Chapter 29: A Warriors Death
"Oh, by the way," Barry said suddenly. We had parted ways and I was already making my way towards the gym before he stopped me. "I beat the gym leader, and you beat me so I'm sure you have what it takes." he said. "But, look at your team. You should probably train on Iron Island like I did before challenging Byron. Just saying." He sauntered off, not even waiting for a reply.
I thought about the battle and realized he was right. He still didn't know about the Nuzlocke so it wasn't like he was looking out for my team's lives intentionally, but he still did. Cerberus, Armstrong and Mufasa were all very close to death, barely hanging on. Two of them were shoe-ins for the front line at the gym! If they could barely hold off Barry, they might not make it through the gym alive. "Alright." I said, making up my mind. "I'll train at the island then."
A quick trip to the PokeCenter later, I had found a sailor who was willing to take me to the island. "Sure laddie, it's an easy trip." he had said. "I won't even charge ya, I was meaning to go that-a-way already. Just signal me when you're looking to head back." He pressed a flare gun into my hand and we set off, his boat easily moving through the water. It didn't take long for land to show up on the horizon. "There is is laddie! Iron Island!" the sailor called.
It certainly was an island, at least, in the most basic sense of the word. Iron Island lived up to its name. It was a rocky crag that rose sharply out of the ocean. Waves crashed on its shores, roaring in their effort to inflict even the tiniest bit of damage to the rough mountain. A small dock had been built of of what could very possibly be the only flat spot on the entire island. The boat pulled up alongside it and I jumped off, feet landing firmly on the solid oak planks. I waved at the sailor as he sped off into the horizon and turned to face the island. How the hell is anyone supposed to train here? I thought miserably as I started up a marked path.
Following the path, I found my answer. It lead to a cave entrance, small lights lining the ceiling just like it did in Oreburgh and Mt. Coronet. "Great, another cave." I muttered, releasing Lola. "Let's get to training then." We stepped inside, carefully following the trail. It wasn't long before we encountered our first pokemon. Unfortunately, it was a Graveler.
"Shit, Lola take it out!" I yelped. I had plenty of experience playing the games with high-level Graveler using Self-destruct. When it was just a game, it was mildly annoying to have my pokemon faint all the time. Now, the Graveler were a walking death trap. Lola leaped forward, aiming a Jump Kick at the rock-types face. This particular Graveler must have had some experience with fighting-types, however. It rolled out of the way, and Lola crashed into the hard rocks of the tunnel. "Lola!" I called out, running towards her. She rose from the ground unsteadily, holding her head in pain. She didn't notice the wild Graveler, which had snuck up behind her, until it had already started to glow white. "LOLA!" I cried, desperately trying to get her away.
"Cobalt, quick, use Force Palm!" a male voice called out. A streak of blue and black rushed past me and collided with the Graveler. The wild pokemon flew back into the wall before exploding, showing us with pebbles and dust. The dust cleared away and I ran over to Lola, praying she was okay. Imagine my surprise when not only was she unharmed, but she was being helped up by a Lucario.
"Are you okay?" Lucario asked, his voice projecting telepathically in my head. I recognized it slightly, but couldn't place it.
To my complete surprise, Lola started blushing as she was helped up by the jackal pokemon. "Yes I'm fine thanks." she cooed softly. I stared, bewildered. Well that's a first I thought. Coming back to the current situation, I walked up to the Lucario. "Thank you for saving her. I imagine your trainer is somewhere around here?"
The Lucario stared at me. "You do not remember me? I can understand, we have only met once. Perhaps seeing Riley will jog your memory."
Riley? I thought, suddenly remembering the guy from Floaroma Town with the blue suit. "Oh!" I cried in recognition. "You're Riley's Lucario?"
"Yes, that's Cobalt." Riley said from behind me. I spun around and there he was, still dressed in the same blue suit and hat. "Cobalt sensed you were in trouble and came to help. We couldn't stand by and let a pokemon die to the curse you're under."
"Curse? Oh, you mean the challenge?" I asked, nervously scratching the back of my hand where the mark was. "I wouldn't go that far, but yeah, thanks for the help."
Riley stared at me. I could practically see the gears working in his head as he watched. It unnerved me, like I was being studied for an experiment or something. Finally, he spoke up. "You intend to go deeper into the island?" he asked.
