DISCLAIMER: I own not the series that is nameth Pokemon.
Will of Stone
June 28th, 2008
Max breathed in the cool crisp air as the sea breeze buffeted his face. Below him, the water was churning, the boat all the coordinators were on cutting through it in a swathe. Max rubbed his eyes a little to wake himself up. It had been a rough night for him to say the least. It had started at the meeting that Team Rocket had called. Max was practically forced to stand up a give a speech regarding the new battle plan. part of him was mortified but all of the coordinators listened to him intently, and Max felt relatively good about himself regarding the plan. Of course, the meeting lasted for far longer than any of them had anticipated. The addition of Conway was unexpected to Max and so they changed it to having Conway help the perimeter forces while Max and Barry would lead the charge inside. To Max's chagrin, both Team Rocket and Drew joined with them. Zoey would remain outside.
With the long and grueling meeting finished, Max and Barry finally went to their tent to rest…although, Barry wouldn't stop talking. And it was for this reason that Max had stayed up practically all night, until this moment. Team Rocket had woken them up at five to board the ship. Looking at the sight of it, Max was surprised it would be able to get them there quickly. But sure enough, for a boat, it clipped along at a pretty decent speed. It wasn't even noon yet and Max could see Stark Mountain in the distance.
"You ready for this?" Barry asked next to him. Max nodded curtly and Barry flexed his muscles momentarily. "I'm all pumped up for this. There's no way those legendaries are gonna stop us!"
"Just remember that the hostages are the most important Barry." Max scolded him and Barry cocked his head toward the younger trainer.
"Please, I know that." Barry said. "But me and Empoleon will tear through those legendaries like butter!" Max didn't respond, believing it best to simply not say anything to the hyperactive trainer. Instead he took to simply staring ahead at the approaching form of Stark Mountain. Max narrowed his eyes as he thought he saw a shadow flit over the copse around the mountain. Barry seemed to suddenly notice something was wrong with Max. "Uh, Max? What's with you?"
"Nothing good…" Max mumbled before turning away and heading towards the captain's cabin. He knocked lightly on the door before entering to the staring faces of Jessie, James, Meowth and the captain. "Hey."
"What's with you?" James asked and Max walked slightly past him to address the captain directly.
"Captain, how loud would you say this boat is?" Max asked and the captain looked all at sea in his mind with regards to Max's question.
"I'm afraid I don't understand young man. What do you mean by how loud it is?" the captain asked and Max steadied his increasing pattern of breathing before rephrasing his question.
"Okay, if someone were at Stark Mountain right now, could they hear us?" Max asked and the captain smirked before scoffing and shaking his head. Max's eyes narrowed. "What about a Pokemon?"
"Well…that depends…" the captain said, folding his arms as he furrowed his brow in thought. "Each Pokemon has a different radius of hearing though it's entirely possible that a Pokemon could hear this ship if their hearing is especially sharp."
"Not good!" Max said, whipping around toward the door.
"Oy! Little twoip, what's wrong?" Meowth asked and Max turned to him, the scowl on his face partially out of agitation at his nickname.
"Those Pokemon know we're coming!" Max snapped. "As soon as we land they'll probably launch some kind of ambush. We need to be ready as soon as we disembark."
"James and I will take care of that then." Jessie said. "Meowth, you better come to since you'll be helping us and we really don't want to separate." Meowth and James saluted as the three filed out of the room. The captain gave a low whistle and sigh before turning back to the wheel.
"Guess I'll kill the engines soon as we get there." the captain said with a shake of his head. "But don't worry, I know you guys'll need a quick fix once them hostages are free so I'll be ready to go."
"Thanks captain." Max said with a smile before he dashed out of the room himself. Max saw many of the coordinators lining up on the deck in their battle formation while Max ran over to where Barry and Drew were standing around; although, Barry was less standing and more fidgeting.
"Will you calm down already?" Drew asked with an annoyed scowl as Max approached.
"Oh come on! You're not excited? You can't feel it?" Barry said with a wide grin on his face. "This is going to be great! No! Not great! Awesome!" Barry pumped a fist into the air as Drew slapped his forehead.
"Your voice is starting to 'great' on my ears." Drew snarled out but Barry was blissfully unaware, continuing to chatter on. Max turned away from the two to look out over the ocean at Stark Mountain. Max couldn't discern anything else amiss with the area surrounding the mountain but that didn't necessarily mean a thing. Max was brought to his senses by a loud crashing noise where he surprisingly saw Barry in a headlock, Drew having taken him down to the ground.
