Part 42
Cherrygrove City
"This is a pretty nice place Mari." Grace noted as the group of four entered the flower shop that Mari's mother owned. Mari beamed as she looked around the shop, observing just how much progress her mother and the town's people had made.
She had left the shop several months ago in terrible condition. At the moment in time, it seemed as though the shop was going to fail and the entire town was going to go bankrupt. But now…now Mari could see that the town she loved so much was returning to beautiful place she had spent her entire childhood in. And the citizens were slowly returning to the peaceful life they had been experiencing before the Team Rocket attack.
"We have Mari to thank for that." Mari's mother remarked with a smile as she entered the shop from the corridor in the back.
"Really?" Grace asked, glancing at Mari.
"Oh yes, after the whole Team Rocket fiasco, Mari had been sending us her Battle Circuit winnings in order to assist us in paying off the debt we owe the Committee." The older woman explained. "Thanks to Mari, we were able to by most of the supplies we needed to rebuild the town."
"Wait, I thought you said that money went to the debt." Mari inquired.
"Oh I'm sorry; there were two trainers that were sending us money. Mari's money paid for the supplies while the money from the boy went to the debt." Mari mother looked up in thought. "He was sending us so much money that we decided to keep Mari's money to help with the construction."
"How much money was sending?" Matt asked.
"Lately he was sending us money with six or seven figures. The mayor said that it was probably the equivalent of a trainer who had made it to the IBF."
"What his name?" Grace asked suddenly. Now everyone wanted to know who this generous person was.
"Let's see, I believe it was Bryan." She replied, leaving everyone a little disappointed. "No, no…it was Blake."
"No way, it was Blake?" Robbie exclaimed.
"Yup." Her mother replied with a smile before her attention was drawn to the entrance of the shop were a customer. "Mari, why don't you and friends head to the back."
Mari gave her mother a nod and took her suggestion, leading Grace, Robbie and Matt to the back of the store which was actually the two bed room apartment they had built as an extension to their store.
"Hey Grace, now that I think about it. You never told us how Blake is an orphan." Matt pointed out as they entered the kitchen of the apartment where all of them but Mari took a seat at the small table.
"Oh yeah, I wanted to hear about-" Robbie began, but he was silence as his Crest along with everyone else's lit up in a sinister black.
"Grace…" Mari muttered before looking up at the dark haired girl who was staring at her Crest intently.
There was a few moments of silence before Grace rose up from her seat abruptly, almost knocking over the chair in the process.
"I know I said we should rest for some time guys, but something has gone terribly wrong. We have to get to Ecruteak City right away." Grace declared.
Whirl Islands
Lana shot up from the ground a cold sweat, taking several shallow breaths. She had been sleeping peacefully until her Crest had lit up in a dark light which instantly clouded her dream, turning it into a dark nightmare of Abyss Arceus annihilating everything its path.
Once her breathing had steadied, Lana looked around, recognizing her surroundings as the caves she had met Lugia in during her childhood. She visited these caves quite frequently, and she could tell that she was in the deepest part of the Whirl Islands based on how damp the ground was.
"At last, you're awake."
Lana looked around a bit before attention was drawn to a large pool of water which Lugia emerged from.
"Wait…awake?" Lana said as her most recent memories rushed into her head. The last thing she had seen was Abyss Arceus dematerializing beneath Lugia as she sealed it away along with herself. Why was she awake? And how much time passed since the sealing. "What happened?"
"I wish I knew." Lugia replied as Lana rose up from the floor.
"The only person that has the ability to break a seal created by a Crest is the King. Did Blake, unseal us?"
"It's the only explanation."
"But why would he do something like that?" Lana muttered before looking toward Lugia. "Can you send me to Ecruteak City?"
Kanto Region
Indigo Plateau
The large headquarters of the Pokemon Committee was in peril as numerous men and women in black swarmed through the building, capturing and detaining any and all faculty.
"What the hell is going on!?" Stanly asked angrily as he, Brad, Randy, Jackie and Dustin barricaded the only entrance to the room they had been meeting in. It had been a rather plain day for the Committee members, that is, until they came under attack from Team Rocket.
There was no time to prepare. It was clear that Team Rocket had traveled through Victory Road to make sure they would remain undetected until the time of the attack. Now the entire Pokemon Committee was under siege.
"Why would Team Rocket launch a full assault on Indigo Plateau?" Stanly asked out loud as he assisted Brad with moving one of the tables in front of the door. "This makes no sense."
"They must be after something." Brad noted out loud.
"The Commissioner!" Jackie exclaimed before realization dawned on Stanly.
"Of course! We need to get to his room right now!" Stanly shouted before glancing at the only door they had just finished blocking up.
