Chapter 25: An Emergency Mission.
(Sorry for having no chapter yesterday; I couldn't finish the chap in time before I had to go to bed. After writing my last story, I have learned to set a certain time limit for writing before going to bed. Otherwise, it will affect my health like it did in the past.)
Once the dust settled and our pokemon had been called back Roark let out a small round of applause before announcing.
"Congratulations, you have earned yourself the Coal Badge! I gotta say I am impressed."
He handed his pokeballs to his assistant before he began to approach me.
We both exchanged a short handshake before he added with a smile.
"You are now officially one of the few trainers to have gotten your first badge so fast after starting your journey. But a word of warning, don't rush too fast to the next gym. They will give you an even harder time than I did.
I'll tell you the same thing my father told me. The journey is the most essential part of the gym challenges. Make sure you don't miss it trying to reach the finish line."
I nodded my head as I accepted the badge.
"I agree. This battle was closer than I wanted it to be. I am not confident I can win my second gym challenge without training my team even more."
Roark nodded his head in approval as he heard my words.
"If you are heading over to Eterna City, I would recommend you take the bike path. Yesterday I heard there was something going on near Valley Windworks, so it is better to play it safe. I heard they were going to send someone to check it out, so it must be pretty serious. Usually, they don't allow people without bikes on the bike path, but I talked to the guard at the gate, and he should let you through."
His words made me curse in my mind. I thought I would have had more time, but they were already in Valley Windworks.
I knew that they were stealing energy that was generated there. It must have been important since there would be a commander from Team Galactic overseeing the project. From what I remembered, Team Galactic was trying to gather enough energy to power up one of their experiments. They were going to capture the legendary lake pokemon and then use all of their stored energy to create the Red Chain.
The Red Chain was an item that could control both Dialga and Palkia, maybe even other legendaries. Their whole plan centered on it. If I was able to stop them from gathering this energy, I might be able to delay their plans. Though since they were already in the area, that would mean I would not get to train my pokemon in preparation like I had hoped to.
I knew I would probably not be able to take on a commander with the current strength of my team, but luckily for me, I didn't have to. I just had to stall for long enough to allow the person they were sending to come to deal with this issue. Or at least to allow that person to become a distraction so that I could damage their plans before disappearing.
I had made a plan for this event, but judging by the current time frame, I would have to skip a couple of steps. It was risky, but it was worth the risk if I could buy us some more time.
"Thanks for the warning. I will keep it in mind. I can't wait till the day we can have a rematch where you can use your main pokemon." I answered to him
I originally wanted to spend more time in this city to form a better friendship with the gym leader, but now I had to get out of there.
Seeing as I was in a hurry, Roark didn't hold me back, though he did say he looked forward to the rematch.
Making my way back to Jubilife City as fast as I could before stopping at their pokemon center. My pokemon were quite hurt from the battle, so I had to make sure to treat them first. As I entered, Joy tilted her head slightly before asking.
"Is everything alright, Lucas?" She asked as she saw me.
Putting on my brightest smile, I answered.
"Yes, you know I was just excited to share the news! I was able to beat the first gym leader!"
Joy responded with her own bright smile.
"That's wonderful! I knew you could make it! You didn't have to come all the way back here to tell me, but I appreciate that you did it."
I nodded a couple of times.
"Yeah… you know I also have to heal up my pokemon, and I was wondering if you could help me out. I can't wait to get back to my journey."
Joy's smile became brighter as she answered.
"Of course, you know that we are here if you ever need us!"
Working together with Nurse Joy, we were able to get my pokemon back to full health in record time. Joy bought that I was just too excited to continue the gym challenges, so she simply gave a few chuckles as she helped me out.
Curing Machop and Dreepy took us a few hours, but they were now in tip-top condition. And once we left the center, I gave a look at my pokemon as if to ask if they were ready.
Kirlia and Dreepy knew what this meant, so they both gave me determined looks. As for my new pokemon, they were slightly confused, but they were ready for whatever came.
I ignored all of the trainers along the way to Floaroma Town. Using teleport over and over again, we managed to shorten the long trip drastically. Yet, due to the time spent on the pokemon center the sun was starting to hide over the mountains, indicating the arrival of the night just as we arrived.
Once I was about to enter the town, I took a deep breath before calming my nerves. I didn't want to stand out by rushing all over the place. So I made my way in as if I was just taking a leisurely stroll.
