A few days after my latest victory against Wattson and earning my Dynamo Badge I had decided to to head North towards Mt. Chimey. Rumors had spread that there was heavy Team Magma and Aqua activity, but if that was true that might mean Steven could be in trouble.

While I was in Mauville City I had picked up a bike, it was strange I just went up to the guy, answered a question and he gave me a free bike. Speeding along the dirt ground Zorua sat in small hand woven basket that had been attached to the front of the bike as the wind blew through her fur.

"Zorra!" she barked as I looked up ahead and saw a group of red dressed figures as I quickly turned my back into the grass. Though my clumsiness got the best of me as I flew off my bike and landed in a few thick bushes and a barricade of tall grass.

"I'm so happy Steven isn't here to see that." I thought to myself as I walked out of the bushes, picking out tiny leaves and branches from my dark jeans and my grey coat as I could see Zorua crouched down. Following her lead I lay down next her in the grass. "What are you doing?" I whispered to her as she motioned her head past the bushes.

"What was that?" I heard a woman's voice ask as I quietly tried to move a few small branches aside. As I could see five grunts together, as I saw a very familiar color of purple hair in the group.

"It was probably a stupid Pokemon." A male grunt said as they looked towards him and nodded.

"Just forget it." The purple haired woman told them.

"Are you sure?"

"The mission is more important than a weak Pokemon, now you know what the mission is, correct?" she asked them as they stood at attendance, not saying a word. She shook her head in disappointment, "two of you will head to Fallarbor Town and meet up with Tabitha, then get the meteorite from Professor Cosmo. Once you get it hurry back to Mt. Chimney, that meteorite is very crucial." she explained to them.

"I volunteer," one said.

"I'll go as well." another said.

"Good, the rest of you will go with me to the Cable Car Station. We will meet up with Maxie and get the device ready, but I have a feeling that Archie and his minions are going to try to stop us."

"Miss Courtney, how will we get to Fallarbor City?" one asked as she glared at them angrily.

"There's a short cut through the dessert, or you can take the Fiery Path, I don't care where you go, just hurry and stop wasting time!" She yelled at them as the two who volunteered to go to Fallarbor town as they brought out their Mightyena's, jumped on their backs and dashed away.

The rest of them did the same, mounting their Mightenas and went their own separate ways, as they quickly disappeared froom sight.

I stayed hidden in the shadows as we got up and looked at each other, pulling my bike from the bushes as I placed Zorua in the basket. "Zorua we have to hurry, if Stevens in the Fiery Path we need to warn him!" I told her.

"Zora, zozo zorua!" she barked, hoping back into the basket.

I started pelting away on my bike as I was worried about Steven, I didn't know how long it would take those two grunts to get there, but part of me hoped that they didn't go down the fiery path.

Up ahead I saw a long stairway carved into the mountain side as I stopped my bike. I looked up at the mountain side as I could see tall silver pillars, holding numerous black cords and electric cables as they were connected to a tall two story building.

Just then a large metallic box began climbing up the cords, even past the tinted windows I could see the red Team Magma grunts inside as they escalated up the mountain.

Running up the stairs, Zorua ran next to me as I looked to my left and saw a cave entrance. "I think that's the Fiery Path," I told her as she jumped up on my head.

"Zora!" she barked in fear.

"Come on, it won't be that bad." I reassured her, as I walked towards the dark mountain entrance way. I could feel the sudden rush of heat as I could see the soft red glow illuminate throughout the tunnel.

"Zora!" she barked as she sniffed thr ground, "zozo zora!" she dug at the ground as I knelled down next to her.

"What did you find?" I asked her as she pulled out two orange and red stones, both were covered in the red clay like ground material. I picked them up, but I couldn't tell what they were and placed them in my bag, scolding her. "We don't have time for that! Come on, innocent people might get hurt if we don't hurry." I told her.

We ran through the long tunnel as the sound of small pebbles falling from above hit the ground. I didn't know if that was because of a few Pokemon above, or could it be the Team Magma grunts?

"Zora!" she happily said as I looked up at a rope that was hanging down. I stepped away as it shook a bit, as Steven slide down it. I breathed a sigh of relief as the Team Magma grunts didn't get to him

"Saki? What are you doing here?" he asked me as I ran up to him and hugged him. He held me tightly as I could feel him stroke my hair, right now I was more than happy that he was ok but even better than I could actually be with him.

"Steven, it's Team Magma! I overheard them saying they are were going to Fallarbor Town! They're going to steal a meteorite!" I told him as I could see anger on his face.

"What else did they say?" he asked me.

"They were going to take the meteorite up to Mt. Chimney, they apparently have some type of device up there." I said to him as he pulled out a Pokeball.

"First things first," he said as he took my hand as we ran through the tunnel. "We need to try and stop them in Fallarbor Town, but if that doesn't work we'll need to confront them on Mt. Chimney." Steven explained as we exited the tunnel.

