Pokemon: Radical Redux-Chapter 533: Guardians and Intruders

The group left Lavaridge Town the next day, but not without telling Flannery to keep them informed on what was going on, and so they hit the road.

As for them, Ash took a look and no contests were going to take place in the area, at least none that May could participate in, since she only had two ribbons. There was a contest taking place over in Verdanturf Town, but the one scheduled for this month was a four-ribbon contest.

The one May could have entered was a month ago, so that was out. But May still wanted to go check it out, and Max also nodded, saying that he wanted to get a gift for their parents, since their parents’ anniversary was coming up. So Ash agreed to let them stop by Verdanturf.

Though Ash did ask why they didn’t just ask Flannery to write them some coupons for an all-expenses-paid trip to the Lavaridge hot springs.

May blinked at him as she was holding the incubator her Egg was in, "Wait...you can do that?"

Max pushed up his glasses suspiciously, "Yeah, Ash. That sounds like something you would say as a joke."

Ash just shrugged casually as they walked down the dusty road leading away from Lavaridge Town, "Well, yeah. I already did."

May and Max both stopped walking.

"You WHAT?!" May shouted, nearly dropping the Egg but catching it.

Ash turned around, looking confused at their reaction, "What? I was already there. Figured I might as well ask."

Max stared at him, "Ash...please tell me you’re joking."

"Nope." Ash pulled out a small folded envelope and waved it in the air between his fingers, "Flannery gave me a few coupons for the hot springs. I was gonna give them to Mom and Molly the next time I go back to Pallet."

May’s eye twitched, "You mean...this entire time...you already had free hot spring tickets?"

Ash nodded, "Yeah."

Max groaned and rubbed his forehead, "Unbelievable..."

May crossed her arms and pouted, "Ash! You should have said something sooner!"

Ash tilted his head, "Why? You said you wanted to go to Verdanturf."

"Well yeah!" May said, "But free hot springs are free hot springs!"

"That is true..." Ash rubbed his chin and shrugged, "Wanna go back and ask for some extra ones?"

"No, that’s embarrassing!" May shouted as she buried her head in the incubator she was holding.

May stayed like that for a few seconds, her face buried in the incubator.

Ash blinked, "You okay?"

"No!" May snapped, lifting her head with a dramatic sigh, "You had free hot spring tickets this whole time and didn’t say anything!"

Ash shrugged, "I mean...you never asked?"

Max adjusted his glasses again, looking deeply unimpressed, "I guess we just didn’t even think about that. But it’s fine. Besides, we can’t ask you to give us the tickets."

"Yeah, you’re right, because I’d say no," Ash said very simply, putting the envelope away, "I like you guys, so no offense, but my mom hasn’t taken a vacation in like five years. And Molly...you guys aren’t ready for the Molly lore."

Brock shivered, remembering the incident, "Yeah, good point. Molly could use some relaxation too."

Pikachu nodded thoughtfully, while Vee looked as confused as May and Max, since, remember, he wasn’t there for that.

May pointed accusingly at Ash, "You know what? Fine! We’re still going to Verdanturf."

Ash shrugged, "Works for me."

He wasn’t planning on having everyone go on a detour to the Valley of Steel since, like cowards, May and Max literally got on their hands and knees and begged not to go. So he begrudgingly agreed and had Kirlia try to teleport them since Abby was gone, and he had no idea when she would show up next time.

But for something like this Kirlia was enough. She even got better, this time May was only five feet in the air when she fell down. Little things. Of course Ash still caught her. Even though it would be funny, May had an Egg and Ash wasn’t going to let her break it just for a laugh.

But anyway, when they got there Ash had no complaints since there was some stuff he wanted to do, like making a few calls, and if he could play his cards right, he might be able to do both his plans.

—

{Meanwhile at Mt. Pyre}

Tate and Liza were walking together up the mountain. They were going to take on guard duty at the peak in place of the old couple that usually did it. That was why they couldn’t make it to the Gym Leader meeting. The thing being guarded was none other than the Red and Blue Orbs, the real ones.

