CHAPTER 35:
Melanie vs. Maxie
And so the four heroes... Or rather, the three heroes and one snotty girl, split up after making plans. Melanie, being of Team Aqua origin, knew the location Team Magma's base, so she was sent to get the Red Orb. She also told Roy the location of the Team Aqua base, so he was sent to get the Blue Orb.
None of the four knew where Team Eon and Steel were located, so Lovrina and Steven were left with the job of scouting around all of Hoenn to find their bases. It was decided that Steven would go after the Green Orb, and Lovrina would get the Platinum Orb. The reason for this was because a reaction might be triggered between Steven and the Platinum Orb, Melanie and the Blue Orb, and so on.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Lovrina was up in the sky riding on another of her Pokemon, an Altaria. She had gone to Professor Birch a few minutes earlier to trade her Luvdisc in for her Altaria.
And Steven rode aboard his Skarmory. Both humans were connected by miniature radios.
"Ahem... Steel to Pink, Steel to Pink, over." Steven said through his radio, using his own codenames.
"Don't get all technical, Steven." sweat-dropped Lovrina. "And if you're wondering, I so haven't found a trace of Team Steel or E..."
Lovrina paused briefly. She was flying about a quarter of a mile from a large, tall structure, close to a floating town on Route 131...
"Lovrina, what is it?" Steven asked.
"The... S-S-S... Sky... Sky Tower..."
"Hmm? Sky Tower...? DO NOT GO CLOSER, LOVRINA! THAT'S WHERE A CERTAIN LEGENDARY IS!"
"Groudon?"
"NO!"
"Jirachi?"
"NO!"
"Um... Kyogre?"
"IT'S RAYQUAZA, YOU NUTCASE!!!"
Unfortunately, it was too late. Steven's warning had gotten through, when suddenly, Lovrina and her Altaria were smacked down to the sea by a large green tail...
"YOW!" screamed Lovrina as she and her Dragon/Flying Element plummeted towards the sea...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
A loud splash was the last thing that got through to Steven, and his connection to Lovrina was lost.
"Um... Lovrina? Come in, Pink!"
After three minutes, he gave up. Sighing, he muttered:
"If only I could find Team Eon's base..."
And as if he were in some kind of cartoon, his sights set upon a square building with a blazing red and blue E.
"What is this, some kind of show or video game?" Steven chuckled as he made his descent...
0o0o0o0o0o0
"Ohh..." moaned Lovrina. She had washed up on a slab of rock in the ocean, with her Altaria beside her. In front of here, about an eighth of a mile was the aforementioned town, Pacifidlog.
"So gotta make it..." groaned Lovrina. She sent out one of her Poke Balls, which Milotic came from.
"Milotic, take Altaria and me to that town..."
The sleek Water Pokemon scooped Altaria up in a curl of its body, and Lovrina rode on her back.
That's when they saw, on a large rock formation, what looked like some sort of factory-like building, with a silver S over the doorway.
"Milotic! Take us to that place!"
The pink-haired Trainer pointed at the building, and Milotic changed direction.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Melanie, using Swampert to travel Hoenn's waterways, arrived at the base of Mt. Chimney. After recalling her Swampert and making a small trek up the volcanic mountain's side, she discovered a small suspicious-looking rock. That's when the ex-Aqua Grunt saw an M design cut into the rock, with the same designs of the Magma symbol.
"Now how did Archie get past this last time...?" she muttered quietly, recalling events from her past...
"Oh, yeah! He put a Magma Emblem thing in this hole. But I don't have a Magma Emblem... Of course, there is always an alternate way... Busting in. Let's go, Swampert!"
Melanie tossed a Poke Ball into the air, and her Swampert came out.
"Swampert, use Rock Smash on this rock here!"
Swampert charged at the rock with its hands glowing a brown-red color. With two powerful punches, the rock cracked in several places.
"Hmm... Not enough power... Use Brick Break!"
Now Swampert's hands were balled up into fists, still glowing the same brownish-red color. He hit the rock three times, making it collapse upon the third impact, revealing a cavernous place.
