You know, I love that in the very first chapter, I write "it's grammar" when I said what I was editing (which I still haven't done lol) when it should be a regular "its." Whatever. I'm not sure guys really do want Brendan and May romance, or if you just want to kill me instead in one of my polls.
Muddy: Probably the latter.
Ahaha. Anyway, if you haven't voted in my poll, GO VOTE. Just go to my profile and it's at the top and blah blah blah.
Muddy: That's some good ole' direction there, Bree.
I know, right? Where's my disclaimer at?
Disclaimer: Pokémon and other related characters do not belong to the author, nor will she ever own them because she's a poor, poor, poor girl with no monies except to buy the occasional Juice It Up smoothie.
Yum, smoothies. And of course chapter 26 is out, silly person! It's called Thoughts.
Muddy: Thoughts about what?
That's the chapter title.
Muddy: How silly. You and your stupid chapter titles.
I know. I'm sure chapter 26 was called something else if I hadn't spruced up the fic. I hope no one remembers them now. Was anyone still around remember what the fic was first called?
Muddy: You probably posted it somewhere in an author note. First one to find it gets a huggle!
Oh well. I love being sick. I can stumble around like I have an inner ear problem. Anyway, enjoy!
Brendan and Wally: Together?
It was cold.
And wet.
And dark.
Where was she? And how did she get there?
With her arms bound behind her back with rope, May struggled to get up onto her knees, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the lighting. When her eyes finally came into focus, she noticed the rancid smell of sewer water and the annoying sound of dripping water into a half full bucket. Groaning because of her aching back and legs, May finally managed to hop onto her feet, almost falling over since both her feet were asleep. She leaned against a nearby wall, breathing heavily like she just ran a marathon. Looking up, she noticed the sunlight glaring down at her through the caged window.
Licking her dry lips, she sighed before mumbling to herself, "Now what, May? How are you going to get out of this one?"
Everything that happened was a blur. She remembered being with Brendan and Wally. Then there was nothing. This obviously had to do with Team Aqua, but why would they do it to her? Did they figure out that she really wasn't part of the team? And if so, who knew and ratted her out? There wasn't time to think about that though. The most important thing was to get out of her cell.
Pushing herself up and off the wall, May looked down at her tightly bound ankles, wondering how in the world she was going to get them off. Patting her belt, she noticed that her Pokéballs were missing. She started to panic until she snapped her fingers (or tried to with her wrists bound together). Pulling a chain from underneath her shirt, May managed to un-clip the Pokéball that hung from the bottom of it. The ball slipped in between her fingers and rolled underneath a nearby table before opening, a dull thud sounding throughout the empty room.
"Ow ..." muttered Flare, crawling underneath the table and standing up, rubbing her head.
"It's not my fault you're tall," May replied back, smiling innocently. "And I told you keeping a Pokémon separate from the others was a good idea. It was good that it was your turn to hang from the chain."
"Ugh. Where are we anyway?"
"I'd tell you if I knew the answer myself. Somewhere wet? Anyway, mind taking these off?"
Flare stared at May dully before lifting one claw and snapping the ropes off her wrist, bending over and doing the same to the ones around her ankles. May gratefully stretched her arms and legs in delight before paying attention to her Blaziken.
"Now that that's over with, how do we get out? And where do you think the rest of the Pokémon are?"
"Well," Flare replied, walking back and forth before staring outside the window, "both can be answered with the same response: The window." She pointed at it where a bird was perched on the sill, his head to the side as he looked inside the cell curiously.
"Tai!" May exclaimed in surprise and glee. She pushed the table closer to the table and stood on it, gripping the caged window. "Where'd you guys get out? Where are we? What's going on?"
"One question at a time, May," the Swellow replied, pecking at the bars. He turned his head and shouted downward. "I found them, guys!"
"So everyone else is safe?" May asked worriedly.
"Please. Escaping Team Aqua was a breeze."
"So it was Team Aqua. I should have known better than to trust them."
"Yes you should," muttered Flare. "Now we have to pull ourselves out of this. But how?"
Tai pecked at the bars again. "You can try kicking them down, but you'll need to jump pretty high plus have enough speed to knock them down. I don't think you can do both at the same time."
