I'm not going to promise you anything, but I will try to get this fic over with. It's been bugging me that I haven't finished even though I'm so close (then again, I still have the actual Elite 4 crud... ew).
Pardon the lame chapter title. I dunt think gud.
If you see Diamond or Pearl elements merging with this story, sorry!
Clash of the Elements
"Muddy, Dive!"
Brendan threw the Pokeball toward the ocean, and the ocean grabbed at the ball hungrily, engulfing it in salty water. A burst of white light shone through the water, and Muddy, legs flailing above the waves, appeared. Finally, a few seconds later, his head popped out, his eyes angrily glaring at Brendan.
"Why didn't you help me? I was drowning!" he cried, rubbing his eyes. "My head was stuck in the sand! I could have died!"
"Well ... you're a water Pokemon. I was pretty sure you could breathe underwater," Brendan replied while shuffling through his bag for an underwater breathing device, Wally doing the same. "Was my hypothesis wrong?"
"... I just wanted to be dramatic."
"I know, buddy."
Wally, throwing goggles over his eyes, the underwater breathing device gripped tightly in his hands, looked at Brendan bug-eyed. "And where are we going exactly? We have no clue where this explosion happened."
"Yes we do." Brendan snapped his own pair of goggles on. "It happened in the ocean."
"The ocean is quite big."
"Not really. It happened somewhere in the middle of the ocean."
"... Again, the middle of the ocean is quite big."
Brendan shrugged before pointing toward the ocean. "See, it's raining."
"And?"
"Well, wherever the rain is the strongest is probably where the explosion happened."
"What the hell are you talking about, Brendan?" Wally slapped his forehead and stared at Brendan dully. "Do you not get how rain works? There is no fairy Pokemon that waves its wand and makes it rain. Likewise, an explosion doesn't make it rain either. So therefore ... you know what, I have no idea where I'm going with this, but what you said was just stupid."
"Says you," Brendan snorted, climbing onto Muddy's backside. "At least I'm trying to give us a little bit of hope about where that explosion happened."
"So we're basing a plan of perhaps getting lost in the middle of the ocean forever on a whim?"
"You make it sound so bad like that. Hope sounds more heroic."
"Whatever, Brendan."
Wally, sighing, got behind Brendan on Muddy's back, and the Pokemon, flicking his tail around in the water, sped off like a jet, streamlining even through the tallest of waves. Gaining enough momentum, Muddy began to dive into the water, the boys barely clinging onto his back.
It was almost eerie how peaceful under the water was compared to the angry, churning waves above. Lanturns and Tentacool swam together in pools while the curious Luvdisc couple popped their heads out of the multi-colored coral below. A Mantine cried a triumph cry, circling around the Swampert and the two boys, promptly chasing a Remoraid playfully afterward.
Muddy dove deeper toward the sand, his tail kicking up dirt before it lazily drifted back down toward the bed. Dodging rocks and coral, Muddy stopped abruptly at the site of a cave entrance carved out of one the huge, rock walls.
"What is that?" Brendan asked through the breathing apparatus, his voice sounding lethargic. "Do you think that's where the explosion happened?"
"Maybe," Wally replied as he peered into the cave ahead. "Look at the sand and the crushed plants there. Something was there."
"Something big, by the looks of it, but it's gone now."
Brendan nodded at Wally and pointed up, indicating to his Pokemon to head toward the surface. With a swift flick of his tail, Muddy, oblivious to the fact that he had passengers, went straight up, the two boys almost falling off. Emerging, Muddy smiled triumphantly before being smacked upside the head by his trainer.
"Oh, my god," Muddy said, teary-eyed. "Why did you do that?"
Brendan ignored his Pokemon's fake tears and climbed onto the rock, Wally following suit. Observing his surroundings, he muttered, "See? It is raining harder here."
"That doesn't mean the explosion happened here!" Wally snapped back, shaking the dripping water from his sleeves. He winced as Wingull poop landed right in front of him. "Effin' birds."
"Oh, my. So bitter that you're wrong."
"I'm not wrong!"
Returning Muddy into his Pokeball, Brendan and Wally walked the strip of rock for signs of life. Up ahead, they noticed two very familiar faces ...
"May?"
"Yes, Skittles?"
"Are we going to die?"
"Uh ..."
May looked outside the foggy windows of the Pokemon Center, pressing her forehead against the cold glass.
"Yeah, I think there's a good chance, Skittles."
