Chapter 7
Cambu led the group to a cliff edge then motioned for them to drop prone and put a finger to his lips before they looked over the edge. The cliff dropped down to another canyon with small arena marked by a wooden fence at the center and a cave in another wall with two armed guards wearing the Team Skull logo on their armor. Bodies of fire-type Poke-people littered the ground around the arena.
"Team Skull!" Dee uttered a harsh whisper.
"They landed in our training field with a steel Pidgeot and slaughtered those who didn't flee!" Cambu gripped the sides of the cliff, "I guard the entrance so I couldn't be there to help them when they tried to take it back."
"Just two though?" Melany looked over at him.
"The rest are probably inside," Gertrude was farther back only on her hands and knees, "Stay here I'll see if I can eavesdrop. If you can see me and I make a T shape with my hands then stay there."
Helios already had his hunting rifle out but not aiming, "Be careful."
The two Team Skull guards were barely paying attention to their surroundings so Gertrude was able to slip closer and hide behind the arena wall but in plain sight of her friends on the ridge as she listened and got peeks at the two. They were armed with assault rifles and wore combat armor. Gertrude made the T symbol with her hands to her friends and perked up an ear to listen.
"Man! How long do we have to stay here?" one of the guards grumbled, "They've been in there for days."
"I know, but better than mutating into those freaks up in the village," the second groaned, "Why couldn't we just wipe them out?"
"I know, stupid mutants don't even know that guns are," the first laughed. "What's that?" he turned to see six others emerge from the cave, four more wearing Skull logos but two in white lab coats with the symbol of the Aether Enclave on the front.
"I trust things were quiet out here?" One of the scientists, a woman, asked.
"Yeah, too quiet. So we done here?" the first guard tapped his foot impatiently.
"Not quite yet," the other Aether scientist, a man, replied, "We're going to need to call in a decryption expert to let the contaminated water flow." He pulled out what looked like a hand radio.
Gertrude had heard enough and screamed up at the cliff, "THEY'RE CALLING MORE! SHOOT THE RADIO!"
The shock of her scream startled the group exiting the cave. Helios snapped his rifle aim and fired but hit the scientist in the head before he could turn the radio on. Gertrude bolted from cover as the Skulls started firing. Dee jumped up and hurled the grenade she'd primed when she saw them exit, a burst of air from her hand flinging it right at the other scientist, startling her before it blew up at her feet. The Skulls has already scattered enough that they didn't react.
"BURN IN MOLTRES' FLAMES!" Cambu jumped over the cliff, ignoring the pain from sliding down as he breathed fire at the closest Skull, setting him ablaze, before he wreathed himself in flames and charged at the still burning man and slammed him down until he stopped squirming.
Dee slid down after Cambu and pulled her hand back, focusing on the energy from when she threw the grenade made a whirl of air appear in her hand and she couldn't resist calling out, "Vacuum Wave!" and hurled the blast of air right at a Skull that was aiming at Cambu. The blast struck him in the chest and smashed him into the canyon wall; he didn't get back up.
Melany and Helios kept up a barrage of lasers and bullets, killing two more of the Skulls, as GR-0-WL charged down.
"DON'T MOVE!" One of the Skulls grabbed Gertrude by the collar of her armor and pointed his assault rifle at her head, "Stop firing and get down here or she dies!" he motioned for the last guard to join him as she was about to be charged by Cambu.
Melany growled and stood up, "Damnit, almost had them." Helios sighed and stood up too.
"All of you get down over by the Quilava, you too robot!" the woman Skull gestured with her assault rifle.
Gertrude whimpered, "I'm sorry, I-"
"Shut up!" the Skull holding her by the collar kicked her, "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to put down your guns and put out your flames," he glared at Cambu, "Then wait here till we get picked up and maybe we'll let you live."
The woman Skull snickered, "Yeah, maybe."
Dee gulped then squinted as her aura-dreads rose. The two Skulls had red auras of menace around them, hate seemed to pour from their very beings, but Gertrude's aura was tightening as her fur stood on end, hands on her belly. Dee looked to Helios, who stood next to her after dropping his rifle, and put an arm behind her back to conjured another vacuum wave.
