February 10th, 2143
10:03 a.m
The months of November, December, and February came and went as all things do. The Insurgent Leader I knew as Algernon told me that my first job as an espionage spy was to lay low for a while. I was known as a person who often spoke out against Team Magma, people would be suspicious if I had suddenly joined forces with them.
Slowly but surely, people began to stop gossiping about me. They stopped looking agitated whenever I was around and a grunt was around too. I listened to the Magma grunts, except when they wanted my Blaziken. I would give them an empty pokeball glued shut so they wouldn't realize that they had been bamboozled until I was long gone. Now people began to gossip and think that I supported them. Normally I hated small-town gossip… but today it was working in my favor.
"The plan is simple," was what Algernon had said. "Become a grunt. With your military experience, you'd get a high position most likely. No one in town has been in the military. You have an incredibly good chance. Oh, and there is more."
He then smiled as he grabbed a book from his bookshelf. He handed it over to me. I flipped it over to see the words "A Dark Night for Me." He looked at my confused face and began to explain.
"This book is your key to communicating with Insurgent communicators. You will go to a nearby building and say the words 'May the Darkness be your veil' and then hand over the coded note. Or do this exact thing if meeting up with other agents. It lets them know which side you are on. Be careful though. If Magma learns where your loyalties truly lie, you'll be painfully executed. That is it. Get going now, make sure the coast is clear before you leave the base."
That was back in October. Now it was February. I sat in the trunk of a car going to Slateport, the closest city where they were assigning and testing new Team Magma recruits. There were only a few aspiring recruits from both Oldale and Little Root. Around eight. And all eight, plus the driver, were cramped together in an old, rickety SUV. Two sitting in the non-driver seat. Four in the middle row. With me and a random man in the trunk… no seats for us… but at least a bit of space.
I was bored as hell.
Initially, the plan was to get Wally, Brendan, and myself recruited on the same day… Brendan was able to join back in January. So that left just me and Wally to join. He was in the front seat next to the driver and stuffed next to some other man. He kept giving me annoyed glances as the man, who was practically on Wally's lap, kept fidgeting annoyingly.
I turned to the man sitting in front of me. And froze.
He looked so much like William that I nearly had a heart attack. But he had a much harder face than the man I knew. I sighed in relief. Seeing images of my dead best friend wasn't doing much for my PTSD.
He looked at me… and grunted. "Can I help you?"
"Oh no," I said back hastily.
I laid back against my seat, moved my bandana over my eyes, and attempted to fall asleep. The rough road made it very difficult… but eventually I did fall asleep.
February 10th, 2143
1:56 p.m
I stirred awake when I felt the car hit some rough pavement. The man who sat in front of me had his head on my lap... Most likely had fallen when he too had fallen asleep. He may have been rather rude to me, but I wasn't gonna wake him up just for that.
"What the hell was that?" I seethed. Making sure not to yell nor move as not to wake the man on my lap.
"Hit some bump lassie, don't worry, nothing too bad," assured the driver. The men in the middle row were getting more and more agitated. One looked as if he was going to throw up.
"Ok," I said. "When will we arrive in Slateport?"
"In about an hour I presume." The driver said.
"Great," I mutter under my breath. I knew for a fact that I wasn't going to fall asleep again so I just stared at the window. Watching the thick forest and farms pass us as we drove for that long one hour.
February 10th, 2143
2:48 p.m
The drive through the city opened up my inner child. I hadn't been in the city in almost one and a half years.
The other men in the car watched me in amusement (a few began to join in) as I looked out the window with a childish grin while laughing at everything I saw. Wally watched me sadly, he was in the same predicament I was. He must miss the city as much as I did.
When we finally arrived at Slateport Magma Headquarters, I gently aroused the man on top of me. He grumbled and adjusted himself on my lap, but after a few seconds, his eyes snapped open. He looked up at me, suddenly realizing he was sleeping on some random younger woman's lap.
"Sorry," he muttered as he hastily got up. I grinned at him.
