Chapter Text
Route 47: Embedded Tower
“Venusaur, stage on!”
“Electivire, stand by for battle!”
Axel’s attention was finally drawn to the two trainers who now opposed him. From atop Gyarados, where he was still wiping away hair that had stuck to his skin when saturated with water, he spotted the male trainer that had caused hassle at Mount Pyre and the girl - the Princess of Hoenn - the perfect target to retrieve for Archie. White flashes filled the room, and a terrifyingly powerful looking Electivire stared him down with red eyes and bristling golden fur. Next to him, a wide eyed, heart marked Venusaur flexed thick, powerful vines, ominously issuing a challenge.
“Hello,” Axel greeted, falsely pleasant. “Are you both having a nice day?”
The male trainer’s arm was flung outwards, guarding his companion and watching him with a cautious, tight lipped scowl. His target, the Princess, looked pale and her eyes kept drifting away from the battlefield they were about to forge in the temple and towards the bundle in his arms. He mimicked her, looking over the mythical Pokemon curiously, brushing his fingers under his neck. May let out a soft, pained moan and reached forward.
“What have you done?” She whimpered, desperate. “Please don’t hurt him. Please.” Axel’s eyes flickered back to her, and he remembered the interview. This girl fancied herself this Pokemon’s mother.
“I can’t take the credit,” Axel replied in a bright, singsong voice. “Unfortunately, this little one was all tuckered out when I got here. He was already injured.” May opened her mouth, ready to beg mercy, ready to plead for her surrogate child, but her companion grabbed her wrist and pulled it down to his side.
“What do you want?” He demanded, gruff. “What’s it going to take for you to return that Pokemon to her?”
“I have what I want,” Axel smiled cheerily. “I have Manaphy.” Pointedly, Axel tapped the side of his Gyarados’ wide head with the tips of his fingers, and in response, the water type lowered him to the ground. Once he regained his footing, Axel reached for a second Pokeball. “I’d like the matching set though. I know Archie is keen to meet with you again, Princess.”
May visibly shook for a moment, before she darted under Paul’s outstretched arm and began. “Venusaur!” She cried, her voice hoarse. “Petal Blizzard on that Gyarados!”
“Carracosta!” Axel tossed out a second Pokeball. “Use Zen Headbutt on that Venusaur!” A bright glare blinded May for a moment as the new Pokemon joined the fray, a giant blue sea turtle taking up space in the narrow frame of the temple, immediately slamming into Venusaur’s side with a blowing periwinkle head.
“Divert target!” May continued; Venusaur followed, sending the pink petals she had been allowing to fill the air around her straight into Carracosta’s back.
“Electivire!” Paul was ready with the cover. “Thunder that Gyarados!”
“Carracosta, intercept with Mud Shot!” Axel had encountered many trainers who tried to cut down his water types with electricity before. The brown sludge that Carracosta shot out collided with the sparking, yellow light of Electivire’s Thunder attack, and Paul grimaced, displeased. Gyarados grinned menacingly in response. “Now Gyarados, use Ice Fang on Venusaur!”
“No!” May cried, worried for her Pokemon. “Venusaur, try and land your Toxic attack!” As the frozen, sharp incisors of Gyarados’ jaw clamped around Venusaur, her treasured grass type released an awful smelling purple ooze that began to fill Gyarados’ mouth. Recoiling from the taste, the water serpent roared, displeased. May winced.
“He’s trying to mix up the battle we want,” Paul muttered to her quietly. May turned to him, curious. “He wants Carracosta against Electivire, and Gyarados against Venusaur. We need to swap it back around.”
“That’s not how double battles work,” May replied stiffly. “It’s more fluid than that. These aren’t two separate battles, we need to work together.”
“No chance.” Paul wasn’t about to take advice from a coordinator, and raised his voice to continue the battle. “Electivire, get in close and his Gyarados with your Thunder Punch, leave no time for that Carracosta to get in the way!”
Reluctant, May followed his lead. “Venusaur, hit that Carracosta with your vine whip and keep it down, don’t let it intercept!” Acting quickly, the grass type flung thick, weighty vines forward and trapped Carracosta by the waist before it could react to protect its ally. Axel paused for a moment, smiling.
“Gyarados,” he grinned, “use Earthquake!” Immediately, his prized Pokemon surged into action and slammed against the temple ground with his mighty tail. The ground splintered and seams broke along towards Electivire, trapping him between jagged stones and causing massive damage. Paul winced, and reluctantly, glanced at May.
“Venusaur!” She didn’t delight in her superiority, “use the cracks! Frenzy plant!” Venusaur released Carracosta for long enough to lift her front legs and then slam them down into the ground. Carracosta used this time to flee, stumbling across from where he had been restrained to hide within the gushing pillar of water that still dominated the room.
