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Chapter 34: Return to Havok City
Lloyd continued to run across the wasteland, his friends, still not knowing what the rush was about, followed behind as best as they could.
Lloyd was the only one who knew that the Celebi that had saved most of them from the Echo Cavern cave in, and was badly hurt instead, was getting worse according to Shadow. Lloyd didn't doubt this, as the Celebi had been unconscious for quite some time and never really got treated in any way.
This is my fault... Thought Lloyd. I should have done... Something. But instead, I went to that stupid party and left her in bed without knowing if she was going to be alright.
"Lloyd! Stop!" Rita called to him from way behind. "We can't keep up much longer!"
Lloyd didn't realize how far they had run, and didn't know how tired it had made him. As soon as he stopped, he dropped the Celebi and fell forward, completely exhausted. Luckily where he stopped was on a particularly soft patch of dirt and sand, which cushioned both his and Celebis sudden collapse.
It didn't take long for the others to catch up to Lloyd.
"What is with all the running Lloyd? I thought I was gonna fall apart if I ran any more!"
Lloyd debated whether he should tell anyone about Celebis condition. Sure, they were his friends, but there was no explanation to why he would know that Celebi was getting worse, and the last thing Lloyd wanted was to tell his friends about Shadow, who told him in the first place.
He decided to just wing it, Celebi was more important then anything right now.
"Celebi... She..." Lloyd decided to catch his breath before continuing. "The Celebi, she is getting worse from that cave in she was in, I'm afraid she might be..."
"Can't we just give her some berries or something?" Sakura suggested. "Even if it didn't completely heal her, it might delay anything that might be causing her harm."
"She can't eat anything knocked out like that, Sakura!" Said Rita.
"You think fighting was the only thing they taught at the academy? Just give me the supply bag."
Isaac gave her the bag, and Sakura immediately started going through it. When she was done, she had pulled out two things, a large bundle of Oran Berries, and a small cup.
Sakura left the bag and the items she took out and began to look around the ground. "Find me a medium sized rock, one that's nice and smooth."
Nobody asked why or said anything at all, and spread out to look for the rock.
After a few moments, Rita yelled out "Found one!" and brought over a rock that perfectly fit Sakuras description.
"Thanks." Sakura said as she took the rock, and then she returned to the bag. She took all of the berries that were in the bag and put them in the cup, then using the rock, she crushed them all until there was nothing left but a sticky, purple juice.
"Lloyd, bring her over here."
Lloyd did so without delay.
"Now, hold her up a little bit, and open her mouth for me."
Again, Lloyd obeyed immediately. Sakura poured the mushed up berry juice slowly down the throat of the Celebi, who swallowed it. The Celebi made a strange moaning sound, and then was quiet again.
"Do you think she'll be ok for now Lloyd?"
Well Shadow? Lloyd hoped he would respond.
"Yes... I feel it. That gave her quite a bit more strength, but she is still fading."
"Umm, yeah, I think she'll be fine until we get to the HQ."
Lloyd hoisted the celebi back onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck to keep her somewhat secure.
"How did you know she was getting worse, Lloyd?" Asked Rita.
"I... just could, I can't explain it." he couldn't tell if Rita was satisfied with his response, but she didn't question him further, and that's all he really wanted. "Lets keep going, we should be able to walk from here... Hey, where's Isaac?"
"Ahhhhhhh! Help!" It was Isaac, yelling at the top of his lungs.
"Where is he? I don't see him!" Yelled Rita.
"I think hes over here, this way!" Lloyd pointed in the direction he heard Isaacs cry for help, then ran to help. Sakura and Rita soon followed.
They eventually found Isaac, and immediately realized what he needed help with. He was at the bottom of a large hole in the ground, shaped like a big bowl. Even worse, there was a very dangerous pokemon at the bottom, an Ariados, and this one was gigantic. Isaac was pinned down by one of the spider pokemons legs, and the Ariados was lowering its head towards its captive Piplup, ready to devour Isaac.
"Don't worry Isaac, were coming!" Yelled Lloyd. "Rita, Sakura, lets go!"
Sakura looked ready to fight, but Rita on the other hand, was down on the ground with her head buried in the sand, her whole body shaking.
Sakura looked at Rita, and rolled her eyes, then ran towards the Ariados, exhaling a Flamethrower attack as she ran.
Lloyd forgot that Rita was afraid of spider pokemon, so he decided to leave her behind and help Sakura fight the Ariados. He leapt into the air, jumping over the giant spider, and unleashed a powerful Thunder Bolt attack straight down.
