Chapter 40

Mark and the others were all dripping wet when they finished their mad dash into the Pokémon Center. Naturally, that was the point where the rain stopped falling. The rain had lasted no longer than five minutes and had soaked the entire group.

He was the most concerned about the fire-type Charmander-girl. Mark had never owned a Charmander before, but he had heard that if the flame at the end of its tail went out, the Pokémon died along with the flame. During their dash through the rain, he had been petrified that he had brought the girl outside just so she could die in a sudden freak thunderstorm. Much to his relief, the rain had no visible effect on how brightly her tail burned. Still, he had no urge to try and find out if that rumor was true or not.

Predictably, the girl hated the rain and was muttering angrily at her wet clothes. She grabbed fistfuls of her jumper and began ringing water out of it onto the floor of the Pokémon Center. When that failed to get her as dry as she wanted, she began to shake herself off, much like a dog.

The others reacted to the sudden storm with more of a sense of wonder than anything else. The storm had grown from a drizzle into a downpour in a manner of seconds. Not even ten minutes later, the storm came to a sudden halt. Those gathered together in the Pokémon Center stared outside, but none could offer an explanation.

As Mark watched the distressed Charmander-girl, he wished he had a towel with him. Unfortunately, he had already unpacked most of his traveling supplies when they had first arrived at the hotel. His pack now only contained essential medicines and Pokéballs. But he also knew those medicines were intended for normal Pokémon and were now rendered useless on human Pokémon. He reminded himself that he would have to replace his stock someday.

The lobby of the Pokémon Center was empty. The wet group of newcomers and the Blissey-nurse behind the counter were the only ones present. Mark wondered if there was a tournament match going on. It would be the easiest explanation for the lack of patients.

Since they were relatively unscathed, Mark waited in the lobby with Maple and the Charmander-girl while the others went to heal the injured. Volt, Shinobi, Silver and Tsunami were all badly hurt. Mark suggested taking Maple back, but Maple insisted that she was fine. Compared to the others, she really was.

"It still won't come off…" the Charmander-girl began to whine at her wet clothes. She hated being wet more than anything and she hadn't been this wet in her entire life. She had never realized that clothes could hold so much water before.

"Oh, I have an idea!" Maple shot upright and bounced on her heels. She took the little girl by her hand and led her back to the girls' bathroom. That left Mark alone in the lobby.

As he always did when he was alone, he began to think. He had a lot to consider and this was the first time he had had a break in several hours. And it had certainly been an exhausting several hours.

Most importantly, their mission into the base of Team Deus had, for all intents and purposes, been a success. They had rescued Fernelia, Aroma and the Charmander-girl and had escaped with no permanent damage. They had also learned a lot about their enemy. Probably more than what the rest of the human Pokémon community knew. The group of thieves and kidnappers had a name now and that was more than what most people knew right there. With the right tools and preparation, Team Deus could be defeated. This was an important first step towards victory.

At least, that's what it looked like, but to Mark, the excursion into the Team Deus base didn't feel like a victory.

Team Deus was far more powerful than what they had seen. Farin, who was the fourth strongest member of the team, had only been toying with them. Three more members outranked Farin and who knew how many subordinates the team commanded. But one thing bothered Mark more than any other: Farin could have crushed and captured them all, but he hadn't. Why?

Not just that, but Lionel had been after Maple originally, right? On the contrary, Farin hadn't even looked twice at her. Did that mean that Lionel's mission was meaningless? Or had he been after something else? Briefly, Mark wondered what had become of the blond boy. But he did it without sympathy. The mental image of Lionel's face made Mark clench his fists in anger. They could've been killed and it would've been because of Lionel.

But thinking about the mysteries behind Team Deus wouldn't solve them. Like Maple had suggested, they needed help in order to defeat them. Until they had that help, Team Deus was a challenge that would have to wait. And after Lionel's betrayal, Mark didn't know if he'd be able to trust anyone for a long time. The situation with Team Deus was starting to look bleak.

"What's this?" the Charmander-girl peered at the automatic hand-dryer in the girls' bathroom. The white box hung off of the wall at around chest-level with Maple, but the smaller girl could duck underneath it.

"Here, I'll show you," Maple chirped happily. She placed her hand underneath the metallic spout. After a few seconds, the machine began to make a loud whirring noise as warm air flowed over Maple's hand.

Agitated by the loud noise, the Charmander-girl looked at the machine with disdain.

"What's that supposed to do?" she shouted over the whir of the hand-dryer.

"Stand under it!" Maple shouted in response. Reluctantly, the younger girl did as she was told.

