Let's continue…

Chapter 13: Lake of Rage

Gold peered at the city of Ecruteak. "It seems brighter for some reason."

Silver grunted. "It's just your imagination. Morty leaving and all."

Alice looked out of the Pokémon Center window as well. Certainly, it feels healthier.

Cameron looked as well. "It always has such a marvelous view."

…

Gold leaned against a building, panting for breath. "Everyone… alive?"

Silver frowned as he rested. "Why were we running?"

Alice shook her head. "He didn't seem threatening."

Gold nodded. "Yeah, but have you ever heard of the saying, 'beware the nice ones?'"

Silver tried to get their attention. "Again, what are we doing out here?"

Alice laughed. "No, and I doubt that that's the actual saying."

Silver shook Gold, who stiffened. "We're outside. Why are we outside?"

Gold pushed him away. "Because that camera guy was in there."

Silver face-palmed. "…Are you saying that every time a questionable individual walks into a public place, we have to flee?"

Gold's Pokégear took that moment to ring. "Hello? Ah, Lyra…"

Alice and Silver exchanged glances. Lyra had called five times. Twice the previous night when they were trying to relax after fleeing Jasmine, and three more times in the morning, when Gold had had more patience.

Silver muttered under his breath, "How long you think he'll be this time?"

Alice shrugged. "None of these calls last more than five minutes. His sister might have some sort of attention problem… not that it's a bad thing. He can just turn it off when we're in the middle of something important, right?"

Silver snorted. "Pokégears have an off switch?"

Gold nodded. "Okay, Lyra. Yes, I understand. No, dish soap is not the same as laundry soap. Lyra! Go get mom. Get mom! …Why am I being called for this…?"

Alice pulled out and pointed at a map. "Mahogany Town is next, right? The next Gym leader will be there."

Silver eyed the small red dot. "Hm… I'm not sure if I should go or not."

Alice raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You're planning to go off on your own?"

Silver hesitated. "Not that this isn't… I don't know, enjoyable? But I'm not really here for fun and games. I'm after… someone specific. The trail's been colder and colder the further west we've gone, and if I can't find any leads… I may as well go my own way."

Alice pondered this. Silver had never discussed his goals before. This was an interesting revelation. Finding someone… I suppose that's better than running away from someone. "What will you do after you find this person?"

Silver's eyes narrowed. "I don't know myself, but you can bet that it's not going to be good."

Gold hung up. "Sorry… again…"

Alice smiled. "No need to be sorry. It's not like it's as important as, say, a Gym leader who's fascinated with you, right?"

Gold groaned inwardly. This uncharacteristic coldness with Alice was going to take some time to evaporate, wasn't it? "Yes."

Alice turned away, still smiling and radiating coldness. Silver smirked slightly and followed.

Wait, this seemed oddly familiar for some reason. Gold started to think. Where have I seen this kind of… oh, heck no.

She had seen it in manga, so much manga. The main male character of many romantic stories was almost universally oblivious to the affections of the female characters. It created a sort of romantic tension that lasted until the boy finally figured out that the girl was in love with him. Alice wasn't unhappy just because Gold didn't stop Jasmine. Alice was unhappy because Jasmine made her jealous. Oh heck no!

And Silver! The boy in the stories had friends who knew what was going on! That smirk was the same smirk as in those images… It was the smirk of one who knows exactly what was going on and thought it was humorous! OH HECK NO!

Gold berated herself inwardly. How could she not have realized this before? The signs were there. How did she mistake attraction for happiness, or shyness, or one of those other easily-confused platonic emotions? How did she…

Silver looked back. "Uh, Alice. He's banging his head against a wall."

Alice swung herself around. "What?"

Gold was indeed doing her best to give herself brain damage. Alice quickly ran forwards. "Gold!"

Silver just watched. This was really none of his business. It's times like this when he makes me question his so-called 'true strength.'

Gold stopped and held up her hand. "Alice…"

Alice halted. "Uh, yeah, Gold?"

Gold tried to think of something to say, but failed miserably. Okay. Calm down. It might just be my imagination. After all, I've only seen it in manga. Alice hasn't said anything. What she says and does might be platonic. You never know, I might be seeing things that aren't there. It would be embarrassing to bring it up if she doesn't think that way, and it doesn't cost anything to say nothing. If Alice does confess at some point, then I can let her down. At the very least, it won't come as a surprise. And in the meantime, I'm going to try to stay out of anymore Jasmine situations. "…Never mind. Let's… just go to Mahogany, I guess."

