In this chapter, we not only see what happens to Adrianna and her two new friends, but we also take a look at what happened to Team Fossil and their companions…
The adventure continues!
Frozen Archer: Oh snap, you're right! I've fixed it now, don't worry.
-.-.-.-.-.
The rain was pelting down pretty hard when Adrianna, Barn, Elf, and Topaz made it to the cave. It was a big, gaping hole in the side of a mountain, large enough to shelter a family of Wailord plus one Bidoof. It was dark and chilly, but at least it was dry.
"This cave should keep us safe until the storm passes," Adrianna said, sitting down a ways from the entrance. She adjusted the blanket around Topaz, who was peacefully sleeping through the drumming rain and rumbling thunder. Barn and Elf huddled together for warmth, fluffing up their feathers and shivering slightly to repel the cold.
The four of them sat there in silence, simply listening to the sound of the rain and wind. It seemed to worsen as time went on, until it sounded like an absolute monsoon was going on out there. Barn flew to the entrance, then returned with the report that he couldn't see a thing through the falling water.
Adrianna grew very worried. If the storm is indeed this bad, then what has happened to Gaby and the others? Were they caught in the storm? The Gardevoir took a deep breath and forced herself to be calm.
Two full hours passed, and the storm didn't seem to be letting up one bit. Adrianna had fallen into a kind of half-sleep, only to be jarred awake when Topaz woke up and moved in her arms. He gave a tiny yawn and stretched his arms wide (or as wide as they could reach, which wasn't very), making the blanket rustle.
Barn's head snapped up at the sound. He stared intently at the little Ralts and the fabric he was covered in, knowing that something sounded off. His ears, indeed powerful even for a Noctowl, heard that something wasn't right with the blanket. He picked up a thick rustling sound, as if there were many blankets instead of just one.
"Excuse me, ma'am," he said to Adrianna, walking up to her. "But can I see this blanket, please?" Confusion swam in the Gardevoir's eyes, but she nodded anyway. Barn grabbed the blanket in his talons and pulled part of it up to his face, examining it closely. Even Topaz looked bewildered.
It took a long time, but the Noctowl finally spoke. "Where exactly did you get this blanket?" he asked, and Adrianna thought about it for a few seconds. "It used to belong to my daughter when she was Topaz's age. She held onto it until he was born, then gave it to him."
Barn squinted harder at the blanket, rubbing it with his talons. It took a while, but he finally found what he suspected to be going on – one corner of the blanket had split in half, without any visible tear marks.
"There's two blankets!" he exclaimed, showing Adrianna the corner. "They must have been sewn together." Elf hopped over and indeed saw that this was the case.
But Adrianna still looked confused. "What does it matter?" she asked. "Maybe Gaby just did that for extra warmth."
Barn shook his head. "Ma'am, can you remember the original size of the blanket from when you first got it for your daughter?" There was a long pause as Adrianna indeed thought about it. Hesitantly, she answered, "It was always that size. The same length, width, and thickness."
The Noctowl snapped his talons. "Then it isn't two blankets – it's the original, but it was somehow split in half!"
Instead of seeing his point, Elf and Adrianna were more confused than ever. "Why in the name of Arceus would someone do that?" Elf asked. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out why the owner of this blanket would halve it in such a way, only to put it back together.
Pointing with a talon, Barn indicated the split corner. As they looked closer, they could see the tiniest bit of something poking out from between the two halves.
"What could that be?" Adrianna asked. Barn answered her with another question, "Do you mind if we find out?"
The Gardevoir nodded and replied, "Yes, I can always sew it back together again." Barn nodded, then used his talon to carefully pry the two halves apart.
Slowly, the two blankets ripped apart neatly to reveal what had been hidden between them. It was a large map of what appeared to be a series of tunnels. At the bottom of the map was what seemed like a cave, which split into a maze of tunnels before finally leading to a small cavern with a large red 'X' slashing across it.
"Could this be a treasure map?" Elf asked excitedly, leaning over Barn's shoulder to see. "I think so," her friend replied. "It must have been hidden in that blanket for a reason, as if the owner was trying to keep it a secret."
Adrianna took the map, looking it over. "But why would Gaby have such a thing?" she asked, almost to herself. "It's not like she was ever interested in exploring or even joining a rescue team." She traced with her finger the tunnels, trying to figure the maze out. As she wondered, her finger gradually went in the opposite direction, down the map and into the cave at the bottom. The size and shape of the cave made her blink. A realization came to her.
