NOTE: ALL CANON CHARACTERS HAVE BEEN AGED UP, BECAUSE PRETEENS GOING ON ADVENTURES IS DANGEROUS. MOST TRAINERS EMBARK ON THEIR GYM CHALLENGES AROUND 17-18.
The Briefing
"Alrighty. You all listen up now, you little scamps! Boss man has had his eyes on Devon Corp in Rustboro for a while now." The very noticeably and distractingly bare-chested giant of a man at the front of the meeting room began, clicking on his remote to change the presentation projected behind him to a picture of what appeared to be a large, modern building surrounded by an intimidating black metal fencing. "Shelley's old reports say that they were making the final parts for the submarine we're gonna steal for Operation Rough Skin, but we had no idea if those were still legit. At least we weren't until a couple of days ago." Another click. This time, a man in his mid 40s appeared on the projection. He wore a combover, with light brown hair and spectacles that were so thick they were almost comical. A snort could be heard from the back of the room.
"This is Doctor…" The buff man trailed off clearly blanking on the name and turning around to look at the screen as it bounced onto the slide. "Right. Doctor Howard Granee, Assistant Head Of R&D at Devon Corp. According to a loyalist we got on the inside, Granee's been put in charge of the making of the part thingies. You four are gonna jump him and take them. Any questions?"
A single hand rose at the front of the room. It was from a guy, no older than twenty; with paleish skin and some cold-looking grey eyes. "Uh, yes. Is that it?" A confused look from his superior led him to elaborate, after first clearing his throat. "Like, is there anything else we should know about? Has he got any Pokemon? Any places he frequents?"
The older man was unsure. "I dunno what you mean, Cal. Instructions are clear. Jump the guy, steal his shit. Could do it in my sleep." He stopped for a moment. "Prolly have done it in my sleep."
Another voice was raised, this time from next to Cal. It belonged to another guy, a little bit older than his fellow grunt. He had tanned skin, and his eyes were that of a dark brown. On his chin, a little bit of dark brown scruff that suggested an attempt at a beard. "C'mon Cal, don't worry so much about the little stuff like this. I mean, look at the guy. I've seen tougher looking Skitty."
"The hell did you just say about Skitty, Wade?" Yet another voice, this time from the back row. A girl this time, she had jumped out of her seat and slammed her hands on the table. With amber (currently rage-filled) eyes, a chocolatey skin tone and a ponytail that poked out of her Team Aqua mandated bandana; she made her two male cohorts jump in their seats.
Wade was quick to recover, and even quicker to shoot back. "Do you need me to repeat myself? I said that I've seen tougher Skitty than the scientist guy. All on you for takin' that to be an insult to Skitty." He punctuated this with the most shit-eating grin that Cal had ever seen, and Cal had seen a lot of shit-eating grins in his time. The female grunt, as you could probably expect, took this incredibly well.
"You son of a bitch!"
Cal leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table and his hands over his ears. He and Wade had worked with the female grunt, Seline, a couple of times before: but even in such a short time frame the two had already grown adept at getting under each other's skin, which was the second thing that added to Cal's bad feeling about this mission. The first of course being the hastily put together, Matt-led meeting they were currently attending.
The third was the fourth member of their little circus troupe. A newbie, sat at the back of the room who watched the escalating with a distant bemusement. Her name escaped him for the moment, but her strange red eyes and the Whismur she insisted on always keeping out of its pokeball (The poor thing was currently hiding under the table from the quickly raising voices) were certainly something that set her apart from the rest of the grunts in the room.
Taking a heavy sigh, Cal made the mistake of removing his hands from his ears.
"Yeah, well at least I never nearly burned this place down because I forgot to take the soup out of the can."
"Hey, That was one time!"
"Twice, Wade. Just because I wasn't here on Friday doesn't mean it didn't happen."
"Someone told you about that?! But only Dereck and Cal were-" Wade span his head, his eyes puppy-like at the perceived betrayal. "Cal. After all we've been through together?"
Slightly offended, Cal answered in a level tone. "First off: I've known you for what, a month? Second, it was Dereck. You know the guy's got eyes for her." Wade nodded somberly in response, theatrical as ever.
Seline, who had since sat back down; lit up a cigarette with a sigh. "Arceus, he's still on that? I thought I had let him down easy."
"Little too easy, prolly." Matt spoke up once more, seemingly completely invested in the romantic drama within the grunts; on account of him pulling up his own chair and leaning with his chin in his hands at Cal and Wade's table. "My advice? She oughta-"
The door at the back of the room slammed open, making all occupants save for the newbie jump. A tall, tanned woman with black hair and blue highlights strode in; a grumpy look on her face.
"Someone's in trouble…" Wade murmured, making Cal bite his lip to prevent himself from smiling.
"Matt. Are you done briefing them yet?" Shelley asked, clearly already knowing the answer.
"Shelley! Um, yeah. Just, uh… Briefing them. On the, like, layout of the forest." Matt offered, having leapt from his chair with surprising speed.
Her eyes drifted to the screen, still showing Granee's profile. "Hmm. That's a weird looking forest. Strange how much those two lakes look so much like a pair of glasses. Isn't nature just wonderful?"
Matt looked at the screen, then back at Shelley, then to the screen, then to Shelley again. He opened his mouth to respond, but thought better of it. The woman crossed her arms, indicating to the door with her head.
