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The Lanturn and Swampert zoomed past Maddy and headed towards the entrance. Rei watched as one tunnel quickly glowed brighter and brighter, until the Lanturn was in plain sight, a Marshtomp quickly behind and gaining.

I guess that's where Caleb went off to, Rei assumed. Then a rumbling sound was heard throughout the cavern. Before Rei could wonder about the cause, a large, Red Gyarados charged past, and a glimpse of Dark was seen, casually riding on its back. Deciding that their little adventure was over, Rei headed back to the surface.

Unbeknownst to the Aquan, a Krabby had cut a hole in his bag, taking many of the gems that had fallen out as a result. It cackled; another trainer fooled by the cunning Krabby!

A few minutes later, Rei sat on the top of the submarine.

"Of all the... My bag's torn. Most of the crystals are gone!" His Seadra couldn't explain how it happened, and thus shrugged.

"At least the pin's still there. And one rock. So all isn't lost." He recalled his Seadra and looked out to the ocean.

Still, with everything I saw, it was a worthwhile trip. He turned to face Dark, who was bloody one one arm.

"What happened?"

Maddy arrived at the submarine and pressed the button on the keys, which were secured to the top half of her bikini. The submarine door opened up.
"I didn't really bother grabbing a crystal." She said. "I'm slowly getting over my fascination for shiny things."
She swam over to the open door and pulled herself inside. She found it nifty how the submarine float just high enough in the water for no waves to splash into it.

Caleb and his Lanturn reached the surface. His Marshtomp didn't look pleased.

One day Marshtomp...one day.

Caleb called back his Lanturn before climbing back into the submarine.

"Well that was...exciting I guess..." Caleb muttered. "If you just wanted to see rocks...we could've just gone to the cave..." he started taking off the scuba gear. He had enough swimming for one day...

...and Octillery.

Maddy was waiting outside the Aqua house in Anistar City, her arms crossed. She was impatiently drumming her fingers on the side of one of her arms and had a cigarette, that she had forgotten to light, clenched angrily between her teeth. Her two usual companions, her Garchomp and her Haxorus, were by her side. The two of them seemed to share a mood with their trainer, as they seemed pretty on edge and fidgety as well. Her eye patch was also covering the wrong eye and she had not noticed yet.

Rose, having returned from an errand in Lumiose City, approached the Aqua House and spotted Maddy. Putting her Capture Styler on her wrist, having recovered it from Professor Sycamores Laboratory, Rose nodded to Maddy "Hey boss. Any word yet about what is happening with team flare?" she asked Maddy.

Allen arrived outside the house, his Banette following him. It had been a while since Lydia had been on the party so she was excited to see everyone. Allen's bag slipped from his grip and a bunch of stuff spilled out. A bunch of Evolutionary items fell out. Lydia jumped as the items clattered along the ground but acted quickly to help her trainer clean up the mess. Her hand came down on one of Allen's Mystery Stones. The stone glowed a bright peach color, slowly yellow and black shapes crept into place over the coloring and the bright light faded, leaving a perfectly spherical object in her hands. Allen grinned, "A Mega Stone. How'd have known Mystery Stone turned into Mega Stones?" His face came back to a more somber tone as he thought about his old allies and the Mawile with the Mega Stone. He shook his head slightly and moved to return his little ghostie. But she dodged the beam and kept admiring the stone that appeared in her hands.

"We're attacking Team Flare tonight. Just waiting for a message from Sycamore." Maddy responsed.
She noticed everyone seemed a little worried about her. She stuffed her unlit cigarette back into her coat pocket and adjusted her eye patch, then realizing it was on the wrong eye and placing it on the correct one.
Her TADS then buzzed loudly in her pocket, indicating she had received a message.
"About time!"
She hastily retrieved the device and flipped it open, text flashing onto the screen. Maddy sent her response and looked up at her companions, gathered around her.
"Professor Sycamore says he'll be ready to start the operation soon." She told them all. "He says we should get into position near Team Flare's base."
She reached a hand towards her belt and unclipped a small Pokeball. The ball enlarged and burst open, revealing her Alakazam, Tiresias.
"Sorry, guys." She smiled apologetically at those who didn't quite like teleporting. "We'll need to arrive there quickly, as walking would've taken too long and would've drawn too much attention to us."
Lysandre knew they were coming, she was sure, but he didn't know when... And that would make all the difference tonight.
She nodded to her Pokemon and Team Aqua disappeared, reappearing in the middle of a forest near Geosenge Town.
Maddy recalled her Alakazam and turned to her allies.
"We still have a bit of waiting, so I'll take the time to explain things."
She sat down on a nearby stump.
"Before he fled from us last week, Lysandre provided me with the coordinates to Team Flare's base." She began. "I'm sure he has lots of traps in place, as he is expecting us tonight, but I forwarded the coordinates to Professor Sycamore and he's working with the cops to temporarily shut off their power and all that jazz."
She sighed, still feeling a bit nervous.
"We won't have very long, but we might as well get comfortable for now."

"Nice. Getting his power out would probably neutralize a bunch of the traps." Rose agreed "That is very clever. We should welcome any advantage we can get."

She looked at her Pokeballs, and started mentally preparing herself for the battles which were to come. With Yveltal under Team Flare's control, Rose was happy to have her Capture Styler along as well, since it might be useful if they were forced to battle the Legendary Pokemon.