Prologue's a bit short of course, but I just wanted to get in on the actual meat of the story. I think it'll span at least 5-6 interlocking story with how I structured this, with alternate timelines of no protagonists. But you know what? I write what I want. That's the joy of creating your own story. Remember, I appreciate all feedback to my writing: the more I improve the closer I come towards my dream.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Pokémon franchise in any way possible.
Chapter 1: [Taryn I]
What is a mistake? To some, the textbook definition of a dictionary was plenty for an explanation: a misguided or wrong action or judgement. Sweet and to the point, something that encapsulated Taryn's thoughts towards mistakes.
This must be what they referred to as a horrible mistake.
The sweat dribbled down into his shirt. A new shirt he had gotten at the Slateport Market for a few Pokécoins, worth to him as much as a baby's diaper is. Who knows why it was so hot? Maybe the giant vats of lava that bubbled in slow, rhythmic pops. Or the crowd he was surrounded by, shoulder to shoulder, where his arm had brushed against hair and skin alike, all as sweaty as him.
Or it was the man who stood alone, on a podium made of rock that was raised from the earth. He could at least see that, and tens of heads surrounding him. The man had pushed his glasses up, taking a few breaths from his speech, before he half-shouted into the microphone, "but who is to say that the ocean is more important than our land?"
Cries of boos reverberated the entire cavern they gathered in, shaking the chamber. The lava seemed to bubble up at their excitement, eager to join the crowd as splashes of it land dangerously close to the audience.
"I say nay!"
A strong arm punched into the air, and the crowd roared.
"We, Team Magma, are a group who believe that only by the creation of more and more land can we truly flourish as a society. A society where Pokémon and people live in harmonious bliss, surrounded by the technology required to make it happen. Civilisation shall prevail, and we who are destined to inherit these lands shall make it so!"
A final, rapturous applause from the crowd, almost as if Mt. Chimney herself had erupted. Banners of mountains that linked together, forming a giant, jagged M had dropped from the top of the walls, flapping from the noise. Those in the fringes, wearing their red, horned hoods, also cheered, as a chant had flowed from one end of the chamber to the other.
"Maxie! Maxie! Maxie!"
The man, combing back his fiery hair, had opened his arms, receiving the applause with all the grace of a megalomaniac, a word Taryn had learned before his unfortunate dropping out of the trainer school in Rustboro. As Maxie bowed, exiting the stage, a plumpier man had walked – struggled, up the stairs into the podium, his black logo with red outlines visible to even the ones furthest back. Tapping the mic, he had gulped a few breaths before a shrill, sandshrew voice ranged from the speakers.
"Team Magma recruits, let me welcome you to our base within Mt. Chimney. I am Magma Admin Tabitha, your leader and Maxie's right-hand man." His hand signalled to the left of the base.
"Please make your way over to our armoury, where you'll find your partner Pokémon and your new uniform. Once you've changed, you will be assigned a team." His eyes narrowed.
"Make sure you find your team leader. They will brief you on your next objectives. Together," he screamed, mimicking Maxie's glorious pose, "we will make the Hoenn region great again."
His excitement was met with a silent, unbearable stare, one where Taryn half-choked from its oppression. Tabitha's eyes darted around, and his face was quickly turning as red as the rock walls of the cavern. He sputtered something (Taryn didn't quite catch what he said) before quickly bolting it out of the stage.
Murmurs echoed around as the Team Magma grunts formed into a line, waving their arms for the crowd. Yes, effective really, as if Taryn couldn't see the giant hole that led into a room chock-full of uniforms, some of them hung nicely on a clothesline, while others were scattered around haphazardly in cardboard boxes.
"You excited, bro?"
"You damn bet I am," a hopeful responded, his voice cheery. "A chance to make Hoenn into a scientific powerhouse, who wouldn't be happy?"
Me. Taryn wanted to just make it clear to the nutjobs around him that he was not happy. But he also wasn't an idiot, and he wasn't ready to simply lie over and let these fanatics beat him for his honest mistake. Instead, he chose the outfit that smelled the least, and tossed it over his shoulder.
At the end of the chamber was a counter embedded deep into the rock wall. Separating him from the blonde receptionist was glass and metal, with a small opening where the blonde eyed him with both a lack of interest and disdain. In other words: indifference.
"Taryn, aged 18. Only one mother. No siblings, no father." Taryn sighed inwardly. Putting his personal information was already a red flag, one that he followed whilst being willingly colourblind. The receptionist continued to list down other factors of his life, some of them embarrassing, others something he couldn't care less about.
"Believes that progress is essential to Hoenn. Skilled in analysis and quick decision making. Never held a Pokémon before."
Ah, that. Unexpectedly, they would let someone who had never had a Pokémon join. The receptionist raised an eyebrow, and her stare awaited his answer.
"Never interested in 'em. Momma had an electrike, but I never trained or battled with it." Her silence prompted him to continue. "Just really didn't give a damn about 'em."
An unsatisfactory answer, but one where the receptionist accepted, despite rolling her eyes. From the gap, she slid over a piece of paper, pen, and Pokéball.
"Please sign here."