There was reason to panic: Two mighty titans, one of the land and one of the sea, were standing in the now churning waters of the Sootopolis lake. The one to the right was bright red with beady, yellow eyes. Snapping his sharp, white claws and pounding his thick, spiked tail into the water, Groudon beat his arms into his chest threateningly, glaring at the Pokemon in front of him. Meanwhile, not threatened, Kyogre pointed his head up toward the mighty Groudon, the red marks against its slippery, blue skin glowing eerily. He let out a powerful roar from his mouth, revealing sharp, jagged teeth. Neither of the Pokemon have done any damage to each other nor to the city, but it seemed like they were dangerously close.
"Shouldn't we do something?" Flare asked worriedly, gazing outside the window as well, squinting her eyes as another wave of heat poured through the glass. "They'll wipe us all out if we don't."
"And what do you suggest, Flare?" Tai asked, rolling his eyes. "We're dots to them; we won't do any damage."
"He's right," May replied, sighing, watching as clouds rolled by the sun and another downpour of rain came. "Even if all the trainers in this city teamed up, we'd probably be able to only take down one, but not two. And that's some high hopes I have there."
"There's got to be something though ..." Flare murmured. "We got to at least evacuate or find Brendan or –"
Flare was interrupted as the entire building shook, huge boulders of white rock crumbling down. Groudon let another roar as golden specs formed inside his mouth. The specs formed into a ball and the ball formed into a beam of golden light headed straight toward the Kyogre. The Kyogre barely dodged, retaliating with his own beam of ice that missed the Groudon's head by a hair.
"Oh, Latias, we're going to die!" Skittles cried, burying her face in between her face. "I'm not ready to die! I haven't had my first kiss or had a family or even won a contest or anything! Why didn't we leave with the others?"
"Baby, I'm here," said Thunderbolt, advancing on the Delcatty.
"Sod off!"
May returned her Pokemon into their balls except for Flare. Looking at her, she asked, "Do you know anything about Kyogre and Groudon and their first battle? Maybe if we repeat whatever happened back then, it'll stop them now."
"No," Flare muttered. She looked outside toward the Cave of Origin. "But I do know a place where can find out."
"I told you not to do it!" Maxie screeched, his voice heard even over the thunder. "You put the whole world into jeopardy!"
"Like you didn't!" Archie screamed back, disgusted with the leader of Team Magma. "If you didn't go with your little 'let's free Groudon so he can make more land' idea, the two legendaries of Hoenn wouldn't be at each other's throats!"
"Oh please! Freeing Kyogre wouldn't have helped! If I couldn't tame Groudon, what makes you think you could have tamed Kyogre?"
Brendan, fists clenched by his side, approached the two leaders, and muttered, "Now don't take all the credit, Maxie. You two both messed up the world. Feel proud."
Archie and Maxie stopped glaring at each other to glare at Brendan, angry and confused at the same time.
"It's the brat and the wimp," Archie murmured, shoving his pockets into his fist, spitting against the rock ground. "What are you doing here?"
"Just seeing what shenanigans you're up to," Brendan replied, smirking.
"Shenanigans?" Wally replied, looking at Brendan through the corner of his eye oddly.
"That's not important now; we both know that we've done something wrong," Maxie remarked, crossing his arms and scowling. "There's nothing we can do about it."
"Nothing?" Brendan scoffed, appalled. "You mean, you had this grand plan to change the world but didn't have a back up plan just in case things went wrong? How stupid can you be? Well let me tell you, you're going to find a way to fix this, whether you like it or not, and when you're done, I'm going to make sure both of you are in jail for life. Especially you, Archie." He glared at the Team Aqua leader, remembering what he did to his Pokemon.
The sun peeked its head through the stormy gray clouds just before the shadow of a bird pokemon flew over head. All four of them looked up and saw the steely silver of a Pokemon dive down toward them, its body glittering against the sun's light.
"We'd love to, but that seems to be our sign to leave," Maxie remarked as both he and Archie took out small smoke balls. Before Brendan could react, they both threw them down, engulfing themselves in thick, heavy smoke. Desperate, the boy trainer ran into the smoke and grabbed abound wildly, trying to get a hold of them, but it was too late; they were gone.
"Brendan!" shouted a voice overhead.
