Emerald Fist by Obsidian Blade

Chapter X: Day of the Triffids

“Leechseed!”
“Repel it with Reflect!”
“Quick, use a Vine Whip to tie that thing down!”
I groaned and rolled over, but the voices continued.
“No! Spoink! Use your Confusion to remove those vines and knock that thing flying!” a female voice was ordering.
“Fidranger, grab it!” a familiar male voice countered.
One that I definitely recognised as Polienix cried out, “Wowie!”
So, my Pokémon was outside. And there was a battle going on. Whoopee, I still wasn’t getting up!
“Spoink, you gotta keep it up,” the female encouraged, “It can’t hold on forever!”
“Fidranger, you know what to do.” Jay quipped smoothly.
I pulled the pillow over my ears and scrunched my eyes up, but to no avail.
“Just shut up…” I whined and, to my surprise, they did, if only for a moment.

Then there was a cracking noise that reminded me of that of a whip and a heavy thud before quite a few voices went crazy. They were speaking loud and fast now, too many voices at once, so I abandoned all thought of getting back to sleep and lurched up, pulling my oversized t-shirt down further down over my monster thighs.
Outside the sun had decided to hide, leaving the sky grey and overcast in typical late-autumn style. I can’t say I liked that, but at least I wasn’t being blinded. Looking down I saw a small crowd of people, crowing over two trainers who seemed to have just finished their battle. On one side a girl with mousy brown hair was fussing over a whacked-out pig-on-a-spring. She wore a light pink tank top and pale blue jeans; her hair tied back with a yellow ribbon, and appeared to be the picture of sissy weakness I hated so much.
Opposite her Jay was congratulating his Fidranger, who had apparently just pulled off some amazing technique from the way the crowd was buzzing around him. By pure chance my travelling partner glanced up and caught sight of me staring drowsily out the window, giving me one of his strange smiles as he accepted a wad of notes from the defeated girl. He waved his mini-fan club of locals away from his confused looking Fidranger and headed back into the Centre, Polienix taking off from a nearby tree to follow him in before the door closed.

I let out a sigh, it looked like I was going to have to get up and face the committee of morning-types downstairs or face Jay’s wrath as I made us late getting to the gym… or that stupid tower. Calling my protesting limbs to order I somehow dressed myself and staggered downstairs to the Pokémon Centre restaurant, perking up only a little when I smelt breakfast cooking.
I blamed the stares I was getting from the trainers staying at the centre to the after-effects of leaving my hairbrush back in Malmarsh, gave my order to a far-too-cheerful Chansey standing near the serving bar and scanned the tables for my friends. It took Polienix’s distinctive powder blue plumage to find them and, as I neared their chosen booth, I realised that his was due to Jay’s change of appearance.
He was counting out his spoils of war carefully, marking out the amounts onto a scrap of notepaper I guessed he had been given by the waitress, and his hair was free of the nasty gel he’d worn before. Instead it stuck up almost alarmingly in places, adding a good three inches to his height. Clothes-wise he’d changed to a pair of dangerously baggy jeans and a short sleeved fleece with the zip up the middle left open. Beneath that he wore a long-sleeved white top that bulged slightly over the green swath around his wrist. He looked… different, to say the least.

“So,” he started as I sat across from him in the small, red upholstered booth, “You saw my early morning battle.”
I snorted while he carefully deposited his money in a zip-up pocket in his fleecy top.
“No, I heard it. Forcibly, might I add.” I swirled the cream on the surface of the mug of warm milk another waitress Chansey had provided me with, “What was it that got that crowd of yours so excited anyway?”
Jay smirked after swallowing a bite of croissant and said, with a mischievous grin, “Oh, you know, stuff.”
When I glared at him he raised his hands in mock-surrender and continued.
“Fine, fine, it was just a little move combo I taught ‘Ranger yesterday morning - hold the enemy down with Vine Whip and then strike hard with tackle.
"You know,” he continued, taking a gulp of coffee and wiping his mouth while giving me a beseeching look, “You’d do well to work out some combos of your own, your Pokémon could benefit it. After all, the other trainer never knows what to expect when you call out some random-sounding command.”

It was through that suggestion that the two of us ended up in a patch of long grass in Route 31 nearly an hour later, just east of Violet. The wind hissed through the grass like an Arbok on fire, flicking it about violently and occasionally blowing dust up into our eyes. I grimaced as we waded through the sea of green, hunching my shoulders protectively as I shielded my eyes from yet another blast.
“Not the best of weather!” Jay commented, glancing up at the unwelcoming sky with a frown, “But it’ll have to do!”
He released first Magenix and then Fidranger into the wide space between us as I stopped opposite him, considering having a go at teaching my two newest companions but quickly vetoing the idea in favour of Hades and Polienix.
The four materialised into the grass, Fidranger sitting back into the grass so that only the tips of her holly-leaf ears protruded and giving Hades a deadpan stare as he bounded up to her enthusiastically. Polienix and Magenix said their quick hellos and we were ready.
“Right.” Jay spoke up, raising his voice above the rustling grass, “It’ll take some imagination, but I think we can do this.
"First, you have to figure out what sort of natural weapons your Pokémon has. Claws, teeth, spines, flippers, elemental attacks, wings, you name it. Keep those in your mind’s eye while you remember the Pokémon’s existing moves and try to think of how to combine a few."
I nodded thoughtfully, chewing my lip, as I scrolled through first Polienix and then Hades’ move sets and limbs. A tail, legs, teeth, beak, feathers, paws, talons, claws… Ember, Powder Snow, Peck, Bite… I could tell Jay was doing the same as I through the deepening creases on his brow as it furrowed in thought.

After maybe three minutes, Jay spoke to Magenix.
"Try whipping up a gust attack," he said slowly, "And then using the winds to create a fire tornado, or something of the like." Magenix, who had been cruising lazily through the air and riding the insistent wind, clipped his tail feathers and lowered himself closer to his trainer.
“Wouldn’t that be nothing more than a glorified FireSpin, admiral?” he pointed out, landing on my friend’s shoulder to drag his yellow beak through his ruby plumage.
Jay shook his head, nearly dislodging his fire bird.
“No, FireSpin involves surrounding the enemy in flames to prevent movement. This will create a swirling pillar of flame that, hopefully, you’ll be able to control through additional gusts." He grinned, "Savvy?"
Although he didn't look too sure, Magenix nodded his acceptance and fluttered into the air.
'A flaming tail attack? No, it'll hurt Hades more than it will the opponent. Snow flick? Not sure. What about…'
I was too lost in my own thoughts to absorb all of what Jay was saying. I rattled through thought after thought, idea after idea when suddenly…

"Ray!"
Polienix cried out a warning from the air, but she was way too late. I simply looked up stupidly.
"Wha-"
Whoosh! Before I could so much as take another breath, Magenix released the best gust of wind he could muster from his short wings, absolutely pelting all those on the ground with dirt and grit.
"Argh!" I made the mistake of yelping, earning myself a mouthful of the stuff as I tried pathetically to shield my face from the wind with my arms.
"Magenix!" I heard Jay cry out, slightly muffled as though he had protected himself with the collar of his fleece - lucky sod.
"Magenix, STOP!"
"Right ho, el-captain!" I heard the bird respond, although he seemed to be slightly out of breath.
Slowly the howling gale died away, revealing two cowering dog Pokémon, Polienix holding onto a tree for all she was worth and Jay cowering behind his clothing. Magenix blushed as I spat out a mouthful of muck, the feathers across this face darkening with embarrassment.
"Well, err, it seems that I, um, lack the necessary, well, discipline to keep my gust attack into one, erm, towering tornado-type creation." he admitted, sweating, "Maybe a few levels later...?"
Jay shook his head doggedly, no.
"If you aim away from us," he decided avidly, "We can keep trying until we can control those winds!"

