Chapter 10

Okay, sorry for the slow update but here's a new chapter!

Reviews:

Trainer Azurite - Thank you! As long as you can understand what is happening in the story, then I'm good! I can write confusing stuff when I don't watch myself. :p

Random reviewer - Oops, thanks for the correction! XD

Ryuuben - Yes, he can. I'll try to get Zinnia and Sapphire to meet up soon but not too soon, nor too early either.

May845 - Thanks for understanding! ^^

Shidake - Pretty mch. A little warning though, I might not follow up with the story in the game to the point. Since I have the twins and prissy traveling to different places at the same time, I decided to split the story between them and do something more to change things up a bit in the game plot.

sapphire53 - Thank you. And no, there isn't anything in the game the says Steven and Zinnia have any kind of interaction, I just made it up. The first meeting between them will be revealed in future chapters. Yeah, she's part of both. More information will be released in future chapters. I can't give everything away in one go can I? :)

Thanks for reviewing! And onto the chapter!

Early apologies if it has any grammar or spelling errors, or that it just bad in general. It's a work in progress - and I'm an amateur writer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

"Sa...! Sapph...! Sapphire!" The call was repeated, each one getting clearer through the girl's auditory canal but she just wouldn't wake up. She was having too comfortable of a dream to wake up by whoever it was that was calling her. Even when she felt herself being shaken, she only waved it sleepily away.

"Give me five more minutes mama." Sapphire mutters sleepily, turning to the side.

May straightened herself and huffed irritably. "Don't make me do this..."

Only grumbles came in reply.

The brunette grind her teeth together, then took her sister by the ear and deliver an ear-splitting scream.

"SAPPH YOU LAZY SLAKOTH! WAKE UP OR YOU'RE NOT GETTING ANY FOOD!"

"YEEEEE!" The younger brunette jumped, her ears ringing loudly, making her head hurt. A lot.

May knew that Sapphire had a more sensitive hearing than others, so what's better than to exploit that enhanced hearing of hers? Especially with food.

"WAT?! HOW COULD YOU MAY?! IMA STARVE TA DEATH!"

And it works every time.

The elder of the two puffed out her cheeks indignantly. "You're so melodramatic."

"Melodramatic? Melodramatic?!" The fanged brunette exclaimed. "Food is life! Don't you know that?!"

... Though the drawbacks would be Sapphire acting as if the end of the world has came upon them.

"..." May deadpanned at her sister's antics and sighed. "Are you okay Sapph? You're all bandage up."

"Hah?" The brunette stopped her nonsensical yelling to look at herself, finally realizing that the wounds that she had gain earlier had been properly treated. Who could have been awake to help her?

She sniffed at the bandage on her arm, detecting a scent that's annoyingly familiar. Her face twisted into disgust immediately realizing who it was that had treated her. "He betta not have..."

"What?"

"Nuffing."

May lulled her head to the side quizzically, seeing Sapphire getting aggravated for no reason at all. She decided to get on with the subject."Um... What happened when I was knocked out anyways? When I woke up, Beldum was hovering right next to me, as if guarding me from something."

"Uh..." Sapphire mulled over the question, trying to remember what actually happened. "T'ere was dis fight... Oh! You w'er kidnapped!"

"... That's as much as I remember." May commented, remember how a person dressed in red had suddenly come crashing through the glass door, threw a smoke ball, and before she could react, she was hauled out of the building and falling down the fifth floor of a skyscraper. She shivered. "I hope that never happens again."

Sapphire nodded an agreement before continuing down memory lane. "I chased after ya and came ta dis 'ere cave. T'ere w'er ah bunch ah t'ose jerks in t'ere and I fought dem all - I tink 'bout five men and ten Pokemon. I told Beldum ta git ya out since you w'er sleepin'."

"What?! You fought all of those people by yourself?!" May exclaimed incredulous.

Sapphire puffed out her chest in pride. "Yep! And I won dem too!"

"Are you sure you're okay?" May checked her sister over, fuzzing over her. "You didn't get yourself too hurt right? No brain damage or anything?"

The younger brunette wiggled away from May's grip. "Quit actin' like mama! I'm perfectly fine!"

"Aron!"

The challenging chirp from the Aron gained both girls' attention. "Oi, yer still 'ere!"

"Wait, that's not one of your newly caught Pokemon?" May asked in confusion. "I found him and Toro watching over you so I thought..."