"No problem."
The trunk was opened by Wally and we got out. A man in a Magma suit then chaperoned us to the room where aspiring recruits were waiting to get called up. We then sat down on one of the few empty chairs.
I sat down next to Wally, watching as people got called up and went in for interviews and questioning. I sat in silence for about twenty minutes… until…
"MY SUGARCOOKIE!" said a sudden, girly, and very loud voice. I jumped out suddenly as a blur of purple hair was suddenly in my face.
My war PTSD kicked in at that exact moment. As the person jumped towards me, my fist came in contact with their face. I heard a groan just as my knee was coming up to their stomach. I suddenly stopped when I realized who it was.
"Harley?!" I said gasping through breaths. To be honest, I never thought I'd ever see the man again. I haven't heard from him, Drew, or Solidad since before I was drafted.
"Oh my Arceus, I'm so sorry Harley. I didn't know you were there," I said in shock as I offered him my hand. He giggled as he accepted it. With one strong tug, I pulled him to his feet. He then dusted himself off.
"Oh, it's ok sweetie. I was just so excited to see you again after all these years! You're happy to see me too right?" he said flamboyantly.
No.
"Oh yes, very happy to see you," I said, giving him a small (mostly fake) smile.
He purred in happiness. At this point, I wanted to climb under a rock and stay there forever to escape from the stares that were coming from people in the room. Some were sniggering while most were majorly perplexed.
"Ummmm, who is this?" Asked Wally from next to me. He looked concerned. I forgot he was even here.
"Oh, this is..." I began to say. Unfortunately, the said peculiar man next to me interrupted me.
"Ooooohhhh? Who is this handsome young man? Is he your boyfriend? I always thought you had something for Drew, but I guess time does change things," said Harley, flicking Wally's forehead with his forefinger. Wally looked at me, his eyes asking me how the hell I knew this man.
"Oh this is my childhood friend Wally," I said hastily. Wally extended his hand and Harley shook it very enthusiastically. I then frowned at Harley. Realizing something.
"What are you doing here anyway?" I asked him. "Are you planning on joining?"
Harley gave me a smile which made me want to vomit. "Oh, I'm just helping out Slateport in their recruiting stuff."
I winced…. If I was stuck in a relatively small room alone with this guy while he was asking me very personal questions…. Well… it was either gonna end with me slicing his throat open with my fingernails… or me going insane for the rest of my life.
"So you do all the questioning and stuff?" Wally asked.
"Oh no, I just make sure nothing strange goes on in the waiting room. My superior said something about not wanting me to freak out the recruits in the interviewing room," Harley said.
Whoever his superior was, I wanted to meet him or her and shake their hand.
"So you're a Magma grunt then?" I asked.
Harley grinned. "Yep, Grunt level three. Pretty high huh. They gave me it right off the bat because of my coordinating experience. But forget about me… we must talk about you… WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN FOR THE PAST LIKE… how many years has it been? Oh yeah… FIVE YEARS?" He was screaming at her at his point. Wally later told me that he told me that he was wondering if he should tackle Harley. The only reason he didn't was because his asthma would take a toll.
"Well, maybe we can talk about this later…" I tried. He was holding my hands in his so I really had no escape.
"Oh no my little gingerbread cookie, we are talking about this NOW…. Now all I need is a chair," said Harley, looking around, looking for an empty chair he could bring over.
At that same moment, as if fate had decided to have a nice laugh at me while I get mauled alive by Harley. One of the interviewers called Wally's name. He gave me a concerned expression before getting up to go. Harley gave a squeal of laughter as he took Wally's old seat and sat looking at me.
"Now, spill the beans. We have so much catching up to do pumpkin," said Harley.
"Well...I don't like to talk about it much…" I said.
"Well, at some point you'll have to talk about it. Might as well it be now," he said without mercy.
"I was drafted into the army," I said wincing, memories of those years came flooding in. But I managed to keep my head and not fall to the ground bawling.