"Not unless we weaken the bars with fire, in which case I can both weaken and kick it down without gaining much speed," Flare replied, crossing her arms and smirking.
"Aren't you such a big shot?" Tai rolled his eyes. "Forget where you are? That entire cavern is dripping with water. Even if you could shoot out fire, it probably wouldn't be hot enough to weaken the bars."
"If that's true, then the bars must be corroding due to the sea water," Flare replied hastily. "The bars should be weak already and my already 'weak' fire should contribute to it."
"Well, uh. Fine, you win."
Flare smirked again and fired up her claws. "Thought so." Jumping onto the table, Flare reeled back her arm and punched cleanly through the bars, causing them to fly back, taking Tai down with it. Tai squealed and flapped his wings rapidly to regain flight.
"Jerk."
"Proud of it." The Blaziken smiled and picked up May by the waist, looking outside the window. A huge gust of salty wind blew back at her which she promptly squinted at. "Well, you could have told us we were in a lighthouse and couldn't climb down even if we did break the bars."
"Well, yeah," Tai said. "But making you feel all high and mighty and then crashing you down seemed much more satisfying."
May managed to poke her head up above the window only to gulp at the long drop down. She then looked at Tai and smiled, pulling herself up to she could sit inside the window after returning Flare to her Pokéball. "You're a flying Pokémon, aren't you?"
Tai nodded, unsure and confused about what May was thinking. "Y-yes?"
"Well ..." May's eyes went back and forth in her head. "Get ready."
"Ready? Ready for wha –"
Tai didn't have time to finish his sentence as May jumped on top of him, grabbing onto his legs. With both of them screaming, one out of sheer terror and the other squealing to go faster, Tai rapidly flapped his wings but didn't manage to stay afloat. Although Tai's resistance was slowing them down, the two were falling toward the smooth, glossy water fast.
Meanwhile, down below, the rest of May's Pokémon were lounging near the water's edge. Hydro, who was bathing himself, looked up when he heard a high pitched whistle, much like the ones heard in cartoons when characters fall off cliffs. Concerned for their safety, Hydro shot up a blast of water. The water engulfed them, and Hydro slowly brought them down to the lake.
"Latios, get this crazy girl off me!" Tai screeched, flapping his wings wildly in the water. Hydro picked up May, who was giggling, by the collar of her shirt with his teeth and Tai flew up, shaking the water off his feathers. "For Latios's sake! Can't you warn a Pokémon if you're just going to attack them like that? Latios forbid!"
"Wow, three Latioses," Thunderbolt muttered from the white rock he was sunbathing on. "You surely are going to hell, Tai."
"Isn't that what wild Pokémon do? I mean, attack randomly?" Skittles asked innocently, licking her paw from the soft patch of green grass she sat upon.
Tai let out a horrible screech again before perching and settling in a nearby tree branch with Cherry, disgruntled.
"Oh, stop being a brat," May said, laughing. She took off her bandanna and wrung the water out of it before tying it around her head again. Enlarging Flare's Pokéball, Flare threw it up in the air, and Flare burst out, landing gracefully on a rock next to T.B. Smoothing her feathers with her claws, Flare glanced around and noticed the rest of her team looking at her.
"So uh. What'd I miss?"
"A lot," Thunderbolt sighed, resting his head on his paws. "Well, for starters, we're in Sootopolis-"
"Sootopolis!" May exclaimed, pausing from brushing her wet hair. "The only way you can get here is with a flying type, which obviously I don't have –"
"Be quiet!" Tai screeched, hiding his head under his wing.
"– And using the Dive HM. But to use that, you need the Mind Badge which is the badge given at Mossdeep plus the actual Hidden Machine. So how did we get here?"
"Submarine," T.B. replied. "The details are pretty fuzzy for us as well, but from what we've heard, we think Archie and some of his goons kidnapped you, brought you along in the sub and threw you in one of the lighthouse rooms before taking us away. They're up to something outside the borders of this city. Tai was on his way to find them when he saw you and Flare in the lighthouse, I figure."
