Chapter Forty-Five: Brawl in the Family



Terra's POV



Ilima got all of us back to Celadon City safely. Yes, even Team Rocket's newest defectors, Jessie, James, and Meowth. Gary isn't so happy they're here, especially since he still doesn't have the Pokemon they stole from him.



Predictably, Gary's first reaction upon meeting the trio was to go right back to pummeling James. And Jessie and Meowth's reactions were to pull him off of James and read him the riot act.



"You stole my family!" Gary yelled in their faces. "You stole my Pokemon, too!"



It took quite a lot of talk to convince Gary that these three Rockets weren't Rockets anymore, and even then he was pretty angry. Once he heard that James had escaped due to his impending marriage of doom, he was a bit more convinced, but still not really happy.



Although they did have some ideas as to how Gary could get his Pokemon back.



"Team Rocket sends its Pokemon captives to a lab on Cinnabar Island," Jessie says. "If your Pokemon are anywhere, they're probably there."



"They get shipped there over steamships docking in Port Vermilion," James says. "I don't even know what sorts of things happen to them there, but it can't be pleasant."



"Then Cinnabar's my next stop," Gary says. "Once I've got my Charmander trained up and Gladion agrees to lend me one of his Pokemon, we'll set out, and I'll get my Pokemon back. Somehow."



"You think this is going to be easy?" Jessie scoffs. "A twerp kid like you is going to be eaten alive."



"And Gladion's not in any shape to lend you anything," James says.



This is true. Gladion has been bedridden since he came back to Celadon, due to some reaction from being merged with Nihilego. Ilima, still in Mew form, is curled up on his bed for comfort. Which sounds really creepy when you imagine him as a human.



Not that most of TWERP knows he's got a human form. Wes and the others keep telling folks that he's a Ditto. Alice wants to study him and his transformations, but Ilima's been pretty touchy recently and hasn't been making nice to people. I don't think he likes most of TWERP referring to him as an 'it.'



Ilima lets me visit Gladion, though. I'm trying to be helpful, bringing them food and water. Ilima eats at the same time Gladion does, though he seems to have more of an appetite in Mew form than I'd expect. Gladion eats meat and vegetable dishes, but Ilima eats only vegetables; probably because as a Mew, he's related to everything.



The Team Rocket defectors have been making nice by making lunch. I never thought I'd be able to see Meowth, in person, making ramen noodles with his claws. It's a truly amazing sight, and it makes me wonder what other amazing traits trained Pokemon develop in conjunction with human direction. And they taste fantastic.



Benga is still pretty touchy about Meowth being up and around. He'll poof himself up to twice his body mass whenever Meowth walks by, and hisses something that's probably an insult, judging from how Meowth takes it. I don't blame him. Nobody does, except maybe Meowth.



It's been three days. Saffron City is still under the dome. There's no word on what happened to Lance, which I guess is good news. Skye's intelligence network says that Team Rocket's still rounding up all the Dragonair to ship to their lab in Cinnabar.



Skye thinks we should sneak aboard the ship. Evan thinks we should just take it over. But Team Rocket still has their Mewtwo, and a psychic army, and now they have the Pallet Town mutant army as well. If even one of them reports to base that the ship has freedom fighters on board, we could be in trouble.



Giratina is resting up in the Distortion World, trying to put things back in balance after the various incidents that have happened. The confused Unown made a bit of a dent in reality, as did the battle between the Dragonair and the Mewtwo. So Giratina is going to be busy.



She still has the Jade Orb, too. Doesn't really trust any of the rest of us with it. Even thought Team Rocket still has Rayquaza, if it's even still alive after what it just went through. Nobody knows. Nobody has been brave enough to ask its fate.



It's the calm before the storm, and everyone knows it. Even Shu has been quiet recently, except for the time he tried to put Kachu in a little shepherdess's dress and it was a tad bit too tight. We still haven't quite gotten all the scorch marks out of it.



But we're peaceful, currently. It can't last. Everyone knows it can't last, what with Team Rocket having two mutant armies and a psychic army, and one of the two mutant armies also being a psychic army. Our days of peace are numbered.



