Chapter 64: Purpose

From the moment Blue reached the pokemon center, it felt like all control was gone.

Up until then, things were going fine. News of Zapdos's approach threw him, briefly, but he recovered. Even reeling from his forced decision to join Vermilion Gym and all that implied, he was still able to process the Stormbringer's arrival, and quickly reached out to everyone so they could coordinate their next steps. Some of the trainers he'd been spending time with were either out of the city or were assigned other groups, but once Surge finished his debrief, Blue managed to get Aiko, Glen, Elaine, Taro, and Chie assigned to the same defense point.

As the six of them biked their way through the mass migration going on throughout the city, constantly slowing down or dodging the crowds of people, his feelings of anticipation and worry felt perfectly balanced. It was easy to stay focused while it felt like every minute a different vital decision mattered.

They were almost at the center when Red called, which only added to Blue's sense that everything was under control. It humbled him and filled him with pride, that they left the cruise to risk their life for the same purpose as him. With such amazing friends, anything felt possible.

Once they reached the pokemon center it was clear that defense coordination was being handled by a handful of rangers and gym members. One ranger stood on a table with a megaphone, and Blue led the others to the crowd forming around her, so they could report their pokemon and trainer experience.

And it's there, waiting in line, that he feels the sense of purpose and forward momentum… stall.

He starts checking and rechecking his supplies as the crowd mills around him, only half paying attention to what the others are saying. He shifts from one foot to the other, casting look at the oncoming storm clouds. He just… waits. Waits, in essence, for more important people to decide what to do with him. To decide what to do with his whole group.

"Don't like that they might split us up," Glen says as they watch people who arrived together sometimes get sent to opposite areas around the center.

"Maybe we can convince them to keep us together," Aiko says, and glances at Blue.

"Maybe." He shuffles forward another step, studying the way a perimeter is set up, trainer by trainer, around the pokemon center. In general, the oldest trainers look like they're being positioned at the half of the building facing the oncoming storm. "Arguing with the rangers at Golden Hills was different, though. Back in the Viridian Fire I stuck my foot in my mouth pretty hard by trying to argue with an assignment, and that was just a Tier 1."

"Hey, look," Taro points as people in the pokemon center's uniforms start summoning things along the street. "Some kind of barrier?"

That's exactly what it is. Small walls of concrete in alternating sizes and shapes are being released from storage balls in a loose square around the pokemon center, particular attention being paid to block the gaps between the buildings around it.

"Are all cities here this prepared for Legendaries?" Glen asks.

"No," Blue says, and starts looking through his bag for the container ball holding his raincoat as the ranger reminds everyone to put on their storm gear. "This is all Surge."

"You chose a good Gym to join, I guess," Chie says, her tone making it clear she's half joking.

Blue snorts. Chose. Like he was left with any choice, after the Leader trapped him with his own criticism. But complications with Red and Leaf aside, Chie is right. When he said he wouldn't join any gyms, it was before seeing the way Surge operates. The potential in his methods and ideology.

Leader Surge, he reminds himself. Soon to be a title that's more personal to him than it ever has. The whole thing still feels a little unreal, and probably would until well after the Thunder God is past.

The shortest barriers are still taller than Blue, which means he watches as little by little he's locked away from the world outside the perimeter. There are gaps left for arrivals to continue to make it in, what looks like a hundred people every minute, carrying bags that are probably full of container balls. Most make their way into the Pokemon Center to go down the bunkers below it, but some divert toward the rangers, trainers who seem to decide at the last minute to help with the defense of their loved ones.

Eventually the last barrier is put into place, leaving just a few gaps for late arrivals to keep trickling in. And as Blue watches the ranger ahead split up yet another group, telling them another ranger will give them specific instructions at the locations they're being sent to, he suddenly feels the claustrophobia of the surrounding walls and people hit.

It's not like in the diglett tunnels, the feeling of there not being enough room around him. Instead he feels trapped, not by the barriers but by circumstance. Trapped in a place where he won't be able to do anything of importance, trapped in a place where he won't be the leader of his own group of trainers, but just another cog in a machine.

He thought he got past this in Viridian Forest. This… entitlement, this feeling of being squandered, of not having his potential recognized, of not doing anything meaningful. But with his first Stormbringer encounter being such an important part of his goals, his future plans, apparently it's back in force.

Still, he recognizes that it's a dangerous way to think. What can he really do, against Zapdos right now? What, is he going to risk his friends' lives just to accomplish something heroic? No. He's going to be a good trainer, a good Vermilion Gym member, and show that he can do what he's told when he needs to.

"They're still not here," Aiko says, and he follows her gaze to the procession of people that are still arriving.

"They'll be alright." He tries to sound confident, but has a hard time suddenly thinking that it matters. Maybe they should have stayed on the cruise after all.

It's finally their turn, and when the ranger splits Blue and the others up, he doesn't argue. Instead he just goes to the north-western side of the pokemon center, thankfully not on the complete opposite side of where the storm is coming, and tells the ranger there his lineup so he can be told who he should use (Maturin, obviously) and where he should stand. Turns out he's close enough to Glen and Taro to see them to his right and left, if he cranes his neck around the random people.