May stood up and gazed at the mountains, their peaks alight in a white brilliance. Playing with her hair nervously, she turned toward her Pokémon again. "Goodness, the mountains are unbearable to look at. What do you think they're up to?"
Skittles looked up from her cleaning. "From what I've heard from the other Pokémon last night in the captivity center – they're fine, by the way – Archie and his admins are headed toward a cavern in the middle of the ocean not too far from here. Kyogre is supposedly rumored to be at rest there. One of them told me that Team Magma is pulling or had pulled a similar plot. Kind of funny that Brendan doesn't seem to know anything about it."
"Brendan!" May unzipped her backpack hurriedly, pulling out Pokéballs and old Pokéblocks before finding her PokéNav at the bottom. She yelped as the PokéNav slipped in between her fingers and fell into the lake, falling lazily toward the bottom
"Ooh, bummer ..." said Hydro as he watched the PokéNav float to the bottom of the lake.
May looked at her PokéNav and her Gyarados repeatedly, paranoid.
"Oh fine, I'll get it." And with that, Hydro dove gracefully underwater, his tail flicking water toward the Pokémon on the shore. He managed to swim underneath the PokéNav and swiftly, he swam up, pushing the PokéNav up and out of the water. May promptly caught it and after shaking the water out, dialed Brendan's PokéNav number.
Meanwhile, Brendan and Wally were staring aghast at the television set in the room in the Pokémon Center, mouths open.
"This isn't a regular heat wave today in Lilycove, or really, the entire eastern half of the Hoenn Region. No, it's all part of Team Magma's idea – plot really – to create more land," said the news reporter on the television, who was shielding her eyes with her free hand, the other one gripping her microphone tightly. She trod quickly through the tall grass outside the city of Lilycove, the camera quick to follow. "If you haven't notice though, this sudden change in weather has had a negative effect on the Pokémon." The camera quickly panned over the scenery where Pokémon were flat on their bellies near the water's edge, their tongues out and beads of sweat running down their forehead. "Please take precaution in taking your Pokémon outside, especially if they're of the water or ice type variety. Back to you in the studio."
"Thank you, Amy," said the news anchor back in the studio. "We've just got footage of Maxie, the leader of Team Magma, fleeing Mt. Chimney. He didn't say anything to us other than, 'It all went wrong.' What do you think he means by –"
Brendan turned off the television and flopped back on his bed, sighing. "So, he was finally able to do it. He finally managed to eff up the world."
Wally looked outside the window, concerned, while absentmindedly petted his Delcatty, who purred instantly. "He awoke Groudon. But how?"
The white-haired trainer sat back up and stared outside and the glaring heat, squinting at it. He then snapped his fingers. "Back at Mt. Pyre, both Team Aqua and Team Magma were trying to get something up at the top. I know that Team Aqua got something up there. Maybe Team Magma did too."
Wally opened his backpack and pulled out a Pokémon Handbook. "Mt. Pyre huh?" He licked his fingers and flipped through the pages quickly. "Ah, here. Mt. Pyre. Hmm ... Place to lay Pokémon to rest, blah, blah – oh! At the top are two orbs, the red and blue orb. They sort of ... balance the world? Something like that."
"So, each orb sort of represents Groudon and Kyogre?"
"Something like that. I suppose Team Magma used the red orb to awaken Groudon. Groudon is protector of the land – lord of the land if you literally translate his name. So he must be causing the sudden heat wave. I guess it is the vice versa with the blue orb. This one activates and awakens Kyogre, thus causing the weather to be stormy."
"So in order to maintain the balance in the weather, we have to deactivate the red orb by putting Groudon back to rest? How does one go about that?"
"Beating it?" Wally said jokingly. "Hell if I know. But on a more serious note, we know that Team Aqua has the blue orb. We have to stop him from using it so the weather doesn't get even more screwy. Imagine battling heat and a flood at the same time. What do you exactly wear for that type of weather?"
Brendan wiped the back of his neck for sweat, wiping the residue on his pants. Making a slight disgusted face at all the sweat, he asked, "So, Team Aqua thinks that Kyogre is in Sootopolis?"
