A/N: Still can't find my notes, working on 'em though. This whole story was also partially inspired by Hilary Duff's "Coming Clean". Please don't ask why, I'm not exactly totally sure why myself, but if anyone can catch it later in the story, you might find parts that reflect that song.
Ch 2
Sera Evice sipped at her glass as Lady Venus listened to the reports come in from the news on television. She clapped her hands gleefully and looked towards her boss.
"See? Soon, Hoenn will be all ours! It's only a matter of time before the rest of the gyms fall and we move on to part two of our plans for this island!" she laughed, "Isn't it wonderful, Miss Evice?"
"A matter of time, yes." Sera murmured, leaning back in her seat as she set her glass of wine aside. She closed her eyes and smiled as she dredged up the mental image of her twin. "I'll have everything soon enough. Power, money, and Seth. The one man that escaped me, not once, but twice. They do say that the third time is the charm."
"Miss Evice?" Lady Venus asked, confused by her boss's words. She snapped alert and glared at her.
"You will proceed with the domination of Hoenn. Ein and I have important matters to contend with regarding the Sky Pillar here." she ordered and got up, walking away with a swish of her pale blue gown, golden hair and shoulders adorned with silver wings. "Don't fail me like you failed my father! You should be grateful that I bothered to drag you out of the Deep and back into this position with the Cipher Corporation!" Lady Venus nodded and summoned her servants, all of them handsome young men, to send her own orders out to the members of Team Venus. She had three more Gyms to take. Once she had them, she could move in on the real prize, the most powerful trainers Hoenn had to offer the world...
Petalburg City was ravaged by the battles between Venus grunts and trainers from the Gym and city. The Gym, marked by a sign, was heavily damaged as a middle-aged man stood on its rooftop with his Gym Trainers, all of whom were launching as many powerful attacks as possible on the pink-clad grunts attacking the building. Seth and Rui burst out of the forest and made their way to the group, taking in the scene quickly.
"They've got Team Venus surrounded!" Rui cried, "I think the trainers are winning!" There were trainers and bug catchers on nearly all sides of the large group of women laying siege to the Gym. The side of the building suddenly exploded and they rushed around to it, racing to get inside as the people on the roof fell in surprise and from the shock of the explosion.
"May! They've got May!" a young man's voice cried as one of the women raced out of the building, a figure slung over her shoulder. A boy raced after her, yelling at the top of his lungs. He was the one who had shouted. "Get back here!"
"Bodybuilders. Ugh." Seth grumbled, and threw out a Skarmory, "Get over there and stop that woman!" The bird flew at the bodybuilder and knocked her over, sending both her and the figure tumbling to the ground.
"Oof!" the captive grunted as Seth and Rui caught up to the grunt. It was a girl dressed in a red blouse with a white skirt and black shorts. Her brown hair was styled to resemble a pair of long ponytails that flared out away from her face, a red and white bandana tied around her head. The girl picked herself up and rubbed her head, wincing. "Gee, thanks a lot. I could've been brain-damaged, y'know." she grumbled and looked surprised as the boy reached her.
"May! Are you okay?" he cried and Seth took the time to study him as well. The boy was roughly his age and wore a black and red shirt with black pants tucked into red and black running shoes. The colors must have been fashionable for Hoenn. He also had on a white cap trimmed with a wide black band bearing the image of a red Poké Ball printed on the front. Both he and the girl, May, wore Navs on their waist, the boy to his belt, the girl's clipped to a hip pouch.
"I'm fine, thanks to these two." May replied, waving at Seth and Rui, "But we have to get back to Dad's Gym! Those grunts are trying to get in!"
"We're here to help! Let's go!" Rui exclaimed and the four raced back to rejoin the battle.
Within a few short minutes, and with Seth, the boy and May using their Pokémon to defend the Gym, the grunts finally were forced to abandon the city and fled. Rui saw no Shadow Pokémon of any kind and sat down to rest while the trainers gathered to investigate the newcomers, repair the damages, and heal their wounds.
"My name's May Thorne. My father, Norman Thorne, runs this Gym. I'm glad you helped us keep it and my father safe. I don't know what would have happened if we lost Petalburg to Team Venus." the girl remarked.
"I'm Brendan Birch. The both of us are from Littleroot Town. I don't know who you are, but I'm grateful to you for saving my girlfriend from those grunts." the boy added in a relieved tone, "We were barring entrance from the front; I had no idea they'd blow out the side to get in!"
