A/N: I decided to upload this early, I'm afraid I'll be a bit busy on Monday. Please enjoy the newest chapter of Oxygen!


Oxygen

By: AriciaBetelguese

Chapter 3: Jagged Pass


Deanna was flying calmly with Altaria over Petalburg Woods. She strained her eyes to look at the greenery below her, just in case if she sees anything, but the plush green trees were as calm as ever.

But then, suddenly, there was a loud screech and Altaria jerked. Luckily it righted itself quickly so Deanna didn't fall off, and Altaria turned around very quickly so that they were facing their assailant.

It was a male Team Ozone member on a Pelipper. Seeing the man, Deanna's anger boiled.

"You—you're—"

"Ah." Said the man. "You recognize us. I suppose you know what we can do, right? Now hand over that letter to me and you and your dear pokémons can get away unscatched."

"I'm not going to." Deanna snarled in anger. "Why should I be afraid of you? You're just one of those hack criminals pretending to be stronger than they are. Now tell me where your hideout is before I decide to blast you out of sky."

"Oh, feisty, aren't we?" the man smirked. "Well, then, let's see how you can do this—Pelipper, water gun!"

"Raichu, thunderbolt!" Deanna immediately ordered, and Raichu did just that—before the Pelipper even had a chance to attack, Raichu's thunderbolt hit it squarely and it wobbled in the air, severely weakened, but not even close to fainting. The man cursed.

"Pelipper, take us away!" he shouted. Deanna opened her mouth to order Raichu to do something, but…

Well what use would it be to her? There was no doubt that the man was just a mere grunt; there would be nothing gained from capturing a Team Ozone grunt. Of course, it would've been a different story had the man been an Ozone admin.

"Well, then, Altaria, let's get on to Rustboro…" she said calmly. Altaria gave a hum and continued to fly.

They touched down in Rustboro, right in front of the Devon Corporation's building, and Deanna was immediately greeted by an unusually serious-looking Mr. Stone. She dismounted Altaria and summoned it back to its pokéball.

"Deanna." The man greeted her. "What brings you here?"

"Dad wants me to deliver a letter, Mr. Stone." Deanna replied, showing him the letter. He smiled.

"Ah, yes."

"Mr. Stone…?" Deanna asked him cautiously. "Uh—I heard that Team Ozone's latest activities—"

"Has begun to interfere with Devon's business, yes." Mr. Stone said. "So now—If you want to talk about it, why don't you come in?"

Deanna smiled at the older man as they entered the door to Devon Corporation's massive building. They went up the stairs which was filled by researchers, and finally reached Mr. Stone's office.

"Please sit down, Deanna."

Deanna did as she was told, feeling uneasy. Mr. Stone looked tired and weary, unlike the man she had met years ago, early on her journey as a trainer.

He was the one who told me to send the letter to Steven…

Mr. Stone sighed and Deanna's attention was drawn back to him.

"Someone seems to be trying to sabotage Devon." He said.

"But that…" Deanna argued. "Who would be trying to sabotage Devon? Devon has no rival, not here in Hoenn. Devon's only rival is Silph Company in Kanto and Johto—"

"And Silph Company has begun to get their stuff stolen too." Mr. Stone said. "Anybody that tried to send anything to either Silph or Devon gets either seriously injured or their pokémons attacked to the brink of death. I don't understand why—we're just doing our best to help pokémons grow—and therefore, help trainers, too."

"You're right…" Deanna said thoughtfully. "Well, this can't go on. If they continue to attack like this—we should evacuate Rustboro—"

"It won't be necessary, I think, Deanna." Mr. Stone chuckled. "The only people attacked were delivery people; I promise I will stop deliveries for a while."

"Well…" she said hesitantly. "If you say so, Mr. Stone. Then I should get going—I have an appointment with Flannery."

"Thank you Deanna. Oh—and if you meet my son Steven, could you please tell him to get somewhere a PokéNav's signal can reach? I need to talk to him."

Deanna smiled. "Of course Mr. Stone. Good afternoon."

She walked out of the luxurious office, down the stairs, and out of the building. The wind blew soothingly at her hair, and she, once again, let Altaria out.

