Chapter 14: Virulent Discovery
Monday, July 28th, 3:48 PM, Route 44
"Alright Marina, bag inspection."
"But why Vincent? I only buy the necessities." The aforementioned girl answered innocently.
"Lying is bad Marina." the tall boy accused; "Now hand it over."
"Isn't this an invasion of privacy?"
"Not if it's you. The last time your bag went unchecked, you spent $1,000 on Lance merch!"
"He wears a cape, capes are cool."
"Also a lie, because when I wore a cape, you couldn't get over how stupid I looked!"
"It just didn't look good on you, not my fault you can't pull off the cape look like Lance can."
As the two continued to pester each other, Lyra looked at Jimmy in worry, "Is this normal?"
"Yep, we have to make sure Marina doesn't stock up on junk whenever we get supplies, or else the rest of us end up carrying the important stuff." He responded, a little embarrassed to have this happen in front of Lyra and Khoury.
"HA! I've got it!"
"Give it back Kolack!" Marina hollered, in hot pursuit of the sprinting Vincent.
The taller boy raced towards his male friend, "Cover me dude!"
Jimmy sighed but let Vincent stand behind him, protecting him from the wrath of the blue-haired girl.
Marina stopped in her tracks, erasing any anger from her face and clasping her hands together. "Jimmy, would you be so kind and allow me passage to that... thief, over there?" she asked sweetly.
"I don't know, are the Electabuzz a good baseball team?" Jimmy asked smugly.
"No?"
"Hey!" a deeply offended Casey shouted from a few meters away.
"There's your answer." he said to his childhood friend, folding his arms in a condescending manner.
Removing the smile from her face, Marina spoke again in a much more hostile tone; "Move Jimmy."
"No, I don't think I will."
"DUDE!" Vincent's voice rang out from behind him, "I found a balloon! It's got like, helium and stuff!"
"Yo, really? Lemme see that." Jimmy said, confiscating the pink object and untying the lip. He held it up to his mouth and let some of the helium inside his lungs. Then he closed the lip and paused for emphasis.
"...You don't scare me." he taunted in a high-pitched voice, which caused him and Vincent to burst out into fits of laughter and Marina's face to turn red with fury.
"That's it, get out of my way!" the blue-haired girl exclaimed while attempting to push Jimmy to the side. But the older boy held his ground.
Vincent's eyes went wide, discovering something else; "Is this an Ebelskiver pan?! Marina, how do you even plan on making those... IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WOODS?!"
Marina's angry expression disappeared, being replaced with a confident grin; "Watch me."
"Watch you? This stuff requires an ACTUAL stove! You're supposed to be the realistic one in our group!" Vincent complained.
"I'll abandon realism for the sake of good food." Marina answered.
"You can't make these out here!"
"You doubt my abilities?"
"YES!"
"No ebelskivers for you then."
Vincent looked like he was about to say something, but then stopped himself. Deciding not to tarnish his sanity further, he kept looking through the bag.
"How do you even plan to make those?" Jimmy asked, also confused by Marina's decision to buy the pan.
"Like I said," Marina answered with unwavering confidence, "Watch me."
"MARINA? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" an irate Vincent screamed, making his presence known to everyone in the Johto region.
"YOU GOT A PROBLEM VINCENT?" Marina answered, in a similarly noisy voice.
"YES... YES I DO!" he responded, not as loud as before, but with similar emphasis. He reached into the bag and pulled out a four-foot tall Jigglypuff plushie, catching the attention of everyone in the group.
"Marina... HOW DID YOU FIT THIS INTO YOUR TINY BACKPACK?" Jimmy exclaimed, now abandoning his role as the mediator between Vincent and Marina.
"Is 'plot armor' a valid response?"
"NO!" both Jimmy and Vincent declared at the same time.
Vincent calmed down after that; "Marina... you are the most materialistic person I have ever met."
"Awwww thanks Vincent!"
"THAT WASN'T A COMPLIMENT!"
