Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable characters.
What Started as Just Another Day...
Tabitha groaned inwardly as he walked through Team Magma's secret base, heading for the boss's office. It wasn't even 10:30 yet, and already he'd been summoned to appear before Maxie, according to the grunt who'd had the gall to enter his office without knocking. At first, he'd been really annoyed, but when the grunt relayed the boss's orders for him, he grew concerned. When he asked why the boss wanted to see him so early, all the grunt would say was that it had something to do with his and Courtney's fight the previous evening. At that, Tabitha groaned loudly. Why couldn't everyone just forget about that? What had started out as just a simple discussion, had quickly dissolved into a screaming match that had all the grunts rushing out into the corridor to see what was going on. It ended with an extremely furious Maxie standing between the two commanders demanding to know who started it. The ensuing finger-pointing and childish name-calling did nothing but make the Team Magma leader even more furious, while the grunts stood around, watching the unfolding drama in shocked and horrified disbelief. Maxie turned to the grunts, and told them, in no uncertain words, to clear out. Naturally, they obeyed very quickly, tripping over themselves in their haste to leave the scene. Maxie then turned to his commanders and told them that they would further discuss the issue in his office first thing in the morning.
Now, it was time to face the wrath of the Team Magma leader. 'No matter,' Tabitha thought, 'it shouldn't be too hard to convince Maxie that I'm innocent.' After all, since when did his experience with women have anything to do with the possible location of Groudon. During their discussion, which had centered around the legendary Groudon, and where Team Magma might find it, Courtney had implied that Tabitha had no experience with women on a personal level. Tabitha had fired back, implying the same about Courtney, and things went downhill from there. Of course, Tabitha would never admit to Courtney that she was wrong on that count. He sighed as memories of Elizabeth flooded his mind. He had no intentions of mentioning her to anyone within Team Magma. EVER! Especially the first and only date, if you could even call it that, they'd ever had.
They'd met at an off-campus college party. Elizabeth was 23, and the richest student on campus, as well as the most beautiful, according to Tabitha's roommate. The daughter of an aristocrat, she was studying fashion design. Tabitha was 19, came from a lower middle-class family, and had no idea what he was going to do with his life. Although he was studying geology and technology, he had yet to declare a major. He knew he would have to soon, but he didn't know what to major in. Tabitha's roommate was the one who'd convinced him to go to the party in the first place. When he got there, Tabitha realized that the only person there he recognized was Elizabeth. She stood in a corner, looking around. When she saw him, she smiled and approached slowly, looking relieved. "It's nice to see a familiar face," she said gently. She held out her hand and said, "I know we haven't been formally introduced. My name's Elizabeth." Tabitha reached out and took her hand. "I'm Tabitha," he said. They stayed together the rest of the night. At one point, they walked along the beach, talking about their studies, their lives, and their plans for the future.
After awhile, they realized that they had to get back to the party. By that time, most of the kids were sleeping wherever they'd found room. By chance, Tabitha and Elizabeth found an unoccupied room and spent the night there. When Tabitha awoke, he realized that Elizabeth was gone and that he'd made a really big mistake.
They'd never so much as spoke after that night. Two weeks after the party, Elizabeth transferred to another school in the Sinnoh region. Not long after that, Tabitha dropped out of collage, and joined an ambitious man named Maxie. Now, almost ten years later, he was Team Magma's field commander. 'Although probably not for too much longer after last night.' Tabitha started when he realized that he was already at the door to Maxie's office. Hesitantly, he knocked on the heavy wood door. The expected reply was quick in coming. Slowly, Tabitha walked through the door and assessed the scene. Maxie was sitting behind his desk, while Courtney was standing in front of the desk, and to Maxie's right, looking as nervous and unsure as Tabitha felt. As soon as, Tabitha closed the door, Maxie instructed them to sit down. He then proceeded to lecture them about the importance of setting a good example for the grunts, and how vitally important teamwork is, especially for the commanders. After going on for some time, he then informed them that for their punishment, they'd be working together on inventory – for the next month!
Tabitha and Courtney shared a horrified look, but they didn't say a word. They knew that anything they said at that time would just make things worse for them. It was then that Maxie stood up and said, "you both start on the inventory sheets this evening. That is all. Courtney, you may go. Tabitha, I need to have a further talk with you."
After Courtney had left, Maxie told Tabitha to gather several grunts and head out to a mountainous region where some ancient ruins could be found that might have some connection to Groudon. Maxie told his field commander, "I want you to leave within the hour." Tabitha nodded. "Yes, sir!," he said, and left to round up a good-sized group of grunts.
Meanwhile, in the ruins, a young girl enshrouded in a black hooded cloak, with a shiny mightyena by her side, was looking over what was to be her next "home." 'Six months! Six miserable months!,' She thought to herself, forlornly. Six months ago to the day, the girl's mother and her mother's fiancee, shipped her over to the Hoenn region from Sinnoh. They'd explained to her that it was time for her to began her pokemon journey. She had been very confused to say the least.