"Whaht's this 'we' he keeps tahlking ahbout?!" one of my Pokéballs exclaimed angrily, "Look aht ahll the sahnd in here! It's ah disgrahce!"
"You betcha." I agreed sourly, my mouth gritty and dry.
Silently wishing that I'd brought some kind of drink with me, I turned to Polienix who was still perched on her talon-torn branch.
"Alright." I croaked dustily as the wind picked up at my back, "How about we try some moves of our own, eh?"
Ignoring an insulted-sounding cry of "whaht is it with you humahns ahnd ahll these plurahls?" I started to explain to Polienix exactly what it was I wanted her to do.

"Understand?" I queried for the final time after five minutes explaining and then explaining again.
"Well…" Pol responded doubtfully, "I guess…"
She was hovering in the air above the grass clearing, trying to keep herself in one place even as her brother caused howling winds that were anything but Jay's dream of control behind her and I stood, partially hidden, in the meagre excuse for foliage lining the path. Fighting back the familiar twinge of paranoia at my recollection of the last brush I had with bush-bound things, I gave my uncertain companion the thumbs up.
"Alright then!"
With those words the sky above Polienix suddenly deepened into a much darker hue, turning threatening and black. The temperature dropped considerably and snow began to fall, faster and faster until it became a flurry of the pristine white powder. Polienix continued to call down the powder snow, pulling it to her until it was at least a foot deep right beneath her.
That done she landed in it, talons somehow avoiding sinking, and swept back her wing.
"Frozen flurry!" she declared and dug her wing, feather-tips down, into the snow.
Taking a deep breath she pulled hard, aiming to fling the snow in the direction her enemy would be…
And stayed there. Stuck.

Cheeping angrily to herself, she huffed, puffed and strained against the heavy weight, doing her downright best to complete my botched-up idea for an attack. Tiny claws scrabbling for purchase as she aided one wing with another, Pol didn't even hear my cries for her to stop.
"It's a failure of a plan!" I yelped, ploughing through the snow as I tried to reach her, "Stop, Pol, it isn't doing anything! You'll only hurt yourself!"
"No, no…" she persisted, wrenching even harder, "Look, it's…"
She stopped to sweatdrop as her wing came free, catapulting a full load of freezing cold mush into my face and causing me to fall splat on my back, limbs spread-eagled. I lay there, perfectly still, as I struggled to contain my temper.
"Well, it did work eventually!" Pol pointed out optimistically, appearing beside my shoulder and peering down at me.
I groaned. I couldn't take any more of her bloody "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" attitude. Whatever happened to the joys of sarcasm? Of being serious or pessimistic or…

"All happy people should be shot on the spot!" I finally screamed after two hours' worth of time wasted on combination techniques.
So far we had come up with one new move: dash into bushes as attack goes wild. Lifesaving in training, perhaps, although I had a strong feeling that its usefulness might well fade in proper battle.
Letting myself flop down onto a drier portion of ground I watched huge grey clouds rumble across the sky and listened distractedly as Jay ordered Magenix - who had been taking a break - to have one final try. I closed my eyes as the wind picked up again, replaying the nicer parts of my journey so far on the screen of my eyelids. I remembered freeing Polienix, first setting eyes on Olivine, Violet and Ecruteak, capturing Hades - albeit accidentally - and actually meeting a legendary! As all of it swirled and coursed through my head, like the slightly more controlled gust that was currently building near Magenix, I realised that the concept of time had failed me completely so far: I had no idea how long I had been on the road. A few weeks, perhaps. Maybe only one. I didn't know.
The sound of Jay's voice snapped me out of my silent reverie and I sat bolt upright as Magenix blew a mushroom of flickering flame into a fairly ground-hugging "tornado". The fire billowed out, twisting as it passed through the abnormal air currents, then passed through to the other side without much effect. Luckily the blaze didn't touch the grass, simply searing overhead and niftily through a hole in a bush before burning out completely.

"Yikes!" a voice screeched from the undergrowth as a familiar stick-shaped boy tumbled out of the bushes, arms crossed defensively as if to ward away the fire.
Standing up and whirling to face us, Alan was still decked out in shorts and a t-shirt, his cap sitting jauntily on the side of his head.
"You two!" he complained, "Watch it with the fire!"

He peered closer as he spoke, finding the girl who'd beaten him earlier sitting in the grass beside her bird Pokémon, a pile of melting snow in the centre of the clearing, Hades still trying to impress Fidranger and Jay and Magenix looking defeated at the failure of another attempt. I suppose two and two miraculously made four in his mind, as he jabbed a finger at us all.
"You're training your Pokémon!" he cried. Likely to be a rocket scientist when he grows up, eh?
"Or trying to." I corrected pessimistically, collapsing back into the prone position.
The boy considered this for a while before offering me a hand.
"I know a good place to train." He told me, "It's the best place for miles!"
My speculating gaze roved from hand to face, not entirely trusting. Jay, on the other hand… He perked right up. A chance to improve on the failure he and Magenix had experienced earlier? From the spark in his ocean eyes, I thought not, somehow…
Taking my chances, I accepted Alan's hand and he "helped" - read: hauled to the point in which I was just waiting for the pop as his arm fell off - me to my feet.
"It's that a-way." Alan informed us, "Y'know the big tower? I'll take ya there!"
I resisted the urge to slap my forehead and sink into the pit of "oh-my-gawd-I'm-so-stupid" oblivion. Instead, well…

Sprout Tower was taller than its burnt Ecruteakian counterpart. It was built of light coloured wood – perhaps oak – and had windows screened with rice paper going almost to the top. I wondered to myself as we approached the tower whether they were replaced each time it rained but Jay abolished that train of thought by pointing out the sliding shutters currently locked up in the walls. His face was set in a look of awe as we came closer, following the bounding Alan.
Inside, that same rice paper coloured the stormy outside light to a calming golden hue, although it was admittedly also quite gloomy. The walls were particularly hard (probably for training purposes) and men and women with shaved heads, their bodies decked out in starched white robes, stood silently in the corners or spoke among themselves. What surprised me most, however, was the central pillar.

“It… moves!” Polienix, mistress of the obvious, exclaimed as she flitted from my shoulder and over to the swaying wooden pillar.
“Well, that at least proves that I’m not hallucinating.” I muttered to myself darkly, unheard to Jay who was quick on Pol’s tail.
He placed a hand against the smooth surface, leaning over a fence probably placed there to stop people from doing exactly what he had just done to get at the pillar.
“Amazing…” the boy murmured, his eyes practically gleaming at this phenomenon.
“I don’t see how this is-”
“The tower is said to be built around the body of a giant Bellsprout.” A wizened old voice interrupted him, although not unkindly, “What you are touching is its plant-like stem.”
The speaker was a wrinkled specimen of male humanity, stooped with age and leaning heavily on a walking stick. Unlike the Sprout sages that hung about this man wore a knobbly green jumper with leather patches over the elbows, completing the ensemble with tattered cream corduroys.