Both his and Sakuras attacks hit simultaneously, and the Ariados backed off of Isaac, allowing him to get up and run to safety.
They expected the Ariados to continue its attack, but instead, its slowly sulked back to where its home must have been, located at the far end of the hole. Obviously, this massive creature wasn't used to prey that could fight back.
Isaac was breathing heavily, Lloyd couldn't tell if it was because he was tired or still a bit frightened from the experience. "You ok, Isaac?" Lloyd asked.
Isaac slowly looked up at Lloyd. "Umm, y-yeah. Just got the wind knocked out of me is all..."
Lloyd could tell something was wrong, but he wasn't entirely sure it had anything to do with the Ariados. Isaac sounded... Distant, like he somehow conflicted.
"You sure? We might still have a few berries left if you need them."
"No... I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
"Lloyd, he said he was ok, now come over here and calm down Rita, and can't deal with her when she's like this."
Lloyd looked over to where Rita was, and she was still cowering in the sand, shaking and hiding her face. He went over to where she was and patted her on the back, hoping that would calm her a little. "Rita! Come out! Its gone now!" He yelled down to her, hoping she could hear him with her head in the sand.
"Row, Rye ro ranna rum route. Rake I' row 'way..." She said, her words completely unintelligible through the sand and the sobbing.
"Rita, look at me, I can't hear you with your head in the sand like that!"
This time she just shook her head left and right, shifting the sand around her.
Sakura groaned with frustration, and sat down. "I've seen this before, she's so afraid of spider pokemon that she'll completely shut down when she sees one of pretty much any size. I'm surprised that big one didn't give her a heart attack."
Lloyd sighed, while they didn't need to run all the way to the Brotherhood HQ anymore, they still didn't have much time to waste. Desperate to move on, Lloyd grabbed Rita around the waist, and plucked her out of the ground like, ironically, a plant of some kind. He held her up and showed her the now empty space where the Ariados was a few moments ago.
"See?" Lloyd said. "Its gone, now please calm down Rita."
He put her down, and saw that she had tears running down her face, and was still trembling a little, but not nearly as much as before. Lloyd took out one of Isaacs scarves from the bag and wiped off her face, drying it and brushing of some stuck on sand.
"Ooooh, I was so scarred..."
"Yeah, I know, but you're ok now, right?"
Rita waited a moment, stopped shaking, and eventually nodded her head. "Yeah, I'll be ok... Thanks Lloyd."
"No problem." He said, giving her a comforting smile. "Is everyone ready to go?"
Everyone either nodded or said "Yes.", and they all continued to make their way towards Havok City, and the Brotherhood HQ.
---
A few hours earlier, back at the academy, Edward found himself alone in his office. The office was messy, and compared to its Nidoking owner, was extremely tiny. Edward was forced to keep his head down to avoid bumping it off the ceiling, and had to walk sideways with his massive tail tucked to avoid knocking down any of the offices many boxes of important documents and other papers.
He sat at his desk, which was also tiny comparatively to Edward, and sat on a small but sturdy wooden chair. He relaxed himself as much as he could, exhausted from organizing and keeping order at the graduation party.
"Excuse me, Edward." Edward looked up and saw Esme standing there. He wasn't at all surprised, he was used to her quietly creeping into his office to talk to him.
"What is it, Esme? It has been a very long day for me and I still have some work I need to do before I..."
"I'm leaving the school." She said simply and directly.
"Wha-What?"
"I'm leaving the school." She repeated.
"Why? What's going on that you have to leave so suddenly?"
"That's not important."
"And your students?"
"Most of them graduated today, including Sakura, the others can get training from someone else I'm sure."
Edward was in disbelief. "Ah... Is there nothing I can do to get you to stay?"
Esme shook her head. "No."
Edward sighed. "Then I guess all I can say is good luck, and we hope you one day return."
Esme nodded, and without saying another word, exited Edwards office as quietly as she had entered.
Tired and frustrated, Edward rubbed forehead and closed his eyes. "What a busy day, I'm think I'm beginning to get too old for this..."
---
Team Valiant wasn't much farther from Havok City, so close in fact that if it was daytime, the city would be easily to spot from where they were in the wasteland.
The sun was gone completely, and the moon was hidden behind a cloud. It was dark, but they managed to find a small piece of dry wood, which they had Sakura light with an Ember attack, and then gave it to Lloyd so he could lead the way.
