It doesn't seem like it's been so long since I posted my last chapter, but to be honest a lot has happened to me in the past couple of years. Between graduating college and looking for a job, plus a lot of other personal stuff in my life, I didn't think I would ever write again. But in the end I was determined to finish this story. Now I have a bunch of other ideas for stories swarming in my head! It feels like I never left at all. Anyway, on with the story!

Chapter 4: Pieces of a Puzzle

The spiky haired young man sat in his chair, his hands folded in front of him as he looked at the papers on his desk. He sighed as he glanced from one set of words to another. Nothing made sense, yet he felt like everything was going to come to a head soon. He raked his fingers through his red hair, trying to let loose some of his frustration. At this moment he heard his videophone ringing, halting his train of thoughts. He took a moment to compose himself, then answered the phone that was a few inches away from him.

The screen revealed an older woman, believed to be at least in her early 80s, her usual blond hair finally starting to show wisps of gray. Her face held a hard and firm permanent scowl, even when she was smiling, and the slight wrinkles seen on her face was a trait of wisdom that she had gained over the years. Fortunately, she didn't lose her sense of humor.

"Gee Lance, don't you look wonderful this morning," she said, her voice filled with sarcasm.

Lance rolled his eyes. "It's called a bed head, Agatha, but of course you wouldn't know what that means since your hair is perfect every morning."

Agatha chuckled. "I see you're also quite cheerful."

"Sorry, Agatha," Lance apologized, "It's just I've been up to my neck in paperwork lately. Ever since we've tracked down Team Aqua and Magma we've been getting more reports. However I seem to be getting more and more confused each day."

"Sorry to hear that, but it's just the way life is. Either shape up or move on. I have another report for you today."

Lance sighed again. "You sound very unapologetic. Fine what is it this time?"

"I'm afraid Bruno and I have stumbled across a pokemon that seemed to be acting strangly. It had attacked Bruno for no reason at all and was extremely stronger than normal. It took Bruno's entire team to bring it down, and even then it was a struggle. Not only that but it had very mysterious look in its eyes."

This last bit of information caught Lance's attention. He had been hearing of overpowered pokemon across the region that had been causing trouble. Attacking towns, trainers, and even innocent people that just happened to pass by. But the way that the pokemon looked, although they were various species, their eyes had never been mentioned.

"What do you mean?" Lance got closer to the screen.

"Its eyes were red, Lance, the pure color of blood. It seemed well intent on killing us, but we thought it was best for it to be captured and not have another chance to hurt an innocent victim. So Bruno caught it and now he's heading for Pallet Town to have Oak look at it."

Lance looked thoughtful. "Do you think Professor Oak will be able to figure out the problem with these pokemon?"

"No I don't," Agatha snorted in defiance, reminding Lance of her mysterious disdain for the esteemed professor, "But some help is better than no help at all. Besides, at least we might be able to come to a rational conclusion."

"Hmmm, I believe you're right. Although I wish you both would have came to me first with this issue, but considering the circumstances I guess you had no choice," Lance said thoughtfully. "His opinion on the whole matter could be helpful."

Agatha folded her arms and looked away, narrowing her eyes in annoyance. "Hmph, I bet his opinion isn't worth a bag of Beedrill, but you're the one who needs help so…"

"Hey, who said anything about me needing help! I'll figure this all out soon, just trust me Agatha."

Agatha turned back to Lance with a calm, gentle smile. "Don't worry 'bout it, Lance. Some things just don't come to you right away, but great ideas always come when they need to."

Lance sighed in relief. "Thanks, Agatha, it's always nice to have your words of wisdom."

The aged woman smiled and closed her eyes. "Of course, it's always nice to remind you of my superior knowledge."

Meanwhile back at the small island away from Kanto, a young man was getting an unexpected visit. He crashed to the ground of his large hotel suite, holding his bleeding nose, trying to prevent the blood from getting on the carpet. After all, he didn't want one more thing to try to clean up. He used his hand to push himself up, staggering to his feet and rocking from side to side.

"Now come on is that any way to treat your friends?" A voice mocked from behind.

The man used his free hand to knock some of the brown wisps of hair away from his face. He sighed and turned around, facing his attackers. One man was tall and skinny, his blue and white uniform a little too big for him, with a blue bandanna tied around his neck. The other guy next to him was shorter, but also skinny, and to be honest a bit weaker and denser than his accomplise. But he couldn't complain, for it was his partner that got him to be one of the top exectutives for the organization.

