Chapter 6

"There you are, little guy."

"Magby…"

"You'll be okay, Mega Man."

The three of them were inside the Pokémon Center, John and Luke feeding Magby some spare Oran Berries that the lady running the building gave them, while Rebecca was reorganizing the contents of her bag. Eventually, Magby smiled.

"Ma…"

"That's a good sign," John remarked. "He should be okay now."

"That's a relief…" He glanced at each of them. "So, where should I start?"

"First of all," John answered calmly, "Who are you, exactly?"

"Well, my name is Luke, like I told you already."

"How old are you?"

Luke closed his eyes.

"I'm fifteen, as of a few weeks ago."

"Congratulations."

He smirked.

"Yeah, it's not as cool when you're a kid who lives on the streets all the time and doesn't really have the time or the ability to make friends…"

"You mean you don't have any parents?"

Luke sighed. He glanced at his Magby, who read his emotions in an instant and nodded.

"My dad left me when I was little. I don't remember him that much, really, just that he was kind and gentle. But when my mom passed away, he grew cold." He blinked several times. "He shoved me away not long after that, and left the house in the middle of the night. When I woke up the next morning, he was gone, not even bothering to leave behind a note."

"Woah…" Rebecca paused from her work. "Sounds pretty heartless of him."

"Yeah, well, something in him snapped when she died. He was distraught, but it seemed he hated being upset for so long, and I guess he just gave up on it all." He sighed. "But that doesn't matter now. When he left, I, naturally, couldn't pay for the house, and since I didn't want to be taken away by the police or anything, I bailed. I just took off, and before I knew it, I found myself in Jublife City. After a while, I found my friend Mega Man, here, and we found a way to fend for ourselves. We've been here for…about a year now."

"So, the way you took my bag, that was how you would steal food and medicine?"

"That's right." He glanced at Rebecca as he continued to speak. "My main issue about the whole affair, though, was to never harm my targets. I only had Mega Man use Ember to scare you away from the bag. He never aimed at you directly. We don't want to be common criminals, now do we?"

"I guess not…"

"Well, that's it from me," he announced, placing his hands on his legs and rising upright in his chair. "That's all I can really say. Again, I'm sorry. It was uncalled for and all…"

"No, no, you're fine. You had your reasons." Suddenly, John remembered something. "Hey, can I ask you one more thing?"

"You name it."

"You seem to know this city really well. Have you seen a blond kid, roughly my age, extremely hyper-active?"

"Hm… Wait, I know!" He turned to his Magby. "Do you remember that runt we tried to mug earlier, but he just plowed right on past you like you weren't even there?"

"Magby."

"That sounds like him…" John mused. Do you know where he went?"

"I think he was saying something about a Poketch contest, and then heading off to Oreburgh City. That's all I heard."

"That's all I need. Thank you." He turned towards Rebecca. "Are you ready to go now?"

"Yeah, that should be everything." As she rose to her feet, she looked at Luke. "Hey, do you want to come with us? We're out to explore Sinnoh for Professor Rowan of Sandgem, and I think it would be good if you came with us." He shook his head.

"You'll have to forgive me when I decline. I just can't leave Jublife yet."

"Why not?" she inquired. "Clearly living here isn't benefiting you. Come with us."

"I can't. About a week ago, I saw a young woman walk through here, long, strawberry-blonde hair, saying something about Lake Verity. She was talking over her Poketch, saying something about the Galactic Corporation coming this way soon."

"Galactic Corp?" Rebecca looked confused. "What would they be doing all the way over here?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "It worries me, though, so I need to stay behind and figure it out."

"Can't we help?"

"Trust me, this is my fight, not yours."

"You got a history with them or something?" John asked.

"Something like that." Magby dropped from the table, ready to walk again. "Listen, thank you guys again for the supplies. It means a ton. I hope we see each other again, hopefully under much more pleasant circumstances."

"Agreed." With that, Luke and his Magby walked out of the Center and into the city air. As if on cue, a loud banging sound could be heard from the escalators. John turned towards the source of the noise as his friend Diamond came tumbling down, face-planting the tile floor as a spectacular finale to his amazing tumble.

"Ow! Ow! Ow…that hurt…" As he rose to his feet, he saw the two of them sitting at the adjacent table, Rebecca stifling some laughs and John sighing loudly. "Hey, John! Long time no see, huh?"

"Can't you even remember to tie your shoes, at least?" He pointed at Diamond's disheveled tennis shoes, whose laces were splayed out as far apart as possible.

"Hey, I forget sometimes! Anyway, I got something really cool while I was here yesterday!" He pulled out a blue watch. "Here you go, buddy."

"Woah, Diamond!" he exclaimed, realizing at once what it was. "You just found a Poketch?!"

"Well, not really. See, there was a promotion to get a free one, a simple quiz, but I did it so fast I think I did it twice by mistake, so I got two." He raised his left arm proudly, flashing his identical Poketch. "We're cool now, huh, John?"

"Wow, I'm impressed, Diamond, this time in a good way." He reached into his pocket. "Speaking of which, your mom asked me to give this to you." He handed him the other Town Map he had in his bag.