Out of the gaps created by Gyarados’ Earthquake, thick, girthy plants forced themselves up. Gyarados was struck, hard. The plants also pushed Electivire out of where he’d been trapped, and though damaged, he was finally able to follow through on Paul’s original call and hit into the belly of Gyarados with a crackling Thunder Punch. Gyarados roared in pain, his mouth gaping and spitting.
Carracosta poked his head out of the water turret and glanced to Axel, who nodded. “Use Giga Impact!” He ordered swiftly, and the giant fossil Pokemon went charging forwards towards Venusaur. Too short in the leg to get out of the way in time, Venusaur took the bulk of the hit. Meanwhile, Gyarados was wincing, slowly pulling himself upright. Paul glanced over it cautiously.
“I think that Toxic is finally kicking in,” he noted to May quietly. May nodded back. “That Carracosta is our main threat.” As though aware of his name being mentioned, Carracosta grinned, slapping his powerful flippers together and standing proudly in front of the weakened Gyarados.
“Venusaur can’t take another hit like that Giga Impact,” May replied quietly, her lip trembling. Her eyes flashed back towards Axel, and the small unconscious bundle of blue in his arms. “Why hasn’t Manaphy woken up yet? What has he done to him?” Her voice was laced with an urgent, overwhelmed sense of fear. Paul sucked in a short breath.
“Don’t let it distract you,” he said crisply.
“Carracosta, use your Hydro Pump!” Axel ordered, looking equally shaken. His eyes kept flitting back towards Gyarados, worried for the damage his friend had taken. “Take them out!” Paul grinned.
“Electivire, counter shield!” He ordered, his voice hard and unwavering. Electivire jumped forward, thunder energy crackling around him and becoming cage-like, and stood in front of Venusaur. The water collided with the energy of Electivire’s shield and the electricity came to life. As water was broken apart and shredded to each side, the electric voltage from Electivire began to travel along the attack to meet Carracosta in the mouth. Axel cried out, stunned, as his second Pokemon fell down, severely weakened.
“Venusaur, finish them up with one final Petal Blizzard!” May threw in her following attack with a slight flourish of the arm, as though she were finishing a contest battle. The sharp, blossom pink petals shed from Venusaur’s giant fuchsia plant and then filled the air, before taking off towards Axel’s weakened Pokemon with such immense speed that there was no way for Axel to consider a counter attack.
“No!” He grimaced, watching as his Pokemon dropped to the ground under the assault of the petals, and quietly, he conceded. Juggling Manaphy in his hands, he balanced him carefully against his shoulder so that one hand was free to return his Pokemon to their Pokeballs. “You’ll pay for that.” Axel wasn’t smiling anymore.
“You’re weak,” Paul told him bluntly. “You have no way of beating us. Hand over that Pokemon if you know what’s good for you.” Axel pursed his lips, as though pretending to consider his options, and then took out a small, waterproofed device from his back pocket and pressed a little black button on the side.
“This is Admin zero-zero-two, checking in,” he said brightly into the microphone, “no grunts available, sighting code Princess. Requesting immediate backup.” Paul scowled, subconsciously glancing towards May, who’s eyes had not left Manaphy. “Coordinates to follow.” He pressed another button, and a soft, red light began to glow, along with a quiet, continuous beep. A crackle of feedback sounded, and a voice responded. Neither May nor Paul could make out the words, but the smile growing on Axel’s face told them all they needed to know.
“We don’t have long.” Paul’s statement was accurate, but that didn’t stop May from finding it unhelpful.
“How far do you expect to go without him?” Axel gestured to the unconscious Pokemon on his shoulder. His eyes glanced towards May. “What kind of mother would abandon-”
“Enough!” May snapped, moving as though to start charging forwards at him. “Give him back!” Paul reacted quickly, grabbing her by the scruff of her shirt and pulling her backward to restrain her, locking an arm around her waist. “Let me go - let me…!”
“He’s goading you.” Paul’s response was dry but pointed, his eyes trained on Axel’s growing smirk. “He’s trying to get to you, kid. Don’t rise to it.”
“I don’t care!” May struggled against him, desperate to slip free. “I need - I need to…”
“Stay. Calm.” Frustrated, Paul spoke through his teeth. May flinched, but trusted him enough to settle, leaning forward against his arm to arch towards Manaphy but not enough to resist him.
“Recall your Pokemon,” Axel instructed firmly, looking between the still threatening Electivire and Venusaur who were currently staring him down. “I don’t want any tricks.”
“Do it,” Paul confirmed. "We can't risk hitting Manaphy." His grip on May was oddly tight. Simultaneously, they each lifted their Pokeballs and returned their reluctant partners in a flash of red light.
