Chapter 15: Bombardment

"This isn't happening... I'm dreaming... this can't be real!"

Casey's internal thoughts rang loudly throughout her head, preventing her from focusing on anything else.

The lingering smell of smoke and death filled her nose, causing a familiar, yet unpleasant taste of puke emerged in her mouth. She instinctively covered her mouth and took deep breaths, trying to calm her body down.

Experiencing the death of a Pokemon wasn't something Casey was unfamiliar with, but all of the ones she knew of were due to old age. Pokemon were naturally resilient creatures, they needed to be in order to endure the immense amount of battles they'd experience in their lifetime. Because of this, Pokemon dying through any other means was quite rare.

Seeing Koffing and Forretress die so suddenly and gruesomely was completely different. Instead of living a long life, spending it how they wished, their only use in the end was to be a bomb. It was beyond sickening.

The teenage girl attempted to take a step forward, but her feet wouldn't move. Her whole body began to violently vibrate, making Casey even more nauseous.

"I need to save those Pokemon!"

"No! I need to run!"

"I wanna wallow on the ground and cry..."

A multitude of conflicting thoughts pounded through Casey's mind, each more cowardly than the last.

"What am I supposed to do?"

Another explosion rocked the cavern, pulling Casey out of her self-destructive thoughts and returning her attention to the Rocket admin Petrel. He had launched another Forretress at a pillar, causing dust and tiny pebbles to rain from the ceiling.

Another Foretress who dropped to the floor, in multiple pieces.

Another life lost, having only lived to be a tool for the benefit of someone else.

The girl's knees buckled, losing every ounce of courage she might have had left. Casey, the girl who seemingly radiated confidence, courage, and recklessness wherever she went, was now at the mercy of fear.

A small appendage placed itself on her right shoulder, causing Casey to fearfully turn to its source.

"Meganium..." she breathed.

The Herb Pokemon didn't look much better than she did. Her normally gentle eyes were wide with terror. Casey initially thought she was trying to comfort her, but Meganium was likely seeking comfort rather than offering it.

A sharp object gently laid itself on Casey's left leg, making the girl look away from Meganium and at Sandslash. He looked as if he were trying to put on a brave face, but Casey could tell that he was ready to run away at a moment's notice.

"They're counting on me..." Casey thought to herself.

Casey tried to gain control of her shivering body, "Please work legs! I need to be strong for them! They... they need me."

In a shaky motion, the purple-haired girl brought her knees up from the ground and managed to get herself mostly upright. She turned around and faced her two Pokemon, both of which were in desperate need of solace.

Meganium's vine had left her shoulder, but it was still outstretched, shivering, desperate, alone. Without a second thought, Casey clasped both of her hands on the vine and squeezed it, attempting to reassure the Grass-type. Then, she forced her best possible smile, which could hardly be called such, but the effort was there.

Then she knelt down, facing Sandslash. She reached out and tenderly held his sharp claw.

Forcing her fears away, she spoke with a small level of confidence; "That man is using Pokemon as weapons. He doesn't care about their lives. We... shouldn't stand for that."

She didn't speak with nearly as much intensity as she had intended, but the message was still clear. It was faint, but trace feelings of confidence reappeared on the faces of her Pokemon.

"Let's-" her words faltered, she still hadn't quite emotionally recovered. "Let's fight... no one else is going to."

Meganium gave a shaky nod of approval, while Sandslash forced all of the confidence out of his body to form a determined look.

"I have some wonderful Pokemon partners. I'm glad to have them in my life." she thought to herself, causing a genuine smile to emerge.

Now that the heart-to-heart was over, Casey and her Pokemon returned their attention to Petrel. He had just fired another Forretress out of his machine, once again exploding and leaving it's steely remains behind.

"We need to target that machine." Casey stated. "Pokemon will stop dying when it's destroyed."

Both her Pokemon nodded, ready to help in any way they could.

Casey scanned her surroundings, trying to find a route that would get her closer to Petrel without him noticing. The Rocket Admin hadn't quite realized that Casey had recovered from the first explosion, and was still busy trying to take out the pillars that held the cave up. Based on the damage caused by the explosions, getting too close to one would no doubt kill her, so she needed to get as close as possible without endangering herself.

Once she found a route that satisfied her, she motioned her Pokemon, "Follow me."

