Chapter 9 – Andrew In Trouble! An Unexpected Hero
Zac uses Andrew's torch to throw light in the direction the "scientist" directed. The two boys and their Pokémon make their way to the ladder. They climb up cautiously in the dark. When they reach the top, they find themselves in a pretty large cavern. It's not nearly as dark as the little cavern they just climbed out of. Zac looks around and sighs.
"It would've been nice if he told us what a Moon Stone looks like," he complains. He turns to look at Andrew... to find he isn't there. "I can't believe it," Zac mutters. He starts walking around the cavern looking for Andrew. He tells Beedrill and Squirtle to split up and help. Within two minutes, Andrew pounces out from behind a rock and tackles Beedrill to the ground. It buzzes loudly in pain as it tries to get Andrew off it.
"ANDREW!" Zac bellows. "Get off my Beedrill, NOW!" Andrew obeys, laughing. "Now, Beedrill, use String-" Zac doesn't need to finish his command. Andrew is already getting wrapped up in the glistening white string shooting out of Beedrill's mouth.
Andrew starts to cry as Zac drags him along the cave floor. "Well, you shouldn't be so freakin' hyper!" Zac yells. Andrew ignores him and keeps on crying.
Zac, Squirtle, and Pikachu comb the cavern for weird-looking rocks while Beedrill guards Andrew to make sure he doesn't escape. After what seems like forever, Zac and the Pokémon search the entire cavern and come out empty-handed. Zac sighs.
"All right, let's go into the next area... There's another ladder behind that rock over there."
They search that cavern, and another one after that. They find a bunch of wild Pokémon, but no different-looking stones. In the third cavern, however, they run into somebody. It's another man wearing a white lab coat. He looks distressed.
"Hi, what's the matter?" Zac says while walking up to him from behind.
The man nearly jumps through the rocky ceiling. He turns and looks wildly at the strange group. He eyes the Pokémon and the tied-up Andrew, who is no longer crying but snoring pretty loudly. "Wh-who are you? How did you get here?"
"I'm Zac, and this Andrew," Zac says, pointing at the tied-up boy he's dragging. "Another scientist asked to help him find a Moon Stone. Are you looking for one, too?"
The man looks confused. "Well, yeah, but... what do you mean by 'another scientist'? I'm the only one here." Zac shakes his head. "Nope, another guy told us he's a scientist and he needs to find a Moon Stone to create the ultimate Pokémon and use it for scientific-" "WHAT!" the scientist exclaims, interrupting Zac. "No, kid, this is not good. That wasn't a scientist; he was just pretending!" He shook his head. "There's been a gang of anonymous criminals trying to find a Moon Stone. It seems they already have all the other evolutionary stones. I mean, I highly doubt there is an "ultimate Pokémon" formed by the Stones. But still... they are criminals..."
"How come they haven't been caught yet?" Zac asks.
"Well... they aren't technically criminals," the man admits sheepishly. "But in my book, anyone pretending to be scientists for whatever reason is up to no good." Zac shrugs. "I can understand that." He suddenly feels embarrassed. (I can't believe I fell for that... I'll be sure to be more careful around strangers from now on. I don't wanna get tricked like this ever again...)
"Well, listen," Zac says, "why don't I keep looking for this Moon Stone? I'll give it to you instead if I find it. And then, can you help me and my friends get out of this cave?" "It's a deal," the scientist agrees, shaking Zac's hand. "I'll finish searching this cavern... You and your friends go into the next place and- Hey, wait. Where's that kid?"
Zac looks at the spot Andrew was laying a few seconds ago. His bindings are laying on the floor. They aren't cut or anything; it looks like Andrew somehow struggled out of the rope without anyone noticing. The Pokémon look just as confused as Zac and the scientist. Zac cracks his knuckles. "When I find that kid..." He takes a deep breath and calms down. The scientist points to yet another ladder. "Check down there," he says. "I'll stay here."
At that moment, a very loud sound like an explosion reaches their ears and the whole cavern shakes. A lot of dust and loose pebbles fall from the ceiling. Zac returns his Beedrill and starts running toward the ladder, Squirtle and Pikachu tailing close behind. (That explosion... it came from down there!) Zac thinks to himself in panic.
