Chương 72: 72-Rout

Having stepped a little ways away from the console as the shaking slowly intensifies, Maxie stares with singular focus at the bubbling and writhing molten rock. The quake is significantly less severe this time, even fifteen minutes into the event, something he'd been assured and gave him the confidence to see it first hand, but the distinct lack of violent shaking has him beginning to wonder whether that traitorous scientist managed to do something after all.

Perhaps he could remain for a few minutes longer than he'd planned… the risk of course that a sudden quake could knock out power to the bunker and leave him stranded here, forced to delay the event till the power is fixed again. But… This is the culmination of a new world. He has to stay, to watch his victory for as long as possible. He reluctantly breaks his unblinking stare and looks to the technician running the console.

"Status?"

"Fully operational sir. Engineer's notes say magma chamber pressure should be at twenty percent criticality." Maxie nods, hiding a grimace. That engineer, the fact that he'll need to be brought to the island bunker on the other side of Hoenn is a very irritating concession to the reality of limited personnel. This base and its staff represents over thirty percent of his available resources.

The coward refused to leave his private quarters on this most momentous day, the fact he has private quarters on such a small mountainside installation is a true proof of exactly how necessary he was for this event he now refuses to partake.

"Report when chamber pressure rises to sixty percent."

"Sir." He nods, and their leader looks back to the lava without another word. Once the engineer sees the glorious future he helped build, Maxie is sure the man will gladly contribute… further… The thought trails off as something strange rises above the din. What's that noise? Maxie blinks and looks up in the vague direction he hears it coming from. Some kind of whistli– There's a flash. … Maxie Hoss realizes he's on the ground with a high pitched ringing in his ears.

He opens his eyes just in time to see his machine fall back down from where it had been lifted up onto two wheels, paneling ripped off and half the machine blackened. As it crashes back upright the crimson beam flickers and sputters, but it doesn't cut out. Maxie pushes his head off the ground and looks around the newly blurry world in shocked confusion. … wha–"We're under attack!" His head enforcer's voice cuts through the noise, already standing with two pokemon emerging from the balls in a flash of light.

"Protect the device!" The alert brings Maxie back to awareness and he instinctively reaches to his hip, and grabs nothing but air. But that's to be expected, he should have known by now there wouldn't be anything there. Struggling to find his feet again as the earth begins to shake a bit more violently he looks toward the technician at the console who's now frantically working.

"The explosion broke something, readings are jumping all over the place. Shutting down internal power plant–"" No!" Maxie coughs.

"I've come too far. Increase power." The tech looks up at him with an alarmed expression.

"Sir– I dont– I dont think that's how this works –" He's cut off as his boss shoves him out of the way." Coward." He hisses, looking down at the completely incomprehensible mess of readouts and controls, looking for the button he can push that will fix this. He made this machine! It will obey!

Eventually he finds a dial labeled 'catalyst throughput' and turns it up as far as the dial goes, looking up at the machine and watching satisfied as while the beam is still flickering the color of the beam has become much more vibrant as his enforcers surround the machine, tasking the pokemon they have to its defence.

He's forced to grab the console for support as the earth rumbles warningly and a large splash of molten rock has those same enforcers taking a few steps back, but soon it settles to a new elevated normal and everyone continues. Just before he can turn and start giving out orders to find the attacker he sees something erupt from the blanket of ash covering a large part of the sky quickly enough it leaves a hole of blue.

That streak of pink flashes down so quickly it's completely incomprehensible, crashing to the ground in an explosion of dust and a thud so violent he can feel it through his legs. Maxie smiles at the missed attack. It seems whoever it is is having trouble hitting them through… The thought trails off to nothing as a figure slowly rises into view, silhouetted against the sun in that dust, the only thing visible are its vibrant purple eyes glowing bright enough to cut through.

Maxie feels like his attention is glued to those eyes as they burn in the dust, becoming ever-brighter as they exit the revealing… A chansey. … Maxie feels himself give out an involuntary huff of laughter. Just a chansey. He points to a random grunt then gestures at the 'mon, who for some reason appears off put.

"You. Deal with that." He orders, turning to his admin.

"You. Get some flyers into the air and find who's–" Maxie staggers as it feels like his body is made of lead at almost exactly the same time as he hears the sound of something violently hitting cloth and flesh. Turning his head, he just manages to see his top enforcer hit the ground, seemingly having thrown himself between his leader and the chansey, her purple eyes brighter than ever.

