Chapter 17: Fore-Nine
Leo Hanson peered into the near-blackness before them, the only real light coming from the readout of a GPS instrument. It was near-blackness, since the faintest signs of dawn were already appearing over the looming shadow of the island; they were slightly late. As quiet as he could, he left the pilot house and half felt his way to the rear railing. Whispering down, "Leo, Wartortle, we need to hurry a little! Dawn's coming."
It was a great suggestion by Harry; the boat's engines made noise, but his Pokémon counterpart was a swampert and could fairly easily move the boat with his swimming skills, Wartortle being the same. Once they got within a mile of the island, it was then engines-off and swampert and wartortle power the rest on the way. Combined with complete lights-out, they were as stealthy as they could be.
Wartortle replied back in the usual Poke speech, his counterpart's reply coming as whispered human words: "We're going as fast as we can!" From the strained tone, his exertion was obvious.
He returned to the pilot house just in time to hear a quiet tap from a claw on the front window – the sign they were very close.
"Within a hundred feet," Harry whispered as he glanced at the GPS before quickly switching it off – they getting close enough to not need it and the display's dim light might just be enough to give them away if anyone was watching.
And he could just see it: the straight, dark lines of something man-made in front of an even darker background. Straining his vision to the limit, he struggled to see if anyone was on the presumed dock. Hopefully Grovyle and Blaze were seeing slightly better from the forward deck and the lack of additional taps on the window truly meant there was no one there, verses that they simply couldn't tell if there was.
And soon enough, the glimpse of a small shadow going from forward to back was likely Celebi to tell their two Pokémon "engines" to slow down.
After several heart-pounding moments of the dock's outline growing ever larger, he finally felt a gentle bump through the wooden floor, accompanied by the faint sound of fiberglass hull bumping and sliding against something solid. Harry, Chris and Sally each breathed out long-held breaths while quick scurrying outside produced Leo's voice through the broken window of the rear door: "No one's here!"
It was his turn to breath out a sigh as he lead everyone outside, where all the Pokémon, with their slightly better vision, were busily tying up the boat to what appeared to be old posts. Now that they were right up against it, he could see even in the dim light of pre-dawn that it was indeed a dock, and about four times the length of the boat.
"They definitely were docking some large boats here at one time," Harry remarked.
"Cargo ships?" Leo asked, getting a nod in return.
The difference ten minutes made in the light level was enough for them to get their packs on their backs and themselves onto the dock. It was also enough to make apparent the concrete dock hadn't been used for a while – cracks and pits were everywhere and the iron tie-up posts were half rusted through, telling of complete neglect. Along with some weird, deep irregular "craters" fringed with black scorch marks, it had every look of being abandoned for some time.
"Well, I guess this is about it," Sally said, just starting to hoist her pack up.
He had thought a lot about what he was going to do at this point and he finally put his hand on her arm, stopping her. "I'd like you to stay here with Chris and Harry," bracing for the expected fight.
Her expression was more surprise than anger, though. "What, why? I'm not just along for the ride, you know!"
"Because, just in case something happens, it…wouldn't make sense for us to both get hurt…" He thought about saying "die", but thought better. "Besides, if we fail, there will still be you, Chris and his Pokémon to try a second time."
"A second team again, huh?" Sally returned.
"Aren't you taking any of my Pokémon with you?" Chris asked, Wartortle standing next to him with his arms folded across his shell, looking almost insulted.
"Like Sally said, a second team, and we might have better luck getting in if there are fewer of us," Leo replied, hoping his logic was enough to avoid any argument. His real reason for wanting her to stay behind was still the first one he gave, though.
At first, it seemed Sally was preparing to give him a fight, but then she just smiled. "Alright, but you stay in touch with this," pointing to the radio clipped to his belt loop before giving it a slight pull. "If I don't hear from you every half hour that things are going good, I'm coming for you, got that?"
"Loud and clear." He felt an impulse to give her a kiss…for good luck, but instead just returned her smile with a nod. She looked slightly…disappointed? Maybe he was only imagining it.
…or not. She moved, putting her arms around him in a hug. "I want to see you back here safe and sound, you hear?"
