Its a bit earlier for either of them to have a Metagross or a Tyranitar . And I have a fair amount of future pokemon catches already planned out. Anyway thanks for the reviews and here's the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon and am in no way affiliated with Nintendo or Gamefreak. Now that that legal stuff is out of the way, on to the story!
Pokemon Emerald
Chapter Fifteen:
Battle for Mount Chimney
Alex looked over the pokeball in his hand. He was standing just outside Fallabar, and had left just incase went completely out of control. He had deposited his Swellow in the PC in exchange for Skarmory, and had also deposited Minun for Numel since he promised to let Minun rest for a while. May had also exchanged her Combusken and Kirlia for her two newest pokemon, Swablu and Slugma.
"Come on, Alex! Me and Slugma are right behind you!" May shouted.
"Behind me? Yes. Right behind me? I think not." Alex shouted back. May was standing a good 60 feet behind him, keeping her distance for when Alex released Skarmory. She wasn't expecting it to have gotten any friendlier in the past day. The only reason she was watching was to see if Alex could actually get Skarmory to listen to him, and if he could May figured she could take some notes and get her Electrike to listen to her as well.
May's Slugma was standing in front of her in a patch of grass. Or at least, there was a patch of grass there. It was mostly a pile of ash now as the heat from Slugma's body caused the nearby grass to burst into flames. She had her Slugma out to deal with Skarmory in case it got out of control. She would have felt better with Combusken with her but knew Slugma should be able to handle itself fine and could probably benefit from a bit of real battle experience, even if it had fought back at Mount Chimney. Plus, she didn't think two fire type pokemon were necessary and Combusken and Kirlia were the only pokemon that had never left her party yet.
"Well...here goes nothing..." Alex muttered, turning his attention back to the pokeball in his hand.
"Skarmory, come on out!" Alex made sure he released Skarmory a good distance away, making sure he had plenty of reaction time in case it attacked, and the red beam from the pokeball reached a good 30ft before Skarmory materialized before him. Skarmory stretched its wings and scanned its surroundings, eventually turning to face Alex and May and giving both of them a death glare.
"Look, Skarmory, we're not going to hurt you just as long as you..." Before Alex finished his sentence Skarmory was rushing towards him, beak lowered in an attempt to stab him. Alex quickly jumped out of the way to the side to dodge the attack, but Skarmory immediately came around and started trying to stab at Alex again with its Peck attack, and Alex was just barely avoiding each stab.
"Slugma use Ember!" May's Slugma shot a fireball from its mouth towards Skarmory, catching the steel bird completely by surprise as the intensely hot fireball struck it in the side. Skarmory quickly forgot about Alex and turned its attention to Slugma. Alex took this time to back away from Skarmory and reach for the pokeball containing his recently caught Numel, releasing it in front of him.
"Numel, Ember!" Skarmory was getting ready to release a Swift attack towards May's Slugma, when it was caught off guard by another Ember attack from Alex's Numel who he had just released. The fireball struck Skarmory from behind, leaving a red mark on its back where it had struck which quickly faded. Skarmory found itself standing between two fire pokemon, and it knew Alex still had the pokeball to recall it with, and decided to give up and turned back towards Alex.
"Now if you don't try anything else, Skarmory, we won't hurt you either. Got it?" Skarmory gave a slight nod, although its eyes still had a look of rage in them. Alex could tell it was much calmer today, though, as compared to yesterday.
"May and I really need to get to the top of Mount Chimney, and quickly too. Your the only one that can get us there in time. Will you help us?" Skarmory looked at Mount Chimney in the distance, then behind it at May. It cast another death glare towards May before turning back to Alex and shaking its head.
"If your still upset about yesterday, we were only trying to defend ourselves, and I'm sure May's sorry she disturbed your sleep. Right May?"
"VERY sorry!" May replied quickly. "It'll never happen again! I promise!" Skarmory shrugged, seeming to be unphased by May's apology. May clenched her fist and gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to have Slugma attack it again for refusing to accept her apology. Alex sighed. He knew this wouldn't be easy, and knew Skarmory would try to attack them too. He took some comfort, though, in knowing that Skarmory was at least listening to them at this point and acting a bit more rational.