"I'm Seth, no last name. This is Rui Roane. We're from the land of Orre, across the sea to the south." Seth replied, "We were sent by the Kids Grid and Professor Birch to help you and these trainers deal with Venus. Why would they bother kidnapping May if they were supposed to take the Gym Leader hostage to conquer the Gym?"
"Easy. I'm the League Champion of Hoenn, the most powerful trainer on the island. I just hide that fact." May answered with a shrug. Brendan laughed sheepishly, rubbing his head.
"Not very well, though." he added, earning an elbow to the ribs.
"So where are the Shadow Pokémon?" Rui asked, accepting a cup of tea from a trainer making rounds and handing out drinks and food to revitalize the fighters.
"The Shadow what?" May remarked in confusion. Rui explained to them what she and Seth had done in the Orre region, making sure to leave a few parts out that would implicate Seth in unfavorable lights. "Oh. Wicked. Haven't seen anything like that here." the girl finally replied, "You know what? We should go and free the other Gyms! Once we have all eight Gym Leaders backing us, we can find out where Team Venus's hideout is and blow it up, too!"
"That won't cut it. We have to get rid of the group at the source. Lady Venus herself. If we can boot her out of Hoenn, the remainder of her lackeys will fall apart and the Gyms can save themselves." Seth pointed out, "I want to know which Gyms are under her control, which ones are protected, and what is the most sensitive area that could be attacked to cripple this whole island."
"Lavaridge Gym went down after the place was bombed." Brendan began with a sigh, "Dewford Gym was hit from the ocean, same as Mossdeep Gym. Rustboro Gym was taken over when it got surrounded, and Mauville Gym didn't have much in the way of defenses, so it fell after about an hour of battling."
"Fortree Gym is hidden deep in a huge forest, and the only way to reach it would be from the steps and connections in the treetops where the city is built. Firebombing it doesn't work, the whole city has water Pokémon for that sort of emergency." May added, "Sootopolis Gym is the most well guarded and a pain to reach. The easiest access to the city itself is via an underwater tunnel, you'd have to jump from planes flying over it to reach it any other way. It's located inside an ancient volcanic crater. The Gym is located on an island in the center of the city, is laid with ice floors and on top of that..." She leaned close to Seth and whispered into his ear. "Wallace himself isn't even in there. He's got his best trainers patrolling outside of the Cave of Origin and he's deep inside of that. You can't get through the cave without powerful lights and Pokémon."
"So basically, Hoenn has already fallen." Rui sighed dejectedly, "We got here too late, Seth."
"No way. Hoenn doesn't go down until the Elite Four does!" Brendan declared. Seth looked at him blankly. "The Elite Four is a group of trainers who run the Hoenn Pokémon League Challenge. They're among the most powerful trainers on this island. It's actually a misnomer; a trainer must fight the four Elites and the League Champion to become a Hall of Famer and new Champion. The former Champion can try again next year to reclaim the title."
"What happens if the Elite Four are captured?" Seth asked, leaning against the Gym's wall and pulling down his visor as the sun began to rise.
"Everyone would panic, I'd imagine." May muttered, propping her face on her hands, the black-tipped, white gloves standing out against the red of her clothes. She blinked and thought about what she had just said. "Wait a second! You don't honestly think that Team Venus is trying to...!" she cried, leaping up.
"They're after the Elite Four! If they kill the Elite Four and steal their Pokémon, make them Shadow, and then attack Hoenn with that, we'd all fall to the wayside in a matter of hours!" Brendan finished in horror, "May! You and I, even with our legendaries, we'd never beat them!" The girl screamed, her hands flying to her face as she shut her eyes tight, trying not to think of it.
"Nooo! They'll steal Kyogre and HeartSong from me! I'll never seen them again!" she wailed. Seth stood straight, staring at her in alertness. Rui jerked her head up in shock.
"Kyogre? You have that Pokémon?" Rui asked and looked at Seth, "They have Kyogre!"
"Rui, don't say anything." he warned softly, eyeing the collection of Poké Balls strapped to May's waist.
"Do you have Groudon, too?" Rui pressed, looking between the two Hoenn trainers eagerly. Brendan nodded slowly, unsure of what was going on. "The Pokémon of the land and sea. Seth, here is where it all began...!" She yelped as the Snagger grabbed her arm and hefted her up, dragging her away from the group. Jupiter and Pluto looked at each other, then trotted off after them. Brendan and May watched them leave and shrugged in confusion at each other.
