Chapter 39
"Can we use my idea now?" exasperates the green haired man as he dodges another zap from the wall. After planning earlier, the group waited until the blanket of the night to sneak into Shelly's base. Due to the many traps and the large base under the mountain, they split up into four groups: the Enbars; Ketchums and Oaks; Maples and Vivi minus May; and the Saoris, May, and Drew.
Currently, May's group set off another trap, which is now shooting electricity at them. "What is it?" May shouts back at him.
"I didn't expect to get electrocuted during our reunion!" Harley yells and dodges another zap.
"Tell us your plan now, Drew!" Solidad exclaims. This is a very extensive hideout if there are this many traps.
Smirking at them, he flicks his hair. May rolls her eyes because Drew's childhood charming ways are back. Where does he get that confidence from? "This!" Drew then throws out a pokeball to release Flygon.
"Great. You expect us to fly through these narrow halls on Flygon. We all can't fit on him!" Harley knowingly tells Drew.
With his smirk growing, Drew commands Flygon, "Sandstorm!"
"We're in a small hallway!" May reminds Drew. However, when Flygon kicks up the sandstorm, he does it around the people. With the dirt spinning around them like a forcefield, the electricity gets absorbed by it.
Drew then calmly walks beside Flygon. "What were you all saying?" He smugly asks them.
Solidad shakes her head at her calm friend. "I should've known, Drew."
He shoots her a knowing smirk. "Thanks for trusting me, Solidad."
"I wish you'd tell me your ideas so I know ahead of time." May remarks.
"Oh please, June. We would've been electrocuted by the time you understood my plan."
"What, grasshead?" fumes the brunette.
As the young adults are arguing, Harley whispers to his wife, "Should we do something?" They were surprised to get a call from Drew, but they are happy to help however they can. Drew and May are their friends, even with the lack of communication. Once Kai is back, the Saoris can't wait to meet him in person.
Solidad smiles nostalgically at the bickering friends. She's missed it, surprisingly. "No."
Rumbling gets everyone's attention, especially when the floor starts shaking. This is definitely not because of Flygon's sandstorm. "What's going on?" May asks. She subconsciously grabs onto Drew who is the closest to her. Harley grabs onto Solidad, and Flygon hesitantly walks between the couples.
"Everyone stay close!" Solidad orders them.
However, the floor beneath them opens up, sending everyone sliding down. Drew manages to return Flygon before the dragon type can crush them. When he looks back at his friends as they're all still sliding ahead of him, he sees Solidad and Harley fall down a slide on the right. There's a split at the end of this slide! "May, grab Harley!" Drew wants them to stay together.
Nonetheless, May's clumsiness causes her to miss Harley's hoodie, and instead, May falls down the slide on the left. Drew had positioned his body to fall down the right with the Saoris, though he can't leave May alone. Shifting to the left, he yells at Solidad and Harley. "We'll meet up later!"
Soon, Drew falls down on something soft. Rubbing his head, he hears, "You're heavy."
Drew quickly gets off of May who glares at him. "Got any more bright ideas?"
Rolling his eyes, Drew replies, "We gotta get out of this room." He then calls out Absol to mark an X on the wall to indicate that the room has been searched. This is an empty room besides for a metal shelf with a few boxes on it.
May walks over to the only door, but before she can touch it, Drew grabs her wrist. She raises an annoyed eyebrow at him. "What are you doing?"
"This whole place is booby trapped. It's suspicious that this room is empty and there's just one door."
"Okay. How do you suggest we get out then?" There are no windows either.
Drew sighs while looking around again. "Absol, can you push the shelf?" The dark type nods and tries to move the shelf. When it doesn't budge, Drew shoots May a knowing smirk, causing her to stick her tongue out at him. "That metal shelf is hiding something."
May calls out Blaziken. "Fighting moves are strong against metal." She winks at Drew, making him blush. "Let us handle this." Drew mock bows and returns Absol. "Blaze kick!"
"Blaziiiiiiiiken!" Blaziken's strong hot attack puts a dent in the metal shelf, but it's not enough to take it down.
