Pokémon: Hoenn Travels.

-The Important Stuff:-

1) I am not at all affiliated with Game Freak nor Nintendo, or any other companies that write/produce Pokémon.

2) I do not own any part of Pokémon.

-A Waiver:-

1) This is not a direct steal from anything already Pokémon-related that exists, not the show or a game or a novel/book. It is my own creation, therefore I may bend the rules a little bit to fit my needs.

2) The names of Professors, Gym Leaders, and Cities were taken from Ruby Version.

Chapter Eighteen:

Misdirection

I had assumed from Winona's behavior that she was going to whisk us away to somewhere more private where no one could stumble into our conversation and interrupt us. Instead, she brought us to a seemingly popular café. We took seats on a patio, which was covered by the bright green, leafy canopy of the branches above us.

"Team Magma," Winona mused as we sat, sipping light, fruity drinks. I had to bite my lower lip to keep from giggling at Doug. After taking his first sip, his entire expression changed into a disgusted scowl. He set the cup back down and pushed it away from him. "Norman was expressing his concern for their effect on the trainers of our region."

"Do you share the concern?" I asked her.

Winona tilted her head to the side and her shoulders lifted slightly, the movement barely discernible. "I didn't at first."

"What changed?" Doug inquired now.

A frown formed across Winona's sharp, but pretty features. She reached toward a bag at her feet, pulling out a stack of papers. "These started popping up around Fortree."

Doug and I both reached for the stack, taking a sheet off the top. I pulled it to my face. It was another flyer. "Do you want the truth about the Pokémon Trainer's Challenge?" Doug read off from the poster.

"Come to Lilycove City," I continued reading, it seemed all the posters were the same. "And Team Magma will reveal the truth."

Winona was shaking her head. "I don't know how many made it into the hands of impressionable young trainers, but I ordered my bird Pokémon to scour the city and bring me every single one that they could find."

"There's no date," Doug growled. "For all we know the event already happened."

"None of the flyers have had dates," I reminded him. "We have been guessing since day one."

"There were other flyers?"

"Some were handed out in Oldale and Petalburg, calling trainers to Rustboro and promising them a big, group battle," I explained to the gym leader when she asked.

"In Rustboro, we didn't know about the event while we were there, but we came across another Magma handing out a new set of posters. It was calling trainers to Slateport, for a meeting with Magma to talk about what they were referring to as a 'Pokémon adventure'." Doug's eyes were still on the Fortree poster as he spoke.

"Rustboro, Slateport, and Lilycove," Winona murmured. "Well, they are all major hubs, that would ensure that Team Magma gets their message to large number of young, impressionable trainers."

"But what is their message?" Doug asked, slapping the flyer down on the table top ahead of him. His untouched drink sloshed over the edge of the cup with his harsh movement.

"I don't think they care about their message, Champion," Winona calmly said to him. "I think it's about getting trainers to locations that they want them in."

I mulled over her words in my mind, she had a point.

"Why though?" Doug wasn't as convinced.

"I don't know, to maybe see the number of trainers that they are interesting? See the number of Pokémon being acquired by said trainers?"

"Why would Magma need an insurmountable number of other trainers' Pokémon?" As the question came to me, I asked Doug and Winona both.

"I could guess many theories," Winona offered. "Perhaps they're attempting to find a legendary Pokémon, or perhaps they want safety against Team Aqua, or maybe it is as simple as strength in numbers for their criminal activity. Granted, they have been quiet for a while, but before you got here, they were an unstoppable force. They raided the Rustboro Department Store, nearly caused it bankruptcy. They gutted the Lilycove Museum, destroying priceless artifacts. They even infiltrated the Weather Institute not far from here, thinking that they could control the weather."

"You think all of this is just to bolster their strength?" Doug shook the flyer.

"I don't know what the purpose of it is, Mr. Evergreen," she admitted with a heavy sigh. "But I am saying that knowing Team Magma as I do, seeing their proclivities firsthand, I know they don't need a reason to behave poorly. That's just what they do."

Doug rubbed his hand across his mouth, falling silent as he continued to stare at the poster requesting trainers to Lilycove City. "We don't even know when this is supposed to take place. We probably missed this one too," he finally muttered.

"I doubt it," Winona assured him. "The posters just started going up yesterday, I was still pulling them down this morning." Doug's eyes were on Winona's face, then immediately to mine. I held his stare. "I would say you two need to get to Lilycove."

"What's the fastest way?" Doug asked her.

She pointed off to her left. "Straight down Route 121."

Lilycove City was a beautiful coastal town, with modern buildings and a perfect, warm sea breeze flowing through the streets. Had I not been worried about yet again missing an opportunity of finding out Team Magma's plan, it would have been the perfect place to relax.

I could sense the same trepidation in Doug. We both had immediate focus on our surroundings as soon as we approached the city. Now that we were in the midst of businesses and homes alike, our concentration grew stronger still.

