A/N: Welp it's been far, far too long but I'm attempting to go past a month per chapter. Key word being attempting. Yeah. With Omega Ruby out by the time this chapter is released you bet your asses I'll be looking for things to implement into this here story. You never know. Anyway, onto the show.
"When are we gonna get theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere?" I whined, sitting with my back against the railing on the bow of the ship.
"Shut your trap, it's not much longer." Thalia sighed as the sun was beginning its descent, turning the sky a bright orange. Beautiful if I do say so myself buuuuut I was bored. I looked and saw Aron resting in the sunlight while Torchic idly scratched at the boat. Totodile was resting under Mr. Briney's dash area, enjoying the shade and Gyarados was in his Pokeball, resting.
"I don't want wait though!" I whined, leaning my head back through the bars. I could see Slateport city on the horizon, the city lights bright. But the amount of water between us and them was heavy. "There's sooooooo much water." I complained, hoping to press Thalia's buttons a bit more. I somewhat succeeded.
"What the fuck are you, a review for Hoenn's oceans?" Thalia griped. I could hear the teeth grinding from here.
"Maybe." I played into it. "If I indeed were I'd give it a 7.8 out of ten. Too much of it."
"Aside from that how have things been?" Thalia asked begrudgingly.
"Fantastic, little complaints. Just the water." I replied, straight faced as I could be facing the ocean upside down. "But what can I say? I'm just taking a dive." Thalia's tooth grinding intensified.
"That pun was atrocious." She growled. I chuckled.
"Don't be so crusty, go with the flow." I stretched my arms past the bars, enjoying the feeling of the sea breeze on my face.
"Stop it." Thalia growled. My Magma friend was getting awfully testy. I smiled.
"Oh come on, have a bit of fun! Just because we meet some Aqua morons doesn't mean you have to be a downer." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying the salty air. It'd be gone for a while I assumed. I truthfully was enjoying this quite a lot. I'd never done much in the way of sea travel up until now and it'd be fraught with a good amount of peril. Like tackling a Pokemon off my Gyarados. Shit's crazy. But you gotta do what you gotta do.
"Fine." I heard the girl sigh. "Perhaps when we get to Slateport we can enjoy a bit of the night life." Thalia seemed to mull the thought over. "I wouldn't mind visiting the open market." Okay I'll admit Thalia talking about an open market was a tad amusing but she's vulgar a lot of the time, so I wouldn't expect it.
"Sounds nice. I want to see what I can grab to eat." As if in response my stomach groaned loudly. "Yeah…" Ugh, I could feel my stomach acid eating at my lining while it reforms just as fast. Yes I learned that in school since it was the only way to describe how I feel aside from I feel like a sealed bag of chips without the chips. It sucks.
"You didn't have much in that pack of yours, did you?" Thalia laughed and I sighed.
"No. and I'm regretting not buying anything in Dewford or getting stuff from Katherine." I let my arms hang out, flapping against the hull of the boat. The hum of the engine would be enough to lull me to sleep but I had just woken up a short time ago, gotten dressed, and sat out here teasing Thalia. She got angry easily so it was fun. I mean, can you not?
"Well pack better next time." Thalia looked down at me. "Last thing I need is your sorry ass to starve." She said with a smile. Lovely girl, wants me to live. Kinda.
"I'll do my best not to starve but I can't guarantee anything." I admitted. Looking back I could see the lights of Slateport getting much closer.
"We'll be docking there within the half hour." Mr. Briney announced. "Get yourselves ready." I sighed. My sea trip would be over soon. I decided to wait til the last ten or so minutes. Those minutes passed surprisingly quickly as I watched Slateport arrive on the horizon, some tall buildings were there but it was overall quite short, height wise. But I could hear the noise from here. It wasn't a festival or anything, just a bustling open market at night, white lights everywhere. Before I knew it Mr. Briney was announcing the 5 minute mark and I quickly returned Aron, Totodile, and Torchic before grabbing my bags and standing on the bow with Thalia.
"Nice city it looks like." Thalia commented idly.
"Yeah. Wonder where the closest hotel is." I wondered aloud, thinking. "There's probably a nice one for semi-cheap."
