Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Rain Dance ❯ Chapter 11

[ A - All Readers ]

The clouds, thick and heavy yet broken, rolled across the evening sky. Pools of water still stood on the street, and a chill wind blew. Batoy shifted his backpack from one shoulder to the other, with the thought that he should have brought a jacket or hoodie drifting though his mind. Other thoughts vied for attention, too, but he struggled to ignore them. His worry, his doubt, his fear; it was hard to keep all of those suppressed, for the sake of Jet and himself. “I wonder what Lizbeth would say…” he wondered aloud. He glanced down to see Jet hopping across puddles and giving a begging look to be picked up. Batoy smiled slightly and scooped up the fire-type, and Jet licked him on the cheek. “I swear, you need to go on a diet, Jet. You’re getting really heavy, ya know?” The Quilava churred and licked Batoy’s neck.

Batoy reached the breeding center without too much hassle and walked around to the entrance that Peter had led him to before. He stood in front of the door for a moment before tentatively knocking. There was no answer, and he knocked again, this time a bit louder. There was a brief sound of shuffling inside before the door swung back and Bethany peeked out. “Oh, hello there,” she said with a hint of surprise and relief. “What are you doing here?”

“Um… well… Peter and your boss said that… I was welcome to stay if I wanted to… and I couldn’t find anywhere else to go, so… I was hoping I could just spend the night here….”

“I… suppose if the master said you could, then I would have no qualms with it. But… if you do stay, I must allow it under the restriction that you don’t walk around unsupervised.”

Batoy nodded. “Yeah, okay… don’t worry, I won’t go anywhere. Erm… where’s Peter at?”

“He’s… out on an errand right now. When he returns, I’ll direct him towards you. Now please follow me.”

Bethany turned and walked out of the reception room, motioning Batoy to follow. The boy set down Jet before heading after Bethany. Immediately, Batoy noticed something had changed. The hallways were a lot quieter and darker and there was a lot less hay littering the pathways. “Are all the Pokemon sleeping?” he whispered, and Bethany nodded without looking back. Jet stopped next to one of the doors and pressed an ear next to it. He couldn’t hear anything inside. He scampered after the two humans after casting a worried look back at the hallway.

They reached a door, and Batoy realized that he was at the same room he’d found himself at just a day before. Bethany ushered both of them in before shutting the door. She paused just before closing it all the way. “I must request that you not wander the halls this night. You will find everything that you need for a pleasant evening’s rest in here, so there is no reason to leave this room. Have a good night.” And the door shut.

Batoy crashed against the sofa and stared up at the walls, his sneakers kicked off to the side. He suddenly felt very tired, but at the same time, too many thoughts permeated his mind, preventing him from sleeping. “Hey, Jet… you think she was acting kinda weird? I mean… weirder than she was before?” He waited, but Jet didn’t respond, and Batoy looked back down to see the fire type pawing lightly at the shut door. The boy frowned a bit. “Hey Jet, what’re you doing? Come over here.”

~Quil…~ the Quilava sighed, pawing at the door a final time before abandoning the project and hopping next to his trainer. The sofa was comfortable, and it felt good to lean against Batoy, but the silence of the hallway still disturbed him. A light rub behind the ears snapped Jet out of his deep thinking, and he began to purr and press against Batoy’s hand. ~Quilavaaaa~ he churred happily.

Batoy smiled. “Hey, Jet… the show starts in like a day and a half or something… you think we’re ready for it?” He looked back up at the ceiling. “I really don’t know what to expect, though… I know there’s fighting and I think if we just focus hard enough, we can get through that. But I don’t know much about the rest of it, and I don’t know if we can just wing it or not.” He glanced back down towards Jet. The fire-type’s eyes were closed, and his breathing was slow and light. “I guess we just have to try our best and see what happens….” Hopefully it’d be good enough.

