Chapter 40: Repercussions
The portal lead to a small cave. Well, more than a cave. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness around me, I saw that it was more like a temple. A large stone pillar marked the center of the room, and there were three doorways, one cut into each of the walls I could see. A breeze at my back made me turn around, spotting the exit right behind me. Cynthia moved towards the fresh air, and I went to follow, but something held me back. Some nagging presence in the back of my mind. I turned around and walked over to the pillar. "Nick?" Cynthia asked, noticing my behavior.
"One second, I need to check something." I said as I reached the pillar. The carvings were similar to the ones back in Celestic Town, this time portraying Giratina and the lake trio. There was a small opening at about chest level, and inside was a strange rock. It was brown, kind of like amber only not as shiny. The dullness is what made it interesting, made me wonder why someone would enshrine something like it. It was vaguely round, with random points sticking out in every which way. Suddenly, memory kicked in. "The Griseous Orb!" I gasped.
"Did you say something?" Cynthia asked, sounding farther away.
"Nope, just found something interesting." I called, quickly stuffing the orb into my bag. One down, four to go I thought as I left the cave. Outside, I saw Cynthia standing next to a small pond. The pond marked the bottom of a crater, and judging from the thick grass growing all along it, it had been here for a while. "Where are we?" I asked, noticing that it was a lot warmer than the Spear Pillar we had left.
"I think this is Sendoff Spring." Cynthia answered, looking around curiously. "That's interesting, why would Giratina send us here? Does it have something to do with those carvings inside?"
I shrugged. "Does it matter? Let's go-argh!" I yelped, falling to my knees and gripping my head. The headache from before was back, with a vengeance, along with a searing pain on my right hand. I distantly heard Cynthia calling for me, but the pain was overwhelming. I gave in, collapsing onto the grass below. Only, I didn't hit grass. I landed on hard, unforgiving plastic. The headache was gone, but it had done its damage, making me pretty unsteady as I stumbled to my feet. "What the hell?" was all I managed to get out before someone grabbed the front of my shirt and slammed me roughly against a wall that I swore wasn't there a second ago.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" a voice roared into my ear. My hearing was definitely back, and now in danger of going away permanently. I flinched from the sound, before getting a good look at my attacker. The red and gold hood in front of me made it clear really quick.
"Nuzlocke?" I asked stupidly. "What the hell, am I back in the game zone? How'd that happen?" My questions were ignored as he lifted me higher against the wall, cutting off my air.
"What. Did. You. Do?" he asked again, voice cold and threatening.
"I...can't...breathe." I gasped, struggling against his hold. He only had me with one hand, but I couldn't break his grip. Holy crap he's strong! My protests seemed to get to him though, and he released me. I slumped down to the floor, rubbing my sore throat. "Jeez, give a guy a warning before you drag him to another dimension and throttle him." I muttered.
"Answer me dammit!" Nuzlocke spat, his temper starting to flare again. "What happened?"
"What do you mean what happened?" I yelled back, climbing to my feet. "Weren't you watching? I stopped Cyrus, Giratina showed up and the next thing I know, I'm in the Distortion World! Then-"
"I already knew that!" Nuzlocke scoffed. "What do you think that headache was? I was trying to get in to talk to you, tell you not to go in, but something was interfering with me. I want to know why I saw a Lucario float halfway up to heaven, then suddenly get sucked back down to cold, hard earth!"
I paused, watching the featureless shadow that served as his face. "I don't really know what happened." I finally said. "After I went into the Distortion World, I went along like everything was fine. Then Kamina got hit with a Drill Peck and I thought he was dead. Turns out, he wasn't. The mark was gone, it was off of everyone, even me."
Nuzlocke turned around, muttering to himself. I couldn't catch all the words, but it sounded something like "...explains why...not enough power...nice boost...shouldn't happen again." He turned back around, facing me. "Okay, I believe you." he said.
"What, you'd think I'd lie about this? I can barely believe it myself!" I groaned. "Look, can I go back now? I'm only one gym away and there's still three more freaking regions to go through."
"Sure, sure, but one thing." Nuzlocke said, leaning close. "I've got half a mind to take that Lucario away from you just on principle." I started to speak, protective instincts kicking in, but he raised a hand. "But I won't. I'll give you this one with a warning. Don't ever leave the pokemon world again. Got it?" I nodded silently, gritting my teeth to avoid getting into an argument. "Good. Now wake up!"