"oh, you poor baby!" Harley gasped. Then with hardly any emotion, "Go on."
"What else can I say? I was drafted for four years so that was why I didn't call you. I could only make one call per week and I called my family. Then Magma took over… you and I love them for that (had to add that part or else Magma members in the room wouldn't be too pleased) and things changed. Simple as that," I said.
"Well, I wasn't drafted thankfully… heard that stuff has done some real bad things to people. I stayed home caring for my nails and hair. Kept in contact with Drew and Sol… well for some time at least. Eventually Sol was also drafted for Kantonian service and Drew stopped talking to me. I think he only spoke to me because Solidad made him… we talked about you a lot," Harley added, which caught her attention.
"You guys talked about me?" I asked.
"Of course. You were one of us. We missed you. We even went through great lengths to try to figure out what happened. Solidad even once burst into tears because she thought something terrible had happened to you."
I was cold with shame. They looked out for me when I didn't even try to contact them during the war. I really was a crappy person. I kept in contact with my parents through phone calls. Even Wally and Brendan through letters.
"I'm sorry Harley. I should have kept in contact. I was just a 15 year old girl trying to survive the war. And nothing else really mattered at that point… I shouldn't even be making excuses. What I did was wrong. And I'm sorry. I hope Drew and Solidad understand. Even if we never meet again, I hope they don't feel as if I had abandoned them," I said. I felt tears forming in my eye sockets. It took every fiber of my being to keep them from falling.
"Oh sugarplum, of course, I forgive you," he said. I smiled at him. I was beginning to think I was wrong about him. That he maybe was a great guy… how naive I was in my youth and even then. My trust in him was going to be a price I paid dearly for later on.
"May Sapphire Maple!" Said an interviewer. I looked up.
"I gotta go… see you, Harley," I said to him. I was still awkward around him. He grinned and waved to me. I followed the interviewer to a desk and seat. He sat down in his chair and motioned for me to sit in the chair in front of his desk.
I did so. I sat there awkwardly as he grabbed a file from his desk drawer. It was then I realized that the file was on me.
"So, Miss Maple, why do you want to join the Magma Family?" He asked.
I snorted internally. Family? Some family this was.
"Well, I want to watch over and help people. And becoming a Magma member was one of the ways I could," I lied. I wanted to help people, but protect them from Magma.
"Well you came to the right place young lady," the man said with a smile. At this point, I was biting my laughter back.
"I also heard you were in the military for around four years. A draftee… am I correct?" He asked, flipping through the files and looking up at me.
"Yes, you are correct," I answered. The man smiled at me.
"Now I'll just read through some facts and tell me if these facts are correct or if they are correct. Alright?" The man asked.
"Yes sir, I think I can do that," I said.
"Ok, you were drafted for four years, One of only half a thousand escaping Petalburgian citizens who were in Petalburg on September 27th...you…"
"Wait… one of only half a thousand escaping?" I was astounded.
"Yes. Out of hundreds of thousands of civilians. Only around half a thousand managed to make it out. Those Kantonians really knew what they were doing huh?" he said with a slight chuckle.
"What do you mean by escaping? Don't you mean surviving? I asked.
The man fidgeted in his seat. "Most died from burns or exposure to chemicals when they reached Rustboro. That's what I meant."
I felt a weight drop in my stomach. "Oh," was my only reply. The man nodded.
"As I was saying, you were one of around a thousand escaping civilians, one of a few thousand to make it out of the Battle of the Wild Area alive and mostly unscathed. And as I see it so far, you have not been driven to madness from the atrocities of the Battle of Wild Area."
Well, that was rather blunt.
"Yes sir, as far as I am concerned, that is correct," I answered.
"Well then, you are definitely one in a million," the man said, smiling at me. I laughed awkwardly. I didn't feel special. Not at all. I felt normal. I felt… like a nobody. Just some wannabe Top Coordinator who had to quit because of the draft. I simply survived as others died. Survivor's guilt.
