Non villainous villains.
By Zman123
Chapter 1: Team Magma. Defenders of the land.
A gigantic explosion finally ends a long and bloody war on a massive scale, world war 3.
It ends the war but a large part of the world along with it. It becomes known as "the impact", a freak accident no one quite has the cause off till this day.
These are dark times. Famine and banditry continue to plague the surviving lands as corruption runs rampant. With not enough trained adults to spare, the remnants of the so called "World government" begins forcing out young minors desperate for a job and food for their struggling families.
Arming them inadequately and paying them cheaply as they are sent to their deaths.
It's a bleak age to be among the unfortunate generation now known as the poisoned youth.
"Good…luck. Stay…safe down there." A young woman with short but pretty lilac hair in a red and black hooded jacket and short red dress which gave a clear view of her thin, sexy legs in spite of the thickness of the rest of her standard issue attire denoting her as the head admin of the rest of the uniformed scientists some of whom were already positioned in the submarine about to be launched into the pool of lava and the rest beginning to return to their labs to continue their work now that they had seen the vessel go off without a hitch.
"Please…change…the…world." She hopefully stated, still not able to fully overcome the speech impediment that a childhood incident involving a very near fatal strangulation of her delicate neck had permanently left upon her.
She continued to stand on the metal platform with her lilac orbs the same hue as her yarn-like kiddie cut hair, waiting patiently for the so called "hero" she was certain would be here any moment in an attempt to "smite evil" and "bring order" to her "backward bunch of extremist hicks not worth the space they took up on this Earth".
Never mind that their name Team Magma, was supposed to convey just great of a respect they had for the Earth and all that rested beneath its thin crust down to the burning core of metals only the most gifted of researcher minds still knew existed.
She smiled expectantly as sure enough, the metre-thick steel door connecting sector 4 of her base to its main docking point was sliced apart by what was clearly a razor-sharp blade wielded in expert hands.
A blink of the eye later, and standing before the faintly smiling Team Magma Admin Courtney Camerupt Kagari (named for her resilience to withstand even the harshest of scorching heatwaves like a camel along with her simply devastating volcanic like eruptions in the rare cases some careless jerk decided to take advantage of her kindness), was the incredibly handsome up and rising new white haired young hero in the Hoenn sector.
Sword raised in one hand, gun drawn in the other hand, stood a young boy whose prematurely white hair and clearly visible veins on his skinny face reflected perfectly the signs of extreme malnourished as the two sticks he had for legs threatened to buckle and give way to his almost equally thin body even as he bared his teeth and raised his firearm threateningly at the lilac haired Magma admin.
His firearm of choice, an Uzi.
Most likely chosen for its cheapness, the cheapness of its ammunition and its ability to rapid fire while requiring just one hand to fire leaving his sword hand free.
There was no fear in Courtney's gestures nor voice as she politely greeted her expected guest with a polite bow and a smile, doing her best in spite of her social ineptitude to show how her dearest visitor was welcome in her hideout at any time.
She gave a light giggle even as the starved little pile of skin and bones began to menace her with an absolutely furious raise of his gun as his sunken eyes blazed with an inner fire hotter than the core of the sun itself.
"I knew you would come" she happily remarked, her joy in the moment managing to almost completely alley her usually uncontrollable stutters for which she was beyond thankful for.
"Too bad though. The submarine has been upgraded. Look at that drill. With that, even the seafloor cavern is in for a walloping."
She gestured at her team's labour of love as it submerged deep beneath the red magma and sailed out through the already open door built into the rock face of the volcano the two of them were now inside, causing the already mad white haired boy to stamp his feet in great helplessness as he gnashed his teeth.
He knew that the upgraded drilling sub was bulletproof and that his remaining ammunition was limited.
Most of it used up in the earlier fights against other lesser Magma members who much to his surprise, chose to turn tail rather than fight him. Some of them even dropping their wallets at his feet as they went.
And how if he returned empty handed from this mission, how ashamed his boss Professor Birch would be with him.
He knew he couldn't last another week without food.
