Chapter 43 - Perils of the Caves

Celeste's mood took a turn after she reunited with her pokémon, but she knew she needed to keep her mind focused and sharp for the challenges that lay ahead.

Challenges that, she felt the need to reiterate, might involve freaking Articuno.

She snuggled her coat, making sure to run her fingers over the pokéballs in her pocket, then leaned her head against Aria's for support. The eevee sat on her shoulders as always. She'd never been one to stay idle in her ball during their adventures. However, the pokémon's worried glances seemed to hint that she was afraid something might go horribly wrong.

Again.

"It will be fine," Celeste reassured her pokémon. "We're all together now! Cee and Aria, taking on the ice caves."

Aria snorted and nuzzled her trainer's face.

"Always the sceptic, huh?" They shared a laugh before falling back into silence.

Ahead of them, Lori led the way towards a slightly uphill path. The blizzard made it challenging, but it wasn't a hard trek. Still, the redhead was panting heavily and had to stop to catch her breath several times. Celeste offered help, but Lori brushed it off, insisting she was absolutely fine and just tired from the long day.

"We are... almost there," she finally said in between breaths, not even looking back at the others before pushing ahead.

All Celeste could do was pout and try to appreciate the first rays of dawn filtering through the swirling snow. While it didn't provide much warmth, at least she could see her surroundings.

"I honestly couldn't believe it," Rey said with a mocking laugh. "The conference winner couldn't even defeat the first member of the Elite Four? That was bullshit."

Celeste frowned. The two boys, diligently followed by Olga's… family pokémon, had decided to use the idle time to talk about some battle they'd both watched recently. Interesting, but hardly relevant.

Yet, curiosity got the better of Celeste.

"Come on, Rey, I don't think anyone expected Brendan to do well against the Elite Four." Luan shrugged, making his way around a rock. "Probably not even himself."

"He lost to an old lady," Rey scoffed. "Irene isn't even in her prime anymore. I heard she's about to retire."

Luan laughed. "Shocker. The guy who got carried by his tyranitar the whole conference lost to the Elite trainer who specialises in steel."

Celeste bit her lip. If she was still planning to collect badges, she needed to find time to learn about the Kanto League.

Was she still planning to collect badges?

The boys continued discussing the underwhelming battle they had watched, and Rey shifted the conversation to focus on himself. He smirked, claiming that no steel-type could ever beat him and his larvesta, who'd certainly be a volcarona by the time he reached the conference. He also added that Brendan was stupid for falling for such an obvious trap. In the battle, Irene—the challenged Elite Four member—began with her ace, a massive steelix known to be a monster. In response, Brendan immediately sent out his tyranitar, hoping to quickly eliminate the biggest threat. He earthquaked the hell out of the arena, but Irene did the same. When it came to it, the Elite trainer switched to her empoleon and finished the tired tyranitar swiftly. None of the challenger's pokémon had any chance after that. He got swept, which, strangely enough, was not a common outcome in Elite Four battles.

"He should have used another pokémon against the steelix," Rey said with a big nod. "Wear it down, then switch to tyranitar. He could've taken it out with an Earthquake. That would've been a blow."

"She'd still have the empoleon in the back, though..." Luan insisted. "I'm telling you, there was nothing he could've done."

Celeste closed her eyes, imagining herself facing Irene. First pokémon: Pat, obviously. She wouldn't send Powder to fight steel-types. Aria, her ace, would have to be on the back to take on the steelix.

Tiny eevee vs. giant steelix? Her pokémon would be smashed.

She sighed.

Badges or not, she still had a very, very long way to go.

"We are here," Lorelei said, interrupting Celeste's thoughts. The redhead looked suspiciously at all three of her companions before adding, "I'm in charge. That means you three will follow my lead."

Rey crossed his arms and puffed his chest. "Please. I should be in charge. Considering I'm the only one around with a connection with Articun—"

A single glare from Lorelei silenced Rey before he could finish his sentence. "You're here for backup," she stated, rubbing her temples. "If you're going to get in my way, it's better to leave now." With a last look at the younger trainers, she concluded, "Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Luan replied, his voice squeaky. Meanwhile, Lorelei's gaze lingered on the other girl.

Clutching her eevee tightly, Celeste spoke. "You know I'm going to follow you..." she said, her voice small and unsure. "I trust you," she finished with a hopeful grin.

Lorelei, however, just turned away. "Let's go already."

