Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or its characters.
Author's Notes: Isn't this a exciting chapter? So many new things to do and put in and the first 'big' time skip I ever made in this story. In light of this big change, I thought of making a special chapter.
So here is the deal, I would like to "play" a little game with you that is reading this chapter. At each arc of this chapter, I will put the link to youtube to a specific music and I will like for you to listen to the music while you read this part. This is like a little bit of a push in immersion and ambiance for you. Obviously I won't force anyone to do this as it is the call of each individual reading this, still I would like you to at least try.
Another important aspect that this chapter will bring moving forward. Until now, I had ignored most of Pokémon commentary and all that, seeing that only Ethan and Spiegel were able to understand them. But with incoming events that will change... a lot. So from here on forward, their voices will be heard.
With that in mind, Pokémon speech is in Bold. Doesn't matter in what context, if angry, happy, or neutral. They are all in Bold.
"Have you seen anything yet?" A tired-looking female grunt slid away from her appropriate post on the other side of the dark-brown rocky formation.
Her shift-partner shifted her gaze to her and gave an exhausted shake of his head. "No… nothing." As he spoke up, it was as if his soul was leaking out of his body from his mouth, the infernal heat of the desert taking its toll on the poor unprepared man. "Are you sure that the thing is today? I mean, nothing changed so far."
"Shush, this is supposed to be a secret." The woman hissed at him. Scowling at the man careless mouth. "I only know of this because I luckily overheard the officers talking about it."
"You're snooping around where you shouldn't, you mean." The male Grunt gave her a snarky grin. "They would kill you if they ever dream that you were eavesdropping."
With a twirl of her heel, she gave her back to him and slowly stepped away. "That's why you will be shushed about it." She said just before turning on a corner and getting out of vision.
"Of course I will, they would kill me too if I opened my beak."
(Legend of Mana - Calmly Traveling) ======= watch?v=lZSRfX50bK4
Snaking around the mid-day kinds of hot sand, a little blur of dark and lighter brown traveled inconspicuous through the desert dunes, leaving only stray lines in its path that quickly faded away from the occasionally heavy blowing wind that carried lots of sand onto it.
Tiny ears plopped out from the warm sand; they twitched at each little sound as a natural sonar scanning the area. Feeling more than safe to scoop the environment even further, the little sneaking Pokémon showed the tip of his head, sharp blue eyes staring at the, finally, right place to be.
"Shady little place that one, huh…" Having been on more than four wrong locations already, Linoone kept his hopes in check, yet a surging feeling of accomplishment began to heat inside his little chest.
His perceiving gaze watches patiently the lone figure just outside a perfectly, pristine without any holes, wall of rock at the base of a desert mountain.
"Don't humans say that dark colored clothes make them warmer?" He fiddled around with his little paws, staring even more at the unwary man. "So why is that one wearing full black clothing under this burning sun?"
Digging himself back to his little sand tunnel, Linoone decided to scurry closer to this suspicious location and suspicions man. As a matter of precaution, the brown rodent kept his little ears outside the tunnel, carefully waiting.
"Hey, Sarah!" The dehydrated man shouted. "Can I go back inside already?" He pleaded with his tongue sticking out, most likely for the need of water.
"Stop yelling you brick head." The woman shouted from behind the corner she went into. "This is supposed to be a secret base."
Inside his cozy little spot underground, a furtive little guy jolted with joy. "Bingo."
Fast little paws working at full speed, the line of bumpy sand stretched itself even further in, zigzagging like crazy on its way, Linoone has barely any idea where he is going which is making his job a tad bit harder.
With his little blue eyes locked on the prize, figuratively speaking because his eyes are closed shut below two palms of sand, Linoone shot in a straight line, digging away furiously in all intention to reach the base of the mountain in one go. And that he did, what he didn't account for was a huge rock that was peacefully sitting on the surface part of his path which casually fell on top of his head when he dug right under it.
"WHO'S THAT?" Linoone shouted ready for combat.
His brave battle cry didn't pass unheard; the sleepy Grunt keeping watch over the secret base actually caught the sound of his voice, although for him sounded more like a high-pitched squeal than a courageous boast.
"Sarah?" The Grunt asked, scratching the top of his head, even with his head still on. He looked around with suspicious eyes and a raised brow for good measure. "Hum… maybe this sun is getting to my head." The skinny man turned around, puffing away with hot breath. "Jeez, I need some water."