Meanwhile, the three younger members of the group were still trying to grasp the situation. "I've never seen these three so... riled up before..." Lyra observed.
Casey nodded with an amused expression; "Yeah, but it's for valid reasons, we would run out of supplies if we just let her buy whatever she wanted."
"I wish they'd take it down a notch though." an annoyed Khoury stated, whose eyes were buried into a book, "I'm trying to read here."
"Alright, bag inspection completed." Vincent stated before turning to Jimmy, "Status?"
"Marina is still a disappointment, not much of a change from last time." Jimmy replied.
The performer pouted; "Boo hoo, all of my friends think I weigh them down!"
"We don't 'think' you weigh us down, we 'know'." Jimmy corrected, making Marina's face go red with anger.
"Take your bag deadweight, we've got to get to Blackthorn City." Vincent said, tossing the bag back to the girl.
"Not yet, we're stopping soon actually." Jimmy corrected.
Vincent cocked his head to the side, puzzled; "How come?"
"Remember? There's an area with reports of Team Rocket activity. We need to check that first."
"Oh right." Vincent said, scratching the back of his head, "I forgot."
"Never trust Vincent to remember anything Jimmy." Marina said, poking fun at her taller friend.
"Yeah you shouldn't- HEY!" Vincent began, before realizing what Marina had said.
"When do you think we'll get there?" Casey asked.
"Soon, it's about a mile or two away."
15 minutes later...
The group arrived at a fork in the road, with a sign differentiating between the two. The path to the right was labeled as "To Blackthorn City", while the left path was specified with "To Ice Path".
"Wait, Ice Path? I HATE that place!" Casey shouted, expressing her displeasure, "Please tell me that's NOT where we're going."
"Why do you think we got coats and long pants?" Jimmy responded.
"...I have officially ended my friendship with Jimmy, now Marina is my new best friend." the short girl announced to the rest of the group.
"That was a long time coming." Vincent said, adding insult to injury.
Marina grinned in triumph, "You have made a wise decision."
Jimmy facepalmed, "If I said something earlier, you would have scurried all the back to New Bark Town, I'm not letting that happen."
"I would scurry all the way to Alola to get away from that cursed place!" Casey exclaimed.
"Well, sucks to be you I guess. Besides, searching for Team Rocket is more important than some irrational fear."
"'Irrational'? Did I hear that right?"
"Read my lips." Jimmy responded with mock annoyance; "Grow. Up."
Casey clutched her heart and gasped for emphasis while the rest of the group laughed.
"Fine, you win Jimmy." Casey surrendered, "But if ONE crack appears in that ice, I'm bailing."
"That's fair." Jimmy obliged before whispering, "Scaredy Skitty."
"You say something?" Casey asked, a menacing aura emanating from her.
"I said that's fair, oh bravest among us." Jimmy corrected.
"That's what I thought you said."
The group took the route to Ice Path, walking mostly in silence. Ice path is a large cave system that used to be the only way to Blackthorn City. Due to complaints from many individuals, particularly those sensitive to the cold, a secondary path was made, leaving Ice Path as more of an optional Pokemon catching/sightseeing area than an actual route.
As the name suggests, the cave is filled with ice and is a haven for Ice-type Pokemon. There's a shelter by the entrance that treats hypothermia or other cold-related conditions.
When they arrived, everyone went into the changing rooms to put on long pants if they weren't already wearing some. Then when they got out, they put on their coats and headed to the entrance. There was a temporary warning sign posted on the steep cliff, alerting any that Team Rocket had been seen in here. When they went inside, they quickly took notice of the tight corridor, that required the taller members of the group to duck.
"I don't remember this place being this tight." Marina observed.
"Same, but we were 10 or 11 at the time so we probably wouldn't have thought it was." Jimmy included.
"You know, we could always turn bac-" Casey began.
Everyone turned in her direction, exasperated.
"Just saying..."
Not long after, the corridor opened up into a large, icy cave. The ceiling and the floor were littered with glittering icicles, ranging from pencil-sized spikes, to massive columns that stretched from the nadir to the zenith of the cavern. The parts of the ground were frozen, likely being water at one point. Some of these ice sheets could barely be classified as puddles, while others were larger than an Olympic swimming pool.
