Why?

Why didn't I listen to my dad? I shouldn't of volunteered to be a one-man army in the first place! Now I'm gonna die here; die like the coward I said I wouldn't be! The worst part about all of it: Nobody would know except for my personal executioner. She's probably thinking up so many ways to kill me I wish I was more scared like Wally or careful like Brendan. Good arceus…I'll never see Brendan again.

The carpet under me was the only other thing that registered with my sense of touch aside from the torso-binding rope. Everything else had been smothered by a thick blanket of depression. I already went through most of the stages of grief. Well, except for acceptance. That stage would've been much easier to handle if Courtney wasn't the one ushering in my death.

I didn't know how much time passed; not that it mattered to keep track anyway. However long I had been left alone was spent with a runny nose and soggy eyes. To say the word 'crying' would make it worse. Doing all that made me sleepy, but fear prevented my eyes from getting rest. But just when I thought things couldn't get worse, the teleport pad chimed in alarm.

A terrified whimper managed to sneak past my lips, as I prepared my trembling self for the worst. The sound of shoes treading on the carpet grew closer. I hoped at Courtney would make it quick and as less painful as possible; even though yanderes are known for their extremely violent actions.

"…..hm….what do we have here? My hard-headed student in distress yet again? I am beginning to wonder if you are getting yourself captured on purpose,"

An unexpected dialogue of words ignited my will to loosen my tense position and open my teary eyes. It was desperate to want to confirm that it wasn't a hallucination; because if that's the case, then I reached a new level of crazy. How delirious could I get for thinking that he can just casually stroll in here like some walk in the park?! But when I did get trusting enough to see who was really in my midst, my heart throbbed so ecstatically.

I know I shouldn't sound so girly, but there wasn't a word to describe the feelings that made a girl's toes curl or their oxygen leave their bodies. The figure of Professor Augustine Sycamore casually towered over me like this was an everyday occurrence. He had his hands planted firmly on his hips with a smug look.

"P-professor Sycamore?!"

"In the flesh, mon maudit fauter de troubles! Surely you did not expect anyone less worthy of coming to your aid, did you? I certainly hope not: because there are only so many times I could try to imagine that insolent Wally child failing miserably,"

Aaaand he destroyed a pretty content moment. I was ALMOST ready to not be snarky too! Awe turned into annoyance and made me want to immediately escape.

"Okay, whatever. Just hurry up and untie me. I wanna get outta here before somebody finds us,"

"Hmm...you look much cuter all bound up and vulnerable. I might be too tempted to keep my Birdie-"

"Hurry up!" I demanded to the ever joking scientist. Good arceus; he was so difficult to keep on track. As smart as Professor Sycamore was, most of his dialogue consisted of heavy innuendos and fancy, deceptive lies to catch me off guard. Thankfully, he showed no interest in carrying me around and went to untie the thick knot on my back. However, he deemed it important for me to observe the cleavage of his chest while reaching over my body. Pretty stupid since he was essentially straining his muscles on purpose for showing off.

When the professor finally freed me from the rope, it was only natural for me to make a sprint to Maxie's office desk. Unfortunately, I only remembered the evil point dexter locking the drawer after yanking on it several times. UUUUUUUUGGH! AAAAAAAAAAAH!

Flipping over the desk wasn't something planned initially, but I toppled that stupid piece of shit like nobody's business. But taking heavy textbooks from the man's small library and then throwing them at the said desk, probably wasn't the most intelligent decision to make. All I did was put dent in it. But in my defense, all I could think about was trying to open the drawer.

"DAM IT! OPEN!*THUD* YOU STUPID *THUD* PIECE OF *THUD* JUNK!"

I didn't know what Professor Sycamore occupied himself with, but it wasn't important enough to care about. He may have slipped past by everyone without being noticed ( or being caught by the camera), but he sure as hell will when I'm with him. Not to mention, he didn't have any Pokémon to help us. But more importantly, leaving my team behind is not a Team Maple thing to do. Just maybe though, there's gotta be something more destructive than thick books.

After chucking the last book, my arms felt tired. Well its only natural that they would be, but I don't have the kind of time to wait for them to feel better. Mngh….Courtney might be back soon. Seeing her creepy face in my thoughts got every injury I sustained to throb and motivated me to think harder-"Professor, what are you doin'?"

Professor Sycamore started moving around and entered my field vision. Going towards the desk, he opened his bag and dug a hard around in its pockets. My head tilted. When the man got near Maxie's desk with a pair of silver picks in his grip. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at his confidence of acting like some secret agent. Nerds are only good for making and learning stuff; not being the jack-of-all-trades.