"True, who's doing what?" Thalia asked.
"We both find a hotel and go off after that. Sound fair?" I asked, turning to her. She smiled.
"Fair enough Snowy." Snowy? My face must've looked confused (I was) because Thalia laughed. "Your hair." She elaborated. "It's white."
"Oh." I replied, wondering how in the hell I didn't get that. However, just then, we docked. The dock plate was lowered and we each gave Mr. Briney a huge thanks. I gave the old man a hug and a few bucks, which he tried to refuse but I was insistent.
"Trust me, it's the least I could do." I said before leaving him with a wave he returned. Thalia and I walked off as the dock plate retreated and the boat stayed idle, most likely Mr. Briney turning in for the night.
Thalia and I walked past the huge open market with the long beach behind us. It was a gaggle of blue and green and red and various other colours of tents with strings of lights attached to bring light to the whole thing. A good amount of people were there, perhaps some form of festival was occurring, I dunno. I wanted to avoid that whole scenario for now and simply find a hotel.
"So where exactly are we staying?" Thalia asked behind me. I looked around and sighed.
"I can't really spot anything, you?" I turned to her, noticing now that while she had abandoned her normal Team Magma attire, she was still wearing a red sweater and black pants. Subtle. Her hair was flipped back over the hood and her hands were in her sweater pockets. Her face was one of boredom now.
"Not really. Honestly a beachside hotel would be nice. Unless there's a Pokemon Center nearby." She looked around, as did I. I didn't spot one, not at first glance. I turned in a circle but I wasn't able to get a good view.
"If I could get up higher…" I mused. If I could I'd be able to find a hotel easy. I turned around in a circle again, looking for a higher spot when Thalia stopped me.
"There." She pointed, past an area filled with stands to a building alongside several others along the beach, a sign by the parking lot reading at least the word Hotel.
"Oh." I replied, a bit irritated I didn't spot that. Maybe I needed glasses. Or maybe I needed to pay attention. Glasses would be easier.
"Yes, so we go to the hotel, pay for a room, and then get a few things at the festival tonight. Sounds good, yes?" Thalia queried and I quickly agreed. It made the most sense and the walk to the hotel wouldn't take long. We quickly made our way past some stands and weaved between people to find a small concrete pathway that lead over to the road the hotels were on. It was darker on the path, but the lights from the festival helped to illuminate the path if only a tad.
However we made it, crossing the road which was empty for traffic but filled with parked cars. It then occurred to me that the hotel might have no vacancy. But that really only crossed my mind as we entered the main office. The walls were painted what seemed to be an attempt to make sky blue colour but made it more or less green-ish. The carpet was a terrible pink-ish colour that completely clashed with the paint. Thalia seemed to have noticed my reaction because she started laughing.
"Got in issue with the colour choices, do you?" she smiled as if she were implying…
"Okay, do I gotta be gay to dislike colour schemes? Come on, that's a stupid stereotype." I stretched my arms out and gestured to the awful colours. "I mean come on who thought this was acceptable?" Thalia sniggered a bit more before calming down.
"Relax, I wasn't implying anything. It just seemed like something odd to be weirded out by considering you tackled a Pokemon into the deep blue on a whim." She sighed with obvious relish and smiled. "Let's just see if we can get a room, okay?" and she made her way to the lady at the desk who was quite…. Er…. Above average size. Okay she was huge, I'm just saying. Harsh but holy Arceus you should've seen her.
"What can I do ya for?" she asked, her purple hair, which seemed like a botched dye job as there were batches of blonde in there, shining in the dim lights of the lobby. Her nails were multi-coloured, as if to keep up with some kind of fashion trend. Her lip and ears both had piercings and she glared at me like I was pure Evil.
"Um, yeah." I started but this woman's glare pretty much stopped my speech. Arceus it's like I killed her child.
"We'd like a room if you have one available." Thalia finished for me, garnering a much more… pleasant reaction from the lady. She almost smiled and checked the book.
"Why yes we do have a room available. Single bed." She looked up at Thalia with a smile but her eyes darted to me quickly with an evil glare. What the fuck did I do to her?
"Okay, no doubles? My friend and I-" and she flipped.