"The Team Magma hideout... Well, here I go." Melanie said as she hopped down through the hole after recalling Swampert once more.
"Hmm... Weird. No Grunts are guarding the place."
The red-head walked deeper into the cavern, going through several rooms with drill machines and such.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
It was half an hour later that Melanie ran into trouble. She had just entered another room, when two Team Magma Grunts approached her, one male one female.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't a Team Aqua spy!" the male smirked.
"What shall we do with her, Edward?" sneered the female.
"We will crush her, Lucy!"
"I AM NOT A TEAM AQUA MEMBER!" Melanie yelled. She grabbed two Poke Balls from her waist and threw them into the air, crying:
"Swampert and Mightyena, let's go!"
From them materialized her Swampert and Mightyena.
"Swam-pert!" growled the Water/Ground Element.
"Mightyena..." snarled the Dark Element.
The female Grunt, Lucy, grabbed a Magma Ball, as did the male, Edward, and both threw them out, shouting in order:
"I choose you, Magcargo!"
"Let's go, Torkoal!"
From the Magma Balls appeared a Magcargo and a Torkoal.
"Cargo!" yelled Magcargo.
"Torkoal!" shouted Torkoal.
Battle statistics: This is a two-on-two double battle with no substitutions or time limit.
Melanie's Mightyena and Swampert vs. Team Magma Grunts Lucy and Edward's Magcargo and Torkoal
BATTLE COMMENCE!
"Torkoal, start with Sunny Day!"
Torkoal let out a roar, causing the interior of the room to become illuminated by sunlight.
"I will never know how that works." Melanie mumbled.
"Magcargo, use Flamethrower!"
Magcargo let loose a burst of flames at Mightyena, hitting the Dark Pokemon and knocking him back a bit.
"Swampert, use Surf!"
From nowhere, a wave of water appeared behind Swampert, lifting him up and hurtling towards Magcargo and Torkoal.
"Magcargo, use Protect!" shouted Lucy.
A golden shield appeared around Magcargo, making the wave portion that hit him disintegrate. However, the powerful move hit Torkoal, causing super effective damage.
"Grr... Mightyena, use Shadow Ball and Swampert, use Water Gun!"
Mightyena opened up its gray and black jaws, forming a crackling black energy sphere. As the ball enlarged, Swampert opened its mouth and shot a jet stream of water at Magcargo.
"Magcargo, Protect!"
Magcargo formed another golden shield in front of its body.
"When Water Gun hits, Swampert, keep it going!" Melanie shouted.
'Protect doesn't last the whole battle!' Melanie smirked inside her mind.
"And Mightyena, fire off that Shadow Ball when Protect stops!"
Soon, Magcargo's Protect shield broke, allowing the water beam to hit the Rock/Fire Pokemon and slam him into a nearby wall, knocking it out.
"Yeah! One down!" Melanie cheered.
Lucy growled, and pulled out her Magma Ball, recalling her fainted Pokemon.
"It's up to you, Edward." she muttered.
Melanie's Swampert and Torkoal vs. TMG Edward's Torkoal
BATTLE COMMENCE!
"Torkoal, use Sludge Bomb!"
Torkoal opened its turtle-like mouth, shooting a barrage of purple sludge missiles at Mightyena.
"Swampert, use Water Gun to block that! Mightyena, use Crunch attack!"
Swampert sent another blast of water out, slamming into the Sludge Bomb, creating a small water-and-sludge explosion.
After the explosion cleared the field, Mightyena leapt forward at Torkoal, with its jaws opened and glowing a dark purple shade. He landed and bit down on Torkoal's head, causing the Fire Element to cry out and "run" around like a headless chicken.
"Oh, brother..." Melanie sweat dropped.
"Perfect... Torkoal, Eruption!"
Torkoal stopped running, and began shaking violently. With a loud roar, large fire-engulfed rocks began shooting from Torkoal's shell, hitting Mightyena every time. After a while of torment, Mightyena let go of Torkoal and fell to the ground, nearly KO'd.
