A/N Aaaaaaaand, here's the newest chapter, and I'll be completely honest.
I actually had fun writing this one. I think I've gotten sick and tired of writing the drama bit, and now that the big part we've been dealing with is out of the way, I can continue and put in some more.. Light hearted bits. A bit of humor, maybe a dash of fluff. You know, the fun, happy stuff.
Not a whole lot of it is in this chapter, but there is bits. And, the next chapters will ratchet that up considerably, with any luck. So, without further adue, I present you with the beginning of Act 2!
A shout out to my pre reader, TheGrunt22. She's the prereader of destiny. No, not the game. The concept. XD
Also, I made 900 Favs! We made it everyone! =D
"Delia, Are you sure... that... *Huff* That this is the best way to do this?"
The woman in question didn't respond immediately. If anything, she actually made a point to ignore the professor for a moment, instead, instead choosing to try and push down her rather irrational anger.
Sure, she knew that the professor was old, and, as such, would have trouble with this much hiking. But, she didn't expect him to actually slow her down as much as he did. Ash was in trouble, and time was of the literal essence here. But, instead of a three day trip, it had stretched out to almost a full week, and in a world actively hunting Lati, every day, nay, every minute counted.
But, in the end, she needed the elderly professor almost as much as Ash needed her. He was the one who had the ability to track Ash's Pokedex. To track his expenditure and catch records. And, he was the only one legally able to do so, as her son's professor and sponsor. So, she needed him with her, so they could get an idea where his last whereabouts were, once they sorted this out.
She just hoped that the extra time she had spent taking him along wouldn't bite her in the butt. So, instead of answering the aged professor, Delia instead focused on the map in front of her as the elderly scientist sat down on a nearby boulder, clearly exhausted. Alright, fine, if she had to be fully honest, she was somewhat impressed. The first time she had made this trip, it took her an entire week, due to the harshness of the climbing and the difficulty of the terrain. She had to give the elder man credit, he was doing very well to keep up with her.
But, even though, all things considered, that they had been making pretty good time, it didn't dispel the worry in her gut. Ash was out there, possibly alone, as a species that was hunted to near extinction by several gangs and criminal organizations. And, while she knew that Ash was a good hearted, brilliant boy, that didn't change the fact that he tended to be at the very center of every crisis in the world. It was simply what made her son him. And, that did not bode well, when he happened to be actively hunted at the same time.
"Yes, I'm sure. I've made this trip many times, Professor. I think I know what I'm doing."
The elder man nodded in tired agreement, before sighing again, this time in exasperation, before choosing to use this moment to take off his backpack and let the muscles in his back decompress. He hated being old. "Yes, I suppose you would. I guess I've just gotten used to being inside my comfy lab all day, instead of hiking all throughout Kanto."
Delia laughed a little at what she assumed was a joke, before rewrapping the map up. At least he was honest with it. "Just be happy we have Irama here to help carry most of our supplies. And, again, thank you, Irama."
The friendly dragonite nodded with a smile, before letting out a soft coo.
"I'm sorry to take you from your mate. Are you sure he won't be too cross with you?"
The Dragon just gave a good-natured smile, and an amused, if somewhat sarcastic sounding grunt.
"Nite."
Delia gave a bark of laughter at the dragon's somewhat saucy response. She had really missed Irama, both for her sense of humor, and as a simple companion. Sure, they had parted ways years ago, long before Ash had been old enough to walk properly, but still, she had been there since day one, as her starter and her best friend for a good chunk of her early life. Letting her go to find a mate had been a heartbreaking ordeal, regardless of the promise to keep in touch.
"You are completely right. So, Professor, you think you're ready to start again?"
The old man stretched a little, before standing up and looking over to their destination. The giant crystalline tree was easy to spot, even from this distance. "As ready as I'll ever be. So... Do you think she'll be happy to see us?"
Delia sighed, before a determined, if somewhat angry expression settled over her face. In the end, it didn't matter if she was happy or not.
"She won't mind. She loves company. Now, let's go. The sooner we get to the tree of beginning, the sooner we can get Ash back."
"Do you think she'll turn him back?"