—*—*—

The caves grew colder and darker as they ventured deeper, so Luan and Rey wasted no time and released their pokémon to light the way. The former commanded his hoothoot to use Foresight as a torchlight, and the latter asked his larvesta to keep a small fire going.

Guided by the light and the added warmth, they followed Lori's lead. One cave up, two caves right, then they squeezed through a small obscured passageway that led them to a long tunnel.

"Where the hell are we going, fearless leader?" Rey asked. "If you have a plan, shouldn't you share it before we all get lost?"

Lori didn't even look back. "We won't get lost. Just keep moving."

Easier said than done.

Celeste and the boys felt jittery and on edge, afraid that Articuno might be lurking at any corner. They jumped at every little noise and their fear grew with each step. At one point, Luan even panicked at the sight of a zubat's blue wings and hid behind a pillar.

"Please, don't freeze me to death," he pleaded, causing Rey to burst into laughter.

Menace, his hoothoot, clearly disapproved of her trainer's lack of bravery and started pecking his head in annoyance. Finally, she chirped loudly and directed her light towards the cavern ahead.

A zubat flew toward them, and the owl nodded and hooted, as if to say, "See?"

Then two more zubat appeared, nearly colliding with Lorelei. She waved them away and squinted, focusing on the darkness ahead.

A tense silence enveloped the group as Aria jumped down from Celeste's arms and assumed a fighting stance. Rey's larvesta and Luan's hoothoot joined her, and the humans tensed. Olga's vanillite positioned itself in front of the group and let out a cautious "lite."

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, an entire swarm of zubat charged at them. Chaos ensued. All Celeste could see were the fluttering wings and the fangs dripping with poison. She tried to take cover behind the pillar where Luan hid, but he quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her through to another cavern. Lori, Rey, and their pokémon followed, and they all moved back as fire and stars cut through the blue cloud that was circling them.

"I fucking hate these pokémon," Rey said, desperately protecting his face. "You know what to do, Flam," he finished, prompting his pokémon to increase the fire.

The added light and warmth were a relief. Celeste shook her head and took a few quick breaths before shouting, "Aria, use Swift, but don't focus on any one target. Scatter it around. Maybe we can scare them off."

On her side, Lorelei reached for a pokéball but hesitated, seemingly content to let the others deal with the problem. Luan, on the contrary, quickly commanded a Reflect barrier when a few zubat swooped in too close, while Rey just kept calling for more fire.

"There are too many of them," Celeste said, edging closer to Luan and his barrier.

And then, after another yell from Rey, the larvesta's horns grew brighter as flames gathered around it. Overheat, the move he couldn't control before, was now building up in front of the little bug.

The caves brightened as if daylight was seeping in. And it was amazing. After all, zubat hated one thing above all else—light.

Before the move was even complete, most of the bats scattered away, flying towards other chambers. Then, at last, the larvesta shot his fireball, melting ice and crashing rocks in its path. When the blinding light subsided, a charred crater remained on the cave walls. Some smaller flames flickered, bravely surviving on twigs and leaves on the ground. The remaining bats were burnt, twitching and screeching in puddles of melted ice.

The little bug made a rattling noise, pleased with the destruction it wreaked. Its satisfaction only growing as the screeching ceased and silence finally fell around them.

Celeste hesitantly stepped toward the defeated zubat and felt her chest clench at the sight. Words failed her; she felt somewhat helpless. All she could do was reach into her pocket for a potion Olga had given her and stare at it for a moment.

"Watch it," Rey suddenly shouted, pulling Celeste away by the fabric of her coat.

She fell onto her back, only to witness a lone surviving zubat snapping its poison-filled fangs where she had just been. Her heart raced, the realisation of almost getting poisoned filled her with even more dread than the idea of being frozen to death by a bird of legendary power.

The bat circled back, dodging Aria's Swift and a weak Ember from the larvesta. Celeste blinked, tracking the pokémon's flight as it attempted to attack them again, but this was a lonely effort now.

The hoothoot prevented its assault on the humans with another Reflect, and Aria followed up with a Quick Attack. Unfortunately, the zubat just shrugged it off the and persisted. It kept flying around the group, launching attacks and actually getting hits.

"This one is aggressive," Luan said, commanding Menace to go after it. "And faster. Do you think it wants revenge for its friends?"