The bird Pokemon that flew overhead landed gracefully next to Brendan, blowing the gray smoke away. It was a Skarmory, its silver wings flapping, its claws scratching the rock's surface. On its back was Steven, Brendan and May's friend they met back in Fortree City when they encountered Kecleon.
"Steven?" Brendan asked, confused, as Steven dismounted from his Skarmory and returned it back to its Pokeball. "What are you doing here?"
Wally ran up to Brendan and Steven as Steven replied, "I heard there was a disturbance with the resting place of Kyogre, so I had to come here straight away. Looks like I'm too late. Looks like both Team Aqua and Team Magma both awoke the legendaries for their plan ... and failed."
Wally rubbed his chin. "Is that it then? Is that what's causing this bizarre weather? But with both Kyogre and Groudon awake, that means –"
"I'm afraid so," Steven interrupted grimly. "Kyogre and Groudon are most likely at Sootopolis, home of the Cave of Origin where they first fought and where Hoenn was formed. And frankly, there's no way to stop it except ..."
"Except what?" Brendan said as Steven lost his trail of thought.
"Except for –"
May ran her fingertips across the carved pictures and wording inside the walls of the cave, squinting her eyes in confusion. She pulled her flashlight away a bit, casting what little light she had across the wall. Turning around toward Flare, who was guarding the entrance, she asked, "What is a ... Rayquaza?"
Flare eyed her sheepishly. "How would I know? I'm not your Pokedex."
"This ... Rayquaza thing was the ... thing that stopped Kyogre and Groudon from fighting the first time and put them into an eternal sleep before leaving. Do you think there's a chance he's here? Maybe we can reawaken him too so he can stop those two from killing us."
"You are correct, my dear," said a voice from the entrance of the cave. Lighting his face with a flashlight, a well-dressed man walked in and stood behind May, his blue coattails flapping behind him. He ran a hand through his peppered black and gray hair as May turned around, immediately blushing.
"It is true," he remarked. "Rayquaza was the one that brought peace to both Kyogre and Groudon before heading back into the ozone. Though, there is a chance that he's here in a place called the Sky Pillar. Have you heard of it?"
May continued to stare at the beautiful man, not blinking, a small bead of drool running out of her mouth. Flare rolled her eyes and snapped her claws before May awake, dazed. "What? Oh, no, but I'm sure I can find it. But I'm not sure if I can even get there without getting caught in between them –" She stopped short when the man handed her a Pokeball.
"This is my Kingdra," the charming man said, smiling. "He can safely and swiftly get you outside the border's of the city. He already know how to dive; you just need a Water Pokemon to move you out of here once you're past the border."
May took the ball in her gloved hand, running a finger across its glossy surface. "But where would Rayquaza reside? It'd take forever to search the entire region for him."
"It is rumored that he resides in only one place when he lands," the man muttered. "And it's not too far from here."
"Well, where?"
Wally, holding a map up, peered behind the piece of paper and nodded. "Yep," he said. "This is the Sky Pillar according to Steven. Rayquaza, hopefully, is resting here."
Looking up to take in the entire height of the pillar, Brendan gasped, the salty sea breeze playing with his bandanna. "This thing is huge! It'll take forever to climb this thing!"
"Well, we better start now then," replied Wally, walking up the sandy path toward the entrance, Brendan following behind closely.
Pushing open the rusty door with a loud creak, Wally darted his head left and right before stepping into the building, the worn-down floorboards below him groaning from his weight. The building smelled like dead fish and rusty metal. Water dropped from the ceiling above them, and the cry of the occasional Zubat pierced through the air, echoing off of the walls. Slanted rain poured through the broken windows, lightning penetrating the darkness of the building.
Brendan and Wally pulled out a flashlight from each of his backpack, turning them on and flicking them around. One of the lights landed on a nearby staircase, and they started to walk in that direction, sand crunching beneath their shoes. They treaded slowly and carefully across the floorboards of the second floor, flinching each time a floorboard bent down further than expected.
"Ugh, this is dangerous," Wally said, taking a minute to step on a floorboard that creaked louder than the rest. "We're better off flying through the outside and entering through a window there."
"Too bad we don't know if there are windows up there," Brendan replied as they climbed up the steps to the third floor, Wally behind him. "It won't take long anyway. I mean, we're already on the third –"
Brendan stopped short as he fell through a broken floorboard, taking Wally down with him. Quickly, Wally grabbed hold onto a board and Brendan grabbed hold of Wally's feet, and the two swung mid-air between the second and third floor. Wally's flashlight rolled off the floor and down toward the ground, the flashlight breaking on impact.