"WE DO NOT SERVE HIS KIND HERE!" she screamed, standing up. "HE IS THE SCUM OF THE EARTH, HIS CIS GEN-"
"DAMN IT MERYL!" we heard a man scream even louder over this Meryl. A tall, balding, black man stormed out of another room. He was wearing more sensible clothes, blue shirt, blue and white tie, and some black pants. His expression was one of discontent. "How many times have I fucking told you, you do not harass my male customers!"
"BUT HE'S A MAN JUST LIKE-"
"You know what Meryl? Get the fuck out of my hotel!" and suddenly Meryl's face dropped as this man's got angrier. "You're even past your fucking clock out time by 2 hours! Arceus woman, stop trying to steal from me and get out! You're fired!" he pointed angrily at the door, as if he wanted it to explode. Meryl got up in a huff and waddled (I'm not fucking kidding, she waddled) out of the door, slamming it as loud as she could. The man stood there, breathing heavily for a minute before putting on his business man routine. "Sorry about that you two!" he said, suddenly chipper despite the lingering red in his face. "What can I do ya for?"
"Um just wondering what you have available." I answered timidly. Never was a fan of guys screaming at the top of their lungs. It was like being at a friend's place while their parents yelled at them: completely awkward.
"Well let me see here." The man went behind the desk and brought up a name plate that read "Avery J. Jackson, manager." He checked the book and sighed. "Well Meryl was right, we only have a single bed room open. I take it that's fine with both parties?" he motioned to both of us with his hand and raised eyebrows. Thalia and I looked at each other for a second gauging the others reaction.
"Um… well…." Thalia started.
"We'll take it, we're really tired and I'm sure other hotels are full up." I pulled my wallet out of my bag. "How much a night?" Avery's face showed a huge appreciation.
"It's normally about 100 PokeYen a night buuuuut since you guys were here as witnesses to me firing Meryl so she can't sue" I suddenly felt like I'd been an accomplice to a crime. "I'll lower it to abooooout 70." Shit, 30 PokeYen cheaper?
"Sold!" I pulled out the necessary bills and paid for tonight and Avery accepted them without question.
"Excellent." He handed us a plastic card key. "You're room is up on the 5th floor, room 561." I took the key card and Avery smiled. "Have a good night you two." And he ended the conversation with a wink. I went over to the elevator door and pressed the up button. Surprisingly it opened immediately so the last person to use it must've left. Thalia and I stepped in to a normal silver elevator inside and the door slid closed as shitty elevator music played. Some song that was popular, I recognised the tune. Something about second hand stores that was turned into a fucking chip tune that made our ears bleed. By the time the doors slid open on floor 5, a short trip I'll admit, I was begging Arceus to make me deaf.
We walked down a long hallway that was the same atrocious colours of the lobby and eventually came across room 561. I slid the key card through the slot and the door clicked open. I pushed the door to reveal, thank Arceus on high, a stark white room with a single bed with blue sheets and blankets along with a small loveseat and a TV on a dresser. Thalia walked over and turned on the lamps on either side of the bed, giving us some light to work with.
"Finally." Thalia sighed, flopping down on the bed, bouncing a second before the bed let her rest. "I'm actually exhausted."
"Festival tomorrow then?" I asked, sitting on the loveseat, also known as my bed for the night. Thalia kinda nodded.
"Yeah. I'm just… too tire…." And she started snoring. Figuratively. I sighed at the floor below my feet and set my bag down beside the love seat. I curled up on the tiny couch and pulled my PokeNav out of my bag, flipping it open and finding my parents number. I heard the dial tone until the answering machine picked it up.
"Hey! This is Brendan! No one's home because I-"
"Brendan! Stop recording those messages!"
"But mooooom-" and then the beep.
"Hey Mom, dad. Just calling from Slateport City. It's late you're probably asleep. Just wanted to call and say I'm fine." I looked to Thalia, a Team Magma grunt. "Made a new friend too. Anyway, love you guys." I ended the call. I slid the device back in my bag and pulled my headband off and stared at the blank TV until I fell asleep due to boredom and exhaustion.
