Chapter 13 – Unreactive Silence
"The quiet silence defines our misery. The riot inside keep trying to visit me. No matter how we try it's too much history. Too many bad notes playing in our symphony. So let it breathe, let it fly, let it go, let fall, let it crash, burn slow. And then you call upon God. Oh then you call upon God." Hurricane – 30 Seconds to Mars .feat Kayne West
[14:56PM] – 25th May – Route 2 - Diglett's Cave – Unknown Level – May & Leaf (Ninetales, Glaceon, Jigglypuff, Ditto)
"We're lost in here."
"I know."
"You could have told me!"
"I was too busy trying to work out whether this is the rock we keep turning right at or the wonky one we keep turning left at."
"That's really helpful."
"Glagla Ceo Eon Acee." (Will you stop arguing?)
"Nya?" (Please?)
"Sorry Ninetales. We'll find the way out soon."
"We're not looking for the way out."
"Then we'll find the piece of rock we're looking for so we can get out of here."
"A rock amongst rocks. Well you have to admit it's a good hiding place."
"I wish we let some of those bumbling League fella's come along."
"I don't."
"No… I don't really want them either. I just thought it might make things easier."
"Easy? Who wants easy? A challenge is more fun!"
"For you maybe."
"Aw – come on! Look on the bright side! Well… if there was any light in here."
"Jiggly," the pink balloon Pokémon chirped, adding her own views to the argument, "Puff puff."
The ice fox sighed, rolling her dark eyes as she continued to trail behind the bickering pair of woman.
[09:05PM] – 25th May – Route 2 – Mount Moon SECTION Base – Approximately six hours earlier
"All right campers?" Dawn skipped in with her morning mug of coffee, bright eyed with her small blue penguin dancing at her heels, "All ready to set out?"
There was a distinctive moan of 'No!' from Leaf who was half asleep curled up against Gary's shoulder on the couch. May would likely have answered if it wasn't for the mouthful of food she was busy consuming.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Brock said, stuffing a map into one of the woman's bags. "You might need to camp out so I've prepared extra food. You'll either be back by late evening or early morning tomorrow. Don't think of trying to get through to Viridian. And… are you even listening to me?" he asked, as Leaf's eyes drifted shut and May paused to take a sip of her drink.
"Of course." May remarked innocently.
He squinted suspiciously at the pair. "Leaf?"
Gary nudged his girlfriend awake and the brunette jumped awake in surprise. "Wha-? Yep. Back by morning or evening. Got it."
The spiky haired Viridian leader chuckled, "Pesky girl," he muttered, fondly.
"Jiggly!" Her Pokémon announced happily from where it was scrawling over a pad of paper with its black marker.
Brock nodded, happy that he had covered everything and hoping the girls had been listening. He decided to test it out. "Off we go then."
There was the light sound of Leaf's snoring and May eating and Dawn stifling a giggle.
Brock sighed. Maybe he should start again.
Ten minutes later after dowsing Leaf in cold water and waiting for May to finish her food and for Brock to repeat his instructions, the pair looked slightly more awake.
"Will you be all right?" Leaf asked Gary, pressing herself close to the spiky haired researcher.
He gave her a lopsided grin which she was convinced he had stolen at some point from Ash. "Sure. Why not? Me and Brock have a little jaunt into Viridian Forest and Dawn's here to monitor the network when Lance calls in. She's co-ordinating ours, yours, Misty's and Lance's movements in the field. And taking a guess at Shadow's."
"Ash."
He swallowed. "Ash. Yeah. If it's really him."
"You don't believe it."
"I do. That's the problem."
Leaf let out a small "Oh." And pressed herself up against his chest tighter.
"Have you got any calls from Lance?" May asked Dawn.
The blunette shook her head, her hair loose with the exception of the two pink clips in it. "He'll probably call your Pokegear. I can re-route it so that it calls here but it will take a while. We're a bit low on power."
"The electric Pokémon go on strike or something?"
Brock winced at the question. "No. We had to rescue some civilians on the Pewter outskirts. It was a water division of Team members. We were outnumbered so we had to call in the grass and electric units."
"I never understood…" May began, "What's the different between Team in general and Team Rocket?"
Dawn threw her hands in the air and she leaned back on her spinney chair. "Hell if I know. They're all ruled by Giovanni. Does it make much difference?"
The tanned man ran a hand through his hair. "Not really. Rockets are… were… and have always been with Team Rocket. Team refers to the opposition in general. Team United. Galactic, Magma, Aqua and…what's the other one?"
