First off, Pokemon and the related characters are property of Nintendo and not of me or cydra.
Exo-Gene and the related elements are a company I made up.
Finally…despite the name…this has no relationship to the pokemon episode of the same name
This is also an unofficial sequel to Cydra's Pokethropy Story, set a year after the events of that story. It is done with his permission
Key:
Human speech
translated pokemon speech
CPS Chronicles: Loose Ends
Chapter 4
The Pokemon Gyms were well known for their dedication to training strong Pokemon. The Pokemon found in the Gyms were strengthened through diligence and determination. Norman's Gym in Petalburg was known for training Pokemon with an even amount of statistics. Of course, this applied before Matt came along.
"So there we were. Me and my friends against 20 IceOgremon with blasters," said Matt, sitting on a window sill in full storytelling mode.
May's Eevee, Squirtle, and Skitty were closely paying attention. Munchlax seemed more interested in his snack than Matt's story. It was hard to tell if Skaloth and Slaking were listening at all or just staring off into space.
Matt carried on, acting out some of it. "One of em, comes up behind me and nearly pounds me into the ground like a nail into a plank but did I panic? Nope..." said Matt, jumping down. "I just pulled myself up, turned around, and punched it straight in the..." As Matt turned around, he noticed that Blaziken was standing behind him. "...shin?"
"Aren't you supposed to be practicing your Slash attack?" said Blaziken. Matt gulped and pulled at an imaginary collar. "Would you believe I finished early?" he said. "Good," said Blaziken, "In that case, you wouldn't mind giving me a demonstration then."
Matt gulped and walked over to the plank he'd been given for practice. "Ok...now then...what did big bird say? Curse you, short attention span." He readied his paws and brought his claws down on the plank with a "HAI-YA!!! ARGH, MY PRECIOUS BONES!!!" he screamed, jumping up and down, holding his throbbing paw and yelping.
Blaziken rubbed his forehead while Matt continued to hop around in pain before falling over. "Was I ever really like this?" he asked. "I hurt so much," whimpered Matt from where he'd fallen down. "Matt, if you don't practice, how can you ever expect to defeat stronger Pokemon?" said Blaziken. "Oh please. It's not like some insane rabid Pokemon's gonna rampage through the town, right?" said Matt, leaning on the wooden target.
--
Meanwhile, out in a desert plain only a day's journey from Petalburg City, Butch and Cassidy were working on a machine. "I don't see why Dr. Namba has us haul this piece of junk all the way out to the middle of this sand trap," said Butch.
"At least it's not a Magikarp this time. I'm still sore about last time," said Cassidy. "Personally, I'm glad we don't have to get another Hippowdon," said Butch, "But I still think lugging this tin pile out here is a waste of time."
"Yeah, what does this junk do anyway?" he added, plugging in a power cell. "It's supposed to be an improved version of the evolution inducement signal that was used at Lake Rage," said Cassidy, "We should be able to get Pokemon to evolve without them going amuck."
"That's the point. Those kids we met a week ago weren't supposed to have ray guns but they did," said Butch, rubbing a bruise.
"Well, with tougher Pokemon, they shouldn't be a problem next time," said Cassidy as she finished installing a control panel, "Ok, that's done. Let's switch it on."
At the same time, a Skorupi waddled over a sand dune and stared at them with insect curiosity as the machine powered up.
The machine let out a faint signal. Skorupi twitched as if something was annoying it a lot. "It's not working," said Butch, "I'm not seeing anything." "Maybe I should turn it up," said Cassidy as she twisted a knob.
The Skorupi went bug eyed (no pun intended) and spun round a few times before glaring at the two Team Rocket grunts. The machine was giving it a Venusaur-sized headache.
"Ok, this thing has got to be busted," said Butch, "It's not doing squat." Cassidy switched the knob to full power and said, "We should be seeing something now."
The Skorupi went bug eyed again and glowed with evolution energy. The two grunts looked to see a Drapion behind them...a Drapion about twice the normal size.
"Ok..." said Butch, "It definitely worked." "I think you'd better turn it off now," said Cassidy. Butch ran for the power knob and twisted it as hard as he could. Sadly, this caused it to pop off instead. "Oh no," he said dully. The Drapion picked up the machine with ease and looked at them before hitting them with the machine and scuttling off towards the distant forest.
The machine was entirely ruined. Fortunately, the sand was soft enough that Butch and Cassidy were unharmed. "At least things can't get any worse," said Cassidy. Just then, the loud voice of Dr. Namba shouted out of their communicator. "What's taking so long?! What's happening with my machine?!"
"Well...I have good and bad news, boss. Good news is that it almost worked perfect. The bad news is that the Pokemon used it as a mallet," said Butch and winced as Dr Namba blew a gasket.
