"Come on, Milotic. We need to reach that cavern." I say determindly. Right now I am riding on Milotic's back towards Route 128 where that beam of light appeared only ten minutes ago. Paul is right behind me on his Swampert.
"I'm trying my best, Dawn." Milotic says, pushing through the water with amazing power. Chatot growls in agreement as the wind pushes through his feathers.
"Can't we slow down a bit? My feathers are all messed up." he complains, picking at a feather on his shoulder. I scowl at him and continue my course.
"No. What's more important, your feathers or the lives of millions of people?" I snap back, glaring at him. He cocks his head for a few minutes before giving me his answer.
"Is that a trick question?" he asks, smirking at me. I frown at him and smack his head lightly before concentrating my attention back to the water. Chatot shuts up after that, but continues to mumble under his breath. A small ring of land appears in my vision and I quickly direct Milotic towards it.
"Here we are." I say, leaping off of Milotic's back and onto the soft, brown sand. I turn around and quickly return Chatot before he has the chance to object. I don't want him complaining about wet feathers. I glance down at the circle of water before me as Paul pulls up next to me. He looks at the water and gestures his Swampert over, staying silent the whole time. I do the same with Milotic and grab the scuba gear Steven gave me. I fit it over my mouth and test the breathing to make sure it works properly. Without wating for Paul I dive into the water with Milotic close behind. Milotic swims down to me and I grab onto her back, letting her guide me through the water. A splash echoes behind me, indicating that Paul has submerged.
We swim through the water, looking for another entrance in the sea caverns. A cave makes its appearance at the edge of my vision and I quickly pull Milotic to a stop. She spots it too and races towards it with Paul following our trail. We enter and glance up to see a small patch of light in the darkness. I nod and swim up towards it, finally emerging from the dark water. The cavern is small, but there is an exit above the water. Docked next to it is the submarine which was stolen from Slateport City. It is now painted red and black and has some slight modifications to it.
I thank Milotic and return her before climbing out of the water onto the rocky platform. Paul does the same with his Swampert and climbs up next to me. I tear off the gear, shoving it in my bag and take out Chatot's pokeball. I release him and he growls at me menacingly. I sigh and shake my head, pointing at the water. He understands and nods his head before settling himself on my shoulder.
"What's the plan?" Paul asks as I begin walking down the tunnel. I glance back at him and smile sheepishly.
"Thought you had one." I reply, scratching the back of my head nervously. He sighs and continues walking. I catch up to him and walk beside him.
"I was just going to wing it." I explain, shoving my hands in the pockets of my black sweatshirt. He smirks slightly and shakes his head.
"That's going to fail." he says, turning a corner. I frown and fold my arms across my chest, following him around.
"How do you know that?" I ask, glaring at him. He chuckles softly, but doesn't look at me.
"Remember what happened last time?" he reminds me, increasing his pace slightly. I freeze in place for a second, but quickly regain my composure. Oh yeah. That plan to infiltrate Team Magma's base. That totally succeeded. I slump my shoulders in defeat and follow him down the path with Chatot silently laughing the whole time.
We continue navigating our way through the corridors until we come across an entrance to another cavern. Voices flow out of the hole and I recognize one as being Maxie's. Chatot growls angrily and Paul just scowls at the entrance. I shrug my shoulders and stroll though the entrance. I stop immediately, causing Paul to bump into my back. Ahead of me is a huge cavern and in the center is a pool of boiling lava. Groudon sits in the pool, slumbering peacefully. The rocky path spreads out and creates a little ledge in front of the sleeping beast. On this ledge are Maxie and Archie. But they're not alone. Shouting at them in anger is none other than May with Drew trying to hold her back.
I gape at them and turn towards Paul. He just furrows his eyebrows in concentration and I quickly spin back around. Maxie glances up and spots me in the entrance. He smirks at me and advances a few steps.
"Well look who we have here." he says, adjusting his glasses slightly. "If it isn't Dawn and Paul." I growl and clench my fists, hatred flowing through my body. May stops fighting and whirls around to face me along with Drew. She glares at Paul, but her angry expression changes the moment she sees me standing next to him. Her eyes widen in shock and she stumbles back, falling into Drew. He also stares at me in surprise, but May's reaction is much more intense.