"No time to waste!" Dustin yelled as he tossed a Poke-ball into the air, releasing his Medicham into the room. "Clear the way with Psychic Medicham!"
The dual type Pokemon raised both its hands into the air about its head as its eyes gained a bright blue color. All of the objects blocking the gained a blue outline before they were lifted into the air and tossed aside, allowing the group to exit.
"Let's go!" Dustin shouted as he practically tore the door off its hinges to open it before he came face to face with several Team Rocket members.
"Get them!" The group roared, but Dustin made the first move. He kneed the closest grunt in the gut, resulting in them hunching over where Dustin proceeded to grab the back of his shirt. Hurling the grunt at his comrades, Dustin grinned when he succeeded in knocking over most of the group.
"Good job Dustin!" Stanly said to him friend as the rest of them exited the room.
"You guys go on, we'll hold them off!" Randy called out as he stopped beside Dustin, releasing his Ambipom for it to enter the battle.
"Good luck!" Jackie shouted as she followed Stanly and Brad. The group of three rounded the corner, leaving Randy and Dustin to give each other a smirk before turning to the Team Rocket grunts that were returning to their feet.
"Commissioner!" Stanly and Jackie shouted together as they burst into the room of the older gentlemen followed by Brad. But what they found was an empty, dark room.
"Hello?" Jackie called out rather nervously. As the group of three moved further into the room in the hope that they would find the figure head of the Pokemon Committee, the doors of the room shut suddenly, swallowing them in darkness. "H-Hey, what's going on?"
Stanly felt Jackie latch onto his arm. She was trembling. Jackie was bright young woman, so bright that the fact that she was almost useless under pressure was cast aside when she was accepted into the Pokemon Committee.
There were thirteen small light sources lit up along the walls of the room, each of them possessing one eye and a black body that somewhat resembled different letters of the alphabet. There was a soft cackle from the one corner of the room that couldn't be seen despite the small lights that's all of them looked toward.
"Who's there?!" Stanly shouted as Brad lowered his hand to his waist where he was prepared to grab a Poke-ball if need be.
The cackle grew louder before another set of the small light sources lit up in the corner, surrounding an elderly man that all three of them recognized as the Commissioner of the Kanto and Johto Committees.
"Lexer." Brad said as the man laughed.
"Finally, the arrival of my minions." Lexer spoke softly, although in the silence of the room his voice was heard by everyone quite easily. "Go my Unown, capture them!"
The small letters that had been surrounding Lexer moved toward the trio, beginning to circle around them with increasing speed. Brad decided that now was the best time to send out his Flygon, but he discovered that his limbs were no longer moving under his command. In fact, he couldn't even feel them anymore.
"What's going on?" Brad asked out loud as he tried to move his arms but this was no use.
"It's the power of the Unown I have gathered from the Ruins of Alph. Not only is the psychic energy they possess enough to prevent you from moving, it's also enough to shut down the Crest each of you possess." Lexer explained.
"Why are you doing this?" Stanly asked.
"I gathered you together, but I knew there would be no way you would submit to me willingly once you became aware of the fact that the Storm was approaching." Lexer explained. "But the Unown will make you submit forcibly. You are my slaves now."
Brad grit his teeth, trying to overcome the suppressive power of the Unown, but he found no success.
"Don't be foolish. Their power is too much for the likes of you to break." Lexer commented, gaining a glare from Brad. But as the dark haired male looked toward Lexer, his vision became blurred as his focus was forcefully switched to the Unown.
The dark figures continued to swirl around them at high speed, leaving the group of three in a daze.
"Now!" Lexer roared. All of the Unown in the room released a great flash of light, blinding Stanly, Jackie and Brad. They could only stare into the light in awe before their knees buckled.
As the light cleared, Lexer smiled when he found the three of them resting on their bottoms with their Crests open to level two. Surrounding each of their Crests were numerous small stars which was clear evidence that the Unown had successfully taken over the group.
"Excellent!" Lexer said, watching as they rose to their feet, one by one. "As of today, the Pokemon Committee and Team Rocket will merge together under my leadership!"
Saffron City
"Everyone, this way!" Shari shouted, motioning for the group of civilians she had been leading to follow her into an alleyway that would hopefully lead them to one of the clear stretches of road that they could use to escape the city.
Bringing up the rear of the group was Rachel along with her Nidoqueen who were closely followed by a mob of Team Rocket grunts.
"Nidoqueen, Hyper Beam!" Rachel shouted.
The large dual type Pokemon turned around, opening up its mouth where it revealed that it had focused a large quantity of every in its mouth that had turned orange. Nidoqueen fired the beam at the ground in front of the group, creating a large dusty explosion that blinded the grunts. This in turn gave them some time to escape.
