Foundations of the World

by 50caliberchaos

Hoenn lays broken, reeling from civil war and suffocating beneath the tyrannical grip of warlords who rampage across the land. To this shattered country May, Wallace, and their allies bring a message of hope. But can May's idealism survive the realities of war? Can Wallace survive his disease? Fate has them set on a collision course with monsters, gods, and perhaps even each other.

5. May - Chapter 2 - First Strike

May – Chapter Two – First Strike

One wave splashing over the next as the tide gradually rolled in, the bubbling and stirring of white foam all around, the sound of the ocean more than drowned out the noise of the little rowboat cutting slowly through the water as it made its way towards land. From her seat on the bench in the middle of the boat, May looked to the dark sky, lit only as it was by the myriad stars reflecting off the tossed surface of the sea and the thinnest sliver of the waning silver moon. She turned her gaze down and pulled her hood and cloak, both the color of the sea all around her, a bit tighter about her frame. Nevertheless, the falling starlight caught the edges of her pearl armor, glinting off the cream-colored plates and their gold trimmings.

Glancing back to the west while her tiny boat floated east, May watched as the last glimpses of her flotilla, every light extinguished, disappeared behind the horizon. She wrapped her fingers around the grip of the sword hanging at her hip, repeatedly squeezing the handle tightly and then releasing her icy hold on it for several minutes. Sighing and looking again to the east, she stared as hard as she could into the darkness. Nevertheless, the midnight gloom obscured any hint of the land towards which her companions rowed. Leaning to her left, May nudged Odin with her elbow, stirring the youth from his dozing. "How can you sleep at a time like this?" asked the savant.

Stretching and yawning, opening one green eye halfway through the exercise to look at his commander, Odin shrugged. "How can you not?" he asked. "It's midnight and we won't land on Route 104 until almost two. Sleep is the only responsible thing to be doing," he paused and looked around at six other trainers in the boat, each encased from head to toe in Team Rocket's finest composite armor. "Besides, from the beach to Petalburg," he slowed as if to think, "we should make it to the city well before sunrise, just like you want."

Again May sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "You're not taking this nearly seriously enough," she said, her words almost hidden beneath her breath.

Odin closed his eyes and pulled his cloak over himself to stave off the midnight chill. "With all respect princess," he groaned in return, "I think you're taking this far too seriously, in case you- Ow!" he yelped as May smacked the back of her hand below his waist, mere centimeters above a delicate target and filling the air with the crack of armor striking armor.

Grinning, May turned back forward. "That didn't hurt," she said. "Don't be a baby. And never say I'm taking things too seriously. Petalburg was my home," she said somberly as her smile melted away, "the seat of my family's power. Taking it back isn't a matter I can take seriously enough," she looked to her right and her left, spotting the twelve other rowboats carrying the ninety other trainers and soldiers slicing through the waves towards land.

Still guarding his nether regions with his hands, Odin stood and relieved one of the Rocket trainers from rowing, taking her spot and working the oar. "Whatever you say princess," he muttered.

The next several hours slipped into oblivion without incident. May and Odin watched as a dark mass rose over the horizon and gradually took the shape of a long and winding beach, dotted with countless boulders. Farther back from the beach and illuminated only barely by the stars overhead, the treeline of a massive forest rose into the sky, stretching as far in either direction as any of the trainers in the rowboats could see. Their approach silenced by the surf and masked by the dozens of boulders jutting out of the water and the sand, May's thirteen boats struck the beach and instantly the trainers thereon jumped into the water and dragged the boats ashore. Lashing the little vessels to the rocks, the trainers secured the boats behind only the biggest stones to ensure that casual observation from the trees would not spot them.

While the majority of the figures on the beach saw to the boats, May and Odin walked towards the treeline as several hooded figures emerged from the forest and signalled them with small lanterns. The captain and his commander met the new arrivals, the former reaching out and shaking hands with one of the hooded spies as May asked how their mission to scout the city went. One of the figures robed in black pulled open her cloak and produced a roll of paper, offering it to May and conversing with the savant for a moment in hushed whispers. After a few more brief exchanges May, Odin, and the spies returned to the rocks dotting the beach where the trainers and soldiers had finished securing the boats.

Taking a pokeball from her belt, May threw it to the ground and stepped back as the ball snapped open, releasing a flood of white light that whirled around a central core and quickly coalesced into the shape of a humanoid standing about a meter tall. Stepping out of the light and stomping the sand with its three-toed, taloned foot to signal its arrival, May's Combusken opened its beak and squawked. Walking forward, May patted the Pokémon behind its head before reaching to close its beak. She snapped her fingers and immediately the bipedal Pokémon shook out its feathers, puffing up and beginning to glow with just the intensity of a few candles.

