Tommy stopped in front of a massive pair of steel doors at the end of the corridor. He pressed the button and was surprised when they slid open. He walked through the two doors that led outside and took in the surrounding view.

A cursory scan of his surroundings revealed that the doors opened out into the side of the lake. Of course it had been mostly drained, that was what the aquarium was for he realized, and only the very bottom of the lake still had water in it. He heard screams echoing from the lake’s center and he quickly began to pick his way down the side of the bank towards the middle where he knew he would find his sister.

“I’m surprised you were able to make it this far, Tommy,” a rail thin and sleazy man spoke from the center of the lake as Tommy approached. He flashed two rows of disgusting yellow teeth and the sight made Tommy shudder in revulsion. He was standing atop a marble altar that was exposed now that the lake was mostly drained and all around the base of the pedestal were cohorts of Rocket henchmen. There were glyphs and carvings all around the altar and Tommy could feel… something hanging heavy in the air about him.

It was oppressing.

“Tommy! Save me!” Tori wailed in between her hiccuping sobs. She was dressed in a robe of pure white and was made to kneel in front of the altar by her captors.

“Restrain him,” Tommy heard a voice from behind him. He turned and saw Aubrey and Darius walking up. A handful of the guards at the altar walked forward and roughly grabbed his arms and shoved him to his knees into the mud; he knew struggling would be futile.

“Tori, I’m going to find a way to get you away from these people,” Tommy told his sister. He felt his eyes starting to water at the hopelessness of the situation but he tried to be strong for his little sister; he knew she was terrified.

“It kind of warms your heart, right Commander Ryker?” The sleazy man grinned. “It almost makes me want to let the girl go.”

“Shut your disgusting mouth and get on with it Salem,” Aubrey told the man. “I feel sick in this place.”

“You heard the commander lads,” Salem said. “Bring it up here, and let’s be done with it.”

The guards that weren’t restraining Tommy bent down and picked up a massive red chain that he had been too distracted to notice. It was composed of well over a few hundred links and by the way the men were struggling with it, the thing must have weighed a lot.

Salem grabbed Tori by the roots of her hair and pulled her kicking and screaming onto the altar.

“Tori!” Tommy screamed so loud he thought his throat might rupture. He strained against the grips of the men who were restraining him but all that his efforts earned him was more pain. He yelled and almost blacked out as one of the two men dislocated his right arm.

“Bind her,” Salem nodded to the men as he held Tori down. The henchmen draped the chain over Tommy’s sister who had screamed herself hoarse by now. She hiccuped softly as she stared up into the night sky, resigned to her fate.

Once she was lashed to the altar, the Rocket henchmen retreated down the steps, leaving Salem alone on the marble altar with Tommy’s sister.

The man pulled a jagged and ornately carved knife from his belt and raised it to the sky, closing his eyes. “With this blood we beseech thee, with this vessel be made whole. Descend and grant us your strength.”

Tommy closed his eyes and blinked away tears as the man used the knife to cut into his sister’s palms. She made no noise as blood began to leak from her veins onto the altar.

The air grew even heavier. It was so oppressive that a handful of the guards, including the ones who were restraining Tommy, fainted. Everyone who retained their consciousness was brought to their knees. Despite his newfound freedom Tommy couldn’t find any strength to stand as he too felt the unimaginable pressure threaten to overwhelm him.

He looked into the clear night sky and blinked his eyes in disbelief. The only words that could describe the scene that he was witnessing would be that the sky had torn open. The space around the altar began to distort and rip and when he looked beyond the tear in the sky he saw both everything and nothing.

A pillar of pink light burst forth from the hole to envelop the altar and his sister’s screams began all over again. She screamed in more pain than Tommy knew a person could bear as her body began to convulse and strain against the red chains that were lashing her.

If ever there was a time that his sister needed him it was now so using all of the resolve that he could muster he tried to stand. He yelled at the top of his lungs as his feet found purchase and he began to slowly shamble his way to the altar where his sister was.

“Someone stop him!” Salem yelled as Tommy gained the pedestal, but no one had any strength to move under the overwhelming pressure. Tommy looked up into the sky again and forced himself to hurry as all manner of unspeakable things stared at him with bone chilling eyes through the hole that had been rent in space.

A giant white claw, the size of his entire body reached through and began to widen it.

