"Mom?"
A silence followed thereafter. Both stood stunned, shocked to see each other in a place like this. But, before Lucas could say another word, his mother rushed him with a hug,
"Oh Arceus! What are you doing here? Are you okay? Did these people hurt you?", she asked, glaring at Hugo and Jerry from across the room.
"Mom. I'm fine, I'm fine."
"Then why are you here? You're not part of this whole mess with this criminal organization, right?"
"Well, he's fought them before.", Seijo states, his mom's eyes widening. She looked at Seijo for a second, then back to Lucas, his eyes averted not to meet the gaze of his mother's eyes. That was when Seijo understood, "You haven't told her about Team Storm, have you?"
The whole room went silent, no one saying a single word. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. His mom took a breath and asked as calmly as possible,
"Do you have something you need to tell me?"
Lucas couldn't respond. He didn't seem to find the words. Maybe he was scared. Nervous. So, a friend came to his aid first,
"We first met Team Storm when we were on Route 101.", Ellie started, "They captured a whole family of Zorua, and we only managed to save one of them. They're probably suffering out there, stranded from the Zorua we kept."
"Then, we encountered them again.", continued Seijo, "They broke into my gym, leaving a wrecked heap in their wake. They took all of the Pokemon entrusted to me by an old friend. I was left without a job, and without almost all the Pokemon I'd spent years with."
"And, Meteor Falls.", Lucas finally began to speak, meeting his mom's eyes.
"I thought you told me you were past Meteor Falls!"
"I'm sorry Mom. But, after having to fight through so many grunts looking to kill, helping people escape from death. Then, what happened with the meteorite. Seeing Ellie poisoned..."
His mom gazed upon Ellie for a second, noting her uncomfortable and saddened expression before a comforting hand rested on her shoulder from Seijo.
"Then, the building collapsed. All those people who I'd fought against. Gone. After everything, I just didn't want to talk about it. It's painful now. And, I knew that if you saw how much we'd gotten involved in, you'd send me home for my safety. And, I didn't want that. So, I didn't tell you. I'm sorry."
"That's how you feel?", his mom brushed away Lucas' tears, comforting her child with another hug, "You can tell me anything, you know. And, now that I've heard it, I'm not mad. I'm proud. My boy, fighting through everything, getting up even when the world is determined to beat him down. But, you don't have to do it alone. You have your friends alongside you, and you're growing up. But, I'm still your mom. And, I want you to be able to talk to me."
"So, what happens now then?"
"We finish Team Storm. Or, at least hurt them. I don't want you getting hurt any longer. And, you all have your reasons for fighting. As do I. So, I'll give you my blessing to go along with this plan. And, you can continue your adventure, just taking a little bit more caution not to run into too much trouble."
"Thank you, Mom.", he said as they hugged even tighter.
"No problem, sweetie. Just know, you're always welcome home, if you ever wanna take a break from everything. So, explain to me how this break in will work."
"The kids, Ellie, Alex and Lucas, will be sneaking in to try and free all the Pokemon without alerting any attention to themselves, so they don't get hurt in any big fights. The kids will use the vents while the adults try and bruteforce through as many grunts and admins as possible to create an opening.", Bolt explained.
"We'll also be able to handle any threats in our way!", Alex exclaimed with passion, while Ellie added, "And protect each other from harm."
Suddenly, Lucas' mom noticed who she was talking to, looking at Ellie with her face brightening up,
"Oh, you must be the girl Lucas has been telling me so much about! Nice to meet you!"
"He's been telling you...a lot about me?", Ellie asked, half surprised that she was notable enough to be known by name and half flustered. Lucas' face also glowed a bright red, and before another word could escape his mom's mouth, he quickly changed the subject,
"And, I've told you about Seijo before, haven't I?"
"Oh yes!", she said turning to Seijo, "You're the gym leader travelling with these two. I trust you're trying to keep them out of danger."
"I try my best. Nice to meet you."
