Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon in any way, shape or form despite wanting to!
Chapter 62: Inside Altru Tower: Part 3
"Nice work Wendy, we'll help you guys out with the other Drapion!" I said.
Luana, Jim and I went over to Sven along with our Partner Pokémon, though this only served to make the grunts angrier.
'Man, these grunts and admins…the way they're acting is like they're being influenced by the Shadow Crystal…' I thought to myself.
Even though the other Drapion was off to the side, that still didn't mean things would be easy for us. In fact, the Drapion tried swinging its tail at us, knocking down the microwaves and vending machines in a frenzied effort to harm or even kill us.
"Okay, Pachirisu, strike Drapion with a Thunderbolt!" I said as Pachirisu released a powerful jolt of electricity at the Drapion.
The Drapion reeled back from the blow and collided with the two grunts, who began to shout at the Pokémon as it got off of them. Afterwards, the Drapion clambered back up and tried to clamp down on me, though I was lucky to dodge it.
"Vulpix, use Fire Spin on that Drapion!" Wendy said as the Drapion shielded itself to avoid any burns, though the fierce flames managed to make it slow down a bit.
"Nice work Wendy!" Sven asked as Wendy grinned and made loops around the Drapion.
Unfortunately, the Drapion was able to dispel the flames surrounding it and turned towards Wendy in an effort to attack her.
"Woah! Raichu, use Thunder Wave!" Jim said as Raichu paralyzed the Drapion.
Capture was much easier for Wendy to pull off now that the Drapion was paralyzed. It wasn't too hard for Wendy to fill up the friendship meter more than before considering that she and Sven had filled up the friendship meter on both Pokémon quite a lot. The Drapion was captured after just a few more loops were made around the paralyzed Pokémon. Afterwards, both Pokémon broke free from their mind control and sauntered out of the room as the grunts' Miniremos began to emit black smoke, causing the ceiling sprinklers to come on as the two fled the room.
A short while later, the sprinklers came off and we went into the area the grunts and Pokémon came out of, thinking something of importance would be there, though there were only a few chairs and tables. Once we were finished there, we exited out of the destroyed room back into the main area, all of us were going to discuss which room to go into next until the building began to shake, even more so than previously.
"Man…this shaking is really getting to me…are you all okay?" Sven asked as we all nodded.
"Good thing we're all okay, what was that all about?" Jim asked.
"I'm certain it's something to do with the Shadow Crystal…we have to get up there fast but…the lack of elevators doesn't make it easy." I said.
"Yeah, there isn't even a way of knowing where some of these doors can take us! The Styler's map isn't working when we really need it." Wendy said.
"That is pretty frustrating, all we can do now is head into the last room." Sven said.
The last room we hadn't entered was flanked by solid steel double doors, looking sinister with every step we took towards them. Luana and I touched the handles, which were abnormally cold to the touch and we opened the heavy doors and entered the room. All of us began to shiver upon immediate entrance into the room, even Pachirisu and Buneary were trembling a bit, despite their thick fur. The room started out in a narrow hallway, though I noticed a more open area up ahead, even so, none of us could see much further than that due to the dense mist surrounding us. We all traversed through the room slowly since everything from the chairs, to the walls and floor were covered in ice.
"Y-y-you know…I…I have a feeling Ice is in this room…t-this seems like something he'd do just to mess with us…" Wendy said.
"Yeah…I-I could see him doing that…t-the battles have b-been p-pretty intense. It…r-really worries me about w-what we could be f-facing here." Sven said as we continued moving through the hallway.
"I-I'm just as w-worried, these g-grunts and admins h-have been s-so dangerous…I j-just hope Ice isn't as b-bad as they are…" I said as we reached the open area in the back.
Surprisingly, Ice wasn't the one standing in the center of the room, but it was an admin with his back turned to us and a thick coat covering him up. The admin turned around with a grin on his face, though unlike the other members of Team Dim Sun, he didn't have one of malice, instead, he had a playful expression on his face.