Sapphire shook her head. "Nah, dis 'ere one was da leader of t'ose Aron dat w'er eatin' up Rustboro City."

"... Right. What else did I miss?"

Sapphire didn't seem to have heard May as she faced off against the Aron. "Ya want another fight?"

A nod.

"Great!"

"Wait! It's getting dark. Shouldn't we head back first before we're completely lost?"

Sapphire gave her sister a look. "I can smell da city from 'ere May." She then looked back at the Aron. "Right den! Beldum, yer back up!"

...

"I'm tired..." May whined as they finally got back to Rustboro City at sunset.

Sapphire rolled her eyes. If wasn't that long of a walk. Ten minutes maybe, but it wasn't that bad. She didn't understand why her sister would get tired that fast. She look towards the city, only to see it half eaten by the herd of Aron from earlier.

"... Wow." The elder brunette commented in astonishment. She could definitely see the chew marks from where houses and lamppost were bitten. Though she did not expect to see the city ending up like an half eaten gingerbread house. Seriously, did those Aron eat iron like they were candies and crackers or something?

"Looks like... we w'er too late." Sapphire stated, sweatdropping at the sight.

Well, at least Roxanne and the other trainers were able to chase those Aron out of the city before it got worst - as if it hadn't - and Sapphire got a new party member, that is, after the Aron have a talk with his herd.

"Rustboro Tunnel... is closed." May read off of the sign in front of the cave they were at just yesterday. "Due to a sudden cave in, the passage way is blocked. Sorry for the inconvenience."

"..."

Upon hearing Sapphire laughing nervously behind her, May could get a good idea as to why it was as it was. "Sapph... did you have anything to do with this?"

"Um... no?"

"Sapphire!"

"Okay okay!" Sapphire tried to placate her sister's anger. "It was an accident!"

"Accident or not, where else are we supposed to go now? It's our only way to the next town unless you have a water type Pokemon I don't know of, because last time I checked, Mr. Briney isn't back from where ever he went off to yet!"

"We can always git papa to lend us 'is Wailord."

May folded her arms across her chest. "Dad needs him to do his field researches at sea. We can't do that."

"Den we can break t'rough dat barricade I made."

"How?" May asked skeptically. "We don't even have strong enough Pokemon to do that. It could take days to do it."

Sapphire tried to think of another way, and then something clicked. She snapped her finger as she brightened. "Dat shortcut!"

"... Shortcut?" May knitted her brows in confusion. Before she asked anymore, Sapphire tugged at her and she was pulled away, back to Rustboro City and into Petalburg Woods.

"Why are we going back?" May queried.

"I found ah shortcut ta Slateport City in Route 103 when I was doin' field research for papa. It's short, just over ah small body of water."

"... How small?"

"'Bout a few minutes' swim. Dat's all!"

...

May took in deep, exhausted breathes as she sprawled out on the ground, the ground forming a puddle around her body. Her clothes were soaked and her hair was a mess. She knew she shouldn't have trust her twin's estimations. After all, her definition of how long it takes to travel from one place to another was completely different than hers.

"Sapph, you liar... that... was half an hour." May said, stopping between the sentence to get her breathing back to speed.

"Dat's 'cause ya keep takin' ah break in between!" Sapphire countered.

"I can't swim as long or as fast as you, you know!" May retorted back, pushing herself up and glaring at her twin.

"Den ya shoulda exercised more." The younger brunette scolded.

May rolled her eyes. She has been exercising daily, just not as much as Sapphire does and not as extreme - the rocking climbing and getting into fights with wild Pokemon and such. There was no way she could do that.

In one retrospect, Sapphire was just an abnormal human - and a girl - in another, May was envious of the amount of energy that Sapphire have and how she was able to do things not many people could do at her age. She wish she could swing around on trees without being scare of falling or playing with wild Pokemon without worrying that they'll attack her.

"... We need to dry off our clothes." May finally said, looking at her drenched self.

"We can do dat once we git ta Slateport," Sapphire contributed. "it's 'bout ah mile away anyways."

"... Right. A mile." May quell the urge to sigh again, knowing that complaining wouldn't help anything, but she really wish they could fly on a Pokemon or ride something there - like a car. Of course, Sapphire would be against it, seeing how she rather enjoy nature walks instead of go shopping for things other than food. She didn't know what had happened to her younger twin, but Sapphire was never like this. It wan't that she didn't like Sapphire as she was now, but she really missed the old Sapphire that likes the same things as her and do everything with her.