The Aqua Grunt looked through binoculars at the closed curtains of the room Brendan and Thalia had entered. She grumbled curses under her breath at the two, for making her jump off their ship. Malcom and Anne were behind her, bickering.
"Not much we could've done, he fucking tackled a Sharpedo!" Anne complained.
"We had them in our grasp! If not for that Gyarados-" their communicator started beeping. The grunt leaned to the side and hit the accept call button and Shelly's angry face appeared on screen.
"I hope things are going half decent." She asked, her tone displeased.
"Of course. I have an eye on them now."
"I should hope so Jacqueline." Shelly said the grunt's name with venom. "After your botched operation in Kamine Island I'd hope for some better results." Jacqueline cringed hard. She had to botch being a ditzy Pokemon Centre Nurse and get forced off a ship by a pervert and a Magma grunt. Her right eye throbbed from when the bitch socked her.
"Don't worry ma'am. Malcom and Anne are with me"
"After their boat was destroyed." Shelly intervened.
"And we'll get them as soon as we can."
"I should hope so." Shelly frowned harder. "I'm on my way to the Weather centre, it's taking a while. Hopefully Maxie won't have figured everything out and Archie can deal with that slime ball." Shelly's face suddenly grew a sadistic smile. "Oh it'll be fun crushing those Magma worms 'neath our tread."
"Of course ma'am. We live to serve." Jacqueline hoped to seem apologetic in her loyalty. She wanted to crush those Magma scum as much as anyone in Team Aqua.
"You should." The admin's face turned sour again. "I'll call again in three days' time. Shelly out." And the communicator blinked off. Jacqueline sighed and brought her binoculars up to her eyes. She eyed the curtain as it was illuminated from the lights, though no shapes moved behind it. They must be asleep. She turned to Malcom and Anne who were back to bickering about the ship and who should get the blame.
"Quiet." She hissed, now eyeing the crowds. "We're going after those two tomorrow, I want you sharp. Get some sleep." Malcom and Anne both stopped talking to hear Jacqueline speaking but returned as they left the roof of the hotel they were staying at.
"Come on, we had no chance!" Anne complained.
"Yes we did, if we'd taken out that Gyarados-" and they closed the roof door behind them, leaving Jacqueline alone for a bit. She could feel her blood pressure rising by the second. She'd make them pay, and she'd enjoy every second of it.
Meep! Meep! Meep! Meep! Meep! I awoke to the annoying sound of an alarm clock blaring its song to the world as if it had something to prove. The only thing it proved, really, was that it could be very, very annoying.
"Shut the damned thing up." I moaned into the armrest of the loveseat, which was now I realised, starting to hurt. I managed to lift myself up to see Thalia wearing only a pair of red underwear and a towel over her shoulders hitting the button. I slowly got in what resembled, I hope, an upright position.
"You're welcome." Thalia said, irritated. "You gonna shower? You reek." I rubbed my eyes, getting the gunk out, before I stared at the wall.
"Yeah. I'll get right on that." I replied, trying to make my legs stand up. I managed, though I felt like I was years older than I am. I stretched my arms out, which hurt more than it should've, and made my way to the bathroom. "There's a towel in there right?" I asked blearily.
"Yeah, there is." She answered, her back to me as she took the towel off and grabbed a bra from her bag. I made my way into the bathroom to find Thalia's various clothes and undergarments lying around. I sighed, this wouldn't do. I grabbed her sweater, shirt, pants, underwear, and gave them a shitty folding job and set them in one corner of the wide sink before I stripped down do the bare essentials, folding them up semi-decently and placing them in the opposite corner. I stared at my relatively thin frame in the mirror. Kinda lithe like a runner, which is what I did a lot of as a kid. But I needed a bit more muscle. Maybe in the future but right now I had a shower to get to.
I reached in and found a, thankfully, simple tap. It was a handle pointed up in the center of a semicircle and lead to either the cold side, right, or hot, left. I got in and closed the curtain before turning the handle to the right about halfway, letting the water shoot out on to my skin. First thing in the morning it felt like liquid fire on me but I adjusted quickly and it felt lukewarm. I turned the tap closer to the edge of the semicircle and the heat increased until it was warm but with a bit of a hot bite, if that makes any sense.
