Ok, my break is over, so I am back with another chapter. A warning, the second half of Hoenn isn't quite as planned out as the first half, and as a result may be a lot messier. It could even end up being messier than Kalos if I'm honest. But, these first few chapters do have a plan for them, so we don't need to worry about that just yet. Anyway, let's get back to this fic shall we, and let's hope I can get the rest of Hoenn sorted out alright.
Chapter 50:
What Happens Next?
When Ash has finally pulled himself together, he and May use Max's Gallade and return to Petalburg Town. When they do, Ash immediately summons Aura Spheres into his hands, while May readies Mega Blaziken, just in case there were Team Terra agents lurking about, or rubble from the volcano reached the town. Thankfully, while some small rocks reached the town, they didn't do much damage, and all of the buildings were still intact. They both sigh with relief and May returns Blaziken and removes her mask, while Ash extinguishes his Aura Spheres before anyone sees them. Then, the pair of them walk down to the Maple residence. They arrive to find the house perfectly untouched, and everyone waiting outside for them. When they spot the duo, Serena and Drew break into a run to get to them. Both couples practically crashed into each other as Serena and Drew almost cried with relief upon seeing them.
The others joined them, and Max explained why the two were so worried. Apparently the massive eruption had been reported on the news, and Brendan had appeared on TV to inform the public about what happened, and how he and two others managed to stop it in time. But, when neither of them returned for hours, both Drew and Serena grew worried that something happened to them. "Oh, something happened alright," May replied. She pulled out her Blaziken, Mega Evolved it, then demonstrated her power. Everyone was amazed by this, and Drew became overjoyed. "You finally learned to control your powers!" he exclaims. May nods happily, then goes weak at the knees as Drew kisses her. Max snaps a picture of this, an Impedimpish on his face. May spots this and mouths, "I'll get you for that!" Max just smiles innocently and pockets his phone.
Serena sees May use her power and turns to Ash, ready to question him about his, when she sees him looking guiltily at her. She looks at him with confusion, then gets surprised when he summons an Aura Sphere, once he's sure that Drew and Caroline can't see him of course. "Serena," he says, extinguishing the Sphere again. "I want you to know just how sorry I am for the past few months." Serena is surprised by this. With immense joy, she realises that the frightening air around him is gone. "It's alright Ash," she says. "You were going through a lot." "But it's not alright!" Ash responds. "I was feeling guilty about what I did in Kalos, and I took my anger out on you, and everyone else. I was such a major jerk, and words cannot begin to describe how sorry I am."
Serena pulls him into a hug and allows him to cry into her shoulders. "I'd also like to thank you," he adds, his voice shaking with sorrow." "For what?" Serena asks. "For staying with me," Ash replies. "I was such an unbearable person during that period! If you'd left me for that, I would've totally understood." Serena feels tears welling in her own eyes at this. "Oh Ash," she says. "I could never leave you. I love you. Yes you weren't behaving in your usual manner, but I had hope you'd return to normal soon." Ash nods, and the two remain there for a while. Everyone else decides to leave them to it, and they all head inside, leaving them outside to work through their troubles from the past 6 months.
When they do eventually join them inside, Bonnie is quick to latch onto the fact that Ash seems to be using his Aura again. "Hey Ash," she says, trying to be nonchalant, but Ash can tell what she wants. "Now that you're using your Aura again, can you teach me how to use mine?" Ash makes sure that Drew and Caroline can't hear this, before turning to Bonnie. "Unfortunately, my answer stays the same." Bonnie pouts at that. "Why not?" she asks. Ash sighs, trying to think of the best way to explain this to her. "Because I don't want you to go through the same thing I did," he explains. "You saw how I was when I killed that guy by accident. And that was a guy I hated. Just imagine how I would've been if it was someone I liked that I did that to. That would've destroyed me. I don't want that to happen to you." But Bonnie can't accept that. Not after what happened to Max on Dewford. "I'm not 6! she exclaims. I'm 11!"
"And I'm 15," Ash replies, keeping his voice level. "Look what that did to me! I can't imagine what that will do to you." With that, he stands up. "But, I will alter my words slightly," he goes on. "I will teach you how to use Aura, once I feel that you're mature enough to wield it. But I'm 15, and I still don't think I'm fully mature to use it properly, so we'll just have to wait and see." He turns to go further into the house, when Bonnie calls back to him, "Can you at least teach me how to heal people? Max got hurt on Dewford and I wasn't able to help him then. Please show me how to heal people so that doesn't happen again." Ash sighs then turns to look at her. "You know what, fine," he says. "I'll at least teach you that. You're just going to have to wait for the rest of your training to come when you're older." Bonnie relents to this, then follows Ash back outside to begin learning how to heal.