"Not at Sootopolis but near it," Wally answered, flipping forward through his book. "Sootopolis has the Cave of Origin. Unlike Mt. Pyre, this cave is rumored to be where life begins. Maybe this is where the orbs were formed or where the battle between Kyogre and Groudon took place and formed the entire region of Hoenn."
"I thought that was a fairy tale."
"Some fairy tales are based loosely off true stories or folk tales."
"So mice sewed together a dress for a girl and some witch transformed a pumpkin into a carriage?"
"I said some, not all. I figure Archie knows about this too and knows that since Groudon is now awaken, Kyogre will want to fight him again as soon as he's awaken. What better place than where it started?"
Brendan, about to respond, was interrupted by a buzzing around his belt. Picking up his Pokénav and flipping the screen open, he beamed down at the smiling face of his companion. "May! You're okay!"
Wally rushed next to Brendan, wide-eyed. "May! It's great to see you!"
"Hi guys!" she said delightfully. "I'm in ... uh-"
"Sootopolis," the boys answered at the same time.
"Yeah! How did you guys know?"
"Those grunts back at the Team Aqua hideout blurted it out," Brendan responded. "Oh, May. You're okay?"
"Of course. My Pokémon managed to escape and save me. But what's going on? How come I'm here and you two aren't?"
Brendan hesitated before answering. "Team Aqua figured out that you betrayed them somehow, May. Not too sure how though. Anyway, I guess when we were battling, they knocked you out and took you there. They probably knew that you have no way in or out of the city since you can't fly or dive, so that way you can't interrupt their plan."
"Plan?" May asked curiously. "What plan?"
Thus went the long and tedious bit of information that Brendan learned from Wally. When Brendan finished, May looked concerned.
"What do we do?"
"Wally and I thought about it. We're going to team up and battle Tate and Liza for the Mind Badge. Then I'll teach Muddy dive and we'll come rescue you straight away."
"Oh, there's no time for that," May replied hastily. "You guys have to get that badge today and you have to find Archie and stop him."
"But ... but I miss you?"
May laughed. "You liar. I'm sure you're going to appreciate the time off from me now that you know I'm safe. Besides, I'll learn more about this Cave of Origin you guys are talking about. I'll meet with some of the locals. Anyway, you two go get that badge! Good luck!" And with that, she hung up the Pokénav.
Brendan touched the screen, which was now back on the Pokénav's menu. "But I do miss you."
Wally looked at Brendan, smirking.
"Whaaaat?" Brendan asked, bewildered.
"You like her."
"Gah! Do not!"
"Psh. After how long you two been traveling together, it would surprise me if you didn't. She's, like, part of you, man."
"What's that suppose to mean?"
"I don't know. It sounded deep though, didn't it? Anyway, how come you didn't tell her it was me that told Archie she betrayed Team Aqua?"
"Why? Should I?" Brendan asked, clipping his Pokénav back on his belt. "She's safe, and why ruin a perfectly good relationship, especially for the reason why you turned her in?"
"I guess. I still owe her though. But anyway –" Wally stood up, returned Delcatty to her Pokéball, and stretched his arms, "– we better do what the lady says and get that Mind Badge. Are you ready?"
"I guess," Brendan replied, standing up as well and flopping his backpack over his shoulder. "Tate and Liza use the Psychic Pokémon Solrock and Lunatone."
"Part rock and psychic, huh?" Wally asked as the two left the room and then the Pokémon Center entirely where the hot heat engulfed them like a blanket. "I'm not sure who to use. Who are you planning to use? Muddy? Sirius?"
"Muddy would probably be better attack wise, but none of the psychic attacks would faze Sirius. But let's see. Magneton would probably be a bad choice."
"Well. Yeah. Delcatty wouldn't do much damage. With the rock attacks, Altaria wouldn't do much good. Roselia? Grass is good against rock."
"But Solrock probably has fire type moves."
"Ugh. Hmm. All I have is Gardevoir and her attacks won't do much damage against another psychic. You remember that battle with Cy."
"Yeah ..." Brendan muttered, rubbing his chin. He then snapped his fingers. "But who says her defensive tactics won't work? If I take the offensive with Muddy and you take the defensive, then we'll be unstoppable!"
