Chapter 53: Crimson Disruption, Part 4: Determination
Sky couldn't believe it. It couldn't be true. Spike couldn't dead.
He, Mako and Kyle had managed to lose the grunts that had trailed them, but Sky didn't care. He didn't care about anything at that moment. It didn't matter how much he denied it, Spike was gone. And the guilt was insufferable.
"Stay on guard... they could reappear from anywhere." Sky almost didn't hear Mako. The blue haired trainer turned to Sky, eyes full of sympathy. "Sky... I'm sorry."
Sky didn't respond.
He hadn't even taken in where they were. The squared out area of hallway, huge set of electronic doors, and floor lights were unmistakable. They had reached the entrance to Central Controls. Yet Sky didn't care. 'He's dead.'
Finally after what seemed like an eternity, Sky said, "I let this happen... It's my fault."
"Come on, it's not—" before Mako could finish consoling the distraught trainer, he spotted a Lairon making its way over. More unbelievable were its passengers. A Sableye sitting in its head, and a very familiar reptilian Pokemon riding on its back.
Spike leapt off Chomps back. "All right, guys—this is far enough."
Sableye made a quick wave. "Gotcha, Spike. Hey and eh, thanks again for gettin' us outta that cell. Place was the pits."
"No problem."
Chomps nodded, making Sableye stumble. "Thank you, Spike."
Spike grinned embarrassedly and rubbed the back of his head. "Anytime, big guy."
"Okay, Chomps, ol' buddy... let's ride!" He kicked Chomps sides. Though annoyed, the Lairon nodded and trudged off. "Watch out for them goons in red!"
Mako grinned and tapped Sky's shoulder. "You got a visitor."
"Huh? Ouch!" Chomps had stepped on Sky's foot running by. He turned around. "What the—?"
Sky looked at Mako and saw he was pointing past him. Sky spun around again and he could've sworn his eyes we're playing tricks on him. There in front of him, running toward them, was Spike. Though out of breath, he still looked very much alive. A rush of sweet merciful relief washed over Sky, and a shaky smile formed. "Buddy!!"
"My human!!" With a cry of happiness, Spike leapt up and tackled Sky to the ground. Sky laughed, Spike happily licking his trainer's face before Sky lifted him off. "I thought you were dead!"
"So did I!" Spike answered excitedly.
They were reunited. Spike was tougher than Mako had first thought if he'd survived that explosion. 'Or maybe just reeeally lucky...' He watched them and gave a light chuckle.
"Oh good Lord, there goes my lunch..." Kyle had turned away. Although, he knew fairly well what the bond between trainer and Pokemon was like...
Sky eventually hopped back to his feet, and Spike leapt back onto the ground. "Guys, Spike isn't dead!"
"Yeah, we've sort of noticed." Mako replied, still grinning. Then he remembered their mission. "Okay. Serious time again." He turned to the door, and Sky hadn't seen him so relaxed since before they'd left Meritina. "We've made it... It's just about over. Let's..." He stopped and stared, Spike was running off.
Sky was alarmed. "What? More grunts?" He spun around then noticed Spike. The gator stopped in the mend of the hall, picked something up, a lot of something ("Whew! Almost forgot these!") then he came running back. In Spike's arms were the TM's he had collected.
"What in the—?!" Kyle exclaimed.
Sky's mouth went agape. "Spike..." He began slowly, "How did.... you found these...?"
"Oh yeah." Spike gave a couple rapid nods.
Sky took a moment to process it all. "...Sweet! Awesome job, buddy! You're a natural born treasure hunter!"
"Or thief." Kyle corrected sourly.
Though Kyle couldn't have known, Sky remembered the berries Spike had stolen from Melena way back in Verteon.
"...Or that. But... Team Crimson are already thieves and probably stole these... so... Spike stealing the TM's from them neutralizes it or something. Besides everyone here has done something, so I'll share."
Spike nodded arms folded in agreement. Then he heard the 'I'll share' part. "You'll what?!"
Mako tried not to become exasperated. "Okay. Guys, let's try to focus now."
"Right!" Sky took the TM's from Spike, whom was stunned, and placed them into his pack before straightening up. Kyle tossed the older trainer an annoyed glare, which really meant Mako had the dark trainer's attention.
"We've gotten this far," Mako reminded them. "We can't waste anymore time. Now we must..." he trailed off once again, and he was staring disbelievingly past them.
