-Chapter XVII: Alice in Underland-
-Connor-
"Okay Briar, what did you tell her?" Connor questioned. He had taken her outside to avoid calling her out, even though he really wanted to.
"It does not concern you at the moment."
Now that set him off. "Uh, yes it does! She is my teammate! And my friend! What was so important that you couldn't tell anyone? Not even your mate or your son?"
Her eye twitched, but she replied in an even tone, "I didn't find it necessary to inform the others. What I needed to tell her was our business."
"Do you think Alice, Tyranitar and Roy will find out anything useful by doing this?"
"...I don't know. It's a coin toss, really. We're in the blind about what happened in this time period."
"So we just sent them on a… Wait a second, what do you mean, we?"
She shrugged. "Celebi and Basileus keep us informed. They don't know what happened here, so neither do we."
Connor huffed. "Whatever." He went back into the base and strode straight over to Dawn.
"What's taking so long?" Connor asked. He really didn't want to send Alice out there by herself with that Tyranitar. Sure, he was one of his friends in the future where he came from, but he didn't know the guy. He didn't know how he acted under pressure, whether or not he would give in if he got caught, since he couldn't really fight due to his restrictions… he didn't know.
"I'm trying to focus!" Dawn gritted her teeth and held her hands to the sides of her head.
"Sorry… Does teleporting always take this long?"
"Of course not!" she snapped back. "It only takes this long when I can't focus!"
"...What happens when-"
"Shut it!"
"Okay!" He paced back and forth for what felt like way too long before Dawn took a deep breath and sat on the ground. "There. They made it."
He sighed with relief and nearly collapsed to the floor. This stress was killing him. He didn't think that all of this would happen. They were heroes! They saved the world from darkness twice! And one time was against the lord of time itself! And now they're hiding from a bunch of criminals?
"Good… Dawn, can you establish contact with them?"
"...I don't think I can with Tyranitar… He's a dark-type. But I can with Alice."
"And me, of course!" Roy's voice cut through the air, making Connor flinch. "What the-?! I thought you were going with them!"
"Ah, but I am! I was just waiting until Dawn finished teleporting them before I shadow-hopped over there."
"Get over there! Now! Come on! This is serious, Roy!"
"I know, I know… Sheesh." He melted into shadows, and just before he vanished, he said, "I'll be right back."
Dawn shook her head and smiled slightly.
"What?"
"Nothing. ...Why's he so careless all the time?"
"It's just... how he is. He thinks that he 'died' or something. Maybe he thinks that this is his second life to do whatever he wants. I dunno."
He saw Dusknoir's eye widen out of the corner of his eye, but when he looked over, the big ghost was lying on the nearest stone and grass bed, looking as disinterested as ever. Connor's mental guard went up, but Dawn's gentle voice spoke just loud enough for him to hear. "...He's so different… Yet just like him."
"Who?" Connor realized as soon as he said it that Dawn hadn't spoken out loud.
Dawn yelped slightly and stood straight up. Briar, Celebi and Amber immediately rushed to her aid. "Are you alright?"
"What happened?"
She pushed them away gently. "I'm fine, really… I just popped my arm and it hurt a little bit more than I expected."
Briar and Celebi nodded slowly, but Amber didn't look convinced. Connor could've sworn that Dawn was blushing, but he wasn't sure. She pointed at Amber and said, "I need to focus. This stuff's hard to pull off, even for me."
The charcoal-black Charizard nodded and backed away, and Celebi pressed further. "I can use heal bell if you want-"
"I said I'm fine. Thanks, Celebi… But I'm good." Okay, Dawn was definitely blushing. But she was right. She needed to focus. He'd ask her about it later.
She took a deep breath and was surrounded by a golden aura. She crossed her legs and floated three feet off of the ground. He heard a faint beeping noise in the back of his head for a moment, then Dawn smiled. "I've got them." Her facial features tightened, then she sunk to the ground. "Roy's with them. He scared Alice really bad, but she says she wasn't scared. Roy and Tyranitar are both calling her bluff though." She giggled for a brief moment before getting serious again. "Alice says that this place is a lot bigger than we thought. Plus it looks like there are watchtowers manned by… Watchog. Of course… With Helioptile along the top wall And two Golurk sentries outside the main entrance."
"This'll be a lot harder than we thought…" Connor muttered. Then he spoke up to Dawn. "Ask Alice what the base looks like. Is it a big stone fortress, a village, a mountain-fort, what?"
