Episode 46: Beyond the boundary

"Di—did you hear that?" Charlotte asked Niko and Warren, as they all stopped dead in their tracks after hearing the piercing sound of a dragon's roar.

"Yeah…what do you think it was?" Niko wondered. "Wait…you don't think…"

"How close are we to Lacunosa town…" Charlotte said, kneeling to grab her book out of her bag. Pulling it out and examining the map of Unova, her eyes widened. "Niko…this is the Giant Chasm. It's where Kyurem is said to live."

"Then Team Plasma might be around." Niko said, turning in the direction they were already going."

"No!" Charlotte said. "We're not getting involved!"

"And why not?" Niko said. "Look, if you're scared, then so am I. But we can't just—"

"You yourself told me you hate getting involved with these gangs!" Charlotte said, a serious look in her eyes. "Well, so do I."

"If Team Plasma is doing something malevolent, shouldn't we get involved?" Warren said, trying to break the tension between his two companions…and failing. "Look, it's probably dangerous, but we—"

"Niko almost died last time!" Charlotte shouted. "If it weren't for Rufflet evolving, we wouldn't be here right now!"

Niko was silent for a moment. He knew Charlotte was right—he almost died, and he did dislike getting involved in these kinds of things. However, how could he pass up the opportunity to help someone, or something, out? Plus, he had a faint feeling that he would be better off by getting involved.

"Then you can go." Niko finally said. "If you don't want to get involved here, go to Vertress City, and I'll meet you there."

"Niko—"

"No. I'm going to go see what's going on, at the very least. You can come with me or not. That's your choice." Niko said before turning and walking down the path, deeper into the Giant Chasm, and leaving Warren and Charlotte behind.

"…so now what?" Warren wondered. "Are you going too?"

"I don't know…" Charlotte said.

"Well, I'll stay with you if you choose to not go." He said, sitting down next to her.

Niko walked through more charred tree trunks as he noticed the ground descend at a greater angle. Eventually, he had to stop because the incline was too much for him to walk down without tripping and sliding down into whatever lay below. Grabbing onto a tree, he tried to look past him, into the chasm. All he could see was trees ahead.

"Hmm." He eventually said, pulling out a pokéball. "Braviary, come on out." He whispered, summoning his Valiant Pokémon. "Do you think I can ride you down there, into the Giant Chasm?" Braviary thought about it for a moment, and shrugged, as if unsure. "Alright, wanna try?" They both nodded and Niko, for the first time, mounted one of his flying type Pokémon. Braviary then set off, down into the forest below.

It didn't take long for them to move out of the forest, and what Niko saw in its place was, at the very least, appalling to him. The Giant Chasm was true to its name—there was a mile-wide crater sitting there. Niko noticed small cave entrances littered around there, presumably where most of the local Pokémon lived. Trees in the center of the crater lay bare on the ground, as if the crater was the result of a recent impact. However, Niko knew it wasn't, according to the Lacunosa Legend.

Then, squinting, he noticed a small group of people—about four or five men—walking at a hurried pace towards one of the larger cave entrances in the back of the crater. Niko then whispered to Braviary to go a little lower, so he could catch a better glimpse of what he was seeing. And, as what characteristic of that day, he found himself unpleasantly surprised. The group was composed of the four men he tried pursuing at Village Bridge, plus an unfamiliar fifth man dressed in the same garb as the others.

"Let's land here." Niko whispered again. Braviary nodded, and took Niko down towards the ground, where they landed. It was much harder to see at the bottom—a thick fog floated above the ground. But Niko and Braviary continued, walking through the fog to see if they could find anything suspicious.

He then heard a twig snap nearby, causing him to pause. Niko began breathing slowly, and his heartrate increased as he tried to listen for sounds of anyone nearby. Suddenly, he heard something whizzing through the air. Braviary blocked it with air cutter, giving Niko time to turn and see what was about to attack him.

It was a sludge bomb, originating from a Muk, and owned by a Team Plasma Grunt. Niko turned to Braviary, and nodded.

"Braviary, aerial ace!" Niko commanded. The Valiant Pokémon dove towards the Muk, casually evading the sludge bombs before crashing into the Sludge Pokémon. "Reuniclus, I choose you! Use psyshock!" He shouted, and watched at the Multiplying Pokémon commanded several light blue and purple orbs, and threw them all at the Muk. The Sludge Pokémon collapsed in defeat, much to the shock of the grunt.

"Colress will heard about this!" He shouted, returning Muk and running off. Reuniclus then used her psychic abilities to grab the grunt and force him backwards into a tree, knocking him unconscious. She then gave Niko a smug look.

"Oh, you." Niko smiled as he returned Reuniclus, nodding to Braviary to continue.