--
Matt was back in training under the stern gaze of Blaziken. "Is this necessary?" he asked. "Fire Spin attacks don't come automatically," said Blaziken. "Actually, I think I've heard of something called TMs that-" began Matt. "Get back to work!" snapped Blaziken. Matt hastily complied and tried to get his flames to spiral by twirling his head around as he spat.
This sadly for Matt succeeded in almost frying Chloe as she came in. "FOR THE LOVE OF SMEG!" she yelled with such anger that even Blaziken stepped back a few paces.
"Matt, I've being hearing that you've been busy slacking off from your training to do silly things like telling 'war stories' to the other Pokemon," said Chloe, "Just because you're stuck as a Charmeleon doesn't mean you can laze about all day. What do you have to say for yourself?" "Um... your ponytail's on fire?" said Matt.
Chloe didn't get what Matt said, but she followed his point. Matt and Blaziken sweatdropped as she ran out and into the pool used for Water Pokemon.
When Chloe came back, she looked so mad, Matt was surprised that steam wasn't coming off her wet body. Hoping to avoid punishment, he tried to look cute.
"We had a dog. If it didn't work for him, what makes you think you can succeed?" she said, picking Matt up by the top of his head.
"Chloe, you know Charmeleon can't be dunked in water," said Matt worriedly, "That kills them, remember?"
Chloe sighed. She was getting good at understanding, if not the actual words but what they were supposed to mean. "I'm not gonna dunk you. I'm going to do this," she said and brought her free hand down on Matt's head.
Matt winced in pain as his head began to throb. "Now I know how a Psyduck feels," he moaned.
Chloe dropped him. "I do not want a repeat of our last Pokemon battle. Your opponent might not be willing to throw the match next time," she said.
"Chloe, it was just a friendly match..." started Matt. Chloe didn't understand him, but didn't matter anyways. "Did you forget that if you had lost, you'd have to stay with that creep and I would have to go on a date with him?" She picked him back up "...and that I'd make your life a world of hurt?" she hissed.
Matt gulped and tried to fight off the terrifying images that were entering his mind's eye. He wasn't succeeding very well.
He finally fell backwards. He'd fainted. Chloe sighed and walked out, bumping into May. "It's not going well. His flaming needs work. Do these TM's work on Pokethropes?" she said in a bored voice, wiping some soot off her face.
"I don't know," said May, "I don't know that much about Pokethropy. Maybe Matt just needs a change of tutors." "Ok," said Chloe, "We can start him off on Eevee. That couldn't be too hard, right?" Matt brightened up. No more drill sergeant Blaziken. He ran over and hugged Chloe's leg, gibbering happily.
--
His tone wasn't quite so ecstatic a few minutes later. Eevee had been listening to Matt's stories a bit too much. So when Matt came to learn from him, Eevee was trying to act like an army instructor, which was offset by her cuteness.
"Look, you don't have to act like that," said Matt, in a tired voice. "That's insubordination, soldier!" snapped Eevee, "Drop and give me 20!" "What? Pushups?" asked Matt. "No, 20 Pokeblocks, I'm hungry."
Matt gave an 'I don't believe this' look. "How does this help me train? I knew 10 ways to demolish hardened buildings, five of which use only a can of cola and a sock."
"Being tough's not everything in a Pokemon battle," said Eevee, "You've got to be wily." "Oh please," said Matt, "I can outsmart any Pokemon I-" He was cut off when Eevee used Charm.
Matt didn't stand a chance. "Aw... that's so cute," he said. Before he could realize what was happening, Eevee headbutted him in the gut.
He shook himself to his senses and said, "Ow...point taken...I'll be back once I locate where my pancreas went."
"Hmm, maybe Matt would be able to train outside," said May, "He could go practice in the forest." "Huh? What? You say something?" asked Chloe. She hurriedly hid the video camera she was holding seconds ago.
"It's a good way to help Pokemon get stronger. As long as he has his goggles and gloves he won't go on battle frenzy either," said May.
"Can I come along too?" asked Max. "Max, this is kinda Matt and Chloe's thing," said May. "Oh, come on," said Max, "I need to stretch my legs. Besides, there's a full moon coming. I need to get the wildness out of my system." Chloe sighed. "It'll be fine. It's not like some insane uber-Pokemon's on the loose."
--
Matt jumped over a tree root and looked around. He didn't know if it was his Pokethrope side but he felt great now he was out the gym.
From what he heard, Charmeleon preferred to live on or near mountains, particularly volcanoes. But the forest was a pretty exhilarating experience to his Pokemon nature.
