The Plots Thicken

The next morning, Brendan and May were sitting around a fire pit that Brendan had set up to cook a breakfast of oatmeal with Pecha berries, some Sitrus Berries growing nearby, and brown sugar mixed in. It wasn't anything fancy, but May and Gwen were both more than happy with the taste, and they even helped themselves to seconds. The day was already looking bright, but they had to get moving soon.

Once the oatmeal was finished, and the fire was out, they cleared the campsite, taking down the tent and starting on their way to the west until they got to the fork in the road, on continuing west, the other to the north. What they didn't like, however, was the fact that the road north, the road they needed to take, led straight into storm clouds.

"So, who is ready to get soaked?" Brendan said using the same tone of voice that would be used for a sales pitch and giving a sarcastic thumbs up.

Yeah, so much fun, Gwen said with an eye-roll.

"Well, I brought a two-person umbrella when we left home last time. So, I should be fine!" May said. Brendan's expression turned depressed a little.

"I forgot to bring my own," he said.

Gwen just shrugged. Well, looks like you'll be the only one getting soaked, because I'm joining May! They continued north, seeing a massive field of tall grass in front of them. It was so tall that Brendan could barely see over it. To make matters worse, the sky had just begun to open up.

May took out her umbrella, but immediately realized that she wouldn't be able to fit it through the almost wooded grass. "Damn, I thought we could avoid getting wet," she said, sounding disappointed.

I could try to make a psychic shield to block the rain, but I'm not sure how effective that will be, Gwen said.

"Don't worry about it," Brendan said. "We're bound to get soaked anyway. Might as well accept it and have some fun." May just groaned with the suggestion, but she knew Brendan was right. It was either have Gwen unnecessarily exhaust herself, or just endure the rain. After all, it's not like it was a thunderstorm. Without much of a complaint, May and Gwen followed Brendan through the grassy field.

They trudged on for almost two hours, getting more soaked and miserable with every minute. "Brendan, remind me to never listen to you about how we prepare for weather!" May shouted.

"I think I can do that," Brendan said, not wanting to make the situation worse with bad humor. During their walk, they had gotten into a few battles with other trainers on the route, but all of them were relatively quick, ending in one or two attacks each. In the distance, they could see a large, white building with multiple windows in the front and a large array of instruments on top. "Hey, let's go get dry in that building!" Brendan said.

Sounds good, Gwen said as she grabbed both of their shoulders and teleported them to the door.

"Thanks Gwen," Brendan said as he opened the door for the ladies.

"Again, you're such a gentleman," May said as she entered the building. Gwen followed and Brendan was close behind.

On the bridge nearby, which Brendan and May hadn't noticed, were two Aqua Grunts. One just looked to the other before taking out a radio.

"Commander Shelly," he said. "Those kids just arrived."

"I copy, thanks for the advance warning," said a woman's voice over the radio. "Stay where you are until ordered otherwise."

"Damn it, I want to get out of the rain," the one without the radio said.

"We're Team Aqua, rain is our element," the other said. "So suck it up."

Inside the building, Brendan and May were surprised to see both a set of shelves with multiple towels on it and a hot drink maker on a table next to it with a sign over them saying 'Travelers, please feel free to take a towel to dry off, and enjoy a complimentary cup of coffee, hot chocolate, or tea.'

"Well, that's really nice of them," Brendan said, grabbing a few towels, which turned out to be very absorbent, handing them to May and Gwen. "They must get a lot of visitors who just want to get out of the rain."

"Yeah, but you know, it seems strangely quiet down here," May said.

Now that you mention it, I have to agree, this place is too empty. We should go look around to try and find somebody, Gwen said as she finished drying her hair off, which, somehow, fell perfectly back into place. She then walked into the main section of the building, where the lights were completely off she found the nearby power switch, flipping it on only to see that it wasn't working. Guys, this is getting strange. I don't think this is the kind of place to have power-outages.