“Good,” Axel nodded, looking back to Manaphy for a moment. His brow creased ever so slightly with concern, and May caught it.
“What happened to Manaphy?” She asked thickly, her eyes fogging. “At least tell me that. What did you do to him?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Axel replied snidely, almost offended. “I found him like this. He’s exhausted.”
“You’re lying!” May snapped back, a few tears bubbling in her eyes. “You’re lying, and I’ll make you pay for it! I won’t let you hurt him again!” Axel looked at her strangely, as though morbidly interested in her upset. “No one hurts my family and gets away with it!” This made Axel smile, almost maliciously, and his eyes began to glow in recognition.
“Oh yeah,” Axel paused, tilting his head to the side. “You’re grieving or whatever, right? Your house got torched by Magma.” May froze, her tears beginning to run along her cheeks and drip from her chin. She took a deep, shuddering gasp that vibrated against where Paul’s arm secured her waist and stopped her from physically attacking him. She heaved a noiseless sob. “You tried to save your Dad from that fire, and you failed. And now, you’re trying to find Manaphy before Aqua does, and it seems that you’ve failed again.” May clasped a hand over her mouth to stop from throwing up, and she screwed up her eyes, as though screaming silently into her palm. “You really do just let everyone down. Rough break.”
This seemed to hit a final note with Paul. Reacting on instinct alone, he threw May behind him, charged forwards, and punched Axel square in the face.
Rustboro City
“Good afternoon, how can I help you today?” Nurse Joy asked brightly, the skin around her eyes creasing with her smile.
“Good afternoon,” Gary replied politely. “I got a notification on my PokeNav that a delivery has arrived for me here. For Gary Oak? It should have a return label to Pallet Town?”
“Let me check.” Joy nodded, immediately turning and rooting through a large cabinet behind her red, plastic welcoming desk. It took her a moment, filtering through various parcels of different shapes and sizes, some wrapped in white thin paper and others with tense brown craft paper. It wasn’t uncommon for parents to send out care packages to their traveling children for when they arrived at certain Pokemon Centres they knew they would be due to arrive in. “Ah! Here! Gary Samuel Oak, right?”
“That’s me,” Gary nodded. Joy showed him a parcel that was decently heavy considering its small, rectangular shape. The perfect size for a large book.
“Do you have any identification?” Joy checked. Gary nodded, pulling his wallet out from his pocket and passing her his trainer card. It was a little out of date, but Joy didn’t seem to mind, nodding happily.
“Good enough for me!” She passed him the parcel. “By the way, I have to ask. Do you bear any relation to…”
“Professor Oak?” Gary grimaced. “You could say that. Thanks, Nurse Joy, later.” As he turned and began to walk away, he looked over his shoulder to give the starstruck nurse a friendly wave, and then returned to focusing on the parcel. It had arrived much quicker than he’d anticipated but he could see from the excessive stamps placed on and around the parcel that his grandfather had paid for express shipping. The thought left a warm feeling in his chest, and he made a mental note to get in touch to say thank you.
To give himself a moment of privacy away from Ash and Dawn to make some preliminary progress, he made his way to the Pokemon Centre Cafe. He ordered a cup of steamy mint tea, having had too much bad coffee in the hospital to stomach anymore, and settled into a quiet corner. He lay the book flat on the grey, square table, and began to inspect it between sips.
“The Origins of Lore, by Professor Mary Spindle…” he murmured to himself, skimming the blurb. Then, he turned to the contents page and ran along it with an outstretched finger. “Tribes… Sihoenn Legends…”
It didn’t take long to find a far more detailed account of the very legends he had once told May, and more recently had attempted to tell Dawn. As he went further, references to the three tribes became clearer. The Terrian Tribe, based in the Hoenn Mainlands, and the People of the Water who spread far and wide across the globe, making homes wherever the coast met land. Finally, the Draconids, who was rumoured to have splintered into many smaller, more secretive tribes, following their departure from a place called the Sky Pillar which they had built to worship Rayquaza.
“The Sky Pillar…” Gary sucked his lips between his teeth, considering this. He wondered why the tribes might have left there if it was such a sacred space to them, and why they would separate into smaller, widely flung tribes. Nevertheless, it was a starting point. Now, he just needed to find it.
Route 47; Embedded Tower
As Axel fell backward, May watched as if it were in slow motion. He staggered for a moment before losing his footing, and then his head lodged back before his torso did, meaning that when he landed on the hard stone floor it was with a loud, echoing slam.
May wasn’t one for swearing. “Fuck,” she said, despite this.
“Like you weren’t thinking it,” Paul smarmed back at her, glancing over his shoulder at her. Still shaking from Axel’s cruel words, May shrugged wordlessly, her mouth agape. Ignoring her, Paul reached down towards Axel’s now unconscious body. Carefully, he lifted Manaphy from out of his limp grasp and turned to May. He held the exhausted Pokemon out to her like a gift.