"Look, if we don't get to the top of Mount Chimney quickly thousands of people and pokemon will die! Team Magma is trying to make the volcano erupt so they can create more land, but they don't seem to realize that the eruption will kill just about everything in the outlying area, including us! Do you know what will happen to you when your hit by liquid hot lava, Skarmory?"
Skarmory paused and thought about that for a moment, picturing what would happen. It imagined the lava hitting it, and the heat of the lava melting off its metal exterior and then, once its metal shell was gone its body would burst into flames. It knew how much it hurt to be hit by a fire type pokemon's attacks, but few, if any, could ever come close to inflicting the kind of damage to it that lava could. Skarmory seemed a bit more nervous now.
"May and I need to get up to the top of Mount Chimney so we can fight Team Magma and stop them before they can make the volcano erupt. Now...will you help us?" Skarmory still seemed a bit reluctant to help them, but it gave in and nodded in agreement.
"Thanks Skarmory, I knew I could count on you." Alex said, recalling his Numel and approaching it. May recalled her Slugma, but was a bit more reluctant to go near Skarmory.
"Now here's the plan. I know it'd be hard for you to reach the top of Mount Chimney while carrying two people, and even if we did manage to make it that high we'd be helpless as Team Magma would get to make their attack. So instead, we're going to fly as low as we can and go around to the other side of Mount Chimney. From there, we can take a lift to the top of Mount Chimney and possibly catch Team Magma off guard. Think you could handle that?"
Skarmory gave a nod and lowered its body closer to the ground so that Alex and May could get on. Alex climbed on first, and then May reluctantly got on behind him. The two of them held on tightly as Skarmory gave a shriek and took off into the air, flying towards Mount Chimney. Soon they were skimming the treetops of a nearby forest as Skarmory aimed to fly beside the volcano. Alex watched in amusement as the ground passed by below them, but May wasn't overly impressed, as she would much rather be on flat, safe ground.
"At this rate it should only take us a few minutes..." Alex said to May as the treetops zoomed by below them.
"Alright..." May replied, trying not to look at the ground below her.
"I wonder if Maxie will be there..." Alex wondered. "Its been about two years since I last saw him...but then again, I don't think anyone's really seen him around."
It wasn't long before Skarmory came in for a landing, landing on the small plateau where Alex and May had met with the repairmen two days before. Sure enough, the repairmen weren't there now and Alex and May could go into the building that usually housed the cable car.
"Thanks for the help, Skarmory, but Team Magma tends to use fire pokemon a lot so you might want to sit this one out." Skarmory was a caught a bit off guard by Alex's words, as it wasn't expecting Alex to be willing to use it in battle at all. It made no attempt to resist as Alex returned it to its pokeball, placing it on his belt. May had gone off ahead to see if the cable car was actually in the station. Sure enough, it was still there, and it didn't look like anyone had touched it either.
May was looking over the control console as Alex entered the building, which was actually in the building itself instead of in the cable car. The car was usually run by someone operating the console while the passengers would just sit in the car. There was no one to operate the cable car today, however.
"How are we supposed to use this?" May asked.
"It looks like we'd need someone else to operate the cable car..." Alex replied. "Either that or one of us will have to stay behind, but we should both get up there if we can."
"Hey! What if we get a pokemon to operate it? Then once the cable car starts up we can recall it!"
"That might actually work..." Alex said. "But which pokemon could we get to operate it?"
"Oh come on, Alex! You're supposed to be Mr. Know-It-All yet I'm doing all the thinking here! Your Alakazam is the smartest pokemon we have!" Alex slapped his palm against his forehead.
"Why didn't I think of that? Alakazam would not only be able to operate it but to make things easier he could do it from the cable car." Alex quickly looked over the control console to figure out how it worked. He and May then climbed into it, and Alex released his Alakazam into the cable car with them.