"This is crazy!" Rachel exclaimed as they came to a in a clearing in the forest that was beyond the northern border of Saffron City. The city had been overrun but Team Rocket grunts in under and hour. The sheer number of the grunts made it impossible to even attempt to stand up against them, and anyone who tried was captured and jailed. The only option was to run.
"How could Team Rocket have this many members?" Shari asked out loud.
"I don't know." Rachel muttered. "But right now we have to focus on getting these people to safety. We should start by contacting the Committee."
"I'm on it." Shari said as she took out her Poke-gear from the small backpack she had slung around her torso.
Shari then separated herself from the group to make the call, leaving Rachel to observe the group of about twenty people they had managed to lead out of the city. The people who had gotten away were generally of the younger variety of people living in Saffron City. And they didn't seem to be handling the situation to well.
But then again they had just been forced out of their homes with no time to gather their important belongings. They had to leave quickly in order to escape capture.
"Hello!" Someone shouted, gaining everyone attention. Rachel looked toward the edge of the clearing a young man broke through the bushes along with a Mightyena. "Ah, finally, more people."
"Were you forced out of the city as well?" Rachel asked, receiving a nod from him.
"Yeah. Fortunately I got mixed in a group of trainers that were in the central plaza so we managed to escape along with a group of civilians." He explained.
"Are they near by?"
"Yeah. I left them to check and see if anyone else had gotten away." He said, motioning to the direction he had come from before extending his hand toward her. "Roy Mekson."
"Rachel Haloway." She replied, accepting his handshake. "Where are you going to take the people you led out of the city?"
"The trainers I had worked with were just beginning to discuss that before I left." Roy replied.
"Well I happen to be a member of the Johto Committee, and we were heading toward Indigo Plateau. We should merge our groups and stick together." Rachel said, receiving a nod from Roy.
"Strength in numbers. I like that." Roy replied before a shout from Shari gained their attention.
"Rachel, we're going to have to change our destination." Shari stated in a with a hurried tone.
"Why, what happened?" Rachel asked.
"The Committee HQ has been taken over by Team Rocket."
Johto Region
Olivine City
"We still haven't gotten a response from the Committee yet Professor Elm." Professor Evergreen hollered as she entered the room where the male Professor had been working.
"Still?!" Elm exclaimed although he remained hunched over the object he was working on.
"Something urgent must've have taken place for them to ignore a call from us." Evergreen reasoned.
"We're going have to accept the consequences of this later, but for now we're going to begin the mass production of the vaccine for Pokeosis." Elm explained, motioning for Evergreen to come over to him. Once the young woman was close enough, she could see what Elm had been looming over while he was speaking to her.
It was a Poke-ball, although this one possessed a black and gray spiral pattern on the upper potion of the sphere. It's sole purpose to capture any and all Pokemon that didn't not possess the vaccine for Pokeosis and provide it so that upon release, the Pokemon would be immune to Pokeosis.
"It's finished." Elm stated with a weak smile as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "It goes against all the rights we've been given from the Committee, but if we don't get these designs out to all of the factories in Johto, there's no hope of stopping Pokeosis from spreading across the world.
Hoenn Region
Lilycove City
The panicked screams of urban civilians filled the streets as hundreds of thousands of people sprinted toward the west exit of Lilycove City in hope that they would escape the sudden doom that had been brought upon them.
"ROOOOOOOOOAAR!"
The enormous Pokemon that towered over the people of Lilycove threw its head back to give a mighty roar before it returned its gaze to the colossal Pokemon that was resting in the water near the beaches of Lilycove. The eyes of the duo were pitch black to match the Crests on their back that seemed to be fueling the two enraged Legendary Pokemon.
In the water, Kyogre slapped the surface of the water twice with its wings, creating two large waves that lifted it into the air as it charged up a Hyper Beam in its mouth. Groudon began to charge a Solarbeam in return to counter Kyogre's high powered attack, and the result was amazing.
The two attacks met a large distance from both of the Legendary Pokemon, but as they collided, a blinding white light was created. Unseen by everyone including the attackers, the meeting point of the two attacks had grown into a large orange and white sphere that eventually exploded.
A white shockwave was produced from the attack on a scale that was powerful enough to knock over buildings.
"Look out!"
Hundreds of heads looked up in horror as they saw the roof a building plummeting toward them. The people froze, unable to convince themselves to keep moving.
"Magmortar, use Hyper Beam!" A voice cried out.
"Mag!"
A wide orange beam was fired out from among the group at the falling section of the building. The radius of the attack continued to extend, resulting in the entire roof disappearing inside of it. It was vaporized in an instant.
There was sigh of relief from the crowd below as they all looked around for their savior, and soon enough they found him. A teenage boy standing beside his Magmortar who went by the name of Griffen.
