Chapter Twelve

Vicky

I turned around when I heard Marle shouting that this was insane and kicked a rock since I was going the wrong way. I pushed past the others and ran into the fray.

As I got closer, I saw the Devontrania take Ronan. I had to think quickly. I sent out Ditto and told it to Transform into the Devontrania.


Emily

I watched as Vicky climb onto the Ditto-Devontrania's back and heard her order it to take her into the air. Then, as I watched in horror, I saw the real Devontrania drop Ronan and turn its attention to Vicky. It was then that I realised what must be happening, that the Devontrania must be defending its territory, thinking the Ditto was another of its kind.

"Vicky! Look out!" I yelled as, heedless of the danger, I ran between the two battling creatures. The Devontrania launched itself at Vicky's Ditto, firing a powerful beam of energy that caused the Ditto to resume its usual pink blob shape and sent Vicky plummeting to the ground.

I quickly ran forward and caught her in my arms. "Nice catch, Emily," she said as I set her down on the ground. Then, before I knew what was happening, I felt my head get hot again, like it did the day I scorched that tree, and a surge of energy coursed through my body as I became a living pillar of fire . . .

Struck full on the flank by my hot flames, the Devontrania screeched in pain and flew off back to wherever it had come from. But I knew we hadn't seen the last of it; it was bound to attack again sooner or later and five kids alone in the wilderness would be a perfect target. Even though I could probably hold it back with my fire powers, I couldn't do so indefinitely.

"Come on!" I told my friends. Marle and Max had recovered, as had Espeon and Abra. "Let's go find the others! Did any of you see where they went?"

Ronan pointed. "Down to the tunnels with Henclu and Zorral," he told me. "But I'm not going anywhere without Beedrill."

I was about to tell him to forget his Beedrill and come on; after all, he had nearly been killed because of it. But, before I could speak, Vicky produced something out of her skirt pocket. "Does this belong to you?" she asked as she handed Ronan a Sport Ball, one of the green Poke Balls they used to use for the Bug Catching Contest near Goldenrod City.

Ronan nodded. "Thanks. That Beedrill won me the Bug Catching Contest back on Earth," he said. "So I couldn't just . . ."

"Anyway," I cut in, "hadn't we better go join the others?"


Ken

"Come on! Move it!"

More and more people ran past me to another hidden cave, another entrance to Terranova's tunnel system.

"Is that everyone?" Jane called from behind me.

I shook my head. "I haven't seen Marle, Vicky . . ." A loud screech filled the air, cutting me off and causing some people to look round in alarm. "That'll be the Devontrania," I muttered. "It sounded like it was in pain."

Jane nodded. "I caught word that some security personnel were setting up an emplacement near here."

Then, Trent tapped me on the shoulder. "Ken, we got a transmission! The Ark's spaceward!"

"What?!"

"They're up!" Trent told me. "The Ark's taking off!"

My jaw dropped. "Why are they doing that?!" I demanded. "Most of the Colony's been devastate! We need the weapons!"

Trent shook his head. "They won't risk it while the Devontrania's around," he told me.

"The Ark's no combat ship, but it's still got enough fire power to level a city," I said. "Is there any way we can contact it?"

"No. I tried to tell 'em already, but the order's been given to head for orbit."

Jane looked downcast. "I can't believe the Captain would do such a thing," she said. "Why would he give such an order?"

"He didn't," said a voice. We all turned and there was the Captain, looking redder than a beetroot and angrier than I had ever seen him.


Emily

I ran towards the others with Vicky, Marle, Max and Ronan following in my wake, arriving just in time to hear the Captain ranting on about the "insubordinates" who had taken the Ark into orbit without permission.

I had a fairly good idea who these "insubordinates" were: people who didn't trust the Valdasians and wanted to chance it elsewhere rather than accept the help of an alien race. But that was no help to those of us who had been left behind; unless someone knew how to build a replacement Ark, we were stranded and at the mercy of the Devontrania. But I did not have long to think about this before Ken hustled me into the caves. "Hurry, Emily!" he urged. "We were getting worried about you." Then, he added that Henclu and Zorral had something to give me.

"Give me?" I echoed, wondering what surprises the two Valdasians had in store now.

"I don't know any more than you," Ken told me. "All I know is that Henclu asked specifically for you and my guess would be that it has something to do with you being a Valdasian too."