As they proceeded through the fog-layered bottom of the crater, Niko tried to think about how he would take on Team Plasma, especially with only his Pokémon. Are the authorities even looking into this? He thought to himself. Shrugging away the thought, he continued his pursuit and, within minutes, found himself on an unnaturally open pathway.

"Be on the lookout, Braviary." Niko said, turning to his eagle-like Pokémon. Braviary nodded, and flew a few paces ahead of Niko, just as a precaution.

The cleared pathway only took a minute or so to traverse. On the other end lay a pathway up the side of the crater, and into some sort of tunnel. Niko looked briefly at Braviary, and walked up the pathway. That's when he began to hear mutterings from within. Leaning close to the cave wall, he tried to listen.

"Zinzolin!" A raspy voice shouted. "What was it that you saw?"

"A Braviary, sir."

"Hmm…it could be that fool, Alder." The raspy voice continued. "No matter, we will soon have the power to crush anyone that tries to oppose us."

"Is that…?" The man apparently known as Zinzolin asked with surprise in his voice.

"Yes, the DNA Splicer. You're correct."

"And…you plan on using that…?"

"Of course I do, Zinzolin. Why wouldn't I?" The raspy voice said dismissively. Niko heard him pacing around within the cavern before continuing. "Years ago my plans to use Reshiram failed. You know that, and I appreciate everything you've done to help bring my vision back to reality. Truly…I do."

"It's an honor of a lifetime to serve you, sir." Zinzolin replied.

"Same with us." Several other men said in unison.

"Ah, yes. The other sages. Ryoku, Giallo, Bronius, and Gorm. Too bad Rood couldn't join us today. He was always the contrarian amongst us, and so I suppose it's better that he isn't here." The raspy voice let out a deep, heavy sigh. "Also…"

"Yes, my lord?"

"Do I sense that we have a visitor?"

Niko's heart dropped. He turned to Braviary, who was standing on the ground next to him, also completely still. Niko waited a minute before turning to leave. Just then, a fire erupted from the cavern, with enough force to knock him off of his feet.

"What the-?" Niko asked, turning back to the cave entrance. Coming out of it was an Eelektross, floating low to the ground. Niko crawled backwards to avoid it, just as Braviary dove in towards it, slamming into the EleFish Pokémon with aerial ace. "Braviary, watch out!" Niko shouted, just as the Eelektross used what looked like flame charge, only the Pokémon was coated in electric sparks, and not fire. Braviary fell off of the pathway and down into the crater. "I got you." Niko shouted, whipping out his pokéball to return Braviary just before he got out of range. He looked at the Eelektross now, who was glaring at him with blood red eyes.

Charlotte sat on the ground near a charred tree, drawing figures in the dirt with a stick. Next to her was Smeargle, who was occupying her time with painting, as well as providing company to her trainer. Warren, on the other hand, was off looking for the path out of the burnt forest.

"Why can't I go?" Charlotte said aloud, but softly enough that only Smeargle could hear her. "Am I afraid? Am I too worried? I don't know…but I can't decide." She said, snapping her stick and throwing it at a nearby tree. Smeargle then turned to look at her. "I guess…I'm afraid of dying. But also that if something did happen to me, then I wouldn't get to be with you, Smeargle, or Deerling, or Frillish, or Warren, or my mom, or Niko…"

Smeargle looked at her before whipping her painting tail around, clearly focused on what she was creating for her trainer. It didn't take long, but eventually a pink heart appeared in front of Charlotte. She sighed, but smiled up at Smeargle, who returned the smile with a hug.

"You're right…we'll always be loved, regardless of what happens." She let go of Smeargle and nodded, this time with conviction. "Let's go find Niko."

"We're going?" Warren said, suddenly appearing. "Because I just found a pathway north, out of this place, if you want to head to Vertress City."

"No, let's help Niko. It's our job." Charlotte stood up and returned Smeargle. Warren noticed, for the first time, a fire lighting up in her eyes.

"Yes. Let's go." He said. They ran off down the path their friend had run earlier, eventually reaching the sharp decline that Niko had gotten to earlier. "Oh…my god…"

"It is the Giant Chasm!" Charlotte said, marveling at the enormous crater while holding onto a charred tree. "Warren…this is an incredible sight!"

"That it is. But we have a job to do, right?" Warren said, patting Charlotte on the shoulder.

"How are we going to get down, though?" She wondered, looking around her limited field of vision for some sort of pathway. She then noticed Warren and Leavanny making their way down, using silk. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She shouted in a panicked tone.

"Going down." Warren said simply.

"Uh…okay?" Charlotte said before noticing that Leavanny's string was acting like a rope. "Ah."

"Yeah, we're going to rappel down there. Kinda like rock climbers." Warren said, tugging on the string. "See? Safe."