"We'll do our best," returning her hug with some surprise, and still wanting to give her a kiss.
"And you too," she said, releasing him to also give a hug to his counterpart. "All of you."
"Alright, let's go," Leo said after she released his other and back up.
"Every half hour," she reminded.
"Reeree," Celebi replied.
With a sigh, he lead Blaze, Grovyle, Celebi and his counterpart up the ruined dock and over the half-buried road, which covered the short distance over the beach to the base of the island's large central hill. Once there, he stopped to look back a last time, suddenly missing her company. She was growing on him in a way he hadn't realized before… Unclipping the walkie-talkie and touching the button, "Radio check."
Harry quickly replied and with a quiet sigh, he turned to face the hill in front of them again.
"I'm glad you made her stay behind," his counterpart said. "I'd be too worried about her."
"So would I," Leo admitted. She would be safer where she was and able to make a quick escape if necessary.
In the coolness of the morning, the smells of the tropical island were almost inviting, and dew covered everything around them, causing sand to cake to his shoes already. At least in dawn's fast growing light, he could see the road going up the slope wasn't half buried like the lower portion, though it was half overgrown with grass and other vegetation encroaching from the sides and through numerous cracks. Here and there large portions of asphalt were missing, adding to the sense of abandonment and desolation that only crickets and the odd bird broke the silence of. Somewhat further up was what looked like old, ruined structures…
"Ha ha, feels like old times," Blaze remarked while adjusting the strap of the satchel hanging from his shoulder.
Leo felt in agreement. "Just like when we arrived at the Hidden Land, except Celebi and the second me weren't there," speaking in human language for his other self's benefit.
"Sounds exciting," Celebi said.
"From what they've said of it, I'm not sure 'exciting' is how I would describe what they went through at that place," Grovyle countered.
Floating around the green Pokémon, Celebi faced him directly as they walked along. "What they did there was heroic, and exciting. They saved the two worlds, dear! You don't find that exciting?"
Grovyle grimaced, slowing just slightly. "I supposedly died there, remember? You too, I think," before looking to Blaze.
"Well, she stayed in the Future That No Longer Exists to try and keep Dusknoir from following us."
Celebi flew closer to the ground as she fell behind. In a near mumble: "Ceasing to exist is a little different from dying. And doesn't mean I'm not hoping for better here."
Detecting a slight trembling in her voice, "Then let's hope this will turn out to be nothing like that experience," Leo said, trying to find something hopeful to say, partly for his own benefit as well. The closer they got, the more fearful he was becoming. "This isn't the Hidden Land, and there's no Temporal Tower here."
"That's right!" Celebi said in her usual high-pitched voice, quickly grabbing Grovyle's long head leaf and wrapping it around the front of his face in an quick fly-by, causing him to flinch. "New timeline, different circumstances! Things will turn out very different here, Grovyle! Cheer up!"
The surprised look from Grovyle was priceless…
With the ruins soon looming in front of them, they were actually quite big with one central building and two smaller outlining ones. The smaller ones, being closer, didn't appear bad off, in that all their walls and most of their roofs were still intact. The larger one, a concrete and sheet-metal structure they discovered as they got closer, didn't even have it's four walls anymore with one completely gone and a second partly collapsed. It also looked terribly forlorn.
His human self lead them single-file through the dense growth, eventually reaching a door opening. With sun just over the horizon, ample light illuminated the inside through the open roof and collapsed walls, revealing several more interior walls that were likewise either collapsed or in the process of doing so.
"Careful," his human self warned while walking a path around some of the debris, heading for what seemed the largest room at one end…just before a large bang made them all jump!
"Ow!" Blaze screamed, holding his foot and hoping a few times around a piece of sheet metal, his tail whipping.
"Careful!" Grovyle chided him.
"I know!"
Through the last wall, the large room proved indeed…large. What got his immediate attention though, were the metal posts at one end of the space, all arranged in a large circle with cabling still attached to several of them. Additionally, now that Blaze got him looking at the floor closer, scorch marks were everywhere…
"This is it," his human self said in a near whisper, kneeling by one of the posts and touching his hand to a burn mark on the floor. "I think this is that lab…"
"Something really bad happened here," Leo remarked at all the apparent signs of destruction before moving over to his other self to get a better look at the posts himself.