It took only thirty minutes for Batoy’s mind to sort through everything that had happened, and finally his eyes closed and his hand fell limp. A few moments later, Jet’s eyes popped open, and he slunk down from the sofa. Batoy had taken a lot longer to fall asleep than he’d hoped, and there had been moments where Jet had nearly dozed off himself. The Quilava made his way to the door and stood on his hind-paws. There was a handle, not a knob, and Jet smiled at his luck as he grappled clumsily with his paws and finally managed to pull the door open a sliver. Moving back to all fours, he nosed the door further until he could slip by, before looking back at Batoy. The boy would probably be angry with him, but something was going on and Jet wanted to find out what. He sighed then slipped out of the room.

The hallways were still dark, but Jet had no problem navigating and making his way back towards the way they came in. His sensitive ears were prone, listening for the slightest noises, and when he detected nothing, that was even more worrying. Something definitely wasn’t right. He wandered the halls, testing each door he saw, but every one of them was locked. He grunted in frustration. It took a lot to keep the fire from sprouting on his back.

But at the third door from the end of the hall, Jet finally succeeded. The door was loose, and with a little coaxing, Jet managed to ease it from its latch. He pushed his way through to appear in a small room with piles of hay lying haphazardly around. The room appeared to be empty, but Jet’s nose caught the scent of something peculiar. He trudged in, his nose against the wooden floor. The scent led him to a small pile of hay, and after a moment of digging, Jet yelped and leapt back.

Barely moving there was a goldenrod colored Pokemon with brown stripes lining its back. Its long, whip-like tail curled around its body, ending in an oversized tuff of fur that vaguely resembled a lightning bolt. Its yellow cheeks hummed with electricity. But the Pokemon didn’t look like it was sleeping. Rather, it lay sprawled in the hay as if it’d been knocked out. The Quilava slowly crept back towards the unconscious Raichu, nosing it gently with his snout. The mouse was a lot leaner than others Jet had seen, and Jet’s nose wrinkled from the fine fur.

~Quil… lava?~ Jet chirped curiously as he prodded the Raichu with increasingly more forceful bumps of his snout, but despite his best efforts, he could not rouse the mouse from its comatose slumber. ~Lava…Quilava…~ he grunted, sitting up on his hindpaws and frowning in concentration. Whatever had been done, he wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it on his own. He glanced towards the door and sighed. Batoy’s help would be needed after all.

---

It was dark. Very dark, and quiet as well. Batoy froze as he heard his own excited heart beating in his throat, his ears deafened by the constant thumping. There were no people in the room he peered down into, just desks and dormant computer terminals. He didn’t see any motions detectors; those were all downstairs. The skylight he’d found had been a lucky break indeed. Batoy’s mind raced, so fast he couldn’t hear himself think, but he was too frightened to speak. “O-okay,” he whispered to himself, not altogether sure if he were actually talking aloud or not. “Get it together, Batoy… you can do this… just in and out… I’m gonna need to see, though. Hey Jet, come out, but keep it down…”

He held out a pokeball, and with a quick flash, a small Cyndaquil emerged on the table beneath him. Its tiny body shivered as it held its nose into the air and sniffed before giving a small squeek. ~Quil!~ Batoy sighed with relief, his heartbeat slowing as he made his way through the skylight. It was a tight fit, but his thin frame slid through without much trouble. Hanging down, the toes of his sneakers barely scraped the top of a center table. He could escape by jumping up if he needed to. Landing softly on the table, he quickly crouched down and looked around. “Hey, Jet, gimme a little light, okay?”

The Cynadquil nodded and took a deep breath and, shortly after, small flames began licking its back, illuminating the room with a flickering orange light. Batoy looked around. Weather maps and bulletins dotted the wall. Circuits and cables crawled along the floor. With the exception of the middle area, everything was very cramped. “Okay, Jet, try to find computer terminal that’s sitting by a screen… that’s what we want,” Batoy said. “It’s probably in one of the other rooms. We could probably cover more ground if we split up, though. I’ll be over here. Call if you find anything.”

