Chapter 18
6/2/0046/Morning
Kanto Region
Mt. Tsuji
"There it is!" Lana shouted, pointing at the stone structure that had been carved into the side of the large mountain just below the peak.
Mt. Tsuji, one of the most famous results from the Dark Days. The tall mountain was the result of a supernatural disaster or more commonly known as the clash between multiple Legendary Pokemon near the beginning of the Dark Days. The mountain matched Mt. Silver is height, looming over Indigo Plateau with its superior height over the location of the Pokemon Committee.
"It's Mt. Tsuji!" Grace shouted, sporting her new hairstyle. Without a second thought she had cut her bangs so that its only acted as a curtain in front her forehead, wondering how she battled with it blocking half her eyesight. Grace kept the outfit she had before, finding it cute except she traded the sneakers she was wearing for a pair of black rain boots that stopped below her knees.
"Do you remember the first time we came here?" Lana asked, looking back at Grace..
"And Blake-kun got his shirt caught on one of the Pokemon statues." Grace said with a snicker.
"That was priceless." Lana said in agreement as the two of them laughed at the memory of Blake hanging about twenty feet from the ground by his shirt which was caught on the tail of a stone statue.
"Be quiet, Blake-kun is still asleep." Yumi hissed at them, silencing the two girls that had become best friends over night.
Miyu, Rei and Hiroko sat on Pidgeot's back. Lana, Grace, Stanly and Nozomi rested on a Dragonite and Yumi and Blake were riding a Flygon, Blake still sound asleep.
"Pidgeot, Dragonite, Flygon, land on that platform down there!" Stanly shouted, pointing at the stone walkway that led to the entrance to the temple. The three Pokemon glanced down at the walkway, preforming a nose dive. Without any commands as they neared the platform, all three turned up, landing on their feet with a thud, Dragonite's being the loudest.
"Alright Yumi, wake him up." Nozomi said, motioning to Blake who was now sleeping on the ground even after falling off of Flygon's back.
Yumi gave her a quick nod and kneeled now next to Blake, poking a spot on his next and pinching his nose. Blake remained asleep for a few moments before he began to jerk repeatedly from a lack of oxygen until he finally awoke from his sleep, gasping for air. Blake sprung up from the ground still trying to catch his breath while looking around frantically.
"Grace!" Blake jumped at the girl, pulling her into a hug which surprised himself and everyone who was watching. Blake instantly released her, turning away from her while putting on a stoic expression to cover up his previous action, causing all the girls to giggle.
Blake blinked twice, noticing his surroundings. "Hey, where am I?"
"Mt. Tsuji, in the Kanto Region." Stanly explained, motioning to the temple in front of them.
"Why'd you bring me here?" Blake asked.
"Because you need to learn the truth about what's going on right now." Nozomi informed.
"This counts as kidnapping you know." Blake mumbled before his memories from the night before entered his head. "Does it have anything to do with the weird markings on my wrist?"
"That's the key to everything." Stanly replied, getting a sigh from Blake.
"Well since you guys dragged me here and I have no way of getting back to Johto, I'll see whatever it is you brought me here for." Blake said, receiving a hug from both Grace and Lana.
"It's about time you started listening to them bro." Grace said with a smile.
"Bro?" Blake raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah…is it wrong for me to call my brother bro?"
"See Blake, even Grace herself said you two are related by blood." Rei stated, getting the boy's attention.
"I would like to say that this is all one big prank, but you guys have gone through too much trouble trying to prove this, not to mention Grace's sudden personality change from the silent novelist to…this." Blake said, motioning to the girl that was hanging onto him by his neck.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Grace asked, closing her arms around Blake's neck.
"See, they're already beginning to become siblings again, even after such a long separation." Yumi pointed out, chuckling as Blake gave another sly comment about Grace which resulted in the girl attempting to strangle him, Lana desperately trying to stop her.
