AN:
Hey... so erm, remember when I said I would post this in October/early November 2014? Yeeah... whoops :P
Sorry about this late post, but hey at least this chapter is petty long.
Anyways, Happy New Year everybody! My big exam year is finally over, so hopefully I can post more in 2015!
However, I would like to talk more about another matter that has been on my mind for quite a while...
I think this might be a thing that all artists or writers have at some point, which is when they question they're ability and stuff, and I think I'm having
mine now, just saying :P
I don't know, I feel like my content has been really lacking in... quality lately? I get this very repetitive feeling when I write, as if I'm constantly
using the same sentences or phrases over and over again. This chapter really made me feel this way, as it had many bravado and heroic scenes that I just
couldn't write well enough, or at least to me they didn't.
I'm not trying to beg for compliments or anything, but I just want to know your honest opinions about my writing style, or any criticisms you may have.
Well, enough about that depressing stuff, just enjoy this new chapter!
**By the way, I didn't have anyone beta this for me, so there might be a few more mistakes than normal. Sorry bout dat. :P
Disclamier: I don't own Pokemon, Gamefreak, Nintendo, etc. Except ALL DEH SWAG I GOT FROM THE MEGA TOKYO POKEMON CENTER WHOOP WHOOP
Chronicles 11
Normal POV
An old, hunched man with greying hair and a lab coat that dragged on the grass hobbled slowly towards the Henesys gates.
"Excuse me sir, the town is currently under strict orders not to let anyone in. State your business, or leave." A guard commanded. He had had the misfortune to be the only one on duty, as the others went out for a quick lunch break.
The grey-haired man continued on, completely ignoring the guard, walking past right under his nose, even stepping on his boots.
The man's audacity stunned the middle-aged guard. He faltered for a moment, but quickly regained his composure and grabbed the small man by his shirt sleeve. "Sir!"
This time the man actually responded, spinning around and pushing a stuffed Teddiursa doll into the guard's face. "Oh, be quiet."
The doll's mouth opened, emitting a green gas cloud. The guard couldn't wish to dodge it. In seconds, the poor guard was shaking on the floor uncontrollably, laughing hysterically. The man smirked at the sight.
"What happened to being subtle..." a voice said quietly from behind. The man looked behind his hunched back to see an orange haired teen with a stern gaze.
"Oh, be quiet L-02. You've been developing quite the attitude these days, and I don't like it. Let's go." the man grumbled as he hobbled along.
L-02 looked at the mad guard sprawled on the ground by his feet. The guard was laughing - in pain. Tears streaked down his rippling face, and he just managed to gasp out "H-Help... M-me..." in between fits if laughter.
The teen knelt down next to the man. He stared emotionlessly at the suffering man, and after what seemed like an eternity, placed his palm firmly against the guard's forehead. "Don't worry, I'll help you."
"Red, I challenge you to a duel!"
Time froze. Red still didn't quite understand what was going on.
"...Pardon?"
Yellow's face flushed a furious pink. At least that part of her hadn't changed. "I want to show you... my strength."
Another eternity passed.
"... Oh." was all Red could stutter out. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "That's... cool."
"GAH!" Misty yelled in exasperation. "Look, if you're really that jealous of me and Red-" at this moment she wrapped her arms around the still-confused raven-haired boy. "Then the one you should be fighting is me!"
"Wha? N-no this isn't about that! I mean, there isn't even anything like that between us! I-I mean... erm..." Yellow was struggling to get the right words out of her mouth.
Green sighed. He untangled Red from Misty's wrap, and pulled the two females by the back of their collars towards the training centre. "In this gym, we settle things with strength and skill, not words."
He flung the two girls into the field, and started up the program.
"Alright, you girls go ahead and duke it out. I'm going to take a walk. Red, I'm sure you can figure out how to work the program." Green walked out the gym, leaving Red to handle the Glameow-fight by himself.
Red stared at the panel of knobs and switches and blinking lights before him. He was never great at machinery.