The man who was brutally attacked from behind finally gained his breath back, and began to speak again, "I don't have to listen to you, or anyone else! I'm done with this now, you got it?! Now get out!"

"Aww, you don't have to be so mean you know…" A feminine voice chimed in. She was in the small kitchenette of the room, casually walking out with a cup of coffee. She leaned against the door frame of the wall and spoke in a calm, seductive voice. "But you could show us a little more respect, after all if it wasn't for us you wouldn't be Unova Pokemon Master Blake…you would just be that old ignorant trainer we used to know…"

Blake turned around again to face his real enemy, a tall, voluptuous woman dressed in a blue and white pirate's outfit. Her red hair grazed her shoulders and curled around her ears and neck, wrapping around her like a fur coat in winter. She had sweet sexy eyes that could enchant you in an instant like a Siren's song, and red lips that never faded. Her blue bandanna was twisted around her right wrist, the same wrist that was used to sip her coffee.

She raised her eyebrows and spoke again, "Now Blake we were just catching up a bit weren't we? Hey, how's that wife of yours—what was her name again? Was it Dahila? She's pretty sweet right? Wouldn't it be a shame if something was to—you know—happen to her…"

Blake's eyes once again became shrouded in fury. "You conniving witch!" He reached out to grab her but was caught by the arms by the two men standing behind him.

"Hey that's not very gentlemanlike to talk to a lady like that!" The short guy said. "You better watch that temper of yours!"

"Now, now boys," the lady interrupted, "I'm sure he didn't mean it, did you Blake?"

Blake only grunted in response, his teeth chattering in anger. The older woman smirked, and placed the cup of coffee on the table. "I'm glad we have such a good understanding of each other, Blake. See this way you can be good for our boss, and when you are good for him…" She walked closer to him, slowly placing a hand on the restrained man's cheek. "…You are good for me," she finished softly. "Won't you be a good boy for me Blake?" She nearly whispered as her pouty lips got closer to his. "We can finish what we started so long ago…"

Blake roughly turned away, breaking the Siren's hold on him. "Don't hurt her…please…" he begged.

She raised an eyebrow and attempted to gain back her eye contact. "You really care for her, don't you? Alright then, I won't hurt her, you have my word on that." She slowly backed up, signaling for her men to let the young master go. "We'll be in touch. Let's go." With that the men moved closer to the door, their leader following. Blake watched her sadly as her hips swayed slowly back and forth like a pendulum. He quickly turned away, silently cursing himself for staring too much. He sighed again, once again facing another mess he couldn't clean up.

Outside in the hallway, the young woman, satisfied of her victory, spoke to her boss on her Pokegear. "Boss, we've just contacted out little friend. He was resistant as always, but we managed to persuade him to come to our side."

A rough voice spoke back, "Good work."

"While we are here, Archie, a little Pidgey told me that the Kanto master and his wife is here in the same building. How about we wait for them and—"

"No," Archie interrupted. "Report back to HQ."

"But sir, Team Magma—"

The leader interrupted once again. "Don't you worry your pretty little head about those bunch of fools," he said, "We'll take care of them soon enough. Just get back here."

The subordinate sighed but decided to follow orders this time. "Yes sir, we are on our way."

The admin tied her bandanna back around her head, placing her pokegear safely between the two. It was then that the shorter grunt called out to her: "Hey boss, I hear people coming to check on the cameras…I guess we overstayed our welcome huh?"

"Oh well, it was good while it lasted," Shelly replied. "Hey is that window ready yet?"

The taller grunt had just finished cutting a circular piece of the window out with a special lazer. He gently pushed it out and said, "Ready when you are boss." He pulled out a large grappling gun. "Target looks to be about twenty meters away."

"Perfect." Shelly smiled, pulling out her own grappling gun. "Let's get out of this dump."

"Uh, boss…" the shorter grunt began to complain, "We aren't going out this way are we?" He shivered as he glanced out window…and to the twenty flights below him.

"Heh heh, still afraid of heights Stimpy?" the taller grunt laughed.

"I am not! And quit calling me Stimpy!"the other grunt yelled.

"Will you both shut up!" Shelly yelled. She sighed to herself and cursed under her breath. "Out of all the people to get stuck with I had to be with dumb and dumber…" She squeezed the trigger on her gun and watched as the hook sailed to the roof of another building. Without another word, she crawled out the glass hole, and sailed out. The other grunts soon followed, teasing each other all the way across. By the time the clerks from downstairs finally got up to investigate the situation, all they found was the circular hole in their window and three cameras that were spray painted black.

