Four miles later, Ryan and the
others had reached the shore; beyond that was the looming figure
of an ancient Power Plant. The four kids stared at it for a
moment, hypnotized by the immensity of the building, as they
remembered the old rumors that originated from this very spot.
"Should we really go in
there," Karen asked in a warning tone, "I mean, think
about what happened to that trainer that went inside. He came out
injured jabbering about the color yellow. Plus his pokémon were
never seen again."
"Oh, please, that never
happened, ok?" Ryan complained. "There isn't any
truth to those rumors. They are just a load of stories made up by
the older kids to-" Ryan cut his sentence short as he jumped
when a "Trode" was sounded, followed by a big
explosion. Smoke could be seen coming from a building window on
the third floor.
"Well then Ryan, why
don't you lead us inside if the stories are false, oh brave
one." Karen mocked Ryan on the way in. Ttocs and Jeremy
looked at each other thinking how foolish Ryan and Karen were
acting, sighed, and then followed after the two.
For an electrical power plant,
it was dark, with just enough light to see where the four were
going. Part of it was the smoke that floated all over the place.
Another feature of the area was the faint noises that came from
ahead. Noises like "Trode" and "Buzz", and
the sound of electricity were vibrating down the halls. It was
not a nice place.
"Perfect. This place is
perfect to stay for a night," Jeremy muttered unconsciously,
not paying attention to the other's watching him.
WACK!
"Ahhh!" Jeremy
screamed as he fell to the floor face down. Behind him stood a
smiling Karen with a flashlight in hand. Jeremy rubbed the back
of his head, where a bump was beginning to rise. "You need
to quit that before I-"
"Before you
what?" Karen threatened as started to smack the flashlight
in her hand. Jeremy backed off. She turned toward the long hall
that lay ahead of her, fear visible on her face. "Let's
just try to get through this place and make it out to Rock Tunnel
before dark."
And so they walked through the
musty halls of the abandoned plant. They kicked up dust into the
air as they walked, making it difficult to breathe. A few times
they had to stop for a while to let the dust settle, then start
again. It took them much longer to walk through the building, and
before they knew it, it was getting to dusk outside.
"I think we should check in
for the night and stay in one of the rooms." suggested Ttocs
as he leaned against the wall to rest.
"I knew we'd stay here
for the night," Jeremy teased." And you guys said
we'd get through before dark."
Karen stared cold daggers at
Jeremy, making him cringe. "We should at least see if
there's a room we can stay in. It's better than staying
out in the open with wild pokémon attacking us."
"I think Karen is on the
right track," agreed Ryan. He opened up the closest door
toward him and peeked into the room. It was empty, and full of
dust. "This room is really old and dusty. But if we could
clean it out, then it would be bearable to stay in."
"And how do you suppose we
do that. We try to clean this room, and it'll take so long that
it'll be morning, and we would do all that work for
nothing." Ttocs figured.
Ryan thought for a moment.
"How do I clean this room in a few minutes?"
He thought for a few seconds while everyone else was discussing
the topic. Then it came to him. He stepped inside the room and
closed the door behind him while everyone else looked on.
"What do you think he's
doing in there?" asked Jeremy. Everyone waited a few more
seconds for Ryan to come out, having no clue as to what was going
on, with the exception of Karen. Inside, a whirring noise could
be heard inside, as if a mysterious wind had crept into the room.
The walls began to vibrate.
Jeremy never had a thing for
keeping his curiousity under control. He placed both hands on the
handle and pushed on the door. It wouldn't budge. He then walked
backwards, and when he was ready, he ran forward towards the
door, shoulder first.
"Jeremy, NO!" Karen
screamed, but she couldn't stop him as he made contact with the
door. It burst open, revealing Ryan on the ground with his head
tucked between his legs, covering his head. Next to him lay
Fearow, who had fainted from its work. In the center of the room
was a dying wind from Fearow's Cyclone. Even though the wind was
slowing, it still sucked the air out of everyone. But one thing
was for sure: the room was spotless. All the dirt had gone outsde
through a small window.
