A/N: Ok, I'm taking a break out of the exam rush to update because WOW! It has been a year since I posted this fic! (and since ORAS were announced?!) I can't believe it and I'm really grateful to everyone who has reviewed or favorited this or even read this, it means a lot that people enjoy me bumbling on about May and Hoenn, even after the ORAS hype died down. Thanks!
This is a very short update compared to the others, but I just wanted to get something out there because I once again got behind on writing this!
Chapter 29 – Mt. Pyre Part 1: Interior
Some amount of days after the Gym Battle…
"Right, then! You're all dismissed! We'll hit the mountain at sundown!"
A roar erupted from the crowd of rowdy Team Aqua grunts standing in the grassy clearing around Archie, invigorated by his speech. Despite the drizzle – it had been raining nonstop, it seemed, since they'd arrived at Route 120, not that anyone was complaining – they were in good spirits and seemed to process his mission of obtaining the orb easily.
With a confident nod, the man strode over to his second-in-command. Matt straightened as he heard the heavy footsteps and flashed a grin at his boss. In his hands was a wrinkled sheet of paper; the orders Archie had issued to everyone, hastily written out in pencil, were nearly ruined from all the travel and weather. But knowing his admin, the loyal man would've memorized them long ago.
"Yo, boss. I got good news and bad news…" His words were careful, but he kept the easy smirk on his face.
Archie adjusted his collar, keeping the conversation casual. "Hit me with it."
"Well… The good news is that the plan's all set for actions. We could even go early! But I think y'want the cover from the night, right?"
Hearing it from someone else was reassuring. "Yep," he grunted in response. "That way, we can make a quick escape if any… disruptions occur."
"Right, uhhh… 'Bout those disruptions. That's the bad news…"
One thick eyebrow poked up Archie's forehead. "Eh?"
"Team Magma… They're all over the place, back on Route 120, like little rats, trailin' us," Matt explained carefully. He then pulled out a small, digital camera, and turned it towards Archie for him to see.
Sure enough, the mustached man realized as he flicked through the gallery and narrowed his beady eyes to see the details of the viewfinder, Team Magma were slowly but surely trekking through the mud and around main paths to avoid contact with trainers or authorities. But they hadn't escaped Aqua's gaze.
Handing the device back to Matt, Archie let out a great bellow, slapping his knee with one hand. "That Maxie! Just like 'im, to take us for a bunch of idiots and go running after us in red outfits like that! N' it doesn't even matter, now!"
Matt gave his boss a curious gaze, shifting awkwardly. "What d'ya mean, sir?"
After a few more seconds, Archie sobered, and, eyes shining, confidence practically permeating from his skin, replied, "They're too far behind. There's no way they could beat us to Mt. Pyre. We might as well have the Red Orb right here with us, now."
But Archie failed to notice another familiar figure in the background of one of those pictures; a trainer who despite her notoriety with Team Aqua had gone unnoticed. May, too, was on their trail, headed for Pyre. A small, dirty, generic-looking trainer, face obscured by messy bangs and the foliage, bare arms and calves covered in mud and small scratches from hiking through the wild terrain of Route 120. But certainly, she didn't resemble the girl that had come face-to-face with Archie on Mt. Chimney.
Whether May realized it or not, she was closing in on destiny.
"Lombre, return!"
The quiet Pokemon obediently disappeared back into its ball, which I then clipped to my bag. The passage between Route 121 and the enormous island hadn't been too difficult for it to traverse; the water was unusually serene for Hoenn and seemed abandoned by the normal seafaring Pokemon like Wingull and Tentacool. It was as muggy as ever in the Hoenn wilds, but I felt a cool draft coming from the mountain rising up in front of me.
Swallowing, I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the next challenge I was to face. It seemed like forever since the incident at the Weather Institute, and there were many things I was trying to repress, but every night I reminded myself: Mt. Pyre. Mt. Pyre. That was Team Aqua's next target, and whether I liked it or not, it was mine, too. And the place just happened to be on the way to Lilycove. Because of that ominous lore surrounding it, and because of the threatening words Shelly had muttered that stormy afternoon, the unrealistic goals of Team Aqua suddenly seemed very, very real to me.
I hadn't been able to reach Steven at all since that time, either. Standing here, at the foot of this mist-shrouded mountain whose peak ascended up past the clouds and into the heavens, I was alone.
I was still for a while, staring at this Mt. Pyre, trying to find the peak, to no avail. A mountain jutting out of the ocean – truly another one of Hoenn's strange features. What would my friends back home think? There wasn't any time to mull over it. My hand is shaking, I suddenly realized, and quickly clenched both gloved fists to stop the feeling, only to be counterattacked with the trembling of my knees.
I can't be scared. There's not enough time. I can handle this much, at least. If it's anything like the Weather Institute, I can handle it. My Pokemon are much stronger now, and I have Blaziken's training if I get into trouble. I closed my eyes once more. In the period between getting the Feather Badge and now, I hadn't once flown home. Was that a mistake? I didn't know. But Pelipper was in a box now, anyways, so if I wanted to chicken out, I couldn't.
With one last breath, I stepped into the mountain.
"Sir, Team Aqua – they've already left!" Exclaimed a grunt as she tripped and stumbled into the group's makeshift camp.
