We took a boat to Coumarine City, and that's where we traced our way into trouble.
The trip there, however short, turned out to be extremely enjoyable – the sea breeze inspiring only smiles as the soft waves rocked our way through the foam; the collective gasps as shoals of Pokémon passed us by, skipping out of the water and dancing in the air before us; and the sweet sky blending with the ocean and stretching infinitely ahead in different hues of blue, all of it taking turns in mesmerizing us as the sun rolled high above. No one in that boat cared that I won the ring instead of Calem, no one eyed me like I didn't deserve it, or like he deserved it better... Heck, it seems no one even knew those insecurities were there.
And they were just starting to ease – the insecurities – Slowly starting to relax themselves upon the soothing net of safety, allowing me to enjoy the ride.
I felt my feet firm on a ground that no longer wandered away, especially after winning my forth badge from Ramos, Coumarine's gym leader and his plant-type Pokémon. The battle was easy – Charmeleon was my key ally there. By the end of it, when a sturdy Gogoat couldn't take no more, Charmeleon's body emitted a warm glow, and thus he evolved into Charizard. My first thought upon beholding what that little frightened Charmender turned into was that the exterior finally matched the interior: Charizard was now a big, sullen, angry-looking beast, who still enjoyed the occasional pat on the head, and though he seemed quieter than ever, his eyes seemed to shine every time I talked to him, as if he really liked to listen!
Calem's reassurance was right there again – his hand weighing on my shoulder, cheering me on with a mild smile... And gently pulling me behind so he would have his own chance. With Pokéball in hand and a grin on his face, Calem looked confidently amused as he challenged Ramos.
...Confident or not, however, he didn't get to finish the battle – an overly-excited Shauna climbed all the way to our position, followed by the gatekeeper - who had been trying to stop her but failed horribly in so much as reaching her. She was frantic: An operator had stumbled against them outside, and collapsed after a choked request for help. He faintly explained he had been held hostage inside the Power Plant, along with all the rest of the staff there, and through a hard struggle managed to escape the low-based claws of no one other than Team Flare.
Calem looked at me, alarmed.
"Wasn't there a report on Lumiose town running out of power last night?"
"Precisely last night..." I reasoned, putting things together.
"Let's go, neighbor!!" He pulled me urgently.
Calem's courage dragged mine right out of that gym, with not even time for considering anything else – like the fact that I had promised the Professor I wouldn't go near Team Flare.
Before I knew it, I was there – we had run the entire way –, a vast desert land with the sand rising overhead when an occasional wind flew by. That was, as a matter of fact, the only thing we could hear: the wind.
"It's awfully quiet here..." Calem whispered.
I placed my hands on my knees, catching my breath.
"There's the entrance..." he pointed, and we followed carefully.
The door clicked open without any struggle – which was odd, for it had an electronic lock.
"No signs of a forced entry... But the lock has been deactivated!" He commented.
"Maybe they're gone?!" I speculated as we went inside – the door automatically locked behind us, and we were left in the dark. And though it was too dark to see, my ears led me to the same theory as, again, nothing could be heard anywhere around us.
"Already gone?" Calem almost sounded disappointed "In that case, we should look for the staff..." He pursued, assuming his brave steps forward into the darkness. "Maybe they're still in trouble..."
"Don't go looking too far for trouble, kid... Trouble has found you!" someone laughed wickedly.
Before us, turning the corner of the dark corridors, appeared two slightly bright figures. I could recognize the overwhelming red attire even buried in such darkness.
"It's them! Team Flare!!" Calem nervously observed, spacing his legs into a fighting stance.
"We meet again, kid!" a woman grinned. "How's that kitty cat of yours?"
"Fine!!" he gnarled, reaching out for a pokeball "And he won't lose this time! Go, Meowstic!"
I called out Charizard – The flame on his tail served as a decent illumination, and we became aware of the five or six grunts grouped up before us, blocking the end of the corridor.
"We can't do it!" I adverted him.
"Yes... Yes we can!" Calem screamed, grinding his teeth. I failed to express my apprehension through anger like he did...