The trio walked out onto Route 42. Gold read the information on it off of her Pokégear. "A small path opened at the base of the challenging Mt. Mortar."

Silver eyed the watch-like device. "Are we going to have to go into the mountain?"

Gold shook her head. "Mt. Mortar is off to the side. We'll just bypass it." She took a step forwards and was immediately tackled by a hiker. "AAAAGH!"

The hiker frowned and looked up at Alice. "Darn it. I missed the girl. I mean… hi!"

Alice twitched. "Wait, what?"

The hiker quickly got off of Gold. "…Sorry that I bumped into you?"

Gold glared. "Right. It was an 'accident.'"

The hiker eyed Silver as well, who was pulling his Croconaw's Pokéball out. "Er… sorry! Take this!" He pushed a small disk into Gold's hand and ran past them towards Ecruteak.

Alice shuddered. "Was he trying to… touch me?"

Silver nodded. "Looks that way."

Gold got up. "That sucked. Ugh… ugh. He thinks giving me… what is this… Strength? Will make up for his intentions?"

Silver blinked. "Strength is an HM."

Gold looked at the markings. "Why so it is."

Alice looked back towards where the hiker had gone. "Do you think maybe we should call the police or something?"

Gold started laughing. Silver only face-palmed. "And have them do what? Trip over their own two feet?"

Gold pulled them along. "We must keep going. Firestorm, what are you doing?"

The Pokémon seemed to be looking for something. "Firestorm?"

The Quilava seemed to snap out of it. He turned, made a barking sound, and ran past them. Gold chased after. "What is it?"

Firestorm led them to a quick-growing shrub like she and Silver had seen in the Ilex Forest. He quickly shredded it with Cut and ran into a small clearing in the nearby woods.

Suicune stood there, looking startled. It ran towards the group. Gold, who was in front, fell backwards, taking Silver and Alice down with her. Suicune then turned and ran even further down the Route until it could not be seen.

Alice frowned. "Suicune's here, which means-"

Eusine showed up. "Suicune… how brave it is!"

Alice sighed. "He is, too."

Gold got up. "Eusine. Are you just going to stalk Suicune for the rest of your life?"

Eusine nodded. "It's so beautiful, so refreshing… why wouldn't someone want to stalk it for all of their life?"

"Perhaps you should get some photos or something," Gold murmured.

Eusine turned on her. "YOU! You are the so called 'being of legend' or whatever! The beasts always seem to congregate around you!"

Gold coughed and looked around. "I haven't seen Raikou and Entei since…"

Eusine shook his head. "Who cares about those others! Suicune always appears near you. Well, that's perfectly fine!"

Gold cocked her head to the side. "It… is?"

Eusine nodded again. "My desire to search for Suicune is way beyond yours! My grandfather was always entrenched in myths… so I heard so many stories from him."

"Did we ask?" Silver commented exasperatedly.

Eusine dramatically raised his arms to the sky. "Suicune! I will not stop following you! I will know what you're looking for! YOU HEAR ME?" He ran after where Suicune had gone.

Alice stood up. "I think… I think he needs to rethink his life."

Silver only shrugged. "If it makes him happy, I guess."

"Do you think he's right? Do you think the legendary beasts appear around me a lot?"

The other two shook their heads. Alice put a hand to her chin. "Maybe you're just lucky." I really doubt that's it, though.

After fighting through a fisherman, a maniac of some sort, and a hiker, they finally arrived in Mahogany. The place had a rustic feeling to it. There were several people walking around and talking to each other. No one spoke in anything louder than a whisper. It was only due to that that the three could hear the strange noise, like someone was pounding on the side of the town. The ground quaked very slightly.

Alice examined the general aura of the town and found everyone to be suspicious and panicked. "I'm… not sure what's going on, but this doesn't seem to be… the friendliest of places."

Gold read a rickety sign posted in a small corner. "Home of the ninja. I don't see any ninja…"

Silver nodded. "If you saw them, they wouldn't be very good ninja, would they?"

They walked further into the town. The general quiet of everyone made the three want to whisper to each other. Silver pointed. "The Pokémon Center seems to be closed. The Gym as well. And this… wait. What?"

There was a simple little building with a sign on its door. "Just a souvenir shop. Nothing suspicious about it, no need to be alarmed."

