Our search proceeded for a few more hours. We did not meet anybody else throughout the entire duration. We did take short breaks in between every now and then, mainly because it was getting harder for me to properly breathe the deeper we go and I had to rely on the oxygen mask function of my combat suit to carry on. I needed time for my body to acclimatise to the harsh conditions of the underground, but I also cannot spare too much time to do so because there were lives to be saved.
'I think this is the deepest floor.'
"I think so too," I spoke back in a soft voice. We encountered lesser and lesser wild pokemon as we headed deeper but there's no telling whether any pokemon made their homes here so deep underground and if so, what kinds of pokemon they were. I would prefer not attracting their attention to us as much as possible.
"Found anyone?" I asked Rena, who merely shook her head. The heavy miasma of ghost and dark type energies made it hard for Rena to sense anything around us unless it's in close proximity or harbour very negative thoughts at us. There's a limit to what she can do here.
Dolly suddenly pulled at my arm excitedly and pointed in a specific direction.
"You found them?" I asked, and Dolly immediately nodded a few times in excitement, taking care not to make too much noise lest we gave our presence away. Under Dolly's lead, we soon found the people we were looking for, the seven Plasmas and four nosy reporters.
They still hadn't detected us yet.
From where we were observing them behind a wall hidden by the dark we could finally spot the hostages we were here for, looking very subdued and in fear. The Plasmas were visibly nervous too for having ventured far deeper than they planned. I'd imagined that they had encountered their fair share of wild pokemon, traps, and close calls on their way here as well. Personally, I felt that it's a miracle that all eleven of them made it so far down without any visible injuries or anyone dying because judging from the pokemon I spotted the Plasmas had released to accompany them, none of the Plasmas or their pokemon looked particularly skilled or strong.
Can we take them on alone?
'Rena, how many pokeballs did you spot?'
'I think each of them has a minimum of four. They don't look or feel particularly strong to me, but enough to give us trouble in this dangerous place.'
Right, we need to come up with a plan. The only advantage we have now is the element of surprise. Preferably, we could come up with a plan where the Plasmas would not be able to access their pokeballs at all the moment we spring our ambush. Joy's Gravity would come in handy here. When used properly, it will have them pinned to the floor and unable to even move a single finger, much less release their pokemon from their pokeballs.
I had Rena linked me up telepathically to the other pokemon that were currently beside me, also hiding and staying silent in order not to warn the Plasmas of our presence.
'Okay, here's what we are going to do-'
My train of thought was broken when we all heard a very soft shuffling noise from an unknown source. We slowly turned our heads around, spotting a snout poking out of the ground behind us, the nose of this unknown creature taking a few sniffs of the air before burrowing half of its body out of the ground. A sandslash stared at me in visible shock, slowly blinking its large black eyes at me. It clearly wasn't expecting anyone to be here so deep underground.
Drats, this is the worst thing to happen now of all times. Hopefully, the sound of sandslash burrowing out of the ground hadn't alerted the Team Plasma members nearby.
I slowly raised a finger to place it in front of my lips in a universal gesture of silence, hoping and mentally begging that the sandslash would understand. The Relic Castle had been buried and closed off from the world for more than two thousand years, I wouldn't be surprised if the wild pokemon here had never met a human being before, which might explain why the sandslash was staring at me so curiously.
The sandslash continued to stare at me as we stared at it back in return. The sandslash was barely a threat to our eyes, but it would be very problematic if it did something to alert everyone of our presence because the element of surprise was the only thing we can leverage on to raise the success rate of the rescue.
Please just go away quietly please just go away quietly-
The sandslash looked at my pokemon, then back at me, then back at my pokemon. For a moment I thought I successfully conveyed my silent message to it and it would simply lose interest in us and go away quietly. However, I knew things would go south when it suddenly curled up in a ball of spikes and bodily launched itself at us.
Fine, I was hoping for too much.
Lily easily smacked the sandslash away and it immediately scurried away in fear after realising the difference in power between Lily and it, but the resulting din had alerted everyone to our presence. Those few seconds were enough to get the Plasma grunts to release their pokemon.
Just my luck.
"Joy, Gravity!"
I released Joy and Archer immediately. Joy unleashed a Gravity upon my instruction but that was easily countered with a Bullet Punch from a toxicroak, interrupting Joy from casting the move with immediate effect. The Plasma did not choose to stay to battle, but rather immediately dragged their captives along with them into the deeper parts of the castle while leaving a few pokemon behind to stall us for time.
Cowards.
"Archer!"
Archer easily defeated a few pokemon left behind by those Plasmas as Lily took care of the rest, sucking them dry with Giga Drain. Even so, those Plasma grunts did succeed in delaying us long enough for us to lose sight of them.
As for me, I was disgusted by how they just left their pokemon behind to their fates while they made their escape. Weren't they pokemon activists that championed for pokemon rights, huh? Weren't they planning to execute their plan of liberating all pokemon in order to build an utopia for them? Yet, they abandon their pokemon at the first sight of danger? And they call themselves pokemon activists?
Wow, I'd never seen anything more hypocritical in my life.
Despite my inner disgust I cannot do anything for these unfortunate pokemon we defeated because my task was to rescue the hostages. I cannot spare any time for them because I simply cannot risk it. The hostages' lives were in danger and heaven knows what other things lurk at the depths of the Relic Castle.
So, we pushed forward.
Barely a minute had passed in our pursuit when we suddenly heard screams. A very bad premonition filled my body the moment I heard it.
"This way!"
We hurried and followed the sound of those screams. We soon found a long corridor and at the other end of it, I spotted white hot flames being spewed in the room at the other end of the corridor where the exit was.
There they are.
We quickly traversed the long corridor and found ourselves in a very huge room that was at least two to three stories high in height. To be more accurate, it would be more fitting to describe this place as a huge hall rather than a room. The Team Plasma members and the reporters were huddled together in fright, with the Plasmas frantically commanding a handful of pokemon to fight against one of the most gigantic pokemon I ever saw for its species.
My eyes widened and my heart dropped. This species of pokemon is known for its rarity and famed for its strength. Champion Alder has one of these monsters and it is the cornerstone of his team. Even Kratos had lost to one of these before in our Ever Grande conference despite the superior type advantage he held over it.
