AUTHOR'S NOTE: Greetings, readers! Here is Chapter 44 of the continuing adventures of Tristan, Hillary, and Pikachu as they continue their journey through Kanto. Blaine from the anime makes one more appearance in this chapter. But also, here, you'll learn one possible explanation why Cinnabar Island was destroyed by a volcanic eruption according to the dialogue in the Gold, Silver, and Crystal version games. As a reminder, I don't own Pokémon. Pokémon, Pikachu, and all other characters are trademarks of Nintendo. As always, please feel free to read and review, and remember, feedback of any kind is always welcome.

TEASER: Tristan, Hillary, and Pikachu wake up to a scary situation: the volcano on Cinnabar Island is about to erupt, and they only have a short time to get everyone and themselves off the island before they're toast!

Chapter 44: THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION

(Music Cue: Prayer (sample)

After a big day of battling and earning a Volcano Badge at the Cinnabar Island Gym, we find Tristan and his friends fast asleep in the middle of the night at the Big Riddle Inn. However, the peace and tranquility on Cinnabar Island is about to be shattered.

It was a beautiful night on Cinnabar Island. The moon was bright and the wind was calm. Almost every building had their lights turned off, and everyone was fast asleep. When all of a sudden, a big, loud, and long roar sounded from far away.

Tristan immediately woke up from his sleep with a start from that roar. He was breathing heavily. "What was that?" he asked. He was surprised that Hillary hadn't moved at all. He immediately went over to where Hillary was sleeping. "Hillary, wake up!" he whispered.

Hillary groaned as her eyes opened. "I'm tired, Tristan," she said. "And I'm tired of you waking me up all the time."

"Sorry, sis, but I thought I heard something out there," said Tristan.

"Out where?" asked Hillary.

"It was outside," answered Tristan. "It sounded like a big roar. It was far away, but I could hear it."

"But that's impossible," replied Hillary. "You could never hear it from that far away."

Pikachu stirred in its sleep and eventually woke up to Tristan and Hillary's chattering.

Just then, Tristan and Hillary felt the ground shake violently under them. The sudden shaking woke Pikachu up as it held on tightly to the bed.

Hillary woke up as she fell onto the ground from the bed; fortunately, it wasn't very high off the ground. "Ow!" she grunted. "What's going on?"

"An earthquake?!" shouted Tristan as he clung on to the bed.

The shaking kept on for a few more seconds until it finally stopped.

"Phew!" said Tristan. "Is everybody okay?"

"I think so," replied Hillary. "But that was a bit too scary for my taste."

Suddenly, an alarm blared throughout the Big Riddle Inn.

"Now what's happening?" asked Hillary.

"I don't know, but maybe Blaine knows," replied Tristan.

Just then, the door burst open, and Blaine came in. "Hey, kids!" he shouted. "You've got to get out of here right now! It's about to happen!" He then disappeared.

"What's about to happen?!" exclaimed Tristan and Hillary.


(Music Cue: Desperate Situation)

Tristan and Hillary got dressed as quickly as possible and they got out of the building with Pikachu not far behind. It was then that they noticed that it wasn't just the Big Riddle Inn that had its alarms going off; they were going off in every building all over Cinnabar Island.

"Maybe the whole alarm system went kablooey," said Hillary.

Just then, an air raid siren began to go off as well.

"Maybe not!" shouted Tristan over the noise. "What's going on here?!"

At that moment, Blaine appeared. "When all the alarms and the air raid sirens go off at the same time, this could only mean one thing," he said. "The volcano is about to erupt big time. And when that happens, it will destroy all of Cinnabar Island!"

"All of it?!" gasped Tristan.

"All of it," answered Blaine.

"There's gotta be some way to stop the volcanic eruption, isn't there?" asked Hillary.

"Not this time," answered Blaine sadly. "There's no way to stop a volcanic eruption this big. Besides, when an earthquake sometimes hits Cinnabar Island, the volcano erupts. It doesn't happen all the time, but an earthquake this big will cause the volcano to spit out lava, magma, and a lot of ash, destroying the entire island with everyone on it."