"Come on, we have to get out of city!" He shouted, motioning for everyone to keep moving.
The race to the exit of the city had left many winded and gasping for air. Griffen was among a large group of trainers who had done what they could to protect the citizens of Lilycove City during the escape.
"What is going on!?" Griffen exclaimed as he followed the rear of a large civilian group with his Magmortar, providing cover if necessary. Unfortunately no clear answer was present to the boy. Nothing could explain the sudden appearance of these Legendary Pokemon and their unbridled rage for each other.
On a roof quite a distance from Groudon and Kyogre, two cloaked figures stared at the battle that was unfolding in horror.
"How could we let this happen?" The large of the two figures asked angrily.
"It must've happened after we were chased out of Hoenn." The smaller one replied. "The only thing that can override our Crests is the Red and Blue Orbs."
"That Titus is a crafty one." The larger one muttered. "Come on Gwen, let's move."
"Sure thing dad." She replied as she looked toward Groudon, giving it one last sullen look. Her connection to her Legendary partner had been severed, and she had no way of communicating with it to figure out what was causing its rage.
The two then proceeded to assist the trainers and civilians with the evacuation process which proved to be a very hectic duty.
Sinnoh Region
Mt Corenet
Hall of Origin
Resting on top of the head of Abyss Arceus, Sander watched as the beast slowly ascended the stairs of the Hall of Origin. From the highest point in Sinnoh the black Centaur would begin spreading Pokeosis across the Sinnoh Region.
Unfortunately, Sander was left in the dark as to the whereabouts of the King. This would set back his plan, but that would stop him. The King would have to come fight him sooner or later. It was his duty to stop the Storm.
Once Abyss Arceus came to platform at the top of the staircase, Sander looked out at the region below. He could see it all.
The water side Pastoria City to south.
The pure white Snowpoint City to the north.
The urbanized Jubilife City to the west.
The solar powered Sunyshore City to the east.
This would be his new Kingdom.
"Go forth Abyss Arceus, seize the lands that were once yours!" Sander commanded as it took is spot at the center of the hall of Origin, giving a mighty roar. A roar that was heard across the entire region.
Abyss Arceus gained a black aura as it began to stamp its feet, leaving a dark spot on the floor that began to expand at an alarming rate. In under a minute the platform had become completely black, spreading down to Spear Pillar where it continued to move out into Mt Corenet.
With the enormous mountain that stood at the center of the Sinnoh Region, all the Pokemon inhabiting the area collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain as they transformed. It would only be a few minutes before these Pokemon rose up from the ground, their skin darkened and their senses heightened, allowing them proceed toward the exits of Mt Corenet.
Sander raised an eyebrow the darkness stopped spreading at the base of Mt Corenet. Abyss Arceus gave a groan, trying to continue spreading the darkness forcefully but to no avail.
'I see, so as long as Pure Arceus is alive, this is the extent of your power.' Sander noted. He was indeed impressed with how far reaching its power was, but he knew that its real strength was beyond this.
He couldn't remove Pure Arceus right now. That would ruin his plan entirely. He couldn't afford to destroy it, not yet at least.
Despite Abyss Arceus' inability to spread its power beyond Mt Corenet, Sander had no worries. Every Pokemon inside the mountain would continue spreading Pokeosis for him. All he had to do was rest at the top of his domain until the King reappeared.
11/27/0046/Morning
Sinnoh Region
Pandemonium.
In a nutshell, that described the state of the Sinnoh Region.
Constant news reports informed citizens of a dangerous species of Pokemon that had appeared on the scene like a flash of light. Abyss Pokemon.
The people of Sinnoh were already living in fear of Pokemon after the slaughtering at Mt Corenet, and their terror was only reinforced with the sudden spread of Pokeosis. Cities such as Eterna City had been overrun by Abyss Pokemon, leaving only destruction and bodies in their wake.
"The Pokemon Committee has issued a full evacuation of the Sinnoh Region." These words had been uttered on national television just a few hours after the appearance of Abyss Pokemon in Eterna City and Celestic Town. But even with these orders, only about a third of the people actually managed to escape.
The rest had been completely wiped out. Anyone without Pokemon were forcefully separated from their family and thrown onto the ships while trainers did whatever they could to hold back the Abyss Pokemon.
But this led the bonds between trainer and Pokemon being severed in the harshest of ways.
No one would ever forget the day when all Pokemon seemed to turn against their trainers.
And that's Chapter 42. The actual Storm begins as three Commissioners begin to make their moves now that Abyss Arceus has been unsealed. So now the whole world is going up in smoke and Blake is no where to be found.
This was a fun chapter for me? What about you guys. I pretty sure this chapter should've left you guys with a few question that will be answered as this continues. So please review and tell me what you think.