A Maiden's Voyage
Chapter 18: Spire of Lightning
Drayke, Rotom and I hid behind mechanical parts near the entrance of the mine. We watched painstakingly as Grunt after Grunt ran out of the mine in search of us, as our presence had been tipped off to them. Once a lull in the emptying of the mine had begun, I turned my head towards Drayke and we sprinted full-speed into the Oreburgh Mine, undetected. Torches were hanging in metal holders on the side of the rock wall, illuminating pokemon working breathlessly to mine rare ores from the wall. We ran past them, and some of the pokemon stopped to look at us, confused by our strange clothes. They were accustomed to being whipped and yelled at by strange people in space attire and weird hair. A Cranidos poked its head up at us running through the mine and an Onix moved out of our way as we crossed its path. Our sprint was stopped abruptly by a large charcoal covered stone in the center of the lowest chamber in the mine. We could not advance deeper.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Drayke asked as the tip-tapping of our shoes began to silence and we stopped to catch our breath. I looked at him in the dim light and shook my head.
"Where is Froslass?" I asked Drayke and he returned by shaking his own head. I huffed. Then we heard the faint sound of a pokemon cry, which I thought could be the ghost pokemon. I grabbed Drayke's hand, pulling him around the dark stone in the center of this room. We came across two paths diverging into deeper cave systems on the other side of the large object.
"Hurry, Evelyn, we need to split up." Drayke said, running into the further away cave. Rotom and I ran directly into the closer path, the lights becoming dimmer and dimmer in this pathway. While running I thought about how Rotom could possibly defeat the Froslass. If he uses a discharge attack and the Froslass is paralyzed, she would be slowed down significantly and Rotom would be able to use a Shadow Ball to neutralize her.
"Should I try catching this pokemon?" I whispered aloud, while running, but Rotom could not hear me. We rounded a corner and entered a new larger chamber in the mine. The room was very dim, but I could see directly in front of us, a floating icy pokemon with her back to us. I stepped on crumbling ground and stones under my toes to see who the ice pokemon was facing further in the chamber. The first, prominent thing I noticed about the other entity in the room were the lips. They were colored blood red with lipstick, the hair tied in a bun on top of her head, her costume, a very expensive looking spacesuit. A face I thought I'd never have to see, since the brawl in Eterna City, it was one that belonged to none other than, Geraldine Swan.
"Wow, I thought I'd never see you here, Aria." The lips of Geraldine Swan moved like serpent, an executive of the Galactic side of Sinnoh. They were plump and crimson and moved fluidly, but with a directly evil intent about them. They crooked into a smirk-smile that penetrated my soul as she stared down two ghost pokemon and myself.
"Geraldine" I said the word like dirt.
"Why have you brought a blizzard over this peaceful city?" I bellowed into the chamber as she emitted a sharp cackle.
"Do I need to remind you that we are at war?" She said placing a hand on her hip, ready to remove a pokeball from her belt. "This town has been under Society occupation for long enough, it is time for the ball to pass hands. Pretty soon, all of Sinnoh will be united under one flag. This city and soon all of Sinnoh will be reunited under Galactic Rule. We're not going to let you or anyone else get in our way so back off. And call off your frosty little snow witch; she's pissing me off." Geraldine motioned at Froslass who was returning an icy stare back at her. "Is this your friend, who is trying to intimidate me? Because I'm not afraid of a little Ghost." With that Froslass launched and Ice Beam directly at Geraldine. She moved to the side as the wall behind her was completely frozen. She threw a pokeball that released a monstrous pokemon I had seen only once before when she fled the Galactic Headquarters in Eterna City.
"Go, Rhyperior!" Geraldine roared through the cave system, unleashing a terrifying stone pokemon. The rock pokemon emerged and stood its guard, preparing for an order from its master.