"Yeah. I need to train for the next gym." I said. I glanced behind me at Lola, who was deep in conversation with Cobalt. She was acting really shy and coy around the powerful pokemon. It broke my train of thought for a moment, seeing her act so out of character. "Uh, anyway, we're here to train. I just don't like all the Graveler around, it's going to make things difficult." I said, returning my attention to Riley.
"Yes, it would." Riley murmured. He bowed his head for a second, thinking. I glanced back at the two chatting pokemon, and saw that Cobalt was looking over at us. Weird I thought. "Okay." Riley said suddenly, startling me. "Cobalt and I will help you with your training." he announced.
I couldn't tell you what was stranger. That Riley could apparently communicate with Lucario privately via telepathy, or the small girlish cheer that Lola let out upon hearing that she got to hang out with Cobalt some more. "Uh, any particular reason?" I asked.
"I simply do not wish to see anymore pokemon die for your so-called challenge." he said. He hesitated a moment then added. "Also, Cobalt would like to spend more time with your Lopunny." Cobalt growled at Riley and swiped at him, which the blue-suited man easily dodged, laughing. I couldn't help but laugh too, seeing the proud Lucario so easily flustered. I'm going to have to keep an eye on those too, though. Just in case I thought.
As it turned out, teaming up with Riley was perhaps the greatest thing to ever happen during this quest. Lola and Cobalt made an excellent team, and we quickly made our way through the cave. Every time we ran into a group of Graveler, Onix, or even the occasional Steelix, the duo would make short work of them. They quickly developed a pattern. Lola would leap in first, using Jump Kick to knock down one of the wild pokemon, while leaving herself open for attack from the other. When the other pokemon was distracted, trying to attack her, Cobalt would ambush them with Force Palm before they could land the blow. They were never even touched!
On top of that, there was all sorts of treasure to find inside the cave. Random items left abandoned by other trainers that passed through the tunnels. I even found an electric-type enhancing Magnet, which I stored in my pack, planning on giving it to Mufasa at the first opportunity. After a few hours of battling wild pokemon, and even a few trainers, I withdrew Lolas pokeball, waving it at her. "Okay Lola, you've leveled up plenty. I need to train someone else for a while."
She looked devastated, like I had told her that everyone else on the team was dead and she was the only one left. "But Nick!" she whined. "I want to keep fighting with Cobalt!" She sounded like a 14-year-old with an anger management problem.
I sighed. "We're not here to have fun Lola, we're here to train." I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Look, when the time comes to say goodbye to Riley, I'll let you say bye. But I have to train someone else, keep everything even."
Cobalt put a hand on Lolas shoulder. "Go. I had fun fighting along side you as well, but your trainer is correct." he said softly. She seemed to give in once Cobalt had agreed with me, which I found only slightly concerning. I hope she gets over this crush soon, or she's going to be impossible to deal with once we leave. That hope was quickly dashed as she kissed Cobalt quickly on the cheek before bounding over to me.
I returned Lola and thought carefully about my next choice. I glanced over at Cobalt, who was still shocked by the kiss, and grinned wickedly. "Hey, this is a fighting-type paradise right? Plenty of rock and steel-types to beat?" I asked Riley, who nodded. "Then I've got the perfect choice in mind." I said, grabbing another pokeball. "Come on out Armstrong!" I called.
The large Machoke groaned loudly as he stretched, flexing his muscles. He glanced around, spotting Cobalt. "Oho! So you shall be my opponent then!" he cried, crouching into a fighting stance. "Very well then, let us do battle!" he announced.
Cobalts face was priceless. He didn't seem to know how to react to the loud Machoke. I chuckled, almost tempted to let Armstrong grapple with the confused Lucario. I decided against it. "No Armstrong, we're not battling against them. We're battling with them." I corrected.
Armstrong paused, turning to see Riley smiling calmly beside me. "Oh? A comrade in arms you say? Brilliant! I've been wanting for a new training partner! The others seem so dull, they cannot find the joy of physical work as I do!" he announced, striding up to Cobalt and slapping him on the back. "So comrade, let us make a bet shall we? It's what I always do when I train. Let's say, a contest to see who can defeat the most wild pokemon?"
Cobalt finally snapped out of his haze. Apparently he had a bit of a competitive streak. "Oh? You think you can beat more than me? I'll take that bet. What are the stakes?" he asked.
Armstrong grinned even wider, glad to find a partner who enjoyed competition as much as he did. "The winner gets to do 50 less pushups after training is over." he said.
