DISCLAIMER: I own Pokemon and all of Nintendo! Bow before me! Muaha ha ha ha... okay, I don't really.
(Yawns) I guess I should apologize most humbly for the (frankly horrifying) wait. I don't like waits, really. You spend 33.45 percent of your time sitting in class wondering what happens next, 40.35 percent busily checking your e-mail for an alert, and the rest silently cursing at the author for being such a slowpoke. Uh. But anyway, new story, new rules, so be grateful. Also note that, since the Pokemon anime makes no references, I'll be setting the date here to present day. That's 2008, although most of the prologue occurs in 2007.
OrbHunt
Prologue Part 1 - Team Magma Headquarters, Unknown location
If someone were to stare into the window set proudly near the top of the Magma building, they would be forgiven for mistakenly believing that the red-and-black-cowled figure standing there was a curiously placed mannequin, perhaps to display the latest trends in the team's undoubtedly very shallow fashion department. Making the imagery more believable was the deceivingly elegant face underneath the hood, eyes hidden underneath pitch black sunglasses, which never so much as moved a muscle for the entire time it stood there.
It was not often that you would see this particular woman partaking in silent brooding. She was a firm believer in the value of action, not idle talk and dreaming away the day. This situation differed in that unlike where problems could be solved with a mere practical application of her talents, this was a case of her being unable to exercise those capabilities.
Her unique uniform was not merely for show - she had earned the right through tireless service to the organization since the early days when Magma still battled many and varied opponents for dominance over the Hoenn region. In her career she had seen the complete destruction of minor teams such as the crafty Team Perditio and belligerent Team Hollow, and had even seen the expulsion of the nefarious giants Team Rocket from their branch near Rustboro City. By the time she had finished her work the only major team left that could challenge Magma's dominance was Team Aqua - oddly appropriate, if somewhat enraging. Recently, though, her work had been seeing declines in its frequency, and she still had yet to determine why that was. She suspected that there were those in the management of Magma that distrusted her, but she couldn't definitively prove that...
A quiet knock interrupted her musings. She was tempted for a brief moment to tell the messenger to go to hell, but she held it with an effort.
"Permission to enter?" came a gruff voice from outside the door.
"Permission granted," she replied, keeping her irritation coloring her words.
The door slid open on well-oiled rails. The man standing behind it came in with a quick bow.
"It's a message from Maxie, ma'am."
"Go ahead."
He paused momentarily to gather his thoughts. "He wishes to hold a council presentation."
"And the topic of the meeting is...?"
"He told me only that it was some kind of mad scientist thinking he could make a Groudon. You'll understand he was stifling a laugh at the time."
"Mad, indeed..." she pondered. Then she turned back to the window. "When is it?"
"Sixteen-thirty," he answered.
"Very well. Inform Maxie that I will be along in ten minutes."
He retreated from his bow. "Actually, ma'am, he wanted to see you now."
Her hand twitched. Perhaps this man was new blood? "Leave. I will see him when I want to see him."
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but Maxie outranks you, so I must insist that you leave with me."
How dare this man try to order her around? Face contorting into an irate scowl, she whirled on her feet and strode right up to him, pulling off her sunglasses as she did so. The man froze as she glared at him with sanguine irises, making no secret of her anger.
"I," she enunciated. "Will. See. Him. When. I. Wish. To." She pulled back slightly, sensing the man coming to close to lashing out from fear. "Best to do as I ask. You wouldn't want to lose your arm so soon after joining Magma, would you?"
The man blanched, confirming her suspicions. Suitably intimidated, he turned around and left the same way he came, shutting the door behind him.
The reinforced double doors of the council chamber opened at her approach. The noise of a few dozen councilors greeted her, as well as a wonderfully cool, air conditioned environment, a welcome break from the stuffy air of her suite.
A figure made several frantic and angry hand signals to her from the other side of the balcony. Maxie. She didn't need any binoculars to know that he was pissed.
