Black Omen Pokedex Entry 6: Falling in order to ascend

[xaq_the_aereon]

The chill of the Cold Storage facility had been hard on Omen's Dragon-typed self, but fortunately, none of the Team Plasma goons who had been hiding in there had thought to "liberate" any Ice-type Pokemon to take advantage of it. Rene could apparently sense his eagerness to tear them apart as she let him have at it, flooding the container with the unbridled power of his Dragon Pulse.

What Rene was afraid would take a few minutes to try and handle was over in a flash, and a whole slew of Plasma's buffoons, including one of their Seven Sages, was in custody...only to be immediately released under a thinly-veiled threat of violence from the Sage who made Omen's blood boil the most, Ghetsis.

Still, with Plasma out of the way, he and his friends could at least finally get back to taking on Rene's Gym Challenge. Ground-types were the order of the day here, so Onnamusha took the lead, but urged Omen to tag in with her to let him enjoy himself again, to help him remember how valuable he is to the team.

One glance down the elevator had him wondering if perhaps having Bella lead wouldn't be a wiser option, because there was no other word to describe this Gym than "mineshaft." A seemingly endless maze of elevators going up and down a seemingly bottomless shaft to who-knows-where.

After a number of bested Sandiles and Drilburs between the two of them, however, they and the rest of the team finally found the elevator leading all the way down. The descent left Rene struggling to hold her lunch, and for a moment Omen thought he was flying...only for the ride to come to a swift stop. Ow.

Between the contentedness of taking on Plasma goons and some Drilburs before and the sheer wooziness from the ride, Omen ceded the lead on the final bout to his best friend. Onnamusha made quick work of Clay's team before Rene even had time to fully regain her equilibrium, and as much as part of him wanted to be jealous, Omen couldn't help but feel proud of his friend's strength. For a moment, his heart felt light.

Then the ride back up to the top left his heart, and everything else, feeling like it weighed a ton. Onnamusha kept her usual visible poise, but he knew even she had to have felt that one.

Clay had asked them to meet him in front of the cave on Route 6 afterwards, but Bianca was the first to greet them there, looking for another bout. Omen had to admire her tenacity...even if he felt sorry for her team, particularly her Musharna when Rene had him take the lead. All of his Trainer's efforts to strengthen her team had left Bianca woefully in her wake. Still, she was graceful enough to give them an HM that enabled Bella to fly the entire team wherever Rene needed to go.

Flying...that sounded so nice. Perhaps, if he could ever find a means to evolve, he would take on a winged form like hers? Perhaps one strong enough to carry his friends around like she now could?

For now, they flew back to Nimbasa to restock and explore some locations they couldn't get to before.