"Oh man…it's about time you Rangers showed up! That fool Ice had me in here for hours!" The admin said.
"R-r-really? W-well at least you had a coat on…" Jim said.
"Yeah, I had to take one before Ice forced me to come here. I'm honestly thinking of leaving, it's ridiculous with his treatment of us recently. You guys were heading to the boss, right?" The admin asked.
"Er yes, we are." Wendy hesitantly said.
"Sounds good to me, here's the key for the elevator, Ice locked it up but I'm deserting Team Dim Sun for good. Here, take it." The admin said as he handed me the key.
"Thanks, well guys, let's head out of here." Luana said as we left the room, with the admin walking behind us.
'Something seems off, while Team Dim Sun doesn't treat their people good from what we've seen, the admin being in this room by himself seems suspicious. Maybe he was just trying to act friendly to us and lead us into a trap.' I thought to myself as we watched the admin run down the staircase.
"Okay, I don't know about you guys, but did something not seem right about…any of that?" I asked.
"Yeah, that admin hanging around in such a freezing room simply handed us a key and then bolted downstairs." Sven said.
"The entire thing was really strange to me, even though I could see how he'd want to desert Team Dim Sun, him being in that room certainly didn't make him seem as if he could be trusted. The admin could have just waited outside for us if he really wanted to hand us the key." Luana said.
"How about we do this…let's go ahead and open the elevator doors with this key and test it out. It could easily be a trap just like with the first elevator." I said as I unlocked the door.
"Good idea, let's try that out. I'll go first and try going up a floor, then I'll just come back down with you guys." Jim said as he got on the elevator.
"Are you sure Jim? Isn't that dangerous?" Sven asked.
"Oh believe me, I know it is but…I'd rather test it out than have one of you guys do it and then something happens. I'll be back in a bit, let me just go ahead and go to the eighteenth floor." Jim said as he pushed the button with the doors closing soon after.
All of us looked at each other, as we were clearly very worried about Jim's safety, even more so as the elevator began to ascend to the next floor. A minute or so had passed and the elevator came back down to where it originally was. We all breathed a sigh of relief as the doors opened with Jim grinning happily.
"That was a big risk you took Jim, but you certainly don't appear scared at all!" Wendy said.
"I definitely was! I started to worry once the doors closed and I started to move up, though when the elevator doors opened on the eighteenth floor, I saw something strange." Jim said.
"Strange? What did you see that was so strange?" Sven asked.
"Well…the lights on the eighteenth floor were flickering really fast…I wasn't even there for a minute or so but I felt really creeped out." Jim said.
"Huh…that is pretty weird, we'll have to take extra caution heading to the next floor." Luana said as we all got on the elevator.
Sven pressed the button and the doors closed as we began to make our way to the eighteenth floor. A short while later, we were on the eighteenth floor and the doors opened, with the floor being just as Jim described. The fact that the lights were flickering on and off quickly certainly made things very troubling and I tried thinking of any solution that could resolve such a problem, though nothing came up.
"These flickering lights are really messing with my eyes…there has to be a breaker box or a switch or…something to make these lights go back to normal, right?" Wendy asked.
"Yeah…there has to be a way to fix these lights. Let's try looking for something at the end of this hallway." Sven said.
Though it was hard for me to see, all of us made our way through the hallway, which was barren of anything. We continued walking down the hallway until I heard a click and suddenly, all the lights came on and stayed on. Looking down at the floor, I saw that Wendy had stepped on a small gray switch embedded into the ground.
"Wow…this place is full of surprises…I'm just glad we can see without any issues now. What do you guys think is at the end of this hallway?" Wendy asked.
"I'd say it's probably a room filled with Team Dim Sun grunts considering how many traps we've encountered in this place." Jim said.
"I hope that's not the case, let's keep going!" I said.
We soon reached the end of the hallway, which opened out to a much more spacious room that had two doors across from each other.
"More doors? Man…this place is like a maze. Well…I guess all we can do is head through the doors! Let's just hope no grunts or admins really are waiting for us on the other side of either door, now that would be a nightmare." Sven said as we approached the door to our left.
