Chapter 6

"You've had your fun. It's time to turn back!"

Diantha wasn't sure why Martin had chosen her specifically to air his complaints to. Perhaps he thought Cynthia and Steven wouldn't entertain any more of his nonsense, which was fair given how little attention either of them had paid him so far. Maybe Diantha had brought this on himself by engaging with him in the first place. Unfortunately, she'd been raised to be polite and accommodating. As much as she wanted to tell Martin to shove his objections where the sun didn't shine, she knew she wouldn't. Even in the depths of the wilderness she still had a persona to maintain.

"Where are we even going?"

Now that was a good question. Neither of her companions had thought to share their destination with her, and she hadn't asked. As far as she could tell, they were trekking through the jungle towards the mountain she'd seen in the distance earlier in the day. Clearly they knew where they were going, so for now she was content to follow. Not as content as she'd be if Martin wasn't beside her though. She tried to focus her attention on the strange plants around her instead. Everything looked so familiar and yet alien at the same time. In any other circumstance she'd have loved to have explored this entire island with her Pokemon. Hawlucha would have loved jumping around a new set of trees.

Behind her, she heard a sudden rush of footsteps. She rolled her eyes; Martin had fallen behind again. He panted for breath and rested a hand on her bare shoulder, as if hoping maybe she'd pull him along. She stepped away and his hand fell. They'd only been walking for a couple of hours; it really didn't warrant these theatrics.

Then suddenly Cynthia was stood between them while Steven led the way.

"So," she said to Diantha, "I can't imagine you get to do things like this very often? The life of a Champion can be busy, busy, busy even without a day job."

"'Get to' implies that this is something I'd want to do often," Diantha pointed out. They both ignored Martin's huff of protest.

"You've got me there," said Cynthia said with a shrug. "The specifics of this whole trip aren't exactly the norm for me either." She reached up and pulled back some low hanging vines the shone with moisture so Diantha and Martin could pass. Diantha then saw her wiping her hand on her coat and she felt an instinctive thrill of indignation on it's behalf. Sometimes she forgot that not everybody cherished their wardrobe as much as she did.

"What is the norm for you?" said Diantha. "Spelunking with Steven?"

Cynthia let out a short laugh. "That wouldn't be my first choice either. I like history and mythology. If my quest for knowledge leads me into some caves, so be it. If Steven happens to be in there too then great, but I don't usually stick around for the whole trip. There's only so long I can wait for the man to examine every piece of gravel we happen past."

"If you think I can't hear you," Steven called over his shoulder, "you're wrong. And what I have to say about that is, 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me'."

"See what I mean? He can't even throw inane proverbs at me without rocks somehow entering the conversation."

"I'll be throwing something a lot harder than proverbs at you if you keep this up," said Steven, casting another dark look back at them.

Diantha allowed herself a smile. Steven and Cynthia had, admittedly, annoyed her at the beginning of the day with their in-jokes and references she didn't understand. Somehow over the last few hours it had become something of a comfort to see them act so normally, despite the bizarre situation they were in. At the very least it helped to distract her from the prickle of fear she felt every time a nearby bush rustled too aggressively. Without her own Pokemon on hand she was starting to feel increasingly nervous of their surroundings. They really were defenceless out here and the last thing they needed now was to be taken by surprise by a hoard of thirty to fifty feral Mamoswine.

"So your interest in mythology inspired your search for Dialga and Palkia," said Diantha, steering the conversation back to where she wanted it.

"I focused my research on them for a long time," she said, "but the reality of them was…so much more than I ever could have imagined."

"You were scared?" asked Diantha.

"Terrified," said Cynthia, more honestly than Diantha would have expected. She brushed some blonde hair away from her sweaty face, her expression serious. "All that power in one place? With Pokemon like that lurking around the world, we're all lucky they allow us to live."

"Well that's…a sobering thought."

Cynthia offered her a wry smile. "The experience…changed my perspective on things. I get a little intense about it sometimes."

"How big were they?" It was something she'd often wondered about, because etchings scratched into cave walls never really gave a full picture of how big legendary Pokemon were. For all she knew, Xerneas might be the size of a Jolteon.

"Big enough to make most other problems seem inconsequential by comparison."

That wasn't really the answer she'd been looking for, and yet somehow created a clearer picture in her mind. She licked her drying lips and nodded her head.