Brendan, who had just noticed that the only light actually coming into the building was from outside, joined his first Pokémon in the room. "Well, I may have forgotten an umbrella, but I did bring a flashlight," he said as he pulled the torch from his bag. He flipped it on and he immediately saw who was responsible. "Team Aqua," he growled. There were two grunts in front of a staircase, who were wearing what looked like night vision goggles. The one facing Brendan cried out as he took off his goggles and rubbed his eyes.

"DAMN IT KID! I THINK I'M BLIND NOW!" he shouted. The other one took her goggles off before facing Brendan and May.

"So, you two are here. The boss told us that you'd probably show up," she said. "Gary, get the hell up and get ready to battle them!"

The grunt, who was still rubbing his eyes and blinking quickly, stood up and pulled out his only Pokéball. "Come on out Jay!" the Pokéball let out a Poochyena. How it wasn't a Mightyena, Brendan had no idea.

"Go Fiona!" the girl grunt said, sending out a Masquerain.

"Gwen, use Thunderbolt on both of them!" Brendan said.

Gwen extended her hands, gathering electricity on both. She smiled to herself as she decided to make a reference one of the movies Brendan had shown her during their stay in Littleroot as she sent out two streams of lighting at both enemy Pokémon. POWER! she shouted as the lightning connected. UNLIMITED POWER! The attack sent the two Pokémon flying into the wall. Brendan just laughed and shook his head at what Gwen said.

"Well done," Brendan said with a lasting smile as he led the way past the two grunts and up the stairs.

"Brendan, you need to stop showing her movies and shows that she can reference in battle," May said through giggles that she could barely contain.

No he doesn't, shut up! Gwen said.

"I showed her that one before she knew Thunderbolt, to be fair," Brendan said. That was when they noticed a light from the upper floor. May decided to take the lead and check out what they were up against.

"Well, doctor, thank you very much for your cooperation and giving us these files," a woman said.

"What do you mean, cooperation? You two threatened to kill us!" said a man who sounded scared.

"And we thank ya for that, my bro will be most appreciative," said another man, whose voice was all too familiar.

Brendan decided he wouldn't just listen to this. He was going to stop this apparent robbery. He stepped out and saw both Matt and a very tan woman with dark brown hair which had two streaks of blue. She wore a blue, two-piece wet suit with the symbol on the bust. She had a pair of swimming goggles on her forehead. Around her waist was a bead belt similar to Matt's. Like with Courtney from Team Magma, she was actually quite beautiful. Had she not been in Team Aqua, she might have on par with May. She was currently standing at a table with a closed laptop with an external hard drive connected to it. "Well, looks like Matt now has a babysitter," Brendan said.

Matt turned around, his eyes full of fury. "The scamp who embarrassed me," Matt said. "I won't let you do that again!" May and Gwen came up behind Brendan, confident and ready to battle.

That's when the woman turned to face the new arrivals, a look of conceited confidence on her face. "I got word from outside that you three were coming," she said. "I suppose I should introduce myself in the interest of being polite. My name is Shelly, and yes, I am currently in charge of Matt since he lost to you two."

"We could care less who you are," May said as she pulled out Miranda's Pokéball. "Just drop the laptop and you can both leave in without a beating."

"Oooh Team Magma's little whore thinks she's tough now, trying to give us orders," Shelly said as she took out her own Pokéball. "Matt, send out one of your Pokémon!" Both Shelly and Matt threw Pokéballs, letting out two Pokémon: a Mightyena from Matt, and Shelly sent out a large mud fish that looked a lot like Wally's Marshtomp, just bigger and more solidly built. Neither trainer said a name for their Pokémon.

"So a Swampert is out now," May said. "Seems that we'll be having a match between Hoenn starters; go Miranda!" She sent out her Combusken, who gave a confident chirp.

Brendan grabbed Clint's Pokéball. Sorry Gwen, it's Clint's turn to humiliate these guys, Brendan said to his Pokémon.

Fine by me, Gwen said, she wanted to see what her friend would do this time around.