"Wake up! Nick, wake the hell up, I can't carry you to a hospital!" Cynthia yelled. I started to open my eyes when a palm slapped me across the face.
"Ow! What the hell!?" I cried, sitting up and clutching my sore cheek. "The hell's the matter with you?" I snapped.
"I should say the same thing!" Cynthia retorted. "One minute you're asking me a question, the next you're on the ground clutching your head before passing out! What happened? Is it something to do with the mark?" She pointed at me hand, which had the mark back, only this time the skin around it was a little red and irritated.
"Yeah, but it's fine now. I guess that's the problem with moving across dimensions." I said, putting my gloves back on. "Anyway, where are we again?"
"Sendoff Spring." Cynthia replied, watching me with a suspicious look. I tried to avoid her eyes, not feeling entirely comfortable with lying to her. "It looks like the middle of the day, we should have plenty of time to get back to civilization. If I remember right, the spring is between Veilstone and Sunnyshore." She walked a few steps away before releasing her Togekiss. "I'm heading back to the league. They need to know about Cyrus and what happened. I'll be waiting to battle you." she said before climbing on and taking off, leaving me alone in the woods.
I had Moka fly me to Pastoria, not wanting to waste time trying to find Sunnyshore. I dropped by the PokeCenter, depositing Rebecca in the PC and withdrawing Lola. She and Kamina had a long talk and I had to dodge a few punches from the oversized rabbit.
"You said he'd be safe!" she snapped, throwing another punch at me. I ducked, backing off with my hands raised defensively.
"Take it easy Lola, he's fine! It all worked out, calm down!" I said, trying my best to avoid another punch.
"No, I will not calm down! You're not going to take my son anywhere else without me! Understood?" she barked. I nodded submissively. I didn't plan on having to box her again anyway. "Good!" she said in approval, moving back to talk with her son, who stared in awe at his mother. I decided that the best thing to do now was to call up Professor Rowan, let him know I wasn't dead. I moved over to the videophones, and punched in his number. A few short rings later, his face popped up on the screen. I don't know what I was expecting, but sheer shock was not on the list.
"Good lord! Nick! You're alive!" he exclaimed. I heard someone yell in the background and soon Dawn and Barry entered into view, shoving their heads into the screen.
"Nick! I can't believe it, we thought you were dead!" Dawn gasped.
"I knew he wouldn't go down so easily, we still have to battle at the league!" Barry grinned.
I smiled, waving. "Um, that's great that you guys missed me, but didn't you all see me just a few hours ago? We were just on the Spear Pillar." All three of their faces fell after hearing that. The looks they gave each other made me uncomfortable. "What?" I asked. "You were just there right?"
"Nick," Dawn began slowly. "don't freak out. But you've been gone for three days."
There was a long silence. The looks they were giving me were enough to convince me they were telling the truth. Three days!? How the hell did that happen? Does time not work right in the Distortion World or what? Finally, I roused myself. "Okay, so I've been gone for a few extra days. Nothing to worry about. Anything else I need to know?"
Another pause before Barry spoke up. "Yeah, I got the Beacon badge from Volkner already. I'm ready for the last match as soon as you get through Victory Road." he said.
"Well I better not keep you waiting." I grinned back. "I'll see you guys later, I'm heading for the gym now." I hung up and grabbed my stuff. Before leaving, I got another one of those cubes to store the Griseous Orb in. A short walk later, and I was standing in front of Route 222, the road to Sunnyshore, with Rose by my side. "Alright, let's get this show on the road." I said. The trainers along the way were pretty tough, all of them using pokemon of multiple types. Thankfully, my team was just as ready to battle as they've always been, Lola even more so. She had an extra vigor that must have been brought on by the news of Kamina's close call. I almost had to drag her off of the wild Electabuzz we ran into so I could catch it, more out of pity than any actual need for another electric-type.
"Are you okay? Because I thought you were over what happened with Kamina." I asked her once she calmed down.
She sighed, staring up at the sky. "It's not that. It's the reason why I was left behind in the first place." she turned to look at me. "You said that I was the only one that didn't have a type advantage. And you're right. It's just, I don't want to be holding everyone back. I want to prove that I'm just as good a fighter as Mufasa, Cerberus, and even Kamina. I guess I just got a little overzealous."