Bubbling back into sobs, May flew towards them both. Scooping Manaphy into her arms, she cradled him like she would a baby, touching his neck, his head, his torso, checking for vital signs that he was alive and well.
“He’s fainted,” Paul noted, reassuringly. “No different to when a Pokemon passes out at the end of a battle.”
“Thank goodness,” May breathed, agreeing. “He’s okay, I’ve got him and he’s okay.” She seemed to murmur to herself at this point, in a dreamy, lost voice, as though washed away in a trance. Paul looked around them, looking at the inscriptions on the walls he knew they no longer had time to study.
“We need to go,” he reminded her, reluctantly. “Aqua will be here soon. Do you have something that can take pictures?”
“My phone,” May replied, reaching into her pocket with her free hand. “Don’t you?” Paul shook his head. “Your phone doesn’t take pictures?”
“No.” Paul gestured with his head towards the walls. “Photograph the engravings on the wall to look at later.”
“Right!” May got right to work. She’d always had an eye for focusing a camera well, and it didn’t take her long to get some clear images of the inscriptions he was interested in. As she photographed, Paul glanced out of the temple entrance, checking for signs of trouble. Once confident if anyone was coming, they at least weren’t nearby yet, he looked up at the walls around them while May finished up her work.
The inscriptions showed Kyogre and Groudon again, warring. Kyogre was winning, in this image, with a strengthened glowing form enhanced by the bright red piping around his form. A person stood riding him, both arms raised, a circle hovering above them. Groudon was cowering away, and water-type Pokemon were surging towards Groudon as though ready to strike.
“Got it,” May broke him out of his thoughts.
“Let’s go.” Paul checked the entrance again. The sea looked empty of issues, which was reassuring, and the cliffs looked just as difficult to manage as ever. Quietly concerned about how long it would take them to distance themselves from Axel’s beeping monitor, he tried to think of a faster solution. For a moment, while he thought, he wondered if he could hear something.
“What?” May must have noticed his expression shift, Paul realised. She was too good at that.
“Do you hear something?” He asked quietly, tilting his head out of the entrance slightly for a better chance of hearing. It was hard to make out over the sound of wind whipping past them from the ocean ahead, but there was something he could just about hear.
“Huh?” May leaned outwards a little herself and closed her eyes to focus. It was a quiet whirring sound. It began to get louder. They held eye contact for a moment, waiting for one of them to figure it out.
“The air,” Paul figured it out first. “They’re coming from the air.” He looked up, grinding his teeth together, and spotted a Helicopter not far away. “That’s bad news.”
“We can fight our way out,” May reasoned, braver than she felt.
“I don’t think that’s an option,” Paul replied, stiff. “They’ll just keep calling in more reinforcements until we fall. Then what?” His eyes drifted to the resting Pokemon in May’s arms, and she tightened her grip protectively. “No. We need a different exit.”
“Okay,” May looked around, desperate. “Where though?”
“This water must lead to the ocean,” Paul reasoned, looking at the pillar of water still crashing down. “Do you have any water-type Pokemon with you?”
“I have my Wartortle,” May offered, taking out her Pokeball. “He’s not strong enough to carry us both.”
“He can help us get through whatever this passage is and lead us to the surface somewhere else,” Paul decided, not confident but knowing they had limited options and time. “From there, we can figure it out.”
“Got it.” May, for once without flourish or a raised voice, tossed Wartortle’s Pokeball to bring him forward. Paul remembered, for a moment, watching this Pokemon perform in the Wallace Cup from a television in a Pokemon Centre somewhere in Sinnoh. He remembered it using a swirling Aqua Tail attack. He wasn’t sure why he thought about it.
Wartortle was quickly receptive to the plan and tried not to look nervous as Paul and May each took a firm grip on the peak of his shell. May counted them down - “Three, two, one!” - and they jumped into the gushing water, eyes closed tight.
The saltwater stung against tired skin, but with Wartortle directing them and each of the trainers kicking as best they could, they managed to navigate through the tunnel and out through a conveniently open stone passageway. The water grew foggier as the heavy current of the pouring water slowed into a more steady calm of the open ocean, and they emerged into a wide open underwater space, filled with tangling seaweed and wild Horsea and Shellder, littered amongst the ocean life haphazardly.
Continuing to kick bravely, feeling their lungs burn with the weight of their held breaths, May and Paul continued to push upwards. Wartortle sped them up and kept their direction skyward, and May kept a tight grip around Manaphy with her free arm. They broke the surface of the water, gasping and spluttering. Wartortle’s face relaxed into pure relief as May coughed out a little seawater, functioning and well. Paul let go of Wartortle for a moment to wipe the hair from his eyes, coughing himself, and then began to look for the best way to return to land. They could see the helicopter clearly, and beneath it, the very cliff face they had just fled from. A ladder was descending from the aircraft and countless grunts in Aqua uniforms were dripping from the sky, ready to take apart the temple piece by piece.
