Chapter 1: VS Houndour: Fates Collide
North Boulevard, Lumiose City, Kalos Region
A new person arrived at the Lumiose City Pokemon Center. He was tall, slim, his short dark hair was naturally spiked up, on his wrist was small device known as a "Capture Styler", standing beside him was a Dratini, a Dragon Type Pokemon.
"Wow, look at this place Nini!" He exclaimed, his Pokemon let out a small cry in agreement, "This is certainly different than Ecruteak City, or Vientown!" The busy streets were crowded with various people going about their day. The boy lifted his partner onto his shoulder, where it wrapped itself around his neck like a scarf, then they headed down the busy street, toward the Professor's lab, where his first official Mission Briefing would take place.
He'd just graduated from the Ranger School in the Almia region and his first mission as a Pokemon Ranger was going to take place here in the Kalos Region. His Capture Styler seemed to shine under the sunlight as he walked, a grin on his face as he took in the sights of the massive city.
Meanwhile,
North Boulevard,Alley Northeast of Rouge Plaza, Lumiose City
A shorter kid was cornered. . Two Houndour had him backed against a wall, only a single Honedge between them.
"Hand over the Mega Ring kid, or you'll get hurt." A woman in a red suit demanded, a man in a similar red suit grunted in agreement.
"As if!" The boy responded, clutching the black bracelet to his chest, as if to protect it.
"Fine! Then we do this the hard way!" The man in the suit called, "Houndour! Ember!"
"You as well Houndour! Ember!" The woman called to her Pokemon. Both of the black dogs opened their mouths, and spat small balls of fire at the boy. The Sword Pokemon, Honedge, moved in front of the attacks, the fire hit the Pokemon, and it cried out in pain.
"Hone!" The boy yelled to his Pokemon. It turned back to him, "You still want to fight?" The boy asked.
"Hon Honedge!" The Pokemon replied. The boy grunted and determination spread across his face.
"Enough!" The woman yelled, "Houndour, bite!" The Pokemon leaped into the air and unclenched its jaw to bite the Honedge.
"Hone, Fury Cutter!" The boy shouted, his Pokemon instantly responded, slashing in the air at the dog. The Houndour yelped, and crashed to the ground.
"Houndour," The man shouted, "Fire Fang!" His hound lunged towards the Honedge that had just attacked his fellow comrade, his fangs infused with flames.
"Nini, Dragon Rage!" A new voice shouted. Suddenly, a violet-looking flame fired at the Houndour and knocked it aside. The two adults in red suits turned, as the boy looked to the new voice. It was a new boy, he had a strange device on his wrist, like some sort of oversized watch, "You know, attacking a child in an alley isn't very adult-like." They new boy called.
"Butt out of this brat." The woman snapped, "Houndour, deal with that puny worm while we get the Mega Stone
"Nini, Aqua Tail!" The boy shouted, his Pokemon responded by slamming its tail into the Houndour currently charging them.
"Hone, Fury Cutter again!" The other boy commanded to his Pokemon. The sword flew forward and slashed at the enemy's Pokemon. He was about to tell his partner to attack again but the new boy grunted out of satisfaction.
"What's your name kid?" He asked, a wide grin on his face.
"Z" The younger boy replied. The older boy nodded, and held up his right arm with the strange watch-like device.
"Well, Z let me handle this." A thin layer of plastic folded up from the device, "Capture On!" and a small, round, top shot from the device.
"A Pokemon Ranger?!"The woman exclaimed in disbelief. Her Houndour let out a cry in unison.
"In the Kalos Region?!" The man exclaimed. The top began circling one of the Houndour, leaving a white trail of light behind it.
"Houndour, hit that top before it's too late!" The woman panicked. In response the Houndour began shooting small balls of fire at the top, but the older boy was continuing to smile, as the top spun and dodged each blast of fire. Suddenly, the Pokemon was encased in a ball of white light and then proceeded to flee the alley, running down the alleyway and into the busy streets of Lumiose City.