"Let's go Clint!" Brendan said. He sent out his Grovyle, who gave a confident grunt.

"Miranda, use Double Kick on that Mightyena!" May said. Miranda didn't hesitate, leaping forward and landing two solid kicks on the dark wolf.

"Clint, Leaf Blade on that Swampert!" Brendan said. Clint's arm leaves began to glow green as he leapt at and slashed the mud fish across the face with the blades. Unfortunately, it seemed that neither attack would win the fight.

"Muddy Water," Shelly said with a sinister tone. Swampert opened its mouth, spraying a torrent of water mixed with mud at both Miranda and Clint.

"Clint/Miranda, dodge that!" Brendan and May said simultaneously. Both Pokémon leapt into the air, dodging the torrent of water…which continued through only to hit both Brendan and May, sending them back into the wall. Gwen, on the other hand, teleported out of the way before the attack hit. Brendan sensed that she did, but he was glad she got out of harm's way.

"Use Crunch!" Matt said.

Brendan wiped his eyes off and said "Clint, use Mega Drain on Swampert!"

May, who was coughing after she swallowed some of the water, managed to say "Miranda, use Flame Charge on Mightyena!" through each cough. What neither of them saw, however, was the angry looks on the faces of both Clint and Miranda. They were pissed that their trainers and friends had been hit by the attack. They were also getting increasingly mad at the fact that the two members of Team Aqua were reveling in the pain of the two trainers. Both of them gave an angry cry as they began to charge their targets, and both began to glow white simultaneously.

Brendan had just finished wiping the mud out of his eyes when the two Pokémon began to glow. "May, you should see this," Brendan said.

May had just managed to clear her throat when Brendan said that, and once she could see clearly from the tears coughing had caused, she could see that her first Pokémon was evolving once again.

Clint grew to about five feet tall, his tail growing significantly and changing to resemble an evergreen branch. He grew six seed pods on his back and the leaves on both his arms split into two, one on the radial and one on the ulnar side of his forearms. His head changed to have a smaller crest over each of his eyes.

Miranda grew much taller, reaching over six feet, and her body changed much more drastically. Both her arms and legs became longer and somewhat slender, but they clearly packed power. Her head transformed into what looked like a hawk's face with two antennae of sorts from her beak. She then grew a cream-colored downy tuft of feathers that grew out and back from her head into what looked like the wings a bird of prey in a dive. When both ceased glowing, Brendan and May were looking at a Sceptile and a Blaziken. Instinctively, both trainers took out their Pokédex and scanned their newly evolved Pokémon to check if they had learned any new attacks; both had.

"Miranda, change that attack to Blaze Kick!"

"Clint, you use Dual Chop this time!" Both Pokémon listened to their trainers with confident grins on their faces. Miranda leapt into the air, spinning as her right foot caught fire. She got to the Mightyena, whose fangs were bared and glowing with a black aura, and delivered a devastating kick to its head, sending it sprawling. Clint's leaves began to glow with a purple energy as he leapt at the Swampert, hitting it repeatedly and sending the big mud fish flying backward until he landed, unconscious at Shelly's feet.

"NO, Archie is gonna be so mad!" Matt said.

"Shut up you oaf!" Shelly said as she recalled her Pokémon, Matt following suit. "We got what we came here for." She strode over to the laptop on the desk tried to take the external hard drive, but Clint ran in between her and the desk, his speed having increased dramatically, and Gwen teleporting behind him.

Shelly backed up, slightly afraid of these two, especially the Gardevoir, after hearing the rumors surrounding them. Yeah, you're not taking any of this. Gwen said.

Shelly just shrugged. "Oh well, I still memorized the vital information on that drive. It's more of a back-up than anything. That was when her radio sounded.

"Commander Shelly, bad news, Team Magma has been mobilizing in force and they're heading for Mt Pyre!" said a male grunt. Shelly's eyes went wide.

