"It's Team Storm!", Lucas yelled as Ellie looked at him with shock, while Seijo just cursed. Then, he let Crobat out of its Pokeball. The grunts had began to file in through the doors of Meteor Falls, with their army of Pokemon all around. Some of the inhabitants of the falls had begun to take action against Team Storm, gathering that they were not here with good intentions behind their actions. Seijo looked around, then hopped onto Crobat's back.
"I'm going to help those people on the ground floor. You guys find a way to protect these people.", Seijo said as he began to take off.
"Wait!", Lucas yelled as Crobat suddenly stopped and Seijo turned around. Seijo found a strange stone flying towards him, that he caught and inspected.
"Its a stone I found in the caverns. I trust you more with it more than myself.", Lucas said. Seijo nodded and put the stone in his bag then waved them off, flying down to the bottom floor to begin fighting the grunts. Meanwhile, there was the entire tour group around Lucas and Ellie, most of them without any Pokemon on them. And, the couple that did have Pokemon seemed too terrified to see their precious pets be destroyed by Team Storm. Ellie looked around and said to Lucas,
"We need to get them to safety."
"Right.", Lucas said as he shouted to the rest of the group loud and clear, "Alright, we need to get to safety now! Follow me and Ellie!"
Lucas scanned his environment for a way out and found a bridge along a large valley of water. Lucas helped the people over the bridge, but found they were already taking fire from a couple of grunts that were sitting on the roof of the place, firing inwards from a hole in the roof.
"Pin Missile!", one of the grunts commanded their Beedrill. A thousand pins and needles rushed towards someone who was crossing the wooden bridge, and as they saw the attack coming, they cowered as they begged for mercy.
"Ember, now!", Lucas yelled and Torchic spat a giant Ember at the pins, reducing them to ashes within a second and saving the person for a second. They opened their tear-filled eyes and Lucas yelled at them,
"Run, get to the other side!"
Ellie launched a Water Pulse through the hole in the ceiling at the Beedrill, striking it with a critical hit and stopping it from attacking for long enough for the rest of the group and Lucas and Ellie to cross over the bridge. From there, there was a map with a couple of emergency exits that they could use in case of disaster. Lucas looked at the map with more confusion than answers, but Ellie managed to look at it and create a plan within seconds. She marked her finger across it and yelled to the group,
"Alright, follow me!"
Lucas ran alongside her as they dodged attacks from grunts from every side, with Mudkip and Torchic providing shots at the grunts that would at least delay their attacks for a few seconds. A couple from the tourist group were hit with the occasional attack, with one getting an acidic sludge bomb right on their back. They screamed in pain as the sludge bomb hit them hard, but Lucas doubled back to help them back up.
"Alright, keep on going!", Lucas yelled as everyone seemed to stop to see if the person was okay. Their pace quickened as they finally came across the emergency exit, underneath the cavern, but found that there were a few grunts guarding the exit. Ellie began to look at them and wonder what they should do, but Lucas wasted no time in rushing straight at them.
He swung hard with a kick at one of them first, aimed at the knee. One of the grunts fell and Lucas kicked their head upwards with surprising athleticism. The grunt slumped against the wall and the other grunt immediately brought out their Pokemon, a Magmar that immediately kicked Lucas back to the wall. Ellie then appeared and Mudkip struck Magmar with a Water Pulse when it wasn't expecting it. Magmar screamed, then was hit out of it by the grunt smacking it on the head hard,
"Attack that kid on the wall, now!"
Magmar shook its head and launched a Flamethrower toward Lucas. Lucas looked in fear as the heat wave came closer and closer. But, then, Torchic jumped in front of the Flamethrower with a Flame Charge. The fire burning around its body only got larger as it took in the energy off from the Flamethrower. Mudkip let off another Water Pulse, interrupting the Flamethrower. Then, the energy exploded into blinding speed as Torchic threw itself into Magmar at blinding speed, knocking it out instantly. The grunt looked with complete shock, then looked towards Lucas.
"YOU. YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!", he yelled as he threw himself towards Lucas with his fist ready to knock out Lucas. Ellie quickly rushed forwards and tripped him up while he was running, causing him to fall to the floor. Then, once he fell to his knees, she sent a right hook right in his face.
"Get away from him!", she yelled as he fell to the floor from the force of the hook, then knocked unconscious later by a Water Pulse to the head. The group looked at the two of them with shock, as if frozen with fear. Lucas stared at them with sharp eyes and yelled,
"Go, now! Get help from Fallabor Town, then tell them to come through this entrance. Arceus knows, we need it."
