Chapter 3
"Found it!" Prof. Aspen called, pulling a big chest out from a closet in the basement.
"What is it?" Cameron asked walking down the steps.
"These were Prof. Rowan's traveling clothes when he was your age. I thought they might work for you" Prof. Aspen said holding up a black dress vest, that went over a white dress shirt and tie. And a black jacket with a pokéball symbol in the bottom left corner. He also gave Cameron a white scarf.
"It's perfect." Cameron said hesitently.
Aspen replied, "What's the matter, Cameron?"
Cameron's eyes started to swell with tears. "I'm, I'm not, I'm not worthy." he finally managed to say.
"Cameron, I know that you loved the professor. He loved you, too. And I'm sorry that he had to die. Trust me. I was his asistant. But when Prof. Rowan died," Prof. Aspen started to take a small message recording device out of his coat pocket. "... he gave me this. He told me only to give it to you when you started to leave on your journey."
Aspen handed the tape to Cameron, and Cameron pressed the play button. Professor Rowan's voice came on and said, "Cameron, if you're hearing this right now, then that means that I am gone. My death was only inevitable. But you must pull yourself together. For there is a greater task at hand. It appears, that Cyrus has somehow unleashed the power of the Dark Relic; and he has bestowed it unto his own Houndoom. You see, there are 13 different relics; one for each type. And when these relics are given to a pokémon of the same, corresponding type, it gives them an immense amount of power. So you see, this is why I ordered my asistant to bring you back. You are the only one powerful enough to defeat Cyrus now. You, Cameron, are Sinnoh's final hope."
And with that, the recording stopped. Cameron and Professor Aspen looked at eachother with astonished expressions.
Finally, Aspen said "Go. Go with Ashton to the resistance. You need to get your pokémon back from Canavale. But first, put these clothes on. It's what Rowan would have wanted."
"Right." said Cameron, starting back up the stairs.
"Cameron?" Prof. Aspen called one last time.
"Yes?"
"Kill Cyrus. For Rowan."
"With pleasure." Cameron replied grimly.
"In there." Ashton said pointing to a cavern entrance. "That's where the resistance is. We call ourselves *The Wings of Sinnoh*. Or just the *The Wings* for short."
"Alright. Let's go." Cameron said, adjusting the scarf around his neck.
They had walked through the woods for hours to get here. And now that they were there, Cameron was having second thoughts. What if they didn't like him? What if they were mad at him for leaving in the first place?
The two boys started into the tunnel. After 10 minutes of traversing the cavern, they came upon a thick steel door with a peep hatch. Ashton did a weird, secret knock on the door and the hatch opened. Someone looked through and said "Who is it?"
Ashton said "It's me! Get everyone together real fast! You'll never guess what I found!"
Cameron was nervous. *Really* nervous. They waited outside the door for another 15 minutes, and finally the door opened. And Cameron found himself in a big, open room. With hundereds and hundereds of wide eyes looking at him.
*"Gee. When Ashton said he put together a resistance, he meant it."* Cameron thought.
"Ladies and gents..." Ashton started. "I give you the true Pokémon Champion of Sinnoh!" he said nudging Cameron forward.
"Hi, everyone." Cameron stuttered.
They all stared at him for a couple moments. Then, to Cameron's suprise, they gave him a standing ovation. They clapped and cheered, and Cameron heard multiple people yell things such as "The Champion is back!" and, "It's Cameron! He's returned!"
"Alright! Alright settle down! Cameron has a few things to say to us!" Ashton yelled.
When the roar of the crowd finally died down, Ashton said "Go ahead, Cam. Give them the game plan."
Cameron stepped forward and began his speech. "Thank you all for your effort against Cyrus in my absence." he began. "I stand before you today to say that today is the day for us to act! We're going to sneak into the Canavale City warehouse, and get our pokémon back!"
The crowd gave him another ovation. And then Cameron heard someone in the crowd yell "How are we gonna do it? We're powerless without our pokémon!"
Cameron replied "The warehouse is actualy sitting on the edge of the city. We'll sneak to the back of it through the woods, and tunnle under the wall and straight into the warehouse."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Ashton said.
"We're going to have to work fast, however. And quietly. There will be guards at the front of the warehouse. When we approach the warehouse, no one, and I mean no one, will make a single sound. Now we're going to dig a single tunnel. And we will have a team of about 20 diggers. Ashton, choose your 20 strongest men. We move at dusk."
As everybody started to move around and prepare, Ashton walked over to Cameron. "Wait, we're taking everybody?" Ashton said.
"Of course." Cameron replied. "We're going to need everybody to take back Canavale city. We're going to take the Galactic battalion that's stationed there hostage."
Ashton smiled. "I like the way you think. Let's do it."
"Hey mister Champion!" Cameron heard a familiar voice shout out.
"Byron?" Cameron replied happily.
"And don't forget ol' Volkner over here!" Byron said.
"Aw it's great to see you guys!" Cameron wheezed as Byron picked him up and squeezed him with his giant arms.
"It's great to see you, too." Volkner said. "Now come on, Byron. We'll talk after the raid, Cam."
After nightfall, The Wings started trekking throught the woods as quietly as they possibly could. After they crossed the river, Cameron thought to himself *Almost there. We're gonna do it.*
They finally came to the top of the hill that Canavale rested on. And the sight before them was terrifying.
"Oh God." Ashton said under his breath. "That's a lot of grunts."
"Yeah." Cameron agreed.
There were about 200 Wings of Sinnoh. And just a little less than a thousand grunts in the city.
"There's the warehouse!" Ashton said, pointing at a large grey building on the other side of the city.