I decided to get a bit of thinking done whilst I was wrapped in the embrace of the hot water. Mostly on Thalia, surprisingly. It seemed odd that Team Magma would just abandon one of their members. Unless something's gone awry, but it doesn't seem like that. Or does it? I've seen more Team Aqua recently in my adventures than I have Team Magma and that's saying something, isn't it? I wonder if she's out of a job. Or maybe she was sent to tail me. I chuckled aloud at that one. Team Magma concerned about me. Hilarious. I had one encounter with them and it was just a complete scare show. I mean Thalia pissing her pants in fear is hilarious but enough to get them to tail me? I doubt it.
Let's not forget those legends I read back at Katherine's hotel. About those Pokemon so powerful they could expand the land and sea. That had to be their goals, no doubt. Aqua wants more water? What better Pokemon than that oceanic one? Magma wants more land? That land Pokemon is their golden ticket. However the issue, I think, would be controlling such ancient entities. There'd have to be something to keep them in line or else they wouldn't even focus on one goal. Well they would, but the goal would be killing the other. If they're so ancient then they'd most likely be equal in power, relatively at least. If I could get more info on them I'd be able to- a loud knock on the bathroom door broke my thoughts.
"Hey!" Thalia's muffled voice yelled at me. "It's been fifteen minutes, get outta there! I gotta piss!" Lovely.
"One second!" I called, grabbing a bottle of hotel shampoo and quickly getting it into my hair, foaming it up before washing it all out. Quick process before I climbed out, turned the shower off, and dried off, slapping my old boxers on and grabbing my clothes before opening the door. Thalia now wore blue jeans and a red shirt with red socks. She brushed past and and shoved me out as she closed the door. I heard… you know what, on, I'm not gonna describe it. I just walked to my bag, grabbed a fresh pair of what I was already wearing and put it all on, new boxers included. I stared at myself in the full view mirror.
My orange gloves, my orange and black jacket, my shorts/pants (I don't care, I love them), and my orange and green shoes. I grabbed my head band, slapped it on and got my bag over my shoulder. Perfect ensemble. I'd wash my old clothes at the next place, no matter. I had a festival to attend. Just then a flush came from the bathroom and a very relieved looking Thalia emerged.
"Oh thank Arceus that was beautiful." She sighed, holding her dirty clothes in one arm.
"I just hope you washed your hands." I commented, looking at her. Thalia glared at me.
"Of course I did idiot. I'm not a fucking… gross…. Person." Thalia frowned deeply as she couldn't come up with a decent retort and I laughed.
"Better luck next time Fire Spitter." I replied, walking past her to the door.
"So are we spending another night or not?" Thalia asked as I opened the door.
"I dunno." I responded, shrugging my shoulders. "If you want to, it'd give us an opportunity to wash our clothes so we have fresh ones for a bit." I looked back to her as she was packing the last of her things into her bag. "What do you think?"
"Well I might as well ask what the next town or city is and how close. Well major town and/or city." Thalia slung her bag over her shoulder and I pulled my PokeNav to check the Hoenn Map. Above Slateport was…
"Mauville city." I answered. "Well we'll need to figure out if this city has a Gym or not first."
"Of course." Thalia agreed, walking past me into the hallway. I made sure I had our key card on me, in my pants pocket, before I closed the door. We made our way down the ugly hallways and into the elevator which,, by this point, was eye candy. We made our quick descent down and exited the lobby where another male employee of the hotel was waiting.
"Excuse me." He said before we got to the exit. We turned and saw a new name plate proudly displayed on the desk reading "Alexander Iskandar" in black letters. The man before us was somewhat pale and thin but had a nice smile and short brown hair with brown, friendly eyes. "Are you checking out or staying the night again?" his voice almost didn't fit. It wasn't timid like you'd assume, it was a slight bit deeper than my own and was quite assertive. I turned to Thalia and she shrugged her shoulders, indicating a lack of care.
"Well answer me this: is there a gym in this city?" I asked the man and he thought a second.
"No but the closest one is in Mauville, about a day or two walk from here." Alexander answered politely. "It could be longer but I'm not sure."
"Then" I grabbed more bills from my wallet and handed the 70 to him. "There's our fee for tonight." Alexander counted them and frowned.