"This…" using his finger to draw the large circle between them, "must have been that gate, just like we saw. I still get that bad feeling thinking about it."
"So do I," Leo confirmed. Not so much anymore, but he certainly remembered how he felt at first: dark, apprehensive, scared…
Floating by, Celebi arrived at the exact center of the circle. Spreading her tiny legs and arms, she closed her eyes as her wings beat rapidly to keep her steady in mid-air. "Nothing time travel related, or I would sense it," she said after a moment.
"It would have only been dimensional," Leo explained.
"Palkia's expertise," she returned.
Grovyle stepped closer, looking cautiously at the surrounding trees and the rest of the hill that still loomed over them. "We should go."
"This place does have a creepy feeling," Blaze added. "Like filled with ghosts."
Now that his partner mentioned it, that was exactly how it felt. "I think a number of humans died here," hoping that wasn't the case, but also knowing what he saw in the vision left little doubt. A breeze stirred, the first of the morning, making the trees around them to start rustling and some small birds hastily vacate, giving him a shiver.
"How much you want to bet what happened here was about six years ago?" his human self said, standing up and already starting to lead the way out. "Or at least not too long before we started our gate project?"
Given how their gate seemed increasingly tied to what Derganio was doing, Leo didn't doubt it at all.
Kol didn't take his eyes off the diagnostic screen in reaching for his phone.
"IR is showing activity at the old site," Terrance informed. "Shall I go and intercept?"
Such loyalty, even in the face of overwhelming odds…
Although he'd been waiting for the news, he didn't know where on the almost five-square mile island they would be showing up and actually, he had been expecting them sooner. Did they purposely travel slower than they could have? "No. There's too many of them for you to handle by yourself. We will wait for them here. Find Darryl and get ready." Not that he wasn't thankful for the extra time. Over the night, the technicians performed superbly in completing final checkouts, enabling them to already start running power tests.
Still, it was an all-nighter and the interruption was enough to get him up and refill his mug with some now hours-old but still warm coffee. Savoring the semi-sweet and bitter mixture that he still found rather unique, he walked past the various consoles where the technicians were busy to one of the large, thick windows overlooking the gate room. At the far end the massive ring sat, promising salvation. If only…
It wasn't that he was that worried about Leo Hanson and Dialga's and Palkia's accomplices who were with him, but he had already underestimated them once. Since he had left most of his agents on the mainland, Terrace and Darryl by themselves probably wouldn't be able to handle them in light of how they failed to do so at the University's lab even with Gerald's help. Of course now, Darryl was minus his charizards… And he didn't really trust the regular security; his control did have limits.
After taking a long sip of the dark brew, he tried to relax…with mixed success. The end result was he was likely going to have to stop the two Leo's and their cohorts himself. Again, he had no doubt in his abilities, just that it still meant a risk, however slight.
"Sir, we'll be ready for first full power-up test in ten minutes!" one of the technicians announced excitedly.
Gradually, he let a smile cross his face. For seven hard years he had worked for this day, taking great risks along the way, but now it was at hand. A new world was about to be born. "Inform our expert we're about ready, then." Of course, running two identical projects at once certainly cut the time too, with the information gleaned from one helping the other toward the end.
Sweaty, heart racing and half out of breath, Leo Hanson peered over the rock, mindful of his Pokémon counterpart next to him also looking with head fins sticking up higher any anyone's head. If there had been anyone looking in their direction, he would've instantly pushed down on the swampert's head; as it was, only one bored-looking guy in a dark-blue Derganio security uniform was walking around the large concrete two-storied building…with a rhydon alongside.
Mid-morning. Two hours to get to the other side of the island through warm and humid palm-tree forests over and around the central hill, and he was more than a little tired. The slight panting of the Pokémon confirmed the same for them (save for Celebi who had the gift of flight). Obviously, the beach would've been a much easier route, but was also probably watched. Now at the supposed research facility itself, he was almost surprised the buildings weren't better guarded. Unless there was some remote surveillance, but in looking around there didn't appear to be any, not even cameras. Maybe being on a remote island was most of the security?
