Magma and Aqua
“...and that’s when I discovered that the reason that I hadn’t seen a single thug for the past five floors was because that idiot had gone in ahead!” Saylee told them. “He was the one who’d knocked out the guard out front! He’d beaten up half the building so I wouldn’t have to!”
“Sounds scary,” Wanda gasped.
“Sounds cool!” Wally and Randall said in unison.
“Sounds sweet,” Key said, nudging Saylee. “So were you two boyfriend-girlfriend then?”
“Well, not officially...” Saylee said, twisting a lock of hair around her finger. “But it was fun, fighting together. It wasn’t like I was scared. Seriously, if you lock Carrie in a room with a hundred Rockets, it’ll only be a fair fight if you take her bone away from her.”
“I’m just relieved that there are no terrible criminals like that here,” Wanda’s father declared. Saylee and Key glanced at each other, but opted not to bring up Team Aqua. Maybe they weren’t really that big.
“How can your boyfriend stand being so far away from you?” Rusty wondered aloud, wrapping his arm around Wanda.
“We’ve both always been kinda loners,” Saylee shrugged. “We’ve been apart before. Doesn’t change the fact that we’re best friends, and it just makes us happier to see each other again, you know?”
“When are you going back home?” Key asked. “You’ve never said.”
“Haven’t decided,” Saylee said with a shrug. “Whenever. Maybe once I’ve trekked all of Hoenn. I can’t wait for Celio to get teleport connections with Kanto and Hoenn sorted. I’d love to bring some of my other Pokémon over to see this place.”
“Where are you going next?” Wanda’s mother asked. “Are you headed north?”
“I guess,” Saylee said, shrugging.
“I need another badge before I can go back and challenge Dad,” Key said. “I don’t know where to get one.”
“You could go to Lavaridge,” Wally suggested. “I’ve been reading up on all of the gyms. If you go north, and go up Mt Chimney, then you can get to Lavaridge on the other side easy!”
“There’s a cable car run up the mountain, for tourists,” his uncle added. “You can be there in a couple of days.”
“I’m all for it,” Saylee said, standing up. “Thanks for lunch. Sorry to impose on you.”
“Not at all, you got Rusty through!” Wanda’s mother insisted. “I haven’t seen Wanda so happy in a good while.”
“And you looked after Wally,” Wanda’s father added. “You’re welcome here any time!”
“I’ll maybe see you at the Pokémon League, Key,” Wally said shyly. “I’m going to get stronger, I swear!”
“I’m counting on it,” Key said, giving him a fistbump. “Somebody’s gonna have to give me an actual challenge. Later!”
“Mt Chimney, then?” Saylee said, swinging her bag back over her shoulder as they waved back at Wally’s family. “Why’s it called that, anyway?”
“Because it’s a dormant volcano,” Key said. “But it still smokes sometimes. There are scientists working nearby that have promised that they can let us know if it’s gonna blow, so nobody pays any attention to the occasional bit of smoke and ash. Any volcanoes where you live?”
“There’s the Cinnabar volcano,” Saylee said. “It went off about three years ago. It was a slow burn, so everyone got off of the island in time, but when it properly hit it was a disaster. It was out on an island, too, so, y’know, tidal waves.”
“Ohh, okay,” Key said, nodding. “Just that?”
“Yeah, there’s a mountain range between Johto and Kanto, but none of them are volcanoes,” Saylee said. “The biggest one’s Mt Silver. We call it that because it’s so tall that it’s constantly snow-capped. Some people call it the Red Mountain, too.”
“That sounds ominous,” Key said. Saylee didn’t respond, merely opened her wallet and began counting through the contents.
“We’d better hit the Mauville market and get stocked up,” she said. “Wanda’s dad said it was a couple day’s trek to Mt Chimney.”
~
“Why is it you always catch the quiet ones and the ones I catch are always trouble?” Key complained, watching the Numel that she had just caught, Nathaniel, picking on Saylee’s Nadalia.
“I have Zac,” Saylee pointed out.
“Fair enough,” Key admitted, returning Nathaniel and pressing the button that sent the pokéball into storage. “I don’t really need him on my team.”
“I’ve already got Teddy,” Saylee said, returning Nadalia and sending her away likewise. “Well, if there are Numel around here, we must be at the base of the volcano. Now we just need to find a path up it.”
Directions from a Ranger working in the area brought them to a signposted footpath up the mountain. If Saylee had found Hoenn hot before, the air around the volcano was sweltering. She untied her headscarf and started flapping at her face with it. She was seriously considering getting out Molly and asking her to produce a fine mist when Key suddenly ran forwards.