"You're about 30…" then he looked up at me and Thalia and his eyes widened. "Oh of course! You're the ones who helped get Meryl fired. Avery told me about you, said to accept 70." Meryl, again she was brought up.
"Was she a big issue?" I asked, expecting the answer. Alexander nodded.
"She was one of those…" he waved his hand in a circle. "Social Justice something or other. Claims she was part Pokemon too. I dunno, she got pissy with the guys and Avery had several issues with her until last night when they culminated in her termination." Alexander had a big smile on his face. "Needless to say the hotel is quite glad she's gone."
"Was she like that when she started?" I asked, curious now.
"No." Alexander shook his head. "She was relatively normal, not even fat just a bit pudgy which is fine. But then she gained more weight and started panning on about privilege, which made no sense to me personally." Alexander rolled his eyes. "But whatever floated her boat. It was recently that she tried colouring herself and claimed she was part Pokemon. Or whatever she called it. Kin I think." Alexander made a face now. "Then she started harassing male customers and employees about being males and all that garbage. We'd had enough by this point. So your arrival was welcome." Alexander smiled. "Thanks again by the way."
"No problem, always here to lend a helping hand." I nodded and walked back to Thalia, giving my goodbyes to Alexander as we exited the building.
"So Meryl was a crazy bitch?" Thalia asked once we left.
"Preeeeeeeeeeeeeety much." I answered, staring down at the bustling open market. "so, shall we join the sheep crowds and see what's so good about these open markets? 'cause they never appealed to me much." I asked. Thought the smell of seafood I could trace was actually drawing me in a bit.
"Sure thing." Thalia answered and we made our way out of the hotel and onto the path connecting this road to the market place. Short walk, just like last night, but far more illuminated. I now noticed that the path dipped with the ground and was surrounded completely by grass and sand, the sand right at the edges meeting the road where people in buggies drove by at what seemed like unsafe speeds. Once we reached the market, there was a veritable plethora of stalls to choose from. In fact it was far bigger than what a normal Pokemart could ever hope to be.
What surprised me the most: very few of the vendors were actually attempting to hock off their things. None were standing but several were in sincere conversations, or so they seemed at least. There were a couple of then who spoke aloud of their product when customers were near. Speaking of, the place was packed. I honestly wasn't sure how big Slateport was but it seemed like a good 75% of the populace had made its way to this open market to buy the products. I mean Holy Arceus, there was barely any wiggle room compared to last night. Regardless when Thalia and I reached the crowds we were almost immediately sucked in. Crowded, yes. But they moved almost naturally, like a river. If you wanted to buy something you kind of jumped from the river onto the bank, got what you wanted, and jumped right back in.
I learned right quick that that's how this all works when I managed to slip out of the crowds, my breath ragged, it was at a woman's stall, selling herbs and berries with her husband. They described the various berries, especially Sitrus, which give Pokemon a bit more energy in a pinch and are legal in official Pokemon League matches. I bought a bag of about twenty-five and rejoined the flowing crowd as I gave my thanks. I kept an eye out for Thalia whilst I rode the waves and I spied her at a PokeDoll vendor, of all things. And she seemed genuinely interested in what they were offering, which was fine. I kept looking for stands that would be something I'd spend my money at, with little success. There was a man selling letters of which I bought one. I figured I could mail it to Mom and Dad to replace last night's voice message and perhaps a little something else. Mom liked incense when she was alone (How she stood the smell of urine in the house, I had no idea. My windows were usually propped open when she burned them and I had a gas mask on. Or I went to Ethan's, either way.) so I managed to wade back to the herb vendors and I asked what could be used for incense or whatever and they happily provided me with some that smelled very nice, like the salty ocean air, but I was sure would be reduced to the urine scent once mom got them.
After that I found a seafood stall/restaurant that was far bigger than the rest with a wraparound bar in a very square-y U and stools to boot. It had bamboo-like wallpaper to keep with the beach theme and a couple guys and girls working furiously behind it. Several seats were empty, which surprised me, but I noticed Thalia occupied one at the end of the bar closest to the beach, her back to it. I made my way over and greeted her but received no response.