"I think it was fate that chose you to join us, Miss May Maple. Just simple fate. As if Lord Arceus brought you to us," said the man smiling.
What?
"I'm not sure if I believe much in fate, just a person's choices sir," I countered.
"Then I suppose that's where we differ. But in the end, we have become a family. Welcome to the Magma family. Now, the battle test. No matter if you lose or win, you are still a Magma member. But this battle will determine your rank in the family. Are you ready? What pokemon will you use?" The man asked.
"Just one, my Blaziken," I said.
"Well, you will be battling a pokemon you have a severe disadvantage against. In this case, I have the perfect pokemon," he said. He grabbed a pokeball from his desk. He then turned and smiled at me.
"Well, then Miss Maple, after you." He opened a door behind him which opened into a large room with multiple pokemon battle grounds on it. Most were in use. The one in front of them was empty. I ran over to the far side while the man stood at the trainer spot closest to our door.
"Are you ready Miss Maple?"
"Always have been, sir," I replied.
"Good… GO SLOWBRO!" He called out. Out came a medium sized pink pokemon. I gripped my pokeball and threw it into the air. Out came Blaziken in a volley of flames… contest style.
"Pretty gorgeous… but beauty isn't gonna help you win this battle. Slowbro use water pulse!"
The slowbro responded with a ball of water appearing between its two hands.
"Oh no you don't, Blaziken use Blaze kick!" I yelled.
Blaziken's foot began to glow with fire, he then sprinted towards Slowbro. Before the water pokemon could release the water pulse, the flaming foot slammed into the water pokemon's face.
"Use mega kick!" I said.
Just as I said that the man said "Release the water pulse!"
"Dodge it!" I yelled back.
Blaziken was too close to avoid the water pulse, a critical hit. But he turned around and slammed his foot once more into the water pokemon. It was also a critical hit and sent Slowbro flying back. It landed on its back with a thud.
"Now Blaziken! Use Quick Attack!" I said in excitement. My only pokemon sprinted towards the Slowbro and tackled it.
"Slowbro use psychic!" the man said. Slowbro was back on his feet and released a large pink beam.
Without my order, Blaziken dodged.
I looked over at the Slowbro and could see it heaving. It was tiring. I smiled as I decided I better finish it off.
"Blaziken use Close Combat!" I yelled.
Blaziken sprinted towards the pokemon and before Slowbro could react, sent a volley of punches and kicks at it. It went on for about a minute and until Slowbro was on the ground unconscious.
The man smiled in admiration as he returned his Slowbro.
"Well done. I was surprised that you and your Blaziken made quick work of a pokemon who was 4x stronger than it. Now, you can go back to the waiting room as we finish up our choices," the man said as he scribbled notes down on a clipboard I didn't notice he had before.
I attempted to return Blaziken, who refused to go back into his pokeball. I shrugged and smiled at him as I slapped his back.
"Great work buddy!" I said. Blaziken grinned as I stroked his back. I could have also sworn he also purred, or whatever sound a content Blaziken makes.
We walked back to the waiting room where Wally (and sadly Harley) sat. Wally sat on the other side of the room attempting to stay clear of Harley who was trying to engage him in a conversation. Wally lightened up considerably when he saw me walking towards him. Harley also saw me to my displeasure.
"Honey, I don't think your friend likes me much," Harley pouted.
"He's not wrong," said Wally under his breath. I gave him a glare and told him (through my eyes) to be a little more polite.
"He is normally like that," I lied to Harley. I then turned to Wally. "How'd it go for you?"
He looked sad. "Not great. I lost my battle. Gardevoir couldn't keep up with the opponent's speed. Also, I have asthma and nothing special to add to my name. I wasn't in the war like you, I may have been a pokemon trainer, but so have many other people."
"Oh that's alright, you'll get some rank and you can still climb the ranks," I told him.
"Yeah, that's how one of my friends got to Grunt level 4," Harley said, pointing to an agitated-looking man in the corner.
"Not your friend freak," said the man.
