The New Normal – 11-14 – Interlude – Blaine
"…Shelly, how am I supposed to find the time to help you with training a new Water type? You know I'm busy with my own projects." Blaine muttered into the phone.
"Well Kabuto are partially Rock and Water, so I thought you might have some tips for me." His friend and research partner replied, "Besides, you know how bad I am as a trainer compared to you."
"I won't deny that." He said mercilessly, getting an offended scoff from Shelly, "But surely you could have found someone else to help you rather than a Fire specialist?"
"You really overestimate the amount of trainers I am actually in contact with, and their competence." Shelly responded, "Did you really think you were my first option?"
"Right, now you've offended me. Can't believe you'd burn me like that." Heh.
"You're not any funnier on the phone than in real life, Blaine." She deadpanned, "Look, I'm not asking for much time, but surely you'd have more insights to at least training up my Kabuto's Rock type moves."
"Fine, fine. Come over later and I'll see what I can do." He sighed, "It'd be a good break anyways, and I'm still waiting for the new Growlithe to hatch—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the blaring of alarms suddenly interrupted him as the high pitch noise echoed through his lab. There was only one reason that the alarms would have gone off.
The Cinnabar Volcano had just erupted.
But why? Their monthly readings had not indicated anything of the sort.
Regardless, now was not the time to think about the 'why'. Immediately dropping everything he was doing, Blaine forced himself to remain calm as he summoned all his Pokémon.
"Eruption! Emergency procedures! Full evacuation!" He quickly ordered his Pokémon as they all dashed out the labs. As he made his way out, he saw that the many other scientists within the lab all running out alongside him, fear and panic visible in their faces.
"STAY FUCKING CALM!" He shouted, "STOP RUSHING OUT! STAY ORDERLY, AND EVACUATE TOGETHER! REMEMBER YOUR TRAINING – YOU WERE FORCED TO DO THEM FOR A REASON!"
His shouts were reinforced by the powerful roars from his Pokémon, which managed to snap the scientists out of their panic. Now following his lead, they all began to evacuate in a more orderly fashion as they stopped trying to push past each other. Then, just to save more time, he had his Magmortar rip a large hole through the wall to create another exit point.
His lab wouldn't survive the eruption anyways. And now every moment counted.
Finally exiting his lab, he surveyed the surrounding area to see masses of people running out of their homes and buildings as they tried to flee away from the imminent eruption. Blaine grimaced as he turned his gaze to the volcano itself, to see that lava was already beginning to overflow from its molten depths.
In the distance, he also saw a brave group of trainers rushing towards the molten lava, trying to slow down its descent with their Water and Rock types. They threw up barriers of rock and waves of water as they did their best to hold their ground against the incoming tide of fiery magma.
But even as all that was happening, Blaine saw that the evacuation efforts weren't as efficient as he hoped them to be. Even though they had many ships on standby to assist an evacuation in case of an eruption, most of them hadn't arrived yet.
And he knew that there was likely not going to be enough space to fully bring everyone to safety. Since it was not just people they had to evacuate, but they also had to accommodate the hordes of Pokémon that were also trying to flee from the deadly eruption as well.
Yet he trusted the mayor to be able to handle all of the administration; it was not his role to interfere with that. He knew where he needed to be, even as he got on the phone to Lance.
"Lance! I need a full recall of every available ship we have in Indigo and get them sent here immediately! NOW! We don't have enough fucking ships!"
"Yes, they're already on their way—" Lance replied, but Blaine interrupted him.
"We also need as many fliers as you can bring in case the ships don't arrive in time! The lava's coming! We probably have a few minutes at most before it swallows the entire island!" He shouted, not caring about how rude he was, "GET THEM HERE NOW! I'LL DO MY BEST TO BUY SOME TIME!"
Not even waiting for Lance to give a response, he hung up the phone and rushed to where the trainers were valiantly attempting to hold back the tide of lava, purposely placing himself on the side of the volcano that led down to the most populous area of the island. With his full team behind him, he ignored the scorching heat from the magma, and went to work.
"HOLD IT BACK!" He shouted to his team, "Magmortar, Rapidash, Houndoom, Arcanine! Focus on slowing down the lava! Torkoal, Camerupt, throw up some rock walls!"
His Pokémon all growled out their affirmations as they began their defense. An enormous wall of rock suddenly shot up from the ground, forming a barrier that blocked the incoming tide of lava from immediately overwhelming them.