Working with the new light, Odin stepped forward as the other trainers formed half a circle around him. "Alright team leaders, listen up a minute," said the sandy-haired youth, producing a rolled paper from between his cloak and his black armor, opening it up to reveal a map as he knelt in the sand to display it to the handful of leading trainers stepping out of the ranks to listen. "Petalburg's home to about thirty-thousand permanent residents so it's not the smallest settlement in the region but it isn't the biggest either: a nice, soft target." He looked to May.

Stepping forward, the girl in white armor cleared her throat and knelt in the sand by the map. "Currently a warlord by the name of Maxie and his so-called 'Team Magma' control the city by maintaining occupation of a few key points." She tapped the map of the city with one finger. "Here," she said, "is the water-treatment plant. It's a leftover from Hoenn's brighter days and supplies Petalburg with fresh water it purifies from the bog-water pumped in from the Petalburg woods. If we're going to take control of the city then capturing the treatment center is absolutely vital." May looked up to the group of trainers and soldiers around her. "Miscarcot," she nodded to one particularly large man wearing four pokeballs at his belt and an enormous sword at his back.

The soldier straightened up, his spikey black hair moving with the whipping breeze blowing across the beach. "Milady," he acknowledged.

Again May tapped the treatment plant on the vellum before her. "You and your team will be responsible for seizing the plant. Keep collateral damage to an absolute minimum. My team and I," she looked back down on the map, "will take the gym. Thanks to Odin's spy work we know Magma is using it as their headquarters as well as for a storehouse for all of the food shipped in from the nearby manors. Odin's surveillance also suggested that the gym is where Team Magma stores the taxes they collect from Petalburg, Oldale, and Littleroot before shipping them via Route 104 to their headquarters in Rustboro. If we can capture both points simultaneously then we'll control the food, the water, and a ton of cash while Team Magma's cells in Oldale and Petalburg will be cut off from their most ready source of reinforcements.

"Once the town is ours" May's grin widened, "we'll be moving the ships to the shore and anchoring more permanently along Route 104 so I want every team captain to have a messenger ready to dispatch back to the flotilla. From there we can use the flotilla as our command center and Petalburg as our forward staging area to hit Oldale and then Littleroot while we ready to strike at Rustboro within the fortnight. Crippling Rustboro's docks will mean Team Magma will have to send its forces the long way around to reinforce any of their south-eastern forces. Even better, controlling 104 will mean that Magma's western territories will be cut in half and cut off from one another. We'll have no problem surrounding and destroying the weaker cells east of our position while their forces in the north will be helpless to send reinforcements. Everyone clear?" May's voice rose at the question as each of her team leaders saluted and voiced their affirmation.

Looking from face to face amongst the trainers surrounding her, May stood up and took a step back to address the force before her. "Everyone," she called out louder than before and garnering the attention of not only the team leaders but all her men on the beach, pausing as all eyes fell on her. "Before we go any farther I have just a few short things I need to tell all of you," she glanced first at Odin who offered a reassuring grin and then back at her troops. "First of all, thank you, to each and every one of you. It's been a long, harsh journey from Kanto to this moment and you all have my deepest thanks for volunteering to make the trek and help me take back my homeland. However I want you to know that this operation is about so much more than birthrights. Hoenn is a broken land, shattered by years of civil war and we, all of us, are here to put an end to the conflict, to the suffering afflicting millions of people who never asked for their home to tear itself apart." The young woman's fist clenched tight and her leather glove creaked beneath her grip. "These Aquan and Magman warbands, they're nothing but mobs of brigands posing as rightful rulers and occupying a land that can never heal under the usurped authority of these would-be dictators. Today we strike the first blow in a fight that will see Hoenn liberated from the whims of these tyrants. And when Hoenn is free," May went on, a smile crossing her face as though she could picture her force's victory, "when the people look up to see who saved them, it will be all of you standing before them. So no matter how hard the fight gets, no matter how much is asked of us, we have to stand strong, for them," May gestured towards the trees and the city of Petalburg beyond, beginning to pace back and forth before her men, "for the innocent people who don't even know they're counting on us to save them. So take a minute, catch your breath and get a bite to eat. We're on the road in ten," she trailed off as every soldier present stood at attention, threw back their shoulders, and clapped their fist against their chest in salute.

