A Maiden's Voyage

Chapter 19 - The Battle of Oreburgh

As Gerry would walk down a hallway, you could hear a needle drop; it was so silently stunning. Someone, somewhere with eyeballs was looking at Gerry everywhere she went, indubitably due to the fact that she was so attractive to look at. Her face was a perfect tan, and dark hair as smooth as silk. She was a kind, but hard-working soul, spending a lot of her youth as the Oreburgh city gym leader. Her performance in battle is hardy and encouraging, but also very cunning. She knew her disadvantage was the speed of her pokemon, because most of them were heavier, so she worked on getting stronger. She and her pokemon help out at the local mine in her town while maintaining the environment of the gym.

She only became Gym Leader at the prime age of eight years old. Her first pokemon was one gifted to her by her father, it was a Rhyhorn. She nicknamed this Rhyhorn, Wren. Wren was a very tough pokemon to tame, however, Gerry had a very intriguing bond with pokemon. She learned how to calm pokemon that were distressed. Wren would occasionally lose focus while training with Gerry, and he wasn't quite tame to work in the mine with Gerry's other pokemon. Gerry had other pokemon that she caught and raised, including an Onix, Aron and she even managed to revive an Aerodactyl using an old remnant she found while working in the mine, one she nicknamed Ace. Ace was also very temperamental, only obeying some commands, at first.

In her young adult years, she learned skills of courteousness, valor and esteem, which bulked her for the later years to come. She was a student at Sunyshore University and graduated there with her degree. Prior to leaving for Sunyshore, she trained a miner she worked with for many years to replace her as Gym leader.

Gerry was raised in an unfortunate world where things did not seem fair. Gerry's parents were very liberal people, those without pokemon. They were very fast to object to the nationalization of the Pokemon Society when it was still just a plan in the making, but their induction rate flourished, nonetheless. While Gerry was off attending university, her parents remained in Oreburgh and during this time the Society had an alarming rate of people signing up to join their faction. Despite this, Gerry's parents continued protesting the policy and existence of the Society, breeding many enemies, one of which was hired as an assassin to subdue them. This left Gerry without parents as a young person not quite a child anymore, but not quite an adult. She was forced to grow up fast and on her own, darkened by a bloody past. Gerry gave up being the Oreburgh Gym leader and devoted her life to traveling the world.

Rotom used a large amount of energy to fire the thunderbolt directly at the Galactic Commander. The crackling lightning bolt shot from the shoulders of the ghost pokemon and headed directly at Geraldine Swan. With a swift, seemingly magnetic motion, the lightning bolt twisted right before it could strike her and was redirected to the horn of her Rhyperior. The drill pokemon possess an ability called lightning rod, which attracts electric attacks, rendering any electric attacks on Geraldine's team, useless. Rotom growled in rage at his attack misfiring.

"That was a good try, but now you'll be crushed! Use Rock Wrecker." Her Rhyperior immediately reacted by drilling into the stone mountain and pulling a large boulder from the ground. It then lugged the massive boulder directly at Rotom, as a familiar fiery pokemon jumped above a stone clearing from above and executed a superpower attack, utterly destroying the boulder. Flareon jumped down, vulnerable after using superpower, but still ready for a fight. The Rhyperior knelt down, to recover after using a lot of energy to drill the ground. Rotom knew this was his chance, and floated closer to the drill pokemon. It shot a shadow ball at the drill pokemon knocking it back, but it wasn't enough to defeat it.

Geraldine's eyes narrowed on the two pokemon. "You won't defeat me! Rhyperior, crush them with Megahorn!" Rhyperior charged at Rotom and Flareon, the point on its head glowing white with power. Rotom and Flareon watched as the drill pokemon charged with somewhat surprising speed. Rotom was much faster than Rhyperior and was able to maneuver away from the dangerous horn. Flareon couldn't escape and was struck by the megahorn attack sending it in the air and it fell, uttering a loud cry. Rotom faced the rock pokemon and fired another shadow ball, which caused Rhyperior to fall forward, almost on top of Flareon, before it comboed with another superpower attack. This time it directly struck Rhyperior and he fell backwards, unable to battle.

"Why you little brats." Geraldine hissed. She exposed her cerulean belt on top of her spacepants, that was covered by her long white Galactic attire. A pokeball emerged in her hand and she called back the faint Rhyperior.

