- 16 B / 17 -
With a roar, Groudon sped around the foundations of the building, clawing at them as he passed. The area around him groaned in protest, cracks appearing in the concrete and dirt. He could feel the shifting forces around him, as the weakened stone started crumbling from the strength of the Legendary Pokemon and from the battle raging on the surface,
His work done, Groudon sat back to await the time he would be needed.
---
"What was that?" Kayley looked up, her face darkening as the vibrations rising through the building strengthened steadily. Her opponent – and ally – shook her head, frowning. "It felt like-"
The building jerked, tilting over. Mauve cursed under her breath, giving them a sour look. She wanted nothing more then to continue on with the battle, but her life was much more important then a mere man! "This isn't over," she said, her eyes narrowed.
She bolted out of the door, clasping a pokeball from the pouch that was on her hip. Looking wearily at the remaining two women, Ash jumped back, as the table fell over – right onto the place he had been crouching a moment earlier. "We need out of here," he muttered, stepping around the fallen furniture.
Kayley looked at May, who was biting her lower lip thoughtfully, before smirking. "You can work our how to on your own," the selfish woman sneered, following the same course that Mauve had just taken with as much elegance as she could muster in such a situation; she couldn't just stumble away!
"Gah, why now?" Ash growled, stumbling slightly when the building jerked once more, this time more violently, "May, come on! I don't want us to die yet!"
"…yet?" May grabbed his hand, giving him a humored smile, as the vibrations started again, this time not stopping to pause every few minutes. She never heard the reply, as they fled through the halls, hearing crashes all around as the animated building shifted. "Will we be able to escape before it collapses?"
"I don't know, but I'm not about to sit and let us be caught in it," he said, scowling. They were an inch from being killed, and she still was asking questions! Silence fell between them, with the exception of their footsteps and the surrounding racket.
- - -
Roxanne twisted around just as she got down to the bottom floor, frowning all the while. She could see several forms coming down in her direction, and wisely moved out of the way as they barreled past in the frenzy to escape. It took several seconds to realize that two were still missing, having never shown up.
With a cry, the young gym leader bolted back up the stairs, her hair whipping around her. "Ash! May! Can you hear me?" Roxanne called.
There was noise on the floor above her, and her heart lifted. Nearing the stairs, Roxanne looked up them, hoping to see someone, anyone, race down. As the seconds ticked on, there was a crash and two forms stumbled down, one after the other. "You both are fine!"
"As fine as we can be at least," Ash replied lightly, as the trio started quickly toward the other staircase. By then their path was becoming harder to get across, as they mostly tripped around from the shaking of the floor beneath their feet.
The ceiling caved in behind them, condemning anyone still in the upper floors to death. Ash gently pulled on May's arm, as she stopped to frown at the wreckage, looking sympathetic and worried. For the rest of the heavily rushed escape from the building, Ash, May, and Roxanne made good time, running as fast as they could as the ceilings and walls buckled around them.
"They are almost here!" some of Roxanne's students yelled, pointing out the trio racing at a fast trot through the unstable cave. The Gym Leader couldn't restrain a smile that came to her lips at the sight of them, safe and sound. As long as nothing happened to them, having become like family with them, she would be happy.
Of course, they were no unscathed; many sported cuts and bruises from either the battles they were in with the opposing teams, along with their flight through the cave. Rocks were becoming loose and falling, and pokemon fled at the uproar. "No!" the group yelled.
The roof caved in, leaving Ash, May, and Roxanne trapped in the dangerous tunnel. May pulled out the pokeball for one of her pokemon, in hopes that they could perhaps dig their way out before any more rock came down on them, when there was a roar. It shook the trio to the bone, the loud, angry sound almost alarming.
"What is that?" Ash asked, looking around uneasily. He could see more Magma and Aqua members skittering around, looking for exits and means of escape. The roar started up again, as the ground beneath their feet cracked open, and a large maw snapping from it, scooping them up. Groudon, the creature, slid back down, just as the cave fell in over him.
- - -
Outside, the students all watched in worry and fear as the few remaining loss rocks slid down to the ground. They knew that if something didn't save their mentor and friends, that they were surely lost to them. No one could have survived the avalanche of stone.
Their was a gentle vibration through the ground, as the Legendary pokemon came up through the earth, and literally spit out his passengers. They couldn't help but cheer for their allies; the fear was gone, and they were reunited again. Groudon looked apologetically at them, giving them a quick "I am sorry," in pokemon speech.
