She opened her eyes. The second she did, she felt like shutting them again.
Latias wasn't sure how much time had passed, how she had gotten in human form, or if she was still alive, for that matter. She was unhealthily dizzy, nearly to the point that she got sick. What little of her surroundings she could actually focus on were lit by a dim light placed on the high ceiling, giving the floor and everything else at her length a very eerie feeling. It was still bright enough to see, but just barely.
That is, outside her cell.
She was reasonably quick to notice that she had been placed in some sort of jail. The key element in figuring that out was the series of bars in front of the room's only exit. It was too dark to see anything in her cell, and what little she could see outside seemed to be a hallway of some sort.
Once some minutes passed and she regained more of her wits, Latias came to another obvious, yet startling conclusion - she was shackled. With her human hands and ankles tightly secured in cuffs, whoever her captive was must have attached her to an iron beam near the back wall of the cell.
She had the unfortunate pleasure of another distraction. This one was a loud, heavy gate opening up somewhere out of her sight range. The entire room echoed everything, so it was hard to tell where it had come from. She had a bad feeling in her stomach already.
It wasn't long enough until a person stepped in front of her cell. The person happened to be someone she had seen once, even before they had gotten to Hoenn. She couldn't remember her name, but she wouldn't forget that ponytail.
"And she's finally awake."
With those four words, Latias remembered something else about her. The voice. It was the same one back on the island, and it was the same one who had attacked her earlier on.
Latias attempted to lunge forward, but the shackles on her wrists insisted that she wasn't going far. She could probably change into her dragon form, but she wouldn't have any energy left to still be threatening after that.
"I told you we could be good friends, and for that, you need my name. Call me Key."
Her wardrobe was one that was well-respected, at least by those classified as Magma grunts. Her fit figure complimented the Admin outfit she wore perfectly. The red shirt, which bore the Magma's insignia on it, red-and-black skirt, and knee-high boots were all customary of those in her position. A torso-length cape, also blood-colored, hung down her back.
She placed a hand on her hip. "I don't mean to start anything, but I really don't feel like translating your mute questions right now. Instead, let's get to the point, shall we?"
Key walked out of her sight range, and Latias took the opportunity to frown. She'd pay for mocking her inability to speak. At least, as long as Latias could stay alive long enough to make her pay, she would.
"Oh, are you curious how you shifted back to your other form?" Key called out from the side. "Easy. Hypnotism. It's what this guy's been under for the past...Well, I forget how long."
Latias's eyes quickly watered as she watched a boy get shoved in from the side. He didn't even look conscious; fittingly, he fell straight to the floor. The beret he was wearing went skidding on the ground.
Key also reappeared from the side. She was almost enjoying this, but hid the feeling well. "You've met him once or twice before, right?"
She wanted to scream, but her curse didn't let her. The result with her mouth opening, though she shut it once nothing came out. A few tears ran down her face, but she didn't move her gaze from the boy's drained-looking face.
"You should know who this is." Key squatted down on her knees and ran a hand through his short, black hair. "And you should also know that he really, really doesn't like the cold. So for the past hour or so, we've been pumping ice water into his body."
Latias's face turned horrified.
"'Why?' I bet you'd love to ask? That part's easy, too. We're done with him. We sort of pushed our luck with him as it was, and with the Game Corner incident more or less being a flop, we knew it was time to dispose of him.
"But, you see, that's when a brilliant idea came to mind," Key continued, getting back onto her feet. "We have no use for him...But we could certainly use you. Combine those factors, and we have a hostage situation that most can only dream about."
She made a slow, dramatic reach for behind her body. An unnerving clinging sound accompanied her arm lifting up. Latias could only wish it was longer until she pulled out her unsheathed knife and pointed it straight at the 'Dusk' on the ground. "Join us. Now. Or his next five breaths are his last."
Latias lowered her head. It fell as low as it could without breaking off her neck. Even if she could talk, all of her crying would have prevented it from being coherent.
"...Well, that's one breath. Four more and he's your dinner tonight."
The Eon dragon could no longer take it. In spite of them being tied together, Latias lifted a leg up a few inches off the ground, then slammed it down just for the sake of making noise.
"Oh?" Key smirked. "And your verdict?"
An uncountable amount of tears and sobs blocked her ability to answer for awhile, even non-verbally. In fact, she made no other movements until the boy had breathed three more times. She forced herself to act.
