Chapter One: Adelta Attacked!

Phil didn't know where he was; all he knew was that it was a safe and warm place. He was content here. Then out of nowhere a dark shadow loomed. He felt himself being torn from his place, and thrown out into a cold liquid murk. All of a sudden, something different happened. As he drifted away, he could see in the distance a glow, one that he had seen the day before. It was the light…

Philip Auris sat bolt upright in bed. The dream had changed. What could it mean? Phil rubbed his eyes, yawned, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. The dream was his only link to his past, his family, and it hadn't changed for as long as he could remember. Phil's earliest waking memory was of being found by fisherman, having washed up on the shore of the Olympus River. He had been less than one-year old at the time.

By piecing together the events in his dream, Phil had built up a picture of what he believed to have happened all those years ago. His parents must have been taking him out on the Lake of Rage, in the Johto region. Then, the boat, or Pokémon, or whatever they were riding got attacked by a Gyarados and Phil was thrown into the water. Somehow he survived, despite being so young, and he was washed into the Olympus River, which flows out of the Lake of Rage. The current carried him to Adelta Town, here near the mouth of the river in the Olympia Valley region.

Phil was raised by the town's only Pokémon trainer, a retiree who had given up battling and settled down. As a result, he had, from an early age, an interest in Pokémon that was rare in the mostly rural and backwards Olympia Valley. He spent his early years helping with the fishing, and watching Pokémon battles on television in his spare time. Then he received a big break when the Valley was selected to contain the Champion's League. When a Gym was built in Adelta Town, he was one of the first to sign up as a junior trainer. So here he was. The position wasn't as fulfilling as competing in grand tournaments, but at least he got to lay the smackdown to arrogant Champions who underestimated the Gym.

However, he had been shaken by the arrival of the trainer known as Gold. It wasn't that he had lost. He had watched enough recordings of the former Johto Champion's matches to know he had no chance. What had disturbed him was the vision of light he had seen in Gold's eyes. It was so opposed to what he felt, and yet it was familiar in some way. Its appearance in the dream was even more disconcerting, as he had been used to seeing the same dream for years, and now it was changed. Could they be connected somehow?

Phil chuckled to himself. He was reading too much into things. Gold was the same age as he was, and came from the opposite side of Johto to the Lake of Rage. There was no way he could be linked to his family. Nonetheless, the light intrigued him, and he wished he could have caught up with Gold when the trainer left last night, having beaten the Gym Leader. Maybe he could try and find Gold again once his shift at the Gym ended and he got a few weeks off.

"Krow!" came a shriek, disrupting his chain of thought. Phil fell backwards onto his bed, and let the perpetrator sail over him, before reaching out and snatching it out of the air. Murkrow must have noticed him sitting in thought, and decided to slam into the back of his head. It was clearly recovered from the previous day's battle.

"Nice try," Phil grinned, pinning the small bird's wings with one hand, and its beak with the other. He stood up and carried Murkrow to his desk, upon which sat a Pokéball. "And that's enough excitement for you this morning. Back into your Pokéball!"

"Muurrr!" the Pokémon protested through its clamped beak. Phil tapped the Pokéball with Murkrow, and the bird was transformed into light, before being sucked inside. Phil's hands clasped empty air, and he slumped back into his chair.

His room was small and simple. It only contained a bed with plain coverings, and a wooden desk and chair with a computer. He lived in a collection of six rooms, which were occupied by one junior trainer each. The whole building was made of wood, as was the style for Adelta Town. Not only that, but it stood on stilts, to keep the building safe whenever the river flooded, which was often.

The town was built on the delta of the Olympus River, near to the coast. As such, architects had to worry about marshy terrain and regular flooding when building the town. This had led to all buildings being essentially the same as Phil's dorm, a wooden structure on stilts. The only exception was the Gym. A magnificent concrete structure painted clear white, it stood above the ground on strong pillars sunk deep into the earth. Unlike the wooden buildings, which regularly rotted away and had to be replaced before they collapsed, the Gym was likely to stand for many years to come.