"Fuck!" she swore. "Matt, forget the hard drive! We have to get to Mt. Pyre before Team Magma does!" With that, she and Matt both ran out of the room, and subsequently the building, in almost the blink of an eye.

Once they were gone, Brendan and May both ran and hugged their newly evolved Pokémon, congratulating them for evolving and for winning the battle. They had just recalled their Pokémon when a man in a lab coat and two men behind him, both wearing light sweaters and khaki pants, stepped forward. The lab coat man was clearly in charge, and he was the one who spoke first. "Thank you two for coming along when you did," he said. "I thought we were about to lose all the data we had worked so hard to find over the years."

Brendan just waved it off. "We've dealt with those guys before. It was no problem," Brendan said.

"Yeah, it's actually become more of a hobby to us at this point," May said with a laugh.

"Well, regardless, I think we need to thank you in some way," the man said.

Brendan thought for a moment. "Well, you don't need to give us a reward, but it would be helpful if you let us see the information Team Aqua was after."

The man thought for a moment, looking to his two subordinates. "Sure, the laptop still has a lot of battery life and the files are on it, as well as on that hard drive. However, you should know that there are a lot of files to sort through."

May nodded. "Then we may be staying here for the night," she said.

"We do have very nice living quarters in the basement," one of the sweater men said. "They all have bathrooms, a desktop computer with a video phone, and a couple beds which are quite luxurious."

"Sounds good," Brendan said. When he said that, the lights flickered back on.

"Ah, finally, the back-up generators have started to work! We don't know why, but they're always so slow," the other sweater man said. "How about I escort you to your rooms for the night, you may bring the laptop and hard drive with you so you can do your research as long as you wish."

"Sure, but we may need something hot to drink when we're down there," Brendan said, starting to feel a chill seep into his bones after he had been soaked by Shelly's Swampert.

"I completely agree!" May said, starting to shiver as well. The three men who had been the hostages of Team Aqua laughed slightly before taking the trio downstairs, Gwen carrying the laptop to the basement so it wouldn't get any water in its circuits.

After Brendan and May had showered, they got situated. Brendan sat with the laptop, which was now hooked up to a charger, and May went to the desktop with the hard drive. They both opened the folders and began to read. The first was full of simple accounts of odd weather occurrences across Hoenn throughout history. It didn't seem to contain much important information other than locations of the phenomena. The next folder contained some more disturbing information. It had files on how two Pokémon shaped the landmass and the oceans of the entire world during a single, brutal clash. The names of the two Pokémon, or where they came from was marked as unknown.

That was when Brendan went to the third folder. "Oh no," Brendan said breathlessly. His clear loss for words caught both May's and Gwen's attention.

"What is it?" May asked, getting up and coming to Brendan's side. When she read what the page said, she blanched and staggered back. "Those two teams aren't just going to try reshaping the world. If they succeed, they might wipe out all life on Earth." Gwen then read what was on the screen. What she saw scared her just as much as it had May and Brendan.

The document on screen was very clear and concise with its information. It had the names of the two Pokémon, something that Brendan and May both remembered Steven saying in Granite Cave when they first met him: the leviathan Pokémon, Kyogre, and the behemoth Pokémon, Groudon. It said that the two Pokémon had been slumbering for millennia, giving a detailed map of Hoenn that showed where they were sleeping. But the most terrifying piece of information was that there still was a way to revitalize the super ancient Pokémon. And the way to do that was sitting on Mt. Pyre, where Team Aqua said they were going next. They were simply named the Blue Orb and the Red Orb.

Arceus help us. That was all Gwen could say as she walked over to her bed, holding her head with both hands. What can we possibly do?

Thank you all for reading, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. As always, please leave a review and tell me what you think, but please keep it constructive.

Before I get asked:

- No, Gary is not a reference to Ash's rival.

- Gwen was referencing Revenge of the Sith, for those of you who don't know.

- I know only Shelly was supposed to be at the Institute, but having Matt there too just seemed more appropriate, and I felt like it added a little comedic value.

That's all for now. Until next time – jmoul18.