"It's hard to believe that the two of them were brought together by chance in Violet City." Stanly said, looking back on the day when the two silent trainers had met in Sprout Tower.
"Who knows? An outside force separated them and an outside force might have brought them back together." Nozomi said, leading the group toward the pair of large stone doors that were the only entrance to the temple. "Did you guys bring them?"
"Yup." Miyu and Hiroko said, raising the items in their hands into the air. Both of them held a bell that matched the size of their head, one bell was light blue with a wave design going around it while the other was a solid gold color, both of them possessing a chain that was attached to the top of the it. "The Clear Bell and the Tidal Bell."
The bells chimed twice before they were lifted into the air by an unseen force. Within a few seconds, the bells were suspended in midair, each them rising toward one of the two hands that were closed into a fist. The chains of each bell slipped into the closed hands that were protruding from the stone door, resting in place. After a few moments, the bells began to emit a light that matched their color before the door creaked open.
"Whoa." Was all Blake said, following everyone into the temple, Lana and Grace leading the way.
The inside of the temple was one huge room with multiple stone columns holding up the ceiling as well as multiple statues of a numerous Pokemon Blake had never seen before. Far off in the corner of the room was an opening that led to a sprial staircase.
"Are we taking him to the Keep?" Lana asked excitedly, glancing back at the Kimono Girls and Stanly.
"Yeah, but don't forget that you'll need Stanly to open the door." Rei said, pushing the man forward and telling him to follow Blake, Lana and Grace.
"What is this place?" Blake asked the girls led him toward the staircase, Stanly following behind them while grumbling about women.
"It doesn't really have a name since no one knows about." Lana replied.
"With it being so close to the location of the Pokemon Committee, no one is allowed to come here." Stanly added.
"Not to mention the temple is carved onto the north side of the mountain so no one from Johto or Kanto can see it." Lana went on as they began to climb the staircase.
"But why was it built? It's kind of obvious it would be conveniently be carved out by the Pokemon." Blake noted, looking at Lana and then Stanly.
"Why it was built, we don't know, but what's waiting for us at the top of the staircase is far more important than figuring out why it was built." Stanly interjected as they reached the top of the staircase.
"Here it is Blake-kun." Lana said, pointing at pair of doors that.
"The Keep." Grace said in addition.
"So how do we open these doors?" Blake asked, looking up at the ten foot tall stone doors that each possessed a beautiful carving of a Pokemon that didn't register in any of Blake's data banks.
"Only we can open them Blake, stand back." Stanly said as he approached the door, rolling up the sleeve on his left arm.
Grace placed her left hand on the left door, Lana placing her right hand on the door on the right while Stanly put his left hand at the center, his large hand touching both doors. Blake stared in awe as their wrists lit up in different colors, Grace's becoming a bright golden color, Lana's being a neutral silver and Stanly's lighting up in an icy blue.
Blake felt a familiar surge of energy coming from his right wrist as he stared at the door. The boy rolled up the sleeve of his jacket, looking at the new design on his wrist. It was nothing like how it had been back at the beginning of his journey, the blue triangle missing but being replaced by a pentagon that was separated into five smaller triangles by thick gray lines.
As he observed the pentagon on his wrist, Blake noticed one of the triangles fill up with a silver color that matched the one that was being produced by Lana's wrist. 'Wow, what's going on?' Blake's attention was drawn back to the doors when the sound of stones collapsing sounding behind the door before it opened up, giving them access to the Keep.
"Come on Blake, let's get started." Stanly called out to him since he was still hadn't moved even though the girls had already entered the Keep.
The circular room was completely empty and bare, the only note worthy thing in the room was writing on the wall opposite the large window that provided and excellent view of the mountain range to the north of both Kanto and Johto.
"What am I supposed to do?" Blake asked, scanning the room for anything important.
"Read it Blake, and then put your hands on the wall." Lana said, pointing toward the writing that was written in some text that Blake couldn't translate.
"Alright." Blake said, unsure of how he was going to read this as he put his hands against the wall just below the text.