Part of him really wanted to just pull the trigger and put an end to this psychotic woman's life this instant, but the part of him that reminded him he was still just a ten year old kid who'd lost both his parents in the previous wave of famine meant that try as he might with all his training, he couldn't squeeze the trigger all the way yet.
Courtney seemed amused by this as she kindly returned his grimace with yet another light chirp as she held her arms out in another faint-hearted attempt to convince the underage senior agent of NERV that she was indeed harmless.
"But now I just want to. Engage you and see what happens." She giddily requested, unable to prevent another light chuckle escaping her lips as she said this.
"I just want to… Analyse you."
And as she finished her sentence, the boy's innocence finally lost its grip on his murderous intent to right wrong and be paid for it with much needed lunch money as he loosed off a deadly stream of bullets from his fully automatic submachine gun.
He didn't need a friendly conversation right now, as friendly as this enemy officer seemed.
All he needed was professor Birch's approval so that his forbidden love relationship for his beautiful daughter May could advance, and he could finally get some food with the bounty on this creep's head.
The feminine side of the usually fierce fiery admin of what amounted to the fire nation of Hoenn prompted her to take dance lessons for the pure sake of fun rather than science for one of the eight degrees she worked incredibly hard to gather in her pursuit of knowledge.
She had hoped her skill would be put to use in a more graceful circumstance, but she was grateful nonetheless that it let her dodge the killer storm of lead with ease as she leapt out of the way onto a part of the floor far from the magma.
The same stunt was repeated as the white-hair fired another hail of death at her new position, as she managed to pull off a flawless somersault mid air displaying incredibly acrobatic grace possible only because of her cybernetic enhancements.
"I…am…not…your…enemy. Please…desist…in…your…unnecessarily…violent…assault." She managed to stutter as her assailant finally ran out of bullets and with one smooth motion, dropped his gun and charged forward with his worn but still deadly sharp katana fully intending to cut her to shreds.
"Lies" He barked, speaking for the first time since this meeting as he lunged for her midsection.
"He warned me that you would try to fill my head with lies."
"It's…not…a…lie" Courtney weakly protested as she managed in the nick of time to dodge his absolutely ruthless swing of his sword.
"Please…Brendan…stop." She pleadingly moaned, her voice hardly louder than a whisper as her opponent let off another flurry of swipes and slashes that she barely got clear off this time due to the allure of his harmless expression even as he was making to murder her with every ounce of his will.
"I…have…no…intention…to harm you."
She was close to tears but knew she could not show weakness in front of the single still-alive person who was likely the only Hoenn civilian who would understand her cause enough to sympathise.
The first friend she made outside of Team Magma, and one she intended to keep. Even cyborgs needed human affections.
"Well I have every intent to harm you, Team Magma scum." The so-called Brendan, full name Brendan Omega Ruby, sharply retorted as she continued to dodge between his strikes not once attempting a counterattack much to his surprise.
"You extremists do nothing but try to harm the Earth for your own sick amusement."
"Our…very…title…was…meant to signify…our…deep…admiration for the Earth…the…vital stage upon which…human development…can take place." His target tried belatedly to explain between dodges.
"We…seek only…to bring as much happiness to…what remains of mankind in the most sustainable way possible for our dying planet. While it may be true that… our ideologies set us at odds… with your superiors. We would never wish…anything…bad…to happen upon…them…or…you. We are…rebels…Brendan. Not…extremists. Extremism…solves nothing."
"Enough of your lies!" he shouted as their fight took them both very close to the pool of molten magma, the lilac haired woman merely inches away from falling in.
His stomach grumbled loudly as he grinned a devilish grin at seeing his target backed into such a corner. Such a shame he wouldn't be able to recover her burned up corpse as proof of his first victory over a high-ranking enemy officer, but he was certain he could find some other way to prove her death.
All that could wait until after he won first though.
And victory was just a few short steps in front of him now as he stepped triumphantly, sword held high at the shivering red and lilac mess looking to and fro for a position to run to without success.
"Please…Brendan. I…have…no…love for war. This I swear." She solemnly promised with her hands held high like a hostage.
"Please believe me. I wish. I wish only to make the world a better place by conserving the precious little land the world government's reckless development activities are putting in great danger.