But perhaps that most eye-catching part of the cave was the light. All of the illumination in the cave was natural, emitting from these ice-like crystals that were embedded into to stone. This gave the environment a pleasing ambience to our group.
"Ugh..."
Well, most of our group.
"Whoa..." Lyra gasped, at a loss for words.
A fond smile appeared on Jimmy's face, as he reminisced on his first time here; "It's cool, isn't it?"
Still in awe, Lyra could only nod in response.
Something else that stuck out to the group was the Pokemon population. The ceiling was practically infested with Zubat and small Golbat, most of which sleeping soundly, unaware of the cave's visitors. Off to right marched a drove of Swinub, making their way to a tiny tunnel, presumably created by them. Lastly, a nest could be seen to the left, which appeared to be carved into the wall. A Delibird snuggled inside of it, blissfully unaffected by the low temperature.
The place seemed almost completely unaltered from human activity.
The only exception was a wooden sign, which relayed the rules of visiting the Ice Path, some of which being 'no battling other trainers outside of designated areas', 'no destruction/modification of the cave', etc.
Vincent coughed, grabbing everyone's attention; "So... where do we start?"
"Oh right." Jimmy answered, snapping back to reality; "There were a couple of Team Rocket sightings around here, not enough to get Ice Path closed for inspection, but there was a warning sign posted at the entrance, meaning that people are really taking them seriously, as they should."
"They did lay waste to Goldenrod City, so the government would have to be massive idiots to not post warnings around." Marina chimed in. "Will we be looking around together or will we split up?"
Not having an answer, Jimmy answered her; "I didn't really think that far. Any preferences guys?"
"I think we should-"
"BESIDES a certain baseball fanatic who shall not be named." Jimmy interrupted, about ready to blow a gasket at the younger girl.
"We'll cover more ground if we split up, so I say we do that." Khoury analyzed, logically answering the question.
Lyra nodded, giving her approval, "Yeah, we should do it in pairs though, buddy system and all that."
"Yeah, if we do run into Team Rocket, it's better to not be alone. However, if we do that, Lyra and Khoury can't be buddies, since they're still lacking experience." Vincent said thoughtfully, expanding on Lyra and Khoury's ideas. "Are you guys comfortable with being away from each other for a little bit?" he followed up, poking fun at his younger friends.
Khoury rolled his eyes, but decided to brush it off with his own joke, "Are you kidding, I've been trying to get this... lunatic off my back for forever now."
Unaffected by her best friend's playful insults Lyra nodded her head; "Please Vincent! Get him away from me!"
Now getting his friends' input, Jimmy put together the final plan; "Alright, so we'll look around in pairs. Each one will consist of one of us three older people, and one of you younger three. Any objections?"
"Yes-"
"Casey, you're going with Vincent." an irritated Jimmy said with his best 'I'm so done with you' tone, which wasn't hard to muster.
"What-? NO! NOT HIM! ANYONE BUT HIM!"
Vincent raised eyebrow; "You got a problem with me Williams?"
Casey whipped around to face him, ready to say something. However, Vincent's serious expression, which was very out-of-character for him, killed any confidence the girl had at that moment.
Paying no attention to what just happened, Jimmy continued; "Alright, no objections. Lyra and Khoury, you can choose between me or Marina to buddy up with."
Both Lyra and Khoury wanted to go with Marina (much to Jimmy's displeasure), but in the end, Lyra ended up going with Jimmy and Khoury went with Marina. Most of the group was eager to find Team Rocket and put them in their place, Khoury less so, but he was easily the weakest link in the group battle-wise due to him not specializing in battles like his female friend.
And thus, the search for Team Rocket began.
You want to know who really wasn't enjoying themselves?
Casey.
Due to an experience that she had (which she refused to elaborate on), she developed a hatred towards Ice Path and everything to do with it. She was one of the people in the multitude of whiners that drove the government to add an alternate path to Blackthorn City.
