8 Chapter 08

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[Granite Cave, Dewford City.]

Steven had arrived at Rustboro with the help of Aerodactyl. He met his father and caught up on any work Devon was doing before he went home and had lunch with his family as they chatted about Silver and Steven's trip to Dewford.

It was during this time that he pulled aside his father to the second-floor balcony before settling down on one of the many chairs. His father was about to speak when Steven raised a finger to his lips, silencing his father's words as the boy pressed a button on the pokedex releasing Metagross.

Metagross and Steven glanced at each other before Metagross glowed in a blue light using Psychic Energy.

Steven's shoulders relaxed before he said, "Sorry Dad, the topic was a bit sensitive."

Elijah Stone knew that whatever had Steven stressed so much must be important since Steven was very much like himself- stubborn, talented and resourceful. They had never seen eye to eye on many things, like the company's direction or Steven's decision to challenge the Elite Four but, despite all that he still loved his son and seeing him look like this- tired, tense and paranoid made his heartache.

He kept his face as welcoming as he could as he asked his son, "Sure son, what is it?"

Steven seemingly picked up on his intent as he smiled genuinely as he said, "Have you heard anything about Teams Magma and Aqua?"

"No." Elijah had never heard the name of any teams like that.

"Well, they are suspected terrorist groups that have recently been on the radar of the Hoenn League." Steven emphasized the word 'Suspected' with a lot of sarcasm.

Elijah nodded, "So? Why are you telling me this Steven? This is the league's problem….. Devon can't….." The answer landed on his head as he realized that he was currently talking to the Hoenn Regional Champion and he grimaced.

"Yeah, this is my problem," Steven said, smiling wryly, before his smile was wiped suddenly as he said, "Well, the thing is, we suspect that these people might be looking for some information."

"What kind of information?" Elijah asked sharply and Steven shrugged before saying, "Weather patterns, Seismic activity, ocean patterns and temperatures. Along with information on some pokemon."

Elijah shivered as he caught onto what Steven was alluding to. 'The names were a big fat fucking clue.'- These bastards were after legendary pokemon. And one of the most cataclysmic trios.

Elijah's voice trembled as he asked, "Are they after the Weather Trio?"

Steven's grave nod made Elijah blanch before he took in a deep breath, calming breath as he asked, "You still haven't told me the reason for telling this to me, seeing as this is probably a League Secret."

"I am allowed to tell immediate family and my spouse anything I wish, Most champions don't say anything to shield their family, it is not like anybody is taking you here in Rustboro."

Elijah nodded, Rustboro was the Stone's home, nobody could touch them there. Not even a Champion, not without inciting a full-blown war on the streets, that is.

"We don't have much on these people but, what we do have is concerning," Steven pulled out his pokedex before displaying an image on it that Elijah recognised as being heavily cleaned and edited to clear the details.

It was a black and white image of a man with glasses standing in what looked like a burning field of fire along with a pokemon that Elijah recognised as Camperupt.

"His name is Maxie, which obviously is an alias. This guy is the Leader of Team Magma. This photo was salvaged from a video camera by one of the League's Porygon. We don't know much about their aims and plans right now but, anybody looking to tussle with a legendary must bring some serious firepower or they are plain stupid."

"Stupid is the more common consensus," Elijah grumbled and Steven chuckled before saying "Well, that is all, I just wanted you to know about these guys so you aren't caught flat-footed."

Elijah nodded before he said, "So you and Silver are going on a trip?"

Steven's face brightened up and Elijah felt a sudden rush of affection for his younger son. Steven really needed to take a break since after he took charge as the regional champion the previous year, he had worked nearly the whole year with only two to three breaks which only lasted a day or two.

[Back to the present]

Steven and Silver landed on the public beach of Dewford before Steven recalled both Aerodactyl and Metagross.

Silver looked around the beach and could see families, couples and women looking at them in shock. His eyes, however, soon wandered to the bikini-clad girls that were looking towards them with appraising eyes.

Silver sighed before giving them a smile and wave. He was feeling giddy at the attention when he heard Steven ask, "Are you done basking in their attention? Or should I ask some of them to feed you grapes?"

Silver looked at his brother, who had a light blush on his face as women and girls of all ages ogled at him, Steven was very uncomfortable with the attention.

Silver chuckled before he said, "Yeah let's leave before they get over their shock and rush us when they realise that they are currently ogling the Hoenn Champion. We would need to file sexual assault charges if they mobbed us and started groping you."

