Chapter 15: Roots
The ancient door of the dilapidated mansion was unable to withstand the crushing pressure of hydro pump, with an almighty groan it caved in. Blue did a little victory leap and Platina watched her senior with a poker face. Smoothing the folds of her dress out, the heiress gathered her inky hair into a bun and followed after her leader. The moment they stepped into the cobwebbed foyer, a musty smell greeted them. Far from being abandoned, this pokemon mansion on Cinnabar Island was now home to ghost and other types of pocket monsters. Ankle length boots clacking, Blue strode forward, her shoes leaving little prints on the thick dust caking the tiled floor. As she crossed the middle of the room and attempted to ascend the stairs, a chandelier, fixed in the ceiling burst into life, it glowed with blue fire. From the shadows flickering against the walls, the brown haired woman spied pokemon emerging, soon, a hissing mass formed between her and the flight of stairs. Tossing her head back, she summoned her clefairy and the pink pokemon appeared amidst a shower of light and uttered a cry, Platina as well, called forth her cherrim and the two female trainers took fighting stances.
"Cherrim, use sunny day" and the room brightened up considerably, a number of the pure ghost types shrunk against the walls, seeking protection against the harsh sunlight.
"Cleffy, use safeguard and solar beam."
A transparent barrier formed between the two sides and at once the wild pokemon let out a synchronized screech. The Sinnoh native let out a haughty huff as safeguard prevented them from falling asleep or muddling their brains, realizing that scaring these invading humans was not cutting it, some of the more aggressive pokemon leapt forward for a physical assault, at the same moment, clefairy unleashed a solar beam, reinforced by sunny day. The duo shielded their eyes as intense light blasted the quivering, chittering mass and singed them to oblivion. A few of the pokemon disintegrated and they simply watched. Overhead, the flames of chandelure died out and with a crash the beast fell to the floor, its glass body shattering into pieces.
Late afternoon
Kanto, Cinnabar
Pokemon mansion
The dark room was illuminated with countless candles, sitting at a table on creaky chairs, Platinum pored over an old journal she found lying in one of the chambers, the upper floors of the palace was inhabited with ditto and she squinted at the faded writing in order to make some sense of it. Sitting opposite her was Blue, the older trainer had her laptop out and every few moments she was typing something in it, she too was scrutinizing some scrolls, one of them, tea colored with age, had fallen apart in her hands and the brunette swore vehemently.
"Platina, any luck?"
"This is information we already know senior," she replied politely "how Mew was captured by team rocket and injected with an embryo made from its corrupted DNA, thereafter it gave birth to Mewtwo. It was discovered in Faraway islands, somewhere near the region of Hoenn. Apparently, the island was once home to humans but after Mew made its place there, the humans constructed a temple for it, abandoned the place and moved to Hoenn."
"I see, keep searching for anything else related to its creation, I'm not getting much here as well, these scrolls are archaic, some of them are in symbols I don't even understand." Blue groaned and typed a few keys, "I should've dragged Green with me...Mr. Professor would know how to read this. Speaking of him, I think if people knew he managed to clone another Mewtwo using Ditto, we'd have an army of super powered pokemon on our hands."
"Yes, but Ditto was destroyed in the process no?" Giving her aching eyes a break, the younger trainer eyed her superior.
"Of course, you can't expect ditto being able hold such a powerful pokemon. Ditto is merely a failed result of trying to clone Mewtwo, somehow, through radiation I suppose...It managed to evolve into an actual creature, anyway, it being used to clone Mewtwo is a farfetched concept, therefore any scientist in their right mind would not take the approach, unfortunately our Green was born with a different brain altogether."
The two quieted down and worked by themselves once more, the silence in the room was occasionally punctured by the rustling of pages or the tapping of keys. Time elapsed and the candles burned lower, white wax pooling in elaborate candelabrum. Several times, Platinum had gotten up and fetched more tomes from an intricately carved bookshelf; however none of these books divulged the information they needed. Feeling fatigued, she stretched her arms above her head and exhaled. Firming her resolve, she tackled the antediluvian scripts with renewed energy and gasped. Blue's head shot up, her face reflecting the dim glow of her laptop's screen.