"You won't live to face my Rhyperior again," Geraldine rolled her eyes, and almost mechanically, grabbed another pokeball from her belt. She pushed the small button on the ball causing it to swell to normal size, chucking it into the air and releasing a brand new pokemon. Rotom and Flareon watched as an Aggron materialized from its slumber. Aggron let out a huge roar, which Rotom even shivered at the immensity of its volume. Flareon sized up the iron armor pokemon, ready to continue the battle. Flareon remained standby on its hindlegs, awaiting the Aggron to commit to a move. Flareon is aware of its type advantage over Aggron, however, Aggron also knew attacks that could do serious damage to a smaller pokemon like Flareon.

"Aggron, use Aqua Tail!" Her Aggron targeted the Flareon, who, also was analyzing its opponent. Aggron was a very heavy pokemon, like Rhyperior, but Aggron was much faster. It jogged viciously in Flareon's direction, only focusing on one thing: slamming the flame pokemon out of the way. Rotom interjected this attack, using an ominous wind to deal some damage to the steel and rock pokemon. This however, only did minimal damage and the Aggron fought through to attack, but it changed course and instead swiped its tail to strike Rotom. He was pushed back, the attack doing some damage to the electric pokemon, but not enough to make it faint. Rotom resumed his floating composure and released a reckless discharge attack. The Aggron was struck by the attack, but Flareon was also around the circular proximity of the discharge and electrified just as, if not more than the steel and rock pokemon. Flareon was knocked out, because Rotom's attacks were just too powerful.

"Damnit." Rotom muttered, realizing his foolhardiness.

He realized why he needed Aria so much, was because she knew how to read battles. She was still a young woman, but she was very intelligent and logical. She knew how to command her pokemon to victory, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to win two badges of her own. Rotom was her companion, a truly powerful pokemon. Rotom has the ability to infiltrate electronic devices and control them as if they were its own body. Rotom was able to take over Aria's poketch, so as not to be seen when she was apprehended by the Pokemon Society in Hearthome City. When they forcefully grabbed her, thinking she was a Galactic terrorist, that's when her life completely changed. It would've ended altogether, hadn't Rotom taken over the machine that would zap people's minds away.

Right now, there were no electronic objects in sight. Only rocks and boulders. Geraldine's rock pokemon were at home among the stones, facing an electric pokemon whose attacks could misfire and hit anyone in the vicinity. He relied on Aria to work together to defeat other trainers, and it was hard for him to manage on his own. Now that he knew this, it was time to plan his counterattack. He was without a trainer and also without a companion (that he unfortunately electrocuted with his own attack). His attacks were somewhat strong, the electric attacks were his main focus. He fired a discharge attack directly at the Aggron. It stood its ground, but shook with electricity emanating from its body. It had become paralyzed from being attacked many times by the moves. It's movement was much slower so Rotom went in for another attack. It formed a shadow ball before its body and it was blasted at the Aggron, toppling it.

"Aggron, get up now!" Geraldine yelled. Her pokemon, not faint yet, slowly but surely regained its footing. It stood to face the electric pokemon, awaiting an order from its master.

"Quickly, use Metal Burst!" Aggron immediately began consolidating power, greater than the last attack which was the shadow ball. It flung fragments of metal at Rotom, dealing significant damage, but it was still not enough to disable Rotom. Rotom knew he couldn't sustain many more direct attacks like that from Aggron, so it needed a finishing move.

"Use Iron Tail!" Geraldine commanded, which Aggron began hobbling towards Rotom with its tail positioned for a devastating swipe. Rotom couldn't calculate an attack in time and Aggron had already made it directly before the electric and ghost pokemon. With one swift motion, the iron armor pokemon swung its tail at Rotom. Rotom braced for the damage it was about to be dealt, but just before the tail could strike the ghost pokemon, Aggron immediately sparked, electricity circulating from its body and it had to cease its attack to recover from the pain of being paralyzed.

"No!" Geraldine screamed. She was yelling orders now, at her Aggron, who couldn't listen to them as it was still in shock. Rotom, saw this as his last resort. The paralysis caused by the discharge wasn't impossible, but it was predictable. Rotom could see behind Aggron was a small ridge with boulders collected on the ground. It forced itself to use another shadow ball attack, this time with enough force to push the Aggron back and cause it to flip on its back. The gravity and force caused by the shadow ball was enough to push the iron armor pokemon over the edge of the ridge. The pokemon spun over and over on its back on the rocky slope, continuously until it was stopped by a large boulder it crashed into, at the bottom of the ridge.

