Chapter 9 – New World
"Wild, dark times are rumbling towards us, and the prophet who wishes to write a new apocalypse will have to invent entirely new beasts and beasts so terrible…" - Heinrich Heine
[9:00AM] – 22rd May – Pewter City – South East SECTION Base - Dawn
"Piplup!" Dawn whined as the penguin in question knocked over her empty mug of coffee. The blunette ran a hand through her hair, eyes drifting to the rosy hued stone across the desk.
The small blue Pokémon pouted, chirping as he stuck his beak in the air, "Pip! PipLup!"
Dawn shook her head, righting her mug and wiping the slight dribble of coffee that had split onto a sheet of paper. For what seemed like the millionth time that morning, her platinum blue eyes scanned the details on the sheet. Scrawled in black ink, an elegant hand but somewhat hastily scribble upon it, was a note, on a yellow post-it, one edge folded over and a small doodle in the corner to get the ink running.
A note Dawn was almost sure had never been there before.
'Time Gear – Victory Caves – Psychic'
It had been stuck hastily to a map of Kanto and Johto, the main, bar of land across the bottom of the page. To the north, lay the ocean, with an island located in the top left. The girl's eyes softened at the map of Sinnoh, resting slightly of the page. The tip of Mount Coronet was only just visible on the page, and her eyes strayed to where her home town would be. She sighed, flicking to a page of notes she had collected several years ago. A title on the top depicted it to be the Legend of the Time Gears.
She stared at the neat, typed script, as the story flowed and ebbed with the words. As two friends, linked through destiny, darkness and time saved the world from its sticky fate.
Her blue gaze slid to the next page, a map of all the regions now, Kanto and Johto centred, north of an ocean hosting large amounts of islands, grouped into Sevii and Orange. Above, the whole of Sinnoh could be seen. The landmass extended sideways, to where the harsh deserts of Orre lay, and south of them, the tropical Hoenn. Various spots were marked in red marker pen, all potential places where the legendry temporal tower could have stood. Dawn and May hadn't succeeded in narrowing it down any further.
She placed this map next to the other, her eyes catching the black marker on the other dotting various sites with question marks. Most lay in Johto and Kanto, bar one hovering over Mount Coronet. A single circle lay on the border between the two regions, where Victory Cave had once been.
"Anything?" Brock popped his head through the open door.
Dawn shook her head, "A legend, a map with potential places for the temporal time rift and a map with who knows what on."
The tanned man leant over her shoulder, staring at the faded yellow post-it note. "So do you reckon there's an earth and water and fire time gear too? And one for every other Pokémon type?"
"What?" Dawn leaned forward, staring at the note, "Psychic?" her eyes flickered to the pinkish hue of the stone, "You think they're all type related?"
Brock scratched his chin, "I'd say 'yes' but then that means seventeen gears."
Dawn frowned, "Fifteen. Gary knows where one is and we have one here."
Brock glanced at the two maps. He pointed to one, "So if one was found here…" he pointed to the black circle, "Then it would make sense that the others are suspected places where they are hidden,"
Dawn raised an eyebrow, "Okay, I'm hopeless. You lost me there," She leaned back, crossing her arms, "Start at the beginning,"
Brock stood to one side, frowning. "Say there are seventeen gears. One for each type." Dawn nodded, "And they're hidden around the regions. They could be anywhere."
"But we already have two!" Dawn told him.
"From where?" He prompted.
A light lit up in the girls eyes, "Victory Caves and Viridian Forest," She snatched the map from the table, "Then according to this thirteen might be hidden in Johto and Kanto, one in Sinnoh, and one not on the map. We've got the locations!" Her eyes gleamed, and then dimmed, "But we don't know where to take them."
Brock pulled a note from his pocket, "I think our mystery friend helped with that," He said, handing it to her.
