I awoke to an eerie silence. My whole body still aching with pain, I groaned and forced my eyes to open.
Solid metal bars, with crackling blue electricity dancing evilly between them, surrounded me. Beyond them, I could see nothing but utter blackness, engulfing me like a dark void.
Where am I? I thought wearily.
Suddenly, light washed over the room, stunning me and forcing my eyes to squeeze shut. I blinked them a few times, adjusting them to the dramatic change in brightness, and slowly studied my surroundings.
I was in a very small room with plain, solid metal walls. The prison-like place consisted of nothing more than the electric cage I was trapped in, and on the other side of the room was a pair of sliding doors made of metal and a small light switch. A female Jolteon – I recognized her as the same Jolteon who zapped me back at the Burnt Tower – was slowly padding towards me.
"What happened?" I groaned weakly as the Jolteon sat down comfortably next to my cage. I could tell that whatever had happened, I had not been healed – my body was still aching badly from the Thunderbolt attack that knocked me out.
The Jolteon dropped the small sack she had been carrying in her mouth and nudged it towards me with her paw.
"Huh?" I asked, staring at the small sack that had been pushed into my cage.
"It's yours," the Jolteon said curtly in a quiet voice.
Curious, I grabbed the bottom of the sack with my beak and emptied its contents. I gasped when I saw what the sack contained – a large pile of juicy blue Oran Berries, bright red Cheri Berries, and smooth yellow Sitrus Berries lay at my feet.
I glanced at the Jolteon, who simply nodded and said, "Eat."
"Thank you," I sighed as I bent down and feasted on the pile of berries. Their sweet juices quenched my thirst and trickled down my throat, and I sighed in contentment as the energy slowly flowed back into my weary body.
My health restored, I turned to the Jolteon, who was now calmly licking her paws and grooming herself.
"Ms. Jolteon, I really appreciate the berries, but can you please tell me where I am and how I got here?" I asked politely.
"I can't tell you anything," the Jolteon said sharply, not looking up. "K told me to make sure you don't escape. You should be grateful that I brought the berries."
Sighing, I swallowed an annoyed comment and took a deep breath to keep my cool.
"Listen, Ms. Jolteon," I groaned. "I am very grateful that you brought the berries. But now that I'm healed, what do you expect me to do? Sit quietly in this cage until K comes and does something?"
"Precisely," the Jolteon answered curtly as she continued to groom herself.
"I can't do that. You see, my mate is waiting for me," I blurted out. "He's at the Burnt Tower, and if I don't go and see him by tomorrow morning, I won't ever see him again." The knowledge that I wasn't telling the complete truth weighed upon my conscience like a heavy stone. I shook my head. I've got to get out of here, I told myself firmly.
"Sucks to be you," the Jolteon said simply.
My calmness vanished into thin air as I registered the blunt comment.
"Well, guess what?" I roared. "If you won't help me get out of here, I'll just have to do it myself." In my sheer rage, I forgot about the properties of the cage as I rammed at the metal bars with my most powerful and reckless Double-Edge attack. At the moment of contact, an evil current of electricity flowed through my body. Groaning in pain, I slumped to the ground and sighed as I stared angrily at the electric metal bars, which still closed me in despite my attack.
"Such a kid," the Jolteon sighed. "You're so ignorant. Don't you realize that this cage is bolted to the ground?"
"What?" I groaned as I looked around, only to find out that what the Jolteon said was true.
Hopelessness and despair welling up inside me, I took a deep breath and tried again for one last time.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Jolteon, but I can't be K's Pokemon," I said resolutely as I stood up. "You see, I belong to a trainer called Ash Ketchum, but he left me in the Viridian Forest a year and a half ago. He said he'd come back for me, but he never has. That's why I'm on a journey with Lightning, Falkner's Pidgeot, so I can find Ash and ask him why he broke his promise."
The Jolteon closed her eyes and stood up. She sighed, pacing around a bit as she pondered the situation.
"So that's why the Ultra Ball didn't work," I heard her mutter.
"Huh?" I asked, completely clueless as to what she was talking about.
