On Hoenn's south coast, the small college town of Dewford and the large city of Slateport were the bottommost ports for ships traveling from further south.
Winter time cooled the oceans, but even through fall it remained warm enough to enjoy swimming, water skiing and several other oceanic sports. The larger ports of Lilycove and Ever Grande City were the only other coastal city with an active shipyard, but constant strong currents on the eastern waters often caused ships to use Slateport or otherwise take a detour.
In between the two cities was a large derelict structure that rose out of the ground. Known formerly as the Sea Mauville, it was originally a research platform that was purposed for extracting natural ocean resources. The facility was commissioned by Greater Mauville Holdings. It ran for a few years before the widely publicized incidents had caused the company to abandon its work there.
Now it was a neglected place. What remained of the structure had deteriorated seriously to the point that the entire area would collapse into the sea.
The Cacturne Syndicate now occupied most of the area, using it as one of their secret hideouts to plan, hide and execute their illegitimate operations.
May continued to struggle against the two men that were trying to drag her down the corridor. She had a large cloth bag over her head and no idea where she was going. Nevertheless, they were trying to move her forward, so she therefore resisted towards her six o'clock.
The air smelled musty and it only seemed to get worse the farther inside they took her. Ever since they were all restrained, she hadn't seen Dawn or anyone else that attended the concert in her section.
Ever since she had shown an interest in traveling, her parents had always told her to stay safe, especially in foreign regions. Reading novels about unwary travelers heading into faraway places like Kalos only to get scammed or imprisoned always hung at the back of her mind, even on her trip in her sophomore year of college. Anything was open to happening, but never in her wildest dreams did she expect to get kidnapped in her home town.
"C'mon, get in the room!" One of the men said in a frustrating manner. May continued to put up a fight.
"Arceus, this kid is strong!" She felt something hard hit her in the back, causing her body to fall forward. The sound of a door closing was heard before she had a chance to get up. Moments later, one of them was slipping a lock on the other end.
May slowly reached up and pulled the bag off her head. Dim light from a single bulb cast a golden glow around the "cell" with the area of a closet and she had to resist the urge to gag or vomit after smelling the familiar stench of mold. It was probably a good thing that the light prevented a detailed look from the top. Dark patches of the black fungus were visible at the top and a small space had moonlight coming through that allowed air to circulate and prevent the occupant from becoming sick.
The sound of shuffling feet had brought her back to the present as the lock on her door clicked and the heavy metal door swung open.
For a moment, May contemplated trying to knock out her attacker. Her mother had enrolled her in a self-defense class when she was in middle school and she still remembered a few of its techniques.
The sight of the black colored assault rifle the an entering the room carried threw all of that ideas out the tiny window.
He was dressed in brown fatigues and wore a tactical mask that allowed him to breathe through dangerous gases without being harmed.
The second man is what caught her attention.
He was dressed in an expensive black business suit with a green tie and had purplish dyed hair that fell to his shoulders. For a place so ram shackled as this, he stuck out for miles around.
May shrink against the back of her cell as if she could escape the bad men's gaze.
"You really think that's going to work?" The suit man asked. His voice was muffled by the mask before he shared a laugh with his partner.
He strode up to May and knelt down in front of her. "My name is Harley, I lead the Cacturne Syndicate. What is your name dear?"
Reaching out, his fingers began to brush May's arm. In response, she yanked it away.
"Don't touch me." She firmly said, however the command sounded forced.
Harley grabbed her arm again, this time more forcefully and began to stroke her skin. She again tried to resist, but the partner sensed her intention and moved so that the FAL assault rifle in his hands was pointed in her direction. His stance was still casual, so he didn't directly aim it at her.
"Such silky smooth skin," The Syndicate Leader purred. May looked up and saw lust burning in his eyes as he examined her like a fine cut of meat. It was for a moment before they reverted back to their empty emerald voids, free of emotion. He enjoyed watching fear swim through her eyes. "Both you and your friend there are quite feisty. While she is definitely a pretty one," He leaned closer, "You are a much more valuable prize."