“There’s the cable car!” she said, pointing to the station. “They’re air-conditioned! Come on!”
As they got closer to the station, however, it became apparent that it was closed and guarded by a couple of men in red hoodies and black leggings.
“How are they not dead, dressed like that out here?” Saylee asked Key, before asking the men, “excuse me, can we get on the cable car?”
“Cable car’s closed, miss,” the man said gruffly. “Crater’s closed off. Go through the Fiery Path.”
“The crater’s closed?” Key complained. “Why?”
“Because it is,” the other man snarled. “Now get out of here!”
“No need for that,” Saylee huffed, turning and storming off. “What crawled up his arse and died?”
“Maybe the crater’s unstable,” Key worried, looking up at the mountain. “I’m sure we’d have heard if it was going to go off... let’s take the tunnel at a run, okay?”
“Fine by me,” Saylee agreed. “I can’t wait to get off of this overheated lump and into a nice, cool shower...”
~
“SHOWER, SHOWER, SHOWER!”
The Fallarbor Pokémon Centre seemed used to this, as the showers were clearly signposted. Saylee half considered just getting in fully dressed, as the ash saturated her clothes as well as her hair. She settled for grabbing a complimentary dressing gown with an eye to spending the evening in it.
“Oh good grief, the water’s running grey,” Key complained from the next shower stall. “It comes down so softly, you don’t realize how much you’re getting on you!”
“It’s the grass that’s a problem,” Saylee said, sluicing thick grey ash off of her legs. “Seriously, you can’t go anywhere without kicking up a flurry. Eurgh, that was so manky!”
“I guess that’s why the air over Verdanturf is so clean,” Key opined. “It all ends up here. Blech...”
The laundry service came with a small fee, but Saylee figured it was worth it, because she had no idea how to get that much ash out of her clothes on her own. While the laundry was running, Saylee decided to look up a PC with an eye to withdrawing the Skarmory she’d caught earlier. The only computer in the centre, however, was taken up by a young woman with messy brown hair, lopsided glasses and a haphazard stack of books and papers under one arm.
“Excuse me,” Saylee said, after half an hour of watching the woman type one-handedly at the computer, “but are you going to be much longer?”
“Oh, I’m sorry!” The woman gasped, so flustered that she dropped all of her papers. “Oh, darn it...”
“Careful, butterfingers,” Saylee said, helping her pick up all of her papers, making a face at the mathematical equations and computer code scrawled across most of them. “Are you a scientist?”
“Yes, sort of,” the woman said, trying to straighten her glasses and only making them squint in the other direction. “My name is Lanette. I’m the system administrator for the Hoenn PC system. I designed and built it, too.”
“You’re the admin?” Saylee said in surprise. “My name’s Saylee. I’m a friend of Bill and Celio?”
“Celio? Oh, he’s the man I’ve been exchanging letters with in Kanto!” Lanette said, setting her papers aside. “He’s helping me connect our system to the Kanto-Johto system. Are you from Kanto too, Saylee?”
“Yep,” Saylee said. “I’m investigating the systems and technologies of Hoenn, which is more developed than Kanto and Johto are at present. I’ve been sending back designs and ideas.”
“That’s quite impressive,” Lanette said. “You’re a long way from home.”
“That’s why I was hoping to hear if you’re making any progress on connecting the systems,” Saylee said earnestly. “It would make it so much easier to send things home... I can only send small things at the moment... and of course I could get my Pokémon.”
“Well, I’m afraid we’re not there yet,” Lanette admitted apologetically, “but I promise that I’m putting some real work into it. I’d better head home now... it’s nice to meet you, Saylee!” With that, she scooped up her work again and scurried off. Saylee logged onto the computer, which was running noticeably faster than most of the other Centre computers that she’d used, and withdrew Steele, whom she’d sent straight to the Centre due to the injuries that he’d sustained in their fight.
“We’ll take you out for a flight in the morning,” she promised the pokéball.
~
“Awww, that feels nice,” Steele sighed as Saylee oiled his wings.
“Try now, you should be able to get a lot more lift,” she said. He flapped his wings and flew in a wide circle around the town, landing only when he noticed that people were staring at him.
“You know a lot about Skarmory,” Key said, watching Saylee train her new acquisition.
“I caught a female named Sheska back in Kanto,” she said, tossing up rocks for Steele to Peck at. “She’s much livelier than this guy, though.” Steele ducked his head shyly and Pecked another couple of stones into dust.
“It would be nice if you could bring your other Pokémon here,” Key opined. “I’d like to meet them. They must be extremely powerful.”
