Hi there, everyone.
Here it is! The second chapter of LtL, MtM. I hope you all enjoy it! But first, let me tell you a few things.
First, this chapter will have some important stuff in it, including several things that will be very important for the rest of the story.
Second, pay close attention to the different Teams and their goals. It will play an important role further on...
Third, remember to R&R!
So, without further delay, I present to you the second chapter!
Less than Legends, More than Myths
Chapter 2: Fatalities of Fate
"You okay?" asked Brendan as soon as May left her house. He was standing in front of the building as if he had been spying on someone.
"Brendan? What are you doing here?" May asked surprised.
"Nothing." answered the boy, shrugging. "I was coming here to see if you were still around, since I'm leaving now, and I happened to see you talking to your mother through the window." They were both silent for a moment, before Brendan continued. "So, are you okay? It must be hard for both of you…"
"I'm fine, thanks. It must be hard for you too."
"Actually, no. I haven't seen my mother in years and my father… well, you've met my father."
May laughed at his sentence. Then his first words dawned on her. "What do you mean? Does your mother lives in another region or something?"
Brendan was silent for a moment, before replying. "Yes… you could say that…"
May knew he wasn't telling the truth, at least not all the truth, but decided to drop it, especially after remembering Jake's words sooner that day. They both kept on walking for a long time in silence, heading down the road that led out of Littleroot Town. After what seemed like hours, the sun was starting to set, and May couldn't take it anymore.
"So!" she almost shouted, eager to break the silence. "Were do you think Jake is by now?"
Brendan smiled at her words. "Knowing him, He-Who-Poops-A-Lot is still back on his farm. Probably wrestling against some poor Pokémon or something."
"As a matter of fact," said an unexpected voice behind them, causing the travelers to jump. They quickly turned around and saw none other than Jake standing there. "that problem has already been taken proper care of."
"Dude, you gotta stop being so brute. Try reading a book. You know, the little rectangular thing filled with randomly sprayed ink." said Brendan, recuperating quickly. May wondered how well the boys knew each other. They never seemed really surprised about this kind of unexpected appearences.
"I tried once, but it spat on me. Ever since, I'd rather stay away from those things you call 'books'." the bigger boy replied. May frowned, confused. "And you guys really should be less shy. I mean, a bit of respectful silence is nice, but one and a half hour? You've gotta be kidding me."
"Hey! Were you following us?" asked May, suspicious.
"Course." Jake replied simply.
"Ahm… but… you shouldn't do that!"
"Okay."
"Humn… okay… glad that's settled."
"Equally."
Both kids stared at each other for a bit, May with an unsure frown and Jake with an innocent stare. Brendan finally broke in.
"So, He-Who-Poops-A-Lot, how are your folks at the farm?" he asked.
"Just fine, my dear friend." answered Jake.
"Hey, is that actually a nickname?" asked May. "I thought you guys were just messing around. How did you get such a nickname?"
"Do you really want to know?" calmly answered Jake. May thought about the question for a moment, then shivered.
"No thanks." she replied.
They continued with that nice and comforting chat until the sun dropped over the horizon and they found themselves in the dark. Luckily, they were near a clearing, and they were quick to set camp. Well, quick to try, at least.
"Got… to… hell!" May shouted, struggling against the tent that absolutely refused to stand up. Finally she gave up, and walked away. Strangely, the tent settled into position when she did this. The girl turned around and slowly approached the tent. As soon as she was within arm's reach, it dropped to the ground again.
"You have gotta be kidding me!" May shouted, kicking the tent with all her might. Finally she walked away, leaving the unsettled and probably ruined tent on the ground. She noticed with a proud grin that it didn't move.
"You know, that was mine." said Brendan, looking at the fight between human and tent while Jake tried to light a fire with some wood they had found.
"Well, it didn't work." May replied angrily.
"It's a tent!"
"So what!? It was laughing at me!"
