Chapter 14: Deep sea blues

Morning

Kanto, Cerulean city

Misty's mansion

The red head groaned and woke up. She sat up in bed, lazily stretched her arms and yawned. The pale blue silk curtains adorning her windows billowed in a slight breeze. Leaning over, she pulled the curtains and stared out. The morning bustle was already seizing the city and she glimpsed civilians going about their work, young children having mock pokemon battles on the cobblestoned sidewalk and older ones heading to school, some crossed the bridge, others took the gondolas. In Cerulean city, canals were equally important as roads, and there were numerous of these water straits throughout the town. Blearily, she turned and reached for her smartphone situated on the bed stand. Her hand brushed against a piece of paper and she grabbed it, unfolding it she read:

'You were found unconscious on the roof of Mossdeep Space Centre, Blaine rescued you and brought you home, once you recover, we expect a full report.

Signed: International Police.'

...Right, she was put to sleep by Red. So, it wasn't some sort of unpleasant dream. It really happened. Swallowing thickly, she threw her heavy comforter off, got out of bed and exited the room. Out in the hallways some of the maids blushed as they beheld the master of the mansion walking around wearing nothing but sleepwear. One of the shoulder straps of the nightgown was dangerously sliding off and the lady in waiting meekly pointed it out. Irritably hitching the strap back in place, Misty navigated through her house and eventually found the room she was looking for. Entering it, she eyed the Pokemon healing equipment and walked to the back of the room; bare feet brushing against a maroon carpet, she halted at a low shelf and stared.

One of her pokemon was missing. She counted Staryu, Starmie, Goldeen, Lanturn and Suicune...her Gyara was not there. Rubbing her eyes she scrutinized the shelf again and still there was one capsule missing. Her thoughts turned to Red.

"He must've taken it," she murmured to herself, "but why Gyara and not Suicune?" The champion was collecting, capturing legendary pokemon for some reason; most probably he was part of the infamous shadow criminals wreaking havoc through the five regions. She racked her head for an explanation for the adolescent's actions but failed to come up with a suitable reason for his doings. Her contemplations switched course and now she pondered about her report to her superiors. Red had put her to sleep and stolen one of her most precious Pokemon, these deeds were unforgivable, by all means she has a right to stomp over and report these acts however, a highly irrational voice told her not to. She remembered a time when he swaggered in the Gym and boasted about his skills; therefore he proceeded to battle her and won. Barely. This shaved off his confidence and she scolded him, telling him to take a more serious outlook on life. The teenager simply grinned lopsidedly and waved. Thus he was forgotten till his name surfaced again as the supreme champion of Kanto. He was forgotten once again till he showed his face in her mansion.

Red had changed, gone was the over-confident hot headed brat. He morphed into a level headed adult, who still lusted after thrilling battles.

The water gym leader did a fist pump. "I'll knock some sense into him!" she voiced out loudly "I'm going to find him and ask him why he's doing this, then...then I'll turn him in. He must pay for what he did. Stupid moron!...Don't you know stealing other people's pokemon is a grave crime?" Sliding to the floor, she cradled her five partners and whispered the last words to herself.

There was no one in the room to lend an ear to her miserable woes.

Approximately two months later

Hoenn

Slateport harbor

"And this is Ruby, starting from today; he'll be assisting with work." Sapphire, wearing work overalls and lacking her signature bandanna, introduced him to her colleagues and the teenager bowed politely. They were currently standing on a concrete pier near a submarine. The harbor was busy, cafes and other markets lined the area and there was even a museum showcasing ancient deep sea pokemon. Looking around, Ruby's eyes picked out the construction of a large luxury cruiser and he could discern the title by squinting, S.S Tidal it read. Sapphire and the group of people in front of him seemed to be in high spirits. They were chatting animatedly. Breaking away from the happy group, he moved forward, right to the edge and stared out to the ocean. The submarine bobbed peacefully in the waves and he could hear the distinct screeching of wingulls and pelippers. He sighed and looked at himself. How unsightly, he too was sporting the same drab, olive green outfit as his best friend. The color made him retch.

"I'm surprised you managed to work here for two months without destroying something." He commented as the female joined him. She punched him lightly on the shoulder in response and glanced at him in a concerned manner.

"Is gym leader Norman doing okay?"