"You know, that actual could work." Wally smiled at Brendan as he pushed open the clear glass doors. His smile immediately faded away as the design of the gym. "Uh ..."
Brendan walked further into the gym and bent over a nearby place mat with an arrow pointing north. "I dare you to touch it."
"You touch it!"
"No, it might have cooties!" Brendan squealed. "You know how many people could have stood on this mat?"
"What a sissy." Wally rolled his eyes.
"I am not a sissy!" Brendan whined.
Wally walked behind Brendan and pushed him forward with his foot. Brendan, landing on his stomach with a flop and screaming, whizzed forward and crashed head first into a statue. Mouth opened, Wally shouted, "That was neat! Do it again!"
"Ow ..." mumbled Brendan, sitting up and rubbing his head. "That was not cool!"
"Hmph. It can't be that hard." Wally stepped calmly on the mat but lost his balance, falling on top of the already complaining Brendan. "This is going to take awhile if we have to use these stupid place mats to get anywhere." Standing up, he looked around. "Ah, I see. We have to get to those portals."
"Yeah that will take forever," agreed Brendan, pushing himself up. "Unless we step over the mats." And with that, Brendan took a mighty step across another place mat, landing gracefully on the other side.
"It worked!" Wally cheered. "You're a genius!"
Brendan smirked, popping his collar. "Yeah, I know."
After minutes of mat hopping and portal jumping, Brendan and Wally finally managed to make it to the final room where the two gym leaders, Tate and Liza, were waiting. Kind of.
"Just remember, Tate. I'm the older one," one of the twins said smugly, pointing to herself.
Tate snorted in response, pouting. "Who cares!"
"It makes a load of difference, being a minute older. It means I'm wiser, more experienced, a better trainer –"
"Blah, blah, blah," interrupted Tate.
"– And much, much more mature," finished Liza, putting stress on the final word and smiling. "And that's that!"
"So these are the Mossdeep gym leaders?" Wally asked, eyeing the two trainers weirdly. "They sure don't act like it."
"I think the smug looking one is the girl, Liza, and the pouting one is Tate."
"Wait, what? I thought they were both girls!"
"No, one's a girl and the other's a boy. For all this time you thought they were both girls?"
"Well ..." Wally looked down, brushing the ball of his foot around the ground, blushing. "I mean, Tate isn't a normal boy name and they dress the same and like – ugh, forget it!" He pointed at the two gym leaders. "Tate and Liza! We challenge you to a Pokémon double battle!"
The two twins immediately stopped fighting and looked at their two newcomers, both with confident grins on their face.
"Well, welcome-" said one twin.
"-to the-"
"-Mossdeep-"
"-gym! I'm Liza-"
"-and I'm Tate!"
Wally and Brendan looked at each other, confused.
"Are we suppose to talk like that?" whispered Wally.
"I don't know," Brendan whispered back. "Maybe we should just in case."
"Neat!" started Wally. "I'm Wally!"
Brendan was picking the dirt out of his nails until Wally nudged him. "Oh, and I'm Brendan! We would like-"
"-to challenge-"
"-um ... you?"
"Because we would like to obtain the Mind-"
"Okay, you know what? You're taking all the words!" Brendan said, pointing at Wally. "That's not fair!"
"Because you don't know when to talk!"
"You gave me like ... two chances to talk! Like that's fair."
"It's plenty fair! You paused for like five seconds to say one word!"
"Haven't you heard of three strikes and you're out? Calling me out on the second. For shame."
Liza and Tate giggled at the same time.
"Well this battle-" said Liza.
"-should be-" said Tate.
"-a piece-"
"-of cake if those two-"
"-can't even talk without-"
"-fighting! This gym battle will be a-"
"-two-on-two battle, each trainer-"
"-using one Pokémon each!"
"I will be using Solrock-"
"-and I, Lunatone! Release your-"
"-Pokémon when you're ready!"
"Ugh sorry?" Brendan replied weakly. "I got confused and hungry after one of you two said 'cake'."
"Oh, just release your Pokémon," Wally muttered, enlarging a Pokéball. He threw it toward the center of the battlefield, the colors blurring together until the tall, elegant form of Gardevoir appeared in a blast of white light.
