POKEMON HEART SOUL ADVENTURES
Hello, everyone! I'm finally back with the new chapter for this story! And believe me, there are still quite a lot of things waiting to happen at Hoenn, where Drew and May are now facing each other in a close battle! It looks like some secrets of Team Vicious are about to be unveiled, and you can bet that the higher-ups aren't exactly going to be thrilled about that!
In addition to this, in this chapter we'll have the honor of seeing an old face make her return, and believe me when I say that her contribution will be most welcome! How will our bold heroes be able to face whatever Team Vicious throws at them? And... will it be time for a reunion? To know that, you just have to read this chapter... and stay assured that I will start the next one soon enough, provided my PC holds tight!
For now, have fun reading this chapter... and leave me a review if you want! Bye!
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Chapter 38 - A Silent Call For Help
Time seemed to have frozen as Drew and May looked in each other's eyes, the former still with his unspoken question in his eyes, and the latter with the expression of someone who knew she was cornered. Dreadful silence had fallen in the place where just a moment before their Pokemon were fighting each other... a grim, almost despairing silence, which made the girl wish she could just stand up and run away. Only her green-haired friend staring at her and waiting for an explanation was keeping her there...
"Drew..." May murmured as she caressed her Beautifly on the head. The butterfly-like Pokemon moved her thin antennae and unfurled her proboscis, as if she was ready to defend her trainer should Drew have asked the wrong question.
The green-haired boy sighed and turned around slightly, as not to embarass his friend. "Okay... guess I slightly overdid it, that much I can give you." he stated. "But... this doesn't change the fact that you owe me an explanation, May. Why did you join a criminal organization? Why did you attack me and Harley, and what do you want with us?"
May grit her teeth, wracking her brain in an attempt to come up with a convincing answer that wouldn't put Max in danger... but it seemed clear to her that she couldn't both have her cake and eat it, so she went for the lesser of the two evils, and decided to lie. "Hmph..." she snorted, trying to appear cold and unfeeling. "This is none of your business, Drew! You said I would never do such a thing, huh? Well, what do you know, anyway? Maybe I'm actually a bad person who joined Team Vicious to..."
She immediately clamped an hand over her mouth in horrified realization - she had just blurted the name of the organization that had her in the palm of their hand! Drew, for his part, squinted his eyes, refusing to be tricked by such an obvious lie. "May... you're a terrible liar, and you know that. And I know you too well to believe what you're trying to have me believe. There's something else to it, right? These... Team Vicious guys... are threatening you in some way, right?"
For the first time ever, May cursed Drew's sharpness. Because of his intuition, Max's life could be in danger now... and worse yet, it was partly her fault as well. If only she hadn't used two Pokemon that could easily be linked to her, her secret might have been safe now... But it was no use crying over spilt milk now, the best thing to do was try to salvage the situation.
"This... I don't know why I should answer this!" the chestnut haired girl angrily retorted as she let Beautifly soar again. "Beautifly, we're outta here for now! Use Whirlwind to cover our escape!"
"Beauty!" the giant butterfly nodded and unleashed a powerful blast of wind with a single clap of her magnificent wings, forcin Drew's Absol to reteat before the huge cloud of dust that was kicked up. The dust created a cloud around May and Beautifly, hiding them from Drew and his Pokemon's eyes, and both of them were forced to avert their faces in order not to find themselves with tons of sand in their eyes... and as soon as they could see again, they saw that both May and her Beautifly were gone, leaving them empty-handed and with the certainty that something awful was going on. Drew knew May all too well to believe that she had joined Team Vicious of her own free will... it sounded far more believable to him that Team Vicious was blackmaiing her somehow, forcing her to do things she didn't actually want to do. And Drew already had half a mind on how they could have done that...
"Darn... this is one bad situation, no two ways about it." he said to himself as he petted his Absol, who was still glaring at the place May and her Beautifly had been at. "The fact that May wanted me to know nothing of the whole situation makes it clear that they're using somethong or someone she cares for a lot in order to keep her under their thumb. And I'm willing to bet it's Max... they may quarrel a lot, but it's clear that they wouldn't wish anything to happen to each other. If that is the case, I'm afraid it will be hard to solve this whole mess. I certainly can't do it on my own..."
