Pokemon:
Things in the Orre Region were pretty normal at the moment, especially at the small Outskirt Stand near the edge of Orre's massive desert. Except for one thing; if someone was to step outside, they'd notice three flying creatures making their way towards the small rest stop; each one carrying someone on their back. The creatures were the Pokemon Pidgeot, Charizard, and Fearow, and the ones riding them were Pokemon Master in training, twenty-three old, Ash Ketchum and his trusty Pikachu, his wife, twenty-five year old Misty Ketchum, who was holding onto a small girl, who happened to be Misty and Ash's two year old daughter, Sapphire, and third person was the Pokemon Breeder, twenty-eight year old, Brock.
The three Pokemon trainers were in Orre because of its fame of having Pokemon Colosseum battles, which had some of the toughest Pokemon trainers in the world, the most famous being the mysterious top trainer at the Colosseum known as Realgam Tower. No one outside of Orre knew who the trainer's name and people from Orre made a habit of not telling outsiders. Not out of hatred for trainers outside Orre, but to spark their curiosity and cause more to arrive, bringing more trainers to the region. The tactic worked on Ash, for he wanted to compete in Realgam Tower and battle the mysterious trainer, and win, proving that he was the best trainer in the world, or at least in the Orre Region.
When the three Pokemon landed in front of Outskirt Stand, Ash, Misty and Brock got off their flying friends, and Ash got out three Poke Balls.
"Charizard, Pidgeot, Fearow, return!" Ash commanded, and the three Pokemon were hit by a single read beam of light from each Poke Ball, and the three Pokemon were sent back into the balls to rest. "Thanks for the help you guys, now get a good rest." Ash said to his Pokemon, and he turned towards his wife, daughter, and best friend. "Well, we finally made it to the Orre Region." Ash announced, and Brock and Misty nodded, but Misty looked concerned.
"Let's get inside; this heat can't be good for Sapphire." Misty said, and they walked into the small, train-like restaurant, and sat down on the barstools in the restaurant.
"Can I help you four?" The man behind the counter said as he was a cup with a cloth.
"Yes; I was wondering what supplies you had for sale, like potions, food, and stuff like that." Ash said, and the man nodded.
"I have a small surplus of supplies, and I can sell you enough to last you to the next city in this Region, Phenac City." The man said, and he got out a list of the stuff he sold, and Ash looked over the list while Misty put her daughter in the chair next to her and opened a small, portable cooler she had with her and pulled out a small container holding apple sauce and got a small spoon out afterwards.
"You hungry Sapphire?" Misty asked, and the small two year old nodded.
"Yeah!" Sapphire answered. Sapphire was obviously Misty's daughter, due to her fire red hair and blue eyes, she looked just like her mother, but when you got to know Sapphire, you could easily tell she was Ash's daughter, due to her stubborn nature, overly-active energy, and an appetite that'd put a Snorlax to shame. She also loved Pokemon, like both of her parents, but her favorite was her fathers Pikachu, who would constantly play with her every chance she got. As Misty fed her daughter, they were unaware of two people watching them, though it was mainly the girl that was watching them, though her attention was mainly focused on Sapphire.
"Oh Wes…she's so cute! When will you and I start a family?" The girl, Rui, asked, and the guy she was talking to just smiled.
"I'm sure we'll be able to start one soon Rui, but we don't have time right now." Wes said, and although Rui frowned, she knew Wes was right. She just turned to face her boyfriend, and she smiled at him, causing Wes to smile in turn.
"Plusle!" Yelled the small, red electric Pokemon that was sitting in Rui's lap, demanding attention from his 'mother', as he liked to consider her.
"Oh, Plusle, you know you're just as much as part of my family as Wes and his other Pokemon." Rui said, and she gave the small electric Pokemon a hug, which he enjoyed getting from her.
When Ash and Brock finished purchasing supplies, and after Misty finished feeding Sapphire her lunch, the three walked outside to continue their journey, unaware of two very annoying people waiting for them.
"Hahaha!" Came a voice from above, and the three trainers looked above them and saw a hot air balloon in the shape of a Meowth, which could only mean one thing.
"Team Rocket!" The three trainers yelled angrily in unison, and the two Pokemon thieves appeared from the basket of the balloon.
