An Aevium Adventure

Chapter 8: Howdy! East Gearen!

I woke up breathing heavily.
I just had the strangest dream. There was a girl named Maria-
No, I was the girl, I saw it all from the girls point of view.
But, how could that be? 
Anyways, I- no, the girl was told a story about a Pangoro and Zorua. I couldn't remember the details after that but cut forward and the girl was in some kind of dungeon. From here I could remember things clearly. There was a altar in front of the girl and she was screaming at someone I cant remember but after that she was on the altar herself begging someone to stop something.
And then there was a flash of light followed by darkness. And then I woke up.

"Man, that sure was a crazy dream," I told myself. But something was bugging me, how could my mind conjure something this crazy? That sure was strange.

Some time after I was lost in my thoughts, I remembered last night.
That's right! S.S. Oceana was attacked! But where was I?
Slowly, I took in my surroundings. I was sitting in a chair, with my  jacket, wallet, watch and pokeballs on a table beside me. And there was yacht in front of me. I realised that i was in a boathouse. I grabbed my stuff and and as I was putting on my jacket, I remembered the pokeball mum gave me, the pokemon probably escaped from the ball and was living at the sea.
That's kinda sad, I didn't even see what kind of a pokemon it was.

At that moment a woman with flaming red hair came in the door. She looked vaguely familiar, as if I had seen her before. But where?
"Oh good, you're awake, I was starting to get worried," she said.
Now I remember! She was the one who who sent that Talonflame to rescue me.
"Are you the one who sent that Talonflame to save me?" I asked. 
"Yes, my name is Tesla, member of the Aevium Elite Eight and fire type user," she said.
"How long have I been out for?" I asked.
"All night," she said. "You fainted as soon as Talonflame landed so I brought you to this boathouse. Oh, by the way, are you hungry? Here, I brought you some food in case you wanted some."
She held out a paper wrapped package. I opened it and saw a few sandwiches. 
"Thanks," I said. 
"No problem" She smiled.
"So, what happened?" she asked as i was eating.
"I dunno exactly, I said slowly. "We were sitting down to our End of Voyage banquet when some group with large X's across their uniform detonated a bomb on the ship which started to slowly sink it. Turns out, they wanted my mother and wanted to leave no witnesses behind. I got away with help from my pokemon but I do't know what happened to the others..." I trailed off.

I thought about the others. What happened to them? Were they... dead?
"Hey Anthony," Tesla said, "I am sure your mother and the other passengers are fine. They probably are in the custody of Team Xen."
"Who're Team Xen?" I asked curiously.
"What? You don't know about Team Xen? They are a criminal organisation that pretty much no one knows about. They're usually all bark and no bite though, so this is confusing to me..."

A criminal organisation that no one knows about?
That's ... unheard of.
"Hey Anthony, what did you and your mother come to Aevium for?" she asked.
"Uh... You see, I tried taking on the Unova Pokemon League but I lost, so I came to Aevium for a fresh start, especially since I learnt that it has 18 Gyms and a Elite Eight," I explained.

"Huh, taking on the league eh? Well then maybe you could face me in a battle one day." she said.
"What d'you mean?" I asked curious.
"Oh, I am a member of the Elite Eight, a Fire type user," she explained.
"I see," I said. "Well in that case I'll certainly fight you someday."

"What d'you plan on doing now?" she asked.
I pondered on the question. I had come to Aevium to challenge the League. But I also had to search for my mother. And my team wasn't exactly in the most tip-top shape. Did that girl know that it would happen? Did she take devolve, or whatever my team for this reason?
After thinking for a few minutes, I decided to challenge the League. By becoming stronger I could also search for my mother.