"You don't know how worried we were about you," Wallace chided her. They were in the aircar now, and on the way to finding Kyogre and Groudon.
"Oh yeah, well you guys don't know how long I've sat on my bed crying and wondering if you guys were mad at me or if you'd forgotten about me already," Sam retorted calmly, meeting Wallace's gaze.
Wallace took one hand off the wheel and patted her head. "We wouldn't forget about you," he assured.
Sam smiled at him, and noticed something. "Hey, Wallace, I could've sworn the last time I saw you, you were wearing a ring…" she murmured, as he withdrew his hand.
"A ring?" he flinched a bit, but Sam didn't miss it.
"What happened between you and Winona?" she demanded.
"N-Nothing."
"Don't lie to me!"
"We broke up again."
"AGAIN?!" Sam repeated. "How many times…"
"Don't look at me like that!" Wallace protested, noticing her hostile look. "It's a perfectly normal relationship, where the two fight and they can't figure out a situation right away…" he looked at Sam who looked back at him, not believing him. "Okay, to set the record straight, she broke up with me, and not the other way around."
Sam groaned. "What did you do?"
"Like I said earlier," Wallace said, suddenly very serious. "We fight, and we can't always figure out a situation… Sam, I love her so much, but she just doesn't seem to understand…"
**
"HOLY CRAP!" Winona yelled, when an Aqua goon popped out of nowhere. "Don't you guys run out of stock goons or what?!"
"Just keep walking, Winona," Steven said calmly, while in the background, Sabrina told her Alakazam to use Psychic. "What has gotten you so… what's the word… winded up today?"
"Winded up?" Winona repeated, rolling her eyes. "I'm not winded up, I'm…" she stopped herself. "It's not your problem."
Steven shrugged. "Fine."
Gary and James, who were at the rear, gave each other knowing looks. Wallace.
"Hey, guys? We're here." Sabrina's calm voice echoed through the passage. "According to Phoebe's information, the meeting place of the five leaders of MARGE," she held back a chuckle, "is right behind this door."
Misty's face got all determined, and she smiled hugely. "Alright! I'm so excited for a battle!"
Steven's face cracked into a smile. "Here's how it goes; Sabrina, Archie. Misty, Galaxy leader. Winona, Giovanni. I'll take Maxie," he said, features darkening. "And James and Gary, you guys go for the Eternity leader."
Each nodded. "Let's do this!" James crowed, pumping his fist.
**
It was dead quiet in the section where the Stealth team was sneaking. They were in single file; Phoebe, followed by Topaz, then Tate, Liza, Mason, then Norman at the rear. Phoebe glanced at her little hand held computer, which showed them directions to Amber's chamber.
Phoebe was looking at her cellphone, in which she had downloaded a map that she stole from the MARGE Archives. "Right… so now we take a left here…"
Mason stared blankly at the way that dim-lit lights lit up the way to Amber's chamber. He was vaguely aware of someone poking his side, which he ignored, and heard someone whisper gently, "Just leave him alone, Liza," which he also ignored.
I'm sorry for all the times I disappointed you, Amber… I'm sorry that I've never told you face to face how much I love you… even though I care about you… in fact, you are the most important person in my life. I care more about you than I care about myself. Mason thought, hoping that in some way, Amber could hear his thoughts.
Phoebe glanced back at Mason, worried. The poor guy, she thought sympathetically. I shouldn't have let him come. He can't handle it… oh, what am I thinking? He's seventeen, he can handle himself… I hope…
**
"Right, start again. At the very beginning," Sam begged, turning in her seat to face Wallace. Wallace let out a long sigh, and slumped a bit in his chair.
"No."
"Wallace," Sam said gently, "You'll never get over it if you don't talk about it…"
"What if I don't want to get over it? Over her?" Wallace said grumpily. "This is ridiculous. I'm taking counseling advice from a seventeen year old and…" he stopped in mid-sentence when he saw the look on Sam's face. "What?"