"Well, well, well, look at that Jessie, it looks like the originals twerps are together again, and they have their little twerpette with them." James said, and Misty got angry instantly, hearing Team Rocket insult her daughter.
"DON'T YOU DARE INSULT MY BABY LIKE THAT!" Misty yelled, and Team Rocket got scared for a quick second before regaining their posture.
"I gotta say James, seeing these three together again after such a long time makes me feel nostalgic; what do you say about giving them our good old original motto?" Jessie asked.
"I'm game for that." James said, and the two prepared their old motto.
"Just when I was starting to enjoy the peace and quiet." Ash said in an annoyed huff.
"Prepare for trouble!"
"Make it double."
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all people within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jessie."
"James."
"Team Rocket, blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, dat's right!"
"Can't we just have one adventure without you three getting in our way!" Ash asked, and Team Rocket just chuckled.
"We've been chasing after your Pikachu for thirteen years, and we're not going to stop until we get it!"
"You've been after Pikachu for thirteen years, and you never successfully stole him! What makes you think today will be any different!" Brock asked.
"Because, we came up with a full proof plan that can't possibly fail." Jessie said. "James, fire it up." Jessie ordered, and James pressed a button on a small remote, and two large vacuum tubes appeared from the side of the balloon basket.
"You idiots are using da vacuum again! That's never worked before!" Meowth yelled, but Jessie just punched Meowth on the head.
"Quiet you dolt! This time the plan is going to work!" Jessie said.
"Mommy…I'm scared." Sapphire said, and she dug her face into Misty's shirt, but Misty just smiled.
"Don't worry sweetheart; the last thing you need to be scared of is these three morons." Misty said.
"Hey!" Jessie yelled.
"We heard that!" James yelled.
"What's your point?" Misty asked, and Team Rocket just fell over in their basket.
"You brat! You're going to regret saying that!" Jessie yelled, but Ash was already tired of Team Rocket.
"Pikachu! Thunder Shock!" Ash ordered, and Pikachu jumped in the air, and sent lightning towards the hot air balloon, but a small metal rod poked through the bottom of the basket, directed the lightning towards, doing nothing to the balloon.
"Hahaha! See? Our glorious plan is already working; the lightning rod on the bottom of our balloon is sending Pikachu's electrical powers into the vacuum, powering it up." Jessie said, and Ash growled.
Meanwhile, Rui was watching the confrontation through the window near the table her and Wes were sitting at, getting worried for the travelers.
"Wes, don't you think we should help those three travelers? I think the people in the balloon are trying to steal their Pokemon." Rui said, but Wes didn't look concerned.
"I think they have it under control Rui. Besides, those 'thieves' as you call them, aren't even doing their job properly." Wes said, but Rui wasn't convinced, and was shocked at Wes' attitude.
"Wes!" Rui yelled angrily, and Wes held up his hands calmly and stood up.
"Alright, alright. I'll help." Wes said, and he got out two Poke Balls from his belt, and walked outside the train. "Hey! Losers! Why don't you get lost!" Wes yelled to Team Rocket, and Jessie growled.
"You little punk! Think you're such a tough guy? Fine! Seviper! Go!" Jessie yelled, throwing a Poke Ball, releasing the snake Pokemon.
"Yamask! Go!" James yelled, releasing his Yamask.
"Metagross! Tyranitar! I choose you!" Wes yells, and he threw the two Poke Balls in his hand, revealing the two large Pokemon.
"Metagross." Metagross said, and Tyranitar just roared, causing everyone but Wes to cover their ears.
"Seviper! Poison that Tyranitar with your Poison Tail!" Jessie ordered.
"Yamask. Hit Metagross with Shadow Ball!" James ordered, and the two Pokemon followed their masters ordered, and prepared to attack; Seviper's tail grew purple as the poison built up inside of it, and lunged Tyranitar, and the Yamask charged up a Shadow Ball, and launched it at Metagross.
"Metagross! Levitate to dodge that Shadow Ball!" Wes commanded, and Metagross pull in its four legs, and he started floating off the ground, and started raising higher, causing the Shadow Ball to go right under her, and fly through the air into the open desert. Seviper's tail was about to make contact with Tyranitar, but the large Pokemon caught with its massive three-clawed hand, and made it impossible for Poison to work, due to not being able to make contact with it.
