Project: Titans -- A Pokemon Story (OC x Piers)

Chapter 20

We dove into the crowd of terrified onlookers, Maddie pulling me through the floods of people pushing us back like they didn't exist. I barely had time to put Meowsie away and out of danger before we were being dragged across the drawbridge to the gym itself. Maddie had only one goal in mind; Raihan.

We burst through the stadium doors just as the last of the crowds had left. The entire gym was deserted, even the staff; the only sign of human life were the trio of Gym Trainers crowded around Raihan, who towered several heads above them. I could see even from afar the panicked look on his face as he tried to calm his employees down, then shift to relief as he saw Maddie run towards him with me in tow.

"What's the situation, Raihan?" Maddie asked, cute nicknames long gone from her tone. She was all-business, a side I hadn't seen before in her (but I instantly liked it). "We've got Duraludon, Gigalith, Flygon and Goodra on the loose, but only Duraludon Dynamaxed," Raihan counted off his fingers. "The rest are just terrified and ran off in fear."

"Good; that leaves three less Dynamax Pokemon running amok around Hammerlocke," Maddie said, adjusting something on her wrist. "Sebastian, Camilla, Aria; has everyone been evacuated from the stadium?" The trio nodded in sync. "Alright. Cam, make sure everyone stays away from the stadium and stays off the battlefield. Aria, search the power plant below for anything that might have triggered this. Sebastian, look for Raihan's Pokemon in the gym; Rai, take the streets. I'll handle Duraludon."

It was that moment her cardigan sleeve lifted I nearly gasped aloud. A Dynamax Band had been sitting right under my nose! "Mira?"
"Y-yes?" I said, struggling to maintain my serious composure.
"You investigate with the girls too; try the locker rooms. Maybe somebody left their Dynamax Band down there or something. This whole thing seems real dodgy, and we're gonna get to the bottom of it. Ready? Break!"

As the Dragon-type trainers took off, I made a mad dash in the other direction, looking for the door to the locker room. I wove through hallways that looked like they were constructed in ancient times, and the strange geometric design of the pillars, but there was no time to appreciate the architecture now.

Finally, after ten minutes of running absentmindedly through the establishment, I found a door that said Challengers Only. Struggling to wrench it open, I threw myself into it and froze. A pile of Dynamax Bands, sitting helplessly on the bench, were glowing the strange cherry color of Dynamax energy.

Coming closer, when I looked straight down, I realized the shape the pile took. A big, red X. This was his doing; his way of saying he wasn't ready to give up yet. Snarling, I grabbed all the Wishing Stars and shoved them into my bag, which still smelled a bit like burning leather. "Espeon, come on," I released her. "We've got to find the others.

Suddenly, the cry of a Noivern--amplified by a hundred times--tore through the building, shaking the very foundation of the city. Clutching my bag tighter, I tore down the halls in the direction of Maddie.

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The minute I got onto the roof of the stadium, I knew we were in WAY over our heads. Duraludon was so huge, its head was the only thing visible, about fifteen feet high and absolutely enormous. The hole that its face had punctured in the roof was getting larger by the minute, and the Pokemon attacking it on the ground and in the air were like pesky Cutiefly compared to it.

It appeared that Raihan's Pokemon had all been returned to him, because I saw him fighting with a lavender, slimy Dragon-type which had to be his Goodra, evolved from Goomy. A Flygon buzzed above the Gigantimaxed Pokemon, weaving through the metal spikes that had grown on the roof, and a Turtonator commanded by one of the Gym Trainers was trying to melt them to make room for us. Gigalith was nowhere to be seen.