The strong smell of flowers entered my nose as I heard the cacophony of Combee flying all over the place, followed by the sounds of Bird-like pokemon flying all over the place. The whole town was covered in flowers, and were it not for what I knew was happening in the windmill, I would have loved to take a nap in the grass.
People were simply wandering about the town as usual, which made me narrow my eyes for a second before I put on my friendliest smile as I walked toward a young man who seemed to be slightly annoyed.
"Hey there! How is it going? I was just passing by the town. And, I have to say this place is beautiful."
The annoyance on the man's face was replaced with a smile as he answered.
"Ah, yeah. We are quite proud of the environment we were able to cultivate for our town. I would recommend you go to the flower field to take in the view, but there are some Galactic employees are blocking off the area. I am sure once they leave, you can go in. It is the most popular place for visitors. I actually wanted to get some flowers for my… friend, but I was told I had to wait."
I put on a curious expression before asking.
"Galactic employees? Do you know what they are doing in the area?"
"Ah, they are working on fixing an issue the windmills have. Apparently, there were some faulty gears or something on them, and they were going to break down if they didn't repair them quickly. It's nice of them to come by and fix it, even if they are being slightly annoying by blocking the path to the flower field."
The excuse made sense. For most of the public, Team Galactic was simply a company that was researching clean energy and was trying to advance the technology so that the world could have clean and renewable energy. Unless you were from Veilstone City or had been directly harmed by Galactic, you probably would think that they are quite the noble company. If you thought that Team Galactic was doing something sketchy behind the scenes, you would be looked as if you were a conspiracy theorist.
"Thanks for the info. I can't wait to see all of the flowers around. Hopefully, they can get the issue fixed soon. I think I am going to go lay down in the grass and enjoy the view of the stars." I said before leaving.
I was rushing a bit too much right now. I couldn't afford to make a mistake, so I would meditate to assess my situation. I could use my clairvoyance to assess the situation and reassess my plan in case there was something I hadn't planned for.
I made my way to one of the nearby grass fields before laying down as if I was going to take a nap.
Taking one last deep breath, I released my clairvoyance as far as I could.
I first focused on the two Team Galactic grunts that were blocking the path to the field. They would be my key to gaining access to the inside of the Windmill building, or well, one of them would be.
"Do you really think we'll be able to find the pokemon that the boss is looking for here? I know the myths say that they are found in a 'legendary flower field,' but if it was here, I am sure that the people who live here would have noticed the pokemon by now."
"It is worth a try, at least. If you look at the good side, we get to hang out here instead of having to deal with redirecting the energy. So I wouldn't really complain." answered the other Galactic member.
The only pokemon I knew that was related to a legendary flower field was Shaymin. I didn't expect Cyrus also to be looking for them, but I guess Galactic would be keeping their eyes open for any possible legendaries they could catch.
If my memory served well, then I didn't have to worry about them finding Shaymin in this location; the little pokemon would be hidden quite well. So I changed my focus to the Valley Windworks.
I could sense there was a good amount of people in there… And there were also two psychic pokemon next to one person. I focused in order not to let them feel me before drawing slightly closer to look inside.
I was being extremely careful as I began to analyze the insides of the facility, it meant I wouldn't be able to listen in, but I at least would be able to get a general picture as to what was going on.
Inside of the facility was a good amount of random team Galactic members running around messing with the wires and the batteries in the facility. An old man wearing a scientist lab coat was currently working on the main computer that controlled where the energy that was produced was sent to. Judging by his signature hair and glasses, I knew that this was one of Team Galactic's commanders, Charon. One of the main researchers for the organization.
Not so far from him was a red-haired woman standing next to a massive Purugly. She seemed slightly annoyed as she talked to Charon before she moved to find a place to sit. Next to her Purugly was an Espeon that seemed to be lazing about. As I looked at the Espeon, her head seemed to perk up as she began looking around. This was my cue to leave.
Opening my eyes, I was greeted with the night sky.
Judging by the brief amount, I was able to see they haven't finished their preparations to redirect the energy to their HQ. I believe their preparations should be ready by the time the morning comes.
"Mars has another psychic type pokemon in one of her pokeballs in addition to the Espeon. So me using my psychic powers to teleport inside and mess with things will not work…."
I turned to look in the direction of the flower field before muttering to myself.
"Time for plan B. 'Join' team Galactic."
~Author's Note~
Secret agent Manfred reporting for duty. I was recently able to inflitrate the targets household by pretending to be private security. Please continue to send your power stones so that I can keep my job for long enough to deliver justice to this criminal.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone