~ Chapter 72 ~

Earthquake! Rowan's Theory

"I knew as soon as Nilama gave us the artefacts in Celestic Town that Team Galactic and us would come to a final confrontation. Team Galactic was heading towards their endgame; Cyrus made this clear at the Shrine in Celestic. Nothing was stopping him, not us, not the authorities, and not morals or rights. He would do whatever he had to to achieve his goals. Nilama would not have given us those artefacts if we had had to use them. You don't part with thousands of years old relics for nothing. No…she knew what was coming—so did we, but perhaps not to the same exact extent. The only downside to it all was that we knew what was coming, but not when or where they would strike next. We had a feeling they'd go for the Lake Guardians, and Valentina was able to double police guard around the three lakes. But…that wasn't going to stop Team Galactic it seems."

"Why have you called us here Professor?" asked Alyssandra as everyone settled into a seat around a large wooden table.

They sat in the highest floor of Canalave Library, one of the oldest libraries in the Sinnoh Region. It was said the records at Canalave Library had some of the oldest, most complete history of the Sinnoh Region in its vaults.

Rort, Roark, Gardenia and Byron sat on one side of the table, next to Palmer. While Alyssandra, Niya, Jeremy, Sam, Sakura, and Pikachu sat on the other.

Aurelio stood beside Sam.

Sitting crunched together at the far end of the table were Dawn and Lucas Oak, and their friend Barry, who had apparently come to Canalave City at Professor Rowan's request to be part of the proceedings to come.

Professor Rowan stood at the head of the table, frowning, his face creased with worry. "Team Galactic's been silent lately," he grumbled.

"This is a problem?" asked Roark, "It's been nice not having to worry."

"It's a major problem," interjected Palmer, being serious for once, "Because we don't know what they've been planning. We haven't even heard from Looker recently, and he was supposed to have infiltrated their base."

"We know they'll likely go for the Lake Guardians next," explained Sam, "We learned this in Celestic Town."

"You mentioned last time you called," noted Professor Rowan, "But we've put up guards all around the Lakes of Sinnoh and have seen no attempts to try and circumnavigate our barriers."

"Did they give up?" suggested Jeremy, though it sounded more like a cautious line of questioning—perhaps hoping.

"Not likely," answered Rowan, "More likely they're planning something, and they've done their best to keep it a secret."

"And they've succeeded," added Palmer.

"So what do we do now?" asked Sam, "If they've kept it a secret, and we can't get ahold of Looker, is there anything we can do to mitigate an eventual strike?"

"Not eventual, soon," corrected Professor Rowan, "They're going to strike soon. They've been this quiet this long, and they can only delay so long before they strike, or we do."

"So you called us in to plan a method of attack," stated Niya, picking up on what was going on.

"Precisely," Palmer stated, clapping his hands jokingly, "One of us needs to strike first, and Rowan and the League would rather it be us. Then we could attempt to stop them before they do undue damage to Sinnoh, or the world."

Sam placed a hand on his bag. He could feel the weight of the Azure Flute. He had neglected to mention to Professor Rowan that he and his friends had been gifted powerful, spiritual artefacts by Nilama.

Nilama knew one thing was certain, even if she never said it outright: the final confrontation with Team Galactic was coming, and that clash would involve the Legendary Pokémon.

If she thought for a moment that Team Galactic could be stopped before they summoned the Legendary Pokémon, or kidnapped the Lake Guardians, she would never have given such ancient, sacred, spiritual objects to a bunch of teenagers.

No…Rowan had no idea how poorly this was about to go.

And yet, Sam couldn't say anything, without revealing the ace up his sleeve—or the secrets Nilama swore him to silence about.

"I think we should fortify and bunker down deeper at Lake Acuity," explained Rowan, draped over the table, "Double down our defences there. That Lake sits in the middle of a frozen wasteland, it's the most remote, and the one they'll assume is least guarded for it."

"Hide and hit them when they show up?" asked Byron, "Risky, but possible. We should recruit Candice if we do that. She knows the land best, she's the Snowpoint Gym Leader after all."

"A good plan, she'd bring extra muscle we could use to take down their leadership," added Palmer, "They'll send an Admin along with the grunts for sure. If we could capture a Team Galactic Admin that'd be a valuable fountain of information."

Sam and Niya exchanged glances that were intercepted by Alyssandra and Jeremy.

Even Pikachu wanted to say something, and seemed worried that these plans were all being laid down for nothing.

"Everything okay?" asked Palmer suddenly, noticing the look going between the teens, "Is something wrong?"

Sam opened his mouth to answer—he was just going to say something, anything to steer the conversation back to whatever Professor Rowan had planned when a massive explosion rung out across the region.

The ground shook, books fell from shelves, on shelf fell over, people were screaming everywhere.

The glass shattered in all the windows and boats shook as the water sloshed side to side in the canals.

It was like an earthquake except—

"Earthquakes don't start with explosions!" cried Roark, standing up.

Everyone's ears were ringing as the shockwave had disabled them.

