Chapter 2: The Regis

The Defenders of Nature ran down to their vessels and Pokemon. They were a combination of motorboats, rafts, and a few rusty old submarines. The Defenders would ride on or even inside Wailords, Gyaridos's, and Seakings and release Tentacools and Barboach's for swarming attacks.

Once on the surface, the Defenders of Nature went onto one of the speedboats and their leader, Commander Gregers pointed out the plan. Gregers was Laleh's father, and there was no one more fanatical about the cause then he.

Gregers motioned for silence and moved some figures across the map. "About half of us will launch a diversionary attack on the rigs. The rest will go by submarine to the cave. I will go to the cave and help with awakening the Pokemon. My daughter the prophetess will go down with me. Understood?"

"YES SIR!"

"Then let's get moving."

The flotilla set off. About halfway across, two submarines dove down towards the sealed chamber. The rest blasted their way towards the network of rigs.

The attack on the rigs proceeded with massive vigor. Rockets, Pokemon attacks, and grenades were flung at the drilling platforms with massive force, and more then a few collapsed.

But the security forces fought back. Their own Pokemon and patrol craft drenched the Defenders in a flood of machine gun fire. Boats exploded, men everywhere fell, and Pokemon screamed in a battle of agony.

But below the sea, the submarines proceeded towards their target peacefully, with little interruption. Gregers simply hummed as his daughter instructed the helmsman towards the cavern.

Finally they found it. It was a vast winding tunnel that eventually led to a massive cavern with strange writing on the walls. Laleh closed her eyes briefly, then pointed to a part of the wall and said "Dig there."

The Defenders began breaking through the wall and soon they were inside an even bigger cavern. Gregers smiled. "Laleh, speak to them."

Laleh closed her eyes again, went into a deep trance, and spoke a string of strange words. "Leila cor de rosa, Sou cansado da sua psicologia trazer me a meus joelhos dobrados, e se eu só posso conversar a você eu estou seguro que eu o posso fazer ver…."

On the surface, the cavalry had arrived for the oil rig guards. A fleet of helicopters and light planes with rocket pods attached blasted towards the Defenders and showered them with even more destruction. Soon they were running away.

The oil rig workers cheered at this until someone gulped. "Where are their old subs?"
"OH NO!"

"Sir, we think that they've snuck towards Slateport in their subs. We need to follow them."

The foreman smiled darkly. "We have no subs of our own."

"We have Pokemon."

"Yeah, but they're vulnerable on their own. Hang on, do you know the legend of Jonah?"

"The guy who got swallowed by a giant fish? Wait a minute, are you suggesting we ride INSIDE a Wailord's MOUTH?"

"You know that CEO Kuststad will not tolerate them getting away. Besides, what other options do we have?"

So twenty-two men would go inside Wailords, with the Pokemon's sense of smell tracking the subs by their leakage. They would wear sealed suits with oxygen tanks and carry only pistols that would be less likely to be fouled by slime. The Pokemon dived into the ocean and followed the fuel trail….

Laleh continued her speech. "Bem-vindo à ilusão grandiosa, paga seu preço, recebe seus bilhetes para a exposição..." Suddenly the walls started to glow.

Everyone was exited as it continued, but then they heard something that sounded like the cry of a wounded Pokemon. Gregers instructed a few men to go and check it out.

They saw a Wailord beached near an alternate entrance, covered in oil blotches. "An innocent victim of Technology. Open its mouth. I want to see how much it swallowed."

The Defender did, but suddenly fell dead as the refinery mercs opened fire. The rest of the men sent to investigate followed in his path.

The mercs ran the corridors towards the main chamber as fast as their heavy air tanks would allow.

Gregers heard the shot. "You, you and you, hold them off. Laleh, continue the-" a bullet ricocheted from the tunnel and hit a Defender who fell like someone cut his legs off.

As the mercs got ever closer to the chamber, Laleh continued to speak. "Sou o homem moderno, com este violão em mãos, eu farei meu melhor e tenta de manter vivo!"

With those words, the chamber was bathed in a massive light, the sound of doors opening could be heard, and Gregers screamed "LET THEM COME TO US!"

But when it cleared, there were no Pokemon. The mercs had burst into the room and were starting to shoot everyone. Gregers asked himself "Why didn't they come", before running away.

"Daddy, take me with you."

"NO! YOU'RE USELESS NOW! YOUR VISION WAS FALSE!"

He into a chasm, took out a Poke Ball with an Eevee in it, and shouted "Eevee, DIG!"

The rabbit-like Pokemon began digging a rapid tunnel and Gregers followed it to safety, leaving his daughter behind.

Laleh was running for her life down a tunnel. A merc was behind her, shouting "Halt! Wait up!"

The young woman ran down the tunnel until she found what she was looking for: One of the submarines. She had just gotten into the hatch when the merc caught up with her and pulled out his pistol. "Stop or I'll shoot!"

Laleh was nervous. She noticed the door-mounted machine gun but flinched. She had never harmed so much as a Wurmple in her life.

"You have ten seconds to comply. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6"

Laleh grimaced, closed her eyes, and reached for the trigger.
"5, 4, 3, 2-" his voice was cut off by a loud squeal as Laleh held down the trigger. It rang to life with a loud bang and Laleh held it down until it ran out of ammunition. When she opened her eyes, the merc was dead.

Laleh closed the hatch, ran into the bridge, and began propelling the submarine away. More mercs entered just in time to see her pull away.

The submarine banged against undersea walls as Laleh tried to guide it to safety. Eventually she managed to keep it on a steady eastern course. After locking the controls, she finally succumbed to the days terror and blacked out.