He knelt down and inserted the picks into the locks like he was 008. I watched with uninterested eyes for a minute; observing how calm he looked while moving those little picks around.

*Click,click.click!*

The professor stopped and withdrew before standing up. HAH! I knew he was just screwing around-*kick!*

The drawer shot up from a light kick to its bottom.

"Wait, what?"

And now I looked like a complete moron after watching my professor casually collect the contents of that drawer. He even took a half empty bottle of scotch. A coy smile graced his face while walking towards me. "So what kind reward will I receive from my beloved student for rescuing her precious darlings? A kiss? A massage? Perhaps a candlelit evening all by ourselves? I am willing to accept all three,"

"How about you kiss my ass?"

*Mwah*

A pair of his soft lips playfully smushed against my left cheek in a gentle, wet kiss. My face bursted into a bright red while a hand immediately swatted him away to grip the affected area. Steam nearly blew out of my ears. "You asshole!" I growled threateningly. "Don't think you can just kiss me wherever you want!"

"Hm? Well you did say you wanted me to kiss a cheek. I assumed that you wanted to save 'that one' for a more private affair,"

"What?! NO! Not anywhere, EVER! Stop twisting my words-"

*Mwah*

"AAAAAAAAAAAGH! STOP IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

I pouted fiercely when Professor Sycamore snuck yet another kiss on the right side of my cheek. But I decided to take my anger out on Maxie's stuff rather than waste any breath yelling at the devious man. For about thirty minutes, I focused on scavenging, destroying and running around the office.

Oh what's this?

Digging through the overturned desk, papers for important speeches or inventions were carelessly thrown out of their drawers when a round object was spotted between them. I kept in mind that getting a chance like this again was slim, so my hand immediately reached for it. When I got ahold of it and pulled a round object out, my brow furrowed in puzzlement. Anyone with a brain could see this was a pokeball, but not any that are sold in shops. This one was purple with an 'M' in its middle. *Scoff* It only confirms how Maxie is so full of it, that he started to name pokeballs after himself! Well its mine now! Imma call it the 'Maple Ball'!

Once I put up my newly named pokeball and was satisfied with the amount of damage, I finally decided to look for the stolen submarine. Yeah, escaping is a much smarter option since Team Magma is actually watching us. Even more so, Professor Sycamore won't like it. Still, there was nobody else those old people can count but me.

At last, we stepped onto the teleport pad when I was satisfied about the amount of vandalism committed. But something strange happened to me.

Whether it was newfound excitement, gratefulness of being rescued or that strange, fluttering beating of my heart, nervous fingers had timidly intertwined with the Professor's own. I barely realized it, but when my eyes caught the action, it alarmed me greatly. My hand got clammy and attempted untangling it; I can only imagine scenarios of Professor Sycamore mocking me for the unusual form affection.

However, his hand kept them in place. Nothing was said of the gesture, and he had some sort of strange smile. Not one that looked like it was to make fun, but some strange contentment; how weird.

Very soon though, I found my relief turning into uncertainty at the fact that someone was definitely paying attention to all the security cameras watching us. Every step down Team Magma's corridors felt suspicious. Sooner than not, there would be small fry coming after us. Taking them on wasn't much of a challenge, but road blocking Maxie before he left was an urgent priority. Explaining that to Professor Sycamore however might be more easier done than said. You think I mean
the other way around? Heeeeeeell nope! It's tons better to pull him along for the ride first, otherwise he'll just toss me over his shoulder again if I try explaining it to him.

"This way, dear,"

Professor Sycamore's hand pulled mine along; extracting me from my ever plotting thoughts. Good! Now I can take lead to-WOAH!

He gently yanked me onto another teleport pad. It was done in such a way that I landed into him like I hit a brick wall; unfunny to the victim and hilarious to the jester. We got transported before I could properly vent my complaining and landed in a room that I thought would be non-existent.

"A library?"

I blurted it out unexpectedly. A chuckle erupted from my professor's chest. "What? You expected Team Magma to be a rock-dwelling, uneducated group of barbarians?"

"…Yes?"

He had to control himself from laughing harder at my ignorance. I turned red and frowned in disapproval while attempting to free myself. Once he eventually composed, he landed a polite kiss on my forehead. That bothered me further. "Oh do not look so unforgiving! I only mean to lighten the mood of my darling, ruffled Birdie!" he cooed while nudging me to step off.