Out and about, but still inconspicuous, Linoone pressed his left side at the cool brown wall and with the skill of a true shadow stalker, he skedaddle away from the black-clad ever so slightly at the corner of the wall, the little rodent eyed the patrolling woman making her route back from the other end of her path.
"Extra careful now, not all of them will be as dumb as that other human." He gave a little glance to said dumb guard, the man is resting his back against the wall; the poor soul is turning to mush with the combination of the heat and exhaustion.
Making a new tunnel for himself once again, Linoone went under the sand, this time keeping his entire head out.
"This won't do…" He thought, as even a baby would notice his head swimming about the ground. His curious little eyes wandered to a stone sitting cozily under the san, this one smaller and lighter than the mighty foe, he just faced. "That's it!"
In a stroke of his own genius, the crafty Pokémon grabbed the rock and put it on top of his head. The perfect camouflage. No one would notice a stone sliding away, right?
With his ingenious plan in action, the sneaking thief slowly crawled onwards, his heart beating getting fast at each inch as he is getting closer and closer to the now visible grey door, but also to the grumpy looking woman, who is marching her way back to him.
'Nothing to see here… Just a happy little rock going in a walk…'
Sarah, maybe the grumpiest Grunt in Rainbow Rocket, eyed the sliding stone coming her way. She stopped walking, and placed one hand at her forehead to shield her eyes from the sun, she stared at it with curious eyes.
"What is that?" She asked, stepping closer to the rock.
"Just a rock." Linoone answered her question with a… difficult to convince lie.
Well, luckily to the furred silver-tongued agent, the woman only heard a muffled little cry. She squinted her eyes, rubbed two fingers on her forehead and blow out in frustration. "This sun… is getting to my head." Choosing to ignore the squealing rock, Sarah continued on her route, now with an itching feeling to be done with her shift and get out of the sun.
"By Arceus, are all humans stupid?" Despite his initial complaint, Linoone continued on his path, leaving behind a grumpy, and now confused, woman.
Doing an exceptional job in his stealthy ways, or getting lucky as hell, the brown rodent managed to get at the base entrance. Now one of the hardest parts of his ordeal has begun, with his little size and lack of thumbs, how will he open the door?
"This thing! Looks so hard, I don't think I can dig under it." He contemplated the thought of smashing his claw at the door. "You never know until you tried." Even with the right assumption in mind, he still decided to do the dumb thing. Dumping his rock-hat at the ground, Linoone jumped out of his tunnel, but one of his legs got stuck in its way out, launching him forward onto the metallic surface.
In a rushed panic, Linoone pushed his forward paws in front of him, trying to avoid smashing his nose against the door. A little 'thump' followed as he touched the cold steel and with his touch, the door slid open to the left, clearing the way in.
"So easy." He enjoyed himself in the glory of his success. "Now, where is this ball thingy."
(Chrono Cross - Viper Mansion) ====== watch?v=xQYaPQmqSbY
Grey colorless walls and floors, this place stretches itself in all sorts of corners and turner, everything looking the same, boringly the same. Contrary to the burning hot climate from the desert outside, these halls are cold and somewhat humid, a hazy unnatural fog making the air dump and weird.
Even for a brave Pokémon as Linoone, this place is chilling in all kinds of wrong ways.
"I ain't scared." He said loudly… To himself, presumably.
Tiptoeing inside the hallway, clearly not scared of anything, the bravest el-gato in all Hoenn watched every turn he passed by. Some corners lead to even more long hallways, others to a short dead-end with a group of Grunts guarding the doors.
Slithering silently between the strangely empty main hallways, Linoone traveled far inside the gigantic underground building. In his not at all nervous state, he continued to chant how easy this will be and how no one will see even a trace of his shadow.
"Oh, what are you doing here little guy?" Apparently, his super stealthy skills failed him for a moment, and a very tall man dressed in red clothes found him at the crossing with a narrow turn in this grey seemingly endless path. "Did you get lost?" The cheerful friendly Grunt crouched to the little Pokémon level, resting both of his knees on the cold floor.
"I wasn't really supposed to talk with you strange lot, but to tell the truth I'm kinda lost here." Resting one of his paws on the man kneecap, mind very carefully that his sharp little claws would not scratch him, Linoone scooted a bit closer to the Grunt. "Say champ, haven't you seen a strange blue ball around here?" A straight question, very forward and to the point. A shame that anything the human heard sounded as a rampage rambling of Pokémon cries.