"Alright, enough with the meet and greet.", Bolt interrupted, "We have a job to do. Gotta wait for everyone to show up."
And, slowly, the other trainers began to pour through the door. Brendan and May showed up first, greeting Ellie warmly, so glad to see her again after so much time away from each other. Then, came Eryl and Alburz, both talking and chatting, then greeting Seijo, glad to see all of them together after so long. Somehow, they had become involved with this whole thing. As soon as Brendan and May mentioned it to Eryl, she instantly joined in with Alburz being contacted shortly after, and both were eager to deliver a little more revenge for Meteor Falls. And, Eryl wanted to try to get some more information about what they were using the meteorite for. Although she was closer to discovering what it specifically was, she wasn't quite there yet. But, she'd be there soon. She had plenty of time, after all. The other three gym leaders also began to show up. First Flannery, then Roxanne, then finally a gym leader neither Ellie nor Lucas had seen before, Brawly.
"Is that everyone?", Roxanne asked as Brawly stepped into the room with a bright smile on his face, looking at Bolt who gave her a thumbs up. She stood up from the desk and chair, going to the front of the group where Hugo and Jerry were making the final touches on the diagram of the hideout. They stood aside, allowing Bolt to take centre stage.
"Alright, I want everyone's full attention, please! This extremely important operation could potentially help protect Hoenn from a national threat that only seems to grow stronger by the day, so everyone needs to pay attention. No doubt, many of you have heard about Team Storm, the recent new criminal organisation that seems to be made up of former Team Aqua and Magma members, unified in another common goal. We've recently discovered the location of one of their hideouts, which could be used to build up some sort of secret weapon or even worse. But, we definitely know that there are stolen Pokemon there that we can reclaim and give back to their trainers. So, we must execute this operation correctly."
"There will be two teams. The Light Brigade and the Heavy Brigade. The Light Brigade, consisting of Lucas, Ellie and Alex, will focus on freeing the captured Pokemon in the facility. They will move around through the vents that run across the facility, avoiding combat as much as possible while scouting out for the room where the Pokemon will be held. The rest of us are in the Heavy Brigade. Our objective is to cover for the Light Brigade by bulldozing through with our collective strength while capturing and arresting as many grunts and admins as possible. So, pick your strongest and most offensive teams cause we need to do some damage here. Any questions?"
A silence followed shortly thereafter. Bolt smiled, pleased at her message being received better than she thought it would've.
"Alright then. Meet up here tomorrow and we will set off for Petalburg as soon as everyone is available. You are all dismissed. Except for the Light Brigade. I need to talk to you for just a moment longer."
She looked at all three of them for a second, and brought out three Pokeballs, handing one out to each of them.
"Even though I'm a gym leader, my skills for this operation are suited elsewhere. So, I'm trusting you three with a Pokemon each."
"So, what will you be doing to help?", asked Ellie and Bolt responded confidently,
"I'll be helping you guys out through the power of technology. I'll be able to access a lot of the electronics in the place, so I'll be able to open and unlock doors, hack certain areas, that sort of thing. Now, go get some sleep. You'll need it for tomorrow."
The three nodded and then left the room, where Ellie and Lucas found their parents waiting for them. Alex quickly walked away, his hands in his pockets and a reserved smile on his face. He released Gible from its Pokeball and walked alongside it to the Pokemon Centre to get some rest. Ellie walked hand in hand with both Brendan and May, happily strolling along like she was just a little kid, betraying her maturity for just a second to live more at the moment. Lucas found his mother waiting for him by the door.
"You know, you didn't have to wait for me."
"I just wanna talk to my son after so long! Is that a crime?"
"No, honestly, I'm glad you stuck around. I have quite a lot to tell you, about everything."
"Tell me all about it."
They walked around Mauville for a while. She saw her young son sprout to life again, telling passionate stories of his adventures so far. Just as he would when he was younger. He looks so happy and bright, it spread to her as well.