Despite being outnumbered, the zubat evaded all the hoothoot's attacks and staggered both Aria and Menace with its Astonish move.

Rey grunted in response. "There is one zubat left. Must I deal with everything?" He turned to his pokémon. "Burn it."

As more embers flew toward the bat, Celeste noticed something around its neck. A small object with a metallic glint that became evident whenever the flames got close. She narrowed her eyes, but in the dim light, it was difficult to get a clear look.

"Aria," Celeste yelled just as she heard the larvesta emit a concerning, crackling sound. The zubat had tanked a few embers and countered with a flying-type move before preparing for another attack. "Meet it head-on with a Quick Attack."

In a blur, eevee leaped over larvesta and knocked the bat out of the air.

Finally, Celeste thought, just as the poisonous pokémon hit the ground.

However, the zubat was still struggling to get up, behaving like a rabid creature, snapping and attacking anything that got close.

"Finish it off already," Lorelei said, clicking her heels.

This time, it was Luan who complied. A few pecks from his hoothoot, and the bat was finally defeated.

Rey let out a loud exhale, drawing closer to his bug. "Maybe it did want revenge... I've never seen a zubat be that annoying."

Just as Lori began to rush them to keep going, Celeste cautiously crouched beside that last zubat. She hated they'd hurt—and she really hoped it was just hurt—those pokémon, but pushed the thought to the back of her mind. There was something more important she wanted to check.

Her hands trembled just inches away from the poisonous bat, and Celeste bit her lip. Mustering all her courage, she touched the zubat, her fingers sinking into its short blue fur as she lifted it up.

A shiver ran down her spine as the pokémon's head drooped limply, its fangs now visible. Saliva dripped from its mouth onto Celeste's gloves, almost causing her to throw it away. Her breath quickened, and her vision blurred.

Was she poisoned? Her heart beat faster, and her eyes only focused on that little drop of saliva on the fabric of her glove. What did zubat poison do to humans? Was she going to—

"Celeste!" Lorelei's voice snapped her back to reality.

Her eyes sharpened, her breath steadied, and her heart… still raced.

That was panic, not poison.

"What the hell are you doing?" It was Rey who asked this time. "We need to go."

"Wait," Celeste insisted, her attention fixed on the object of her curiosity—the metal collar around the zubat's neck. "Take a look at this."

Her companions leaned in for a closer view, and Lorelei picked up the pokémon to examine it better. "A collar?" she asked. "What does that mean?"

"It might have a trainer," Luan suggested, his eyes focused on the blinking lights on the device.

"Regular collars have name tags, not tech like this," Rey declared. "Unless you see something identifying it as Fangs the zubat, I'd call foul."

Lorelei nodded, her gaze distant but her voice calm. "Its behaviour was odd. It was almost like... the move Swagger... or Blaze."

"So this collar makes the pokémon more powerful, but out of control?" Rey asked. "Perhaps that means we're getting close to the poachers?"

Celeste locked eyes with Aria, who gave a confirming look, and she sighed. "I don't know about that…" she began, still not completely sure. "But I've seen this before."

—*—*—

Amidst her friends' suspicious gazes, Celeste recounted the story of how she'd first met Delia and got lost at sea. She tried to recall every detail from that day, from how they saw a seel stuck by their ferry they were travelling on, to how they jumped into the ocean to help it out. Most importantly, she told them about the collar the seel was wearing, which bore a striking resemblance to the one around the zubat's neck.

"The size was different, of course," she finished, tracing her fingers along the metal. "And I don't think the one I saw had as many lights, but really, how many electronic collars around a pokémon's neck have you seen before?"

"And the seel was also acting strangely?" Lorelei pursed her lips. "Aggressively?"

Celeste shook her head. "It was in pain... It wanted us to remove the collar." She paused, retrieving Powder's pokéball from her pocket. "For the seel, I froze the hinges and broke the collar. I think we should do the same here."

"Seriously?" Rey sneered. "We have evidence from those poachers—an actual clue, and you want to break it? For some wild zubat?"

"You should be the first to help it." Celeste raised her voice. "After burning a bunch of its friends with some unnecessary mov—"

"Unnecessary?" Rey scoffed. "You were the one hiding behind Luan, crying like a scared skitty."

"I wasn't crying!"

Lorelei stepped between them, demanding they stop arguing. "Enough," she commanded, before turning towards Luan. "What do you think?"

"W-what?" The boy took a step back. "I mean, about what?"