"Senior, please listen to this" breathless from excitement, the underling relayed, "it says here that Mew was the second legendary pokemon in creation, right after Arceus. She...She? Is the cosmic egg, the mother of all creation and is made from the same substance as Arceus, a type of energy being called Unown..." here the aristocrat paused and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, shaking her head, she carried on "Mew holds the DNA of every pokemon inhabiting the Poke Earth and can therefore can birth any of them. Together with Arceus, they created the laws governing space, time and gravity as well as emotion, willpower and knowledge. After this...Oh no, the text ends there!" The indigo haired female looked up, her normally expressionless visage crumpling into disbelief. Blue licked her lips and her irises narrowed in contemplation. Finally, she spoke up:
"Let's leave this place, we found a bit of what we needed." Shutting her portable computer down, the con-artist started packing up. Her subordinate got up from the chair abruptly.
"Leader, we can't let this go! I mean we have been searching for Mew's creation myths for so long an-"
"Exactly!" the older woman cut into her words "we're heading for Sinnoh, I'm sure we'll find more information there. Don't you know? Sinnoh is the first region to be created in this universe...guess you must be lucky huh?" Smiling, she put on her gloves, tossed her hair and exited the room, Platina followed regally.
Around the same time
Kanto, Celadon city
Underneath the game corner.
A spiky haired brunette sneezed violently and his best friend chuckled at his expense. Blinking his eyes, he stared at the checkered bored. With a smug smirk, he moved a chess piece, leaned back and crossed his arms.
"Noo! Green! You can't do this to me! You know I hate chess" with a defeated shout, Red gave up, meekly moved his own piece and huffed in irritation. He was on his fourth losing streak and his friend's face stretched into another victorious smile.
"Check mate."
"I hate you"
"You sound like your old self" Green laughed and pointed to the scowl decorating Red's face, the crimson eyed male's glower melted off and he slumped into his seat.
"I wonder what the others are up to...hey Green, wanna have lunch? I'm starving" The statement was further reinforced by a growl coming from the Red's stomach, the man got up and began making his way into the kitchen, his brown haired friend first moved the little table to a corner of the room, taking care not to trip and fall over the many wires littering the floor, straightening up, he grabbed his jacket and left for the kitchen. On entering it, he witnessed Pearl dishing out a severe slap on Diamond's cheek. The slapped boy did an exaggerated twirl on the spot, flapped his arms in a poor imitation of a bird and fell backwards muttering something. It must have been funny because in the next moment, Red keeled over in laughter, tears appearing in the corner of his eyes.
"Pearl...Dia, that..." he gasped "that was funny, do it again!" The teenager on the floor picked him up and took his position near the blonde, curious about what's going to transpire, the emerald eyed male stalked forward and sat on a stool.
"We'll be starting now" the young duo chorused and Red leaned forward in anticipation.
"Pokemon trading is pretty fun ya'know" Pearl began the act.
"You don't say!" Echoed Dia
"Shall we try it out?"
"All right" Diamond turned and handed the teenager a pokeball, "here, take my Munchlax"
Pearl accepted and added: "What do you want in exchange?"
There was a slight pause and Red, eyes wide and holding back a laughter, leaned forward. Diamond's face morphed into a grotesquely scary expression and he loomed over his best friend howling "Your Souullll!"
"Gyahhhh, Mommy!" Cue the smack, once again the chubby teenager pirouetted and crashed on the kitchen floor. Green's eyes crinkled in delight and Execution's leader guffawed, he smacked his thigh due to sheer mirth. Picking himself off the ground, Diamond and Pearl held hands and politely bowed.
"Nice..." Red panted and pulled his cap off his head using the article of clothing to fan himself, "you two can start your own show you know, I mean your stand-up comedy is the best!" he praised warmly.
"Yeah..." Pearl gloomily agreed, "except that Senior Green didn't even laugh."
"Aw, come on, you know he laughs at nothing, not even the world's funniest joke can get him to crack a smile." The black haired adolescent shrugged helplessly.
