Chapter 80:
Heating Tensions
After sending the map to Brock for him to analyse, Max and Drew spend the next week or so chasing different Team Terra troops, hoping to gather more information that way. When they aren't doing that, they're checking into different Pokémon Centres, checking May's emails to find out if Brock has gotten back to her yet. So far, they haven't had any luck in that regard. During one of these stays in a Centre, after about a week of wandering aimlessly through Hoenn, May and Drew are lounging around their bedroom. May is staring at a computer she's able borrow from the Centre, while Drew stares at his phone. He scrolls through it, before swearing quietly. "What's wrong?" May asks. "The contests are over," he says. "Those who made it into the final have been announced." May immediately feels guilty about this. "I'm sorry you didn't get in," she tells him. He waves her off. "I chose this," he replies. "I wanted to stick with you, so I don't care that I missed it. I can just wait until next year to take your title from you." May chuckles at this, before turning back to her laptop.
But then she remembers what made her turn in the first place. "If you're alright with that, then why did you swear?" she asks. Drew looks back at her. "Because not Max also didn't make it to the Ribbon Cup," he replies. "But Harley did." When he notices that May is a bit confused by this, Drew explains Max's primary motive for entering the contests. May winces at that. "No doubt he's going to be devastated," she says. "He probably thinks he's going to drag my name down." Drew nods. "Which is why I swore," he replies. At this, May stands up. "Ok, I'm going to go and find him," she announces. Drew looks at her quizzically. "Why?" he asks. "Because I want to show him that I don't care that he lost," she replies. "He managed to get 3 badges on his first try, which is very impressive. Not to mention the fact that I know Harley. No doubt he took the opportunity to taunt Max for his loss. So, I'm going to find him, and convince him that he didn't let me down."
But at that moment, the laptop she's borrowing pings, as she receives a message. She wheels around and checks the laptop. She swears as well when she reads that it's from Brock. Opening the message, she sees that he finally managed to understand the map. They're holes dug naturally by pokémon that Team Terra have been tracking. They all seem to be gathering at Mossdeep and Larousse. May relays this to Drew, who gets to his feet. "Well, I guess talking to Max can wait," he says. "Let's figure out which one we go to." May looks at a map, unsure, which Drew notices. "Do you know where Max is?" he asks. May shakes her head. "Then if we go looking for him, all it will do is waste time. By the time we find him, Team Terra might have already activated their plans." May nods. "You're right," she says. "I can only hope we find him along the way." With that, they have a look at the map Brock sent back via email.
"Looks like these tunnels they keep tracking are going between the cities of Mossdeep and Larousse," Drew says. "Which probably means they're planning on attacking one of the cities from the other one." May looks at the map carefully. "It's definitely Larousse," she says. "Larousse is their target. And it seems to be that they're going to use Mossdeep to do it." Drew looks at this map and nods in agreement. "So, will we send a message to Brendan to let him know about this?" he asks. May nods, pulling her phone out. "Could you pack our stuff away please?" she asks. "I'll call Brendan to let him know about all of this." Drew nods and starts throwing their clothes and other items into their bags, while May calls Brendan to let him know about all of this. Brendan thanks her and lets her know that he'll fortify the defences of Larousse. When they're done, they leave the Pokémon Centre.
They spend the next few days travelling to Mossdeep as fast as they can. Along the way, they keep an eye out for Team Terra bases or agents, hoping to catch them and interrogate them on what they're planning, but they have no luck so far. One the 3rd day since they found out about the planned attack, Drew wakes up to the sound of commotion coming from his girlfriend's tent. He shoots awake and scrambles to the flap of his tent, in time to find a small band of Team Terra agents tearing down May's tent. Drew shoots to his feet and races over to her. May has managed to escape the tent and is currently fighting the agents off. One of them manages to grab her and put his hands around her neck. As she struggles, Drew leaps onto the agents back and manages to pull him off May. May manages to get to her feet and resume fighting off the agents. Drew is thinking about running back to his tent and grabbing his pokémon, when he hears May cry out in pain. He wheels around to see what happened, when he gets struck in the face by something and loses consciousness.
He comes to to find his head throbbing painfully. It appears to be late afternoon as he gets to his feet. He feels incredibly dizzy as he looks around, trying to remember what happened. May's tent is destroyed, and she's nowhere to be seen. His head is killing him, and he is dizzy, which leads him to believe that he'd been knocked out. Thinking back on it, he'd woken up to the sound of a fight, then went outside to investigate. He saw May struggling with Team Terra, and ran to help her. There was a fight, and then... Drew's eyes widen as he realises what happened. He scours the area, hoping to find any signs of what happened to May. He quickly spots the signs of someone being dragged off and is able to follow it for a little bit, before coming to a stop at some tyre tracks. "Bingo," he says to himself, before running back to his and May's campsite. He decides to dispose of May's tent when he gets the opportunity, and packs all of her stuff into her bag. He grabs her Blaziken Mask costume and goes to pack it away as well, when he stares at it, an idea forming in his mind.
May wakes up in a cold cell with her head throbbing. She looks around to see if she can find her pokéballs, but they're nowhere to be found. She continues to scan the room, hoping to figure out where she is. She knows she's in a Team Terra base, since she'd been imprisoned in one before. Also, now that her head is becoming clearer, she remembers Team Terra agents attacking her in her tent. At that, she starts panicking. Did they figure out her identity? What are they going to do to her if that's the case? These kinds of thoughts race through her mind as she tries to find a way out. Looking at some of the tables in the prison, May sees that her pokéballs aren't there. Now she's really starting to panic. What did they do to Drew? Is he alright? Images of Drew bleeding out on the forest floor flash into her mind, making her want to get sick. She forces herself to forget those thoughts. She needs to focus on escaping first.
