Chapter Four

Revealing the Cat

It took a second before anyone could comprehend what was happening. Everyone was speechless as men in red and black clothing with hoods over their heads, having black horns on them, surrounded them, also having their own Pokemon out, Poochyenas, Numals, and a few Geodudes now. Then it slowly began to sink in… on this day, the day of the Feline Festival… they were being attacked!

"Alright, glad to see everyone is here…"

Everyone turned to the voice… the man in the coat walked forward, smiling as he saw everyone there.

"Which one of you is the town's leader?"

Elric glared down at him, keeping quiet, then turned to the main entrance of the town, squinting to see farther… and saw a huge hole in the metal wall that protected the town. It seemed like it was melted through by flames. He scowled, looking back down at the man in the coat… wait… a man in a red and black coat? Red hair? Owning several powerful Pokemon…

Are… are they Team Magma… and… if so… is that Maxie!

His eyes slowly grew wide as he stared at him.

Yes! It has to be! It's Maxie, leader of Team Magma! But… I thought they were decommissioned after Groudon and Kyogre fought!

He froze in place has he heard a familiar voice call out.

"I am."

Alphonse slowly walked out from the crowd, standing in front of Maxie, who just gave a smile.

"Excellent. You should be happy to know that we have decided to make your town our main base of operations. You all should be very honored."

"Yeah…. Honored… really honored… but, tell me, you are all Team Magma, right?"

Maxie looked down at Elric's father, but gave a nod. Now it was Alphonse's turn to grin.

"Weren't you all defeated by a single young boy a few years ago?"

There was a sudden burst of flames that came from behind Maxie, engulfing Elric's father's right arm. He gave a yell of pain, falling to his knees, holding his right shoulder. His right arm was covered with black, charred, dead skin…

"ALPHONSE!"

Marry rushed through the crowd of people and slid to her knees next to him, tears rolling down her cheeks as she saw the damage… without immediate medical attention… he would lose his main arm.

Elric's eyes were wide and shaking… never, in his whole life, had he seen his father on his knees from being defeated by anything… and now, he was hurt badly, by the leader of team Magma. His shaking eyes slowly changed to those of rage, giving his chilling glare. He felt his heart race as he stood there, looking at the man who hurt his father.

"That's what happens when you try to mess with us. Good work, Camerupt."

A large Camerupt appeared from behind him, nodding as it glared at Alphonse and Marry.

"Now, since you know better, let's start with me going over what's going to happen to our new town…"

*Elsewhere…*

Two Magma Grunts were leaning in an empty store, taking whatever they pleased as they stepped on the broken glass from the front of the store they broke to get in.

"Hey! Joe! Look at what they have!"

He lifted up the item in his hand.

"Ah! No way, Mitch! Halo: Reach! That's not even out yet! How did they mange to get it?"

"The cover says it's the Beta version of the full game. I guess this town was asked to help test out the game."

Joe let out a laugh, obviously happy.

"Damn, Maxie sure knows how to choose a town!"

They froze when they heard glass crunching under someone's feet. They turned… and saw the boy with the Ski hat, staring at them with a smile on his face, his hands in his pockets.

"Well, well, well… looks like I found two greedy Grunts… it couldn't be more perfect."

Joe and Mitch stood side by side, taking out their Pokeballs.

"Hey kid! How did you get out from the trap?"

The boy gave a smile.

"Really? Are you so new to Magma that you don't know who I am?"

"Bah, I don't care who you are! Mightyena! Geodude! Attack!"

A Mightyena jumped from behind the store's counter, his face covered with food it was enjoying, while the Geodude came up from the ground through the floor. Both were racing toward the boy, who just kept on smiling. He pulled out his regular Pokeball and flicked it out of his palm.

"Blaze, why don't you show them just how outmatched they are?"

***Five Seconds later…***

A large Blaziken had the Mightyena by the throat in the air and the Geodude under its foot against the store's floor. It glared at the two humans in front of it, the flames around its wrists weren't burning at all. The boy gave a small laugh.

"You know, my Blaziken is very skillful in telling how strong the enemy is. The stronger the flames burn around his wrists, the strong the enemy is. And, right now, you two don't even create any flames on his wrists… what does that tell you two?"

The two Grunts were quiet, shocked to have lost so fast and easily.

"… A kid with a Blaziken… who wears black and red clothing…. And has a ski hat on at all times… with ruby eyes… you… you can't be…"

The kid gave a smile, crossing his arms.

"About time, you two… now, you will tell me what you are planning here… and where Maxie is… I would love to chat with him again…"

***At the Stage…***

"We will have our new base under the leader of this town's house. That way, we will be the most safe from the police. I doubt you have any objections… do you?"

Maxie just smirked down at Alphonse, who was still on his knees. The Camerupt gave huff, sending jets of smoke from its back. He kept quiet, knowing what would happen if he said anything.

"Good… good…"

Maxie turned around, looking at the town from the new point of view.

"… This is why we want this town. It's the ideal location for a fortress, with barely any way to get in. You can't enter from the sky, there's a diamond ceiling over your heads, and even underground about 200 feet or so. Trust me, we tried to invade that way, and it failed… pretty badly. But now…"

He turned back around to Elric's father with the most sinister look on his face.

"We will finally be able to crush Team Aqua, increase the world's landmass, and be able to control Groudon itself! We shall be unstoppable!"

