Chapter 9: The Whirl Islands
Ethan let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding once Specter had confirmed that they were alone in the tunnel once more. Scrambling to get out, Ethan climbed back up to the cavern, releasing his Pokemon once more. He frowned as a sudden stroke of genius came to mind, one that could save him.
"Riolu, roll a rock over the entrance. One that can be removed." He instructed, willing himself to be calm, telling himself he could panic when he had gotten the hole covered.
He watched as the little cub sprinted over to the hole, then to one of the loose boulders in the room, getting behind it. Riolu lowered its body and heaved up under the rock with its palm and the side of its body, and lo and behold, it toppled the rock over and shifted it over to the hole, where it was dragged over to cover the top.
Ethan exhaled, releasing all of his remaining Pokemon and sat back against the wall, staring at the blank face of rock opposite him. This was the second time he had encountered Team Rocket's upper management.
Petrel. The man seemed like a joker with the lax air he put out, but he was anything from it. The slight hunch in his back was something Ethan figured was a product of disguising himself so often. Petrel was so high up in Team Rocket because he was a master of disguise and deception without an honest bone in his body.
The larger reality hit Ethan. Team Rocket was exploring the Islands between Cianwood and Olivine. Were they causing the overly large whirlpools outside the islands somehow? They were in a position of power, capable of stopping all trade from the south straits to the biggest port, and one of only two in Johto. This could literally spell disaster for the economy. Cianwood would perish without the trade from the mainland, and the region would be susceptible without Cianwood, their biggest producer of pharmaceuticals.
His Pokemon stayed by him throughout, the dull pounding of the torrential rain against the outside of the cave fading into the background as Ethan continued to think, and panic internally. One option which was definitely a bad one would be to venture out into the storm at this very moment. Another was to try and wait it out, which was equally bad, considering how low he was on supplies. Besides, what hope was there anyway? It wasn't as if ships ventured inside the whirlpools in normal times, forget during a storm like this. What ships would be venturing around the area in any case? His only hope would have been to take refuge in the deeper levels of the cave network, hopefully find another trainer or two down there, or at least a fresh water source. That was another problem for him. Unfortunately however, Team Rocket was exploring the caves, and it would be just as risky as trying to wait out the storm.
Ethan sat up and walked over to the entrance, looking through the gaps between the boulders piled up at the raging seas. It was night now, and lightning flashing in the distance gave him glimpses of the unrelenting fury of the sky. Ethan felt an appendage brushing off his legs. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Riolu brushing off his legs.
"What's up buddy?" He frowned, looking at Riolu's paws, which were covered in some form of white dust. The little wolf pointed at the spot where he had been sitting earlier instead of replying.
Ethan walked over to the spot, looking down at the white patch of dirt he had been sitting on. But it wasn't dirt. Suddenly he was back in New Bark Town, seven years old again, standing by the door as his mother brushed his legs off, scolding him for not looking to see where he was sitting. There was a large patch of white dirt by the back wall of the house, where he had been playing with some wild Pidgey.
"Ethan! How many times have I told you not to sit on the ground without looking to see what's beneath you! Fortunately it wasn't something that would take work to get off your pants!" His mother sighed exasperatedly, brushing the dust off his pant legs.
Ethan smiled for a moment as he realized what it was: Something that had often sailed over the ears of kids in classes, tossed around the room when the teachers weren't there, and used until it finished when they were: Calcium Carbonate, commonly known as chalk.
"Riolu, can you break a piece of this out of the floor?" he asked, turning to stare at the patch.
'What is this friend-trainer-Ethan?' Riolu asked, slamming a fist into the floor followed by its other fist, and then its palm. Brushing its paws off, it picked out a piece as long as Ethan's forefinger and a bit thicker than his thumb.
"It's chalk. It's something used for writing." Ethan answered, taking it and going over to a wall. Wincing slightly at the rough scratching sound he scrawled out an E on the wall, confirming that it was indeed chalk.
He reached into his pack and rifled around until he found his pocket knife, deciding what to do. He would work out his rations and use the walls as a canvas for his thoughts about what to do, waiting for a while. And while he waited, he could carve the chalk into a neater shape. He whittled the chalk down to a cylinder that was as close to perfect as he could make it, passing an hour, and then spent some more time designing an ambigram, a word written in such a text that it would be read the same way if it was upside down, of his first and last names individually. By the time he had engraved the ambigrams into the chalk, his first name in a ring at the top and his last at the bottom, he had whiled away four hours. He slipped the chalk into his pocket, smiling inwardly as a thought hit him.
'At least I have a souvenir.' Ethan thought, dozing off to the flickering flames on Typhlosion's back.
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Ethan woke up with a start, nearly jumping from where he was leaning against the wall. He cast his eye around the room, checking that the rocks were still covering the entrance, and the boulder was still on top of the tunnel. Riolu was asleep by his side, Scyther was curled up in a corner of the cave, Specter was floating about aimlessly, Typhlosion was awake and scorching the wall behind it, and Feraligatr was lurking in a corner.
He pulled a few biscuits out of his bag and scarfed them down, getting some food out for the three that needed it. He watched them eat, their shadows dancing against the wall.