"But he often smiles when Yellow does something funny," the Sinnoh born pointed out, next to him; Dia fired up the stoves and started cooking something.
"Keep your comments to yourself Pearl before I decide to situate you somewhere far away from here." The person in question growled "by the way, did you hear the news? The region north of Sinnoh is acting up again; I suppose our actions are even affecting the people who rule the world."
Red was about to take a bite of the delicious sandwich his underling placed before him; however the words coming out of his best friend's mouth bothered him.
"There is another region north of Sinnoh?" he pouted "really? I didn't know, pretty soon you are going to tell me that there are other far off regions as well." Shaking his head, he bit into his food and sighed in delight. Strategy's team members exchanged glances.
"He's dumb isn't he..." the young male affirmed, "I mean even Dia is aware of those other regions...Umm Kalos and Alola to the west was it... and Ransei...north."
Ransei, the land of the gods. It was created as Arceus' resting place and the region itself is in shape of the Creation pokemon. The kingdom is divided up into seventeen regions reminiscent of the seventeen pokemon types. It is said to be ruled by individuals with pure bloodlines who also have the ability to synchronize and somewhat evolve with their pokemon. In historic times, these people had a great say over the affairs of the other regions but in modern times they have secluded themselves up in their domain. Only a major catastrophe will lure them out.
And a major catastrophe is what they will create.
In another area:
"Dewott use Razor shell"
"Exbo, flame wheel, go!" Gold shouted and pointed, his goggles flashed.
The two pokemon moved one after the other, gripping its razor sharp shell, the sea otter flashed forward and slashed at its opponent, a grass snake. The cream colored underbelly of the pokemon tore and oozed greenish fluid, eyes narrowing, it retaliated with a vine whip and sent Dewott careering back, the water beast touched down and sprang up, only to be assaulted by a flurry of razor sharp leaves, cuts on his face bled and wearily it got down on one knee. Snivy prepared another razor leaf and as the green petals flew to hit, Typholsion's flames snaked across the ground and rose up in a wall, incinerating those leaves, the assault did not stop there. Fire rose up circling and suddenly, it was doused by a downpour and reduced to steam. Gold grinned.
"It's our turn" Silver intoned and eyed Lack-2 "Feraligatr use crunch"
"Snivy" Whi-2 spoke up, "use drain"
The russet eyed male paled and sputtered a counter command: "Dewott pro-"
Too late, with unbecoming speed, the big jaw pokemon closed gleaming white teeth around the sea otter, dewott simply stood rooted to the spot, the scalchop falling out of his claws due to shock. In a surprising turn of events, it was shoved roughly to the side and thus missed being drained by snivy. Feraligatr's jaws did close over something, that creature happened to be Exbo. Instead of appearing distraught, the fire type's master grinned evilly and in response, his red haired friend's face turned pallid. The blue crocodile was struggling to get his maw out of Exbo's back, the mane of fire decorating the volcano pokemon's neck raged.
"Burrrnn UP!" Gold pumped a fist in the air and Lack-2 smirked. Typholsion's body heated up and the back burst into flames. Water pouring from Feraligatr's mouth did nothing to quench hell's fire, the very air began to dry as the water pokemon was scorched, it emitted a roar and finally the two pokemon detangled. Silver's partner returned to him staggering and in no condition to battle. Whi-2 looked at her senior in concern.
"And this victory is for team Execution!" Crystal announced and a resounding cheer came from her left. She eyed the duo with distaste, perverts, she thought and added: "Gold! It was unfair of you to push Dewott out of the way, this is not a real battle, its training and Dewott needs experience to level up." She further admonished.
"Relax will you!" the black haired trainer ruffled his student's hair fondly; "I'm just looking out for my apprentice here, besides do you think I'll simply watch while his beloved pokemon gets hurt? Nah uh, I'm a gentleman!" turning his attention he called "Hey Silver, how about another round?"