The absolutely huge pole of a man did a very uncharacteristic sound. He squealed, loud and sharp, his eyes sparkling with little bright stars as he fawned over the very serious furred secret agent. "Aren't you the cutest thing I've seen all year?" He poked Linoone in his cheek, squealing at fluffiness of the Pokémon' fur.
Disappointed, to say the least, Linoone completely disregarded the man's comments. "This… is going nowhere." He turned his tail around and walked away from the happy carefree human.
"See you around, sir." The Grunt said, waving his right hand happily.
"Don't think so. But have a good day, champ."
Rolling his eyes at the unfruitful exchange, Linoone continued on his 'difficult to navigate' straight path.
"This place is quite nice." A male voice sounded from one of the halls up ahead. Stepping sounds echoed ever so closely to the main hallway, startling our furred hero.
Panicking, or better putting, acting with fast response in a situation of high pressure, Linoone jumped at the left wall, kick with his feet, wall jumping to the right one and doing it again to jump at the hanging reflector at the ceiling.
"I feel ya, we got all sorts of new equipment here." A jovial sounding woman replied to her comrade.
"Even better, we got all sorts of new Pokémon. Look how strong mine looks." A third grunt said quite loudly, a chirp grin on his lips.
The trio clad red clothes walked down the hallway. With the merging of the two groups more and more Team Magma member is starting to come back to their old lives and all of them are regrouping under this mountain's secret base.
"That was close." With a sigh of relief, Linoone let go of his not very trusting hanging support, landing safely on the cold floor.
"What were you doing up there?" A rugged deep voice sounded from behind the unknowingly Linoone.
Doing a triple three hundred-sixty turn, Linoone glanced to the tall and frightening Arcanine. Despite all his braveness, he gulped hard and slid ever so slightly backward.
"I was, er… Just getting used to the view." He spat out the first thing that came to mind. "New, yeah! I'm new here, just got sent in from… somewhere else…"
Staring down at him, Arcanine stood still with an unreadable look on his face. "Yeah… I'm sure you were." His stern-looking face looking scarier by the second, his left eye being just a large clawed scar doing little to help on that department. "Just watch yourself kid." With an uninterested snort, the powerful fire Pokémon turned around and began to step away.
"Hey, wait." Trying to dash after the intimidating Pokémon, his sharp little claws only grazed the somewhat slippery floor, his body barely moving an inch. "What's wrong with this ground?" Linoone hissed in frustration.
"Use the middle part of your paws, not the tip." The big dark-orange dog said. Eying the small creature with the corner of his eyes, he stood there just waiting.
Following the instructions, Linoone stopped scratching the grey smooth floor and finally was able to properly run. Jumping next to the veteran Pokémon, he now eyes Arcanine with curiosity instead of fear.
"So, as I was saying. I'm kind of new here; can you give me some directions?" He asked, quite naturally, almost forgetting how scary Arcanine's left eye looks.
"Sure, kid. What you want to know?"
Showing a glad toothy smile, Linoone breathed in, preparing himself to unleash a current of words at oblivious Pokémon. "I got this dumb human, quite useless, can't do anything without me. Anyway, he has this blue ball thingy that he wants; keeps saying that he won't be able to live if he doesn't get it back. He is quite a pain sometimes, but I enjoy messing around with him. It would be a shame if he dies and all because of a ball. Oh and…"
More than overwhelmed by Linoone's unending rambling, Arcanine growled loudly. Not even in his wildest dreams could he imagine that a Pokémon so small could make so much noise. "The place, kid!" He snarled. "Where do you want to go?"
The heavy growl paired together with the canine's sharp teeth showing was enough to scare the furred big-mouthed into focused shape again. "T-the ball. Have you seen any blue ball around here?" Linoone raised his forwards paws making a few gestures. "About this big, sometimes it glows with a strange light and all that."
"A glowing ball…" Arcanine closed his one good eye, thinking hard about the object in question. "Yeah… I remember a ball like that. They keep it inside the big room at the end of that hallway there." He pointed with his head to an entryway some meters down the hall.
"That way then?" His blue eyes sparkled. "Just a bit more and I am done with this." Brimming with energy, Linoone moved his limbs at full speed, running and running like crazy… but once again, he stood stuck in place.
Arcanine let out a tired long sigh. "Use the middle part, kid."
