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[Pokémon] The Middle Ground

FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
Years
Chapter 29 – Plan of Attack

(A)


Every inch of the ground floor's tiles gleamed so brightly that it almost obscured our reflections. The room was practically like a vision of how the perfect workplace should look with business men and women coming to and fro, friendly staff answering phones in a corporate tone and of course, an oversized statue of the company logo used as the centrepiece for the room – Who doesn't need one of them? It was either through the industrial air fresheners and disinfectants or the various plants dotted about the room that filled the air with a floral aroma which, in the moment, reminded me of home, smelling vaguely of Orange Grass.

However, that moment was cut short when we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by a set of three armed security guards asking what our business was at the company. For a moment, we exchanged glances before an elevator chimed open behind us.

"It's okay fellows, I can vouch for these people. We're old acquaintances." A small, elderly, yet youthful man said, stepping out of the lift and pushing aside the set of guards. "Go on, be on your way." He continued, shooing them off.
The man walked across the pristine tiled-floor of the reception area with a warm grin across his face and extended his right arm out towards the smartly-dressed, green haired businessman in front of him. "Lance, it's certainly been a while."

"That it has, Dennis – too long." Lance replied, shaking hands fondly. "I'd like you to meet my assistant and her R&D team."

To his left stood a woman with striking red hair tied up neatly in a bun, dressed smartly in a white blazer and a deep ruby skirt with the Devon Co. logo subtly stitched into the pattern.

"And you are?" Dennis inquired, approaching the somewhat middle-aged woman.

"Athena, Mr President. I speak on behalf of my three team members and I when I say it's an honour to meet you." She responded, bowing her head slightly out of respect.

"Please my dear, the pleasure is all mine, it's lovely to meet you all. Now - to business, if you'd all like to follow me I'll get you cleared through security." Dennis said leading the way back inside the large elevator.

I felt the cold prongs of a Taser press sharply at my back from one of the other scientists, even through the thick lab coat I was wearing, signalling me to follow. As the doors of the elevator closed the atmosphere changed completely.

"That was almost too easy." Lance chuckled. "You never fail to create a convincing guise, Petrel."

"Well it's nice to know I'm still good for something." Petrel, the man under the rouse of Dennis answered.
"-Be quiet you two." The assistant hushed sharply. "There are cameras in here."

"Relax, I've had a sweep through security – it's only video feed in the elevators."

From what I could gather, Petrel was a Rocket in disguise too, the man everyone was referring to as "Lance" was in fact Commander Proton who I'd had the great dis-pleasure of sharing a boat with for the past few weeks; but on the up-side, in a suit he could actually pass as a decent human being.

The red-head I felt like I recognised somehow but I couldn't put my finger on it, nonetheless she was in league with the Rockets and that was all I needed to know. The member of the R&D team who stood directly behind me holding a Taser to my back was another Rocket who didn't seem to have much of a ranking among the people we were with but it was his job to keep me in line.

The third person in a lab coat (besides me and Mr Taser behind) was a woman with long, dark hair. She hadn't said a single word since we met; she just clutched at a clipboard with a glazed-over look on her face and followed wherever we went.

Trench had been feeding me information on the boat to keep me updated but as soon as we arrived the information stopped coming. Using his Gallade to hide himself in the shadows, no one could see him – even me. I had no idea where or why the Rockets were taking me along but I just hoped Trench was somewhere close by. As for the Hobbling Hoodie, where he went is anyone's guess.

"What of the real President?" Proton asked, glancing toward Petrel.

"He won't be any bother. I really thought they would have done more to up their security, but yes, he saw exactly who was coming."

The three commanding officers each shared a smirk with the redhead glancing back at me as she let out a small chuckle.

"Almost there now." Proton said, straightening his tie as the elevator doors opened. "Finally we'll see some results."

I could just feel that something bad was about to happen and, as it was, I was powerless to stop it. Wherever Trench was, he didn't have much time to get here.


(B)

Last night was an eye opener to say the least; we'd decided to go back to Saffron City on what was basically a hunch from April, and a pretty freaky hunch at that, that her brother was being held captive somewhere inside. It's a humungous place and I wouldn't have known where to start looking but we'd decided to use April as a kind of radar to The Voice that had been following us around; the louder The Voice became in April's head, the closer we would be to its source, and hopefully, Adam.

April seemed to have gotten over her initial cattiness with Erika who seemed determined to tag along whatever the cost. Apparently her and Adam went back a long time and couldn't stand still whilst he was in danger. She managed to talk someone from her Gym into giving us a lift in their car to Saffron, which didn't really take long at all, but as soon as the city limits came into view, sure enough April began to feel the dull thud in her head, gradually getting louder and louder.

As soon as we'd passed the suburbs we got out of the car and continued on foot, sending Slowking out from within his pokeball to share the burden of The Voice.

"Are you okay?" Erika asked, as April began to clutch her head in the middle of the street.

"Yeah, it's a lot more manageable now with both of us." She smiled, just beginning to cross a busy road. "We're definitely heading in the right direction."

The pair of them, accompanied by Slowking, led the way in front of Naoko and I, deeper into the heart of the city. I hadn't noticed on our first way through how nice it actually was; I hadn't seen a single piece of litter on the ground, the air was clear and refreshing and for some reason the skyscrapers didn't spoil the skyline, the unique architecture added to it.

As we dawdled along behind the two girls, Naoko didn't seem very much up for conversation, I didn't know about her but I felt quite redundant in this situation. I couldn't really help in any way, just making sure April didn't keel over was probably my main priority as Erika could provide transport and seemed to know her way around.

"Y'know Naoko, you don't have to come with us. There's no reason to drag you into whatever this is too." I said, trying to engage her.

Naoko clutched her necklace as she walked along, the silver chain reflecting the midday sun and shining into the ocean-blue jewel set in the centre. "No, I want to. I need to repay April somehow for saving my life on the SS Anne and besides; you said the Rockets are probably behind this. If they are, I'm going to make them pay for what they did to Dillan."

Suddenly images flashed through my head of Cerulean City, the explosion… Sandshrew. It wasn't as if I had forgotten about him, I guess I'd just pushed it to the back of my mind so I couldn't think about it. The situation suddenly became very real for me – it was personal, I wanted revenge or justice or whatever you call it, but how could I get that when the last battle I had I lost… to the people I'm hoping to fight.

It'd really been that long. If I hadn't had a pokemon battle since I'd been to Cerulean City, how could I possibly hope to beat them? Maybe after what had happened, a part of me didn't want to send my pokemon into battle anymore; after all, I'd had a few opportunities to battle and hadn't taken them.

Then, I took a moment to think about all of the matches I had won and how we did it, not by having the advantage – by learning how the opponent moves. Now that we had lost, I knew exactly what not to do and realised something that I had been naïve to before; bad guys do not fight fairly.

--------

After half an hour of walking, we arrived in the business district of the city and The Voice seemed to be bothering April and Slowking more and more, signalling that we must be close by. We all began looking around for a sign, hoping something would lead us to where we were supposed to go, but I couldn't see anything remotely useful.

"What exactly are we looking for?!" Naoko asked, trying to raise her voice over the crowds of the increasingly busy streets.

"I'm not… ugh, I'm not sure!" April replied, a bit frazzled.

Erika had gotten to the point of guiding April and Slowking around obstacles like lampposts, just so she could stay focused. "April, think about what you heard before – what did the Voice say?"

"Erm… follow, voice. I-It's hard to concentrate."

"There was, Adam, Silph, hel-" Slowking began reciting.
"-Wait, did you just say Silph?!" Erika asked, surprised.

"Yes?"

"That's right ove-"
"-Hey guys!" Naoko bellowed from across the street. "I think I found what you're looking for!"

We rushed over the tarmacked road to see the dark-skinned girl standing beside a stone block at the base of a skyscraper with walls made entirely of glass. A seven-foot tall stylised capital S was etched in stone beside the company name of 'Silph Co.'

Erika sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Well this isn't good."
 

FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
Years
I know it's totally unprofessional but I've switch the third person for now as it is just easier to write as I have gotten myself into a rut. Sorry if this isn't too great of a chapter, I'm fairly rusty after... Well, let's just say quite a few months.

Chapter 30 – A Common Enemy (Part 1)

As the group gathered around the stone statue bearing the Silph co. logo, there was a short silence as they each pondered the situation that they had found themselves in.

"I don't get it. What is this place?" Naoko asked, confused by the daunting feeling the others seemed to be sharing.

"Are you kidding?" Alex retorted. "This is pretty much one of the biggest corporations around; they manufacture everything from pokeballs to chocolate and run all of the Pokemarts in Kanto just from this building."

Naoko nodded and quickly made a connection in her head. "I see. In Hoenn we have something similar called the Devon Corporation."

"They're actually partner companies." Erika clarified, sitting on a small brick wall beside April. "But if what we think is true, then the Rockets are somewhere inside. It's just that this isn't the first time that they have tried to infiltrate the building. Around two years ago, Silph announced that they had had a major breakthrough in their capsule technologies; a pokeball that could capture any pokemon without fail. Such an invention would make billions if sold to the mass population but Team Rocket had other ideas. They infiltrated the company and took everyone hostage, attempting to take the patent only for themselves to use. Noone knows quite just what happened but a few people inside managed to turn the tide against the Rocket leader and took back the plans for the device and the police took care of the rest. When the capsule was made public after that incident, there were pokemon rights protests against what they had dubbed the "Master Ball" and so Silph decided that it would only cause future trouble and discontinued production immediately."

"So what, are the Rockets going after the plans for the Master Ball?" Naoko mused.

Erika shook her head. "Impossible. They destroyed the plans soon after and only a few prototypes were ever made; no one knows where they are now. Although, Silph and Devon are always looking into new technologies; who knows what they've got up there…"

"None of that matters." April said, standing up. "We're here to find Adam, not to be vigilantes."

The pale-faced girl began walking towards the entrance but was stopped by Alex. "Wait a sec, what you said is true but… just look." He said, turning April around to face the inside of the building.

As they looked through the glass walls, past their reflections, they could see the reception area where a few people were sat in their business suits enjoying coffee before a meeting, others between departments and some standing around aimlessly.

"What am I… looking for?" April asked, pausing briefly to try and block out the Voice.

"That's the thing. If the Rockets have infiltrated then how will we know who to look for? I mean, it doesn't exactly look like they've walked through the doors with guns blazing like they did a couple of years ago. What can we really do?"

"We can warn them!" She said, pulling away from her friend. "And if that doesn't work then we can just follow the Voice. It called out to me for a reason; I need to know what that is."

With that, the foursome headed up a set of concrete steps to the entrance of the large building with Slowking in tow, already standing out from the crowd in their informal attire. Upon reaching the doorway, the path was abruptly blocked by four bald, bulky men in tightly-fitted black suits. It was clear to everyone that that was by design as the men in front of them were obviously the security.

"Do you have an appointment?" The first guard asked, approaching Naoko.

"No." She said firmly, despite the guard's hostility.

"No entry without an appointment or Employee Identification. Please move along."

"Wait, we just need to warn someone. This place is in danger!" Alex cried, attempting to reason with them.

"Silph is one of the most secure companies around here, nothing slips through us. Now I will ask you again, please move along."

Having no choice but to do as they were told, the group turned around, headed back down the set of steps and back to the statue.

"So what's Plan B?" Naoko huffed, leaning against the statue and folding her arms.

"I would suggest following Erika." Slowking replied, pointing to a colourless alley that ran alongside the building, briefly being lit up by the orange of Erika's blouse.

As they gave chase, they could see that Erika was following someone herself. The pair stopped once they could no longer be seen by those inside the building and began talking just before the rest of the group caught up with them.

In front of them was a shady looking man wearing a black trenchcoat and sunglasses which contrasted against his light blonde hair.

"Is that-" The man began to ask.
"Yes. But that doesn't matter right now." Erika replied.

"How can you say that doesn't matter?"

"Because we need to be more worried about that." Erika said, pointing to Silph Co.

The man sighed, looking April, Alex and Naoko up and down. "…I don't like this."

"Everyone, this is Crowe. He's going to help us."

"…Why?" April asked, curious of the new reluctant stranger.

"That can wait until later." Erika said, turning back to Crowe. "How are you getting inside?"

"Shadow Sneak; Gallade can take one other person besides me."

"Well, what about the rest of us?" Alex asked.

"Erika is a Gym Leader so she has automatic clearance for her and one other person which just leaves the other one of you out here. Unless that is, you have any other way of getting inside."

The foursome looked at each other as if to try and decide who was to be the one left behind. Desperate to think of another way in, Alex then looked himself over and caught sight of his pokeballs latched onto his belt. Suddenly he had remembered something he had seen many days before in this city's Pokemon Centre and began to concoct an idea. Releasing Ditto from his pokeball, he told the others of his plan and they set it into motion.

------------

Upon approaching the entrance of the building with all of her usual graces and elegance, Erika was confronted by security.

"Good day Miss. Do you have an appointment?" One of the guards asked.

"No, I'm afraid I do not. However, my name is Erika, Gym Leader of Celadon City and I am here to see the Chairman of Public Affairs. He and I have some business to discuss and I'd rather not be here all day." She replied with a clear confidence in her own authority.

Spotting two people standing directly behind her, the security guard nodded in their direction. "What of your two companions?"

Erika gestured the two forwards and introduced them, one was a man wearing a shirt with slicked back hair and a pen in his hand and the other was a ginger-haired girl who looked in her mid-twenties. "This is my Assistant, Alex." She said, nudging the man forwards. "My clearance entitles me to bring in one other associate; I trust this will be fine."

"And the girl?"

"Her name is Misty, one of the Cerulean City Gym Leaders." Erika said as the girl slowly approached the guards, not daring to venture any further than where Erika was standing. Head bowed, the girl's face was partially hidden from view.

Seeming vaguely satisfied, the guard turned toward the door and said, "Hmph, one minute we need to verify this with upstairs."

A surge of panic rushed through Erika's body. "-Wait!" She cried.

The guard turned around, inquisitively. Curious of the seemingly collected woman's outburst.

"D-did you not hear that I am in a hurry? Surely you are able to verify us from our faces alone, or do I have to take the matter up with your superiors?" Erika said firmly, placing a hand on her hip.

Exchanging looks the guards seemed to make a unanimous decision then and there. "Very well, our apologies miss."

The guards parted and allowed the three people to pass through the doors and enter the building. The group passed through the lobby, heading for the east stairwell exactly as planned. Reaching the door, Erika heard a whisper of "Ow, watch my foot, clown-feet." From behind her, just as a man in a business suit seemingly bumped into nothing and fell to the floor, the paper from his briefcase scattering all over the lobby.

"Quickly!" Erika sighed, holding the door open as people rushed to help the fallen man before going through it herself.

As soon as the door shut, seeing they were in an empty stairwell Naoko suddenly appeared as if from nowhere and fell to the ground, Crowe and a Gallade appearing seconds after behind her, standing upright and staring at her inquisitively. "I think I'm gonna throw up." Naoko mumbled, holding her stomach.

Alex, posing as Erika's assistant, scruffled his hair, reached into his pocket and put on a pair of glasses so he could see again and was met with a sight he didn't expect that made him jump back in fright. 'Misty' was writhing around pulling at her face which in its full form looked quite bizarre. The girl had flowing ginger hair, freckles on her cheeks and a pair of recognisably beady, black eyes above an eerily long mouth. After recovering from the shock, Alex quickly rushed to the girl's side and began peeling a gooey mask off of her until he held a gooey pink blob in his hand – It was Ditto! The girl who was now recognisable as April again, gasped for air. "That was… the most disgusting thing… I've EVER done." She panted, clinging to a stair rail.

All of a sudden the group felt a small tremor flow through the structure and a loud, siren-like alarm began ringing shortly after. Holding Ditto in his arms, Alex peered through the small window of the stairwell door and saw the occupants of the reception are staring at the entrances as they were quickly sealed off by large metal doors allowing no one in or out of the building.

At that point the alarm subsided and a voice began speaking through the building's intercom:

'Attention. This is a safety procedure, please do not be alarmed. Silph is doing its best to rectify the situation and urges you to continue your business as usual. Unfortunately at this time we cannot allow anyone to leave the building and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Attention. This is a safety...'

Alex felt a lump form in his throat and turned to the others as they looked to him for an update. "Well, I think it's safe to say that we're in the right place…"
 

FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
Years
Chapter 30 – A Common Enemy (Part 2)

'Floor 18' was the first thing visible as the elevator doors opened onto an eerily empty corridor. Acting as a makeshift foyer, the tiled corridor contained but a single sofa and potted plant beside a large electronic door, easily twice the size of Adam and almost three times as wide.

"This is our only roadblock." Petrel scowled, peeling off the prosthetics on his face as the group approached a control panel to the side of the door. "Getting the password was child's play but this beastie has got fingerprint and retina scanners to boot. If it's anywhere, it's in here."

"You mean you don't actually know if it's in there? …Fantastic work Petrel, really." Ariana mocked sarcastically.

"Now Ariana, Petrel has done well to get us this far, do not mock him." Proton said in his associate's defence. "He has performed his role in this mission so now it is your turn to prove yourself. Especially considering your mishap on the last mission you were a part of."

The redhead bit the inside of her lip in an attempt to ignore the comment and summoned over the girl in a labcoat from behind Adam.

"Sabrina, tear it apart."

That name rang alarm bells in Adam's mind as the black-haired girl released her extraordinary grip from the boy and approached the door. It couldn't just be a coincidence that he was with a girl named Sabrina, a fairly uncommon name to begin with, in Saffron City of all places. He knew it meant only one thing – She was the city's Gym Leader.

Adorning the same vacant expression she had had since arriving, Sabrina's pupils glowed a luminous shade of purple, the same purple that began to cover the metal doors like the surf spreading across a shore. Once it was blanketed, the metal began to dent and compress into itself as the locks snapped from each other and the hinges were ripped from their frames.
As quickly as it had begun, it was over; leaving only a small tempered mass of steel on the floor.

Adam couldn't believe what he had just seen. He, like everyone else, had heard of Sabrina's powers but very few people have actually seen her use them. For a brief moment he remembered that there was now no one holding him there against his will – he could run! However, that thought soon left his mind upon seeing what Sabina did to the steel door. The question still remained though; what did they need him for?

The foursome walked past the clump of metal that lay onto the floor into a room that resembled a laboratory, housing large computers around the edge and another curled around a pillar in the centre. Though he began to follow his captors into the room, Adam felt a strange force usher him inside at a quicker pace, likely Sabrina's doing.

A team of four scientists frantically darted about the room, disappearing through different exits whilst a fifth stood still with his arms behind his back, staring right at the intruders with a smirk on his face. The man was considerably older than anyone else in the room, slightly rotund with a slight hunch but quickly raised his right hand and effortlessly touched a few buttons on the central computer panel, setting off an ear-splitting siren throughout the building. An announcement rang over the intercom several stories below but it was too muffled to make out.

"I wondered when you might arrive." The scientist said with a smirk, removing his spectacles.

"Oh, you were expecting us?" Proton asked, advancing toward the man.

"I'm not a fool. The incidents at Cerulean City, Pokemon Tower and of course the S.S. Anne – they reeked of you lot."

"Well, well, you have been doing your research. I would expect nothing less from you, Pluto."

Adam listened intently, the only one still in the dark about the current situation. The man they called Pluto was considerably older than anyone else in the room and was losing his hair and though he showed distaste of the Rockets, he seemed altogether menacing in his own right.

"Well this is all lovely but shouldn't we get down to business?" Petrel sighed, looking towards his leader.

"As you wish." Proton began. "We have a business proposition for you."

"Oh?" Pluto inquired, briskly walking across the tiled floor of the laboratory, fiddling with his glasses in his hands. "How… civilized of you."

"We know you are in possession of the Diamond and we will be taking that with us, but it would be a shame for all of that research you have done into it to go to waste."

"Oh a crying shame…" Pluto mumbled, reaching a keyboard.

"So we propose that you join with us and you can continue your research. You'll have access to all the equipment you have here and more, plus you will not have to be bound by the petty moral guidelines of Silph."

Pluto began laughing uncontrollably, his cackle echoing above the noise of the computers. When he finally caught his breath he looked the Rocket leader dead in the eyes.

"Join Team Rocket you say? Let's see… 'Steal Pokémon for profit. Exploit Pokémon for profit. All Pokémon exist for the glory of Team Rocket!'" Pluto chuffed in a derogatory tone. "You have no vision, no goal. At the end of the day you are just petty criminals who would sell any research I conduct. And so my answer, on that basis, is no." He finished, pressing a button on the keyboard that locked every computer screen in the room.

"You worthless fool!" Ariana yelled bitterly, reaching for her belt only to have her hand stayed my Proton.

"Very well, I had hoped to avoid this." The Rocket Leader said, taking a disc from inside his pocket and walking toward the central control pillar, holding the disc above a drive as if to taunt Pluto.

The old man grunted. "And what do you propose to do with that? The system is full proof; your little dubious trinket won't be able to do anything."

"This is no mere trinket, Gideon made is specifically for you Dr Pluto."

The scientist let out a small gasp upon the mention of Gideon's name and began to grit his teeth.

"This will erase any and all research you have conducted to date after transferring it to us and will inflict a malicious virus upon the Silph Network that will spread to your partners at the Devon Corporation. How's that for dubious?" Proton smirked. "Last chance – what do you say?"

"You're pathetic." Pluto said firmly in disgust, slowly reaching inside one of the pockets of his lab coat.

"As you wish." Proton said with great delight, inserting the disc into the drive. The computer began to made a ferocious noise as the screens around the room switched back on with numbers flying erratically across each one.
Suddenly, part of the central pillar opened revealing a shining grey translucent rock suspended inside a glass capsule.

"Is that-" Adam questioned.
"-The Diamond…" Proton grinned from ear to ear, staring at it, almost memorised. However he was soon snapped out of it by a fabricated voice ringing throughout the lab.

'Virus detected. Firewall activated. Virus detected. Firewall activated… Virus..Activate-fire…'

The computer's voice became more erratic as a blue and pink creature resembling a duck began to protrude out of a large computer monitor adjacent to Pluto. However, something was wrong. It began to twitch and morph, encompassed in a white light until its head had become separated from the rest of its body and it levitated in mid-air with two pale blue ovoids that resembled arms.

"W-what have you done? …Porygon?!" Pluto cried, stunned at the transformation of the firewall.

'Zap Canon activated.' The computer announced through the speakers as Porygon started emitting electricity erratically, drawing from the nearby terminal of computers. The electricity seemingly engulfed Porygon in a sphere and the pokemon began to spin, and with it, so did the sphere until it stopped suddenly and launched its electricity toward Proton who instinctively dived behind the central pillar. The sphere flowed suit but collided with the column, sending electricity straight into the heart of the system causing every computer and monitor in the room to explode, one after the other, spreading dust and debris across the lab.

---------------------------

Erika and her group raced up the spiralling stairwell, Naoko wheezing and falling behind but Crowe bounding forward ahead of the others, making the climb look effortless.

"April - anything?" Erika asked, stopping for a breather alongside Alex.

"It's suddenly quiet, it's like the Voice knows we're here but won't tell me where!" The brown haired girl paused for a moment and reached for a pokeball, releasing Slowking from within. "How about you Slowking, can you hear it?"

"No, nothing. But I can definitely feel its presence nearby."

"Well that's great, do we need to search the entire building? How are we even going to-" Alex began before the group suddenly felt a slight tremor and a cloud of white smoke burst from several floors below. The group looked at each other and instantly realized that their destination had found them.

As she finally caught up, Naoko was met with the group heading back in the opposite direction. "Really?" She panted sarcastically, gasping for breath and leaning on the banister. Suddenly a black blur flew down the centre of the stairwell from a few floors above to the floor of the explosion, landing effortlessly by the door. It was Crowe. "Hey - quit showing off!" Naoko yelled, quickly giving chase.

