Gupta- Swampert level 43, Swellow level 42, Camerupt level 43, Umbreon level 42, Vibrava level 43, Hippowdon level 40
Sadik- Blaziken (Ateş), level 42, Mightyena (Asena), level 42, Venusaur (Lale), level 41, Skarmory (Pençe), level 42, Seviper (Zehir), level 41, Sharpedo (Çene), level 42
A large number of the micronations cameo in this chapter (Sealand and Wy return, and Hutt River, Molossia, Ladonia, Kugelmugel, Niko Niko Republic, Seborga, and TRNC appear for the first time). Estonia (Eduard) also appears at the end.
Gupta awoke the next morning to find himself in Lavaridge's Pokémon Centre. The curtains in his room had been shut as tightly as possible, but light still streamed in from outside. The teenager got up and walked over to the window as soon as he was fully awake, still feeling groggy from the night before. He peeled the curtains back slightly, seeing that the sunlight outside was harsh and unrelenting. The brightness of the day outside seemed… Unnatural.
"That's Groudon's power, I'm afraid." A voice explained to his side, and Gupta turned towards the sound, finding Kiku sitting in a chair in the corner.
"We… Couldn't stop them." Gupta remembered, looking down to the floor.
"Don't worry about that." Kiku insisted. "We will take it from here. We'll find Team Magma, and stop the Legendary Pokémon ourselves if we have to."
"Right…" Gupta responded, Kiku's words reminding him of a question that had been on his mind for a while. "Kiku, who are you? And what do you even do?"
"You mean to say you don't know?" Kiku asked, looking surprised. "Well, we- that is to say, me and my colleagues-…"
"Kiku! Don't worry about a thing, the awesome me has arrived!" A second voice butted in, cutting Kiku off as a taller, confident seeming man entered the room. To Gupta, his hair and eyes stood out the most; he had messy white hair and piercing red eyes that fixed on Gupta curiously.
"This the kid?" He asked, turning towards Kiku momentarily.
"Gupta's not much younger than I am…" Kiku protested.
"Yeah, got it. So. Gupta, right? Kiku'll and I'll take it from here. We'll hunt down Team Magma before you know it. I mean I'm promising that, so it must be true." The newcomer shrugged.
"You're… Promising that?" Gupta repeated sceptically.
"Ah, yes. Gilbert is rather…" Kiku tried to explain.
"Confident." Gupta euphemised.
"That's because I'm awesome." Gilbert argued.
"If that's what you want to do, fine." Gupta agreed. "Anyway. What happened to Sadik?" He hadn't heard from the other teenager since they'd parted the day before, and Gupta had no idea where he was now.
"Team Aqua is on their way to the Seafloor Cavern in that stolen submarine, and Eliza is trailing them." Kiku began to detail. "Sadik's going after them as well. Eliza told him to pass by Mossdeep City first. There's another Pokémon Gym there, and it's also where my brother Yong Soo lives. He'll be able to help you move on from there, if you want to go after Team Aqua as well."
"And if you don't, hey. There's a Pokémon Gym out there." Gilbert reiterated.
"Alright. I'll get going then." Gupta accepted, starting out on a journey back to Lilycove City.
"Gilbert, don't you have family around here?" Kiku asked, as he prepared to start investigations with his colleague.
"Yeah. I suppose I should visit grandpa sooner or later…" Gilbert admitted.
The streets of Lilycove City were full of people milling around, but the burning sun made the overall atmosphere eerie. Remembering that Sadik had previously wanted to explore, Gupta tried to first stop by the Museum, staring at some of the artworks for a few minutes before realising that it just wasn't the same alone. Moving on, he headed towards the beach, stopping as he passed the Contest Hall. Sadik really seemed to enjoy contests, so seeing it reminded Gupta of how far he now was from his friend. He hadn't expected to miss Sadik's boisterous nature so much… The sense of crisis looming over the region was doing nothing to help Gupta's nerves.
"Hey!" A figure emerging from the contest hall called. Gupta walked closer to discover that it was Sophie who was calling to him.
"Long time no see!" She greeted, holding her sketchbook behind her. "Your friend's not with you today?"
"He already left for Mossdeep City." Gupta explained.
"Oh right. He's the one the others were talking about earlier, right?" The child guessed.
"Others?" Gupta queried.
"Yeah. It's about the sunlight, isn't it?" Sophie continued.
"I think so." Gupta admitted. There was no point in lying to a child.