The grunts up front smiled all too confident, and sent forward their own balls, now a small army waiting in front of us. Charizard energetically flapped his wings, huffed and scoffed, and charged forward like a raging bull. A loud Mightyena confronted him, and thus the battle had started!
Twenty minutes past saw the door through which we entered fly open, falling flat on the ground with a loud metallic echo. Calem rolled with Meowstic and Quilladin landing on top of him. Charizard and I slid back on the grained soil, resisting the attack – his body serving me as a shield and his large wings inevitably pushing me back. I fell behind him, and he stomped his feet on the ground and roared, intimidating the enemy that had just thrown us out.
My Fletchinder and Chasm were out cold; Calem's party couldn't endure much more than what they already had – twenty of Team Flare's Pokémon were down, it's true... but there was probably still twenty more to go! Half of our team was in the box, where we had left them for the Gym Battle, while theirs seemed to never end!
Calem and I picked ourselves up – I was dirty from the sand, he was bruised and scraped. He called out Absol, I ordered Charizard a Flame Burst. Absol ran swiftly ahead – his moves almost invisible as they hit the enemy. Charizard stomped forward savagely... But stopped halfway!
"Charizard?!"
He looked back at me – the rage was still there... He still panted with the heat of battle, his muscles still visibly twitching to charge ahead and take down as many as he could on his way... but the attack wasn't coming!
"Charizard, use Flame Burst!!"
Again, nothing. He faced the crowd of Grunts and frowned at their collective laugh as they mocked our attempt.
"What are you doing?!!" I desperately demanded, feeling the loudness of my voice scratch its way up my throat, making it burn.
"That's a good boy!" A male voice silenced mine, and the crowd of grunts opened up for two distinct people wearing white. A bald man held his hand open in our direction, as if he was controlling Charizard, and he smiled confidently.
"Charizard, go! Get them!!" I urged, but he dared take no action against that man... or any other grunt now!
The other person in white juggled with her pokeball...
"Hey, what's wrong?!!" I yelled. Charizard's facial muscles curled up in rage.
"I don't know what's with him, but take him away!" Calem grunted, picking himself up as much as he could.
"But..."
Before I could finish, two Mightyenas jumped on Charizard, cowardly biting him. He paced backwards producing a hurtful cry.
"Charizard!!!"
He endured it for a while, then threw them off by swinging his tail at them – it didn't look like an attack at all though... It looked like a cornered pray who had given up!
Before he could fully recover his stand after that attack, a Manectric hit him with a thunder wave.
"Take him away before they finish him!!" Calem screamed to me, and looked back at the two Flare admins standing before us – one let out a menacing Houndoom, the other a Toxicroak.
"I can't leave you behind... You have to come, too!"
"I'll stall them..." he groaned, sweat clearly running down his forehead. Absol returned to his position in front of him for a new tactic. "You go and bring help... We have to stop them right here!!"
I observed his position, his usual determination, only not so fearless now: fear was clearly there, but he chose to ignore it. I had to honor his effort – there was no time for long farewells.
"A-Alright!" I nodded, calling Charizard back and turning to run.
"But you're not going anywhere!!" Two grunts ran ahead, surrounding me and blocking my way back to the city.
One of them jumped on me, stretching his arm and seizing the air as I slip under it – I ran towards any random direction and they started chasing me. I eventually tripped on the dry sand – my bag fell open on the ground and half of my stuff rolled out. I stretched my arm to hold my pokenav... and the grunt was there in time to step on it before I could reach it. I picked myself up quickly and resumed my running.
Even though they were so close, they at length stopped. That's because I ran towards the towers in the center of the power plant... They stopped, crossed their arms and laughed without worry as they watched me grow distant, probably challenging me to get anywhere in that stormy desert which I now penetrated without a choice.
I had a faint idea of where Lumiose was from the power plant, and, after admitting I was lost, I decided that following east was my best shot at getting somewhere.
About four miles and a sweaty, scorching hour later, I had arrived in the city of light... Only it was not so bright anymore: The streets, surrounded by tall buildings, were apocalyptically dark – dark as if it was night in my hometown, dark as they would never be, at any given hour, in Lumiose.