The mother simply nodded once, her eyes hardening. "She will, whether she wants to or not."
May let out a grunt of irritation as she accidentally pushed past a young couple, barely thinking about them as she shouted a hastily made apology.
"Sorry! I gotta get to my ferry!"
She couldn't believe that she let herself get so distracted by that buffet. Sure, it was great, the fried noodles... all that Miltank burger... Chicken legs roasted beautifully and coated in a lemon pepper mix... and Magikarp seared to perfection and coated in a wonderfully sweet Peachaberry sauce... it was divine. And all how could she resist that siren call, let alone with it in the form of a all you could eat buffet? It was almost criminal, that much good food in such a large dose.
As was their reaction to her fulfilling that unspoken promise of... well, eating all that she could eat.
Yes, getting kicked out of the restaurant was a bit much, in her opinion. Even if it did save her fanny once she realized that, yes, she was almost late for her ferry. It worked for her, in the end, but still, Ash was in trouble, and there wasn't enough food in the world to make her willingly forsake Ash. But, regardless, she'd get to Altomare, one way or another.
On the lucky side, as she rushed around the corner, she saw that, indeed, her ferry to Altomare was still in the port. Not a reason to slow down, but it was enough to make her feel a little better, and a little less guilty at letting herself get so terribly distracted. And so, she ran further down the streets of Olivine city, almost knocking over a man as she ran past. She was gonna make it.
After another minute of desperate running down the hill towards the port, she finally managed to come to the ticket building, and without a second's hesitance, bursted through the doors, her exhaustion catching up with her as she barely managed a half-run, half-stumble to the ticket counter, panting. "I need... to... exercise more."
The only response from the lady at the counter was a raised eyebrow, and May let out another huff.
"Hello... I need to get... on the ferry to Altomare, please."
The lady at the ticket counter just continued to raise her eyebrow at the sight of the young teen panting in exhaustion, who had taken to leaning heavily on the side of the ticket counter for support.
"I'm sorry, but the ferry to Altomare has been cancelled until further notice."
Upon hearing that, May felt her exhaustion die a quick, brutal death as fury and adrenaline rushed through her. "What do ya mean, cancelled? I need to get to Altomare, ASAP. As soon as possible! It's extremely important!"
The lady gave the girl a more... reserved, if almost concerned look. "Listen... Do you have family in Altomare?"
May shook her head angrily. "No, but I got a friend there. And I said, it's important! Why's the ferry cancelled?"
The woman at the ticket counter sighed sadly, and pointed to one of the few televisions that sat in the lobby. On it was a emergency broadcast.
"A couple hours ago, some gang members from Hoenn started attacking the city. As far as the news has said, they called themselves Aqua. The city's been silent for a hour now, and everyone's really worried. And, because of the attack, all ferries, boats, and flights to the city are cancelled until we know that everything is alright."
May stared at the television for a moment, watching the emergency broadcast scroll past, before growling lightly. Yes, that cinched it. Ash was definitely, entirely, desperately in trouble. And, whoever was after him, was probably after his pokemon as well.
The girl let her mind wander for a second, trying to come up with a sufficient reason as to why Ash would send Pikachu, of all Pokemon, away with his probably newly caught Latios, but all ideas that came to mind were either terrible, or worse.
No. She refused to think that way. Ash probably was just saving the world again, and maybe, just maybe, needed something from the city, or needed to keep it safe. May took a moment to think about that, before coming up with a small memory.
Ash did say that he had helped save Altomare, before. And, he did send his Latios, along with Pikachu, over to the city to... She didn't know, resave it again? The idea had merit, at least. Maybe, whatever he was doing, needed him to be in multiple places, and that he couldn't leave where ever he was, but he still needed to save Altomare. After all, Altomare was one of the bigger cities in the world, and Ash wasn't the type of person who'd just sit by, and let the bad guys run rampant over others.
In fact, it made too much sense. He'd send his most trusted Pokemon, Pikachu, with a very powerful legendary. The two of them, with Pikachu's experience, and the Latios' supposed strength, could do almost as well as if Ash was there himself. It let Ash fix whatever was wrong, wherever he was, but also let him keep the city of Altomare safe.