A small smile painted itself on the young coordinator's handsome face, and a few sparks shone around him! "Of course, if I were to speak with the right people, things wouldn't be so hopeless anymore!" he said to himself. "Well, Absol, I think we have our work cut out for us now! We need to... plan a little reunion for old times' sake!"
The Dark-type Pokemon almost seemed to grin. He had already understood what his trainer meant by that, and the idea appealed to him quite a bit. As soon as Absol nodded to him, Drew recalled the Dark-type in his Pokeball and once again turned to the road he was walking along before May attacked him. "Excellent, I knew you would understand! Okay then, let's get back to the Pokemon Center! We have an old friend to speak to... hopefully she will be able to help us, of course."
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Jakov hated to be pushed... especially when one reasoned that, when he had gained his title of Team Vicious commander, he was convinced that this would mean a quiet, comfortable life for both himself and his beloved Noctowl: sitting at a desk and ordering people around, while eating all the delicacies they wanted... and instead, now that the supreme leader had fixated on the Legendary Pokemon, he had been running all over Sinnoh and Hoenn. And the fact that the plan had been derailed the moment he had been defeated byZoey and her friends atop Mt. Coronet didn't help his case... nor did the fact that he was now forced to work alongide Cezar, the one he disliked the most amog his colleagues. There was something about his smug demeanor, his faux affable smile perpetually tamped upon his face, that almost forced Jakov to loathe Cezar - Jakov felt like Cezar would gladly have stabbed him in the back. However, orders were still orders, and Jakov couldn't just disobey... and what was their leader planning, anyway? Probably searching for the next Legendary Pokemon to chase after...
Jakov and Noctowl shook themselves out of their reverie as they got closer to Cezar's office, and the obese Team Vicious commander repressed his revultion and knocked at the door. There was the sound of a chair being moved on the other side of the door, and someone telling him to enter... and thinking it was safe now, Jakov pulle down the handle and entered...
Only to almost be hit in the face by a dart the moment he set foot in! His Noctowl widened his eyes in surprise and dodged sideways, almost hitting Jakov in the process... and the fat executive swayed to the side as a triumphant, high-pitched laugh echoed in the office!
"Hahahahaa! Well, what do you know? I had almost hit you!" Cezar laughed as he walked to his collegue, still holding a few playing darts in his hands! Just a couple inches more, and you'd have caught it in the cheekbone! Hehehee... so, how are things, my dear Jakov? I can see you don't lack appetite!"
"I was about to lose it just now..." Jakov corrected him sarcastically, as he glared at the dart embedded in the wall close to him. "What was the big idea, Cezar? You could have killed me with this stunt, you know that?"
Cezar seemed to shrug it off. "Hehee... I do know that, that's the fun of it!" he answered all too cheerfully. "Alright then... jokes aside, let's make a resume, shall we? The big boss wants us to work together to capture Paul, the runner-up to this year's Sinnoh Conference. I already tried to persuade the brat, and I used all of my diplomatic skills, but he foolishly refused. Said something about wanting to win by his own merits. Meh, these fair and square freaks baffle me."
"Yeah, yeah..." Jakov cut to the case, not wanting to waste time with pointless chatter. He was already asking himself how he was supposed to work with Cezar for days on end, when a few minutes with him were already trying his patience. "And now, the boss wants us to work together to either convince Paul or capture him. After all, he wouldn't want to let such a potentially useful pawn go."
His far too cheerful colleague crossed hisarm on his chest and nodded smugly. "Yep, yep... Isee you've hit the nail right on the head, my friend! Then... get a few Dark Pokemon ready, and leave those useless Slowking, Slaking and the rest here! At the moment, Paul is training his Pokemon on Mt. Silver, on the border between Johto and Kanto. We'll just have to catch him at the right moment, and we shouldn't have too much trouble getting him to join!"