Volcarona
At that moment I finally understood what the murals I saw depicted, what the ancient civilisation really worshipped thousands of years ago and the true identity of their "sun" which they revered as their deity. The volcarona in front of me was definitely the largest volcarona I'd ever seen with my own eyes or read about in books, easily many times the average size of its species, so much that I would wholeheartedly believe if anybody told me that this overgrown moth had been here for centuries. Its flames were so hot, so intense, that even at this distance I could feel the scorching blistering heat licking at my skin. The light from its flames lit up the huge room like a sun within the dark room. The power I could feel emanating from it in its rage felt very suffocating, the feeling of fear it pressed upon us was very much like how I felt when I saw Kanto's Legendary Birds making their appearance at Olivine for the very first time.
The foreboding sense of doom.
I was rudely snapped back into reality when the volcarona easily defeated the Plasmas' pokemon with a huge wave of flames, causing the Plasmas and the hostages to let out fearful screams. Now, there's nothing left between them and the enraged volcarona.
I have to do something. We need to do something before the volcarona burns everyone to ashes.
I released my entire team without hesitation.
"Stop the volcarona!"
My plan was simple. We just have to attract the volcarona's attention, lure it away from the Plasmas and more importantly, the hostages, and then quickly Shadow Sneak everyone out of here when the volcarona least expected it. Simple and to the point, almost foolproof even. The volcarona may be strong but my ghosts have a full bag of tricks waiting to be pulled.
Looking back, I had naively underestimated just how absurdly powerful pokemon can be.
I had my rude awakening when a simple flap of the volcarona's wings was enough to send my entire team flying backwards. That caught us all by surprise, including the stronger members of my team given how shocked they were by this incredible display of power by the wild volcarona. The overgrown moth did not give us a chance to catch a break, however, as another huge wall of flames was already threatening to swallow us whole.
"Bigblue, Protect!"
Bigblue casted a huge defensive wall of Protect upon my command and even then we were really cutting it close. Volcarona's attacks were swift, brutal, powerful, and ruthless. Even if we had only briefly exchanged blows for a few seconds I could already tell that just a moment's hesitation will cost us not only this battle, but most likely our lives too.
This is no time to hesitate.
"Dolly, Wacky, Curse! Kratos, Lily, Snap, trap it in stone!"
Numerous stone pillars burst forth to entrap volcarona, violently crashing against it and interlocking with each other to create an elaborate prison of stone. My ghosts manipulated the surrounding shadows and let it rise as I mentally instructed them to through my ability. Right now, our positions were such that the volcarona was physically in between us and the Plasmas and civilians. I have to get around the volcarona to reach them and subsequently make our quick getaway. Now is the perfect time to sneak everyone out of here while the volcarona's momentarily immobilised, even if it's only for a few seconds.
I was proven wrong once again. I had no idea what happened or how volcarona had done it, all I knew was that we were suddenly sent flying away by a powerful gust of wind and I would have crashed painfully into the wall if it wasn't for Hulk safely catching me in his arms.
What is wrong with this volcarona?
Whatever it just did, it was probably a Bug Buzz or a Gust, but what made the situation immediately go downhill for us was what turned out from that attack.
My entire team had been forcefully scattered by that unexpected attack. We cannot properly coordinate with each other like this so I gave Dolly, who was keeping close beside me the entire time, another separate set of instructions.
"Shadow Sneak again, get the hostages out of here- ah!"
Dolly manipulated the shadows once more with a ghastly shriek and this time I managed to catch a glimpse of what happened. Once again, volcarona was somehow able to sense and disrupt Shadow Sneak right away, just right before the move could take effect and we can shift our positions. No matter how many times we tried Shadow Sneak just doesn't work as intended because volcarona would never fail to disrupt it. I don't know how the volcarona managed it and there's no time to figure out the how and why. In the first place, there's very little the world knows about this particular species of pokemon due to how incredibly rare it is.
All I needed to know was that in front of this volcarona, one of my most valuable and relied upon escape options was no longer viable. This is bad news.
"Joy, try Teleport!"
Mum had Holly teach Joy how to learn and use Teleport right before we embarked for Indigo to join the interpol, but Joy had never been really that good with Teleport as she is not a psychic type to begin with and she's still really young to be really be using such a delicate move without reservation. Teleport requires the user to have a lot of refinement and control over psychic energy, something that Joy had not quite yet mastered. However, Teleport is the next best escape option we have now that Shadow Sneak has been rendered useless. We have to try something or we will all be burnt to cinders.
I saw Joy trying to cast Teleport, but no matter how she tried we never felt the signature displacement of space that shifted us through the fabric of space. Joy kept waving her arms, getting more and more frantic with each passing second that Teleport didn't manifest.
"Forget it Joy, it's not your fault," I quickly told her as Hulk carried me away, constantly leaping off from wall to wall to avoid volcarona's indiscriminate attacks. We knew from the start that this place was heavily shrouded with ghost and dark type energy, I shouldn't have expected Teleport to work here, much less from an inexperienced user like Joy.
The rest of the team were trying to run circles around the volcarona, taking turns to try and attract its attention so that a separate group could sneak in a potshot from a different direction and hopefully hit its blindspot. It was when Wacky managed to smash a huge Shadow Ball right in volcarona's face that I started to notice that something's amiss.
That volcarona seemed to be aware of everything that's happening around it and react almost instantly. Be it when Dolly was trying to use Shadow Sneak, where each and every of my pokemon was at, when attacks were being fired at its blind spot, and so on. Ever since the start of this battle the volcarona had managed to defend and attack with precise ease and return fire with greater power. It's like it had an extra sixth sense to help it keep track of everything going on around it.
If that's the case, why hadn't it sensed Wacky until he smacked a Shadow Ball in its face? Wacky wasn't hiding his presence, he was just floating right in front of the volcarona but yet it didn't seem that the volcarona knew he was there until the Shadow Ball hit it.
Unless… it couldn't see? Or maybe it just naturally had poor eyesight?
