Due to the unknown power hidden within her body, Meloetta was unsurprisingly targeted by Team Rocket. They organized a premeditated attack on the Ridley tribe's village.
The relationship between Lorze and Ridley was already delicate to begin with. With an incident happening exactly at this sensitive juncture, their relationship was naturally severed by Ridley. Even with a formidable enemy before them, they couldn't unite—after all, in Ridley's eyes, Lorze was also a potential enemy.
Even so, for his beloved Meloetta, Lorze still gave it his all to guard the village together with the Golurks, and also successfully repelled Team Rocket's offensive. But he didn't feel at ease; instead, he hurriedly rushed back to his residence.
But upon seeing the dilapidated appearance of the wooden cabin belonging to him and Meloetta, Lorze already had a premonition. When he dashed frantically through the door, looked around and found the room in a mess with no sign of Meloetta, several guards either unconscious or injured, and even Ridley kneeling on the ground weeping bitterly, he knew things had gone wrong.
If only Ridley had listened to his suggestion and kept one of his Pokémon to coordinate, they shouldn't have been in such a sorry state. Lorze truly wanted to curse: I can command Pokémon alone to resist the attacking Team Rocket members, yet Ridley's side of three people can't handle a single Executive? Fucking pure bots (AI/useless teammates)!
But since things had come to this, pressuring Ridley now had no meaning whatsoever. The top priority was to unite the remaining combat power to pursue and recover Meloetta. At the very, very least, they had to stop Team Rocket before they used Meloetta to activate the Abyssal Ruins. This was both for the safety of Unova, and even more so for his sweetheart Meloetta. Regardless of which one, Lorze would definitely protect them well!
"Brother Ridley... now is not the time for crying. Can you still fight? If you can, I hope we can temporarily put aside our prejudices and pursue and recover Meloetta together!"
Ridley, deeply mired in self-blame, was awakened by Lorze's words: Yes, before Lorze arrived, wasn't he always Lord Meloetta's guardian? As long as he still had a breath left, he must definitely rescue Lord Meloetta!
It's just a pity that, although the Ridley tribe could perceive Meloetta's existence, the current Meloetta was locked in a cage by Team Rocket and placed on an airship. And their airship had undergone specialized design to isolate outside detection. Ridley could no longer perceive Meloetta's specific location.
Lorze sent out his Pokémon to use Life Dew, then cooperating with his Hyper Potions, he helped Ridley's injured Pokémon simply treat their wounds. At the same time... he was also able to discuss battle plans with Ridley.
"Although we can't directly find Meloetta's location right now, I think they will definitely take Meloetta and rush towards the Abyssal Ruins. Brother Ridley... your tribe should know the location of the ruins, right? Can you take me there?"
Lorze only knew the Abyssal Ruins were in the sea area of Undella Bay, but the specific location was unclear.
"Yes, I know where the ruins are. It's just that it's much further from here. Will Your Excellency Lorze be okay?"
Suicune on the side leaned against Lorze and rubbed against Lorze's cheek. Suicune is undoubtedly a very excellent mount, and also Lorze's confidence for traveling on water.
Before setting off, Lorze and Ridley met the elder once. The elder only felt self-blame for not having the power to protect Meloetta, while the two young men both persuaded him not to take this matter to heart anymore.
Learning that Ridley was going to team up with Lorze to rescue Meloetta, the elder very solemnly thanked Lorze, and at the same time pleaded with him to definitely rescue Meloetta from the hands of the bad guys.
At a critical juncture, the elder at this moment had completely put down his highly respected stature. What he got in return was also Lorze's promise: He would definitely bring Meloetta back safely.
After that, the two didn't even rest. Valuing speed in military affairs, they set off directly taking advantage of the moonlight.
Ridley rode a Golurk—after retracting its four limbs, Golurk can actually display functions possessing an aircraft. Clearly it is Ground and Ghost-type... Exactly who else can't fly!? (A meme referencing Groudon).
And on Lorze's side, he rode the sexy Suicune. The female beast also knew very well what her husband needed right now; she was ready at any time.
Ridley and Golurk flew in the sky, Lorze and Suicune ran on the sea. Hurrying through the starry night towards the location of the legendary Abyssal Ruins...
They could only pray that Team Rocket didn't arrive at the Abyssal Ruins at the first instance, so Lorze and Ridley could intercept Meloetta and rescue her.