The Cyndaquil chirped softly before scampering over to one of the three doors in the room. Batoy eased it open enough for the fire-type to slip through before going to the next closest door. There was a short lit hallway leading to a swing door, and Batoy swiftly made his way into the new room. The glow of the hallways revealed a switch, and Batoy flicked it on. Immediately, the room lit up, and Batoy staggered back at the large amount of equipment he looked at. He slowly made his way around, looking at the complex-looking dials, switches and buttons, when he heard a soft bubbling sound.

The source came from inside a large aquarium-like structure. Inside floated a very peculiar light grey Pokemon. It looked almost like a cloud. Batoy repressed the urge to gasp in surprise. Castform was the Pokemon he’d been sent to find, and retrieving it would mean that he would be rewarded. But he frowned. The Castform looked at him with large pleading eyes as it futilely bumped against the glass. “You… you’re used for weather tests, aren’t you?” Batoy asked, putting a hand on the glass. The Pokemon nodded slowly before looking down. Water droplets began to appear on the glass as the Pokemon suddenly transformed into a shape resembling a large raindrop. The water fell against the glass and began to drain at the bottom of the aquarium.

~Quil! Cyndaquil!~ came a faint call, and Batoy looked back, and then towards the Castform. “Hey, don’t worry. I’m gonna get you outta here, and you can be happy. I’m gonna call you… Stream.”

---

Batoy’s eyes didn’t want to open. He wanted to finish his dream. He wanted to see Stream again, to play with the floating cloud. He groaned as Jet repeated tugged at his sleeve and finally awoke. “Wh-wha? What is it, Jet?” he asked groggily as he sat up. The door in front of him was open. Jet had gone out of the room. “Wh-what? What did you do? You’re gonna get us in trouble, Jet…”

~Quilava!~ Jet chirped urgently, pawing at the floor as he paced in front of the open door. Batoy rubbed his eyes and searched for his shoes. Jet’s impatience was usually not misplaced, and if he was upset about something, chances had it that it was important. “Alright, what’s wrong, Jet?”

Jet turned and bolted out of the room, and Batoy scrambled to catch up to him, stumbling out of the room and into the dark hallway. He clumsily navigated the corridors until he finally caught up with the fire-type who was on his hindpaws pointing towards a door. Batoy frowned but approached. There was a sign there, with three words in a column. Max, stated the first word, Raichu the next, and Bethany underneath them. He opened the door and peered inside. “What is it, Jet? All I see is hay…is there supposed to be a Raichu in here?” The Quilava grunted and pushed his way inside, going beside where the Raichu lay covered in hay. ~Quilava!~

“H-huh?” Batoy eased his way in and knelt beside the electric mouse. “It looks like it’s been knocked out. I wonder… no, it doesn’t look like it was fighting… this doesn’t look good. We should tell Bethany… someone’s messing with her Pokemon….” Jet nodded, and the two stood up to leave. But they hadn’t gone a hall’s length outside the room when they heard footsteps and voices behind them, and Jet immediately crouched and began to growl. Batoy looked down, and then towards the direction of the voices. They started small and unintelligible, but as the voices grew closer, they became clearer as well.

“…this… help keep… sneaking around Gidan?” came one voice, a female’s.

“Yes… offer our protection… price. You have the Pokemon?”

“Yes, they were sedated, so there won’t be any hassles.” The final thing said was the clearest before two people walked around the corner. One, Batoy immediately recognized as Bethany, but the other was a man whom Batoy was shocked that he even recognized. Though dressed in formal wear, Batoy immediately noticed the Magma insignia on the man’s coat. What was Bethany doing with a Magma admin? Both immediately noticed Batoy. “You there… what are you doing out of your quarters?”

“What am I doing?” Batoy asked, suddenly very aware at what was going on. “How could you treat your Pokemon like this? Aren’t you supposed to be a breeder?!”

Bethany looked towards the man beside her. “I apologize for this inconvenience, but it appears we have an unforeseen obstacle. You can proceed with your inspection of what I have to offer. I shall deal with this trespasser. You can find one of my electric Pokemon on the third door to your left.” The man said something out of Batoy’s earshot and began walking forward, heading for the room with the Raichu. “I believe I requested that you stay in your room. This confrontation would not have to occur. Now, I am going to have to ensure your silence.”