"Aggron! Get up now!" The pokemon's eyes were dazed and it could no longer return to the battle. Rotom breathed a sigh of relief that the fight was temporarily over and it could briefly rest.

"That's two of your pokemon we've defeated. You should just surrender now." Rotom said to Geraldine Swan.

"Ha! You think I'd ever surrender to someone that can't even arrest me?" She cackled, reaching for her Aggron's pokeball and returning it as it lay faint at the bottom of the ridge. At this time, Vance and Drayke had caught up with Rotom and Flareon. They had jogged up the other side of the hill to reach where the Galactic Commander was. They were surprised to see Rotom was still able to fight Geraldine's pokemon. Vance noticed his Flareon had fainted on the ground nearby, emitting electricity. He returned his pokemon to its ball.

"Thanks for helping defeat this witch, Flareon." Vance said looking in the direction of Geraldine, to which she smirked her familiar smile and cackled once more.

"Do you fools really believe you can stop the future I have planned for Sinnoh? The Pokemon Society will crumble before your eyes. We have already taken Oreburgh back." She said waving a hand at the scene before her. The entire city was still in chaos, battles happening between Galactic and Society soldiers. Buildings lay in ruin, the museum was almost completely leveled with the ground and the gym remained strangely untouched. Fires sprung and danced while most people had vacated the city as the battles still happened.

"Oreburgh is inhabited by grotesque Society slime no longer." She smiled dastardly. "My colleagues and I will unite Sinnoh under one flag and that flag will be Galactic!" Geraldine opened her commander uniform to reveal a strange looking machine. It had an arsenal of buttons and levers which she pushed to create a loud siren. Vance and Drayke held their hands to their ears to protect them from the high-pitched squealing sound and Rotom was also wincing from the annoying sound.

"My ride, boys." Geraldine said with a wink, then turned her back on the Bridge operatives. She strutted a few paces forward, before Vance and Drayke could see a large helicopter in the distance from Eterna City. It sped at breathtaking speed, approaching the direction of Oreburgh. When the helicopter was almost overhead, a hatch underneath it opened and a ladder was thrown down. Geraldine turned around to face the boys again, this time speaking into the strange device, which magnified her voice a hundred times, amid the spinning propellers.

"You kids will not get in our way again." She said, grabbing ahold of the rope ladder and being drawn away by the helicopter midair as she did not look back at the boys still clutching their ears and backing away from the loud machine. She also did not look back to see the stone city, burning and desolate. Bodies dropped of both people and pokemon, needing to be removed. The local nurse needed severe help in managing the casualties of the city, as she was the only one. Geraldine Swan just looked onward, impatiently waiting to get home to Eterna.

Vance, Drayke and Rotom, still disoriented, regrouped at the top of the mound, overlooking the burning city. Rotom was still anxious to find Aria, but he knew that he couldn't do that if the city was still in complete chaos.

"We should probably get everyone else out of the city and try and drive away the invaders as best as we can." Rotom said to the Bridge guys.

"Hm." said Vance. "I don't know think it's our business to save this city."

"What do you mean?" Drayke looked up at his partner.

"I mean that our mission, remember, was to find and deliver Robert Ketchum to the Bridge. We have no business here." He said referring to the people and pokemon struggling below. "Right now, we need to find Evelyn and then we need to find her dad." Vance was taking the lead now. Rotom was obliged to find his trainer, but he worried about the people and pokemon in the burning city.

"I actually think if we helped save Oreburgh it would make it easier to find her, don't you think, Vance?" Drayke piped up. Vance nodded his head at the young lad and pondered further. Rotom floated near the young dragon trainer in agreement. Vance, Drayke and Rotom devised a plan to help the people of Oreburgh. Drayke and his dragon pokemon would start at the north end of the city, helping people escape, while Vance, his pokemon and Rotom focused their effort near the side of the city leading to the old mine, now destroyed. By this time most residents had been evacuated, but some were still scrambling for safety, others looking for lost pokemon or children.

Oreburgh city was not a heavily fortified city like Hearthome City is. The Society had control over it, but saw a Galactic attack on Oreburgh without first going through Hearthome, unlikely. General Barrington of the Pokemon Society faced major scrutiny over the cataclysm that was Oreburgh. This left the Society with one less city in Sinnoh, a change of hands like this has not been seen in several decades when the Society descended upon Hearthome and crushed its Galactic occupiers. Barrington had pulled his remaining forces to Jubilife City to consolidate power, leaving Hearthome City in the middle of a Galactic nightmare. The Society was now losing land, and Barrington was losing patience.