Stepping forward as the assembly began to break up and quiet conversations between commanders and their men rose over the drone of the surf, Odin took his place beside May and smiled. "Not a bad speech," he said, staring straight ahead as the soldiers all around conformed their orders and roles amongst one another.

Shaking her head, May looked over to him. "I'm crap at giving inspirational speeches," she said, only a slight fall in her tone hinting at her disappointment in her performance.

"The men seemed to like it," Odin answered. "Besides, they're here because you and Ketchum inspired them to be here. Every soldier on this beach and back on those boats volunteered to help you take Hoenn because they know it's the right thing to do and they want to help these people." Odin trailed off but took a breath and turned to May. "Well, a few of them I'm sure are here for adventure and plunder, but I'm here to help," his green eyes reflected the hint of silver moonlight.

Reaching over and putting a hand on the young captain's arm, May nodded. "And I appreciate it, thank you," she said. "Come on," she gestured with the map towards the soldiers on the beach. "No harm in going over the details with everyone one more time."

Once everyone had been briefed on the details of their roles in the coming strike May rolled the vellum map back into a tight cylinder and handed it to Odin before turning her back on the gathered trainers and soldiers and walking a few yards away from her force. She stood on the edge of the surf and looked out over the dark sea, her eyes flitting along the horizon as she sank deeper and deeper into her thoughts. Odin meanwhile walked amongst the assembled Rockets as they broke out rations and canned meals from their packs, hunkering down on the beach and preparing for a quick meal before departing. The youth spotted May standing by herself, sighed, and waked up beside her.

Clearing his throat to get her attention, Odin folded his hands behind his back and looked westward with his commander. "Nervous?" he asked quietly.

Pressing her lips into a fine line, May held her hands up before her face, watching silently a moment as her fingers twitched and shook before she balled them into two tight fists. "I was thinking… it's been more than ten years since I was home," she said beneath her breath. "When I was Professor Elm's apprentice not a day went by that I didn't dream of coming back and taking what's rightfully my family's. But now that I'm here," she stopped short.

Smiling and looking down, Odin dug the toe of his heavy boot into the sand. "Now that you're here you're not sure you'll be able to pull it off. You look at that map and it occurs to you just how much ground there will be to cover and just how hard it will be to control it all."

Still staring at the point far away where the sky met the sea, May took a deep breath and nodded. "Am I that easy to read?" she asked.

Odin smirked. "It only means that you're not insane," he answered. "Honestly I'd be worried if you weren't nervous."

"It's not that I," May trailed off, both looking over and reaching over to put a hand on her second-in-command's shoulder. "Thanks again," she said. "I really mean it."

Nodding, Odin put one hand in the pouch hanging at his hip. "Your men all have faith in you, ma'am," he said. "I have faith in you." Drawing from his pack a small bundle of silvery white flowers, Odin held the little plants up between himself and May. "If it's not too bold," he said as May's eyes fell on the flowers, "I've had the utmost faith in you since we first met on the docks back in Pallet Town."

May stammered a brief moment, her cheeks turning visibly pinker even in the gloom as she looked between her subordinate and the flowers. "Odin I," she searched for words. "I don't know, we, I mean us, the mission," she went on. "This is hardly the time or the place," she managed at length to string the sentence together.

Bobbing his head in agreement and shrugging, Odin dropped his hands to his sides. "I know, forgive me," he answered. "I just wanted to at least throw it out there. I mean with tomorrow and the mission coming up so fast," he paused. "It's going to be dangerous and I didn't know if there would be an opportunity in the near future, or at all really so I just wanted you to be aware," again he paused as May looked up at him without an answer or any real expression on her features. "I'll shut up now," his face fell as he turned away.

May opened her lips to speak and raised a hand for him, but the words died in her mouth and she failed to make contact as Odin took a few steps towards the rest of the trainers on the beach. "Odin, wait," she blurted, too quietly to be heard by anyone other than her intended despite the urgency permeating her words. She followed after him as the youth stopped and turned to face her, her own features shifting between a mask of uncertainty and a wide, almost beaming smile as she reached forward and took the silvery flowers from his hand. "They're beautiful," she said. "Simbelmyne has always been my favorite. Thank you," she held the flowers up to her nose and took a deep breath. "It only grows around Petalburg and even there it's rare. Where did you find any?"

His face lighting up, Odin shrugged and moved to drop his hands into his pockets, only to discover that his armor in fact possessed no pockets. "While I was scouting Petalburg and meeting our informants a couple of those Team Magma goons caught onto me and chased me out of the city," he kept speaking even as May's expression evolved from pleasantly surprised to shocked. "I lost them by diving into a ditch filled with tall grass and these were growing along the edge of the ditch. I thought you might like them," he grinned.