"You mentioned encountering those people recently," Lorelei reminded him, extending the unconscious bat towards Luan. "You said they were using something to navigate the caves. Does this collar resemble their tech?"

Luan approached the zubat but barely glanced at it. "I'm not sure. They had something that looked like a PokéNav. Maybe... Rey is right? We could keep it instead of breaking it. To… uh… help us learn something?"

Celeste tried protesting, but no one was listening anymore. It seemed they all had decided it was best to bring the zubat and the intact collar with them. Luan's munna would ensure the pokémon remained asleep, preventing any attacks, and Lori promised to take it to the centre once they left the cave.

"I don't like this either," Lorelei added, placing a hand on Celeste's shoulder. Her expression softened, and her tough façade crumbled for the first time that day. "But we need to be practical now. Our goal is to help the lapras."

Celeste brushed Lori's hands off and gestured to the fallen zubat surrounding them. "Yeah... just the lapras, it seems."

"That's unfair." Lorelei responded, averting her eyes.

"Is it? All you've been talking about for the past two days is saving the lapras," Celeste retorted. "It's like nothing else matters."

"For what it's worth, I didn't battle the zubat..."

Lorelei's last words trailed off, and silence settled among the group once again. She sighed and quietly handed the zubat in her arms over to Luan, who seemed even more nervous than before. Then she turned around, vaguely gesturing for them to keep going.

However, the fatigue from the previous day soon fell over Celeste, as if sadness was some sort of fuel for it. For a moment, the girl just watched her friends go as she stood still, clutching the potion in her pocket.

Then Aria tackled her trainer's leg, motioning toward the others. Instead of following, Celeste crouched down by her pokémon, scratching Aria's ears in the spot she loved most. Her shoulders slumped, and she glanced around the dim cave.

She was so damn tired.

"Vee?" the eevee asked, with worry.

"I just need a minute," Celeste replied, meeting her pokémon's gaze before looking beyond.

In the distance, in another tunnel, she noticed a faint blinking light. The same type of LED from the zubat's collar, but more spaced out—a bigger collar?

"Guys," Celeste called quietly, but no one heard her.

As something growled, and Celeste scooped Aria up and sprang to her feet. The others turned around. Their voices, however, were drowned out by the girl's rising anxiety. The ground trembled and, in an instant, rocks fell, sealing off the passage ahead.

They were trapped.

Lorelei's voice rose above the chaos. "The only way is through there," she said, gesturing to where the lights were blinking, a pokéball already in her hands.

However, the ground continued to shake, making Celeste uneasy. "Be ready to use Swift," she told the eevee in her arms.

Another growl filled the air as a piloswine got lunched towards them. It had a collar—or whatever that device was—firmly attached to the base of its tusks and several patches of fur missing. The oversized pig looked as if it had been fighting for a while, but showed no signs of stopping. Not even noticing the humans, it braced itself as another piloswine, also wearing a collar, charged ahead, ready for a Take Down.

Rey's voice was of pure shock as he exclaimed, "The swinub here aren't supposed to evolve!"

Tusks clashed, but not even that made the collars bulge. The two pokémon were fiercely locked in combat, making rocks fall down every time they stomped the ground. Eventually, the humans found themselves huddled together on the other side of the chamber, desperately looking for a way to sneak by.

As Celeste took another step back, she heard a crack from below. She exchanged a worried glance with Luan, and they both looked down simultaneously.

They were all standing on a thin sheet of ice, and small fissures were growing right under their feet.

A frozen river? Or a shallow pond?

With their luck, that wasn't even a question.

"If we move slowly…" Luan began, tiptoeing to the side, but Lori stopped him.

"Don't," she said, her expression serious, her hands clenching her pokéball. "I have a plan. You three, tell your pokémon to attack the piloswine."

Rey protested loudly, "Are you fucking kidding me? I have a fire bug, in case you didn't notice."

"I'm serious," Lorelei insisted. "Fire will bother them the most."

Reluctantly, Rey commanded his pokémon to use Ember, and Celeste and Luan followed suit. The group unleashed a flurry of attacks: Air Slash from the hoothoot, Swift from Aria, and even Ice Beam from the vanillite.

The piloswine immediately turned their attention to them, their sharp tusks aimed directly at the trainers. They all tensed as the two ice-types charged in.

"Wait." Lorelei kept Celeste from moving.

What was Lori thinking?