...

"Sapph, are we there yet?" They had been walking along Route 103 - still - for a while now, no sign of anything remotely resembling a city building.

"Fer da millionth times, no! But wer almost t'ere!" Sapphire retorted, annoyed by May's constant questioning.

"You said it was a mile!" May complained. "I feel like we traveled more than that already!"

"I said 'bout a mile!" Sapphire corrected. "I din't say exactly ah mile."

"Gah!" May grew frustrated with this long and tedious walk. "This is taking forever!" She started to storm forward, only to disappear within a swish.

"... May?" Sapphire blinked several times, hoping that her sister would reappear any second now. But nothing happened an that got the brunette worry. "MAY!"

She rushed over to where the older twin had been and found a hole in the ground. A nicely dug hole camouflaged with the right amount of leaves, twigs, and dirt - also very, VERY deep.

"May! Ar ya down t'ere?!" Sapphire shouted down the hole, though she received none in reply. She quickly panicked as this was the second time May had gotten into trouble. It was weird considering it should have been the other way around.

Listening intently, Sapphire could hear the faint scream of May's deep down in the hole. "I'm comin' sis!"

And she jumped.

May have no idea just how long she has been screaming but when she landed on a pile of soft crunchy leaves, she stopped. Her head popped out, sputtering out dry leaves from her mouth with disgust, then looked around.

She was surrounded by wooden walls that didn't quite reach up to the ceiling, but high enough that she couldn't look or climb over. "Where am I...?"

She then looked up to the ceiling from where she had fell from, seeing a metal hatch closing over it. She furrowed her brows, not knowing what to do. Well, actually, first, she should get out of this leaf-made cushion. The pricking of the leaves were making her itch.

Once she stepped onto what seemed like a solid floor, she brushed off the dry leaves from her shoulders and head.

"Now - AAAIIIIEEEEE!"

It had only been seconds since May stepped onto that particular spot than the floor suddenly started moving, speeding her forward and - THUD. She hit the incoming solid wooden wall with the force of a brick. It was as if she was a bug being swatted down against something.

It wasn't a good feeling.

She pushed herself away from the wall and rubbed her red face, groaning in the process. "Wha..." Her brain was slightly disorientated after that.

Once she had shook off the after effect, she noticed something written of the bulwark that she was hurled into.

Welcome to Trick Master's Trick House!

Enjoy your stay - or you can find your way out.

Beware of traps. The Trick Master will not be liable for injuries or death.

It took her a moment to register her problem. "W-WHAT?!"

She looked around frantically, realizing that the walls have been structured into a maze. A long hallway that leads to turns and forks, as she was seeing a fork not too far from where she was.

May really didn't have a choice. It didn't look like Sapphire could help her since that trap hole she fell into earlier was closed up when she went through the chute. She can't stay here forever, she didn't have the supples for that! It only leave her the choice of finding a way out, which sounded easy at first, that is, until she reached a dead end.

The brunette sighed, tired both mentally and physically. She started to lean against a wall so she could take a break room wondering around the Trick House, but something clicked when she started to lean and the whole stockade flipped on her - literally.

"EEK!" She shrieked as the wall took her with it as it did the motion.

She felt like she just did a somersault and landed on her head in the end.

The brunette sat back up, massage her skull, and wondering where she was now. She was at another fork. She could either continue down the road or make a right turn.

After a moment of internal debates, she decided to head straight. She didn't get far when she stepped on a tile that sunk under the pressure.

May got the sinking feeling that she was going to get into more trouble.

That suspicion was soon confirm when a shuriken flew right pass her face and stabbed directly at the opposite wall that it had came from. She looked at it incredulously before deciding to not stick around to see what happens next. A smart decision in her current situation.

May yelled with her hands flailing in the air as the shurikens continue to fire wherever she went, leaving a trail of an almost straight line of the weapon stabbing the wall next to her.

This just wasn't her day.

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" Just as she had shouted that, she stepped onto another moving floor. That one took her straight, right, left, straight, left, straight, right, spun right, a ramp - what?

May was sent cartwheeling through the air.

This really wasn't her day.

Luckily, she had a soft landing.