"I'm trying to help. If you think that it's 'ridiculous', then fine. I won't help," she said firmly, crossing her arms.
Wallace looked at her, and sighed. "Winona thinks I don't trust her."
"What would she think that?" Sam asked him, looking at him triumphantly. "And, you know what? I won't say, 'Reverse Psychology always works'. Oops, I just said it," she said, grinning at him.
He glared at her, and continued. "I… questioned her authority one day and she exploded."
"In what way?"
"How am I supposed to know?!"
"How can you not know what you said?" Sam asked back.
He rolled his eyes. "I don't remember. The only thing I remember is her saying that I was in no position to worry about her… and asked me rhetorically if she was so untrustworthy that I had to be checking up on her 24/7… and then she broke up with me."
Sam had a smug smile on her face.
"What are you smiling about, Sam?" Wallace asked.
"You know, Wallace, you really shouldn't be testing her like that…"
"Testing? Who said anything about-"
"She's just trying to prove to you that she's responsible and that she's not a little kid- hey, that reminds me. How old are you guys?"
"Same as Steven, and Winona's one year younger."
"Right. Going back to the subject, she basically thinks you think she's irresponsible and child-like."
"Where did she get-"
"Ask her," Sam shrugged. "She's mad because you… How many times have you had a fight like this one?"
Wallace was silent.
"Wallace…!"
"Oh, alright…" he put a hand to his brow and sighed. How did she ever talk me into talking about this? "Seven-"
"SEVEN?!"
"Seventeen," he corrected her. Sam rolled her eyes.
"I can't believe you two! No wonder she got all pissed off at you! You should know better!" Sam reprimanded him.
Wallace grumbled a bit. "Well, I can't help but worry about her, if that's what you're talking about…"
Sam immediately realized what the problem was. "So you're worried about her… and she takes it the wrong way… and blows up at you?"
He smiled triumphantly. "Couldn't have phrased it better myself."
"Well, come to think about it, you do… what can I call it… you sound like you're… nagging her."
"Me?" Wallace stared at Sam disbelievingly. "Nagging Winona? But…"
"That's how I see it. And apparently, that's how Winona sees it, too."
Wallace was silent for a moment, and then smiled at her. "Sam, you must sleep."
"What's with the sudden change in topic, Wallace?" Sam asked.
"Well, I wouldn't want Steven to think we weren't doing our job… You have to locate Kyogre and Groudon. They must be battling right now as we speak…"
But when Wallace looked at Sam, she was already in a deep slumber…
**
"Skarmory, dodge it!"
"Mightyena, Roar!"
"Starmie, lets go! Rapid Spin!"
"Lunatone, no!"
A battle was raging in the main meeting hall of the leaders. It was a fairly even fight so far; Misty was pounding on the Galaxy leaders' Pokemon, Lunatone, with her Starmie (which she still keeps), Sabrina's Alakazam and Archie's Crobat were going at it pretty hard, Winona's Skarmory narrowly avoided a hit by Giovanni's Nidoking, Steven and Maxie were fighting each other head on – Maxie's Mightyena, versus Steven's Metagross. And the leader of Team Eternity was locked in a double battle with James and Gary.
"They brought children to battle me?" the leader of Team Eternity, named Alex for those who have forgotten, scoffed, his two Pokemon, an abnormally large Salamance and a lethal looking Electabuzz looking haughty amongst all else.
"Yeah, well…" James shrugged, patting his Glalie. "Look, my girl's not with me, but I'd really like to go to her soon… and the only way I can do that is run you over."
Adam laughed. "Boys in love," he sneered. "The most dangerous weapon. Salamance," he continued harshly. "To the sky." Adam looked pointedly at Gary's Flygon. Gary understood – he was being challenged.
"Flygon, you too."
James patted Gary's shoulder. "I'll work here on the ground. We have an advantage – he has to watch over both of his Pokemon, and we can both concentrate on our own Pokemon."
Gary nodded. "Good luck." James grinned. The two bumped fists once, and turned respectively to their own Pokemon.