Crystal gave up and dragged her feet back towards the couch she and Yellow were sharing. It has been quite a long time since any of them came to this place, back in the days, when Team Rocket was still functional, this warehouse was used to store illegal goods and stolen pokemon. After they were defeated, the top trio of their organization decided to transform the area into a battle stadium of sorts. It was Red's pride and joy, similarly to how the legendary pokemon holding cell is Green's. The stadium was set up with a number of small moveable stages instead of a large one; each platform had a few comfortable couches surrounding it for an audience. The stages could be combined as one or remain isolated. Powerful floodlights provided ample lighting and a large central screen showed the different matches held in the arenas. Right now, Crystal's eyes were fixated on the rowdy match before here whilst Yellow was curled up next to her with a blanket, her pikachu and a laptop. The blonde female was watching movies, peeking a bit at the screen, the Johto trainer eventually relented and watched with her.
"Aqua Tail"
"Crap! Aibo, dodge" the mauve monkey tried to but got flattened with the large scaly tail. Not satisfied by merely knocking the pokemon, the red Gyarados thumped its tail a few more times, ambipom's forelimb shattered and the gold eyed trainer gritted his teeth. Returning his partner into a pokeball, he summoned another one. With a flash, Togekiss issued forth and announced his presence with a harsh cry, even before the trainer issued a command, a naughty sparkle gleamed over its eyes and it attacked. Lack-2 not wanting to be out done by his teacher, ordered his pokemon as well. Lillipup bounded forward whilst Togebo soared the skies. Small teeth clamped over Foongy and an air slash carved fine lines on gyarados' red scales. The sea serpent coiled, sprang up hit the bird so hard, it promptly fainted. The trainer eyed it in shock. A bell rang signaling the end of the battle and the battlers waited for Crystal's verdict. Said female was busy giggling at the movie with Yellow.
"Hah! You lose senior" Lack-2 folded his arms behind his head and poked fun, "I at least got the upper hand on Whi-2"
"No you didn't" the girl pointed out firmly "Foongy used Giga drain, your pokemon fainted." Whipping his head around, he observed it to be true, his puppy was twitching on the floor, completely drained of energy. Taking a potion out, he ambled over and sprayed his partner down, thereafter he cuddled with it burying his face in soft brown fur.
"Had fun today?" back in Execution's room, the duo was sprawled on the wooden floor and Gold tossed his junior a bottle of water, the boy nodded, uncapped the bottle and took a long swig. Moments later Black rushed in and Lack-2's copper tinted irises zoomed on the Light stone the pre-teen permanently carried. His form was disheveled, muttering something under his breath; the newcomer dumped his backpack on the floor, discarded his jacket as well and made his way to the corner where a small overflowing desk stood. Gingerly he put the spherical rock down and opened a book, by now, he was screaming out stuff and Gold hastily stood up and gently cuffed the younger boy on the head.
"Take it easy there, where's Musharna?"
"Oh yeah," Black fumbled for his ball and released the flower patterned pokemon, as disturbing as it was, Lack-2 found himself glued to the scene, the pink creature latched on to the trainers head and Black's eyes turned blank, slowly his visage relaxed and he breathed.
"Wanna hit the slots?" Gold queried and the young male nodded, "cool, hey Lack-2, coming with?"
The three individuals was about to leave their common room when they ran into their leader.
"So...Where are you three going?"
"Slots senior Red" the second eldest replied without missing a beat or disguising his sinful actions "Want to come?" The Unova native blinked and held his breath.
"Sure...Why not?" and the three made their way upstairs.
Afternoon
Hoenn
Near Seafloor cavern
Saph watched spellbound as the submarine came closer to the undersea cavern. Before long, it entered the cave and the girl pressed her face to the porthole window, not wanting to miss anything. The world underneath the oceans was a sight to behold. With a bump, the exploring vehicle docked and without wasting time, the trainer abandoned her post and flew to the control room. Captain Stern was already organizing an exploration team and she desperately wanted to join them. Ruby slinked in after her and pulled her back, she was about to push him aside and volunteer again but he explained his reasons. If they joined a team, their movements were limited; instead, they'll just simply seek permission to observe the surroundings and then sneak around, tailing the team. Sapphire sparkled in admiration and her friend looked amused.