The group nodded as they began filing through the door, with a couple thanking Lucas and Ellie as they escaped into the day. Lucas slid against the wall, while Ellie looked at his cheek, then held her hand over her mouth.
"What happened to your cheek?", Ellie asked as Lucas felt at his cheek. His skin was coarse and rough, then when he took his hand off, he found that his skin had turned black and rubbed onto the palm of his hand. Lucas gasped as he felt again, then stopped immediately as the pain coursed through his cheek. Ellie immediately brought out a first aid kit and began to wrap the burnt area with a bandage, covering it completely. It was strange because Lucas couldn't feel it at all if he didn't press on it. It couldn't have been slight either.
Ellie finished up the bandage work and Lucas sat up again, going over to the unconscious grunts and disarming them of anything that could be used to hurt people. They found only one Pokemon on each, a Magmar and Electabuzz. They returned the unconscious Magmar to its Pokeball and placed it in Lucas' bag, while the Electabuzz's Pokeball went in Ellie's. They also found those same net sort of things that had been used before on Zorua and stuffed them into their bag. They also found a device for communicating between the people of Team Storm and listened in for a second.
"Alright, we've secured most of the exits. A few people are still fighting but we should be able to overwhelm them soon. Then, we can tackle the Meteorite. 102 and 112, can we get a confirmation that you've still secured that exit?"
Lucas didn't answer back, as he realised that they had just taken down 102 and 112. Lucas threw the device down and smashed it, then told Ellie,
"They're after the Meteorite. And, they're probably gonna be sending some reinforcements once the grunts don't respond."
"So, we'll need to hit them with everything we've got to make sure that the exit is secure for when help comes back around.", Ellie said, punching the palm of her fist. Lucas nodded and they both made their way up the stairs out of the cavern, hiding in the darkness as they waited for footsteps and the perfect opportunity to strike. They both waited with some nets from Team Storm, hoping to capture a person or a Pokemon with them. Then, they saw the shadows of three people turn the corner across the bridge. Lucas turned the corner and threw out a net at one of them, tangling them up in the purple net. They lost balance from there and tumbled from the bridge into the rushing waters, not to be seen again. Ellie threw out another net and caught one again, but this time they just fell back onto the bridge. The grunt that was still standing snarled as she threw out a Pokemon.
Out popped a Graveller, that Lucas threw out Shroomish to fight while returning Torchic for safekeeping. Ellie chose to stick with Mudkip.
"Mud Shot!", the grunt cried as Graveller hit the bridge, making it sway. It then produced a massive swad of mud straight towards Mudkip.
"Water Gun!", Ellie yelled out as Mudkip held its ground and threw a stream of water to fight against the mud shot. The mud shot was winning at first but started to be held off by the water gun as it went on until steam erupted from the battlefield. Lucas yelled,
"Leech Seed!"
Shroomish took a shot in the dark and sent three seeds in one direction. Graveller was unaffected, but a cry from behind told a different story. The grunt cursed as she fell to the floor, and then was held by the vines. Graveller looked back with concern as the grunt cried out,
"Attack you twit!"
Mudkip launched a Water Pulse just as Graveller turned around, knocking the Pokemon off balance and causing it to fall onto the bridge. The bridge cracked as Graveller fell, as a result of its colossal weight. But, Shroomish just managed to create some vines with Mudkip's help, making a makeshift hold for the bridge so they could cross. Ellie breathed a sigh of relief as she and Lucas ran across the bridge, with one of the grunts yelling,
"You won't win! Team Storm always wins in the end!"
Ellie rolled her eyes as she started running even faster to match Lucas' breakneck pace, as they rushed up the stairs to the place where their peaceful tour ended. They looked over the horizon and saw many more grunts around the grounds, yet some people still battled valiantly. They could even see Seijo taking on hoards of grunts at a time with help from a couple of other people.
Lucas then turned to the exit of the Meteorite area. It had been completely destroyed, replaced by a wall of rocks and stones. Mudkip looked at it and shot a water pulse through, causing the wall to topple as the rocks started to tumble down the ramp. Lucas and Ellie hopped over the rocks and slid down the ramp, through complete darkness and into the unknown.
Notes:
Hey everyone, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, but it's only going to heat up more throughout Meteor Falls so look forward to the upcoming chapters. Another thing I'd like to say is wow, 2200 reads on this book. That is absolutely insane to me, and I'm so glad to have people engaged enough with my story to read it every week. So, thank you truly.