In the meanwhile, his remaining Fire types rapidly strained themselves as they pushed their pyrokinesis to the very limits – forcefully taking control of the overflowing magma and holding them in place.
It spoke volumes to the level of training that his Pokémon managed to achieve as – for a moment – the tide of lava stopped entirely as they were forcefully held back by his Fire types. All the while, the other trainers around him continued to provide assistance as they shot out rapid torrents of water, turning swaths of lava into obsidian, while more barriers of rock were created to continue slowing down the volcanic eruption.
Furthermore, the specialized ships that they maintained around the island in case of an eruption finally showed up, and from their cannons they launched a truly enormous amount of frigid sea water onto the overflowing magma. Meters of lava were turned into obsidian as the icy cold water flooded over it.
But Blaine knew he couldn't relax just yet, even as he ordered his Pokémon to do just that to conserve energy. He knew that the water wasn't infinite, and with how large the Cinnabar Volcano was, they couldn't hold back all of the lava for very long. Their efforts might have bought them a few extra minutes at most, but it wasn't much.
True to his predictions, he watched with grim determination as the torrent of water started to gradually slow down, until it petered out entirely. The moment that it did, his Pokémon stepped up once again as they restarted their efforts to buy as much time as possible. He continued to bark out orders to the nearby trainers, making sure that they coordinate their efforts as efficiently as possible.
But even with the short period of rest that they had, he knew that all of their Pokémon were quickly starting to tire out. The tide of lava was slowly starting to move again as his Pokémon were unable to maintain their pyrokinesis for much longer. Even the large walls of rocks that were formed were starting to become overwhelmed by the endless wave of magma.
Yet he knew he couldn't retreat just yet. There were likely still people trying to evacuate from their buildings, and he wanted to make sure that as many of them could make it to safety as possible.
"SPLIT UP!" He shouted, "I'LL CONTINUE TO HOLD HERE! SOME OF YOU STAY WITH ME, SOME OF YOU NEED TO SEARCH THE NEARBY BUILDINGS AND SAVE AS MANY AS YOU CAN! WE'LL CONTINUE TO BUY TIME!"
The nearby trainers all quickly moved to follow his orders, and his Pokémon had now switched tactics. Instead of trying to forcefully hold back the lava, they now simply destroyed as many holes in the ground as possible, forming large pits that would cause the incoming lava to pool within – buying them several seconds each time, while also continuing to throw up as many rock walls as they could.
He slowly fell back as his Pokémon repeated this action, and he made sure to carefully cycle through his Pokémon to conserve as much energy as possible.
He had no idea how much time had passed or how long he managed to stall for, since all he was focused on was making sure that the incoming tidal wave of lava in front of him was held back for as long as possible.
How much time was he able to buy? Was it going to be enough? Did his efforts at least ensure that one more person was able to get to safety in time? All of these thoughts were running through his head, but he forced himself to not think about it as he remained laser-focused on the task at hand.
Eventually, the cannons from the ships had been refilled, and another enormous barrage of water began raining down on the city, temporarily halting the incoming lava. Seeing this, he instantly turned around and began barking out commands once more.
"FALL BACK AND REGROUP!" He shouted again to the nearby trainers, "REGROUP AT THE EVACUATION POINT! REST UP, HEAL UP, BECAUSE WE'RE GOING BACK IN SOON!" They needed all the energy they could get – the most important part was to hold the evacuation point and ensure that everyone could get out in time.
As they retreated past the many rows of buildings that were about to be consumed in fire, he let out an inward sigh of relief as he saw that they were at least devoid of people – meaning that they had bought just enough time for everyone to at least start heading towards the evacuation point.
However, as they retreated, he spotted an elderly man desperately fretting over his partner as she had fallen over. Without a second thought, he immediately sent his Arcanine to pick the both of them up, carrying them with him as they fell back to the evacuation point.
Just as they were thanking him, a thunderous roar suddenly echoed throughout the skies, and Blaine turned around to see an army of Dragons flying their way.
He let out a small grin. The Indigo League was here.
A.N. The opening moments of the eruption. I wanted to show a few of the countermeasures and policies that Cinnabar Island had in place to buy time for a full evacuation – but they could have never have stopped the eruption from destroying everything anyways. That would require a Legendary.
I hoped to also demonstrate another aspect of Blaine rather than just as a scientist. He's a responsible man, and for all his lamentations about the role of Gym Leader, he takes his duties seriously.
And to anyone who wants to support me, please check out my p atreon at CartecTNN where you can read 8 advanced chapters! Thanks to those who have supported me already!