Pokemon Heart Soul Adventures
Hello, everyone! Again, I'm really sorry for the delay, but real life has been a cruel mistress once again, and I also felt compelled to write other stories in the meantime... but finally, I am able to update this story, switching the point of view to Ash and his friends as they arrive in Fortune Island!
In last chapter, we saw how Misty and the rest of her team managed to thwart Team Rocket's schemes in Chrono Island, and got a hold of the Sapphire Team Rocket was after... which admittedly did throw a rather big wrench in Archer's plans. However, now we have to see whether Ash and the boys will be able to do the same. Team Rocket has quite probably wised up to the fact that they're not dealing with pushovers, and they need to step up their game if they hope to achieve their plans...
We're almost at the end of the Sevii Islands arc, and we've almost reached the deciding battle! Stay tuned, I'll do my best not to disappoint!
And enjoy the new chapter!
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Chapter 33 - The Island of Ruins
"Hmm... what can I say, things have gotten rather interesting, wouldn't you agree, Domino?" Giovanni asked rhetorically as he watched the images flashing on his computer's flat screen with amused interest. Thanks to the micro-camera the young spy had placed on Ash back on Knot Island, the Team Rocket leader was able to follow the Sinnoh champion's movements by simply sitting at his desk, in his richly furnished office.
Giovanni's Persian meowed lazily, licking himself with great care in order to make his luxurious fur shine... but Domino was not fully convinced that things were under control. "Well, sir, it is not my place to say, nor do I want to doubt your judgement... but shouldn't we do something about Jessie, James and Meowth? At the moment, they're helping those nosey brats with messing up our master plan... in other words, they just revealed themselves for traitors that should be dealt with."
Giovanni chuckled cruelly, almost but not quite dismissing his top spy's worries. "Hehehee... it is clear that you don't know those bumbling fools as well as I do, my dear Domino!" he stated. "No, they would never betray Team Rocket... they just want to get their revenge on Archer and the others for what they pulled in Floe Island, and quite honestly, I cannot blame them for wanting to do so. We will of course keep an eye out for them, but... as long as we can get the NeverMeltIce and those three gems, I don't really care about the rest. They'll be returning to me soon enough, and ask for a second chance, after this! Speaking of which, Domino... when are Cassidy and... Biff, or whoever her partner is... coming?"
"I think his name is Bill, or Buffy..." Domino said, rubbing her chin. "Anyway, they should be here pretty soon. We just have to be patient and..."
There was a knock at the office's door, and the Team Rocket don raised his head to give the newcomers permission to enter. "Heh, speak of the devil... Now, come in, you two!" he said, and the door opened with a slight creaking sound, allowing two people wearing the black Team Rocket uniform to enter: they were a young woman about Jessie's age, with long light orange hair tied in a pair of ponytails, wearing a pair of red triangle-shaped earrings, and with a somewhat arrogant tilt to her head... and a rather nondescript man about her same age, with azure-green hair. Both of them bowed to their leader, and stood at attention in front of him. There was a certain sense of excitement about them, and the fact that they were being given a mission by the leader of Team Rocket himself was clearly a cause of joy for them both.
"Cassidy and Butch reporting in for duty, sir!" the girl exclaimed. "We came as soon as we could... please tell us, do you have any mission to entrust us with?"
Giovanni smiled ominously as he rubbed his shaven chin, and grabbed a few documents lying on his desk. His Persian, who had hoped to use those sheets of paper as a cushion for a nice nap, wrinkled his nose in annoyance, but soon shrugged it off and went on to look for another place where to catch some shut-eye. "Yes... I see that my new executives are doing quite a good job in the Sevii Archipelago, and I can be satisfied of how things are going, for now." the evil mastermind stated. "Still, I am in need of trusted people to keep an eye on other continents as well. Therefore, you will be assigned to the Hoenn division of Team Rocket in order to keep an eye on the situation there... and most of all, to keep control of several sites that will be of great interest to Team Rocket! Also, I heard that there has been an increase in activity from Team Vicious, the newly rising criminal cartel and our most dangerous rivals in that area after the defeat of Teams Aqua and Magma. You'd better keep an eye on them, you never know what they might pull."
"You can count on us, sir!" Butch answered without hesitation. "We'll go to Hoenn and complete the mission no problem! We won't disappoint you like those fools Jessie and James!"
"Glad to see you're confident, Bill." Giovanni answered, causing the young man's grin to fade immediately as his name was gotten wrong for the umpteenth time. "Now, I just hope you can put your money where your mouth is. Fine, you'll depart for Hoenn with the first available ship sailing from Vermillion City Harbor. Start packing right now, this is a mission that can't wait."
"Right away, sir!" Cassidy exclaimed, doing another salute.
