Ch 37

The outside of Mirage Tower was a vague brown, beaten with sun, and if there had ever been any designs on it, the sun had erased them, or the cracks in the mud bricks marred them beyond recognition. The inside, however, was a different story. Vibrant blues, deep burgundy, and steely grey depicted giant blocks with arms, legs, and dots on their faces.

Cynthia hurried in after me, and stared at the wall. "What is this?"

The middle of the three figures was grey, with a rounded top, flat arms with three fingers each, stubby block legs, and seven dots on its center. "Seven dots in a circle tells you what?" I asked.

"Registeel." Wikstrom answered as he stepped in, "The Iron pokemon, one of the golem trio."

"Correct," I cleared my throat, "One of our primary objectives. Spread out. Take pictures."

I flipped my pokenav open, and clicked a picture of each of the golems. The inside of the tower was shaped into a hallway that followed the outside of the building, a thick column in the middle with a set of stairs leading up to the next level.

The second floor followed the same floor plan as below, but was painted grey, with Registeel patterned dots in red painted at regular intervals. Wikstrom started walking around slowly, but I continued up to the next floor.

It was ice blue everywhere, seven dots arranged in a cross with more width than height. Diantha followed me up, so I waved at the hallway, and she went exploring while I went up to the fourth floor.

Burgundy walls, with seven red dots arranged in an "H." Cynthia cleared her throat, "One floor for each golem?" she asked.

I looked around, and pointed to another ascending staircase, "Make no assumptions."

The fifth floor was the top floor, and it was totally undecorated. The mudbricks were unpainted, but pristine. I walked around, and behind the tower's support column was a granite tablet, with raised circles sticking out of it in deliberate patterns. "What's that?" Cynthia asked.

I stepped over to the column, and stared at it. "An ancient language, I think," I answered, "I've seen it before, looking for the golems."

I snapped a picture of the tablet, and then pushed it a bit. It was a solid block of granite and thus exceptionally heavy, but it moved a bit. "Not attached to the building, good," I whispered, and summoned Jiton.

My shiny Metagross floated just above the floor beneath us, and I tapped the slab, "Put it with the others please."

Cynthia crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the slab, "How many do you have, sensei?"

Jiton glowed with psychic energy, and the slab levitated over to sit on top of his head. The moment the slab set down, Jiton levitated down the stairs and towards my Secret Base. "Enough to be vexed by them, but not enough to be able to translate them," I answered, "They're the key to the golems, I'm sure of it."

Just behind where the slab had been was were two conspicuous mounds of dirt. I leaned down, removed my faceplate, and blew air on them. Sand blew away to reveal rock in the shape of a claw. "A fossil," I mused, "those are handy."

Cynthia cleared the sand off the second mound, finding a root fossil. "Interesting, maybe, but useful?" she asked.

"There are places where they can clone fossilized pokemon, resurrecting them," I said with a grin, "Ambrette Town in Kalos had an entire zoo of resurrected pokemon. How did you think Diantha got her hands on a Tyrunt?"

I put my hands around the claw fossil, and pulled a bit. The entire tower shook. "Maybe we should leave them there," Cynthia proposed, "this whole place could come down on our heads."

I rolled my eyes, replaced my faceplate, and said, "Grab the other one, pull on three."

Apprehension painted on her face, Cynthia got low, and grasped the root fossil. "One," I warned.

"Please don't," she pleaded.

"Two," I whispered and got low like she was.

A deep sigh emerged from Cynthia. "Three!" I shouted and we both pulled.

The fossils came out free easily enough, but the tower rumbled loudly and wobbled dangerously. I pivoted off one foot, and ran through the wall into the air, Cynthia right behind me. "What about the others?" she shouted.

We landed and turned around. The top two floors of the tower were already crumbling, but Wikstrom and Diantha ran out of the bottom floor and over to us. "What happened?" Diantha demanded, "Was it that old?"

I brandished the claw fossil, and said, "Nah, we just found something cool."

"But we destroyed the tower!" Diantha exclaimed, "I thought we wanted to explore it!"

I shrugged, "Got what we needed, extracted valuable artifacts, and now nobody else can find it, even if they find the mirage," I explained, "Mission success."

I put my fossil in my pack and Cynthia followed suit. "Go team," I said with a grin they couldn't see.

"Whoo," Diantha grunted.

I wiggled my eyebrows at them and said, "And you know the best way to celebrate a successful mission?" I summoned Suiton, Mokuton, and Katon, "Pop Quiz!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, fuck," Cynthia murmured.