"...She says it's like a mixture of a Mountain fort and a village. It's built into the mountain, but at the same time it looks like the entire mountain was made to be a base."
"Tyranitar's great at breaking mountains," Mirage said. "Maybe he could just-"
"He cannot." Celebi cut her off. "...For now, he cannot do anything that would directly result in the death of any pokémon."
"Welp, this sucks." Galvantula rolled his eyes and laid back down.
Then, out of nowhere, Connor's vision faded in and out, and a wave of nausea washed over him. He nearly fell over as a white flash of light cut through the darkness.
Ugh... What? A Dimensional Scream? I haven't had a vision in I don't even know how long… What did I touch?
It was a silent vision, only showing Alice and Tyranitar. Tyranitar was being held against the wall by two pokémon that were almost just as big as him, and Alice was in the middle of a group of pokémon that appeared to be yelling at her. Her fists were blazing like Vulcan's, and she seemed to be talking to an Ariados. Then the vision became blurry, fading in and out of focus. He concentrated on it, trying to bring it back. No! I have to know what happens! When it came back into focus, a Noivern was standing on top of Alice, holding her to the ground with its talons. Then a blast of blue energy was launched from its mouth, blasting apart the Dimensional Scream's vision. His eyes snapped open in reality, and he shouted, "Dawn! Call them back, now!"
She hastily clasped her hands together and began chanting, but the glow in her head fin faded, and she fell to the ground with a grunt of pain. "I can't… I don't have the strength."
"Then tell Roy to shadow-hop them back! If they're spotted, Alice is dead!"
"What?" Atlas moved closer. "Why? What did you see?"
"I… I just know, alright?"
Dawn's eyes flashed white before she nodded quickly. "Alright."
After not even five seconds, she gasped and nearly flew upwards. "They've been spotted… There's nothing we can do now."
"We have to go get them! We can't-"
"Connor… It would take at least an hour for any of us to get there. And without Roy to shadow-travel…"
"Actually…" Dusknoir floated upwards, "I would be more than glad to be of assistance."
"No!" Dawn shouted before Connor had the chance to. "You can't! You have to stay here!"
"What…? How can you be sure?"
"If you go, they have pokémon that were able to capture you and Roy. And Roy can't phase into the ground here, so there's no shadow-travelling back, and we can't lose you on a rescue mission!"
The heavyset ghost floated upwards, but Dawn shook her head slowly. "Don't… I can probably teleport Connor and Mirage in a few minutes, if I use wish. But I'd have to cut off all communications to conserve my strength."
"Tell them to stall until we can get there!"
-Tyranitar-
"Watch it, will you?" Alice fidgeted in his arms, making him flail slightly, almost dropping her in the process. They had just emerged from the woods and into the open, maybe thirty feet from the main entrance.
"Hey, you're supposed to be the prisoner. If you blow our cover, I swear..."
"That doesn't mean I…"
Tyranitar! Alice! Come in!
Alice nodded slowly, and Dawn's voice resonated in his head. The plan is a bust! Retreat! Roy, use shadow-travel to bring them back!
"Will do," Roy's voice replied.
Tyranitar felt his limbs sink into darkness, but then he regained his structure.
"Blast! They cast a one-way spectral incantation!" Roy cursed as purple electricity coursed across his skin.
"Who goes there?!" Three helioptiles emitted light directly on him, nearly blinding him.
He panicked for a moment. Retreat? He couldn't run now. But what could he say? Can't say Tyranitar… That's too obvious. What's another name…?
"...Barrage!"
"And who are you, Barrage?" It was a somewhat high-pitched voice. It came from up above, but he couldn't look directly at the blinding helioptiles. "And who do you have in your arms?"
"I've captured Alice from Team Firestorm. She was scouting our base from the forest."
The voice laughed. "Oh, really? Alice from Team Firestorm? Alone? That's awfully convenient."
The light died down, and before he could do anything, the two Golurk guarding the entrance had him pinned to the ground, one on each of his arms and legs. Alice was grabbed by a Mightyena and brought back to the wall.
The giant gates opened up almost silently, then began closing once the Mightyena had dragged her inside.
The high-pitched voice seemed to come from all around him this time. "Thank you for your contribution, Barrage. I will let Master Mordred know of your deeds."
"What are you going to say to him? I'm the only one that's ever successfully captured a member alive besides Mordred himself! You could do me a favor and let me in, at least!"