"Use Earthquake!" The Rhyperior she sent was a giant rock pokemon that shook the entire mine with its powerful rock body. The ground underneath me shook violently and I lost my footing once and fell to the ground. Rotom floated near Froslass and used an Ominous Wind at the Rhyperior. Both of the Ghost pokemon were floating, thus immune to the Ground-type attack. Rhyperior flung rocks at Rotom which kept him at a distance and Froslass wasn't idly standing by. She charged after Rhyperior and fired off Ice Beams. The ice attacks seemed to do some damage to the pokemon, but were not enough to defeat the stone behemoth.
"Let's kill this damn Ghost once and for all, use Rock Wrecker!" Geraldine roared. The Rhyperior dug its drill-like arms into the wall of the mine and excavated a giant stone which it flung fiercely at Froslass. She wasn't able to dodge the large and fast rock as it smacked her frail body into the ground, but she wasn't squashed, I saw her limp body roll down into the fissures generated by Rhyperior's previous attack.
"I'm gonna stop whatever you're doing here, Geraldine!" I yelled at her and her pokemon. Rhyperior smirked at Rotom as he was delivering an icy glare. Geraldine placed one hand on her hip and looked at us like we were lost kids.
"Earthquake and let's get out of here, Rhyperior, we have things that need to be done." Geraldine Swan grinned and started walking away, towards an exit at her end of the chamber. Rhyperior obeyed the order by digging its drill-like arms into the ground and began pulsating. The ground beneath us was seriously jeopardized by the Rhyperior's previous attacks, damaging the integrity of the cave's foundation. This caused the fissures already forming, to rip apart the ground we were standing on. This, combined with another Earthquake caused the underneath of the ground to become exposed. A dark chasm began to engulf the chamber and I immediately attempted to flee, but a large falling stone fell on me and I fell backward, into the gaping abyss. Froslass and I were absorbed by the crumbling ground, drifting away deeper and deeper into the ground. Rotom, whose sight was blurred from battle and the lack of torches that were put out by the rock pokemon's attacks, noticed I was no longer at his side.
"Aria! Aria!" The distressed electric pokemon fussed around the crumbling room. The entrance was beginning to be covered by stone. Rotom had a split second to dive into the dark pit or escape the chamber, leaving its master in the ground. Rotom was so disoriented, he thought quickly if the roles were reversed, Robert would wish Aria to return home. So Rotom fled the destructive rock cave. He met Drayke halfway through the path to the main chamber that was crumbling away and they both ran as fast as they could to avoid being buried alive in the mine. The entire mine, which relied on the support from the chamber beneath that was closing in on itself, began to collapse rapidly.
The boy and the ghost ran up the makeshift stairs to exit the mine, while two grunts entered. They released two Mightyena, that crackled as they growled at Rotom. Rotom responded with a Discharge attack that instantly paralyzed both bite pokemon. Drayke and Rotom shoved past the Galactic Grunts who knelt to obtain their fainted pokemon and scrambled away as the rest of the mine shifted and crumbled. The entire mine now shook the earth and most people in the city could tell that something had caused the mine to rumble. Drayke and Rotom had narrowly escaped being buried among the stones. Flygon, Altaria, Vance and his Flareon received them outside the pokemon center, still covered in cold, white snow. Vance, looked confusingly at the two.
"Rotom, Drayke. Where is Evelyn?" Drayke, who looked around forgot to realize that when he caught up with Rotom, he was rushing to escape the sinking cave, but he was not with Evelyn, nor the ice pokemon Froslass.
"The last time I saw her we separated into the mine. I think she caught up with Froslass."
"You're correct, child." Rotom said flatly, devoid of emotion.
"We did find Froslass." Rotom continued, his eyes began to pulse as if to start emitting tears any second. "We also found Jupiter." Vance and Drayke's eyes widened, their mouths forming an 'o' shape in awe. They awaited Rotom to continue telling the story.
"Evelyn, Froslass and I fought Jupiter's Rhyperior. That pokemon is very strong and has been trained to a truly terrifying degree. It knows powerful terraforming attacks like Earthquake and Rock Wrecker, which it used to destroy the entire mine. Evelyn and Froslass were sucked into the ground and I couldn't save them." Rotom began sobbing after the word save. Vance and Drayke looked at each other which actual horror in their eyes.
