The Past's Opposition
Teleportation. Dawn remembered, why she rarely traveled that way. The world spun around her and even if she tried to close her eyes, the sensation remained the same. She felt Piplup’s grip on her head strengthen. Kirlia in her arms, however, didn’t seem as affected.
The whole ordeal didn’t take much more than half a minute, yet when Dawn’s feet finally touched the ground, she felt as dizzy as if she had been forced into several teeter dances.
Dawn opened her eyes and saw the Kimono Dance Theatre right in front of them. Kadabra let go of her hand and pointed at the building. She nodded.
"Ecruteak City," she noted as she took a step forward. Dark shadows appeared all around her. "Isn’t it great to be-" Suddenly, red glowing eyes snapped open and countless dark pulses and shadow balls aimed for the newcomers. Dawn and Kadabra barely had the time to drop flat on the pavement, before the attacks exploded over their heads. "back..."
"Stop! Stop!" A familiar voice yelled. A second later, Morty skidded next to Dawn, taking a stance with Gengar at his side. "She is not your enemy! She did not destroy your tower!"
For a moment, it looked as if the hordes of Ghastly and Haunter would relent, but then a bloodcurdling cry resonated through their ranks and they resumed their assault. Kadabra built up a shield around them that deflected the attacks.
"Dawn! What are you doing here?" Morty yelled over the commotion. "They think you’re trying to ambush them!"
Dawn was curious how she then should refer to the actions of the ghost pokemon. "It’s an emergency! I’m trying to get to J in Olivine City!" She replied in a similar tone, trying to stand up again. However, the chaos around her combined with her dizziness proved to be rather overwhelming.
"Olivine City? Last I heard of Hunter J’s position was that she was somewhere near Silver Rock Isle." The gym leader glanced over his shoulder and gave Gengar a few instructions.
"Silver Rock? She’s at the Whirl Islands?" Dawn echoed. Another spot that was closely linked to Johto’s legends. She suddenly had an idea, what their situation was really about.
A shadow ball broke through the shield, heading right for Dawn. Before she or Piplup could prevent contact, Morty jumped forward and swatted the projectile away. Dawn could feel a jab of pain coming from Morty, yet he didn’t as much as flinch, when he spun around. "Something went wrong over there; we lost contact to Jasmine not too long ago. I hate to ask you again, but if you could go and have a look at the situation, that would be great!"
"Well, I was heading there anyway, so -"
"Hurry! Before the ghost pokemon destroy this part of the city!"
"Okay!" She nodded her thanks towards Kadabra, then looked at her partner in her arms. "Kirlia, let’s go!"
Their second trip via teleportation felt even bumpier, if that was even possible. Now the spinning made her feel queasy and it took Dawn a lot of mental effort to pull herself together. Throwing up right in front of J was something she was quite keen to avoid.
Fortunately, their little journey across half the region was over soon and Dawn almost welcomed the feeling of a fresh breeze caressing her face. She could have done without the rain pattering on her rain cloak, though. Piplup clutched her head, so she couldn’t put on her hood. Within seconds, Dawn felt her hair getting completely soaked.
The moment the grip of Kirlia’s psychic powers left her body, Dawn stumbled forward. Her boot slipped on the soft ground; she yelped and lost her balance. Somehow, Dawn managed to turn her body, so she fell to her side, instead of burying Kirlia underneath her. That didn’t make the landing any more comfortable, though.
Mud splashed halfheartedly around her, even more seemed to cling to her and suck her into its depths. Almost immediately, Dawn darted back up into a sitting position, but only ended up wobbling around, again. Piplup on her head chirped frantically, digging its flippers into her beanie. Kirlia was quiet.
"Oh great! Nothing happened, yet and I’m already-"
"Stop right there!"
Dawn flinched at the sudden command. A man sprinted towards her and stopped just a few meters in front of her. The motion caused more mud to fly at Dawn’s already dirtied face.
