Flood Tide, Part 1 of the Third War of Land & Sea Trilogy

A Pokémon tale by Legend 22

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, nor do I own the names of any of the places
mentioned.

Chapter Two: The Tide Rises

    “Get out!” ordered Magma Admiral Admin Jeff Harland.  The unfortunate grunt,
who had brought him his breakfast, hastened to obey but ran into the wall without
looking where he was going, spilling the contents of the tray onto the carpet.
    The previous day had not gone well.  An emergency session of TAMN, or the
Team Aqua Monitoring Network, met in the War Room to discuss methods of counter-
attack.  Sadly, most outcomes of a head-on conflict against the Aqua invasion
resulted in the complete decimation of Team Magma’s forces.
    To add further problems to the crisis, the relations between Team Magma & 
the Hoenn League were strained.  The Second War of Land & Sea had left division
between the two organizations, costing Team Magma valuable support in the League.
Now, in the time when both were threatened, they refused to cooperate.
    'In fact, the Hoenn League probably believes that we are a cause of this!' 
Harland thought bitterly, holding his head in his hands.
    “Admiral, sir?”
    Harland looked up to see his secretary, Sub-Admin Gwen Bardo, standing in the
doorway.
    “Leader Moxie orders you to come to her office immediately,” she continued.
    “Very well,” he sighed, getting up to follow Gwen down the hall.
    The hall was painted Magma-red.  Every once & a while, large boulders would
protrude from the wall.  Some walls were replaced completely with the outside
earth.  Moxie’s own personal office was behind on such wall, the door so well
concealed the no Magma member who did not know where it was would easily miss it.
As an added bonus, the door could only be opened from the inside, meaning that
the only way in was by having someone inside open it for you.
    Of course, there had to be another way in, as Moxie was not always in her
office.
    After knocking on the wall, Harland waited a few seconds for it to open.  
A female grunt, very tall & slender, let him in.  She left after Harland &
Gwen stepped in.
    Watching her leave, Harland noticed that her skirt was almost up past her
thighs.  'I’ll never understand why they do that,' he thought.  'Surely they must
know that if they ever bend over, their undercarriage would show?'
    He was snapped back to reality by Gwen’s coughing.  Turning his head toward
her, Harland noticed that she was “at attention,” staring across the room at her
superior.  Quickly, Harland did likewise.
    “You like her?” asked Moxie, standing up from her seat.  “I called her in
because she was disrupting repair work on the battle cruiser Groudon.  Apparently,
scrubbing the deck with a toothbrush wasn’t enough punishment to persuade her to
get a longer skirt & a pair of panties.  Now she is working mess hall duty.”
    Harland was amazed.  Moxie had called him away from devising a strategy to
talk about dress code enforcement!  'Does she realize the magnitude of what is
going on!?' he thought.
    “Ma’am, may I ask you why I was requested to your presence?” Harland growled.
It was not a good thing to do to the Head of Team Magma, but he carried enough
influence to get away with it.  After all, he was the head of the Magma fleet, 
the first & best defense against Team Aqua.
    Angered by Harland’s insubordination, Moxie walked around the desk to get 
up close to his face.  It would have been funny, a woman lower than Harland’s
neck trying to stare down a man in a uniform that resembled a devil, except 
for the fact that she held his job & his life at her disposal.
    “First of all, do not take that tone with me,” she said.  “I am your
superior & I will be treated like one.  Second of all, I did not ‘request’ that
you come here, I ordered it.”
    Harland’s attention became straighter.  Influence or not, Harland realized,
Moxie was not going to give him any more slack than that indecent grunt.
    “Yes ma’am.”
    “Good.”
    With a serene attitude, Moxie walked back around her desk to sit down in
her seat.  “Now we shall get down to business.  General Admin Karyte has been
sent across the Hoenn mainland to rally any reserves & hiding members.  We will
need all the strength we can get to fight Team Aqua.”
    'Indeed,' thought Harland.
    “Still, even with our full strength gathered, we cannot hope to repel Team
Aqua.  They outnumber us four-to-one, their fleet is more advanced & better
organized.  No offense, Admiral Harland, but that is their strongest character-
istic.  They’re ocean-dwellers, after all.”
    “So what is it you want of me?” Harland’s courage had grown a little in the
short time span.
    Moxie stared, angered by the interruption, but let it slide.  “I need you &
your assistant to fly to Johto immediately,” she said calmly.
    Once again, Harland was amazed at Moxie’s indifference.  'She can’t do that!'
he thought.  'I am all that is holding our rabble of a fleet together!  Without me,
this entire operation will collapse!'
    “Why?” he asked, trying to hide his frustration.
    “You are to begin negotiations with Team Rocket.  Their resources will be
useful & their manpower will help even the odds.”
    “Team Rocket!?” he cried.  “I thought they were disbanded!  Without anyone
to lead them, they’re just a useless mass of ninnies!”
    Moxie calmly sipped her tea all during Harland’s outburst.  After he had
finished, she answered his question.
    “They are not leaderless.  It is true, after Giovanni tried to disband them,
they broke into three groups.  The first group just left Team Rocket… for good.  
They never came back, believing that the effort was a lost cause without Giovanni.
    “The second group was a separated branch in Taohu.  They formed a new crime
group, under some man calling himself Umbrum, & called themselves the Shadowcast.
Note that there is no ‘team’ in front of it.  
    “The third group was held together by a council of executives.  This last
group operated mostly in the Johto region, where they were almost destroyed by
Pokémon Master Yoshi, or Gold, as some called him.  But, they still exist.  Over
time, the Reformed Team Rocket grew again.
    “Now we need their help.  An executive meeting is being held in Goldenrod to
address the ‘Aqua Problem.’  We have asked to send a more capable representative
to sponsor our cause.  I have chosen you because you are the man who will lead 
our navy into war against Team Aqua.   Your expertise will help coordinate their
navy with ours.  Together, we stand a better chance of defeating Team Aqua.”
    “I see,” said Harland.  'Bitch,' he thought.  'You’re going to ruin it all.'
    “Good.  Your flight will leave for Dewford immediately.  From there you will
travel via jet plane to Goldenrod with a brief stop in Cianwood City in Johto.”
Dismissing them, Moxie shouted out a few extra remarks.  
    “Take your secretary with you, & don’t worry about the navy – Captain Admin
Ganit Landon will take charge of the fleet while you are away.”
    'We are all going to die,' he thought.