I pushed my way through the crowd of people as I kept an eye out for Henclu and Zorral. Luckily, their wings made them pretty easy to spot and I quickly found them talking to Kate and Faye. I sidled up to the girls and quietly alerted them to my presence.

They all turned as one and smiled at me. Then, Henclu reached into her pocket and produced a beautiful crystal on a silver chain. I could not identify the stone it was made from, but it was shaped like a large teardrop. I admired the way it sparkled in the artificial light of the cave. "It's . . . beautiful!"

"It's also the legacy of the Fire Valdasians," Henclu explained as she fastened it round my neck. "For centuries, it was passed from mother to daughter, but it disappeared after the Doomsday and wasn't rediscovered until last year. Since then, we've been keeping it safe, waiting for a female Fire Valdasian to wear it once again."

"But why does it have to be me?" I asked with a confused frown. "Aren't there any others who could wear it?"

Zorral shook her head. "There are no fire Valdasians on this planet apart from you; they all fled after the Doomsday. But all the other races - Water, Earth and Air - some of them stayed behind. And I think it's time your people met the rest of ours."

Kate handed my Eevee back to me and he licked my hand in greeting. Then, with Henclu and Zorral in the lead, our Colony of Earth survivors began to make its way further into the realm of the Valdasians.

Needless to say, some people were less than willing to trust them. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Jack as we made our way down a long and winding corridor. "What if they're leading us into a trap?"

"We'll have to take that chance," whispered DS, patting her Cyndaquil, Hinochi, who was perched on her shoulder. "For one thing, they might be able to help us against the Devontrania."

I sure hoped so; the last thing I wanted was to spend the rest of my life as a fugitive.


Vicky

Even though we were going to have to work with these people, I still didn't trust them. As we walked down the corridor, I watched Henclu and Zorral's every move.

We entered a room that seemed like any you might have seen on Earth, but I had to be careful not to trigger any hidden buttons because we didn't know how advanced their technology was. As I began searching for hidden trapdoors, Marle walked over to me. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I was . . . um . . . doing a dance to scare away the Devontrania," I said, hoping that Marle at least would not ask any more questions.


Emily

The room we were in seemed to have no exit that I could see. The only way in or out was via the door we had just come through and there had been no sign of anyone so far. So what had happened to the other Valdasians? I remembered Henclu and Zorral promising that we would meet the rest of their people in due course, so where were they?

My question was answered when Zorral stepped up to the far wall and pressed down on it with the palm of her hand. Suddenly, the wall slid aside like the one that had concealed the Valdasian sub (which had been left at the bottom of the underground lake after our run-in with the Margasel) and revealed the most fantastic sight any of us had seen since arriving on this planet.

An entire underground city lit by glowing orbs greeted our eyes. The "streets" - at least I assume one could call them that since there was no traffic, not even a Ponyta and cart - were thronged with Valdasians. A few had wings like Henclu and Zorral, so they were obviously Air Valdasians as well - but the rest were wingless and, if I hadn't known better, I would have assumed they were humans. But these were evidently the Earth and Water Valdasians Henclu had spoken of.

As our group entered the city, every Valdasian head turned to look at us as if they had never seen humans before. One of the males shouted something in his own language - I couldn't understand it because, being only partly Valdasian, I had no telepathic abilities - and a barrage of stones suddenly began pelting in our direction.

"Get out of the way!" Jack yelled as the stones continued to zoom after us.

"What's going on?" demanded Kate, clutching her Oddish's Poke Ball fearfully.

Her guess was as good as mine, but I couldn't exactly blame the Valdasian for being suspicious of strangers. Maybe, if I could convince him that I was one of his kind, he would cease his attack. Wasting no time, I gave Eevee to Kate and handed Meowth's Poke Ball to Faye, whispering instructions for both girls to keep an eye on my Pokemon while I did what I had to do. I steeled myself and stepped into the path of the flying stones.

"Emily!" I heard Vicky's voice call out. "Get out of there!"

"No, Vicky," Henclu told her. "Just watch."

Watch for what, exactly? That was what I was tempted to demand as I ducked and weaved in a bid to avoid the stones. But it turned out that I didn't have to bother because the pendant Henclu and Zorral had given me suddenly began to glow and, without even thinking about it, I was able to send blasts of fire through the palms of my hands, vaporising the stones.

As the last of the stones was reduced to dust, the Valdasian male looked at me in astonishment. "You - you wear the Pendant!" he said in perfect English. "Then, you must be a Fire Valdasian!"