Farther away in the region of Kanto, an older man was travelling through a grassy area on his way to see the well-renowned Professor Oak in Pallet. Bruno scratched his head as he looked around him. Being a mountain man, he wasn't really sure of the roads and cities around him and got lost easily. He had been wandering through Viridian Forest for around four days, when finally he saw the sign he had been looking for.

"Viridian City, 5 miles. Perfect! Now I know almost to Pallet."

Within a few minutes he was happy to reach the end of the forest and even begun to see the sky line of Viridian from where he was standing. He adjusted his bag over his shoulder and kept walking, thinking that he would be able to get some supplies when he got to town. After walking for around ten minutes however, he noticed how quiet things were. Compared to the sounds of the forest, it was a bit too quiet.

He abruptly stopped, sensing a strange presence behind him. "I can feel you behind me…there's no sense in hiding any longer." He had heard a chuckle and the grass rustling behind him. He turned around to face a tall guy in a black and red outfit, his short green hair poking out from his small black hat.

"How very perceptive," he remarked, "I expected nothing less…from an elite four member."

"Who are you? What do you want?!" Bruno asked. He knew from many past experiences that being an elite four member meant he was constantly a target…for good and evil people. He knew that the most important thing was to stay calm and not panic. It was because of this that he has been known as the most calm, cool, and collected trainer in Kanto.

The man smiled and replied, "I'm a bit surprised you don't know anything about me, but I suppose that makes sense. After all I was always kept under a low profile. I go by the name Proton, and I have been studying you for a while. Before you go any further I thought I would stop you. It seems your services are requested by my organization so I need you to come with me."

Bruno was visibly shocked. "Your organization? Who do you work for? What's your purpose with me?"

Proton pulled his hat down to cover his eyes. "I can't get into any details about that, but I suppose you should know that I work for Team Magma."

"Team Magma?!" Now Bruno finally recognized his name. "I knew I heard your name from somewhere! You worked for Team Rocket!"

Proton smiled, proud that he was known for this. "Yes, I was a high ranking officer you can say. Now I'm afraid I must do my job here. If you refuse to come with me—"

"Do you honestly think I will come with you? I must do my job as well. This is not going to end very well for you," Bruno replied, reaching for a pokeball from his belt.

Proton sighed. "I hated it had to come to this, but I guess we have no other choice." Proton also pulled a pokeball from his belt. "Well let's get this over with."

"Machamp, I choose you!" Bruno yelled, releasing his pokeball.

Machamp was a strong sturdy fighting type pokemon. His training in the mountains with his master had made him visibly stronger and even taller than a pokemon of his usual size. His muscles rippled as he flexed them, being proud of his strength he smiled confidently, awaiting his next opponent.

Any other trainer would be intimidated by the size and superior confidence of this Machamp, but Proton was not fazed. In fact Proton was also smiling and had no doubts as he released his pokemon.

Bruno was a bit surprised by Proton's choice. "Are you sure that's the pokemon you wish to use?"

"I suggest you worry about your pokemon, Bruno, let me worry about mine," Proton replied.

In front of him a beautiful, shiny, white headed pokemon. Its green body sparkled in the sunlight and its purple flowers seemed to grow bigger and blossom as a result. Its dark purple eyes also looked unfazed by the size of Machamp, for Roserade had the power of the sun on its side. As long as the sun never faded, Roserade believed it could accomplish anything—even defeating a seemingly powerful fighting type.

"Seeing as this could possibly be your last battle, why don't you make the first move?" Proton suggested.

Bruno smirked. "Pretty confindent for facing an elite four member! Alright then let's go Machamp, Karate Chop!"

Machamp charged forward, swinging away with its powerful long arms, one strike could have the potential of possibly knocking out Roserade with one hit—if she could be touched. Roserade did have the power of the sun on her side after all, and with it she could go faster than usual, even fast enough to dodge every one of Machamp's karate strikes.

Now it was Proton's turn to smile. "I hope you realized this won't be an easy battle for you. Your Machamp may be strong, but without the speed to back it up it's just a heavy rock waiting to be cracked. Roserade, go and use leaf storm!"

Roserade lifted its petals into the air and then shot forth dozens of green pedals, each one hitting Machamp who had its arms crossed in a defensive position.

"Ha! You will have to do better than that to defeat me!" Bruno taunted.