"Whatever you're going to do to me," May defiantly said, "It's not going to happen. Is this what you do? Attack innocent people in public and sell them to sex trafficking markets?! How do you live with that? Knowing that girls that had nothing to do with you are being humiliated because you want to make quick cash in!"
For a moment May thought she had him on a backpedal. It quickly turned out that he was enraged by her comment by rubbing his temple and then looking at her angrily. "Tell me," Harley reached down in his pocket, gritting his teeth. "Your parents are two very rich people. How much do you think they will pay for me to deliver you back?"
"You can't do this!" May pleaded, "You're a monster!"
"You being scared makes it all the better." He chuckled, pulling his hand out of his pocket to reveal a glint of a wickedly curved knife with a shiny silver blade. "They pay me my price for you safety and I will let both you and your gorgeous friend go. If they cry that it is a ridiculous price, know this; someone out there will pay more for you as a lifelong companion."
"No! Please!"
Harley put the knife against her left shoulder and she fought the urge to whimper. The cold steel was digging harshly into her skin, but he would not have the pleasurable moment of having his prey defy him. She would make sure of it.
He swiped the knife off her shoulder, causing her to gasp and look down. Strangely, he had not drawn any blood, but a lock of her hair had been sliced off. He now held that lock in his hand and slipped it inside a small plastic bag before placing it inside his pocket.
More footsteps sounded down the hall as another man came in. Harley turned around and the two quietly conversed before he was dismissed as well.
"Looks like your friends came onto our trail quicker than I had expected." He leered at May again, "Don't go anywhere baby."
With that he left the room with the guard in tow. The door was locked a moment later, leaving May all alone once again.
Captain Avery Gibson was a rather short man. At five foot six, he sported a pilot's moustache with a few wrinkles around jovial brown eyes. Ash towered more than a full head above him. However, his flying skills were nevertheless impressive.
Their aircraft, a SBH-18 Pelipper was the standard service helo for utility purposes in Hoenn's military. It was manufactured by Fortree based Skybank Aircraft that was responsible for producing aircraft that were commonly seen in the country in commercial, private and military.
The sixty five foot aircraft was capable of carrying up to fifteen fully armed soldiers and boasted among one of the most maneuverable capabilities of any transport helo.
Gibson was a total chatterbox when Ash climbed into the co-pilot's seat, rambling about his family. Overall, he was quite an interesting person, although right now the Urban Warfare Specialist wasn't really in the mood to talk. That didn't stop him from engaging in the conversation.
Back in the main cabin, the other four members were doing a second check of their gear. It was now just past five in the morning and they had briefly caught a power nap before getting themselves together for another active engagement.
When it came closer to their destination, Avery fell silent as Ash laid out the details of their plan of attack. He finished before stepping out and into the main cabin.
"Alright guys, this place was a former research laboratory that was decommissioned and abandoned since. I've got the schematics and believe that the hostages have been confined to isolation from one another, which means the storage areas on the mid-deck are our likely spots. We're inserting on the top and making our way down." He accepted the G3KA4 rifle from Brendan, "Everyone keep your eyes peeled. It's going to be dark out there and we have no idea how many we're going to be up against."
"You got it." Zack and Damien said at the same time. Next to the latter, Jewell was fitting a telescopic scope onto an M21 Designated Marksman Rifle. She was going to cover them while Avery would provide an extra pair of eyes to hostiles reacting to the helo's approach.
"Twenty seconds." The pilot called out.
"Last one back onboard buys the cold beer when we're done." Ash grinned as he threw open the door. Immediately, he was greeted by the sound of the droning rotors and wind pressing against his body.
"Ten seconds."
By now, they could see the Sea Mauville leaning on its stern and the bow tilted at a slight angle. From the lights the Pellipper shone on its hull, a lot of it was faded paint, replaced by the brown eczema of rust.
Ten seconds had elapsed as Ash flicked out the spool of rope that spun from the side winch of the helo. His gloves snagged on and he slid down sixty feet to the top deck.
Un-slinging the carbine from his back, he did a brief check of the area as the other three made their descent. Avery made sure all of them had successfully made it before reeling in the rope and flying off, sparing them from the powerful effects of the rotors.