And then Cyan gets an idea.



---



"We're going mining," Cyan says at breakfast one morning. No context or buildup or whatever. Just a statement of fact, as if there weren't over half a dozen other people in the base that might have opinions one way or the other.



"We are?" Shu asks. Leave it to the kid to ask all the real questions while the preteens are busy giving Cyan stares in various degrees of who died and made you queen?



"I've been talking to Alice and Abe about mythical Pokemon," Cyan says, "particularly the one we encountered within Terra Caverns. Do any of you know what Jirachi does?"



"Well, yeah, he grants wishes," Shu says. "But isn't he asleep? A thousand years of rest, or some such?"



"Not just that," Cyan says. "In the one week when he's awake, he collects energy from the Millennium Comet and transforms it into aura that he uses to imbue the soil of the entire planet with special energy needed for plants to grow. It's a particular element of the Dragon Force aura channels that keep our world alive."



I roll my eyes. "Plants in my world don't need any fancy aura to grow. They just need soil, water, air, and sun."



"Yes, but do the plants in your world restore health and cure status ailments?"



I consider this. "Depends on what you mean by 'status ailments,' but fair enough."



"The point is, all of that energy radiates out from where Jirachi is sleeping. Which means that the rocks and minerals surrounding Jirachi's bed are all particularly strong in aura. Which means they could become Z-Crystals, Mega Stones, Synergy Stones, you name it."



Gary lowers his spoon. "Really? If we're going to take down Team Rocket, we could use some of those."



"We should at least take them before Team Rocket hears about them," Evan says.



"Didn't you say the Elite Four doesn't like people mining in Terra Caverns?" Shu asks.



"That's true. But the Elite Four has been kept pretty busy trying to stop Team Rocket. Lance had all his Dragonair attacking Saffron the last time we were exploring those caves, and we didn't encounter anyone down there."



"You call it the Elite Four," Gary says pointedly. "What's stopping the other three?"



Cyan looks uncomfortable. "It's a large region," she says, "and criminal activity has been on the rise. They have more important things to do than guard an old mine."



"But they haven't set anythin' up?" Wes asks. "That mine's full o' treasure an' Pokemon. If they care so much about protectin' th' Pokemon inside it, why ain't no one there?"



Cyan looks like she's about to answer, when Alice suddenly rushes into the room, holding some sort of tiny television. "It's happened," she says breathlessly. "Look at the screen!"



We look at the screen. There's an image of Lance on there, chained to a wall over a pit full of Arbok. He's been beaten, bloodied, and had his clothes torn. His cape is in tatters. He looks... broken.



There's a voice coming from the TV, which I recognize as Giovanni's voice from the anime. "--if you ever want to see him alive again," the voice says, "you will surrender the seat of government to Team Rocket immediately. If not, well... our Arbok are always hungry."



Cyan pales. "Oh, no," she says, stricken. "Oh, no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no..."



"So?" Gary says. "The guy's evil. He tried to kill Terra, and then went after me and Gladion. I'd trade him for regional stability any day."



"You don't understand," Cyan says weakly. "That's my father."



---



To say that Gary doesn't take this well would be a gross understatement. If he'd been strong enough to flip the table over, he probably would have.



"He's your WHAT?" he yells, standing up, slamming his hands on the table, and upsetting his bowl of oatmeal.



Taco and Nacho, the Umbreon and Espeon, immediately run up to the spilled food and start scarfing it down like there was no tomorrow. I guess when you live in the criminal underbelly of a desert like Orre, you don't waste food. I'm rather surprised to see them that excited over oatmeal, but who knows what Pokemon like to eat.



Cyan looks uncomfortable. "I'm not proud of it, all right?" she admits. "Dad wanted me to keep everyone else out of Terra Caverns because of the Pokemon living there. When you said that Celebi sent you to save the world, well, how could I say no?"



"I thought you said no one was allowed to mine there! Does your dad know you're mining there?"



Cyan pauses. "He thinks I'm mining for him," she admits. "He knew the legends said that Jirachi slept somewhere in Terra Caverns, so... he wanted me to find him."