"What was that all about?" May asked.
"Who knows? But I think it's time we give Archie and Maxie a call about this. We could use every bit of help we can get in protecting the Elite Four and chasing out Team Venus." the boy remarked and dug into his backpack for a cell phone.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Rui cried and finally was set free after being pulled behind a wall of shrubbery. She yelped again as she was pressed into the green leaves and completely covered by the Snagger.
"Rule one; when you travel with me, anything you happen to learn about me stays sealed in your head!" he hissed softly, holding her closely by wrapping his arms around her waist. "Two; when I say don't say anything, you don't say a word." Rui whimpered, heart racing. "Now, we are going to go back to that town, Littlerock or whatever, tell Birch that his kid is safe and start getting to the Elite Four..." Someone walked past them just then and whistled, catcalling and laughing. "Dammit." Seth pulled away and shook his head. "Forget it. Forget everything. I can't do a damn thing here without people acting stupid." he fumed and stalked away, shoving his hands into his pockets with the Eons following him. Rui stared at him, frozen. After a moment, Seth stopped and looked skyward. "Dammit." he cursed again and spun around, stomping back to her.
"Eep!" Rui squeaked and ran from the bush, ran from Seth, ran from the Eons that yipped playfully behind him. She wasn't fast enough; he caught up to her and grabbed her from behind. "Eek! Stop it! Don't! Not again!" Rui laughed through tears as the Snagger proceeded to nibble on her neck and ears, "That tickles! You always do that! Stop it!"
"You're constantly driving me insane! What do you expect me to do?" he teased and tickled her sides. The Eons leaped about, pawing at them, then jumped back as Brendan and May ran up to them.
"Seth! Rui! We've got some bad news!" they exclaimed and stopped abruptly as the Snagger straightened to shoot them an irritated look, still hugging a giggling Rui close to him. "Um, were you busy with something?" Brendan asked sheepishly, both he and May turning red with embarrassment.
"What's the news?" Seth asked coolly.
"The Sky Pillar's been attacked; Battle Tower, too." May went on, "Team Venus is already positioning itself to attack Ever Grande City. Telecommunications there are still reporting what's happening, so they're judging about 16 hours before anything big happens."
"What are we going to do? How will we get to the Elite Four now?" Rui asked and pulled out the Nav, checking the locations of the cities, "They're on the other side of the island! We'll never make it in time!"
"We're calling in help from some former enemies. Team Aqua and Team Magma were our former trouble teams but they disbanded after we captured Groudon and Kyogre before they could wreck the environment." Brendan rushed and ran his fingers through his hair. "We're going to have to meet with them and plan an attack against Team Venus."
"Where?" Seth asked and Brendan checked his computer.
"Shoal Cave. Just off the coast of Mossdeep City. It's the only neutral ground they could agree on that's close to Ever Grande." he replied and forced a grin, "They were drunk at the time I called. They've taken to dueling over mugs of beer at Slateport Bar."
"When do we meet?"
"They're mobilizing their few remaining members and heading there as we speak. We've got until 4 p.m. tomorrow to get there and get a plan ready before Team Venus moves in on the Elite Four and conquers Hoenn."
"That doesn't give us much time to get there, and the sea plane's taken heavy damage." Seth murmured, finally letting Rui go to think about their options. "Raikou can run fast enough to get us to the shores, but we won't be able to cross the waterways."
"HeartSong can take us all, but she'll need a couple of stops along the way to make up for our combined weight." May offered, holding up a strange purple Poké Ball with pink spots and a white 'm' on it.
"That'll work!" Brendan exclaimed with Rui nodding eagerly.
"What is HeartSong anyway?" Seth finally demanded. May smiled and tossed the ball before her.
"My Latias." she replied simply as a huge white and red dragon appeared. Its wings stuck out stiffly from its body and it looked down at them with large, cute golden eyes, white tufts of feathers sticking up from its head like pigtails. "HeartSong! How's my girl?" May cooed loudly and pulled out a Poké Block Case, flicking a pink block high into the air. The Latias caught it and emitted a happy cry, sounding more like a wordless song than anything else. "Okay! Everyone, climb aboard!" she added as she climbed up with Brendan. Seth stayed put, glaring up at them.
"We're flying there?" he growled as Rui pulled on his hand to lead him to the dragon. "I hate flying!"