I am a child of the earth and sea. I am a son of the sky.
The soil between my toes is wet with blood. I've killed too many people to be shocked by this, but somehow, this time is different. I can feel the numbness of other people's death crawling over me, tingling at my fingertips, and turning my eyes to stone.
I wish it hadn't come to this, but there is a price for everything. My gut churns at the thought, but I cannot deny that this price is fair. Only life can pay for death.
Red light gleams on the gory mess underfoot. I can't tell whether it's the red of sunset or just sunlight reflecting from the blood. Has the day ended already? I can't bear to look up. There are harder sights ahead of me than my bloody crimes.
After a moment, I drop my knife. Enough is enough. I will not cower from Him any longer. With a force of effort, I raise my eyes to the south-east sky.
The Sky Pillar is visible even from here, a needle in the distance stretching into the heavens. My eyes cannot make out its peak, it is so high. But I know that the Sky Pillar ends. I have been there, on the ceiling of the world. I have looked up and seen the lowest room of the lowest dungeon of the heavens.
And He came down to me in fire and fury.
To speak His name is blasphemy of the highest order, but it is known to me. I have earned it with salt and blood. May those who survive forgive me. His will is done.
Rayquaza.
0-0-0
Twelve months previously
0-0-0
A major road had once wound its way through the Petalburg Woods, but now it was overgrown. Small trees and bushes encroached onto the broken surface of old asphalt, which was hardly visible under the layers of dirt and tall grass. The land had been left to go wild. Only the gap in the forest canopy really showed where the road had been. The forest was bright and airy, illuminated by the noon sun. A gentle breeze wafted along the old road, providing some small respite from the heat of a Hoenn summer.
I could only see the breeze as it lifted stray leaves, not feel it. The only shield I had against the sun was the shade of the trees. That was one of the reasons why I was walking several metres deep into the underbrush, rather than on the open road.
There was a fair amount of traffic on the forest route today. It was a holiday, and a group of boys from the local school had come out to catch bugs and enjoy the weather. They were likely to challenge anyone who passed to a battle. It didn't bother me, and on another day I might have humoured them, but today I had other things to do.
It took more than an hour of walking before I was in the right place. I double-checked the landmarks to be sure. A trail of marker posts followed the opposite side of the road, leading in both directions. It was adorned with coloured arrows, pointing towards Petalburg City and Rustboro respectively. One of the ones opposite was split down the middle, broken from age and weather. So here I was.
A movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. The branches rustled softly as a tiny weight disturbed them. There was a flicker of green against brown, a green which was not the same colour as the leaves all around me. I watched it silently for a moment, and then the green shape launched itself at my head.
My instincts screamed at me to duck, but I pushed them down. It was only a Treecko. I brought my hands swiftly together in an attempt to catch the Pokemon in midair, but I was a second too slow. It landed on my shoulder, and sank two rows of tiny teeth into my earlobe.
"Ow," I said. Not so much because it hurt as to tell the Treecko that it had won. I reached up and grabbed it by the tail. It let go of my ear and dove at my hand, trying to bite my fingers, but I was faster this time. I pulled it off my shoulder, and held it in front of my face. The sight was hilarious. A little green lizard spun and snarled, flailing all of its limbs in an attempt to extricate itself from my grip.
After a moment of struggle, it managed to pull itself up, onto my hand. They were surprisingly agile creatures, even when dangling by their tails. It sank its teeth into my palm as hard as it could. Although that wasn't very hard.
I let go, and opened my palm. The Treecko chirruped happily, and ran up my arm, to sit on my shoulder.
"Hello again," I said. "I still need to think of a name for you, don't I? Maybe that will stop you from attacking me all the time."
The Treecko licked my ear, where it had bitten me.
I chuckled. He'd only been playing. He was a cute little thing, hardly out of infancy, but already learning to be my little monster. He'd grow into a real champion with a bit of training, but I wasn't sure if I was going to train him yet. Perhaps I'd keep him the way he was; pocket-sized company. I had other Pokemon around for when I needed to battle.