Without this…land. So much innocent life, people and animals. All dead. I do not wish to fight you. I wish only with your permission…to analyse you so that I may…better please you."
She was still trying to ask for mercy when almost without warning, Brendan sprang forward flashing his blade.
Time seemed to turn into a blur as first, she managed in the nick of time to sidestep the blow that would have ended her though not without sustaining a nasty gash to her right arm for her troubles.
And second, Brendan screamed as he lost balance as he over-committed and tumbled feet first off the edge of the metal bridge and into the bubbling liquid red furnace below.
It was over, he scolded himself as his own screams of agony nearly pierced his eardrums. Team Magma had won. The world was doomed.
His mind turned to his favourite Anime and video games series he had only once gotten to experience, courtesy of his crush May Birch who had once let him play with her on her expensive Games console her slightly wealthier professor dad let her afford.
Groudon was going to burn the sea up and then intense drought was going to dry the world leaving nothing but salted sand.
He had failed. And he hadn't even gotten his last meal prior to his death which would most likely be slow and agonising as flesh took a long time to scorch even in volcanic lava.
"Just gonna stand there and watch me burn" he hummed to himself in his head as the boiling liquid came at him. "Well that's alright. Because I like the way it hurts. Just gonna stand there and hear me cry. Well that's alright because I love the way you lie. Love the way you…"
But before he could finish the final verse of his final moments death song signifying his utter contempt for the Magma admin whose attempts at acting friendly towards him had only infuriated him, he felt his hand being grabbed by a surprisingly strong force as his green and silver sword (his "leaf blade" as he so preferred to call it) was consumed by the magma.
He was slowly but surely pulled back up to the edge only to witness the extremely painful grimace in Courtney's sweating face as she put every ounce of her remaining breath into trying to keep him from falling.
During the struggle as she nearly threw out her back, a sudden force backwards sent her hoodie flying off her hair allowing Brendan for the first time in his life to see just how eye-catching and stunning the enemy he spent the most time pursuing really looked without her menacing uniform.
How surreally stunning those short lilac strands made her look, beating out even his official girlfriend May in the attractiveness category.
His conscience quickly tried without success to make him renew his vow of fidelity only to fail spectacularly as with a final extreme exertion that clearly put Courtney in great risk of falling into the lava herself, she managed to drag a now very tired black and blue Brendan back onto the platform where she delicately lay him down into a recovery positioned perfected by years of hard study at medical school.
How maddeningly hard his heart slammed in the seconds where their faces were only inches apart.
He had to actively restrain himself to prevent his lips going forward.
"There…there" his enemy turned rescuer gently reassured him as she gently caressed his shoulder. "Breath in…Breath out. You…are…safe."
He grimly obeyed as very slowly helped by her instructions, he regained his breath and his sanity along with the emptiness of his stomach.
How very disappointed NERV would be in him when they discovered he needed to accept help from the very target he was dispatched to eliminate at any cost.
He could already feel the blunt force of the cane he saw on chief Gendo's wall.
"Why…why did you save me?" he managed eventually to ask, tears blurring his vision at the thought of another week without ration cards. "Why won't you fight back?"
Courtney simply raised his head up so that the round lilac crystals she had for eyes looked directly into his. She once again shyly smiled this time with a slight blush.
"It's because. I always want to be with you" She sincerely stated in a sweet melody that could not help but remind Brendan of Ash's Pikachu, the cutest creature to ever grace his soul with its existence.
"But why?" he protested weakly, recoiling back to signal to the older woman who in reality was not that much older than him, to put him back down. "All I've ever done is try to kill you. And that's really what you still want?"
She shook her head.
"You…protected…this land…with…your…selfless decisions. You…brought this land…peace. You continued…Leader Maxie's work and he would be…as…proud of you as I am now. We at Team Magma…owe you all our very lives…Brendan."
Brendan gasped. Was he finally gaining…acknowledgement in his life for some of the heroic deeds he busted his ass for?
Finally being thanked for putting his life time and time again on the line all for a few pennies.
