I woke up, the sun hidden behind a large wall of clouds. This wasn't unusual. There was almost never a sunny day in this city. The rain was very pure, though. I quite liked the rain. I found it calming most of the time, though sometimes it would make me sad.
There was a small bell chime outside my door. "Come in?" I said, not sure if it was a door bell.
A ralts came walking in. This must be Kykis. "Good morning," he said. "You probably are already aware of who I am, but introductions are important. I am Kykis. You are Hydra?"
"Yes. What do you need?"
"Lilly is holding a meeting on the bottom floor. I have come to get you."
I nodded, getting up. "Then let's go."
Without warning, there was a bright flash of light, and we were in the restaurant's bottom floor. That's right, he could teleport people without touching them. Everyone else was down here waiting, even the growlithe, whose name was Mark, if I remembered correctly. He was a little scary with a large scar over his left eye.
"Good, now that we are all here," Lilly said, "it is time for the meeting to start.
"First order of business: our name. Hydra has provided us with a rather good idea. The Unnaturals. Does anyone object to this name?" There was no objections. "Good. Moving on, we have a new member. Hydra shall be joining us. Does anyone object to this?"
"No, but I have a question," Mark said. "What's this Psyche Scream you said she could do?"
"I'm still not too sure," I said. "I just know that when I'm scared, I can freeze pokemon around me, and they'll follow my every order. KY thought it was the move psychic, but Eriff proved this wrong when he pointed out that I used it on the Shadow Eaters."
"Interesting, but it must be looked into later." He turned to Lilly. "Continue."
"Well now our members are up to seven. Three more members and we will be an official pokemon gang, able to compete in the tournament. So, we need to go find more members. We will go in pairs, with KY remaining here as the guard." KY got extremely excited about this. "You aren't allowed in the camera room." He slumped in disappointment. "Now, the code today will be sapphire, in honor of our new member. I will be going with Elric. Eriff, you go with Kykis. Hydra, you go with Mark." Great. I get to go with the scary growlithe, instead of the more normal seeming pokemon. Yay me.
The meeting was adjourned, and we all left through the odd doors. Lilly and Elric took the north road, Eriff and Kykis went to the left, and Mark and I went to the right.
"So what are the doors?" I asked him.
"Creations of KY. They are holograms, giving the appearance of a solid object while really there is nothing there."
"Neat." I looked around the deserted street. "So, how are we supposed to find other pokemon around?"
"Well we won't find any around here. This is gang territory. We have to go to Freelands. There are certain areas that are protected for pokemon that don't want to be in a gang. Most gangs will leave them alone, but that is the best way to find new members."
"Won't we be attacked?"
"Not by the protectors. They will only attack if we cause trouble." He made a right turn. "We are about to enter the nearest Freeland territory: Jis. Most of the buildings will be extremely unstable, so try not to touch anything."
I nodded. As we went, the buildings became more damaged, some even reduced to rubble. I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to live here. I had lived in a rather rickety house in the east of town, but at least it stayed standing.
We walked down an alleyway. Mark was very alert, while I was tense. Mark's ear twitched, and he whirled around, spontaneously combusting.
The attacker jumped over us, a hood over his head. He faced us. It was a Scrafty, and it looked like a cornered animal. He sprang to attack again, but this time he got hit in the stomach by Mark's flamethrower.
Since I wasn't the focus attention, and he was the only attacker, I didn't think Psyche Scream was a huge possibility. I stepped in front of Mark. "Stop!"
The attacker seemed to melt into the shadows in the corner of the alley. "Why are you here? This is my home!"
"And we are sorry. We will leave, but we have a question for you."
He was silent for a moment. "Who are you?"
"I'm Hydra, and this is Mark. We don't want to fight."
He stayed. "You've come to find me."
"Well, sort of," Mark said. "We are starting a new gang, and need three more members. Do you want to join?"
"No!" He yelled, startling us both. He shrank even further into the corner. "I'm sorry. I just can't."
I nodded, and smiled at him. "We understand. What's your name?"
"Ore."
"Well, Ore, do you know of anyone who might want to join?"
"The cold building. He's there."
I nodded. "Thanks." We left without another word, leaving him in his corner.
"What's the cold building?" Mark asked.
"I'm guessing the giant glacier." I indicated towards the large structure of ice at the end of the street. It was the only building around that wasn't really destroyed. The only problem was it huge. It would take forever to explore.