"Alright, Alakzam, I need you to use your psychic powers to press the green button on that control panel, then flip the middle switch." Alex instructed it. Alakazam gave a nod and concentrated, a blue aura surrounding it as it focused its psychic abilities. A click could be heard as the button was pressed, and the cable car rocked slightly and the sound of a motor starting up could be heard. There was another click as Alakazam flipped the switch up, and the cable car started to move, and soon exited the building and started on its way up the volcano.
"Good work, Alakazam! Thanks!" Alakazam gave a slight nod, then Alex returned it to his pokeball.
"Now once we get to the top we make straight for whatever machine they're using to make this volcano erupt..." Alex said as the cable car slowly moved up towards the top of the volcano.
"If Team Aqua is managing to keep them busy we shouldn't have any trouble getting by them..." May stated.
"I just hope we won't be too late...although one has to wonder...did Team Magma even have a plan for their own escape? I mean...Maxie isn't the kind of guy to make that kind of error...he's definitely the smarter of the two criminal leaders..." Alex said, folding his arms and staring at the floor of the cable car.
"Do you know him, Alex?" Alex's head quickly shot up as he realized what he said.
"Yes. I mean no! I mean...just what I heard on the news...heh heh..." May didn't seem to be entirely convinced by his answer, but really didn't know what Alex would have to hide anyway so she decided not to pry. She was curious, though, as to how Alex might have met the two criminal leaders.
"I really have to stop thinking out loud..." Alex thought.
After several minutes the cable car had finally reached the top of mount chimney and docked inside a building similar to the one they had taken off from. In the distance, they could hear the sounds of a battle raging on, probably between Team Aqua and Team Magma. Mostly what they could hear consisted of barks and growls.
The two of them grabbed a pokeball from their belt and ran out of the small structure. When they got outside they could see Team Aqua and Team Magma battling it out around the crater of the volcano to the north of them, and further north they could see a red haired man in a red jacket placing the meteorite into the machine. It looked like the meteor had just been delivered and now Maxie was placing it in his machine.
"Looks like we're just in time! He's just activating the machine now!" May said.
"Yeah...but now how long do we have until this thing blows? We have to get moving!" May nodded in agreement and the two of them quickly scanned the battlefield. It seemed like every other member of Team Magma was preoccupied with Team Aqua, giving them a clear path to Maxie. Archie himself had his Mightyena taking on three Poochyena's.
Alex and May took off running towards the crater, heading west around the crater towards Maxie. Archie noticed the two of them and a small smile crossed his face. He wasn't expecting anyone to show up to stop Team Magma, and he had no idea how May even managed to get there so quickly, but he was more than thankful for the help.
Alex and May continued running towards the eastern edge of the crater, where there was a large rock blocking their way. The two of them ran around the rock, but crashed right into the only two members of Team Magma that weren't fighting Team Aqua and all four of them crashed to the ground.
"Why don't you watch where the hell you're going?" One of them, Tabitha, said before getting up and looking at who had crashed into her.
"YOU!" Tabitha and the other Magma yelled in surprise upon seeing Alex and May.
"How the hell did you two get here!" She demanded as the four of them quickly jumped to their feet and stared each other down.
"That doesn't really matter..." Alex replied. "Now step aside!"
"Heh, and let you brats try to stop Maxie? Not a chance..." The other Magma said.
"You're going to have to get past us first! Go, Numel!"
"Mightyena! Go!" The two Magmas quickly grabbed the pokeballs containing the same two pokemon they had used against May back at Meteor Falls. The two pokemon appeared, looking determined although at the same time they still seemed to be suffering from the effects of Gulpin's Poison Gas attack.
"Looks like we're doing this the hard way..." May said. "Go, Corphish!
"We'll just have to make it quick...Go Azumarill!" Alex and May had their two water pokemon on hand, since they knew they might be facing a lot of fire pokemon. Alex's Azumarill and May's Corphish both appeared at the ready, and Alex was already formulating a plan in his mind.
"Azumarill! Use Bubblebeam on Numel!"
"Mightyena, block it!" Azumarill released a stream of bubbles from its mouth towards the Magma's Numel, but Tabitha's Mightyena quickly jumped in the way of the attack and the bubbles hit Mightyena instead of Numel. Alex had intended to quickly finish off the other Magma's Numel so he and May could concentrate on Tabitha's much stronger pokemon, but it seemed like that wasn't going to be the case.