“They’re survivors, all of them,” Saylee said, petting Steele. “Hmm?” A number of worried-looking people had gathered, whispering, in front of the Pokémon Centre.
“They were talking about Professor Cozmo,” Steele said. “I heard them. They said that Team Magma took him away.”
“Team Magma?” Saylee asked, looking questioningly at Key, who shrugged. “There’s two of them? Oh, this just gets better and better.”
“I’ve heard of Professor Cozmo,” Key said. “He’s famous for space research. He was involved with the Space Centre in Mossdeep at one time. They’re building a space rocket at the moment, I hear.”
“So one criminal gang went after a guy building a submarine, and another went after a guy building a rocket...” Saylee muttered, before smacking herself on the forehead. “Bugger it. I’m going to have a look.”
“Hold on,” Key protested, “I thought you were trying to avoid getting into danger?”
“Yeah, but this is how my life works, see,” Saylee sighed, returning Steele. “I’ll ask where they’ve gone, deliberately not go down that route, go somewhere else, and probably stumble into their Boss’ hideout and have to fight my way out, anyway. So I might as well just go deal with them now.” She went over to ask where Professor Cozmo had last been seen.
“Well, you’re sure as hell not going on your own!” Key called, grabbing her bag and following. “Two’s better than one, after all.”
~
“So these are Meteor Falls?” Saylee whispered as they crept through the shining caves. “Wow... there’s moon dust everywhere. Just like Mt Moon back in Kanto, at least before it caved in.”
“It’s gorgeous,” Key breathed. “Weird place to bring a kidnapping, though...”
“That meteorite has immense scientific value! Give it back!”
“Sounds like our man,” Saylee said, running towards the sound of the yelling. She nearly tripped over a sudden precipice, saved only by Key grabbing her outflung arm and digging her heels in to pull her back. “Thanks!”
“Don’t worry about it,” Key said, releasing Manami. The men fighting below had noticed them. There was a middle-aged man in a labcoat, clearly Professor Cozmo, surrounded by several men in the same thick red hoodies at the “guards” preventing anyone from entering the Mt Chimney crater. Saylee suspected that the crater was just fine, but that the men below were aiming to change that.
“Who’s there?” One of the men yelled, releasing a Poochyena. Saylee let out Molly, who always made a good team with Manami. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“No need to fight, gents,” Saylee called down. “What seems to be the problem?”
“Stupid girls like you interfering with Team Magma, that’s our problem!” The other man yelled, releasing his own Poochyena and ordering it to attack. Molly and Manami leapt forwards to fight, but before they could start the battle, the attacking Poochyena was taken down by a large, vicious Mightyena, who grabbed it by the tail and flung it into its compatriot to knock both of them out.
“Hold it right there, Team Magma! We, Team Aqua, won't allow you to get away with your misdeeds!"
“Team Aqua?” Saylee said incredulously, as three more men followed the Mightyena into the hollow with Professor Cozmo and Team Magma.
“Archie?” Key said in surprise, noting the burly Aqua leader when his Mightyena returned to his side. The Team Magma goons returned their Poochyena, stepping back from the attacking force.
“You’re too late, Aqua scum!” One of the Magma thugs crowed. “Soon, our great plan will come to fruition! You cannot stop Marc!”
“C’mon,” the other muttered. “We need to get to Mt Chimney now!” He released a Numel.
“Get it now!” Saylee ordered. Molly fired a Water Gun on the Numel, but one of the Magma thugs moved to block it while Numel began blowing out thick smoke. It filled the cave in seconds.
“Wanda, we need Gust!” Key choked, releasing her Beautifly. Saylee followed suit with William, and the two of them blew away the black smoke clogging the air. By the time the cave was clear, however, the Magma men were gone.
“Dammit! Get after them, now!” Archie ordered his men. They saluted and ran past Saylee and Key, the direction that the Magma goons had apparently gone in. Archie strode after them, stopped when he reached Saylee and Key.
“It’s you, isn’t it?” he said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “From the Oceanic Museum.”
“Key and Saylee,” Key said, indicating herself and Saylee in turn. “And you’re Archie, leader of Team Aqua. You were showing off about that last time.”
“Indeed,” Archie said, looking a touch disgruntled at the “showing off” comment. “As the head of Team Aqua, I have dedicated myself to thwarting the dangerous plans of Team Magma.”
“Why?” Saylee demanded. “Who are Team Magma?”
“Team Magma is a grave threat to us all,” Archie said. “They have committed many destructive acts in their bid to expand the land. We, Team Aqua, love the sea above all! Team Magma is our sworn enemy!"