That didn't mean Treecko wouldn't be useful, though. I scratched his head absently, and sat down at the base of a tree. I shifted position a bit, to make sure I had a good view of the road, then rapped my knuckles on the tree.
The Treecko chirped in my ear questioningly. I picked him up and placed him on the trunk. His adhesive feet stuck to the bark, and he scampered up into the boughs, where he disappeared from sight. His presence up there would keep away all the bug Pokemon living in the forest which might get curious about my presence here - or worse, territorial. They were no danger, but fending them off would be noisy.
Drawing attention to myself with noise or battling would completely ruin the task I had in these woods.
I plucked a device from my belt, flipping it open with my thumb. I flicked through various menus without looking. After doing it so many times, the motions were built into reflex. After a few taps on the screen, I reached the right contact, and hit the call button. I lifted the PokeNav to my ear. The volume was kept as low as possible, to prevent anyone from overhearing. Not that there was anyone nearby. Yet.
There was a crackle of static as the device connected, then a voice came from it.
"Birch speaking."
"I'm in position. Is he ready?" I was careful to speak quietly. A bit of tweaking had boosted the input from my microphone. I wasn't quite whispering, but I spoke as quietly as I could without being inaudible.
"Steven dropped him at the waypoint fifteen minutes ago. He's loaded with bait and headed your way."
"And Aqua?" I asked.
"The information was leaked successfully. Doesn't look like Archie took much interest. We've been monitoring the route from Rustboro to the woods. Our agent only noticed a single Grunt."
"What if they came from Petalburg?" There was a long pause, broken only by the quiet hiss of static. I wondered if the connection had been lost. That's the problem with phones in Hoenn. The heavy strictures on commercial building and environmental damage had prevented any phone masts from being constructed. It was a good thing, of course, but it meant that we had to rely on a satellite connection for our PokeNavs, and that could cut out randomly for any reason - solar flares, magnetic interference, or just plain spite.
"Dad?" I asked. "Are you there?"
"Yeah. Sorry. Thinking." I grinned. Dad was a Pokemon Professor through and through, from his love of Pokemon to his habit of zoning out whenever he was deep in thought over the latest problem.
"No, definitely not," he said at last. "You'd have seen them on your way in. Not much gets past you without you noticing." The matter-of-fact compliment made me smile. Dad wasn't the type to lay on flattery, but his bluntly positive assessments of my abilities were one of the biggest sources of my confidence. The other source, of course, was my own assessment of my abilities.
"Damn it," he cursed. "We just don't have enough manpower for what we're trying to do here."
"Sure we do," I said. "A few good men in the right place can do more than a thousand in the wrong place. We're an operation of surgical precision, not a blunt instrument."
"True enough," he answered. He began to say something else, but I interrupted him. I was on a mission, after all. I'd called him for information, not to have a chat.
"Dad - sorry - I have to cut you off. They could get here any time now. All the effort of setting this trap will be wasted if I miss the opportunity because I was on the phone." I heard a hearty guffaw come from the other end of the line.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to taking orders from my son," he said.
The situation was odd, it was true. I tried not to laugh with him. Talking quietly was one thing, but I'd be a fool twice-over if I gave my position away to my quarry by laughing aloud. Still, working with my Dad was nice, just like when I'd helped him out on field-work studying Pokemon when I was younger. I was pleasantly surprised that it hadn't been an issue so far, but we'd always worked as equals in the past, so that's what we kept doing now. Even though I was technically his boss.
"Bye, Dad," I said. I snapped the PokeNav shut, ending the call.
I waited there, at the base of the tree, for several minutes. I amused myself by attempting to pick out my Treecko in the branches. He was almost impossible to spot, his natural colouration helping him to blend into the foliage. I only ever managed to catch a glimpse of him when he moved around.
He must have noticed me watching him, because a nut mysteriously dislodged itself and bounced off my head. Odd, that, because there weren't any nuts on this tree. I rubbed my head ruefully. He was a nuisance, but it was good that he was so playful. Having him around helped keep my spirits up. It was largely due to his mischievous company that I wasn't in a thoroughly bad mood by now.