Chloe sat on a fallen log and watched Matt look around, clearly enjoying himself. She personally still wasn't used to what was going on and had to mentally remind herself that the large wolf creature keeping an eye was May's brother and the little dragon thing was her own brother. "This would definitely be the weirdest thing I've ever experienced, but the day's not done yet," she said to herself.
But the odd thing was that the group hadn't found any Pokemon at all in the forest. Which was odd because Chloe heard that there were almost always Pokemon in here. It was so deathly still.
Matt was too high on life to notice, sadly letting a little of his new self out but Max had more practice and could sense the wrongness. Chloe could too. Her merc senses were screaming at her and she pulled out her stunner.
"Say, Bug types are weak to Fire types, right?" asked Matt. "Yes," said Max. "Then I can train with the local insect life here," said Matt, "A couple of rounds with a big bug should have me in fighting condition in no time."
He suddenly smelled something and turned as a bush was literally uprooted to reveal the biggest bug Matt had ever seen. "JACKPOOOT!" called Matt and got into the fighting stance Blaziken had taught him.
"Matt, two things," said Max, "First off, that's a Drapion, a Poison/Dark type. Second off, Drapion aren't supposed to be this big."
"So? It's just a giant bug," said Matt and spat a Flamethrower at the Drapion who seemed more curious then hurt.
The Drapion roared loudly and opened its mouth as it unleashed a powerful Pin Missile attack.
Matt yelped and dodged the many Pin Missiles that bounced around him. He finally got to a stop and said to the Drapion, "Hah...try aiming next time." The Drapion glared and said, "Ok," and jumped into the air to land on Matt with a crash.
Matt winced and crawled out from under Drapion. He was pretty sure he was this close to busting a rib. "Ok, you're tough," said Matt, "But I bet I'm tougher!" He jumped up and latched onto Drapion's arm with a Fire Fang attack.
Drapion roared in pain and said, "Call that a bite? THIS is a bite!" unleashing a Thunder Fang attack on Matt's tail.
Matt lit up like a Christmas light. He cried in pain as the electricity surged through his smaller body. When Drapion dropped him, Matt found that he had trouble getting his muscles to respond.
Drapion laughed and readied another Pin Missile only for a few stunner rounds to bounce off his shell. He turned to see Chloe firing at him.
Drapion roared angrily and swiped at Chloe. Chloe had to dodge to avoid the large scorpion's claws.
The Drapion growled angrily before swiping to knock the lunging Max into a tree. "Hah, I guess those idiot humans did me a favor," said Drapion.
"I'm...not down...yet," groaned Matt as he struggled to get up. "Then I better fix that, shouldn't I?" said Drapion. A spiral of water started spinning around Drapion's tail. Before Matt could move, Drapion turned around and slammed his tail onto Matt in a powerful Aqua Tail attack.
Matt yelped as he ended up smashing into the tree next to Max, his tail flame flickering a bit. "Ouch...time out," he moaned before fainting.
Drapion turned to Max and said, "I'll deal with him tomorrow. Tell him to meet me or I'll rip up every plant, rock, or building to find which one he's hiding under." With that, the Drapion stomped away.
--
Back at the gym, May was shocked to see the state everyone was in. "It was super-roach or something," said Chloe.
"That Drapion was twice the size it should have been," said Max, "And twice the aggression." "It tossed your brother and mine around like they were plushies and shrugged off my stunners like they weren't even there," said Chloe, putting Matt, who'd she'd carried back on the table. "He got beaten bad," she said.
"He needs healing right away," said May. She ran out of the room and came back with a hyper potion bottle. "Good thing my dad always keeps some just in case."
Chloe looked at the spray bottle in a skeptical way. "He doesn't need polishing, he needs a medic," she said. "It's a hyper potion," said May, "It's used to heal Pokemon."
Chloe sighed. "I'll never get used to this." she said as May sprayed some of the potion on Matt. After a minute or so, his tail flame started burning normally again and he came round, groaning in Pokemon.
"What did that guy hit me with?" asked Matt, "A swimming pool?" "Actually, that was Aqua Tail," said Max.
"Feels like I was run over by a very wet subway train," said Matt, gloomily.
"Well you better get used to it," said Max, "Because that Drapion wants to finish you off tomorrow."
Matt gulped. "Mummy," he squeaked.
"Are you out of your mind?!" shouted Chloe, "Matt can't fight that thing! It'll bulldoze him into a smear." "If he doesn't, that Drapion will root up everything until it finds Matt," said Max.
Matt gulped more before getting up. "Then I'd better learn how to beat him...quick," he said, his voice showing he was scared as hell.
"That Drapion sounds like it's really tough," said May. "It is," said Max, "and the only type of attacks that are super effective against Drapion are Ground types."