"Ow! Hey, that hurts! I'm fining you!" Barry exclaimed as Drew rolled his eyes.
"Are you really this stupid or just into yourself?" Drew said. "Shut…up!" Drew finally let go of Barry and straightened his hair out before glaring venomously at the overenthusiastic trainer. "Team Rocket just said that the legendaries might be aware of our arrival so we need to get in formation to be successful. Now you're going around broadcasting our location to the entire Sinnoh region."
"Hey, I'm not the one with some ridiculous green hair." Barry said with a pouting face. Drew just raised his hands to the sky in exasperation.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Drew exclaimed and Barry shrugged.
"Will the both of you shut up already?" Max nearly screamed out, finally grabbing their attention away from their pointless argument. "You two act like children."
"He started it!" Barry accused, pointing a finger at Drew. Drew snorted loudly.
"Yeah, real mature there, pointing fingers." Drew stated with a glare and Max shook his head.
"You two are hopeless. This mission's doomed from the start." Max said, walking a small distance from the two so as to not get tangled up between them. Thankfully only silence met his ears as the two descended into an uncomfortable hush. Max closed his eyes before rubbing them underneath his glasses. Moments later he felt the ship begin to slow down as they approached their destination. Max opened his eyes to see Team Rocket ambling over towards them. Jessie was the first one to speak.
"The first wave will, naturally, go first. We'll follow behind them and the second wave will cover our backs." Jessie said. Max, Barry and Drew nodded in understanding. "The third wave will come to cover the perimeter while the second deals with the slopes. The last wave will come and join us in the meantime to help the hostages out."
"Sounds like a plan." Drew stated with a curt nod. The ship finally ground to a complete halt and there was a slight jerk as the engines turned off. A flare fired off from the captain's cabin to alert the first wave forward. That first wave, led by Zoey, managed to successfully find themselves on the shore. James took charge and led the group of six forward behind them. They also managed to fall in step behind the first group quite effectively. The second wave of coordinators was not so lucky. No sooner had the first person stepped foot on dry land than a horrible shriek filled the air. Max whipped his head upward to see Moltres soar overhead, a jet of flame emerging from its mouth.
"No!" Max yelled and tried darting forward but a pair of hands clasped around his arm. Max turned back with a scowl to see Drew shaking his head.
"Max, we have a job to do." Drew said. Max glared at him before wrenching his arm free of Drew's hold. Without any attention to the green haired coordinator Max dashed forward, reuniting with Barry and Team Rocket. He soon felt Drew catch up to them. Max took a brief glance backwards to see the Pokemon of the third wave battling valiantly against the three birds, the other two having joined in the fray. Soon after Max and his group managed to break free of the first group who were now setting up the inner ring of the perimeter.
"Where to now?" Barry asked and Max smirked slightly. He pointed ahead.
"Straight for the base." Max said.
"You realize we'll have to make a run for it?" Drew asked the overconfident trainer but Max brushed him.
"You got any better ideas, Drew?" Max asked and Drew sighed wearily. With no other words exchanged, Max and Barry dashed forward, Drew and Team Rocket not far behind. Max sent his pokeball spiraling into the air, Gardevoir emerging just as Barry and Drew did the same for Roserade and Empoleon. Within a moment, the group of six had cleared the forest surrounding Stark Mountain and were now out into the open.
Max's heart was beating against his chest, as if threatening to rip out of his body as his feet pounded across what could be effectively termed as "no-man's-land". Max didn't even realize that his feet were carrying him across the abandoned piece of land until he was halfway and Barry yelled loudly that they were going to make it. However, a jet of flame soon shot in front of them, blocking their path. Max grounded himself to a halt as a hulking shape flew through the flames and landed in front of them.
"Heatran." Barry snarled. "You gave us trouble at Mount Silver. Now you're going down!" Barry announced. Max quickly pulled at Barry's ear.
"No! Remember the plan! Don't waste time on this!" Max reminded him and Barry nodded through a grimace. Max let go of his ear. "I got this. Gardevoir, Psychic!" Gardevoir glowed purple as did Heatran. Within a moment, Heatran was tossed to the side as Empoleon sent a Hydro Pump at the line of flames, creating a gap within them. Max quickly ran forward, leading them. Within mere moments the group of six reached the base of Stark Mountain and the cave that led to the interior.
