Sapphire paused her battle with Shelly; the crashing of rocks had drawn her attention away from the challenging Aqua Member. Her deep blue eyes watched as a wall crumbled into boulders, sweeping Garnet off her feet. The very same rocks battered away Metang as the Pokémon tried to save its partner.
Sapphire knew nothing she could do, and was forced to watch as her travelling companion hit the surface of the glowing amber firewater. Her frame floated for a mere moment before being battered down into the depths by the falling rocks. Sapphire's eyes widened as she stared dumbfounded down at the place the redhead had vanished. Garnet had defied all logic a good few times, yet she was so easily defeated in this volcano…
Maxie watched the magma as it churned under the pounding rocks, once the boulders had ceased it was clear that nothing remained of the girl… "Huh, seems she was just a normal human after all, the hair must have come from someone else… I've been played for a fool!" He turned on his heel and stormed off, Courtney and Matt rounded up the grunts who had challenged those of Team Aqua as they retreated.
Sapphire felt anger build inside her. Sure, Garnet hadn't been the easiest person to get along with, in any sense of the phrase. But the redhead had been kind in her own way; she was very considerate towards Pokémon around her and fearless when it came to dealing with these criminals. And then this guy pulls a dirty move and kills her as if her life meant nothing at all!
Shelly couldn't defeat the girl, not now she was fuelled by this hatred for the blue-clad men. Sapphire stormed up to Archie, who was frowning down at the magma. She eyed up a meteorite in the machine, it seemed to send multicoloured shimmers in the dim light - somehow it seemed to be the centrepiece of the machine. Sapphire plucked it from the machine and backed up a few steps.
The man turned around, glaring down at her. Sapphire wondered how Garnet could have strolled up to him calmly and faced him in a battle, the man was terrifying! She looked up into his face, the meteorite hidden in her bag. "You killed her!" Sapphire growled, keeping her fear out of her voice. "She never did anything to harm you!"
"Yeah well, have fun mourning scamp." He walked off, passing Sapphire with lumbering bear-like steps. Sapphire watched him and his team leave the volcano, not sure of what exactly had just happened. She mused over the events, clearly both those dressed in blue and those in red had expected Garnet to be something special and had locked in a brief power-struggle in order to gain control of her.
But apparently she wasn't anything special, just a strange girl who was no more…
He'd seen the disturbed volcano from Meteor Falls. Metagross had shared his concerns as he spotted a Metang flying towards the volcano and had followed to see what was happening. If the volcano was about to erupt it was his duty to warn those in the surrounding villages and help evacuate them.
Once he had arrived he found many people rushing down the mountainside, half in red and the others clad in blue. Ignoring these people he had directed Metagross towards the centre of the volcano, where he knew ledges and a platform enabled some to examine in innards of Mount Chimney.
Metang swooped around near the magma; other Pokémon stood on the rocky ledges and stared downwards. A single girl stood on the metallic walkway, he didn't know this girl - but he knew the Metang.
Steven whistled, once the shining white Pokémon looked up to him he gestured to it. "Where is she?" He asked of the Steel-type Pokémon he'd given to the stranger. The Pokémon's ruby eyes flicked down to the magma. He guided Metagross down to the ledge, dismounting from his partner quickly and approaching the young girl. "Excuse me?" Her sapphire eyes looked up to him. "Where is Garnet?"
"She… she fell in while battling a massive man. There was nothing we could do, Metang tried to catch her but there were falling rocks keeping him away from her…" Sapphire didn't know what to do now; she stood there with three Pokémon who all looked down into the crater sorrowfully.
From the moment she crashed into the magma, Garnet was counting. She could not breathe down here and so could not replenish her energy. Just like for a human, she could only hold her breath for a certain amount of time. When her time ran out she would be burned alive by this pool of magma.
Her eyes glowed fully scarlet as her power poured from her body, protecting herself and the items she carried. She had to dodge the rocks as they fell, propelling herself from one side of the crater to the other.
Garnet stared up through the firewater, watching as first Team Magma then Team Aqua left the volcano. Shortly afterwards she spotted a new arrival. Her head was pounding and her lungs ablaze as she narrowed her scarlet eyes to identify the newcomer. Once she had determined who he was and realized that she could not hold out much longer, she pushed upwards through the magma.
Her head smashed through the surface, her great gasp echoing from the rocky walls around the volcano. Garnet coughed as her lungs craved the fresh air they'd been denied. Her ears picked up movements from the walkway above her head. She swam over to the wall, yanking half her body out of the magma as she continued to heave great amounts of air into her demanding body. That had been close…
Something hovered down to her, a shadow falling across her. Garnet's still scarlet eyes zoned in on a Metagross, a silver-haired man offering her his hand. Garnet reached up to grasp his hand in hers.
Steven was surprised at how cold her hand was, considering she'd just pulled herself from the pits of magma which filled the mountain with immense heat. Her body was light as a feather as he lifted her onto Metagross.
Garnet's eyes finally returned to amethyst as she no longer needed the protection of her powers. Metang flew close-by, trying to wrap his arms around her in welcomed greeting. But Garnet merely shook its clawed hand, her fatigue catching up with her. Once they reached the rocky ledge, she collapsed onto the ground, aware that everyone was staring at her with wide-eyed confusion. Garnet - still feeling the pressure of having little energy left to her - ignored their stares and lay there, half-crouched on her forearms and spluttering in the attempt to refresh her energy supply.
Sapphire stepped forward, "Let me guess. You just happened to have trained Fire-types all your life and are immune to the instant burning effects of volcanic magma? Or did you grow up in a volcano and go swimming in lava every other weekend?" Garnet's eyes flicked up to Sapphire, through a shaggy curtain of red hair.