"You didn't mention you were chased by Magma personnel," May said flatly beneath her breath, looking beyond Odin at the rest of her party as they ate.

The young captain's grin widened and he glanced about. "That's because it didn't happen," he said with a laugh. "It's good to know you care though."

Her face flashing from pink to red, May shoved the flowers against Odin's breastplate, sending a spray of petals into his face before storming by him. "You're impossible," she huffed as Odin, recovering from the force of the blow, turned to follow her.

"Wait," Odin whispered after May. "Commander, I was out of line. I'm sorry." He stopped, almost skidding along the sand as May planted her feet and turned on him.

Her arms folded across her chest met and held his gaze. "Let's get one thing straight," she said. "This mission is bigger than you, it's bigger than me, it's bigger than anything or anyone and I will tolerate no behavior that places any facet of our job here at risk. That includes your eternally plucky nature. Am I clear?" Again she waited as Odin nodded. "Good," she walked forward, closing the distance between them to less than a full step. "Now, completely off the record," she reached for the remains of the flowers that Odin had managed to capture and took them in her hand, "once Petalburg is mine," she trailed off and looked down at the silvery blooms of the simbelmyne, "well, these are the most beautiful flowers anyone's ever given me. Bring me some more and I'll need to thank you somehow."

Visibly perking up, Odin bowed as May walked by him back to the rest of the gathered trainers. Putting two fingers between her lips, May loosed a whistle, drawing everyone's attention. "Alright everyone, break's over. We all know our roles so let's get to it. Hoods up!"

SC

Sitting in the branches of a particularly large oak tree, looking down the slope of the hill from her vantage point, May scanned the northern border of the city of Petalburg through a pair of high-powered binoculars. Spotting the city's gym in an instant the young savant took several minutes to survey the building, its fenced-in grounds, and the surrounding streets. In the predawn gloom the city's roads lay empty, submerged in a thick mist lingering at waist height, and only a handful of lit windows broke up the otherwise uniformly dark mass of the town. Counting only two guards cloaked in red and orange, one on the gym's roof and the other patrolling the perimeter of the grounds, May hopped down from the tree and into the opaque mist filling the forests north of Petalburg.

Looking around at the thirty-five trainers hunkered in the mist with only their heads and shoulders remaining visible, May put away her binoculars and pointed down towards the gym. "Two hostiles, one on the roof, one walking the fence," she said curtly. "Simon, Frederick," May motioned to two of the Rocket trainers who, with their matching red hair, blue eyes, and identical facial features could have easily passed for twins, "I want them taken down silently. Wait until the rest of us are within fifty yards of the fence, then mount up and fly in for the kills."

Both brothers saluted and nodded in unison. "Yes milady," they answered as one.

Turning to Odin for only a moment before turning to face the city to the south, the sandy haired youth smiling to her reassuringly, May raised a fist, opened her hand above her head, and motioned forward. Ducking into the mist, May set off for the gym, her white and gold armor blending invisibly into the surround. Behind and beside the commander, her three dozen escorts strode silently forward, their boots falling without a sound into the muffling wet grass and their grey cloaks disappearing into the morning haze.

As the platoon of trainers neared the fence cordoning off the gym's grounds and May spotted the Magma sentry on the roof turning to face south, the young savant turned to the twins behind her and gave them a thumbs up. Instantly the redheaded Simon and Fredrick drew pokeballs from their belts and great folded sheets of canvas from their packs. Throwing the pokeballs to the ground, both trainers stepped between the ensuing flashes of white energy and the gym and threw up their arms, dropping tall curtains of canvas down on the materializing Pokémon to completely absorb the telltale display. As the glow faded from beneath the edges of the canvas, the brothers whipped away the heavy blankets and swung themselves into the saddles of their eagerly awaiting twin Fearow.

May turned back to the gym and, raising her hand as a signal, drew a pokeball from her belt. All the trainers around her drew pokeballs from their belts and followed their commander silently forward as Simon and Frederic spurred their mounts and took to the skies. Shooting like a volley of arrows into the gloom, the two brothers climbed to well over a hundred feet above the gym in the time it took for May's forces to close half the distance to the fence. Signaling their mounts, both brothers leaned forward and wrapped their arms around their Fearows' necks as the massive flighted Pokémon tucked their wings to their bodies and dove from the sky like a pair of falling spears.

