Chapter Eleven

Emily

We knew we had to get Bianca to safety, even if that meant returning to the Colony. And we would have a lot of explaining to do because, not only had we gone into the Forbidden Cave against the instructions of the grown ups, we also had two Valdasians with us. "What are we gonna do about . . .?" I asked, nodding towards Henclu and Zorral.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Ken replied from where he and Max were carrying Bianca on a makeshift stretcher. "Right now, we need to get Bianca seen to."

"What next?" I wondered out loud as, with Eevee perched on my shoulder and Meowth's Poke Ball in my pocket, I walked with my friends.

So much had happened lately that I could hardly keep track of it all. Not only had I found out that I was descended from an alien race, it had turned out that this planet I had been taken to was the one my ancestors had come from.

We still had the matter of Henclu and Zorral to deal with - and there was no concealing what they were. I could easily pass as an ordinary girl, but their wings immediately marked them out as alien. Indeed, looking at them, I was reminded of a Christmas card my sister Rowena sent me a couple of years before the comet; it showed an angel in a long red robe with her wings spread out wide. Could it be that angels were, in fact, Air Valdasians?

Faye was still a little suspicious of the Captain's motives and it took a lot of persuading to get her to tell him about Henclu and Zorral. To our surprise, he just nodded as if he had known about them all along. "Frankly, I wasn't expecting them to make contact so soon," was all he said.

"Expecting who to make contact?" asked Marle. "I don't understand . . ."

The Captain looked at us as he pondered what to say next. "The original inhabitants of this world," he told us. "You see, we haven't been entirely honest with you. This planet was not chosen because it was the first Earth-like world we came across. Rather, the Ark's Crew picked up a signal - an SOS, if you will - coming from here." He turned to his desk, flicked on his playback equipment and fiddled about with it for a moment, before a familiar screeching sound pierced the air. Even though the volume was turned down low, it was still impossible to endure for more than a few seconds. "That's the signal we picked up," the Captain told us as he switched the machine off.

"So that's what that noise we heard the other day was," commented Jack.

"You've heard this before? Where?" the Captain asked him.

"In the forest while we were looking for Vicky," Jack replied.

"I see," the Captain remarked. "It's going to take some time to deal with all this."

With that, he sent us back to the Colony, telling us to wait until he called us back. I decided to go straight to the medical hut and tell Bianca what was happening and headed there to find Kate sitting with her Oddish on her lap.

"How's Bianca doing?" I asked.

"They say she's going to be OK," she said. "She's sleeping right now."


Max

We were all given a quick check-up to make sure we were OK.

Later, I was woken by a crash and ran outside. In the middle of the Lake, a great beast was emerging from the water. As it did so, it pushed water out of the Lake and knocked over nearby trees; this was the crashing I'd heard. I knew it wasn't a Margasel. It looked like a mix between Gyarados and the Legendary Birds, Lugia and Articuno.


Emily

I was just returning form the medical hut, where Bianca was in a fairly stable condition, when Max came running up to me. "Emily, you gotta come see this!" he said in an excited rush.

"See what?" I asked, wondering what it was he had discovered. "What's going on?"

He took a deep breath and began to explain. "I was up at Lake Arrival when I saw it. An enormous creature that looked like a cross between a Gyarados, a Lugia and an Articuno!"

"And I suppose you want to investigate," I said, rolling my eyes. To be honest, we'd been doing a lot of investigating lately, though that was only to be expected on an unfamiliar planet, and the novelty was starting to wear thin.

"No . . . I mean, yes," Max stammered, unsure whether or not he wanted to go and find out what the creature he had seen was. "Er, maybe we should ask Henclu and Zorral; this is their world and they know more about it than we do," he suggested at last.

I went off to look for Henclu and Zorral, hoping they could tell me what the creature was. And then there were some other questions I wanted to ask my fellow Valdasians. What exactly had happened at the Doomsday? Why hadn't we found any ruined cities? Finally, where were all the other Valdasians? I was just mulling these questions over in my head when I ran into Faye, DS and Vicky.

"What's going on?" asked Vicky.

"Have any of you seen Henclu and Zorral?" I asked them.


Ken

"What is that?"

I glanced over my shoulder to find Trent pointing at the strange metallic object I was looking over. "Hi, Trent," I said. "No, I don't know what this is. I just appropriated it from that Valdasian craft we were in."

"You stole something?"

I gave Trent an exasperated look. "Well, it would've been pretty useful at the bottom of that underground lake," I said, carefully turning the object over in my hands. "What do you make of it?"

"Looks like a cross between a portable TV and a fax machine with a bit of toaster thrown in," Trent said. "D'you know how to turn it on?"