"You can say that again." I muttered under my breath. "Look, Lola, I didn't mean that you're not a good fighter. Hell, you're probably the best fighter we have on the team! So don't worry about getting left behind. You're going to be up there right next to everybody else when we beat Cynthia and become champions."
We walked into the city after a brief snack. The entrance was a small valley, decent sized cliffs on either side. I was barely halfway through it when I spotted someone waving at me at the other end. He was pretty hard to miss. He wore a bright yellow shirt and black pants. Black wristbands covered his forearms, and red suspenders hung loosely off his belt. His hair was bright red, and clashed horribly with the yellow shirt. He held out a hand as I approached. "Hey there! My name's Flint, I'm a member of the Elite Four! Here to challenge the gym?" he asked.
I was kinda put off my his cheerfulness. He was so forward and happy that it was a little unnerving. "Uh, yeah actually. And I'm kinda behind schedule, so if you don't mind..." I said, trying to slip past him.
"Hold on a sec." he said, reaching out and blocking my path. "See, I happen to be good friends with the gym leader, Volkner. And lately, he's been pretty down in the dumps. Hasn't got a good challenger in days. There was this one kid, who I thought might be able to cheer him up, but it didn't work out. So I'm looking for a more serious trainer, someone who can show him what battling is really about. Know what I'm saying?"
I thought for a moment. "I guess you want me to try and pull him out of his funk huh?" Flint nodded enthusiastically. I sighed. "Alright, I'll see what I can do, but my first priority is the badge."
Flint nodded again. "I knew you'd be the right guy. Anyone with a Lopunny is a great trainer in my book. I had one when I first started out, before I joined the Four. Well, see you later. I've got a feeling we'll be seeing each other soon." He winked as he continued down the path to Route 222, waving over his shoulder. "Volkner's in the Lighthouse." he called. I sighed again and moved into the city, Lola following behind.
Sunnyshore was a huge city, easily on par with Jublife. While Jublife was built on a relatively flat plain, Sunnyshore was on a rocky beach, cliffs covering most of the landscape. To get around this, they just built around and on top of the rocks, putting long walkways between hills so people could move around easily. The Lighthouse was at the southern edge of the beach, clearly visible in the skyline of the city. I made a beeline towards it, hoping to get the gym match over with before the day was done. I climbed up the steps, Lola climbing slowly behind me. She stared at everything in sight, the entire structure a strange and alien thing to her. "So this is used to stop ships from hitting the beach?" she asked.
"Yeah, but only at night when they can't see." I explained. "They light the beacon at the top and you can see it for miles."
"Can we see the beacon!?" she asked excitedly, bouncing up and down. I sighed again. Sometimes it was hard to remember who was the parent, her or Kamina. "Alright, alright, let's go. Volkner's probably up there anyway." I said and she squealed in delight.
Reaching the top, Lola quickly bounded over to the large beacon, staring at it with the kind of curiosity and wonder you'd expect to find in a five-year-old, not a four foot tall rabbit. I decided to leave her on her own and look for Volkner. It wasn't that hard, since there was no one else up here. I spotted him pretty easily, leaning against a railing and staring out at the sea. He wore a blue jacket, the black shirt under it barely poking out. He had jeans that had stains from long hours working on machines, oil and rust giving them age. His blonde hair was short and spiked up. I walked over, leaning on the rail next to him and staring out just like he was. "You must be Volkner." I said as an introduction.
"Yep. And you must be looking for a battle." he replied. His voice sounded tired, like someone who was just completely defeated. Flint wasn't kidding, he really is depressed I thought.
"That's part of it." I said. "Another part is your buddy Flint. He seems to think I'm the guy to snap you out of this funk, but if my buddy Barry couldn't do it I don't know what would."
Volkner sighed, a sound that was very similar to my own. He was quite a little longer before suddenly standing up straight, startling me. "I've made up my mind. If I beat you, I'm petitioning to join the Elite Four. There's nothing else left for me here." he said before turning towards me. His eyes had circles under them, further adding to the overall exhausted aura he gave off. "I'll be waiting." was all he said before taking the stairs back down. Lola chose that moment to come over.
"Was that him? Is he going to battle?" she asked.
I hesitated before nodding. "Yep. And I hope we're ready for it."