"I hope you have a good reason to try and disobey my orders," Maxie growled warningly, tapping his watch as soon as she was within four metres. "I send a perfectly acceptable request and this coward here returns to me babbling that you came close to knifing him."
She took up her seat beside him and flashed him a disdainful look. "Well, then, the next time there is a meeting like this perhaps you ought to send a goddamned message beforehand. Then I might consider it."
Maxie's glare intensified. "Count your blessings you are not already being personally escorted out the front gates with that attitude."
She laughed and turned back to the centre of the hall, where a group of grunts were being directed by a man in a flamboyant white suit and sporting an equally flamboyant purple hairdo into setting up some sort of teardrop-shaped device. "We both know that won't happen. I'm too good to expel."
The grunts in the depression had finished setting up the larger device and were starting on two smaller ones on either side. One of them had placed a green square sheet on the opposite side of the depression.
"Hey, you."
She turned her head. "What?"
"You know what this is about, don't you?"
"Oh, just something about a mad scientist trying to generate a Groudon."
"Yes!" Maxie punched the air in delight. "I can't wait to humiliate him! He'll be eating dirt for the rest of his days here at Magma."
"So he's been here for a while?" she asked, surprised.
"Yes. His name is Butler. He wouldn't give his first name. He came here a few days ago, and when he'd told us his plan, we made a deal with him that in exchange for providing a vast amount of electricity, he'd make for us a 'living, breathing Groudon, right in front of our eyes'. I haven't laughed that hard in years."
She frowned. "So, why wasn't I informed?"
"It's on a need-to-know basis. That was part of our agreement."
Her index finger curled around her shade rims. It was a comfort thing.
Maxie's eyes suddenly lit up. "Look, he's starting!" Then he frowned. "Where is my voice modulator?"
She regarded Butler again, who was standing proudly holding up a glass capsule of some kind.
"Esteemed council of Team Magma!" he began, voice unnaturally loud. "Observe this fossilized remnant of Groudon!"
Her brows rose in mild surprise. A fossil of Groudon?
"I have invented a device that would generate a living, breathing Groudon, right here, right now, from this one small piece!"
Butler certainly seemed confident. The assassin watched as he strode over to the larger of the three machines, and saw him gently place the fossil inside. Then he went over to a small control panel alongside it.
"I give you... a Groudon!" And then he pulled the lever.
The effect was immediate. The capsule with the fossil glowed a furious red, as did the top of the machine it resided in. Then a red lightning bolt shot from the top to the other smaller devices, and finally focused on the green sheet laid down earlier.
She couldn't see exactly what suddenly appeared where the lightning was focusing ("Why the hell did Maxie have to sit up here?" she muttered) but she knew for certain that it was black... and it was growing.
Then something – everything - went horribly wrong.
Several massive waves of sparks erupted from the three machines in a way that was clearly not intended by Butler, if his gasp of shock and horror was any indication. A particularly large spark blew out the base of the larger machine, and with sickening crack it crashed onto the floor, spouting masses of debris into the spotlight.
Butler shielded himself with his arm from the ensuing tide of smoke. When it had cleared, he desperately checked back to see what was left of his machine.
It wasn't a pretty sight. The three devices were lying in smoking heaps of charred metal, twisted, useless. The only thing that still seemed to be in one piece was the Groudon fossil, which was still slowly fading back to its original colour.
The small black lump on the green mat dissipated with a feeble puff of smoke.
"So that's a living, breathing Groudon?" Maxie taunted, nearly causing the woman to jump at how voluminous his modified voice sounded. "I must say, it's not quite as big as I had imagined!"
Butler growled in frustration. "I need a more powerful energy source to spark the regeneration process!"
"Enough of your mumbo jumbo!"
Butler gasped again in indignation, and then growled again as he threw himself forward onto his knees next to the fossil, snatching it up. It was still much too hot to touch, though, as the humiliated man winced in pain and let it fall from his grasp again. The audience laughed.
