Chapter 12:
Pipe Dream
Location: Castelia City
With some more training out the way, it was time to take on the next Gym; the Castelia City Gym.
I walked to the left most street of Castelia, where of course people were going about their daily lives. I saw the large Gym with colourful windows. Across from there though, I noticed an office; the Medal Office.
"Okay. Before I battle, I need to make a complaint about that Mr. Medal," I said. "What is up with that weirdo?"
I went inside the building and who should I meet, but Mr. Medal himself.
"Rosa!" he said. "How are y-"
"What is wrong with you?!" I yelled. "You better not be spying on me."
"That's not it!" Mr. Medal told me. "Show me your Medal Case."
I got it out and handed it to him. Honestly, if he was doing this, I was fine with dropping out of the Medal scheme. "What now?" I asked.
"Look!" he said, showing me a beeping red light that I didn't even notice before. "This knows what you've been doing and sends a message over here! That's how we know!"
"Oh…" I said, still finding a bit wrong on a few levels. But at least my concern was quashed (and I'm not talking about the move which fun fact, no Pokémon in Unova can actually learn).
In the Medal Office though was another Harlequin. He noticed me and danced over. "You found me!" he said. "I'll let the boss know! One more to go!"
"Thanks," I said. "Now. To the Gym!"
I walked across the street to the Gym where Gym Guide Clyde was blocking the doors.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Sorry," he said. "Burgh is out. He's had some… business to attend to."
"What?!" I shouted. "But I was hoping to battle him today. Where could he be?"
"I might know." To our left was a black girl in a pink dress that made her look like a princess. She had a golden tiara on.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I'm Iris!" she said.
My mouth dropped. Was it the same Iris that went on that journey two years ago? I couldn't believe it.
"Are you… the same Iris that trained under Drayden?" I asked.
"The one and only!" she said. "I've gotten much stronger since!"
I shook her hand. "Nice to see you. My name is Rosa, Rosa Wright. I'm a Trainer with my best friend. I was hoping to take on the Gym today, but that might not be happening."
"That's where I come in!" Iris said. "I think I have an idea of where Burgh might be. Come on, we're going to Thumb Pier!"
As we walked down the busy street, we had a talk. I had so many questions.
"So, Team Plasma aye?" I asked.
"Those brutes," Iris said. "I started my Journal after their demise, but I learned from the previous Champion Alder that they've made a return. With a different objective, nonetheless. They have some nerve coming back."
I clenched my fist. "My best friend's sister had a Pokémon stolen from her, and he hates them. I can understand why. So, I'm helping him take them down."
Iris smiled. "What a selfless thing to do. Are there any other reasons?"
"Oh look, Thumb Pier!" I said. We had arrived. Waiting there, was Hugh. We ran over. "Hey Hugh, how is everything?"
"Not great," he said. He was standing in front of the entrance to the Sewer. "Burgh is down there. And to make matters worse, it might be Team Plasma related."
Iris gasped. "Oh no. Are you going to take them down?"
"You bet," Hugh said. "Rosa, please help. What about you, what's your name?"
"Iris is the name, and no I won't. Instead, I'll inform Castelia that Team Plasma might be in the area. I would like to know how you to do though."
I looked at Hugh. "Let's go."
"Quick warning," Iris said. "Don't stay down for too long. The accessibility of the Castelia Sewers is structured around the tide. If you stay down for too long, the tide will come in and flood the place. So don't dilly dally."
Taking her words of advice, we went in.
Location: Castelia Sewers
The main thing I noticed when we walked into the Sewers was that it smelled. I mean, I had never had the intention of being a plumber, so I had never been down into a sewer system. But I never thought it would smell THIS bad.
"Got any clothes pegs?" I asked Hugh.
"Not on me. Enough joking around. We need to find Team Plasma."
We walked through the grimy sewer. The water wasn't exactly clean, and stinky Grimer invaded the small nooks and crannies in the walls. It didn't make the smell better.
As we walked, we came across two wild Pokémon. One was a blue Pokémon that was flying with its purple wings. It had no eyes.
Zubat (ズバット)
061
Poison/Flying Type
Bat Pokémon
2'07" (0.8 m)
16.5 lbs (7.5 kg)
It does not need eyes, because it emits ultrasonic waves to check its surroundings as it flies.
The other Pokémon was small, purple and had two buck teeth.
Rattata (コラッタ)
059
Normal Type
Mouse Pokémon
1'00" (0.3 m)
7.7 lbs (3.5 kg)
It searches for food all day. It gnaws on hard objects to wear down its fangs, which grow constantly during its lifetime.
"Okay Marill, come out!" I shouted.