Oh for crying out -
"You’ve entered a restricted area. Identify yourself!" The man continued in a strict, but not hostile voice. As Dawn rid herself of some mud lumps around her eyes, she glanced at the man. Judging from the red fabric she could make out behind the stains, which sullied his clothes, she guessed that she had run into a pokemon ranger. She breathed a sigh of relief, before she gladly complied with his order.
"My name is Dawn. I’m a pokemon coordinator and I’m kind of here to help stop Team Rocket." Pushing herself of the ground was nearly impossible. Her one arm was occupied with Kirlia and she couldn’t get a good hold on the slick dirt, never mind the spinning sensation in her head.
The sound of another person approaching cut through the rain fall; he too, wore a ranger uniform and positioned himself next to his collegue. "Kellyn? What’s the situation over here? Who is this girl?"
Kellyn? Dawn repeated the uttered name in her mind.
The first man with soppy brown hair radiated concern and suppressed anger, yet his voice didn’t reveal any of that. "We don’t have to worry about her; she is with me." He chuckled lightly. "Call it an ambush attempt gone wrong. Inform the others that I will be occupied for a few minutes. I’ll be back ASAP."
Kellyn was already offering a hand to Dawn, when the other ranger - a tall guy with black hair and an athletic physique - directed a closer look at her face. "Hey, isn’t that the girl we were told we should be worrying about? Wasn’t she the one from the reports?"
Kellyn shifted his body slightly, so Dawn was mostly hidden from view. He shot a glance over his shoulder. "Mako, I need you to go now! Trust me, I only need a moment to figure this out."
The ranger called Mako didn’t drop his composure; only after another hard look at Dawn and a frown at his colleague, he relented and backed away. The slapping noise of his boots on mud was soon drowned by rain and the Top Ranger and Dawn were alone.
"It’s... been a while, Dawn," Kellyn began with a grimace.
A while was an understatement, as she hadn’t seen the ranger since the incident with Riolu. She was surprised he even remembered her.
"You’ve got some mud on your... ah, let me help you." Kellyn grasped her free hand and pulled her up, careful not to let her slip on the wet ground. Dawn attempted to wipe of the dirt in her face, but there was not a single clean spot left on her. "You’ve gotten yourself into quite a mess."
Somehow, Dawn didn’t believe Kellyn was talking about the mud anymore.
He let her check on her partners for a silent minute. Kirlia had fainted due to the ordeal of teleporting them such a distance. She took out an empty pokeball, gently touched Kirlia’s forehead and caught the psychic type. Then, a sizzling sound later, the device was sent back to her storage system.
Piplup was still clinging to her beanie and didn’t appear to let go anytime soon. Even when Dawn tried to put on the hood of her formerly sky blue rain coat, the penguin wouldn’t budge. Piplup was fidgety, obviously torn between the urge to greet a familiar face and anxiety. Dawn shared its feelings.
"So... Kellyn. Hi." She tried to smile, but her lips only seemed to twitch.. "I didn’t expect to see you here, of all places."
The more she thought about it, however, the more logical it seemed that they would meet at such a place. After all, it was Kellyn’s job as a Top Ranger to protect pokemon against people with evil intentions.
People like J.
"And I hoped I wouldn’t meet you here," Kellyn said, his tone harsher than she recalled it ever to be. "How long has it been, six years? Back, when we were protecting Riolu, I thought ’Those three sure have their heart at the right place'. And now, one of those kids is acquainted with the same pokemon hunter that abducted that Riolu?"
"I’m not acquainted with her! Nor am I her assistant or anything -"
"Then what is your relationship with J?" Kellyn demanded to know.
"I... I can’t... tell you that...".
"You can’t tell? Or you just don’t want to?"
The ranger sighed at his own words, shaking his head. A few droplets slid from his hair, barely noticeable in the rain. "I’ve spent the last few days reading the same police reports about you over and over again, and I still can’t believe them. Can you at the very least tell me what this is all about?"