Stealthily, they moved from pillar to pillar, obscuring their position from Petrel. It was fine at first, but the closer they got, the more flashbacks of the Koffing exploding in her face appeared in her mind, whittling away at her confidence. Her Pokemon seemed to be experiencing the same thing, which didn't help her at all.

Once they were close enough, Casey took a deep breath, trying to calm her fears as much as she could. Seeing her Pokemon in a fearful state, she gave them a twitchy thumbs-up.

Peering around the corner, she spotted Petrel a few yards away, waiting for his machine to recharge. This was her chance to strike.

"Meganium, use Petal Dance to distract him. Sandslash, you take out the machine with Drill Run." she whispered to them.

Both nodded, and Meganium exited herself from the cover of the pillar and started creating a hurricane of petals around herself.

Petrel noticed this immediately and twisted a dial near the end of the tube. Upon firing, a set of Exeggcute was released, each spreading around and creating six mini-explosions. These explosions destroyed most of the petals, but Meganium just kept making more, all swirling around like a tornado.

With Petrel's attention diverted, Sandslash rushed towards the target and leapt up. It positioned its claws forward and spun mimicking the shape and power of a drill. The glass that held the Electrode was his target, as without the power source, the machine wouldn't function.

He was only a few inches away from the machine, ready to prevent any future deaths...

...Only to be smacked away.

Casey's jaw dropped. Petrel knew that Sandslash was coming.

The Rocket admin was no weakling, he held his high rank for a reason. Sensing Sandslash's presence had been a piece of cake given his sensory training, but instead of dodging the attack, he timed the attack from the Ground-type so that he could knock it away with his padded glove. He needed to get across to Casey that he wasn't messing around.

Sandslash skidded a few yards away, feeling a throbbing bruise where the Rocket admin had struck him. The impact shouldn't have been that bad, but whatever Petrel's glove was manufactured from made the Mouse Pokemon feel like a rock had slammed into his chest.

"Sandslash! Are you okay?" A worried Casey called out to her injured partner.

Though a bit dazed from the unexpected impact, Sandslash stood up, still prepared to fight.

Petrel sighed, "You aren't as cowardly as I thought."

He switched the setting on his machine and fired a pokeball in Casey's direction.

Before ducking for cover, she took a momentary peek at what Pokemon came out. It was a Ferroseed. Casey wasn't too familiar with them since they weren't native to Johto, but she could guess that it would pose just as much of a threat as all of the other Pokemon he used.

Unable to waste anymore time, Casey dove to the nearest pillar. However, Ferroseed exploded and pain erupted across multiple regions on Casey's body, causing her to scream in agony.

Looking at her legs, she noticed a few large, green thorns penetrating her skin. Similar structures were also found on her arms, side and cheek.

Wanting the pain to subside, she frantically and painfully started pulling them out of her skin, not realizing that doing so would make her bleed faster.

Once all of the thorns were removed, Casey finally had a moment to evaluate what had happened.

Ferroseed was a Pokemon whose main method of defense was it's iron-reinforced spikes that cover its body. Petrel probably wanted a Pokemon for his machine that would ward off any oppressors from any distance, so he used the spikes that rocketed off the Thorn Seed Pokemon to his advantage. Looking around, Casey noticed that Sandslash got lucky and didn't get hit, while Petrel also stood unharmed. Thinking back on it, Casey remembered that Ferroseed's face was facing the Rocket admin, a part of the Grass/Steel-type's body that wasn't covered in spikes. This was probably why Meganium was unharmed too.

Doubt mercilessly cascaded Casey once more. Petrel seemed to be an innumerable amount of steps ahead of her, predicting her every move and taking any opportunity to cripple her resolve. Was there any hope for her to bring this villain to justice?

Just as quickly, an adrenaline-fueled eruption of courage exploded from within her as she yelled out to her two partners: "Meganium, keep using Petal Dance! Add in an Outrage to increase the pressure! Sandslash, speed up by using Sandstorm and Agility!"

She knew that asking her Pokemon to use two moves at once was going to cause them a lot of strain, but knowing that their resolve was as strong as hers, she had faith they could pull it off.

Meganium roared and more sharp petals traveled in a vortex around her. Along with this, violet energy enveloped around her, causing so much ruckus that Casey could feel the vibrations from where she was standing.

