We battled our way through wild pokemon on our way back down route 43. Aaron stayed next to me as we traveled down, occasionally speaking to me in between battles.
"You know, Kenji, you shouldn't be afraid to tell people how you feel," Aaron told me towards the end of the route.
I smiled sadly and shook my head. "It isn't that easy."
Aaron put a hand on my shoulder. "It is a dangerous world out here." Aaron held his other hand out in front of him. It seemed like he was pointing to James, but he couldn't have been. "Lives don't last long. Don't let small worries get in your way."
Of course Aaron was right, but it was just a little difficult to work past my fears. But I needed to suck it up and talk to James.
Before I could talk to him, we walked through the gates to Mahogany Town. Lance was waiting inside the gate for us. Archer stood by his side, looking just grumpy as she had when she left.
When we reached Lance, he spoke up. "I believe this souvenir shop is where the strange transmission is coming from." Lance pointed over to a small shack not to far away from the local gym. There was a tree next to it with wires obviously poking out from it.
Lyra tilted her head a little. "Why did I never pick that up before? There is obviously something weird going on there."
When we reached the front of the shop, there was a huge sign next to it that stated, 'Just a Souvenir Shop!' In smaller letters under that, 'Nothing Suspicious about it! No need to be alarmed!'
"Wow…" Ray scratched his head behind his ear. "Could they be any more obvious about it?"
Togi shook her head. "Talk about idiots."
"Come on, lets go in," Lance said. He barged in through the door, closely followed by Archer. Lyra ran in after him.
Two men stood inside, frightened by the sudden intrusion. Both looked like normal civilians. One stood up to Lance. "Don't take another step!"
Lance let out a cocky smile. "Archer, Hyperbeam!"
I gasped. That was unheard of! Were pokemon even allowed to use moves against humans? But sure enough, Archer sucked in a deep breath and let out a strong beam of light that struck the first man in the chest. He went flying and slammed against the wall behind him. He sunk down to his knees, completely unconscious.
Lance walked over to the second man, who's eyes grew wide. He quickly ran away.
"Are you…suppose to do that with pokemon?" I asked Lyra. "It seems like an abuse of power!"
Lyra shrugged. "It seems like he is doing it for a good purpose. So maybe it is okay."
Lance looked over at me and smiled. "I can do whatever I want to," he stated in a voice that almost sounded like a bratty child's. Just then, he pulled up on a floor board, revealing a staircase leading down into the ground.
Lance stood at the top of the staircase with his hands on his hips. Archer stood loyally behind him. "We should split up here, Lyra. That way we can cover more ground in this place. I'll go first since I am stronger." Lance rushed down the stairs without even waiting for a response from Lyra.
"You know…" Togi started, "At first I thought he was pretty cool. Now he just seems like a dick."
"You could say that again," Ta'jean said, shaking his head.
"Well team, ready to go stop whoever is doing this?" Lyra turned to all of us. She was standing at the top of the staircase with a wide smile on her face.
James put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "Of course," he said in a voice that seemed a little too soft. He still wasn't feeling better.
Aaron nodded silently.
Ray jumped excitedly. "Yeah yeah!"
"Lets put an end to these people," Togi said.
Ta'jean brought up his fists. "I'm ready to take them down."
"I'm always ready!" I said.
"All right!" Lyra rushed down the stairs, with James closely behind her, followed by the rest of the team.
I was nearly shocked when we descended. I was expecting some crudely made underground bunker. But instead, there was a huge maze-like floor that was almost big enough to be a building itself. The walls and floors were made with a strong metal substance, and there was enough light to make it seem like we weren't even underground.
Standing not too far from where we were was a statue of a persian. Its eyes glowed a deep red. Lyra walked up to the statue. "What does this do?" She asked looking it over.
Aaron reached out his hand, as if to stop her, but then withdrew it and shook his head.
Lyra suddenly froze. "I feel…as if I am being watched…" she told the rest of the team. We all looked around but no one was in sight.
Suddenly, the persian's eyes began to flash and there was a deep electronic noise coming from it. A Team Rocket grunt came running forward. He gasped. "An intruder!"
Lyra looked angry. "So you guys are the one's behind this!"
The grunt smiled and threw forward a pokeball. "Go drowzee! Stop these fools!"
The drowzee was a heavy-set, medium height pokemon. It had a long snout that hung down where its nose should have been. Sharp ears poked up out of its bald head. Its lower half was brown while its upper half was yellow.