"Helloooooooo…?" I asked, waving my hand beside her face.
"Huh?" she suddenly jerked up, looking at me. "When the fuck did you get here?" warm welcome there.
"Just now. What were you staring at?" I asked, setting my bag on the bar in front of me. One of the girls came up to me.
"What would you like dear?" she asked, cheerfully enough but I could tell she was gearing up for a busy, busy day. I looked up at the menu and picked fried fish sticks with lemon wedges on the side. The girl smiled, wrote it down, and took it to the cooks who began working on it along with the rest of their meals.
"There." Thalia almost whispered, but loud enough over the sounds of cooking. She pointed to the opposite side of the bar and I wasn't sure what she was really pointing at. There was a guy and a girl there, skin tanned almost to perfection. The girl's hair was just above shoulder height and a nice burgundy colour. The guy had some muscle in his upper body, most likely a swimmer. His hair was close cropped. And beside him was another girl, who didn't fit. She was pale, looked angry, and had a black eye from…
"Oh my Arceus." I clenched a fist on my thigh. Thalia nodded, keeping her hand resting against her upper lip.
"I saw them while I was at the PokeDoll vendor and followed them." She answered. "I don't think they noticed me but it's possible they could notice you."
"What? Why would anyone-" I stopped, seeing Thalia's eyes moving up to my scalp. I was confused before I realised: my hair. As nice as it is to be white haired, it made me conspicuous as fuck. "Oh."
"Yeah. So right now, I'm just keeping an eye on them." Thalia said from under her hands. I sunk a bit lower in my seat when the waitress came over with our meals. Both of us ordered fish sticks and lemon wedges. I munched on mine half-heartedly while Thalia did amateur spy work. I half expected her to go and back stab them with her plastic knife.
"So are we gonna watch or are we gonna do something else?" I asked, drawing Thalia's eyes. "I mean I'm not even a part of this, I'm on neither team's side. So yeah." I was kind of hoping Thalia would come with but she shrugged her shoulders and replied with
"Yeah, fine, go. I'll stay here." I sighed and got up, taking my fish with me as I ate the last of my fish before tossing the little tray into the trash. Suddenly the image of that pale girl came back and I remembered her on the ship. She seemed so familiar at the time, it was scary. Even now it was on the tip of my tongue, one of those frustrating things you wanted to remember but, for the life of you, couldn't. I sighed as I headed down to the beach, hoping to walk in the sand and enjoy some of the oceanic air before Thalia and I made our way to Mauville.
It was a huge issue, one I wanted to know. I knew that face, I fucking knew it. I just didn't know who-
"Well, well, well." I turned, noticing I'd walked away from the crowds and saw both the tan and pale girls before me. The tanned one wore a blue bikini top and a blue bottom with a sort of skirt-like attachment. The pale one wore a white t-shirt and black shorts. Both looked angry. "If it isn't Brendan, the pervert." The pale one spoke, her voice being the one from behind me.
"If it isn't the one who's so familiar." I retorted, making sure my Pokeballs were on my hip. I didn't know about the tan girl, but girls tended to store stuff in places you couldn't imagine. And the pale one could have them in her pockets.
"I'm surprised you haven't recognised me." The pale one seemed to taunt me. "I mean yeah I was just a ditz but I'm not that different, now am I?" she raised an eyebrow, grin spreading across her face. No doubt their male colleague was dealing with Thalia as we spoke. Hang on a second? A ditz? My mind went back through my short trip through Hoenn thus far. I never really met a ditzy kind of gal until Kamine Island, but that was short. The only one there was…
"Son of a whore!" I cursed, clenching a fist. Her grin widened.
"That's right." She giggled.
"Jacqueline." I should've known. "Nice acting skills, but you got forced off Mr. Briney's boat, as did your friend here." I looked to the girl. "Who, by the way, is actually quite pretty, is she free?" Both of them recoiled and I smiled. Jacqueline wasn't the only one who could do devious shit. It's just that mine are more on the fly and penis driven. Seriously, she wasn't bad looking, Jacqueline's friend. Bit rough but I'm not gonna turn that down.
"Pervert." The girl cursed at me, as if it were the ultimate insult. I snickered and Jacqueline glared at me.