"Keep going!" Drew encourages them. After a couple more kicks, the shelf falls over in a melty heap.
"It's a secret passage!" May exclaims. There must've been a tile or something in the room to trigger the door.
"Could be another trap." Drew mutters. What are the chances that they just happened to be in the right hallway to fall down the correct slide and enter this room where they happened to find the secret passageway to Kai? That's very unlikely. Plus, Drew doubts this it the only secret passage.
Before May can retort, the building shakes and a huge eruption can be heard in the distance. She worriedly looks at Drew. "What do you think that is?"
Hearing more distant noise, Drew replies, "I think our friends are in a battle."
May takes a deep breath and returns Blaziken. She can panic later. She trusts her friends to be able to handle themselves. Turning to Drew, she tells him, "Let's go." If the door or the tunnel can both be traps, then she's picking the tunnel. Blaziken already worked hard revealing it. Drew silently follows after her.
Enbars & Shinjis
"Shane, take your sister and run!" Pam shouts at her son. The family stumbled across a trap causing a lot of strong Pokemon to attack them. The battle is looking grim, so Pam wants her children to get to safety.
"No way, mom! I'm not leaving you!" the boy commands his Feralligator to attack a Magcargo.
"You will listen to your mother!" bellows George. As much as George wants to protect his family and keep them close, he knows it's better for Shay and Shane to go. He was against having them come to Mirage Island, but the children wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, especially since Shane was the one who got the information of Kai's whereabouts, and Drew invited Shay. Why couldn't Shay and Shane stay with the Wynauts in the cave? It's safer.
"Dad!" Shay exclaims, though the man glares at her.
"We'll hold them off, but you two need to go!" Dawn and Paul joined the Enbars' group since the Enbars have children. With Paul being a champion, and Dawn being a Top Coordinator, they figured all six of them would be fine. However, these strong pokemon just keep coming and coming. It's relentless.
"Go with them!" Paul looks at George and Pam. He doesn't want to separate the family, especially since he and Dawn are the stronger trainers.
George shakes his head though. "No way, Paul! We are not leaving you two!" George admires Paul's strength, but there are way too many pokemon attacking them right now.
Paul glances at his wife, and they both nod. The two deemed it worth it to skip their honeymoon so that they can help May rescue Kai. Therefore, they will see this to the end. Dawn tells her Togekiss, "Make a barrier!"
"Toge!" Togekiss creates a barrier separating the Enbars from the Shinjis.
Pam pounds on the barrier, and George's Pokemon can't do anything against it. Dawn's Pokemon really are strong. "Let us help!" Pam pleads.
Dawn gives them grateful smiles. "Paul and I will be fine. You guys go find Kai!"
After pleading some more, the Enbars reluctantly nod. The Enbar parents return their Pokemon and back away from the barrier. "Thank you." George mutters. Dawn and Paul nod at them before focusing back on the battle.
Shay grabs her parents' hands. "C'mon, we need to find Kai!"
The Enbars run down a series of halls until they reach a door. While Pam ponders whether the door is a trap or not, Shane eagerly opens it. Shay is quickly behind him, much to the Enbar parents' protests. Pam and George have been trying to keep their children between them, especially because Shay doesn't have Pokemon. However, Shay's and Shane's restlessness in finding Kai causes them to rush past Pam who is at the front of the line.
The moment Shay manages to slip inside the room with her brother, the door slams shut. Pam hurriedly pulls the handle to no avail. "Shane! Shay!"
George now tries the door too. This is exactly why he didn't want his children to come here! "Back up! We're gonna blow this door!"
"Dad! Mom!" Shay yells.
"George!" Pam shouts to get her husband's attention. With a frustrated grunt, George looks at his scared wife. "We have to go."
"Why?"
She puts his hand on the wall where he feels it slightly shaking. "Something's coming."
"Which is why we can't leave our children!" George tells her.
"They're safer in there!"
Shaking his head, George calls out his Machoke whose attacks do nothing to the door. Even Shane's Feraligatr is trying to break the door on the other side. "Just go, dad!" Shane pleads with his parents. The rumbling is getting closer, and he doesn't want his parents getting hurt.
