Pokѐmon Journey III: Jezebel's Voyage
Chapter 13: Trouble with Team Aqua & Magma
Jezebel's Point of View:
We ended up spending the night over at Glass Co. before taking off early the next morning. I wanted to get a good start over to the mountain to find Mattie that pokemon he was looking for. I was intrigued by it myself. I'd asked Mattie a few questions about the pokemon, but other than what I already knew, he kept his stuttering lips sealed about it. I supposed he wanted to surprise me or impress me. Either way, I had to admit… it was kinda cute to see him all determined and what not.
Anyway, we arrived at Fallarbor Town a couple hours shy of noon. It was a barren looking town with nothing much more than rocks and flying dust particles for miles. It was one of the driest parts of the region, minus the desert. Not a speck of green was to be seen and it was almost sickening to see the dead state of the area. Hadn't the town heard of irrigation?
Mattie and I quickly grabbed a thing for lunch for our pokemon before we set out further to the west. It was beautiful to see some water and soon enough some plant life once we got far enough away from the town. It was there when we got to the base of the mountain that we found the pokemon that Mattie had been looking for, and it was just as cute as I thought it would be. It was called a swablu, a small flying type pokemon that had a blue body with beady black eyes and thick, fluffy white wings that looked like nothing more than thick cotton balls. I pulled out my pokedex and looked up the information on this pokemon.
Swablu, the cotton bird pokemon. A pokemon that has wings like cottony clouds. It constantly grooms its cotton-like wings. It takes a shower to clean itself if it becomes dirty. After enduring winter, in which little food is available, swablu flocks move closer to towns in the spring. Swablu nests are only common in this region on routes one-fourteen and one-fifteen.
"I-I'm going t-to catch it Jezebel!" Mattie called out as we were looking through the route for one. We'd seen a few of them, but none of them had come out and battled us, nor stuck around long for us to try and get one for Mattie.
"I know you will, Mattie. I have faith in you." I smiled at the boy who was rushing to check all bushes and trees for the pokemon who were either running away or not there.
It took the boy quite a while, almost an hour in fact, before a swablu finally appeared before a small pond of water. It seemed to be cleaning itself excessively, even more than the other ones that seemed to take off as soon as they catch a glimpse of us. The fact that this one wasn't was actually a real shocker. It saw Mattie and me, and saw most of the pokemon that we had with us that were out of their pokeballs, but it ignored us all. Mattie seemed really interested in it and quickly pulled out a couple extra pokeballs.
"Here I go!" he cried out. "Let's go Luna! Help me out with double slap!"
"Nya!" the feline like pokemon bound forward with her battle ready figure that had once again turned from the adorable Luna into the blood thirsty battler. She leapt into the air and landed a solid hit with her tail multiple times on the pokemon before throwing it back into the water. The flying pokemon sunk below the water for a moment before with heard bubbles coming up from out of the water. The flying pokemon jumped out of the water and screeched at Luna, it had the same look in its eyes like she did. When Luna wasn't battling, she was the sweetest pokemon you'd ever come across that loved to play with you and her own tail. When it came to battling, however, she was a pain in the ass to beat, and the last time I faced her in battle, Blade lost to her- he's still a bit sour over that fact- but the strangeness in the fact that this swablu was almost identical in personality to the way that Luna acted was almost uncanny. When not battling, it seemed sweet and didn't seemed to bothered by us, which most likely meant it was one of the more powerful swablu in the area to not be afraid like all the others, and then when it came to battling, its mind was like a steel trap that would just fight on forever.
"Oh boy…" I lightly hissed under my breath. It'd be great for Mattie to get another pokemon, but if he gets another one like Luna, oh hell I'd be so screwed…
"Oh wow!" Mattie was out of his stuttering phase now that he was battling. I heard no hesitation in his voice like I normally did. It was kind of a pleasant surprise to hear, regardless of how much harder it was going to be to defeat him now if he gets that pokemon. "Now Luna, use blizzard!"
"Nya~!" Luna cried out and suddenly a blast of ice and snow came from her mouth that hurled itself over at the flying type pokemon. It cried out as its wings became encased in ice and its body began to freeze.
"Watch it so you don't freeze it over, Mattie!" I reminded the boy and he was startled out of his concentration.
"R-right!" He pulled out one of his pokeballs and threw it over at the pokemon. "Go pokeball!"
The red and white device tapped on the top of the pokemon's head. It instantly turned red and was pulled inside before tipping from side to side and beeping every so often. Mattie waited on the tops of his toes for the pokeball to settle, and when it did, he cheered and Luna turned back to her playful mood. She leapt up into the air before she landed and saw a glimpse of her tail. With one look of the tail that resembled a fluffy large toy, Luna took off after it and ended up racing herself around in circles.
"I got the swablu!" Mattie turned back to me excitedly. "I'll call her Kaida, Jezebel!"