May whistled to a trainer beside her who charged forward and threw his pokeball to the ground. Just as the little orb struck the ground and split open, the young commander looked up and saw the Magman soldier on the roof glance skyward a second too late to see the descending Fearow. As the huge bird snatched him up in its talons and snapped its wings open to change its course and level off with the ground it stabbed forward with its beak and impaled the sentry through his unarmored neck before the man could so much as scream. As that Fearow opened its talons and loosed the slain sentry on a trajectory that would carry his body well outside the gym's grounds, the second Fearow dropped out of the sky, landing like a boulder on the guard on the ground, opening its wings wide, slashing with its talons, and stabbing with its razor sharp beak. Reducing the sentry to an eviscerated mass of disconnected limbs in no way identifiable as human, the massive bird landed softly and began pecking at the meat below it despite its rider's futilely tugging on the reins to pull the bird away.

Turning her gaze back to the ground as she and her followers closed on the fence, May watched as the man beside her, a Rhyhorn springing to life from the pokeball he threw to the ground, charged ahead and leapt onto the Pokémon's stony back. Spurring his mount into a full sprint, the Rocket trainer rode the beast straight to the edge of the fence surrounding the gym and, the instant prior to impacting the barrio, leapt from the Pokémon's back and landed in the wet grass as the Rhyhorn tore through the wooden planks before it like a mace crushing through balsa.

With only a grunt as it broke through the fence, the Rhyhorn charged onto the gym's grounds, smashing open a passage some ten feet across through which May's forces, led by the savant herself, flooded into the restricted zone. Without shouts or cries the three dozen trainers surrounded the stone and timber building and rushed forward to the handful of doors lining the structure, each and every present trainer throwing no fewer than two pokeballs to the ground. As dozens of pillars of white light roared to life and died, as many Pokémon appeared, ready to storm the gym.

Reaching the gym's exterior wall, May threw herself against the stone and peered through one of the plate glass doors leading into the structure. Spotting no one within the brightly lit hall beyond, she turned back to the trainers behind her, namely the two standing beside a pair of hulking Machoke, snapped her fingers, and pointed to the door. The pair of trainers relayed the order to their Pokémon and the Machoke both stepped forward. Reaching for the door they pressed their muscled fingers between the reinforced glass doors and the stone walls, carving out little trenches as they did so and readied their grips. Meanwhile May's other trainer teams took their positions at the remaining doors, their Pokémon ready and waiting on the order as the young commander raised her fist over her head.

A gentle breeze blew across the open grounds of the Petalburg Gym, moving through the ranks of trainers with just enough force to toss May's tight ponytail to one side as it reached her, her armored hand balled into a fist and held above her head. Taking a single deep breath to steady herself, May blinked once and signaled her troops.

Instantly the Machokes beside her heaved back, pulling the heavy doors from the walls, their hinges popping with metallic shrieks and offering no resistance whatsoever before the muscled Pokémon. May motioned forward and without hesitation Odin and his team of five trainers and five times as many Pokémon charged into the gym, followed immediately by May and her team. Simultaneously the Rocket teams at the other entrances breached their doors and charged into the building, drawing their weapons and fragmenting into smaller groups that stormed individual doors and corridors.

Seconds after Odin's team breached the gym, cries of shock and terror erupted from within the walls, accompanied by bellowed orders for everyone to get on the ground with their hands on their heads. Similar screams and identical orders went up room by room as May's forces flooded through the gym, tearing through every barrier before them, rounding up any enemy combatant, and continuing on with neither hesitation or loss of momentum.

Leading the charge as their teams splintered away to maintain control of the gym and keep the growing number of prisoners under control, May, Odin, and one other trainer bearing Team Rocket's black and red composite armor, reached what the two commanders both guessed to be the gym's deepest chamber. Sectioned off and protected as it was by a tall door constructed of heavy timbers and reinforced by a wooden portcullis, the chamber May guessed must contain the treasures and taxes Team Magma collected from the surrounding country.

May looked to her Combusken and nodded to the door as Odin turned to his Houndoom and did the same. Clearing his throat, Odin patted his canine Pokémon behind its horns. "Burn it down," he said, as calm as May had ever heard him.

Sucking in a deep breath and lowering its horned head almost to the ground, the Houndoom leapt forward, opened its jaws wide, and belched forth a wave of boiling liquid fire that impacted the door like water striking a stone, rolling between the bars of the portcullis and filling in every gap and crevice the wooden structure presented. Charging the door, May's Combusken jumped into the air, its every talon on both feet bursting into flame as it spun through the air and slammed into the door. Spinning like a top the Combusken ripped and tore at the door and the portcullis, working in conjunction with Houndoom's infernal attack and reducing the barrier to a pile of flaming splinters in seconds.

