A/N: Yes, this is a continuation of Global Warning, hence the Global Meeting for the title. The third installment will also have 'Global' in the title so you'll know it when you see it.
No, Green will not appear in the series, unless everybody wants to wait until sometime after September of this year to read the end of the story. I can only use characters I have had experience with, and since I don't have any form of Fire Red and Leaf Green (not even a ROM of it) I can't use Green in the story. However, I managed to get a few pics of Deoxys and it will be mentioned later in the story, but no characters from those series of games will appear. If you really want Green here, then maybe you can import a copy of the game and mail it to me for play-through?
Until then, enjoy the story as it is and keep an eye out for Crystal, she's not done with Seth yet, you know...
Ch 3
Rui looked into her empty bowl, a worried expression on her face. Jupiter and Pluto sat at her feet, food untouched as they whimpered softly. The Blaziken and Gardevoir relaxed where they sat, stuffed from eating stew and Pokémon food. May and Brendan looked at each other, then at Rui.
"Is something the matter? If it's Brendan making those rude comments earlier, then I'm very sorry for it. He's a little thick in the head." May finally said, shooting him a frustrated look.
"Am not! I just can't stand his attitude about all this. Thinks he's so freakin' cool 'cause he does stuff that's considered illegal everywhere else in the world." the boy trainer grumbled.
"That's part of it, but no. I'm worried because he hasn't come back yet. It's been way past an hour and he never misses a meal." Rui replied softly, "What if he decided to just leave us here?" She shook her head. "No way, because he would definitely come back for Pluto and Jupiter. They're his closest friends and his main team in battling."
"I'll go and look for him then. Be right back!" May said brightly and jumped up, running into the woods. Rui watched her leave and cocked her head. Somehow, knowing that May was running off so eagerly to find her partner wasn't as comforting as she thought it would be.
Some few minutes later, May came running back, the Poké Gear in her grip.
"He's not there! He's nowhere!" she cried and held out the device, "I found this on the ground but Seth's gone!" Rui jumped up and cried in shock, taking the gear into her hands. "Brendan! Pack up and put out the fire! We have to find him!"
"Why is it on the radio? What is that buzzing in the music?" Rui asked in confusion as the trainers scrambled to get themselves together. The announcer came back again with the message for the special someone to come in for their prize and she yelped. "That's Miror B.! He's at the Radio Tower?" The Eons lifted their heads and growled at the device. "My PDA! I'll check to see where he is, but I bet I already know what happened!"
"Your what?" Brendan asked as the Mudkip shot a burst of water at the campfire to put it out.
"Pokémon Digital Assistant, and I have it set to track down Seth. He's wearing a tracking chip that puts him through the Kids Grid GPS Network and sends me a signal telling me where he is." Rui explained briefly as she opened her PDA and switched functions. The dot representing the chip lit up on the screen and she compared it to the map in the Poké Gear. "He's in Goldenrod, or close to it. He's moving fast, can't be on foot. He should be there in another few minutes." she reported and picked up the Poké Balls, calling back all of Seth's Pokémon, then pulling on his jacket and Snag Machine. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's go!"
"What about his bike?" May asked as they jumped onto their own.
"Leave it! We don't have much time!" Brendan yelled, already racing off, "If what the bonehead was saying is true, then we can't afford to let Cipher get him back! And I, for one, don't want him snagging all the Pokémon in my party just 'cause he can!"
The group of heroes reached Goldenrod City late that night, and made their way to the Radio Tower. It wasn't as easy as they thought it would be, with Samba grunts dressed in golden jumpsuits and red and white helmets blocking the doors and elevators. With Rui seeking out Shadow Pokémon during the battles, May and Brendan began to work on clearing out the building, using everything from their own starting Pokémon, a sane Blaziken and a Sceptile, to the legendaries Groudon and Latias.
"Nothing. There's no Shadow Pokémon among them." Rui sighed and looked around, "And Seth isn't in any of these rooms."
"Thanks for saving us!" the Director of the Radio Tower gushed to May and Brendan, "We'll go and contact the police right away to deal with Team Samba, but watch out for that Seth character, he's the one who spearheaded this outrageous attack and is probably still lurking around here!"
"I knew it! He's gone and backstabbed us!" Brendan yelled angrily, "We can't trust him to do anything! Redemption, my butt, he was using us to get to the strongest Pokémon around so he can steal them all!"
"That's not true!" Rui yelled back. "When did this attack happen, Mr. Director?"
"At about noon today, most of us were at lunch when the Tower was invaded by that awful man and his Team Samba backers." the older man replied with a red face, "I'll personally press charges against him for this act!"