"Electabuzz, let's give him a Thunderbolt!" Adam looked at James' Glalie, who playfully stuck back his tongue at Adam. "Make it a really big one, too."
"Glalie, up! And Aurora Beam that Electabuzz outta here!"
"Flygon!" Gary charged into his battle, an eager look on his face. "Dragon Breath, go!"
"Salamance, Flamethrower!"
Dragon Breath and Flamethrower met in midway, causing an explosion that made each battle that was occurring pause momentarily. When the dust cleared, Adam and Gary had an identical smirk on their faces.
"Now we're really getting started."
**
Amber tossed and turned in the bed. Something's gonna happen. I can… I can feel it, she thought, consciously touching the area above her heart. "Mason… Topaz…" she mumbled.
She got up from the bed, and walked over to the refrigerator. (This so cannot be a dungeon) She grabbed a Coke, thought randomly of Sam, and chugged it down. I wonder what they're doing.
Suddenly, a door creaked open, and someone poked his head in. "Hey, you alright in there?" A Galaxy goon, a man by the name of Aster, sneered. "I almost pity you, girlie. You're so pretty," he said, pointedly looking at her from head to toe. Amber glowered back at him. "And Maxie's planning on all-out torturing later this afternoon."
Amber gasped. Torture? Darn, I hope they don't do anything too drastic…
Aster grinned evilly, more like he leered, and started to close the door. "See you later, doll-face."
The door clanged shut behind him, and Amber shivered. Suddenly, she heard the sound of a commotion outside, and she heard… was that Phoebe?
"Mason! You didn't have to hurt him, that's what we brought Pokemon for!"
"He's excited." Amber, with a sudden speeding of her heart rate, recognized the apathy in her own sister's voice. "I mean, what d'ya think, he'd go through this rescue plan slowly?" she empathized. "Although… Mason, you didn't have to give him a concussion."
"I got the keys!" Mason, her Mason, sounded excited and she heard the jingling of keys.
A familiar voice sounded both amused and serious at the same time. "Is he always this… happy?"
"Naw, Norman… he's just in love."
"I am in love, and I am excited to open this door," Mason's harsh whisper came from right outside the door this time, and there was an unmistakable 'click' of the door being unlocked.
Mason only saw a blur of brown hair dash towards him and hug him tightly. "Amber!" he exclaimed, wrapping his arms around her, smiling smugly. Amber snuggled warmly against Mason's chest, smiling.
"I knew you'd come for me…"
**
"The whole entire, freaking REGION is in danger, and all you want to do is… is…" Sam, at the verge of hysteria, threw her hands up in the air.
The famous three legendary birds simultaneously rolled their eyes. "Sam, we can't exactly just go yelling through all the universe for two specific legendary Pokemon… we do have free will, you know," Zapdos pointed out.
"Then how do we find them?!" Sam said angrily. "I have people counting on me up there!"
"Sam, just calm down for a minute, okay?" Moltres said with that same, soothing tone she had used to make Sam think she was motherly. "Let me explain how this works… we can only meet in here when we want to be in here. Let's say for example, Articuno's having a really tough day, and needs to relax. So he ends up here." Moltres' eyes twinkled. "Jirachi is almost always here, since, you know, he only wakes up every millennium."
True to word, Jirachi poked out behind Articuno, beaming at Sam. "That's right!"
"So it's kind of like… a lounge?" Sam said, trying to find a word for it.
"Well, if that's the way you humans can call it," Articuno said, eyes twinkling. He flapped his wings a bit, to stretch them out, and he sighed.
"What's wrong, Articuno?" Zapdos asked, curious.
"Palkia and Dialga have decided to appear-"
The humongous bodies of the Sinnoh legendaries appeared, looking haughty, and… anxious? "Where is the girl?" Palkia demanded, actually stamping it's… foot? Hoove? On the ground. "I must speak to the girl!"
Moltres narrowed its' eyes at Palkia. "Oh, so you call her 'the girl' now? She's Sam."