We walked up to it, and every step we took towards it, the air got colder. We were nearly to the front door. It was flanked by two ice soldiers. One was an abomasnow while the other was a mamoswine.
"I wonder who built this," Mark said in awe.
"I did."
The wind picked up, and a froslass appeared in front of us. She looked extremely serious. "Well, that isn't entirely accurate. I'm the one who came up with the idea, and am the caretaker of the building, but a lot of people worked for the construction of this building. It was only recently completed, and serves as a sanctuary for those who can't afford to live on the streets. I am Ita."
"Well can we go in?" I asked brightly.
Her eyes narrowed at me. "No."
She floated higher into the air. "I feel an evil presence nearby. I am the guardian of the entrance, and should any evil enter, it will fall on my hands. I cannot afford to risk the safety of the Glacial Tower. You will leave, or I will make you.
"Are you saying were the evil ones?" Mark growled, irritated.
She gave him an icy look. "Are you saying you won't leave?" She thrust her hands out to the statues of ice. "Arise, guardians!"
Both of the statues broke, and the two pokemon, now real, roared in anger and charged at us. There was no way I was going to avoid it now, not with those two colossal pokemon baring down on me. I used Psyche Scream.
Everyone froze. I immediately turned to Mark. "Unfreeze!" He unfroze and blew fire everywhere. I quickly hit him in the side. Run!"
We took off down the street. "Why are we running?" Mark asked.
"They are too big! My Psyche Scream won't last very long, and they were too big to transport away!"
Just as I suspected, Ita's furious screams rang throughout the area. "They damaged the tower! Destroy them!"
We ran faster, but I heard the loud bounding of the other pokemon. They were much bigger than us, so they covered ground faster. They were going to catch us. I couldn't use Psyche Scream again on them. It would take too much energy.
As quick as a flash, Ore came flying out of his alley. "Run! I'll hold them off!"
"No!" I said, stopping in my tracks. We couldn't leave him behind.
His hood was off, and the top of his Mohawk was brown and silver. He held his hands out. The pokemon were getting closer. Just before they reached us, a huge stone wall shot out of the ground, blocking them from us. I heard them run into it, but they didn't break through.
"Run!" He said again.
"Not without you!" I yelled back. He looked back at me, then nodded. We turned from the stone wall and ran, hearing the angry cries of our attackers behind us. It was safe to say we weren't getting into Glacial Tower any time soon, and that Ore couldn't go home.
We made it back to the restaurant, where we quickly got inside. We were about to rest on the floor when a beam of ice, fire and electricity flew at us, we jumped out of the way. Stones came out of the ground and started circling Ore.
"Whoa! Whoa! KY, calm down! It's just us!" Mark yelled.
KY came from his hiding place, bowing over and over again. "I'm so sorry Mr. Mark! I was starting to get drowsy and you all startled me when you entered! Please forgive me! I didn't mean it!"
Ore still looked ready to attack. He was starting to look like a cornered animal again. "Who are you?"
"KY, at your service." He bowed to Ore.
Then, startling us all again, the boards from the door got blasted through the holographic door, causing us all to jump and causing Ore to send his stones flying through the door. Blasts of water blew them away and started attacking blindly into the restaurant. Judging from the ferociousness of the attack, I'm guessing it was hydro pump.
"Lilly, calm down!" Mark yelled.
"Sorry!" She said entering the room with Elric and Eriff right next to her, Kykis not far behind. Laid across the back of the eons was an absol. My stomach leapt to my throat. Blood was everywhere.
They gently set him down. There was a decent sized cut in his side. "The Geoaxes found us and attacked," Lilly said. "We had just met Absolum here, and he got hit in the fight. They weren't using attacks, they were using weapons. KY, get bandages now!"
KY flew at extreme speed to the top floor using a small motion censored hatch in the ceiling. Kykis disappeared, probably wanting to follow him. Lilly gently washed the blood off of the Absol. She looked away. "I can't do this. Eriff!"
He rushed forward, having gotten a towel from the bar at the far side of the room. "Absolum, bite down on this." The pokemon took the cloth in his mouth. Eriff took a deep breath, and started inspecting the wound with his paw. Absolum tensed up and bit down on the towel.
"This wound is pretty deep, and it feels like a piece of metal is stuck in him. Their weapons probably weren't clean, so if we don't get that out now, he could get a serious infection. KY!"
KY and Kykis returned, KY holding loads of bandages. "Get some wine from the bar!" KY flew over to the bar, grabbing a green bottle. He brought it back over.