Steven blanched at the mental image and started walking to the Pokemon Center at a fast pace, seemingly afraid for his chastity.

'Was Steven a virgin?' Silver did not ask to avoid further embarrassing his brother as they walked towards the Pokemon Center where they would be spending the next three days.

Steven took off the bag he had bought in one of the rooms that Nurse Joy had given him as a League official before they both sat down on the two different beds.

"We have two days to explore Granite Cave," Steven said looking at Silver, "Because after that I will have to go back to Evergrande. You will have to go back to preparing for your Trainer Standard Examinations. Are you taking the League's Exam or the Alliance's Exam?"

Silver said," Alliance Exam."

Steven nodded and said slowly, "Wouldn't it be better to first take the Hoenn one? You can complete the circuit here before branching out."

Silver replied, "There are seven months remaining for the upcoming Evergrande Conference, I will take the exam four months from now and will start my journey with a total of four Pokemon- Umbreon, Shelgon, Pupitar and Kadabra. My first Championship will be Sinnoh, followed by Kalos, which I will follow up with Johto."

"No plans for Hoenn?" Steven asked as his brows furrowed.

"No plans for it until the master's tournament," Steven's eyes sparkled at the reference and he said, "Planning far out aren't we, lil' bro?"

"Just five years left, remember?" Steven nodded again before he said, "So you are here just to catch an Abra and not to spend time with me?"

Silver chucked a pillow at his brother before he said, "Its just hitting two tailows with one pokeball."

Steven nodded before looking at his watch that was engraved with precious stones and said, "Well, it is quite early to go in the Granite Cave right now, let us go in there near midday."

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True to his word, Silver and Steven arrived at the entrance of the Granite Cave when the sun was at its highest point in the sky.

Silver gaped at the size of the entrance of the cave which was probably large enough to fit two onix simultaneously. Both Silver and Steven had changed their clothes from their normal formal attire to a mining uniform that Steven had bought from the local Pokemart.

The scent of damp earth mixed with the fragrance of ancient history, filled Silver's senses. Silver was suddenly very glad for Steven's steadying presence.

He suddenly remembered something and pulled Steven by his shoulder before saying, "Hey, Steve! Come here!"

Steven looked confused but allowed his brother to pull him closer. Silver pulled out a camera and clicked a photo of Steven and himself with the cave's entrance as the background for the image.

"This will go on Pokegram when I officially begin my journey."

Steven chuckled before he said, "You still on with that Poketubing and Pokegram thing?"

Silver scoffed as they slowly started to walk in, "Well, the original plan of live-streaming fell through due to concerns of doxxing and community guideline violations but I can take photos and record videos that Porygon can edit and clean out so that I can post them at regular intervals."

"And how are you going to record the video?" Steven's voice was curious as he asked and Silver replied, "Well, have you seen Alioth's collar? It has an integrated camera that has good enough quality to match professional camera equipment."

Steven seemed surprised before asking, "There are cameras like that? I am pretty sure Devon's miniature cameras had bad video quality."

"Steven, have I ever told you that I am fascinated by the ability to shift matter, energy and information into each other?"

"A billion times?" Steven chuckled and Silver said,"I was always curious about how the matter interacted with the world when it was turned into energy inside one of the Pokeballs. I studied up on it and realised something I found I could exploit."

"And what's that?" Steven asked curiously as he stopped walking and took out a map to look at it.

"Ever seen a Pokemon interact with its trainer from within its pokeball," Silver asked and Steven replied affirmatively.

"I figured that if a Pokemon stored in a Pokeball can actually interact with the object, can an object stored just like in a pokeball interact with the world? Or more importantly, can an object be used while simultaneously being stored as energy? Guess what? It could be done, it took me three months to work it out along with a pretty penny on pokeball's storage units. Honestly, quite a bit of the money I got from Birch was spent on it. Though I am now the proud owner of the patent of M.I.I.D.- Matter-Information Interaction Device. Though thanks to Birch, the bit of me being its owner will only be released when I beat my first gym. The condition was that I let him use it in future pokedex versions for a cut of course."

Steven laughed before saying, "Mum will be happy and angry both at the same time when it gets released to the public," the blue-haired champion looked at his white-haired younger brother and said, "I am proud of you."

Silver's reply was immediate, "No more than I am of you."

They chuckled before venturing deeper into the cave. Unaware of the events awaiting them the next day.

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A|N: A good bonding moment between two brothers is a refreshing thing to write.

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