---------------------------

As the smoke cleared, everyone could see that the lab had been destroyed beyond use. Debris lay everywhere, the computers were fried and the central pillar's glass capsule had shattered. Adam hid from the blast behind a nearby wall, Ariana and Petrel were shielded from shrapnel by a psychic field created by Sabrina and Pluto had called forth his Bastiodon, a large, impenetrable steel pokemon to act as a shield.

The eerie silence was broken by the sound of shattered glass crumbling beneath someone's footsteps. Proton walked across the remains of the lab and pushed some debris aside with his shoe to reveal the shimmering Diamond.

His face lit up like the gem itself as he reached down to grab it, only for Umbreon to swiftly dash past and grab it in its mouth. Proton lunged for the pokemon but missed as it jumped at the wall and somersaulted back in the direction from which it came.

Umbreon dashed to its trainer who had just entered the room and handed the Diamond to him.

Ariana grew impatient of Proton's leadership skills and decided to take matters into her own hands. "Sabrina – stop them!"

Crowe turned on his heel and saw the rest of his group approaching the room but suddenly found himself unable to move. The rest of the group reached the entrance to the room but found their path blocked by a translucent purple barrier. Crowe found himself being spun around to face Sabrina, the quiet girl who had not spoken a word since arriving but whose eyes shone an electric purple as she used her psychic powers to hoist him high into the air. Crowe's throat began to tighten as the air was ripped from his lungs, clearly struggling to breathe he began to writhe in midair, gasping to catch a breath.

"Trench!" Adam cried. "Stop it - You're killing him!"

Ariana's deep red lips smirked as she stared at Crowe, not taking her eyes off of him for a second.

"That's the idea."
 
Last edited:

FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
Years
Chapter 30 – A Common Enemy (Part 3)

April, Alex, Naoko gasped at the man who was seemingly being strangled to death in mid-air in front of them before they started attempting to break the barrier by any means necessary. As the three of them began hitting the barrier with all of their might trying to force a way through, Erika noticed the familiar glow that surrounded Crowe and looked past him to see an even more familiar face.

"Sabrina?! Wait -- Stop! Put him down!" She cried, slamming her hands against the barrier to no response from anyone on the other side. She wasn't sure she could even be seen or heard but she knew instinctively that this wasn't an action of the Sabrina she knew.

Crowe's Umbreon was confused by the situation and cried out to her trainer whilst maintaining her stance on the ground ready to attack, but the trouble was that she couldn't comprehend who exactly the culprit was and scanned the nearby people, searching for information.

As his eyes shuffled around the room, Pluto found himself wondering which was the lesser of two evils; the woman who was intent on watching the light leave Crowe's eyes or the younger woman who was choking him telekinetically. Deciding to help Crowe, Pluto began to issue a command to his Bastiodon but was quickly silenced by the pressure of cool steel on his neck. The aged man looked to his side to see a Sneasel standing on a computer console with its blades drawn against him and its trainer across the room.

"One more word and you die." Petrel smirked, taking uncharacteristic initiative.

Suddenly April's head felt tight and a voice rang out inside, the same voice as before but this time it was different – it was like the person it was coming from was right next to her. "Help me!!" The Voice cried, but this time sounded definitively feminine and much more desperate.

"Ghost!" The Voice cried again.

April quickly looked at Slowking beside her. "Did you hear-"
"-Yes!" The Pokemon nodded, understanding the urgency of the situation and that hearing the Voice now wasn't just a coincidence.

"Ghost. Ghost! Ghost!! GHOST!!" It repeated, each time louder and with more urgency as Slowking seemingly scanned the room behind the barrier. It was then he found what he was looking for and cried out to the pokemon inside the barrier.

"There!" Slowking pointed at Sabrina. "Use Dark Pulse and aim it just above her head!"

Upon hearing this command; like a monsoon, the red of Umbreon's eyes swiftly became clouded and tenebrous as she took a deep breath and sang an almighty howl at Sabrina, firing a wave of black and purple circles of dark energy in her direction.

It struck the area above the Gym Leader's head and seemed to impact the thin air and dissipate until, a fraction of a second later, the unmistakable grey pointed head of a Shuppet became visible; its cloth-like body coating Erika's face like a veil. Clearly injured and disoriented from the attack, the Pokemon screamed an almost deafening shriek before it lifted itself from Erika's head and pierced through the air, passing through the window that also served as the back wall entirely and disappearing into the night.

As it released its grasp upon Sabrina, the gym leader's legs gave way as she regained consciousness and relinquished control of the barrier and Crowe, causing him to also fall to the floor.

The loud sound of the impact briefly distracted Petrel and his pokemon just long enough for Pluto to take advantage of the situation and swing his arms at the Sneasel in front of him, pushing it off of the console. With a smirk of almost delight at the current situation, Pluto grabbed ahold of the spikes along the ridge of Bastiodon's back and ordered it to use Iron Defence. The two were almost instantaneously coated in faint metallic silver skin, looking as if they were now creatures made of liquid steel.

Sabrina had fallen right at Ariana's feet, stirring and mumbling as she came to. The Rocket commander used her boot to tip the Gym Leader's head to the other side and quickly made up her mind that the girl was no longer of any use to her. "Pity." She remarked, flicking her ankle to remove Sabrina from her shoe like the piece of dirt that she saw her as.

Although Crowe had held his grip on the Diamond whilst in the air, once he hit the floor it was freed from his grasp and briefly bounced along the tiled floor until it stopped right between Adam and Proton. The younger boy quickly caught sight of the Gem and shifted his gaze to Crowe and back again. Adam knew that Crowe would want the Diamond to be his priority and so he ran for it with Proton having the same idea. Adam scooped it up in his hand and thought he had grabbed the Gem before his opponent but Proton had not planned to reach for it, instead grabbing Adam's arm as he ran past him and swung a paralysing right hook into his stomach, making the young boy lose his balance and relinquish his grip upon the Gem.

Petrel folded his arms and leaned against the wall with a cocky smile. "You've cut through a lot harder before, Sneasel; tear them apart."

The Dark-type Pokemon elongated its blade-like claws, adorning the same facial expression as its trainer before it charged at the pair. Sneasel attempted a vertical slice but was blocked by Pluto's raised right arm.

"Heh heh heh, Steel against Steel… I like it." He said, raising an eyebrow as his enemy recovered from the slight shock of not cutting through its target. This agitated Sneasel as he tried again and again to slice through but had no luck. As this was happening, Proton was slowly walking in a circle around Sneasel, calculating the best angle of attack and when he reached it, he briefly glanced at Bastiodon and they knew exactly what to do. When Sneasel tried another vertical slice, Pluto quickly kicked the pokemon back just enough so it was in the path of a charging Bastiodon using Iron Head, sending it flying against the wall, knocking it out.

The look on Petrel's face quickly disappeared as he saw Pluto walking toward him. He scrambled for another pokeball but before long, Pluto had pushed the Rocket against the wall and held his silver arm against Petrel's neck.

"I would say that my arm is pretty sharp right now, but failing that, I could probably crush your neck too so I'd be a good boy… if I were you."

Umbreon gently nudged her trainer who was still desperately trying to catch his breath just as Ariana appeared, towering over them with a devilish smirk on her face with a pokeball in hand. All of a sudden a green bubble of energy crashed just inches away from where the Rocket commander was standing, causing her to jump backward. As she looked up she could see Alex, Naoko, April and Erika approaching, each with their pokemon drawn from their pokeballs and Erika's Tangrowth, a 6 foot tall pokemon composed of a mess of blue vines, poised with another bubble of energy ready to fire.

"Next time we won't miss!" Erika proclaimed.

Adam had a knelt to the floor as a pain seared through his abdomen, his eyes had watered, impairing his vision and as he looked up he saw Proton's lips speak the words "Know your place, boy."

Shortly after, he delivered a powerful blow to Adam's face with his knee making him fall backwards with a bloody nose.

This caught the attention of April who was scanning the room for a face she desperately want to see.

"Adam!" She cried, running over and placing herself between the Rocket Leader and her brother.

"Oh look who we have here… We're getting far too familiar with each other for my liking. And what's this? You two know each other - Isn't this a touching reunion?"

Petrel looked toward the group and recognised Alex immeadiately. "Hold the phone- you know these kids too? That boy with the glasses and the brunette were the ones who meddled with the Manor Project in Cerulean."

Ariana raised an eyebrow, her face remaining stern, masking the true expression underneath. Knowing there was plenty more to the current situation than pure coincidence, she needed a way to follow up on the situation later as they were vastly outnumbered.

"You lay another finger on him and I'll –" April began.
"-And you'll what?" Proton smirked, folding his arms smugly.

"April – Look out!" Alex cried out to April who turned to see Ariana charging straight for her. Naoko was the first to react, ordering Lulu to fire a Water Gun but as she did so, her necklace began to shimmer brightly, coating the walls in a deep blue light. Lulu's took in a deep breath and fired a jet of water in the Rocket Leader's direction. However, the force of the water was many times more powerful than it should have been, somewhat equivalent to a Hydro Pump that managed to push Ariana off of her feet and flying backwards and through the window at the back of the room. The redheaded woman disappeared from view and the group looked to each other in shock.

The remaining Rockets took advantage of the commotion as Pluto had unknowingly loosened his grip on Petrel, allowing him to slide away and head to the back of the room to join Proton. A powerful gust of wind blew through the window sending debris flying around the area as a helicopter appeared outside broken window. A woman with Ariana's unmistakable red hair could be seen climbing up a rope ladder and into the helicopter, helped up by a face that both Alex and April recognised – Domino.

"Thank you ever so much for the Diamond!" Proton smiled as he turned to jump into the helicopter with Petrel following suit.

"Well don't just let them get away, they've got the Diamond – Stop them!" Pluto bellowed through the noise of the helicopter.

The group all commanded their pokemon; sending balls of energy, lightening, water and ice speeding through the air just as a cloaked figure appeared on the helicopter door with a Shuppet floating just in front; the same pokemon from earlier.

Shuppet began twirling in midair using its horn as an axis, gathering speed at an alarming rate until a green ball of energy seemed to hit an invisible wall in front of the pokemon which dissipated, causing the air around it to ripple followed by the barrage of other elements, all having the same effect.

Shuppet then withdrew toward the helicopter as it turned and began to fly away but not before Domino threw a single dart in the shape of a black rose into the room, just inches away from the group. Alex knew what this was – they had no time to run or to escape. The rose flashed red and then black, faster and faster and until it exploded just seconds after it had landed. The group closed their eyes and grabbed onto the nearest people to them.

After a few moments, they slowly and uncertainly began to open their eyes to see that a dome had been erected around them, supported at the centre by Crowe and his Gallade.

"They're not the only ones that can use protect." He smiled, looking slightly worse for wear as the dome slowly faded.

Kneeling down to help her friend, Erika wiped the hair from Sabrina's eyes as she sat up, very much conscious but physically drained. Alex scanned the room and saw that Pluto and his Bastiodon were still very much intact, letting their silver skin subside after the blast. April released her embrace on Adam and looked around carefully.

"Do you think we're safe?" Naoko asked, looking around the room as the sound of footsteps began to echo.

Suddenly a dozen police officers entered with their weapons drawn and Growlithes at their side, snarling viciously.

"Armed police, Jenny division - put your hands where we can see them!"
 

FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
Years
Chapter 31 - Question Time

"Armed police, Jenny division – put your hands where we can see them!"

Appearing from the nearby stairwell, the group were surrounded by armed police offers pointing their guns in their direction, each with a Growlithe at their side. The group all raised their hands but Naoko instead felt her arm being pulled upwards from the floor until she was upright and a hand clasped over her face.

She began to panic and struggled frantically until a voice gently hushed her; it was Crowe. "Be quiet, they can't see us." He whispered.

Naoko quickly scanned the room as the Jennys moved in to arrest the group and realised that they were once again hidden by Gallade's Shadow Sneak. Crowe slowly loosened his grip on the dark-skinned girl and she took in a deep breath.

"What about the others? We can't just let them -"
"-That's not important right now. We need to get out of here." Crowe said as he dragged Naoko toward the door, slipping past the group of agents and into the stairwell.

After descending one flight Crowe suddenly turned to Naoko and pushed her against the wall, pinning her with his hand around her neck. Naoko was shocked and confused, again struggling against a man who was much stronger than she was.

"That necklace – where did you get it?" Crowe asked, surprisingly calmly, loosening his grip slightly.
Naoko gasped for air, questioning why he was asking between breaths. Crowe tightened his grip briefly to extend his point, "You didn't answer the question."

"It was a gift… From a friend in Hoenn!"

"Who?"

"Her name… Her name is Lanette!"

Crowe suddenly released his grip and helped Naoko keep her balance as she regained her breath.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" The dark-skinned girl cried, glaring at Crowe who now looked deep in thought. He gently rested against the hand railing and fixated his gaze toward Naoko; more specifically, her necklace; not uttering a word for several seconds. "Hello?! What was that about?" Naoko persisted.

"Things are starting to add up." He mumbled before the police officers began to bring people out of the lab and into the stairwell. Taking initiative once again, Crowe grabbed Naoko by the hand and disappeared into the shadows.

The Jennys began to lead the group, one by one down the stairwell in handcuffs. Alex and April being the first, followed by Erika and then several minutes later, Adam and Sabrina who were supported by a team of medics.

A senior Jenny by the name of Harrison personally escorted the group out of the building via the employee car park at the rear as a crowd had begun to form outside the main entrance. He was a tall man, a good few inches above Sabrina, the tallest in the group and had short, greying hair underneath his azure cap, making him appear older than his age. The group were split between two unmarked police vehicles and then taken to the station where they were processed and then sent to a cell where they would await questioning, away from the prying eyes and cameras of the media.

Alex:

I was sat on the floor, isolated in my cell. It was dark and the smell of mass produced floor cleaner rose from the chipped concrete below me. Unlike the rest of Saffron, the police station looked old and dilapidated, much like how the rest of Kanto seemed; technologically un-advanced compared to the rest of the world. Rather than being in a solitary room with a solid door, I was in a cubicle of sorts in a corridor with metal bars caging me inside a small area.

Alone with my thoughts, I didn't know who was around, where anyone was or how deeply I was screwed. As soon as I'd arrived from Silph Co, I'd been shoved straight into a cell at the Saffron police department, completely unaware where any of my friends were.

Come to think of it, I hadn't actually tried calling out to anyone. Surely they weren't naïve enough to lock me in the same place as the others? I crawled to the bars and called out, not too loud as to attract outside attention but loud enough so that someone in the room could hear me.

No response.

So I tried again, a little louder.

Nothing.

Sighing, I turned my back to the bars and rested my head in one of the small spaces between them. There was no way I could talk about anything that has happened recently without sounding like a mad man but, then again, I had no other alternative.

Suddenly, I heard a whisper; a whisper that sounded vaguely like my name. My head jolted forward and turned to face what I could see of the corridor, which was not much. It could have just been the wind and I was about to turn back around when, as if from nowhere, the faces of Naoko and that guy Crowe appeared, half camouflaged by the veil of his Gallade's Shadow Sneak.

"Naoko!" I cried in relief.
"-We don't have time." Crowe interrupted. "Listen carefully…" He began, telling me that we could not mention the Diamond the Rockets took and were simply there to look for Adam.

"But why? And why should I trust you? We've only just met." I whispered, asking what I thought were justifiable questions.

Naoko spoke before Crowe was able, with a genuine look of fear and concern in her eyes. "Alex, please – just do it for now. It's important." And with that, they once again disappeared into the shadows.

Before I could call out to them, I heard footsteps approaching the room and seconds later Harrison appeared from around the corner. He opened the cell and led me to a small room for my formal interview. The was simply a small table in the centre of the room with another officer already seated, just like on the crime shows on TV. I was sat down and Harrison took his place at the other officer's side, who introduced himself as Detective Shards, a rather rounded man if I ever did see one.
I could feel the nerves tugging at my insides. What was he going to say? What was I going to say? I looked down at my hands and I was shaking. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and I knew that this was not going to be easy.

I had to lie.

-------------

"Team Rocket is gone – they are history. There's been no criminal activity under that name for over a year, why would they suddenly choose now to make a reappearance?" Shards asked, condescendingly.

"But they haven't! You just don't see it do you?" Alex cried, slamming his fist onto the table.

"They've been here, right under your noses the entire time. The same thing happened at Cerulean and you didn't see it then until it was too late!"

"Testimony from a Mr…" Shards paused to scan through his notes. "Mr Bill Dyer, claims the criminals involved were in-fact part of the Rocket Gang but, since there was no formal arrest, there was no evidence to substantiate his story."

"There, you see? If more people are saying it, surely that means there is some grounding to the theory."

-------------

"Miss Moon, in your own words, please describe to us the events of yesterday's incident."
April sighed and ran her hands through her messy brown bonnet. Her hat had been taken from her as she entered the building leaving her with quite persistent hat-hair. "You're never going to believe me."

"Try us."

"I was trying to look for my brother; we'd been separated for a while now and I could just sense that something was wrong, really wrong."

"And so you just happened to come upon his location?"

"No… My Slowking helped me find him."

The detectives' brows furrowed and they exchanged a quick glance at each other.

"He's an incredibly strong psychic pokemon who can communicate with me. I don't know… he somehow locked-on to Adam and he led us straight to him. It was the only lead I had to find him."

"And you say you found him… working with the perpetrators?"

"No! No, that's not what I'm saying at all. He was there with them but he wasn't with them. I… Well, I don't know what happened exactly, but he had no part in this."

"You're sure?"

"Without a doubt. I know him - he's my brother."

------------------

"I've already told you, I don't know." Adam sighed with his head in his hands.

"Being in that situation for as long as you say, you are honestly telling me that you had no idea of why you were there? Why would your abductors not kill you and be done with it at Lavender Tower? It's quicker, cleaner and less hassle."

"What can I say? I suppose they just needed me for some reason."

"And that reason was?" Harrison piped up, seemingly intrigued.

Adam looked around the room in frustration. "I don't know… Maybe they wanted me to take the fall; maybe they needed someone to blame the whole thing on."

Shards raised an eyebrow, seeming less than impressed. "And what, the best culprit they could come up with was a teenage boy?"

Adam sat back on his chair and folded his arms. "Well, it's worked so far, hasn't it?"

-------------------

Erika paced up and down the foyer as Sabrina sat in a chair patiently, her head resting on her right hand. After a while, Erika decided to join her friend and sat down opposite her, looking her over with concern. "Are you sure you're okay? You're usually quiet but you're never this quiet."

Sabrina simply let out a small smile; a smile that would simply look like a small facial twitch to anyone else. "Yes, thank you. I'm fine. Today has taken a lot out of me." The psychic girl paused and closed her eyes, frustrated about mixing up her words - not something she would usually do. "Well, however long those criminals had me controlled for. The doctor said it could have been anything up to a week, judging from my reactions. "

Erika stroked her friend's hand. "Well, the worst part is over at least."

Sabrina sighed. "I'm just trying to piece together my memories; it's all a bit of a blur. I was useless to the detectives in my interview."

"Well, if it helps, I can't imagine any of ours making much sense to anyone else at the moment…"
Erika looked up at the door to the interview rooms. "They're taking their time with the other interviews, aren't they? I think I'll go and see if I can find out what's happening."
Sabrina gave a nod of acknowledgement as Erika approached the front desk. A man sat at the counter filling out some paperwork and seemed unaware of the girl's presence until she started speaking.

"Hello, I was just wondering about my friends who are being questioned, they've been in there quite a while."

"I'm afraid they are to remain in custody until we can establish the facts about what really happened, miss."

This didn't sit well with Erika. "'The facts?' We've given you the facts. You have no right to keep them here."

"On the contrary. We have every right to keep them here."

"On what grounds?"

"They have been apprehended at the scene of a crime and must be questioned Not to mention they have been placed at the scenes of multiple terrorist attacks."

"But that doesn't mean they committed any crime! That evidence is circumstantial, it proves nothing. You'd better release them or so help me I'll-!"
"-May I remind you Miss Erika, that your authority as Gym Leader may exempt you from prolonged detainment but your power does not supersede that of any police officer."

The Gym Leader began to speak again but was quickly silenced by the officer's overbearing voice. "Especially when they are involved in a criminal investigation. You would do well to remember that."

Erika paused and grit her teeth. She knew she was powerless to do anything and she hated it. The CCTV was cut; it was just their word and that was it, nothing else. There must be some way of proving something, something they had missed. And, at that moment as if planned from the get-go, a figure walked through the door, escorted by an additional officer.

It was Pluto, who walked up to the desk and presented a disc to the officer.

"I believe this might shed some light on the current situation."
 
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FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
Years
Chapter 32 – The Sapphire (Part 1)

Three knocks at the door, a call to enter.

Alex sat at the table and turned to see a policewoman with a ginger bob slip her head through the door; a welcomed brief respite from the barrage of questions being thrown at him.

"Inspector, there's a man at the front desk – one of the scien'ists from the Silph incident. He's got somfin' you'll wanna see." She said in a thick Rustboro accent, giving Shards a look before she exited the room.

The rounded man followed, giving a slight nod and whistling, signalling Harrison to follow like a lapdog. Alex noted the brief look of loathing in the greying officer's eyes upon seeing the signal before he followed the command and also left the room.

A few feet down the hallway was the surveillance room, a dark room with all sorts of CCTV monitors lining the walls and a large computer terminal at the base. Pluto was stood inside the room and was greeted by "Detective Inspector Shards and Detective Harrison, a First-Class Jenny".

"I assume you've brought us here for a reason?" Shards asked, bluntly.

The policewoman nodded, "Play it."

An image appeared on screen, shakey and a bit distorted as if it was taken on a camcorder, but it was soon clear what was happening. The image was from fairly near ground level and was of the lab in which the suspects were arrested. 'Zap Cannon activated' could be heard in the background as the camera started to spin around the lab and the picture became engulfed in white before it dispersed in every direction. The image seemingly remains still for a number of seconds facing Sabrina. "Sabrina – Stop them!" was heard and following on from the order, the psychic girl raised an arm in the camera's direction and it was thrown backwards and leant to the side, providing an ideal view of the room before the image turned to grain.

"Rewind it a couple of frames, just before it cuts off." Harrison said, getting close to the screen. He stared at it intensely for a few seconds before coming to a conclusion. "It looks like what the kids said checks out. That woman with the red hair was one of the leaders of the Rocket base during the Chrono Island raid – Ariana." He sighed and took it upon himself to state that he'd sort the paperwork for the group's release when he was stopped by Shards.

"Hold on. The CCTV was destroyed at Silph, where did you get that footage?"

Pluto smiled, content with himself not to answer directly. "Where does anyone get any CCTV footage? A security system." He said, looking at the officers in the room as if waiting for something.

"So I trust I am free to go?"
----------------------

Alex's POV:

I knew something was going on. They'd left me in the room for quite a while and I had only my reflection to keep me company. Eventually Harrison came in to uncuff me and tell me that I'd been released due to new evidence that had just come to light. I wasn't complaining and walked through that door as quickly as I could, passing Shards on the way, who grunted as I passed him.

Back in the foyer, I could see that I was the last one to be let out. Adam, April, Sabrina and Erika were sat talking together and I was escorted straight past them in order to collect my things and my pokemon. After signing out I slowly approached them, feeling a bit like the outsider again. After all, they'd known each other for a while and I was still just the boy they'd met a few months ago.

Just from a glance I could tell that Adam had changed a bit since we'd last met. He seemed a bit older; more mature. At least that's what it seemed like. Just where had he been? What had happened to him?

Conversation stopped as I reached them and Adam stood up and for a moment, his face was solemn. After a few seconds he cracked a smile and extended his arm. We shook hands and Adam extended it by clasping my hand with both of his.

"Thank you, Alex. Really. Looks like you didn't do a bad job looking after April after all."

I could see in his face that he really meant his words but I struggled to see what part I actually played in the whole process. After all, it was April, Slowking and Erika that found Adam, not me. I voiced my opinion and April was adamant that it wasn't true. When I asked for an example she mentioned the videophone message from Erika.

"Wait a minute." Erika piped up. "I sent that message to April… How did you get it, Alex?"