"It's a tent!"
"Crap!" cursed Jake as he cut himself with one of the stones he was trying to light the fire with. "I give up! Scorch, help me out!"
May watched with interest as Jake released his Pokémon from a Pokéball. It turned out to be a bipedal red lizard-like creature with a small flame at the end of his tail. He was about half a meter tall, arriving around Jake's waist.
"Scorch, could you help me light this wood with your Ember attack?" the Pokémon's trainer asked. The Charmander gave a delighted squeak and shot small fireballs at the wood, which promptly burst into flames.
"Thanks a lot, buddy. You can stay out for a while if you want to."
"What is that?" the girl asked, consulting her Pokédex. She found out that Scorch was a Charmander, a Pokémon from Kanto. They were fire types. After a few moments messing with her Pokédex, the girl put the machine back. "Pretty cool."
"Yep. Working at the farm sure has its advantages."
"Char char!"
They finished setting up camp, or as much as they could without a tent. Brendan refused to talk to May until the girl had paid back for the damage, and the girl refused to pay until the tent apologized. The two kids slept inside their sleeping bags on opposite sides of the clearing, while Jake observed everything with an amused expression before going to sleep.
--XXXXX--
As dawn broke over the horizon, six figures slept peacefully. Ok, maybe not peacefully, but they definitely slept. Across the clearing, May slept inside her sleeping bag and Brendan once had slept inside his, but through the course of the night had rolled out and was now lying on the ground, almost squishing his Mudkip. Jake slept in the middle, near the extinct fire. Scorch was curled up in a ball near his feet. Both were snoring loudly enough to scare away all the Pokémon in a three mile radius.
Little did the kids know that fate was going to play a trick on them that day. Of course, it was just doing that because it was absolutely bored and because it really enjoyed messing around with humans, but a trick it still was.
Brendan, being outside his bag, was the first to wake up as soon as a fat drop of water hit his nose. He opened his eyes groggily, and saw black thunder clouds on the skies above. Glancing at his watch, he realized he had forgotten the useful instrument at his house. He let out a small curse and got up.
May was the second human to wake up, because another drop hit Torchic and the small creature jumped high in the air, screeching and clawing everything she could touch. In seconds, May was up too, and didn't look very happy.
The two friends looked at each other and then at Jake, who was still asleep. The rain worsened, and a small downpour fell on the travelers. May recalled her Torchic while Brendan's Mudkip rolled in the mud, giggling and squeaking. Jake and Scorch still slept, the latter subconsciously putting his tail inside the destroyed tent for protection. The entire thing soon ignited in flames, causing Brendan to gasp and try to save it. When it was clear that that was impossible, he just began shouting at the Charmander.
"Damn you lizard! That was my tent! I paid for that with my own money, for Mew's sake! Okay, maybe not my money, but I still had to work to get it! Three days pick pocketing in a fair for nothing! Just great. Just freaking great!"
May watched everything with an amused expression on her face. After Brendan stopped shouting and fell to the ground, hugging his knees, Jake and Scorch still hadn't woken up. The girl decided that this was the perfect chance for a revenge, and sneaked towards the sleeping creatures. She might as well have stomped like a Rhyhorn and screamed at the top of her lungs, the boy still wouldn't have woken up.
When she was almost within arm's reach, a drop of rain hit Scorch's nose, causing him to instinctively shoot out an Ember attack, which conveniently hit May's leg.
"OUCH!" the girl screamed, hugging the wounded leg. The attack hadn't been very strong and was even weaker because of the rain, but it still hurt. "GET UP YOU DAMN LIZARD! I AM SOOO GONNA KILL YOU! I'M GONNA CUT YOU PIECE BY PIECE AND THEN I'LL BOIL YOUR INTESTINES AND…"
Brendan watched in amazement as May continued to shout threats to the sleeping salamander. The curses only got worse from that point, and soon Brendan was wondering who had taught May such a vocabulary. But then she started to calm down and the threats went back to just being mean.