Sky thought it was Spike again, but the Totodile was standing next to him. He and Kyle spun around and saw exactly what was wrong. Somehow, Team Crimson grunts had managed to surrounded them. They were positioned in both halls, leaving no escape.
Sky couldn't believe it. "No way.. Not another battle!"
"Looks like we've no other option..." Mako answered grimly.
"Way to go, loser." Kyle growled.
Guilt returned to Sky. He had delayed them too long. "Sorry..."
The three trainers backed closer to each other and released an additional Pokemon for the fight. Swirl and Blaze were already out. Sky released Sora, Mako released Brute, and Kyle released Shade.
Sora formed next to Spike and looked ready to drop. "Again...?"
"Yep. Again." Spike replied. Sora blinked in surprise at the sight of the Totodile. He looked like he had run an eighteen mile marathon; he was far more tired than she was, but he seemed different somehow. "...Are you okay?"
"Unfortunately, yes. But I don't think passing out would be such a bad idea, though."
At that Sora knew Spike was fine, took a deep breath, and took on her usual fighter stance. "All right, bring it on! We'll take down as many of you as necessary!"
Spike raised his claws and groaned. He was certain they'd probably be outnumbered again. "Aw man... there has to be a rule against this somewhere...!"
Enemy Pokemon were being released all around, and facing Spike and Sora was an Ariados and a Loudred. Spike charged first, wanting nothing more than to rip them both to shreds and get this over with. Sora dashed in after him.
As Spike approached, Loudred stepped forward and tossed a punch, but Spike managed to spin left and avoid it before jumping onto a stumbling Loudred's back and pushing off, he launched himself spinning into the air.
"Spike, Water Gun! Sora, Quick Attack!" Sky called.
Spike glanced left and caught Sora had dashed past the Ariados, and he was directly behind Loudred. The moves matched perfectly. He quickly pulled in a gulp of air and launched a powerful burst of water. It crashed into Loudred's back and with a yelp. He hit the floor face first.
A shriek was heard right after Sora took off at max speed back past Ariados. She had blasted the Ariados and returned back to her starting position, knocked the bug far left.
Spike landed and Sora skidded to halt directly behind them, back to back, and intently focused on their stunned opponents.
Sky noticed the Pokemon slowly getting back to their feet, and began thinking of the best possible combinations to take them down quickly. "Spike, use Metal Claw on Loudred! Sora, Gust on the bug!"
Taking off to carry out their respective moves, Sora took off skywards, and Spike dashed forward again. His claws glinted as they flashed into metal. He jumped once more, shouting. The Loudred rubbed the back of it's head while getting up, but then groaned loudly as Spike's Metal Claw made contact with said head. It tumbled to the ground face first again. Spike landed and blew off his claw, shaking his head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk... Ah, rookies..."
Sora took aim on the Ariados from above, it's trainer shouted the order for String Shot. It spun around and a burst of webs shot forth from its rear.
Sora grimaced. "That's disturbing...." She had almost forgotten to dodge and swerved left just in time to avoid the attack. She shuddered as the webs stuck to the ceiling. "Spinarak are gross enough... now this..." Refocusing, Sora quickly began flapping her wings in powerful, slow strokes. Soon enough wing picked up around the bug Pokemon, but instead of throwing it into the nearest wall, the air swirled around it. Ariados was soon panicked once the air lifted it from the ground and spun it round in rapid circles. The rippling air vaguely resembled a small tornado, and a chilling echo came from the howl of the wind. Ariados collided into the rooftop, falling back to the ground with another shriek and its limbs went limp, one leg twitching.
Sky watched the entire attack and it stirred something in his memory. That wasn't Gust... He blinked. "Was that Twister...?" He had remembered seeing a dragon Pokemon using a move just like it, and Sky wondered for the second time today where his Pokemon had been secretly learning moves. He remembered Pidgeotto were capable of learning the dragon type technique through egg moves, just as Spike learned Metal Claw. Sky couldn't help but wonder just what Pokemon were his Pokemon's parents. Then he shook his head, shouting. "Sweet! Nice one, Sora!"
Spike gave his teammate a brief claws-up.
Sora chirped happily in acknowledgment, then before she could give a warning, a Geodude tackled Spike. The two Pokemon began tumbling about on the floor before Geodude released Spike, rather roughly, and left a dazed Totodile sprawled on the floor.
Sky was again aware that they were surrounded. His finger swept towards the rock. "Water Gun! Steel Wing!"