No, not "random people." He shouldn't think of them that way. They're other trainers just like him.

What did Blue Oak do when he first encountered one of his parents' killers?

He stood around a pokemon center with about fifty other trainers just like him, protected by walls.

Fantastic. Truly inspirational.

He watches lightning arc across the stormfront, the near constant sound of thunder growing louder as it approaches, then looks at his two neighbors. An older woman to his left, tall and thin and standing with a stiffness that Blue interprets as an attempt to control her nervousness, and a girl that looks to be about Aiko's age to his right, tossing a pokeball from hand to hand. Watching her reminds Blue of all the time he spent practicing tricks with pokeballs. He's glad he did, for the dexterity he's trained into his hands, but it would feel like a waste of time, now that every hour of his journey is one that he could be spending training his pokemon or looking up new strategies and ideas for training them or his friends.

"Hey," he says. "I'm Blue."

"Katie," the girl to his right says, still bouncing the ball between her hands.

"Fumiyo," the older woman says, and holds a hand out for Blue to grip briefly.

"Good to meet you both. Let's watch out for each other, yeah?" He says the words because he knows they're the right thing to say, for multiple reasons, but he can't help but find them hollow. He wonders if they hear it that way too.

But Fumiyo nods, and Katie just says "Yeah," and then it's quiet again. He hears the distant chatter from others along the perimeter, all of it with a thread of nerves under it. He wishes he was with the others at least, so he could feel like he has some control over what's about to happen.

But no, if he does well enough here he could impress others outside of those who already know what he's capable of. He has to think of this as an opportunity.

Blue fidgets for a while longer, still watching for Red and Leaf every so often, then takes an empty pokeball out and starts mimicking the girl's hard toss back and forth across his chest. The minutes creep by, and suddenly the apparent speed of the storm feels like it's growing at an alarming rate, until dark descends on them like a smothering blanket.

They're not going to make it, Blue realizes with a sudden twist of anxiety as the alert goes out about the aerial wave, rousing everyone into readiness. The rangers and gym leaders have stopped directing people as the last pieces of the perimeter are put into place, the last citizens running as they're waved inside by rangers at the perimeter. Blue swallows and thinks of calling Red and checking where he is...

But then he hears it: the sound of wings.

"Civilians inside, now!" the ranger with the megaphone yells. "Trainers, prepare for contact and brace for hurricane wind gusts!"

The remaining civilians run for the pokemon center entrance while the trainers summon their pokemon. Blue's pulse kicks up, ready to finally do something, and the battle calm descends even as he spares one last worry over Red and Leaf. They'll be okay. They'll have gone to another defense point…

"Go, Maturin!" Blue yells as the cloud of pokemon approaches, and goes down to one knee, hands braced against the pavement. "Bai!"

The command is almost lost in the other trainers', and Maturin joins the dozens of pokemon sending ice, fire, electricity, and other projectiles up into the oncoming cloud of pokemon to divert them around the pokemon center.

The forefront of the wave falls or veers away, tangling with the ones behind them and causing a chain reaction of interference and deterrence. But there are too many still coming behind them, and within another few heartbeats the rest of the mixed flock is flying overhead in a cacophony of noise and force that knocks multiple defenders down, and stuns most of their pokemon into stopping their attacks.

Blue rubs grit out of his eyes and sees some rangers and gym members moving inside the trainer perimeter to finish off and catch any of the flying pokemon that hit the building or were knocked out of the air. He watches as others around the perimeter converge on any of the wild pokemon that are staying to fight rather than flying off again, itching to join them, but none are close, and he doesn't want to break position in case one of the straggling fliers ends up nearby.

And then the Pressure is upon them, and Blue finally experiences the aura of a Stormbringer.

It's like being turned into someone else. The battle calm he held onto through the aerial wave shatters, and he's left feeling… weak. Impotent. Meaningless. What could he do to stop Zapdos like this? What difference could he make?

As the sense of frustration and despair fills him, two people around Blue break and run for the pokemon center, one screaming out "I'm sorry!" over and over until he's inside. The older woman next to Blue, Fumiyo, is shivering so hard she has trouble standing straight, and after a few moments she groans and turns away, stumbling toward the building.

It's a stark reminder that what he's feeling isn't real, and he straightens his back as the ranger on the megaphone tells them to contract to make up for their losses.

"You okay?" he asks Katie as he steps backward. She nods, though she looks like she's going to throw up. "Glen! Okay?" Blue yells.

"I'm good!"

"Taro?"

"Y-yeah!"

He turns to the new trainer on his left and sees him rubbing his eyes. He almost introduces himself again and ask his name… but doesn't see the point, suddenly.

It takes a few minutes for the next alert to go out, and then the first ground wave is there, a trickle that became a living tide of pokemon who race around the barriers as the darkness deepens. Blue can't see over the concrete, but he can hear what's on the other side well enough; the whinnying and the screeching, the stomping and the bellowing. Everyone's eyes are drawn to the burning rapidash that leaps the wall, only to be overwhelmed by water attacks that smash it against the concrete it just jumped over. Blue itches to catch it, as, he's sure, does everyone else, but no one breaks the line, their discipline reinforced by caution of what they can hear moving around them.