Brendan pulled out Muddy's Pokéball. "Oh. Right! Let's go, Muddy!" Like Wally, Brendan threw the ball toward the battlefield and Muddy appeared as soon as the ball his the floor, cracking his back.
Tate and Liza did the same, throwing their balls simultaneously toward the battlefield, both balls opening at the same time. From one ball levitated a huge, yellow, crescent-shaped rock Pokémon, with big red eyes. Next to it was a rock with half open eyes that looked like the sun, its body round but sharp, dagger-like points coming out of it.
"Okay, Muddy, let's start things off with Muddy Water!" Brendan shouted.
Muddy nodded, his bright orange eyes glowing as he threw his arm forward, the earth behind him cracking. Steam rose from the crack before exploding into a gigantic wave of dirty brown water. The wave, at a rapid rate, sped toward the two meteorite Pokémon.
"Solrock, use Cosmic Power!" yelled Liza.
"You too, Lunatone!" added Tate.
The two Pokémon spun around together clockwise in a weird sort of dance, yellow energy crackling from their bodies. The dirty water engulfed them, but when the attack ended, the two seemed unharmed.
"It didn't even faze them," Brendan muttered, scratching his head.
"Cosmic Power boosts a Pokémon special defense," Wally replied, concerned. "The attack did some damage, but not as powerful as we would have wanted. This might be harder than we thought."
"Then we'll just go for the physical," Brendan replied confidently. "Try a Take Down on the Solrock!"
Muddy, fists closed, charged toward the Solrock, lowering his head. Without skipping a heartbeat, the Lunatone stepped in and shot out several powerful blasts of psychic energy that knocked the Swampert off his feet and skidding back toward Brendan and Wally's half of the battlefield.
"Funny ..." Wally muttered, rubbing his chin.
"What is?" Brendan asked weakly, watching his Pokémon regain his stature.
"Lunatone stepped in and used Psychic as a defensive barrier."
"So?"
"Just thinking."
"Solrock, Sunny Day!"
Solrock said its name in a monotonous tone, spinning around a few times, the sunlight that poured through the glass ceiling intensifying.
"Great because it's not hot enough already," Brendan muttered, shielding his eyes. "Solrock will get more powerful while Muddy's special attacks will get dealt a serious blow if he attacks from long range."
"And getting up close will probably result in the same thing when Muddy tried using Take Down," Wally added in. "Unless ... Gardevoir, Future Sight!"
"Lunatone, you do the same!" Tate chimed in.
Both the Gardevoir and the Lunatone closed their eyes in a meditative state, energy radiating from their bodies before fading away a few seconds later.
"Thought so," Wally said, smirking.
"Ugh, do you mind tuning me into your radio station?" Brendan asked, annoyed.
"Don't worry about it," Wally replied. "I'll think, you fight."
"Are you calling me a dummy?"
"Well, I wouldn't have stated it so rudely. Use another Take Down on Solrock again though."
"Ugh, fine." Brendan slapped his forehead before directing his attention toward his equally confused-looking Swampert. "Let's try this again! Take Down on the Solrock again, Muddy!"
Muddy, tramping the ground like a horse and snorting, charged toward the Solrock, head bowed down. Like Wally predicted, the Lunatone stepped in front of the Solrock and was about to use another Psychic attack when the green-haired trainer shouted, "Imprison, Gardevoir!"
Gardevoir clasped her hands and closed her eyes before opening them sharply, her eyes a pulsing red. The same red glow that was in Gardevoir's eyes surrounded all three Pokémon, but only Lunatone seemed to be affected by it, and its psychic energy seemed to fizzle out like a candle. Muddy collided with both the Lunatone and the Solrock, sending them flying into the wall behind Tate and Liza.
"It worked!" Wally cheered as Muddy jumped back to their side of the battlefield.
"What did?" Brendan asked, confused, scratching his head.
"Imprison," Wally answered simply. "It's a move that prevents an opponent from using moves that the user knows. Lunatone seems to only have psychic-only attacks like Gardevoir, so he use that as a defense whenever Muddy, who's attacks would actually deal some damage unlike Gardevoir's, came charging. But since he really can't do anything, he's basically a floating paperweight."
