Hello guys, this is yet another update. 50,000 Volts is more than three years old and has almost reached 50k hits! I am so proud of my story, it has come so far since 2013. A thank you to my supporters and followers, I appreciate it. A note for this chapter: Celadon City's river and its layout are based on the river Taedong in the Korean Peninsula.
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Chapter thirty-eight: The Celadon River Part 2
This is it, this is their moment. The moment of their escape, Cy and Km, and now Michael, make their way to the bridge where they will depart on a raft towards the other side of the river: the other side where their freedom was to be soon.
Km arrives to the car, grabs the equipment along with some supplies which she stuffs in Cy's bag and her own (thanks to leaving their Poké balls within the bags in the car, they were not lost to Team Rocket during the encounter with Rk and his men). Km finds that she cannot take everything, so she only takes her backpack with her stuff and Cy's in it and the duffle bag with various supplies as well as the inflatable raft. Holo guides her through the blanket of snow which swallows the streets. After a few minutes of struggling with the equipment by herself Km manages to reach the rendezvous point. Michael is standing next to Cy, who is sitting against one of the concrete structures that supports the bridge. Michael approaches her and takes the duffle bag while Km inflates the raft, which is enough to hold a handful of people. The process takes minutes, so Michael keeps a close eye on anybody who might be coming nearby.
Cy, with great effort, manages to stand up on his own, but it's not to move around but to check the conditions of the river below them. The river is not frozen, not completely, and the current is rough. Rocks are present and look unforgiving. Yet, down the river, on the other side, is freedom. Though it is not freedom entirely, it is their first step toward their journey to escape Kanto.
"Once we get passed the river and out of sight of the authorities, we should head west." Michael says to Km, "When we reach the border, the curtain should fall."
Km almost does not hear him; her head is facing the dirt that surrounds them. Finally, she looks up with guilt present in her demeanor.
"Michael…I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For making you leave…I know you're mad, and I'm sorry…we're sorry." Km looks back at Cy who almost ignores the conversation intentionally.
Michael sighs softly, "I'm mad yes…but losing my apartment isn't the first time I've lost something…I'm used to it. You should know."
"Right…" Km looks away, satisfied it seems.
"Something I want to know..." Michael suddenly blurted out, getting the duo's attention, "why is Team Rocket after you two?" He expected an answer and the tone of his voice suggested this.
"Ah..." Km moved her head to Ansel and then back to her brother repeatedly...lost on what to say exactly.
Then, Cy hopped forward and finally said, "we betrayed them."
Michael was stunned by what was said and simply gave a simple (and in an almost inhumane tone) question back, "why?"
"T-they were USING us, Michael" Km simply said. At that moment, she wanted to show him her ability but time was running out and the sirens in the distance were getting louder...so, the thirty-year-old dropped it, "whatever, we need to go." Michael coughs to get the tense air to dissipate a little. The younger adults across from him look to each other but soon they decide to let the conversation about Team Rocket go, "Once we're out of here we'll walk all the way to Viridian City, right?" The older adult asked in a one-sided affair.
Cy sighs loudly in response, "To think we need to go back all the way we came…"
"Back into that shithole…" Km adds with the same amount of discontent, yet she tried to add some humor to her statement more than anything to get Michael's mind off what happened.
"Well hey…you guys got me this time around I guess." Michael rolled his eyes before Cy scoffs and Km chuckles slightly, "Plus Holo will be great at guiding us through this storm."
"Just keep that trinket away from me, okay?" Cy retorts. Cy looks down at the inflating raft, "How much longer?"
"Not much." Km responds. She shakes her head at Cy, "I still think escaping on foot to cross Johto is stupid. If I wanted to do that, I would have saved myself the trouble of coming here."
"I know…but you and I…we're used to surviving in a forest. We know how to make fires, we know how to hunt, and we know how to make shelter. Km…think of this like a final exam…a final exam that could kill us, but still…you get what I mean…" Cy explains.
"You're right, but we've never done any of that during a blizzard!"
"And you know I also understand how to do those things you've just described?" Michael retorts as well.
"I'm only doing this because there's a chance we can escape." Km crosses her arms.
"Thanks to the fact that there won't be police boats or police helicopters coming after us under these conditions." Cy suggests.
"No, they'll be with dogs instead." Michael retorts.
"And they won't get far with this blizzard." Cy angrily says to Michael.
"And neither will we if we don't get this right…" Michael responds with the same kind of anger.