There were fake Orbs in the Oceanic Museum in Slateport City, but only high-ranking League and Association officials, and the owner of the museum, knew those were fakes.

This place was a secret. Not even the other Gym Leaders knew about it. The only reason Tate and Liza knew about it was because the old couple treated them like their own grandchildren, and they were the Gym Leaders of the town.

However, the reason they were doing it instead of the old couple, even though at the moment there was no threat to the Orbs, since the fake Orbs were still untouched in Slateport, was because Liza had seen a vision in her dreams.

Tate and Liza were both psychics, but this was something only Liza saw. They didn’t exactly know why, but the reason was simple. It went back to around three months ago.

In fact, it was the same reason that right now Tate was walking and acting more protective toward Liza, looking like he would flinch at the smallest sound and wanting to attack anything that moved.

Around that time, Liza went missing.

That day, Tate said he wanted to try training separately, since they usually always battled together. But because of that, Tate felt that separately they were the weakest Gym Leaders. After all, they wouldn’t be able to stay together forever.

In fact, the reason Tate suggested that they separate to train and try to find themselves was because Tate knew one day he was going to leave and do his own thing. Afterall Tate’s dream was to be an astronaut.

So he knew one day he would have to leave Liza to be the only Gym Leader, since he believed that Liza should inherit it. But he didn’t tell this to Liza immediately since he knew she would say no right away.

But as they were the only duo Gym Leaders in the world currently, well, officially recognized, there was that new Gym in Kanto, in Dark city, that opened up, but it was considered a minor Gym. And the trio over in Striaton City in Unova hardly counted since they barely cared about battling. It was even rumored that they wanted to retire as Gym Leaders, but couldn’t until they had a replacement ready.

In fact, the circumstances for Tate and Liza becoming Gym Leaders were a special case since they weren’t at the minimum age of 13 for Gym Leaders. They didn’t do what Sabrina in Kanto did and take the position by beating her father. They were given the position by the Pokémon Association. They actually don’t know why, but it was fishy and raised some questions. That was another reason why Tate wanted them to grow stronger.

So they did. They took some time off, telling the Association they were going off to train, and went their own paths. The plan was to train for one month and then come back with what they had learned and all that stuff. It was a perfect plan in Tate’s mind.

However, around this time was when the events of the Masked Man’s plans were taking place. You see, remember in Johto when Ultra Wormholes started opening up as a result of the fake Arceus? Well, it wasn’t just in Johto.

When Liza left, she ran into one of the wormholes and it sucked her in.

Following that day, Tate lost the connection he felt with Liza. Since they were both Psychics and twins, they had this almost link between them. But when Liza fell into the wormhole, it felt like the connection was severed.

That day, after Liza was declared missing, Tate spent all his time looking for her. There were more than a few nights his Pokémon had to drag him to the Pokémon Center to force him to sleep.

During that time, his only thought was to find Liza. But one week became two, then three, and nothing. No one could explain it, and Tate refused to even think of the possibility that she was dead.

And what made it worse was that the Pokémon Association did nothing. They didn’t organize any search parties. They didn’t stop anyone from looking, but they just did nothing, like they didn’t care as long as they had one Gym Leader.

At first Tate and Liza were the one Gym that liked the Association since they were the ones who made them Gym Leaders. But following this event, Tate hated them with every fiber of his being.

Meanwhile Liza was sent into Ultra Space. She had no idea what this place was, but she felt that her psychic powers got amplified there. The reason why was that she became a Faller after absorbing the Ultra energy of this dimension.

In this place she trained, got stronger, and did all the things she promised Tate she’d do. She just thought this was a neat place. She planned to only stay here for a week, and during that time she ran into these strange Pokémon. In that time she also befriended one that called itself Celesteela after she saved the injured Pokémon.