"No idea," I replied. "And I'm in no hurry to either; it could have a defense mechanism." I stood up, put the device in my pack and suggested we check up on Bianca.

"Sure. Sounds good," Trent said.

I glanced round at the Colony. The first farms had been established and the inside of the Ark had been converted into a rudimentary factory, while the prefabricated shelters were being replaced with proper concrete and titanium structures. I wondered if we would be able to find some Valdasium to alloy with titanium.

Once we got near the medical hut, we spotted Faye, DS, Vicky, Max and Emily gathered outside.

"What's this all about?" asked Trent.

"I dunno. You go on inside and I'll catch up with you," I said as I approached the group.


Emily

"What's going on?" Ken asked as he approached us.

"Ken," I said in reply, "you haven't seen Henclu and Zorral, have you? Only Max saw something out in Lake Arrival and he figured they might know something about it."

Ken looked like he was about to reply, but it turned out that he didn't have to because Henclu and Zorral appeared on the scene at that moment. Both of them were walking since Zorral's wing still hadn't recovered from the mauling it received from the Margasel.

"That was good timing," DS told them. "Emily was just saying she wanted to ask you about something Max saw."

"Looks like we saved you the trouble," said Henclu. She turned to Max. "Tell me, what did you see?"

Max took a deep breath and began to explain. "A creature in the Lake," he told them. "It was huge, sort of like a cross between Gyarados, Articuno and Lugia."

Henclu and Zorral looked at him blankly; they knew what a Gyarados was since two of them (a male and a female) had been brought to Terranova on the Ark. Owing to the size restrictions on passengers' Pokemon, none of them had brought one; these Gyarados were among the breeding pairs of Pokemon that had been saved before the comet hit. But, since Articuno and Lugia were Legendaries, it had been impossible to catch them in the short time that was available before the Ark had to leave Earth.

Faye, who was good at drawing, pulled out a notepad and pencil and proceeded to draw a couple of rough sketches of Articuno and Lugia. "That's what they looked like," she told the two Valdasians.

"So," I went on, "do you know of anything that looks like a mix of those two Pokemon with a bit of Gyarados thrown in?"

All of a sudden, there was a commotion as a group of colonists who'd been over by Lake Arrival came running back with expressions of sheer terror etched on their faces. One of them, a boy named Ronan, whose Pokemon was a Beedrill, managed to gasp out the words: "It's . . . gigantic!"

"What's gigantic?" asked Vicky.

"A creature . . . out in the Lake! It just . . . soared out of the water!"

"What did it look like?" I asked, wondering if what Ronan and his group had seen could be the same creature Max was talking about.

"We had the video camera with us, so we managed to get a brief shot of it," Ronan told us. With that, he switched on the portable computer he was carrying and loaded up a video file. For a brief moment, the image of a creature with a blue body and flowing tail like Articuno, wings like Lugia and a face like a Gyarados, without the crest of bone at the neck, appeared on the screen.

"That's the thing I saw!" gasped Max.

Henclu and Zorral looked at us with serious expressions on their faces. "There's only one thing that could be," Henclu told us, pointing to the image on the screen.

"What?" Max demanded. "What is it?"

"The thing all Valdasians hoped they'd seen the back of after the Doomsday," Zorral replied. "The Devontrania."

"What exactly is a Devontrania?" I asked, wishing fervently that this planet would quit springing surprises on us.

In reply, Zorral began to tell us about the Devontrania, creatures that Fire, Water and Earth Valdasians used as steeds. For many centuries, the people of Valdas lived peacefully alongside these magnificent beasts, until the day came when war broke out between the four races. Then, one of the four - no-one had ever been sure which, beyond a firm conviction that it wasn't their race - began corrupting the Devontrania and training them for war. But the creatures were too powerful and began to rampage out of control.

"It was a dreadful time according to the Histories," Zorral said. "With war raging and Devontrania causing havoc, nobody felt safe."

"We thought the Devontrania were wiped out in the Doomsday," Henclu added. "But now . . ." She paused with a frown on her face. " . . . now I'm beginning to wonder."

The appearance of the Devontrania gave us fresh cause for concern. So far, there had been no trouble, but, from what Henclu and Zorral told us, it was only a question of time before it started causing havoc.

We were all uneasy and our Pokemon could sense it. I was sitting beside Bianca with Meowth and Eevee beside me, both of them refusing point blank to let me out of their sight, when Faye and Vicky came in with their own Pokemon.

"How's she doing?" Faye asked, nodding towards Bianca.

"Holding up," I replied. "To be honest, I'm surprised she survived that Margasel attack. I know I probably had a lot to do with it, but still . . ."

