Maddie hastily climbed down Tyranitar's side, using the holes in her armour to move downwards. She could have called Pidgeot over and fly down, but that seemed like something N wouldn't like and she needed to convince him to trust her.
Red caught her at the bottom and helped her get off. Venusaur wrapped his vines around N and pulled him safely down as well.
"What happened to Team Beta?" Maddie asked.
"They bolted as soon as their Pokèmon fell. They'll be back, so we should leave." Red replied, and he brunette nodded.
"N, are you coming?" she asked, turning towards the green haired teen. He looked confused.
"Why would I come? We just met." he said, and Maddie tried to hastily think of a response.
"Because, uh-"
Red stepped in. "Because Team Beta will be watching you now too. It's safer if you stay with us. Right Maddie?"
She quickly nodded, mentally crossing her fingers that N would agree.
"I guess you're right. Where are we going anyway?" N questioned, and she smiled.
"Kalos, if we get lucky."
Another flash of pain hit her as Leech Seed stole more of her energy, each time more powerful as Trevenant got stronger.
Nicole's head was spinning and it was hard to stay awake. Her Pokèballs were detached from her belt and in a small pile away from her. The red haired girl was talking to someone with her watch. Nicole assumed that it was some sort of communication device, but she'd never seen it before in Sinnoh.
Under the teen's orders, her Trevenant was sucking the life out of the brunette, weakening her.
"Hurry up Tyler! I can't wait all day!" she snarled into her device.
"Calm down Lily, I'm on Estival Avenue." a male voice replied coldly, and Nicole could barely hear him.
"Can we maybe meet up another day? I have important things to do today!" Nicole called out, but Lily pretended not to hear.
"This brat is so annoying. I don't understand why Lord Gamma wants her," Lily muttered.
"Who's Lord-" Nicole's question was cut off as the Leech Seed activated again.
Groaning, she closed her eyes and drifted into unconsciousness again.
Michael walked down South Boulevard as he scanned the street for his friend, Marshtomp by his side.
"See her?" he asked his starter, who shook his head sadly.
"Why did she disappear-" Michael suddenly bumped into a guy, crashing to the ground.
"Sorry sir, I wasn't looking." he mumbled.
"Nah, it's my fault. I was busy looking for my friend." the guy replied. Looking at the stranger, he had blond hair combed neatly and a fancy blue suit, reminding him of a Rich Boy.
Getting back to his feet, Michael helped the guy up.
"Thanks. My name's Tyler."
"Hi, I'm Michael. Nice to meet you."
"So your brilliant plan is to sneak onto a boat to Kalos?"
Maddie looked down as her face turned scarlet.
"Well, it's either that or we could Fly there." she chuckled, embarrassed.
Red rolled his eyes. N looked at her curiously.
"The Pokèmon would never be able to Fly to Kalos. It's not that far but it's far enough." N said stiffly.
A gleam appeared in Red's eyes.
"Not if we landed on the ferry every once in a while." he said, and the other two teens looked at him, dumbfounded.
"Are you seriously considering this?" Maddie asked, exasperated. Red didn't answer her, instead turning to N.
"Do you have a Flying type Pokèmon?" he asked, and the teen nodded.
"An Archeops, but I'm not flying him to Kalos, he'll be exhausted." he replied coldly.
"Fine, then maybe you can ride Pidgeot with Maddie."
"I have another Flying Pokèmon, you know!" Maddie said angrily.
"Well you've never told me!" Red yelled at her, and she grabbed a Pokèball off of her belt.
"Dragonite, come out here!"
A large orange dragon was released in a flash of light. He growled under his breath.
"Alright, I'm sorry I doubted you." Red said quietly. Maddie smiled.
"Good. Now let's get to Kalos."
Tyler looked at Michael. He looked a lot like the description Lily had given him of the Prophet.
"Hey, you wouldn't have happened to see a girl with brown hair and a turquoise sweater anywhere around here, would you?" Michael asked.
Something clicked in Tyler's head.
"Uh, actually, a friend of mine said that she found a brunette girl injured in an alley. I was going there now to help her carry her to the Pokèmon Centre."
"That might be Nicole! Let's hurry!" Michael shouted, and Tyler led him towards the alley he was about to go down.
If Michael had looked closer at him, he would have noticed a small black 'B' embroidered on his suit pocket.
Lily scowled; Tyler was being slow just to bug her.
She hated partnering up with him. He was always laughing when she made a mistake and his battling skills were mediocre at best. If it wasn't for her, they would've never found the girl or her friend.
She spotted the blond hair as he walked through the alley.
"Tyler! What took you so long!" she yelled at him. He said nothing, but his face seemed to be mocking her.
"What?" she asked as a Pokèball flashed in his palm.
He moved over to reveal a boy with dark brown hair looking anxious.
"Nicole?" the kid asked.
With a burst of white light, Tyler's Scyther was out and had a blade to the teen's neck.
"Huh?" he shouted, and Tyler smirked.
"Would a useless person find the Prophet and fool him into coming here, Lily?"
The red haired girl groaned.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you said. Could you repeat that?" he inquired.
"You're not entirely useless as a member of Team Beta." she mumbled.
Michael's face was pure shock.
"You're working for Team Beta?"