"Tomorrow is a very big day for you," her mother had said. "That's the day you set off for Hoenn to began your long journey with pokemon." The 8-year old girl, with dark eyes and dark hair just looked at her mother as if she'd gone crazy. "But, Mother," the girl protested, "I thought that I couldn't start my pokemon journey until I turned ten!" A tall, thin, muscular man entered the room and glared at the girl, "You listen to your mother or else!," Brent snarled, in the harsh way he always spoke to her. Right from the beginning, he'd made it quite clear that he didn't like her at all. One day, not long after he'd gotten engaged to Elizabeth, he'd taken her daughter aside and informed her that there was no way he was going to raise another man's child. Especially an illegitimate child. Now, three months later, they were shipping her off alone, despite her young age. "B-but, what about my birthday?," she'd asked, "how are we going to be together if I'm in a different region?" Her mother smiled reassuringly, and said, "you don't need to worry about that. Just call us at home from a pokemon center, and we'll fly out to see you and spend the day with you. And don't worry. You'll make a bunch of friends, both human and pokemon."
So far, her experiences as a trainer had led her to conclude that pokemon training was a solo and lonely affair. Except for the pokemon she had caught, she hadn't made any friends at all. Sometimes, she wished for some human companionship. Even her birthday had been a sad and lonely day. As planned, she'd called home from a pokemon center, only to be told by Natalie, the family servant, that her mother and future step-father were already in the Hoenn region. "I'll call them and tell them where to find you," she'd said, after the girl told her where she could be found. She'd spent the rest of the day at the center, waiting in vain for her family to show up. They never did. In the end, she'd spent the day with her pokemon. That was two days ago, and she had yet to hear from her family. In truth, she wasn't expecting to hear from her mother ever again. She figured that her mother had sent her to Hoenn just so that Brent would finally marry her. After all, they'd been engaged for over two years. She could tell that her mother loved Brent by the way she looked at him. As for her, she'd never been shown any kind of affection by her mother. She knew that she was nothing more than a painful reminder of the night of a certain party, and the worst mistake that her mother had ever made. Elizabeth and Brent had made sure that she never forgot that fact by reminding her constantly, along with the fact that she looked a lot like her father. Now, two days past her ninth birthday, the girl, who'd taken the name Amanda, since her mother had never bothered to name her, wandered aimlessly through the ruins. When she reached the lowest level, she sat down in a corner, pulled her knees to her chest, buried her face in her knees, and started sobbing. Her loyal mightyena curled up by her side, watching over her protectively.
At first glance, the ruins didn't look like much to Tabitha. But, still, he had his orders. He commanded his underlings to split up in groups of two, and sent them into the ruins to look for Groudon. 'Hopefully this time, Team Aqua won't show up,' he thought to himself, 'or that kid with the pikachu and his friends.' That kid was so annoying. Tabitha didn't know if all kids were that annoying, or if it was just that one kid. He had no experience with kids.
Two of the female grunts were walking side by side towards the lowest level, having decided to start there and work their way up. The grunt with almost teal colored hair looked over at her purple-haired teammate, and said "do you think we'll find anything this time?" The purple haired grunt just shrugged. "Who knows?," was her only response. As they got closer to the lowest level, they heard a sound coming from the area they were going to explore. "What's that?," the teal haired Team Magma member asked. "I have no clue," her companion replied as they got closer to the room where the noise was coming from.
When they reached the furthest room on the lowest level, where the source of the sound was, they found a young child curled up in a far corner, sobbing quietly, with a brown and gold colored mightyena curled up beside them. The sight of the child sitting there alone was heartbreaking. As they approached the distraught child, the mightyena lifted it's head and growled threateningly. "Take it easy," the purple-haired grunt said soothingly, "we're not going to hurt your trainer."
Amanda had been sitting there crying and feeling extremely sorry for herself, when she heard her mightyena growl and a female's voice. With effort, she stopped crying. "W-who a-are y-you?," she stammered, unsure of the woman's intentions.
The Team Magma members recoiled in shock at her words. 'She thinks we're going to hurt her!,' the purple-haired grunt thought horrified. Slowly, keeping a wary eye on the mightyena, the two Magma grunts stepped up to the girl, and knelt down in front of her. The girl's mightyena watched the two very closely. "So, where are your parents?," the teal haired grunt asked, thinking, 'surely this girl is way too young to be out here all alone.'
Amanda sniffed and said, "my mom and her fiancee are somewhere in the Sinnoh region, and I don't know where my real dad is. I never met him." At that, she looked up at the two women, who were wearing really odd costumes, like they were going to some kind of weirdo gathering or something.
The two Team Magma members stared at the girl's face in shock and bewilderment. They shared a shocked look. After all, their field commander had never mentioned having a kid, or even the possibility. And yet, here was a girl who looked very much like Tabitha. After a few moments, the purple-haired grunt told her companion to stay with the girl for a minute, before she walked a few feet away to contact Tabitha. She was so rattled by the unexpected revelation, that she forgot to use the proper protocol for radio contact.
"Uh, sir? I'm on the lowest level of the ruins. I think you'd better get down here. We have a serious issue."