"Sure thing, sir..." Butch murmured, somewhat less than enthusiastic about it. "You can count on us... but still... er... my name would be Butch, sir..."
"Whatever. Still, these are the orders. Do a good job of it, and you might even get the promotion that's always eluded you. I hope you know how to play your cards well." the Team Rocket don concluded, giving Domino a sideways glance when the blonde girl seemed to be about to object. The young spy shrugged her shoulders and decided to keep quiet about it for now, while Cassidy and Butch politely excuses themselves and walked away.
"That's alright, sir! We'll depart for Hoenn as soon as everything is ready! Thank you for the trust you're giving us!" Cassidy exclaimed, before the two of them disappeared behind the door to Giovanni's office...
oooooooooo
While Misty, Lorelei and their team were busy fighting their own battle in Chrono Island... in another part of the Sevii Archipelago, a majestic group of mighty winged Pokemon was taking their trainers towards their new goal, under a burning tropical sun that just seemed to grow hotter by the hour. Even so, the feeling of the wind blowing in his face, as he and Pikachu held tightly to Charizard's massive back, was enough of a relief for Ash Ketchum... especially since he was travelling with the excitement of seeing a new island in that magnificent tropical archipelago, and of facing a new adventure along his friends...
"CHARRRR?" Charizard asked as he carried Ash and Pikachu with no apparent effort. Understanding what his faithful Fire / Flying Pokemon wanted to say, Ash gave him a thumbs-up before answering.
"I'm A-OK, Charizard!" he answered, taking just a moment to put his hat back in place so that it wouldn't be blown away by the wind. "You have no idea how much I missed travelling with you... it kinda feels like I went back in time!"
Besides Ash and his Charizard, one of Lance's Dragonites and his Aerodactyl were soaring: the prehistoric Rock / Flying type had Gary and Brock riding on his back, while Dragonite was carrying Homura and Lance himself, while Team Rocket's infamous Meowth-shaped hot air balloon was following them from close behind. However, it just wasn't the same thing with just James and Meowth riding upon it, and the two of them seemed to be aware of it too...
"That's, like, the first time we end up travelling without Jessie ever since we began chasing after Pikachu..." Meowth noted, scratching the edge of the basket absent-mindedly. "Sigh... I have to say, when she's not with us, there's something amiss. I can't exactly say what, but Team Rocket just isn't the same without her..."
"Yeah, you can say that again." James said, rubbing his head. "We've been together for so long that I already feel strange when she's away for longer than a few minutes... I just hope she and the girls are doing okay..."
"Well, ya know how Jessie is... If I were you, I'd be more worried about those scoundrels who tricked us back in Floe Island!" was Meowth's snarky answer. "Ya'll see they will be very sorry for what they pulled, after Jessie's done with them! What we have to think about now, is make sure the guys we'll end facing here on Fortune Island come to regret it as well!"
James sighed. It was no secret how he had never been the most aggressive of the three, and he wasn't sure about a direct attack being effective... "I just hope you're right about that, Meowth... cause I've only got my Carnivine, my Mime Jr. and my Slugma with me... and Slugma is freshly caught too! I just hope it's enough..."
"Don't worry, we do have Mr. Strange Hair backing us up..." Meowth answered, his large eyes casting a glance at the Dragon Trainer, on the back of his fiery Dragonite. "With the Pokemon he has, I don't think anyone will be able to do much against him."
Time passed as the team continued on their journey through the Sevii skies... until Aerodactyl's keen eye caught an island emerging from the seemingly endless sea just below them, a tract of rocky and harsh earth that was, without doubt, Fortune Island itself! With a keening screech, the prehistoric flying reptile warned Charizard and Dragonite, then began slowly approaching their target.
"What's up, Charizard? Did Aerodactyl see anything?" Ash asked, as he and Pikachu held tighter to the fire-breathing dragon's back. Charizard grunted in confirmation, as Dragonite joined him and Aerodactyl in their slow and wary descent towards the island, looking for a good place where to land without running the risk of being seen.
"Here we are, everybody... this is Fortune Island, a real haven for researchers and ruin explorers!" Homura said, pointing to the rocky island just below them. "And as of now, it's an hideout for Team Rocket... In usual conditions, it's a great tourist attraction, especially for history fanatics, considering there are many interesting historical relics in this place... and I even heard that the sight of the night sky is truly amazing here! You can see the most star-filled sky in all of Sevii... no artificial light, no noise... in other words, it's a great place to live in!"
"I'd really love to have a better look at it, as soon as we have more time..." Brock said, leaning just a little from Aerodactyl's back to enjoy the view. "It's a pity we won't be here for long... just as long as we need to stop Team Rocket..."