"No… none of those…" Garnet's words were gasps as she wondered what to say next. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, leaning heavily against the wall behind her. "Cheers for pulling me out of there… I couldn't last much longer in there…" She looked to Steven wearily. "But if I told you the truth Sapphire… You wouldn't believe a word of it. No I haven't trained Fire-types, not specifically anyway. And as for Electric-type Pokémon, I've only trained one before Rayna. But you don't need me to tell you what I said was lies, you never believed them from the start." Her frame slid down the wall until she was almost lying down again. "But please, I can't explain now, I must rest…" Her eyes flickered shut.
"We should take her to Lavaridge Town." Steven lifted the girl easily, heading off to walk out of the crater.
Subject 663 clutched at her chest, something was wrong with her. Before her visit to Viridian City she could convert just about any energy on the planet into life energy for her - that and the energy she used to attack or manipulate different types of moves. She'd been able to use kinetic energy as her main source of life, but now she could not. Every time she was hit by a physical force it harmed her instead of making her stronger as it should have.
Her hands clenched into fists as she breathed deeply, her only method of creating energy was now through the air, if that information ever got out to Giovanni, he would know how to recapture her easily.
She pulled herself to her feet, exiting the cave into the windy world. The gale fanned her white hair out behind her. This island was isolated from the rest of Kanto, where she'd have to lie low for a little while to let the uproar die. Once that was finished with she would return to her original purpose, she would take the rancid life from Giovanni.
'CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION EXPOSED BY TEN YEAR OLD ON HIS Pokémon JOURNEY!' Subject 663 read the long headline from the torn paper blowing in the rainy wind. She ducked into a pub to escape the wind and rain which attempted to chill her.
All the tenants were talking about the news. The amazing news that a young boy from Pallet Town had exposed a criminal organization and personally defeated the leader. A few years had passed since she had last seen Giovanni, her fury had not died in the slightest, but her mind had had enough time to think clearly instead of rushing into a trap like she had years back. She still felt the repercussions of that night and this irked the girl to no end - she hated feeling vulnerable. Now she had retrained herself to use water as an alternative air supply, but other substances and energies were out of the question when it came to her converting energy.
"They say his name is Red, and he's quickly becoming quite the Pokémon Master even though he's still only ten! It looks as if he is unbeatable!" 663 seated herself behind a group of men gathered around a newspaper identical to the one 663 had seen flying around the street outside.
"The Champions get younger and younger I say. I thought Hoenn's Champion was too young, but now it seems that this Red is going to defeat the League and become the youngest Champion to date. It's a crazy world we live in."
Subject 663 stood to her feet; she'd heard all she needed to. She'd hoped for news of Giovanni, but these men seemed only interested in speaking about this kid Red. How great could Red be?
"Hey, you seem familiar girly!" One of the pub-goers shouted as he spotted her. Instantly all eyes fell on 663. "Ain't you that girl who tried assassinating the Viridian City Gym Leader?"
"Whatcha gon do 'bout it?" Subject 663 Leant back on the table, her ruby eyes narrowing as she stared down the man who had yelled.
"There's still a ransom for her! The police will pay big for a sneak like that!" Another bellowed, rallying the patrons into a craze.
"Bring me a pint then, I'm going to need a drink with the poor standards of this entertainment." 663 sighed as the entire pub turned on her. "I guess that's no pint for me."
The nearest man threw himself at her, she stepped aside and slammed his face down onto the table behind her - knocking him clean out before he could even register what had happened. 663 yawned pointedly as more rushed for her.
She hopped onto the table watching the two men draw closer. As they both reached for her legs, she jumped upwards, running along one man's arm and kicking his head as she passed across his shoulders. He fell into his partner and they both toppled. 663 jumped onto the bar itself, stretching her legs and waiting for another challenge to present itself.
The bartender made a grab for her, but she simply stomped on his hand as she walked along the bar. Another patron tried snatching at her top; she twisted one of the beer taps around and let a great gush of the brown liquid shoot from the faucet into his eyes. The man howled in shock as she continued onwards, rather enjoying the little game she played.
A group of them pounced, 663 grasped onto a light fixture above her head and lifted herself out of their reach. All of them cracked into one another and lay slumped in a pile on the bar as she dropped onto them. She stepped onto a barstool and hopped onto the floorboards once again. No one else dare approach her; they all backed off, eyeing her warily as she flounced out of the pub. "Nice seeing you! We should do this again sometime!" She waved as she shut the door behind her. "Damn it run!" She whistled loudly, rushing away knowing someone in the bar would call the police.
PhantomGalaxy13: Yep I did take your comedic strip and make it canon to this story! I couldn't help it! Once I read it and had calmed my laughter down I simply thought 'That is so Archie!' and had to use it! Poor Giovanni's evil schemes never tend to succeed, I took the idea for what happened from the short (Hour-ish movie) 'Mewtwo Returns' and the machine that Giovanni used in that to attempt and beak Mewtwo's will. But like in that movie Garnet just overpowered it. Flannery's Gym next! And I've landed in a position where tow of Garnet's three pokemon have weaknesses to Flannery's Pokémon... oops xD Well, might make it more interesting xD! Till next time have a fab day! -Iris
SelasVictoria: I completely understand what you mean, R/S/E/OR/AS are definately my favourite games and Hoenn my favourite region! Understandable why I write the stories I do ;) But i am definately overly grateful that you found them! It's lovely having your suppport for this story and TOHC! Sadly, for this chapter at least, Steven is not quite the knight in shining armour who snatches up the damsel in distress as she plummets to her doom! Perhaps later in the story though... when they get to Sootopolis perhaps xD Stay amazing! -Iris