"Dark Pokemon?" Jakov asked with a somewhat disgusted tone. "Hold on a sec, Cezar, I thought I had made clear what I thought on the subject! I don't like Pokemon to be used that way!"
He stopped himself short when Cezar, keeping that creepily jovial smile,whipped out another dart and threw it at Jakov's face, missing it by half an inch and causing the fat executive to yelp in fear as the metal point embedded itself in the wall!
"My, my... still following this childish reasoning, huh?" Cezar said, keeping that playful tone that only served to make him more terrifying. Jakov felt in danger staying around that maniac... Why shouldn't we use our Dark Pokemon, again? Or to use a more appropriate term, our Shadow Pokemon? They are much more powerful than normal Pokemon, and they learn stronger moves more quickly! After all, Pokemon are nothing but tools and weapons for us humans to use, right?"
Jakov wanted to say he disagreed with that crazy notion, and that he never considered his Noctowl, his Slowking, his Slaking, and the rest of his team as slaves... but he saw that Cezar still had a few darts, and Jakov didn't want to push his luck. So, he swallowed his answer and gulped, before answering in a peaceful tone. "Sure... you're right, Cezar..." he said grudgingly.
Cezar smiled scarily as he put his darts away, and turned to his Xatu, standing on his desk like some sort of eerie totem, waiting for his master's orders. "That's better." Cezar said with a smirk. "You should take lessons from Demitri... he might be young, but he doesn't have all of your foolish 'standards'! And he's already caught two of Hoenn's best coordinators, I might add! May and Harley will soon join Team Vicious, and with them at our side, our power will surely increase a lot!"
"What? He captured... May and Harley?" Jakov asked. "I knew nothing of this..."
"That's obvious, since you were still busy grumbling over the fact that the runner-up at the Sinnoh Grand Festival kicked your butt!" Cezar teased him nastily. "That's why I say you should learn from Demitri... he sure knows how to be persuasive with our opponents!"
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"You are a blundering fool!"
May cringed as Demitri wrathfully from his desk and walked up to her... and before she could understand what was going on, Demitri lashed out and slapped her in the face hard enough to knock her down with a pained yelp! May shook her head and tried to pick herself up, rubbing her bruised cheek... but a kick right in the stomach cut her breath short, and caused her to double over and gasp in pain!
"Not only did you botch the mission and return empty-handed... but you even revealed to him the existence of our organization!" Demitri roared, before grabbing May's hair and forcing her to look at him straight in the eyes. May weakly struggled, but didn't dare struggle against the person who held Max as an hostage. "I was expecting such mistakes from a lowly Team Vicious grunt, not one of our most promising trainers! And now, you useless rugrat, tell me... what am I to do with you, huh? Tell me! Give me one single reason why I shouldn't toss you to a bunch of rabid Houndooms, or toss your little brother in a pool filled with hungry Carvanhas! What about it, huh? Which one will it be?"
"Ugh... don't you dare harm one hair on Max's head! You can pick on me as much as you want... but leave him alone!" May fired back, showing all the spirit she could get away with in such an occasion. She was expecting the little brute to hit her again... but luckily, it didn't happen, and Demitri contented himself with glaring hatefully at her for a few seconds, before relinquishing his hold. May rubbed her bruised cheek once again and slowly stood up, realizing that the hit had only been painful, and not really damaging. "I messed up, okay? But Drew only knows the name of our organization! He has no idea where to look for us, and he doesn't know who's behind it! He has nothing he can use against us, so... I don't think I committed such a bad mistake, right?"
"I think May has a point on that, brother..." Stefan interjected as he entered the room from a side door, trying to calm down his tyrannical brother. May turned to him, silently thanking her good luck for letting him come right at that moment. "Please, Demitri, don't be too hard on her... after all, since Drew has no lead, there is no chance he can get to our HQ, and May didn't leave enough traces behind herself, so... I think we can let it slide, for this once!"