Was Derganio that confident? Or that Kol person? Surely he was on the island. The last vision he shared with his counterpart placed the man here, but was it still in the future or in the past?
Only one way to find out, unfortunately.
Faced with their first 'real' difficult task in getting to the gate and disabling it, his nerves became anything but steady. God, he was a University researcher, not a special agent! But there was no one else besides him and the Pokémon next to him to do what had to be done.
But even now, one part of his mind pointed to the apparent absurdity of it all…
They made for an interesting team: one human and four Pokémon, one of which being considered near-mythical. Certainly, he felt privileged to have met and now work with Celebi. He just hoped it didn't end here.
The rhydon's tail disappeared around the building's corner and in answer to the other's stares: "Let's rest a minute," he whispered, still breathing hard…just before a low vibration traveled through the ground. Only the third one they felt in the last hour, and the Pokémon's stares grew more urgent as he quickly reconsidered if they even had a minute.
Theoretically, a properly functioning dimensional portal should create no vibrations. The fact that it felt like the one here was doing so just like the University's gate (assuming it was a gate being activated and not something else), meant they were still testing and getting things aligned. But the vibrations hadn't been growing in intensity as they moved closer, perhaps indicating they were getting less severe as they got closer to proper alignment…and therein was the puzzle.
If any disaster were to happen, he would have laid odds it would've happened during one of the initial alignments. Once everything was adjusted correctly, the greatest danger by far was already past. But if they were now past that point…what else could cause a disaster from the gate?
A tap on his shoulder from Grovyle made him realize the Pokémon were getting anxious. Time to go.
The small "side" door into building wasn't far; he breathed a sigh of relief as they made it into the small alcove apparently without being seen. Now it was just the…
Blaze tried the door.
…locked door they had to get open. "Guess it's time to make an entrance, unless any of you know the code," referring to the keypad in the wall.
Grabbing the handle, his counterpart started pulling on it with apparently all his might. The door started creaking…just before the handle broke off!
Leo shook his head. Not that it was really a bad idea breaking the lock, but the door also had a deadbolt with no accompanying handle!
The Pokémon said a few words between themselves briefly, before Grovyle picked at the exposed latch mechanism, getting the inside half off and leaving a small hole to the inside. After a quick look through it, he ducked for Celebi who then stood on him to reach through with all of her small arm. After a few more words between them and a moment of feeling around, the door unlatched.
"You guys are amazing!" Leo whispered in new-found respect while ushering them all into the dark room that greeted them. Into the radio: "First base," using their short predetermined code phrase. Never knew what kind of radio scanner Derganio had set up. Since it was likely to be the last transmission before they either succeeded or failed, he instead put the unit into a back pocket. It was a tight fit, and he had to remove something to make it fit before replacing it with some effort.
Now, if only the door they came through hadn't been wired, otherwise they could likely expect visitors very shortly. And in case that were true… "Come on, let's get out here!"
Grovyle already had their flashlight on.
Leo waited nervously until the two white-robed humans passed by and his human self waved his hand before exiting the room and scurrying into another with Blaze. The building was big and peering down the hallway, apparently had a lot of rooms. The one they just entered was one of the smaller, filled only with a few chairs and a table…and a map on the wall!
"Got to love these government safety requirements," his human self mumbled as he and Grovyle looked over the small plaque outlining two floors.
Leo watched along with Blaze and Celebi as the two ran their finger and claw across it, first finding where they were presently, then the most likely place to go.
"Ha ha, do humans ever build anything small?" Blaze asked quietly, giving the map a final stare as they prepared to move again.
"Depends on the purpose." But he got his partner's point: it was a fair distance between where they were and where the gate itself likely was, that being the largest room in the building which also occupied both floors, which just happened to be on the other side of the building. If it was like the University's gate, it would need the height.
The human walking out of a doorway ahead was very quick and unexpected…
"Hey! Who are you?"
Taking after Blaze as they leapt ahead of the others, Leo helped in quickly taking down the human, but not before he let out a surprised scream.