"Whatever, let's just get outta here. There's something I hafta do,"

I bitterly moved forward; scanning the surroundings of this surprisingly large library. The color scheme was like every other room in this base; edgy and depressing. My skin prickled from the stale, cold air occupying its space. There was thankfully no A.C. being viciously pumped into the air. What had claimed the title as the strangest highlight here were its lights. They illuminated this place from the floor in an eerie scarlet glow. Books, binders and other documents were stacked neatly on the shelves that towered over us like an impenetrable wall-where's the professor?

Realizing that he wasn't by my side had (for once) thrown me into a state of panic. I abruptly turned on my heels and nearly twisted an ankle running down the aisles. But all that worrying suffered in vain upon finding the careless scientist casually turning the pages of a thick binder. Now I was pissed.

"Professor!" I was already tugging at the back of his silk shirt; trying to pull him away from the enticing lure of information. All that did was untuck his shirt. UUUUGRAAAAAAAH!

Now I tried pushing him towards the teleport pad, but I still couldn't budge an inch outta him. "Oh my giratina! What the hell are you doin'?! We're gonna get caught!"

Professor Sycamore FINALLY put the binder neatly away on the shelf, but then started to search for something else to read. When something caught his interest, he politely pulled it out. "If you must know…" He started while opening up a folder. "…I am finding out what suspicious things that tasteless Maxie and his troupe of barbarians are plotting,"

….What?

"Okay, since when YOU of all people ever cared about what Team Magma does?!"

This time, he didn't reply to the matter. Only the sound of pages turning had been the only response I got.

I wanted to interrogate him further, but the sound of multiple, rushing footsteps caught our attention. We turned to one of the other rows and saw three grunts with pokeballs drawn. Oh great, now I gotta get to work. As anyone would expect, the professor stayed carefully behind me while being absorbed in the documents.

"Go Skitty!"

With a quick hand and flick of the wrist, the small cat was summoned as the best choice for this battle. She came out in abounding excitement. But when it came apparent that Professor Sycamore was also with me, the little normal-type had gotten herself worked up with energy. Skitty ran over to him so she could rub her head against his legs and mewed eagerly. He stopped reading for a moment to gently massage behind her ears. Meanwhile, I was left without a Pokémon on the battlefield.

Rightfully so, I made this 'WTF' face at the two who were SUPPOSED to be helping me. The three grunts got their Pokémon out to control the situation. So now instead of subduing the threats, I was now facing a numel, poochyena and zubat by myself. Well I could take out Dustox-AH!

The poochyena bit my foot; trying to tear it off like the animal it was. Naturally, my free foot cocked back and punted the little dog across the aisle. It yelped from the assault, but now got back up to bare its teeth. That mutt has another thing coming if it thinks I'm easy prey! Forget using Pokémon, they're going down My Maple style!

Having that plan in mind comforted my ego, so I began provoking the enemy using a taunt. They all fell for it and gave me chase past the professor and Skitty. You know, I thought Professor would be a tad more concerned about me fighting against Pokémon by myself, but it was nice to not be lectured by him for once. Now time for some anarchy!

I leapt to one of the nearest shelves and pulled out a thick novel about a tedious love triangle for tweens. BOOORING! Perfect throwing material against my enemies! And the first one to go is….that slow ass numel!

My careful precision at the small camel and threw it with all of my might. BAM! The object hit it and made the foe stumble back. Alright, critical hit!

"Hey!" One of the grunts shouted angrily at me.

"You're gonna pay for that, kid! It's a 1,200 Péni fine for damaged books and documents!"

"No way Magma dork! I'm not paying a single Péni. Fuck reading and education! Anarchy ruuuuuules! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

In order for me to kick chaos into high gear, I climbed on top of the huge book shelf and took out more of its contents. Throwing them at my three opponents and their owners. You could say I got drunk off of the power from having the upper hand. Speaking of which: one of the Pokémon got knocked out by a fourth volume of an encyclopedia. The poochyena and numel that were left darted back and forth to avoid my onslaught. Dam, they were getting smart. What can I do to fix that?

My brain wracked furiously until a lightbulb went off in my head. Honestly, what I was about to commit wasn't very hero-like or justicy ( if that's a word), but I wanted to stick it to those nerds. This required me to slip through the bookcase to the other side. Professor Sycamore in the meanwhile, picked up another binder to read from the bookcase opposite of mine. Skitty finished rubbing her head on his leg to rest comfortably by his feet. Oh there it is!

I quickly climbed down to run towards my chosen instrument of destruction : A very long ladder. There was a movie about something like this; only its gonna be done on purpose.