"Seviper! Bite Tyranitar." Jessie ordered, and the snake turned its head, and revealed its two large fangs, and bit Tyranitar, but the armor made it impossible for Seviper's fangs to do any damage, but instead, caused Seviper's teeth to break in two. Seviper instantly started crying out in pain, and squirmed out of Tyranitar's grip, and quickly slithered back to the balloon before curling up and 'jumping' into the basket and onto Jessie, and she realized Seviper couldn't fight anymore, and put him back in his Poke Ball.
"Metagross! Use Meteor Mash on Yamask!" Wes yelled, and Metagross floated over to Yamask, who was getting ready to use another Shadow Ball, but Metagross had already charged its steel arm, and slammed it down onto Yamask, making contact with Pokemon. Yamask was sent flying, and hit James square in the face, knocking the Pokemon out cold.
"Forget you two! I'll show you how a real Pokemon battles!" Meowth said, jumping out of the balloon and landing right in front of Metagross and Tyranitar. "Wow….you two looked much smaller from up in the balloon." Meowth said, his knees beginning to shake in fear. He soon got over his fear though, and pulled out his claws, and swung each arm at both Pokemon. However, the attack didn't so much as mark the two armored Pokemon, Meowth looked at his two front paws, and saw all six of his claws break off. He did his best to keep himself from screaming in pain and fear, but couldn't hold it in for much longer.
"Aaaaaaaaah! Let me back up there! Let me up!" Meowth said, and he jumped so high in the air in fear, he was able to get back up to the balloons height, and landed Jessie and James' head.
"Now, Tyranitar! Metagross! Use Hyper Beam!" Wes ordered, and the two Pokemon charged up large amounts of energy while Team Rocket watched them in fear, knowing what was coming next. Tyranitar and Metagross then shot the stored energy, sending a large beam of colors that was Hyper Beam. Both of the attacks made contact with the balloon basket, causing an explosion to engulf it.
"Aww…and I thought we had them beat this time!" James said, who was now covered in soot from the explosion and was flying through the air at high speeds, just like Jessie and Meowth.
"And I thought thirteen years of doing this would've allowed us to come up with the perfect plan!" Jessie said.
"My claws! My claws! Waaaah!" Meowth cried.
"We're blasting off agaaaaaaaaain!" The three yelled as they disappeared into the sky. *ding*
"Bye Team Rocket!" Misty yelled, taking Sapphire's hand and making it look like she was waving good-bye.
"Hope we never see you again!" Ash yelled, and the three friends smiled as they turned around to face Wes, who was petting his Pokemon.
"You both did a great job! I'm proud of you. Now, get some rest you two." Wes said, and he pulled out their Poke Balls and had them return inside of them.
"Hey, thanks for helping us out with Team Rocket." Ash said, and Wes smiled and nodded.
"No problem." Wes said, and Ash held out his hand.
"I'm Ash Ketchum. This is my wife, Misty, our daughter Sapphire, and our best friend, Brock." Ash introduced, and Wes took Ash's hand and shook it.
"I'm Wes, and this is my girlfriend, Rui." Wes said.
"It's nice to meet you all." Rui said, and the three smiled and nodded. However, not everyone was happy; Plusle, who was watching all the introductions, began crying out loud, wanting attention.
"Oh, right, and this is one of my Pokemon, Plusle." Wes said, and he held his hand flat so Plusle could jump onto it, which he did, and he was so happy to meet new people, electricity started to spark from him.
"Oh he's so cute!" Misty said, getting right in front of Plusle and began petting him. "I bet you and Pikachu would get along just fine!" Misty said, and Plusle looked down at Ash's feet, and saw the Pikachu Misty was talking. Plusle then jumped down from Wes' hand, and walked over to Pikachu, and began speaking to him in their own Pokemon language.
"Plusle plus!" Plusle introduced, and Pikachu just smiled.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu responded, and Plusle smiled and the two continued to enjoy their conversation.
"So Ash, I'm going to take a wild guess about why you're here in scenic nowhere in the middle of Orre; you're here to compete in the Colosseum battles here in Orre." Was guess, and Ash smiled.