He stood still. She sat still, her tapping finger the only movement between the two. Time had come to a halt as his brain burned into overdrive, the solution to escape nowhere within his files. He was dragged back into the real world as people shouted from behind him to hurry up.
It was a barely legible scrawl that was more like torchic scratches than an actual signature, but she pulled it back just before he could decide on any changes. "Thank you for your time. This is your new partner Pokémon. Please make your way to chamber six for your orientation and your first mission.
The unruly yet unified voices behind him had practically sent an invisible boot to kick him out, with the way he had awkwardly scrambled deeper into the cavern. A failure to escape, but not one he could have done without any consequence to himself anyways.
His eyes wandered to find steam erupting from holes around them, followed by the many vents that lined the walls. It explained why, despite how deep they are underground or how close he was to actual magma, the chamber was cool, where a soft wind would occasionally blow from the vents below. The rock hewn hallway was not long, since chamber number six, fixed to the wall on the left, right across chamber number seven, loomed over him, a steel door that parted the moment he came close.
Inside, there was only one other Team Magma member, and he had just tossed aside his old clothes. It was a room lit by electric lanterns that surrounded the room, illuminating five other doors evenly spread across the chamber, where a rounded table was the centrepiece, surrounded by four small chairs and one with a backrest. The table itself was chunky, with metal plates circling a single glass display on the centre, where if you leaned over enough you could see a projector of some sort in the middle underneath it.
"Another comrade," he asked, pushing himself off the chair. Taryn stared up to find his new, unwelcome teammate eyeing him down. It wasn't that Taryn was short either; he at least managed to see past the heads during Maxie's speech, but this guy was at least a head taller and twice as wide as him, muscles being hidden underneath their flowy cloaks.
"Taryn," he managed, not daring to offer a hand. No use breaking his bones now. But the big man only pulled him into a bear hug, guffawing at Taryn's desperate gasps for air.
"Griff," he said, jovial. When Taryn dropped to the ground, it was on his knees. The metallic doors rattled open, more voices behind Taryn. A strong hand hooked under his arm, dragging the unwilling Team Magma member up.
"On your feet. No member of Maxie's Team Magma will kneel."
Taryn almost hoped that the owner of the voice would experience Griff's bearhug at least once. Almost. Instead he flashed a smile at helping hand, followed by a thankful nod.
"My pleasure."
As Taryn dusted himself off, the other members settled into their seats, with one empty one for himself. Seating himself, the other stares stabbed into him, passing through his skin and into his spirit. Awfully uncomfortable.
"Alright," said the supposed leader, leaning back on the only different chair. "I once again welcome you into the glorious Team Magma, the future of Hoenn and humanity's development. You may call me Scoria, Team Magma Resolver."
Resolver. That's a stupid name. Who calls the leader of their squad a resolver?
"What kind of title is resolver," another grunt asked. His face was covered by his hood save for the brown bangs that spilled out. Scoria shot him a look. It was one Taryn knew all too well: irritation.
Suddenly, the brunette yelped as fire emerged from under his chair, alongside a low, dark growl. He jumped straight onto the table as a houndoom appeared beside him, embers spilling from its mouth. With a snap of Scoria's gloved fingers, the houndoom bounded over to her, curling up below her chair, though the brunette never escaped its glare.
"No more foolish questions, I hope?"
She took the silence as consent, and continued on. "Currently, our glorious plans of Hoenn's scientific development are being halted by a wet thorn on our side." Flourishing a remote, a soundless click sent a hologram bursting from under. The brunette rushed away, revealing an unfamiliar logo of the letter A constructed of bones with a large circle in the middle of the letter.
"Team Aqua. Fools who believe in the extinction of humanity."
A round of boos started from the brunette, and more joined in, though Taryn made the choice to give as little effort as possible into their chorus. The image shifted towards pictures of Team Aqua, who were currently in the process of escaping from a bank.
"It is our mission to not only eliminate Team Aqua from Hoenn, but to also reawaken our final goal in producing landmass for humanity."
The image flickered into something new; a painting of some sort upon rocks of two colossal creatures. One stood upon land, roaring fire into the sky as volcanoes erupted around it, whereas the other swam with the tide, carrying with it lighting and rain. Little humans around them were thrown around, as if they were toys in the face of the threat.
Taryn gulped. If their plan was what he thought it was, then there has to be an easier way to leave the team.
"The legendary Groudon must be awakened, and its counterpart, Kyogre, must remain slumbering within the seas."
Yes, why wouldn't his worst fears be realised? Of course these land-crazed imbeciles would awaken a legendary Pokémon kept asleep for a good reason. Why not? What's the worst that could happen?
"Those of you believing this to be an impossible task," Scoria announced, though her gaze was kept firmly on Taryn, "worry not, for Team Magma is also a family." The image flickered into something else. A hospital, shining for all to see. Taryn knew the hospital all too well, with the characteristic letter M in its logo.
"Many of you who signed up also get benefits beyond what normal office workers normally receive. Some of you, especially with family members, have already been enrolled into Magma General Hospital's Special Patient Program, or SPP for short."