At first, she didn't like it. The noise was even worse right next to the machine and the rush of air stung her eyes. But once she shut her eyes she realized how warm the air was. She had always liked warm things and the air coming out of the metal spout was helping to dry her hair and her jumper. Keeping her eyes shut, she began spinning in place underneath it. She began to pass her hands through her hair and along the dress, as if she were taking a shower.

Maple smiled as she watched her. She was incredibly happy to have a new friend. The two girls now shared a special bond as Mark's only two human Pokémon. Each of them had been abandoned and found again. They had a home and a growing family with Mark. Maple wanted to make her little sister feel as welcome as she could.

She had been filled with pride after seeing Mark talk the girl into coming with them. Mark had been like that for as long as Maple had been with him, but he rarely showed it. He was also embarrassed about it, which didn't make sense to Maple. Mark was a very kind and gentle person. Why did that bother him so much? He should be what he was and he wanted to be. And not worry about what he thought he should be.

Maple paused to consider the importance of that thought. She would have to remember to tell Mark about it sometime.

Back out in the lobby, Mark was passing the time thinking about the cloud that had appeared over Mount Totetsu. A ring of golden cloud…what could that mean? Did it have anything to do with Suicune's appearance?

Suicune.

Mark hadn't thought about Suicune since he had met the legendary Pokémon. In fact, he wondered why he had made that unexpected jump in logic. There was no reason to suggest that Suicune and the golden cloud were connected, but he had thought so anyway. But he had to admit that a lot of strange events were happening on this island. They were events that were even stranger than the already bizarre human Pokémon tournament.

Suicune had explained the origins of human Pokémon, calling them the Children of Jirachi. It had also explained its own presence on the island as the eyes and ears of Ho-oh as it watched over the tournament. But the information it offered ended there. And those were only half-answers. Still, as a legendary Pokémon, it must have some idea what that storm had been about.

Come to think of it, could Suicune offer help against Team Deus?

But that question felt stupid. Team Deus was a human problem. If Ho-oh wanted to deal with them, it would have done so by now. Their very existence probably angered Ho-oh, but the legendary fire-bird had been neutral in the affairs of humans for centuries.

No, they couldn't expect help from Ho-oh or Suicune. Team Deus was a problem that would have to be dealt with by other humans. In fact, it would likely please Ho-oh if humans defeated them without any assistance.

Mark made a mental note to ask Suicune about the golden cloud, but he would leave out anything he knew about Team Deus.

Moments later, he heard a door squeak somewhere behind him. He looked around the empty lobby and saw a damp Maple and the no longer wet Charmander-girl walking towards him.

"Where did you go?" Mark asked out of curiosity.

"The bathroom," Maple chirped, smiling, "we dried her off with the hand-dryer."

It was stunning and even comforting how Maple's demeanor had switched back to her cheerful, energetic self. After what they had been through underneath the docks it would've been understandable if she had remained quiet.

But Maple proved Mark wrong. She was a lot tougher than what he had assumed.

"Did that work?" Mark asked dubiously. But the Charmander-girl was indeed fully dry and she nodded happily.

Mark was very relieved to see that the two were already comfortable with each other. Maple had taken a shine to the Charmander-girl and had starting looking after her without question or complaint.

That was good. He would need help taking care of her. Mark could barely take care of Maple. How he was going to take care of two human Pokémon, he had no idea.

Speaking of "taking care of Maple"…

The doors leading back into the treatment rooms opened, distracting Mark's thoughts. Kim walked through followed by a fully-recovered Volt, walking in his usual half-hunched shuffle.

"Damned Dusknoir," he muttered as the two approached. He cracked his neck and grimaced, "give me a good, old-fashioned, one-on-one fight any day. I'll beat the shit out of any of 'em."

"Language!" Kim exclaimed with a glance at the small Charmander-girl. Kim slapped Volt in the back of his head. He glared at her, but she glared back twice as hard. After a few more seconds, the contest ended and Volt apologized to the young Charmander-girl.

"It's okay," she responded, "I know a lot of words that are worse than that."

Each of the four teenagers exchanged glances of worried confusion. What had this girl seen down there? Swear words certainly couldn't be the limit of it…

Eric, Fernelia and Tsunami were the next to emerge through the double-doors. Like the others, they were back to their old selves. It astounded Mark how quickly they all adapted to being back and away from danger. The nightmare was no more than twenty minutes behind them and they were all willing and eager to pretend that it never happened.

Was that good or bad? He couldn't decide.

The only one the ordeal seemed to take a toll on was Silver. He trailed behind the newly-rescued Aroma, the newly-healed Shinobi and the newly-energetic Lily. He stared down at the ground as he walked, lost in thought and consumed with worry.

"What's wrong, Silvy?" Lily stopped skipping around Aroma. She bent forward, with her hands clasped behind her back and stared up into Silver's forlorn face.