In his fortress in Canalave City, Felix Barrington paced through the hallways, trying to reconcile his unit divisions. He lost a significant number of soldiers during the siege of Oreburgh and he now had displaced soldiers in Jubilife and Hearthome. Barrington in his ferocity will make the reckless decision to travel to Hearthome City. He planned to fortify this city, by sending supplies and pokemon there, including himself. Yes, he was traveling to Hearthome himself in order to properly execute operations from the center of the Sinnoh region. He knew he had to start with the two on his side of Mt. Coronet, before he would descend upon the others. Mt. Coronet, essentially splits the two halves of the region between the two major factions of Sinnoh. The left-hand side is mostly controlled by the Pokemon Society and the Society Police. This would exclude cities Eterna and Oreburgh, which have now fallen to Team Galactic. The right-hand side of Sinnoh, which includes Snowpoint City to the north is all controlled by Team Galactic, excluding Hearthome City, which is one of the last major Society strongholds. With Hearthome in the direct center of the Sinnoh region, it seems to be a very strong piece in Barrington's puzzle.

Vance, Drayke and Rotom continued evacuating citizens of Oreburgh City, until it seemed like there was nobody in sight. Fire still consumed buildings, landmarks and homes. Key places of interest like the museum and mine have been completely obliterated. Fights between Society and Team Galactic persist, as the sun begins to set and the day was finally coming to a close. When it seemed like there was nobody else left in the city, they regrouped and convened at the pokemon center.

"We got everyone out." Drayke said, returning his Altaria and Flygon to their pokeballs.

"So did we." Rotom replied as Vance returned his Blaziken and Houndour to rest. Rotom floated slowly between the two young men, still ashamed. He had been sulking ever since the scene in the Oreburgh Mine. The city had never been so quiet before, it now lacked infrastructure and residents that previously occupied it and made it the bustling ore producer it was once known as.

"There are still people here." Rotom pitched in again. "Did you guys see the Society and Team Galactic fighting for control over the city?"

"Yes. The Society is still attempting to regain control, but Team Galactic may have more manpower and they had the cover of the blizzard remember?" Vance responded. Drayke looked puzzled for a moment, then remembered it was Froslass that generated that huge ice storm.

"What should we do about them? Wait until they're all tired and go home?" Rotom asked. "I want to find Aria."

"We do too." Drayke voiced his mind. He blushed when Vance and Rotom both looked

at him like they both knew he had a huge crush on her.

"She's somewhere in that mine. I hope to god she's okay." Drayke said looking at the pile of boulders and machinery that once stood for centuries, mining and refining ores.

"Are there other entrances and exits to that mine?" Vance said aloud. He knew Rotom and Drayke would have no idea, so he wondered who would. In his training at the Bridge, Vance learned the schematics of entire cities. It was often difficult to enter some of them, before the Pokemon League ceasefire declared by General Barrington, so it became essential to learn all of the possible entry and exit points. He could not recall anything special about Oreburgh.

"I want to ask a Society operative if they know." Vance said, like he knew what the immediate response would be.

"That's crazy!"

"Vance, no!"

"What other choice do I have? Aria is trapped under those rocks somewhere. I-I don't even know if there's anything we can find." Vance's eyes darting in all directions as if to avoid Rotom's disgusted eyes. Drayke's mouth moved into the shape of a frown as he wondered what could be of his missing friend.

"I won't rest until I find something. Don't ever say to a trainer's pokemon that you don't know if they're alive. Don't do that again." Rotom said angrily. Drayke stepped a pace back in fear of Rotom attacking them. Rotom could sense Drayke's fear.

"Drayke. I would never harm any of you." Drayke sighed a great sigh of relief after Rotom's initial angry comment. "I'm just extremely worried about Aria. I want to find her."

"We will find her." Drayke assured, consoling the ghost pokemon. The sun had almost completely set, blanketing the world in darkness. The dark environment would not be able to reset the events of today. When the sun would reclaim its position in the heavenly sky, the world would again see the cruelty committed by humans. The Sinnoh region would still be rocked by the relentless force of the war, just as the hand of a grunt holding a gun was frozen off by an ice pokemon, somewhere deep beneath the ground.