Chapter 26: Triage
The sounds was deafening. Fire and smoke shot up into the sky, shining so bright I had to clamp my eyes shut to keep from going blind. For a few seconds I couldn't hear anything, but as my vision returned, I saw the effects of the blast. People were running in every direction, I can only imagine most were screaming about what had happened. A body pushed past me roughly and I saw Wake running full tilt towards the remains of the Marsh. I chased after him, wanting to help in whatever way I could.
You know how when something crazy like an explosion or a disaster happens, people claim that their senses sharpened or that they saw things that normally they wouldn't even bother remembering? Turns out it's true. As I ran towards the wreckage, I saw a flash of electric blue in the corner of my eye. Normally, I would completely dismiss it, but something in my brain, probably the part that had played the games so many times, told me to give it another look. Turning, I saw the back of a Galactic grunts head as he ran away from the Marsh, heading to the edge of town.
I didn't hesitate. I turned mid-step and tore off after the grunt. He had to have seen me, cause he picked up the pace. I chased him for miles, running completely off of adrenaline. We passed the rocky beach on Route 213, ran past the restaurant/hotel that sat on the cliffs. Finally, as we neared Lake Valor, the grunt stopped running, bending over with his hands on his knees.
"wheeze...You...cough...don't...pant...give up...gasp... do you kid?" he breathed, trying his hardest to catch his breath.
"Not when...you've done something...like that...no." I panted. Apparently I was in much better shape than the grunt was because while he was dying for air I was just out of breath. I grabbed a pokeball and released Armstrong, still a little wounded from his gym battle. "Come quietly, or I'll have Armstrong kick your ass." I warned.
The grunt chuckled weakly. "Can't surrender, have to report back." he mumbled. He released his own pokemon, a Croagunk.
"Armstrong, use Karate Chop! Get that Croagunk out of the way!" I ordered. Armstrong charged forward, dealing a vicious blow to the purple toads side with the knife of his hand.
"Croagunk, use Swagger!" the grunt commanded. Croagunk smirked up air Armstrong and stretched, acting like he wasn't injured at all.
"Don't let it fool you Armstrong, he's hurt! Finish him off with Seismic Toss!" I called. Armstrong latched onto the Croagunk, easily hip-tossing the enemy pokemon and slamming him onto the ground. The Croagunk gasped lightly before fainting.
"Damn it!" the grunt cried, returning the wounded pokemon. "I can't get caught! Not yet!" he announced, producing a smoke ball from his pocket. He smashed it on the path, instantly releasing a large cloud of smoke. Armstrong and I covered our mouths, coughing roughly in the foul smoke. Damn! I didn't expect that! I thought. The smoke cleared slowly, revealing that the grunt was long gone.
"Son of a bitch!" I yelled, kicking at the dirt. "Come on Armstrong, we have to get back and help Wake."
I stayed behind for a few days, helping with the relief effort. After getting healed up, Armstrong and the rest of the team were a huge help. Even Cerberus was convinced to join in, sniffing around in the Marsh for injured people. It didn't take long to get things back on track. The explosion injured a fair number of people, but it was small enough that anyone who was seriously hurt was easily found and taken to the hospital. Barry left shortly after things got settled enough for gym battles to return, beating Wake and moving on to the next town. I waited a few more days, mostly because I needed to train a certain new member of the team.
"I don't get it, why do I have to wear this stupid thing?" Moka asked. The Zubat was pretty against the Exp. Share I had placed on her head, the device comically oversized for her small body.
"Because, you're to weak to battle the pokemon around here and to small to fly me anywhere that's better." I explained. "By wearing this, I can have the others battle for you, and you'll still get the experience. Get it?"
She thought for a minute, thinking it over. "Well, I guess it's not to bad." she relented. "As long as it doesn't look weird."
"It doesn't, promise." I said, barely making it through the statement. Traveling back towards Lake Valor, I flashed back to my conversation with Wake a few days previously. After returning from my chase of the grunt, I explained what had happened to the gym leader. He realized that Team Galactic was a threat, and that he was going to put my findings in the report of what happened.
"However, it's still not good enough." he had said. "No one else remembers seeing a guy like that, and the surveillance footage was destroyed in the blast. It's really just your word against theirs at this point. Sure, there's plenty of reason to believe you, but it's not enough for an arrest."
I scoffed at the memory. These guys think of everything don't they? I thought.
"Well look who it is." A voice said, rousing me from my thoughts. I looked up to see Cynthia, relaxing in a lawn chair outside the restaurant. "How's it going Nuzlocker?" she asked, sipping her drink.
"Badly." I muttered. "You didn't hear about the explosion?"
She nodded. "No, I heard. It's just that everything was already fixed by the time I got here."
I snorted. "Fixed, right. Tell that to me when Team Galactic is canned for what they did."
"I believe you when you say they did it, but that's not how things work." Cynthia said. She shook her head. "Let's not talk about that. How's your team?"
I sighed, feeling even worse now. "This here's Moka, my newest recruit." I said, jamming a thumb in the blind Zubat's direction. "I'm training her up because Sora, my Staraptor, was killed by Wake's Gyarados."
Cynthia sat up and bowed her head. "My condolences." she said.
"Thanks. You've already done plenty by reserving that patch at the Tower." I said.
She smiled. "I'm glad you found that, it shows that you're not an uncaring trainer."
"Look, I'm sorry to cut this short, but I've got to go train Moka." I said sourly. "I want to be able to reach Canalave by tomorrow night."
"Hey, before you go running off to the next gym, let me ask you something." Cynthia said, getting to her feet. "Can you use Surf?"
I stopped, quickly going over my mental list of HM's. "No." I sighed.
