Revival Chapter 13: Of Rivers and Oceans

The days slowly blended into two weeks as the group trekked up through the narrow mountain passes, making their way to Rota. They came across the river that Blaidd spoke of, the one that ran westward until it hit the valley. For a moment, Ash wondered how long he had been on the road, weaving their way through the drab cliffs and mountain crests. The mountain offer little food, or shelter to the weary travelers, forcing them to survive on their supplies. Thankfully, thanks to hindsight, and the advice of Blaidd, they had stocked up on food, plenty to sustain on until they arrived at the small villages that dotted the landscape surrounding Rota and Cameran Palace.

The group was currently cautiously treading along a narrow path that overlooked Naiad River, a churning frothing river that ran from west to east, the head waters north of Pweter, the delta, if it could even be called a delta, ended a few miles from Cerulean City, a small delta that was in stark contrast the the seething beast below them.

Ash gulped in fear. He didn't mind heights, and he didn't mind water, but when the two were put together in such a matter, he started to enjoy neither. "Will this ever get wider?" He asked to Blaidd, who was leading them.

"Not for a while," Blaidd replied his eyes straight ahead.

"Scared, Ash?" Misty asked, concerned. She looked pale with fright, but other than that, she showed little to no fear.

"Well..," he began, but he was interrupted by a cry up front, where Drew, May and Brock were. Drew had a misstep and a section of the trail gave way from his foot and he started to fall. May managed to catch him by one arm, while Brock grabbed him by the other arm. They pulled Drew up, much to the relief of the coordinator.

"Thanks," he gasped shakily, his face white with fear.

Ash cast his eyes upward, thinking that maybe focusing on the border between earth and sky would be the best thing for his fear. His brown eyes caught a winged silhouette, highlighted by the afternoon sun and the clear blue sky. The silhouette wheeled and circled above the group, like a black sceptre. Then in a ragged cry, it broke off and headed westward, picking up speed, until it was no more.

"Funny," he murmured. "I don't recall any flying types around here. Blaidd?" he shouted. "Are there any native pokemon in this area?"

"Other than the water types, no. The area's very sparse and devoid of life."

"Oh," he glanced back at where the silhouette disappeared, and wondered what exactly what he saw. Maybe it was an illusion, or something worse.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Pidgeot arrived in a flurry of downy feathers as it landed in front of Eldrin and Mia. The pair had decided to go on without Stella, knowing that she could just find them using her fearow. The pair had been tracking them for nearly two weeks, always a little ways behind them, due to the fact that they were behind them by four days. Pidgeot finally found them; t wasn't that hard, since they were the only moving life in the lifeless mountain range.

"Pid, pidgeot!" it cried, telling Eldrin of her find.

Eldrin sighed in relief; things were starting to go right for him. Maybe he could finally prove his worth to the Master. "Good girl," he praised the bird pokemon. He ran his hands through her long and elegant crest. "I have one more thing for you to do for me, my girl." He sent her back into the sky once again and summoned his Tauros, wearing a embossed leather saddle. He mounted the horned beast, watching as Mia summoned her Dordrio and did likewise. He pulled out his crossbow. "It's time to end this." The tauros and dodrio charged up the mountain trail, following Pidgeot's path.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Misty froze, the ground rumbling under her, miniscule pebbles jumping into the air. Something ominous was about to happen. The others froze in their tracks as well, feeling the earth tremble and shake under their feet.

"What's happening?" Max yelled, panicked. "Is it an earthquake?"

"I don't think so!" Blaidd fell into a battle stance, his knees bent slightly, hands glowing with Aura. Ash, noting Blaidd's position, did the same. For the past two weeks, Ash had been training with Aura more intensively, but for some reason, Ash's abilities weren't as strong offensively, despite having 'Battle Sight'.

A Pidgeot landed in front of Blaidd, her crest flaring out behind her. The beast spread her wings out and hissed, ruffling her feathers as she did so, making her seem twice as big. Blaidd gulped anxiously. While he was no longer a fighting type, he knew his Aura attacks were not going to be as effective against the bird pokemon. Then, behind the line, a tauros and dodrio arrived, dust clouds billowing at their feet. On their backs sat two people, a man with short red hair and cold brown eyes, the other a woman with curly blonde hair. Both had crossbows raised.

The red head spoke. "Hand us the boy and no one gets hurt," he commanded, eyes going to Ash.