"Swampert, use Water Gun on Torkoal!"
Swampert shot a blast of water at Torkoal, knocking it onto its back and knocking out the tortoise-like Fire Element.
"Torkoal!" Edward cried out. With a low growl, he recalled his fainted Pokemon. Lucy and Edward ran off, in the direction of Maxie's room most likely.
Melanie walked over to Mightyena and knelt beside the canine Pokemon.
"Are you okay, Mightyena?" she asked.
Mightyena whimpered, and its Trainer pulled out a Hyper Potion, spraying the liquid on him and healing most of his wound.
"You'd better take a break from the action. I know it's a Hyper Potion,. but I'm using a half for you, the other for Swampert." Melanie recalled Mightyena, then sprayed Swampert with half of the Hyper Potion.
"You too, Swampert. I can beat these people, at least some of the Grunts, with Sharpedo and Marill. Well, maybe not Marill." Melanie recalled her Water/Ground Element.
She walked into the next room, which further increased in temperature, due to the amount of lava in the room.
'How can these Magma idiots work in a lava-filled base?!' Melanie thought. She entered another room, and went down a long set of stairs. At the bottom, she found a very large room with a wide magma pool in the center, and no real exit.
"Hmm... The volcano's base." she said to herself, looking around the cavernous room. She then spotted Maxie standing in front of the magma pool, with the Red Orb in his hand. Melanie also saw a gray thing floating a few inches above the magma, which was about twelve feet tall, and had a slight dinosaur-like appearance...
"MAXIE!" Melanie yelled. She ran towards him and tackled the Magma Leader, knocking the Red Orb out of his evil grasp.
"AAH! Grr..." Maxie growled as Melanie tried to get the Red Orb. He sent out a kick to her legs, tripping her.
Team Magma Commander Tabitha walked up behind Maxie. "So, the little squirt thought she could get the Red Orb! Heh-heh... Squirt. And she's an ex-Aqua Grunt... I crack me up..."
"Ugh. I hate when all these authors that write stuff with me in it have my own people use bad grammar!" Maxie growled, looking up at the ceiling.
Melanie sweat dropped, and then became more serious. "So, that Red Orb is mine now!"
"I don't think so, child. If you want it, we'll battle for it!" Maxie smirked.
"Fine! It'll make this chapter longer anyway!"
"Time for us to get revenge for our losses at Mt. Chimney! Let's go Mightyena!" Tabitha yelled, throwing out a Magma Ball.
From the red-brown light that came out of the Team Magma-themed Ball appeared a Mightyena.
"Yena!" it snarled.
"I choose you, Camerupt!" Maxie shouted, also throwing out a Magma Ball.
From it materialized a Camerupt.
"RUP!" it grunted loudly.
"This is it, guys... We fail here, we let down all of Hoenn." Melanie said to the four Poke Balls in her hands. "Let's go! Marill and Mightyena!"
She threw out a Poke Ball and an Aqua Ball, from which appeared her Marill and Mightyena.
"Marill-mar!" grunted out Marill.
"Yena!" growled Mightyena.
"Marill? You, girl, are impertinent and foolish for using such a weak Pokemon at all, much more so against us!" Maxie scowled.
'Just wait, Maxie-boy...' Melanie thought with a smirk. 'I've been teaching my Marill some rather awesome moves to make up for its lacking strength.'
Battle statistics: This is a four-on-four double battle with no time limit or substitutions.
Melanie's Marill and Mightyena vs. Team Magma Cmdr. Tabitha's Mightyena and Team Magma Leader Maxie's Camerupt
BATTLE COMMENCE!
"Okay, Marill! Begin with Defense Curl!"
Marill rolled up into a ball, hardening its body and increasing its Defense.
"And Mightyena, use Howl!"
Mightyena let out a loud howl from its mouth, increasing its Attack stat.
"Heh-heh-heh... Mightyena, use Crunch on that Marill!"