Her eyes flickered over it, "Take the gears to the place where the sun died when the moon is full. A message will come in rain and you will go." She read, "So where did the sun die?" she asked, then answered her question as her thought progressed. "The west, they always talk about the sun dying in the west…sunset and all that. And the full moon… wasn't that meant to be yesterday when Gary met Leaf and Misty…or does that give us a month…"
Brock's head snapped to Dawn, "Misty. Water. Rain. A message will come in the rain."
Dawn stared. Silence hung between them, frosty and tense, both skirting around a certain topic. The blunette's gaze dropped to the floor and she sighed. "I feel like an idiot."
Brock frowned, "Don't." he cautioned, "Otherwise the world will be filled with fools."
Dawn smiled thinly, "He was right here. He talked to me in that same annoying way he always has and I didn't even notice."
The man perched himself on the edge of the table, "When trying to find one's identity, you avoid who they could really be at all costs, to avoid the pain and hurt. We blinded ourselves."
"Gary knows. I was wondering… Misty?"
"I think that's why he's still officially dead."
Dawn rested her head on her arms, closing her eyes tiredly, "Well at least now we can say it's possible to come back from the dead." Dawn turned away, glancing at the message that popped up on the screen of the computer, head slumping on her arms as Piplup and Buneary threw gentle ice beams at each other, innocently.
Brock let out a chuckle, but it was weak and quiet in the oppressive silence.
[9:15AM] – 22rd May – Cerulean Cave – Cerulean SECTION Base - Leaf/Misty/Gary
Misty rested her head on her arms, staring at the papers that lay spread out on the table in front of her. Her eyes blurred and she yawned. Her eyelids slid closed as she nodded off, her breathing deepening.
Beep Beep. Beep Beep.
The red head jumped, eyes flashing open and her tone dropped dangerously, "Ga-ry… Please tell me that's not your phone!"
The spiky haired man shrugged as he reached across to the red device, "That's not my phone."
Turquoise eyes blinked, "Then why are you answering it?"
"Because it's my phone."
"But you just said…"
"You asked me not to."
The woman's eyes narrowed dangerously. Gary saved himself by flipping open the Gear and answering, "Dawn? Can you not wait for me to catch at least one wink of sleep before you wake me up?"
"Are you in Cerulean?"
"Yes,"
"Good, I'm going to mail you something Karen wants you to pick up. But first me and Brock were wondering whether you knew about Shadow."
Gary glanced at Misty who ignored the stare, trying to go back to sleep. He gave an affirmative "Yes" though it was quiet and barely audible.
There was a pause on the other end. Then Dawn asked, "We've got some info we'd like you'd to leave at Cerulean for Leaf and Misty to have a look into. Got a pencil and paper?"
"One sec…" Gary stood up to find some writing implements, while Misty raised her head groggily. Sleep wasn't going to come to her with the guy on the phone and certainly not with Leaf's snoring. She elbowed her friend.
"Hm? Wha-?"
"You were snoring. You said to wake you if that ever happened."
The brunette looked up indignantly, "I do not snore! Ditty, do I snore?"
The pink blob who was currently painting with a palette attached to its arms shook his head. Misty stuck out her tongue at him, "He's biased. Gary, does Leaf snore?"
The spiky haired researcher was distracted as he scribbled down what the girl on the other end was relaying to him. He shook his head to fend of the questions and Leaf punched the air in victory, albeit groggily. "See," she smirked at the red head.
Misty hit her head against the table, closing her eyes.
"Jiggly!" Leaf's pink Pokémon skipped around, waving a microphone/ pen around.
Misty's gaze grew thoughtful. "Leaf? Can I steal your Jigglypuff for a minute?"
In response the pink balloon Pokémon was snatched into the brunette's arms. "No! Leave Jiggly alone Mist! After all, you still haven't thanked me for capturing her and stopping her following you lot around Kanto."
"Right. Thank you. Does she still deface people with that pen of hers?"
"Nope! 'Fore the war she drew pictures and made money!"