That was the question I couldn't answer. I'd wondered about this message myself and could not come up with a logical reason.

Adam let out a small chuckle. "I think that might have something to do with me." A group of officers walked past and conversation stopped, Adam's eyes following them across the room. "We should talk about this later."

I nodded as Harrison approached us and apologized for the inconvenience, also formally declaring that we were free to leave. I couldn't wait to get out of that building and put whatever this was behind us. It had definitely not been an easy week.

As we merged with the crowds in the street outside the station, Naoko and Crowe appeared beside me out of their Shadow Sneak, making me jump out of my skin.

"Where have you two been?!" April cried recovering from the shock, sounding almost angry.
Naoko looked slightly guilty. "Well, you see…"

She paused as the rest of us waited silently for the remainder of the sentence. Needless to say, it didn't come. Crowe took the opportunity to take control of the situation and began leading us toward Sabrina's Gym, saying there was someone we needed to talk to. I hadn't known him long but I started to get the feeling that he was the vague-type.

As we walked, I turned to notice that Adam was still stood a few steps behind.

"Adam, you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah…" He said looking a bit taken a-back. "Does someone want to introduce me to these people?"
--------------

Later that day we were sat inside a building that was apparently the Saffron Pokemon Gym.

However, walking through the corridors I saw more people in lab coats than people that resembled trainers. But when I stopped and thought about the other gyms, it wasn't really a surprise that the building was used for some other purpose besides battling.

Sabrina brought us all a hot drink as we relaxed in her private apartment above the Gym. As could be expected, everyone was pretty worn out from the past few days but equally were full of questions. Personally, I was just glad we were in the clear again and had found Adam alive and well.

Crowe seemed to be one of the people that knew exactly what had happened but went to put his head down for a while, at least that's what he told us.

I could tell that no one really wanted to start the conversation off so I began with something a bit lighter to get the ball rolling as she handed me my cup of tea.

"So Erika, what else is this place used for besides battling? There looked like there was a lot going on downstairs."

"This 'place' is used for research into psychic phenomena and the organisms that possess such powers." She replied.

"So you do a lot of work with Pokemon?" April asked, having her interest piqued.

"Yes… And no. Pokemon are generally seen as the only organisms that have developed Psychic abilities but they may have just been the first. Life is evolving, and with that comes adaptation. Humans such as myself and the Gym Leader Morty from the Johto region have found ourselves to be in possession of abilities only thought to have been present in Pokemon."

"So this Morty guy has psychic powers too?" Adam asked, confused.

"Not exactly. Psychic powers are thought to be the foundation for other abilities."

We all looked to each other, a little taken aback.

Naoko crossed her legs and rested her head on her hand. "Right, now I'm confused."

"Think of it like so." Sabrina said, fetching a book from her shelf and placing it open onto the table. "I trust you are aware of this pokemon?"

I leaned in and saw a mural next to an artist's representation of the pokemon Mew. One that even I had heard of.

"Mew is said to be the ancestor of all pokemon as it contains the DNA of every pokemon ever discovered within it and could potentially form into whatever pokemon it wished to. Permanently. Think of it as a living, breathing stem-cell.
This is where it gets interesting - Mew is also a Psychic-type. The psychic abilities present within Mew formed the base for all other pokemon moves. Have you ever wondered just how a Fire Blast appears in a perfect five-pronged star or how a water gun is able to maintain its power for as far as it does? It's because every pokemon contains a form of psychic ability. We believe that humans also have this ability. That is why I am able to use telepathy and telekinesis and how Morty is able to see and speak to the undead."

Silence filled the room. We all looked and felt shocked at what we had just heard.

Adam sat back on the sofa he shared with Erika and asked the question we were all wondering: "Why is this not bigger news? Why haven't we heard about this before?"

Sabrina sighed. "Sadly, as of now it is just a theory. The only way to fully validate it would be for someone to give us a sample of Mew's DNA to work with. So for now we just work with who we can, encouraging more people to research it."

"It's fascinating, don't you all think?" Erika smiled, clearly knowing about the concept already.

Suddenly the intercom buzzed and Sabrina got up to let her guests through the door. Little did Adam realise that it would be Crowe accompanied by a boy with curly hair and large, rounded glasses.

A boy named Celio.
 
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FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
Years
And I'm back! (Hopefully for good this time!)

Chapter 32 – The Sapphire (Part 2)


"Everyone, this is –"
"Celio." Adam said, rising from his seat.

Silence filled the room for a moment. Noticing this, Celio smiled and extended his hand. "It's nice to see you again, Adam."

Unsure what to make of the situation, Adam shook Celio's hand cautiously. He didn't know what the boy wanted, if he was alone or even if he was safe; all he knew was that he felt uneasy.

"Oh good, two of you are already acquainted. This should speed things up a bit." Sabrina said. "Everyone, this is Celio Brown."

The rest of the group greeted him with a small wave and Celio made himself comfortable on a cushion on the floor and propped his laptop on the table, promptly starting to type away at the keys.

"So how do you two know each other?" Alex asked.

Adam slowly sat down and knew that he had to at least divulge some information; he just didn't want to have to drag anyone else into his current predicament. "Funny story actually… He's the reason you got the message from Erika, Alex."

When Alex questioned how, Adam responded by saying that he had been rescued by Crowe and taken to see a group of people that included Celio. A group he now called 'the Hackers'.

"The Hackers knew that I was going to be used as the scapegoat for an attack on Silph, but at the time they didn't know where the attack would be. They needed me to do what I could to gather information about an artefact called the Diamond. An artefact that, if used with some others, could grant humans powers that only pokemon possess."

"That's… Not possible. Is it?" Alex asked.

Celio nodded but before he could speak, Sabrina reminded Alex of what they had just discussed. "Humans possess that base-level of psychic ability. Although in most people it lays dormant, it has the potential to be ignited, like in me."

"But why – why did you use Adam? You could have rescued him there and then!" April said with a hint of anger in her voice.

"Because it's –" Celio began.
"-Because I was their only way in." Adam responded, butting off the truth. "And I can't just stand by and let the Rockets do this. Remember what they did to us – to mum and dad? Imagine if they managed to do this? Just think about how many other families they could destroy. There is no way I'm just going to stand by and let that happen."

"Adam…" Erika said compassionately, placing her hand on his thigh. "Stop."

"She needed to hear that." He snuffed, quietening down.

Naoko lay across the chair and rubbed her head. "This is a lot to take in at once…"

Celio took in a deep breath.
"There's a tiny bit more to it, I'm afraid."

Naoko propped herself up with her arms. "Meaning?"

"Meaning that there are five of us that have been trying to keep the knowledge of the Gems a secret; Bebe, Crowe, Bill, myself and Lanette."
Naoko suddenly sat upright, her face painted with a confused expression, as if several things had just slotted into place in her head. "Did you just say Lanette?" Naoko asked, her voice sounding gentle and sweet, highly unusual for her.

"Why, yes, yes I did. She is responsible for the PC network in Hoenn – judging by your accent, I'd say you're probably familiar with her and her work. But anyway, as I was saying-" Celio carried on, adjusting his glasses as Naoko reached into a pocket and took out a worn, folded-up piece of paper; unravelling it and staring at it intently.

"-we decided that keeping the Gems together was far too dangerous and came up with a plan, of sorts. Each of us would take one of the Gems and find a place for it to be hidden, telling no one else just where it was."

"I had no part in this." Crowe piped up from the corner, leaning against a wall.

"But why didn't you tell each other where they were hidden?" Alex asked naively.

Celio exhaled and showed a small smirk from the corner of his mouth. "It wouldn't be much of a secret then, would it?" He said sarcastically. "It was to protect the Gems – and to protect ourselves. If someone were to probe one of us for answers about where the other Gems were then there'd be no way for us to give them any information, even if we wanted to."

"Plausible deniability." Erika surmised.

"Exactly."

"So… How do these Gems work, exactly?"

"That's one thing that we just don't know. What we can tell from the murals and such that have been excavated is that it's a form of energy that uses one of the Gems – the Pearl – as a type of catalyst, with the other Gems representing specific elements."

Walking over to refill his coffee, Alex changed his point of view. "Now, I'm not saying that I don't believe you but… without the Pearl, how do you know that these Gems do anything? How do you know that they're not just… hunks of rock?"

Not expecting Alex to challenge the idea, the group paused for a moment.

"The 'hunks of rock' are more than that. They are filled with power in themselves. What the power exactly is we are still looking into, but we know that it can have a direct effect on the potency of a pokemon's abilities in the immediate vicinity." Sabrina replied. "The research at Silph was making some strides in that area but now the Rockets have the Diamond."

"So now we now know them to have the Emerald that Bebe gave to Professor Fuji and the Diamond that Bill entrusted to Silph." Celio stated.
"-wait a minute." Naoko interrupted. "You said that the Pearl acts as the Catalyst, right?"

Celio nodded.

"Why not go and get the Pearl yourself? I mean, without it, the other Gems are useless, right?"

"I'm afraid that's not exactly an option." Celio said, adjusting his glasses.

"Of course it's not." Naoko huffed sarcastically, leaning back in her chair, running her hands through her hair.

"We don't know the location of the Pearl. We never have."

"But didn't you just say that each of you hid one of the Gems?" April inquired, looking to Crowe and Celio.

Crowe raised his arm. "I told you – I had no part in this."

"Then how do you know it even exists?" She pursued.

"Well we know from the research at Silph that these Gems are definitely real, so there is every chance that the Pearl is too. We just can't take the chance that the Rockets will get their hands on the others. The less of the Gems they have, the less havoc they can create, should they gain access to the catalyst."

"Unless they already have it…" Alex said, thinking of the situation from another angle.

April gave Alex a glaring look.

"What?" He countered, meeting her gaze.

"Can you stop playing devil's advocate for a minute?!"

"He's got a point." Adam remarked. "How do we know that we're not just chasing something pointless?"

Erika scratched her head. "Surely, if they had the Pearl and the Emerald, then they'd be able to use these abilities and so far we've not seen anything like that… Have we?"

"Exactly." Said Sabrina.

"This leads me to my next point." Celio continued. "There's a reason I'm here, and that's because we have the chance to sneak the upper hand."
The group's interest piqued, the spectacled boy continued. "We have one of the Gems, in this very room."

There was silence. Alex, Erika and the siblings looked amongst each other, confused. Naoko clutched her necklace with one hand and screwed up her piece of paper with the other. "…I have it, don't I?"

Celio nodded. "The Sapphire, embedded into your necklace."

"You didn't give it to me, how could you possibly…" Naoko began before putting two and two together, turning and glaring at Sabrina, her eyes sharpened like daggers.

"I did what was necessary." The Gym Leader said coldly.

"That doesn't give you the right—" Naoko snapped, hitting the arm of the chair with her fist before stopping, gritting her teeth.

"But don't you see? Now we can –" Celio began.

Naoko stood on her feet, enraged. "-we can what? Save the world?! And when did we become a 'we' anyway?! I never signed up for any of this!"

"Naoko, none of us have." Adam said, somewhat sympathetically.

"Now, I don't know what's happening but somehow you're all here… together. The girl with the Sapphire, the boy who stumbled into a plot to take both the Emerald and the Diamond and his sister who just so happened to find them both. The same siblings who are also the children of –" Celio paused, getting carried away in his own rambling, forgetting the promise he made to Adam. "You're all in one place! Don't you see? It all fits! We have a responsibility to clean up this mess!"

April turned to Adam, unsure why they were mentioned specifically as the children of their parents but she was not met with the same expression. She could tell there was something he was keeping from her, something he knew that she did not, but before she could open her mouth, Naoko bellowed back.

"That's bullmuk and you know it! Lanette wouldn't want—"
"Lanette is gone!" Celio cried, slamming his laptop shut. "They have her… We don't know what she wants."

His blue eyes glazed with tears beneath his glasses, Celio showed some genuine emotion for the first time since his arrival. Naoko stood, solemn, staring at the curly-haired boy at the table. Her jaw, wavering. Taking a deep breath, Naoko turned and left the room.

"The children of who?" April asked Adam.

"Pardon?"

"He just said 'the siblings who were also the children of' who?"

"Why are you asking me? He's the one-"
"-I'm asking you." She persisted. "You didn't even look a little surprised when he said it and that's because you know something. What is it that you're not telling me?"

"April…"

"I'm not a little kid anymore, for once in your life just tell me!"

Adam looked at Erika as if for approval but was only met with a blank stare and an empathetic smile. He sighed, rising to his feet and rubbing a hand through his hair. "Fine, let's go outside. Believe me, you're going to want some fresh air when you hear this."

Sabrina moved to place a comforting hand on Celio's shoulder. He reached and clasped the hand with his, gripping it tightly.

"Get out of my head." He chuckled.

Sabrina let out a feint smile. "I don't always need to be able to read your mind to know how you feel. Although I must say… Smoothly done."
 

FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
Years
Chapter 33 – Get Your Head in the Game

Naoko exited the room and headed down the stairs and out the first door she could find. Finding herself outside the rear end of the gym she headed to the first thing she saw – a large, blue waste disposal bin and kicked it with all of her might, screaming. Not able to recognise which of her own emotions she was feeling, she struck the metal again, this time with her fist, splitting the skin on her knuckles. Wincing through the pain, her head fell against the metal and she slammed against it with her other hand, slowly sinking to the ground and bursting into tears.

Finding herself crying into her knees on the dry, autumn dirt, she gave into some of the emotion she had been holding back, if only for a brief moment. Lifting her head and composing her breath, she frantically grabbed the necklace she wore and pulled it off as if she were pulling off a plaster, snapping the chain. Naoko stared at the blue jewel sat in the centre and wondered how something no bigger than a broach could hold so much power. She sniffed and wiped her nose, staring deep into the electric blue of the Sapphire, something she'd never properly taken the time to do before. Becoming almost hypnotised by the jewel, she nearly didn't hear the voice coming from behind her.

"You got riled up fast." It said.

Naoko knew in that instant that Crowe was behind her, sat on a branch of a tree above and didn't even turn to look.

"Leave me alone." She said firmly.

"I could..." Crowe said, leaning against the trunk of the tree with one leg on the branch.
There was silence between them for a moment, the only sound were the rustling of the tree and the sound of cars on the road in the distance.
"-I'm not going to." He finished.

Grunting, Naoko rested the back of her head against the bin and said "Look, I don't want to be part of some prophecy or whatever you call it."

"I wouldn't exactly call it a prophecy." Crowe chuckled. "You think a lot of yourself."

"You know what I mean! What that Celio said in there about 'something happening' because we are all in one room – who the hell does he think he is?! The fact that one of my best friends died and the other one is being held captive and having god only knows what done to her is apparently part of some plan… how sick is that?!"

Crowe chose not to reply. Instead he just sat, stroking his Umbreon.

"It's just…" Naoko sighed and held out her hand with a screwed up note in.

Gesturing his head to the side, Umbreon leaps from the branches onto the bin and gently took it in its mouth, returning to its trainer. Crowe opened the note and began to read it aloud.

"Naoko – I hope you're not missing me too much. I'm heading to Kanto to work with the guys on some new code and sadly, it can't really wait. I might be gone for a while this time and I really am sorry I couldn't say goodbye in person but feel free to visit me if you're ever in the region, just phone me and we'll sort out the details then.

I know you've had your eye on it for a while so I want you to have my necklace – take good care of it for me, it'll really match with your eyes and it'll look far better on you than it ever did on me anyway.

Tell my sister not to run you too far into the ground at the ranch or she knows what'll happen.

- Lanette"


Folding the letter up on an old crease, Crowe held the letter still for a moment, moving his foot off of the branch and turning to fully face Naoko.

"We were a team at one point, Lanette, Dillan and me. She took us in when we had nowhere else to go and now she's somewhere I don't even know and well, he's gone because of the hackers and… this." She said, dangling the necklace by the chain in the sun. "This stupid hunk of rock."

Naoko threw the necklace against the door she'd exited from.

"I just want my friend back."

Again, there was a moment's silence. Crowe began to lose his patience.

"Boo hoo." He said, jumping from the branch.

"…What?" Naoko asked, slightly stunned at the response, finally getting a look at Crowe as he walked in front of her.

"I'm one of them – the "hackers". Crowe said. "Bebe is my sister, Lanette is my friend too and here you are feeling sorry for yourself. You're in a strop because your friends are gone - boo hoo, mine are too. While you're sitting here moping, what the hell do you think is happening to Lanette? She is a grown woman, she made a choice to do what she thought was best, what we ALL did. If you're upset then do something about it and stop blaming other people."

Crowe picked up the necklace and opened the door to the Gym. "I never usually waste my breath on people like you but at least we are trying to sort this out. You need to make up your mind what you're going to do." He said, throwing the necklace to the ground in front of Naoko and re-entered the gym, leaving the door ajar.

Left with her own thoughts, Naoko began to concoct a plan.

--------------------------

Inside the building, Alex sat sipping coffee at a coffee table and feeding his pokemon bots of a doughnut he was eating, enthralled by the tale Celio was recounting.

"So, let me get this straight - April and Adam's dad was the one who searched out the Gems in the first place and started looking into them?" Asked Alex, trying to keep up.

Celio twisted his wrists with his palms outstretched as if to make a 'kind-of' gesture. "That's basically the gist." He said.

Alex placed his mug onto the table in front of him and looked at Celio as if something didn't quite place together in his mind. "So what exactly are you doing here?"

"Trying to talk some sense into you guys. We need all the help we can get and you guys keep appearing wherever this stuff happens. So we figured it was best to get you on our side – you may not have meant to but you've been helping us out this whole time."

------------------------------

Slowking stood on the edge of the roof solemnly, feeling the breeze as it whistled past, caressing his face. Whilst Manetric and Vulpix sat resting, Primape was busying himself with the rest of Adam's pokemon, with Slowking listening telepathically to the conversation happening between his trainer and her brother.

Perched on an air conditioning vent with their legs dangling off of the side, Adam had explained everything he had learnt about their past and their father's work from the Hackers. April had remained silent, listening to every word the came from his mouth intently until he'd finished.

There was a brief moment of silence as the pieces began slotting together in her mind.

"So that's why the Rockets attacked Cleopatra Island. That's why this all started." April said, turning and lifting one leg onto the vent. Considering her options, April paused again before promptly asking, "So what do we do now?"

Slightly stunned by her keen attitude, Adam slid off of the vent and onto his feet and began to walk towards his pokemon. "What do you mean 'we' ?! I told you this so you'd keep out of this mess!"

Scoffing at the notion, April jumped off of the vent and gave chase.

"So what – you expect me to just carry on and just pretend I haven't been paying attention at all for the last few weeks? Alex and I were the ones that rescued you, remember?"

Adam stopped and turned back around.

"April, look –"
"-Ugh for God's sake, Adam! Stop treating me like this fragile piece of glass that's about to brake. He was my dad too and I am not going anywhere." April said firmly, holding firm a strong stance. "So you're just going to have to deal with that."

Adam cracked a small smile, impressed and a little proud of how much his sister had grown. For the first time in his life he had suddenly begun to think of April as an equal, rather than something that had to be protected a put out of harm's way.

He walked over to April and put his arm over her shoulder. "I guess you're right." He shrugged, much to April's surprise. "I'd still whoop you in a battle though."

------------------------------

"Maybe we should go after them." Erika said to Sabrina as she pressed her face to a window to see if she could see anyone.

"It's fine, they're all still in the building." Sabrina said calmly. "I can feel –"

Sabrina paused, he gaze fixed on the tv that had been playing quietly in the background. Erika inquired as to what was wrong but soon realised and turned up the volume.

"Marking the second departure in recent years, Lorelei Swift of the Sevii Isles has become the latest member of the Elite Four to hang up her duties as part of the Indigo League. This follows the departure of Kanto's own Agatha Wainwright, who was an original member of the Kanto Elite Four before it merged with Johto's to create the Indigo League two years previously.

Lorelei refused to comment on her departure, simply stating that it was 'time for a change'. Kanto-local Koga Metso of the Fuchsia City Gym is the odds-on favourite to replace her and bookies are currently taking bets on whether or not she will follow in Agatha's footsteps and take on the mantle of Gym Leader."


The pair gazed at each other in confusion.

"Did you…" Sabrina asked.
"-Not a clue."

"I called it." Crowe said, suddenly appearing from a shadow sneak behind the girls, giving them a fright.

Adam and April re-entered the room and all attention turned to them.

"We're in." Adam announced as they sat down on a sofa, followed by another voice coming from the doorway.

"So am I." Said Naoko, as she approached the table. Crowe cracked a small smile, content that she had made a good decision.

"My friend Dillan is gone and the Rockets have Lanette and are doing god only knows what to her - I've got to save her. And well.." She said as she turned to the siblings. "I do kind of owe April for saving me on the S.S. Anne – if she didn't pull me away, I'd be dead too."

"So you're on board?" Celio asked.

"On one condition." She said, putting her necklace back on. "Lanette gave this to me – she gets to decide what to do with it. Until then, nobody touches this but me."

Celio looked to the rest of the group, each nodding to the proposal.

"Agreed." He said.

After speaking about a plan of action, Celio agreed to first catch everyone up to speed.

"We knew something was going on when Lanette didn't show up, they took her on her way over to the Sevii Isles. We don't know how but they must have got her at the port. Then, after that, Bill vanished so suddenly and everything at Cerulean and Pokemon Tower happened. We went into hiding and after you rescued Bill, the Rockets docked nearby our hideout and we sent Crowe to investigate using his Shadow Sneak. That's when he found Adam. Using the information that Adam overheard, Bill knew they were after the Diamond he'd placed at Silph to be researched so we sent Adam and Crowe there together to learn and bit more and try and stop them where they could.

That part… didn't exactly work out as planned. But what we do know is that the Rockets now have Bebe's Emerald and Bill's Diamond. However, we now have Lanette's Sapphire, thanks to Naoko here. That leaves the Pearl and the Ruby. Since we still don't know the location of the Pearl and the Rockets haven't started wreaking havoc with unnatural abilities—"

"-ahem." Sabrina coughed.

"Sorry." Celio blushed. "We can assume that they don't either. That just leaves the Ruby, and thankfully, that's the Gem I was in charge of hiding, which gives us a strong advantage."

"Well, where is it?" Alex asked, asking the question everyone was thinking.

"Beneath Fuchsia City."
 
Last edited:

FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
Years
Chapter 34 – It's Tradition

"I wish to have no part in this, Father. You must believe me when I say that."

Janine's father barely twitched his eyebrow in response: a stern man would never let his emotions be so obvious. However, this subtle movement may as well have been far more grandiose as those that knew him knew that the twitch meant that he was furious. We stood idly back, watching what was, to us, a family quarrel, but to Koga, Janine and Erika, something much more.

"You are a Bryant. The very name holds sway in this city and across the region – you have known this since you were young. You have a responsibility." Koga stood solemn, with his arms firmly folded.

"Every year we are brought more responsibilities and more honour. Guarding this city, it's traditions, celebrations as well as its secrets is part of that; it's part of our family. It is tradition."

Each word that left Koga's lips seemed to fuel Janine's temper. She was visually frustrated and had been ever since we had begun discussing the Gems. At first she held her own, matching her father's iron composure, but soon discarded the veil entirely.

"Tradition? Yes, tradition is for us, father: our traditions, Fuschia's traditions and those of its people but this…" She said, gesturing toward us. "This is something that does not involve us. Just look at the trouble it's brought, look at the damage it has dealt to these people already."

It wasn't until Janine said it outright that I took notice of the state of us. We had cuts, bruises, scars that were left exposed to the open air to scab and heal but for some reason I had just gotten used to seeing, or rather, didn't even see at all anymore. In that moment, I found myself reaching for the tender skin around the side of my neck. Even though the dressing had been removed, it was still fairly fresh. I'd been too busy as of late to even give the burn the time of day but it did serve as a reminder of how dangerous the people we were dealing with were.

"By keeping this here – something that has nothing to do with our family and city – you are inviting in danger."

