Chapter 29: Crises

Night

Hoenn

Littleroot Town

Ruby's mother eyed her son and husband. She had just finished making dinner and was considering calling her husband to see if he was done with work. In that instant, the door opened with a bang and the bedraggled duo walked in. The pair looked like they had dragged themselves through an apocalypse. Both of them had slash marks on their body, their clothes were muddy and their faces were set into fierce scowls.

"Arceus, what happened to the two of you?" she exclaimed and started unbuttoning Ruby's tattered jacket. "Norman, I thought you went to apprehend some criminals trying to steal the eon duo so wh-"

"Your son was at the site." The man spat vehemently and the mother turned to Ruby who was staring at his shoes.

"Oh Ruby! How many times have I told you not to put yourself in danger like that?" she admonished, "your father was in the area and he is capable enough to bring a pair of thieves to justice. You stay out of his way!"

Norman's heart plunged into his stomach and disappeared. His subtle way of trying to inform his wife about their son's real doings had just received a severe setback. How could he face her and spill the secret? She was still rebuking Ruby for his supposed tangle with the criminals. He no doubt was mumbling a bunch of excuses, or even outright lying to her. Suddenly, the gym leader's body felt heavy. Uncaring of his dirty clothes, he drifted further in the house and sat down on a couch. Once his wife was done fretting over their child, she came over and sat down on the edge. Norman knew that she was stressed, it wasn't uncommon for him and Ruby to fight over what his son wanted to do in the future. There had been more than once instance when the boy simply hightailed from home without informing anybody. A thorough search through his room would reveal farewell and apology letters and they would all be addressed to his mom.

"Did you and Ruby have a fight again honey?" she queried and he grunted, preferring to stare at the television rather than her anguished expression. When she persisted with her questions, he faced her.

"Yes, the stupid brat was getting himself in danger. Make sure he doesn't step outside this house or I'll wring his neck."

She sighed once more and got up, taking the opportunity, he bolted for his son's room. One would never know when the upstart vanished again, best to try and set his head right while the opportunity still presented itself. Standing before the door he knocked and became surprised when the door opened. Ruby must have thought his mother came to fetch him or else there was no way he'd ever open for his father. On seeing his dad's stern face, the teenager huffed and slammed the door shut. It took Norman several threats of breaking down the door for Ruby to finally respond to him again. Forcing himself in the room, he grabbed a chair and sat down. His child was busy sewing something; the brat didn't bother to change out of his dirty clothes. Ignoring each other, the pair sat in strained silence with only the ticking of the clock to break the monotony. The father didn't know how to approach the subject. Deep down he knew...He knew there must be a good reason for Ruby to side with the criminals. He wanted to find out...But how?

"Is Sapphire also part of this?" he received no response.

"How big is this organization? From the way their heists are carried out, they must be highly organized, the police theorized that it must be made up of a few rouge Dex-holders, the ones who mysteriously disappeared...Is it true? Who are your leaders and for Kyogre's sake answer me BOY!"

The teenager still didn't utter anything.

"Why are you doing this Ruby?" giving up, Norman's voice finally softened, "I know you don't care much about me...But your mother? She firmly believes that you are a good son. Don't do this to her."

"Maybe if you weren't as scornful of me, I'd turn out different." the child spoke, his voice low and hard, "I live in your shadow, everywhere I go I'm gym leader Norman's son, they expect me to be an outstanding trainer like you. I dislike battling and you, my father who should've at least encouraged me, grinded my dreams into dust." Ruby put his sewing down and stared at his father in the eye, "you know dad...I do care about you. I care a lot about what you think of me. You don't. You only care about what you think is right, you force me to follow your path instead of allowing me to choose my own. Birds of a feather flock together dad...Our organization are mostly made up of people wanting a better life for themselves. I am a prime example. And as soon as I get an opening...I'm running away again, your iron clad determination of wanting to keep me here is weaker than mine."