Harley made a fake frowny face at him and turned back to us. Wally looked pityingly at the man for a second.
"Don't believe him," Harley said.
"Ok…" I said. "How long do we have to wait for our ranks?"
Harley shrugged. "I don't know. They'll definitely give it to you by the end of the day. But only a few hours after everyone's interviews are over."
"So we have to wait here for a long time?" Wally groaned.
"Yeah," said Harley briskly.
"Great," I said sarcastically. I sat down in the seat right next to Wally (Harley was standing). Wally smiled at me and then turned around to look in front of him. Blaziken kept giving Harley dirty looks.
February 10th, 2143
8:49 p.m
The hours ticked by. I spent a good while playing on my phone, sleeping, making sure Wally doesn't fall onto the floor when he sleeps, texting Brendan really random texts, and surfing the internet… all the while trying not to lose my nerve over Harley. He kept annoying Blaziken to the point where I had to return him to his Pokeball after a good while.
I was sleeping when a sudden hand shook me violently.
"Wake up honey! They are announcing the ranks to everyone," Harley said, he was the one shaking me. I grunted at him to let me go. He gave me a creepy smile and let me go reluctantly.
"Ok, attention please," said a woman. The man who gave me my interview stood next to her. Along with around five others. All people who gave out the interviews.
"Ok, we are going in backward alphabetical order," said the woman. "Zuri Abernath… grunt rank 2 of Little Root Town..."
The list went on and on. Wally got grunt rank 1 much to his displeasure. He held his rank badge in his fingers, inspecting it. I leaned back as the other names got called. Suddenly, I perked up when I heard my name being called.
"May Sapphire Maple," said the woman. She then stopped and frowned for a second. Looking down at the paper. "Brigadier Admin of Oldale Town."
People began muttering in surprise. Brigadier Admin?! How did that happen? Wally slapped my back and when no one was looking he leaned in to me and whispered. "Seemed like Algernon pulled a few strings."
I was stunned. Either I must seem very valuable to Magma, or Algernon had very good connections. I later found out that it was both.
I was three levels below Maxie himself. Ok… I wasn't expecting this good of a rank but ok.
"Wow honey, I can't believe you did so good," Harley said.
"Grunt, show some respect for your superiors!" Snarled the woman. Harley looked about as flabbergasted as I. Wow, this meant that the guy can't bother me anymore. At least not in front of people.
"And Brigadier Admin Maple, it is your responsibility to stop such behavior as such. Respect and order is very important in Magma Headquarters." She then continued reading off the list.
After another ten minutes, the rank announcements were over. Everyone got up to leave, I left with the other Oldale grunts. The other people who travelled with me were stunned. Especially the guy who was sitting in the trunk with me. He kept smiling at me awkwardly.
"Hey sugar plum, when can I see you again?" Asked Harley, although this time he kept his distance.
Never.
"I don't know Harley," I said as I walked towards the car. I then stopped, it was late at night. I frowned at Harley who looked awkwardly at me. As well as the rest of the Oldale grunts. I looked around us to see most of the other town and city grunts already gone. We were the only ones there. Everyone seemed hasty to leave.
I then walked around the perimeter. Scanning the area. I found nothing. I then walked back to the SUV.
"What's wrong… boss?" said my trunk mate as he pulled me into the trunk. He said the word boss awkwardly.
"I don't know," I said as I settled down across from him. "I felt like someone was watching me."
My trunk mate closed the door in the annoyed Harley's face as he took one final look outside.
"I don't see anyone," he said.
"Hmmm, don't worry. It's probably my inner Hoennic soldier kicking in," I said. I wasn't wrong. I was pretty paranoid during my soldier days. But the feeling of being watched seemed to have increased after Magma took over.
"You worked in the military then?" He asked.
"Huh, oh yeah I did. I was in it since I was 15 and until it ended when I was 19..." I began. The man seemed interested in what I was saying so I kept talking, But I still was unsure. Someone had been watching me, more and more as of recently. Who and why I don't know.