Chloe looked at Matt who looked like he was having a fear-fuelled heart attack. "Can Charmeleon learn any of those type of attacks?" she said.
"Let's see," said May as she looked at her Pokedex, "It says here that Charmeleon can learn Mud-Slap and Dig."
"Sounds good enough. Now how do we get him to learn in....how long did we have?" she said. Max said, "Till tomorrow." Chloe deflated. "My brother has the attention span of a rock...he's dead." An angry cry of 'CHAR!' confirmed Matt didn't appreciate her support.
"Well," said May, "I don't have any Pokemon that knows Mud-Slap, but Eevee knows Dig. Maybe he can teach it to Matt." Matt looked at Eevee and gulped.
"Uh, May," said Chloe, "Eevee didn't really seem to be that focused when he was trying to tutor Matt before." "Oh, that was just how to battle," said May, "Teaching a move should be completely different."
Matt, however, appeared to be trying to climb into a cupboard. "Erm...you sure about that?" said Chloe.
"C'mon, it's not like Matt's never dug as a human," said May. "True," said Chloe, "But it's mostly to bury mines and bodies."
Matt stuck his head out and said in Pokemon that there had never been any bodies except for the accident with the translator droid.
When Max translated what Matt said, May looked confused. "Translator droid?" she asked. "Don't ask," said Chloe.
Matt turned to look at Eevee who was grinning in a worrying way. "Please be normal," said Matt.
Unfortunately for Matt, he forgot that Eevee was a Normal-type Pokemon. So when Matt asked Eevee to 'be normal', she interpreted it as meaning being herself, which meant like of bouncy excitedness.
Matt sat down after a bit. "Please focus for a second. I need to know Dig...wait...I know how to dig," he said, annoyed.
"Ok then," said Eevee, running over and drawing an X in the dirt, "Start from where you are and use Dig to come up here."
Everyone watched as Matt dug a hole a little unsteadily and vanished from view. After two minutes, Chloe wandered over to the hole. "Ok...I think he got lost." A second later, there was a crash from a broom cupboard followed by some Charmeleon swearing and, as some of the cleaning chemicals were flammable, the door also being blown off its hinges a second later.
Matt walked out of the house, coughing and looking slightly singed. "I want a do-over," he said. He dug down into the ground before anyone could stop him.
A second later, there was another crash outside. Everyone ran out to see Matt climbing out a hole by a boulder with a lump on his head.
"Grr, I am going to get this!" he shouted and dug in furiously. He dug so swiftly he wasn't sure if he was going in the right direction or not. When he surfaced, he found himself under the shade of a lotus tree. A Munchlax was leaning against it and was wearing a conical straw hat. "Konichiwa, Lizardo-san," said the Munchlax.
Matt screamed and leapt with surprising agility into the tree before looking down and recognizing the Munchlax as May's "Why you little..." he said and attempted to jump on Munchlax.
Munchlax merely took three paces to the right and Matt landed head-first on a root.
The others arrived to see Matt gibber in Pokemon "Yea maaa...I'll get up for school."
Chloe rubbed her temples and said, "This is going to be a long day."
--
A while later and Matt's aim hadn't improved much, especially when he'd arrived in the cleaning cupboard again and been blown onto the second floor via the ceiling.
He walked down gloomily down to the ground floor again and said gloomily to Max, "I'm dead meat, aren't I?"
"Hey, learning a new attack is always hard," said Max, "You wouldn't believe how long it took Beautifly to get the hang of Silver Wind."
"Did they ever blow up the cleaning cupboard...twice?" said Matt. "Well, no," admitted Max, "But so far, your power's ok, you just need to make sure your attack hits. Maybe if you watched some other Pokemon do it, you'll get the hang of it."
"Fine...let's see Drill Sergeant Eevee do better," said Matt, glaring at his instructor. "Ok, Eevee, use Dig!" called May after hearing the translation. Eevee immediately dug underground. After a few minutes, she surfaced back up right through the evasive X.
"Show off," muttered Matt as Eevee went by. "If he can do it that easily, I should be able to," said Matt. He dug down into the ground again. A minute later, Matt surfaced again. To his credence, he was only five feet away from the X. Sadly, that five feet was in the cleaning cupboard again...
--
Meanwhile, Butch and Cassidy were trying to find the giant Drapion. Namba was less than pleased to hear about his machine's destruction and ordered the duo to capture the Drapion that it made evolve, for study purposes of course.
"Is there an Electrode around here? I heard another explo...is that a burning mop?" said Butch as a burning mop head landing a few feet in front of them.
"Who cares?" said Cassidy, "Let's just bag that Drapion. And make sure we get the drop on it instead of the other way around."