"To Lavaridge, Altaria," she said, and the Humming Pokémon lifted to the sky.


That girl sure is strong.

I have watched her defeat one of my fellow grunt—a single thunderbolt from her Raichu had almost made Pelipper faint. It will be tough to beat her…

But she also seemed rather reckless.

Well, I will still keep watch. I patted my Skarmory and jumped onto the steel bird's back, then we followed her and her Altaria on the beautiful blue sky.


Altaria landed in front of Lavaridge's Gym. Deanna was about to enter straightaway, but just as she headed for the door, Flannery came bursting out.

"Deanna! Just about time, too! I was just about to yell your head off—you're lucky my PokéNav's missing or I'd have blown your ears off—"

"Flannery, calm down." Deanna told the gym leader, amused. "I'm here, so why don't we check Jagged Pass now?"

Flannery grumbled but she nodded, and the two females walked towards the Jagged Pass. They entered, but everything was silent and there was no pokémon in sight.

"Swampert, come on out and accompany me," Deanna murmured as she summoned the Mud Fish Pokémon. "Flannery, you should let someone out, too."

"Well, then; Torkoal, come."

Deanna nodded in approval and they started to walk in together.

There was nothing wrong, except for the fact that all the pokémons in the Jagged Pass seemed to have mysteriously disappeared somewhere. They continued to walk deeper, searching for clues.

"Golem, Rock Slide!"

Deanna let out a surprised shout as rocks suddenly fell from above her—she heard Flannery yell, "Torkoal, Ember!" and then she felt pain.

She dropped to the ground, rock falling around her and clutched her now-bleeding arm. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts—

The rockslide had stopped, and Deanna felt pain at her back—a rock had fallen there. She cursed.

"Swampert," she said through gritted teeth, "Use mud slap."

Her Swampert immediately did so, and through the haze in her eyes she saw the Golem Flannery was battling faint, and a Team Ozone member returning the Golem to its pokéball, then sending out a Wingull. She reached for her arm and pressed at the wound, trying to stop it from bleeding.

Pain shot from her back as she tried to lean on a wall; she remembered that a rock had fallen there and reached back to feel blood streaming down her back. She suppressed a curse; she turned to watch the battle and she saw Swampert looking at her inquiringly.

I can still fight. "Swampert, use water gun!"

Swampert sent a blotch of water towards the Wingull's direction. Wingull staggered but remained on the air, and it sent its own attack of Water Gun towards Torkoal, who immediately fainted.

"Swampert, Muddy Water!"

"Wingull, dodge!"

But the Wingull took the attack and fainted. The grunt sent out a Tropius.

"Tropius, Solar Beam!"

"Swampert—" Deanna gasped, knowing there is no way her Swampert could've survived the attack. Her Swampert might be strong, but it was horribly weak to grass pokémons and their attacks. Sure enough, Swampert had fainted. She immediately withdrew Swampert.

Vulpix is at mother's, Deanna thought desperately. I have no type advantage over Tropius…

"Altaria, go!" she called the blue pokémon. Her Altaria flapped its wings before her, and she ordered, "Dragon Breath!"

Altaria smartly did as it was told, and the Tropius managed to dodge, but barely. Deanna was starting to feel dizzy as she ordered Altaria to do Dragon Claw.

Must be the blood loss, she thought. I have to finish this quickly—

"Vulpix, flamethrower!" came Flannery's voice. Deanna jumped. She had nearly forgotten that Flannery was there.

"Altaria, Dragon Claw again!" she shouted, trying to hold on and suppress the dizziness that threatened to overtake her. She reached out her hand and leant on a fallen rock. She couldn't think anymore; everything felt hazy.

Through the mist in her brain, she heard Flannery's panicked shout of 'Deanna!' but she didn't respond. She couldn't, anyway. All that she could do was hold on so that she wouldn't lose consciousness.

Deanna prayed that Flannery would be strong enough to defeat this Team Ozone grunt.


A/N: So how was it? Don't forget to review, and once again thanks to Meerca for the review~

Aricia