A downcast Matt left the room, but not before offering the grunts a solemn thumbs up.
Pinching her nose momentarily, she took Matt's position at the front of the room; allowing herself a small smile as she saw the entire group of grunts trying incredibly hard not to laugh. "How much did he leave out?"
Celine took a drag from her cigarette before answering. "To be fair, he got all the important stuff. Just the minutiae was left out. His Pokemon, frequented places, stuff like that."
Shelley, to her credit, looked shocked. "Huh. Guess I owe Archie some Poké. Anyway, back to business." She went to the front of the room to a metal table, covered in loose folders and sheets of paper. After a little digging, she found what she was looking for; a folder that she had soon placed in front of Cal. He picked it up, reading through it as both Seline and Wade read it over his shoulder. The newbie had also stood up, walking over and standing a little behind Seline.
"Apparently, he has a fondness for Shroomish, for some reason. Locals have noted that he seems to trek back and forth between Rustboro and Petalburg Woods in an effort to observe the local population. If nothing else, it's a starting point. He doesn't have any Pokemon of his own, but he might be traveling with a company one as protection."
"Probably not much of a threat, then." Cal noted. "If nothing else, he's got nothing in the way of experience as a trainer."
"Precisely." Shelley nodded. "Which is why you'll probably not even have to worry about a battle. That said, doesn't hurt to be prepared. Seline."
The grunt in question looked up.
"You're in charge."
Seline nodded confidently, giving both an indifferent Cal and an indignant Wade a smug look. "Of course, I'll get it done."
"Good to hear. We got a flying team ready to go in half an hour on the beachfront. Dismissed." The four in question nodded, slowly filing out of the room and leaving Shelley to get all the files in order, wondering aloud how Matt had gotten the papers in a mess in such a small period of time.
The Team Aqua base was about as glamorous as one could expect from a secret hideaway of an eco-terrorist group located in a beach cave. For one, it was not very well ventilated. The place always smelled of salt water, fried electronics and body odor; most of the time all three at once. While there were a few great halls located around the base as canteens and the like, most of the base was made up of tiny corridors and even tinier rooms. It was part of the reason that Cal was so glad that Wade was easy to get along with. If he was bunking with someone he disliked, he probably would've already gone crazy.
Speaking of which, the two were currently heading back to their room; having split up with both Seline and the newbie when they left the meeting in order to gear up and prepare.
"... And that is why I never caught a Seviper. Shit's insane, right?"
Cal blinked, looking behind him as if looking to see if anyone else was there to clue him in on what exactly he had just completely ignored in favour of mentally complaining about his present living conditions. Instead, he just bullshitted. "Yep. Insane." He murmured in a monotone.
"You weren't listening to a word I just said, were you?"
"Nope."
"Cal, I love you, but talking to you is like talking to a brick wall."
"Talking to you is like slamming my head into a brick wall, so I guess that works out great."
"I guess it does." Wade nodded approvingly, coming to a stop outside their shared room. He opened it, flourishing dramatically. "After you, sir."
Cal didn't dignify this with a response, instead brushing past him to enter the incredibly-cramped room. It wasn't decorated at all, save for a Team Aqua logo hanging off the wall. In the corner was a desk with a small laptop on it, and in the opposite one was a body-length mirror; while the rest of the space was made up of a closet and a metal-framed bunk bed. Cal climbed up to his bunk, grabbing his trainer belt: adorned with a single Pokeball. Climbing back down off his bed, he put on the belt as Wade did the same with his own.
"You still only got the one?" Wade asked, earning a confused look from Cal. "Pokemon, that is. Would've thought you'd have caught another by now."
"No point. Hendrix does the job just fine. Plus, he's enough of a handful by himself." Cal replied shortly, receiving a half-hearted hum from Wade.
"Suit yourself, I guess." Wade checked his watch. "We still got 'bout fifteen minutes, but we better hustle. Seline doesn't like waiting, and I don't wanna give her an excuse to abuse her authority."
"Better than either of us being in charge."
"You kidding? I'd be a hell of a squad leader, wouldn't I?"
Cal chose not to reply, instead leaving the room and starting down the hall.
"Cal? Wouldn't I?" Wade soon followed him out of the room, calling down the hallway. "Cal?!"
Elsewhere
May left the Petalburg Gym with a spring in her step and her Torchic in her arms. It had been so long since she last saw her dad, and the proud look on his face when he saw her walk in the door with a Pokemon trailing along behind her was not something she would soon forget. That was of course, before that Wally boy had meekly made his way into the Gym, asking for some help in catching a Pokemon. May had jumped at the request, perhaps to show off how responsible she was now after the three years they spent apart.
"Tor?" The Torchic chirped inquisitively, looking up at her trainer with round eyes.
"Oh, nothing, Amber. I just feel like everything's been turning up May." She grinned, hugging the small chick Pokemon closer to her, earning a delighted chirp.
As she left the small town, she spotted the looming shadow of the Petalburg Woods; before looking down at Amber. "Now, shall we get ready for our Gym Challenge debut?"
The Pokemon gave a resolute and incredibly serious nod, the juxtaposition leading to May letting out a laugh.
"Then let's get right to it."
A/N
Hey all, I'm not dead.
This is a little side project I've been working on for a while, to try rekindle my passion for writing so I can get back to AFY. I will try to update this at least semi-regularly, but no promises.