"…COOKIES AND PIES AND CAKES, SOME FLOWERS AND A PIDGEY!" May finished, then fell to the ground, panting.
Finally, Scorch stirred. He turned his back towards screaming girl, and went back to sleep. May's blood began to boil again, and she started screaming again. This time, it lasted for almost ten minutes, until Jake opened a sleepy eye and gazed at May. With a groan, he got up and stretched.
"What are you doing?" he asked, still sleepy.
"I AM GOING TO KILL THAT LIZARD OF YOURS! I SWEAR I AM! I WILL DROWN HIM, THEN I WILL…I WILL… LAUGH AT HIM! HAHAHAHA!" the girl shouted back, then burst into a maniacal laugh. Scorch woke up too, seeing the weird lady, and hid behind his trainer. Even Jake stepped back. After a few minutes like that, May recomposed herself.
"Humn… what was that?" asked Brendan. May noticed everyone, human and Pokémon alike, were starting at her.
"Humn… temporary insanity?" the girl answered looking at her shoes, embarrassed.
"Suuuure…"
They packed up camp and began to walk again, Jake, Brendan, Scorch, Torchic and Mudkip in front while May was alone in the rear. Every time she tried to approach the others, they would break into a run, and she'd be left behind again. It was seriously getting on her nerves.
"Oh come on!" she shouted, after yet another unsuccessful run. "It's not fun anymore!"
"It's not about fun. It's about self-preservation." said Jake, dead serious.
"Yeah. I learned that you can be quite an old Skarmory when you're mad. The hard way." added Brendan. His arms still hurt from when May had kicked him, the day before.
"I'm sorry!" she yelled, subconsciously thinking about what a Skarmory was. "I didn't mean to hurt you!"
"Yeah right! You punched me on the stomach, threw me on the ground, kicked me until I begged for mercy and then just walked away!"
"Okay, maybe I did mean to hurt you! But you're gonna be in a lot more pain if you don't stop running away!" May was getting angry again.
"Oh crap! Old Skarmory time! Everyone, run for all that you hold dear!" shouted Brendan, and everyone broke into a run (Brendan carrying Mudkip, Jake having recalled Scorch and carrying Torchic), May in hot pursuit. Finally, after a few minutes of this, the girl dropped to the ground, exhausted. Brendan was panting heavily, while Jake was barely panting. He was used to long runs back at his farm.
"You guys are so mean!" shouted May, boiling with rage. "I HATE YOU!"
"I thought 'old Skarmory time' had passed." said Jake, half-questioningly.
"It did. This 'pissed off young Skarmory with anger issues' time." replied Brendan.
"Tor tor…"
"Mud!"
"Charmander char…"
"COME HERE!" yelled May, getting up and running with newfound energy. The other surprised travelers barely had time to start running themselves when May reached Brendan and started kicking him, much like the first day they met. Jake stood a few steps away, watching the show with Torchic and Mudkip.
"See? That's why you can't do what Brendan did." taught Jake. "If you're gonna piss someone off, you gotta at least be able to get away with it."
The Pokémon nodded while May turned around and once more left Brendan lying on the ground. The boy shot her a dark glance and stuck out his tongue at her, but lickly (for Brendan) the girl didn't see. May turned towards Jake, ready to jump at him. The boy only stared at her with an innocent smile. Finally, the girl decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to attack Jake, at least not right now. She'd have to get her revenge later. Ah, and Mew, what a revenge that'd be…
"It's so not fair." complained Brendan for the thousand time. The three friends were walking once more, barely ten minutes away from Oldale Town, and this time they were standing side by side, their Pokémon in front of them. "How come she hits me and you get away without a scratch?"
"Old friend, you know the answer to that question as well as I do." replied Jake, rolling his eyes.
"Sure do. But still. It's not fair."