"Oh, yeah." Pressing his feet properly on the cold floor, his body finally begun to move. "Thanks, old man." In a blur of brown fur, Linoone zoomed forward, vanishing out to the hallway pointed.
"Be careful with those two… And, he is not even listening anymore." Shaking his head, the battle-aged Pokémon turned away, letting the youngster to his antics. "Such a strange Pokémon."
(Killer - Yoshikage Kira's Theme) ======== watch?v=9yGGNohmAT0&t
A dark moisty nose twitched, a strange scent getting its attention. Lazily raising his head to the open door, a groggy with sleep Houndoom squinted his eyes and noticed a small figure sneaking at the hall outside.
"Hey, bro." Houndoom swiped his tail around, hitting the back of the other Houndoom sleeping at his side.
"What it is, brother?" The second one replied with an annoyed grunt, his dream as getting on the best part just before he was slapped awaken.
"What is that plushy toy doing?" Pointing with his long muzzle, the first one motioned to the suspicious-looking Pokémon wandering quietly and slowly right outside the door.
His noise also picking up the scent of the prowling stranger, the sterner Houndoom stood up. Sharpening the vision of his fierce eyes, he locked his gaze on the small frame slipping past the open door. "I don't know…" He licked his teeth, smirking with a dark idea. "But I have an idea of what to do with him."
Almost getting tired of walking on this confusing mess of a building, Linoone at long last reached the two framed steel door. He eyed the small windows on the top of both frames, the room light brighter than the one in the hall, making some ray lights seep in through the thin glass.
Linoone tried to open the door on the same manner as he did the previous one, but despite the numerous pounding he dished on the doors, none of them even stirred for more than an inch. Those are some quite sturdy doors standing in his way, so he changed his method going from pushing the giant metal plank obstructing his way to slash it with his sharp little claws.
"Gaaah, why it doesn't work?" He frowned, quite upset about his situation. "These things need to have some sort secret to them… How did I open that first door?"
"It's not every day we got to see something like that." A chillingly calm voice came from behind the unaware little infiltrator.
"You got that right, heh."
Linoone jumped from his spot, turning half-circle and pushing his back against the door. He noticed two very menacing Houndooms, well one of them is very menacing with his deadly serious gaze, the other one is a bit more… unique; Unique in a way that he is giving an eye-smile, but his entire body is twitching with an urge to do something bad.
"Hey… guys." The smaller Pokémon said with an afraid little grin.
"Hello…" Still holding his stern look, one of the Houndoom took a step closer, his pointy teeth showing at the tip of his trembling mouth.
"Hi." While his brother is less and less inclined to hold his instincts in, his body trembling with anticipation.
"So… you may have seen this already, but I'm having a hard time with this thing here." Linoone pointed with his head to the door behind him. "Could you lend me a hand with it?"
"I have an even better idea." One of the hounds said with a wicked grin. "What if you just stood there for a moment and let us burn you to a crisp."
"No fair, Bone! I like to ripe things apart."
"You're such a pain, Crusher…" Bone rolled his eyes with the childish tantrum of his brother, but still indulged him with a tired glance. "Fine, we can burn him a little and then you can tear him."
"Haaah, Hahahah! You do know how to appease me." Crusher stomped past his brother to get a closer look at his prize… or where it was supposed to be. "Hey… where is him?" Shooting a dangerous glare to his brother, the big-mouthed Houndoom stomped harder on the floor with one of his front paws. "Gaaarh, he got awaaay! Why did you suggest burning him? Scared the thing away."
Bone ignored the infuriating cries from Crusher, he eyed the pristine clean grey floor, quickly noticing a faint line of sand dust. Giving it a couple of sniffs, a clear trail appeared to him. "Don't worry your dull little head. He still here." Speaking quieter than normal,he gave a firm nod, pointing to the sandy trail leading to the room where they were sleeping just moments ago.
"You don't mean?" A loud snort followed; Crusher is waving his head holding his laugh in. "The stupid thing stuffed himself inside our r-"
"Shhhhs." Bone pushed his brother ever so slightly, calmly walking towards the open door. "A shame we lost it, huh?" He growled loudly, bashing one paw at the ground in frustration.
"What?! Have you gone wrong in the head, Bone?" Crusher eyed his brother with funny eyes. "We didn't lose it, he is right there." He said even louder than his brother, feeling very pleased with himself for the observation.