    ><><><><
    
    “Latest message from Lillycove, madam”
    The Mossdeep Police Station was located near the center of the island to make
it easier to dispense officers to various disturbances.  Right now, it was the
main communications center to the mainland.  Questions had come flooding in from
Slateport, Mauville, & Lillycove, all asking about the status of Sootopolis & Ever
Grande.
    “Put it there,” said Officer Jenny, pointing to a pile of paperwork on her
desk.  The officer did so, & left.  Jenny picked from the top of the pile, & read
it aloud.
    
        “Main Communications Center of Lillycove
        “To: The commanding officer of the Mossdeep Coast Guard
        “Concerning: Break of communications with the major island cities of
    eastern Hoenn, namely Sootopolis & Ever Grande.
        “Request that the Coast Guard send a vessel carrying spare radio parts to
    make contact with the inhabitants of Sootopolis.”
    
    With an annoyed snort, Jenny tossed it aside.  'A little late,' she thought.
She had already sent a ship with spare parts to investigate hours ago.  It should
arrive at Sootopolis soon, in about the next hour or so.  Until then, all she
could do was wait.

    ><><><><
    
    Harriet & Ben had finally got out of Victory Road.  It seemed that they had
been in there for days, when, in fact, it was only about twenty hours.  If not
for David, their new guide, they would have been in there longer.
    Ben was at first suspicious of their new companion, & probably still is.  
However, he agreed to follow him when he heard that David was in fact the David
Umbrum, Dark Pokémon Master & present Hoenn League Champion.  At night, the cave
was darker than pitch black, so it was great to have a Pokémon Master specializing
in the Dark-type as a guide.  Now, the sun was rising in the east, appearing over
the tree tops to announce a new day.
    “Finally!” Harriet was the first to express gratitude at their escape.
    “Yeah, it’s great to be finally out of that hole,” Ben added.
    “Come on you two, we still have a while to go before reaching League Head-
quarters.  We have to tell Officer Jenny what you saw & organize the defenses,”
David said calmly.  “Team Aqua will not waste any time coming through.  Most
likely they’ll get themselves lost like you two, but they have Zubat, & Pokémon
that most likely know the Flash ability.”
    Ben looked back at they cave as if expecting Team Aqua Grunts to come pouring
out of it.  The thought only increased his desire to get to the League.”
    David seemed to notice this & picked up his stride, forcing Ben & Harriet into
a jog.  “Come on, hurry.”
    Wordlessly, the two followed their Pokémon Master guide.
    
    Standing guard at the front gate, Elite 4 trainer Eric Bishop waited.  He had
relieved the guard several hours ago so that he may be the first to greet his
friend.
    Eric was a hard man to get along with, his feelings suppressed & hidden deep
inside his soul, but once you got to know him he was an okay guy.  He had once been
the Leader of the Mossdeep Gym, but passed it on to his daughter to be accepted
among the ranks of the Elite 4.  
    His friend, David, had been Eric’s only real challenge, but that was mostly due
to a type disadvantage.  Eric was in most ways a better strategist & tactician than
David, who preferred to first confuse his opponents before overwhelming them with
his powerful Dark Pokémon.  Eric was more random, preferring to get the measure of
his opponent before creating a strategy.
    Two nights ago, he requested a friendly rematch from David, who graciously
agreed.  This was the date they had set for the Pokémon battle, & a crowd had
already begun to form outside the stadium.  Eric himself was rested for the match
while David had been up all night.  Not that it mattered, as sleep meant little to
David anymore.
    Movement on the path caused Eric to snap out of his doze.  Scanning the path,
he saw David (his tall form was hard to miss).  'So, he decided to show up after
all,' he thought.  More movement caused Eric to look again.  This time, he noticed
David’s companions.  
     'Who are they?  Early trainers?'  He was surprised.  Victory Road was a
challenge that all trainers must face before coming to the Pokémon League.  If
David had helped them get across, it would reflect badly on his record - a champion
guiding junior trainers through the second greatest challenge in the Hoenn League.
Calmly, Eric waited for David to come up to the gate so his questions could be
answered.
    He did not have to wait long.  David’s long stride ate up the distance.  Soon,
David & two other trainers gasping for breath were standing outside the Hoenn
Pokémon League Entrance.
    “Good morning, David,” said Eric, formalities aside while outside the city.
    “You know how much I despise the morning my friend, so how can you call it
good?  & don’t say the same thing about the day - you know I have the same problem.”
    “Of course, my friend, but still, it is a beautiful morning, one I have been
looking forward to for the past two nights.”
    David slapped his hand to his head in recognition.  “The match, I forgot!”  
Sighing, as if a heavy load had been taken off of him, David continued, “It’ll have
to wait, my friend- we have bigger problems.  We need to hold a council, a large,
armed force is about to spew through Victory Road & overwhelm the city!”
    “Surely you joke,” said Eric.  No expression escaped him.  The man was tougher
than a brick.
    “No, I any afraid I do not, my friend.  From what these two told me, Team Aqua
has begun an invasion.  By now, all of southern Ever Grande has probably been taken
over by them.  We must act immediately if we are to save the capital.”
    Eric took all this information in without any sign of interest, but he heard it
all.  “Very well, I will scatter the crowd & get Officer Jenny.  You can gather the
leaders into the tower, & take your friends with you.”  As he finished that last
sentence, Eric turned around & walked to the arena to announce that the match had
been cancelled.  David, meanwhile, had ushered Ben & Harriet behind him & led them
off to the tower, where they would tell the council what they had witnessed.