"You thought of all that?"
"Well, if you can't rely on your physical strength, you've got to rely on your mental strength."
"Great, but what if he does have attacks that Gardevoir doesn't have?"
"I kind of doubt it. Liza is more controlling, so she seems to take more of the offensive while relying on Tate's Lunatone to take the blows or retali –"
"Solrock, Solarbeam!"
Solrock's eyes glowed a piercing white before bright beams shot out of them, gaining energy as they rushed toward the two vulnerable Pokémon on the other side of the battlefield.
"Hurry, Muddy! Protect!" Brendan shouted, wincing like the attack was going to hit him instead.
Muddy jumped in front of Gardevoir and conjured a translucent yellow barrier. The Solarbeam bounced off the shield and flew upward, absorbing into the glass ceiling.
"Ooh, they're finally starting to take it seriously," Brendan said, smiling smugly. "That's fine. Bring it on!"
"Solrock, Fire Spin! Let's go!" shouted Liza as Tate tugged nervously at his robes.
Solrock spun around rapidly, conjuring up a fire tornado that engulfed the Gardevoir and Swampert. Both Pokémon starting coughing, breathing in thick and heavy smoke.
"Use Teleport to get out of there, Gardevoir!" Wally demanded, throwing a sleeve over his mouth to filter out the smoke.
"Perfect, Rock Slide, Lunatone!" Tate shouted eagerly.
As soon as Gardevoir reappeared outside the Fire Spin attack, huge rocks that were on the battlefield (and some torn out of the ground) were hurled towards her. The Embrace Pokémon did her best to dodge these rocks but finally lost balance, getting repeatedly hit in the head and body with a sick thud. The Gardevoir fell over for a quick minute, a heavy rock landing on her foot. While she managed to stand up, she was having trouble lifting the rock up, even with her psychic ability.
"Hang in there, Gardevoir! You're doing great!" Wally cheered.
"They separated us," Brendan grumbled. "Now – do you hear that?"
Wally paused, hearing a distinctive, high-pitched whizzing. "The Future Sight attack! I forgot about it!"
"Muddy, Protect again!" Brendan shouted hoarsely.
Muddy, still within in the pit of fire, created another barrier to surround himself in. The Future Sight attack, in a form of bright orange bolts of energy bounced off the shield and redirected themselves toward the Solrock and Lunatone. The two took the attack head on, and although they looked dazed, it didn't seem to affect them that much.
"Lovely," smirked Liza. "Okay Solrock, Solarbeam on the Swampert again!"
Solrock's eyes glowed the same white as it did previously before shooting the attacking at the still target that was Muddy. Muddy, unable to move or dodge the attack because of the Fire Spin, tried to conjure up another protect shield but was too tired after two consecutive shields. He took the attack right at the belly and was immediately shot out of the fire tornado, skidding along his back and only stopping because his head hit the wall. Twitching on the floor, the Swampert managed to flop onto his stomach, trying to push himself up, breathing heavily.
"Oh, I see," Wally muttered. "Liza used Fire Wave, knowing that it would separate us since Gardevoir could teleport out of there while Muddy couldn't. Tate then used Rock Slide to trap Gardevoir so she couldn't help Muddy. Liza remembered the Future Sight attack I used earlier and predicted that you would use Protect to protect Muddy, and then used a Solarbeam, knowing that Muddy couldn't dodge or protect himself due to the fire wave and a consecutive Protect defense."
"No crap!" Brendan slapped his forehead again, running his hand down his face. "We're screwed unless we pull a miracle."
"For every move we do, they've got a way to retaliate," Wally said as Muddy slowly walked toward the battlefield a weird, blue energy surrounding him, Gardevoir finally managing to free herself from the rocks. "So we've got to use that against them. What do we know so far?"
"Whenever Muddy charges towards them, Lunatone used Psychic to blast them back. But Imprison took care of that."
"So instead, Solrock will retaliate with Solarbeam. Whenever Muddy uses a special attack like Muddy Water –"
"– they both use Cosmic Power to raise their defense. Lunatone is virtually useless except in their Rock Slide and Fire Wave combination, which was used to separate us and attack us individually."