The man grunted, "You little brat, Houndour! Make that kid wish he hadn't interfered with Team Neo Flare!" Then the second Houndour charged him, ready to attack the boy rather than the boy's Pokemon.
"Hone, use Protect!" Z shouted, his sword Pokemon sped in front of the older boy, and an almost translucent barrier of glittering polygons appeared in front of them, as the Houndour crashed into the barrier and flew backwards.
"Thanks," He said to Z, "Now, Nini looks like this Pokemon is gonna need some convincing." He smirked, his Dratini moved towards the fire hound and slammed its tail into it once again, "Great job Nini!" He praised the small dragon Pokemon, and then the top circled the dog until, like it had a minute ago, encased the Houndour in light and sent it fleeing into the streets.
"Crap, Julien is gonna kill us for this." The woman muttered.
"Hmph, let's go back to HQ for now." The man then suggested, clenching his fist. The two scoffed, walked into the main street, and vanished from the two boy's sight.
Walking over to Z, the older boy asked, " Are you alright?"
Z adjusted his shirt, and dusted himself off, "Yeah, thanks for your help." He replied.
"No problem, just doin' my job as a Ranger." The older boy smiled and held out his hand to shake Z's, "Name's Trenton." Then he looked to his Dratini that was standing next to his feet, "And this is Nini, my Partner Pokemon."
Z looked at Honedge, "This is Hone, we've been together for quite some time." Honedge let out a cheerful noise, which made Z chuckle. Then he looked at the device on Trenton's arm, "What is that?"
"Oh, this is my Capture Styler. Pokemon Rangers use it instead of traditionally catching a Pokemon, we convey our feelings to the Pokemon and once we make our bond, the Pokemon either flees back to the wild or joins our team for a temporary amount of time." Trenton explained.
"Neat…" Z replied, still looking at the Styler.
"I've gotta meet someone so I should go. Would you like to tag along, and afterwards I can take you home?" Trenton asked, Z thought it over for a moment. Then he looked to his partner.
"Yeah, we can tag along, and we can give you some info about the city along the way." Z replied. The boys smiled and shook hands. Then a low grumble came from somewhere close by.
Z's face turned to panic, "Is it that Team Neo Flare again?" Trenton started to chuckle.
"No, that's my stomach, Nini and I haven't eaten since we got on the plane." Trenton answered. Z sighed.
"We'll go get some food at the nearby cafe, food's on me." He said, walking down the alley towards the streets, "Come on, you most definitely do not want to be lost in this city." Trenton then hurried to catch up to Z.
Restaurant Le Yeah, Autumnal Avenue
"Yeah, that was some yummy grub!" Trenton said after a loud belch. The little dragon Pokemon let out a small burp as well.
"Yeah, this place is always great." Z smiled, as a waitress passed by their table, he tapped her, "Miss, can you bring the check?" The waitress nodded and headed back to the counter of the cafe. The restaurant was filled of high-class looking people, no one had Pokemon sitting at the table except for Z and Trenton.
"Thanks again for this Z." Trenton told the other boy, while taking a sip of his soda.
"No worries." Z replied, but then stopped, "So who are you meeting?"
Trenton leaned in closer, "His name is Professor Sycamore, he has intel on the mission I about to go on."
Z looked around, presumably for looks from other customers, "Hmm, I know how to get there, we should get moving though."
After the check was brought to the table, and Z paid the waitress, the two boys headed back into the massive city. They arrived at the Lab just as the sun was setting, and approached the Receptionist at the desk to the left of the bottom floor.
"Hi, I'm here to see Sycamore." Trenton told the receptionist politely, then he pulled out a card from his pocket, "This is my Ranger License." The receptionist nodded, and typed something into her computer.
"Alright, he'll be down in a moment, please take a seat to the right." She pointed to the other end of the room with a group of comfy-looking chairs arranged around a large coffee table. The boys took a seat, and waited for the professor. Nini and Honedge stared at each other for awhile, occasionally exchanging a noise or two.