"Guys," said Steven. Diantha forced herself to push away her thoughts of giant, dangerous Pokemon and returned her attention to where they were. She'd stopped bothering after the trees had become so dense that the canopy had blocked out the sun almost entirely. Or what remained of the sun anyway. The drifting clouds had become darker as time went on and already lunch seemed like it had been a very long time ago. "I think we're here."

"Where is here?" Martin demanded. He stalked past Diantha, who had almost forgotten he was there, and over to Steven. The bottom of his beige trousers had become black with grime and green grass-stains streaked his clothes. She wasn't sure how it had happened because so far her entirely white outfit wasn't looking any worse for wear.

Diantha and Cynthia picked up the pace, shoes pressing uncomfortably into the crumbly, wet ground underfoot. She hoped where ever they were going was away from this particular part of the forest. The oppressive heat and complete lack of air making it through the dense foliage was starting to make her feel uncomfortably stifled.

"Okay, so 'here' might be a bit overstating it," said Steven, when they drew level with him. Sweat beaded on his forehead, but rather than tired, the man seemed exhilarated. "I think if we walk left and follow the mountain around, we'll get there."

They crossed the break in the tree line and Diantha paused to look around. A relatively thin strip of dry soil with a smattering of thick, yellowing grass surrounded the base of the mountain, and if she looked either side of her she could see where the trees leading back into the jungle had thinned out. A gentle breeze tickled her face and she breathed in deeply. At least the smell of decaying plant life and mud was beginning to fade.

Without further discussion, Steven took the lead again the they walked beside the mountain. Martin, to Diantha's relief, seemed so in awe by it's size that, for the time being at least, his mouth had stopped moving. It was understandable; the rocky cliff faces did look particularly threatening from this angle and though they were small, she definitely didn't want to take a hit to the face from any of the rocks that shifted down towards them.

Somewhere in the not-too-far distance, she heard a shrieking cry. Her head swivelled towards the sound, but she saw nothing. Just a Pokemon living on the mountain top, probably. Still, she edged a little closer to her travelling companions. There were safety in numbers, she reasoned.

As it turned out, Steven and Cynthia had done their research well (and suddenly she realised why they'd been staring at the map of the island so intently before lunch), because after no more than five minutes of walking they reached their destination. It was an abrupt discovery really, one moment they were looking at solid mountain and then the next there was a cavernous hole where rock had once been. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Steven do a little skip of joy.

"I really don't think we should be going in here," said Martin. For once, Diantha almost agreed with him. A cold breeze coming from deep within the mountain washed over her and she shivered.

"You're welcome to stay out here," said Cynthia. She pulled a small torch from an inside coat pocket and clicked it on. A narrow, but bright light swept across the interior of the cave, which went much too far back for any of them to see through the gloom. Diantha followed the light as Cynthia brushed it along the walls and then down to the floor. She inhaled sharply and Diantha felt herself take a reflexive step backwards.

"Well that's…lovely and normal," said Steven. His entire face contorted into a grimace even though his eyes still shone with interest.

Scattered across the ground were piles of broken bones and shattered fossils.


The whole place was a real shit-hole. Based on the ton of supplies he'd seen being shipped to this terrible island, Todd assumed they were heading somewhere that would be full of expensive stuff for him to steal to take back to the boss. Maybe even a few mansions owned by rich recluses or wealthy holiday home owners - they always had a load of cash just lying around. What he hadn't been expecting was a desolate wasteland of trees and little tin shacks full of random machines that didn't even look like they were doing anything. It was hardly better than the cardboard box he had once used as a makeshift shelter from the rain. What was the point in pumping a load of cash into those huge fences if they weren't even protecting anything of value? He kicked the door frame in frustration, and then immediately regretted it when pain shot up his leg.

"Did that help?" asked Kelly. She had been maddeningly calm about the whole damn thing and it was getting on his last nerve.

"Yes," he lied.

With every failed attempt at finding something valuable, he felt his heart beat a little quicker and his stomach churn. He couldn't let this have been a waste of time. He just couldn't. Not after making such a big deal about it back in Po Town and not after dragging Kelly along for the ride. He swallowed against his dry throat and wiped his sweaty palms on his shorts. Thankfully, Kelly was already a few feet ahead of him and moving towards the next makeshift building and didn't see him falter. He took a deep breath and quickened his pace to catch up to her.

They'd left the biggest shack until last. This one, he thought, could almost be considered a real building. The corrugated metal panels reached high enough that it could have been a two-storey structure and unlike the other huts, this one had no windows. The air around them had cooled down since the clouds had rolled over the sun, but Todd dreaded to think how hot it was going to be there.