"Now fight back with Bite, Mightyena!" Mightyena turned towards Azumarill and started charging toward it,running through the bubbles with its mouth open as it prepared to bite Alex's Azumarill.
"Corphish use Vice Grip and grab that Mightyena!" Corphish slowly moved into the path of the oncoming Mightyena and managed to clamp down on one of the pokemon's hind legs as it lunged towards Azumarill. It stopped just inches away from Azumarill's face and slammed hard onto the ground. Azumarill jumped back in shock as Mightyena's powerful jaws clamped shut right in front of it.
"Now hit Numel with Bubblebeam!" May's Corphish raised its other claw towards Numel and opened it, releasing its own stream of bubbles towards the fire and ground type pokemon, and Numel winced in pain as each bubble struck it.
"Numel fight back with Ember!" Numel weakly raised its head and spat a fireball towards Corphish. The Ember attack flew through the bubbles, causing many of them to pop along the way but at the same time reducing the fireball's size until only a small spark struck Corphish, which it hardly even noticed. Alex smirked as he realized Tabitha's Mightyena was wide open for an attack now.
"Azumarill jump on Mightyena's back and use Rollout!" Azumarill hopped onto Mightyena's back as it tried to get up, causing it to yelp in pain. Azumarill then quickly curled up and started to spin rapidly while still on Mightyena's back. Fur started flying from the spot Azumarill was spinning on and Mightyena howled in pain as it felt like its back was being burnt by sandpaper.
"Grr...Mightyena try to get up!" Mightyena made a quick attempt to get up, but just couldn't muster the strength with the combination of Azumarill's weight, the pain from the Rollout attack, and the poison from earlier. It soon went unconcious from the sheer amount of pain it was feeling, and Azumarill fell to the ground as Mightyena turned to energy and was recalled to its pokeball.
Its other claw now free, Corphish brought it around towards Numel and released a second stream of bubbles, and Numel quickly fell as well, unable to endure the continuous pounding from Corphish's attack. The Team Magma member recalled his pokemon and both Magmas reached for another pokeball.
"This isn't over yet...Go, Camerupt!"
"What she said! Zubat, go!" The two members of Team Magma each released their second pokemon. The grunt released a small, eyeless bat pokemon known as Zubat while Tabitha released a Camerupt. Camerupt was the evolved form of Numel, and resembled a camel with two humps on its back. Only Camerupt's humps looked more like miniature volcanos. Its body was covered in a fine, orange fur with a blue circle on each side of it.
"Camerupt! Use Flamethrower on Corphish!"
"Corphish use Protect!" Camerupt released a blast of intensely hot flames from its mouth, and a bit of smoke could be seen rising from the humps on its back. The flames shot out in a line towards Corphish, but they were met by a barrier as Corphish used Protect, setting up a blue, impenetrable shell around it.
"Azumarill, use Ice Beam on Zubat!"
"Zubat, dodge it!" Azumarill fired a beam of ice towards Zubat. The small bat tried to avoid it, but Azumarill simply followed it with its attack. The beam eventually struck Zubat, encasing it in a block of ice which shattered when Zubat hit the ground. Zubat weakly tried to get back into the air once it was free of the ice, but could no longer muster the strength to fly. The Magma grunt recalled his pokemon.
"Already! No way!" The grunt said through clenched teeth.
"Well thats what you get for having wimpy pokemon!" Tabitha shot back. Her Camerupt was now on its own against Alex's Azumarill and May's Corphish. It was a fire and ground type pokemon against two water types. Alex and May looked at each other and nodded, as if they each knew what the other was thinking.
"Corphish, use Bubblebeam on Camerupt!"
"Azumarill, get behind Corphish and use Bubblebeam too!" Corphish brought both its claws forward and opened them, releasing a stream of bubbles from each of them. Azumarill quickly got behind it and did the same, releasing a stream of bubbles from its mouth.
