Previous: Ghost of the Core Part 4
They rode in a superior machine. The Professor's car was an amazingly smooth ride. It was a sleek, white vehicle with a very rounded shape, and it was large enough to fit seven people. It was closer to what we would consider an SUV. Rhys sat in the very back seat, and Pear sat across, facing him with her tablet out, and her very shapely legs crossed. Tenshi drove them, and to Rhys's surprise, it didn't look like he was listening to them at all. He seemed quite dedicated to his driving. Duskull floated near Rhys.
Pear: Yes, there have been quite a few strange happenings as of late. Not all of them involve pokemon, or the AllSeers, though they are the bulk of the problem.
Rhys: What else has there been?
Pear: It's rather hard to explain. It's strange, none of the incidents have involved Ghost Pokemon that we know of. All of them have been non-Ghost and non-Psychic types. Normally it's rock-types or large normal types that have been commiting acts of vandalism, or worse, terrorism.
Rhys: That is weird. All of the incidents I've seen thus far have been primarily ghost related. That was in the Kanto Region. I took a plane here from Saffron City. The last incident I ran into was in Lavender Town. A hyper intelligent Spiritomb took over the Radio Tower there and was terrorizing the citizens by talking to some of them in the voice of loved ones that had long been dead.
Pear: Oh, dear, how dreadful. [She said in a calm but controlled tone.]
Rhys: After that I found evidence that led my investigation here.
Pear: To Lithium?
Rhys: Not so much, more just the Alto Region in general.
Pear: That's quite the area to cover. It looks like you have your work cut out for you.
Rhys: [Smiled.] I'm inclined, and willing to do whatever I can to stop whatever is happ---
There was a gigantic crash and the entire car shook, wheeling out of control. Professor Pear let out a scream, and flailed as the car blew a tire and they all slumped to the left. The car finally ran into the median.
After a moment, the backdoor opened and Rhys stumbled out of the car. His head swirled, and blood trickled down the right side of his forehead. It all happened so fast, in a blur, but he was fairly sure that Professor Pear's tablet flew out of her hands and into his brow. He wiped the blood from his T-zone and looked up as another tremor rattled him.
It was an Onix, and an especially angry-looking one. It looked down at Rhys with gigantic red eyes, and gave a gigantic roar down toward him. His head swirled even more, and he was brought down to one knee. He'd never seen an Onix that was so disgruntled, and hateful.
The Onix came down toward him and opened its mouth. Rhys quivered and cringed as the blood got into his eye.
Rhys: Grrrr!!! DUSKULL! Shadow Ball!!!
Duskull: DuuuuuSKULL!
A black energy engulfed Duskull for an instant, but fired off an energy ball that stopped the Onix in its tracks. The rock pokemon crashed into the side of the street wall, breaking it down. Without a moment's hesitation, the Onix came back straight at the Duskull with a rock throw, gathering up broken pieces of asphalt and chucking them at Duskull and Rhys. Duskull was knocked back hard as she stood in front of the entire barrage of rubble. Her floating took a dive, but she regained her bearing quickly as well.
Rhys: Hang in there Duskull, counter with a Confuse Ray!
Tenshi: Professor! [Hurried to the back of the card and opened the door as much as it would go.]
Pear: I'm alright, Tenshi.
Tenshi: Are you hurt? [He grasped her hand and pulled her out of the car.]
Pear: My ankle, I think it's just a sprain.
Tenshi: It's not safe here! We must go somewhere--
Pear: No, Tenshi, I want to see this for myself.
She turned to see that Rhys's Duskull was putting up quite the fight against such an angered Onix. Even when the Onix skidded its tail across the street, scraping up large amounts of pebbles to plow into the Duskull for a Smack Down, the Duskull avoided it, and sank into the ground. Its shadow moved across the street and came straight up, shooting directly into the Onix's face, smashing it into a streetlight that was already leaning.
It was obvious to Rhys that Duskull was not doing so well, she was low to the ground now, but still seemed willing to fight.
Rhys: Hold it right there Duskull [He opened his pack up, rooting through it.] I have a potion that will heal you up in no time.
That was when the Onix's tail came back up, and crashed down onto the street, opening a gigantic fissure in the street. While this did not affect Duskull, it caused Rhys's left leg to sink into the broken asphalt. His backpack fell a length across the street and he fought to keep up but the rocks kept crumbling beneath his hands as he was almost up. Soon he was holding on for dear life, his one leg and one arm holding him above the hole, but his strength was already zapped from the crash to pull himself back up.
Duskull turned to look at Rhys, but she could do nothing with her incorporeal body, but her red eye shined at that point. The black energy built up in her body like never before, and as the Onix charged at her once again, she unleashed the full fury of that attack, and blared the black energy straight into the rock pokemon's face. The attack smashed the Onix's head into the street, causing a huge impact and crater. It was defeated, and just as it was, there came sirens in the air as the police were just arriving.
Just as Rhys's strength was about to give out, Tenshi's hands came under his arms and pulled him up. Rhys's feet fell through the hole, causing him to freeze, but Tenshi was quite strong, and pulled him onto the solid surface of the street.
Rhys: Thank you... thank you.
Tenshi: Don't mention it. Can you stand? [Offered his hand, and Rhys took it.]
Rhys: Yeah, I think I'm alright. [Stood up and looked to see Professor Pear. He smiled when he saw that she was clapping.]