Hesitantly, he flipped a green switch. The landscape in the training centre changed to a grassy meadow, with holographic trees sprouting out of the ground. Red was just surprised nothing blew up in his face.
"I want a clean fight, you two. You may only use 1 Pokemon at a time. When one of you is unable to battle, the match is over." Red tried to sound confident, but even over the speaker the trembling in his voice he couldn't explain was audible.
Both girls couldn't help but feel slight restraint against fighting each other. But those feelings vanished when the duel began.
"Battle... Begin!"
Misty jumped back and fired 3 blunt arrows at the blonde just to gauge how much she had improved.
Very much to Misty's surprise, Yellow charged forward. She leant right to dodge the first arrow, twirled around the second one without disrupting her momentum, and used her blade to push the shaft of the third arrow ever so slightly, such that it changed its course and just brushed past Yellow's ear.
Misty didn't have time to even gasp when the blonde closed the distance between them. She put up her bow in front of her chest just in time to block the oncoming slashes.
Misty managed to push Yellow off for a split second, and grabbed her bow like a bat. "Knockback Blow!" Wisps of energy collected around the bow, and Yellow was sent flying as Misty slammed the blue bow against her.
Yellow collided against the invisible force field. She got up, and darted behind a nearby tree to catch her breath.
"You're doing well, Yellow." Yellow whispered to herself, under the safety of the old oak. "Just keep this up an-" Her pep talk was interrupted, as a clap of thunder was heard.
Yellow knew that sound all too well. She rolled away just in time just as the 'reliable' oak came crashing to the ground.
"Lanturn, use Thunderbolt again!" The baby-blue angler fish obediently began charging up for another attack.
Yellow dodged the second bolt of electricity, and the third, and fourth. "Looks like you could still use some training." Misty couldn't help but taunt, as she watched bemusedly at the dancing blonde.
Yellow forced herself not to panic. Green's words echoed in her head. "Don't let the enemy get under your skin. Take every opportunity to counter-attack."
Yellow plucked a ball off her belt, no longer needing to look for she had been trained to memorize the order of her Pokemon. "Gravvy, I choose you!"
The Rock Pokemon appeared in a cloud of smoke, just as another Thunderbolt left Lanturn's antennae. The attack hit Gravvy, but he remained unfazed.
"Looks like she's figured out her type advantages." Misty thought to herself. "But she's still not that great if she didn't see this coming!"
"Lanturn, Scald!" The fish tilted its head, and a jet of steamy water rushed out of its mouth.
Yellow intercepted the attack before it could reach the Rock Pokemon. She moved into the path of the scalding hot water, and effortlessly created her bubble reflector. In a split second, the blue wall was conjured before her.
"Bubble Shield!"
The Scald attack collided against the shield, and rebounded back at Misty. The red-head dodged the water, and quickly withdrew Lanturn back into its ball before it could get hit. The hot stream of water toppled a tree a few meters behind the red-head.
Misty dusted herself off as she got up. She was panting, but she couldn't stop a smile from forming on her face.
"You really have improved!" she praised. Yellow did not let her guard down, but did return the smile.
"But that doesn't mean I'm going to hand Red to you so easily!" Misty returned to the battle and fired 10 incendiary arrows towards the blonde.
Yellow braced herself and charged forward.
Red's POV
I watched as the two girls battled it out within the glowing hemisphere. I really didn't know what to make of the situation. Is Yellow really just trying to prove her strength? Or has what Misty said been true: was Yellow truly just jealous?
I sat down on one of the benches, taking big gulps of water from a bottle in a futile attempt to calm myself. All I wanted was to protect Yellow. But why does it feel like I've done the complete opposite?
I didn't know what to do. If I were to start a relationship with Yellow - if that were even possible at this stage - I would be hurting Misty, wouldn't I? And doing the opposite would hurt Yellow.
I massaged my temples. All these relationship issues were new to me. If I can't even help myself, how can I help others?