“By “destructive acts”, you don’t include theft, assault and attempted kidnapping?” Key said acidly. Archie frowned.
“Soon you will understand why our actions are necessary evils,” he insisted. “I must go after Team Magma. Key, you ought to keep an eye out for Team Magma, too. Farewell!”
He ran off, with his Mightyena leading the way out of the cave. Key stared after him while Saylee returned her Pokémon.
“So,” Saylee said nonchalantly. “Mt Chimney?”
“Yeah,” Key agreed. “Mt Chimney.”
“Excuse me,” Professor Cozmo called plaintively, climbing the slope towards them, “but what just happened? Where are those men going with my meteorite?”
~
Saylee had prepared to have to fight her way into the cable car, but the guards from before were gone. The cars were running, but the station was unmanned. She had to send William to pull open the door of a car before it reached them, so that she and Key could jump inside when it drew level with the platform.
“You think this is going to go down like the Museum?” Key asked.
“Possibly with more fighting,” Saylee said. “Maybe more like Silph Co, only this time, unless he’s come out here without telling me, Blue won’t have taken out half the building first. Which I wouldn’t entirely put past him, but we’d better not count on it.”
“Right.” Key selected Leslie and Manami’s pokéballs. “If we’re fighting in a volcano, I’ll definitely want Manami around.”
“Good shout,” Saylee agreed, releasing Molly. “Ready to go in?”
“I’ll watch your back,” Molly promised.
“Bring it on!” Manami cheered. Saylee let out Zac as well. He and Leslie growled at the door as they approached the top.
“Ready to go?” Zac said to Leslie. She nipped him affectionately on the ear, and as soon as the door opened the two of them ran out to act as the vanguard. Molly and Manami immediately followed, Saylee and Key with them.
It was a melee. Aqua and Magma grunts were fighting everywhere. And every damn one of them was using Poochyena.
“...okay, what, is a Poochyena standard-issue when you hand in your sanity card?” Zac asked incredulously. Leslie nudged him. “Shut up.”
“Let’s just try and find that meteorite,” Saylee said, dodging around several fighting pairs and heading up the side of the crater.
“Look, there’s Archie!” Key shouted, pointing up to the rim of the crater. He was taking on three Magma thugs at once, his Mightyena fighting off three Poochyena. “Archie, what the hell’s going on?!”
“Grrr... I should’ve known you’d show up!” he shouted back as they climbed up the crater. “I want to stop that Marc, but I can’t! Not when I have my hands full here!” He pointed along the rim of the crater.
“Marc?” Key asked, climbing up the edge of the crater.
“Him, I’m guessing,” Saylee said, pointing at a figure that became apparent as they reached the rim. A tall man in red was standing over some kind of machine situated on an outcrop over the crater-
“Hooooooooooooly-” Saylee breathed, throwing up a hand over her face to shield herself from the updraft from the seething, bubbling lava below. The man in red didn’t seem to notice the heat, carefully calibrating the machine... whatever it did.”
“Are you backup?” A half-conscious man nearby groaned. “One of those Aqua freaks nearly got up here... I managed to push him back down the slope, but he beat me...”
“We’re not backup,” Key spat at him. “We’re here to stop you.”
The man frowned blearily at them. “You’re here to stop us?” He muttered. “Why... The Boss says our plan will make everyone happy, but then why do people keep getting in our way?”
“If you’re here to stop us, then I suppose that I can’t let you pass, can I?”
Another Magma grunt had appeared, but this one was also sporting a flowing black cape. He grinned cruelly at Key and Saylee. “Hehehe... you’re too late, anyway! Marc is already activating the machine! And I won’t let you stop him!” He released a Numel which began breathing hot embers at them.
“Manami!” Key called, and Manami stepped forwards, shooting a jet of bubbles at the attacker. The embers fizzled out before they reached them. “Hit it again!”
“Take this!” Manami sprayed another Bubblebeam at the Numel, knocking it down.
“Saylee, go stop that guy!” Key yelled. “I’ll handle this guy!”
“No you don’t!” The enemy yelled, reaching out to grab Saylee as she dodged past, but Leslie headbutted him on the ankle, knocking him over.
“Marc!” Saylee yelled, releasing Teddy, who leapt right over the man’s head and landed on the console of the machine, snapping at his outstretched hand. He turned to face Saylee, expression calm. He was older than Archie, probably in his forties, with a pale face and shoulder-length red hair. “What are you up to?”
He didn’t look like he was going to answer for a second, before Teddy snapped at him again. “Answer her question,” he said dangerously.
