Maelstrom

**Blaziken10285** · 16th June 2012, 4:22 AM

Hello and welcome to my second fan Fic! My first, The Galactic Files, has just ended, so there is no better time to start another. This will stay within the G to PG-13 realm. Before I begin, there are some people and their fics that I have to credit for this.

Spoiler:- Credits:

Spoiler:- Chapters:

This story should remain about PG, but maybe make its way to PG-13 closer to the end. Anyway and without further adieu, here is Maelstrom!

A New Journey!

Dave walked into his auditorium in his new Trainer Hangout on top of Mt. Chimney. The volcano had gone through a lot in the past five months, which was exactly what he was there to speak about. Finally, Dave stepped up to the microphone. He hesitated, collecting his thoughts. The events he saw were still heavy on his mind and hard to get out of his throat.

"Welcome and thanks to all of you who could come here on our opening night. You have heard from many people what happened to us in Hoenn a few months ago. You heard of a man named Glover who saved the people of Mauville in the concentration camp there. There was also the tale of the mighty Firebrand who burned through the Northeast part of the main island. And finally, Professor Xander and I, along with a few other members of the Journeymen League, were calming the seas. This, this is my tale."

***

I was traveling throughout Hoenn, and my latest camp was right here actually. I would stay somewhere until I got defeated by someone. After that I would move on. This was my second camp. My first location had been Meteor Falls, where Steven had beaten my Espeon

Anyway, a girl named Mandy was intent on beating Speedy and I. It was our second battle and my Blaziken was running circles around her Ursaring. It was powerful, but mine was more so. Finally Speedy put an end to the battle with a quick Hi Jump Kick to the gut. The bear flew back and was promptly returned to her Pokeball.

“Dave, I know that our agreement was that if I won you’d come back, but you really need to stop fighting!” Mandy said, trying to convince me on a premise that did not have any ground at the moment. She and I argued for a few minutes as I pat Speedy on the head for a job well-done. Xander barged in at that time and demanded a battle with Speedy and me. I agreed.

We took our sides with Mandy watching, probably hoping I would lose. Xander used his green Salamence he walked up with and I used Speedy.

"Speedy, use Acrobatics!"

"Salamence, dodge and use Dragon Dance!"

The Salamence jumped from the ground and began to fly. Xander had a smirk on his face as Speedy narrowly missed the dragon as it took off. The green Pokemon began a remarkable dance through the air while Speedy, angered by his missed hit, gave a brilliant red glow I had seen many times before. He was about to get fast. Before I could issue a command the fowl leapt from the ground and quickly hit Salamence in an aerial attack. Speedy hit the ground on his legs but the dragon was not nearly as lucky. He barely got up after one hit.

"Salamence, use Earthquake."

"Protect."

"Oh, crud."

Xander's Pokemon took to the air again and got right over mine. As it fell Speedy raised his hand and a protective orb sprung up. Speedy began to glow again and shot forward, delivering a kick to the head. Mandy declared Salamence unconscious.

"Well, I win again. Come back tomorrow and we can battle again." I said as I walked to my campsite and went to find a potion.

"No, no, no, you're coming with me regardless of what you say." the Professor said.

"Xander, please don't do anything illegal." Mandy pleaded.

"I don't plan to, but Birch just had to see what an incredible Blaziken you have." That caught my attention.

"Oh, oh yeah!" Mandy said, "Sorry Dave, I guess I forgot that part."

I walk towards the other two. "Well, in that case why don't I humor you two and Birch."

"Great!" Xander exclaimed, "So we'll leave as soon as possible. Just follow me."

It took me a couple of minuted to take down my tent and fold it all somehow in my bag, and I then went and stood with the other two. Mandy let out a Pidgeot and I sent out Cuddles, a Togekiss that I received from a trader. The other two looked impressed, until Xander showed me up and called out a Latias, which was golden.

"Where did you get all of those shiny Pokemon!?" I questioned. He did not seem to hear me so I let it go.

"If everyone's ready." Xander said as he jumped on the golden Latias. Mandy and I got on ours and we headed off.

***

"So now you know how Speedy is so fast." One day later I was caught up, and was getting Birch's and Xander's benediction on how to deal with my Blaziken's uniqueness.

"Yeah, and I'll quit using him so much."

"Thanks for volunteering that."

"Well I won't get much of a chance I guess. I'm going on a little retreat to the wilder parts of Hoenn. It was time I moved on anyway." After shaking hands with the duo of professors I left the room. Mandy was there to greet me.

"So do you want to travel together? I'm going to be leaving for the Dewford area tomorrow."

"Oh, I guess. It would be nice to have someone to train with so Speedy doesn't get too far behind everyone else." The two of us leave call out Cuddles and Pidgeot and leave for Dewford. Little did I know this was going to be my final time to be dry for a while.

Please review below and help me make this Fic a success!

**Glover** · 16th June 2012, 8:10 AM

Originally Posted by Blaziken10285

Hello and welcome to my second fan Fic! My first, The Galactic Files, has just ended, so there is no better time to start another. Before I begin, there are some people and their fics that I have to credit for this.

Spoiler:- Credits:

Anyway and without further adieu, here is Maelstrom!

A New Journey!

Dave walked into his auditorium in his new Trainer Hangout on top of Mt. Chimney. The volcano had gone through a lot in the past five months, which was exactly what he was there to speak about. Finally, Dave stepped up to the microphone. He hesitated, collecting his thoughts. The events he saw were still heavy on his mind and hard to get out of his throat.

"Welcome and thanks to all of you who could come here on our opening night. You have heard from many people what happened to us in Hoenn a few months ago. You heard of a man named Glover who saved the people of Mauville in the concentration camp there. There was also the tale of the mighty Firebrand who burned through the Northeast part of the main island. And finally, Professor Xander and I, along with a few other members of the Journeymen League, were calming the seas. This, this is my tale."

***

I was traveling throughout Hoenn, and my latest camp was right here actually. I would stay somewhere until I got defeated by someone. After that I would move on. This was my second camp. My first location had been Meteor Falls, where Steven had beaten my Espeon

Anyway, a girl named Mandy was intent on beating Speedy and I. It was our second battle and my Blaziken was running circles around her Ursaring. It was powerful, but mine was more so. Finally Speedy put an end to the battle with a quick Hi Jump Kick to the gut. The bear flew back and was promptly returned to her Pokeball.

“Dave, I know that our agreement was that if I won you’d come back, but you really need to stop fighting!” Mandy said, trying to convince me on a premise that did not have any ground at the moment. She and I argued for a few minutes as I pat Speedy on the head for a job well-done. Xander barged in at that time and demanded a battle with Speedy and me. I agreed.

We took our sides with Mandy watching, probably hoping I would lose. Xander used his green Salamence he walked up with and I used Speedy.

"Speedy, use Acrobatics!"

"Salamence, dodge and use Dragon Dance!"

The Salamence jumped from the ground and began to fly. Xander had a smirk on his face as Speedy narrowly missed the dragon as it took off. The green Pokemon began a remarkable dance through the air while Speedy, angered by his missed hit, gave a brilliant red glow I had seen many times before. He was about to get fast. Before I could issue a command the fowl leapt from the ground and quickly hit Salamence in an aerial attack. Speedy hit the ground on his legs but the dragon was not nearly as lucky. He barely got up after one hit.

"Salamence, use Earthquake."

"Protect."

"Oh, crud."

Xander's Pokemon took to the air again and got right over mine. As it fell Speedy raised his hand and a protective orb sprung up. Speedy began to glow again and shot forward, delivering a kick to the head. Mandy declared Salamence unconscious.

"Well, I win again. Come back tomorrow and we can battle again." I said as I walked to my campsite and went to find a potion.

"No, no, no, you're coming with me regardless of what you say." the Professor said.

"Xander, please don't do anything illegal." Mandy pleaded.

"I don't plan to, but Birch just had to see what an incredible Blaziken you have." That caught my attention.

"Oh, oh yeah!" Mandy said, "Sorry Dave, I guess I forgot that part."

I walk towards the other two. "Well, in that case why don't I humor you two and Birch."

"Great!" Xander exclaimed, "So we'll leave as soon as possible. Just follow me."

It took me a couple of minuted to take down my tent and fold it all somehow in my bag, and I then went and stood with the other two. Mandy let out a Pidgeot and I sent out Cuddles, a Togekiss that I received from a trader. The other two looked impressed, until Xander showed me up and called out a Latias, which was golden.

"Where did you get all of those shiny Pokemon!?" I questioned. He did not seem to hear me so I let it go.

"If everyone's ready." Xander said as he jumped on the golden Latias. Mandy and I got on ours and we headed off.

"So now you know how Speedy is so fast." One day later I was caught up, and was getting Birch's and Xander's benediction on how to deal with my Blaziken's uniqueness.

"Yeah, and I'll quit using him so much."

"Thanks for volunteering that."

"Well I won't get much of a chance I guess. I'm going on a little retreat to the wilder parts of Hoenn. It was time I moved on anyway." After shaking hands with the duo of professors I leave the room. Mandy was there to greet me.

"So do you want to travel together? I'm going to be leaving for the Dewford area tomorrow."

"Oh, I guess. It would be nice to have someone to train with so Speedy doesn't get too far behind everyone else." The two of us leave call out Cuddles and Pidgeot and leave for Dewford. Little did I know this was going to be my final time to be dry for a while.

Please review below and help me make this Fic a success!

Hmm, your Beta reader is either slipping or you missed somethin'

I left the room

Narration is almost always in past tense.

"If everyone's ready." Xander said as he jumped on the golden Latias. Mandy and I got on ours and we headed off.
---
"So now you know how Speedy is so fast." One day later I was caught up, and was getting Birch's and Xander's benediction on how to deal with my Blaziken's uniqueness.

Also, I thought you had a line break there to denote the passage of time, but maybe not. I tend to prefer them, but not everyone does.

**Blaziken10285** · 16th June 2012, 2:25 PM

Ok, I must have overlooked those. It's fixed now.

**Blaziken10285** · 23rd June 2012, 5:08 PM

Ch. 2 is here. Please read and review.

Breakout!

The two of us sat in our hotel room in the Pokemon Center. I, bored out of my mind, was channel surfing.

(Bzzt) this just in: the Weather Institute says that clear skies and that good ole fashion sunshine can be expected from the weather for the next full week. (Bzzzt)

"So, what else would there be in Hoenn?" Mandy asked, which made me shake my head.

"Oh you wouldn't believe. There have been a few times a couple of idiot ecoterrorists and their groups, Archibald of Team Aqua and Maximilian of Team Magma, awoke Groudon and Kyogre and caused living heck. So why did you decide to come to our lovely little island region?"

"To get all of the badges." Mandy replied, "So far I have two: the Mauville one and the Lavaridge one. I decided that Dewford should be my next one."

"Why not Petalburg?"

"What?"

"The gym, in Petalburg City. It was just a couple of cities from Littleroot, where Birch's lab is."

"Oh well, we're here now. So do you want to see me annihilate the gym leader here?"

"First, his name is Brawly, and I wouldn't count him for weak until you have battled him." I respond.

"Isn't it a gym leader's job to lose?" With that I gave up the argument and we made our way to the gym. If Brawly wasn't surfing he would be here. And by luck he was. As we made our way in I reminisced on my four day long wait for him to return.

"Hey dudes and welcome to my gym!" the leader said with his surfboard on a table next to him, probably polishing it. "So will you both be battling me today?"

"Only me." Mandy replied.

"I've already gotten all of the badges." I clarified.

"Cool, rad, now follow me, and let's see how powerful your wave is." the surfer turned to lead and Mandy looked at me quizzically.

"That's his thing." I say as she nods in understanding. Brawly led us to his gym, which had become little more than a clearing on the sand by the beach. The only thing separating us from the city were a few palm trees.

"I'll let you begin." Brawly said, probably to see how powerful her Pokemon were so he could match them. "This will be a three-on-three single battle, where only you can substitute. Let's begin!"

I went over to a big rock and sat down. Mandy took the cue and began the match. "Pidgeot, I choose you!"