At this moment, a hunched man trudged slowly into the gym. I looked up. He wore a white lab coat that was far too big for him, the edge of the coat dragging on the floor. I caught a glimpse of a black one-piece underneath the oversized jacket. His hair was silvery gray, in the weirdest style I had ever seen. It was like a four-clawed palm, the middle two hair-talons gripping onto the man's scalp fiercely, while the other two were outstretched behind his ears. He wore dark glasses with orange rims, and behind those dark lenses were a pair of sinister, wrinkled eyes.
There was something off about him. It was like I had met him somewhere, but simply couldn't remember where exactly. Lionheart, strapped behind my back, emitted a dark aura, and I instinctively knew this old man meant trouble.
I got up and stepped in between the man and the control panel. "Sorry sir, the gym leader isn't here today. You'll have to come back another day if you want to challenge the gym."
The man was unfazed, and continued towards the panel. "I'm not here to challenge the gym. Just step away from the panel."
I stood my ground. "Not happening, old man."
The man came to a halt and smirked.
"Suit yourself."
He pulled a small grey remote from the inside of his lab coat, and pressed a button. Immediately after, I heard a huge crash from behind. I turned around to see a giant mech crashing through the gym ceiling.
It was bipedal, with short arms and feet, a small body but a huge head. It was covered in orange chrome-armor, with a pale yellow visor on the face and a crescent on its forehead. It also had two circular discs propped onto its head, as 'ears'. A digital, pixelated bear face appeared on the pale yellow visor soon after. It was unmistakeable: it was a Teddiursa mech.
I finally figured out the man's identity upon seeing the Little Bear Pokemon motif. He had been talking to Grievus at the lab where I met Yellow.
The machine slowly began to lift its huge metallic arm up, and I just barely rolled away in time to avoid being pancaked. The mech brought down his arm, and created a crater where I had stood moments ago.
I laid flat on the ground, still awed by the machine's destructive power. I quickly got up after the initial shock, but right in my face was a Teddiursa plush that stared into my gaze with black beady eyes.
"Be quiet." was all I heard as the plush bear's mouth opened, breathing out a green gas that obscured my vision completely.
And then... And then the torture began.
Yellow's POV
"Stop!" I declared. Misty faltered for a second.
"What?" she questioned, panting, stopping to catch her breath.
The virtual surroundings around us were decimated to ruins from our battle. Trees were burnt, toppled, uprooted, electrocuted, chopped, sliced, diced... The green meadow Red had set up before was now a burning wasteland. I wasn't sure if it was intentional, but I could smell virtual burning.
Oddly enough, neither of us had sustained any major injuries. We had simply been trading blows for the past 20 minutes without much progress.
What really caught my attention, however, was the large figure behind the force field. As most of the evergreen trees were now burnt to a crisp, the foliage no longer obscured my vision, and I could see what awaited behind the energy field.
I watched wide-eyed at the small man approaching Red's shivering body on the floor. The giant figure stood obediently a distance away, awaiting further orders.
The man's turned his head slightly so I could confirm his identity.
"Charon..." I gasped out.
He smirked as he watched me collapse onto the floor, curling into a ball to force away the haunting memories.
Slowly, he hobbled over to the panel, and spoke into the microphone.
"Well, I never would have imagined seeing you here, Y-01. You're looking mighty fine, with you abandoning me and all that. I heard from Grievus, you see..."
Misty knelt down by my side, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Yellow, who is this?"
"Oh, how rude of me!" the voice said over the intercom. "The name's Charon, professor on Pokemon and Human Genetics and Robotics. It's a pleasure."
"Y-01, or Yellow as you would call her, was one of my test sub- I mean, volunteers, who used to work with me. That was until she betrayed me and trashed my laboratory!" Charon raised his voice, hammering his fist against the metal panel in rage. There was a short silence, as the short man collected himself and cleared his throat.
"I'm very sorry, ladies, but I'm going to have to get back to work now. You just stay in there and sit tight. Your boyfriend here is perfectly fine."
It was then that I noticed the faint, hysteric laughter in the background. Misty seemed to have noticed it too. Misty ran forward and hammered her fists against the force field. It rippled with light, but did not give way.