"Come on guys. Let's explore. Same as before. I don't want to take any risks. Specter, you're my eyes, Scyther by my side. I'll recall you three for now." Ethan turned to his other three Pokemon, "Riolu could you just move the stone off?"
Once the stone was out of the way, he recalled his other Pokemon, and reached for the first foothold in the wall. Finding it, he began to climb slowly. Darkness engulfed the cavern below, leaving him unable to see for a little bit. He stood in place for a few minutes until his eyes had adjusted to the low light, letting him see a bit for a few feet around him. Specter was hovering about him, hands outstretched. Scyther stood by his side, remarkably silent. Ethan stepped forward warily, right hand outstretched so he wouldn't crash into anything.
He walked a little bit then stopped, squinting to see where he was. He was right by the edge of a large ledge, which fell four feet onto the main floor of the cavern, riddled with ponds, boulders and ridges according to the friendly ghost by his side. He placed a hand down against the ground and felt for the end of the ledge, waiting until Scyther had leapt down before beginning his descent. He scrambled down to the ground, and placed a foot down as far as he could reach. He cursed silently, not feeling anything beneath his foot. He tightened his grip on the floor and let himself further down, reaching the ground this time.
With a soft thud he let go and allowed his weight to drop onto the cavern floor. He looked around carefully, taking in the few rocks around him, separating paths in every direction, and then the wall behind him. Scyther stood by his side dutifully, peering into the darkness, and Specter was nowhere to be seen. He walked forward uncertainly, hands out at odd angles, going straight forward. His hands hit a large rock and he cringed; flattening his palms against it, he felt his way around the rock and into what seemed like a rough path. Small rocks about the height of his knees stood on either side of him, out of line, but roughly making a path for him to follow. He walked along it, following it to the other side of the cave.
A chill passed through his spine and he spun in place to see Specter rejoining them, waving its hands comically.
'This cave is a maze.' Ethan felt the Haunter's presence in his mind and frowned momentarily as he processed the statement. That made wandering about randomly pointless. He would need a proper source of light if he was to navigate it to a safer spot, or find water, or anything else for that matter.
'This isn't good.' Ethan mused, chin in his hand. 'I could turn a corner and run into Team Rocket. I highly doubt they'd be able to leave in the storm. The problem with a source of light is that if someone's in the shadows they can see me and I can't see them. There's no way I could illuminate the whole cave unless we had enough timber for a large bonfire. I should probably continue like this for now.'
Darkness emanated from the Haunter's form, an uncontrolled wave going inwards, sucking the warmth and light out of the area around it. Ethan made a mental note to look into that when he was back In the mainland and pulled out the chalk from earlier, marking the chalk with the time his watch read, the soft light of the luminescent needles not enough to ruin his sight in the dark, or attract attention. It would probably fade soon. Ethan pressed on, walking down the pathways as they presented themselves to him, wasting away more than an hour in eerie silence. He hadn't encountered any Pokemon apart from a few Zubat nesting by a stalactite. The cold damp atmosphere was disturbing, making him long for the dry cave where he had stayed. He knew his pack would be safe, partially because nothing could come in from the outside of the cave, and partially because he had hidden it amidst a pile of rocks.
An earsplitting screech shattered the silence, followed by a cacophony of identical screeching noises and the sound of fluttering wings as the Zubat in the cave woke up. Ethan ducked as one swooped low over his head, swearing when he noticed the Golbat trailing behind them. He broke into a sprint, Specter keeping up and watching the Golbat as they pursued him.
One fell to the ground, wings badly cut, followed by Scyther landing on its legs for only a second before pushing up again to attack another. Ethan focused on running as far as he could as Specter fired off a large orb of crackling shadowy energy, reducing the number of Golbat giving chase to two. He ducked around a corner and found himself at a dead end, in front of a small pond, the surface of which was glowing dimly. Scyther took down the last of the two Golbats as Ethan backed up.
Before he could stop himself, he took another step back and missed the ground by half a foot, falling into the pond with a large splash. He thrashed momentarily, opening his eyes when his hand hit the side of the pond. The pool had a few Staryu drifting about in it, light emanating from the jewels in the center of their bodies. A lone Goldeen swam through the center of the pond, indifferent to the human which had fallen into the water.
Ethan reached for the side of the ledge out of the water and wrapped a hand over it, pulling himself back up onto the ground. There was no sight of any of the Golbat, and Scyther was standing at the water's edge, obviously able to see him. He froze, right there and then as he heard voices talking nearby.
'Specter, as soon as these people come around, if they're casting light around, hide in my shadow!' Ethan felt a pulse of recognition as he prayed silently, releasing off his Pokemon, Typhlosion staving off the flames which normally adorned its neck and back to hide in the darkness with the others as per the instructions he passed to them through the Haunter by his side. He pulled his soaked sweatshirt over his belt, wrapping it over the belt of empty pokeballs around his waist.
He took a deep breath, silently berating himself for deciding to go along with the idea, and kicked a small rock nearby, sending it clattering out of the way. He then proceeded to walk forward, towards the voices, footsteps echoing loudly as he slammed each foot into the ground repeatedly as though the cavern floor had wronged him. His range of vision increased as he saw the furthest edges of torchlight, shadows of two men dancing against the jagged rocks.
"Hello! Is someone here?" Ethan called out, striding into the torchlight slowly, looking carefully around the scene.