Blaidd half turned to face the man, one eye on the angry bird pokemon, the other on the crossbow in his hands. "No," he refused simply. "Ash isn't going with you, Eldrin, or your ilk anywhere decide to take him."

Eldrin snorted. "You think I'll listen to you? Now move, Blaidd."

Blaidd snarled, a bestial growl. "No."

Eldrin raised the crossbow, setting the sights on Blaidd's chest. "Suit yourself."

Blaidd's hands glowed with Aura. "Duck!" he bellowed, as he launched two Aura spheres from each hand. The gang ducked as one struck the Pidgeot in the chest, the other went whizzing at Eldrin and the Tauros. The Aura Sphere collided with the thick skull of the beast and he went tumbling away, just as Eldrin fired the crossbow. The arrow hit the limestone cliff face and it shattered into splinters over their heads. Eldrin shouted as he leapt over the fallen Tauros, drawing a long sword. Mia prepared to fire her crossbow too, which was blocked by the sudden movement of Eldrin, who had managed to place himself in her line of sight.

Ash held out his hands and fired an Aura Sphere at the charging man, but his wasn't nearly as powerful. It stuck the trail, sending limestone dust spraying everywhere. Cracks appeared in the stone and raced outward from the collision of Aura on rock. The rock gave way from under Eldrin's feet and with a cry, he fell into the churning river. But the cracks continued to grow and the trail started to give way from the Aura. Misty was frozen in fear as her eyes followed the rapidly growing cracks and she felt the earth grow soft. Ash felt it too and his eyes widened with horror as Misty fell too into the rapids, following the path of Eldrin.

"No!" he screamed and taking Pikachu off his shoulder, he dove in after her, full of guilt that he caused the accident.

"Pika!" Pikachu cried and started to follow the path of his trainer, but was caught by Max, who held the pokemon close to his chest, shaking his head, eyes welling up. Meanwhile, Mia waited on the other side of the gap, firing arrows, but they did little damage. She sneered in distaste. The boy they were pursuing had dived into the river, and now her task was all but useless. She turned Dodrio away and fled the scene. If anything, she could meet up with Stella and search for the boy's body. Eldrin's as well, there was no way that anybody could survive the dive.

Blaidd and the pidgeot faced off, Blaidd's hands alight with Aura. He knew that the Aura attacks wouldn't do as much damage to the bird pokemon, because of type dynamics, but he had to do something. Brock, who was right behind Blaidd, got an idea. He jerked the Pokeball off his belt. "Toxicroak!" he cried. "Use poison jab now!" The pokemon appeared in white light and leaped off sideways off the limestone walls, its hooks grabbing onto the natural handholds formed by erosion. He then propelled himself off the wall and landed on the pidgeot. He raised his hooked hands, dripping with poison, up high, and swung it down, the hook sinking deep into the breast feathers of the bird pokemon. With an indigent squawk, the bird pokemon hopped into the air, trying to fling the poison type off. Toxicroak managed to leap off in time and landed behind Blaidd, who launched another Aura Sphere at the bird, who was starting to fly away westward, albeit staggering in flight, the toxins Toxicroak injected into the beast taking its toll.

Blaidd, now satisfied that the bird and Eldrin were gone, turned to see what the damage was. Amid the chaos in the small confined space, he didn't notice that Ash and Misty had fallen into the river. He gaped in shock at the gulf the spanned fifteen feet, with Ash and Misty not in sight. "What happened?" he asked, panic gnawing at him.

Max spoke first, hiccuping. "Misty fell...in, and then,...Ash went in af-after her."

Blaidd sank to his knees. "No," he whispered. "No!" He had failed his task, he failed Arceus. Now he was to be stuck here on this piece of earth, the hope of joining Aaron in the afterlife slipping further away. "NO!" He held his face in his hands, refusing to look at the river. No one could have survived the fall into the river, then fight the raging currents. He barely felt May's hands on his shoulders.

"Blaidd," she said softly. "We need to get going. Both Ash and Misty have water pokemon with them. They'll be okay. We'll just meet them down further the river. We should get going."

Drew nodded. "May's right."

Blaidd slowly pulled his face away from his hands. "You're right. We need to get going." His red eyes caught the blue sky, which was starting to darken. "We'll need to find shelter soon. It gets dark fast here in the north."

XXXXXXXXXXX

Misty watched as the river rush up to meet her. She braced herself for the impact with the waters. She was an expert diver, competing on the city-wide diving team in addition of gym duties, but she knew that she wouldn't have enough time to manipulate her body to lessen the shock.