Around the same time

Johto

Mahogany Town

When Emerald rushed into the base atop Latias it no doubt created a scene. Other members of the group dashed out of their room to witness the screeching miniscule blonde waving his arms about. The eon pokemon came to a brusque halt in the corridors and the teenager hurled from Latias' back and on to the ground. He was a sight to behold with his hair and clothes which were damp and dirty. Shooting up, he orientated himself and before Green could demand what the commotion was about, he ran off to Execution's room. Emerald found Sapphire sitting on the carpeted floor holding a conversation with Diamond, Black and Lack-2. The four of them were engrossed in some sort of a game but Rald didn't care. This was important, very important and he needed to tell her. Saph had to know that Ruby was captured by Norman.

"WHAT?!" she let out an ear piercing shriek and jumped up from the ground. "Ruby...He got captured by his dad?" both Black and the youngster sported horrified looks, this was a crisis.

"Yeah...He let me escape though...I managed to get Latios, Latias and the soul-dew-"

"Who cares about that?!" In a fit, she grabbed him by the collar and screamed, he could see tears appearing at the corner of her eyes. Sapphire cared very much about the flamboyant fashionista, that was true. Muttering to herself, she grabbed her backpack from a corner of the room and began packing things inside it. She was going to save Ruby no matter what! Not even Norman, his dad will be able to stop her. The other members watched her in alarm; Black's effort to calm his senior down was rewarded by a punch to his face. Sniffing, she threw items in the bag with vigor.

"Saph please listen to me!" Emerald implored, the wild trainer brushed him aside and almost made it to the entrance when her leader's shadow fell over her.

"Senior Red please move aside." she curtly requested, "Ruby is in trouble and I'm gonna go save him."

"Ruby is in trouble? What happened?" Red's eyes grew wide with concern.

"I don't have time to explain! Please move aside!" Saph tried to go past him but he was blocking the exit

"No." the girl blinked at his words, "if he is a life threatening condition, Blue and I will go, if not, I want an explanation. Emerald, tell us what's going on."

The entirety of the base was gathered together and they squeezed in Constellate's room. Trainers were hanging off sofas, sitting on the floor and some even parked themselves at the edge of the holograph projecting coffee table, it was a surprise Blue didn't threaten any of them. Once everyone had found a place to sit, Emerald, the center of attention for once, began speaking. The three leaders were hovering over him like spearows and the experience was discomforting. Blue looked like she was going to faint, Green looked irritated and Red pulled off a masterful poker face.

"We didn't know the island was under surveillance, the information we have in our databases didn't indicate as such." The underdeveloped teen explained, "Ruby and I landed there and we were scouting for the two legendries, I heard they could turn themselves invisible by refracting light so we scoured the area pretty thoroughly. The air was humid, and there were some pokemon flying about but we didn't give them much thought. After some time we sat down and Ruby let his mightyena out, a few minutes later the pokemon gave a bark and ran into Norman. We both got up and he hid me behind him. He let me escape. Even though Ruby was fighting with his dad, he still managed to capture Latios and get the soul dew, he flung those to me just as Latias and I flew from the island. By the way, Latias came willingly...I don't get it myself." Rald's mumblings came to a halt and he was acutely aware of Sapphire shifting uneasily near him, she wanted to rush out, unfortunately the presence of everyone else was forcing her to act civil.

"So he basically let himself get caught so everything could work out in the end. Idiot, I told him to come back here if there was trouble. He could've contacted me, he-"

"Shouting about what-if's won't get us anywhere Blue." Green cut in and the female brunette sighed, her shoulder slumped and her face morphed into sorrow. It was an expression the others were not accustomed to seeing. Constellate's commander was cheerful, pleasant and understanding. Although she could be devious when she wanted to. "From what Emerald told me...He let himself get caught. Thus we are not going to save him."

The group around the spiky haired brunette eyed him like a mad man, he could feel Red's stare drilling a hole in his skull.

"Green...Ruby is under my team! Don't you dare forget! I don't care what you think, obviously you don't understand how I feel do you?"

Strategy's team leader ignored her and turned to Emerald, "Ruby, did he say anything else? There is a reason why you didn't go after him did you? And don't give me excuses, tell the truth."

And don't come after me! Tell that to Saph!

"Yeah. He said...He said we shouldn't go after him. Especially Saph. I think, he wants to sort some stuff out with his dad or...I don't know, he told me to keep away."