That might make sense. This ruin had been here for approximately 2,500 years. Assuming that the volcarona was born here and had lived here its entire life I doubt it ever had the chance to go to the surface and see the sun. The only source of light it knew was the lights of its own flames but it couldn't be setting itself alight all the time. If so, it's very accustomed to moving around and fighting in the dark. I wouldn't be surprised if it's true that living in the dark for its entire life had deteriorated its eyesight such that its eyes were merely decorative organs at this point.
There are pokemon like that as far as I'm aware. The first other pokemon that came to mind which was also known to live and move around in the dark was the zubat species. At that stage of their lives they don't have eyes at all and rely on echolocation to map out their surroundings. They are extremely sensitive to sound.
I have no idea if volcarona relies on echolocation or other unknown means to sense its surroundings, but at least now I have something to work with. I have to test my hypothesis. I need to know what it can and cannot sense, I need to know what it's sensitive to and what it's not.
'Rena, get Fuzzy to use Flash right behind volcarona and then immediately escape with Double Team.'
Fuzzy happened to be somewhere right behind volcarona at that moment, so upon receiving my instruction through Rena's telepathy he immediately lit himself up in a bright flash of light. The volcarona reacted and lashed out towards the source of light immediately, but Fuzzy had already moved out of harm's way with Double Team like I had told him to.
"Hulk, make a very loud noise now, be prepared to dodge immediately."
Hulk immediately stomped his foot down on the ground in a deafening crash. My eyes couldn't keep up with the action but Hulk had been carrying me the entire time. All I knew was that when my eyes and mind finally caught up with what really happened when everything was moving in a rapid blur, Hulk had moved far away from our previous position. Right where we stood was a smoking crater of molten granite. Volcarona's flames had proved itself hot enough to even be able to melt stones.
"The volcarona's very sensitive to light and sound! Just keep quiet and don't move!"
I shouted that out loud not for my team's benefit, but for the Plasmas and hostages trapped at the other end of the room with no way out. Hopefully, this could allow them to receive the information that my pokemon and I had risked our lives to obtain so that they could hopefully preserve theirs. Volcarona's attacks were fired in my direction right after my words left my mouth after hearing my voice reverberating across the empty room but Hulk had the foresight to cast a Substitute to save ourselves. Our findings didn't fully explain how volcarona sensed its surroundings nor how it could interrupt Dolly's Shadow Sneak before we could move ourselves with it, but now we had a better idea of how to deal with our foe.
Volcarona reacts instantly to any source of bright flashes of light or sudden spikes in noise level, so we need to minimise the light and noise we emit. Heavy pokemon like Kratos would immediately be detected and I'd bet even wingbeats from Snap and Toothless could be easily sensed by the volcarona. In that case, the only types of pokemon who I knew are capable of not making a single sound and do not need to rely on their sense of sight to move about in the dark are my ghosts.
It's going to be risky, but it might just work. Even with my entire team at fullpower we were still hopelessly outclassed so we need a change of plans soon. I need to find a way to grasp for a chance of survival for us.
Dolly, carry me
I recalled every single pokemon except for my ghost types right after I gave that mental command, knowing that Dolly will somehow receive my command through my ability. Dolly wrapped her short arms around my waist and easily lifted me right after Hulk disappeared back into his pokeball, hovering silently in the air.
My gamble paid off because the volcarona looked very lost the moment my pokemon were recalled, continuously turning its head from left to right as if trying to search for us when Dolly and I were simply silently floating in front of it within its line of sight. I was right, the volcarona's eyes had to be blind or nearly blind. Whether this was because it is a trait of its species or whether its eyesight had severely deteriorated for living in such a dark place for all its life remained to be seen, but at least now I'm sure that this volcarona has very poor eyesight. The only thing of note regarding its sense of sight is that the volcarona had proven to be extremely sensitive to bright flashes of light when Fuzzy had used Flash behind its back earlier.
Dolly and Wacky are dark coloured. The volcarona wouldn't be catching a glimpse of them in this dark room with how well they blend into the darkness.
Slowly, move towards the hostages
I knew my thoughts had somehow reached Dolly when she slowly floated us towards the other end of the room quietly, cautiously circling around the volcarona and taking great care not to make a single decibel of noise. Volcarona had proved to be capable of locating us whenever we used Shadow Sneak, so maybe I would have to let Wacky slowly levitate the guys at the other end of the room with Psychic once we reach them and then somehow float ourselves out of this room silently. The entrance which we used to enter the room earlier had already collapsed due to the collateral damage from our brief battle. I would have to find another way out of here but it's currently so dark that I could barely see anything a metre beyond me.
Volcarona had ceased burning once it felt our disappearance, although it's still keeping a cautious watch and slowly flying from corner to corner of the room as if trying to physically search for us through the sense of touch. I'm entirely relying on Dolly and Wacky to ensure that we remain undetected. The other wild ghosts within my shadow wouldn't cut it because they are definitely not as capable to be able to move as silently as they could. I'm sure volcarona would sense them the moment they appeared and we would be screwed, and I think that was something the ghosts instinctively understood as well seeing as how they had never appeared to help in an unspoken show of teamwork and understanding.
It may be dark and I could barely see a thing, but I could feel the volcarona slowly moving around the room. I didn't even dare to breathe or open my mouth, slowly forcing my breaths to be slow and quiet despite how my heart was hammering away within my chest. If it's possible I would even choose to shut my sweat glands entirely because I wouldn't be surprised if the volcarona could somehow hear me if even a drop of my sweat were to drip onto the floor below.
It was a very tense period of silence and I was almost convinced that the volcarona had given up in its search. Once again, this volcarona just loves to prove me wrong.
The first warning that something huge was coming was when I saw the faint shadowy outline of its wings starting to flap in a bigger motion within the darkness. The second warning was when the room started to get brighter at an alarming rate, the source of light being volcarona itself as it began to burn itself up once again. All of it happened within a split second, far too fast for me to give any verbal commands whatsoever.
I recognised the signs of a Heat Wave about to be casted. This time, the flames are going to be far hotter, greater, and more powerful than the volcarona had unleashed earlier. That, I am certain.
Torrents of flames burst out from the volcarona, the ridiculously overpowered moth indiscriminately unleashing its flames in all directions. It seemed that it knew that we had to be here in the room somewhere but had given up on trying to search for us. However, it didn't need to do that when it could simply torch the entire room and force us out of hiding.