Batoy reached into his pocket. “Hey Jet, go stop that guy. Manual and I can take care of Bethany,” he said, withdrawing a pokeball. Jet nodded and dashed off towards the Raichu’s room as well. “Be careful, Jet,” Batoy said as he watched the Quilava disappear into the room. He focused his attention back on Bethany as Manual appeared in front of him. The Eevee looked around before crouching.

“I will call Toise to deal with you,” Bethany said, bringing out a pokeball, and after the flash of light faded away, there, gazing with deep eyes, was a golden-brown rodent, its body covered in hardened scales. ~Sandshrew!~ it called out, its tiny ears flittering about. “We must do our best, Toise, for ourselves and for the sake of Gidan. We must not allow them to interfere! Defense Curl!” The Sandshrew curled into a ball and an unusual green glow began to emanate from it.

“Manual, Jet might need our help soon. Let’s get this over with fast! Use your Quick attack!” ~Vee!~ the Eevee called out before dashing forward, building speed and then colliding with the Sandshrew head first. The rodent Pokemon bounced back, rolling like a kicked soccer ball, but it did not uncurl. Batoy grunted. The Sandshrew’s defenses were impressive, a lot better than he’d hoped. Hopefully Jet would be okay. “Go again, Manual!”

---

~Lava… Quilava!~ Jet growled as he crouched in front of the unconscious Raichu, his red eyes glaring at the large grey bolder in front of him. From his view, the Graveler was massive, and Jet’s gut trembled from its sadistic grin. ~La, Quilava!~ Jet barked again, defiantly standing his ground as fire burned along his back and head.

“Get that pest out of the way, Graveler,” the man at the doorway said, his voice full of irritation and impatience. “Brand is not going to enjoy hearing about these delays. Now, Tackle attack!” The massive rock lunged forward, slow to start, but steadily picking up speed. Jet narrowed his eyes as he scampered to the other side of the room, and the Graveler slowly turned to bear down on him. In the rock-type came, moving a lot faster than it’d started, and Jet barely managed to leap out of the way before the Pokemon slammed into him. There was a resounding crash as the Graveler slammed through the wall, leaving a gaping hole to the outside. Immediately, a daft wind rushed in, along with the scent of rain.

Jet swallowed hard as he glared at the newly made hole. The Graveler was too aggressive. It would be very difficult to defeat it while keeping everything intact. ~Lava…~ he growled as he felt the floor rumble beneath him. The Quilava jumped into the air, just as the Graveler appeared beneath him, splintering the wooden panels. The fires on his back flared, but Jet hesitated. Dangerously close to the Graveler’s foot lay the Raichu. A fire attack would injure it as well. Jet landed, grimacing at his situation. He glanced back towards the hole. If he could lead the fight outside, that would keep the Raichu safe. But then the human would be free to do whatever he wanted to the Pokemon. No, he had to stay in here and fight at that disadvantage….

BAM!

For a moment, the world flashed white as Jet lost all sense of time and space. He could feel himself sliding down against a wall, but his eyes wouldn’t work. It felt almost as if he were floating, but at the same time, he could barely feel the floor against him. Slowly, the white that he saw faded, and with that came extraordinary pain. Something had hit him, and hit him hard. His eyes cleared. He could see the Graveler and the human. They weren’t facing towards him. They were headed towards the Raichu. Unable to even muster a squeak, Jet heaved his body as hard as he could, but his limbs failed him. They had been numbed by the hit. He was helpless.

No, it wasn’t going to be like that. ~Qu…il…~ Jet grunted as he strained himself to his paws. He staggered a bit before taking a deep breath, and suddenly flames erupted around his body. The man took a step back in surprise and irritation when a fireball dashed in his path. The flames flickered out, leaving Jet panting. “What the… Graveler, finish that thing off. Flamethrower.” The Graveler patted its belly with its lower set of arms as it huffed up. Flames began to lick its maw, and within seconds, a rush of fire soared towards Jet.