"A Tyranitar? In a mountain base? Ha! You must be joking!"
Tyranitar, stall until we can get to you! Dawn's voice entered his head, and he nearly lost it.
Roy's voice filled his thoughts in response. Not gonna be easy! These guys are already really suspicious!
Do it! And keep Alice with you no matter what! I'm cutting off communications, and I will teleport you out of there in three minutes! Good luck!
"No!"
The two Golurk holding him down slackened their grips at his shout, and he knocked them both off of their feet with one sweep of his tail. He knocked them both back with a dark pulse, then charged up a hyper beam, his mouth glowing red. "You'd better let me in, otherwise this base is going to be nothing but a pile of rubble!"
"...Hmph. So be it! Open the gates!"
The two big stone doors opened up again, and he cancelled the hyper beam attack. He walked forward at a fast enough pace as to hurry along, but not so fast that he drew and unnecessary attention to himself.
The gates closed behind him, and boy, what he saw was really impressive. Building after building was carved into the mountain, with countless dark-types and others in the mix, like Salamence, Staraptor, Pidgeot... It was way more complex than the Insurgo cavern. Although it wasn't quite as big and didn't have as many pokémon in it. He instantly felt bad for wanting to destroy the place a second ago. Then, out of nowhere, he was knocked flat on his stomach. He rolled over to see a Scrafty kneeling on his chest. "What do we have here?"
It was the same high-pitched voice from outside. "A Tyranitar named Barrage? Did master Mordred transfer you here?"
Say Victor sent you, or something. Roy muttered.
"...No. I was in the area, searching for Team Firestorm on master Victor's orders, and I found her spying on this base."
The mention of the name Victor made the entire group of pokémon surrounding him shift uncomfortably. The Scrafty snapped his fingers and two Hariyama pinned him to the wall, then a Lunatone wrapped the stone of the wall around his wrists, ankles, neck and tail.
They think this will hold me? Tyranitar suppressed a smile while the Scrafty leapt up to his chest and looked him in the eye while holding onto one of his stone chest protrusions. "...You say you're here on Victor's orders?"
"Yeah, I am. And unless you want him coming down here and personally flattening each and every one of you, you'll get your sweaty hands off of me."
The Scrafty grunted once and gestured for the Hariyama and Lunatone to release him. He dropped to the ground looked around at the crowd that was gathering around him. He was supposed to be scouting. This was not going well. "Where's my prisoner?"
"You mean our prisoner?"
Tyranitar resisted the urge to strangle this little punk. "No, I mean my prisoner. I captured her, she's mine."
"Actually, she's ours." A silvery voice came from above him, and an Ariados landed in front of him. "What's your name? Sorry, we were running a bit late. Something came up."
"The name's Barrage. Who are you?"
"Apologies, Barrage. My name is Widow. And this is Flatline." She gestured to a Noivern that hung from a part of the ceiling ten feet above like a Golbat, and when it screeched, every pokémon in the entire cavern covered their ears, trying to block out the ear-piercing shockwaves.
"Now you say that you've captured a member of Team Firestorm alive… Where is she?" She looked at the Scrafty with an intimidating glare.
The Scrafty stammered, "Uh… Tsume brought her to the gallows, and-"
"YOU FOOL! GO GET HER!"
"Y-yes, ma'am!" He scrambled away like an insect. It was amusing to watch. But if he was that scared of her, that meant that she was either really strong, or really good at acting tough. He figured it was the former of the two options, considering his own 'tough guy' act had failed miserably.
The Ariados smiled charmingly. Well, as charmingly as she could with the big mandibles sticking out of her face. "Now, why did you capture her? Were you planning on turning her in to Mordred?"
"Yeah." He growled. He didn't like where this was headed. But that made the most sense. Turn the prisoner into the one in charge.
"...Yet you say that Victor had you scouring this particular forest for Team Firestorm?"
"That's right." He kept his glare. Any sign of weakness could mean the death of him. He could muscle his way out of this, but not without burying Alice alive in the mountain with earthquake or incinerating her with outrage.
"Ah… I see…" Widow placed an appendage on her chin in mock thought as Alice was thrown into the middle of the ring of pokémon by a weird-colored Toxicroak. They all jeered and shouted at her, and her eyes told him everything he needed to know. Run… Leave me.