Maxie immediately rose from his seat on a tree stump and called the party of Team Magma members to attention. "We must mobilize! Team Aqua cannot get that Red Orb!"
His voice served as a call to arms for all of the worn out grunts, and they sprang to their feet, saluting in unison. It was perfect, to Maxie, seeing how well behaved and respectful these people were – not to mention, dedicated to his cause. For some, it had taken… manipulative convincing, to get them to enlist. But nothing Team Aqua hadn't done. Furrowing his brow, he turned to Courtney, who had just come back from reconnaissance.
"Any updates?" Maxie's voice was hushed, but still as sharp and demanding as always.
Courtney, who was rather used to it, gave a swift salute before speaking in a similar manner: "The trainer May has gone ahead, crossed the bay already, as I suspected. I suspect Team Aqua was planning to begin their assault at sundown?"
Maxie chuckled. "Of course; they have such poor coordination that it's only expected they'd take as obvious a cue as the sunset. As for the girl…" He paused in their short walk around the Magma camp, flashing a reassuring look at his subordinate. "Yes. Then it's all going to plan. If there is enough space between us and her now, we should depart."
Courtney paused, meeting her boss's gaze and trying to decipher something from it, before clapping her feet together and saluting. "Understood, sir!"
A strange chill had clipped onto my spine the moment I had crept into Mt. Pyre. Surprisingly, the place was furnished and not just an empty cave, though barely; the monochrome tile floor was lined with rough, gray headstones, and scattered throughout each level of the mountain's interior was a mix of somber adults mourning in silence, or bizarre trainers using Psychic-types. Flourescent lights lined the bottom floor and the stairways that would disappear into the rocky walls of the mountain, while on upper floors, the only incoming light was from rough windows and candles.
The chill bothered me the most, moreso than the trainer's weird looks or the feeling of death the entire place emanated. I tried to shake it off, but ghosts were something you never wanted to mess with – I'd been told that one time by and old man in Ecruteak City. And despite how peaceful and well-intentioned this graveyard-tower was, it was obvious that the walls and floors were in need of a renovation. Were I any younger, I'd feel like I'd been trapped in a horror movie.
Battling trainers here and there, and dropping questions about suspicious activity or Aqua, I moved through the higher floors in the tower. Occasionally shadows would bounce and dance off of the walls, which was upsetting to me and even more upsetting to all of my Pokemon. As I entered the uppermost level, the chill got worse, and, biting my lip, I released Blaziken from its ball.
"…Uwah!"
Suddenly I was tumbling forwards, right into Blaziken, knocking the Pokemon into a large tombstone and collapsing onto on some smaller ones. What the hell…? Did I trip?! On what?! Cursing under my breath, I collected myself and got to my feet. Blaziken was growling now, red-hot flames rising from its wrists and licking at the fog surrounding us. Is it just irritated? Or is there something out there…?
"…Skull…"
A shiver wracked my spine. That voice… I-it was…
"Dusk... Skull…"
Dry, echoey… "J-just like…" I grinned dryly at Blaziken. "A g-ghost!"
Just then the fog cut open dramatically, and from the opening came a dark, glowing ball of energy. Blaziken was barely fast enough to stop it, drilling one fiery foot into its center, and the two attacks dissipated. But the Fire-type was breathing heavily, obviously as unnerved as I was.
"DUSKULL…"
"T-there's the voice again!" I peeped. "B-but that was an attack, so maybe…?"
Ding!
"Duskull, the Requiem Pokemon. Duskull wanders lost among the deep darkness of midnight. There is an oft-told admonishment given to misbehaving children that this Pokémon will spirit away bad children who earn scoldings from their mothers."
"It's a Pokemon!" For the first time in a while, a refreshing jolt of excitement zipped through my fingertips and I burrowed into my bag for a new Ultra Ball. "Blaziken, find it and attack!"
Reluctantly, the Pokemon grunted and leaped into the fog. It's a Pokemon, not a ghost. I can fight a Pokemon. Carefully, I listened to the sounds of battle, trying to pinpoint where the two Pokemon were clashing, and, when Blaziken reemerged from the fog and ducked to the side, I hurled the device with a grunt.
"Skull!" I barely caught a glimpse of the wisp-like creature before it flashed into red light. Small, around the size of my head, and gray. But Duskull was a Ghost-type – it must be a rare Pokemon.
Click!
"Yes!" I flashed Blaziken a wide grin and skidded across the rough tiling over to the ball. "A Duskull! Give him a warm welcome, stupid bird!"
"Blaze…"
In exploring the deepest parts of Mt. Pyre, with still no sign or word of Team Aqua, I felt a cool breeze. It was unnatural; up until now, every room had been stuffy and misty, as still as the dead that the tombstones were remembering. My curiosity got the best of me, and, recalling Blaziken, I turned down a dim corridor.
Waiting at the end was a small, metal plaque, next to a cheap set of heavy double doors. More mysteries surfaced in my mind as I screwed up my face and squatted down to read it.
MT. PYRE – EXTERIOR
Exterior? I frowned. You can hike the mountain? And these footprints… They weren't nearly faint enough to go unnoticed. Dozens of muddy footprints, all heading out this exit. Tightening my jaw, I swung open the door and was greeted with a blast of cool, humid, but fresh air, and a sudden tension in each breath that I'd never felt before.
Team Aqua is here.