Misty wisely decided to stop the conversation there, turning to the researcher, "Gary? When are you going back to Pewter?"
The man in question looked up, caught off guard, one pencil behind his ear and another in his hand as he scribbled down the details. His Pokégear was still trapped between his shoulder and ear. "Uh? Tomorrow. Day after. Whenever SECTION gives the go-ahead." He shifted the phone to his other ear, "Sorry, what was that Dawn?"
"Do you have a dragon Pokémon? One with the capability to use a dragon pulse?"
"How strong?"
"Oh, it only needs to be weak. 'Cos guess what it does!"
Misty stood, and stalked over to peer over the scientist's shoulder, looking at the scribbled notes with interest. Gary leaned back in his chair, angling the phone for her to hear Dawn's cheerful, caffeine hyper voice. "No," he admitted, "What does it do?"
"Well, Lance's dragons were tossing around the things the other day at 'ridian, and according to May they hit one of her Pokéballs. You know, one of the ones that locked down completely."
Misty and Gary perked with interest. "Yeah? What happened?"
"Now, that's the thing. The Pokéball cracked, completely."
"Oh dear."
"Better. The Pokémon was released first. May got her Glaceon back. But when they tried to replicate it, it didn't work."
Gary grabbed another piece of paper, flinging the phone on Misty who scrabbled to catch it for a few seconds before she got a firm grip on it, "Uh… so what moves? Dragon Pulse, weak electromagnetic field combined with fire? Lightning? Or was it specified to the evolutions? And what's the significance of Dragon Pulse?"
There was a shuffling of paper from the other end of the line, "I don't know. Lance didn't get that far in testing it, we had that whole As-Shadow fiasco…uh…Shadow fiasco," Dawn cleared her throat. "Any way, you got all that Gear info?"
Gary nodded, "Yep. And I'll pick up that package for Karen. See you back at Pewter in two days then."
"Don't rush back. Spend some time with Leaf. Oh, and when you get back we're moving you from your lab, safety and all that crap. Look after yourself Misty!"
The red head had just discovered the content of the pages of notes, and her turquoise eyes were glued to the paper, as the one fact floated to her head.
Find Lorelei Prima.
However, where, was a very good question that needed to be asked, Misty mused, as she stared at the page of notes, one corner flicking over from where Gary had leaned on it, sad and desolate – It was one of those times Misty wondered what Ash would have done.
Because really. How do you go about finding someone who doesn't want to be found?
[9:40AM] – 22rd May – Cerulean Cave – Cerulean SECTION Base – Pokémon Centre - Leaf/Misty
Beep. The door slid open to Leaf's card as the brunette skipped through to the ranch. She chirped a greeted to Nurse Joy…Nurse Joys, and Misty followed, not wanting to waste the time to find out how this pair was related. The brunette skipped on ahead, Jiggly following and waving the microphone…uh…pen …
The author paused, scratching her head, and opened up a bulbapedia page to check what exactly it was.
Jiggly waved her pen around and Misty narrowed her eyes at the way it look suspiciously like a microphone. Was it possible to have the two mixed together?
The red head shook her head and her lips twitched in a smile as the doors slid open, and Golduck and Azurmaril hopped up to her.
"Zurill! Ril Zil Azu. (Misty! We missed you!)" the aqua rabbit squeaked, and the newly evolved duck nodded sagely. The Cerulean Gym Leader kneeled as the rabbit threw itself into her arms and Misty laughed as she stood up, swinging her around.
"Happy to see me huh?" she asked, her turquoise gaze falling on the duck. She placed Azurmaril down and knelt in front of Golduck, eyes bright. "Heya there? How you enjoying your evolution?"
The duck tilted his head to one side, yellow eyes blinking. "Gol," he quacked, happily and Misty smiled.
"I never did say thank you, did I? For evolving and saving me. Well…thanks. You were so brave. You're evolution has been a long time coming but I couldn't have wanted it to happen at a better time. Uh…I guess I'm sorry I shouted at you when you were still a Psyduck."