"What are we going to tell the others?" Drayke said to Vance, who started pacing. Suddenly, Galactic Grunts poured out from the Oreburgh Museum, Society Police were fleeing, some were being escorted out of the Museum, handcuffed. Pokemon were running all around the city, attacking citizens and fighting more Society personnel. Vance and Drayke immediately sprang into action. Altaria and Flygon floated above Drayke awaiting orders. Vance's Flareon hung by his side, also expecting a command. The two Bridge operatives attempted to flee the city, as their protocol instructed. Vance has been apart of the Bridge for a lot longer than Aria, and even Drayke, and according to his instruction, when a Bridge operative on a mission has been compromised, the mission is automatically suspended and they were to return to headquarters. Drayke, was also somewhat knowledgeable with this creed. He looked at Vance with sorrow.
"We can't just leave her." He trailed, looking at the sobbing ghost pokemon.
"I know. But I don't know where she is or how we can find her." Vance said, pondering. He looked to where the old Oreburgh Mine has stood and been in use for centuries, now lying in ruins. The city proper was infested with Galactic Grunts fighting off the Pokemon Society who were aggressively fighting back for control. The whole city was beginning to be consumed in flames as pokemon fought each other, causing buildings to catch fire, structures to topple and homes to become completely flattened from attacks. Many Golbat followed by at least five Grunts approached the pokemon center, probably to prevent the Society from healing their pokemon.
"Air Cutter!" Many Grunts yelled in unison. The Golbat began swarming above the two Bridge trainers and a tidal whirlwind began breezing, augmenting into a large, volatile gust.
"Flareon, use Flare Blitz!" Vance ordered. The small flame pokemon hopped in the eye of the Golbat flying attack and jumped up, propelled by the winds, its body being engulfed in fire. Flareon collided its body with a Golbat, dealing a lot of damage while sustaining some damage to Flareon itself. Flareon persisted, hopping off Golbat to strike the next closest bat pokemon. This continued until all Golbats fell to the ground and their trainers stood there awestruck. The Grunts returned the fallen bat pokemon back to their pokeballs and ran away, unable to fight. Flareon resumed its spot near Vance, sitting on its hind legs due to exhaustion and damage it sustained from using Flare Blitz that many times.
"We should heal our pokemon." Vance said, squatting down to pick up his tired flame pokemon in his arms. The pokemon, overjoyed with being carried cuddled in his master's arms and promptly began napping. Vance beckoned for Drayke to follow him inside the pokemon center, while looking in all directions to make sure no Grunts were nearby. Rotom, floated inside after them, still sobbing with horrible, angry thoughts circulating inside it's pokemon brain. Once inside, they came across the same frozen nurse joy hunched over thinking she was going to stand back up, but remained fixed in time, in the same exact position they had left her. Her Chansey was using a hair dryer plugged into the wall to defrost her fallen trainer. By the time the Bridge operatives had entered, the Chansey had only defrosted the nurse's left arm. Vance came over with a Flareon in his arms and he set the resting pokemon on the counter above the frozen nurse. Chansey looked surprisingly at the flame pokemon sitting on the counter overhead, then frantically ran up to Vance, muttering pokemon language incoherently, at least to the humans. Rotom, a little more composed now that they were somewhat safe, uttered some words finally.
"The Chansey requests that you have Flareon unfreeze Nurse Joy." Rotom said without turning to speak to Vance. Vance who pet his pokemon and scratched its ear, asked it to use an Ember, which it spit onto the frozen trainer and the flames began to melt to water, collecting on the ground while the Chansey was still trying to use the hair dryer to defrost her master. Once the nurse was completely defrosted, the Chansey ran to a drawer and pulled out a blanket, she would use to cover the frostbitten nurse, who shivered once she regained consciousness.
"My goodness, how long was I frozen?" The nurse looked up at the two boys and sneezed.
