Chapter 39: The Red Gyarados
Roku's P.O.V.
Ecruteak City
"All right everyone…listen up."
Reia and I had all of our Pokémon gathered around in our room after Cedric kicked us out of the office to take a short siesta, and considering we still had some time to kill, we figured it would be a good idea to brief our Pokémon on the mission and try to prepare accordingly.
"We just got our next assignment," I started, pulling up a map of Johto and highlighting the destination. "We're heading to the Lake of Rage near Mahogany Town to quell a raging storm caused by the Magikarp that inhabit the lake suddenly evolving and going berserk."
"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on a sec," Delphox piped up. "Magikarp can evolve? Those weak little things?"
"Delphox…you've never seen a Gyarados?" I asked quizzically.
"Not really…" Delphox replied, shaking his head. "I was hatched here in Johto and all I really saw was the ruins that Carter studied. That's pretty much it until I met you guys."
I pulled up the Pokédex and searched up Gyarados' entry, then showed it to Delphox. He kinda just looked at it and snickered.
"He must catch all the flies with a gaping maw like that," he quipped.
"In any case, Pokémon evolving out of nowhere is definitely concerning," Lucario said seriously. "Do we know how this is happening and how we can stop it?"
"That's why we're going on a mission, dingus," Luna snickered, stepping up in front of everyone. "Roku seems to think Team Prime might be behind it, but I don't know."
"Oh?" I replied, looking down at my partner. "You have a different theory?"
"It's possible that the Magikarp could have just reached that level of power by themselves, as crazy as it sounds," Luna explained. "It's not unheard of, right? It doesn't always take a Trainer to help us get stronger."
"I'm afraid we already ruled that out, Luna," Reia chimed in, showing Luna a diagram on her P*DA. "Apparently, some strange pipelines leaking a black ooze appeared near a hard-to-reach spot on the lakeshore. People have tried to seal these pipes off, but the Gyarados get to them first and stop them, almost like they're defending them."
"You're kidding…!" Latias said, looking at the photo in surprise.
"It's almost like the Gyarados are behaving as a hive-mind…and the pipelines are their queen," said a powerful-looking Scizor sitting with Reia's Pokémon.
"Wow, almost didn't recognize you, Reaper," I said with a smile. "So this was the result of the training Reia put you through?"
"I appreciate Calem giving me the items to evolve my Pokémon, but I'm a little miffed at the same time," Reia sighed. "I can get stronger just fine on my own."
"Well, then how about we let you take the lead on this one?" I replied, earning a look of genuine surprise from Reia.
"You…you sure?" Reia asked. "If the rumors of a red Gyarados at the lake are true, that would be a super rare and powerful teammate. You're gonna pass that up?"
I chuckled and waved my hand to my Pokémon, smiling wide. "I have all of the Pokémon I could ever want. These guys have given me their all without hesitation, and I would do the same for them." I then looked at Luna, then back to Reia. "Besides, it wouldn't be nice of me to hog all the shinnies to myself."
"The what?" Reia deadpanned.
"The shinnies," I repeated. "You know, Shiny Pokémon?"
"Why do you call them that?" Reia said with an exhausted tone.
"I'unno, just sort of came to mind," I said with a shrug. "But I digress. The plan is to head out once we've rested up. I think we've earned it after the shit we went through."
"We planned on leaving in about an hour," Reia added. "So rest up and get ready, yeah?"
"Got it!"
Roku's P.O.V.
Ecruteak City
Night was already falling when we decided to head out for our mission. Calem and Zuki believed that theirs would be best to start when it was light out, so they opted to stay back at the base and sleep it off until tomorrow. Our mission was urgent, so we had to get there quickly.
Latias quickly morphed into her Pokémon form and let Reia and I onto her back. I waited until Reia got a firm hold on my waist before I gave Latias the signal to take off. By estimation, it was only gonna take us an hour or two at most to get us to the Lake of Rage, so that was a plus.
"How are we gonna go about this when we get there?" Latias asked curiously. "If the Gyarados are protecting the pipelines, how do we stop them from flooding the town?"