"Then there is nothing we can do Blue, you should respect his wishes. Meeting dismissed. And Sapphire..." the girl, wiping away furious tears flinched on hearing her name, "be patient, you know Ruby the best. Believe in him." Nodding, she ran out of the room, shoving past the other trainers roughly, in seconds, the chamber was clear of people save for Red, Green and Blue. The three sat apart on separate couches and none of them were looking at each other.

"If anyone of you wants to tell me how much of a heartless imbecile I am, now is your chance." Green declared, "I still have work to complete. My team and I are leaving for Unova in a week."

Red faced him, "you are total moron" the male mocked, "but both of us agree you handled the situation rather well. If it were me, I'd definitely bust him out. Fortunately we are two different people. See you later and I hope your mission goes well." Getting up, the red eyed trainer briskly walked out without sparing his two friends a glance. Green Oak stilled, he was expecting an angry outburst from his friend, not encouragement. Not wanting to put off the confrontation any longer he spoke to Blue.

"I understand" she bitterly accepted the fact that his decision was best for both parties. "I get what you are saying; he wants to do things his way. Ruby has always been like that. I'm just a bit shocked that he-" she let out a deep exhale, "sorry, I'm still having a difficult time believing this. Poor Saph, the girl must be devastated. I'll go cheer her up I guess. Thanks Green, I know sometimes your actions don't always agree with us, we complain and argue, however, it's because of you we are still functioning this efficiently. Red...Thinks the same as well. Give him some time, things will get better. I promise."

"Don't talk about Red..." the man looked away, "now days I don't even know what he's thinking about anymore. I appreciate you trying to console me. Thanks."

"Whoa! Did you just-" Blue stopped quipping when she noticed her friend next to her wasn't in the best of moods.

One week later, afternoon

Unova

The train was crammed full of people and Green hissed in annoyance. His team was sitting in various spots throughout the compartment and his faded reflection stared back from a window. He winced at his appearance. Once again, Blue had grabbed him and dyed his hair black citing that it was best to go disguised since the police were on high alert. Smoldering irises locked on to a green haired male who was sitting next to White and chatting with her rather animatedly. If anyone needed disguising, it would be N. The guy stood out like alien. Like Black, he carried around the dark stone in his arms. Green desperately wished he'd at least stow the sphere away in a bag when they were in public. No such luck. During their train ride to Unova, he observed the youth talking to the stone. Some passengers looked at him warily and shifted away from him. When they arrived at Mistraltron and changed trains to get to Floccesy Town, he sat down next to White, the only other person apart from Black he was comfortable around. Now he had a wide smile and it did not ease Green's foul mood. Lots of the commuters were discreetly observing the slate eyed man. The shifting glimpses might not mean much, but to the criminal, it presented a watchful eye. They were still far away from their destination and the next stop would be Driftveil city. The leader wondered if he should stop there and use another means to reach the rural town.

"Attention all passengers," the intercom buzzed to life with a cackle, "it has come to our attention that there are some suspicious individuals on board, for the safety of everyone, we will conduct an investigation, co-operation is highly recommended. Thank you for your patience."

Green swore under his breath, what a time to be alive! His underlings were trained enough to appear nonchalant. N however sported a bewildered expression. Not even five minutes passed after the announcement when the train's twin conductors entered the compartment. As soon as they did so, the car burst to life.

Several travellers all got up in unison, they shrugged off jackets and outer clothing to reveal Plasma uniforms underneath. Strategy's leader looked up in alarm. He wasn't expecting this to happen, it seemed N's movements were somehow being tracked and the racked his head trying to figure out when all this happened, was the king of team Plasma followed from Mistraltron? Or was he being tailed from Anville already? Annoyed, he watched how the crowd formed a barrier around N and the two conductors, some of them even knelt down before N, hailing him and imploring him to come back to their castle. Green let out a relieved huff; at least the limelight of suspicion was being focused on someone else. The way things were proceeding, the ending will not bode well for anyone.

"How did you find me?" N shrieked, his question was directed to both the people groveling at his feet and the twin conductors. One of them had a wide smile and the other sported a deep frown. Their faces looked painted on, artificial.

