MossDeep and the 7th Badge (The Friend I Fell In Love With) part 28

You woke up the next morning, cuddled up in your sleeping bag, and when you let your head fall to the right you found that your Blaziken was cuddled up against you, snoring. When you turned your head to the left you found Latias pressed against you, and when you looked down Pichu was asleep on your stomach. Still not remembering what had occurred the night before, you stretched a bit and found that your head came into contact with something soft and furry Abby.

'That's odd. you look down again and find that below Pichu, your Swellow was sleeping near your feet, and when you looked around to see if Kingdra was still out, you found her resting about twenty feet away in the shallow water surrounding the small island you had camped on.
"At least you guys are loyal." you yawn, picking Pichu up and placing her down beside Abby so that you could stand.
Your entire team's eyes came open and they all greeted you, but none of them stood. You couldn't blame them. The sand made things surprisingly comfortable. Out of habit you look around for Steven, but find that he's no where to be seen, and then you remembered everything that had occurred the previous day.
"Oh." with a sluggishly slow shrug you step over Torchyana, find your pack and take out a water.
Swellow spread his wings and after a moment of stretching took flight, surveying the tiny island that you had, at some point, tiredly decided to camp on. Abby stretched, with Pichu sitting on her back, and then smelled the air with her fangs bared. Torchyana invaded your sleeping bag, and Latias pursued Swellow.
Kingdra yawned a little bit (but didn't cause an uber powerful storm) and went to a deeper place in the water, diving under and enjoying herself now that she had the opportunity to actually swim in a nice wide open place.
After taking a few drinks of the water you stood again and, taking note that the day was already looking like it was going to be very good, you dig out your bikini and duck behind a tree to change.
You were almost done changing and placing your clothes back into your pack when you heard a distressed cry from your Kingdra and then an enraged cry from the rest of your team.
Quickly finishing up, you leap out from behind the tree to find Kingdra circled by two Craudant, a Sealeo, and a Sharpedo. The rest of your team stood in a half circle on the shore, ready to attack if they attacked.
"Kingdra, jump onto the beach!" you ordered. "And Pichu thunderbolt!"
Kingdra leapt out of the water and landed on the beach and Pichu jumped into the air and unleashed the attack. It missed the Sealeo that it had been aimed at, but it struck the water, shocking all of the water types gathered around, just as you had intended.
"Abby, razor wind!" she snarled and began gathering the wind, "Torchyana, ember!" the Blaziken blew the flames from his beak, striking all of them, because they were still stunned from Pichu's attack. "Swellow, aerial ace!" the bird type quickly swooped down, striking them all, "Lati-" needles drenched in poison shot at you from your left, "psychic!"
The red and white dragon stopped the attack in midair and then sent it back, striking a Tentacruel.
'We have to avoid being poisoned..'
Abby unleashed her attack upon the group of pokemon, while Torchyana and Latias moved in front of you to guard you from the Tentacruel.
Then you noticed someone on the back of the Tentacruel and an idea came into your mind.
"Torchyana, get that person from the Tentacruel's back and Latias, use psychic!"
Torchyana leapt out, landed on top of the Tentacruel, took hold of the person on its back, and then leapt back onto the beach just as the water/poison type found itself trapped in Latias' attack.
All of his pokemon stopped attacking once your Blaziken held him up in front of them by his shirt, let his clawed fist catch fire, and then threatened to punch him.
"What is your problem?" you demanded, standing in front of the Team Aqua member. "I mean, all my Kingdra was doing was enjoying herself in the water and you had to just attack her and then," your voice continued getting colder as your rage grew. "Then you dared to attack me, with no hospitals around, on an island out in the sea where no one would find me?"
He trembled slightly and tried to glower back at you, but then he cowered and just looked away.
"Answer me." Torchyana let his left wrist, the one that was holding the teen, catch on fire.
"I was sent to investigate MossDeep, but on the way I saw that Kingdra and the rest of your pokemon and recognized them as yours!" Torchyana let the flames on his left wrist extinguish. "So, because you brought down our base, and foiled our efforts a couple times before, I thought that I'd ambush you and get revenge."
"I see." you mutter. "Now call your pokemon back."
Hesitantly, he did so, and then you took his pokemon away from him and handed the belt that they were on to your Absol.
"Tell me, what were you going to investigate in MossDeep?"
Torchyana dropped the Team Aqua member and everyone of your pokemon surrounded him, guaranteeing that there would be no escape for him.
"I'm not sure!" he looked around nervously. "I guess just making sure that no
Team Magma members were up to anything."
"Ah." you nodded and took a few steps closer to him. "And what's your name?"
He looked at everything but you, "Chris."
'Now what am I going to do with him?' you thought of a few possibilities, but then...
"I guess I'll be taking you with me, eh?"

