Chapter 95, everybody! Time to hunt down Blaine!
The song is actually Jimmy Buffett's "Volcano," and yes we're referencing Pokémon Uranium. Also shoutout to Spidops for actually having eight legs for once. ;v;/
But yeah invasive species are a big problem for the impact they have on the areas they're released in. The most damaging invasive species in the US? Feral cats. Moving on…Blaine is channeling the energies of Burt from Tremors and John Malkovich's character from RED. And also referencing the third Monkey Island game and Jurassic Park III.
And now for reviews: thanks to griffin blackwood, BlastShooter87, Dragonkeeper10, DeathCrawler, LongNightDragon (yes, probably), ChibiFoxAI (Frenzy is too OP send tweet), thor94, Silverwing23, Viruz pirata, Reader, na zhi bi ge, davisin5764gamilcom, 0ne Swood Guy, Chryssal, Speed Reader, and epantoja521 for the reviews! I'm glad you all liked the Mewtwo arc I was really hoping I did that one justice. ;v;/
0ne Swood Guy, thanks for the review! Wow! :D I'm glad you like the characterization! And the something completely different series, I've been having fun making those (also thanks for reminding me of where I heard of the sentient cloud before). As for how long I plan to continue this…I do have stuff planned for the other regions (I'm torn on whether to skip the Orange Islands or not, which, if I do, would see the Lugia movie folded into the Whirlpool Islands area of Johto). This particular story, however, will be the Indigo arc and any subsequent arcs will be new fics (let's be real here, I'm pretty sure this one is pushing 1K pages I had to split the Word doc in half because it's so big). Saying that, I wouldn't look for it for at least a year after I finish this one. But once again, thank you! :D
Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo
And now, for something completely different:
The Cinnabar Tourist Bureau would like to remind everyone to please stop throwing things into the volcano. Trust us, it's not helping.
They planned on overnighting in the town's Pokémon Center so they could tackle the volcano in the morning, ended up having to camp near it when they found all the rooms were booked. The good news was, this meant that the morning hike to the volcano didn't take as long, much to Misty's chagrin.
"Wow the ground is warm," Ash observed as they reached rockier ground.
"Uh, hello? Giant volcano full of boiling hot lava?" Misty asked, gesturing broadly at the volcano. "Volcano that is active? None of this is cause for concern for you?"
"It's only a problem if the lava decides to come out of the volcano," Ash said.
"Ash, you're also proposing we go into the volcano searching for Blaine—we're going where the lava is, Ash."
"Technically, while it's still in the volcano it's magma," Brock said.
"Is it any less deadly?"
"No, but I have a little brother who's very insistent on volcanic terminology."
"And I'm guessing you've made it a point to never tell him about Team Magma."
"Well duh."
It was probably past noon by now—it was hard to tell in the lava tubes.
They had been searching for a while now, Darkrai assisting so they didn't get lost, and after a while of Misty's dire predictions not coming true discussions had turned to other things, from Pokémon to caves until finally it settled on Jimmy Bouffalant's song "Volcano," despite Brock being the only one who knew most of the words.
"But I don't want to land in no Castelia City, I don't want to land in Paldea, no! I don't want to land in the Tandor Region, I don't want my skin to glow!"
"Tandor Region?" Ash asked.
"Don't hold your breath for that one, it's been closed since before we were born," Brock told him. "The whole nuclear energy thing makes tourists nervous."
"That's no excuse, we're on an island with a volcano and it's crawling with tourists," Misty said.
"Team Magma has better PR," Brock said.
"Moving on," Ash said. "Mister Quaxly!"
Pikachu nodded, inhaled—
Darkrai's shadow loomed up on the wall. "Look, this whole thing is annoying enough without you lot singing and making it worse."
"Pi-ka pi-ka," Pikachu sang, apparently ignoring him.
"Good grief."
"So what's up?" Ash asked him.
"How do you feel about Grimer and Ditto?"
"Let's not," Misty said.