Then it was as if Elf came to the same conclusion. "You think the cave on the map… is this cave, right here?" Barn thought about it, then shrugged. "I don't know," he responded. "The map looks pretty old. If I had to make a guess, about a decade or two. The treasure might still be here!"
He caught Adrianna's reluctant look and continued, "The storm might be here for a while," he told her, and a flash of lightning from the entrance proved his point. "There's really no harm in investigating and seeing if there's actually a treasure in this cave."
Topaz was on the floor playing with his blankets. His foot caught on one, causing him to slip and tumble to Adrianna's side. He got up and smiled, clearly having enjoyed the experience. After a moment, Adrianna bit her lip and gathered him in her arms, wrapping him in the blankets again.
"Alright," she said with a nod. She stood up and handed the map back to Barn. "Let's find this treasure while we wait for the storm to end."
The two owls nodded, and led the way deeper into the cave, not seeing the Honchkrow that was watching them from the entrance…
-.-.-.-.-.
Clawface got up with a groan, instantly noticing the rain and wind that lashed him. He no longer felt the heat from the Thunderbolt, but his feathers were still scorched and he was still in pain. He also felt like a wet towel, with all the water soaking his feathers. Shivering, he shook some out, splashing the other three. They didn't wake up.
The Fearow gritted his beak and looked around. Him and the Life Stealers were alone with only the water pouring down to keep them company. To make matters worse, he had lost the fledglings, the two owl Pokemon that were supposed to be able to help him make it to the treasure rumored to be in the area.
He glanced back down at the Life Stealers and shook them. They still didn't respond. Snorting, he began to drag them toward what seemed like a rock outcropping on the side of the mountain, which looked like it would provide good shelter from the rain. As soon as they woke up and dried off, they would go to Diamond Island and find the Shard.
-.-.-.-.-.
Out at sea, to the west of the continent, the storm had already passed. In a part of the ocean just north of the ruined Diamond Island, a small raft bobbed along on the shore, amidst several pieces of debris that had come from the island as well. A small blue Pokemon stirred, then groaned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
Cobalt tiredly looked around, noting the bright blue sky and stringy white cirrus clouds floating up in the yonder. "So the storm's passed," he said loudly to himself – he was indeed still doing so to make him feel less alone – "and I've survived! Take that, Kyogre!" The Riolu grinned and instantly felt wide awake. He was that thrilled to have come out of the terrible storm alive.
He idly looked to his right and saw a long, flat piece of driftwood that looked vaguely like an oar. Inspiration coming to him at that moment, Cobalt reached out and plucked the wood out of the water.
Soon he was rowing due north, cheerfully whistling a sea shanty his father had taught him. In his jubilation, he totally forgot the sorrow of losing his friend Terra to the earthquake, or even the fact that there was an earthquake. The sheer calmness of the ocean scenery and his own relief at being alive distracted Cobalt for the moment.
He had just finished whistling his tune for the fourth time when he caught sight of something floating in the distance. A dim pulse pounded in his chest when he saw them, goading him to steer in that direction.
As before, Cobalt knew to trust the pulse, and thus turned his raft around and rowed toward the objects. And it was a good thing he did – when he got close enough, his eyes widened in shock as he saw that they were Pokemon!
Rowing with a new urgency, Cobalt rapidly approached the two thanks to a favorable current in the water. There were two of them – a Kirlia and a Victini – and they were sprawled out on a particularly large piece of driftwood.
Cobalt was surprised and worried to see these two young ones floating around in the ocean. Are they alright? Are they hurt? Are they dead? he asked himself, but immediately dispelled the last question. The Riolu could sense that they were alive. But he had to help them somehow!
It was very tricky maneuvering his raft to align with the driftwood, especially because the current was constantly changing its mind. Finally, Cobalt got his raft to bump sides with the floating wood, and he reached over to grasp the Victini. With a mighty effort, he pulled the Fire-and-Psychic type aboard his raft.
The Kirlia took a bit more effort, but he finally got her aboard as well. Taking a long, deep breath to relax, Cobalt began to row again toward the Elemental Islets. He knew that there were a few good-spirited Pokemon on those islands that would be willing to help these two.
Taking out an Oran Berry from his treasure bag and munching it, Cobalt turned his gaze toward the north and rowed on, determined to reach the Elemental Islets.
-.-.-.-.-.
Tortuga woke up suddenly, in response to a nudge on his side, as well as a splitting headache. He got to his flippers, noting with pleasant surprise that he was on a small, sandy beach. The sun beat down on him, warming him up and re-energizing him. The Prototurtle Pokemon felt strength return to his weary flippers.