The duck rolled his eyes, "DuckGol, Golduck," (I guess I was pretty stupid at times) and he clapped his hands together.
Misty smiled, "Well, I wanted to ask whether you wanted to come with me on a journey. Hopefully it will only be short, but we need to find…"
"He-ey! Mis-ty! Whatcha' doin'?" Leaf's energetic call rang out across the room. "I don't have all day to wait for you!"
Misty stood up, running her hand through the smooth, oily feathers on Golduck's head, wondering whether Leaf was any relation to Dawn. It should be illegal to be that hyper. "Yeah? What's up?"
Leaf appeared, Cleffy and Jiggly at her side, "Didn't you want to check up on Gyra? Sooo you coming?"
Leaf seemed to be bouncing on the balls of her feet and Misty exchanged a smirk with her duck, before following after the cheerful brunette. The Pokémon Centre at Cerulean was large, more like the reserve at Professor Oak's lab than the old, 'please can you heal my Pokémon' centres. At the end, past a forest and a piece of gravelly mountain and earth, there was a large pool, made into a sort of lake with a diving board at one end. The water was still, save for a few Seel and Psyduck splashing around the shallow edges.
Misty paced up to the end, and then stepped back as the hyper aqua rabbit jumped in with a squeal. Golduck remained more reserved standing beside her, his head tilted on the side.
"Gyarados!" Misty raised her voice and it ripple out across the water. Leaf skipped over, but then thought better of it and moved over to the shallows to play with the Seel and a Milotic which had emerged silently from the depths of the lake.
The rippling water started slowly from one end, and Misty squinted, peering down through the murky water.
It wasn't a human made pool, she realised, but rather one of the natural pools of Cerulean Cave that flowed out from under Mount Moon. She repressed the shiver at the thought of the dark, ghost mountain. She wasn't jealous of Agatha, but couldn't work out why the elite chose to stay there of all places.
Well, I suppose places that nobody's ever going to come to makes a nice place to start.
Like Lorelei, she reflected, who was also hidden away, wanting nothing to do with the war.
Well tough.
The war was going to find her.
The river that ran under Nugget Bridge, coasting in from the sea, the salty water meeting the clean, fresh mountain spring water gathered together in the shadows of Cerulean Caves. Misty remembered when they first made their base here there had been rumours and whispers of a dark presence that slumbered down here, as all powerful Pokémon that was unbeatable.
It might have explained the significant lack of wild Pokémon on the deepest, lowest and darkest levels of the cave networks but nothing had ever been proved.
The caves were, Misty reflected, more of a labyrinth. Even when the base had been built, most passages still had to follow natural tunnels and crevices and SECTION had made an effort to put a large number of maps at regular intervals. They were hidden, obviously, lest an enemy break into the base and be confronted with a nice, large document depicting 'You are here' for them to navigate their way around.
Unless of course you were Leaf, who had stared at the map suspiciously for several minutes before asking, "How does it know where I am?"
Misty had hit herself with her own mallet at that comment.
Bubbles were rising to the surface now, and the Goldeen and Seaking swimming in the murk, along with the occasional Magikarp that hadn't been fished out and been evolved lovingly into a Gyrados, scattered with flicks and deft twists of their body, slipping smoothly through the water like…well…fish…
She peered through the crystal clear pool, down to where she could see the deep blue form of her sea snake, emerging from the depths. She reflected on how she would have loved to be down there with him, swimming.
She hadn't gone swimming since he had died.
It was something good. Something happy. Something that just let her float away, wash away with the current. But even as much as she wanted to drown her sorrows, she couldn't ever really let it go.
She used to love swimming, the feeling of weightlessness as she spun and arced effortlessly through the water, her body unrestrained by gravity or the hard unfeeling earth, light and deft in the cool soft water.
It was her world.
It was her life.