    ><><><><
    
    Ryan had been traveling since nightfall of the previous day.  By midnight, he
had reached Oldale for a brief rest at the Pokémon Center.  By six o’clock that
morning, he was up again to continue the journey.  The Oldale PokéMart had a
limited selection, so he bypassed it knowing that he had bought enough supplies at
Petalburg.  
    He required a little help from his Pokémon to get across the wide expanse of
water between Oldale & Route 110, but he did not meet many trainers except for a
few Bug Catchers who were too weak in training to challenge him.
    It was not long before he passed the ruins of an abandoned mansion where
Shuppet & Banette were know to inhabit.  It had once been a major attraction
for trainers, but visitors declined after the owner died.
    In less than half an hour later, Ryan reached the northern fringes of
Slateport.  The man he was searching for was in the communications business;
he monitored most of the transmissions of merchantmen vessels docked in the
coastal city.  The problem was he did it illegally on a pirate radio.  Ryan
was confident that he would hack the Sootopolis-Slateport transmissions for
him.  'After all, the man was indebted to me,' he thought.
    Passing the Pokémon Center, Ryan proceeded east down Harold Lane, coming
up to seaside cottage 23.  Walking up the few steps onto the porch, he knocked
on the door.  After a minute with no response, Ryan knocked again, this time,
harder.
    His efforts were rewarded as an overweight man in a bathrobe opened the
door.  He was unshaven & carried what might have been a bologna sandwich in
his hand.  The man’s eyes, usually expressionless, showed a feeling of unwanted
expectance for Ryan’s arrival.
    “I shoulda known you was going to come back,” the man said, his face sagged
in resignation.
    “Nice to see you too, Prof. Siyamak,” Ryan replied apathetically.
    The fat man, who was Prof. Siyamak, stepped aside to welcome his guest in.  
Looking around, the Ryan noted that house was as sloppy as the man.  The DVD
library was scattered across the floor, magazines covered any surface that was
not covered by the video discs.  A half-eaten pizza still in its box was laying
on the arm rest of an easy chair, with noticeable food stains covering the
cushions.
    At the far end of the room was Prof. Siyamak’s computer system, though the
monitor was the only part of it still showing.  The keyboard, like the floor,
was covered in ten-month-old magazines & soda cans.  A slice of pie, probably
quiche, was perched precariously on the self above the system, along with over
nine dozen CD cases.
    “You like the place?” asked the obese professor.
    “It’s nice, Prof. Siyamak,” lied Ryan casually.  “I need you to intercept
the communications lines between Sootopolis & Slateport.”
    “Oh, straight to business, I see.  Well, let me see what I can do.”
    The professor made a labored walk around Ryan to clear off his computer
console.  The trash littered the floor in heaps around the desk before the
keyboard as visible.  Once Prof. Siyamak had room, he took a bite out of his
sandwich, logged on, & went right to work.
    “Monitoring a line is different from intercepting a line.  It used to be
that to monitor one all you had to do was bug the phone.  Now, with instant
messaging, you need to hack into another’s server to, in a sense, ‘listen’ in,”
the professor explained.
    “Don’t bother with the techno-babble, just do it,” Ryan responded, his calm
aura turning cold with impatience.  
    Prof. Siyamak turned around to ask his guest a pressing question, “Okay, but
just to be sure, this gets me off the 'I owe ya’ list, right?”
    Ryan’s blank stare caused Siyamak to turn back to his monitor.  “It’ll be a
while for me to locate the correct server.” 
    “Whichever.  Try the Coast Guard.”
    “& I need to be able to concentrate – something I can’t do with you breathing
down my neck.”
    Ryan signed.  “Very well.  I’ll be back in a half-hour.  Will you be done by
then?”
    “Almost certainly.”
    After that, Ryan left.

    ><><><><

    Aqua Admiral Admin Seth Waters was pleased.  Team Aqua had maintained control
throughout the night.  By destroying the Pokémon Gym & the police force early, the
few uprisings were ineffectively led & were suppressed before they could gain
momentum.  In fact, most residents seemed content to just wait in their homes, at
least for now.
    The remains of the Sootopolis police station were quickly transformed into a
temporary Aqua Base of Operations.  From there, Waters could coordinate the long
awaited invasion.  
    The armory was quickly cleaned out & turned into the War Room.  A map of Hoenn
was spread across a table in the center of the room.  Small blue ships where
clustered around the eastern half of the map.  Along the east coast of the mainland
were scatterings of grey- & maroon-colored ships, symbolizing the Hoenn & Magma
fleets, or at least where Team Aqua Intelligence thought they were.
    Sighing, Waters placed his coffee on the table, after having spent all night
studying it, trying to formulate a strategy.  They needed Sootopolis, & they needed
Ever Grande.  On the map, two blue flags with the Aqua Insignia were flying over the
two islands plus two more over Pacifidlog & Epoch Isle.  Battle Tower Isle was closed
until the Ever Grande Tournament ends, which is still a few months away.  'Of course,
once Team Aqua had complete control over the Hoenn League, there would not be an Ever
Grande Tournament,' thought Waters bitterly.
    His scheming was disrupted by a grunt standing in the doorway.  She was carrying
the hourly status report.  Disgruntled, Waters snatched it out of her grasp & roughly
shoved her out the door, slamming it in her face.
    While flipping through the report, Waters noticed a line from the Sub-Admin in
charge of the Gym Island.  It read:
    
        “Prisoners held in the Pokémon Gym continue to be restless.  Two uprisings
    occurred; both were quickly & effectively put down.  Private first-class Philip
    Khan was found strangled in his bunk during role-call.  An investigation is under
    way...”
    