"Ok, you that looks fairly powerful, so Medicham, go!"

"HA, really? A Medicham. Pidgeot, Air Slash!"

"Medicham, concentrate and use Thunderpunch!"

"Shoot."

Mandy's Pidgeot flapped its wings and took flight. With impressive ferocity it squawked and shook its wing in a form that cut air itself. Medicham bent in a way I barely knew was even possible and dodged the attack. Then, with super speed, leapt at the bird and hit it with one of his fists, which was charged with electricity. It struck Pidgeot in a way that knocked him out almost immediately.

"Awwww, Pidgeot, return." Mandy said, "Heatmor, it's your turn!"

"A Heatmor? We don't hear much about them here. Medicham, are you ready?" The leader got in a fighting stance and they began. "Okay, use Hi Jump Kick!"

"Heatmor, use Wrap!"

The two squared off, and Medicham jumped, soaring over half of the field over to the anteater, who in response stuck his tongue out to catch the fighting type. They collided, which ended in Heatmor with his fiery tongue wrapped around Medicham.

"Good, now fling!"

The fire type lifted his tongue and threw Medicham with power. The psychic was not out though.

"Medicham, show them your crash and hit it with a Thunderpunch!"

"Flame Burst."

Heatmor send volley after volley of fire but the Medicham flew his fist in the way, resulting in a little bit of damage each time. Finally, Medicham caught up to the fire type and punched him in the jaw. The meditative Pokemon just walked away.

"Finish it Heatmor! Use Flamethrower."

Though weakened, the anteater sent a huge flame right onto Medicham's back. When the flame went away Brawly's Pokemon was down.

"Ok, return Medicham. Hariyama, you're up!" Brawly said as a behemoth Pokemon was revealed from his Pokeball. "You know what to do."

"Heatmor, use Flamethrower!"

The sumo bowed and gave an indication for Heatmor to move. The anteater took the cue and launched the blast of fire again, though when it cleared this time Hariyama just scratched his stomach and barreled forward, somewhere adding water to his attack. Heatmor went out like a light.

"Ah," I noticed, "Thick Fat plus a water attack, screwing fire types since the dawn of time."

"Ok Heatmor, get some rest. Serperior, go!" Mandy called.

"Why Serperior?" I questioned.

"Well if it used Brine then it's almost definitely part water type." Mandy answered, obviously not knowing much about Hoenn Pokemon. "Now Serperior, use Grass Knot!"

"Hariyama, Vital Throw!"

The two took off not barely effective paradise. Serperior may have had the advantage from the sumo's incredible weight, though. When Hariyama finally caught up with the snake it grabbed the tail, swung a few times, and threw the reptile into a palm tree.

"Serperior, use Aerial Ace!"

"Hariyama, counter."

The two finally got their acts together and called for physical attacks. By the look of it only one would come out still on their feet, well, hypothetically, since Serperior doesn't have feet. Anyway, both of the Pokemon lunged into an all out attack. Serperior waved his tail and launched a sidestroke on the fighting type who punched the snake. It went on until Hariyama sent one to the head, at which time Serperior was declared the loser. Brawly had won.

"Serperior, return."

"Hariyama, good job. Mandy, good battle, but you need to work harder on perfecting the moves, like what the waves have done now for thousands of years." Brawly said as he glanced to the ocean. "Whoa."

The three of us all examined the horizon, which was bad. A huge storm was heading from the southern central part of the region and was expanding our way. It looked like one someone would not want to be in the middle of, which I can personally vouch for, but we're not there yet. Brawly went to inform the citizens while we stayed behind.

"I can't believe I lost." Mandy said.

"Yeah, what were your words exactly? Gym leader's job is to lose?" I teased as she just glared at me. "So how 'bout we get inside before the rain starts?"

As we entered the center we could see a mob of people standing around where the television is.

(bzzt) We are here live at the Zeickerman’s High Security Prison, where Maximilliam and Archibald, the two in charge of Team Magma and Team Aqua, were being held for their life sentences. Earlier today, the pair were mysteriously broken free from the prison and are suspected to be the reason for the unexpected storm off of the coast and the intense heat onshore. Officials insist that this is not a reason to panic, but until the two can be apprehended again it is advised to stay safe.

I ran back to our room, dragging Mandy with me. I was the reason Magma and Aqua were apprehended before. A guy named Nate and a girl named May had helped me the first time, but May would probably be too busy to help now and Nate, well, I hadn't heard from in years. He was apparently high up in the Journeymen League.

The second time the two got out was different. Xander was apparently the one who dealt with Magma, but I was out at sea trying to beat Aqua. It ended with me drowning the lady in charge off the coast of Pacifilog Town. Bad times, bad times. And now they are back.

"What? Why did you drag me here?" Mandy asked, furious at my dragging her.

"We have to do something, now."

"Why? They said that the officials were doing something."

"Ummm, the same officials that 'helped' against Team Galactic, Team Rocket, and TEAM OMEGA? They never get ANYTHING done. It's up to us to save the world."

"You are so much like Xander."

"I don't care, we just need to move, before it gets really bad."

"And what do you suggest we do?"

"We make an army to counter them."

**Blaziken10285** · 8th July 2012, 6:06 AM

Ch. 3, after a two week break, is finally here!

The Plan

"Welcome to the Battle Frontier!" said the receptionists as Mandy and I walked to the gate. Why the Battle Frontier? Where else would you find a few hundred super powerful trainers all on one tiny island?

Mandy finalized purchasing her pass and we walked in so see just as I had hoped: trainers who exuded confidence and had a reason to feel that way, though I did not come for the battles this time.

I took out my Pokenav, found the title ‘Elusive Eyes Scott’, and began a call.

“Talk to me.”

“Hey Scott, this is Dave, former Hoenn champion.”

“Isn’t everyone? What do you want?”

“I would like an audience with you and the Frontier Brains to discuss a deal to take out Team Aqua and Team Magma.”

“No.”

“Well why not?”

“Because we don’t have time! All of the Frontier Brains and I are incredibly busy to meet with just any trainer with a Pikachu next to him or her.”

“What!? It’s not like everyone does that!”

“Oh, you have no idea. That boy, er, Red, sparked a trend with it seems everyone is into, even now.”

“But the man has been out of the news forever!”

“It doesn’t matter. Look, I have an entire park to worry about with the storm coming in soon. I have to go.”

“Hold. On. You’re storm-proofing the island? Well with my plan you won’t have to, still saving lives and keeping your precious Battle Frontier safe and sound. You want that, am I right?”

“Well, yeah, but-“

“But what? Plus, I don’t have a Pikachu with me.”

“Fine.”

I bolted for the board room right after hanging up, which probably wasn't the best idea as I looked like a soggy vagabond. Scott had agreed to meet right away, as the Frontier Brains did not participate in every battle, but allowed the challenger to decide whether to take their challenge or battle them only. Most chose to do the first.

"Welcome to the Hoenn Battle Frontier Board Room!" the assistant said, and then he turned around. His face was a hilarious mixture of horror, disgust, and confusion. "And what might we help you with?"

"Oh, I have an appointment with Scott and the Frontier Brains." I reply.

"Ok, I'm assuming you're Dave?"

"Yessir."

"Ok, give them about fifteen minutes and they will meet you in board room c. Oh, and if I might add, a shower and new clothes might help your case a little."

A couple of minutes later all of the brains and Scott had arrived. They sat in chairs around a round table. Mandy informed me through the Pokenav that she would stay out of this one and challenge the Battle Dome.

"I brought you all here," I began, "for one reason. As you all probably know, Archie and Maxie, bosses of Team Aqua and Team Magma, have escaped their maximum security prison. This isn't something to overlook; I've flown through the storm.”

"But what if we would rather stay neutral?" Scott asked.

"Well, you would probably be able to pull that off for about a day. Then, Aqua and Magma would make your mind up for you."

"Well, if they came here they would be in for a rude awakening." Brandon said. "We would be able to take them."

"Well, it depends. Suppose they launch a surprise attack. No one would see it coming until it was too late."

"How would they even do that? They hate each other, and that didn't look like it would ever change." Noland said.

"Nothing is forever." Spenser noted.

“Have you looked in the mirror lately?” Greta asked.

“Now Greta, picking on a man’s age is not the respectful thing to do.” Anabel informed, and went back to her tea.

“Of course you would take his side. You don’t want the voices of the Pokemon in your head crying in pain. I think we need to diagnose you with schizophrenia already and call it a day.”

“That’s enough!” Lucy interrupted, “We may be on the brink of war. We can’t be fighting among each other.”

Tucker leaned back in his chair. “I don’t know, a good cat fight is amusing occasionally.” Lucy kicked his legs, and he, chair, tights, fake wings, and everything else went crashing to the ground. He got up nursing his left hand, which had come between the chair and the floor. “On second thought, you two need to be punished and taught that a fight should be left for the battlefield.”

"On that note let's take a vote!" Scott said. "All in favor..." three raised their hand: the Palace, Tower, and Dome Brains. "All opposed..." and much to my chagrin, four hands rose: the Pike, Factory, Pyramid, and Arena heads. So they would not be helping me.

“Sorry young man, but we have decided to stay neutral.” Scott added.

"Ok, well thanks for your time." I say as I walk out, silently cursing.

The rest of the day was spent asleep at the Pokemon Center. During the night I awoke and decided to explore the cavern system below the island. The rain had picked up so I had to run to Artisan Cave.

Upon entering I found nothing had changed since last time. It still only had Smeargle. The odd part was how many of the artist was around. I noticed one as I entered, but it ran away right when it saw me. Also, in the very back there was a group of four putting the finishing touches on a wall mural. It depicted the legendary Pokemon Groudon and Kyogre, along with Rayquaza. The three, though, were abnormaly colored. They did not even go along with what the reported shiny version of the trio. The Smeargle seemed too busy with their portrait to notice me. As I was leaving I felt an explosion. I sprinted out to find it flooding and on the dark horizon modern-looking pirate ships. It seemed Aqua had the same realization as I did; they were firing at the island. I then did the only logical thing: I called out Cuddles and flew away.

That morning I found myself in Pacifilog Town. The population rushed out when they saw me, as I probably looked horrid.

"It's back! I can see it!" a man said as he rushed out of his hut, "Mirage Island is back!" muttering is heard and I came up with a plan.

"Hey," I say, but no one noticed, "HEY," that got their attention, "If y'all want to help beat Team Aqua and Team Magma, gather all of your friends from all over Hoenn and follow me to Mirage Island!"

"But why should we worry about Aqua and Magma? They never did much to us before." a random voice stated.

"That's almost exactly what the Brains of the Battle Frontier said, and they were ambushed in the middle of the night. AND if you didn't notice, the storm IS COMING THIS WAY!" That helped them listen to reason, and within minutes nearly the entire town was ready to go.

I was riding on the back of my Jellicent named Julius and the others were on various water types. We were almost there when we ran into one of the pirate ships.

"Please show us all of your Aqua Licenses." an Aqua grunt yelled from the boat.

"A what?" I asked, perplexed at what an Aqua License was.

"A license that swears your allegiance with Team Aqua and Team Magma that allows you to travel in the ocean. It costs 1,000 Pokedollars and you can get it here. If you don't we'll have to take you to one of our camps."

"I'm not paying for that! Why would I EVER align myself with terrorists?" I yell. The islanders looked worried until most went on the boat to get a license. I was the only one left.

"Last chance," the grunt warned.

"Give me a minute!" I yell, trying to think of a plan. That was when the others showed up.

"Go my pupils! Create a distraction!" said a purple haired man who I had met on many occasions at his tent. It was the Trick Master. There were at least twenty people he was commanding, and they all let out their Pokemon and boarded the vessel. The Trick Master had begun teaching the people in his tent how to use the move Trick Room, and I watched as dimensions twisted and became normal again. It was quite the comical sight: when the room was set, the Trick Master's pupils would charge, and retreat when it was about to revert back to normal.

"Nice timing Trick Master!" I yelled up to him.