"Shut up, you maggot! Should I want your advice, I'll ask for it!" Demitri roared angrily. Then, he seemed to calm down just a little and cast his fierce glance to May once again, as if pondering what to do with her. Finally, after a few moments of silence, the young Team Vicious executive decided it was pointless to insist. "Hmph... yeah, guess I can let this go, for this once... but be on your guard, you little rugrat, because your next mistake will be your last! Next time you face Drew, I want you to subdue him and deliver him to me on a silver platter! Am I clear about it?"
"Sure, I will..." May answered grudgingly, repressing her desire to punch that monstrous brat in the face. "Next time, I won't be caught off guard... and I won't let Drew escape, that's for sure!"
"Good. Now, if you want to rest your Pokemon and see your brother again, you have some spare time to do that." Demitri answered, contemptuously pointing at the door from which Stefan had walked in. May bowed and walked away as slowly and politely as she possibly could, then disappeared in the corridor.
Demitri sighed as he rubbed his forehead, as if trying to stave off a fierce migraine, then turned to Stefan. "Curse it all... I already have enough problems to think of without that frump messing up her missions... by the way, Stefan, how are things in other places? Do Jakov and Cezar have news for us?"
"Nthing really groundbreaking..." Stefan said, trying to keep as natural as possible, even though he was scared of his brother. "Still... I heard Jakov and Cezar have been ordered to work together to capture Paul, the runner-up to this year's Sinnoh League Tournament. With such a trainer on our side, we will certainly become a lot more powerful!"
"Sure, if that knucklehead can be convinced... a dog who won't take to training is useless to us, and Paul isn't as easy to manipulate as May is." Demitri affirmed. "Still, if those two can manage, all the better for us, I guess. By the way, what about the trainer May did capture? I mean Harley of course..."
Stefan scratched the back of his head in an attempt to buy time. "Well... truth be told, it did take some time before he and his Octillery were thawed out of that Blizzard attack from May's Glaceon... we have kept him in an isolated cell for now, and we have taken his Pokemon away from him, just as a safety measure. And I must say, he's got quite the impressive team, especially his Cacturne and his Octillery."
"Good to know. I like it when a trainer has a varied team, I want our new agents to be able to face whatever challenge they might come across." Demitri concluded, feeling a little calmer now. "Alright, that will do for now. You can go, but keep yourself available, as I might need you anytime. Oh, and check that the new Abra and Ralts specimen have been sent - our leader wants replacement as soon as possible."
"It will be done." Stefan said, saluting before going away, and eaving Demitri with his thoughts.
"I wish I could do something to help Max and May... but I can't go against my brother's will..." Stefan thought to himself. "The most I can do is take some pressure off of them... darn, I really don't like what my brother is trying to do... if he and the rest of Team Vicious were to succeed, the world would fall into chaos..."
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"Max! Max, are you alright? Can you hear me?"
As soon as May had reached the prison block in which her brother was being kept, she had seen him lying down on the dusty mound of hay that served as his bed, intent on catching some shut-eye while he could. He seemed to have just returned from one of Team Vicious' exhausting training sessions, and was now trying to regain some strength. In the cell immediately next to him, May could make out, much to her surprise, the lithe figure of Hilde sitting on the floor, hugging her knees and her head lolling slightly to one side as she slept in a rather unconfortable position. So, Hilde had gotten caught as well... ther really was no getting away from those criminals' evil schemes!
Max slowly opened his eyes, and managed to smile as he saw his older sister standing by the door of his cell! He quickly put his glasses on and stood up, quick to get to his sister, a elieved smile on his face. "May! Sis, how are you doing?" he asked. Even if there wasn't much lighting, he managed to see a bruise under his sister's left eye, and was rather worried about that. "And... and what about that bruise? It's nothing serious, is it?"
"It's okay, Max, nothing sleep won't cure!" May answered, trying not to worry Max, who already had much to be worried about. "What about you and Hilde? Have they treated you... well enough?"
"They didn't hurt us. Not physically, at least." Max answered as he gripped the iron bars. "But they did force us to go through one heck of a training regime, and it seems that they want to make me and Hilde into Team Vicious grunts."
"Yeah, I feared as much..." May nodded slowly. "That's the exact same reason why they wanted me to go out there and capture Harley, Drew and Solidad..."
