Chapter 24 YEARS AGO IN SINNOH…
While walking into Solaceon Town, the Pokémon Trainer named Joshua Prowler spotted a Shinx race past his feet. It is quickly followed by an Espeon and a girl with short pinkish hair, chasing after the two Pokémon. The pink-haired girl paused beside Joshua, as she tried to regain her composure.
"E-Erik! For Pete' sake…use PSYCHIC!" she said between breathes.
The Espeon seemed to ignore the girl and continues chasing after the Shinx.
"Oh for the love of…Fine! Just do what you want! It's not like we're supposed to be a team or anything." The girl cried out before turning to face Joshua, "I'm sorry you had to see that…but you're a trainer, right?"
Joshua looked toward the girl standing before him. At first he held a slightly confused look on his face but suddenly tried his best to replace it with a friendly smile.
"That's what I am, a trainer-in-training." he responded as his partner Lucario appeared, standing by his side, with an apple in his paw.
"Always with the apples," Joshua stated as the dog-like Pokémon munched happily away on the piece of fruit. "Eh, sorry about that but...can I help you with something?" he asked the pink-haired girl.
"You wouldn't happen to have a flying type on you, would you?" she asked as Joshua frowned slightly.
"Sorry, my main flyer is resting back at the Pokémon-Center right now."
Joshua paused for a moment as Lucario suddenly gave a rather loud sigh. The large blue-dog Pokémon then threw away the apple core of fruit he was eating before looking at both trainers.
"Maybe, Lucario could help you? He's pretty good at most things."
There suddenly came a 'burp' from the furry Pokémon as Joshua made a face. "Not to mention, good at getting himself into trouble..."
The pink-haired girl laughed at the two. "I can tell that you two are really good friends. Plus if that Lucario is fast, then maybe you can help me."
The girl then turned back to point out the Espeon and Shinx running around in the field. "That Shinx keeps running away from me to look for its trainer and my Espeon, Erik constantly has to track it down. The only problem is that my Espeon is rather…slow." Joshua raised an eyebrow at the statement as the girl continued.
"…Erik just does things at his own pace, but the trainer of that Shinx will be back any day now and I don't want my Grandparents Daycare to gain a bad reputation because of me. If only I could get that Shinx to understand…"
Joshua paused, "Wait, just how slow is your Espeon because Shinx aren't really known for their speed. Lucario should be able to catch him, no problem." The boy stated as he grinned to the girl before leaning down and poking his Pokémon partner on the shoulder. "Hey buddy, up to helping a lady in distress?"
Lucario looked to Joshua with a curiosity as Joshua pointed out toward the field. "See that Shinx and Espeon chasing each other? Well, I need you to corner the Shinx and help bring it back this way for this pretty girl here."
Lucario looked at the girl, then to the two Pokémon, and finally back to Joshua before he pointed to his mouth with a low bark. Joshua suddenly jumped to his feet. "You want more food? But you just had an apple!" Lucario pointed again, this time with a slightly more aggressive bark. "Another apple? Are you seriously doing this right now?"
The Aura-Pokémon quickly folded his arms in front of him and shook his head, 'yes'.
"You have got to be kidding." he stated before looking away from his partner. He then sighed and looked back toward Lucario. "Okay, okay! But you only get it if you go after that Shinx, right now."
Lucario smirked and gave a salute to his trainer before running off.
"Thank you." The girl replied, "My name's Marie by the way, but everyone calls me 'Rie." She said as she extended her hand.
"Joshua, Joshua Prowler from Canalave City." Said the boy as he took the girl's hand.
"Oh, so you're a Sinnoh native then."
"Not really. I came to Sinnoh when I was much younger. Originally I'm from Unova."
"Oh, that's cool. I'm from here…but I wouldn't mind going to Johto or even Hoenn to open up my own Pokémon ranch. That's always been my dream. Of course, helping my Grandparents to watch Pokémon is a good first step." Said Marie with a little smile.
"Guess that little Shinx must really love their Trainer. Can't get mad at that." said Joshua.
"Oh! I don't blame the Shinx. I just don't want the trainer to show up and they find out that the Shinx is lost. I just wish Erik wasn't so stubborn sometimes." Rie replied.
Joshua suddenly looked past Marie and called back to his Pokémon, "Lucario, use EXTREME SPEED to circle around him!"
Marie groaned as her Espeon tried to stop the Lucario. "Erik, if you're not going to help, get out of the way!"
Erik replied back in poke-speak and Rie frowned.
"This is NOT a race! Either help bring the Shinx back or I won't let you have any berries for a month!"
Joshua laughed toward the girl as she finished yelling toward her Pokémon. "Guess we have the same problem with our Pokémon being a little stubborn, huh?"