"That just means we'll enjoy our time here as much as we can!" Ash answered, optimistic about the whole deal as always. "For now... Lance, do you happen to know where Team Rocket might be hiding? This place is pretty darn big, and we'd need to at least have an inkling of where to look for them."
Even for that altitude, Fortune Island was obviously a large and mostly unexplored place, with respect to the other islands Ash had seen in the Sevii Archipelago. There was a city surrounded by a huge canyon, only facing the sea in a small tract of land in its north-east corner, that stood out among the many rocky formations and plateaus under the burning sub-equatorial sun; in the northmost part of the island, separated from the mainland by a large stream of water, stood what looked like a larger plateau, dotted with ruins and the remains of ancient buildings. Fortune Island truly came across as a fascinating and mysterious place, and Ash had no trouble believing that it was a place of interest for many history fans. He asked himself just how excited Professor Oak would have been if he had seen that place...
Of course, even without the professor being present, the Oak grandson looked quite interested in those ruins as well. "Man, this is quite an awesome place!" Gary commented from Aerodactyl's back. "I'll have to remember to pay a visit to it, as soon as this mess is sorted out!"
Lance chuckled, understanding the young resercher's point of view. "Yeah, I can see that. Even leaving aside the fact that Fortune Island is the largest island in the Sevii Archipelago, it's also the one with the greatest number of historical sights. We still don't know exactly what kind of civilization used to live in this place, and scientists from all over the world periodically gather on this island to do research. Whatever is hidden in these ruins, it must be very interesting... and it is not inconceivable that they might let us discover new things about the origins of our world, and of several Legendary Pokemon."
"In other words, this island might actually hold the key to understanding the very origin of all Pokemon! If that's not great news, I have no idea what is it!" Homura said. The island was getting closer and closer now... "Hmm, alright, let's see where we could land... that clearing right next to that ancient temple looks good to me, what do you guys say? It's rather well-hidden, at least."
The team looked at the place that the Fire-type expert was pointing to... a dry, sun-scorched plateau upon which a Greek-type temple and several other unidentifiable remains were standing, along with a few small trees who had obviously adapted to the harsh climate. The three Pokemon nodded in unison and started to descend faster, while James and Meowth lowered themselves towards the ground; a few minutes later, the team was descending right in front of the temple... an ancient building made of white stone, encrusted with the ravages of time. Taking care to choose a placewhere they would be hard to spot, by making use of both the temple's position and the nearby rocky walls, the Pokemon finally landed and let their riders climb down.
"Wow... man, after all that flying, my legs are really hurting!" Ash said, moving his aching knees. "Thanks, Charizard... thanks, everyone! You''ve been a great help!"
"Charrr..." the red dragon growled softly, proudly unfolding his wings as Ash scratched him on the head. After everyone had thanked the Pokemon, and Ash and Lance had recalled them, the guys began looking around, in order to decide what the best thing to do would be.
"Alright... now that we've gotten here, I guess the first thing to do would be to find out where our... er... colleagues are hiding, right?" James asked, looking around in puzzlement as he and Meowth tried to take cover from the burning sun.
"Exactly... and if you want my opinion, I don't think looking around here would be such a bad idea." Lance answered, his eyes wandering around the shrine they had landed in front of. "As I said, this island has a lot of interesting secrets, and I wouldn't be surprised if we found something about Team Rocket by simply taking a look around."
"And if we're really lucky, we might find some poor shmuck to question." Homura answered, a Pokeball ready at his side. "So... what are we waiting for? Let's go give those scoundrels the what-for!"
"Hold on a second, Homura, we'd better be careful..." Brock answered, letting one of his most recent Pokemon out. "Gible, it's your turn. Take a look around, and tell us if you see something interesting."
Brock's Pokeball opened and let out the small landshark / dragon hybrid, who opened his mouth wide and let out a mighty yawn, then turned to his trainer and raised an hand to tell him he was ready. However, Brock was quite surprised to see him bend down on the ground to grab a small peeble... and swallow it like it was some sort of candy!
"Er... sorry, guys, looks like my Gible needed to have a snack..." Brock said with some embarassment. However, Lance really didn't really seem to mind the Dragon / Ground type's unusal behaviour, and instead seemed to be more interested in the fact that the former Pewter City Gym Leader actually had such a rare Sinnoh specimen.
"A Gible? Not exactly the kind of Pokemon you see everyday..." the dragon tamer said as he examined the small Dragon / Ground type with clear interest. For his part, Gible limited himself to glance back at Lance, as if he was trying to decide whether his cape was good eating.
Brock reminded himself about how a few mysteries about Gible had not been solved yet. "Well, truth be told, I captured him during the last leg of our journey in Sinnoh. Or rather, it was Gible who allowed himself to be caught." he stated. "And even then, it was clear to us that this little guy had some strange power. When we are done here, I would like to discuss it with you, Lance..."