"I. Swear. To. Mew." growled May. She was fighting against every urge in her body that told her to beat the hell out of the white haired boy until he fainted. And believe me, there were a lot of those. "If you don't shut your freaking mouth right this instant, I'm gonna shut it for you. Permanently."
Brendan looked as if he was about to say something, but thought better and closed his mouth. The friends walked the rest of the way in silence, only broke by the chatting Pokémon.
--XXXXX--
"My trainer sooooo kicked your trainer's butt!" laughed Torchic, for the thousand time.
"I told you, she did not kick Brendan's butt!" replied an angry and annoyed Mudkip.
"Of course not. It was more like she kicked all the rest!" Torchic replied to the reply, still laughing.
"Mud, I gotta give it to Torch on this one. May really did beat the hell outta Brendan. We all clearly saw what transpired, dude."said Scorch, stepping in. It was funny how he had the same way of talking as his trainer; nice, fancy words mixed with slangs.
"Oh yeah, join the girl's side. How noble." said Mudkip, rolling his eyes. "Well, that proves you don't have to be a princess to have a knight-in-shining-armor."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Torchic, getting angry.
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
"Since when do you have to be a princess to qualify as eligible to have a knight-in-shining-armor?" asked Scorch.
"Ever since knights became rarer."answered Mudkip as if it was the most obvious thing in the word.
"Hey! Don't ignore me!" shouted Torchic.
"Hey, hot-head, don't light your tail on fire." said Scorch. The other Pokémon shot him a weird glance. "What?"
"If you didn't know, your tail is on fire." answered Mudkip, uncertainly.
"What?" Scorch looked at his tail as if it was the first time he saw it. His eyes went wide with shook and he started running around wildly. "MY TAIL! MY TAIL'S ON FIRE! MY POOR TAIL! HELP! HELP! AHH!"
Mudkip and Torchic just stared at him.
--XXXXX--
"Hey, what happened to your Charmander?" asked May. In front of the travelers, Scorch had just begun to ran around wildly.
"Dunno. Maybe he's just in the mood to run around. Happens all the time." answered Jake, barely batting an eye.
The friends finally reached Oldale Town. It was quite small, but (luckily) not as small as Littleroot Town. The buildings were all very old, and more than a few ruins were scattered around town. The only things worth seeing for a travelling trainer were the Pokémon Center (where you could heal your Pokémon and stay in a room free of charge), the Poké Mart (the largest brand of stores selling useful products such as Potions, Pokéballs and Escape Ropes) and the ruins of an ancient temple, located just outside town. May, Brendan and Jake decided to go to the Pokémon Center first, where they could rest for a bit. Jake and Brendan wanted to leave as soon as possible, but May wanted to explore the ruins. After a quick argument (and a few threats), it was May and Brendan voting for the ruins (I wonder how that happened…) and Jake wanting to leave, so democracy did its job.
After a only few minutes of rest and planning, seeing as they had done nothing else than walking, they decided to head towards the famous ruins. It was a bit after noon, so they would have a quick peek, eat something and then leave. Everybody was (at least partially) satisfied with the plans, so there wasn't any (significant) discussion. Soon enough, the three humans and three Pokémon were once again on the walk.
"So, what's so great about this place?" asked Jake, bored, as soon as they reached their destination.
May decided that it wasn't a question that deserved an answer, so she ignored the boy and looked around with curiosity. The temple was a small circular building, with a flat ceiling that was about fifteen feet off the ground and a single door, which absolutely refused to be moved with all its might. Around the main building were a few crumbled pillars and a few rock and bushes. Overall, the entire thing wasn't exactly interesting.
"What do people see in this place?" asked Brendan, more to himself than for the others.