Alice frowned. "Is it ironic that those words make me very alarmed?"

Silver shook his head. "I know what that means. It means that we have some 'legitimate businessmen' in town. It's likely that this is Pryce's base."

Gold opened the door and marched in. Pryce wasn't in the room, but two others were. A man with a bushy mustache and glasses looked up. "Oh… hi?"

Alice hesitated. "Do you… hear wind blowing into the room?"

Silver listened. "Sort of, yes."

The mustache man scratched his head. "That is… just me whistling."

Gold smiled. "Okay, if you say so, Mr. Whistler."

The man pulled out three items: a Pokéball, a Potion, and a mushroom. "Do you want to buy any of these?"

Gold, amused at the inferior items, shook her head and turned around. "No. Not really. I'll come back if I do, though."

As they were exiting, Gold could've sworn that the other man mumbled, "…worked like a charm."

Pryce watched the three exit the souvenir shop. "Do you understand what's going on, my dear?"

One of his lackeys, a girl named Jill, faltered, then said, "No, not really."

Pryce walked away from the Gym window, leaning on his cane. "Team Rocket is here, hiding in that little shop, no? And we cannot get rid of them. We just don't have that many resources."

Jill nodded. "I still don't get it."

Pryce sighed. "We don't want to be in war with the Rockets. So, since this Gold has a heart of good and whatever, I'll just let him crash their operations. Don't you think that would make him happy?"

Jill smiled tentatively. "Of course, Mr. Pryce."

Pryce smiled back. "I am, above all things, an excellent host."

A balding man who threw candy at them blocked their way East, so Gold, Silver, and Alice turned North instead.

Silver rubbed his face where a RAGECANDYBAR hit him. "I don't understand this deal with Gym Leaders who aren't in their Gyms. I mean, why put out a challenge if they're not going to follow through with it?"

"I suppose they have their reasons," Alice said indifferently.

Gold looked at her Pokégear. "What is the 'Lake of Rage?' The map has its name, but no information."

"Beats me, I'm from Kanto," Alice offered unhelpfully.

"I don't know what that place is," Silver said.

Gold stiffened as a drop of water hit her face. "What… it's raining. And the trembling is getting louder."

The rain got progressively worse and worse until they got to the lake. Several people were murmuring and staring out over the water.

Gold walked up to them. "What's going on?"

A lady in a pink shirt and suspenders turned to her. "I… I th-think I saw… it was…"

A man in a neat suit turned to her as well. "I saw it too. The Gyarados are rampaging, and in the middle of them… a red Gyarados."

An old man pointed. "The Gyarados are the ones causing all of this rain and wind. I don't know what's driving them crazy, but…"

Silver seemed confused. "Aren't Gyarados usually blue?"

Alice nodded. "I think these people must be seeing things."

Gold tried to peer through the storm, but could only see vague shapes. "There's only one way to find out."

Silver tried to stop her. "There's no reason to get involved with this. We should be waiting in town for the Gym to open. Not heading out into a rampaging herd of Gyarados!"

Gold smiled calmly. "Any other time, I'd agree with you. But something weird is going on around here. Why is this happening? More importantly, why isn't anything else important happening?" She sent out Silver's Krabby. "Besides, I'd like a water-type Pokémon to ride on, rather than drag behind."

As Gold got dragged out, Alice grimaced. "Silver? You know something?"

Silver nodded. "Yeah. I know quite a few things."

"I think I love him."

"No duh, Einstein. Why are you telling me about it?"

Gold shrugged off the discomfort of the water and rain. There was an antenna sticking out of the tree near that shop. Its radio was making a weird noise. If I'm not mistaken, Pryce is using some sort of radio waves to make the Pokémon go crazy.

A large number of Gyarados swam in a peculiar dance near the center of the lake. A bit of lightning illuminated them, showing five blue ones and a single, larger, red one.

Gold pulled out a Net Ball, something that Kurt had given her.

The Gyarados took little time to notice her. The red Gyarados roared, and the blue ones seemed to obey. They swarmed at her, pushing waves out. Gold quickly jumped up onto one, returning Krabby. She pulled out Trigger's ball. "I need you to deliver the biggest bolt of… ah!" The Gyarados swerved, then dove. Gold let go, swimming back up to the surface and continuing. "…Lightning to the red one! Go, Trigger!"