"We wired the local pokemon with spy cameras" Emmet excitedly replied and Ingo hit him on the head.

"You were not supposed to tell him that!" The older twin hissed.

So they fixed cameras on pokemon huh...Green mused, Ruby and Rald might've been caught the same way.

The subway bosses strode further into the car, bodily shoving everyone else out of the way. They came to a stop before a line of plasma grunts who were guarding N. The king in question was cradling the dark stone to his chest and pressing himself into the train seats, he wanted to melt away. White eyed the group surrounding her with mild distress, she had drawn her legs up because the crowd was desperately pushing and shoving and trying to get closer to their beloved king. Green kept his head low and prayed that the twins would be proficient enough not to suspect him. Ingo's eyes were roaming over the others and they settled on his head.

"You...look strong; I take it you are an accomplice as well?" The question made the brunette's head spin, him working for a wimp of a king? The very idea was ludicrous.

"We are in no way affiliated with hi-"

"Let's battle him to find out big brother!" Emmet, bored of ogling at N, bounced over and if possible, his grin inched wider. The Kanto native glowered at the duo. He was not going to battle them, doing so in such a cramped space would cause a lot of damage, not to mention he might be detained or hauled in for questioning...and he would like to avoid such unnecessary risks. Looking at them firmly, he told them that he was not affiliated with team Plasma; he simply wanted to go to Floccesy Town. And he had absolutely no idea of N's true identity. The twins nodded sympathetically and were actually starting to believe him when a random lackey let loose a pokemon. As Ingo turned around to march away, the liepard swiped a poisoned claw across his face. His cheek dripped blood and the acid was eating away at the wound, exposing it, widening it. Several others let loose their pokemon and within the span of a few moments, an all-out brawl ensured. Ingo and Emmet teamed up together and sent their pokemon out, a durant and klingklang. Durant scurried rapidly after the offending liepard, seizing the feline's tail in its steel coated mandibles, it chopped the appendage right off, the cat let out a yowl and scratched the surface of the ant with little success. A command from its trainer had the insect bashing its head against the mammal's body, with a cry and several broken bones, it fainted.

The car was shaking. With relative ease, the twin conductors were dispatching the grunts. Their faces remained frozen with the expressions they walked in with. Emmet was still smiling and Ingo was still frowning, their pokemon were well trained and executed deadly attacks. Klingklang's gears were slick with blood and the smell of body fluids were suffocating. Yellow backed up against the side of the car and watched with mute disgust at the battles taking place. The fight on the conductors' part was merciless; they had no qualms of maiming the opposition's untrained pokemon. Some of the sorry beasts were clearly reluctant to fight; even they were treated without leniency. Getting uncomfortable, she tried to open up a window. At the same time, one of the grunts let out a gigalith the heavy pokemon fell on the floor with a thump and executed an earthquake, with a series of metallic crashes and explosions the train screeched and nearly toppled over. Yellow, fell to the floor, her head hitting the ground with a sickening pain. People and pokemon rushed to the door in panic and she threw her arms up. Forcing them aside, Crystal helped her off the floor and pushed her to a safe corner, whilst the rest of the crowd screamed and demanded to be let out. The train had stilled and the twins, ever the epitome of calm, fished out an Xtransciever and spoke into it.

"Well," the two drawled, "it seems all the commotion happening in this car managed to derail the train...I mean who in their right mind uses earthquake whilst on a commuting vehicle? You are pathetic." The cutting words uttered by Ingo managed to rile the offended grunt, he commanded his gigalith to attack, alas, klingklang, gears whirring at high speed grinded the rock pokemon's head right off, the lolling head came to a stop before N's feet.

"You killed a pokemon..." the green haired youth simply stated with disbelieving eyes. Green snorted. What a child. N kept on staring; the rock pokemon's body and head were turning into sand. Slowly, the king raised his face and with a defiant look, he elevated the black stone he was carrying. The watching Dex-criminals all wore looks of horror. A glow pulsated from the dragon stone and in seconds Zekrom burst into being, the compartment's roof tore off with a screech of metal and the dragon took to the air. It rained down blue lightning and Emmet, elated, screamed in delight at the carnage. Ingo, gripped his cap and gave his younger twin another well-earned smack. Both their pokemon had fainted and new ones were sent out. The conductors turned to Green.