After a moment Spike quickly leapt back to his feet, but he turned toward Sky and waved a claw finger in disagreement; giving a very cheeky smile.
Sky was confused, but then Spike raised both claws and they flashed blue. An aqua colored ring pulsed around his arms, and Spike launched a burst of water forth at the Geodude. The rock Pokemon was blasted backwards, stunned and cringing in pain from the water attack, while rolling on the ground mindlessly, so Sora quickly finished it off by doing a mid-air somersault while using Steel Wing, slamming Geodude through the floor materials.
Sky stared in awe. Third time he had wondered about the moves. Both Spike and Sora seemed to grow so fast. He wasn't even sure if Totodile learned Water Pulse by level. Thinking back to the war outside, Scruf and Tank weren't doing so bad themselves. Slowly, Sky realized each of his Pokemon were all growing into far stronger partners than the Pokemon he had started with. They had began forcing him to recognize their growth. A smile slowly cleared the surprise in Sky's face. "...All right! Spike, awesome new move! Second one today! And Sora, that was a spectacular finish..." he marveled.
Spike chuckled and Sora looked throughly embarrassed, neither of them were used to praise like this from Sky. He sounded beyond impressed. "Wow," Sora managed. "Have we really gotten that good?"
Spike was already bowing, "Yeah, humans love it."
Sky refocused his attention to the battle, looking around at the enemy Pokemon. 'But we're not done yet.' "Spike, Sora! Let's keep going. Metal Claw and Steel Wing!"
All around them battles ensued. Sky was pointing towards a particularly thick mass of Pokemon to their left, and both Pokemon nodded. Spike's claws flashed as Sora's wings did. "Charge!" Spike cried and they both jumped into brawl; plowing through, bashing, and beating any opponent in their path senseless.
But soon after charging, Spike, along with Shade and a few other Pokemon were knocked from the group by a blast of some sort. The Murkrow slid on the ground, groaning, and Spike steading himself with claws scraping the ground. Sky narrowed his eyes. 'That also means this isn't going to be easy...'
Ruffled, Shade hastily got back to his talons. "It's a madhouse in there! I'd swear someone had thrown a chair if a Magneton weren't battling!"
Spike looked at him. "Magneton?" An image flashed in his mind. He unawarely clenched his teeth. "That means that guy is—"
A large explosion came from further behind and a couple of Pokemon went sailing. One of them Sora.
Sky caught is breath. "Sora!" She landed a couple feet away from him, and Sky dashed next to her, sliding into a kneeling position. Sora was set on her side, conscious, but cringing with pain. A few of her feathers were singed, and she looked bruised. She was injured, but okay.
Sky quickly looked up to see what had caused the explosion, but he had a nagging feeling he already knew.
"Come on... you didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily, right?"
Mako grunted in exasperation. "Damnit, I had a feeling you'd show up again..."
"Again, the guy with the 60's hairstyle..." Kyle growled. "quit wasting our time you sociopath!"
The group of Pokemon disbanded from the explosion and there stood the admin. This time, however, Hizou didn't look amused. 'Playtime's over. Things are going to end, right here and right now." The grunts remaining soon flanked them, but nervously as they knew Hizou wouldn't hesitate to blow them up to get to the trainers. Their Pokemon took positions next to Hizou's Electrode. Which looked perfectly fine. A swirly eyed Voltorb had been what just exploded.
'He must have revived it...' Sky noted. The only good bit of news was now not as many grunts and enemy Pokemon remained. Four grunts, seven Pokemon. But with Hizou back, the odds tipped in Team Crimson's favor and time was becoming more and more invaluable.
Hizou grinned. "I bet you kids are all but out of fight by now."
Kyle glared. "Try us."
Sky quickly pulled off his pack and took out three items: two Oran berries and the orange bottle of a Super Potion. He gave Sora and Spike each a berry. By now Sora had pulled herself back to her talons. "Eat up. Things are going to get messy."
Once Spike and Sora had gulped down their berries, he held the nozzle of the Super Potion close to the scrapes and burns on Sora. Kyle had been keeping Hizou occupied with taunts that the 60's were over while giving him a rather harsh reminder that Elvis was dead. Sora cringed as the stinging medicine hit her wounds, but soon it gave way to a soothing sensation that flowed through her entire body.
The medicine did its job, as Sky noticed Sora looked better almost instantly. "Feeling up for this?"
Sora nodded.
Sky smiled, climbed back to his feet and a determined look took his face. "All right... let's end them."