They were happy.
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"This way, everyone!", Bolt cried leading the team forward through the lush greenery of Petalburg Forest. They were only a little while off their end destination now. But, as the group took one step closer, a sudden rumbling burst through the ground. Then, the sound of monstrous and heavy footsteps thundered towards them. Then, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, a giant Slaking appeared right in front of them, causing the entire group to quickly draw their Pokeballs, on guard and ready to fight. Except, for Lucas, Seijo and Ellie. All three of them noticed a shadowy figure sitting atop the Slaking, who cried out,
"You weird thieves better leave this forest or else-"
Suddenly, the kid's rage-filled and animated movements stopped, and he seemed to freeze for a second. He patted Slaking lightly on the head, and the Pokemon let him down onto the ground. Then, the sun shone on his face and revealed his identity to the three.
"Night!"
"Friends! Glad to see you!", Night exclaimed, hugging Lucas and then shaking hands with both Ellie and Seijo, catching the rest of the group completely off guard.
"You guys know each other?", Roxanne asked and Night nodded.
"Yeah, we do! Sorry for the scare, by the way, I mistook you guys for some thieves that have been bothering the forest for far too long."
"Sound like the same people that we're after.", Lucas responded, "Did they by any chance have an S on their uniform?"
"Yeah, they were dressed super weirdly. And, they've been popping up pretty frequently."
"Sounds like our intel was correct then. They must be somewhere around here.", Bolt said, looking once again at her tracker. It caught Night's attention, and he immediately asked,
"So, these thieves? They've been underneath my home this entire time?"
"This entire time, yes."
"Well then, I wanna help with whatever you're doing to try and get rid of them! They've been disrupting this place for too long, and I want to do anything to get them out of my home!"
"Do you think you'll be able to fight your way through the hideout with us?", Roxanne asked.
"Hehe. Trust me."
Suddenly, it seemed the entirety of the forest came alive behind him, Pokemon big and small, wide and tall, of all different types raring and ready to fight.
"You'll find I'm in no short supply of strength."
"Point taken. Alright kid, you can join us.", Roxanne said and Night excitedly hopped back onto Slaking's head,
"Thank you! I won't let you down, and that's a promise for you and the forest!"
Now, their group of people had turned into an army of both people and Pokemon. The entire forest had united to take down this group that had been harassing them for so long, following after Bolt's directions cast them deeper into the forest. They saw a flat patch of land, with no trees or shrubbery in sight.
"Alright, it says we're here.", Bolt called out as they all stood atop the circle of grass and dirt, a perfect spot for some sort of campsite. But, underneath, was the hideout of an evil empire.
"Alright Onix, I choose you!", Roxanne shouted as Onix roared, appearing before the group from a Pokeball, "Alright, I want you to try and dig through for any way into the hideout."
Onix nodded and immediately dug its head into the ground, quickly burying through the dirt and stone, eventually hitting its head against a metal surface. The ceiling of the hideout is what it appeared to be. Onix quickly skirted around the edge of the ceiling, looking for a spot to the side of the ceiling. Eventually, Onix dug off into the side of the hideout, finding a small space caught between a wall of dirt to hide the hideout's existence and a giant industrial metal door. Onix slinked back up to the surface, where it alerted Roxanne that it had found something. They all began to follow down through the dirt tunnel, using Onix as a ladder to get down to be on an even standing on the ground floor of the hideout. As soon as everyone was down, Roxanne returned Onix to its Pokeball,
"Thank you. Be on guard, battle could strike at any moment."
Meanwhile, Bolt was digging around the exterior of the door, finding a ventilation system with a control panel sitting to the side of the vent. Bolt unscrewed the nuts and bolts from the small trapdoor on the vent, then began to peel back the mechanics of the control panel. Pulling out a few tools, Bolt began rewiring the circuitry so it could connect to her phone.
