fanfic Manifest Destiny - Into the Abyss - Page 13

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By sundown, we had just barely crossed the threshold of Shikan Port. As soon as Mighteyna’s claws touched the cobblestone streets, we immediately dismounted. Mighteyna was exhausted, having carried us the final several miles straight. The street lights were all on by now, casting long shadows over the stones and Laya and I strode down the street. She had a friend who lived down by the pier, who had agreed to let us stay the night.
The city itself surprised me. As a city ruled by her port, I would have thought it would be healthy and prosperous. In contrast, the buildings were small, and squeezed tightly together. They all looked rather shabby, and several were falling into disrepair. The further we got into the city, the more it became what I had expected it to be. The buildings grew grander, though the space between them still persisted to remain remarkably thin, if present at all. The smell of salt water permeated the air, blown in by the constant sea-breeze. Over the tops of some of the buildings I could see the tops of massive ships waiting in the harbor. It seemed the wealth of the city laid around the pier, and all others were just scraping to get by.
Laya paused, checked over her shoulder, and once convinced that the street was empty but for ourselves, pushed through a door on our left. Inside the dimly lit room, she grabbed my arm and forcefully led me out of the entryway and up a narrow flight of stairs. Forcing me down onto a bed in a dingy bedroom, she muttered, “Wait here,” and left the room.
For the first time, fear closed its icy grip around my ribs. To be fair, I had never gotten any proof that Laya was on my side, just my own assumption because she was Lena’s sister. Theoretically, she could be a part of either side. I could hear Laya’s voice downstairs, and the murmur of someone I didn’t recognize. Their voice was deep, but very rapid, most likely male. They sounded like they were arguing. A few minutes passed, but I was unable to discern what they were saying. Then, with a steady series of thumps, I felt more than I heard them ascend the stairs. The door burst violently open, and there stood a rugged seaman, with overgrown black hair and a stubbly beard. He looked positively livid.
“I told you I wasn’t lying,” Laya said, glaring at the man. “Joey, show him your arm.”
I obeyed, holding up my burned arm to show the man. He looked taken aback, and then asked, “Magenta’s Mismagius did this?”
“Yes.”
“Well she’s not going to give us away to them, that’s for sure.” He said, more to himself than to me or Laya.
“I’m taking her with me tomorrow.”
“No.”
“Don’t ‘no’ me mister, she’s just as wrapped up in this as I am.”
“Then you’re both walking into a trap. You know they want you to do this.”
“That’s why I’m not going to be alone.”
“Then you’re putting her in harms way too! I let you join because I thought you had more sense.”
“I have plenty of sense, but this is my sister we’re talking about!”
“You’re blinded!” He roared.
“Maybe so, but you can’t expect me to abandon my family!”
He sighed, “I suppose you’re right, it just seems foolish.”
“Foolishness to one is wisdom to another. We’ll leave before dawn, and take them by surprise.” Then she turned back to look at me, “Sorry you had to hear all that, go ahead and get some rest; I’ll wake you when its time to leave.”

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I felt like I’d just closed my eyes on that little cot when Laya was shaking me awake. The sun hadn’t risen yet, and the night air was absolutely freezing. Trying to get changed while Laya was explaining what we were going to do wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done. She was explaining approximately where Magenta’s hideout was, and how we would get in without being noticed. I missed more than half of her instructions while I was pulling my shirt on. The other half I really didn’t know enough of the references from the Mountain Trail to understand.
As soon as I had my jacket on, Laya pulled me swiftly out the door, and we were off. Getting out of the city was easy enough, but instead of going straight through the main road, we had to keep to the edges of the city as much as possible. It was a very scary and very real possibility that some of Magenta’s ghosts were lurking and looking for us. Traversing the outskirts of Shikan was much harder than either of us expected. Unlike the central part of the city, the houses here were not laid out in any particular order. As a result, we were forced to either climb over the houses (half of which looked like they were about to fall in), or travel completely off road. By the time we were free of the city, we were behind Laya’s schedule. Together we ran up the main road that lead towards Lincoln, a sleepy little city up north that was well known as a good vacationing spot. At the fork in the road, we turned right, and began our trek down the Mountain Trail.
As we traveled up the Mountain Path, we were both taken aback by the sun beginning to peak over the mountains. Originally, we’d planned to be safely under the cover of the rocks before the sun hit the land, but here it was. If we were spotted, it would be pointless to keep going. With a renewed sense of urgency, we sprinted as fast as our legs would carry us up the uneven, rocky path. Laya’s eyes were constantly scanning the tall rocky wall on our left. With an unnatural gait, she jumped over a short ridge, and began to climb the side of the wall. The cave must be somewhere above us. Climbing the mountain was harder work than I had ever imagined. We had to take it one foothold at a time, and sometimes they were spaced more than ten feet apart. Shimmying up endless feet of rope, fixed by a well shot grappling hook onto a high ledge, we slowly ascended. Even in the cold mountain air, I could feel sweat beading on my forehead and rolling down my back and legs. My hands felt hot, and it was getting harder and harder to hold onto the rope. With about three feet left to go, I felt my hands sliding. Hurriedly, I tried to squeeze the rope as tight as I could. My arms ached, and my hands burned, but below me was a fifteen-foot drop. A hand plunged down over the ledge, followed by Laya’s head and torso as she leaned over the side to pull me up.
Laying flat on the plateau, panting and rubbing my hands, I rolled over to look at Laya. She was shaking her arms looking around at the mountain around us. Her Mighteyna was prowling the platform, nose almost touching the dirt and rock.
Before I could ask, Laya whispered, “Looking for the entrance, it’s close.”
I nodded, and pushed myself up on my knees to look around. The sight was breathtaking. Stretched out in front of us were the plains we had traveled the previous day. Looking back, the seemed much smaller than they had been when we were actually trying to cross them. On the horizon was the silhouette of Moran Forest. I couldn’t believe how far I’d come already. I couldn’t see anything of the Valley, couldn’t see anything of even Rubika City. On the horizon, the forest looked big, dark and foreboding, and maybe it was now after the fire. I hadn’t even thought of going back to the places I’d left, considering how much there really was to see. I’d have to go back after we rescued Lena.
“Joey!” Laya hissed, catching my attention instantaneously. “We found the door, come on!”

