Chapter 59: Crisis in Mauville City
The tall fat man stared in abject horror at the three Trainers as he took in the damage to the room. Dozens of walls fell in smoldering pieces of what was formerly a complicated maze. Lucas and Skyler had ended up in the maze in an attempt to rescue Marcia, an ex of Lucas. After all three had been trapped for hours, Lucas' leg started to fail him, and in a rare moment of compassion for the female Trainer, helped her ex get to his friend and then out of the maze by a highly unconventional way: burning the walls down with her Pokemon. Just as they were about to make their escape and get some help for the tattooed teen, the fat man had come to welcome them.
"What did you do?!" he repeated, "The maze is entirely ruined!"
"What did we do? What did you do? What kind of psycho turns his house into a maze. We were trapped in the damn thing for hours!" Marcia yelled.
"This is the Trick House! It's meant to be a maze!" the man wailed back.
"Yes, because it's so obvious that a house in the middle of nowhere is meant to be some sideshow attraction. I mean, there isn't even a sign!" the green haired girl argued.
"Of course there's a sign! It's right at the front of the house!" the Trick House's owner led the three Trainer's out the exit which opened to the back of the house. It had stopped raining since the Trainers had been stuck in the maze, with only a few drops coming from the sky and most the the water now dripping from the trees and plants. They circled back to the front of the house where a small wooden sign with metal letters stood about ten feet from the front door: The World Famous Trick House. Trainers, Prove Your Skills with Your Brains and Your Pokemon and Escape the Maze for Fabulous Prizes.
"You call that a sign! There's no way you can see that thing unless the sky is clear like it is now," Marcia continued to protest.
Just as the Trick House's owner and the female Trainer were about to start a heated argument, Lucas interfered, "No, she's actually right. We didn't see the sign either. We just assumed someone lived out here. We had no idea what this place really was until we heard Marcia screaming,"
"And we didn't mean to destroy anything. Lucas was already feeling bad when we went in, while we were looking for a way out he collapsed. It was an emergency, he had to get out," Skyler added, "We're sorry for the damage,"
"I'm not! I still would have burned down the walls at that point, we were there for hours!" Marcia countered, "Besides, where's our prize? We got out of the maze, didn't we?"
"You honestly expect a prize after what you've done? Out! Out all of you before I call the police!" the Trick man yelled. Marcia flipped the tall, fan man the bird and the two Trainers continued to support Lucas as they headed back onto the road.
Once they were safely away from the Trick House, the three Trainers made camp. Despite his protests, Skyler and Marcia continued to fuss over Lucas, "Would you guys seriously cut that out? I told you, I just overdid it today. I sometimes bite off more than I can chew and get exhausted. This isn't the first time and it probably won't be the last. And honestly I feel a lot better. Once I get some rest everything will be fine,"
"Either way I'm sticking with you two until we get to Mauville," Marcia announced.
"Marcia, we've been over this," Lucas began to protest but the lithe girl held up a manicured hand to stop him.
"Listen, this isn't about trying to get you back, I'm just worried okay? We're all going to Mauville anyway so it's not a big issue if I stick around until we get there. Contrary to your impression of me, I'm not actually heartless," the girl explained, "Besides, you said you don't actually care about me but you came to help me in the maze. So why can you help me without an agenda but I can't help you?"
The teen opened his mouth to protest but decided against saying anything else. Instead Skyler addressed him next, "I gotta be honest, your health is worrying me a bit. We should probably go to the doctor before the Gym. And I really wish would sleep indoors instead of making camp again. If it rains again you might start getting really sick,"
The Dragon Tamer's concern over the teen boy was making him nervous and awkward again. It was becoming clear that Skyler did care a great deal for Lucas, even if it was strong friendship instead of romance. He didn't want to make his friend worry, "Well, it can't be helped. Even if he didn't throw us out I wouldn't feel like staying in that real life Saw house. Tomorrow we'll get to Mauville City and then everything will be quiet again and I'll rest after I defeat the Gym Leader,"
However, Mauville City was anything but quiet once the three Trainers got there. After sleeping the rest of the night, Lucas' leg did improve. He still limped a bit, but he didn't need support and was able to walk quickly the last few hours before finally arriving in the city early the next morning. Normally, Mauville City was a bustling vacation town, even for Hoenn natives. Located in the center of the main island, Mauville was known for its entertainment. Night clubs, theaters and casinos made the city alive twenty-four hours a day. And with neon wonders that could only be rivaled by Las Vegas, it was no surprise that the Gym Leader of the city focused on electric type Pokemon. But now, the city was in a state of chaos.