In the anime, Giovanni used a specialized submarine to arrive at the Abyssal Ruins. The pressure at the bottom of the sea is not to be underestimated. Fortunately, Suicune's diving skills are very exquisite. She used a water-repelling spell bubble to wrap Lorze and Ridley, and then under Ridley's guidance, groped their way towards the direction of the Abyssal Ruins.
Fortunately, there were quite a few glowing Pokémon similar to Lanturn around, and the seawater itself was also relatively clear. So Lorze and Ridley could clearly see the surrounding scenery—strangely colored plants, leisurely swimming schools of fish, these unique sights of the seabed.
Sometimes, there would also be predators inhabiting the deep sea wanting to harass Lorze and Ridley, for example, the terrifying ocean bully Sharpedo. But they were all entirely repelled by the powerful Suicune without exception. Suicune would first agitate the water currents to display her power, thereby intimidating those predators. If the other party was a newborn calf unafraid of tigers (fearless out of ignorance) and insisted on clashing with her, then they would happily receive a severe beating from Suicune. After all, she is truly very protective of her husband.
Underwater, her mane closely resembling long hair was also irregularly spread out due to the buoyancy of the water. Suicune looking like this... is truly very beautiful.
Fortunately, this Abyssal Ruins was actually located on the continental shelf. The depth hadn't reached a desperately suffocating level, but for humans without the aid of tools, it was already a degree sufficient to make one shrink back at the sight of it.
Finally, an extremely magnificent building faintly appeared in their field of vision. Judging from the exterior shape, it had some striking resemblance to a pyramid.
"Speaking of which, this is also my first time seeing the true appearance of the Abyssal Ruins. Truly... unbelievable."
But Lorze clearly held great doubts about Ridley's words: "You mean, you haven't been here before? Then how did..."
Ridley explained that just like how their tribe could perceive Meloetta, the location of this Abyssal Ruins was also something they innately knew the most specific bearing of. This is a strange power that cannot be explained by common sense.
Under Suicune's guidance, Lorze and Ridley, wrapped in the large bubble, slowly floated through the entrance hall passage of the ruins. The dilapidated stone pillars on both sides could faintly reveal their past eminence. More crucially, the people of that era were far inferior technologically compared to modern times, yet they still completed such a magnificent building and created Pokémon like Golurk. It undoubtedly commands great respect.
Continuing inward from the seawater-filled passage, after passing the stairs and arriving at the main hall, Lorze discovered this place actually wasn't flooded with water. This phenomenon violating the principle of communicating vessels made him feel it was bizarre and hard to imagine.
Perhaps the residual power inside the ruins formed different domains, causing the internal and external pressure to be different? It's just a pity the current Lorze neither brought the professional equipment needed for investigation, nor had the mind for scientific research and exploration. He only wanted to see his little songstress Meloetta quickly.
However, stepping back onto the ground made both Lorze and Ridley feel comfortable. Even though these stone floors were already covered with an extremely thick layer of dust, the feeling of having one's feet firmly on the ground was just much more reassuring than the floating state with both feet off the ground.
It's just that the surrounding environment was still pitch-black. This wouldn't be convenient for his movements.
"Jirachi, Flash!"
"Okay❤~"
At Lorze's request, Jirachi slowly floated into mid-air, concentrated her power, and emitted a light as brilliant as daytime, thoroughly illuminating the pitch-black main hall of the ruins.
Lorze gave a thumbs-up to Jirachi in the air: Jirachi brand light bulb, everyone who uses it says it's good!
Looking around, Lorze and Ridley discovered that on a structure closely resembling a large door, there was a groove. The shape of that groove looked incomparably compatible with Meloetta's figure. Presumably, placing Meloetta in the groove would allow them to use her power to open the door and obtain the legendary treasure, the Reveal Glass.
The good news is that the main hall of the Abyssal Ruins has many covers. Such complex terrain is truly perfectly suitable for an ambush.
"This can be put to good use by us. Before Team Rocket arrives, we must set up the ambush a bit more exquisitely. Their boss Giovanni... is a quite powerful man. Even I don't have 100% absolute certainty of being able to defeat him."
If Mewtwo, Gardevoir, Latias, and Deoxys were also here, Lorze would have more confidence. As for now... the Ground-type Giovanni in the Pokémon Adventures manga left a truly too deep impression. His Pokémon in the anime also displayed very strong oppressive feeling.
"Then what should we do? I will follow Your Excellency Lorze's commands in everything!"