"Dragon-type Pokemon are my field of expertise." The Kanto and Johto champion answered. "Therefore, feel free to ask me whatever you want. I'll answer to the best of my abilities."
"Thank you very much." Brock answered. "Now, getting back to us... okay, Gible, could you go take a look at that shrine? Just to make sure there are no nasty surprises in store for us..."
"Gible gible gible!" the drake Pokemon answered, happily marching towards the entrance of the shrine, a rectangular-shaped doorway placed under a greek-style roof. After climbing the stairs without any apparent effort for a creature that small, Gible hid behind one of the columns for safety... and then, seeing that nothing dangerous was ahead, he pretty much hopped into the shrine, the rest of the team following shortly.
The innermost part of the temple was just as barren and ruined as the outside: nothing had remained save for a white stone altar on the opposite side of the room, with a few stairs going up in front of it, and a few square windows carved into the stone walls, allowing the rays of thesun to enter. Gible looked around, noticing nothing out of the ordinary... but soon after, his keen sense of smell picked up what seemed to be an unfamiliar human scent, and he immediately snapped on alert. Just as Ash, Pikachu and the other entered the shrine, the vivacious Dragon / Ground type began following the track towards the dusty altar.
"Pikachu?" Pikachu squeaked, wondering what the small dragon was trying to do. The electric mouse and his trainer preceded the rest of the team and followed Gible to the altar, stopping right in front of it when the landshark began sniffing the calcareous stone. "Pika pika chu, pika?"
"Gible, gible!" Gible exclaimed as he pointed to the base of the altar. Now that Ash and Pikachu were close enough, they could see that something had been carved on the altar, in a strange alphabet that reminded the two lifelong friends of the Unown, the mysterious Psychic-type Pokemon that were somehow connected to numerous legends, especially in the Johto continent...
"What's the matter, Gible? Have you found anything?" Ash asked, kneeling near the newcomer in Brock's team. The drake nodded in assent and kept indicating the bottom part of the altar, trying to say that there was something very important there...
Lance and Brock got there as well, and the dark-skinned boy began taking a good look at the white marble floor, while Lance began reading the writing on thealtar, trying to make sense of whatever was written. "Hmmm... seems to me we're in theright place, after all." the dragon tamer commented. "This writing does say something interesting... Three lights on the border of the world... The elements to bind them... emotions to overcome hardships... Hmm... and the rest is unreadable."
"Three lights on the border of the world, huh? That's one impressive-sounding quote, a pity that its meaning is so unclear." Gary commented. "And about this emotion thing, what do you think it refers to?"
James felt like a fish out of water. "Sigh... and here I thought we could do without legends, profecies and such for a while..."
Ash tried to think about it, and snapped his fingers as he realized something. "Hold on a second, I have a hunch about this! Could it be that 'emotion' refers to Sinnoh's Lake Trio, Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie? And maybe, by extention, to Dialga, Palkia and Giratina as well..." he ventured. "After all, those Pokemon were very important for Team Galactic's plans as well."
"That does make sense. Which would imply that a lot more is at stake than what we might have assumed at first..." Brock commented, trying to hide the worry in his voice. "Aside from this, there is something strange about the floor. Look at this part in front of the altar."
The young Pokemon breeder passed the tip of an index finger on the marble floor and showed it to the others, revealing to have picked up surprisingly little dust. Then, he did the same thing on another part of the floor... and this time, the tip of his finger became covered in dirt, which Brock wiped away. "See? A part of the floor is tidier than the rest, and I don't think they have maids doing the cleaning here. Furthermore, this cleaner part of the floor looks like it's not fixed to the rest. As if it could actually move."
"It's true…" Gary confirmed, feeling the floor with his hand and finding a suspicious gap between two tiles. "And Gible has followed a scent all the way here. This must mean something."
"That obviously means Team Rocket has recently been here…" Homura concluded, taking a look at the stone slabs. "If only we knew where they have gone from here, maybe we could reach their hideout. Aren't there any buttons or something on this altar?"
"Pikachu…" the electric mouse squeaked as he began feeling the stone slabs in order to see whether they could be hiding something. After a few seconds, he managed to find what looked like a marble button on the altar's side, and when he pushed it, Ash suddenly felt the floor beginning to move under his feet! He quickly jumped away with a surprised yelp, but he still ended up sitting quite unelegantly on the floor, while his companions simply sidestepped! In the place where Ash had been standing, the marble floor had retreated, and in its place there now were several stairs leading to a narrow underground tunnel… clearly a secret passage leading to what was probably an important place!
"Gible, gible!" Brock's Gible exclaimed, hopping up and down while pointing to the darkened corridor. He could feel the unfamiliar human scent getting stronger already.