With the sun still not all the way in the sky it was hard to see anything. Traffic lights were down and there were car accidents down almost every small street. Every business, hotel and home was completely dark. Some citizens were forming an angry crowd outside of the city hall while in the middle of the commotion a short old man with a beard wearing sweats was giving commands to another crowd of people who had gathered around him.
"Group two report!" the old man asked a tattooed girl with short bleach-blond hair.
"The entire city is still blacked out and the generators at the Pokemon Center and the grocery store are completely blown. Only the medical center still has theirs and they're doing everything to help everyone getting hurt in the streets. There are traffic jams down every single street including the major highway and the relief electrical corp can't get in yet. They're using Pokemon to unblock the way but it'll still be at least three hours before they can get the trucks in let alone to New Mauville. The Junior Trainers have been sent to the Center to act as emergency generators but their Pokemon are wearing down quickly. This thing hit before most of us had a chance to recover after your last match last night," the girl replied with a heavy London accent. The group of young men and women behind her murmured in agreement.
"Group one, what have you heard from New Mauville?" the old man shifted on the wooden crate he was using as a podium to face the Trainers dressed as utility workers.
Their leader filled him in with a report almost as bleak as the girl's, "Chief, we're hearing nothing and we're worried. The cell towers are also down and we're getting nothing but static from the radios. Nobody from the plant has come back yet and we're scared that whatever those crews are going to have to deal with, it's gonna be bad. Real bad. We need someone there now before the Pokemon League's electrical crew can come in and give us a better report,"
"I should go," the old man in charge finally announced from his crate podium.
"Wattson you can't! I'm telling you mate, this city's like a warzone! You're pretty much the only Trainer here that has Pokemon that aren't running on fumes! The Pokemon Center is counting on us," the English punk girl reacted. There was agreement rumbling from the crowd behind her.
Lucas gestured to his companions to approach the crowd of Trainers and listen to what was going on. More arguments broke out between the group of Junior Trainers with the English girl, the group of utility workers and the Leader of the Mauville City Gym as they desperately tried to figure out a way to navigate through the crisis. Before Lucas could interfere, another voice called out to the crowds: the reporter for Hoenn Today, Gabby, shoved her way through the crowd with her cameraman Ty in tow, "Wattson, I've just come from city hall and the Mauville's mayor isn't saying anything. What's going on?"
"Bloody anarchy, that's what," the bleached punk grumbled.
The short old man in the center of the crowd held up a reassuring hand to his underling and addressed the reporter, "Gabby, it's always a pleasure. A couple of hours ago there was an explosion at New Mauville. The entire city blacked out instantly, there were a couple of dozen accidents all at the same time because of it and nobody's heard anything from the plant. The Pokemon League was contacted, but in all this chaos they're stranded at the city's outskirts and not long ago we lost cell and radio service as well. Beyond that we know nothing,"
Finally Lucas interjected himself, "What's New Mauville?"
One of the utility workers answered, "Its our term for the power plant. The old one was located in the city, but after the population surge and all the new casinos the newer plant was built outside the city to supply the additional needed energy. It's about a quarter of a mile away on a small island in the middle of the river, like an expansion. Hence 'New' Mauville,"
"And that's where I'm headed now," Wattson added, "I need to find out what happened and make sure the workers are okay,"
The English girl raged again, "Wattson you can't leave! We told you, we don't have the strength to keep up with the Pokemon Center and without more power Pokemon and possibly people are going to start dying!"
"The Pokemon League will be here soon. If New Mauville is on fire or even worse the people and Pokemon are in danger, electricity or no," Wattson shot back, his patience finally wearing thin.
"Screw the Pokemon League! Those tossers always show up too late and under prepared, if we wait for them we might as well knock our own heads in now. I'm worried about the workers at the plant just as much as you blokes are, my dad is an inspector there after all, but we've got real problems here and the city needs its Gym Leader!" the girl snarled, but there was clearly fear in her voice as well.
"Then I'll go," Lucas interrupted again. The crowd that had only acknowledged him briefly before was staring at him now. In the chaos even Gabby had missed her Holy Grail interview.
"Not to be rude kid, but who are you?" Wattson had asked.
"This is Lucas, Champion of Sinnoh. He came here for a badge but as a Pokemon League representative he can help. Besides, he's got me and if there's anything going on in the plant, we'll find out," Skyler announced, clasping his hand on his friend's shoulder before the Trainer could speak for himself.
"And I'll come too," Marcia added, stepping up next to her former boyfriend. The teen gave his ex more than a little look of surprise.