"Argh… Sometimes I wonder if you're dumber than a door."
Rolling his eyes yet again, Bone just walked to their room, leaving his not so smart brother staring at him with a confused look to his face. Stepping inside the place he is most familiarized in this entire base, the cunning Houndoom scanned his surrounding with a newfound curiosity to all the props he has grown tired of looking to all day.
The room is dark and silent. However, him being a Dark-type himself, Bone finds this setting more than welcoming and somewhat thrilling to chase a rat in this place. He eyed the stands at the right wall, tall black boxes filling every shelf, his gaze trailed to a large table at the furthest wall, a mess of paper spread all over the ground; not a strange sigh inside this base with so many people.
"Get out! Come out you from whatever hole you put yourself in." On the other side of the room, Crusher is currently mowing a cardboard box; waving his head to all sides the enraged hound is tearing the box to pieces, he truly loves to tear things to shred.
Bone ignored the annoying noises his brother is making, returning to his mind to his very careful investigation.
While all the craziness is happening, there is still a third party acting in this strange play. Hiding under the ground support of the large stand with five rows of shelves, Linoone is watching the two mean dogs, his heart beating furiously fast. While he is minding the hound closest to him, the one sniffling about the large desk; his little sharp blue eyes are almost clued to the crazy one that is destroying any prop that gets in his way.
Pointy white teeth poking multiple punctures into the hard surface of a metallic board is scary enough, but the truly terrifying part if the crazed gleam showing on that Pokémon's eyes.
'Those Pokémon… they're touched in the head or something?' A jolt cruised on Linoone's body when the crazier one of the hounds dashed from his spot to exact furniture the little brown Pokémon is hiding.
He held his breath, trying to not make a sound or movement while Crusher is biting on the lower side of some boxes, his teeth making some very unsettling sounds. Linoone held his breath pretty well considering his panic but had little luck stopping his body from shaking like a green left in windy weather.
"Crusher! Stop mangling the boxes, the entire stand is shaking." Bone growled annoyed, he has still not forgotten the trouble they got in when one of those shelves came crashing down just last week.
Crusher whined, throwing his bossy brother some sharp glares. However, his attention quickly shifted to a mess of clothes laying in a big lump at the corner of the room, a mess he did himself when he destroyed the box holding said clothes.
The rattling noise gridding on Bone's patience, he had enough of his brother stupidity. "Crusher!" He shouted angrily, turning his head in a violent movement.
"Mwhat?" Crusher replied, two stacks of brand-new Rainbow Rocket's uniform in his mouth.
Bone's eyes went to his brother, then to the large stand on the other side of the room. The thing is shaking and trembling just like before, yet Crusher is doing his mess far away from it. A dark glint flashed in Bone's face, his teeth showing in a nefarious grin.
Linoone's eyes widened when Crusher completely destroyed the piece of clothing he had in his mouth. Not satisfied yet with his work, the Houndoom set the clothes aflame with a small fireball, his eyes now sparkling with joy from his handwork.
Swallowing hard the lump or nervousness forming in his throat, Linoone only thought was to not end-up like those uniform. He eyed the open door and tried to judge if he could run for it before any of those two could see him.
A dread feeling rushed in Linoone's chest, making him jolt his head to the side, his startled gaze finding a pair of dark red eyes staring directly at him. The Houndoom opened his mouth; his sharp white teeth shining with a strange light as orange light began came to life inside his throat.
"Found you…" A velvet voice carrying a dark tone to it; a grim welcome coming from the black hound.
(Octopath Traveler - Decisive Battle I) ========= watch?v=sG1XmAii1ZU
Linoone saw the incoming fireball forming inside Bone's mouth, in desperation he twirled his entire body in the little space, hurling a handful of sand right at the Houndoom's face. Something he didn't predict was that the whole stand would tilt forward because of his erratic move.
Bone growled loudly, the prickling sensation in his eyes forcing the hound to jump away and swallow his own attack. In his rushed retreat backward, one of the boxes standing at the top shelf slid down rapidly, landing at the dark Pokémon's side.
"There you are, fiend." Crusher shouted. He raised his head back and then hurled it forward, unleashing an even bigger fireball. The fiery attack clashing against the toppled stand, making it completely crash on the floor, exploding all sorts of gadgets and metallic objects on the room and on top of his brother.