"It's only because I despise Team Aqua and Team Magma a tad more than I hate you."

"Still sore from me beating your tent then, I assume?" The man glared and went to join his students. They weren't faring well, so I decided to go help them. I recalled Julius and boarded the craft.

Upon getting to the deck I let out my Electivire and Nightmare the Espeon and rushed to help my new comrades.

"Eh, what are you doing here?" A slightly dumpy Aqua Grunt with a team of four Golbats asked.

"Electivire, use thunderbolt on the Golbat. Nightmare, let out your Frustration."

"Golbat, Mean Look!"

Don't ask me why that grunt felt compelled to use that, or why he decided that having four Golbats in a single team was a good idea. I wasn't about to switch them out anyway. My duo, virtually unaffected by the goofy, somewhat rude faces, did not need to be told to attack twice. Nightmare, who was naturally ill-tempered, leapt from bat to bat, and smacked them hard in the face. Electivire would then use the static built up in his fur and concentrate it in a shockingly large blast of electricity.

I repeated this cycle a multitude of times with a variety of foes, mainly Carvanhas and Golbats. They really seemed to cherish those two. When defeating a lady with one Zubat, (yes, one measly Zubat) I heard the Trick Master yell a retreat. We apparently weren't faring too well. I returned Nightmare and Electivire to their Pokeballs and took to the sky on Cuddles. The purple haired man and two of his followers were already up.

"Should we go on?" asked a green haired guy.

"No stupid, we need to wait for the others." the other one, a girl said.

"Hush, you two and look down," the Trick Master commanded and we all obeyed. It wasn't a pretty sight. Almost everyone who was part of the Master's troupe was down. We were nearly all that was left. "We need to go, before they decide to follow us."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." the girl conceded.

"Aren't I always?"

We flew for an hour before finally deciding on an island. It was about noon so we were all hungry and exhausted. It was a fairly nice island, and it turned out the group had brought, surprise, a tent. I gathered some berries and we had a cold lunch, none of us really wanting to chance a fire.

"So, now that you can't really go back, where are y'all going to go now?" I asked the other three. Two of them, having relied on the Trick Master so long, instantly looked at him for guidance.

"We'll probably stay here and eventually try getting out of the region for help. You can join us, but you'll have to learn the ways of the Trick Room."

"I'm good. I'll probably leave in a few minutes. I have somewhere I have to be by the end of the day."

"Alright, bye." the Trick Master said. He flicked his wrist and I was turned around. Yup, I really made him mad this time. First I had beaten him at his own game in his tent, and then I deny his offer in joining them. Oh well, he could get over it.

I took the hint and gathered my stuff quickly before getting to the shore. I released Julius the Jellicent and left toward Mirage Island.

Ch. 4 shouldn't take as long, as the only reason I have to justify the wait for this was sheer laziness. Anyway, I'd love to get some feedback, so just comment right down below!

**Wartiger97** · 21st July 2012, 7:53 PM

Interesting story Blazi keep up the good work I'm looking forward to see how this plays out.

**Blaziken10285** · 21st July 2012, 8:12 PM

Originally Posted by Wartiger97

Interesting story Blazi keep up the good work I'm looking forward to see how this plays out.

Thanks. I have the next chapter, but I have yet to fix it from Glover's reading. (Writer's Block + Legend of Zelda + Sheer Procrastination = no Ch. 4 yet :/)

**Blaziken10285** · 25th August 2012, 9:33 PM

Ok, so after what feels like a really long hiatus for me, Maelstrom has returned! Maybe it won't take as long for the next chapter?

Ch. 4, The Return

I arrived at the mysterious Mirage Island right at sunset. I often wondered how it occasionally appeared but so often couldn't be found, then I learned it was the Sinnoh trio that regulated it. When all three cross paths, the island can be seen.

Anyway, back to the story. I got there and automatically assumed that I would be staying there a while, and went to make a shelter. That was when I noticed an indention on the ridge.

"Nightmare, come on out!" I threw my Espeon's Pokeball up into the air and my purple feline hopped out. "Ok, use Secret Power on that wall."

Nightmare shook his head. "Es, Peon, PEON!" The Espeon ran to the wall and hit the indention with his tail. The wall caved in, revealing, well, a cave.

"Nice work, Nightmare. Can you help me set up?"

"Pe." My psychic partner found a corner of the cave, laid down, and went to sleep. I was not going to be getting any help.

At midnight I figured I would be safe for a while, and since I was hungry and cold Speedy lit a small fire on the beach. I walked over to the famous Liechi Berry garden, picked some of the ripe berries and began preparing a very late dinner.

"Well boys," I began, looking around at my team, and upon seeing Hydra continue, "and girl, welcome to our island away from home. We'll stay here until I think we're ready to plead the league for help or until help arrives. I think we're safe here but under no circumstances is it ok to take a swim or fly very high, as you might not be able to get back easily. Understood?"

All six gave some sort of grunt like they agreed, but I resolved to keep a special watch on Cuddles and Julius, who would have the greatest possibility breaking those terms. We all ate roasted Wingull with Liechi Berry juice and afterwards retired for bed.

I went for weeks without any news from the outside world. Once, a few days after arriving on the island, a figure using a jet pack seemed to fly by when it was storming the hardest. He was going in the direction of the Trick Master's island, and I silently prayed to Arceus that this man would have safe travels. I also saw Aqua Pirate Ships in that direction too, but when they passed my island none of them ever seemed to notice. I was safe, but knowing this made me carefree.

I was training with Hydra when disaster struck. She had grown exponentially since we landed, and never quit pushing herself harder and harder. The native Wynauts seemed to like the challenge too.

"Alright Hydra, begin with using Surf!" I commanded. My dragon roared and I could see the ground becoming moister. She was tapping the water from the ground and concentrating it into a good sized wave that circled her and the native Wynauts, who countered with a Splash, which did absolutely nothing!

"Good, now use Dark Pulse!" I said. The Zweilous looked around and began to flap her pseudo-wings. Focussing on her shadowy nature she was flapping the pulses at her opponents. The Wynauts, who were attacking as a group, used a Mirror Coat attack. They absorbed Hydra's Dark Pulse and were about to sent a doubly powerful one back when something spooked them. I looked back to see a pirate ship right off of the shore losing to three people, one of which was on a green Salamence.

"Unbelievable." I said to myself, and tossed the Pokeball of my Jellicent into the air. "Follow me to the shore."

Once there, I found that the other two figures were on a Tropius. I decided that whoever they were, since they were fighting Team Aqua, they were friends.

Having grown up on an island and lived in Almia for a time, I knew the boats would be well protected in case an angry Sharpedo or a similar water type tried sinking it. The cover was a mix of lightweight steel and dragon scales from a Kingdra. What this protected ships from were water typed attacks. Apparently, people were not very worried about other kinds of attacks.

"Julius, use Water Spout on the boat. Hydra, you then use Flamethrower and Dragon Pulse on the covering on the bottom of the boat to break it down."

Julius waded into the waves and lifted his hand fins. The Jellicent began controlling the tide, and before long a great spout of water lifted the boat into the air. Hydra focused her two heads at the same spot, and each mouth attacked, flames dancing from one and condensed dragon energy from the other.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" the Aqua grunts were at first really puzzled by this.

"YOU THREE WILL PAY FOR THIS!" they also thought the others were somehow to blame for this.

I laughed as the water terrorists screamed curses and tried to make sense of what was happening. Slowly but surely, hit after hit, the attacks made a dent on the seal, which fell off. One of the figures seemed to notice, and a Crawdaunt was released into the ocean. I could see it raise his claws and hit the boat in a fashion representing a Guillotine. The boat began sinking at an unbelievable rate and the three landed on a large rock to watch the grunts run around like a Torchic with its head cut off. Aqua grunts swarmed to the two tiny rafts, but a lot still went down with the boat. I recalled Hydra, and hopped on Julius to get to the other three.

I could see them as I got closer. The one that got off the Salamence was built tall and muscular with brown hair. Xander was back. The other two, who were both on the Tropius, seemed like complete opposites. One, the only girl of the group, had long blonde hair and seemed cheerful compared to everything around her and the situation at hand. Another guy sat next to her. He had dark hair and olive skin and seemed extremely mad about, well, everything. Looking at him gave me a feeling of deja vu, so I resolved to know why.

I arrived to the rock and got off of the Jellicent. "Good job, return Julius." I say and turn to the others. "Welcome to the party. Did you three really come to Hoenn on your free will or are you a pity committee?"

"I had to come back and help," Xander said, "and I decided to bring some friends along."

"I'm not your friend. We're in the same league and I hate Team Aqua and Team Magma, therefore, we came." the other guy said, motioning to the girl.

"Nate, do you have to put a negative spin on everything?" Xander huffed, and I finally remembered him.

"Nate, as in the former Hoenn champion? You were one of my rivals as a School Boy! How's that super Swampert of yours. What's her name? Emerald?"

Nate winced, "Don't mention him."

"It would be great to have a battle! Tor against Emerald, kinda a reunion. What do you say?"

"Don't make me shut you up."

"Whoa, what happened to you?"

"SHUT. UP."

"Now Nate, calm down." the girl said.

"But Crina-"

"Nate, he was one of your friends years ago and hasn't seen you in a long time. Give him a break. Plus, he just saved us from Team Aqua."

"We were beating them anyway."

"Yeah, but that wrapped it up so no more of our poor Pokemon got hurt."

Nate did not respond again, but just gazed into the distance. Crina tried making him feel better, but I could tell that I had struck a nerve with Emerald.

"So," Xander started, trying to break the uncomfortable silence, "what is our next plan?"

"Easy. I think I remember hearing that Aqua and Magma are working together. We need to separate them. A divide and conquer tactic. Make them hate each other again." I suggest.

"I'm in, but I get to kill Archie and Maxie." Nate growled.

"If Nate is in then I'm coming too. I have some, um, unfinished business with Maxie." Crina added, cringing as if a bad memory had just been remembered.

"Are you sure you should come face to face with him again?" Nate questioned, actually showing at least a little sympathy.

"I really don't want to, but I can't just leave. There isn't really anywhere else to go." she told Nate.

"So where would Archie and Maxie be?" Xander asked.

I thought for a moment, "If they are based together now, then probably on Mt. Pyre. That would be a good place to start. Hey, the monsoon is coming. That means Kyogre is coming away. Let's go."

A few hours later we were making good time flying to the mainland of Hoenn. Nate and Crina were on her Tropius while I was on Cuddles and Xander was on his Salamence. Xander swooped closer.

"So what were you saying about Nate being different now?" he asked.

"When he traveled through Hoenn with his Swampert named Emerald he was a great guy: strong but knew when to quit for the sake of his Pokemon, he was cheerful and knew how to make others feel better."

"Really? Nate was cheerful?"

"Yeah. I wonder what has made him like this?" he looked up to the setting sun, "We should make camp. There's no point in taking on the heads of Team Aqua and Team Magma exhausted and full of rage."

"What? We can handle them now."

"No, we should wait until we're rested. Besides, there doesn't seem to be any Magma agents down there."

I sighed, realizing that I would not win, "Alright, but you tell Crina and Nate."

We landed and set up camp, without a fire. I had the first watch while the other three slept. Being just a few yards inland, I could hear the ocean. It was rough and I could tell that the storm was growing, taking in more energy. The wind was howling and the tent's canvas exterior rippled in the breeze. I wondered for a while how the Mandy and the others of Hoenn were faring in containment. I glance at my Pokenav and it showed it was time for the second watch. I wake Xander, climb a tree, and go to sleep.

"HALT! STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND SURRENDER." I heard. My eyes shot open. Crina was being gagged and cuffed while Nate and Xander, being half asleep, were forced to surrender to the grunts who ambushed them. Team Magma had arrived.

**Blaziken10285** · 1st September 2012, 6:18 PM

And on schedule, I'm back with another chapter. If you're taking the time to read this it would be great to get some kind of review.

My Turn

"No." I whispered to myself as I watched my new allies being gagged. The three looked around, probably trying to find me, but I silently found a place where I would be securely camouflaged.