"Here we are!" James said. "You guys remember the plan? We find the hostages and you guys hold off the legendaries."
"No problem. The plan's working so we already have all the legendaries but one or two occupied." Max said with a thumbs up. "So we get in and get out." Each one of them quickly put their hands in to signify their plan before they charged into the cave. To Max's surprise, the cavern was rather brightly lit, lights of a high strength strung along the sides of the caverns walls. Max let it blow past his mind as the six set off.
"Strange…" Drew muttered. "For all the opposition we faced, there's not a lot of legendaries guarding the interior."
"That's because they didn't expect us to make it this far." Max said with a smirk. A sudden burst of static sounded from Meowth's walkie talking.
"Dis is Top Cat coming to ya, who is this, over?" Meowth said before a voice responded.
"This is Conforth, over?" came the static filled but unmistakable voice of Conway.
"We read you Conforth, what's the good word?"
"We have four climbers that penetrated the inner base, surprisingly. The hostages are held in the center. They say, from their quick cavern schematics as they fell that it's be best to head right at the first fork and then zig-zag to reach them." Conway responded. Max smiled at the good new. He hadn't been anticipating that part of the operation to succeed, but since it had, it made their job easier.
"Good work Conforth, keep dat pressure on the outside. This is Top Cat over and out." Meowth said before giving the walkie talkie to James. There was no need for words between the companions as they began their dash forward. Soon after they came to the fork and headed right, per the instructions.
"We've gotta be close, huh?" Barry asked and Max didn't respond. Before long, the six emerged into a large open chamber, a number of doors in multiple directions surrounding them. "Guess we gotta check them all?" A roar filled the chamber at the question and a line of spires erupted from the earth, aiming for the group. The six dived aside, Team Rocket on one side and the other three thrown to the other.
"A trap?" Max exclaimed as a line of flame filled the doorway they had just come through. Heatran suddenly emerged from the flames. "No…we…a trap…"
"Of course. One of the talking legendaries must have given them directions to the hostages just so we could get here and be crushed." Drew yelled out in realization. Max's eyes widened. He had been tricked. Those few that had made it down here had died. Had they really made it down here? Or had the legendaries been planning this all along?
"Hey Max, we could use some help!" Barry yelled out, his Empoleon engaging in a duel with Heatran. Drew ran over to him and shook him but Max still stood there in disbelief. He had been the one to make this plan. He had been the one that prided himself on his intellect. He had been the one to lead those four people and everyone else to slaughter.
"Snap out of it!" Drew yelled, his right hand coming in a backhand blow across Max's cheeks. Max looked up and him and glared, jerking away from the coordinator. "Max, I know it's difficult to accept that you were wrong but-"
"Why does it have to be me that was wrong? Huh?" Max snapped, anger flushing his face. "So what if I had made the plan? If you hadn't stopped me from going to help them we might not have been in this situation."
"Are you serious?" Drew yelled in desperation. Barry gave out a cry though neither of the two spared him a thought. "If I hadn't stopped you then we'd all be dead! Team Rocket is probably on the other side of that wall looking for those hostages."
"Guys, save your drama for off the battlefield! Empoleon, Hydro Cannon!" Barry yelled and all that was heard was the sound of Empoleon's attack meeting one of Heatran's.
"How do you know that? And what do you care? You can't help us! You're just some pretty boy coordinator who cares about his hair more than he does my sister!" Max yelled, letting all of his emotion out at once.
"Shut up and grow up, Max!" Drew yelled. "People change, and you certainly have! You think that because you're smart and a decent trainer that you're better than everyone else? Get over it! I used to be like you but this war made me realize something: no one has that claim!"
"What are you talking about?" Max snapped out and Drew sighed.
"We're all equal, cause we're all human and we're all fighting. So put aside your stupid hatred towards me and trust me!" Drew said, his eyes blazing with unimaginable fury. Max took a moment and stared into his eyes. A moment later he lowered his head.
"I'm sorry…you're right…I…" Max said before Drew put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay." Drew said with a smile. "Now, let's turn this into a winning battle." Drew said, turning towards Groudon who had since entered into the battle. "Oh, and Max, I really do care for your sister…more than you know."