Koga closed his eyes and sighed. "I made a promise to a friend. And, as Gym Leader of this City, it is my responsibility – and now your responsibility - to honour my promises and protect the city from whatever danger that that promise may bring."

"But now of all times? Now is when you choose to leave this all to me?"

Koga advanced towards his daughter and held her arms firm in place. "This is not an offer that we can afford to turn down. The Plateau must have Four, it is the way it has always been. And you… you've trained for this for years."

As she looked into her father's eyes, something in Janine's was renewed – a spark of affirmation. She smirked faintly, the corner of her lips ever-so-slightly curving upwards as if she had been goading her father for that exact response this whole time.

"Then we need a plan." Janine said, moving powerfully out of her father's grasp towards the centre of the dojo.

Erika moved forwards to join the new Gym Leader, "whatever it is, it is imperative that we keep as few people in the loop as possible. At this rate, we don't know just how many people have some connection to the Rockets."

We began to fill in Janine and Koga in on the events of the past few weeks and brought Celio into the conversation via webchat. He had stayed behind with Sabrina, who was more seriously drained from the Silph incident than she had first let on. Since telling us that the Ruby was "beneath Fuschia City" he'd remained incredibly tight-lipped and cryptic, giving us instructions to visit the Fuschia Gym – the Bryant Dojo – and to speak to the leader, Koga.

Koga was a proud man, and a well-respected figure throughout the city. He'd personally overseen much of its regeneration and building of tourist attractions whilst endeavouring to keep the city as green as possible.

Celio appeared on screen but looked as if he hadn't slept in days. He gave a quick acknowledgement to all that attended but was clearly impatient to begin.

----------------------------------

Hoards of flaming shrapnel littered the night sky like falling stars that night. It was unknown how many people were injured, or even how many were killed but this should have been a happy day; a day for support, encouragement, competition and glory… but today was not that day.

It had all started with a plan. Celio told the group that he had entrusted the Ruby to Koga and that, during Fuschia's facelift, it had been used as a centrepiece in the trophy for a new tournament. Many months ago, the Safari Zone had been relocated to Johto and so Fuschia lost a major chunk of its tourism – it needed something new, something exciting… and the Pokeathlon was that thing.

Alex used to watch it on the TV with his dad back on the farm but he'd never heard people make as big of a deal as the Fuschians did. Everyone was talking about how excited they were for all of the different events and bragging about who had the best seat for the big show.

Koga soon left to answer his summons to the Indigo League and Janine led the rest of the group toward the stadium. Something about her didn't quite sit right with Alex; she'd seemed so short-tempered and hesitant to help them since they had arrived, as if being there was a burden. Even though she only seemed about sixteen, you could tell that she was a volatile force to be reckoned with. Thanks to her father she'd come around to the idea of showing them to the stadium but Alex figured that it was just a means to an end of getting rid of them as soon as physically possible.

Banners lined the streets attached to the lampposts, posters littered the sides of buildings and it was as if all of the roads were leading towards the stadium. When it came into view, there was no mistaking the building for something else, it was breath-taking! The exterior of the dome was made entirely out of glass with several smaller buildings adjoined to the edges.

Crowds of people were beginning to gather and soon they were being shepherded inside. April chuckled and sighed, "It's never straight-forward, is it?" She, Adam and Alex shared a smile and, in the sea of faces behind her brother, April caught the eyes of another - it was a woman. Her luscious long blonde hair flowed in the wind against her gently pale face and she too smiled, only for a moment, as if she had shared in the joke. In the blink of an eye she had once again merged into the crowd and before they knew it they were at the ticketing line being asked to produce a ticket.

"I'll handle this." Janine declared, confidently stepping forward. "Janine Bryant, Interim Gym-Leader of the Bryant Dojo. My companions and I need to get inside as a matter of urgency."

Assuming her authority, Janine began to walk forwards but was gestured to stop by the rather large and daunting ticketing officer who explained that, due to the increased security risk as of late, only the two Gym Leaders would be allowed to pass through without a ticket.

Adam gave April a bad case of side-eye. "You had to jinx us, didn't you?" He sighed.

"So what do we do?" Alex asked, turning away from the barrier. "We can't cause a fuss, it'll only make things worse."

"Well really, we don't need all of us in there, do we? Besides, Naoko and Trench could already have found it." April pondered, optimistically.

Celio had made the elected decision to keep Naoko and Trench at arm's length for the time being whilst they held the Sapphire and had spent the majority of their time since leaving Saffron following close by, hidden away under the cover of Gallade's shadow sneak.

As Janine and April agreed to the plan and headed through the barrier, something familiar caught Alex's eye this time.

"It can't be…" he muttered under his breath as he wandered toward it. Adam and April took a few seconds to notice but quickly began to follow behind.

Making his way across the foyer, Alex pushed through the tightly-packed crowd, one after another towards a familiar bob of blue hair. As they approached, another, more untamed head of ginger hair came into view beside it. Alex stopped, observing the two girls in front of him who were attempting to tame a massive knot in the ginger one's hair with a comb. The blue-haired girl had one leg on a counter to levy herself and was tugging at the brush that was wedged in the biggest knot that he had ever seen!

"Like, hold still! Do you WANT to go out there looking like an orange Tangrowth or not?!" The blue-haired girl bellowed.

"Ow-ow-ow! But it huuurts!" The ginger girl wailed, her eyes full of tears.

"Remember, pain is beauty and beauty is –"

The ginger girl suddenly caught on to the fact that although almost everyone was ignoring them on their way past into the stadium, Alex and April were stood a few feet away from them trying to quietly hide the fact that they were laughing at them. Without warning, the knot came loose and was ripped from the ginger girl's hair. "-PAIN! Aiiieee~!"

April and Alex couldn't hold it in any longer and exploded in fits of laughter. The blue-haired girl quickly clocked this and became enraged, pulling up her sleeves and marching towards the pair before stopping in her tracks, realising who they were.

"…Stalker? Is that you?" Courtney asked, changing her tone completely.

Adam looked on, completely confused by the whole situation before he was introduced to the two girls, Robin and Courtney, who Alex and April had met during their time in Viridian and Cerulean.

"What are you two doing here?" Alex asked, happy to see some friends like a normal teenager for the first time in what felt like a lifetime.

Robin scoffed. "That's rude. We are basically a big deal around here."

"Yeah, don't you check your voicemail?" Courtney added.

"What do you mean?" April asked.

"We sent Mr Stalker here a message on the videophone network, isn't that why you're here?" Robin asked, looking a bit confused.

Alex racked his brain and suddenly remembered getting a message in Vermillion City from the girls but had forgotten about it until now.

"That's right… you sent us some tickets! Wait, so this is "the Dome" that you were talking about?"

Courtney nodded.

"And you're pokeathlon competitors?!"

"Yup." Robin agreed.

"Man, that is so cool!" Alex exclaimed, re-living the different events he'd watched over the years in his head.

Further inside, they discovered that their tickets led them into the VIP suite, a large, ornate room filled with high-class types dressed to the nines that perfectly overlooked the entire field. There was lots of fine red carpeting, comfy chairs galore, a bar and a gigantic window that served as both a wall and a viewing deck to the arena.

While Adam, April and Alex definitely felt like they didn't belong there, Robin and Courtney bounded through the room in their colourful leggings and sat with their legs up on a chaise lounge each, making themselves quite at home. The other guests simply glanced over before resuming their conversations but Alex still felt as if he shouldn't move lest he damage the carpeting and lose his life savings. He promptly took Swablu off of his head as if she was a cap and held her in his arms.

"Are you sure this is the right place, Robin?" April asked, coyly.

The redhead sat upright and smiled. "Totally, I told you, we're kind of a big deal around here."

Adam walked over to the window and gestured towards it, "Then shouldn't you be out there somewhere?"

"Our event isn't for another few hours yet." Courtney replied, scoffing her mouth with grapes. "Come on, relax!"

As much as Alex was enjoying the experience, he couldn't help but feel anxious and somehow guilty about enjoying himself at a time like this. He walked over to Adam on the viewing deck who was staring out of it intently.

Within the crowd he had spotted something – a woman. Through the cheers and the excitement, she stood solemn, with only a gentle smile on her face, looking straight at him. The moment didn't feel eerie or menacing, it was almost serene in its nature, a calm amongst the storm… until he blinked. Within that microsecond she has disappeared, a figment of his own imagination, he had assumed.

He hadn't seen Alex approach him, but he could tell that he was feeling a little on edge.

"Shouldn't we be doing… I don't know, something else right now?" Alex asked, looking apprehensive.

Adam sighed. "I know how you feel but really there's not much else we can do. Look," Adam gestured with a tip of the head towards the rows upon rows of spectators below them, "Erika is down there and if anyone can get the job done, it's her."

---------------------------

Muffled echoes of the crowd and the announcer reached even to the long corridors beneath the stadium – the games had begun. In what seemed like a pointless maze, Erika was glad that she hadn't come alone as she would have been lost within minutes; luckily for her, Janine knew exactly where she was going.

The pair reached an imposing bulkhead door, guarded by two, very large, very daunting men in black suits. The girls quickly produced ID and were let through, with the men closely behind.

Inside, the room was a tall perfect circle with the Pokeathlon trophy at the centre in a cylindrical glass casing. Other awards, medals and photographs dotted the room, seeming more like a shrine than a vault. Janine headed straight for the trophy and entered the code to open the casing with Erika in tow but she found herself getting distracted by the large photographs behind her. A man in his early 60s with a head full of white hair and a pair of circular glasses seemed to appear in lots of places, dotted about the room.

"Who is that man… the one in all of the pictures?" Erika asked.

The machine accepted the password and Janine grinned as it began to moan and whirr. "That's Baoba, but some people call him the Kaiser. He owns the Safari Zone and the Dome and all sorts. Father worships the ground he walks on. But I suppose the city does owe a lot to him…" Again the machine grunted, this time as if something was caught in the mechanism. "Although I think this thing may be older than he is." She said dryly, kicking the side of the casing. It coughed and spluttered and the glass casing began to rise.

Janine glanced up and saw the two guards, watching every move that she made silently from the door. She had permission to be there and to do what she needed to do, but part of her still felt like those eyes were her father's: judgemental and fierce.

The trophy was a large and ornate goblet about the size of a Pikachu made from platinum that had a ribbon made from solid gold weaved around it in a spiral pattern. The words 'Pokeathlon Champion' were engraved in the side in a bolded font and for the most part, looked like a standard trophy. It wasn't until Janine asked Erika to hold it upside down that it became clear what she was doing.

Fiddling with the wooden base, Janine uncovered a false bottom to it. What appeared to be the base slid open more in the style of a Japanese puzzle box than a simple sliding door to reveal a red rock, no bigger than a tennis ball. Janine knew it was there but she had never actually held it in her hands before. It was very plain and quite smooth, like any other volcanic rock, but was warm to the touch. Although it appeared to be a hard rock, it actually felt rather hollow and precious.

"Is that the Ruby?" Erika asked, a little underwhelmed by the appearance of it, putting the trophy back onto its stand.

Janine nodded, feeling the awesome power of the rock in her hands, when suddenly she heard the sound of something heavy falling to the floor. Erika gasped as Janine looked up, seeing the two heavy-set men slumped to the floor either side of an artificial lily that had penetrated the carpeting surrounded by a small cloud of yellow mist.

From under a veil of shadow next to it, a Mega Sableye pulled away what looked like a curtain and woman and a man appeared, walking towards them. Erika acted on instinct before even gauging who the pair were and reached for her pokeballs when, from directly in front of them Naoko, Crowe and his Gallade materialised from the shadows too, forming a shield around the girls.

"Not going to happen, Proton." Trench stated, releasing his Umbreon.

Janine clutched the Ruby close to her chest a began to take a few steps backwards. "You must be the nefarious group that have been chasing the Gems."

Proton chuckled. "What a clever one. And from such a baby Gym Leader like yourself too. You learn fast."

Trench, Naoko and Erika recognised them immediately, the Rocket agents from Silph Co, Domino and Proton. The Celadon Gym Leader released her Roserade and Vileplume and grit her teeth out of frustration. "No! How did you find us?!"

"With an ability like Keen Eye, you can see everything, especially that which can't usually be seen. Since seeing you use shadow sneak at Silph, we figured that you'd probably use it again, and lookie here – the thing you thought would keep you hidden actually led us straight to you!"

Crowe and Naoko exchanged a look of frustration and anger, angry that they'd let themselves fall into a trap. The Mega Sableye began to grunt with a demon-like giggle, bashing it's massive shield into the tiles below.

"What's that, boy? Well, well. If it isn't the Sapphire! You are just full of gifts today." Domino smiled contently, kneeling to stroke her Pokemon's mane. "Sableye has a small penchant for gemstones so we'll be taking that little necklace from you as well."

Naoko clutched her necklace, gritting her teeth.

"I'm sure that Lanette will be pretty happy to see her little trinket again." Proton added as he moved forwards and extended his hand. "Now hand over the Gems."

With pokeball in hand, Erika announced, "I'm not a betting woman but it's four against two: I don't like your odds somehow."

"Try me." Proton smirked. "You have five seconds."

Janine's heart beat faster and faster. She knew she had to do something, she will have failed her father, failed her city. She could hear his words echo in her head over and over again, "It's tradition, it's our responsibility to protect this town." All of these people, willing to kill for something so small, just to spread more destruction. "It's tradition." She had to do something. "It's tradition." It had to be now.

"Four."

Janine became more and more visibly distraught. "This is madness, Team Rocket are supposed to be gone!" She exclaimed.

"Janine!" Erika cried. "Snap out of it!"

"Three."

Janine clutched the Ruby tightly, shaking. "It's all because of this stupid thing."

"Two."

"I've spent time with Blaine and Master Fuji – I KNOW what this is!" She yelled hysterically, raising it into the air above her head.

"One."

"I have to protect this city – it's tradition!"

"Janine – no!" Erika cried, lunging towards her.

"Zero."
 
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I finally caught up to your last chapter. Since you posted this again, I wanted to revisit this, especially since the last time that you posted in it was nearly five years ago! I wanted to see how much you've changed as a writer. There are some definite improvements from the first chapter to the last in your writing!

As for the story itself, I like that the kids just kind of fell into this whole situation. They didn't set out to fight against Team Rocket--something that I don't think a lot of trainers would want to do--but now they're a part of it, as Celio said. And I also like that the kids themselves are getting hurt. It's not just the Pokemon getting wounded (or worse, in the case of poor Sandshrew!), but the trainers as well.

I guess now we get to see how these gems give humans the special abilities, right? Janine made her choice, and she's going to follow through with it, so her father can be proud of her. Can't wait to see how the Ruby works and what powers it holds!
 

FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
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Spoiler:


Chapter 35 – Your Deception, My Disgust

Erika was too late; the Ruby was sent plummeting to the floor, shattering into pieces. The hollow shell cracked like an egg, releasing a tremendously powerful shockwave of fire and air that forced all of the trainers to the wall, Janine's head crashing against the closed bulkhead door behind her. The flames rode the air, setting everything they touched alight. It travelled out of the open bulkhead door, through the tunnels and out into the dome itself, the shockwave shattering the entire glass outer shell of the stadium into pieces, leaving a trail of flame in its wake.

Outside in the open air of the playing field, wisps of fire began to sift upwards, spreading across the grass like a hellish blanket. Alex awoke feeling like he was upside-down. His left arm and shoulder were dangling off the edge of what used to be the viewing deck, a good 15 feet high above the stands below and the noise of a high-pitched ringing dominated his ear drums. In his right arm, Swablu quivered and shook his feathers as if to wake himself up. Instinctively Alex knew that he must have had protected him by holding him close to his body. Alex managed to pull himself upright but the room was spinning too much for him to tell if he was actually vertical. Attempting to find his balance, he steadied himself against a pillar, briefly forgetting and then remembering the burst of brute force that forced its way through the room.

Broken glass and debris crunched under his feet as he turned to view the scene. Courtney and Robin were coming to but he couldn't see April or Adam. His head was pounding faster than his heart and it wasn't until the ringing began to subside that Alex was able gauge the true extent of what was happening: the screech was replaced by the hysterical cries of the crowd. He pivoted on the spot and looked out to see panic. People were racing for the exits, pushing past each other in the stands, grabbing loved ones, even clambering over the obstacles that stood in their way. Industrial lighting fixtures had fallen, seats had been broken and there were flames seemingly everywhere, littering the stadium like rubbish in the wind.

Alex leaned further outward and looked directly below to see Adam helping April to her feet. She was clutching her arm as if she'd sprained it but Adam seemed perfectly fine from the fall. Alex called out to the siblings below him, making sure they were okay, all things considered.

"I… I don't think I can jump that!" Alex cried, feeling wary at the prospect of jumping. He'd never considered himself afraid of heights but when push comes to shove and he was on that ledge, jumping wasn't exactly on his list of top 10 favourite things to do.

April winced and agreed, "Yeah, I wouldn't risk it!"

Suddenly the sprinkler system activated, sensing the fire around the stadium. Within seconds Alex was soaked through but for some reason the fires weren't being extinguished by it. Paying little attention to it, Alex was more concerned with getting to safety.

"You guys need to get out of here!" He signalled, waving in the direction of the nearest exit. "We'll find another way around and meet you at the front!"

The siblings agreed and began on their way, not before April darted her eyes back up yelling, "Be careful!"

Robin was busy helping VIPs to their feet and Courtney was busy trying to use her Vaporeon and Golduck to put out the flames that were blocking the door that we came in through – the only door out. "Like, it's not working!" She cried in frustration, kicking a bin that was already on the floor into a puddle that had now formed on the carpet. "What kind of fire is this?!"

Alex released his Chimchou to try and help using its water gun but it was having no effect. The fire wasn't going out, he looked back outside and the rest of the stadium was the same: sprinklers in all directions but still the dominating colour was red. The fire began to creep forwards from the door across the ceiling, flowing unnaturally like smoke, as if it were alive, stalking its prey before the kill.

Courtney and Alex looked at each other, frightened and nervous, neither of them having the answer when another row of flames sprouted just in front of them, as if from nowhere. Other VIP trainers were tackling similar blazes in the other corners of the booth, having similar problems. Alex released Ditto, who quickly mimicked the Vaporeon, and Swablu flew from his arms, attempting to fan the flames with its wings but to no avail – it was too small. Swablu became enraged and visibly annoyed at its own size, squawking angrily unlike anything Alex had seen him do before.

"Swablu, it's no use! There's something not right about this fire. Your wings aren't powerful enough!"

Swablu squawked again, this time in defiance as he kept flapping his cloud-like wings back and forth, so much so that it became engulfed in a beaming white light. Whilst Alex first thought this may have been a new ability, he soon realised that Swablu was evolving! Its neck was elongating, its cloudy wings grew larger and two blue streamer-like feathers dangled from its head across the length of its body. As the bright light subsided, a large dragon-type Altaria now stood in front of him, more than triple the size of its previous evolution.

The sprinklers stopped, having run dry, and Altaria readied its wings. With one large flap, the air was pushed towards the fire, putting out the first row of flames. Alex and Courtney celebrated and began to move forward but celebrated too soon as the wall of flame sprung to life again in front of them!

"This isn't working!" Robin yelled from across the room, tackling a fire of her own when the room itself began to shake. The ornaments that were still on the shelves began to fall and part of the floor began to give way.

-----------------

Making their way through the masses, April and Adam were back at the ticket gates, weaving past the wounded, around the hysterical and over bits of debris. The front of the building, even though it was made of solid glass, looked completely different without it. People were using every direction as an exit, trying to escape the flames that were spreading with no signs of stopping.

Without warning, April stopped in her tracks, still clutching her arm. The crowd were still moving and barging past her but April didn't want to take her eyes off her target. It took Adam a few seconds to notice but as soon as he realised he too began to stare. Without averting his gaze, he made his way back to April.

"D-Do you see –" April began.

"-Yeah."

Across the room, the siblings had spotted the blonde woman again. She was stood solemn, as she was earlier, smiling – the warmness that she had had earlier was gone and now, in this situation, was just eerie. The woman turned and began moving away to the main exit.

"It can't be… can it? I mean, I thought I saw her earlier but I looked away and she was gone."

Before April had even finished speaking, Adam was moving through the crowd ahead of them towards the blonde woman that he too had seen earlier. April called out for her brother as she gave chase but he wasn't hearing her, acting on instinct rather than thinking about it, as usual.

-----------------

Naoko opened her eyes and found herself in the protective embrace of Crowe; he had taken the brunt of the force that sent them crashing into the wall but wasn't going to show it. The fiery blast had made short work of Roserade and Vileplume and Janine lay lifeless against the closed bulkhead door. Erika scrambled to her friend, feeling powerless checking for a pulse.

"What's the matter, grass-roots? Can't take the heat?" Proton smiled.

Having been shielded by their Mega-Sableye, Proton and Domino stood stark, not having been affected by the blast. A swirling mass of flame lingered on the ceiling above the Ruby, now broken into smaller pieces, scattered across the floor. Proton walked leisurely over to the largest chunk and manoeuvred it with his foot, grimacing. "That conniving old man…" He muttered, moving his hand to his earpiece. "The Ruby was a red herring – it's a magma stone."

"Confirmed. Dispatching an agent now." Came a response from the other side. "The Sapphire?"

"Acquiring it now."

Domino walked ever closer and outstretched her hand again. "Hand it over."

Instinctively, Crowe moved in front of Naoko in one movement, acting as a human shield. Umbreon pined in pain from a few yards away, unable to stand but fully conscious whereas Gallade had lost consciousness all together. Naoko observed the room. The blast had thrown them practically into the corridor, the two security guards were still sprawled across the floor, but now were right up against the wall next to her and the open bulkhead was directly behind her, giving her a clear path to escape… but she would be leaving everyone behind. She knew her pokemon were not battlers so she wouldn't win-out in a fight. But it wasn't that that bothered her.

She had something they wanted. She had it, and they weren't going to stop until they got it. Maybe Janine's idea wasn't so bonkers. From a moral standpoint, she had a duty, but unlike Janine, Naoko knew that she was around for one reason and one reason only and that wasn't part of some grand ideological quarrel with a group of terrorists. She was a girl who missed her friends, her closest companions; for her, there was only one logical step to take.

While Crowe sparred with verbal swords, Naoko made eye-contact with Erika whose eyes darted to the corridor and back, signalling her to escape. Instead, Naoko pulled the collar of her shirt up over her nose and bent down to the security guard, it taking mere seconds for her to find what she was looking for.

As she stood, she became aware of her own breathing. Her breath was trembling and her heart felt as if it was in her mouth but her mind was made up, she'd made her decision so her hands were steady.

"I'm sorry." She whispered under her breath as, in one quick motion, she grasped Domino's lily in her hand and held it to Crowe's face from behind. She felt his body immediately tense and shudder as the toxin took effect. His knees gave in shortly after and he fell to the floor, turning to face Naoko. Right then, in that moment, she saw an expression that would be burned into her memory: Crowe's eyes were wide with shock and betrayal. Reflected in the dark shade of brown, she could see her own face, more resolute than she had realised, reflected back at her. Her face, the face that had betrayed him, was cold and remorseless, not at all how she pictured herself looking. Although he resisted, Crowe's body succumbed to the chemicals and he fell to the floor, rigid.

Erika looked on, speechless. Naoko made a point of throwing the lily to the floor and grabbed her necklace, holding it in her hand. Domino's face had changed to one of intrigue with a soupcon of pride at her own creation being used by someone else.

"I want to make a deal." Naoko stated firmly.

Domino folded her arms, intrigued by the turn of events. "I'm listening."

"You." She nodded to Proton. "You mentioned Lanette."

"What of it?" He replied, pacing across the room.

"Take me to her." Naoko gulped. "Take me to her and you can have this stupid thing."

"And why would we do that?" Proton asked, leaning on Mega-Sableye's shield. "Why don't we just take the Sapphire now and give you the same dose of that lily as your friend there?"

"-Because I'm useful to you." Naoko replied without a moment's hesitation. "I have information that you will want. People underestimate me but I listen... And if it's the Gems you want, I'm pretty sure I can help you with the biggest one of all."