Her body screamed in pain as she hit the water. The water was so cold! The frigid temperatures seeped into her bones and made it difficult to even think. Her hands fumbled for a pokeball, any one! Well, maybe except psyduck. She struggled against the currents as they swept her away from where she went in. Her numb fingers clamped around Starmie's pokeball and she frantically pushed the button to release the star pokemon. In a flash of white light, the pokemon appeared in the water, ready to obey Misty. Her hands weakly grasped the points of Starmie, who pulled her up to the surface, but in the process, she got pulled in an undercurrent, which dragged her under again. Her calf was sliced open by a protruding branch and she sucked in her breath sharply, inhaling water through her nostrils. She realized her mistake. She could see her world- as murky as it was-, fading. She was going to drown. How ironic, a water type trainer drowning. She barley noticed the hand the grabbed her arm.

Ash plunged into the waters, the bitter temperatures soaking his clothes. Ash wasn't as experienced as Misty was, but at the very least, he knew how to sort of swim. But that was what Buizel. He fumbled for Buizel's ball, and grasped it, summoning the sea weasel pokemon. He couldn't command the pokemon underwater, but the sea weasel pokemon knew what to do. Ash grabbed Buizel's foot. The pokemon inflated the yellow tube and they immediately shot upwards, the air in the tube changing their weight. As they burst through the surface, Ash's eye caught a flash of red up ahead.

"It's Misty!" He shouted. "Go to her Buizel!"

"Bui bui!" The Pokemon replied and with a burst of speed, the pokemon shot through the water, like a knife in soft butter. The creature was built for water, with its double tails and webbed feet, to his large lungs and inflatable neck tube. But as they neared her, she suddenly shot back under the water, dragged under the water by an undertow. Buizel instinctively changed directions, avoiding the undertow. A plume of red appeared in the water and Ash shouted to Buizel, "Take me underwater! Now!"

"Bui?"

"Just do it!"

Buizel took a deep breath and dived under the water, striving against the currents that were threatening to drag him away. Ash hung on to Buizel by one hand, as his eyes scanned for Misty. He spotted her, going limp and barely clinging to her Starmie, who was tiring. He grabbed onto her arm and he nodded to Buizel, who shot back to the surface. Ash sputtered and gasped as he spat out the water out of his lungs. Misty was barely conscious and he noticed that her leg was bleeding badly. He prayed that Misty could hold on to Starmie long enough to find a place to land.

"Buizel bui!" Buizel pointed to a cave, located about fifty yards ahead, on the left side of the river, a limestone cave that had been eroded away by the water. There was a small ledge, allowing them to land safely.

"Go to it!" Ash commanded to Buizel, trying to shout above the roars of the currents. After fighting the currents, they managed to land in the cave. Ash dragged Misty into the cave, who was unconscious at this point, her pallor pale and her breathing shallow. He knelt next to her, his eyes going to the nasty gash on her right calf, staining her fair skin a thin slick of red. He felt a lump form in his throat and he felt helpless, more helpless then he ever had. He could only try to find a way to save her.

XXXXXXXXXX

The freighter ship, packed with soldiers, pokemon, and supplies, sliced through the waves smoothly and effectively, a piece of technology at its finest. Archer sat at his office, making the final plans. Dispatching Giovanni was much easier than he originally planned and he found that many Rocket Grunts were now flocking to his banner, as beasts would do when their leader is defeated, fall under the rule of the stronger one. There was a knock at the door and he paused in mid-writing.

"Come in," he stated, not looking up.

A thin soldier appeared at the doorway of his office. "I have some interesting news for you," he started. The soldier paused waiting for Archer's reaction with bated breath, as if he couldn't contain it.

Archer sighed, exasperated. Did leaders have to deal with imbeciles like this man all the time? "Yes?"

"Our Galactic spies have told us that two of the boy's companions, a boy named Gary Oak and a girl named Dawn Berlitz are traveling in the Sinnoh region. Also, the boy's mother resides in Pallet town, located here in Pallet."

Archer stopped writing, his blue eyes alight with the seeds of a plan. Maybe if he had a bargaining chip or two... "Send two contingents of soldiers. One to Sinnoh, the other to this Pallet town. It wouldn't hurt to have a few bargaining chips at hand ..." he mused.

The soldier nodded smartly. "Right away sir!" The lackey bolted out of the office, probably feeling important of the task Archer gave him. Captain Archer shook his head. Maybe having imbeciles wasn't so bad after all.