Even in the shade, it was unbearably hot. I took a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly. My disguise was far warmer than the clothes I usually wore. No testimony was more damning as to Team Magma's stupidity than their choice to wear black in summertime, so far as I was concerned. Not to mention the ridiculous hood. I flicked one of the ears on the hood miserably, and promised myself that when I was done here, I'd swim across the Rustboro River instead of crossing the bridge to reach the city.
Soon after that, I saw what I was waiting for. A man dressed in a suit, clutching a briefcase, was walking along the road. He was coming from the south; from Petalburg City. I recognised him instantly. He was Patrick Sulvin, a junior member of the Devon Corporation's research team. He was also the bait for my trap.
When he reached the broken marker, he paused, as we had agreed. For a spiteful moment, I was pleased to see that wearing a suit in this weather had made him nearly as uncomfortable as I was in this Team Magma outfit. A bead of sweat was just visible on his temple from this distance. But then he turned slightly, and I saw something truly horrifying.
The bastard was eating an ice cream.
Well, I suppose I had told him to contrive some reason for hovering by that post. I wished he'd just stopped to tie a shoelace or something, though. Bastard. Not that I was jealous, or anything.
That was it, then. The trap was set. All I had left to do was - well, what I'd been doing. Wait. This time for the Team Aqua Grunt to show up. They wouldn't be far away now. The Petalburg Woods weren't particularly large, only a few miles across if you followed the road.
Someone finally appeared from around the corner. I stared at her in surprise.
"I'll be damned," I muttered under my breath. It was my new neighbour, May, looking as cool as anything in both meanings of the word in a pair of white shorts and her characteristic red jacket. Her long brown hair was pulled up off her neck, and tied with a Pokeball-print red scarf. As much as I'd have liked to, I didn't stare at her legs as she walked by. Because I was hiding in the bushes, and that would be weird. I could ogle her later. There'd be plenty of time for that. Besides, not much point in checking her out unless she could see me doing it.
"Hey!" she shouted in greeting.
I jumped in surprise, almost slamming my head into the tree trunk, before I realised she wasn't talking to me.
"Oh! Erm, hello!" exclaimed Patrick. I winced. Not to put too blunt a point on it, Patrick was a nerd. Great guy, but bad with strangers. Especially bad with girls.
"I was just looking for a Shroomish!" he blurted out. Bad with lies, too. I hoped he'd know to shut up soon. If he babbled incoherently, May would be sure to notice he was up to something weird. "I really love that Pokemon! Have you seen any?" he asked, speaking rapidly. "They sometimes come up to the edge of the road to enjoy the sun, you know."
I groaned inwardly as May began to engage him in conversation. Great. She loved Pokemon as much as my dad did. I'd only known her a little while, but that had been clear from the moment we'd met. And Patrick could talk on the subject for hours. His job was Poketech research, after all. This could be bad. If they kept talking for too long, the Aqua Grunt might show up.
Did I have Patrick's number? Yes, I did. I must do. I glanced down at my PokeNav, and ran my thumb across the shiny metal surface. I wondered if I'd be able to call Patrick and tell him to cut the chat - but no, that wouldn't work. They were too close. May would hear me, no matter how quiet I was. I cursed Devon Corporation for not adding a text message feature to the PokeNavs.
Fuck. I wouldn't be able to confront the Aqua Grunt if May didn't go before they arrived. I couldn't let May see me dressed as a Magma Grunt. It was bad enough that I looked ridiculous, but I could cope with a bit of embarrassment. Sure, I had a bit of a thing for her, but her laughing at me wouldn't hurt my chances there at all. But if she thought I was a member of Team-fucking-Magma,nothing good would happen.
Maybe she'd confront me about it, and the Aqua Grunt would get away. Maybe she'd tell someone, and my cover would be blown. Or maybe she'd just hold me in complete contempt.
