Author's Notes
Hello, everyone! Here's the next Chappie.
I don't own Pokémon. It's sometimes interesting to speculate how long this franchise is going to last. Who knows, it might reach a point when people who started with Red and Blue might be playing with their grandchildren, who might be preoccupied with Pokémon Muon and Tau.
- x x x -
CHAPTER 28
Shouts pierced the thick air. Pokémon screeched and growled as their trainers directed them in battle. The earth shivered and groaned as Ground attack after Ground attack ripped through it. All around them, shadows frisked and swayed like silent tribesmen around a sacrifice. Sometimes a Gust attack sliced through the sea of Consable henchmen and knocked both trainer and pokémon alike unconscious.
Utter bedlam, Agnes thought as she told her Lunatone, Pointy, to induce her opponents into sleep with Hypnosis. Fortunately for her, she had experienced worse at the department store during a moving-out sale, so this trifling foofaraw wasn't something she couldn't manage.
"Alright, let's spread some more status and have a Confuse Ray, Briarby," she said. "As for you, Fluttle, why not have a big Yawn?"
Briarby the Xatu trilled, unfolded its wings, and released a sphere of mysterious energy that landed on a Sandslash, while Fluttle the Chimecho tinkled and opened its mouth at an unsuspecting Graveler.
"Next, pummel them with Confusions! But not you, Briarby." She pointed her cane at the muddled Sandslash and hollered, "Make them weep with a Night Shade!"
As her Psychic and Ghost attacks took wing, Agnes peeked at her companions from the corner of her eye. Skye's pokémon moved of their own accord without even any verbal commands from their trainer: the Jumpluff alternated between Sleep Powder and Giga Drain; the Pidgeot showered its foes with consecutive Wing Attacks; while the Honchkrow assaulted its enemies with Drill Pecks. The long-haired youth didn't seem content with staving off the endless waves of Consable thugs with his formidable pokémon, as he took the extra effort to fire an occasional Gust attack at any clansman who approached too near, especially to Wade. As for Daith, he had brought out another cigarette and was using its fumes to form a wall of Smog around his father, who for some reason couldn't seem to stand properly. One of the thieves' pokémon, a Dugtrio, dug its way under the noxious haze in an attempt to recapture Mr. Redspike, but its plans encountered an untimely end as Daith's Arbok struck it with an Aqua Tail.
Her mouth tightened. She didn't need to be psychic to know that this little venture was more than a rescue. She felt in her creaking bones that something deeper was at stake. And somehow, she had found herself getting caught up in its inexorable wake.
Not that she minded. This sure beat helping the police sniff out crooks with her clairvoyance, or looking for something to do at the Fair after that mortifying defeat at the Beam Tournament.
Agnes cackled as another Sandslash fell. She clonked her cane at its trainer's head then proceeded to her next victim.
"—get the punk grandma, you nitwits!—"
"—she's got Psychic pokémon!—"
"—then sic the Murkrow at her!—"
Black feathers fluttered and noisy caws echoed as the diminutive black birds dive-bombed her pokémon with Pursuit attacks. Agnes squawked in protest as her poor pokémon toppled to the ground.
"You got another thing coming if you think you can thump me down with Dark types," she growled. Hearing the snap in her voice, Pointy, Briarby, and Fluttle rose back up and waited for her next commands. "Let me show you that there's still hope for an old Poochyena to learn new tricks!
"Pointy, Rock Throw! Briarby, Aerial Ace! Fluttle, Signal Beam!"
Wade, Skye, Daith, and even Guido… These boys were battling their best for different reasons, but they didn't seem to realize that a common denominator existed. Rescuing fathers… Standing up for brothers… Fighting for family… These youngsters knew what mattered in life.
And by golly, this "punk grandma" was going to brawl just as hard so that the boys could seize their goals.
- x x x -
With his breath coming in ragged gasps, Wade shuddered as… something… stroked his mind. He felt like an eye had abruptly appeared inside his head and was peering into the deepest recesses of his memories and feelings. Combined with his lack of rest after being injured and healed, his persistent exhaustion from the race yesterday, his crackling nerves, and the fact that Consable henchmen left and right were rampaging around him with their pokémon, and this sensation of toting a foreigner in his mind was enough to make him explode.
[What's this intruder doing inside your head?] Gyarados roared mentally.
[How obtrusive,] Slowbro commented. [Such unsavory hobbies this odious man has.]