Sadly, the sinister air was spoiled when a bucket landed on her head, having followed the mop on its flight.
Cassidy pulled off the bucket and said, "What's going on here? Is a janitor's convention being bombed or something?"
A litre bottle of cleaning fluid landed on the mop head in front of them. "Isn't that stuff flammable?" said Butch.
--
Chloe cocked her head as a distant explosion coupled with two screams was heard. "Did anyone hear that?"
"What does it matter?" said Matt, "I'll never get this move down. How can I when I can't see what's going on?"
May said, "Why don't you go to the Diglett colony on the other side of the forest? They could help with your aim," she said.
Matt responded immediately. "Matt says 'Let's go!'," said Max.
--
A little later, Max had led Matt to a field near the forest. "Ok...it's a field. Where are the Pokemon?" he said to Max.
Suddenly, a brown furry head with only two black eyes and a red nose popped out of the ground. "Who's there?" it asked.
Matt screamed and jumped behind Max before glaring at the Diglett. "DON'T DO THAT!" Chloe was less than impressed. "That's a Diglett?" she said, "It looks more like some lawn ornament."
The Diglett also looked up at Chloe said, "That's a human? Looks like a space alien." It was worth noting that Chloe had dug out her combat armor in case the Drapion tried an early battle.
Max decided to cut straight to the point. "Diglett, this Charmeleon here needs your help. He needs to learn how to use Dig properly before tomorrow. Can you help him?"
The Diglett looked at Matt. "A Pokethrope needs our help?" Matt snapped at this, "IS THERE SOME KIND OF SIGN ON ME SOMEWHERE?"
"Pokethropes have a particular scent that can instantly be told apart from normal Pokemon," explained Max, "But it's not common knowledge, even among Pokemon." "Then why do they keep recognizing me?" moaned Matt gloomily.
Max scratched the back of his head and said, "Well, most of the Pokemon around here know about me. And with your odd scent, it makes them easier for them to tell you're a Pokethrope too."
Matt sighed. "Well...let's get this over with," said Matt, looking for a safe place to draw the target. "No," said the Diglett. It went back under before popping up again nearby. "Down here," it said, indicating the tunnel it left behind.
Matt looked at Max. "Please tell me he was kidding," he said. "If you wish to know how to move through the ground," said Diglett, "you must learn underground." Chloe looked at Max. "Are they telling Matt to do what I think they are?" she said.
"If you mean have Matt follow the Diglett into their underground tunnels, then yes, they are," said Max.
Chloe glared but sat down. "You can't be going along with this," moaned Matt.
After Max translated, Chloe said, "We've only got 21 hours to learn Dig before Drapion comes back. I don't think we're likely to find a Mud-Flap tutor or TM by then. And if training with these moles are the only way, well, down you go." Before Matt could move out of the way, Chloe kicked him into the hole.
Matt landed on his head at the bottom of the tunnel. "Look at all the pretty birdies," he gibbered.
"If you're ready," said the Diglett, having already been down there, "Let's begin." "Yes, Captain Pugwash," gibbered Matt, getting back up unsteadily. The Diglett's training was actually not that dissimilar to what Matt was doing with Eevee. However, there was one big difference.
Matt looked at the leader of the Diglett colony, a Dugtrio. "Ok...why the blindfold?" he said, despite the fact the 'blindfold' consisted of mud over the eyes.
"You are relying too much on your sight," said Dugtrio, "Using Dig is not about sight, but touch. You need to feel your way through the earth to find your target."
Matt sighed and put the mud over his eyes. "Ok...which direction?" he said before walking into the side of the tunnel.
"You're to use Dig on this mushroom," said Dugtrio, indicating a large mushroom that was growing not too far.
"Where?" said Matt, thinking silently that maybe he should have put the blindfold on before asking where the target was. "You should be able to find it," said Dugtrio, "Just look for the scent." "What scen...WOW, that is nasty," said Matt, almost changing color to green as he got a whiff of the mushroom. He dug into the ground and tried to feel his way along.
When Matt resurfaced, he was several feet away from the mushroom. "Argh! Why can't I get this right?" shouted Matt. "Perhaps it is because you're thinking too much like a human," said Dugtrio, "If you want to learn a Pokemon move, you must think like a Pokemon."
"Oh yes...that so easy," said Matt and jumped as a Diglett, at a silent command nabbed his goggles. "HEY...Don't take those!" he said, trying to grab them. "Those goggles are what's keeping your wildness at bay," said Dugtrio, "While that may be a good thing, it will block your ability to learn like a Pokemon. You must use your Pokemon side in order to learn Dig."
