Hi, guys! I'm posting Monday-Wednesday-Friday instead of Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday this week, if only because I know I'm going to need the time later to pack. At the end of this week, I'm going back to college, so I'm going to be rushing at the end a bit in order to get together everything that I know I'm going to need.

Defender31415 - Yup! An encounter with Diamond is definitely imminent. As for what division he commands, you'll find out soon enough. And Crystal's pretty smart - she's able to figure things out, but whether or not her guesses hold true will have to wait until we get to that point in the story. ;)

So, without further ado, here's the chapter!

Chapter 51 – Mirage Tower

When Crystal and the others stepped inside the tower, the two human members of the group pulled off their bandannas and pushed their goggles off their eyes.

"Wow." Brendan looked around at the room that they had arrived in. "I didn't think that a place that's made of sand and looks this run-down could last for this long."

Crystal took a look around herself, frowning a little. "Well, whoever had built this probably built so that it could stand against the sandstorm." She walked over to one of the walls and paused, frowning a little when she saw what looked like carvings in the sand-colored stone. "Huh. This looks kind of like what they had in Granite Cave." Crystal motioned Brendan over. "Come over here and have a look at this."

"Granite Cave?" Brendan walked over, frowning a little. "Where's that?"

"It's on Dewford Island." Crystal pointed at the carving on the wall. "This here looks like it's some kind of map, but I can't really tell what it is."

Brendan looked at the section of wall that Crystal was looking at, frowning curiously. "Huh. Yeah, it does kinda look like a map of Hoenn. It looks a little different from what it normally does, though – I mean, look at all of these islands." He motioned to the map that was set up there. "I didn't think that there were this many islands around Hoenn. There definitely weren't that many last time that I checked."

Crystal frowned. "I wonder what exactly that means, if you haven't seen that many islands on a map before…." She looked over at Brendan. "Maybe it means that some islands ended up disappearing over time?"

"Maybe." Brendan frowned a little. "I'm definitely going to have to ask Dad about what he thinks about it when I head home." He looked around the room for a moment longer before looking over at the spiral staircase that was in the center of the room. "We need to find out what's going on around here first, though, and it doesn't look like whoever it is that's causing all this trouble is anywhere on this floor of the tower."

Crystal nodded, turning and looking away from the map. "Yeah. I wonder what's going to be ahead of us." She started towards the stairs with determined steps, Ando and Trisha following on either side of her. Brendan followed after them with Zuzu keeping pace with him.

The second floor of the Tower was a sight that Crystal had been expecting on the first floor: a small number of sand ninjas and a number of Pokémon that looked a lot like Ground-Types – there were some Sandslash, but there were other Pokémon that Crystal didn't recognize.

The two Trainers and their Pokémon were noticed immediately by the sand ninjas.

"Hey!" A figure standing next to a brown and black-striped crocodile Pokémon pointed at the two in an accusing manner. "How did you two manage to get in here?! We had guards outside the Tower so that nobody would be able to get in!"

Someone else in the room let out what sounded like a screech. "That's the Mew Girl Unit Leader Diamond told us about!"

Brendan frowned. "Diamond? Who's that?"

Crystal blinked a couple times before frowning. "He was one of the people who was at Granite Cave – he felt like a Ground-Type, but I wasn't able to tell which Ground-Type he was. We're going to have to keep our guard up as we head deeper into the tower."

Brendan gave a nod, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face. "Ok then." He looked over at Zuzu. "You ready for this?"

The Marshtomp gave a thumbs-up motion in reply. "You know it! I'm ready for these guys!"

Brendan gave a nod, then looked over at Crystal as he reached for the unopened PokeBalls on his belt. "Are you ready?"

Crystal blinked a couple times, then gave a smile and nodded in response. Reaching for her own two unopened PokeBalls, she declared, "All right, team! Take them out!"

The two PokeBalls exploded, releasing Richie and Samuel, instantly catching the attention of the Ground-Types that were sitting out.