Jay, naturally, didn’t care what the mysterious man looked like.
“You know a lot about the tower then?” he inquired hopefully.
“Oh of course, young man.” responded the guy, slapping a hand on my companion’s shoulder and steering him away from the pillar, “Now, nearly 200 years ago…”

I sighed as he started a long, meaningless talk on the tower’s history and turned away to leave him to it. Together, Polienix, Alan and I gave the “Bellsprout” one last pat before making our way past a busy white-robed Sage up onto the first floor.
“Boring historic stuff,” Alan sniffed disgustedly once we were out of earshot, “The good thing around here is the training and exploring opportunities!”
I raised my eyebrows at him, “Exploring?” but all he did in reply was shoot me an aggravating smirk and continue up, leaving me to stew behind him.
On the second floor up, a floor devoid of distracting things like Sages, trainers or old men with no fashion sense, we stopped and I released Hades and, with somewhat more hesitance, Raijin from their Pokéballs. Alan quickly followed suit with Smeargle and Metapod.
“Ahbout time.” Raijin spluttered, glaring at Hades who snarled right back, “Stupid humahn and her stupid slahve dog.”
I ignored him as he went on to insult Smeargle, every bit of abuse lost on the dim-witted creature, and held my forth Pokéball, the one containing my most recent of catches, near my face.
“Hey, Arina?” I spoke gently, “I’m going to let you out to meet the others and learn a few more moves, alright?”
I was being careful for a reason: Arina the Spinarak had a bad case of what Magenix had dubbed “all-things-living-especially-humans-phobia”… basically the most yellow belly I’d ever heard of. The last thing I wanted was to end up chasing the slippery little spider around the whole of Sprout tower, making a complete arse of myself while doing so.

I carefully tapped the bottom of the ball against my palm and the red beam filtered out onto the floor, forming the shape of a tiny little creature. Arina was spider shaped, complete with yellow legs, a green body and blue stripes that circled her bulk in concentric circles. For a second she just sat there, twin red fangs twitching open and closed as she looked about, but it didn't last long.
"AHHHHHHHH!" she screamed, seeing me, "HUMAAAAAAAN!"
Firing up her little legs, the Spinarak shot away from me as I grabbed for her and whizzed off to hide behind Raijin, who gave her a scathing look.
"How pahthetic, Spinahrahk." he commented, "Running from ah simple humahn when whaht you reahlly should be running from is ME!"
At the last word he whipped his long tail at the shivering arachnid and she took off like an athlete from the blocks. Not fast enough, I realised as she got a whipping to the behind that sent her spinning off course into Hades' rump, the impact knocking her down and out instantly.
"Dour?" Hades woofed questioningly, looking over his shoulder inquisitively at Arina's twitching body as Alan nearly busted a gut laughing.

I glared at the boy menacingly and lifted my newest Pokémon from the ground.
"It's not funny." I sniffed, returning Arina, "Now, let's get started."
Wiping a tear from his eye, Alan swallowed his laughter.
"I should tell you," he warned, "When we start training the Bellsprout notices the difference and makes the air go all hazy and stuff. My mum called it a… a weak parararalysing agent." He told me, proud of his vocabulary even though I doubted he even knew what it meant, let alone how to pronounce it.
"It won't actually paralyse any of us," he continued, "But it'll make it harder to move so the Pokémon have to work harder to move. That's why Sprout is such a great place to train!"
"Sounds lovely." Raijin commented sarcastically from the corner, "There's nothing better thahn ah good cahse of pahrahlysis."
Ignoring him and his attitude, I shrugged, "I doubt it's to do with some Bellsprout, but let's get this show on the road."

Although Alan protested angrily to my disbelief over the existence of a Bellsprout whose head he was obsessed with, we got started with a quick fight between Smeargle and Polienix to "wake up the sprout". Although it wasn't meant to be a full blown battle, I couldn't help but feel that Alan was doing his best to order a knock-out move without my noticing, probably to get back at me for defeating him earlier. Hah, like that was going to happen!
"Polienix, quick attack!" I ordered, grinning at Alan as he nearly crushed Smeargle's Pokéball in his hands.
"Counter!" he rapped out, talking the time to grin back and flick the Pokéball up and down thrice as he revealed his Pokémon's third attack.
I frowned, counter? It sounded fairly strong, but I wasn't sure…
"PooollEE!" cried Polienix, surprising me completely with her sudden lack of English.
The arctic bird folded in her right wing to her side at the last second, ploughing shoulder-first into Smeargle. The normal type took the hit with a stagger, but dropped its tail to latch onto its attacker with both hands as she sailed past. Polienix let out a squawk as Smeargle used her own momentum to smash her head first into the ground, taking fairly heavy damage.
She scrabbled at the boarded floor with wings and talons to pull herself out of range, only a bit too late.
"Megapunch!"
"Pol, watch out!" I yelled as Smeargle balled its fist and hurled it into her side.
Cheeping in pain she struggled into the air, but now I could see just how heavy a toll the battle was taking on her. In fact… I blinked wearily, that made two of us. All my muscles were so tired…

"Pol, trust me on this one!" I struggled out as I massaged my temples, "Fly up high and just dive bomb it!"
She looked at me, looking a little confused at my command as it wasn't any move she knew. But suddenly it clicked and she flapped higher.
"Hey Smeargle!" she called confidently, sounding scarily like yours truly in an unofficial fight, "Eat beak!"
With that she dropped like a stone, aiming right for her enemy's chest. Smeargle simply stared at her dumbly.
"A-hah!" I crowed, "Your Pokémon's too dumb to realise tha-"
Alan just grinned smugly as his normal type leapt aside at the last second, barely managing to pull its tail out of the way in time to avoid Polienix as she flared her wings to break and soared again.
"Ray!" a familiar voice from the stairs called out, "Polienix takes too long to dive so Smeargle can see where she's coming from!"
I glanced back to see Jay standing in the doorway, eyes fixated on the fight.
"You need to do something to blind your opponent or speed up the attack." He explained, apparently out of breath from climbing up to this level.

"Blind it?" I murmured, "But…"
"Smeargle, let's have some KFC!" Alan cried just as the ideal move struck me.
While Smeargle rapidly painted signs in the air with its long, ropey tail I called out to Pol, "You have to try it again! Only first this time… create lots of snow with your powder snow attack and then use gust to fill the air with it! Trust me," I added, now finding it hard to breathe as well as move, "It'll work!"
Although she too looked like she was suffering from whatever was getting me down, Polienix nodded and suddenly the temperature in the room dropped considerably. To start with, the only sign of an oncoming powder snow technique was a build up of frost on the window frames, but then the light material began to form in the air… air that was already hazy?! Suddenly it hit me: the strange… that stuff! That Alan was talking about! Was it really meant to be quite this thick though?

Even when Polienix whipped up a quick gust, dowsing Smeargle's flamethrower before it properly formed and sending the air and everything in it swirling about, the powder got thicker and thicker 'til it was practically smog. The snow didn't help, no, not at all… I couldn't see anything anymore and I felt more sleepy than "parararalysed". Drowsily I heard Jay break out into a coughing fit from behind me and a thud from Smeargle's direction, but then everything wen-

* * *

When I woke up again, I was lying face down on what appeared to be a smooth, slightly curved floor of wood. I ached all over but what hit me the most was a wave of nausea that ebbed and flowed across my confused mind, making it seem almost as though I were being rocked back and forth. Groggily, I shook my head and carefully levered myself up, wincing at the hurt from bruises forming on my bruises. Lovely.
Now leaning on my extended arms, I looked around through amber eyes. Although it seemed as though I was in a long, endless wooden tube without anything even vaguely resembling a window, an eerie green light lit up the tunnel as though we were in some sort of cellophane container. Very careful I shifted into a crouching position, only to have my leg brush against something scaly and cold.
"Yah!" I yelped before I could stop myself as the scaly thing shifted against the contact.
" 'Yah' yourself." Raijin's voice responded thickly as the little dragon squirmed away from me and up onto unsteady claws.
The testy Mydral rolled his head on his neck and stretched forward like a cat, his golden eyes never leaving mine. Although it sounded fairly stupid to me, him being far from incapable of sending a fatal jolt of electricity through my system, I had this sudden feeling that he was actually somewhat scared of me, in whatever way. To this day I have no idea why, but such a concept only added to my cautious approach to the creature.