However, while Joshua was laughing, Lucario paused and looked back toward the Espeon, barking at him that he had this. He sped through the grass and bounced between the trees, once...twice and finally a third time before landing right in front of the Shinx. It seemed to back away in fear as the Espeon moved in behind it.
"Looks like they got it, let's go pick the little guy up." stated Joshua as he moved over toward the three Pokémon.
"Thank you." Rie said as she hurried over to the group. "Erik, I should ground you."
Kneeling down so she could look at the Shinx better, "Your trainer is coming tomorrow. He'd be very sad if you went and got lost before he could come back for you."
"Shi, Shinx hinx."
"I know you're sorry. Just wait it out another day and then you'll be on your way again." Rie replied to the Shinx.
"He might be here even sooner than you think." Came a voice as both Joshua and Marie, along with the three Pokémon turned to face a young man coming toward them.
The little Shinx suddenly cried out happily as it ran toward a young man with blonde hair, wearing a white jacket with red stripes running down the arms of his sleeves. He wore a pair of black jeans and sneakers that matched his jacket. His backpack was mostly black with a single white stripe running down the side with the Pokémon symbol inside of it.
The boy hugged the little Shinx. "Sorry I took so long, little buddy. Hope you can forgive me." he asked as the small blue Pokémon simply let out a series of happy cries while nuzzling against him.
"Welcome back Witt," said Marie as she smiled toward the boy, now reunited with his Pokémon partner. "Shinx really missed you."
"I see that," replied Witt. "I have a good explanation for that."
The blonde boy then reached into his bag and pulled out a strange looking orange tile that had even stranger engravings on it.
"What is that?" chimed Joshua, which grabbed Witt's attention.
"Oh, sorry...I never introduced myself. Name's Witt Rysher. Pokémon Trainer and all around awesome guy." he said proudly.
Joshua stared at Witt for a moment and then looked toward Marie.
"It's alright, he introduced himself to me the same way when he left his Shinx here." she joked. Joshua nodded and turned back to Witt.
"Well, my name is Joshua. Joshua Prowler and I'm also a Pokémon trainer. I was actually helping Marie here with your Shinx a moment ago."
"Thanks for that, man. Shinx can be a handful sometimes." stated Witt as Joshua brought attention back to the tile in the other boy's hand.
"So...just what IS that anyway?" he asked again.
Witt suddenly formed a small smile across his face before he answered with "Power". The blonde boy then pulled out his pokeball and unleashed his Hitmonchan.
The fighting type let the energy finish swirling around him before he started throwing out a series of quick jabs to show off his abilities. He then stopped and struck a pose as Witt began to praise him.
"My Hitmonchan already had the power to taken down nearly any opponent, but since finding this plate, his power sky-rocketed!" declared Witt as Joshua's Lucario seemed to take notice of that final statement.
"I randomly found it while on my journey. I'm not totally sure what it is, even after I took a good look at what was engraved on the back. Something about...'the universe creating shards'."
"That's interesting." chimed Marie, as Shinx nodded his approval.
"However, once I gave it to Hitmonchan here, we haven't lost a single battle!"
Witt's Hitmonchan stood proudly once again when Lucario walked over to it and stared at him, hard. Hitmonchan stepped back a bit in surprise at what seemed like a challenge from his fellow fighting-type. Stepping forward, Hitmonchan stared back at Lucario with the same intensity.
"So, you haven't been beaten?" asked Joshua.
"We're currently nineteen and zero." declared Witt, wondering where Joshua was going with this. Marie looked at the two trainers, wondering just what was going through their minds.
"Cool, Lucario and I love facing off against strong opponents." stated Joshua as he moved beside Lucario. "How about a quick one-on-one battle?"
"Really? I don't think you'd wanna mess with my Hitmonchan. Not for nothing but with the power of that plate..." started Witt as he looked Joshua dead in the eyes. "We'd wipe the floor with you two."
"...Wanna make a bet then?" asked Joshua with a slight grin.
"...I'm listening." came Witt's reply.
"If you really believe that it's that plate that's giving your Hitmonchan true power, than you wouldn't mind waging it on a simple battle. Your Hitmonchan versus my buddy Lucario. Winner gets the tile."
Witt looked over his opponents Lucario. "That plate is absolute power, right? What's there to lose?"
Witt then looked over at his Hitmonchan, who nodded in agreement, as well as to his Shinx who seemed to believe in his human partner. Witt then looked toward Marie. She simply shrugged.
"Hey, this is on you two. Just don't mess up my Grandparent's daycare center." she joked as both trainers suddenly fell over.