This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. Not from his sworn enemy leader that he swore to abjure from the day he met her and she had said the first words that would forever manifest in his psyche in spite of his burning hatred of her and her team.
"Target…lock…completed. Commencing…experiment. You…forever. Ahahaha."
No. There it was again. He was hearing it again and he couldn't get it out of his head. He kicked and thrashed only for his saviour to politely request for him to stay down at least until he got his energy back.
"You're still so young. Brendan. I do not want…to see a soul so pure as yours…throw away your life needlessly. Please do not…do such a dangerous thing…again. Please understand…that I care for your safety while your current superiors…do not."
"Well. What do you want with me then?" he incredulously asked as he eventually regained enough energy to struggle to his feet with the help of the lilac hair who was incredibly tired herself. "If you're not going to kill me, what do you want with me?"
"I want to…with your permission…analyse you. I want to…prove to you…that my intentions are…benevolent. Name…your sincerest wish. Anything. I can make it happen for you."
Her stutters eased up at the end out of a rare bout of confidence she forced into herself as she humbly bowed once more before the boy whose body language, appearance and soft voice even when angry were such a joy to witness.
He really was Hoenn's best hope in these dark times, even if he was a little delusional from the hours in his childhood he spent hammering away on his games console.
"So you'll give me anything I want?" Brendan summarised sceptically as he caressed his aching stomach.
"Absolutely…anything." She robotically shot back, not needing even a millisecond to formulate her response.
"Well then…"
…
Almost an hour later, the team Magma admin and the white haired child star model for starving kids in a third world country were seated in the child star's favourite diner "Pizza Castle" which he had not been to once since being treated out to it by professor Birch's daughter May on their anniversary.
He had planned to wait it out so that it would be their next anniversary before he came here again, but with his very soul deprived of the passion he had slowly lost through weeks of forced starvation due to not having any jobs to take, it was the only place he now felt could restore him to any hope of sanity as well as the only eatery pricy enough to truly test his despised nemesis true loyalty to him.
Courtney did not so much as bat an eyelid as her esteemed guest on this oh-so romantic soiree opted to order the most expensive item on the menu as the sharply dressed six-star tycoon restaurant owner, former plumber "Mario" personally took the order.
Brendan decided upon the large double olive, double pepperoni and double meatball double thickness crusted pizza to which his host very nonchalantly dropped a massive stack of notes from her wallet onto the collection tray for.
Her guest's eyes bulged at such money, that not even a year of his salary at his optimum performance could earn him from NERV.
Either she was loaded or she really did care for him enough to not mind forking away so much dough.
She hesitated for a few moments before eventually pointing to the triple ghost pepper and ghost pepper only option that no one in their right mind would dare to take even a bite out of.
And for beverages while Brendan ordered a large cherry coco cola.
While Courtney because this was technically Japan even though it was an American diner, asked for a carton of wasabi.
To which when it came, she completely relinquished her usually restrained and cautious nature as she chugged it all down in one gigantic gulp before breathing up a brilliantly billowing stream of flames, scorching a Pizza Castle banner on a nearby wall to ashes as she replied with a triumphant bow to her guest's polite round of applause to this charade.
This was just like in the winning act of a contest from Mossdeep city contest hall that he and May had also been to once together. His sworn enemy really was hitting all his right notes.
They ate in silence, not wanting to get their food tangled up in their throats and Brendan was viciously famished from weeks of being deprived of his pay and ration cards from the Hoenn Government as a result of below average performance expected of a child wonder such as himself.
For Brendan, his role consisted of two smaller roles compacted into one. A paid contractor to strategically take out Hoenn's biggest threats and a bodyguard for the protection of civilians the Hoenn branch of the world government deemed important enough to deserve its protection because of the large amounts of money they could come up with, such as the wealthy researcher Professor Birch.
He had never liked killing but in the tough circumstances the impact left the world and by extension him and his family in, it was the one thing that put food on the table.
And while professor Birch was sometimes glad to give him freebies as a reward for when he did really well, he made it clear that even he would not and could not give anything away to the boy for free.