Yes. That had to be it. But, that also meant that the city of Altomare was in big, nay, huge trouble. Ash wouldn't split his team so badly for a classic team rocket takeover, at least, not if he had something more important to save. He'd keep Pikachu by his side, unless he actually had to save the city, yet couldn't be there, no matter how much he wanted to.
Which meant that, May now had a destination. She needed to get to Altomare, and she needed to get there, right now. She'd get there, help save the city with Pikachu from whatever the bad guys were planning, and then, once everything was hunky dory, she'd ask Pikachu to take her to Ash. They could save the city, and still find Ash.
"Mam, Is there, uh, you know, another way to get to Altomare?"
The lady at the counter, to her credit, didn't look surprised at the question.
"Sorry, miss, but all ferries all closed right now, due to Altomare's attack."
May grumbled a bit. She wasn't gonna let that stop her. And, at this point, she had half a mind of just riding Blastoise, but the turtle pokemon wasn't the fastest swimmer, and Altomare was quite a distance away. She needed something faster. "I don't need a ferry, I need a way to get to Altomare. Please, is there any way?"
The woman stared at her for a moment, before sighing. "There's a fisherman that sometimes takes trainers to Altomare. He lives in a house, on the southern beach, through the forest a couple hours in. I don't know if he's there, but that's the only way I know of that could get you there quickly, right now."
May blinked once, before giving the woman a smile. "Thank you so much."
The woman just nodded. "I hope that you find your friend. I really do."
May just gave another nod in return, and turned back to the doors. "Thanks again!"
She had a way now. She was gonna get to Ash, one way, or another.
Iris sighed in a mixture of worry and boredom, as she sat in the lobby for this "Fortress Relocation" company. If she was honest with herself, she was suddenly feeling some second thoughts. And, it wasn't due to the lobby looking bad. If anything, it looked much nicer than any lobby she had been in before, which was saying something to the Unova-born tranier. It had a massive tv, and ultra comfy couch, and even a mini-fridge filled with complementary soft drinks and snacks. It screamed both wealth and prestige, and it was doing a good job in making her feel welcome. But still, it wasn't enough to dispel her own misgivings.
She was gonna do it. She was gonna leave everything she knew behind, go against her father's words and instead go and try to avenge one of her best friend's deaths. And make the world a better place, all the while. She would be going down a path that she was unfamiliar with, one that she never truly imagined herself following.
But, it'd be for Ash. Even though she had always called him a little kid, she had respected the fact that he always knew exactly what he was gonna do next. He had his route planned out for himself, and he knew what he wanted.
Too bad she couldn't be the same.
"Miss Iris, The manager will see you now."
The young dragon trainer nodded awkwardly, and after a short moment of hesitance, stood up. "Uh, thank you. Uh, Which way do I go?"
To her surprise, the secretary didn't roll his eyes, or look irritated. If anything, he just gave her a comforting smile, and a reassuring nod. "The first door, to the left. After that, there are some signs that will lead you. But, be careful, and don't wander. There is a whole lot of rooms back there, and you could get lost pretty easily if you get off track."
Iris nodded, and offered the kind man a smile in return. "Oh, Thank you."
"It is no problem miss. And I look forward to working with you in the future."
The young dragon trainer just nodded again, and went towards the door on the left, and opened it. And, sure enough, there was a very convenient sign, pointing the way.
"Offices. That's hard to mess up, right, Axew?"
The small dragon simply gave a small coo in response, and burrowed further into her hair. At least she still had him with her, regardless of everything else.
"And so, the brave heroine and her trusted dragon go down the hall, towards their destiny."
The girl started walking down the long, white hall, forcing herself to seem casual. She didn't want to seem like a scared little kid, after all. But, after a minute or two, she found herself at a door labelled, "Manager's office."
The girl stared at it for a moment, trying to gather her courage. This was it. After this, she would be taking the first real step into avenging Ash, and upholding his beliefs. She took a breath in, holding it for a short second, before letting it pour out in a huff. She could do this, all she had to do, was open that door. And then, she could do what Ash would want her to do, and stop monsters from hurting others.