Phil was looking over the day's schedules. As was quite frequent, there were no challengers expected to come to take on the Gym, so the routine would be battle exercises. Phil didn't mind these, since he had based his entire strategy around the unconventional tactics taught to the junior trainers. After all, they needed to be unpredictable against the vastly superior trainers they often came up against.

Now that he thought about it, Phil would like to be one of those superior trainers. A team of powerful Pokémon, backed up by an unusual strategy, would certainly be a force to be reckoned with. But then, he had obligations to the Gym. Maybe later, when the Gym had more Junior Trainers, he would be able to leave. Phil sighed. He needed to clear his head. Putting Murkrow's Pokéball on his belt, he quietly left the room and dorm, taking care to not make much noise as he descended the wooden stairs to the slightly muddy ground outside

It was still early in the morning, so the sun was below the horizon, and the town was covered in a dim light. It would still be a couple of hours before the first people got up. Phil gently strolled away from his dorm, in the general direction of the Gym. The ground was damp…it must have rained during the night. Now that he had fresh air, he was able to think more clearly. He really did want to go out and become a roaming trainer like Gold, and more importantly, he had the overwhelming desire to battle the former Champion again.

"Stop right there!" growled a deep voice from behind Phil, cutting his line of thought.

Stopping and turning, Phil started with a sigh, "what is this…" He stopped talking and froze in sheer surprise when he saw two pistols pointed at him.

"We had been hoping to catch the Gym Leader on his early morning run," one of the two men, cloaked in black and aiming at Phil, said with a chuckle, "but you'll do. You are…" He looked at a piece of paper held in his hand. "Philip Auris, the second ranked junior trainer at the Gym, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am," Phil managed to say. Now that the shock was fading, he was already trying to think of a way out of the situation. However, he couldn't do anything with two guns pointed at him.

"Then you have access to the Gym's Pokémon supply, do you not?"

An idea came to Phil.

"Yes, but I have to get my access card, and its in my room," Phil replied. He made a move back towards his dorm, but a wave of a gun from the silent member of the pair made him stop. What they didn't know was that he actually had his access card with him.

"I'll get it," sighed the talkative one, "where is it?"

Phil pointed out his dorm and room, and handed over his key. The man took it and jogged over to the building, after ordering his lackey to keep an eye on Phil. Now that there was only one, Phil had a chance. If only there was a distraction. Suddenly, a light came on in Phil's dorm. The silent criminal turned to look at it, presumably to make sure it was the right room, and that nobody was watching them. It was all the time he needed.

"Murkrow! Attack him!" Phil yelled, yanking his Pokémon's Pokéball off of his belt and throwing it directly at the cloaked person. The person spun round, only to get the ball directly in the face. It burst open, and they were thrown back as Murkrow materialized in their face, with a flash of light that must have been blinding at that close proximity.

"Agh!" the previously unspoken person cried. Phil was mildly surprised to hear that it was a woman. She crashed backwards, vainly firing a couple of shots into the air before dropping the gun altogether. The noise made Phil cringe as it pounded his eardrums, but it was nonetheless useful, as it meant that everybody knew something was up. Now lying on the ground, the woman was desperately trying to get Murkrow off of her face.

"We don't have time for this," Phil muttered. He was watching his room, knowing the other one had to be coming out soon. "Tackle her and be done with it," he said coldly.

"Urk!" his Pokémon replied. It launched itself backwards, and Phil got a brief glimpse of the woman's face. She had short brown hair, and was surprisingly pretty, the image only sullied by a glaring scowl and the cuts from Murkrow's attack. A moment later, Murkrow divided back in and knocked her clean out. Phil watched for a moment as she went limp, then suddenly leapt forward towards the Gym.

The sound of a bullet whistling way off of its mark alerted Phil to the attentions of the other criminal. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the man throw down his gun in frustration, and instead reach for his belt. As he threw off his cloak, Phil could see the familiar red IR/I of Team Rocket on the man's black outfit. That organisation was believed to have been disbanded after their failed attack on the Radio Tower in Johto eight years earlier. However, recently several high profile thefts had been pinned on them.