"There's only one problem with what you said… I've spoken with Victor personally. Not once has he mentioned a Tyranitar in any of his forces, especially not one as powerful as you. And if you really had spoken to him, you would know that we're the ones that were hired to kill them, almost succeeded at eliminating their Mismagius, and that you were to bring any captured members of their team directly to us."
They almost took down Dusknoir and Roy?
"He never mentioned either of you guys to me." He looked around at the big circle of pokémon, "Did anyone tell you to bring Team Firestorm to these two?"
Slowly but surely, they started whispering amongst themselves and shaking their heads slowly. At one point a Salamence narrowed its eyes and growled almost silently.
Widow hissed and snapped at him. "Bah! So he didn't tell everyone! But nowhere in his forces is there a Tyranitar. And definitely not a Tyranitar with the name Barrage. Do you wish to explain that?"
He glanced back at Alice, his panic rising, and Widow nodded. "...Hold him down. We'll detain him until Victor can chat with him personally." The two Hariyama pinned him to the wall again, and Widow turned towards Alice. "Tell me, girl… How do you wish to die? Swiftly in this battle... Or slowly at the hands of Mordred?"
She smiled defiantly as her hands burst into flames. "I will die of old age before I fall in battle!"
Widow retreated two steps back in response to the flames, but laughed after a moment and stepped forward. "Good, good… Then you will fight with valor!"
The Ariados lunged forward, and Tyranitar did everything in his power to stop from using outrage and incinerating everyone in this place. Instead, he watched and tried to communicate with Dawn. But when he tried to use his mind, it went dark, almost like a psychic block. What…?
"She cut off communications, remember?" Roy's voice broke in, and Tyranitar nearly gasped with surprise. Roy! What do I do? Alice will die if I don't do anything! But if I do something, then they'll kill her before I can get to her!
Roy's voice nearly cracked with despair. ...I don't like it either. But if we do anything, they'll kill us, then her. Or the other way around. As long as that stupid restriction is in place, we're helpless.
Tyranitar watched as Alice lunged to the side and used baton pass to swap positions with the Ariados. The crowd around them cheered, and he strained against the raw strength of the Hariyama. Roy, can you do anything remotely? Like, without revealing yourself?
I don't know of that Banette is here or not… She can capture me in a heartbeat if she knows of my presence. It's best if we just wait and-
A boomburst attack flooded the entire chamber, and the Noivern dropped from the ceiling, landed on top of Alice, and held her down with his talons. Tyranitar's eyes widened as the Noivern's mouth glowed blue, inches from her face, and he slid his hand across the alpha marking on his forearm. I don't care, I'm not going to let her die!
He was enveloped in a purple sphere that threw the Hariyama off of him, and he charged straight forward, right through the crowd. He was grabbed by a Rhyperior, and that pause was just long enough for a blast of blue energy to come from the Noivern's mouth. His jaw dropped as Alice's limp form was swiftly wrapped in a cocoon of webbing from the Ariados, her entire upper body burnt beyond recognition for the brief moment he could see her.
He roared and used dragon pulse on the Noivern as it took to the air, but a Whimsicott floated between them and absorbed the attack without even flinching. He supercharged his fists and used thrash, knocking aside anyone in his way in a blind rage. He didn't care. It felt good to fight like this. The Noivern hoisted Alice's cocoon into the air after the Ariados flung it up to him, and he shot a thunderbolt at it. The Rhyperior used its lightningrod ability to draw in the attack, and the assassin vanished into one of the side tunnel systems. Tears filled his eyes as he turned back to the small army of pokémon behind him. "NO! No, no, NO! NO! NO!"
How can I explain to them… I let her die...
He roared and used aerial ace to take to the air while being coated in a white energy. Roy didn't say anything in response, but Tyranitar dove into the cave system after the Noivern before being caught in a massive web draped across it. It wrapped around him repeatedly as he fell to the ground, and Roy whispered, "Mystical fire... This will probably burn a little bit."
The shadow next to him emitted a small column of flame that latched onto the webbing and broke it. Tyranitar roared and charged up a giga impact. He was surrounded by a red aura as his chest spikes elongated and his entire body swelled to brace for the impact.
-Connor-
"Oh, no…" The healing glow coming from her headpiece dimmed down, and she knelt on the ground.
"Oh, no what?"
"Alice… I lost her."
Atlas stood up in the blink of an eye. "What do you mean?"
