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“Move out!” Ruby cheered along with the two fellow team Magma members in the truck.

The covered truck was sleek and red, unmarked by the team’s emblem, which Ruby found rather odd since it was emblazoned upon pretty much everything else around the base.

While Ruby looked forward to seeing the nearby town, a place called Lavaridge Town as she found out from the other members, they were unfortunately heading in the opposite direction.



Team Magma had a separate route down the other side of the mountain, restricted to only them as the passes were too rocky, jagged, and dangerous for normal people.



“That’s why we’re here!” Petre grinned as the truck bumped along noisily on the unpaved path.

“Careful!” Berk chided him upon rolling over a large rock that nearly tipped the vehicle onto two wheels.

“Come on, we’ve been at this for years now,” Petre continued unabashedly.

The two men have been with team Magma for a few years now, often running errands for whatever was needed. They were among the few who knew the safest routes up and down Mt. Chimney and were the principle members of the mission.

“I’m worried about Ruby,” Berk snarled back. He cast an uneasy eye over to the smaller girl who held tightly onto her seat-belt, though it was already buckled.

Noticing him mentioning her, Ruby was quick to assure him with a, “I’m fine!”

More than just fine, Ruby was excited to see where they were going.

According to the briefing by Leader Maxie, they were to head towards Rustboro City, taking Route 116 while bypassing Rusturf Tunnel by using a shortcut going straight down the side of the mountain instead of circling around.

They were to secure a package from the Devon Corporation and return immediately.



“What’s a Devon Corporation?” Ruby asked.

“If there are no questions, then move out!” he commanded. “Time is of the essence!”



As they were leaving though, Ruby wanted to ask about what he said. She was sure he almost said…



But before she had a chance to call out, Leader Maxie had already walked off with a furrowed brow and grimace.

She lost her opportunity to ask, but became acquainted to the two members who she will be working with for this mission.

“Relaaaax~” Petre slowed the truck to a stop. “We’re just outside of Rustboro City.”

“Already?!” Ruby exclaimed. “That was barely an hour.”

“Hahaha! Yeah, having gravity on your side helps!” Petre grinned, opening the doors and letting fresh air flow in. “Getting back’s going to take a bit longer.”

Ruby stepped outside an immediately smelt the sweet scent of life and light. Tall grass waft back and forth gently in the breeze while sunlight flickered through the shimmering leaves from above.

Her eyes teared up a bit at how much she missed the open sky and watching white puffs of clouds drift by lazily.



The truck itself was discretely placed between some tall trees, effectively hiding it from whomever may come close.

Ruby shook the sense of wonder off and turned back to her senior members.



“So what do we do?” she asked with a serious tone and an excited expression.

“We,” Berk pointed at himself and Petre, “are going to survey the area for a bit and then head into the city.” He pointed at her, “You are going to wait in the truck until we get back.”

“What?!” Ruby squeaked in surprise. “I thought I was coming along to help.”

“Sorry lil’ Red,” Petre rubbed the back of his head apologetically. “Considering how urgent Leader Maxie said this was, we can’t really afford to waste any time.” At her dejected face, he patted her on the shoulder. “Think of yourself as back-up, ‘kay?”

Petre gave Berk a look and when the sterner man didn’t do anything, Petre elbowed him hard in the ribs.

“Oof! Aherm! I mean, we… also need someone to keep an eye on the truck… and… secure an escape…”



“Yeah, yeah…” Ruby muttered glumly. She could tell he was grasping for what to say, but she couldn’t do much else but nod while staring at the ground.

Their retreating footsteps eventually quietened, leaving only her and the truck.

…



No!

Her hand immediately went into her pocket as she pulled out Drei’s Pokeball.



She smiled a bit. At least she could have some company while she was forced to wait.

Just before pressing the button and releasing her friend-

“STOP THIEF!!!”

“KIDNAPPERRRR!”

Shouts and the sound of grass and brush hastily trampled. Ruby immediately stood and looked around to see what was going on.

A bit further down from where she was, she saw two men, one old and bald with a thick beard while the other had a white lab coat and thick round glasses.

She couldn’t tell what was going on, but from their shouts the situation seemed dire.

She took a look at the Magma truck, knowing that she was told to stay put… but she couldn’t just leave this alone!

Someone was in trouble!

She quickly locked the doors and took off in the direction of the shouts.

Coming up to a ledge, she saw below the two men giving chase to a third in blue-white striped clothes and black bandanna. This new man had a briefcase in one hand and a strange bird crying out loudly under his other arm.