Four men in black uniforms with red R's emblazoned over their chests were sitting around a lit torch. Three were nearly identical in their dress, black uniforms, white shoes, white belts, black caps. The fourth was an oddity. He wasn't particularly tall, but his frame was thin, making him seem lanky or gangly, accentuated by the way he moved, swinging each limb freely. His skin was tanned, his hair and goatee died a horrible shade of light purple. A lopsided grin stretched across his face as he stared into the fire, juggling two pokeballs.
"What's a kid like you doing down here?" he asked, looking up from his antics and stowing the pokeballs away.
'Moment of truth.' Ethan thought, doing his best to pretend he had no clue who he was standing in front of. "Our ship got wrecked and I washed ashore on an island in the storm. I wanted to get away from the noise so I went down the hole in the floor." He stuttered, pretending to be traumatized. His soaked clothes were probably the only reason he was attempting this.
"We can help you get out of here kid. Just give us your Pokemon." One of the men grinned, revealing teeth filed to a point.
"I don't have any." Ethan lied blatantly, hoping they wouldn't see the outline of the pokeballs pressed against the inside of his sweatshirt.
"I guess we could let him go then? You think so guys?" Petrel, the purple haired master of disguised chimed in with a cheery smile. His companions looked at him oddly and there were a few mumbled replies.
"Right after you give us your Pokemon kiddo. Don't bother lying. I can see the pokeballs against your sweatshirt." He flicked open a switchblade and held it close to the fire, the blade glinting dangerously. "Co-operate and we'll let you go."
"They're empty. I'm not lying." Ethan raised his hands and clasped them together behind his head in a gesture of surrender as it registered in a corner of his mind that the other Rockets had drilled into the wall a little bit, and lying by the foot was a fairly sized chunk of quartz.
Something clicked in the back of Ethan's head, and his thoughts were momentarily drowned out by a deep roaring voice in his head.
'Prove your mettle and drive the desecrators from my realm.' It roared, leaving a dull pounding in Ethan's head as he got his bearings.
"Check them if you don't believe me!" Ethan huffed indignantly as Petrel stepped closer, tossing his switchblade casually from hand to hand.
"People tend to tell the truth when I take out the switchblade. Kid's unarmed. There's no need to take your Pokemon out folks, pathetic as they are." Petrel chuckled, striding over to him. "I think I'll just take anything you have on you that can be of any use and then truss you up and toss you in the drink."
Ethan stared over his shoulder as he approached at a pair of red eyes glimmering in the shadows behind the Rockets, who were drinking and laughing around the torch now, watching Petrel approach. Silently, he focused on one word, one thought, and stared directly into the gleaming red eyes beyond: Now.
Ethan leaped as far back as he could as his Pokemon sprang out of the shadows, aiming for the 'desecrators' as they had been dubbed by the voice in his head. Riolu leapt out from behind a rock and hit the first man hard with a spinning kick to the back of his head, knocking him out immediately. Specter floated into the second grunt, causing his body to spasm violently before he collapsed into a quivering mess. The third was taken out by Feraligatr, whom had simply hit the man with its powerful tail, slamming him into a wall and out of the plane of consciousness.
Typhlosion leapt out of the shadows, back flaring, between Petrel and Ethan. The burst of flames from its maw went over Petrel's head, the executive crouched low to the floor, a smirk still on his face. Ethan looked back and saw Scyther had left its hiding place to deal with what was obviously Petrel's Golbat, and from the looks of things, it wasn't going well.
"Raticate, Weezing, slaughter him!" Petrel shouted, releasing his remaining Pokemon from their containers at his belt. Ethan shuddered, not wanting to know just how powerful they were, and started to move back quickly.
"Work together guys! Specter, Scyther, take Golbat, Riolu, Typhlosion and Feraligatr to Weezing and Raticate!" Ethan retaliated as fast as he could, pulling out his own pocket knife from his bag quickly. It would be pointless if Petrel was as skilled with his switchblade as he seemed to be, but it was slightly comforting to feel the ridged wood of the handle against his palm whilst facing down the purple haired executive anyway.
He continued to step back cautiously as Petrel scrambled around to a safe distance from the fight. A grin stretched across his face as he noted that while in single combat his own Pokemon would have been crushed, their speed, along with their teamwork, was not only keeping Petrel's Pokemon at bay, but pushing them back slowly.
Scyther and Specter, using their mobility to the fullest, were releasing an onslaught of attacks on the Golbat which had been in hiding earlier, Scyther chasing it in the air with blades glowing while Haunter repeatedly tried to possess it or attack it, and often the other way around.
Feraligatr, Typhlosion and Riolu were in the midst of a tangle with Petrel's Weezing and his Raticate. Feraligatr had wrapped its frame around Weezing and was biting into it, slamming its tail into its side. The poison type struggled to remain airborne with the additional weight of the massive seven foot gator on its back, devoting all of its energy to shaking it off. Raticate was without a doubt, a far larger threat. Typhlosion was playing a game of cat and mouse with it, albeit armed with flames from its maw. It was chasing Raticate around the cavern, singeing it. The brown rodent was ducking behind rocks and into crevices barely in time to avoid the flames as it tried to avoid Riolu as well, guarding itself with a few well-placed hits every so often.