"Bless you, nurse." Vance said solemnly. He turned to the Chansey with the nurse hat. "Will you heal our pokemon?" To which the Chansey obliged happily, taking Flareon and the rest of Vance's pokeballs to a machine that she knew how to control. It emit a friendly white glow and soon enough she emerged from the office handing Vance newly healed fire pokemon. Flareon also emerged, its injuries had healed and it jumped back into its master's arms. The Chansey turned to Drayke and he instinctively gave the egg pokemon his injured dragons. Within moments, the Chansey returned and handed Drayke his pokeballs with fully healed pokemon. The Chansey then turned to Rotom, as if to heal the ghost pokemon as well. Rotom shrugged the egg pokemon away, which actually enraged the healing pokemon, sending her into a fit. She circled Rotom, flailing her small arms to get Rotom's attention, while Rotom spun, avoiding the plump, pink pokemon. The newly defrosted Nurse Joy walked over and calmed her distressed pokemon. She then turned her attention to Rotom.
"What is wrong my child?" She said attempting to console the ghost pokemon.
"You can't help me. Go away." Rotom said flatly, avoiding Joy's eyes. He was fuming over the loss of his trainer.
"What has happened to your pokemon?" The nurse turned to Drayke and Vance, who looked sadly at each other before returning the sight of the baffled nurse. The ruffled Chansey, had now disengaged Rotom to listen to the humans. Drayke stepped forward once pace.
"I was with this Rotom's trainer when she was trapped in the collapsing Oreburgh mine." As he finished, the Nurse and Chansey gasped. "We don't know where she is now." Drayke said sorrowfully.
"That's horrible!" Nurse Joy exclaimed. Her Chansey stood beside her following her trainer's passion, mimicking her movements almost mockingly, but that is how the egg pokemon behaved.
"At least you didn't have to watch your trainer fall into a treacherous cavern, while you a helpless ghost with no physical appendages could do anything to pull her from the abyss." Rotom said angrily. "It's all that bitch's fault. Geraldine." Rotom said the name like dirt. Nurse Joy and Chansey were caught off guard with the pokemon's vulgarity.
"Did you see where she fled before the collapse?" Vance asked Rotom. Rotom attempted to remember the scene, but was blurred with watching Aria fall through the caved in ground. He recalled Geraldine walked away through an exit at her end of the chamber, which was probably now covered by large rocks and debris.
"She got away." He said sourly. Everyone in the pokemon center was silent, watching the floating electric ghost, awaiting another action, but he just floated there in solidarity. There was a rumbling outside, as pokemon fought directly outside the center. Then a glass shattered as a Fearow burst through the windows, faint. Joy and the Chansey gasped, they saw a few Society policemen approaching the entrance of the center.
"Quickly! You must hide!" Nurse Joy said grabbing Drayke and Vance by the arms, dragging them to the healing room where the Chansey had healed their pokemon a few moments prior. Rotom remained unmoved in the spot he was in, waited patiently, as the Society officers entered the establishment. Nurse Joy came out of the office, matting her hair down after being frozen for a while. A Society man grabbed her misplaced hat off the ground, dropping sprinkles of ice and frost as he handed it back to her.
"Thank you." The nurse said. Then, the Society men began handing the nurse pokeballs by the dozen and she ran back and forth to her office as she placed the pokeballs into healing machines. Her Chansey emerged from the office after a moment with a cart, full of pokeballs, to which some Society personnel approached the cart to retrieve their pokemon. One of the more impatient officers started heckling the nurse to move faster, to which see was startled and ran back into her office, behind on the work she missed during her time in the icy prison. Rotom took notice of this man, turning its body slightly. The officer also noticed the ghost pokemon watching him, and turned abruptly.
"What are you looking at you ugly little thing?" He spat on the ground of the center, walking toward Rotom. Rotom watched the glob of water and saliva, pool into one bigger drop and burst when it hit the ground. Rotom's gaze was now fully on the man in front of him.
"I'm looking at a fish that is begging me to fillet it." Rotom said flatly, looking the man up and down. The Society man laughed, commanding the attention of his cohorts, who surrounded the astonished Society officer and the electric pokemon.
