Chapter 37: Spear Pillar
Galactic HQ was thrown into complete disarray. Not only had their leaders fled, Mars and Jupiter apparently leading a small force onto Mt. Coronet, but the three pokemon they were supposed to be holding captive were now gone. Using the confusion as cover, I walked right out the front entrance, heading straight to the PokeCenter to heal up before the final push. The day was starting to wind down, and I wolfed down as much food as I could, not knowing when my next chance to eat would be. By the time everyone was ready to go, the sun had started to set, casting the great mountain that split Sinnoh in half almost completely in shadow. I stared at the highest point, knowing that was where Cyrus was headed with his chain. "Come on Moka. I don't care what Cyrus thinks he is, we're gonna put a stop to this." I said. We took off, heading to Hearthome.
After the short flight, we stopped at the Hearthome center so I could withdraw Rebecca. Teaching her Surf so I could get around the mountain using her many HM moves wasn't a problem. Figuring out who I was going to leave behind, well, that became a bigger issue.
"What do you mean you can't bring me!?" Lola demanded. I tried to calm her down, not wanting someone to notice the crazy trainer talking to his pokemon like he understood them. She stamped a foot down on the tile, hands on her hips. "I am not letting you take my son into a war zone without me to look after him!"
"Seriously, war zone?" I asked. "At worst it's going to be Cyrus and his flunkies, some grunts here and there for flavor, nothing's going to happen!"
"So why can't you take me instead of Kamina?" she fumed. "If you don't think it's going to be a problem, leave him here where it's safe!"
"That's exactly why I'm leaving you here!" I shouted back. That seemed to catch her off guard, and I took the opportunity to take control of the argument. "Look, you're a normal-type. Which means, at best, you're going to use Jump Kick to beat up some rock or steel-types. But I've already got Rose and Kamina for them, and I need to use Rebecca's HM moves to get to the Spear Pillar. I have to leave someone behind, and you're the obvious choice."
"Because I'm weak!?" she demanded.
"Not at all. Because you're the one this team needs the most. Now get in your pokeball, I've got to put you into the PC." She hesitated, but relented, allowing herself to be absorbed into the little red and white ball. After transferring it to the PC, I exited the center, heading towards the edge of town. I promise you Lola, everyone is coming back.
I ran the rest of the way to the mountain, wishing I had remembered the damn bike I had gotten in Eterna. After all the work I did to get the thing too I sighed internally. I shook my head, rousing myself. No, I need to focus. I slid to a stop at the cave entrance. Okay, long way up the mountain, lots of Geodude and Graveler involved, need someone to take them down. I sent out Rose, not only for her type advantage, but because I realized I hadn't seen her in a while.
We walked along the cave, following the path to the peak. I wasn't surprised that there was a path so much as it was clearly marked and easy to traverse. "So, what's your take on this whole champion thing?" I asked. I had filled everyone in on what Cyrus had said to me while they were being healed, looking to get everyone caught up.
"What, that you're one of the champions like he is?" she asked. She bit her lip slightly, deep in thought. "I don't really know. On the one petal, he's a psychopath who wants to remake the world in his image. On the other, he kinda does know his stuff. I wouldn't bet my live savings on it, but I imagine he has something going for his argument."
I had expected her to act sarcastic, to probably insult me for thinking I'm someone special. Rose agreeing with Cyrus was just about the last thing I would have seen coming. "Really?" I asked, just to make sure she wasn't joking. "You think I could be a champion?"
Rose chuckled. "Well isn't that the goal of this whole thing anyway? To become the champion?" she chuckled again at her joke. "But in all seriousness, you're a great trainer Nick. I mean, you've beaten seven gym leaders in such a short amount of time! Do you know how long it usually takes? I mean, I don't being raised in the wild and all, but still, that's extraordinary! On top of that, you've got that handicap you have to work around."
"What, that I can only catch one pokemon, and that they die instead of fainting, making me more cautious?" I asked.
"No, that you're dumber than a brick." she replied, laughing loudly as I kicked out at her halfheartedly. "Easy there Mr. Sensitive, I was kidding! Now come on, we ordinary people have to go save the world!"
The path was a lot longer than I had originally thought, but in hindsight, I shouldn't have expected to climb a freaking mountain in an afternoon. When we left the tunnels and arrived at the snowy summit, night had fallen. Any other day I would have quit right there and gone back to Hearthome. But Cyrus wasn't going to let nightfall stop him, so neither would I. I pressed on through the snow, releasing Cerberus as well to help like he had in Snowpoint. When we had walked all the way around the outside of the mountain and followed the path back in, it was a blessing. For some reason, probably geothermic or something, the caves were very warm, allowing me to unzip my long coat once we were away from the outside air.