"Well I'll be damned! You're the kid who busted Proton's chops in Slowpoke well aren't you?" Petrel chuckled from his new position atop a rock twenty feet from Ethan.
"How'd you guess?" Ethan retorted, one eye on the fight as he stepped back ever so slowly, trying to avoid giving the impression that he was scared now that he had launched a full out attack on Petrel's Pokemon.
"Liquid like gold eyes, as Proton so eloquently put it, aren't that common kiddo." Petrel retorted, turning to examine the situation his Pokemon were in. It seemed that without their master to guide them and goad them, his Pokemon couldn't knock out a Psyduck. Well, that was with the exemption of Golbat, which had still managed to avoid all but a few hits. "And see, I'm willing to chance a guess that that Haunter up in the air playing tag with Golbat used to belong to Silver."
"Screw him." Ethan whispered to himself, growing tired of the useless banter. "Feraligatr, water gun! Follow it up with Iron Tail!"
Feraligatr, which had currently clamped its jaws down on Weezing's smaller half, looked towards him, dragging the floating poison type with it. A dull roaring sound exited its throat in a second, as the water Feraligatr was firing out at Weezing hit its side, bouncing back and building up in its mouth. A little water dribbled out of the gap between its jaws and Weezing's body. The water type wrapped its arms around the smaller head and pulled back before it clamped its jaws in tighter. Its teeth pierced Weezing's hide, clamping in for a second before Feraligatr reared and let go, firing off the water, with all its pent up pressure, at Weezing's injured side. The Poison type was propelled back into the air by the force of the blast, followed by a lunging Feraligatr. The water type leaped up to its height before it got to high, and raking its claws against the rough purple hide of its adversary, slammed a glowing silver tail into it.
"Touché. I guess the gloves should come off then shouldn't they?" Petrel sat down, crossing his legs, facing the remaining participants of the brawl, recalling the fallen Weezing before it hit the lake. "Raticate, Hyper Fang! Golbat, evasive maneuvers into offensive maneuvers!"
"Typhlosion, flame wheel! Take it down with you if it gets to you! Riolu, evade its attacks and counter with force palm!" Ethan shouted, directing his Pokemon as he saw them from his vantage point. "Scyther, forget about holding it at bay! Whirlwind followed by metal and shadow claws! Haunter, Shadow Ball ring!"
Raticate burst out into a sprint, fangs glowing and growing as it switched from the defensive to the offensive, charging Typhlosion head on, the fire type jumping over it by running up rocks in its curled up flaming wheel, the searing heat burning Raticate's hair every time they came to a close call. It reminded Ethan for a second of the little toy cars he had played with as a kid, all the jumps Typhlosion was making off rocks, followed by or chasing Raticate, and all the tight turns.
The rocks in the area where they were running were arranged like a compass. Where North was, Typhlosion could roll up the rock without jumping from inside the compass. Where south and east were, it could jump into the compass. And where west was, it could jump south. Typhlosion rolled off of a rock and went straight into the air, where it was followed by Raticate from the side. Riolu, completely forgotten by the normal type, flung itself into the air after Typhlosion and directly into the ensuing tangle of limbs.
Raticate would have bitten into Typhlosion's sides and injured it badly with the oversized fangs it was sporting as a result of hyper fang, and Typhlosion would have missed the strike it had been aiming for, having originally veered too far to the left. Riolu made a point of it to remedy the situation. IT leapt up and slammed into Raticate's jaw and side with glowing palms, pushing it forward two feet and directly into Typhlosion's path as it snarled in pain from the possibly broken jaw. The fire type hit it dead center, flames turning it fur black immediately, and going deeper than that. The force of the impact, combined with the fatigue from the flames had Raticate weak. It hurtled forward as Typhlosion rolled to a stop on the ground, hitting the back wall of the cavern. Ethan didn't need to give orders this time around as a wall of fire slammed into Raticate, a blue blur hitting it hard every time the flames relented.
Ethan shifted his attention to the other fight taking place in the room, where Scyther, Haunter and Feraligatr were taking on Golbat. Scyther had whipped up a whirlwind, turned into a weak hurricane by the streams of water Feraligatr was spewing into it. A rotating ring of three shadow balls hurtled through the hurricane, drawing a screech from the inside as Scyther circled, preparing its next attacks, one blade glowing silver, the other emitting ghostly purple light.
The hurricane was dropped and Scyther charged in headfirst, landing both hits on Golbat's body before it flew off, and up to the cavern roof where it regained its bearings before it attacked. It dove straight for Scyther, the bug type waiting for it with glowing blades. The poison type's fangs were glowing, and it was picking up speed. Scyther raised its blades at the last minute, the one forward missing entirely Golbat soared over Scyther's left shoulder, the other blade grazing it. It latched onto Feraligatr's back for a moment, fangs still glowing as Feraligatr's snout contorted as it reached for its back, and after a few seconds, managed to grab a hold of Golbat and wrench it off its back. The avian regained its balanced as it was tossed into the air, right before a blade cut across its body, drawing purple blood from its body.
Typhlosion and Riolu scampered over to join the fight, making it five against one.
"Good job. But tell me, how much do you know about military tactics?" Petrel asked, grinning.