"Stupid mutants, too weak," the Skull man laughed, "What, you scared little Zigzag?" He looked down at the trembling Zigzagoon-woman in his hands.
Gertrude squinted her eyes as a strange sparking sound started, then bright yellow needles fired out from her fur in every direction like a machine gun.
"NOW!" Dee flung her vacuum wave at the man who still held Gertrude, striking him in the chest as he tried to fire but only sprayed bullets into the sky. Helios charged and flung embers from his tail at the Skull woman before she could recover then jumped at her and scratched hard at her face. GR-0-WL charged in and jumped on the man before he could get his bearings and snapped his jaws around his neck. Dee was right behind him and slammed a force palm into the woman's side as she backed away and tried to shoot Helios, her body going rigid as she failed to fire. Cambu finished her off with a flamethrower.
Melany had only just retrieved her laser pistol when the fight ended then ran to Gertrude's side, "Hey, you alright?"
Gertrude nodded, "Wasn't sure I could do that, I haven't practised Pin Missile much." She looked at Melany, expecting some criticism.
Instead, the Stunky-woman just sighed in relief, "You're fine, just make sure everyone else is ok."
Dee looked down at her front and chest where three bullet holes she hadn't seen before were in her outfit and only just now felt the pain. Gertrude was with her in an instant and helping her undo her front. "Poke-people are more resilient than most humans, unless you took a shot to the head I can fix this." Indeed, the bullets hadn't gone too deep so Gertrude was able to extract and disinfect the holes with minimal effort before she moved on to check and patch up the others' injuries.
Helios was panting as Gertrude finished looking him over, "Helios, what's wrong?"
"I feel, a fire burning in my chest, like I want to explode!" Helios started shaking and clenched his teeth and fists.
"Helios!" Dee was at his side a moment later.
Cambu smiled and folded his arms, "I know this feeling: you're about to evolve!"
"Really? AHHH!" Helios let out a cry as his tail flame burned brighter and he felt his body start to grow: his muscles became thicker and more defined, his scaly skin took on a darker red hue, his nails grew into short sharp white claws, his face pushed forwards into a narrower sharper snout and a horn pushed its way out of the back of his head. His tail flame settled down as he panted, regaining his breath after the ordeal.
Dee touched Helios's arm and felt the stronger muscles that had just grown, blushing at the feeling, "Helios, how do you feel?"
Helios stood up straighter, now a few inches taller than he had been, "I feel fantastic!" He flexed his arms, "Like I can take on the whole Aether Enclave!"
"I felt the same too," Cambu walked around Helios to get a look at him from all sides, "But don't let it go to your head."
Gertrude pointed to the cave, "Is that where the Ross Man Ghost lives, Cambu?"
Cambu nodded, "Yes, go seek his wisdom and aid while I clean the arena and we can give our fallen tribesmen a proper cremation," he glared at the dead bodies of the humans, "and leave these invaders for the wasteland to pick clean."
"Before you do that, let me strip their gear," Melany was checking each of the bodies as she spoke, "Assault rifles, combat armor, ammo and… yes!" she pulled a boxy gun with a green glow from one of the dead scientist's sides, "Plasma defender! Never waste anything in the wasteland."
Cambu nodded, "As you wish, you have the right to do what you will with them. I will tell my tribesmen to leave their materials that you remove, but their bodies will not be allowed to rest on our ground." Once the looted gear was piled up near the cave they entered.
At first it just appeared to be a natural cave but after a short distance they saw wooden joists supporting the ceiling; after about five minutes of walking they came to a fork in the path.
"So, left or right?" Gertrude scratched her chin.
Dee was the first to speak and pointed off to the right, "That way."
"What makes you say that?" Melany gave the Riolu woman a skeptical look.
Dee lowered her arm as her aura-dreads rose again, "I can see some sort of residual glow that way, the same that was on the Skulls and Aether scientists."
"It must be your aura sense," Gertrude sounded fascinated, "I've only ever read about this before. What does it look like? What do I look like?"
