POKEMON HEART SOUL ADVENTURES
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Chapter 49 - Galactic Struggle
Conway, Barry and Angie were quite surprised - not only were they not expecting anyone else to be in the same cell as them, but they were also an odd-looking pink-haired little girl and a similarly strange guy... who seemed to have been interfering with whatever Team Galactic's plans were as well! The bespectacles teenager cleared his voice and fanned himself with his shirt because of the infernal heat of that place, before questioning his new cellmates.
"Just to make sure I'm up to date with the recent events... do you happen to know what's going on with these Team Galactic remnants?" Conway asked. Mira, the pink-haired little girl, took a quick look behind him, as if to make sure there was no one listening... then, she nodded at Buck and confirmed that the time was right for them to speak.
"Well, looks like Team Galactic wants to get their hands on the Legendary Pokemon living in this volcano's core..." Buck explained, keeping his voice low enough that Conway, Angie and Barry had to step a little closer to hear clearly. "Its name is Heatran, and... well, truth be told, not much is known about it. I can only say that Stark Mountain's volcanic activity is linked to its waking moments, which have gotten more frequent and longer lately. For some reason, it seems to me that Heatran knows a danger is approaching."
"It wouldn't be the only case..." Mira answered, looking a little uncertain for reasons Barry and his friends would discover soon. "You see... there have been some strange events happening in the oceans between Sinnoh and Hoenn. There have been several unexplainable storms, to the point where many passenger ships have been forced to remain in port. I... think it's because of Kyogre, Groudon and Rayquaza, the Legendary Pokemon of Hoenn, who are about to awaken..."
Angie raised her hands, trying to make some sense of what the two unknown trainers were saying. "Hey... hey, kid, hold your horses! I don't understand... are you saying that someone out there is trying to gain the power of the Legendary Pokemon for his own ambitions?" the young tomboy asked incredulously. "And the Legendary Pokemon... are reacting to that and trying to warn the world of what's going on?"
"That's what we suspect... o at least, that's what our companion Riley suspects..." Buck answered, leaning on a wall with a nonchalant attitude, as if he couldn't care any less about the fact that he was stuck in a hot, damp prison cell in the bowels of a volcano. "It seems that several Legendary Pokemon are currenty in a state of unrest... it's like they know someone is out to get them and were trying to show their unease to the whole world..."
"Woooow..." Barry murmured, in equal parts shocked and excited. "This is just crazy... you mean to say that the Legendary Pokemon are causing all sorts of weather mess... I mean, that this Heatran is tryin to warn us that someone wants to capture him and stuff him into a Pokeball? And he's making the volcano erupt because of this?" He stood in place for a few moments - which was considered by Conway to be a veritable miracle - and then produced a huge smile that invaded almost the whole lower half of his face! "Way COOL!"
The result was that Conway lost his balance and almost ended up smacking his face n the ground! "Ugh... the things I have to listen to..." the bespectacled strategist murmured. "No way this is 'cool' or anything, blond! If we can't make heads and tails of this whole thing soon, our world's safety could very well be in jeopardy! Legendary Pokemon are the mainstays of this world... and should someone get a hold of their power, it wouldn't be a good thing for anyone!"
"Okay, okay... no need to quarrel over such little things..." Mira tried to calm them down, giggling nervously at the idea that they were going to trust that trio of weirdoes to salvage the situation. "Er... rather, we should try and find a way to get out of here, and find our Pokemon! Mira isn't very happy with the fact that her Porygon2 is in the hands of the new Team Galactic boss!" She stopped herself, sighing in sadness, as she sat on the ground and tried not to get depressed at the thought of her Pokemon being in that unenviable position. It sure wasn't easy...
"You have a Porygon2?" Conway asked, widening his eyes behind the lenses of his glasses. He knew very well just how rare and difficult to come by that kind of Pokemon was... and above all, that it was a computer-made Pokemon gifted with unknown powers, that could potentially become extremely dangerous in the wrong hands!
For her part, Angie was more interested in conforting the pink-haired little girl, and gently placed a hand on her shoulder in order to let her feel her closeness. When the still down-in-the-dumps Mira looked up, the older girl smiled and winked, making an attempt to find the silver lining in the situation.