"Oh, I know…I just didn't want to accept it." Max said with a warm smile. "Now, Gardevoir, Magical Leaf on Groudon!"
"You too Roserade!" Drew ordered.
"Heck yeah, Empoleon, join 'em with a Hydro Pump!" Barry ordered and Max turned to see Heatran collapsed at the foot of the flames it had conjured. "Let's finish this!" Max nodded emphatically. This battle wasn't over. Not yet. Not by a long shot.
-CT-
Cynthia sighed as she leaned against the soft padding of the couch in her office. She closed her eyes and attempted to allow the wonderful bliss of sleep wash over her. Lately, sleep was one of the many luxuries she was not offered. To that end, it felt good to simply lay down and relax. She knew that sleep probably wouldn't come, but at least some physical relief could come to her eyes for all the staring they had done lately. In other words, Cynthia was exhausted. And the dark and cool comfort of her office was the only way to even allow her to rest and regenerate.
Much of her efforts over the last twenty four hours had been put heavily towards…well, she wasn't even sure of that anymore. She knew that she had spent quite a bit of time looking into the disappearances over the last month and a half, attempting to find some kind of link to something. But after hours of fruitless searching, Cynthia believed there was only a slim chance she would ever locate Steven and the other hostages. Then there were Koga's claims that were made and that caused Cynthia to spend many unseen hours worrying. She almost laughed at that thought. To the world she appeared as calm and collected as ever but behind her own office doors she was ready to break, the pressure of the war taking its toll on her. A toll that not even Lance or Steven had ever seen.
Ash's disappearance was only complicating matters. She knew she would have little hope of finding him if he didn't want to be found. And that meant that she had little support were a battle to come up again. That alone was cause for Cynthia wanting to pull at her hair. But she breathed a little easier knowing that Mrs. Ketchum would inform the League the second her son came home. But overall, Cynthia felt overwhelmed; a feeling that no amount of resting could ever wash away until the war was done and over with. Cynthia heaved a sigh as she attempted to get into a more comfortable position, her dress draping loosely over one of her thighs to let the cool air of the room wash over it. Moments later her peace was shattered as the door to her office banged open.
"What the-?" Cynthia exclaimed, sitting up sharply to face her intruder. "Lance, what do you want?"
"Were you sleeping? At five o'clock in the afternoon?" Lance asked with a bemused look on his face. Cynthia scowled at him.
"And when was the last time you got a full night's sleep?" Cynthia snapped at him and Lance held his hands up in defense. "Now what did you disturb my nap for anyway?"
"Steven's back." Lance said quickly and all other thought of rest fled Cynthia's mind.
"How?" Cynthia said in astonishment.
"Why don't I tell you on the way?" Lance said with a raised eyebrow and Cynthia nodded, emerging from her comfortable position on the couch. At once, the pair left the room. "He came back just a half hour ago. Apparently, our old friends Team Rocket gathered a group of coordinators and led an assault on the legendaries' base: Stark Mountain. They managed to free a very large number of the hostages…well, according to them: those that hadn't died. And Steven was among them. Once the legendaries had lost the hostages they seemed to render the battle moot and fled the base. Meanwhile, the rescuers brought them here."
"Why didn't you come and get me earlier?" Cynthia asked and Lance bit his lip before answering.
"There were…complications." Lance answered simply. Cynthia gave him a puzzled look.
"What kind of complications?" Cynthia asked and Lance didn't respond this time. "Lance, what kind of complications?"
"You might want to see for yourself." Lance told her, stopping outside of a room. "He's in here, along with those who led the operation." Cynthia moved forward to enter the room but Lance quickly grabbed her shoulder and held fast. "You uh…it's not pretty…okay?" Cynthia brushed him off and entered the room, Lance right behind her. As soon as she entered, her eyes widened and he lips made a small o shape.
Steven was certainly sitting in the room, but it was his state which surprised her. As Cynthia did a survey of his body she noted all the damage done. His entire face was scarred and burned along the left side and his left hand hung limply at his side. But perhaps what scared Cynthia the most were Steven's legs. His right leg was twisted and gnarled as if he had been hooked up to a torture rack and spun until his leg was wringed out. Meanwhile, his left leg had suffered the same fate as his left side in general, only worse as the flesh had been burned to the bone. To the side, Cynthia saw Steven's tattered clothing as he was dressed in slightly better clothing than he had arrived in. Steven looked up as she entered and locked eyes with her, a sad smile on his face.