Bulbasaur has just defeated another angry Geodude. "Man," Chris mutters to himself, "what's up with all the Geodude here? They all attack us as soon as they see us!"
That's when they hear the explosion. It sounds like it came from far underneath the cave. The explosion sounds so distant, but both Chris and Bulbasaur felt a tremor from it.
"Holy crap..." Chris says in amazement. "I wonder if Zac and/or Andrew had anything to do with that... Actually, I really wouldn't be surprised if they caused it..."
Bulbasaur sweat-drops and mumbles in agreement. Chris looks down at her. "Hey, you wanna go look for them? They might need our help." Bulbasaur firmly shakes her head. "Bulba!" she declares. Chris can only guess what she is saying. He nods his head. "Yeah, you're right; we might get lost. I'm sure Zac is fine, and I'm sure he's making sure Andrew is fine, too."
Bulbasaur gives Chris a look that seems to say, "I don't know about Andrew..."
An amazing sight reaches Zac's eyes when he reaches the bottom of the ladder. The wall to his left has a huge, smoking hole in it. The rough edges are charred. It looks like that wall has just been introduced to dynamite, and it doesn't seem like the two got along very well; the wall looks like it's about to collapse.
Zac spots Andrew sitting Indian-style in the middle of the cavern, facing in the opposite direction of the blasted wall. He's looking at a Pokéball gleefully. Zac walks up to him and taps him on the shoulder. He whirls his head around and gives Zac a wide grin. "Hi! I just caught a Zubat! All on my own, too! Well, actually, Mankey helped me. I love my Mankey."
Zac looks from Andrew to the wall and back to Andrew again. "What did you do?" he inquires with a weary sigh. A truly confused expression crosses the eccentric boy's face. "Huh? What are you talking about?" "Um... the wall that just exploded," Zac says. "What did you do to it?" "What exploded wall?" Andrew asks innocently. Zac can tell he is not playing around; he really has no idea what just happened.
Zac sighs. "Look behind me." Zac steps to the side so Andrew can see what Zac was standing in front of a second ago. Andrew's eyes widen. "Wow! The wall esplode!" Zac sighs again. "Yes, Andrew, the wall esplode. Now, do you have any idea what happened?" Andrew shakes his head. With a smile, he shrinks his Zubat's Pokéball, puts it in his backpack, and stands up to stand next to Zac and stare at the wall with him. Without even saying anything, Andrew starts to walk into the room beyond the blasted wall.
"Hey, Andrew, wait up!" Zac calls after him. He, Squirtle, and Pikachu run to catch up to Andrew.
"Hey, Bulbasaur!" Chris calls. "I think Paras has found something!"
Bulbasaur runs over to where Chris and his new Paras are standing. Paras is looking at a somewhat concealed ladder and hissing excitedly. Bulbasaur smiles and approaches the ladder. Chris returns Paras and walks up to the ladder, too.
"Hmmm... Well, this is the direction Zac and Andrew ran off in... Maybe we should try going down this ladder." Chris looks down the ladder. His eyes go small, his forehead turns blue, and he jumps away from the ladder trembling in fright. "D-d-d-d-dark! S-s-s-so dark!" Bulbasaur sighed and tried to push Chris towards the hole, but Chris is so busy being scared and fat, he doesn't even notice. She then Vine Whipped him in the ass, causing him to yelp in pain and fall down the ladder hole. Bulbasaur laughs at her master's scream of terror and leaps down after him.
"Andrew! Hurry! I saw feet on the top of that ladder!"
Zac, Andrew, and their two Pokémon sprint across the cavern towards the ladder. Zac knows he just saw feet disappear at the top of that ladder, and Pikachu seems to agree with him; its ears are twitching in the direction of the ladder.
When Zac and Andrew make it to the top of the ladder, they quickly turn their heads to take in the entire room. No one is there. Question marks pop up over Zac's head as he looks around. "Wow... they're fast..." Andrew sighs. "If only I had some choc-chip cookies..." Zac looks at him. "Choc-chip? How come you can't say 'chocolate chip' like a normal person?" Andrew shakes his head. "Normal person?" he says. "No, that's not possible. Let's look for shiny rocks now." Andrew walks up to a wall of the cavern and starts running his had over it, squinting at it as he walks along it. Zac just stands there and watches him, trying to think of what to do next...