"No idea." Dawn shrugged, "They stick to their own regions. Galactic pretty much rules Sinnoh, Hoenn's pretty secure and safe… well I hope it is since we use it as an evacuation site, and Johto's fighting with us."
May's face creased into a frown. "So…" she began quietly. "Even if we win here… we still have to deal with the other regions."
Brock wrapped a reassuring arm around her. "I don't think that's the problem here."
"The world's dying." Dawn added, "There's no time. A pretty soon if there is no time… there's no us. It's been slow. The plants have been wilting under the black sky. The weather's more sporadic and gloomy than ever. Technology tends to short circuit. Sooner or later…" she stopped, closing her mouth abruptly.
May swallowed, "Yeah, well. We'll make it better – ya' got that? It'll all work out for the best – you'll see!"
[14:56PM] – 25th May – Route 2 - Diglett's Cave – Unknown Level – May & Leaf (Ninetales, Glaceon, Jigglypuff, Ditto)
"You could hide an army down here!" Leaf exclaimed, the door creaking open.
The single piece of wood separated the underground League building from the wild depths of the cavern. Behind them, noise of bustling officials could be heard, safe in the warmth and confides of the underground base.
May grumbled, "I still reckon we're wasting resources keeping the stuffy office people here. We should ship them to Hoenn and be done with it. Then we have a base between Mount Moon and Vermillion. We can already get to Cerulean via the north and the only isolated base is the small Viridian one." She took several cautious steps through into the cave, "But no. We need to keep the government in Kanto, so we waste food and guards looking after and baby-sitting them."
"They don't even do anything really." Leaf added, "Admittedly they probably ran the start of the war but since four years ago when SECTION took over, they haven't really been much help."
May pushed a lock of brown hair behind her ears, checking her blue bandana was still in place as she headed forwards, the golden cream fox skulking at her heels. The pale coat of the fire type shimmered in the shadows, some sort of inner light illuminating her coat in a soft glow, like a gentle night light. Behind Ninetales, Leaf switched on a torch, which flickered and died.
The ice fox and the pink balloon Pokémon crept closer to the warmth emanating from the fox's coat, even as Leaf began winding up the torch. May shot her an annoyed look as the annoying high pitched whine began to sound in the tunnels.
"Sorry." Leaf winced as she stubbed her finger on the handle. "I used it up in Mount Moon with Misty. When we were meeting Gary. It's pretty patheitic actaully - Clefable had to use flash most of the time." She gave a consolation shrug.
May nodded, turning, letting Ninetales pace ahead of her, illuminating the tunnel. Leaf closed the door behind them, shutting out the light streaming through from the base and plunging the cavern into shadows.
"It's so abandoned." Leaf murmured, as they passed digging tools and hard hats sitting on a pile of earth. ""Forgotten. Even the Diglett have gone."
"What if the tunnel collapses?" May asked, a hint of worry creeping into her voice.
"GlaCeon!" (Don't say that!) the ice type whined, jaded tail swirling through the dusty scattered soil. Her pupils were wide, flaring in the sole light sources in the darkness.
"Let's hope it doesn't."
"Yeah." May said, swallowing. On impulse, she checked her wrist communicator. It flashed a weak green light in the gloom, and the brunette observed the flat line for signal. She wasn't going to be getting any calls from Lance any time soon.
They were well, and truly, alone.
[14:56PM] – 25th May – Route 2 – Viridian Forest – Brock and Gary (Kabutops, Umbreon)
"This place creeps me out." Gary admitted dropping the weapon in his hand as a weedle scuttled past in the undergrowth.
"Don't blame you mate." Brock agreed, back to back with his fossil Pokémon as they edged forwards. "Every time we come in here something bad happens. Chased by Beedrils. Mauled by Fearow. We lost…" he swallowed, "It's cursed."
The researcher scoffed, "Or maybe it's just gone rabid. All the bug catchers who tamed the place ran. The trainers stopped coming through. The Pokémon grow stronger and stronger and well… yeah… wild."
"It's untameable now." Brock remarked as Kabutops swiped at a bramble bush in their path, "Take a lot of work."
Gary hummed as he walked forward, wincing as twigs cracked underfoot. "Hey. Brock." He called, quietly.
"Yeah?" the quint eyed man asked.
Gary was silent a few moments, trying to work out how to word it. "What do you think about making a last stand?"
