As Yellow gawked at him, Blue already opened the deck of cards.
"Ok!" Blue started. "Who knows some good card games?"
"Oh! I know one!" Ash said as he reached for the deck. As Ash passed out the cards they played cards, until a sudden increase in the ships momentum up settled them.
"What's going on?" Ash asked as he held onto a cabinet, May not too far from him.
"I guess they decided we weren't going fast enough," Yellow answered from where she was holding onto something.
Alex stopped once they were within thirty yards of the end of the path. "What are you doing now?" Gardevoir asked as she watched her trainer search through his bag.
The boy smirked and pulled out a long rope and a hook. He tied the rope to the hook and slammed it into the rocky ledge they were on. "This," Alex finally answered. He threw the rope over the edge of the cliff and slid down.
"Well, that seemed kind of pointless," Gardevoir said as she teleported next to him on the ground. Alex didn't respond as he cut through the forest.
Once they got passed the last tree, they found themselves in the open streets. The city seemed completely ordinary, stores, restaurants, hotels, and other buildings littered the streets. But it was silent, like a ghost town.
"Odd, where is everyone?" Gardevoir asked as they stealthily made their way through the city.
"I have a pretty good idea," Alex answered as he glared towards the stadium. "What I don't get, is were are Cipher's soldiers?"
"Probably waiting for us," the embrace pokemon answered.
"Well, let's not keep them waiting," Alex replied as he walked towards the stadium entrance. As he passed by the large bulky transports, the large wedge shaped vehicles didn't appear all that opposing. The flight crews that monitored them either gave no notice to any incomers, or just didn't care.
The two of them slipped into the stadium's entrance with no difficulty, and even then were surprised to see no one waiting for them. Alex sighed and made his way over to the receptionist's desk.
"Now what are you doing?"
"Hacking into the camera networks," Alex replied as he typed into the computer. The computer beeped before displaying the security camera networks. "Peace of cake," he said triumphantly.
Alex selected a camera from the list and watched as it displayed feedback from the camera. "I thought so!" he exclaimed. Gardevoir looked over his shoulder to see what he was looking at.
The camera's feedback showed all the citizens of the surrounding city being held captive in the stadium seats, while they were being watched over by hundreds of soldiers clad in white armor.
"Hostages? They'd stoop that low?" she responded. 'Oh, wait, a deranged lunatic with a mad quest for world domination, of course they'd use hostages," she said sarcastically.
"Either way, we got to get them out of here," Alex spoke as he left the entrance room and made his way to the locker rooms. "And the best way to do that is with a battle," Alex continued.
"So you're going to just openly expose yourself?" Gardevoir asked.
"They'd find me regardless," Alex responded. They quickly cut through the trainer prep areas, through the locker rooms, and now found themselves in the small tunnel that leads into the center of the stadium.
"Well, this is it," Gardevoir said with a sigh. Alex nodded in agreement. The next few steps he took were the hardest in his life.
His head began to ache; as if something was trying to claw it's way out. 'I can't hold out much longer,' he thought to himself.
"Sir! Sinnoh stadium, eta, two hours," the main pilot said.
"Good, let's get there as soon as we can," Gary responded.
"Sir, I-I'm getting a transmition from the stadium, radio broadcast," the co-pilot said.
"Display it," Gary answered. The man nodded and flipped a switch.
"Well folks, it seems we're in for a treat today!" a rough voice said. "Today's entertainment is Cipher's one and only Grand Master!" the voice continued. When it mentioned the Cipher hierarch, a large applause could be heard over the man's voice. "Against, the Resistance's secret leader," he said, same as before only booing was heard this time. "Let's see just how badly this little wimp will get crushed then shall we?" the voice said with a maniacal laugh as chanting was heard in the background.
"Gary!" Dawn's voice roared over the brunette's radio.
"Pilots, we need to be there now!" Gary yelled.
"Aye sir!" they answered. "Pushing engines to 210 percent!"
The sudden change in speed forced Gary to grab hold of something for support as the craft reached mach two. The sound of the sound barrier breaking rung in his ears as he glared at the island out in the distance.
The situation was worse than he thought. There weren't a hundred soldiers; there were easily a thousand of them up in the stands. The civilians were all ushered onto one side of the stadium, the side that Alex stood on, with soldiers keeping them in check. The other side of the stadium had no one but soldiers in it.
"Well boy," the cloaked figure in front of Alex said to gather his attention. Alex turned to face the Grand Master, the headache he had getting substanciously worse with every passing second. "I must say, I'm quite pleased to see you back up on your feet."
"Oh really?" Alex asked rhetorically.
"Yes, the figure replied, now I can have the singular pleasure of killing you myself!" the figure replied. "I'll humor you, we'll fight this battle with normal stadium rules, a six on six match. I'll go first!" he said as he tossed a ball into the air. The ball snapped open with a loud pop and a Flygon appeared from a white flash.
Alex looked up at the sky for a moment. 'The day tugged by fast it seems,' he thought to himself as he gazed at the golden-red colored sky. He shifted his gaze back to the battlefield ahead of him. "Have it your way then," Alex said. "Go Dragonite!" he exclaimed as he tossed the ball up into the air. When Dragonite appeared he landed in front of his trainer and glared at his opponent.
Chapter 14 of part one, next chapter is the big clincher.
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