Chapter 11: Danger in the Mountain
Roark panicked and ran back as the massive, monstrous water-type rushed dangerously towards its Trainer. During his battle with Lucas, Franky, the Trainer's Magikarp evolved into Gyrados, the legendarily strong water-type with a vicious temperament and powerful attacks. The Gym Leader urged the younger man to pull back, but Lucas stayed firm. He held his hand out as his formerly loyal Pokemon seemed to turn against him. Roark held his breath as the Gyrados finally reached its owner and...
...Touched his face gently against Lucas' palm. It still had a strange, pained look on his face, but grumbled softly as Lucas began to stroke the water-type's face. The teen smiled and puckered his lips, "D'aww, you're a good boy, aren't you, yes you are,"
Roark watched in amazement as the Gyrados reacted playfully to his Trainer's babytalk. The Pokemon rolled on its back and seemed to whimper.
"Oh, that's why you had that look on your face, you're itchy," Lucas scratched the scales on his Pokemon's back and the Gyrados wriggled happily, "Do you want a bellyrub now, fella?"
Roark finally walked back towards the teen and could not look away from the sight, "I have been training Pokemon for years. I have seen hundreds of Trainer's come through this Gym and I have never, ever seen a Gyrados with that cheerful a personality,"
"I told you, Franky's still Franky. I trust him," Lucas pulled his hands away from his creature for a moment, and was immediately headbutted gently by Franky, "Okay, fine, I won't stop petting you. People tend to be so nasty to Magikarp. They get angry at them, make fun of them, abuse them because they think it's funny, and then wonder why Gyrados are the Atrocious Pokemon. I've loved Franky since the day I got him. Why would he turn into something nasty just because he evolved?"
The Oreburgh Leader's eyes softened and he smiled gently, "You are right, Lucas, people really do underestimate you. You are truly an amazing Trainer,"
"Since you have your Coal Badge you'll probably be wanting to head for Hearthome City, that's where the next Gym is," the nurse from the Pokemon Center suggested as she handed Lucas' Pokemon back to him. His team was now fully recovered and back to their usual selves. It was a huge relief to see Gizmo up and around, "I have to tell you though, getting to Hearthome isn't easy. You have to go through Mt. Coronet. That mountain is huge, and full of lots of caverns. It will be a multi-day trip, and it is very easy to get lost. There are also no other Pokemon Centers between here and there, so make sure you are ready for the worst before heading out,"
"Thanks a lot for the advice. I won't be going through right away, I want to do some exploring before heading to the next Gym,"
"One other thing: watch out for those Pokemon thieves. Most of the thefts have been just outside of town or near the mountain," the nurse added before Lucas left.
Ah yes, the Pokemon thieves. Lucas thought to himself as he let Gizmo sit on his shoulder. It was because of them that he had been falsely arrested for looking 'suspicious'. Someone or some group had been stealing people's teams right from under them. At the Pokemart the teen actually met someone who said they were ambushed and stripped of their precious Pokemon. And now that he was paying attention, Lucas saw dozens of the warning fliers posted all over the inside and outside of town, including some on the cycling road, the fliers that told people to call police if there were suspicious people in the area. Lucas couldn't fault the person who had reported him, the tattooed, pierced teen with flaming red Mohawk made a point to look as different from other people, especially his brother, as possible. His only grief was with the police who hadn't even talked to him before tackling him outside the Oreburgh City Gym like he was caught in the act.
Though aware of the danger, the young man had other things more pressing on his mind. After seeing the fossils at the city's museum, and then meeting a real, live prehistoric Pokemon in his Gym battle, Lucas wanted nothing more than to dig in the underground caverns of the mountain and find some fossils of his own. Finding the opening to a small passageway in the rocks, the teen used his explorer's kit and started going through the dirt. At first, he moved quickly through the ground, sure any second he would find a cache that would let him resurrect a whole team of ancient creatures, but after several hours he was hungry, sweaty and tired, and all he had found were some pretty, but worthless rocks and a few colored shards of broken pottery. Discouraged, and aware of the day ending, Lucas gave up and returned to town.
The next day, Lucas got up early and tried again. Though less exuberant about digging than the previous afternoon, the teen decided he wasn't quite ready to give up. But when it was almost lunch time and the most interesting thing Lucas found was a stone that looked like a heart, the Trainer figured his best bet was to move onto somewhere else. Determined to find something, Lucas moved along the length of the massive mountain that was visible from almost the entire Sinnoh region until he was closer back towards Eterna City. Though he still didn't find what he was looking for, he did finally find something interesting. Lucas discovered a dim cave in the mountains full of Pokemon. He caught a Zubat, a Geodude and a strange little Pokemon the Pokedex told him was called Gible.
It was darker outside than he expected when he finally left the cave. The young man considered going back to digging, but the frustration of his bad luck, and the better success of exploring the caves for live Pokemon instead of dead ones, he decided his best course of action was to move on and start heading through the mountain proper and head for the next city. Fossils would have to wait, he knew he would get some eventually.
He remembered the nurse's warning about making sure he was well prepared for the journey through Mt. Coronet, but knew he was well stocked with medicines. Since his recent success in battle, he was no longer in danger of running out of cash, and didn't hold back in things to take care of his Pokemon. He decided to take the risk and entered the mountain.
