Chapter 11: At roads end

If anyone were to ask Gates what he was thinking, he wouldn't be able to answer. At one moment, he was evading attacks from the rampaging. Then suddenly an explosion interrupted their battle, and he turned around to see his partner plummeting into the rapid currents below.

He had lived as a petty thief his entire life, so abandoning a partner he had met less than two days ago shouldn't have been a big deal. He probably could've used the commotion to active a petrify orb, and escape from the situation. Sure, it was his only one, but they were so close to the exit. Surely that would've been the safe option.

Not that it mattered, as he had already dived after Liza and grabbed around her before such a thought had even crossed his mind. He briefly tried to swim as they breached the surface, but he quickly figured it was no use. The current was part of the distortion, not natural. Even if he hadn't been dragging someone else with him, struggling against it would still be futile. They were both at the distortions whims now, and could only hope luck was on their side.

A bumpy ride followed, with Gates holding onto the barely responsive Liza for dear life, not wanting to risk getting separated. He completely lost track of both how long and far they they drifted in the currents for, but both felt way too long. Finally, the unnatural river decided to let them go, as they suddenly felt a drop, and found themselves in an underground pool.

Gates wasted no time pulling Liza towards land, and digging an Oran Berry out of his backpack. He tried getting her to take a bite, but there was no response from her. Not hesitating, he dug through his bag to find something even more precious, his only reviver seed. As he placed it on her, it lit up, and vanished as the light enveloped Liza. When it dissipated, she suddenly shot up. She was clearly still in combat mode though, as she managed to land a punch on Gates as she did. Slowly, she realized she wasn't still fighting, and what she just did.

"I am sorry!" She yelled, as her partner just turned to her and smiled.

"No need. I am fine."

But the smile was short lived as they both realized she had yelled too loud. Their conversation was interrupted by a series of thumps coming from down the halls, even causing the ground to shake slightly. Its source would soon be revealed, as a horde of husks came rushing into the chamber. As if one armaldo wasn't bad enough, there were at least four in this group, among various other creature. More gligar and cradily were also climbing down the walls. As the creatures surrounded them, Gates rushed forward and help up an orb.

"Petrify orb, activate!" He yelled, as the orb shattered in his grasp. "Now run!"

The horde of husks all froze in place, as Gates rushed through the crowd. Liza quickly mustered up the courage to follow him through it. The glares from the husks hollow seemed to follow them, even as their bodies were petrified. Carefully navigating through, looking at the vicious claws of the armaldo and kabutops, threatening to regain movement at any time.

"Hurry, this won't hold them for long!" Gates yelled as soon as they were clear of the crowd, and both started running down a hall.

It didn't take long after they'd left the monster house behind when the duo started hearing stomping from its direction again. Not wanting the horde to catch up to them, their strategy of moving slow to avoid detection was no longer an option. Soon they both emerged into a path over the open canyon. Though with a quick look the duo saw something important along the walls. About a hundred meters away, and pretty far up, the final fog wall awaited them.

Now, with an objective in mind, they tried taking every turn that seemed to lead towards it. It wasn't always easy to keep track of where they were when the went back into the cave, and they didn't have the luxury of time to think it over, but they were pretty sure they had been steadily been heading towards the exit. Keeping close to the ravine to not lose their way, crossing in when necessary, and taking every ascending path on the way, they slowly and surely closed in on the exit.

But then a wrench was thrown into their plans. As they got closer, or at least though so, they were sure they still had to get higher up. But that plan was thwarted, as when the path split before them, a great pink slug was blocking the ascending path. Still hearing the stomping behind them, now accompanied by a sound they didn't recognize, they decided they simply had to risk the other path. The gastrodon tried to shoot mud bombs towards them as they pivoted, but they managed to skillfully evade them and disappear down the second path.

This path did lead them back to the open ravine. Not only that, the bridge they were currently one was right below the one leading to the fog-gate. Bad news was the kabutops emerging from the cave on the other side. The husk hissed as it brandished it's claws, with the clear intent to strike.

The rumbling of the horde once again filled the ravine, as Liza and Gates could see it running across one of the bridges they had previously crossed. What was weird though, was that they were running the other way, into the cave where the unknown sound came from, accompanied by rapid indigo flashes in the caves mouth.

Liza snapped her attention back to the kabutops as it lunged at her, which she narrowly evaded it by jumping back. Gates tried to fish through his bag, but was interrupted by a claw swiping towards him. The kabutops kept pushing both his targets back with it's relentless claw swipes, and the gastrodon probably wasn't far behind them at this point. If there was a way out of this, it was through. Knowing there was no low-risk option this time, Liza snapped into full focus as she readied her gambit.

She once again dodged the kabutops' next lunge, but this time towards it. As soon as she got past it's claw, she sped up with aqua jet. She managed to strike one of its vulnerable legs as flew past it, landing in a less than elegant roll. The attack served it's purpose as purpose as it made the husk fall forward. This gave Gates the time to find a stun seed, and temporarily take out the kabutops. As he leapt over it and reunited with Liza, though as he ran past her she grabbed him.