Tabitha's Mightyena leapt towards Marill with its teeth glowing a dark purple, opened and ready for biting.
"Marill, use Protect!"
Marill curled up once more, forming a blue shield in front of it. Mightyena landed in front of Marill and tried biting it, but failed each time.
'Gotta think... Protect will give out soon... Oh yeah!'
Melanie pointed at Tabitha's Mightyena. "Mightyena, use your Iron Tail!"
Her Mightyena's tail began glowing a steel/ metallic color, and with a powerful bound, her canine Pokemon slammed its tail into Tabitha's knocking it away from Marill.
"And Marill, use Defense Curl once more!"
Marill's Protect shield disappeared, and the small Pokemon curled up for a third time, increasing its Defense again.
"Oh, please... Camerupt, use Double-Edge on that pesky Mightyena!" Maxie shouted.
Camerupt began charging towards Mightyena, causing the Dark Element to run like a chicken to get away.
"Ooh... Mightyena, use Shadow Ball!"
Mightyena began forming a black, ghostly energy sphere in its mouth, and then fired it off at Camerupt, stopping the massive-in-comparison Pokemon from running any further for the moment.
"And now, Marill! Rollout!"
Marill started running rather quickly, and then ducked its head, and began rolling around the battlefield like a ball. It slammed into Tabitha's Mightyena, knocking it up into the air for a little bit, and then hit Camerupt, knocking it back a little. Marill continued rolling into Mightyena, as well as rocks and stalagmites on the cavern floor. After about two or three hits to the Dark-Type, Marill ceased rolling, now slightly bruised from its, uh... "Rampage".
"Strike!" cheered Melanie, making a victory sign with her fingers.
"Grr..." Tabitha growled, looking at his now KO'd Pokemon. "Return, Mightyena."
The dog Pokemon was recalled to his master's Poke Ball with a flash of light.
"Now, go! Magmar!"
From another Magma Ball Tabitha threw into the air materialized a Magmar.
"MAR!" it yelled.
Melanie's Marill and Mightyena vs. TM Cmdr. Tabitha's Magmar and TML Maxie's Camerupt
BATTLE COMMENCE!
"Mightyena, use Crunch on Magmar! Marill, use Surf!"
Mightyena's teeth began glowing a dark color. With a powerful jump, he landed on Magmar, biting his head and clamping down harder every second.
Marill let out a loud cry, forming a large wall of water behind it. Marill jumped on top of it, riding it into Camerupt, causing major damage, and then Magmar, both hits super effective. Mightyena had hopped off of Magmar to behind the wave in order to avoid it.
"Grr... Rotten brat. Magmar, use Fire Blast!"
Magmar breathed in a deep breath, and from its cone-shaped mouth, shot a fiery projectile with a star-shape, which slammed into Mightyena, causing several scorch marks to appear on his body.
"Mightyena! Return!" Melanie cried out, recalling her fainted Pokemon.
"You did great... Okay, now I'm serious! Let's go Sharpedo!" Melanie tossed out Sharpedo's Ball, and the Shark Pokemon appeared.
"Shar-pedo!" he growled.
Melanie's Marill and Sharpedo vs. TM Cmdr. Tabitha's Magmar and TML Maxie's Camerupt
BATTLE COMMENCE!
"Marill, use Defense Curl again!"
Marill curled into a ball, increasing its Defense yet again.
"Camerupt, use Double-Edge!"
Camerupt charged towards Marill, having orange energy streaming around it. The massive Pokemon slammed into the smaller one, making Marill fly through the air and slam into a wall, but still, it wasn't knocked out!
"What?!" Maxie growled.
"Uh, hello? He used Defense Curl, like, three times, Maxie." Melanie sweat-dropped.
"Grr..."
"Magmar, use Thunderpunch on that pesky rodent!"
Magmar began running towards Marill with its fist crackling with yellow electricity. Once close enough, the Fire Element delivered an electrified blow to Marill, knocking it into the air and down to the center of the field, finally knocking out Marill.