"Naoko – no!" Erika yelled from across the room.

"Shut it!" Domino bit back.

"You can't – you mustn't!"

Proton grunted and turned to Erika, still hunched over Janine, and kicked her straight in the stomach. She screamed out in pain and proton lifted her chin, putting his face very close to hers.

"The only reason that you're still breathing is because I haven't decided to kill you yet! Don't make me make that decision, you little pretty thing."

Naoko's calm composure was fast melting away. "Do we have a deal?" She asked, feeling rushed for time.

Before the Rockets could reply, the room began to shake. The swirling mass of flame above them had been eating away at the ceiling and it began to give way in the centre of the room. Sableye darted to its trainers, using its shield to protect them and Naoko as they took cover at the edges. Concrete, metal and assorted pieces of building fell through, forming a makeshift path up through what used to be the reinforced ceiling and into another room.

"Look, we can get out this way!" Robin cried.

The group could hear voices from above – any moment now, the vault would be filled with people and the Rockets knew they would be vastly outnumbered if things turned heated.

"Well?!" Naoko asked again, somewhat more frantically than before.

Domino looked at her dismissively and scoffed. "Deal." And without even as much as a verbal command, Sableye pulled a veil of darkness over the three humans and they disappeared into a shadow sneak.

Alex stood at the top of the hole in the ceiling, momentarily stunned, not sure what he had just witnessed. Like it was part of their everyday job, Courtney and Robin shepherded the rest of the VIPs and the wounded past him and down through the vault. To them, the vault was just another room filled with destruction on their way out of this hellfire but Alex knew something much more had happened here. Erika cried out for Alex and he ran towards her. She'd clearly been crying but was determined not to let it show.

"Is that Janine – is she okay?!" Alex asked, not knowing who to ask about first.

Erika nodded, "She's breathing but… Naoko, she-she--."

Alex put two and two together and finished Erika's sentence. "She went with them, didn't she."

Erika stood up quickly and winced from the kick. "It wasn't the Ruby, it was a magma stone – you can't put out the flames it produces, you just have to wait for it to run its course. We need to get out of here and get word to Blaine, this place is a deathtrap. Where's April and Adam?"

"They're safe, we just need to meet them out the front of the building!"

On her way past, Courtney heard the cry of Crowe's Umbreon, still conscious with a clear line of sight to its trainer. She stopped and knelt down, moving aside a piece of debris that had also trapped it. Before Courtney could stop it, Umbreon found some strength and staggered over to Crowe. She sniffed his face and then gave him a nudge with her head.

No response.

His body was stiff and Umbreon's adrenaline began to fade. She let out a whimper and fell to the floor, nestled against Crowe's trenchcoat, refusing to leave the trainer she loved so much.

---------------------

People ran in all directions from the plaza immediately outside the dome. As Adam pursued the blonde woman, he noticed that she was headed towards to figures that were standing in the centre of the plaza, not running or cowering, but watching everything unfold. He recognised them as he got closer – Petrel and Ariana.

The blonde approached them and they parted to let her pass before closing the gap again. Adam stopped in his tracks and was soon caught up to by April who realised who now stood in front of them. She attempted to continue forward but was stopped by Adam, grabbing her arm, who was adamant not to let her get any closer. She wrestled with his grip but he overpowered her. Instead she turned and cried out using the only name she had for the figure.

"Mum!" April cried, succumbing to Adam's grasp.

Adam pulled his sister back, "It's not her! Look. She doesn't look a day older than when we last saw her."

In fact, she looked even younger than that. The woman was so fresh-faced, she practically had the skin of a newborn, glowing and radiant. The woman stopped and turned back to face April and Adam, saying nothing. He resemblance to Adam especially was striking. Her hair was the exact same shade of brilliant blonde as his and the shape of her face perfectly matched his: strong and defined, yet gentle. If this really was their mother, she showed no signs of trauma from the attack which had apparently claimed her life on Cleopatra Island all that time ago.

A voice pinged through into Ariana's ear.

"The Ruby was a red herring – it's a magma stone."

Ariana's eyes widened and Petrel looked to her for confirmation, knowing what that would mean. "Confirmed. Dispatching an agent now. The Sapphire?"

"Acquiring it now." Proton replied.

Ariana nodded her head at Petrel. "Get to the volcano, we need that Gem. We'll handle this."

Following his orders, Petrel quickly made for the eastern edge of the plaza and vaulted over the stone railing and to the cliffs below. A few seconds later, a large grey blur shot to the sky with some speed and petrel disappeared out to sea in the night sky, riding his Staraptor.

After staring at each other intently, the blonde woman began to speak. "I suppose I can do away with this façade." She said as the very air began to ripple around her. He purity of her pale skin faded away to reveal a completely different figure altogether. A cloaked woman now stood in front of them, slightly shorter than her previous form, who clutched a cane in one arm. Her face was similar but withered and wrinkled, the colour from her hair had faded and her skin had a tinge of blue to it. A large, bulging purple vein protruded across her face from her left cheek, across her nose to her right eye, looking very much like a scar. One could tell that her eyes used to have been brown, a very similar shade to April's but these too had faded. All that remained were two very pale irises surrounded by bloodshot and blackness around the sockets.

An intimidating bi-pedal fox pokemon with a crimson mane had become visible next to her as if from nowhere, appearing to have been the one to cast the illusion over its master, making her appear young. The Zoroark rested a claw on the ground, appearing to be weary from holding the illusion for an extended time but still snarled, bearing its fangs ready to fight if ordered to.

"It is her…" Adam whispered under his breath.

"But, her face…"

The woman's voice was deep but sharp to the ear, nothing like one would expect from the blonde woman that stood in front of them moments ago. "Does my appearance startle you, child?"

"You died – I saw you die!" April cried out into the now relatively empty plaza.

Their mother exhaled in a small chuckle. "A story for another day." She said as Ariana released her twin Arboks.

In amongst the disbelief, April assessed the situation, not making sense of it. "You're working with the Rockets?!"

"I'm going to need you to come with me now." She replied, disregarding the question entirely. "Now that you're here, I can't very well let you get away again."

The twin serpents hissed subtly as they slivered in a circle around the siblings.

"Our mother would never be in league with the people that killed her!" Adam said firmly, releasing Growly and his Flygon. "You're not her."

"Silence, brat!" Their mother yelled as a shadow ball appeared as if from nowhere above her head heading straight for Adam. Growly sensed this and jumped into its path, the attack sending him hurtling into his trainer. Adam caught him and was pushed to the floor.

"Mum, stop!" April screamed, releasing Slowking and Manetric.

Ariana pointed to Adam as he skidded across the ground and one of her Arboks made a beeline for him, coiling itself around his body in one swift motion. Adam still held

Growly tightly who was already hurt from the shadow ball. Manetric snarled at the second Arbok that stretched out its body and bared its fangs next to it, getting ready to attack.

Slowking quickly looked around and could sense the presence of a lot of pokemon. "April, this is bad!" He shouted, clutching his crown, sending an electric-blue flash of light out from his eyes.

Suddenly, eight more pokemon became visible, one by one, floating around their mother. They were all Shuppets, their cloaked silhouettes flapping in the air.

"I won't ask again."

"This is madness – let him go!" She screamed, picking up a piece of a wooden beam up off of the floor. She began to run towards her brother when her mother tutted and lifted her arm, sending forth the Shuppets. They raced towards April but Slowking clocked this move and used his psychic abilities to telekinetically push three of them away across the plaza.

"There's too many of them!" He shouted, surrounded in an aura of blue.

More of them came speeding towards April. She stopped in her tracks and batted the closest one away with the wooden beam using all of her might. The wood made contact with the pokemon and sent it skidding across the floor. Seconds later another propelled towards her and again she swung the beam as hard as she could, making contact and sending it flying in the opposite direction.

The Arbok that wrapped around Adam began to constrict and Adam cried out in pain, shouting for help. Wrestling with the Zoroark, Flygon heeded its trainer's call and pushed his enemy back with a flap of its wings just enough to fly towards him. Zoroark began crafting a new illusion. Flygon blinked. It opened its eyes to see two versions of Adam being smothered by an Arbok. Confused, it didn't know which to fly towards.

Not able to be quick enough to stop them, April found herself being latched on to by three Shuppets. They cloaked her face like a veil and stole her free will. She struggled against it and tried to pull them off of her face but it was futile. Her arms fell to her sides and she became limp, dropping the piece of wood.

"Now come to Mummy."

April's body floated through the air towards her mother being carried by her head by the Pokemon possessing her, the tips of her feet dragging across the ground. Flygon noticed Ariana's gaze was fixed upon the version of Adam that was closest to her and used stone edge to fire some bullets of earth in its direction, just narrowly missing Ariana but making contact with the Arbok. The snake hissed with rage and released Adam who began gasping for air, slithering back towards its trainer. Zoroark's illusion faded and, as soon it did, the pokemon was hit by a powerful purple wave of energy from above.

Adam looked to the sky to see an Altaria being ridden by Alex and Erika soaring down from above. A veil of shadow sneak was lifted in front of him as Proton and Domino appeared with Naoko. Struggling to breathe, Adam reached up for Naoko who stood unusually quiet and unresponsive above him, just looking down in his direction. She swallowed hard closed her eyes tightly.

Proton nodded to Arianna who, in turn, looked to the Moon matriarch, she smiled and held her daughter's hands that floated lifelessly in front of her. "Time to go home." She said, looking to the Rockets who withdrew their pokemon and disappeared in the blink of an eye into thin air thanks to a Kadabra summoned by Ariana.

Altaria landed in the plaza and Erika wasted no time in dismounting, running to Adam's aid. He clutched on to Erika's floral clothing, still gasping for air. While she focused on his wellbeing, Alex looked around the empty plaza and was much more direct.

"Adam - where's April?!" He said, moving Adam's face so that he was facing him.

Adam concentrated on getting his breath back. For a moment he was so panicked that he couldn't speak, but then he found his breath again. "They… They took her."

More thunderous crashes came from behind them as more of the stadium collapsed into itself. The Fushcia sky was lit by the flames of the Pokeathlon stadium: not by the symbolic flame that allowed the games to commence, but by the flames that brought them to a sudden halt. The hellfire burned brighter before it suddenly was extinguished all at once, leaving naught but ruins in its wake.
 
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These poor kids. They can never seem to catch a break, and this time, it seemed to be for nothing. Instead of protecting the Ruby, all they had was a Magma Stone which destroyed more than it saved.

Naoko's turn was a shock! Lanette has to be really important to her, if she's willing to join with the Rockets just to see her friend. Shame about Crowe, though. And Janine.

At least with April being taken, Adam and Alex have a more personal reason to join the fight. They were dragged into it before, but now they need to get April back. And just what is up with their mother still being "alive"?

I'm glad that you're working on this, even after all these years!
 

FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
Years
Chapter 36 – Dissention in the Ranks

"Pick up, pick up!" Erika grunted to the dialling tone of her mobile phone as she paced around in circles.

She had been attempting to get a hold of Blaine, the Cinnabar Island Gym Leader, for the past five minutes straight. The group were on the farthest edge of the plaza overlooking the estuary of the Tyrian River that flowed beneath it. The strobing of blue lights lit up the cobbles signalling that emergency services had arrived at the scene.
Robin and Courtney had escorted the remaining wounded safely from the building, Janine and Crowe included, and were being treated for their injuries by the medics.

Manetric, unsure of where to go, picked up its pokeball with its mouth that April had dropped and nudged Slowking's towards him and sat, curled around its friend. Slowking intentionally sat idly away from the group to see if he could communicate with his trainer telepathically, seeing as they had shared a link before thanks to Sabrina. He put aside all the wails and sirens to focus in on April, to see if he could pick up the slightest of a hint as to where she was. Sadly, he came up fruitless – he and Manetric were without a trainer.

Alex kicked over a litter bin in frustration. "Why do we keep losing to these people?!" He bellowed, his voice being swallowed somewhat by the cacophony of sounds around him.

"Be quiet." Adam said sharply, staring over the stone balcony at the cascading water beneath him.

Alex paused for a moment, taken aback by the comment. According to April and from what Alex had seen so far too, Adam was usually the one to make scene and let his emotions get the better of him. For Alex, this feeling was new. In the minutes since regaining his regular breathing pattern, Adam had been strangely quiet, as if the two boys had swapped roles.

"Be quiet?" Alex chuckled exhaustedly. "In case you haven't noticed, it's pretty noisy around here with or without me making a few extra decibels!"

"I'm trying to figure out where they took her," Adam rested a hand on the balcony and turned to Alex rubbing his temple with his other hand, "which is a damn sight more than you're doing or have done today."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Adam sighed. "You're such a child. What difference have you made to this entire situation?" He said, turning to face Alex and gesturing to the burnt-out stadium. "Look around, Alex!"

Catching wind of the comment, Erika bellowed, "Adam!" tilting her phone downward momentarily in a half-hearted attempt to shut him down with her tone, but failing, returning to the dialling tone of her phone.

"What's that supposed to mean - you're what, two years older than me? Please." Alex replied, brushing the comment off. "And you've changed your tone since Saffron. You're just getting mad at me because you let April get taken."

There was a brief moment of silence as Adam processed Alex's words. "…What did you say?"

"You are the one that got her kidnapped, Adam." Alex said, standing his ground with a mixture of confidence and rage. "I've been right there alongside her, protecting her when she needed it through all the shit we've had to deal with with the Rockets and today - forget Naoko, forget Janine – you were the one meant to be looking after her and you failed!"

Indignant, Adam charged at Alex and tackled him to the ground, throwing punches as they both hit the floor. Alex took a punch to his side but managed to wrap his legs around the older boy's sides and used Adam's weight against him, rolling him back over so he was the one pinned to the floor. Both boys' pokemon began to screech and growl viciously, wanting to move in and protect their trainers but knew better than to intervene.

As more punches were thrown, Erika heard the commotion and turned. She dropped her phone and before it had even hit the ground, she was trying to wrestle one of the boys off the other. Erika managed to pull Adam back by his shoulders, panting and grunting from the fight. "Alex, go home! You literally have no reason to be here." He snarled.

"My friend needs me to help her. I'm not just going to up and leave her on her own like you did." Alex snapped, wiping a drop of blood from his lip as he got up.

Adam chuckled and shook his head. "There you go again - we never asked you to help!" He bellowed, still being held on to by Erika. Realising this, he pushed her back off him.

"And what were you doing?!" Adam glared, turning his attention to the girl behind him. Blindsided, she barely formed a response before Adam cut her off entirely. "You said that you could handle it in there – I trusted you!"

"Adam, it wasn't that simple! Things happened and there were so many flames, I couldn't use my Grass Pokemon in tha-"

"-Forget it. You had one job and now, thanks to you, we lost both Gems AND April."

"Thanks to me?! I think you're forgetting the real reason any of this all happened was because of Janine and Naoko."

Adam laughed in barefaced sarcasm. "You're a Gym Leader for crying out loud! 'Protector of the city', one of the strongest trainers in the region;" Adam continued, making air-quotes with his fingers, "you're not some newbie kid on the job like Janine – what the hell happened Erika?!"

"Adam, lay off of her!" Alex interrupted, pushing him backwards. Adam, still visibly angered, readied himself to charge back again when Erika stepped forwards with her finger extended, having had enough of the whole situation.

"No, you don't get to do this. You don't get to blame me or Alex. Unless you forget, I'm only here to help you out for something that your family got involved with. Your father's research unearthed God only knows what to the world and now your mother is on the opposing side as well. We are doing you a favour!"

Adam stared Erika out for a few seconds, contemplating her words. "That thing was not my mother." Adam said, turning back towards his Flygon. "And if you want to do me a favour then just stay out of my way."

"Where are you going?!" Alex asked, seeing Adam mount his dragon.

"To actually do something and get my sister back!"

And with that, he took off across the sea into the night sky with only a few flaps of Flygon's wings.

For a moment, it was if time had frozen. The two simply stood, gazing into the darkness that Adam had disappeared into. Erika leant onto the stone barrier and stared out to sea, her face still tight with rage from the argument. Alex approached her, moving his chin around as if to check that it was still working and noticed that her eyes were glistening: she wasn't quite crying but Alex could tell that that argument was very hard on her. From the short time that he had been in the company of the pair, he could tell that Adam and her shared a connection, and that of all the things she needed right then was a moment to compose herself.

Inhaling deeply, Erika began to speak. "You need to go after him." She said, her voice surprisingly stable. "He's going to do something reckless and stupid because… well, he is him and he's incredibly pissed off."

Alex couldn't help but smile a little at that last comment. He didn't think that Erika, who is usually so well-spoken, would deign to utter a curse word. But she was right, there was no other word that fit the statement so perfectly. The trouble was that Alex's anger had yet to fully subside: although he had tried to empathise with Adam's motives in the past, he never could quite understand him.

"Why me? He's bound to react better to you."

Erika shook her head. "The pollen from the lily that Naoko used on Crowe is a sleeping poison. The longer you're unconscious for, the worse the effects of it are. The hospitals won't have the remedy in but I can make some from my own plants if I can get back to my Gym fast enough."

"But Erika, you're the Gym Leader here." Alex said, still thinking about what Adam had said to him.

"-And a lot of good that did me today." Erika said almost automatically, as if she was expecting that response. "Alex look, these titles don't mean anything in the real world.

People can work their way to Elite Four Champion and still not have as much courage as you've got in your forearm. Adam was wrong: the amount of people that would still be standing where you are today after what you've been through are next to none. You're a fantastic friend and even if he doesn't show it, Adam respects you – we all do."

Alex didn't know what to say. As much as he didn't want to see Adam right now, he knew he had to chase after him if he was going to have any chance of rescuing April.

"He'll listen to you, I know it." Erika said, certain of herself. She produced a pokeball and released a large, almost pre-historic pokemon with leaves for wings and began to climb onto it. "And as soon as I'm done at the Gym, I'll be right behind you."

Alex gave a nod of understanding and Erika smiled in reply, giving an order to her Tropius to fly up high into the night sky. Alex covered his face as a gust of wind from the lift-off circled him. Reaching for Altaria's pokeball, Alex turned around and opened his eyes to find that he was face to face with Manectric. Standing atop the discharge pokemon was Slowking, holding its pokeball.

"We appear to be without a trainer." Slowking said, pausing. "I can't sense her anywhere and you are… the only other human we trust."

The psychic pokemon held up its pokeball in a gesture to Alex. After a moment, Alex felt something small and wet gently lift his hand: it was Manectric's snout, gesturing the human to take the capsule. Conceding, Alex placed his hand on the pokeball and looked the two pokemon in their eyes.

"I'm not going to be your trainer." He began. "But I am going to promise you that I'm going to try and get her back. And to do that, I need to ask for your help."

------------------------------------------

Alex had always found pokemon evolution to be a curious thing - one being would suddenly transform into something completely new and it would just carry on with its life relatively un-phased.

The wind rushed through Alex's wispy hair as Altaria soared effortlessly through the morning sky, the amber sunlight warm to his skin. He had realised that he was riding atop the very same pokemon that only yesterday had been able to quite happily nestle itself on his head for hours on end. Alex reached out his hand and stroked the elegant furred neck in front of him and Altaria hummed melodically in response, it's tune reminding him of the altaria he'd met back home.

Filled with a myriad of emotions, Alex took a deep breath. Not for one moment since starting his journey as a trainer had he ever missed his farming life but he found himself longing for the simplicity of home. That, coupled with the guilt he felt for thinking this when his closest friend was in danger felt very paradoxical and toxic. He tried to think of more positives such as the pride at how much his pokemon have grown in the time that he had been with them but axiomatically the dangers that Altaria, Slowking, Ditto, Manectric and Chinchou were now faced with. The Rockets, the Moons' mother, Naoko: their list of opposition was mounting up and Adam wasn't going to be able to take them all on alone.

He knew he would have to be smart about his approach to this but until he had caught up to Adam, there was no way he could make plan. The sky ahead was empty and cloudless with just the brilliance of the morning sunshine dominating the view. Adam and his Flygon were nowhere to be seen but using the GPS on his Pocketch, he knew that they were right on course for Cinnabar Island.

Alex wasn't the best flyer but he had occupied his mind with other thoughts on the ride over that it took him until halfway through the journey to take it all in. The group had reached Fuschia on Tropius and Flygon but there was something different about bring airborne on his own pokemon that seemed to put him at ease. The trip aboard Tropius had been a terrifying one: Alex had clung so tightly to Erika that he could have easily bruised her, simply from fear of falling. Being partners with Altaria made him feel safe, and even though they were in the midst of a chase, he couldn't help but take it all in and enjoy the feeling of being airborne, holding out his right hand to see if he could catch a piece of cloud in it. Slowking sat in Alex's lap, less amused.

With what was to come, the pokemon trainer in Alex couldn't pass up the opportunity for some advanced training on the go and released Ditto mid-air. With a cry of "transform!", Ditto had to think on its metaphorical feet as if hurtled through the air in a flash of pink and disappeared into a cloud. For a few seconds, Alex became fearful that he had overestimated Ditto's grasp of flight; it had only trained as small birds such as wingulls and swablus after all, what if Altaria was just too big? Those worries quickly faded as he noticed the ripples in the large cloud to his right and once he'd focussed his eyes, he could see the elegant blue neck of Ditto-taria amongst the camouflage. Not only had ditto managed it but he was able to keep to the same speed as Altaria!

Out of the nowhere, Slowking let out a short cry of anguish as a shooting pain darted through his skull: a sign that the shellder's poison was again seeping through. Although these migraines had become less frequent, Slowking still dreaded them as although he could feel his own power growing, it would mean that he would find himself having to get used to his abilities all over again once they'd stopped. Alex's attention quickly refocussed and he did what he could to ease Slowking's headache. The pokemon squinted and curled into his self as a thousand noises darted through his skull: screams, nonsense and laughter before disappearing altogether.

The pokemon opened his eyes cautiously. He found himself in Alex's embrace, asking if he was okay. At least, that's what Slowking understood him to be saying. All the noises around him had dulled and there was a new eerie quietness to the world around him… apart from one thing: a voice. It was faint, but also prominent in this world of calm. Slowking could definitely hear it but had to concentrate to understand what it was saying. The voice reminded him of Sabrina and her psychic cry for help but something here felt very different to that; it was as if the voice was genderless and devoid of any urgency.

Explaining the situation to his companion, Slowking pointed to the island appearing on the horizon ahead of them – Cinnabar – its landscape dominated by the volcano at the centre. As they drew in closer, they could see that the volcano was very much part of the coastal settlement itself with buildings having been crafted into the cliff face. The cuboid exteriors protruded from the volcano and ascended the mountain in an elegant helix, stopping just before the crater at its summit. Flying high into the air, Alex could see that the crater had a hardened shell, blocking entrance into its depths from above.

"It's coming from down there." Slowking said, clutching his sheller-crown with his paw and pointing to the base.

"It has to be Adam or April – they're calling for help!" Alex concluded.

"No," Slowking protested, "It is different from before…"

"Whatever it is, we need to get inside that volcano. If Erika is right then the Magma stone must have come from the Heatran that lives in there, which means that it's now got the Ruby instead. If we find the Ruby, then we find the Rockets and Adam. If that voice is coming from the same place, then I say we go for it." Alex took a deep breath, summoning the courage to try to believe in his own ignorance. "It's a sign, right?"

Slowking cast a look of both concern and apprehension toward Alex as Altaria began to dive. He guided the cloud pokemon to an unassuming building sat midway up the mountain which, upon closer inspection, seemed to be abandoned. Alex and Slowking dismounted Altaria and promptly withdrew it. Ditto-taria landed shortly after but wanted to remain outside its pokeball, transforming into its old Eevee form. Looking around, Alex noticed that even though it was early morning, the buildings around this one seemed particularly desolate – in fact, they all seemed to be part of the same building that protruded from the cliff face in multiple places.

"Are you sure it's coming from in here?" Alex asked, ascending a small set of steps to the entrance.

