Pokémon HGSS #29: Deep Below The Whirl Islands
Lightning flashed and there was a loud crack of thunder which made Jonathan, Beatrice, and Jasmine run even faster across the soaking wet rocks and sand. They just made it to the entrance of the cave as another lightning bolt struck the water nearby.
“If this storm continues growing, it could be devastating to both Olivine City and Cianwood City,” Jasmine said. “We need to figure out what’s going on.”
“Plus it’s possible that Raikou is being trapped by Lugia somewhere down below,” Beatrice added.
Jonathan nodded.
“You’re both right. I know we just barely survived a boat crash, but we really don’t have time to catch our breath. We need to go now,”
The three of them moved quickly into the cave and there was an immediate difference. They no longer stood beneath the heavy downpour of the storm. They still heard the rain pounding the stone above them and they were still soaked by rain, but now they no longer had to fear the raging ocean waves or the lightning from up above.
As they walked deeper into this cave, it became a winding path that is rough and rocky. It seemed like not many people had walked this path and that these pathways were formed by water and natural processes. Very quickly the cave grew darker and darker to the point where they could barely see their surroundings.
“We need some light,” Beatrice said.
“If only Aphy was here,” Jasmine said. “They could light the way for us.”
“Good thing I have my own Aphy,” Jonathan said. “Well kind of.”
He held out a Pokéball and with a flash of light, Ampharos emerged from the Pokéball.
“Ampharos!”
Immediately the red ball on the tip of it’s tail glowed and filled the cavern with light.
“Much better,” Beatrice said.
“Let’s keep going,” Jonathan said.
They continued downward and they passed some large pools of water. These pools of water below ground held several Water-Type Pokémon including Krabby and Horsea. When Jonathan, Beatrice, and Jasmine drew near, the Pokémon would retreat deeper into the cavern, but keep an eye on all three trainers.
They also heard echoes of what sounded like thunder.
“That’s not coming from above us,” Jonathan said. “It sounds like it’s coming from deeper below.”
“Raikou. It must be,” Beatrice said.
“Sounds like quite a battle,” Jasmine said.
“One I have a feeling we will be joining soon,” Jonathan said. “Come on, Ampharos. Lead the way.”
“Ampharos!”
Ampharos charged forward and it’s tail lit up the way. Jonathan, Beatrice, and Jasmine chased after Ampharos as they emerged from this narrow, rocky corridor into a large cavern. Before them was quite a sight.
The cavern itself was quite large. So large in fact, you seemed impossible that this sat on could be assumed the bottom of the ocean. The walls of this cavern were lit up by glowing crystals which seemed to react to the commotion in the cavern. Closest to the three trainers was Raikou, the large, thunderous beast which had bright yellow fur and a purple mane running down it’s back. Its tail shot at like a lightning bolt in their direction.
On the other side of the cavern a large silvery-white Dragon-like Pokémon flapped it’s massive wings. Waterfalls crashed down behind it sending up foam and mist which partially concealed the Pokémon, but Jonathan could tell it was massive and powerful.
“That must be Lugia,” Jonathan said and the others agreed.
Lugia let out a powerful roar and the water around it shook. It just radiated this powerful Psychic energy which filled the entire cavern. However this did not deter Raikou. The Electric beast let out an equally impressive roar which sounded like a crack of thunder.
It was evident that these two Pokémon were locked into an intense battle. Both Pokémon had scars and bruises from the ongoing battle. Raikou was standing tall, but it looked like it had taken the majority of the damage during this fight.
“Jonathan, look,” Beatrice pointed toward Raikou. “It looks badly hurt. If we don’t do something soon, we won’t be able to rescue it at all.”
“But what can we do? Take on Lugia?” Jonathan asked.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to defeat a Legendary Pokémon like Lugia,” Jasmine said. “Plus check out the waterfalls behind it. It looks like Lugia is able to keep the water from submerging this entire island. If we knock it out, who knows what might happen.”
“Ok so we have to get Raikou out of here but we can’t fight Lugia,” Beatrice said.
“Well I wouldn’t go that far,” Jonathan said. “Jasmine just said that we won’t be able to defeat Lugia. But we can still take it on.”
“Won’t that just be a losing battle?” Beatrice asked.
“Wait, I think he has something,” Jasmine said. “Continue, Jonathan.”
Jonathan nodded.
“Jasmine and I can use our Pokémon to fight Lugia and stall. Then Bea, you can go get Raikou and get them out of this cave. Once you get to the surface, we’ll catch up to you and we can get away.”