"Don't you worry Sven. We've been doing great the entire time, even more so when considering how dangerous these grunts and admins are acting. Let's head through this door and see what's behind it!" I said as we opened the door.
Entering the room revealed a lab unlike anything we've seen before. It was high tech with various monitors, computers and equipment all over the room. However, there was something that caught Luana's attention right away and when I followed where her fearful eyes were, I realized exactly why she looked so troubled. At the back of the room surrounded by three scientists was a shiny Eevee trapped in a cage, shivering and whimpering as the two men continuously typed on their laptops with their backs to us.
"Oh no…we have to do something! Should we try subduing those guys?" Jim whispered.
"Yeah, I think we should, that Eevee's clearly in distress. We can hide behind that cabinet." I said as we all slowly approached the scientists.
All of us got closer to the scientists, who were still busy inputting information, though we managed to pick up on their discussion of the little Eevee as we hid out of their view. Upon closer inspection, I could see how cramped the cage was…it was barely enough for the Eevee to even lie down in and worse off was the fact that the cage was built into the ground, meaning Eevee couldn't even try to escape.
"So Franklin, when are we running those tests on this runt?" The scientist asked.
"We could do them now Jon. If we manage to figure out why Pokémon can be shiny, then we'll be able to hand this information off to the boss and he'll be rich. After that, you and I will get promoted. What test do you want to do first?" Franklin asked.
"Well…we could forcibly extract some of this Eevee's DNA, but this Eevee is really feisty, it might be whimpering now, but it bit me earlier. Look at this!" Jon said.
"Ugh! That's nasty man, don't show me that!" Franklin said.
"Sorry, I just hope being bitten by this Eevee doesn't turn my brown hair white." Jon said.
"You're an idiot Jon. Looks like we'll have to tie this Eevee up thanks to its behavior." Franklin said as we came out from the table.
"Hold it right there!" Luana said as the two men turned around.
"W-w-what?! Why are Rangers here?" Jon asked.
"Who cares why they're here! Sound the alarm, these are the Rangers that Kincaid was telling us about!" Franklin said.
Franklin and Jon both attempted to flee, however, Sven and Jim managed to subdue them before they could get any further. While Wendy got the zip ties to restrain Franklin and Jon, Luana and I crouched down at the Eevee so it wouldn't feel intimidated. Thankfully, the Eevee could tell our intentions weren't bad and ceased its shivering. Buneary, eager to help, hopped up to the Eevee's cage and began communicating with it, which made the Eevee go to the back of the cramped cage and sit down.
"Buneary, you told Eevee we would free it, didn't you?" Luana asked as Buneary cheerfully nodded.
"Don't fret any longer Eevee, we're getting you out of here." I said as I used all my strength to pry the bars open.
Once that was done, I gently took the Eevee out of the cage, its snow white fur brilliantly shining as it first looked at me and then Luana. Seeing such joy on Eevee's face made me happy and more determined than ever to take down Team Dim Sun. In fact, I was essentially distracted with petting Eevee until I looked over at everyone else, Jim and Sven finished tying up the two scientists while Wendy brought over two chairs, I went ahead and got Franklin to his feet as Jim did the same with Jon, with the both of us putting them in the two chairs.
"Are you sure you Rangers can't let us go? We weren't going to hurt that Eevee at all!" Jon said.
"If we didn't see you guys, then that would have been a smart thing to say. But since we saw and heard everything, that's not exactly the best lie ever." Sven said as I held Eevee in my arms.
"Ouch, that's harsh. You guys aren't exactly nice, are you?" Franklin asked.
"That certainly wasn't harsh, he's actually right. Besides…you guys were about to harm an Eevee purely for profit, yet that rebuttal makes us the bad guys? Ridiculous, let's go everyone." I said as we walked out of the room.
"Those two were horrible. On a more positive note, this Eevee is absolutely adorable!" Jim said as he gently poke Eevee's nose, which made it giggle.