...
He looked up at you, surprise written across his face.
"Why?!"
"Well, I can't really just release a criminal, now can I?"
Before long you had the Team Aqua member bound with some rope and then tied onto your Kingdra so that his head and shoulders were above the water, but he couldn't escape. You hid his pokeballs in your pack and then, after calling back all of your other pokemon, except Pichu, you climbed onto Kingdra.
"Is this really necessary?!" Chris demanded, struggling vainly.
"Maybe not." you grin. "But it sure does make this little trip of mine to MossDeep a bit more interesting."
"Chu!" the little yellow mouse agreed.
The breeze was gentle and you could actually enjoy it with Pichu scaring away all of the Tentacool that continued trying to attack Kingdra for no apparent reason other than they had nothing better to do.
"So how did you meet Lance and Steven?"
You look over at him and think for a moment, "Why?"
"Well, you know, just curious as to how you would know a dragon master and the son of Devon Corp's president." he then sarcastically added, "It's a typical sight, you know."
You shoot an annoyed look at him and reply, "I met Steven in Rustboro city, and I met Lance in Slateport."
"Hunh." he was silent for a while. "But why didn't Lance just leave it to Steven to take down Team Aqua's base?"
"What do you mean?" you thought the answer was quite obvious. "They were breaking up a group of criminals."
"That still doesn't answer it." he retorted. "Those two have hated each other for a while. I mean, it's common knowledge if you know anything about Devon Corp and the Pokemon G-Men."
"Enlighten me. I'm from America, so I'm not exactly rehearsed in Hoenn's, Johto's, or Kanto's history."
"Well, you know how Team Rocket formed that machine that forced pokemon to evolve?"
"I heard about that." you reply.
"Okay. It caused a Gyarados to go into a rage and it almost destroyed a city."
You nodded.
"The parts were purchased from the Devon Corporation. Lance discovered that, and then tried to do something to the company for selling parts to a criminal gang."
"Like what?"
"I think he tried to have the president thrown in prison and the Corporation placed into someone else's care." he attempted to shrug, but it wasn't exactly effective. "He almost succeeded."
You gaped slightly. Mr. Stone? Prison?
"I'm glad he didn't." you mutter, a sense of distaste washing over you. "Mr. Stone is a very sweet man."

...
The two of you were quiet for a long while as Kingdra continued swimming in the direction of your next gym battle. Every once in a while you would bring out your PokeNav to check if you were going in the right direction.
"I'm water logged." Chris groaned after about two hours of swimming in the relative direction of MossDeep City.
"Yeah, well, I can't really trust you after you tried to kill me." you retort, pushing off Kingdra and swimming beside her so that you could stretch your aching joints.
"Dra!" the water dragon agreed with that completely as did the nodding Pichu that was standing on her head.
He was quiet for a while, staring down at the water with an extremely bored expression on his face, "How did you get such a good team, anyway?"
"It runs through my blood." you reply, looking into the horizon in a cheesy type of dramatic way.
He attempted to glare at you, but the ropes binding him resulted in his failure. "You know what I mean."
"Um, I saw a pokemon that I liked, had my starter fight it and... caught it?" you reach out and take hold of Kingdra again so that she could pull you. "Then I trained them. How else?"
He blushed slightly, realizing that his question was a bit naive, but then inquired again, "But you had a Latias. That's very rare."
"Things just happen."
"...I suppose they do."
'Wait, this is a good opportunity for me to let my pokemon get some exercise!'
Within a couple of moments Swellow and Latias were flying above you, playing with one another, and basically enjoying the little bit of freedom they had been given. A little pang of regret struck you when you remembered that this was the most they had gotten in a while.
"Hey, I have an idea!" you looked over at the bound criminal. "Why don't you tie me to the flying dragon up there so that I can... dry off!"
"Sheesh, calm down!" you yell back.
He grumbled for a moment and then shut up for a while. Eventually you climbed back onto Kingdra and watched as Latias and Swellow flew above you.
After about an hour or two more you looked up at the horizon and saw an island coming into view. The air seemed to be a bit different, like the fragrance of plants and flowers was permanently suspended in the wind.
Quickly, you brought out your PokeNav to confirm your thoughts.
It was MossDeep.

...
Upon reaching the shore you called out Torchyana and Abby.
"Okay guys, you make sure he doesn't escape." you ordered, untying Chris just long enough for Torchyana to take hold of his arm and Abby to bite into one of his sleeves.
"So, whatcha going to do with me?"
"I don't know..." you shrug sarcastically. "Turn you in?"
"Aw, you know you dont really wanna do that..."
You stared blankly at him and he finally just sighed. Smiling slightly you turned and called back Latias, Kingdra, and Swellow, placing them back in their appropriate places.

You led the way across the beach until you finally found a staircase that led up to the higher levels of the island where the city was located. Chris grumbled his complaints and growled back at Abby as you all walked up the stairs and then stopped at the top to rest for a short while.
You scrunched your eyebrows together a bit, looking at the buildings.
"You'd think it would be a bit more crowded, since it's called a City." you remark.
It really wasn't crowded.
"Just hurry up."
You shot a slightly confused look back at Chris and then nodded, leading the way through the city for a little while, knowing that it would not take long to find the police station. Those were never hard to find.