"I'm not afraid of any of you." Rotom said looking at the other grunts surrounding him.
"This pokemon is just asking to be enslaved and serve me grapes by the vine!" The Society man bellowed. The distraught nurse was too busy taking orders to notice the scene that was about to erupt in her center.
"Grab that ghost!" The man in the middle yelled, charging at the electric pokemon, foolishly. The ghost, without hesitation, used a Shockwave attack that electrified the Society man and he knelt down in pain, unable to strike the ghost.
"Fellas, we need to kill this fiend!" He yelled, pointing his finger at Rotom and Rotom just floated there unmoved. The squad of Society police charged at the displeased ghost from all directions, to which Rotom responded by using a Discharge attack. The grunts were all sent flying in all directions, some shattered through glass windows outside of the center. The electric attack also struck one of the healing machines, causing it to malfunction. This was the same machine that Vance and Drayke were hiding behind, listening to the chaos. The boys could hear the sparking and grumbling of the machine they were perched near, and worried that it would explode, grabbed the Nurse, her Chansey and escaped the facility. They could hear the electrifying commotion of the machine from outside the center, and they stood in the middle of Oreburgh City, which itself was an explosive commotion of battles between Society and Galactic personnel. The buzzing from the zapped machine increased loudly, eventually bursting open a hole through the middle roof of the center sending a tall spire of lightning up into the clouds. The surrounding battles ceased, temporarily as everyone watched the electricity zap violently for a couple of moments before dissipating. Rotom looked up in the direction of Mt. Coronet to watch the lightning fiz away from reality and he saw, amid the chaos resuming, a pair of small figures standing on top of a small ridge overlooking the entire city. He could make one of the fatter masses of flesh to be a similar rock behemoth Rotom remembers from a cave not too long ago. It was certainly a Rhyperior standing atop this ridge and he conjectured that figure directly to the right of the Rhyperior was Geraldine Swan. Rotom instantly zoomed away from his friends, pursuing a path to reach the top of the ridge. Vance and Drayke noticed Rotom buzz away and sprang after him. Vance's Flareon sprinted faster than both humans, after Rotom. Nurse Joy looked on at the boys, the electric ghost, then to her Chansey. The Chansey and the Nurse stood in a city engulfed in flames, buildings lying in disarray, the Oreburgh mine was completely collapsed now. Trainers and their pokemon fought against other members of Galactic and Society Sinnoh, defeating some and displacing many people in the city. There were hoards of people fleeing the city into the surrounding fenced enclosures that kept them in for many, many years. The gates were frozen solid by the earlier blizzard and were brittle enough to be Karate Chopped by a lone Machop to release the people in that direction towards freedom, in the unconvincing direction of Eterna City. Many others ran to the Oreburgh Path that would take them to the confined city of Jubilife. The nurse could see people clutching their faint pokemon on the ground, some would never stand up again. Atop a stony spire, overlooking the entire scene of destruction and fire, Geraldine Swan stood beside her Rhyperior watching the spectacle in front of her like a movie in a cinema, arms crossed, her crimson smile gone. She knew the people fleeing to Eterna City would have to use the old bridge that was destroyed, which would prevent them from entering Eterna City. Geraldine recalled the order she gave to have the bridge that connected Eterna and Oreburgh to be demolished, thus preventing communication between the two cities that bore differing flags. She had calculated that there would be refugees fleeing from the burning Oreburgh and she positioned many of her Galactic operatives on the ground beneath where the old bridge stood to receive these people. They were being welcomed to Eterna as Galactic Sinnoh continued conquering Oreburgh City. The Society operatives that still remained in the city were urgently fending off Galactic grunts and their pokemon, while trying desperately to retake their overrun city. Geraldine spotted these clusters of insurgents and ordered her Rhyperior to throw large stones in the direction of the Society trainers in order to subdue them and their pokemon so her operatives could continue taking over the city. She spent her entire concentration on overthrowing the Society city, that she failed to notice a spire of lightning aimed right at her by an angry ghost pokemon.