"Hey there…long time, no see." Steven said with a small but painful chuckle.
"It's only been three days…" Cynthia breathed out, her left hand reaching out and touching the side of his face that while intact was heavily bruised. "How…?"
"How did this happen?" Steven asked. "I was kidnapped. They tortured me…asking me all sorts of questions. Questions about the Chosen One, about some artifact…some jewel. Half of it was all nonsense to me. I couldn't answer their questions, so they tortured me more."
"But why?" Lance asked and Steven shook his head, if only fractionally.
"I don't know. I kept asking them why. They never gave a real reason. They just kept saying they wanted answers but I didn't have any. I started to feel like all they wanted was to keep torturing me. And the other hostages…some of them died, but most of them were tortured as well, though not to the extent I was. And the voices…the Pokemon were talking."
"Steven…" Cynthia breathed out, a tear slipping down her face. Suddenly her face became stern. "What about their leader? Did you see their leader? What Pokemon was in charge? If we know that then maybe we can-"
"Pokemon?" Steven asked and Cynthia nodded. "Oh no. No, no, no…It wasn't a Pokemon. It was a human in charge. I saw him, or at least his silhouette. He stood there, watching me be tortured, but it was clear the Pokemon were following his orders."
"A human…" Lance gasped out. Cynthia leaned down to Steven's eye level.
"Don't worry Steven, we'll get you the best medical service we can. You hear me?" Steven nodded a little before he could feel his consciousness slipping. Lance stepped out to call for the nurses who soon came in and took Steven out of the room. As soon as he was in, Cynthia collapsed into a chair.
"A human…Unbelievable…" Cynthia said under her breath.
"I think…we saw him." came a voice next to her and she turned to see the three members of Team Rocket as well as Max, Drew and Barry. All six looked filthy but other than that, no worse for the wear. Max stepped forward, having been the one to speak. "We didn't get a good look at him but he was watching Drew, Barry and myself battle against Groudon. It was kinda creepy." Cynthia considered the young boy's words for a moment.
"Team Rocket!" Cynthia snapped and the three snapped to attention. "Might I ask why you led this assault on Stark Mountain without first informing the League."
"It's quite simple!" Jessie said with a smirk. "We knew calling you guys would take too much time so we gathered coordinators to save those hostages. And you know what? It's a good thing we did because most of them want to fight."
"Good. You three are my new draft officers." Cynthia announced, standing up. "You did well in getting people to fight. It's obvious they trust you and we can use that. If a human really is in charge, we'll need all the help we can get. Now, you three, are you with them?"
"We helped them." Barry said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Then you answer to the League now. If you're on their side and they are official liaisons of the League you are officially responsible to us. The first thing you three are to do is to go to Pallet Town to help provide defense there. If this leader was questioning about the Chosen One we can only surmise that he knows where Ash lives. He may strike there in retaliation. You three will go there and fill in Brandon of the Battle Frontier."
"Aye aye ma'am!" Drew said with a mock salute to which both Barry and Max laughed. Cynthia's face remained impassive.
"Take a shower and wash your clothes, all of you. You're off to your next location by tonight. Now, I have to hold a press conference." With those words, Cynthia stormed out of the room, Lance right behind her.
"You sure it's safe, trusting these missions to those kids?" Lance asked as they walked to the League conference room. "Are you sure we're making the right choice?"
"What other choice do we have?" Cynthia responded without a glance in Lance's direction. "The situation has become far graver than we could have warranted. If a human really is in control I want all our chips on the table."
"So after this, what's next?" Lance asked.
"With Steven back, we put Wallace back on gym duty. Then it's high time we look for Ash." The two said no more as they strode into the conference room to a sea of reporters.
Author's Note: I must apologize for taking so long for this chapter but you know how end of the school year is, right? This chapter might not be the greatest but it moves the plot along and provides some resolution between Max and Drew and marks the beginning of my plot design coming into play. I think some very interesting things are coming into play and the next chapter will start to kick this story into high gear. I know, Ash hasn't appeared for two chapters now. I would have brought him in this chapter but he would have bogged down this chapter unfortunately. Fear not! He will return next chapter which I cannot wait to get started on. Until then, remember to REVIEW please (and seriously, I mean REVIEW) and Dare to Be Silly.