Ethan stayed mute, instead focusing on the stalemate ahead, with Golbat fluttering out of reach every time an attack approached.
"First comes the cannon fodder. To find out what the other side has. Then a mild force to drain it a bit. Then the big guns swoop in for the kill." Ethan's face lost its color as Petrel counted off his fingers, before pointing the remaining one at Golbat.
"Vacuum Wave!" He shouted, causing Ethan to cringe. Before he could respond, Golbat screeched, and with glowing wings, created an outward wave of air, slamming into each of his Pokemon and giving them numerous tiny cuts, before the resulting vacuum drew them back in and they slammed into the rocks in the area.
Ethan cursed silently, recalling Riolu, the little fighting type spent from the earlier fighting against Raticate. If he had to guess, Ethan would say he still needed every day of training in Cianwood before he could even be considered for his rematch against Jasmine.
"Golbat, Hyper voice!" Petrel called out, clamping his hands over his ears.
"COVER YOUR EARS!" Ethan shouted, clamping his own hands over his ears. Through the fingers covering his ears, he heard an earsplitting shout, higher pitched than anything he had ever heard. Typhlosion and Feraligatr had managed to cover their ears properly, and avoided them worst of the attack. They were blown back along with Scyther, whom hadn't managed to cover its ears and was dazed. Specter on the other hand, outright blew up.
The gaseous form of the ghost seamed to tear apart and evaporate, the gasses drifting off to a corner where it slowly reformed over the course of a minute.
"Feraligatr, assault it with water gun! Typhlosion, flamethrower! Scyther, trap it!" Ethan shouted desperately, backpedaling quickly now.
Petrel shouted something inaudible to Ethan and the Pokemon sprang into action, blasts of water and streams of fire going up in the air after Golbat, right along with waves of air and small whirlwinds, barely holding it back. Ethan felt his heart sink to the floor and his throat tighten as Golbat's form began to glow slowly, until it was a blinding white, warding off attacks without doing anything. Ethan watched with trepidation as the glowing form changed slowly, growing larger until it looked about as large as him, was sleeker, and had four wings instead of two. The glow faded as Specter, now fully reformed, approached it in the shadows from behind.
Left hovering in Golbat's place was a large violet bat with a downturned mouth, four wings with blue insides, and yellow eyes. Haunter made a gesture towards the exit path behind Ethan, back up to his cavern and to the evolved Pokemon. Ethan felt its presence in his head, and slowly understanding what it was saying, figured it out, backpedaling quickly as Petrel admired his new Pokemon. He managed to make it as far as the ledge, and was clambering up it when Petrel noticed it. That was when the Haunter struck. Catching the large avian unawares, it drifted right into it, possessing it and causing its body to writhe and flutter about randomly as it fought for control of its body. Ethan recalled his other Pokemon from where he was and broke out into an all-out sprint as Petrel's Pokemon threw Haunter off. He was twenty feet from the footholds leading up to his cave now, and Petrel was shouting orders to his Pokemon.
"Crobat! Strike him down!" Petrel shouted to it, and flying closer quickly, it released a visibly white wave of air in his direction, which Ethan had no doubt was razor sharp and could outpace him ten to one. Specter appeared behind him and fired off an attack Ethan had never seen before as he reached for the first foothold, a wave of wind carrying purple haze, battling with the white wind in the center.
Ethan clambered up the first few footholds, transfixed as a familiar glow overtook the Haunter's body, and it grew. The ghost's form expanded into a roundish body with a spiked head and four proper limbs, albeit short ones. The glow died down revealing a deep, purple body, almost black, which had malevolent red eyes, and a row of sharp wide teeth revealed by the Gengar's grin.
The surge of energy from evolution caused the two attacks to blow up in the center and when the dust cleared, a wall of rocks had collapsed, Specter was in his pokeball, and Ethan was up in the cave with his other Pokemon out. He peered out the entrance to see that the storm had lessened, even if it was still going strong. He had a chance to make it to a different, and more importantly, safer island.
"Guys! Pile everything up on the hole! Even the stuff covering the door! We're going to brave the storm." Ethan said grimly.
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Ethan hefted his pack a little higher on his shoulder and stepped out the door the second his Pokemon were done piling up every loose rock in the room over the entrance to the deeper tunnels, recalling all but Feraligatr in the storm.
"Feraligatr, use dive in case we have to go under water!" He instructed over the deafening wind.
The water type's body began glowing blue for a second, as did Ethan's when he climbed over onto Feraligatr's back between spikes and made contact with the its skin.
"Okay! Let's try and get to that island over there! I can see a cave!" Ethan shouted over the din.
Feraligatr pushed out of the shallow water and into the buffeting currents inside the ring of whirlpools, bucking in the waves. Ethan hung onto the spikes protruding from Feraligatr's back for dear life as he was carried across the turbulent seas by his companion, the island some three hundred meters away. The sea was churning, as though mad at him for attempting to traverse it. Spray hit Ethan in the face, and he got a mouthful of foam, glad he had wrapped his pack in water retardant materials.