Sandslash enveloped itself with flowing blue energy and released thousands of tiny dust particles from it's back, covering the area in a vortex of swirling sand.

Petrel was unbothered by the commotion and simply fired another set of Exeggute at Meganium and sprinted away from his prior position. However, before the Egg Pokemon could explode, the Outrage-Petal Dance combination that swirled around Meganium struck them, immediately knocking them out.

Casey felt a sense of relief when she saw this. If she was able to knock the Pokemon Petrel sent out before they exploded, then she would not only prevent further explosions, but also secure the lives of said Pokemon.

Just then, Petrel fired at Sandslash, this time releasing a Forretress.

Casey was prepared for this though, "Use Brick Break!"

Boosted by Agility and it's ability Sand Rush, the Ground-type moved towards the Forretress with blinding speed and slammed it's claw against it, instantly knocking it out before it could even start the explosion process.

"Now destroy the machine with Drill Run!" Casey ordered, hoping that the extra speed would get him past Proton's reflexes.

Unfortunately, Casey had underestimated Proton once again. The Rocket Admin tracked Sandslash's movements and timed his fist so that the Mouse Pokemon would slam right into it. Sandslash was knocked back and skidded across the rough terrain.

Overcome with worry, Casey raced over to her fallen partner, "Sandslash!" Upon reaching him, she helped him up and examined his injury.

"Sandslash looks like he has some internal bleeding! Did Petrel really hit him that hard? Just what are those gloves made of?" Frantic thoughts filled the girl's head, all of which regarded the well-being of Sandslash.

Casey knew that Sandslash would have trouble fighting in his state, so she opted to return him so that he could rest. "Sandslash return!" Then immediately after, she sent out another Pokemon to take his place.

Out from the Pokeball came a medium sized Bug-type. Characterized by yellow and black stripes and a large stinger located at the bottom of his abdomen, this Pokemon's name is Beedril, also known as the Poison Bee Pokemon.

Casey motioned him to follow her so that they'd be out of Petrel's line of sight. When in a suitable hiding place, she explained the situation to Beedril; "I need you to destroy the machine that man is holding. I don't have time to explain what it does, so just please trust me when I say that this is extremely important."

The Poison Bee Pokemon peaked from behind the pillar to sneak a look at his target. Petrel was busy attacking Meganium with exploding Exeggcute, who was still swirling with leaves and purple energy.

Seeing the Pokemon emerge from Petrel's machine just to immediately explode into many pieces mortified the Bug/Poison-type. Within a fraction of a second, Beedril had reduced himself to a cowering mess behind Casey.

The purple-haired girl sighed. Beedril was one of her first Pokemon, having been with her since she was ten years old. Despite his experience in battle, he was easily frightened, something Casey had tried and failed to change. Despite that, Beedril was her best option right now, since the other two were either too slow or too conspicuous.

She placed a comforting hand on his head; "Beedril, I need you right now. That man is killing Pokemon every few seconds. You're the only one who can save them!"

Maybe she was being a bit too dramatic, but it was how she genuinely felt.

A long pause passed over them. The sounds of explosions and whirlwinds filled the air, shaking the ground they stood on.

"Please..."

Reluctantly, Beedril moved from behind her and nodded his head.

"Thank you. Here's the plan..."

"This girl is more resilient than I thought she would be."

When he first encountered Casey, Petrel didn't think she would pose any kind of threat to him. Granted, she was still light years away from beating him, but he should have at least knocked out all of her Pokemon right now.

Her Meganium was especially troublesome. The girl had commanded her to use two incredibly powerful moves at once, which she had been maintaining for the past minute. All attempts of breaking the energy shield around the Herb Pokemon using his machine had been futile, a fact that was starting to annoy him.

He took a half-second scan of his surroundings. The girl was nowhere in sight, which was slightly concerning, but by no means alarming. He had been able to counter all sneak attacks from her Pokemon, so he didn't need to worry about being caught off guard.

"Speaking of which." He said to himself as he heard some soft buzzing from behind. It was hard to hear with all of the chaos, but it wasn't completely inaudible. He discreetly switched the setting on the Bombardier so that it would shoot Ferroseed and paid close attention to the noise that the mystery Pokemon was making. He didn't really know what it was, all he knew was that it was not large enough to require more than a quick punch to take it out of commission.