The professor had happened to glance up from his reading and saw what I was about to do.

"Birdie! What are y-"

"Maple style! Bookcase tackle of destruction!"

A push off from the legs was all I needed to send me back into the bookcase that I was previously on.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAA-UGH!"

My body collided with the massive shelf. The ladder that accompanied me added unanticipated pressure as the structure began to groan. It tipped back slowly; causing its contents to fall on my opponents as they attempted their escape. The shelf itself knocked against its unfortunate neighbor and had too made it tip over. Pretty much I started a chain reaction that got a whole row of bookshelves to fall over in a heaping mess.

Hah! That's what they get! Mess with Team Maple and you'll get your precious trove of books destroyed! HAHAHAHA-ow….everything hurts.

Not everything went how I envisioned it. When the first bookcase fell, the ladder and I accompanied it. The heavy, wooden tool for climbing nearly crushed me to death. My world was dark from an almost equally heavy binder opened over my vision. Oi, I hope I didn't break anything.

"*Sighs* What am I to do? It is always a wonder how you survived your dangerous antics up until now,"

Hearing Professor Sycamore's voice got my sore limbs moving. One of my hands removed the binder thing away before squirming out from under the ladder. In that second, I was snatched up by the waist to pull the rest of me out of the wreckage. Skitty had FINALLY gotten over her infatuation to see how messed up I was. Yeah, you're a little late on doing that!

"Well its called being 'creative'!" I defended while glancing at the binder still in my hand. "You don't get to be like that from reading stuff like: Project Azoth. The name by itself sounds pretty stupi-HEY! Don't snatch it!"

He casually took away my find for inspection. An oddly satisfied smile stretched on his lips. Good arceus, he better not be a fan of that crap and talk my ear off about it. He did that in Mauville while we were in Crooner's Café. If I didn't have any food to satisfy myself with, the café window would've been broken from my body self propelling through it.

Anyway, Professor Sycamore then took a moment to examine every inch of my body and determined that I was well enough to walk. Carefully placing me on my feet and stuffing my find in his bag. What happened next was unexpected, but not surprising at the same time. He snaked an arm around my shoulders to pull me closer and give a very affectionate kiss to the cheek. You handsome prince/ nerd bastard; stop kissing me like that!

"Have I told you that you just may be my most 'favorite' student?"

"Yeah, yea- wait a dam minute! Whaddya mean 'favorite'? You have more students?!"

That satisfied smile transformed back into the plotting one I use to identify him with.

"You DO don't you?! Who is it?! Is it that Gary Oak bitch?! Its him isn't it?!"

He tucked both hands in his pockets while nonchalantly turning away.

"So what if it is? I thought your only Professor was that reckless colleague of mine on Mt. Pyre? And because you sing so many praises of his existence, you have not reason to lecture me about having my own darling pupils,"

"Don't give me that shit! You just called me your student! You better tell me who it right now, pencil pusher!"

"…No. I think I would rather keep you guessing. I find it more interesting to have you in a fit like a jealous lover. Feel free to play a little dirty to liven up my boredom,"

"What?! No! I'm not playing your game! TELL ME!"

"Hmmmm….alright. I will indulge in my secret. But I expect something else in return. What about….an affectionate kiss from my ruffled, little Birdie?"

"…..You know what? I don't think I need to know that bad. So quit wasting our time in here! Let's go!"

I decided it was better not to press the mystery surrounding Professor Sycamore's student's. His price for an answer was too high. What's that? You say a kiss is a small expense that yours truly can afford? Well, let me explain something to ya: Professor Sycamore is like a siren. Ones that are NOT the nice, kid movie versions. He's the version where they lure you in with their good looks, charisma and promise of living in a beautiful, large castle. In reality, you're stuck in a dungeon cage going down to the depths of hellfire and DEATH!...or at least he'll just do something bad.

Although, he didn't have to come save me. And I was getting pretty worked up over him having other students. Professors can have as many as they want! My heart's pounding way too much. UGH! Maybe foiling Maxie's plans will make me feel better.

Using Skitty ( by some miracle) as the Pokémon of choice, the three of us charged through the hideout like tauros in a china shop. Because of her small size, Skitty was able to dart around more quickly than our enemies. On top of that, she was a normal-type with fairy-type attacks.

Using fairy-type attacks were handy because most of Team Magma's Pokémon were made up of poochyena or mightyena. In layman's terms, dark-types were weak against fairy-types. You'd think they would use more numels since they were, ya know, TEAM MAGMA. Whatever makes me victory easier though.