"DON'T ATTACK ME, IMBECILE!" Bone howl infuriated. He wiped the sand away from his face, opening his eyes just slightly to see a brown little form making a run for the exit. "Get him!"
With an awful sound of his claws gridding against the floor, Crusher slid in front of Linoone. "No exit for you." His flews trembling and twitching, a low growl came from his throat and he flung himself forward, mouth wide open and ready to bite.
Linoone jumped the highest he could and twirl his entire body like a screw. In his evasive maneuver, he managed to dodge Crusher's sharp teeth by just an inch. His brown fur grazing against the canine's nose.
In a fast instinct on his part, Crusher pushed his front legs against the ground to raise his back. His black tail waved wildly in the air, bashing right on top of Linoone's head and sending the little Pokémon crashing down to the floor.
Free from the hindrances that were holding him down, Bone jumped on top of Linoone and bit him at his right rear leg. The sharp teeth sinking in deep on the brown fur, enough to hit the flesh and draw blood from the wound.
Pulling his mouth back, the hound glared at the smaller Pokémon. He slowly opened his mouth, savoring the moment before the satisfying show. Once again, the darkened glow, of a fireball forming in his mouth, came to life. "End of the line."
A massive spiral of fire flew in, its size so enormous that it scorched both sidewalls on opposite sides of the room. Hitting its mark, the attack exploded on Bone's side, sending the hound flying upward to the ceiling and then fall down to the floor.
"CRUSHER!" Bone shouted in crazed anger.
"That was not me." Crusher said stepping right next to his brother and helping him stand.
Standing before the Houndooms and their prey, an Arcanine is standing tall and strong. His piercing gaze focused on the two. "Are you all right there, kid?" He gave Linoone a short glance.
"Thanks, old man." He gave his savior a weak little grin. "Feeling a bit chewed, but still in one piece." Pulling himself up, Linoone hissed as he tried to stand on his four legs, the bite wound stinging much more than he anticipated. Still, he stood up and got behind the larger Pokémon.
"Leon!" Bone growled, anger rising up inside of him. "This has nothing to do to with you. Leave the little fellow for us and I will forget this."
"Yeah!" Crusher followed. "Or I will give another one of those to match the look." He smirked pointing to the scar he had left on the fire Pokémon.
"Got the ball, kid?" Leon asked his little friend, mostly ignoring the threats coming his way.
"Not yet. Got ambushed by those two before I could get there."
A low tired sigh came from the old Arcanine. "Then go get it." He stepped forward. "I will keep them out of your tail."
"HA! I would like to see you try, gramps." Crusher had enough. He dashed forward, and fired and fire attack, aiming it at Linoone. A fire wave came flying from Arcanine's mouth, both attacks matching and negating themselves.
Bone jumped in. In total disregard for his own safety, he slammed himself against Leon's body, tackling both of them to the ground. A mess of howling sounds erupted in the room, the three fire Pokémon locked in a hellish exchange of blows.
"Go, kid!" Leon shouted.
Linoone hesitated at the first moment, he thought of jumping in and helping his newfound friend. However, a stern look from the older Pokémon pushed him to turn around and run straight to the open door.
Getting right back where he stopped, Linoone banged his side against the door. "Open!" He tried to push it once more, again to little effect.
"YOU!" Crusher slid out from the now burning room. "No running away!" The Houndoom sprinted at full speed, his eyes shining with madness. But from a spirited dash, his body went flying into the air, his eyes widening in surprise.
With Bone still handing at his sides, with claws digging into his flesh. Leon ran out of the room and tackled the other hound at full force. Crusher went flying past Linoone, his side slamming against the double-framed door. A loud cry exploded, together with both doors opening in full swing.
Seeing his opportunity, Linoone dashed past the fainted hound. He ran inside the immersive room, scanning every corner with attentive eyes.
This room, a lab, is large and shaped in an oval way. Strange machines spread all around the floor, with people working on them and making notes at each passing moment. At the center of the lab, connected to all machines via broad long cables, is a tall white pedestal that looks like an altar, but totally white and protected by glasses.
"The hell is happening?" A male scientist yelled in surprise, seeing a foreign presence in this area.
"Did those Houndooms invade the storage room again?" A female scientist said in a none too pleased tone.
"Don't mind me, I'm just passing by." Linoone responded with his usual charm, although humans cannot really understand what he says. "There!" He spotted fancy pedestal and decided on the only thing he could do. He jumped on it, smashing the glass with his body.
