Chapter 14: Falling to Darkness

Location: Just outside of Pipton

Lloyd figured the town would be just outside the mystery dungeon, for all he knew it could have been, because the blizzard he had to walk though was so strong he couldn't see anything.

Rita was in poor condition, her breathing was rough, and her heart was beating faint. Lloyd, unlike Rita, couldn't carry a pokemon that well. He didn't have a large back like her, and his arms were pretty short, he had to carry her draped around his shoulders like a scarf..

Please let me be going the right way! Please!

Lloyd would have been amazed by his surroundings if Rita wasn't in trouble. He'd never seen snow before, and here was more snow then he could possibly imagine. What could have been wonderful was now a curse, the cold, the deep snow, and low visibility all took a toll on Lloyd. He wouldn't last long in the storm.

Lloyd didn't notice the log buried in the snow in front of him. He tripped over it and fell face first into the snow. Luckily he managed to hold firmly onto Rita, but his entire face was now in a great amount of pain, Lloyd figured he must have broken his nose or something, his entire face felt like it was burning. Lloyd didn't care though, Rita was the only thing he cared about right then.

He got up, Rita still on his shoulders, and kept walking into the blizzard, ignoring the pain. His only thoughts were of Rita.

Hold on Rita, I wont give up, I'll never give up.

---

Location: Pipton, Mayors House

Isaac stared out the window of his house, watching the incredible storm, he'd never seen it this bad before.

Will the Brotherhood guys be able to make it through this storm?

Isaac hoped he wouldn't have to go himself, while he had gone through Celsius Cave himself many times before, he was concerned about the three pokemon he saw going in the cave not long ago. It was obvious they were the ones that turned off the machine that attracted the fish to Pipton Lake, but Isaac could never take on three pokemon alone.

Isaac had thought about gathering some of the other Piplup together to go inside with him, but none of them had been in a mystery dungeon before, none of them had even fought anything before.

It was getting dark out, soon it would be impossible to see more then an inch forward outside, if the Brotherhood guys were in the storm then, they would definitely be lost in the storm, and the village would have nobody to help them, and the village would eventually starve.

Isaac was about to leave the window, about to give up on anyone coming anytime soon, when he noticed a faint yellow blur, a pokemon marching his way through the storm.

It was them! They had come!

Isaacs excitement was short lived when he noticed that he was alone, except for a pokemon on his back, a Chikorita. When Isaac looked close at the Chikorita, he saw that it was severely injured, a huge cut across its side.

Isaac went outside to help.

---

Lloyd was exhausted, if this had been a normal walk, and Rita was not in so much trouble, he would have collapsed, unable to get back up by now.

He had been wandering through the blizzard for what felt like ages, still finding not even a sign of the town they were looking for, not a sign of civilization at all. Lloyd was beginning to lose hope for either of them making it, Lloyd couldn't get the thought of failing them both, not to mention the many pokemon in Pipton.

I can't give up... Too many pokemon at stake... Got to keep going...

Lloyd was beginning to feel light headed, and stumbled a bit in a particularly deep amount of snow. Lloyd and the storm were battling, and the storm was winning, ready to claim two lives as its prize.

The wind got stronger, and Lloyd fell backwards. The wind was so strong that Lloyds tired legs couldn't hold him up, so Lloyd continued on by crawled through the snow.

I can't... give up....

Lloyd felt his heart slowing down, each beat took longer to come, and thumped quieter each time. He knew he didn't have long left.

Lloyd was now on his belly, dragging himself through the snow with one hand, keeping Rita steady with the other. Lloyd knew it was pointless, and that he was just wasting precious energy, but he didn't care.

I... can't... give... up...

His vision was fading fast, everything slowly faded to black. Even still Lloyd continued to drag himself towards safety.

Lloyd tugged his body forward one last time, and was completely drained of energy, he couldn't move anything.

Everything slowly went dark, like the snow itself had turned black. Lloyd, unable to even hold up his head, planted his face into the cold ground, and began to fall asleep.

"Don't give up!"

Huh?

"Your almost there, don't give up, you an do it!"

Who... are you?

The voice was fading. "Don't give up! You can do..." But the voice was gone as quickly as it had came.

Lloyd thought it just his imagination, the exhaustion making him crazy. He thought his last thoughts before finally succumbing to the darkness.

I'm sorry Rita...

---

Lloyd opened his eyes, a bright light hung above him, blinding him for a moment.

Am I dead?

His eyes adjusted to the light and he saw he was in a cabin of some sort. He looked around, it was a very nice house, all the furniture clean, decorations located all over, most of the walls had book cases along them.

Probably not dead then.

"Good morning, glad to see you awake."

The voice came from below him, it was a blue pokemon, large head, with a small yellow beak. He figured this must have been one of the Piplup.

"Umm, thanks?"

Then Lloyd remembered Rita.

"Where is Rita? Is she ok?"

"Hold on, lets worry about you right now ok?"

The Piplup dragged over a step ladder, Lloyd noticed for the first time he was on some kind of table, far above the ground. When the Piplup got to Lloyds height, he immediately grabbed his nose.

"Hold on, this is gonna hurt."