With two more sniffles, she gave a small nod.
-OAM-
Unlike the day before, Team Missile didn't wake up in synch. It took Brendan to lightly kick Dawn in the arm and make some satirical comment to get her conscious.
She didn't enjoy a second of it, but she forced herself into a sitting position anyway. She rubbed her eyes, only to find them to still be sore.
A look around revealed that everyone seemed to be waiting for her. The Hoenn Trainers surrounded her, May looking concerned. Dusk wasn't far off; he was commanding Wizard to spin on his back and shoot electricity, forming the same impressive shield that he had seen on television back in Mauville. Of course, spotting something potentially dangerous, Gold was the first to dash over and watch.
Dawn already felt like crying again. As long as she cared to remember, she had never been awake for this long before getting flanked by Latias.
"Dawn..." May set a knee on the ground and softly stroked the side of the other girl's arm. "Umbreon told us what happened. Are you...okay?"
She didn't respond for a few moments. She couldn't come up with a good way to. "I've had to deal with worse," she finally said, giving what she wanted to appear to be a neutral shrug.
"Now that's not fair," May accused in response. "You shouldn't compare losing a friend to your other-"
"I didn't lose her," Dawn retorted angrily, "We're going to find her again. She'll explain what that was about, then join us again."
Brendan spoke up. "Girl's gotcha there."
"Still. Dawn, we're friends. You don't need to downplay your emotions for our sakes. If you-" Again, May got interrupted.
"'Downplaying my emotions'? Okay, I was up until four in the morning until I finally cried myself to sleep. Is that better?"
"That would explain the crankiness..." Brendan muttered with a slight smirk, looking in another direction.
"Brendan," May cut in before Dawn could snap again. "Could you give us a minute?"
"Eh." That was supposed to be a "Yeah," but Brendan liked how that came out, anyway. He wandered off towards Gold and Dusk to see what they were up to.
With him gone, Dawn's eyes went back to May as the older woman stood to her feet. She kept her back turned, since that usually seemed to help during confessions. "Dawn...I missed you, you know?"
"Missed me?" Dawn didn't want as much anger in her voice as what was there, but she made no attempt to try again.
"Yeah...Dawn, I love Latias from the bottom of my heart. I don't think you could find a sweeter girl than her. B-but..." May bit her lip, hoping that wasn't as audible as she thought it was.
It was. "May? Are you...crying?"
May slowly turned around. She shook her head, then smiled. The two tear stains running down her face made it a bittersweet expression to look at. "No. Because you gave me a reason to smile. You're right, we will find Latias again. But, until we do...Maybe you and I could talk more. Sort of like we used to."
Dawn scurried to get onto her feet. A sinking feeling was already lodged in her stomach. "May, we still talk..."
"I remember..." May paused to giggle, and to also wipe a couple of the tears out of her eyes. More ended up falling anyway. "I remember back in Sinnoh. You told me you loved me. That I reminded you of your mom. It was accidental, and really awkward at the time..." She gave a shy, reserved smile at Dawn. "But now it's one of the best memories that I carry with me."
She gulped. She might have started crying again herself, but this was all coming too fast for that. "I haven't been all that great of a daughter, have I?"
"You've been an amazing sister to Latias, and that's fantastic."
"May..." Dawn returned the same weak smile that she had just been given. "Don't downplay your emotions. It's okay that you're hurt. I know I would be." For the first time in a span that May didn't know, Dawn walked forward and gave her a tight hug. She didn't move, even when she started talking again. "I've screwed this up pretty badly, haven't I?"
"Dawn, of course you haven't," May answered instantly.
"You're the one that just opened my eyes, May. Looking back on every day that I've been here...I've always favored Latias or Dusk. That's leaving two irreplaceable friends out in the cold...Well, and Brendan."
May laughed as best she could, then leaned her head down so she could kiss Dawn on the top of her head.
Feeling so heavily pampered by a friendly hug and kiss, Dawn closed her eyes. "Sort of in the same manner that I said that about you...Latias and all of her innocence reminds me of my sister."
"And that's wonderful. Please don't-"
"But it's not fair," she cut in. "After all this is said and done, I'm going to need to come to terms with who my father is. Dusk and Latias could never help me get through something like that as well as you could. I picked a horrible time to risk damaging our friendship. I'm sorry..."