"You see, after I knocked you out with a Thunderbolt, K tried to capture you with an Ultra Ball," the Jolteon explained. "It didn't work, though, so she just dragged you back to this blimp and dumped you into this cage."
"What?" I roared angrily. "Why would she do that? Doesn't she know that I can't be her Pokemon?"
"Well," the Jolteon said slowly, "Pokeballs have a tendency to… well… expire."
"What do you mean?" I demanded.
"Um, it happened to my Pokeball," the Jolteon explained. "Back when I was an Eevee, I belonged to another trainer, but he never kept me in my Pokeball. One night, while I was sleeping soundly, I felt this flying projectile strike my head. It was a Dusk Ball, I soon found out… thankfully, it didn't work, but K still managed to catch me."
"Let me guess," I interrupted. "She threw an electric-cage-ball to capture you and waited a few months for your Pokeball to 'expire' before capturing you in a Quick Ball?"
The Jolteon's face bore an expression of genuine surprise. "How… how did you figure that out?"
I shrugged. "Well, you mentioned the fact that Pokeballs expire," I said simply. "So I pretty much figured out that K managed to catch you after your own Pokeball stopped working."
"Well, I suppose you're smarter than I gave you credit for," the Jolteon said, slightly impressed. "But that doesn't mean I'll be nice to you yet. Tell me – do you have a way to counter Electric-type attacks?"
"Steel Wing," I said almost immediately, smiling. "It works kind of like a lightning rod – you contact the ground with your Steel Wing, and all electricity gets attracted to it and flows from your wing into the ground. I just thought up that strategy one day, after observing the lightning rod on the Burnt Tower."
"What a strategy," the Jolteon said softly, with most of the coldness gone from her voice. "I've never heard of one like it." She closed her eyes. "All right. I admit it. You are smarter than the average Flying-type Pokemon, so I suppose you deserve a little bit of my help."
My heart leaped in my chest. "Really?" I breathed, not really believing what I heard. "First, I must know, how long does it take for a Pokeball to expire?"
"About a year and a half," the Jolteon answered. "By the time K captured me in the cage, I'd already belonged to my former trainer for a year, so she only had to wait about half a year before she could catch me in my Quick Ball."
"What?" I gasped. I narrowed my eyes, a sense of urgency filling my voice. "I'm sorry, Ms. Jolteon, but I've got to get out of here, right now. You see, I've been out of my Pokeball for almost a year and a half. If I don't get out of here fast, K will capture me. She's wanted me as her Adamant-natured Pidgeot since the start of my journey to find my former trainer. So please, Ms. Jolteon, will you please help me get out of here?"
The Jolteon shrugged. "I suppose so, considering that you aren't the birdbrain I thought you were. Well, first of all, I'm afraid I forgot to tell you my name. Please stop calling me Ms. Jolteon – call me Bolt instead."
"Nice to meet you, Bolt," I said happily, relieved that the Jolteon was no longer the self-centered, cold-hearted Pokemon she had acted like just a few moments ago. "My name is Thunder. All right, Bolt. Do you know how I'm supposed to get out of here?"
Bolt's voice suddenly became very hushed. "Your chances of getting out of here are one in a million," she said quietly. "This room we're in – it's made of solid, unforgiving steel, and the only way to open the secure door is by using a special card key that K keeps somewhere in her bedroom. I've never been in there before, because she gives her Pokemon guard duties during the night and tightly locks her door."
"Steel room, card key locked up in bedroom," I paraphrased. "Okay. What else?"
"The walls of the blimp. They're made of some material that isn't as strong as steel, but your chances of penetrating them are incredibly low."
"Very strong walls, almost impossible to penetrate. What about doors?"
"Not a chance. There's only one door that leads out of K's blimp, but that one is securely locked, made of solid metal, and watchfully guarded by Firestorm, K's Charizard that uses Flamethrower on you at the slightest provocation."
"Got it. What about windows?"
"Only one, and it's made of bulletproof glass. Iceheart the Gyarados guards that window every night and makes sure that nobody enters or leaves. And K just taught her how to use Stone Edge. One hit from those rocks, and you'll be out cold."