The four of them donned binocular blue lensed night vision optics, secured to their head by a band and compatible with the electronic reflex sight mounted on their rifles. In addition, the side of their barrels had a laser pointer to paint targets.
"Okay, spread out, but don't go too far." Ash said, "They probably know we're here already, so we'll have to take it nice and slow. The Navy has a corvette inbound within fifteen minutes with reinforcements. Zack, how are we on the signal?"
"Reading a hundred meters directly ahead."
"Jewell scope it out."
"Standby…It's all clear boss, you boys can move up."
Ash was on point as they briskly advanced, shifting their aim constantly as they continued to watch different vectors.
As Avery steadied the helo again for Jewell to observe, she pinpointed the phone in the far area by the staircase where a few barrels were stacked. Something seemed off.
"Hang on," Her next sentence was cut off as somewhere a gunshot sounded and it caught one of the barrels aflame.
"GET DOWN!" Ash pushed Damien out of the way just as the group of barrels exploded in a brilliant orange fireball.
"Ambush!"
All at once, the far end poured a half dozen men who laid down sheets off bullets to where the Specialists were holed up.
"Damn it," Jewell cursed, it was a trap. She angled her scope on the first tango and pulled the trigger. Easily countering the kick, she didn't wait to see what it did before centering on the second man and sealing his fate.
The Jets had recovered quickly and found parts of the wall to hide behind. Arron took a potshot, which caught the attention of the remaining guys, still a bit unaware that two of their own were dead.
Signaling Hammond and Decker to cover him, Ash ducked from view and moved up to their left.
The fire had disoriented both parties, as they tried to get better angles at their opponents.
Rounding the corner, Ketchum ran almost into a Syndicate hitman. Reacting first, he slammed the stock of his rifle into his stomach and then grabbed the back of his head while he doubled over from the pain. A slam into the side of the wall knocked out the bad guy.
Firing his assault rifle, Ash eliminated the remainder. "All clear."
"Close call there." Brendan said as they headed over.
"Moving down one deck." Ash started forward.
It all happened in a blur. Right in front of him another burly gunman stepped out from heading up the stairs. He held a stubby sawed off pump shotgun aimed squarely at his chest.
At this close of a range, one bullet would instantly turn him into ground meat.
In a timely manner, from above, a perfectly aimed sniper bullet whizzed past his shoulder and bored through the man's neck. The grisly scene caused blood to plume out of the opening and packed enough kinetic energy to knock him back down to the bottom of the stairs.
"That's one more you owe me. Regardless if you're last." Jewell's voice through the headset was cold and precise.
"Thanks for the assist Jewell and it would be my pleasure."
"I got your back boss man, but a heads up; you're going downstairs so my coverage won't be very good. I'll still try my best."
"Got it." Ash nodded to the other three, "Let's move."
Dawn knew something was up when a pair of guards showed up inside her cell and locked it. For a split second she feared that she was going to be a victim of sexual assault, but judging by the worried actions of the two men, that was the least of their concern.
One of them went close to her, "Hold still beautiful. If I have to shoot you, at least it won't be anywhere near that sexy ass body."
Dawn spat in his face.
"Bitch!" The man wiped the slime off his face, flipped a pistol on his hand, ready to whip her.
The door suddenly shook before it was kicked open. Standing in the threshold was a dark clothed man with a black vest. A pair of blue lights looked as if it was his eyes and his weapon shone a single tiny red dot on the unsuspecting hitman.
The silenced gun coughed twice, drilling holes inside the first guy before he moved his gun on the second one, giving him a similar fate.
Dawn could only stare wide-eyed at her savior who looked just as fearful as her kidnappers, but to her surprise, the man extended a hand out, a universal gesture that he meant no harm.
"Are you okay?"
She nodded.
"Urban Warfare Specialist Decker, we're here to rescue you." The hand still extended, she took it and he pulled it up with surprising strength. "Hostage number nineteen secure. Still locating number twenty. You guys were right; some of them are being more heavily guarded than others."
Then both of them heard a scream from further down the hall. It was a woman's and there was no mistaking the terror in it.
"May," Dawn gasped.