I swallowed that emotion away, wondering if "they can sense your fear" applied to Raijin but not about to wait and find out. Instead I got up, stretched and looked about.
"I wonder where the others are." I wondered out loud, glancing down only to find that my Pokémon was striding off the other way.
"Hey, wait!"
Raijin sniffed in what I first assumed was contempt as I jogged after him.
"Tell me," he ordered calmly, stopping for a second to sniff again before moving off in the same direction as before, "Is thaht disgusting thing in the middle of your fahce ah growth or ah nose?"
I scowled before moving into a jog to keep up.
"What do you think?!" I demanded, "That it's here for aesthetic purposes?"
Raijin barked out his amusement, coughing and spluttering on his laughter.
"Most… certahnly not!" he chortled, forced to stop to catch his breath and either ignoring my angry appearance or simply not noticing.
Finally returning to a more sombre mind, he continued, "I never thought it could do anything much, let ahlone meahsure the scent of the ahr." he extended a paw, pointing at a sloping curve in the wall beyond which I couldn't see, "Your slahve dog is there, ahlong with that braht and his motionless bug. You should know thaht, humahn girl."
I rolled my eyes, already expecting the nasty comment about Hades from Mydral, but none came. Surprised, I looked down to see him frowning deeply.
"What?" I inquired coaxingly, an involuntary shiver coursing up my spine as I realised that Raijin actually looked worried.
"Why should it mahtter to you, humahn?" he demanded, whirling around and covering up whatever expression he had held before with a sneer, "We should go the-"

Afraid of what I was going to see, I glanced over my shoulder to see what had cut Raijin off. But my fear quickly turned to bewilderment when I found that all that was there was a strange coloured plant Pokémon I instantly recognised: Bellsprout. Standing at about the same level as my knee, its root-like body swayed as if blown on by an invisible wind as it slid forwards.

Yes, I did just say slid. And not by accident, either.

Because that was what it was doing! It was impossible to discern between floor and Bellsprout leg as it advanced, almost as if it were… attached. Creepy in itself, but what didn't help was the crinkled brown colour of the leaves that made up this Bellsprout's arms and the rotting look given off by its withered tulip head. Of course, that missed out the creepiest part of this particular Pokémon - the long, hollow-looking fangs that dipped from top and bottom of its mouth.
It wasn't threatening on the scale of Entei or Mechyena, but I could tell that this fermenting little plant meant business.
"Uhh, Raijin?" I said tentatively, reaching out slightly with my hands for the comfort of his bulk while my eyes remained on the Bellsprout.
"It's not normahl." he conceded, "But it shahll leahrn the overwhelming might of Rahijin!"

With that he leapt forward to face the other Pokémon, baring his sharp teeth menacingly as his tail sliced through the air behind him, nearly clipping my leg. Bellsprout didn't seem fazed in the least; instead it let out a low, guttural sound and continued forwards unfazed. To say the least, Raijin disliked that reaction. He snarled and lightning bolts sprung up across his body. Without saying a word, I stepped out of strike range, not wanting a repeat of last time I came into close contact with that particular energy.
With a draconian battle cry, my Pokémon leapt forward, releasing an electrifying Thundershock as he barrelled towards Bellsprout. The attack hit home, leaving it blackened and unsteady, but as Raijin landed and aimed for a quick headbutt with the last of his momentum the little creature bit out and attached itself to his horn-shaped ear. Letting out a deafening howl as Bellsprout sucked his energy from the puncture wound Raijin struck out hard with his claws, tearing the attacker from his ear and practically into ribbons before flicking it like a rag doll into the wall. It collapsed to the floor, crumpled and beaten, and Raijin smirked, turning back to me.
"I told you th-"
He was cut off by a splooting sound as two more Dracula Bellsprout formed from the ground. Both went for the electric type but he was ready for them this time, stunning one and pushing it back with electricity while smacking the other into the ground with a heavy tackle.

"Idiots! Fools!" he cried hysterically as six more returned alongside the wounded pair, "No-one cahn beaht me, no-one!"
I stumbled back as he went all out; pummelling grass Pokémon like there was no tomorrow. But no matter how many he took down, more and more would return, their pale eyes glinting in the light of Raijin's frenzied bolts. I was so immersed in watching the little dragon fight that I didn't even notice that I had problems of my own… until one sank its little fangs into my calf muscle!
"OW!" I screamed instantly, shaking my leg reflexively and pulling the Bellsprout from its connection with the floor.
The blood-sucking creature held fast, my actions doing more damage to myself than anything else. Grabbing the first Pokéball on my belt, the large, carved surface of Polienix's Regenball suddenly under my fingertips, I threw it at the Bellsprout, the sheer force of the impact knocking it off.
I quickly snatched up the Regenball and stomped on the Bellsprout-creature for extra measure even as it sunk into the welcoming ground. I wasn't stupid though; I knew perfectly well what was coming next. Of course, I had no way of predicting where from and when a ninja-duo of Bellsprout dropped from the roof onto my back they caught me completely unprepared. My arms flailing wildly, I managed to direct my movements enough to smash my back into the smooth wall repeatedly until they dropped off, dazed.

Still, despite those minor victories I lacked the amazing reaction time that blessed Raijin and took bite after bite, puncture after puncture. After an attack of seven at once I leapt back, only to trip over yet another foe and fall flat on my back.
I had just enough time to see Raijin finally get the lesson through the skulls of his enemies and force them to retreat before my own were on me, sinking in teeth and wrapping roots around limbs. I cried out, unable to get up, as thin trickles of blood started to flow from the wounds, eagerly absorbed by the ground that I was now almost certain was alive.
I was on the edge of wondering insanely how pathetic it would be to be killed by a group of whacked-out plants when a bolt of electricity seared three Bellsprout from my leg.
"NO!" Raijin cried, following the first Thundershock with a larger second that hit us all, "It's my revenge, MINE!"

I couldn't even consider the implications of what he had just said as the lightning coursed through my body like liquid fire, burning and hurting as my nerve endings screamed for it to stop. But it didn't and soon all but the most determined Bellsprout were gone, blown away by the sheer intensity of the electricity. Mydral wasn't letting up the attack either, even though he could have taken out the rest physically. Instead he kept it up, face moulded into a look of pure agony and rage.
"DOUR!"
The furious bark rang in my ears as a spurt of flame blasted through the air overhead, slamming home into Raijin's unprotected face and sending him falling back in pain. The attack broke and suddenly I could breathe again, a flash of black, silver and orange leaping past to whack into the fallen Mydral.
I strained to lift my head to see what was happening as a series of snarls and growls followed, but it was no good. Although I could feel the paralysing effect of the attack slowly fading from my lower legs and feet, replaced by a steady, painful throb, movement of my neck was out of the question for now. Instead my eyes strained to see through the corner of my eyes. It took nearly a minute but, after much straining, I managed to focus.

