At the end of the Torterra compartment is a large door, an exit to this morbid vicinity. I took some pictures of the place, perhaps our professor will be able to identify the owners or the company responsible for taking care of this. Since we have the serums already, our purpose here is done and we could finally return or so we thought.
As we walked to the exit, we heard footsteps not matching to our very own. They sounded like people running around the halls. That is when me and Zeal made a conclusion we are not alone inside. For safety measures we held our Pokeball, ready to throw out our Pokemon in case of a touch and go situation.
"Hey!" shouted two trainers from behind.
We tilted to our rearview, seeing two boys somehow as tall as us. One of them had a white hat, and the other wore a formal polo and pants, looking more like a professional trainer with green hair. Just by their looks, one is timid while the other is confident to play with Team Rocket.
"You again?!" Zeal yelled back in a raving manner.
"Wait, you know them?"
"Yeah, the one with a white hat is Brendan. I met him in Littleroot during my solo mission- never expected he'll become a trainer." replied, Zeal.
"Team Rocket? I never heard of that name before." Wally mumbled with timidity.
"They are a criminal organization, famous for stealing Pokemon, especially the legendary ones." Brendan elucidated.
"A criminal organization? Show some respect. Your region is bountiful with two childish organization who didn't go to school and now plan to ruin the world with the use of two ferocious deities." I mocked back.
"As trainers, it is our duty to stop every organization, and that includes Team Rocket." Wally's timidity turned into severity.
"The future is now thanks to us and no one will trample on our path to success!" Zeal quarreled as she tossed out a smoke grenade. The compartment filled in with black granite-smelling smoke and we used it as our opportunity to exit the laboratory and run deeper to the woodlands while I contact Xeryll.
We hastened our pace, skimming through every stone and tall grass yet the trainers were able to catch up despite the smoke. It was a tiring chase indeed and they completely blocked me from having an opportunity to call Xeryll since I was running and didn't have the time to halt.
"Have I ever told you I'm asthmatic?"
"What the? You just told me now? Well, forget that we have enough supplies to aid you once we return."
"..." I became speechless by her words and decided to gallop like stallions instead. I knew it was coming since I could feel my lungs getting heavy.
The two trainers from behind sent out their Pokemon, one was a two-legged plant and the other was more like a blue crab. Grovyle and Marshtomp used two attacks heading towards us but missed and accidentally hit the ground as well. That razor leaf was so immense and that earthquake move was extreme.
All of a sudden the four of us were shocked so we halted for a moment. That crust began to crack and the land began to shift. It was an earthquake with a magnitude of seven point three according to Zeal's seismograph. The magnitude scale of the move compared to the actual scenario is different and is more powerful than the move.
Suddenly, the trees were uprooted, and in front of our eyes, everything was moving in unexpected directions. Some landmass moved up while others sank to the ground. The whole battle stopped as the four of us thought of a way to protect ourselves.
The earthquake is like no other. It is as if the world was being sucked into a black hole because of how the land drastically rose while others sank. We are far from the city so perhaps that means they are doing alright. However, for us, things are quite worsening as the magnitude kept increasing.
"What did you do Marshtomp?!" queried Wally.
"We're on top of a Torterra." Zeal mumbled.
"A Torterra?! So this is what Gigantamax is?!"
"No... Torterra does not have any Gigantamax form. This is their experiment, manipulating Pokemon deoxyribonucleic acid for the purpose of manual Dynamax without the need for "power spots." I'm not of Galar and I do not know anything further from this. This is the Torterra Garden." replied, Zeal.
"I guess Dynamax and Gigantamax are two different things."
We looked over to the other horizon, seeing the other Torterras moving. It must be because of that powerful earthquake move that awakened them from their slumber. They were surprised thus they decided to stand. After a minute, the Pokemon were calmed and they decided to rest and return to their forty winks.
When everything was subtle like before we looked behind and saw not a single trainer chasing us. We must've lost them during the time we ran away to look for a safe spot.
"Glad that is over." Zeal sighed with relief, lying down to the ground and staring at the skies above. I did the same, but I noticed I was breathing more difficult than usual.
"C-can you contact Xeryll?" I asked for a favor while breathing heavily.
"Are you alright? You-"
"I told you already. Just call her please." I begged.
Upon grabbing the phone from her pocket, the patch of land she was lying on began to crack and hence she fell off the cliff. I was dumbfounded by this unexpected incident, even trying to grab her hand but my heavy breath held me back. I crawled my way through and stared down to see if she was alright.
I couldn't see anyone below. Abruptly, I heard wings flapping as a Charizard arose. It glided through the sky and back to the ground beside me. On its back is Zeal, safe and sound as I sighed with relief.
"Zeal, are you alright?" I queried.
"Yes. Never knew Charizard went out of its Pokeball in purpose just to save me." She said while tickling the chin of her Pokemon. Quickly, Charizard tilted its head to the side with its claws hugging its torso. Her trainer added with a bit of cackle, "It looks like you love me after all."
And at the end of the day, we were able to call Xeryll and she was able to arrive in time before my difficulty in breathing worsened. Back at headquarters, we told the news to Professor Olive privately. Every single information we know about the "Dynamax" phenomenon, we told it to her including the incident about the Torterras in which only me and Zeal know about.
Sadly, the professor did not have any clue about the phenomenon but has promised us she will be responsible for searching more about it, that is if, she has the time. She still has the serums to study about. The rest of the information about the trainers, we kept it to ourselves in order not to cause panic like what Red and Ethan did. We only have one main headquarters so our location won't be known just by looking at the open sea.