Chapter 30: The Rescue
Iron Island was the biggest iron mine in Sinnoh, and like the coal mine in Oreburgh, the iron was the lifeblood of Canaclave City. Normally the mine was constantly busy, shipments of the raw hematite ore coming up to the entrance while new shifts of miners traded places with those finishing for the day. Now the mine was eerily quiet as Lucas and Riley explored the abandoned operation. The mine wasn't shut down because the veins of unprocessed iron had finally been spent, but because a series of mysterious and dangerous Pokemon attacks forced the closure of the mine for the workers' safety. Byron, the Leader of the Canaclave City Gym had come to the mine to investigate not only as an expert in the steel-type, but as a worker himself. The father of Gym Leader Roark and son of Underground Explorer Club President Grant had gone missing and hadn't been in contact with anyone from his Gym, or his family, in over three days. Both determined to save Byron and discover the reason behind the Pokemon of Iron Island's sudden change, Lucas had come with family friend and high-ranking Trainer Riley to explore the dark and cavernous mines.
The quiet of the mines was not only eerie from the lack of human activity, but also an unnatural silence from the lack of other kinds of life as well. No rumbles or roars of Pokemon echoing in the deeper caverns, not even the soft chittering of the real bats that after years of adaptation had learned to live relatively peacefully with the Zubat and Golbat in the area. Neither Trainer said anything, they only paid attention to their surroundings, sure at any second something would happen.
When the topmost level of the mine revealed nothing informative, Riley led the younger Trainer to the mine's elevator. The two went into the tight orange cage and the well-dressed man pressed the button that would send the cart further into the earth. Nothing happened. Riley pressed the button and scowled when the elevator gave no response. Taking a small screwdriver from a pocket inside his lapels, he popped the cover to the control panel and carefully probed the wires inside. When he saw them intact his eyes followed the path of the wiring to the top of the cage. Climbing out of the elevator and to the top of the of the shaft's scaffolding he discovered the problem with a frustrated grunt. Curious to see what was wrong, Lucas followed the older Trainer. Riley pointed with the screwdriver at the problem, "Claw marks."
Lucas whistled. A series of claw marks not only cut through the thick, insulated wires that fed power into the elevator system, but left deep gouges in the steel structure. Only a Pokemon could do this kind of damage, and only an angry one would want to. After getting over the amazement of what he had seen, the teenage Trainer thought of something, "Wait, if the elevator is out of order, how are we going to get to any of the deeper levels?"
"We're going to have to climb down. Any of your Pokemon know Rock Climb?" Riley asked bluntly.
The boy shook his head, "Nope. And even if they did it wouldn't make much difference. I need the badge from Snowpoint City to be able to use it. I know because I looked it up in the Pokevice last night after I got the Fly HM,"
"Then we'll use mine," Riley stated. He pulled out a Pokeball from his lapel pocket and tossed it forward, "Go Rhydon!"
The massive evolved form of Rhyhorn appeared in the mine with a roar that echoed through the caverns. Riley jumped on one of its shoulders and yanked Lucas onto the other before the Pokemon slide down the steep cliff located next to the elevator shaft. The teen's teeth chattered as the shaky journey lasted several minutes and they descended dozens of feet. Finally the Rhydon landed roughly on flat, solid ground and not too soon for Lucas. Why flying was ecstasy, using a Pokemon for mountain climbing made him feel like riding on a paint mixer, the large kind hardware stores had for mixing many cans of paint at a time. The teen needed a minute for his legs to stop wobbling. Even Gizmo seemed a bit dizzy from the ride.
"Good news is all the other levels can be accessed with ladders. We shouldn't need to use Rock Climb again," Riley stated seeing how badly Lucas was doing.
"That's a relief," Lucas said as he slowly rose to his feet. This level of the mines was darker than the previous one. There were artificial lights that littered the paths, but like the elevator, it appeared their power was cut. This level didn't seem as eerily silent as the previous one. A low rumble seemed to come from somewhere, almost like background noise. But even without the silence a piece of Lucas still felt unnerved.
Once again Riley led the way, his fast pace slowed as he carefully observed his surroundings. Suddenly the older Trainer stopped and his hand once again reached for a Pokeball. Suddenly from ahead of them a Steelix and a Graveller erupted from the ground.
Lucas's eyes grew wide in terror, "Wild Steelix? Is that normal around here?"
