The Secret of Earth and Sky
Chapter 3: Detoured
Drew looked at the TV all over again at the Pokemon Center for the rerun of the Contest. How could May tell Beautifly without actually talking? The question lingered when he immediately saw May in her usual polo shirt and biker shorts coming out with Dawn. Dawn was proudly looking at her niece and was standing only a few inches away from Drew.
"I guess I have to leave you now," Dawn sadly looked at May. "Paul is getting a bit too overhand for Barry, and Marley, so I have to go back and deal with the issue."
"I hope you do well with your Champion Title and all." May looked at her idol.
"Now Goodbye."
May and Dawn both walked out to the front of the Pokemon Center. Taking out her Staraptor, Dawn quickly mounted and nodded at her niece, and took off. May saw the last of the two when someone else left the Pokemon Center.
"So, your aunt left now, right?"
"Yep, that's right, Drew."
She turned around to see that her guess was correct.
"Where are you going now?"
"Dewford, of course!" Drew brushed his hair to the side again.
"Wow, that's my next Gym Battle!" May jumped excitedly.
"Wait, you're a Trainer, too?" Drew wore a surprised look. "I was expecting that, judging by the way you battled me at the Contest."
"Why not? Anyways, I'm going right now. And… you want to come with me? I might need some help if someone asks me for a tag battle."
"Um… Sure. Why not?" Drew brushed his hair again. "But we're not friends. We're rivals, remember?"
"I know that! Just come along!" May turned around to avoid him. "I guess I'll have to send my Bike back to Dad."
"What happened to it?" Drew suddenly became worried for no particular reason.
"Yesterday evening I found it burned to crisp. I don't know how it happened but it's not good at all. Anyways, can we go yet?"
May walked aimlessly alongside Drew in the vast forest as a flock of Altaria soared overhead. She was used to being outdoors, for Norman would usually take her on camping trips with Max and Mom. She had nothing to be afraid of, either.
May had wanted to be a Coordinator and Trainer from the very start, so she kept herself influenced in the web of Gym Leaders and Champions Norman would invite to the house, most notably Maylene. The Sinnoh Gym Leader would spend the summer hours helping May learn martial arts every year. Every gym leader she was acquainted with taught her something.
"So, I heard you're a Gym Leader's daughter."
May turned to face the emerald haired boy.
"Yes. Yes I am."
"Dawn's your aunt?"
"Yep."
"Wow. You must have a very talented family… unlike you…"
"Are you saying that I am not?!"
"Whoa! May, you get angry so easily, do you?"
May pulled her face away from him.
"Sorry." She apologized flatly. Drew smirked and kept walking.
A Furret sitting on a rock looked at the new visitors. It quickly chattered about and leaped away in some sort of fright. May noticed the action, but then she felt a low rumbling. May then stopped, causing Drew to look back at her.
"What are you doing May?" Drew looked at her with confusion as she quickly bent down into a defensive stance and looked around.
"Something isn't right…" She muttered, but Drew looked at her in disbelief. Apparently, her senses were much sharper than his, for she could distinctly feel the increasing rumble, but couldn't.
"Well, you're just being crazy," Drew continued in a sarcastic tone and continued to walk, but May looked straight at him with a determined look.
"Drew! Stop!"
"What do you mea- Whoaaaa!" Drew flailed his arms about as the ground began to shake under him and May. May fumbled in her backpack for something when the crack that was making it's way around the two was finally completed, and the floor collapsed.
Drew felt himself falling into pitch black but someone shouted String Shot and caught his hand. Still hanging onto the hand, he groped around for something to hold and then felt something hard below him. Stepping gently down on the surface, he tried his best to see his rescuer, but it was still pitch black. Then a light illuminated from above his head and then the whole room.
It was not really a room, but a cavern with an everlasting wall with no ceiling. A Beautifly fluttered down to be returned to May again. Drew looked at her in disbelief again.
"How can you actually do that?"
"Do what?" May spoke calmly.
"I mean, actually catch me when I fall? Are you a ninja who can see in the dark or something?"
"No, I just felt something fall behind me when I was taking out Beautifly to help me safely to the bottom," May answered flatly. "I wasn't planning on catching you."
"That's very thoughtful."
"I did my best, okay? At least you're in one piece."
RUMBLE!
A great deal of rumbling sounded throughout the cavern, and the two grabbed hold of the wall for support. May looked at a holed arch opposite them with curiosity.
"I think the sound's coming from that way…" May cautiously approached the arch and found nothing dangerous. Then she motioned to Drew. "Come on!"