"I'm certain." Slowking replied, staring at the doors marked "MFBG Labs" embossed onto a logo in the shape of a crescent moon.
 
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So glad to see an update!

I have to admit that I like that Adam and Alex had a fight. They're both under a lot of stress, and now that April is gone, they have a lot more to worry about. It might not have been the healthiest discussion they could have had, but I'm sure it was necessary for them to get those emotions out of the way.
 

FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
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Spoiler:


Chapter 37 - The Monster, the Fraud, the Bastard and G.

Alex pushed open the large wooden doors of MFBG in front of him to reveal a stone corridor. It seemed that the lab was not only built into the side of the mountain itself but also made to blend in using the shame shade of stone to decorate the walls and ceilings. The corridor stretched straight out into the darkness ahead of him, with the light from the morning sun behind him not yet being strong enough to illuminate the passage.

Reaching out to the wall, Alex found the light switch and flicked it - nothing. The voice inside his head chuckled as he thought, "Of course". Suddenly a gust of wind blew from behind him, blowing more dust and dirt in to join the rest of the crumpled leaves scattered across the floor. At first, a piece of a banner of some sort caught itself between Alex's legs but after shake, it blew straight through and came to rest on the ground in front of him. The banner was white and had the words "CONDEMNED by order of the Kanto Fire Department", written across it in bolded print.

That meant one of two things: there had been a major fire here or that the building wasn't structurally sound. From the outside, Alex hadn't noticed either but thinking about it, he could smell the feint scent of burning in the air. Undeterred, Alex released his chinchou into his arms and pressed forward, its antennae lighting the surrounding area like little light bulbs.

His footsteps echoed throughout the building as inside, there didn't seem to be any doors, just large rectangular archways leading from room to room. As he passed one such room, he could see that they were aesthetically different from the hallway; the cold stone motif became the formerly sterile white tiled lab floor with metal trolleys and various other pieces of debris scattered about. Slowking made a right turn into a narrow room with bookcases lining the walls to the left and right where the shelves stood empty and layered with dust. Alex ran a finger across one of the shelves and rubbed the dust between his fingers, it turning them black - it was ash. Looking closer at the walls, he could tell that they weren't burnt and showed no signs of having had a fire spread to them and was confused as to how the ash got there.

Hearing a floorboard squeak from the next room, Alex realised that Slowking had proceeded without him and hurried to catch up. This room was larger and more decorative with bookshelves and cabinets dotted about. Two sofas with a dustsheet placed over them were in the centre of the room and Slowking stood to the right, looking up at the wall. As he entered, Alex noticed the graffiti on the wall that Slowking was also staring at. It was written in a luminous yellow and was even faintly visible in the darkness. Chinchou's antennae shed some light on the wall and it read, "POKEMON AREN'T THE MONSTERS, WE ARE."

The message looked faint, as if it had been there for a while. Slowking turned toward the southern archway stating, "Whatever is in here is feeding off these emotions." Alex turned to follow suit but noticed another piece of graffiti, written in white this time saying, "YOU SHOULD BURN FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE."

Alex gripped Chinchou just a little bit tighter. Upon closer inspection, all of the walls of this room were defaced by one menacing message or another, all written in different styles and some written over the top of others.

"What the hell is this place?" Alex quietly asked himself under his breath. Judging by the desolate shelves, the building had been cleared out a long time ago but for all he could recall he had never heard of MFBG Labs - the big names locally were Silph and Devon. Alex moved forwards and heard and felt the crunch of broken glass below him. Lifting his foot, he noticed that a small frame was face-down in pieces on the floor; whoever was packing away was clearly in a rush. He knelt down and picked it up and inside he found a newspaper article with "LIES" scrawled across the front in black ink. Examining it closely, Alex could see that it was dated from 20 years prior.

"Dream Team of Scientists Granted State-of the-Art New Premises", Alex began, reading the article through the graffiti. In the picture were four men smiling, stood arm-in-arm outside the lab. "Noted scientists Franklin Blaine, Hiro Fuji, Simon Gideon and Isaac Moon-" Alex stopped in his tracks realising that Isaac Moon was Adam and April's father - MFBG stood for Moon, Fuji, Blaine and Gideon! These were four names that Alex recognised but he had not met a single one of them. Eager to find out more, he carried on reading, "-have been granted funding and new premises on Cinnabar Island. The so-called 'Pokemon Mansion' is said to be equipped with the very latest technology to enable the team to continue their ground-breaking work after their success this year in improving pokeball capture rates."

The article raised more questions than it answered, leaving Alex to wonder exactly what Isaac Moon was doing when he worked there to garner so much hate. Looking back at the photo, he could see the family resemblance in Isaac's face to his children's, although his similarity to April was much more obvious than to Adam.

Alex folded the article and put it into his pocket as he walked into the next room, being hit by a dense layer of thick, muggy air. Stopping to take notice, Alex was now in a much more laboratory-esque room. The floors were once again tiled and littered about the room were desks that one could assume used to have been paired together in an orderly fashion but were now spread apart, with one even having been toppled over. By the look of it, the room had been completely ransacked: many of the drawers had been pulled completely from their railings and hang been flung across the floor, but yet there was no graffiti on the walls. Finding this curious, Alex approached the nearest one - from the light of Chinchou's antennae they looked filthy but upon touching it, the wall was frail and crisp - it had been burnt.

Realising this, something compelled Alex to look to the floor and he could see that it was coated in the same layer of ash that was on the shelves in the room before, only on a much larger scale. In the Ash Alex saw his own footsteps, a smaller set from Slowking and an even more miniscule set from Ditto-eevee. He followed them and noticed Ditto disappearing from view behind the toppled desk and gave chase.

MFBG was truly a maze-like structure; Alex had already lost all sense of direction. Stopped still like a statue, Slowking stood resolute in the middle of the next archway.

"It's here. Whatever it is, is here." Slowking announced.

In front of them was a large square room with the remains of what looked like four offices, one in each corner with a cross-section of a waiting area in the middle. The ash in this room was denser, with the walls more obviously charred. The internal walls of the offices were glass but ash clung to them, obscuring the views inside. One of the north-east office's glass walls had been smashed and the south-west's was heavily cracked, obscuring it's view even further. The ash now crunched underfoot but as Alex stopped to listen, he heard something else entirely - a whisper.

He paused and closed his eyes in an attempt to work out if what he'd just heard was real or a figment of his imagination. It hadn't said words, merely a sharp intake of breath that sounded eerily like a child's laugh but in a whisper nonetheless. On hearing it again, he opened his eyes and turned to Eevee and Slowking, "You heard that, right?"

Both pokemon confirmed his thoughts and Alex took out Manectric's pokeball and readied it tightly in his hand, in case it was needed, edging closer to the source of the sound in the northwest office. As he approached, he could see that the doors to the offices had each been vandalised with a word. "Fraud" and "Bastard" had been written on the doors to the southeast and southwest offices respectively, and the northeast door had been taken off of the hinges but the word on the northwest office remained: "Monster". A crude reference to each of the Dream Team - MFB and what could have been assumed to be something beginning with G.

Summoning the courage, Alex pushed open the door to the office in one swift motion and for a moment saw nothing but the charred remains of an office in disarray - until he looked a little closer. On the ground staring straight at him was a pokemon and one that he'd seen before - a shuppet. Startled, Alex let out a small yelp but the pokemon in front of him did not move; it was simply hovering extremely close to the floor with its eyes transfixed on him. Ditto appeared at his side and began to growl, sensing danger.

Moving slowly so as not to spook the creature in front of him (even though he'd just violently opened the door), Alex withdrew his pokedex and quickly switched it to silent mode. The screen lit up displaying the usual information.

"I can hear what it's thinking." Slowking stated, untrusting of his own abilities. Alex gestured to Slowking to not speak but it was already too late, however the shuppet remained unphased. "What does the pokedex say?" Slowking whispered, curiously.

Alex began reading the passage aloud. "Shuppet, the puppet pokemon. Often found in packs, these ghost-types feed on dark emotions of humans such as jealously and vindictiveness in order to grow stronger. Usually active at night, shuppet retreat to their nests during the day."

The shuppet began to hum sporadically on the floor. Alex had never encountered a ghost-type in the wild before and didn't particularly like the feeling it gave him.

"These are the pokemon that the Rockets have been using to control people." Alex deduced, remembering the shuppets he'd encountered at Silph and Fuschia. "This means-" Alex paused and turned to Slowking, an idea surging through his mind. "You can hear the shuppet, right?"

Slowking nodded.

The penny dropped. "There's a move called Extra-sensory that allows other pokemon to make contact with ghosts - look." Alex brought up the move on the pokedex screen to prove his point. "This explains why you were so receptive to Sabrina's cry for help because you'd been getting interference from the shuppet that was controlling her too."

Although appreciative of Alex's efforts, Slowking shot Alex a look - the same look that April used to give - that said "There's a time and a place". Snapping out of it, Alex's mind raced to the next question: if a shuppet was here then where were the Rockets?

Slowking concentrated on the pokemon in front of him. "It's not making much sense. It's just saying "feed" over and over but I can feel what it's feeling. It's feeding on something."

Alex grunted. "Well I'm done waiting around for answers, time to take a leaf out of Adam's book. Ditto - Take Down!"

Without hesitation, Ditto (in Eevee form) ran head-first toward shuppet, encased in a white light and lunged into it, propelling it across the room and into the wall behind it. Ditto, unused to the move, lost its footing upon landing and skidded across the floor, grazing itself slightly. Holding Chinchou in one hand, Alex threw one of his last pokeballs he'd received from Ivy at the puppet pokemon, transforming it into red energy and trapping it inside.

Alex walked over the wooden floor to collect his new pokemon but, to his disappointment, couldn't see anything Shuppet could have been feeding on. Frustrated, he released the pokemon from its ball. As soon as Shuppet materialised, it made a beeline for exactly the same spot it had been before, muttering incessant gibberish to itself.

"It's feeding again." Slowking confirmed, walking further into the office. Alex withdrew Shuppet and examined the spot on the floor carefully. Sweeping away the ash, he could see a small hole in one of the more heavily marked floorboards; it had an impression as if a desk leg or something similar had been kept in the same place for a substantial amount of time. Alex poked his finger through the hole and found that part of the floorboard was a fake and it lifted right up. Inside the small compartment sat a worn A5 leather-bound book.

Feeling rather underwhelmed at the find, Alex picked it up. "This is what it was feeding on?" He asked, exchanging a confused glance with Slowking. To test it, he placed the book in the waiting area, released Shuppet again and it sure enough floated over even quicker than before and sat hovering over the book. That had confirmed it.

Withdrawing Shuppet back into its pokeball, Alex's eye was caught by an amber glow. Straight in front of him was a corridor that led to an archway filled with amber light - the volcano. He felt stupid for not having seen it before but having been too fixated upon Shuppet and MFBG, he didn't notice that he no longer needed Chinchou's light to see. Withdrawing his youngest pokemon, Alex picked up the book and tucked it into the back of his trousers, heading for the light.

Passing under the archway and through a set of reinforced doors, he had entered the core shaft of the volcano. Standing on a natural rock pathway, the shaft extended high above him to the natural ceiling of the cave: the crust of the volcano. A single beam of morning sunshine shone through a small hole in the crust, the light refracting off the strange rock of the shaft, making it clear that lurking below was a pit of bubbling molten lava. Straight in front stretched out a long, thin natural rock bridge to the other side of shaft where another set of reinforced doors waited. Looking above him, Alex could see a countless number of these seemingly precarious rock pathways leading from one side to the other intermittently as if the whole of the volcano's residents and businesses were interconnected.

Alex could hear commotion from further inside and quickly made for further up the rock bridge. The bridge itself led to a large central platform, so large that it had a full-sized battle arena painted on it. To the left of the arena, a large red pokemon coated in steel shackles and facial armour that Alex recognised from Erika's description as a Heatran, lay injured, wheezing heavily whilst Adam and another man were fighting fiercely with their pokemon. Adam's Growlithe and Flygon were locked in intense combat with a Weezing and Staraptor but Adam was determined to get to his opponent himself, attempting to cross the battlefield but being thwarted each time by his enemy's monsters. Adam backstepped from a direct attempt to be rammed into by Weezing and considered his next move when all of a sudden, the battle came to a natural stalemate. All of its participants looked to each other, waiting for one another to make the next move.

Neither trainer had noticed Alex's presence. It was then that Alex could see who it was that Adam was in such an intense fight with - Petrel - the Rocket member that had been at Silph and the Cerulean Mansion. A rush of anger and vengefulness swept over him as he remembered the events of that day - the day his Sandshrew died. Alex hadn't been close enough to Petrel yet to fully realise the extent of the rage and sorrow that he felt but now was his chance to seek vengence and he was going to take it.

Without thinking, he began charging towards Petrel and tackled him to the floor. Petrel's pokemon turned to examine the noise and Adam knew that this was his window. Leaving themselves open to attack, Adam's pokemon seized the opportunity and landed two critical hits on the opposing team: Flygon throwing Staraptor to the ground with a Seismic Toss and Growlithe trapping Weezing in a Fire Spin.

Alex began pummelling Petrel as hard as he could, but was cut short by the Rocket leader pushing him off and scrambling to his feet. Petrel was in his mid-twenties and was a good few inches taller and broader than him but Alex stood undeterred. Petrel wiped his nose that had started bleeding and reached for another pokeball from his belt, seeing that his current pokemon were now useless to him. Alex raised a hand defiantly as Flygon, Ditto, Growlithe and Slowking all surrounded him. "Don't even think about it."

Petrel's eyes darted back and forth as he looked for an escape route, looking visibly shaken - an emotion that he hadn't shown before. Backing up slowly, the Rocket found himself at the edge of the platform. He turned his head to see the pebbles form under his heel hurtle to the fiery pit below and shuffled forward a few centimetres. Before he knew it, Alex again charged for him, this time grabbing Petrel by the collar with both hands, not stopping to think that a man of Petrel's size could usually overpower him if he wanted to. Petrel clasped for Alex's arms as he was being pushed backwards but couldn't pull them off him.

Adrenaline setting in and with the glint of fury in his eyes, Alex pushed Petrel until his body was dangling over the edge with only his tiptoes on the platform. Petrel screamed, visibly flustered.

"You-" Alex began, staring at Petrel.

"Alex stop - we need him alive!" Adam cried, moving in to pull him back.

"You murdered my Sandshrew! He was small and defenceless and you gutted him for no reason - I should kill you!" Alex began to shake Petrel violently. "How does it feel?! How does it feel to know that there's absolutely nothing you can do right now?!"

"Alex that's enough!" Adam roared, pulling Alex back onto the platform and with that, Petrel out of his grasp. The Rocket fell onto the hard rock and into the side of the large, injured pokemon. Leaving Alex alone, this time Adam approached him. "This is your last chance - where is my sister?!"

Petrel smirked. Heatran began to moan thunderously, making the very cavern itself rumble. The group lost their footing and fell to the floor.

"What's happening?!" Slowking asked, clutching the ground as he attempted to stand.

An ear-splitting cracking echoed throughout the shaft as the crust overhead began to crumble, raining earth and rock rained from above. The morning sunlight blanketed the cavern as Petrel rose to his feet and held a brilliant amber gem high into the air: it was the Ruby: being in such close proximity to Heatran gave Petrel the perfect opportunity to swipe the Gem from the injured pokemon's care.

A large, fearsome Golbat swooped seemingly from nowhere and snatched the Ruby in its tiny talons.

"No, you can't!" Adam bellowed. "Heatran controls the volcano - it keeps it dormant. Without its stone, it'll erupt and take us and this whole island with it!"

Petrel giggled like a schoolboy up to no good. Shrugging his shoulders he simply said, "Whoops".

Golbat circled overhead and before Adam could grab him, Petrel ran towards the edge. Enraged, Alex seized the opportunity once more to stop the Rocket and intercepted his run with another tackle, just as Golbat swooped down to save its trainer, only narrowly missing. Struggling but pinned to the floor, Alex and Adam held him at bay. He let out a sharp whistle from underneath the two boys that signalled Golbat to escape. Seeing the bat pokemon begin its swift ascent, Adam immediately commanded Flygon to give chase.

A large piece of rock crashed only centimetres from the boys sending a large portion of the arena hurtling to the fire pit below. Petrel could now see what was directly underneath: that the bubbling lava was rising! The heat rapidly rising, Slowking's head once again began to throb, he could hear something again, the same as the last time but coming from Petrel himself. Slowking scanned the area with his eyes, found what he was looking for and tried to get Alex's attention.

"Where is she?!" Alex bellowed, ignoring Slowking. "Tell us or so help me, I'll throw you in myself!"

"Alex!" Slowking tried again, but to no avail. Frustrated, Slowking took matters into his own hands.

Petrel chuckled once again. "Well it looks as if my time is up."

As he finished his sentence, the area just above Petrel's head was struck by a jet of water. Suddenly, a shuppet apparated and was propelled away from its host, knocking him unconscious, and hurtled to the lava below, being swallowed by the dense flame without even a ripple.

Once again, the cavern shook and a plume of lava burst forth from below behind them. Alex immediately released his grip on the unconscious Petrel, feeling tainted and blinded by rage. Everything had happened far too quickly for him to process - was the person in front of him actually the cruel, heartless person he thought he was? Were the Rockets all like this?

The lava level was dangerously close to the arena now and Adam grunted loudly at Petrel losing consciousness, not fully understanding the situation. "We're going to have to take this piece of crap with us!" Adam shouted as the room became more violent and volatile. "Alex!" Adam bellowed, attempting to snap Alex out of a daze. Unable to do so, Adam ordered Ditto to transform into Altaria and take the Pokemon to safety and released the real Altaria using the pokeball from Alex's belt.

Coming to his senses, Alex helped Adam to lift Petrel onto Altaria, draping him over Altaria's body like a rug, agreeing that Alex would sit at the front to keep the Rocket from falling. Ditto-taria took off and made for the morning sun with the remaining pokemon all safely aboard. The floor rumbled and the arena began to crack as Alex climbed into position - the lava had reached them.

"We need to go - now!" Adam screamed, jumping onto Altaria's cotton wing. Altaria screeched as the arena melted from beneath its feet and took off without a command, flapping its wings several times to get an updraft. Fleeing as quick as possible, the ride was not a smooth one; Alex attempted to hold on to Altaria's neck with one arm, whilst to keep Petrel secure with the other. This was not an easy task since the adrenaline had since worn off.

Altaria ascended, swerving around pieces of the crust that still rained down as Adam clung as tightly as he could to its wing. Almost to the crust, the sun blinded them. A large piece of rock fell from above just narrowly missing Altaria. The dragon took immediate action and flung its wings forward halt its own advance so forcefully that Adam lost his grip and careered him forwards through the air.

Acting on instinct, Alex released his right arm from Altaria's neck and reached for Adam, grabbing his arm. Adam clutched Alex with both hands, gasping as he attempted to find a footing to climb on to but there was none. Petrel's body began to slide to the left and Alex gripped him tighter using one to counteract the weight of the other.

"Hold on!" Alex cried desperately as Adam dangled in midair.

Adam gripped Alex's arm as tightly as he could but knew that Alex wasn't the strongest boy and that he wouldn't be able to hold onto both him and Petrel at once: they would either both fall or one of them could. Knowing what was to come, his eyes began to water.

"Come on Adam - climb!" Alex cried, his arms feeling as if they were being pulled from their sockets.

Adam saw Alex glance towards Petrel and could read his thoughts instantly. "Don't you dare drop him!" Adam bellowed. "If you drop him, we lose any chance of finding April - you need him!"

"-But Adam!"
"-I'm sorry about what I said before - about calling you just a kid. I didn't mean any of it! You've done more for us than either of us could have hoped for!"

Alex shook his head as he too started to cry. "Please don't do this, Adam!"

"Just, do me one more favour."

Not wanting to, Alex nodded.

Adam took a deep breath and swallowed, making his peace with the situation.

"Tell Erika that I love her."

And with that, Adam's hands slipped through Alex's. The boy that Alex had come to know, his friend and rival, plummeted through the shroud of steam and smoke and was consumed by the depths of the cavern as Altaria flew skyward.
 
Last edited:

FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
Years
Chapter 38 – Veronica

The island had erupted – not just in flame but in a frenzy of panic.

Unable to maintain flight after the intensity of the climb, very shortly after Ditto-taria rose over the edge of the volcano's crater, it began careening down the cliff face narrowly avoiding the trails of lava already exiting the various entrances inside. It wasn't until they came to a standstill that Alex's senses could begin to comprehend what was happening around them.

Covered in soot, Alex stared blankly out to sea and into the distance in shock. He could not feel himself breathing, although it was erratic from smoke inhalation; his vision was blurred and the world around him turned as if he were dizzy; all he could hear was a piercing high-pitched screech. In that moment, where his heart beat felt as if it was throbbing up his body and into his brain, he felt at peace just to watch the silent ocean in front of him as he lost consciousness, falling into a heap on the ground.

In what simultaneously felt like minutes and hours later, he began to come to, staring at the sky. As his vision focused, Alex could see Erika's face looking at his, panicked. Her lips were moving and she was screaming something but he couldn't hear a thing: not the sirens wailing across the island, the awesome sound of the mechanised volcano bulkheads closing or his friend's voice desperately sensing that something had gone wrong. From what he could work out, she was saying the same word over and over again – "Adam". Using what little strength he had, he raised a finger just high enough to point toward the volcano before losing consciousness once again.

Eventually, Alex regained consciousness, this time to what felt like an assault on his senses: the very ground was trembling, a bombardment of sounds flew through the air and the intense heat felt like his skin could burst into flame.

Noticing that he and his pokemon had found themselves on a small clifftop, Alex also began making sense of the sounds – but not those he was expecting. The flowing lava had managed to partially escape from most of the connecting tunnels into the volcano before the bulkheads had closed but, although it was a relatively fast-moving substance, the destruction seemed to be happening in slow motion. The lava moved like nothing he had seen before; it engulfed everything it touched with not even a sound but the hiss of heat. No big explosions. No crumbling of structures. It was just erasing everything it touched.

From behind him, Alex could hear a cacophony of voices shout out. He pushed himself up onto all fours and peered over the edge. On the south-west side of the island, survivors of the eruption had gathered on the beach next to the nearby pokemon centre – the only part of the island that had stayed relatively unaffected. People were frantic and understandably distraught.

The pokemon centre staff were providing the best medical care they could, setting up a trauma centre on the sand. It was then that Alex spotted Erika amongst the nurses helping the wounded. Tropius lay further down on the beach, its wings blackened and burned away at the sides. He knew that that had meant that Erika had attempted to head straight for the volcano crater in an attempt to find Adam. However, being a grass-type specialist has its downfalls and one of them meant that she would not be able to go anywhere near fire, let alone an erupting volcano.

It was then that it hit him: Adam, April, the Rockets… Petrel.

Adam.

Summoning the strength to stand up, Alex withdrew the unconscious Ditto and Growlithe to the safety of their pokeballs. Slowking was sat on a rock, clutching its head with one hand – worn out but still functioning – staring at the rocket that shared the clifftop with them. Petrel lay stretched out across the dirt. Alex didn't know which of the myriad of emotions boiling to the surface to feel. Adam had fallen into a pit of molten lava for him. But the trouble was, was it actually him or just the shuppet?

"Wake up." Alex said firmly, kicking Petrel in his side with the strength he could muster. Petrel coughed and winced, regaining consciousness. Realising where he was and what had happened, Petrel's eyes grew wide and he attempted to scramble backwards but froze, suddenly surrounded by a purple aura.
Alex looked to Slowking who nodded in recognition.

"P-please – don't hurt me!" Petrel pleaded, sounding more cowardly than before.

"Talk!" Alex bellowed, kicking him again. "Where's April? What do you people want?!"

"Stop, stop!" Petrel cried. "I'll tell you everything, just…let me go!"

Alex again nodded and Slowking released Petrel from his psychic grip.