I was cut off abruptly as the sky darkened as the we were in the path of an eclipse and a loud screeching noise echoed throughout the Colony. Meowth and Eevee whimpered softly and I stroked them reassuringly as Faye and Vicky did the same with their Pokemon.

"What's going on?!" Vicky yelled, her eyes wide with fear.

She received her answer when the door opened and Marle burst in. "Grab your Pokemon and run!" she ordered us. "We're under attack from that Devontrania thing!"


Vicky

When I heard what it was, the one thing I thought about was getting Bianca to safety. Ditto couldn't help since it needed to see a Pokemon before it could transform, so I asked the others if they could help.

"What about Ninetales?" Marle asked.

"Perfect," I said.

Marle sent Ninetales out and helped Bianca onto her back. She gave Ninetales some instructions and let her go.


Emily

The whole Colony was a scene of mass confusion as people raced to get out of the path of the rampaging Devontrania.

As I raced for cover with Marle, Vicky and Faye - Bianca was riding on Marle's Ninetales since she wasn't fit enough to run yet - I saw Jack arguing with his Wobbuffet. As usual, the blue Pokemon was spacing out, acting as if nothing was amiss and this was something which happened as a matter of course. Jack, meanwhile, was trying to get his Wobbuffet to move or be caught in the line of fire.

"Wobbuffet, come on!" he yelled as he struggled to pull the Wobbuffet along.

Wobbuffet's only response was to slap himself on the head and start shouting in that annoying tone so typical of his kind. "Wobba wobba wobba!"

"You dumb creature! Can't you see we're being attacked?!" Jack grabbed his Wobbuffet by the hand and began to drag him away. It made me wonder about the bonds that exist between a trainer and his or her Pokemon; Jack often complained about what a liability his Wobbuffet was, but, deep down, he clearly loved the blue blob.

"You OK there, Jack?" I called as I drew level with him. "You'd better get undercover before that Devontrania gets any closer!"

"Sure!" Jack called back. "As soon as I can get this great blob to make a move!"

I glanced back at the wreckage of what had once been our Colony, now smashed to pieces by the Devontrania. Then, just as I was wondering where we were going to go now, a giant shadow loomed over us and I heard the thunderous beating of wings.

"Get down!" yelled Ken's voice as he appeared on the scene with Pads at his side and Trent and Ronan running behind him.


Marle

"This is insane!" I shouted over the chaos.

A regular stampede of humans and Pokemon had trampled the ground beneath them as they searched desperately for a refuge from the creature wreaking havoc behind us. I noticed Jane in the crowd and pushed my way towards her. "Ninetales is taking Bianca to safety," I explained. "I need Espeon back; I can't face this thing without a Pokemon."

Jane's eyes widened in surprise. "You're actually going to face that thing?!"

I nodded. "I promise, if we survive this, I'll catch you whatever Pokemon you want."

"No problem!" She tossed me the Poke Ball and ran on with the group.

I slowed to a stop and turned to face whatever that creature might have to throw at me. I opened Espeon's Poke Ball and my loyal Pokemon appeared before me, cooing happily now that she was reunited with her original owner.

"I know, I missed you too!" I said with a laugh. "Come on! We've got a Devontrania to fight!"


Max

When I saw someone confronting the Devontrania, I had to go back.

I was too far away to see who it was, but, when I got closer, I saw that it was Marle and Espeon. "Hey! Don't try fighting it alone!" I yelled.

I let out my Abra as I ran and told him to get ready to use a Psychic Attack.


Emily

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Marle and Max actually preparing to fight the Devontrania with their Pokemon. Surely such a thing was suicidal.

The creature threw back its head and gave a bellowing cry as it prepared to launch into an attack. I had no idea what it was going to do, only a strong instinct that it was bound to be a really powerful attack and no ordinary Pokemon would be able to withstand it. Where was a Legendary when you needed one?

"Marle! Max! Get out of there!" I yelled as I drew level with them. I could feel Meowth's Poke Ball in my pocket, but did not dare let her out to face that thing that was attacking us. Eevee had, after a great deal of persuading, agreed to let Kate take him to safety. But my words came a second too late and, the next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground with Marle, Max, Espeon and Abra nearby. They had all been knocked out.

It was then that I knew we were in serious trouble and that knowledge was compounded moments later when Ronan came running up to me. "Have you seen my Beedrill's Poke Ball?" he asked. "I seem to have dropped it in the crush."

"No, I . . ."

Before I could complete my sentence, the Devontrania swooped down on us, grabbed Ronan by the back of his shirt and began to carry him away. It was then that I knew I had to do something to stop it. I was of Valdasian descent so, hopefully, I had the power to vanquish it, at least temporarily. I drew myself up to my full height and stared up as the Devontrania.

"Let him go!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.