Turning to the third trainer accompanying them as the door fell apart, May motioned for him to stay behind. "Wait here and make sure no one from Magma sneaks up on us," she ordered calmly.

Standing up straight and saluting, the Rocket trainer inclined his head. "Yes ma'am," he answered, turning about and facing down the hallway with his Ariados as May, Odin, and their Pokémon stepped over the flaming debris, the fire jumping up to ineffectually lick at their armor as they walked calmly into the massive chamber beyond.

Looking about, May took a deep breath, noting first the sand filled and stone lined ring in the center of the room, the benches and bleachers lining its walls, and the massively thick skylight set in the ceiling and both supported and protected by dozens of iron bars, each more than three fingers thick. "My father's chambers," she muttered, only then turning her attention on the man standing opposite her on the other side of the sandy ring, his figure only barely illuminated by the skylight and the single gas lamp on the north wall.

Towering at least six and a half feet tall, robed in a heavy cloak dyed red and gold, the Magman trainer stood flanked by a pair of Slugma, and an Armaldo. He looked up from the sand before him at the pair of intruders, folding his hands behind his back as he stepped forward, the thick "M" branded across his face catching the starlight filtering in from the overhead skylight. "Who are you?" he spoke with exceptional calm, each word ringing with perfect clarity. "And what are you doing in my city, in my gym?"

May stepped ahead of her partner, walking down the slight incline to the clear side of the enormous sand ring. "I am May Haruka," she called out, "daughter of Norman, and heir to Petalburg. I'm here to liberate my people and take back my city. Now, Magman," she paused and looked over the trainer before her, "surrender, and you'll be shown mercy!"

Smirking, the man on the other side of the ring tossed his head to shake his long blonde hair out of his face. "The name's Blaise, by the way but not that you asked," he bowed low and mockingly, opening his arms up as he did so. Straightening back up he looked across the ring at his opponent. "It's an honor to meet you, at long last. I'd heard rumors that the Princess of Petalburg, Hoenn's Heir, had been found, spotted far to the west, but never would I have guessed she would stand before me in my own gym."

"My gym," May called back to him, resting one hand on the grip of the sheathed sword hanging from her belt. Behind her the gym shook as the sounds of battle wafted into the chamber, accompanied by the smell of sulphur and blood. "As we speak my men are rounding up the last of you occupying filth and taking control of the rest of the city. You've lost Blaise. Petalburg is mine."

As Blaise shook his head again and brandished a wickedly curved knife and a black pokeball, Odin walked forward and stood beside May, flanked by his Houndoom and carrying another pokeball in each hand. "May," he said just loud enough to be heard on the other side of the ring as he looked to the Magman trainer opposite him. "Please, let me have the honor of removing this usurper from your sight."

Hesitating only a moment, May turned to her subordinate and nodded. "Go for it," she said, taking a few steps back and letting Odin take up position on the clear side of the sandy ring.

Throwing the two other pokeballs to the ground, Odin locked his attention on the trainer opposite him as the whirling pyres of light on his either side gradually took shape as two forms. From the blinding maelstroms leapt an Umbreon and a Sneasel, both silent and looking up first at their trainer and then across the ring before them at the three other Pokémon and the Magman soldier. "Care to get started?" he called out.

Blaise threw his head back and laughed a moment, his Pokémon closing in around him as he did. "You must think I'm an idiot," he chortled, regaining his composure. "Like the little cunt says, my men are being taken prisoner and Petalburg is yours." He grinned wide and saluted mockingly. "Until next time then. Smokescreen!" He shouted the order at the top of his lungs.

Odin stabbed one hand forward. "Flame thrower!" he yelled to his Houndoom just as both of Blaise's Slugma erupted in thick clouds of completely opaque smoke.

The black clouds rushed outwards, joining into a single choking smokescreen that filled the room and blotted out all sight. An instant later a line of red fire tore through the smoke, impacting nothing but illuminating a number of both humanoid and animal shapes in the gloom for a split second, just as another four whirling white nimbuses of light appeared and dissipated next to where Blaise had previously stood.

May sucked in a breath in shock, the smoke filling and burning her lungs, prompting her eyes to water and her chest to spasm in protest. Dropping to her knees as the whole room shook and a thunderous boom filled her ears, the young savant heard the order go up behind her. "Fearow, use gust! Clear the smoke!" shouted a familiar voice.