"Yes, I am," I admitted. "At least partly. But why did you send those stones against us?"

"To test you," he told me. "I wanted to see if any of you showed courage in the face of danger and you did. You stood up and faced those stones without a thought to your own safety."

I laughed weakly. "To be honest, I was a little scared," I admitted.

"But you faced them anyway," he told me. "And that takes . . . Sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Daumos and I'm an Earth Valdasian."

I had already gathered as much. "My name's Emily," I told him. "And these are my friends from Earth. Or at least most of them are," I added, glancing round at Henclu and Zorral. "And we seek your people's help against the Devontrania."


Max

As I was walking around aimlessly, I collided with a tall humanoid being. "Um . . . hello," I said. "Are you another Valdasian? What kind are you? You don't look like an Air Valdasian; you don't have wings. Are you an Earth or a Water Valdasian?"

I was drenched in water in seconds.

"OK, that kinda shows you're a Water Valdasian - nice to meet you," I said. "I'm Max and I'm friends with Henclu and Zorral - and a Fire Valdasian too. Who are you?"

His only reply was to say something in his native language and drench me again.

"I think I'll go now," I said as I retreated, keeping out of range of his water.

Then, I ran into a long tunnel and found a huge pit. Unfortunately, I found the pit by falling into it.


Ken

"So, this Devontrania is something you can't handle yourselves?" asked Daumos.

"No, not since our ship left with most of our weapons," the Captain cut in, striding purposefully up to Daumos. "I am Captain Monash, acting leader of this group."

So the Captain's name was Monash. He'd never told us that and I guessed I should have looked at the Crew rosters.

Daumos spoke to a nearby Valdasian in his own language and led Monash down the main road in the direction of a huge construction that reached to the roof of the cave. Then, the Valdasian Daumos had spoken to addressed us. "Please listen," he said. "We have established a refugee camp on the outskirts of our city. If you will follow me . . ."

"Does anyone else have a bad feeling about this?" asked Jack. "I wonder what surprises that camp has in store."

"Your pessimism was not requested, Jack," I told him. "Besides, I'm not sure how well we'd do without their help."

Jack nodded. "Still, I didn't mind when we were out on our own," he said. "No rules, no control . . ."

"What about having no protection?" I reminded him. "And we're here now, so you'd better go with the flow and see what happens."

"What if I don't like what happens?" Jack asked.

"Well, come to me and we can sort something out," I said with a grin on my face.


Marle

"Well, this is yet another lovely mess we've gotten into," I muttered to myself. I was starting to feel more and more like the anti-social one of the group, talking to myself all the time. Or maybe just the psychotic one. But what difference did it make in the long run?

We reached the refugee camp after hiking to the outskirts for about five minutes. It consisted of a wide, empty field-like area, completely devoid of anything useful. "They sure set that up in a hurry, didn't they?" I remarked sarcastically. I fingered my Poke Balls unconsciously, remembering that I owed Jane a Pokemon as soon I could get out and catch one.


Max

As I woke up, I wished I hadn't; it was just as dark, if not darker, when my eyes were open.

I got up and felt around to find myself in a very large area. I decided it was best to stay still.

"Help!" I yelled. But there was no reply and I went back to sleep in the hope of waking up elsewhere.


Emily

It was while we were assembling in the area the Valdasians had set aside for us that I noticed Jane didn't have Espeon with her.

"Espeon never really belonged to me," she said when I asked her about this. "I was just looking after her for Marle."

Presently, Daumos and some of his fellow Valdasians came to tell us what they had decided.

"For many years, the Devontrania has been the stuff of legend, a story told to frighten our children," he told us. "But our records show that, long ago,this creature was a dangerous reality. And, in the light of the recent discovery of a living specimen, it is clear that we must work together in order to drive this menace out of our lives."

"Just so long as this doesn't involve putting our lives on the line," muttered Jack.

Ronan glared at him. "Listen, you," he said angrily. "That thing nearly killed me; I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for Emily. So, if fighting it means joining forces with the Valdasians, I'm in."

After Daumos and his people had left, I sat down on the ground and let Meowth out of her Poke Ball. She and Eevee promptly ran off to play together and I wished I could be a Pokemon and not have to worry about Margasels, or Devontrania, or comets crashing into planets. I sometimes wondered if things would ever get back to normal, or as normal as they could get around here.