The Rocket took a Pokéball off of his belt, and threw it towards Phil. Out burst a Dodrio, a brown bird Pokémon with three heads and long legs. Phil knew that this Pokémon was famed for its speed, so he began to sprint. Reaching the Gym, he scrambled up the concrete steps, and fumbled with the doors, trying to open them with his access card. Dodrio had almost caught up with him, when from out of sight a voice called out.

"Tauros, Take Down!" Tauros, a large brown bull Pokémon with three tails, horns on its head and a lot of fur around its neck, charged from around the corner. In smashed straight into Dodrio, even as the bird reached the base of the steps. It tumbled away along the ground, but quickly came to a halt. It leapt to its feet.

"Drio!" it screeched out of all three mouths at once, having been enraged by the attack.

"Ros!" snorted Tauros in response. It was pawing the ground with its hooves. As the two Pokémon faced one another Phil noticed Murkrow had finally caught up with him. He turned back to the door, and managed to easily slide his access card in the slot, now that the pressure was off of him.

"Janson!" Phil called out as the doors slid apart. There was only one person in the Gym who used a Tauros, and that person was Phil's immediate superior, the head junior trainer Janson.

"Saving your hide again, Philip," Janson said, rounding the corner. He was in his early twenties and very tall with blonde hair. He was also a natural born leader, a quality Phil lacked, which is why he had conceded the position of head junior trainer to Janson when the Gym was set up.

"Don't catch a cold," Phil replied impersonally, not getting worked up by Janson. He was referring to the fact that the other trainer was wearing only his boxer shorts. Janson blushed and scowled as Phil entered the building with Murkrow right behind him.

As the doors slid shut, Phil could hear crashes from outside. The battle between Tauros and Dodrio must have resumed. He had to hurry. Now he was faced with three doors. The door on the right, painted green, was for trainers who won the tournament stage of a regional League, but fell to the Elite Four or Champion. Elite Four members wishing to take the challenge also used this door. The centre door was for Champions who had since lost their title. It was painted yellow, and beyond it was the room where Phil had lost his battle with Gold the day before. The final door was painted red and was for current Champions. A card access panel guarded each door.

However, Phil was not concerned with these doors. He turned to the right, to a card access panel seemingly placed on a blank wall. A quick swipe of his access card, and the wall began to move. Murkrow squawked in surprise. It had never seen this before, but Phil had. The wall slid up and out of sight, revealing a room shrouded in darkness.

"Lights!"

At Phil's command the room lit up, revealing row upon row of red and white Pokéballs. Hundreds covered the room, from top to bottom. Phil didn't waste any time. He grabbed as many as he could, cradling an ever-growing pile of balls in his left arm. These Pokémon were trained to obey any command given by the junior trainers. Normally, they would only be brought out for the junior trainers who didn't have a Pokémon of their own, or for when more than just one was needed. Now was such a time. Having grabbed as many as he could carry, Phil dashed back out of the room.

Murkrow had been perching on the access panel, poking its beak into the room. Phil paid no heed to it as he swiped his card to close the door again. The wall came smashing down so fast; the bird had barely enough to get out of the way. It glared angrily at Phil, who only smirked in reply.

Suddenly there was a crash, and glass flew everywhere. Phil raised his right arm to shield himself, so he got away with a few cuts on it. Tauros has been thrown through the entrance door. Leaping through the wrecked door, with Murkrow right behind, Phil came face to face with his least favourite Pokémon, Gyarados.

The enormous snake balanced on its tail, its body covered in large blue scales, and its mouth open in a permanent roar. Silvery-blue spines ran down its back, and two long whiskers extended from its chin. Meanwhile, Dodrio had left to menace Janson. Phil wasn't scared, as it wasn't his nature to panic in the face of danger. That didn't stop him being disgusted at the monster in front of him nonetheless.

"Catch, Janson!" he shouted, grabbing two Pokéballs and chucking them in the other trainer's direction. He didn't have time to check whether they reached their target. Concentrating on the situation, he knew the last thing the Rockets would expect was an immediate counterattack. "Drill Peck!" he ordered, looking at Murkrow over his shoulder.