"We're not leaving you!" George grits his teeth. This is terrible!
"I'll protect Shay! Just go!" Shane's voice cracks in fear.
Shay holds her older brother's hand because she knows how he's feeling. However, she won't cry yet because she needs to find Kai. "I'll listen to Shane! Please go to safety, mom and dad!"
"We need to find help, George!" Pam grabs her husband's arm.
Closing his eyes in frustration, George returns his pokemon. "I love you!" He tells the kids.
"I love you too!" Pam tries the handle once more, but it's stuck.
"I love you too!" The kids yell back. Soon, Pam and George sprint away from the rumbling. They're headed back to the Shinji's but stepping on the wrong tile causes them to get sucked up into a vacuum.
In the room, Shane is hugging Shay tightly. The rumbling is really loud and shaking the ground a lot now. Eventually, water starts gushing from the ceiling, making the siblings look up. There is a giant vent in the ceiling pushing water through to the room, and the water is quickly rising. Shane stands up with Shay. "We need to get out of here!" He tells her as the two hop onto Feraligatr.
"How? There's no windows and the door is locked!" Shay fearfully asks.
Shane scans the room. "I know you have great ideas Shay. Help me think!" He then looks down at his panicking sister in front of him. "Close your eyes and take three deep breaths."
"But, Shane-"
"Do it!" He orders.
Nodding, she does it, and she finds herself being very calm now. With her eyes now open, Shay tries to think about how they can escape this room. There are no windows, the door won't break down...looking up at the pouring water, she points to it. "Can we swim out through there?"
"Feraligatr won't fit." Shane defeatedly says.
Shay shakes her head though. "No. Can he get us up there so we can climb through? We can fit through the gaps."
Shane looks back at the drain and thinks. He can't come up with a better idea. With the water quickly rising, they should be able to reach the vent soon. "Let's go!"
When Feraligatr gets to the vent, the water crashes down on them all. Fortunately, Feraligatr can handle this. The kids, however, are struggling against the pressure. Feraligatr and Shane help Shay squeeze through an area with less water pressure. Her head and shoulder ache from the water, but she's happy once she's up. Fortunately, there isn't water where she is. She's on the side of the vent without the water. The other side has the water pouring to the vent.
Being careful not to slip back down, Shay reaches a hand out to her brother. Soon, the two are up in the vents with Feraligatr back in his pokeball. Catching their breath as they try to get dry again, Shay says, "We only have one way to go now." There is water the other two paths they have, so they can just go down the tubing near them.
Sighing, Shane sees what his sister is saying. The area is small, so they have to crawl. "C'mon. Let's try to find a new room or something." He doesn't like being in the cramped vents.
Oaks & Ketchums
"Suicune, Ash! Watch your clumsy feet!" exclaims the brunette. Ash has set off all of the traps so far, and Leaf is tired of it.
Sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, the raven haired man replies, "How am I supposed to know where to step?"
"We talked about this, Ashy Boy." Gary sighs. "Just step where we step."
"But if I look at the ground, how will I know when an axe swings from the ceiling again?"
"Pikaaaa." Pikachu facepalms from Ash's shoulder.
Leaf lets out a loud groan before placing a hand on Misty's shoulder. The redhead is sweatdropping from her dense husband's words. "You married him, Misty. Do something before he gets us killed." With Leaf once being a master at traps and cons, she has a pretty good way of evading these traps. Therefore, she's leading the line.
"An axe won't swing from the ceiling if you follow our steps!" Misty exasperates. How is this man the Kanto Champion? Oh yeah. He is a genius when it comes to battling. That's it.
Throwing his hands up in defeat, Ash exclaims, "Fine. I will look at the ground, but if an axe swings from the ceiling and kills me, it's on all of you!"
"I doubt that'll happen." Leaf mutters.
"Yeah. We have a higher chance of getting our heads chopped off when you're not looking at the ground than when you are." chuckles Gary, earning him a glare from Ash.
