As we expected, the east wing was full of those shady people, we were looking for and the grunts introduced themselves as being part of Team Meteor. Together with Fern, we beat them all in battles and managed to unlock every gate in our way. My impressions on my partner are surprisingly positive, despite constantly asking me questions and acting a bit... odd.
Once we entered the last gate at north, we saw Julia and Florinia were already waiting for us, with the latter typing on a monitor near a closed big gate.
"Hi girls. We arrived safe and unharmed. What's the matter?" I greeted them, while Julia is examining the gate with lots of questions marks above her head, trying to find a way to open it.
"We have a big problemo with that huge door." She pointed her index finger at it "So we need lots of boomies to blow this up."
"Jule, there will be no such explosion for. Not with what happen last time, we entrusted you with them on an occasion before." Florinia spoke, not stopping with her work "Alternative: Find the code without damage."
Julia wasn't happy with her friend's response, as she preferred to opened the gate with her way and it will take very long, but the latter seems to be unfazed by this and continues with the tipping. Then the cheerleader turned towards me and Fern, asking us with big lilipup eyes about fetching her the boomies, because according to her, the bad guys must have them somewhere.
"Whatever. I'm not going to sit here and wait for Flobot trying to open the door for decades." Fern's voice sounded very impatient with all of this "Come let's find some explosives for this madwoman and end this business already." He gestured me to follow him towards the right side, where another entrance was. But I was against that idea.
"Sorry Fern, but I prefer the alternative way your sister is doing. What if they noticed the explosion and be more cautions? Besides we don't know, what trucks our enemies might have in their sleeves, so I'm sorry Julia." I calmly declined, but that didn't conviced the cheerleader and decided to leave with Fern instead, which had indifferent expression on his face.
Once they left, I walked towards Florinia- still busy with the monitor- and leaned against the wall, waiting for her to break the code. Not wanting to disturb her, I took out my jacket and tied it around my waist and pulled out my PokeNav Plus and decided to kill time with it, looking at old photos from my first journey in Hoenn.
"Suprised: I see you're here still here, Miss Ambassador. May I ask you a question?" I could hear her voice, whose speech was still slightly odder now, but her tone seemed still to be positive.
I turned around, putting my device away, "Yes? What is it?"
"Question: You noticed how a terrain effected some certain moves, correct?" She asked.
When I think of it, I noticed Tirami's Thunder Fang had gained an extra spark than usual back at a few battles and I nodded to her as an answer.
Soon she exampled to me, that in the Reborn Region they have a mechanic called Field Effects, fields that can power up moves or even boost a Pokemon's abilities. However she warned me, that all Gym Leaders have their own terrain for battles, that benefits the type they representing. This awoke my curiosity about this new information, as I couldn't help, but to ask more about how those Field Effects exactly working.
Though she had her back turned again me, her voice- a hint of professionalism- sounded surprisingly satisfied with my curiosity and soon we had a pleasant conversation about it, which made me really happy and more to think about participating on the league...Should I really give it a try?
Suddenly the door slid open, as Florinia now tipping on a small device attached on her left arm and gestured me to follow her. I looked at the doorway that we'd come from, and back to the direction, the Gym Leader stood. A feeling inside me said, it might be a trap and I'm telling this from experience with a familiar team years ago. The only way could be, I ran from the factory, but then I would be outed as a coward for this, so I brushed this idea off and tried to show bravery for the victims of the explosion.
I guess I must go in,I sighed, not wanting to keep her wanting, as we both entered inside. I took a PokeBall from my bag, clutching it very tightly, not knowing what dangers are waiting for me.
When we walked in, I could define the final room as the command post of the factory, giving the screens and controls being everywhere around the corner. I could see 3 people in here too; two grunts and the 3rd person looks like an admin to me, due to the different clothing than the other two grunts, which was easily to see the difference.
The first grunt was a male with some hair coming from his hood and emerald green eyes, as it tipping something on the controls, but sometimes looked on his left.
The 2nd grunt, she was looking at, was a female with slightly longer hair, but with sapphire blue eyes and had a bored expression on her face and was sitting on a table.
But I heard suddenly a hiss something from the darkest corner of the room, as a Seviper slithered and... Wait... That Seviper...
