Chapter 12: Plan B
Location: Celsius Cave, Basement 8
The door to the room with the berry machine swung open, revealing an empty room full of machinery. The three pokemon Isaac spoke of weren't here.
"Looks like its safe after all." Said Lloyd.
Despite the coast being clear, Isaac still looked ready for battle. He must have thought something was wrong, that they were hiding in wait or something.
Lloyd, after all that's happened in his adventure so far, it was a good idea not to expect the best right away. So Lloyd didn't lower his guard either, readying to fight whatever might attack them.
Isaac and Lloyd stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by the machinery and nothing else. The roof was well lit, and nothing was there, there was no cupboards or closets for anything to hide in, and there wasn't any tables or other ledges to hide under, the room was completely empty except for him and Isaac.
"Looks safe after all, looks like you succeeded in your mission Lloyd."
"Our mission, you part of the team, and you helped us."
"But I'm the one who sent the mission to you, so that means... I have to give myself a reward?"
"Sure why not."
They laughed.
"Ok Lloyd, all we need to do is flip the machine back on. At the other end of the room is a switch, and at this end of the room there is a switch, at the same time as me, we have to flip the switches. Once we do that, the berry machine will start pumping the berry juice into the lake again."
"Sounds simple enough, I'll take the one at the far end."
They split up, each going to one of the two switches. The switch was a big red lever, it would take all of Lloyds weight to pull it down. He climbed up on the desk like surface above the switch, and got ready to jump down.
"You ready Lloyd?"
"Yup."
"On three... One, Two..."
But he couldn't finish, out of nowhere came some kind of attack, knocking them both to the ground. Out of the wall, like a ghost, walked a pokemon, it was a Prinplup. It had somehow managed to move right through the wall like it wasn't there, and it attacked him.
Isaacs attacker was more familiar, Gastly, along with Raticate, both also came out of the wall.
"Did you like our little trick? We certainly fooled you, didn't we?" Said the Prinplup.
"Who are you? Why are you doing this to the Piplup!?" Yelled Lloyd.
"Why? To lure you here of course. The Boss is willing to pay a pretty penny for you. So your names Lloyd huh?" He gave an exaggerated bow,"You can call me, Maverick." He looked at isaac. "Hmm, Is that you brother? How long has it been?"
"Brother? What are you talking about? Your not my brother!"
Isaac tried to stand up, but Raticate placed his foot on his back and pushed him back down.
"Let me tell you a story brother... Long ago, when I was just a little hatchling, fresh out of the egg, I was kidnaped by wild pokemon. Along the way to the peak of Glacier Mountain, they lost me, and I had wandered off. After days of wandering around, I found a house at the very top of Glacier Mountains, similar to the one you live in. There I found food, which kept me alive for weeks, and books, which I used to learn to read, among other things. When I gained the strength I needed to return, I did so, hoping to find my father in open arms, ready to welcome me back..."
"Where do I fit in this? Why..." Raticate shut him up with another push of his foot.
"I'm getting to that. I returned home and found, not sorrow, but joy. Father had replaced me with an orphaned Piplup, you."
"So he's not even my real father?"
"Not at all. You were just my replacement. Father forgot about me because of you. I didn't even bother showing myself, I returned to the house I found on top of the mountain, and focused on making myself strong. I wanted to be strong so that one day I could kill you and take back my place! The fact you came here along with Lloyd, instead of that other pokemon, is definitely a stroke of luck for me."
"So... My father isn't..."
"Your parents are dead, killed by the same wild pokemon that took me away."
"No... it can't be!"
"Oh, it is." He picked up Lloyd by the back of his neck and walked over to Isaac. "While I can never get my life back. I can still kill you for taking it away from me." He placed one of his feet on Isaacs neck and began to press down. "Good bye, brother!"
Lloyd acted fast, while Maverick was distracted, he slowly, as to not bring attention to himself, charged up electricity. At the last minute Maverick noticed and took his foot off of Isaac. Before he could stop Lloyd, Lloyd had unleashed the electric attack right into him, causing him to be momentarily stunned, and loosened his grip, letting Lloyd drop safely to the ground.
Lloyd picked up Isaac and rushed over to the other end of the room. He took three Oran berries from Isaacs bag, he ate one, and gave the other two to Isaac.
"Thanks Lloyd. Lets beat this guy to a pulp."
"No problem."