And then they're coming over from all sides, a dodrio here, a ponyta there, even a scyther, which leaps over the wall, dodges the attacks that get sent at it mid air, then zips back over the concrete as soon as it lands, wings a blur. Blue fights against the feeling of pointlessness as best he can and tries to stay focused on his segment of the wall, but only a few pokemon attempt to cross near him, and Maturin is just a turret, sending out attacks that just add to the onslaught.

"Bai," Blue commands. "Gaw. Gaw." The doduo is knocked down and doesn't get back up, and then he's just listening to others make similarly repetitive commands and watching his segment of the barrier in the dwindling light.

He never imagined that facing a Tier 3 would be so… boring.

Blue hears the rain before it hits, an onrushing shhhHHHH that envelops them in the space of a breath. He shivers even through his raincoat as the ever present wind turns bitingly cold against his legs and arms. He tries to stay alert for anything trying to cross the walls, any sign of an emergency he has to help with elsewhere, but the heavy rain makes it hard to see, and the sound of the downpour plus the now overhead thunder makes it hard to hear.

Floodlights eventually snap on behind the trainers, directed at the barrier so they can see if anything crosses, but for a long while, nothing does. Blue can imagine the pokemon on the other side, not a full wave but just disparate individuals running away from wherever the Pressure is originating. He looks up into the strobing dark clouds on the off chance that he can make Zapdos out, and has to remind himself that he needs to be focusing on what's around him.

The first bit of excitement comes when a nidoking smashes through one of the barriers far to Blue's right. He watches with envy as the pokemon there all start attacking it, causing it to roar and back away, then charge forward on all fours. More wild pokemon enter from behind it as the trainers there swap in physically bulky pokemon to stop it.

Blue is about to break ranks and go to it, feet already having turned him completely that way, when Leader Surge's Second, Jack Riely, is suddenly there, a nidoking of his own out along with a forretress. Blue stares in fascination as the Second uses both together to take down the wild nidoking, his own keeping its attention by attempting to wrestle it to the ground while the forretress pins them in place with traps. He hadn't even known Vermilion's Second was here. Did he just teleport in?

Meanwhile the rangers direct the trainers in the area to pick off the other wilds trying to come in behind the nidoking. They finally manage to get another barrier up in place, and Jack catches the exhausted and badly injured nidoking.

"Eyes front," the boy beside Blue reminds him, and Blue flushes, moving his gaze back to his own part of the perimeter where... nothing has continued to happen.

What feel like hours pass in the constant onslaught of wind, rain, and thunder. Blue wonders at times if he's dreaming, if this is some purgatory, and he's still in bed getting rest before his match with Surge. Should he do things differently, if that's true? Maybe not put the Objections on, if he doesn't actually want to join the gym…

"New wave!" the ranger shouts, and Blue's attention snaps back to the present, looking around until he spots the magneton hovering above the barriers. Attacks quickly converge on it to bring it down, and everyone is tense for a moment as they wait for more to appear, but it takes a while before Grass and Bug pokemon start climbing the walls or squeezing through the gaps, and suddenly things feel slightly real to Blue again.

Happy to finally have something to do, Blue orders Maturin to send out Ice Beams against a tangela that pulls itself over the wall. The beams have an odd effect in the rain, however, freezing the drops that fall through them and leaving trails of fog in the chilled air, lowering visibility. Blue feels himself wanting to ignore the clear risk there, and it takes real effort to switch to another attack when a weepinbell climbs the barrier in a mess of vines. Instead he orders Maturin to use Water Guns to help pummel it into a stupor. The urge to "steal the spotlight" is like a constant itch under his skin, making him impatient to do something that feels meaningful.

The defenders deter each small wave of pokemon that make it over and between the gaps in the wall until there's a small ring of bodies acting as a second layer to the concrete barrier. The pokemon who do manage to make it across now are easily picked off, and despite his effort to stay focused, Blue steadily feels his vigilance give way to dull monotony, until he's not sure he'd even order Maturin to attack any more unless some really powerful pokemon shows up.

And then light burns across the heavens, and Zapdos fills the city with its cry.

Blue turns to the source of the light along with everyone else, shading his eyes and squinting at the crackling electric shape of a bird winging its way lazily across the sky.

He waits to feel something at his first in-person sighting of a Stormbringer. He waits for the arcanine in his chest to roar fire through his blood. He waits for steely determination to bring him some focus. He waits, gaze following Zapdos without looking straight at it, for even awe.

Instead there's nothing. Nothing except maybe the frustration at the distance between what he wants, and where he is. Frustration is like anger, right?

"Eyes out!" the megaphone wielder yells. "Don't get distracted!"

Easier said than done. Blue's not sure if it's the Pressure getting worse, or the sight of his nemesis so far out of reach, or both, but it takes all his will just to tear his gaze away from Zapdos. He distracts himself by focusing, not on the barrier in front of him, but the skyscrapers beyond it, so bizarrely and beautifully lit by the thundergod's glowing presence, each window reflecting the single, searingly bright point of light as it drifts across the black sky.

