Inferno, Chapter 8
Hello, everybody, once again inspiration has struck me! Hope you enjoy.
A Shadow In The Night
Blaze and Lora were walking down a very old trail, away from the city. With each step, Blaze grew more relaxed, a fact Lora was aware of. But she was following her own train of thought right now.
"We need to find a way to permanently escape Team Rocket. But they're very powerful here. Maybe our only option is to flee to another region."
Unfortunately, her knowledge of the various regions was detrimental. She was originally from the Hoenn region, kidnapped by Team Rocket and trained to be a mothering unit for an experiment. Even if they went back to Hoenn, her knowledge of the region was sketchy at best.
"Besides," she thought "my people wouldn't be so accepting of Blaze, and I can't leave him to fend for himself. No, we need to head to another region, but I don't even know what their names are!"
Meanwhile, Blaze was in a world of his own.
"What are we going to do? All we keep doing is running, all over the place, but they find me anyway! What we need is a way to keep safe, to be able to hide from them. If we get ambushed, and if I kill again…"
He shook his head to dispel the thoughts, and Lora asked
"Blaze, are you alright?"
He thought for a moment how to best put his concerns into words, and he replied
"I just want safety, and I don't know where we'll find that. Do you have any ideas?"
Lora paused for a second, then said hesitantly
"Well, only one. I think, in order to be safe from Team Rocket, we'll have to flee the region."
Blaze stopped in place, stunned for a moment. Then he said
"Flee the region? But where would we go?" Lora shrugged and said
"I don't know; I have no knowledge of the other regions. But I know we're not safe here in Kanto. I can't guarantee we're safer somewhere else, but it's a chance we'll have to take, won't we?"
Blaze thought on it as he began walking again, and after about five minutes, he said
"I suppose you're right. But I would like to know where we could go before we make any big moves, okay? And on that note, could we use the crystal to get to another region?"
Unbeknownst to them, A Gliscor flew past silently overhead, returning to their stalker.
Loki, about 100 yards behind
Loki waited for his faithful Gliscor to return to him. Over the years he had spent with his pokemon, he came to be able to understand them a little, but it was like a massive game of charades, with him more often than not nearly getting attacked because he couldn't understand what they were trying to mime. But he made a conscious effort, so they forgave him for it.
At the slight rustling of leaves, Loki looked up and spotted the Fang Scorp pokemon. He held his position as the pokemon landed in front of him, and Loki asked
"So, you get to hear anything they were saying?" Gliscor nodded and took a nearby twig, drawing out something in nearby dirt. It was a wonky shape, and Gliscor motioned first toward it, then to the general area around them. Loki paused for a second, then asked
"Is this supposed to be representative of something?" Gliscor nodded again and pointed to its drawing, then held its arms out. Loki looked around for a second, then said
"This area we're in right now?" Gliscor shook its head, then held out one of its pincers/claws, originally closed but opening it.
"Bigger?" Loki asked, and Gliscor nodded, holding out its arms again.
"Much bigger?" After another nod, Loki placed a hand to his chin and asked
"This forest?" Gliscor shook its head and stretched its arms as far out as it possibly could. Loki's eyes lit up, he pointed at Gliscor, and said
"The region?" Gliscor nodded and sighed, letting its arms drop. Then Loki asked
"Our region?" Gliscor nodded again, and Loki asked
"What about it?"
Gliscor held up both its pinchers, then motioned them toward their "prey".
"The two we're following?" Gliscor nodded again and Loki asked
"So it has something to do with them and the region as a whole?" Gliscor nodded once more, glad he was finally getting it.
"Okay, do you have any more details on that?" Gliscor nodded once more, then took its twig and drew out a large circle. It flew briefly to the middle of it and landed, then pointed at its original drawing, then to its newest drawing.
"This circle represents the region now?"
Gliscor nodded again, then motioned toward Blaze and Lora again, then at itself.
"And you're them?"
After another nod, Gliscor jumped out of its circle and stared up at Loki, who raised an eyebrow in confusion. Gliscor slapped its face with its right pincer, then hopped back into the circle, pointing again at the original drawing, the new one, then toward Lora and Blaze, and finally itself. It hopped out of the circle one more time, and Loki furrowed his brows, beginning to piece it together.
"Okay… so if that's the region… you're them… they want to leave the region?"
Gliscor flopped onto its back, heaving a sigh of relief. Loki smirked and said
"No need to get dramatic. Good job. I guess we can help after all. Keep an eye on them and report back to me when they stop for the night, alright?"
Gliscor stood and brushed itself off, nodding its head, then taking off. Loki watched as it flew through the tree line and disappeared to find and track their prey. Loki frowned and began walking where it flew off to, taking out his mini-binoculars and checking ahead of him. They were pretty much lost from his vision, but that meant they couldn't see him, either.