    Snickering, Seth remembered a quote he had learned while studying to become an
officer in the Aqua Navy: “A secret kept between three people will work best if two
of them are dead.”
    Refocusing his attention on the map, Waters decided on his next target.  'There,'
he thought.  'That city is the greatest threat at the moment.  They’ve already been
caught once snooping around our acquisitions, & they may come after us next in force.
Well, I’ll take the fight to them first!'
    After writing his new orders down on a piece of paper, Waters handed them to a
messenger grunt, people who were needed until secure channels could be brought up.  
With a satisfied smile on his face, Waters made his way to his cabin, where he slept
easy despite all the suffering he had caused earlier.

    ><><><><
    
    “Land ho!”
    Capt. Conan Doyle on the S.S. Cactus I heard the shout from the foredeck.  He
was greatly relieved.  The battle between the two trainers & the trio of Aqua
Grunts had destroyed many of the ship’s navigational instruments.  Luckily, the
Fire-type trainer – 'Alexis, I believe she was called' – had generously lent him
the meager use of her PokéNav.  Granted, it wasn’t much, but it theoretically
could keep the ship on course.
    & so it had.
    “Lilycove at last,” he said.  Reaching across the melted chunk of metal that
was once his navigation console, Capt. Doyle picked up the ship’s phone.  “Attention,
this is your captain speaking.  We are just about to make land in Lilycove.  Thank
you for your patience on this voyage.”
    
    In cabin number nine, Lex awoke to the captain’s announcement.  She had stayed
in her cabin all night, sleeping.  Sleeping next to her, curled up in a ball, was
her faithful Quilava.  The events of yesterday came upon her in a flash.  Team
Aqua... a Crawdaunt battle... crew captured... Quilava about to be thrown over the
side...
    Lex shivered.  She had never come that close to losing one of her Pokémon
before; never.
    While still emotionally exhausted from, Lex managed to drag herself out of
her bunk.  She was still dressed in her outfit that she wore yesterday having not
bothered to change when she returned to her cabin.
    Her movement woke Quilava, who stretched out & yawned.  When he noticed Lex
in the room with him, he let out a squeal of joy & jumped into her arms.
    Picking up her bag from the chair next to her cot, Lex left the cabin without
bothering to recall Quilava into his Pokéball.  She did not want her Pokémon to
feel unwanted.
    She decided to take the long way around the ship & travel to the bridge on the
starboard side.  Memories from the port side were too painful for her to handle at
the moment.  Quilava was absorbed in its own little world.  It did that sometime to
escape the realities of this one.  It too did not have very fond memories of the
outer rigging of the ship.
    The starboard bridge door was the only door connected to the bridge that was
intact.  When Lex entered the bridge, the first thing she noticed was that the whole
room was illuminated in blue.  Above her, where the ceiling should have been, was a
large, blue tarp.
    'Thank you, Charizard,' she thought, remembering that she used her fire lizard’s
Dragon Rage to tear the roof off yesterday.  Quilava, too, seemed to be curious.
    Across the room, a blonde girl with hair that fell past her shoulders was
conversing with an older man with a short, white beard.  The girl, Lex remembered,
was called Emma.  She was the Medicham trainer who saved Quilava.
    A shiver ran down her spine as she thought that.  She was thankful, but the
wound has yet to heal.
    The man was Capt. Conan Doyle, the senior officer of this ship.  He gave Lex a
warm smile.  In spite of herself, Lex smiled too.  It was hard to feel down around
the captain.
    “Well, Ms. Ardorn, did you have a nice rest?”
    “Yes, sir.”  In truth, she had cried herself to sleep.  But it was helpful
having Quilava there next to her.  Gathering her thoughts, she started to inquire
as to their distance from Lilycove.
    “Take a look for yourself,” replied the captain, gesturing toward the window.
    There, on the horizon, gleamed two giant white towers at the edge of the shore.
One of them was the lighthouse; the other was the department store.  Passing the
lighthouse, the S.S. Cactus cruised among the many sailboats in the harbor.  Wingull
& Pelipper crowded the sky, their voices drowned out only by the occasional foghorn.
It was enough to lift Lex’s spirits, if only momentarily.
    “We will dock in about fifteen minutes,” said the captain.  “When that happens,
the first thing you two do is find Officer Jenny & explain what’s happening to her.
Then, bring her here to interrogate the Aqua.”  He said that last part with a snarl.
    Emma answered for the both of tem.  “Don’t worry, sir.  We will.”

