Chapter 23: the lake spirit Azelf, bringer of will power
Nei:
I was in the medical room performing somewhat a surgery on the Azelf, with such serious wounds it took hours to even stabilise him. I put stitches along the deep cuts and bandaged the burns and scalds as even with my level of healing it takes time, the more serious the wound the more energy I need to heal them completely. Id return to the medical room after I had some rest as Glaceon and Sylveon waited outside in the waiting room. They were more behaved and watched other pokemon in the room chase each other playfully. It was night and I had finally managed to heal Azelf to full recovery.
when the Azelf came to, he looked around and saw humans. He worried, as to be expected and as he fled I stayed on the ground sitting quietly. The nurses were confused and 1 of them asked "why are you just sitting there? He'll get away" looking at Azelf I could tell without words being said that he's suffering from emotional problems, like emotional trauma, that means to be able to get close we'd need to make him see we're no threat. Azelf witnessed my actions and slowly floated over to me as he felt better then recognised my scent. Moving closer he finally sat in front of my just staring and we both didn't move while the other nurse was still a confused. Azelf moved closer and moved back as I raise my hand. I held my hand out and kept still then Azelf leaned into my hand as I closed my eye. I focused on Azelf and as I do, I feel he thoughts and memories. It was as if I was watching it like a movie in his head and being part of it.
~flashback~
He was resting inside of the cave in the small island on the lake. Things were quiet and the sound of pokemon nearby were going about what they usually do, either battle trainers who pass by or play with each other like children do. he decided to take time to leave the cave and play with the pokemon in the area around the lake. He played tag, hide and seek with them and even helped pick some of the berries that grew in the bushes nearby.
Suddenly, there was a low rumbling sound and people came rushing to the lake and with their pokemon, they rushed in and destroyed the entrance to the cave along with the banks around the lake. The water seemed to have drained out from the devastation caused by them. He tried to help the pokemon around move away before any of them got hurt but as they escaped, the humans surrounded him. They were members of Team Galactic and a man with dark blue hair in the style of horns stood and send out Tyranitar which towered over Azelf. 2 grunts behind him sent out a Houndoom and a Crawdaunt. He appears to have dodged the Houndoom's fire attack but he got slashed by the Tyranitars claws and was sent flying as the members of Team Galactic gave commands to attack relentlessly. The wounds from the claws went deep as I could feel his fear for survival and being weakened. At the same time, Houndoom and Crawdaunt used their attacks, Houndoom attacked with inferno while Crawdaunt attacked with scald. Both attacks caused deep burns to the second-degree wounding as bad as I saw him.
He managed to escaped using confusion to kick up enough dust to use as a smoke screen. This move surprised all of the Team Galactic members since it was done when he was at his most injured state and had enough energy to fly way. The member with dark blue hair could be heard as he cried out "don't let Azelf escape, do what you can to find it. I'm heading to the next target" with the sound of strong gusts that member flew away and Azelf from the blood loss and pain fainted.
~flashback end~
I lifted my hand off of Azelfs head as he checked his body and noticed no harm had come to him. He stayed close as i turned to Volkner and said "seems like Team Galactic has moved ahead with the plan to get the lake spirits, which means I need to leave as soon as" Volkner argued "but even if they move ahead with it, odds are they've already caught the other 2. it's been hours since you saved this one" I knew what he meant but this one managed to escape so maybe the others had a chance too. I told him "even if chances are slim to rescue them, there might be a chance to save them like I did with Azelf" Azelf seemed determined to rescue and save his friends. I continued "we'll have to go even if it's to confirm, I don't think we'll learn more here" he sighed and agreed as I left the pokemon centre with Glaceon, Sylveon and Azelf close behind.
I called out my Dodrio then climbed onto his back. Dodrio ran and the other either flew or ran with me. We went past the trees and into the next city, Pastroia City. It was more like a small town with houses, a way to lead to the open ocean and an entrance to the Great Marsh where pokemon roam like a safari. We were just passing by trying to reach Lake Verity, that's where Mesprit lives. We ran across through routes and avoided cities as we approached the lakes front, because it was out of the way, there was a sign and well-kept trees in the area as I got off of Dodrio and walked to the lake as we were all surprised as to the scene that fell before our eyes. As we thought, the lake was surrounded by damaged trees rubble around the edge of the lake and damage to the cave where Mesprit would be resting. Glaceon used ice beam to make an ice bridge for him to cross and check if Mesprit was in the run-down cave then we waited.