"Wild Steelix are fairly common on Iron Island. What's abnormal is their level," Riley explained. Lucas pulled out his Pokedex to see what the Trainer meant. Both the rock-type and the steel-type were in the high 50s, far stronger than any of Lucas' Pokemon. "Normally the Pokemon around here are in their mid-to-high 30s. These guys have become the runts of this cave. I know most of your Pokemon won't be able to fight these guys head on, but do what you can to back me up,"
Lucas nodded and reached for his belt, "Go Haunter! Use Hypnosis!"
The purple ghost the teen had trained for his meeting with Barry appeared on the field and sent a wave of energy towards her opponents. Though at first the Pokemon resisted, both the Steelix and the Graveller collapsed to the ground asleep. Riley pulled out his own Pokeball, "Go Lucario! Use Hi-Jump Kick on the Graveller!"
Like Ashley's Rex and Maylene's Pokemon, Riley's Lucario was a mighty fighter and obedient creature. The Pokemon almost seemed to come out of its Pokeball already in the middle of its attack and knocked the sleeping rock-type out with one blow. Lucas pulled out his Pokedex again. Riley's Lucario was well into level 60. Though the teen knew nothing about the man in the stylish blue suit, he could tell Riley was no amateur when it came to Pokemon battles. Just as Riley was about to get his Pokemon to attack again, Lucas asked something, "Hey wait, can you not knock out this Steelix? I'd like to try to catch it,"
Riley nodded curtly and got his steel-and-fighting type to hold back its attacks and give the younger Trainer a chance to do some damage before the Steelix could wake up. When the Pokemon was significantly weakened, Lucas threw a Great Ball and captured the powerful creature. Once this task was complete, the two Trainers continued their exploration of the abandoned mine.
The double Pokemon attack was only the first of the wave of battles the Trainers had to face, and like Riley had warned, the Pokemon only got stronger and stronger the deeper they got into the cave. Lucas did what he could to help the older Trainer, but at one point even his strongest Pokemon were no match for the behemoths that had come to live in Iron Island. The worst part was some of the wild Pokemon even ignored their opponents in battle, and tried to attack the humans directly. These Pokemon were truly dangerous, and greater concern developed for the strong-minded Gym Leader Byron. And though the Trainers were getting further into the mines, there was still no clue as to why the Pokemon had become so vicious.
"Hey pal, did you get some dirt or rocks in your ears?" Lucas asked Gizmo gently. After the last battle with two angry Onix on the third level of the cave, the teen had noticed his Eevee had incessantly been shaking his head and pawing at his ears. The boy did his best to examine his Pokemon in the low light, but as far as he could tell nothing was physically wrong with his normal-type. But as the Trainers descended into the fourth level of mining operations of Iron Island, Gizmo's neurotic scratching and shaking only seemed to get worse.
"This is the last level of the mines. We should find Byron here," Riley informed his teen partner, "But be careful, the strongest Pokemon are going to be here."
Riley pulled out a penlight and began scouring the area for signs of the missing Leader and almost the instant that the light hit the cave roof a flock of very angry and very powerful Golbat swarmed the two Trainers. Riley summoned out his Lucario again while Lucas commanded his Rotom, Sparky, to use Discharge. After a desperate battle that involved the Trainers getting as badly bitten as their Pokemon, the Golbat eventually dispersed and vanished into the darkness. The Trainers took a moment to catch their breath when they heard a low, quiet voice call out to them, "Is someone there?"
"Byron?"
"Riley, is that you?" the gruff voice got slightly louder as he realized there were people with him.
"Yeah, it's me. Where are you? We can't see you in this darkness and I don't want to risk the light again,"
"I'm under the auger. The ride-on one," The voice said with a sigh. Riley tried his best to adjust his eyes to the darkness and reached in front of himself to see if he could feel out the equipment that had trapped the Gym Leader. When the older Trainer finally bent down, Lucas followed carefully behind him. Riley risked the penlight again and shined on the face of Byron. The man looked just like the picture in Grant's house in Eterna City. Magenta hair like Roark, a five o'clock shadow and deep-set, determined-looking eyes. He seemed a little older and rougher, and was now gaunt from probably several days without food and water, but otherwise totally recognizable, "Who's the kid?"
"This is Lucas, he's here helping me get you out. So what happened?" Riley asked as he shined the light on the upended auger.
"I was exploring the cave, trying to see what got the Pokemon all up in a knot like this. Suddenly I get ambushed by the largest Steelix I've ever seen. It just launched itself out of the ground like it was water and in the wave of the energy the auger capsized onto my legs. They aren't broken, but I'm completely pinned down and can't even reach my Pokemon," Byron finished with an angry grunt.