"Sam, Spirit Sage, Girl, it doesn't matter," Dialga said testily, staring them down. "She has brought chaos to our region."
The way Dialga said 'Our Region' made it seem as though the region only belonged to Palkia and itself.
"Your region is in danger?" Sam retorted angrily, ignoring Jirachi's subtle tugging at her sleeve. "What about mine? And Articuno's, and Moltres', and Zapdos' region? And Jirachi's region! We're all in danger, in case you haven't noticed!"
Dialga merely snorted. "Yes, but unlike some others, we are willing to take action."
"We are not seeking a war with the humans, Dialga," Zapdos said cooly.
"Neither are we asking your opinion on it!" Jirachi said, trying to yell… but sounded really, totally, harmless and cute.
"And besides!" Sam charged on, angered by Dialga and Palkia's apparent ignorance. "It's just one, really big group of humans who are 'bringing chaos to your region', not the entire human race!"
Articuno nodded furiously. "I don't understand why we have to go through all of this, you two. If you haven't forgotten, humans are suffering almost as much as the Pokemon."
"Do you hear yourselves?" Palkia said, cool voice almost errupting with anger now. "Speaking for the humans?! Like we have pointed out before, you should not just think about that race!"
"I didn't ask for this, you know," Sam said coldly, gesturing at her surroundings, but keeping her gaze steady on the two stubborn Sinnoh legendaries. "And I could've given it up. But I didn't, because I love what I'm doing."
Palkia snorted. Dialga looked to the side, amused.
"I'm like an ambassador, do you get it?" Sam contiuned, ignoring the two. "I can help you guys. But only if you want me to!"
"But we don't," Dialga said nastily. "Have you ever thought that we could handle this by ourselves?"
"Actually, I was under the impression that you wanted help. Why else would you guys be here?" Sam said cooly.
Palkia looked uncomfortable. "Oh, you know what? Never mind. Never mind any of this. I'm not coming back here."
In a swirl of wind, Palkia was gone. Dialga followed soon after, a sneer on its' face.
Sam sat down on the floor, arms wound tightly around her chest. "I just want to wake up…" she mumbled. "Those two are so… difficult."
Articuno flapped down to where she was, and placed its' large head on Sam's cooing softly. "It's okay, Sam… they're part of the job."
Sam smiled tightly. "Let's get back to business. So… how do you find two super ancient Pokemon in such a short amount of time?"
Moltres smiled. "You're not giving up on this, aren't you?"
Sam shook her head, smiling.
"Alright…these two are probably resting around Sootopoliss, but you can't be sure. Kyogre moves around a lot, and Groudon prefers volcanoes to islands… It's practically impossible to pinpoint them unless they come here…" Zapdos said.
The purple eyed girl smiled at them, sighing. "Looks like I have to wake up again… and just tell Wallace that we can't find them yet."
"Come back in like 30 minutes. If they come back, we'll ask them where they are and tell you when you come back," Jirachi suggested helpfully. Sam nodded, and concentrated. She closed her eyes, with the intention of waking up again in the aircar.
She opened them, and was shocked to see Articuno, Moltres, Zapdos, and Jirachi looking back at her, confused. What's going on?
**
Adam was now trying a new tactic, seeing that as battling one-on-one with each Pokemon, he was getting nowhere. "Electabuzz, get up close! Thunder! Now, you, Salamance! Flamethrower Glalie!"
"What?" Gary and James said at the same time.
Gary took action. "Flygon, get in there! Sandstorm!"
Meanwhile, Electabuzz's Thunder and Salamance's Flamethrower were swirling into immediate death for Glalie. But Flygon's Sandstorm made everything confusing. "Flygon, now's your chance! Take out Electabuzz now with an up close Dragon Claw!"
Adam grit his teeth. Electabuzz can't see through this Sandstorm… neither can Salamance… but Flygon can. Gary thought this out good. He heard the unmistakable sound of Electabuzz thudding to the floor. The Sandstorm was still raging, but he knew that Electabuzz was out. "Electabuzz, return."
