Pokémon The Divine Truth: The Fight for What Matters

Chapter 7

*WARNING* THIS CHAPTER HAS DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENCE, BLOOD, AND/OR DEATH

The three of them had been on the train for about a day and a half, patiently waiting to arrive in Mycorrhizal. Kori had been staring at the scenery passing by through the opening of their train car while Hiro and Haru were sound asleep. Kori noticed how the rural plains and forest that were once all he saw were now slowly turning into a shell of what they used to be. The trees were beginning to look withered and decayed, while the grass was no longer green but gray, yearning for water. As the train continued going, all Kori saw continued to get worse, and the sky began to be filled with smog, becoming unpleasant to breathe. The sight of it all made Kori feel an odd sense of unpleasantness he wasn't expecting.

"Hiro, Haru, I think we are almost there," Kori said while shaking Hiro awake.

"Augh! You don't have to shake me every time you try to wake me up." Hiro hissed.

"You say that, but you won't wake up otherwise," Kori countered.

Their arguing awoke Haru while Hiro grumbled, annoyed, and then they both looked outside the train car. Haru's eyes widened, shocked by what he saw.

"Woah, what the hell happened here?" Hiro was completely astonished by how drastically everything had changed.

"I don't know but it looks awful," Kori responded

"Seraphina did say that once we saw signs of heavy industrialism, we'd be close. She wasn't kidding," Hiro said

Very quickly, tall buildings reaching for the melancholy sky came into view. They could see smokestacks that gave off plumes of smoke into the air. As the train entered the city, it got much darker than before. The smog completely blanketed the sky, causing barely any light to be visible despite it being day.

"Melody City was nothing like this; I can't believe anyone actually lives here," Hiro said.

Haru began coughing violently, scaring Kori and Hiro.

"Haru, what's wrong!? Are you okay?" Kori asked frantically, rushing to Haru.

"I'm not sure," Haru said in a raspy voice, trying to clear his throat.

"It's probably because of all the smog. It's already becoming unpleasant to breathe here; we'll likely start coughing soon as well, Kori," Hiro said as the train slowed down.

The train came to a complete stop at a train station. Kori stuck his head outside the opening of the boxcar, looking around. Many different tracks were going in other directions, and there were a couple of other trains being filled with cargo. There were many people and Pokémon moving cargo from and onto different trains.

"This place seems pretty busy," Kori commented, jumping out of the boxcar onto the gravel.

"We probably should try our best to stay hidden; I'm not sure how kindly they take to stowaways. If we do have to confront anyone, try not to give too much information away either," Hiro said.

Hiro and Haru jumped onto the train, and the three of them carefully began sneaking out of the train station. Moving in between the train cars kept them out of sight of the workers and Pokémon. They eventually reached a large fence with barbwire that appeared to separate the station from the rest of the city. Following the fence, they discovered an opening leading into the city, but it was guarded by two people. The two people guarding the opening wore all black from head to toe. They both had hoods over their heads and wore black masks that completely covered their mouths and noses. What stuck out the most were the pink designs throughout the hoodie and the pink logo on their sleeve that resembled a scorpion-like Pokémon.