"Alright. Come with me then." Sophie decided. "I'd like for you to meet my friends."
Gupta had completely overlooked the Fan Club on his pass through Lilycove City. It seemed to be a strange place, with multiple signatures and drawings covering its own sign. Once Sophie let him in, it became clear to Gupta that the entire place was full of children.
"Hey Sophie. Who's this?" One of the teenagers in the room asked. He had a somewhat regal appearance, and one look at his messy light brown hair and obviously thick eyebrows would inform anyone that he had to be another of the Kirklands.
"This is my other brother." Sophie explained, turning to her brother. "And he's just someone I know. From contest drawing."
Over in the corner of the room, a child with red hair and bright blue eyes looked up momentarily, before returning to some sort of drawing activity along with a second child with long white braids and an older boy with black hair.
"So a new person? Huh. Aren't you a little old to be hanging around with a girl as young as Sophie?" One of the other teenagers asked, strange hair curl twitching slightly.
"Right. You don't mind us asking all about you right? We have to know if you can be trusted." A second teen argued, obviously trying to exude a 'tough' persona.
"Man, we have enough almost-adults already! What about us real kids?" A somewhat familiar voice complained. "Hey wait, I remember you! From Dewford!" Gupta finally saw Peter standing on one of the tables, trying to be taller than everybody else.
"You know Peter too?" Sophie asked.
"Sure! This guy's a pretty strong trainer!" Peter complimented.
"Speaking of Dewford, shouldn't you be there?" Gupta deadpanned.
"Yeah, well. Dad took the boat out here to Lilycove today, and I came with him. I always come along, so I can meet with my friends here." Peter told.
"Actually, Peter's another of my cousins." Sophie revealed.
"Yeah, but since I got adopted, I have a new family now too." Peter smiled. "Anyway, why are you here?"
"That's what I was trying to tell you all!" Sophie fumed. "I'm pretty sure he wants to know more about what happened earlier."
"Earlier?" Gupta asked.
"Yeah, you mentioned about the sunlight and what happened with your friend. Well we saw him this morning, right when it got all bright outside." Sophie declared. "I think Yanin prefers to tell the story though."
"Yanin?" Gupta inquired.
The sound of a chair scraping across the floor rang out, and a small boy pushed his way past the teenagers who were still crowding around Gupta. He had a serious expression on his face, but still somehow managed to remind Gupta of Sadik.
"Yeah. It was really cool." Yanin spoke. "He said 'Me and my team'll be back before ya know it!' and took off towards Mossdeep on the back of a Sharpedo. He seemed really determined."
"That… Sounds like Sadik." Gupta agreed.
"So, you're gonna go after him I assume." Sophie continued. "The sunlight… That means that Francis and Camille finally succeeded. I knew them all when I was very small. They used to live on the same street as my cousin Arthur. Then he pulled our older siblings into his whole mess, and Francis's sister too." She looked towards her brother before speaking again. "If Francis succeeded, there's no reason why Arthur won't too. And so… Please. On behalf of all of the Kirklands… Please save our family. From themselves."
"Well… I can try." Gupta agreed. "I'll go to Mossdeep."
"Alright! We'll be rooting for you here!" Peter enthused. "Go forth, brave warrior!"
"I wouldn't put it like that." Sophie laughed. "But seriously. Good luck."
"Thanks." Gupta nodded as he left.
When Gupta finally made it to the beach, somebody else was already there. Gupta could tell from their uniform that they were a member of Team Aqua, but there wasn't much else that gave Gupta any clue to their identity at first, until they turned slightly to face him. Their green eyes and thick eyebrows made it clear to Gupta that this person was another of the Kirklands. Sophie had mentioned having more than one sibling in Team Aqua, and Gupta had already met Bruce. This new member was probably another of the same family.
"You're a little late." The Aqua Admin pointed out. "Everyone else already took off into the sea already."
"Sadik is with them?" Gupta assumed.
"Heh. As if I'd tell you, even if I knew… Not gonna tell you where they went either." Skye huffed.
That didn't matter to Gupta. Kiku had already known. "Your sister is worried about you." He stated instead, going out on a limb with his assumptions.
"Sophie? She's a good kid." Skye admitted. "Maybe I'll drop in on her. It's been a while. Especially since Bruce went with the sub. It's not like I have anything better to do."
"I think she'd like that." Gupta ventured.
"Fine." Skye finalised, turning and walking back towards the town. As they passed Gupta, they spoke once more.