"Camerupt use Flamethrower!" Smoke rose from the humps on Camerupt's back as it prepared to use another Flamethrower attack, but didn't get the chance to follow through with it as it was struck by a barrage of bubbles from Corphish and Azumarill's combined attack. Each bubble was inflicting a fair bit of pain to Camerupt, and they just kept coming at it nonstop without giving Camerupt any chance to retalliate.
Tabitha gritted her teeth as she could do nothing but watch helplessly, and it wasn't long before the combined power of Corphish and Azumarill managed to bring it down. Camerupt collapsed onto the ground with a thud, no longer able to endure the attack. It soon disappeared into its pokeball as Tabitha recalled it.
"Damn it..." Tabitha muttered. She only had the two pokemon with her, and now both were defeated. She had nothing to fight Alex and May's pokemon with now, and neither did the grunt.
"May, keep an eye on these two. I'm going after Maxie..." Alex said as he recalled Azumarill. He then ran off past the Team Magma members before May had a chance to respond.
"Alex! ...Ugh. Men! Always have to act the hero!" She turned her attention back to the two Magmas.
"Either of you move and Corphish here is giving you a Bubblebeam..." Corphish clicked its claws together, keeping one pointed towards each Magma and trying to look menacing.
"Heh...doesn't matter..." Tabitha stated calmly.
"That kid will never beat Maxie..."
Alex quickly rounded the bend in the path and finally emerged from the behind the rock and kept going until finally coming to a stop right behind Maxie. Maxie, hearing footsteps behind him, turned around and was surprised to see Alex standing there.
"You...who are you? You seem familiar...and yet I don't believe I have ever met you."
"Name's Alex..." Alex stated coldly. "You might have heard of me from Tabitha...I foiled her plans on the Dewford ferry."
"So that was you then?" Maxie stated, arms folded behind his back.
"I admit you must be quite skilled to have defeated Tabitha...but if you have come here to try to stop me then you will surely fail. I must ask you, though...why do you stand in our way? Do you not realize the beauty of our goals...? If we succeed in expanding the land mass, there will be more space for people and pokemon to live. A child like you could never understand what I hope to achieve..."
"I understand the trouble it'll cause...and thats why I'm going to stop you." Alex replied.
"So be it..." Maxie pulled out a pokeball from behind his back, releasing a pokemon into the air.
"Go! Crobat!"
"Figured it'd come to this..." Alex said, reaching for Azumarill's pokeball.
"Go, Azumarill!" Alex held up Azumarill's pokeball and opened it, releasing the blue rabbit-like pokemon for another fight.
"I suppose this is the same Azumarill that beat Tabitha...well I shall not fall so easily. Crobat, use Wing Attack!" Crobat, a large purple bat-like pokemon with four wings, flew towards Azumarill at amazing speeds and struck at it with its wings. Both Alex and Azumarill were surprised by how quickly Crobat moved. Azumarill staggered backwards as it was struck by the attack.
"Azumarill use Ice Beam!" Azumarill quickly regained its balance and a blue orb of energy formed in its mouth.
"Crobat, dodge it." Azumarill fired a beam of ice from its mouth, but Crobat was able to easily dodge the attack.
"Now strike back with Air Cutter." Crobat brought its wings together, firing a yellow v-shaped blade from them towards Azumarill. The blade struke Azumarill hard in the chest, sending it flying backwards and landing at Alex's feet.
"Azumarill get up and try Ice Beam again!" Azumarill hopped back to its feet and once again prepared to fire an Ice Beam attack.
"This again, boy? Dodge it Crobat." Azumarill fired another Ice Beam attack towards Crobat, but Crobat was able to swiftly dodge to the side of the attack.
"Give it up already...my pokemon are far superior to yours. You have yet to even land a hit." Maxie sneered. "Your almost out of time anyway...only another 30 seconds until the machine has completed its job...even if you managed to beat me, you wouldn't be able to pull it off in 30 seconds."
"Damn it!" Alex cried.
"Think Alex, think! I don't even think I could get past his Crobat in 30 seconds...and at this rate his Crobat is more likely to finish me off. ...Wait! I don't have to get past Crobat! I just need to destroy that machine!"