Now that we were close to the Spear Pillar, we started to run into the grunts that Cyrus had brought with him. I kept the team rotated so they wouldn't get exhausted, purposely keeping Rebecca out of the fighting. Not only was she severely underleveled, but she was our way across any obstacles. After Mufasa tore into one grunts Murkrow a little more viciously than I thought proper, I decided to have that talk I had promised before we ran into anyone else. "What happened back with Cyrus' Honchkrow?" I asked. "And don't give me the silent treatment this time, I need an answer."
Despite my warning, Mufasa remained silent for a short time. "Back in Celestic Town, when it hit me with Night Shade...It was the worst I've ever been in a fight. I jumped right into it, not even considering that it could be a trap. In the end I won, but the bird had outsmarted me, and the shame of that hurt worse than loosing would have."
"Loosing would have meant your death." I growled. "Don't ever say that anything is worse than that. Anything." I stepped in front of the great cat, kneeling down to look him right in the eye. "Listen to me. You're the only one left from the original group. Brittany, Franklin, Sora, they're all gone. You're the senior member of the team. We need you to be there for us, to help guide us. So stop beating yourself up about the Honchkrow. Sure, he may have got the better of you that one time, but what's his rate going up against you now? Zero to two? Pretty sure that shows us who the better pokemon is."
Mufasa didn't nod, didn't speak up to agree with me, but the slight twitch in his jaw that passed for a smile told me I had helped out a lot with our talk. "Great, now let's go. There's more grunts up ahead that need their asses whupped." I grinned, continuing on.
Finally, after what felt like forever, we arrived at the Spear Pillar. It was a grand, ancient structure that topped the mountain. A large platform was carved into the rock, forming a mesa of sorts. Stairs lead up to it, and the crumbled remains of several pillars lined the side. Standing in my way were two more grunts. "Cyrus said not to let anyone in." One said. "Sorry, but you're not going any farther." the other added.
"Wanna bet?" I asked. Kamina growled beside me menacingly, as did Mufasa on the other side. The grunts didn't back down, to their credit, but the battle was short-lived. As they fled I ran up the stairs to the central platform. "Cyrus!" I roared, announcing my presence.
The blue-haired man was standing directly in the center of the carving. In his hands, he held the red chain he had made. He gave me a slight glance over his shoulder. "Deal with him." was all he said, and suddenly my view was obscured by two women I had not wanted to see again.
"Nice to see you again brat!" Mars sneered. "I think it's about time I payed you back for the two defeats you've managed to weasel away with!"
"Calm down Mars." Jupiter said, patting her companion lightly on the back. "It's not like he can beat the both of us together, can he? He's all alone, and nothing to fear."
"He's not alone!" a voice cried out. I almost couldn't believe my ears. "Barry!?" I asked as the blonde rushed up the steps, doubling over once he reached me.
"Sorry I'm late! Had to fill out some paperwork at the hospital, then figure out where this Munchlax came from." he said grinning.
"Oh look, it's the little boy I found at Aucity!" Jupiter said gleefully. "Did you like the last thrashing I gave you, come back for more?" she asked.
Barry's face grew twisted with rage. I took a step back just to be safe, the sudden change in demeanor taking me completely by surprise. "You're the one who's going to get thrashed you bitch!" he barked. I took another step.
"Say what you want, you're still no match for us!" Mars shouted, clearly fed up with the talking and wanting to get to the fight. "Bronzor!" she called. Jupiter threw a pokeball as well, and not one but two Bronzor appeared, floating around in a synchronized dance.
"Come on out Charles!" Barry roared, throwing a pokeball and revealing the Munchlax he had mentioned. I returned Mufasa for simplicities sake, letting Kamina do the leg work this time. Barry's Munchlax, Charles apparently, gave me a quick look that told me it knew I was the reason it had been captured. I felt a little guilty about that, but if I had known it was wild, I would have caught it myself and then it would be in a worse position than it was now.
"Reflect!" "Light Screen!" The two Galactic commanders called out, instantly setting up a formidable defense with the two moves. Since both techniques covered the other pokemon as well, they were able to protect themselves from both physical and special attacks all at once.
"Charles, Stockpile." Barry said, and the Munchlax gulped in air, actually growing in size slightly. The influx of air didn't seem to harm it any, and I figured that Barry was best left to his own strategy.
"Kamina, take out the Bronzor on the left. Aura Sphere." I called. Jupiter laughed as the Lucario charged the attack. "Fool! You think a move like that is going to defeat one of our Bronzor? After the defense we've laid out?" Instead of responding, I just let Kamina launch the attack. It blasted through the barriers, shattering them both before slamming into the Bronzor in question, fainting it in one shot. The look on Jupiters face was priceless.
"That-that-that's not possible!" she screeched. "Stuntank! Take that beast down once and for all!" she cried, letting the large skunk pokemon loose. "Flamethrower!" The move shouldn't have caught me off guard, having fought that very Stuntank before, but I had forgotten about it since my last battle with her. The fire attack wasn't particularly powerful coming from a non-fire-type, but Kamina's weakness to it wasn't lessened in any way. He howled in pain as the flames enveloped him, burning his skin.