"I know, it's great that the Partner Pokémon have taken quite a liking to Eevee already!" I said as Eevee hopped out of my arms and ran around me before joining the Partner Pokémon behind us.
"Such a cute Pokémon…now then, with a new Pokémon to help us out along the way, how about we go and see what's in the other room on the right?" Sven asked as we approached the door on our right.
"Sure, then we'll head back to the elevator and see what the other floors are going to be like." Wendy said as we opened the door.
This room was completely different compared to the last one, instead of it being another lab, this room was a massive kitchen. Luckily for us, the kitchen was empty, there weren't any people or Pokémon inside, but we figured a bit of exploring wouldn't be a problem. The kitchen itself was filthy, with various utensils and bowls strewn about, with all of them being extremely dirty. As we stepped over some spilled food, we saw the walk in freezer and were about to head past it without any concern…until the door began to shake.
"Uh…am I imagining that?" Jim asked.
"No, I'm seeing the door shake too…now I'm wondering what's behind this door." I said.
The door soon burst open and nearly came off of its hinges as something sauntered out of the freezer on all fours and covered in a black cloth.
"W-what is that?" Sven asked.
"I don't know…let me see…" I said as I slowly approached the weird lump.
Feeling nervous, I quickly moved the cloth up, only to see a grunt looking up at me. I was so flabbergasted by what I saw that I ended up recoiling and headed back over to everyone else.
"What's with Team Dim Sun and being in cold places?" Wendy asked as the grunt hopped to his feet.
"Silence! Team Dim Sun is here to take you Rangers down!" The grunt said as he began to type on his Miniremo.
"Oh no…what are we facing this time?" Sven asked.
We didn't have to wait long to find out, as an enraged Abomasnow came out of the same walk in freezer and bumped into a nearby table. This only angered the Pokémon further, and it tossed the table directly at us, narrowly missing our heads.
"Alright guys, it's time to shine! Pachirisu, paralyze that Abomasnow!" I said.
Pachirisu struck the Abomasnow and it was unable to move as I made loops around it, with Vulpix and Sven preparing for their chance to attack off to the side. I continued to make loops around the Abomasnow, though at this point it was attempting to break free of paralysis. Noticing this, Sven stepped forward with Vulpix and I let him take over.
"Vulpix, slow down that Abomasnow with Fire Spin!" Sven said as Vulpix unleashed a large spiral of fire around the Abomasnow, making the Pokémon grow tired as it no longer attacked as much.
Sven made loops around the Abomasnow and I watched as the Pokémon's friendship meter continued filling up, reaching around sixty percent. However, I cautiously looked at the grunt, who appeared extremely focused on what he was doing on his Miniremo. In a swift motion, the Abomasnow waved its massive arms in a sideways sweeping motion, dispelling the fire surprisingly quickly despite the weakness it had.
"Heh, how do you Rangers like that? This Pokémon isn't going down with a fight, especially with me around!" The grunt said.
"We're not losing to you! Buneary, use Hi Jump Kick!" Luana said as Buneary sprang up and struck Abomasnow directly, knocking it back a few feet.
"Gah! You guys are good…now I know not to hold back!" The grunt said as Abomasnow recovered its footing.
"Buneary, we need your Poké Assist!" Luana said as Buneary's Poké Assist activated.
I then had Pachirisu paralyze the Abomasnow again, right as it began charging up an Ice Beam. Now with Buneary's Poké Assist in effect, I helped Sven out as I made loops around the Abomasnow, doing my best to take full advantage of how easily the Pokémon's friendship meter continued to increase. Just like before, the Abomasnow was beginning to break free of paralysis, so I continued having Pachirisu stun it while making quick loops around it. However, Pachirisu got tired and had to rest, so he went off to the side so he could recover quickly.
"Vulpix, follow up with a Flamethrower!" Wendy said as Vulpix unleashed a powerful stream of fire on the Abomasnow, which managed to lower its speed once more.
"Kellyn, I'll help you out!" Luana said as she took over from me.
"Phew, thanks Luana!" I said.