Brows furrowed. "Last stand?"
"You know." Gary tried to explain, "Like a final movement in the war. Rise up and take control. We have the numbers and stand a chance. If we co-ordinate it with…" he fell silent after seeing the look on Brock's face. Sighing he swallowed and turned away.
"Your grandfather would have been disappointed with you. Wanting to send men into a war we don't have a chance of winning."
"We could co-ordinate it with resetting time. They'll be caught unawares and we'll have an advantage."
"Gary I'm not having this conversation with you. You know where I stand. For all means, go join Karen and Bruno in war talks. But trust me – you don't want to be doing this."
"It would also be a distraction – stop them guessing what we're really doing…"
"Gary!"
"Okay, okay, shutting up now. Blimey."
"BreEon Umbre Breon UmUmbr." (He's right you know.)
"Shut up Umbreon."
"Reon." (Sorry)
[14:56PM] – 25nd May – Route 10 – Power Plant - Outside – Ash & Pokémon (Raichu, Eevee, Zorua, Lucario)
There was silence on the hillside, the stream running past the dilapidated building without a sound. The trees moved, even though there was no wind, and the building seemed to shimmer with a golden glow. Sparks danced along the metal work, before fading, as the stream wound past, as silent as before.
There was a small rustling of static as the air warped above the grass, and the raven haired man stepped through, the land around him shimmering into broken fragments before just as suddenly as it appeared, they vanished, the landscape snapping back into crystal clear focus. Raichu let out a small 'chu' as he bashed his nose on the soil, tripping as he arrived on the plane. Behind him Va and Lucario appeared, silent and ready, followed by Zorua who tripped over Rai's prone form. For a moment the pair lay there in a heal, before the orange mouse's tail flicked and a spark of lightning made the dark fox yelp.
"Hey watch it!" Zo complained, as she danced out of the way of Rai's crackling cheeks. "Jeez – anyone would think you were newly evolved with the temper you have."
With a sniff Rai turned his back on her, tail thrashing. "Yeah, and you'd know how?"
"Shut it you guys." Ash snapped, as he walked away from them, towards the ruins of the Power Station. "You can argue later once we're out of this place."
"I don't like it," Lucario dutifully trotted at his master's heels. "Can you hear that?"
There was a pause.
"I can't hear anything." Va bounded towards the raven haired man, brown fur fluffed up.
"Exactly."
[15:31PM] – 25th May – Route 2 - Diglett's Cave – Unknown Level – May & Leaf (Ninetales, Glaceon, Jigglypuff, Ditto)
"Ah hah!" Leaf crowed triumphantly, before her face fell in disappointment, "No, sorry – it's just a rock that looks gear shaped."
With a sigh she tossed it to the side, narrowly missing Ninetales who hopped out of the way with a bark. May kicked at a rock in frustration. "We're never going to find it!" she snapped, frustration taking over her, "This was stupid – whose idea was it to hide a gear in here anyway?"
The girl with the white hat frowned as she picked up an item. "I found a TM," she said, "It's not really what we're looking for though – is it?"
"Not really – unless it's something that helps us search for hidden items."
Leaf shook her head, glancing around, her eyes alighting on a small Pokémon near the ground. Ducking into a crouch, she reached out her hand. "Hey there little fella'," she cooed.
"What's that?" May asked, thinking Leaf was talking to her.
"It's a Diglett," the brunette called, "That's rare – you don't see many wild Pokémon nowadays. Aw – that's all right – you're a cute little Pokémon – aren't you?"
"LettDigg!" (Hello!) the mole Pokémon cooed as Leaf rubbed his earth covered back. It blinked at her with large dark eyes before turning and moving a metre or so away, then turning and looking back at her.
Leaf frowned, "What's the matter little guy?" she asked.
"TrapTrapInch." (Come with us!)
Blue eyes widened. "May!" Leaf called, "Come and look at this!"
The bandana wearing girl moved over, her Glaceon following at her heels. The ice fox paused, to greet a small Gible which had appeared from the shadows.
"Woah," May blinked, "It's like a ground type bonanza!"
"A what?" Leaf frowned, "But you're right about the ground typing through. And you know what – we're looking for the ground type gear – right?"
"Are we?" May asked, pausing to pet a rough scaled Sandshrew. "So what do you say little guy – any elemental gears around here?"
The Sandshrew let out a "Shrew!" (Of course!) and behind him a dark shape appeared through the gloom, curving scythes and gleaming red eyes.