Oh, nothing illegal is going on. It just happened that Sinnoh’s Lake Guardians chose us to stop Team Rocket so they sent us here to do just that. Dawn perfectly understood J’s reluctance to tell the tale.
At the same time, though, anything else seemed like a lie to her. She looked Kellyn in the eye and sensed a deep, honest concern. A heavy lump nestled in her throat. "It’s... complicated. You see, J and I, we sort of have a similar goal. We both want to stop Team Rocket."
"But just because your goal might be similar doesn’t justify any kind of cooperation with her. Who knows what motive drives her? It could never be even close to your reasons! I know that you want to protect pokemon, while she probably only wants a rivaling band of poachers out of her way."
Dawn suppressed any kind of physical reaction and tried to keep their eye contact. Kellyn couldn’t possibly know, how wrong he actually was with his assumptions. To some degree, Dawn’s and J’s motives were one and the same and while Dawn was - by then - aware of that, she comprehended the other side all to well. The urge to run away and hide from Kellyn’s accusing stare made her legs tremble.
"Kellyn, I know this sounds... impossible, but right now I have to work with her," she said and remembered, why she had left her contest so quickly. She still didn’t know, whether J was alright or not and it itched her to find out, if only to get away from Kellyn. "I promise you, I’ll explain everything I can later, once this mess is over. I really need to go now -"
"And do what?" Kellyn cut her short. "Dawn, if you go and join Hunter J now, you’re going to be in so much trouble, I doubt any sort of explanation will save you! The police is keeping an eye on you already; you’ll end up becoming a criminal yourself!"
"But I’m not doing anything illegal! In fact, I saved Ho-Oh just a week ago!" Dawn desperately defended herself, all the while never getting rid of that feeling of guilt. "You said so yourself, you know what my motive is."
"Well, I can only base that on the impression I got from you half a decade ago, can’t I?"
"Nothing’s changed since then!"
"I’m not so sure about that."
Dawn herself had her doubts. Slowly, but surely, the conversation was starting to wind her up. She didn’t want to let out any more frustration in front of the ranger, her friend. "Look, if you’ll just let me go for now," the weight of J’s farewell-present in her pocket suddenly became apparent, "I promise, I’ll tell you everything you need to know. Right now, all I want is to stop Team Rocket!" It was barely a lie, in Dawn’s opinion.
Kellyn frowned. "That’s another thing." He sighed. "It’s not Team Rocket, you’re after - it’s Team Missile."
Dawn wanted to whack him for avoiding an answer. "Why can’t we just go on calling them by their real name? I know - A rose by any other name is just as sweet - but really, that’s ridiculous!"
"You don’t understand. Some of Team Rocket’s agents are working with us to stop the guys responsible for this!" He stopped to motion around the island, the storm and the spray coming from the cliffs.
Dawn snorted. "You - you what? You’re working with the bad guys and you’re giving me a hard time?"
"In contrast to your J, they made a real effort to pay for their deeds - but that doesn’t mean we trust them blindly."
"As if I’d trust her!"
"Apparently enough to come here! Ogi Isle is an enclosed research area, you know? You’re trespassing!"
"That’s what I was told at the Bell Tower and guess what? Without me or J around, Ho-Oh would have been captured! Where the hell were your friends, then? Or you, while we’re at it!"
"Busy trying to rescue the pokemon J stole."
Both went silent for a minute. Dawn felt like she had been knocked in the stomach - she didn’t have a good answer for that. While he was right, it was a cheap blow against her nonetheless and Kellyn knew it.
The beeping on his capture styler brought them back to reality, but they were still glaring at each other, Dawn grimmer than him. Eventually, he rejected the call.
"This isn’t leading us anywhere," the ranger conceded. Reluctantly, Dawn nodded. "You said you’d explain everything?"
"Later, yes," said Dawn, though she already wondered, how much she should tell him. J and she had agreed to keep it a secret and so far Dawn hadn’t seen any reason to share that ridiculous story.