Lyra pointed a finger forward. "Go Ray!"
Ray rushed forward and stood in a fighting stance. "Ray! Shadow Ball!" Ray cupped his hands together. A dark wind began to blow around him, rippling through his fur and pushing his hair out of his face. He slowing opened his hands, revealing a growing dark ball. He then thrust his hands forward and the ball shot out with incredible speed, striking the drowzee in the chest. The drowzee staggered back, but was able to catch itself.
"Drowzee, Confusion!" The drowzee put its hands to its temples. Ray was suddenly still. A thin stream of blood began to drip from his nose. Ray lifted his hand and wiped his nose with the back of it. He saw the red staining his brown fur. Ray let out a growl.
"Ray use Tackle!" Ray ran forward and brought down all of his body weight onto the drowzee. That move finally made the drowzee faint.
The grunt shook his head in disappointment. "Damn weak pokemon. I told them I needed stronger ones…Drowzee, return!" The grunt held out a pokeball and withdrew the drowzee from the battleground.
The grunt then sent out a zubat, which was easily defeated by Togi and her strong Psychic moves. The grunt scoffed. "I can't believe I failed!" The grunt ran off. "I'll be sure to warn our boss that you are here!" He shouted as he left.
"Well…"Lyra started, looking at the rest of the team, "Guess it would be a good idea to stay away from those now." She let out a sheepish smile.
"That would probably be the best," Aaron said.
Unfortunately, it was a lot harder to avoid the statues than we originally thought. We had no idea where we were going in this strange underground maze, and there were multiple persian statues lining the walls. Each one called for a Team Rocket grunt or two, not to mention the occasional ones we ran into who were patrolling about.
"Geeze!" Lyra leaned up against a wall after finishing another battle in which James mercilessly took down a rattata and a zubat. "I wonder how Lance got through all of this! And if he did, wouldn't all these grunts be worn down and not able to battle?!"
"Well, he did say he could do whatever he wanted to," Ta'jean recalled, shaking his head and looking at the ground.
"Yeah! Maybe he just ran through," Ray said, happy to put in his opinion.
Ta'jean looked down at Ray and smiled, ruffling his hair. "Maybe," he said. Ray smiled, happy to get recognition from Ta'jean.
"Well we are taking a break for a little! This is almost too much!" Lyra slid down the wall and landed on her butt. "This has been one heck of a day, and it is barely even half over!"
James kneeled down next to Lyra and put his hand on her shoulder. "We could always leave if you want to."
Lyra put her hand on top of James's and smiled. "No way. We are going to stop these guys!"
Lyra paused for a second, then signaled with her finger for James to come closer. He leaned in and put his head next to hers. She whispered something into his ear and I saw both of their eyes drift towards me. James drew his head back from Lyra's in shock. He leaned in and whispered something back into her ear. Lyra stood up, smacked James lightly over the head, then put her hands on her hips. "You are too stubborn for your own good!"
"Wow." Togi was shocked. "Never knew she had it in her to hit James, even if it wasn't that hard."
Aaron shrugged. "Well if he deserved it…"
Lyra started to walk over to me. Just then, there was a red flashing. Sure enough, against the wall adjacent to us, a persian statue stood. It started letting out its low electric buzz and a Team Rocket grunt came running in Lyra's direction. "An intru-" He started saying before he was cut off by Lyra.
"Oh HELL no!" Lyra held out her hand, stopping the shocked grunt right before he reached her. "Do you even know…how many of you I have fought in the past ten minutes?"
The baffled grunt scratched his head. "…a lot?"
"Yes! A lot! And it might be a little better if you all didn't use the same pokemon! I mean really? A rattata and zubat? The only possible challenge was the drowzee and Ray is now strong enough to take that down in one move!" Lyra pointed over her shoulder to Ray, who happily smiled and waved at the grunt. "You guys are like flies that won't go away! I suggest you get out of here before I make one of my pokemon attack you!"
The grunt slowly inched away from Lyra, then took of running when he was a good enough distance away. Lyra let out a deep breath, then smiled like nothing happened. "There are some stairs over there guys. Lets continue on."
Phew finally got out a decent sized update :) Here you guys go. Hope you all enjoy. Don't forget to leave reviews ^_^
Oh and thanks to bdjpl97 for leaving some awesome feedback :D