"Hey. This sunlight. If what my cousin's planning turns out anything like this… Kick his butt for me. And my brother too." They requested.
As Gupta walked towards the sea, he was mainly left wondering why the Aqua Admin didn't try that themselves.
The path ahead held a particular issue in that it involved travelling through water, and Gupta was unable to swim. Luckily, Swampert had learned Surf for this very purpose.
"Alright Swampert." He stated, sending out his starter Pokémon. "Let's go."
"Swampert!" Swampert cheered, throwing himself into the water and beginning to swim away. Gupta hurriedly jumped onto his back before he got too far.
"Don't leave me behind." He cautioned.
Route 124 was a relatively simple water route that spread out in the ocean between Lilycove City and Mossdeep City. As he made his way through the initial eastwards channel, the first thing that Gupta realised about the route was that it was overrun with Tentacool. Gupta didn't want to fight them at all, instead clinging to Swampert and hoping they could swim away fast enough.
This strategy failed when they came across another trainer.
"Oh hey, a trainer. It really is great to swim around like this. I keep finding people." The trainer commented.
"Good for you. I'm guessing you want to fight me now." Gupta deadpanned.
"Well of course!" The trainer stated. "Let's go Luvdisc!"
"Alright Vibrava." Gupta followed.
Luvdisc entered the water immediately as it left its Pokeball, and stared up at Gupta and his Pokémon, Vibrava balancing on Swampert's head to keep from falling into the water. As far as Gupta was concerned, Luvdisc was what happened when someone drew eyes on a confetti heart and released it into the water.
"Vibrava, Dragon Breath." He started, waving in the rough direction of the opponent.
"Luvdisc, Water Pulse!" The trainer responded.
Vibrava attacked first, launching a beam of energy at the opponent. Luvdisc spat water back at Vibrava in response. She seemed annoyed.
"Dragon Breath." Gupta repeated.
"Take Down Luvdisc!" The trainer decided.
Vibrava was too fast once again, and defeated the foe before it had a chance to move. Vibrava moved to sit on Gupta's shoulders as he looked down at the defeated trainer. That had almost seemed too easy.
The trainer he had fought set about swimming in the ocean once more, not seeming to care about the burning sun, and Gupta continued towards Mossdeep City. Soon, he drew close to an island situated in the middle of the sea. As he approached it, he was spotted by a second trainer.
"Hey there trainer! How'd you like a battle with me?" he asked.
"I don't really have a choice…" Gupta pointed out.
"Yeah, true." The trainer agreed. "Alright Sealeo, let's go!"
"Come on Hippowdon." Gupta decided.
Hippowdon seemed entirely distressed at being surrounded by water. Gupta wondered how he was able to stand on the water without falling through. Surf seemed to work in mysterious ways.
"Sealeo, Aurora Beam!" The trainer began.
"Dig…?" Gupta attempted.
Sealeo breathed a swirling beam of cold at Hippowdon, who complained loudly at the situation before somehow digging underneath the water.
"Aurora Beam," the trainer carried on, acting as though nothing strange had happened.
The attack flew over the top of the water, before Hippowdon came back, striking Sealeo hard.
"Sealeo, Ice Ball!" The trainer changed tactic.
"Strength Hippopotas." Gupta decided.
Sealeo formed a ball of ice and threw it at Hippowdon, who managed to withstand the attack and responded with a powerful charge which took the opposing Sealeo down.
Gupta returned Hippowdon to the Pokeball before he could get too upset, and carried on, reaching the small island shortly afterwards. A sign pointed out the direction of Mossdeep City, and when Gupta looked around he could see another island off in the distance, as well as one with a single house directly below. Gupta set out towards Mossdeep again, travelling east. Another trainer spotted him almost immediately.
"Hey, you look like a strong trainer." She assessed, "this should be fun. Let's go Wailmer!"
"Alright Hippowdon, go again." Gupta followed.
"Hippo." Hippowdon complained.
"Wailmer, Astonish." The trainer declared.
"Strength." Gupta started.
Hippowdon launched a charge towards Wailmer, throwing the Pokémon backwards. Wailmer responded with a startling attack that didn't seem to do much damage.
"Brine Wailmer." The trainer continued.
"Strength." Gupta repeated.
Wailmer managed to attack first, splashing the sea water up into the air and raining it down on Hippowdon, who appeared greatly injured but still withstood the attack, striking Wailmer hard and taking it out.
"Alright Wailmer, that's good enough. Azumarill, take over." The trainer spoke.