The flames rushed at us, arriving just right in front of our faces in the blink of an eye. I didn't have time to think, I simply commanded Dolly to do the very first thing that came to my mind.
Phantom Force!
I could feel the white hot flames trying to lick at my face just centimetres away and I'd thought that we were too slow, that we really were about to die a painful death by the hands of the volcarona.
Then, the world muted itself.
88
That was a very close call.
Even in the muted world of Phantom Force, safe from the wrath of the angry volcarona, Dolly could not help but shudder everytime she imagined what would have happened to them if she were a little slower in invoking this move.
Really, who would have expected that such a monster would be residing in the depths of this deserted place?
Phantom Force had been a move that she had been diligently practising ever since Looker had demonstrated to them the practical usages of this move. As a banette, she had no need for rest or sleep thanks to her Insomnia ability and it is an aspect of her that she exploited to great effect whenever she set her mind on a goal. Every single night, without fail, she had been continuously honing her mastery over both Shadow Sneak and Phantom Force when everyone else was asleep. She's glad that her hard work had paid off because if she were a little slower, Velda might…
She really doesn't want to dwell on that.
Even as a ghost herself Dolly had no idea just what kind of world she entered whenever she invoked Phantom Force. She's never the type to ponder over such matters. All she knew was that in this muted world, the inhabitants here can observe the world outside without being detected. This muted world would eventually eject any and all inhabitants and only ghosts can safely stay here for prolonged periods of time. The length of the duration of the stay here can be prolonged depending on the user's mastery over Phantom Force, but that's really about all there is to know about this strange place.
Currently, it's getting gradually taxing for her to prolong the duration of their stay here in this muted world. From within this separate plane they could see that the volcarona was still searching for them out there in the plane of reality that they originated from, although it seems that the volcarona was steadily being convinced that they might have already been burnt to ashes since it still couldn't find neither hide nor hair of them. Dolly had already shifted their physical location to a small hidden room that revealed itself when the wall of the large hall where they were fighting earlier cracked a little. Like this, even if they were ejected from the muted world eventually, the chances of them being detected by the volcarona would be reduced to the minimum.
Dolly glanced back at Velda as worry continued to weigh on her mind. It's getting steadily obvious that it was getting harder and harder for Velda to breathe properly in here because the air in this world is just so thin. The special suit that Velda wore had an oxygen mask function that could ease this problem to a certain extent, but that's not a long term solution.
They couldn't stay here in this muted world forever.
Dolly watched as the volcarona slowly flew back to the top of the ceiling, perching itself there and slowly going still. It's probably going back to sleep after believing that they were gone. Darkness had also enveloped the large hall once again after the flames of the volcarona had gone out. Despite that, Dolly wouldn't allow herself to be fooled because the volcarona's senses were unbelievably sharp. They will have to wait until the volcarona was truly in deep sleep before she dared to release Velda out back into the original world.
That volcarona is too fearsomely powerful and she will not gamble her trainer's well-being on a wild guess.
Dolly paced about worriedly, sneaking glances at her trainer every now and then, because even if she could continue to hold them here in this muted world Velda's body might not be able to hold out until then even with the oxygen mask. Already, Velda had sat down at the corner of the hidden room, visibly trying to control her breathing and regulate the amount of oxygen she would need with every breath. It seems that the oxygen levels that her mask was able to provide had started to hit rock bottom and that's not good news.
What to do what to do what to do-
She took a glance back out in the original world. It seems that Wacky had managed to protect the eleven humans that they were originally here for and somehow or another, that nut case had also managed to keep them out of volcarona's detection for the moment. Wacky was still floating about the room cautiously, obviously trying to search for them while not alerting the sleeping volcarona who might wake up at the slightest hint of noise or movement. Wacky is not capable of learning Phantom Force so the only way it can come in here would be if Dolly allowed him entry.
Velda had also seen what Dolly had seen. Dolly saw how Velda narrowed her eyes in concentration before she suddenly felt Velda's thoughts entering her own mind. It's a very interesting facet of Velda's ability that they all recently discovered. Somehow or another, Velda was able to directly project her thoughts to ghosts through her newly discovered Ability. Whenever that happens, they couldn't hear a single word of what Velda's thinking in her mind but somehow, they could all somehow understand what she wanted to let them know.
Currently, they could only understand very simple instructions she mentally conveyed to them but Dolly believed that given time Velda might just be able to communicate with them telepathically on a level that Rena could do with their trainer.
There's a crack in the wall on your left. We are in the room behind that crack.
Those were the thoughts Dolly heard from Velda and she watched curiously as Wacky abruptly paused in his tracks. Dolly tilted her head in thought. Wacky could actually hear Velda even when they were separated in a parallel plane?
Interesting.
Wacky phased through the wall and finally found the room Velda was talking about. Of course, he still couldn't find them since Dolly's hiding Velda with Phantom Force.
We are hiding with Phantom Force
A look of realisation crossed Wacky's face at the exact same moment Dolly heard Velda's thoughts. Having nothing better to do for the moment, Wacky simply chose to lie down on the floor and began to… nap.
Even as a fellow ghost herself, Dolly was unsure if Wacky's simply that fearless or if he's simply too dumb to comprehend the kind of danger that they were currently in.
Dolly had no idea how much time had passed since Wacky had decided to take a nap in the volcarona's lair, but she's starting to really feel the strain of maintaining her hold over Phantom Force. This muted world was starting to resist their presence here and was trying to eject them back to where they came from with increasing persistence.
Dolly took another look at the huge shadowy figure hanging at the top of the ceiling of the large room. That volcarona… it's in deep sleep, right? Surely it would be safe for them to go back out now?
Dolly felt a finger tapping her back and immediately turned around. It was Velda, and to Dolly's worry she's starting to really struggle to breathe with how thin the air here was. However, her thoughts were interrupted when she saw just what Velda had pointed at.
From where they were, they could make out the vague shadowy outlines of two people entering the room as silently as they could. It took a short while for Dolly to confirm their identities but hey, aren't those two Skye and the detestable Dark Specialist? They aren't weak by any means. With the two of them around, they could at least attempt to make an escape even if they couldn't defeat that volcarona.