Ryan picked up his head, hair
all ruffled and face all dirty. He gave a small smile, then
picked himself up on two shaky legs. He called back Fearow, then
walked back to the gang.
All the others just stared at
Ryan and the room, unable to say anything. Then Jeremy broke the
silence. "That was intense."
Ttocs sat away from the others,
at the far side of the room. He was doing research on this
certain Power Plant on the Internet. He found very little on the
Power Plant, even while searching through the League database. He
scrolled down the links on the list, when something caught his
eye. He clicked on the link, where it took him to a text only
site. He scrolled down the page, then stopped. "Ryan, Karen,
Jeremy, come over here now. Look what I found!"
The others rushed over to Ttocs'
area and looked on the screen. "It's about the Pokémon in
this plant." He read aloud off the screen:
Scientists who have
investigated the Cerulean City Power Plant claim that many
electric type Pokémon have inhabited the area after it's closing
in 1948, when one of it's generator's collected a large amount of
electricity, causing an explosion that caused damage beyond
repair. Ever since, many Pokémon have called it home, including
the legendary bird Pokémon, Zapdos, which is said to reside
there, according to few reported accounts.
"Zapdos!? The
Zapdos!? How many of those do you ever get to see!" If only
he knew the truth.
Just then the computer shut off
without warning. "The battery went dead," explained
Ryan as he stored it away inside his backpack. "I'll have to
buy more batteries tommorrow. But right now, I think it is time
we all got some sleep." He unrolled his his sleeping bag,
soon followed by everyone else.
"G'night," said Jeremy
as he covered himself and listened to the other voices of his
friends. But unknown to them was the plan that was being
concocted in Jeremy's head. He smiled. "A Zapdos,"
he thought. "And I'm going to own one." His
thoughts trailed off as he drifted into sleep.
Ryan woke up, troubled.
Something was bothering him, something was wrong. He wiped away
the sleep from his eyes, he checked his watch. 1:46 am. With the
pale moonlight shining through the window, which for some reason
seemed to give more light than during the day, he took a look
around. "Everything seemed normal enough," he
thought, "Karen is sleeping quietly, and Ttocs as well.
Jeremy is missing, everythings in place...Jeremy's missing!?"
Everyone else in the room woke
up from Ryan's noise. "What happened?" asked Karen,
agitated.
"It's 1:46 am, and Jeremy
isn't here." Ryan replied, pointing to the empty sleeping
bag.
"He probably went to the
bathroom, or something like that." suggested Ttocs as he put
his head back to the ground.
"Uh-uh," explained
Ryan, "take a look at this note here." He then began to
read it out loud:
Thought you guys would worry
if you found me missing. I'm guessing when you all wake up,
you'll find me missing and start worrying, maybe call the police,
send search teams after me...
But seriously, in case you want to know where I am, I'm still in
the Power Plant, and I'm going after that Zapdos that's supposed
to live here. Don't bother coming after me. I'll see you in the
morning. Caio.
Karen shook her head. "He's
going after the Zapdos? And all by himself? That has to be an
idiotic thing to do, going by yourself. Even if there is no
Zapdos here, this place is still way too dangerous."
Ttocs shook his head in
agreement. "Maybe we should go look for him; he could be
hurt right now for all we know."
"Yeah, your right,"
Ryan considered, "so, let's get dressed and go."
----------------------------------------
Out in the darkened hallways
walked Jeremy, making his way through all the floors of the
building, looking for the Legendary Zapdos. He was on the second
floor by now, and he still hadn't found anything yet except for
the occasional run-ins with a few Magnemite.
"Let's see,"
he thought, "Waking up in the middle of the night
through an abandoned Power Plant looking for a Pokémon that
might not even be here or even exist? What was I thinking!"
Jeremy stopped walking to sit on a peice of equipment that was
just lying there on the ground. But he was too tired to realize
the group of Magneton that circled above him. Watching him and
judging him.
----------------------------------------
"So, any idea where he
could be now, Abra?" Ryan and the gang were ready to go,
waiting to see where they should go look first instead of
splitting up.
The glow around Abra faded away.
"Upstairs." was all he said in response before
he