Glalie was temporarily rendered useless, but James had other plans. "Glalie, when this thing clears, I want you to use Ice Beam, a really good one. Ready it now. Aim it at Salamance. Ice-type attacks are superior over Dragon attacks, so you have to make it really good." Glalie smiled impishly at him, understanding.
Gary heard everything James said, so he knew he should at least confuse Salamance for a while. "Flygon, fly in circles around Salamance. Make him think you're everywhere."
Flygon nodded, and disappeared into the Sandstorm.
"We make a great team," James commented to Gary.
Gary laughed. "Better get Glalie ready, at most, Flygon's Sandstorms can last up to five minutes."
James nodded.
They could hear Salamance thrashing around in the Sandstorm, Flygon chortling happily while it flew in circles. Suddenly, the winds ceased, and the battle field was clear. "Glalie, now!"
"Glai!" a minty blue beam shot out at Salamance.
**
"What now, Oh Mighty Leader?" Norman teased Phoebe as they huddled outside Ambers' would-be dungeon.
"We have to go back now. Steven told me that we should help them out once…" Phoebe sniffed the air. "Is that… is that gasoline?"
Tate and Liza nodded. "What's going on?" they asked simultaneously.
BOOOOOOM…
**
"Salamance, return!" Adam said bitterly. "Whatever. I have much more…" the ground rocked beneath them. "And never mind that." The evil smile on Adam's face made Gary and James look at each other uneasily.
Maxie cackled softly under his breath. "Phase One is complete…" he muttered.
"What was that, Maxie?" Steven yelled.
"I said, 'Phase One is complete.'" Maxie laughed. "This is over…"
"I don't understand!" Winona cried out, diverting her attention from the battle. "Steven, what's he babbling about?"
Suddenly, the wall on the West side of the lair blew up. "Duck and cover!" Misty yelled, covering her head.
Villains and good guys alike ducked under various pieces of furniture, until the shaking stopped.
"What's going on?" Gary, James, Misty, and Steven had found themselves under the same table. The foursome stepped out from underneath the table, to look at the room, which was now littered with pieces of the wall and-or ceiling.
They heard a familiar trill of laughter, but it sounded awful, twisted even.
Wallace's aircar floated in front of the gaping hole, and Wallace himself was standing from the driver's seat, face twisted into an evil grin.
"Wallace? What are you doing here…" Gary's brows creased in the middle of his head, not finishing the question. "Where's Sam?"
"Oh, I'm not Wallace…" 'Wallace' cackled evilly, and thre w off the blue wig. "My name's Anthony. I work for Eternity." Everyone could see the obvious similarities in this guy and Wallace, but that wasn't the point.
"Where's the real Wallace?" Steven asked, directing his attention to Maxie.
"Somewhere you don't know!" Maxie smirked. "This was all part of the plan. I knew it sooner or later. You'd rage into here once I got one of your little comrades…" he rolled his eyes, "And imagine that you could possibly let her out." He flashed an evil grin. "But this is the real world, Steven, wherein the good guys don't win all the time."
A door opened, and Norman, Tate, Liza, Phoebe, Amber, Mason and Topaz were shoved in, hands and feet tied. "It's a trick, Steven!" Phoebe cried out, struggling against her captor, a big-boned Magma goon. "It just clicked together… Oh, Arceus, Stevven… we're too late!"
"What are you talking about?" Steven demanded.
"Don't you get it?" Mason said, speaking now. "If the Wallace right there is fake, then what do you think happened to Sam?"
And that's when Gary's world stopped turning.
**
Grrr. I was so mad at my computer this Christmas break. You know, Christmas break is a great time to update stories, like, five times or at least twice a week, but in my case, NO.
WHY does my computer have to break during this time? WHY?!
Anyway, get ready for the next chapter, once again, I will mention that I'm posting about five chapters today. –SMILEY FACE!-
And what happened to the real Wallace anyway? Hmm.
Ja~