A great wind blasted through the room then, whirling the smoke about and gradually clearing it out, forcing the opaque soot, May noticed, through both the open door behind her and through the great hole blasted through the wall behind where Blaise had stood only a moment before. As the smokescreen cleared, she looked about and saw Odin a few yards ahead of her and both Simon and his Fearow behind her. Blaise, she noted, was nowhere in sight.

Odin swore under his breath, returned his Umbreon and Sneasel to their pokeballs, and stepped up beside May as Simon made his way down the wide stairs to where his commanders stood. Bowing, the redheaded trainer looked between both May and Odin. "The gym is ours," he declared, a wide and jubilant smile on his face. "And Miscarcot sent a runner from the water treatment plant. They've driven the Magman garrison there from their post." he paused and stood up. "The city is yours ma'am, congratulations."

May sighed and closed her eyes, an exceptionally small grin forming on her features. "Good work," she said, opening her eyes reaching out, putting one hand on Odin's shoulder and one on Simon's. "Everyone deserves the congratulations though." She set off for the door through which they had come, Odin and Simon in tow. Making her way through the gym, passing by a fair number of abandoned battle zones marked by burns on the floors, holes blasted in the walls, and a great many pools of blood, May stepped outside the structure and into the fenced in courtyard.

The eastern horizon just beginning to turn orange and illuminate the scene, May looked out over the three dozen trainers carrying Team Rocket's sigil stitched or bolted to their shoulder, standing over the dozens of Magman prisoners. Each of the captured men and women in red and orange wore gags in their mouths and bundles of rope or even chain around their wrists, ankles, and at their chests, binding their arms to their trunks. Most of the captured trainers bore not even a hint of an injury, save the huge M's branded across their faces, though several bled profusely from wounds ranging from lacerations across their scalps to blunt-force wounds all across their bodies. To the latter group, May saw what few medics she brought with her dutifully attending their prisoners' wounds. A little farther away she spotted a few dead Pokémon piled in a corner next to a handful of humanoid shapes covered from head to toe in white tarps.

As the young savant stepped out of the gym, a cheer went up from her men, many of them raising weapons above their heads, beating their gauntlets against their breastplates, or otherwise making a great ruckus as the chant of "victory, victory" rose to the sky. One trainer in particular brandished a tall spear to which he had affixed Team Rocket's flag, bearing the organization's ruby red "R" trimmed in gold thread on a snow white field.

May lifted a hand and a hush fell over the gathered Rockets and prisoners alike. Smiling wide she ran forward and climbed up on the raised brick platform from which a bare flagpole rose. Standing several feet higher than even the largest trainer in the yard, May looked out over her forces. "This city was once the jewel of western Hoenn!" May called out, her voice carrying on the wind well beyond the fence ringing in the gym. "Under my family's rule it flourished, a shining beacon of light and wealth and laughter! And so it shall again!" she shouted even louder, pausing as a thunderous roar went up from her gathered troops.

Waiting a moment longer, May looked through the bars of the iron fence lining the southern end of the gym's grounds. Spotting a number of people beginning to emerge from their homes and from the various apartment buildings surrounding the gym, looking at the proceedings before them with no small degree of trepidation, May smiled to herself, holding out her hand towards the trainer with the Team Rocket flag, motioning for him to come forward, and taking the banner in her hand when he came near.

Holding the banner aloft, May reached to her hip with her free hand and drew her sword with a metallic ring, stabbing the blade towards the sky just as the first rays of morning sunlight shot over the horizon, catching both the flag and the sword. "No longer will the city suffocate beneath the tyrannical grip of some far off warlord!" she shouted as the banner and the sword gleamed like jewels in the light. "Freedom has come to Petalburg at last!" again she paused as another cheer went up from her troops. "Today we've freed Petalburg! Tomorrow we'll free all Hoenn!"

A third thunderous cheer erupted from the trainers gathered around as May hopped down from her stage and handed the banner back to the soldier from which she had taken it. "Raise that over the gym if you'd please," she said, turning back to the gathered crowd and raising her sword over her head. Several minutes rushed by as the cheering and congratulatory shouting faded. May went throughout the crowd, patting shoulders, issuing one 'congratulations' after another, after another, after another, and shaking the hands of every soldier who came within arm's reach.

By the time she had pulled away from the crowd enough to catch her breath, dozens, if not hundreds, of people had emerged from the buildings around the gym and lined the fence along the street to peer in at the strange new forces who had captured the Team Magma trainers and held them prisoner in the yard. The townsfolk looked to be muttering amongst themselves and pointing in at the new occupiers of the gym. Some wore their fear and concern plainly on their faces, shrinking away from any gaze turned their way, while others beamed and held their hands over their heads, shouting their praises at Team Magma's apparent downfall.

