//------------------------------// // Chapter 21 – Deep Blue Lake // Story: Pokémon Eclipse // by moviemaster8510 //------------------------------// Once they got to the end of the last canyon, Sam and Alice couldn’t help but notice the pile of rocks on both sides of the entry to the last lake’s beach and the wooden stump in the center of each pile. They were quickly ignored as they approached Lana, who stood in the wet sand where the waves rolled into her ankles. “Looks like you made it,” she said. “The final part of my trial. It should be pretty basic. The Totem Pokémon will be at the splashing spot over there.” Looking around her, Alice and Sam saw that sure enough, there was a violent bubbling up in the lake’s center. “I’m not quite sure how Ilima set his own trial rules, but I would like to set my own. As you both are taking my trial together, if either of your Pokémon all faint, you will both fail and must retake the trial again. Either you both win or none of you do.” “What?” Sam exclaimed. “That certainly wasn’t explained to us at Verdant Cavern!” “Relax.” Alice slapped her brother hard on the left of his back. “You have your Fomantis, and I have my Pikachu. We’re going to win this.” “Now that that’s out of the way,” Lana concluded, “I’ll leave you to face the Totem Pokémon. Good luck to you both, and be very careful.” Without another word, Sam and Alice set their bags on the sand and stepped forward to the shore as Lana walked back to join the ponies, Lady, and the Mudbray, who stood still to watch. After sharing a last glance with their friends behind them, Sam and Alice brought out their Laprases from their Ride Pagers and quickly climbed aboard them. Mudbray whimpered and whined out to the two of them as both Laprases pushed off the sand and into the water. Suddenly, Mudbray broke into a gallop and ran to Alice’s Lapras, ignoring Starlight and Fluttershy’s suddenly frantic calls for it to come back. With several feet already between the trainers and the edge of the waves, Mudbray ran several feet into the water before leaping into the lake, paddling just fast enough to climb onto the Lapras’s back flipper and climbed to the left side of the base of its shell, standing firmly upon the knobs. Alice looked down to see her impromptu passenger and grinned looking back ahead to the splashing spot. From the beach, Starlight and Fluttershy couldn’t help but keep focused on the Mudbray. “Do you think we should have let her go?” Starlight asked. “I don’t know for sure,” Fluttershy said, “but I think she wants to be by Alice’s side. I think she… wants to be there for her.” Finally, Sam and Alice reached the splashing spot, Sam and Alice each taking out one of their Poké Balls. “Go, Fomantis!” Sam shouted. “Let’s go, Pikachu!” Alice exclaimed. Both of their Pokémon came out and landed on the bases of their respective trainers’ Laprases’ necks. Before the Pokémon could emerge from the spot, Sam and Alice couldn’t help but look down to see many Wishiwashi swim beneath them and toward the bubbling spot, which began to grow larger with each fish that swam into it. “Back up!” Alice shouted to her steed. “Lapras, back up!” Both Laprases rowed themselves back, allowing themselves to see even more countless Wishiwashi converging until the splashing water rose up about ten feet up. The Mudbray on Alice’s Lapras began screeching uncontrollably, knowing what was to come. On the shore, even the ponies could see the splashing from their distance. “What’s happening over there?” Fluttershy’s voice trembled. “It’s the Totem Pokémon,” Lana answered. “Wishiwashi…” Suddenly, the splashing began to stop, and with the waves rocking them, they could hardly make out a thirty-foot figure below. “…School Form.” The Totem Wishiwashi rose out from the water like a breaching whale. It’s blue body was made up entirely of other Wishiwashi, giving it the appearance of a shark with a large, gaping mouth, the eyes of the Wishiwashi inside glowing blue. The Totem Wishiwashi landed back into the water, creating a wave of water that rolled to both Sam and Alice. The Mudbray quickly clamped its teeth on one of the Lapras’s shell’s knobs just as the wave came near. Sam saw as the Lapras tucked its head in, knowing what was about to come. “Alice, hold your breath!” Alice could see it too, and both she and her brother inhaled and closed their mouths just as the water reached them, their Lapras’s paddling forward through the wall and emerging out the other side in roughly the same spot they were in. As the wave approached the shore, Fluttershy screamed out and hid behind Lana. Starlight quickly pulled Sam and Alice’s bags back beside her with her magic before the wave could reach them. Once it hit the sand, the wave crested and crashed, threatening to wash into them. Starlight expanded the