We were currently in the lounge area again; this time with grunts coming at us to crush our opposition. Actually let me rephrase that: they came quickly to crush 'my' opposition. Professor Sycamore was left unmolested for whatever reason. Personally, I think he's got some sort of blackmailing system all set up. Or maybe it was that shoe polishing tip he gave to that guy named Bob over there. At any rate he sat peacefully on the couch with that open binder. Had it been anyone else I knew, they would've gotten their sofa lifted and thrown against the nearest wall. I let him be so he wouldn't tease me about the previous subject in the form of seductive whispers in my ear. The thought of it made my face red.

"Skitty! Use your disarming voice!"

My pink cat stood on top of the coffee tables she jumped on for height advantage against a numel and poochyena. She heard my order and opened her maw to blast out airwaves of hearts, notes and possibly glitter. Both of her opponents flew backwards to land on the other lounge chairs. The poochyena from the mixture of sugary symbols, but the numel stood its ground and spat out fire in revolt. Its ball of flames bursted on contact with everything it touched….including Skitty's face.

I was in shock as she cried out in pain and fell off the table. The numel clumsily went towards my battle partner to inflict more pain upon her. Unfortunately for the numel, Skitty recovered from the assault. She then proceeded to return her opponent's favor by swiping it across the face using her sharp claws before pouncing on it. They were rolling around violently around the lobby floor; knocking almost every piece of fixture their battle came to.

Skitty finally got the advantage once they slowed down. Several bites to the torso and scratches to its features eventually down the fire/ground-type.

The grunts that tried to beat me took back their Pokémon and fled the room with a voiced resolve that I would be stopped. Yeah right; with how lousy they battled, I doubt any of these dorks can stop me….well except maybe that one girl I met in Fallarbor Town. Just thinking about her got me sweating profusely. At least she wasn't skin crawling inducing like Courtney. Anyway, let me collect my pink cat baby.

She came back to me for a quick recognition of trainer praise. Mewling excitedly from her compliments of resilience and bravery. But then she returned to Professor Sycamore with tail-wagging anticipation. Skitty climbed up the small couch with her little paws to jump in his lap; burnishing her face against his chest. If there's one thing certain, it was her everlasting devotion to my professor. He on the other hand, would barely react to her need for attention like he used to in the beginning. It almost looked like she was nothing more than in animated pillow to occasionally fluff ( or pet in this case) while he occupied himself with reading. He is the perfect example of a drug. Excitement at first taste, but once the victim starts needing more, the drug makes them tolerant and have them start suffering from withdrawals. At least that's how I think drugs work. Fuck if I know from random education videos in Rustboro City.

When he eventually looked up from his binder to see my narrowing eyes, his perfectly white teeth slowly showed in a seemingly welcome smile. "What seems to be the matter, dear? Are you getting more jealous? Maybe of you were to sit with me, I could rub away all those terrible worries. Come, come, do?"

"Some of us are kinda busy cleaning up gangsters at the moment! Maybe it would go faster of someone on this team would go help find a way to the stolen sub! Maxie's gonna be leaving in that for some old prophecy thing,"

Professor Sycamore's mouth drooped down in dismay and surprise. A hand had held down Skitty's back. She mewled in confusion.

"A submarine? Darling, I must implore you how much more important it is to leave this deplorable place! I have already indulged in your wishes for far too long!"

"Yeeeeeeeaah, no thanks. Sides, Maxie clearly needs an ass-kicking to get that common sense circulating back in his brain…no matter how much I might hit him with a metal bat to get it done. I've got old people counting on me,"

Professor Birch's goofy expression flashed through my thoughts. He's still on Mt. Pyre with them. If. Team Magma had any unfinished business up there and visited him or the old couple again, it wouldn't go very well. Of course Professor Sycamore didn't know this, but I was reluctant to tell him that his colleague had essentially turned a blind eye to my activities so he could have some compensation.

At this point, the professor quickly put away his binder and stood up cautiously. He had Skitty secured in his arms. There was this feeling that he kept her as an incentive for me to stay. PPPFT! As if I, May Maple will be stopped by that!

"Darling…." He began while taking a step closer towards me. His voice became less animated and more softer. It was designed to both calm the senses and manipulate his intended victim.

"Clearly you are driven by noble efforts, BUT these antics have lasted long enough. Now cease your unruly behavior and come to me at once!"

I briefly glanced behind me and saw a teleport pad. Good; now if I can outrun him, then I'll be home-free.