"Krow!" replied his Pokémon. It began spinning, then sped forward. Gyarados was taken off guard as the small bird smashed straight into its centre body. It fell backwards onto the ground, sending up clods of dirt as it impacted. Phil smiled triumphatntly.

"Thanks for that," came Janson's voice. Phil looked over to his superior, to see the trainer moving his way, with Dodrio lying immobile on the floor and a Mawile and Pinsir in tow. Looking the other direction, Phil could see several other junior trainers were sneaking around the edge of the town, trying to avoid a large collection of Rockets and their Pokémon that had assembled in the centre.

"Take care of them," Phil said; ignoring Janson's gratitude, "I want this Gyarados." He pointed out the other trainers and Janson nodded. Phil reached into his pile of balls and pulled two out at random. He reached for a third, but then stopped. Something told him another was better. He chose a different one. The rest he handed to Janson. Phil dashed down the steps to where Gyarados was recovering from Murkrow's surprise attack.

"Gyarados, Rage!" yelled a voice from behind the large Pokémon. It sprung back onto its tail, its eyes frenzied.

"Go, Pokémon!" Phil called out. He grabbed two of the balls he had chosen and threw them in front of Gyarados. In front of him appeared a small red and white bird carrying a sack under one arm, a Delibird, and a rocky bluish-grey Pokémon with a large orange beak, a Nosepass.

"Raaaaaargh!" Gyarados roared as it swept at the two new arrivals using its head. Delibird didn't have a chance to react and was smashed out of the way. Luckily, it had absorbed most of the force of the attack, so when it reached Nosepass, the rock Pokémon was able to easily withstand the blow.

"Too bad for you!" Phil called out. While Gyarados recovered from its attack and readied for the next, Phil quickly flicked through his mind in an attempt to remember what Nosepass could do. He called out the first thing that came to his head. "Rock Throw!"

"Nose!" the Pokémon responded. It used its small arms to dig into the ground and draw out small rocks. It drew both arms back as far as it could, and then launched. The rocks smashed into Gyarados, but they seemed to have little effect as it reared up once again.

As Phil thought about his next move, an explosion off to the left signalled the start of the battle between the rest of the junior trainers and the rest of the Rockets. Janson was probably there right now, leading them into combat. While Phil knew that he was the superior trainer, Janson was the better leader, so they were both perfectly suited to where they were.

"Take that thing out with a Hydro Pump!" came the voice from behind Gyarados once more. Phil now recognised it. It was the male Rocket who had accosted him before.

"Move Nosepass!" he called out, but he already knew the rock Pokémon was doomed. Gyarados unleashed a torrent of water from its mouth. It impacted Nosepass, who withstood it for only a moment. It was sent backwards, carving a muddy ditch in the ground as it went. It kept moving until it smashed into one of the concrete pillars supporting the Gym. Gyarados stopped its attack, and Nosepass collapsed.

"Krow!" cawed Murkrow. Having watched the battle from behind Phil, it was eager to take on the much larger Pokémon itself. But Phil raised an arm to block his bird. He didn't want to risk his Pokémon on this. Instead, he took the Pokéball from his belt, the one that he had had a feeling about. Maybe this one could defeat Gyarados.

"Go!" he yelled. The Pokéball burst open and out came Plusle, a small yellow rabbit with red ears and cheeks, and with a red plus symbol for a tail. It was perfect.

"That pathetic thing doesn't stand a chance!" mocked the Rocket. Phil could see the man's red-haired head poking around the side of his Pokémon's body. "Hyper Beam!"

"Dodge it!" Phil ordered. Gyarados began building up an orange ball of light in its mouth. After a few moments, it released the attack. An orange beam of pure destructive energy poured out towards Plusle. Luckily the rabbit was fast enough to dodge and avoided any damage. An instant later, Phil realised the beam was coming at him as well. Both he and Murkrow leapt out of the way as the beam passed where they been moments before.