magic from around the bags and formed a half-rectangular wall from it, the corner facing the wave as it was pushed around the make-shift shield and kept them safely dry. The water that didn’t soak into the sand receded back toward the lake, allowing Starlight to let the shield down again to see the battle about to begin. Sam looked about the water beside where the Totem Wishiwashi rose out to face them. “There should be others. There were others last time.” Surely enough, three Pokémon came out of the water to join the Totem Wishiwashi, two of them appearing as large pink fish with mitten-shaped fins on the top and bottom of its disk-shaped body, and the other being another normal Wishiwashi. “Alomomolas,” Alice hissed. “Great,” Sam muttered. “Let’s do this! Fomantis, Leaf Blade!” “Pikachu,” Alice shouted, “use Thunder Shock!” Pikachu’s lightning shot from its face and covered the entire Totem Wishiwashi. As the attack continued, Fomantis climbed up Sam’s Lapras’s neck and stood-atop its head. With a running start, Fomantis hopped off and struck the Totem Wishiwashi hard with its leaf arms just as Pikachu’s attack ended, landing into the water. “Good job, guys!” Alice shouted down to the two of their Pokémon, who both growled with appreciation. Sam and Alice looked up and were immediately dismayed to see the Alomomola on the Totem Wishiwashi’s left face it and wiggle its body, producing a light-pink aura that covered it and appeared to give it more energy. Just then, both the second Alomomola and Wishiwashi dove into the water. Fomantis waded about, unsure where the attack would come from. Just then, it could just make out the Alomomola’s form as it rose out of the depths and swam back up just inches from the surface, its top fin slapping Fomantis out of the air. Before the Fomantis could even finish its upward arc, both the Wishiwashi and Alomomola came out of the water. With perfect timing, the Wishiwashi swung its tail at its ally’s bottom fin, spinning it even faster to slap Fomantis back onto Sam’s Lapras. Sam looked at their enemy foursome with a newfound sense of awe. “Such teamwork…” Just then, the eyes of the Totem Wishiwashi began glowing brighter until a heavy blast of water shot out of it, striking Pikachu in the side of the stomach, rocking Alice’s Lapras and nearly making both her and the Mudbray on its shell fall off their respective spots. From the shore, Starlight, Fluttershy, and Lady looked up at the tower of drops and mist that bounced off high into the sky, their mouths hung open. “Sweet Celestia!” Starlight exclaimed. “And they still have to take on three other Pokémon?” Lana stared out, not acknowledging them. Finally, Alice’s Lapras stabilized itself and her Pikachu shook off the damage it took. “Damn,” Alice commented, “that was pretty much a Hydro Pump. Sam!” Her brother turned to face her. “I’ll take out the smaller Wishiwashi! Try and take out one of the Alomomolas!” “Uh…” “Pikachu, Thunder Shock!” Pikachu shot out its lightning at the smaller Wishiwashi, where it sunk down under the water once the attack had stopped. Alice then turned to the Mudbray, who looked up to her with slight confusion. “What did I tell ya’? Stupid, little fish.” The Mudbray looked back to the three remaining Pokémon, looking at the Totem Wishiwashi with a bit less apprehension. “Fomantis,” Sam ordered, “hit that Alomomola with Leaf Blade!” Fomantis once again bounded up his trainer’s Lapras’s neck and dove off its head, delivering a hard slash to the Alomomola on the Totem Wishiwashi’s left. As the Fomantis fell into the water and immediately swam back to Sam’s Lapras, the other Alomomola wiggled at the first Alomomola and healed it with its own pink aura. Sam hissed as he saw this, turning to Alice. “We can’t keep spreading out our attacks while these Alomomola’s can keep using Heal Pulse! We need to–” “Take them out first and save the big-ass Wishiwashi for last?” she responded. “I hate that idea!” “Any alternatives?” “Nope. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Just then, Pikachu climbed up to the top of Alice’s Lapras’s head, which confused it. Alice also looked confused as the Totem Wishiwashi’s mouth glowed to prepare another supercharged Water Gun, the Alomomola right beside it and inhaling. Pikachu mumbled something to the Lapras, and it gently nodded its head in understanding, nonplussing Alice further. The Totem Wishiwashi and Alomomola both shot their water guns out, producing a massive stream even bigger than the one before it. However, Pikachu managed to leap off Alice’s Lapras’s right before it ducked its head down, leaving plenty of space for the attack to safely pass between them. Just then, Alice saw a connection that made her gasp and beam. “Pikachu, Thunder Shock the Water Gun!” Pikachu’s cheeks already charged up, and