Perhaps it was that he was paying closer attention or perhaps it was that he felt like he hadn’t done enough the previous time they had seen Max Maple’s Grunts, but it was Lindon who reacted the fastest out of all of them. Before the Cashe could finish recovering from his surprise, Lindon was already tossing out a pokeball from his pocket to match the one that the Grunt had thrown at them.
A Pikachu popped out of the man’s pokeball and the man’s face clinked in place in Cashe’s mind as he linked it with the incident on the cruise ship. The man was one of the two Grunts guarding the hallway to the ballroom. The one that had done all the talking.
Lindon’s own pokeball popped open and Magneton emerged in a swirl of red light. It dashed in front of the group and immediately began radiating its static field. Cashe could feel the hum of electricity in his teeth as the pokemon bore down on the Grunt’s Pikachu, the hair on his body standing on end like he was caught in a lightning storm. Pikachu got down on all fours in response, electricity sparking from its cheeks, its tail waving in the air in anticipation of a battle.
“I got this!” Lindon shouted at them, waving a hand in the air as he focused on the trainer, “Stop whatever they are doing in the Totem Pokemon’s den!”
Cashe did nothing, staring, face blank as he processed what one of Max Maple’s Grunts was doing here. Did they need a Totem Pokemon for something? Were Totem Pokemon even still around now that the trails were not conducted? Was there something else in the cave that they needed for their plot to capture Jirachi?
Emilia spent no time on the implications of the new Team being in Verdant Caverns. She acted directly after Lindon’s words, grabbing Cashe by the arm and tugging at him before he came out of his train of thought. She pulled him into a stumble and then a run as she dragged him into the Totem Pokemon’s Den.
“Let’s go!” She shouted, reaching to her waist and pulling a pokeball from it.
“Pikachu stop them!” The grunt cried out as they ran past him, pointing his pokemon at them and directing it to attack.
“Oh no you don’t!” Lindon shouted, “Magneton, use Flash Cannon!”
Magneton cried out in confirmation, the digitized screeching echoing through the cave as it gathered a burst of silver-gray energy around it and fired it off at the distracted Pikachu. The attack struck true, sending the Pikachu stumbling before the small pokemon had the chance to attack.
Cashe pulled back on Emilia, stopping her run with a sudden halt as Lindon engaged the Grunt.
“We need to help Lindon!” Cashe said.
“We need to trust Lindon,” Emilia said, spinning around to meet his eye, “He can take out a Grunt. We need to stop whatever is going on in there!”
Cashe bit his lip and looked over his shoulder at Lindon. He looked more like a child than ever before, staring down the Grunt. Emilia tugged at Cashe’s arm.
“Let’s go,” she said.
Cashe turned back around. Emilia’s face was serious, resolute. She wasn’t worried for Lindon at all.
“Okay.” Cashe nodded, letting her drag him the rest of the way through the cavern and into the Totem Pokemon’s den. Behind him, he felt the sudden release of electricity in the air as the battle between Lindon and the Grunt started in earnest. He put it out of his mind, running with Emilia for the last few dozen yards before entering the Totem Pokemon’s den.
The den was not part of the ‘cavern’ half of Verdant Cavern. It was more of a canyon. High walls of stone rose up on either side of them as they entered the area, the sky open and blue above them. The canyon was tiered, like the cavern was, though they now stood at the bottom of it rather than the top of the cavern.
Moss and other vegetation lined the paths and walls of the space, just as it did in the cave, but it was brighter here. The extra light throughout the day due to the open sky above meant many of the plants in the cave were not present here, replaced with the more familiar grass and low lying shrubbery of Route 2.
The space was large and open, at least one hundred yards deep, with paths running around the perimeter and leading up to several rocky outcroppings and cliffs that created the tiers within the canyon. Pokemon moved in the distance on these tiers, Yungoos and Alolan Rattata primary among them. Many appeared distracted, scurrying along the edge of the rocky outcroppings and peering down into the center of the canyon below, looks of consternation clear on their faces.
Cashe could see why. In the center of the canyon was the rest of the Team. There were half a dozen of them, and were gathered around an ancient carving in the vague shape of a stylized pokeball. Most of the Team was unrecognizable, but Cashe saw the familiar green hair of Max Maple’s assistant. She was looking away from them, focused completely on whatever task she was trying to achieve for Maple. She stood by a Kadabra and appeared to be in deep conversation with it, both staring directly at some sort of machine.