Wattson and his Trainers looked the boy over. Lucas was clearly exhausted, and was putting all his weight on his good leg, but in a crisis where Pokemon were in danger, no one could look as determined as him. Wattson nodded, "I think I recognize you kid, and I've been hearing about your reputation. If you're going to New Mauville I can stay here and lend some juice to the Center and if need be, the medical center. But if we don't hear something from you in a couple of hours, I'm coming myself,"
"That's fine. Just point me in the right direction and I'm on my way," Lucas replied.
New Mauville required backtracking on Route 110 until they made it to an offshoot underneath the Cycling Road. Like the one utility worker had said, the plant was located on a large island in the middle of the river that ran parallel to the Cycling Road. Lucas double-checked his Pokevice before leaving Mauville City. Service was down and he wasn't able to access phone or the internet, but the Hoenn Guide was downloaded to the hard drive of the electronic. They knew they were heading the right direction because a column of black smoke appeared on the horizon just at the water's edge. Lucas and Skyler were joined by Marcia, as well as followed by Gabby and Ty.
"Why are you coming with us?" Lucas growled to the reporter as they started surfing towards the plant.
"You're crazy if you think I'd miss a story like this. You remember how the Rusturf Tunnel was closed? Well, when they finally opened it back up they found a device just like the one in the lab in Granite Cave. It was causing the Loudred there to go crazy and their sonic cries kept collapsing the path. I'm willing to bet my front teeth that this is connected somehow to those other two events. And I want to blow the story wide open. Besides, it gives me another shot at interviewing you, Lucas," the brash reporter woman added with a wink. As Lucas grumbled to himself the journalist turned her attention to the new member of his little team, "And who are you, young lady?"
"I'm his girlfriend," Marcia purred as she laced her arm under the tattooed teen's.
The Trainer responded by jerking his arm away from the girl, "She's my ex girlfriend and if you report that we're dating I'll sue you for libel!"
"You mean slander, Lucas. Libel is when it's written down, I'm a television journalist," Gabby puffed proudly.
"So what's your excuse for tagging along, Marcia? You said you were only hanging out as long as Mauville, and we got to Mauville," Lucas asked his ex suspiciously.
"I'm still worried about you. I told you I still care. Besides, I want to find out what happens just as much as you do. Your impression of me is completely wrong and now I'll have the perfect opportunity to show you," the teen girl replied, her focus shifting from Lucas to the plant coming into view.
"I see something!" Skyler said in a low hiss. The column of smoke continued to billow from the plant, now fully in view as the Trainers and reporters were only a few feet from the island's shore. The building was dark with the lights totally out, but there also seemed to be no glow from flames engulfing the structure. In fact, for all intents and purposes the building seemed fine, and there could be people seen going back and forth, in and out of the building. But the Dragon Tamer's whisper had proved prudent, as they made landfall in a crowd of shrubs, they could finally get a better look at the people who were maneuvering just beyond the chain link fence that surrounded the plant. Men and women in blue and purple military uniforms carried crates and tool boxes as they wove between other people in lab coats holding clipboards. All them bore a shield-shaped crest with three stars arranged in the letter 'C'.
"Team Cosmic," Lucas said in a low growl, his fists balling up in anger. Even Gizmo, still distant and edgy, got closer to his Trainer and puffed up his fur defensively.
Gabby's reaction was very different. Her jaw dropped for a moment before her eyes lit up in delight, "Ty, are you getting this? Are you getting this?! We're going to win a Pulitzer!"
The Mohawk-bearing Trainer clamped a hand over her mouth and shushed her. Slowly, they edged towards the plant where a scientist and a Cosmic grunt were speaking. The woman scientist's face was sharply featured, with an overpowering pair of black framed glasses making her severe face seem even more unapproachable. She adjusted the glasses irritably, "Why have we not begun phase two of the operation? If we waste any more time the Pokemon League will be here. That diversion in Mauville can't last much longer,"
The grunt, a tall burly man that towered over the scientist shook his head, "Phase two cannot begin until the operation's commander arrives,"
The group stayed hidden while the two Cosmic members continued their discussion. While neither talked about the operation directly, Lucas and his team could infer from their conversation that the plant had been established as Cosmic's latest grounds for experiments. And that the group only had as much time as the arrival for the commander to find the missing employees, stop the experiment and report back to Wattson that Team Cosmic was indeed infiltrating Hoenn as it had Sinnoh. Lucas's worst fears were confirmed, and the horrible device from Granite Cave was only the beginning.
"Listen, we don't have any idea when this commander guy will finally show up. So we have to find out what happened to the employees now. If anybody sees a way to sabotage their experiment along the way, do it. If we mess up the plant it can always get fixed, but Team Cosmic does not joke around. Anything they come up with will be extremely dangerous," Lucas kept his voice low as he explained what needed to be done.