"Crap!" his human self hissed. "Come on!"
Leo ran with the rest of the group down the hall as other white-robed humans started poking their heads out of various rooms, each ducking back in as they ran by. Of course, now that they had been seen and the 'alarm' given, it really didn't matter much they were no longer being stealthy.
Grovyle's foot claws scraped the smooth concrete floor as they all rounded a corner, the main doors to the probable gate room only a few seconds ahead of them. Except…his human self diverted them to a stairwell.
"Aren't we going to the gate?" Leo asked in surprise. Surely, wasn't the gate their target?
"We got to shut it down first!" his human self hurried before they exited onto the second floor…and nearly straight into two familiar humans and their Pokémon!
"You! I want my charizards back!" the former charizard trainer yelled just before: "Stun spore!"
"Blaze!"
Leo braced himself as his partner responded instantly to his human self's command, blowing flame from his mouth as the mushroom-like Pokémon was releasing a fine, dark-colored power from under it's head cap. The result was three humans and three Pokémon hitting the floor as the combustible mixture lit up, spreading a small flash fire up and down the corridor. Still standing, Blaze emerged from the flames with only a few singed hairs, the breloom looking only slightly worse.
Not about to give them any chance to counterattack, Leo filled his mouth with water and leaping forward, let it go forcefully in the form of the thin, high-velocity wall of a water pulse, pushing the breloom back several feet and also knocking over the blue jean and black-suited humans right as they started getting up. But it was immediately obvious it wasn't enough. "Grovyle, your turn!"
As if reading his mind, the gecko-like Pokémon continued the assault by leaping up and giving the tough mushroom Pokémon a taste of his leaf blades. She went down, Blaze giving her a punch to make sure she stayed down…before he had to duck as a staravia screamed down the corridor, nearly taking his head off!
"Claw attack, hurry!" the scarred-hands human yelled.
Already far down the corridor, the large grey and white Pokémon bird seemed to struggle to stop in mid air and get turned around in the confining hall with a rapid flapping of wings, but it was coming back soon enough with increasing speed.
From their many battles with bird-species Pokémon, Leo knew how to setup for it with Blaze without any communication, and that was for him act as decoy so the bird would attack him, but instead fly past when…
He ducked and whipped around the split second before the staravia screamed just over his head, Blaze releasing his flamethrower attack which the staravia could no longer avoid.
Flying straight into the flames, the bird appeared to rake a claw across the top of his partner's head as Blaze gave a quick upward punch. With a screech as good as any he'd ever heard, the Pokémon's forward and now upward momentum sent it smashing into the ceiling over the heads of the Derganio humans, showering everyone and everything around with feathers, ceiling tile debris, shattered glass and electrical sparks, taking out several lighting fixtures in the process. The staravia ended up on the floor wiped out, and the two Derganio trainers were on their feet, backing up as they avoided conduit and sparking wires hanging from the wrecked ceiling.
"Damn you!" the man with charred hands shouted as his partner was dragging his breloom down the hall, "I can't allow you to interfere here!"
"We're trying to stop a disaster!" Leo heard his human self shout back from behind.
In a smooth motion, the man pulled out a gun, aiming it directly for…
Now knowing what the object was and how dangerous it could be, he didn't even wait for his mouth to fully fill with water before hitting with a weak water pulse, forcing the human to protect his face; Grovyle charged immediately to knock the weapon from his hand, sending it flying across the floor until Blaze stepped on it.
With apparent desperation, the man started punched at Grovyle before taking off down the corridor and around the corner, nearly slipping on the now wet floor.
His human self let out a sound of relief. "Good work everyone," though his voice indicated shakiness and the finger he was using to point to the first large door on the left was anything but steady. "That's the control room, I think." Leo let him race to the door first, where he glanced through the small window in the door while reaching for the control…then stopped. "Oh no, my God…"
"What is it?" Blaze asked in sudden alarm, trying to see around him.
With foreboding, Leo was trying to get a look himself as his other self seemed frozen in front of the glass. "What do you see?"