Wikstrom turned tail and bellowed, "Fire and Damnation!"

"Almost crushed by a giant sand tower," Diantha mused, "And next up I'll be beaten to a pulp because… I apparently did a good job."

Katon dashed at Wikstrom, but Wikstrom drew his sword and swung backwards in a horizontal arc. "I will not fall on this day!" Wikstrom declared and summoned Iron, his Scizor.

Suiton held back for a moment, and then sprayed a small pond's worth of water at Cynthia. Cynthia summoned her Lucario, Tribus, but that slowed her just enough that both of them where carried down a sand dune and into what became a sizable mud puddle.

Diantha slid summoned Beast, her Tyrantrum, but the giant pokemon wasn't able to get its bearings before Mokuton was already mid-attack. Giant roots wove their way around Beast, tightened, and then with the force of a piston, sprouted massive, wickedly sharp spikes. "Frenzy Plant?!" Diantha lamented, "Right out the gate?!"

Wikstrom charged Katon while Iron circled around, and then they came together for a pinching maneuver, but it was no dice. I flashed through a few handsigns, and transferred "Splash", one of the seven mist swords, to Katon. It was more of a giant roll of explosive tags than a sword, but the handle and weight of the thing made in an appropriate comparison. "Poor conduct!" Wikstrom cried.

With two quick swings, Wikstrom and Iron both found themselves with a layer of explosive tags on their persons. Wikstrom's blade fell to the sand in resignation just before the tags went off, leaving the blade nearby as he and Iron flew off in opposite directions.

Cynthia and Tribus pushed themselves out of the mud just in time for Sution to land on top of them. She held them under the mud, but Primus, Cynthia's Gabite breached the surface of the mud to deliver a vicious uppercut to Suiton's jaw.

The uppercut was enough to free Cynthia and Tribus, but had the side effect of really pissing Sution off. His anger bled into me, and I held out a hand at Primus, and a beam of ice shot from my fingertips to collide with the dragon/ground Pokémon.

Suiton grabbed Primus, now in a block of ice, and began to smash at Cynthia, who was barely keeping ahead of the blows. I turned to look for Diantha, who I thought was running towards Iron, but then I noticed Mokuton was right behind her, nipping at her ankles. She didn't notice Iron until she'd already tripped on him.

Wikstorm, his Aiegislash, Steel, summoned and being wielded, crashed into Mokuton, preventing an easy knock out, and then took a defensive stance. "Line!" he cried, "Establish a line!"

Katon and Mokuton began to circle him, and while he watched Katon, Steel watched Mokuton. Cynthia dashed into the circle to stand next to Wisktrom and pulled two tonfas out of her trench coat. Primus, still a block of ice, descended from the sky like mortar fire, but Tribus took the blow, saving Cynthia, Wikstrom, and Diantha.

Cynthia summoned Secondus, her Spiritomb, and Diantha summoned Princess, the Gardevoir. "Steady," Wikstrom muttered as Suiton joined the circle.

My Pokémon knew that when my three students were together, they stood a chance, but they were waiting for a sign of weakness. I decided to provide that. I slammed my hands to the ground, and water flowed from me, into the circle, messing with everyone's footing.

Mokuton's arm blades glowed green, and he dashed in with a Leaf Blade attack. Secondus and Princess never stood a chance, but Wikstrom parried, saving Steel. "Damn this Sorcery!" Wikstrom exclaimed, and Katon dropped a savage Blaze Kick on his head.

Wikstrom went down, while Cynthia and Diantha, close to their Pokémon as they were, were barely standing. Suiton manipulated the mud into a wave and bowled them over. As the mud settled, my three students and their Pokémon were revealed to be unconscious.

I pushed them out of the mud using the sand beneath them, and carried them out of the mire.

About an hour later, Diantha was the first to wake. She fidgeted, and groaned, "My ribs…."

I shrugged, and said, "You'll be fine."

She turned her head to glare at me, "Just because I'm a jinchuriki and I heal quickly doesn't mean it doesn't hurt."

"How is Chomei?" I asked.

Chomei was the given name of the Seven-tails… the demon spirit that I'd sealed inside Diantha. "He doesn't like this Mega-Evolution training," she sighed, "It's making him work."

"Mega-Evolution requires a tight bond with your Pokémon," I explained, "Nothing builds that bond like tough battles."

She subsided for a moment, and then asked, "Frenzy Plant? Really?"