They walked around the building until they came to a door. Kelly raised an eyebrow.

"This one has it's own lock," she said, already reaching into her pocket to pull out small roll of tools she had used to get them past the first fence. Todd felt a flicker of excitement. Surely if there was anything worth stealing, it would be in here. In his experience, people didn't lock doors for no reason.

It took less than a minute for Kelly to remove the padlock from the door handle, but to Todd it felt like a lifetime. He tapped his fingers against the warm metal walls and then jumped when the chains holding the door in place fell to the ground. Finally.

Kelly too a step to the side and allowed him to enter the shack first. Whether it was because she honestly didn't care what was in there or if it was because she didn't want to be stampeded by Todd again, he wasn't sure. Still, he brushed past her and kicked open the door. It swung back and then bounced against the wall with an almighty clang that reverberated through his skull.

Sunlight from behind them poured into the building, but not enough to actually see what was in there. Squinting, he could make out rows of small, faint lights against what he assumed was the back wall. Todd took a few steps forward and then pressed his hands against the inside of the structure, looking for a light switch.

"Found it," said Kelly. There was a click and a dull, white light lit the room. Todd looked up at the strip lights, watching them flicker a few times before becoming brighter. A droning buzz filled the air. "Well this is a bit creepy."

Todd dragged his eyes away from the lights, which he had become vaguely mesmerised by, and looked around. Several tall machines lined the walls, each one grey and black, but all looking entirely different. Thick, dark cables had been left strewn across the floor, some connecting the scattered machines, some seemingly untethered to anything at all and some leading to holes in the ground where the ends had been buried. There were things in the room Todd recognised, but others he couldn't even begin to identify. He shivered in the still, cool air. As it turned out his temperature prediction had been wildly off the mark.

"Some of these are generators," he said, pointing out a couple of them to his companion. He knew there were some bits and pieces from those things that were worth quite a bit of cash. Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing exactly which bits and pieces would be worth carry back home with them.

"Just for these electric fences? Seems a bit much," said Kelly. Despite them being completely alone, she kept her voice low.

Todd stepped over the wires towards the machine closest to the middle of the room. Green lights ran down the right side and beside each one was a label. He stared at it for a moment, his brain slowly taking in the shape of the words there; reading had never been his strong suit.

"RPD-Paddock. TRT-Paddock. Visitor's Centre," he said slowly. Then he frowned. "Visitor's Centre? I haven't seen no 'visitor's centre'."

"There's a lot of the island we haven't seen yet," Kelly suggested, coming to stand beside him.

It was tempting to flick some of the switches and push some of the buttons on the device just to see if anything happened. Or maybe as a punishment to whoever set up this stupid room without leaving him anything at all behind that his boss might appreciate. A repetitive mantra of no no no no no battered his brain, getting louder with every utterance. They'd come so far.

Todd slammed his hand against the machine. "Shit. We can't steal any of this! What are we supposed to do?" A gentle hand came to rest on his shoulder and he shrugged it off. Angry tears prickled at his eyes and he mashed his palm up against the cold, hard metal again. Pain reverberated up his arm.

"Hey now," said Kelly. "Calm down. We might not have found anything that we can carry home yet, but we've found loads of information you can take back to Guzma. This stuff might not mean anything to us, but it might mean something to him."

Blinking back his tears, Todd stood up a little straighter. That might be true, he supposed. Just because he was too stupid to get it, didn't mean the boss was. Still, he really really wanted to take something home. Something tangible so everyone would be able to see what a good job he'd done. That he was worthy of a spot in their ranks. Information was good too, he supposed. And maybe he could steal something from the ship home? He bowed his head and wiped his eyes on the back of his hand.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "Okay."

He could hear the relief in her voice when she said, "Okay then. Let's head back to the dock and-" She stopped abruptly. "Huh."

"'Huh' what?" he said. Kelly put her hand on his head and turned him around. "Oh."

The Pokemon they'd seen earlier stood in the door frame, backlit by the dulling sunlight from outside. It tilted it's large metal head to one side, like it was sizing them up.

"Hey, little buddy," said Kelly, apprehensively. "You okay there?" The Pokemon tilted it's head back the other way. Todd found himself moving a bit closer to his friend. Something about the way the thing was looking at him was creeping him out.