May paused to reorganize her speech, but she was unable to go on before a well-known voice interjected, echoing almost comically through the cell block's corridors! "AAAAARGH! So it was YOU! You were that crazy guy who turned me into a living popsicle and brought me here! How dare you do such a thing to meeeee!"
May and Max plugged their own ears with a comical wince of annoyance, while Hilde woke up from her slumbed and rubbed her eyes as she looked around for the source of that annoying noise... just as a couple grunts dragged a familiar purple-haired person in, while at the same time trying to hold him! Not that he could do much, encuffed as he was, but nothing was keeping him from trying!
"You are the one who froze me and my poor Octillery solid! I knew you were a lying, conniving cheater, but this one takes the cake!" Harley whined, only managing to look ridiculous instead of threatening! "Why would you do such a thing to me? What have I done to deserve such hatred? Okay, aside from those harmless pranks I played on you in the competitions... but it was all in good fun! What just went into you to change like that? Oh, cruel fate..."
"Hey, you aren't here to chat amicably!" one of the grunts said as he tried to pull Harley along, with May, Max and Hilde casting some flabbergasted glances at the effeminate purple-haired coordinator! "WE aren't doing you favors just because you just thawed out, wise guy!"
"Argh... Hey, hold on! Hold on a second, I say! Ugh, no more respect from a coordinator as good as I am!" Harley muttered melodramatically as his jailers dragged him away. "Do not think I will forget about this, May! Wait for me to get free, and I'm gonna get you good! Nobody can treat Harley like that! And nobody can doubt my skill as a cook! Just wait and see..."
Max and May sweatdropped as Harley was uncerimoniously dragged away, swearing revenge in such an over-the-top way as to be impossible to take seriously! When things finally calmed down, May placed an hand on her forehead and sighed, nursing the biggest migraine she had ever felt in her whole life! "Man... I guess he's still hung up on that whole deal with the cookies. Though I have to admit he does have a better reason to hate me now..." she commented.
"So? Who was the crazy guy? Someone you know, May?" Hilde asked as she rubbed the sleep off her eyes. May turned to the girl, who greeted her with a nod, without even changing expression. "You sure know some strange people, huh? Even a lunatic who dresses up as a Cacturne..."
"Well..." Despite everything, May managed to chuckle in amusement. "Harley isn't crazy, really! He's just, well... kinda over the top, that's the word I'd use! He's obsessed with defeating me, and sometimes he didn't really play fair, but he's not bad person, after all. Fact is, I was forced to capture him on the orders of that Team Vicious brat..."
May glanced down with Max placing a hand on her shoulder through the cell bars in order to encourage her. "Look, sis... you need to get away from these people and try to find someone that can help you! You can't let them take advantage of you, or soon you won't be able to get out of this business! Don't worry about me, they won't harm me as long as they think I can be a useful bargaining chip!" he stated, hoping he could push his sister to action. Sadly, Max himself knew May couldn't just let things go and leave him when his life was in danger. As much as they quarreled, they cared a lot about each other to let that happen.
"And what am I supposed to do, Max?" she asked, perhaps more strongly than she had intended. "Can you explain that to me, please? Those people follow all of my movement, and that Demitri guy already slapped me around just because I accidentally reveled Team Vicious' existance to Drew! You don't really think I could just waltz out and ask for help, when I know that those people would not hesitate to harm you, do you?"
"But even keeping doing this won't help!" Max retorted. "Just think about what you're doing, you're aiding a bunch of criminals in kidnapping trainers and turning them in slaves for themselves. I agree Harley isn't the nicest person in the world, but even I don't think he deserved what you've done to him!"
"I don't think so myself, for crying out loud! But if the choice is between a person who dislikes me, and whom I barely know... and my own younger brother... well, excuse me for having my priorities!" she answered back. Then, after taking a couple breaths, she calmed down and wiped her forehead. "And believe me... if there actually was a third choice I'd have jumped at it! But I'm cornered, Max... I can't do anything but obey these guys, at least until they've decided what to do with us. I'm sorry, Max, but... we dont have a choice. And now... sorry, but I can't stay any longer. I'll have to get back to my mission... still, I hope I'll be able to see you again soon, and that you can forgive me for what I have to do... Hilde, please, watch over my brother too, okay? As far as you can, make sure nothing happens to him... okay?"
