Ch 5
Seth wasn't happy.
He didn't like being in Hoenn and he didn't like having to follow May around the sandbars, sitting on the back of her Kyogre. After flying to Ever Grande, a mode of transport he absolutely despised for reasons he didn't know, Seth just wanted to lie down somewhere and basically die. Or sleep for a couple of days. He had always been proud of his ability to endure the desert of Orre, but his endurance was tapped out the day he stepped onto Hoenn soil. He'd been running off of adrenaline and anger, both about to give out on him. The Kyogre hadn't helped at all, spraying him playfully with water the moment it laid eyes on him.
So now here he was, dripping wet, half-asleep, and listening to May babble on about the lateness of the two idiotic teams. Team Venus was unaware of them, preparing to attack in a little over three hours. Rui was safely bundled up with blankets and binoculars on one of the tiny islands surrounding Ever Grande. Her PDA kept track of his location and she had been given a phone to keep in contact with May. The plan for them was simple: Seth would follow Team Aqua into the fray, Rui would spot the Shadow Pokémon from afar with the binoculars and call him up on which ones they were. Once he snagged the ones that were around, he'd pull out of the battle and retreat to a predetermined location. Problem was, no one had told him what the predetermined location was, exactly.
"On the land, somewhere. Pick a spot. Maybe behind the waterfall?" Brendan had suggested carelessly, waving him away, "I don't know, you're the great hero with the plan. You come up with a way to save your own skin!"
Seth wanted to hurt him so badly, he walked away biting his own hand to avoid slamming his fist into his face. Maybe a quick round of Gonzap's favorite beatings on the punk would teach him a little respect. But then, wouldn't that make him no better than the roach-head?
"We can find lots of delicious fish here. Would you like to swim with me and catch some? They should help you Recover." a voice murmured to him through his drowsiness.
"Bloody hell." Seth muttered under his breath, taking Ein's favorite phrase, "Not you too." The Kyogre had been trying to coerce him into swimming for the past half hour, offering all kinds of incentives from where the prettiest Luvdiscs hung out to where the tastiest kelp and seaweed beds lay. "I'm not a Pokémon, okay? And don't give me that 'You smell like one' crap, either. I got it from hanging around Jupiter and Pluto, my Eons."
"You smell a little like me, though. You also have a little of Groudon's scent. What type are you, Water-Ground?"
"May, can we stop somewhere?" Seth finally growled, "I'm in need of a break, if you get my meaning."
"All right. Team Aqua is on its way in, finally. Team Magma reported that they've touched base on the land around the lagoon and are sneaking into position." the trainer replied and looked around, "Rui looks fine from here. She should be safe enough with your Espeon there. He's a very pretty Pokémon. I wish I had one now. Where did you get it?"
"I raised it from an Eevee. Are you telling me that Hoenn doesn't have Eevees?" Seth asked in surprise, "What about Mareep and Flaafy and Ampharos?"
"Are those rare Pokémon? I've never heard of those before." May remarked as they pulled onto a small sandbar and slid off of the Kyogre.
"No, but I would have thought that they would be here, too." the Snagger murmured and fought back a yawn. He lost and May snickered at him. "Not funny. I need to get some rest before anything happens."
"What about your 'break'?" May teased. He merely glared at her before heading off to a warm shady spot under a tree and leaning back against it to sleep.
Rui peered around again through the binoculars, trying to catch sight of May and Seth. She had seen them going along their patrol, watching for Team Aqua, then May led the Kyogre out of her line of sight and vanished. She got worried. Moving around to the other side of the island with Jupiter tagging along, she continued searching.
"Where did they go? Where did she take him?" Rui murmured and blinked when her PDA rang. Pulling it out, she opened it and was surprised to see Nett's name on an e-mail. She opened the mail and skimmed it quickly. "'Dear Rui and Wes, I cracked the code on the note about Wes. Cipher had been planning on picking him up from Team Snagem the day he blew them up. Evice had set up something in Johto or Kanto, it's been coded, and they needed Project: WSLY to complete it. There's also something else mentioned. Earth Seal. I'm not sure what it means but it sounds like Cipher was going to use Wes as part of a plan called Earth Seal. I'll keep at the other file and contact you when I can.'"
Jupiter whined suddenly and rubbed her leg, making her look away from the PDA. The Espeon yawned and blinked up at her, cocking his head.
"Worried about Seth, too? Well, let's find him!" Rui laughed and continued her search around the island.