"Worst-case scenario, we'll have to fight and force-purify all of them," I replied. "But hopefully we won't have to do that. There's a massive chance that the red Gyarados that's the center of the storm is the reason for all of them rallying together in the first place. Beat up the leader, we discourage the rest."
"That's…a really bold and unrealistic claim, Roku," Reia said with concern in her voice. "I doubt that will actually work…"
"We won't know until we try," I said, trying to be optimistic. But I could tell that the others knew I didn't have a plan. Even still, with a lake full of powerful Shadow Pokémon, they didn't have much of a choice but to trust me. After all, without a Relic Stone, and no effective way to battle and subdue Shadow Pokémon, the fate of the town rested once more on the longsword strapped to my back.
"You guys can trust me, right?" I asked. "I know this is a really dangerous mission to be flying headfirst into without a plan, but—"
"Dude, if we weren't sure we could pull this off, we wouldn't have left this early," Latias answered, looking back at me and smiling. "Besides, I know we're strong enough to beat whatever comes at us, and it's not just me."
"Yeah…guess I'm still treating my friends like chopped liver, huh?" I said with a smirk. I knew that every one of our Pokémon, both mine and Reia's, were prepared for the worst. We'd already beaten six Gyms together…what's the worst that could happen?
That's when we heard thunder crack. All of us looked out into the distance and immediately started to get cold feet as we saw the absolute UNIT of a typhoon swirling up around what used to be the Lake of Rage.
"That's…a big storm," Reia said bluntly.
"The hell were you expecting, a spring shower?" I replied. "These are Gyarados we're talking about, and these are all doped up on Shadow energy."
"And we're just gonna waltz right on in like we own the place," Latias said with a shiver.
"As my father used to say… 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'," I said, remembering the things my old man actually taught me before he left. "He also liked to say 'stop being such a pussy and take a leap once in a while'."
"Wow…such a wise man," Latias said with a deadpan.
"Point is, only way left is forward," Reia said with confidence. "So less talking, more action! Let's do this!"
I chuckled as Latias shook her head and made a beeline for the storm. Reia understood me pretty well, and I was thankful for that. All we could do was keep moving forward.
It wasn't long before we were right in the thick of the storm, betting battered by rain and soaked all the way down to the bone. It was a good thing Latias could sense where we were going, because it was getting EXTREMELY difficult to see. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the wind was trying to blow us down to the lake below. It felt like the storm we went through trying to get to Cianwood, only this one was multiplied by cancer.
"We need to get to the eye of the storm!" I heard Latias say using telepathy. "These conditions are screwing with my flight pattern!"
"I don't think there's anything we can do about it until we manage to get rid of the Shadow essence!" I replied. "Just keep flying forward, we're bound to get out of this storm eventually!"
That's when I heard a roar that sent a chill down my spine, and the biggest Gyarados I'd ever laid eyes on shot up like a Wailord breaching the sea.
Which is cool and all, but it was heading straight for us.
"Latias, bank left!" I shouted frantically, watching the Gyarados' maw just barely bypass us as we immediately shot to the left, holding onto the dragon for dear life. Then we saw more rising up for a snack. Latias began twirling and rolling through the air to avoid all of the attacks that were coming our way, and I could barely hear Reia screaming bloody murder.
"We need to get further up, or those Gyarados are gonna eat us for dinner!" I shouted into Latias' mind.
"Hang on, I think I have an idea!" Latias shouted back. "I need you to use Mega Evolution on me!"
I shrugged and nodded. Not like I had much of a better idea. I raised my wrist and tapped on the Key Stone, letting it resonate with Latias and changing her form as we were on top of her. Oddly enough, it felt really warm and calming despite the massive explosion that happened as she finished her transformation. Latias grunted with determination as she shot straight up, narrowly avoiding another Gyarados before I felt another surge of power coarse through her body.
"Here we go!" she cried out. "Defog!"
Reia and I held on tight as a blast of energy burst from Latias' body, spreading outward in a sphere that immediately pushed the storm away, giving us our sight back and revealing the rampaging mass of sea serpent Pokémon that was directly below us. It was both super cool and extremely unsettling at the same time, considering we were almost their dinner.