"I don't think I'll ever forget that lab, or how badly my head hurt," Skyler added.
"And Gabby-" Lucas raised a warning finger to the investigative journalist.
"No way! Lucas, don't you dare say that I shouldn't report any of this! I am a highly respected journalist and people deserve to know the truth. So don't you dare say that this needs to stay secret or people will panic or anything else like that!" Gabby hissed shrilly, barely keeping her voice down through her outrage.
"Actually, I was going to say, if something goes bad, you have to get out of here and tell people exactly what's happening. Cosmic can only do what it does because they are so good at doing large scale operations in secret. Lose the secrecy and they lose most of their power,"
"Oh." Gabby's face turned bright red, much to the teen Trainer's satisfaction.
This time Marcia objected to the plan, "Lucas, I really don't know if this is such a good idea. I mean, this is Team Cosmic after all, and they play around with some serious power. These aren't the kind of losers who can be taken out with some ten year olds with a dream. Maybe you should go back to Mauville, get some reinforcements,"
Lucas shook his head, "No. We can't leave those employees behind. We can't rule out that those experiments they are planning won't be performed on people. A group of hostages makes for a pretty good bunch of Guinea Pigs. We don't leave without them,"
"Why don't I stay behind? I can watch out for the employees here. Lucas, your leg is in really bad shape and you haven't really rested yet. You were supposed to heal in Mauville and we never even made it to the Pokemon Center," Marcia suggested.
"No one asked you to tag along. If you want someone to go back and warn the Pokemon League, you have a flying Pokemon," Lucas snapped. Marcia pouted, but said nothing else.
As the tropical morning grew, the group lost the advantage of the low light, and had to move quickly and carefully to avoid the Cosmic grunts. Lucas' leg was throbbing again, and the three Trainers hadn't rested their Pokemon in days. Ty and Gabby could participate in a fight if need be, but Cosmic grunts were always loaded down with powerful Pokemon stolen from unlucky Trainers. Outnumbered, outgunned and at a disadvantage, Lucas had one ace in his pocket. Before leaving Mauville, one of the utility workers had given the Trainer a copy of the plant's schematics. It gave the teen and his team the opportunity to know the plant inside and out. An advantage they could only hope the dangerous Pokemon thieves didn't share.
One thing Lucas had learned in his travels was that electrical plants had as much going on in the walls as in the rooms. Like the electric Gym in Sunnyshore City, the teen and his group navigated through the corridors in the walls. It wasn't easy as the entire plant was still blacked out, but with Skyler's flashlight they were able to stealthily find a way in through a back utility door, locate the inner corridors and circumvent the dozens of Team Cosmic members who had taken over the plant. The clock raced, Lucas still terrified that at any moment the commander the criminals were waiting for would arrive.
As they traveled through the walls the Trainer and his team frequently came across hordes of electric type Pokemon huddled in groups. Strangely none of these Pokemon attacked. Lucas suspected that between what had caused the explosion and what had happened to the employees, the wild electric types sensed that Cosmic spelled danger for them. Stranger still, for all the putrid smoke that clouded the air above the plant, the building seemed completely undamaged. In minutes that crawled like hours, Skyler was the first to finally spot the employees of the currently defuct power station. He gestured to Lucas and the two young men peered out from a grid. It was the only room that seemed to have any light.
It was the employee break room, a large room with several long tables with benches, and a back wall with a rolled cover that indicated where food was served. Vending machines sat darkened near billboards announcing company baseball games and the latest marriage of an employee. Across from the machines stood the lockers where employees kept their things during working hours. Normally this room would be bustling as the night shift would trade with the day, excited workers and inspectors saying hi to friends as they would leave for the day or shortly begin work. Now there was a quiet, hostile tension as the night shift sat silently at one of the tables, eyeing angrily the Cosmic grunts that surrounded them. To prevent heroics, on a table on the other side of the room lied the Pokemon belts of the employees, and carefully guarding it was a huge Tyranitar. Lucas grimaced when he saw the Pokemon. His rival Morgan had one of the massive dark and ground types, and knew how overwhelmingly powerful they could be. Between them was a large device with blinking green lights hooked into the break room's wall. He looked back and forth between the trapped workers, the Cosmic grunts holding them hostage and their confiscated teams, struggling to find a way of this situation, all the while his stomach churning over the idea that the Cosmic commander could very well already be at the plant, starting whatever horrifying operation the group had planned for today with the device in the room.
Marcia seemed to read Lucas' mind, "So, what's the plan?"
"I have no freaking idea," the Trainer responded honestly.