Okay so here's what this is: it's Rise of a Ranger from near the end, when Mo is an old man and has exciting adventures to recollect. YOU DONT NEED TO HAVE READ Rise of a Ranger TO UNDERSTAND THIS
Chapter 1 – the old man by the sea
In a part of Kanto not too far but relatively isolated from Pallet Town, an old man got ready to watch the sunset. He had startling white hair that he kept short and square. He had a chiseled look about him, a face that had obviously seen a lot, if not too much. He had a little two-story house - the only one in a fifteen mile radius – overlooking the sea to the south, with a nice garden he kept neat and tidy with flowers and a couple of trees. The forest around his property meant that hardly anyone ever noticed its existence. Which was just the way he wanted things.
The old man sat down on at his table and took a cold beer out of his ice box. He removed the bottle cap using his fingers and poured a few drops into a bowl he put down on the floor. "Here you go old friend – it's your treat. You deserve it". The Pokemon he had been speaking to moved slowly but deliberately to the bowl and looked up at him, as if to say cheers, before lapping slowly at the brew. His owner started drinking for the night too. They looked like two old buddies enjoying a quiet beer on a quiet night.
Not far away on the road leading to the house, two figures were arguing as they walked.
"I told you this wasn't the way! We've been walking along here for hours and all we've seen so far is a couple of houses. It's going to get dark soon and we have no way of getting back", said the first one. She was a trendy-looking teenager – maybe sixteen years old? She wore a black beanie that covered her long blond hair, and she wore jeans with a white top and skating shoes. Her blue eyes were the same as her partner's: strong and piercing.
"Well now we're on this road we might as well see where it leads", replied the other. He was a boy of similar age who wore cream shorts, had shaggy blond hair and was also something of a trendy boy.
After bickering and continuing along the road for five more minutes, they suddenly realized they had reached the end of the road. They couldn't go further: they were about to enter someone's driveway.
Houndoom stopped drinking from its bowl and perked up its ears. The old man noticed immediately and suddenly felt the old feeling of adrenaline pumping through his veins. "What is it buddy? Those pesky Rattata bastards nibbling at the wires again?"
The two kids read the name on the postbox in disbelief.
"It can't be, can it? We've actually found him", explained the boy in glee.
"It looks like it is", said the girl impatiently. "You're the one who knows who he is, who did the research. Why don't you go knock on that door Phil?"
"Are you kidding? Faye, this guy has been a ranger, a spy and a special forces operative. He trained his Pokemon to whole new levels of power and even invented a couple of moves for them!". The boy looked scared. "I'm certainly not going to ask him for help, he could break me in half in seconds".
"Then you're a pussy", interrupted the old man. "Look at me. My body is frail, I'm a drunk. I won't hurt you. Come on, I'll get you a drink". He motioned at them to follow him and he lead them into the garden, where Houndoom was enjoying his beer again. "You bastard! You wouldn't even have been able to help me if they were dangerous" chuckled his owner as he got two chairs for his guests. When they were both seated and each had a drink, he sat down and faced them, the orange sky behind him obscuring his facial features.
He opened another beer and everyone clinked their bottles, but not a word was spoken. The two kids were looking at him sheepishly and seemed to be thinking a lot. Finally, the old man sighed.
"Okay, who are you and what the hell are you doing in my garden?"
The two teenagers looked at each other again. Finally, the girl spoke. "Are you really the one whose name is on the postbox?"
"Yes, that is me. Obviously a mistake since all I wanted was some peace and quiet to enjoy the sunset for the rest of my days". He gave a low growl after the sentence.
"Well, we're not sure how to tell you this really. What do you like people to call you by?" she continued.
"Mo will be fine, thank you".
"Well Mo, we came here after looking for you for the last five years", she said matter-of-factly.
The old man chuckled. "Hehe, bet you had a great time! Until three years ago you would have been totally unable to find me anyway, I was in Osutaria".
"We went too", interjected the boy. "We missed you by only four hours there once. You have no idea how it hurt to see your car driving away at speed. We had no chance to catch up and we didn't know where you were going":
"I came here" answered Mo. "But I'm guessing you had a hard time to find this out, so asked all my closest friends where I could be and someone cracked. Am I right?"
"Almost", said Faye. "We actually found out by accident, although we have been finding your old friends again."
Mo interrupted. "Like who?"
"Ryan, Raf, Bill and your adoptive parents to name but a few" came the answer, this time from the boy. "In the end it was your friend Misty Ketchum who told us by accident."
"What a bitch! Of all the people who would betray me! She always used to be good at keeping secrets" gasped Mo.
"She had a good reason to tell us, just like we have a good reason to be here" said the boy, trying to calm him down.
"And what would that be, huh? More budding journalists looking for a story? Do you want to know why there hasn't been a story about me the last years? The last jorno to come here got a nasty injury", he pointed at them both. "And the one before, and the one before him as well. Do I make myself clear?"