Meanwhile, Barry seemed to be playing around with Mars' Bronzor. It was firing Extrasensory attacks at Charles, who shrugged them off like they were nothing. In return, he kept hitting back with Body Slam, which wasn't doing a lot of damage thanks to it's steel-typing. Apparently feeling this was getting nowhere, Mars decided to switch it up. "Confuse Ray!" she ordered. The effect was immediate, as Charles started swaying around, falling over and injuring himself repeatedly.
Back at my battle, Stuntank moved in closer, Kamina still recovering from the last Flamethrower attack. It opened it's maw wide, intending to finish him off. As the orange and red flames poured out, they wrapped themselves around Kamina, obscuring him from view. "Yes! How does it feel, watching your pokemon suffer?" Jupiter crowed.
"Suffer?" I asked. "He's looking pretty happy to me." Jupiter stared, dumbfounded by my response until the flames from Stuntanks attack were suddenly whisked away, being absorbed into the skin and fur of Cerberus. His Flash Fire ability made him stronger when hit by a fire-type attack, and I had called him out to protect Kamina right before Stuntanks last attack.
"Thanks for the power boost ugly." he grinned. Apparently Mars Bronzor had noticed the new opponent and panicked, launching an Extrasensory attack at him. The psychic-type move coated him with a visible purple aura, but otherwise didn't affect him. "What's that? Kinda ticklish." he said, grin growing wider. Stuntank tried to retreat, but Cerberus launched his own Flamethrower attack, a huge blast of fire engulfing the enemy pokemon. It managed to survive the attack, although it was badly burned and barely moving. "One down." Cerberus said, turning his eyes onto the Bronzor. "One to go."
Suddenly Charles came out of nowhere, Body Slamming Bronzor back to the ground. He had taken the time given by Cerberus' arrival to use Swallow, regaining his original size and healing himself from the minor damage. As a result, he was back in top shape while Bronzor was looking pretty warn out. Stuntank roared back into the fray, nailing Charles with a Poison Jab.
"Cerberus, take the Stuntank out!" I ordered. Poison was a bad thing to allow on the field, and I didn't want to risk anyone getting seriously injured. He obliged, taking it down with another Flamethrower attack. Jupiter scowled, sending out a Golbat to replace her prized pokemon. "Anytime you want to pull your own weight Mars." she snapped.
"I'm doing the best I can, but that damn Munchlax won't die!" the other commander screeched. Sure enough, Charles was an incredible force, bounding up and giving both Bronzor and the newly arrived Golbat Body Slams each. Before Bronzor could retaliate, Cerberus caught it in a Fire Fang, putting it down for good. Golbat, however, launched a Sludge Bomb attack that finally knocked Charles the Munchlax out.
As Mars sent out her Purugly, Barry sent out a star of his own team, William the Staraptor. He unleashed a battle cry, intimidating both of the enemy pokemon. "Show off." Cerberus muttered before shooting a spout of flame at Purugly. The large cat fought her way through the fire, landing a rough Slash attack on Cerberus' flank. She hadn't kept her eyes on William, however, and the large bird swooped in, buffeting her with his wings and scratching with his talons. It was to much for the fat cat, which fainted, only to be swiftly replaced with another Golbat.
"That damn Houndoom!" Mars cried. "Take it out Jupiter! I don't care if we loose, just take it out! Golbat, Sludge Bomb!"
"For once, I agree with you." Jupiter growled. "Golbat, use Poison Fang!" The assault was relentless, large globs of poison being spat out by the one Golbat while the other constantly harassed Cerberus, biting and clawing at him with poison-filled fangs. It would have been to much for him if it wasn't for one deciding factor.
"William! Take Down!" Barry cried. In their anger and frustration with Cerberus, they had forgotten all about Barry's Staraptor. He rushed forward, slamming the farther Golbat with his entire body, pinning it against one of the ruined pillars. He took some damage from the attack, but the force of the blow knocked the Golbat out cold. The other bat turned around to help its partner, but a voice behind it made it pause. "Don't think I'm done with you yet." Cerberus growled before roasting it with Flamethrower. He was weak, his body riddled with poison, but we had won.
"I...I can't believe this!" Jupiter cried. Mars simply let out a scream of frustration, falling to her knees on the stone. "One! We only managed to beat one single Munchlax!" she sobbed.
"Nick! We did it!" Barry cheered. I wasn't paying that much attention to him, busy tending to Cerberus' wounds. "Oh, here, let me get that." he said, producing a Full Restore and administering it to the dog. "Here, one for your Lucario too." he said, tossing me another.
"Thanks, but don't you have to heal your own pokemon?" I asked.
Barry shook his head. "I'm tough, but someone has to watch these two and make sure they don't start anything." he said, jamming a thumb at the two women. "You need to go stop that Cyrus guy. Whatever he's planning, it's not good."
I nodded, seeing the wisdom in that. "Thanks again Barry!" I called before stepping forward to face the leader of Team Galactic.