"Oh, right on! The latest Town Map! Mom is awesome."

"Contact her right now," Rebecca reminded him sternly. "She's getting worried about you."

"Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting!" As he ran towards the computer corner, John rose to his feet.

"We should probably find some place to eat lunch at. I'm starving." As the two of them walked back into the bustling city, he couldn't help but wonder about Luke.

"Nope, I can't find the trail anymore."

Matthew froze in his tracks.

"What do you mean you lost the trail?"

"I don't see it anywhere. There are no footprints, no scent coming off for my Mightiena to find, nothing at all."

The quartet had been hiking for a good half-hour that day before the trail started to grow thin, and now, a good hour's travel into the perilous mountains of Hoenn, they were left with nothing. The young man, Sam, bent down in the layer of soot coming in from Mt. Chimney nearby to comfort his Mightyena, who looked rather dismayed that the trail had gone cold. Matthew brushed his short, light-brown hair from his eyes as he pondered his next move. He's right. The trail is completely gone. However... I could, in theory, sense where they are... No, he stopped himself, that's a horrible idea. I couldn't hide that kind of power from three people in such proximity, could I? He rose to his feet. "I'm contacting my friend back home. Cover me." He pulled out his Pokenav he got from Devon a couple months ago (it felt like years now) and dialed the third number in his list. As he did so, his companions formed a three-point circle around him, as practiced, to guard the caller from a possible attack, at least long enough for Matthew to send out his Pokemon without issue. The phone picked up within two rings.

"Yes?"

"Commander Red," he replied firmly, using the codename they had rehearsed. "We have a problem."

"Do you have them?"

"Negative, Commander Red. In fact, we seem to have lost them..."

Silence took over briefly.

"You can RE-find them, correct?"

"I can, sir, but..." He dropped his voice to barely a whisper. "It would need your approval, sir."

"Do whatever is necessary, Commander Ruby. We cannot allow Team Magma to make off with the super-ancient Pokémon. I expect you to accept the consequences of how far you go to achieve this goal. Do you copy?"

"I copy, Commander Red. Commander Ruby signing out."

"Wait one moment."

"Yes?"

There was a slight pause. "I want to keep you informed. We have begun moving members to the Sinnoh region."

"Do suspect trouble, sir?"

"I do. In fact, these next few weeks could very well be the most important weeks of our lives. Commanders Gold and Silver are docking as we speak, and Commanders Sapphire and Emerald will be joining them in a few days. Naturally, you are exempt from this assignment, but once you accomplish this task, I want you in Sinnoh as soon as possible. Agreed?"

"Acknowledged and understood."

"See you on the other side, Commander Ruby."

Clicking the power button on his Nav, Matthew bent down at the spot where the trail supposedly died. He dug his hand in the dirt, letting it fall through his fingers as he began to connect with it.

"Do you have something, Matt?" the youngest one, Max, inquired.

"What I need right now, Max, is quiet. Thank you."

"Is this going to be that weird ability of yours?" asked Sam.

"It's not exactly an ability…" Matthew muttered. "I have an impressive hearing ability, which means I can feel the footprints of people moving at least a couple miles away."

"Whatever you say, bro," Sam's brother, Ryan, responded. "Just hurry. We don't have much time."

"I know that," he snapped. Bending over, he dipped his ear to the ground, but not letting it touch. While he did so, he closed his eyes, blocking out all background noise, and began to focus.

Remember what he taught you. Focus only on the ground. Nothing else matters except the ground right now. Breathe… And focus your senses through your hand… As he knelt there, he could feel a certain tingling feeling in his chest. It spread from his chest, down his right arm, and the sensation eventually rested in the palm of his hand. Still holding his ear to the ground, he felt the soot and earth beneath him, and reached out with his mind.

He could feel it. Soft though they were, he could feel the movement of feet and vehicles, probably Jeeps. Where are they? He felt the surrounding landscape. The volcanic activity is messing me up again… Wait, there they are. Is that water? No, puddles, which must mean the swamps to the north of here. It's hard to tell their exact position… He could feel the sensation of being doused in mud as he scanned the swampy terrain. Ugh, I hate this… Past Mauville, heading north towards Fortree… Inhaling sharply, he released his connection, and opened his eyes. He rose to his feet, still shaking slightly from the stunt he pulled.

"They're heading north, probably past Mauville by now, heading north to Fortree as we speak."

"Well, then," Sam responded, twirling the Poke Ball in his hand. "Let's chase them to the ground."

So, I jsut wanted to take a little time to thank everyone who has actually bothered to read this so far. :3 I'm really surprised with how far I've come in this, considering I've been working the plot for this for over a year and yet have never actually wrote down a single word for it. If there are points in the story that don't make much sense (particularly the Matthew bit), don't panic. This will all be explained later on. Transcendence takes place roughly in the middle of my Saga, but I am writing every bit of it as though you have just picked up the book at Barnes and Noble, but don't worry. All will be revealed later. Thanks for all the views (I've been impressed by how many I've gotten, all things considered...) and keep reviewing. I'm always open to suggestions!