Tommy reached the pillar of pink tinged light that had engulfed his sister and pressed his left hand against it; it felt completely solid despite being made of light but he wouldn’t be denied. His hand found its way inside followed by his arm and the more of his body that entered the light the more unbearable the pain became. It was even more indescribable than the pain he felt when trying to bond with Houndour but all it took Tommy to persevere was one look at his sister who was completely enveloped. Her eyes were now in the back of her head as her convulsions became more spastic.

Tommy stepped onto the altar and bent down to grab the chain with his one working hand. Everything felt right yet wrong inside the pink space. The chain was both heavy yet light, metal but somehow paper and he heaved with all the strength he could muster. Veins bulged in his arm and neck as he strained and he began to feel a sense of hopelessness as he struggled in vain.

He heard the gentle fluttering of wings and relief washed over him as tiny green hands rested on his arm. He pulled once more and the chain tore away; he was flung backwards off the altar where he collapsed into a heap.

The rend in space closed, sealing away the light and the chain rusted and turned to dust in his hand. He tried to stand up but couldn’t, he had spent all of his energy to halt the power of the light.

“Damn you!” Salem screamed as he got to his feet. “All of our plans have been brought to ruin because of you! My kingdom, lost forever!”

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“Watch your sister die in front of you!” The man wailed in the depths of his own hysteria. He pulled the dagger from his robes once more and leapt on top of the altar where he stood over Tori. His dagger was purchased high in the air and he brought it swinging down with all of the weight of his body.

No! Tommy lamented, he had no strength to stand, move, or even speak and he watched as the dagger traveled through the air in slow motion.

Tori bolted upright and slammed her arm straight through the villain’s chest. He coughed blood and instantly collapsed dead and Tori regarded her gore soaked hand still holding the man’s pumping heart. She squeezed, popping the heart like a giant blood filled balloon and closed her eyes as the warm blood spattered onto her face and white robes.

“Tori…” Tommy managed to just barely whisper. He felt chills run down his spine as she tilted her head sideways and regarded him as if he were completely unrecognizable.

She blinked her once green eyes that were now bright pink and Tommy saw that there was no recognition in them. She grinned wickedly, sharp teeth giving her a predatory appearance, and she licked her lips in anticipation.

“Everyone stop where you are!” Tommy turned to see a man supporting Spencer down the embankment of the lake. He was a strapping and handsome fellow with light brown hair. Beside him Tommy saw Agatha regard the Team Rocket members warily.

“Hurry!” Aubrey shouted to Darius. The two of them got to their feet and rushed the altar. Aubrey pulled a miniature red chain, no more than a handful of links long from her pocket, as Darius only just dodged a swipe of Tori’s arm and somehow managed to knock her on her back for a single second. It was all the time Aubrey needed to slip the red chain around the girl’s throat and collar her.

“Get us out of here!” Aubrey commanded and Tommy stared disbelievingly as his sister’s hands were wreathed in bright pink flames. She snarled like a feral animal but dragged her arm through the air opening a tear in space. She grabbed the edges with both of her hands and widened it enough for a person to walk through.

“No!” Tommy closed his eyes as Darius and Aubrey escaped through the hole, dragging Tori by her collar.

Space closed and Tommy lost his sister all over again. He looked down at his trembling hands as a fresh wave of grief washed over him again. It hadn’t been enough; despite his best efforts he had failed once again.

“Tommy,” Spencer stumbled over to his friend and collapsed in the mud next to him. “I’m sorry.”

Tommy wept and Spencer wrapped him in an embrace. He didn’t know how long he cried for, lamenting the single fact that he may never see his sister again.

“Your friend Spencer filled us in on the details when we found him,” the man who had been helping Spencer said to Tommy once his tears had dried up. Tommy didn’t reply and stared at his palms. “I’m sorry.”

“What a shit show this ended up being, Sam,” Agatha sighed. She moved over and began to restrain some of the unconscious grunts. “Help me bind them, Sam. We can question them and see if anyone knows anything about what was done to that poor girl.”

“Are you going to be okay?” Spencer hesitantly asked his friend while Sam and Agatha otherwise preoccupied themselves.

“No…” Tommy whispered. His sister had been taken from him and he also remembered now that his mother and his home had been assaulted.

He silently begged anyone that would listen to please let his mother be okay. If she wasn’t well he knew he would be truly lost; he knew that he couldn’t handle any more bad news.