May closed her eyes and smiled warmly. Her grip on Dawn tightened just a little bit, too. "Dawn, I haven't changed that much. You still don't need to apologize to me. I'll always, always be here whenever you need me."
"Thanks, May," Dawn responded, her voice now getting a little shaky.
May hummed, softly rubbing her friend's back. "In different news, I talked to Max yesterday..."
It wasn't long until the trio of boys realized that the girls' conversation had turned much less serious. As always, that was a cue to move out. They packed up what little needed to be, then headed straight for Route 103.
The path was generic, even for a route. A long, mostly straight dirt road led halfway down 103. Increasingly-thickening forests were on both sides of them the entire way. Not being one of Hoenn's most famous routes was an asset to them, as they didn't find any other humans on their trek.
Unfortunately, the country itself decided they were going to run into an obstacle bigger than that. Upon walking over a short hill, a glistening pond was easily in sight. With a little help from the perfect angle of the sun, the group could already see a few feet beneath the crystal-clear water, though they continued to approach it anyway.
"That's pretty," Dawn complimented, pushing some hair behind her ear.
Not finding nearly as much amazement in it, Brendan sighed. "I wasn't really looking to be impressed. How are we supposed to get past that thing?"
"Dude," Gold began, "haven't you ever heard that saying? 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do'? We're at a lake. Let's make like fish and swim on over!"
Gold took off after the drink, his full intentions set on diving straight in. He wasn't prepared for Brendan to run up behind him and grab the hood on his jacket, which temporarily choked him, along with stopping him. "You can't even see the other side from here, brainwave," the Hoenn resident scolded. "I'd rather walk that desert again than jump in here and hope there's no hungry Pokémon right below me."
The hasty male needed to take a moment to think about Brendan's argument. "Well, that's one way to put a bummer on things. So what're you thinking?"
"...Give me a minute," he responded, releasing his grip on Gold's jacket.
Since those two didn't seem to be helping, Dawn turned to the rest of the team. "Do you have any ideas?"
Umbreon's only answer was a shake of his head. Unusually, his pet didn't verbally respond for him. Wizard seemed preoccupied, standing on his Trainer's shoulder and staring into the open sky.
The remaining female of the group proved to be the most useful. She carefully reached for a Pokéball and held it, sporadically looking at all of her teammates with a modest expression. "We could probably ride Pelipper over...if you wanted to."
Both Sinnoh Trainers smirked, deeming May's idea good, but couldn't say anything before Brendan spun around and looked at his girlfriend with a raised eyebrow. "You, uh, have a Pelipper on hand? When did that happen?"
May faced him near impatiently. "Brendan, yesterday-"
"Three turns o'r the hourglass," Gold interrupted. "Who cares? Let's ride!"
Having Brendan's question "answered" by Gold, May let the Pelipper free from its ball without a word. It was then that everyone, its Trainer included, realized that the plan wasn't as foolproof as first thought.
While rather large for a bird, Pelipper failed to reach even four feet tall. With such a noticeable lack of girth, it would be necessary to fly each human over one at a time.
May began saddling up while her other put his hands on his hips and explained his opinion. "It ain't very efficient, but it's about all we got. I don't think May likes, uh...kicking her Meditite very much, so if you got a better idea that doesn't involve that, I'd speak up now."
Naturally, the only proceeding sound was the water gently being tossed around by the wind.
With the Trainer secured, Pelipper got a few feet off the ground. May looked at the grounded people before the bird took off. "I'll tell Pelipper to come back as fast as he can." After the words were spoken, the Flying- and Water-type took it upon himself to move out.
"Just so we're clear," Brendan started off, not letting any particular emotion into his voice, "to get us all over there could probably take an hour, at least. You good with that, Umbry?"
Dusk was found scratching Wizard's chin. The mouse continued watching the sky, paying no attention to the petting. "If this will eventually take us straight to Petalburg, we have to do whatever it takes." Moving from that topic right to another one, he continued, "Anyway, I need to head back the way we came for a minute. In the meantime, here's a topic idea for you: Getting to Petalburg is necessary, but that's still vague. Try to think of where an organization like that could possibly place their HQ in the middle of a populated city."
No one reacted with anything, so Dusk turned around and did as he said he would.