Leaf stepped back in fright, and at her side, Ninetales bared her teeth, tails flaring out behind her like flames. The light emanating from the fire fox lit up the blue and red scaled dragon, the cave dwelling Gabite. It growled at them, before snapping some sort of command to the ground types surrounding them. There was a pause, as a Marowak vanished into the gloom before reappearing, holding something in its paw.
"SlashSandSlashLash," (You have to make things better,) the evolution of the Sandshrew May was stroking hopped forwards, trying to commicate something to them. Glaceon's ears pricked and the ice fox stepped forward.
"Ceo, Glace?" (Can we take it?)
With a growl the Gabite stepped forwards, claws bared, "GaGaBitBiteGabite!" (You have to fix things!)
The ice fox stepped back in alarm, nodding with a "Ceon GaGalah!" (Of course we will!)
The dragon and ground type stared at her for some time before nodding his head, stepping back and motioning to the Marowak to hand the item he was holding to her.
The ice type took it in her jaws gently, glancing once around them at the several dozen ground types, before trotting over to May and handing it to her.
"Thanks girl," May smiled, taking the soft bark bound item. She didn't need to unwrap it to feel the energy beneath her fingers, but she pulled away the covers just to make sure.
The gear was rough, like the feeling of soil beneath ones fingers. It didn't glow, like the other one, but reverberated with soft vibrations like footfalls through the earth. The gear was a soft brown which blended into russets and tans towards the edge.
Leaf glanced around at the ensemble Pokémon. "Thank you," she said, voice brimming with gratitude. "We'll bring it back to you – when we're finished – we promise."
The Gabite regarded her for a moment with his yellow sclera's. "Ga," he buffed, before turning and stalking off into the gloom.
As quickly as they had appeared, the rest of the Pokémon vanished, fading into the dark, burrowing into the soil and May and Leaf were left there in utter silence, save for the soft flickering flames of Ninetales and the small, round ground type gear in the possession.
[16:05PM] – 25th May – Route 2 – Viridian Forest – Brock and Gary (Kabutops, Umbreon)
"We're here," Gary announced, as he slid to a halt. His black fox hopped forwards, probing the ground with his paws, sniffing the air.
"Breo," he complained, red eyes flashing. (Weird.)
Brock looked around the small clearing, vines wrapping their way around trees and sheltering them entirely from the outside. "Where did you leave it?" he asked, even as the spiky haired researcher made his way over to a large oak tree at the far end of the forest. Behind him his fossil Pokémon shifted, glancing around at the silent trees.
"Kabuto TopKabu," (I don't like it) he grumbled, raising his scythes slightly.
Gary, not understanding either of the two Pokémon, crossed the clearing towards the oak tree at the far end. It was fair to say that the tree was most likely the king of the forest, with thick, knobbly roots and wide, arcing branches. Not a single leaf rustled as the researcher approached it, heading towards a crack in the trunk.
"Well that's appropriate," Brock noted, "Gary Oak hides a gear in an oak tree."
"Shut up," he snapped, reaching his hand into the crack with a wince, withdrawing it as soon as possible, a mossy covered emerald green stone that let out a low hum, like a buzzing combee.
Gary blinked at Brock. "Well that was easy," he said, slightly surprised, even as a large shape detached itself from the tree, purple wings outspread.
There was a loud cry as Umbreon threw a shadow ball at the Venomoth which hit the moth in the body, sending it crashing into the trees.
"UmberUmbree!" the dark type snapped (Let's get out of here!) even as Kabutops sliced through the air, knocking aside a Ninjask which was buzzing towards Brock.
The gym leader ducked under a Vespiqueen, "The bugs aren't happy!" he shouted, even as Gary appeared next to him.
"No shit?" the Viridian Gym Leader scoffed, "Well if you want to stay and hang around – fell free – I'm outta here! Umbreon do be careful!" he called to his Eevultion as it took a bug buzz. The dark type gritted its teeth, trying not to show its obvious bug type weakness, bounding towards the humans, his tail flicking a Scyther away with an iron tail.
For a moment Brock hesitated, even as he ducked under the Vespiqueen again, before Kabutops could use water gun on it. "Yeah, I think that's probably a good idea," he agreed.
It was final – Brock was never setting foot into Viridian Forest again. It seemed like Misty's fear of bugs had several well-grounded facts to go with it.
AN – I'm just going to run away from the angry mob and pitchforks and hope for the best.
Seeya! Eclipse