They became friends, and the only reason Liza didn’t catch it was because she didn’t have any Poké Balls. So she promised she was going to go back home, get some, and come back to get her new friend.

But she didn’t actually know how to. However, when she just thought about it, a portal opened. How convenient. So she went through. However, it wasn’t that simple, even now.

When she went through the wormhole and got to the other side, she lost her memories of Ultra Space and just remembered walking along the path, then blacking out, and waking up. Not to mention time worked differently in Ultra Space, so a few days for Liza was a month out here.

So Liza didn’t remember anything, but she unknowingly kept her new powers. She just didn’t know how to use them, or even know that she had them.

Liza just kept walking, and when she stopped for "lunch," she saw that for some reason she was out of food. So she decided to make a pit stop back home. When she walked into town, everyone looked at her like she was a ghost. No one could say anything. Some people were even holding and passing around flyers with Liza’s face on them, but Liza didn’t suspect anything.

It wasn’t until she got to the Gym that Liza heard Tate’s voice from above her, "LIZA!"

She looked up just in time to see Tate jump down from Solrock. He landed a little too hard, nearly tripping as he ran toward her.

Liza tilted her head, "Tate? Why are you—"

She didn’t get to finish. Tate suddenly grabbed her in a tight hug, so tight she could barely breathe.

"You idiot!" Tate’s voice cracked, "Where were you?!"

Liza blinked in confusion, "Huh? What do you mean?"

Tate pulled back, staring at her like he was checking if she would disappear again, "You’ve been gone for a month!"

Liza froze, "...What?"

"A whole month!" Tate said, "You disappeared! No one could find you!"

Liza looked completely stunned, "Wha? But I left a few hours ago..."

Tate shook his head, "You didn’t."

After that, Liza didn’t want to believe it. But just a quick ask around and checking the date showed her that it was one month later. But she couldn’t remember anything. Like she said, she was walking through the forest, then saw she apparently didn’t pack enough food for her Pokémon, so she turned back and met Tate.

This time Tate went to the League to help check Liza. With her permission, Tate went into her mind and saw exactly what she described, Liza walking, and then turning. That’s it. The League took a blood sample to check and found that there were no drugs in her system, so she probably wasn’t kidnapped. And a medical check showed she had no wounds, so she wasn’t knocked out either.

Which only made things worse. Because that meant there was no explanation for why she suddenly had no memory of what happened.

After that, Tate refused to let Liza out of his sight. The plan for them to separate and train was completely gone. He didn’t want to leave Liza’s side, especially since their psychic link wasn’t the same anymore.

And then that leads us to right now.

One day Liza had a vision in her dream telling her that they needed to go protect the artifacts at the top of Mt. Pyre to prevent a disaster from coming. And although Tate didn’t have the vision, he believed her.

And that’s why they’re here, with Tate looking at rocks like he was ready to fight them himself if they got too close to his sister.

Liza glanced at him, "You’re doing it again."

Tate blinked, "Doing what?"

"Being overprotective."

"I’m not."

"You totally are."

Tate crossed his arms stubbornly, "Well maybe if you didn’t disappear into thin air for a month, I wouldn’t have to be!"

Liza puffed her cheeks slightly, "I didn’t mean to!"

They continued walking, with Solrock and Lunatone floating behind them, until they got to the top where there seemingly was nothing, that was the point.

Tate looked at his sister one more time, "Are you sure about this, Liza?"

Liza nodded confidently, "I am. No doubt about it, Tate."

As soon as she said that, even Solrock flew forward, looking around seriously.

"Look, Solrock has sensed it too," Liza pointed, "...Whatever evil is closing in, Solrock is definitely reacting to something. Somebody must be trying to break in!"

"Okay," Tate nodded.

"Right! Time for us to finish this job then!" Liza said excitedly.

Then they turned into a secret entrance that led them to one more staircase, covered by countless candles on each and every one of the steps up, only split by a narrow path.

