Chapter 8: Chance Meetings

Nori was well away from Petalburg, even before the sun rose. The distance between Rustboro and Petalburg was greater than the distances she had previously traveled, and through a large forest to boot. She would have to be incredibly lucky to reach Rustboro in one day's worth of travel.

The sun burned in fiery splendor as she reached the coast, its sea-salt breezes and raucous wingulls all too familiar to her. She saw—and fought—plenty of trainers, but the only sign of human habitation that she noticed was a cottage on the beach and a dock beyond. She wondered, briefly, who lived there, before turning her attention back to the Petalburg Woods.

The ancient trees loomed dark and forbidding to the north of her, leafy crowns stretching, groping for sunlight. The forest floor would be thick with the layered leaf litter of countless years, little sunlight piercing the tightly knit leaves. Nori remembered stories told of forest gods, some peaceful guardians only terrible when roused, others, monsters with an insatiable hunger for blood. She doubted that any such creature could remain hidden, considering the volume of trainers that passed through on any given day.

But still…one had to wonder…

~*~*~

Nori had stopped for a rest and a snack when the cries reached her.

"Ahhhh, help! Team Aqua attack! Team Aqua!"

She quickly slung her backpack over a shoulder and ran toward the shouts, Bitey trotting in her wake. The poochyena barked excitedly, his gray tufted tail held high.

The source of the cries turned out to be a man in business attire, looking extremely out of place in the forest. He had his back to a tree and looked extremely frightened as a poochyena and its trainer, a Team Aqua grunt, advanced on him.

Nori recalled Bitey and picked a rock up off the forest floor. It was a little larger than a golf ball.

"Hey! Pirate wannabe!" she yelled, whipping the rock at the grunt.

It struck him in the arm, and he cried out, probably more from surprise than pain. He turned his attention from the businessman to her.

"Stay out of this!" he yelled, trying to sound intimidating.

"Pick on someone with pokémon, eh? Then again, bullying the defenseless is what Team Aqua does best, isn't it?" she mocked, pulling Agni's pokéball off her belt.

"I'll have your pokémon for that!" the grunt snarled, his poochyena turning toward her, too.

"We'll see. Go, Agni!"

The torchic appeared in a flash of red light, immediately ready for battle.

"Poochyena, bite it!"

"Use Ember, and aim for the eyes!"

The small wolf-like pokémon charged at Agni, his jaws wide. He dodged the fireballs and bit the torchic savagely. Nori glanced at her pokédex; this poochyena was at a higher level than she had thought. Agni pecked and scratched wildly, but appeared to be growing weaker. Damn it, I'll have to bring out Bitey…huh?

Agni seemed to erupt in orange light, her opponent releasing his hold and backing away in confusion. When the glow subsided, Nori realized that her torchic had evolved. The combusken shot forward, releasing a barrage of kicks from her powerful hind legs at the dark wolf, who was too slow to dodge this more powerful opponent's attacks. With a final, punishing blow, the poochyena was launched into the air to fall motionless at his trainer's feet. The grunt stared in shock for a second or two before recalling his fallen pokémon. "Watch yourself, trainer," was all he said before he ran off along the path.

Nori did not have time to congratulate Agni before the businessman ran up to her, thanking her profusely.

"I don't know what I would've done, these papers are worth more than my job—"

"Whoa, slow down. What did that grunt want?"

"I have some important papers I was delivering to Rustboro, and somehow that grunt knew I had them. I'm not really sure why he'd want them at all, they're really—"

"So, why are you walking around in a business suit?" said Nori, raising an eyebrow.

"Hmm? Oh no, I'm traveling by car, I just stopped because I wanted to see if I could find a shroomish. I love that pokémon, you know—"

"Oh. I see."

"Hey, are you going to Rustboro?"

"Yeah, I was thinking of challenging the gym."

"Would you like a ride? It's quite a bit faster than walking, and a wonderful view."

"Absolutely," said Nori, without much hesitation. There weren't any pokémon she wanted to capture in the forest, and she figured her pokémon were more than tough enough for the gym leader.

"Great, it's just over here…I think."