Clouds of doubt shadowed his decision to leave, hovering around in menacing fashion. Suddenly, the salary that did not seem worth it became as enticing as the allure of being champion. The chances of promotion was like winning the lottery. The goal became one to strive towards. Groudon's revival was a necessity, Arceus be damned.
"Now that we've settled your future within the organisation, let's discuss our next mission." The hologram shifted into another image: Devon Corporation's logo.
"There have been talks between Devon Corporation and Captain Stern, owner of Stern's Shipyard in Slateport, about a possible purchase of some Devon Parts. Nobody knows what these particular parts are, but we do know that Stern is using them to build a new ship."
"So what does this hafta do with us," Griff asked, as if he forgot what happened to the other guy who did. Yet Scoria smiled at him.
"Good question, Griff. Our intel also reported Team Aqua's possible involvement in the robbery of these parts.
"Ah," another grunt piped up. In the short time between receiving their uniform and this meeting, they had successfully modified the outfit by turning the inside shirt into a crop top, while adding leggings into her already baggy socks. Chic, but unnecessary, as Scoria's disapproving stare indicated. "So we gotta stop them, to both make us and our reputation sparkle?"
"Yes, my strangely-dressed comrade."
"Easy enough," she drawled, folding one leg over the other. "Do we know when they'll act?"
Scoria shook her head, a hand ruffling her houndoom's fur. "Devon Corporation is in Rustboro. For now," Scoria stood up, as her houndoom followed, "get some rest in your rooms. Meet your partners. We will reconvene in front of HQ."
With that, Scoria left, the door behind her opening as she disappeared inside, her houndoom faithfully bounding behind. Griff and the brunette also disappeared into their rooms, with Griff waving one final goodbye while the brunette muttered a few incoherent curses at the resolver. The last person didn't even speak at all, opting to retreat into their room in silence.
"So… you going in?"
Her voice surprised Taryn out of his thoughts, her face merely inches away from his.
"In…?"
"Your room."
"What room?" Taryn mentally slapped himself. The girl cocked her head to the side, but allowed a wry smile to slip through.
"Get your head in the game, fam," she said, walking over to her room, a rotom floating around her as she snapped a few selfies.
"Oh." She stopped at the doorway, right before entering. "My name's Nyla. See you later, fellow grunt."
It's official. There was nobody sane in this place. One had a supposed edge as dull as a rock, one was a giant who wasn't afraid of a murder charge, one might not even be capable of making noise and one was most likely a narcissist with all those photos. Scoria was a threat, full stop. No ands, buts or ifs, and he would probably survive if he kept quiet and just did whatever she said.
However, the hospital was a game changer. Now, there's no more doubts about his position in Team Magma.
His room, despite being underground, was much cooler than the hallways. Not sure if it was due to the room being smaller, but it had every necessity for a grunt to survive. A simple bathroom to his left, the bed at the very end of the room, and a table right next to him for some private work. They even placed a small battery for electronic needs. Not that Taryn had any, but maybe he will in the future.
Wait, but what about uniforms? Does he get two? It's disgusting to be wearing this sweaty thing more than twice.
Damn.
Taryn dug through his pockets, ignoring his disgust. As he clicked on the button, the Pokéball enlarged to the size of a baseball, filling up much of his hand. Rotating the ball, Taryn wondered how exactly a Pokémon was supposed to come out, before the ball slipped out of his hand. It bounced on the ground, and suddenly a bright light engulfed the room.
The light disappeared, and something was on the ground. Whatever it was, its curious, blue eyes stared back at Taryn's auburn ones. Curiosity met with fear, and he stumbled back, holding the rock wall.
"Stay back!"
The Pokémon, as if understanding his words, stopped, but continued to stare at him with sky blue eyes. Its body shone like metal under the dim lights, illuminating just how small it was. Its oval face had six openings, two of which belonged to its eyes, whereas the other four were dotted around its face. Finally, a blunt spike protruded from right behind it.
Actually, looking at it up close, this thing was a lot cuter than he thought.
The Pokémon, instead of approaching closer, instead nudged the dropped Pokéball at him, rolling it right up to a non-threatening distance. Taryn pointed at himself, and the Pokémon nodded. Something was carved into the surface of the ball, as if a claw or a knife was used.
"Aron?"
The Pokémon growled in approval, taking a step forward. Suddenly, a name made the Pokémon less threatening than it should be. Taryn held his hand out. It was a half-stop half-beckoning gesture, but the aron decided on the latter, cozying up to his arm. Its cool, metallic shell was smooth to the touch.
"Aron," he repeated. His own Pokémon. That's why people with Pokémon were often so happy. It was the sensation of wonder mixed with the warmth of the aron in front of him, now crawling away to find a dark corner of the room, before its eyes slowly closed. His pulse quickened, his heart beating fast.
Was that the fear? Or was it the excitement?
There wasn't a good answer to his question. But there was a bathroom. Nothing a good shower couldn't solve.
Hopefully chapter 1 served as a good staging ground to elaborate further on the type of story I'm trying to write. I don't know when the next update will arrive, but pray that I have less work as an adult and more free time to spend writing rather than adulting.