Chapter 33:

"This place is huge," Bianca whispered as she and Black took in the expansive room filled with various types of machinery. Large metal cylinders lined the perimeter and occasionally spouted bursts of white vapor while a convoluted mass of pipes webbed across the walls all connecting to an engine consisting of rapidly pumping pistons located at the center of the room. Dozens of Plasma members in blue safety suits and helmets were inspecting the various machinery along with several guards in standard uniform carefully surveying the room. Bianca and Black silently wove past them and came closer to the body of the machine to inspect the engine more closely.

Black shuddered slightly as he noticed that several of the gears being used to power the engine were in fact Klang all forced to compliantly serve as pieces to the machine. "Sick bastards," Black muttered. "To think that these guys used to say they defended Pokemon."

Bianca glanced nervously at a couple of guards eyeing them suspiciously and pulled Black away from the engine to continue circling the room. "What should we do?" Bianca said in a hushed voice. "There are guards literally everywhere. How can we do anything to the engine with them around?"

Black glanced back at the engine and whispered, "I'm not sure… I'll admit I was planning on using our Pokemon to… I don't know… blow up the engine."

"Are you serious?!" Bianca fought to keep her voice low so that the guards couldn't hear her shrill voice. "Black, we're in the engine room and we don't know where any of the escape roots are. We'll just blow ourselves up if we did that. Besides, what if the guards can stop our Pokemon with their Plasma device thing."

Black noticed that two Plasma guards were behind them and quickly gaining on them. "Well, whatever we're going to do, we need to do it quickly. The guards know something's up and if they catch us, it's game over. Any ideas on how we attack the engines?"

Bianca's eyes flitted around the room taking in the various municipal corridors and the large metallic tubes when she noticed one side of the walls had clear glass revealing a room full of Plasma engineers working at long desks with a variety of buttons splayed across them. "Look over there," Bianca whispered subtly nodding her head towards the room. "In ships and airplanes they have navigators and pilots that control the direction and altitude of their planes… if we take out those guys, then Team Plasma would be flying blind and-"

"-hopefully crash into the side of a mountain," Black finished. "It'll give us enough time to get out of here and still take down the Plasma frigate." Black worriedly noticed that the guards had drawn even closer, "Okay, but we have to move fast… and we'll probably have to use our Pokemon anyway."

They quickened their paces and had almost reached the control room when one of the guards said, "Hey, you two. Only authorized personnel can be down here. We need to check your identification."

Black heard the guards pick up their pace causing him to grab Bianca's hand and together they sprinted the short distance between across the engine room and swung the door open after sloppily scanning Black's ID card to open it. Black and Bianca shoved their backs against the door as it slammed shut and braced themselves against it to stop the guards entering as they reached the door and attempted to open it.

This commotion unfortunately caused all the Plasma navigators within the control room to look up from their desks and stare at Black and Bianca before some began nervously radioing in that the intruders were inside the control room while others got up and moved to attack. Black immediately released his Machamp and yelled, "Max, hold this door shut and everyone else, unless you want to get pummeled by Pokemon, I suggest you all shut up and line up on the other side of the room."

The Plasma members hesitated, but when they saw how easily Max could hold the door shut despite the Plasma guards and their Pokemon ramming against the metal frame, they all quietly walked over to the side of the room. One called jeeringly, "This stupid plan of yours will never work! You'll be dead before you can do anything to this frigate."

"Oh really?" Black hissed as he walked over to the long table where various buttons of shapes and sizes stood along with green tinted radar monitors displaying images of surrounding objects. He pressed one of the random buttons, "Even if I do this… or this," he pressed another button and began smashing a bunch of random buttons.

"What the Distortion World are you doing!?" one of the Plasma navigators cried out. "Are you trying to get us all killed?"

A loud creaking and groaning sounded all along the pipes that ran along the ceiling and Black continued, "Yep. That's kind of what I'm doing. It's too bad this frigate doesn't come with a big red self-destruct button. That would make my life easier."