Nori congratulated Agni as they walked, promising food and attention once they were in Rustboro. The fire chicken smiled happily, then converted to energy as Nori recalled her.

The businessman found his vehicle quickly, parked in a clearing. Nori goggled at it; it wasn't so much a car as it was a jump jet. She remembered seeing cars of a similar kind when she was much younger, on holiday in Goldenrod City in Johto. They were pretty common in the big cities, tearing along with blue anti-gravity boosters humming. They were only capable of a limited altitude, unlike this one, which could obviously go much higher. It would need to, to clear the forest's canopy.

Nori felt a sudden twinge of resentment as she hopped in the passenger's side; anti-grav vehicles were common enough, it was merely her inexperience with the real world that caused her this amazement. It was one of the things she hated most of all: being inexperienced or ignorant.

"Make sure to put on your seat belt," the businessman said, brightly. She complied, not wanting to end up a red splatter on the windshield by any means.

"Edward Notley," said an artificial voice, startling Nori. "Welcome."

"Edward Notley," the businessman repeated. "Thank you."

It seemed to be some sort of command code; the myriad of lights and dials in front of him lit up, and the vehicle went into a hover with a rhythmic thrum.

"It's coded to my voice," Notley explained. "No one else can drive it. Safety reasons."

Nori nodded, then felt like her spine had been compressed to half its length as they shot upward. They cleared the roof of the forest, and Nori caught a glimpse of forest stretching in all directions before the machine shot forward.

"It can be kind of scary the first time," said Notley, misunderstanding Nori's shocked expression, "but it's really a lot of fun!"

~*~*~

Nori was never so glad to have her feet on solid ground.

She had thanked Mr. Notley, then staggered off to the pokécenter, where, god willing, she would pass out and/or die.

Neither of her wishes were fulfilled as she sat in the lounge and waited for her stomach to return to its proper location. She decided that she had a definite fear of being completely out of her own control. When the ground stopped swaying like the deck of a ship, she stood up slowly and shuffled over to the cafeteria. She treated her nausea by drinking three cans of ginger ale, which actually worked rather well. She had absolutely no patience left, however, for the two arguing teens who entered the caf' and sat down rather near to her.
"They are evil, damn you, they killed my parents!"

"That was only two of them, you can't know they're all evil—"

"Actually I can, and they are despicable people!"

"Look, just because some of them do horrible things doesn't mean—"

"Just shut up about what you don't underst—"

"Would you two SHUT UP!?" Nori roared angrily. "There are some of us trying to enjoy our ginger ale, thanks!"

They both glared at her. The girl looked around average height, had brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and wore a light blue T-shirt and black jeans. Abruptly, she stood up and left the cafeteria, the double doors swinging widely, marking her exit. The boy watched her leave, but shrugged and turned his attention to the table top when she had gone.
"Uh, so…what was that about?" said Nori, an eyebrow raised.

"Er, I heard her talking about how evil Team Aqua is…it just bugs me. I dunno how we wandered in here, I don't even know her." He shrugged, twisting a spike of his black hair.

"I see. Why would it bother you? I thought it was the general consensus that Team Aqua—and Magma, for that matter—are deplorable bastards."

He mumbled something she didn't catch.

"The way I see it…well, they do horrible things sometimes, but they're not exactly evil. They've just got this 'the end justifies the means' philosophy that's proven to be rather unpleasant for the rest of us. You can't see things in black and white, most of the time…" Nori shrugged, downing the last of her ginger ale.

The boy looked up at her, seemed to be studying her with his very blue eyes.

"So what's your name?"

"Huh? Oh, Dom. Dominic Jenkins."

"Noirsha Hunter, but I go by Nori. Nice t' meetcha."

"Yeah, nice to meet you, too…Are you a trainer?"

Nori nodded. "Yeah, not for very long, though. I was going up to challenge the gym leader."

"Oh really? I just beat her, she's a pushover. Uses rock types," he said, withdrawing a brass-colored badge from a pocket as evidence.

"Wonderful, I've got a fighting pokémon."