The beam continued until it finally hit something. The next thing in its path had no chance of getting out of the way. The Gym. The first thing to fall was the outer wall, as the initial impact vaporized it, exposing the Red Room. Phil watched as the beam's path of destruction continued on to the opposite side of the room, igniting the wooden floor and causing the red paint to peel off of the walls. Once it smashed through the wall into the next room, the orange ball of devastation was out of sight.

With several walls gone, the Gym was massively unstable, and within seconds it began to fall apart. Concrete fell from the ceiling, and the walls collapsed both inwards and outwards, out onto the ground. Within moments, the Gym was little more than rubble, resting on its base above the ground. Phil didn't bother to look further; instead he turned back to the Gyarados, which was still recharging after its attack.

"Plusle!" he yelled. The rabbit-like Pokémon popped its head out from the ditch that Nosepass created, where it had taken cover from the Hyper Beam. "Use Thunder!" Plusle sprung out of its hiding place, electricity arcing from its body. Gyarados could do nothing but watch as its opponent leapt into the air.

Phil smiled triumphantly. He had known he had won as soon as Plusle appeared. Small and fast enough to dodge Gyarados' over-the-top attacks, and having the right abilities to pick on its biggest weakness, electrical attacks, Plusle was one of the best Pokémon he could have used.

"Plu…sle!" the small rabbit cried out as it discharged its attack. Lightning forked through the air and struck Gyarados, sending the enormous Pokémon crashing to the floor. Spasms up its whole body sent it jerking in every direction, and by the time the electricity had left its gigantic body, Gyarados was bruised and battered; in other words completely unable to battle. It groaned and closed its eyes, embracing unconsciousness.

"No!" exclaimed the Rocket. He ran and hid behind a wooden support underneath one of the nearby timber buildings. Phil ignored him for the moment, instead recalling all three of the Gym's Pokémon and climbing onto the unmoving Gyarados.

"Do you know why Gyarados is my least favourite Pokémon," he said, looking into the Rocket's eyes. The Rocket didn't reply and just stared back at him. "Its not because I believe that one of its species made me an orphan, no. It's what it represents. Pure unadulterated rage, emotion so strong that it overcomes everything. This is the antithesis of what I feel, this is…" Phil paused his monologue.

He had suddenly realised that he had stopped talking about the Gyarados, and was suddenly talking about the light that he had seen in Gold the previous day. There was something about it that both drew him towards it and repulsed him. He dismissed the thought from his mind, and focused once more on the Rocket.

"Enough babbling by me," said Phil, waving Murkrow to land his shoulder. The bird Pokémon did so. "Now you will pay for attacking the Gym." His eyes narrowed. Murkrow, Drill Peck," he ordered in a voice that sent a chill down the man's spine. Murkrow took off again, and began spinning. The Rocket gasped and raised his arms to protect himself.

There was a loud crash as Murkrow impacted, but the Rocket felt nothing. The Pokémon had instead smashed straight through the support beam. When the Rocket lowered his arms, Murkrow was already coming for another pass. It swept past the man's face, sending him tumbling into the dirt, and then continued to tear through another support. The Rocket picked himself up, and the sound of a third support smashing brought him to his senses.

"What is this!" cried the Rocket. The building above him was making ominous creaking and rumbling noises.

"Your only mistake was crossing me," Phil replied coldly. Murkrow destroyed a fourth support.

"I won't let you," the Rocket growled, reaching behind his back. Phil only got a glimpse of what he was doing, since a moment later the building began to collapse. Murkrow dived out from underneath the building, even as the remaining supports started to give way. Wood tore and splintered as the walls, roof and floor fell apart. When the noises and movement had stopped, the building was little more than a pile of sticks. No sound could be heard from underneath it.

"Self defence," Phil said to Murkrow, "he was pulling his gun."

Phil's Pokémon cawed acknowledgement and landed on his shoulder. Phil turned away from the ruins and clambered off the Gyarados. Looking across town, he could make out attacks flying in every direction as the other junior trainers fought Team Rocket, though details were too hard to pick out at this distance.

"Well, this isn't over yet," he sighed, "lets go."

He started marching towards the battle, leaving the remains of the wooden building and the Gym behind.