She was already in a bad mood when she found out she had to go back to that place, so imagine her frustration when Jimmy got fed up and put Vincent in charge of her. She respected Vincent and all, but he got really annoying when speaking with him one-on-one, at least by her own experience.
Oh well, it's not like it could get worse.
Vincent and Casey went off to explore one of the extensive number of tunnels to see if they could find anything. Unlike the confined corridor they used as the entrance, the tunnel was wide and spacious, allowing the two teens to enter without disturbing the Swinub already using it. It was a rarity to see wild Pokemon so comfortable with humans near them, but considering that Ice Path was a designated Pokemon catching area, the population had to be used to such invaders.
Casey was right to be against Vincent coming along with her, because he would not shut up. He went on and on about what jokes she thought would be funny to the rest of the group, this new Internet trend called 'memes', how much of a Torchic Jimmy was for not asking Marina out and so on. Casey was ready to tear her hair out, and it was HER job to make OTHER people do that.
Not long after they entered the pathway, they reached a fork in the tunnel.
Eager to get away from her borderline insane friend, Casey suggested they split up; "You take the right, I'll take the left."
Finally letting his mind settle, Vincent answered: "Wow, I didn't know you hated me that much."
"I don't-! Ugh, we'll cover more ground this way!" Casey answered, taken off-guard by Vincent's accusation.
"I'm messing with you. Seriously though, buddy system, remember?" Vincent said, justifying the action of sticking together.
"I want to get out of here as soon as possible, the sooner we split up, the sooner we leave." Casey elaborated, defending her suggestion.
Vincent raised an eyebrow, "I thought you'd want to go with someone, given your fear of this place."
Casey rolls her eyes; "I HATE this place, I'm not AFRAID of it! Do I look like a coward to you?"
Vincent gave her a blank stare.
Casey's irritation skyrocketed, "DO I KOLACK?"
"Well you see-"
"Ugh!" Casey let out, frustration emanating from every part of her body. "I'm going left!" she shouted as she walked towards the specified path.
"You're normally not this irritable-"
"I SAID..." Casey yelled, not looking back at him, "...I'm going left!"
"Yeah yeah, whatever." sighed Vincent as he turned and took the right pathway.
As the two walked farther away from each other, the younger girl pondered the conversation she had just had with Vincent. Her stubborn nature prevented her from admitting that blowing up like that was uncalled for, but there was a small part of her that felt like maybe she could've handled her irritation better. Oh well, what's done is done, at least to her.
It's not like this 'arguing' was abnormal for them; any third party might have thought the two were just a pair of entitled people that got in each other's way, or maybe a bickering couple (side note: The very thought of dating Vincent would trigger Casey's gag reflexes on an apocalyptic scale), but the truth was, that was their thing. Their often absurd arguments were the product of both side's desire to lighten the mood (as well as their rock-hard stubbornness). When she was complaining about being paired up with him, she was mostly joking. He was still annoying one-on-one, but beyond that, he was a really dependable person whom she enjoyed the company of, when others were around of course.
The choice to split up was entirely due to his antics, but Casey had to admit that she came up with a pretty good excuse for doing such.
Casey continued to ponder the exchange she had with Vincent while she walked along the cave path. Now that the cavern was much more compact, wild Pokemon were less prevalent, with only a stray wild Swinub showing up every once in a while. Eventually, the path ended abruptly, ending her search without any success.
"Ugh, well that was disappointing" Casey thought to herself, her eyes drifting towards the floor. "I hope the others had better luck than I did... huh?"
While her thoughts were swirling around in her head, Casey took notice of something that was shining through the glassy ice: A faint, purple light.
"That's strange..." Casey mused, stumped on what to make of the situation; "Why would there be something purple in here? It might be a Zubat... but I'm pretty sure this is the lowest floor..."
Her curiosity overtaking her, Casey got on her knees and laid her face on the ground, hoping that getting her vision closer would give her a better image of the purple light. However, it was in vain, and no shape could be made out.