Finally, the raft finishes inflating and Michael instructs Km to take Cy down to the river. As Cy travels down, Leila stops and turns to her brother with a serious face and a low sigh...eyeing him carefully, "we'll explain everything to you about what happened, I promise."
"Go, Leila" Michael simply said, gesturing with a flat hand for her to proceed down the hill. She simply nodded softly before turning away. Once the duo arrives she places the young grunt a few feet from the river and makes sure that nothing will happen to him. Km returns to Michael and the both of them take the raft down the hill carefully to where they place it by the river near Cy. They use a rope to secure it to a post to ensure that it does not float away and then place the raft on the water.
Finally, after moments of silence, Km turns to Michael and Cy. Michael is the first to nod before Km turns to Cy and he nods the same.
"We can do it." Km says.
Michael and Km help Cy onto the raft before handing the ex-grunt the supplies to which Cy places next to him and guards. With everyone on the raft Michael takes a knife out and cuts the rope causing the raft to begin its descent down the Celadon River. Holo goes into fly mode and takes off from the edge of the river to follow the vessel on its journey.
At first, the trip is quite calm and there doesn't seem to be anybody that notices the group in the river. This allows some calm thinking to overwhelm the tense minds of the fugitives.
Cy looks back at the skyline of Celadon City, "Goodbye mom…"
Km says nothing in return and simply hugs the grunt in response. Michael looks at them for a moment before turning his attention to the obstacles ahead, "Guys, I think we got a problem."
The grunts, still hugging, look in Michael's direction to find the river quickly becoming unstable. In haste, they prepare for impact as the raft hits a rock and sends them sideways with brute force. Almost immediately, cold water begins splashing down on them as Michael and Km try desperately to keep the raft on course.
"Oh no…no, no, no!" Michael shouts.
"Here we go!" Cy shouted as he tried to both secure the supplies they had and hang on to the raft for dear life.
Then, their vessel begins its descent down a small waterfall but then gets stuck, sending all three forward violently. Michael looks behind him and moves up and down and then sideways to get the raft moving again. Once this is done, Michael and the duo yell as they plummet down the waterfall. Once again, water strikes them, and now it's getting to the point that it's making them shiver, a precursor to lethal hypothermia; however, that is the least of their worries since they now spiral down the river with no control. They cannot see or hear eachother, for the waves that strike them are loud and envelope them from virtually every direction. Km and Michael try to beat the current but it's a losing battle.
After thirty seconds, they manage to take control again, but it felt like an eternity to accomplish the feat. Once they are on the right track, Michael looks back to check on Cy and Km, "How's our stuff?"
"We…we lost some!" Cy shouts after he quickly and carefully checks their inventory.
"Shit, looks like we need to-"
"Just concentrate ahead, Michael!" Km interrupts.
Michael was right to comply with Km's demand since straight ahead was a 70 foot tall waterfall, the biggest obstacle yet.
"Hold on to anything!" Michael shouts with an almost deathly tone. Km and Cy quickly prepare for the death fall. The event happens within a few seconds, but it feels longer. Perhaps it's because all three humans have accepted death by now and thought of this to be the end? Perhaps they've made a grave mistake doing this and now they paid the price with their short lives.
The raft falls 70 feet, striking head first into the cold waters below. Despite the odds the raft emerges almost untouched and now drifts along a calmer river. Km gasps as she looks around for the others. She finds Cy, recovering from the trauma…but where is Michael? The raft, being small and only able to fit four people it comes to no surprise that Km begins to panic and search for her missing brother.
"Michael!?" She shouts as loudly as she possibly can but there is no response other than the nearby waterfall and the soft movement of the calm river.
"Michael!" Cy searches the opposite side of the raft, helping Km.
"I can't find him!? What if he…Michael!?" Km gives out a louder scream. Cy looks toward her and finds her going to his direction to jump in the water towards the waterfall. His eyes widen at the realization of her intentions.
"We need to go back for him!" Km shouts before she tries to jump out of the raft but Cy grabs her and holds her, "Stop! Km!"
"Let go! I said, Let go!"
"No Km, I won't! You're not doing this!"
"I have to save him! He's my brother!" Km shouts as she tries to break Cy's hold on her.
"I'll have Holo look for him! Just calm down!" Cy, referring to the robot by its name for the first time, looks up to it and Holo, still flying in the sky, begins searching for its friend.
Km breaks down completely. She buries her face into Cy as he looks toward the waterfall in dread.
They've escaped Celadon City, but Michael's fate is unknown.
...
This will be the last chapter for Cy and Km for a while, the next chapter will focus on Lucas again, which will take place several hours after they were last seen.