After a few deep breaths the Rocket began rambling but Alex could not make much sense of what he was saying. After being freed from the control of a shuppet, Alex wasn't sure if or how much of what had happened this man was even a part of. Petrel began spouting half sentences such as, "I couldn't stop…", "I didn't know…" and "I just…". He seemed to be a hollow shell of the man that Alex had despised for the past few months – beaten, stammering and flitting from one emotion to the next – this certainly wasn't the criminal he had known.

Thinking back to when he had been inconsolable as a child and learned that he wasn't allowed to go on a pokemon trainer journey like his friends, he had been in a state just like Petrel. It felt like he was so upset that he didn't know where or how to begin explaining his feelings. Luckily, he had had Felina to sit down beside him and start from the ground up so in this situation he knew just what to do.

Alex knelt down next to the Rocket and asked, "Who are you?"

From there, Petrel was able to organise his thoughts.

"What do you remember?" Alex asked after a few minutes.

"The shuppets… they controlled me. It was like I was watching myself from outside my body but I could hear the thoughts of all… the Others."

"The Others?" Slowking asked.

Petrel looked around him as if to check that no one was looking and leant forward to whisper, "The other shuppets."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

Petrel began twiddling his fingers, "they're all connected, but like a hive mind. All of them, controlled by one person."

"April's mother." Slowking answered, putting the pieces together.

"Veronica Moon." Petrel continued, "It's like I know her… like I was her for all this time."

"So then you know where they took April?!" Alex asked.

Petrel nodded.

"I do."

--------

The room was darkness.

With a rasp of breath, April came to; her body desperate for air, contorting as she writhed back and forth. Once her breathing became regular, her next instinct was to explore. Unable to see, fear and panic had begun set in; she had no memory of where she was or how she got there, just that the last thing she remembered doing was battling the woman claiming to be her mother outside the Pokethlon Stadium.

From the springiness of her current perch, she could tell that she was sat on a mattress; a bland one without any sheets or duvet. April's hands found their way to the edge of it and then to the wall next to it. The paint was cold and smooth to the touch until she felt a wooden doorframe. Instantly she began to reach for the handle but hesitated, choosing instead to press her ear against it to give her any kind of indication of what was on the other side.

It was feint but she could hear the sounds of nature: a soft breeze blowing against the door, the ebb and flow of the ocean and crickets chiming periodically – this was the way out!

Slowly, April opened the door, peering through the gap. It was night, but the land was lit by twilight; the stars seemed to have come out in their thousands and the moon shone brilliantly. Ahead of her stood a crumbling brick archway that must have been part of a greater structure as well as various pieces of debris. Nature itself seemed to have taken over as the grass was overgrown and ivy gripped much of the rubble. Nevertheless, there was a relatively clear path ahead that would take her into a wooded area where she could hide and make her escape… but something was wrong – it was too easy.

"Screw it." April thought, "I'm not staying here."

And with that, she made a beeline for the trees, vaulting over a pile of bricks. As she approached the archway, it was struck by a blast of energy causing it to crumble and fall into itself in front of her.
A haze of dust and debris took a few moments to disappear and in its wake stood the decrepit figure of her mother.

"Darling, running away again?" She asked slyly, her piercing deep voice making April freeze in her tracks. "You wouldn't leave me here a second time would you?"

The sound of the waves clashing against the coastline filled the air as April stood, confused.

"W-what do you mean?"

Veronica began walking towards her daughter as she began to chuckle. Eight sets of eyes appeared around her.

"Don't tell me that you do not remember this place…"

And as quickly as April blinked, four of the shuppets had darted toward her, one attaching itself to each of her limbs, suspending her slightly above the ground. April resisted but it was futile - there was no way for her to break herself free. The shuppets rotated her to face the door she had just exited from and Veronica leaned in close behind her daughter, pointing so her finger was in April's line of sight.

"In there was where you would come to find me at night if you had had a nightmare." She began, turning April as she continued. "Down here by the beach was where you used to play games with Adam…"

They rotated again, this time towards an old dirt path.

"That's where we used to walk into town to go to the fair… And this –" She said, turning April even more abruptly back towards the forest. Leaning closer in to April's ear and raising her wrinkled finger to the trees. She whispered, "this is where you ran away and left me to die."

April's body trembled and tears began to stream down her cheeks: she had realised where she was. Her life flashed before her eyes like a jigsaw fitting together as pieces of rubble formed houses, stars in the sky became memories and the smell of the ocean washed over her as if she were laying on the beach as a child.

She was home.

---------

"Cleopatra Island – her home. You see, she resents the entire world. She is so envious of what people have because she's still in mourning."

"In mourning? But she was the one who was meant to have died – April told me herself."

"Yes, on the night of the Rocket raid on Cleopatra. Two years ago, the raids on the Sevii Islands left only a few of us still loyal to the Rocket cause but without a leader we were lost. We'd heard whispers of the Boss being somewhere on the Orange islands so Domino, Arianna, Proton and me skipped town and ended up on Cleopatra.

I don't know what happened to those three, maybe it was desperation, I don't know, but one thing led to another and they were torturing the locals, trying to get information out of them. This was Team Rocket – we stole pokemon and sold them for profit, not burnt down villages. I just stood there and watched…

Arianna then focused on one husband and wife –"

"-Adam and April's parents." Alex said, finishing Petrel's sentence.

"Isaac and Veronica." Petrel nodded. "Not able to get any information, Arianna's Arbok bit into Veronica, poisoning her, while Isaac was crushed by the snake's constricting body.

We left, getting none of the information we'd come for. But Veronica was still alive, if only just. She examined Isaac's body and realised he was dead and while the poison took effect she called out for her children but got no response. Assuming they were dead, she gave up all hope and screamed out into the night, full of rage, hate and sorrow.

Cleopatra Island is named for the types of pokemon that live there, those that are poisonous and feed off of others' pain, like Cleopatra and her asp. So that night, the village was like a feeding ground for them. The island's shuppet population crept in and ignored those that had already died - Veronica was fresh meat, she was suffering then and there bursting with sorrow. What crueller fate is there than to be left alive when everyone around you perished?

Suffering, anguish, wrath. She found herself being fed-on by ghosts. But instead of devouring her whole, she found that they each numbed her to her feelings, taking away her physical pain. She found out that as they fed on her, she could control them – she became one with a greater power.

She did what most would – having nothing left, seeking revenge became her priority. She began to control them by giving up parts of her soul, her memories, her life force but the more ghosts she amassed, the more of herself she lost. It didn't take her long to track us down but, instead of killing us, she puppeted us. She became in control of the very woman that had almost killed her but by that time she had lost her way and couldn't remember why she had begun this journey to begin with.

The Others had taken over - she was motivated only by the needs of the ghosts for more suffering, more anguish, and that, combined with her knowledge of her husband's research, spurred her on to seek the Gems so she can inflict more sorrow on the world.

Now the Others have got so many under their control. There's also a scientist called Gideon but… they didn't need a shuppet for him."

Alex exhaled and ran his hand through his hair and exchanged a look with Slowking. "Bloody hell."
Just then, the ground began to tremble. A collective scream came from the beach below as the whole island shook. "What now?!" Alex cried in frustration, clutching onto a nearby rock with Slowking as the cliff they were perched on began to crumble away.
 
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I'm shocked that I missed two chapters of this! Thought I only missed the most recent update.

Chapter 37 certainly ends with a sad note. It really shows how far Adam's willing to go for April, just so that she can be found and made safe. I'm sure that his sacrifice is going to stay with Alex, giving him more of a reason to fight but also haunting him that he's the one still alive.

Chapter 38 gave us some information that we were waiting for! Veronica is a rather scary woman. But I can see why she's the way that she is. She thought that she was the only one alive in her entire family. Her need to make the world suffer like she had is evil, but grief makes people have some extreme reactions. She's found her daughter again, and I can't even imagine how she'll take it if she comprehends that Adam was alive but died to find April.
 

FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
Years
Spoiler:


Chapter 39 – Through the Fire and Flames

My foothold didn't last for long.

I'd already hurt my left arm in the fall down so I could only attempt to cling on to the rocks with one hand.

It didn't work. The ground crumbled away and I was sent sliding down the edge again, only this time, the incline was so great that it was pretty much a fall. With my good hand I tried to grab on to the rocky edges but there just weren't any, so I dug my nails in instead. It hurt like hell but it was that or do nothing at all.

There was nothing around me now except smoke; any sunlight that had poked through from above had now vanished. The air was thick, getting thicker by the second and the space around me began to ripple with the intense heat.

I slid and slid until I came to a sudden stop: my foot had found a foothold - a tiny rock, sticking out from amongst the rest. I didn't want to look down, I didn't want to even move. Doing so would be tempting fate but I knew in my heart that I was a dead man anyway. Even so, I was going to fight for every last second I had.

The magma was getting closer and closer; I could feel its heat searing my ankle more and more. Struggling to breathe, I took in a deep breath but that just made me burst into a coughing fit. My new foothold began to crumble with the movement and my feet danced as I scrambled back, trying to keep my balance. I'd never pressed myself so firmly up against anything before. It was like every part of me was trying to hold on.

All I could do was wait.

…and think.

Was I a good person?

I didn't know. I'd done a lot of stupid stuff: stolen from the island shops when I was a kid, mixed up the Professor's experiments just to see if she'd notice, pulled Erika's hair – if only to get her to notice me.

…I'd blamed Alex for what happened to April.

But I'd apologised for them (the important ones, anyway).

Was I a good brother?

I reckon so. Sure, I teased April when we were kids but that's normal brother-sister stuff. When Cleopatra got attacked, I got her out of there; when she wanted to, I let her do her own thing. I taught her how to build the best sandcastle, how to tie her laces and a bunch of other stuff… Even though Mum and Dad had taught me most of it first.

…Mum and Dad.

Was I a good son?

That was hard to tell. I did my homework, went to bed at the right time but… I left them to die. That night I ran into the bushes with April but I could've left her there and gone back to help or at least do something. Then that Arbok… it killed them.

I could have done something – I should have done something... but then April would've been alone.

Then there's that woman… could it really be her?

Mum… are you alive?

In those precious few seconds, I began to cry – my tears warm to my face. It was only then, thinking about everything that had happened that I started to process it. I didn't want to let it in, I didn't want to entertain the possibility of it being true if it was all just some trick or some illusion.

You're working with the Rockets. It doesn't make sense.

She always had such a good sense of right and wrong. When she found out that I'd been stealing from the shop, she gave me lectures every day for a solid year and yet the Rockets are thieves – criminals.

But you took April with you… and you left me behind.

Dad spent a lot of time with April: she was his little girl. So naturally Mum and I spent a lot of time together too. She knew me so well, she used to say that she had a superpower and could tell when I was lying – she would always know. But then she'd always be there to bail me out when I needed her, like mums do.

So why her and not me?

Just then, massive chunks of rock crashed into the lava all around the basin in front of me. The magma, centimetres from my feet, rippled violently with each new addition from the stalactites above until one, the size of me crashed about a metre away. A spray of magma splashed out in all directions – I tried to shield myself but there was no room to really move and my entire left side was sprayed. I screamed; the loudest scream I'd ever done echoed through the hiss of the flame and the sizzling of my flesh as the magma ate its way through my skin.

Digging my hands into the wall behind me in an attempt not to move, I began to lose feeling on that side.

This was it – my body had started to shut down. It was preparing the best way it knew how for the inevitable – shutting down the pain sensors.

In that moment I felt the tiniest jolt from below, something which, if I were elsewhere, I wouldn't have paid any attention to: the rock I was standing on was breaking.

I coughed once more as my breathing trembled and all I could think to do was close my eyes. Thoughts of my friends – the people I had become so close to and spent my last moments with - flashed through my mind.

"I'm sorry, Alex!"
"Tell Erika that I love her."


I had apologised to Alex but I hadn't told Erika myself how I really felt about her. I'd said such horrible things to both of them… And then worst of all, I couldn't remember the last thing I'd said to my sister. It took me until then to realise something, just when I thought I had made peace with it all:

I'm not finished yet.

As the words sped through my mind, the rock gave way and I began to fall. I squeezed my eyes tight.

Movement.

Seconds passed… I was still moving; I opened my eyes and found that I wasn't falling at all but rising! It took me a few moments to understand what was happening. I passed through the dense black smoke inside the dome of the basin and realised that I was still clutching tightly to the so-called rocks from before. Once the smoke became thinner, it became clear that the rocks weren't rocks at all, but the hard skin of the volcano's heatran.

The pokemon was still unsure of itself – circling erratically around the dome as it rose, clinging to the wall with its claws, dangerously close to the rising flow of the magma (that was now moving far quicker than it seemed to have been before), having lost control of its volcano.

As I clung, the momentum of the heatran's rampage seemed to be holding me in place but I knew it would not last long. I looked down at my left leg and saw a seared hole in my thigh the size of my fist that had been cauterised by the sheer heat it was crafted with. Panicked, I didn't know what to focus on. The more I glanced down at my side, the more gaps in my body there appeared to be.

I'm not finished yet.
I'm not finished yet.
I'm not finished yet.


We weren't going to make it to make it to the top, I could see that, but I didn't want to give in. All of a sudden, the heatran came to a stop, lowered its steel-coated head to the wall and in one swift motion propelled it through the rock. Sunlight beamed through, piercing the smoke-ridden cauldron like arrows of hope through the sky and the pokemon scurried outside.

----------------------------

Thankfully for Alex, the sandy beach below provided a softer landing than he was expecting. Slowking followed after, tailed by Petrel who hadn't been able to get any kind of footing and found that he didn't have the strength to stand up again.

Sand blew in their direction through a gust of air from Erika's Tropius as it lay there breathing heavily through a wail. In the frenzy of panic, it was just one of many casualties on the beach; however the beach had seemed to have calmed itself. Temporarily distracted by Tropius, he had forgotten to look around him – almost everyone on the sand stood and stared up at the volcano. The rumbling that had shook the island and broken their foothold had been felt here too and every person knew where it had originated from.

Alex looked around the crowd and spotted Erika standing a few feet ahead of him. He rushed over to see that she too was staring skyward. Just below the pillar of smoke rising from the mountain, a hole had formed and boulders were sent hurtling down the cliffside, bouncing off of the edge as they went and breaking apart. Just behind them was something else; something was sliding down the mountainside leaving a large dust cloud that trailed behind it like a tail.

There was little time to wonder what it was as magma began to pour out from the hole in the cliffside – headed straight for the pokemon centre and the beach!

"Adam!" Erika said sharply under her breath and ran straight for the base of the mountain.

Knowing that the beach was no longer safe, the crowds raced in the opposite direction, desperate to find somewhere safe but there was nowhere else. The inlet was the only place that the lava had not touched so those that could, could only head for the sea.

Alex gave chase to Erika who despite being relatively small and barged by those racing the other way, held her ground as she moved forward. Alex called out to her, telling her to stop but she didn't reply - whether she heard him or not, Alex didn't actually know - until he caught up to her and grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop and around to face him near the base of the volcano.

"Erika stop!" Alex cried, looking her in the face.

He hadn't seen Erika like this before. Usually she was the cool, calm and collected one but her face was frantic. She was wide-eyed, unfocused and was breathing erratically; her eyes shaking like she was unable to hold his gaze.

"Alex no – it's him – it's Adam!" She cried, pointing to the mountain.

"Erika, it's not! I saw him fall when we were trying to get out of there. He held my hand and he fell out of it - he's gone!"

"No!" She yelled, louder this time and pushing herself free of Alex's grip. "That's him – I know it!"

Alex sighed in exasperation, full to the brim with emotion. "Erika, I know you want to believe that but look behind the rocks! That lava is heading straight for us and if we die here then he died for nothing – we need to go!"

Alex took Erika's arm and began physically dragging her away. The boulders that fell from above had smashed into small rocks on their descent and sprayed the bottom of the mountain ahead of them. The lava was approaching fast, the pull of gravity and momentum speeding it up but despite this, the distance between it and the dust cloud had widened.

Erika resisted and tried to fight back Alex's grip. Combatting her, he grabbed both her arms from behind and pulled her backwards – Erika still attempting to break free, screaming out for Adam as she did.

The dust cloud came closer and closer as they backed away. Erika was putting up as good of a fight as she could, slowing down Alex's attempt to drag her back dramatically – they had barely moved a few metres when the object came into view. It wasn't another boulder at all (as Alex had suspected) but a pokemon – a heatran that he'd seen inside – that had taken a beating from sliding down on it's rocky stomach. The pokemon came to an almost sudden stop on a small sloped cliff a few metres above the beach which sent something else speeding over the edge and onto the beach from the momentum.

That something was a human – it was Adam.

Adam's body collided with the sand and was sent rolling over itself before stopping in front of Erika and Alex.

Alex froze in shock. His grip loosened, Erika called out to Adam and ran to his side, horrified at his appearance. His body was mangled: his face was bloodied and covered in soot, the fall clearly broken some of his bones and his entire left side was riddled with holes where the magma had eaten away at his skin. Sand had stuck to his bloodied body and he coughed and writhed in agony, unable to move.

Afraid to touch him, Erika didn't know what to do. She'd been able to help with the minor injuries on the beach but she knew she'd be of no use here. She slid down in the sand next to him and gently picked up his hand, clasping it between hers, feeling the intense heat of his body. Alex walked over slowly, his own body shaking. Even through all the madness he'd experienced in the last few months, he'd never seen anyone in such a state as Adam was in – he was alive, but just barely.

Not being able to help it, Alex glanced away and up at lava, which was encroaching on them more and more by the second. Realising this, thoughts of self-preservation ran through his head – and he felt horrible for it.

Adam looked up and met Erika's eyes. She feigned a smile and ran a hand through his dirty-blonde hair. She didn't know what to say to him. She wanted to call him stupid, reckless and immature for storming off the way he did. She knew he'd do something but she didn't imagine that it would be this extreme. She looked into his eyes and saw the same beautiful boy she had come to know so well over the past few years; the same stubborn, spur-of-the-moment, kind-hearted boy that she'd fallen for without admitting it to herself – she couldn't call him names now.

The blonde-haired boy knew that he had to do what he'd clung on to Heatran for. He coughed and spluttered as he said Erika's name but he carried on regardless.

"I… I'm… sorry." He began. "I… love… you…"

Erika nodded her head and returned the compliment, weeping through her smile.

The lava was getting too close. Alex knew he had to come up with a solution or they'd all die so he leant down to take charge.

"We need to carry him."

"Wait, Alex –" Erika began to protest.
"-Well it's that or we leave him!" Alex cried, trying to figure out the best way to carry him. "I'm sorry buddy." He said, lifting Adam from under his arms.

Adam screamed in agony as he was lifted, the pain fully setting in now.

"Alex we can't!" Erika cried as Alex set him back down. "It's hurting him too much!"

"I'm trying to save his life!" Alex yelled, walking around Adam trying to find a better way to carry him.
"I'm not just going to let him die here – too much bad crap has happened to us – to Naoko – to them." He said, gesturing towards Adam. "I am NOT going to just let someone else die!"

Alex leaned down to Adam again, this time, meeting his gaze. Adam's eyes said more than his words could causing Alex to stop for a moment and bow his head. The lava was approaching the heatran now and even amongst the cries of the crowd and the all-encompassing wail of the siren, there was a moment of pure silence amongst the trio.

The silence was broken by an awesome screech that echoed down from above. Alex stood up and was sure that the source of the noise came from the pillar of smoke. The screech echoed through again, like an animal's cry, capturing the attention of the rest of the island. Alex squinted as he looked up at the sky, seeing something he'd only read about in stories.

"Is that…?"

Flames burst through the smoke and a fiery behemoth of a bird appeared. It cried out again, this time sounding far more daunting and powerful. Its cry was matched by its beauty – the gigantic creature's feathers were as yellow as the morning sun and its wings and tail looked as if it were made of pure fire. Its flaming head crest flowed behind like silk in the wind as it glided effortlessly overhead. This was a pokemon that everyone knew – this was Moltres.

As it flew, embers wisped from its flames and began to separate into smaller pieces and floated down to the island below like snow twinkling in the moonlight. From only a few flaps of its wings as it flew past, the pokemon coated most of the island like a blanket.

As he stood, Alex watched as the embers floated down and made contact with the lava flow, cooling it instantly. The magma turned into rock in front of his eyes as if it had been extinguished and the pursuit of the lava ceased. Alex breathed a short sigh of relief before turning his attention back to Adam. The embers floated down and seeped into his wounds. The raw roughness of the cauterised holes began to glow warmly as his muscle regrew slowly before his eyes – Adam was being healed!

Alex fell to his knees and began sobbing. The bruises across Adam's body began to fade as his natural colour returned. Erika was stunned and began to laugh out of shock, unable to quite process what was happening. Adam looked up at Alex with fresh eyes and pointed towards him.

"Your neck…" He said croakily.

Alex reached up and felt the side of his neck where his burn from the blast at the Cerulean Mansion was. The tender but rough skin had been replaced and was now smooth and baby-like. Erika looked back across the beach and the same effect was being felt by everyone else. People's wounds had faded and pokemon's injuries had healed – the char on the edges of Tropius's wings was fading – the island had been saved.

Moltres cried once more as it flew out across the ocean, merging with the late-morning sun. A rousing cheer engulfed the beach as people quite literally jumped for joy and celebrated their second chances at life. Alex and Erika looked at each other briefly and both dove in to hug Adam as he attempted to sit up. He cried out and winced and the two dog-piled him, elated.

"Still healing, guys!" He cried out from underneath them.

The pair backed off of him and helped him to sit upright.

"Finally!" Alex cried, wiping his nose. "Something good for a change!"

Adam realised that he was still holding Erika's hand. He looked at her and blushed, realising what he had just told her.

"Yeah…" He said, averting his gaze.

Erika leaned in and kissed Adam on the cheek. "So you love me, huh?" She smiled.
 
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FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
Years
Chapter 40 – The Catalyst

Shades of green and white refracted across the ceiling of the dank and dusty room. Breathing intermittently in anticipation, Gideon's eyes lit up with hope once more as his machine whirred to life.

"It is working!" He laughed maniacally, seeing data appear on his screen.

The Diamond and the Emerald glowed inside their respective compartments of his machine; a device resembling a pokemon transfer gadget, albeit far larger and more complex-looking with wires and pipes protruding from every conceivable angle. The device began to shake, producing a metallic clunking sound, as if something was stuck in the mechanism, causing steam to burst from the seems of the ramshackle machine.

"Gideon, it won't take it for much-" His assistant began.

"-Gideon says keep it going!" The scientist barked, not even averting his gaze.

Seconds later, the light from the Gems was extinguished and the device hissed, powering down. Gideon screamed ferally in frustration and kicked the machine, breaking a pipe sending it skidding across the floor.

"Mature." His assistant remarked, glaring at him with disdain. "You know it won't work without the catalyst. We can try this again and change the machine a thousand times but without the Pearl-"

"-GIDEON KNOWS!" He screamed sharply in her direction, panting. "The machine is working, that much is sure. It just needs… tweaking."

Gideon began pacing, in thought. The assistant sighed. "You can't be serious."

Gideon turned his back to her. "If something is wrong then maybe Gideon will tell Veronica that Lanette isn't useful and her machine doesn't work…"

Lanette's face grew cold. She quickly swallowed. She'd gotten so used to Gideon that she wasn't afraid of him anymore, she really pitied him – it was Veronica and Ariana that sent a chill down her spine. Regardless, she grew angry at Gideon calling the device 'her machine'.

"It's stolen technology, Gideon. We've pieced together Storage Box technology with Bill's experimental teleporter – I can code, configure and do all the rest of it but this isn't what this was designed for!"

"It is energy transfer. Gideon sees this and you see this – it is what your systems are based on, so who better to do this than you? Besides, word has it that your precious Bill escaped the clutches of those buffoons a few weeks ago."

Bill had escaped.

Lanette let out a small smile at that thought. Since being here, she'd had no contact with the outside world and only overheard snippets of things through conversations the Rockets had. After her own escape attempt failed, she had quickly learned her place and didn't dare cross them again – but this gave her hope, something she had been needing, thinking that no one was coming after her – maybe someone was after all.