"Yeah, Dad's doing fine, the doctors told him to take it easy with his jobs...but you know him, he doesn't listen." The black haired male's shoulders drooped. "More importantly, why are you here?" He turned and pinned her with a scrutinizing gaze. The brunette gave an indignant huff and whipped her head around.

"Well sorry for getting worried when Blue told one morning that you went home because your dad suffered from a terrible injury...I admit, I was agitated because I didn't visit Papa in a long time as well, so when I found out Blue was sending Platina for the mission you were supposed to do, I begged her to let me go instead, now whenever I'm done with work for the day, I go straight home and sometimes help Papa with field work," she faced him and grinned happily. "Blue said you don't have to do this job if you don't want to, so she skipped on telling you the objectives, since you are here, we'll finish the mission together!" He watched her smile and his lips curved upwards. During the past month, he was cut off from all connection of their organization, his team leader did not update him on any activities, the only thing he got was a few well-wishing messages. He was depressed, Norman's health condition was critical so most of his time was spent at Petalburg. One glorious morning, his mood lifted when he walked out of his home in Littleroot to see Sapphire coming out of the laboratory, it was at this meeting where he learned that she was stationed at Hoenn for an extended project.

"So I'm your...Uh...Assistant" Ruby hung his head "This feels so wrong!"

"Hey!" The girl scrunched up her face "what is that supposed to mean, I'm your senior here. Get it? Senior!"

"Are you sure he isn't your boyfriend Saph?" another voice teased "I mean, you two are arguing like an old couple." Hearing this, the female blushed furiously and clenched her hands into fists whilst the ruby eyed male waved his hands lazily and adjusted his furry hat, the only fashionable thing on his person.

"We're childhood friends" he clarified.

The inside of the submarine was a mess of flexible tubes, metallic pipes, analogue gauges, and oddly shaped cabinets. And it was cramped, the band of people walked in a single file while Captain Stern lectured Ruby about the workings of the explorer. Apparently, his job was to make sure the submarine was running smoothly, gas pressures have to be regulated, the living quarters had be kept clean and other mundane orders carried out. He was pleased when Saph showed him the sleeping quarters, unlike the rest of the submarine; it was relatively uncluttered, sported porthole windows and had bunk beds.

"This is where you'll knock off for the night" the gravelly tones of the sea-captain permeated through the congested space. "Since the construction is completed, we are ready to explore the seafloor cavern, mind you it's gonna be a mighty tough ride, the place we will be going to is almost near Mossdeep, it is also the resting place of Kyogre..." the rest of the words fell unheard as Ruby's mind turned to the legendary pokemon, perhaps that was their target. The team resumed their tour of the completed vehicle and at the edge of his vision; he noticed a figure lagging behind. Curious of the individual's motive, he too slinked at the back of the group and hid in one of the many crevices. The person, slightly dark skinned, pulled out a PokeNav and spoke into it hurriedly:

"Boss, we hit the right spot, this submarine goes all the way to the seafloor cavern where we have our base, you know...the one where we are experimenting on the orbs...Okay, okay sorry, there is no one around anyway! I can't steal this thing, there are too many people on it, plus we got an additional gym leader's son on board, brat came in today and there is Birch's daughter. Lugia that girl is like wild ani-" his words ended abruptly when blaziken popped out of nowhere and executed a double kick, the well-built man crashed into pipes and a metal surface and crumpled to the floor groaning and holding his chest. Another upper-cut, courtesy of the pokemon had him throwing up stomach fluids.

"Enough Toro" Creeping out of his hiding place, he bore witness to his friend squatting down to face the man she attacked a second ago, said person growled and aimed a punch, she swiftly moved to the side and back-handed him in the face. He howled and clutched his jaw.

"You are from team Aqua right?" the blue eyed trainer cracked her knuckles and Toro breathed a stream of fire, "Tell me where the orbs are kept and everything you know and this will end nicely."

"Don't think I'll just tell you brats everything without a fight." Saph snorted and got up, spinning around on her heels, she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted.

"Captain STERRRNNN!" Ruby recoiled from the loud volume, "We gotta criminal on our hands, one of the members of Team Aqua snuck on board, I cornered him!" Almost at once, the guards and the captain himself came rushing to the scene, they hand cuffed the criminal, who had started screaming profanities and took him away. Stern relayed his utmost gratitude to her and he too left, frazzled by the experience. He muttered something about dealing with the media, if word goes out, his reputation might be ruined. Completely lost, the teenager glowered at his beaming friend.