Suddenly I recall myself a certain memory, I wanted to erase it one hour ago. The size... It was perfectly longer and it made some noises, like something was stuck inside...
No... No... nonono...I slowly backed away in baby steps, upon realising it was non other that the same Seviper, who killed the 5 Zangooses, when I was recording the fight!
It seemed to noticed us, as it let out a loud hiss, alarming the two grunts.
"What's wrong, Seviper?" A restrained and calm man's voice was heard, as I looked to the right side of the room and a man in his middle 30's, a bit taller than us, wearing a black jacket with white linings, black trousers and black-red shoes. However what made him more ominous and dangerous were his left red eye gleaming like that of Seviper and that black-red sensor covering the right one with a scar lining down the cheek, plus his cold expression he had. It gave me such creeps, just by looking at him.
He turned to us, as he grew a confident smirk, as he looked towards us with the Fang Snake Pokemon slithering next to him. Soon the fear was replaced with anger towards the situation, but I tried to control it.
The ones behind the explosion...
"Are you the one in charge here?" I said with a collected and determined tone, looking at them both, despite I have every reason to be very angry at them.
"And if I am?" he answered with a callous tone, as the Seviper coiled around the man a bit and looked at us like a delicious prey.
"You're gonna pay for the explosion in Grandview Station! And for taking the people's lives!" I fell the tension building up inside me, my voice trembled as I recalled that painful memory about the explosion and it's aftermath, so fresh in my mind, that it still hurts me.
That man merely chuckled at me response, as Florinia expression slightly narrowed, "What power do you think you have to do so?" he asked, his gaze loomed over in observation, like the Seviper does.
"What are your intentions for your actions? Explain yourself." Florinia merely seemed unfazed by this.
I could understand, what was the meaning of this scene: Declaration of civil war. A conflict arises now.
"You know already. We are Team Meteor. And we do not relent. Don't think you got through this place on your own ability. We let you in. We had no intention of defeating you, yet. Regardless, we had to let you in, because you needed a demonstration of our power."
"Let us in?" I asked in confusion about this "But why?"
"You did not hack our security system." He answered. "You would have been foolish to think so. We slowed you down enough for us to delete all mission-critical documents. Then..." he cut off and his tone grew more confident, more coldly in addition. "We overestimated your strength and you'll have a taste of it now!"
Slowly his Seviper moved in front of it's trainer, as it looked with the same expression, I witnessed it during the slaughter. But I couldn't just ran off. I must stay strong. For the sake of all those lost lives!
"Understood: Challenge accepted. Cradily appear!" I saw Florinia stepped in front, releasing the Hoenn Fossil Pokemon, but I still wondered where Julia and Fern are now. It's taking so long. Where they caught?
"Aster! Eclipse! Deal with the girl! I can handle the Gym Leader!" He harshly commanded, as they grunts ran towards me.
"Yes sir!" The male grunt happily replied, but the female didn't said anything and threw their PokeBalls out, revealing a Solrock and Lunatone.
I threw out Vanilly and Tirami out, both ready to fight against evil after so many years. I hope, they still know how to battle.
Aster's Solrock started the battle, by using Rock Slide at my Pokemon. Tirami easily dodged the falling boulders, but Vanilly wasn't the fastest and got hit by them, almost knocking him out, but managed to keep his balance. I completely forgot, that I spoiled him with many sweets before we left for Reborn, that now he gained much weight. Self-Note: Never overfeeding and pamper your Pokemon before battle.
I ordered Vanilly to use Water Gun on Solrock, while Eclipse's Lunatone went for Calm Mind and Tirami went for Ice Fang on the latter; managed to deal 20% damage. Then Solrock repeated the process again and caught both Tirami and Vanilly now, causing her to flinch in turn, but Vanilly managed to fire another Water Gun on it. The Rock/Psychic Pokemon barely floated now, showing signs of being weakened and Lunatone continued to went for another Calm Mind.
The poor grunt had to use at least 3 Potions to heal his Solrock, while his partner had spammed at least 4 times Calm Mind and didn't attacked for now on. So ganging up on one Pokemon seemed the better solution for me, as he started to lose his cool and wasted the last healing item it had, before it fainted to Vanilly's 8th Water Gun.
"Dammit!" I heard him shouting, as he calls his fainted Pokemon back looked at his partner with anger, "Why didn't you help me out, Eclipse?!"