"And I choose Pignite!" Hugh yelled. Indeed, his Tepig had evolved.
Pignite (チャオブー)
005
Fire/Fighting Type
Fire Pig Pokémon
3'03" (1 m)
122.4 lbs (55.5 kg)
The more it eats, the more fuel it has to make the fire in its stomach stronger. This fills it with even more power.
Tepig -Lv 17- Pignite
Rattata came forward with Quick Attack on Pignite, quickly dashing into it. Zubat also used Bite on Marill, but it was fine.
"Marill, Bubble Beam!" Marill fired a jet of bubbles at Zubat. It was a Critical hit and half its HP was gone.
"Now Pignite, Arm Thurst!" Pignite went over to Rattata and hit it multiple times with its hands. Each hit was Super Effective and Rattata went down.
Zubat came back with another Bite, but it missed Marill. "Bubble Beam again!" Marill fired another jet of bubbles at Zubat. One more hit from Pignite would deal with it.
"Pignite, Flame Charge!" Pignite ignited itself in flames, then charged into Zubat. It was down.
"Nice," said Hugh. "If we battle like we did there, we should get through here easily."
We continued to make our way through the smelly pipes, holding our noses as we went. We walked across metal planks that acted as bridges and battle more wild Pokémon. They were a mix of Zubat, Rattata and Grimer.
One surprise that we did find down here though were Trainers. Yes. People actually got stronger in the Sewer. Each to their own, I guess. One of which was a Janitor.
"Need to clean all this, but I can take a battle break!"
Rosa Vs. Janitor Felix
"Okay Servine, go!" I yelled.
"Lillipup, go!" Felix replied.
"Servine, Leaf Tornado!" Servine shot swirling leaves at Lillipup. It took a few steps back from the impact.
"Lillipup, Take Down!" Lillipup charged into Servine at full pelt. Lillipup took recoil damage, however.
"Another Leaf Tornado!" I shouted. Servine attacked Lillipup one last time, and it was down.
"Okay then. Go Trubbish!" Great. As if the smell didn't get bad enough.
Trubbish (ヤブクロン)
105
Poison Type
Trash Bag Pokémon
2'00" (0.6 m)
68.3 lbs (31 kg)
Wanting more garbage, they follow people who litter. They always belch poison gas.*
*This isn't necessarily the Pokémon move which Trubbish can learn.
I swapped Servine for Growlithe. "Okay Growlithe, Flame Wheel!" Growlithe curled up into a ball then rolled into Trubbish covered in fire. It hit it, and a lot of its health was burned away.
"Use Acid Spray!" Trubbish fired green acid at Growlithe. It only did a little bit.
"Use Ember!" Growlithe fired a flame at Trubbish, taking it out.
"Well, back to cleaning. I'm going to be down here for a loooong time."
After a bit more walking, Hugh came to the realization that I wasn't joking about wanting a clothes peg. Had people become immune to the smell after being down there for so long? Had they just been born with the immunity, like the smell was a Poison Type move and they were a Steel Type? I had many theories, and I think any of them could be plausible.
"Find anything out about that ship?" I asked.
"It was blocked off by the police, so I couldn't get a closer look. But after this, I don't think I'll need to go on it. If Hilbert was on there, it would have been on the news quicker than an Extreme Speed attack."
"Then," I said. "Hilbert must have escaped." I looked through the Journal again. "My only argument against that is that maybe Team Plasma have more than one ship. If so, it would make this search a lot harder. What if he isn't in Unova? Maybe he's taking refuge in Johto or something."
Hugh patted me on the shoulder. "He's somewhere. This is Hilbert we are talking about."
Just then, we came across a Worker with a Drilbur.
Drilbur (モグリュ-)
076
Ground Type
Mole Pokémon
1'00" (0.3 m)
18.7 lbs (8.5 kg)
By spinning its body, it can dig straight the ground at a speed of 30 mph.
"Hi," I said. "Hey. Have you seen Team Plasma anywhere?"
"Have I?" he replied. "Trust me. They're preventing me from doing my work. I'll show you. My name is Zack by the way."
He walked us through the Sewers. "What kind of work?" I asked.
"I'm digging a tunnel," he replied. "It's called the Relic Passage, which is a tunnel to Driftveil City which also has access to the Relic Castle. I'm sure you've heard that the PWT was recently built there, so I'm digging an underground passage to get there a little bit easier. Drilbur is a massive help, but it's quite a big project. And now, it's been brought to a halt because of Team Plasma."
It made me mad. Team Plasma stopping an ambitious project like that.
Ah yes, the PWT. The Cold Storage at Driftveil has been demolished for a new battle stadium where big competitions plan on taking place. It's an ambitious project, and maybe I could take part.