Richie landed on the floor and instantly shifted into a stance that clearly seemed to say that he was ready for a fight. The expression that was on Samuel's face clearly seemed to say that he was ready for the same.

"Go ahead and go all out on the Pokémon, guys," Crystal directed. "We need to get up the tower and find out what's going on. Go!"

At Crystal's exclamation, Samuel practically launched himself at the nearest Sandslash and slammed one elastic arm into the Pokémon's face, sending it skidding back a short distance. Richie moved a moment later, dashing to the side while unleashing a barrage of Magical Leaf attacks at the closest Pokémon, which happened to be three of the crocodile-like Ground-Types that Crystal had caught sight of when she had come up.

Crystal looked around as Brendan released the rest of his team and gave them similar instructions. Seeing that the Pokémon were easily keeping each other busy, she made a beeline straight for one of the sand ninjas standing by the stairs. "Hey!"

The man jumped at Crystal's voice, then looked at her with a clearly panicked expression in his eyes.

"What do you people want with this tower?" Crystal asked, coming to a stop in front of the sand ninja. "And why do you keep driving people away when you Magnus people come to an area of the region?"

The ninja stared at Crystal for a moment, then burst out into a confident bark of laughter. "Do you really think that we're going to tell you just because you ask? You're a real idiot if you think that's going to be enough!"

Crystal didn't respond verbally to the ninja's exclamation; instead, she slammed an arm into his chest and sent the ninja crashing to the ground while yelling, "Gravity!"

Everyone in the room instantly felt the affects of the environment-manipulating move, slowing down and suddenly finding it much harder to move.

The ninja lying underneath Crystal let out a gasp of shock as Taylor let out a squawk and crashed to the ground, colliding with one of the crocodile-like Ground-Types.

"Tell me what's going on, and I'll let up," Crystal said in a determined fashion. "Don't, and I'll use another one. And while one Gravity adds a quarter of your total weight, a second one makes you weigh one and a half times more than you usually do."

The ninja stuttered, trying to catch his breath, which looked rather difficult with all the added extra weight on his chest. Crystal figured that he probably wasn't going to suffocate quite yet, though, so she remained where she was.

"A-all right! I'll tell you!" the ninja finally yelled. "Just GET OFF ME!"

Crystal blinked a couple times when she heard the man's exclamation, then pulled away from his chest a little. "All right. What are you doing here?"

"I-I don't know. The Big Boss wanted us to have a look around at the stuff that's around here. All we're finding is stupid old carvings and stuff! I don't even know why they're so interested in something like this! You have to believe me!"

Crystal frowned at the ninja's statement, mentally reaching out in order to see if he was telling the truth. When she saw that there really wasn't anything else in his mind, she pulled back and got off the sand ninja and rose to her feet. Then she made a motion, and the gravity returned to normal right as Ando finished blasting a Graveler with a Water Gun, fainting it in the process.

"What was that move just now?" Brendan bounced a couple times on his feet, swinging his arms. "It felt like I had a Vigoroth sitting on my shoulders."

"Gravity is a move that makes everything heavier for a while," Crystal explained, deciding against asking what a Vigoroth was. Looking around and noticing that there were a good number of ninjas lying on the floor, she looked towards the stairs. "We should keep going up. The leader of this group is probably up there somewhere."

Richie nodded in agreement, starting towards the stairs. "All right. Let's go."

The third floor had more sand ninjas and more Ground-Type Pokémon – all of which were easily defeated by Crystal's and Brendan's teams. A few times, Crystal looked back at her backpack to make sure that the Egg that was hiding there was doing all right, but other than that, she made sure to keep her attention focused on the sand ninjas and their Pokémon. Luckily, she didn't have to use any of her abilities in order to take down the opponents' Pokémon.

"Well, that's that." Brendan clapped his hands together as though he was wiping dust off them, then turned and looked up the stairs that were in the center of the room. "Think there's going to be more of these guys up there? Or are we finally going to run into the guy who'd been causing all this trouble?"