The two quickly picked themselves up as the blonde haired boy agreed to Joshua's challenge. "Alright buddy, you got yourself a deal...but don't say we didn't warn you."
Joshua looked at Witt as he rubbed underneath his nose with all the confidence of a champion.
"You really think you stand a chance against my Hitmonchan?" asked the younger boy as both Joshua and Lucario shrugged.
"Heh, you must not know the power my Pokémon have." said Witt as Joshua continued to look at the other trainer.
"CALM MIND." stated Joshua as Lucario slowly closed his eyes and concentrated.
"Don't underestimate me! Hitmonchan, use CLOSE COMBAT!" yelled Witt as his Hitmonchan leaped forward and yelled as it attacked Lucario with all the power it could muster.
The hit landed with what seemed like an explosion as both Lucario and Hitmonchan slid across the field. The Aura-Pokemon finally opened his eyes to reveal that he had stopped the brunt of the attack by blocking with his arms crossed in front of him.
"POWER-UP PUNCH." stated Joshua as a slight grin appeared on the face of the boy's Pokémon partner. Both Witt and Hitmonchan allowed a small bead of sweat to appear on their foreheads.
A fur-covered fist glowed and connected with the face of his opponent, sending it flying back toward it's trainer.
"Whoa, whoa!" started Witt when his Pokemon crashed into him, causing both boy and Pokémon to roll across the ground, finally coming to a stop a few feet away from where Hitmonchan was initially hit.
Joshua, Lucario and Marie ran over to the pair to make sure they were alright.
"Ow." groaned Witt as Joshua and Marie helped him and his Hitmonchan back to their feet. "Wow, your Lucario sure can pack a punch!" said Witt as he continued to groan.
"Yeah, guess we really don't know our own strength." started Joshua, "but we didn't need an item to give us power. We achieved this power all on our own...by training together and standing by each other's side."
Witt looked at Jousha and Lucario and sighed. "I see what you mean."
He had Hitmonchan hand back the orange plate and was about to hand it to Joshua, when he suddenly paused. "I know a deal is a deal but..."
Joshua looked at the blonde trainer in confusion before the latter and his Hitmonchan suddenly dropped to his knees and pressed his hands together in front of his face.
"PLEASE, PLEASE TRAIN US!" begged Witt as his Pokemon joined in. "Chan! Chan!"
Joshua reluctantly agreed as he helped Witt back to his feet.
"Thank you!" cried Witt as he looked to Hitmonchan. "Hear that, now we'll know what real power is!"
The two continued to cheer while Marie, Joshua and Lucario walked away for a bit. The boy then handed Lucario the strange orange plate as energy gathered all around him. Joshua could feel the surge swell from deep within the plate and into his partner.
"Whoa..." was all he was able to say when Lucario smiled and looked back at him, gripping the plate in his hands.
Joshua then wondered if his brother knew about these plates and how powerful they were.
"Perhaps he's looking for them himself?" Joshua questioned when Marie suddenly slapped the back of his head.
"Ow!" winced the boy as he looked back at the girl who just hit him.
"I honestly hope you weren't planning on leaving before cleaning up this place. Look at the mess you all made!" stated Marie as she Joshua and Lucario bowed to her in apology.
Witt, Hitmonchan and Shinx all looked on with slightly worried faces.
"If we need more power...maybe we should train with her." stated Witt as both Hitmonchan and Shinx agreed.
"Chan..."
"Shinx..."
PRESENT TIME IN AZALEA TOWN
Robbie could hardly contain his excitement as Kurt the Pokeball smith had just declared that he had successfully completed a set of Pokeballs, just for the young trainer.
"I don't know what to say other than thank you!" said Robbie as Kurt smiled back to him.
"It's the very least I could do since you and that other girl saved my life." stated the older man, when he suddenly began to look around the room.
"Odd, where is the lady you were with?" he asked.
Robbie paused before simply stating: "...I don't know. Guess she had things to do."
"Well, that is a shame. And my little Maizie wanted to thank her too."
Robbie looked at the little girl who warned both him and the red-haired girl about the danger her Grandfather was in. He grinned to her as she smiled back.
"So, Robbie...using a few different apricorns I had, I was able to create these…my specially designed Pokeballs."started Kurt, "Let me tell you about what makes these Pokeballs unique."
The Pokeball Smith placed each ball on the table.