And just in time, too. Hades had Raijin pinned to the ground with one heavy paw and had his teeth bared, ready to deal the final blow.
"Hade…" I called pathetically, the pain I'd glimpsed as Mydral had shocked me engraved in my mind, "…Don't!"
He looked up, a pleading look in his eyes, but I just about managed to hand-signal for him to stand down. Growling at Raijin he backed off, never bearing his back as he moved away. The dragon picked himself up in the most prideful manner he could muster and glared at Hades, re-adjusting the lay of his wings against his scaled back.
"Come now," he said silkily, his gaze moving back to me as I struggled to move my legs and then torso.
"It's not like I wahs ahiming to kill her."
What scared me most was that just couldn't bring myself to believe him. Not at all.

* * *

After I finally regained the strength to walk we moved on, Hades and Raijin staying purposefully on either side of the path as I restrained myself from glancing over my shoulder every few seconds. It was hard work: once when I failed I caught a glimpse of crinkled leaf just disappearing back far enough to be shielded by the curve and I could feel their eyes boring holes into the back of my neck. And that was excluding the threat Raijin provided.
We reached the end of the curve and back onto the straight just as I stopped dead. Straight ahead, Alan was sprawled out on the ground, still unconscious, with his hat lying a few feet away. To the left lay Metapod, struggling and failing to move, and to the right… Bellsprout. Their fangs glinting as they moved in for the kill.
"Hades, ember!" I cried, pointing at the deadly plants that were only inches from their goal.
The creatures froze at the sound, their heads jerking up and pearly eyes flickering as they focused on me. Wrong place, fools! While they were eying me up for life content, they missed Hades throwing wide his mouth and letting out a spurt of flame. It struck the Bellsprout and they went up like dry grass, flailing about before collapsing into the floor again.

"Careful," I warned my Pokémon, "They regenerate."
No sooner had the words left my lips, I was proven correct when six more demons splurted up from the wooden ground behind the fire puppy, each loosing a mouthful of seeds onto his back. Hades howled as the little seeds split and grew into tiny plants, each burying their roots into him in an attack I recognised from Jay's battle against Magenix: leech seed.
"Bite those Bellsprout!" I cried, hopping back before the closest one could sink its teeth into my leg.
Hades was too busy thrashing to listen, however, his thick nails and sharp teeth gouging deep gashes into the floor and his own flanks as he struggled to remove the life-sucking plants.
I growled, "Alright freaks!" and grabbed one just beneath the head, tugging it from the ground and flinging it against the wall. If Raijin was only fighting to save his own skin and Hades too busy wailing to help, I wasn't going to just sit about and let us lose!
With the addition of a 5' 8" girl to the fray, things got completely out of control in record time. I had to aim my attacks low in order to hit the tiny little things, stooping and bending oddly as I did my best to fight without falling. And soon Mydral found himself battling it out once again against the life-suckers, fast on his feet as he resorted to a hit-and-retreat strategy to avoid coming close to Hades or I.

"Hai-eep!" I squalled, trying to come in fast to a Bellsprout that was attacking Raijin from the side, only to trip over Hades as he backed out of another's reach.
Landing hard on my knees and swallowing a further yelp, I crawled out of the way before any fangs could get any closer and decided that I'd do better taking up the typical trainer's position: those things were just too small for me to really fight.
I'd just drawn in breath to warn Hades of a small group of Bellsprout behind him when a ringing bark reached my ears. In a flash, a malevolent mass of shaggy charcoal fur leapt into the scrimmage, making short work of seven foes as he took another up in his jaws and shook it like a rag doll. If these had been proper Pokémon, creatures that screamed when hurt and lay down in submit when beaten I was sure my conscious would be roaring at me now that Cerberus was adding his brute strength to the cause. And I tell you, seeing that Mightyena fight was sending a chill up my spine even though he as on my side - a side-effect of his intimidate ability.
"Come on, kid, get up." I heard Jay himself order over the sounds of battle.
I looked up to see my tawny haired companion bent over Alan, shaking the boy by the shoulder as he stirred just slightly. Jay's face was set into a worried frown, glancing over his shoulder nervously. He switched back distractedly just in time to see Alan convulse, scrubbing at his eyes and giving a tiny dry cough.

"W-what's going on?" the trainer burbled, pulled to his feet by Jay's grasp on his upper arm, "Metapod…" he croaked, reaching out for the Pokémon.
He was obviously still confused, that dozy state of half-consciousness still limiting his thoughts into a hazy blur. While Hades performed another quick ember, barely missing Raijin who snarled angrily and smacked a Bellsprout enemy in the dog's direction, Alan picked up his fairly immobile Pokémon, blinking repeatedly. He looked ready to just stand there for a while to catch up with what was going on but Jay pushed him on, calling for Magenix, Polienix and Fidranger who appeared, sweating, from further along down the tunnel. Polienix in particular looked terrified and tired, my heart shooting out to her.
"Pol!" I called out to her, grinning stupidly as her head whipped around to look at me.
She looked so happy to see me… but her expression changed completely to that of fear as her black eyes strayed to the furious fight between dog, dragon and vampire plant that was going on between us. I wanted to go out and comfort her, but Jay seemed determined on moving.

"Come on already!" he cried as he bustled towards the battle combatants and I, "Raven, we have to get going now!"
"But-" I started, gesturing to the battle with a look of confusion.
"It doesn't matter!" my friend practically screamed, glancing back over his shoulder again in a look of pure fear, "We move or we die, you hear me?!"
Oh yes, I heard that. But I still didn't know what got that look into Jay's eyes, didn't know what we were actually meant to be fleeing.

As I contemplated this all, Jay simply charged straight through the middle of the fight, pulling Alan behind him and signalling to Cerb. The big dog responded immediately, bounding after Jay before whirling around and baring his yellowed teeth threateningly. With a snap of thick, woody vines Fidranger flattened a few Bellsprout to the walls, pinning them just below the chins to avoid being bitten as she barked encouragingly to the other Pokémon and I.
"Get a move on!" she yapped, the berry-translated voice I'd never heard before reminding me distinctively of that of a woman in her mid-thirties I used to know.
Hades, Magenix and Polienix were quick to comply, racing off after Jay who had broken into a run, but Raijin waited a second longer, his golden eyes sparkling as he tilted his delicate muzzle to the side. His expression soured quickly.
"I see." he muttered, prior to chasing after the rest of them.
Fidranger growled at me and I too turned, running after our motley group of bird, beast and human. Behind me, Fidranger gave the Bellsprout a complimentary slam into the wall before dropping them to the ground and following us, Cerberus trotting after her as soon as she passed him.

Knowing that they were behind me I sped up to gain on Jay, grimacing as I saw how Hades was struggling. With his short, heavily built body the puppy really wasn't built for long distance or speed. He panted and struggled, loosing more and more ground until I scooped him up into my arms with a grunt.
"You've gotta cut down on the pork chops, boy." I informed him as I shifted his weight in my arms, knowing full well that running like for any real length of time this would be difficult/impossible.
"What're we running from?" I heard Alan ask Jay, his voice marred by gasps for air.
Jay too was sweating but his voice was a little better. Bigger lungs, I suppose.
"I doesn't matter." He replied, his face grim, "We just don't want to slow down."
As I puzzled over this mystery, my arms beginning to ache with each pounding step, we reached a section of the tunnel that weaved in and out, making it impossible to run in a straight line for longer than a few steps. The constant turning, shifting my weight from one side to the other to manage to curves at speed, soon became torturous, lactic acid screaming through my veins.
Gritting my teeth, I held Hades in one arm while reaching for his Pokéball with the other. It was a tricky process, slowing me down to the back of the group, but finally I had the ball in my hand and managed to aim it at the heavy Houndour.
"Return!" I panted triumphantly, watching as the red beam… wrapped itself around the ball before disappearing completely?
"Crap!" I cried, stuffing the ball angrily into my pocket and barely avoiding a nasty slam into the wall as I cursed this place and it abnormalities, "Hades, you're going to have to run under your own steam."