A figure briefly came into his field of vision before disappearing again. On instinct, he turned and looked to see an army of Beedril waiting for their presence to be acknowledged.

Though this may have been frightening for an average human being, it did not scare Petrel. In fact, he saw through the trick immediately.

"Double Team. One of the laziest intimidation tactics a Pokemon can use. Making fake copies of yourself does not increase the amount of power you have, so there is no point in using it."

It was easy to tell where the real Beedril was anyway. The buzzing sound it made gave its position away after all. However, he decided to humor the girl who had obviously set this up and frantically looked around at all of the copies, as if he were frightened.

All at once, each copy prepared their stinger and charged. Keeping his façade up, he waited for the real one to get close, and then swiftly snatched him. The Pokemon was clearly shocked, and attempted to worm out of Petrel's tight grasp. When that didn't work, he tried stinging his captor, but he was held in such a position that he wouldn't be able to. Since Beedril was no longer able to properly concentrate, the clones disappeared.

Now having successfully stopped the attack, Petrel fired another Forretress with one hand at Meganium, which finally broke through the cyclonic chaos and effectively knocked her out.

Casey appeared from her hiding place with a dumbfounded expression on her face. Petrel took notice of the long trails of blood that covered her body and frowned. He really wished she had given up sooner.

"If you had just left quietly, none of this would have happened." he told her, holding her captive Pokemon in a threatening manner.

"Don't hurt him! Please! I'll leave you alone!" she desperately called out, fearing the life of Beedril.

He gave a bored sigh, as if he were expecting this response. He could've been like Proton in that situation and squeezed the Poison Bee Pokemon to death, leaving the girl in a bawling mess. He was better than that though. He didn't really care about Beedril's life at all, but he wasn't one to be cruel without reason, the girl was surrendering after all.

Pointing to Meganium, he gave his demands: "If you value its life, you must listen to my instructions and follow them to the letter. First, return Meganium to its Pokeball and turn on the lock feature."

Reluctantly, Casey took out a Pokeball and beamed the fallen Grass-type back to her home. Then she clicked the lock feature on the ball so that opening it would be difficult.

After his request was fulfilled, he realized something else he should have asked for; "While you're at it, lock your other balls too."

He got a harsh glare in response, but no objections. One by one, she locked the other balls too.

"Now, return Beedril, lock its ball, and walk away."

Casey gritted her teeth and hung her head in defeat. Slowly, she took out a Pokeball and held it up towards her last Pokemon.

"Beedril..." she began.

Petrel gave a sigh of relief. It was finally over.

"...use Pin Missle!"

"Wha-?" Petrel's eyes went wide.

With determination, the Poison Bee Pokemon released 4 sharp projectiles from his stinger. They went around Petrel and struck the machine on his back. The glass broke apart and the Pokeballs inside spilled out across the rough floor.

Using the distraction to his advantage, Beedril wrestled itself from Petrel's grasp and flew to Casey as quickly as he could. Once by her side, she quickly checked his body for any damage the admin's tight grip might have caused, of which there fortunately wasn't any.

Petrel was utterly dumbfounded. It really was finally over, just not in favor of his side like he originally thought.

He didn't have any sentiment toward the machine at all, only just a little annoyed at the prospect of getting chewed out by Dr. Namba over this.

Despite that, he still had to admit that the girl had him completely fooled; "Well played... I guess."

"You say something?" the girl called out to him, failing to hide the indignation in her voice.

"I said well-played." he repeated whilst turning around. "But this game is over now."

To Casey's shock, the Electrode that had been the machine's power source sprung into action. Electricity crackled across its body and within a matter of milliseconds, the Ball Pokemon had already slammed into Beedril and knocked him several meters away.

Casey barely had time to react before a blunt force slammed into her belly, leaving her on the ground clutching her stomach in pain.

Petrel shook his head ", You do realize that another machine can be created right? You should've legitimately surrendered, that way you wouldn't have wasted so much energy."

Casey's aching suddenly got way worse. All this time, she had thought destroying the machine would save the Pokemon being used by it, and now Petrel is telling her that he'll just make another one?

"You should have realized from the start that attacking me would be a fool's errand. You have gained absolutely nothing through this skirmish, and now you'll have to be here when I finish collapsing the cave. With all of that in mind, there's really only one logical thing you can do."