Ruby kept pace with them, though they wouldn’t have been able to see her even if their attention wasn’t so focus on the man in front of them.

As she cleared through a few trees hampering her speed, she saw the striped man running into a cave. The two men behind him were thoroughly winded, panting hard and sweating storms. One was old and the other clearly didn’t exercise enough.

Ruby didn’t know what was in the cave, but she couldn’t just let things stand if what those two men were saying was true. And if she stopped to ask them the situation, the thief/kidnapper might get away!

Sucking in her breath, she took off into the cave.



A rush of wind startling the two men were the only indication of her presence, nothing more.

And thus, she dove into the darkness…

…And absolutely regretted it.

Shifting that quickly from bright sunny day to covered cave meant her eyes couldn’t adjust fast enough and she was running blind.



By the time she realized this though, she had already made a turn and could no longer see the the entrance. So focused on tracking down her quarry and rushing as fast as she could, she wouldn’t have noticed until she tripped on a concealed rock.

But turning back wasn’t an option! She already came this far!



As she warily continued forward, she heard stirring around her.

The last time she was in a rocky hallway, a living boulder wanted to lapidate her.

She couldn’t see the ceiling, but that was where the sounds came from.



She cautiously drew out her Pokeball and released Drei.

He immediately started to howl and she quickly clamped her hands around his mouth to stop him.

“Shhh!” she hissed desperately, not wanting to disturb whatever was around. “Listen, I need you to track the guy who came running in here.”

Drei nodded once, showing his understanding.

Sniff. Sniff.

He walked around and searched for a trail that stood out differently than the surrounding cave. There were other scents mixed in. Other people have come and gone… quite recently too….

…

…

… but one scent was just a bit stronger than the others!

“…arf…” he barked softly to alert Ruby. He took off-

CRACK!



And rammed his head into a nearby rock.

“Ooohh~ we’ll never find him like this,” Ruby whispered worriedly, gingerly stroking his head to help stem the pain. Drei can track their scent, but navigating in this darkness wasn’t going to be easy.

Inadvertently, they awoke whatever had been above them, as Ruby heard a slight rustle and Drei growled slightly. Ruby held onto him tighter hoping he would quiet down and whatever was there would leave them alone.

All pretenses were lost as Ruby felt something collide lightly with her head and her arms instinctively went up to protect herself.

Drei yelped loudly and lunged at whatever was attempting to attack her. In the darkness, he missed and landed on the cold dark floor.

His eyes shifted around uselessly so he closed them and focused on his ears and nose.



A shift in the wind. A scent flowing to and fro.

…

There!

He jumped and tackled whatever had been trying to assault Ruby. Its soft and light body proved no resistance and the two tumbled to the floor.



With his initiative and greater mass, his paws pinned down its struggling wings and he growled dangerously. His fangs right next to its flesh, ready to deliver a bite at a moment’s notice.

The struggling ceased when the creature realized it was trapped and gave small weak cries he could barely hear.

Drei didn’t bite though, waiting for Ruby to give him the command.

As for Ruby, with whatever attacked her out of her hair, she looked over to where Drei landed. Given enough time, her eyes have adjusted to the cave. There was just enough light falloff from the entrance to make out the vague silhouette of Drei and whatever was beneath him.

“What was that?” Ruby asked and cautiously edged closer.

A small creature Ruby couldn’t quite make out against the dark ground. She warily poked a finger at what was pinned under Drei’s paw and felt a a panicked shudder.

Its pitiful cry made her wonder if it was sleeping and they had accidentally woken it up.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to it and was surprised to find that the creature seemed to calm down a bit upon hearing her.

Perhaps the creatures of this world understood human languages to an extent?

Drei seemed to be able to understand her perfectly and it wasn’t like she sat down with him and established a set of rules for communications.

“Um… if we let you go, please don’t attack us?” Ruby asked and after a rustle that she could only hope was an agreement, she nodded to Drei to lift his paws.

The moment freedom was granted, the creature took off into the dark. Ruby and Drei could not longer see it, but they were wary the reverse wouldn’t hold true.

“I don’t know if we can continue,” Ruby murmured. “Even if we did find the guy, it might really be dangerous if we can’t see anything.” The faint outlines of rock-forms were barely enough to keep them from stumbling, if the man proved to be hostile…

While she was wondering, she heard slight flapping again and a light touch on her head.