One of the navigators moved forward to try and stop Black, but Bianca quickly sent out Moon and said, "T-Take another step and my Musharna will use hypnosis on you!" She wished her voice didn't sound so squeaky, but given the circumstances, it was the best she could do. The Plasma member backed up against the wall once more while others continued to stare at Black's button smashing with complete dismay.

"I've got another idea," Black said as he moved down a random lever which made all the navigators gasp in horror especially when the frigate began vibrating violently. "Why don't all of you help land this Arceus forsaken ship and radio the League instead. We could cut you all a deal, and well…" Black then smashed a few more buttons which caused the frigate to lurch to the side, "it beats dying. So, what do you say?"

"And go up against Lord Ghetsis?" one of the Plasma members said in disbelief. "We're dead no matter what we do!"

Bianca nervously watched Black continue banging on the control panel when she noticed Moon began to shiver slightly and Max press one of his hands against his head in confusion and pain. "Black… I-I think t-the Pokemon are acting up. I-" her body stiffened when she glanced over at Black and saw one of the Triad members with his long, mangy white hair and dagger poised in position right over Black's heart while Black himself was completely unaware of the danger. Bianca gave a garbled scream as the Triad moved to plunge the dagger into Black. Without realizing what she was doing, Bianca lunged towards the Triad and roughly shoved him away from Black, but she wasn't in time to stop the Triad from sinking his blade into Black's back and slashing him all down his spine as the Triad fell from Bianca's impact.

Black screamed in pain as he collapsed to the floor and Bianca was backhanded by Max who had left the door allowing the Plasma guards to rush inside. The impact of the hit caused Bianca to fly across the room and roughly smash against the far wall where she painfully landed in a pile of tools which tore her uniform and sliced her skin. Bianca groggily looked across the room to see Black's Machamp and Moon standing or floating motionlessly as the Triad reappeared beside Black and bent down to finish the job.

In a rush of adrenaline, Bianca scrambled to her feet while grabbing the heaviest object next to her and rushing forward before squarely smashing a flashing monitor proceeded by another control panel. She continued madly smashing while the Plasma members screamed at her to stop. One navigator rushed at her to stop her from destroying another monitor when the entire frigate lurched dangerously forward sending everyone—including Pokemon—toppling to the ground only this time the frigate did not regain its balance.

Gravity pushed Bianca against one of the navigation desks as the Plasma navigators all returned to their positions with difficulty as they all began desperately trying to remedy the damage. "It's no good," one of the navigator's said, "She's short-circuited the navigation system as well as the engines. The frigate is going to crash into the Giant Chasm, and we can't fix the controls in time before we make impact. We'll have to abandon ship."

Bianca hardly noticed the mass exodus of Plasma members or the blaring alarm sounding overhead. She didn't even notice the panicked look of the Shadow Triad as he muttered 'Master' and teleported away. All she could see was Black lying still with a trail of red blood slicked across the metallic floor from where his body had moved after the frigate lost control. "Black!" Bianca screamed while tears blurred her vision. She shakily moved toward him while trying to ignore the plummeting sensation in her gut as the frigate rapidly lost altitude. "Black!" Bianca repeated when she didn't get a response. "Hilbert!" she finally sobbed as she knelt next to Black and shook him. She anxiously slid her hand against his neck and relief flooded through her as she felt a faint, erratically beating pulse.

Bianca cradled Black against her as the frigate continued its descent. She swallowed her tears as she grew warm from Black's blood seeping against her uniform and she tenderly hugged him tightly. If she was going to die, this would be the way to go.

She closed her eyes and pressed her head against Black's forehead when she heard a, "Pika pika!" Bianca's eyes flew open and she saw a bright yellow Pikachu looking at her worriedly.

"Oh thank Arceus you're alright," a voice called from the open door. Bianca looked up and saw a young man with spikey black hair, a trainer's cap, and blue jacket pulling against one of the navigation desks for support. Next to him was a Gallade that Bianca recognized as Eichi from earlier… that evening… was that really when all this insanity started? The young man agilely moved towards her and Black while saying, "When Riley sensed you in the engine room, I didn't know if I could make it before you… well… before the Shadow Triad got to you." He glanced around the control room and continued, "But I must say that I'm impressed that you took down the engines."