"We'll find Groudon ourselves!" Maxie declared. "You're no longer welcome at Team Magma!"
"That's just fine!" Butler snarled, almost more to himself than Maxie. He snatched up the fossil again and ignored the heat singing his palms as he stared at it. "This isn't the last you'll hear from me!" he screamed. Staring at his fossil for a moment longer, he then stood and swept a glare at the rows of smirking councilors. Finally, with a contemptuous "Hmph!" he strode furiously out of the hall.
It didn't take long before the room was filled with bouts of raucous laughter. The gales continued for a few moments at Butler's expense before, realising there was nothing more to see, the viewers gradually began to stand up and file out of the room. Maxie and the assassin left through a side exit instead of using the public route.
"Well, that was fun, wasn't it?" Maxie said, completely full of himself. "You should have seen the look on his face when I said 'Mumbo Jumbo'..."
She was paying no attention to him. Maxie was so divulged into his 'work', he hadn't bothered to see if it had yielded results. And it had - but the problem - well, only Butler knew what the problems were.
"I need a more powerful energy source to spark the regeneration process!"
That was what he'd said. Did that mean the Magma base couldn't provide enough power? And if not, what could?
"Maxie," she said, causing the Magma head honcho to pause in his gloating. "May I pay this Butler a visit myself?"
He raised an eyebrow. "For what purpose?"
"Because..." She considered her next words. It wouldn't do to say 'I want to ask if I could help him'. Maxie would fly into a rage. So she smiled. "I'd like to give him a piece of my mind." That was easy, wasn't it? And she wasn't even lying.
Maxie grunted with dissatisfaction. "A pity. I was hoping you'd be around to see him kicked out of Magma... but I guess that's alright."
She gave him a small bow. "Thank you, sir."
He waved a hand dismissively. "Get going then! His quarters are on floor B room 86."
She turned on her foot and ran in the opposite direction.
Room 86 was a fitting place for someone of Butler's reputation - they were always going to get fired sooner or later. Usually sooner. It even happened to be right beside a noisy generator room, as if to further hammer home those who stayed there were not welcome at Magma for long.
She pressed a button on the pad next to the door and waited. A few seconds later the intercom crackled to life and Butler's voice came through.
"Go away," he snapped.
"I haven't even said why I'm here yet," she said, amused. Men. So quick to anger.
A snort from Butler. "Fine. What do you want?"
"Your project might not be the failure Maxie believes it to be."
There was a pause. Apparently, he had not been expecting that answer. "So you are here because?"
"I want to help."
"And how do I know you're not just using this as an excuse to open the door?"
"You won't."
"Then why should I let you in?"
"Because you won't know what I have to say untile then."
There was a short silence before the door made several latching noises and creaked open. Butler, still dressed in his coat, glared through the crack, an annoyed expression plastered over his face.
She cocked an eyebrow. "Good eve-"
"Spare me," he barked. "I don't need theatrics."
She paused briefly, savouring the irony of a man with purple hair and a circus dress complaining about theatrics. "May I come in?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
She crossed her arms. "This may take time to explain. It is either in your room, or not at all. You can trust me."
He narrowed his eyes at her, still not placing the slightest hint of trust in her at all. But then he beckoned silently for her to come in.
She sat down in one of the plush chairs beside the table on one side of the room. Butler instead sat down on the bed opposite.
He crossed his arms. "Alright, you're inside. Now get on with it."
"Your project was to try and 'create' a Groudon, was it not?"
"'Try'?" he seethed. "You're just like the rest of them."
"Don't test my patience," she said coldly. She composed herself. "I wasn't wrong. You tried, and you failed. And I take it you know the obstacle that is stopping you?"
"Were you at the show? Then you already know that I need more power to do it. And there's my problem. I can't seem to find a big enough power source."
"How much would you need?"
"I don't know precisely."
"Hypothesize."