The machine was hooked up to the carving, tubes and wires running from it, not unlike what Cashe saw in the engine room of the cruise ship. However, instead of running to a strange surgical table that was pulled straight out of his nightmares, the wires ran to a small cylindrical canister made out of a gleaming silver metal. The canister had a strip of glowing light that ran along its side that appeared to be slowly but steadily increasing in size.
Two Grunts in lab coats sat at laptops, monitoring whatever process was going on with the carving while the other four turned towards the entrance as Cashe and Emilia ran into the den.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” One of the Grunt’s yelled. He was the closest to them and stepped forward aggressively as they approached. The other three grunts gathered around him in support, forming a line of ill fitting, green suits.
“Why do you all wear suits that identify who you work for?” Cashe said aloud as he and Emilia slowed to a stop some thirty yards away from the group.
“You’re not allowed in here! You have to leave!” Another Grunt shouted. Cashe recognized her as the Pikachu trainer’s partner from the cruise. She had a Meditite if he remembered correctly.
Distracted by the yelling, Maple’s assistant looked up from the canister. Her eyes narrowed as she recognized Cashe and Emilia. She reached out and picked up the canister, tucking it under one arm. The yellow line on it flashed with energy as it separated from the machine.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“I didn’t expect to see you so soon, Mr Cashe,” the green haired woman said. She stepped out from behind the row of four Grunts, the Kadabra following her closely.
“What are you doing here?” Emilia demanded.
“Hey! Watch the way you talk to Administrator Kara!” A Grunt shouted. He reached inside his suit to grab a pokeball.
Maple’s assistant, Admin Kara raised an eyebrow at Emilia’s question and signaled for the Grunt to relax. “Emilia Oak,” She said, “I expected to see you even less. Are you looking to join our cause?”
A look of disgust passed over Emilia’s face, “I would never join a Team,” she snarled.
“That’s a shame,” Admin Kara shrugged and turned back to the Grunts, “We have what we need. Take care of them. Kadabra, Teleport.”
The air vibrated around Admin Kara and the two Grunts in lab coats, as well as the machinery, as Kadabra channeled the teleport. The Grunts gave Kara a salute and turned to face Cashe and Emilia.
“Shit!” Emilia swore, tossing out her pokeball. Cashe copied her throwing out Ivysaur’s pokeball.
Ivysaur and Charmeleon emerged from their pokeballs, the Kanto starters landing side by side in the short grass of the cavern.
“Stop them, Charmeleon!” Emilia shouted, “Use Slash!” Charmeleon shot forward, looking to split the Grunts and attack Kadabra before it could finish using Teleport, but the Grunts were not standing around.
Two Drowzee and two Bronzor emerged from their pokeballs as Charmeleon approached, cutting off the direct line of attack.
“Ivysaur, Razor Leaf! You can hit all of them!” Cashe shouted, “Get them out of Charmeleon’s way.”
“Ivysaur!” Ivysaur cried out in confirmation, leaping forward and sending out a flurry of golden leaves around his body. They shot off through the air at all four enemy pokemon. The leaves moved swiftly, instantly catching up to the charging Charmeleon and striking at the line of pokemon well before Charmeleon could arrive.
“Bronzor, Reflect!” A grunt shouted. Almost immediately a familiar looking screen shimmered into place in front of the row of pokemon. Even as fast as Ivysaur’s attack was, it still had to cross dozens of yards of distance to reach the enemy pokemon. The screen was up well before the leaves could strike home.
Golden leaves crashed into the shimmering, transparent screen, blocked by the psychic energy of Bronzor’s move. The screen cracked under the pressure of the attack, a huge rent appearing in the air, before the entire thing shattered. Bronzor’s Reflect was unable to contain the ferocity of Ivysaur’s attack completely, and some of the golden leaves still made it through, but they were few, doing little damage to the pokemon on the other side of the screen.
A moment later, Charmeleon reached the line of pokemon, swiping viciously at a Drowzee. The Drowzee didn’t even try to dodge, crying out in pain as it received the Slash across its body. A thin line of red appeared in the wake of Charmeleon’s attack as Charmeleon’s Slash cut through the Drowzee’s skin. It staggered to the side and its trainer grimaced, returning it to its pokeball.
Cashe grit his teeth. One hit and one knock out. It was a great result for a battle, but this wasn’t a battle. It was a race, fighting the other pokemon was only a delaying tactic. Already the shimmer of Kadabra’s Teleport was reaching the point of no return, the air around the Grunts and equipment hazy from the psychic energies.
Cashe swore under his breath, “Ivysaur, Acid Spay! Aim for the Kadabra!”