Wacky, wake up!
Dolly heard Velda's mental shout through their mental link and watched gleefully when Wacky was rudely interrupted from his nap and shot up comically, now wide awake. Under Velda's instruction, he carefully crept out of the room to beckon their two allies to converge onto their location.
Just in time too. Guess it's time for her to release them back to their original world.
"Run RUN RUN!"
We don't need to be told twice when Jayce shouted at the top of his lungs for us to hurry and go. The volcarona had woken up and was now adamant on burning us into unrecognisable piles of ash.
Quite a few things had happened after Dolly and I spotted Jayce and Skye entering the hall where volcarona slept in. We managed to reconvene, hid ourselves in the secret room Dolly and I had discovered, and I managed to convey to them what I learnt about the volcarona without waking that monstrous moth up.
We soon came up with the barebones of a plan with some brainstorming, if we could even call it that. Skye was a Ranger, rescue is her specialty. With my ghosts, scouting and mapping out the place was child's play. Jayce is a Dark Specialist and an espionage expert, so stealth is his bread and butter.
In the end, we managed to get close enough to come into contact with the Plasmas and hostages who had miraculously survived till now and slowly led them to another exit that Wacky had located for us. Everything was proceeding smoothly until a certain clumsy Plasma grunt accidentally kicked a pebble underneath his foot, twice. We got lucky the first time, but when that grunt kicked another pebble the second time, that woke volcarona up instantly.
Today is just not my day.
With the volcarona now wide awake we had no choice but to fall back on our Plan B, which is to simply book it and run, leading us back to our current situation. At the other end of the exit was a long corridor spacious enough for Skye to release her dragonite, which immediately grabbed all of the Plasma grunts and hostages in its arms as Skye easily climbed up on her dragonite's back with practised ease.
"COME ON! HURRY!"
I tried running to where Skye was a fair distance away who was anxiously waiting for us to hurry and reach her and her dragonite. Really, I tried, but physical fitness had never been my strong point with this weak body of mine. I only could release Kel and my ghosts out with me when we were trying to creep our way out. I don't even have the chance to release Flamel out of his pokeball because the volcarona could easily catch up to me and kill me even before I could do so and climb up on his back, that's just how hot the chase is right now.
Thus, the only thing I could do is to try and run with my own two legs.
The shadows around me swirled and rose and I knew Dolly was trying to shift me in a last ditch attempt to get me out of danger. Unfortunately, that was not meant to be. A swift blade of wind would have cut me into two even before Shadow Sneak could take effect if it wasn't for Jayce pulling me aside at the very last second. He had just saved my life and pulled me out from the jaws of death, quite literally.
I didn't even have time to mutter a thank you to him when the entire castle was beginning to tremble and shake as if an earthquake had struck. Rubble was starting to fall all around us and I wouldn't be surprised if the entire ruin would collapse right here and now.
"SKYE! JUST GO! GO! WE WILL FIND ANOTHER WAY OUT! GO!"
Jayce had come to a decision even before I did, shouting at Skye to hurry and go and to leave us behind. I cannot find fault with his decision. In fact, I inwardly agreed that this was probably the best course of action to take right now because this way, at the very least, Skye and the hostages could get out of here alive. There's no point in having her stay back and try to assist us when the difference between our combined strength and this monstrous volcarona was this huge. If even Jayce had no confidence in taking it down with all three of us here, then our priority should be trying to make an escape rather than trying to defeat it.
Skye obviously hesitated but in the end, also realised that this was really the best course of action she could take right now. Her dragonite turned away and took off, flying off towards the other end of the dark corridor while Jayce and I stayed back behind to delay the volcarona and hopefully not get killed in the process. Fortunately, the corridor was spacious enough for the both of us to release our entire team, especially after how the volcarona melted one entire section of the wall down just to meet us face-to-face. Compared to this monstrosity, Ajika's volcarona suddenly seemed so much cuter in comparison.
Dolly, Wacky, try Destiny Bond
Destiny Bond was really our last hope in bringing down this monster and to avoid a direct confrontation with it. I watched as the two of them tried linking their fates to volcarona only to have that tether of connection forcefully severed through volcarona's sheer force of will in the next second, causing both of them to reel back from the mental recoil and hurriedly rejoin our side.
The things that this volcarona had proved to be capable of are leaving the realms of unthinkable and entering the realms of inconceivable. Destiny Bond can be forcefully shaken off? How? What are the prerequisites for it to happen? Does the world even know that such a feat is possible?
"Plan C. I will be decoy, you make a run for it, find another way out," I heard Jayce telling me as he commanded his team to hold the volcarona back. Truth to be told, I was a little touched at his gesture because we all knew that whoever was unlucky enough to be left behind as a decoy would very likely not return back alive. I cannot claim that we knew each other very well and we had definitely started off on the wrong foot, but I really appreciated the thought when I understood the hidden meaning behind his words. He's risking his life to try and save mine.
I'm not a brave person and I'm very afraid of this overgrown moth, but running away right now and leaving him alone in the face of danger would be a very cowardly and dastardly thing to do. I couldn't in good conscience just leave him here to die and live with that guilt gnawing at me for the rest of my life.
"Shadow Sneak doesn't work on this overgrown moth. Trust me, I tried. It either disrupts the move before it can take effect, or somehow is able to predict our next position. Our chances of survival are higher if we band together," I gave him a lousy excuse of why I couldn't just leave him behind and run and instead, chose to release the remaining pokemon who I had not yet released out for battle. If he saw through my lie, he did not point it out.
"So, what's our grand plan? You were the Exterminator, right? Your job scope included pest extermination, I hope?" I asked somewhat cheekily, because it's not everyday I get to poke fun at one of the most dangerous men alive and get away with it.
"Unfortunately, I didn't bring any insecticide along this time."
Hey, he actually had a sense of humour, who knew?
"That's actually really funny, but I can't find it within myself to laugh right now," I replied while trying my best to hold back the laughter that was threatening to escape my lips when he made that witty reply. It was at this moment that volcarona made its next move, releasing a huge wall of flames in our direction.