"Well that was fast." I giggled at him. "I guess you had time to think this over?"
"I've been thinking about this for days!" The boy grinned before I saw something flash in his mind, like he remembered something, and his nervous features came back to him. "I-I've been thinking t-this over for a w-while…"
"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Mattie; I don't care what you name her. She's your pokemon after all." I smiled at the boy before a flash of red caught my eye from the edge of the mountains. My eyes widened as I saw part of a red hood.
Team Magma? I glanced over at Blade, who used his powers to look to the area over there. He nodded to me, all without Mattie or his team noticing, all other than Guardian, who gave him a strange look, but said nothing at the moment.
"Hey, Mattie? Why don't you go and take Kaida back to the pokemon center and get her healed up so you can talk and get to know her a bit better." The boy looked over at me with a quizzed look.
"B-but what about y-you?"
"There's something I want to check out in that mountain real quick. Besides, we need to double back down to Mt. Chimney to get to Lavaridge Town anyway to get our next gym badge." Without the boy knowing, I glared at the mountain before I turned back and gave him a smile. "I'll pick you up on the way back, okay?"
"O-okay…" the boy looked truly sad by what I said, and I had to admit, I was just trying to send him back so he wouldn't get in the middle of this. Team Magma and Team Aqua both don't know what I look like, it's not fair for Mattie to take and involve him where his family could be looked up, hunted and hurt.
"Don't worry; I'll only be a few minutes." He nodded and slowly began to walk off with his team. Guardian looked back at Blade a couple more times before she grudgingly gave up and followed her trainer and good friend out of the small green area we were in before heading back to the dried out area that led to Fallarbor Town. When Mattie and his team were far enough away, I bolted toward the mountain with my team fast on my trail.
The mountainous trail was extremely easy to run up with the rock paths carved out. It took me little time to actually get to where I saw the entrance to a cave. I vaguely could hear some voices inside and hurried over to the entrance and rushed inside to hide behind a large boulder before peeking around it. My eyes quickly adjusted to the dim lighting before I saw a group of Team Magma grunts that were harassing a scientist, easily noticeable by the neon white coat he wore over himself. A stone that seemed to be worn down, almost looking like a meteorite, was in his arms, which he seemed to be shielding away from the Team Magma grunts that descended on him.
"No, you can't have my meteorite!" the man cried out at the evil gang. "I need it for my research; you hoodlums can't have it!"
"Sorry professor, but whether you say we can or not doesn't matter." I watched as one of the closest grunts reached for the desired item and the scientist was shaking in fear. He had no pokemon, no one to protect him. I needed to get their attention off of him to give him time to run.
"Blade, get me that stone." My psychic pokemon nodded and his eyes quickly glowed their bright purple color and the stone vanished from the scientist's hands. The stone appeared right before me and I took it into my arms before I stepped out and around the boulder.
"Looking for this, Team Magma?" Their entire group whipped their heads around to see the stone in my hands and many of them growled while a few backed up.
"It's that girl that messed with the last operation in Verdanturf!" I heard one of them cry out. "She's got the meteorite!"
"You're going to have to get through me and my team if you want to have it." I pulled back the stone towards my body and Spinner sat on my shoulder, I could feet him shaking, but he seemed a bit more at ease than normal due to my entire battling team that was out before us, protecting us.
"Fine by us!" The Magma grunts quickly unleashed their pokemon from their pokeballs, many of them being a few numels and poochyenas. Nothing that we couldn't handle.
"Get them!" another grunt shouted and the wave of pokemon attacks that came at us was huge. Fire came at us in a blaze at first, a huge wave of it, from a group of Numel, as compared to just one. Blaze conjured up his own fire in his mouth and then used his fire attack to counter theirs. I could hear the shocked gasps escape their lips when they saw that their attack didn't do anything at all to us. I shook my head and Blaze looked back to me and I nodded to him.
"Have at it." My fire type suddenly leapt into the air and threw his feet around to gain speed as he crashed and both of his thick legs hit two of the numels on their sides. They crashed into the ground and from the impact were thrown back while Blaze jumped back and landed before the rest of the group of pokemon.
"Silky, silver wind!" My beautifly jumped off my head and while in midair, she flapped her wings once to give her enough force to stay up there before she threw a mad dusting of the glittering attack at the enemy, it landed all over the pokemon and their trainers. "Now set it afire Blaze!" My fire type clicked his teeth and a single flare left the inside of his mouth that landed on the ground, just on the edge of the powdery attack before it suddenly took aflame in an instant. All of them could be heard crying out on the other side of the flames, but unlike last time, I wasn't about to give them a chance to escape.
"Tackle the Pokemon, Acey; I know the fire won't affect you. Blade, you use teleport and then hit the grunts and knock them back!" My last two pokemon did just that and threw themselves into the fire. They both vanished from my sight, but I saw the fire begin to die down and it was pushed back when those that were on fire were thrown back too.