"Alright. Let's skirt the city and we'll start digging." Cameron replied.
When they got to the back of the building, the 20 man digging team started digging.
"Quiet." Cameron whispered constantly. "Keep it together."
"That's it!" One of the diggers said. "We've hit it!"
"Alright! Everyone stay here! Ashton, let's go." Cameron said to his friend.
The boys crawled into the tunnel and out into the warehouse. Cameron was astonished at the sight. There were *millions* of PokéHolders; all seemed to be sorted alphabetically by trainer's last names. Cameron ran to find his last name. "Miles".
When he finally found his spot, there was only one pokéball. "What?! There's only one here!" He yelled to Ashton.
By this time, all The Wings were pouring in through the tunnel and reuniting with their pokémon. Cameron saw Ashton giving his Floatzel a hug and the happy cries of pokémon and humans alike could be heard throughout the warehouse.
Cameron finally opened his pokéball and happily cheered "Empoleon! Oh it's so good to see you again!"
Empoleon let out a happy squak as he embraced Cameron. Then Cameron let Luxray out of his pokéball, and the three hugged eachother even more.
Finally, with tears of happiness in his eyes, Cameron yelled "Empoleon! Hydro Cannon the door!"
And Empoleon destroyed the door and while everybody else in the warehouse fell silent, Cameron, Empoleon, and Luxray charged out; letting out a battle roar.
"CHAAAAAAARGE!!" Ashton yelled after them.
"THIS IS FOR ROWAN!" Cameron shouted as Luxray unfuruled a lightning bolt at the battalion, and Empoleon used Hydro Cannon.
"Kill them all!" the commander of the battalion shouted as the raging battle ensued.
The carnage that took place was devastating. There were bolts of light as pokémon used their attacks, and people running out of the field of battle with their knocked out pokémon. Cameron stood in the middle of the field with Luxray and Empoleon, battling their hearts out. Fighting left and right as enemy Golbat, and Crobat, Purugly, and Ratticade threw different attacks at them.
"HANG IN THERE, LUXRAY! EMPOLEON! USE SURF!" Cameron shouted back and forth, fire raging in his heart as he himself was hit with numerous attacks. Then, a Hyper Fang to the leg brought him to one knee. And furiously, Cameron yelled "Empoleon! Luxray! Give 'em everything you got!" and the two pokémon let out huge Thunder's and Hydro Cannon's. Until Cameron was hit with numerous different Poison Stings. Cameron tasted blood in his mouth, and finally, everything went black. The last thing he saw was the blurred figures of Ashton, Byron, and Volkner racing towards
him.
Cameron woke up on a cot in a Pokémon Center. He heard Ashton's voice yell "Byron! Volkner! He's awake! Get over here!"
"Where am I?" Cameron asked groggily, grabbing his head.
"Aw, finally! You had us all worried, Champ!" Byron said. "You fought like a Hariyama a couple nights ago!"
"Wait, how long was I out?" Cameron pondered.
"Two days. You like our makeshift infirmary?" Ashton said.
Cameron looked around. There were Wings, Pokémon, and even Galactic personel lying on cots all over the Center.
"What did you do with the Grunts who were still healthy?" Cameron asked.
"We have them locked up in the Gym." Volkner said. "They're not going anywhere."
"Yup! We've officially set up shop! Canavale City is now the home base for The Wings of Sinnoh!" Ashton said delightedly.
Cameron smiled at them.
Then Ashton continued: "We've detained the commander of the battalion. He confirmed that the rest of the Gym Leaders are locked up somewhere outside of Veilstone; which is also where the rest of your pokémon are being held."
"Alright. Now come with me out into the court yard." Cameron said. "There's someone I'd like to talk to."
The three walked out into the courtyard of the town and Cameron stood in the middle of it.
Cameron started to yell.
"Giratina!"
Silence.
"Palkia!"
Silence.
"Dialga!"
"RRRRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAR!"
All of a sudden, a big blue portal opened opened up, and out flew The Temporal being himself: Dialga.
Dialga rested on the ground in front of Cameron and looked at him.
Everyone stared on with wide eyes; astonished by the appearance of the time traveler.
"Where have you been?!" Cameron yelled at him.
Dialga replied telepathicaly for all to hear, "Forgive me, my friend. I have been in hiding. For you see, my brothers of Space and Darkness have been corrupted by the evil that you call Cyrus. Not even the great waves of time are safe anymore."
"How can Giratina and Palkia be corrupted?!" Cameron asked Dialga franticaly.
"Cyrus has defiled the power of the Dark Relic. Not even I am powerful enough to stop him, now." Dialga said.
"What about Arceus? What does he have to say?"
"It would seem that he is corrupt as well."
"Well then," Cameron started, turning to Ashton, Byron and Volkner, "I guess we're going to need all the help we can get, then. Our next move is to get those Gym Leaders back, along with the rest of my pokémon. Byron!"
"Yes?" Byron replied.
"Bring me one of those Grunts." Cameron said.
"Sure thing." Byron said.
Byron brought over one of the Grunts from The Wings' makeshift prison.
"Look," Cameron began, pointing at him with the arm that wasn't in a sling. "You go back to Cyrus and tell him about our little opperation here and about our hostages. Oh, and if he sends any reinforcements, we will kill *all* of these hostages. Right? Ok let him go, Byron."
Byron released the Grunt, and he took off running out of town.
"Strap yourselves in, boys." Cameron said. "This war's just begun."
Fire can heal, fire can destroy, fire is in all our souls.
It all just depends on what you choose to do with it.