"Then don't take that right turning."
"What if it's like, an obstacle like the Fuchsia Gym?" Ash asked. "Since Koga visits Blaine."
"Considering it also ends in a dead-end with no secret passages, I'm leaning towards 'no.'"
"Okay so we take the left turning," Ash decided.
"Sure," Darkrai grumbled, slinking off. "And what thanks do I get for saving your life? MULTIPLE times?"
"Thank you, Darkrai."
"Whatever I had BETTER be getting SOMETHING out of this deal."
"A three-tier Oran cake about this big," Brock said, holding his hands out wide enough to indicate a large pizza. "And a second one if you get us back out afterwards."
Darkrai narrowed his eyes at him, the blue glowing faintly in the dim lighting outside of Pikachu's Flash. "Meh," he noised finally, disappearing in the gloom.
"But while we're on the subject," Misty said, looking at Ash. "You. Stop jumping into situations where you can get yourself literally killed."
"I knew Darkrai would stop before he hit me," Ash said.
"That doesn't matter," Brock said. "Listen, I get it, kids think they're indestructible. If Darkrai hadn't been there that Mewtwo could have killed you. That's it, dead, no getting badges and becoming a Pokémon master."
"Okay I agree, that would suck," Ash said.
"So we agree," Misty said. "No more running into dangeeEEE!"
That was Ash's feeling as well, the both of them jumping into Brock's arms at the sight of a spider Pokémon standing in their way. Forget the fact that spider Pokémon weren't native to Kanto, this one was assuming a kung-fu stance and looked like it was ready to throw at least four hands.
"Pi pika!" Pikachu barked at it, cheeks sparking.
"Spi," it noised, quickly webbing up the tube before scuttling away.
"So…that was weird," Ash said.
"Definitely baffling," Brock said, releasing Vulpix to burn through the webbing. "And it makes me wonder—that definitely wasn't a Kantoan Pokémon. Did some tourist release it?"
"Why would someone do that?"
"I don't know, but it's horribly irresponsible—the impact a non-native Pokémon could have…we'd better catch it before it can do some damage."
"Oh I'm all for that," Ash said, rubbing his hands together. "Come on, Pikachu!"
"Ash, wait!" Misty hollered, her and Brock running after him. "Did you not hear anything we said?"
"No more running into danger, catch the spider," Ash repeated, pausing at an intersection to look down each one. "Got it."
"Pi," Pikachu noised, sitting up with ears twitching—finally pointed down a path, Vulpix barking to confirm.
"We can track its scent, stop running off," Brock said.
"Where are you three going?" Darkrai demanded, leaning out of a different tunnel.
"We're chasing after a foreign Pokémon!" Ash told him, heading down the tunnel Pikachu and Vulpix had indicated.
"Oh is that what we're calling this now? By the way, you want to go this way."
"In a minute, there's this weird-looking Pokémon—"
"Isn't this what started the last incident?"
"We promise it won't end like that this time."
Darkrai grumbled, sinking back into the shadows.
"I wish I could do that," Misty said. "At least then I wouldn't be helping you two chase after a bug."
"Come on, Misty," Brock said.
"No—Ash let's just go find another gym to challenge. I'll give you another Cascade Badge."
"Would that even count?" Ash asked Brock.
"No," Brock told him.
"Brock," Misty hissed.
"You want him to find out at the entrance to Victory Road?"
"No," Misty sighed, slouching after them.
This tunnel was long and winding with several switchbacks—occasionally they could see the spider Pokémon peeking back at them from around a corner. Start picking up speed when they reached a longer straight stretch, one that angled down and then back up, widening a bit—
Skid to a halt when they realized that there was something else waiting in the tunnel.
They screamed, plastering themselves against the far wall as the Magmar approached menacingly—not enough space for Lenny or Patches, and that thing looked big and mad—
Ash blinked at the sight of gold around its neck. "Wait what—" Didn't get much else out as it sent twin bursts of flame on either side of them, keeping them in place—
And then someone else came in.
