Beyond the Adventure - A Pokémon Story

Chapter 16: Cataclysm pt1

                The damage to the Space Center is clear from above Mossdeep City.  A giant hole in the roof of the building, debris scattered across the ground, and people running about in a panic.  The quiet peace of Mossdeep has disappeared.  The anger within me seethes.  Steven should have known better, being the Hoenn Champion.  He said so himself that the safety of Hoenn is his responsibility.  How could he allow such irresponsible tinkering with nature?  It is just like back in the Pokémon Mansion and their horrid experiments with Mew and Mewtwo.  Will humans ever learn?

                Darius seems to have telepathy, reading my mind.  He pulls Talonflame close to me as we leave Mossdeep and enter the open sea.  “Hey, bud,” he says calmly.  “You should cut them a little slack.”  When I turn my angry glare at him, he flinches.  “Look, I can see you’re angry about this.  We’re all upset.  However, if you think about it, it was an honest mistake.  Surely they couldn’t have known this would happen.  And technically, a virus isn’t alive.  They may have been using the laser to cut through the protein coating so they can study its DNA.”

                I relax a little.  “You know your science,” I say.

                Darius shrugs.  “I’ve dabbled in microbiology,” he says.  “The point is, you shouldn’t be so upset with them.  Mistakes happen, especially in the scientific fields.  There is no way they could have known this would happen.”

                I nod, still upset, but feeling better.  Jess pulls Articuno up to the other side of me and smiles.  Despite her permanently angry eyebrows, her smile reminds me of Liz and actually makes me feel even better.  “Whatever you do, we have your back,” she says.

                I sigh.  I have no idea what I want to do.  In one hand, I want to go home.  This is Steven’s problem, he should handle it.  It is his job, after all.  In the other hand, I cannot just sit idly by while a dangerous creature is running rampant.  I would feel horrible if people died and I just turned my backs on them.  We might not be able to stop it, but we can at least try.

                Darius looks at me and gives me the thumbs up.  I nod, then look at Jess.  She nods too.  “Then let’s find this thing and stop it,” I say.  “But… we don’t even know what it looks like.  Where do we start?”

                Darius points ahead.  “How about we follow the smoke?” he suggests.  I look where he is pointing and, sure enough, a pillar of thick smoke flows from Lilycove in the distance.  We nod and speed toward Lilycove.  As we arrive, we can see emergency personnel rushing about, trying to put out fires and treat injured people.  We land, pull our Pokémon into our Pokéballs, and look around.  A few houses have been damaged, there is a hole in the side of the Lilycove Department, and part of the roof of the museum has caved in.  It is a horrible sight.

                One man stands by the museum, unharmed, but clearly in distress.  I approach him.  “What happened here?” I ask.  I already know, but hopefully he can provide details.

                The mustached man, appearing to be in his fifties, is dressed in a white shirt, jeans, with an apron covered in what looks like clay.  He looks at me with teary eyes.  “It was horrible!” he wails.  “A monster came and attacked the city!  It smashed through my house and the museum!”

                “What did it look like?” I ask.

                “It was red, with horrible eyes!” he bemoans.  “Long arms!  Very long arms!  It… it took my sculptures!  Why would it take my sculptures?”

                “Your sculptures?” Darius asks.  “That’s weird.”

                The man pulls out his wallet and shows us pictures of his sculptures.  The first one is of a Clefary playing with a Moon Stone.  Another is of Pikachu holding a Thunder Stone.  A third is of a little bulbous Pokémon with three leaves on its head standing on a Sun Stone.  Another is of three Eevees, each holding a different evolution stone.  I have to admit, they are quite good.