Crack! The Piplup had done something to his nose, it hurt like crazy, but after he done it, it didn't hurt at all.

"Your nose was broken, so I cracked it back into place, as long nothing hits it, the bone should heal quickly."

"Thanks I guess."

Before Lloyd could ask any more questions, Piplup had began to wrap a bandage around his leg. Lloyd didn't notice, but he had a fairly bad cut on it. As soon as the bandage was applied, his whole leg felt good.

"That should be everything, eat a few of your Oran berrys and you'll be in perfect health withen the hour."

"Thanks... Thanks a lot, umm."

"My names Isaac. I'm the one who sent the letter. I'm glad to see the Brotherhood sent someone so strong."

Isaac was obviously being sarcastic, but the point he was trying to make was right. Neither him nor Rita were ready for this mission.

"Listen, I'm sorry, my friend was attacked in Glacier Tunnel, and I had no idea how to get to town."

"I guess that's understandable, judging by the shape of the cut on your friend, it was a Sneasel that attacked you. They can be tricky pokemon, your not the first to be attacked by them.

"Thanks again for all your doing, my name is Lloyd, and my friend is Rita."

"About your friend, I'm afraid I have bad news..."

Oh no... Please don't say she's dead... PLEASE!

"While she is still alive, her condition is critical, and I unfortunately don't have what I need to help her."

"What do you need? Please, I'll do anything!"

"The funny thing is, the thing you need can be found at the bottom of Celsius Cave."

He got off his step ladder, Lloyd used it to get down off the table and follow after him.

In the next room was Rita, resting in a small bed, probably belonging tp Isaac. She had a large, white bandage around her body, a small line of red marking where the cut was. Her breathing didn't sound as bad as it had before, but she still looked and sounded like she was in pain.

"At the bottom of the cave is a machine, in that machine is berry juice, specifically Citrus Berry juice. The machine pumps small amounts of it into the lake to attract the fish we eat to survive, but the juice is also a very good medicine, and would heal your friend Rita in an instant. I could have just got the juice from the lake, but because the machine was shut down, that's impossible. The only way to cure your friend is to complete the mission I sent you."

"I don't know if I can, you see, if haven't fought anything without Rita's help before. And I have pokemon hunting for me, if they appear in the mystery dungeon, I'm done for."

"Then it looks like I'll have to go with you, I was hoping to avoid going in, but neither of us can go alone and both of us need to get down there. Come with me for a sec."

Isaac and Lloyd went into the next room, it looked like a big closet. Isaac went to the nearest shelf to the left and took a big blue scarf and put it on, he gave Lloyd a green scarf.

"Put that on, if you thought the blizzard was cold, wait till you get to Celsius Cave."

Lloyd nodded and put it on, it was a little small, but still fit him. It seemed to warm his whole body, like he was wearing a full suit.

"These scarves are amazing, what are they?"

"They are specially made to resist the cold, they were made a long time ago by humans. Not many are left I'm afraid."

"Humans made these?"

"Yep, back when they were still around these parts that is."

Isaac led Lloyd into another room. This time it was another bed room. Lloyd saw a much larger pokemon then them lying in bed, an Empoleon.

"Is that your dad?"

"Yeah, he sleeps quite a bit, so I have to do everything for him. I'm practically the unofficial mayor. Just need to borrow a few of his Oran berries and we can go."

Isaac went over to a shelve and rooted around. Lloyd stood there amazed by the size of the mayor, he was the biggest pokemon he had seen since waking up. His snores shock the house a little each time.

Isaac came back, carrying a bag much like the one they had, full of supplies to use in the mystery dungeon Celsius Cave.

"We must hurry, Rita is on borrowed time as it is."

Lloyd nodded. They both left the house, leaving the mayor and Rita to rest.

The blizzard had calmed a bit since Lloyd was in it, which was good, Lloyd didn't want to walk through it again.

"You ready Lloyd?"

"Yep, lets go."

Isaac led the way along the snow covered path. Both determined to succeed, both determined to not give up on the people relying on them.

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~NEW STUFF TO READ~!

After the Pipton mission. I'm taking a break from the rapid chapter spewing (or RCS) to edit the heck out of all the chapters. Not just me, but also I'll be forcing, on threat of death, to get my GF Patricia (Erinlover or whatever her Penname is) to help as well. If anyone else wants to volunteer to proofread as well. Feel free to do so and send me emails of where to find any mistakes.

And one other thing, I'd like to bring up Lloyd. Yes it is quite obvious that he is a Pikachu (or is he? O:), but nobody else knows what he is, and I'm trying to write from the characters view of him, not the readers/writers (well, I'm TRYING to anyways. One of my weakness's is sticking to a single POV). Don't worry, I plan to have them find out what he is right after Pipton.

Lastly, speaking of the finding out of things. The topics of what happened to the world and where are all the humans is also going to be explained, perhaps in the same chapter as what pokemon Lloyd is.

Ok, I lied, one more thing. Thank you to the many people who have read my story. This is really fun and I hope to be doing this for a long time. Bonus that I don't have to pay for the privilege to write story's, games are expensive as heck nowadays.