"The red apricorn is used to create a Level Ball. The Level Ball works on Pokemon whose level is lower than your own. The higher level your own Pokémon are, the better these Pokeballs will work in the wild. Next, the yellow apricorn is used to make a Moon Ball. With a Moon Ball, you can easily catch Pokémon who evolve using a Moon Stone. The Blu Apricorn helps to make a Lure Ball. Just like its name suggests, it's easier to catch Pokémon while fishing. The green apricorn equals the Friend Ball. Catch any Pokémon with it and they are instantly your friend. The pink apricorn is used to make a Love Ball. Depending on the species and gender of your Pokémon team, you can catch any Pokémon of the same species but of a different gender with maximum efficacy! The white apricorn equals the Fast Ball. Use it on any speedy Pokémon and you should have no problems catching them. Finally, we have the black apricorn which equals the Heavy Ball. This pokeball allows you to catch the biggest and heaviest Pokemon, no problem! Think you got all that?"
Robbie wrote down in his notepad as much as he could remember from Kurt as the older man shook his head.
"Just remember the names of each Pokeball and you should be alright." he said as Maizie suddenly chimed in.
"That's right, it'll be alright!" she said in her cutest voice.
Both the little girl and Robbie laughed at that. Kurt chuckled and patted his Granddaughter's head.
"Well then young man, where are you off to next?"
Robbie wastes no time in answering, "I'm planning on challenging the Azalea Gym for a Hive Badge. I heard that the Gym Leader Bugsy is actually a lot tougher than he seems. I wanna know just how tough."
Kurt grinned. "You sure have a lot of spunk, but it's always good to have a plan when facing a Gym Leader. They're no pushovers."
Robbie nodded, along with Maizie as Kurt continued.
"Since Bugsy uses Bug-Type Pokemon, your best best is to take him on with Flying and Fire-Types. If you do that, you should do just fine."
"Thanks Kurt, once again!" said Robbie as he jumped to his feet to shake the older man's hand. "I'll train up my Pokémon a bit before challenging Bugsy. Like you said, 'best to have a plan'." and with that, Robbie starts to head off.
As Robbie began to load his new Pokeballs into his backpack, one of them slipped out of his hand and rolled onto the ground. It came to a stop near a stepstool and just as the trainer reached out to grab it, the stepstool suddenly came to life!
There was an eerie pause in the room when all three people began to scream in panic when the stepstool itself started to scream too!
It quickly took off, out of Kurt's home with the ball on top of it. Robbie gives chase as both Kurt and Maizie wonder just what happened, exactly.
The living step-stool continues to run, straight through Route 32 and all the way back to Union Cave.
Robbie stops just outside to catch his breath when he suddenly realized where he was.
"Oh man, not again…" stated Robbie before straightening his bandanna and running back inside the cave.
Ilex Forest
Cries of someone under attack could be heard throughout the forest, followed by explosions from an intense Pokémon battle.
A girl, dressed in nearly all white was sent flying through the air by an incredibly intense shock wave. Her name, Cassandra and she cried out as the blast of energy caused her to nearly collide with a tree. Luckily, a Beartic jumped in between her and said tree, in order to save her.
"Thank you..." she said weakly while clutching her bloodied arm before both her and the Beartic looked back at her assailant. "W-Who are you?"
"What does it matter 'who' I am, since you already know just what it is that I want?" he answered.
Julian Cyrill appeared surrounded by his team of Fairy-Type Pokémon; Granbull, Florges, Gardevoir and Mawile. The boy was dressed in a deep blue, long coat with the interior showing off a rich pink. He wore matching red finger-less gloves with black steel-toed boots. He adjusted his dark oval glasses, as his long black hair with a single pink bang crested over his face.
"And what I want...girl...is the Azure Flute." he said in a very calming voice as all four of his Pokémon, readied an attack.
In another part of the forest, the sun's slow ascension helped Makimi find a path in the Ilex forest, not that it seemed to truly help her. Everything looked the same to her and trying to find a way through the forest was starting to drive her a bit crazy. It was bad enough that she had actually released her Chikorita so that she wouldn't be alone.
"I'm starting to wonder if I should let Paige out, so she can help us find a way through the forest," Makimi said to her Pokémon.
"Chiiikaaa." The Chikorita replied while shaking its head.
"No? I suppose she would be vulnerable, and if she was followed, we'd be easily found." Makimi sighed as she leaned against a tree. "Maybe being lost for a while will be a good thing. But at the same time, we can't stay here for long. The twins would find us. The last thing I want to do is try to fight them. If I lose..."
Makimi shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. The mere thought of what her Uncle or her twin cousins would do if they caught up with her; terrified her to no end. Her Uncle was the head of an organization that she could never support an organization that would experiment on pokemon, make them so radically different. Make them so... feral.
"I could never support it," Makimi whispered to herself.
"Chii ka," Chikorita said as she rubbed her head against Makimi to try and comfort the girl.
"Did I tell you about the Snubbull I used to have as a pet?" Makimi asked as she sat down.