Casey shut her eyes, desperately trying to stop the emotional turmoil she was experiencing. In a low, miserable tone, she finished Petrel's thought for him; "To give up."

He nodded, relieved that the girl was finally listening to reason. "I'm glad you understand that now."

"But..."

Casey slowly got onto two feet, still grasping her midsection.

"I'm not known to be the logical one."

Petrel was really getting tired of her 'never give up!' attitude. "Electrode, put her in her place."

The Electric-type hastily rolled over to the girl and jumped up to knock her back down.

Casey quickly released one of her Pokemon from its ball. While she was standing back up, she had discreetly unlocked one so that she could quickly access its inhabitant. Upon opening, the Pokeball revealed a yellow humanoid creature with black, electricity-shaped stripes running across its body. Electrode slammed into the Pokemon, only for it to resist its attack and knock it back.

Casey smirked at Petrel, "You're right when you say that destroying the machine wouldn't do anything. But what WILL do something is bringing you to justice!"

Petrel raised an eyebrow, "You're foolish for believing that's even an option."

Not choosing to offer a response, Casey turned her attention to Electabuzz, whom she had just sent out. "Use Psychic to immobilize Electrode!"

The Electric Pokemon's eyes glowed blue, and soon Electrode was lifted off the ground.

"Now Focus Blast!"

Still holding onto the Ball Pokemon, Electabuzz charged up a sphere of bright, orange-colored energy and hurled it toward it's opponent.

"Teleport."

In an instant, Electrode disappeared, causing the Focus Blast to strike a nearby pillar with immense power. The impact rocketed multiple fragments of stone around the cave.

Just as quickly, Electrode reappeared above Casey's Electric-type partner. Not able to react, Electabuzz was struck on the head with his opponent's heavy body, causing him to lose his balance and collapse under the weight.

"Foul Play!"

Electrode surrounded itself in dark, swirling energy and leaped up in the air.

"Protect yourself!" Casey shouted.

Electabuzz took notice of the Ball Pokemon coming back towards him and put up a green shield to block the attack. Petrel's Pokemon struck the shield with a great amount of force, almost making Electabuzz lose his concentration. But in spite of the opposition, he held strong and repelled the Ball Pokemon away from him.

"Focus Blast again!"

Using Electrode's dazed state to his advantage, Electabuzz flung another ball of energy.

"Mirror Coat." said Petrel simply.

The Ball Pokemon came to its senses and surrounded its spherical body with a prismatic veil. Electabuzz's focus blast struck its mark, only to be bounced back toward its origin.

Casey's eyes widened in panic and surprise, "Use Protect again!"

The Electric-type frantically put up another green forcefield around himself. However, since it was sloppily summoned, the Focus Blast struck and destroyed it. The impact sent Electabuzz tumbling backwards into Casey. Electabuzz slammed straight into the girl's wounded stomach, expelling a violent scream from her and making her try to clutch it with her hand. However, with Electabuzz in the way, her efforts were in vain.

The impact pushed Casey to the ground, where she received a second round of excruciating pain. In response to this, Casey impulsively shoved her partner off of her without any regard for him so that she could assess herself. Her entire midsection was roaring with pain; and many of her stab wounds were bleeding even faster than they were before.

Once she had calmed down, she came to a sudden realization. "Electabuzz!" she shouted as she crawled over to where she had pushed him. Luckily, he didn't seem too injured, but there was some blood embedded into his back from Casey's injuries. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't thinking!"

The Electric Pokemon got up and gave a slight smile, which Casey was enormously grateful for.

Suddenly Electabuzz's tesla-shaped antennae perked up, making him quickly get back into battle stance. Upon seeing Electrode bowling towards him, he fired a Thunderbolt from his antennae to intercept.

Quickly readjusting her mind back to the current situation, Casey leaped off the ground and yelled out: "Use Focus Blast again!"

Still firing the electricity, Electabuzz used his free hands to generate a third ball of energy. This time, since the Ball Pokemon was busy deflecting the Thunderbolt, the attack connected and sent the target careening into a pillar. A loud metallic noise rang out upon impact, making everyone in the cavern except Petrel wince.

Unbothered, the Rocket admin uttered another command: "Teleport into Foul Play!"

Electrode disappeared in a flash, and Casey wasn't sure where it would show up again. But in spite of that, she had a plan. It was something she had picked up from watching Lyra's gym battle with Alias.