"Great." Cynthia said, clapping her hands. "Then how about we make a deal? I need to get this pendant back to my grandma in Celestic Town, but I'm to busy with League duties. If you can head over there for me, I'll be sure to let her know to give you the HM. Deal?" she asked, holding the pendant out.
I sighed again. "It's not like I have a choice, is it?" I grumbled, snatching the jewel.
"Great." she said again. "Oh, and you'll need this medicine." she added, grabbing a cloth sack out of her bag. "The Psyduck on Route 210 block the road sometimes, this'll help clear the way." I took the bag and stalked off, not saying another word.
"She seemed nice." Moka said.
An entire day of training later, I trudged back to Pastoria, exhausted but happy. Moka had done wonderfully in training, evolving into Golbat rather quickly. After she had evolved, she was tough enough to handle fighting on her own. She seemed to rather enjoy battling, toying with the wild pokemon like it was all a game to her. I warned her repeatedly not to underestimate her opponent, but she wouldn't listen. Whatever I thought. As long as I'm paying attention, she shouldn't get into much trouble
The next morning I decided it was time to head out. I took the Exp. Share off of Moka's head, putting it back in the bag. "Hey!" she shouted once it was off. "You told me that it didn't look weird! That things ridiculous, how could you let me wear that in public!?" she screeched.
I gave her a malicious grin. "I thought it was funny. You looked like a total dork!" I chuckled. She snapped at me with her fangs, grazing my shoulder. "Ouch! Jeez, I was joking around! Chill out will ya?" I yelped. She turned her back to me, clearly mad. "Look, I'm sorry that I lied to you, but you have to admit, it was pretty funny." She remained quiet. "Hey, I've got this HM here, it teaches you how to fly with a rider. I was thinking we can fly to Solaceon?" Still no response. I sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry Moka. Really. It was pretty mean of me to take advantage of you not being able to see."
"I accept your apology." Moka said, turning back around. "Now teach me that move, we've got places to go!"
I almost immediately regretted teaching Moka Fly. Since she wasn't big enough for me to ride on her back (her wingspan was only 5 feet) she flapped up to my shoulders and gripped on tight with her newly grown feet. "Okay." I said, taking a deep breath. "So we just rise slowly or WHAT?" I shouted the last word as she took off, launching into the sky and carrying me like I weighed as much as a feather. The city of Pastoria quickly faded away below us, and we sped off over Lake Valor as we made towards Solaceon Town. "Holy crap, this is so cool!" I shouted. I heard Moka say something, but the wind made it hard to hear. "What?" I asked.
"I said, I'm loosing my grip!" she shouted. No sooner had the words left her mouth that she let go and I was falling through the air. I cried out in surprise, flailing about as I fell to the forest below. Before I was even close to the treetops, Moka flew by and clamped back onto my shoulders, snatching me out of the air with impressive ease.
"AH! Don't ever do that again!" I yelled, heart racing.
She giggled evilly. "You should have heard the noise you were making, you sounded like a little girl!"
"It's not funny!" I scolded. "And I didn't sound like a girl."
"Oh come on Nick, you have to admit, it was a little funny." she smirked. That got me and I forgave her. A little.
In not time at all we had arrived at Solaceon. Recalling Moka to let her rest, I decided to let Lola lead the way, releasing the brown bunny. She hopped around excitedly as we walked north along Route 210. "Hey Nick, I'm pretty sure I learned a new move while we were training for the gym." she said.
"Oh yeah?" I asked. I checked the PokeTech and sure enough, she had a new move. "Hey, would you look at that. Dizzy Punch, huh? That's a good one."
We were silent for a while after that. "Do you think...do you think I could have saved Sora if I was there?" Lola asked quietly.
I shook my head. "You shouldn't think like that Lola." I said. "If there's anything I've learned during this challenge, it's that sometimes things happen that are outside our control. What happened to Sora, that was one of them." I stopped and so did she. "If I had sent someone else out instead of Sora, would they have died? Would you have died if I had used you? Maybe. We'll never know. What I do know is that there was no reason for me to think that I was putting Sora in a position that would end in her death. It's like what you guys said after Franklin died. You never know when something like that is going to happen."
She sniffed and I noticed small tears running down her cheeks, staining the fur on her face. "So what, we're all just going to die? We shouldn't be sad that one of our friends was dead, because if it wasn't them it would have been someone else? That's bullshit!" she yelled suddenly, stamping her foot on the ground. "If that's the way this team is going then I want out!"
I stared for a few moments, startled by her outburst. "Lola, that's not what I meant at all." I said. "Of course we should feel sad a friend died, that's the natural reaction. You think I'm not sad Sora died? I'm just as upset about it as I was with Trish, Franklin, Lin and Brittany! Everytime someone of the team dies, I feel like I should give up! That I'm not good enough, that all I'm doing is leading you all to your deaths! But I have to keep going. If I don't, then what happened to them, their deaths, were for nothing. And that's something that I can't allow to happen." I put a hand on her shoulder, shaking her lightly. "Come on. We've got a long way to go before this is all over, but we're gonna finish this. All of us. No matter what." She nodded and we kept walking, making our way through the grass.
Not long after our talk, we came across the exact situation Cynthia had warned me about. A large group of Psyduck, probably ten or eleven individuals, were standing side by side in the middle of the road, all of them holding their heads and groaning. I grabbed the medicine out of my bag and spread if out in front of them. They slowly opened their eyes and gobbled it up, their hangover suddenly cured. The Psyducks lingered for a moment before waddling off the path and into the bushes. I moved up the path. "I can't wait to see what kind of pokemon there are to catch here." I said excitedly.
"Uh Nick? I'm pretty sure those Psyduck were the first pokemon you saw in this area." Lola giggled.
I stared blankly at the ground, the realization slowly coming to me. "SON OF A-"