    ><><><><
    
    “So, what you are saying is that Team Aqua has returned in great numbers.  Is
that right?”
    Ben & Harriet could only nod at what Elite 4 trainer Valterra had said.
    They were two of the half-dozen people in the conference room.  The rest were
Champion Umbrum, Elite 4s Eric & Valterra, & Officer Jenny.  The other two members
of the Elite 4 were off training in the Rainbow Islands & were unable to attend.  
But it was perhaps better this way, as the two other members gave them more than
enough attention.
    “& they brought with them a powerful fleet of warships.  Is that right?”
    Again, the two of them just nodded.
    “& their plan is to use their Pokémon & weapons to conquer Hoenn.  Is that
right?”
    Still again, all they did was nod.
    Valterra looked over her left shoulder at David, who was standing against the
wall.  He noticed here glance & shrugged.
    “Well, I believe them...”
    Eric, who was sitting next to Valterra, leaned over the table as if to study
the couple more closely.  He decided to back his friend.   “& I believe David.”
    Valterra sighed.  David superseded her, but she always had ways to change his
mind.  However, she could not argue if Eric decided to back him up.  That man was
as firm as a concrete block, if not more.
    Officer Jenny decided that it was her turn to take control of the situation.  
“Well then, our first job is to scout around Victory Road.  If Team Aqua decides
to attack, it will be through there.  I’ll go arm a squad to take with us.”
    “I will go recruit some more advanced trainers for this mission,” said Eric.
    David stepped away from the wall to engage in the conversation.  “I will take
same experienced citizens who are willing to take up a gun down to your armory &
give them a quick run-down on the basics of combat.  Don’t you worry.  I happen to
have valuable field experience in this area.  Remember, I came from Shelpton.”
    Everyone, excluding Ben & Harriet, nodded in agreement.  They knew what he was
talking about.
    Valterra finally conceded.  “It is settled then.  Mr. Strader, Ms. Nacres?  
Will you please follow me?  I will take you to your rooms.”  But as she got up
to lead the couple away, David stepped in.
    “A-actually... I was hoping to take them with me.”
    All activity in the room ceased.  All eyes were on David & Valterra.
    Valterra gave the champion a sharp glare.  “Now, why do you want that?”
    David looked over at Eric for assistance, but his averted eyes told what he
was thinking without him needing to say it: You are on your own this time.  David
gulped, visibly.  “B-because... They are my friends.  I want them near me when Team
Aqua attacks.”
    Valterra continued to give him an icy stare.  “Can you not see that they 
are tired?  They have been pursued& wandered for days in the Road.  They need rest.”
    “No, we don’t…  We’re fine, right Ben?  Ben?” Harriet’s outburst had shifted the
attention of the small crowd from the Elite member & Champion.
    “Huh?  Oh... Yes!  Yes, that’s right,” he responded.
    Valterra’s stare was quickly redirected toward Harriet, who immediately looked
at the ground to avoid her eyes.  David smiled.  “Excellent!   Please, come with me
& Officer Jenny & we will get you two suited up.”  So the four people left, leaving
the two Elite members to be the only ones in the room.
    Valterra looked over at the Psychic master as he got up to leave.  “I give them
two days out on the Road against Team Aqua,” she said.
    Eric returned her gaze.  “You underestimate them.  They are trainers, after all,
& somehow they managed to beat my daughter to get the Mind Badge.  I give them four.”

    ><><><><
    
    Three hours had passed, & still no word.  Not even the hourly status report came
through.  Jenny was becoming a little nervous.  It did not take eight hours to sail
to Sootopolis, especially at a speed of 28 knots.  Waiting was an option that was
becoming less appealing.
    Picking up the phone, Jenny dialed the harbor master.  “Bill?  It’s me.  Listen,
gather a crew & have them arm themselves.  We are taking a patrol boat out to
Sootopolis.   Expect trouble.”  With that done, she hug up the phone & walked to the
armory, where she picked up a Ruger AC-556 assault rifle from the officer on duty.  
Checking the folding stock to make sure it is aligned with the muzzle, Jenny walked
out of the armory satisfied.
    The police guard at the front desk noticed Jenny cradling the rifle in the crook
of her arm.  The live ammunition clips attached to her waist only cause further
confusion.  Jenny stood in the middle of the room & made her announcement.
    “Greer, Eddie, Teri, Ward, Garron, go down to the armory & collect some assault
weapons.  We are going to Sootopolis.  Howard, Mimi - you two, hold the island.”
    Eddie, who was sitting behind the desk, was only too eager to do something other
than sit & wait for news.  In fact, there was a spring in his step as he walked down
to the armory.  In addition to his standard Beretta 9mm, he too chose a Ruger assault
rifle.  He would have preferred a Colt .45 instead of the Beretta, but they did not
keep it in stock.  Inwardly, he wished he had been more insistent on bringing it when
he first was recruited.
    Shrugging the feeling off, Eddie gathered his equipment & followed his comrades
down to the dock.  Outside, he took in the splendor of his island city.  Trees were
growing everywhere, mostly mangroves.  The mangrove grooves at the base of the islands
were home to many seaside Pokémon, although most of them are useless in battle.  Most
of the fish don’t learn anything beyond Splash & make a Magikarp look invincible.  Still,
it is one of the few places one could find a wild Mudkip.
    Below him, Eddie saw a ship being loaded on the southern dock.  It was more than any
typically Coast Guard boat, anyone could tell that by just looking at it.  The mounted
machineguns were a dead giveaway.  
    Mossdeep is known for its clear skies, but today it was unusually cloudy.  This
seemed to disturb Eddie, as if it were an ill omen.
    Shrugging it off, Eddie worked his way down to the dock.  Nothing was going to go
wrong, they were Mossdeep’s best.  No poorly trained Aqua Grunt could get him.
    *Boom!  Boom!*
    A noise out to sea caught his attention.  It was very soft & distant.
    *Boom!  Boom!  Boom!  Boom!  Boom!  Boom!  Boom!  Boom!*
    More sounds, but Eddie could barely make them out.  He strained his ears to make
sense of it, but he did not hear any more.  Instead, there was a sound of a high-
pitched shriek, like the wind.  Then, he saw them.
    “Get down!” he yelled, just as two AGM-86 cruise missiles streaked overhead to
bury themselves in the Mossdeep police station.  Eddie was less than thirty feet
away & was instantly knocked to the ground from the resulting shockwave.  It was
probably just as well because the flying debris shredded anything unfortunate
enough to be in its path.
    Before Eddie could think of getting up, two more missiles destroyed the Pokémon
Center, incinerating anyone inside.  Those two missiles were quickly followed by
four more, which struck their respective targets.
    The last pair never made it to their target.  Eddie did know how it happened,
but the last two missiles exploded in midair about ten feet away from the Mossdeep
Pokémon Gym.  It was protected by a Barrier technique.
    Quickly getting to his feet, Eddie looked around.  Chaos ruled over much of
Mossdeep.  The only places that showed any signs of command structure were the
Pokémon Gym & the jetty where Officer Jenny was loading supplies on a heavily armed
Coast Guard boat.
    Off in the distance, three large ships rode the waves, running parallel to the
island.  Pulling the miniature binoculars from his right-breast pocket, Eddie
scanned them.
    All of them were blue in color.  One looked like an aircraft carrier, but
there was no room on the flight deck for aircraft.  'It must have some other
function,' he thought.  He did not catch the name.  The other two were destroyers,
but only one was a DDG, or guided missile destroyer.  It was called the Archie.
The other destroyer was the Spray.  They both looked Kanto-made, but the carrier
was so disfigured that Eddie could not guess what nation had built it.
    Picking up his assault rifle, Eddie hurried down the slope, but tripped over
on object protruding from the path.  After sliding for a few seconds, this fall
was stopped by a bramble bush.
    'Damn it!' he thought.  The bush had thorns.  
    Looking back up the path, he saw what he had tripped over.  It was a leg.  
Shrugging of the shudder that spread throughout his body, Eddie painfully hobbled
down the slope.  When he neared the jetty, he recognized that all too familiar
commanding voice of Officer Jenny, ordering her officers & Bill’s sailors into
defensive positions.
    “Get that ammo loaded!  Greer, take Teri & head back to the station & get
any able-bodied officer down here!  Bill, get everyone off that boat, we won’t
stand half a chance against those destroyers at sea.  Ward, help him with that
machine gun.  Garron?  Has anyone seen Garron?  Or Eddie?  Where’s Eddie?”
    “Here, Ma’am,” Eddie replied as he stepped off the path.  “Garron is dead;
shrapnel from one of the blasts.  I tripped over his body on the way down.”
    Jenny did not seem to care that she had lost a valuable officer.  It was
probably because she had too much to worry about at the moment.  She just
nodded & continued to give out orders.
    “Okay, Eddie, help that sailor carry that machine gun.  It won’t be very
useful here, but on higher ground, we can sweep any invaders.”
    Eddie was only too eager to oblige, lifting up the gun without the help of
the sailor.  He then began the climb back up to the station, or what was left
of it.
    