"My Pokethrope side includes an urge to bounce every Pokemon in range off the scenery," said Matt before shuddering as the absence of the Everstone kicked in. "There is more to Pokethropy than that," said Dugtrio, "Your friend was able to learn to overcome his drive to battle, so can you."
Matt could already feel the urge to fight bouncing off the edges of his mind, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to hold it back. "Now, Dig for the mushroom," commanded Dugtrio.
Matt opened his eyes again and looked at the mushroom before digging down into the ground. This time he could somehow sense which direction to go. Before, he had simply been trying to dig through ground. But now he can really feel what's around him. It's as if he was able to move through the ground like a corridor filled with doors, each door presenting a new direction to take and he knew which doors to use.
He finally shot up and shot through the mushroom, landing beside it.
"Cool," he said. He could still feel the Pokethrope side at the back of his mind like an internal itch, but it wasn't desperate for a fight any longer. A bonus was he could also passively feel all the instincts that came with his Charmeleon form.
"Excellent," said Dugtrio, "Of course, we'll have to do this a couple more times to make sure you've got it. Then you'll move on to an actual Pokemon target. I'm sure one of the Diglett won't mind."
Matt sighed. "This could be a while," he said, rubbing his head.
--
Several hours later, Matt returned back to Petalburg Gym. He was covered with so much dirt, he felt like a Wormadam with a Sand Cloak.
Chloe laughed. "What happened to you...where are the goggles?" she said, her laughter vanishing as she noticed the missing goggles.
"Um, wait, I have them on me somewhere," said Matt. He looked over himself and spotted his goggles embedded in some dirt on his back.
Chloe looked at Max. "Shouldn't he have gone crazy without them?" "Hey, I can control myself and I don't need goggles," said Max. "I suppose but the first sign of Matt going nutso and I'll staple the goggles to his head," said Chloe. Matt yelped and tried to hide.
"So Matt," said Max, "Did you learn Dig or what?" Matt nodded and looked at the X before diving head first into the ground and shooting through the X. "Great," said Chloe, "So you're ready to take on that Drapion?" Matt nodded and cracked his knuckles.
--
About an hour later, Matt was already to fight. They started heading through the forest to find Drapion. Max and May had come along too, just in case. Just as they had been leaving Officer Jenny had mentioned that some Team Rocket grunts had been seen.
"We should be able to find Drapion easily," said Chloe, "A 9-foot purple scorpion should stick out like a sore thumb."
Techo and Wilson had come along, including the Hoothoot that was again on Techo's helmet. "I give up, if he wants to stay there, LET HIM!" said the gloomy merc. They didn't notice Butch and Cassidy peering out some bushes.
"Well, we may not be able to find that Drapion," said Butch. "But a couple of Pokemon to experiment with should make Dr. Namba feel better," said Cassidy.
"Yeah. That new doctor that got hired is weird...specially since her partners got kidnapped," said Butch before yelping as he recognized Chloe. "It's that girl who had the raygun."
"Hold your Ponyta," said Cassidy, "She doesn't have her raygun. In fact, none of them do." Butch smirked and said, "They should be easy pickings."
The group jumped as Butch and Cassidy jumped out in front of them. "Oh no. Not these idiots," muttered Chloe.
"Prepare for trouble," said Cassidy. "Make it double," said Butch. "Can we skip the stupid motto thing and get to the part where we kick your butts?" said Techo.
Wilson said, "We left the morphguns at the ship." Techo then said a rude word under his breath. "Alright," said Cassidy, "Hand over your Pokemon and we may let you leave without a thrashing." Chloe sighed. "Oh please," she said. Techo said, "Why do all room temperature villains have corny lines?"
"Maybe you kids need a lesson in pain," said Butch, "Go Primeape!" "Go Granbull!" shouted Cassidy. They both released their Pokemon.
Matt found himself nose to nose with a Pokemon that resembled a deep purple bulldog. "Hello," he said weakly.
Wilson and Techo both looked at a beige ape-like Pokemon with metal bangles on its wrists and ankles, a pig-like snout, and an incredibly angry look on his face. "I don't get it," said Wilson, "What's the deal with this guy?" Suddenly, the Pokemon grabbed Wilson and started Thrashing him around before tossing him to the ground and jumping on him.
Techo gulped as it turned its attention to him only for Matt to jump on his head and start pounding on it. Max however sneaked towards some bushes to transform. The last thing he needed was Team Rocket to know what he could do.
"Show me what you got, pig face!" said Matt. Suddenly, Primeape grabbed Matt's throat. "That's quite a grip you've got there!" squeaked Matt.
Matt suddenly twitched and his eyes started glaring before biting Primeape's hand with a growl and Fire Punching the Pokemon.