"Wine? How will that help?" I asked.
"Alcohol is needed to clean the wound. I can't get proper medicine because we don't have a black market dealer yet." He turned to Kykis. "I need you to remove the blade."
Kykis showed slight fear at this, but nodded. He stepped forward, and held his small hands out to the wound. Absolum howled in pain, and there was a horrible squelching noise as the blade started to be psychically pulled from the wound. Lilly paled. "Oh my gosh, I'm going to be sick!" She ran out the front door as fast as she could.
The blade was soon out, but he had lost a lot of blood and it was still coming. Thank goodness the piece wasn't very big, only about a third of the size of my paw. Eriff grabbed half of the huge wad of cloth and pressed it on the wound. He then pulled the cork out of the wine bottle with his teeth. "This is going to sting." He poured a bit of it on the other half. Removing the blood soaked half, he pressed the alcohol cloth onto the wound. Absolum howled again.
"Lilly! I need water!"
She came shakily back into the room. She started rinsing the sound off. KY had gone and gotten some more bandages. Once Eriff was satisfied that the wound was clean enough, he wrapped it.
"We need to get a proper healer," he said. "Kykis, go get Gani! I know she hates teleporting, but we need her!" Kykis nodded, and in two flashes of light, a Meganium was standing in the room.
"How dare you do that to me!" She yelled. From the sound of her voice and the slight weariness in her face, she was an older woman.
"We need help!" Elric said. "He's been hurt, badly!"
"Shut your trap! I can see that!" She walked over. "Yes, I can sense he is rather weak. I'm not as strong as I used to be, so don't blame me if he isn't perfectly okay." She placed a paw on the wound, and waves of pink started pulsing from her into Absolum. She closed her eyes, concentrating hard. Soon green waves mixed with the pink ones.
Finally she stopped, breathing heavily. "There. The wound is clean, and won't be infected, plus it has mostly stopped bleeding, but I couldn't close it or help regain him much blood. Make sure you get him some water and food before he falls asleep. Now take me back home." Kykis nodded, and in two more flashes, she was gone, and Kykis looked very tired.
KY soon had some oran berries and water in front of Absolum. He ate some of the berries, though it was obvious he didn't want to, and then drank some of the water. He closed his eyes, and soon fell asleep.
"I think he'll be okay," Lilly said. She finally took notice of Ore. "Where you the one to attack me?"
He started slowly backing away, stones still floating at the ready. "I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." You could tell he was close to freaking out.
She smiled. "All I was going to say was nice aim. How did you do that?"
"That was simply stone edge. I've always been able to control rocks, ever since I was little, which is why I'm named Ore. It's been a curse all my life."
"And the plot thickens as another Unnatural emerges," Elric said. "We all know what you mean. Everyone here has some crazy trick up our sleeve. It means you'll fit right in. Kykis can take Absolum to the infirmary while you can go find a room. You look pretty tired." He looked at the ceiling. "Sapphire." The ceiling panel lowered, and while Kykis teleported himself and Absolum away, we rode up there.
Elric led Ore to the rooms. Lilly sighed. "I'm glad that didn't last long. I can't stand wounds like that." I could tell she was refraining to mention how we all had heard when she had emptied the contents of her stomach outside, but I didn't bring it up, and neither did Eriff. "I'm going to get some food then take a quick rest. Maybe will take another outing later tonight." She walked off to the kitchen, leaving me with Eriff and Mark.
"That was pretty impressive," I told Eriff.
"Yeah, well, if you want to be a breeder, you need to know these things. Though he'd probably have died if we didn't know Gani. She's the best healer around, though she lives on the forest outside of the city. Since she hates teleporting, it usually takes her a while to get her here. Teleporting her is really hard to do for some reason. It takes up a lot of Kykis's energy." He smiled at me and Mark. "Well at least you two were successful."
"Yeah, not really," Mark said. "Ore originally didn't want to join, and told us to go to a new building called the Glacial Tower, where we could find someone who would help. Unfortunately their stupid caretaker freaked out and we couldn't get in. When she attacked us, Ore stepped in and helped, fleeing with us. It's more like he can't go home now, so he's going to stay with us."
"I see. Well you two had best get some sleep. We probably will go on another outing later tonight, since this morning's endeavors were much shorter than we had anticipated." He didn't need to tell me twice. I went back to my room and crashed on my bed, ready for some more sleep. THe only thing that nagged at the back of my mind is what Ita said. Who was that evil presence, and why where they near Glacial Tower?