"Red!" the red-head screamed futilely. She could now see his body clearly. The forced smile that stretched from ear to ear. Those deranged, wide eyes outlined by crimson veins. His entire body shivered. His hands grabbed both sides of his head so fiercely they clawed into skin and bled.
The sight was too much for Misty. She fell to her knees, both hands covering her mouth to stifle her cries. Tears streamed down her face.
What crippled Misty, seemed to have emboldened me. "I trained exactly for this reason." I mentally steeled herself.
Ever so slowly, I uncurled myself, and got to my feet. My legs trembled at first, but I forced them to stop. I needed to be brave.
"Charon!" I declared, enunciating every word with all the confidence and anger I could muster from my frail body. "You won't get away with this!"
I can't believe I just said that.
Charon glared at me through the force field. His brows creased in annoyance, and he seemed to have popped a vein, for his face turned awfully red.
"You insolent brat! And here I thought I would take you back to the lab after all this was over, but you've changed my mind!"
He practically slammed his entire fist onto a single button on the panel. A blaring alarm resounded within the field. I swiftly turned around. The burnt remains of the grassland field were disappearing beneath my feet, being replaced by cold metal flooring. The bright lighting of the virtual sun changed to a pulsing, blood-red light.
"Charon!" I yelled, shooting him a glare. He smirked victoriously. "Goodbye, my dear. Forever." With those words, the force field disappeared, only to be replaced by solid, metal walls. The walls shot out of the ground and connected firmly to the ceiling, enclosing us in a sealed metal box.
I looked at my red-haired friend, who had crumpled to the floor in sobs. I crouched down next to her. "Misty, I know it's hard, and I know it hurts, but you need to be strong. Crying won't save Red."
She looked up, into my eyes. She seemed to have seen something in there, for determination returned to her turquoise irises. She snivelled one last time, and wiped her face with her sleeve. "Thanks Yellow."
Once Misty had composed herself, we began formulating a way out of this steel cage.
"What Charon activated was probably the emergency lockdown program." Misty explained. "However, there's an emergency panel in that corner that should allow us to shut down the program." The teen gestured at the corner of the room furthest away from us. Sure enough, I could make out the faint outline of a panel on the metal flooring.
"Alright. So-" The grinding sound of pistons and gears cut me off before I could finish my sentence. Misty gasped, and she had good reason to do so.
A panel from the centre of the ceiling began descending down, supported by iron cables. On the panel stood a fearsome metallic beast.
It was a large orange dragon. It had two strong, burly feet that supported its huge size. It had two, somewhat short arms by its sides, armed with flexible robotic fingers tipped with razor-sharp claws. A pair of magnificent wings outstretched as the dragon descended enough, revealing turquoise membranes. It's head connected to the rest of its body by a relatively long neck. It had two blunt horns fixed onto the back of its head. It's eyes lit up with blazing red lights. Smoke puffed out from its nostrils.
It led out a ferocious roar - pre-recorded, but ferocious nonetheless - revealing for a moment the barrel of a flamethrower lodged in the back of its throat.
The futuristic behemoth jumped off its platform, landing heavily on the ground. It stood between us and the emergency panel.
The dragon roared and flew forward. I had to make a huge leap just to narrowly avoid getting mowed.
"What is that?" I called over to Misty, who had to dodge as it swerved around for a second attack.
"Robot Charizard! It's the final level of this gym. Not even Green has completely defeated this thing!" Misty yelled over the enraged roar of the beast.
"We don't need to beat it, we just need to get to the panel. We can stop it remotely from there." Misty continued, firing an arrow that bounced off the Charizard's metallic skin.
With that knowledge, I made a dash for the panel. However, I skidded to a halt just as a blazing wall of fire appeared in front of me, singing my eyebrows.
I retreated back to Misty's side, who had also just escaped from the Charizard while it had been momentarily distracted in using Flamethrower.
It was keen on stopping us from reaching that panel, that was for sure.
"Well, if it's a Fire-Flying type, then Gravvy..." I was about to send the Graveller out, only to notice through the yellow translucent screen that he was in fact exhausted from the previous battle.