"Azumarill! Jump!" Azumarill crouched down, then sprung up straight into the air, using its powerful legs and feet to propel itself several feet off the ground.
"What did that accomplish?" Maxie asked with a laugh.
"This..." Alex replied with a smirk. "Azumarill! Ice Beam!"
"Haven't we been through this? Crobat...do..."
"Aim for the machine!" Azumarill fired another Ice Beam attack, this time nowhere near Crobat. The beam flew over Maxie's head, striking the machine near the edge of the crater behind him and quickly encased it in ice."
"What! No!" Maxie cried in rage. His machine was starting to crack and break under the weight of the ice, and was no longer able to function due to the change in temperature. His plan had been foiled. Azumarill, meanwhile, landed safely in front of Alex.
"Blast it all! You ruined everything!" Maxie recalled his Crobat, as there was no point in him fighting Alex now, since the machine had been destroyed. Maxie quickly regained his composure, however.
"No matter...this was just an experiment anyway. Soon you will see Team Magma's true plan set into action...until then, farewell." Maxie dropped a small cylindrical object onto the ground, and soon the entire crater was engulfed in thick black smoke as the rest of Team Magma did the same. When the smoke cleared, Team Magma was gone, leaving only Alex, May, and Team Aqua.
"Damn it...he got away..." Alex muttered.
"Looks like we're not quite on the same level as Maxie is either...guess I shouldn't have underestimated him. Well regardless, you did well Azumarill. Return." A red beam shot out from the pokeball Alex was holding, striking Azumarill and returning it to the pokeball. He then turned around and saw May approaching him, and she didn't look too happy either.
"Alex what is the big idea leaving me behind like that!" May angrily demanded.
"Uh...heh...sorry May...I got a bit carried away..." Alex replied sheepishly. May turned her back to him with a 'Hmph!'.
"Typical men...always have to be the hero and show off in front of a pretty girl..."
"If you mean Tabitha, she's not my type..." Alex said as he walked past her.
"Hey! Whats that supposed to mean!" May yelled after him. The two of them started walking away from the volcano, continuing to argue and not giving much thought to the events that had just happened there. By this time, Team Aqua had left in their helicopter which was landed near the cable car shed. Alex and May were now alone on the volcano, or so they thought.
They had finally stopped arguing by the time they had reached the top of a sloping path down the volcano, as Alex had promised to buy May an ice cream when they reached Lavaridge to make up for leaving her behind with the two Magmas and running off to face Maxie alone.
"Maxie seems to have some fairly strong pokemon..." Alex commented as they started on their way down the volcano.
"Azumarill just couldn't land a hit on his Crobat...it was just too fast. Maxie gave up when I destroyed the machine though."
"I hope thats the last we've seen of Team Magma, then. Next time we might not be so lucky..." May replied.
"Hopefully next time they try something we'll be able to get the police involved..." May nodded in agreement, and the two of them continued walking in silence until Alex asked May which uniform she preferred between Team Aqua's uniform and Team Magma's, and the two talked about that as they walked down the volcano. Nearby in some ash covered bushes, however...
"So, it seems those two have some sort of connection to Team Aqua and Team Magma..." A man in a black overcoat holding a pair of binoculars said to himself.
"I come here looking for Team Magma and Team Aqua...and instead I find those two...yes...everything makes sense now!" The man, none other than Detective Dirk, laughed to himself as he lowered his binoculars.
"They must be Team Magma and Team Aqua agents! Why else would they be up here after those helicopters flew by? They must have been dropped off here so they can go to Lavaridge, and try to pass themselves off as regular trainers by collecting badges...and if May, daughter of Norman, is with them then perhaps the rest of her family is as well...and perhaps the rest of the Hoenn League! Yes, Team Aqua and Team Magma aren't just small nature groups but both are part of a larger criminal organization controlling Hoenn! And I bet thats why I was fired from the force...they were afraid that, with my skills, I would catch on to them! Well I've figured it all out now!" Dirk continued laughing to himself, until a thought struck him and shattered his idea.
"Wait...if Team Aqua and Team Magma control all of Hoenn...then who the hell do I report all this to! Damn it all! Looks like its just me against the entire region..."