Chapter Ten
Faye
I held Flaaffy in my arms for a long time before I finally put her back in her Poke Ball. I didn't care how she had fallen into this place, but, as long as she was back, I didn't want to question the Valdasians.
Everything was starting to make sense in a strange way; what Henclu and Zorral had told us worked quite well with what I knew. But I frowned. "They aren't telling us something," I whispered to Jack.
"No kidding!" he replied, a bit angrily. He reminded me of Marle, just not so . . . problematic.
"It's not a bad thing," I said. "But it is important. Whatever it is that they're not telling us, they think we're better off not knowing. But I have a feeling that this information will make all the difference."
"You mean we should stay and give these freaks a chance?!" Jack shot back.
"Shh! That's not what I mean. Just don't make them angry with you; you're not like Emily so they can kill you without breaking their laws."
Jack clearly didn't like my idea, but I couldn't exactly do much about that.
The appearance of the Valdasians had originally filled me with terror. Their wings cast shadows, reminding me of vampires, and hearing their strange accents with vocals completely different from those of humans sent shivers down my spine. But, after that, there was a cool calm like an afternoon breeze on Earth. They were so human, yet I felt the difference between us. It was almost as if they had something we didn't. Superpowers, if you will. It reminded of the envy I'd always felt after reading a comic book. Having special abilities would be incredible and it had always seemed like I was second best to any superhuman characters. Now, with real superhumans around, I felt immensely uncomfortable. Even though Emily was a bit different, she still had human blood in her.
It reminded me of what it had been like back home on Earth. I never lived up to my parents' expectations; my psychic powers were so minimal it was as if I didn't have any. Though they never said anything, I knew I had let my parents down.
Since I'd left Earth, my powers had grown stronger, but there was no way I was exceptional any more. I could never fit in with this strange race no matter how hard I tried. I just wasn't like them . . .
"I hope you will enjoy your stay on Valdas," Henclu was saying.
"Terranova," I said quietly.
"Excuse me?"
"No, it is not Valdas, it's Terranova," I told her. "If you wanted to call this planet Valdas, you should have been less cowardly and greeted us face-to-face. I suggest you don't underestimate the power of Earthlings. We may seem weak and we may not have your advantages, but there's one thing we have that has allowed us to climb to the top. You know what that is?" I answered my own question. "It's pride. Pride helps us to achieve goals we could never achieve otherwise, to bend limits that were previously impossible to bend. You Valdasians should have shown pride in this planet; you should have ventured above ground and welcomed us to what used to be your planet. Yes, I said: "used to be" because it's our planet now. We declared it as ours and you didn't try to stop us. That makes Terranova ours and it makes you cowards. So you better start to show us some respect!"
Marle
I suddenly had a thought that was both terrifying and reassuring.
Was this real? If not, I must have gone crazy at some point and might even still be on Earth, locked in the loony bin but still on good old terra firma. I mean, the idea of hundreds of Shiny Pokemon, a conveniently habitable planet in the middle of nowhere and now these Valdasians all added up to insanity for the rational mind.
If this was real, then at least I wasn't crazy. That was something positive because, on the whole, we were pretty much screwed. We had our Pokemon and Emily had her powers, but we couldn't be sure what these Valdasians were capable of.
That was why I was more tempted than ever to throw Faye into the chasm.
DS
I kept silent the whole time and so did Charmander and Hinochi as they sensed the tension. But my mind was boiling over with thoughts that threatened to spill out of my mouth in a torrent of jibberish.
Emily
As Henclu and Zorral led us into their world, I couldn't help wondering what was going to happen to us. All I knew was that these Valdasians had something planned, something that involved an alliance with my friends.
There was something carved on the wall, writing in an unknown language. As we walked by them, Henclu stopped and shone a torch in the direction of the carvings so that we could see them properly. "No outsiders have ever seen these," she said. "But I feel you should because it will help you to understand."
"Understand what?" demanded Jack. "All I know is that you've been feeding us some crazy story."
"About why you had to come here," Henclu replied, ignoring his comment about the whole thing being "some crazy story". "The message carved here is ancient, a prophecy. It doesn't translate into your language very well, but what it basically says is . . ." She paused dramatically before continuing. "The Tribes of Valdas shall rise with the coming of the Ones from the Sky."