"At least there isn't a gym here," I commented as we made it to the far edge of the town and were now overlooking the coastline. Gentle waves cascaded into the shore, the sound inviting.

"I'm glad there isn't," Doug muttered. "I don't care if we get the last two badges or not. I am so damn frustrated with this whole thing, I just want to know what Team Magma is up to."

"I'm right there with you."

"Where do you think this truth talk is going to take place?" Doug turned away from the beach and his eyes searched the streets extending out into the city behind us.

I took a slow breath as I turned to face the same way he was. In Lilycove, there was the museum, the mart and center for trainers, and a harbor. There was one place I could imagine a lecture taking place. "The motel? Maybe it has a conference room."

"Seems a little public, doesn't it?" Doug glanced over at me. "All of this has been so secretive and vague."

"Vague is right," I sighed loudly. "Did we miss something on the flyer?"

Doug twisted his backpack to his front and rifled around in it. He found all three flyers that we had collected; they were folded together. He handed them off to me and I pulled the Lilycove sheet forward.

Although the words had grabbed our attention first, I stared at the image on the page now. It clearly showed a shoreline at night, waves pounding against the sand. However, in this image, at the far end of the shoreline, I could see an opening of a cave. I also realized it didn't seem to be a drawing, but a photograph that had been enlarged.

I pursed my lips, spinning to face the coast again. I held the poster up in front of me, blocking my view of the beach, and then dropped it. I repeated it several times, tracing up the coastline as I went. After my fourth lift and then drop, I froze, my eyes landing on a rock formation far north of where Doug and I stood.

I stared at the rock formation, lifting the flyer again to cover my line of sight. I slowly lowered it, the photograph was similar enough to the actual shore that it didn't feel like a coincidence.

"Doug," I said, my voice wary.

I felt him spin to face me. "What?"

I pointed out across the beach and at the rock formation. I held the flyer out to him as I continued to gesture. "Am I seeing things or should we head in that direction?"

Doug stared at the image for a quiet moment, and then in the direction I was still pointing. "Let's go."

We found a nearby set of stairs that lead down onto the beach, and then started the trek across the sand and toward the rocky outcroppings. Arriving at our location, we ducked in and out of the towering stones, trying to find a cave entrance, hidden or obvious. Twenty minutes of searching and we had no luck.

"More eyes," Doug suggested, releasing Phantom who had been in his pokéball in an effort to expedite our travels to Lilycove. I followed suit, releasing Luma as well.

We quickly explained the situation to them before they took off away from us, trying to locate the difficult entrance. As more and more time passed, I could feel my hope waning and had to assume Doug's was too.

"I don't think its here, Rowan," I heard him hiss loudly.

Rowan.

Luma's voice in my head caused me to forget my reply to Doug. Yes?

Someone is coming up behind us. She leapt out from behind some rocks and hurried to my side as I spun to see what she was sensing.

And sure enough, there was a young man slowly approaching us, suspiciously watching our actions.

"Doug," I tried to subtly call for him. He didn't respond.

However, after a moment, he appeared at my side anyways. I had to assume that Luma had alerted him as she had alerted me.

"Afternoon," the man was calling as he grew neared. His voice was friendly. I quickly sized him up; he was wearing khaki shorts and a polo shirt that was bright red in color. I noticed a small, black pin secured to his collar, in the shape of a 'M'. I could feel my skin crawling. He also had a belt with pokéballs in place around his hips.

"Hello," I politely responded to his greeting when Doug didn't.

"You guys, uh, looking for something?"

I glanced up at Doug, his eyes were glued to the stranger. I returned my attention to him. "Nope, just visiting the area."

A smile immediately came across his face. "No offense, but I know that's a lie."

"How?" Doug spat at him.

"Well, first of all, I know who you are Champion." The grin grew as Doug's expression darkened. The stranger waved to me. "I even know about your little schoolteacher."

"Who are you?" Doug took an aggressive step forward, his fists clenching. Phantom was immediately in front of him, his back arched and a low growl emanating from him. He was ready to defend Doug however he could.

The man took a step backwards, holding his hands up defensively. "Honestly, no one important. I wanted to offer you some help."

"Help with what?" The tenseness of Doug's body didn't change.

"With what you're looking for," the man explained. "Whoever sent you here, sent you in the wrong direction."

"How do you know that?" I asked now.

His smile shifted to me. "I just know. Would you like to know where you should be going?"

"Where?"

"Mossdeep. There's a man who lives there, his name is Kevin. He's a scientist for the Space Center, but he has another vocational path that I think will interest you. You should pursue him." The man was still holding his hands up and he slowly started to back up. He maintained eye contact with Doug and I until he was quite some distance from us. He then spun on his heels and walked away from us at a casual pace.

Doug didn't relax until the man was off the beach and out of eyesight. He turned to face me. "Did you see his pin?" He immediately asked me.

"A black M."

"For Magma."