It all seems to happen in slow motion. The wall Andrew is searching explodes from the other side... The rocks come tumbling down... When the dust clears, Andrew and Pikachu are nowhere in sight.
"ANDREW!" Zac screams. He and Squirtle run over to the huge pile of rocks and start heaving rocks off to the side. "No... he's buried in there... He's gonna die...!"
His muttering is interrupted by a pair of sinister chuckles. Zac looks up. On the other side of the wall, looking at them through the newly made hole, are two men. One of them Zac recognizes...
"Hey! You're that guy who told us about the ultimate Pokémon! The scientist was right; you are a criminal!"
The man laughed even louder at this. "I can't believe you thought otherwise! It's not smart to trust strangers, kid..." He and his accomplice both laugh loudly at this. Squirtle squeals in delight. He just found Andrew's head. His eyes are closed, he's bleeding, and he's not moving. Zac helps Squirtle uncover Pikachu laying near him.
Zac loses control. He has never truly snapped before in his life. He charges at the laughing bastard in front of him. They are both surprised when he tackles him to the ground; neither of them expected him to be strong enough. Not only that, Zac is sitting on his chest now, pinning him to the ground, and is repeatedly punching him in the face.
A third man comes down a ladder on the criminals' side of the wall. He's holding a bright white stone and a small duffle bag. "I found it!" he yells.
The second man pulls Zac off the first man and throws him into a wall. Zac is hurt now, and he is too dazed to get up. He watches everything happen as if he is watching from a different world...
Squirtle screams and runs up to the criminals. He uses a strong Water Gun to blast the second man away. The first one runs up to him and kicks him. He, too, hits the wall and doesn't get up. He releases a strange Pokémon Zac has never seen before. It is a dog. It's pure black and has bright white, long, and sharp teeth. It's barking loudly at Zac and Squirtle, making sure they don't get up. Zac isn't watching the dog, though...
The third man eagerly dumps the contents of the duffle bag onto the ground. They are different-colored stones, and most have a design of some type on them. Zac recognizes them as the complete set of evolutionary stones. He drops the Moon Stone onto the pile.
After a few agonizingly long seconds, the pile starts to glow...
Suddenly, a white ball comes flying out of nowhere. It is rolling on the ground so fast, rocks are flying up behind it. It plows over the pile of rocks, scattering them everywhere and stopping the process. It hits the dog solidly in the face. The dog goes flying and copies Zac and Squirtle by ramming into the wall and not getting up. The ball stops rolling.
It's a Jigglypuff.
And it's not just any Jigglypuff. It takes out a microphone and glares at the criminals. It raises the mike to its lips and opens its mouth...
"Jiiiigalyyy puuuuuf, jigaaalyyy-" (A/N – It's singing. Get it: P )
"No!" Zac yells. He quickly presses his hands against his ears as hard as he can. He is surprised to find out that it works. He watches as everyone around him falls asleep. Jigglypuff lowers the mike and looks around. Zac waits for it to puff up and reveal the marker tip on the mike...
However, it does no such thing. It looks around happily. Zac slowly gets up. Jigglypuff greets him cheerfully.
"So... you saved us... You stopped those criminals... Thank you so much..." "Jigglypuff!" it responds with a big smile.
A loud sound and a flash of light startle both Zac and Jigglypuff. A Pokémon was just released. It's a Graveler. It uses Rock Throw on Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff gets crushed under the rocks. It struggles to get the rocks off, but the balloon Pokémon is just too weak.
Graveler slowly starts to approach Jigglypuff. It has a sinister grin on its face...
A jet of water hits Graveler square in its side and sends it flying back. Zac turns his head to see Squirtle. He is barely able to stand, and he looks hurt, but he's glaring defiantly at Graveler. Before Zac can even congratulate his Pokémon, something else starts happening...
The third man, who released the Graveler, is putting all the stones back together. At the same time, his two companion are getting up. They're smiling evilly. "Looks like you all failed," said the first man with a smirk. The third man puts the Leaf Stone into the pile, and the stones start to glow again...