"That's us, right?" I said nervously, hugging my Eevee and patting my Meowth's Poke Ball. This was starting to get weirder and weirder.
Jack
Why are we following Henclu and . . . whatever the heck the other one's called?" I asked Wobbuffet.
He wandered off. "No, for goodness sake!" I yelled. "We're not making a break for it yet! Look, forget I said anything."
I lingered at the back, blatantly ignoring whatever it was these people were trying to communicate to us.
Vicky
I stood at the back as everyone except Jack looked at the carvings on the wall.
I wasn't too keen on Henclu and Zorral, but I supposed winged people who seemed to know Emily could be trusted. Then, I began to fear they might be trying to lead us into a trap.
Faye
I folded my arms angrily as I listen to the rather annoying Henclu and her friend Zorral drone on about those carvings.
Upon closer inspection, the rocks looked old and crumbly. I could sense that they weren't hoaxes, but I couldn't be sure. "So you think we have some sort of divine purpose?" I said to no-one in particular. "That'll be the day," I added with an amused whistle.
Jack
"Jack? Where are you?"
It was Vicky, who had evidently had enough of staring at walls for one day. I quickly hurried back into the cave to reassure her that I hadn't been dragged off by the Valdasians. "I'm here," I told her. "I was just . . . admiring the architecture."
She folded her arms and looked at me sceptically. "You mean you don't trust the freaks," she told me flatly. She may have been just a kid, but Vicky certainly knew how to put two and two together - I'd give her that much.
No, they're not freaks as such. It's just . . .well, I don't like them," I said.
"What if they're up to something?" Vicky asked.
I looked at her for a second, thinking that was an interesting theory. I didn't believe it for a minute, but I needed all the people I could get on my side so I thought I might as well play along. "They could be, Vicky. They could be," I said.
"Hey, guys, what's this? A board meeting or something? Come on, please; this is really serious."
We both turned to look at the rest of the group, who had themselves turned to look at us. It was Emily who had spoken as usual and I almost felt sorry for her; she was obviously buying into this story they were feeding her.
Emily
"So where do we go now?" I asked Henclu and Zorral.
Henclu replied by pressing down on the wall with the palm of her hand, triggering a loud rumbling sound as the wall began to slide across as if it was a screen door. We all gasped at what was concealed behind that door, a large vehicle that looked like a cross between a submarine and a spaceship. "We take a trip into the cavern you call the Forbidden Cave," she told us, as she flew towards the vehicle with Zorral following in her wake.
I was about to follow them when I realised my friends were hanging back fearfully. "Come on!" I urged. "What are you waiting for?!"
"Well, to start with, I thought we weren't supposed to go into the Forbidden Cave," Jack said lamely. "And besides . . ."
I cut him off before he could object any further. "We weren't supposed to go after that alien on the Ark either, but we did," I reminded him. Where's your sense of adventure? Now, come on! Henclu and Zorral need us!"
"Well they'll have to manage without me because I'm not going back in that cave if you pay me." Jack sat down on the floor and refused to budge no matter how hard I argued and pleaded with him.
In the end, Ken grabbed hold of Jack and dragged him to his feet, frog-marching him towards the submarine, or whatever it was. "You'll be safer with us than here alone," Ken told him. "And, besides, we might as well try and find out exactly what that creature is while we're at it."
"Could it be some kind of native Pokemon?" Bianca asked, clutching her Xatu's Poke Ball as she spoke. She had not been in the Forbidden Cave when the monster appeared and only knew about it because of the warning the Captain had given afterwards.
I shouldered my Eevee and checked Meowth's Poke Ball was secure. "That's what we're about to try and find out," I told her.
Once we were all safely in the strange submarine-like craft, Henclu pressed a few buttons on the control panel. "Converting to aquatic mode," she said to no-one in particular.
As we descended into the crystal clear waters of the underground lake, I wondered for the umpteenth time what surprises lay in store for us now.
Max
I didn't like the thought of going back into that cave because of what happened to me last time. But I went anyway, since I might get to see what I had been running from.