"You know, isn't this the kind of thing that's revealed in the third act, after I exhaustively search for the answer?" I asked, curious as to why she revealed her identity now.
"Because, I felt it prudent to do so." Was her answer. "I'm on the clock and I've gotta stop Team Magma and their… collaborators." Her eyes bore into me like drills, and I was honestly a bit scared. Arceus she looked mean, her frown one of complete disapproval.
"Listen, I'm not a part of Team Magma." I said, backing up, my hand sup in surrender. No way was I getting tied up in that shit. "Thalia needed to get to some city and she asked if she could travel with me, that's it." I hoped that my reasoning would penetrate their skulls. Unfortunately, the problem with zealots is this: they're born with incredibly thick skulls.
"Oh please!" Jacqueline sighed. "As if you're not with them."
"I made Thalia there piss herself with my Gyarados, now what respectable Team Magma member would I be using a Water type?" I asked, grabbing Gyarados's Pokeball. The tanned girl's face suddenly became scared, her brown eyes wide with fear.
"Jacqueline…" she almost whimpered, but our friendly actress stood her ground.
"Don't back down Anne, it's just a Pokemon. He probably has a hard time controlling it." She sneered. "Gyarados are infamous for their rage." Damn, she had me there. But I can't show it.
"Fine, you wanna face me on equal terms?" I put Gyarados' ball away and pulled Totodile's. Neither of them were aware of Totodile so I had an edge. Somewhat. Jacqueline smiled.
"All right then." She pulled a Pokeball from her cargo shorts, prepped for throwing. Anne never reached for one, either due to them not being there or her just wanting to stay out of this. "I'm ready if you are." I hefted Totodile's Pokeball.
"Bring it bitch." I retorted.
Maxie examined his screens. Red moved through Hoenn slowly, matching the Blue onscreen, heading to the Weather Institute. Meanwhile Red was pulsating strongly under Mt. Chimney. It was here that Maxie would have one thing he'd need, and Tabitha was here as well. Tabitha would keep any interlopers in line. And the R&D department was close to an aircraft that Maxie could use to traverse the region in a matter of hours. He'd make his way to Sootopolis after Mt. Pyre. If his research was right, that mountain held the item he needed to complete his goal, to access the Legendary Pokemon. Of course Mt Chimney would be first.
"It's interesting." Maxie commented to himself. Aqua was making brash decisions under Archie's leadership, true. But he was seeing more tactical movements in Aqua's formations, which was unsettling. His mole was doing her job but it was proving unsettling. Archie was obviously changing his strategies to do something, but Maxie wasn't sure. Team Aqua wasn't anywhere near Mt. Chimney but something didn't feel right… bzzzt! The buzzer on Maxie's panel sounded. He pressed the receive button. "Maxie."
"Yes sir, we've made progress and have a working prototype. We'd like you to come and observe if you're able." Jonah, Maxie's head scientist.
"I'm on my way." Maxie replied, giving the screen of Hoenn one last look. Something was up. However he left, the recording software working round the clock to allow Maxie to see what he'd done wrong or right.
When the door to the control room closed, several Red dots blinked out near Fallabor, as if out of nowhere. A small moment, one that Maxie would sure notice soon.
Archie watched as his Blue dots blinked the Red out of existence and chuckled.
"Excellent!" he chuckled low, his anchor necklace swinging low. "Soon I'll have Maxie on the ropes. And he will rue the day he challenged Team Aqua." Behind Archie, someone stood, shrouded in the shadows, examining the screen.
Yes, everything was going according to plan.
A/N: Well that took way too long but I hope you guys are happy. Sex next chapter? Perhaps, I dunno. Really, I'm not sure, I gotta think about it. Anyway I hope you guys are enjoying this, I'm enjoying Omega Ruby. It'll be Christmas before I have it all beaten but when I do I'm breeding MEGA BEEDRILL. Holy shit that thing is frighteningly strong and I want it NOW. Also I like writing the conflict between Maxie and Archie, I wonder if you guys wouldn't mind a chapter more focused on that at some point. Perhaps, perhaps not, I'll let you guys say so or not. Read, review, follow, or favourite.