When Brendan left Ash and May on Mt. Chimney, he brought Sub-Admin R all the way to Larousse, before having Max's Gallade teleport back to the volcano to pick the other two up. He walked into the Battle Tower and dumped the Sub-Admin, now bound, to the floor in front of Detective Looker and his two associates. "Found this guy on top of the volcano," he told them. "He's partially responsible for the Tremors that have been plaguing us." Looker looked shocked. "Does this mean they're over?" he asked. Brendan nodded. "I destroyed their machine," he replied. "There's no way they can cause another one." At this, Sub-Admin R laughed. "You think this is the end?" he asks. "We're not done. We have other ways of causing them. And we will keep doing so until we get what we want!" Looker grabbed hold of the collar of R's shirt and pulled him close. "Trust me," he said menacingly. "We have ways of getting this information out of you!" Then, he dragged R away, followed by his two colleagues, while Brendan turned back to the entrance of the building, ready to address the press about this turn of events.
Now, R sits in an interrogation room in Larousse's police station, with Looker sitting opposite him. Hilbert and Hilda are outside of the room, behind a one way mirror, listening in to the conversation. Looker presents what little files he was able to gather on R, before presenting them. "Sub-Admin R of Team Terra," he begins. "Real name, Roberto Fernanda, an underling in Team Plasma. You managed to evade capture 5 years ago, following Team Plasma's collapse, and have since risen through the ranks of this group instead. You seem to suffer from Anti-Social Personality Disorder, and fully believe in Team Terra's cause. Have I missed anything?" He leans back in his chair, expecting the usual shock at the amount of information he was able to gather in such short notice. However, Roberto only looked at him with malicious glee.
"Very good, Ace Detective," he says sarcastically. "I'm impressed you could find so much about me. And yet, clearly have no idea about the inner workings of the organisation." Looker scowls at him. "If I knew all of that, I wouldn't be here talking to you." Roberto laughs at this. "Of course, of course," he says. "After all, you must please your corporate overlords." Looker is confused by this. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asks. Roberto laughs. "What else could it mean?" he retorts. "Your bosses, whichever government you serve, are being hounded by those businessmen who destroy the planet and fill their pockets to figure out a way to stop us so they can go back to destroying our planet in peace. Meaning, that your government is getting on your case to solve this, or you'll lose your job. "You're all just dogs of the rich and selfish, who continue to destroy our planet in order to make themselves richer!"
Looker can't help but laugh at this. "You know, that kind of insane rambling doesn't really work in this situation," he says. "Because you're dealing with Interpol, the international police. We work under no government, and as such, we are not under any political pressure to solve this." This only seems to make Roberto laugh even harder. "And yet you're still desperate enough to solve this that you'll try speaking to me," he says, "though in your mind I'm completely insane. So, if it's not for your masters, then who's it for?" Looker shrugs. "Your Tremors caused a lot of damage to Hoenn," he says. "For a group of self-proclaimed eco-warriors, you caused a lot of harm to the enviroment. We need to know why?"
Roberto just laughs. "Well, I'm fairly certain you know why we used it the first time," he says. Looker nods. "You were looking for the Jade Orb, correct?" "That is correct," Roberto replies. "We were searching for areas with strong Aura amongst them. Then, we triggered them and scoured the ruins." "So," Looker goes on, "now it comes down to why you were using them the second time." Roberto laughs again. "Like I'll tell you that!" he exclaims. At that moment, Hilbert steps into the room with a file. "Brendan's testimony on the current Tremors," he says, handing the file over. Looker can barely keep the grin off of his face. "Thank you Agent," he says. "Your timing was impeccable." Then, he looks through the file. "So," he says, "you were using the Tremors to lure Max Maple up to the summit of Mt. Chimney." He puts the file aside. "Now, all I need from you is, why?"