All of them were washed out and taken out, just like the trash should be.
I huffed and looked down to the man that was on the lower level. "Hey, you all right down there?"
"Well it seems that someone else beat us to the punch with Team Magma." The scientist never had a chance to speak to me before I saw a large flash of blue enter the room. Archie was in the front as he led a group of Team Aqua grunts to the center of the cave where we were, but on the lower level with the scientist. "And it's you again, Girly. What have you been up to?"
I never had the chance to answer. I heard my pokemon cry out and I only had a moment to watch a charcoaled body of black and red of a Team Magma grunt hit me with a fist to the gut and my head bounced off the back of a rock. I felt my body hit the ground, but I had no feeling at the moment other then numbly hitting the cool ground and a set of hands ripping the meteorite out of my hands. It all blacked out after that.
Third Person Point of View:
Away from Jezebel in the Meteor Falls on the far west mountainous coast, back on Mt. Chimney, a volcano that is on the near center of the region of the mainland. Upon this very active mountain, a man stood at the top, a woman at his side with two younger looking kids behind them, roughly around the age of possibly ten. The four of them looked over at the lava while a few grunts that Jezebel had dealt with, still covered in their burned clothes and small patches of scarred skin, had the meteorite in one of the grunts' hands.
"Sir, we retrieved the meteorite." The man of the group turned around while his group of three around him watched him take the stone into his hands.
"Good, and now, with this stone, we will activate this volcano and find Groudon!" The man greedily held the stone before he walked over to a machine that stood next to the four of them and he placed it inside. Once the stone was set, power was sent throughout the machine which was sent to other machines that were set up throughout the volcano.
Jezebel's Point of View:
I groaned as I felt myself coming too. My head was pounding and my lower abdomen was tingling with pain. I blinked my eyes as I tried to sit up and I saw flashes of many colors, but none that I could make sense of. I heard voices, but none of them came through clearly. I felt something help me sit up and I leaned on it to stay up. I saw a large patch of white with some green and red. It was Blade. I could barely feel his tense body under my own.
I blinked and finally was able to sit up without the help of Blade on my side. I felt a small pokemon sit in my lap that gently tapped my hand with a small arm.
"Well it's about time you woke up, Girly." My eyes widened and I threw up my head only to see my uncle right in my face. He was scowling at me while my pokemon stood out before me and the apparent scientist who stood over me and made sure I wouldn't fall over.
"Shut up. I didn't see you do anything to stop- Team Magma!" I jumped to my feet and suddenly lost all the energy I'd just gotten back and fell on Blaze. "The meteorite!"
"Gone, Girly. You were taken out by a stray Magma grunt." Archie shook his head and bent his knees so he hovered over the ground and was almost a foot under my height, even when I was leaning on Blaze. "They're probably all the way over to Mt. Chimney by now."
"Mt. Chimney?"
"They've had control over that mountain for a couple years now, but didn't come out and into the open until a few months ago. The goal of Team Magma is to expand the land and reduce the water we have in the world." He snorted. "It's the exact opposite from Team Aqua's dream…"
"Both of those dreams are stupid." His eyes went wide as he glared up at me. "The world has a perfect balance of the two right now, making more or less would destroy wildlife and so many lives in the process, and no one has the power to do as much work as what you're claiming your team can do."
Archie suddenly lost his cruel face and laughed for a moment before he shook his head again. "Just like Shelly said, you can't be easily swayed…"
I gasped; it just lightly passed my lips. Aunt Shelly… she's in on this too? I couldn't confirm it since I haven't seen her in a Team Aqua uniform yet, but the way he said it…
"I wasn't about to be swayed in the first place, Archie."
The man's eyes went wide as he looked at me. "How do you know my name?"
"Are you really going to ask me that or stop Team Magma? Or are you really not on their side?" With the help of Blade, I got up to my feet and off of Blaze before I made my way past my uncle (who was still blissfully unaware that I knew who he was or that I was his niece) and hurried toward the exit.
I left the man in the dust and hurried off back to town before Mattie would call a search party on me.
Matthew's Point of View:
It had been hours, hours since I'd left her over at the mountain. I was worried sick that she'd gotten in trouble or hurt over there, but I was worried that she'd come back if I went to look for her and passed right by her. I was so torn on what to do, I almost tore my hair out thinking about it.
Aria and Casey soon showed up and calmed me down for a bit when they arrived just a short while after I did. They reminded me that Jezebel could look after herself, but that didn't stop me from worrying, not to mention that it got worse when time flew by and it turned out to be almost four hours later since when I left her. We were almost about ready to search ourselves before we would call the police.
Then, all of a sudden, the girl burst through the door. She rushed in and handed her pokemon to Nurse Joy while she was out of breath and while her pokemon were being healed, she sat down before the counter and we all ran up to her. I could see a small trickle of blood on the edge of her hairline and I gasped at her.