"Use Psychic all around you to push it away!"

Normally, the move Psychic required the user to focus all of their attention onto their target, which would allow them to manipulate their movement without physical contact. However, seeing Lyra's Girafarig release a huge wave of psychic energy that knocked away everything in its vicinity inspired Casey to come up with a more controlled version of that move.

Electabuzz concentrated for a split second before releasing a fairly powerful wave of psychic energy, rocketing the now teleported Electrode into another pillar.

Had the situation been less dire, Casey would have squealed in excitement. Even then, she couldn't hold in the praise she had for her partner; "You did it!"

However, her excitement came to a screeching halt, as she noticed Electabuzz's hands clutched his head. Casey winced out of sympathy. She should have expected this reaction. The idea for the move only came earlier that day, and she had not confided with anyone regarding it yet. Springing it on Electabuzz in a dicey situation probably wasn't the smartest move now that she thought about it.

"Sorry about that. You alright?" she asked him.

Electabuzz gave a brief grunt in response, still clutching his head.

Casey grimaced, "That bad? I'm really sorry about that. If I had known it would put you through this much pain, I wouldn't have made you do it."

"Use Foul Play!"

The girl's attempts to comfort Electabuzz were rudely interrupted by Petrel's lack of sympathy for anything to do with Pokemon. His Electrode leaped from the crater it had created upon its earlier impact and rapidly steamrolled its way towards electabuzz.

Casey knew that Electabuzz was most likely going to suffer from an intense headache for the rest of the day, so she needed a plan that wouldn't put too much pressure on him. Returning him would have been her first instinct if it wasn't out of the question. All of her other Pokemon were injured and needed rest; the only one that wasn't injured was Helioptile, but she couldn't bring her out since she was still rather young and inexperienced.

Her best bet was to not use moves that would increase the strain on his brain, and unfortunately, only one would fit the bill: "Use Thunderbolt to slow it down!"

Telling an Electric-type to use an electric move was like telling a child they could have candy for dinner: it's the easiest order to follow. In spite of his splitting headache, the Electric Pokemon effortlessly charged up electricity in his antennae and fired.

The thunderbolt struck the charging Electrode with so much force that any loose rock nearby was blown away; but even that hardly slowed down the target. Upon noticing this, Electabuzz instinctively raised his hands in a defensive motion and caught the Ball Pokemon. The impact pushed the Electric Pokemon back a fair bit, but he held strong until the force being acted upon him had been nullified.

Casey seized the opportunity to orchestrate a counter-attack: "Finish this up with everything you have!"

Electabuzz smiled through his throbbing pain and drastically increased the power of the Thunderbolt. The increased voltage was so strong that even Electrode's natural resistance to Electric-type attacks failed it. The Ball Pokemon was sent backwards a third time into yet another pillar, though this one was much farther away.

After striking the pillar and the electricity died, Casey took a good look at Electrode. Upon a moment of observation, she concluded that the Ball Pokemon had fainted.

She took no time to celebrate though, as she immediately turned to Petrel, who was attempting to reach for his belt of Pokeballs. "Capture him Electabuzz!"

Her companion quickly rushed over to the Rocket admin and wrapped him in a tight grip.

Upon seeing this, Casey nearly jumped to the roof in glee; "Yes! Great work Electabuzz!"

Returning to seriousness, she walked over to her prisoner, who was shockingly not trying to escape his captor. "Looks like I caught you after all!" she said.

He didn't even spare her a glance, he was just looking past her.

"Hellooooooo? I'm talking to you! At least acknowledge your defeat!"

He closed his eyes for a few moments, utter silence taking place when they went by.

Casey kept observing him, confused as to why he was being so calm.

Electabuzz instinctively tightened his grip, sensing that something was coming.

Finally, he opened them, "I acknowledge..."

Casey perked up, anticipating the rest of his sentence.

"...that you celebrate too early."

Just then, an explosion sounded from behind the purple-haired girl, immediately tearing her and Electabuzz's attention away from Petrel. The Electrode that was once there had detonated, obliterating the pillar that it was embedded into and causing the roof above it to rumble.

Petrel used the distraction to elbow the Electric Pokemon and sprint into the darkness.

"Hey-!" Casey returned her gaze to her target, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Ugh! We lost him!"