Sam looked at his friends. Team Galactic had struck—the plans were laid too late.

"What the fuck?" exclaimed Aurelio in surprise.

"Everyone outside!" cried Rowan.

The group charged down the stairs towards the main entrance, gathering by the side of the canal. Palmer and Byron helped Roark down the stairs and out into the street.

There was chaos in Canalave City, people were screaming and children crying. People ran across the street, trying to get to or from their homes.

But everyone who had congregated at the library stopped and froze as they looked to the horizon.

A massive cloud of smoke was spewing into the air like a massive chimney. But there were no volcanos in that direction in the Sinnoh Region.

No…this explosion was taking place at the only place Team Galactic would be striking in that area.

"Lake Valor," muttered Sam to everyone else, "That's coming in the direction of Lake Valor."

"How can you be sure?" asked Dawn.

"Lake Acuity is to the north, over there," Rowan explained, pointing towards the northern part of the Coronet chain, "And Lake Verity is down there, by Twinleaf Town over there…that can only mean Team Galactic has struck…they've gone for the Lake Guardian."

"Those bastards," roared Aurelio, though only Sam could hear him, "We need to stop them! Now."

"What could possibly make an explosion that large?" asked Roark.

"The Galactic Bomb," replied Sam through gritted teeth, he did his best to calm down, taking into mind the teachings of Vethyr and his people he had just endured, "The same bomb they unleashed on the Great Marsh. That bomb was just a test though…developed by Markus Alexios. They used it to blow up the lake…which means the chamber in the lake was underneath."

"All those Pokémon and fish in that lake…" stated Alyssandra, suddenly realizing what this meant for them.

"All those people at Lake Valor Resort, and guarding the lake," added Jeremy, "Valentina's got a home there too. How bad do you think this was?"

Alyssandra's face went from worry for the Pokémon to worry for her sister.

Rowan shook his head. He was vibrating with veritable rage.

"We need to stop them!" cried Niya, "We can't just stand around waiting!"

"Niya's right!" cried Sam, "Does anyone have a way to get there quickly? Any favours they can call in? Any vehicle? Fearow won't cut it."

"I have a few favours I can call in," added Byron, "I know some people with helicopters that can get us all out there."

"First time out in the field in a while, eh Rowan?" smirked Aurelio, "I hope you've remembered how to battle."

Sam shot his grandfather a look, but Aurelio simply rolled his eyes and shrugged in return.

Sam told Byron to make the call immediately, as the sooner they got out to Lake Valor, the sooner they could try and stop, or slow down at least, Team Galactic.

They were up and in the air in several helicopters within twenty minutes.

The cloud of dust and dirt still flew up into the air, probably the smoke of the burning forests around the lake, but it had disappated shortly after they took off into the air.

It would be an eight to nine hour flight, not including any stops to refuel if they were needed.

With any luck, they would be to Lake Valor within twelve hours.

They could only hope Team Galactic was still there by the time they got there. Hopefully the Legendary Pokémon of the Lake would put up a fight long enough to give the group time to rescue it.

But only time and fate would tell.

"Remember your training," warned Lucario, sitting beside Sam in the helicopter. Sam had unleashed the Pokémon to help him focus on justice, not revenge.

"I know," replied Sam, "I'm just anxious."

"There is nothing we can do until we get there," said Lucario. He ended on that note. No more needed to be said; no more could be said.

"I've tried contacting the League stationed guard by Lake Valor but there's been no response," announced Palmer, "At this point we have to assume the worst. I can't get ahold of anyone else either."

Aurelio hissed air through his teeth like a leaky tire. "Bastards."

"Be prepared to fight when we touch down," warned Byron, "Things are going to get problematic if we're not prepared."

"Let me at 'em!" roared Rort, "They won't break Sinnoh! I won't let them!"

"You'll be staying in the helicopter," warned Gardenia, "Your legt still isn't full healed."

"Just you try and stop me," Rort shot back, "Any of you, family or not. I'm helping."

Palmer quickly changed the subject. "I've contacted Cynthia," he continued, "She's going to try to get ahold of her grandmother, Valentina and anyone else willing to help. She said she'd try to rally the Gym Leaders in the area. Maylene and Wake were the first and closest she'd reach out to. I'd be surprised if old Wake isn't there already."

"What about my Aunt Fantina? She would help if asked," suggested Niya.

Palmer nodded. "She mentioned her as well. But Fantina would take more time—regardless, we'll take all the hands we could get. Whenever they show up, at least they'd be another body to help combat Team Galactic."

"To blow a whole lake though…all those Pokémon, those fish, those people at the resort," Jeremy said in disbelief.

"The world's gone mad," declared Palmer.

"It'll get a lot worse if Team Galactic unleashes the Legendary Pokémon like they plan to," grumbled Rowan severely, his words more of a warning than a statement. He still had hope Team Galactic could be stopped.

After that, everyone else fell silent.

There was nothing else they could do or say at this point.

Lucario had known it before Palmer started speaking, and had fallen silent.

All they could do now was wait.

Wait, hope and pray.