Then suddenly, her vision was blocked by a thin, white line.
A crack.
Casey's eyes widened in fear and panic, her thoughts repeating the same phrase over and over again: "Not again, not again, not again, not again!"
The teenage girl spastically scrambled to her feet, intending to leave the area before the crack could cause her any trouble. However, upon standing up, her erratic movements caused her to slip and fall, making the crack enlarge into a fissure.
Casey's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, but before she could react any further, the ice gave way, swallowing Casey in darkness.
Underneath Ice Path was a large cavern, spanning 50 yards in height, and almost a quarter of a mile across. Unlike Ice Path, which had a plethora of winding tunnels, tight corridors, and natural light, this place was dim and spacious. The only natural light present were these purple crystals that were scattered around the cavern, bathing the place in a faint, but noticeable light. Despite it's hidden location, the deep area was drastically affected by human activity, ironically more so than it's elevated counterpart, the Ice Path.
But despite the human activity, the cavern had been blessed with peace and silence for the past few weeks. The humans that did come down there were always quick and quiet about whatever business they had. The wild Pokemon appreciated that, well, what's left of them that is.
But all that silence disappeared when the ice above it broke and a screaming teenage girl fell through.
Casey was no stranger to danger, traveling alone for a few years was no walk in the park. She had to learn how to adapt to unfavorable situations, and think of the best solutions for them so that she wouldn't injure herself.
Using that experience, she selected a Pokeball and released its resident: "Meganium! Use Vine Whip to break my fall!"
Out from the sphere came a large green quadrupedal Pokemon. Her most defining features were its yellow antennae, long neck, and an arrangement of flower petals where her neck met her body.
Immediately recognizing the danger, the Pokemon that had been released on the floor generated two prehensile vines and wrapped them around her trainer, barely sparing Casey a trip to the hospital or worse.
The purple-haired girl took a moment to collect herself, as well as realize how she almost permanently put herself on a gurney for the rest of her life. But after remembering that she was okay, she signaled for Meganium to release her and began to analyze the cavern.
Being dimly lit, Casey was unable to pick out what the structure of the cave looked like. The only light sources were these small purple gems that were embedded into the rock all over the place. Seeing as she needed more light, she produced a flashlight from her backpack and turned it on.
Now that she could properly observe her surroundings, Casey could make out every detail of the cave. Aside from the gems, the entire cave was pretty much entirely made up of black stone, contrasting Ice Path's light grey walls. Since the cavern was so big, plenty of rock pillars were present, likely serving the purpose to hold up the ceiling.
Having not heard of the place, Casey was naturally very confused; "What is this place?"
She was too confused to realize that she was speaking out loud, not that anyone heard her though.
A bunch of ideas formed in the girl's head, most of them wondering if she had just discovered a new cave system. Though she didn't know for sure, Casey was ecstatic at the prospect of discovering such, triggering her adventurous side. There were so many possibilities for discovery down here if this was an undiscovered cave: more research on the ecosystems of Johto, studies on how this cave and Ice Path are connected despite both looking vastly different, as well as the most exciting prospect: discovering a new species of Pokemon.
Casey's excitement almost got out of hand, but the small part of her brain that was actually mature kicked in and made the girl realize something very important: Caves were incredibly dangerous, especially ones that have yet to be professionally explored. She was fine now, but any of the ground nearby could be unstable, and could collapse at any moment's notice. She was breathing fine, but the air was unlikely to be safe for human respiration. Her best bet was to exit the cave right now.
She took out her phone, no signal, she was on her own. so she started thinking about her Pokemon. If they couldn't help, she'd have to resort to yelling and waiting.
Meganium could probably extend her vines far enough to put Casey back up on the platform that she fell through, but she wouldn't be able to put her back into her Pokeball, since the distance between the floor and the ceiling of the cave far outreached the max distance that a Pokeball could return a Pokemon. Beedrill could fly, but Casey would be far to heavy for him to carry. She'd have to be a little more creative with her thinking.