Chikorita shook its head, then leaned against Makimi to listen.
"It was a grumpy little thing sometimes. But if you caught it at just the right time, or gave it just the right berry, it would smile." Makimi smiled and pet the grass type's head, "I was so lucky I figured out what berries it liked right away. I always had some on me. I just loved to see Snubbull smile. It would always dance around, and then follow me for an hour doing all sorts of funny things. It even danced on the coffee table once."
With a sigh, Makimi pulled Chikorita closer. "One day I came back from school and Snubbull was gone. My Uncle told me that he has escaped and run off. I was heartbroken. I loved that silly fairy. I heard my cousins talking about it later. Turns out my cousin's Granbull is that little Snubbull."
Makimi paused to try and get her tearing eyes to stop. She couldn't cry now. It couldn't save her little Snubbull now. "I... I think Snubbull was experimented on. Even as a Granbull... there's no way he should be as aggressive as I've seen him. I.. I think my Uncle did something and made Snubbull really aggressive, and I don't know why."
"Chiiiii kaaaaaaa," Chikorita replied mournfully while trying to comfort Makimi more.
"it's just not fair," Makimi said, "That Snubbull was my friend... now I'm sure it wouldn't' recognize me."
After a few minutes of cuddling, Makimi sighed and stood back up, dusting the dirt off her jeans. " Ok... let's get going. The more distance between us and Azalea Town the better. With any luck, the twins won't be able to find me again."
"Chika!" The small grass Pokémon agreed as he stood beside her trainer.
With a nod, Makimi set off again to find a way through the forest while remembering the fun she used to have with her Snubull
The forest was disorientating. The shadows and sounds kept getting Makimi turned around and lost. With a sigh the girl turned in a new direction.
"Maybe we'll find the exit again and we can figure out way through without getting so lost."
"ChikAaa." Chikorita agreed as she walked beside Makimi.
"Maybe I shouldn't have left the Pokemon center... but Julia saw me. It wouldn't have been safe for me to stay." Makimi sighed. "I used to have a normal life."
"Chii kaaa. " Chikorita added as she rubbed her head on the side of Makimi's leg.
"I'm being mopey again, aren't I?" Makimi chuckled softly, then stopped as she heard an explosion. "Someone's in trouble... Come on, let's go see if we can help."
"CHiiika!" the plant Pokémon agreed as she started to run beside Makimi.
They ran in the direction the explosion had come from and soon came to the edge of the forest. Makimi stopped just inside the forest as she recognized the Pokémon. How could this be her luck. First Julia, and now Julian?
"Butterfree, Machop." Makimi called out her Pokémon. "Butterfree, try to get Julian's Pokémon with poison powder, but try not to get caught. I don't want you getting hurt. Machop, I want you and Chikorita to help that girl out... Julian... Julian... we can't let him do whatever he wants. But wait until Butterfree's put out the poison powder, then hopefully we can use the poison weakness against them and can get the girl out without Julian knowing I'm here."
ROUTE 33
Robbie ran alongside his Totodile as they entered Union Cave once again, all in search of a living step-stool that took one of his new Friendship balls that Kurt made for him.
"Ugh, these Zubat are everywhere!" stated Robbie as a group of small flying Pokémon blocked his path. "Totodile, use WATER GUN!" commanded the young trainer, as the water-type did jut that, spraying the Zubat and making the two a path.
Just ahead of them, the living step-stool continued to hop away at top speed while wrapping one of its legs around the Pokeball. A few more Zubat flew overhead as the step-stool suddenly started to glow and change…into a Zubat itself!
"What in the…?" trailed Robbie as both he and Totodile stared in amazement. Finally, the young trainer came back to his senses and ordered Totodile to fire off another water-gun attack.
The water-type Pokemon let out multiple attacks, each one missing as it tried to take aim at the flying target. Finally, a stream of water hit the Pokeball the 'Zubat' was carrying, causing it to fall to the ground. Robbie and Totodile quickly ran over and secured the Friendship ball.
"Ha! Got it!" cried Robbie as his Totodile winked at him. Suddenly the 'Zubat' the two were chasing, flew head-first into Totodile's stomach, causing it to crash into a random Geodude that was simply sleeping.
"Geo?! Dude!" yelled the rock-type as it hit Totodile causing the water-type to let out a yelp.
"Totodile!"
Robbie looked back at the Zubat and noticed it seemed to be...laughing?
"You think that's funny, huh? Let's see how you like this! Go, Spearow!"
The young trainer sent out his second Pokemon, and with a strong yell, Spearow declared his appearance.
"Use, LEER!" commanded Robbie as the flying type stared down the questionable Zubat.