"Well, Axew, it's time. let's get this over with."
Dawn paced back and forth for what felt like the five hundredth time that day, ignoring both Buneary's and Piplup's worried expressions as she waited near the video-phone at the Pokemon Center.
Ash was missing. She actually couldn't believe it when she had finally gotten the text, after a week and a half in the forest with a dead, uncharged Pokegear that she had... well, forgotten to charge before she left the last Pokemon center. Ash, the trainer boy wonder, the closest thing she had to both a big brother and a mentor, was actually, really, truly missing. At the beginning, she wasn't truly surprised, because, after all, hadn't Ash got lost, every other week? It had only been a matter of time before he mistook a game-trail for a road, and wandered into wilderness, and got hopelessly lost.
But, after getting a response as to that line of thought that she had sent to Brock, she found that it was a genuine, "Ash was missing" kinda missing. The kind that, instead of rolling their eyes, everyone was dropping what they were doing, and going on a desperate search, scouring the entire planet to find him. Heck, Professor Oak, the Professor Oak, had left his lab to help search for him. The biggest, most qualified, most respected pokemon researcher and poet in the entire world, had left his lab to search for Ash, on foot.
If that didn't tell her how much trouble Ash was truly in, nothing could.
And then, as if to emphasize the fact that it was Ash, and that, where he went, trouble followed, Altomare, one of the most famous cities in the world, got completely and utterly destroyed after a attack by a gang called Team Aqua. Like, in it's entirety. They couldn't even find where the island was, and there was a call for scanning machinery to find out where the ruins were.
It was terrible tragedy. And, if it followed what she knew about Ash, it probably meant that the world was ending, and Ash, the great and mighty hero of, well, the world, was missing, unable to stop it.
It was almost funny, actually. She had always knew that Ash was special, that he was some amazing Pokemon trainer, and that he would oh-so-often save the world. But now that he was missing, she could actually see how important he actually was. He hadn't been missing for more than a week and a half, and yet, the death toll was already in the millions.
So, they needed to find Ash. Help him save the world, yet again, and make everything right, once more. If Ash was missing, and entire cities were being destroyed, well... that didn't bode well for anyone, let alone Ash.
"Bun?"
Dawn stopped pacing for a moment, and looked down to her pair of Pokemon. Ah, yes, they were probably worried too. And her pacing and looking grim didn't help that fact either.
"Umm, Buneary, Piplup? Could you two go and, uh, get some more Potions from the mart? I'll give you some money, and hopefully Brock will call me by the time you guys return."
Dawn then dug into her pocket, and fished out her wallet, and pulled out several bills. "This should be enough for at least two Super Potions, and a Hyper Potion. Oh, and... get you guys a snack, too. They should have some Stewed Oran Berries there."
The small Penguin nodded dutifully, and took the bills. "Piplup lup-lup?"
"No, I'm fine. You guys just share the snack, Ok? No hogging any of it, alright?"
The small Penguin simply nodded, before grabbing the small rabbit Pokemon's paw, and trying to lead her away. "Lup. Pip-piplup."
"Eary..."
Buneary seemed a little depressed as she stood up, but after a few more tugs, she finally gave up, and stood up from where she sat, and followed Dawn's starter. And, all the while, Dawn watched the pair, until they had finally went around the street corner, and disappeared from her sight. And, the instant they did, Dawn let out a massive sigh.
One of the very first lessons Ash had taught her was that, if you were worried or scared, your Pokemon would be the same. And, for their sake, one often had to fake bravado or fearlessness, even when faced against the worst that could be.
But, if you couldn't fake it, you could at least keep your pokemon from seeing it. Put them in their pokeballs, or have them go do some small, monotonous task that wasn't relevant or important to keep them distracted. Often, a Pokemon's mood reflected that of their trainer's, and it was the trainer's responsibility to keep their Pokemon healthy and happy, above all ease.
That was what a trainer was, firstmost and foremost. A keeper and protector of those they trained. And, if a trainer didn't do that, then they were a failure as a trainer.
And so, Dawn sighed, and shook her head. She had been so caught up worrying about Ash, that she hadn't thought about ensuring that her Pokemon were being cared for. Sure, it had only been a lax of about a few hours, but still.