Luana made loops around the Abomasnow while I went to check on Pachirisu, who had Eevee as company. I heard footsteps behind me as I was crouched down by Pachirisu and saw that it was Wendy and Jim.
"Hi Kellyn, how's Pachirisu doing?" Jim asked.
"He's doing okay, he's just tuckered out. He'll be fully energized maybe fifteen minutes from now." I said.
"Oh good! We were all worried that Pachirisu used up too much of his electricity. You know that Electric types can easily wear themselves out." Wendy said as I saw the Abomasnow paralyzed.
"Oh yeah, I know. I'll leave him here to relax, let's go help Luana and Sven out!" I said as we quickly headed back over.
"H-hey, that isn't fair, it's hard to concentrate when there's so many of you around! Abomasnow, take those Rangers out!" The grunt said as Abomasnow fired an Ice Beam at us.
The Ice Beam travelled fast towards us, though it was mainly headed at Luana. Since I was only a few feet from Luana, I quickly closed the distance and tackled her to the ground as the Ice Beam passed over everyone.
"Luana, are you hurt?" I asked as I brought Luana to her feet.
"No, I'm okay thanks to you saving me." Luana said as the grunt began to fume.
"Sven, you know what to do!" Jim said as Sven had Vulpix use Flamethrower on the Abomasnow, making it become sluggish.
I rushed in to help Sven out as I made loops around the Abomasnow, trying to do my best and fill its friendship meter up. However, just like before, the Abomasnow moved its arms around, managing to dissipate the flames after only a few seconds. Wanting to finish with this capture so none of us got harmed, I went ahead and hesitated my Capture Disc for a few seconds, which was just long enough for Luana to charge the Capture Line to its second stage. The Abomasnow then attacked Sven and Jim with Razor Leaf, which they both avoided by taking cover behind some cabinets in the nick of time. I quickly looked over at the Partner Pokémon, seeing that Pachirisu was still recovering and Vulpix now getting tired made me worried, though I knew that Buneary and Raichu still had energy, I didn't want them to use their Poké Assists and get tired as well in the event that we have to fight another grunt or admin.
"Now how else can I slow this Abomasnow down…there has to be some way I can make this easier for everyone." I thought to myself as I made loops around the Pokémon, fully in focus.
As I was making loops around the Abomasnow, I noticed the grunt wasn't where he was beforehand. I looked around to see where he could be before focusing back on the Abomasnow, thinking the grunt got annoyed and just fled. In a split second, I felt myself punched in the face by the grunt, stopping me from my attempted capture on the Abomasnow. The grunt took out a knife and tried slashing me with it, though I was able to block his swift hand movement and disarm him. I was prepared to punch the grunt in retaliation, though Luana and Jim tackled him to the ground. After a few more loops were made, the Abomasnow was captured and the Miniremo malfunctioned soon afterwards as the Pokémon walked back into the large freezer.
"Gah! Can't you Rangers let me go?" The grunt asked.
"No, you're staying here after that little assault." Luana said.
"Seriously? C'mon lady, that was just a sucker punch!" The grunt said.
Jim and Luana got the grunt up to his feet and placed him down on the nearby chair.
"You almost had that Abomasnow kill us, we're definitely not going to untie you." Jim said.
"Hmph, fine, be that way." The grunt said as the Abomasnow came back out from the freezer.
"Uh oh…what does Abomasnow want? Is it going to attack us?" Sven asked.
Despite what Sven initially though, the Abomasnow instead used some leaves and conjured up some vines to wrap around the grunt's body, trapping him in place as the Pokémon then walked back inside the freezer.
"Well uh…I guess there's your answer. So will you guys reconsider freeing me now?" The grunt asked.
"Certainly not, let's go guys." I said as we exited the room and headed back to the elevator.
"Man, these floors are grueling…we're only on the eighteenth floor as well. How many floors does this place have again?" Wendy asked.
"It has sixty floors, let's try heading as close to the rooftop as we can. I didn't really check what floor the elevator went up to." Luana said as Sven's Styler began to ring.