"Hey, after you get the badge, you're going to Dewford, right?"

"That's the plan."

"Need someone to go with?" he asked.

Nori looked him over, appraisingly. He was dressed in a yellow and green sleeveless shirt and jeans, looked to be a bit taller than she was, and looked pretty strong, especially in the arms.

"Yeah, sure. How old are you, anyway?"

"Fifteen."

"I'm seventeen. Welcome aboard, I guess."

~*~*~

Lily opened her eyes with some effort, only to close them again as sunlight burned through her pupils. She groaned, put her hands up to her face. What had happened, again? She turned to her side, hearing springs squeak under her weight. She kept one hand clamped over her eyes, shutting out the awful light, and felt around with the other. Sheets, blankets: it felt like her bed. There was no one beside her, which was extremely good. She relaxed, sat up—a mistake. Her head swam and she pressed her hands to her temples to stop the pounding. She rose, tentatively, and felt her way over to the window. She stubbed her toe on something sharp, had to bite back an obscenity. Finally, she found the string connected to the blinds and pulled it to the side, let go. There was the hiss of venetian blinds falling and then a thunk as it, presumably, hit the windowsill. She turned the plastic rod attached to the blinds until the angry red glare on the inside of her eyelids went away.

Lily opened her eyes carefully. Her room was in shadow, she saw as she looked around blearily. She heard a whine beside her and looked down to see red eyes looking at her.

"Oh, Fenrir…it's okay, I'm just really hung over." Her mouth felt sticky and old inside as she spoke.

Fenrir whined again and looked around; Lily saw that three of her four pokémon were outside of their pokéballs. The red eyes in the corner were probably Malaclypse, and the maroon pair under her bed would be Phlox. She pushed her spiky bangs out of her face and wandered over to her closet-sized bathroom, Fenrir following, still whining with concern.

After she had filled her sink with cold water and dunked her head in it, and washed her mouth out, she felt a lot better, more lucid. All she needed now was some coffee or chocolate or something and she'd be fine…

Lily was somewhat started by the knock on her door, which was immediately followed by barking: Malaclypse's carnivorous baritone and Phlox's soprano yipping. She would have told them to shut up, but she knew that yelling over the noise of the barking would make her headache unbearable. Fenrir seemed to sense what was needed, and snarled at the two, her angry tenor silencing them both. Phlox retreated back under Lily's bed but Malaclypse jumped up on top of her bed, his eyes defiant. Lily glared at the houndoom but didn't bother to order him off.

Lily glanced down, making sure she had appropriate clothing on—her dark gray tank top and boxer shorts, it would suffice—and hit the switch to the right of the door. It opened with a hiss, revealing Ben, missing his uniform top and carrying two large thermoses and a messenger bag.

"Wow, Lily," he said, "you're a mess. Want some coffee?"

Lily rubbed her eyes. "I agree and yes. Please."

"Great, can I come inside? It's easier to pour this stuff with a table handy, is all."

"Sure, but the wolves are out…"

"Malaclypse?" said Ben, visibly paling. "I think I'll stay out here, thanks."

"Suit yourself," said Lily, turning and grabbing a thermal mug off her desk. "Coffee please. So what are you doing, with all this?"

"Well," said Ben, as he held one of the thermoses over Lily's mug and slowly dispensed the coffee, "everybody in our unit—except me, of course—got really piss-ass drunk last night, so I figured you'd all need a visit from the Hangover Patrol. I won't even repeat some of the stuff you were telling me when I hauled you back to your room."

"I see. Gods…I didn't…?"

"No, nothing like that. You just had about twelve beers, and I figured you'd had enough, by then. You didn't…erm…do anything you'd regret, really, if you take my meaning. Courtney, on the other hand…" he grinned mischievously.

Lily smiled, weakly. "So what was that party about again?" she asked, sipping her drink.

"Maxie's birthday."

"Oh, that…christ, did I get him something?"

"Yes, we duct-taped it to the wall outside his door, remember?"

"Right, right…"

"What was it, anyway?"

"Hmm? Oh, a fire stone…I found it on that last mission we did, scouting around Mt. Chimney. I wanted to save it to use on Phlox, but…eh. Whatever."