Looking along the fence at the numerous faces looking in at them, May found Odin and put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him into a hug as he turned around. "Good work in there," she said, stepping back but not releasing her hold in his shoulders. "And excellent job scouting out the city these past several days. Without the intelligence you provided, well, I doubt this would have gone nearly as smoothly as it did today."

Odin shrugged and looked away. "My pleasure," he grinned, looking back at her and trailing off. "Listen, about earlier. May I'm sorry. I didn't want you to think I was getting ahead of myself or trying to make things weird between-"

Leaning forward and pushing herself up, May planted a kiss on Odin's cheek, silencing him instantly. "Tell you what," she said as the boy beside her turned pink in the face, "You're one of the nicest, most enjoyable people to be around I've ever met. So if you want to get a little bit ahead of yourself, that's fine with me."

Staring as much through her as at her, Odin grinned and nodded. "Right," he said almost in a daze, reaching up and touching his cheek with his fingers as May grinned and took a step back. "That works for me, so," he said, shaking himself and coming back from his thousand yard stare. "What's this business about Hoenn's Heir anyway? Blaise mentioned it but I've never heard the term."

May shrugged and folded her arms over her chest. "It's an old story," she said, almost hesitating. "Both my mom and my dad's families descended from two different branches of ancient Hoenn royalty. Some old story supposedly says that when those lines crossed the heir to both families would be Hoenn's Heir. I don't know the source but my mother's grandfather told it to me once."

Odin raised an eyebrow. "So according to this old story you're set to inherit all of Hoenn?"

"That's the thing," May looked at the ground. "Hoenn's Heir, in the story, is supposed to be Hoenn's downfall, not its ruler. The Heir is supposed to completely destroy the land and in the story's words," she trailed off a moment, "undo the foundations of the world."

Odin shook his head. "It's just some stupid story," he said quickly. I wouldn't give it a second thought. Now," he motioned to the crowd gathering outside the wrought iron fence lining the road. "What do you say we go introduce the people of Petalburg to their liberator?"

Shaking her head, May took another step back. "Take a few trainers for security and go open the gate," she said. "Let in anyone who wants a look around and have everyone start spreading the word that Petalburg is no longer under Team Magma's control. I'm," she stopped and looked back at the gym any joy lingering on her face fading away. "I'll be out in a bit. I want to go have a look for my dad's things. I wasn't here when he, when he left, so I'd like to say goodbye, you know?"

Odin put a hand on May's shoulder. "Of course," he said. "Take your time. I'm sure the city will be here when you get back."

May smiled, thanked him, and planted another peck on Odin's cheek before turning back to the gym and walking inside, not looking back as her troops made their way to the gate, opening them wide, and letting any interested bystanders inside. Making her way through the corridors, guided by the light filtering in through the skylights and the colored windows, May eventually reached the gym's inner sanctum, stepping over the remains of the heavy wooden doors and walking the perimeter of the chamber. Stopping at an innocuous stretch of wall marked only by the remains of a broken gas lamp, May took the neck of the lamp in her hand and gave it a twist.

A quiet hissing issued from the wall as a dark seam appeared next to the lamp, shaping itself into a door and swinging inward. Dust issued from the pitch black room as May stepped inside. She paused as a number of lamps along the walls puffed to life, illuminating around the young savant a lavishly decorated bedroom inside of which every surface bore a thick layer of dust. Walking to a wardrobe opposite the bed, May pulled the doors open, disturbing the dust and filling the air about her with the fine debris. Inside clothes on hangers draped around a suit of armor, flanked by swords and other weapons. At the bottom of the wardrobe a number of steel coffers caught the light from the lamps on the walls.

However, only the massive picture hanging on the inside of the wardrobe's door caught and held May's eye.

Stepping back and half falling, half sitting on the bed, May stared at the tall picture, namely at the family it portrayed. Tears formed in her blue eyes and rolled down her cheeks as May stared at the tall, smiling man depicted in the painting, standing with his arms around a beautiful brown haired woman with eyes to match. Directly beside the happy couple and clinging to the father's leg, a little brown haired girl looked up at her parents and smiled as though she had not a care in the world. Lip quivering, May stood up and walked forward to the painting again, reaching forward and resting the tips of her fingers on the woman's cheek while looking into the man's piercing but joyful blue eyes.

"Mom," May looked at the woman in the painting. "Dad," she muttered as she turned her gaze back to the man. "I'm home. I'm back, and I'm going to make things right."