"No need to get all worked up. We'll get you out now. Lucas, if you've got any food in that bag of yours you better give it to Byron, he needs it," Riley commanded. Lucas did as he was told and shuffled through his duffel bag for some snacks and a bottle of soda he always kept for when he was hungry. As the teen gave his food to the grateful Leader, Riley called out to his Pokemon, who had been left outside his Pokeball after the Golbat battle along with Sparky, "All right Lucario. I'm going to need you now. Use Strength and get this thing off of Byron,"
Much to his shock, the Lucario did not respond.
"Lucario, are you okay? Didn't you hear me? I need your help. Use Strength," Riley commanded again. This time the two-legged, dog-like Pokemon stepped forward, a strange, distant look in his eyes. The Lucario continued to walk towards its Trainer, and just before it approached the auger, it lunged. The older Trainer dove for the ground to dodge a powerful punch delivered by the formerly loyal Pokemon. Eyes wide in shock and horror Riley cried out, "Lucario, what's wrong?"
Once again the steel-and-fighting type lashed out at his master, leaving a crack in the cave wall as once again Riley dodged the dangerous attack. Riley pulled out a Pokeball and pointed it at the Pokemon, "Lucario, return!"
The beam of light flashed at the Pokemon, but the agile creature nimbly avoided the recall beam and knocked the Pokeball out of his Trainer's hand. Lucas thought desperately about what to do. There was no way he could take on the Lucario himself, none of his Pokemon were anywhere nearly as strong as the steel-type. Leaving to go for help would do no good, it would require going back through the underground gauntlet of overpowered rock, ground and steel-types. He couldn't free Byron himself, but there had to be something he could do to help. That was when he noticed both Gizmo and Sparky's odd behavior. Gizmo was still pawing desperately at its head, now practically burying his head in the sand to block whatever irritant was attacking his brain. And joyful, happy-go-lucky Sparky seemed practically irate, hovering in the air with a grim expression etched on its face. That's when Lucas remembered the dull rumble he had heard. After several hours of hearing it, he had tuned the sound out, but now that he was paying attention the noise was still there.
Lucas focused on the noise, noticing it was getting louder and louder as he approached a pile of equipment barely visible in a corner of the mineshaft. In fact, the only reason he could see even part of the pile of drills, jackhammers and shovels was because of a faint glow that seemed to escape from gaps between the handles and cords. The teen raced to the pile as Riley fought to avoid being harmed by his own Pokemon, pulling away the tools until the glowing object was fully visible. The device was about the size of a coffee table with a series of green lights blinking in succession on top of it. There were wires poking out of it and in addition to the rumbling it seemed to hum. Now right next to it, Lucas felt like his head was going to split, a dull ache that made him agitated and more short-tempered than usual. Grabbing a shovel, the tattooed young man began smacking it, slamming it over and over again until it sputtered with sparks and the glowing and humming died.
Almost instantly, the pain in Lucas' brain ceased, Sparky perked up, Gizmo stopped tearing at his ears, and Riley's Lucario stopped his attack and looked around the dimly lit cavern in absolute confusion.
"What just happened?" Byron called out, his voice and body stronger now that he had some food and hydration in him.
"That's what I'd like to know," Riley replied curtly. He continued to eye his Lucario suspiciously, but the Pokemon seemed back to its normal loyal behavior, following his Trainer as he approached the remains of the machine Lucas had destroyed.
"I think this was the thing that made the Pokemon go crazy," Lucas pointed with the tip of the shovel.
Riley shined his light on the device, looking over it carefully and drawing a conclusion, "This is some kind of sonic device. It emits an ultra low frequency sound that usually only Pokemon can hear, especially ground, rock and steel types or creatures sensitive to vibrations like bats. It scrambles their brainwaves and makes them more violent, and it also makes them temporarily very strong. At one point, once other Pokemon get close to it, then it affects their minds too, though not as much as rock, steel and ground Pokemon,"
"Then how come I could hear it?" Lucas asked curiously.
"Well, you didn't really. At least not the full extent of it, just enough to know there is a sound nearby. Young people have a better range of hearing than older people, so they can catch some low and high frequency sounds that someone in my age or Byron's age couldn't. What concerns me is who would put something like this down here, or what this symbol is supposed to mean,"
"What symbol?" Riley pointed the penlight at a crest at the back of the machine. It looks like a shield with three gold stars, one large and two small arranged to look like a 'C' on a navy blue field. Lucas recognized the symbol immediately, "Team Cosmic!"
"Who?"
