Chapter Two: Aboard the Spaceship
“Gardevoir, use your powers to keep us levitated!” Mira ordered her Pokemon. Staraptor had saved her from falling, and now, her Gardevoir was repaying the favour by levitating Lucas, Riley and herself near the ports where the rocks would burst out. Every ten seconds, Riley would peer into one of the holes, to see if he could find a way up without being crushed. Lucas was trying to make out the others in the darkness and mess, whilst Mira shook violently with every pile of rocks that fell out.
“Can you see anything?” Lucas asked Riley, who had quickly moved his head out of the way of a hurtling boulder.
“Well…there’s a long tunnel, but I can hear some sounds up there…” Riley answered, as he poked his head in to examine it again.
“Do you think we should go down and try and find them?” Mira croaked, as Riley moved his head out of the way again.
“What, and get smashed in by a ton of rock? I don’t think so…” Lucas pondered, and Mira frowned. “Besides, they’re a powerful bunch, aren’t they? They can take care of themselves…”
Riley stuck his head in once more, and Lucas and Mira watched him miserably. Five seconds later, he poked his head out again, and brushed his hands over the four PokeBalls in his belt.
“What are you doing?” Lucas asked, as Riley finally settled on a PokeBall, and unclipped it from his belt.
“I’m destroying the funnel,” Riley said casually, as if he had just said he was going to the supermarket.
“You are what?” Mira shouted, as Riley threw the PokeBall around in his hands.
“Well, do you want to sit here all night - until your Gardevoir faints and we all plummet to our deaths?” Riley pointed out, and he pointed to her Gardevoir.
Mira also looked down, to see her Gardevoir, occasionally shaking, and losing balance a little.
“Fine…but don’t blame me when your Pokemon is smashed into smithereens…”
“Don’t worry, it won’t. Garchomp, use Dragon Claw on that funnel now!”
Lucas and Mira watched, as Riley’s Garchomp spun up the tunnel. Seconds later, there was a terrible ripping noise, a few dozen shrieks, and Garchomp fell down the hole, and onto Riley’s rock.
“Garchomp, did it work?” Riley asked, and Garchomp nodded.
“You mean we can get up there now?” Mira asked, as Garchomp was returned to his PokeBall.
“Yep…but we need your Gardevoir to lift us up,” Riley asked as he stood up.
Mira closed her eyes, and concentrated hard. Ten seconds later, her eyes opened again, and she turned to Riley.
“She says she can handle a couple more minutes,” Mira said, and Riley nodded.
“Get ready to jump,” Mira warned, “Gardevoir can catch you.”
Riley and Lucas prepared to jump, whilst Mira telepathically spoke to Gardevoir.
“Jump,” she ordered, and Riley and Lucas both leapt from their rocks. Mira also jumped, and Gardevoir let go of the rocks. Then, she closed her eyes, as a purple aura shrouded her. Mira, Riley and Lucas suddenly burst, one by one, up the chute. Lucas closed his eyes as he flew up the chute at breakneck speed, hoping that no more boulders would burst out of the chute, and connect with his head. Thankfully, he managed to land safely, and Riley and Mira landed next to him. A few seconds later, Gardevoir flew up the chute, and Mira returned her to her PokeBall.
“Yikes, what happened up here?” Mira asked, as she grimaced at the mess around her.
Everyone looked around to see a great mess. Riley had to crouch because of the low ceiling. Behind them was ten large chutes, which disappeared into the dark sky. On the other side of them was around six dozen Golem, all dizzy and weak.
“They’ve been using Golem to generate those rocks and boulders…” Riley said, as he kneeled down to inspect one.
“That’s cruel!” Mira gasped, as a Golem tried to clench her tights.
“Do you think they’ve noticed the rocks have stopped falling?” Lucas asked, as he looked around at the cramped room.
“Most likely…which is why we can’t hang about. Mira, help me find a way out of this room…” Riley ordered, and Mira began to glide her hands over the wall. However, it was Lucas that found the escape first.
“Guys, guys! Look, a vent!” Lucas pointed out, and Mira and Riley looked up at the ceiling.
“How do we open it?” Mira asked, but Lucas was already handling a PokeBall.