"Why does it matter to you? Will you even understand what I'm about to tell you?"
She bared her teeth. "Remember my warning, Butler. And if you care about me that much, put it into relative terms I can understand."
The crow's feet creased Butler's forehead. "If you've ever heard of Project Castle Bravo, I'm talking about that level of energy."
She flashed a weak smile. "You came to us thinking we could produce that?"
He crossed his arms. "I could think of no better means to that than one of the most powerful organizations in Hoenn."
She raised a brow. "Fair enough, though it's a bit late for flattery. Could you even make a device that could handle that amount of energy? Your little mousetraps in the showroom blew up at the slightest touch."
"Of course I could." Butler sounded pensive. "I have my ways of acquiring designs of the large scale. A particular blueprint I was toying with came from an entrepreneur in Kanto who designed a machine capable of holding the legendary bird trio. It didn't take too much modifying for me to convert it into being able to expel energy rather than gather and dissipate it. All it took was reversing the polarity of much of the capacitor banks it had and-"
"Okay, I get it." And he's a techie too. Good riddance. "I might have some solutions."
Butler's head perked. "What?"
She leaned in closer to his ear. "There is something with that kind of power. All for free. A celestial body that can be seen in our skies for seven days only, once every thousand years. It is called the Millenium Comet. I take it that you've heard of it?"
"Sure. I heard about it whe-"
"Do you know what the legendary Pokemon Jirachi's connection with it is?"
Butler halted mid-syllable. "No?"
She leaned back and reclined in her seat. "Legend states that Jirachi, after awakening from its thousand-year slumber, would infuse the landscape surrounding its home, Forina, with incalculable amounts of energy, all from the Millenium Comet itself. I'm sure there will also be plenty of open spaces where Groudon can stay when you form it. All you must do is find a way to harness the energy, and the world is your Cloyster."
"Why are you telling me all this?" Butler asked, hostility seemingly gone.
She looked at him steadily. "I am telling you this because I think that your work may very well be a giant leap for Team Magma. Maxie is blind, so to speak, as are all the councilors who follow him as if he is a god. He's a capable leader, I understand, but he disadvantages himself with his beliefs." She paused for dramatic effect. "That's why I'm helping you now."
His lips tightened. "Does Maxie know you're talking to me?"
"Yes, he does, although he thinks it's more a 'hit'n'run' kind of visit."
"Oh." Butler looked forlorn. "Won't he get suspicious if I see him next and I don't have a scratch on me?"
She arched a brow. "So is that a request for me to hit you, then? I'd be more than happy to-"
He held up his hands quickly. "No, thank you. My dignity's taken enough blows as it is."
Her lips curled into a smile. "Of course. Shall we just say that it was a more verbally based conversation?"
"I'll second that." He grinned, then stood. "Now, I really must start packing. I'll see you when I leave, I guess. Should we keep in touch?"
"We should." She reached into her pocket and drew out a small slip of paper, gesturing for him to take it. "That's the number on my Pokenav. I'm not the sort of person who receives a lot of mail, so I don't check it very often. You may have to wait some time for a response."
Butler observed the small card for a second, then slipped it into his pocket. "Thanks. Now, if you'll excuse me..."
"Of course." Before he could properly usher her out she was outside the doorway.
He nodded once, checked up and down the hallway for any eavesdroppers, and then gently shut the door, leaving her outside.
He will leave tomorrow, she reasoned. I will have to make sure that Maxie does not know of our agreement.
And with those final thoughts thought, she swept on one heel, and started back the way she had come.
Oh, wait, I'm done? I didn't realise it. Never mind. To the faithful reader who has gone out of his or her way to read this pitiful excuse for a story, I have to admit that I can't guarantee regular updates. Sorry in advance. But then, I'm hoping most chapters won't be as long as this one.
Anyway, our favourite heroes (Brendan, May and co.) will not make an appearance until a while later, I presume. Sorry again.
Signing off,
Shaw Fujikawa