Going through each of her Pokemon, she thought about which ones could potentially help her
Meganium and Beedrill were already ruled out, so she couldn't think about them.
Electabuzz couldn't really do much to help her, so he was out.
Helioptile also didn't have much in regards to transportation, so she was out too.
And Sandslash-
Casey's eyes brightened, Sandslash! Being a Ground-type, he had a natural connection to the Earth, which he has been able to use to detect where caves are located. He may not be able to get her back up the way she came, but if there was an exit in this place, Sandslash was bound to find it.
Turning to her Grass-type, who was observing her trainer with intrigue, Casey brought out a Pokeball, "Thank you Meganium, take a rest 'kay?"
Meganium nodded before being absorbed by the red light and returned to her Pokeball.
Casey put Meganium's Pokeball away and brought out Sandslash's; "Come out Sandslash!"
A medium-sized Pokemon materialized in front of her, it was mouse-like, except for the fact that it's claws were MASSIVE, each being six inches long. It's back was also covered in large brown spikes, serving as extra defense.
Casey gave him a quick head scratch before giving her request; Sandslash, can you see if there is a way out of here?"
Sandslash nodded and placed his claws on the black, rough floor. He closed his eyes and focused entirely on his touch senses, taking in the shape of the cave.
Meanwhile, Casey continued to scan the area, searching for anything points of interest. She really needed something that confirmed or denied the cave being safe to explore.
Casey's scan was brought to an abrupt end when the mouse Pokemon tugged at her pant leg. "What is it Sandslash?"
The recipient of Casey's question pointed one of it's razor-sharp claws in a direction.
Casey smiled brightly; "Thank you Sandslash! That was a big help!" She probably would have hugged the Ground-type if he didn't have a ridiculous amount of spikes on his back.
Sandslash grinned confidently, proud of himself. Then he walked in the direction he pointed in, with Casey trailing behind.
The scenery didn't change very much when they started walking, being a pretty open cave. But they were able to see behind a few pillars that obstructed their view before, but there was nothing new to see besides more black rock and purple gemstones, dimly lighting the places that were not shone on by Casey's flashlight.
Thankfully, Casey didn't experience much of a change in air breathability. She was breathing fine, though, that in of itself was probably even more questionable. Maybe the gemstones were responsible. She didn't care, though, and was just thankful that the worst possibility wasn't the reality.
Things were okay, she would get out of the cave, reunite with her friends, and move as far away from Ice Path as possible. Easy peasy.
"Hey kid! What do you think you're doing here?" a fierce, masculine voice echoed from the left of the teenage girl.
Casey flinched, not expecting there to be another person down here. So this place HAD been discovered after all. Maybe it was a restricted "Government Officials Only" zone, which would explain how she just learned of the place. "Oh sorry!" Casey answered, "I fell down from above and couldn't find a way back up. My Sandslash found a way out over in this direction. So I'll be out of here in a few minutes."
She waved her flashlight around, attempting to find the source of the voice, but she couldn't see him. He was probably hiding behind one of the natural rock pillars.
A loud sigh materialized from the speaker's mouth, then was followed by: "I can't take you to where your Pokemon was taking you, that's a restricted zone. But I can help you get back up to Ice Path. Deal?"
"Really? Thank you so much! But uh... can you come out? I kinda wanna know who I'm speaking to."
"My apologies, I'll come out now, but don't shine your flashlight on me, I'm sensitive to light."
"Oh, I see. Sorry about that." Casey answered, directing her flashlight to the right of where the voice was coming from, allowing a silhouette of a tall man to come out from hiding.
"Thank you. Take me to where you fell from."
Casey nodded, "Right this way!" Now that the man was visible, she could make out his shape. Along with being unsurprisingly taller than her, he was quite skinny, so much so that she nearly mistook him for a Gallade, until she realized that he lacked the signiture sword arms that the Blade Pokemon had. Another part of him that looked a little like Gallade was his mohawk hair style, which might have made him look larger than he actually was.