"That's a lot of Gyarados…how are we supposed to compete with them?" Latias said worriedly.
"Guess we'll have to go shut off the pipeline that's causing all of this in the first place if we wanna stop them," I replied, pulling the sword off my back.
"Are we gonna be able to beat them back enough to get to it?" Reia chimed in.
"What good are we as Trainers if we don't at least try?" I said with a grin before looking back ahead. "Latias, you know what to do."
"Aw yeah, time for a stealth raid," she said as she camouflaged herself and us before taking off. We circled around the lake one more time before coming across an area hidden by some trees that seemed to be frequented by some of the bigger ones.
"It's weird to think that these Pokémon have developed a hive-mind like this…" Reia pointed out. "Maybe they're starting to develop the serum a little better than Cipher?"
"Cipher may have been on a breakthrough with the XD project, but I know that most of the data was wiped when their leader was snuffed out," I said, recalling the reports I'd seen on them. "I wouldn't put it past them, though…Zareis seems like a smart guy, he might have some kind of backup at their HQ. That could explain how they've gotten so far in so little time."
"I wouldn't put it past them…" Reia said with a shudder. "Team Prime is a lot more ruthless and cunning than most teams in the past, even Team Rocket. They'll do anything to stop us from reaching our goal…like taking the lives of our Pokémon."
"True as that may be, Red thrashed Team Rocket and their leader several years ago," I replied. "If a guy like him could wipe out an entire crime syndicate, I think our chances are pretty good."
"Hey, check this out!" Latias piped up, trying to get our attention. She pointed to a small clearing up ahead that had a thicker concentration of the ooze. As we looked ahead, we saw the pipelines we were looking for, as well as some of the biggest and gnarliest Gyarados you'd ever seen. These Pokémon had to be the ones that were already Gyarados before the incident started.
And then we saw it. The biggest, baddest and bloodiest-red Gyarados I had ever laid eyes on. Seriously, this thing was a destructive masterpiece. Just looking at its shining red scales and powerful serpentine body gave me the same kind of feeling you get watching a monster truck just absolutely wreck a full stack of cars. I could swear that I was drooling a little.
"That thing's huge…!" Latias gasped. "How are we supposed to compete with that?!"
"Simple…we fight to win," Reia said with a smile, keeping her eye on the prize. I knew she had her eyes on a new partner, and what better Pokémon to add to the team than a 21-foot-long death machine capable of laying entire cities to waste?
"You sure you're ready for this?" I asked as she pulled a Poké Ball from her bag.
"Roku, I've conquered the Kalos League and went toe-to-toe with some of the strongest trainers in the organization," she said with a confident smile. "I think I can do this."
Reia threw the Poké Ball and out popped a gorgeous-looking Pidgeot, his cry echoing throughout the clearing as he soared into the sky. It was almost hard to believe that this was the Pidgey that I'd caught when I first started my journey.
"Just HOW much training did you guys go through when we got back?" I asked out of curiosity.
"A smart trainer trains more than one Pokémon at any given point," Reia explained. "Perhaps you should take notes, noob."
I shook my head and got to work immobilizing the shiny Gyarados' lackeys. Latias managed to peg all 4 of them with a Mist Ball and knocked them unconscious, while the boss just roared and went after the pesky nuisance that was pecking and clawing away at its skin.
"Looking good, Pidgeot!" Reia cheered. "Now hit it with a Wing Attack!"
Pidgeot bolted straight for the Gyarados' face and slammed his wings across its eyes, causing the beast to roar out in pain and fall backwards into the lake.
"Yeah! You're mine now!" Reia said, pulling an empty Poké Ball out of her bag and throwing it at the fallen Gyarados. All three of us watched in tense silence as the sea serpent was pulled into the virtual area, and the ball fell to the ground and started wiggling. Reia had a very intense look on her face as we all watched the Poké Ball do its thing, hoping that whatever damage Pidgeot had done to it was enough.
