Log 15: Making sludge waves
I immediately ran towards the underpass. Cain had destroyed the path so there was no way for the Meteor grunts to chase him. When I got there though, I was actually greeted by Victoria. She explained that due to Cain's actions, we'd need the HM for Strength, as well as the badge to use it. She said that her sensei on Apophyll Beach had the HM and that Cain was on his way to the Coral Ward to get there. I thanked her for the information and ran back out. Dammit Cain, can't even cut through the underground passage due to you.
When I finally got there (I might actually get into decent shape with situations like this), Cain informed me that the lake was still too toxic for any boats or Pokemon to surf on. Luckily, Cain had done this before with the Oshawott. He sent out his newly-evolved Muk into the poison-filled lake and had it ferry him. I had to fall back to reconsider my options since I don't have my own living pile of sludge. As I was leaving, Amaria came out of a warehouse, saying that she found out where the source of the lake's pollution was coming from. I didn't get the chance to ask her about what I saw on the screen at Shade's Gym before she ran off to the Blackstream Factory and told me to follow.
Unsurprisingly, the entrance was locked when we got there. In a stroke of brilliance, Amaria used her Lapras to create a frozen stairway up to the roof, where there happened to be an open door. Upon getting inside, we found more Team Meteor members. Yeah, high source of pollution, no one can say they did not see this coming. Anyway, her Pokemon were quite powerful, being able to take a few Meteor grunts in a battle by herself. Good thing I won't be battling her for a while. More grunts were waiting for us downstairs. Amaria had her Kingdra clear a path for me so at least one of us could get through. Upon getting through though, someone who was clearly high up in the ranks of the team was waiting for me, and he opened a trapdoor where I was standing.
The fall was the longest 3 seconds of my life. Fortunately it was only a 1-story drop, so I was able to get up and walk it off. After a brief overview of my surroundings, I found I was trapped behind a fence with some other caged Pokemon. A Makuhita, Ditto, Jigglypuff, Loudred, Cyndaquil, Vanilish, Roggenrola, Lickitung, and Abra were all trapped in cages. I wanted to set them all free, but there was a guard there. He was actually asleep, but likely would've heard the noise. My first instinct was to try and have one of my team teleport us out of there, but there was some kind of machine preventing escape by Psychic means, likely because of the Abra. Instead, I had to actually remember something from that Materials Science course all those years ago. Metal becomes very brittle and susceptible to breaking when heated, then cooled very rapidly. The Abra may not have been able to teleport us out of there, but it was able to move the Pokemon in cages around. We got the Cyndaquil in line to heat the metal fence, then the Vanilish to freeze it. Finally the Roggenrola took it out with a single boulder shot. I still wanted to free the Pokemon, but there was no way for me to get the cages open. And miraculously, the guard stayed asleep throughout the entire time. Teemo even picked up a pen and started scribbling on his face. It took a lot of willpower not to laugh, but we quickly got out of there.
After fighting through a lot more guards, we eventually found our way to the room where all the toxic waste was coming from. Waiting in there was ZEL, the man who opened the trapdoor on me, and another PULSE machine. This time it appeared to be a Muk rather than a Tangrowth, which makes sense. This was a poison based attack, not a plant one. The higher-up explained to me that the PULSE amplifies the Pokemon's power, but can hurt the Pokemon if it's in there too long.
"Now that your back is turned, Garchomp. Dragon Rush. Execute."
That's exactly what I heard before hearing the cry of a Garchomp. This man actually just tried to kill me. I was only saved by the power of Pokemon Ex-Machina, I mean, Amaria having her Lapras freeze it with Ice Beam before it attacked. My initial thoughts were non-existent. I was not thinking at that moment, solely in a state of shock. The first thing I remember thinking was that I really should push this guy into poisoned lake and wait until the bubbles stop. ZEL came at me for a battle before I could kill him. Amaria took him on while I tried to deactivate that machine.
ZEL used their usual team of Glaceon, Umbreon, and Espeon. Wonder which belongs to whom. But their Glaceon and Espeon fell fairly easily to some strong attacks. Umbreon was more troublesome, but was still fairly simple since it is a more bulky Pokemon rather than an attacker. They then sent out the PULSE Muk. I thought Muk was an ugly Pokemon before, but this... this was unbelievable. And the smell is something I don't know if I'll ever forget. I sent out Teemo to set up defensive screens again, and it turns out this Muk had the Protean ability. It used Mud Bomb and then became brown like mud rather than its usual purple color. After the defense was up, I sent out Lilith to finish it. As soon as she got out of her Pokeball though, she wretched, likely from the smell. Glad she was able to continue to fight though, as she took out the Muk fairly easily with some nice dodging of its attacks.
The machine was down and the Muk gone to parts unknown. Amaria was still battling the guy's Tyranitar. He then explained that their plan was to poison the lake so people wouldn't have clean water, and then be forced to leave the city. And still no one explained why they want the city empty. As a final parting shot, he had Tyranitar use Superpower on Amaria. Amazingly, she was still able to walk after that though. She gave me the key to her boat and limped off, possibly to a hospital. I thanked her for the keys and headed back to the pier. Hopefully I can still catch up to Cain.