"J-jezebel! W-what happened to y-you?" The three of us rushed over to her, but she seemed to be ignoring us at the time.
"Not now, Mattie; I have somewhere to be. I'll be back for you when I'm done." She seemed jumpy as she waited for her Pokemon; she proved my point when Aria rushed around before her and put both her hands on Jezebel's shoulders.
"Jez, what happened? Was it Team Aqua? Team Magma? Who hurt you and who do we have to fight?"
"I have to take care of something."
"No, we do, together, Jez." Casey stepped up to the plate. I was shocked to see him look at Jezebel straight in the eye and not be fazed by her angered look. "We are going to help you. This has gone on far enough with you running away to take care of these things with Team Aqua and Team Magma on your own. We're your friends, Jez. Don't you trust us?"
"It's not that-!"
"Then what is it? Are we not strong enough?"
"No-!"
"Then what?"
"Shut up!" She screeched at Casey and he flew back, landing on the ground from her exploud voice. "Just shut up!"
"No, we won't!" Aria jumped before her then and took the reins of this crazy argument. "We're not letting you do this again, Jez. We're here to help you. You don't have to face this alone!"
"No! I have to face this alone!"
She just wouldn't see our side as we saw her basically tearing herself apart over this… "J-jezebel! Please!"
"NO!" Her entire body was shaking before she fell to the ground. Tears spilled from her eyes endlessly, something I'd never seen on this girl, nor did I ever want to. I… I loved the brave side of her, the one where she was strong and fearless. I hated to see her torn like this…
"Jez…" Aria didn't allow the girl a chance to argue before she brought the other female into her arms. Jezebel sobbed before she took hold of Aria's body before her and cried into her shoulder. Endless tears fell; thousands of sobs escaped her mouth in a single breath. She'd been holding all of this in, and for who knows how long.
"So… what's the plan? Because I hope you don't keep us out of the loop again." Casey was already back to his feet and looking down at Jezebel. She looked up at him through the tears before she blinked them away in a mad rushed and jumped back to her feet, bringing up Aria with her.
"Get your pokemon healed. We're heading to Mt. Chimney." Nurse Joy brought out her pokemon there and they all released themselves before the nurse could put down her tray. All pokeballs were levitated over to Jezebel and she shoved them in her pocket. "We've got two organizations to stop. And once we take care of this… I'll tell you guys everything…" She moved away from the counter and we followed after her. All our pokemon had been previously healed, and she sighed before she led us out the door. "Let's go, then."
Jezebel's Point of View:
I never expected myself to break down in front of my friends. I honestly never expected them to force as much out of me as they did. I was going to be in for a rude awakening once I had to tell them everything once the battle was over, but I would hold in all of it, along with my rage, until I took out the Team Magma leader, and possibly Uncle Archie as well if I needed to.
We took the long walk back to route one-eleven before taking the detour onto one-twelve that led to Mt. Chimney where we would see the feud. Just like Uncle Archie had told me, it was still blocked off, but this time by Team Magma. As soon as I got into close enough range of them and I watched them draw their pokeballs, Blade was already out before me and used his psychic powers to hurl them into the rocks.
Morals be damned. I was taking them down.
The others all hurried onto the tram and I kicked the lever to take us up before jumping in the glass and green box. I clenched my case handle in my hands; the heat was built up in my body from the rage and sadness that I've felt over all this time. Things just felt like something bad was going to happen, I didn't understand why, other then maybe I was right about my aunt, so many scenarios running through my head. I was startled out of it when Mattie reached for my hand.
"W-we'll be okay…" I felt him squeeze my hand. "D-don't worry about u-us. J-just take out T-team Magma."
I nodded to the boy and looked out the window as we approached the top of the mountain. I could already see flashes of fire and scattering rocks from where battles were already taking place.
The door opened and we were almost hit with a fire attack from a numel that was facing off against a Team Aqua grunt before us. Blaze leapt over the Aqua grunt and threw his foot at the fire pokemon and it was crushed into the ground. The grunts both looked over at me and gaped as I rushed around them, ignoring the pokemon that the Aqua grunt had, and the others rushed with me.
We hurried up the side of the mountain paths, passing more grunts of both teams along the way. They were all facing off against each other in heated battles of equal strength where they were trying to either get past or stop the opposing team. It seemed that Team Magma was protecting the peak of the mountain.
"All right! Now we get to have some fun and kick some ass!" Aria laughed and hurried out to the side and released her pokemon, and to my shock, she actually had a grovyle on her team. Was it the one that belonged to Professor Birch? It would explain why he was there when we were in Slateport…
"Jez, watch out!" I had zoned out and Casey rushed before me and unleashed his mudkip, or the evolved form of it. It fired a beam of water at the two members of Team Magma when they came to attack me. They were thrown back and Casey turned back to me. "Jez! Take Mattie and head up! Aria and I got this down here with the grunts! We'll send them packing and get them off the mountain!"