Some of this, he told Courtney later once his hunger was at least momentarily appeased along with his full name (Omega meaning the last letter of the Greek Alphabet representing how he would bring about a new and better age, and Ruby being the stone of fire and dragons to represent his fiery passion that would never die down once he set his mind on a goal worth achieving).
And in return through a more confident but still heavily stuttered intonation, Courtney told him a little about herself along with her full name and the fact that she had eight degrees in the same vein that Red and Blue from Pokemon had Eight gym badges. Which she listed as:
-Maths.
-Biology
-Chemistry
-Physics (triple science. Important for a scientist).
-Geology(One does not simply walk into a rocky mountain without knowing the rocks inside and out)
-Medicines (The nurse joy community picked some richer and prettier more outspoken girl over her)
-Ballet (Hey. Don't judge.)
-Nuclear physics. (It's the most likely main power source after coal, oil and natural gas run out which it already is starting to.)
"Courtney Camerupt Kagari. That's a bit of a strange name." he noted, trying his best not to sound rude.
"It…shows…off…my…affinity for…fire…and…land." She plainly stated, taking no offense whatsoever to his inconsideration.
"I suppose that makes us more similar than I first thought" Brendan bashfully said.
"So, what did you do before you came to team Magma?" He asked, morbid curiosity getting the better of him.
His host and saviour's demeanour suddenly became as cold and icy as the Arctic circle as she took a brief look around the Pizzeria to make double sure no one was listening in.
"If…I…tell…you. You have…to…keep it…a secret" she demanded urgently.
"You also…have…to…believe me. What I'm about…to…tell you. Is something… you probably won't…believe…even if I…told you."
"I've seen plenty since the Impact that's completely made me question everything, I once believed in. Heck if the Earth split open this very instant, I wouldn't be surprised anymore. So just try me." Brendan agreed.
"No offence." he added when he sensed his statement clearly stung at her feelings.
"None taken Brendan." She quickly responded.
She had originally wanted to analyse him and now he was the one most eager to know every detail about her. What a role reversal.
So in a slow and pained stutter, some parts clearly more painful than others, Courtney begun to tell Brendan the truth about her tragic, forlorn childhood in which every day was a battle for survival and she had none of the freedom an intrepid adventurer like him did.
At the age of just two, her mother abandoned her.
Her father who was a lazy and irresponsible drunk, squandered the little money she had left them on gambling debts and when she was just five, he had her sold at the market when he decided she was no longer worth the space she took up in his home under the guise of taking her to a daycare.
The slave markets. Where actual, living children unwanted by anyone were clapped in chains and put on display while a loudmouthed top hat with a cane boasted on and on about the wonderful benefits each child could provide and if a single one of them so much as didn't stand up straight with a smile or spoke when they weren't asked, they would get a wonderful first-hand experience of the sharp end of that cane that they soon realised the hard way wasn't just for show.
Courtney had never been especially talkative, but her time spent in a cruel fate no better than a product on a shelf managed to take things from bad to worse.
And one evening as she was settling down to sleep in the back of her senior slave-driver's truck, she found when she tried to curse her horrible life that nothing but a strained groan came out.
The same thing happened when one of her potential buyers the next day tried without success to ask her name, and even when her master gave her several strokes of his big and hard stick, she could still say nothing.
Ironically, this submissiveness was what eventually charmed the tall smart man in the suit to have her bought, provided of course that the merchant gave him a discount for her inability to speak.
And glad to have her off his hands, the transaction went off without a hitch.
This buyer's name. Giovanni Rhydon Rocket.
The founder of team rocket, then the largest mega corporation in the world.
To say that he worked her like a dog would be the understatement of the century.
It would be more accurate to say that he worked her like a lifeless piece of machinery would be more appropriate since even dogs deserved basic rights from their owners which Giovanni did not care to give the younger Courtney.
Her jobs ranged from lifting heavy loads to delicate servant work as a butler for him and his troupe of guests that Courtney hated almost as much as him.
He had a quick temper and he took great pleasure from striking the lilac haired girl with a riding whip, even when she hadn't actually done anything wrong and gone above and beyond in her duties.
Malnourishment was a serious problem in Courtney's childhood.
