LSOR Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The red and blue haired girl led them through the mist, coming out at the cave's entrance chamber. As they made their way for the exit, Shannon and his partner turned to see the group. Shannon and Guy, for that is the partner's name, eyed Kylie. Shannon was bewildered, and his expression showed this feeling; Guy, on the other hand, glared slightly.

"And where do you think you're going, Kylie?" Gretchen asked with a snort.

"I was hoping you'd be okay with me leaving for a while, okay Gretchen?" she tried to sound kindly, although she was far from it when it was only Gretchen and herself around. She smiled cutely, and Shannon suddenly realized that she was in some relation to a Kyogre. His jaw parted, and eyes were wide. Guy thought to himself, "Such freaks!" He had always pictured Kyogre as a magnificent beast, and this girl was far from that.

"Fine, go wherever you want. More space for me. Stay as long as you want. Who knows, I may not be here when you come back!" Gretchen cried somewhat happily, complete with sarcastic jazz hands.

Nodding, Kylie smiled. She walked out of the cave, although her walk resembled more of a skip than anything else. Golden eyes alit with happiness of finally being able to leave the cave, she twirled. While twirling, she faltered, stumbled, and then fell off the cliff that faced the crater of Sootopolis. Of course, she did this on purpose; for she rarely stumbled (the stumble back at the chamber of the cave was one of the few instances of that ever happening). Just to see Archie's reaction and to prove her new powers, she hovered in the air for a few moments.

Archie rushed to the edge of the cliff to see what had happened to Kylie, and nearly tripped himself. There she was, hovering just below the edge. He laughed a bit. Of course she was okay. She was a Kyogre. Sort of.

Kylie grinned, winking. She floated upwards and alighted on the cliff edge. Shannon's eyes were focusing on the humanoid Kyogre, but saw movement out of the corner of his eye. When he looked, Guy was gone. The grunt looked around wildly and tapped on Shelly's shoulder. Out of respect, he waited until he was spoken to in order to speak.

Shelly whirled around, mildly startled by Shannon's frantic tapping. "What's wrong?"

"Guy, the grunt who I was partnered with, has disappeared. I'm not quite sure where he went, but he's been acting strange all day..." Shannon whispered, hoping that the humanoid to his right would not hear him.

"He's gone? And what do you mean by behaving strangely?"

The amber-eyed aqua grunt glanced to Kylie. "He was calling the Kyogre girl and her friend 'freaks'. I'm not quite sure why he showed such hostility towards them, but he did..." He had a look about him as would a dog that was afraid of being abused.

Drip. Drip drip. Drip drop. Shhin~

The air was soon filled with the sound of rain as it hit the ground heavily. Large droplets of the warm water splattered against the stones at their feet. This sudden storm out of nowhere was, of course, Kylie showing Archie her abilities.

"Hmm. That's strange. Maybe he just wasn't expecting them. Or maybe he's just like that. I can't say as I've seen much of him since he joined, so I don't know him very well. You know more about him than I do." The rain caught Shelly's attention. She cleared her throat and her superior turned to her with a questioning look.

"Er. Sir… It's raining." She blushed deeply after realizing how obvious her statement had been.

"I realize that. But I understand what you're saying. We have what we came for, and now we should leave. How do you feel about that, Kylie?" he inquired.

Kylie gasped and her heart sank. "B-but...! Where will you go? May I come?" She tried to smile.

“Oh!” Archie exclaimed, realizing that Kylie hadn’t understood the message he was trying to convey. “Of course you can come! That was my intention! I meant for us, meaning you, Shelly, I, and…” Archie turned around to discover that one of the two grunts chosen to take on the mission was missing. “Where’s the other grunt?” he asked Shelly. Shelly turned an even deeper shade of red.

“I… I don’t know, sir.”

Turning to Shannon, he asked, “Do you know where he went?”

"I do not. He was acting strangely, and then vanished..." Shannon said in an ashamed manner.

---

Guy was swimming for his life alongside his Politoed, Nyoro. Through the underwater entrance, he journeyed onward. "I HAVE to get to Maxie with this news!" was one of the thoughts buzzing through his head.

Guy got to the surface and opened up an old-fashioned Pokegear. He flicked the screen with his finger and it lit up. "Call Magma" he said, using the new voice-command feature. There was a few seconds of static and then a voice came on the line. "Hello, this is two eight seven three A G V, and I have very important information concerning Groudon. Please arrange for emergency pick up for me at the sent location," he spoke into the Pokegear as the waves bobbed past his head.

Guy swam toward a large Tropius that was hovering just above the waves. It was being ridden by a woman dressed in red, who was lowering a rope ladder for the agent to climb on. He mounted the Pokemon before it flew up and away.

---

Archie sighed. “I suppose it can’t be helped. It’s not your fault that your partner defected… I don’t think so, anyway.” Turning to Shelly, he whispered, “We need to keep a closer eye on this one. Just in case.

“But it’s useless to worry about it now. What’s done is done, and we have what we came for. I just know that, somehow, word’s going to get to Maxie that we have something vital to any plan we make.” He smirked. “And he’s going to be furious.” With that comment, the Aqua leader began to leave the underwater city of Sootopolis.

---

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

The steady drip of water into a small pool that was collecting in the Cave of Origin had entirely grasped Gretchen’s attention. She was trying to make each drop of water evaporate before it reached the pool. Unfortunately she lacked accuracy and only about one out of three actually evaporated. She leaned back against the wall and fell asleep.