Dawn made a silent promise not to let her attention slip up again. Keeping up with Ash's values was almost as important as finding Ash, and, if, on the very off chance that Ash had...
No, she refused to think of that. She'd find Ash, and she'd keep her pokemon happy, healthy, and loved all at the same time. But, before she could find Ash, she would have to talk with Brock. Who would call her.
Ugh, she would still have to wait. Patiently. For Brock to finally call her back, so she could get at least an inkling on what was going on, and how she could help.
Waiting. She was terrible at that.
*Ri-*
The very instant she heard the phone ring, Dawn yanked the phone off of it's receiver with almost every ounce of her strength, and shoved it against her ear.
"Hello? Brock?"
The Future Doctor looked slightly surprised at her disheveled appearance, but didn't say anything about it, instead going straight to the point. "Dawn, which region are you in?"
"I'm in Unova. I was actually gonna meet up with Ash, as a surprise when he got to Undella town. Where are you?"
The older trainer sighed, and shook his head. "We just got into Unova. We're actually in Professor Juniper's lab right now, and she's tracked Ash's Pokedex. Er, I don't know Unova well yet, How close are you to Lacunosa city?"
Dawn blinked, before doing some mental math. "Uh... It's the next town over."
Brock gave Dawn a small, relieved smile. "Thank Arceus. That's where it's saying his Pokedex is. We'll meet you there, and, if we're lucky, we'll find Ash there, too."
The young coordinator nodded, and returned the smile, albeit weakly. For some reason, she really doubted that it would be that easy. "Alright. I'll meet you there."
And, like that, the phone call ended. Dawn groaned lightly, before walking over to the nearby wall and picking up her pack. Well, they had a lead, at least. She didn't want to be pessimistic, but, everybody wouldn't be panicking, if Ash was just relaxing in some town in Unova. She highly doubted that he was there.
Now, all she had to do was wait for her wayward Pokemon.
Horace grimaced as he looked at the report that sat on his desk.
A several hundred million dollar Interceptor, one of his department's own personal ships, destroyed. Destroyed, and no one could figure out how.
Sure, they were pretty sure that they knew what did the deed. The claw marks that covered one of the wings of it's wreckage made the fact pretty obvious. But the question wasn't what, but, again, How.
After all, there was the fact that the jet could go a touch faster than Mach 6. That it was designed explicitly to outrun literally anything that dared fly in the skies. Normal Lati, Missiles, Bullets, even Sky-Dancers couldn't manage half that speed. It was made for the sole purpose of outrunning just about anything, and flying so fast that it literally needed no other defense, simply due to the fact that nothing could properly target it, let alone properly catch up.
And, it wasn't as if something caught it before it got up to speed, either. No, It had been going full bore, and, not only that, but had been complaining of a bogey of undetermined identity for several minutes before it disappeared off the radar, only to be found, Soul Dew-less, at the bottom of the ocean, surprisingly, bafflingly, almost perfectly intact, a couple hours later.
And, what was worse, they couldn't even get a genuine confirmation of the suspect, beyond the claw marks. Radar, satellite, heck, even psychic scans came up with a literal zilch. They could find a visual on the ship's blackbox, but, as far as scanners went, they had nothing. Heck, even Satellite visuals had nothing but a small, indistinct blur that, after several moments of following, decided that it was done playing around, and tripled it's speed, simply tackling the damn ship with enough force to shear the thing nearly in half.
As he was pondering this, one of his scientists opened the door, and entered without a word.
"Max, do you have anything for me? At all? Hell, I'll take an anomaly in the visual spectrum at this point."
The scientist in question smiled a little, a weak, humorless smile, but a smile nonetheless. "We got... something. A small, tiny amount of Aquaous energy was picked up on our scopes a few seconds before impact."
Horace blinked in confusion at the word. "That is not my forte, Max. Explain, please?"
"It's a type of energy we discovered during the Orange islands event. It appeared, if only for a couple seconds, just before the Lugia was downed by the other three legendaries. Since then, we've found a couple other flare ups, but... it's rare. What's worse, we haven't been able to link it to anything specifically, the energy showing up rarely, and throughout multiple regions."