"Great!" Wally said sarcastically, blowing up his bangs, his arms trembling from all the weight he was carrying. "Just great! I'm going to die with a moron clinging to my legs and still a virgin."
"Too much information," Brendan muttered, attempting to unclip a Pokeball from his belt while still holding onto Wally's leg. He swung back on forth on Wally's leg to gain momentum to throw the ball onto the floor above him, causing Wally to shriek.
"Quit it! You're going to make me let go!"
"Then how the hell are we suppose to get back up without the help of some Pokemon?" Brendan shouted back, putting his Pokeball back in his belt. "You're obviously too weak to pull us both up."
Frowning, Wally didn't respond as he watched a nearby Corphish crawl by, clicking his claws. His green eyes narrowed nervously as the Corphish poked his hands with a claw curiously, the Corphish blinking its eyes a few times.
"Please, don't," Wally muttered under his breath, trying to wiggle his fingers away from the claws of the Corphish.
The green-haired trainers plea went unheard as the Corphish opened his claw and snapped down on Wally's right hand, causing him to lose his grip and shriek as both he and Brendan plunged toward the darkness below ...
...That is if someone didn't catch him beforehand. The creature pulled both Brendan, Wally, and the now freaked out Corphish who let go of Wally's hand scuttled away.
"Brendan! Wally!" May cried as Flare settled the two boy trainers on the floor. She ran toward them and hugged both tightly, tears swimming in her eyes.
"May?" both boys asked together in unison, confused.
"Why are you guys here?" she asked, letting both boys go. "You heard about Rayquaza and how Groudon and Kyogre are fighting in Sootopolis?"
"Yeah, Steven told us when we encountered Archie and Maxie," Brendan answered. "But how did you leave Sootopolis? I thought none of your Pokemon could dive."
"Oh, this dreamy man lent me his Pokemon to lead me outside the city," May said, her eyes starry as she imagined the man in her head. Flare, rolling her eyes, snapped her claws to get May out of her trance. "What? Oh yeah. He told me about Rayquaza as well."
"So ..." Brendan looked up toward the remaining floors, hiding his flushed cheeks, "who is this guy?"
May, flustered, glared at Brendan. "Why do you care?"
"I don't!" he replied hastily. "Just wondering who made you look all dreamy for a minute."
Wally stared at May for a minute, shaking, his fists at his sides. Finally, taking a deep breath, he went toward May and hugged her tight, holding back tears. "May," he gasped. "May, I'm so sorry for what happened. For what I did."
May awkwardly patted Wally on the back, looking at Brendan confused. "What did you do to me, Wally?" she asked curiously.
"Don't you know?" the green-haired trainer replied, letting go of May, wiping his eyes. "I –"
"He's so sorry that he's a doofus and that he smells like rotten eggs," Brendan quickly interrupted, pulling Wally next to him. "Don't bother telling her what you did," he hissed through Wally's ear.
"What? Why?" Wally whispered back.
"She doesn't know that you're the one that told Archie about her being a spy," the white-haired trainer replied. "As far as I know, you do owe her, but there's no need to rough up your relationship with her now. Not at this very moment anyway."
"Oh ... kay?" May said slowly, scratching her head.
"Yeah, I'm just ... weird," Wally muttered, pocketing his fists.
"Well, in that case –" May pointed up toward the top of the pillar, "– we better get a move on!"
It was quiet. Really quiet.
Brendan kicked a pebble across the smooth, stone surface of the top of the Sky Pillar. The pebble rattled and skipped across the surface, colliding with a boulder ahead. "There's nothing here," he said, disappointed.
The three trainers walked toward the center of the room, each one looking around, flicking their flashlights around.
"Oh, Rayquaza has to be here! He should at least know of the fight between Kyogre and Groudon by now!" May cried out desperately, her voice echoing in the room.
"C'mon," Wally urged, walking in front of the duo. "I can feel a presence in this room. He has to be up ahead."
Shrugging at each other, Brendan and May followed the green-haired trainer further into the room. Climbing up a set of elaborate stone stairs, the three trainers gasped at the sight in front of them. For there was Rayquaza, curled up, his head resting on his tail. Yellows and red marks went up and down his slender but thick, snake-like body, and through his open mouth was sharp, jagged teeth. His claws dug into the stone ground with ease as if he were having an uneasy dream. The two points on his head twitched like they were ears as the three trainers walked closed toward him.