"Hmm… I know I'm pointin' out the obvious, but he's sayin' we should go down there and follow that corridor." Meowth stated. "I sure dunno about ya, but that place makes my fur stand on end. Are you sure it's a good idea?"
"Well, we have no idea where it will take us…" Homura answered with a shrug. "But we won't make any progress unless we take a few chances, will we? So, with your permission, I'm going in!"
"Hold on a second..." Lance tried to warn him, but the aspirant Gym Leader had already gone and was walking down the stairs. The dragon tamer shrugged and followed suit, motioning for the rest of the team to do the same. "Well, it's not like we have much choice right now... Let's just follow him and hope he doesn't get into trouble. In that corridor, I won't be able to send out most of my Dragon Pokemon, so we're at a bit of a disadvantage."
"I just hope there won't be any problems." Ash answered. "Our Pokemon should be more than enough to face a few grunts. I just hope we won't run in those executives, because those might be real trouble..."
"I have no problem believing that..." James replied, as the team began following Lance and Homura in the secret passageway...
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In the meanwhile, in a well-hidden chamber in the underground of Ruin Valley, the greatest archeological site in Fortune Island, Archer was working on a report he was soon going to have to send to his boss Giovanni regarding the operations that were being carried out in that part of the island. Still, the Team Rocket executive was hardly worried at all. At least for the moment, things were going exactly as planned, and the digging was doing quite well. Sure, there had been a few inconveniences, such as a few curious tourists that had tried to sneak in the site... but it hadn't been a problem for his men, who had quickly chasen away all possible disturbances. As for the present situation, between the trainers they had captured and the newly-acquired artifacts, there had been a slowdown, but even that wasn't such a big problem, after all. The NeverMeltIce was now in their hands, and another part of Team Rocket's plot was soon to be finalized.
As Archer continued compiling one sheet after the other, he heard a knock at the door of his office, and the Rocket executive raised his head to answer and give permission to enter. He was not surprised to see that it was his direct subordinate, Petrel, coming to update him on the latest happenings.
"I apologize for the disturbance, Executive Archer!" the violet-bearded man saluted while Archer lay the pen down by his side. "Group C has just informed me, without any room for error, that the Ruby has been located in the Excavation Site C. It is only a matter of time before it gets unearthed."
Archer's grim face was crossed by a satisfied smile. "Excellent. Now these are the good news I was looking forward to." he answered. "Alright, then we'll wait for Group C to unearth the gem, then we'll make all the needed preparatives and leave this place. Any news from Quest Island? Are Attila and Hun doing a good job entertaining our... guests?"
"There don't seem to be any problems there as well." Petrel calmly answered. "And even the search for the Emerald is going smoothly. Optimistically speaking, we should be able to rendezvous with Ariana and Proton very soon, and then we'll go back to HQ."
"That's perfect. Giovanni will be proud of us!" Archer stated victoriously. "With this operation coming to a close, Team Rocket will be majorly bolstered, and we'll soon get our hands on a bunch of new and powerful Pokemon. Our army will be able to stand up to that of any other organization in this world... yeah, despite a few slip-ups here and there, things are firmly in our camp!"
Petrel laughed jovially. "I don't think I could've said it better myself, Executive Archer!" he stated, before being interrupted by the beep of the comm device hanging at his side. Somewhat surprised at the fact that there were updates so soon, he answered the call. "Huh? Yes, Petrel here. Security, is that you? What's going on? Hm... yeah... the Dotted Cave? Yes... I see... okay, I'll send a squad to take a look at it. We'll see what we can do from here. Okay... keep us updated..."
The conversation was interrupted, and Petrel turned to his superior to answer his unspoken, yet still clear, question. "It appears something is not going as planned, Executive Archer. The Pokemon trainers we faced in Floe Island have managed to survive, and they're on their way to our hideout as we speak. It appears they've located the secret passage to Ruin Valley, and they should arrive at the Dotted Cave shortly. They have Lance, the champion of the Kanto and Johto leagues, with them."
These news actually had Archer worried. "That is a problem..." the Rocket executive said. "None of us is even close to a match for Lance, and if we were to be defeated here, it would be a severe setback for Team Rocket. We must try and find a way to both stop them and get away with the Ruby, before they can do too much damage. Petrel, order all excavation squads to give aid to Group C. Also, have all security squads do a check of the area surrounding the Dotted Cave. Lance might be too tough for us to handle, but we can still cause him to waste time..."