"We were informed that the dark dragon stone has been stolen from Steven almost seventeen months ago. The group who stole them was the infamous shadow criminals, who are, quoting from you, in no way affiliated with team Plasma. Earlier this year, we got intelligence that the King of Team Plasma, a puppet by the name of Natural Harmonia Gropious had fled the safety of his base to go missing in action. Putting two and two together-"

"Makes four!" Emmet did a fist pump and Ingo curbed the urge to kick his brother out of the window.

"...From the looks of things, you are part of them...not sure if you are in the top tier or merely a grunt, but the smell of death lingers over you. You are a strong individual. Emmet's instincts never lie." Green lethargically got up. Thank goodness Blue had disguised him; the grateful thought brought an indiscernible smile to his face. These people were good; the police in Unova were rather thorough. The contemplation was quite amusing. Calling forth his charizard, he leapt to the dragon's back, soared to the air and surveyed his surroundings. The train had derailed near Driftveil, at least he and his team could fly over to Heart cave, their original destination. He observed his team mates all looking up at him expectantly. The situation was also disadvantageous to them, if he fought, his pokemon would be revealed and his partners could be cross referenced with others to find his identity. Red would scoff at him for letting his underlings fight, but it couldn't be helped.

"Get rid of the conductors," he commanded and saw Pearl swing into action immediately. Chimhiko punched Emmet in the face with a fire cloaked paw, the conductor's hat flew off and he screamed in pain, clutching a singed cheek. The twins were not expecting pokemon to target the trainers themselves.

"Chimhiko!" Pearl thundered, "use close combat." The monkey swung over to the opposition's galvantula and landed hard on the giant spider's back. Expertly balancing on it, infernape executed a series of accurate chops and punches which left the insectoid a twitching, bleeding mess. It was upended and thrown to the floor. Now the electric spider lay in a pool of yellow blood with its pincers twitching up in the air. Gritting his teeth, Ingo recalled it and grabbed Emmet by his arm, the younger twin refused to budge from his position. He and Crystal were locked into a battle and he was not passing up the chance to defeat her. Mega was whipping garbodor with vines; unfortunately the attacks were doing little damage. The acid pokemon threw up a pool of sludge and Mega used protect to deflect it. A solar beam tore a hole through the trash heap but in a few seconds it regenerated. Garbodor sunk a poisoned tentacle and the herb pokemon thrashed in agony, its side turning an ominous purple. Natee was sent out and the avian executed a confusion. The sludge pokemon burst, rivulets of acrid liquid escaping and corroding the floor. Emmet, disbelief etched on his mask-esque face recalled his partner solemnly. From the sky, Green issued a retreat, as soon as his sensible subordinates scrambled out; charizard ignited the compartment in a fireball. The other screaming grunts and conductors rushed from the burning wreck. Strategy's members all let their flying types out and took to the air. In a few minutes, both they and N were gone whilst the police and team plasma grunts beheld the burning partition issuing a thick column of choking smoke which was steadily drifting to the sky.

A few hours later

Castelia Town

Precinct

The twin conductors dusted their jackets off and stood awkwardly before Looker who had come to Unova to investigate Team Plasma. Emmet still had the plastic smile on and he rubbed his burned cheek, the wound was bandaged but that didn't stop the officer to scratch it irritably. His older brother had a scowl decorating his face. Ingo was probably trying to stare Looker into submission. Unfortunately, the scruffy officer took no note; he was furiously scribbling down a report and based on the twins' experiences today.

"So you are saying that Team Plasma's King was on board the train with a couple of other plasma grunts and members of the Dex-criminals?" The inspector looked at them expectantly.

"We are absolutely sure of Team Plasma's King and grunts were aboard the train, as for the identity of the others...we are not too sure, they left no calling cards this time."

"Two and two makes four" Emmet pointed out, "big brother Ingo used that logic to pin them down."