    Team Aqua Captain Admin Dakotah Hale watched the attack through his
binoculars onboard the CVN Tsunami.  From his position on the island of the
carrier, he could see the explosions shaking Mossdeep City.  He grinned.  'Like
smashing ants on an anthill,' he thought.
    Several AALCs had already launched, each carrying about a score of Aqua
Grunts each.  A handful of Mi-6 attack helicopters provided air cover over the
landing force, but there was probably no need for them.  The damage to the city’s
defense centers appeared to be severe.  It was unlikely that they would be able
to resist a coordinated air & sea strike.
    Smiling, he watched the remaining AALCs launch from the carrier.  Soon,
Mossdeep would belong to Team Aqua.
    
    Eddie had finally succeeded in mounting the machine gun to a piece of wall
that once belonged to the Mossdeep police station, now in ruins.  From here, he
could see the entire dock area, plus some of the beach where Officer Jenny expects
their landing craft will, well, land.
    Crouching over the machine gun, Officer Eddie waited for the boats to arrive.
Patiently.  He would get his fair share of grunts in this scrap.  He would sell
his life for this city, but he was going to make them pay dearly.
    Suddenly, sounds of combat overhead snapped his attention from the boats.
    
    The pilot of the lead Mi-6 did not have time to react.  A ball of pure dark
energy had blasted through the cockpit, shattering glass before exploding near
the helicopters fuselage.  It burst into flames, causing the rotors to snap off
& go flying in different directions.  The blazing wreck of the attack helicopter
descended to the earth, finally crashing into the sea.
    The second Mi-6 saw what happened to its leader & immediately scanned for
incoming missiles, but there were none.  The pilot scanned the island but did
not see any missileers.  He then looked forward & saw another orb of ebony streak
toward them.  He immediately veered right in hopes of avoiding it, but he was too
late.  A second copter fell into the sea.
    The third also saw what happened, & the pilot searched frantically for the
cause.  There was noting on radar & no apparent Stinger missile tubes on the
ground.  What was it?
    A flash to his left drew his attention.  He saw it.  Relaying what he saw to
the CVN, he banked the helicopter, & tried to head back to base.  He knew there
was no escape, but he would try.
    He never made it.
    
    “What the hell is happening!?”
    “Captain, sir, the copters are being attacked by Flying Pokémon.  We believe
they are Xatu.”
    “I don’t care what they are, just shoot them down!”
    
    Eddie was amazed.  A Xatu kept Teleporting in front of each of the Mi-6s to
deliver a Shadow Ball attack.  When it had finished off the helicopters, it
vanished.  He was even more amazed when it reappeared next to him.
    “Well done, Skyamsen,” came a voice from behind him.
    Eddie turned around to see Mossdeep Gym Leader Hilda.  She was a blonde,
but her eyes radiated intelligence.  She looked strong, not fragile, & wore a
simple white skirt & shawl.  His eyes were glued to her, & he was thanking
whatever forces that had made him single.
    She was looking at the Xatu.  The Xatu turned to meet her gaze; its eyes
appeared to be smiling.  Hilda then turned to look at Eddie.
    “How are the defenses coming?” she asked.
    Swallowing, Eddie looked away.  “I-I-I... I’m not in charge... Officer Jenny
is down at the docks...”
    The Leader simply smiled.  “Very well.  Come, Skyamsen, we need to speak
with the dear officer.”
    Recalling her Pokémon, the woman in white walked, or, as Eddie imagined,
glided, down the slope to the docks.  A few seconds after she left, the effect
of her presence had worn off Eddie & he returned to waiting with the machine gun.
    
    “Captain, sir, the damage report is in.  The ships have not yet sustained
any damage, but we did lose the three Mi-6s.  As far as the enemy goes, our
missiles have neutralized four out of the five initial targets.  The Pokémon
Gym is undamaged.  Body count is undeterminable.”
    Captain Hale was maddened by this report.  Two AGM-86 cruise missiles could
not even scratch the Gym!  “How?  How did they survive?” he asked himself, but
the grunt who gave the report thought it was directed at him.
    “Sir, we believe a Barrier has formed around the Gym.  How they knew it was
coming, we do not know-“
    The grunt was cut off as the burly captain turned on him, grabbing his neck
in a viselike grip.
    “I don’t care!  Tell the CO onboard the Archie to ready another salvo!  I
want that building reduced to rubble!”
    Letting go of the frightened grunt, Capt. Hale returned his attention back
to the Island of Mossdeep.  He knew he would break it.  It was only a matter of
time.