Blake couldn't describe how he felt the moment his hands came into contact with the wall, both his arms became numb and limp, but they didn't fall to his sides, his hands remained glued to the wall. Next his entire perspective changed from the gray wall he was staring at to a completely black background.
Three birds appeared in front of Blake, almost like real but they were frozen in place, each of them looking violent as they roared at him. The text Blake had seen on the wall appeared above the birds.
"On the main land in the east, their exists three birds of Fire, Electricity and Ice without the threat of the Disease..." Blake finally began speaking, both his eyes closed which left Stanly, Grace and Lana baffled as the words morphed from the mystery text to English.
The three Birds Blake had seen disappeared, being replaced with a duo of Pokemon, both of them looking similar to some extend only one seemed to be racing through the forest, is thin tail whipping about in the air while the other was contained inside what looked like capsule, floating inside a liquid.
"The Copy strives to best the Original." Blake continued.
The duo of Pokemon disappeared like the birds, this time three four legged Pokemon appearing, each of them possessing a mane that was flowing the wind. One stood on the edge to a cliff, dark clouds above it, the second one appeared to be peering down the mouth of a volcano and the last was walking on water.
"On the main land to the west, three Dogs of Fire, Electricity and Water roam freely without the threat of the Disease..."
The trio of dog-like Pokemon vanished, being replaced by another duo. The first one was obviously a bird, a magnificent one at that, its wings spread wide as it roared, the sun setting behind it. The other somewhat resembled a bird, but it was wildly thrashing about in the waters of the sea, obviously enraged.
"The Phoenix and the Sea Guardian once lived together, but all good things come to an end."
Another image of a trio appeared, tall large golems that were bulky. One was hidden away in the mountains, the other in the frozen peak of a mountain and last deep in the Earth's crust among the harder metals. Each of them possessed a different number of dots on the front of their bodies. Above the trio was an even larger golem, this one being completely white and monstrous in size when compared to the other three.
"Faraway on the first island, a trio of Golems representing Steel, Rock and Ice are led by the Continent Mover."
The Golems disappeared, yet another trio appearing in its place. This one contained a large red Pokemon that was enormous, roaring with great volume as it stood in the lava of a volcano. The second one was blue, sea creature riding on a tidal wave with the a downpour of rain behind it. The last was a winged serpent, green in color and long in length, flying through the ozone with clear skies.
"The duo of Ground and Sea will rise again, and make the one that reigns over the Skies appear once more."
The latest trio was replaced by another, all three resembling the other with the excepting on the crown of their heads. Behind each of them was a cave that was floating at the center of lake. Appearing above the tiny three was another threesome, this one being of great size and power, demonstrated by the amount of destruction each of them were causing. A midst the destruction, a glowing white centaur like Pokemon appeared, but all three of the fearsome Pokemon turned against it.
"On the second island, the three Lakes shall join as one, and bring together Time, Space and the Reverse to bring the Original One down from its domain."
Blake stumbled backward, both his arms falling to his side. His breathing was quick and shallow as the vivid pictures he had just seen flashed through his mind again.
'Something's missing.' Stanly noted, glancing at Blake who was being supported by both Lana and Grace.
"Blake-kun, are you okay?" Lana asked, holding up Blake who was holding his head.
"Not...finished." Blake muttered before throwing himself back at the wall, placing his hands on it once again which brought him back to the black area.
The black background became an eerie purple as screams began to fill Blake's ears. Cries for help, shrieks of terror. A new image appeared, a large one, much larger than all the others. Several different Pokemon were in this one, a pair of aircraft like Pokemon, one blue while the other was red that were razing an area to the ground with beams of light. A Pokemon standing on all fours releasing balls of fire from its mouth down onto helpless people. A colorful Pokemon with a crescent shaped tail flying through the area while firing a white beam of light down at the small houses of a town.