You left him with the City's Officer Jenny, but oddly enough he seemed more comfortable with the police than he did with you. It was like he felt as if he were in control now that he was out of your hands and in theirs.
Shrugging you brushed it off, stopped by the Pokemon Center and changed back into your clothes while Nurse Joy attended to your pokemon team. As she was handing you your pokeballs you asked for directions and within a few moments you were on your way to the gym.
"Tate and Liza, huh?" you whispered to Pichu. "A double battle."
'My first one without Steven.'
"Chu." she nodded, standing on your head as she examined everything that passed.

...
You stood in front of the gym for a long while before entering, Pichu riding on your shoulder. Of course you had to battle a slew of trainers that liked hanging around just to battle the challengers before they got to the gym leader. From previous experiences, you decided that because the trainers had psychic pokemon, so would the Gym Leaders.
After visiting the Pokemon Center again, just to make sure your pokemon were okay and ready to battle, you came back and walked by those that you had already defeated, practically daring them to stop you. Of course they only watched as you walked by and followed to watch.
You stopped in front of the two Gym Leaders, and you had to fight a surprised expression from your face. They had to be about your age, maybe a bit younger.
They chuckled simultaneously, "Were you surprised? That there are two Gym Leaders?"
"Just a wee bit." you reply with a shrug. "Mainly about how yo-" they interrupt you like so many others in this world...
"We're twins!" they were still speaking simultaneously.
'Gee, really? Wouldn't have thought...'
"So, how is that for you?" you ask, trying to make small talk with the two, very strange twins.
They shrugged and the boy, Tate spoke, "We don't need to talk, because..."
"We can each determine what..." Liza continued.
"The other is thinking." Tate.
"All in our minds!" Liza finished.
They pulled out two pokeballs.
Tate: "This combination of ours..."
Liza: "Can you beat it?"
You returned their grins of amusement. A ref quickly explained the rules and you waited to see what the two gym leaders were going to pick, running little battle plans through your mind and examining the battle field. It was nothing special, so you concluded that it would not exactly be the most useful tool.
It was not long before the twins took action and called out a Lunatone and a Solrock. You arched your eyebrow and examined the two pokemon with interest. It was a fitting pair to use in a double battle, you decided as you pulled out two poke balls, still thinking and trying to come up with a plan. You already knew that both were rock and psychic types.
"Come on out Abby, Torchyana!" you threw the balls into the air and with a flash your two pokemon stood before you, returning the threatening gaze that their opponents boldly bore.
"Abby, bite the Lunatone!" you ordered and with a flash the Absol was charging, her fangs bared. "Torchyana, SkyUppercut!"
"Psychic!" Liza ordered his Lunatone.
"You too, Solrock!" Tate called out.
You flinched slightly, knowing that they were directing that attack at your Blaziekn. Luckily, before the Lunatone could attack, Abby had latched onto it with her fangs and then she quickly wrapped around it, disturbing its concentration. Torchyana, being faster than his opponents, appeared behind the Lunatone and struck it with an amazingly powerful blow, but then cried in pain as the Solrock's attack enveloped him.
"Abby aid him!" your heart skipped a beat.
The dark type lunged at the Solrock, freeing Torchyana from the attack, allowing the fire fighting type a chance to turn his attention to the wounded Lunatone.
"Finish it, Torchyana!" and your starter did as you ordered, leaving the rock psychic laying on the ground unconscious.
The Solrock shot an ice beam at Abby, and she cried out in pain as one of your legs froze and she was left immobile.
"Torchyana, ember!"
The twins grinned slightly when they saw that the weak fire attack didn't do much damage at all to their pokemon, but them frowned when they realized your true intentions.
The heat from the attack had weakened the ice that had trapped the Absol, and the dark type took her opportunity and broke free from the ice, throwing herself at her foe with wrath shining in her crimson eyes.
The twins could only frown with surprise and disappointment as your two pokemon beat the rock psychic pokemon down and left it on the ground motionless.
The two gym leaders looked one at another and then called their pokemon back, forcing a grin to come to their faces. They had not expected that they would lose so quickly to you, especially since one of your pokemon had a type disadvantage.
The ref announced your victory and your pokemon ran to your side.
Then you and the two gym leaders met at the center of the field and they gave to you the badge. Your 7th badge. Smiling you allowed them to compliment you, not really registering what they were saying, and then you returned your pokemon to their balls after telling them they had done a very good job.
"And here's a gift from us!" one of them gave you a TM.
"Thank you." you nod your head and wave as you walk away, by the gym trainers, and then out of the gym with Pichu still sitting on your shoulder.
You knew that Torchyana had taken a lot of damage, so you went directly to the Pokemon Center.
Upon leaving the Pokemon Center, someone familiar shoved his way by you and toward a very large tower located on the highest point of the island.
Chris!
"Hey!" you step in front of him and place your hands on your hips.
"I don't have time for you!" he tried to walk around you. "Apparently Team Magma just took over that building up there."
"Oh."

Thank you all for reading and for sticking with this! Steven will hopefully be in the next chapter! Please rate and message! Believe it or not, that speeds me up. ^-^