"Alright..." Kellyn cleared his throat. "The situation looks like this: Missile attacked the research facility here, stole heir test results and destroyed the rest of the lab. The scientists were pretty vague about what they were actually researching, but it seems like the machine they built is able to manipulate pokemon’s behaviour."
Dawn opened her mouth to speak, however decided otherwise. She’d expected anything; that Kellyn would insist on delivering her to the authorities, on her telling him all the information she got on J, just about anything. Him sharing his information was the one thing Dawn hadn’t anticipated. It made her feel relieved, glad even, yet at the same time she felt uneasy accepting it.
"Since this kind of resulted into a major catastrophe," he looked up at the storm clouds, "the local police, the rangers and the sponsors of the lab - Team Rocket - had been called to resolve the situation. We have the police and the agents taking care of Missile..."
Dawn didn’t like the sound of Rocket agents taking care of Missile, but kept quiet about her concerns. A worried, borderline helpless tone had crept in Kellyn’s voice, as he continued with his report.
"The real problem are the local water pokemon. They're in a frenzy - we believe that they caused the storm. They are destroying everything in their path, no matter if its a ship, humans or other pokemon - they even fall over each other. It’s our job to try to find a solution to this, but so far nothing seems to work. Not even my Vatonage Styler shows any lasting effect."
"How many of you are there?"
Kellyn shrugged. "Just four. Jasmine, Olivine’s gym leader was helping, too, but she dashed of to find her own solution to this mess."
Thoughts raced through Dawn’s mind. "What about Lugia?"
That time, Kellyn hesitated. "So far no sign of it."
"Come on! I’m not asking because I want Lugia - I wanna make sure it stays wherever it is. I was on top of the Bell Tower, when Ho-Oh began burning it down, I don’t need another experience like that!"
That reminded her... "By the way, you might want to check out any helicopters Rocket - I mean Missile has around. Last time they called Ho-Oh through some kind of device that they kept save in a helicopter."
Though Dawn wasn’t sure, how well any kind of aircraft would fare in that storm.
"We’ll keep that in mind," Kellyn said, nodding approvingly. "What are you planning to do?"
Now Dawn didn’t answer right away. The reason she felt reluctant to accept his share of information was, because Kellyn would most likely expect the favour returned. Not only did the mere thought of talking anymore about the subject of her and J cause a fresh wave of uneasiness - there was little Dawn could actually share.
"First... I’d like to check out if... J’s alright..." She mumbled the last phrase, but judging from his frown, Kellyn seemed to have gotten the message. Feeling the need to explain herself, Dawn continued. "Well, she contacted me right when I was having my break - but before I could find out why, the call was ended. I’m wondering if that was just an accident, or..." She shrugged. "She saved my life so many times now, I can’t help but worry."
"How does she contact you?"
"Uh... with a little radio like thing..."
"Can you show it to me?"
That was another question she had dreaded. Slowly, she unzipped the right pocket of her rain coat, slid her hand in and took out the device. Her eyes never left it, as she gave it Kellyn.
He examined it, turned it around and tried to push the buttons. Nothing happened. "How does this thing work?" Kellyn asked, furrowing his eye brows in deep thought.
"I dunno."
He rose an eyebrow in her direction and Dawn threw her arms up. "It’s not like that woman sees the need to ever tell me anything!"
Kellyn gave a sympathetic chuckle. "Sounds like trouble."
"You don’t know the half of it."
"Then how come you don’t do anything to free yourself?"
It was a good question, one Dawn herself struggled to accept the answer to, so she kept quiet. Kellyn continued.
"You said she saved your life - that doesn’t have to mean you owe her anything. This is J we’re talking about. I’ve had enough confrontations with her to know she doesn’t give a damn about personal favours. As long as it’s for her ulterior goal, anything is an option. You don’t have to back a person like that, especially not if she’s giving you a hard time."
The words resonated with Dawn, yet she still kept her mouth shut. She avoided Kellyn’s brown eyes, her gaze locked on a scorched blade of grass.