His human self stepped back, face in shock. "It's… Damn, I was suspecting something happened to him, but not this!" Punching the door control, it slid open on a room filled with various tables, consoles and taller boxes with flashing lights in the back, not too unlike what was at the University's lab. A handful of humans were inside, all wearing similar white lab coats…except one was familiar.
Blaze's eyes grew wide. "It's him!"
"The Professor is…here?" Grovyle gasped.
Leo Hanson rushed in, ignoring the surprised shouts from those inside. "Professor! Are you alright?" If anyone at Derganio hurt him, they would be answering to him!
The grey-haired man looked up from the console with his usual manner, only a smile spread across his face as he took notice. "Oh, Leo! I'm glad you could make it. It's actually fitting you should be here now."
It wasn't exactly what he had been was expecting to hear. Resisting the urge to put his hands on him and shake him, "John, are you alright? Have they hurt you?"
The Professor seemed to look at him curiously for just an instant. "Me, hurt? No. I'm helping them complete this gate. We're almost ready. Maybe you can help…"
Almost instinctively, he started stepping back from him. "What?" Something was very wrong… This was not the Professor John Werner that he knew, not the one he had been working under for over six years! "John, we have to stop them using this gate! Don't you remember what we told you?"
"Hey, who the hell are you people?" one of the technicians demanded. "Ahh!"
Grovyle had instantly put himself in front of the vocal man, brandishing his leaf blades in the guy's face. As another reached for a phone, he jumped to slash the line, forcing the stunned technician to slam his chair back into the wall.
With his partner keeping watch over everyone, Blaze, Celebi and his counterpart started surrounding the Professor.
"Professor, the disaster is still coming. The University's gate is damaged, so it can't be the cause anymore. This gate can be the only other source of it!"
The Professor stared back momentarily, eyes unnaturally calm. "No, I think you must be mistaken. No disaster to going to happen here."
"What do mean? You heard their story," indicating his counterpart and the infernape, "you even postponed the project because of it! It must be this gate!" The older man was now simply staring back, looking confused, and he was starting to feel as much. He had been worried before after he was told of the disaster, why wasn't he concerned at all now? Or…no, had the concern been false? Could it, this man he's worked with for so many years…was it conceivable? Anger rising: "Have you been working for Derganio all along?"
Grovyle hissed as the technicians started getting restless, distracting the Professor for a moment. "Grovyle, play nice here!" he demanded. "And no, I haven't been working for them all along. Kol needed help completing his own gate, so I came to help…"
"They destroyed our gate!" Leo shouted back. "I think he used it to lure Dialga and Palkia there, and he did something to them. Damn it, John, he made them disappear!"
"Dialga and Palkia…were there? Well, I think that was part of the plan."
He was sure the Professor's nonplussed look was real. What was with him? Grasping the older man by his shoulders, he fully intended to shake some sense into him, respect be damned, but as soon as he made contact…
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his Pokémon counterpart grimace, bowing his head as he started going down and instantly, he knew what it was, feeling the exact same way. The dizziness…he was now more than accustomed to what it meant.
In a room without windows, the Professor was strapped into a chair. A man with long white hair stood behind him as two others were hovering around him, one administering something into his arm with a syringe…
Backing up, he felt his anger rising further. "You bastards, you drugged him!" He was about to shout something else, a far worse name to the Derganio people, but lost the thought as his head started hurting…real bad, and real fast. Gasping with sudden pain, he looked around, finding the Pokémon grasping their own heads. But it wasn't just pain…there was a growing…overwhelming feeling of darkness…of fear! And in a corner of his mind, he recognized it! From a particular vision…
Instinctively, he started backing up with the Pokémon, hoping to make it to the door as the only other door to the room opened on the far side; dressed in a knee-length light blue coat, a tall, thin man with near-white chest-length hair walked in. The pain and feeling of darkness stopped at once, but his heart was pounding as if a vise were around it.
"It wasn't just drugs," Kol said, gently shutting the door behind him with obvious purpose. "Psychic abilities have multiple uses." Then with a thin smile spreading across his somewhat boyish face: "Hello again, Leo."
Between recovering from the attack and digesting what the man just said, Leo Hanson noticed the Derganio head of research didn't appear to be addressing him.