Bianca wordlessly shook her head while tears streamed down her cheek. She wanted to scream at the young man that it wasn't alright. Black was hurt. Arceus knows what was happening with Ivory and Cheren. She wanted to break down sobbing—do anything, but she couldn't say a word.

Eichi seemed to sense this and said reassuringly, "Your friend is not dead. There is still time to save him."

Before Bianca could ask for clarification, the young man gingerly rolled Black to his side and pressed his hand against his back which then began to glow lightly. Black coughed and convulsed slightly as the young man finished healing him. He slowly opened his eyes and stared momentarily at the man in front of him before whispering, "Y-You're Yellow." He smiled weakly and glanced up at Bianca before whispering, "Thanks. Thanks for saving me and," he coughed slightly before continuing, "thanks for being a total badass and bringing the frigate down. That was awesome."

Bianca sobbed and laughed at the same time in relief, "I thought I'd lost you Black. I'm so happy that-"

"I don't mean to be rude by cutting this touching moment short," Yellow said after he returned Moon and Max back to their pokeballs and given them back to their respective trainers, "but we're still on a crashing frigate and we need to get out of here as soon as possible. Eichi, if you will."

The Gallade immediately stepped towards the four figures and in a flash, Bianca found herself outside with the fresh smell of pine trees and freshly fallen snow. She noticed that the first signs of day were flitting across the gray clouds in streaks of pink and orange and that they were in a glade of some sorts with sloping hills blanketed in evergreens frosted with snow that led up to the more jagged mountains. Overhead was the Plasma frigate descending ever faster towards the valley with dozens of flying type Pokemon furiously flying away as fast as they could.

"We did it," Black said in relief before he turned to Yellow and anxiously asked, "What about Ivory and Cheren and N? Are they okay? Did they get off?"

Yellow stared solemnly at the falling frigate and said, "Riley will try everything in his power to get them off, but… something feels wrong. I can't explain it aside from a feeling of… imbalance." Yellow shook his head and turned to Bianca and Black, "I have to go to his Majesty to help him finish off whatever remains of Team Plasma. You two have done wonderfully. I'll have Eichi return you home."

"Not without my sister and Cheren," Black said forcefully. "There's no way in the Distortion World you're going to send me home without them with me."

Despite the terror coursing through her veins, Bianca also said shakily, "Th-that goes for me too. I have to know they're okay."

Yellow studied them for a minute before nodding and saying, "Alright. Stay close to me, Eichi, and Storm. I have a feeling this is about to get even more messy."

I braced myself against the side of the cell as the ship plummeted downward and couldn't help but smile. They'd done it. Bianca and Black had come through unlike me and Cheren, but I couldn't help but worry… had the Triad killed them anyway? I shook my head. It didn't matter. The frigate was about to crash, and I sincerely doubted I'd make it out of this cell alive. Certainly there was no safety gear in a cell in case of emergencies like this one.

"They did it, Cheren," I called to the other cell while ignoring the obvious lack of response. "Things are going to be better now… everything's going to be okay. After this… after this we'll all head back to Nuvema Town and have a big celebration for neo Team Plasma's literal downfall. What will you do there, Cheren? I know, you'll tell us all how brilliant you were on your undercover missions. You'll tell us stories of you and Black. You'll say that he was a good friend… unlike me… and I'll… I'll… I'll tell you I'm sorry for not being a better friend, Cheren. I'll tell you I'm sorry for not keeping better contact. I'm… I'm sorry Cheren. I wish I had been a better friend… this is all my fault… I'm sorry. If… if… oh Arceus."

