Well first of all thank you for all the reviews I seem to be getting on this story lately! I have no idea what changed but thanks guys, haha.
Also, we're getting to near the end of this story now. There's another 6 chapters after this plus the epilogue, but I'll be uploading them every Friday as usual ~ (other than when I forget...)
"N!"
White could barely even hear her own voice over the loud rumbling Drapion's earthquake caused. She was just lucky that she'd been near the side of the room when it started.
Unfortunately, the others weren't so lucky.
Reshiram let out a panicked yowl as the ground collapsed beneath her, not having enough reaction time to use her wings to fly away from the danger. There was a loud crash as the dragon landed on the floor below – a sound that seemed awfully delayed.
Then White realised what was on the floor below. The massive storage room near the entrance.
No…
Knowing he wouldn't be able to help the dragon, N tried to escape the crumbling floor. He managed to make it half way across the room before the ground collapsed beneath him and he was left scrambling for grip at the edge of the large gap which had opened up.
"N!" White screamed. Don't just stand here, do something!
Hoping that now the vibrations were starting to cease the floor wouldn't give way any further, White raced across the room. N cried out in fear as he lost his grip on the metal, and she dived forwards, just barely managing to grab his arm in time before he was sent plummeting down to the floor below.
Although, she'd slightly underestimated quite how heavy a person was.
White was dragged forwards as soon as she caught him and only just managed to avoid being pulled over the edge of the gap as well. Even flattening herself against the ground and using her free arm to grip the edge didn't erase the fear that the floor might vanish from underneath her at any second.
N had seemed rather surprised when he stopped falling. Cautiously he opened his eyes, looking up at her in shock. "White!"
"I take back what I said earlier," she grinned, her voice strained slightly. "It only takes one minute for you to get into trouble."
Yet they weren't safe yet. White may have been able to stop him from falling, but she wasn't strong enough to pull him back up.
Bored…
Black let out a sigh as he stared up at the plain ceiling; the backrest of the chair was tilted as far back as it would go. Zoroark had flopped over his lap and all he could hear was the sound of Colress typing and the hum of the computers.
"How much longer is this going to take?" Hugh tutted, echoing his thoughts.
"Honestly," Colress sighed. "Children have no patience. Shouldn't be too much longer, I've managed to hack into the computer. Now I just have to find where they've hidden the data."
"So in other words, we could be here for a while," Hugh grumbled.
"If that's how you wish to put it, yes. It shouldn't take more than ten minutes, though."
"Great."
Just then there was a loud rumbling sound from somewhere within the warehouse, followed by a crash. Black would have jolted back up in the seat if it hadn't been for the fact that Zoroark suddenly jumped up, scrambling over him and causing the chair to fall over backwards.
"Whoa! Hey!" Black cried, watching an upside-down Zoroark glancing at the door urgently.
"What the heck was that!?" Hugh exclaimed.
Black managed to escape the capsized chair, setting it back upright again before glancing back at Zoroark once more. The Pokémon kept looking at the door and them him whilst letting out fox-like barks.
"I don't know…" Black muttered. "Zoroark, what's the matter?"
Zoroark just let out another bark, scurrying over and tugging at the leg of his shorts.
Black just stared at the Pokémon blankly. This would be a lot easier if I could understand Pokémon like N…
Wait…
"Educated guess…" Black muttered. "Whatever that sound was… you think it's something to do with N?"
Zoroark nodded.
"And given your reaction, is he in trouble?"
Another nod.
Black glanced towards the door. Should he go and help? He knew that N was probably with White, and that loud crash had sounded like something collapsing, so the chances were the both of them were in danger… and, well, Zoroark probably had better judgement than him when it came to N anyway.
Casting a glance towards the others, then back at the door, Black bit his lip. What was he supposed to do…?
"Just go, Black," Hugh shrugged. "I can tell you want to help them. You know I'll beat the crap outta Team Plasma if they even think of attacking us."
"But… okay," Black sighed in somewhat relief. "C'mon, Zoroark."
A moment later, the trainer was racing through the corridors, the fox galloping along beside him.
White tried to avoid looking down as she desperately tightened her grip on N's arm. Yet stuck in her current position there wasn't really anywhere else to look. The ground was at least ten metres below, strewn with boxes and collapsed shelves. Reshiram had landed amongst the old storage, crushing a few shelving units after the fall, and White couldn't tell if the Pokémon was still conscious or not.
She gritted her teeth as a dull stab of pain ran through her shoulder. It felt like her arm was being pulled out of its socket. White didn't know how much longer she could keep this up.
"White!" N cried. "It's hurting you, just let go!"
"No!" White said defiantly. "N, I'm not letting you fall!"
"B-but… you can't get me back up there… it's okay. I-I need to help Reshiram anyway…"
"You idiot! If you fall down there you'll be killed!"
"But trying to save me is hurting you!"
White could feel tears starting to brim in her eyes. She couldn't tell if it was because of the pain or something else. "I'd be a lot more hurt if you died, trust me…"
His eyes widened slightly, though more in confusion than anything else. "White…"
"Oh, just shut up!" she wailed. "I'm not letting go and that's final!" She couldn't even feel her arm anymore. At least that masked the pain slightly. Now she was just fighting to make sure she didn't lose her grip on his wrist…
"I… s-sorry…"
She really didn't know what to do at this point. There was no way she could pull N back up to safety by herself. She'd just have to try and hang on for as long as she could.