"Dawn," Kellyn began, dead serious, "is there anything you can tell me that would us help apprehend Pokemon Hunter J? It might - no I’m sure, it would be enough to get you out of this mess."
Very slowly Dawn shook her head. It took her a moment to find her voice, but when she did, her words came out steadier than she had imagined. "I’m sorry Kellyn, but there is nothing I can do. I barely know anything about her usual whereabouts, what she does, who she meets, and what I know I can’t tell you. I can’t stab her in the back. It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t care that she saved me; I do care. Besides," she added when a thought occurred to her, "if I don’t look after her, no one will."
And J would have to continue that horribly impossible struggle on her own.
"I see." Half-heartedly, Kellyn posed a final question. "You’re really sure about this, aren’t you?"
"Yes. Yes, I am," Dawn replied. Finally, she called out her Braviary. The great eagle stretched its wings and took in the weather conditions. It nodded at Dawn.
"Kellyn, I still need my communicator back," she exclaimed and stretched out her hand.
The ranger looked at the device, then, with a sigh, he returned it. "But before you leave..." He pulled out a radio similar to the one J had given Dawn, coloured in the typical red, black and yellow the rangers wore. Kellyn handed her that as well. "After all, we need some way to get in touch, preferably without you in handcuffs."
Dawn took a closer look. The buttons had short, but useful descriptions on them. Simple, but effective. She felt like thrusting the thing into J’s face with a lecture about designing methods.
"Dawn," Kellyn went on, "if anything happens, you can still come to us. We’re mostly on the isle. Only a few officers and agents are taking care of Missile’s copters - and J, mind you. Just give me a call before that. I’m sure we’ll figure something out, and we could always use another helping hand."
The wind was still howling and rain drops were still sliding underneath Dawn’s coat, yet the coordinator felt a little warmth return. She put the communicators in the two front pockets of her jacket and zipped them up. "Thanks Kellyn," she said with a little smile. "I appreciate it. Very much."
She mounted Braviary, patting it’s head. One reassuring glance at Piplup let her see it’s bright, determined expression. It punched the air, ready for some action. Dawn couldn’t agree more.
"See you soon!" She called out to the ranger. "Good luck!"
Kellyn cried something in response, but his words were drowned by rumble.
Even from afar, Dawn could hear the crash of what must have been huge waves. Seconds later, they reached the end of the plateau she had landed on and saw the meter high water masses colliding with the cliff. Little chunks of rocks were ripped out by the sheer force and fell into the raging ocean, only to be hurled against the land over and over again. And somewhere underneath the water’s surface, there was angry red glowing, likely where Tentacool and Tentacruel clustered together.
By then, Dawn was already soaked. As the wind whipped past her and she was beginning to freeze, suddenly the idea of overheating didn’t seem like such a bad thing after all.
There was, however, a problem much worse than her numb fingers; Dawn could barely see. As much as she squinted against the rain, all she could make out were speckles of white and red shifting in the distance; head- and taillights, she assumed. However she was going to find J was a mystery to her.
Maybe I should have asked Kellyn, Dawn mused, but regarding how their conversation went, she hadn’t felt like stressing that topic out any further.
Fortunately for Dawn, though, the problem solved itself. As soon as they decided to circle around the isle and get an overview for themselves, a now familiar beeping noise drowned the patter of rain. Dawn almost dropped the radio, when she hastily pulled it out of her pocket.
"J!" She answered the call. Relieve was evident in her voice. "About time you showed some life signs!"
There was a lot of static crackling, but Dawn could still make out J’s words. "You show too many for my liking! What the hell are you doing here? - Never mind that, turn around immediately! You’re about to -"
Sharply, Braviary veered to the side. Dawn shrieked and tried to hold onto Braviary’s sides with both hands, only using her index finger and thumb on her right hand, where she gripped the communicator. The cliff on their left exploded in a cloud of dust and purple black energy, before another wave washed it away.