Maverick pointed to both of them. "Raticate, Gastly, GET THEM!" But before they could obey, both Lloyd and Isaac each launched an attack at the two of them. Neither Gastly or Raticate withstood the attack, and the both of them fainted. "Argh! Useless!"
Before letting Lloyd or Isaac get off another attack. Maverick charge the two of them, tackling the both of them, sending each to opposite sides of the room. He focused on Isaac and went after him.
"I'll kill you, I swear it!"
Mavericks wings glowed bright white at the tips, telling Isaac he was going to use Metal claw. The attack would be devastating if it hit. Rummaging in his bag, Isaac pulled out the evasion orb they picked up earlier in Celsius Cave. "Activate." he said. The orb obeyed the command and dissolved into a white light, the light piercing itself into Isaac. The orbs power was now in him.
"Take this!"
Maverick swung once at Isaac, but with unbelievable speed, jumped back just enough to avoid the blow. He swung again, this time higher, but Isaac dodged it again by ducking beneath it. Enraged further, Maverick raised his metal claw high above his head and brought it down hard. Isaac once again dodged the attack by rolling aside. Maverick tried to pull his wing out of the ground, but he had hit it so hard against the ground, the glowing wing had embedded in the smooth, grey floor.
Isaac took advantage of this and used a bubble attack point blank, right in Mavericks face. This only angered Maverick more, the rage giving him the strength to pull his wing out of the ground, sending grey stone debris in every direction.
Isaac wasn't done yet though, he leapt on Mavericks shoulder and repeatedly peaked him in the side of the head. Maverick did everything he could to get him off, but Isaac had dug his feat too deep into his shoulder.
"Isaac, get off quick!" It was Lloyd. Isaac looked and saw he was charging a powerful thunder bolt. Giving Maverick one last peck, he jumped far away from maverick. Coast clear, Lloyd unleashed the attack, aim perfect, finishing Maverick off enough that he couldn't fight no more.
Maverick, with his last bit of energy, crawled over to where Raticate and Gastly had fainted, and pulled out an orb.
"This isn't over you two. I'll hunt you down, you both will be mine! Activate!"
The orb turned out to be an escape orb, the light engulfed all three of them, and they disappeared.
"We gotta hurry, he isn't done yet. Lets activate the machine and use one of our own orbs to catch up with him."
Lloyd nodded and went over to the switch he was originally going to pull. Isaac did the same. Both ready to pull the lever down, Isaac began to count down.
"3.. 2... 1... NOW!"
At once, they both jumped, pulling their switches. It had worked, the machine instantly sprung to life, first making a "Chuff, chuff." sound, then a steady rumble. It was on.
Isaac went over to pipe hidden in a corner and turned a tiny wheel. Out of a spout poured the berry juice they needed for Rita. Isaac pulled a bottle out of his bag and put the juice in it, then turned the wheel again, stopping the flow of berry juice.
"Come here Lloyd, we got to hurry!"
"Right."
Lloyd got close to Isaac, one last rummage through the bag and Isaac pulled out one of the escape orbs. He muttered "Activate", like he did with the evasion orb, and the same light engulfed them. Lloyd closed his eyes, felt a tingle in his body, similar to the tingle he felt when he charged up an electric attack. The tingling stopped, when Lloyd opened his eyes, he found himself standing in the same spot he stood when he first gazed at the entrance of Celsius Cave. Isaac handed him back the scarf to protect him from the cold.
"Come on, lets go, we gotta hurry!"
"Yeah, lets catch those guys!"
Following the trail back to Pipton, Isaac and Lloyd ran, hoping that Raticate, Gastly and Maverick hadn't escaped.
---
Location: Isaacs House
Rita didn't feel so good when she woke up. Her body was stiff, and she felt a sharp pain in her side.
"Whoa, what's happened..." She yawned.
Crawling out of the covers, she unsteadily dropped to the ground, which she regretted immediately. As soon as she landed on her feet, it felt like a fire had suddenly burned her. She looked at her side and noticed the blood stained bandages, she then remembered what happened, she was attacked, hurt badly, then she lost consciousness.
She didn't see any signs of Lloyd anywhere, she looked around the house she was in but didn't see anyone.
Feeling another sharp pain in her side, she decided to go outside to heal it. She had known a move taught to her a long time ago she hoped never needing to use, synthesis.
Opening the door, she say the sun barely poking over the Mountain. This is gonna take a while then. She thought.