"Just a little more."

Celeste felt Aria's paws sway, and her head move closer to the trainer's chest.

"Now!" Lori finally yelled, pushing the girl to jump to the side.

She stumbled onto the rocky ground as the piloswine roared and splashed into the water. Amidst the chaos, Aria leaped from her arms, and Celeste rolled to safety.

"Freeze them," Lorelei told her recently released lapras, and just like that, a large block of ice formed, encompassing the two pokémon. No longer splashing or thrashing around, they were frozen, immobilised, and sinking into the water.

Once again, Celeste's heart clenched. Weren't these pokémon weak to water? "Will they—?'

"Best not to think about it," was all Lori could say. She recalled her lapras and straightened herself. "Let's go. I know how to get to a few caverns where the poachers could be hiding."

"Fuck that."

Lori narrowed her eyes and turned to Rey, who was staring at her while holding on to his wet, unconscious larvesta. He tried to spray some potion on the bug, but eventually tossed the bottle away in anger and put his pokémon back in his ball.

"Is he okay?" Celeste carefully asked.

"Did it look okay to you?" Rey groaned. "He needs to go to the centre."

"You're free to turn back," Lorelei said as she headed towards the passage that hadn't collapsed.

"He'll be fine while in his ball," Rey stated, stepping in front of Lorelei. "And I'm not turning back and letting you lead the two idiots to their deaths. A few lapras are not worth it."

Lorelei remained silent, her gaze fixed on Rey.

"Is that it? Best not to think, that's what you told Celeste," the boy retorted, echoing Lorelei's previous words. "Is that how you're planning to handle this? Best not to think if someone else's pokémon is down? Best not to think if anyone else might get hurt? Best not to think about the people risking themselves to help your precious lapras? Really, from the bottom of my heart, fuck you, Lorelei."

"Are you done?" The redhead said coldly.

"I haven't even started," Rey scoffed. "We won't find anyone just wandering around. Just take us to the lapras and let's get this over with."

Lorelei narrowed her eyes, staring menacingly at each of them. "If any of you turn out to be..." she paused when Celeste held onto her hand.

"Lori..." the girl began, but hesitated.

Lori... Rey is right. We can't keep going in circles.

Lori... you should trust us. We're here to help.

Lori... how can we keep hurting other Pokémon to save the lapras?

She closed her eyes. "Lori, please," was all Celeste could say in the end.

"Fine," Lorelei finally said, punctuating her words with a tired sigh. "Let's find a river. Fractal can take us to the rest of her herd."

—*—*—

The four teens sat mostly in silence on top of the lapras' shell. Lorelei was exceptionally quiet, and so was Rey, although the vanillite was fussing over him. They'd all got bruises and scrapes, and Rey had a very shallow cut over his eyebrow, which the ice-type was scrutinising and trying to make better.

Rey waved his hand in around, attempting to shake the pokémon away, but the vanillite simply scowled and floated over to his other side.

Celeste couldn't help but smile at the scene. "You know, my mom also has an ice-type that fusses over me a lot," she said, earning an annoyed look from Rey as a response

Behind her, Luan was sitting on the edge of the lapras' shell, trying to prevent an argument between his hoothoot and munna.

The bird had just pecked the munna's trunk and seemed ready for another attack. Luan struggled to hold his owl back, losing his balance and nearly falling into the water. However, his munna quickly surrounded him with psychic energy, securing Luan safely on the water-type's back. Unfortunately, helping his trainer meant the munna lost his hold on the zubat, and the hoothoot had to swiftly plunge down to catch it, inches from the water.

When Menace flew back up, looking smug, and hooting loudly at the munna, he responded by blowing his trunk.

"Maybe you should hold it for a bit," Celeste suggested, observing the hoothoot delivering the zubat into Luan's hands.

The boy was startled, almost dropping the zubat again. "W-what if it wakes up and attacks me?"

"You can show it you don't mean any harm," Celeste reassured him. "The seel I met never attacked me or Delia."

"I don't know." Lorelei turned to the others. "Those piloswine were overly aggressive. The swinub around here hardly ever evolve on their own, and they are often very gentle."

"I told you," Celeste said, petting Aria's fur. "The collars hurt them."

Lorelei shook her head. "There must be more to it. Pokémon that are hurt won't always lash out. Some will hide, and some will look for help. Yet, all three we met were aggressive."