with a shot of lighting on the water, the electricity quickly traveled down and hit both the Totem Wishiwashi and first Alomomola. The Mudbray observed the sight with an open-mouth smile, whinnying with glee. Sam smirked in pride. “Fomantis, finish that Alomomola off with Leaf Blade!” Fomantis panted as it dove off Sam’s Lapras’s head for a third time, coming down right on the Alomomola right as Pikachu’s attack faded out upon landing back on the Lapras’s head. With this attack Alomomola finally tired out, sinking beneath the water and swimming away. Lady and the ponies on the shore cheered, glad to see the battle going off well. “Yes!” Sam shouted. “We’ve got them!” “Don’t jinx it,” Alice warned. The remaining Alomomola went beneath the water, confusing Alice, while the Totem Wishiwashi’s mouth began to glow. The Alomomola jumped high out of the  water, flipping its body just right so that its bottom fin missed the Lapras and smacked Pikachu upside the chin. As both Pikachu and Alomomola finished their arcs, the Alomomola slapped Pikachu again, this time sending it flying into Alice’s arms. Pikachu mewed weakly before fainting, making her hiss. The Totem Wishiwashi took its sights to the Fomantis, who slowly paddled back to Sam’s Lapras, exhausted. Sam gasped as Wishiwashi rose out a bit from the water and shot its Water Gun down and forward until it struck Fomantis in the back and pushing it deep into the water. Even from the shore, the ponies were shocked to see the power of the attack. “Oh no!” Fluttershy cried out. “Is she okay?” Sam could tell that Fomantis would not have outlasted the attack, and with a swing of his legs around the chair, he leapt off his seat and dove feet first into the water, going down just far enough to see Fomantis there. Grabbing it and kicking back up to the surface, Sam paddled back to his Lapras and sat along the base of its neck, pulling out his Poké Ball. “Great job, buddy,” he said as his Poké Ball’s red beam brought it back in. “Rest up, now.” Putting the ball back, he took out his last Poké Ball and lobbed it out. “You’re up now, Honedge!” With Honedge floating beside his Lapras, eager and ready, Sam climbed back up the shell and back into his seat. Alice took out her second ball and tossed it out. “Your turn, Noibat!” Coming out from the ball, Noibat flew a lap around the Lapras’s head before perching atop of it. Sam pointed to his target. “We have to take out the other Alomomola next and leave the Totem Wishiwashi with nothing else to protect it.” “And you think you can take it out?” He smirked. “I might.” Distracted, Sam didn’t see as Honedge was suddenly hit by the Alomomola’s Water Gun, tripping it into the water. Sam turned back with concern, seeing his Pokemon coming back out and shaking the moisture off itself. “Honedge, are you okay?” Honedge responded with a slow nod and quick glance back to its trainer, its eye squinted in slight anger. “Yeah, I’m sorry, bud. Get ready, though.” He brandished his Z-Ring to it. Alice pointed out to the last Alomomola. “Noibat, use Air Cutter!” Flying back up, Noibat hugged its wings in before whipping them back out, causing two blurry blades to fly out from them and both strike the Alomomola in the chin and the Totem Wishiwashi in the forehead. Finally, Sam stood up on his seat and crossed his arms at the wrist, sent them down and crossed them out. With several quick punches and a final stronger one, his Z-Power flowed from his body and into his Honedge. “Alright,” Sam bellowed out, “let’s see how you survive this! Honedge, All-Out Pummeling!” Pointing both the tips of its blade and scabbard at its target, Honedge began to spin about, fist-shaped auras flying out like a gattling gun, striking the Alomomola quickly and forcing it backward where it tumbled about on the surface of the water. Finally, Honedge sheathed its blade and shot out at Alomomola, the tip punching into it and sending both into the water, the impact causing a splash that towered even above the top of the waterfall. “Whoa!” Fluttershy sighed, watching the mist from the splash hit the sunlight and make a small rainbow. “How pretty.” “And now that Wishiwashi is all they have left!” Starlight cheered. “You guys got this!” Lady squealed in agreement. Honedge emerged from the water to Sam’s Lapras’s left, unsheathing itself once again, and wiggling the wetness off again. “Nice one, Honedge,” Sam said. “Think you can handle one more guy?” Honedge responded with a much more invigorated nod. Just then, the final Alomomola swam just benath the surface, allowing it to give Sam and Honedge a look of resentful respect before it dove back down to the lake’s depths. “Noibat, another Air Cutter again!” On Alice’s command, Noibat whipped out two more waves of solid air that hit the Totem Wishiwashi in the right corner