Roberto laughs once more. "And what I want to know is why you think I'd tell you?" he asks. At this, Looker opens another file and reads through it. "You know, with all of your crimes under both Team Plasma and Team Terra, you are looking at a very lofty prison sentence," he tells him. He closes the file, then looks at him. "Of course, we can get that sentence lowered." Roberto chuckles. "All I need to do is sell out my comrades?" he finishes. Looker nods, which makes Roberto laugh again. "Do you really think I'd sell out my comrades to you pigs?" he asks. "Why should I aid the villains of this situation in destroying our planet?" Looker raises an eyebrow at him. "You call my side the villains?" he asks. "Because last I checked, it wasn't us who nearly tore Kalos apart. It wasn't us who wanted to level Hoenn to get our hands on a boy. Does that truly sound like the action of good people to you?" When Roberto says nothing, Looker adds, "Of course, considering the fact that you suffer from ASPD, I'd say your notion of right and wrong is fairly skewed."
Roberto glowers at this, but says nothing. So, Looker changes tactics. "You know," he says. "We already had someone much lower than you tell us everything they know about Team Terra. All we need now is for you to tell us what they left out. And yet you don't seem to be able to. I have two ideas why. 1. You're too loyal to them to say anything. And yet, when Team Plasma collapsed, you fled instead of sticking by them, which all but rules out that theory. Which leaves option 2. They think you're a loose cannon, someone who they don't trust to tell important secrets to, lest you let anything slip." Roberto thinks about what Looker said, then he laughed. "I see what you're doing here detective," he says. "You're trying to get me to let slip our plans by insulting my pride. Well, it won't work. The Boss trusts us with little information anyway. Of course, being a Sub-Admin, I get more than the others, but not a lot."
"Do you know who you're boss is?" Looker asks. Roberto shakes his head gleefully. "Of course not!" he replies. "Only the Admins have been trusted with that information." Then, he leans forward. "That's why your plan to insult my pride won't work. Because unlike most people, I'm quite happy to admit when I don't know something." Looker sighs at this. "So, there's no way of getting any information out of you?" he asks. Roberto laughs again. "Nope," he says. "Not unless you're Max Maple." His hand shoots to his mouth at this, and alarm bells go off in Looker's head. "Why is that?" he asks. Figuring the jig was up, Roberto elaborated. "You and all the other Government pigs and their dogs can only see what's in front of you," he says. "But the Boss is looking out for the future. He's doing what's right now, so that the future can be preserved."
Looker scoffs at this. "I don't quite like the idea of preserving the future by killing the people of right now," he says. "Exactly!" Roberto replies. that's why there's no point in explaining it to you. You'll just try to stop us. But the Boss believes that Maple is different. He believes that if Maple here's our plan, he'll want to aid us. That is why I will explain it to him and him alone." With that, he sits back in his seat, and refuses to say another word. Looker sighs, then stands up. "Thank you for answering my questions," he says. "Someone will be along shortly to escort you to the prison where the rest of the Team Terra agents we rounded up are." With that, he stands up and leaves. As he does, Roberto starts to laugh again. "That's right!" he calls. "Run along back to your master you dog! Tell them that you failed!" As he leaves the interrogation room, Roberto starts barking, in between fits of laughter.
When Looker leaves the room, Hilda and Hilbert approach him. "Shall I contact Max Maple and have him come here to question him?" Hilbert asks. Looker looks at him like he's crazy. "Why would you do that?" he asks. "Well, he said that Maple is the only person he'd tell about their plans," Hilda replied. "If we get him to come, he might reveal to us what Team Terra are planning." Looker shakes his head. "That's too easy," he replies. At the look of confusion on his colleagues' faces, he elaborates. "Almost every single person I've interrogated over the years have been panicking, and trying to deflect the blame. But this guy was different. He wasn't acting like a trapped Rattata. It was almost like he held all the cards in that conversation. Rile me up by refusing to answer and taunt me, only to let slip the only way to get him to reveal everything he knows at the end. It's too convenient."
"But what was his plan in that then?" Hilda asks. Looker thinks about it. "I think he got arrested on purpose," he replies. "If we get him and Maple alone together, maybe he might use an elaborate escape and kidnapping plan. Or, he might actually convince Maple to join their side." "I don't think maple would do that," says Hilbert. "After all, he helped stop the Second Kalos Crisis." "That was because it was actively destroying the city around him," Looker replies. "If you recall, Megan was fully convinced of Team Terra's plan until she saw the destruction. If what Roberto said about Maple is true, it may be a bad idea to get them together. Their Boss seems to need him for his plan." "So, keep Maple away from them?" Hilda asks. "Exactly," Looker replies. "We must make sure that Max Maple never comes in contact with them. I have a feeling that would be very bad news indeed."