Her family had only moved to Hoenn a little while ago, so maybe she wouldn't recognise the Team Magma uniform. I could tell her I was at, oh, I don't know, a fancy dress party in the woods. Fuck. No, that wouldn't work. She was intelligent enough to pay attention to current events. She'd know the uniform for what it was.
And then the issue was no longer an issue, because the Aqua Grunt finally arrived. He burst around the corner, and began sprinting towards Patrick and May.
He was wearing the trademark uniform of Team Aqua - light blue trousers adorned with white markings, and a black and white shirt. And a bandana. He was basically dressed like a cartoon pirate. He looked utterly ridiculous.
As soon as I had that thought, I self-consciously remembered what I was wearing, right down to the red hood which had a fetching pair of pointy ears. Ugh.
"You! Devon researcher! Hand over that briefcase!"
I sunk my head into my hands, zoning out from the scene on the road. This was all wrong. Damnit, May. Why did you have to turn up now, of all times?
After all the effort I'd put into setting this trap, I couldn't spring it. Ugh. Right. No.
Out on the road, things were getting interesting. May had pulled out a pokeball. I pulled myself together. This would be fine. I'd just watch what happened. If she won the battle, the situation might still be salvageable.
The confrontation with an Aqua Grunt had been in the mission briefing, but that's why this farce was happening. I'd plotted out a way to lure one out, where I could send him running with a few bruises and bring the prize to my new superiors in Team Magma. This infiltration plot had seemed easy at first. Unfortunately, getting recruited had been the only easy part. Rising through the ranks was going to be harder.
The briefcase in Patrick's hand was the important part. If May ran the Grunt off, I could just have Patrick give it to me. If she didn't manage to - damn it. The Grunt had been assigned to this mission all by himself. That meant Archie had either deemed it vitally important and put a special member on the job, or that he thought it was just a throwaway chore for some no-name rookie. Going by his standard Grunt uniform and how young he looked, I figured it was just a rookie member. Hardly a threat to any seasoned Pokemon trainer.
Fine, I said to myself. I resolved to step in if it looked like May was in danger. A part of me wouldn't let go of the nagging worry that she'd be hurt. I remembered that she'd only been a trainer for a short time. Less than a month, in fact.
I pushed those feelings away. She'd never have a chance to grow as a trainer if I tried to fight her battles for her, and she damn well wouldn't appreciate me playing at being a hero and trying to save her when she didn't need it. I suppose that a part of me wanted to show off in front of my cute new neighbour by chasing off the deadbeat Grunt, but I ignored that petty desire. Any brownie points I earned by doing that would be taken back off by showing up dressed as Team Magma. Besides, this was supposed to be a covert mission, not showboating.
The Aqua Grunt threw his pokeball to the ground, snarling some vague promise about how easily he was going to win. Pretty much as soon as I heard him say that, I relaxed, confident that May would kick his ass.
A Poochyena burst out of the ball, and howled loudly to announce its presence. Not to any Pokemon, because May still hadn't released hers, but more to itself. Howling helped to raise its spirit, psyching itself up, ready to attack.
The Poochyena must have been a vicious little bastard, trained to work itself into a frenzy. It ran back and forth in what was supposed to be a threatening display. It might have worked on an older Poochyena, or been impressive from a Mightyena, but from this little thing it just looked as if he was chasing his tail.
I noticed the smile on May's face. She'd obviously been thinking the same thing. I hoped she wouldn't underestimate it for looking ridiculous, though. That level of aggression from a Pokemon before it even has an opponent is worrying. Yet another black mark against Team Aqua - the savage way they train their Pokemon.
May tossed her pokeball in the air, shouting the name of her Pokemon.
"Go, Srira!" she cried.
I recognised the name. It was the only Pokemon of hers which I'd actually seen - her Torchic. I wasn't there when my dad gave it to her, but he'd told me the story. A Poochyena had been trying to sink its teeth into him, and May had come by at the right moment. She'd borrowed a Torchic from my dad's dropped rucksack, and bonded with it instantly, managing to knock that Poochyena into the dirt and win her first Pokemon battle.