"You got that right! I'm going to beat everyone in every Colosseum here, and prove that I'm the NUMBER ONE POKEMON MASTER!" Ash said proudly, but Brock and Misty shook their heads in embarrassment.
"Even after thirteen years of traveling, he's still the same, no matter what anyone says." Brock said.
"Sometimes I find it hard to believe I married him." Misty said, and Ash fell over in shock at his friends comments, and Wes just chuckled.
"Ash, if you're going to compete here in Orre, you're going to have to familiarize yourself with the ways we battle around here." Wes said, and Ash got back up and smirked.
"I already know that you guys prefer to do double battles in all your matches. I also know that you guys fight till all your Pokemon are knocked unconscious." Ash said.
"Good, but you're going to need more that basic knowledge if you hope to win around here." Wes said, and he was going to continue, but two voices interrupted him.
"Well, we found you and your little girlfriend, Wes. I was beginning to lose hope." One of the voices said, and two men appeared, and they were both wearing strange outfits, and equally strange helmets, and due to the Poke Balls they had at their waist, they appeared to be trainers.
"You've caused Cipher a lot of trouble over the recent years Wes, and, now, we're going to take you down!" One of the men and, and Wes rolled his eyes.
"Umbreon! Espeon! Go!" Wes yelled, the man in the blue outfit pulled out two Poke Balls and threw them, revealing a Raichu and a Bayleef.
"Bayleef, use Razor Leaf! Raichu, Thunder!" The man said, and the two Pokemon attacked.
"Umbreon, Espeon, dodge!" Wes ordered, and they did. "Now, Umbreon, bite Bayleef! Espeon, use Psychic on Raichu!" Wes yelled, and Umbreon ran towards Bayleef, jumped up and bit its neck, causing Bayleef to cry in pain, and started try to shake Umbreon off, but it was no use; Umbreon wouldn't let go. Meanwhile, Espeon focused her powers on Raichu, and eventually, her Psychic ability put her in control of the electric Pokemon. Knowing exactly what to do, Espeon got Raichu ready to attack. "Umbreon! Get off of Bayleef!" Wes ordered, and Umbreon jumped off of Bayleef, unaware that its partner was charging up a Thunder Bolt, and aiming at him.
"RaiiiiiiCHU!" Raichu yelled, and a large lightning bolt shot out of Raichu, and flew towards Bayleef, and hit it, surprising its trainer. When the lightning ceased, Bayleef fell over unconscious. The man recalled his Bayleef, leaving only Raichu, who was released from Espeon's psychic control.
"Umbreon! Use you're secret power!" Wes ordered, and the rings around Umbreon began to grow brightly as he looked at Raichu, and the Pokemon began spinning around for a few seconds before stopping to face his trainer.
"Raichu?" The man pondered, and the Raichu just looked at him confusedly, and attacked his trainer with a Thunder Bolt. "Aaaaaaaaah! Raichu return!" The man ordered, realizing his Raichu couldn't fight anymore. Wes, realizing he and his Pokemon won the battle, smirked as the first man stepped back, and the second one took his place.
"Grr…I'll show you! Haunter! Bulbasaur!" The man yelled, throwing his two Poke Balls, and a Haunter and Bulbasaur appeared, ready to fight. However, when Ash looked at the Bulbasaur, he noticed dark smoke coming from the Pokemon, though it wasn't on fire, which confused Ash, and Rui spoke up.
"Wes! The Bulbasaur has a Dark Aura!" Rui yelled, and Wes nodded, knowing what to do, and Ash looked at Rui.
"So she can see it too…" Ash said to himself, but his friends overheard him, and looked at him, confused.
"What do you mean Ash?" Misty asked, though Ash didn't answer her.
"Espeon, use Psybeam on Haunter!" Wes ordered, and while his Pokemon attacked, Wes pulled out an Ultra Ball, activating the Snag Machine on his left arm, and threw Snag Ball at Bulbasaur. To everyone's shock, beside Wes and Rui, five finger like beams shot out of the Ultra Ball, and pulled Bulbasaur into the ball, despite being owned by the other trainer. The Ultra Ball shook three times before giving off the signal that the Bulbasaur had been successfully captured. Meanwhile, Haunter took a direct hit from Espeon's Psybeam, knocking it unconscious instantly.