He barely has time to process what he's seeing before a camerupt appears in front of him in a flash of light, the 'mon giving a surprised roar of pain as a blast of psychic energy hits it in the side and Maxie is pulled down behind it." Stay down!" His admin shouts before pulling another ball from his belt and tossing it out then struggles to stand back up.

"Protect our leader!" The admin staggers away from the biological cover in the enhanced gravity and he starts shouting something else, but whatever it is becomes inaudible by another explosion. The sound has Maxie flinching closer to the ground, and for nearly half a minute he keeps tucked down, struggling against his lungs to breathe. As he cowers he sees a streak of purple psychic energy shoot out toward his machine and for a heart stopping moment all else ceases to matter.

But the attack dissipates on approach, the front of the mass of energy tinged red as it slows and breaks apart before it can make contact. The same occurs with the second attempt and Maxie can do nothing other than exhale in relief. He knows he should remain hidden, or leave now and trust his enforcers can keep his machine safe, but as the sounds of battle only grow louder and more chaotic Maxie slowly struggles up to peek over his cover instead.

By now five of his enforcers, his admin, and eight grunts have sent out the pokemon on their belts to attack the chansey, a full half of his forces he has on hand while the other half watch on, keeping guard around the machine and their leader.

But as he looks at his enforcers Maxie realizes there's not as many pokemon on the field as there should be, a second later he sees the pokeball in one of his enforcer's hands seem to jump out of his grip on its own, sending him ducking down either in chase or just to hide behind a nearby rock. Then another explosion has Maxie half ducking back down, and his attention turns fully back to the 'mon. He can't tear his eyes away.

A mightyena charges across the uneven ground despite the gravity before leaping forward with jaws agape. But the instant the 'mon's paws leave the ground a telekinetically thrown rock shoots into its mouth, snapping the 'mon's head back and turning an attempted leap into an uncontrolled tumble right to the feet of the opponent.

The chansey kicks the 'mon hard enough it's sent flying into a nearby rock before her egg flares purple and shoots off toward where three 'mon are standing relatively close together before– The explosion sets Maxie's ears ringing again as the explosion sends all three flying before crashing back down like a video tape on fast forward in the heightened gravity.

"Dont let up!" Someone shouts, "Get aro–" His words are drowned out by another explosion. Then the chansey slowly raises a foot and takes a few steps toward the machine and its creator, but before she can get far she's forced to leap to the side, avoiding a stream of lava shot from the mouth of a numel. In response her purple eyes flare brighter and a boulder lifts off the ground before being chucked at the offending 'mon.

With a panicked yell a grunt pops out from behind a rock to retrieve the 'mon only for his head to snap back the instant after he does, sent tumbling end over end with the force of the psychic attack.

"She's going after trainers!" Someone shouts in panic.

"Keep going! Numel use– gah!" Another boulder flares purple before being flung at the machine, but one of his enforcer's weezing fire off some kind of beam and the boulder is reduced to a rain of pebbles that bounce harmlessly against the machine and its defenders. Watching the defense, Maxie realizes that this 'mon certainly has a trainer, and if they're having this much trouble with one 'mon the rest of this mystery trainer's pokemon are going to make this situation untenable.

For all the strength he has access to, his strength is in its humanity, to beat a major city's fire department would take a sizable chunk of his available strength. To say nothing about a gym leader or any kind of organized government response. It's why his isolated cells and constant secrecy have been necessary to get this far, and if an enemy knows enough to be here…

He needs to leave, his presence won't contribute to the defense, and if this fails he must remain uncaptured to keep the dream of his better tomorrow burning. But… He stares at the glowing red beam, and at the ever larger gouts of lava shooting up from the volcano into the air. If he fails now he'll never have this opportunity again, leaving feels like admitting defeat. He's so close…

Looking back at the battle, he turns just in time to see the 'mon abruptly contort herself in a way that seems biologically impossible to dodge an attack from behind, sending an exploding egg back without looking as two human voices cry out in pain. But as she starts to march forward again, the mightyena appears out of the dust and shadow as if it had teleported in a sneak attack, jaws snapping shut around its opponent's arm and not letting go.