"So what's up? You don't drink, usually," said Ben, concerned.

Lily sighed. "I dunno, I just…look, is there anyone around?"

Ben glanced down the corridors to both sides. "Not that I can see."

"Good…look, during my performance review…I wanted to tell Maximus something. He as good as gave me a chance to say so, but…I chickened out, gave him a generic answer. I've been feeling really stupid because of that, so I just…wanted to forget, you know? It's just…I just think that we're doing something wrong."

"Who? You and me?"

"No, I mean the whole team, the whole organization. I've been looking around for old books, for theories…I'm starting to feel that if we awaken the earth god, it's not going to be good."

"What do you mean?"

"Look…whenever people try to change the environment, it messes everything up. Remember the predator culls? There was a balance, and it was upset…and in the end, there was only death. Death for so many pokémon. The Ikeru Forest is only just recovering, now, and it's been what, twenty years? If we awaken Groudon…it'll have global effects. What if something goes wrong, and we have to stop Groudon? Capture, kill, anything to stop it. How many hundreds of years could it take for the world to recover?"

Ben looked at her for a long time before answering. "I really don't know…but whatever happens, the group—we're loyal to you. If you want to mutiny, go renegade—we're with you, all the way. Just give the word."

Lily shook her head. "Thanks…but I really, really hope it doesn't come to that."

~*~*~

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

Maximus turned in his crimson leather chair. Standing before him, once again, was Lillith. He marveled at her, how his only competent administrator—fine, one of the only; he had reversed his opinions on a couple of them after their performance reviews—could be so foolish as to voice her opinions in the hallway, where anyone could hear. True, no one knew about the hidden microphones except for his Executive of Espionage and second-in-command, and true, she was hung over as hell, but really. There would be no repercussions, of course; her opinions may have opposed the Team philosophy and that grunt had suggested mutiny, but this was Lillith, after all, and the thoughts she had voiced troubled him still.

Maximus could still not believe how the orphan he had raised from infancy had grown; she stood five foot ten, lean and powerful, wearing the uniform intended for a senior male admin, with its double gray stripes on the pants, short cape and elongated horns on the hood. She was one of the team's most skilled trainers. There was something about her perpetually bored expression, with a few wisps of light purple hair framing her face, that intrigued him even now.

"Ah, Lillith…I wished to inform you that your next mission will not be for some time. I have received word that Team Aqua is mobilizing for a major mission sometime in the next few weeks. I want to send my best to stop them, and that's you and your unit. My second-in-command and I will also be accompanying you."

Lillith nodded, her face betraying little emotion as always.

"We believe it has something to do with Mt. Chimney, but—"

The door opened with an abrupt hiss. Lily turned to look, but it was immediately apparent who and entered. Only one person could get away with bursting into Maxie's office uninvited.

"Speak of the devil," Lily muttered, inaudible to all but herself.

She strode in, lordly, commanding, flanked by two white pokémon—one with red markings and the other with blue. A red cape fluttered out behind her, full-length, showing her superiority to the admins of the team. The cape, a pair of red gauntlets and a tank top emblazoned with the Team's symbol were where the similarities to the uniform ended. She wore black boots and black jeans also, her arms folded and expression angry. Mal Firestorm ignored Lily and walked over to her father, slamming something down on his desk.

Maximus could never understand why Lillith and Mal had never gotten along. Raised as sisters, though their ages differed by seven years, they seemed to have always hated one another. Then again, Mal hated everything, especially after…no, mustn't do to think about that. Not in front of these two.

Maxie closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them only to stare at the thing Mal had placed upon his desk.

~*~*~

w00t, three submitted characters appeared in zis chapter…could you tell who the third one was? Hehe, but don't worry, we'll see them again. Anywho, what didja think of that chapter? Tell me in a review!

BTW, I was reading over the older chapters, and I'm changing Archie's full name to Archibald…I mean, "Archivellus"? Sorry, I've been reading wayyyyyy too many novels set in the Roman/Byzantine era. Lordy lord…