"Three is a very small sample," Celeste argued, noticing Rey shaking his head. "What are you thinking?"

"That you are flipping things around," Rey replied. "It's not what the collars do that matter, but what they are for. Say the pokémon are more aggressive. Would that be good for anything?"

Celeste tapped her fingers on Aria for a moment, annoying the eevee and prompting her to try biting them away. "Aria!" the trainer complained, watching her pokémon smirk. "Aggressive pokémon attack more, I suppose," she continued, lightly tapping her eevee's head, almost on purpose. "Fight a lot, and a pokémon is bound to evolve, right? Evolved pokémon must be worth more?"

Aria turned around and tried to tackle Celeste, who just stopped her with an incapacitating hug and scratches under her ear.

"Could be... but, who would want to buy a zubat?" Lorelei pondered, wrapping her arms around one of the bumps in front of her. "Or even a golbat. There must be something else; None of those pokémon are worth all this trouble, at least not if they are going to be sold."

Lorelei and Rey, despite their previous argument, kept spitting out ideas. Finding common ground in a shared mystery felt like a minor victory, but their frustration grew as every idea they had was littered with flaws.

The constant point of contention in their discussions was the zubat.

Why did the poachers put a collar on a zubat, of all things?

"A zubat, a piloswine, and a seel," Rey scoffed at the latest idea. "Best pokémon army ever."

"Alternatively, we have crobat, mamoswine, and dewgong. Neither of those are weak," Lorelei countered. "And we know they are also after lapras, frigibax, and alolan ninetales. Power can be as much a motivation as money."

"I don't know," Celeste chimed in. "Even if they evolved all the way, the pokémon will still be untrained, right? I think it's something else."

A brief silence fell over the group until Luan suddenly blurted out, "Aggressive pokémon move more." He immediately closed his eyes and covered his mouth, looking apprehensive, as if he feared speaking out.

"And how is that useful?" Rey sighed. "If I were a poacher, I'd hate to have to chase after my catch."

Celeste narrowed her eyes, a sense of dread gnawing at her as she began to put things together. "What if the pokémon that are moving are not worth chasing?" she suggested. "Think about it. How can a few people even hope to explore these caves by themselves? They must need something else… something that moves around."

"They are using it to make the map." Lorelei's eyes widened with realisation. "With the collars, they can use the pokémon to scout new areas faster. Maybe there is even a..."

As the light grew brighter, Celeste could see Lorelei turn pale.

"It could have a camera..." the girl whispered, her voice barely audible as the light engulfed them.

As her eyes adjusted, a familiar and large cave with an opening in the ceiling appeared before them. The sun shone peacefully, and the storm raging outside barely reached the cave itself. Still, the foliage on the sides was frozen, and the water, once a perfect mirror, had large chunks of ice.

They had finally arrived.

Her gaze shifted to the zubat, and she felt a wave of dizziness. "If the collars are used to make maps for the poachers..." Celeste hesitated. "That means we... we brought it right to the lapras' cave."

Before anyone could respond, a sinister laugh echoed through the chamber.

"Don't beat yourselves about it," a familiar and deeply repulsive voice spoke. "We found this place last night. All you did by catching that zubat was make it easier for us to ambush you."

There, on the shore, stood Ryder, flanked by four other poachers, including Gozu, the hulking man she'd met in Alola. Celeste's hand tightened around the pokéballs in her pocket as anger surged within her.

Beside the poachers, five lapras were trapped in nets, and a cage held a small grey pokémon she had never seen before—the frigibax, no doubt. She suspected there were more cages around, filled with other pokémon they had captured.

Celeste glanced at her companions, all frozen in uncertainty.

"Assholes," Rey's voice broke the silence, though his usual spunk seemed to have died out.

Ryder chuckled, earning a grunt from his burly companion. "Nice to see all my old pals together again. Now, shall we talk about the copperajah in the room?" He paused, amused by his own words. "Or should I say, the Articuno in the room?"

So my resolution to keep a schedule didn't last a week :D (Sorry I'm apartment hunting, and it's much more of a pain than I expected).

Anyway, a few notes. The seel thing was all the way back in the beginning of the story, Chapters 5 - The Pallet Girl and 6 - Marooned.

Also, obviously, the Elite Four at this time is different. Lorelei can't be there after all. In this chapter the first member is mentioned, a steel specialist called Irene Mikan.

NEXT CHAPTER: Rockets