"Al... Alright, May, you have my word about that!" the girl answered with a sigh. Somewhat relieved, May nodded to Max and smiled slightly, before beginning to walk away, leaving the cell block behind herself, and hopefully Harley as well. Max glanced at the form of his older sister walking away, then sighed and looked down... as much as he hated to admit it, May was right: he couldn't ask her to do much, considering where she was. If he wanted to keep May from getting in trouble, he had to do whatever he could to get out of trouble... and possibly get Hilde out of it too!
"Hilde... I'm afraid we're on our own, from this moment on..." the boy commented as he cleaned his glasses. Hilde remained neutral, as she sat on her heels to listen to her friend and rival. "But we'll have to find the right moment to act, or we won't go far..."
"If only there was someone who could help us from outside, we might have a chance..." Hilde answered... and her expression turned to wonder and perplexity as she saw Max suddenly glancing in the distance, as if someone was calling out for him from far away. "Huh? Are... are you alright, Max? What's with you looking in the distance?
Max blinked and shook himself awake, before turning back to his friend. "Er... sorry, Hilde, you're right... I was kinda spacing out there..." he excused himself. "Fact is... for a moment, I thought someone was calling to me... dunno who he was or why he was doing that..."
"Try to keep focused, okay? Or we're going to see our chances of escaping in the distance as well!" Hilde said sarcastically, her hand combing her unruly hair...
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At the moment, Stefan was busy checking on the Pokemon that had recently been captured by the Team Vicious grunts... among them, a considerablenumber of Abra and Ralts, all Pokemon known for using the Teleport move. It was a bunch of Pokemonthat had been captured in response to a suddenly increased demand for teleporting Pokemon from the Team Vicious higher-ups... but Stefan didn't eally know what they were doing with all those Pokemon. It was clearly something more than just selling them to the highest bidder...
"Alright... check that their psychic powes are inhibited, and send them to the boss." Stefan dejectedly ordered. "But make sure that the cages you'll load them in have sufficient exchange of air with the outside. We don't want such precious Pokemon to die on us before they are delivered, right?"
"Of course not, Mr. Stefan! We'll do our best to hand them over intact!" a grunt answered as she gathered a few wooden cages in which several specimen of the small Psychic-types had been locked in. For a moment, one of the Ralts seemed to be jolted awake for a split second, raising his head and looking in the distance, towards something only he could see... It was as if something familiar had brushed past him, and the cute Psychic-type was sure he had felt that somewhere before... it was a pleasant feeling, to be sure, and he was sure he'd be happy to know who was it that caused him to feel like that... and in that moment of emotion, he felt as if he had lost control of his psychic powers for a split second...
Still, that split second in which he had felt that familiar presence was more than enough for Ralts to convince himself that it was worth it to keep fighting...
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Standing in front of a videophone, inside of a large Pokemon Center, Drew was patiently waiting for the person he was looking for to answer his call. It had been lucky to have been able to track her, considering she was often travelling all over Hoenn, or even in other continents... and in fact, no one would expect a high-level coordinator such as her to stay in one place for long. It had been some time since he had spoken to her at length, but he was glad, in his own way, that a chance to meet her again had presented itself...
The phone rang... twice... three times... finally, after the fourth ring, the smiling face of a Nurse Joy appeared on the screen to answer. "Hello? This is Ever Grande Pokemon Center. How may I be of assistance to you?"
"Hello, Nurse Joy." Drew answered with a small nod. "May I speak to Miss Solidad, if she's present? I heard she came to your town, recently..."
"Solidad? You mean, the winner of the Hoenn Grand Festival of two years ago? That won't be a problem... in fact, she's right here at the moment." Joy answered as she glanced to another figure who was approaching the counter. "Please, wait in line for a moment, I'm going to check whether Ms. Solidad is available."