The three all had differing emotions showing. Nate, being the sulky, angry man he had become, showed pure hatred. he was trying to yell at the grunts, which did not work being gagged. Crina seemed to be the total opposite. She seemed terrified. I could see the tears rolling down her face as her long blonde hair got in her face. Xander was the calmest of the group. He sat there calmly, assessing the entire situation. He was hatching a plan, but it was not ready.

The Magma grunts made the trio get up and started walking away from the clearing. I stand up on the branch that eavesdropped and start running in the exact other direction that the others went. I jumped from tree to tree until I found myself at the edge of the forest and by the beach. The sun was just rising.

Almost exactly when I put a step on the beach I felt rain. I looked out to sea and saw a giant storm. It looked like a hurricane was put on steroids, or the Pokemon Vitamins, and became extremely angry. Off to the left was what worried me the most. There was what seemed to be a ring of boats around a giant black water spout that seemed to be the thing fueling the storm. I did not know what it was, but I did know that I did not want to confront it alone, or at all. Meanwhile, all over the island was terrqin so dry that most of the island had become a desert. The plants looked shriveled up and close to dying and I swore that I could see smoke rising from more than just the volcano. The beach was for the moment the most of an ongoing war for domination between Groudon and Kyogre. The storm clouds from the water fought against the bright sun and heat of the main island.

The beach seemed deserted, but after the other three were taken, there was no guarantee.

"HELLO? IS ANYONE HERE? ANYBODY?"

I walked a little farther down.

"ANYONE? HELLO?"

I walked a little farther, repeating the process until finally deciding I was safe. I stared at the ocean, thinking about leaving Hoenn. I could escape Team Aqua and Team Magma's grasp; if anyone could, it would be me. I could wait in far away Unova, and a boy with some electric rodent could charge through Hoenn and defeat the enemies like it always seemed to happen.

Except this time there were no gym leaders for the rookie to become strong with. There was not any freedom either, so no one would be starting a new journey. It had to be someone who was free, yet there was only one person outside of their control:

me.

I started to freak out. I never had to save people to this magnitude before! How could any one person complete a job like this?

That was it, I figured. One person could not do this alone. I needed help, even if I did not want to admit it at the time, and there were a few people that could help me. Nate and Xander were part of the Journeymen League, a group renowned worldwide for having delivered the world from Team Omega, a group that rose from the dissolved Team Plasma. They wreaked havoc across the world before Cole Culain, "The Firebrand", led the group to confront Ghetsis. They won, and the world returned to peace. For about a year and a half, that is, and here I was; and so were they. I had to find Xander and Nate if I wanted to save the world, and Crina could go with us.

"Cuddles, come out and help me!" My Togekiss appeared from his Pokeball. "Fly up and help me find Crina, Xander, and Nate!"

I ran back into the sun's domain, the forest, inland. The trees looked like they were baking in the heat, half of them looking like they were about to shrivel up more and die. I had no idea where to go, having lost the area where I had initially left the area. I ran until I tripped and lunged straight onto the hard, dry ground.

"Ugh, OW!" I looked to see what I had tripped over. A pair of eyes were trained on me, and upon retreating from the shadows revealed a Houndour. I reasoned that they must have escaped the Safari Zone area when the two teams took power.

"HOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUNNNNN, HOOOOOUUUUN."

The dog howled, and four other Houndour and one Houndoom ran in from every angle. They looked ready to attack.

"Hey Electivire, help me out!" I held my pokeball out, threw it up in the air, and my electric Pokemon appeared. "Ok, you hold off the Houndour. I'll take on the Houndoom." He nodded in agreement and we went to do our separate duties.

"Hounnnn, DOOM! The biggest dog growled again.

"HA, come at me bro!" the fire Pokemon leapt, and I held out my arm, revealing my Capture Styler. "Capture, ON!" I dodged the Houndoom's attack, and a blue line began circling around it. I spun my arm a few times until the circle closed down, hitting the dog, who actually looked nice, with his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth.

I turned to the five others that Electivire held back. "Ok, I can do it from here.. Lend me some of your power." The Thunderbolt Pokemon sent some thunder into my styler. I aimed at the pups, and sent the thunder their way to keep them still, and repeated the same process as I did with Houndoom.

"Captures, complete." I looked at the six Pokemon who were then my friend Pokemon and pulled out a deck of cards from a pocket of my travel pack. "I need to find my Pokemon, and we used these last night. Can you six track them?" They barked a tone that sounded promising. I put the deck on the ground and they began sniffing, and after that running to hopefully the other three.

We traveled for about half an hour before we came across a clearing much like the one that I slept in the night before. This one, though, had a red, black, and orange Team Magma land cruiser. The big SUV had four Team Magma grunts herding Xander, Nate, and Crina into the back. What I did not notice until a minute later was that Cuddles was caged up. I stayed in the shadows of the foliage and looked at my team members.

"Ok, Electivire, you and I will go get our friends back. Houndoom, you and the others may go when Cuddles is free." We all moved into the clearing and the grunts saw me.

"Hey, who are you and what business do you have here?" One of the grunts questioned.

"I'm here to get my friends back, and take you four dummies down!" I challenged, "Hydra and Nightmare, come out too!" My Zweilous joined Electivire and readied herself for battle.

"HA, we'll take you down!" said two of the grunts, who in turn released a Crobat and Camurupt.

"Nightmare, loosen the bonds on Xander, Nate, and Crina until they're off. Electivire, use Thunder on the Crobat! Hydra, use Dragon Pulse!"

"Crobat, dodge it and use X-Scissor."

"Camerupt, Eruption!"

Nightmare's eyes began glowing a light shade of blue. The three began moving, and the other two grunts tried restraining them. Electivire began rotating his arms, producing static electricity. The antennas began having a spark between them and the Thunder Pokemon shot his electricity at the bat with a proud roar. The Crobat, being as fast as the rest of his species, maneuvered faster than the speed of light, easily avoiding the lightning. It flew right at Hydra, who was concentrating in flooding the Camurupt.

"Quick Hydra, use Ice Fang on Crobat."

The bat swooped in and hit Zweilous, who growled in protest. Hydra focussed on what coolness and moisture there was in the air. Her mouths began to frost and she went to attack her rival. The Crobat, while the dragon prepared, though, flew out of range. Hydra began jumping, but to no avail. Crobat was too far in the air. My attention was forced to change when a loud boom came from the fire type. Suddenly, meteors began being fired from his volcano-like humps. They were headed straight toward Electivire.

"Toge, KISS!" Cuddles swooped in, using a combination attack of Extremespeed and Aura Sphere to counter the flaming meteors.

"Great going! Electivire, use Cross Chop; Hydra, use Dark Pulse and Ice Fang; and Cuddles, use another Aura Sphere!"

The Camurupt seemed to get angry with each Eruption. Electivire concentrated on his arms, which glowed white. He went up to the fire type and started slapping him in the face. My Togekiss, who was trying to be more sly, waited until between Eruptions and blasted Aura Sphere attacks into the mini volcanos. He giggles when it went inside.

Across the field, Crobat was still flying a tad out of Hydra's range. She stopped hopping, and focussed. She flapped her wings and Dark Pulses propelled her up. The Crobat was stunned, and was bitten by two icy fangs. The bat crumpled to the ground, its wings being incased in ice. Hydra landed triumphantly and grinned. She roared happily and began glowing. Light encased her and a third head sprouted from the torso. All four legs shriveled up and the tail became longer. The figure began floating and the light dimmed, revealing that my Hydra had evolved into Hydreigon.

"GREAT! You evolved Hydra! Let's test your new power: use Dragon Pulse! Electivire, use Earthquake!"

"Return Crobat." a Magma grunt said. The two had been a little occupied helping their companions keep mine tied up.

"Camurupt... Just keep doing what you were doing."

My Hydreigon joined Cuddles in the air, circling around the Camurupt. They kept him from attacking by targeting the fire type's humps. Electivire jumped and touched down to the ground by his enemy. The earth shook and when the dust settled our other enemy was down too.

"Great job, not let's get our friends back."

My four team members and I confidently walked over to the grunts, who did struggle, but to no avail. In about a minute my friends had been untied, and they were.

Nate pushed past me, "I can handle it from here. I'm going to ask each of questions. Don't test me. I don't care about your pitiful feelings."

One by one the grunts would go with the dark trainer, and each that came back from their interrogation was nursing a new injury. They all looked shaken from the experience and missing their team jackets. Crina, Xander and I made sure none of the evildoers escaped and watched in horrifying pleasure at Nate's work. After thirty minutes all of the grunts had been interrogated and Nate walked out of the trees with an evil grin on his face wearing a Team Magma uniform.

"Alright, we're done here. Make sure they are tied up well and all of you put one of these on. We're leaving." Nate had a plan and it was almost time to put it into action.

We shoved the four jacket-less grunts in the area where they were going to store Nate, Crina, and Xander. The four of us jumped into the front and drove off.

**Glover** · 16th September 2012, 6:08 AM

*Cracks knuckles*

So, kudos to you on cutting the apron strings. Sorry I was holding you down, but time wasn't in my favor. So, let's see what you can do on your own then, shall we? Most of the review will be CH5, since I've seen 4 already.

The cover was a mix of lightweight steel and dragon scales from a Kingdra

Like it

. Make them hate each other again." I suggest.

Suggested. Narration in past tense.

---

. Xander was the calmest of the group. He sat there calmly, assessing the entire situation. He was hatching a plan, but it was not ready.

repetition

I stand up on the branch that eavesdropped

Stood, past tense narration and "Teh branch that eavesdropped" I don't think the branch was eavesdropping. Then again, the hills have eyes, maybe the forest has ears.

and a boy with some electric rodent could charge through Hoenn and defeat the enemies like it always seemed to happen.

"HA, come at me bro!" the fire Pokemon leapt, and I held out my arm, revealing my Capture Styler. "Capture, ON!" I dodged the Houndoom's attack, and a blue line began circling around it. I spun my arm a few times until the circle closed down, hitting the dog, who actually looked nice, with his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth.

Hmm. Not sold on the Capture Styler's entry. Its not out of the blue, since you mention Almia in CH4, but it still feels like pulling out a magic cadget. Is this the proverbial Dues Ex Machina I hear so often bantered about?

The Camurupt seemed to get angry with each Eruption

Angry should either be angrier, more angry, or more and more angry with each Eruption.

He giggles

giggled

You know, I'm not sure which is worse: That your Togekiss is actually trying to attack the iside of the poor Camerupt, that your Togekiss may or may not know that;s actualy a very dangerous thing to do to a Camerupt (It's like shoving a barrel into a dog's mouth and pulling the trigger), or that it makes him giggle when he gets the Spheres in the hole...

There's a strong possibility that you have a very sadistic Togekiss...

to ask each of questions.

each of you questions?

**Blaziken10285** · 23rd September 2012, 4:57 AM

Writer's block is a great thing, eh? That plus an extremely busy schedule has brought you this. It really begins the beginning of what will propell the entire Act 1. That being said, if you're taking the time to read this, please put a comment below!

Enter: Lilycove

About two days later we drove up to the Lilycove Concentration Camp. It was late at night, but the guard lights shone and thin, sickly looking prisoners seemed to continue working. A gate opened when the guards saw the jeep. We were admitted and went into a warehouse where the road ended.

"Wow. I knew it was bad, but this is terrible." Xander muttered. "Nate and Dave, you get the prisoners. Crina, get the Magma jackets and hand them out. Be sure to keep the hoods on as much as you can."

The four of us, holding prisoner the true Magma agents, walked to the elevator. Nate got all of the information we needed from them, so we knew exactly how to get around.

Floor B7 was our first stop. It was where we would dump our prisoners and report back for our next assignment.

"NEXT!" a portly woman in a strange, too tight, secretary outfit beckoned us to her table.

"We have apprehended four prisoners on our last mission." I told her.

She looked at me through her thick-rimmed glasses, "I can see that." I decided not to make a comment on that. " Take them to sector 15 and then go to your barrack command system for your next assignment."