Just then, a wail of a police siren was heard in the distance, and Officer Jenny appeared on her motorcycle. "You must get off this island immediately!" she ordered.

"But what about all the other citizens?" asked Tristan.

"I'm doing everything I can to get as many out of here as I can, but even at the rate I'm going, not all of them are going to make it," replied Officer Jenny. "In the meantime, I've radioed all available ferries to come to Cinnabar Island to get everyone and their belongings off this island as quickly as possible, but I don't know if I'll be able to do it alone."

"Then let us help you," suggested Blaine. "If we all split up, maybe we can get everyone to safety in time."

"Great idea, Blaine," replied Tristan. "And we can use our Pokémon to help out, too."

"And I can help out, too," added Hillary.

"That would be great," replied Officer Jenny. "Good luck." And she raced away on her motorcycle.

"Let's go!" said Blaine. "There's not a second to lose!"

And they all raced off to warn the residents of Cinnabar Island about the huge volcanic eruption about to take place.


Tristan, Hillary, Pikachu, and Blaine helped out with getting all the citizens out of their homes with their most valuable possessions. Then they made their way to the pier overlooking the sea.

"Do you see any ferries yet, Blaine?" asked Hillary.

"Not yet," answered Blaine.

Just then, Officer Jenny arrived and joined everyone at the pier. "I've just heard from two ferries. They are on their way and will make emergency stops here to pick up as many residents and as much cargo as they can possibly carry. That should be more than enough to get everyone and everything off the island."

"Thanks, Officer Jenny," replied Hillary.

Just then, the ground shook violently again.

"Is this another earthquake?" asked Tristan.

"It may look and feel like it, but no," answered Blaine. "Look at the volcano!"

Sure enough, smoke was beginning to spew out from Cinnabar Island's volcano. The volcano was getting close to erupting.

"I sure hope those ferries hurry," said Hillary.

Just then, a toot from a giant ferry was heard as it was seen coming from over the horizon toward Cinnabar Island's pier.

"Hey, it's a ferry!" cried one of the residents.

"We're saved!" cried another.

Officer Jenny took out her megaphone and made an announcement. "Attention, all residents gathered at the pier. Please gather all your belonging and board the ship in a calm and orderly fashion. There's no need to push one another."

Just then the ferry docked and the gangplank was lowered toward the pier.

(Music Cue: Flying Pokéball Chaos as heard in "Two Hits and a Miss"

However, the residents were everything but calm. The result was instant panic.

Tristan, Hillary, and Pikachu were separated from one another by the mob of onrushing residents, frantically trying to get on board to escape the volcanic eruption.

"Hillary! Pikachu!" called Tristan. But his calls were drowned out by the shouting of the residents, and one after another pushed him further and further away from them and Blaine.

"Tristan! Big brother! Where are you?!" called Hillary. But her calls were also drowned out by the shouts of the frightened residents. And the more she tried to move, the more she got pushed and shoved. As a result, she couldn't see Tristan, Pikachu or Blaine anywhere.

Pikachu was having the most trouble of all because it was so small, and it wouldn't take much to stomp on something little.

Blaine was worried, too. But he had an idea. He took out a Pokéball. "Come out, Magmar!"

The Pokéball opened and Magmar materialized from the white light that shot out of it.

"Magmar, use your Flamethrower and aim it toward the sky!" instructed Blaine. "Hopefully, the kids will see it and come toward us!"

Magmar did as told, and unleashed a stream of fire from its beak towards the night sky so the passengers wouldn't be hurt by the fire.

It was then that Hillary noticed the stream of fire. "That must be a Flamethrower!" she said. "I've got to get to it!" And she set off toward the source of the fire while being extra careful not to be bumped by any of the residents rushing toward the ferry.

Tristan noticed Magmar's Flamethrower, too. "Something tells me that I need to get to the source of that flame," he said as he carefully made his way through the mob of onrushing residents. "Excuse me. Pardon me. Coming through."

Slowly, but surely, Tristan and Hillary were making good progress getting to Magmar's Flamethrower and reuniting with one another.