Ash was continuing to scan the cells for the final two hostages. Over the course of five minutes, they had been found isolated from one another, but as they went further along the side, the farther apart and the more enemies were present. Ash had exhausted his entire carbine's ammunition when he got into an intense gunfight with four hostiles. They had cast a smokescreen to hinder his vision while blindly firing themselves in hopes that he would be hit. Once he had killed all four of them, he tried their weapons, but none of them were loaded. That left his pistol, with two full supply of ammo.
"Hostage number nineteen secure." Brendan Decker reported through the comms, "Still locating number twenty. You guys were right; some of them are being more heavily guarded than others."
A scream came from up ahead and Ash's veins suddenly jumped into overdrive. A similar scenario was when the Federation had troops in Unova and his Commando unit had made a bust on an underground trafficking trade. One of the young girls that was probably sixteen was about to be assaulted had it not been for his timely intervention.
Moving briskly, he kept his eyes on the other cells, even when he had already zeroed in on the one three doors to his right.
Stacking up, he wasted no time in shooting off the lock and throwing the door open with his right foot.
The final hostage was pinned against the wall with one of the men assigned to guard her at her throat with a tiny knife.
The second man had heard the shot and was in the midst of raising his rifle at the intruder. As he did, his partner had noticed the commotion and took his eyes off the helpless brunette.
Ash easily evaded the rifle as it was swung dangerously close and used his right elbow to drive a powerful blow in his stomach. To his surprise, he had recovered quickly and swung an electric punch, aimed at his nose. That was also narrowly avoided.
May was completely caught off guard when the newcomer grabbed the outstretched guard's arm and twisted it, getting a painful howl from the man. He finished him off with a punch to the nose and a second one to the neck.
The other man had lunged forward a moment later, slashing the knife like a ferocious Zangoose. The first stroke had struck his side, ripping open Ash's shirt. The attack sliced open his skin and pain suddenly flared through his body as if the knife had been made of lava.
He managed to disorient him by a lucky knee to his ribs and just in time managed to put a hand on the baddie's forearm just as he was in a stabbing motion. Then, controlling the action, the knife hit the wall, embedding itself inside.
Not letting up, Ash grabbed the side of his head and drove a powerful right hook and followed it with twin hammerfist strikes to the throat. The man went limp upon the second hit and went out like a light.
May backed further to the wall as Ash slowly approached. He held out his left hand in a nonthreatening manner. She had stopped screaming once he had made himself known, but the fear hadn't erased itself yet. She had no idea how to make out this new character, but a part in her mind said that he was not here to hurt her like the others.
"Hostage number twenty secure. Got all of them." He reached down, "Urban Warfare Specialist. Don't worry, I'm a friend. I'm here to get you out."
The girl nodded, but still kept shaking. She must've gone through a lot in the last ten hours. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah."
"Come on." His hand was still outstretched, so she took it. "Let's get out of here."
He pointed down the hall, "Head down that way and you'll find a staircase. At the top is the rest of my team and they're going to take you home."
May's eyes widened, "No!"
Ash was taken aback by her outburst, but he stopped. "Please don't!" She begged, "I want to stay with you."
"I might be running into more hostiles."
"I don't want to be alone," Tears began to sting her eyes. Normally if she had Dawn, things would be fine, but the presence of this Urban Warfare guy was strangely a comfort that she did not want to go away. The thought of him being endangered again after rescuing her was a lot to bear. "Please don't leave me." She repeated.
The Commando nodded, aware that she might start to get borderline hysterical, "Alright. Come this way. Stay behind me."
They made their way back down where Ash had come when he keyed his earpiece, "I got the final hostage. We're going to be topside in fifty."
"Hold off on that boss!" Damien Hammond sounded a bit worried, "We got our ass up here pinned by ten plus!"
"Avery's hit!" Jewell cried, "Avery's been hit!"
"Shit!"
The following explosion came without warning, a low bass sound that rumbled through all directions at once.
So here is the chapter that all you Advanceshippers have been waiting for! May and Ash have finally met one another, although it's not under pleasant circumstances. Now the fic is starting to pick up the pace and a whole lot of things are about to change!
Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.