Each meter they traveled seemed as though it would be their last with the way the storms were returning. The sky was a dark, foreboding grey, and rather than seeming like the eleven AM sky his watch said it should be, it seemed like it was seven at night. Ethan shifted his pack, securing it once more as they bobbed up and down, ever so slowly making their way down to the island opposite them. The waves they were in had no particular direction in some places, simply being drawn to the closest whirlpool, and where the whirlpool's effects were nullified by distance, lapping over one another from all sides as a result of the backlash from the edges of the vortexes.
Ethan's eyes scanned the ocean as far as he could see for any vessel, but the sea was empty, void of anything that could be seen as useful.
'If I make it back to the mainland in time to meet Steven without having to contact him, which obviously, I can't do, I'll drop on my knees and pray to Lugia. It's the sea after all.' Ethan, like most of Johto, had been raised listening to stories of Johto's history, both confirmed and speculated, and the legends and myths of the land. History was clear that in the past, more than a thousand years ago, Johtans prayed to two insanely powerful avians, only after Arceus itself: Lugia and Ho-oh, the masters of the land and seas of Johto, and in some speculations, all of Indigo.
It was fact that there were two towers built in Ecruteak City, one of which he had visited, in remembrance of the two birds, as roosts and as holy places. The Brass Tower and the Tin Tower. The Brass tower stood erect in the forests by the edge of Ecruteak to the day, housing a monastery. The Tin tower was struck by lightning around nine hundred years ago, which led to a massive fire which in turn burnt the tower to as low as the first floor. Then the rain from the initial storm which produced the lightning put the fires out.
From here legends began. The stories went that three Pokemon died in the building, and Ho-oh, feeling deep sorrow, for both Lugia and the three Pokemon, resurrected them with greater power than any other Pokemon in Johto but themselves, as Raikou, the lightning that struck the tower, Entei, the flames that consumed it, and Suicune, the rain which doused the fires. Unlike Ho-oh and Lugia, these three had bene sighted before, close to the time that they had been born in the ruins of the tower, but like Lugia and Ho-oh were creatures which had faded into history as myths and were revered, but should one be asked whether they actually believed could exist, one might start to doubt, or hesitate: All mighty entities which were the subject of prayers and inspired hope, immortalize in verse and song, but unacceptable as real.
Lugia had supposedly flown off to its original roost after the Tower burnt down, followed by Ho-oh, and the brotherhoods which guarded their relics, their beliefs, and their towers disbanded. Ethan wasn't a very religious person in the first place, but the recent occurrence had instilled in him a fear of greater powers. There had one been murals of Lugia and Ho-oh, as well as the three guardians of Johto, in both Towers. Rumor had it some of the ones in the upper levels of the Brass Tower were still there, and in good condition. Ethan had never had the fortune to be admitted into the sanctuary that was the Brass Tower, and was likely never to, which resulted in his imagination creating images as to what the birds might look like. Recently, the dreams he had had had come back to haunt him, and every time he thought about the myths of the avians, he thought of the massive avian from his dream. The one which rose from the water.
Ethan shook his head, snapping back to reality and realized they were only ten meters from the beach of the second island. His watch showed that it had been all of fifteen minutes by the time they hit land. Ethan recalled Feraligatr, ducking into the cave for shelter. It was small, low and wide. He released Typhlosion and Specter into the cavern, examining his newly evolved Ghost.
Specter had evolved for the last time, into a Gengar, the final form of the Gastly line. Gengars' bodies were a very dark purple, nearly black, the color Specter had become later as a Haunter when the radius of the gas around its body had shrunk and darkened its body. Its body was squat and round, and it had short stubby limbs, two legs, and two arms with spiky fingers, and it had two large spiked ears, and a permanent grin revealing serrated teeth. Its eyes were tinged red where there had been white, and its irises were black as night.
"Congratulations buddy." Ethan remarked as Specter floated higher, cackling and soaring about the small cavern, melting in and out of the shadows cast by Typhlosion's flames.
Specter frowned for a moment and stared at him, clearly trying to figure something out. Ethan took a second and pulled out his phone, scanning Specter fully now that he had the chance to read from Brendan's database what data there was on the mischievous spirit.
Gengar, known as the shadow Pokemon. They're ridiculously mischievous, and malevolent towards their adversaries. They grow to be about five feet at most. Their move pools expand vastly, and their speed can go through the roof, making them versatile powerhouses. The thing about Gengar is that since they have defined shapes, it's easier for them to reform their bodies after taking hard hits. The one catch about the great boost in power is that as they coalesce into a corporeal form, they lose the ability to communicate telepathically.
"Stop trying Specter. Databases say you can't communicate telepathically anymore, but there is a lot more you can do, and once we're out of here, I plan to push you as far as you can go." Ethan grinned, giving the ghost a once over. It seemed to be about a few inches short of what the databases said it could be, but that was nothing. It would grow as it got older.
Ethan turned around and examined the cave in the firelight once more. There was nothing on the walls, or the roof, or the floor for that matter. They were plain, hard packed dirt. The only oddity was a hole in the far left corner, big enough for him to climb down. He walked over to it, taking his phone out and using the flashlight function in it. He found himself staring at a wall, with the same style of footholds carved into it as the previous cavern had had. Swallowing nervously, Ethan called his Pokemon over and started climbing down, Specter floating ahead of him to keep an eye out ahead. Ethan climbed down slowly and silently, shutting his phone. He recalled Typhlosion and immediately released it onto the ground opposite him, lighting the cavern up with its flames. His stomach felt like it was knotting up as he realized it was the same cavern. The islands were connected from underneath. He was higher than any other place in the islands, on a platform with a steep slippery side that was impossible to climb, maybe ten meters away from the spot where the Rockets had been camping, now empty.