[Wasn't he the same one who lodged his consciousness into that Redspike boy's mind?] Slowking asked.
[The very same one,] Umbreon replied. [You know how he goes, Wade. He delights in bringing to light the suffering and insecurities of others.]
Dennison approached him with slow steps. No matter how much Wade braced himself against the imminent verbal assaults and fought against an overwhelming need to flee, he still felt like a little twig about to weather a nasty storm. "So you thought you could sidle into some household and live your life without regard for your past? How asinine. Wouldn't you agree that it's not logical for a family to pick up some unknown runt and raise him as one of their own? You think having your own bed, sleeping in the same room as the real son, and sharing the same meals will make you belong? You're a thief's boy, nothing else! And even with this distinction you remain an utter disappointment."
Wade's chest tightened. It got harder to breathe.
[That's a lot of dung spewing out of his mouth,] Gyarados snarled. [Don't tell me you actually believe him!]
[I detest violence,] Slowbro started, [but if he's going to continue in this vein then I will take immense pleasure in drowning him with a Surf!]
[That makes two of us,] Slowking added.
Umbreon was silent. But Wade could feel its anger bubbling, like a pot of hot water ready to burst.
"You think you've got your second chance," Dennison hissed, "and now you actually have the gall to try to give one to Quodo! The arrogance! Such so-called assistance is unsolicited and unbefitting. Who needs lectures on morality from a fourteen-year old who spent his younger years in the confines of a criminal syndicate?" The psychic threw up his hands in the air. "Well, if you're so desperate to see your father, then be my guest. I won't stop you." He flung a smirk at him. "Since I know you'll be absolutely tongue-tied…"
Wade's hands felt numb and chilly. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and tried to speak. But no sound came out.
"Quit dillydallying," the man with the Camerupt barked as he approached the two of them. He leveled a stern gaze at Wade. "There're intruders to dispose of. If you remember, Dennison, this entire operation was your idea, and I want it accomplished as fast as possible. We won't be moseying into Kanto to expand our territory anytime soon if you're just going to talk these trespassers to death."
Wade stared at the man. Did he know him from all those years ago? Why was he supposed to look familiar? The man was bald except for a small patch of black hair. Regarding his build, it seemed like a disease had eaten away at some parts of his body where fat used to be, and remnants of this lay in the oversized shirt covering his torso and the large pants that would have fallen were it not for the belt around his waist.
Dennison had called him Quodo.
But that was impossible. The father he knew was round enough to give a Wailmer a run for its money. The father he knew spoke in a voice that could awaken a slumbering Snorlax. He wasn't some man who tried to look authoritative despite an obvious haggardness, a man who was dwarfed by his own Camerupt when it used to be the other way around.
A hand on his shoulder kicked him out of reflective incredulity. Wade looked up at Daith, whose smoldering eyes could have pinned Dennison down on the ground.
"I'll take care of him," he promised. "It should have been me under his spell, but you took it, instead." When Daith shifted his attention to him, Wade almost flinched. Though after discerning the emotion on the other's face, he realized that he had no reason to. "Thank you." Daith offered a small smile. "I'll make sure to get him out of your head."
Why did he gain such strength from those words? Why did a smidge of confidence return when Daith squeezed his shoulder then stepped forward to face the clan psychic?
"Are you going to bring out a pokémon or not?" the man with the Camerupt suddenly asked.
For a moment, Wade gazed at the man who was supposed to be his father. Here he was in front of the head of the Consable Clan after all these years. Here he was taking the first step to a hope that, for once in his life, furnished him with a semblance of purpose. Unbidden, Daith's encouraging words replayed in his mind. He felt a sudden gust of air to his right, and when he looked he found out that Skye had blown away some idiot goon who had been sneaking toward him. To his left, Agnes shrieked commands and cackled madly at the Consable henchmen who were taking a licking from her armada of Psychic pokémon.
With hands clenching, Wade took a step forward.
[Umbreon, help me out.]
[Thought you'd never ask.]
- x x x -
Daith stood amidst the clamor of Consable goons yelling orders at their pokémon in futile attempts to subdue him and his companions. The ground quaked once more, but this barely diverted his attention from his target. With a cigarette between the second and third digits of his right hand, he released his Gengar, which eyed Dennison and his Alakazam with venomous eyes and a petrifying grin.