"You're very different from us." May suddenly remarked, waking Seth from his nap. The Snagger looked up at her in irritation. "Well, you are."
"And you're too close to me." Seth shot back, sitting up and scooting back a foot or so, "Has Team Aqua gotten themselves ready for the attack?"
"Yeah, we're basically waiting for your signal." the trainer replied off-handedly, "But I'm still curious about you. Why do you act the way you do? And this Snag Machine here, how did you know about it? How could you have figured out how to use it if you just stole it right off the bat?"
"What are you getting at?" Seth muttered cautiously, getting up and walking towards the Kyogre.
"Just that Rui's story about you doesn't jive with me. You don't act or dress like a normal Pokémon trainer." May pointed out coyly, "You were one of the bad guys... weren't you?"
"And this is a shock to you? Let's go, I'll give the signal once we're all in place." the Snagger replied coolly and blinked when she suddenly hugged him tightly, arms pinned to his sides under the embrace. "The hell? What are you doing?"
"I wonder what it's like, being the girlfriend to a bad boy, hm?" May purred, "Are they more exciting the more dangerous they are?"
"Kyogre! Your mistress is in heat! Do something about it!" Seth demanded of the legendary. The blue and red water-type bobbed in understanding and spurted a shot of water at them, soaking both teens.
"Hey! What was that for, Kyogre? You're supposed to listen to me!" the trainer yelled angrily, rubbing her eyes as Seth pulled out a black and yellow Ultra Ball.
"I'll surf back to the group on my own, thanks." he growled, "Unlike you, I'm a little more loyal to those I love."
"I was only curious! You didn't have to go and splash me like that! Can't a girl flirt around a little anymore? Geez!" May shrieked, waving her arms in a fury as Seth rode off on Suicune's back.
Rui looked relieved as she spotted Seth coming back into her view. Team Aqua was already positioning themselves around the lagoon and Seth was heading off to join them, riding the Suicune. She looked confused. Hadn't he been riding on the Kyogre with May earlier? What had happened to make them switch? Maybe they were going to split up and attack Team Venus from different sides?
Just as the Snagger was about to give the signal to attack, a strange silver-colored helicopter flew into view, heading straight for the Ever Grande waterfall. A figure standing within it called out and Skarmorys flew down to attack the pink clad group. Team Venus let out a collective shriek of outrage and began to move in on the waterfall, other members turning their attacks on the helicopter and downing it after several blasts of Ice Beam and Hydro Pump hit it dead on. They had begun their attack too soon!
"Seth's not gonna like this one bit." Rui murmured as she peered through the binoculars and scanned the Pokémon. None of them were Shadow. So where could they be? She picked up the phone and began dialing for May, things were going completely wrong!
"They're moving in already? But they weren't supposed to move for another two hours!" Brendan cried as he watched Team Venus's first wave head up the waterfall. Maxie shrugged and ordered his men to attack.
"It doesn't matter now! They're attacking so we have to fight back! We've already lost part of the first wave!" he declared, "Where's Seth? Is Team Aqua doing anything yet?"
"He's coming in! I can see him from here! Groudon! Fire Blast! Don't let any of those Pokémon through!" the trainer exclaimed, ordering the legendary to begin covering the waterfall. Team Venus was floundering under the sudden onslaught from the sea and the land, but pressed on with their own attack. Already several members were rising up the waterfall and entering Victory Road.
Seth yelled angrily as Suicune came ashore and dropped him off. Things were going to hell so fast, he wasn't sure what he could do. The downed chopper was definitely the cause of this, and someone was going to pay for it. He looked over at the waterfall and blinked in surprise. Lady Venus was reaching the top of the falls, riding on the back of Tentacruel with several grunts surrounding her for protection.
"She's probably got a Shadow Pokémon on her." he murmured and raced to follow her up the falls, scaling the cliffs despite Team Magma's warnings in the midst of their battling. "Rui, better see if you can find something, 'cause I can't identify these guys alone!" he added under his breath and wished that he'd had the better sense to get a phone of his own.
With Team Venus scattering themselves everywhere and attacking whatever moved that wasn't dressed in pink, Lady Venus was able to slip through the chaos and move towards Victory Road. She smiled at her grunts racing into the cave system and looked back at the cliff edge, watching her team attacking Team Aqua and Magma. Despite the attacking chopper that set her plans into motion too soon, things were going well. The helicopter itself was burning not far from her. She looked towards it and raised an eyebrow at the silver-haired man that staggered from it and collapsed on the ground.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A fallen hero?" Lady Venus cooed as she walked up to him, holding up her Poké Balls with the Shadow Pokémon inside, "If you think your heroics is going to save the Elite Four, you're dead wrong." The man climbed to his feet and glared at her, face covered in sooty smudges and suit slightly burnt. He wore silver bands on his arms and silver rings, his outfit smacked of high-class.
