Galvin and Brass jumped awake as an ear shattering scream woke them. It was soon discovered it was not screaming but rather crying. Steel tried to explain herself but any form of sense was drowned out by her blubbers. Both boys tried to sooth her tears, Brass glanced over and noticed that Simon was missing. He informed Steel but she cried even harder and wailed louder.

It seemed… that was connected to her tears…

They waited for the boy to reappear but after twenty minutes, he didn’t. Finding this to be odd, Galvin went down stairs to search for him. There wasn’t any sign of him and even Nurse Joy reported she did not see the boy since he went to bed last night.

He returned to the room empty handed, but not for long. Brass handed him an envelope. It was hastily opened and addressed to Steel. Things… were starting to add up.

“They kidnapped him? Really?” Galvin spat. “Sometimes I cannot believe the gal of Rune.”

“How did they even get in?” Galvin was about to shrug as he noticed a sparkle on the tiles of the floor. He crouched down and ran his middle and index finger across the floor. His fingers were covered in a green powder. With a Bulbsaur as his starter he found it was easy to deduct this was sleeping powder.

“They must of used sleeping powder on us.”

“What’s the point of that when we are already asleep?”

“It probably put us in a deeper sleep so they could sneak in and take what they wanted without waking us.” Galvin wiped the dust on his pants leg. “I know you’re going out today, but don’t file a missing person report.”

“Why not?”

“That would cause a panic. A big one, not only that parents on both ends would find out about our interactions with Rune. I don’t think they’re going to hurt the kid… just, they’re trying to call Steel out.”

“Oh… I’m not so sure Galvin but if you think so, I wont say anything.”

“Trust me, I want to say something to the police too.” Galvin grumbled as he approached Steel on the balcony. She smiled lightly, which he returned, before she fixed her gaze upon the sea with a heavy sigh.

Brass trudged into the gym with Kama the Kabuto hanging off his head. The pokemon hissed at any trainer that attempted to come after Brass, the trainer would stop running and back up with their face frozen in a mixed expression of horror and a smug smirk.

It was weird.

Soon enough Brass made it to Blain, somehow Kama knew this was the leader and began to make clicking sounds and foam at the mouth. At least the foam was due to bubbling salt water and not actual rabies. 

He… he wouldn’t be sure how to handle that…

“I see you made use of out science facilities young man.” the elderly man in white and red noted.

“Yeah…”

“Good show! Show me the power of your revived friend!” Kama jumped off Brass and into the battle field. The shelled pokemon scuttled around in an energetic manner. With a laugh Blain clutched his cane and let his faithful Arcanine. The dog like pokemon unleashed a roar in an attempt to intimidate Kama. It held no effect and the shellfish pokemon foamed again.

“Is your friend okay boy?”

“Uh… I think so. He kinda does it every time he gets into a fight.”

“I see.” Before Brass could give a command Kama ripped out a chunk of the gym’s floor and threw it square in the Arcanine’s face. It must have been a hard hit since the giant dog winced and end up taking a few steps back, disoriented. With another screech Kama suddenly spewed mud from its mouth as if it was a regular water gun attack.

Brass remained horrified as it attached to the face of the Arcanine and scratched away at it. It seemed when this pokemon fought it went for the kill. It was more than likely the nature of it’s time that made it that way. This poor guy was going to have issues adjusting with the other pokemon. Blain didn’t seem to mind all the madness happening to his poor partner, as a scientist he was obviously interested in the revived fossil. Blain soon called back his partner and threw a badge at Brass.

“What? That’s it…? Just like that?”

“If I had my faithful Rapidash we could continue but the poor girl is too hurt to fight at the moment and your crazy little Kabuto beat up my Arcanine before he could get a move in.”

“That was…. anti climatic.”

“Yes it was but to be fair a Kabuto is both rock and water. Double the pain.” The old man let out yet another laugh and walked off to make some calls to repair his gym. Brass begrudgingly left the gym as Kama crawled over his body. Man this little dude needed to calm down… hopefully he did before he evolved, if it didn’t that would be a nightmare…

Shaking his head Brass was on his way to the pokemon center when he saw a familiar face. It was the researcher Bill they found in the Cerulean Cape a while back.

“Oh, hey Bill.” The researcher flinched. He quickly spun around and sighed.

“Geez Brass, you scared the bejeezus out of me!”

“Sorry, so, what brings you here?”

“I actually came here looking for a strong trainer to commission for some help.”

“Help with what exactly?”

“I have a friend who is creating a network trade system, he needs a ruby to get it working but it’s quite deep in a volcano on Mt. Ember.”

“Well, I could do that.”

“Really? That would be a relief! I mean, I know you wouldn’t run off with the ruby!”

“So, how soon do you need to leave?”

“As soon as your ready I suppose. You’ll probably need to round up your friends wont you?”

“Yeah… just give me a minute.” Brass quickly climbed up the stairs to his friend’s room. Steel was now dressed and looking a little better, but still tired. Brass explained the situation and the two friends agreed to go along with him, Galvin using this trip as an excuse for a mini-vacation for him and Steel. Steel seemed to brighten up more with the idea of a mini-vacation.

So, after quickly packing up the pre-teens jumped onto Bill’s boat and took off sailing towards the Sevii Islands. Steel and Galvin quickly got into vacation mode as the two sunbathed in swimwear on the ship’s deck with calm faces. Hours passed before they arrived to Sevii Island’s Isle One as soon as they touched down Steel and Galvin quickly fled to the beaches, Brass and Bill shortly joined them.

“Alright, that’s Mt. Ember. It’s a bit of a distance but you should be fine. Once you reach the mound you’ll have to climb up a bit but you should find a cave.” Bill explained, pointed out the target mountain.

“And the ruby is in the cave?”

“Yep. Once you come back you can find me in the pokecenter with my pal.” Bill pat Brass on his back and left for the pokecenter.

“So, how do you plan to cross the water?” Galvin asked, adjusting his sunglasses.

“Uh….”

And so, that’s how Brass found himself fishing on the shores off Isle One. His friends offered alternate methods of how to handle the situation. Just rent a boat or borrow a pokemon off one of his friends. Brass objected both options saying he was in need of his own water pokemon anyway, which was true. Kama sure as hell couldn’t carry him with the size it currently was.