He looked to his left to see whom had nudged him, and met the eyes of a young Glaceon. The Ice-type looked at him without emotion, although there was the tiniest bit of relief deep within those eyes.
Upon seeing him awake, the Glaceon walked away, further down the beach. Curious, Tortuga followed her. As he did so, he tried to remember how he had gotten on this pleasant land. He racked his brain, but couldn't remember for the life of him. Oh, well, he thought, I won't worry about it now.
He paused and came out of his thoughts when he saw the Glaceon stop and examine something lying on the beach. When he got closer, he ignored the Ice-type's appropriately icy glare and joined her in examining the thing on the beach.
With a start, Tortuga realized that it was a Pokemon. He guessed that it had washed up on the beach, just like he assumed himself to have done. He looked the Pokemon over and recognized it as a male Archen. The fossil Pokemon looked vaguely familiar, but Tortuga couldn't remember for the life of him who it was.
The Glaceon gently kicked the Archen's side. There was no response. Frowning slightly, she tried again. And again, no response. She kicked him a third time, this time harder. The Archen didn't even twitch.
"Is he… dead?" Tortuga gulped, looking at the Glaceon. She didn't answer, a flash of worry stealing into her otherwise emotionless eyes. She held an ear to his chest and seemed to relax. Tortuga took that to mean that the Archen was still alive.
But he got a surprise when the Glaceon picked the Archen up in her mouth and tossed him onto her back. "What are you doing?" Tortuga asked concernedly. The Glaceon sighed and answered reluctantly, "I'm taking this Pokemon to see the healer. He needs medical attention quickly."
Tortuga mulled this over in his mind and nodded. "All right then. Can I come with you? I'm kind of worried about the little guy myself."
The Glaceon sighed again and flicked her tail, gesturing for him to follow.
-.-.-.-.-.
The coast near Seaside Village was getting hammered by the storm, with waves pounding on the beach and throwing up massive amounts of seaweed, dead Water Pokemon, and Magikarp bones, among other things.
But the largest two things that washed up on the coast were still alive. With a startled yell, Alphonse found himself riding the crest of the largest wave yet. And then he was flung high into the air with an even louder yell, landing with a tremendous crash onto the ground, where the grass met the sand.
Evelyn landed beside him, somewhat more elegantly. Thanks to her serpentine shape, she wasn't damaged as badly upon her crash-landing. Alphonse, though, groaned in pain and staggered to his tentacles. "Well, that stunk," he muttered, spitting out seaweed.
"Wait!" exclaimed Evelyn. "Where's Terra and Cenric?" Alphonse looked around, and he felt a huge flash of rare panic as he noticed that the Charmander and Buizel hadn't washed up with them.
"We must have gotten separated sometime during the storm," the Tentacruel said, voice tight with worry. "Oh, this is bad… Terra would have never survived that! She's only a kid, and if her flame was doused… oh, no… oh, no…" Alphonse never felt more distressed in his life as he wrung two of his tentacles together nervously.
"Please, Alphonse!" Evelyn said, shouting over the roar of the waves, rain, and wind. "We can't panic. We have to believe that Terra and Cenric are alright without us, OK?"
Slowly, the Tentacruel calmed down and nodded. "You're right," he said finally. "I can't just give up on them like that. We have to hope that they're safe." His Dragonair friend nodded and smiled at his positive change in attitude.
"That's better," Evelyn said. "Now, we should really look to get out of this storm and find some place to rest!" A massive wave slammed into the beach just behind them, punctuating her statement. They backed away from the beach, out of reach of the waves.
"If we stay here, we could get washed back out to sea," Alphonse said seriously. Evelyn nodded and looked around, hoping to find shelter. She suddenly stopped and squinted at something through the rain, which Alphonse took note of. He looked in the same direction and tried to see what she was seeing, to no avail.
"What's over there that's so interesting?" Alphonse asked, wiping off a pile of rotten kelp that had landed on his head. Evelyn pointed into the distance with her tail, toward the mountains that rose to scrape the stormy sky. At just that moment, a flash of lightning illuminated them.
"Where there are mountains, there's shelter!" the Dragonair yelled over the din of the storm. "Come on, Alphonse! We'll be safe if we can find ourselves a cave!"
The two friends hurried away from the turbulent coast, trying not to imagine where Terra and Cenric might have ended up – and trying not to think that the most likely place was the afterlife.
-.-.-.-.-.
"Cenric, wake up!" Terra said urgently, shaking the Buizel. They were clinging to a pathetic piece of driftwood that they had landed near when the storm had started. But now, they were leaving the storm behind them as they floated into smoother waters. Terra's tail flame was weak, and smaller than usual, but at least it was still burning. She would survive.