Unluckily, it was a Snorlax, and he was about to turn, which meant May was going to take a dive down to the floor if she doesn't do anything about it.

"S-Silcoon! Help me with string shot!" Her newly evolved bug type Pokemon materialized into her arms and shot a silk string to the ceiling and they were swung to the opposite wall. Her Wurmple had evolved on the speedy trip back to Route 103 after encountering several hordes of Pokemon in the woods.

Her feet cushioned her crash against the wooden surface so she wouldn't have to meet it face to face again. She learned her lesson the first time and once was enough.

May sighed in relieve as the Snorlax shifted his body and slept on. She wouldn't like being crushed like paper under that kind of weight. She didn't bother wondering why there was a Snorlax here in the first place, it was probably part of the house as well.

"Thanks so much Silcoon." May petted the Cocoon Pokemon affectionately, earning a purr in reply.

She then wonder around again. "Now, where do we g -"

May stepped onto a portal and she was swished to another place.

She landed on her haunches, her directions disoriented once more while she was still holding onto her Pokemon.

She felt like throwing up.

May now hates Teleporting.

When she had jump into the hole, she had expected a straight vertical drop. But what she got instead was a steep slide down.

Once she had fallen out, something else went beyond her expectation.

Sapphire landed into a human cannon launcher.

"Eh?" was all she could say when the cannon angled and launched her into the air with a resounding boom. She flew over walls and landed in a tree. Why there was a tree underground was beyond her, but she wasn't complaining.

Sapphire came tumbling down from the branches, ending up in a mess on the floor.

She groan, massaging her rear before hauling herself up. Shaking off the twigs and leaves, she looked around, seeing nothing but a long straight path fenced by non-climbable walls.

"MAY!" Sapphire shouted. "AR YA IN 'ERE?!"

Silence.

The brunette furrowed her brows. She then used her nose to take in the scents that were in the air and she found May's. At least she knew that her sister was in this strange place.

Sapphire went searching but the twists and turns weren't to her liking.

When she took a step forward to the right of on corner, the floor suddenly started moving and she was sped backwards - spinning.

"OW!" She shirked when she hit the stopper wall. She put a hand down to support herself, only to have the tile sink under. Before she had anytime to think, darts started to thrust at her, creating an outline of herself along the wall she was against due to shock.

Her face paled as more came.

"YIKES!" Sapphire scrambled to her feet with the darts hit above her.

After that, Sapphire fell into more booby-traps set up around the area. Some including spring tiles that send Sapphire spiraling to the next spot - not without screeching in surprise - and others are pit traps. There were also times when she encountered a rain of rocks out of nowhere.

"Ah!" Sapphire yelped for the umpteenth time when the floor under her collapsed and she was stuck in mud.

By the time she got herself out, she was tired.

She had never been so tired out before. Sure she went rock climbing almost everyday and jumping off of them were no-brainers, but these traps had her dodging left and right and before long, she couldn't keep trap of where she was.

After a few minutes' break, Sapphire decided to continue.

Once she made a turn and walked a about a meter into it, she detected a rumbling mixed in with a scream. A familiar scream.

"AAAHHHHHH!"

"May?!" Sapphire tired around, happy that she had finally found her sister, but that was wiped off of her face when she saw crying May running away from a... boulder.

"Sapph! RUUUUNNN!" May exclaimed when she spotted the younger brunette.

Sapphire paled again and started to run as well. "WAT DA HELL DID CHA DO?!"

"I DON'T KNOW!" May answered back. "I REACHED ANOTHER DEAD END SO I DECIDED TO RETRACE MY STEPS, THEN I STEPPED ON SOMETHING AGAIN AND THE DEAD END OPENED UP AND HIS BOULDER CAME ROLLING AT ME!"

"YA SHOULDA BEEN MORE CAREFUL!" Sapphire half screamed half scolded back to May, who was behind her. She may have been a hypocrite since she had been falling into traps as well but nothing as dangerous as this - at least she don't think.

"I BEEN CAREFUL!" May shouted back. "BUT - AH!"

"SIS?!" Sapphire looked over her shoulder, only to see the boulder rolling after her and May nowhere to be found.

Did she...? Sapphire could only think of the worst possibility for May's sudden disappearance. And that was the boulder catching up and crushing her with its weight.

Her eyes welled up with tears just thinking of the chance that she had just lost her sister.