“Just in time,” May panted, looking back to Manaphy again in concern. “We need to - to get away somewhere, where we can get Manaphy healed up.”
“Sure.” Paul took a grip of Wartortle again, noticing he had begun to drift away slightly. “Gastrodon can’t handle saltwater, and Wartortle is exhausted from getting us through that current.” It was true, May realised, looking at her friend. Now that they had emerged from the surface long enough for the water to clear from atop Wartortle’s head, she could see the sheen of sweat that was left behind.
“Can we swim that far?” May asked, already feeling tired from treading water this long. Paul gave her a skeptical look.
“Not if we want to get to a shoreline that isn’t covered in Aqua operatives looking for us,” Paul reminded her briskly. He frowned, closing his eyes for a moment to think. May nestled Manaphy closer to her chest, wishing he were awake enough for her to know she was there. “Hang on.”
Paul began to fidget with his pocket under the water and then brought out his Pokedex. May blinked, unsure how this would help them, but he began to scan across the ocean horizon in search of something, holding his Pokedex aloft as best he could without sinking in the water. He lost balance once or twice, and Wartortle adjusted his weight to help support him without Paul asking. Finally, his Pokedex beeped, and Paul breathed out in relief.
“There,” he nodded and took out two Pokeballs. “Honchkrow, go!”
The great black bird soared up into the sky and then hovered above them, awaiting instructions. It scanned the ocean open below it as though hunting prey.
“That way!” Paul instructed, pointing as best he could in the direction his Pokedex had offered him. Flying into action, Honchkrow began to dive towards the surface and skimmed it, regularly agitating the surface as though to lure something up.
Something came up indeed. The surface of the waves began to shift, and increase in height. May began to struggle to stay afloat above the peaks of the waves, exhausted from the hike, battle, and now maintaining her swimming. Paul offered her an arm to cling to, and they broke through the waves together with Wartortle. A blue, giant creature broke the water and rose from it, revealing itself to be a Wailord that May thought would be large enough to see from space.
May remembered the second Pokeball Paul had taken out, and the pieces of the puzzle came together in her head.
“Good plan,” May panted, squeezing his arm in genuine acknowledgment. Paul didn’t say anything, but his lip twitched as he threw the Pokeball towards the Wailord. “What do we do if Aqua notices the giant Wailord in the backdrop?”
“Be faster than them,” Paul decided. The Pokeball absorbed the giant whale in one, and as it quivered on the surface of the ocean, Honchkrow swept down and picked it up in his talons, ready to return to his trainer. “We can get to land with this.” He said it with a sense of finality, and May knew from his tone that this was the best they could do.
“Okay,” she smiled, rocking Manaphy against her shoulder with the waves. As Honchkrow dropped the Pokeball into the water between them, she tightened her grip on his arm before he could take it back to focus on the task at hand. “Thank you.”
“Hm?” Paul pretended not to know what she was referring to.
“You got him back,” she mumbled against the sea. “I owe you a huge debt.” She released Wartortle’s shell for a moment to wipe waterlogged hair from his cheek, and he didn’t stop her.
Paul didn’t respond to what she said, but once she refastened herself to Wartortle, he retrieved his arm. Grabbing the floating Pokeball in front of him, he focused on the task at hand.
Rustboro City
With the book tucked under his arm, Gary made his way back through to the waiting room of the hospital. He’d already checked in the cafe, where Dawn spent a lot of her time while Ash talked at Max, but she was conspicuously absent so he wondered if she’d be waiting with him. He hadn’t intended to be away long, but he’d become so absorbed in the book that it had ended up being hours of reading.
Caroline’s room was a little way ahead, and Gary quickened his pace, speeding up as he dodged around a Blissey who was carrying a tray of medication over her head, traveling from room to room. His footfall was awkwardly loud against the solid floors, and he felt the eyes of patients and staff around him lingering on him curiously.
As soon as he arrived, he opened the door with a little too much force and staggered slightly on it. Inside the room, the first thing he saw was Dawn jump, her arm retracting instinctively from where it had been wrapped comfortingly around Ash’s shoulder. Max was nowhere to be seen. Dawn looked at Gary, a little shocked, while Ash stared at Caroline’s comatose form, Pikachu napping at the foot of her bed.
“You surprised me!” Dawn half laughed, before smiling. Gary felt something odd swirl in his stomach. “You took longer than I thought.”
“I got a bit sucked into reading this book Gramps sent me,” Gary admitted, rubbing the back of his neck to try and dispel his own confusing discomfort. “Where’s Max?”