"So YOU'RE the one who the Elite Four wanted to look after the mine," Gary says slowly. "Then why are you siding with us?"



"Because I don't agree with everything the Elite Four do," Cyan says firmly. "And I want to help you save the world. Even the Elite Four wants the world saved, although their idea of saving it is to drive all the trainers out of it."



Wes thinks about this. "That ol' legend we read about in Mintale. Th' one wi' Jirachi formin' this worl' for humans an' Pokemon. Do th' Elite Four know it?"



"Legend? What legend?"



So we tell her about the legend we read, and the stone carvings we saw on the walls of the ancient temple. She listens, intrigued.



"I've heard a similar story from my father," she says. "But it has a different ending."



"What kind of ending?"



"Well, the Arceus of the original world -- the world for Pokemon -- was incensed that Jirachi had created another Arceus and another world. So he curses the Jirachi to sleep for an eternity, to only awake for one week every thousand years. And for Hoopa, he uses three of his plates to build a Prison Bottle that drains away Hoopa's power, then imprisons Hoopa itself into a world between dreams and reality."



I turn towards Ali, who is blind to everything except the bag of bagels she's inhaling. "Between dreams and reality..." I think to myself. "Like the Interdream Zone?"



"The what now?"



I tell Cyan about how I got to Pokearth, about the Unown and Tornadus and Thundurus. She raises an eyebrow when I mention the latter two. "So THAT'S where those two storm-bringers come from. I've heard about their sudden appearance in this region, but nobody knows where they come from. Not from Unova, since that region has their own Tornadus and Thundurus."



This is a surprise. "There's more of them?"



"Apparently so. But yours came from another dimension, the Interdream Zone. Legendary Pokemon aren't really understood all that well, so we don't know how many of them actually exist in this world. Some people think they're one of a kind, but this isn't always true."



"What do the Elite Four know about Legendary Pokemon?"



"Well, my father worships the legendary Scales of Balance, the Dragon-type Pokemon that keep the world together. Rayquaza of Sky, Zygarde of Land, Giratina of Dimensions, and Kyurem of Spirit."



"Worships them?" Gary scoffs. "He doesn't worship them. He mindrapes them and uses them to kill people. Trust me, he's better off captured by Team Rocket."



Cyan gives him the STERNEST look imaginable. "I'm aware of what he's done," she says coldly. "But he's still my father. And you'd do well to remember it."



I wonder how Gladion would react to any of this. He's still in bed, recovering.



"Let's not get carried away here!" I say quickly. "We need to go mining for whatever stones Jirachi has energized so we can be stronger against Team Rocket. That's what's important, isn't it?"



Gary gives Cyan a glare, but sits down.



"The Elite Four are far more equipped to handle Team Rocket than we are right now," I continue. "If we want to go toe-to-toe with mutant armies, we need power. If what Cyan says is correct, we can find that power in Terra Caverns."



"I'll go," Alice says. "I've always wanted to see Jirachi myself, and it will be interesting to see how Jirachi's influence has affected the wild Pokemon population in Terra Caverns."



"I'm in, too," Abe says. "Someone's got to map out the caves so we know where to find things and how to get out."



I look at the others. Wes gives a thumbs-up. "I'm up for treasure-huntin'. Ya think we'll find anythin' valuable there, like Nuggets?"



"Right now, the most valuable items we can find are whatever helps us again Team Rocket," Cyan reminds us. "Even if we can't defeat them ourselves, we still need to protect ourselves and our Pokemon against their forces."



"But we can sell rare ores an' buy stuff t' use against th' Rockets, right?"



"Remember," Cyan says, "if we can buy it, Team Rocket can steal it. We need to get something Team Rocket doesn't yet have. And right now, it's whatever's in Terra Caverns."



"One question." Gary raises his hand. "If Team Rocket has Lance, and Team Rocket has psychics, how long until they get out of Lance's head that Jirachi is asleep in Terra Caverns?"



"That's a very good question," Cyan says slowly. She pauses. "I wish I had a very good answer."