After observing her savior, she turned her eyesight back to where she fell from. The light from Ice Path was still illuminating the miniscule amount of area that was directly below the hole. Clearly standing out from the rest of the dimly lit cavern.
She shone her light to the left so that she could walk towards the hole, but in doing so, she accidentally hit the man with her flashlight. Based on the tenth of a second she saw, he was wearing a gray suit with two vertical golden stripes each positioned a bit of distance away from the center. There was also a bit of red in the center, though, she couldn't make out the shape.
"Oh sorry!" Casey instantly apologized, as she did not respect the man's skin condition.
"It's okay, it was only for a second." the man answered.
"Okay good, I'm glad you're-" Casey stopped herself.
Why did the man's clothing look so familiar? Where had she seen it before? Forgetting about the man's wishes, she shone her light back onto him, allowing her to get a better look at him. Her eyes were instantly drawn to the red "R" on his chest area.
Casey's eyes went wide in realization. "Stay back!" she yelled defensively.
Her mind began to process the man's other features: purple-colored hair like hers, a short chin beard, and a very skinny face. His suit consisted of the usual black attire, and white gloves and boots, each having a single red stripe. He also had a utility belt that held... makeup stuff inside? Casey wasn't quite sure, but she was sure that this man was highly ranked among Team Rocket, judging by the golden stripes located on the main body section.
He was smiling too, but not in the sinister, 'I'm going stab you and I'm going to enjoy it' kind of way she expected. No, this smile seemed much more... genuine? Casual? She wasn't quite sure.
The man sighed before speaking; "Well, I guess that Skitty's out of the bag."
Much like his expression, his speech was overly casual, lacking any hint of malice one would express if their life was devoted to stealing and murdering. He was slouching too, which certainly helped his friendly demeanor.
"I really did want to help you out y'know?" he said, his tone not changing. "That way, I could pack up and leave without having to cover anything up."
Casey remained defensive, listening, but ready to attack.
"He's not attacking... so I'll need a way to restrain him." she thought to herself.
"But you just had to shine your light on me." He shook his head, annoyed. "Now I gotta blow this place up. Can't have reports of Team Rocket operating underneath a popular trainer attraction."
Upon hearing that, Casey sprung into action: "Meganium! Restrain him with your vines!"
The Grass-type appeared from her Pokeball and created two vines from either side of her, intending to capture the man. But he anticipated this and grabbed the vines before they could wrap around him. Then he yanked them, making Meganium fall flat on her face.
Casey and Sandslash ran over to the Herb Pokemon, "Meganium! Are you okay?"
She got back up on her four feet and gave a cry of reassurance, letting her trainer know that she was okay.
Casey sighed, no longer worried, "That's a relief. Now let's- Where did he go?"
The man was gone, she didn't even see him leave.
"Drat! C'mon you two, we gotta catch him!" Casey said as she ran towards where the man came from, her two Pokemon following close behind.
As she looked, questions she had asked earlier started to make sense. It probably wasn't possible for a cave like this to be safe to breathe in at all (Casey didn't know her cave facts all that well, so she wasn't certain). Therefore, it would make sense for the air to be cleansed if someone was working down here. There was also an answer to why she hadn't known of the cave until now: Team Rocket wouldn't want anyone to know about where they were working.
However, this also begged an entirely new question: what did they want from this place? The Pokemon? The glowing crystals? There was no way to tell, but the Rocket Executive could cough it up to the police when she captured him.
In her right-side peripheral vision, she noticed the dim glow of one of the crystals seemingly flicker, which meant that the man likely just ran by there. She shone her flashlight in that direction, catching the sneaking Rocket member, who was now wearing a large device on his back.
Casey took a second to observe the machine before he could turn towards her. It had a bulky, cylindrical shape, which was connected to a long tube through the bottom, held by the man's hands. Most of the cylinder was made of glass, allowing one to see inside. From there, Casey could see two sections of the device, one on the top, and one on the bottom.