We nodded, walked away, and got on the elevator to the ground level. That was about the moment we began getting lost. Not finding out until later, we did not know that each sector was a different building. For a group that took over so fast their system was extremely efficient.

We eventually found our way around the compound, dropped the former grunts to the worker bunks and made our way to our new barrack home. Compared to the prisoners' bunks our own looked heavenly. It had once been the Contest Hall, but did not resemble that past life one bit. The decorations like the frilly banners and pink walls had been replaced with a fiery theme, with Team Magma symbols on each wall.

"Wow. This is so strange to see." I took in the new surrounding.

"Yeah, my mother dragged me here many times for her contests." Nate reminisced.

"Oh, she was pretty good at one point wasn't she? Almost top coordinator or something, right?" Crina asked.

"Yeah, something like that. Who cares?"

"Well, she is your mom." I added, "Ya know, the person who gave birth to you, gave you a life, raised you, and loved you."

"Hmph, like I care."

"I wonder how she's faring in all of this?" Xander had the ominous question that snapped us back to reality.

"She could have been thrown into Mt. Chimney for I care."

On that note, the four of us walked on, trying to process Nate's darkness. We found the barracks where the actual Magma Agents once resided. There were four bunks of four beds. The four of us were in one set of bunks, and I wondered what the other twelve that stayed in here were like. I did not have much time to process this, though, as a monitor snapped to life, surprising all of us.

"Welcome back agents 1543 through 1546 from a successful mission." the screen was dark, but the voice was what alarmed me. It sounded like Maxie, but I could tell somehow that it was not really the terrorist. "You have completed your first field mission, to apprehend four people who would have tried to thwart our operations. Only you could have gone on this mission, seeing as your four are some of the few allowed access to the main computers. Your next mission will begin tomorrow and is as follows: Agents 1543 and 1544 will be assigned back to the computers while Agents 1545 and 1546 are assigned to guard duty in towers 12 and 17 on the Magma sector. This is indefinitely. That is all."

As suddenly as the voice began, it ended. We sat with the room back in silence, not knowing how to break it.

The next day we went to our respective jobs. Xander and Crina headed to the computer room while Nate and I slowly found our guard posts.

"Well look who's back!" some of the Magma Grunts exclaimed as I walked up to the top of the tower. I made sure my hood was on so nobody would recognize that the former grunt was gone.

"Yeah, welcome back Gilmore!" said one of the grunts.

"Thank you all." I try to sound hoarse, "I caught a small cold on the way, so my voice is a little rough."

"Haha, yeah, you don't sound at all like yourself." I cringed a little, "Why don't you come over and man this spotlight?"

"And why don't you take your hood off while you're at it?"

I had to come up with a counter quick, "Oh, well, umm, I'm sick, and really pale. From what I can tell what I have isn't contagious, but I don't want to make you all feel sick by looking at me." It seemed like a reasonable argument at the time.

"Eh, fair enough. Just so none of us become sick from whatever you have."

"Oh, I'm almost sure that it's impossible to spread."

I spent most of the rest of the day shining a large beacon in the middle of the day around idiotically, as if I needed to kill the shadows of the prisoners. The people looked depressed and malnourished, like the people of the fictional books I read once of a place called Germany during a war called World War II. I thought that kind of situation only happened in the stories.

Xander, Crina, Nate, and I at the end of the day met to discuss our next plan of action. Crina and Nate were walking together, which gave Xander and I time to talk.

"So what did you learn in the computers?" I asked.

"Well," Xander began, "Team Aqua and Team Magma are working together, but have a loose bond. They call this new order 'The Confederation of the Elements'. It sounds so noble, but is really extremely corrupt. Their bond is weak, and any kind of potent catalyst could tear them apart."

"What do you have in mind?" I asked.

"If Team Aqua and Team Magma are fighting amongst themselves, then they won't be focussing on the prisoners. We could tear the Lilycove Area of the Confederation apart and then lead the prisoners in revolt."

"Could that even work?"

"Fortree and Mauville have already been put in a state of revolution. We'll have to work as a team. Meet some of the prisoners and get them to help out. Maybe we could also get some help from the Fortree rebels."

"I don't care what it takes. It has to be done."

**Glover** · 24th September 2012, 4:52 AM

"a comment"

Oh, that's not what you wanted? Phht!

Actually, I really odn't have that much to say. Points for you. The only things that stuck out were:

"She could have been thrown into Mt. Chimney for I care."

This seems like an odd place to end this little banter, seeing as Dave was getting hot under the collar for his lack of emotion for his mother, this seems like someone else should have a last word, an action, or maybe Xander being the levellheaded one and shutting Dave up before he blew their cover. Maybe.

I must admit, this Nate fella ~~needs a solid conk on the head~~ seems a bit too cold for reality, but I'm not sure that's entirely or partly your fault. if that makes sense.

Only you could have gone on this mission, seeing as your four are some of the few allowed access to the main computers.

Seems an odd info dump, considering the agents would know that.

The next day

needs a comma after it.

I spent most of the rest of the day shining a large beacon in the middle of the day around idiotically, as if I needed to kill the shadows of the prisoners

Ah, tedium.

'The Confederation of the Elements'.

Now why couldn't I have thought up something cool like that to call them?

**Blaziken10285** · 21st October 2012, 11:35 PM

And after yet another month, I have written another chapter. Maybe I'll get to the next before November? We can all hope at least.

Operation: Fortree

The four of us had a plan. A common goal and a means for reaching it. We were in the central secretarial office again, and once again had the same overweight lady.

"Are you four sure you want to be moved to Fortree? That Inferno-marked-"

"Firebrand?" Xander interrupted, with a sound of eagerness and confusion.

"Whatever the boy wants to be burned with. He and a few of his cohorts really riled the prisoners up. Not looking good for us there."

"Whatever, just give us the passes and we'll be off to fight." Nate said impatiently. "I look forward to crushing this Firebrand once and for all."

"Oh, you can't do that. The supreme Maxie and that pirate guy took him down once he got to Mt. Pyre. Rumor is is that they killed him." the secretary mentioned.

"Ok, but what happened with the others, wouldn't they have stopped fighting now that their leader died?" I asked.

"No, actually. They turned him into a martyr and he is twice as powerful as when e was alive. Good luck!" With that we were given our passes and headed got in the land cruiser that we would take toward the treetop city.

"So who is this Firebrand guy?" I asked.

"Did you not hear about him during the Omega War?" Xander questioned.

"I was a tad busy, you know, defending Almia and then escaping to train Pokemon. There aren't many newspapers in the forests, mountains, and oceans between Amia, Unova, and Hoenn." I informed.

"He, Nate, and Xander are in the same league, The Journeymen. They're, and probably for the most part The Firebrand, is the reason the world is free today." Crina added.

"Yeah, big hero. He defeated Team Plasma, which turned into Team Omega just to get back at him and anyone who sided with him. He's indirectly, and directly, a mass murderer." Nate chided.

"Nate and Cole argued a lot." Xander said. "They can't tolerate each other for very long. Not that Nate can stand anyone for too long."

"I'd like you to have my life and see if you did anything differently." Nate muttered.

"Isn't the guy's actual name Cole?" I asked.

"Yeah, Cole Culain."Xander said, "I was shocked to hear he was here. Word had it that he had gone on a quest to find some place called the Edge of the World, where Keldeo lives. Nobody has seen or heard from him since then."

"Apparently Team Magma has, but no one will any more." Nate snickered.

And so, with another sadistic comment from Nate, the cruiser became quiet. I remarked to myself the change in scenery. No longer were we in a former metropolis, but an old route. The Pokemon who lived here were few now, and those looked feral. It unnerved me to see the entirety of Routes 120 and 121 so primitive compared to only two months ago. The closer we got to the Fortree Compound of the mainland Northeastern Hoenn Confederation of Elements, the more I expected to see trees. I saw a few, but not the lush forest I remembered. Instead, It seemed like a wildfire had raged through and had made the area a barren wasteland. We heard booming in the distance that we resolved to be gunshots in the distance, which was strange, as guns had been outlawed year ago.

We drove up and a shaking man with a pistol lunged in front of us in the road. Xander slammed on the brakes, and barely missed the man. Xander rolled down the closest window, "What in the name of Arceus are you doing here!?"

"I'll have to ask you the same question. I'm supposed to take all Magma agents who come to our headquarters for interrogations or kill you. Which will it be?" Something struck me that the man did not possess enough courage to shoot, but I do not think any of us wanted to try it. In minutes, the one man had become eight, who cuffed us and took us prisoner.

About ten minutes they had separated the four of us. I was in a makeshift jail cell pacing back and forth for what felt like hours before a couple of people came in. One looked like a scientist, with thick-framed glasses and a white coat. The other reminded me of a young Lt. Surge of Kanto. He was holding a big machine.

"Ok Laten, strap him into the machine." Mr. Scientist told Little Surge.

"Sure thing, boss." Laten said as he grabbed my hands, made sure the cuffs were still tight, and pressed little wires all over my face.

"What is this!?" I asked with disgust of having electricity-filled wires all around my head.

"A lie detector, prisoner." The scientist stated, "We have already interrogated your other three friends, and we want to see if your stories all match up. Probe, help me out." He stuck a hand into his lab coat, pulled out a Pokeball, and a Ralts popped out. I could feel it gazing into my mind, even if I could not even see its eyes. Mr. Scientist also pulled out a small flashlight, and in true interrogation formalities, proceeded in shining it right into my face. Luckily, the light had seemed to have gone through a lot of use, and the bulb was not a threat in causing any blindness.

"Laten, how many times have I told you to check the flashlight's brightness before an interrogation!?"

"Uh, uh, uh, sorry boss. It won't happen again."

"That's what I remember you saying last time, and the time before that, and the time before that. You should be thankful that I am so considerate, or you would have been back in the field fighting a long time ago."

"But sir, you know how I wouldn't make it a day out there." I wanted to start laughing, seeing as Laten looked like he should be able to carry three Snorlaxes, but was scared to even go out there.

"I do, but if it happens one more time-"

"Hey, as much as I love to hear people argue and there's the fact that I have no where to go for the time being, but can we get on with this interrogation so I can get these wires off of my face?" I interrupted. The scientist looked mad at me for jumping in on their conversation, as if I could not hear them, but the younger one looked thankful for it.

"Yes, prisoner. We may begin."

The two asked me a few dozen questions, ranging from my favorite color to least favorite song that is played on the bagpipe to how I felt about the Confederation of Elements. The ones like the bagpipe question were the hardest to answer, seeing as if I lied a 'mild' electric shock would follow.

"Ok, that's it. Laten, pack up. Let's go to examine all of the notes we have of all of the prisoners."

As quickly as they had come, they were gone. I was alone, imprisoned in what could be an ally's base, hoping Nate, Crina, and Xander had said some of the things that I had, so we would not be killed as Terrorists.

Have fun with this ending for a little while. I'll hopefully be back soon for another chapter, but until then, review in a comment below!

**Blaziken10285** · 11th November 2012, 2:16 AM

Here's another chapter! Please review it below if you take the time to read it!

The Resistance

A day passed from what I guessed before any response from the rebels. All I heard from the outside world were bangs and booms, and screams. Laten and Mr. Scientist from before walked in and motioned for me to follow them.

"From the notes taken from all four interrogations, we have found that the story that you told us was completely valid. Others are bringing your friends to where we'll send you four on your first assignment. Our seven generals want to be able to use your current ability to go undercover into the enemy's base."

"Cool. So who are these seven?"

"Friends of the Firebrand. He was here for a while and began this revolt. He tried taking Maxie and Archie down, but failed. The seven are the current leaders of our militia. Ah, here we are."

The scientist opened a door, and we entered the room. Xander, Nate, and Crina were already there, accompanied by other people who looked almost exactly like the scientist that was escorting me. We sat down and an officer joined us from another door.

"Welcome to the Foretree Resistance, wimps. I'm General Perry, you're squad leader. These geeks and I will give you you're first big mission."