As it did so, the Zubat began to glow again and before their eyes, it changed into another Spearow and used LEER back at it attacker!
"What is going on here?" cried Robbie as Totodile came running back toward his side, as the Geodude came chasing after him.
"Hmm...okay then. WATER GUN!" was all the young trainer said at this sight.
Totodile sprayed the rock type with his Water Gun attack and sent it flying into the second Spearow.
Robbie noticed that the Geodude was dazed and quickly tossed a Pokeball toward it, catching the rock-type.
"Gotcha!" cheered Robbie as he turned his attention back toward the 'Spearow'. His Spearow and Totodile surrounded the strange Pokemon as Robbie gives them instructions.
"Spearow, use GUST! Totodile, WATER GUN!" yelled Robbie as the mix of wind and water disorientated the Pokemon.
"Now Spearow, use PECK!"
The flying type's beak hit the other Spearow hard, causing it to knock against the side of the cave's wall. As Robbie and his two Pokemon walked up to it, the 'Spearow' glowed again and changed into a small pink slime creature.
Robbie smacked his hand against his head as he realized just what he was looking at.
"Ditto. Of course it's a Ditto."
Suddenly, he blinked and looked at the Ditto again.
"Wait...why is a Ditto out here?"
Both of Robbie's Pokemon looked at him, just as confused as their trainer was.
"Well," started Robbie as he knelled down and grinned to the Ditto that caused him so much trouble. He pulled out the Friendship Pokeball and held it out for the Ditto to see. "Since you liked this Pokeball so much, would you like to stay in it? You could travel around with me. What do you say?"
Ditto looked at the Pokeball, then to Totodile and Spearow who seemed to smile back to it just as much as Robbie was. With a small cheer, the pink Pokemon reached out and touched the Pokeball. A wave of energy engulfed it as the Pokeball clicked close. After three quick shakes, a small light went off indicating that Robbie was now the caretaker of a brand new Ditto.
"Alright!" cried out Robbie as his Totodile and Spearow celebrated alongside with him.
Suddenly, the trio was greeted to the sounds of multiple Zubat screeching due to all the noise they made. Robbie looked back to see a horde of Zubat flying toward them at top speed.
"As if we we weren't making a lot of noise before!" yelled Robbie while his Totodile laughed as the young trainer ran out of Union Cave with his two teammates in tow. Ilex Forest
Cassandra yelled out to her two Pokemon, Beartic and Froslass as Julian continued his assault. A MOONBLAST from his Granbull sent both of Cassandra's partners to the ground before fainting upon impact. Julian petted his Pokemon on the head, before he stalked toward his prey.
Through gritted teeth, Cassandra pulled out her Pokeballs to recall her Pokemon. She winced as the blood continued to drip down her broken arm, before she slowly moved to get closer to a small box she was holding before being attacked.
Julian looked at the box, nothing there was a strange golden symbol on top of it. He then looked back to her.
"You know, you could make this so much easier on yourself if you would just give up the flute." he said as the girl glared into his eyes.
"I am of the Foundation, and it is my duty to protect this flute...even at the cost of my own life."
The two continued to look at each, her icy blue eyes burning into his own brown eyes. Julian finally closed his and sighed.
"With you own life, you say..." Julian qas he beckoned for his Pokemon to move forward. "Let's test that, shall we." he stated as his eyes grew dark. He motioned for his Pokemon to finish the girl off, as there came a collective groan from his team.
Julian whipped his head around and noticed how his Pokemon wobbled about as though there was something wrong. Suddenly he noticed a faint hint of something in the wind, and grew slightly sick.
"Is that...poison...powder?!" he tired to yell before bringing his sleeve to his nose and mouth, to avoid breathing in anymore of the poison. He looked to the side and noticed that his Mawile was unaffected due to it being both Fairy and Steel.
"Perfect..." said Julian as he turned back to Cassandra. "Mawile, use FAIRY WIND!"
The attack headed toward the girl as she turned away, ready to take the hit. She then noticed that nothing happened as a red-haired girl alongside her Machop got her out of the way.
Julian is clearly shown to be angered at this until he took a closer look at the red-haired girl. A grin appeared across his face as he eventually noticed his cousin and began to mock her.
"Oh Kim, poor poor deluded…naïve…STUPID…little Kimi. All this time and you were hiding right under our noses!"started Julian as Cassandra looked at the girl in surprise.
The girl who saved me...is this monster's cousin?! she thought as Julian continued.
"Scared that your big bad cousins were going to hunt you down…and eat…you…up." He stated with a sick look on his face.
"You want to know the real kicker to all of this? What makes this all the funnier for me?"
Clearly a look of concern came across Kimi's face before Julian went on.