"It’s a pity this kept us from participating in the Gym Leader meeting. If only we could tell them where we are..." Tate said with his hands in his pockets. They’d been doing this for a week, coming up the mountain to protect the orbs. It’s just that today Liza had the vision that something was definitely going to happen.

Liza turned and wagged her finger, "No, Tate. We’re not supposed to tell the other Gym Leaders about this."

"Yeah, you’re right," Tate sighed.

So they started walking up the steps, and there were a lot of them. Even after doing this so many times, it didn’t get any easier, especially with how hot this place was. But at least Solrock and Lunatone were floating ahead of them, and they let out a small cry.

"It looks like both of them sense something..." Liza said, looking around.

Meanwhile Tate was wiping the sweat from his brow, "Right! Phew! This place sure is hot. I will never get used to it."

"Hot?" a voice called out, "Of course it’s hot. A pyre is a flame that guides the dead to the other world."

The voice continued as the twins looked around frantically, "This mountain was named Mount Pyre because the cave inside serves as a grave. A grave where the souls of Pokémon can rest."

As the voice spoke, the candles suddenly flared up, shooting flames higher around them.

"Show yourself!" Liza cried out, looking through the flames, and Lunatone flew out in front of her to lower the fire with its psychic power.

As it did, the flames lowered, and standing at the edge was a man in a red uniform with a red M. It was Blaise of Team Magma, but of course right now they didn’t know that.

"I’ve come for the Red Orb and the Blue Orb. The two orbs that have the power to control Groudon and Kyogre," Blaise said with a smirk.

As soon as he said that, Tate and Liza both looked at him in shock. After all, that was a secret. Nobody should know about that, as far as they knew anyway.

Liza immediately called out, "The evil our Pokémon are sensing...it’s you, isn’t it?"

Tate continued, putting his foot forward, "You seem to know an awful lot about the orbs! How did you find out about this place?!"

At that there was a soft chuckle, and the tapping of shoes came from behind them. When they turned, there was a second man with a red suit and a streak of purple in his hair. It was Zenith, and he smirked as he held up the Scanner.

"This thing is really neat. It led us right here."

"Cut it," Blaise said, "It’s just some kids. How cute. Let’s just deal with them and go."

"Fine, fine. Party pooper," Zenith said with a sigh that seemed almost mocking.

But Tate and Liza stood back-to-back with each other and got into their battle positions.

"Don’t underestimate us. Together we’re the strongest tag team in the world!" they said in perfect unison.

Tate and Liza vs. Blaise and Zenith

—

{At the same time on a boat}

D was sitting on the edge of the boat, looking out at the horizon while checking his watch. He already had Meowth sitting on his shoulder again, although she was upset since D didn’t have his scarf anymore, so she couldn’t snuggle into it.

Helena, Domino, Enid, and Jay were sitting nearby, not exactly twiddling their thumbs, but it was pretty close. They were a little more comfortable now, and with Orm around it helped a little.

Speaking of Orm, he was just sitting across from the group, petting his Shuckle. When they met, he just said hi. D returned the greeting, then there were a good five seconds of silence before Orm said that D’s Meowth was cute.

So they got along, even if neither of them could start a conversation. And Orm didn’t seem to treat D like he was made of glass, and to them at least, they thought D appreciated that. Again, they couldn’t really tell.

As for who was driving the ship, well it was the two new grunts assigned to the squad. They came in the second batch of Team Rocket members. It was Annie and Oakley. Yeah, if you remember, they were never caught, so they’re just here. They also kind of knew about the D situation. They didn’t know everything, so they were a little lost.

But while D was talking to Orm about the mission, Enid and Domino filled them in on what happened after he got free from the mind control. Plus Jay and Helena were below deck preparing stuff D had asked them for.

"Wow, so that’s the legendary D, huh?" Annie said as Oakley steered the ship.

"Yeah. He says he’s fine, but I don’t really know how fine he is with...everything," Domino sighed.