"What are you doing?" he asked, panicked about the situation and her sudden change in behavior.

"Getting us out. We are going that way." She stated, pointing straight up towards the exit. "I will use my aqua jet to launch us up."

"Are you mad, that's at least fifteen meters up, and you don't even have that move under control yet" He yelled back. "There is no way we'll make it.

"And if we don't we will probably find out the hard way what the light over there is." She coldly answered, as she pointed toward the cave entrance that was still had those lights immediately flashing, but now no husks in sight outside.

"But it's safer to…" Gates began, before Liza grabbed him.

"Please, if only this one time." she pleaded as she looked him straight in the eyes. "Trust me!"

Gates looked back into her newly determined eyes, and finally resigned, giving her a simple nod as an answer.

She then wrapped around him, holding on for dear life as she started gathering water-energy in her tail. They started spinning wildly, as water gathered around them and they shot upwards. The speed was immense at first, but after just a few meters they felt it dipping fast. Liza fund a small outcrop in the stone wall, and managed to use it as a step to boost her speed just a little. This almost caused her lose lost control completely but she barely managed to steer herself. This little boost wasn't enough though, so she once again found an outcrop she could get he feet onto, and put all her might into the final leap.

The stone bridge was just a hairs width away when her energy failed her, and she last all upwards momentum. On pure reflex, she extender her arms, and by extension Gates up, as she prepared herself for the sensation of being in free fall.

But it never came. When she looked up, she saw Gates had managed to grab onto the stone bridge above them. Not by his stubby arms, but with his teeth. With pure determination in his eyes, his fangs dug into the stones refusing to let go.

Not wanting to let his efforts go to waste, Liza started to climb up his body, before grabbing onto the rocks. She managed to position herself in a way that gave her a somewhat solid grip, with Gates still being able to reach her tails with his arms.

"Now, grab onto me!" she shouted at him.

He didn't waste any time, grabbing onto her tail, and climbing up. With Liza's help, he managed to climb all the way, before finally making his way onto the top of the bridge. But before he could rest, he helped pull Liza onto it as well. The partners looked towards the exit, before nodding to each other.

They both ran the final stretch, as they crossed the fog-gate together.

This final room of the dungeon was round, and mostly covered by a lake. Though upon further inspection, there were several tunnels under the surface, and they couldn't see the bottom. The water was constantly moving, with seemingly strong currents in flowing in various, nonsensical directions.

Liza and Gates approached the lake. Though Liza had gotten used to being underwater, the idea of jumping into those rapid currents and dark tunnels still scared her.

"Come on! Just hold on so we don't get separated." Gates said, as he held out his hand to her.

"Halt!" came from a new voice.

They didn't even have time to turn around before they got lifted off the ground. The lake passed by beneath them, as they were pinned against the opposite wall. Wriggling around enough to turn their heads, Gates and Liza finally made eye contact with Latios.

"Honestly, I'm impressed you made it this far." Latios complimented them, still with a straight face. "But this is the end of the line."

Trying to wriggle themselves proved useless, and being pinned with their stomachs against the wall, all their attack proved useless. However, Liza did manage to swing her tail to fire a sonicboom at the arm holding Gates.

The attack barely made him flinch, but it was enough for Gates to turn around and throw a blast seed at Latios. The explosion made Latios flinch, but he retaliated by striking Gates with his free hand, still holding onto Liza. The attack looked like an effortless slap, but it launched Gates back several meters into a wall.

As he opened his eyes again, Gates saw Latios still holding onto the struggling Liza while looking at him. His whole body was hurting from such a simple attack, and he was completely out of seeds to help. Latios wasn't moving from the spot, simply observing him. The lake was still right next to him, it was like Latios was daring him to try making an escape.

Instead, he forced his body to move towards the legendary dragon holding his friend. Ice-aura gathered in his mouth as he ran in, just for Latios to swiftly strike him again. Cracks formed in the wall behind him as Latios slammed him into it.

"NO!" Liza yelled as she saw him get hit by the attack. He looked up at her, seemingly holding onto his consciousness by a thread, as he held his arms up against Latios and tried pushing him off. Latios merely scoffed at his efforts, as he looked back over to Liza.

At least he did, until Gates was enveloped by a bright light.

The outline grew, and changed shape. The legendary suddenly felt pinning him down with just one arm got a lot harder, as the light faded to reveal a croconaw.

With renewed vigor, Gates bit down on Latios' arm with an ice fang. Unlike all their previous attack, this actually looked like it hurt the dragon, giving Gates the opportunity to break free. Immediately he lunged for the arm holding Liza, intending to free his partner. Latios turned, causing him to grab onto her bag instead, before Latios used the momentum to shake him off.

Liza use the opportunity to fire another sonicboom at the dragon, which struck him in the chest. Though it only seemed to be a mild annoyance to the legendary, Gates ran back toward Latios. But this time he surprised Latios by rolling under him instead of going for the attack, causing the dragons strike to miss. He then leapt up behind him with another ice fang at the ready.