    ><><><><

    Ryan was wandering around the Slateport market.  He heard that some man was
offering discounts on vitamins & was hoping to find him.  He guessed that he was
selling the cheap, unpurified crap that had less nutrition than the sand stuck
between the toes of a child who had been playing on the beach south of Slateport
all day, but it couldn’t hurt to be sure.
    At the moment, Ryan was a little worried.  He had been to the Pokémon Center
earlier to switch some of the Pokémon on his team only to find that there were no
transmissions out of the Ever Grande Storage Facility.  It was the hub which Pokémon
from other regions could transport their Pokémon into Hoenn.  It appears that, like
the rest of the eastern islands, Ever Grande had also ceased communications with the
mainland, including Pokémon transmissions via box system.
    Ryan knew that it could not be a blackout.  Not only were there ways of
communicating when the main power went out, but there was no way four islands would
stop transmitting messages almost simultaneously.  Something was happening, & it was
big.
    After searching for half an hour & not finding the guy, Ryan headed north to the
harbor.  Since he could not switch in a Flier into his party & none of his Pokémon
were strong enough to Surf up the Ocean Current, he would have to rely on the local
transportation.
    The harbor was owned by the city.  All craft had to pay a fare in order to stop
& load/unload or re-supply.  It was this way in every port in Hoenn, but Slateport
was the cheapest & one of the most prosperous, second only to Lilycove.  Finding a
boat ride to Ever Grande or Sootopolis should be easy.
    Or, at least Ryan thought it would be.
    None of the captains wanted to sail anywhere near the eastern islands at the
moment.  Apparently the news story about a possible Kyogre sighting has scared them.
Sailors are known to be a very superstitious people.  To put it simply, Ryan could not
find a ride.  After a few hours of searching, he decides to head back to the Pokémon
Center.
    Somehow, he found himself wandering down some forgotten alley.  Some wild
Zigzagoon scattered as he approached, leaving their diner of overturned garbage
cans & fleeing down a smaller adjacent alleyway to the right.  But a moment
later they returned, crossing his path & scurrying in the opposite direction,
to his left.  Immediately, Ryan heard the sound of footsteps hurrying toward
the alley intersection.  Past experiences & gut instinct cause him to crouch
behind a trash can.  Inwardly, he cursed his tall height because it was hard
to hide.
    A few seconds later, a short man in a red coat emerged from the alley.  
Ryan could see
him in the reflection of a grimy, broken mirror.  The man looked around as
if worried he were being followed.  His fears were confirmed as more footsteps
were heard, coming from the alley the man just exited from.
    Frantically, the man dashed to his right.  The sound of footsteps increased,
which could only mean that the owner had gone into a run.  It was obviously some
sort of chase, but why?  As the sound of the pursuer’s footsteps faded, Ryan got
up to follow.
    At first, Ryan thought that the pursuer was a cutthroat, a man who literally
cut people’s throats & stole their money.  He had had experience with the sort in
Shlepton, a city in Taohu, where crime was an epidemic.
    'But,' he thought, 'no cutthroat would put this much energy into chasing down
a quarry.  They usually act like Spinarak, lying in wait for some unwary passerby
to fall into their trap.'  This picture did not fit into that kind of profile.  Up
ahead, he heard a crash.
    A short while later he had come to another intersection.  He stopped & looked
down the adjacent alleys, but the two strange men were nowhere to be seen.  Turning
his eyes down, Ryan looked for signs of their passage.  He stood over a trash can.
     Bingo.  An overturned trash can.  That was the crash he had heard.  He dashed
right, & soon came to a T-junction, but stopped before exiting the alley.  
    “Please, don’t hurt me.  I have children...”
    “Bull shit.  I’ve been following you for days.  You have no family– in fact,
you have no past.  What are you doing snooping around the station?  Who are you
working for?”
    Cautiously, Ryan peeked around the corner.  There, on the left, a man in khaki
pants & a blue vest stood over the man in the red jacket.  Red Jacket was cornered–
there was a chain-link fence behind him.  Red Jacket was on the ground, either he
tripped or was pushed by Blue Vest.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.  I-I’m a Devon representative… H-here
to update the computers–“
    “Do you take me for a fool?  What’s with the transceiver in your apartment?  An
electrician wouldn’t need a powerful radio… & how do you explain this?”
    Blue Vest had thrown a piece of blue cloth on the ground.  Red Jacket looked at
it, horrified.
    “Where did you get that...?”
    “Your apartment.  You should really hide this sort of stuff better.”
    Red Jacket looked down, defeated.
    “Okay, okay...”
    Blue Vest had reached down, grabbed Red Jacket by the collar, & dragged him to
his feet.  “Where is your contact?”
    Red Jacket sighed before answering.  “Mauville.  They dropped me off about four
months ago.  I’m supposed to return there in a few days to be evacuated out of Hoenn.”
    Blue Vest tightened his grip on Red Jacket’s jacket, pulling him closer.  “Why?
What’s going to happen?”
    *Ring!  Ring!*
    Blue Vest stopped.  Both of them were silent.  Ryan was inwardly cursing his bad
luck.
    'Curses!  I forgot to turn off my cell phone!'
    *Ring!  Ring!*
    Ryan quickly struggled to pull out his PokéGear Phone Card to silence the noise,
but it was too late.  Blue Vest had dropped Red Jacket & moved toward the chain-link
fence.  Delivering a swift kick to the rusty gate latch, the mysterious pursuer exited
the alley, quickly melding into the crowds.
    *Ring!  Ring!*
    'To hell with it,' thought Ryan as he pressed the “Talk” button on his screen.
“Hello?” he asked, kind of annoyed.
    “Ryan, buddy, where are you?  You were supposed to come back to my place to get
the information.”
    'Siyamak,' thought Ryan, mentally kicking himself for forgetting about his original
mission.  “What did you find?”
    “Well, all of the servers are up & running.  I was able to access the Officer
Jennies’ personal usernames from here.  It’s strange that they all use the same password,
‘Serve & Prot3ct.’  You’d think they’d have more sense than that.  Oh, well.  I can tell
you that all the servers are active, but no one is using them to talk to Slateport.”
    Ryan walked up to Red Jacket, who was still on the ground, trying to back away from
this new person.
    “Wait, you said that they are active.”
    “That’s right.”
    “Then, if they are not being used to help navigate ships, then what are they being
used for?”
    “I can’t tell you that.  That’s were my knowledge of the situation ends.”
    Ryan looked down at the piece of cloth that Blue Vest threw on the ground.  It
looked familiar.  Bending over, he picked it up.  Wiping off some dirt, he uncovered
a symbol stitched onto the blue fabric.  He recognized it, & knew what it meant.
    “So, am I off?”
    Pausing a moment to look at the cowering form of Red Jacket, Ryan gave his reply.
“Yes, you’re off.  In fact, I may have all the information I need right here.
    With that said he hung up.
    