"I can imagine. Still, it’s hard to think Arlo messed up that badly to make the mask explode," Oakley said, tapping her chin. After all, she knew how smart Arlo was. Something about the story didn’t make sense. But it’s a good thing she wasn’t there when it happened, or she might have been able to notice some inconsistencies even D can’t cover.

"Still, I don’t know why, but he wanted to take this mission on, so maybe he’s getting back to the old D we all remember," Enid said thoughtfully, "Oh, also how much longer do we have?"

"That entirely depends," Oakley answered, "We could infiltrate now, but we don’t know when the Admins will leave. That falls on D and Orm’s decision."

"Okay, fine," Domino sighed. She decided she was going to bite the bullet and raised her voice over to where D and Orm were standing, "Hey! Are we good to go?"

D looked back at her, blinked, and pulled out a Team Rocket communicator.

"Our spies say the biggest threats left. We’ll move in five minutes. Any objections?"

Orm just gave a thumbs-up with his big finger, "Sounds good to me..." he said slowly.

"Oh Orm, I’m glad you’re with us," Jay said with his carefree smile, patting Orm on the back while he carried a box he had brought up from below deck.

"Careful," Orm said, gesturing down at his Shuckle, "Shuckle is sleeping..."

While that was going on, Domino walked back, "So, did you hear him?"

"Yeah, very well. Switching to submarine form," Oakley said as she pressed a button. A clear dome rose up and closed around them, turning the ship into a submarine, and they started going underwater.

As they moved through the water, Annie raised her hand at Enid and Domino, "Oh, I have a question about big, bad, and brooding!" she said, referring to D.

"What is it?" Enid asked.

"Was he cute?" Annie asked completely seriously, "I mean before, like, you know...all that stuff."

Enid and Domino just looked at Annie for a few seconds as their hands slightly dug into the railing they were holding onto.

"Seriously, Annie?" Oakley asked her sister, "Why are you like this? Not everything is about boys."

"Well it’s not for me. Obviously I have my type," Annie said in mock offense, crossing her arms, "But it’s a serious question. After all, sis, you like the brooding types, right?"

Oakley groaned, "I do not like brooding types."

"You totally do," Annie shot back, "Every guy you dated looked like he hadn’t slept in three days and was contemplating the meaning of life."

"That was two people!" Oakley snapped.

Domino sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Can we not do this right now?"

But Annie had already leaned forward on the railing, eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"So?" she asked, "Was he cute?"

"We...don’t know," Enid said, tapping her chin, "Yeah, we never saw what D used to look like."

"I guess we never wanted to ask," Domino sighed, "I just assumed I’d find out when he does that facial reconstruction surgery he wants."

"Well come on, we should ask! If he’s gonna do it, he has to have a picture of what he used to look like! What if he was, like, supermodel hot?" Annie said excitedly.

"Don’t," all three of the girls said in unison.

"But—" Annie tried to defend herself.

"No. Shut up," Oakley said, putting a finger on Annie’s lips to silence her.

"Ugh, fine. You guys are no fun," Annie crossed her arms and pouted grumpily.

Meanwhile, across the submarine, Orm glanced over his shoulder at the group, "Do they know we can hear them?"

D didn’t turn around. He was just working on his communicator, "Probably not, but I’m not going to say anything."

Orm shrugged, "Okay," and left it at that. Again, they got along.

Having Orm here wasn’t one of the things D expected, but this could work to his advantage. If he could get Orm to help him against Sird, then he could move his plan forward sooner.

The main problem was that Orm was extremely loyal, and unfortunately he still considered Sird his friend. But that could be changed, because Orm’s number one priority was Team Rocket. To him, this place was like family.

So if he could show him that they were betraying him, and especially that Sird was doing things for Team Plasma, he could get him to help. Best case, he could deal with Carr. D could use that.

But for now he had other things to deal with, like the underwater base they were rapidly approaching. He turned back to everyone and called out, "Brace yourselves. The party is about to begin."