"See? It couldn't have been Seth! He was with us in the forest at that time!" Rui replied, "It has to be that one Cipher agent! He's done this before, in Orre, and Seth's reputation was totally trashed! He nearly abandoned me for good that time and all because of him!"
"Him who?" May asked.
"Fein!" Rui hissed, gripping her hands into fists, the Snag Machine looking just as intimidating on her as it did on Seth.
Miror B. danced happily to the tracks of dance music playing constantly over the stations. Seth, now somewhat drier than earlier, sat quietly in a the chair that the Admin had been spinning in earlier, slumped back against it and both hands tied tightly together.
"Oh yeah! I love this one! Play it again? Don't mind if I do!" the Admin laughed brightly. He punched the button to repeat the track and looked back at the prisoner. "Well, in another couple of hours Ein will show up to take you back to the hideout. Then you'll be a Cipher agent again, wouldn't that be nice, hmm?" Seth didn't answer, too lost to the program running in him that kept him complaisant and silent.
The door suddenly barged open and May and Brendan ran in, Poké Balls already in their hands for battle. Rui jumped in after them and scanned the room quickly. She cried and pointed at her partner.
"There! He's over there! And there's Miror B.!" she exclaimed. Brendan blinked at the Admin and snorted, trying to hold back his laughter.
"What happened to his head? It looks like a giant Poké Ball attacked him!" he declared. Miror B. frowned and put his arms akimbo, tapping his foot to the music.
"How rude, little boy! My afro is gorgeously gorgeous! Much better than that cowlick that takes up your whole head! Where are my Samba lackeys? They should have stopped you brats in your tracks!" he shot back, then looked back at the Snagger sitting put where he had been ordered to stay. "Oh, never mind. I have something better than stupid Johto trainers for grunts. Seth, darling, come over here now!" Seth got up and walked over to stand before the Admin who then placed his hands on his shoulders, grinning at the group. "You can't do anything to me now! Not as long as I've got your little Snagger on my side!" he taunted, "Seth! I order you to take your Pokémon and keep these little buggers away from me until Ein arrives to save the day!"
"Unable to comply." Seth murmured almost quietly. The group stared at him. "I am unable to battle. Rui Roane has all of my Pokémon in the jacket she is wearing." Rui blinked and dug into the pockets, pulling out the six balls that composed Seth's entire party.
"Oh dear. Well, then, we're in a sticky situation now, aren't we?" Miror B. remarked in a bright voice, looking visibly paler than before and not as confident, "You still can't attack me anyway! Not as long as I have this little sweetie!" He gave Seth a shake and backed towards the elevators, pulling him along before him. Rui pulled out her PDA and started typing furiously as Brendan and May followed Miror B., watching him carefully for any sudden movements.
"Come on, Nett, you've been searching those files for days now...!" Rui whispered fiercely. The device beeped almost immediately after she finished muttering and she opened the resulting response e-mail. "Ah! Nett, you're a genius!" she smiled and looked up at the retreating Admin. "Project: WSLY! Ein code Gamma 649! You're seven floors off the ground!"
Seth shrieked in what sounded like fear and dove away from the Cipher Admin, curling up in a ball on the floor with his arms covering his head. Miror B. stared in surprise at him, then yelped when he found himself surrounded by legendaries, the Groudon eyeing him as if he were dinner, the Latias growling as fiercely as she could.
"No, no, no! This can't be right! You're ruining everything!" the Admin wailed, positive that nothing in his party of five could stand against the legendaries. "I was having fun and you horrid children came and ruined it all!"
"You're the one who wrecked it by putting together a team as stupid as Team Samba!" May declared as Rui ran to Seth and started murmuring into his ear. The Snagger uncurled and looked around dazedly. "When are those cops showing up? It's getting really hot in here..."
"Where am I? What's going on? Why do I have this weird urge to dance to samba music?" Seth grumbled and tried to rub his head, finally noticing his hands bound. "What the hell? Rui! What's going on here?" he added in an angry yell.
Several officers poured into the room and halted at the sight of the legendaries. The trainers sighed and pulled them back to allow them the opportunity to rush in and arrest Miror B., and giving the air conditioning system time to fix the temperature. Rui set to work untying Seth as she explained what she thought had happened.
"Miror B. had this weird music playing that had a buzzing sound in it. Nett said it must be some audio computer code that messed with you, so he sent me a command that Ein would use on you to scare you. He thought that fear would make the code stop running in your head and it worked!" she remarked brightly, "By the way, he found out some more about the files in Hoenn, but I forgot to tell you. Cipher is trying to activate something called Earth Seal, but it needs you to work right. So if we can wreck it before it gets you, we win!" Seth rubbed at his wrists and sat back, watching Miror B. get led away in cuffs. "It took some talking but we convinced the Director of this place to not get you arrested too."