For that effort, the mightyena is lifted high into the air by that same arm and slammed against the ground over and over. But the mightyena doesn't let go, so when a numel charges from where it's hidden their opponent can do nothing as with a flare of heat a plume of molten rock flies through the air to be splattered all over the enemy. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The 'mon roars in pain, the molten rock sizzling as it burns her flesh while the mightyena's hold finally comes loose and it disappears in a flash of red. Trying to counterattack, the 'mon staggers as more fire breaks against her bulk from the other side, giving the numel just enough time to leap out of the way. The chansey attempts to recover, sending out another attack, but another blast of fire lands and Maxie feels lighter for a brief moment as the 'mon's hold on gravity flickers.

Morphing her body in that unnatural –impossible– way to dodge some of the flames the chansey turns and shoots off another exploding egg to the offending trainer and 'mon. But the flicker of gravity has proven she's weakening. So, seemingly emboldened by that thought, three more attacks rain down on her from different angles. The chansey can only fire back at two. More attacks, each from a different direction as both human and 'mon duck in and out of cover in the field of volcanic boulders and cracked earth.

Each time they pop out just long enough to fling yet more fire and lava with wild abandon at their singular foe. So much heat that Maxie can feel it on his face even over a hundred metres away and concentrated in such a small space that the fire and smoke completely envelop the enemy.

But even while completely obscured, rocks, eggs, and lances of psychic energy shoot out in all directions, rapidly flipping between pinpoint accuracy and raw power substituting for it, each attack hitting another'mon or trainer without fail. But even as the enforcers fall or exhaust all battle ready 'mon it must be wearing their enemy down, a thought that has everyone slowly rising from their cover to increase the pace of attacks as the gravity flickers again. Then a voice cuts through the noise.

"Camerupt!" The admin shouts, a cut across his cheek oozing blood as he rises up to his full height in that brief moment before the world becomes heavy again, stepping out of cover to point at the opponent." Charge!" There's a rumble from the 'mon as the order is answered by rising to its feet, leaving its leader exposed, and breaking into a lumbering charge straight toward the opponent still completely obscured by black smoke.

Gravity flickers for an entire second as an egg shoots out of the smoke at the charging 'mon, but the camerupt simply lowers its head and picks up speed, allowing the egg to explode against its side without breaking stride as it crosses the final distance and enters the black smoke with a bellowing roar. There's a crash, like stone crushing stone, followed by an earth shaking thud. Then silence.

Maxie breathes, realizing that gravity is back to normal as he does and rising up to his full height, watching the thick smoke along with everyone else … Nothing After a few seconds longer Maxie coughs and adjusts his glasses from where they'd almost fallen off his face, turning to brush down his jacket as he looks to the closest enforcer and starts barking out orders as he takes a step toward the bunker to make his getaway now that the immediate threat is dealt with.

"Determine ETA to criticality and status of personnel, then get our flyers in the air now to slow down whoever that 'mon belongs to." He scans the sky again, looking out to the horizon from the direction of Lavaridge and sees the quickly approaching dot of some kind of large flying 'mon then points to it.

"There! Get to the air! We'll have better a chance stopping a trainer at this level off the ground with delaying actio–" Maxie's eyes swivel back to the fight as camerupt is launched out of the smoke. Tumbling like a ragdoll toward his admin, the man tries to leap to the side to dodge the thrown 'mon but only partially succeeds, his left shoulder and leg getting clipped sending him tumbling with a yell, ending up partially trapped underneath the unmoving 'mon.

Everyone rushes back to cover as their leader frantically looks around for his own hiding spot in the flat area he's standing in, a place to hide from the 'mon waiting in that rapidly dissipating– The chansey's not there. Maxie blinks at the smoke, eyes scanning for the large 'mon that had just thrown the camerupt but… Then his eye catches on something high in the air, a familiar red and white orb, soot stained but still distinctly visible against the sky.

The world seems to slow as he realizes it's above his machine. Maxie opens his mouth to do… something. To warn the defenders, cry out in rage, fear, or just scream at the indignity of it all. There's a flash of light, the world becomes unimaginably heavy. And with a crash and the screams of tortured metal the chansey drops like a stone falling on fast forward and crushes his machine. No. No! There's a moment of despair at the sight of his dream crushed that has the time stand still.

Rage boils in his gut brighter than the eruption he'd been robbed of as Maxie Hoss feels himself boil in this eternal moment.