Immediately, the girl turned her head towards the source of the attack. The flare of a helicopter’s headlamps greeted them. Blinded, Braviary had to ascend to escape the light and didn’t stop, before they were at least ten meters above the helicopter.
A Seismitoad fixed a glare at Dawn and her team - they gladly replied the gesture. The water type stood on the flat roof of the helicopter. The rotors, which kept the metallic monstrosity in the air, were held by a pair of wings at the sides. She found that Seismitoad had way too much free space to roam about.
"You were saying?" Dawn mumbled into the radio. There were a series of curses and grunts on J’s end. Apparently, the huntress wasn’t alone, either.
"Damn! I am too far away to get to you in time!" A sound rang as if something fleshy was rammed into a metal wall. Dawn heard another yelp.
As curious as she was to find out what the huntress was up to, Dawn had her own problems. Seismitoad spewed out jets of hot water and began chasing Braviary across the sky. She lay flat on its back, so she wouldn’t be thrown of that easily.
"J, we’re going to be alright!" The scald move bubbled directly overhead and Dawn squirmed on Braviary’s back, when some drops burned her skin. She tried to make her voice sound neutral. "Just tell me where you are. As soon as we’re done here, we’ll come over to you."
"As soon as you’re done?" J snorted.
"This isn’t the time for this!" Dawn had to yell over the wind pushing the words back in her throat. "We somehow survived without you until now, we’ll make it this time, too. Just answer!"
For a moment, there was no reply; only the sounds of combat and Drapion’s roar. Then, finally, J answered "We are north-west of your position. Once I’m finished, I’ll head in your direction. Stay alive."
"Gladly."
With that, the connection ended and Dawn could finally concentrate on their battle.
"Get us under that thing!" Dawn bellowed against the howling wind, but wasn’t sure if her partner even got the message. It kept dodging the attacks that were launched against it. Dawn quickly grew tired of it and told Piplup to put up a shield.
The water type glowed, when it created a whirlpool larger than Braviary and hurled it in general direction of the helicopter. Once it left Piplup’s direct control, the wind pushed and dragged at the twister and another attack from Seismitoad tore the move completely apart. By then, however, Braviary had disappeared from sight.
They dove underneath the helicopter, and although the waves seemed to reach out for them, they somehow got away unscathed. Dawn turned around to see a hatch open. A man sat on the edge, leaning outside and followed her with his olive green eyes. Pierce gripped a microphone in his hand and when he spoke, his words were reproduced by megaphones attached to the sides of the aircraft.
"I don’t know, what I’m more surprised about. That J actually had some back up planned, or that her back up is nothing more than a little girl. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Today is the last time you’re meddling in our business."
Dawn could hear the smirk on his face.
"Try to make the most of if."
"Oh, I will," she murmured, more upset about the words than she admitted. Was it really that much to ask of other people from J’s department not to underestimate her?
When they were in a good position, Dawn told Braviary to fly up once again. It shot up in an almost ninety degree angle, past the rotating death trap of blades, just above the helicopter. Spinning around, it created some boulders with its rock slide. The move wasn’t as expansive as it could be, but Dawn didn’t want to make the aircraft crash. She frowned, when the thought occurred to her that J would scold her for her restraint.
As expected Seismitoad handled the rocks with ease. What it hadn’t foreseen, though, was Piplup’s drill peck following right behind. It collided with its unguarded shoulder, jamming the arm against its body. Seismitoad gurgled agitatedly, but before it could launch a counter attack, Piplup hopped away. They unleashed a series of attacks against each other, among them bubble beam.
Dawn noticed something very strange with that move. The bubbles, which hardly weighted more than air, didn’t seem affected by the wind at all. They just hovered around Seismitoad. Even the whole helicopter, which was bound to have navigational problems, didn’t budge under the storm. It barely even looked wet!
For a moment, Dawn was angered that she had to put up with crazy gusts and a soaked undershirt, while Missile’s goons could sit in their cosy, dry copters and attack her from a distance. Then, an idea struck her.
