Chapter 14
The Ultimate Plan- Part Two
"They might be expecting us," Archie said. "If their other squad got word of us in their base, who knows what's going to happen next? But remember: we owe all of this to the scientist that Team Magma took advantage of. If it weren't' for him overhearing their plans…we might have never had a chance like this to happen. Let's do this for him…and the world."
"To the scientist and the world," the other grunts replied.
At the same time, Maxie was making a similar toast. "To us, Team Magma…and the world! Soon, it will all be ours for the taking!" He proudly walked over to the machine at the peak of the volcano. He held the meteorite in the air. "It all begins-or ends, as the case may be-with this!"
"Go, now!" Archie shouted. He and the other Aqua members ran into the open while throwing Pokéballs. Some of the Pokémon featured were Wartortle, Carvahna, Azumarill, Seaking, and Pelipper. Archie's two Pokémon were Milotic, a long, red, serpentine Pokémon, and Gyarados.
"What the-Team Aqua!" Maxie stuttered. "Everyone, swarm on them!" He watched as his grunt's Pokémon were getting murdered by Team Aqua's Pokémon-namely Archie's.
"Gyarados, Hydro Pump on all of their Pokémon!" Archie commanded. A giant stream of water was fired at all of Team Magma's Pokémon, dousing them. "Gyarados-help out the rest of the crew!" The next wave of Magma grunts also tried to take Archie down. However, they were overwhelmed by a Surf from Milotic. Even though they outnumbered Team Aqua, Team Magma didn't stand a chance against the much more powerful team.
Panic struck Maxie. "Uh, stop Archie! Someone!" he shouted. His eyes doubled in size as he watched Pokémon after Pokémon fall to Archie's power.
"Milotic, you know what to do," Archie told his Pokémon, pointing to the Magma grunts. He threw out another Pokéball, releasing a Tentacruel.
Three Magma grunts approached him. They sent out a Numel, a Charmeleon, and a Magcargo, the evolved form of Slugma.
"Tentacruel, Surf!" A waves crashed over the rocky shell of Magcargo, the fiery skin and tail of Charmeleon, and the hump of Numel. All three Pokémon were knocked out instantly. "Your grunts are too weak, Maxie," Archie commented. "I'm hoping you'll be a little stronger. I'd hate to see what the rest of Team Magma is like if your squad is this weak and untrained."
Maxie gritted his teeth. He wasn't going to settle for this…
But wait! he thought. I can't be bothered by a battle. I have to activate the machine! Maxie ran up to the machine, and placed the meteor on the top.
"Never!" Archie yelled, throwing out a blue-and-white Pokéball. From it came a Blastoise, who immediately aimed its cannons at Maxie. "Move away from the device, or Blastoise will fire."
"You forgot," said Maxie, "to say when." He hit the button, and the dashed away from the machine.
"Shit. Blastoise, Hydro Pump the machine!" Blastoise blasted water at the machine, but it didn't do anything. Archie told Blastoise to use Hyper Beam instead. The golden energy beam broke through the metal machine, making it explode. Archie breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to Maxie. "Give it up," he said.
"Never," Maxie quickly replied. He sent out his Mightyena.
"So be it. Blastoise, Earthquake!"
* * *
Andrew and Julia ran up to the base of Mt. Chimney.
"There has to be an easier way around," Andrew said to his sister. "But it seems like we have to scale it normally."
"Well…there is an entrance here, but I don't know where it goes," Julia answered.
"Better than standing out here trying to figure out how to get up."
They walked inside the mouth of the cave, into the gaping maw of Mt. Chimney. Stalactites hung like teeth over their heads.
"Almost scary," Julia commented, "how it looks like the cave could like, swallow you." Andrew nodded. They continued until they got to an opening-where they found a cable car that led to the summit of Mt. Chimney. "Convenient." They hopped in the car, and rode it to the top.
When they reached the pinnacle of the mountain, they saw many battles going on; all of which were between Team Magma and Team Aqua members.
"It's like a battle-zone here or something," Andrew remarked.
He and his sister continued rushing through the bouts, trying to avoid them. They reached the very top, where two trainers were fighting. One of them Andrew immediately recognized as the head of Team Magma, but he wasn't sure who the man with a blue bandana and a white-and-black striped shirt on was.