"Woah…" His eyes sparkled with the glinting eyes coming from the, not one, but three balls. One black, the other white and lastly and more importantly the blue one. With his sole interest being on the last one, Linoone secured the shiny thing with his mouth and jumped to the ground.
The entire base trembled and the light flickered. A massive wave of fire invaded the room, making all the humans inside shriek and yell in panic. From within flames an Arcanine and a Houndoom jumped out.
"Did you got it now, kid?" Leon said, his breathing ragged and slow.
"Gwot id!" Linoone replied with his mouth stuffed.
"Great, now jump on my back."
"You're going nowhere." Bone spat out; his own body so bruised that any other Pokémon would be unable to stand. "I will make sure to punish you this time, old man." He ran his front claws against the floor and with a ferocious howl launched himself at the tired Arcanine.
Still having some fire in his will, Leon jumped against the flying Hound. Both Pokémon lashing out at each other, claws and fangs wreaking havoc on body bodies. Ultimately, Arcanine got the upper hand and bashed Bone against the ground, properly knocking the hound out of his senses.
"Someone stop that Linoone!" One of the scientists raged, pointing his finger to the small Pokémon. "He has one of the orbs."
Before any of the humans could reach him, Leon jumped right next to Linoone and kneeled down. "Mount up, kid. We don't have much time."
Nodding quietly energetically, Linoone hopped up on top of his mighty friend. He dug into the bright and deep fur of Arcanine with his claws and pressed his little body tightly against the fire Pokémon's back.
"Let's get out of this place." Leon pressed his paws firmly on the floor. Blaze sparkled flared on all of his legs and in an extremely high speed, he vanished towards the halls. Giving no time at all for any mobilization inside the base, the veteran Pokémon carried his easygoing friend out of the underground building.
"That summarizes your role." Giovanni's voice echoed inside the conference room. A clear image of him is being displayed at the large monitor on the wall.
Sitting around the large table are the three enforcers left in Hoenn, together with Maxie and a silent purple-haired woman
Leyla stood up, nodding firmly. "As you wish, master." The acting leader of Rainbow Rocket forces replied with a confident little grin.
"Are you certain that this will work?" Maxie directed his question to the man over the screen. "It took us a great effort to arrange everything as you asked."
"It'll work." Giovanni responded, giving a serious and stern look to the red-haired man. "What has been set in motion can never be stopped."
"MA'AM!" A group of people wearing white-jacked stormed inside the room. And they immediately regretted; as not only receiving a murderous glare from Leyla for the intromission, they also noticed Giovanni being 'present' and staring at them.
"I expect a very good reason for this intrusion." The blond woman spat, fuming with anger.
"Y-yeah, ma'am. We have a big problem on our hands." One of the scientists said, stuttering in fear.
"Then speak." Raz growled.
"Sir… Our lab has been breached." Another scientist came forward, sweating buckets as she spoke. "A Linoone appeared out of nowhere and took away with him one of the orbs."
"WHAT?!" Leyla's fist crashed on top of the giant table. The thunderous sound that her fist made after exploding against wooden surface caused all scientists to shrink down on the ground and whimper. "Explain to me how a little Pokémon can enter the lab under your supervision and snatch away something so important?"
"It happened too fast, ma'am. A whole commotion invaded the room, with an Arcanine and a Houndoom spreading fire all around."
"THIS IS NO EXCUSE." The woman yelled even louder. "Have you no idea of what-"
"Leyla, let them speak." Giovanni stepped in, his voice managing to silence the woman, but did little to calm her fuming nerves. "You said that one orb was taken. Which one?" He directed his words and gaze to the terrified group.
"T-T-The original one, sir." One of them replied. "That Linoone took only the blue orb. We still have the other two we created."
"I see…" Giovanni sighed. Closing his eyes, he held both hands under his chin with his fingers intertwine. "Then let it be. We don't need that relic anymore."
"But Boss! After all the trouble we went to secure it?" Raz voiced his voice at the same time he raised himself from his seat.
"And it served its purpose." Giovanni glared at the muscled man. "Let the cunning creature have its prize, and start focusing on the matter at hands. For tonight we start a revolution."
"It will be done, master." All three enforcers said at the same time.
"I had no idea that the desert was so vast." Leon said, already puffing with exhaustion, as his breath is getting harder at each step. "Is this the place?"