The Buizel finally woke with a moan, sitting up and stretching out painfully, groping for his locket with one of his hands. "Where are we?" he muttered, voice clogged with drowsiness. Terra pointed at what she wanted him to see. "Cenric, there's land ahead! I think it's the Elemental Islets! We're safe!"
Cenric snapped to attention, fully awake now. "Then what are we waiting for? Paddle!" The two friends crouched down to start paddling for the land in the distance. It looked close, which only made them paddle even harder.
As their paddling began to slow down and they became tired, they saw that the land was only a little bit closer. Taking a brief rest to stretch their aching arms, Terra asked, "Cenric, where did Miss Evelyn and Mister Alphonse go?"
He shook his head wearily. "I don't know. Maybe they were separated from us in the storm. But we can't think of them now, we need to get to that island. Then maybe we can look for them." Terra nodded at her friend's words and began to paddle once more.
Finally, after another ten minutes of paddling, the water became shallow enough for them to wade towards shore. Terra frowned to herself – she didn't think the Elemental Islets had lots of jagged rocks coming up out of the water around them. After all, it was supposed to be a safe place, right?
Shaking off those thoughts, she took her first steps onto the rocky beach. The island, now that she got a good look at it, was dominated by cliffs and rocks. They were currently in a crescent-shaped cove, with rocks making up the majority of the beach instead of sand. It didn't look like a friendly place at all, but Terra had no choice but to settle for resting here.
Suddenly, Cenric tugged on her arm and pointed to the other side of the beach. Terra's eyes widened at what she saw – there was a boat lying on its side on the rocks over there!
"Let's go investigate!" Cenric said excitedly. "Maybe we can use the boat to get home!" Before he could run toward it, though, Terra held him back and said uncertainly, "Um, what if there are still Pokemon on it? What if they don't like us taking their boat?"
The Buizel rolled his eyes. "Come on, it's clearly shipwrecked here. I doubt there's anyone alive on it. Now let's go take a look! Maybe there's treasure on board!"
Terra grinned at the thought of treasure and raced after Cenric, her bandana flapping in the wind. They reached the wreck in just a few minutes, and stared up at it in awe. It was a big boat, but it was definitely not seaworthy. The mast had snapped off and was nowhere to be seen, the steering wheel was similarly missing, and there were several planks ripped away from the deck and hull. It was more likely than ever that the passengers had all perished.
More curious about the boat now that she saw it up close, the Charmander walked around to the other side of the boat. The ship was slightly tilted toward the ground on this side, so it was easy for her to see the faded name painted on the side of the hull. It read, Tranquility.
But just at that moment, Cenric's startled shout pierced the air, and Terra ran around to the bow of the Tranquility. What she saw startled her into gasping loudly.
A large Pokemon was lying in the boat's shadow, sprawled out as if dead. It was covered in yellow feathers and had four blue-colored wings with claws on them. The unknown bird was very scary-looking, and unlike anything Terra had ever seen before.
"What is he?" she whispered, hoping that the freakish Pokemon was dead. Those teeth and claws didn't exactly reassure her that it was a vegetarian.
Cenric replied in a thoughtful murmur. "I think he's one of those fossil Pokemon that my parents told me about. They said that fossil Pokemon are supposed to be extinct, and that they aren't very friendly, except to their fellow fossils."
Terra cocked her head, confused. "Extinct?" she asked, tasting the unfamiliar word in her mouth. "They're not supposed to exist any more," Cenric told her. "They're all supposed to be dead."
On the word 'dead', Terra suddenly witnessed the Pokemon's eyes snap open.
With a terrible screech, the fossil Pokemon leapt to its feet and whirled on the duo. "RUUUUUN!" Cenric screamed as they sped up the beach and further inland. Him and Terra were hoping to reach the safety of the cliffs, where there would be plenty of big boulders to hide behind, or narrow crevices to hide in.
Terra ran even faster when she heard another horrible roaring shriek from behind them. She closed her eyes, expecting to feel the fossil Pokemon's terrible claws on her tail at any second…
-.-.-.-.-.
The Glaceon who has yet to give her name belongs to thesecretkeeper11.
Team Fossil isn't dead! They've only been separated and scattered all over the western ocean. But Team Biosphere is similarly separated, and it looks like a few of their members are already meeting up with other characters.
Also, where does Adrianna's treasure map lead, and why does Clawface want Barn and Elf for his own purposes?
Review, characters are still welcome, and see you for the next chapter!