"I can always reduce your mind to a gurgling puddle," Daith began blandly, "but I won't be satisfied until I beat you in a battle. And unluckily for you, you will witness how a wielder fights."
Dennison bared his teeth. "Murkrow, crush this derisible buffoon with a Psychic attack!"
The Dark-Flying pokémon appeared in a flash of bright, red light. Daith didn't even give it time to flap it wings; he quickly loosed a stream of Smog from his cigarette. The tendril of smoke first encircled its neck before completely engulfing it.
[Finish it with a Sludge Bomb,] he told Gengar, which obliged by lobbing a purple blob at the unsuspecting Murkrow. The black bird squawked a final time before dropping senseless.
The Smog dissipated. Daith extended his hand, and after a little concentration released a purple powder from his cigarette.
"Mangy bird," Dennison snapped. "My other Murkrow better obliterate that annoying ghost—"
But as another Murkrow popped out from its pokéball, the purple powder descended like a ravenous being and inflicted the black bird with poison. With a smile that did not reach his eyes, Daith ordered Gengar to fire another Sludge Bomb, quickly knocking the Dark-Flying pokémon out.
"If you're going to enslave a pokémon species," Daith said softly, "then you better know how to maximize its potential so you don't lose easily. Obviously, you're not aware that those birds can evolve into stronger pokémon. They become slower but bulkier, and their offense reaches respectable levels."
"… Such knowledge doesn't change the fact that these stupid birds lost against a pokémon with a supposed type disadvantage," Dennison said. Daith savored the hesitation and breathlessness creeping into the psychic's voice. "Quagsire, get out here! That ghost's part Poison, so you can take those inane Sludge Bombs!"
"That's not going to prevent it from being poisoned," Daith remarked as he raised his cigarette and released another cloud of purple powder. For all the alleged intelligence and heightened mental capacity in the world, the Clan psychic seemed to be easily rattled by unfavorable circumstances. Didn't he realize that Gengar was adept not just with Poison techniques, but with Ghost ones, as well? True enough, the Water-Ground pokémon fell as a sphere of otherworldly energy crashed into it.
[Gengar, I leave you to take care of the Alakazam.]
[Of course. Refuse like them can never hold a candle to someone who's Elite Four level. Speaking of which, when we get back to Sinnoh, I demand a rematch with Lucian's own Alakazam! I am not losing again to some bookworm's page-pusher!]
[We won't be going back to Sinnoh until I destroy this foul being's mind,] Daith said. He took a few deliberate steps towards Dennison and raised his hand toward him.
"… Stay away…" the man whispered, a sound lost to the tumult of goons yelling, pokémon calling, and the ground occasionally shaking. His voice gained a desperate loudness. "… Stay away! Alakazam, Psychic!"
Gengar intercepted it with a Hypnosis, which instantly put it to sleep. In the meantime, Daith exercised the full faculties of his mind manipulation and maneuvered his way into the psychic's intellect. What little resistance he felt from the other's pitiful powers was immediately crushed.
"You will exit Wade's mind without any damage to his psyche," Daith murmured. As he approached the immobilized Clan psychic, his pokémon finished the dozing Alakazam with a Shadow Ball.
There. He felt it. He shifted his gaze to Wade, who was fending off the head of the Consable Clan's Dugtrio with his Umbreon. The boy froze for a moment and almost tottered to the ground. Skye's Honchkrow quickly stopped the fall by hauling him up from the back of his shirt. Sneaking a glance at him, Wade nodded before returning to his own fight.
But that didn't stop Wade's opponent from taking advantage of the momentary distraction. He barked an "Earthquake!" As the ground rumbled violently and a few chunks of the ceiling shattered on the ground, Daith went cold. What if those chunks had dropped on his father? He looked behind him and gasped at the fragment of a stalactite that had crashed into the spot beside where his father lay. Another falling rock threatened to flatten the man, but his Arbok, which had been guarding his father this whole time, smashed it to pieces with an Aqua Tail. Daith's head whipped back to the Clan psychic, whose eyes were glazed and whose mouth dumbly dripped spittle. He glanced back again at his father, who was struggling to crawl out of harm's way.
Why couldn't he stand? What was wrong with his leg?
[It looks like some disease has taken away your father's ability to walk,] Arbok said in his mind. [His right leg is a little deformed compared to his left.]