She reached into her pocket and took out a dusk ball. There was little more than a low hum indicating that there already was a pokemon inside. As expected her nocturnal partner was still resting. Dawn was glad that the first thing it would lay its eyes on wasn’t her.
When they were once again close enough to the roof, Dawn threw the dark green pokeball, aiming for a spot behind Seismitoad. The capsule popped up and a purple furball appeared. It shook its head, taking in its surroundings. Fresh poison started to ooze out from all over its body; it didn’t seem pleased about its situation, at all.
"Piplup, come back here!" Dawn called out. Piplup threw one glance at Venonat, before it hastily fired a hydro pump at the helicopter, catapulting itself back to the safety of its friends.
The helicopter shook under the impact. That and Seismitoad’s mumbling made Venonat slowly turn on its heels.
"Venonat, how about stun spore?" Dawn suggested a tad too late. The bug type already had that glow in its eye. It spat out a blob of purple liquid that hit Seismitoad right between the eyes. Enraged, the bulky pokemon started to flail around, but as it was temporarily blinded by the toxins, it only groped the metal frame of the aircraft.
As if to make sure the offender understood its place, Venonat did indeed follow with a vast cloud of brownish powder. It encased almost the whole roof, before the spores were sucked in by the rotors. Hastily, Dawn recalled the bug type and they sped of towards the sea, leaving Pierce and other possible pursuers behind.
Dawn sighed in relief. Glancing back, she observed that the lights of the aircraft were shaking and descended in direction of isle. Piplup, who stood in front of her, also looked at the helicopter.
"You think one of your or Venonat’s attacks might have damaged it?" Dawn asked her partner. Immediately, Piplup puffed out its chest and wiggled a flipper in the air as if to say, for a mighty and intrepid pokemon like me, this was nothing.
"Good job," she patted its head, silently hoping that the aircraft would still reach land, before she turned her attention back to her other partner. "Okay, Braviary," Dawn exclaimed and looked at the compass function of her poketch. "North-west is over there!" She pointed across part of the isle for the eagle to see.
With a flap of its wings, Braviary changed course. Fortunately, it steered right into a path that had a strong tailwind. The extra boost let them soar quickly over the shore, past the red glows, until the Tentacool only made up a few speckles in the dark ocean.
There was an awe inspiring beauty in the tremendous waves. The water arose in vast masses, adamant as a brick wall, yet alive with motion. For a moment, it halted in mid air, taller than Dawn’s home, before it plunged forward, coiling into a gigantic fist.
At some spots, the currents were so disturbed that waves raced in all directions, some slapping against each other in an explosion of spray and ear-deafening rumble.
Despite their distance of a couple of meters, Dawn felt as if she could taste the salt on her tongue. It was mesmerising to watch from afar, but a shiver ran down her spine at the thought of experiencing one of those monsters up close and personal.
Piplup next to her, seemed to share her thoughts, but it also took a much deeper issue with the chaos. It cried in dismay and curled its flippers into fists. Dawn nodded. "We’ll find a way to turn everything back, I promise. And I want you guys to promise that you’ll be careful, alright?"
She knew, her voice sounded much more assured than she felt, but Piplup’s and Braviary’s enthusiastic cries lifted her spirits. "You’re right," she said. "There is no way, any team in this world could beat us!"
Dawn directed those words also at the pokeballs hanging from her belt and felt each of them humming and buzzing and nudging her palm, when she brushed over them. At the last one, Dawn paused. The capsule was black with three yellow stripes that formed the letter 'H'. An ultra ball and inside was one of her most powerful, but also most dangerous pokemon.
While the rest of her party - consisting of Braviary, Mamoswine, Aron, Mantine and Venonat - had accustomed themselves to J and her team, there was one quite unwilling to get along with the huntress. Dawn hadn’t chosen Ninetales lightly, worrying what it would do if it laid eyes on J, again. Its cunningness and relentless battle style, however, had saved them on so many occasions, Dawn was willing to take the risk.