Another groan escaped the Admin's lips, and he held his head in his hands. "Do you have any other information on it?"
The scientist shook his head in the negative, forcing the Administrator to groan lightly. Just his luck. They were dealing with an unknown.
"Sir, Executive Bulm is on the line. She is not happy."
Great. Even more pain and suffering, in the form of unknowables. "Put her on the line. Max, if you could?"
His lead assistant nodded, and left the room for a moment, and, once he was sure that he was alone, he turned on the holo-caster. "Hello, Bulm."
"Don't you hello me. Three of my best pilots, gone, along with the Soul Dew, all because of your meddling!"
Horace forced himself to keep his eyes from rolling as he let the angry woman's shout roll over him. Yep, he should've expected as much. More pain, more blame.
"And how, pray tell, is it my fault? After all, I see to recall that you "borrowed" one of my three interceptors, without my permission, or even a hint of a warning. Any mechanical failures, or failings on your pilots, is neither my fault, nor my concern."
The woman on the other end scoffed, but, before she could say anything, Horace continued. "Now, Executive, I apologize, but I am very busy, and have many experiments to overlook, including the search for "my" lost ship. So, I shall leave you to your duties."
"But-"
"Goodbye, executive."
Horace groaned as the hologram cut out, and placed his head in his hands in both a mix of irritation, and exasperation. Almost everything that could go wrong, did. All he was missing at this point was-
"HORACE!"
The admin froze in place for a moment, cursing himself as he felt the overwhelming pressure of the shout strike his psyche. It wasn't even in a tongue he could truly understand, but that mattered little. Lamina had her ways of ensuring that others always understood her, one way or another.
Horace grimaced slightly, both in irritation, and a small amount of fear, and waited for the furious dragoness to burst through his doors. She wasn't one to get angered easily, but, when she was, he typically had to get something fixed.
And, sure enough, his doors flew inwards, going against their hinges, and instead opening to the inside. Horace grimaced at the sound, but beyond that, he made no outward reaction, instead forcing on an expression of somewhat confused indifference.
"Hello, Lamina. What seems to be the problem?"
The Latias in question glared coldly at him, as if blaming him for something, and Horace found himself rather... confused. After losing the Soul Dew, he figured that she'd be angry, nay, furious, but he didn't expect her to blame him for the failures of others. In fact, as far as it went, his department had very little to do with it, beyond ensuring that Magma and Aqua would be there.
"You lied to me. I trusted you, and you lied to me."
Her tone was cold as ice, and, that brought even more confusion to the Administrator. In all honesty, he had no idea what the furious female was talking about, as he had made a point to avoid lying to the giant, super powerful psychic mind reader.
Story of his life. The one time he was genuinely honest to someone, the time he was always upfront and genuine with his intentions, and he got accused of being a liar. Just his luck.
"How so?"
The dragoness didn't respond immediately, instead choosing to growl, and began to pace back and forth throughout his office. It was a habit she had picked up, but it was a rare one, one that belayed her anger and anxiety. "I should've known that you would've lied to me. I never should have trusted a human."
Horace just sat there, stone faced, before repeating himself. If he didn't stop her now, she'd get caught up in an angry little loop, and he'd be stuck with her like this.
"How so?"
"You know what you did. You lied to me about my sister. You told me she was dead. That... She was captured and killed by Aqua. And yet, I found her, in Altomare. She refused to speak to me, acting as if she didn't recognize me. And, you. You knew this. You lied to me, to my face, and told me that I got my sister killed."
The human sat there for a moment, in absolute, unending confusion. What the hell was she talking about? There was no way, literally, that her sister could truly be alive. No, they had her body. Nay, Lamina had her damn skull, kept safe in her room, propped up on a pedestal, almost as if in worship. There was no mistaking it; That skull was Lamina's sister. Dozens, nay, hundreds of tests attested to that fact. Both through science, and through Lamina's own psychic scans.
"Lamina, need I remind you, you have your sister's... remains, in your room. It cannot be her."