"Me? Why get me arrested? I'm here to help them get their Gyms back!" the Snagger exclaimed incredulously. Rui looked evasive, a first for him.
"It's Fein. He's going around posing as you again and helped take over the Radio Tower earlier today." she replied carefully. He jumped to his feet and raged, startling the two trainers that stood by the door.
"Dude! Chill! We'll catch up to the faker, we just have to figure out where he is." Brendan remarked while Rui sifted through the papers on the DJ's desk. One caught her eye and she lifted it up, reading aloud to the group.
"'News bulletin: This just in! At three this afternoon, Team Samba made a second raid against Bugsy's Azalea Gym in Azalea Town. Azalea is well known for being the hometown to the Johto League Champion, Silver Summers, and his sister, Crystal, one of the top sixteen trainers at the league.'" she announced, "'Led by the notorious Team Snagem Snagger, Seth, the Gym finally fell under their control, and, worse still, the Johto Champion was finally defeated by the combined power of Seth's Umbreon and Espeon. No information is available on where exactly the Gym Leader and Silver are being held captive.'"
"He's dead! He is so dead when I get my hands on him!" Seth shrieked in a fury. Rui set the paper down and shrugged off the Snag Machine and jacket, handing both to him. Seth dressed quickly, still snarling under his breath at the master of disguise ruining him yet again.
"We passed by Azalea on our way here, so we should head back through the Ilex Forest to the town. It's not very far if we go by the main road." Rui remarked as she checked the map on the Poké Gear.
"We need to make a stop at the Poké Center first. Grab a few new supplies and equipment, too." May pointed out, "After seeing how Seth battles with Jupiter and Pluto, I'm not going to take my chances against a copy of him with the same Pokémon!" The group nodded grimly and headed for the elevator, knowing full well that they still had a long ways to go to stop Cipher.
Resting again before the entrance to Mt. Silver, Latios and the two smaller legendaries waited patiently for Ho-Oh to arrive with Lugia. Jirachi had reclaimed his spot on the dragon's back for a bed and now dozed in a curled up ball in the center. Celebi took to yanking berries from nearby trees to gobble up, giggling after each one she munched.
"Will you stop that? It's getting to be annoying!" Latios growled at her.
"You took the words out of my mouth." a new voice remarked flatly and the group looked down in surprise at the figure standing before them, arms folded over his chest and a Pikachu sitting on his shoulder. "Oh, relax. I'm not going to capture you, if that's what you're afraid of. I'm curious as to what you are all doing standing outside my home and training ground. Does it have anything to do with Team Samba wrecking Johto?" the man went on, looking up at them with deep brown eyes.
"You actually understood me?" the Latios exclaimed.
"Yes. I'm the Chosen One; it's part of the job description. Now, are you here about the Johto problem, or are you just holding a Psychic Convention on my front doorstep?" the trainer asked again. The Celebi smiled brightly and flew down to him with a berry in her hands.
"Hi, Ash! It's been a while since Mew told me about what you've been up to! Finally decided what to name your kids yet?" she asked cheerily. The trainer winced and sighed.
"I've told you already several times, both past and future. Don't call me that anymore. I'm Red now, okay? The name 'Ash' got me into a boatload of trouble as a kid that I have no interest in reclaiming anytime soon." he lectured and scratched the Pikachu on the head, "As for the names, I'm still thinking. A bit hard to do that when they don't exist yet."
"Since you're interested, yes, we're here waiting for Lugia and Ho-Oh so we can go to Kanto and gather the rest of the legendaries from there. We have to guide Raykyoudon to his proper path as a new legendary Pokémon." Latios replied.
"Ah, really? I've finished restocking my supplies, so I'll be on my way to do something about this mess as well." Red remarked lightly and straightened his blue and white vest.
"Right, if you run into Raykyoudon, let him know that his time is coming soon." Latios told him gravely. Celebi smacked her forehead and cried aloud. "Oh, what is it now, you time-flitting troublemaker?"
"I totally forgot about that part! His time is coming, but in more ways than one! If he's not careful about what he's doing, he'll end up dooming himself!" she wailed, "And I'm not going to be able to restore him if he does what he has the ability to do!"
"Well, why not?" Latios snapped in frustrated confusion.
"Because he'll go back to the beginning! And in the beginning, he was nothing!" Celebi whimpered. Red looked between the fearful Celebi and the shocked Latios and pulled out a Poké Ball.
"Well, you can hang around and gawk if you like, but I have a Champion to meet up with in Azalea Town. See ya!" he remarked and released his Charizard. He climbed onto its back, tipped his hat to the Pokémon and flew off towards the distance to join the battle once more.