"Uh...Bye," Dawn said quietly.
Forgetting about that, Brendan turned towards the other direction and looked out over the lake. "Kid's got a point. It doesn't add up. Magma, Aqua...whoever we're dealing with, they're way too big to work in a city like Petalburg without anyone bothering them."
Gold sat down where he was standing and moved his hand into the pond. After feeling how cold it was, he was glad Brendan had stopped him from jumping in. "But all you kids gotta remember something. Where did we get that information in the first place?"
Deciding she should get a word in, Dawn kicked at the grass with her shoe. "From the enemy," she said slowly.
The boy began flicking water with his index finger. "I mean, I really dun wanna say that we're going here for nothing, but...Since taking down that base in the desert, we ain't really seen any of them Aqua and Magma guys. If we're supposedly getting closer to their main base, don't you think it'd be getting harder, not easier?"
Brendan was left to rub his eyes. "I don't know what's giving me a stronger headache. Trying to figure this mess out, or trying to figure out how Gold of all people is using logic like that."
-OAM-
Sixty seconds. He wasn't counting, but that was the amount of time that passed.
Once distancing himself from his friends, Dusk and Wizard observed the same sky together for one full minute. After that time period elapsed, the human's mouth opened.
"What are you looking at?"
The rodent didn't reply. That was the only clue that Dusk needed to guess at what his symbiotic brother was thinking.
"Are you looking for Latias?"
Finally, the Pikachu stopped looking at the sky. His head sagged down as he mumbled out a quiet, "Pika."
"Latias..." He paused for a moment, running his words through his mind to make sure they would come out right. "Latias was extremely close to Dawn. Whenever she finishes with whatever she needed to do, she'll come back. That's not the part I'm worried about. Personally, I'm more worried about if she'll make it back in time to help deal with Magma."
"Chuu...pika, piPikachu..." he moaned softly.
"Flying on her was fun, wasn't it?" Since the chin hadn't worked well before, Dusk returned to petting the tried-and-true spot behind the ears. "Things will turn out fine. Name a time that they haven't."
Wizard slumped against his Trainer's head. Between the scratching and the reassuring words, there was a little smile on his face.
-OAM-
"Hey, that wasn't so bad. Flygon generally can't even fly that straight."
Brendan had just touched down on the opposite side of the lake. When he got off, Pelipper barely wasted a heartbeat before lifting up and taking off to fetch another crewmate. Two down, and the bird was still as steady as when it had started off.
May, who was sitting on the grass and excited that she now had company, laughed at Brendan's remark. She stood up, however, and tried dusting some of the blades of grass off her clothes. "If Pelipper can keep this up, we'll be able to move on in no time!"
"Yeah. Just remind me to pick up another Flying-type when we make it to the next Center." Brendan quickly glanced back at the bird, but soon returned his gaze. "You know, when I was waiting for that thing, I got thinking of something. There's something you and I haven't done in awhile."
"What-"
May's inquiry was shut down early by Brendan's physical response. He leaned forward to kiss her; she tried pulling away after a moment, but he refused to let her get far. Yet, she didn't particularly mind. When escape became ruled out, she went in the other direction and reached an arm up to hold the back of Brendan's head in place.
Eventually, the inevitable happened. "Brendan, I need air-"
"Too bad." He dove back in and resumed the gesture.
It got a giggle out of her, but once more she broke the kiss off. Getting her request granted this time, she rested her head contently on his chest. "So what did you get thinking about?"
Wrapping his arms around her wasn't his problem. Admitting what was on his mind was. "It's just that I...honestly can't believe it never hit me that you had a Pelipper, you know? Then I got thinking, and I realized that there's a lot of stuff that's happened that you and I haven't really talked to each other about. What's up with that?"
"Brendan, I'm always right here if you want to talk..." May said back, rotating her index finger in a circle around Brendan's chest.
"I dig that. I dig..." Brendan stopped and looked down to better observe the girl he was holding. He almost cringed when he found her shaking. "...Are you crying?"
She sniffled twice, but tried to keep the sound of crying out of her voice. She failed miserably. "I miss you, Brendan."