She walked out in the back of the house, where she found a small rock poking out of the ground at a weird angle, that acted as an umbrella, making the ground below it free of any snow. And thanks to the angle of the sun, the rock didn't cast a shadow to block out the sun. Perfect spot to heal.
She took off the bandages and threw them aside, then laid down, the cut facing the sun, and went back to sleep. It would only take about an hour and she would be right as rain again.
---
Location: Pipton
Lloyd and Isaac had ran the entire distance to Pipton lake. None of the three pokemon who attacked them in sight. Both Lloyd and Isaac were afraid they had lost them.
Isaac stopped suddenly, looking to the lake. Lloyd stopped as well, trying to coax Isaac to continue running.
"Isaac! Why did you stop? We gotta go!"
"Look Lloyd, the fish are back."
Lloyd didn't notice it at first, but when he looked, he knew Isaac was right. Piplup were diving into the water and fish were jumping out of the water all over the lake. Isaac and Lloyd got closer and they saw orange blurs just below the lakes surface. The fish turned out to be Magikarp, and there was hundreds, if not thousands, of them in the lake.
Nearly every single Piplup was going back and forth from the lake, catching itself a Magikarp, then eating it or feeding it to a baby, then jumping back in for another. The once inactive lakeside was now full of activity.
"Looks like its mission accomplished." Said Lloyd.
"Not yet." He reminded. "We still have to get to Rita and heal her with the juice I collected."
"I know, and we gotta hurry too, who knows what her condition is."
Lloyd led the way down the trail to Isaacs house, soon Rita would be healed and their teams first mission would be complete.
---
Location: Isaacs House
"Is this the one Maverick?" Asked Gastly.
"Yep, this is his house. Burn it to the ground boys."
Raticate and Gastly obeyed, grabbing some oil soaked torches, lighting them, and throwing them through windows. It wasn't long before the stuff inside stated to catch fire.
"Should take about five minutes Maverick, and the whole thing will burn to the ground." Said Raticate.
"Hmm, good. Lets get out of here then."
Raticate and Gastly went up ahead. Before joining them, Maverick grabbed a nearby pole and placed it in the ground. On the pole he nail on a short note. With the note in place, waiting for Isaac and Lloyd to read it, Maverick left the burning house to catch up with Gastly and Raticate.
---
Isaac and Lloyd finally could see the house, but they didn't expect what was happening to it. The entire building was on fire.
"Oh no, Dad!"
"Rita!"
They raced to the house. Isaac charged though the door, breaking it down. Lloyd went to the room where Rita was, avoiding the fire as best he could. Isaac did the same, but went to his dads room.
Lloyd expected one of two things, first, that she would be safe in bed, ready to be rescued by him. And the much worse second possibility, that the fire had already gotten to her. Instead, she wasn't in the room at all, her bed sheets thrown aside, with no signs of here inside at all.
Where could she be? Did they take her away with them?
"Hey Lloyd! I need your help!"
He left immediately, knowing standing around wouldn't help anything. He followed Isaacs voice and found him trying to pull his dad to safety.
"He's unconscious, but I can't move him, come here and help."
Lloyd nodded and went over, both grabbed one of the Empoleons massive wings, and pulled. Both using all the strength they had, the Empoleon slowly got dragged outside.
On the way Isaac asked Lloyd, "Where's Rita? She's not..."
"I don't know, she wasn't in your bed. She's gone."
"Don't worry, I'm sure she's ok. Now pull!"
The Empoleon was finally outside, laying in the snow. From what Lloyd could tell, Isaacs father was injured from the fire, small burns all over its body.
"I'll be fine Lloyd." Said Isaac. "Look around here for Rita. She might still be nearby."
Lloyd looked out front, then went out back. At first he didn't see her anywhere, but, just barely, he noticed something green underneath a rock about twenty feet from the house.
Lloyd went over, and saw that her bandages were gone. Not only the bandages, but also the cut, the cut was completely healed. "Rita!? Wake up!" He gently shook her.
For a second, she didn't move or make any sounds. Lloyd shock her again, this time she moved a little, then yawned. She was ok.
"Five more minutes..."
"Rita wake up! Wake up!"
"Lloyd? Ok, ok..."
She got up. Yawned again, and noticed the house was burning.
"Whoa what's going on?"
"Long story, come on, we gotta check on Isaac and his father."
Not bothering to ask who the heck Isaac was, she followed after him to the front of the house. But, as if remembering something, Lloyd stopped. Rita stopped as well.
"What's wrong Lloyd?"
He turned around and gave her a big hug.