"Team Cosmic. They're a criminal group. Their end goal is to eliminate any people or Pokemon they view as weak or useless. They are pure evil and this logo's their symbol. This was probably an operation to strengthen the Pokemon of this island so they could come back and catch them. But the Pokemon must have been suffering terribly, this thing even gave me a headache when I got close enough to it," Lucas explained.
Both Lucas and Riley looked on the remains of the evil device in silence until Byron called out to them, "While these Cosmic guys sound like bad news, let's not forget about me, okay? I'm still trapped down here,"
"Lucario, use Strength!"
"Dad!" Roark shouted with joy as his father limped through the doors of the Canaclave City Gym. Like the Leader had said, once the auger was off of his body, his legs—and his Pokemon—were just fine. With Cosmic's device destroyed, the Pokemon of Iron Island went mostly back to normal, and left the three Trainers mostly alone as they returned to the docks and Riley's small speedboat. Though both Riley and Lucas insisted on going to a hospital first, Byron was determined his son and father were his priority. The Junior Trainers cheered as their Leader marched through the Gym, supported on either side by Riley and Lucas. The gruff Gym Leader gave his only son a large hug, and clapped his slightly frail father on the shoulder. The exhaustion from their three day vigil disappeared as the family was brought back together.
"Byron, you should be in a hospital. Your legs may seem fine but you never know if you don't have any internal bleeding," Grant stated warningly.
"I'm fine Pops. There isn't anything wrong with me that a good night's rest and a thick steak won't fix," the Gym Leader reassured his father, though he was still leaning on Riley for support. "I do need to go to the Pokemon Center though to get my team checked out, but there's something I need to take care of here first," Riley lead Byron to the Gym's lobby and reached behind the reception desk to pull out a couple of objects before turning to Lucas, "Lucas, from what I understand you came to Canaclave City to earn your Mine Badge,"
"Well of course," Lucas thought obviously.
"Well, in my mind you've already earned it," Byron revealed the objects in his hand, a shiny badge and another TM.
"I can't accept that! I haven't defeated you in battle. I'm not just about to take a charity badge. I didn't take one from Gardenia for returning her Pokemon and I'm not taking one from you," The teen argued.
"This isn't some kind of insult, boy! My Pokemon are all in the early 40s, the Pokemon you battled on Iron Island were double that. That alone would be worth a badge, but not only did you go all the way through Iron Island, you also saved the Pokemon there and saved me,"
"I had Riley's help,"
"Not when my Lucario turned on me. Your Pokemon were going just as crazy as mine, but rather than just assuming it was something you did, you figured out the cause of their behavior and stopped it," Riley explained.
"I might be okay and I'm willing to risk my health, but not my Pokemon's. When I go to the Pokemon Center I'm going to have my team under observation for a solid week. During that time the Gym is going to be closed. I don't know any Trainers that're going to wait around for a week for a closed Gym. I'm not going to give you any prize money since you didn't win a battle, but in my eyes you did earn the Mine Badge and this TM for Flash Cannon," Byron insisted.
"I still don't know about this..." Lucas eyed the badge skeptically.
"The point of Gym Battles is to prove to the Pokemon League that you are a capable Trainer in mind, body and soul. That you have an understanding for battle strategy, a grasp of type and move advantages and empathy towards your own Pokemon and your opponents. When you beat Gym Leaders you prove that, but you can also prove that through various tasks and challenges. As master of steel-types, a type that is known for their enormous defensive capabilities, you have proven to me that you have an understanding and respect for the type by realizing that box was hurting them. Whether you beat me or not, you won this badge,"
Lucas grabbed for the badge and the TM and looked the older, gruff man in the eyes, "Alright, I'll take these prizes since you say I earned them. But only because I have a great respect for your family and all the favors they've done me. But someday, I'll come back here, when you and your Pokemon are better, and I'll challenge you to a real battle. Then not only will you fight me, you're going to give me everything you got, agreed?"
"I wouldn't want anything less," Byron promised.
"Lucas, there is something I want to give you, too," Roark interjected.
The young man groaned, "Not you, too. I still owe you for getting my ass out of jail,"
Roark reached into his shirt and pulled out a stone, "This is a Skull Fossil. It's the same kind of fossil I got my Cranidos from. I found it recently in the coal mines and I really want you to have it. You saved my father, Lucas, I owe you far more than you could possibly owe me,"
Lucas turned to Gizmo and sighed, "Well, I think it's time for me to head out. I think I've had all the emotional drama I can stand. I'm coming back for you Byron. And you too, Riley. I want to test that Lucario's strength for myself,"
"You better come back as a Champion, Lucas," Riley nodded.
"Count on it,"