Crystal frowned, then focused on her Aura Sight, bringing that familiar blue glow to her eyes as she looked at the floor above them. "It looks like there's only one person up there….and I think the aura's familiar somehow – it's hard to tell with the ceiling above us in the way." She released her hold on the ability and looked over at Brendan. "The leader of the group is probably right up ahead of us."

Brendan blinked at that, then gave a grin and nodded. "All right, then! Let's head up there and show him who's boss!"

Crystal smiled and nodded in agreement before turning and heading up the staircase. "All right, then. Let's go."

The stairs that led up to the next floor were somewhat shorter than the stairs that led up from the previous floors. As a result, the group stepped into the last floor far sooner than Crystal had been expecting.

"I should have expected that you were coming, but I didn't think that you'd get here so quickly," remarked a familiar figure standing in the center of the room. "Hi again, Crystal."

"Diamond," Crystal responded, eyes narrowing a little. "What do you want with the Mirage Tower?"

Diamond shrugged. "It's not really what I want with it so much as what the team wants with it. I just came to have a look around and keep other people out if they get too curious. And that counts for you guys, too, by the way." He started to reach for his belt, then paused, cocking his head to one side. "You know, you noticed that I was a Ground-Type when we ran into each other. Have you figured out what I am yet?"

Crystal blinked at the sudden statement from Diamond.

"What you are?" Brendan repeated. "You mean, a specific Pokémon or something?"

"Yeah." Crystal nodded absently. "I still don't know what he is."

Diamond gained a pouting expression. "Aw, come on! Really? And I'd put so much work into that sandstorm to give you a hint, too!"

"The sandstorm?" Crystal repeated in surprise.

"You're the reason it's so bad?!" Trisha demanded harshly, stepping forward.

Diamond gave a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head while Crystal looked confused at the sudden change in attitude. "Well, I can't exactly hold it in all the time. And if you're going to figure out what I am, it's going to come in here, too."

"Why?" Brendan asked, frowning.

"Because it's my ability." Diamond started reaching for his hat. "I'm a Hippopotas. It's a Pokémon from the Sinnoh region."

Crystal blinked for a moment, then frowned and reached up for her goggles. "Hippopotas…? I definitely haven't heard of that Pokémon before."

"Well, you didn't guess it, so I'm not surprised." Diamond's cheery smile faded, and a more determined expression replaced it as he pulled off his hat, revealing a pair of small, brown ears that twitched and wiggled for a moment.

It didn't take too long for the sand to start to pick up from the corners of the room. Crystal yanked down the Go-Goggles instantly and pulled up her bandanna a moment later, Brendan following suit a moment later when he noticed what she was doing.

"Sand Stream!" Diamond exclaimed, holding his arms out to either side as the sand suddenly exploded into a swirling tornado around Crystal, Brendan, Diamond, and the Pokémon.

Crystal instinctively raised an arm to block the blast of sand that hit her in the face, flinching when the sand hit her hard. "Richie! Samuel! You guys should go back—"

"No!" Richie barked back. He let out a gagging noise as some of the sand flew into his open mouth. "I'm not leaving! I'm going to help fight, too!"

Crystal's eyebrows came together as she gained an expression of concern behind her goggles, but she nodded in response. "If that's how you feel about it…." She turned to look at Diamond, who had a hand on one of the PokeBalls at his waist. "You're going to start sending out Ground-Types now, then?"

Diamond didn't verbally respond; instead, he unclipped one of three PokeBalls from his belt while giving a small smile to Crystal and Brendan. Then he tossed the PokeBall into the air, releasing a small Pokémon with brown patches all over his body. A pair of ears – similar to the ones on top of Diamond's head – twitched a little as he looked around at the area before his gaze settled on Crystal and Brendan.

"Ando, Water Gun!" Crystal ordered quickly.

"Zuzu—"

"Two against one isn't really fair," Diamond spoke up, catching Brendan by surprise. "I'll let you fight the other Ground-Type on my team. Krokorok!"