"No! My Pokemon!" The man yelled, and he called back Haunter.
"You won't get away with this Wes!" The first man yelled.
"Yeah! Cipher will take you down one day!" The other yelled, and the two took off running. Wes just turned around and saw that Ash, Mist, Brock, and Pikachu were shocked about what they saw.
"What was that!" Misty asked, and Wes realized why three of them were upset.
"You stole that trainers Pokemon!" Brock accused.
"And I have a very good reason for it." Wes said calmly.
"You're no better than Team Rocket!" Misty yelled, but Ash finally spoke up.
"Misty, Brock, I think Wes may actually have a good reason for stealing that Pokemon." Ash said, and Misty and Brock looked at their friend, completely shocked.
"What do you mean Ash!" Misty asked.
"There was something…odd about that Bulbasaur." Ash said, and now it was Wes and Rui's turn to be shocked.
"What do you mean Ash? It looked like a regular Bulbasaur to me!" Misty said, but Ash shook his head.
"I could see a…dark haze or smoke or something come from that Bulbasaur…" Ash said.
"You mean a Dark Aura…" Rui asked, and Ash nodded.
"Yeah! You could see it too! Couldn't you Rui!" Ash asked, and Rui nodded.
"Yes, and there was a reason why that Dark Aura was there Ash; the organization those two Peons mentioned before they battled Wes, Cipher, they artificially closed the door to that Pokemon's heart, making it a Shadow Pokemon." Rui explained, and Ash and his friends gasp at what they heard.
"What!" Ash exclaimed.
"Why would they do that!" Misty asked, but suddenly, she felt a small hand tug on her shirt.
"Mommy, it's hoooooooot…" Sapphire whined, and Misty looked at her daughter pitifully.
"Aww…you guys, can we continue this conversation inside?" Misty asked, and Wes and Rui nodded as they made their way back into the shop.
Two hours went by while Wes and Rui explained Cipher and their Shadow Pokemon plan to Ash and his friends, while making sure to leave out as much details as possible about Wes' former involvement with Team Snagem, though he did explain that he broke into the Team Snagem base and stole the portable Snag Machine shortly before the base was destroyed by a traitorous member. They explained everything else though in detail, from the time Wes and Rui met, to defeating Nascour and Evice at Realgam Tower, with a little help from Ho-oh. After finishing their tale, Ash and his friends looked at Wes and Rui in complete shock, finding the tale unbelievable, though they believed it anyway.
"So yeah…that's the whole story. But despite Nascour and Evice being in prison, Cipher continues to operate in Orre somehow, most likely due to their Admins." Wes said, and Ash, who was now holding a sleeping Sapphire, just grunted.
"Wes…I want to help you and Rui bring down Cipher!" Ash said, and Misty and Brock nodded.
"Me too!" Misty said.
"Count me in! We can't let them continue those sick experiments on Pokemon!" Brock said.
"Pika!" Pikachu said, sparks emanating from his cheeks.
"I appreciate that. But I don't want you guys getting involved. The kind of stuff Rui and I do is dangerous, life threatening even." Wes said, and Rui nodded.
"Yeah, Wes and I can handle this. Besides, I'd feel awful if your involvement got your daughter hurt…or worse." Rui said, but the three didn't change their minds.
"You guys need as much help as possible to bring these guys down! And don't worry about Sapphire; I'll protect with my life before I let anything happen to her, and my Pokemon are willing to protect her too." Ash said.
"Wes…maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to have a few more people helping us. We've been battling Cipher for six years now, and we're no where close to bringing them down. Perhaps we should let them help." Rui said, and Wes thought over the idea for a few minutes, before finally sighing and nodding.
"Fine. You guys want to help, you can help. But if things get too out of hand, and threaten any of your lives, especially Sapphire's, I want you three to get out of here and save yourselves. And I don't want to hear 'after the mission is over', or 'just give us another chance'. Things get too hot, I want you three to get out of harms way immediately! Understand?" Wes offered, and the three of them nodded.
"So, what's our first plan then?" Ash asked.
"We should probably head to Phenac City and stock up on more supplies, plus we can allow our Pokemon to rest better there. It's about a couple of hours west from here." Wes said, and they continued to talk about their plan, unaware that Team Rocket was listening in.