"NO!" The earth thunders in a mirror of his rage, sending several to the ground as, with a rumble, a large section of rock nearby cracks and slides into the lava. Years of planning, of hiding, of sacrifice to build his organization, all to be ruined by a chansey sent to capture him just when a better world was at his fingertips. The thing is injured, almost all of her formerly pink flesh either red or black, she staggers as she lands, favoring one leg over the other, and a plan forms.

He needs to leave now if he has any hope of not being captured, but that doesn't mean he's going to let this abominable 'mon get away with this. Immediately he starts trying to estimate the number of men he needs to leave behind to deal with one injured– The creature looks him in the eyes. And Maxie Hoss realizes that this thing doesn't want to capture him. Those eyes flare brighter but the forming attack is knocked aside by a hit from the enforcers surrounding the destroyed machine.

A flash of purple zips by the air just to the right of their leader's head as he lets out an instinctive yelp and breaks into a hurried stagger back toward the open armored doors of the bunker.

"Retreat!" Someone shouts.

"Let's go let's go!" Molten rock sizzles against the creature's side but it's like she doesn't feel it as she takes a moment to look to the sky toward where Maxie saw the trainer flying toward them. Then the 'mon staggers to the side as another blow lands, but she doesn't turn to look at the attacker. Instead she presses an arm against a large blackened section of her body, which begins to emit waves of glowing green sparks. Those eyes look at him.

Another attack lands, splashing against the green, and the 'mon staggers again, but she uses the momentum of that attack. And steps forward. Maxie stops looking back, focused entirely on getting to safety even as his muscles burn and strain to lift his impossibly heavy weight.

"Protect our leade–" The voice morphs into a scream as Maxie feels another explosion and rocks pelting his back and head but he barely breaks stride as two enforcers stop attempting to flee and turn to face that creature. Struggling for even the smallest bit more speed as lifting his feet is a challenge, he feels something grab his jacket and yank, it's only the fact he was leaning forward and the loose fit of the jacket that allows him to slip out of it with a painful half running stumble.

He almost doesn't notice when rocky ground gives way to smooth concrete and the sunlight is replaced by flickering fluorescents, but he does and the instant he's inside he almost falls over in the enhanced gravity to get to a control panel mounted on the wall. Pressing the button triggers a buzzing alarm and the camouflaged external door begins to slowly close.

Half propping himself up with the arm pressed against the button, Maxie looks over his shoulder at the narrowing gap between the heavy blast doors and sees the 'mon marching through attacks like they're not even there, only bothering to deal with whoever decides to stand in her path as she continues her labored march forward. He watches as the pokeballs of the enforcers who'd turned back glow purple and fly from their grip before their clothes glow a similar shade and they're thrown violently into nearby rocks.

Maxie presses the button harder. As the sliver of sunlight grows more and more narrow, only three of his enforcers and a singular grunt manage to get inside even as the explosions and screams increase in frequency. Just before the door closes a voice comes from the other side.

"Waitwaitwaitwait waitWait W–" Then there's a mechanical thud and the sound of heavy bolts sliding closed as half a metre of reinforced steel seals shut, and despite the fact that the gravity has not gotten any less intense, Maxie feels himself breathing easier. Straightening up, he fixes his glasses and tries to still the tremor in his hands before slowly trudging toward the door to the rest of the underground complex and his escape, gesturing at the few who managed to get inside as he does.

"We're leaving. Follow me." He says, pointing at one of his remaining enforcers as he seals the door to the work room behind them and continues down the hall to the next door.

"You. Find the engineer and report to the–" The world thunders in a cacophony of noise composed of two thuds blended with the screams of twisting metal and the low crackle of shattering concrete. The overhead lights shut off, plunging the hallway into absolute darkness before dim red emergency lights kick on and a shrill alarm sounds across the hall. Dust falls from the ceiling as a long crack appears along the right wall, starting from the door they had just walked through.

Maxie looks back the way they came, completely dark without the overhead lights.

"The door's stuck!" Someone shouts.

"Help me–" Another explosion has everyone clapping their hands over their ears as there's a bright flash of light and the door blurs across the hallway before that entire half of the hall is completely obscured by dust. Maxie watches that dust as he hears the door's metal grinding against concrete as they struggle to push it open, and in the dust he sees a dim unearthly green light, barely visible and made all the more unnatural in the red emergency lights.

