Pokémon BW: Rise of Clarity (book 3 of the HBoD series)

Chapter 50: Neo Team Plasma Rising

"-eno! Wake up, Zeno!"

"Ugh..." I groaned as my eyes flickered open to see N looking frantic as he crouched over me. My side hurt and my head was pounding. But I was alive. Judging by the constant rumbling sound and the entire castle shaking around us, we didn't have long to keep it that way.

Groggily, I took N's outstretched hand and he helped pull me to my feet. Part of the ceiling collapsed, covering up the gigantic hole the frigate had blown open. Around us my Pokemon were all either unconscious or too injured to do much. Grimacing, I returned them all to their pokeballs.

"We need to get out of here," I said, stumbling towards the throne room doors.

"Here," N lifted my arm and placed it around his shoulder. He looked back at his Pokemon, all of them unconscious.

"They need a Pokemon Center," I told him.

"I know," he said, voice empty.

"You know that the only way to get them there is by-"

"I know!" N shouted before squeezing his eyes shut. "I... I know." Feeling pity for him, I passed him several pokeballs. He stared down at them, then at me, before hobbling us over to his fallen comrades, capturing each of them in the round devices. After hearing another distant rumble and the dust from the ceiling fell on us, I nudged him.

"They'll be okay," I reassured him. "Plus, Ghetsis didn't entirely get what he wanted."

"He took both the Dragons," N said bitterly.

"He did," I smirked as we hurried as best we could towards the throne room doors. "But pokeballs come with a safety feature. Pokeballs registered to a trainer's ID can be locked by said trainer and only they can unlock it. It's one of the hardest things to hack, and that's before Robert personally upgraded them. I'm uh, sorry, but that pokeball I gave you is registered to me. On the bright side, only I can open them. Ghetsis, even Colress, cannot. Hopefully. They'll need me."

"Why would you-?!"

"Because," I said as we stumbled through the large double doors. "It was the only option left."

He didn't say anything as we hurried out into the hallway. Rubble littered the grand hallway, hindering our escape. The castle shook again and lurched slightly, nearly causing the both of us to fall.

Cursing silently, I helped N stay upright. "Are your people still in here?"

"I hope not," N said as we stumbled onwards towards the stairs in the distance. "We have strict evacuation protocols in place in case of an emergency, but..." He looks stricken. "If there are still people and Pokemon still in here, trapped, then-"

"We don't have enough time to go looking," I said, each word feeling like poison. It was wrong. "And we aren't in any condition to do it either. Heck, I don't even know if we're getting out of here in one piece."

"Better me than them," N said bitterly. "Father, how could you do this? What happened to our dream?"

"Don't think about it," I told him, grunting in pain as N stumbled on a chunk of broken ground. "Not now at least. First let's just focus on getting out of-"

A resounding boom shook the entire castle, lurching us sideways as huge chunks fell from the ceiling. I practically tackled N to the ground as a piece hit the ground where we'd just been standing. The floor cracked, jagged lines spreading across the hallway.

"This castle rose out of the ground, correct?"

"Y-yes," N answered, wincing as we pulled ourselves to our feet as the cracks began widening and the hallway tilted dangerously.