"Wait, the winner has to do pushups too?" Cobalt asked, clearly not against the rule.
"But of course!" Armstrong crowed. "We have to get stronger, right? The loser does more because he is the weaker one, and therefore must do more work to get stronger!" I had to admit, I saw the logic in his statement, crazy as it was.
The bet began in earnest. The two of them battling was completely different from when Lola was out. While Lola and Cobalt worked together to take down multiple opponents, Armstrong and Cobalt tore into large groups of pokemon, each defeating their own opponents and moving on to the next. Their styles of fighting were even different. Armstrong used brute strength to take down one opponent at a time, sometimes even two. He mixed it up slightly, varying from Cross Chop to Seismic Toss. Cobalt, on the other hand, barely stopped moving. He varied his attacks constantly, Force Palm, Bone Rush and Metal Claw all being used equally and frequently as he rushed through the wild pokemon. He wouldn't even wait for one pokemon to fall before moving on to the next, confident in his ability to put them down.
They would both shout out the number of wins they had every few seconds. "Fifteen!" Armstrong would cry. "Seventeen!" Cobalt would reply. "Twenty!" Armstrong would call back. It was like watching the Lord of the Rings with Legolas and Gimli. I was honestly enjoying it. Armstrong wasn't in any real danger as long as I kept an eye on him during the battles. Riley had a large cache of Ethers and Potions to use, and he completely turned down my suggestion to pay, or use my own items. "Cobalt hasn't had this much fun in a long time." Riley explained. "Between Lola and Armstrong here, I'd say that he's quite fond of your team."
Slowly but surely, Armstrong started to lag behind. He was probably Cobalts match in pure power, but he couldn't keep up with the Lucario's speed. Noticing this, he decided to recklessly attack two Graveler at once. "Watch this one comrade! I will defeat them both in one move!" he crowed.
"Armstrong wait!" I shouted but he either didn't hear me or didn't care. He rushed forward, landing a brutal Cross Chop on one of the Graveler. He spun around mid-move and his the other one as well. I knew already that it hadn't been enough. The Cross Chop had lost most of its energy hitting the first pokemon, and the second Graveler was still conscious, and very pissed off. It grabbed onto Armstrong, all four arms holding him in a tight bear hug, and began to glow white. "Armstrong!" Cobalt and I shouted at the same time. Cobalt quickly dispatched the Onix he was fighting and rushed forward to help. The last thing I saw before the Graveler exploded was Armstrongs face. He still had that mad grin on his face.
The explosion was massive, even bigger than the one earlier in the day. Cobalt was flung back several meters, landing roughly on the rocky ground. Riley and I took cover behind a boulder as the dust and debris rushed by. "Armstrong!" I shouted again, desperate to get any kind of response. I already knew from the beeping on my PokeTech that he was gone, but I yelled anyway. The dust started to settle and I rushed out from behind the boulder, Riley hot on my heels. I ran to the center of the blast, finding Amrstrongs mangled body next to the fainted Graveler. Cobalt knelt next to him, holding his head up.
Armstrong coughed weakly, holding on to life for a few moments. I knew he was already done for and there was nothing I could do. I fell to my knees next to him, head in my hands. "You were almost out." I said weakly, tears slipping through my hands. "I was gonna put you in the PC where you'd be safe. I should have done it earlier, took Yaddle out or something." I sobbed.
Armstrong smiled weakly. He tried to speak but couldn't get the energy. Cobalt glowed blue lightly, and I could suddenly hear him in my head. "He wants to talk. I'll connect your aura so you can speak on last time." he said solemnly.
Armstrong looked at me weakly. "Don't be ridiculous." he chided. "I agreed with that plan because it was your wish, not because I wished to be safe. No, it is better this way. I have died a warriors death. That is all I could have asked for." He turned his head towards Cobalt. "You are the victor then. I'm sorry to say, I cannot pay the toll for loosing." He laid his head down on the stone floor. "I lived a good life. I have no regrets." he said before falling silent. The familiar blue energy surrounded him and his spirit rose up, flying out of the cave. I watched him go, and was surprised to see Cobalt doing the same.
"That was his Aura." he explained. "He is at rest now."
I got to my feet and sighed, looking around. "How are we going to get him to the Lost Tower? It's impossible."
"Try your pokeball." Riley suggested. I did and as it turned out, it worked. Armstrongs body was absorbed into the little steel ball. I put it in my bag, away from the others. "I'll get you where you belong. Promise." I said.