I listened to the blare of alarms overhead and wiped my tears as I stared at the blank white wall in front of me. At least this would be over soon. I continued speaking to Cheren, "At least I'll see you again… at least I can tell you I'm sorry. Maybe… maybe then you and I can watch over Black, Bianca, and… and N. I… I hope they all live to be old and have kids. They'll tell them about us you know Cheren. That way they'll never forget us." I started sobbing at this point, "Black will be a Pokemon Master and Bianca will be a Professor and finally tell Black how she feels about him. N… N… N will be with his family. He'll be so happy. He'll get all the happiness he never got before. And he'll know that I love him, and that I would have done anything for him."

I buried my head into my knees and imagined that I was being hugged… hugged by my parents and brother, hugged by Bianca, hugged by Cheren… hugged by N. I imagined them all with me because I didn't want to die alone. "I'm sorry," I whispered, "I love you all. Thank you for being my friends and family. Thank you for loving me."

"Ivory," I heard someone call to me. I looked up and saw the familiar old-fashioned attire, black hair, and blue eyes of Riley. He had his hand splayed against the glass and his feet spread wide apart in order to stand due to the frigates tilted angle. Beside him was Luke, but Luke was staring at the other cell where there were streaks of red like someone had mopped the floor with red paint. Riley's gaze was focused on mine as he said, "We have to get you out of here."

"How did you…?" I rasped, but I didn't have the strength to finish.

"I was following N's aura when I came to yours… it seems that I just missed him when the frigate started malfunctioning and dropping altitude," Riley explained. He glanced upwards and said, "N's aura is… masked with another stronger one. It's harder to follow, but I doubt Ghetsis will let him come in harm's way from the crash. I'll find him after the frigate is back on the ground. In the meantime, let's get you out of here."

"Cheren…"

Riley pursed his lips, "My sincerest condolences, Ivory. I pray that Mesprit, Azelf, and Uxie can guide his soul to the Hall of Origin… and I pray that you will forgive me when I say that we will have to wait for a proper burial until after Team Plasma's been dealt with."

I knew it made logical sense, but it still hurt since I knew what Riley was really saying was that we'd have to leave Cheren's body on the frigate while we escaped. I knew it made sense, but I… I didn't want him to be alone. Not here of all places. He needed to be with his family. "Cheren…"

Luke generated a blue field of energy around me while Riley smashed the glass of my cell with a blue sphere of energy. I was numbly aware that Riley scooped me up in his arm and ran through the metallic halls where Plasma grunts swarmed the halls in mass panic. We followed the crowd to the top of the frigate where the Plasma members were releasing their flying type Pokemon and scrambling onto them to flee the falling frigate. All of it seemed a blur.

"I need you to stay focused Ivory," Riley said calmly as he ran to the side of the frigate. "There will be a time to mourn, but for now, I need you to fight and to stay strong. The worst is yet to come."

It was at this point that I noticed that we were nearing the tree line of an enormous valley that looked like a crater of some sort. Riley was standing on the rim of the frigate and staring intently down at the fast-approaching snowy ground. I didn't know how I could be strong. Nightstar wasn't with me, Bianca wasn't there for me to defend, N was missing again. How… how… I fought back tears and thought about Cheren. I could be brave for him. I wouldn't let him die in vain. I'd find N again and somehow get through to Nightstar again. I'd see Mom and Dad again. I had to believe that. I had to be strong for them.

When Riley saw that I'd calmed down, he set me down next to him and I asked, "How are we going to get out of here?"

Riley smiled slightly, "The same way I did last time." With that, Riley grabbed my hand and all three of us leapt from the crashing frigate and the wind ripped through my hair as we fell towards the icy ground.

A/N: I'm so sorry for the late update! It's all been action scenes and I get so flustered when writing it. Like, how much action before it becomes over the top? So many obvious plot holes and deus ex machinas! Anyway, I wanted to have more scenes with Riley and Yellow to show that they were on their way and they didn't show up randomly, but… well… it just didn't flow well.

For those wondering in last chapter why I didn't have Ghetsis fuse Kyurem in the cave like the games, 1- I'm obviously not following the plot of the games… so yeah 2- I really do love that scene, but since Bianca and Black were meant to crash the frigate, I didn't see Ghetsis having time to fuse Kyurem outside of being on the frigate.