“Bathroom,” Ash replied quietly, sitting back in his chair with a sullen look on his face. “I don’t get it, man. Nothing I say is getting through to him. Nothing is bringing him around.”
“It’s going to take time for him to heal,” Dawn reminded him soothingly, placing a hand back on the shoulder she had just been holding, squeezing reassuringly. “Give him time. He’ll come back from this.”
“I just feel so helpless,” Ash continued, burying his face into his hands. “I need to do something to help in some way, or somehow, because otherwise I’m gonna lose my mind feeling bad about this.”
“Well, I might be able to offer something there, Ashy,” Gary cut in, forcing his presence in their conversation. Ash and Dawn looked to him with more open expressions, blinking but alert. “This book gave me a little somethin’ more to go off on about the Draconoids.”
“Yeah?” Ash sat upright, grinning eagerly. “Whatcha got?”
“Well,” Gary pulled up a chair to sit next to them and twisted it backward. He straddled the seat and then leaned against the back of the chair with one arm, the other holding the book up as though demonstrating with it. “This thing mentions about how the Draconoids tribe apparently splintered off into smaller tribes and settled all over the world in different areas, all over the world. Originally, though, they built a shrine to Rayquaza somewhere here in Hoenn, and all lived in the surrounding area together. It’s called the Sky Tower.”
“The Sky Tower?” Dawn repeated, feeling the taste of the words in her mouth. “Do we know where it is?” Gary shook his head.
“No,” he admitted, a little gruffly, “but if we can find where it is, maybe we can track down the Draconoids who can give us more answers on how to stop the conflict between Kyogre and Groudon, if, you know…” Gary shrugged, “that happens at all.”
“Okay,” Ash grinned, clenching a fist to contain a burst of enthusiasm. “Tracking down the Sky Pillar. Seems like a great objective to me!”
“I wonder about those other tribes, the ones who are all around the world,” Dawn mumbled to herself. “I certainly can’t think of anywhere in Sinnoh that would have a Draconoid Tribe.” At this, Ash clicked his fingers.
“What about Iris?” Ash turned to Dawn, excited. “You remember her, right? You met her when you came out to Unova with Cynthia!”
“Of course I remember Iris,” Dawn huffed, “I talk to her more often than you do!” At this, Ash blushed, embarrassed, but then he shook it off with an awkward laugh. “She did say she grew up in a Village of Dragons?”
“Right!” Ash nodded, enthusiasm pouring out of his expression. “That could be one of many around the world!”
“It’s interesting,” Gary pondered, “it feels more real to know that there actually are tribes out there dedicated to Dragon Pokemon. Like it’s all more… feasible, or whatever.”
“Something I learned from traveling with Ash,” Dawn giggled, “is that the unexpected, most unrealistic thing… is usually the right thing!” Ash gave her a questioning glare, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He accused her, slightly sulky.
“We’re getting off track,” Gary cut them off. “Game plan. We start tracking down this Sky Pillar. Maybe you can call your friend Iris and see if she knows anything about the Draconoids.”
“You don’t need to do that,” a voice interrupted them. At the sound, Pikachu’s ears twitched, and he started to awaken, before smiling brightly at the new voice. They turned around, and Max stood in the doorway, rubbing sanitiser into his fingers carefully. “I know where you might find some of the Draconoids.”
“You do?” Dawn stood up, smiling encouragingly. “Max, it’s so nice to… hear your voice.”
“Dad used to tell May and I a story,” Max said stiffly, with a slightly trembling tone that he couldn’t quite exert control over. “All about the Hoenn legends. Then one day, he stopped wanting to tell us it, like it… bothered him. He didn’t want us to spend too much time thinking about it anymore for some reason.”
“He probably had his reasons,” Ash said quietly, watching Max carefully. Max nodded. He moved to perch on the end of his mother’s bed, scratching an excited Pikachu behind the ear as he did.
“I imagine so.” He cleared his throat, trying not to get choked up. “One day, May broke into my room in the middle of the night with cookies and this stupid torch, and she…” he paused to laugh, slightly hollowly, into his palm. Pikachu cooed at him, pressing his face into Max’s side, and Max took from this the strength to continue. “She took over, I guess. It became a little tradition. Once a month, she’d sneak into my room and she’d tell me the story. For like a year, before we met you, Ash.”
“That sounds like May,” Dawn smiled softly, touching her hand over her heart reverently. “Did the story mention the Draconoids? Or the Sky Pillar?”
“Sure,” Max nodded. “The Draconoids built the tower as a home for Rayquaza. Once Rayquaza moved in, they moved out. A lot of the tribe wanted to continue that work, so they went around the world building other homes for other legendary dragons, to protect them and as an offering to them. The ones who remained,” Max paused, “moved to live in a place said to have been gifted to them by Rayquaza himself, by dropping a meteor into the mountains.”