"...I lost her! Roy's still alright, and Tyranitar is fine, but he… Oh, Arceus…" She covered her mouth with her hands and fell to her knees. Tears began falling down her face, and Connor moved closer. "Dawn. Look at me."
She tilted her head up towards him, her green hair still covering her eyes, and he asked her, "What happened? Where's Alice?
"She's…!" Her voice broke again, and Atlas clenched his fists. "She'd better be alright…"
Dawn's lip quivered and she hunched over, tears falling to the ground in quick succession. Atlas pointed at her. "You'd better tell me she's alright!"
Connor remained silent. He knew better. The Dimensional Scream was always right, every time it's been used.
"...Roy… Come in, Roy…" She seemed to be waiting for a response, then gasped as her head fin suddenly glowed a brilliant white. "Connor, Mirage! Go! NOW!"
She didn't give them any preparation, and they were instantly warped in front of a giant stone fortress built into the side of a mountain. Connor didn't waste any time, shrugging off the disorientation after being teleported such a vast distance with no preparation. "Come on! We have to get them!"
Mirage nodded and followed him. He used superpower to shatter the giant stone doors with a massive double overhand swing, mega-evolved and used surf to throw every pokémon in the area to the ground. He roared and charged forward after spotting Tyranitar wading through a group of large pokémon consisting of a Feraligatr, Hariyama, Rhyperior, Golurk and Aggron, plus a dozen other smaller pokémon that he couldn't make out in the flailing crowd. Tyranitar roared and thrashed, but these pokémon had the advantage in numbers. Then, suddenly, they collapsed to the ground, asleep. Roy floated out of the shadows and formed a massive, intimidating outline of a Mismagius along the far inside cavern wall.
"IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES, YOU WILL LEAVE US BE!"
The entire wall burst into a wave of flames, and it took everything he had not to flee. Since when has Roy been able to cast fear incantations? He focused and used Blizzard, freezing a majority of the fleeing pokémon solid. Mirage used boomburst to shatter the frozen silhouettes and zipped between the enemies, using power-up punch in rapid succession, knocking aside wave after wave of enemies. Right now, they had the element of surprise. As soon as that wore off, they'd be overwhelmed. "TYRANITAR! LET'S GO! GRAB ALICE!" He didn't know if Alice was still alive, but he had to hope they got to them in time.
The colossus nodded and kicked the sleeping pokémon aside, looking around frantically. Connor shouted in pain after a Mightyena bit his arm. He growled and smashed its head into the ground with so much force that the stone cratered around his fist, but his arm was bleeding now, and the other pokémon were getting over their surprise, closing in fast. Connor knew that most of the pokémon in the crowd could use knock-off to get rid of his swamp bangle, and he saw at least four grass-types in the mix. "Fantastic…"
He reached out to Dawn and said, "Teleport us back! GO! Tyranitar has Alice!"
He felt his body getting compressed, and everything around him turned white and gold as he was teleported in the blink of an eye.
When he re-materialized, it took him a moment to regain his composure. He wasn't back in the base, which caught him off guard. "What?"
Connor!
"Dawn! What happened? Where are we?"
I… I couldn't teleport you all back… It's too much! My head's about to explode over here!
"It's fine. Are we far enough away from that base?"
Yeah. You're fine. They're still losing their minds over what just happened. Hang on, I'm bringing the others out of warping...
Mirage suddenly appeared and slammed full-throttle into the nearest tree in the forest they appeared in. She collapsed to the ground and held her face, groaning in pain.
Tyranitar fell from the sky a moment later, making a small crater where he landed. Shortly afterwards, Roy materialized from the shadows cast by the trees. Both of them looked crestfallen. Even Roy. His usual smug smile was replaced with a sad frown, tears lining the edges of his eyes.
Connor wanted to ask them what happened, but he already knew just by looking at their faces: The plan failed. And Alice was dead.
Welp... Chapter 17. I apologize for the sudden 'shot down again' thing, but I couldn't let it rest. It's even worse that Briar warned them, yet they still went... Anyways, I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter, or hated it because of the events that went on. (Did you like the title name?) :P
If you have any questions, comments, concerns or theories, feel free to leave them in the form of a Review or PM!
Also, concerning Firestorm Battle Royale: I forgot that it's supposed to be an in-between story thing, so I will be holding off on posting new battles until this story is done and I am in the process of writing part two. I hope that you all understand, and I will see you all in the next update! Much Love!
-PL