Primeape was hurt, but hardly ready to quit. He did a Fury Punch attack on Matt which he countered with Fury Swipes. However, he was so preoccupied with Primeape, he forgotten about Granbull who was getting ready to use Crunch on him. So it was fortunate that Max jumped out in Mightyena form and Tackled Granbull.
Techo picked up a sturdy looking branch and tried to hit Primeape, only succeeding in upsetting the Pokemon and being punched by it. Matt growled at the Fighting Pokemon. "You don't know who you're fighting," he said, his human and Pokethrope personalities mixed.
"Who cares?" snapped Primeape, "I'm going to turn you into a red pulp." He drew his arm back for a Mega Punch.
Matt grabbed the incoming punch with both hands and snarled ferally. Suddenly, Primeape was the victim of a Rage attack himself as Matt smashed him into the ground several times.
Meanwhile, Max and Granbull were circling each other. "You don't smell right," said Granbull.
"Figured it out on your own, did you?" taunted Max.
Granbull snarled. "Laugh this off," she said and tried another crunch attack and stopped. Chloe had sneaked up and shoved a rock in Granbull's mouth. "Bad dog!" she yelled.
To Chloe's surprise, Granbull's Crunch simply went right through it. He turned and growled at Chloe.
"Erm...sit?" she said, stepping back. "Hey! Your battle's with me!" shouted Max. When Granbull ignored him, Max used Fire Fang on Granbull's ear.
Granbull tried to turn round to bite Max which wasn't made easy by Max's location. "GAH...GET OFF, YOU FRE..." she began and stopped. Chloe had found a new use for the rock...a mallet.
Granbull stumbled and nearly fell over. That's when Max let go and used Tackle. That knocked Granbull out. About the same time, Primeape also fainted from Matt's pounding. Matt glared at Primeape before looking at Butch and Cassidy with a snarl.
"Hey! That was just for starters," said Butch. "We've got more Pokemon where they come from," said Cassidy. "Nah, not in the mood for that right now," said Matt, "See ya!" With one powerful Flamethrower, Matt sent Butch, Cassidy, and their Pokemon flying. "We're blasting off again!" they shouted before disappearing into the sky.
Matt looked at the damage he and Primeape caused before shrugging. His Pokethrope side going silent again. "Did I do that?" he said to Max.
"Don't be so hard on yourself," said Max, "Primeape wouldn't have shown any less mercy. You needed to defend yourself."
Matt seemed more impressed then worried. "Cool. I actually won a fight," he said. "Of course, Drapion's a lot bigger than Primeape, but you should be able to handle him, right?" said Max. Matt said, "Hey...how'd you use Fire Fang?" confused.
"I watched you use it a couple of times and decided to learn it myself," said Max. Matt sighed. "Well...maybe Drapion's late," he said and jumped as the aforementioned Drapion landed behind him.
Techo looked up at Drapion. "That's Drapion?" he said, "He doesn't look so tough as you-" Before Techo could finish, Drapion knocked him into a tree with one swipe.
Matt followed Techo's flight into the tree before glaring at Drapion. "Hey...nobody thumps Techo but me," he said.
"Oh yeah?" said Drapion, "What are you going to do about it?" "Er...erm…" said Matt, not thinking that far ahead. "Well, at least I know what to do about you," said Drapion before jumping enough for another Body Slam. However, Matt was prepared this time and quickly dug down.
Drapion landed with a crash and looked around. "Where'd he go?" he said, before being knocked over as Matt surfaced behind him and hit him.
Drapion winced in pain. That Dig attack really hurt. But he was far from done. "Tough little guy, aren't you? But I've got moves of my own." He opened his mouth as his fangs started glowing bright purple.
Matt gulped and backed up. "You don't wanna bite me. You don't know where I've been," he said.
Drapion couldn't reply at the moment and lunged forward. Matt hopped back and narrowly avoided being poisoned by the Poison Fang attack.
Drapion turned and tried another Poison Fang attack, making Matt jump and leapfrog him.
Matt was knocked back and got back up, growling, his Pokethrope side mixing again. "I don't want...to fight you," said Matt. His urge to fight was practically bouncing around his skull.
"Too bad," said Drapion before using Knock Off. Chloe gasped as Matt's gloves were knocked off him.
Matt growled, gripping his head in pain. "Your...funeral," he said before opening his eyes again, the pupils shrinking to feral form. He turned to face the Drapion, practically foaming at the mouth.
Matt let out a massive Fire Spin. Drapion shielded his face against the flames, but it still burned his body. As soon as the attack ended, one of his pincers glowed purple and reached forward and hit Matt with Poison Jab.
Matt didn't even seem to feel it and brought his claws down on Drapion's arm with a Slash attack.