"I was thinking... if we can restrict Giovanni's own movements, even if his Pokémon can fight, without commands they are nothing more than a motley crew. Coincidentally, my Pokémon are all famous for telekinesis. If the ambush is set up properly, this point shouldn't be hard to achieve."
"Then you deal with their leader, I'll go handle the grunts!"
Lorze rolled his eyes: In my impression, the ones piloting the submarine to the Abyssal Ruins, besides Giovanni, it seems there's only the Team Rocket trio. It's not hard to see that despite being weak, they truly are trusted confidants of Giovanni.
"Alright. Since that's the case, let's split up and carefully survey the terrain of the ruins, shall we?"
Lorze's proposal gained Ridley's approval. Firstly, this Abyssal Ruins was so calm it didn't seem like there was any danger. Secondly, splitting up would be more efficient.
However, just as Lorze and Ridley respectively started surveying the ruins, in the shadows beyond their line of sight, a semi-transparent pink figure floated faintly. She seemed very curious about these two human visitors. And her nature... made her want to play a trick on them.
That's right, this is exactly the floating Pokémon inhabiting the sea—Frillish! And a female Frillish at that.
Frillish didn't act rashly. The light right now was a bit too bright. Wait, wait a bit longer...
Illuminating with Flash is a very stamina-consuming task. Clearly Jirachi also couldn't maintain such intense brightness for a long time—After all, the light she provided was truly too bright, and the main hall of the ruins was also particularly spacious. The massive power consumption is not hard to imagine. After lasting for about twenty minutes, Jirachi's light gradually dimmed down. Fortunately, Lorze and Ridley's vision had already gradually adapted to the darkness. The current brightness was also barely enough.
But they didn't expect that exactly at this time, that uninvited guest launched her operation—Isn't this kind of environment, bright but not quite bright, exactly suitable for "haunting"?
At this time, Ridley and Lorze had already separated by a certain distance. Frillish silently groped her way behind Lorze.
As a Ghost-type Pokémon, Frillish naturally possessed a talent for concealment. Before exposing murderous intent, her presence was indeed thin. Lorze was dedicating his whole heart and mind to focusing on the matter before him, and for a moment didn't feel Frillish's aura either.
Perhaps the floating Jirachi in the air could see Frillish, but she... actually fell asleep floating in the air just like this due to rushing through the night. As expected, Jirachi is still that Jirachi.
The expression of a female Frillish always maintains a smile. But whether this smile brings healing or trauma to people is unknown. And at this moment, the elusive Frillish behind Lorze, the smile she constantly maintained looked somewhat eerie and terrifying.
She gently rested her tentacle on Lorze, imitating the action of a human resting their hand on someone else's shoulder. The Lorze at this time seemed to still not realize the severity of the matter: He just thought it was Ridley who ran over to this side.
"Brother Ridley... didn't we say split up? Let's meet up and summarize later!"
Lorze seemed to completely not have perceived Frillish. Without turning his head, he walked further into the depths. This gave Frillish some sense of frustration. Resentfully, she switched her target of playing tricks to Ridley.
Lorze hadn't taken many steps before he felt something wasn't quite right. Because why was "Ridley's" hand wet just now? It got this half of his shoulder all wet. Wait a minute, could it be...
Just at this time, from the other end of the ruins came Ridley's shrill scream: "Th-There's a ghost ahhh!"
Compared to Lorze, Ridley wasn't so lucky. He very perfectly fell into Frillish's trap. Moreover, he was hit by the paralyzing toxin in Frillish's tentacles. Falling stiffly to the ground, he began a very peaceful sleep...
Lorze hurriedly rushed to the scene at the first instance of hearing the scream. But at that time, Ridley had already fainted on the ground.
After checking Ridley's condition and finding no major problem, Lorze set his mind at ease. It's just... where did the culprit go? He didn't see the "ghost" from Ridley's mouth.
Could it be... behind me?
Lorze turned his head, still completely empty. But just as he relaxed his guard and turned his head back, a pink ghost suddenly appeared in his field of vision, right in his face, smiling eerily. It even emitted a hair-raising cry!
Although he was also startled at first by the ghost suddenly appearing in his face, Lorze not only wasn't afraid, but conversely looked at this Frillish with delicate features—Actually, he had long guessed the culprit behind these pranks. And he always felt the pink, chubby female Frillish in the games was particularly cute. She was just deliberately using an angle that looked scary to show this smile to him.
Sporting such a cute face yet playing very mischievous pranks. Such a little girl must be properly disciplined and trained!