"A'ight, c'mon, there's no need for the waterworks." He rubbed her back up and down, soothing her enough for her to nod her head and wipe away the threatening tears. "Gold's my homeboy, but when we're surrounded by thirty more goons than we were back on 111, I still wouldn't want anyone else by my side but you. And you don't have to miss me, because he ain't going to keep me from hanging out with you anymore. And I'm sorry that ever happened in the first place."
May sniffled one more time before she gave her boyfriend a tight squeeze. "You're the third person in two days to remind me how important I am to everyone."
"I should have been the first," Brendan carefully fit in. He continued thinking about the situation for a moment more before deciding to add on to it. "Besides, if Coronet was anything to go by, you do tend to forget a lot of stuff, so if we-"
The one thing that stopped his sentence was May's hand slapping his cheek. "Brendan!"
-OAM-
Time continued, and the Hoenn Trainers slowly got more and more company. It was 10:06 when Team Missile and its affiliate were ready to press on.
They reached a town known as Oldale, which was soon dubbed boring by Gold. Without having any need to stop, they ignored the small village and headed west.
"Welcome to Route 102," Brendan greeted, glancing around at the scenery. "It's home to many Zigzagoon and Poochyena. Also of note is that it connects Oldale to Petalburg, a city most famous for hiding a Pokémafia organization bent on eliminating any traces of water for the sake of ruling a completely barren world."
"Inviting," Dusk responded.
Gold threw his hands behind his head. "He's the one that sold Hoenn to me."
"What's a Zigzagoon look like?" Dawn wondered. "Its name sounds familiar to me for some reason..."
May took the opportunity to answer her friend's question, but the description couldn't get far before the team's mascot grabbed everyone's attention. Having been peaceably draped on Dusk's shoulder, it wasn't expected when Wizard suddenly leaped on top of his Trainer's beret.
Once more, his observant eyes launched up to the sky. His ears also stayed at total attention, even twitching the slightest bit when he heard something. "Pi...ka."
Dusk stopped walking. Though he understood it, he didn't want to repeat that in the human tongue. "Are you sure?"
"Uh. How about a translation?" Brendan asked.
He got a rough estimate of what the Pikachu had said, but it didn't come from Dusk. Instead, footsteps could be heard creeping up from behind them. Nearly everyone was quick to turn to the sound, especially when the female voice spoke. "Oh, I could take a shot. It probably found me out. Am I close?"
Brendan was one who didn't turn immediately. He didn't want to -he recognized that voice- but he finally forced himself to spin around, anyway. When he did, he clenched his fist. "Well, Gold. You wanted her."
Having changed his mind since he said that, Gold replied only with a sharp growl.
May was left to quietly wonder why her friends were glaring so heavily at the sudden arrival. She was wearing a Team Aqua uniform, but the Hoenn Trainer didn't recognize her personally.
"Like my hair?" the familiar woman asked, running a hand through her shoulder-length blond locks. "I cut it since the last time we met."
"Go take a jump, Alexia," suggested a serious Brendan. "I'm really not in the mood to deal with you, so I recommend that you call in all your cronies before we steamroll over you right now."
The Team Aqua Admin put her hands on her exposed hips; her blue- and white-striped shirt didn't cover much more than it needed to. "For your information, I don't even have any 'cronies' with me today. I do have help, but I guess she's not here yet. Why don't we bide some time until she shows up?" she inquired seductively, lifting a Pokéball up.
"Ooh!" Gold raised his arm into the air. "Tag me, bro!"
"Nahh...Let's blow her away with some nostalgia." Brendan looked at the crew and pointed out one in particular. "Hey, Liz. Ready to roll?"
Remembering that nickname from the first time she was in Petalburg, Dawn started running forward, trying to suppress laughing. Three curious stares slowed her down a bit.
"Um...'Liz'?" May asked innocently.
"You and your double battles, Brendan," Alexia announced, stopping Dawn's need to explain her nickname. "Tell me, won't we ever have some time alone together?"
"Did I ever tell you that you remind me of a certain Gym Leader I know?" Brendan shot back, twirling a Pokéball in his hand as Dawn stepped next to him.
"Oh?" Alexia became intrigued by that. "The cute Roxanne? The graceful Winona?"
"No, not quite." Brendan let go of the item he was holding, causing it to snap open and reveal the creature inside. A smile instantly appeared on Dawn's face.
"You hurt everybody, May! You hurt everybody!" the colorful bird squawked.