His thoughts continued to spiral, what did Team Rocket still need his sister for? When could he see his mom? Aubrey and Darius’ sneering faces danced in his head and he ground his teeth in anger. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up.

“Are you ready to go?” Zach spoke softly, stirring Tommy from his contemplations. He looked around and saw that all of the still living guards had been rounded up and that Melanie was talking to Spencer. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you.”

“I need to return to Goldenrod,” Tommy ignored his chaperone’s extended hand and stood up on his own. “Take me back now.”

Zach nodded. “You can go back with Melanie. I need to wait for the rest of the students to arrive and make sure that they’re all okay. Will you recount your tale for me when we’ve all returned back to school?”

“Get it from Spencer,” was all he replied as he walked across the muddy ground to reach Melanie.

“It sounds like you and Spencer went through a lot,” the blue haired girl said to him as he approached her. “He was telling me the beginnings of your journey.”

“That’s great,” Tommy deadpanned. “Now take me to Goldenrod.”

Melanie raised an eyebrow at him and glanced over at Zach. The man nodded curtly and she called out Corviknight and Pidgeot for them to ride back. Tommy wasted no time mounting the great metal raven and he sent it quickly up into the air as he thought of his mother. Melanie scrambled onto Pidgeot and took off after him.

The flight back in the freezing winter air numbed every part of his exposed body but he didn’t care; it felt like nothing compared to how numb his insides felt. Melanie tried to talk to him over the howling of the wind but each time he ignored the woman and eventually she lapsed into silence. The flight back was quick, in a matter of hours Goldenrod loomed on the horizon and soon after that Tommy spied his ranch on the city’s southern edge.

It stuck out like a sore thumb in the light of the rising sun as plumes of smoke rose up high into the air. Heart hammering in his chest Tommy began his descent towards what had once been his home. The once gorgeous ranch home was nothing more than a heap of rubble now, and Tommy dashed over to his demolished home hoping but also not hoping that he would find his mother.

“She’s over here Tommy!” Melanie called out and Tommy raced over to her. He slowed his steps as he spied his prone mother lying in the grass under a tree.

“Please…” he begged as he slowly approached her body. “Please, be alive.”

He knelt down beside her and placed his finger against her neck, trying to feel for a pulse. It was weak, but it was there and he sighed in relief as the tension left his body.

“We have to get her to the car,” Tommy told his chaperone. “She needs a hospital, she’s so weak.

“Tommy…” he whipped his head around at the sound of his mother’s quiet voice and grabbed her hand as gently as he could. She squeezed back ever so slightly and Tommy felt tears ring his eyes again at the sight of his collapsed and frail mother.

“I’m here mom,” it was all he could choke out as his voice threatened to break.

“Sister?” His mother weakly breathed, and he did break.

“I couldn’t save her, I was too late,” he said between sobs. His mother pressed his head to her chest and he wept harder than he had all night. “It was all for nothing! The past four years haven't made me an ounce stronger. I failed her and I failed you when it mattered most!”

“It’s not your fault, my sweet boy,” Mom whispered to him. She gently stroked his hair and he tried to compose himself. “You mustn’t blame yourself for things you have no control over.”

He wiped his eyes and lifted his head, “I’ll save her. I swear that I’ll find her and bring her back so that we can all be together again.”

Mom smiled and closed her eyes, “Good. It’s important that you two find each other again. Nothing would make me happier.”

“You mean the three of us right?” Tommy asked because of the way she phrased her words. “We need to get you to a hospital. You’re so weak right now.”

Mom shook her head and Tommy’s heart stopped. “I can’t move. I haven’t been able to feel my legs for a while and now my arms are going numb.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about Mom,” Tommy knelt closer to her because her words were becoming harder to hear. He desperately grabbed her hand and held it tightly in his grip. “You can’t leave me here by myself, I have no one left. I’m not strong enough.”

“You are,” mom smiled. “Besides you aren’t alone, you have your friends, and you promised me you would rescue your sister.”

“I need you though,” Tommy started to weep again. “Please, you can’t leave me.”

“I won’t be leaving you,” Mom told him. She opened her eyes and smiled at him. “You and I will always be together. I love you, and Tori, and your dad.”

Then she closed her eyes once more and Tommy knew in his heart that they wouldn’t open again.