"Roserade mix your leaf storm with a grass knot attack!" Proton commanded.

Vines ripped through the ground, wrapping around Machamp's legs and lifting him into the air.

"Machamp no!" Bruno screamed as he saw Machamp getting hit by what seemed like a thousand petals and then crashing down back to earth.

"Roserade, keep it up with that grass knot, we got him on the ropes now," Proton said, with no remorse or fear in his voice. Roserade followed his commandments, tossing Machamp up in the air with her extended vines, then forcing him back down with the power of his own weight. She did this about four times in a row, feeling exhilarated with each pound into the ground, but it was only a matter of time before she would pay for being overzealous.

Sure enough, Bruno found his way around this situation. "Machamp grab those vines! Show Roserade how to really toss someone around!"

Machamp grabbed the vines that were around his feet and pulled Roserade towards him. He was able to land on his feet and then throw her around in a circle before tossing her off, causing her to land a few feet away.

"Now's your chance! Submission!" Bruno exclaimed. Machamp stretched his arms out and charged forward, ready to grab the little plant in what would be the final blow, but Roserade quickly rose to her feet.

"Got you!" Proton bellowed out. "Use vine whip and then leaf storm again!"

The Machamp was visibly surprised as the vines wrapped around his arms and waist, and was then pelted with more sharp pointed leaves cutting through his entire body. It seemed like no matter how much Machamp struggled, he couldn't break free from the vines entangling him, and all he could do was feel his health drift away…

"Come on Machamp," his trainer encouraged, "Don't give up so easily! Remember your training! Break free with all your might, and use her own power against her!"

Machamp closed his eyes, and then reopened them, bursting forth with a new amount of unforeseen energy that was just enough to break loose of Roserade's vines. He then pulled Roserade close to him and gave her a swift firm punch to the face and nearly knocked her unconscious.

"Ha! This battle is over my friend! She may be strong for her size, but there's no beating my Machamp's sheer will and determination! Why don't you give up now? If you return your pokemon and leave my sight, I shall forget that we ever crossed paths." Bruno exclaimed.

Proton snickered. "I'm not done yet Bruno. I still have one last trick up my sleeve. Roserade, you know what to do!"

Roserade had her head down and her arms slouched forward, looking as if she was defeated. But…she was in the direct sunlight…

"Oh no you don't!" Bruno yelled. "Go Machamp, finish her off!" Machamp charged forward again, clinching his fists for the final blow, when Roserade lifted her head and opened her eyes.

Her eyes are…blood red…!

As soon as Machamp took a glimpse in her eyes, they vanished, along with her body.

"What?!" Bruno said, just as confused as his pokemon. They both looked around until Bruno saw a speck of red charge through the sky. "Machamp, above you!"

But it was too late, Machamp was taken down in a powerful cloud of leaves.

"How do you like my new move, Bruno? I call it Leaf Explosion." Proton taunted.

Bruno could say nothing but look helpless as Roserade seem to tower above Machamp, staring down at him from her perch on his chest.

"Machamp, try to get up!" Bruno pleaded. As hard as Machamp tried, he absolutely had no strength left, after all there was nothing he could do against the amazing power of the sun.

At this point it was clear that the match was over, but Roserade's quest for blood wasn't over. She pointed her rose like arms at Machamp's face. Her arms began to glow a bright white.

"Now it's your turn to surrender…my friend," Proton taunted again. "Give up now and come with me, otherwise I can't say what will happen to the life of your precious pokemon."

Bruno began to visibly shake. "I…You can't mean to…No! I won't call your bluff! I won't bow down to you or anyone!" He held out Machamp's pokeball and asked for it to return, but the power of the pokeball didn't work. It was then that Bruno realized Machamp was being held down by Roserade's vines that were slowly wrapping around him.

"N-No! Alright! I'll do what you want, just please, don't hurt Machamp please!" Bruno pleaded.

"You honestly thought I was bluffing! That I would tease you about the very life of your pokemon! Just what kind of person do you take me for?! When I was in Team Rocket, I was feared even by my own subordinates! And yet you…you dare test me?! I don't care if you're an Elite Four member I could destroy you without even trying! I will make sure you learn to fear me!"

Roserade unleashed her solar beam at this moment, the bright energy of light engulfing both her and Machamp and was steadily getting larger by the second.

Bruno's screams were the last thing to be heard as the white light made its way to him.

Nothing much to say except, Until Next Time...