"We never even cared that you were gone."
Kimi's eyes went wide at that statement.
"That's right, this whole time you were worried about us, we really could have cared less about you. We were all too busy dealing with our own plans."
As Julian gloated, Cassandra used the opportunity to summon another of her Pokemon, her Cloyster.
"Quick, use SURF!" yelled Cassanadra.
A huge surge of water enter the Ilex Forest hitting Julian and his Mawile, dragging them away, as Kimi recalled her Pokemon and ran away with Cassandra to her side.
As the two made certain they were far enough away and were able to catch their breath, Cassandra finally looked toward her savior.
"I want to thank you," started the white haired girl before she glared toward Kimi. "However, you and that boy are connected."
Suddenly, Cassandra pushed Kimi to the side and called out for her Beartic.
"Give me one good reason I should trust you..." said Cassandra as the girl stared at the red-haired girl while her ice type Pokemon loomed over her.
Taking a step away from the girl, Kimi's eyes widened, pupils dilating in fear. "I... I... i'm not with him!" Her soft voice pitching upwards on the last word. "I... i ran away from that."
A flash of light and Kimi's Chikorita was standing between her trainer and Cassandra, readying herself to protect her trainer. "CHIiiI KAaa!"
"No, Chikorita," Kimi said as she moved to stop her pokemon. "She's just trying to protect herself. She's not threatening me."
With a sigh, the girl hefts the grass type up adding softly, "She's not like my family."
AZALEA TOWN
Robbie stared down into his journal as he wrote out all that has happened to him, since beginning his journey throughout the Johto region. He underlined the words "Ditto" then added a question mark next to it as Nurse joy walked up to him, holding out a tray with his Pokeballs on it.
"Here you go, trainer. Your team is fully healed and ready to head out…" stated the pink haired girl, with a smile. "I hope that you continue to use our services if you need them."
Robbie could not help himself and smiled back, as he reached out and looked over his Pokeballs. When he was satisfied, he thanked the nurse and was out the door. Once outside he let Totodile out of his ball and grinned to his partner water-type.
"Alright, time to get ourselves a Hive badge!" declared Robbie as the two of them made their way into the Azalea Town Gym.
The two opened the large doors of the gym and entered. The room was dark as the two ventured further in, when they then heard the doors close behind them. As they arrived in the center of the room, the lights suddenly came on. Both Robbie and Totodile had to shield their eyes as a brown haired gentleman with a rather curly mustache stepped out from behind a pillar to greet the two.
"Welcome young trainer, to the Azalea Gym!" he declared as he looked over both Robbie and his Pokémon. "A water-type trainer, eh? Well…here at this gym, the leader uses bug-type Pokémon. You'd best be on your guard."
Robbie raised a slightly concerned eye-brow at that statement as the man with the curly mustache continued.
"Bug-types have a nasty habit of hiding in plain sight. Lurking in dark corners…waiting for the perfect opportunity…to strike!" cried the man as he tried to shock Robbie only for his Totodile to freak out before hitting the man, full-force with a water-gun attack to the face.
The man slowly got back to his feet as Robbie tried to apologize.
"I'm sorry sir, but my Totodile is easily excited. You took him off-guard and…well…" Robbie trailed off as the brown haired man simply wiped himself off with a napkin he happened to have on him. Grinning, the man continued. "Well, at least your Totodile is spirited. Though, to fight against bug-types, you're better off using flying or fire types. Still, I wish you luck trainer! Proceed into the next room!"
The man cleared out of Robbie's path and revealed another door behind him. Robbie and Totodile walked through as cobwebs surrounded them, along with the constant sound of clicking and buzzing. Ahead of them, they saw a person, dressed in green with a netted helmet over their head.
"Uh, hello! We're looking for the gym leader!" declared Robbie as the person in green looked toward them.
"Oh, guess that would be me!" stated the person, as they began to remove their helmet. A rather feminine, lavender-haired man looked to Robbie with a smile. "I'm Bugsy and I love Bug-type Pokémon."
Robbie nodded. "I...can see that."
"Heh. I really get into my research. I guess you could say that I'm the leading authority on Bug-types."
Suddenly, Bugsy's smile turned into a smirk, as the gym leader produced a Pokeball. "Allow me yo demonstrate all that I have learned over the years!"
Bugsy threw the ball into the air, as out popped his first Pokemon, a Beedrill.
Robbie looked toward his Totodile who stared back up toward him, itching for a fight.
"Sorry, buddy...but I'm going to hold you in reserve." said Robbie. His Totodile sulked for half a second before perking back up again as Robbie pulled out his first Pokeball.
"Go, Spearow!"