The red Gyarados used Twister, spinning the water into a waterspout. Trigger jumped into it, charging up her wool.

The other Gyarados were occupied with Gold, who was using Star to fly around and over them in increasingly dangerous maneuvers.

The red Gyarados reached forwards and bit down on Trigger, who grunted in pain and released a positive electrical charge. It interacted greatly with the electricity in the clouds, pulling down a lightning bolt greater than anything Trigger would've been able to do by herself. The Gyarados leader bellowed in pain and started to fall, paralyzed.

Quickly, Gold threw the Net Ball with all of the force she could muster. With such a large target, she couldn't miss. In the air, the ball twitched several times before clicking.

Gold sighed in relief… and nearly got eaten by one of the blue Gyarados. She yelled loudly and kicked off of it, nearly causing Star to spin out of control. Noticing Trigger falling, she yelled for Star to go down.

The blue Gyarados, leaderless, decided it was lunch time. They moved in and out of the sea and decreased the distance between them and Gold.

Gold managed to catch Trigger, and then got hit in the head by the Net Ball, which she clumsily yet successfully grabbed.

The Gyarados were almost upon her, and she couldn't return Trigger without letting go of Star… On top of all that, the weight of both Trigger and Gold was too much for the still rather diminutive Star. They started to fall… Maybe this was not the best plan I've ever had…

Back on shore, Alice and Silver watched as a rather large bolt of lightning penetrated the middle of the lake. Silver breathed, realizing that he had been unconsciously holding his breath. "This is ridiculous."

"I agree."

The two turned around to see a young, rather grim-faced red-haired man watching. He was wearing some dark red and blue clothing with a black cape. "I saw your friend go out there. He is either really brave or really foolish."

Silver snorted. "I'm of the opinion that he's the latter."

The man smiled softly. "It is nice to meet you. I am Lance."

Alice frowned. The name seemed familiar for some reason. "It's nice to meet you too. I'm Alice, and this is Silver."

Lance stopped smiling and turned to the lake. "The Gyarados are not acting right. I fear that someone is forcing the Magikarp to evolve prematurely. It is making them rage."

"Is that what's going on?" Alice asked.

"Yes. Are you not here because of the wild tales?"

"No, we're mostly here because of Gold."

"Who is Gold?"

Gold took the moment to land right in the middle of them.

Lance didn't flinch. He merely walked forwards and helped Gold up. "Are you alright, young man?"

Gold, dazed, had no idea what was going on. "Who are you?"

"I am Lance, a trainer like you."

Gold gasped and turned to her Pokémon, returning them quickly. Firestorm, who had remained with his trainer's friends, barked, ran up to her, and licked her. "Oh, hi. Yeah, I'm alright. I'm alright."

Lance's eyes seemed to narrow at the sight. "Anyways, I was just coming through and heard the rumbling, so I came up here to investigate. Imagine my surprise when I saw you battling the Gyarados in their home, in the worst of conditions."

Gold's head snapped up. "You could see?"

Lance nodded. "I have had to see through worse conditions. I can tell that you have much skill. If you do not mind, would you help me to investigate the source of the Gyarados' rage?"

Gold thought about it, but didn't see why not. "Sure. I think it was Pryce."

Lance chuckled. "This is not his style. He respects the environment and would not force Magikarp to evolve. Although the signal that is causing them to is coming from Mahogany…"

Gold frowned. "Who else could it have been?"

Lance sent out a Dragonite. "I do not know, but I am sure that it is coming from that souvenir shop. I will see you there." He jumped on the Dragonite's back and flew towards the town.

Silver turned to Gold. "You know what I say about strength? That's someone who's strong."

Gold's eyebrow raised. "Oh, really? What makes him so—darn it. Lyra's calling again…"

I do not understand this part of the game. For no obvious reason, you have to go out into the middle of a stormy lake that everyone tells you is filled with Gyarados and capture the biggest, meanest one. It's only afterwards that Lance tells you why you did that… and there's no way around it to Blackthorn because of the idiot who throws RAGECANDYBARS at you for $300.

It gives hints like the weird tree and the radio signal, but you have no clue what they mean. Everyone mentions the lake, but you have no clue why. Not until Lance. At least you get a shiny out of it.

That and Lyra calling every five minutes about her Marill are some of the most weird, random moments of the game.

Gold got herself a water-type that she can ride, in any case.