He brought them down and kept to the trail, hoping the Gardevoir he helped earlier and her friend were doing the same. Considering the history they apparently had with Team Rocket, he wouldn't have been surprised if she was intent on avoiding any trails and possibly leaving tracks. On the other hand, by keeping to a trail, even if it was old, they could move faster. It was really a matter of preference.
He kept as silently as he possibly could, but he had a sneaking feeling that something momentous was about to happen. When he heard the resounding BOOM, he rushed forward, hoping he wouldn't be too late. More rustling occurred above him, and he quickly looked up to see his Gliscor.
"Gliscor, what happened?!"
"Gli, gli Gliscor!" Loki didn't understand any of it, of course, and he felt there wasn't time for Gliscor to mime it out.
"Lead me to it!"
"Gli!"
Gliscor flew ahead of him, then settled on a steady flight speed that would get them there as soon as possible, but still allow Loki to keep up. Loki stopped at a line of bushes, and he cursed as he saw the giant robot with the large red "R".
Blaze and Lora's POV
Blaze and Lora leapt back as the ground in front of them exploded, sending fragments of earth in every direction. Lora covered her eyes, while Blaze tried to peer through the dust to see what was attacking them. His eyes widened and he shouted
"Shit, it's Team Rocket again!"
"What?! But I thought we ditched them!"
"Yeah, we've thought that before. Hang on tight!" Blaze grabbed Lora and pulled her close, reaching for his crystal. The robot before them made a sudden movement and shot a dart which lodged itself right in the middle of Blaze's clawed hand, making him scream in pain, then glower at the robot. This one was different than before; it had a rectangular body with multiple arms coming out of each side, wielding nets and tranquilizers. Blaze felt no effect other than pain from the dart embedded in his hand, so he figured it wasn't a tranquilizer. He cursed and jumped back, exhaling fire as a net flew out from the robot, incinerating it.
He alighted on the ground and watched as Lora fired a Psychic at the robot, causing no damage. A voice rang out on some loudspeakers that rose out of the top of the robot, and a feminine voice said
"Forget it, traitor! This baby is proofed against anything you can fire at it!"
"But not against anything I've got, I bet! Golurk, use Earth Power!"
The robot turned in time to see an ancient, hulking blue monolith slam its fist into the ground, creating small pillars of rising earth in the direction of the robot, until the attack connected, making the largest pillar and knocking the mechanical giant fall over. Several of the arms began pushing itself up, but Loki called
"Ice Beam, freeze those arms!"
The Golurk Raised it hands and charged an ice-blue ball in between them. Then it fired an icy beam at the robot, moving it around for full coverage. Soon all the arms were frozen, and Blaze went in, his uninjured hand glowing white. He jumped and swung it down, breaking off one of the arms. He repeated this process until the robot was completely limbless, at which point the driver began cursing. Inside, she pressed some buttons and pulled a lever, then tugged on the straps of her seat.
A hatch on the robot opened up and ejected the grunt, sending her flying off to who-knows-where. The remainder of the robot began beeping rapidly, and suddenly exploded, making Blaze, Lora, Loki, and Golurk fly back. When the noise and dust had settled, Loki returned Golurk, then ran over to Lora, helping her up. She looked at him briefly, and her eyes widened.
"Loki?! What are you doing here?!" Loki shook his head and said
"There's no time to explain; we should grab your friend and get out of here. There could be more grunts on their way as we speak."
Lora hesitated for a second, then nodded in agreement. They ran over to Blaze, who had thankfully been knocked unconscious since his arm was now broken and bent at an awkward angle. Loki winced and Lora paled, then she shook her head and hurried to grab the necklace, motioning for Loki to join them on the spur of the moment. As soon as he reached her, she grabbed him. Keeping the crystal in her right hand, which she used to grab Blaze, she activated the crystal's power and teleported them as far away as they could get.
After a brief flash of light, the three figures settled on the rough ground, and Loki searched the area around them to pinpoint their location while Lora caught her breath, then tried to rouse Blaze. Loki stopped her and said
"Don't. It's better he remain unconscious right now. We should get him to a Center-"
"We can't do that!" Lora shouted. Loki frowned and asked
"Why not? You're friend's in trouble, and he'll be in pain when he wakes up. You would condemn him to have that broken arm?" Lora shook her head and told him
"No, it's not that; I know how to fix broken bones, and the Center's personnel ask too many questions. We'd be found in minutes. Do you have any spare bandages I could use?"
Loki nodded and brought out his pack, handing over a large roll of sterile bandaging . Lora immediately set to work, using her psychic powers to set the bone, then keeping it in place as she wrapped the limb up. It wasn't much, but it was the best she could do given the situation. Loki frowned at the attempt, but there was nothing he could say to convince her otherwise.