"What do you think, I settled up Calm Mind for no reason, dummy?" She spoke for the first time in a loud voice, before turning towards me "Listen up, honey. It's just you against me! Now Icy Wind on the Mightyeena!"
As her Pokemon unleashed the ice attack, it hit like a huge Blizzard towards me and my Pokemon, as I slowly began to
Finally the Pokemon started to set of a powerful cold gust against Tirami, but thanks to the Calm Mind setup, it grew so strong, that it was covered the 3 of us entirely, which hit slowly began to the realisation behind her trick with Calm Mind. I absolutely forgot, that status moves like Calm Mind can increase or decrease a Pokemon's power
Once I uncovered my face, not only was restrained against a wall because of the ice, I saw Tirami and Vanilly were both frozen solid by the overboosted attack and I mentally cursed myself for forgetting the most critical part of a Pokemon battle.
I could see her expression of pure satisfaction, enjoying seeing me all trapped and defeated, while looking towards Florinia, whose Cradily was still busy fighting against the admin's cursed Seviper. But she didn't noticed, how the gym leader was holding a PokeBall behind her back and saw her lips quickly moving like a whisper, when a Breelom emerged from the PokeBall and quickly broke the ice with High Jump Kick and then another one on Seviper, preventing it to stop it.
"Attention: Catch these and quickly heal one of your Pokemon! Speed up!" She shouted at me and threw 2 Full Heals at, before ordering Cradily to use Sandstorm inside the room, causing a distraction against the enemy.
Without hesitation, I catched the healing items and sprayed it over Tirami and Vanilly, as both healed from the status condition, but the former scowled upon seeing the sandstorm.
"There's no time for this now. I want y-"
But then the sandstorm displayed, due to another usage of the powered Icy Wind and both the admin and Eclipse commanding their Pokemon to attack it's my change!
"Tirami, use Shadow Ball!" Tirami fired out a dark purple energy orb towards Lunatone, who dodged it. But I made sure Vanilly quickly Water Gun, when they aren't see this.
"Fire now!"
The woman turned to her Lunatone, only to see it knocked out by Rock Smash. At the same time, the administration Seviper seemed to struggled with the Cradily, as it coughed a lot and couldn't move faster thanks to the effects of the Icy Wind.
"Hmpf, you were just lucky. That's all!" Eclipse scowled, as she returned her fainted Pokemon "We're sorry, sir." Aster said in disappointment, who watched the fight without another word and was hiding under a table, to shield himself from the sudden sandstorm.
The admin didn't said anything, but looked both me and Florinia for awhile, "Don't you think, you've won. This is only the beginning for you! Team Meteor retreat!" And with that, they threw several smoke bombs around, preventing us to follow them, as we were blinded for awhile. Once the smoke disappears, they were no to be found.
And what now?, I though to myself, as we both called our Pokemon back. I turned towards Florinia, not knowing what to say now, but it's better to get out from this place now.
This entire stunt reminded me about my encounters with Team Magma back then. All those grunts to battle and the jazz...
Suddenly I could hear some strange noises coming from somewhere, as they sound like... Bomb ticking! Get the hell out of there now!
Out of instict, I ran as faster my legs could carry me with Florinia closely behind. As soon, we managed to reach near the train tracks outside, before we heard a loud "BANG" behind us. A big explosion bombed inside the factory, as windows flew off in pieces, large clouds of smoke escaped from the holes and a consuming fire sprang up from the entrance of the building. At the same moment, Julia and Fern narrowly escaped from this fierly chaos; the latter managed to avoid the flames just in time, which made me smile to see them unharmed.
As the silence returned, the entire building was now in ruins with several large fissures and cracks, before it came crashed down like cards. It felt like in an action movie, only that I'm witnessed this in real life. The cheerleader seemed very content with the destruction, as she swung her pom-poms around, happily chanting about this. However Fern was very pissed off, his face turned red in anger and his fists were shaking.
"What the ACTUAL HELL!? A few centimeters backwards and I would be a dead man! What is it with you crazy chicks, always going wild with destruction?!" His voice sounded very angry, infuriated with the peppy girl "I though, I'd seen this with that fire bitch yesterday, who almost burned me! You could've killed me with your dammed 'boomies'!"