Daith's hand clenched. He knew the right thing to do, but how could he do it when Dennison's destruction was right there in the palm of his hand? Just a little more mental tweaking, just one final command to end his own life, and Guido would be avenged—
Guido.
He shuddered. Again, the image of his little brother clinging to him with trembling arms brought him to his knees. With a baleful glare at Dennison and his fallen Alakazam, Daith screamed in frustration and released his mental hold over the other's mind. After recalling his Gengar to its pokéball, he flashed out of sight and teleported beside his father.
Something inside him stirred. He attributed it to years of accumulated resentment. But as he gripped his father's arm so he could support him while they walked, his mouth went dry as he realized what it really was.
Like an Ursaring that had just woken up from hibernation, his retrocognition reared its head. The incorrigible thing activated and plunged him into a world far from screaming Consable henchmen, dangerous tremors, tumbling rocks, and suffocating cave air. His father's memories came to life and engulfed him in another reality.
He knew he should have stopped his retrocognition. But as he went back to the day that he was banished, all resolve and sense of danger evaporated. Arbok's panicked calls at him dissolved into a negligible buzz. Like a child in an obstacle course at the playground, he had to get at the end of these memories to find the answers to his questions.
His time stopped.
- x x x -
"You're still as soft as ever."
Wade flinched at his father's observation. In front of him stood Umbreon, worn out from receiving the Earthquake attacks that the other's Camerupt—which was now knocked out—and Dugtrio had called forth. His fist clenched. He didn't need a pokédex to know that one more Earthquake would be enough to send his Dark pokémon packing. A quick rummage in his backpack revealed a couple of restoratives, but unfortunately the Super Potion wouldn't be enough to haul Umbreon back to full health. He just hoped that its high defenses would help it last longer.
[I'm good, Wade,] the Dark pokémon said. [Just do what you have to do.]
His mouth tightened. [Then pass that Dugtrio a Confuse Ray.]
"Earthquake!"
Umbreon stumbled as the ground shook again. Heaving deep breaths and wiping the sweat from his forehead, Wade expended great effort to keep his balance. The quake ceased. Umbreon's legs shuddered from struggling to stand up, but it still managed to fire a Confuse Ray. His father didn't waste another moment; he told his befuddled Dugtrio to execute a Stone Edge. The Ground pokémon swayed and threatened to hurt itself. To Wade's dread, floating rocks materialized and circled around Dugtrio before soaring towards his drained Umbreon. It keened before dropping unconscious.
Wade couldn't stop his teeth from gritting. [You wait and see, Umbreon. I'll pull myself together. Just give me a few seconds. Slowbro, you're up next.]
The pink-colored pokémon appeared. His father immediately ordered a Night Slash, causing Slowbro to stagger a few steps back, but a Psychic attack finally stopped the onslaught of the petite Ground pokémon.
"If beating you in a battle will make you reconsider all of this," Wade began steadily, "then I'll do everything to make you stop hurting people."
"Hurting people?" His father released his next pokémon, a spherical Rock-Ground menace whose propensity to explode bordered on legendary: a Golem. "You referring to Dennison's schemes? Ah. The man really has roundabout ways of accomplishing things, doesn't he? Start with a Rock Polish, Golem!"
[No holds barred, Slowbro,] Wade said. [Surf!]
As Golem gleamed, his Water-Psychic pokémon summoned a large, tall wave that flavored the thick cave air with the scent of a tropical beach. Several Consable henchmen and their pokémon dove out of the way from the massive Water technique. The Surf attack smashed into the Golem and brought the hulking pokémon down with a deafening crash.
His father stared at his fallen Golem before recalling it. He leveled an impassive gaze at Wade. "I suppose I should apologize for letting Dennison get out of hand. The man's brilliant in his designs for clan progress, but his over-the-top ways can sometimes be annoying."
Wade's jaw almost dropped. What?
"So you think you have the guts to face the head of the Consable Clan," his father continued. He brought out his fourth pokémon: a rugged-looking rodent with a spiny body. "But why? Is what Dennison babbled about true? You intending to save my hide or something?" He chortled, but for some odd reason Wade could detect no hint of disdain or disbelief. "What a schmaltzy schoolboy. Analyn taught you too well."