Silence was between us as we locked gazes. Professor Sycamore instantly picked up what I was planned and inched further to intervene. But from the second he put his foot down, my body practically twisted around and leapt onto the device. My pursuer loosened his hold on Skitty and tossed her in my direction as a means for a distraction. Well she did land on my back with claws hooked on and all, but it did nothing to stall my victory as I fell on the teleport pad. The expression of surprise was the last thing I saw on Professor Sycamore's face before teleporting away.

Hah! Not so smart now, aren'tchya?! Now….where am I? Oh right, a place with more teleport pads. One of these guys could take me where the sub was, but I needed to throw of the professor first. Hmmmmm, what should I do- aw shit, too late!

Just as I scrambled off the pad, Professor Sycamore materialized almost immediately; wearing intent to whisk me away at all costs. AH! He really looks pissed too! Time to get the hell outta dodge!

I went ahead without thinking to jump on the next one, then the next one, and then the next one and th- "There she is! Stop right there, kid!"

Uh-oh.

Upon appearing, I found myself confronted by five magma grunts. After Maxie told me about someone actually paying attention to the security cameras, it wasn't so surprising to see a bunch of them confront me at once. Skitty ( who had still been latched onto my shirt), fell off and darted around my legs to face our enemies. They pulled out their pokeballs in obvious need to stop me. Wait, five Pokémon at once? I can handle three for sure, but five sounded like a tall order-

"GO POOCHYENA!"

"GO POOCHYENA!"

"GO POOCHYENA!"

"GO POOCHYENA!"

"GO POOCHYENA!"

Nevermind, Skitty, can easily wreck these little things.

All five dark-types slowly surrounded my small, pink cat with caution. She was aware of the growing danger, so she kept every part of herself close. Her senses detecting what her eyes could not.

Honestly, I wasn't sure at first if I had caught a blind cat, because she had never opened her eyes. One day, there would be a chance to see what they looked like (apparently skittys just open them halfway). My inward fear imagined me looking into a gateway to hellfire and brimstone; the natural equivalent of sucking out someone's soul. But even if I knew that was the case, I was sure she wouldn't bring herself to subject me to that kind of torment. We finally got some sort of peace between us. At any rate, maybe she'll open them up on them.

Suddenly, they all came upon her; armed with open jaws or outstretched claws. Skitty jumped on the first poochyena closest to her and used her teeth to grip on the extra skin of it's neck. She swung her body around with the victim in tow smack the other two away. Upon impact, Skitty released her hold so the captive would crash into its companions. The Team magma grunts were surprised in addition to feeling duped about their slaughter by a cat.

The three got back up as the other two attacked

Skitty rolled on her side to escape the first assault, but the second snapped its maw shut on her tail.

The moment she felt teeth sink into her flesh, every pink hair stood on end. A monstrous shriek nearly blew out my eardrums. My cat suddenly turned her body and viciously slapped her foe with her paw; having four sharp claws extended in the process. Skitty has been into plenty of battles that roughed her up than more times than I can count. Some of those fights made me bear witness to fits of rage when someone decided to touch her 'forbidden spot'. No, I'm not talking about sex ed. It's a place where every Pokémon hated to be handled. Chirpie, for example, is a patient, tolerant firebird; but he'll turn on a dime if his long, tan feathery down is purposely yanked. Some Pokémon are more forgiving than others, but Skitty wasn't the type to let you off so easy.

Back to the battle, she bombarded her opposition using a series of swipes and snapping of her sharp jaws. When the offending poochyena fainted from the abuse, Skitty didn't hesitate about sinking her claws into the next victim's back. The three dark-types that were knocked back earlier got up to assist their friend. Skitty screamed a wave of bright pink torment right in their faces. They ended up over the railing and into the salty sea water. Good arceus, I almost wanted to stop her!

Thankfully, Skitty knew the difference between defeating and maiming, and angrily glared down her last opponent into submission. A few of the grunts dove after their felled battle partners when the battle ( gang-up) was over. The ones that stayed tilted their heads in disbelieving confusion. Anyone could tell how lost I looked while staring at my Pokémon. Seriously; spoiled, Sycamore Skitty had gotten more violently unpredictable than all of the other episodes combined! Yeah, everything I said about her was true, but is she really trying to take things up a notch?!

When she deemed it safe enough to let her guard down, my Skitty let out pitiful whimpers while coming towards me

She had this sad look in her face that I suspected was a tactic to have me shower her with affection. The mischievous thing even waved about her tail to provide evidence! Despite being the attention seeker she was, I am responsible for her well being. Better go stroke the ego.