"I don't think we should cross our bridges before we get tothem, Mira." Angie said, sitting beside her on the cell's bare floor. "Rather... just like you said, we need to find a way to fool those Team Galactic scoundrels, and escape from this place! So we will be able to recover your Porygon2, and ruin their plan to capture Heatran! Now... if only I had half an idea where we can start..."
"I'm afraid it won't be easy..." Buck stated, taking a look at the terrifying vista just out of the only window in the cell. "What we need is to be able to catch them off guard, but even so, we'd only have little time to get our Pokemon back and start our counterattack."
Barry snapped his fingers, getting what he believed to be a great idea. "Well... I think I got it!" he exclaimed, moving his arms around as he began explaining his plan. "Now, what we do is this: as soon as one of those scoundrels arrives, one of us lays on the ground and pretends to have a bellyache, and when those guys get in and try to drag us out... YAH! We jump them and tie them up like salami! Then we take their outfits and... ta-daaan! We're disguised as Team Galactic grunts, and can escape whenever we want! So, is this a great idea or what?"
In spite of the blond trainer's enthusiasm, his idea was met with a rather disheartening silence, only interrupted by the sound of a few sweatdrops pouring down the inmates' heads! After some silence, it was Conway who gave his detachedly logical opinion...
"Not to dampen your spirit, my friend..." Conway affirmed. "But... how exactly do we tie those guys up? We don't have ropes with us, those Team Galactic guys were smart enough to take away anything we could have used as a weapon... and how are we going to put the Team Galactic uniforms on, anyway? They are too big for you, Angie or Mira..."
"Mira wouldn't even be able to pull her sleeves up..." the pink-haired little girl commented.
Barry looked around, his enthusiasm giving way to a strange feeling of disappointment... and when he realized that his plan wasn't as good as he thought as first, he looked down and sighed, a small cloud of steam coming out of his mouth. "Ugh... okay, I'll admit that wasn't exactly my best idea... but really, guys, at least give me the benegit of the doubt, will ya? I mean... we need a plan to get out of here, save our Pokemon and keep Team Galactic from getting Heatran! Work with me a little here!"
"You do have a point... though I guess you can see that we aren't exactly in a good position!" Buck stated with a sigh. "We're standing in an empty room, without anything that might help us, and we can't even crawl out of the window! Even if we could break the bars and get out of there... we're right above a huge ravine, and we wouldn't go far anyway. I hate to say this, guys, but... I'm afraid we are trapped here!"
"An yet, there must be a way to catch them off guard..." Conway stated, sitting alongside Angie and trying to jog his mind. "Okay... we know we can't use out Pokemon, and we have nothing here that we can use to our advantage... But if we found a way to get out and come close to a critical point in the base, then maybe..."
Angie blinked and cast a questioning look at Conway, as her summer camp companion tried to think of a way our of that mess...
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Charon's fingers were almost dancing on two keyboards at the same time, as Team Galactic's greatest mind along with Cyrus continued typing, fascinated by the possibilities unfolding in front of him... and the thought that such possibilities would certainly be worth a lot of money, once he knew how to use them! On the screen to his left, an electronic map of Stark Mountain was visible, pinpointing the estimated location where Heatran was... while to his right, close to the other computer and protected by a glass dome of sorts, stood Mira's Porygon2, who was seemingly in a trance and kept its eyes closed. Charon could scarcely believe his own luck - he had readily understood that peculiar Pokemon was going to be extremely valuable, but what he had just discovered went beyond his most optimistic estimates!
"This is fantastic! I'll admit it, I'm almost envious! Who knows if those pencil pushers at Silph Co. really understood what jewel of a Pokemon they have created!" the old scientist said to himself, as he took a good look at the results of his analysis. "Sure, with everything I had to do, I didn't have that much time... but these first tests can already confirm that Porygon2 has huge potential... and that's not all of it! Leaving aside the fact that this Pokemon can alter its own body structure to adapt itself to its opponent's type... and the huge variety of moves it can learn... there's the fact that his artificial intelligence is capable of unprogrammed actions from time to time! Bugs, so to speak... This is incredible... if only I had enough time to fully analyze and understand this creature, it would be a cinch to write the necessary instructions to make it even better than it is right now! I can already attempt some useful editing right now... hehehee... I can't wait to see the cash pouring in as soon as I can mass-produce this Pokemon!"