Far off in the corner of the picture Blake spotted a foursome of Pokemon, a small Pokemon with a star shaped head that appeared to wrapped in a blanket being held by a tall black Pokemon with what looked like a white muffler around its neck. On the shoulders of the black Pokemon was a small blue Pokemon and one green hovering above its head, all three peering down at the sleeping Pokemon.
"The Eons...the Moon...and the Volcano have entered the Storm. The Night has chosen is side, bringing Wish Maker, Forest Guardian and Prince of the Sea with it." Blake continued in a hoarse voice. "The arrival of the Storm shall come with a Pokemon not of this Earth."
Lana, Grace and Stanly remained silent, staring at the wall with wide eyes, mouths a gap as Blake dropped to the floor, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.
'I see...so a few people have already chosen their side already." Stanly noted mentally, falling into deep thought. 'Things have progressed farther than we would've imaged. At this rate things will only-'
"Look out!" Blake shouted as he chucked Larvitar's Poke-ball at Stanly, or to be precise, directly to the left of Stanly's head were a four winged purple bat known as Crobat was about to bite down on the man's shoulder with a pair purple fangs. Just before it could bite down on Stanly shoulder, Crobat was hit by Larvitar's Poke-ball, knocking it backward. "Larvitar, use Dark Pulse!"
As Larvitar was released from its Poke-ball, it charged up the purple sphere, throwing it at Crobat who was unprepared for the sudden attack which sent the Bat Pokemon flying out the window.
"Ryuu, Poliwhirl, Kirlia, Quilava, come on out." Blake released all his Pokemon, directing everyone attention to the window where a horde of Golbat's and Crobats were crowding around the window.
"Everyone, guard the window. Kirlia, stay with me." Blake said, ordering his team to use any means necessary to keep those Pokemon outside the temple.
"Electivire, stay here and help them out." Grace said, releasing her Electric type Pokemon.
"Something must be happening outside the temple!" Stanly shouted, taking off for the exit of the room followed by Blake who was now worried about the Kimono Girls who they had left at the entrance the temple.
"Stanly, now would be a good time for that Dawn Stone you promised me." Blake said to Stanly as they sprinted down the staircase, Lana and Grace keeping up with them.
"Yeah, we're going to need all the help we can get." Stanly agreed, digging into his bag. After a few moments, he pulled out the glowing stone from his bag, tossing it to Blake who had Kirlia resting on his shoulder as they ran down the staircase. As they came to the base of the stairs, Blake threw the Dawn Stone into the air.
"Kir!" Kirlia shouted as it jumped into the air, catching the stone which caused it to start evolving. Kirlia's body turned completely white, becoming much taller, stopping at a height of six feet. Kirlia's arms had grown long, each of the now possessing extending elbows and its body no longer had that skirt it had while it was Kirlia. "Gallade!"
Gallade landed on its feet, observing its new body before Blake motioned for it to follow them. The Kimono Girls came running past the group, Yumi and Rei holding the bells.
"We need to hide somewhere!" Miyu shouted as they ran past the group. "There's a bunch of Team Rocket members coming up the mountain side."
'They must be after the Bells.' Stanly said, throwing three Poke-balls into the air, releasing his Dragonite, Flygon and Pidgeot. 'But how did they know that we were here?'
At the edge of the platform that led to the entrance of the temple, Stanly spotted several Team Rocket grunts riding Nidoking's or Nidoqueen's climbing onto the platform and begin charge toward the temple.
"Everyone, prepare to engage!" Stanly shouted to his Pokemon and Grace released her entire Pokemon Team, Lana doing the same.
Now a lineup of Gallade, Stanly's team, Grace's team which was made up of an Arcanine, Milotic, Metang, Tangrowth, Lucario and Lana's Blastoise was in the path between Team Rocket and the Bells.
"Sheesh Grace, you sure got a lot of strong Pokemon." Lana exclaimed, taking note of all her Pokemon. "Blastoise, Hydro Pump!"