"Who chose these teams anyways?" Ash is tired of his friends' teasing.
"You did, dumbass." Misty reminds him. May had told everyone to split into groups of 4 so that they can cover more ground. Also, with four people, there is a higher chance of survival in case tough battles ensure. So far, the groups' toughest battles have been just walking a few feet without setting off a trap.
Ash had suggested that the families stick together. The Enbars have 4 members, but 2 are children, so Ash had the Shinjis join them. The Maples have 4 members too, but Ash wants May and Drew together, so he had Vivi join the Maples without May. He then placed May and Drew with the other coordinators, the Saoris. Thus, leaving the Ketchums and Oaks in an automatic group. While Misty tried to tell him that two champions shouldn't be in the same group, Ash thought his groups were perfect.
"Oh yeah." Ash sheepishly laughs as he scratches the back of his head. Talking caused him to look up and give Misty an innocent grin. Unfortunately, he missteps.
When the group feels the ground shake, Gary groans loudly. "Again, Ashy Boy?"
"Pikapiiiii." Pikachu's ears go flat and everyone prepares for what trap Ash has set off again.
"Why am I even walking carefully when Ash is gonna set off all the traps?" Leaf exasperates.
"I knew we should've traded him for Shay!" Gary tells them, and even Misty can't help but giggle at this.
"Okay! I'm sorry, guys! But walking carefully is boring!" Ash sighs.
"We're here to rescue Kai, Ash. Not get captured ourselves." his wife knowingly informs him, causing Ash to roll his eyes.
"It's been awhile since the rumbling started." Leaf notes suspiciously.
Nodding, Gary agrees. "Don't tell me Ash is about to blast this whole base off into the sky?"
"Okay. That's enough teasing, guys." Misty cuts in because Ash is glaring intensely at the amused Oak man. "I married Ash, so I get to ruthlessly tease him."
"Agreed." Leaf deems that the reason she can tease Gary as much as she likes.
"Uh, guys…" Ash calls over to the three. They look at him where they see him staring at the hallway behind them.
"What is it?" Misty asks.
"I think we should just start running."
"Oh please, Ashy Boy. That's all you've wanted us to do this whole time." Gary is not going to risk getting killed due to Ash's impatience. Unlike Ash, Gary has two children he wants to go home to. Yes, Ash has one, but Gary has two!
Shaking his head as he gulps, Ash tells them, "No. That's not it."
"Then what is it, Ash?" Misty snaps at her quivering husband.
"Pika!" Pikachu shouts and jumps off of Ash's shoulder to sprint in the opposite direction of where the adults are looking.
"Suicune! Like trainer, like Pokemon!" Leaf is tired of this. She should've chosen to travel with a different couple.
"No, look!" Ash grabs Misty's hand tightly and runs past the Oak couple.
"What're you doing, Ash?" the redhead has no idea why her husband and Pikachu are sprinting, especially since the rumbling is only getting stronger.
"Oh shit!" Leaf exclaims. She grabs Gary's shirt collar to pull him after her. "Let's go, Gary!"
"Fuck!" the professor shouts in shock. He stumbles when he starts running, but thankfully Leaf's hold on his collar keeps him up.
The group is sprinting away from a giant boulder the size of the hallway. "Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" Misty runs beside her husband. Now she wishes they listened to him sooner so that they'd get more of a headstart on the boulder.
"Can't we just attack it?" Leaf suggests.
"Yeah, babe! You stop and call out a pokemon in time to destroy the rock and not get crushed by it! Make sure your pokemon is strong enough to crush the rock!" Gary mocks.
Leaf glares at him. "Watch it, Gare. I can trip you right now."
"You wouldn't leave our children fatherless." he smirks at her.
"I'm seriously considering it if you don't wipe that smirk off your face."
When Gary sees her serious sharp look, he tries to hide his scared gulp. Mew, this is why he married her though. She always manages to get him to behave. She makes him feel emotions he's never felt before. She makes life a lot of fun.
"Turn here, Pikachu!" Misty yells to the electric mouse ahead of them. Of course, the group has set off a few other traps as they ran, but the boulder quickly took care of those.