"Thanks, I appreciate it." Drew answered, patiently waiting as the videophone's screen filled with static. However, it didn't last more than half a minute before somone else appeared upon it, continuing the conversation: she was a tall and attractive girl of about nineteen, with long rose-colored hair, bright green eyes and the casual look of someone who loved living outdoors - Solidad, an old friend of Drew (and, coincidentally, an old friend of Brock who was born in Pewter City as well) and winner of the Hoenn Grand Festival of two years before, brightened up as she recognized the green-haired boy, who winked at her and waved. "Hey, Solidad! How are you doing?"
"Hey, Drew! Long time no see!" the older girl greeted him. "I was just taking a look here at Ever Grande, to see if there were news worth mentioning, and it seems that some leagues have something big in the works! But please, tell me about you! You seem to be doing well!"
"That's exactly the case!" Drew answered. "I've been training a lot lately, and I've polished my technique for the next competitions! That goes for you as well, I guess!"
Solidad chuckled gently. "Hehehee... that goes without saying, I'm certainly not going to make things easy on you, May and Harley!" she answered, before her expression turned grim. "And by the way, I heard what happened to Harley lately... Haven't they found anything about his disappearence?"
Drew frowned and shook his head. "Sadly, nothing yet... the police is still fumbling in the dark... and in fact, that's the reason why I wanted to speak to you." he answered. Slightly puzzled, Solidad nodded for him to go on, and Drew cleared his voice as he prepared himself for what was going to be a difficult thing to say. "Tell me, Solidad... have you ever heard of Team Vicious?"
The rose haired girl wrinkled her nose as she tried to remember... but even by searching in her memory, she couldn't remember anything like that name. "Hmm... nope, can't say I have..." she answered. "Still, judging from the name, it sounds like one of those criminal teams that pop up from time to time... all imitating Kanto's Team Rocket. What's going on, do you have trouble with this Team Vicious?"
"Not me... I think May is." Drew stated. Solidad frowned as the green-haired boy went on. "Just a few hours ago, I was attacked by a Team Vicious agent that was using Pokemon I found all too familiar... a Blaziken and a Beautifly, if you catch my meaning..."
"I do catch your meaning. They are both Pokemon in May's team!" Solidad said, quickly understanding what her younger friend was trying to say. "So, let me get this straight... you are telling me that this Team Vicious is forcing May to fight alongside them and against you?"
"That's exactly my opinion." was Drew's answer. "When I discovered her true identity, which in fact I was suspecting for quite a while, May tried to make me believe that she had joined those people of her own free will... heh, I've heard better lies. I'm sure they're threatening her somehow. My guess is that they have Max or someone else she cares about taken hostage, and May has no choice but to obey them."
"Yeah, that makes sense. I have my doubts too that May would ever join a criminal team." Solidad concluded. "I think I can guess the rest. You would like us to meet in order to tackle this problem together, find out why May is being forced to serve these guys, and get her and her friends out of hot water. Am I right?"
"Yeah, you hit the proverbial nail on the head, Solidad." Drew answered, praising his friend's quick thinking to himself. Surely, with a trainer such as Solidad on his side, defeating Team Vicious sounded like a much more feasible endeavor... but still, they had to find out where those criminals were located, since they had no idea where to look. Well, bridges should be crossed when one comes to them, Drew concluded. For now, having found Solidad and having told her what was going on was more than enough. "So... if it's possible, I would like to meet with you so we can discuss what todo about May and lend her a hand. What do you say to that?"
"Toorrow is fine with me." the Kanto coordinator answered. "I just need to do a couple chores here at Ever Grande, and then I can get to you. Just to know, where are you now?"
"I'm at Lavaridge Town's Pokemon Center." the green-haired lad answered. "In fact, May attacked me just when I was a few yards away from the town. Okay then... we can meet tomorrow?"
"No problem!" Solidad gave a thumbs-up to him. "As soon as the sun is up, my Pidgeot and I will fly over to Lavaridge Town, and we'll meet to discuss what we should do! I just hope no other problems pile up with this..."