Eventually lightning flashes across the sky, so widespread and bright that it makes him glad he was able to tear his eyes away from Zapdos. A moment later it's followed by thunder that seems to shake the very air around him.

This is the moment we're most vulnerable. Blue tries to shake the ringing out of his ears as he rapidly blinks. There's the sound of battle around him, but when he looks it's all distant and easily contained.

He needs to do something, something meaningful, and standing here and staring at a wall on the off-chance something comes across it… isn't.

Zapdos's light moves across the city until the shadow of the pokemon center stretches long and dark over Blue and the rest of the trainers on the north side of it. Pokemon start attacking from a different direction as the source of Pressure shifts, and the rangers and gym members take up the slack as people start getting shifted around to try and predict where the next pokemon would come from.

It's a confusing process of shuffling around one group at a time, and it makes Blue think the ranger coordinating is having trouble with their own Pressure; it seems much simpler to just have everyone step to the side as many times as it takes for the perimeter to rotate. But no one's asked him, and he can't exactly go up to the ranger and suggest this. He has a wall segment to watch.

Eventually the immense bright light starts to noticeably fade, little by little, until all of them are back in the relative darkness of a thunderstorm with far less lightning than it used to have.

Blue's been watching the walls for some sign of an encroachment for a few minutes before he realizes it's easier to focus, now.

They survived. The Stormbringer is gone.

Blue is watching the sullen red glow to the west when the others find him, sitting against the side of the pokecenter. Most of the trainer perimeter is resting, no new pokemon encroaching on the walls since Zapdos left about a quarter of an hour ago.

"I think part of the city's burning," he says. It's unfair that he should feel so tired despite not doing anything. "When did that happen?"

"Might have been the Zap Cannon," Aiko says. "Could have overloaded the lightning rods."

"Calling that a Zap Cannon is like calling a Hydro Pump a Water Gun," Elaine says. "I saw it, looked like a comet. Like a… lightning comet. That's what we should call it. Lightning Comet."

"You want to name an attack only used by one pokemon?" Taro asks. "Why not just call it a Zapdos Cannon?"

"Oo. That's better..."

Blue is still watching the red glow, letting their conversation wash over him as he remembers the blinding figure of the Thunder God, the feeling of helplessness. He wishes he'd been able to watch it more, to see who had managed to pull it away from the city. Instead he was busy staring at a wall.

"Blue?"

"Hm?" He turns to find everyone looking at him, each holding a bottle of Glen's custom energy drink. Glen is holding one out to him. "Sorry. Thanks." He takes it.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He opens the bottle and drinks, swallowing the sweet, salty, and oddly refreshing liquid, then looks at the others again. "How's everyone doing?"

They look at each other, or at the ground.

"Alright," Aiko says after a moment. "Better than I expected to be."

"Yeah," Elaine says. "I think I mostly just feel relief? Like whatever I was expecting a stormbringer fight to be like… I mean it wasn't fun, but it wasn't as... I don't know. If it wasn't for the Pressure I'd rather go through that again than have a repeat of the onix nest."

Glen and Aiko are nodding agreement, and Blue opens his mouth… then closes it, looking away.

She's right. It wasn't terrible. If he had to pick a word for his first encounter with a legendary pokemon, "boring" is the main one he can think of that fits. Or "frustrating." It's a testament to Leader Surge's defensive planning, and he's sure the other cities in the region will start copying his methods, but part of him worries that it might make people even more complacent with the existence of the Stormbringers.

"Not that I'm complaining," Elaine goes on. "Glad we could help without anyone getting hurt. Anyone feel like a victory dance?"

"It's not over yet," Blue says, unable to keep silent at that. Who knows how many people got hurt outside those barriers? What if someone tried to run up to the wrong side of them and got caught outside? "The city is full of pokemon, and even if they're not rampaging anymore they're still not going to be happy about where they are."

Aiko's face is illuminated by her phone screen, hand covering it against the rain. "Networks are still down… Red and Leaf were coming from your trainer house, right?"

"Yeah."

"And they called, what, ten minutes before the the first alert went out? So they were probably still traveling when the aerial wave hit."

"You think they were caught out in the storm?" Glen asks.

Aiko's face is drawn, voice tense. "I'm looking for other safe spots they may have reached. There's a pokemon center to the west and a hospital northeast of here. Maybe they made it to either."

Blue looks at the screen over her shoulder, then out at the storm. It's much less intimidating than it was: the rain is just rain, not a torrential downpour, and the wind no longer has to be fought against just to stay upright. Most of all, the lightning is sporadic, the thunder mostly distant rumbles rather than the constant auditory assault of before.

He spots a group of rangers approach a part of the barrier without pokemon bodies piled near it and start slipping between the concrete screens. They're moving in the direction of the burning buildings.

It's not over yet, he thinks again. He gets to his feet. "I'm going out."

"To look for them?" Aiko asks.

"No. Odds of finding them by just stumbling around are really low. I mean for that." Blue gestures to the burning. "You guys don't have to come. But I don't think there's much else we can do here. And if there's even a chance that we can help out there… It beats sitting around here doing nothing."

There's a moment of silence, and then Aiko nods and tucks her phone away. "I'm in."