Once he gave up, he looked around again. The sun was almost a quarter of the way to the horizon, indicating it was almost evening. He searched over the mostly barren landscape and wondered where they were. He began to walk around a bit, checking over some of the larger rocks. Soon he came to a drop-off, revealing the deep blue ocean beneath him. He frowned and looked back and noticed a mountain-like structure further in, close to where they had appeared.
He looked around, taking out his mini-binoculars, and once he assessed their location, he traveled back to Lora and asked her
"How did we get all the way out to Cinnabar Island?" Lora looked up at him and asked
"Is that where we are right now?" Loki nodded and brought out his map of the region, then opened it up and set it out, pointing out Cinnabar's location, tracing it from Celadon.
"We were here-" he said, his finger on the route below Celadon, then tracing the finger along the map in a beeline for the small corner island he believed they were on now; "and now we're here. That's a pretty big distance, and even a strong Alakazam would have difficulty traveling that kind of distance. How did you do it so quickly?"
Lora held up the crystal that Blaze wore and responded
"This is a teleportation crystal. It is created with psychic power and fueled by it as well. When it has psychic energy in it, it allows the user to teleport a certain distance, depending how much is in there. It's filled to the maximum, but I really just combined it with my own teleportation powers to get us as far away as we could get."
Loki's eyes widened with this explanation, and he said
"Wow… that's some crazy stuff. Well, we're safe here in Cinnabar since the recent volcanic eruption left this island uninhabited, meaning we should be able to recover here." Lora breathed a sigh of relief and said
"Good. Now we just wait for Blaze to recover, and we can keep going."
Loki hesitated for a moment, then said
"I might be able to help you again." Lora raised an eyebrow and asked
"Oh? How?"
"Okay, I've been following you and your friend since you left the city. I was concerned, and I prefer to help people out if there's a chance to. During the day, I sent out my Gliscor to keep a bird's-eye view of you, and followed the path you took. Gliscor overheard your conversation about leaving the region."
Lora's eyes were reasonably furious, and she asked
"Why would you spy on us like that? I'm rather angry now, so you better have a good reason." Loki shrugged and replied
"Only to help others. Sorry I did it, but I think I know how I might be able to help." Lora didn't reply, seeing as she was angry with him right now. He brought out four more maps and spread them out, each depicting a different region. He began narrating possibilities, telling her
"Okay, you want to leave Kanto, and there are four other regions. Since Johto and Kanto are basically locked together, I suggest you avoid going there. I also strongly warn you against Sinnoh. I recently heard that Team Rocket was trying to do something there, so…"
He pulled three of the maps, Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh, away, leaving the Hoenn and Unova maps. He began with Hoenn and said
"The Hoenn region isn't a very big stronghold for Team Rocket; they barely ever go there since they have no business there." Lora shook her head and replied
"They've been there before; in fact, it's where they kidnapped me. I don't want to take the risk." Loki nodded and said
"Okay the, your last option is Unova. It's quite out there, and I don't have reason to believe that Team Rocket's staking any claims there." He placed a hand to his chin in thought, then said musingly
"If I remember right, I have a buddy that recently moved over there. He might be able to help you out a bit, but he's not quite as… charitable, as I am. Anyway, you might even be able to settle down there, if that's what you want." Lora blushed and quickly said
"We're not together like that. He… needed a mother figure, and I was brought in to fill that role."
"I understand. In that case, you might be able to find a place to set down in, since some places employ pokemon." He looked over at Blaze and asked quietly
"By the way, what is he? He looks half-human, half-Blaziken." Lora sighed and said
"That's what he is." Then she went into further detail what Team Rocket had done, and with each sentence she spoke, Loki's disgust grew. He knew Team Rocket was a bunch of scumbags, but he hadn't realized how severe the issue was. He shook his head at the end of Lora's narration, and he said
"Alright, tell you what; let me make a call to my friend in Unova tomorrow, and I'll see what we can do in the lines of getting you over there. You should be safe from them, but I can't make any guarantees. But I certainly hope so." Lora nodded and said
"Thank you, Loki. If you can provide us with a safe haven, you will have made Blaze's lifelong dream that much closer to reality."
Loki nodded and stood, saying
"We should rest up for the night. We'll have a busy day ahead of us, and I plan to make full use of it."
Lora nodded and went to retrieve the sleeping bags he had bought for her, making sure Blaze was comfortably inside on. The tents would attract too much attention, so she decided to leave them alone. Soon enough, everybody was asleep, with Lora contemplating a free life and Loki trying to figure out how best to explain the situation.
Okay, plot continuation completed! Now all I have to do is follow through with it. Tell me what you think so far.