Right before he could give the bad guy laugh he oh-so waited for, he saw something dashing at him in the corner of his eye. He turned, as if everything was in slow motion… and saw Elric, who had just jumped off the stage and dashed at him, holding the same polearm from the previous play… and had his glare in his eyes. He gave a roar, thrusting the polearm forward with blinding speed. Everything was still for a minute, as everyone saw some blood dripping down the blade… and saw more. A Poochyena had used Bite on Elric's right leg, his left out in front of him to keep himself balanced… and the Camerupt had taken a huge chomp and had pulled back right on his waist, which saved Maxie's life, the polearm's blade only scratched his cheek… but the thing which shocked the most people, even everyone on Team Magma, was from a Geodude trying to stop Elric by pulling his head back, only succeeding in pulling off Elric' bandana. Removing it had shown what was under the bandana…

Elric's long, blonde hair which went down to his ankles and his cat ears on top of his head…

"Cat ears…"

"Why does he have them…?"

"He has such long hair…"

"How did he hide them under such a small bandana…?"

"Could… could Elric be…"

Maxie gave a grin down at Elric, not moving.

"It looks like your little stunt back fired on you. I'm guessing those freaky ears of your's were a secret… man, what a freak…"

Elric's glare became more intense, but what he said, as simple as it was, hit his heart hard. He quickly twisted the polearm so that the blade was horizontal, trying to cut Maxie's head that way, but the Camerupt pulled harder, sending a wave of pain through his whole body. He felt shards of his own bone from his tail bone pierce through his own muscle.

"Get the Hell away from me, deformed freak."

Maxie reached back and punched Elric's square in the face, sending him falling back. Elric landed hard on the snow on his side, blood rushing from his wounds from the two Pokemon and from his now broken nose from Maxie. He reached up, baring his teeth, and straightened out his nose, sending another wave of pain through his body, but then slowly eased away as the bones on his nose were realigned with each other. Maxie gave a grunt as he wiped the cut on his face with his thumbs, getting some blood on it. He glared down at his own blood, then toward Elric. He took out a Pokeball then.

"You will make a fine example of anyone who tries to stop us. Mightyena; make sure you get a full meal from this feline."

A Mightyena came out of the ball, snarling at Elric, who had almost killed his trainer, the one who brought harm to him. Elric moved his head and looked down at the incoming foe, not being able to move his body much, but managed to glare down at it, full of hate and anger. For the first time under Maxie's leadership, the first time carrying out an order for the team… a jolt of fear hit the Mightyena's heart, but only for a split second. It shook its head and continued forward onto Elric…

Until a wheelchair was send flying through the crowd and hit it in its chest, making it fly to the side until it landed flat on the snow.

Everyone turned and looked, including Maxie… and saw the girl from the wheelchair standing up, glaring at Maxie.

"Oh? Another freak. I guess we have to convince more people that we are staying here… Camerupt, Flamethrower."

People scattered from the incoming flames, engulfing the area the girl was in. Maxie gave a satisfied smile, turning back to Elric, then jumped back, his eyes wide. The girl was kneeling right next go Elric, her eyes wide as she saw his wounds.

"What the… Camerupt, again!"

The Camerupt sucked in and blew out a huge cloud of flames at them, this time both Maxie and his Pokemon saw the girl and Elric get hit with the flames, making the leader of Team Magma smile… until he saw that they weren't being harmed.

"What!"

The flames danced around in a circle around them, as if an invisible orb was placed around Elric and the girl, who gently touched the wounds.

"O-ow…. Don't… please don't touch them…"

She pulled back her hand, looking down at him. All Elric could do was smile.

"S-sorry… I guess I couldn't… stop him…."

He gave a grin, trying not to chuckle. Then it sounded like it was purring when she began to touch his ears!

"H-hey… purrrr… s-stop th- purrr- at…"

And she did, looking sadly down at him. She examined his body, seeing how bad the wound was on his hip, seeing the blood slowly come out of the bite marks from Camerupt.

"I hope you… liked the play… and the song, Star…"

The girl slightly tilted her head to the side, confused as the flames still circled them.

"Oh… it's… it's your… your name… I told you… that I would think of a good name for you… didn't I?"

Her eyes grew wide, slowly realizing what he was trying to say.

"Do… do you like it?"

Star gently reached down and held his hand, nodding. Elric just gave a smile, now looking up at the diamond ceiling over their heads.

"Star… when… whatever is gone, the thing which is protecting us… could you help my parents and friends escape? If you can, then… get help from another town. Maybe in Fallarbor Town, a gym is there, and the Leader would… surely help…"

The orb slowly began to disappear, some flames entering it, heating them both up.

"Go… I think I'm… done…"

He smirked, his cat ears going down to their sides.

"Damn, my secret reveled, Team Magma takes over… and I don't even have my own Pokemon… oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be… go now, Star…"

Star didn't move, she did not even budge from her spot, her bangs hiding her eyes from view. A flicker of flame danced in front of her face as the orb was almost half gone.

"Star! Go! STAR!"

The orb was now gone, but a bright flash of light filled the area for a few seconds, blinding Maxie and his Camerupt for a moment. When they were able to see again, they saw that the spot Elric and Star were at was empty except for melted snow and the ground being burnt from Camerupt's flames. Both of them looked around the area, trying to find them, until Camerupt looked up, its eyes quickly growing wide as to what it saw. Maxie saw the shock on its face, and quickly looked where it was staring at. Now his eyes grew wide.

"Im-impossible! There's… no way…"

An alien-like Pokemon was in the air, holding and had wrapped around Elric with two of its four tentacle arms, staring down at Maxie and his Camerupt with its black and yellow eyes…

End of Chapter 4...