"Duh! It's a physical link to the past! Who wouldn't like this place?" answered May. "I mean, look at the sta-"
She was interrupted by Jake, who covered her mouth with his hands and whispered a low 'shhh!'. Brendan immediately stopped formulating his next sentence and stood silent. Soon, May and Brendan heard low footsteps coming from somewhere close by. The friends looked at where the noise was coming from and saw a few people dresses in red and black outfits. Brendan and Jake quickly hid behind a big rock, the latter dragging May along.
"What happened?" she asked in an angry whisper.
"Team Magma." answered Brendan simply.
"Okay… who's Team Magma?"
"You don't know them? Everybody knows Team Magma and Team Aqua."
"Hello? Girl from Johto, got here yesterday?"
"Ah, that's right. Team Magma and Team Aqua are two criminal teams that are always doing annoying stuff. Specially to each other."
"Shh!" interrupted Jake, causing the other two to stop their whispered conversation. The Team Magma members were approaching the door of the temple. One of them, seemingly in charge, drew a long silver key from a pocket and inserted it (completely) into a small hole the door. There was a brief moment of silence, then the door grumbled and slid out of the way to the left, carrying the key with it. The Team Magma members quickly entered the temple.
"What just happened?" asked May after a moment.
"Dunno. But if Team Magma is involved, I doubt it is anything good." replied Brendan. He was about to stand up when new figures appeared. These were about a dozen, and were all dressed in a yellow uniform not unlike Team Magma's. Two of them also wore a golden belt and a cloak.
"Are those Team Aqua?" asked May, whispering once more.
"Nope. Team Aqua has a blue outfit." answered Brendan. "I don't have the slightest clue about who are these clowns."
The cloaked figures muttered what seemed to be (from the distance) a few curses, then turned to the others. One of them said something that the three kids couldn't hear, then headed inside. The last man, dressed in the normal outfit, kicked a small figure that no one had seen before, causing it to stumble forwards and into the open door. With a last look around, the man entered the hole himself.
After the last figures departed, the three travelers waited without one word for almost a minute before doing anything. Finally, Brendan broke the silence.
"Humn… guys?" he asked uncertainly. "What just happened?"
""Not a clue." answered Jake, shrugging. "But Team Magma's in there, and I doubt those yellow-clad clowns were police officers."
"That's great, but what about us?" said May. "What do we do?"
"I say we enter the ruins and find out what's happening. Right here and now." proposed Jake.
"Oh yeah. That's nice. Why don't we jump in a cage filled with famished Mightyenas while we're at it?" mocked Brendan. "'Cause I'm sure it'll end up pretty much the same way."
"Why do you say that?" asked May. She was actually quite scared, but she was decided not to show it.
"Humn, hello? Three kids, one Pokémon each, traveling for two days, against more than twenty adult criminals. Do you seriously think we have a chance?"
"So, are you suggesting we just ignore them? Just walk away and pretend nothing ever happened?" asked Jake. "Jeez, Brendan, I thought this was the time were you'd come up with a stupid plan that might just work based on your so-said 'observations', like you always did back in Littleroot. What happened? Scared?"
"I'm not scared!" replied Brendan, almost shouting. "I'm just stating the facts!"
"Sure you are. And here I thought that you were actually braver than May…"
That did it. Brendan, with a shout, jumped on top of Jake and punched the bigger boy right in the jaw before he could react. May just sat there, unsure of what to do. Truth was, she had always been afraid of dark and spooky places, and the temple was conveniently just that. She knew she should stop the fight, but if Brendan won, maybe they could just walk away. The more she thought about it, more painful memories flooded her mind.
Flashback
A small six-year-old girl stood in the mouth of a dark cave. She gazed inside, but could see nothing but darkness and shadows.
"Come on, May! Or are you scared?" taunted a voice coming from the inside of the cave.
"I'm not scared!" shouted the girl in reply, but it wasn't very convincing.
"Yeah you are! Scared catty! Scared catty!"
"I'm not a scared catty! And I'll prove it!"