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The door was actually hidden under a layer of dirt, between two large rocks. After Mighteyna dug the door out, Laya directed him to dig another hole.
“Take off all of you extra clothes, and put them in here, as well as your pack and shoes. Then put this on.” Laya said, holding up a piece of black clothing.
Layer after layer, I pulled off jackets, sweatshirts, and sweatpants. Finally, after depositing two jackets, my sweatshirt, and two sweatpants in the hole, along with my shoes, socks, and pack (save for my Pokeballs), Laya handed me the piece of clothing. The outside was sleek and shiny; it looked a lot like leather or vinyl. The inside however felt a little spongy. It reminded me of the wetsuits I used to wear when I used to play in Gyra-Rock River, except the arms and legs were much longer. Getting it on was much harder than I remembered, it kept sticking to my arms and legs. The harder I pulled, the harder it seemed to hold its place. Somehow, Laya already had hers on. She popped up behind me, grabbed the back of my wetsuit, and pulled. Pushing my hands forward, I felt the material slide reluctantly along my arms. Holding my hair out of the way, she pulled the zipper tight against my back.
“I’m guessing this is a service door. There aren’t signs of traffic anywhere around here, no footprints, no scraps or forgotten pieces. The ground is just too still. Basically, this means it’ll be easier to get in, but we still have to be careful once we’re in.” Laya said, pulling the metal hatch open.
Clipping her six Pokeballs onto the belt outside her wetsuit, she descended first. After I made sure my three were securely fastened, I followed after her. The ladder under my hands and feet was ice-cold and coated in moss. Within seconds of climbing, my fingers and toes were numb. Once or twice I nearly lost my grip, and frantically grabbed onto the mercilessly cold steel for dear life. Eventually we made it down, hands and feet so numb we couldn’t feel the rock beneath our feet. The passageway we stood in was a hallway carved into the rocky mountain. The hall opened into a large, long tunnel running perpendicular to ours. Twenty feet below was a dark river, almost completely shrouded in a veil of mist. Lamps were embedded in the wall, and emitted an eerie green light. Extending over the gourge was a wide piece of steel. Thick, heavy ropes extended up from this bridge to another about ten feet over our heads. I couldn’t see if there were any above that.
We silently ran across a bridge, and down the next passage. The small green lights littered the walls in this passage too. The passage sloped upward as we continued further and further along. Each hall remained as empty as the previous, and the sheer absence of other people, or Pokémon for that matter began to unnerve me.
“Shouldn’t we have run into someone by now?” I whispered to Laya.
“I would have thought so, this place must be bigger than we expected.” She hissed back.
Deeper and deeper we wound ourselves into the mountain. The caves and tunnels must have extended for miles and miles. Some had fallen in, some were too small to crawl through, but all existed, and all were part of this labyrinth. Suddenly, Laya seized my arm and started running as fast as she could in the opposite direction, and didn’t stop until we’d gone around three corners and into a tiny crevice.
“What was-“ I began.
Clapping her hand over my mouth, she waited a few fear-stricken minutes, then whispered “I spotted a few grunts, and I was sure they’d seen me too. Sh*t.” She whispered.
Pressing herself flat against the wall of the crevice, we both held our breath as we both heard the loud footfalls of multiple people stampeding down the passageway. At least twenty people, all dressed in black, with white highlights around the collars and hems of their clothing ran past. My heart was hammering against my ribs, more afraid than any caged beast. At any moment, they could pause, or turn to look around. Prolific battler that I was sure that Laya was, neither of us could handle that many people. There we stood, minutes that felt like hours in the crushing silence after the grunts had moved on, too scared to move, and almost too scared to breathe.
Slowly, she edged out of the crevice, and peered around the corner. We snuck back up the passage, only to find more grunts waiting for us. My blood turned to ice as I turned and fled, Laya hot on my heels. We made it as far as the steel bridge before the first group of grunts came into sight. Plunging twenty feet into murky water I knew nothing about wouldn’t have been my first choice, or second or third for that matter, but it was better than being captured. Grabbing Laya, I jumped over the edge of the platform into the depths below.