“Eh!” Her hand flew up again and brushed against something soft and fuzzy.

A familiar high pitched cry sounded next to her ear.

She couldn’t see it, but the creature from before perched itself atop her hair.

She was about to swat it away when she felt two soft taps on her left cheek from one of its wings and a soft chirp next to her ear, “…zu-zu-zu…”

Ruby turned slowly towards the left and felt another tap, this time on both cheeks.

“…We should go this way?” she asked carefully.

“Zu!” came the happy chirp.

Ruby hesitated for a moment but decided that she didn’t really have much else to lose. She took out Drei’s Pokeball and asked if he wanted to stay inside so traversing would be a bit easier.

While Drei was hesitant to let Ruby go on alone without him already out to protect her, he realized that there wouldn’t be much he could do. At least Ruby had a guide… even if he didn’t trust it too much.

“Okay! We need a name for you then, since I can’t keep calling you ‘you’,” Ruby announced. “Hmm… what would be good?”

She tried to think of something that would befit her new friend.

After a while of walking in the darkness now with a guide, Ruby had a moment of brilliance. “How about Wayne?”

“Zu-zu?” a confused chirp.

“A play on how you’ll show me the ‘Way’,” Ruby giggled.

A shudder of wings and a high pitched chirp and Wayne agreed as well.



The search was surprisingly short and simple as every step Ruby got more and more used to the darkness and could carefully sidestep the rocks that littered the ground while Wayne kept her from bumping into walls and honing in on her target.

Eventually, she heard voices and she sped up while keeping as quiet as she could.

The area in front of her was slightly lit from what Ruby could tell was a small lamp. Two long shadows were cast, stretching high into the cavernous ceiling.



“Heh~! Jackpot!,” a loud male voice called out. “Got the goods and a little bonus!”

A pitiable squawk came from under his arm and Ruby could see the dejected captured bird.

Its long yellow beak drooped along with its eyes. The cry of “Kidnapper!” from earlier resounded in Ruby’s mind, the hurt and desperation of the man and the sadness and despair of the bird in front of her; she vowed to reunite them by whatever means necessary.

There were two other people in the cave, a man and woman. Both wore stripped clothes and black bandanas with an emblem on it. Both looked kind of scary and Wayne kept tapping her head to get away. He didn’t want anything to do with scary people.



But Ruby couldn’t do that.

“Um… excuse me!” she called out boldly.

“W-what the?!” both man and woman whirled around to face her.

“Please return what you took from the people outside the cave!” Ruby shouted. She didn’t think they would comply, but all she needed was an opening.



Both of them looked at Ruby for a moment and then burst out laughing.

“What is this -hahahaha?!” the woman laughed loudly and it reverberated off the stony walls. “A-a Magma Grunt here?”



“Heh, you’ve got a lot of guts taking us on alone,” the man wiped away tears in his eyes. “Come on, we already got what we came for so we don’t have to deal with this brat,” he turned and spoke to his partner.



But as he stepped forward, his arms felt lighter.

“What the-?!” he looked down to see both suitcase and bird missing. Already retreating into the darkness, the girl ran off with their ill-gotten gains.

The moment they let down their guards, Ruby sneaked up and snatched away their loot.



“After her!” the woman shouted and they both took off after Ruby. “She won’t get far! She doesn’t even have any running shoes!”

Ruby didn’t know what that had to do with anything, but she put on another burst of speed, surprising her pursuers.

Unfortunately, even with Wayne guiding her, she couldn’t make full use of her speed else she risked tripping on a hidden out-cropping. Such a stumble will be fatal for they’ll be on her in an instance.

Just in front of her, she saw the faint light of the entrance. If she could make it out, then she will be free to go as fast as she wanted… but that won’t stop them from pursuing her and there was always the chance that they would speed up as well or have some other plan to capture the bird again.



One last turn before the entrance was in sight…

The bird under her arm had been silent all this time, realizing Ruby was trying to help it. Ruby looked down and quickly conveyed a plan.

Two men waited nervously outside.



They feared entering the cave without a Pokemon. Getting accosted by not only the theif/kidnapper, but also wild Pokemon would not help anybody, least of all themselves. And so they were forced to wait fretfully.

“GO!” a sharp voice cried as a girl dressed in red with a little bat sitting upon her head burst through the entrance.

Her arm sallied forth and something flew into the nearest tree.

Without missing a beat nor a step, she scooped up a stone and broken branch along her path.