He didn't look too happy as I dropped him, his nails scrabbling on the wood to catch up the time he had lost, but I shot him an encouraging look and he gave me a doggy smile in return. We ran on together, only a few feet behind the others, until we got out of the windy area and back onto a lovely straight. I squinted, trying to see past our companions, as something purple and wet-looking caught my eye. It seemed to be some sort of opening, but I couldn't see anything more than that.
Suddenly I blinked, glancing over my shoulder. Was that some sort of rumbling I heard? It reminded me vaguely of when the huge Malmarsh sewers were pumped to get out the Grimer, huge amounts of water used to flush the poisonous beasts out. But this didn't sound the same, not really. It didn't have the same rushing undertones that water carried…
"Jay…" I started as we came to a stop in front of the opening, which appeared to have just… closed.
"What the hell is following us?"
He wet his lips nervously, glancing to the purple, oozing end to the tunnel that was currently sealed shut.
"You'll see." He replied, biting the inside of his lip before pulling out his Pokédex along with some sort of green card.

Inserting the card into the metallic red 'Dex, Jay hit a few buttons and read quickly and silently from the glowing screen before snapping it shut. Taking a deep breath, he turned back to us.
"I think… No, I know where we are." He informed us, "Inside the Bellsprout that makes up Sprout tower's main pillar. Your battle with Alan got us… eaten."

Everyone aside from Jay, even Raijin, blinked like he was mad. Eaten? What was this boy on? You can't be eaten by a tower pillar!
"Give me a break!" I choked, stunned by the sheer magnitude of his statement, "We can't be eaten, I mean… that's just impossible! If that were true, we'd be in the process of being digested by now!"
Jay's expression didn't change, his dark brows straight and sea green eyes suddenly icy serious.
"If you want proof, Raven," he said slowly, one hand going to his pocket even as the insistent roaring increased in volume down the tunnel, "I'll give it to you."
He withdrew his Pokédex from his pocket, the metallic red appearing a muddy brown colour in the emerald light, and aimed it at the wall. The blue light over the sensor lit up instantly and computerised words I most certainly didn't want to hear rushed into my head.
       "Bellsprout, the flower Pokémon. Bellsprout's thin and flexible body lets it bend and sway to avoid any attack, however strong it may be. From its mouth, this Pokémon spits a corrosive fluid that melts even iron."
The tawny haired boy didn't even loosen his gaze's hold on my horrified face as he pressed a different button on his Pokédex and its pre-programmed voice started up again.
      "Bellsprout's main hunting technique is to coax prey into its pitcher-shaped head using an alluring perfume. It then seals its mouth, using either poison powder, stun spore or sleep powder to terminate any further resistance. Should this Pokémon be unable to capture food through this technique, it initiates a combination of two of the three moves normally used within the mouth to stun prey before taking them into the body where further processes shrink the prey to the correct size for ingestion."

It went on, delving deep into the subject of Bellsprout's digestive processes and further proving Jay's point as everything fit in. Although I hate to admit it, I was feeling distinctly faint. What could I do to fight an opponent that was bigger than me already and had now shrunk me to fit my body and those of my companions into its innards? This was, to put it into simple and bratty terms, so not fair!
As his Pokédex finished its in-depth explanation, Jay snapped it shut and shoved it back into his pocket. He gave me a weak smile, although I can't say it was encouraging.
"Not on the job description, eh?" he joked pathetically, his voice strained.
When I didn't respond he shook his head, "Mine neither."
"I spent all my time looking for this thing!" Alan suddenly wailed, clutching his cracking Metapod even closer to his skinny body as he tipped back his head to complain louder, "But now I just want it to go away! Now!"
"Quit your useless humahn yahpping, weahkling!" Raijin ordered, the boy's shrill tone making him flick back his long, horn-like ears in disgust, "We hahve worse things to worry ahbout now, like thaht!"
He stabbed one golden claw back in the direction we'd just come from and Fidranger and Hades let out simultaneous howls of fear.

Bearing down on us at full speed came a squirming wall of crinkled brown and rotting green, pale pearly eyes piercing the writhing mass of Bellsprout absorption drone. Although Jay's Pokédex had just told us that they were nothing but mindless minions of the main creature, I would have sworn that those hideous little eyes carried vengeful malice, almost like something from a horror film. They'd be on us in seconds.
"What the hell do we do!" I despaired, already bracing myself for the brute force of those numbers crushing me into the sludge behind us, "There's no way we can fight that many!"
Raijin, determined to the end, did his best to prove me wrong, letting out a rain of sparks, but he was still far too tired to do much damage anyway and the minuscule indent he created filled itself up in a jiff. I really and truthfully thought we were going to die…
"Back!" Polienix cried, leaping from the ground and sending a wave of blue light crashing into the advancing mass of plant.
"Go… away!"
She struggled against the enemy, psychic power slowly bending away from their weight as sweat broke out across her brow. For such a little Pokémon, she was doing such a great job… but they were still going to get through.
"The exit! It's opening!" Raijin cried and my head whipped around to see the gloopy hole slowly start to grow in size.
It didn't take a genius, however, to realise that it wasn't moving fast enough. Exchanging glances, Jay and I nodded and each grasped a side of the opening, pulling for our lives. Quite literally. We tugged and pulled at the entrance as the Pokémon looked on helplessly, none of them owners of thumbs. I heard Alan sobbing quietly on the floor behind me, heard Polienix's grunts as she struggled to maintain supremacy, and pulled.

"One, two, three!" Jay hollered and we hauled with all our strength… only to have our hands slip on the moist surface and fall backwards onto the ground.
The psychic barrier bent further.
"It's no use!" Jay exclaimed, "We have to wait for it to open at its own speed."
"We don't have time!" I responded hopelessly, "Polienix can't hold them off much longer!"
As if in response, the little bird let out a tiny wail, the protective barrier buckling under the bulk weight of all those Bellsprout. A feeling of dread swarmed through the group - how were we ever…
"Metapod!" Alan suddenly cried out in horror, dropping his Pokémon to the ground.
My head twirled around just in time to see the hairline cracks widen and spread across the shining green carapace, opening wider and wider to reveal something black and white beneath. As Polienix struggled harder against our enemies, bright white light suddenly streamed through the cracks in Metapod's armour, scything through the air and causing a few Bellsprout to wince back. In a final throb, the searing light burst through the green, shattering Metapod apart like the shell of an egg. Slowly the light faded away, revealing a fluttering butterfly-Pokémon with a deep purple body and long, hanging aquamarine legs beneath. Huge ruby red eyes lit up furiously and, with a powerful beat of its brand-new black-veined wings, the creature propelled itself forward to hover beside Pol.
"F-Freee!" it cried defiantly, those massive eyes glowing even brighter.
With another flap of its wings, the Pokémon added the strength of its mind to that of Polienix, thrusting the living wall back nearly five metres.
"M-m-metapod…" Alan stammered, pulling out his Pokédex and holding it in a wavering hand.
"Butterfree, the butterfly Pokémon."
it explained, "Butterfree has a superior ability to search for delicious honey from flowers. It can even search out, extract and carry honey from flowers that are blooming over six miles from its nest."