"Darn, that looks tough. Is there anything else I have to worry about?"
"Darkfang, K's Golbat, patrols the whole blimp and scans everywhere with her crazy night-vision. All of K's Pokemon wear interesting metal cubes with a button on them, and a press of that button will trigger an alarm in K's room." Bolt's voice suddenly became more hushed than usual. "But your real problem is Sharpclaw."
"Sharpclaw?"
"Sharpclaw the Skarmory is the eye in the sky. As K's most powerful Pokemon, he perches on the outside surface of the blimp every night and sees everything in his surroundings – Officer Jennies, fierce wild Pokemon, disturbances of every kind. And once he sees a threat, he usually doesn't need to press the alarm button he wears. Most of the time, that Impish-natured powerhouse just fights off the intruder by himself – and he always makes sure that the enemy never comes back."
I closed my eyes and sighed. "So let me get this straight," I groaned. 'To escape, I need to get past this electric cage, the solid steel walls, up to two tightly locked doors, Firestorm the Charizard, Iceheart the Gyarados, Darkfang the Golbat, Sharpclaw the Skarmory, and probably Nature Hunter K herself." I slumped dejectedly to the ground. "Darn it. How will I ever escape?"
Bolt sighed. "I'm not sure," she groaned, "unless you are willing to get a bit… violent."
"How violent?" I asked nervously. "I want to escape, but I do not want this to get out of control. After all, ramming into this cage a while ago really took a sizeable chunk out of my health."
"Are you willing to get involved in up to five vicious battles?"
"Well, I really shouldn't have attacked this stupid cage," I groaned guiltily, flexing my sore and slightly paralyzed muscles. "Ugh, I seriously need to learn how to control my temper."
"That's true," Bolt sighed, "but there's no use crying over spilled milk. In times like this, you have to use your brain and think of a solution."
"Yes," I said slowly as I closed my eyes, thinking of an escape plan. I could hear a few light paw-steps as Bolt padded restlessly around the room, her mind perhaps teeming with as many thoughts as mine.
Finally, after a very long moment of silence, I opened my eyes and lifted my head.
"Well," I sighed, "I'm afraid it's hopeless. I do have a plan, but… if you're unwilling to help me, it won't work."
Bolt abruptly stopped padding around the room as she walked silently to my cage and delicately sat down next to it. She closed her eyes, sighing as she pondered the situation. After a while, she lifted her head and did something I'd never seen her do before – smile at me.
"Count me in," she said quietly. "I want to help you escape."
"You ready?" Bolt asked from the other side of the room, excitement crackling in her voice.
"Ready," I breathed, trembling.
"All right. Here goes nothing!" Taking a deep breath, Bolt opened her mouth and fired in quick succession five Shadow Ball attacks. As the dark orbs of energy soared across the room towards my cage, I closed my eyes and winced, preparing for the impact.
Five rather loud explosions resonated in the air as the Shadow Balls directly struck the metal bars of the cage. Shortly afterwards, I heard a noise that sounded like crackling electricity. A few seconds after the noise died down, Bolt spoke up.
"Open your eyes, Thunder. It's time for Phase Two."
The sight that greeted my opened eyes made me smile with pleasure – a large hole gaped on one side of the cage, big enough for me to fit easily through, and jagged fragments of metal littered the ground. The blue electricity that had been dancing between the bars of the cage was gone completely, and I sighed in relief as I stepped out of the confining prison.
"Okay, Thunder. Now we've got to make as much noise as we can," Bolt declared. "Ready, set, go!"
I nodded briskly before flapping quickly to the unforgiving steel door. With a loud battle cry, I readied two Steel Wings and began mercilessly beating at the door with them, while Bolt roared and fired off a barrage of Shadow Balls. The whole blimp seemed to quake as we executed our attacks, but the steel door stood as solid as ever.
"We're not loud enough!" Bolt exclaimed. "Keep on going!"
I roared angrily as I continued to mercilessly attack the door with my Steel Wings, occasionally throwing in a Quick Attack. Bolt narrowed her eyes as she fired off Hidden Power attacks as well as Shadow Balls. The noise was terrific indeed, and the explosions that resonated through the room made me want to cover my ears.