"Hmm…those Shadow Pokemon sound like they're really powerful." Jessie said quietly.
"Yeah; I bet if we got a couple of those Pokemon, we'd be unbeatable!" James said.
"Or…" Meowth said, butting into the conversation.
"Or?" Both Jessie and James asked.
"We break into dis Cipher joint and steal da formula for making dese Shadow Pokemon, and give it to da boss! He'll be so pleased he'll be like 'I'm so impressed with you Meowth; you helped me get da Shadow Pokemon formula, give da most powerful Pokemon in da whole world! You really are my top cat!'" Meowth said, imagining sitting Giovanni's lap, being petted by his boss.
"Hey, you're right! He'll make us rich if we give him that formula. We'll be able to live the rest of our lives in luxury!" Jessie said, both Jessie and James both started day dreaming about living the good life, and Meowth realized what they were doing, and used his newly sharpened claws to scratch both of them in the face.
"Will you two focus! We have to find out where dese Cipher guys work!" Meowth said, but that caused him to be attacked by both Jessie and James. However, all three stopped being so loud when they saw Wes, Rui, Ash, and the others walk outside the train, and Team Rocket started hiding.
"So Wes, how are you and Rui going to get to Phenac?" Brock asked, and they saw Wes get in the drives seat of a strange vehicle; a motorcycle, though it had one big wheel in the back, and a sidecar with what looked like a repulsor on it.
"So this is your ride?" Ash asked, and Wes nodded.
"Yeah. This baby is my Sand Bike; she can go up two hundred and fifteen miles an hour, making it faster than a Skarmory at top speed." Wes said, proud of his machine, and Ash was admiring the bike, until Misty grabbed him by his collar and dragged him away from the bike.
"Misty! What are you doing!" Ash asked.
"Keeping you away from Wes' bike! You know what happens every time you make a new friend that has a bike!" Misty said teasingly, and Ash's head just dropped down.
"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?" Ask asked as she took Sapphire from him.
"What kind of wife would I be if I did that?" Misty asked with a smile, but Ash's comment quickly destroyed it.
"A good one…" Ash said, but before he realized he said it too loud, Misty was already starting to tear up, taking Ash's words seriously.
"Misty, wait! I didn't mean that! You are a good wife. A great wife!" Ash said, trying to make Misty feel better, but she wouldn't smile.
"Sure Ash…you're just saying…" Misty was cut off when Ash pulled Misty into a deep kiss, trying to prove that he was sincere.
"No, I wasn't just saying that." Ash said, and he wiped Misty's eyes for her, and gave her another kiss. "You're a wonderful wife Misty." Ash said, and Misty smiled.
"Thanks Ash." Misty said, and she eventually returned Ash's hug, although Sapphire was getting squashed by her parent's show of affection.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Sapphire yelled, and the two parents broke off the hug so their daughter wouldn't feel so constricted, and the two laughed when as they both held Sapphire, who was giving them a dirty look for nearly crushing her.
"Does that happen often?" Wes asked, and Brock chuckled.
"You get used to it." Brock answered.
"Okay. Ash, Misty, pay attention. Just keep heading west and you should see Phenac City with two to three hours." Wes explained, and the two Pokemon trainers nodded while Ash got out three Poke Balls and released his Charizard, Fearow, and Pidgeot. Ash got on his Charizard, Brock got on Fearow, and Misty, being the lightest of the three, got on Pidgeot. The three trainers took off in the air, and Wes pressed down on the accelerator, making his bike go top speed towards Phenac City, and the three trainers followed their new friends towards their next adventure.
A/N: I hope you guys like my first Pokemon story. I must admit, I'm a little nervous; I feel my knowledge of Pokemon is mediocre at best, like I don't even know if Meteor Mash, which is a Steel type move, would've actually hurt Yamask, which is a Ghost Pokemon. If I'm wrong about that, please forgive me; I've tried to going to Bulbapedia, but I when I typed in the website, it gave me something completely different, so I just went to Pokemon(dot)wikia(dot)com, and I'm not sure if that's a reliable source, though it does seem like it. Or maybe I'm just being dumb and they're the exact same thing. Either way, I hope you guys still like this story; your reviews will encourage me to keep writing, so please review, but don't flame me. Though I will take constructive criticism.