"Aw... Good job, Marill. Just like I'd hoped; you were long lasting... Just like my favorite bubble gum... Uh, anyway, ignoring random comical inserts, return!"
Melanie recalled Marill to his Ball, and then brought out her last Pokemon's Poke Ball... The one that had helped her out of tight spots in her pre-Aqua life... Her life in Team Aqua... And her post-Aqua life... Her very first Pokemon.
"Let's go, Swampert! I know we can beat this idiot!"
Her Swampert appeared out of the Ball, and sent a menacing glare towards Maxie and Tabitha.
'So, it still remembers how our Grunts teases Melanie and it, being so weak as a Mudkip...' Maxie thought.
Melanie's Swampert and Sharpedo vs. TM Cmdr. Tabitha's Magmar and TML Maxie's Camerupt
BATTLE COMMENCE!
"Camerupt, Earthquake!" Maxie shouted.
"Magmar, Protect!" Tabitha followed.
Magmar formed a golden barrier around itself as Camerupt began stomping the ground with its front feet rapidly, sending orange shockwave rings out in all directions. The section going towards Magmar disappeared upon contact with the Protect shield, which disappeared after, but still continued towards Swampert and Sharpedo.
"Sharpedo, counter it with Surf!"
A large water wave appeared behind Sharpedo, which hurtled towards the shockwave ring, as well as Camerupt and Magmar. However, when the two attacks met... The Earthquake ring shot under the Surf wave, so both still blasted towards their other targets.
"Wha...?" Melanie said, clearly dumbfounded. "Grr... Swampert, use Earthquake to counter theirs!"
Swampert punched the ground with his two fists, causing a second ring to shoot out in all directions.
"Sharpedo, use Protect!"
Just as the shockwave was about to hit, Sharpedo protected itself from damage with a golden energy shield. However, the two Earthquakes hit, causing a loud rumble to echo throughout the cave. But at least Maxie's quake had been stopped.
Meanwhile, Surf had made its way to Magmar and Camerupt, delivering powerful, super-effective blows to their HP, instantly causing the two to faint.
"No! Magmar!" Tabitha exclaimed through gritted teeth.
"Relax, Tabitha..." Maxie smirked. "I have a Pokemon I'm certain that can't be defeated... With it and Groudon, we will be unstoppable!"
Melanie simply scoffed as Camerupt and Magmar were recalled. "What could you have, Maxie, that would make me scared?"
Maxie's smirk darkened, and he pulled out a strange-looking Poke Ball from inside his coat. It was completely brown, with black lining the center to tell where the enlargement button and middle split were. It had a black mountain M in the top center, and had an H symbol on the lower center, made of seven yellow Braille-like dots...
"Hmm...?" Melanie questioned with a grunt.
"Heh-heh-heh... Melanie, meet my special Pokemon..." Maxie tossed the strange-looking Ball into the center of the battlefield, and the dark brown light that erupted from it took a slightly humanoid-like form...
"My pretty, meet..."
The form began to shape itself to look slightly like a large-headed, tall man with muscular arms and small legs, in a way.
Maxie began to laugh evilly. "MEET REGIROCK!!!"
The form was now colored; it took the form of the Rock Element Rock Peak Legendary: Regirock. It had a large, light-brown head with the same H on its center forehead as its Poke Ball, orange shoulders made of rock, rocky, segmented arms with a large rock at the ends for a hand/ fist, four pillars of orange color sprouting from its back, and small legs.
For speech, Regirock's H's Braille dots flashed a light yellow, also making a rapid, robotic beeping noise.
"Here we go, guys... We're taking on a Legendary Pokemon!" Melanie said to her two faithful Pokemon, who nodded and grunted in reply.
The three prepared for battle... Two tough Water Elements versus a strong Rock Element Legendary.
'You're going down, you ignorant twit.' Maxie thought, smirking evilly.
'You're going down, Maxie!' Melanie thought, growling in her anger...
PM: CLIFFHANGER! I'm sorry it took so long; but my mother has become a computer hog, taking up all of my time playing a computer card game. REVIEW!