Magmar was doing all it could to keep its flame going. "Keep it up, Magmar!" encouraged Blaine. "You're doing great!"

Magmar was working up a sweat using all it had.

Eventually, Tristan found Magmar first. "Hey, Blaine!" he called.

"There's one of them," said Blaine. "Now we just need the girl."

Hillary had slightly more trouble locating the source of the flame, but Hillary eventually found an opening in the crowd and found Tristan, Blaine, and Magmar. "There you are!" she said.

"Hillary!" said Tristan. "Thank goodness you weren't hurt."

"Well, it looks like the kids are reunited," said Blaine. "Now we just need to find a way to get off this island ourselves."

"The first ferry is filled to capacity, and the second one should arrive in a few minutes," replied Officer Jenny. "We'll get on that ferry and escape from the island with time to spare."

As she spoke, the first ferry started to move away from the pier. It took a few minutes, but the ferry sailed into the open sea and out of sight.

Tristan noticed that there was someone missing. He immediately got worried.

"What's the matter, Tristan?" asked Hillary.

"I don't see Pikachu anywhere!" answered Tristan.

"What?!" exclaimed Officer Jenny.

"Let's stick together and look for it," replied Hillary as she and the others frantically began searching the pier for Pikachu.

"Pikachu! Where are you?" called Tristan.

Everyone tried calling Pikachu's name, but to no avail.

Just then, a second ferry tooted its horn as it arrived at Cinnabar Island's pier.

"Oh, no! That's our ferry, and it's the last one leaving Cinnabar Island!" gasped Hillary.

"We've got to find Pikachu and get out of here before another mob shows up," said Tristan.

(Music Cue: Battle Kanto Trainer (version 1 (first time)) as heard in "The Wayward Wobbuffet")

But it was too late, for just then, a mob of passengers appeared on the scene and made a mad dash toward the second ferry. More and more of them raced up the gangplank. The result again was instant panic. Tristan and Hillary couldn't see Pikachu anywhere in the huge crowd.

"Blaine, do you think you can have Magmar shoot another Flamethrower signal?" asked Tristan.

"We'll do our best," replied Blaine. "Magmar, use another Flamethrower to signal to Pikachu!"

Magmar shot another hot stream of fire from its beak towards the sky.

I just hope Pikachu's all right, thought Tristan.

Meanwhile, Pikachu was desperately struggling to get trampled by the feet of many of the onrushing residents. It couldn't see the flame shooting high into the sky. It thought that it saw a flame shooting high in the sky, but couldn't get through a gap big enough to get to it.

It was then that Magmar's flame weakened, and then stopped.

"Oh, no," said Blaine. "Magmar's exhausted. It can't use its Flamethrower anymore."

"What'll we do now?" asked Hillary.

"I have to get Pikachu," replied Tristan.

"But Tristan, you can't!" protested Hillary. "You'll get trampled!"

"I have to at least try," said Tristan. And before anyone could stop him, he disappeared into the crowd to try to get Pikachu.

He tried to get through the scores of people frantically trying to catch the last ferry leaving Cinnabar Island, but there weren't enough big gaps for him to get through. This made him frustrated.

"Come on already!" complained Tristan. "There has to be something I can do, but what?" Suddenly, he came up with a brilliant idea. If he shouted loudly, Pikachu may be able to hear him, even with this much noise. He took a deep breath and shouted as loud as he could, "Pikachu, Thunder!"

Even through the many crowds, Pikachu could sense Tristan's voice using its ears. It gathered the electricity in its cheeks and shot a big stream of electricity everywhere, accidentally giving some of the residents a big shock.

Everyone at the pier saw that incredible show of power.

Even Blaine was impressed. "Well, that ought to do it," he said.

Pikachu lay on the ground, exhausted from using up a lot of its power.

"Pikachu! Pikachu!" called Tristan.

Pikachu immediately stood up and heard Tristan's voice, and was very relieved to see him as it jumped into his arms.

"Are you okay? I was worried about you," said Tristan.