Blue searches her face. "Are you sure? It's already past the time you'd head home to help your dad."

"He barely even noticed, when I fell asleep in the hospital after the tunnels. I can still help for another couple hours."

"I'm in too," Glen says, and Elaine nods.

Taro hesitates, then looks at Chie, who's looking at the ground. "I'm sorry, I don't… I think we'll stay?" He turns to his sister again.

Chie nods, gaze jumping from one face to the other as she fidgets. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around how the Pressure made me feel, and I'm tired, and… it seems really dangerous out there."

"Yeah, of course," Aiko says. "Get some rest."

"Thanks. I'm just not sure we'll be of much help to you guys…"

Taro isn't looking at his sister anymore, but Blue. His gaze tells Blue he only cares what he thinks of their staying behind, and Blue… doesn't answer right away.

He knows it's not fair: they came here with him (though maybe only because they didn't know what else to do) and they didn't break when the Pressure first hit, despite not having been in the cave with the rest of them. It's not fair to judge them for wanting to rest, for believing they're at the end of their rope rather than go back out into uncertainty and danger. If anything they should be commended for knowing their limits, right?

But he does judge them. Not morally, but… their merits, their competence, their potential. He can't help it. What he needs of his companions are people who will follow him into those things, because there's no way he's going to be able to take down what he saw drifting lazily across the sky like a deadly sun, causing so much death and destruction passively, without people willing to do something far more uncertain and dangerous than this.

He could train everyone up anyway, and hope they grow into that trust and determination. And he would. He'll be in Vermilion Gym for a few months, and he'd help them get their badge just like anyone else. But for the people he wants traveling with him, the people in his party… He wants heroes born for that eventual fight.

"Get some rest," is all he says. "We'll meet up later, once the storm is fully past."

They nod, Taro still looking a little worried, and say their goodbyes. Once they're gone, Blue gets up and goes to a pair of rangers under the awning near the front door to the pokemon center. One of them has a headset on and is sitting beside a radio set, presumably using it to coordinate with the rest of the city's defenders.

"Ranger," Blue says to the one standing by. "Would the pokemon center remain secure if my group leaves?"

The man looks them over, then the trainers remaining around the pokemon center. "In my judgement, yes. What's so urgent?"

"We'd like to help with whatever is happening there." He gestures, body language as confident as he can make it. He's ready for a half a dozen different objections but part of him wishes that this time, just once, a ranger could look past his age and-

"Good timing, Trainer. We haven't received check in back from a few of the defense points that were along the path of the Zap Cannon. I believe the gym members are organizing to head out soon, and could probably use you."

Huh. Blue follows his gaze to the group of five trainers who are huddled near one of the floodlights. "Will do, thanks." He starts to jog over to them. "This okay with you guys?"

"Sure," Elaine says. "Safety in numbers and all that."

"Just making sure." He's more worried about them not being able to make their own decisions, but there's no time to discuss it further.

The gym trainers are all dressed in their tan and olive uniforms, along with hooded raincoats. They're a mix of ages, the youngest close to Glen's sixteen and the oldest being the gym's Second. Blue hasn't had the chance to spend much time with him, but he knows the Unovan fought with Surge in the war and has an aggressive style.

"...from Saffron and two more from Celadon are here, so if one of you wants to stay behind we can make sure there's coverage in every direction."

"What if they get called away?"

"The rangers can request more help if they need it." Jack spots Blue and his group and turns slightly. "Yes?"

"Rangers told me you might be heading to the fires over there?"

The Second looks over at the Rangers in surprise, then back at Blue. "Wouldn't say no to it, but this is a gym operation, Oak."

"We're going anyway. Just figured we could work better together," Blue says before he can stop himself. "And I am a gym member."

"What? Since when?"

"Tonight, actually," Trainer Tori says, a tall blonde in her mid-thirties that Blue fought to reach his Challenge match.

"Didn't think there was time for it to finish," Jack says, frowning slightly.

"Surge called the match just before making the announcement." Tori smiles at Blue, and he smiles back. "It was short, but a good strat."

"Thanks."

"Alright, you can tag along and get a taste of our search and rescue protocols. But your friends—"

"Are going to challenge for membership too," Blue says. "And they'll win. I'll bet all my Objections on it, if you want."

There are smiles and snickers from the group, and Blue keeps his own expression mild and friendly as his heart pounds. Is he being too confrontational? He probably shouldn't interrupt the Gym Second, he has to get used to the idea of having superiors…

But Jack is looking at him with only mild irritation to go with his own amusement. "What do you think I'm going to do with them, offer them to Surge?" He turns to Glen, Elaine, and Aiko. "If you're all coming because you're planning on joining Vermilion Gym, then I'm going to treat you like fresh members, and you're going to follow orders. We're not going out there to capture rare or powerful pokemon, though we will be capturing wilds that we run across if we can and killing them if not. Anyone have a problem with that?"

Blue watches the three shake their heads, Aiko with a only a moment of hesitation. He was worried she might object to the idea of killing wilds, but she looks resolute.

"Good. Jerry, executive decision. You stay, and the rest of us will head out now."