"Watch out, it's coming. Bigblue!"
Bigblue showed why he's one of the best defensive battlers in my team alongside Lily when he effortlessly casted a powerful barrier of Protect in the blink of an eye, protecting us all from harm. Even so, we could all still feel the heat of those flames.
"This motherfucking moth, it is even more powerful than Giovanni's monsters."
"That bad? Yikes," I cannot help but wince when Jayce made that remark. Giovanni was not only a Gym Leader, because prior to becoming the Viridian Gym Leader he was a member of Indigo's Elite Four. If this volcarona is stronger than Giovanni's pokemon then it could only mean that this volcarona is minimally a Champion-level pokemon.
And that damn Plasma grunt just had to wake such a monster up when we were trying to sneak our way out.
"I'm skinning that Plasma bastard alive if we get out of here, you want in?" As if reading my inner thoughts, Jayce asked me a question that I cannot help but agree with.
"Gladly. I want a piece of him too."
A weird sense of camaraderie formed between us at this moment. Be it interpol agent and Rocket Executive, or two opposing bidders at an underground auction, fellow reincarnated souls and members of the prophesied Seven Sages, heiress and heir of our respective families, or me and the EDGE operative beside me right now. It doesn't matter which side we stood on or are standing on right now nor does it matter even if we were once enemies that were out for each other's blood. Right now, we both know that we can trust our backs to each other in order to grasp for a chance for survival and make our escape out of here.
"Velda, hold onto my arm and don't let go. From here onwards, don't trust your eyes, only trust what you touch. Zoroark! NOW!"
I decided to entrust my life and the lives of my pokemon to him even before I realised it myself. I gripped onto his arm tightly the moment I heard his words and the view in front of me changed. There were noticeable differences to our environment in our immediate vicinity. Obstacles that weren't there previously suddenly appeared out of thin air and objects that were there previously mysteriously vanished. More noticeably, bright blots of light manifested in random spots in the vicinity and started to flash erratically, bright enough to make anyone's head spin if you stared directly at it. I immediately understood that Jayce's zoroark must have used its illusionary abilities in an attempt to disorient volcarona's senses and take advantage of its hypersensitivity to bright flashes of light, a suspicion that Jayce confirmed when I heard his voice whispering into my ear.
"Tell your espeon to pass down the message to move, tell it to use its psychic abilities to get an accurate lock on your location and get your pokemon to follow after you," Jayce whispered and even before I could say a single thing, lifted me up and slung me over his shoulder in a shoulder carry before sprinting away from the volcarona. As uncomfortable as my current position is, I decided to just accept it because beggars can't be choosers in this life threatening situation.
'Rena.'
I immediately conveyed my instructions to Rena and received an affirmation from her. With her around my team would be able to coordinate with each other even if our sense of sight can no longer be trusted due to Jayce's zoroark. Its illusory abilities is a double-edged sword because friends and foes alike will be affected whenever its illusions were being casted. I have no doubt that Jayce's pokemon can still function at full capacity even with these illusions around but my pokemon definitely couldn't. We never had a chance to work alongside that zoroark until now and this is our first time working under the effects of an illusion.
Still, that doesn't mean that we couldn't contribute a single thing in our fight against the volcarona.
'Get Lily and Kratos to blockade the path behind us.'
Rena conveyed my instructions to them instantly. Walls of rocks and hardened earth shut off the path behind us as we continued to make our getaway. We couldn't see the volcarona anymore but even then, none of us dared to let our guard down. We continued to make our mad dash without daring to slow down in the slightest.
Unfortunately, our attempts to stall the volcarona did not buy us much time. It soon reappeared by physically crashing itself through the wall on our right, putting itself in between us and our escape route. Now if we want to forge ahead, we will have to first find a way to get past it.
Jayce and I reacted almost at the same time the moment volcarona made its vengeful reappearance.
"Hydreigon!"
"Kratos!"
Our strongest fighters threw themselves at the volcarona upon our command. It was a little difficult trying to observe the battle up ahead with how Jayce was slinging me across his shoulder like a sack of rice and the only thing I could properly observe from my position was actually his ass. Admittedly, the tight EDGE bodysuit that he's wearing did little to hide his nicely shaped ass and if anybody asked, I blame my current physical age and puberty for having these inappropriate thoughts despite the current situation that we were in right now.
Fortunately, I had long since passed the mental age of fawning over guys, so after sparing only a single second to appreciate the nice ass in front of me my mind snapped back to working order and commanded my team to work alongside Jayce's in a desperate effort to stay alive. Jayce's ninetales defended us all from harm when volcarona released another scorching wave of flames that might have killed us all when the fox pokemon sucked in the entirety of the flames with its Flash Fire ability. However, even for a ninetales as powerful as it, there's a limit to how much fire it can absorb in a short amount of time before it overheats itself, especially so when a Champion-level volcarona was the one releasing those flames. We cannot rely on the ninetales to bail us out of danger whenever volcarona unleashes its flames indiscriminately.
We need a better plan.
Jayce's pikachu lit itself up in a blinding flash of light after it somehow managed to appear right in front of volcarona's face, causing the volcarona to screech in pain and thrash about in a violent fit. It was our chance.
"Stone Edge!"
Stone Edge is a move that almost every pokemon of mine mastered for those who were capable of learning this move. It's a powerful move to use against this volcarona because of its Bug-Fire dual typing and we knew we scored a critical hit when our attacks hit the volcarona when it was momentarily defenceless. Jayce's pokemon wasted no time in capitalising on this opportunity as well, immediately assaulting the volcarona with a relentless barrage of Dark Pulse.
This brief opportunity that Jayce's pikachu caught for us cannot go to waste. Our goal here was not to defeat the volcarona but rather to escape, and I already had an idea of how we might be able to do it.
"Ness, find a spot to dig out of here!"
Ness wasted no time in putting my plan into action, picking a spot relatively safe from the battle ahead to start digging through the granite flooring. Ness shimmered out of view about a second later and I immediately knew that Jayce's zoroark must have hid Ness with its illusions. With Shadown Sneak and Teleport becoming non-viable options of escape and the volcarona physically blocking our only route out of the underground, right now, Ness is our only hope in getting out of here and thus, she must be protected from the volcarona. This was something that Jayce and his pokemon obviously understood as well.