It would mean that even years later when she could afford to eat normally, she periodically had eating disorders and couldn't carry a human sized weight on her back the way most of her team could.
Then one day, the dizziness in Courtney's head as a result of having so little to eat and being overworked so late in so many nights was finally too much for her to bear and she accidentally through no ill intent whatsoever dropped her master's lemonade onto his expensive newly creased trousers, causing the rest of his mean-spirited dinner guests to laugh and make merry at his expense.
At this, Giovanni wordlessly broke out of all bounds and clubbed her to the Earth with his small but hard pistol.
And the next second, with ape like fury. He was trampling his hapless victim under his foot and hailing down a rain of absolutely furious blows under which her bones were audibly crunched and her body jumped upon the finely laid out rug in the centre of the fine cabin he and his guest had abroad their stolen gourmet cruise-ship. The S.S Anne.
The Rocket boss could see Courtney was badly hurt once his adrenaline rush wore off, but he nonetheless ordered her to be thrown from his ship at once.
Two Rocket grunts not wanting to incur any further wrath from their mean-spirited brute of a leader, quickly carried her above decks and threw her into the sea thinking she was sure to die.
From this incident, Courtney developed a crippling fear of deep water that no amount of fear facing or psychology could overcome.
Even being in the confines of a safe and watertight submarine as it submerged below sea level to let its passengers see the marvels that existed only below the ocean's surface was enough to trigger a panic attack in which her heart rated jumped to a ridiculous speed and she promptly fell unconscious after a brief dizzy spell often accompanied by a puddle of vomit.
It was why she opted to stay behind even though she would have loved to see the Magma-sub through in its mission to change the world.
If there was one good thing Courtney could say that Giovanni's strict diet for younger her had done, it was that it made her comatose body extremely light.
She floated on the sea's surface rather than sinking and she would wake up almost an entire day later to find herself on the deck of another ship, this one full of uniformed men and women dressed almost entirely in red and black with a large black M on their thick sweaters as opposed to the purple R on Team Rocket's thin black suits.
She coughed up some seawater and managed to shake off the last of her drowsiness as the crowd parted to let through a tall but fine boned red haired man with glasses whose eyes gleamed with intelligence and curiosity.
His frail and melodious voice was a stark contrast to the demanding, constantly on edge snarl of her old owner Giovanni, and slowly it put her at ease as he offered his condolences as to her shock at finding herself here on his vessel after his team had managed to locate her bobbing around like a piece of detritus on top of the salty waters of the sea.
She had narrowly pulled through and would surely have died if he didn't find her for even another hour.
Persuaded by that man's kindness and the softness in the eyes of his crew that was not present in Team Rocket, Courtney managed after a long period of silent pondering to tell him her name and her story as well as explaining with tears in her eyes that she had nowhere to go now.
At the end of it all, as the scientist who was clearly leader of the crew managed despite his nervousness to gently caress her face and tell her she was welcome to stay here as long as she needed, she found the courage to ask for the name of her eternal saviour who she was eternally in debt toward.
"Maxie" he replied. "Maxie Mightyena Matsubusa. I'm the leader of my crew, Team Magma." The juxtaposition of the middle part of his title along with his soft and scientific complexion was enough to make the Lilac haired girl laugh. The first time she had done so in years.
"Maxie." She repeated with a slight giggle as the ship finally reached its docking point of the city she would come to know off later as her home, Lilycove.
"Leader Maxie" she emphasized as the older man let out a nervous but nonetheless amused and heart warming light chuckle of his own. Leader. The old title she gave to her old master but one she no longer had to give him now that he wasn't here anymore.
"Leader Maxie?" He asked to which her only reply was a chipper mmhm and a bow.
"If that is what you wish. Dear Child."
Her new life's calling started that very day as she was the first and the most eager in the line of team Magma members to follow Maxie off the ship and into her new region. The Hoenn region. A vast improvement over her previous home Kanto in both sights and possibilities.
…
"Where is Maxie anyway?" Brendan suddenly blurted out, finally finding it strange that the supposed head of Team Magma wasn't present in his own HQ.