"D-dawn?" she studders, her eyes filling with tears. She sways a little on her feet and Drew has to hold her shoulders to keep her from falling down. She shakes her head slowly in disbelief.
"It can't be. I thought you were dead." she mumbles, still recovering from her shock. I give her a small smile and nod.
"Trust me, May. I'm still here." I say soothingly. Drew glances at Paul for confirmation and sees that Paul is completely serious. He turns back to May and rubs her shoulders.
"It really is her, April. She isn't dead, she's just been gone." he whispers comfortingly. May glares at him for not saying her name before turning her attention back to me. Her eyes fill with anger and sadness as she approaches me.
"Why didn't you tell me you were alive? Why didn't you tell anyone?" she shouts angrilly. I flinch slightly and stare at the ground, guilt taking over my body.
"I'm so sorry, May, but there is a peferctly good reason why I didn't tell you. I whisper softly. May starts crying silently and continues her rant.
"What is the reason? Tell me why you never told your friends, the people that care for you." My head snaps up at that statement and I snarl at May.
"I will tell you eventually, but now is not the time." I reply angrily. Maxie grins evilly and laughs.
"Looks like we have a happy, little reunion going on here. Excuse me for my interruption though, but I have a Groudon to awaken." he smirks, turning around to face the lava. Archie scowls and shakes his head.
"Don't you know what will happen when he wakes? He is going to end this world and there will be nothing you can do about. Get that through your thick head, Maxie. This is a bad idea." he explains, trying his best to convince Maxie that what he is doing is wrong. Maxie just scowls at him and pushes him aside.
"No. What I am doing is creating a new future for humanity, one where we can thrive." he laughs menacingly. I spin around, all my anger and hatred returning in one single moment.
"You're wrong, Maxie! What you are about to do is nothing like what you dreamed about! You are about to seal humanity's end, not create a better future!" I shout, advancing towards him. Paul grabs my arm, but I shake him off and continue advancing on Maxie. Chatot looks taken aback by my sudden explosion and glides back to Paul. Maxie frowns at me before smirking.
"And what are you going to do? If I remember correctly your last efforts to defeat us ended up with you getting captured." he says triumphantly. I snarl, memories of that week flooding back into my head.
"Yeah, and you know what happened? Those experiments made me stronger than before. Because of you my powers have increased and not even you can stand up to it." I snap at him, my voice dripping with venom. He scowls at me.
"Then why don't we finish our battle? We never had the chance at Mt. Chimney or Mt. Pyre, so why don't we give it everything we have. If I win I will give you the red orb and turn myself in. If I win I get to take you back to the lab." he proposes, pulling out a pokeball. I reach for my belt, but Paul pulls me back. I give him a death-glare and struggle to get out of his grip. He tightens his hold on me and pulls me up to look at him.
"You don't have to do this, Dawn. What happens if you get captured again? You don't know what he's capable of." he explains. I growl and free myself from his hold.
"I have to do this, Paul. He tortured me to the point of death, something my father never did. If I don't finish this now humanity will be doomed and this man will walk free. I'm not about to let that happen." I retort angrily. Paul scowls and glare at me through his purple bangs.
"I will not let you do this, Dawn." he growls determindly, reaching out to grab me again. I slap his hand away, hatred clouding my mind and senses.
"Well too late, Paul. I'm going to do this and you can't do anything about it. I don't need someone protecting me every moment of my life. I survived for five years without it and I did just fine." I spat at him. May cowers behind Drew, scared of this new form of me. Paul finally snaps and steps away from me.
"Guess you never needed me then. I'll just let you through your life away and when you need someone to be there for you, there will be no-one to help you." he says darkly, turning back to May and Drew. Chatot looks at me worringly and glides over to me to sit on my shoulder.
"Fine!" I exclaim. I whirl around to face Maxie and grab one of my pokeballs. Maxie smirks and holds out his own pokeball.
"Let's battle." I growl.
Finally another update! What do you guys think about adding May and Drew into the picture? Do you think May's reaction was over or under exaggerated, cause I have no idea. Tell me what you think! BTW I'm think of posting new updates to All Alone every weekend, so I'll try to keep up. Thanks for reading and following! :)