     'Courteous bastard, isn’t he?' thought Prof. Siyamak as Ryan hung up on him.  
Of course, that could be excused.  He had finally got that man out of his life.  Now
he could go watch Monty Python in peace...
    
    Putting away his PokéGear, Ryan coolly walked over to Red Jacket.  The man began
to stand up, but he soon realized this mistake.  Ryan’s towering height easily
intimidated him, making the short man lose any confidence he had gained since Blue
Vest left.
    “Now,” said Ryan, ”You are going to tell me who you are.”  It was not a question.  
It was not even a statement.  It was a command.”
    “I-I’m Aqua Sleeper Agent Fry Daye,” Red Jacket said.
    “Well, Mr. Daye, what are you doing in Slateport?
    “I-I’m h-here to update the computers–“
    “I’ve heard that story before & I’m not buying.  You’re from Team Aqua, not the
Devon Corporation.  Now what are you really doing here?”
    The sleeper agent remained silent.
    Ryan was growing impatient.  Looking around, he noticed a length of rusty, broken
chain that Blue Vest snapped when he threw his weight against the gate.  Gathering it
up, he pushed the agent face-first onto the ground.  He then began to tie the man’s
hands together with the chain.
    “Well, I don’t have to waste time here.  That man is heading for Mauville, & so
shall I.  You can just wait here until the police pick you up.”  He finished by wrapping
the chain around the gate post & running an iron nail he found through the loops.  
Wrapping the Aqua bandana around the nail insured that the agent would not be able to
take it out without assistance.
    “There, all nicely wrapped for Officer Jenny.”
    He then proceeded out the alley & onto the street.  A hail of curses echoed out of
the space between the buildings.  Ignoring the futile barrage, Ryan maneuvered his way
through the crowd & onto the north road that would take him to Mauville.

    ><><><><

    Aqua Admin Seth Waters was in bad temper.  The report from the Mossdeep assault
fleet was bad.  A number of their helicopters & AALCs had been put out of commission
& their first wave was met by heavy resistance.  Despite the fact that constant missile
strikes had destroyed most of the island’s defenses, Mossdeep still stood, defiant to
the last.
    'It will take more than physical force to defeat them,' he thought.  Whether surprise
was achieved is still in doubt.  The original missile attack had destroyed every major
building with the exception of the Pokémon Gym, which have been protected behind a Barrier
defense.
    *SLAM!  CRASH!*
    Seth’s fist slammed down on the table, causing the coffee mug on the edge to tip over
& break on the floor.  Pieces of ceramic scattered across the floor, the piece that said,
“Team Aqua Rulez!” came to a rest at his feet.  Silently, the Admin stooped down to pick
it up.
    'Yes, we had been broken before, but now we’re back, & we won’t stop until the world
0f water our former leader Archie envisioned so long ago comes true!'
    With that thought in his head he slammed the piece down onto the table, letting it
lie on the map of the Hoenn region.
    'Oh, yes.  This has only begun...'

    ><><><><

    For some reason, Harland was uncomfortable being in civilian clothing.  The maroon
suit with black pants he wore was his best outfit.  He had to look presentable, & while
he preferred his standard Team Magma uniform & hood, such an outfit would bring unwanted
attention, especially from airport security personnel.
    His secretary, Sub-Admin Gwen Bardo, seemed to feel at ease.  She looked every inch
a secretary, from her grey dress-skirt to her wide-rimmed glasses.  The latter were not
necessary, but it helped with her disguise.  Her dark hair was even tied behind her head
in a bun.
    Harland would have preferred to bring a few grunts along for security, but Moxie would
not let him.  She said they needed every available Magma member for this crisis.  
    'Unfortunately,' he thought, 'that does not include me.'  
    He had suspected that Team Aqua would have taken a few of the airports, but now his
fears seemed Ill-based.  They had just lifted off from Cianwood & were en-route to Goldenrod.
In a few hours, he would be back safely on the ground.
    Or a safe as one could feel surrounded by members of Team Rocket.  He did not care how
conservative they have become these past few years, they were still the same vile gangsters
who want nothing more than to steal & cause havoc in his eyes.  Silently, he wished that he
had never complied with Moxie’s orders & flew out here.
    'Oh well,' he thought, 'nothing I can do now.'
    Taking the pillow from beneath his seat, he placed it behind his head & prepared for a
nap.  The sun was setting, even though he could not see it from the position they were
traveling.  He figured that he wouldn’t get any sleep after he landed & might as well get
some now.  Shutting out any noise that was in the cabin, Harland closed his eyes & tried to
sleep.


    End of Chapter Two