Gravvy had been hit by several water attacks, and was already on the last of its health thanks to his Sturdy. Despite this, the Rock Pokemon tried to look as confident as it could, but grimaced as it pulled a muscle.
I looked pitifully at my partner. "Thank you, Gravvy." I muttered, before clipping him back to my belt. Instead, I sent Chuchu out.
The Yellow mouse sprang out of its ball with enthusiasm, but quickly hid behind my legs upon noticing the presence of the Charizard.
I knelt down next to the Electric Mouse. "Chuchu, will you fight with me? You don't have to."
The yellow rat looked at me hesitantly, but nodded its small head. I petted its fur in thanks.
Misty had sent out Starmie. As the Charizard charged towards us in a ball of fire, we both dodged in opposite directions.
The Charizard soared up as high as it could, to the metal ceiling. It paused momentarily, choosing its targets carefully, before dive-bombing at a breakneck speed towards me.
I nodded to Misty as she made a beeline for the panel, while I distracted the Charizard.
The dragon saw through our plan - but it was too late. For as it tried to change its course while in mid-dive, it found that it couldn't. It's wings were...
"Paralysed." I couldn't help but think aloud, taking a second to high-five Chuchu for her expertly timed Thunder Wave attack.
The Charizard couldn't stop, and fell like a rock, crashing into the ground.
As its enormous body lay flat, still only for the moment, I climbed onto its back.
"Yellow!" Misty exclaimed in horror.
"Don't worry about me! Just get to the panel!" I yelled, although my voice was drowned out by the robot's strangled roar.
The dragon seemed to have recovered from its paralysis, as it took flight once again, climbing high in the air to try and shake me off. I hung onto the beast's neck for dear life as the Charizard flew vertically upwards.
The Charizard proceeded to glide towards the walls, tilting as it did so. I casted Bubble Shield over my back just in time, as the Charizard dragged my body across the metal surface like a rag doll. While the shield did soften the blow to a certain extent, the jarring vibrations still reverberated through my body.
Just as my whole body felt like it was about to fall apart, I felt the walls moving away from me. The Charizard slowed and glided gently downwards. It landed with a soft thud, before stopping completely. The red lights in its eyes faded into darkness.
Misty quickly helped me down after she had stopped the robot from the control panel. "Are you alright?" she gasped out.
I was sure I wasn't. I knew I would discover some bruises later, or even some dislocated bones. But I couldn't afford to use my healing on myself now. It was needed elsewhere.
I brushed the girl's worries away. "Bring down the walls. We mustn't waste any more time!"
With a flick of a switch, the walls that imprisoned us retreated back into the ground. Charon and his Teddiursa bot were long gone. Red remained sprawled on the ground, still fidgeting erratically.
Misty and I rushed to his side. While Misty cradled Red's lifeless head in her arms, I began healing him. After what seemed like an eternity, Red bolted upright and began hacking out a black, bile-like substance. Colour gradually returned to his face, and his breathing slowed to a normal pace.
"Thanks guys..." Red breathed out. Misty passed him a bottle of water, which he gulped down thirstily. Once his thirst had been quenched, Misty explained the situation to Red.
"It seems as though Henesys has finally been invaded." Misty said. "The invaders are probably the same guys who had been harassing Oak these past few weeks. Perhaps they could even be in the same group as the guys who invaded Perion..."
I thought back to when Red and I confronted the two black-clad invaders in Perion. I could easily imagine Charon working with people as strong as them.
Red got up slowly, using Lionheart as a support. "Red, you're still not well enough to fight!" Misty exclaimed, quickly getting up to try and stop the boy.
"Misty!" The seriousness in his voice startled the red-head. His red irises glowed with fiery determination.
"You love this town, don't you?" Misty nodded hesitantly. "Then protect it, whatever the cost." Red began walking towards the doors, filled with new found energy. Misty and I stared at his silhouette.
"I suppose there's no way we can stop him, can we?" Misty couldn't help chuckling. I smiled back, and we both caught up to the boy, walking by his side.