"Rest Hippowdon. Go Swellow." Gupta decided.
"Low!" Swellow called, landing on Swampert's head and surveying the opponent. Azumarill stared back, floating as it was on the surface of the water.
"Swellow, Aerial Ace." Gupta defaulted.
"Play Rough." The trainer ordered.
Swellow swooped from Swampert's head, attacking Azumarill, who leapt at Swellow in response, forcing her into the water with a splash.
"Aerial Ace." Gupta attempted.
"Aqua Tail." The trainer followed up.
Swellow burst from the water, throwing Azumarill high into the air. It fell down, defeated before it hit the water again. Swellow made it back to Swampert, shaking her feathers dry.
"Aw man… You really were strong." The trainer commented.
Gupta returned Swellow to her Pokeball and continued to head east, passing the house on the island and soon reaching the shallow island that marked the beginning of Mossdeep City. Swampert was returned to his Pokeball and Gupta waded to the main shore.
His first instinct was to heal his Pokémon at the Pokémon centre. As Gupta walked towards the building, he saw three houses surrounding it. He wondered if Yong Soo's house was nearby.
Once his Pokémon were healed, Gupta decided to look around the city before heading to the Gym. On the hill to the other side of the island, a huge building loomed, and Gupta decided that was worth investigating. Climbing past the other houses, around a large white rock and to the top of the hill, Gupta reached the construction and went inside.
"Oh! Welcome to the Mossdeep Space Centre…" The receptionist greeted, seemingly deep in thought.
"Is something wrong…?" Gupta picked up on.
"It's just. Something strange happened this morning. A letter. The others are upstairs discussing it right now." The receptionist explained.
"Okay then." Gupta nodded, deciding to carry on upstairs to see what was going on.
The first floor of the Space Centre had been more like a visitor's centre, with colourful displays and a viewing area packed with guests. The second floor was far more technical, with rows of computers set up before vast screens. At a table on the far side, two people stood over a letter which had been spread out, worried expressions on their faces.
The first man, standing to the right, was instantly recognisable; it was Yong Soo, who seemed unusually serious. The second man stood to the left of the table, and Gupta had never seen him before. He had short blond hair, serious green eyes, and glasses, and was dressed in a lab coat, which tipped Gupta off to the fact that he was a researcher. Yong Soo noticed Gupta in the next moment, and called him over.
"Guppie! Do you have good timing or what?" Yong Soo greeted, smiling.
"I heard about a letter." Gupta stated, getting straight to the point. The second man looked up, a look of relief on his face.
"Ah, so you are Gupta? It's nice to meet you at last. Toris and Raivis have already told me a lot about you." He spoke.
"Um…" Gupta was about to ask what the man was talking about, before he remembered that Toris had been the engineer he had helped out in Slateport City. He was fairly certain that Raivis had been the name of the scientist the meteorite had been stolen from as well. "So, friends of yours?" He guessed.
"That's right. My name's Eduard. We all knew each other back when we were children." The scientist confirmed.
"But this letter?" Yong Soo continued, returning to the matter at hand. "It's rather worrying actually… It's a threat that the Space Centre received this morning."
"It's from Team Magma." Eduard added. "It's quite concerning. We've been monitoring the sunlight situation ever since they unleashed Groudon. They've threatened to steal rocket components actually, but we're not sure what they want from us. Perhaps to silence our measurements, or else cover up the damage they've caused…"
"Although it's a concern, things should be alright as long as I'm here!" Yong Soo expressed. "I promised to protect the people here. But if you want to help, that'd be a great relief for everyone. There's no rush though! If you need to tackle the Gym challenge… Do that first."
"Did Sadik already do that?" Gupta assumed.
"He already left." Yong Soo confirmed. "He challenged the Gym, got the HM for Dive, and set off in the direction of Sootopolis City. He's trying to find the Seafloor Cavern to stop Team Aqua releasing Kyogre."
"If you want to go after him, you'll need to go to the Gym First. Only those with the badge from there can use the HM for Dive." Eduard detailed. "If you could, please come back here afterwards. We can help you on your way."
"Alright." Gupta agreed. "I'd like to make sure Team Magma aren't really going to attack here too."
"Good luck then!" Yong Soo waved, as Gupta started on the way towards the Gym.
The sunlight was still incredibly harsh, and it was hard to tell what the time of day was. Gupta didn't know how much worse the weather would get if Kyogre was released, and he didn't want to find out.