"That will be great! I'm glad to be able to count on you, Solidad, and I'm sorry if I ever bothered you!" Drew answered, glad that things were slowly progressing to a solution. "See you tomorrow, Solidad! Good night, and take care!"
"Same to you, Drew! Don't worry, helping you and May out is no problem for me... we might even find out what happened to Harley!" Solidad said. "You'll see, those Team Vicious scoundrels won't even know what hit them! See you, Drew!"
"See you!" the boy answered with a nod, as the conversation ended and the videophone turned inert. Satisfied, the young green-haired coordinator laid down the phone and sat on one of the Pokemon Center hall's armchairs, waiting for Nurse Joy to heal his Pokemon and give them back to him. He had some free time on his hands... which could be used well by thinking what strategies to use against Team Vicious, as he had no idea what exactly he was up against. This moment would be when all the training he had done with Roserade, Absol and the rest of his Pokemon would be tested and put to good use... the lives of two of his friends, and possibly even more than that, were hanging in the balance!
"Don't worry, May... you won't have to work with those criminals for much longer!" the green-haired youth said to himself. "I don't know how exactly they are forcing you... but there is no problem that has no solution!"
oooooooooo
High atop Mt. Silver, another battle was taking place... a powerful Magmortar, at the orders of a purple haired boy with eyes as cold as snow, against a diaphanous Froslass that had attacked them, under the assumption that they would be easy prey to her. Sadly, she had no way of knowing she was up against the runner-up of that year's Sinnoh Grand Tournament... a trainer known for his ruthlessly efficient strategies and for his lack of patience for those he considered weak.
Of course, that Froslass was showing herself to be anything but weak. Despite her disadvantage of being an Ice-type against a Fire-type, the ghost woman had managed to score some good hits on Paul's Magmortar. However, the Fire-type had endured, fueled by his determination to avenge his trainer's defeat in that important competition. Froslass' attacks were losing power, as the magma warrior managed to fend her off with mounting ease. Using a Safeguard move, Magmortar foiled Froslass' Confuse Ray attack, then struck back with a powerful Flamethrower fired from his cannon-arm, which engulfed the snow faerie and left her weakened and staggering. Paul nodded in grim satisfaction, but the half-smile he was beginning to show died down as soon as he saw that the weakned Froslass was using a strange move - her diaphanous body was glowing, and a small ray of light had filtered out of her chest area and linked her to Magmortar's. Strangely, the Fire-type seemed not to take any damage... but Paul was too much of an expert to be caught off guard that way!
"A Destiny Bond attack." he said to himself as he took out a Pokeball. "A last ditch attempt to take down the opponent with her. No problem, I know how to deal with that."
The purple-haired boy tossed his Pokeball, which struck the surprised Froslass before Magmortar could attack again, and sucked her inside, before dropping to the ground and shaking in an attempt to contain the spectral figure. Paul and Magmortar icily glared at the still-moving Pokeball... until it finally stopped, its luminous beacon shutting down. Another Pokemon had joined Paul's team, and the white light from Froslass' Destiny Bond which had surrounded Magmortar faded.
"Well, another Pokemon that might just make for a good addition to my team." Paul commented, satisfied with what he had gotten for now. The purple-haired youth nodded to Magmortar and recalled him in his Pokeball, while at the same time thinking if it was time to call it a day. The sun was already descending beyond the snowy mountain tops, and the temperature was rapidly dropping...
Still, Paul could not shake that strange feeling that someone was closely following him. Ever sine he had met that Cezar guy, Paul had had this strange feeling, and while he wasn't really worried about that, he was starting to believe that the threats he had received weren't empty after all. Of course, as long as he stayed on Mt. Silver, Team Vicious wouldn't have taken the risk, but still...
Paul smiled almost sinisterly at the idea. "Well, if they want to attack me, that at least shows they aren't all talk. They're welcome to try me, if they want. But I'm not going to make things easy on them at all."
Paul eyed the Pokeball he had used to capture Froslass. "They're welcome to attack me, if they want. It will be a good occasion to train Tyranitar, Drapion and Froslass, at least..."
oooooooooo
TO BE CONTINUED...