Suddenly, the metal doors slid open. For a moment, we just stood there in surprise as we stared up at Nature Hunter K, who had just opened the doors and was glaring at us with cold hatred in her eyes.
"Let's get out of here!" Bolt screamed, zipping past K. I launched into the air and followed her out of the room and through the blimp, panting as I flew down the dark central hallway. I could hear rapid footsteps behind me – K was running angrily after us, cursing and shouting. A few swift, steady wing beats meant that Darkfang the Golbat had spotted us and was now chasing us as well.
"Stop!" K screeched, as a Sludge Bomb attack fired off by Darkfang barely missed its target and hit the ground next to me. I gasped as I increased my speed, flying in a zigzag pattern over Bolt, who was trying as desperately to dodge the Sludge Bombs as me.
The window was in sight, and we could see the towering, twenty-one-foot tall figure of Iceheart the Gyarados as she turned to see what all this commotion was about. The ceiling of the blimp kept her in a rather scrunched-up position, but her eyes glittered with the cold gleam of the fanatic nevertheless.
"Gyarados!" K screamed. "Stop that Pidgeot with Stone Edge!"
With a roar, Iceheart readied the attack, sharp-edged bits of rock swirling menacingly around her serpentine body. Before she could fire off the attack, however, Bolt swiftly delivered a well-aimed Thunderbolt. Iceheart's roar of fury turned into a roar of pain as the wicked Electric-type attack hit her squarely. Shortly afterwards, she slumped to the ground, clearly unconscious.
"Jolteon! How dare you?" K growled as she fired a beam of paralyzing blue electricity from the glove on her hand. Bolt seemed to be completely unaffected by this attack, however. In fact, she seemed to be re-energized by it. Clenching her teeth, she ran even faster towards the window and began to fire off a barrage of attacks – Thunderbolts, Shadow Balls, Hidden Powers. I narrowed my eyes at the solid, seemingly unbreakable window as I readied two Steel Wings. Holding my wings out at my sides, I took a deep breath and charged at the glass with a Quick Attack.
Part of me wanted to close my eyes, to shield myself from the impact. But other emotions surged inside me – hope, courage, determination. With a loud battle cry, I charged into the glass window with my Steel Wing-Quick Attack combination. With a satisfied smile, I crashed through the allegedly bulletproof glass, smashing the window into millions of tiny pieces.
Caught up in the excitement of the moment, Bolt leapt through the open window after me. What she didn't realize, however, was the fact that the blimp had been cruising peacefully above the clouds the whole time. She was now falling through a dark blue sky, towards the earth at a breakneck pace, and her eyes were full of fear as she realized that there was no solid ground beneath her feet.
"Hang on!" I exclaimed as I quickly dove to fly under Bolt and catch her. She was quite heavy, and I found myself grunting a little, but I narrowed my eyes and continued my flight.
"Thank you, Thunder," Bolt sighed. Then she gasped. "Sharpclaw is after us! Don't worry, Thunder. I've got this." I heard a sizzling crackle of electricity as well as a shriek of pain.
"I've dealt with Sharpclaw," Bolt said quickly. "Okay, Thunder. You've got to fly as fast as you can, because K is really angry now!"
"Got it, but you'll have to hold on!" I exclaimed as I flew even faster, my heart racing in my chest as I broke through the layer of clouds.
The sight that greeted me made me gasp with surprise: a small town lay far below me, next to a vast blue expanse with white-capped waves – a large body of water that could only be the ocean.
"We're at Olivine City!" Bolt exclaimed as she struggled to hold on. "That's the Olivine Lighthouse over there!"
"Olivine City?" I asked. "But how did we get here? We were in Ecruteak City the last time I checked!"
"I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with autopilot," Bolt said as I heard another sizzling crackle of electricity. "Okay, K was riding on Firestorm and chasing us, but I just zapped the Charizard with a Thunderbolt. Firestorm is badly hurt, so K is now retreating back to her blimp."
"Really?" I asked. "I thought K was more persistent than that."