Roxanne gave him a shrug, not minding the clear liquid that was at that moment dripping off the end of her nose. Several of her charges giggled, getting a reprimanding glance in return. "It's fine. This is better then being crushed in there," May said, wiping off as much as the pokemon's saliva as she could, and watching her husband do so at the same time. Even if they didn't admit it, they both were mildly disgusted.
"Yes…thank you for saving us, even if it was in a way I would not of preferred if I had, had a choice in the matter." May gently pinched Ash in the side, the young man wincing. Groudon's tail twitched, and it borrowed down into the ground, back toward its underground home.
"Is everyone here? Everyone ok?" Roxanne asked, looking around at the group and counting them. All of them nodded, giving her smiles and grins in response. "Now, let's go patch up the scratches while…"
She motioned toward the couple, who was at that moment on the ground, locked in a tight embrace and fawning over each other. Quietly, her students look seats around the closed entrance to the cave, whispering to each other as packs were opened and first-aid kits were picked over for band-aids. Roxanne turned her attention fully on them, making it a point to be facing her class.
Ash peeked over at them, noting how most of the students were chancing their own glances past Roxanne. "Too curious…are you alright?"
May poked him once again in the side, settling back against him, her head on his shoulder. He scowled; he hated being poked and pinched. "I'm fine, it's just a bunch of bumps and bruises is all. I'll live. You're the one that is probably mentally scarred though." She frowned at him, rubbing her thumb along the blue and black bruise that was under his chin, and regretting not pulling her punch back before it had scored the hit. "Not only do you near get raped, you get fought over, and then get a new bruise from my punch…"
"It's nothing you can't fix," was the teasing reply, "in one way or another." The ending was said softly, as Ash eyed the group only feet away to make sure no one was listening. May tilted her head, biting her tongue, before getting an evil grin.
"Oh? Usually I'd take you up on that, but spit doesn't really do much for me," she said, wiping off the remaining saliva that was on clinging on his cheek. Ash rolled his eyes, shaking his head in amusement. "We really should be going though…we have the next town to get to, so I can get the next badge."
Nodding, Ash waved Roxanne over, giving her a smile. "It's been fun, but I do believe someone is getting impatient to get on with her training."
Roxanne laughed, crossing her arms. "So you just plan on leaving me? Fine by me, as long as you keep in touch!" she said, tapping the ground with her foot.
Ash got up, giving May a hand. "Of course. We wouldn't think not doing that," May replied, watching as some of the students walked over to stand behind their teacher.
"Good, because I'd have to track you down if you didn't, especially after this!" Moving out of the way, Roxanne gave the small group of students their turn to say their well wishes and good-byes.
It went smoothly until the youngest girl of the group, looking seriously at Ash and May, tilted her head up slightly with a smile. "I know I'll never see ya again, but I better be hearing from Roxanne about all of your children! Every single one, because I know you'll have a lot of them."
The class erupted in laughter, as Ash turned an interesting shade of red. May, trying to keep from giggling, took a hold of his hand. "It'll be a while before that happens," she admitted, saving Ash from having to comment and getting a relieved look from him for it, "but…um, right. We'll make sure she knows about it."
Their farewells out of the way – and everyone mostly calmed down – they started down the road that lead to their next town, and to the next milestone in the journey for the Hoenn Championship.
- - -
AN - Well…wow. I actually finished it, if you can believe it. It's been rough, with pushing at the odd times to work on it, and trying on the patience of some of you, but it's over. I tried to do the ending some justice, since it...well, it needs a decent ending. I'm unsure if I managed it, since I'm unhappy with some bits of it (like the beginning of the chapter. u.u; ) while overall it looks ok to me. That's for you to decide though.
There is an issue I would like to bring up. If anyone looked at my profile, did you notice the 29/100? Well, my readers, you can look forward to seeing some more fanfictions in the very near future thanks to that 100. Some will be pokemon, while others will be for Harry Potter, Lunar...you name it. I'll probably even have some Rhapsody ones, even if I don't care for it that much oo and perhaps some Gravitation ones, The Last Herald-Mage…the Forgotten Realms with Drizzt and Entreri…ahem. A lot of them will be short stories, which will be a relief compared to these chaptered ones. Not a worry though, I'm working on the sequel for League Team and a story for the Trainer's Heart series (been a while since I've worked on that one!). Not to mention a few rewrites, including Shadow League (which will be a large improvement from its first version.)
Anyway, I will stop now before I babble on about my future plans, and say ja ne!