Emily
"It's OK, Eevee," I whispered to the cute Pokemon curled in my lap. "We're gonna be OK." But I wished I could be as certain as I sounded. Ever since we arrived on Terranova - I still called it that despite knowing that this was Valdas, my ancestral home - it seemed that we had gone from one crisis to another. I sometimes wondered if we would ever be able to settle down here and get on with our lives.
"I hope this thing holds up," Ken was saying to Henclu.
Henclu, at the submarine's controls, turned round and smiled. "It's made of Valdasium and that's the strongest metal on this planet," she said. "So it should . . ." She was cut off abruptly as something unidentified appeared on the radar. "We've got company," she informed us as she made to steer us out of the path of whatever it was.
Then I saw it through the windscreen, a monstrous abomination of slimy tentacles and huge teeth that looked like they could do some serious damage. "My God!" I gasped. "What is that thing!"
It was Zorral's turn to look at us all gravely. "That," she said, "is a Margasel."
"Marga what?!" exclaimed Jack, who would have disembarked there and then if he'd had the chance.
"A Margasel," Zorral repeated. "A fierce aquatic creature native to this planet."
"Whatever it is," said Vicky, "we've got to get out of here!"
Max
As The Margasel started roaring, screeching and screaming, I knew this wasn't the thing that chased me in that tunnel. That creature had sounded different, sounded fiercer.
"Are there any other creatures in here?" I asked the Valdasians. "Bigger than that thing, I mean."
"Not that I know of," Henclu said.
"Nothing that's been proved to exist anyway," added Zorral.
I didn't like the sound of that . . .
Emily
"For God's sake, Henclu! Pull up!" DS yelled as the Margasel rammed us. None of us had ever experienced anything like it; that creature seemed hell bent on doing as much damage as it could and, even though the sub was made of Valdasium, we wondered how long it could stand up to such punishment.
"That's what I'm trying to do!" Henclu shot back. "But that thing won't get off our tail!"
"I wonder why it's attacking us," commented Marle, who stared down at the Poke Ball containing her Ninetales as if for the last time.
"I'm not sure," Ken said from where he was staring at the Margasel with revolted fascination. "But it might be because . . ."
He was cut off as the Margasel rammed us broadside, smashing through the windscreen and causing us to start taking on water. We all screamed as it darted towards us as a predator darts towards its prey and made to swim to the surface as fast as we could; none of us wanted to end our days as Margasel fodder.
Then, the creature grabbed Bianca, who was the weakest swimmer out of the group, and began to drag her back under the water. I didn't stop to think before swimming after it, not wanting to let anyone suffer the fate that awaited her if I didn't do something. As I drew level with the Margasel, I could feel my forehead getting hot again and wondered what would happen if I used my Fire powers underwater. I did not have to wait long to find out. Suddenly, the water began to heat up and I was catapulted through the air on a huge jet of steam. Landing, I found the others gathered around me looking relieved and scared at the same time.
"Wow!" Kate said, holding her hand against her forehead. "That was really something, Emily!"
"Looks to me like Margasels can't stand hot water," added Faye. "I guess having a Fire Valdasian around has some advantages."
I looked at the others; all of them appeared to be present except for Bianca. For a moment, my heart sank. Metaphorically speaking, of course. "Bianca?" I called, rushing to get back into the water and search for her no matter how long it took or what state she was in when I found her.
"She got blasted out at the same time as you," Zorral informed me. One of her wings seemed to be damaged and she was holding it limply. "But," she added as I ushed to where Ken, Trent and Marle were gathered round something, "she's taken quite a beating."
Marle
"She's not breathing!" I exclaimed as I knelt beside Bianca. "Who knows CPR?"
Ken had already started the resuscitation process by the time I'd finished speaking. I knew a little CPR and I watched Ken to refresh my memory of the classes I took back on Earth. When he got tired, I took over.
We were about to switch back when Bianca coughed and started spitting up water. We turned her head to the side so she wouldn't choke while we checked the rest of her injuries. The Margasel had grabbed Bianca by the ankle when it tried to drag her under and, somewhere in all the chaos, it had simply snapped the bones. She could have broken some ribs as well, what with all the thrashing. But it was too dark to tell the full extent of her injuries, so we'd have to transport her somehow.