"Then who is it?" The female's tone had switched rapidly from fury to near sobbing almost immediately, and Horace, had he not been used to Lamina's... temperament, would've been no doubt caught off balance by the speed of the switch. "I felt her... I felt, myself in them. I felt him in them. And... I..."
Horace blinked, and tried to put the pieces together. How could she mis-recognize someone as her sister? She was somewhat insane, yes, but she wasn't that far gone. This was a Lati link, and, if she could sense both her own twin-bond, and her mating bind in the Lati...
And, like that, several little, previously non-working parts clicked into place in the scientist's mind, and Horace froze. It couldn't be. It was literally impossible. They had their remains as well, deteriorated as they may be. And, the scans proved...
Nothing. The scans said little beyond the fact that it could've been the hatchling, but a body that deteriorated, that... rotten, it could-
And yet another cog slipped into place, and he started to gain traction in his own, mental mud. Rocket. They had been duped, and Team Rocket knew that they were searching for a body. And, it all made sense now. The "intact" body of Lamina's sister, preserved carefully, almost lovingly in a powered cooler, yet the ignored, burnt, nay, destroyed, body of the hatchling. The knew a rotten corpse couldn't be tested properly, not truly, and that it'd be child's play to make it seem legitimate enough to match the corpse of the Latias that had been "Found" with the hatchling.
And, why hadn't they investigated this further? Ah, yes. They had been in disarray, the organization nearly exterminated, with only a dozen executives and two administrators left. No one had been too concerned with double checking the body. It had been seemingly done, a burnt, rotten husk of a hatchling, in a area where Lati hadn't been for years.
It answered their question neatly and quickly, and let them worry about the more important things they had at the time. Few would second guess an answer they liked, especially when it allowed them to focus on more important topics, and it had fit so well at that.
But now that he knew... it changed everything.
"Lamina... close the doors, please."
The dragoness blinked once, before doing another emotional 180 and going back to fury, offering a glare in return. "What?!"
"Please."
The Latias stared at him for a moment, her eyes searching him for some deception or motive, before nodding begrudgingly, and forcing the titanium doors shut with a psychic yank.
"So, now that we are in private... I think I know who the Latias was."
"It was a Latios." Was Lamina's only reply.
"Very well, the Latios. I think, the answer is obvious. Your sister is very accounted for, unfortunately."
The Latias' face showed a bit of sorrow at that, but Horace continued on.
"However... the same couldn't be said about your child."
Giovanni growled lightly in anger as he read the report, sitting stiffly in his desk.
The timing for this was terrible, nay, atrocious. Altomare, the shining jewel of the oceans, destroyed in a single day. One of his most prized sections of territory, even if only in name, lost, because Aqua, Magma, and Whirlwind finally decided to make a move at that precious little reserve of Lati, and the giant, glorious honeypot that was the Soul Dew. He should've heard of this before now, but, apparently, either Whirlwind had made a point to keep it from his ears, or that his currently stretched thin Spy-Network somehow managed to drop the ball, and make such a massive screw-up.
The man let out another growl, before looking away from his computer screen, and shoving his finger angrily on the pager on his desk. "Dolarace, What is the status of our teams in Unova?"
His secretary didn't respond immediately, but that was a good sign. It meant that she was bothering to look up the newest update, rather than just reading back the previous report she had already given him.
He'd should have given her a raise. She had been proving herself quite efficient as a secretary, especially for a Pokemon Ranger.
"Three quarters of your teams on on their flights back, sir. But, we can't seem to get a hold of your new executives..."
Giovanni rolled his eyes at that. Such talented, yet stupid members. Want them to steal Pokemon? They couldn't do it, even with some of their best technology. But... Want them to disable a device, steal some schematic, or destroy a target? They could do that in spades. It made no sense, but it was what it was.
"Thank you, Dolarace. You may go on lunch."
The woman gave him a simple thank you, and signed off, and Giovanni sighed as he pressed the button on the underside of his desk. Yes, she had been most effective.
"Persian, please fetch me Jacqueline. I have told her countless times to doublecheck my secretaries backgrounds, and yet, here I am, doing her job myself."
His most trusted companion nodded simply, and gave him a small meow.