"There's a fading red glow in the air that way," Dee turned back to look at them, "I can sort of see a glowing field of energy around everyone alive," She looked down at GR-0-WL, "Even GR-0-WL has a faint one, sort of greyish… it's hard to put into words."
"Sounds good, right it is!" Helios strode out in front, Rotom-Boy held forwards to light the way.
It didn't take long for the cave to slope downwards and eventually give way to a metal room where the door had clearly been melted off its frame. Next to the door entrance was a series of pipes embedded into the ground with a red valve wheel stuck in the top next to an access hatch in the pipes.
"That must be it!" Gertrude sprinted forwards and grasped the valve wheel and tried to turn it counter-clockwise. "Oof! It's stuck!"
"Let me try," Helios rubbed his hands together, as Gertrude stepped aside, then grasped the valve. Before he could turn, Dee joined in and after a nod both tried their hardest to twist the valve.
"Give it a rest before you break it!" Melany shouted, "It's clearly locked not stuck." Dee and Helios ceased their efforts and turned to see Melany standing by the melted-out doorway, "I think the lockout controls are in here," she motioned for them to follow her and GR-0-WL into the room.
They all gazed around the high-tech room, half of which was taken up by strange machines and a computer terminal hooked up to an electric transformer and the other half by a large bed, fridge and dresser.
"Looks like home," Dee stared at the Silph-co branding on the foot of the bed.
Helios nodded, "It does, but not ours anymore." He put a comforting hand on Dee's shoulder then turned to the computer terminal that lay on the floor, "Can you start this back up."
"Huh?" Dee shook her head to clear her thoughts, "Right, sure." She pushed her thoughts aside and knelt in front of the computer console. "Doesn't seem to be working."
"Yeah, because those Enclave assholes smashed this up," Melany had the transformer open and was examining the insides.
"Can you fix it?" Gertrude leaned over to see the sparking interior of the transformer.
"Not without parts," Melany stood up and sighed, "Maybe back at the fork!" Melany snapped her fingers and took off.
"Wait!" Dee ran after Melany and the other three followed.
Melany slowed down at the fork and headed down the path they hadn't taken. The others caught up just as Melany arrived at a locked chain link fence door that spanned the whole cavern. "Didn't even come this way, or didn't bother going through."
Gertude stepped forwards and pulled a bobby pin out of her pocket, "Leave this to me," she leaned over to pick the lock and a moment later the padlock opened, "there."
The cave beyond the gate took a sharp left turn then opened into a massive cavern full of tables, bunk beds, several refrigerators and storage shelves full of scrap metal and electronic parts.
"Looks like a crude barracks," Gertrude observed as she picked up a copy a brown book with 'Deans Electronics' on the cover from one of the tables.
Melany was already at one of the shelves and stuffing scrap into her backpack, "More than enough to fix that transformer," she looked down at GR-0-WL who stood at her side, "and give you a real face, GR-0-WL." The robo-Growlithe barked and wagged its tail.
Back in the metal room, it only took Melany a few minutes to repair the transformer, "Alright, try it now."
Dee nodded as she activated the terminal and entered the command lines to get it booted up, "Activate hologram?" It was the only option so she selected it.
The machines in their half of the room whirred to life and a moment later a transparent blue figure materialized right behind where the console lay. "Greetings, Moltres' Embers, I am the Ross Man who is here to reveal the secrets of technology to you. Wait… how long was I out for," the hologram of Dr. Rossman seemed to glitch for a moment, "Three days? That can't be right."
"Dr. Rossman?" Dee just stared then turned to Helios, who was just as stunned as she was.
"Yes, I am Dr. Rossman. I copied my personality and memories to this place last time I was here to try and guide the Moltres' Embers." The hologram gave Dee a quizzical look, "Do you know me?"
"Well yes, I did…" Dee looked down at her Rotom-Boy, a thought nagging at the back of her head.
"You died when Vault 18 exploded," Helios interjected.
"What! I'm dead? Shit!" The Rossman hologram stomped its foot, "Thought I'd be greyer when I finally kicked it. So, you're from Vault 18, and you're Poke-people too?"