"Of course, one day I'm going to queen of the Battle Circuit so I made a team to do just that." She said. "Arcanine, Heat Wave! Milotic, Water Pulse! Metang, Psychic! Tangrowth, Power Whip and Lucario, use Aura Sphere!"
"Dragonite, use Hyper Beam. Flygon, Pidgeot use Whirlwind!" Stanly shouted.
"Gallade, use Psycho Cut!" Blake shouted, looking at Gallade's move set with his Pokedex.
The group of attacks knocked out several of the approaching Ground/Poison type Pokemon, but a few of them still had a clear path to attack.
"Gallade, use Night Slash on the first Nidoqueen." Blake shouted, pointing at the Nidoqueen that was approaching them from in front. Gallade charged at the Pokemon, both its arms from its wrist to its elbow became a sinister black.
As Gallade neared the Nidoqueen, it attempted to grab Gallade who ducked beneath it, leaving Nidoqueen completely open to an attack to its stomach. Gallade jabbed it in the stomach, forcing the Pokemon to hunch over in pain where it met with a double Night Slash from Gallade which sent the Nidequeen tumbling backward.
"Blastoise, hold your ground!" Lana shouted as her Blastoise was forced into a pushing match with a Nidoking who was slowly beginning to overpower Blastoise. "Use a close range Hydro Pump to push it back!"
The cannons on Blastoise's back turned downward, pointing at Nidoking as Blastoise smirked before two jets of water exited the cannons, hitting Nidoking at point blank range. Nidoking was sent flying only for another one to replace it in front of Blastoise.
"Lucario, use Blaze Kick!" Grace shouted. Lucario's right foot ignited in flames that caused it no harm before it landed a spin kick to a Nidoking's stomach. "Now use Shadow Claw."
The Nidoking Lucario had hit took two steps backward, giving Lucario the chance to jump into the air, both its arms becoming enveloped in a dark purple aura that took the shape of three large claws. Lucario attacked Nidoking with its claws twice, wiping out the last of the Pokemon's health.
As Lucario took a moment to look around, a Nidoqueen took this as a chance to land a Mega Punch to the side of Lucario's head which sent the Pokemon rolling across the floor.
"Lucario! Metang, help Lucario with Meteor Mash!" Grace shouted, getting the attention of her Metang that found Lucario sliding across the floor being chased by a Nidoqueen. Metang intercepted Nidoqueen in an instant, its closed right fist becoming engulfed in an orange light.
With one hit to the stomach, Nidoqueen was sent flying in the opposite direction, giving Lucario ample time to return to its feet with some help from Metang.
Grace's Tangrowth waved its two arms in the air, two thick vines extending from its wrists which it used a whip to battle two Nidoking's and a Nidoqueen. The first Nidoking charged at Tangrowth, onto to meet with a dual Vine Whip attack which wrapped around the Pokemon. As Tangrowth took the time to swing the Nidoking in to the Nidoqueen, the remaining Nidoking rushed at, a dual Mega Punch ready for use.
As the Nidoking approached Tangrowth from the side, it was hit with a Solar Beam from its blind spot which sent the Pokemon flying toward one of the temple columns. Arcanine roared at Tangrowth, getting a thumbs at the Pokemon which was a thank you for the help.
"Pidgeot, use Aerial Ace. Flygon use Dragon Pulse!" Stanly shouted, jumping to his left to avoid the Nidoking that had come charging at him. "Dragonite!"
Flygon and Pidgeot flew over Stanly and the Nidoking, leaving Dragonite to engage the Pokemon and keep Stanly safe. Flygon bombarded two Nidoqueen's with its purple spheres of destruction before Pidgeot went in for the finish, knocking out both Nidoqueen's.
"Dragonite, use Dragon Claw." Dragonite held Nidoking back with one arm while lifting its next arm into the air, its small claws becoming enveloped in a purple aura. From there, Dragonite slammed its arm down onto Nidoking from above which sent it to the floor with a thud.