"Wow ..." gasped Brendan. "He's so ... wow."
May gripped onto Brendan's shoulder, peering around his head. "Wake him up or something."
"What?" Brendan asked, absurd. "Girl, you so crazy."
"Don't call me 'girl,' you moron."
Wally, bending over to pick up a pebble, threw it up in the air a bit before catching it. "Well, here it goes," he said softly, throwing the pebble gently toward the sleeping beast. The pebble skipped along the ground for what seemed like eternity before it hit the side of the Rayquaza.
Startled, the Rayquaza snorted and lifted his head from his tail. He growled, lifting his body from the ground and levitated with ease, his tail brushing the ground, flicking up dirt. He then narrowed his cold, beady eyes at the three trainers, blowing air at them with his nose.
"Think he knows about Kyogre and Groudon?" May whispered.
"If he didn't before, I'm sure he knows by now," Brendan replied back quietly.
The Rayquaza circled the three trainers slowly, still eying them closely. A low growl sounded through the back of his throat as he stopped and look up toward the open entrance of the pillar, waving his tail at the three trainers.
"Does he ... does he want us to go with him?" Wally asked curiously.
"He didn't eat us, so maybe he needs us for now," Brendan replied. "I guess we should before he kills us. What harm is there in going with him?"
"Dying?"
"Ah, right. Dying isn't good."
And with that, Brendan, hesitantly, climbed up the back of Rayquaza, Wally following suit. The two boys then helped May climb up, and the three clung on for the lives as the mighty beast flew straight up into the gloomy, clouded sky. He passed through the clouds, water dripping off his body and onto the three trainers from doing so and into the bright sunlight before leveling his body out much to the trainers' relief. Letting out a mighty roar, the Rayquaza swerved back and forth, his body forming S's in the air.
After a few minutes of flying, the Rayquaza dove sharply back into the gray clouds, barely dodging a lightning bolt (which made all three trainers scream) and toward the white mountains that protected the city of Sootopolis. He went at a very fast speed; even though he way far above the water, the water rippled beneath him anyway. He headed straight toward the Groudon and Kyogre, letting out another tremendous roar that echoed against the white mountains. He then stopped abruptly above the Kyogre and Groudon, darting his head between the two of them like a tennis match.
The three trainers found their chance to get off the Rayquaza's back by sliding off their tail and into the shallow part of the lake. Knee deep in the water, the three waded their way toward the shore and tried to get away from the three fighting Pokemon as far as possible.
"Stay here," Brendan said, placing May behind a small boulder that could barely cover her body when crouched.
"Then where are you two going to hide?" she asked as the two boys as they pressed themselves against the wall of a building.
"Don't worry about us," Wally replied, worried. "Hopefully Rayquaza will just stop them without any fighting."
Wally was wrong.
Enraged by the sight of the Sky High Pokemon, Groudon and Kyogre teamed up and aimed two beams of red and blue toward Rayquaza, who dodged them both with ease and circled behind the two, a ball of golden energy forming in between his claws. He fired the ball at the two who split up. The ball hit the water and continued its destructive path toward a mountain, blowing a large portion of it into huge chunks.
Brendan then heard the scream of a woman nearby, her foot trapped beneath a rather large boulder. Looking at May and then the woman, Brendan ran toward her, a Pokeball gripped tightly in his hands. "Hang on!" he said, sprinting toward her before another blast took place.
All three roaring at the same time, Rayquaza dove toward Kyogre and bit him, hitting Groudon against the head with his heavy tail. Both Kyogre and Groudon were angry at this and fire another shot at Rayquaza who took the attack directly. Letting go of Kyogre, Rayquaza cried out, flying lopsided before regaining stability. He flew above the two Pokemon in the water again and formed another ball of golden energy, this time in his mouth. The energy snapped and crackled angrily in his mouth before he released it. Groudon barely side-stepped it and the ball headed straight toward some buildings ...
... and May.
Brendan, who hadn't come back from helping the woman who was trapped, hadn't noticed the ball of energy heading toward the petrified girl trainer. Wally did though.
He had to save her. Even if it meant his own life. He owed it to her for what he did.
Without thinking and without question, he pushed May out of the way and stood right in the line of fire.
Dun dun dun!
Muddy: I laik pai.
LaTeR dAyZ!
Last Revision: 1/23/09