Robbie's Spearow stood tall and eyed Bugsy's Beedrill as Robbie yelled out to it.
"Use GUST!" cried the trainer, as wind hit the Gym Leader's Pokemon hard.
"POISON STING." stated Bugsy, as Robbie's Spearow winced from the sudden pain, as one of Beedrill's stingers clipped it's wing.
"Spearow, use PECK!" stated Robbie, while Bugsy counter with a TWINEEDLE attack.
The two fliers traded blows before finally, Beedrill fell to the ground, defeated.
"Beedrill, return." said the gym leader as he looked to his recalled Pokemon and thanked it.
Robbie grinned as figured that with his Spearow being a flying-type, he had this win in the bag.
The gym leader noticed the look on his opponents face and allowed his own smirk to form, before releasing his second Pokemon.
"Go...Scyther!"
A large, green monster of a bug-type landed on the battlefield with blades for arms. Despite the intimating appearance, Robbie's Spearow stood tall...until is suddenly fell over and fainted.
"Spearow!" yelled Robbie as he ran over to it out of concern.
"It finally succumbed to the poison. It took longer than I thought. That is a very strong Spearow that you have." stated the lavander-haired man as Robbie returned Spearow to his Pokeball. The young trainer than called out one of his newest teammates, Geodude.
The Rock-type used HARDEN and withstood multiple CUTS and FURY CUTTER attacks from Bugsy's Scyther. Eventually, they wore each other out and fainted at the same time.
Robbie began sweating as he looked over the last Pokeball in his hand while the gym leader simply readied himself.
"Even though it's my last Pokémon, it's also my strongest!" Bugsy tossed the pokeball into the air. "Go, Scizor!"
A bright red Pokemon stood strong as Robbie sent out his next Pokemon.
"Go, Ditto!"
Bugsy was stunned to see the pink blob appear before him. "A Ditto?" he questioned, before Robbie followed up by yelling; "Transform!"
Suddenly, there stood two Scizor's on the battleground.
They matched each other, blow for blow, neither one wanting to give an inch.
"Hang in there! Just a little more!" cried Bugsy, the gym leader as his Scizor delivered a BULLET PUNCH to its opponent.
"You can do it, Ditto!" yelled Robbie as his Pokemon returned the attack.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, only one Scizor remained.
The last one on the field slowly began to glow as it changed back into a pink smiling mass. Robbie walked up to it and petted it on what he believed to be its head.
"Thank you, Ditto! You did an amazing job!" said the boy.
"Ditto!" cheered the pink Pokemon before returning to its Pokeball.
"Aw, that's the end of it..." sighed Bugsy as he recalled his Pokemon back into it's ball. He then walked up toward Robbie and shook his hand.
"Whoa, that was an amazing battle! You are really tough, but I hope you learned just how tough bug-types can be as well." stated Bugsy, as he pulled out a small metal object from his pocket. "I don't think I will ever stop with my research and trying to better myself, but for right now, you win. Take this Badge."
Robbie took the Hive Badge into his hands and grinned incredibly hard.
"Alright, the Hive Badge is mine!" declared Robbie as he held the badge high in the air while his Totodile danced around him.
The young trainer then paused as he looked to Bugsy who continued to smile toward the boy.
"Eh..." started Robbie and he slowly took down his arm. "Sorry."
"Hehe, it's quite alright. By the way, I want you to take this as a gift…" said the lavender haired man, as he handed Robbie a disc.
The trainer looked at the disc in slight confusion before Bugsy continued. "It's the move U-Turn. It lets your Pokémon attack, then switch with the next Pokémon in your party. Isn't that great?"
Bugsy smiled again, as Robbie and Totodile both nodded in agreement.
"Bug-type Pokémon are deep. There are many mysteries to explore in this world, don't you think?" asked the gym leader as a group of Kakuna came down from the ceiling and surrounded both Robbie and Totodile.
The two screamed the entire way out of the gym, all the while Robbie thanked Bugsy for the badge as they continued on their journey.
ELSEWHERE
"Welcome to Goldenrod City!" cried the conductor as the Magnet train came to a stop. Multiple people got off as one gentleman in particular took in the sights of the city as a large, blue dog-like Pokemon stood by his side.
"So, Lucario," started the young man, "what do you think of Johto?"
Lucario huffed for a second, then grinned.
"Yeah, I like it too..."
The young man had mocha colored skin and wore a red short-sleeved patterned shirt along with black jeans and red over white sneakers. He adjusted his brown knapsack before pulling out a black baseball cap with a red Pokeball symbol over it. He then grinned to Lucario.
"Still...it's no Sinnoh." he stated before the two headed out into this new region.
End Chapter 2