Drapion and swung his tail around. Before Matt could react, the tail hit him in a more powerful Poison Jab.
Matt was knocked back and got back up but fell down to one knee. Despite this he kept trying to reach his opponent, all that he was focused on.
Chloe noticed a glowing purple wound where Drapion had hit him. "What's wrong with him?" asked Chloe. "I think that attack poisoned him," said May.
Matt didn't even seem to notice despite the poison was clearly wearing him down. "Beat...you," he snarled. "I don't think so," said Drapion, "But I do think it's time to finish this." Drapion opened his mouth and balls of orange energy started charging up in it. "He's powering up a Hyper Beam!" shouted May.
Matt glared and began to glow blue before running at Drapion to knock into him. "Grrr...not over yet," he said as Drapion staggered.
"What was that?" asked Wilson. Max, who had changed back to human form, said, "I think that was Dragon Rush." It apparently was because it made Drapion flinch and the energy gathered up for his Hyper Beam dispersed harmlessly.
Matt shot into the ground again and Drapion looked around. "Grr...not again," he said and was sent flying as Matt hit him with a Pokethrope rage powered Dig attack.
Drapion roared in pain and fell to the ground, down for the count. Matt landed and advanced on Drapion, obviously intent on finishing the job in his rage. Chloe, however, was not having any of it, landing on Matt and forcing the goggles onto the struggling Pokemon.
Matt staggered as his adrenaline levels went back to normal. "Whoa, what a rush," he said, "I don't feel so good."
Chloe looked at the poisoned wound and, though she didn't get what her brother had said, she had a good idea what was coming and turned her brother just in time as the poison made him sick.
"That Drapion will not be happy to wake up and find Charmeleon puke on him," said Techo. "What are we going to do with it, anyways?" said Willson, "It's too dangerous to leave in the wild." Chloe looked at Techo. "You still got that teleporter grenade, Techo?" she said with an evil grin.
--
Meanwhile, Butch and Cassidy were being berated for doing a sloppy job. "This is completely outrageous!" shouted Dr. Namba, "Letting yourselves be beaten so easily! You're almost as bad as Jessie and James!"
"Look...You said it wouldn't be a repeat of that damn Red Gyrados," said Butch, rubbing the burn on his arm. Behind them, a faint glow began to appear, depositing Drapion, who was just coming round, behind them.
The Drapion was not happy about beating beaten by Matt. He was less than thrilled to see Matt's breakfast on him. He roared loudly at the Team Rocket members screamed. A little camera-bot scuttled out and up to a vantage point.
--
Chloe sniggered and showed the image to the others. "Who says there's nothing good on the telly anymore?"
--
Back at the gym…
"Boy, fighting like that was great," said Matt, practicing his Fury Swipes, "I can get used to this kind of thing."
He looked over to see Chloe looking gloomy. "I'm losing him..." she said, apparently on her comm to Dr. Zine back at the ship, "You had better have a cure soon. If my brother is lost...you won't make it back to Central Station."
"Not to worry, miss," said Zine, putting a lot of sarcasm on 'miss', "I am close to a breakthrough." "Ok...you'd better or I'll give you a real breakthrough...through an airlock," said Chloe and turned it off. She looked down to see Matt had wandered over. "Hey bro...try to hold on," she said
"Sis, it's not like I'm losing my mind or anything," said Matt, "It's not that bad. Though I'd like to taller than punting-size."Chloe didn't understand a word he'd said and just sighed.
Then Matt said to himself, "I wonder, do those tunnels I Dig stay there or go away by themselves?" "They'll go away in about an hour," said Eevee. "Wait, then that means..." began Matt and was cut off as there was a sudden yell outside when Norman stumbled into the hole Matt had dug earlier. Matt gulped. "Nobody can prove anything," he said.
--
Back at Team Rocket's base, Dr. Namba was putting an icebag on his head. Not only was it a hassle to put that Drapion in a cage, but it had given him a monstrous headache to boot.
A grunt came in. "Doctor. The Drapion escaped by kicking down a wall," he said. Namba said, "Good...I mean, too bad...what else?" The grunt stepped aide to see a teenage female human. "Doctor Vanya, previously of Exo-Gene corporation. I'm here to work with Doctors, Zine, Grouder and Kane," she said.
"You're too late for that," said Namba, "Those three are all gone. From what I heard, at least two of them are dead." "Oh...shame," said Vanya, not sounding worried at all, "I presume their projects are intact. I will carry on their work."
Namba looked at her and said, "And what work would that be, exactly?" Vanya gave a thin smile and said, "The Pokethropy project."
Uh oh…a new doc on the scene who knows what the three docs were up too…this doesn't look like it'll be good. Please Read n Review.