Charon interruped himself and rubbed his own chin, thinking back of another Pokemon he had invested so much in... and to whom he had gotten rather close on an emotional level, surprising as it was to him as well. In a way, Porygon2 reminded him of the Rotom he had made friends with as a child. It was rather unusual for him, who was not big on sentimental stuff... but that, without a doubt, was his happiest Pokemon-related memory.
Charon's glare softened a little while he looked at the imprisoned Porygon2. Yet another artificial Pokemon... it was uncannily similar to what he had lived through with his Rotom, so many years ago. And yet, it was not the time to reminisce about the past... as of now, Team Galactic's goal was to make as much money as possible, Cyrus' unrealistic vision be damned. In the end, that immature fool's fantasies had collapsed his own organization. Someone as pragmatic as Charon had no use for abstract ideas like "a new world" or "an utopia". Such foolish ideas were the best way to failure... as long as Team Galactic had a more down-to-earth goal, it would manage to stay afloat.
"Well, back to work..." the aging scientist murmured to himself, pulling his small glasses back on the bridge of his nose. "So... let's take a look at Porygon2's instructions... it would be interesting to see which ones cause those unpredicted reactions. And if I can edit its program as to make it more powerful... hey, bonus! Let's see what I can do... Hm? What is the matter?"
While he was busy typing, Charon saw a pair of Team Galactic grunts walking in to report, and turned to them as they stopped a few mteres away from him. One of them saluted and updated Charon on what was going on. "Professor... we are happy to tell you that, following the instructions you gave us, we have almost completed the excavation. Heatran is very close, and should surface soon!"
Charon finished typing the line he was working on, and smiled proudly as he turned to the grunts. "Now that is excellent! You did a great job, and soon, the Legendary Pokemon of Stark Mountain will fall in our hands!" he exclaimed. "Okay, I'd much rather go there and check how it's going... you never know what might happen! You two warn Mars, Saturn and Jupiter, and tell them to get ready to subdue Heatran! We need to weaken it enough in order to contain it!"
"Roger!" the two grunts said in unison. Charon saved his progress, before taking a red CD-Rom out of one of his pockets and followed one of the two grunts out of the room... while the second grunt, a young man with messy blue hair and evilly glinting eyes, stood behind and glared maliciously at the Porygon2 Charon was studying. A malevolent smile graced his lips, before the boy walked after Charon...
"Very good... just as planned, those Team Galactic fools suspect nothing!" Damien murmured to him, taking care of being the only one who was able to hear his own voice. "It should be easy to throw a little mud in their plans, and return home with whatever it is I was sent here for! Heheheee... it's going just as smoothly as expected! Soon, the boss will give me stronger and better Pokemon, and better yet, he will allow me another shot at Ash Ketchum! I can't wait for this... and I'm sure you can't wait as well, my dear Togepi!"
Damien took out one of his Pokeballs, the one containing the evil Togepi captured only a few days before... and he could almost feel the little imp's enthusiasm through the sphere's metallic surface! After this brief moment of self-celebration, Damien put the Pokeball back and followed Charon, getting ready to put the rest of his plan in motion...
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Conway let out a tired sigh as once again, by simply thinking about it in a calm and rational way, he realized that their chances of getting out of that cell were extremely slim indeed. They had no means of escape, they had no Pokemon... they could only count on their limited physical strength, with their only real chance being taking Team Galactic by surprise, and attempt to reach their Pokemon. But how were they going to do it? He was sure Jupiter and her minions had hidden their Pokeballs all too well, somewhere where they couldn't be easily reached... even if they had escaped, they would not be able to reach them in time.
Much to his costernation, he was starting to think that maybe Barry's idea of jumping one of the grunts and knocking him out, without wasting time with complex plans, was the best... but for one like Conway, who was used to plan everything in advance and surprise his opponents with unexpected tactics, this brute force approach wasn't exactly his cup of tea.