“A meteor?” Gary echoed, his frown giving away how skeptical he felt. Max nodded.
“Right.” He met the researcher dead in the eye, daring him to question the story he grew up loving. “Meteor Falls.”
Johto Oceans; South of Cianwood Islands
Riding on the back of Wailord was less comfortable than May had anticipated, mostly due to how soaked they were with salt, dirt and water. Both she and Paul stripped away their jackets, letting them dry in the sun, but were shaking from the cold wind on wet skin. Any spare clothes or towels they had in their packs were equally sodden, and they’d offer no protection from the chill at this point. Still, she was undeterred from her primary goal of ensuring Manaphy was well, and she’d take a bit of chill along the way if that’s what it took. She made the most of the time they had before reaching land.
She began by laying Manaphy down along Wailord’s smooth back, she ran her fingers across the top of his reverently, lovingly. Then, rooting around her fanny pack, she hunted for her supplies so that she might heal him. Paul was sat a little distance away, guiding the direction for Wailord to surf in, so they had some privacy.
“Oh, Manaphy,” May sighed, her breath catching across his forehead. “What happened to you, sweet boy?” Rummaging through her pack, she found exactly what she needed. A small, dissolvable mineral shaped like a stretched out diamond, mass-marketed as a healing revive for fainted Pokemon. Cautiously, she dragged Manaphy’s mouth open with her thumb, the rest of her hand tucked under his chin to gently guide his jaw lower. Then, with her second hand, she popped the revive on his tongue, letting it fizz and sink into his throat.
While it kicked in, May hunted out her berry pouch. Her supplies were getting low, which was something every coordinator worth their salt avoided, but she had enough sitrus berries at least to feed Manaphy to tide him over before they got to the shore and she could have him checked out by a doctor. Her bag was soaking wet with saltwater, and that had seeped into her berry pouch, so she tried to rinse the berries off with her water bottle to try and rinse away the texture.
Manaphy’s eyes opened, slowly and groggily. May let out a long, slow breath, cupping his face in her hands and kissing his forehead sweetly.
“Hello, little one,” she greeted warmly, feeling herself begin to choke up. “It’s so wonderful to see you again.”
Manaphy blinked and looked at her with wide, disbelieving eyes. Then, his mind caught up with his senses, and his face split into a breathtaking smile that gave May an odd heart palpitation. Manaphy flung his arms around her neck, latching to her, and May remained knelt and hunched over him as they began to cry together.
“You’re okay,” May wobbled, a disbelieving laugh mixed with erratic sobs. “You’re okay. I won’t let anything else happen to you, I promise, I promise.”
As they pulled away from one another, Manaphy’s eyes and antennae went to May’s exposed arm, her skin an odd patchwork of milky white and flushed red from the cold ocean and blistering wind. May shook her head slowly, smiling sadly for a reverent moment, before absorbing herself back into embracing Manaphy like he was a soft toy from her childhood she’d rediscovered after years of being apart.
Manaphy hadn’t spoken words in so long - not since the last goodbye they’d shared and thought would be the final one. But a few words he remembered, and they rolled from him like a muscle memory he’d long forgotten having.
“Love,” he chirped back to her, burying his face in her shoulder. “Love.”
Paul looked over his shoulder at the sound, a little disbelieving. Already in a bad mood from the cold, he was about to say something sharp and unpleasant, something disgusted by the sentimentality, but paused before he did. There was a new light in May’s eyes, obscured a little by her tears but present and hard to miss. Something fiercer, harder, more determined than before. If he’d ever doubted that this Pokemon had viewed her as a mother, and that May viewed this Pokemon as her child, he did not doubt it now.
Paul knew better than most how far the love of a mother could go.
Once the sobbing subsided into embarrassed giggles and fond gestures, May lifted the berries she’d cleaned and offered them to Manaphy to continue restoring his strength. Manaphy nibbled on one of the yellow berries tentatively, and once the skin broke and juice burst over his tongue, he became encouraged and began to eat more enthusiastically. May was watching him, laughing and smiling with a kind of joy that made Paul uncomfortable. So, he turned back to watching their progress, directing Wailord and trying to make the most out of the map he had brought, which had become so completely saturated with water it was falling apart at the seams.
The plan was simple - to skirt around the edge of the Island and make their way back towards Cianwood. Aqua would probably have overtaken the area, and so they would make camp north of the town. Once May was adequately concealed, he would travel into town and collect supplies and try to find information for the next ferry back to the mainland. Then, they would find somewhere to rest and heal properly and make plans for their next steps.
May’s soft giggle distracted him from his thoughts for a second, and he shook them out of his head immediately. There was too much on the line to get her away from Cianwood, now. He didn’t have time to be distracted.