"What happened to you?" The words tumbled out of his mouth like a flood. "Are you really the father I knew? You used to be so hung up about being the richest and most feared criminal syndicate on the island. You used to stop at nothing to make sure that everyone knew who was the boss. Dennison should have received a thrashing for 'talking trespassers to death' instead of kicking us out of Coast Cave the first chance he got. You never cared about people who were inconvenienced by your sleazy operations. You never apologized. Not even to Mom, who had to face your abuse every single day of her life till the moment she died!"
[Calm down,] Slowbro suddenly said. Wade swallowed. He didn't even realize that he had shouted those last few words. He took a few moments to steady his ragged breathing and shaking hands. The effort was futile, as he only succeeded in making himself dizzy.
The only answer to his barrage of questions was the din of ongoing pokémon battles—not to mention Agnes's incessant squawks and hoots in the distance. When he finally had enough courage to look his father in the face, Wade only saw a wry smile that barely curved the other's lips.
"Sandslash, Earthquake!"
If this keeps up… Wade asked Slowbro to launch a Psychic attack. This didn't stop it from taking the Ground technique from Sandslash; it wobbled precariously as the earth rumbled. Dust and rocks crashed down from the ceiling, throwing up smoke and mud. Screams erupted. Panicked at the prospect that his companions had been crushed by the falling debris, Wade waved off the haze with his hands and searched for the others. He breathed out in relief as he heard Skye's calls and Agnes's shrieks. As the smoke settled, his heart stopped when he spotted Daith kneeling beside Mr. Redspike, both of them unmoving. Daith's Arbok hissed and revolved around them at a frantic pace, as if trying to rouse them from some stupor. Another chunk from the ceiling threatened to squash the two, but Arbok batted it off with a quick Aqua Tail.
"That's the problem with digging too many tunnels," his father commented as he eyed the ceiling. "When you shake things up, everything has this tendency to crumble." He then shifted his attention to his Sandslash and didn't seem alarmed at its sudden defeat.
Wade gasped. "You can't mean…"
The other didn't let him finish. The man released his final pokémon: a robust Donphan that stomped its foreleg as it appeared from its pokéball.
"Earthquake."
The ground moaned and shivered. More debris fell and shattered. A boulder thudded to the spot just a few feet to the left of Wade's father. For some reason, the man didn't shout or cry for help; he just stared at Wade with an expression that he couldn't grasp. A second boulder crashed down, this time an arm's length to the right of his father.
Arbok's frenzied hisses snatched his attention. His head whipped towards Daith and Mr. Redspike, who remained immobilized. The Poison pokémon deflected another rock with an Aqua Tail, but it looked so worn down that Wade doubted it would be able to parry the next boulder that threatened to flatten Daith and his father.
The ground continued to quiver. If he didn't move, they might not make it out of the cave alive. And all this would be for naught.
[Slowbro…]
[Hurry, Wade.]
His heart pounded. There was no time to hesitate or to weigh consequences.
[We're going to move Daith and Mr. Redspike close to us,] he told Slowbro. Using his remaining strength, he readied his telekinesis. [At my signal, you use Psychic.]
A third rock fell behind the leader of the Consable Clan, who remained unmoving. Wade swallowed. He'd have enough time to bring the other out of harm's way, too, wouldn't he? And why was the man still staring at him like that?
[And… now!]
Like statues, Daith and Mr. Redspike hovered up and towards him. Ignoring the growing headache that felt like it would soon split his head, Wade braced himself and, with Slowbro's aid, levitated the two until they thudded right in front of him. Daith seemed to wake up from the impact. He blinked in confusion at Mr. Redspike, then at Wade, who almost passed out were it not for Daith's hands quickly catching him by his shoulders.
"My… father…" Wade gasped out.
His eyes caught sight of the clan head. But only for a moment.
His mouth opened in a silent scream as a large part of the ceiling fell down on the man.
Not even his Donphan would have been able to shrug that off.
The world disintegrated into a hodgepodge of senses. Was that him shouting? Arms suddenly bound him like a straightjacket, and before he knew it Skye was telling him that they needed to leave.
But how could he leave? He couldn't abandon his father. Not after he'd resolve to bring him back. Not after—
[Let's go, Wade,] Slowbro said firmly.
The world spun. Must be those stupid Escape Ropes. He struggled against the arms restricting him, but his body wouldn't cooperate. Helpless, he had no choice but to allow himself to be towed like a rag doll. They fled Coast Cave, which roared and trembled until it collapsed.
- x x x -
Author's Notes
Someone kick me into writing the remaining chapters... xD