"Digging a way out will take some time. We need to hold this moth off for as long as we can, I can go mega," I offered, knowing that the power that this volcarona wielded was way beyond our comprehension and common sense. It would take some time for Ness to finish digging our escape route so until then, we have no other choice but to be forced into a fight with the volcarona. We might stand a chance in defeating it if someone like Volkner was around but that annoying man is not here right now. If so, a mega-evolved Kratos might be the only thing we can rely on if we had no other choice but to slug it out with the volcarona in a contest of strength, even if I can only assist Kratos in maintaining his mega-evolved form for a maximum of one minute. We don't really have any other choice left.
"Not now, only when absolutely necessary," Jayce disagreed with a slight shake of his head. I decided to adhere to his decision since he's the expert among us two here.
Despite our progress we were only able to suppress the volcarona for a brief moment. Things got bad for us very quickly when volcarona unleashed a fiery surge of flames alongside a powerful Bug Buzz. The only reason why we weren't dead was because Jayce's exeggutor had managed to block the worst of it but even then, many of our pokemon had been defeated by that one attack. The only silver lining I could confirm was that none of our pokemon were killed when we had no choice but to swiftly recall them back to their pokeballs.
"We are so fucked."
"I agree. We are fucked," Jayce agreed before asking me another question. "Is your nidoqueen done?"
"Soon," I replied when I received a reply from Rena. Thankfully, she managed to defend herself from the volcarona's attack earlier and was still able to contribute to the battle. My pokemon and I would be very handicapped otherwise since she was our only reliable means of communication, especially with zoroark's illusion still active.
"I can't remember the last time I was pushed this far by a wild pokemon. I think I need to go on a training trip soon after this and devise an anti-volcarona battle plan," Jayce's grumbling brought me back to reality and I cannot help but sass him.
"Oh, is this your cliche anime training trip time skip arc?"
"You are an anime fan?"
"Kinda. You?" I asked, a little hopeful that he's one as well because it's been a long time since I could share some inside jokes with someone like myself. Nova and Skye weren't anime fans.
"No, not really, but enough to know the memes when I saw them."
"Damn, and here I thought we could share some inside jokes," I sighed before trying to take a better look at the battle occurring behind me because Jayce was still slinging me across his shoulder. "Anyway, are you going to continue to sling me like this like a sack of potatoes? The only thing I can see is your ass even if it's a fine one."
"Do you think you can run faster than the volcarona?"
"No."
"Do you have any other pokemon other than your rapidash that you can ride on?"
"No."
"Then suck it up and deal with it. With your abysmal fitness and your rapidash knocked out, how else am I going to carry you out of here while keeping at least one hand free to command my pokemon?"
"Um, power of friendship?" I weakly offered, knowing that he had a point when even Flamel was defeated by that Bug Buzz earlier despite the type advantage he theoretically held over that volcarona. Without Flamel around to act as my legs, it would be difficult for me to move around in such a situation.
"Screw that shit."
There it is, the rude reply I was expecting from him after all the sass and cheeky replies I gave him.
Thankfully, Ness didn't keep us waiting for long and our remaining pokemon was able to hold the volcarona back and prevent it from killing us all until then. I never felt so relieved when Ness finally popped her head back up from the ground, signalling and gesturing to us wildly from her position that she's finally done with burrowing a way out of here.
"You see that?" I pointed in Ness' direction. Jayce simply nodded his head once.
"Yeah, but first, we need to make sure that the volcarona cannot follow after us or we are screwed. Tell your nidoqueen to close up the hole right after we enter, zoroark's illusions can only last for so long once he relishes control over it. My team will push it back, so can I count on you to lock it in place once that happens? Your pokemon seems proficient enough with rock type moves to do so."
"Let's do this," I agreed.
"Right. Once complete, prepare to recall your pokemon, anytime now."
Jayce's hydreigon unleashed a tremendously powerful Dragon Pulse and I knew that that was the signal. I had already conveyed the plan to my remaining pokemon through Rena earlier, so there wasn't any delay as my pokemon followed up on hydreigon's attack and conjured pillars of stone from our surroundings, swiftly interlocking with each other in so many layers to such a complicated extent that even a pokemon as powerful as that volcarona would need to exert a considerable amount of time and effort before it could ever break free from its restraints, just enough for us to make our great escape.
"Now!"
I immediately recalled every single pokemon of mine that was still out there except for Dolly and Ness the moment Jayce made the call. I could see zoroark's illusions taking form and I knew better than to trust my eyes in such a situation. Jayce was still carrying me and I felt him running before making a leap and adjusted his hold over me so that I would not accidentally hit anything as we dropped down the hole that Ness had dug which I couldn't see through the illusions, feeling gravity taking hold of us as we descended downwards for a few seconds before all light disappeared. We eventually landed and a dim shine relit our surroundings, courtesy of Jayce's pikachu from where it was perching on the top of the helmet that Jayce was wearing. Now, I'm certain that we are no longer under the influence of zoroark's illusions. We are now in the tunnel that Ness had dug for us.
"I can walk by myself now," I reminded Jayce, who finally let me down from his shoulder in the cramped underground space we found ourselves in. Down here, there's barely enough space for the both of us and the few pokemon we chose to not recall back into their pokeballs.
"You mean crawl."
I rolled my eyes in slight exasperation when I saw Jayce pointing to the tunnel right ahead, no doubt dug by Ness for our use. Right where we were, it's still spacious enough for us to stand if we squeeze a little and our bodies pressed awkwardly together, but the tunnel Jayce was pointing at was only big enough for one of us to crawl through with our hands and feet at any one time. Unlike nidokings, nidoqueens aren't very big in size and Ness wasn't exactly the biggest of her species either. Compared to other nidoqueens she's rather average in size, so it made sense that the tunnel she dug in a hurry could only be so big.
I'm not going to complain. I'm just glad that we managed to escape that volcarona at all. Still, we need to hurry. There's no telling when it might accidentally discover that we had hid ourselves deep underground given the long list of ridiculous things it had proved itself to be capable of thus far.