Pikachu replied happily as it and Tristan embraced.

Some of the residents stood up, and were very unhappy about getting shocked.

"Hey, what'd you do that for?!" shouted one of them.

"Yeah, someone could have been hurt...namely, me!" added another.

"I'm sorry, but Pikachu was lost in the crowd, and I didn't want it to get trampled!" protested Tristan. "And besides, it was the only thing I could think of to get it back safe and sound."

(Music Cue: Flying Pokéball Chaos as heard in "Shell Shock")

Just then, the ground shook violently from under everyone's feet again.

This time, it was more intense, but that was reason enough for the residents to stop being angry at Tristan and start running in terror again toward the last ferry leaving Cinnabar Island.

Tristan wasn't going to lose Pikachu again, so he held on to it as tight as he possibly could to shield it from the the onrushing residents. "Don't worry, Pikachu," he said. "I won't let you go this time. I promise."

Meanwhile, Blaine, Hillary, and Officer Jenny were waiting anxiously for Tristan and Pikachu to come back.

"Where are Tristan and Pikachu?" asked Hillary. "They should have been back by now."

"This crowd of people is certainly restless today," remarked Blaine.

It was then that the last of the residents boarded the last ferry leaving Cinnabar Island, and as they did, the ferry started to leave the pier.

"Well, that's it," said Officer Jenny. "The evacuation's complete, but it looks like we're stranded here."

"Hillary! Blaine!" called a voice.

Hillary was relieved to hear Tristan's voice. "Hey, it's Tristan!" said Hillary.

"And Pikachu is with him," added Blaine.

Sure enough, Tristan had Pikachu in hand as he reunited with Hillary, Blaine, and Officer Jenny.

"Thank goodness...again!" said Hillary. "Do you know how worried sick I was about you?!"

"I'm sorry, guys," said Tristan. "I didn't mean to make you worry."

"What matters is that you're both safe," replied Blaine.

"But now, we have to find a way to get off Cinnabar Island ourselves before that volcano blows," added Officer Jenny.

"I'm afraid, she's right," agreed Blaine.

"Mommy! Mommy!" shouted a little girl as she appeared at the pier.

"What's going on, little girl?" asked Tristan.

"I saw my mom get on the boat, and I lost her in the crowd!" she cried as tears flowed down her eyes.

"Mina! Mina!" called a woman's voice from the ferry.

"Oh, no!" gasped Hillary. "If we don't find a way to get the girl and her mother together soon before the volcano blows, bad things are going to happen!"

"And it's only a matter of minutes till they do!" added Blaine.

Just then the ground shook much more violently, knocking everyone on the island off their feet. Then they saw the volcano spewing lava and ash in large chunks into the atmosphere.

(Music Cue: The Copy Pokémon Awaken as heard in "The Ancient Puzzle of Pokémopolis")

"Um, Blaine, about the 'in a matter of minutes' part," said Hillary, "don't you mean now!?"

Sure enough, hot lava was speeding down the volcano as it began to erupt.

"Oh, no!" cried Blaine. "The volcano's already blowing! And we don't have any way of getting off Cinnabar Island in one piece before it gets destroyed!"

"Help!" cried another voice. "Please help me!" The voice turned out to be Nurse Joy, who was running from the Pokémon Center as fast as her legs would carry her.

"Nurse Joy! What's the matter?" called Tristan.

"I made sure every one of the residents and their Pokémon were evacuated from the Pokémon Center," replied Nurse Joy, "but I escaped just before the volcano began to erupt!"

"This is bad," said Hillary. "The ferries have left without us, the little girl, and Nurse Joy. We've got to find a way to get off of Cinnabar Island before we're toast."

"I know what to do," said Tristan as he took out his five Pokéballs. "I choose everyone!"

Five white lights shot out, and Ivysaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Pidgeot, and Lapras materialized from them and awaited Tristan's instructions.

"I need all of you to help!" ordered Tristan. "We need to get off of Cinnabar Island now!"

All the Pokémon nodded in reply.

"Ivysaur, I need you to get on Lapras and help the little girl back back to her mother on the ferry in the distance," instructed Tristan.