"All right!" I quickly pulled Mattie along and up the path while Casey kept the grunts at bay that tried to make their way after me. I gasped when I made it up ahead and there was my uncle fighting a group of grunts all at once with a mightyena. He seemed to be holding his own for the most part. My eyes widened through when I saw off to the side that there were four grunts facing off against each other. I recognized them as having features of my uncles and aunts in their features. The Team Magma grunts were only about ten years of age, from under their hoods; I could see the pale white skin of my mother's side of the family and the same green eyes too. From the female of the two, I saw that she had dark red hair, much like her father's.
Eyna? Edan? Why are they here? Don't tell me… Glancing past them over at the two Team Aqua grunts next to them that they were facing, I saw the jet black coloring of Uncle Archie's hair on their heads and the sapphire like eyes along with uniforms. One was ten while the other had to have been either eight or nine. Caspian? Nixie? No…
My head whipped around the battle field before me and I saw my next fear, vibrant red hair of wild curls in a Team Aqua uniform that was customized just for herself. Aunt Shelly… And her opponent was a Team Magma higher up that had a longer skirt that went down below her knees and vibrant red gloves and mahogany hair that was just as curly as Aunt Shelly's slipping out from under the hood. Aunt Courtney…
And lastly, up on the top of the mountain was a man that stood with dark red hair combed back over his head and a thick coat that came down to his knees that was a dull dark red in color with a grey shoulder and arm on the left side that held the Team Magma emblem. Grey pants were under the jacket and he looked down at all of us with a scowl. My eyes took hold on him and I couldn't stop the tears that escaped the corners of my eyes. Uncle Maxie…
"Jezebel!" I turned back to look at Mattie who gasped upon seeing my face. I still couldn't believe it. My entire family was here and doing all these horrible deeds… kidnapping pokemon… hurting people… staining the good name that my father had tried so hard to make for all of us… they were ruining their lives…!
I turned away from Mattie, ignoring his cries to me as a sob escaped me. My pokemon turned to me, all in shock as they heard the thoughts that were racing through my mind thanks to Blade. I clenched my fist and walked toward the group off to the side, my cousins. Nixie, the youngest of all of them, noticed me as I approached. Her eyes widened when she saw my face. I knew that she had no idea who I was, and even if she did, I didn't care. My face was something that she couldn't take her eyes off of, even when her older brother told her to.
"Caspian! Look out!" My fist connected to his face before she could get close and stop me. I brought my hand back and slapped her across the face and she landed on the ground. Their pokemon looked at me in shock before Blaze appeared before me and knocked all four of them out of the way, even those of my cousins on the other side of the family while I approached the twins.
"What-" Edan had no time to respond as I punched him in the gut and sent him to his knees before I looked over at his twin sister and threw my foot at her. She cried out and it gathered the attention of others, especially their mothers and fathers.
"Eyna! Edan!" I heard my aunt from the Team Magma side of the family cry out before Aunt Courtney rushed toward us and my pokemon skidded in before her, guarding me. "Get away from my children!"
Silently, and while the numb tears still began to flow, just like the lava below us, I pointed a hand at her and Acey growled before she took hold of her with her teeth after hiding under the soil and toppled her over. My aunt gasped and backed away from my growling ground type before a bright glow emitted around her. My shiny trapinch glowed in a white light and sparkle before its body shape changed and no longer was my smaller pokemon a dark green color, but tan and red. It had a slender body that looked a bit more like an insect shape that had four thin arms on its underside and two short antennae on its head. It had two wings on either side of its body as well as two tiny ones on the end of its tail to help with flight control that were all colored a bright red with black outlining. Red eyes were on her face and she hissed out before an attack appeared before her mouth, one that was black, purple and red in color. She fired it at my aunt and Aunt Courtney took off running toward the mountain peak where her pokemon was. I saw grunts rush behind me to grab my cousins, and I let them. I was more focused on those that were on the mountain peak right now.
On both of my sides, Blaze and Blade stood next to me. I vaguely saw Blade's eyes glow as we came closer to the mountain peak. I felt something slip from my bag and out came the dawn stone that Steven had given me so long ago. He took it into his hands, and all of a sudden, both of my two bodyguard pokemon that looked after me the most began to evolve.
Blaze evolved first; he grew to a height that was well over my head, a few feet or more at least. His legs became thick and long for better kicking and the claws on his hands looked a bit more like hands, just with only three fingers. A 'v' shaped piece appeared on his nose and just below the longer part of that were his bright yellow eyes. His body was mostly red with the exception of the long tannish white hair on his back that came down like in an upside down 'v', almost like my hair, but it also carried a bit over onto his chest. On the edge of his legs it was yellow and his claws were gray as well as his hands up to his lower arms.