Well, then. That was certainly a good precedent. Now that she'd had a chance to train Srira up a bit, I was eager to see what the Torchic would do against another, stronger Poochyena.
But as the light of the pokeball coalesced into Srira, my jaw dropped in shock. I wouldn't be seeing that, after all.
I'll be damned.
Her starter Pokemon had already evolved, in less than a month. A young Combusken stood before us, still covered in the redder, downier feathers of a Torchic, but with the distinct shape of a Combusken in fine health - right down to the two strong legs the species was known for.
Srira leapt into the air, and the Poochyena charged forward. They met almost perfectly in the middle of their impromptu arena, frozen in position for a split-second with Srira's clawed foot driven deep into the Poochyena's side. And then the tableau shattered, and Srira brought her other foot forward, slamming it into the Poochyena's muzzle in a perfectly executed double-kick.
The Poochyena flew a metre backwards, then ground to a halt on the dusty surface of the road. It struggled to rise for a moment, and then collapsed in a heap. From where I was watching, it looked as if it had disappeared into a clump of tall grass.
"Snapper!" wailed the Aqua Grunt. I snorted in derision at his choice of nickname. Some people were just plain awful at naming their Pokemon.
"This - this doesn't matter, anyway!" the Grunt shouted, bitterly. "We're also after something in Rustboro, so Team Aqua still gets what we want today. You haven't stopped anything here." In a sudden, jerky motion, he recalled his Poochyena and fled.
I watched him run for a moment, laughing inwardly. Some of these Grunts were pathetic. Still, once you went up the ranks a little way, they became a real threat. Combine their numbers and their dangerous leaders, and these Teams suddenly became the biggest danger to modern Hoenn. I shivered, despite the heat of the day. As much as I liked to deride the individual members, they were a force to be reckoned with; less a pair of rival gangs than two utterly insane cults, led by two men opposite in every way save for the treacherous cunning and ruthlessness which they shared.
Dwelling on the threat would do no good. I turned back to May, whose face was lit up with a brilliant smile. Yeah, that battle just decided it. May was exactly my type. I was definitely going to make an effort to catch up to her in Rustboro. The way I saw it, she owed me at least a round of drinks after scuppering my plan.
And Rustboro might be the perfect place to do a little recruiting. Infiltration was only the first step. Dad was right. We needed more people on board to stop Team Aqua and Magma. We needed a Team of our own.
If anyone asks, I'll say we don't have a uniform because we're a covert team, working from stealth. I'll be damned before I have to wear another stupid costume.
They can't make me. I was the boss. I grinned at the thought. Power felt nice. Maybe I'd go mad and take over the world once I've dealt with Magma and Aqua. I laughed, running a few scenarios through my head.
And then I paused. Huh. I knew what I was capable of. I knew what resources were at my disposal. Once I'd dealt with the Teams, I could probably fucking do it.
"Well, now," I muttered to myself. "Won't that be fun?"
I paused, again. Nah. It'd probably be too much hassle.
May and Patrick had walked off while I'd been indulging in megalomania, each heading in opposite directions. I toyed with the idea of running after May, but decided against it. I was still wearing this awful Magma outfit, and it'd be better to find her in Rustboro than jump out at her in the woods.
But I could solve one of my problems.
I pulled the Magma hoodie over my head, and tore the rest of the outfit away until I stood in nothing but a pair of light cotton trousers.
Even though they were the same black Magma ones, they weren't so bad once the rest of the costume was off. I took my socks and shoes off for good measure, and stuffed the whole lot into my bag.
Now shirtless, I set off into the depths of the woods. I could probably find a shorter way through the woods than the winding path which the road took.
As I walked away, I raised my hands above my head and clapped twice. Right on cue, my Treecko leapt off the branch overhead he'd been sitting on, and jumped into my hands. He wasn't half bad, for such a little menace.
I really had to think of a good name for him soon. He deserved a better one than I could think of.