“C’mere!” May appeared next to him when he had hoped she wouldn’t, dropping herself into sitting cross legged by his side. Paul didn’t look at her. “You have to meet Manaphy!”
The blue, mythical Pokemon greeted him with a silly grin and waving arms, and Paul pursed his lips.
“Hello, Manaphy,” he greeted quietly, politely. May beamed.
“See, you can be nice,” she teased him, sticking a tongue out at him as though this was a grand victory. Paul rolled his eyes.
“You’re very loud when you’re happy,” he grunted, displeased. May grinned wider, cuddling Manaphy close and nudging him with her shoulder.
“You bet!” She didn’t take it as an insult, and Paul wasn’t even sure if he’d meant it as one. She nudged him again, leaning harder against his shoulder to garner a reaction, and Paul glared at her, silently warning her to stop. “Aw, come on Paul, smile with me. We did it, you know? We found Manaphy, and a new temple, we beat an Aqua admin, and we’re getting away! We make a pretty good team!”
She was smiling at him so sincerely, so genuinely and so widely, baring her teeth in an unmistakable picture of hope and confidence. Her eyes shone as she waited for his response, open and blue and vulnerable to him. Paul wondered for a moment if this was the same girl so distraught at the loss of her father. He couldn’t find it in himself to deflate her now.
“We do okay,” he agreed quietly. May squeaked, surprised but happy, and Manaphy cheered along with them. With a rush of confidence, May leant her head against his shoulder. He could feel her wet, choppy hair brushing against his neck, but also the warmth of her body at his side, the first burst of anything warm he’d felt since they plunged into the ocean. Paul stiffened, unsure, but then relaxed and concentrated on looking ahead. Finally at peace, May smiled, and the three of them looked out to sea.
Rustboro City
“There’s a route north from here.” Gary traced his finger along the map pointedly. “There’s a bit of a path block here, where the coast dips in, but we can probably either skim the shoreline or we can get across with our Pokemon. I know Blastoise can take at least two of us.” Ash and Dawn exchanged a look, before refocusing on the map in front of them. They were huddled around a table in the Rustboro Pokemon Centre, visiting hours long over, and making plans for their next steps. Their Pokemon were all being checked over by Nurse Joy, preparing for their upcoming journey.
“We’ll make it work,” Ash agreed quickly. Dawn nodded, keen to make progress. “Do we know much about Meteor Falls?”
“We should spend some time preparing,” Dawn answered thoughtfully. “All we know is that this tribe are rumoured to be there, and we don’t know what kind of barriers we might come across in the cave. It’s worth making sure we bring Pokemon that are suited to helping us with all sorts of problems we might face.”
“Sure, we don’t want to have to turn back because we can’t get through something.” Gary nodded along with her, glad she was using her head. “We can set off tomorrow, and if you need any Pokemon transferred to you, make sure you do that tonight. We should also head to the Pokemart, make sure our first aid kits and our medical supplies for our Pokemon are sorted.”
“You’re worrying too much,” Ash gave a goofy kind of laugh. “Relax! With our Pokemon on our side, what can go wrong?”
“A lot of things can go wrong, Ash,” Gary rolled his eyes. “Especially with you around.”
“Hey!” Ash pouted.
“Boys, please,” Dawn sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “It’s best to be ready for anything, especially if this is some deep, ancient cave where a tribe dedicated to Dragon Pokemon have been living and training for centuries.”
“You know,” Ash replied slowly, “I hadn’t thought of it like that.”
“How you don’t get hit by a car every day of your life is a genuine mystery to me,” Gary commented dryly. He stood, pushing his chair back away from him. “We’ve got a plan. All we can do now is prep. Get supplies, get your Pokemon sorted. Try and get some sleep too.”
“Right!” Dawn agreed, standing as well. Ash nodded, his face sobering for a moment.
“It’s a shame Max won’t come with us.” He said sadly, looking down at the map a little longer. He was the only one who remained seated. “I feel awful leaving him here.”
“Oh Ash.” Dawn sat back down, pressing her hand to his cheek. “Please don’t do this to yourself. Max’s grief is awful, and he needs time to heal. But he has Roxanne here looking after him, he has his Pokemon, he has a therapist here that he’s seeing. And he wants to be with his Mom.”
“The first thing Caroline is gonna see when she wakes up,” Gary reminded him, clapping a hand to Ash’s shoulder, “is Max’s face. It’s gonna do them both a world of good.”
“You’re right,” Ash nodded, slow but growing in determination. “We’re doing this for him. To help fix all this. It’s the right thing to do.”
“You got that right,” Dawn agreed, her smile sincere. “For Max.”
Quietly, Ash and Gary quietly echoed her words. “For Max.”