His small spent this time on top of Arcanine's back, and with the big Pokémon walking more slowly now, he can easily hold the orb in his paws and still remains steady in his spot. Their trip was not a short one since they walked from the desert on Route 111 all the way to the cooler woods of Route 118.
"This is absolutely the place." Linoone replied full of energy. "You see that dork sitting all by himself next to that tree? That's him."
"I see… Let's inform your friend then." The sudden change of scenery, from the heated desert plain to this windy atmosphere at the border of the sea, has taken a huge toll on the big Pokémon's body. Therefore, in the last meters of their trip, he has chosen to walk ever so slowly with one of his legs limping as to conserve what little energy he has left.
"Heeey, Spiegel. I got your stupid ball." Linoone jumped from his cozy ride and sprinted towards the tree.
Hearing a most familiar voice, Spiegel turned his attention to his side and smile after seeing his brown-furred friend. "It seems that you have it." He reached in with one hand, as Linoone got closer enough to him. His fingers were going straight for the orb, but after a few twitches, his hand stopped and moved over to the Pokémon' head. "Good job friend."
"Oi, what are you doing that for?" He hissed lowly, pretending to be uncomfortable with patting in his head. However, the purring sound coming from him readily betrayed his reaction.
Smiling at the silliness of his little friend, Spiegel noticed a larger figure walking in from behind the trees. While his attention changed focus to the newcomer, his eyes remained on Linoone.
"Oh, I almost forgot." Linoone jumped back, running back to the incoming Arcanine. "This old gramps here helped me in a real pinch over there. I wouldn't be here without him."
"Did he now?" Nodding at his friend remark, Spiegel stood up and turned his gaze to the big Pokémon. "I guess I owe you a lot more than I can repay." He said to the Arcanine.
"You have no need to repay me. I just couldn't leave this kid alone." Leon chuckled as he looked down to the grinning little guy. "So you're the useless human he was talking about?" Linoone froze at that, taking his gaze to anywhere that was not close to any of the other two.
"Useless, huh…" He looked to his smaller friend. "I guess I am the one. Name is Spiegel, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, my name is Leon."
"So you have a proper name?" Spiegel said back a bit surprised.
"I received one from my former trainer, many years ago." He growled faintly, a little sadness showing in his eyes. "That was before someone robbed me away from him."
Spiegel didn't reply with words, instead, he only gave an understanding glance to the Arcanine. Despite looking so ragged and scarred, this Pokémon still carries a gentle innocence in him, something quite surprising in the trainer's eyes.
"That reminds me. Kid, you never told me your name."
"Don't have that." Linoone spat out. "I am just me. Never needed one of those names."
"I am almost calling him Troublemaker." Spiegel said, grinning at his friend. "He really has a gift to make trouble."
"So today was not an exception?" Leon asked.
"I wish."
They both laughed at their little friend's expense, much to Linoone's aggravation.
"Really funny you two." He said and pouted. "Next time, let's see who will sneak inside a secret base all by himself. Let's see then how much trouble you make then." His agitated complaint only served to make the other two to laugh even harder at him.
The sunny clearing fell dark all of a sudden; any ray of sunlight that was basking the vivid trees disappeared behind a colossal object. An aircraft descended from the clouds, its size alone is enough to create a shadow on top of the entire area of Route 118. From its sides, innumerous spread out hatches began to open one after another and from these passages, the floating fortress started to spew a sea of people, parachuting to every corner of Hoenn.
Linoone raised both his frontal paws. "Okay… I did not cause that."
In a side note here; I have to say that DOOT76' infatuation with Linoone has inspired me to write this chapter. Please let me know if I threw a off-ball with this chapter or if you guys liked it.
If you are liking the story so far, please leave a review. :)
Reviews:
DOOT76 chapter 22 . Jul 23 – He better eats that popcorn fast, his time is coming.
Mallory S Nocturne chapter 22 . Jul 23 – I hope so too. Hoenn will need every hero at is disposal. Things will bet messy from here on out.
About Rayquaza… Let him explain everything himself when he shows up.
Ribombee chapter 22 . Jul 23 – She really needed to do her job this time. Imagine the mess in her hands if Brendan watched that video. Or even worse if Spiegel is the one that is letting Brendan knows about some things.
Mr MogiGaming chapter 22 . Jul 24 – Very intersting indeed. The two players have all the chips in their hands now. But there still another Pokémon that needs to show himself, and I have a feeling that he will appear… very soon.