Her train of thought is interrupted at this moment by the sound of the door opening. Looking at it, May can see Sub-Admin S coming through the door. She feels her fear spike despite herself. S grins maliciously when she sees her. "Well, well, well," she says. "About time we properly met face to face May Maple." "Crap! Does she know!?" May thinks. "I haven't seen you since you, your brother, that former Gym Leader, and the current Monarch." May resists the urge to breathe a sigh of relief. "She doesn't know that I'm the Blaziken Mask," she thinks to herself. But that doesn't completely alleviate her fears. "What do you want from me!?" she demands. S laughs. "Oh, not much," she replies. "We just need you to lure your little brother. Or the masked vigilante, whichever comes first." Now May starts panicking again.
S opens the cage and steps inside. She grabs May by her hair and pulls out of the cage. "Now, I'm warning you," she says. "Any funny business at all..." She trails off, pulling a switchblade from her belt. May just nods, not trusting herself to speak. S smiles, then pulls her out of the room. She leads her down the hall and through several doors, before coming to a stop in a room full of torture items, with shackles on the wall. "While there's always a chance you don't know," S explains, "it's better to be safe than sorry. Plus, it will make an enticing video for your brother!" Then, she pulls May over to the wall and begins to shackle her wrists and ankles to it. Once that's done, she pulls out a whip and smiles sadistically. "Now, do you know where your brother is?" S asks. "No," May says firmly. "And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you!" S grins. "Wrong answer," she says, before raising the whip to strike her.
But before she can whip her, the door behind them explodes. May stares in amazement as the Blaziken Mask enters the room. At first, she thinks it's Meyer. But then she realises that they're wearing her outfit. They're wearing a brown wig, and, now that she looks closer, they've stuffed the cropped t-shirt with something to make it look like they have boobs. Then, she realises who she's staring at. Drew, disguised as her, runs at Sub-Admin S, with May's Blaziken right behind him. He spins around and kicks out, and Blaziken does the same. May expects nothing to happen, so it comes as a complete surprise when Drew's leg seemingly catches fire as he kicks S across the face. He lands on the ground, then takes the keys from S and unlocks May's shackles. "Are you alright?" he asks, imitating the voice she uses as the Blaziken Mask. She nods, not trusting herself to speak. Drew giver her a once over, then picks her up bridal style and carries her out of the base.
When they get out of there, Drew quickly takes her costume off, before allowing May the privacy to change into it. "How did you do the fire thing?" she asks him as she does. "Blaziken set fire to my shoe," he replies. "I spun around quickly to make it look bigger, then put it out on S's clothes." May chuckles a bit at that as she comes out of the bushes. "What did they want with you?" he asks when she does. "To use me as bait," she replies. "They wanted to show a video of me being tortured to Max to get him to surrender to them. So, you saved me just in time. How did you find me by the way?" She begins to slowly walk over to him as she does. "Followed a set of tyre tracks," he explains. "They were in such a rush to capture you that they failed to properly cover their tracks." May chuckles at this, then closes the distance between herself and Drew. She briefly kisses him, then steps back and heads towards the entrance to the base. "I won't be long," she says. "Please wait out here." Drew nods. "Go get 'em tiger!" he says. May nods, then runs into the base with Blaziken hot on her heels.
May tears through the base as fast as she can, ripping up It's support structure and checking every single room she can for more information on the upcoming attack. She makes it through the last door, when she's suddenly stopped by Sub-Admin S. "So, you managed to find us once again," she says. "How did you know the Top Coordinator was here anyway?" May grins under the mask, glad she asked Drew that question before coming here. "I was in the area," she says, using Blaziken's fire to alter her voice. "Her boyfriend found me, and told me you kidnapped her. I found some tyre tracks on the road and they led me here. Wasn't rocket science." S gives a fake laugh, before lunging at her with her switchblade. May dodges it, then grabs S's arm, throwing her to the ground and twisting it until she heard a pop. S screams in pain at this, and kicks May away. She scrambles to her feet just as S does the same. She's clearly in a lot of pain, clutching her arm, which is bent at a slightly odd angle. May braces herself, ready to keep fighting. But instead, S turns and flees. May wants to pursue her, but at that moment, the ceiling crumbles a bit. So, May turns and escapes the way she came.
She manages to escape the building relatively unscathed. She quickly finds Drew hiding in the bushes and runs up to him. "Did you find anything?" he asks. May shakes her head. "I think this base if for prisoners," she explains. "It had nothing of worth in it." Drew nods, then gives her a once over. "Are you sure you're ok?" he asks. "They didn't manage to hurt you did they?" May shakes her head. "No they didn't," she tells him. "You stopped her before she could." Drew smiles at this. "Oh good," he says. "I was worried I was too slow." May kisses him again to stop him from talking. "Well, that should be evidence enough that I'm fine," she says. "Now, let's get to Mossdeep. We have an attack to thwart!" Drew nods determinedly, and the two continue on their way.
I'll be honest this chapter was a bit filler-y. I wanted to jump back to May and Drew, but wasn't fully sure what should happen with them, so I came up with that one last night while walking home drunk from a party. The life of a college student am I right? Now, because I want to get this part finished before March is over, I will be changing this schedule to 3 chapters a week again. It helps that I have enough of a plan for the rest of this part of the story that I can do that now. We're almost through the fuzzy bits, and then we get to the stuff I actually have planned. So, with that, see you on the weekend for the next chapter.