Ivysaur nodded and jumped on Lapras's back. Then, it used its Vine Whip to haul Mina on board.

"All right, go, Lapras!" commanded Tristan.

Lapras nodded and raced away at once to try and catch up with the ferry.

As the volcano continued to erupt, the rampaging lava and magma sped toward every building and destroyed them on the spot.

Hillary saw that the magma and lava were coming straight toward them at frightening speed. "Aah! The magma's coming this way!" she cried.

"Then we've gotta move fast!" replied Tristan. "Hillary, Nurse Joy, go ahead and get on Pidgeot! It should be big enough to carry the both of you!"

Hillary and Nurse Joy quickly got on Pidgeot's back and they all took off into the sky.

"Officer Jenny, hurry and get on Blastoise now!" instructed Tristan.

"You got it," replied Officer Jenny. She quickly hopped on Blastoise as it started to swim away from Cinnabar Island.

"I guess that leaves just us," said Blaine, "and Pikachu, too."

"Then, we'll all just have to have Charizard take us," replied Tristan.

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Blaine. "Are you crazy?! Your Charizard just evolved and you expect me to believe that you trained it to fly with all of us flying with it in a matter of hours?"

"Look, Blaine," said Tristan. "I know it's risky, but you're going to have to trust me on this." He turned to Charizard. "Okay, Charizard, do you think you can carry us off the island before it's too late?"

Charizard nodded, and was just about to let Tristan, Pikachu, and Blaine on when a gigantic boulder from the volcano's eruption hurtled straight toward Blaine and Tristan!

"Watch out!" cried Tristan.

Instantly, Charizard fired a Flamethrower from its mouth at the boulder, melting it on the spot and turning it into sand.

Tristan and Blaine found themselves covered in the sand just like playing in the sandbox, but they were unharmed, nonetheless.

"That was close. Thanks, Charizard," said Tristan.

Charizard nodded.

"All right," said Blaine. "That convinced me. Let's get on Charizard."

Tristan nodded as he, Pikachu, and Blaine quickly got on Charizard and seated themselves.

"Okay, Charizard, let's get out of here!" commanded Tristan.

Charizard flapped its mighty wings and took off into the sky just as the lava and magma from the volcano reached the pier, leaving Cinnabar Island completely destroyed.

Everyone looked on at Cinnabar Island as the once populated destination was covered by a thick layer of smoke and ash with nothing left in sight.

"Whoa. That was close," remarked Blaine. "Everyone got off the island in time."

But something isn't adding up, thought Tristan. Why did those earthquakes happen, and why did the volcano erupt in the first place?


(Music Cue: To the Hopeful Sky)

In a matter of minutes, Mina was reunited with her mother as Ivysaur helped haul her off Lapras's back and safely on board the ferry.

"My little girl," said Mina's mother. "Are you okay?"

Mina nodded. "I am now," she replied as she and her mother embraced.

Mina's mother waved to Lapras and Ivysaur. "Thank you both for your help," she said. "And please be sure to thank your trainer for us, whoever he is." And they both waved as the ferry disappeared from view.

With Hillary and Nurse Joy flying on Pidgeot, Officer Jenny riding on Blastoise, Ivysaur riding on Lapras, and Tristan, Blaine, and Pikachu flying on Charizard, they all sadly looked on at Cinnabar Island, but were all relieved that the chaos was over at last as the sun began to rise.

"Cinnabar Island is gone," said Blaine despondently. Then, his frown turned upside down. "But you know, I'll find a new spot for my Gym. I think I'll go on Seafoam Island for awhile and train more of my fire Pokémon."

Tristan smiled, too. "I know you can do it," he said. "And I'll all be rooting for you in spirit."

"Me, too," added Hillary.

Pikachu agreed with Tristan.


As our friends watch Cinnabar Island go up in smoke, they're happy in the knowledge that they all escaped unharmed. Little do they know that more mysteries are out there in the world of Pokémon. What are those mysteries? One thing's for sure: there are many out there.

TO BE CONTINUED...