Two more figures exited as well, shouting and chasing after the girl.

She ignored them and continued to run into the forest.

“W-was that team Magma?” the glasses man asked.

“And Aqua,” the other muttered.

“Gull! Gull!” a happy squawk called out, grabbing both men’s attention.

“Peeko!” the old man rushed forward with arms outstretched to welcome his old friend back.

The bird eased down in front of him and lightly released the briefcase it had been holding before swooping into his arms, it’s wings folding around his neck in a hug.

“The Devon Parts!” the glasses man hurriedly picked them up and held them guardedly close to his chest.

“Hmm?” the old man listened intently to his bird crying repeatedly.

“You don’t say?” he stroked his beard and looked towards the forest. “That girl rescued you?”

“GET BACK HERE!!!” the man roared and Ruby eep-ed.

Once in the open like this, Ruby was able to put on even more speed. She kept slow when first exiting the cave so that she could draw their attention to herself instead of where the bird flew to.



Now? Her feet barely touched the ground before already launching into the next step.

And yet, they kept up with her fairly well. She could tell the gap between them was widening, and eventually she would be able to lose them completely, but they were adamant if nothing else.

Her feet skid as she rounded upon the truck she rode.



“Gotcha’ twerp!” the woman shouted. “Now give us bac-?!”

Ruby slowly turned and around and showed that in her arms were just a stick and stone. She released her grip and let them clatter to the ground.

“Great, now we have to get it back again,” the woman complained. She slapped her forehead, realizing it was a feint. The Magma girl was good, she’ll admit that much.

“Too bad it won’t save you,” she glared and drew out a Pokeball.

Ruby froze.



She didn’t exactly think this far ahead and from the way those two were glaring at her, she felt her fear rising.

“Hold up!” a familiar voice called out.

Ruby turned in relief as Petre and Berk rushed up.

“An ambush?!” the man called out and took a step back. He grabbed his partner’s arm and pulled her back as well. They couldn’t afford to get captured now.

“You messing with one of ours?” Berk growled menacingly.

He and Petre pushed Ruby behind themselves, shielding her from their enemies.

“Three against one…” the woman muttered. The numbers advantage were not theirs. And these men look a lot stronger than the girl. “Tch! You may have foiled our plans this time, but you won’t get so lucky next time!” she called out as both of them broke through the bushes and disappeared.

Petre and Berk kept a silent vigil for several more minutes before packing into the truck.

“Who were those guys?” Ruby asked as she buckled up as well.

“Team Aqua,” Berk answered tersely.

“Team Aqua?” Ruby repeated.

“Let’s get back to base,” Petre sighed. “We need to inform Leader Maxie and I think he’s better suited to explain to you.”

“…That ends our report, sir!” Petre sounded to Maxie.

“I see,” Maxie spoke with closed eyes. “You were unable to secure the target.”

“Yes, sir,” Petre’s voice was filled with regret.

“No, I anticipated this,” Maxie sighed. “I had only hoped that we were not too late based on our information.”

He shook his head. “No matter. Thank you for your efforts men,” he nodded. “Is there anything else to report?”

At this Petre grinned. “As a matter of fact sir! Lil’ Red, I mean Ruby, foiled an Aqua plan.”

Maxie’s eyebrow rose. “Really now?”

“You should have seen their faces,” Petre laughed. “They were so mad and then they saw me and Berk running up and thought it was an ambush. Turned tail and ran faster than a houndour out of hell!”

“I-I didn’t do anything,” Ruby shyly scratched her cheek. She shook her head and focused on the question at hand. “You said they were team Aqua… Just what is team Aqua?”

If Ruby had to hazard a guess, they were pirates? They dressed the part and if their earlier actions were any indications…



“As you may have guessed, land and sea, we stand in direct opposition to them,” Maxie explained. “They aim to flood the world, drowning countless thousands of Pokemon and humans alike! We must prevent that at all costs!”

“D-drown the world!” Ruby gaped in shock. “Why?!”

“…” Maxie remained silent and looked away. “I… cannot say for certain. I cannot fathom the machinations that run through the mind of mad-men.”

He looked up seriously at Ruby. “I can only say that we need all the help we can get. Ruby, will you lend us what strength you can? We aim to embetter the lives of all, Pokemon, men, and all others. Will you help us?”

Ruby looked at his outstretched hand. An offer to join the team.

Help people? Help Pokemon?



Her answer was already decided.

“Of course!” she answered back.



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