The surface of the water broke as with a roar, the atrocious Pokémon burst forth, droplets scattering and running down his scale, glinting in the soft artificial lighting. His jaws were bared wide, fins flicking out a spray of water that sent several of the Pokémon near the water's edge racing away. Misty stood there, revelling in the cool liquid that splashed onto her.
The water bubbled as Gyarados shook his great head, body writhing as he eventually settled down, lowering his head and his great and terrible jaws closing.
"Just like one big Skitty," Leaf hopped around, out of reach of any potential water splashes and Gyarados prone attacks. Her comment in question was directed to the sea snake as he affectionately rubbed his head against Misty's outstretched hand, a low rumble emerging which sounded suspiciously like a purr.
"Hey, Gyra?" Misty asked, falling instinctively into using his old nickname, "How have you been? Me and Golduck are going on a journey. I'm making Azurmarill stay here, but we need someone to transport us around. Would you like to get out for a bit?"
"Garroarr," the sea dragon grumbled softly, eyes closed before he nodded his great head in agreement.
Leaf ventured slightly closer, "Do you want me to look after Azure when you are gone?" she asked, biting her lip, "I was wondering actually whether you wanted me to come with you," she admitted. "Uh… do you?"
"Do you want to come? I'm not quite sure where we're going," Misty admitted.
Leaf crossed her arms, humming to herself, "Hmm, anything is better than dilly-dallying about the base."
Misty stepped back as her monster reared up, twisting himself out of the water. "We're looking for Lorelei Prima," she admitted, "Any idea where she might be?"
Leaf gave another, non-committal hum. "Let's see…" She bit her lip, twirling around slightly, "She's an ice trainer, right? Last registered Pokémon were a Cloyster and Lapras and Dewgong. She'd want water… right?"
Misty felt her mouth curl into a smile, "So we're looking at the coast," she turned back to Gyarados, "See why we need you? You can surf us around all there. Or fly." Behind her, water sparkling and dripping of his scales, her water and flying type was rearing out of the water. His body twisted as a ripple passed along his scales, scattering ice cold droplets everywhere. Then his fin came out of the water, as the generic, water type Pokémon hovered just above the pool, twisting through the air like Lance's Dragonair.
Well it was a flying type, Misty mused, as her Pokémon swam through the air. Even if it usually made its home in the water they had classified it as a flying type for a reason.
Leaf's smile dropped slightly as she watched the atrocious Pokémon hover in the air. "Uh… I… don't like flying."
Misty blinked, "Right, sorry. I forgot you were scared of birds."
The brunette pouted, "I am not," she complained. "I just don't like heights," she invented.
The red head nodded, "Sure, sure. We should have a look at that map Gary had – and see if there are any other gears we could possibly pick up while cruising around the coast."
Leaf nodded, looking thoughtful, "Yeah…hmmm…about that…" she frowned, and put one finger up to her cheek, her eyes lighting up. "I might have an idea," she muttered, before brightening up and skipping off with a "Come on Jiggly! Meet you up at my office Misty!" vanishing before the red head could speak.
Turquoise eyes blinked. "Why am I scared, all of a sudden?"
[10:34AM] – 22rd May – Cerulean Cave – Cerulean SECTION Base – Leaf's Office - Leaf/Misty/Gary
"Okay so what's this plan of your?" Misty demanded, rocking her weight back and crossing her arms as she narrowed her sea green eyes at Leaf.
The brunette glanced up from where she was pouring over a map. Blue eyes blinked then pushed it towards Misty, smirking, "Take a look at this. The locations of…guess what?"
Misty's jaw dropped open, "No way. All of them?"
Gary shook his spiky brown hair, "One isn't on the map. It could be in Orre. It could be in Hoenn. It could be in Unova. There's one apparently in Johto and one on Mount Coronet in the Sinnoh region. We…" he coughed, "We're hoping that this guy… Shadow has picked them up already."