"Pi!" Pikachu turns right at the next turn, and Misty and Ash follow. With the Oaks still talking as they run, they don't notice Ash and Misty had turned and avoided the boulder.
"Gary! Leaf!" Ash yells after the boulder, but it's blocking his view of seeing his friends.
Gary hears the shout, and he now notices that there's no one in front of them. "Shit!" he exclaims.
Leaf realizes the same thing, causing her to mutter her own choice words under her breath. "Meet up later!" She yells, though she isn't sure if the Ketchums can hear her.
"This is why you don't threaten to kill me, Leafy." Gary snickers at his wife. They were too distracted to notice the Ketchums turn. Now, Gary isn't sure when the next hall will be, unless they reach a dead end and get crushed by the boulder.
She shoots him a glare. "I'm seriously thinking about using you to slow down this boulder right now. Don't tempt me."
Gary gives her an innocent smile. Although the circumstance isn't a good one right now, he loves teasing her. He loves irritating her. Mew, he loves her. "I'd sacrifice myself if we need it."
Sighing, Leaf blushes slightly from his words. A decade of marriage and two kids later, and Gary Oak still manages to make her heart beat quickly. Looking ahead, she sees the dead end. Screw this. This is not how Leaf Oak is going out in the world. She and Gary have two small children they promised to take to the ice cream parlor once they're back.
Stopping in her tracks, Leaf turns to face the boulder. Gary stops shortly after her and he opens his eyes at her in shock. "What are you doing, Leaf?"
"Living, Gare." She narrows her eyes at the boulder quickly approaching. Throwing out a pokeball, she says, "Frenzy plant!"
Venusaur emerges from the pokeball, and Gary runs over to protect Leaf from the boulder. He isn't lying when he says he'll sacrifice himself for her. Leaf welcomes his embrace. If they're going down, they're going down together. However, they won't be going down. Venusaur manages to create a short frenzy plant that when it hits the boulder, the boulder explodes into a bunch of smaller rocks. Gary and Venusaur get hit by these rocks, but they're nothing compared to what the boulder could've done to everyone.
Letting go of his wife now that the immediate danger is over, Gary sighs. "You know I love you, right?" Only his courageous wife would be able to pull that off without shaking. He was surprised when she was calm in his arms. He knows he was shaking from fear.
After thanking Venusaur and returning her, Leaf smirks at her husband. "Yeah. Don't forget it, Gare." She winks. Walking over to kiss him since this scary ordeal makes her grateful to have him in her life, Leaf feels her left foot go down. Oh no. Fortunately, she grabs Gary's arm in time to drag him down the hole with her. Yes. They're married. They're going to do everything together, even go down this mysterious hole.
Maples & Vivi
"I can't believe you created that." Vivi says in amazement at her fiance.
Grinning proudly, Max exclaims, "Yeah! After we almost died 3 times in the Ruins of Alph, I knew I needed to make a booby trap detector. It makes everything a lot easier."
"I'm glad you have that." Caroline smiles.
Norman knows his daughter isn't as clever as Max, so he hopes she's okay. Nevertheless, he trusts her. And as much as he hates to admit it, he trusts Drew with her. Plus, it's not like May and Drew are alone. No. Norman would never allow that. Even though she's nearly 30, she's still his little girl.
"This place is huge." Vivi mutters.
"I'm glad there are no grunts here." Caroline comments.
Because Shelly is just an admin, she doesn't have as much control of the grunts as Archie does. Moreover, this isn't an Aqua base. It's just Shelly's personal one. The Maples doubt Team Aqua would want to brave the whirlpools to enter the island often. It's just not practical. These whirlpools are also untameable, so moves like Whirlpool won't help in getting through them.
Since there are no grunts on the island, it's most likely the reason Shelly boobytrapped everything. "We'll find Kai. There's a lot of us." Norman reassures them.
"No, you won't." cackles the voice from behind, causing the group to turn.
"Shelly!" Norman glares at the woman who presses a button. The group is surrounded by flames with Shelly on the other side of them. They have nowhere to run.