"I am Steven Stone... and you are under arrest for... this atrocious attack on the Elite Four." he choked out and coughed, dropping to one knee. Lady Venus laughed and released the Pokémon.
"I think not. Blaziken, Gardevoir! Get rid of this pathetic little man!" she ordered and the two closed in on him ominously.
Seth climbed to the top and spotted the scene before him. He winced at the two Pokémon approaching the injured man and ran to stop them.
"Venus! You're not going anywhere now! Your team is surrounded and there's no way you'll get through to the Elite Four!" he declared, pulling out Pluto's Poké Ball. The Admin laughed at him and looked coy.
"My, my, my! Ein was right after all. All of this running around did draw you out of hiding, didn't it? Blaziken! Gardevoir! Forget the other guy, attack Seth!" she declared. Seth fumbled for a second Pokémon as the two sped at him, nearly running him down. He jumped aside and released a Misdreavous, commanding her to use a Shadow Ball on the Gardevoir. It took the hit from behind and turned to glare at him, lips curled back in anger. Seth blinked and stepped back, alarmed. Gardevoirs didn't act like that in battle...
"SETH!" Rui's voice cried out. He looked around in surprise and then up at the sky. Rui and May were on the back of the Latias, hovering near the waterfall. "They're both Shadow Pokémon! Be careful!" the girl shouted and screamed as her words distracted Seth long enough to get grabbed by the Blaziken. Pluto raced in and bit into its leg, fighting viciously to get him free.
"Urgh! Let... go!" the Snagger growled and rocked back, knocking the Fighting-Fire type to the ground. The Blaziken squawked and pecked into his shoulder as Seth rolled aside to freedom. He gripped the injured arm and jumped away. Lady Venus watched everything, laughing and clapping her hands. The entertainment value of this battle was exceptionally high.
"HeartSong! Psychic on the Blaziken!" May declared and the Latias sang out, eyes glowing as she sent the attack towards the bird. It squawked again and fell, overwhelmed by the blast. "That should stop that Shadow Pokémon!"
Seth pulled out a fresh Poké Ball and held it out to his side in the Snagger arm. Energy glowed around the ball, altering the field within it to capture the Pokémon even if it was already registered to another energy field. He spun and hurled the ball, wincing as the motions shot pain into his shoulder. Pluto was working on knocking down the Gardevoir, keeping it away from him long enough to deal with the Blaziken. The ball's energy field shot out and swept the bird inside, bouncing around as it struggled to keep it in.
"No, no, no! You weren't supposed to snag my Pokémon!" Lady Venus wailed and huffed, digging around in her purse for her next Pokémon, "I'll take care of you. Ein can get himself another Snagger, and you're gonna take a nice long fall!"
"Got it!" Seth remarked in triumph as the ball settled. He dashed ahead to scoop it up, then brought a second Poké Ball out to snag the Gardevoir as it tried to kick at Pluto, raging and fuming in Hyper Mode. "Gardevoir! Snap out of it!" Seth cried towards it; any Pokémon in that state hurt him deeply. The Psychic blinked in surprise, flailing its arms and looking at him in shock. He took the chance to throw the ball at it and stared it down until the Pokémon was securely snagged. Pluto darted in, grabbed it in his mouth and raced up to him to deliver the new partner.
"Seth! Milotic!" Rui shrieked and he looked around in alarm, both new Shadow Pokémon securely tucked away in his pockets. The water-type fired a Hydro Pump attack, hitting the Snagger head on and thrusting him into the river. Lady Venus smiled brightly and recalled the pink serpent, swishing away in victory. Seth splashed about in the river, swept downstream towards the waterfall as the Umbreon raced alongside it, crying out to him. The Latias dove to try to catch him as he neared the edge of the cliff, but a stray Fire Blast cut in front of her, forcing her back.
"Rui! Help!" Seth called to her, reaching for the redhead as he sank below the water and vanished into the waterfall, tumbling down towards the lagoon. She cried his name and nearly dove after him, saved only by May holding her back. Pluto halted at the cliff edge and paced about a bit, then leaped out into the air, diving after his master, a mournful cry coming from him as he fell.