Well, not everyone can be so lucky.
The Poké Ball exploded as the Gyarados broke free, roaring the angriest roar it could muster. I saw Reia's face go white as the realization struck that this Pokémon might have her outmatched.
"Reia! It got back up, what do I do?!" Pidgeot called out, flying back around and stopping next to his trainer.
"Keep fighting! We'll take it down and claim it for ourselves!" Reia shouted, adjusting her hat. "Let's go for another Wing Attack!"
Pidgeot nodded and darted straight towards Gyarados again, wings primed and ready for another beating. But before he could get close enough, Gyarados charged him and slammed Pidgeot with a powerful Aqua Tail, sending the bird Pokémon spinning through the air. Then a surge of energy coursed through its body as it began to charge a massive beam of energy in its mouth.
"Watch out! It knows Hyper Beam!" I called out.
Hyper Beam. A powerful and extremely destructive technique that only the strongest Pokémon could handle, both giving and taking. One blast from a fully-charged Hyper Beam could tear an entire ecosystem asunder, at the cost of leaving the user out of breath and unable to act for a small period of time. But that didn't matter, as your opponent would usually be a smoldering pile by the time the attack had finished running its course.
Which meant it was time for us to skedaddle.
Latias blasted off into the sky, ditching her stealth to focus everything into her flying. Pidgeot managed to right himself and took off after us, but the attack happened a lot faster than we'd anticipated, and we felt an enormous displacement as a massive orange beam erupted from Gyarados' gaping maw, barely missing Latias. Unfortunately for Pidgeot, the attack hit him with deadly accuracy, and he was engulfed in the orange light.
"Pidgeot!" Reia screamed, looking on in horror at the raw destructive force of the attack.
The beam dissipated and the now smoking bird Pokémon fell towards the lake below, and as we saw a red object shifting below us, we noticed that he was going straight for Gyarados' mouth.
"NO!" I roared, jumping off of Latias' back and diving straight down, my sword out in front of me like a skewer. I heard Latias scream my name and blast off after me, but I didn't care. No one was getting eaten on my watch.
Just then, the sword started to crackle and glow.
And I started moving faster.
Everything became a blur as I streaked past Pidgeot and straight into Gyarados' head, a blast of electricity exploding from my sword the moment it made contact. The force of the explosion sent both of us flying back, and I nearly landed in the lake, had Latias not caught me.
"Just WHAT were you THINKING?!" she screamed, her face awash in tears. "You could have died!"
"And what was that thing you just did?!" Reia exclaimed. "You never told me you could literally smite something!"
"I…I don't know," I said, looking down at the still-sparking weapon. "It kinda just happened. I think Celestrix was trying to tell me something…like, have faith in myself and her, I guess."
"Don't ever do that again…!" Latias sniffled, tapping her nose against my chest.
"Don't worry, I wouldn't try to get myself eaten even if you paid me," I said lightly, patting Latias' head. "For now, though, I think it's getting back up."
I pointed at the Gyarados, who was starting to rise back up to full height. The rest of us turned back around, and Reia returned her fallen Pokémon to his Poké Ball.
"Well, what now?" Latias said, shaking the tears away.
"I have an idea, but you're gonna have to be a moving platform for Reia," I replied, looking at the dragon, then back to Reia.
"You still have a chance to win this," I reassured her. "I know you can do this. After all, you worked so hard fighting the Gyms with us."
"But the only flier I have left is Reaper, and I don't know if he can take that Gyarados on…" Reia said sullenly, looking down.
"Hey, listen to me…" I said softly, placing a finger on her chin and making her look into my eyes. "If there's anyone that can own this monster, it's you. So what if it took out one of your Pokémon? You still have 4 more that can totally kick its ass. Reaper, Lyra, Jolteon, Sudowoodo…they all busted their asses for you on the field, and they're some of the strongest Pokémon I've ever known. As long as you have faith in both yourself and your partners, there isn't a single thing you can't accomplish."
I smirked as I saw a light return to Reia's eyes. "So what are you gonna do?"
Reia's old smile returned, and she adjusted her hat.