The youngest nods and salutes, fist over heart, and says, "Good luck." He turns to Blue's group. "Looking forward to working with all of you, so long as you make it back."

"Ignore him," Jack says with a stern look. "He's got a morbid streak."

"It was meant as inspiration."

"We'll have to work on that, Jer. Special class on inspiring speeches and parting words, starting this weekend."

"Yes, Sir." He salutes again, no less seriously, then heads off to inform the rangers, presumably.

Jack turns back to the rest of them. "Alright, so our main priority is going to be reaching the shelters that were caught up in that." He bobs his head in the direction of the sullen red in the distant sky. "They're not responding on the radio, and it's possible the ones they were using got damaged. Surge is calling for an evacuation of that area, but they may not even have heard about it. We find anyone that needs help on the way, we do our best to help them, but otherwise we're just going straight there. Hopefully phones are back up soon and we can get a better sense of what's happening where. Any questions?" He gives them a moment, but no one responds. "Okay. Let's get names, too. You three first."

Blue's friends introduce themselves, and then he learns the names of the other two gym members: Peter, a tall guy that towers over everyone else, and Mei Li, who has infrared goggles strapped over her head.

"Keep in mind," Tori says after introducing herself, "Just because the Pressure is gone doesn't mean you're clean of its effects. People still feel primed for the way it makes them think for a while after, sometimes days. Sometimes it's more insidious, since it feels more like your own thoughts. If you're worried you're making strange decisions, let someone know."

"Eight trainers means starburst," Jack says. "You four make up the square. Let's move."

He leads the way toward the barrier, checking carefully between the concrete walls in either direction before slipping past it. Once they're all outside the perimeter, the four senior gym members take up a loose diamond pattern around Blue's group, who cover the four corners, and everyone summons their pokemon, using commands they've trained with at the gym to complete the formation.

The city is unrecognizable in the dark. Trash and broken glass litter the slightly flooded streets, and there are pokemon lying here and there, most very obviously dead. Blue keeps an eye on Maturin, making sure she's not too tired from the earlier vigil in the Pressure, but his pokemon seems mostly pleased by the environment. Elaine's psyduck and Glen's quagsire move with similar springs in their steps. He expected Aiko to bring out her krabby, but instead Eevee shines silver in the occasional streetlight.

Blue is on the back left of his party's square, and he's walking almost entirely sideways so he can keep an eye out in that direction. He's worried at first that he'll have trouble keeping his eyes where they need to be, but without being submerged in the Thunder God's Pressure it's far easier to focus on just his role.

It also helps that the group he's a part of is smaller, so he doesn't feel as useless. It's alarming, in retrospect, how much his attention wandered under the Pressure. He's lucky no one died because of his (ego) inattention, but he's going to need to figure out a way to get a handle on it for next time. He can't expect to be in a position of authority so quick that he won't go through that again: there were plenty of experienced gym members and rangers that were part of that perimeter too.

He needs to look into ways to predict what it will feel like, and how to deal with it. Even if it feels the same the next time he faces a Stormbringer, he has to be prepared for a different emotion and thought process to overcome him if he's actually in a position to do something meaningful. He wonders what would have happened if Zapdos had landed right in front of him: would the feeling of Pressure suddenly change to something more like in the caverns, where he was so shaken by the a sense of being caught in a trap that he'd missed a throw at an onix?

Blue winces at the internal jab of shame that still comes up when he thinks of that, then does his best to put it out of his mind. He'll talk to Red and Gramps about Pressure once all this is over. For now, it's enough that he's on the move and with a clear goal.

"Venonat in an upturned garbage can," Aiko says after they've been walking for a few minutes. "I think it's still alive."

"Halt," Jack says. "Peter, check with her. Everyone else eyes out."

Blue keeps his gaze moving on their surroundings, only slightly tense as his battle calm hovers at the edges of his thoughts. He hears the sounds of commands being given and battle starting behind him. It's over quickly, the sound of the pokeball capture muffled by the sound of the steady rain, and once they return to formation and everyone starts moving again he's reassured by his ability to keep his attention where it was supposed to be.

They go another block before Mei Li notices a magnemite floating down an alley, and goes off with Glen to capture it, and shortly after Peter spots a spinarak hanging from a wall, and goes with Elaine to deal with it this time. While he waits for them to capture it, Blue spots something moving in a small lake formed by a depression in the flooded street.

"Contact, I think" Blue says, pulse picking up. "I think it's a buizel? Barely got a glimpse of it."

"Wait till they're back, then go with Tori."

Blue nods and waits, gaze flicking away from the puddle every so often to ensure he's not missing anything else. Eventually the other two return, and he follows the blonde woman to it… then lets out a breath of relief as he feels himself rapidly relaxing, his attention narrowing to a point.

He has his battle calm again. Even as he prepares Maturin to attack the buizel alongside Tori's tangela, the tension of the situation doesn't interfere with the state of flow: he shifts from one command to another, Tackle, Bubblebeam, Bite, until she catches it. Easy as can be.

It's good to have it back, after spending the whole night without it. But as he returns to the group, he realizes it's just one more thing that he can't rely on, moving forward.