"Mo, we're not journalists", said Faye.
Phil, the boy, completed for her. "We're your grandchildren Mo".
Mo spat the beer he had just put in his mouth. He stared at them in disbelief. "What? I highly doubt this to be true, seeing as I've never even had children. How could I now suddenly have grandchildren?" He looked at the two and realized that they did look a bit similar to him.
Faye looked him in the eyes. "But you did have a child, Mo, you just didn't know it".
"Who is your mother? It'll be quite easy to settle if this is the truth or not if you showed me a picture of your grandmother. I remember the few times I had unprotected sex, they were so rare".
The kids took out a Polaroid picture of a young woman with black hair cradling an obviously new-born baby. Mo found her stunningly beautiful and seeing her again was like being hit by a sledge-hammer in the chest at full strength.
After some time to sit and gather his thoughts, Mo said: "she told me I wasn't the father. It was the only really big fight we ever had as a couple. But it was the last one too".
"She died a few hours after the photo was taken. Apparently because of complications" said Faye.
"You know that's Rapidash-shit just as well as I do. We were getting to a critical part of the war with Team Rocket. They were cornered. She was an easy target in the hospital". Mo's eyes stared into the distance.
The deafening racket of the battle raging outside never seemed to end. Mo peaked around a corner and saw a Team Rocket operative order his Snorlax to roll over a defeated trainer. It was hard to resist intervening, bit this would take time that he didn't have. He used the distraction of the torture to sprint across the street, Houndoom at his heels.
They sneaked their way through the ruined buildings of Viridian, being careful to avoid the Team Rocket patrols. The bulk of the army that had been brought to take down the criminal syndicate once and for all had either control over different areas or simply not arrived yet, and Dada was in hospital in Rocket-controlled territory. So far they had agreed not to screw up hospitals, but if they figured out she was there she was done for. This is why Mo was here. He realized the selfishness of what he was doing, but he could not abandon her, even if she had cheated on him.
As he passed through the next ruined home, a grunt saw him and tried to raise the alarm.
Houndoom was onto him in a flash and used a Fire Fang on the poor guy's throat. He was dead before he could even put the walkie-talkie to his mouth. Mo ignored the blood oozing from the grunt's horrible wound and sized the guy up. He was about his build, which would suffice. He changed into the dead man's clothes. Blood on the uniform would not arouse suspicion today.
"Sorry buddy, but now you have to get into the Pokeball alright?" he said to Houndoom, who reluctantly agreed, letting itself get sucked back into the Pokeball.
Mo was running through the hospital's hectic corridors looking for the maternity ward. There were people screaming and dying everywhere, the floors were filled with blood and Mo even slipped in a puddle, falling over for a second before quickly regaining his composure. Finally he saw some signs showing him the way. He ran even faster. He asked a nurse where Dada was. She pointed at a closed door a few feet away, and Mo pounced towards it, ripping it open.
He immediately noticed a figure who had turned to look at him in surprise. The masked individual quickly pressed down harder on the empty syringe she had planted in Dada's arms, forcing air to enter her bloodstream and destroy her circulation system. The love of Mo's life was dead in precious little time.
Mo screamed, and let Houndoom out of its Pokeball again. "Nooo! You'll pay for this!"
"I don't care Mo. I finally beat you. I finally avenged Jack", said the masked individual. She removed her mask, revealing herself to be none other than Jill, one of Mo's worst enemies from the early days of his training.
Mo barked the order before he had even processed everything that had happened. "Kill her with a flamethrower". Houndoom fired a vicious blast of heat at Jill, who was charred beyond recognition after a minute. The Pokemon was also ferociously angry and had made sure to keep her alive as long as he could through her grueling ordeal.
"What I don't understand," said Mo, "was that they told me the baby had been taken away by its father, but I never got to find out who that was – from the hospital or from Dada. How did you make the connection with me?"
Phil decided to answer that question. "Research. We never met Mum's dad, although apparently he was a nice guy. He died a couple of years ago of old age and we were invited to the funeral. At his home during the wake Mum was looking through his stuff and found the letter where he admitted he wasn't her real father. However, she refused to believe it because she didn't want to lose the idea of having known her dad. We, on the other hand, made it our mission to find you".
Mo nodded. It made sense. "So now you've found me, what do you want from me?"
They looked at each other, until finally both spoke simultaneously: "we need you to show us how to battle".
"I'm sure there's enough people out there who'll be happy to help", answered a somewhat surprised Mo.
"None of them has the expertise or experience you have Mo", explained Faye. "And we're talking serious battles, not just fun ones".
So that's the bitter old Mo. More exciting war stories and the like coming up sometime in the next couple of weeks. I'm gonna be real busy soon. R&R and tell me what you think!