"Acknowledge! Leave it to me!" Petrel answered, before getting out of the room as fast as he could. Archer sighed and went to retrieve his Pokeballs, hoping that his contingency plan would work an buy them some time...
oooooooooo
"Aaaand... we finally got out! Say, guys, think they've prepared a welcome committee?" Homura asked rhetorically, pointing to a ramp of stairs going upwards, right at the end of the corrridor they were walking through. It had taken them several minutes to go through all that way, and Ash couldn't say he didn't look forward to reach their destination. He was beginning not to stand the heat and humidity any more!
"Pika pika..." Pikachu answered, shaking his head. Sometimes, Homura reminded him far too much of Ash at his most impulsive... but the electric mouse thought he probably had to expect it from someone whose speciality were Fire-type Pokemon.
Brock's Gible, on the other hand, seemed to be anxious to start a fight, and grabbed his trainer's trousers, trying to pull him along. With a good-natured smile, the dark-skinned young man told his Dragon-type to be patient and not to rush headlong. "Just wait a moment, Gible... before we step forward, we need to be sure that there are no traps ahead..." he said, as the team slowly approached the exit of the corridor.
Lance walked out first, a hand always ready at his belt in order to call on one of his dragons in case of trouble. The team had emerged in a rather strange place: it was a narrow room built in large stone bricks, and completely barren except for a few strange writings on the wall on the dragon tamer's right. Lance walked out of the passage and up to the writings, trying to read them... and soon realized that there was something very peculiar about them - every letter was composed of a bunch of tiny dots placed very close to each other. Lance thought that it was very similar to the Braille alphabet, the touch-based writing for the blind. Sadly, that also meant nobody in the team could read it.
"So, Mr. Lance... did you find anything interesting?" Homura asked, looking over Lance's shoulders.
James frowned, trying to make out the writings on the wall. "And... what's with all the dots? Did anyone try to write graffiti on that wall?"
"Not exactly, Jamey-boy..." Meowth said, wrinkling his nose. "What you're seeing is nothing more than Braille writing... it's used to be read by the people who are unable to see."
"Exactly..." Brock confirmed. "The blind use their hands to read Braille writing, taking advantage of the fact that their other senses tend to be keener. However, I'm afraid we have no idea how to read it... if only we had some experts with us..."
"There's way around it, anyway." Gary stated, as he took off his backpack and took a small notepad and a pen out of it. Then, he turned to the first blank page he could find and began copying what was written on the wall. "I think it's a good idea to copy all of this, and show it to someone who knows more about Braille. I'm curious to see what will come out of this."
Ash nodded, impressed by his friend and rival's quick thinking. "Well, I think it's a great idea, Gary! Wish I had thought of it myself..." he stated, interrupting himself when he saw that Pikachu had perked up his ears in alarm, and Gible was sniffing the air suspiciously. "Hm? Pikachu, Gible, what's the matter? Something wrong?"
"Pika pi! Pika pika chu!" the yellow mouse confirmed, pointing to the exit of the room. The other trainers immediately understood that something was wrong, and that some Team Rocket agents were probably coming!
"We didn't really need this..." Brock commented. "If we get discovered now, there go our chances of catching Team Rocket off guard... what can we do?"
"Wait, I think I got it!" Meowth exclaimed. "Hey, James, we need both Carnivine and Mime Jr. for this! Let them out, now!"
"Er... I can do that, but what's the..." James answered, bt interrupted himself and shook his head. No time to be asking questions. "Er... alright, it doesn't matter! We'll ask questions later! Carnivine, Mime Jr., we need your help!"
The small Psychic-type and the carnivorous plant popped out of their Pokeballs... and Carnivine, as was probably to be expected, wrapped himself around James with his vine-like arms, hugging James tightly enough to cause his face to turn the same colour as his hair! "Uuuuuugh... I'm... happy... that you care about me... so much... Carnivine... but... ugh... please understand... you're smothering me!" the young man murmured, as the all-too-enthusiastic Grass-type tried to bite on his trainer's head. Sighing in resignation, Mime Jr. went to Carnivine and telecinetically pried the carnivorous plant's mouth open, allowing James to finally take a breather.
"Phew... wow... thought I was going to die there..." James murmured. "Anyway... I have no idea what Meowth is trying to do, but... he has aplan to stop those who are coming here! Okay, Meowth, tell us... what is it?"
"That's easy: that's the only entrance our... colleagues can come from, right?" Meowth explained. "Carnivine, Mime Jr... place yourselves at the siddes of the entrance, and get ready to attack as soon as the guards come! We have to neutralize them without fighting, or the whole complex will be alerted!"
"Vine!" the carnivorous plant exclaimed. The two Pokemon did some sort of salute and placed themselves where Meowth had instructed them to, while Ash, Pikachu and the others went back inside the secret passage, hiding right there and waiting for the danger to pass.