Eventually, we got to what seemed like the end of the Castelia Sewer. It had a small cave, which was the entrance to Clay Tunnel. Sure enough, Team Plasma were there. And they had the Workers hostage in a rope.
"What's going on here?" I asked.
"I dunno, what do you think?" a Grunt asked. "We've just stolen a bunch of your workers Pokémon. The people who resist? We've left them tied up here. You only have a little while left before the tide comes in, so just do it if you don't want to sleep with the Grimer."
"Stop it!" Hugh yelled. "You will give the Pokémon back and let them go. Or else, I will take you down."
"No," I said. "WE will take you down."
Both Grunts walked over to us. "You've made a grave mistake. But we accept. You lose though, and you'll join them."
Rosa and Hugh Vs. Team Plasma Grunt M and F
"I choose Servine!" I shouted.
"Go Pignite!" Hugh said.
"Scraggy, go!" shouted the M Grunt.
"Get em Sandile!" the F Grunt stated.
Scraggy (ズルッグ)
117
Dark/Fighting Type
Shedding Pokémon
2'00" (0.6 m)
26 lbs (11.8 kg)
Proud of its sturdy skull, it suddenly headbutts everything, but its weight makes it unstable, to.
Sandile (メグロコ)
099
Ground/Dark Type
Desert Croc Pokémon
2'04" (0.7 m)
33.5 lbs (15.2 kg)
They live hidden under hot desert sands in order to keep their body temperature from dropping.
Servine fired a seed at Scraggy. It was planted on Scraggy's head.
"Rosa," Hugh said. "I think that's Leech Seed! It drains a bit of HP from the target each turn!"
"Alright, new move Servine!" I shouted.
"Scraggy, Headbutt!" shouted the M Grunt and Scraggy headbutted Servine.
"Sandile, Sand Tomb!" Sandile made a maelstrom of sand appear below Pignite, getting in caught.
"We still have this. Pignite, Arm Thrust!" Pignite attacked Scraggy twice, almost knocking it out. Actually, it was knocked out because the Leech Seed drained the last of its health.
"Servine, Leaf Tornado!" Servine span round and attacked Sandile with leaves for lots of damage.
"Sandile, Sand Tomb again!" Sandile made another sand whirlpool below Pignite, but the match was basically done.
"Arm Thrust!" Pignite attack Sandile with its hands, delivering the final blow.
"PLLLAAASSMAAA!" both Grunts shouted.
"Fine, we've got all the Pokémon we need anyway," the F Grunt said. "We need to make a hasty retreat. The tide is coming up in an hour. Plasma will prevail."
The two Grunts ran off.
"Stop!" Hugh said.
"Don't!" I said, grabbing Hugh's arm. "Now is not the time to get lost."
Drilbur cut the rope that the other Workers were tied up in.
"The ones who are safe now had their Pokémon taken," one of the Workers said.
"At least your safe." From round the corner came who we were looking for; Burgh. "I've checked everywhere else. There seem to be no signs of Team Plasma."
The other Workers were sad, some crying, as they realized that their friends had been stolen.
"I hate those Team Plasma brutes," Hugh said. "I will stop them!"
"For now," I said. "We need to get out of here. The tide is getting high and if we don't get a move on, we won't be holding on."
Burgh tossed some Escape Ropes to us. There was one for us all. "Use these. They will get you out in a jiff."
We thanked him, just as someone came out of the Clay Tunnel. He was blonde and wearing a white lab coat.
"Does he work here?" I asked Zack.
"I have no idea who he is," Zack replied.
The man pointed at me. "You. That was an impressive demonstration. The way you brought out the power against Team Plasma, astounding. Simply astounding." He typed something into a small computer. "Fascinating." After this he walked off.
"Who was that?" I asked.
"Do we have to think of it in here?" Hugh asked. "The tide is coming in and my nose feels like it's about to fall off."
Location: Castelia City
The smell of the Castelia City air was refreshing after the stink fest that went on down in the Sewers. We saw water flowing in through the Sewer entrance.
"At least everyone is safe, if some Pokéless," Burgh said. "Don't worry. Hopefully, when Team Plasma are stopped, we will take them back." He turned to me and Hugh. "Thank you both. As a reward, I will happily battle you both tomorrow. One after the other of course."
"You can go first," Hugh said.
"Thanks!" I replied.
Team Plasma struck again and were sadly relatively successful in their operations. At least I turned up with Hugh to somewhat stop the situation from getting worse, but it seems that Team Plasma are far more ambitious and dangerous than last time. Alder wasn't joking around.