Ethan stepped forward nervously, walking around. He found himself entering another labyrinthine construct on the same level. He followed it tentatively, the crystals embedded in the walls sparkling in the firelight. Specter was floating ahead of him and Typhlosion was behind him. He ran a hand along the wall, which was about the same height as his head. He followed the left wall for fifteen minutes, through twists and turns, ignoring all the other paths at crossroads and following the path wherever the left wall took him. It was only when the walls changed did he stop what he was doing and look where he was going. Instead of jagged rocks with crystals embedded in them, he found himself facing a four way crossroads. He could go back, or forward, or to his northeast, or his west. The other three paths entered proper tunnel like divisions, with smooth stone walls all the way up to the roof fifteen feet overhead.
Ethan stared down the paths one by one, trying to decide which way to go. Each path had an equal probability that the Rockets, should they still be there, would be down the path. Swallowing nervously, fists balled up, Ethan took the path that led to his Northeast, following it all the way to the end.
It took him straight to another open platform high up, level with the one he had originally emerged upon, as he realized with a start that the passage had been sloped. He looked about the platform nervously, paying heed to where the flat rock ended and the treacherous fall to the lower level began.
It took all of ten minutes, but he managed to find another exit, a small hole he climbed through to another set of footholds. He descended, recalling Typhlosion and releasing it at the new ground level once more. This level seemed to have been shaped a bit, or rather smoothed out by men. There was a dull light emitting from somewhere, in the room, which was divided by not more than a few jagged rock walls. Ethan found his way down to the end, past another small lake, from where the light was coming, and to another ladder hole. This time however, there was an actual ladder in the hole, and Ethan could see torchlight down the hole.
He climbed down it, releasing Typhlosion before he turned around. He was standing on a ledge the size of a basketball court, with a waterfall to his right, on the long side, curved and falling into a lake. Behind him and opposite him, on the short ends were walls going thirty feet up, with multiple doorways in them and staircases carved into them, leading to doorways higher up the walls. To his left, on the other long side was a straight drop down, some one hundred feet or more Ethan estimated, to a large rectangular lake. There was a sloping path leading down directly to his west. Ethan looked around as the people in the cavern stopped what they were doing. The room was a battlefield, and Ethan noticed someone scramble up the ladder behind him and fit a carved stone into the hole, blocking and concealing the entrance. The room was occupied by monks wearing robes of deep blue and bright blue, all of them with their heads entirely shaved. The men on either side of the room, which had the lines of a battlefield drawn on it, were poised calmly, moving in Synchronous with the Pokemon on the battlefield, a Medicham and a Victreebel.
"Who are you child, and how did you find your way here." A monk wearing the same robes as the other, but with a white fold over his shoulder stepped forward, the entire room standing straight at his presence.
"My name is Ethan Photon sir. The ship I was traveling to Cianwood City in got caught in an overly large Whirlpool and I was cast out to sea by the force. My Feraligatr managed to get me to the islands." Ethan raised his hands in a gesture of peace after recalling his Pokemon, drawing looks from the twelve men whom had gathered in the room.
"Let it be said that the brotherhood will turn away no man in need. Brother Edison, contact Cianwood City." The man nodded, stroking the white stubble beard on his face. "Follow me child, and tell me the entirety of your story."
Nodding numbly as he felt fatigue overtaking him, Ethan followed him through doorway at their level to a series of small rooms. The man led him to a small room carved into the stone, like all the others, with simple bedding on the ground and a table.
"Rest. Food will be brought to you and your Pokemon healed. I will return either when your Pokemon have been healed, or Cianwood's coast guard responds." The man said, sitting down by his side as another brother approached.
"Brother, see to food and treatment of our guest's Pokemon please." The man instructed, handing him the pokeball belt which Ethan removed from under his hoodie. "Now then. My name is Father Leonardo. Please, if you are not too tired, tell me your story."
"I have one question before I begin Father." Ethan responded, lying back against the wall on the bedding. "Where am I?"
"My child," Leonardo chuckled, "You are in the deeper levels of the Whirl Islands."
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Ethan walked to the bench by the side of the battlefield with Father Leonardo, sitting down and watching the battle which was ensuing. There was a Helicopter to arrive from Cianwood soon. He had rested, eaten, and his Pokemon had been treated. His clothes had been dried, and he had been outfitted in a plain blue shirt and loose blue pants, the clothes the brother who brought them to him told him were used when a member of the brotherhood had to travel. He had just finished telling the father his tale.
"That sir, is how I ended up here." Ethan finished, taking a deep breath and watching the battle.
"That is quite a tale my son, and I believe you tell the truth. For what reason have you to lie." Leonardo replied, sitting down next to Ethan. He was a thin, tall man who walked with elegance, his eyes blue to match his robes, and his face angled and sharp. Unlike the others, he had a very thin layer of hair, white hair.