Only half a minute passed before the trainers were able to hear the sound of incoming steps... and a group of Team Rocket grunts, all sporting their trademark black uniform with a red R emblazoned upon it, entered the room a few moments later, entered the small room, wielding some electrical flashlights. James gulped nervously as they approached the secret passage...
"You two, get to work! Use Sweet Scent and Hypnosis, now!" Meowth suddenly ordered. Carnivine smiled nastily, open his enormous maw, and let out a mellow aroma that seeped into the grunts' nostrils, catching them off guard and causing them to become dizzy and sluggish. The grunts dropped several of their flashlights... and that was when Mime Jr. floated in front of them, his small eyes glowing a strange pink light!
"Miiiiime!" the small Psychic-type exclaimed as he concentrated on his opponents. The Team Rocket agents were too stunned by Carnivine's Sweet Scent to be able to put up any form of resistance, and ended up dropping to the ground like so many sacks of rice, and falling in the land of Nod.
"There ya go, Jamey-boy! As you can see, there's a solution to everything!" Meowth stated proudly as the team exited from their improvised hideout. "Well, we've bought ourselves some time, but we need to get out of here quickly, before more people come!"
"Then, let's get moving..." Brock concluded as he picked up his Gible. The other nodded in assent and, as soon as Carnivine had used a Bind attack to make sure the Team Rocket grunt couldn't raise an alarm when they woke up, made haste towards the exit. Ash and Pikachu were the first ones to reach the top of the stairs going to the outside of the shrine... and finally stepped out, shielding their eyes from the bright subtropical sun. Now that they had a chance to see it in first person, Ruin Valley looked ever more impressive than it had looked from a bird's eye view - the buildings and the ruins were simply towering over them, perched on top of huge rocky formations surrounded by dry grass and tropical plants, and there was a sense of mystery and discovery all around, making Ash and his friends feel like they had gone backwards in time...
"Wow... not this is a spectacular place!" the young aspirant Pokemon Master commented as he admired his surroundings in wide-eyed wonder. Even the burning sun was not bothering him now... rather the contrary, had he not known the reason why he and his friends were there, he would have begun wandering around like a curious child and admiring everything he possibly could! "Man, and to think archeology never really interested me... this place is something else entirely!"
"Heh, I know what you mean! You're not the only one to have said that after seeing Ruin Valley!" Homura answered as he stepped out of the shrine. Naturally, he was the one who was the least bothered by the heat. "However, we need to find a place where we can hide from the security, and I'm sure it won't be easy. Team Rocket is not taking any chances now, and they'll soon discover that those sentries have been neutralized."
"Let's try and hide there, for now..." Gary proposed, pointing to a patch of tall grass between two huge rocks. "It won't be a great hideout, but it will buy us some time until we find something better."
"I just hope it will be enough..." was Brock's answer as the team reached the patch of grass and hid among it, squatting low on the ground. Lance, in particular, found that his cape gave him some trouble with moving in the vegetation... and James, who was probably allergic to something in the grass, scratched his nose trying not to sneeze.
"Alright, now we lay low, and we try to find something interesting..." Gary proposed. The team began moving with as much stealth as they possibly could towards the rocks, soon coming across - thanks to James noticing something strange in one of the rocky cliffs - a narrow path that brought to some sort of natural corridor that would surely be a better hideout for them, and possibly bring them closer to the two executives in charge of Fortune Island! For now, luck seemed to be on their side, so it was worth a try...
"Hey, why don't we try sneaking in from here?" the azure-haired young man proposed. "This does look like a more reliable hiding place... and it's not teeming with these little bugs stinging me all over..."
"I just hope we don't end up in a wild goose chase..." Lance answered, taking a good look at his surroundings before the team entered the narrow canyon...
oooooooooo
"So, how are things here? Are we done yet? We can't delay much longer, and you know it!" a Rocket grunt asked impatiently as his companions were busy trying to extract a fist-sized red gem from the pavement of the cavern they were standing in. It was a truly magnificent gem, the colour of red-hot lava, with what looked like blazing embers dancing all around its surface, as if an inferno was perpetually burning in its interior. The Team Rocket grunt were using such Pokemon as Graveler, Sandslash and other Ground-types to release the awesome gem from its bedrock, but it was turning out to be more difficult that they thought - the layers of rock were very thick and resistant.
"We're doing all we can, but our Pokemon can't be expected to do everything!" another grunt answered, watching his Sandslash unleash a powerful Fury Swipes attack on the rock surrounding the fiery gem. "C'mon, Sandslash, put a little more effort in it! If those kids can reach us before we get the Ruby, we can kiss our project goodbye!"
"SLASH!" the pangolin-like Pokemon answered, trying to slash the stone apart with his terrifying front claws. Once again, the rock was breached, sending debris all around and further liberating the Ruby from its stony custody, to the point where the light that was now emitting from the gem hurt the Pokemon's sensitive eyes.