"Blastoise, Earthquake!" the unknown trainer said. His giant, blue, turtle Pokémon stomped the earth, making it vibrate beneath Maxie's Mightyena.
If the machine was still operating, it would be toast now-the ledge it was on collapsed, sending shards of rock plummeting to the ground below.
"Mightyena, Crunch!" Maxie commanded. His Dark Pokémon rushed at Blastoise, and then clamped down on him, causing extreme damage.
"No wonder I couldn't beat him," Andrew said, "look at how powerful his Pokémon are."
Maxie, overhearing what Andrew said, looked over at him. "What are you doing here?" he shouted.
"Stopping you," Andrew quickly replied. He tossed out the Net Ball containing Corphish. "You ready?" he asked. Corphish growled in reply.
"You two, get them!" Maxie shouted to two nearby Magma grunts.
"You two seem to have forgotten about my Milotic," Archie quickly commented. "Milotic, help them out!"
"If we need it," Andrew said. The two Magma Grunts sent out a Ninetales and Arcanine, respectively. "Hm. I guess we'll be in for a challenge." He sent out his Trapinch to help out in the Double-Battle. "Julia, try to take Maxie. Help out…the Team Aqua guy there."
"Archie," Archie replied.
"Right," Andrew shouted back. He turned around and faced his opponents. "Shall we get started?" Ninetales charged at Corphish, attacking with Quick Attack. "Corphish, Surf!" As Ninetales ran toward Corphish, a wave rushed over him and his ally. However, they were both far from being knocked out.
"Arcanine," the grunt started, "Extreme Speed on Trapinch!" The fiery Pokémon dashed at Trapinch, ramming into her with an incredible speed.
"Sand Tomb on Ninetales, Trapinch!" Andrew commanded. Ninetales was encased in sand, leaving Arcanine to fend for itself. "Good job. Now, Corphish, Surf on Arcanine!" The wave, this time, was targeted at the orange-and-black evolution of Growlithe. Arcanine fainted-only one Pokémon now stood between Andrew and Maxie.
Maxie, on the other hand, was not faring so well. He was cornered by Archie and Julia. His plan had failed; the machine was destroyed and, from the looks of it, he was defeated.
He sent out his Charizard. "Well, Archie, it seems as though you have won. For now, at least. Farewell." He hopped on Charizard, and then flew out of the dormant volcano. The other Team Magma agents followed his lead, running out of the mountain and hopping in cars.
"In retrospect," Archie said, humor in his voice, "we probably should have done something about those cars."
As Andrew recalled Trapinch and Corphish, the latter Pokémon started evolving. "Finally!" Andrew exclaimed. "You have finally evolved!" Corphish grew in size, as well as its pincers. A starfish-looking thing appeared on its forehead. "I wonder what Pokémon this is…" As Andrew whipped out his Pokédex, Archie chimed in.
"It's called Crawdaunt," said Archie.
"What's its type?" Andrew asked.
"Water and Dark. He can also use its massive claws to out-power his opponents. It's a pretty good Pokémon."
"Ah," Andrew said, "thanks." He put away his unused Pokédex in his backpack. "Well, then, Crawdaunt…return. We might need you later, though." His new Water-and-Dark Pokémon was swallowed up by the red light of its Pokéball.
"Well, at any rate, I have to get going. Team Magma can't be up to any good."
"Where are they headed?" Julia asked.
"Probably Lilycove. We got word that they are making a base there, so we took advantage of our knowledge by getting there before they did. I'm guessing they want it back, now."
"Lilycove…isn't that near Fortree?" Julia questioned.
"Yup. South-east of it."
"Andrew, if we follow Archie to Lilycove to help Team Aqua out, we can also go to Fortree! We'll kill two birds with one stone!"
"Yeah, we could do that…" Andrew responded, showing no fondness for the plan.
"We could use the help…" Archie remarked.
Andrew shrugged. "All right, then," he said.
"Good. Follow us," said Archie. He led them, along with the other Team Aqua members, outside, and prepared them to leave for Lilycove.
Maxie and the rest of Team Magma regrouped outside of Lilycove. Maxie took the liberty of healing their Pokémon.
"And the verdict is…?" Luke wondered.
"We failed at Mt. Chimney," Maxie said, "but we can still salvage this. Come on, everyone-we must lead an assault on Team Aqua's base before Archie gets back."