The Pokemon took a few steps into the room, it's feet catching on the cables on the floor as it went. It didn't stumble, like Todd was expecting, and instead just pulled the mess along with It. It looked around, something that sounded like a high-pitched, metallic growl coming from it's mouth. Todd's feet were rooted to the floor. This was fine. They'd just wait for it to move out of the way and then walk past it. No big deal.

It moved over to the machine on the far right of the room and brushed it's head against it once, and then again much harder. Sparks flew and the screech of metal against metal made Todd flinch. The machine buckled under the pressure and curved inward. He made a mental note not to let that thing rub it's head anywhere near him.

"We need to get out of here," said Kelly.

"Yeah."

Kelly reached out so she was gripping the side of his tank top and together they side-stepped away from the creature. The second they did, the Pokemon's head shot up and it looked at them.

"Uh oh," said Kelly. "It doesn't look happy."

They side-stepped again and the Pokemon dropped what it was doing entirely and bounded back over to the door, it's little yellow legs landing with small, but heavy thuds. There was no way they could get past without touching it now.

"I thought you said it was cute," said Todd. "Just…move it. With your foot or something."

"I'm not kicking a random Pokemon, idiot! Especially not one made of metal!"

"Battle it then," he said, trying to take another step away, but finding that his back was already to the machine . "It looks like it's probably a steel type."

Kelly looked at him then and reached for the Pokeball in her pocket. "You know, that's the smartest thing you've said all day."

He huffed. "You don't have to sound so surprised about it."

"Litten!" Kelly threw the ball in her hand. "Use Ember!"

The small, red cat Pokemon appeared in a flash of light. It crouched forward on it's front legs and hissed at the other Pokemon before unleashing a small blast of fire. The Pokemon didn't move, like Todd expected it to. It bowed it's head and allowed the flames to burst against the top of it's face. Then it raised it's head again, it's eyes seeming to narrow in anger.

"Shit," said Todd. His heart began to pound.

The Pokemon charged forward with an almighty cry that seemed louder than it's body should have allowed. Litten tried to move, it really did, but the Pokemon barrelled into it and sent it careening off to the side. Kelly yelled to it, but it lay on the floor, unresponsive.

That really should have been the end of it, but the Pokemon kept charging. Shit. Todd shoved Kelly to the side and threw himself the opposite way. The Pokemon crashed into the machine they'd been leaning against with a shower of electrical sparks. Todd covered his head with his arms and felt little pricks of heat against them. He peeked between them just in time to see the Pokemon whirl around and had to scramble to his feet as it began to charge again. Out of the corner of his eye Todd saw Kelly recall Litten to it's Pokeball.

"It's lost it's mind!" he called, diving again to the side to avoid the tiny, but powerful Pokemon from crashing into his shins. There was another colossal bang as it ran face first into another machine. It reeled back for a moment, temporarily stunned. "We need to get the hell out of here!"

They both made a mad dash for the door. Todd's foot caught on one of the cables, and only Kelly's steady hand on his arm kept him from falling.

"Back into the jungle," said Kelly, already breathless - maybe from exertion or maybe from fear.

Then they were outside, running towards the door Kelly had unlocked earlier to get them into the compound. Todd's legs were longer so he managed to stay just ahead of Kelly, though he could hear her heavy panting behind him. He couldn't hear the Pokemon following them and didn't dare risk turning around to look just in case he tripped again. Instead, he focused his attention on his feet and moved as fast as he possible could. God he hated this island so much. It definitely had not been worth the trip.

A close, airless heat beat down on him, but through his fear he could barely feel it. He could see the trees now and as far as he was concerned that was his sanctuary. At least they could hide in there from this insane Pokemon…and hopefully not bump into any others. He gulped in as much breath as he could and pushed his burning legs to move faster. He thought he could hear a brief shout behind him, but now wasn't the time to be stopping. Not when there was a crazy Pokemon out for his blood.

He couldn't be sure how long he ran for, but he could feel himself starting to slow down, his legs becoming heavy and his breath becoming less easy. He slowed to a stop and put his arm around the nearest tree and closed his eyes.

"I think we lost it," he said, no longer being able to hear the patter of the four-legged beast behind him. He gasped for breath and dug his fingers into the tree bark.

There was no response. Todd frowned. "Kelly?"

Still no answer.

A cold, harsh fear clutched at his heart. No.

"Kelly?" he tried one more time, ignoring the way his voice cracked.

He opened his eyes and looked around.

He was completely alone.