Blade on the other hand took another form entirely because of the stone. I watched him become just as tall as Blaze was and sword like appendages appeared for his arms that connected with the rest of his arms halfway up those swords. The lower half of him was white while the upper half was a dark green. The same red piece was still sticking out on his chest, but it was more triangular in shape and a darker red then before. White hair seemed to almost spike off the back of his head past his red eyes, but a greenish cap sat over his head and came down until just over his mouth. On that green cap on his head, dark blue green hair came up, but stopped halfway up his head, then a stripe was on the other half that led toward the front to where his mouth was.
Both of them stood out and protectively before me as all grunts and my aunts' pokemon growled and slowly began to make their way closer to us. By this point, I didn't care what happened to me. I didn't care if I hurt my family (my human one that was). They had soiled our name too many times to count, and now, I was going to make them pay.
"Take them out." Blaze and Blade took off at the command and flew forward and both their fists hit the mightyena and threw them off to the side. Blade's arms began to then glow, one a bright green and another a bright purple. Blaze's legs became encased in fire and his claws drawn out. Blaze leapt first and threw his kick at the golbat that was flying in the air and sent it crashing into the ground before Blaze kept up his assault on the evolved form of numel, a camerupt, behind it. Flames went flying everywhere and the camerupt cried out with every hit that was landed and its inability to fight back.
Blade on the other hand had his two blade-like arms out before him and crushed another golbat to the side before jumping over its body and using the green blade arm to hit a grounded sharpedo, the evolved form of carvanha, off to the side as well.
Both my aunts were left defenseless and they returned their pokemon before running off to their husbands. Uncle Archie was still tied up with a few grunts that wouldn't let him through, but he was almost here, probably enraged at me for beating the crap out of his kids. Uncle Maxie was no different as he stood atop of the hill with his face a pure dark purple color. I honestly thought he was about ready to perform a self-destruct attack himself.
"So you're the girl that's been messing with both of our affairs. What does a child like you want with us?"
"And that matters to you why?" I snorted at them. "I thought you'd be more concerned over the fact that I just beat up your children, niece and nephew."
"What?" The man's eyes went wide for a moment, the fact that I knew who he was halting his rage. "How do you know about that?"
"I was a good friend of the daughter of the Petalburg gym leader, Norman. Her name was Jezebel." I slowly began to walk closer to him. "She used to tell me how she loved her family, but also how little she ever got to see them due to her mother. She showed me pictures. I know all the details of your faces and how you act, and what you're drawn to." I shook my head as I ended up right before my pokemon. Silky looked down at me, and Acey glanced at me as well. I nodded to the two of them and they flew off together toward the rocks to my left. "When I learned that her beloved family had gone and soiled their name by being the leading criminals in Hoenn, do you think I was about to sit back and allow you all to do as you wished? To let the poor girl know that she has this to deal with that as well as her own fucking mother?"
The battle had entirely stilled as members of all levels watched my argument with my uncle, to which none of them seemed to be able to figure out that I was the niece that I was talking about, but they didn't need to know that. They needed to suffer.
"And for that girl, that girl that cared about me and was my best friend, I will crush both of your organizations and make sure that nothing is left standing for her, so she doesn't have to suffer from this too!" A crash echoed off to the right and my uncle turned his head to see my two flying pokemon bringing me back the meteorite that was connected to all the machines around the bubbling volcano. It seemed to settle down a bit when it was removed and all the machines powered down. "Just like I did this one and all the other ones before it."
My uncle then hissed out, clearly unimpressed that his operation had been ruined by a young girl, but he shook his head and held up his hand. "Fine, we'll leave, for now. Team Magma, fall back!" Uncle Maxie watched as his members quickly returned their pokemon and took off with many of the Team Aqua members chasing after them. Most of them disappeared from sight before I saw all four of my aunts and uncles glaring at me before the Emery set of them began to back up and took off, hiding and escaping behind the rocks.
"Run all you want. I'll find you again and ruin things just like now." I whipped my head to my only present uncle and aunt. "And that includes your team too."
"Whose side are you really on?" Uncle Archie questioned me as Aunt Shelly tried to pull him away.
"Let her go. We need to plan and regroup!" Against my aunt's reasonable thinking, my uncle would not leave without an answer from me. He stared me down until I sighed and rolled my eyes at him.
"I'm on Jezebel's side." Both of them looked up at me in shock before I began to walk toward them with my pokemon at my sides. Blaze and Blade stood at my sides, only a step or two before me to keep me safe and out of reach. "The side that takes both of you down for her sake." I kept on walking and pushed past the two of them as I hurried toward my friends. "Now get out of my sight."
"Wait!" I couldn't help but stop under his command. It froze me just as I was about to take another step. "Tell me one thing at least before you go. How was Jezebel before you left Littleroot?"
"How in hell-" I whipped around to look at the guilty man.
"I always kept tabs on her. I'm sure Maxie did too. We didn't want any of our… activities to be too close where she was and could wander off to."