Still, it won’t hurt reminding it, Dawn thought and brought the ultra ball to her face. The device was hot to her cold fingers, almost burning, but laid perfectly still. That lack of response did trouble Dawn, but she didn’t let it affect her words. "Ninetales, I know what I’m asking of you is impossible, but I want you to hold back on J. She’s on our side now, so -"
Suddenly, a jolt of energy blazed through her arm. Dawn gasped; she almost dropped the ultra ball, but it seemed as if her muscles had constricted to a point, they wouldn’t release the grip.
The next moment, the pain faded and only the memory remained. She was trembling from head to toe, yet when she pulled down the sleeve of her right arm - she saw nothing. The skin was wet with rain and completely unharmed.
Dawn stowed the pokeball away so quickly, she almost tumbled from Braviary’s back. Piplup chirped in a frenzy, obviously attempting to touch her, but afraid that it would cause her more harm.
"I’m... I’m fine," Dawn muttered, unable to come up with a better reply. That feeling... she certainly hadn’t experienced it for the first time. The night Dawn had battled Ninetales and caught it... it was from then, she remembered that pain. It had never bothered her again and so, Dawn hadn’t bothered to recall. The moment then had been so brief, she had started to doubt it had ever occurred in the first place.
But now, she wasn’t so sure anymore.
Before her thoughts could trail along that path, though, a lurch in her stomach pulled Dawn back to reality. Something in the distance made Braviary alter its course; it dove downward, still nowhere near the foamy crowns, yet much to close for her liking. She squinted at the rain, but it was the rattling sound of rotors that warned her of the approaching helicopter.
Not again, Dawn thought, groaning. To Braviary she said, "Can you fly us quickly around this thing?"
The great bird nodded, though it never got the chance. Once again, they were almost hit by a ferocious attack, which whizzed past them, unfazed by the wind. A dragon pulse and by then, Dawn had seen it often enough to know, what pokemon had fired it.
She turned her head to meet the scowl on Salamence’s face. A wave of disbelief washed over Dawn. "Salamence, are you out of your mind? We’re not your enemies!"
The two flying types hovered in the sky as well as possible, neither of them giving in more space than they had to. The dragon type looked assured, as if it had intended to shoot them out of the sky. There was no trace of J.
Suddenly, a floodlight poured down on them. It burned in her eyes and she had to cover her face. Still, she could see shadows scurry behind her lids. Salamence’s growl sounded even louder than usually; that and the thought of more hostile pokemon lurking put her on edge.
She felt Piplup shift in front of her and launch a jet of water upwards. Dawn leant back, just as far as she felt safe without falling of. Another roar rang in her ears; there was a blast over their heads and litres upon litres of water splashed down on them. Dawn was assured, that there was no dry spot left on her.
"Salamence, enough!" A woman’s voice bellowed, amplified by speakers. The light disappeared, but Dawn was still blinded, as she tried to peer at the helicopter. "Girl, get up here and make it quick!" J commanded.
Whatever tiny amount of relief Dawn felt at the sound of J’s voice, it was drowned by her confusion and anxiety. She felt Braviary’s head shift and knew it was starring at her. Dawn, however, was busy trying to make sense of what had just happened.
Salamence approached, snarling at them. It’s scales were glistening in the rain and it flexed its talons as if it was about to lunge at them. Dawn decided that it was for the best not to test the dragon’s patience any further. She beckoned Braviary to ascend towards the helicopter.
What’s going on? she could only wonder as they neared the hatch at the side. It was open and even behind the grey rain curtain, Dawn could see the menacing scowl J directed at her.
Hey!
Sorry, dass es solange gedauert hat, aber hier ist es!
Kapitel 10. Ich hoffe, dass nächste Kapitel wird im Laufe nächster woche fertig sein ;)
Vielen, vielen Dank fürs Mitlesen und die Geduld!! Ihr seid super :)