"No, of course you don't have to be gentle."
The cat gave a grin at that, and paced off, leaving Giovanni to his own thoughts. He would have to act soon, lest Whirlwind get enough traction to be a genuine threat again.
Dawn groaned in exasperation as she waited in her chair. She really should've sent her pokemon somewhere a little less... distant to shop. But, hey, she had been expecting another hour before Brock had called, so she needed to buy some time.
But, after another look at the wall, she heard the familiar pitter-patter of her Buneary's feet.
"Ah, took you guys-"
The small bunny ran up to her in a small panic, dropping the tiny bag that she held to the ground.
"Buneary, where's Piplup? I told you two to stay together."
The small rabbit pokemon took a couple breaths to regain her composure, before replying in a panic. "Buneary, Bun-Bun-Bun!"
Dawn blinked in confusion for a moment, before finally forming a reply.
"A Draco-meteor hit... Piplup."
"Buneary Bun!"
"In the face?"
"Bun."
A/N Well, here we are! The next chapter, and the first of Act 2. We got Dawn, May, We have finally got to see Whirlwind in a more personal setting, and got to see where Delia is. Next chapter should be Ash, with a hint of Brock/Misty at the end.
So, I have a couple little notes here, before everyone hits me with the reviews. Er, first up, I know the bit about Laminu in the first chapter. She saying she's the mother bit, and all. It's actually relevant to the plot, and, while I cannot tell you much about it, besides the fact that, yeah, it's (Hopefully) as it's supposed to be. 4
Next bit! The time is a little wonky, with May and Delia's parts being only minutes after the destruction of Altomare, while Dawn, Giovanni, and Whirlwind's part being hours afterward. So, yeah! That might be an important bit, or something.
And, lastly, at least for notes, We finally found out where that Draco-meteor went! So... we got that going for us. XD
So, yeah! Here we are! If you have any questions, quibbles, or the like, feel free to give me a PM, or leave a review! I oh so enjoy interactions with others, especially with all of you!
Oh! And, because, why not, Here's a Small little Omake/Actual scene that would've ruined the end joke!
"Piplup... Do you think Pikachu is ok?"
The small penguin groaned at the question for a moment, before gripping the bag he held tighter. This was the third time she had asked the question since the left the Pokemon center, to retrieve their trainer's "Needed" supplies. "Buneary, it's Pikachu. The guy's been in literal shocking matches with the Big Zapados, the one at the Orange islands. If he can try and shock down that, do you really think he'll let whatever it is stop him? He and Ash are probably just saving the world, and it's taking... longer than normal."
The Bunny just sighed, forcing the Penguin to hold back a sigh of his own. She was a worrier, no doubt about it. And, even after several weeks, if not months, of being separated from Ash and Pikachu, the bunny still found herself head over paws when it came to the electric type, to the point that he'd caught her glaring at other Eeveelutions.
The mouse was almost as bad as Ash was, in that way. Whatever those two had when it came to making crushes, it had some dang effective sticking power. He was pretty sure that his trainer was the same as Buneary, just much less... obvious about it. After all, was there really a reason for them to just up and go to Unova? Sure, Cynthia offered for them to join her, but they had their own journey to go on. There was no real reason to accept.
"So, don't worry. I'm sure they're fine, and that whenever they get back, they'll tell us how they saved the multiverse from a giant space-jellyfish by using the power of friendship, or something."
Buneary nodded once, before freezing. "Uh, Piplup, do you hear that?"
It took everything Piplup had to keep from rolling his eyes. "The bunny said to the bird."
"What?"
"Buneary, you have literally the best hearing of anyone I know. If you're not sure you hear it, why would I be able to?"
The rabbit Pokemon didn't respond, and, instead, continued to sit in place. "It sounds... familiar."
"Is it Arceus pronouncing his hate for me again? Because, that's just white noise at this point."
"Piplup, I'm being serious!"
Piplup rolled his eyes, and stood there, holding his half of the supplies. But, after a moment, he froze. He was pretty sure that he heard something too.
And it was terrifyingly familiar. And coming from behind him.
"Piplup, LOOK OU-"