"Boy, it sure is dark outside." Said Rita.
"Oh really?" Said Sakura, the sarcasm in her voice very clear. "I would have never have noticed."
"I'm just saying..." Rita said, yawning. "You guys aren't saying anything, and I'm bored."
"Umm... Rita." Started Sakura. "You know there is a Spinarak on your head?"
Rita squealed, her high pitched voice echoing in the night sky.
"Still bored?" Asked Sakura, smiling at Rita.
Rita stared at her, looking very mad. "I hate you, I hate you so much."
Sakura giggled.
"We better get back soon." Said Lloyd. "This stick we found is almost toast, its already starting to go out already." He held up the makeshift torch as proof. The light it emitted was half as bright as when it was first lit.
"That's ok." Said Rita, forgetting about Sakura for a moment. "I can see lights from the city from here now, were almost there!"
Rita was right, off in the distance was several lights, each varied in brightness. The city was less then a ten minute walk from where they were.
"Umm, did anyone hear that?" Asked Isaac.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Rita said, sounding confused.
"I heard something, behind us."
Everyone looked where Isaac had indicated, but the only thing anyone saw was endless darkness.
"I think you're imagining things, Isaac." Said Sakura. "I have exceptionally good hearing and I didn't hear anything."
"Oh, stop bragging!" Said Rita, groaning.
"Guys, quiet, I hear it again." Isaac continued to look into the dark night, and it wasn't long before everyone could hear the sounds. It was the soft crunching sound of footsteps on the sandy wasteland ground. Not only that, but the footsteps were getting closer.
"I don't like this guys, everyone get close to me." Lloyd told everyone. They all obeyed, crowding around him so they were in the middle of shrinking circle of light.
Crunch, crunch, crunch. The footsteps were close, whoever was coming at them wasn't making any noise aside from the footsteps, which worried everyone that this unknown pokemon might be some kind of wild pokemon, out for a midnight snack.
"Who's there?" Lloyd yelled.
A second later, the unknown person stalking them came into full view. It was just the green shelled Squirtle.
"It's just me, don't worry."
Everyone sighed a breath of relief. "Why didn't you call out sooner? I thought you were some wild pokemon coming to eat us!" Said Rita.
"Afraid that Ariados was coming back for ya?" Said Sakura, snickering to herself after saying it.
"You guys, I have something you might want to see." Squirtle pulled out a small slip of paper and handed it to Lloyd. "I was hoping to bring this to you before you went to that pokemon academy place, but you had already left."
Lloyd held the tiny torch near the paper and began to read. It was a list of names, and after the first few names he understood what it was. "Zar... Maverick... This is a list of pokemon who are after me!"
"That's right Lloyd. I was hoping to bring you this before you reached the academy, but it seems you handled yourself just fine."
"What do you mean?" Asked Lloyd. "I never got attacked by anyone, new or familiar."
"Really?" The Squirtle said, sounding confused. "That's strange, according to the list, there's a pokemon hired to capture you who works at the academy."
"What?!" Said Sakura. "Who?!"
Lloyd looked over the list again, reading all of the names. When he read far enough, he gasped. "Oh no..."
"What, who is it?!" Sakura asked, desperate to know what person could be on that list.
"It says that the pokemon who is ordered to capture me, the one at the academy... It's."
Lloyd was interrupted by a sudden bright light. A great burst of flame flew towards him, forcing him to jump to the side to avoid it.
Everyone looked towards the direction the fire attack came from, but nobody could see anything.
Even worse, the gradually dimming torch they were using to light the way had gone out, smothered by the sand when Lloyd dropped it to avoid getting burned. Everyone was now lost in the darkness with a pokemon nearby out to capture Lloyd.
Suddenly, a familiar sensation filled Lloyd. His body began to glow, and after a few moments, he felt stronger, and bigger. The stress of the sudden attack seemed to have triggered the evolution, turning him into a Raichu.
"Everyone, run to Havok City." yelled Lloyd. "I'll hold... this pokemon at bay." Lloyd knew who was attacking, but he didn't want to tell Sakura, not yet at least.
Everyone hesitated, but soon did as Lloyd asked and began to run for the city, following the dim lights in the distance.
Once everyone was gone, everything went quiet.
"I know you're there Esme, come out."
Lloyd could hear her laugh from somewhere nearby. "Now why would I do that? Why would I give you an easy to see target when I'm perfectly safe out here?"