Xander's scientist stood up. "As you may know, the group that we're facing is a combined force of Team Aqua and Team Magma, named the Confederation of Elements. We're going to take advantage of exactly this. You see, a confederation by definition is a loose bond. This is how Aqua and Magma are working together. What we need to do is to split them off. It's just a matter of time before it happens, but if we provide the catalyst without them knowing, we'll be good and maybe gain the upper hand."

"But how will we do that with just the Team Magma uniforms?" I asked.

Crina's scientist stood up and laughed, "I'm guessing that you have not examined the uniform well. They are reversible. If worn one way you have the Team Magma jacket, but if you turn it inside-out you have the Team Aqua jacket. They have made it too easy on us. Two of you can wear the Magma and half the Aqua and stage a fight. Try to get people on your sides, as many as possible, and leave in the chaos once it unfolds."

"What about the Groudon and Kyogre that have apparently been terrorizing Hoenn?" Xander asked.

"Well," my scientist began, "we have been tracking it since they appeared. Maxie and Archie can control them using the Red and Blue Orbs. This is only limited, however, as when the two have been near the other's domain recently they have gone even more wild, trying the get to the other one. The leaders have probably seen that, and decided not to take the chance and Groudon has recently stayed far inland, dealing with the Mauville Militia, while Kyogre has been kept far from the mainland, staying close to the Battle Frontier mainly. Fortree is, fortunately relatively near the ocean."

"Ok, so can we this stupid Confederation yet?" Nate interrupted.

"I like the way you think, boy." The general said.

A day later we were riding into enemy territory again, faking that a flat tire made us late. The Fortree Base for the combined Aqua and Magma was laid out about the same way as Lilycove. Many of the famous trees had been cut down.

Everything around seemed starved of nutrients from the massive drought from a far away Groudon. It would have to be strong to feel its influence so heavily. No longer was Fortree a beacon for an earlier era with tree houses and a strong sense of unity with nature, but a polluted, dirty, grounded cargo port. The earlier residents had decided to not allow for the city to connect with the shore that was so close the the city's border on the north. Aqua and Magma had cut the trees down, and the Aqua pirate ships were in the harbor. Fighting was rampant, and so were the casualties.

The biggest difference between the Lilycove and Fortree camps were the barracks. The grunts were told to find a place to sleep, which was difficult. There seemed to be an invisible border between the two teams. Aqua had the sector closest to the water, while Magma gravitated toward the mountainous terrain of western Hoenn. We set up two camps. Nate and Crina took a tent on the Aqua side, having reversed their uniforms to sport the style of Team Aqua grunt. Xander and I stayed on the Magma area. A couple more days and it was time to begin.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT TEAM MAGMA!?" I yelled at Nate.

"YOU HEARD ME." Nate yelled back, and people began to stare.

"Can you help me pull them apart? They're bickering again about whether land or water is better." Xander asked people. They stood around us, obviously taking sides themselves. Crina, pretending to be a mute since the pass she was using was from a man, was motioning for people to do as Xander was saying.

"OBVIOUSLY WATER IS BETTER!" Nate said.

"THEN WHY DO WE LIVE ON LAND?"

"IF WATER ISN'T IMPORTANT, THEN WHY IS IT MOST OF THE PLANET?"

"YOU AND YOUR STUPID SHIPS ARE DELUSIONAL, AND KYOGRE IS WEAK COMPARED TO GROUDON!"

"BE RATIONAL. KYOGRE COULD POUND GROUDON SO HARD!"

I pretended to punch Nate in the face. All four of us had our hoods up, and Crina had rigged ours so a red liquid would spill out when did fake the fight.

A random Aqua grunt walked up, "Whoa, whoa, you didn't just knock down a comrade of THE Archie, Team Aqua's leader."

"What are you going to do about it? If it came down to Archie and Maxie, Maxie could kill that wannabe pirate with one hit." I said. The aqua major tried hitting me, I dodged, but I made sure that it triggered the red stuff. Some Magma grunts rushed to my side.

"Eh, leave him alone."

"Yeah, we'll teach you that lesson, for Maxie and Groudon!"

With that others rushed to help in the fight. I found the others, and we rushed to get away from the conflict.

**TheNorthWind** · 14th November 2012, 12:03 AM

I love the part with Nate and Dave yelling at each other. Priceless. XD

And good chapter over all.

**Blaziken10285** · 1st December 2012, 4:56 PM

I've had this written for a few days now but haven't gotten around to putting it here. Well, now I have.

Back to Lilycove

"Good work, wimps." Major Perry said. It was a week after we had restarted the fight between Team Aqua and Team Magma. The resistance militia had withdrawn almost everyone from the Confederation's base, not wanting to unify the enemy. Because they were destroying themselves, three-fourths of the resistance forces were sent to Lilycove, including our small squad.

Most of the troops were being sent to the east of Foretree. The resistance seemed to want to take Lilycove. However, when someone asked why we did not yet go West, the highest command stated that other forces were at play. Another militia had emerged from Mauville and Lavaridge.

We called ourselves the Firebrand Regiment, or the Force. Cole, the Firebrand, who had delivered the world from ruin along with the other Journeymen, had been in Foretree and began the resistance. He had left after being injured too badly in combat with Archie and Maxie. Nobody had heard from him since. His friends, headed by The Seven, lead The Force in his absence. The four of us learned this from our officer.

Nate and Xander knew the Firebrand, and were two of the Journeymen who fought with him in the Omega War. They had totally different opinions of this man.

"That coward. Running when he was defeated once? What happened, did he get a burn?" Nate said when we were in a van going to Lilycove.

"I don't think that you have anywhere to judge, Nate. Save the opinions for after we fight Archie and Maxie." Xander rebutted.

"He's no good scum. Why am I the only one that can see this fact!?"

"Scum that saved the world. Besides, I seem to remember somebody trying to buy his Charizard from him."

The arguing continued with this with Crina and I watching and listening, as this was the most fun that we could have with the realities of war ravaging our once beautiful island region.

When we arrived at Lilycove, we found a place to camp. Having already been inside the camp as an officer, we had told our commanders of the best places to launch an assault. Before that, however, we were instructed to go back into the camp. We took a couple of officers to ready and arm the prisoners so they could help.

Of course, we checked in at the secretary's office. After talking with the large secretary and leaving our friends for the prisoners' barracks, we took the opportunity to explore our former home. It was much like we had left it, but wounded grunts were everywhere. We heard many stories about Fortree, and how much of a failure that it had become for the Confederation. They had come in by boat, since the land route was occupied by the rebels. Many, seeing the Firebrand Regiment yet again right outside of the wall, were preparing the white flags, ready to surrender. They were also talking to other grunts about the legendary resistance that was preparing to take back the Lilycove fortress. These deserters, who would have been tortured had they stayed in the Confederation's base, secretly moved to the former Team Aqua base. The commanders believed that it was unlucky ever since their plans were foiled there years ago, so they did not even go in near it. There was enough space there to keep the people hidden should Team Aqua ever try annexing it again.

Everywhere we went in the camp someone was selling weapons. Even though guns had been illegal for years, they were being sold for outrageous prices, since many people wanted one to be able to fight back against the rebels. Others were selling swords and bows. These were legal and used by the Firebrand's Regiment, but due to the guns were selling cheaply and not as well. I took the opportunity to buy a set of hook swords.

Every day a new ship from Fortree would come in, telling us about the war. Then, one day, it stopped. The camp, instead of growing with the troops who had come on the boats, shrank with the news: the rebels had won, and the rest were coming to Lilycove next.

Our prisoner insiders had armed the others with our help, since we could buy the weapons. They seemed ready, and secretly took out their guards and replaced them. Slowly but surely the prisoners were taking over. Soon, all of the resistance troops seemed to show up outside, led by The Seven. They tried bartering with the Lilycove Commanders, but to no avail. Soon the battle would begin.

The four of us had our own floor in our own barracks, as the others had vanished. We used the opportunity to turn one room into a training center. Nate and I were training our Hydreigons together. Nate, being a dark type specialist, was not personable, but was a great trainer.

"Ok Dave, you and Hydra take notes on how Rapture and I do this. One of the main problems with Hydreigons are the three heads. Each one has a different idea on how things should be done. Let me show you. Hydra, attack the practice dummy." Nate instructed. The dragon roared and unleashed attacks at the dummy. The dark trainer was right, as Hydra used Dark Pulse, Flamethrower, and Dragon Pulse. None were very strong.

Nate nodded. "See? Power was sacrificed for coverage. Now watch this. Rapture, attack?" His shiny green dragon readied when one screeched. The other two growled and all of them used an extremely powerful Dragon Pulse at once.

"How did they do that?" I asked, amazed that they had attacked with such unity and precision.

"By actually communicating. Technically the power generated by my Pokemon and yours is somewhat the same, if yours was as powerful as mine, but Hydra was sloppy. Rapture made good use of all three heads, and combined his attack to make it more powerful. Teach Hydra to do this and it may actually become strong." With that Nate left with Rapture.

"Did you see that Hydra? Do you think that you can do that?" I asked. One head nodded a yes, one shook to say no, and one looked at me with a blank stare. "It looks like we still have some practice to do!"

We worked most of the night on that until Xander told us to go to bed. He stayed up the rest of the night as sentry in case the battle began. We did this so that at least someone would hear it begin if it did start at night so we would not be startled and maybe get hurt if a rebel came into our building looking for a fight.

BOOOM

That was the first thing that I heard; next thing was Xander getting Crina, Nate, and I up. The revolution for Lilycove had begun.

Please review it below and hopefully I'll have another chapter out!

**Blaziken10285** · 17th December 2012, 4:13 AM

Yes, two chapters in one month! It's actually happening again, haha. Just a little recognition before the actual new chapter. The Seven that has been mentioned in the past couple of chapters are not my original characters, but ones by Feralninja. Nate and Crina are from TheNorthWind, and Xander is by Xman96. Ok, now on to the actual chapter!

Rebellion and a Rift

The four of us stashed our grunt uniforms in our packs and rushed to join our true forces. I called out Hydra and Nightmare, jumped on Hydra's back, and levitated over to the Firebrand Regiment.

I unsheathed my hook swords and caught a couple of grunts by their hoods. They were dragged for a while, knocking their allies down as they kicked and screamed to be let go. Eventually they fell off my hooks and I snagged another unfortunate grunt. Hydra practiced what Nate told her the night before to destroy the enemy's Pokemon. Nightmare made sure that they could not escape from the dragon's wrath.

Some opponents did not want to concede to us, though. One time when Nightmare jumped to the ground to take out a Numel, but found himself face to face with a Mightyena. The dog growled at my psychic Pokemon, but when the Espeon nearly roared back, the dark type tucked his tail between his back legs, whimpered, and ran off. Meanwhile I nearly fell off of Hydra from laughing.

I looked around to see exactly as I had hoped. The resistance, with the armed prisoners, were decimating the Confederation forces. A lot of gunfire occurred, but the opponent's forces could not get a big hold on the freedom fighters. They did not believe that they could win, so they did not fight as well as they could. That may also be due to The Seven's intimidating presence.

The ones named Kim and Seithios were leading the bulk of the troops moving on land. The girl was with her Lucario and Gallade. They were being followed by troops doing long-ranged attacks. For some reason it seemed that whenever a Confederation grunt got too close to the girl, they fell over, grasping their heads as if they had a terrible headache. Seithios was with his Rhydon. They lead the ground troops to charge at the opponent. It was a great show of immense power. The Confederate grunts who challenged those rebels were mainly wearing the Magma uniform. They wielded their Camerupts and other ground or fire types. Seithios fought with an impressive-looking battle hammer. He swung it with ease, and when he moved his hands the ground seemed to move with them. It was odd how the Rhydon was able to cause such powerful fractures in the ground that swallowed the enemy up.