The cheerleader seemed unfazed by the angry boy, as she simply said it was nothing personal and he still has his limbs. However this didn't satisfied him, as he left off for the Onyx Ward without noticing me and Florinia.
"Ahm... That was a bit awkward..." I broke the silence, as I looked to his direction he left. Well it seems the business was finished with Team Meteor for now on, but we lost the documents sadly and I was still startled about the man's words. He gave me such creeps with his voice and his Seviper was just...How can he let his Pokemon do such horrible things to others!
I heard Julia complicating my battle against the grunts, as Florinia stated to her and was a bit disappointed not witnessing it, as she was busy fighting through a horde of grunts alongside Fern, when they were looking for thr explosives and were halted by the it was only because of someone's assistance than by my own strength, I could beat Eclipse's Lunatone.
There was nothing to do, than returning to the Grand Hall and report this to Ame, as Florinia proposed so. We walked all the way back to the Opal Ward and my head was occupied with so many questions about Team Meteor.
Who were they exactly?
Why did they cause the explosion?
And what are their motives?
Meanwhile
"Heather?"
A few inches away, a 4 month pregnant woman in her late 30's, whose long fuscia hair goes down the middle part of her back and is wearing a light purple short sleeve dress, covering her feet, was calling her daughter in the living room. She looked very worried like a mother would do, but also a bit withdrawn from the world since 5 years. Since that terrible tragedy, that changed her life forever. That woman was Elena Molinar, one of the Elite 4 and a Flying type specialist, living in the Beryl Ward.
It had been difficult to her, raising her daughter alone, since her husband had to frequently leave for work, after he threw his Gym Leader duties since 2 years; an unknown reason she still doesn't know today. Although he would often come during the breaks and weekends to spend time with his family, she could tell he was hiding something from them and he always looked tired, despite ensuring her not to worry about.
But, she had to keep things in line and instruct Heather of the ways of the world, as she was the only thing; beside the life inside her belly, that light happiness in such gloomy times and the hardships, they currently facing. Everthying step by step. To build something, or someone, to survive in such place and learn how to manage life. Those were the things, her husband and she decided to set for her, though the results were very difficult with the current crisis. But it was also with her beloved child's attitude, who had drastically changed into a reckless and ambitions troublemaker in the last 3 years, which caused some trouble around sometimes.
Heather was given a Bagon on her 10th birthday along with a Woobat, a Rufflet, a Hoothoot, a Starly and Driftloon, so she could be taught the ways of Pokemon battling, after watching many battles from her parents. She, of course, had taken good care and trained them hard, but they quickly evolved- with the expection of Hoothoot and Woobat and began to disobey her thanks to her difficult personality; putting a high possibility for the 12 year old to get into any danger, if she wasn't careful enough or too reckless to the extreme.
"Yes, mom?" Heather asked, as she stood in front of her.
"Can you tell me, where you were during the last 3 hours?" her voice was mixed with stern and concern.
Heather felt her pulse speed up. She had been riding her Salamence to practice her areal stunts; a hobby she picked up since the last visit in Agate Circus due to a certain areal dancer, she's idolising since a long time and has been watching every peformance of hers in TV.
"Just hanging around with my friends." Heather answered carefully, not wanting to worry her mother.
"While taking your Pokemon with you?" Elena asked, while raising an eyebrow and stood from her seat on the sofa.
"I don't like walking... all the way down... I didn'..." The pre-teen tried to cover it, but noticed she wasn't a good liar, when it comes to her parents.
"I assume you were still flying around the city again in such time, as always. If you father saw that, he'd be extremely disappointed with you." Heather's eyes widen, upon hearing those words..." Listen. This Pokemon, all of yours." She added on with a film voice, while keeping eye contact with her "Is the most dangerous and strongest for you to train further. It could hurt you without noticing, like almost last time, remember? I cannot leave you with it, until you learned how to control your ways in a much better way."
"But mom!" Heather protested half-heartedly, knowing she had no chance.
"No, Heather. You must train Pokemon at your level. No need to repeat myself again!"
A/N: Phew, finally another chapter done for today. Not too long, because I need more motivation to make longer pieces than before.So yeah, that was Mitsuko's first encounter with the notorious Team Meteor and what's going to happen next?
Stay online for the next update.