"Butter-FREE!" the psychic bug creature trumpeted in response, its long, curved antennae flicking impatiently.
"Butterfree says… to get a move on!" Polienix translated breathlessly.
I glanced back, "Yeah! The gate's open!"
My words acted an awful lot like the first sight of the finish line after a long distance race; everyone instantly leaping forwards to be first out. Even Jay, who I thought to be fairly level-headed, joined in the jam as Alan, Raijin, Fidranger, Magenix, Hades, Cerberus and I attempted to force our way through the poor, straining gap. For a second we all struggled, quite possibly stuck, but suddenly something that felt like a huge hand rammed into our behinds, sending the whole group flying through with a resounding pop. Polienix and Butterfree were quick to follow, the two part-psychic types diving through the hole just as it started to close again. Spinning around, Alan's new bug forced the entrance closed behind us before collapsing onto Alan's head. It really did look tired.
"Well." Jay's voice murmured after ten second's just-made-it silence, "This is fairly disgusting."
I looked over to find him picking himself up off the uneven floor, huge globs of green guck plastering his loose jeans to his legs. With a revolted look on his face, the tawny-haired boy reached up one hand and wiped a globule of the alien substance from his forehead.
"This must be something akin to stomach acid." He informed us, "Although Bellsprout anatomy is entirely different from our own, I'm certain that this is the second stage for breaking down food… like some sort of mixed up intestine…"
In unison, Alan, the Pokémon and myself cast bulging eyes to the muck we were each prostrated in and leapt to our feet with combined cries of "ewww!" and "sick!" Jay watched us with the non-involved expression of an analysing scientist as we clawed at afflicted clothing and skin before adding the remaining 25p to the dish.
"It should take a long amount of time before it affects anyone, mind." He gave me a pointed expression as I growled before continuing, "In theory, we'll have escaped before this stuff so much as starts dissolving any skin."
"In theory?!" Fidranger howled, up to her chest in slime, "You don't really think that theory alone is going to change my outlook on this situation, do you?!"
"Well-" Jay started, only to be cut off by a 'shhh' from Alan's direction.
"Listen…" the boy murmured, "Is that someone crying?"

I cocked my head to the side and, indeed, the wet sniffling sound of a distressed entity warbled over to me.
"What d'you think it is?" Pol wondered in the curious yet cautious tone I was growing so used to.
I shrugged, no idea, but moved forwards with my ears straining. Beneath my feet the green sludge trembled but didn't give way and I pressed on down the much wider tunnel, huge protrusions of gunk hanging down from the high ceiling like malleable stalactites.
"Ray, watch it." Magenix warned, although without much conviction.
Like the previous section, this passage with lit by some unknown source of light. Only this time it wasn't half as bright and shadows reigned about six metres in front of me, leaving the trail to go on indefinitely in smothering darkness. I squinted into it as the slop slop of my friends' feet, paws and claws into the sludge started up behind me, hoping to extend my vision at least a bit. To no avail, unfortunately, but I soon came to a bulbous lump in the sludge that was shuddering at regular intervals. Extending an experimental finger, I lightly prodded the bulge and was rewarded with a sharp squeak.
"D-don't eat me!" the familiar voice begged, two crimson mandibles surfacing through the sludge.
"Don't worry; I'm not a big fan of spider soup, myself." I assured her as Arina's spherical head followed the lead of her mouthparts.
"Oh no…" she whimpered weakly, "Humans."
She tried pathetically to move away from me as I dug my arms through the sludge beneath her and scooped her up, but her strength was almost gone. Cooing to her as the Spinarak struggled and moaned, I stood up and faced the others.
"Let's get moving," I suggested, "If this stuff had this sort of effect on her already, I really don't think we should wait about."

Jay was the only one not to nod in agreement, shaking his head and muttering about how the acid wouldn't do anything much for some time again. That didn't mean that he didn't follow us though, our motley band slogging our way through the sludge towards whatever exit there might be. It was hard work, especially when we stepped over some sort of sudden drop and found ourselves with goop up to mid-thigh on Jay and I. It was up to waist level on poor Alan; Fidranger and Hades had disappeared entirely aside for two straining muzzles and had to attach themselves to Cerberus's side to keep moving.
Raijin was the worst though. His enormous wingspan just wouldn't allow him to get into the air and there was no way he was latching onto Cerb like Hades and Fidranger had done. Instead he struggled, hissing at Jay when the boy moved to help him out, and muttered angrily about "no bloody updrahft" and "pahthetic slahve dog". He howled angrily when Polienix and Butterfree finally yanked him into the air with their psychic strength, only Magenix's promise of barbequed dragon steak stopping the furious Mydral from blasting bug and bird with as many volts as he could muster.

"This… bites…" I panted as the light started to fade as well, shifting Alan on my shoulders and glancing over at Jay who had taken charge of Arina.
"You're not the one being dragged through this muck by your battle partner!" Fidranger snapped shrilly, her paws buried in Cerberus's thick coat.
"Maybe so," I argued, "but I am carrying someone only fifteen damn centimetres shorter than me!"
The grass Pokémon just sighed in exasperation and put her head down on Cerb's ragged back. I shot her a nasty smirk, but it dropped as soon as I took another step, forcing my protesting muscles to carry me further.
In the fading light I couldn't even see where I was going properly, instead focusing my attention on taking step after step with the weight of one small boy pressing me down. Every time I lifted up a foot the goo clung on and tried to pull it back. It was like having weights tied to my heels and it really, really didn't help. Fatigue was setting in faster than I was comfortable with; I was just about to give in and beg for a rest when my ears picked up the faintest of sounds - a rushing and roaring noise I hadn't expected in the least. Was that…

I sat on the bank, my chin resting on my knees as I watched the crystalline stream gush by over rocks and sand. I was wearing a little kid's swimming costume, with wide shoulder straps and multicoloured fish all over the fabric. Tugging uncomfortably at the costume, I stared as a whole shoal of orange and white Goldeen swam past with their tails trailing behind them like silken dresses.
With the comforting sound of my parents voices as they chatted about who-knows-what behind me, I gathered up my courage and stumbled up, the grass scratching at the soles of my feet. The more I thought about it, the less threatening the water looked. I knew I was meant to swim in the lake but it just looked so big, whereas this tiny little stretch of water looked much more inviting.
After a short battle of nerves I held my nose shut in one slightly chubby hand, bent my knees and jumped.
"Raven!" I heard my father's voice cry just before I hit the water but if it was stopping me he was aiming for he'd waited far too long.
The water erupted around me in sheets of liquid, only to crash back down on my head as I plummeted under. The river was freezing against my skin, forcing my mouth open in a sharp yelp of surprise that trailed bubbles up to the surface. Luckily for me it wasn't very deep - just deep enough to put a foot of water between a five year old and the air - and I managed to propel myself up to the surface off the bottom… although not in a straight line.