of its mouth and just below its left eye. With the Totem Wishiwashi alone, it began to charge up another Water Gun, this time aiming it at Noibat. Alice, realizing this, looked up. “Noibat, fly! Dodge it!” Noibat flew up and about in all directions, anticipating the attack’s direction. The Wishiwashi launched its water blast up, but the uncannily large size of the stream proved too frightening to avoid, and the attack struck Noibat and sent it plummeting down to the water behind Alice with a loud crack of a splash. “Noibat!” Fluttershy and Starlight called. Alice turned behind her to see that Noibat floated limply on its back, clearly having fainted. As Alice worriedly began to climb out of her seat and dive back to save it, she saw as Fluttershy was already quickly flying to it, scooping it up in her arms before it could sink down. Fluttershy flew up to Alice’s eye level a few feet away. “She’ll be fine! No go and beat that scary fish! We believe in you!” Fluttershy quickly flew back to shore as she took out her last Poké Ball reluctantly. “Honedge, Swords Dance!” Sam mimed spinning and flipping swords with his arms and hands while Honedge mimicked its trainer’s motions, ending with a cross of its sword and sheath and sliding them along each other in a final sharpening. “Sam!” Alice shouted. “What are you–” “Preparing for the next attack!” Sam looked dead into the Totem Wishiwashi’s eyes. “If either of us can land a good hit on it, I think we have a shot!” Alice looked down to the Poké Ball in her hand. With a meditative closing of her eyes, she shot them open and tossed her ball out. “Let’s finish this, Rockruff!” Her Pokémon landed on the base of her Lapras’s neck looking at its foe. Seeing what it had to face, Rockruff couldn’t withhold a terrified whine. “Don’t worry, boy!” Alice showed her Z-Ring to her Pokémon. “We got this.” Suddenly, Rockruff looked glad and yipped in excitement. With its approval noted, Alice crossed her arms, set them down, and crossed them out again. She pulled her arms down to the left and moved her right arm up to the right, then formed a “Z” with her arms, activating the Normalium Z in her Z-Ring and transferring the Z-Power from herself and into her Rockruff. “Lapras, spin right!” Alice’s Lapras paddled itself so its left side faced the Wishiwashi, and Rockruff instinctively bounded over to the left side of its shell, standing beside the mystified Mudbray. “Now we’re ready!” Alice cried out. “Rockruff, finish it off! Breakneck Blitz!” With a hard push off causing Alice’s Lapras to slide back a couple of yards on the water, Rockruff rocketed off at the Totem Wishiwashi with a tail of heat trailing behind it. Rockruff’s head collided in between the Totem Wishiwashi’s eyes, the blast of the impact sending it flying back where it fell into the water and sunk down. Starlight, Lady, and Fluttershy hopped, whooped, and hollered about the sand cheering their apparent victory. “They did it!” Fluttershy cried. “They won!” “Way to go!” Starlight shouted out to her friends. Sam and Alice looked down where the Wishiwashi fell, not completely sure if they had actually succeeded. “Is it over?” Sam asked. “Did we–” Sam was interrupted by the Wishiwashi swarm’s head slowly rising back out from the water, its eyes now trained on Rockruff. Alice, realizing what was to come, slid off from her seat and quickly descended down to the left side of the Lapras’s shell, positioning herself between her Rockruff and the Mudbray. Sam gasped as he saw the mouth of the Totem Wishiwashi glow as it fully emerged from the lake. “Honedge, Return! Quickly!” The Totem Wishiwashi shot off its Water Gun at Rockruff, pushing it into the Lapras’s shell as the water spraying off it hit both Alice and Rockruff, the sting making them cry out. “Oh no!” Starlight shouted out. “Alice!” Honedge flew at the Totem Wishiwashi as Sam held his right arm and closed fist out. Once it got near the horde’s neck, Sam swung his arm down and in, Honedge also swinging down and breaking apart the left side of the Totem Wishiwashi’s neck in what appeared to be a huge gash. With a roar of pain, the Totem Wishiwashi’s Water Gun stopped. Alice and Mudbray, now able to see, watched as the individual fish from the Totem Wishiwashi’s School Form began to tumble off and fall into the water. Sam, Honedge, and Alice looked down beneath them to see dozens and dozens of Wishiwashi swimming beneath them and away from the bits of the horde that remained. Finally, all that was left was a single, furious little Wishiwashi that kept its sights on Rockruff, who still held on to Lapras’s shell as it coughed up the water that it swallowed. “Rockruff?” Alice turned to her Pokémon. “You alright?” Rockruff let out a couple more coughs, but Alice could tell that it was going to be okay. However, the Totem