"She may be persistent, but she isn't stupid – at all," Bolt answered gravely. "She knows that if Firestorm takes another Thunderbolt, he'll fall hundreds of feet to the ground – and take K down with him."
"I see," I said as I swooped down towards the only familiar-looking building in the whole town – the Pokemon Center. Landing on the roof, I breathed a relieved sigh as Bolt climbed down from my back and plopped down next to me.
Breathing heavily, I took a moment to catch my breath and groom my ruffled feathers. Bolt did the same, and for a while, we just rested on the Pokemon Center roof, recovering from the exciting escape from K's blimp.
Finally, as the orange sphere of the sun began to rise on the horizon, I spoke up.
"How is it morning already?" I asked, a bit shocked. "It was late afternoon when K captured me back at Ecruteak."
"Actually," Bolt said uncomfortably, "you… were unconscious for a while before K told me to bring you the berries. And K likes to keep her blimp on autopilot during the night, so… that explains why we're in Olivine already."
"That makes sense," I said, nodding. Then, a realization struck me like a blast of cold air and I gasped in horror. "Lightning," I whispered.
"What was that?" Bolt asked.
"Lightning," I said quietly, my heart shattering. "He's my mate – well, I told you that he was my mate, but I was lying so I could escape more quickly. I told him that he was to wait at the Burnt Tower until I came back. If I came back by the morning, that meant I still wanted to travel with him. But if I didn't come back, that meant that I wanted to go on alone." My soul seemed to shrivel up in despair as I looked down and closed my eyes. "It's morning already, and it would take forever to fly back to Ecruteak City. Lightning… he's gone. He's flown back to Violet City and he doesn't even know that I love him!"
For the first time in probably my whole entire life, tears formed in my squeezed-shut eyes and splattered onto the bright red Pokemon Center roof. Somewhere deep inside me, I knew that this wasn't the way a Flock Leader would act like when confronted with a tough problem like this. But that didn't matter at that moment. Most of the time, I would consider crying to be uncharacteristic and immature, but this situation was the only exception.
So the drops of tears continued to fall from my eyes as I expressed the desolate, heartbroken feelings inside me. I was so overcome with emotion that I barely felt the gentle touch of Bolt's paw on my back. Tiny, peculiar, electrical charges were flowing from her body to mine – I realized suddenly that these shocks felt not painful but warm and calming.
"Shh, Thunder, it's all right," Bolt said quietly as she continued to send the therapeutic electricity into my body. "I understand how heartbroken you must feel right now about losing your mate. But just calm down, pull yourself together, and think: is Lightning really lost forever?"
"Probably… probably not," I admitted rather sheepishly after a pause. I sighed and rested my eyes on the gently undulating blue waters of the vast ocean. "I'm sorry. In normal circumstances I would not have acted that way, but Lightning… means a lot to me. At first, I just saw him as a friend, but now I know that he's more than that."
Bolt nodded understandingly. "So now, Lightning's probably in Violet City, or on his way to there," she said thoughtfully. "Since you know where he is, you might actually be able to do something about this." She looked down at the pink, heart-shaped gem that rested close to my chest. "Is that a… Soul Stone?" she asked in amazement.
"You mean the necklace I'm wearing?" I asked, completely puzzled.
"Yes, that," Bolt said excitedly. "I've heard of them before… they're really magical gems that can apparently give certain Pokemon the ability of communicating with humans telepathically. Tell me, Thunder, do you know if the Soul Stone works for you?"
"I know it does," I said, a newfound energy flowing into my body. "I… completely forgot about it in the rush to escape from K's blimp. But now that I'm thinking more clearly, I know what to do." With that, I launched into the air. "Come on, Bolt. Let's go into the Pokemon Center."
"Oh, I get it," Bolt said without hesitation. Nimbly, she leaped from the roof to the ground and trotted through the sliding glass doors of the building with me following close behind.
The intense white light of the Pokemon Center made me blink my eyes a few times to adjust to the change in brightness. A little bit of nostalgia hit me as I surveyed my surroundings: a Nurse Joy and a Chansey standing behind a desk at the back of the room. A few couches, coffee tables, and TV screens. When was the last time I saw those sights.