“Luxray, go!” Lucas shouted, as he threw the PokeBall into the room. The Luxray roared and stretched, and coolly trotted over to Lucas’s side.
“Luxray, use Thunder on that vent!” Lucas commanded. Luxray charged up his energy, and fired a bolt directly at the bolts keeping the vent in place. The air vent crumbled to pieces, leaving a small gap in the wall.
“How are we supposed to fit in there?” Riley pondered to himself, but as Lucas patted Luxray, and returned him to his PokeBall, Mira was unclipping one of her own PokeBalls.
“Espeon! Come out!” She called, and her Ball opened. Sitting majestically in front of the trio was a light purple Espeon, purring softly. Mira closed her eyes, and Espeon immediately closed hers as well.
“What are they doing?” Lucas asked to Riley, who smirked.
“Mira’s smart, Lucas. She has a special bond with all of her Pokemon. They can communicate telepathically. I think she’s telling Espeon to do something…”
Lucas nodded in understanding, and watched Mira and Espeon. Suddenly, a purple aura appeared around the two friends, and Lucas blinked. The aura was gone when he opened his eyes, and Mira was petting Espeon affectionately.
“There’s a room opposite this, but there’s a secret tunnel hidden between them,” Mira explained. “I think I could crawl up the air vent, slide down, and break through. Then I could open the door on the other side, break through the passageway, and get you through.”
“Good plan, let’s try it,” Riley agreed, and Lucas nodded. Espeon purred, as Mira returned her to her PokeBall, and Riley walked below the vent. Mira ran up to him, and stepped on his open hand. He pushed his hand upwards, and Mira reached for the vent. She grabbed the inside, and Lucas and Riley pushed her up. She turned round, and nodded to them. She disappeared into the dark ventilation system, whilst Lucas and Riley waited patiently.
***
Marcus’s eyes opened, as he heard a weak wheezing sound in the distance. He was embedded under a pile of small rocks, and everywhere around him was pitch black. There was a small crack in between the rocks, and a small ray of light crept through. Marcus tried to move, but there was a crippling pain in his arm.
“Argh!” Marcus screamed, as he moved back to his previous position. He spat a wad of dust out of his mouth.
“W-Where am I?” He asked himself, but then the thoughts of escaping from the hoards of boulders flooded his brain again. He immediately checked his belt for his PokeBalls, and found that they were all there. One of them was lighter than the others, and he immediately remembered that he had lost his Infernape in the escape.
“Help!” Marcus shouted, but he doubted anyone could hear him. However, there was a quiet shuffling sound, then the crack of light began to grow bigger. Marcus’s eyes widened, as three fingers, then four, then a whole hand appeared. The hand grabbed a rock, and pulled it back. The daylight shone on Marcus’s face, as he squinted.
“Marcus! You’re okay!” Buck cried out, and he knelt down so he was level with Marcus.
“H-help me out of here…” Marcus winced, and Buck grabbed his hand. Marcus grimaced as Buck pulled him out.
“My Infernape, he’s gone, I don’t know where he is,” Marcus rambled, but Buck interrupted.
“Don’t worry, Marley has him, he’s safe.”
“Marley? Where is she?” Marcus asked, spinning his head round to look for her.
“She’s over there,” Buck pointed to the top row of seats, where nearly everything was unscathed.
“Her Sceptile managed to scrape away a few chairs, and now we have some room.”
Marcus nodded, and he and Buck walked over to where Buck pointed to. Marley looked up from Infernape, to see Marcus limping over to her.
“Marcus! You’re okay!” Marley said gleefully, as she wrapped him round in her arms. Marcus smiled, and Marley let go.
“You’re Infernape is okay, just a few scratches and bumps,” Marley informed.
“Oh, thank goodness. Could you find the others?”
“Well, no. Buck swore he glimpsed three rocks just floating by the spaceship, but they were falling the next second. That’s when the rocks stopped. I think I did see Dawn run over to the stadium doors - but I don’t want to risk that climb…”
Marcus looked confused, so Marley grabbed his shoulder, and walked him down the aisle. Around ten rows of seats down, there was a massive drop where the rest of the rows should have been. Some chairs were swinging off the edge of the drop. Marcus gulped, and walked to the edge, with Marley straight behind him. Around twenty feet below, was a field of rocks - but the twenty feet between the rocks and the stadium remainders, was air and air only.