Up ahead was a dead end so there was nowhere to run anymore. And so, she decided to take up the last stance and faced the incoming large chuck of rock with glowering eyes that have tears lingering at the corners.

When it got so close, Sapphire made a fist and deliver a punch forward. "YA STUPID PIECE OF -"

When her fist made contact with the supposed boulder, the surface of the rock went inward with her fist as if it was a balloon. She blinked when the boulder stopped moving completely - this was something she didn't expect.

And neither was what was happening next.

The boulder, one that she thought was made of genuine earth, popped.

"Heh?"

There was a round speaker among the shredded flexible bag, emitting the rumbling noise that she had been hearing.

She just stared at that thing incredulous, not believing any of this.

A groan extracted from not too far from where Sapphire was distracted the brunette. She immediately sprinted towards it, finding a shallow pit trap along the ground.

May was laying in it, swirling eyes and all.

Sapphire sighed a deep breath of relieve, her legs trembling and could no longer support her as she plummet to the ground.

...

May massaged her back after that little incident. "I can't take anymore of this..."

Sapphire huffed an agreement and took out her three pokeballs. "Welp, if ya can't find ah way out, den ya make one!"

"Toro, Rono, Beldum, make ah straight hole from 'ere!" Sapphire pointed after Torchic, Aron, and Beldum coalesced in a white light.

"Wait, Sapph-" May didn't get to finish when the three Pokemon started the demolition process.

"Did ya say sumthin'?"

May sighed. "Never mind. Carry on."

The man was drinking tea calmly. A large screen display was light brightly in front of him, showing him many shots at different angles and places. It acted like a security footage - not that he was paying any attention to it. Not even when there were some fire and explosions going on. He had placed the sound on the very minimal so he could enjoy his tea.

He was in the middle of sipping when a crash came through one of his walls, causing him to choke on hot liquid.

"So dat's w'ere I smell da tea from." Sapphire' voice commented through the smoke.

The twins came out through the new doorway with Sapphires Pokemon in tow.

By this time, the man had regained his breathing after sputtering and choking. He jumped to his feet and his face paled when he saw the damage to his wall ."My house!"

"Eh?" Sapphire tilt her head to the side. "This is yer house?"

"Yes, now look at what you have done to my wall!" The man pointed angrily. "You're going to pay for the damage!"

"Um, before that," May came in. "The Trick House... are you the Trick Master?"

The man blinked, then closed his eyes and puffed out his chest in pride. "The one and only!"

Sapphire satisfied demeanor suddenly went dark as a fiery aura fluttered around her. "So... yer da jerk dat put me and ma sis in da horrid place."

"Huh?" The man open his eyes, only to see an angry Sapphire rapping her knuckles. "Oh, it's you two. I saw you two falling into that trap hole I made in Route 103. So? How was your adventure in my amazing Trick House? I'm surprise that you two actually came out that fast. Most people take a day or two."

"... I GONNA KILL YA!" Sapphire was all ready to jump at the man when May did her best to restrain her.

"Uh... about that, Mr. Trick Master..." May trailed, a beat of sweat tracing down her face, then noticed the surveillance screen and gestured towards it.

Upon turning his head towards the wide screen TV, he saw his homemade maze burning down to crisps as fire spread and there were several destroyed parts that left up to the exit stairs.

"M-MY TRICK HOUSE!" Trick master's jaws hung limply from his mouth in devastation. All of his hard work to mark the elaborate layout, now burned down to ashes - literally.

"LET ME GO SIS!" Sapphire exclaimed, struggling against May's surprisingly tight grip. "IMA GIVE 'IM WHAT HE DESERVES!"

"Let's not make any more trouble than we already have." May reasoned through gritted teeth, trying to move her sister away and out of the building.

"WHAT?! HE'S DA REASON WE GOT INTO DAT MESS!"

"I apologize for the mess," May said, ignoring Sapphire for the moment. "And you might want to consider toning down the traps... they're a bit too dangerous. C'mon Sapph, let's leave him be."

"YA SHOULD BE GLAD DIS IS ALL I DID!" Sapphire managed to shout one last thing before May promptly shoved her out the door.

The man was left standing in front of his screen, his form white as ghost.

Yeh, I decided to go with something a little off from the original. What do you think?

And I am so sorry May, I put you in too much of a torture in one day.