Chapter 11: Wellspring Cave
Harper woke up to the sound of screaming. One of the schoolgirls ran into the classroom they were sleeping in. She looked extremely distressed and charged around the room like demented bunny rabbit. Harper approached her to calm her down, but nothing was working. Something so horrible had happened to this child it was impossible to settle her down.
"What is it?" Harper gently asked the girl in a mothering tone. "What’s your name?"
"Willow," she replied.
"That’s a pretty name," Harper complemented kindly. "What’s caused you to be so distressed?”
"They kidnapped my Pokémon!" she cried. "I was walking one day to school and some men in weird uniforms approached me. Their uniforms had a giant ‘P’ on them. They told me to hand over my Pokémon. I was walking my Pokémon at the time. I did as I was told, handing them my poor Pokémon. And then they dashed off with it. I’m not too sure where they went, but I heard someone say they were heading to a cave.”
“Isn’t there a cave nearby?” Brandon asked. "We should help her out.”
"I agree," said Pedro. "It would be awful to have your Pokémon stolen. Stealing is a crime and should be punished. Where are the police when you need them?"
"I don't know, but we should help Willow before those naughty Team Plasma members can escape!" Brandon further spoke.
"What are we waiting for?" said Harper, "let's get a move on!"
They ran as quick as they could, like a stallion running through the prairie with its owner on its back. Going westwards, there was another path going south halfway. But they decided to explore that path later. Trainers tried to challenge them along the way but when they saw Harper and her friends were in a rush, they decided to challenge someone else. Willow followed from behind, still sopping from having her Pokémon stolen.
They soon got to the Wellspring Cave. Outside there was equipment that Team Plasma had lazily left as they rushed towards the forsaken cave. Brandon, who had experience with this stuff, looked at it for a bit – he was a bit of the computer geek. He stared at it for a bit before standing up again.
"No idea what this is but it seems like some brainwashing machine. No idea what wicked thing Team Plasma is planning to do with this?" he replied.
"Let's go further in the cave. Keep hold of your balls, since we’ll need them," Harper said. "It’s certain that these thiefs won't go down without a fight. Keep speed everyone!"
So, they entered further into the cave. They could hear water, with drops dripping constantly like a drummer hitting a drum constantly. Unlike a drummer, the water trips had no rhythm – going whenever it wanted without fear of consequences. They soon came to where the Team Plasma members were, near the underground lake, examining the stolen Pokémon.
"What do you think you're doing, you stupid little punks!" said one of them.
"Ah tykes, getaway!" said the other.
"You think you can get away with stealing a Pokémon from this poor and defenceless girl!" yelled Harper with anger that it felt like the room was shaking like it was in an earthquake – but this was only in Harper's mind so it didn't actually at all. "Give it back or you will face us, you imprudent felonious froth!"
"Never!" said the first Team Plasma member.
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"We’ll face you then!" said the other. "And we’ll win since we’ve the best Pokémon in the world!"
"We’ll see about that," Harper said while taking out one of her balls. "Tepig, I choose you!" Out of its ball came Harper's green Tepig. Even more steam than usual came out of its nose – it was really mad at what Team Plasma were doing and wanted punish them.
"I won't let you get away with this either," said Pedro bravely. "Mudkip, teach those law-breaking delinquents smut an important lesson – STEALING IS A CRIME!"
"Then so be it!" said the first member. "Gurdurr, show them how Team Plasma does things!" Out of a ball came a grey bipedal Pokémon with curly hair, pink lines, and a right red nose, much like a reindeer. He was holding a metal bar.
"And I’ll show you how we do things around here!" said the other guy. "Roggenrola, do it your best!" Out of another ball came a Roggenrola, but this one was red instead of the usual purple. Clearly it was stolen. Some poor Pokémon trainer was missing their rare shinny Roggenrola. This made Harper mad.
The Gurdurr used its mighty strength to throw the bar of steel at Tepig and Mudkip but they were able to dodge it. The Gurdurr ran up to get its bar and used it as a swing, slamming it here and there. Tepig and Mudkip were quick enough to get out of the way – they were really fast! Roggenrola kept using its rock-throw ability, which didn't make things easy. But with a single spit from Mudkip using its water gun and the Roggenrola was knocked out cold.
"My poor, poor Roggenrola," yelped one of the Team Plasma grunts. "Why did you have to do that?"
"If you were a good person and didn't steal, then that wouldn't have ever happened," lectured Pedro.
Suddenly the Gurdurr performed a low kick on Tepig, knocking it out. Mudkip had to charge around it in circles, dodging the Gurdurr's attack. Mudkip suddenly found an opening to attack. It spirted out a blast of water, knocking the Gurdurr back. The Gurdurr was stunned, so Mudkip swiped at it, finishing the Pokémon off.
Seeing what had occur to their Pokemon, the Team Plasma members charged off like little cowards. But what they said as they left worried Harper.
"We’ve already brainwashed that Pokémon. It's a zombie now. So, it will never listen to its owner ever again!" they yelled as they ran off.
"I know who you can find to help you," said the little girl. "My uncle lives in Castelia City as a researcher. If you can talk to him, he might explain what has happened to my Pokémon and how to fix it. His name’s Maximus Davies."
"We will be sure to talk to him,” said Brandon.
"Look after your Pokémon," said Pedro.
"I sure will," said Willow. "Even though it won't listen to me, I still love it."
"That is the best thing about friendship," said Brandon. "Loving each other no matter is what counts the most. It's getting late so we better get going. We want to get to the next town before sunset."
"Goodbye," said Willow as they left.
They travelled back eastwards still they got to the southern path they found earlier. As they were walking down the path, a kid around the same age as them approached them. He was wearing clothes very similar to Brandon, but he had bright blond hair and no freckles.
"I am Franklyn Jr, and I’ve come to challenge you,” he said, pointing at Harper. He blushed as he said that. Clearly, he had a crush on Harper, but didn’t know how to express himself.
"Of course," said Harper as she took out her balls. "A double battle, is it?"
"Yep," he said as he took out his balls. "Blitzle and Woobat, give it your all!"
"Tepig and Pansage, I choose you," yelled Harper – so hard that it could shake the ground like never before. "Do it your best as well! Let's do this thing!"
The Woobat was some light blue fury thing that had bat wings, and the Blitzle was some zebra thing with spiky fur and bright yellow eyes, all electronically it seemed like. The Blitzle started shooting blasts of electricity at Harper's Pokémon. Although they were able to dodge most of them, one of the strikes managed to hit Pansage. But because it was a grass-type Pokémon, the electric socks didn't hurt it all that much. The Woobat was screeching which was painful for Harper's Pokémon ears. But with one simple blast of fire from Tepig, the bat-like Pokémon dropped to the ground in a spiral motion, knocking it out. The Blitzle charged at Pansage using flame charge, knocking poor Pansage out, since it was a grass-type Pokémon, and therefore couldn't sustain a fire attack. It tried to do that to Tepig, but he was already a fire-type Pokémon so it didn't have any effect. Tepig blast another ball of fire at the other Pokémon, knocking that Pokémon out as well.
"You're pretty good," the boy said.
"Of course, I am," she replied, slightly bluffing.
"I hope to re-battle you someday," he said kindly.
"Me too," she said in return.
And with that, they continued their journey. As they walked down the path across a bridge, they watched a few amateur fishermen fish over the bridge, who were fishing for both fish and Pokemon – apparently Magikarp swam in the local lake. They soon arrived in the next town.