With its next hand, Dragonite extended its Dragon Claws so that it could scoop Nidoking off the ground and toss it at one of the nearby Nidoqueen's.
Blake heard a high pitched scream followed by an explosion come from the Keep which meant something must've happened to the Kimono Girls since that's where they went to hide.
"I'll check what's happening upstairs!" Blake said, getting a nod from everyone else. "Gallade, come on."
After a quick sprint up the spiral staircase, Blake was in the Keep, finding a shocking scene. Four of the five Kimono Girls lay on the floor unconscious along with Blake's Quilava and Poliwhirl with a man Blake despised standing at the center of the room. Surrounding him was Grace's severely weakened Electivire and Blake's newly evolved Pupitar and Shelgon, standing in between him and the unconscious girls. Behind him, where the window was previously located was now a large gaping hole in the wall.
"Alan!" Blake shouted, taking note of the man that held the Bells by their chains in one hand and holding Yumi up by her hair in his next hand.
"Blake, take the Bells back from him." Yumi said weakly before Alan threw her to the side.
"Blake, long time no see." Alan said, giving Blake a wave which only received a dark glare from Blake. "Hey, calm down. That look could kill a man."
"What do you think you're doing?" Blake hissed at him, closing his hands into tight fists.
"I'm here to collect some items that are needed by Team Rocket." He replied lifting up the Bells. "I'm sorry Blake, I'd like to say and chat, but I have to get on the move."
"Rahhh!" Blake charged at Alan without thinking, focused on hitting Alan at least once. Just before he came into contact with Alan, a purple force field formed in his path which electrocuted Blake before sending him flying backward, out the Keep doors and down the staircase.
Alan smirked, turning toward the window of the Keep where a Latios was waiting for him.
"Come on Latios, we've collected what we came for." Alan said as he jumped onto the Eon Pokemon's back. "This had better please him for all the trouble I went through."
"Electivire!" The Pokemon shouted as it, Shelgon, Gallade and Pupitar came over to the window, preparing to launch an attack at Alan and Latios who were already flying away.
Electivire launched a Thunder Bolt, Gallade attacked with Psycho Cut, Pupitar used Dark Pulse and Shelgon fired a Dragon Breath in one final desperate attempt to stop Alan.
As the attacks neared Alan and Latios, the two of them became surrounded in another purple force field like Alan had earlier which reflected the attacks back at their user, each of the attacks changing from their usual color to a sinister black.
Electivire, Gallade, Pupitar and Shelgon were hit by their own attacks, each of them sent flying into the wall of the room, out cold after the impact.
Stanly, Grace and Lana were surprised to see all of the Team Rocket Pokemon they had been battling begin to retreat.
"What's going on?" Lana asked while her Blastoise laughed triumphantly since it had won all its battles.
"Something must've happened in the Keep." Stanly said, rushing toward the staircase only to find Blake resting at the bottom of the stairs, unconscious.
"Blake!" Lana shouted, running over to him to check him. "He's covered in bruises, not to mention one big one on the back of his neck."
"He must've fallen down the stairs somehow." Grace said as Stanly lifted up Blake's body.
"Come on, we have to check on the girls!" Stanly said, beginning to run up the stairs two at a time. In the Keep, Stanly found all of Blake's Pokemon and the Kimono Girls who were unconscious on the floor.
"What happened up here?" Grace asked, spotting her Electivire who was on the floor with black swirls for eyes.
"Team Rocket managed to steal the Bells."
Horray, we're finally getting somewhere with the plot. This is only the beginning if you think that was good, just wait cause now things are getting serious.
For anyone who's wondering, Larvitar and Bagon evolved during the battle in the Keep, I know it was kind of unexplained but I had to make a few changes from what I had written to typed when I noticed a plot hole in the battle scene. So it was either have an unseen evolution or have Blake in two places at once.
And Blake's Crest, just draw a pentagon on a piece of paper and divide it into five triangles while keeping the pentagon together if you couldn't understand the description, sorry about that.