A cavalry group entered with the rebels too. They were known as the Rapidash Knights and headed by Lexa and Nick. The group had apparently found a whole group of Rapidash and Ponyta and gained enough trust with the group to ride them into battle. Nick had unsheathed his two swords and was hacking at the enemy. He was making it look rehearsed, theatrically thrilling to see the murder of his foes. On top of that, his swords were on fire, the orange and golden flames were none that I had ever seen come from a Rapidash before. His Charizard, Flayme, flew above. When an enemy got too close and Nick did not notice the foe, the somehow striped Charizard swooped down and dealt with the Confederation grunt. The two were in nearly perfect sync.

Lexa, who was also leading the Rapidash Knights, held hers spear in one hand and a magnificent-looking shield in the other. Around her steed were electric types, and when the summoned a huge bolt of lightning some of it always seemed to hit her weapon, and then move from the tip with shocking power.

Up above was a group who I joined. It was lead by the seemingly youngest of the Seven, Zephyr. He and his flying types made a v-shaped formation. He was on the tip, on a Staraptor. His Salamence, Skarmory, and Braviary followed behind them, occasionally taking the tip. The young bird tamer would jump from Pokemon to Pokemon when this happened. He never missed his mark, seemingly floating at some points. He ripped at whoever tried to oppose him with his metal claws and a fancy sword.

After a while the Confederation of Elements's commander sounded a retreat. They had but one option in trying to get away- the water. However, at that moment new boats entered the harbor. The fleet was following a red-haired girl holding a trident while riding on a Gyarados. She was nicknamed the Serpentess, and for a good reason. She kept people from escaping out to the sea. When people did try to swim for safety to one of the nearby islands, they were dragged down into the water by a whirlpool.

On one of the boats stood the seventh commander for the Firebrand's Regiment, Lucian. He was a blind man, but that did not seem to hinder his ability to kill his opponents. He was guided by his Absol and his shiny Umbreon. They made sure no evildoer could harm their blind friend.

Once Anna and Lucian reached the shore, the one named Nick left his regiment by flying on his Charizard and joined them. He and Anna got back-to-back with their Pokemon with them. Fire, water, and ice mixed with beautiful intensity, rarely resulting in any steam. The two master trainers seemed to work in perfect harmony, their styles coordinated well. The Aqua grunts tried sending their water Pokemon against Nick's fire types, but Anna's Pokemon blocked the aquatic attacks. The foes were then driven away by the dark types that Lucian sent to help his friends.

Nate and Crina were working in sync too. The usually very sweet girl was wreaking havoc on the grunts. Nate would comfort and defend her when she started to break down from the stress of what was going on.

The dark trainer's Hydreigon, Rapture, paired with Crina's Tropius and protected the duo from above. The others were on the ground. The opponents were trapped by Illy, Nate's Zoroark, who made tantalizing illusions. They were then dealt with by Rogue the Crawdaunt and Crina's Houndoom who attacked with a volley of dark moves. The girl's Blaziken and Swampert paired with Nate's Porygon-Z and attacked a bunch of Team Magma's fire and ground Pokemon.

I left the aerial front to work with Xander on the ground. I called back Hydra and Nightmare and began with Speedy and Electivire. He used his Heracross, Scolipede, and Rotom.

"Do you think that it's a good idea to use Speedy here?" Xander asked, probably worried about exposing the fowl's unique ability to so many. It confirmed the elite trainer's fear when it began to glow in a red light and became much faster.

"Right now, the way that I see it, is that it's better than letting the battle drag on." I reply.

Our Pokemon worked together. Speedy bolted around kicking and acrobatically hitting the enemy Pokemon. Xander's Rotom aided my Electivire by finding a hose and drenching the ground Pokemon that could have taken either of my Pokemon out. The Scolipede rolled around, leaving pools of toxic sludge in his wake and bulldozing anything that was in his way. The Heracross took many hits, and right when his opponents thought that they had won, he lashed back, making his weakness sheer power.

After a few more hours of fighting, the Confederation finally ceded defeat. The Force had prevailed!

I had joined the flying forces when it ended, and Cuddles landed on a rooftop. The city's prison camp had been reduced to rubble. The once-slaves had taken the opportunity to burn their former barracks midway through the battle. The fire had spread to most of the city, taking out most of the Confederation's remaining influence on the city.

After resting the entire next day the Seven announced that we would go West and reclaim the rest of the mainland region. It did not sound like a good plan, though. There were many islands still occupied by the enemy, including probably our greatest two possible allies: the League and, if they would accept me now that they had been enslaved, the Battle Frontier. Besides, Mandy was still held hostage there. It was my duty to her and everyone to free them. I told all of this to Nate, Crina, and Xander.

"I don't know." Said Nate, "My personal vendetta is specifically for Team Magma. I want to see them all suffer like they have made Crina and I suffer. Maxie will pay. We're going with the rest of the regiment."

Xander shook his head, "You have to think about it from a different perspective, Nate. I agree with Dave. The best plan is to go by sea. There are already other forces in the West. Out in the water, they're still captives."

"That'll make us more successful on land, then. If we join with other groups, we'll be much stronger!" Nate grinned.

"It looks like we've reached a split of opinions." Crina looked to everyone.

"Yeah, there seems to be only one thing to do now." I added. "We'll have to go our separate ways."

"Now Dave, it doesn't have to go like that either." Xander tried to reason.

"It looks like the Ranger and I finally agree on something." Nate said. "The best plan would be to split up. We'll head west and help in the revolutions there and weaken the Confederation there, while you two go by sea and save the people out there. We can meet here in one month and head to Mt. Pyre together with both of out forces."

"I'm still not completely sold on this, but it'll have to work." Xander conceded. "Until we meet again, stay safe."

The four of us shook hands and split up. Nate and Crina walked over to join the rest of the resistance force, while Xander and I found a good boat, and readied it for departure.

Don't worry, Nate and Crina will be back, but since TheNorthWind will probably eventually cover this himself, I didn't want for the entire thing to be a rehash of this from a different perspective. As always, please give some kind of review below, and I may get one more chapter in for the 2012 year!

**Blaziken10285** · 12th January 2013, 5:08 AM

Well, that 'one more chapter' did not produce in 2012, but happy (belated) 2013 everybody. And so, here is a new chapter. Enjoy!

Operation Mossdeep

The ship was named the Valiant. Xander and I had a crew of five with us. Our first stop would be to Mossdeep City, since it was a less guarded base for Team Aqua. We had so far been successful in not attracting any of the Aqua ships that patrolled the area. About three days after leaving Lilycove, we got to the shores of Mossdeep.

Our small force anchored the ship about a mile off of the shore and used our Pokemon to travel the rest of the way. The island was definitely not as protected as some of the others. We snuck into the harbor and slowly punctured a hole in each of the ships. We suppressed any grunts that were going to sound an alarm by tying them up. And placing them in the slowly sinking boats. In a nostalgic fashion, we took their uniforms and would pretend to be them. It made me wonder how Nate and Crina were faring. I looked out to the ocean, a little bit away from my allies.

Xander walked up behind me. "You nervous too?"

"Been thinking of the others. Was it a mistake to split up?"

"You know my answer that, but right now we need to be courageous and save Hoenn."

"That's the hard part. It's hard to stay brave when there's so much death and destruction everywhere. How did you deal with it in the Omega War?"

"With friends by my side. Now we're scattered around the world. Half aren't even responding to anything, Nate, well, is heartless, and the one who truly delivered us through the Omega War, Cole, somehow keeps appearing and disappearing. Who knows what he's up to."

"I almost left you three to be enslaved back in the forest. I was so close to trying to leave and let this burden fall on someone else. I'm not qualified for this. I'm not courageous enough for this." A single tear fell down my face.

"But you stayed, and besides you wouldn't have gotten away. They would have captured you and taken you to a camp. Remember this, courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear."

"Easy for you to say."

"While I'm in the exact same position that you're in? Except no, people know who I am. They expect me to be the leader here. That I can somehow do one thing and everything magically turn out ok in the end. I saw my best friend die trying to protect all of the lives from Team Magma once. Never say that this is easy for me."

"I had no idea... At least you have something to live for. You have a family. Mine shuns be for pursuing a life of being a trainer."

"You'll find something to do after this. Come work with me at my lab. I would love to study Speedy for a while."

"Maybe, but I really want to be recognized by myself. I'm really not good with teamwork. I hate it, actually."

"Ah, I understand. So you must have really hated these last few weeks, being put into a group."

"It was ok, but not my thing still. Too many differing views when I believe that mine can be done alone and just as well. But in this kind of situation, we can hang together now, or hang separately later."

Xander chuckled, "Very true. So, how about we take this island, as a team?"

"Sounds like a plan." I smiled.

We walked back to our group. They had disposed of seven grunts so everyone had a uniform. The were watching the grunts drown, which I found terrible and heartless, even if they were the enemy. There had to be a better way than that. My hook swords were concealed under my hoodie. They were definitely not the typical weapon of a Confederate grunt.

The plan, which was modeled after the success in Lilycove, had a few steps. First, we would make sure that they would not easily be able to escape. That was done. The next was to sacrifice one of our own to join the prisoners. The others would aid in the acquisition of weapons for the prisoners. Next, we would attack.

For this mission, a man named Fred was the one who joined the prisoners. Unlike Lilycove, where there were a couple hundred prisoners, the Mossdeep prison had about fifty. It was going to be an easy mission. Most of the grunts were scientists working in the Space Center. It had been turned into a small headquarters for the Confederation. I imagined that many of the scientists had signed up with the evil group for money. They payed a lot for intelligence.

With their satellites, the group could know what was happening anywhere in the world. Because of this, it was a hotspot for the highest ranking commanders to congregate to see the whole region. At that moment, we had an exceptionally exciting visitor: Maximillian VanByron, leader of Team Magma.

Xander and I had to hurry to make the opportunity count, but we did just that. We visited the armory a few times each day and got a few weapons each time. We finished on the day the man was supposed to leave. We regrouped, the seven of the original crew met in our tent quarters.

"Ok," Xander began, "we're ready to take back Mossdeep. Are the prisoners prepared?" Fred nodded. "Great! This will not be an easy task. We don't have as many trained soldiers or the numbers that we had at Lilycove, but we can still do it. We're the soldiers watching over the prisoners, so there won't be any opposition until we get to the space center."

With a little more information, we were ready to move. We quickly took out the patrol guards on the perimeter, and went into the house that had become the holdings for the prisoners' Pokeballs. After distributing the Pokemon out, we busted into the command center. The scientists looked frightened, and most surrendered without fighting. A few fought with their primarily electric types, mainly Voltorbs and Electrodes, and the former gym trainers used their psychic Pokemon to fight back.

Xander and I went on, went up some stairs and into a new room, and ran into the elite Magma Guard around Maxie. They were the strongest of all Team Magma, even more powerful than the commanders. Their primary motive was to protect Maxie.

"Ah, so the rebellions are actually getting somewhere." Maxie said, and laughed, "Too bad, for you, that it all must end tonight. Guard, deal with them." He walked through a door, and the five elite trainers sent out two Pokemon each. The room suddenly got much smaller, as about half of the Pokemon seemed to be Camerupt.

"Well, this is bad." I said.

"Very, but we have to try." Xander frowned and grabbed a few of his Pokeballs. He threw them up to reveal his Latias, Salamence, and Heatran. I did the same, calling out Hydra and Cuddles. I got my hook swords out.

One of the Elite Guard found me. He was a big man, completely toned. He carried a club that looked more like a tree trunk. Behind him was a Machamp and Camerupt. My duo backed me up, and we met our foes.

Cuddles flew up and around the Machamp. He began slicing in the air with his wings, and where he slashed a bundle of condensed, powerful, wind formed and was launched at the fighting type. The Machamp countered by summoning many tiny, sharp stones. They flew around him and blocked the air, but were also blown away.the Togekiss saw this and moved with Extreme Speed. He summoned a few of the orbs and flew quickly toward the four-armed creature. The orbs hit, and the Machamp went flying. It hit the man that Xander was losing against. The man took his former foe's weapon and went to meet a new opponent.