"So in order to win this –"
"– we've got to throw them off. But I'm worried about Solrock's Solarbeam. Muddy can't take another one of those attacks. I can already tell he's low on health since his Torrent ability is showing."
"Then that'll just work to our advantage. I know this will work, Brendan. And with Gardevoir behind Muddy, there's no way he can get hit."
"Let's do it," Brendan said, smirking. "Okay Muddy, charge toward Solrock!"
"Follow along, Gardevoir!" piped in Wally.
Muddy, gasping for air, smiled confidently like his trainer and charged toward the awaiting Solrock and Lunatone. Lunatone immediately stepped in, his eyes glowing, as rocks from the previous Rock Slide attack began to hover midair before zooming in toward the Swampert and Gardevoir. Gardevoir, looking behind her, teleported both her and Muddy, and the rocks, still flying across the battlefield, hit the Lunatone instead. Gardevoir and Muddy reappeared above Solrock and were falling toward them at a fast rate.
"Hurry, Solrock!" Liza yelled, pointing up. "Solarbeam!"
Solrock looked up, eyes glowing, and directed his beam of light toward the two. Muddy, quickly thinking, created a Protect shield, the beams of light reflecting off them in opposite directions. Muddy broke the shield and the two continued to fall.
"Muddy Water and then Take Down on the Solrock, Muddy!"
Muddy's eyes glowed like his first Muddy Water attack and a huge wave of water grew behind him and Gardevoir, crashing down hard on the dazed Lunatone and the Solrock. Gardevoir let go of Muddy at the last minute as Muddy broke through the water and landed hard on the Solrock, the collision kicking up pebbles and clouds of dust. When the dust finally cleared, Muddy was on two feet, tired and breathing heavily but still conscious. Solrock and Lunatone not so much.
"Ugh! See, Tate?" said Liza, crossing her arms and sticking her tongue out at her little brother. "It's your fault!"
"Is not!"
"Is too! It's because you're younger!"
Brendan and Wally quickly returned and thanked their Pokémon before heading over to the other side of the battlefield where the two siblings were still bickering.
"– and I'm taller too!"
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"Um, excuse me," interrupted Wally. "I'd hate to be a bother but –"
"Oh yes," said Liza, regaining posture and standing up straight. "Congratulations you two for –"
Tate just huffed and crossed his arms.
"At least complete the sentence!" shouted Liza, glaring angrily at her brother.
"No, jerk!" retorted Tate, pouting.
"Ugh, fine." Liza pulled out two heart-shaped badges out of her robes and handed each one to the boys. "This is the Mind Badge. With this badge, your Pokémon have the ability to use the HM move Dive outside of battle. And congratulations, and thank you again for a wonderful battle. And as for you –" She pointed as Tate.
"Let's go before it gets nuclear," Brendan muttered as the two walked backward slowly toward the portal.
"So I guess tomorrow we're going to have to go find Archie, right?" asked Wally, sipping on a juice box.
"Mhm," Brendan replied, gazing out toward the sea, the sunset's orange and yellow reflecting off the ocean's surface. "Ready?"
"Ready to kick his butt for what's he done to you, and me, and May, if that's what you mean."
Brendan let out a small laugh. "Yeah ..."
"Hey, Brendan?"
"What?"
"If you like May, it's okay with me."
"Too bad I don't."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure, Wally."
"She's a nice girl, isn't she?"
"I'd really – yeah, she is."
"Any guy that gets her is a really lucky guy. Don't you think so, Brendan?"
"Wha – uh, sure, Wally."
And then the two boys sat in silence, one sitting happily and drinking a juice box and the other kicking an apple core in between his feet, thinking. He never really thought of May other than a friend more than twice. It felt like taboo thinking of May like that. Not that it mattered – it wasn't like May would like him like that.
Wait, did he want her to like him like that?
Brendan sighed. "Actually, Wally, I do think I –"
A huge eruption to the south and a sudden shower of cold rain interrupted the white-haired trainer.
That was ... long.
Lol.
LaTeR dAyZ!
Last Revision: 1/23/09