The rocks are once again interrupted. This time, the sound of a gunshot causes everyone to jump, and the bullet hits the pile, causing some of the rocks to go flying out of it. Zac turns to look through the hole that was blasted in the wall earlier. Standing in it is a scientist with a revolver in his hand. It's the same guy that told Zac about the criminal. Zac's eyes go wide in shock.
"The name is Gray," he declares. He takes out a wallet and flips it open, revealing a large silver badge with an ornate "K" on it. "I'm an agent of the Kanto Militia, and you three are under arrest."
"What!" everyone cries. Zac is shocked that there is a such thing as a military force in the world of Pokémon; the three criminals are shocked that they just got arrested.
"What for?" they protest loudly. "We're just looking for a Moon Stone, we're just collectors..."
"Oh," Agent Gray sneers. "First, you're scientists, and now you're collectors. Is that how it goes?" He chuckles darkly. "No... you're under arrest for disturbing the Pokémon wildlife of this cave. Plus, I have a feeling you don't have a license for using explosives, do you?" The criminals growl in defeat.
After Agent Gray searches them and binds their hands with handcuffs, he turns toward the rock beneath which Andrew and Pikachu are buried. He wordlessly starts lifting rocks off the pile. Zac tries to help, but his head hurts too much from being thrown into a stone cave wall.
Very soon, however, a group of construction workers and paramedics rush to the scene. The workers clear all the rock necessary for the paramedics to extract the boy and his Pokémon from the rubble. A big, black man among the construction workers walk over to Zac and shakes his hand.
"The name's Dartagnan Lewis," he says in a very quiet and deep voice. It's hard to distinguish his features in the darkness, but he is definitely a very, very big man, and most of it is from sheer muscle. (A/N – Pronounced Dartanian, in case you didn't realize that. You know, the full name for Dart. Yeah.) "I'm Zac Merlo," Zac says. "Thanks for coming down to help Andrew." "No problem," Dartagnan replies quietly. Zac gets the feeling he is a very soft spoken person despite his intimidating hugeness.
As the paramedics work together to get Andrew and Pikachu up the ladder, Chris and Bulbasaur run towards Zac and Squirtle. "What happened?" Chris asks in shock. Zac sighs wearily and sits down, rubbing his head. "Long story. I'll tell you later on tonight."
Dartagnan kneels down beside Zac and looks intently into his eyes. Zac starts to feel uncomfortable, and then... "You have a concussion. Come on; let's get you up that ladder."
Chris watches in shock as Dartagnan helps Zac up the ladder and out of sight. Pretty soon, it's just Chris, Bulbasaur, and Agent Gray standing in the cavern. Agent Gray is putting the evolutionary stones in individual baggies. Chris watches.
"You know," Gray speaks up suddenly, "that friend of yours... Merlo... he would be a great asset to the Kanto Militia when after he's grown up a bit." Chris snorts derisively. "Zac? I don't think so. He's pretty lazy, and he wouldn't want to follow orders..." "Who says he'd be the kind to be following orders?" the agent replies quietly. Chris stares at him in disbelief. "A commanding officer? Pardon me, but what could possibly make you think that?"
The agent sighed and walked over to sit next to Chris. "I watched him. I didn't intervene right away. I wanted to see what he was capable of... He takes action immediately and he has a natural knack for fighting. We're running out of men, and he could be the perfect soldier."
Chris stands up and starts to walk away. Bulbasaur follows him. "So you want to recruit him? Sorry, sir, but I don't think so. Zac has no place in the military and he never will. We're just trying to find a way home... We're not heroes or anything."
Chris and Bulbasaur disappear up the ladder. Agent Gray looks down at his feet and sighs. "No... but he's hero material..."
Sorry it has taken me so long to update. I hope you liked this chapter of the story, because it is a very important part. In fact, it is by far the most integral part of the story so far. I hope you liked the action. Maybe now you see that this fic is going to be different from your run-of-the-mill OC Trainer fic... much different. Oh, yeah, and the "Unexpected Hero" was supposed to be Jigglypuff, who, in case, you have not noticed, is the same Jigglypuff that causes Ash and company so much trouble in the anime. : P