They continue their journey through the city, and while part of Blue is eager to find more pokemon that he might potentially catch, it's hard not to also be worried about the signs of destruction around them, particularly once they pass a crushed car.

"Think anyone is in that?" Glen asks.

Jack pauses, and they pause with him. "I'll check with… Aiko, right?" She nods, and he leads the way there, checking under and around the car first for any pokemon, then carefully peering into the crushed cabin as best he can while Aiko and Eevee stay on high alert.

"Think that nidoking did this?" Elaine asks. "We haven't seen any other big pokemon."

"They're out here," Mei Li says, her goggles on as she watches the sky. "Heard the ranger on the radio mention it."

"Not too worried about them," Peter says as Jack suddenly summons a machamp. It towers over him, and with a gesture and a word the pokemon grips the car door and tears it open. "We'll hear them coming. More worried about the small ones…"

He trails off as they all watch Jack flash a light into the car and reach inside, then step back and return his machamp to its ball before walking to them with Aiko. He takes his position at the front of the group before Blue can make out his expression, but his tone is grim enough.

"Let's go."

They go, and Blue wonders again if Red and Leaf were caught out in all this, anxiety like a fluttering bird in his chest until he reminds himself to focus on his surroundings.

Little by little the red glow in the distance gets closer, and Blue begins to get flashbacks to Viridian Forest, the dark night around him growing brighter and brighter as he got closer to the fire. The storm continues to lessen too, rain fading to a drizzle and thunder more sporadic. Soon visibility has increased enough to make out how all the tallest buildings in a line down the path of the Zapdos Cannon were set on fire.

The mood of the group subtly shifts as the scope of the disaster becomes clear, and as they get closer to the affected area Blue hears Tori curse behind him.

"One attack," she says, voice curt. "One attack did more damage than the entire rest of the storm's lightning combined."

"That's how it goes," Blue replies, remembering something he read about the way Articuno destroyed some town over a century ago without even summoning a storm, just flash freezing the whole area so severely that the trees literally exploded from the sudden drop in temperature. "I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being the most successful defense against a Stormbringer in history. But they're not something you can totally protect against or predict, no matter how hard you try."

Lightning rods on every building in the city, and what does Zapdos do? Melt the rods. Just sheer brute forced its way through the protection.

No such thing as perfect defense. Sooner or later, unmatchable and unpredictable power wins.

It's not quite like a whole street is on fire: in truth only the tallest buildings are, like giant torches stuck in the earth every few blocks. Some combination of good building materials and the rain kept them from being entirely engulfed or spreading to neighboring ones. But with the storm dying it's only a matter of time.

"Shit, this is worse than they mentioned," Jack says, one hand going up to rub under his raincoat hood. "Two closest shelters that are being evacuated are a stadium to the south and a hospital to the north." He turns to look over the group. "Eight might be too many to send in one direction. We're splitting up."

Blue blinks. Are the gym members ditching them already? It's nice to feel trusted enough to go on their own, at least. "Alright. Which way should we take?"

Vermilion's Second shakes his head. "We're all one unit now, Oak. You're heading with Tori, Peter, and Glen down south. The rest of us are going north. If communication isn't back up in two hours just follow whoever's in charge locally."

Blue stares at Jack a moment, then looks at his companions. None seem particularly thrilled about this, but… they said they'd follow orders. And he's part of Vermilion Gym now.

"Right." He forces a smile at Aiko and Elaine. "See you guys soon."

They hug him and Glen while the gym members work out some logistics. "Be careful, Blue," Aiko says after she pulls away, watching him with worried eyes. "Remember, you have nothing to prove to us. We're with you."

Blue squeezes her upper arm, touched but knowing that she knows better than to think it's them he feels driven to prove himself to. "Thanks. Don't feel pressured to prove anything either, okay? If you're worried about your dad, head back."

Aiko smiles, a wry twist of her lips. "Alright, I guess we're both in the same boat then. But I won't leave Elaine until I know she's with one of you guys, so let's meet up as soon as we can."

"Right." Aiko steps away, and Elaine hugs Blue hard around the ribs, making him smile. "Be careful, El. Won't be able to do that victory dance later if you squeeze any harder."

She loosens her grip and steps back, grinning. "Just making sure you feel the love." And then she kisses his cheek, which leaves him feeling very confused as she turns away to join Aiko, who's already following Jack and Mei Li.

Glen is giving him raised eyebrows, and Blue shrugs helplessly, which makes his friend smile and shake his head before heading to Peter and Tori, who are waiting for them. Blue puts his confusion and embarrassment aside and steps opposite of Glen to make up the sides of their new diamond formation, with Tori in front and Peter in the rear, and then they're making their way south toward the docks.

There's enough light from the fires that they can make out the street between the buildings, which is why they have plenty of warning every time some pokemon suddenly appear and start to run, hop, float, or skitter from one area to another. With just four of them they don't go out of their way to catch any, though Blue wonders who eventually will. Maturin seems on edge as she walks beside him, and he's not sure if it's the fires above them or all the pokemon they can spot.

"There's probably no one in these buildings, right?" Glen asks as they pass close to one.