“We have to go down there and look!” Marcus insisted, but Marley shrugged.
“None of our Pokemon can fly, and it would be suicide if we tried to jump down…” Marley answered, and Marcus nodded in agreement.
“You’re right, but I’m still going to think of something….”
***
Mira crawled through the cramped space, wishing she had never agreed to go through the vent. She barely had space to move her arms to crawl forward, and her PokeBalls were scratching on the base of the vent. Several cobwebs littered the vent, some of which blew into her face. Mira stopped to catch her breath. It was hard to breath in the tight spot, her lungs constricted to a small area. The entrance of the vent seemed so far away, it was as if she had crawled away from her allies and into a shroud of darkness. Mira breathed deeply, and continued to crawl on. She rounded a tight corner, to see a junction. There was a small square gap, which she presumed led down towards the other room. Past the gap was another passageway, possibly to another unknown room. To the right of Mira was another passageway. As she neared, her hair began to whip up around her face. She reached the gap, and looked down. Just like she predicted, there was a small, vertical tunnel, leading to a small vent. Mira breathed in the air, and looked round the other passageways. The vent straight ahead twisted away into a tight corner, which Mira knew she wouldn’t be able to fit through. To the right was another passageway, and at the back of it was an enormous fan, which spun round. Mira realised why her hair was whirling, it was the fan whipping up the air. She breathed, and steadied herself, before slowly lowering herself in to the vertical tunnel.
“Steady Mira…” she told herself, watching the whirring fan in the corner of her eye. Her legs were dangling into the vent, while she held herself up by her arms. She had to manoeuvre herself around so she could slip down without making a racket - but she had to be aware of the fan too. She edged her body slowly into the tunnel, until she was straining to hold on with her hands. She slowly began to spin round in her place, her legs trying to grip the side of the tunnel wall. She breathed again, taking another scared look at the fan, but when she looked back to drop herself down some more, a small Spinarak on the other passage was staring at her with wide eyes.
“Argh!” Mira screamed, and she climbed out of the vent as quickly as she could. She panted heavily, before taking another look at the Spinarak. She sighed to herself, as the Spinarak sang happily. She went over to pet it, but there was a sound from down below - Mira quickly shuffled back a bit more, as a head tried to look in the vent. Luckily, the vent was pitch black, so the person couldn’t see a thing - but Mira still waited for him to leave. Still, the Spinarak continued to stare at her, with its big, black eyes, particularly the belt wrapped loosely around her waist.
“Spinarak, go away,” Mira hissed, but the Spinarak’s eyes continued to grow wider. Mira grimaced, and went back to slip down the hole, but the Spinarak’s eyes narrowed, and with one quick String Shot, it was holding a shiny blue PokeBall in its legs.
“Spinarak, give that back! Now!” Mira ordered, but the Spinarak backed away from her swiping. Carefully, she dangled her legs in the tunnel, and swiped at the spider Pokemon again. S he regained her balance, and tugged at the Spinarak, but she tugged too hard, and the PokeBall hurtled out of its grasp.
“No!” Mira whispered, as the PokeBall began to spin towards the fan. It stopped spinning, right on the edge of the passageway, and Mira sighed with relief.
“Stupid Spinarak,” Mira hissed, as she went to grab her PokeBall. The Spinarak, angered by her words, jumped at her, landing on her head.
“Eek!” Mira screamed, as her fingers slipped off the ball, rolling it further towards the fan. Her dangling foot slipped, and it whacked against the vent.
“ARGH!” Mira screamed, as her foot began to bleed, and she threw the Spinarak off her. There was another scuffling sound, and a mans face appeared at the bottom of the vent.
“Hey, one of those champions is in the air vent!” He shouted, and Mira froze in shock.
Platinum FC - 0432 3665 4474[Name - Drew]
HeartGold FC - 5199 7801 6179[Name - Drew]
Platinum Team:
Sceptile/Blaziken/Swampert/Swellow/Gardevoir/Flygon
HeartGold Team:
Meganium/Ampharos/Pupitar/Typhlosion/Feraligatr/Scizor