"That reminds me, if you've been out here before how are you and the Aether Enclave still human?" Helios folded his arms and gave the hologram an accusing look.
"It's a vaccine Aether developed that blocks the mutagenic effects, now that the effects of the war have calmed down; they also use it on Pokemon. I don't think you woke me up to ask questions, what happened while I was asleep?"
Dee looked up, "Aether came and did something to the water so there's none flowing to Trovitopolis."
"Ahh, that's why I was shut down." Rossman's hologram nodded, "A couple fail safes I installed automatically shuts off the water if it's tampered with or if my program's power is interrupted. I just need a moment to analyze…" The hologram froze for a moment, "Looks like a virus was added to the water supply but it's been contained at the access point outside. Can't tell what its supposed to do from here. I should be able to flush it out but I'll need help to cleanse it. There should be some compounds in the fridge over there." He pointed to the fridge in the room.
"Tell me how," Gertrude stepped up, "I'm a doctor."
"Alright, just check the terminal and I'll show you what you need to do to test and treat this." The terminal below started beeping and Gertrude knelt to read the instructions. A moment later she had pulled out a pair of gloves from her backpack and was working on the compound.
Dee ejected the holodisk from her Rotom-Boy, finally recalling what had been nagging at her mind, "Dr. Rossman, before you died you gave this to us but I can't hack the password. Can you decrypt it?"
"If I gave it to you then most likely yes. Put it in the terminal," Rossman pointed down at the computer. Dee crouched and inserted the holodisk.
"Now let's see… using my old password, not secure enough but I guess I wanted to make sure I could read this… I see… What are your names?"
"Dee"
"Helios"
The hologram smiled, "I see the serum worked on you two then. It's a variant of an accelerant that was developed by Silph Co to help humans adapt to the post-war radiation, but they failed to anticipate just what kind of effects would be in the atmosphere and what effect they'd have on people; all it did was guarantee and accelerate their hybridization. What I added was an infusion to accelerate healing since I suspected the vault was in danger and I wanted to make sure everyone survived the destruction."
Dee hung her head, "Sorry, but we're the only ones who survived and didn't join Team Skull with the Aether Enclave."
Rossman's hologram looked startled, "Team Skull? Damnit, I guess bringing Guzma into the Vault backfired."
"Coach Guzma turned out to be working for Aether," Helios growled, "glad I never joined his Vaultball team."
"He showed me this place, and the Moltres' Embers tribe," Rossman sighed, "I should have suspected something was off with how much he seemed to know. Too late now."
"Dr. can the serum you gave us let us regenerate severed limbs?" Dee pointed to her aura-dread, "This got cut off in a fight and it regrew overnight."
Rossman just stared, "That… shouldn't be possible, at least not without legendary levels of power. Your wounds will heal faster for a week or two but after that it'll be flushed out of your system. I'm sorry but I don't know much more about you, Dee, other than that were found by the wasteland scouts as an abandoned baby and brought back for safety. Also, that you were male last I checked."
Dee looked down at her chest, "I am… or I was but the transformation made me a woman."
"Before you ask, I don't know why." Rossman's hologram shrugged, "Hell I don't even know what makes you turn into the specific Pokemon species that you do, or even why some places induce specific transformations. Maybe Moltres really did land here and make everyone become Fire Types."
"All done!" Gertrude's voice cut through the conversation, "I triple-checked the pipe access and it's all cleaned, sterilized then anti-virus compounds administered."
"Good, I'll unlock the valve then. All you have to do is turn it." Rossman nodded to the group.
"Hey, doctor," Melany spoke up, "Mind if I use some of the stuff from storage to repair our gear, and give my friend GR-0-WL a face?"
"Go ahead miss…"
"Melany and I'm not from your Vault."
"Right, well since you fixed everything I don't see why not. Just don't take everything. I'm trying to teach the Moltres' Embers to do more maintenance than just breathing fire into the intake to keep the water purified."
Melany nodded, "Thanks, Doc. I'll get started then." She and GR-0-WL walked past the others just as they turned the valve and heard the rush of water start flowing back to Trovitopolis.