Leaf shot her boyfriend a strange look. Gary ignored her, handing Misty a piece of paper, "The locations are circle on the map," he told her. "Here's a list."
Misty's eyes flickered to the single circle in Blackthorn City, then upwards to the one on Mount Coronet. Then there was a dot hovering in the blank space on the edge of the map with a scribble Orre was written.
Gary continued talking, "May and Dawn are looking into the location of Temporal Tower. That is, if the place even exists. All they have to go on it the place where the sun died. They're looking west ward."
The Cerulean gym leader turned to list of places. She winced at the sight of Pallet Town. Pallet Ruins more like. There wasn't much of a town left now.
Misty scanned over the names again, before reading them out. "Pallet Town, Power Station, Cinnabar Island, Cerulean Cape, Vermillion Bay, Viridian Forest, Mount Silver, Diglett Tunnel, Rock Tunnel, Victory Caves, Indigo Plateau, Fuchsia Marsh, Seafoam Islands, Lavender Town." She sighed stealing the pencil Leaf had been chewing on and making amendments to the list. "Lavender, Fuchsia, and Rock Tunnel are Team strongholds. Not including the out of region ones and the two we already have, which leaves…" she counted the numbers up for a moment, "Nine potential gears to collect." She sighed, slumping down in a nearby chair, grabbing the map with the circles on and staring at it.
Leaf winced, "I figured," she spoke quietly, "If we split up we could collect more quickly." She shrugged, "I don't mind."
Misty's finger traced the Kanto coastline. "The cape," she muttered, "I'd have to avoid Lavender… and Fuchsia… then I could search Cinnibar and Seafoam ending up in Pallet. I could meet up with the Viridian Team on Route 22." She concluded, nodding determinedly, "That's my path. Checking out all the water locations."
"What if Lorelei isn't there?" Gary voiced her worries.
She closed her eyes, "She was born in Sevii wasn't she? Then we'd have to go south. The Team left the islands pretty much alone. It should be okay. But it's so hard getting transport there I figure we should look closer to home first."
"She had a Lapras," Gary pointed out, "The Transport Pokémon? Hello? She shouldn't have trouble getting anywhere."
Misty winced, "If I follow the coast around with Gyrados we'll get a pretty good impression of where she can or cannot go."
The brunette sighed, running a hand through his spiky hair. "And what about you Green?" he asked.
Said Green looked slightly miffed by the nickname but she bit her lip. "I… don't know. I think we should split up… but…"
The Cerulean Gym Leader blinked, staring at the map, "Hey. How about you back with Gary?"
"What?"
"Why?"
Misty laid the map on the table, pointing to their Mount Moon base. "You can easily hop across to Diglett's tunnel, right?"
The Viridian Gym leader smirked, catching on, "You get into the Tunnel you can cross underneath Kanto. While Misty's circling around you come up in Vermillion. I'm sure you can find someone there to help you. What do you say?"
Leaf blinked, looking slightly put out but the idea seemed to be catching on. Her eyes lit up. "You know what?" she asked.
Misty and Gary exchanged a pair of useless glances. "What?"
"Let's go hunting Time Gears!"
Misty felt a smile beginning to creep up on her face. She hadn't felt this happy in years. To be actually doing something…
Really, the brunette's hyperactivity and enthusiasm was addictive.
AN – Another chapter up. I hope you enjoy it but it is just a filler with information. I have a better idea of the plot now so hopefully the action will pick up.
In regard to Professor Oak and Ash's Mom (Delia) - "If he's not there then he'll be in Pallet with his grandfather." That's the quote from the first chapter (The sun never rises), referring to where Gary is. From this chapter and the Pallet 'Ruins' suggests it isn't there anymore (including the people). By implying that Gary is with his grandfather who typically resides in Pallet Town, the guy's implying that Gary is dead along with his grandfather. I don't think there are any other false mentions of this but if there are then please feel free to point them out.
~ Eclipse