I bent down to fulfill her desire by affectionately scratching behind her ears. Awww….Skitty's purring is kinda cute…..hm, wait a minute….I'm at a harbor!

While it should've been obvious, I just now found out that the teleport pad to us to Team Magma's secret harbor. The area looked well used with tons of metal containers neatly arranged in groups of five that were scattered around. A large construction crane built on the edge of the harbor was in the process of getting rusty like the metal of the railings and faded chrome flooring. It was a huge place thanks to its spacious cavern overhead. How long has this base existed?

Pondering on those thoughts got curious eyes to wander around the strange place. I got back up to explore further in Team Magma's strange harbor. Skitty quietly walked right behind me so we could keep an element of surprise. It was plan to fight dirty since they pulled some underhanded tactics first. But as my Pokémon and I went more in, we began to realize that there was no one around to see; much less battle me.

I'm starting to get bored from all this wandering around. Maybe there wasn't anything else here? Or maybe Maxie already left. If any of those things were the case, I should leave to get the keystone co-"GOOD ARCEUS!"

Upon turning a corner, a hand suddenly clamped on my wrist to pull me towards the rest of the body. My heart would've made it to my throat if it wasn't attached. I used my free hand in a frenzied attempt to karate-chop the assailant, but they quickly secured it.

"LETGOOFMEYOUSONOFA-…..oh….hi Professor,"

Staring into the professor's unamused gaze made me realized how annoyed he became. And with a moment's hesitation in balance, Professor Sycamore used his left leg to trip me off balance so my weight could be at the mercy of his arms. A clever effort in order to prevent a struggle when throwing me over his shoulders a he did in that moment. Dammit Professor! You know how hard it is for me to fight you like this!

"Put me down! I want vengeance and justice!" My voice screeched while pulling at his shirt in protest. Professor Sycamore couldn't help but let out a dry chuckle. He kept a tight grip on me as he moved around quietly.

"I am afraid that I will have to deny your request. You see, it boils down to the simple fact that I cannot trust my naïve bird to keep herself away from harm. Furthermore, I hardly believe a silly little girl can understand the concept of 'vengeance' and 'justice',"

"UGH! Fuck you then! Help me out Skitty!"

"*Meow*"

"Dammit Skitty! Stop being all soft and nice to him! I'M the one who's your trainer!"

Just watching her lovingly follow the professor got me more furious. Whenever he stopped to scan his surroundings, she'd continue her face nuzzling just like always. This time, Professor Sycamore didn't acknowledge her needs; he remained diligent to the task at hand. Skitty began mewling and trying to get his attention with walking around him; exactly like a hopeless addict. Watching the scene was almost sad.

But with that and my brooding continuing on, I nearly missed a passing scene if my eyes hadn't looked up from turning a corner.

From the excellent lighting of the harbor, I witnessed a large submarine parked at the harbor's metal dock. My mind lit up in epiphany from seeing similarities in size with Captain Stern's own model. Its physical appearance however, completely contrasted. Whoever was in charge of decorating the thing either really loved Team Magma to a 'T', or had a thing about camerupts, because the paint job was in an eerie likeness of one big, floating camerupt. At least whoever did it took time and effort in getting the details down.

Nice as it was, the small group of people gathered at the dock is what really snagged my attention. Maxie's stiff figure stood out by the ramp leading up to the sub, while Courtney's stood close by his. The grunts were either listening to whatever was coming out of their leader's mouth or moving towards the watercraft. I want to crash their party so bad!

"Wait Professor! Maxie's literally right over there! You seriously hafta put me down now!"

Professor Sycamore stopped to see what I was going on about for a brief second, and then continued on his way as if he didn't see anything interesting. What the hell?! I struggled for freedom again. "Professor! They're all over there! Where are you going?!"

He ignored my demands and hid behind one of the containers instead; quickly letting me down to slap a hand over my mouth. "Hush now…" He whispered while a finger was held to his lips. "I think you have had enough excitement for today, Birdie. Now stop this nonsense and listen to me for once; your reckless bravado is going to be the death for the both of us,"

Well, he kinda had a point about it being the death of us; actually it'll be more like the death of 'me' since I'm faster than him. I softened my features and moved my face away from his hand. "Oh professor….I guess you're right. Maybe it would be better to just leave so we can go to a hotel to get….warm or somethin',"

This really got the Professor's attention, because he suddenly looked away in thought with his face turning red for a second. He then looked back at me with a suspicious, but obvious glint in his eyes. Yeah, he was clearly more of a danger to me than Team Magma will ever be.