“I….I can’t. How am I going to convince Raikou to go with me?” Beatrice asked.
“Good question,” Jasmine added.
“You were able to connect to Suicune in the forest, right? You can do it again with Raikou. Just talk to it. It will listen,” Jonathan said.
“You already met one of the legendary beasts?” Jasmine asked.
“Yeah we have,” Beatrice said. “But I don’t know if I’ll be able to talk to Raikou.”
“We have to try,” Jonathan said. “I don’t see any other way out of here.”
“Alright I can try,” Beatrice said.
“I’ll get my Pokémon ready,” Jasmine said as she pulled out a Pokéball.
“And I got Ampharos,” Jonathan said.
“Ampharos!” Thsparked with electricity.
All three Pokémon trainers turned back and saw that the two Pokémon were still in a standstill. Raikou unleashed a powerful wave of electrical energy and Lugia countered the attack. It flapped its wings again and the waves seemed to move forward and crash into the electricity. Then Lugia unleashed a powerful blast of hurricane-like winds from its mouth. The winds formed a vortex which slammed into Raikou, almost knocking it over.
“We have to jump in now,” Jonathan said as he rushed from the entrance of the cavern.
“Raikou! We’re here to help!” He yelled as he ran.
“Ampharos!” Ampharos yelled after him.
“This is going to be fun,” Jasmine said to Beatrice before she took off running.
Jasmine held up her Pokémon and it unleashed a flash of red light. The red light grew quite large before revealing a gigantic, Steel-Type Pokémon.
“Steelix!” It roared as it slithered next to Jasmine.
Raikou turned its head to look at Jonathan and Jasmine as they approached. It showed off its fangs and started to growl.
“We’re on your side, Raikou. Ho-Oh sent you to help you,” Jonathan said.
Raikou let out a roar and unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning which streaked toward Jonathan.
“Watch out!” Beatrice yelled out just as Ampharos stepped in between.
“Ampharos!”
The lightning struck it and there was a flash of light. The fur on Ampharos’ body stood up on end as it let out its own blast of lightning, supercharged by Raikou. The lightning bounced back and zapped Raikou, but it seemed to not damage it at all.
“Raikou!” It let out another roar.
“Ampharos!” Ampharos responded, sparks of lightning jumping between Electric-Type Pokémon.
“What’s going on?” Beatrice asked.
“I think they’re talking with their lightning,” Jonathan said. “It’s like they are forming some sort of bond.”
“Or current,” Jasmine said.
The two Pokémon discussed briefly before they both turned toward Lugia. The Legendary Bird Pokémon was surveying all the newcomers, but it seemed trained on Raikou.
“Ampharos, does Raikou understand we are here to help?” Jonathan asked his Pokémon.
Ampharos gave a nod and electricity began building up between the two Pokémon again.
“Lugia!” Lugia flapped its wings once again and the water surged forward.
“I think it’s time for a proper battle,” Jonathan said.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Jasmine replied.
“Ampharos, use Electro Ball!”
“Steelix, use Flash Cannon!”
Both Pokémon readied their powerful attacks. Electricity built up in Ampharos’ tail as it glowed brightly and then Ampharos swung it’s tail and the ball of supercharged electricity shot toward Lugia. Steelix opened its mouth and it began to glow with silvery energy. Then with a roar, Steelix unleashed this beam of silver light which streaked toward Lugia.
Raikou let out a thunderous roar and unleashed another blast of electricity. All three attacks seemed to merge together just as Lugia flew up its wings and the water rose. The waves crashed into the ball of steel and electricity and at first it seemed to stop the attack. There was a huge crash and the electricity spiderwebbed out across the water followed by a large explosion as the electricity jumped from the water to Lugia.
Lugia let out a ferocious roar and the entire cavern seemed to shake. Across the top of the cavern, large stalactites began to shake. The waterfalls behind Lugia began to grow in size as more cracks arose on the sides of the cavern and salt water began to trickle in.
“Looks like we made it mad,” Jasmine said.
“Guys, I think we need to run,” Beatrice replied. “This whole place could come crashing down.”
“We need to convince Raikou of that,” Jonathan said.
Raikou let out another roar and unleashed another blast of lightning. This time Lugia countered with the typhoon of air which collided with the lightning bolt halfway between them. Again the lighting burst out and this time it struck the ceiling, walls, and floor of the cavern. The cracks worsened and more sea water began to pour in. Large stalactites began to fall from the ceiling, just missing Steelix and Ampharos.
