Chapter 35: Battle for the Temple
With the snow falling now as gentle flakes instead of a blowing blizzard, it would only be a matter of a few hours to finally arrive in Snowpoint City. A few days ago, Lucas had come out of a difficult trip through Mt Coronet only to face an even more hazardous trek through the deep snow on the route to the next Gym. Worse yet, a terrible snowstorm had blown up, causing the teen boy to get lost in the frozen wilderness. It was being guided to a cabin by a strange Pokemon that allowed Lucas to continue his trip.
His destination was in sight now, but there would be no rush to the finish line. The snow was still deep and difficult to get through, and his legs were burning from the effort of the past two days. He would still fall on occasion and his feet were once again getting numb from his climate inappropriate boots. Just as Lucas was becoming annoyed again from the obstacle he heard a familiar noise again, "Wudju! Wudju!"
"It's you again, isn't it?" Lucas smiled despite himself. Happily hopping around him seemed to be the Snover that had guided him to safety the previous evening, "I really appreciate your help last night. You were a real lifesaver,"
"Wudju! Wudju!"
"I hope you don't mind, but I'd like you to join my team, so I'm going to try to capture you," Lucas informed the Pokemon. The Snover tipped its body to the side slightly, thought for a moment and then once again waved its arms up and down in a cheerful frenzy. Trying to keep balance in the snow, the young man pulled out a Greatball and threw it at the grass-and-ice type. The ball sucked up the Pokemon and captured the creature without struggle, a fight unnecessary for the helpful and happy Snover. Lucas trudged over to where the ball fell and nicknamed his new Pokemon, "Welcome to the family, Curly,"
Capturing the Pokemon improved Lucas' mood considerably. That and the fact that the smoke from chimneys were visible just ahead meant soon he would be in civilization again in Snowpoint City. As he came up the pass the snow got shallower and his pace could increase. No longer was it up to his thighs or even his knees, but just above his ankles. There were more sets of footprints ahead as well, indicating he was only minutes from the city. The most surprising set of footprints, however, seemed to be ones from someone who it appeared was barefoot. Wondering who would dare to go in the snow so unprotected, he received his answer as he caught up to a second person just outside the city's gates.
"Maylene?" Lucas called out curiously to the pink haired person ahead of him.
"Ah, h-hello Lucas! Good to see you again!" The pierced teen was right, the person just before him was the Gym Leader from Veilstone. Like in the Gym she was wearing a tank top and sweatpants, and was completely barefoot. Her teeth were chattering badly through her smile, and causing the fresh set of bandages on her face to rip off slightly from the action.
"Man, what are you doing out here? And like that? I'm wearing a parka and I'm still freezing my ass," Lucas replied in shock, still not quite able to take in the sight of the trembling Gym Leader.
"I-it's part of my training as a fighter. I'm building up my tolerance for extreme hot and cold. Th-this actually isn't as bad as it looks, especially not after the f-first time," Maylene explained. She may have been slowly getting used to the weather, but it was still affecting her body, "I take it you're h-here to challenge the Gym L-l-leader?"
"Yeah, you know anything about who he or she is?" Lucas asked as the two finally entered the city proper and headed towards the Pokemon Center. Snowpoint City wasn't very big, the snowy area sheltered by the dense pine forest that surrounded it, keeping the deepest and the worst of the snow mostly out. All the houses were built close together and looked like the kind of homes seen in Christmas cards and snow globes, icicles on the roofs and smoke gently wafting into the air from stone chimneys. There were a few children outside having a snowball fight and building snowmen and adults pulling packages of groceries on sleds.
"Her name is Candice. She's an ice-type specialist," Maylene added shyly, "She's actually a good friend of mine. Whenever I do my training I visit her,"
Stepping into the Pokemon Center was like entering heaven for the exhausted Trainers. The center was extremely warm and the vending machines well-stocked with hot drinks. After visiting the counter for his own Pokemon, Lucas dumped himself on one of the soft Center couches with a sigh of relief. He let Gizmo out of his ball finally and let the Eevee wander about while his Trainer stretched himself out like a cat and sipped his hot coffee, "So what's she like?"
"Oh Candice is wonderful! She's kind and beautiful, and so stylish and confident!" Maylene described excitedly as she joined the boy on the couch.
"Actually, I meant as a Trainer,"
"Oh." Maylene's face turned as pink as her hair. She then added huffily, "It would be unethical for a Gym Leader to divulge another Gym Leader's strategy,"
"Oh sorry, I didn't know that," Lucas said sheepishly before changing the subject, "So ice-types, huh? The obvious route would be fire-types, but Candice is one of the higher level Leaders, so she's probably got all sorts of crazy dual-types that know attacks that would handicap me. Well, I'll take a few days to think about it. I'm not in any rush. I just got here and I'd like to remember what being warm means first,"
"I don't blame you, but if you'd like to meet her I'm going to her Gym right now to say hello," Maylene said, already back on her feet and ready to head outdoors again.
Lucas took a moment to consider it. He had finally just gotten really warm, but meeting the Gym Leader would be a good opportunity to size her up. Since he wasn't planning on challenging her any time soon, he could always come back to the Pokemon Center whenever he liked to avoid the cold. "Sure, just give me one moment,"
Maylene waited while Lucas put his piercings back in. Though it was still cold outside, now that he was in the city, he didn't have to worry about being outdoors long enough for the metal jewelry to hurt him. Plus after years of having them, he felt naked without at least a few hoops in his ears and eyebrows.
The teen braced himself for the cold again as he followed the Veilstone Leader through the small village to the Gym. The Gym itself looked like a modern arena compared to more quaint style of Snowpoint's houses, and like all the Gyms before there was a sign describing the Leader and her specialty. Candice, The Diamond Dust Girl. After talking with Maylene Lucas knew exactly what to expect. Though it was a small advantage, he would take any he could get, especially as he had to start thinking about facing the Elite Four and the Sinnoh Champion Dawn. The fighting Leader seemed to have a spring in her step as she grabbed the door and went inside. Lucas followed in to discover the inside of the Gym looked like a skating rink, layers of thick, smooth ice coating the floor in strategic locations. However, none of the overhead lights were on and there was no one around.
"That's strange, there's no one here," Maylene said worryingly.
Lucas shrugged, "Not really. So far in Sinnoh this is about par for the course,"
"No, you don't understand. Candice never leaves the Gym unsupervised. If she had closed it for some reason, the door would have been locked," the Veilstone Leader shook her head. Before the two could figure out anything else, they heard a large explosion coming from outside.
Avoiding the Gym's slick ice, the two Trainers rushed back outdoors. Looking around they heard a second explosion coming from a path just north of the Gym. Maylene realized what was happening and started running, "There's something going on at the temple!"
Following the Leader's swift moments through the crunching snow, Lucas ran along the path until it opened into a clearing. Ahead was a large temple. In front of the temple was the largest group of Team Cosmic grunts Lucas had ever seen. Many of the followers in their snow fatigues had Pokemon out, while others were preparing to launch a second wave, only waiting for their commander's order. Countering Cosmic's offensive was a small group of priestesses and Junior Trainers with their own Pokeballs, lead by a stylishly dressed girl with black hair that Lucas could have sworn he'd seen before, "This temple is a sacred place where only the most worthy Trainers are permitted to enter. As Leader of this city I will not permit a group of underhanded Pokemon thieves to defile it!"
A figure Lucas recognized right away stepped to the front of the group of Cosmic grunts. With his overcoat, now having fur on the labels and cuffs, and a pair of earmuffs behind his officer's cap, Major Mathias addressed the Gym Leader, "Miss Candice, it is not our intention to destroy or defile anything in this temple, our interest is simply in one thing at the bottom levels. Even if you are a so-called 'Gym Leader' you have no way of fighting against all of us. It will be best for all parties involved if you simply surrendered,"
"Never!" Candice snapped back, now pulling out her own Pokeball.
Mathias sighed, "All right, have it your way. But keep in mind that if anything gets destroyed, it will be your fault, not ours. We gave you the opportunity to back down and have the temple unharmed. Cosmic, attack at will,"
"Not so fast! Candice isn't as outnumbered as you think!" Maylene cried, causing the Cosmic officer to to turn around.
Mathia ignored the Gym Leader entirely, instead narrowing his eyes and smiling his wide, snake-like smile at her companion, "If it isn't my favorite little toy Lucas. I shouldn't say I'm too surprised to see you here, no doubt still chasing after your pretty little Gym badges. I must say though, you must be awfully cold after coming all the way here," He added suggestively, "I could help you warm up if like,"
"I'd rather freeze to death," Lucas snarled.
The major gave the boy a sarcastic, pouting frown, "Then I assume you will be interfering in our business again. You are going to make it very difficult for me to convince my superior to give you a good position when I finally do get you to join. He's losing his patience with you, but I promise you'll always have my protection in Team Cosmic,"
"You really don't get it, do you?" Lucas spat, "I'm never joining Cosmic and I'm never joining you. Whatever you're doing today and whatever you're doing ever, I'm going to stop you! I won't ever let Team Cosmic win,"
"And neither will I!" Maylene roared.
The Team Cosmic major's eyes narrowed in amusement. With a snap of his fingers he began his orders, "Squadron's One and Two, attack the temple and push back the Snowpoint Leader and the priestesses however you can, and take their Pokemon afterward. Squadron Three, as soon as One and Two succeed, siege the temple and head for the bottom level. Forget any Pokemon you find along the way, they will be of no use to us. Squadron Four, seize the Veilstone Leader and the boy. I have different uses for them both,"
"Abomasnow! Glalie! Froslass! Mamoswine!" Candice threw her Pokeballs forward, "Use Icebeam!"