The top part housed an Electrode, one of the 3 Pokemon that inspired the design of the Pokeball. Based on the electricity that was crackling around it, the machine was likely using the electrical energy of Electrode to power the machine, which sickened Casey. The bottom part of the machine housed a multitude of shrunken Pokeballs, groups of them separated by barriers, likely meaning that Pokeballs in the same section housed similar Pokemon.
In spite of the observation she took, she had no clue what the machine was used for.
Petrel turned to her and smiled, again, in a friendly manner. "You don't have to fight me y'know? I can help you back up to get the police, I'll be gone before they get here."
Casey gritted her teeth, "I'm not letting you get away!"
He sighed, disappointed; "I don't want to kill a minor. That'd make me worse than that impractical Proton. But it's your choice, I guess"
"Meganium, Vine Whip!"
Casey's Grass-type once again materialized a couple of vines from her side, which the man easily dodged.
Without giving up his casual attitude, the man held up the end of the tube that was connected to the machine. "Since I'm nice, I'll let you know the name of the man who killed you. I'm Petrel, it was nice to meet you."
He pushed a red trigger near the tube opening, releasing a Pokeball. It opened up to reveal...
"Koff"
"A Koffing?"
Casey was left confused for a second due to the randomness of the appearance of the Poison Gas Pokemon. Shouldn't he have sent out a stronger Pokemon? Sure, Koffing had the type advantage against Meganium, but in this case, Meganium's experience was basically guaranteed to win out.
These confusing thoughts violently dissipated when Koffing started to rapidly expand.
Casey and her Pokemon's eyes' went wide in alarm, the Koffing was going to use Explosion!
The three of them frantically hurried in the opposite direction, desperately trying to get as far away from the exploding Koffing as possible.
BOOM!
Casey closed her eyes in dread as a loud explosion came from directly behind them, knocking her and her Pokemon forward off their feet.
Casey's eyes flickered open, feeling dozens of tiny pebbles on her hands as she propped herself back on her feet, her Pokemon doing the same.
She could hardly hear anymore, the noise created by the explosion would put the scream of an Exploud's to absolute bitter shame. In just a few seconds, Petrel had put an exploding Koffing within a few feet of her. It was... horrifying, she had essentially just stared in the face of death.
Her breathing became rapid, she had been trying to capture Petrel this past minute and had done absolutely nothing to him. And in a few seconds, he had forced her to the ground. The machine... it must shoot out Pokemon, who would then immediately use Explosion. It was sort of like a Bazooka, but Pokemon were used instead of rockets.
"Focus!"
Casey snapped her attention back to the situation, she needed to capture Petrel! She had failed to do so as of now, but maybe if she outsmarted him, and used more Pokemon, then she might have a chance. But more importantly, she needed to not die in the process.
Petrel had taken his attention off of her... for now... He was now facing one of the cave pillars, readying his machine. Another Pokeball popped out of the machine, this time releasing a Forretress. It too, used Explosion, this one being much larger than Koffing's. The force shook the cave, and nearly caused the pillar to collapse.
Casey grimaced, she needed to get out of here or capture Petrel before he destroyed the whole cave. She couldn't risk this cave collapsing with Ice Path right above it, that could cave in as well.
She slapped herself. She can do this! "Just gotta stay calm..."
Just as she was readying herself to attack Petrel again, another question popped into her mind: "Where did Koffing go?"
Casey looked around the vicinity, but the Poison Gas Pokemon was nowhere in sight. That was strange... Pokemon always fainted whenever they used Explosion or similar moves... Did it go back into it's Pokeball?
As she searched, she noticed a few red and white chunks near where Proton fired Forretress. Speaking of Forretress, those chunks looked exactly like...
Casey's hand clutched her chest. "No... no no no no no it's not real!"
Casey frantically searched back where Koffing exploded...
...and noticed a few purple fleshy scraps that weren't there before Petrel showed up.
Casey suppressed the urge to vomit as her eyes went wider than they ever had before.
Not only did the machine release Pokemon that exploded upon exit.
But it also killed them in the process.
Chapter 15: Bombardment