As my face broke the surface, gasping for air, I felt the current tug at me full-force. It jerked me back under and carried me away from my parents running towards me, so much stronger than I could ever be. The water gurgling and screaming in my ears, I was plunged deeper and thrown back up again by the river's sheer force, what had looked like a playful little stream now seeming as playful as a hungry Persian, battering its prey to death.
I was terrified; trying to breath only left me gulping for air and pushing off anything I could only seemed to throw me in the wrong direction. Above the stream's roar I heard a colossal splash and my mother screaming something incomprehensible.
'What've I done?' I wondered weakly, trying to grab a passing tree root but succeeding only in shredding the back of my swimming costume against the rough bark before being dragged off again.
I felt darkness setting in, swirling around me… But suddenly a pair of strong arms latched around my waist and I felt myself caught in my father's strength.

"…water?" I murmured weakly, the more recent memory of the bog in the woods mixing in with the older memory and turning the safety of my dad's arms into the insistent pull of sloppy mud.
Jay grinned for the first time in nearly an hour.
"Our ticket out of here." He informed the rest of us cheerily, pressing on ahead of me as I stopped dead.
I swallowed, "How so?"
All I heard was an annoyingly optimistic "you'll see" as Jay broke through the last of the gunge and staggered onto dry 'land'.
Hoping that this meant following a stream or something rather than actually getting in it, I followed him uncertainly and dropped Alan unceremoniously onto the same woody ground as I'd woken up on with Raijin earlier. I was barely aware of the Pokémon arriving beside me; too busy staring at this phenomenon flowing right in front of my eyes. Two streams. Two cylindrical streams defying gravity to curve out of the ground as well as into it. They were flowing side by side… and in opposite directions!
"Wh-what?" I stammered in confusion as Jay knelt beside the nearest one and dipped in one finger experimentally.
The liquid he removed was clear like water only a bit thicker, reminding me of spit after eating some sort of sugary thing. Lifting it higher for Alan and I to inspect, he gestured with the other hand to the darkness that swallowed the tubes of liquid on either end.
"This is our way out," said Jay proudly, "If I'm correct, this nearer stream will take us all the way back up to the Bellsprout's head, from which we can escape through the mouth and back into the tower."
"You meant we get to ride that thing?!" gasped Alan, his jaw hanging open.
Jay nodded, "Of course."
Apparently not noticing my look of absolute horror, he shifted the now-sleeping arachnid in his arms and scooped up a glob of guck from his trouser leg. Holding it over the tube, he let it go and it fell straight through the invisible tube holding the water in place. As soon as it made contact with the water it was gone, rushed away by the super speed of the liquid.

I felt faint.

"No." I heard myself say, feeling completely numb.
"Whaht do you meahn, 'no'?" Raijin cried, "If this is the only wahy out, you hahve to go through it!"
As if to prove his point the leapt over Jay's shoulder, wings wrapped tightly around his body, and crashed into the fluid. Before I could blink, my arrogant little dragon was gone, leaving nothing to indicate his departure aside from a few splashes on the floor.
"No no NO!" I protested as Jay gave me a pleading look and Butterfree took the dive.
"It's perfectly safe," Magenix dive-bombed through, "The water moves so fast that just taking one deep breath," Cerb folded himself uncomfortably in, "before leaving will take you all the way to the top without drowning." Hades gave me a curious look and was gone, "Not to mention all that gunk will be washed off while," Polienix disappeared, "you're rushed through."
I shook my head even as Jay gave Arina to Fidranger, who swiftly departed with the spider in her jaws.
"I won't." I refused stubbornly, even though I was trembling inside, "No way no how."
He frowned, "Why not? You were quite happy to fight off some vampire Bellsprout back there, why's this going to be any harder?"
"Just is." I responded stiffly, glaring at the stream as though this were all its fault.

Jay sighed, then started.
"The acid!" he cried, "It's eating through your shirt!"
I looked down, only to see a glob of the stuff sitting there innocently.
"What are you oooooooooooon!" I started, only to have Alan sudden collide with my back.
I tried to dig in my heels, resisting as much as I could when he caught me off-guard like that, but then Jay reached out and grabbed me by the arm. Together both boys heaved and, already off-balance, I toppled helplessly in.
The current grabbed me instantly and I found myself whipped off through a tight tunnel in the wall, the sides scraping against my skin. I struggled in horror but to no avail - I couldn't see anything in the complete darkness and the liquid refused to stop… if that's what I really even wanted it to do. It wasn't cold like the river I'd jumped in as a child had been but the current felt just the same: strong, swift and impossible to resist. Not only that, but I hadn't had the time to refill my lungs before my two "friends" had thrown me in. The effects were already setting in, my vision was fizzing behind closed lids and my lungs were burning.
Air, air, AIR! My mind bleated again and again. I latched my hands onto my sides, arms crossed over my chest as I scrunched up my eyes and tried to make do with limited oxygen. But the urge to breathe in! It was so…
SPLOOT!
Before I could foolishly breathe in a lungful of liquid I shot out of the end of the tunnel like a bullet from a gun, my body as stiff as a board until I hit the ground and crumpled, the Pokémon shoving me out of the way before Jay and then Alan landed just where I had been.

I lay on my side, shivering and gasping and trying to fight away the fear that was threatening to throw me into hyperventilation. Screwing my eyes shut I concentrated on keeping my breathing slow and tried to forget my claustrophobic water ride to get here.
"See?" Jay piped up after a while, pulling me shivering to my shaky legs, "You're not dead, now are you?"
I swallowed and forced down my shuddering before raising my eyes to his and glaring angrily.
"No." I whispered furiously, "But you will be, just mark my words."

Turning on my heel I marched away from him, whipping out a Pokéball and returning Arina before she could make a break for it.
"Let's get out of here." I muttered to my Pokémon, drawing another sarcastic remark from Mydral, which I ignored.
Slithering out of the Bellsprout's mouth wasn't so hard as I had previously thought it to be and I was soon standing in a featureless room beside a giant yellow head, sneering up at the beady black eyes that were staring as its prey escaped.
Once all of us were out we fell through a trapdoor down onto the next level, landing in a group of white-robed monks with shaven heads and angry expressions.
"This is a restricted area!" one of the elder men informed us, "You're not allowed to be here without first defeating one of us.
"We were just leaving, sir." Alan told him quickly, "Sorry."
But the monk-ring wasn't budging, pinning us down with their accusing stares. Nasty monks. What a laugh. Finally I clucked my tongue to Hades, whose ears perked up instantly. It looked like we were going to have to prove ourselves out of this mess, and I was volunteering to do so myself.

How very unbecoming of you...

Author's Note

      Sorry for the wait, this chapter just seemed to drag on and on... leaving me with some absolutely awful cases of writer's block. I'm sorry if the end just seemed to trail off rather pathetically, but I was struggling to write at all and the chapter is 22 pages long already. Next chapter will be very battle-oriented, I'm afraid, but Violet city is draining me of my precious inspiration and I need to move on. Hope you guys enjoyed the Bellsprout Adventures though! And thanks to all those who helped me win the RCA (breaking the chain of AAMRN for the first time since March 2002!), I wuv you all! ^_________^
      On a different note, whatever you do, don't follow the Chapter IX link of the chapter, that place is dying due to bad leadership. It looks okay on the surface, but get into the staff room... O.o' Ouch.
      Finally, I'm going on holiday with my father on the 20th of July, which would have been good if it weren't for my dad just announcing down the phone five minutes ago (I got up in the middle of writing this note to speak to him...) that he's bringing his girlfriend and the baby with him (I'm still in shock, if you're wondering why my normal sarky reaction hasn't burst through). It's a good thing I've had lots of practice at being let down at the last minute, or else I'd probably be freaking out right now. Heh. Eh-heheheheheheheh. Good holidays... ::faints::

~Obsidian