"Mind telling me what is going on? I'm utterly in the dark here! Tell me what's going on Saph!" He insisted and the she merely giggled and shook her head.

"We are going on an undersea exploration tomorrow" she said, "make sure you pack for a long journey! I'll text you the details tonight"

"Why can't you just tell me now?"

She tapped her shoes on the floor and recalled her pokemon. "I can't" she stated and Ruby sported a confused expression on his face, seeing this she explained: "This is a covert mission, Blue told me not to disclose any information." Grinning, she walked down the narrow pathway and out of sight and the teenager sighed. Clearly Saph had no idea of the meaning of covert...Besides; her actions were so not suitable for espionage missions. Screaming down the hallway about a criminal? Who does that? However it was nice to be in the middle of things again. Dusting off his clothes he followed the path she took.

Night

Hoenn

Littleroot town.

The occupants sitting in the quaint living room gave him a shock, nevertheless, he managed to calm his breathing and walk in and greet. As he was ascending the stairs to his bedroom, Steven called him out. Eye twitching, he heeded the call, came down and contemplated where to sit, giving up; he crashed next to his father who shifted up to make more space. The couch was a bit hard and well worn, nothing like the plush luxury he was used to back at Constellate's common room. Reaching out for a biscuit, he started eating it and keeping himself busy, he did want to meet the Hoenn champion's steel gray eyes.

"Sorry to barge in at an unexpected time, but your father here was rather adamant about this" The man inhaled deeply before continuing, he leaned forward and clasped his hands before him. Ruby's eyes strayed to one of the numerous rings decorating the individual's fingers. Inserted in a thick band of deep grey metal was another light colored mineral, it seemed odd for the ring not to have a jewel. For some reason, it felt like the shard was releasing some sort of invisible energy. Acutely aware of his father's stare he swallowed and forced his eyes to meet Steven's.

"Simply put" the champion continued "The world is turning into a dangerous place and he is worried about your future." Ruby hissed under his breath, "he wants you to put your pokemon contesting on hold and focus on battling, if you like, I'll personally train you." His first reaction was to throw a tantrum and run out of the house, he'll be more than welcome at Sapphire's place; besides, professor Birch was much more easygoing, he was accepting of his daughter's career of being a martial artist and pokemon trainer. Ruby on the other hand disliked battling with pokemon, a side he hated of himself surfaced when he fought. The side that scared Saph when they were children.

"No thank you sir" he coolly stated, "I am going to pursue what I do whether my father likes it or not. I'm going to dominate the Pokemon contests and become a famous star one day. Your offer is well appreciated, but I'm afraid I can't accept it." He stood up and faced his father, slight crinkles had appeared around the edges of Norman's eyes and he appeared drained of energy, "Father, I'll do this, if you try to stop me, I'll run away from home. Like I did previously." A soft gasp alerted to his mother's presence and he brushed past her and trudged upstairs. In his room, he shut the door and collapsed on his bed. Familiar surroundings calmed him a bit and he brooded. Absentmindedly he took out his sewing kit from the closet, sat down on the powder snow mat decorating the floor and grabbed one of his ripped Poke Dolls. It was a giant Lapras and he got to work, threading the needle with azure colored string and carefully repairing the snagged area near the fin. The needle wove in and out, in and out and sewed the tear shut. In the next couple of hours, he found himself adjusting his glasses and stitching another contest outfit for himself. It was a hobby, he owned several custom made outfits and whenever he had a break from his criminal duties, he'd hop off to the nearest contest hall and participate in one. Taking a break from fine needlework, he stretched his neck and looked up on the ceiling. Seconds later, his PokeNav vibrated and he scrambled up to see a text coming from Saph:

"Our objective is to steal the red and blue orbs capable of controlling Groudon and Kyogre. These orbs as well as the legendary pokemon are all in possession of Team Aqua, a few weeks earlier, the international police found their main hideout and busted them, their leader is currently in hiding and the laboratory they were using has been abandoned. So the mission was to infiltrate the ranks of the construction team working on the submarine and gain their trust, eventually we will be able to visit the Seafloor cavern and steal the two orbs. Also, we are to take any information on Kyogre, not the pokemon itself, since the incident with Senior Gold and Lugia, our leader is not taking any more undersea risks."