Looker ignored the younger twin. "How did these new intruders look? Do they have any defining features? If you can give me an accurate description, we can put up posters and start searching for them already...Did you see them before? Are they from Unova or other regions?" The questions came thick and fast and the two conductors frowned in deep thought, finally they responded:

"Plasma's King had tea green hair, a girl was sitting next to him, she had brown hair...Umm, I think she might be a Unova native...Her features pointed out as such. As for the others..." Emmet concentrated hard before speaking, "three were blonde, two boys and a young woman, there was another woman with indigo tinted hair and possibly their leader or an administrator. The dude had black hair that was slicked down his forehead. Oh yeah...He had a charizard to. And he refused to fight me, what a bore!" the officer complained bitterly whilst Ingo gritted his teeth. Looker was staring at them both and the expression on the man's face infuriated Ingo. Clearly he thought that they were incompetent.

"Anything else? How did they look, give me features."

"...We weren't paying attention Looker" this time, the older one spoke up, "the car was cramped and both Emmet and I were physically assaulted. I can tell you one thing though, the executive...Or whatever his position is, had green eyes. We spoke to him personally; he must be a formidable trainer as well. The ones he commands were able to single handedly defeat both my brother and I. These people are not to be trifled with. I apologize for not being able to provide any information, but we need to take our leave, the train is a burning hunk of metal off the side of route six and I need to clean it up before the leading authorities fires me for negligence." he tipped his hat, "I'll be going now."

With a swish of their trench coats, the two exited the brightly lit room. The incident was already being covered by the media. Several policemen rushed around, herding over eager news crews away from the departing conductors. Cameras flashed, mikes were thrust into their faces and Ingo briefly wanted to wrench a few of the devices out and grind them underfoot. Emmet on the other hand waved and smiled like a celebrity. After much screaming and shoving, the twins were finally able to leave the place. Like flies, the media now turned their attention to Looker who had stepped out, the moment he saw the crowds running for him, he re-entered the building again. An almighty roar of a dragon sent the inquisitive crowd dispersing and when the police peeked to see if the coast was clear, he was surprised to see Cynthia, with garchomp by her side, regally striding in. Behind her Steven waved at the terrified news crews and followed her.

"Cynthia ma'am," he addressed the super intendant, "what brings you here?"

She tossed her shock of platinum blonde hair before replying:

"Heart cave near Floccesy Town, Steven and I are chasing myths," she put a hand to her chin in contemplation, "well not the myths themselves, we have picked up sinister presences in Celestic cave and now I want to visit the Heart cave to see if the group or person we are tailing is also reading up on the creation legends. The foe is powerful. And what about you?" she turned to him, "why are you in Unova?"

"Ingo and Emmet created a scene," he pointed to the television which was broadcasting news, the image of a burning wreck was shown, "they fought against the cronies of Team Plasma and the Dex-criminals."

"What?"

"Most probably..." Looker was quick to add when both champions sported astonished faces. "They couldn't give me a lick of accurate information...Not even a proper description."

"Then it can't be helped" The Sinnoh champion added, "if we had a lead, I'd chase them myself, but it's unwise to think that they are still in the area after what they caused. Anyway, Steven and I will depart for Floccesy Town now, I just came to deposit some papers, take care." Looker watched the duo leave; a small pang of loneliness embedded itself in his chest. His superior had started working alone ever since two years ago, the video calls and messages were sporadic...And he really missed working with someone.

A/N: Much thanks to nightmareeater532 for following the story, hope it's an intriguing read. Ingo and Emmet are funny characters though especially in the manga. At Jack54311: Well I don't think the pokeballs actually brainwashes them...more in the sense that the ball tames their rebellious desires and forces them to somewhat obey the person who captured them. Latias is a big fan of Emerald (in Canon). At Silver: You basically summarized the previous and half of this chapter in a short dialogue...next time I need a summary, I'm asking you to make one (Lol). The light stone is in Black's possession, he commands Reshiram (or the other way around). As for the dark stone, N wants an idealistic world, therefore the legendary representing ideals (Zekrom) responds to him. Also he's pretty special since he understands pokemon language.