"My father once told me to always tell the truth, not simply because it is ethical, but because it's easier by relieving yourself of the pressure of having to remember you lies." Ethan replied, shifting in his seat as he watched an Arbok lash out at a Skarmory. "Father Leonardo, who are all of you? What is this place?"
"What do you know of the old days when the people of Johto worshipped and revered the legendary birds, Lugia and Ho-oh?" The old man retorted, gazing off into the distance.
"I understand that there was a brotherhood guarding their secrets, their myths, and their beliefs, and that people prayed to them in the Brass and Tin Towers, and the most devout followers went on to join the brotherhoods before the Tower burnt down and it was disbanded." Ethan replied cautiously.
"There are two places I must correct you child. To begin with, there were two brotherhoods, which worked in symbiosis. Secondly, the brotherhoods were never disbanded. We simply retreated from the world." Leonardo let the sentence hang in the air.
"Wait. We?" Ethan's head twisted ninety degrees to face the man.
"My child, you stand amongst the brotherhood of Faith." Leonardo replied simply. "The whirl islands were in myth and speculation the original roost of Lugia before the towers were built. We scour the caverns regularly, and while we have not found any evidence that Lugia still inhabits these islands, we carry on with our beliefs and our practices."
Ethan took a moment to process the statement before he stood from the bench and sank to his knees in silent prayer, head bowed down. Leonardo watched him with interest, giving him a questioning look when he stood.
Seeing the man's look, Ethan explained. "I promised to myself that should I be delivered from my predicament, I would fall to my knees and pray to Lugia. What better place to do so than Lugia's old roost."
"Well reasoned."
"Then are you a monastery? What do you practice, what are your beliefs?" Ethan asked rising once more.
"Common misconception. We did not pray directly to the two avians. We revered them and strove for their Symbiosis. We guard the secrets of the old days, and ensure that our message, the walk to a perfect union between man and Pokemon, does not die. These men shave their heads for the simple reason that even a little bit of water in hair in these conditions can lead to illness very easily." Leonardo watched Ethan nod and followed his eyes to the battleground, where the man with the Arbok had defeated the man with the Skarmory. "I take it battling is an interest of yours?"
Ethan nodded in reply, reaching instinctively for his belt.
"Would you like to challenge one of our own? I can very easily choose someone to match you, considering I examined your Pokemon whilst they were being healed." Ethan stared at the man, taking his offer into consideration before nodding silently.
"Brother Lorenzo! Our young guest's blood runs hot! Perhaps you would consent to a friendly spar with this young man?" A man in his thirties with black stubble walked down to the battlefield nodding and standing in position.
Ethan strode over to the other side of the battlefield slowly and reached for Scyther's pokeball. Typhlosion was ready and raring to go, but he felt that Scyther deserved the battle. He hadn't had a good challenge (an organized one) in a while. Ethan released the bug type onto the field and stared as the other man released a small purple Pokemon that had blue wings, a claws at the ends of them, two small wings and a massive stinger on the end of its tail. Ethan pulled his phone out and scanned it, reading the data that came back.
Gligar. Ground and flying type. The fly scorpion Pokemon. Really fast, and love to charge at opponents. If someone trains one to listen rather than attack impulsively, they can be annoying, but their evolutions Gliscor are far more annoying.
Ethan shifted a little bit as he slipped his phone back, Lorenzo standing perfectly straight opposite him.
"Scyther, engage with shadow claw and metal claw!" Ethan instructed as his companion leapt into action, covering the distance between Gligar and itself in two seconds, blades raised as it jumped to attack.
Lorenzo stepped to the side and shifted his hand, and in a single swift motion, Gligar sidestepped the attack and stung Scyther in the back.
"Scyther! Fury Cutter!" Ethan called out, hoping Scyther could find a way to track the Gligar. Once again, Gligar simply avoided the attack and struck back hard. The game went on for a few more hits, wearing Scyther down a little bit.
Ethan stared at the predicament. Gligar would be inclined to charge if he didn't act soon, but he needed a way to actually hurt it before he could move. He watched Lorenzo carefully, taking in his lax posture, mimicking his Pokemon. That was when Leonardo's words came back to him. '… a perfect union between man and Pokemon….'. Ethan's eyes lit up as he realized that Lorenzo was in sync with his Pokemon, examining the battlefield in real-time and directing it to move as it needed to, predicting Scyther's movements. That was what he needed to do then.
"Scyther! Trust me and use Fury cutter! Read the way Gligar's moving!" Ethan called out, watching as Scyther took note of the silent message he was trying to send, following his pattern and charging. As Gligar stepped back to the left to avoid the onslaught, Scyther stepped to the right, out of range of the stinger, barely, and then lunged forward when Gligar lurched forward, surprised, and hit it hard.
"Wonderful!" Leonardo clapped loudly, smiling as he strode towards the field. "I was wondering how long it would take you to identify and grasp the principle which makes us so powerful. I hope you implement this yourself, and that one day I find you joining this brotherhood as a believer."
"Father, when I can, and I have not already decided to travel and work with a new mentor, then I may find myself returning, to master this discipline. I want to thank you for introducing me to it." Ethan's smile lit up his eyes as a man walked up to Leonardo.
"Your transport is here. I hope to see you again Ethan Photon. I bid you farewell, and good luck on your journey."