As much as she disliked Gideon, she thought he was incredibly brave to call the Rockets 'buffoons'. Brave or stupid, that is – especially with Veronica's shuppets often lurking about. Thankfully Lanette had not been puppeted and neither had Gideon; she believed it was to keep her mind fresh to do the hard thinking needed for the computer science, but she couldn't exactly say the same for Gideon: he was erratic at the best of times. He clearly didn't like the Rockets and for him, working for them seemed to just be a means to an end to do the science that he wanted to.

"If the Pearl is just the Catalyst Gideon needs, then it will work!" He declared, walking back towards Lanette. "So where is it?"

"I've told you before, I don't know – none of us do. Doctor Moon was the only one that knew and he said that he'd hidden it in a place that no one would ever find."

A glint appeared in Gideon's eyes as he'd reach Lanette's station. He stared into the ponytailed girl's eyes and became enraged, slamming his hand onto the desk. "You MUST know something!"

"She doesn't." Came a voice from behind Gideon.

Descending the steps from above with a hobble was Veronica, closely followed by April, suspended in the air by shuppets. Coming down behind them was Ariana and Proton, the latter carrying a body over his shoulder of someone that Lanette didn't recognise at first.

"There's nothing in her brain that will tell us anything." She continued, approaching the machine.

Upon seeing Veronica, Gideon became almost giddy like a schoolchild. Knowing not to touch her, he approached her nonetheless with a beaming smile of excitement painted across his visage.

"You've brought Gideon the rest, yes?" He asked with his hands clasped out in front of him.

Proton scoffed at Gideon's desperation. "Put your hands down, worm." He said, laying the body down in a dusty corner of the room.

The scientist did as he was told but his eyes darted from Proton back to Veronica for validation.

"We have lost contact with Petrel so we must assume the Ruby lost as well." She uttered.

"Although we did pick up this one." Ariana added from the back of the room, tossing Naoko's necklace across it. Gideon failed to catch the chain and it instead landed at Lanette's feet. The pale-skinned girl looked at it curiously, recognising the shimmer of the metal. She bent down and picked it up and as she did, the ocean-blue gem set in the centre became clearly visible: it was the Sapphire – her Sapphire.

Knowing that the only person the Rockets would have gotten this from was Naoko, fear shot through her body from her head to her feet like a harpoon.

How did they find it?

Lanette was sure that she hasn't given the Rockets any information whatsoever about where she had hidden her Gem and yet they had it.

Naoko – is she okay? What happened to her?

As she was distracted, like a scavenger Gideon snatched the necklace from Lanette's grasp and continued working on his machine, perfectly content to ignore the rest of the happenings in the room.

"It matters not anyway, We have what we need." Veronica said, raising her hand as she turned to April, who was still struggling against the grasp of the shuppets that held her in the air. April flinched, almost expecting to be struck, but no such blow came. Instead, Veronica caressed he daughter's cheek with the back of her fingers.

"Mum, please…" April begged, looking at the disfigured face of her parent.

"Darling, don't worry, it will all be over soon." Veronica smiled. "All I need is something from your memories, something you probably don't even need."

Taking the bait, April asked what she needed to know.

"You and your father used to spend a lot of your time in here and if he mentioned what We need to anyone then it would be you."

"What do you mean?" April asked again, confused, realising that she was in what appeared to be her father's lab underneath their house.

"I'll ask you this once," Veronica began, moving her hand further down her daughter's neck, "where is the Pearl?"

April stumbled over her words, not able to make sense of what Veronica had said. She barely remembered the lab at all, let alone anything her father was researching, especially to do with the Gems – she had only seen the Diamond and the Sapphire before. She tried to think about her life before her journey with Alex but couldn't put the pieces together; as if there were blank spots in her mind where her memories should be.

Victoria's hand was now clasping April's neck, signalling her impatience.

"I-I don't know. I can't remember!" April cried.

Veronica snarled and removed her hand from April's neck, swiftly slapping her across the face.

"Useless child! I'll find it myself then."

Enraged, a glowing set of eyes apparated from behind Veronica and a shuppet materialised. Its cloak flowed effortlessly in the air even though there was no breeze in the lab and without command, floated toward April. Again she resisted, straining her neck away in a futile attempt to delay the inevitable. The pokemon positioned itself on top of her head and the colour drained from April's eyes.

Veronica took a sharp intake of breath and her eyes darkened. Lanette was distracted just briefly enough to remember the same sound of strained breath from when she had first been captured, however for her, that was where that particular memory stopped. Come to think of it, Lanette realised that soon after hearing that sound was when the Rockets stopped asking about the Sapphire at all.

The black of Veronica's eyes began to flash with fragments of April's memories, speeding through them like a movie. Within the space of a few seconds, images of Celio, Sabrina, Erika, Misty, Forrest, Alex, Adam and Felina were reflected off the glassy surface of her eyes, way up until the night of the raid on Cleopatra Island.

"No…" April began to mumble, squirming in her mid-air hold.

Images of running through the forest, flaming rafters of houses and flashes of a younger Adam's face continued to light up the dark of Veronica's eyes.
Veronica herself began to sweat. "Stop resisting." She said through her teeth.

Realising what was happening to April, Lanette also began to comprehend that the same thing had happened to her; she just hadn't realised it at the time. Consequently, that would mean that she had led them to Naoko… the figure at the back! Lanette, suddenly full with energy, made a bee-line for the body on the floor who she believed to be Naoko but was blocked by Proton, smirking.

"Not so fast!" Proton said, grabbing Lanette's overalls as she passed him. Lanette was pulled backward and tried to push off Proton's grasp but the rocket grabbed her with both hands on her upper arms. "I thought you'd learned your lesson last time." He smirked.

Just then, Naoko began to stir and turned her head toward to commotion as she pushed herself up. Her vision was still blurry and distorted, not used to travelling via teleportation, but it began to focus on the figures closest to her – two Rockets and a fair-skinned girl with hair in large, brown plats.

Is it really… She thought, not allowing her emotions to get the better of her.

Without thinking, Naoko reached for her necklace to find nothing. She had briefly forgotten its absence but the connection she had been holding on to in that place was still there. Focusing further, she hastily brushed some fallen strands of black hair from her face and her vision settled. There – just metres away from her – was Lanette – alive.
The flashes of memories in Victoria's eye had seemed to have stopped; only her daughter's face was now reflected in the glassy dark of her eyes. Determined to find the information she needed, she continued the process, convinced that April would have seen something in Isaac's lab.

"Just… a bit… more…" Veronica grunted, gritting her teeth, clearly struggling.

"I – SAID - NO!" April screamed and without warning, a shockwave burst from the shuppet above April and swept through the abandoned lab, flinging the bodies of those around it to the edge of the room and freeing her from the hold of the pokemon. Veronica was caught off guard and stumbled but with the aid of the Others, wedged her cane into the broken tiled floor below and was not thrown backwards.

Still holding Lanette, Proton was hurled against the wall behind him and took not only the force of the impact, but that of Lanette's body as well. He fell to the floor, wincing in pain. Luckily for Lanette, the Rocket's body cushioned her impact and she was able to rise to her feet again almost instantly. Naoko, unharmed, picked herself up and locked eyes with her closest friend. They knew that now was their moment and without hesitation ran to each other from across the room. The girls embraced and Naoko held Lanette's head in her hands, checking her for injury; her face was bruised, her large glasses were wonky and had seen better days but she still had eyes, ears, fingers and thumbs, just as she had before. Lanette stared into Naoko's glossy brown eyes – they were just how she remembered them but her face was slightly different, as if she had changed somehow. In that moment, it didn't matter too much - they had each other back.

Gideon, shielded from the shockwave by his machine, began to look at the readings it gave out. He tapped the dials, confused by what he saw, and looked at the three Gems he now had inside it. A psychic overload… he deduced.

Breathing heavily from exertion, Victoria's face became tense. The Others had delved into her memories and, not only had they not found what they needed, but what they found was nothing at all! All of April's memories from before the attack were blank or hazy at best.

"There's nothing there." Victoria said under her breath. "Why is there nothing there?!" she barked viciously to the room.

Ariana walked over to April, who had fallen to the floor, and rolled her over with her foot so she was facing the ceiling. She then pressed her heeled boot against her stomach, holding the girl in place. As the colour returned to April's eyes, Ariana bent down to examine it.

"They say trauma wipes your memories." She said, watching April squirm beneath her, like a child with an ant and a magnifying glass. "Makes them hazy… difficult to remember," she continued, "or gets rid of them altogether."

Veronica closed her eyes and sighed, seemingly letting go of any hope she had of using April to get information about the Pearl. "You always were more trouble than you were worth." She said, wiping down her dusty cloak.

"What shall we do with her?" Ariana asked, pushing her boot harder still on April's stomach.

Veronica hobbled over slowly to the machine. She paused for a moment and bent down, staring at the Gems inside as they shone brightly.

"Kill her." Veronica ordered, "And Gideon's failure of an assistant too."

Upon hearing this, Lanette grabbed Naoko's hand and ran straight for the ascending staircase to freedom. Unfortunately Ariana was too quick and caught sight of them, releasing her Kadabra. The pokemon's eyes glowed a vibrant shade of purple and the girls seemingly froze, pausing rigid where they stood.

"But why…?" Lanette uttered, still able to move her lips as she was rotated around by Kadabra's psychic.

Veronica chuckled. "Foolish girl, do you really think I'd leave you here alone without a pair of eyes to watch you?" With that, Gideon cowered behind his machine, realising that that meant she had heard his buffoons comment from earlier. Veronica shot him a glance from the other side of the device. "I'll deal with you later."

One of Veronica's remaining shuppets puppeted April once more and began levitating her into the air. The leader began hobbling around her daughter, seemingly looking her over one last time from every angle. Naoko was left to watch as Ariana walked over to them. She stood, smiling, wondering which one to do away with first.

"You… lied!" Naoko cried, unable to move her body.

Ariana guffawed. "Oh sweetie, I did no such thing. You said that I was to take you to your little friend here, and here she is!" She said, gesturing toward Lanette. "You didn't say anything about what would happen afterwards."

Naoko felt stupid for believing that they would keep their word – they meant to do away with her all along. She changed her gaze to look at Lanette who, even through her fright, was trying to fight the psychic hold and stretch her fingers out towards Naoko's hand. Naoko wanted nothing more than to touch her; to feel her soft skin on her own, but that would never happen again if it ended right here and now.

Ariana produced a knife from her boot and held the tip up to Naoko's skin, just enough to gently pierce the skin. A drop of her blood dripped down the cold steel of the blade to the handle. Not producing much of a reaction from Naoko, she moved the knife over to Lanette and did the same thing.

"Don't you dare!" Naoko bellowed.

Ariana smiled again. "That's a better reaction!" She announced joyfully. "So now would be a good time to produce that information you said you had about the Gems, girlie."

The information – this was her chance – she could trade it for their freedom. Thoughts rushed through her mind of what would happen if she told them but she couldn't let herself think about that: it was Lanette and Naoko or them, there was no middle ground here.

"I can help you! Just let us go!" Naoko cried, piquing Veronica's interest.

Ariana raised her eyebrows and gave the order to Kadabra to set the girls down. Ariana's knife stayed in place, pushing Lanette's chin higher into the air as she found her feet again.

"I'm listening." She said expectantly.

Naoko swallowed hard. She was risking so much for something she knew very little about but if anything, today had proved that she was on to something. She had to do this. There was nothing else she could do.

Us or them.

She opened her mouth to speak and before she knew it, the words had already come out.

"I know where the Pearl is."
 
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FlaafyFTW

Researcher of Orange Lore
102
Posts
14
Years
Chapter 41 – Daddy's Girl

'Tales of great heroism continue to pour into this station in the wake of the incredible events that unfolded on Kanto's Cinnabar Island early this morning. At around 7:20am, the island's namesake – Mount Cinnabar – began to violently and unexpectedly erupt, putting the lives of its residents, tourists and wildlife in tremendous danger. The speed of this unprecedented natural disaster caused the island's bulkhead doors to react slower than expected, letting magma flow across the island for several minutes before the failsafe protocols were launched.

Many cherished, historical buildings and areas of preservation on the island succumbed to the eruption and many of the survivors, unable to leave, found solace on the south shore where the local Pokemon Centre was administering first aid. Unfortunately, this sanctuary was not to last as the magma began to encroach on them.

However, in a drastic turn of events, the legendary Pokemon Moltres appeared from within the volcano itself and calmed the eruption completely, cooling the magma and halting its advance.

Emergency services arrived soon after and began to evacuate the survivors to the mainland, many with only very minor injuries. Experts believe that a Moltres's flames have healing properties which could explain the lack of substantial wounds from those exposed to the magma; but, as a precaution, survivors have been taken to the nearby Pallet Town Medical Centre for observation before being discharged.

Those wanting to rebuild their lives will have to be patient as the National Aviation Authority has grounded all Kanto air traffic and all marine vehicles have been rerouted due to the ash cloud and the contamination of the surrounding oceans respectfully... '


Sighing, Alex sat by Adam's bedside in the Medical Centre and turned his attention away from the news broadcast, conflicted by a myriad of emotions. Adam was alive and well and seemed to be healed of all his injuries – sleeping for now - but April was still MIA. However, it wasn't the 'missing' part that bothered Alex – he knew exactly where she was - it was that he couldn't think of a way to get there. The ports, both air and sea, were apparently shut to all vessels and the Orange Archipelago was too far for a pokemon to fly to on its own.

His own check-up was fairly brief; he'd been given a clean bill of health when he'd arrived, but the severity of Adam's former injuries had him being admitted for observation. The Medical Centre had strict visiting regulations – one of which being the 'one-in-one-out rule' for visitors. It was Alex's turn to keep watch over his friend but as he sat in a chair beside Adam's bed, he drifted into a daydream to the almost-harmonised beeps of the room's various machines and monitors, being awoken every time by something uncomfortable sticking into his back. He attempted to change positions repeatedly until he realised that the chair wasn't his problem – it was him.

Reaching to his back, tucked underneath his belt, he pulled out a book. He suddenly remembered pulling it out during his exam, placing it on his clothes and then putting it back after as if it was just another item that he carried around. In spite of everything, Alex had forgotten about the leather-bound book he had found at MFBG and how something inside him had compelled him to take it along with him. It wasn't until now that he had the time to properly give it a once-over.

Looking upon the cover, he could see the familiar crescent-shaped logo embossed onto the leather, albeit faded and quite shaggy. With a quick flick through its pages, Alex realised that this wasn't just a book – it was a journal. There were diagrams, sketches, annotations all muddled throughout; the pages seemed to get messier and the writing more erratic the further through the book he got.
Finding no clear place to start, Alex returned to the first page and began reading.

X Month X Year
Finally – a place to call our own! It's taken years but we finally have the site we need to go ahead. A new start, a new home on the island and to top it all off - V is pregnant! Everything is clicking into place.
MFBG Labs… I still can't believe that my name is on the place. We even used a moon for the logo! We have even been able to take on a research assistant – Sylvia. This is our chance to do something great, to make a real difference; something that my kids can be proud of. And today, that starts with us.
I showed the others the stone yesterday and they practically can't contain themselves. We still don't know what it is but its readings are unlike anything we've ever come across before. Fuji's fossil regenerator has been given the green-light so that'll be our first real test to see just what this thing is. This could be the remnants of something ancient, the building blocks for some other form of life, or even some kind of power source.
All these possibilities for this one piece of rock. This is going to be it, I just know it – we all do, so we've decided to call it the Potential Stone.


Alex looked up from the journal to Adam – realising that this journal belonged to his father: to Isaac Moon. He knew that this would be something Adam should have and that he should keep his nose out of it but Adam was resting and no matter how hard he tried, Alex couldn't stop himself from turning over the page.

IV Month XI Year
We were looking at it all wrong – we cracked open the Potential Stone and found roughly 200ml of a dense translucent liquid inside. So far, all the tests are coming back inconclusive. It doesn't match any known element on the periodic table, it has no signs of being or having been a life form either.
It can't be used as a power source in its current state. I'll need to think bigger, broader. Perhaps introducing it to a host will yield something notable…


VII Month XI Year
It's a boy! 8lbs 6oz on my little man.
He is so beautiful that it's difficult to think about anything else. Victoria says that she's horrendous with names and wants me to think of one but every time I sit down to think, my mind just goes back to the lab.
I feel like we're getting nowhere with the Stone. My attempts to bond it with an electric pokemon failed and the subjects died within a few days, leaving Sylvia to dispose of the remains. Unfortunately, the death of the host meant that we became unable to re-extract the Potential Stone's fluid. It's as if the fluid is alive in ways that we just don't understand yet.
Further study is pointing towards the element itself being incomplete, like we have a jigsaw piece with nothing to fit it into. What we need to do is to go back to the beginning and try something new if we want to get anywhere with this.
Adam – a new beginning. I think that's what we'll call him.


III Month XII Year
Support is waning. Investors are wanting more results – Fuji's machine is getting the centre stage and Blaine has been put on the Mew-Two project and Gideon has been acting stranger and stranger. No one is interested in the Stone anymore.
Attempts to bond the element inside to all others have failed; live subjects 1-through-32 are all deceased and the trip back to the dig-site was futile: all I had to go on were some faded murals with some glyphs printed below in the shape of Unown. The murals definitely depict the stone as some form of energy source but until we can crack the Unown Code then that part is a mystery as well. There are too many missing pieces here!
The one thing I was able to decipher is that the Potential Stone had another name, a word that was written all over the dig site – the Pearl.


IX Month XII Year
The fluid is running out. There have been too many failures on live subjects and we couldn't re-extract it after they perished.
I'll need to be smarter. Conduct only essential tests.
The others have started bickering amongst themselves, too concerned with their own dilemmas to aid in my research – the research that started this company. I've begun to think that this isn't a power source, that it's something more. The liquid is like a living parasite, it needs a host. But it's like it's incomplete, as if it is missing part of its sequence. If it could bond perfectly, I think it could unlock something tremendous.
Blaine's Mewtwo project has been outsourced to another company; he blames Gideon for stealing his research and selling off his idea but he of course denies it. Fuji is barely present, he spends most of his time at the Pewter Museum or with his family in the backwoods of Lavender. Poor sod – it's like he's lost the drive to research.
Sylvia is all over the place – I'm surprised she's able to keep up with the four of us – and Veronica keeps complaining that I don't spend enough time at home with the baby.
Maybe she's right.
Maybe not. I'm so close to a breakthrough, I can feel it.


I Month XIII Year
They're threatening to shut us down.
The money's dried up, Gideon's gotten himself wrapped up in something yet again and nobody has seen Sylvia in weeks. She's probably handed in her notice and nobody's bothered to tell me. Not that I blame her much, mind you.
As far as research on the Pearl – I've gotten to an impasse. The subjects are not proving strong enough to bond with the fluid and so I will conduct one last test. The ethics committees would never give me authorisation for human trials but since we're going to get shut down, what difference does it make?


Turning the page again, Alex jumped from his seat at the sound of a Nurse appearing behind him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." The man said, walking past Alex's chair. "This will only take a moment and I'll be out of your hair. I just need to do a quick exam – would you mind stepping outside?"

Alex did as he was asked and left the room as the nurse drew the curtain behind him. The waiting area was calm but chaotic. Medical staff moved back and forwards, weaving through the crowds of people standing, sitting and wandering, most without a true sense of purpose and in shock. Without realising, Alex found Erika by the entrance on her phone and walked toward her. She looked visibly frustrated: someone on the other end of the line was going to feel the wrath of a pissed-off gym leader. Erika grunted and slammed her flip-phone shut.

"That stupid old man never picks up his phone." She said angrily, running her hands through her hair.

"I've been trying him for hours now and nothing… Any change?"

"Still stable, still asleep." Alex said, leaning up against a wall beside her – the only space he could find. "They're just doing an exam; they shouldn't be long. After that, I reckon it's your shift."

"Just try and stop me." Erika smiled, and out of the corner of her eye she noticed the diary in Alex's hand. "What's that?"

"It's Dr Moon's journal. We found it in MFBG before the volcano erupted."

"You went to the lab?"

"Well, what was left of it. It was burnt, abandoned and ransacked – and there was this graffiti… People clearly didn't like them." Alex dug out a pokeball from his bag. "And we found this Shuppet trying to get to the journal; Slowking said it was feeding on it, so there's got to be something important, something we're missing that can help us somehow."

Erika took in a deep breath and sighed, staring at her phone. Alex prompted her, asking what she wasn't telling him. "Everyone knows the ghost stories about that place: Gideon's experiments and the Mew Two project. Dr Moon and Mr Fuji's reputations took a hit just from being associated with them. At least… that's what I'm told."

Then, from the crowd, the nurse reappeared to let the pair know that Adam's exam was over. Not even needing to look at Erika, he gestured to the room ahead of him with his hand and she quickly set off for her shift. Still with his finger in the page, Alex carried on reading.

I Month XIII Year
No change.

II Month XIII Year
No change. Vitals stable.

III Month XIII Year
No marked changes to vitals. There should have been some recorded developments by now but I'm the same as I was before. The other test subjects perished, so maybe the human condition is the best host after all, just not the correct subject to bond with it correctly. The only conclusion to make is that the experiment was a failure.
They're threatening to shut us down. They may as well – all this research has been for nothing. No results, nothing tangible to show for these past 3 years. What a waste. Fuji's set for his next step, he can carry on his research at the Pewter Museum. The whole quarrel with Gideon and Blaine seems to have put Blaine off research – he's dead set on taking on the mantle of Gym Leader now. As for Gideon, the rumours about Sylvia are picking up quickly. I just hope to god what they're saying isn't true.

VI Month XIII Year
V's pregnant again! At least some good has come out of all of this. She's already a few months along, she just didn't want to jinx it.
I missed the signs. What kind of husband am I? I've been too consumed by this place. This is my chance to do better.

VII Month XIII Year
That poor girl. We've had to hire security whilst we pack up. Word got out about Sylvia and we've had more and more indignant protestors outside each day.
Not that I blame them.
Of course Gideon's fled, the coward. But in the eyes of everyone else, that means nothing – we're all accomplices now.


Continuing to read, Alex came across the last entry in the journal. He read it in its entirety and paused, staring off into the room. The noises and figures of the people moving back and forth dulled and he took off his glasses to rub his eyes. Part of him felt like he'd been dreaming, as if he'd just imagined what he had read and so he tried again.

As his eyes moved across the page, he swallowed, reading the same words again.

Alex exhaled.

Knowing that he only had the one person to turn to, he weaved through the crowd and into the patient bay, ignoring 'one-in, one-out'. The more steps he took, the quicker he became. He turned the corner and in front of him, sat up and awake, was Adam, holding Erika's hand.

He glanced Alex's way; their eyes met and Adam smiled warmly until he realised that the look on Alex's face wasn't shock at seeing him awake – it was just shock.

"Yes brilliant. We'll be there soon, Professor." Erika said, hanging up her phone. She looked at Adam but he gently squeezed her hand as an indication to look towards Alex.

"What is it?" Erika asked.

Alex cleared his throat and walked towards them. Standing at the foot of the bed, Alex relayed what he had been reading in the journal and then read out the last page:

VIII Month XIII Year
This is my final entry. Everyone else has left and I'm the last one here.
Something remarkable has happened. In the space of two months, the baby has developed at TWICE the rate she should have, making four months development. At this rate, she should be fully developed by next month. I've taken a sample and run a final test before shipping my equipment to Cleopatra.
It worked. The experiment worked!
The liquid from the Pearl couldn't bond with my sequencing because my sequencing was already set, so I became a host – a carrier. But by conceiving a child, her sequencing formed around it and bonded with her stem cells. Something good has come out of this place – it wasn't all for nothing.
This place that's consumed my life for so long, now I can finally set it behind me. So it seems only apt that I leave this journal here.

Now, I get to devote my life to you:
My girl,
My Pearl,
My Aprel.
 
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