Electabuzz looked a little dejected from the Rocket Admin's escape. Casey placed a reassuring hand and his shoulder in response; "Don't worry about it, he couldn't have gone far!"

She was just about to dash after him, but then the rumbling caused by the explosion gained intensity, forcing her attention away again.

The ceiling above the pillar was collapsing.

Normally this wouldn't concern her, the rest of the cavern was perfectly stable, and the other pillars would ensure that. However, way off in the distance, Casey spotted a barely visible... something... she wasn't quite sure yet.

Nonetheless, she got a bad feeling when she laid eyes on it. Something gut feeling was telling her she needed to get the thing away from the collapse.

"Forget him! Follow me!" Casey said to Electabuzz, who nodded and trailed behind her.

Both raced to the scene as fast as their legs could carry them. Being a natural speedster, the Electric Pokemon eventually overtook Casey and used some light electricity to light up his surroundings. With the newfound illumination, both of them could finally make out what Casey had spotted: a yellow-and-purple-striped egg.

Now understanding the feeling she got earlier, the urgency in Casey's next actions escalated; "Grab it! Quickly!"

Electabuzz sped up and raced towards the egg. However, a chunk of rock came loose from the ceiling and landed in front of him. Since he was going too fast to slow down, the Electric Pokemon slammed straight into the rock with such force that tiny pebbles rocketed off of it.

"Electabuzz!" Casey cried out in worry as she quickly shifted her attention to her partner. She saw him clutch his head in agony, so much so that he dropped to the floor and started flailing his legs, futilely trying to make the pain go away. She tried to run to his aid, but he rapidly shook his head and momentarily pointed in the direction of the egg, before clutching his head again.

Casey realized what he meant and refocused on the egg. She hastily maneuvered around the obstacle and made her way toward her objective. However, despite not having to move very far, she suddenly became very fatigued. Her vision, movement, and senses all waned in proficiency. Regardless, she pressed forward and picked up the egg upon reaching it.

However, just as she picked it up, multiple chunks of the ceiling came loose, some of which were directly above her!

"No!" Casey screamed instinctively as she tried to get away.

An angered cry came from behind her and the rocks above her gained a purple aura and were redirected away from her.

"Electabuzz..." Casey kept getting surprised by her Electric-type's resolve.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed another piece of rock fall, triggering another, much more distressed cry.

Casey's fatigue temporarily evaporated, "Oh no!" Then it returned with a potency so strong that the girl's knees buckled and she was forced to the ground.

Still clutching the egg, she crawled away from the collapse and got to where she could see Electabuzz. He had been rendered unconscious, the source of which Casey identified as the medium-sized rock sitting nearby. As quickly as her fatigued body could, she reached for the Electric-type's Pokeball and returned him. She didn't even have the energy to say 'return' like most trainers did.

With nobody else in danger, the girl crawled completely away from the collapse, next to a pillar that she was sure wouldn't crumble. With her and Electabuzz's rescue mission complete, she laid herself on the cold, hard floor, exhausted. With all of the action behind her, she finally had a chance to collect her muddled thoughts.

"We did it, we rescued the egg... I'm so glad..."

"We may have gotten injured, but we saved an innocent life today... that's all that matters."

"We... didn't catch Petrel... that'll have to wait another day..."

"How did Electrode explode though? it wasn't connected to that device Petrel had. Speaking of that device, even though we didn't catch Petrel, I'm glad we destroyed his cruel machine."

"Wait a minute... Why am I so tired? I was so energized to enact justice that I thought I could sprint across the whole region. What made me so tired?"

Her tired eyes wandered to her body. Her clothes were soaked with blood, red streams poured from certain points in her skin. It was then that she remembered what happened.

"That's right... I was hit with those barbs, I should have known I'd suffer from blood loss eventually... I might even get infected with something as well..."

With nothing else to ponder about, her eyes slowly closed, dulling the rest of her senses into decommission. Thinking back on this moment, Casey thought she remembered two voices echoing after she passed out.

"That's a big collapse, we should round everyone up and tell the rangers about it."

"Agreed... wait a minute, Jimmy there's a person down there..."

"Wait what? That's... CASEY!"

"WHAT? What do we do?"

"Go fetch the others like I said Lyra, I'm going down to get her."

"Right... I hope she's okay."

A silence passed.

"I hope so too."

Next chapter: Malware Menace