Jayce had very kindly let me go first with a silent universal gesture of ladies first. I'm sure that he had kind intentions when he did that, but I had a very different concern.
"You go first," I offered awkwardly instead and when it was obvious that he didn't understand why I said that, I decided to explain myself.
"I don't know how long this tunnel is, but I know that it's going to be very uncomfortable for me if a man stares at my ass from behind me for the entire duration we are going to crawl our way out of here."
I could imagine Jayce rolling his eyes even with the visor of his helmet blocking my view of his face after I said that.
"So says the person who was blatantly staring at my ass when we were fighting for our lives back there, and now you are finding another excuse to continue staring at my ass?"
"It was a nice view," I shrugged my shoulders and admitted honestly.
"Fine," Jayce sighed, "but have your nidoqueen lead the way forward. I will follow behind it."
I gave Ness a silent nod and she lumbered towards the tunnel, swiftly entering and disappearing in it. Jayce followed suit before I got onto my hands and feet and crawled into it as well with Dolly floating behind me. Jayce's pikachu did a good job in providing a source of light for us to observe our surroundings the entire time and I'm glad that I had him go into the tunnel before I did. It was a rather long crawl, and if Jayce was the one behind me for the entire duration staring at my behind like I was forced to do so at him for the entire length of time we were crawling our way through the tunnel, it really would have felt rather uncomfortable even if I knew Jayce wouldn't harbour any perverse intentions.
We were climbing at a slight gradient upwards so I figured that Ness must have somehow tunnelled into a floor or two above. It was getting a little tiring for me halfway through the crawl, to the point I had to take a brief pause of rest every now and then before resuming. By then, the distance between Jayce and I was starting to get a little huge. Jayce probably had sensed that I couldn't keep up because I could tell that he stopped in his tracks as well whenever I had to stop and catch a break, and also because he had obviously slowed his speed down as well in order to wait for me to catch up. His pikachu was our only source of light here, it was easy to tell when he was moving, when he was staying still, and the change in speed at which he was crawling at. It was quite considerate of him.
We finally emerged from the tunnel after what felt like forever. I greedily took in a deep breath of fresh air when I finally popped my head out from the exit of the tunnel. Jayce offered me a hand, which I gratefully accepted his help as he pulled me out of there as I finally got to stand on my own two feet in an unknown room.
"Where on earth are we now?" I asked while dusting myself off.
"How would I know? Ask your nidoqueen."
We continued walking ahead on the only path we could find, one that led upwards to what I hoped would lead us out of the Relic Castle. We both released a few more pokemon out with us who did not faint from the battle with the volcarona earlier as we walked side by side. Jayce's pikachu continues to act as our source of light as it continuously emits a faint glow while Lily, Dolly, and Ness accompanied me. I wanted Dolly to Shadow Sneak us out of this place now that the volcarona was not in our way, but after seeing how obviously fatigued Dolly was I decided otherwise.
"Do you think the Plasmas were here because they knew about the volcarona?" I cannot help but ask the man beside me when such a thought suddenly crossed my mind. If this was the reason why they were here then things will be a lot trickier than it already was.
"Unlikely. If they knew, they would send someone much more capable instead of those stupid goons."
"Maybe they knew a volcarona is here, just not expecting it to be that powerful?" I suggested instead because Jayce had a point. It is a well-known fact among trainers that a full grown volcarona is always a force to be reckoned with and I don't think it's by chance that Team Plasma made an appearance in the middle of the desert.
"There were a few among those seven that are somewhat capable, enough to give me some trouble, just that their pokemon easily got their ass whipped the moment they accidentally woke the volcarona up," I further explained when I realised that Jayce obviously doubted that they were here specifically for the volcarona. Jayce eventually conceded and agreed that I made a valid point too.
This wasn't certainly how I imagined the both of us would bond as fellow "Sages" but I have to admit, it really wasn't that bad in retrospect. At the very least, we both made it out alive together with our pokemon and we got to witness how powerful a volcarona could grow to be despite how terrifying it was when it was out to kill us. I'd also like to think that we both grew a little closer as friends after this harrowing encounter with a Champion-level monster.
Maybe I should consider getting my hands on a volcarona too? Unova's laws are rather strict when it comes to exporting their native pokemon out of the region and even more so for the volcarona species but… with my family's backing it might not be as impossible as it seems. As far as I'm aware nobody in the world has successfully managed to breed volcaronas in captivity. Bug types are known to have a rapid growth cycle, often being capable of achieving evolution and reaching maturity much faster and sooner than any other types of pokemon. There will always be anomalies to the norm, however, and it just so happens that volcarona is one of those anomalies among Bug types.
From what little I knew, larvesta takes years to naturally grow and evolve into a volcarona. Even assuming that a capable trainer is able to get a larvesta to somehow evolve before it turns a year old, that species of pokemon does not fully mature into an adult until it's around five years of age and only then will it be ready for breeding. That's a very slow rate of growth for Bug types. Bug types are known for their more frequent and shorter breeding cycles, but the breeding cycle of the volcarona species deviates from the norm with their breeding cycle being approximately once every two years and furthermore, the number of larvesta born from each batch of breeding cycle usually do not number more than five. Sometimes, only one or two larvestas are born from each breeding cycle and not all of them survive long enough to reach adulthood. Volcaronas may be fearsome monsters but they are also equally fragile at the larvesta stage, only truly gaining power that can rival even dragons after achieving evolution.
To my knowledge the only successful cases of breeding volcaronas with any semblance of human interference were volcaronas which live in very heavily guarded nature reserves in Unova but those don't qualify as pokemon bred in captivity; it's just that the Unova League strictly forbade the public from ever visiting the area in which they lived and that really is the extent of human interference. Those volcaronas are wild pokemon.
The above listed reasons are factors why that species of pokemon are so few in numbers to the point of becoming a highly endangered species, but if my family somehow managed it…
Now that's going to bring in business.
Yup, it's settled. The issue of whether my family would succeed in breeding volcaronas aside, I'm definitely going to look for a way to legally import volcaronas back into my family's farm the moment I have some free time on my hands.
I'm sure my parents would love the challenge, especially Dad.