EPISODE 41: Mirage!*
Both Team Rocket and the Rebirth Society enter a stare down like never before while Uno watch as he slowly dies. He removes the shard that struck his heart, bearing the pain and agony. An urge behind me wants to force me to help the old man, aid him quickly before his time runs out, but doing so would jeopardize our mission since I know Charlotte and Virgo could not defeat them alone.
As an elite operative, I try to come up with the wisest decision, and that is to ask Charlotte to aid the old man while me and Virgo fight. It will be a two against five, but Ethan has proven that it is not about numbers.
"Uno, don't move, I will be applying first aid." Charlotte jolts to him and leans his upper torso to the wall. She then takes out her first aid kit which was supposed to be used for our Pokemon whenever an emergency strikes. Charlotte may not a professional "Nurse Joy" but her knowledge of aiding is vast.
"Do not aid me, save it for your Pokemons. They may need it more than me. I've lived a long life in this cave, challenging trainers and intruders like you. From the way I see it, neither death nor life would allow me to protect Articuno, and I assume it would fall under either yours or your enemy.
Though the harmony may be disrupted, the destruction could be stopped. For between life and death, all the difference you'll make, climb the shrine to right what is wrong, and the world will be healed by the guardian's song." Uno murmurs to Charlotte's ears, placing something to her hands.
"The pieces, now we currently have three out of eight." Charlotte becomes happy, thanking the elder for giving her two more pieces. The professor will be proud and astounded to see that we have obtained two more pieces to the puzzle through our current mission.
"Combine all eight, and find the wing." Uno bids his last words, mumbling to Charlotte's ears. He makes his last breath, and finally, his life is taken away. His eyes close, and his body falls to the ice. Upon his death, the whole cave begins to rumble, shaking and trembling viciously. The islands of Seafoam has been angered, alongside with Articuno.
The death of its elder has awakened it from its long slumber. Although awakened, it remains trapped inside its sphere of ice. The veil becomes thicker, shrouding the bird immensely to the point it could not be seen. The ground stops shaking for a moment, as the cave returns to a tranquil state. Not minding the sudden incident, me and Virgo continue to fight.
On the other hand, Charlotte places the two pieces inside her bag for safekeeping. She then walks closer to the thick veil, due to her being attracted by it. It is as if the veil is whispering to her, "let me free..." "let me free..."
Her eyes are wide open as she slowly extends her hand to the mirage of ice. The closer she walks to it, the louder the tingling sounds of the mystic veil becomes. She has completely fallen under its enchantment. With the elder dead, laying like a stick on the ground, the cave turns to chaos.
"Chikorita! Razor Leaf!" Virgo commands as her Pokemon complies and obeys, finally ending a Carvanha belonging to a grunt from the other side(Rebirth Society) Virgo's Pokemon begins to glow, evolving into its second form.
The battle is put to a halt as everyone tilts their attention to the evolving Chikorita. Her color becomes slightly yellow, with a galore of leaves serving as the Pokemon's necklace. The leaf hanging above her head has also grown larger.
[Bayleef! The Leaf Pokemon! A grass type, and the evolved form of Chikorita. BAYLEEF's neck is ringed by curled-up leaves. Inside each tubular leaf is a small shoot of a tree. The fragrance of this shoot makes people peppy.] Virgo's Pokedex interrupts, showing information about her newly evolved Pokemon. According to the Pokedex, Bayleef currently knows four moves. They are to follow: Razor Leaf, Synthesis, Grass Whistle, and Leaf Storm.
Bayleef is a quadruped, pale yellow Pokémon that resembles a sauropod dinosaur. It has a long neck, red eyes, a short, rounded snout, and a stubby tail. Each foot has a single, light gray nail. Sprouting from its forehead is a green leaf that curves back over its head and around its neck are a series of tightly curled leaves. Inside the leaves are small tree shoots. The aroma wafting from the leaves around its neck has a spicy scent and has various beneficial effects on those that inhale it. The fragrance has a combination of energizing, stimulating, and healing effects.
After the evolutionary process, the battle for the mirage of ice continues. The match continues for more than ten minutes to the point two tag partners are left. Me and Virgo, against Ebony and Emily.
"Umbreon, deploy for action!" Ebony tosses out her final Pokemon.
"Espeon, it's time to finish the match." Her sister does the same.
Umbreon and Espeon, I've heard a lot about those eeveelutions. Peculiar they are, for they evolve through high friendship rather than the common evolutionary stones like fire, ice, or lightning. Not only this, Umbreon evolves during the night as Espeon in the opposite time.
Me and Virgo are left with one Pokemon each as well. Its Umbreon and Espeon against Lily and Bayleef. Two grass types against two eeveelutions. Who would claim the mirage of ice?
The battle begins! The grunts belonging to the opposing team circle us, making sure that we don't flee. They also cheer for the twins, keeping their confidence for winning higher than ours. I start to wonder what in the world is Charlotte doing behind us while we fight in despair.
They're not average rivals, for their tactics are good as well, perhaps more genuine than mine. They keep pushing our Pokemons to zugzwang(tight situations/positions), crippling our strategies.
"Now this is where Team Rocket's famous elite operative ends. Umbreon, Night Shade!" Ebony chuckles hysterically, commanding her Pokemon afterward.
"Lily, you know what to do, Petal Blizzard to the extreme!" I counter back with anger. Both of our Pokemons know who we're trying to target, and of course, that is the opposite trainer.
"Quick Espeon, help Umbreon out! Psychic right now!" Emily adds. Her Pokemon's move has caused the petal to head to Bayleef instead of the person I'm trying to target. Due to being countered, Ebony has succeeded once more, pinning me to the ground with her Umbreon's Nightshade.
Both Virgo and Emily are shocked. Emily thought her sister was trying to target Liligant, however, she stood corrected. The nightshade attack continues to pin me to the ground, choking my throat in the process.
"Ebony, what are you doing?!" Emily scolds her sister.
"Making mother's dream a reality by crushing those who oppose us of course," Ebony responds sarcastically.
"This is not what father wants, we could do this peacefully, fighting against Pokemons and not humans." Emily scolds again.
"Father is dead Emily! Can't you-" Her words are cut in half after not noticing Lily's upcoming attack. Yes, Lily hates to injure people, but if someone is to hurt me, hurt blood boils hotter than the sun. She loves me dearly, opposing those who inflict damage to me.
As the two sisters chat and argue, Lily was storing power all along, releasing a powerful solar beam afterward. She only attacked Ebony and her Pokemon for her actions against me. Due to being hit by the attack, Umbreon lost focus, thus canceling the attack and letting me free.
The attack settles, and Ebony rises from the ground with the help of her sister. She glares back, with eyes extremely ferocious not even Virgo could look at her. She twitches her jaw with her hand and wipes off the single drop of blood off her chin.
"All that for a drop of blood? Pathetic." She insults. The match was about to continue, when suddenly the ground shakes once more, much graver than the first quake. I look behind, seeing Charlotte touching the sphere of Articuno.
"You touched it?!" I question her with an expression of shock. Large ice stalactites fall from the ceilings as the quake intensifies.
"What... what have I done?!" She murmurs to herself, slowly stepping back from the sphere of ice.
<Aargh!>Articuno shrieks, causing its chamber to crumble.