"I'm gonna catch me a Shiny Gyarados," she said with confidence.
Reia's P.O.V.
Lake of Rage
My heart was pounding as Latias and I rose up to face the red Gyarados. Roku was dropped off at a small piece of shore to watch and make sure nothing came to interrupt me. Smart move on his part, considering he nearly got himself eaten trying to save my Pidgeot. Sweet guy, huh?
I pulled a Poké Ball out of my bag and stared at it. Reaper was probably my last shot at winning this thing. If he got taken down, then…
No. I had to believe in myself, and in my Pokémon. I nodded and threw my ball up into the air.
"Alright, Reaper! Let's do this!"
My Scizor burst forth and stabilized in the air, wings buzzing at top speed. The Gyarados seemed to lock on to its new target, roaring its displeasure.
"Alright, ugly! Let's dance!" Reaper shouted, going into a stance.
"Let's start this off with Metal Claw!" I shouted.
Reaper took off like a rocket, his claws gleaming and turning into a greyish color as he landed a direct hit on Gyarados' jaw. The sea serpent reeled back from the hit, allowing Reaper to back up and take a defensive position. But Gyarados recovered quickly, launching forward with his jaws aimed straight for Reaper's claw.
"Dodge it and use Aerial Ace!" I ordered.
Reaper flipped out of the way with grace and poise before streaking back towards his foe, hitting its spine with another claw attack. This one seemed to hurt a little worse, though, probably from the effects of Metal Claw. Gyarados roared out in pain and tried to whip its tail up for another attack, this one just barely catching Reaper's leg. But he was totally unfazed, going in for another successful attack. It seemed like we finally had Gyarados on the ropes.
Then it happened.
Gyarados leapt up and caught Reaper in its jaws, squeezing hard and preventing him from escaping.
"No! Get out of there!" I cried out.
Reaper struggled as hard as he could, but to no avail. The strength of Gyarados' bite was much too strong for the Mantis Pokémon. Then I felt the surge of power from earlier, and my shock turned to horror.
Gyarados was prepping another Hyper Beam.
"Reaper! You have to break free!" I screamed, a tear starting to form in my eye. Reaper was a Steel-type, that much was true, but I don't even think he could survive a point-blank Hyper Beam, let alone one that was all juiced up on Shadow energy.
"Rrgh! Let go, you disgusting creature!" Reaper shouted, slashing away at it with his claws, but to no avail. Gyarados was determined to end it, and there was nothing they could do.
The explosion came too soon. Gyarados fired its attack up into the air, and I could no longer see my Pokémon, for the light had completely engulfed him. Time seemed to slow down as I fell to my knees, tears streaming down my face. I wasn't ready for this…I wasn't ready to let go. I had gotten my Pokémon killed because of my ignorance…just like all those years ago.
Gyarados' labored breaths snapped me back to reality though. I looked at the monster to see something moving around inside its mouth. I couldn't help but cock an eyebrow at the obviously struggling Pokémon, but then it hit me.
No way…
Before I could even speak, Reaper burst forth from Gyarados' mouth, his body extremely singed and dirty…but not broken.
"Is that the best you got?!" Reaper shouted, crossing his arms. "That Roku punk put up a better fight than you!"
"Reaper…! You're OK!" I cried out, tears of joy replacing the others.
"Hey, have a little faith, huh?" the Scizor replied with a cocky smirk. "You beat me fair and square back at the park…I gotta show you that your investment was well-placed, don't I?"
"Then let's end this," I said, wiping my tears away and adjusting my hat one more time. "Use Swords Dance while it's resting!"
Reaper began to power up in midair while doing some kind of ritualistic dance, and I watched awe as his claws started to shine even brighter.
"Now! Aerial Ace!"
Reaper blasted off one more time, his claws glowing even brighter as he let out a powerful battle cry. The Gyarados tried to bite for him again, but Reaper ducked down and shot upwards, landing a critical hit to Gyarados' windpipe with a spectacular spinning uppercut. I heard one last roar escape the sea serpent's throat before it became a defeated rumble, the Pokémon crashing down into the lake.