The text ended there.

He stared at the screen for a few more moments and then started packing for the journey, grabbing clothes, folding them neatly and putting them in his bag. He threw in several fashionable accessories as well: a beanie, bandannas, pins, sunglasses, hair gel (because you never know). Finished with his clothes, he turned his attention to his pokemon, taking out his Technical machine case, he inserted a few disks inside and stowed it away. The backpack now resembled a hiker's bag, shrugging he glanced at the clock and went to bed.

Next morning

Slateport

Harbor

"Trying to run away from home or what?" Saph's words, though lighthearted, stung. She eyed his overstuffed backpack and shook her head.

"You said to pack for a long journey" he countered heatedly.

"...Yeah...Whatever, let's go!" with a surprising accuracy, she clambered on to the nearest light post, balanced precariously on top and sniffed the salt tinged air of the ocean. He watched her, captivated as she spread her arms around, the ocean breeze played with her hair, tossing her brown strands this way and that. A whistle sounded and she jumped down bounded for the submarine and dragged the gaping male with her. Inside, the crew of Submarine Explorer one huddled in the cramped control room and Captain Stern briefed them on their mission.

"Okay boys...And girls...We are now setting sail for the seafloor cavern situated in the deep sea area near Evergrande city, buckle up tight and make sure you do your duties! This is our maiden voyage so expect something to go wrong!" the elder cheerfully stated much to the general populace's chagrin. He showed a gap-toothed grin. "Off you go!" The crowd scattered to their various duties.

Ruby didn't have much to do in the submarine mainly because Saph did it for him, she teased him for the delicate way he handled the numerous equipment, often pushing him aside with a snide remark of 'Prissy boy' and handling things for herself. He grumbled when someone handed him a broom and instructed him to clean, so his friend snatched it away from his hands and cleaned the floors with vigor. Shrugging and quite happy with the way Saph handled things, he retreated to the living quarters and began filing his nails. The past few weeks, he had neglected to take care of himself. Almost half an hour later, the girl stomped in and punched him hard in the face.

"What was that for?!" he questioned in a high pitched voice as she glowered at him.

"Idiot! I let you off so you could conduct research of our target location," she fumed and bore down on him, "and here you are staring at yourself in the mirror!"

"What research? In case you haven't noticed, we are miles below the sea; you can't expect me to find a decent signal here do you?" Hearing this, she deflated as understanding dawned on her. He smirked on seeing her blush with embarrassment.

"Don't worry, my team is well versed in adapting to abnormal situations, if anything comes up, I'll protec- OUCH!" he grabbed his throbbing cheek as the wild trainer exited in a rapid manner.

Afternoon

Kanto

Celadon city, Dex criminals' hideout.

He stared at the way Crystal tapped on her keyboard, her face set with grim determination as she catalogued all the pokemon they caught to date. An indolent smile was plastered on his face as he observed slim fingers flying over keys and tapping out an erratic rhythm. Discreetly, he held up a phone, took a photograph and smiled. As he was about to leave the room, he quickly thrust the device in his pocket and folded his hands behind his head, the picture of innocence, however, Green was not one of the easily fooled. The man, clad in a crisp white lab coat, towered over his blanched form and glared at him, if he was a pokemon, escape would have been impossible.

"Next time I find you taking pictures of my subordinates...I'll crush your skull and by Arceus Red won't be able to stop me." The man came closer with a violent sparkle in his eye, "this is my last warning, if I catch you again, praying to our deity monsters won't make me go easy on you!" Trembling, he stood aside and let the older male pass. Strategy's leader walked into the common room and made a beeline for the huge shelf lining an entire wall. Jade irises narrowing, he began scanning the titles and barking out orders to the two underlings sitting in the room. Both Crystal and Yellow stopped what they were doing and turned, listening to him. The blonde spied Lack-2 loitering near the entrance and imparted a soft smile. Waving back and sniggering at Green, he high tailed out of the area in elevated spirits.

"Oh that reminds me, Senior Green, you have duty again with Red today." the spiky haired trainer froze.