"Alright, I should be able to activate the door from here. But, once it's open, an alarm will likely be set off and alert the people that we're here. So, we need the kids to get a little more ground before we open the door.", Bolt announced, walking over to them and equipping them each with a Pokeball-styled smartwatch, "I'll be able to communicate to you through these. They also have a mini-map and trackers so if you ever get split up you can find each other.
"I also have a Pokemon for you, Lucas.", his mother chimed in suddenly, offering a worn Love Ball to Lucas, "It's not much of a fighter but it'll come in really handy for protecting and healing your other Pokemon."
"Thanks, Mom. I think we're ready then.", Lucas said, giving one final hug goodbye to his mom, "I'll see you on the other side."
Ellie gave the same to Brendan and May, while Alex stood with a smile on his face, watching and waiting. Then, once the goodbyes were finally over, the three stood at the vent, fitting in just nicely. Alex went first, followed by Lucas, with Ellie caught right at the back. Slowly, the group began to crawl through the metal vents, finding themselves inside and being able to look through at small parts of the hideout, finding many grunts on guard with Pokeballs in hand. But, it seemed that none of them were keen to notice them sneaking their way through. It seemed like smooth sailing for a while, with all of them moving through at a great pace. Then, a voice came through on their watch,
"Alright, you guys seem to be a decent start ahead. Are we ready to launch the attack?", Bolt asked, and Lucas gave her the go to launch the attack. Instantly, red lights began to flare across the hideout, alarms blaring as they heard the shouts of people and the cries of Pokemon as battles kicked off. But, nothing had seemed to kick off in the vents yet. So, they kept on trudging forwards. Bolt's voice appeared over their watches again,
"Alright, the attack's started already. How --- you -----"
"Uh, you're breaking up Bolt.", Alex said, stopping in the vents, but then suddenly being caught off guard by another voice appearing over their watches. A more feminine, yet still quite robotic voice.
"No, she's not. She's being...disrupted. She should've really installed better security on your watches. Otherwise, I would've had no clue you were crawling through the vents!"
Instantly, the group ground to a halt. They'd been figured out so quickly. Ellie's anxiety instantly kicked in. Lucas looked at either side of the vent, trying to see if anyone was coming their way as Alex screamed at the watch,
"Who are you and what do you want with us?"
"It doesn't matter who I am. And, for the latter question? I want unpredictable variables messing with our plans to be...deleted."
Suddenly, from behind, a valley of purple gas began to spread through the vents. Ellie turned around in horror, her body freezing. She inhaled and took in some of the gas. Lucas just managed to cover his mouth in time, while Alex quickly grabbed a Pokeball,
"Gible, Rock Smash!"
Gible popped from the Pokeball and instantly its fist pummelled into the bottom of the vent. A mighty boom echoed through the vents, as the metal folded out, and the three dropped deep below, into the thick of the hideout...
Notes:
Hey everyone, thanks for reading. So, sorry for updating really late at night. Truth is...I don't have an excuse and I was lazy. My bad. Oh well, it doesn't matter because I'm still technically updating ahead of time by a week, so that makes up for it, right? But, there are only a couple things I have to say. Firstly, Chapter 80 is 42 pages long and almost 15,000 words. And, I'm not done. So, either I split it up into a lot of different chapters and make it into a long-running arc of chapters, or I will just release it all at once like a sort of movie-length chapter then take a break afterwards because of the length of the chapter. I suppose it might matter when I finally finish it and get a big picture of the scope of the full chapter. Then, I'll make a decision. Or, you guys could decide. It doesn't really matter to me, I suppose, either way, I get a lot of work done.
And, also, I'll be going to London for the first time in about two days for a small little vacation. So, I'll probably be able to get a bit of writing done while I'm over there in the off time I have between going to places. So, maybe I'll come back next week with a finished Chapter 80 (I'll probably reveal the name when it is fully finished as well, who knows?) Anyways, that's all I have to say, I'm going to bed. Cya.