Silver was reluctant to respond. Lily was back to her cheerful self and he didn't want to destroy it. Aroma was back and they were all okay. He should've been happy. But he also knew that this was just the beginning. Could he really hope to protect them knowing how powerful their enemies were?

"They're going to be after us," Mark deduced the reason behind Silver's distraught expression, "aren't they?"

"Yeah…" Silver nodded and then let out a heavy sigh, "like you said, they let us go, but we're still not safe. They've been hiding out for years. I can't imagine that they'll just let us walk away. I don't know what they want, but we need to start watching our backs."

"Right…" Mark had already seen the consequences of leaving his human Pokémon alone for too long. Even just a few minutes away from each other were dangerous when being targeted by Team Deus.

"Oh, shit…" Kim eyes shot wide as she remembered and she turned to Volt, "we need to go. Sprinkle's down at the beach. We need to get her."

"Dammit," Volt echoed her concern.

"We'll have to meet up with you later," Kim told the group, growing suddenly frantic, "we'll figure this crap out later." And with that, she waved goodbye and was off running with Volt close behind.

"Don't go anywhere alone!" Silver called after them. But the doors had already closed and the two were racing down the street toward the beach.

"They'll be okay," Mark told Silver, "they're both pretty smart and tough."

That left three trainers and seven human Pokémon in the lobby.

"What now?" Tsunami asked.

"I don't know…" Silver shook his head, "but we all need a break. I'll have to think of something…" he paused and looked at Mark, "you can track down one of the Four, if you like. But I doubt you'll have any luck."

"I don't know either," he shrugged, "but I don't like doing nothing."

"Fair enough," Silver nodded, "well, you know how to find us, now," he started to walk past them, leading his small group out of the Pokémon Center, "take care of yourselves."

"Thank you for your help!" Lily cheered and followed after Silver.

"Take care, Charmander," Aroma patted the little girl on the head as they left.

"Goodbye, Miss Aroma," she responded.

Then they too were gone.

"I guess we're splitting up here," Eric noted.

"Guess so," Mark replied.

"Fernelia…" the group stopped to stare at Maple. The Leafeon-girl was biting her lip and fidgeting, "I'm sorry that this happened. It's all because…"

"It's not your fault," Fernelia smiled warmly and gently hugged Maple, "I'm just glad that you're all safe." She released the girl and stepped back to stand with Eric.

"Seriously, though, thanks for everything," Tsunami stepped forward and shook Mark's hand, "if you need anything, we'll come running. We owe you big, now."

"The others did more than me," Mark shook his head, "I just got in the way."

"Not very good at accepting thanks, are you?" Tsunami half-smiled, but tightened his grip on Mark's hand, "I'm serious. Anything you need."

"Okay," Mark nodded as he was forced to accept Tsunami's offer, "I'll have to take you up on that sometime." Satisfied with that answer, Tsunami nodded back and released his grip.

"Hey, I know," Eric brightened as an idea struck him, "we have our first match tomorrow. You should come and watch."

"Really?" Maple brightened at the thought of a tournament match.

"Yeah," Eric nodded enthusiastically, "we're fighting some guy named Edwards."

"Cool!" Maple exclaimed and turned to Mark, hoping for permission.

"Alright," Mark agreed, "we'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Sweet deal!" Eric declared. He walked away proudly, waving as he went. Fernelia and Tsunami followed him out, also waving.

Mark stood in place and watched them go. He was certainly building up an interesting group of friends while on Himitsu Island. It had begun with the friendly and open, yet rough around the edges pair of Kim and Volt who had introduced Mark and Maple to the world of human Pokémon. After that, they had met Eric's adopted family of the gruff, but sincere Tsunami and the gentle, maternal Fernelia. Then the quirky group of Lily's human Pokémon made up of the reluctant leader, Silver, the loyal, silent ninja Shinobi and the beautiful and graceful Aroma. Each of them had a unique background and problems of their own. Mark still barely knew them. But after what they had been through he was glad that they were with him.

His thoughts were broken by the Charmander-girl tugging on his shirt.

"I'm hungry…" she whined with childish innocence. Her emerald eyes shined up at Mark with an adorable pleading expression.

"Yeah…me too," Mark nodded. The clock on the wall of the waiting room declared that it was ten minutes after eight o'clock. Mark and Maple hadn't eaten since noon. And Mark had no idea how long it had been since the Charmander-girl had eaten anything.

"Come on," he directed his two human Pokémon, "let's get out of here and get something to eat."

They left the Pokémon Center behind them and stepped outside.

AN: kind of a small, slow chapter after what's been happening lately. Time to recap what's been happening and get back to the tournament. I guess the transition between different story arcs is always slow. It should pick up again before too much longer, though.

I guess that's all I wanted to say. See you tomorrow, and thanks for reading!