"I…believe you." Charlotte said, gulping a little. She walked over and got into Warren and Leavanny's arms as the Nurturing Pokémon briefly looked down before jumping off. Charlotte found herself amazed by how in sync Warren and Leavanny were; they both touched the side of the crater at the same time and leapt back off at the same time. Eventually, they found themselves close to the ground, where Charlotte noticed the thick fog. Not sure how much further they had to go, she closed her eyes tightly and waited to safely land.

"Here." Warren said, and Charlotte opened her eyes to see him, Leavanny, and the fog around them. "Geez…Niko went through here? It's so barren and…"

"Eerie." Charlotte said, touching a pokéball on her belt to make sure they were still attached to her. They were and, feeling safer, she continued through the fog, with Warren's Pidove helping them navigate through the fog. After what seemed like an eternity, the duo made it to an unnaturally-carved path through a forest of snapped trees. "Whatever hit this place certainly did a number on the area, right?"

"Yeah. Trees would normally grow after a while, right?"

"I think so." Charlotte said, grimacing at the dead foliage around her. "This place is awful."

"Figures that Team Plasma would be here, then." Warren muttered just as they reached the end of the pathway, discovering the edge of the crater with what looked like the entrance to a tunnel up above. "There. They might be there." Warren said, beginning to make his way up.

"Warren! Wait!" Charlotte shouted as she looked down at her friend's feet. Warren looked down just as Leavanny pushed him away. A smoke cloud erupted under the Nurturing Pokémon, causing Leavanny to cough profusely. Charlotte whipped out a pokéball in defense, looking around her. There was no one to be seen. "Is Leavanny alright?"

"Yeah, I hope so. But we need to get away from here. Now." Warren said, returning Leavanny and grabbing Charlotte's wrist before breaking into a run towards the cave entrance, just as more smoke clouds erupted behind them. "They really made sure no one was around to bother them, eh?"

"Guess not." Charlotte said, turning her head to look behind her while Warren practically dragged her along. Suddenly, he stopped in front of the cave entrance when she looked back.

There, in front of her and Warren, stood a Bisharp and an Eelektross. Bisharp's hand-blades began to glow bright red while Eelektross' mouth lit up in flames.

"Frillish! Water pulse!" Charlotte shouted. The pulsating blue orb hit Eelektross' flamethrower, causing a cloud of vapor to erupt while Warren summoned Poliwhirl to deal with Bisharp.

"What the hell?" Warren said through the vapor. "Whose Pokémon are these?"

"They're mine." A raspy voice said as the vapor disappeared. Standing in front of them was a tall man with gray-green hair and a robotic red lens covering one of his eyes. He wore a long cloak that folded outwards at the top, covering his neck and part of his chin and mouth. The cloak was black and dark shades of gray with odd-looking eyes on it.

"I know you…" Charlotte said. "You're Ghetsis."

"Indeed I am. And you're in my way. Surrender or, like your friend, you'll be the first to perish in my new world order."

"'Your friend?'" Warren asked as his eyes widened. "What did you do to Niko!? WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"Nothing. Yet. But he was quite meddlesome." Ghetsis began coughing before continuing his thoughts. "Come, join us. What we're about to do is quite marvelous, if I do say so myself."

"NO!" Warren shouted. He then felt a hand touch his arm. Looking down, he saw Charlotte nod seriously at him. "Why should we go?"

"Let's. Just. Go." She said silently. "I know it doesn't make sense. It doesn't to me, and I'd rather fight. But it's safer for now."

"Exactly." Ghetsis said with a malicious smirk. "Come. I'll be kinder to you since you readily surrendered to me." He said, making a simple hand motion. Warren hesitated, but with a quick push from Charlotte, he finally accepted by returning Poliwhirl.

Ghetsis then led them through the cave entrance and into a tunnel, where they walked for a minute or so before reaching a much larger cavern. There, they immediately saw Niko guarded by two grunts; the four hooded men that Niko chased down at Village Bridge; and Colress. What really grabbed their attention was in the center of the chamber.

A massive, blue and gray Pokémon stood there in a light blue electrical sphere. It had yellow eyes and no pupils. On its head were a pair of pointed light bluish horns and a yellow crest above its skull. Three pointed teeth jut out from the bottom of either side of its jaws, which are frozen shut by the ice covering its head. Its long, gray neck had lines running around its whole body, legs, arms, and tail. It had two arms, each with its own claw and each arm is jointed together from its oddly shaped blue wings. Each wing had two spikes of ice. The right side of its body seemed to be damaged in some way, as the wing and horn on those side were shorter. Its tail had three blue conical spikes on its tip.

"Kyurem, please say hello to our newest guests." Ghetsis said, motioning towards Warren and Charlotte. "Children, this is the legendary Pokémon, Kyurem."