Maddie carefully climbed onto Pidgeot, trying not to pull any feathers out. Red had released Aero, and the dinosaur was clutching his shoulders and preparing to take off. N had, although disapproving, been convinced to ride Maddie's Dragonite.
"Alright, three, two, one, liftoff!" Red shouted, and the three fliers went up into the air effortlessly.
Undella Bay shone in the setting sun, the waves sparkling as the three teens prepared for a long trip.
Pidgeot's wings seemed to bend the wind to his will as he rode them high into a cloud before swooping down, and Maddie giggled as her hair whipped around behind her. She loved the feeling of soaring in the sky.
"Come on Dexter! We have to get going!"
Maddie gave Red a venomous look.
"Don't you dare call me that again or it will be the last thing you do." she said coldly, and he smiled.
"Okay Dex!" he said, then flew off as she told Pidgeot to knock him out of the air.
Michael scanned the alley. Nicole was there, tied up by a Leech Seed that was sapping her strength and giving it to a strange tree Pokèmon. A pile of Pokèballs were across the alley from her, probably hers. The red haired girl, Lily, was seething and Tyler was smiling at her angry face.
Scyther's blade was dangerously close to his throat. He could see the sharpness in the last feeble rays of light the sun was giving out as twilight came.
What do I do now? he though, possibilities swarming his mind. The idea hit him as fast as a Ninjask's Agility.
"AZELF! UXIE! MESPR-" he called out, cut off by Scyther slamming him into the alley wall. A small line of red was on his neck, probably from Scyther's scythes.
The damage was already done. Three glowing orbs of light came from behind Nicole, probably hiding under her jacket to prevent discovery. They glowed with a bright light and Tyler, Lily and Michael shielded their eyes as the three guardians of the lakes appeared.
Azelf attacked first, hitting the two villans with Psychic and freezing them in their tracks. Mesprit flew over them all and used Protect, blocking Scyther's blades from hitting Michael. Uxie closed his eyes, apparently in thought.
Michael ducked and ran to his left, grabbing a Pokèball out of the pile and pressed the white button.
Rosie closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of nature. The wind whistling, the sounds of Fletchling as they sung, the rustle of grass as the Pokèmon dashed through it. It calmed her and helped as she gathered her thoughts.
The Pokèmon Village was always peaceful, and the wild Pokèmon trusted her and occasionally played with her from time to time. But right now, she was sitting above a waterfall in a hard to reach place that most of the Pokèmon couldn't get to, so it was perfect for when she wanted to be alone.
Her team was playing down below and practising their attacks. Veon and Syl had told everyone about the attack, so they were all making sure that they were prepared in case of another.
Taking a few breaths, she spotted a Fletchling in a tree. The tiny bird saw her and flew down to sit on her head.
Will it work with a wild Pokèmon?
Listening to her own breathing, she tried to focus on merging with the little bird.
One Poliwhirl,
Two Poliwhirl,
Three Poliwhirl,
Nothing happened. The wild Fletchling chirped and flew away, apparently bored.
Her Vivillon came to see her, scattering scales all over Rosie's hair as she hovered over her head.
"Vivi?" the butterfly asked, concerned.
"I'm fine, Vivillon. I"m just trying to figure out what's going on." Rosie said, and a sudden thought popped into her mind.
If I can only merge with my Pokèmon, or maybe ones I'm close with, what better way to merge again than by playing and training with my Pokèmon?
"Actually, I think it's time I got down and helped you guys train."
The sun had gone down an hour ago and Maddie was wishing she'd brought a warmer sweater. The sea breezes were chilling her down to the bone and her teeth chattered continuously like a Spoink bouncing.
"H-H-How much farther?" she asked Red, who shrugged. His vest wasn't very warm either, and his ears were pink.
"How w-would I know?" he snapped, and Maddie glared at him.
"Y-You don't have to be mean!" she yelled, and the boy looked slightly ashamed before the emotion disappeared.
"S-Sorry." he said, and she tried to smile.
"That's okay. Let's g-go down and rest a bit."
Pidgeot swooped down low, his wings were starting to freeze a little so he was glad to have a chance to rest. Aerodactyl, being part Rock Type, wasn't faring any better.
N was sitting on the top of the boat, Dragonite blowing a light Flamethrower to warm the air but not enough to damage anything.
Maddie dismounted Pidgeot and sat near the flames coming from her dragon, Red following with Aerodactyl and Pidgeot fluttering close as well.
"This isn't too bad." Red said, trying to be cheerful. Maddie snorted.
"Oh, yeah Red, riding our Pokèmon across the sea and occasionally resting on top of a ship we shouldn't be on is loads of fun!" she said casually, the sarcasm obvious.
"When you put it that way, it does sound good Maddie." N added, and Red laughed.
"Yeah, this is totally how I though I'd be wasting my time." he said.
"You think I wanted to be dashing across the regions following Michael's strange visions?" she asked, and N looked curious.
"Visions?" he questioned.
"Oh yeah, we didn't tell you the story. It starts, I guess, with Nicole finally becoming the Champion of the Sinnoh Pokèmon League."
Thought I'd end it there. Hope it was a good chapter! I love getting feedback, so tell me what you thought!
Always writing,
Typhlosion8