Marc sighed. "The power contained in the Meteorite...” he said, indicating the machine with a wave of his hand, inside of which the meteorite was visible, wired up to the machine. “By amplifying its power with this machine, Mt. Chimney's volcanic activity will instantly intensify... Its energy will grow deep inside the crater and... Fufufu..." His calm face finally slipped as he laughed, a deep, unhinged giggle as a dark smile cracked across his face.
“Or you hand it over now,” Saylee offered, “and don’t blow anything up. Not blowing things up sounds saner all around, doesn’t it?”
"Hmph,” Marc sniffed, looking at her in a calculating fashion. “I heard Archie bemoaning a child who's been meddling with Team Aqua's affairs. It must be you he meant. Humph! So you're thinking of interfering with us, Team Magma?"
“No, I’m planning on it,” Saylee said.
"Now you listen,” Marc said sharply. “Long ago, living things used the land to live and grow. That is why land is all important! It is the cradle of all! That is why Team Magma is dedicated to the expansion of the land mass. It is for further advancement of humankind and Pokémon! And for that, we need the power of what sleeps within this mountain..."
Saylee rolled her eyes. “Yawn,” she droned. “Are we done with the sanctimonious speeches? Nothing you can say will convince me that blowing up this mountain will be a fun plan, so unless you hand over the meteorite right now, consider yourself claimed, pal.”
"...No matter,” Marc sighed, releasing his Mightyena. “I'll teach you the consequences of meddling in our grand design! GET HER!"
“Bring it on! Double Kick!” Saylee ordered. Teddy leapt back over Marc’s head and struck down the Mightyena just as it leapt at Saylee. “Again! Take it down!”
“Stay down, boy,” Teddy said, knocking the opposing Mightyena into the air with one kick and smashing it back into the ground with the second. It whimpered and passed out.
“Cameron! I need you!” Marc called imperiously, releasing a Camerupt.
“Molly, this one’s on you!” Saylee said. “Teddy, get out of the way!” Teddy leapt back onto the console as Molly moved forwards, taking down Cameron with a Bubblebeam before Marc even got to give him any commands.
“Dammit! Croy!” he yelled, releasing a Zubat.
“Rock Tomb, Teddy!” Saylee called. Teddy leapt down from the machine, wrenching up a boulder and flinging it at Croy. Croy dodged the first one, but not the next two, and ended up pinned to the ground by his wings.
“What?!” Marc roared angrily. “I, Marc, was caught off guard?”
“You just didn’t know who you were dealing with,” Saylee said, stepping forward. Zac wound around her ankles, snarling, and Molly began to stalk towards Marc. “Give. Me. The Meteorite.”
“...Enough,” Marc said, stepping away from the machine. “I will back off this time. But don’t think this is the last you’ve seen of Team Magma. Fufufu...” There it was again; that creepy, grating cackle. “Even without the Meteorite... if we obtain the Orb... Fufufu...”
“What are you-” Saylee began, but Marc suddenly pushed past her, running down the slope.
“Kalle, we’re going! Move out!” He yelled. Saylee looked down to see the cloaked goon that Key had been fighting pull himself up from an apparently prone position and chase after his leader. Key must have beaten him, but where was she...
Saylee couldn’t help a slightly bemused smirk when she saw Key arguing with Archie, who had somehow failed to notice his self-professed mortal enemy running away. Saylee decided to give them a few minutes and turned to examine the machine’s console.
“Do you know how to turn it off?” Teddy asked. Saylee nodded.
“I’ll just use an old trick that Lance taught me,” she said, looking down at Zac. “Cut it, will you?”
“On it,” Zac agreed, slashing into the machine with his long, sharp claws. The machine sparked a few times, gave a high-pitched whine, and then all of the lights blinked off, as well as a couple of the wires attached to the Meteorite. Saylee pulled the rest off and pocketed the Meteorite. It was quite small, and a little warm.
“Turns out he was going to set off the volcano to make more land,” Saylee said nonchalantly as she approached Key and Archie. “Which might have made something resembling sense in an ocean-island volcano like Cinnabar, but a landlocked volcano? In the middle of a populated area? Who dropped him on his head when he was wee?”
“I clearly haven’t managed to beat his head in enough times,” Archie growled, clenching his fists, before turning back to Key. “Don’t you see? They have to be stopped, at all costs!”
"He's not the only one that needs stopping, from what I've seen so far," Key said, crossing her arms stubbornly. Archie looked crestfallen at his inability to convince her, slumping visibly.
“One day, you will see,” he said, turning and heading down the slope. “AQUA! We’re moving out! We’ve got to find that scum Marc!”