"I'm so glad your ok... I'm sorry, its my fault you got hurt. I told you to go alone after that Sneasel."
Rita squirmed out of his grasp. "Yeah, don't worry about. I'm ok."
"How did you heal yourself anyways?"
Suddenly Rita started to glow slightly, not as bright as if she was evolving, it was more like she was absorbing something.
"It's a move called Synthesis, as long as its sunny, like right now, I can heal pretty much any cuts or bumps."
"Wow, that's amazing." He began to run out front again. "Lets hurry Rita, Isaac might need help again."
Rita frowned. I'm out for one day, and the whole world goes nuts. Rita ran after Lloyd to the front of the house.
---
"Come on dad, wake up... please!" Isaac couldn't do anything to help his father, all their medical supplies were inside the now blazing inferno of a house. All he could do is stand next to him, hoping he'd wake up.
Just then, Lloyd, along with his friend Rita, came around from the back of the house.
"Isaac! Rita's fine! She used Synthesis to heal herself."
This is perfect. Thought Isaac. He pulled out the vial of berry juice out of his bag, popped it open and went over to his dad. He opened up his fathers beak and poured the fluid in his mouth, rubbing his throat so that he would swallow it.
Lloyd and Rita joined Isaacs side, all watching the Empoleon for any sign of movement.
"Please dad..." Isaac whispered. "Wake up..."
Isaacs father, the mayor, finally woke up. Coughing violently for a second, then stopped, and opened his eyes.
"Isaac... Is that you?"
"Yeah, its me." Isaac went over and hugged his dad. "Some guys tried to burn the house down. But me and my new friend Lloyd saved you with some of the berry juice from the machine in Celsius Cave. We also turned the machine back on, so the fish are back."
Behind Isaac, Rita whispered into Lloyds ear.
"You did the whole mission without me?"
"Um... Sorry?"
Isaacs father stood up. "You did a good job my son. I'm proud of you, you saved everyone, and made friends in the process. I couldn't be more..."
But the Mayor didn't finish his statement. Instead he began to cough again, much more violently.
"Dad? Dad! What's wrong?!"
His father couldn't respond though, he kept coughing and coughing.
"Dad! Please! What's wrong!?"
Still coughing, the Empoleon got on one knee, then on all fours. He stopped coughing, but now sounded like he was struggling to breath.
"Dad! What's wrong?!"
Isaac, Rita and Lloyd could only stand there as everything happened. The empoleon gave one last, rough sounding gasp. "Son... I..." He couldn't finish, he fell, face first, into the snow. He wasn't breathing anymore. Isaacs father, the Mayor of Pipton, was dead.
"Daaaaaaaaaad!"
For the first time, Lloyd noticed a note attached to a stick in the ground. It must be from those three... He thought. He went over and grabbed the note.
"Isaac, Rita, I found something."
Rita and Isaac turned. Isaac looked like he was about to cry.
Lloyd read the note aloud. "Brother, if there is one thing you should know about me, is that I ALWAYS have a backup plan. By the time you read this, every pokemon at Pipton lake will be infected with a special poison the Boss sent me. If they haven't already, every pokemon that had been in or drank any of the berry juice will stop breathing, and painfully die. Consider this revenge for the life you stole from me. Maverick..."
"No..." Isaac began to cry. "No, no, no, no, NO!"
Not waiting for Lloyd or Rita, Isaac ran as fast as he could to Pipton Lake. Lloyd and Rita chased after him.
---
Location: Lake Pipton
What Maverick wrote was true. As soon as the lake came into view, the three of them saw every single Piplup on the ground, coughing, trying desperately to breath, just as Isaacs father had not long ago.
Isaac continued to run towards the lake, Lloyd and Rita following him, but by the time they got there, every single Piplup was laying in the snow, dead.
Isaac dropped to the ground and wept, unable to say anything Rita or Lloyd could understand.
"This is horrible..." Said Lloyd.
"Who could do such a thing?"
Isaac finished crying, instead he was breathing heavily, his voice full of rage. "Who? The pokemon I'm going to track down... and when I find him... Arggghh!"
Isaac didn't finish, he just hit the ground as hard as he could, and was silent.
"We gotta go" Said Lloyd. "The Brotherhood needs to know about this right away."
In a state of shock, Isaac followed Lloyd quietly. Rita followed as well.
Isaac said one last thing to himself. "When I find him, I'll kill him. Like he killed my father, and everyone I've ever known, I'll kill him."