And, with those words, the girl entered the cave. The second she did that, she accidentally stepped on a sleeping Zubat, a bat-like Pokémon. In seconds, a bunch of those ugly creatures was chasing her around, and to make things worse, the girl realized she was lost. It was only after several minutes of wild running that that the girl managed to see daylight again.
The girl had cried for days and had to endure all her friends laughing at her for a week. She never managed to forget the experience.
End Flashback
May snapped back to her senses. In front of her, Jake and Brendan were still fighting. The girl wondered why Brendan had snapped so suddenly at Jake. They seemed like the best of friends. Or maybe even brothers. Jake's words from the day before once more rang through her mind, and she wondered if there was a deeper reason for this as well.
Finally, she decided to stop the conflict. The boys might annoy her, but she didn't want them to get hurt, much less by each other.
"Hey, guys! Stop it!" she shouted. Needless to say, she was promptly ignored.
"I said STOP IT!" she shouted even louder, jumping at the boys and trying to split them apart. That didn't work, although she did manage to get punched in the stomach by Brendan (very hard), who had aimed at Jake but missed. May fell to the ground, clutching her stomach and gasping for breath.
The two boys stopped their conflict and hurried to her side. Both looked very guilty, although Jake also seemed slightly… amused.
"May! Are you okay? I'm sooo, sooooooo sorry!" shouted Brendan. He had a bleeding nose and gripped his left knee tightly.
"We didn't mean to hurt you. Really." added Jake. He had a black eye and a mean bruise on his right arm.
"I'm… gonna… kill… you!" said May, although it seemed like she was trying to shout. She coughed for a bit and tried to catch her breath. "As… soon… as… I… can… breath!"
"Come on! We're sorry! It was an accident, so it wasn't our fault!" reasoned Brendan. May shot him a dark look and he shut up.
"Urgh…" the girl groaned. "Okay… whatever."
Both boys blinked in disbelief at her words, unable to believe that she would let it slip off that easily.
"You're going to do something bad to us latter, aren't you?" asked Jake, although he was already sure of the answer.
"Sure am." the girl answered with an innocent smile.
"So…" started Brendan. "What do we do?"
"I guess we should head out back to the Pokémon Center, seeing as no one wants to go inside the temple..." answered Jake, shrugging.
May was about to say something, but was stopped when the entire ground shook and the three friends heard the faint sound of a far-off explosion from inside the ruins. The boys eyes immediately shot that way, while May fell on her butt with a 'thump'.
"See? Told 'ya." said Jake. "Up to no good, as always."
"Crap. We gotta go in there and see what happened." said Brendan. He looked at May, who didn't look very happy at all. "You can stay out, if you want."
"Yeah. Let the men handle this." added Jake, with a grin. May slapped him across the cheek.
"Yeah right! Why can't we just go to the Pokémon Center and forget all about this?" she asked.
"For a number of reasons." answered Brendan. "One, because a bomb just went off inside a building filled with criminals. Two, because it is our job as trainers to help stop those guys if we can. Three, I'm scared of you and I'm hoping that the action will make sure I don't get killed by a girl. And four, I'm bored."
"He does have a valid point." said Jake. "I'm bored too."
"Argh! Well, you can go if you like, but I'm staying here!" said May, crossing her arms and looking away in a snob stance. She stood like that for a few seconds, before looking back to her friends and noticing Brendan disappear inside the building. Jake was nowhere to be found.
"Wait up! You weren't supposed to actually go in!" the girl shouted at the shadows. There was no response. With a growl, she stood in front of the entrance, vivid flashes of uncomfortable past experiences flashing through her mind. With a deep breath and a promise to kill both boys afterwards, May stepped into the shadows and the unknown.
I know, it's not very good. There's a lot less humor than I wanted... and a lot more drama. But hey, it get's the job done, right? But a lot of important stuff happen, so it had to happen. Maybe I'll revise this in the future.
But until then, thank you for reading and remember to R&R!
Gotta Go With The Flow!
DarkShadowKnight