~Quil!~ Jet’s flames sprouted up around him again, and he braced himself against the force of the Flamethrower. He winced as his body spasmed from the earlier pain. He glanced back towards the Raichu. He couldn’t let a helpless Pokemon take a hit meant for him. The flamethrower faded away, and Jet fell forward. His eyes suddenly felt very heavy, and it took all of his remaining strength to look up at the Graveler advancing on him. It just wasn’t fair.

“Graveler, Take Down. I don’t want that thing to get up again.” ~Graveler!~ Jet closed his eyes. He didn’t want to see his end coming. His thoughts quickly flashed towards Batoy. The boy needed him, but he’d failed.

~CHUU!!~

There was a sudden crash, but instead of an encompassing pain, there was a loud screech. Jet hesitantly opened an eye to see the Raichu standing in front of him, paws clenched, bouncing on his large hindpaws. His whip-like tail waved threatening as he stared down the Graveler that had been knocked on his back. A faint green aura hovered around it until the tail’s motion fanned it away. The Raichu threw a cautious look back towards Jet, then grinned before turning his attention back towards the Graveler. ~Raii…~

“Graveler, what are you doing?! Get up and Flamethrower! No, use Fire Blast! Both of them!” the man shouted, now more intent on taking down both annoyances rather than capture them. The Graveler rolled on to its feet and inhaled again before spewing forth a massive jet of fire. Quickly, the attack shifted itself into its trademark kana, sprouting what looked to be arms and legs of flame.

~Raichu!~ squealed the electric mouse as he raised his paws. Suddenly, a translucent barrier materialized, covering both the Raichu and Jet. The Fire Blast slammed into the Protect, and the Raichu grunted as the force of the attack pressed against his shield. ~Rai..chu!~ He pushed forward, dissipating both the attack and his shield, panting only a little. ~Raichu, Rai!~ He grinned again before suddenly dashing forward, his paws moving at speeds Jet’s eyes could barely follow. He leapt into the air and descended on the Graveler, his hind- paw pulled back. He slammed it forward, aiming the kick to the side of the Graveler’s head.

But when the attack connected, it was the Raichu that was repelled. He grunted in pain as his paw throbbed, the Graveler unfazed by the Mega Kick. The man smirked. “Who do you think you are? You think a weak kick is going to defeat us?” He blinked, then, realizing who he was talking to. “I’m… speaking to a bunch of stupid Pokemon. Graveler, hurry this up! Rollout!”

The Graveler tucked in its arms and charged, rolling at tremendous speeds, and in a hurry, the Raichu threw up his paws again, the green barrier of Protect cascading around him. But the blow was heavy, and the Protect broke against the Graveler’s size. The Raichu squealed out in pain as the boulder slammed into him, throwing him against, and through the wall of the room. He landed outside on a soft bit of grass, his body aching from the hit. ~Chu…~ He lifted his head to see the man step out of the ruined room.

“Body Slam, Graveler!” The Graveler, still rolling, made a sharp turn before heading straight towards the Raichu. It suddenly leapt into the air, uncurling, and began a sharp descent, aiming to slam all 200 pounds of its rock body into the small Pokemon. ~C-chu…~ the Raichu whimpered, paralyzed in fear.

~Lava!!~ The Graveler’s eyes opened wide as a flaming charge suddenly speared it in the side. The force and angle of the impact sent the Graveler careening off target and it slammed into the ground on its side, more dazed than injured. Jet fell hard next to the Raichu. The Flare Blitz took everything he had and now he had nothing left. He strained to raise his head and give the Raichu a grin before collapsing back on the ground. Whatever happened now, he’d given his all.

~Chu…~ The Raichu looked at the Quilava, amazed, and then towards the Graveler, which was beginning to pull itself up. He frowned and climbed to his paws. ~Chu…. Raichu… Chu…~ he chanted softly, as crimson energy began to gather around his paws.