Hydra was also battling against a Camerupt. The big fire Pokemon shot lava from his mini volcanoes. My dragon dodged, and countered the fire with some fire himself, a huge Flamethrower. Once the majority of the flames stopped being launched, Hydra roared, and all three heads glowed with draconic energy. The light formed a sphere in the center of the heads, which floated up to become many meteors. Hydra, who was relatively in control of the meteors, took a cue from Cuddle's battle a while back and maneuvered the orbs so some would hit in the Camerupt's volcanoes. This damaging move made the fire Pokemon go berserk, and recklessly began breathing flames all over the place. Hydra, who wanted to end the battle quickly, consolidated all of the moisture from the humid island air into a stream of water that the she-dragon formed into a wave. She concentrated on the wave and hit her foe across the side. The opponent Pokemon fell over, struggled for a minute and screamed for help, but eventually gave up.

I was in the middle of my fight with the giant, buff man. He swung his club with enough force that I would probably only survive one or two hits. The man went for a higher swing, probably to completely whack my head off. I crouched down, and tried tripping him with my hook swords. I hit him with my full force, but it was no use. He was unwavering. Luckily it did still produce a wound. I found by his body language that he was about to swing the club straight down onto me. I dodged the attack and suddenly wished that I could breathe fire, control vines, use the ground, or something. I was out of luck. My Pokemon were fighting other enemies. I had to find a way to turn the tide. As I thought this, a blur went past me. When it pasted, the big man was no longer in front of me, but wedged in a computer system. Xander's Latias had saved me!

The battle was still not even close to being won. Two of the Elite Guard were still blocking the door that Maxie had gone through, and Xander, who was battling a third, looked exhausted. Suddenly, our relief arrived. Tate and Liza led a group of ten into our room. I beckoned a few to aid Xander, and the twins took some to distract the other two guards. This was the opportunity that I was looking for. I made my way to the door with Cuddles and Hydra, and went to find Maxie.

The opposite side of the door was a huge room. It was a small harbor. I did not know why the Space Center of all places had its own small dock, but it did. Maxie had a submarine there.

"HALT!" I yelled to the terrorist. "Don't get in that submarine!"

"Oh, really?" Maxie snorted, "Just because you, a simple small rioter, tell me, a powerful man who rules this region now, to do so, do you really think that I will?"

"Well..." I said with no comeback.

"Fufufu, are you the best that the grand resistance can muster now that my son is gone? People have expressed a small fear in your group, but from you it seems that I have nothing to worry about. Even the Pokemon at your side seem weak." When he said this, Hydra growled and Cuddles screamed what seemed like a threat.

"At least we have hope, and a group committed to seeing you and Archie dead."

"Then why don't you put an end to my life right now? You're still a boy; you have no idea what you have gotten yourself into. You're playing with fire, and I'm burning as hot as the volcano."

"If the Camerupts are any indication, my Pokemon and I can deal with a stupid volcano." I said snidely. "Besides, it isn't my place to kill you. My friend is going to take those honors. However, that doesn't mean that your can't leave at least a little hurt." I ran to confront him with my two swords, but he walked into his submarine pod.

"Until next time, which will not be pleasant for you." Maxie said to me from inside his pod. A timer began counting until he would be launched to his next destination, far away from Mossdeep.

"Hydra, Cuddles, help me rip this open!" We clawed and slashed at it until the timer stopped at zero. My two Pokemon had backed up, but I was too full of rage and adrenaline to calm down. When the count down ended, a blast of power blasted the pod from the harbor, and I flew across the room and crashed into a wall. Both of my hook swords flew from my hand, and as I drifted into unconsciousness, I thought that I heard a splash.

PLEASE if you have taken the time to read this, write something below. A review would be extremely helpful! And I will see everyone next time!

**Ryker** · 12th January 2013, 7:44 AM

Hey there. Just here to tell you that this is good. No mistakes yet although I hacvent read through it properly but anyhow, GL in future chapters ;-)

**Blaziken10285** · 5th March 2013, 1:22 AM

And yet again, it has taken a really long time for another chapter. Maybe sometime I'll be able to rectify that. Anyway, please read this if you have a moment, and review too!

A Fool's Venture

"Is he ever gong to wake up?" A voice in the distance said.

"Yes, we're sure of it."

"Are you positive? Couldn't he be dead?"

"Liza and I have scanned through his mind. He is in a coma, but we believe that it might be about over."

"That's exactly what you said four days ago when there was just one other person in here still injured. He's the only one left. Will he make it?"

"We're almost sure of it."

I drifted farther off again. After being knocked down in the dock, I had no idea what was going on. I was in a constant state of nightmarish sleep, but was unable to wake up. It showed horrific events happening to my family and the rest of the world's citizens.

A little while later I woke up again, with a loud groan. I had no idea how long I was out, but everyone seemed around me seemed relieved when I opened my eyes.

"Thank Arceus, you're alive!" Xander exclaimed.

"Told you so." Tate and Liza said at once.

"Ok, for the last time," Xander began, "you two don't seem to realize how weird that is. Do you two share a brain, or..."

"No, we both have our own." They cut him off together, speaking at once again.

"THEN WHY DO YOU TWO INSIST ON SPEAKING AT ONCE?"

"Why not?" They rebutted.

"Umm, not to distract the three of you, but where am I?" I asked.

"Oh, right." Tate said. "You're in..."

"Mossdeep's makeshift hospital." Liza finished. "When we found you unconscious in the small pier,"

"We brought you here." It was getting ridiculous how one would always complete the other's thought. Xander obviously felt the same. I could only imagine how it was while I was unconscious.

"How-how long ha-have I been out?"

"Oh, about a week." That meant we had only two and a half weeks until Xander and I had arranged to meet with Nate and Crina in Lilycove City.

"WHAT!?" I tried to get up, but doubled over and began coughing.

"Take it easy." Xander said as he helped me back into bed. "You were close to death when we got you here. You still need to rest before you'll be able to fight. Don't worry, though. Even though you've been down, it doesn't mean that the rest of us have taken a break. We've set Sootopolis City free, and the International Pokemon League has finally entered the war on our side. Because of that our next area to liberate will be Ever Grande Island.

"That island has all of the Elite Four, challengers to the Pokemon League Tournament, champion, and a lot of other important, powerful trainers. They'll be extremely beneficial in our mission. Plus, it is apparently one of the training grounds for the confederation grunts, with the other in Meteor Falls. It is apparently close to falling too. After that we're heading to the Battle Frontier Island to help everyone out who is there."

"Mandy!" I exclaimed, suddenly remembering how I had left her on that island, along with everyone else to fight a battle that hours before they denied would ever happen.

"Yes, she's probably still there. I was also talking about the Frontier Brains. Unlike how you said that they were prior to their downfall, I bet that they're a little more open to helping us now." Xander said.

"So how long until the Ever Grande Island invasion?" I asked.

"Two days." Tate and Liza replied.

"I'm going." I said.

"Oh, no you're not. You are still weak from a week ago! There's no possible way what physical therapy will be done in that time."

"PLEASE! There has to be some way!" I thought for a moment. "I'll ride on Cuddles! All I'll have to be able to do is sit up!"

Xander shook his head. "I understand that you want to help, but it's too risky. You're staying."

A couple of days went by, and everyone able to fight geared up. I was at that time able to use a wheelchair, and did physical therapy whenever my trainer was free. I wanted to walk. That day, everyone hopped on boats or Pokemon and made the short ride from Mossdeep to Ever Grande Island. I told Xander that I would meet him there, and he laughed, as if it was a joke. I hoped that he would enjoy the punch line where I take out a few Confederation recruits. Nobody had stayed in the pseudo-hospital, where I still was, and I planned to use this to my advantage. I had my ace still up my sleeve.

"Hey Nightmare, help me out!" I called. I threw one of my Pokeballs up, and from the blinding light came a purple cat-like creature. My Espeon, Nightmare, stood before me, and seeing me sitting jumped up and got in my lap.

"No! Get off! That's what I want you to help with. Use your psychic power to help me be able to walk."

The purple creature groaned and got up. He jumped again, but instead of getting down, he jumped on my right shoulder. He purred, and his eyes glowed in a bluish hue. With that I was forcefully stood up, but did not feel much. Only the mind-numbing pain that I had had since my encounter with Maxie.

I hobbled with the help of Nightmare to the shore in the rain of the never-ending storm that had consumed Hoenn's sea, and called out Julius. "Ok, can you take me to Ever Grande Island?"

My water Pokemon nodded. "Jelli, Jellicent!" I took that as a confirmation, and Nightmare lowered me onto the Jellicent. We traveled for about half an hour, my Espeon catching me when I almost fell. It was extremely uncomfortable, but I wanted to feel useful, so I had to be there.

After that long thirty minute span, all that separated me from the liberation was a high cliff. I pondered ways to scale it. I probably would not be able to climb, seeing as I could not walk. I also thought that I could ride Hydra or Cuddles up, but I had no way of moving onto them. I was also aware that Julius, being the Floating Pokemon, could levitate, but probably not high enough with my weight. That was when I came up with one way that might work.

"Alright, Julius, use Water Spout to propel us onto the side of the cliff!"

Julius grunted and waved his tentacles with more force under the surface of the water. The water gurgled, and Julius shot up using a spout of water. The three of us landed hard on the ground. As if I was not sore already, I was then.

Julius floated right above the ground, and Nightmare got me back on my feet. I was forced to walk for about half of a mile before finally coming seeing the trainees' camp, and the force attacking the stronghold. When I made my way to the rebellion's force, I walked around until I found Xander. When he looked up and saw me standing, he looked bewildered.

"DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO STAY IN THE HOSPITAL?" He yelled.

"Maybe, but you say a lot of things. Most of what you have said since I woke up, I have tuned out. Plus, I told you that I would see you here, and I have to keep my promise!" He did not seem amused.

"Look, it's not personal, but you can't fight. You look like you're about to pass out."

"I don't care! I didn't come here feeling like my bones are slowly imploding just to watch. I'm helping in this, whether you like it or not."

"Are you insane? This was a foolish adventure for you! One strike or diversion o your Espeon and you'll topple to the ground!"

"So I'll make sure that he isn't distracted!"

Xander shook his head. "You know as well as I do that that will be a hard task. Besides, he'll tire out eventually."

"Yeah, but the Confederation rookies seem like they're about to surrender! I've missed most of the fight. Especially since the prisoners are joining us now."

The Professor sighed. "I don't have time for this. I need to get back to the front. We will talk about this more later." With that he departed, and I was alone again. I assessed the fortress that the Confederation made. Its walls stood around the former league tournament's festival grounds. We had to make it through. We were close, but had not penetrated it yet. Wanting to help, I had to get closer to the fighting.

"Hey Cuddles, help me out!" I said. From a Pokeball appeared my trusty Togekiss. Nightmare used his Psychic powers to prop me onto the flying type's back. After that I recalled my Espeon, who looked extremely tired.

I stayed on Cuddles well, and after about a minute we were at the front lines. We dipped down to the fighting on the ground at the edge of the right flank by some bushes. I unsheathed my single hook sword and tried to knock down some Magma and Aqua rookies. It did not work like it had in Lilycove, though. After doing one successfully, I attempted to try again. My opponent's weight was more than what I could hold and stay upright, and I toppled to the ground. I rolled into the bushes before becoming unconscious.

I woke up in a room with many beds-a makeshift hospital. Xander was there, standing at the end of my bed.

"You should not have tried to have fought. I told you that. Maybe this hit on the head will make you more reasonable."

"I know, I know. I should have listened. Where am I now? How did anyone find me?"

"Cuddles found me once you fell off of him. I kept you safe until we got into the league stronghold and dashed to the small hospital. The Elite Four and Champion were all here. Needed to heal after being tortured. They are walking again now. You'll probably be fine too, if you chill out for a moment."

"So what now?"

"We'll continue island hopping and trying to avoid the monster Kyogre that is out there. Our big goal for the moment is getting to the Battle Frontier, and after that joining back with Nate and Crina. Later we'll storm Mt. Pyre as a team."

It seemed as if we did not have long until peaceful times would return. I wish that that was the case.

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