All four Grunt’s eyes widened at the command and two of them shouted in unison, “Light Screen!”
Ivysaur didn’t hesitate, firing off a thick stream of poisonous acid directly at the Kadabra. Two barriers appeared in the air before Ivysaur’s attack could hit, however, the poison spay reflecting off the barriers even as it ate into them, pooling on the ground below.
“Flamethrower!” Emilia shouted. Charmeleon roared, his cry high and keening as it drew back his head and released a thick torrent of flame. The attack was unlike anything Cashe had ever seen. The fire flew from Charmeleon’s mouth like napalm from, well, a flamethrower.
The thick flames sprayed across the Light Screen, shattering the first, already weakened barrier easily and spewing onto the second, licking at the corners and edges. Cashe could see the horrified faces of the Grunts behind the barrier as it began to crack in response to Emilia’s onslaught. The heat was evident, warping the air and causing one of the Bronzor to stagger where it floated in the air.
The second barrier shattered and Charmeleon immediately stopped the torrent of flames. One of the Grunts took full advantage of the break in the action and attacked.
“Psybeam, Drowzee!” She shouted.
Drowzee brought its arms together, focusing purple energy between them, before firing off a beam of prismatic light at Ivysaur.
“Don’t dodge, counter attack,” Cashe ordered. Despite the attack being super effective against Ivysaur, he had confidence in his pokemon. Ivysaur could tank a hit from a Drowzee, “Use Razor Leaf again!” Emilia gave them both a glance of concern as the attack streaked through the air.
The beam of energy collided with Ivysaur, knocking him back a few paces even as Ivysaur kicked up another flurry of golden leaves and fired them off. The attack from Drowzee ended, leaving a streak of bruising flesh on Ivysaur’s flank but otherwise nothing else.
The golden leaves struck back at the Drowzee, uninterrupted by any barriers. The attack battered the pokemon, tossing to the ground from the force of it. Leaves dug into its skin and left long lacerations in its hide and Drowzee groaned in annoyance and pain.
Its trainer frowned as the Drowzee attempted to regain its feet, but struggled to do so. She returned it to its pokeball, swapping it out for her Meditite.
At the same time, Emilia was taking care of both Bronzor at once, Charmeleon spouting alternating gouts of flame at both pokemon. One was obviously taking more damage than the other, flagging and dropping lower and lower in the air. Its trainer was shouting orders at it but the flames were too much, Bronzor was unable to act at all against Charmeleon. The second Bronzor was handling the flames much more easily, not immune to them, but clearly troubled much less than its partner was. Its trainer responded with the occasional Confusion or Light Screen, but it was clear he was overwhelmed by Emilia’s battling prowess and his pokemon would soon be out of the fight.
The final trainer, younger than the others by a significant margin, and the one with the first fainted Drowzee, was staring at her pokeball with a conflicted look on her face. Cashe was familiar with the look. He had seen it on his opponents’ faces enough times during the True Rookie Tournament. It was the look of someone debating if it were worth it, the look of someone who knew the battle would end in a loss and was not looking forward to having another beat up pokemon.
Just as it appeared she was coming to a decision, the air around the Grunts and Admin Kara flashed and they winked out of existence, taking their equipment with them.
“Shit,” Emilia swore, “Whatever they were doing they just got away with it.”
“Don’t worry, we can drag it out of these guys.” Cashe said, “They’re stuck here with us.”
Three of the Grunts made troubled faces at his declaration, with one of them looking fearfully at Ivysaur. It seemed his reputation proceeded him somewhat with the Grunts. He could use that to his advantage.
“You know who I am,” Cashe said, standing straight and tall, “Surrender now and you won’t have to worry about anything but the police, but make me fight…” Cashe trailed off, letting the Grunts’ imaginations fill in the rest of the sentence for him. Anything they could think of was likely much worse than anything he would actually do.
“Screw that!” The conflicted Grunt shouted. She was the only one that did not appear to recognize him or Emilia, “Hold them off for a moment, I’ll get us out of here!” She tossed out her own pokeball, but not at Cashe and Emilia, but behind the line of Grunts. A Staryu appeared, the red gem at the center of the star-shaped pokemon glowing and lustrous. “Staryu, Teleport! You have to get us all!”
Staryu gave its trainer a little nod, that, even in the height of the battle, Cashe thought was adorable. The air began to shimmer around all four remaining trainers and their pokemon as Staryu concentrated on bringing the group out of the Verdant Caverns.
“Enough,” Emilia said, “Cashe, let’s end this. Charmeleon, use Sunny Day!”
*****