Throwing up the Pokeball, I watched as it wasn't Beldum appear. Instead a large bird like Pokemon soared down towards us, it levitated above the ground. Its large silver and red wings, as its whole body shined a bright metallic color. I quickly pulled out my PokeDex, "Skarmory the Steel Winged Pokemon, despite its iron-hard body, it can fly up to 180 mph."

"My friend, I need your help," Steven said to the steel large bird.

"Is this one of the Pokemon you traveled with before?" I asked him, as he nodded his head.

"Yes, Skarmory was a Pokemon I had traveled with in the past. Come," he told me as he jumped onto Skarmory's back and stuck his hand out to me. I grabbed onto his hand as he lifted me up onto its back, Steven held onto to Skarmory's back as I could feel how close he was to me.

"Zorua, I think it'd be safe it you go into your Pokeball." I told her as she nodded her head, I grabbed her Pokeball and returned her and put it back oon my belt. "Are you sure this is safe?" I asked Steven.

"Don't worry, hopefully we'll reach Fallarbor Town before they do." Steven told me as I could feel him place his head on my shoulder, Skarmory began to flap its large metal wings and raised higher off the ground, and soon took flight as we were flying close to the trees height.

I tried not to look down as we reached even high heights above the ground, part of me was just freaked out. "Umm... this is a bit scary." I told him as felt Steven wrap his around me.

"Don't worry, you'll learn to love flying." Steven said into my ear, as I slowly looked down. I could see all the houses below, the trees looked like small green daggers and tiny shrubs. Looking to my side I could see the very large, red and black rocked formed mountain, known as Mt. Chimney. "See it's not that bad."

"Yea," I said as I could feel the warmth that Steven was emitting, though something down below caught my eye. A small little town was approaching, a few small houses gathered around a Contest Hall, a Pokemon Center and a PokeMart. "Is that Fallarbor Town?" I asked him as the ground seemed to be covered in a light coat of volcanic ash.

"Yes it is. Skarmory start descending," he told his steel bird as we quickly went down to the ground as a cloud of ash raised up as Steven leaped off of Skarmory. "Let me help you," he said as I pulled my leg over Skarmory. Placing my hands around Steven's neck he slipped his arm underneath my legs and carried me off of Skarmory's body.

We hand landed outside of the small town of Fallarbor Town, as I could see a few lakes and a waterfall in the distance. He gently placed me on the ground, as he returned Skarmory to its Pokeball. "Ok, what should we do now?" I asked him as he pondered what to do next.

"I know where Professor Cosmo lives, but I fear he might not be there. Saki, I need you to go to Meteorite Falls. Just incase he's there, if we're lucky we beat Team Magma." Steven told me as I nodded my head.

"Of course," I pulled out Zorua's white Pokeball as she popped out. "I need you to transform into a Mightyena, can you please do that?" I asked her as she quickly took form of the large black and grey hyena that the Team Magma grunts had riden before.

"Why a Mightyena?" Steven asked.

"I saw the Team Magma grunt use their Mightyenas as a way of transportation." I told him as I jumped onto Zorua's back, "will you go to Meteorite Falls?"

"Yes, I'll be there as soon as I can." he told me as I nodded. Zorua then took off as we raced down the pathway towards the clay white mountains.

I didn't want to leave Steven behind, but I knew he would make it back in time soon. Zorua jumped over countless ledges and and bushes, "I should have thought of this from the start." I told her as barked.

Jumping into the large grassy plains, I could feel the tall grass whip against my legs as I suddenly felt something soft land on my head. I put a hand on the strange material as I could feel a cotton like material in hands as I pulled it down in front of me while keeping a hold of Zorua's fur.

"Swablu!" The blue and white cotton Pokemon chirped as I smiled at it. I had heard that these little birds liked to land on peoples heads because they don't really feel threatened by people, but then again they have yet to see a Team Magma grunt.

"Well hello there sweetie, I don't think you want to come along." I told it as it flew up next to us, maybe this little bird didn't hear me. "Come on little guy, go back to your friends." I told him as Zorua picked up the sped up, jumping along the white clay mountains.

She began growling as she was clearly sniffing the air, something wasn't right around here and it was bothering her very much. I petted the side of her head as we stood atop a high mountain peek, looking down I understood why she was growling. I saw a carved out path leading to an opening in the mountain as the grunts from earlier walked inside, a very pudgey man looked around as his outfit seemed a bit different than the grunts as he entered inside of the cave.

"Looks like we're too late," I told Zorua as she leaped down the mountain side and landed delicately on the path. A familiar cotton bird landed once again on my head as I removed it. "Swablu, this isn't a very good time." I told the bird as it looked saddened.

Though I was a trainer, I pulled out my one of my few Pokeballs left as I handed it towards it. "If you want to come then here's your chance," I told Swablu as it chirped in happiness before pecking at the ball and going inside of it. It was quickly caught as I attached the final ball to my belt. "Now let's go," I said to Zorua as we ran inside of the cave.

"Steven, please hurry!"