Despite the situation, May couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm glad it still remembers that line."
As Chatot flew up and landed on Brendan's shoulder, he folded his arms and smirked. "Here's a hint: they had this Pokémon. Guess right and you win a prize!"
"Win a prize, win a prize!" Chatot echoed. "Win a dinky thing!"
Dawn knew that she was playing second fiddle to the audience-pleasing Chatot, but decided to release her first Pokémon anyway. Ionu popped out of the ball she had been in since yesterday, shook her head, and tried to orient herself. She wanted to scream at Dawn for leaving her inside that sphere for so long, but knew that a battle was looming. That could wait until after.
"That bird will be much more adorable when I shut it up. Walrein, and Kirlia! Attack!" Alexia sent in her own two Pokémon. The familiar Walrein plopped itself on the ground as it did last time. Rather than a Dark-type bird to compliment it, however, this time a Psychic-type was its partner.
"Ah, trying something new, are we?" Brendan lightly nudged the Chatot on his shoulder, which was enough to convince it into the battlefield again.
"All to impress you, Brendan," she replied with a wink. "Walrein, use Aqua Ring. Kirlia, use Rain Dance."
"Hey...we sure that this is Alexia, right?" Gold wondered. "Since when does she waste time setting up anything?"
Brendan also noted that, but didn't deem it important enough to dwell on. "Let's move, Chatot! Hyper Voice!"
His teammate continued with his strategy, ordering her Torchic to attack with Peck.
The Hyper Voice was used against Kirlia, while Peck targeted Walrein. Both attacks hit, but neither was fast enough. Before Chatot's move connected, heavy clouds rolled into the sky; by the time Ionu made it to the over-sized seal, there was already a continuous circle of water hovering above it.
"If I could take a moment to say so, that was pathetic," Alexia mocked, frowning. "Don't tell me you were picking roses while I was refining a battle strategy?"
Once more, Brendan's fist clamped shut. "They were daisies, I'll have you know. New tactic, Chatot! Use Mirror Move!"
The battle continued raging, but Wizard was quick to lose interest. He again sensed that they weren't truly alone. Something was in the sky, and until it left, the mouse wouldn't feel comfortable.
May decided to care for Wizard's paranoia this time. She slowly took him from his perch, which Umbreon didn't object to. He was hugged to her stomach before she whispered, "What's wrong? You've been awfully alert all day..."
He didn't answer. His eyes had already turned back up again.
"...Fire Spin, Ionu! And be more careful this time!"
Both Brendan and Dawn's Pokémon were showing signs of fatigue. Kirlia wasn't holding up well either, but inside of its rejuvenating liquid, Walrein barely seemed scratched.
At the worst possible time for the girl who had just called an attack, two small raindrops were quickly followed by an intense downpour. The Fire-type attack was half fizzled out by the time it reached Kirlia, who took the attack without flinching.
"And we're standing in the rain. Again." Brendan heaved a sigh, already lacking a section of clothing that wasn't soaked by the slightly delayed Rain Dance. "Whatever. Try a Wing Attack, Chatot!"
The parrot squawked as it flew in for a direct attack.
When he was halfway across the field, a white-blue orb materialized from the sky, a dozen feet above the ground. Chatot hardly saw the move before it got hurled in his direction. Unable to properly react, he got blown away, landing on the ground in a heap with smoke coming out of it.
"...And she's here!" Alexia proclaimed with a grin.
Brendan took a single step towards Chatot to see if he was even living. He stopped in his tracks when the corner of his eye noticed that the Pokémon that had shot the attack uncloaked itself.
Floating where it had just defended Alexia from, a red- and white-colored dragon stared all the way down at the group of humans and Pokémon. There was no emotion running through it; neither remorse for injuring the creature, nor pride for it. That went on to show in its face, which could be considered frightening by the amount of seriousness it held. It didn't even show signs of caring as the rain constantly pummeled it.
May gasped. Wizard was more in-synch with his Trainer, who lowered the brim of his beret and chose to remain quiet. Gold just didn't really get what was going on.
On the battlefield, Brendan's mind completely crashed. He froze where he was standing, eyes nearly double their usual size. Dawn took the hardest swallow of her life. With tears threatening to break loose for the second time today, she nervously lifted her arm towards the dragon, as if she wanted to touch it.
"Latias...?"