"Alright, that's the way it's done! Good job, Sandslash!" the grunt answered, petting his Pokemon with one hand as he reached for the Ruby with the other. "We got it! By the three Legendary Birds, guys, we've got the Ruby! Somebody go and warn Petrel and Archer! We've got what we were here for! Now we have no more use for this place!"
"Excellent job!" another one exclaimed as his friend lifted the Ruby up in the air, allowing all the cheering grunts to take a good look at it! Its crimson glow was now bathing the cavern, making it look like it was on fire! "Alright, I'm going! You keep things ready for when we'll get our butts off this island!"
oooooooooo
Finally, after wandering for quite a while among naarrow and lightless tunnels, Ash and his friends had finally managed to emerge in a large and mostly hollow cavern whose walls had been decorated with some primitive-looking pictures, which were semi-obscured by the darkness. To Lance, it looked like the place had once been used for sacred cerimonies of some kind... and now, judging from the flat-screen computers standing at one corner of the room, and a few high-tech cameras lying on a nearby table, it was clear that Team Rocket was doing some important research there!
"Well, this seems to be the place they use for their studies... what do you say, guys, I'm sure we're getting closer to some trap, now wouldn't you?" Gary asked, somewhat sarcastically. Pikachu, Meowth and Gible were especially alert, expecting some Rocket grunt to jump them as soon as they lowered their guard... and yet, after several minutes, nothing of the sort happened. Instead, there was a strange buzzing sound coming from a large screen affixed to the cavern's farthest wall, which lit up and flickered for a while before, much to the team's surprise, the face of a nameless Rocket grunt appeared upon it. There was some static and a few interferences before the transmission stabilized, but soon after, the man in black cleared his throat and began speaking, giving news that Ash and his friends found alarming to say the least!
"Attention, to all squads... Excavation Group C has located and seized the Ruby, and is preparing to evacuate as we speak!" he exclaimed, clearly excited about the news. Ash frowned, not knowing what he was talking about, but understanding that it had to be great news for Team Rocket... and not so great for himself and his friends! "Commander Petrel, commander Archer... our research is over! We've got what we were here for in the first place!"
"What? So... this island's Team Rocket HQ was just in orderto search for this... Ruby, or whatever it was?" Homura exclaimed, rather surprised by the events. "And what would that thing be? Never heard of it..."
"Neither did I..." Lance admitted, which left everyonesurprised. As Lance seemed to be the better-informed of them all, and if he wasn't sure himself of what was going on, it meant that the situation they were in was really unusual. "It must be another artifact Team Rocket is trying to use for their power trip, but I have no idea what it's supposed to be."
"Heheheee... so, even the mighty champion Lance, the dragon tamer, has no idea what this precious jewel is? That's just too bad..." said a sarcastic voice for the other side of the large room, as a rather thick group of Rocket grunts entered calmly, with Petrel at the head. "Oh well, that's not much of a problem. After all, you won't be able to tell anyone about what we were doing in this island, and... Oh, will you look at that! We've got two of the three turncoats here as well!"
James and Meowth quickly turned to Petrel, and Meowth hissed in annoyance as he unsheathed his claws. "Hold on a sec, pal!" he meowed. "You've calling us turncoats now? After you tried to drown us like Rattatas? You sure have some nerve, don't ya!"
"Where are the hostages?" Brock asked, keeping a Pokeball ready. "What have you done with them? And where is your boss?"
Petrel ignored the question and continued his tirade to James and Meowth. "Well, you were never important members of Team Rocket, anyway!" he stated simply, scratching at his purple goatee. "You were always expendable, and whether you're dead or alive makes little difference to us. But since you now insist on interfering with our plan... guess the first option suits us better!"
James grit his teeth and prepared one of his Pokeballs, as Ash and the others did the same and prepared for what was shaping up to be a rather tough battle. Petrel motioned for his grunts to get ready as well, and soon, Lance and the rest of the team were almost surrounded and trapped inside the room!
"Pikachu, get ready..." Ash told his best friend. "We have to take these guys out and stop them before they take the Ruby away!"
"Pika!" the electric mouse squeaked, his cheeks already charging...
oooooooooo
TO BE CONTINUED...
Author's Note: Man, it was somewhat hard to write the last part, I hope I did a good enough job of it! Anyway, the battle for the Ruby and the safety of Fortune Island has begun, and we're inching closer and closer to the end of the Sevii saga! Be prepared, as I will do my best to make sure this part of my story ends with a bang, and Team Rocket will surely not go down without a fight!
Poor Butch, even in fanfiction, character keep getting his name wrong...
See you next chapter, as soon as I can get it online!