Diamond's second PokeBall burst open, releasing a Pokémon that looked similar to the crocodile-like Pokémon Brendan and Crystal had seen on the previous floor. This one, however, stood on two legs and looked a little more menacing than it's four-legged counterparts.

Crystal frowned at the crocodile Pokémon, feeling something in her chest clench up. There was something off about it….

Crystal's attention was taken away from the new Pokémon when Ando successfully blasted the hippo-like Ground-Type. Her eyes widened in surprise when she found that there was a lot more water being blasted than she had been expecting.

"Brine!" Ando exclaimed, pride clear in his voice.

Zuzu, not to be outdone, blasted a Water Gun at his opponent, sending the croc skidding back a short distance before it managed to regain some traction and move back to where it had been standing a moment ago.

Diamond didn't look the least bit worried about what was going on in front of him. Then again, he didn't look pleased, either. "Krokorok, Hippopotas – you know what to do."

Krokorok gave a nod in response, then raised a foot at the same time that the Hippo-like Pokémon – Hippototas, apparently – did the same.

Crystal suddenly found herself happy that she was able to make herself levitate, and she jumped up before remembering a moment later that Brendan was going to need to be able to avoid the attack.

Plus….

"Ando!" Crystal cried. "Brine! Quickly!"

"Zuzu!" Brendan barked.

"Right!" The Marshtomp shifted his stance, took in a breath, then spat out another Water Gun at Krokorok at the same time that Ando shot out the Brine.

At the same time, Krokorok and Hippopotas slammed down their feet on the floor of the room, causing the area to start shaking as the two Ground-Types collapsed.

"Whoa!" Brendan stumbled for a moment before Crystal grabbed him and lifted him up off the ground a little.

Crystal grunted, gritting her teeth. "You're…really heavy."

"Maybe you should use Strength!" Brendan shouted back over the shaking of the tower.

"I don't know that move yet!"

Diamond frowned unhappily as he returned his two knocked-out Pokémon, and he let out a sigh. "I'd hoped that wouldn't have happened…." He pulled out his cap and planted it on top of his head; the sandstorm started to die down. He sighed. "Oh, well. Looks like we'll have to do without that particular thing." He held out one hand, keeping his gaze on Crystal and Brendan as a bright flash appeared, originating from behind him.

A moment later, Diamond was gone, the sandstorm disappearing with him. However, the room continued to shake.

"The entire tower must be coming apart!" Brendan yelled. "We need to get out of here! Zuzu, come back!"

"Right!" Crystal nodded in agreement. "Ando! Samuel! Richie!"

The four Pokémon retreated into their PokeBalls – Ando only doing so because Crystal had called his name as the Anorith had, once again, been knocked out by the Earthquake that was still ongoing.

Crystal was about ready to Teleport them out of the tower and back to the Lavaridge Pokémon Center when Brendan shouted, "Wait! There's something sitting over there!"

Crystal turned her head at Brendan's cry, and she found herself blinking in surprise when she caught sight of what looked like a small chunk of rock with a strange-looking shape sticking out of it – kind of like a stamp of some kind, but not quite.

"What is it?" Crystal asked over the noise of the rumbling tower. She found herself partially amazed that it hadn't started collapsing in on them yet, but she figured that was probably going to change rather quickly.

"I don't know, but if that Diamond guy was here, it might be important!" Brendan called back. "Let's grab it and get out of here!"

Crystal nodded in agreement, then flew over so that she was hovering above the chunk of rock. She lowered Brendan down so that he could quickly scoop it up, and then the two of them Teleported out of the tower.

A moment later, the entire Mirage Tower collapsed, much to the horror of the Ruin Maniacs who happened to be in the desert nearby.

Whoo! Well, looks like Magnus is definitely up to something. At least they can't use Mirage Tower anymore, but the Ruin Maniacs definitely aren't going to be happy about its collapse...

I'll see you Wednesday with the next chapter!