Wishiwashi quickly swam at Rockruff, the Mudbray beside Alice looking at it with vengeful eyes. As the Wishiwashi leapt up to attack, it wasn’t prepared for the Mudbray to whip itself around and buck the Wishiwashi in the face, sending it back into the water. The loss of balance almost caused the Mudbray to fall off into the water, only for Alice to catch and pull it by its forelegs, allowing it enough time to catch its footing on a pair of knobs on the Lapras’s shell. Resurfacing, the Wishiwashi let out a devastated, angry cry at the two of them before it swam away and out of sight. On the beach, Starlight, Fluttershy, and even Lana were stunned by how the fight had concluded. “Did…” Fluttershy wondered aloud. “Did they win?” “Wait,” Starlight spoke up, “does that even count?” “I…” Lana was nearly at a loss for words. “I’ve never had this happen to me before. I mean normally, outside help from trainers aren’t allowed, but that was a wild Mudbray. Neither I nor Sam and Alice can really control how a wild Pokémon can impact the trial, and considering Alice didn’t catch the Mudbray as per the trial rules… yeah, I guess they completed my trial.” Both the ponies cheered and shouted with glee along with Lady. Sam’s Lapras turned around so that Sam and Honedge could see them celebrating. Lana then gave them both a thumbs up as a final confirmation for their completion. “Looks like we did it,” Sam said to Alice. “We won.” “Yep.” Alice pet the Mudbray along its right side. “We sure did.” Mudbray laid the side of its head into Alice’s stomach, making her giggle as she hugged its neck. Lana stood beside the two ranchers, facing Sam, Alice, and their group, including the wild Mudbray, at the entrance to Brooklet Hill. With their bags slung over their shoulders, they were both ready to go once they received their parting words from Lana. “I have to say,” she responded. “In my ten years as Trial Captain, I’ve never been so fortunate to see a trial end so… interestingly. However, a win is a win is a win, and with your victory, comes the spoils. Congrats, you two. Here is the Waterium Z you’ve earned.” She stepped forward to them and held out her hand, where two blue gems with a drop-shaped icon inside of it rested. Sam and Alice both took one and clasped it proudly in their hands. “The way you use it goes like this.” Lana crossed her arms in front of her face, put them down at her sides, and then held them out crossed. With a lean and step off to the left, Lana set her foot back down as she gracefully swayed her arms in wave-like motions before swinging them to the right and curving her arms up. “You think you have it?” Sam and Alice nodded, allowing the two ranchers to come forward. “We thank you very much for your help in calming that Mudbray down,” the male rancher said. “We had some left in our cooler, but we figured you should have some. Some free Moo Moo Milk for the lot of you.” The woman rancher came forth with a small wire crate holding six pint-sized bottles of pure white liquid inside, each swaddled in a towel for safety. “Of course,” she said, “that Mudbray was a wild one, so we make no claim to it. If you’d like to catch it for your own, you’d be more than welcome to. Sam turned to Alice with an understanding glance. “I’ll put these away, you do what you need to.” Alice nodded, allowing Sam to kneel down and begin putting three bottles in each of their bags. She then faced the Mudbray and knelt down to look it in the eyes. “You were really great out there,” she said. “We could really value your strength and bravery.” Mudbray stepped into Alice and huffed contently, forcing her to hold on to keep from falling over. Neither she nor her friends, Lana, nor the ranchers could help but laugh. “Alright then, hold still.” She took a Poké Ball from the front pocket of her bag and pressed the button gently into the Mudbray’s chest, turning it into red energy that was sucked inside the ball. After a single shake, the ball sparkled out from the sides and latched closed. “Nice,” she whispered to herself. With the milk packed and their business over, Sam and Alice put their bags over their shoulders. “I’m sorry you couldn’t find any of your friends in here,” Lana said with an apologetic bow. “I sure hope you do soon.” “I’m certain we will,” Starlight said. “It was a pleasure meeting you.” “Bye, Lana!” With Fluttershy’s farewell, the group began walking out and up the wooden steps to the Pokémon Center where they could finally change into their regular clothes. “Alola!” Lana shouted with a wave. Sam and Alice waved back as well, the ponies walking backwards to face her. “Alola!” they all shouted. Turning back, Sam and Alice could now continue onward to the next chapter of their journey. Their next trial. Their next opportunity to reunite their pony friends at long last.