The two broke into a run down the stony halls that were so dimly lit.
BOOM!
"This sounds like a machine drilling through the walls," May muttered. "And it's getting louder, too."
"Whoa-"
May had jerked Drew behind a boulder. She herself could not believe what she saw. It was indeed a drilling machine, but actually three of them. Strange red-hooded (not to mention the little devil horns that stuck out) people were at the controls of the machine as they lifted the levers to bore several holes in the wall. May looked around to see a cluster of those hooded people. Apparently the women wore a miniskirt and the men wore red pants. But one the women sported a long red cape that draped to her heels. Her eyes were totally obstructed by the shadow of the hood over her face. Her hair was tucked away behind the folds of the hood.
May's eyes flitted from the cluster to the machines in wonder. What are these people doing? She then saw something at the back of the machines. The battery pack! If she could pull it out, she could shut down that machine and halt the project, or whatever they were doing.
May suddenly told Drew to be quiet and then leapt swiftly behind another boulder closer to the machines. The drilling noise was unbearable, but she persisted on going. Silently taking out Torchic, she was about to direct it to melt the metal battery, but then she hesitated. If she did it too loudly, then they would hear her, and see her… but that was the surprise part.
"Torchic, use Fire Blast!"
"Tor… chiiiic!"
The little orange bird tossed an immense ball of fire and overheated not only one, but all three of the machines. The drills immediately stopped whirring, and the drivers looked about to see the cause. The red-caped lady looked immediately at May and approached her as the Grunts backed away. Drew, still hiding behind the boulder, painfully watched May as she looked triumphantly at the broken machines, but not the approaching woman. He wanted to yell, but wouldn't that blow his cover? It didn't matter. They'd find him after they finish her off.
"May! Behind you!" He yelled, but he gasped in shock when the Grunts began running to him.
May spun around and saw the caped woman taking a Pokeball out. A little smirk spread across her face.
"You think that you can get away with this, don't you?" The lady slyly circled May as she and Torchic were ready to fight.
"Who are you, and what are you doing with this wall?!" May growled under her breath. She wasn't noticing the little fight Drew was getting into. She remained focused upon the mystery woman.
"Nothing you want to be concerned about," the lady remained calm. "Now why don't you leave quietly?"
"I will when I get the answer!"
"Hotheaded. Just like me when I was younger." The lady chuckled. "Then let's deal with this the hard way. Go, Ninetails!"
"Torchic, let's go!"
"Ninetails, Fire Blast on those two."
May quickly picked up her Pokemon and leaped high into the air to dodge the flames. She landed softly onto the ground again and looked at the lady.
"Torchic, Fire Blast, too."
The streaming flames hot straight at the fox, but then it stopped and spread into different directions, enveloping Ninetails into a large fireball that became smaller. Then the fireball exploded, leaving a fainted Ninetails on the floor. The lady looked remorsefully at her fallen Pokemon and looked back at May.
"And such a great Battler, too."
"Commander Karen! We need to go! Archie's sent a transporter back to Headquarters!"
One of the Grunts clutched his arm along with the other wounded Grunts piling into a vehicle. Drew, panting from the battle, was looking angrily as Karen ran quickly to the transporter as well. She then looked back at May with an angry look, but as the vehicle began to drive away through the tunnel, Karen seemed to be wearing a grin on her face.
"Drew, you all right?"
"Yeah. Almost got hit on the head by a Graveler." Drew rubbed his emerald hair and then looked around the tavern again. "So how do we get out of here?"
May pulled out a brown coil of rope and held it out to him.
"Here you go!" Nurse Joy handed the two their Pokeballs. "All healed and ready!"
"Hmmm…." May pondered on her next Gym Battle as she sat down on a couch. "I guess I'll have to improvise again…"
Drew sat down beside her.
"You should watch the TV," He pointed to it. "Your aunt's in a battle. Wonder who's battling her this time."
The two turned around to watch. It seemed more of a Contest Battle, between Dawn and… Lucas.
"Hey, it's Master Coordinator Lucas!" Drew and May exclaimed at the same time. May had always recalled Lucas as Dawn's ex-boyfriend, for she remembered the time when May and her family came to visit Dawn's villa and she was busily moping about their breakup and stuff…
"It must be really tough for the both of them," May remarked. "It's only been three months since they broke up."
"Since when were they a couple?" Drew looked at her. "Do you read tabloids?"
"No, I just get involved in family relationships." May continued, but she was mostly focused on how each Coordinator's strategy contrasts to the other in battle.