"Jynx! Use Lightscreen!" commanded the priestesses to the several human-like Pokemon they released.
"Weavile! Feint Attack!" ordered one of the Junior Trainers.
"Golem!"
"Salamence!"
"Ursaring!"
The grunts threw their own Pokemon forward and the battle began. Attacks of various elements were thrown back and forth as the priestesses' Jynx tried to keep up their psychic force-fields around Snowpoint's sacred temple. The attacks hit the humans as much as the Pokemon, but the Cosmic squadrons pushed forward, all but squadron Four.
Lucas' first instinct was to grab for one of his Pokeballs, but it became very clear this group of Cosmic grunts had no intentions of having a battle. They pulled out billy clubs and collapsing batons from their pockets and edged towards the teen boy and the Leader. For this battle it was he who would have to do the fighting, and that suited him just fine. They didn't learn from the last few times that Lucas was no pushover, and if they wanted to fight dirty, he could fight even dirtier. He adjusted his stance, grinding his heels into the crisp snow and raised his fists, ready to react to the first movement his direction. He glanced over to Maylene to check on her. Her stance was relaxed and there was a calm look on her face as three of the largest grunts rushed her. Lucas remembered what the large bruisers in the Veilstone City Gym had said about their Leader, that Maylene was stronger than any of them.
The teen boy didn't even see how the first two grunts went down. One moment two of the men were baring down batons on Maylene's head, the next they were flying into a grove of pine trees. Seeing the third man go down was something of a disturbing marvel. While Lucas was punching one of his assailants in the throat, Maylene had hit the third of the goons with two hard right jabs before slamming the man in the head with a roundhouse kick. As the man went down the Leader used his body as a springboard and launched into a second wave of grunts with a flying jump kick, sending several more onto the ground. Now in the middle of the fray, Maylene spun left and right, sending bodies flying, including a woman who crashed into one of the men trying to slam Lucas in the back of the head with a billy club. Lucas took out several grunts of his own, sending punches and steel-toed kicks into necks, stomachs and groins. But for every one of his punches, Maylene landed at least three in blinding succession. The two worked themselves through the squadron, managing to avoid or absorb the worst of the damage.
As they broke through to the main battle between the three remaining squadrons and Candice and the temple staff, Maylene only had a few light scratches on her bare arms and Lucas with a split lip. The chaos was no Pokemon battle, it was war. Candice and her entire team of Pokemon fighting at least six people for each Pokemon. The priestesses were joining their ice-types in the fight, hitting the grunts that broke through their front line with broken branches and the warding staffs normally used to exorcise evil spirits. Missing in the brawl was the major, although it wasn't as though Lucas was exactly looking forward to running into the older man again. He and Maylene raced towards the temple to help with the front when a Torterra blocked their way.
"Gizmo! Franky! Sparky! Hotrod! Stella! Gabite! Go!" Lucas cried out, throwing all his Pokeballs in the air. At first the team looked confused. Normally, at the most, only two of them would be sent out into a battle, but this was no Pokemon League sanctioned match.
"Machoke! Medicham! Machamp! Hitmonlee! Hitmonchan! Lucario! Go!" Maylene sent out her own team, including many of the Pokemon she only used for high-level battles. The Torterra was down soon before they were ambushed by a Gengar, Kingdra and Magcargo.
"I actually feel bad for these Pokemon," Lucas said sadly as Hotrod took out a Skarmory, "Most of them were probably stolen from their real owners,"
Maylene nodded as her Lucario slammed down a Rhyperior, "You're probably right. After this free-for-all we can rescue them and have them returned, but in the meantime we've got to protect Candice and the temple at all costs. Pokemon can't kill each other in battle, but they can certainly hurt us. Team Cosmic's not holding back and neither should we,"
And as if to further prove the Leader was right, a Shiftry popped from the fir above and tackled Lucas to the ground. Before it could cut him with its sharp, branch-like claws, it was knocked to the side by a Hi-Jump Kick delivered by Stella. When it was clear her Trainer was safe, the Buneary ran into Lucas' arms and buried her head into his chest. The teen wrapped his arms around the Pokemon reassuringly, overwhelmed by how much of a shift there was in Stella's attitude towards him, "Thanks a lot, girl,"
They were almost at the front line now, and not a moment too soon. Candice's Abomasnow got knocked out by a Slaking, the strain of the all-out fight too much for it. From a snowbank to the Gym Leader's left popped out a Seviper, a spray of poison coming out of its mouth.