"Even if there are, we're not in a good position to help them," Peter says. "Particularly if there are pokemon in them. They're not rampaging anymore, but they'll definitely be skittish from the fires, especially if they start spreading faster."

"Anti-fire design and systems should slow down or extinguish some of them eventually," Tori says. "But we need to reach the stadium quick to make sure they know Surge's plan to get them out of the danger zone. There are probably close to fifty-thousand people at the stadium, and their wellbeing has to be prioritized over a handful that might be in any given building."

Blue remembers what Surge said, at the end of his speech. Just remember that you're making a choice, and that good intentions can often cost more lives than they save. He's clearly drilled that concept into all of his people, and it's not that Blue disagrees, exactly, but… if he knew for a fact that someone's life was in danger in one of these buildings, he'd have to go in. He wouldn't feel like he had a choice.

A voice in his head that sounds very much like Red asks him what he thinks the odds are that there isn't at least one person in that building, and he informs that voice that guessed odds aren't the same as knowing. And then hopes, again, that Red is somewhere safe.

They walk for over ten minutes before they hear the roar.

It's distant, but coming from somewhere ahead, and distinctly recognizable.

"Was that a goddamned steelix?" Peter murmurs, and then the earth trembles briefly beneath their feet, a bare brush of the distant shockwave's epicenter.

"I think that was in the direction of the stadium," Tori says, and pulls out a container ball. "Bikes, everyone. We need to move quick."

Within a minute they're pedaling down the street toward the stadium at the edge of the wharf district, the wide, tall building rising up in the distance just before the ground slopes down into the harbor, the still-stormy ocean illuminated by lightning beyond it. The stadium's dome is deployed, keeping its insides nice and dry from the rain, but there are clouds of dust from collapsed buildings nearby it, or perhaps destroyed parts of the stadium itself.

Blue feels his excitement growing as they get closer, and has to caution himself not to get too carried away. This promises to be something important, but they don't know if the steelix is wild or under the command of a trainer who's using it to fight off something worse…

A crowd of people are running as more tremors ripple through the area, though not at random. Blue can just make out their figures in the bright lights around the stadium, moving quickly in a column away from it and into the wide open lot, where a wide gap has been made in the same concrete walls that were placed around the pokemon center.

And on the other side of where they're exiting from…

Blue blinks, then blinks again as he follows Tori and Peter onto the winding road toward the stadium lot, trying to watch where he's going in the dark and make sense of the spectacle at the same time.

That's definitely a steelix. And beside it is another steelix. And on the other side of the arena is a snorlax, around which are what look like a number of pokemon, all of whom are trying to flee the three titans… directly toward where the people are escaping.

Blue doesn't know what's happening, or what caused it, but there's one thing he recognizes immediately as they get closer, and it makes him swerve his bike away from where the other three are headed and bike directly for the battle instead.

There's an exeggutor, a venusaur, a lapras, and a blastoise, all fighting at the same time. And possibly two more pokemon Blue can't see.

And behind them, moving his feet and arms, and sending out shrill whistles that Blue can just barely hear, there's a figure. He's not wearing his lab coat, and Blue can't make out his hair or features under the hood of his own raincoat...

But he recognizes those pokemon, and there's only one person he knows who can command that many at once, in a situation like this, to deal with two steelix at the same time.

Gramps is here.

And if Gramps is here, then the slim figure holding that snorlax back with a dragonair and a tangrowth is his sister.

And they're still not quite winning, because the rangers and gym members are dealing with some commotion he can't see behind the walls. They were left to deal with the problem on their own, probably demanded that the others go. There's no one else around to help them.

Blue reaches the blockade and turns sharp to go around it and behind the snorlax. He lets his bike fall once he gets close enough and dashes forward, his battle calm secure around him as he takes out an ultra ball. There's no thought here, not when things feel this right: if someone asked him yesterday or asks him tomorrow whether he believes in destiny or fate, he'd say no.

But in this moment, coincidence decides his next actions for him. He's caught in the stream of his own nature.

Daisy sees him as he runs up behind her foe, and no words are needed. A quick command has both her tangrowth and dragonair unwrap the snorlax just as Blue steps into ultra ball range.

Locks on as it stumbles a step forward in surprise.

Throws as it heaves itself forward for a body slam.

Hits, catching it in a flash of light that sucks it out of the air mid-fall.

Blue rushes over and picks up the ball, victory singing through his blood, and neither of them bother exchanging words as they rush over to the Professor.

He's still going, whole body composing a song that his pokemon dance to: his left hand has straps with bells on them wrapped around the back of each finger, his shoes make distinct noises when they hit the ground in bursts, and his right hand plays the flute between his lips in a constant stream of notes, high pitched for one pokemon and low for the other.

Together, his four pokemon can just barely keep the steelix in check, but they lack the type advantages needed to deal decisive blows, and there's no one around to follow up on their moments of weakness.

The same strategy is too risky here, with the steelix's long bodies moving in constant battle. They're going to have to help Gramps take them down.

"Left," Daisy says, and summons her hitmontop.

"Right," Blue says and unclips Rive's ball, hoping his pokemon can stand the rain for a few moments.

Together, the three Oaks stand tall against the storm.