The blazing tower in the center offered no hint of illumination to make my way through parallel streets any easier. To top that, everyone seemed to have gone elsewhere: no tourists, no officials, no customers and no store door open, not a living soul anywhere I could see! The barking Furfrous and roaring car engines had been silenced, effectively replaced by the single echo of my shoes upon the damp concrete.
I turned into some alleyways, looking for both someone (anyone!) or the Pokécenter, whichever came first. I had a blind hope, like the one children have, that the center could never close, even without energy... It was certainly fed by power generators, or some other emergency means so that the Pokémon staying there would not be left without medical care... but then again, how extensive could the damage be, when Team Flare had taken over the power plant? How long could those generators last? What If they had decided to evacuate the city? That would explain my lack of fortune in finding someone, and they would have had more than enough time to decide and execute a plan on that, considering the problem started last night!
I was beginning to lose hope, beginning to realize how really lost I was inside that giant, dark and empty Lumiose, turning corners into streets that seemed identical to the previous ones and being tricked by my own noises into thinking there was someone else close by; when, running into a dark brick wall in a dead-end-alley and stopping to pant and contemplate my despair, I heard the one voice that resounded both in nightmares and pleasant dreams; to which, for better or for worse, my chest always responded the same way: cracking and skipping a beat!
"Anne? What are you doing here?!"
I turned around and saw Professor Sycamore standing out in the lone street, holding two heavy and full paper bags between his arms. He looked different without the white lab coat, sporting instead an elegant black overall with big square lapels.
At first, facing his furrowed brow, the inquisition tensing his facial muscles into an almost angry expression, I fought the urge to say 'nothing!' and beg my leave. When that had been struggled with, I still felt myself divided between happy and otherwise: He was there, and that was necessarily what I had asked for: someone, anyone. But of all the people, did "anyone" have to be him?
"Won't you tell me, dear?!" He anxiously pursued as, apparently, I took longer in my hesitation than it seemed to me, and probably looked too perplex as well.
"It's Calem" I began with a sigh, turning away from the wall and walking towards him "No – It's Team Flare, actually!" I bravely added. "They have him cornered. He'll never make it on his own... The only way is for us to get back and..."
"Hey, Hey! Calm down now! You are breathing too heavily, dear, and I'm afraid you might faint..." His hands were on me before I could process his closeness – they were all over me, pulling back my hair, moving my chin, holding my shoulders... I wondered if I was being subject to a quick examination. "Now, I'm sure he'll find a way, brave boy as he is, so you should..."
"He won't!" I screamed, agitatedly jumping away from his hands "They're too many! They're at the Power Plant, and we..."
"The Power Plant?" He emphatically pursued "What on earth were you children doing there?"
"We..." my passion subsided a little, washed by cowardice "we heard that Team Flare was there and..." I wasn't even interrupted: the words just died on their own.
"And you decided to disobey me, of course! Dear God..." he mused, somewhat angrily, placing his finger under his chin. "I'm sure Tierno and the others..."
"They're not there..." I clarified holding down my head "we went... on our own..." my shoulders grew stiffer during the confession.
"Is that the case?" He sighed heavily "Let me think, then..."
I watched uncomfortably as he placed his fingers on his temples, as if he had a pain, and thought quietly to himself with an impatient expression.
"Well..." He let out a more friendly sigh "You found me, that has to count for something! Better than running into one more of those... barbarians" he waved his hand in the air expressing aversion.
"Yes – so we can..." I recovered my lost passion, remembering the urgency of Calem's matter in the hope of getting help.
"We can do nothing right now, dear; Not from here!" Sycamore quickly interrupted me, then smiled "...But I happen to live close by, see?" And his eyes pointed towards the bags on his hands "Come with me, will you? Once there, we can call someone..."
"Thank you!" I gasped, following him as he immediately resumed his walk "Thank you, Professor!" I repeated in great relief.
"It's nothing!" He moved his head lightly to the side so I could see the sheen in his eyes, then moved it away too quickly for me to interpret it.