I'm going to be completely honest here folks, I have no idea what I'm doing with this part of the story. I have a bunch of ideas for this arc, but all of them are for later on in the story. As a result, I have no fucking idea where to go with this part. I've got the scrapings of a plan for a little bit later, but getting to that point, I'm lost. Basically, I'm completely stuck. But, I'm sticking with my schedule no matter what, so the next few chapters might be a bit messy. But enough from me. Let's get back to the story.
Chapter 6:
Visible Uncertainty
Ash isn't happy. He's on the phone with Misty, who's just told him about what happened in Kanto with Max and Bonnie, and how they're now on the move. "I don't like this," he says. "Keep an eye on them for me please?" Misty chuckles at this. "I already told you there's no need," she replies. "Those two agents from the Second Kalos Crisis are with them. The ones who were with Looker." Ash nods, though it's clear he's still sceptical. Not that he distrusts them, but he isn't sure if they can keep Max and Bonnie safe, should they be attacked by a large group of Team Terra agents. "Look, at least check up on them every now and then please," Ash says. "With May's disappearance, I have no doubt that Max will want to try to sneak away and look for her." Misty nods to this. "That, I can do," she replies. "They'll be reaching my Gym eventually, so I'll give you an update then, ok?" Ash agrees to this, then they end the call.
While this fight has been going on, Ash and his allies have made a base of their own in Galar. It's in Wyndon, in one of the buildings near to the stadium. Right now, he and a few of his friends are in that building, planning their next move. Namely, trying to think of how to find and rescue May. If she even needs rescuing that is. Ash is confident that wherever they have her, she's putting up a good fight. But, that doesn't mean much when they can't find her. So, he, Serena, Drew, Brock, Dawn, Paul, Miette, Sophocles, Lillie, Elio, Zoey and Olivia meet up in this building to discuss the matter of locating her. Drew is particularly anxious about this meeting. He's been terrified of what they might do to his girlfriend if they find out that she's the Blaziken Mask.
Ever since she went missing last week, Ash has personally led a few raids on Team Terra bases trying to find her, with Drew accompanying him every time, and taking on basically all of the ones he didn't attack, but no luck. Now, with a week having gone by since her disappearance, they're still no closer to finding her. Or finding out what it is that Team Terra want with Max Maple. In short, the month after he first challenged Team Terra directly has been the most frustrating month in Ash's life. And this first week into the second month has been no better. In fact, it may actually be worse. He sighs as he puts his phone away. "Things have just gotten a bit more complicated," he says to the group, before relaying what Misty just told him. There are mixed reactions to that. Half of them are in support for this idea, while the other half are vehemently against it, and Ash is too tired to tell who is on which side. "Look it doesn't matter!" he exclaims. "The fact of the matter is, is that they're safer like this. Our focus needs to be on finding the base that May is stuck in." Paul rolls his eyes at this. "That's a good point," he says. "Except for the fact that none of us know where to even begin searching for her!"
"I do," says a voice from behind them. Never before have pokéballs flown into hands as fast as they do in this moment as everyone in the room wheels around to see who spoke. Once Ash, Drew, Brock, Olivia, and Serena see who it is, they lower their balls. Standing just inside the windowsill is a person wearing some sort of mechanical armour, with a mask covering their full head. "Camo?" Ash asks. Camo nods, then looks around at everyone else in the room, who are still looking at her with immense suspicion. Noticing this, Ash raises his arms. "It's alright everyone," he says, signalling for them to lower their pokéballs. "They're on our side." "How do you know that?" Dawn asks. "They helped us during the Larousse Incident," Serena replies. "Not to mention they also helped us at the battle at Pewter Gym," Brock adds. Everyone else looks at each other, before lowering their Pokéballs as well.
"You know something about May's location?" Drew asks eagerly. Camo nods. "I can't tell you much," they respond. "Because I haven't been able to gather enough information to narrow it down to an exact location. But, I can tell you that she is being held in the Kanto Region." Everyone in the room stares at them. "Anything more concrete?" Miette asks. "It's somewhere in the south," Camo replies. "But I will need to gather some more information in order to narrow it down further. I'm sorry." With that, they turn to climb out of the window. But before they can, Zoey calls out, "How do we know we can trust you?" Camo stops and turns. "Because, as the Monarch said, I helped your side out before. Shouldn't that be enough?" "Not when we've been betrayed before!" Paul replies. "So, I think the only way we can trust you is if you show us your face!" Camo visibly freezes at this for a few seconds, before shaking their head. "I can't do that,they reply. "I have people I need to protect, and I can't protect them if people like Team Terra know who I am." "At least tell us your name!" Lillie exclaims. "Camo is the only name I go by," they reply. "While in this suit, I have no other name."
With that, they turn to go again. But before they can, Sophocles calls out, "Wait! Why are you helping us?" Camo stops again and turns to look at him. "I have my reasons," they respond. "Team Terra have wronged me, I want my chance to pay them back. That is all." Once again, they try to leave, but Elio steps forward to try and grab them to stop them. He grabs their hand, but they twist around and knock him away gently. Lillie runs over to help him, but before she can, Camo goes invisible. They see the window shake a little bit a few seconds later. Clearly Camo jumped out of the window to escape them. The group rushes to the window to see if they can spot them, but there's no trace of Camo anywhere.
"Who the fuck was that?" Paul asks. Ash, Drew, Brock, Olivia, and Serena shrug. "No idea," Serena replies. "They just appeared one day and saved Ash and Brock when Team Terra attacked Pewter. Then they appeared again during the Larousse Incident. Other than that, we don't know anything about them." "But you're sure we can trust them?" Paul asks. They shrug again. "Not certain," Drew replies. "But they seem to want to help us." Elio writes something down on his whiteboard at this. "So did Megan, and we all saw what happened there." "Hey, that's not fair!" Sophocles argues. "She changed sides and helped us win in the end!" "But she still betrayed us first!" Lillie argues back. "So, how do we know that Camo won't do the same!" Sophocles doesn't say anything at first. "Ok, we don't," he admits. "But I'm willing to give her a chance."
Everyone nods at that and turns their attention to narrowing down their search. As they do, Olivia notices something that Sophocles said. "Wait, how do you know Camo is a woman?" she asks him. Sophocles looks at her quizzically. "You called Camo 'she'," Olivia points out. "How do you know?" Sophocles shrugs. "Her voice," he replies. "It sounds like a woman's." Everyone stares at him incredibly quizzically. "How the Reverse World could you tell?" asks Miette. "Their voice was distorted by the mask." "Besides," Lillie adds, "just because someone sounds like a woman, doesn't mean they are one." Sophocles nods at this and apologises. Then, they get back to work. But, Sophocles can't get Camo out of his head. More specifically, the feeling that he's met her before.
Yeah, that was stupidly put together. It was supposed to come out yesterday, but I kept getting distracted, and I was completely stuck. Also, fun fact, this was supposed to be Camo's introduction. She was supposed to appear fighting that Araquanid machine, not introduce herself to Max and Bonnie, then show up there for a proper introduction, which was to come a bit later. But then I got stuck in Hoenn, and brought her in early. So, any theories as to who she might be? You'll find out soon enough. Now, the next one probably won't be coming out until Tuesday or Wednesday, since I need to actually plan what's coming next for this story. So, just bear with me for