I snorted at him before turning right back around. A tear slipped from my eye remembering all the years that I had to suffer through because of my mother. "In desperate need of a friend."
The male shouted again and tried to stop me once more, but my pokemon stopped him from doing that. Archie eventually gave up and when I turned to check, the man was gone. I sighed and hurried back to the others, who had their pokemon out and were healing wounds, a bit out of breath, but otherwise fine. The three of them came up to me and Aria was the first one to pull me into her arms before Mattie and then Casey did so.
"Jez… was it true?" Aria was practically sobbing as she questioned me and tried to hold onto me. "Are they really…"
"Your… uncles and… aunts?" Mattie finished for her, but still with massive welts of tears in his eyes.
"And even your cousins?" Casey added in. All three of them looked at me with the saddest looks on their faces and tears streaming from their eyes, almost like they were going through this pain right now instead of me.
"Yes." The whole world seemed to freeze over then. Even being on top of a volcano didn't help the cold that ran up through all of our beings from my answer. "Now do you see… why I didn't…" Tears finally then graced my dry eyes and slipped down the sides of my cheeks. "Why I didn't… want to say… anything…?"
Brittany's Point of View:
"So Brittany, I have your most recent results from the scans and I regret to inform you that-"
The doctor was speaking to me, he was telling me things, but they barely made it to my ear as I regrettably thought over my daughter and how she had run away from me. I was torn over the fact that I couldn't find her and I had to turn to Norman for help, only to have him slap that help right back in my face. He told me how she'd shown up and became a trainer and left to go on a journey. A journey? A pokemon journey, the one thing that I'd never allowed her, the freedom and both human and Pokemon friends that she's surrounded herself with.
He told me of the friends that she'd made, young Casey Birch whose parents were my neighbors, young Matthew Ashling, old neighbors of ours in Petalburg when I was actually there, young Aria Charolette, the energetic red head whose mother used to be my best friend. All of them… all of them were making my Jezebel happy. Something that I could never do for her, even with all the time I tried to spend with her when I wasn't working. I tried to make it right. I really did, but Jezebel… she was like me in her younger years. So eager to leave on a journey, so unafraid of the world… I remember the first time I left home and Maxie, bless my brother, was so worried for me when I left for the first time, being his older sister after all.
And then… things all came crashing down on me after that accident… after… after they all died… I was the only survivor… but with a price and a death sentence labeled on my head… So many surgeries, so much pain… it still echoes in my head as my life draws closer to a close…
"Brittany, are you listening to me?" I drifted my eyes up to my doctor. He sadly looked down at me with a clipboard in his hands. He was the only other one that knew. No one else did, not even back when I was a teenager. I lied to everyone, even my own brother… He'll be devastated when he hears the news I've been keeping from him…
"Just… thinking…"
"About?"
"My daughter… my family…"
He sighed. "I'm sorry things didn't turn out as you wanted them to turn out, Brittany, but you should have told everyone if you wanted them to stick around. It would have given your daughter a reason to stick around."
"I couldn't do that to her…" I smiled as I glanced down at the engagement ring and wedding band on my finger. It had our birth stones on the engagement ring, all three of ours, my husband, myself and my daughter. "She was just like me when I was her age… I couldn't break that will with what I'm labeled with from the accident."
"But it may have kept her around until you passed."
"But then she'd never want to leave, my husband, brother, brother in law, sisters in law, nieces, nephews… they'd all be hanging over me like I was a frail old woman. I don't want that life for any of them. I'd rather them hate me." I shook my head at him. "I know most of them hate me, and that's the way I'd rather it be right now. I want them to enjoy their own lives, even at the expense of my own. Especially with mine being… almost over."
"Brittany…" my doctor only sighed as he looked down at the paperwork. "I hate to hear you say that, but after all you've been through… I guess there's nothing I could do or say to change that." He flipped the papers over to look at its contents before he sighed. "And, as I'm sure you didn't hear me the first time, I'll repeat it. Brittany, I'm sorry to say you only have half a year to a year at best to live. The tumor has gotten too large. I can't remove it, and the treatments aren't working anymore. Your cells have adapted to the chemo."
"I know." A few stray tears fell from my eyes. "I'll do whatever I can to spend some more time with my daughter before then, but until then, please try to keep me alive." I smiled at him through the tears. "I know my daughter can make it further then I did. I want to see her make it to the top before I pass."
My doctor stared at me for the longest time before I saw him release a breath that he was holding. He pulled out a machine and started to hook it up to me. "I'll do all I can Brittany, you know that."
"Yes…" I looked up at my pocketbook and the picture that sat atop it of my family. My wonderful husband… his brother, wife and children… my brother… his wife and children… and my own daughter. "I know that."