"Hello, Maple family." she snickers and then raises a curious eyebrow. "I see you're still missing someone. It's a shame she didn't make it out of the river yesterday."
The Maples and Vivi know all too well about May's encounter with Shelly yesterday. Pulling out a pokeball, Max shouts, "Where's Kai?"
Shelly just smirks at them. "Tsk tsk. Everyone always asks about my son, but no one asks about me."
"You kidnapped him!" Caroline tells the woman.
"He's my son. It doesn't count if I birthed him!"
"You're sick!" Vivi chimes in. She's heard stories about Shelly, and Vivi now understands why people don't like the Aqua Admin.
"Sick of all of you!" Shelly laughs, and the flames close in on them.
"Fight us like a trainer!" Norman protectively stands in front of everyone. He's vowed to avenge Brendan. For himself, for Brendan, and for the professor. Norman won't let Shelly get away.
"It's me against all of you." Shelly grins evilly at them. "I'm not stupid enough to put myself in a battle I'm gonna lose. I'll let my traps deal with you."
"They won't work!" Max releases his Whishcash, and Vivi releases her Clampearl.
"Waterpulse!" They order their pokemon to put out the flames.
Shelly furrows her brows because she forgot to account for Max and Vivi having water pokemon. She knows Caroline only has a Beautifly, and Norman only has normal Pokemon. "It's okay. I planned for this." Shelly cackles. "Prepare to join Brendan!" She clicks another button, causing a wall to shoot up from the ground separating Max and Vivi from the Maple parents.
Max pounds on the wall to no avail. "Go find Kai, Max!" Caroline yells through the wall. "We'll take care of Shelly."
Max presses his head against the metal in defeat. Although he trusts his parents and their pokemon, he feels a lot better being with them. When Vivi puts a warm hand on his shoulder, he looks at her. "C'mon, Max. Your mom is right. Your parents can handle Shelly. Let's finish the mission." Nodding reluctantly, Max takes her hand, and the two rush off down the hall.
On the other side of the wall, Norman won't let Shelly escape. His Vigoroth is currently battling her Walrein. "Sorry, old man, but this is it for you!"
"We're not leaving until we get Kai!" Norman has Vigoroth dodge an ice beam attack. He and Caroline are currently backed up against the end of the hall with nowhere to run. They have to battle Shelly. Well, Norman wouldn't let her get away. He's relieved to see her staying and battling.
"You and the professor have caused a lot of trouble for me, Norman. And your family continues to bother me even after Brendan's death."
"You're responsible for his death!" Caroline cries out. Brendan was like another child to her because his mother died at a young age. Caroline would look out for him and May whenever they'd have playdates as children.
"I'm as much responsible as all of you!" Shelly shouts. She hates how everyone blames her for Brendan's death. It wasn't just because of her. "You all could've saved him, but you turned your backs on him long before I did!" Walrein falls back from a slash attack. She then hits Vigoroth with her ice beam.
Norman is in no mood to listen to Shelly's accusations. He's heard plenty from the professor to know Shelly drove Brendan to his death. "Earthquake!"
Drew & May
"I don't wanna jinx it-"
"Then don't." Drew says.
May grins innocently at him. "But I don't think there are any traps in this tunnel. Aren't you glad we took the tunnel?"
Drew groans aloud. Groudon, he's going to be listening to May talking about how she chose the boobytrap-free path. Before he can come up with a retort, an ice beam freezes the path in front of them. The ice comes up to form a small fence, and Drew grabs May before she can get hit by another attack.
"You spoke too soon." he mutters at the woman sheepishly smiling up at him.
"Leave now."
Both adults now look to the familiar voice. In the dim tunnel, they can make out a figure ahead past the ice. They see an Azumarill, and behind it, they see a small figure. When he takes a step forward, they instantly recognize that white hair on his head. "Kai…" May whispers.
I didn't wanna make the whole "rescuing Kai" thing too short, so I incorporated the other groups in this chapter. I never planned to split the groups even more, but here we are lol. It makes it more interesting. Anyway, we're almost at the end!~