"No!" Maylene screamed, flipping over a Camelrupt and throwing her body between the snake Pokemon's attack and the ice Trainer. The venom hit the pink haired girl full force, slamming her into the temple's door. Candice's eyes grew wide in shock as Maylene's body began to convulse.
"Maylene!" the black haired girl sobbed, running to her friend. The Seviper opened its mouth to attack again. Lucas recognized the Pokemon, it belonged to Mathias. The last time he saw the creature his Pokemon were in no shape to go against it, this time both he and his team were far stronger.
"Franky! Hydropump!" the Gyrados instantly turned away from its battle with a Venusaur and obeyed his Trainer. The blast of water tore the Seviper out of the snowbank and threw it through dozens of trees. Before Lucas could run and check on the Gym Leaders, he felt someone grab his arm and twist it behind his back. He was spun around, face to face with Mathias, the man's other arm now wrapped around his waist. With his remaining free hand he tried to dig his fingers into the tendon on the major's elbow, but between the Team Cosmic commander's thick coat and cushioning of Lucas' glove, Mathias' grip was not going to be loosened. This time kicking the commander in the knee would do nothing, the tattooed teen's legs almost entirely worn out between arriving in the icy city and the brutal fighting that continued to drag on.
"I'm afraid I'm not going to let you interfere this time, we are just too close. Now that both Leaders are out of the fight we're almost where we need to be," Mathias' grip around the boy's waist tightened, "I told you I'd keep you warm. I knew you'd need it after that fight. Your legs must feel like lead right now, I can tell by how much you've slowed down,"
"And I told you I'd rather freeze to death!" Lucas roared back, spitting directly into Mathias' face. The other man seemed unperturbed by the action, that snake smile still etched on his face.
Suddenly two Cosmic grunts approached their commander in the fray. Unlike the other grunts dressed for the fight with winter fatigues, these seemed more ready for espionage with their black clothes. They saluted Mathias, "We found the target in the bottom level of the temple. Unfortunately, it looks like it was just a legend, sir. It was a statue, not a Pokemon,"
Mathias gave a disappointed roll of his eyes, "That's what you get when you follow nothing but myth and legends. Nothing but a wild goose chase. But if the General keeps insisting we investigate this stuff, we don't have much of a choice, do we?" the major then turned his attention back to his prisoner, "Well, at least this time I won't walk away empty-handed,"
"Wait a second. Are you telling me that you had Team Cosmic people in the temple the whole time? Then why start this fight!" Lucas demanded. His concern for his own situation lessened with this startling new piece of information.
"For a distraction. In case what was in the temple was real we needed some big commotion so we could quietly get it out," Mathias said matter-of-factly. The teen could feel his blood boil as his hate for this man increased. Hate for him stealing people's Pokemon and using them as tools of war as he looked around the desperate struggle all around him. Hate for the manipulation Mathias used in trying to get what he wanted. And most of all, hate for him hurting innocent people and Pokemon for a simple distraction. He started fighting against Mathias with all his might, a new flood of adrenaline taking the pain and exhaustion away from teen's legs. To add another insult, the older, taller man started laughing, as though Lucas' actions were amusing. His laughing soon ended as he let out an angry yell of pain. Gizmo had sank his small fangs into the Team Cosmic major's leg, and squeezing down with all his might. With this new opportunity, Lucas headbutted Mathias, slamming his forehead right into the man's nose.
With the older man's hold on the smaller boy finally loosened, Lucas pulled away. Mathias tried to kick the Eevee with his other leg, only to have the normal-type hop away in the last second, running back to Lucas' side. The green-eyed man whirled around to follow the Pokemon's line of movement, only to see he was now surrounded by a very angry Gyrados, Charizard, Gabite, Rotom and Buneary. Mathias' injured Seviper finally rushed back from the place where it was side-lined by Franky and arced up in front of its master. The major smiled, calling back his loyal Pokemon and called out to his forces, "The operation is over. Fall back, we need to move on to our next mission," he turned back one more time to the teen, "I find you very intriguing, Lucas. You say you hate my ideologies as well as those of my employer, yet you defend members of the Pokemon League virtually with your life. I hope you don't change. You are too much fun to try to figure out,"
Lucas had no idea what Mathias had meant by the statement, but he didn't care. He was too tired, as was his team, to try to chase after the escaping Team Cosmic members, but in the end the fight wasn't totally pointless. In addition to many of the Pokeballs dropped during the melee Maylene's team, furious with the injury caused to their Trainer, continued to attack the fleeing grunts, causing them to drop more of their stolen Pokemon as they vanished into the firs.
The toll of the battle was quickly overtaking Lucas but before he would allow himself to sink to the ground in exhaustion, the Trainer forced himself to the temple doors where Maylene still lied convulsing from the poison in her body.