Rosalie's Point of View:
"Well this is pitifully boring." I leaned against the rock atop of Mt. Chimney. My… boss (and I used that term as loosely as I could) had already retreated with his troops and that of my brother's "team" had done the same. The place was so vacant; all I could hear was the popping of lava in the volcano on occasion and the sobbing of those four children that somehow managed to take out both groups.
When I thought about it, the actions of those kids reminded me so much of Violet Vilmos and Gwyn Jalen, how they always seemed to get in my way… more and more people that were just as powerful or closer to my level of strength were being put against me. My organization had been disbanded twice. If I had any hope of bringing back Team Rocket once more, I needed help to bring it back and with the help of some of the grunts of Team Aqua and Team Magma, I would achieve it. I only had a small group right now, but it was enough, for the time being, to do our other work that we were working on.
While Maxie and Archie may have been after Groudon and Kyogre for reasons to change the world to make more land or sea, I wanted them to bring civilization to its knees, take over all the regions and get back my husband to take over the world, just like we planned. And with these legendary pokemon, I would do that. I would take the orbs and make them mine and destroy this region, then go back to my own and continue on my quest. I would take down Kanto and Johto, destroy Violet, Gwyn and all their little friends and followers. I would be reunited with my love… my wonderful Giovanni. The cruelest of men you could ever meet. He showed no love for pokemon, just the way I loved it. But he… was captured by Violet and Gwyn… trapped away in jail in an unknown location so no one could find him and help him escape… like me…
I tried so many times to find my love and free him, but when I couldn't find him, I vowed to be back, after I was stronger and after I had the pokemon that would be strong enough to take everyone down and get him out of there. And then just like we'd planned… we'd rule the world! Taking down region after region and making sure that everyone would obey. We'd crush all hope and take away all dreams. Pokѐmon of all kinds would be under the control of Team Rocket!
But alas, now is not the time yet. Even in my unstable mind I knew that. But… I couldn't help but grin as I looked at the group down below. I could feel the power from them, especially the girl in the middle. She was just like them, just like Violet and Gwyn… which means… she could become one of them… another one that I'd have to deal with.
"I guess I'll have to take them out early, then, starting with that girl!"
I leapt over the rocks and threw myself at them. The only thing letting them know I was there when the girl in green shoved them all away and took my hit.
I licked my lips. I loved the color of fresh blood…
Jezebel's Point of View:
I sobbed together with my group of friends for what seemed like the longest time. It was so… comforting that they were there with me, but I knew we'd need to move on soon. My pokemon were most likely tired from spending so much time battling, not to mention that three of my pokemon evolved, which most likely took some energy out of them.
I pulled back from the others just to look over Casey's head when something sparkled off in the distance. Suddenly a woman appeared and raced at us with a rapid speed with claws on her hands. My eyes widened and I shouted and shoved all the others to the side while the woman hit me and knocked me back, her claw deep in my shoulder and fresh blood pouring all over it. I screamed out in pain and my pokemon took that next second to react, coming at the woman and facing her away from me. Silky rushed over to my shoulder and set her body over it while using morning sun to help me heal it and stop the bleeding. Blade and Blaze were out before me with Acey in half a second. I could feel Spinner shaking on my other shoulder in fear as he looked at the woman before he dived into my lap and hid away in my legs, terrified.
"Oh how I love fresh blood in the morning." She licked her claws as she looked past my pokemon at me. "Let's see how your pokemon deal with my pokemon! Go Gengar!" The woman ripped off the skin on her arm, at which I gasped. It was fake, and from the inside of it came a pokeball that was worn and dark. From it came a ghost pokemon I knew as gengar, one that seemed to be quite evil as it looked over at me. "Kill her, Gengar! Use curse! Implode her heart!"
I suddenly felt an expanding feeling in my chest. My chest… it throbbed in pain as I felt my heart beating faster and getting larger and larger by the second. I screamed out in pain and my eyes went wide, but all I could see was black splotches in my vision as I was fading away from the present and life itself.
"Back off!" I suddenly felt my heart be released and I rolled onto my side and coughed out the blood that had lodged in my system. I vaguely looked through my eyes and saw all of our pokemon defeated, even my team that was struggling to stand. That woman… she beat all of us in those few short seconds? Or was I out longer then I thought?
I saw movement in the corner of my vision. Gwyn and Violet had showed up. The two of them were dealing with the woman while someone else was apparently tending to us and our pokemon. I felt someone pick me up and I was being taken away from the battle before everything went black.
Witch's Note:
Holy shit! Who would've thought that this chapter was gonna be this bad? Oh that's right, I did! Hope you all loved the chaos and blood as Jezebel finally meets Rose, all the members of her family that are in Team Aqua and Team Magma, and we find out a bit more about her mother, and the reason behind the way she acts toward her daughter.
So as you all know, the time has come for feedback, Reviews and Questions. I hope to get a few! Please send in your thoughts and let me know what you think!
I love you all and I'll see you next week!
Halloween Witch