He takes a step back, not looking away from the dust as he gets to the door and starts pushing as well. The green slowly grows brighter, eventually turning the dust on the other end of the hall into a sickly green cloud. With a grinding squeal the door opens a bit further and immediately Maxie shoves the others out of the way, trying to pull himself through the barely large enough gap.

He feels the metal and concrete ripping at his jacket while he struggles against his body and exhaustion as the magnified gravity drains his stamina. He's gasping for air with the effort by the time he pulls his shoulders through the gap and half falls the rest of the way through. Taking a few steps away, Maxie looks back through the narrow gap at the other human faces, made to look ghoulish in the red light, he sees the green glow cut out behind them.

Before that darkness is illuminated as two large eyes flare purple. Run. He doesn't think, he doesn't plan, rational thought leaves him as his mind is consumed by fear at the presence of this monster. He stops feeling the exhaustion in his body or the added weight of the amplified gravity as he turns around and sprints down the hall with no direction in mind, just the knowledge that where he is running is away from that thing!

There's a flash of light and a sharp pain in his ears as the solid metal door zips over his head, barely a centimetre from hitting him and on instinct he turns down a split in the corridor, slamming his shoulder into get through a solid metal door and almost falling as it swings open. Then there's another flash of white light behind him and he's picked up off his feet, sent tumbling through the air until he collides with the floor again and slides into the next wall.

He scrambles on the floor like some inhuman creature as he tries to get up again, desperately dragging himself around another corner before the end of the corridor darkens and he catches sight of the monster again. Lit by the violent purple of its eyes more than the red of the emergency lights, the thing takes up the whole hallway as it comes to the intersection and looks at him, like some abominable wall of flesh that seems to now be completely unharmed despite being blackened by burns barely a minute ago.

Then the sight disappears as Maxie half crawls half drags himself around a corner, only to see a smear of something fly through the air where he'd just been, then a flash. Pushed across the rough concrete before slamming into the far wall hard enough he sees stars, Maxie Hoss struggles to breathe for a few seconds before inhaling with a gasp which turns into a hacking cough as the dust in the air gets into his lungs.

Slowly sitting up with bleary blinks of confusion he abruptly remembers why he's here and feels his mind be almost overwhelmed with fear once again, but as he takes in his surroundings that fear lessens. Because the intersection he'd just been at is now collapsed, blocking that thing from him, and the gravity that was once pressing down so hard it was difficult to breathe is absent. Slowly dragging himself off the floor with a pained groan, the man blinks as he realizes he can't hear the noise he knows he's making.

He reaches up to his ears and feels something wet, then shakes his head and slowly rises to his feet. He can think about that later. All that matters is escape. Coughing into his fist from the dust, Maxie leans against the wall with his other hand and starts hobbling away. Then the entire wall of rubble flares purple and begins to move. Maxie wheezes, hobbling faster around a corner as he feels the entire bunker shudder. Keep moving.

He almost falls over as he comes to the end of a hallway, squinting around in the dim red lights and total silence before turning left. Don't stop. He thinks he feels that thing's footsteps shaking the floor like it's right behind him. Don't look back. He pushes forward, taking a right and continuing down the hall until he comes to the unmarked secure door where he'd arrived at this nightmarish place.

Throwing open the door he almost collapses in relief as he sees the still illuminated computer attached to the prototype long range warp panel. As he turns around to seal the door behind him he thinks he sees some purple in the hall where he'd been out the corner of his eye, but doesn't stop to check. Staggering over to the computer he reaches up to adjust his glasses to read the blurry letters on the screen but realizes his glasses are gone.

He leans back, trying to decipher the blinking red warning text on the screen but can't make it out. He knows this thing has its own internal emergency battery but trying to teleport with a prototype while it's actively warning him of something seems– He feels a thud reverberate through the concrete beneath his feet and the concern is dismissed as he presses enter a few times and the red text goes away.

Shoving himself toward the pad he steps onto the silver surface as another thud has him almost trip before the warp pad comes online and a pillar of white light surrounds him. But as the energy reaches its peak, the instant before he teleports away from this place, the door glows purple and it's ripped from its hinges so the last thing Maxie sees are those purple eyes. Then his surroundings disappear in a flash of white.