"Ah! You must be Trenton!" A man said, arms spread wide, as he stepped out of a silver elevator. Trenton stood up and walked over to the man and shook his hand firmly.
"So good to be working with you sir." Trenton greeted. Z stood sort of shyly a little ways from the two older guys.
"And who might you be?" The professor asked once he noticed the boy.
"My name is Z…" He replied awkwardly. Sycamore paused for a minute.
"Z you say?"
"Yes sir." The younger boy was clearly nervous.
Sycamore turned to Trenton, "Is he a ranger as well? Where is his Capture Styler?"
"Actually, Z isn't a Ranger. He's just a friend of mine." Trenton proceeded to explain what happened in the alleyways earlier in the day.
Sycamore muttered something to himself that Trenton and Z couldn't hear, and then put on a smile, "Why don't you two come up to my office, and we can discuss this mission Trent."
"Sounds good sir." Trenton responded. The three of them all piled into the elevator and waited in silence as the silver box rose into the upper levels of the building.
While Trenton and the Professor talked over the Mission, Z wandered around the huge office, taking in the view that the windows provided. He came across a desk pushed against the wall, with two Pokeballs in a container on it. There was another slot for another Pokeball but it was empty. Instinctively, Z reached out to touch one of the Pokeballs, and when he did, with a flash and a small pop, a Pokemon appeared.
"Bulba!" The small, dinosaur looking Pokemon called out as it appeared. Trenton and the Professor turned to the source of the noise.
"Oh, that there is Bulbasaur, he's a kind little guy." Sycamore chuckled. Z looked at the Pokemon, and smiled. Bulbasaur smiled back with a gleeful little cry.
Trenton and Sycamore turned back to their papers and whatever else was going on at their desk. Z knelt down and pet the Bulbasaur.
"Hi Bulbasaur, my name is Z. Nice to meet you!" He said, gently stroking Bulbasaur's nose.
Meanwhile
Bottom floor of the Pokemon Lab
"Yes, the boy with the Honedge, and the Ranger with the Dratini are upstairs right now." The receptionist said into a small device attached to her ear, she paused, "Understood. I'll unlock the elevator and get you guys up there safely." Then she went to work at her keyboard, typing rapidly to put in passwords and such. Then two people, one male and one female dressed in red, walked into the lab, Pokeballs in their hands.
"Let's go get some revenge." The woman said.
Top Floor of the Pokemon Lab
"So, we'll head out to the Pokemon Village and-" The elevator doors suddenly opened.
"Alright brats, hand over the stone!" A woman in red shouted as she walked into the office of the Professor.
"Who are you two? You aren't supposed to be here." Sycamore asked the two people.
"We go where we please." The man turned to Z, "Hand over the stone, now." He demanded. Z's Honedge unsheathed itself and moved in between Z and the man, ready to protect Z.
"Nini, get ready." Trenton told his partner, as it hopped off his shoulder and landed on the floor, "Professor let me and Z handle this, evacuate the building."
Sycamore nodded and picked up his phone attached to the desk, "Everyone evacuate, Level 4. I repeat, Level 4." He said into it. Trenton clenched his fist.
"Leave or else we can recreate the events in the alley." He said through his teeth, the
Neo Flare members laughed.
"Fat chance," the woman said, "Flareon, go!" She called, throwing the ball in her hand into the air, out popped a red and orange fox looking Pokemon.
"Graveler go!" The man called out his own Pokemon.
"Hone, get ready!" Z told his Pokemon, Honedge responded with a determined look in it's eye.
"Nini, you ready?" Trenton asked, his Capture Styler popped up, and he aimed it towards the Flareon, "Capture On!"
"Flareon! Use Flamethrower!"
Graveler! Rock Blast!"
"Hone! Swords Dance!"
"Nini! Counter that Flamethrower with your Aqua Tail!"
The battle between the Neo Flare Grunts and our heroes began. Who will reign victorious?