"Yellow" he sighed "I'm not sure if you are deliberately assigning us together, I assure you Red and I are still best friends."

"Then...there is nothing wrong with doing duty together right?" She reasoned.

"Fine" he mumbled and exited the room. With heavy footsteps he navigated the corridors and entered Execution's common room. In there, he bore witness to Red training Diamond whilst Gold and Lack-2 were playing pool. The ruby eyed male waved in a genial manner and let his junior off, wiping his forehead with a towel; he sauntered over to the brown haired male and offered him a can of soda.

"Green, what's up?" the trainer shifted his eyes and accepted the drink before replying.

"Legendary pokemon observation duty, Yellow put us together again."

"Really? That's great!" Red, wearing a sleeveless tank top stretched and walked forward, "I'll just get my keycard from my bedroom, be right back." The black haired champion left and Green wondered if he should wait for him or go on ahead. Rambunctious laughter erupted behind him and he swiveled to see the three younger males fool around. Countenance softening, a smile tugged at his lips. True to his words, Red appeared seconds later flipping his keycard in the air and catching it. Nodding, the duo left the scene.

"It's turning black..." the red eyed Pokemon champion pointed out and tilted his head to get a better look at the pokemon. The legendary creature was curled up, akin to a fetus. Its large tail had curved abound its body and extended above its head and it floated in the suspending viscous fluid. When it sensed humans coming near it, it slowly unraveled itself revealing dark black stripes decorating its mauve body.

"Of course its tuning black you dolt! Most dark types are black and stop looking so fascinated with it; human presence generally angers it so step away." Green admonished, scratching the back of his head, the scolded trainer took several steps back and grinned sheepishly.

"Still, you're amazing Green. I mean, few people would even attempt such a dangerous project." The brunette listened to the praise and scribbled words on his clipboard, "From the looks of it, this experiment might succeed, but will Mewtwo be able to create a rip in space? From the few myths I read about the creation trio, it seems their powers and abilities cannot be emulated without error. Remember it's a world we want to create."

"We won't know until we test this creature out" the researcher was getting slightly disturbed by the way mewtwo was still straightening itself, perhaps they needed to move on. "Come on, stop talking and let's check the other mythical pokemon out."

They ambled through the huge space and Red started a running commentary about the conditions of the pokemon. Ho-oh was slightly dissatisfied by his environment, given the statistics. Lugia however was overjoyed by his whirlpool studded pool of water. Celebi was growing, aging, killing and re-growing the plants decorating his cage. The other pokemon were all somewhat happy and minor adjustments were made to some of the holding cells where the monster in question appeared sick or was unhappy. Several times, Green interjected the rambling to force his best friend to write some figures down whilst he investigated something. This continued till they came to Rayquayza's Spear pillar-esque cell. Here, the tumbling words sputtered and died out. The two friends gazed at the pockmarked glass, their shady reflections broken by fine circular cracks.

"We need to replace this cell...Where am I gonna get more glass like this? I mean it was created specifically to hold legendary pokemon." One of the adolescents griped "if I was champion, I could've just requested some more..."

"I'll try to get some, don't worry." Thrusting the pen back into his pocket, the brunette marched out with his friend following behind him. The lights in the industrial sized space were put off and the area bathed in darkness. Mewtwo was still uncoiling himself in a tiring manner, his eyes started glowing faintly. Once he straightened out completely, he put a hand to the Perspex tube encircling him and stared at the metallic door signifying the exit and entrance to this chamber.

He stared, the black marks and stripes began to elongate on his purple body.

"Hu...ma...ns."

It spoke.

"I ha...te

Hum...ans"

He spoke again, pain and rage consuming his mind.

A/N: Much gratitude to TheSilverHunt3r, Eevee and Jack54311 for reviewing. You all deserve cookies, chocolate chip cookies and all the good things in the world. Seriously thank you very much, it is uplifting. At Jack54311: Your reasons for suspecting Lack-2 has been confirmed...or has it? :P At Eevee, I type out these chapters way before I post them, currently, I'm busy with chapter 33 so pardon me if my description of Green's clothing is lacking. I tried to tweak it to fit in a description but it seemed so out of place I had to scrap it.

Once again, thanks for reading. Please keep on dropping a review/random outburst/a paragraph stating why you hate your aunt (the last one was a pathetic attempt at a joke)