"Why are you doing this?" Lloyd yelled out towards where Esmes voice came from. "I thought you were a teacher?"
"I am, or, I was. You know how much poke I would get for bringing you in to the boss? More then I ever earn in my entire life at that school."
"But, what about Sakura? She trusts you!"
"You think I really care?" Esme laughed again. "In this world, money and power, or in this case, befriending those with power, is more important then anything... or anyone."
That's right Esme, keep talking, I almost got ya. "You'll never capture me Esme, pokemon have already tried and failed, and you're gonna be the next to do so."
"I'm not like any of the others, they were fools." Lloyd now knew exactly where Esme was, he began to charge an attack. "I'll have to hold back, so I don't end up bringing a pile of ashes to the boss."
"Mewtwo will never have me, in any way, shape or form!" Lloyd unleashed the built up electricity, and fired it in the direction of Esmes voice. The bright streak lit up the night, and exploded on a nearby rock, shattering it and sending shards of stone flying in every direction.
Lloyd saw a flamethrower attack come at him from above, he had plenty of time to get out of the way and fire off another Thunderbolt into the air. The first one had missed, but this second bolt hit its target, causing Esme to yell out in pain.
Just then, it started to rain.
"Ha... Its just like that night... On the boat to Oasis Island." Esme yelled out from somewhere in the night, her voice was nearly silenced by the rain.
"What are you talking about? I..." But Lloyd didn't finish, he remembered waking up on the boat, not knowing what happened that night. Esme must have fought Shadow that time. "That wasn't me Esme!" He called out.
"What are you talking about? Of course it was you. I saw you before you changed yourself."
Lloyd was once again trying to bait her into revealing he location. With the rain, it was much harder to determine where Esme was when she spoke to him, but Lloyd also saw a potential advantage to the rain, a way to badly hurt Esme, and either make her leave or disable her somehow so the Brotherhood could lock her up for good.
"Esme, that wasn't me, didn't Mewtwo tell you about Shadow?"
"No, he didn't." Lloyd then figured out where Esme was likely located, and began to charge up electricity. "In fact... He didn't tell me anything about you. Hmm..."
Lloyd unleashed a huge Thunder Bolt, which was further amplified by the moisture in the air caused by the rain, but when it reached its target, it was harmlessly absorbed by wet sand. Esme was gone.
Lloyd waited for an attack, or at least a sound, from Esme, but there was nothing. Lloyd waited for at least a few minutes, and then was sure that Esme must have left after the last comment she made. It was obvious Esme knew nothing about Shadow, and figured she left find out herself from Mewtwo himself.
Lloyd breathed out a sigh of relief, he was glad the fight was over, even if Esme managed to escape.
He then remembered his friends, who were sent back to Havok City not knowing what was attacking them or how dangerous it was, and figured it was best to hurry back before they caused any panic. He turned from the dark night sky where Esme was hidden and ran towards the city, following the lights that were even dimmer then before thanks to the rain.
---
It didn't take long for Lloyd to find the rest of his team members, who seemed to be waiting for him at the front entrance of the city. All of them huddled underneath a market stale awning to avoid the rain that was now pouring down.
When they spotted him, Lloyd waved at them and ran over. He saw that the Squirtle was still with them too.
"What was it Lloyd, what attacked us?"
Lloyd didn't know if he should tell everyone, since Sakura was around. He didn't know how the ex-student would react to finding out her teacher was working for a criminal like Mewtwo.
"It was just a wild pokemon, but it got scarred off by the rain." He lied. He figured he could always explain later on, when Sakura wasn't around.
The wind got much stronger, and much louder too, sounding like a deep howl in the air.
"We should get back to the HQ, were gonna get soaked if we stay out here too long!" Yelled Isaac.
Everyone agreed, everyone except for Squirtle. "Wait, Lloyd, I need to talk to you."
Lloyd didn't know what this could be about, but he had no objections as long as where they talked was dry. "Ok, you guys go without me then!" They of course, didn't need to be told twice. As soon as Lloyd told them to leave they all bolted and ran towards the Brotherhood Headquarters.
"You have a place in mind, Squirtle?" Asked Lloyd, practically screaming to be heard over the wind.
The Squirtle nodded and yelled "Follow me!", then lead the way down one of Havok Citys side streets.
---
Somewhere nearby, on top of the large archway that welcomed visitors to Havok City, was a lone Buneary, fast asleep and completely soaked from the rain. She had no idea that the people she was waiting for had come and gone.