“Graveler, take them out with Rollout! I don’t want them getting back up!” the man yelled, and the Graveler began its charge again. ~Raichu!~ the small Pokemon cried as it pressed its paws forward, firing a moderately sized energy sphere roughly half the size it was. The Focus Blast colliding with the incoming Graveler, and in an explosion of energy, the Graveler was sent flying backwards, where it lay unmoving. “What?! Are you serious?” The man rushed over to the side of his Graveler and scowled. “Damn… Brand’s not going to like hearing about this. But there’s no way I can complete this job… screw it, I’m leaving.” He recalled the Graveler into its pokeball, cast the two small Pokemon a hateful look and then headed away.

The Raichu watched him leave, orange sparks leaping from his cheeks, but the man didn’t come back. He turned to the Quilava and hurried to his side. ~Chu… Raichu, rai…~ Jet raised his head and grinned again. ~Quil…. Lava….~ he muttered, trying to rise, but failing. The Raichu knelt down and offered a paw. Jet accepted it.

---

Manual gritted his teeth. His vision was getting blurry from the poison that seeped through him. The Poison Sting from the Sandshrew had been wearing on him for a while now, and it was getting harder and harder to dodge and attack. More infuriating was the Sandshrew’s seeming impregnable defensive. Everything he threw at it seemed to slide right across that shell. If it weren’t for his Focus Energy, he would’ve passed out a long time ago.

But the Sandshew was panting, too. Manual’s stamina was wearing it out. Its inexperience in combat were counterbalancing its own bred defenses. The Eevee had managed to capitalize on mistakes, and it was getting painful.

Batoy bit his lip. He kept hearing the sounds of battle and there were booms that shook the floor. Occasionally, he could hear a squeal of pain, but Bethany just would not let him through. “Please! I don’t get what you’re doing here! Why won’t you go help your own Pokemon!”

“It’s none of your concern,” Bethany responded cooly, but the beads of sweat on her brow betrayed her anxiety. “All you need to know is that I’m doing this for the good of our company, and I’m not going to let you ruin it by interfering! Sandshrew, Gyro Ball!” The Sandshrew curled up into a ball and began spinning towards Manual again.
“Manual, use your Trump Card! Just hang in there!” Batoy shouted, and Manual crouched. His body began to shimmer as a rainbow of different colors shined about him. The Sandshrew slammed into him, but was immediately repelled, the rainbow of lights immediately striking like a static bolt, landing into the ground-type and sending it flying against the wall, where it collapsed, unconscious. Manual started to teeter until Batoy rushed to his side and scooped him up. “Hey, you did great, buddy…” Batoy said as the Eevee whimpered in his arms. Bethany stood motionless before recalling the Sandshrew, saying nothing. Batoy hurried past her, and the two didn’t so much look at each other.

But when Batoy reached the room, his heart started pounding. The room was totally destroyed, with two gaping holes in the wall facing the outside. He couldn’t hear any signs of battle, and Jet was nowhere to be seen. He stepped outside and looked around. “Jet! Jet, where are you? Jet!” But all he could hear was the howl of the wind. Batoy hugged Manual tight, biting his lips. Had he really lost Jet?

~Chu… Raichu…~ came a tentative voice, and Batoy turned to see the Raichu motioning towards him. “Hey… you’re Max, aren’t you? You know where Jet is?” The Raichu nodded and pointed against a tree. Batoy jogged towards the tree to see Jet lying against it, his body rising and falling gently. Batoy smiled and wiped his eyes. “You’re okay, Jet…” he whispered, before turning to the Raichu. “You… helped him out, didn’t you?” The Raichu nodded. Batoy looked back towards Jet, and then Manual in his arms. “I gotta get these two treatment… you… you’re welcome to come if you want to.”

The Raichu looked back towards the building. Standing at the hole in the wall was Bethany, her arms crossed, a sour look about her face. She turned and quickly disappeared when she noticed she’d been spotted. Max looked back towards Batoy and nodded his head. ~Chu!~