"You broke into the wrong Golurk'ed rec room, now didn't ya?" the man demanded.
"Wait what?" Ash repeated.
"Sir," Brock said, sounding calmer than they all felt. "If this is your Magmar, I'd appreciate you calling it off."
"Hmm, what do you think, Kovie?" the guy asked the Magmar. Now that they weren't in immediate threat of death, Ash could see that the guy was wearing some sort of camo—what was this version called? A Ghillie suit?
Oh wait other problems the Magmar was doing a slicing motion across its throat.
"Oh no you don't," Ash said quickly. "I'm here to challenge Blaine and I'm not leaving Cinnabar until I do! I need that badge!"
"That's what they all say," the guy said. "'Oh that'd look great on my dress' or 'it'd be a great souvenir!' Bah, who needs that aggravation? No one, that's who!"
"Mag mar," the Magmar said, nodding.
Ash didn't exactly need Brock nudging him, having figured it out about the same time he did. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you're Blaine," Brock said. "You look close enough to the photo in the gym leader handbook, at least."
"Mag, mag mar," the Magmar said, glaring at them flatly.
"I thought we agreed no more feeding meat or meat byproducts to the volcano," Blaine said to the Magmar. "As for you lot…so what? Blaine retired, plain and simple."
"And who are you, his second cousin once removed?" Misty asked, deadpan.
"Er…yes. I'm Burt."
"I'm doubtful."
"I'm not some tourist!" Ash protested. "I've got six badges—I just need your badge and Giovanni's and then I'll have all eight and can challenge the League!"
"Not true!" Blaine said, a finger up and out. "The League has been accepting other badges."
"And I tried those—they're all second-rate and they don't deliver. I want the actual badges, like the Volcano badge."
"And I want peace and quiet—funny how we don't get what we want."
"If you want that, you're either going to have to battle him or throw him in the volcano," Misty said. "Ash is persistent when he wants to be."
"I am," Ash confirmed.
"I mean I do love the irony of a challenger named Ash coming to the volcano," Blaine mused. "Bah. I'll escort you tourists out and then we'd better find a better hiding spot, Kovie."
"Actually Misty and I are fellow gym leaders," Brock said. "Call this a wellness check."
"Oi I get enough of those from Giovanni, bugger off."
"You get visits from Giovanni?" Ash asked, perking up.
"And sometimes Koga—occasionally they're nice enough to tell me how they tracked me down so I can cover that glaring weakness, but most times Giovanni just shows up with that Persian of his and this insufferable look on his face. Which reminds me," he said, tugging a jar out and sprinkling something behind him. "Now come on—that'll throw off most tracking 'mons but it'll attract one big Steelix with a fen."
"What did you just do?" Misty asked.
"You're better off not knowing. But back to getting out of here—"
"Do I get a gym battle?" Ash asked.
"No."
"Then you're about to have a lot of glaring weaknesses pointed out."
"Mag mag," the Magmar said to Blaine.
"I told you, we finally got the volcano's cholesterol under control, I don't want to screw it up now," Blaine hissed back at it.
"Let's look at it this way," Brock said as they made their way up the lava tube. "Technically, Ash passed the gym test required to get to you, so you owe him a battle."
"Oi who's side are you on?"
"The side that gets us out of your hair fastest," Misty said.
"And what if I really am just some guy named Burt?"
"Then could you nicely ask Blaine if he'd battle me?" Ash offered. "And tell him I'm not leaving Cinnabar until I get a gym battle."
"Which would mean that he'd live here full-time, which would then mean he's no longer a tourist," Misty mused.
"Pi ka," Pikachu agreed, affecting a similar stance.
Blaine and the Magmar exchanged glances. "Mag ma," the Magmar noised.
"Traitor," Blaine muttered. "Fine, fine, come on…."
"Did we win?" Ash asked.
"I'm going to say tentatively, yes," Misty said, following Blaine and the Magmar. "Now let's get out of here."