"Yes! We did it!" I cheered, jumping and spinning in circles. I stopped when I heard Latias grunting, though. Kinda forgot I was on a Pokémon's back.
"Roku! Now's the time to purify it!" Latias shouted, lowering the two of us back onto the shore, and I swapped places with him.
"Nice work," Roku said with a smile that made me feel even happier. "I knew you had it in you."
"What did I tell you?" I replied with a smile of my own. "Now hurry, before it wakes up."
Roku nodded and pulled his sword from his back, rushing towards the Gyarados like a knight on his steed. I had to admit, seeing him do what he did best just made that competitive spark inside me erupt into a powerful flame. It wasn't the Pokémon League I had to beat now.
It was Roku Kimura.
Roku's P.O.V.
Lake of Rage
Latias and I made a beeline straight for Gyarados' head, seeing as that was the only part of its body that we could actually reach. I channeled the blade's energy and plunged it straight into its head, the Shadow energy being pulled into the sword by the Relic Stone implanted in the blade's hilt. I then pulled the sword out and thrust it into the air, the energy exploding out of it and dissipating into the air in typical fashion.
"Alright Reia, it's all yours!" I called back.
Reia nodded and pulled a Poké Ball from her bag, giving it a high-powered throw straight at Gyarados' face. Even from the long distance, the ball landed right on target, once again pulling the Atrocious Pokémon into the virtual area. Latias caught the ball in a bubble of mist, watching as it started to wiggle.
Once…twice…thrice…
Click!
I let out a sigh of relief and turned back to Reia.
"Good work! A successful catch!" I shouted, taking the ball from Latias and putting it in my own bag.
"Cool, now we can solve the issue with the pipeline," Latias pointed out.
"Right," I said, looking at the pipe. I looked up at Reaper and said, "Think you could bend this pipe up so it doesn't cause a natural disaster anymore?"
"I'll let you off since you asked nicely," Reaper scoffed, floating down to the pipe.
"Latias, I'll need you to blast that sludge back through the pipe with your Defog," I said, looking at my partner. Latias nodded and got up close, the energy surging through her body before she channeled it into a high-pressure beam of air. The sludge went the opposite direction and Reaper clamped the pipe off by bending it up.
"Sweet! Problem solved," I said happily. Latias and I popped back over to Reia to tell her the good news.
"Pipe's all clamped up! Nothing's getting through that baby," I explained. "And we made sure to send that sludge back through the pipe, so whatever pump's on the other side's gonna get a nasty surprise."
"That's great and all…but what do we do about the water?" Reia said worriedly.
I froze up and looked down. The water was still a murky black, which meant that our work wasn't done yet.
"Great. Kill the mood," I huffed, crossing my arms. "How the hell are we supposed to clean this up? We don't have the right supplies or equipment!"
"Perhaps…I can help?"
I turned around to see a very familiar crystal-blue Pokémon with flowing white ribbons and a majestic purple mane.
"Suicune!" I shouted happily. "Man, am I glad to see you!"
"It's very good to see you too, Roku," the legendary Pokémon spoke in her soft yet powerful voice. "I assume you're also trying to fix the problem here at the lake?"
"We managed to stop whatever was pumping that sludge into the lake, but we don't have any way to purify the water and save the Pokémon in it," Reia explained.
Suicune chuckled melodiously and nodded, her crest beginning to gleam brightly.
"I believe I can help with that."
Author's Note: Man, a LOT has happened. I moved to a new house, then 2020 hit like a Mack truck made out of adamantium and mithril, and now I'm stuck on a military base under a quarantine while our nation's being wracked by a plague.
Well, at least I have you guys.
So, a little PSA from your friendly neighborhood Strato Abyss: Wash thine hands, be a shut in and stay the fuck at home. Unless you wanna watch the world burn, then cough and sneeze on literally anything that moves. Just know that you might get thrown in jail if you do the latter. And I won't be the one to bail you out. So why not stay home and read my stories? Please?
That's all from me. Strato Abyss signing out.