"Okay, let's do this..." he said, swallowing his pride as a trainer, and deciding that being pragmatic was the way to go. "For now, we'll just pretend nothing is wrong, and we wait for the right moment - they will come to give something to eat sooner or later, right? That would be the best moment to catch them off guard, escape, and run into the corridor... but from then on, I really have no idea what we will have to do... darn, the truth is, we have no tools of our own! With what little we have, even I have trouble thinking something up!"
Buck raised his hand and looked to the door of their cell, motioning for the other trainers to lower their voice. "Wait... Don't speak so loudly, I think someone is coming." he said, and the surprised team immediately stood up and tried to act nonchalant, in order not to rise suspects. When a couple of grunt approached the door, Barry and Mira looked at them, trying to look surprised.
"Hey there." Angie stated nonchalantly, a forced smile of her lips. "We didn't hear you coming. Nice cell, you know?"
"Yeah. The air conditioning is top notch." Conway sarcastically commented, speaking of the suffocating heat. "So... why this visit? Does your boss want to show us a few more commodities?"
"I wouldn't try to be so smart if I were you, four-eyes!" one of the Galactic grunts stated as he opened the door with a key. "We have come to take you away. The final phase of our project has arrived sooner than we thought, and now you're not needed as hostages any more. We'll tie you up and leave you somewhere where you can't get to the authorities soon... when you'll manage to get free, we'll be too far away already!"
Two more grunts, for a total of four, entered the cell, some sturdy ropes in their hands, and approached Buck, who was probably the least scrawny of the five prisoners. The dual-colored young man frowned, while Conway thought to himself that he hadn't seen this one coming... once again, a tactic he had carefully thought up was being upset by a spanner in the works. It happened far too often, lately...
But the unexpected happened again, this time reversing the situation in their favor! The grunts were paassing by Barry, thinking he wouldn't try anything... when the blond boy, with a sudden lunge, snatched the rope out of a grunt's hands and, before the Team Galactic grunts could react, tossed Angie one of the ends! The short-haired girl, surprised for a moment, caught the rope and pulled it tight... then, as soon as Barry gave the sign, they both rushed forward, causing the rope to trip all Team Galactic members in a row and make them topple to the ground in a tangle of limbs and curses!
"What the heck..." Conway exclaimed. "I... I really didn't see that coming!"
"C'mon, everyone, it's now or never!" Buck exclaimed, shaking himselfout of his stupor and catching the other rope, which one of the grunts had dropped in the fall! As quickly as they possibly could, Buck, Mira, Barry and Angie began to tie up the surprised grunts, and Conway took care of making a few tight knots, so that the grunts would not be able to break free so quickly!
"Excellent idea, kid! We really left them stunned!" Buck commented as they finished tying the screaming, thrashing grunts. "How did you get this idea?"
"Hehehee... I just improvised, of course! Like I always do!" the blond boy answered. "It's as I say, after all... a last-moment idea beats a complex plan nine times out of ten!"
"You're going to get in trouble with this way of thinkinf, sooner or later... But now is not the time to think of that! We have to get out of here and retrieve our Pokemon, before all of Team Galactic is hot on our trail! After me, everyone!" Conway exclaimed. The team finished tying up the grunts and followed the bespectacled young man out of the cell, with Charon's henchmen shouting after them!
"What the heck... what are you thinking, you brats? You aren't going to get away with this, you can bank on that!" one of the Galactic grunts exclaimed as the quintet tried to make use of the time they had bought. The five Trainers had started out well enough, but now they had to contend with the fact that they were smack in the middle of a criminal team's hideout, and they had no idea where to go, or where their Pokemon had been taken. For the moment, the five trainers settled for getting as far away as possible from the cell and hiding in a narrow corridor, hoping to escape from the grunts for as long as they possibly could...
"Okay... so now we got our butts out of that stinking cell... but I'm afraid we aren't much better off!" Angie commented, feeling more and more claustrophobic as they went deeper into the corridor. "Now, the whole hideout will look for us, and they won't stop until they throw us back in there! Darn, I can already hear them getting on the chase..."
Angie was right - sounds were coming all around them, leaving little doubt about the fact that Team Galactic was already riled up and hot on their trail! Conway tried to concentrate and think of an idea, even though the frenzy of the moment made it rather hard to think...