Cursing the rocky terrain for being rough on his fashionable running shoes, the fashionista was being dragged by his enthusiastic partner; she kicked rocks, picked up boulders and to his horror, got down on hands and knees to explore tunnels. He on the other hand, fixed his hat firmly on his head and opened up his PokeNav, if the blue and red orb was indeed here, it would give off energy signatures. He pulled up a map of the area on his navigator and peered at it, from the directions, Team Aqua's lab was set deep inside the cavern, enlarging the area around the map he set off, calling Saph as he walked.
"Where did you get that map?" she demanded.
"I hacked into Stern's laptop and downloaded all the data on the exploration as well as any additional information we might need and before you question me, I knocked him out with a sedative not by crushing his skull like you would prefer."
"Oh...I guess you guys have to know hacking and stuff don't you..." she deflated.
"Don't worry, I'll leave the fighting business up to you" he smiled and the flames returned again. The two ambled across dimly lit tunnels and hid when they heard voices. Eventually he put the Nav away and expertly tailed the research team; the path sloped upwards and then took a steep dive. Wild pokemon were brutally beaten down, some of the territorial crustaceans had their shells cracked, making a point not to look at them (since he was no better) he and Saph eventually tumbled across the undersea laboratory.
It was a magical and a gruesome sight at the same time.
Right in the middle of a large cavern, a huge tank drew attention. In this tank, floating in a comatose manner was Kyogre. Several tubes and pipes were attached to its body and draining the legendary pokemon's energy. It seemed Kyogre was the power source of the laboratory, there were hydraulic elevators, pumps and even a shuttle service enclosing the gigantic laboratory. To the side, a large turbine slowly rotated by aid of a permanent waterfall, it provided electricity to run the computers and other equipment. All of this was dependent on the blue whale bobbing up and down in its confinement. Despite the research and exploration team swarming over it and remaking about how huge and wonderful it was, the ocean beast did not stir or even open its eyes.
"I'm going to free Kyogre!" Sapphire heatedly stated much to Ruby's chagrin.
"Be sensible will you?" He held her back with effort "if you rush in there now, they'll just send us back to the submarine."
"...Hmm you are right, I guess I have to rethink tactics" she calmed down and her friend released her, scooting to the other side of the entrance to the laboratory, she fished out a pair of binoculars and peered through. Scientists were walking around and testing the features of the undersea facility, despite it being abandoned, it functioned perfectly, the lifts went up and down, the tram system transported individuals from one far side to the other and thanks to Kyogre's never ending waterfall, there was a limitless supply of power. After spending some considerable amount of time fooling around, Saph heeding Ruby's protests, merely sat down and silently observed. They got to work, part of the team sat at the computers whilst the other half started combing the area, no doubt searching for the blue and red orbs which were presumable kept in here. Finally, one of the member's gave a shout and the brown haired girl perked.
"We found the orbs, but they have a mechanized lock system protecting them, see if you can release it!" shouted one lackey.
"Roger, I'm working on it" replied another and furiously typed on the keyboard, after several attempts and beeps, the container containing the two stones was finally released. The investigating team all convened at the table where the metal case was reverently opened. Sapphire increased the binoculars' magnification and Ruby held up his phone, he snapped two pictures of the gleaming orbs. In the instant the blue bauble was hefted in the air for further examination, the ruler of the seas stirred, it flapped a fin and created a small tidal wave, hastily, the orb was relinquished into the case and the lid was snapped shut.
"Okay" getting up, the wild trainer performed some warm up stretches and grinned, detaching a pokeball from the belt around her waist, "Aggron" the pokemon stomped its feet and Ruby stared at her, astonishment marring his fine features "use earthquake!" The armored pokemon roared and the shockwaves reverberated throughout the space, thereafter it stamped its feet in the tunnel and waves spread from the point of contact, disturbing the earth, compressing it and releasing the ground like a spring. Down below, in the facility, the floor fissured in multiple areas and the natural ceiling caved in, raining rubble and rock, equipment was destroyed, the computer's giant monitor shattered dispersing glass shrapnel everywhere, some personnel was pinned by debris, the others who tried to escape were rendered unconscious by delacatty's sing. Sighing, Ruby turned to Saph and watched as she recalled her pokemon and nodded at her actions in a satisfied manner.