"*AHEM* Y-yes of course! I am certain that this whole ordeal had drained you! Let us be off then, yes?"

He turned to dig into his neatly organized bag.

At the Lilycove Hotel, its t.v. addicted manager had finished checking in a group of people in one of the seaside suites. Apparently they were part of some gaming company called…er Gamefreak? Gobfrack? Nah, he couldn't remember. He had trouble recalling because of the wobuffett quiz show that was on. Watching. Pokémon compete intellectually proved to be a refreshing twist on battling-*ding*!

"Eh?"

The manager got pulled out of his enjoyment by the sound of work. He reluctantly turned around to face his new customer.

"Uh…can I help you?"

Standing dripping wet on the lobby floor and in clear discomfort, was an impatient Professor Sycamore and freezing May Maple. The manager quickly stole a glance at the digital clock. It had just changed to in their right minds would be near the water this time of night?!

"Oh yes! This apparently seems to be the only reasonable hotel vacancy here! May I inquire for a room?"

"Sure pal, but the suite's the only room left,"

"Yes, yes! That will be fine! Today seems to call for me to pay steep costs at any rate! Is that not right, Miss Maple?"

She kept her mouth shut tightly to form a bitter line on her face.

..

Meanwhile….

I managed to get all of my papers in my bag this time while preparing to leave Mt. Pyre. WHEW! Finally! I can go home, act like a professor to May and resume nudging Brendan to be a man and marry the girl already! The old couple Razor and I were staying with, packed a small meal for the journey back.

After May left, they seemed worried over the fact that a teenager would be 100% committed on her promise to bring back the stolen orb. My future daughter-in-law is capable of doing a lot of things, mind you. It was more about having JUST met her. Nevertheless, they were right on asking her; May's a pretty tough girl for her age.

After we said our goodbyes, I took to the misty path downward at a steady pace. Maybe wearing sandals is still a bad idea. Then again, it would make the trip back home worth it. Kicking back in the recliner with the wife handing me a bowl of bulgori. Brendan would talk about what he's been up to ( and hopefully how his date went) while he was on the road.

I had to swipe my nose in pride from the haggle deal with May. A little hard for anyone to believe, but I've been plotting for those two to get together ever since I laid eyes on her as an infant. One look on that adorable, pudgy, drooling face and I knew it was meant to be! She looked too cute clinging onto her scary-eyed dad. Now if you'll just play your cards right, Brendan, May'll be swooning over you in no time.

While planning out the eventual succession of grandchildren in my head, my pokénav suddenly started ringing. Oh, speak of the devil himself; its Norman! I clumsily answered the device.

"Hello? Norman?"

"Hello Albert. Its been a while,"

"It certainly has! How've ya been?"

Normally he would say doing alright or bored out of his mind from the dull routine he had gotten used to. This time, an annoyed sigh came out from the opposite end,"

"….I hate your idiot Kalosian colleague, Albert. No particular word can properly describe the immense hatred I feel for that man. That home wrecker spent one night, and turned my wife and child against me!"

"Are you sleeping on the couch?"

We were both familiar with our cushy furniture seats, but for different reasons. Norman got his wife mad for violent reasons. I got my own wife angry because of my….escapades.

I'd thought for sure that she'd strangle my neck with her bare hands after I accidentally drove the car into the house. Weeeeeell, back to the subject on hand.

"Don't you think you're overreacting? Sure he's pretty sheltered and not used to be out in the countryside, but he's a pretty decent guy to be around. You should stop being paranoid all the time. It's not like he's kidnapping your daughter,"

"Albert…I'm going to call you back. *click*!"

Ugh, there he goes again. As a best friend, it was my job to be honest with Norman and keep him in line. With that being said, it was exhausting work. I guess having some R and R will hafta wait. Does May deal with this constantly too? Probably not as much as-

"OH MY GRITANA! NORMAN'S GONNA LILL ME!"

Fear suddenly gripped in realization: I let May dive headfirst into a place where a bunch of evil fiends live! Oh arceus! Oh arceus! Norman's gonna find out and my future-daughter-in-law will point me out as the enabler! I gotta-I gotta-*riiiiing*!

Hearing my pokénav's ringtone made me almost jump outta my skin. Oh arceus, its him!

And without thinking, I threw the device as far I could to get rid of it,"

*HUFF*….*HUFF*….wait, was that even a good idea-*BANG*!

"Darn! Dad didn't pick up. Oh well; I guess I'll just hafta surprise visit him. Let's go Kippie!"

*Continued in chapter 34*