Still, the bespectacled boy realized something that the others seemed to have missed... if Team Galactic was already aware that they had escaped, how come that part of the base wasn't already teeming with grunts and their Pokemon? Something was strange about all of this... and if he was correct, this was good news for them!
"Don't you think this is odd, everyone?" Conway asked. "Sure, Team Galactic is on the move, but I see nobody around here... isn't that a bit suspect? I kinda think they have more important things to do, so they don't want to deal with us, or they don't have the time!"
"What?" Mira asked, scratching one of her cheeks in doubt. "Hmm... now that Mira think of it, it is strange that nobody arrived. Where have they gone?"
"Isn't it... that they have found that Heatran thing they were talking about?" Angie said, getting an idea of what it could be. She was proven right all too quickly, as a frightening roar, as if coming from the very core of the world, shook the walls... and high-pressure jets of white steam were spraying out of several fissures in the stone, a sign that Stark Mountain was on the verge of erupting! There was something seriously wrong about this... and more than one of them was almost gripped by panic as a small earthquake rattled the ground under their feet! Astrange smell, a mixture of sulphur and cinder, began to diffuse itself in the air...
"I'm afraid so... the volcano has started to awaken, and there's only one thing that could have caused it... Team Galactic managed to find Heatran!" Buck exclaimed, looking in the direction of the end of the corridor. "We have to do something before the volcano erupt!"
"There are several villages around here... I just hope they managed to evacuate in time!" Conway exclaimed, stopping for a moment before he smiled, as if something had just sawned upon him! "Hold on a second here! I think I got it now... we still have a chance to get away from here and retrieve our Pokemon, so we can throw some mud in Team Galactic's plan as well!"
"What so you mean? Explain yourself, before I fine you!" Barry answered, as they walked out of the corridor, his hand fanning the air in front of him because of the pungent sulphureous smell...
"And please, make it quick! This place is getting hotter than my uncle's microwave oven!" Angie commented.
"Well, it's rather simple... Mira, you just said they had taken your Porygon2 because they wanted to study it, right? And this Charon guy, from what I understand of him, is more interested in selling Pokemon and make as much money as he can than anything else, right?" Conway went on, using the sleeve of his shirt to clan the lenses of his glasses. "Basically, they wouldn't want the pokemon they have stolen to get buried by the eruption. And unless they're complete amateurs, which they don't look like, they obviously know of the consequences of awakening Heatran..."
"Wait! Mira thinks she gets it now!" Mira interrupted, as the team walked out of the cell block, having mt nobody who would stand in their way. "You mean they have placed them in a place where the lava can't reach, right?"
"Exactly so! See? Stopping to think can be useful from time to time!" Conway answered, praising the pink-haired little girl's quickness of thought. "See? I think you could afford to follow her example, Barry!"
"Aright, Mr. Know-It-All, let's think of finding our Pokemon for now!" the blond murmured, a comically offended expression on his face. "Rather than this, shouldn't we think of where such a safe place can be?"
"I think I already know where to look for..." Conway answered, leading the way up some stairs, in order to get as far away as possible from the volcanic cauldron. The heat was getting more bearable as they climbed up... but Conway had no time to think about it, as two Team Galactic grunts - a man and a woman - popped out of nowhere as soon as he turned a corner! Both groups jumped away in surprise as they faced each other!
"What the... These are the brats we caught!" the female grunt said. Angie and Buck gave them no time to go on, and launched themselves at the two grunts with a warlike yell, striking both of them with a shoulder slam and sending them tumbling to the ground before they could call any of their Pokemon out! The Team Galactic grunts fell to the ground with a pained grunt, close to the entrance of what seemed like a laboratory of sorts, and Angie and Buck high-fived each other in victory!
"And that's two less to worry about!" Angie proudly exclaimed.
Unfortunately, Conway did not seem to share their enthusiasm, as he pointed a finger to a place in front of the two of them. "Well, I have to admit you did a nice job knocking those two out... now, aren't you going to show me how you plan to deal with their friends over there?" he said. Angie and Buck looked that way... just in time to see five more Galactic grunts arriving, Pokeballs in hand!