"That was uncalled for!" he scolded as she ignored him and hopped down, "are you listening to me? He-"
"Be quiet!" She hissed and faced him, "just because you are scared of battling and getting your clothes all dirty and sweaty does not mean I'm like you! You don't care at all, you simply seek pokemon because of their looks and you are fine with sitting in a room and staring at yourself when everyone around you is in trouble. You are strong," overcome with emotion, she clenched her teeth and continued ranting "I know you are, you know all about pokemon weaknesses and you can battle very well...But...But do you do so? NO! I feel like you are looking down on me, I keep on training and training and...And you on the other hand, who does no training still has better battle stats than me...It's unfair...Why don't you even use your strengths Ruby?" she finished in a small voice and looked down. Her nails were digging into her palms, etching crescent shaped indents into her pale skin.
"It's Constellate's policy to finish a mission with minimal casualties..." The male trainer intoned and went over to the table, "we'll explain the situation to Captain Stern by cooking up some lies, for now, help me."
The teenage girl's shoulders slumped and she mechanically went over, helping her partner stuff the case in a backpack. Finished with that, they swept around the room, checking for information, some files were taken down and crammed in and all the pen drives stuck in the computer ports were retrieved. Done with the job, Ruby took his PokeNav out and started moving around the dirt floor in an effort to get a signal whilst Saph, still reeling with stung feelings found herself gazing at Kyogre. She placed a palm against the thick surface of the glass and murmured:
"Don't worry, I'll get you out." Summoning her gallade, she ordered the pokemon to slash the tank, blades glowing, the pokemon complied and the tank was slashed, water pressure forced the seams to crack and eventually the cage shattered and liquid gushed out on all sides. Whilst not enough to submerge the area entirely, it did flood the cavern with ankle deep pale bluish fluid. The concoction stung on coming in contact with skin. Ruby whirled around and saw Saph kicking the water, he ended his call and joined her, together they stared at Kyogre.
It was still inert.
"Let's go."
"No, I want to see Kyogre go back to the sea."
"...Fine, but first we have to get these people out of here, get them into the tunnel and we can flood this place, okay?"
A soft smile worked its way into the female's face and she dipped her head in agreement.
In the aftermath, they all agreed it was a disaster, according to Professor Birch's daughter, she and her friend Ruby were simply exploring the cavern's tunnels when they perceived an ominous shaking, being who they were, the brave trainers rushed towards the scene only to see Kyogre smashing out of its confinement and trying to flood the laboratory with water, it must have violently reacted to the energy given off by the Blue orb, the casualties were immense, the laboratory was damaged and submerged under the ocean, the two orbs were nowhere to be found, presumed to be now floating in the vast seas. Luckily the teenagers had the foresight to rescue their comrades and were now being congratulated in the hull of the submarine, gratitude and praises rained down on them.
"Do you think he's gonna be okay?" Back in the living quarters, Saph was again pressing her face to the porthole windows as the undersea explorer set sail; as usual Ruby was lounging and going through an outfit catalogue.
"He's a legendary beast, you saw how it still had the power to blast a hole through the thick wall of rock and escape, so yes Kyogre will be fine." he assured.
A/N: And I'm back with another chapter! Much thanks to those who reviewed, it feels like we're a little gang now :P (which I totally appreciate because I'm kinda lonely...okay, that sounded pathetic but anyway) I really look forward to the reviews and it totally makes my day when I see them. At Silver: Yes, it translates to Black Justice, crafty title no? At Jack54311...how dare you! Spoiler! (JK, I guess as an author you can somewhat see what's going to happen). At Eevee: I don't ship Blue and Green as well, it comes off as awkward, I see them as best friends and nothing more, so no worries there :)
Please keep on reviewing and supporting the story. I'll give you cookies...virtual ones :P And Thanks for reading