“No more battling. We need to go,” Jasmine said as Steelix returned to her Pokéball.
Jonathan reached out his Pokéball and Ampharos returned to it.
“Agree. But what about Raikou?” Jonathan asked.
“On it,” Beatrice said as she ran by Jonathan and Jasmine.
“Wait!” Jonathan yelled.
“This was the plan, remember?” Beatrice said as she continued to run.
Lugia let out another roar and the water surged again. This time the water came from the waterfalls behind it as well as the new waterfalls starting to form all around the cavern. Raikou roared back, not looking like it wanted to back down.
Beatrice ran forward and outstretched her arms, putting herself between Raikou and Lugia.
“Raikou! Stop! We need to leave,” Beatrice yelled at the Legendary Beast.
Raikou looked at Beatrice confused and began to growl at her.
“Growl all you want but Ho-Oh sent us here on a mission to rescue you from Lugia,” Beatrice said, scolding Raikou. “Look around you. This whole place is about to come crashing down. You’ll be buried under rock and water and for what? Stop being so prideful. Let us get you out of here.”
Raikou stopped growling and then looked back toward Lugia. The Legendary Bird was still flapping its enormous wings. With each flap the cracks worsened and more ocean water poured into the place. Jonathan, Jasmine, and Beatrice were now standing in ankle deep water.
Lugia let out a roar, asserting its domination over this domain, challenging Raikou to continue the battle. But Raikou looked back at Beatrice and gave a nod.
Raikou then let out one more thunderous roar before bowing its head and kneeling down to Beatrice.
“I think that’s our cue to hop on. Let’s go, quickly!” Beatrice said.
Beatrice, Jonathan, and Jasmine all climbed up on Raikou’s back. It was a tight fit with all three trainers on the Pokémon’s back. But they made do. Raikou quickly ran from the sinking cavern beneath the Whirl Islands and ran, lightning quick, through the caverns. Water was leaking in from everywhere as they heard the roars of Lugia behind them.
It wasn’t long before Raikou had made it to the surface. The thunderstorm above them was still ongoing but it seemed like it was starting to diminish.
“Maybe Raikou and Lugia’s battle was adding to the thunderstorm. Now it’s starting to falter,” Jonathan said.
“That’s definitely a possibility,” Jasmine said.
Beatrice patted Raikou on the top of his head.
“Raikou, do you think you can get us back to Olivine City?” She asked.
“Go toward the lighthouse!” Jasmine pointed to the beacon of light in the distance.
Without hesitation, Raikou leaped forward and started to race across the water. It moved so quickly that the choppy ocean waves didn’t slow it down. It streaked like a lightning bolt across the water’s surface and before they knew it, Raikou had made it to the Glitter Lighthouse.
Once there, Raikou knelt down once again and the three trainers climbed off its back.
“Thank you Raikou,” Beatrice said. “Thank you for getting us home.”
“I’m glad that you are safe,” Jonathan said.
“I’m glad we’re all safe,” Jasmine added.
“Raikou, we know that Entei is also in danger. Do you know where they might be?” Jonthan asked.
Raikou looked over at Jonathan, but either Raikou didn’t know or didn’t understand the question. It just crouched down and then leaped over the trainers, taking off like a bolt of lightning once again. Raikou took off and then vanished into the forest.
“Were we supposed to follow it?” Jonathan asked.
“There’s no way we could keep up,” Jasmine said.
“I don’t think Raikou is really one to stay around and talk,” Beatrice said. “I think we are better off heading back to Ecruteak City and seeing if there are any more clues about the whereabouts for Entei.”
“Yeah I guess you’re right,” Jonathan said.
“Hey I know that you both probably had a blast with the whole meeting two legendary Pokémon in the middle of a crazy battle beneath the ocean while a storm raged above you, but to me, that was exhausting,” Jasmine said with a laugh. “Why don’t you stay with me tonight and then tomorrow you can head back to Ecrureak.”
Just then Jonathan’s stomach rumbled which made all three of them laugh.
“Hard to argue with an empty stomach,” Jonathan said.
“Don’t worry. I have food. I can cook something up. And get you both some warm clothes to change into.”
“Sounds perfect,” Beatrice said with a smile.
Jasmine was right. Beatrice and Jonathan were excited that they rescued Raikou and they wanted to find Entei. But for now they needed food, dry clothes, and a good rest before the next part of their Pokémon journey.
Header Photo Credit to taratsunasand on Pixiv
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/86823748
All photos of Pokemon and related content used were taken from Bulbapedia
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Page
Allen The Writer 