Angie grimaced and stepped backwards, while Buck tightened his hand into a fist. THere were too many of them now... it seemed like their escape would end there!
"Oh, no! What are we going to do, guys?" Mira asked, looking over at Barry and Conway as if hoping they could give her a quick answer, while the ground under their feet shook once again. A Team Galactic grunt frowned and stepped forward, trying to intimidate the prisoners into giving up.
"You aren't going to do anything, brats, unless you want to end up in trouble!" he exclaimed. "Your escape was daring, I'll give you that, but this is where it ends! You won't stop us from catching Heatran!"
"I beg to differ. Togepi, use Flamethrower!"
Before anyone could understand what was going on, a powerful gout of flames erupted between Team Galactic and the five trainers, with a mighty roar and a tremendous heat wave! The surprised Galactic grunts stepped away and looked in the direction where the Flamethrower attack had come from... just to see Damien -dressed in a Team Galactic uniform - and his sinister-looking Togepi, a few flames still licking at her lips, standing in front of another corridor, arrogantly staring at them!
"What?" Barry exclaimed. "Hold on a second, what's this all about? Isn't that guy one of them?"
"Damien!" a female grunt exclaimed angrily. "You dirty traitor, what sort of game are you playing? Weren't you on our side?"
"Hehehee... that's quite a simple question, actually! You Team Galactic fools have been nothing but pawns in a greater game!" the blue-haired bully answered, keeping the smug smile on his face. As he took notice of the group of escapees, Damien pointed to the entrance of the laboratory they were heading to. "Hey, you! Your Pokemon are there... and your Porygon2 too, little moppet! If you want to get them back and stop Charon from catching Heatran, you'd better get moving!"
"Hey, hold on a sec here!" Angie shouted at him. "What's this all about? Why should we trust you, and why are you helping us?"
Damien chuckled, and his Togepi hopped on his shoulder and glared at the short-haired girl smugly. "Hehehee... That's for me to know, and for me to find out... if you manage to get out of here alive, that is!" he said, before turning away and running away, as the other Team Galactic grunts yelled at him ineffectually, the flames from Togepi's attack blocking their way.
"Hey, you! Wait up!" Buck yelled after Damien, who was now out of sight. "What's the meaning... oh, to heck with it. He's gone now... c'mon, everyone, let's get our Pokemon back from that lab! We'll think of that guy later!"
"It's not like we have much choice..." Conway stated, he and everyone else entering the lab. In fact, it was a rather barebones laboratory, though it was filled with computers and strange machinery that looked too complicated for them to understand. What they really cared about was finding the place where their Pokeballs where being kept... along with Mira's Porygon2! "So, let's take a look here... they have placed our Pokeballs in a relatively cool place, where they could be protected from the volcano's heat. Let's see here, where could it be?"
"You already know where to start looking? It's not like we have much time..." Buck reminded him. In the meanwhile, Mira approached a panel embeddedin the wall, placed close to what looked like a sliding door, and pointed that out to the rest of the team.
"Everybody, look here! I think I did find something!" the pink-haired little girl exclaimed. Barry approached and placed a hand on the panel, causing the door to slide open with a clicking sound.
"Well, talk about something..." Angie said as the door gave access to another corridor dug in bare rock, sparsely illuminated by a few wall-mounted lamps. Since they didn't have much choice other than following the corridor unless they wanted to run back into Team Galactic's clutches, the trainers followed the corridor, keeping their eyes peeled every step of the way, and finally emerged into another laboratory, where more computers seemed to be analyzing a strange creature placed under a semi-transparent glass dome: a Pokemon vaguely similar to a light blue and pink duck, whose skin was innaturally smooth...
"Porygon2!" Mira joyfully exclaimed, running to the dome under which her friend had been placed. Not caring about the data that could have been lost, Mira switched off the computer and tried to lift the small dome holding her virtual Pokemon... who, for its part, lifted his eyes and looked at its young friend with renewed hope.
"PORYGOOOON!" it exclaimed, its voice sounding like it was coming from some sort of voice synthetizer. Conway admired the strange virtual being with curiosity... it was surely an odd creature, and the bespectacled boy wondered what secrets it could hold in store...
Buck helped his young friend raise the glass dome... and as soon as that was out of the way, Porygon2 ran to Mira, who hugged it as if she was petting a joyous puppy! "Porygon2! Mira was so worried about you! Those Team Galactic jerks did nothing to you, right? You're okay, aren't you?" she exclaimed joyfully, cuddling her Porygon2 and hugging it for all she was worth.
The virtual Pokemon enjoyed its trainer's hug for a while, bringing a small smile even on the rational Conway's face... but all of them quickly remembered that they had absolutely no time to waste! They had to find the rest of their Pokemon quickly, before Team Galactic could be on their trail! "We have to hurry up now, though... Team Galactic won't wait for our celebrations to end..." Conway exclaimed. "If we can't find our Pokemon soon, we are in trouble!"
"Look! I think I've found something... here!" Barry exclaimed as he took a look to the wall on their side. A strange indentation on the wall had aroused some suspicions in him, and the blond boy reached the place and tried to push the section of wall inwards, without much success! "Uuuuuugh... boy, is this thing heavy or what! Guys, I could use a hang ere! Somebody push with me!"
"Hmm... maybe because it's not meant to be pushed in, don't you think so?" Conway answered, walking up to Barry and placing a hand on the wall. He pushed sideways without too much effort, and managed to open the strange door, as Barry sweatdropped in embarassment. Right behind the sliding wall were several compartments, in which their Pokeballs had been placed. "Just as I thought. Alright, everyone, here are our Pokemon! Take your Pokemon back... and then, let's go five Team Galactic the what for!"
"Alright! I wanna kick their butts so hard, they'll wish I had just fined them!" Barry commented, checking his Pokeballs. The tremors had now intensified, and it was possible to feel it there as well. THere wasn't much time left before Heatran emerged...
"Darn..." Angie murmured, finding the Pokeball belonging to her Luxio. "Guys, we might want to hurry this up! It's getting hotter here, and I don't think this place will last much longer..."
"Maybe Heatran has emerged already..." a fearful Mira commented, keeping close to her Porygon2. The virtual Pokemon seemed undaunted though, and pointed its rounded muzzle at the computer its trainer had switched off.
"PORYGON! Porygon!" the artificial Pokemon exclaimed urgently, trying to tell Mira about something important about that computer. Luckily, the pink-haired little girl seemed to understand what Porygon2 wanted to say, and took a few seconds to go and check...
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The volcano known as Stark Mountain was now out of control, and its activity could be seen from a great distance... the villages at the foot of the great mountain had long been evacuated, and the Pokemon living around those placed had not hesitated to run away. The area around the volcano was blanketed in soot, with fine ashes descending like black snow, and ever-increasing quakes, making it clear that disaster was about to strike!
In this situation, it would have been strange to see three people, two women and a man, approaching the active volcano, using capes to protect themselves from dust and cinder: a young woman with long emerald green hair tied in a large braid; an elegant young man wearing a blue-and-black hat; and an aloof-looking dark-haired young girl, wearing a telltale white ribbon in her hair. All of them were staring intently at Stark Mountain, knowing that they had to intervene at once, lest it was too late for them to do anything!
"Here we are, Riley. This is Stark Mountain, and I have to say, it's every match with its name." the green-haired young woman said, keeping her head low in order not to breathe smoke. "Mira and Buck are there as well... but I'm afraid we are late. Heatran seems to be awake already."
"Either that, or he is about to." the man answered stoically. A Lucario, a Pokemon looking like a bipedal jackal with blue-and-black fur, stood near him, looking just as unperturbed as his trainer. "But we cannot stop now, we need to do something to stop Team Galactic's plan."
"There must be something we can do..." the other girl murmured, trying to reassure herself...
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TO BE CONTINUED...
Author's note: And here is the new chapter! The battle with Team Galactic is getting intense, now that the rest of the Stat Trainers is bout to get involved... and the legendary Heatran is about to take charge of the situation! And by the way, I hope you appreciated the entrance of Porygon2! I'm aiming to give this Pokemon a good role in this story, since after that unfortunate incident in Season 1, it was pretty much banned from the anime. And expect Porygon-Z to show up as well!
That's about it for now. Please, read and review!