Yet at this rate, that probably wouldn't be very long. Her entire left arm had gone numb as well as her hand and shoulder, and she had to use her right arm to grip the edge of the metal or she'd be pulled into the gap too. What was she supposed to do? She couldn't let N fall to his death!
"White!"
A familiar voice rang out from somewhere nearby. White felt a wave of relief wash over her as she realised who it was. "Bianca! Help!"
She heard footsteps heading towards them.
"Be careful!" White warned, attempting to glance up although it was kind of difficult. "The ground isn't stable!"
Bianca skidded to a halt a few feet away, letting out a quiet squeal of shock. "What happened!?"
"Well…" N started wryly.
"Just help already!" White snapped. "I can't hold him up here forever!"
"Oh, right, okay!" Bianca nodded. She carefully reached down over the edge of the gap with one arm. N caught her hand gratefully and the two of them managed to haul him back up to the surface.
As soon as he was safe, White backed away from the gap in the floor. "That was close…" She experimentally moved her arm. Now that the weight was gone the numbness was fading and only a dull ache remained, but hopefully that would go away soon.
Glancing around, she noticed Cheren waiting by the entrance of the room, leaning slightly against the doorway. He looked a little worse for wares too.
"What happened to you, Cheren?" she asked, walking over.
"Oh, um… attacked by a Bouffalant…" he shrugged. When he noticed her expression change to a look of somewhat horror he continued hurriedly. "I'm okay, though. The real question is what on earth happened here?"
"Ghetsis," White replied simply. "He made his Drapion use Earthquake and, well…" she glanced across the room. "You can see for yourself what the result of that was."
Cheren's eyes widened slightly. "Ghetsis? Where is he now?"
"I don't know," White shrugged helplessly. "He left before the attack."
"Huh… well, we'd better keep an eye out, I guess."
White nodded, looking back across the room. N was still attempting to look down through the gap in the floor despite the fact that Bianca was tugging at his arm in a failed effort to pull him back.
"No, no, no!" she said in a scolding way. "Get away from there! White's already had to save you once, and that's enough!"
"But I have to help Reshiram! And let go of my arm!" N complained.
White let out a quiet sigh, taking a Pokéball from her belt. "Sigilyph, get out here."
The psychic Pokémon appeared with a chirp, giving a questioning look as she hovered in the air.
"N, Sigilyph can carry you down there," White muttered. "Just don't do anything stupid."
"I… I won't. Thank you," N smiled gratefully as Sigilyph flew over to him. He climbed onto the Pokémon's back. "And thank you, too, Sigilyph."
Sigilyph let out a happy chirp, which assumingly meant 'no problem', before fluttering down to the floor below.
"White, you're okay, right?" Cheren checked.
"Huh? Yeah, sure."
"And you intend to keep fighting against Team Plasma despite what happened? I'm sure nobody would complain if you decided to leave for now."
White just looked at him for a moment. Then she gave a half-hearted smile. "Hey, I'm not giving up until you are, mister perfect gym leader," she teased.
"Very well then," Cheren shrugged with a smile, just as Sigilyph appeared back over the edge of the floor, drifting over to White. "Good luck."
"Thanks. I'm probably gonna need it," White added wryly. "Let's go, Sigilyph." She hopped onto the Pokémon's back.
By the time they reached the floor below, N had managed to find his way through the fallen shelves to the dragon's side. White jumped down from Sigilyph's back, returning the psychic Pokémon to her Pokéball.
"It's okay, Reshiram, I'm here," N murmured, gently stroking the dragon's head. "Just rest for a while, you'll be fine soon."
Reshiram took a moment to respond. She opened one eye, looking up at the trainer, and gave a quiet grumble.
"Huh? But…"
The dragon let out a stubborn growl.
"I… whatever you say, Reshiram…" N muttered, taking the dragon's Pokéball from his pocket and reluctantly sending her back into it.
Reshiram knows that Team Plasma are probably still after her, White realised. If N didn't put her in the Pokéball and any of them came along while she was still weak from that fall…
"Well, what now?" White spoke up at last.
"I don't know," N shrugged, climbing back over the rubble to join her. "I mean… we still need to stop Team Plasma…"
"Right. I guess we just continue with the original plan and fight whoever we come across," White suggested, heading off across the room.
"I… we don't… we don't have to fight Ghetsis, do we…?"
White halted, turning back to look at him. N looked terrified at the thought of having to face his father again – and to be quite frank, she didn't blame him. Given how anxious he always seemed to be, White was honestly impressed that N had been able to stand his ground so far. Although, her turning into a nervous wreck the last time they'd seen the older man probably hadn't done much to help…
She was about to reply; attempting to say something confident, that they'd be able to win. Yet she didn't get the chance.
White yelped as out of nowhere something smacked her in the face. The shock along with the sheer force of the hit forced her backwards and she found herself falling at the edge of the pile of collapsed shelves.
Holding one hand to her right temple, White glanced up to see who it was that had attacked her.
Towering over her was one of the Shadow Triad.
"White!" N cried. Before he even had a chance to move, another of the shadow triad appeared next to him, and a punch to the ribs was all it took to send him sprawling to the ground.
"N…!" White gasped. She was about to try and get up before suddenly Seviper jumped towards her, landing nary a few feet away with a warning hiss, its forked tongue quickly flicking out. White shrunk back against the fallen shelves, images flashing through her mind of when Black had been attacked by that thing.
"You're all idiots for coming back here," the shadow snarled. "Don't think we're letting you go anywhere!"