Though Latios quickly proved himself too quick. He turned and simply grabbed Gates mid-air by the neck, causing his attack to fizzle out.

"Nice try." Latios stated coldly, looking Gates straight in the eyes.

"Not… done… yet…" Gates managed to force out. Holding up his hand to reveal the blast seed he had managed snag from Liza's bag, with a missing sprout.

For once, Latios was not quick enough as the explosion hit him point blank. This caused him to drop both his captives. Though the way Latios had pivoted caused him to drop the both in the lake. The rapid current immediately caught both Liza and the unconscious Gates, and pulled them in different directions. As they were both pulled under, Liza desperately tried swimming to reach Gates, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't as much as influence her direction.

The last thing she saw before she were pulled into one of the dark tunnels, was Latios' silhouette entering the same tunnel and grabbing on to her, as they both were pulled into the darkness.

When Liza finally saw light again, she felt the dragon carry her as they emerged from a pond in a forest Liza hadn't seen before. Suddenly, the dragon dropped her off, and she clumsily landed in the grass. AS she looked up, expecting Latios' cold glare, was instead met with a concerned look from Latias.

"Are you all right?" Latias asked as Liza immediately shied away, holding her arm up defensively.

"Please listen. I'm not here to hurt you." Latias pleaded to the scared human.

Liza lowered her arm, confused by the dragoness in front of her. She had been hunting them, and had even told her she was targeting a human back in Azureport. Yet she had also been very kind to her back in town, and now she was once again refraining from attacking her.

"You are the human, are you not?" Latias asked.

"Yes…" she answered, after significant hesitation.

"Seems like we had a bit of a misunderstanding. We are not after you because you're in any trouble." Latias tried to explain. "It's just about how humans emerge around times of great peril. And recently multiple humans have emerged, with no peril in sight. Our superiors wanted to gather those human to help figure out what is happening."

"And why did Latios attack us then?" Liza asked, now daring an accusatory tone.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry." Latias sighed. "This isn't the first time that hothead jumped right to violence. Blasting through that horde chasing you probably got him in a fighting mood as well."

"And what about Gates, where is he?" Liza asked.

"Latios went after him. I've already called him telepathically to bring him to Elysium City. Along with a thorough scolding for attacking you like that." the dragons brow briefly furrowed as she said the last part. "Now, I must ask you to come with me as well."

"What is going to happen to him?" Liza asked, worried about the only friend she had in this world.

"Normally, he would be arrested for his crimes and serve whatever punishment the court decided." Latias responded, causing Liza to look down. "However, his circumstances are far from usual. It is very much possible our superior wishes to find an alternate solution for him."

"You think?" she asked hopefully.

"He does have quite a strong influence, and despite running free for so long, Gates' crimes are fairly mild." Latias responded. "I suspect Gates' role in the time to come will not be behind bars. Now, I must ask again. Will you come with me to the capitol to see him."

"I will." Liza answered. Whatever these superiors wanted with her, she was not about to abandon Gates.

"Thank you." Latias said as she hovered in front of Liza, motioning for her to climb on. "We will probably be there by nightfall, so hang tight."

Liza did as instructed, climbing onto Latias back. She immediately hovered of the ground, and shot forward. Liza clutched around Latias as hard as she could, but after the initial surprise ended she realized she wasn't slipping at all. As she mustered up the courage to loosen her grip, she found out some invisible force was holding her in place.

'Don't worry. I'm not gonna let you fall'

Liza heard Latias voice in her head. Though institutionally her ear perked up.

'I am using telepathy. And I can hear you as well. Thought having a psychic voice in your head was slightly better than taking the trip in silence.' Latias clarified.

Liza was not quite on board with this idea. Was there any hope for privacy among psychics? Did Latias have a constant lie-detector on when they had just spoken?

'I can hear your surface level thoughts with little effort, yes. But I didn't do that while we spoke just now, neither did I the first time we met. We psychics do value privacy of the mind. Though, this whole ordeal might have been avoided if I did."

Despite everything that had transpired, Liza was grateful for not having her mind invaded. Though she also wondered is these psychic powers could help her with her amnesia.

'I can have a look later if you want. Digging deeper into a mind takes more focus, and is prone to countermeasures and detection. Doing that subtly in not easy.' Latias offered.

She mentally thanked her for the offer. Though right now, her goal was clear before her, as they flew across the landscape at breakneck speed. Gates had been there for her from the moment she woke up, and she was not about to abandon her friend.

Authors note

All right. This wraps up the first arc for Liza and Gates. First, the entirety of Riptide Ravine was supposed to be one chapter, but I ended up dividing it. Especially since ending it with the falling into the water, which I originally planned to be the end of this arc, would be such a painful cliffhanger to leave you with until their return.

Anyhow, you might have realized this story is going to hop between perspectives quite a bit. I am still planning to introduce a third protagonist, but before then I've decided to slot some lower intensity chapters when I feel it's fitting. So you all have a brief return to the Badlands-crew before we get along with that.

And finally, thanks to all you for reading my fic, and the kind words I've received.