"Probably off to see his family" Courtney sincerely stated. "He wants…to be a good husband…and dad…to his new wife and children. And that means…leaving Team Magma behind for a while. And since he decided I was his most loyal follower…and I have a good head on my shoulders. I should…lead. At least until he…comes back."
"Gee I wish my dad was half as willing to put his work behind as that." Brendan muttered jealously under his breath. "I mean yeah, he needs to work and run his gym but still…"
"You should be proud of yourself Brendan. You're…doing…his work. Whether you, know it or not.
"All I've done is protect a few innocent people from bandits and other threats (the massive explosion called an impact had really messed the world up badly) It's nothing noteworthy. And to be fair. I only really did it to earn some money to not starve to death"
"And…by…doing…so…you've saved a lot of…the people…under my command…that I cared…deeply for as more than…my workers. You've helped us reclaim a lot of…land…that we and a lot of the people…dependant on us for their livelihood…really needed."
"Well I'm glad I could help." He bashfully but happily replied.
The conversation continued more leisurely on how Team Magma's goal was not simply to expand land, but to preserve and improve existing ones through the use of fertilizers and other selective farming methods.
How there was no Groudon since this was real life and not a cartoon, and how Courtney's team's latest plan was to dredge up an island from the dead sea which had no sea life anyway and re-fertilize it so that people and other animals could use it.
"We could…use…your…help. Brendan. You came…to…take down…my leader. But you. You can be my leader…if…you so choose."
Courtney offered after they had finished their desserts and headed back out into the cooling heatwave of the dying sunset.
She held out a hand as Brendan recoiled at the mention of the prodigal wonder that he had sought his whole life to try and emulate.
"What do you say…friend."
It took him surprisingly little time to consider this. One lick of his tongue as he remembered how tasty that overpriced pizza was and one final look at just how truly beautiful Courtney looked with her hood down and how selfless she had been to shrug aside his attempt on her life so casually and even risk her own life to save his.
And Brendan's choice was made.
Courtney had fed him while the so called "world government" gave him and his suffering family nothing.
It was the reason he had left home, to give them one less mouth to feed and to make his own lot in life.
Even if he went back, there would be no food on the table without mum and dad starving themselves and he couldn't stand that, as loving an act as it was.
"You continue as leader, Courtney. You clearly know what's best for your team. But yes. I will help you. Let's go back to your base."
And mimicking the excited and loyal movements Courtney had made on her day of finding her calling in life, Brendan steadied his rucksack and in perfect synchronisation followed the Lilac haired Admin back to the laboratory inside the volcano.
He only hoped his decision hadn't turned May against him and promised that whatever new world he and Team Magma ended up making, May would still be a part of it all.
Soon he would ensure that the two of them and everyone else they cared about never went hungry again.
An interesting mistake that many shows make is that they focus too much on their weakest and least compelling aspect. Pokemon focuses far too much on talking battles which amount to two people shouting a bunch of increasingly boring attack titles, while an electric mouse that in all logic has no right to win against a mighty dragon several times its size wins anyway.
Sailor Moon focuses too much on the drawn out transformations and the attacks take forever to be launched as the Sailor guardians say the names of their attacks as slowly as possible and for every attack too which detracts from the action and suspense and fast paced mayhem a good fight should have.
Naruto which wants to teach the lesson of nonviolence, makes it so that the later seasons amount less and less to who's kinder and genuinely has a more selfless intention, and far more might makes right as the characters start breaking into more fights spontaneously and for increasingly stupid reasons like revenge or because a prophecy said so.
While the Pokemon are very interesting in both their design and concept, an animal that can only say its name and whose purpose is to be used in what amounts to a glorified bullfight is nowhere near as in depth or compelling as the people who command the pokemon.
The people are capable of deeper emotions and reacting to the events of the story in a variety of ways.
They have backstories waiting to be delved into and it might just be me, but some of the human characters are especially artfully designed for a series that wants to focus mostly on the mythical non-human creatures.
But anyhow. Thank you all for reading and please review if you wish to support me and want me to update. It took a lot of work to write this and I sincerely appreciate all of you for being here with me.