"Pokemon?" the Nurse Joy asked, puzzled, as Bolt and I entered the building. "Jolteon and Pidgeot, where are your trainers?"
Please, Nurse Joy, I thought, I just need to use the videophones to call Falkner of Violet City. I have a very urgent message I must tell him.
"Gah! You're talking!" Nurse Joy exclaimed in shock.
Please, that doesn't matter right now, I thought urgently. I'm pretty certain all the Pokemon Centers know the phone numbers of all the Gym Leaders in the region, and I need Falkner's phone number right now.
"…All right," Nurse Joy said slowly, still a bit confused. Reaching into a drawer under her desk, she pulled out a phone book and flipped through it as she walked to one of the videophones lined up against the side wall. "Ah, here it is, Falkner of Violet City." She punched in the numbers, and Bolt and I waited anxiously as the phone rang once, twice, three times…
"…Hello?" a familiar voice asked in a sleepy voice as a picture of Falkner's face appeared on the screen. He looked like he had just gotten up – his dark blue hair was unkempt and his eyes looked sleepy. When he saw my face on his screen, his expression changed completely. "A Pidgeot?" he asked, confused. "Who's calling?"
Listen, Falkner, it's me, Thunder, Ash's Pidgeot, I thought. Okay, yes, I'm talking, so don't freak out. As you know, I left you a few months ago with Lightning, your Pidgeot, to find Ash. Well, things got complicated – I'll explain later – but Lightning should be flying back the Violet City now, if he hasn't arrived already. Is he here?
"Umm… no," Falkner stammered, still quite shocked at the sight of a talking Pidgeot. The he gasped. "Why do you have… Janine's necklace?" he asked with surprise and disbelief.
That doesn't matter right now, I thought firmly. Listen up – when Lightning returns to your gym, tell him that I – Thunder – am also on my way to Violet City. I have important news to tell both him – and you – so please make sure that Lightning knows what's going on and expect me at Violet Gym in a few months.
"Actually," Falkner said, "my newest team member will be able to get you here right now, if you wish." He smiled and held up an interesting-looking pink-and-purple Pokeball. "This very special Pokemon was sent to me by my dad, who is currently exploring the far-away Unova Region. Come on out, Natu!"
He tossed the ball gently into the air, and a light purple mass of energy broke out the Pokeball and materialized into the small Psychic Pokemon. As the Natu landed on Falkner's shoulder, I noticed that this Pokemon was indeed special: it bore the mark of a purple crescent moon on its forehead.
"Natu here is what is known as a 'Dream World' Pokemon – a special kind of Pokemon found only in the Unova Region," Falkner explained. "Dream World Pokemon have traits others of its species don't have – in Natu's case, it's the ability Magic Bounce, as well as the power to teleport very long distances."
Wow, I thought, amazed. So… are you saying that I can actually get to Violet City right now?
"Of course," Falkner said. "Isn't that right, Natu?"
"Yes," the Natu, whose high-pitched voice indicated that she was a young female, said, nodding. "Walker said that I was special!"
Then it's settled, I thought, knowing that Falkner had not understood the Natu's words. I turned to Bolt, who had been watching the conversation the whole time.
"Hey Bolt," I said in normal Pokemon speech, "What about you? Falkner's going to teleport me back to Violet City, but I'm not sure if you want to come along."
"Tell him that I'm coming along too," Bolt said firmly. "Nature Hunter K… well, I want to tell both you and Falkner more about her."
I nodded and turned back to the video screen. Falkner, I thought, This Jolteon here – Bolt – is going to come along with me to the gym, if that's okay with you. She also has some important information to tell you.
"Well, I've always been uneasy around Electric-types, but if it's important information, I want to hear it," Falkner said, nodding. "All right. You two are at… Olivine City, right?"
"Right," I said. "We're at the Olivine City Pokemon Center."
"Natu will definitely be able to make the teleportations," Falkner said confidently. He smiled. "Expect me at the Pokemon Center any time now."
Thank you… thank you so much for doing this for me, I thought gratefully.
Falkner winked. "You're very welcome. After all, I will always help a Flying-type Pokemon in need."
To be continued…