Lucas pulled out his Pokevice and pulled up the map. Thankfully, the gadget had clear maps of the mountain's weaving caverns and paths, and with it he knew he would not get lost. He planned out the best route, and where would be the safest places to camp. If his estimation was correct, it would take him two days to get through Mt. Coronet itself, and then another half day to get to Hearthome City. He began to reconsider his decision on starting now, as almost three days was awfully long to go without access to the Pokemon Center. The teen didn't mind risking himself, but he would never endanger his Pokemon. Changing his mind, Lucas headed back towards the exit, now harder to see as the sun was now down and gone from the sky. As he stumbled and reached the exit he felt something grab him in the darkness.
A pair of arms seized his right arm as he felt another grabbed his left. Before he could react he could feel two more figures grab at him, his legs now caught in their grip. Lucas pulled against his attackers but their combined strength was too high, he was now caught in their grasp with their intentions unknown. He was in real danger now. It wasn't spooks or phantoms, but real villains who could actually hurt him, or worse. The vulnerability they made him feel was overwhelming. He was a trapped animal. Panicked. Afraid. Questions swirled in his head. Who were these people? Was he being arrested again?
One voice called out, "I've got his belt,"
Another added, "There's also one around his neck,"
A sudden bolt of clarity shot through his mind as he realized his foes' intentions. These people were the Pokemon thieves. The ones he was mistaken for, the ones he was warned about, and now they were trying to take his team. Any concern for himself immediately vanished: Gizmo, Franky and the rest were all in danger. His focus shifted as he concentrated on which one of his opponents had the weakest hold on him. Feeling the grip on his left leg as the least powerful, he jerked his leg up, breaking his foe's grasp. He contracted all the muscles in his body to shift his center of gravity and sent his leg hurtling over his head until collided with the person clutching his right arm. He could hear a satisfying crack from their head as his arm went free. With it, he sent a devastating punch into the soft stomach muscles of the captor of his left arm. Three of his limbs now free, he drove his elbow into the back of the neck of the final villain. Now free, an old part of himself came flooding back, the person he became in the middle of a fight. There was no such thing as a fair fight on the street, only ones you walked away from. His instincts heightened his senses, the experience of each fight calculating where to cause these people the most amount of pain and damage. Though he couldn't see where they were in the darkness, he knew where they had fallen, could hear their groans of pain. Legs, knees, feet, elbows, fists all finding vulnerable flesh and sensitive nerves in the blackness of the cave.
A fist from the darkness collided with his chin, one that would daze most people. Lucas ignored the ringing in his ears, this was nothing. Fists, chains, knives, guns. It didn't matter what they used against him, he would feel no pain as long as his Pokemon were in danger. To protect his new precious friends, who did everything he ever asked, he would sacrifice new life for his old in an instant. He didn't matter, he was nothing. Only they mattered in his life. Suddenly the lights of the cave flickered on, the artificial lighting put on the main path to guide those through the giant stony labyrinth. Now Lucas could finally see his opponents.
Lucas leapt back onto a rock, able to survey his surroundings in clear, defining light. The four people who attacked them were in various states of falling over the rocks, one was in the fetal position, and all were different levels of bloodied. One of his opponents was female. Lucas didn't care, in a fight, especially a fight with so much at stake gender didn't matter. He didn't start the fight, but he'd damn well finish it. The one thing he found strange is that they were all similarly dressed. They all wore a uniform that resembled something someone in the military would were. Army boots and military fatigues in dark blue and lilac with a patch over their hearts that looked like a crest of dark blue surrounded by gold where three stars, one large and two small formed a semi-circle.
The one that was in the best condition cried out after Lucas, "You little bastard! Who do you think you are?"
"Who the hell do you think you are? You tried to steal my Pokemon." Lucas said in a low growl. He considered continuing the beating so known of them would be able to speak anymore. He held back though, as difficult as it was. If he knew who they were he could stop them from trying to attack someone else.
Despite their injuries to four assailants managed to drag themselves up and stood together at attention, "To destroy the weakness that plagues this world, like a cleansing light in the sky, we are Team Cosmic!"
"Team Cosmic?" Lucas was familiar with the stories of groups who would steal Pokemon to fulfill their ideology, but he had never heard of these jokers, "What does stealing my Pokemon have to do with weakness?"
"The world is flooded with weak, useless Pokemon and weak, useless Trainers. But weak Trainers often have strong Pokemon, or at least ones with lots of potential that would never be developed if they stayed with their owners. We strip these pathetic losers of their most useful Pokemon and add them to our ranks. Team Cosmic is about strength,"
"By sneaking up on people in the dark and ambushing them like pathetic cowards. And you talk about weakness," Lucas spat. The fact that they were thieves were bad enough, but their ideology left a bad taste is the teen's mouth.
"We don't have to defend ourselves against a blind fool like you, you annoying little punk!" the best conditioned Team Cosmic grunt snapped, "You might have beaten us with your cheap shots but this isn't the last you've heard of us! Team Cosmic Forever!"
With that declaration the four grunts ran deeper into the cave. Lucas knew they were right, this wouldn't be the last time he would face them. He was able to beat off four of them, but he had no idea how many more were crawling around Mt. Coronet like vermin. Tired, angry, and slowly beginning to feel his jaw ache, Lucas returned back out of the mountains and headed for the Oreburgh City Pokemon Center.