Act 7: Failed assault

the Leviathan sailed over Violet city.

"Looks like we're home." Kaoru said.

Jack had an excited expression on his face.

"My first gym battle awaits!"

"Let's get settled in first." Quinn said as the Leviathan began to lower into the lake around the Shiba estate.

"Kaoru you lived here most of your life. Do you know the gym leader?" Jack asked.

"It use to be Walker, Onii-Chan beat him on his journey. Now the gym leader is his son Falkner has taken over."

"They're suppose to be flying type trainers. Spearow should be ok, but Trunks could have difficulty." Jack said.

"That's not the right attitude." They heard Takeru say.

The two turned to him.

A pokemon trained well enough can overcome any type advantage." Takeru said.

"I guess you would know."

The Leviathan anchored in the water before several kuroko from the estate began to come aboard with fresh supplies.

One came with a piece of paper for Takeru and Hikoma.

"Ahh yes our profits from the harvest. What? How did we make thirty-seven percent more than usual?" Hikoma asked.

"There was a shortage in Sinnoh from too much rain, Sinnoh clients were willing to buy it for a higher price and quantity."

"Ahhh , very smart economics my lord." Hikoma said.

After getting settled back in the estate, Jack made his way through the city with the others with him.

"I know I wanted to get out and see more, but I did miss this place a bit." Kaoru said looking around.

"You must have known the gym leader well lord Shiba." Quinn said.

"I knew Walker well enough, when I wanted to train my pokemon , Hikoma would ask him to come in and battle with me. I don't know much about his son Falker."

As they walked Emily felt Heracross's pokeball shake.

"Huh?" Heracross came out with an enthralled expression.

"Heracross what are you doing?"

Heracross smelled an aroma of sap from a container a woman in a shop was holding.

He flew over , knocking the woman to the ground as he began sucking up the sap.

"Ahhh!" Emily shouted with a crestfallen expression. She sprinted over and grabbed him as the woman looked up.

"I'm sorry." Emily said sweat dropping before she hurried off , looking very embarrassed.

"Heracross, just because you're blind doesn't mean you can smash into people like that." Emily said as the others laughed a little.

Eventually they reached the gym which was a spiral tower with a violet color and arched windows all around it with a dome like structure on the top.

"Here we are." Kaoru said.

Jack hurried inside first , but saw the entrance area was empty.

"Huh?" Jack said looking around.

"Where is everybody?" Jack asked as the others came in.

"It could be there's a battle going on." Arkanes said.

"The battlefield is on the roof if I remember right." Takeru said.

They saw an elevator and went inside.

After pressing the roof tab they were taken to the top and saw a large battlefield on the rooftop.

Around the rooftop were a few young trainers in their early teens.

On one side of the battlefield was a young man, maybe seventeen years old. He had long blue hair that covered his right eye and blue eyes. He wore a blue kimono with a light blue and white jacket over it.

Beside him was an older man who looked like him.

Over the young man was a Pidgeotto.

Much to the group's surprise, standing on the other side of the battlefield was none other than Alex with a Lavitar in front of him.

"Alex?" Takeru said.

"Lavitar use Rockslide!"

"Tar!" The small rock pokemon shouted as he hurled several rocks into the air that came down towards Pidgeotto.

"Agility!" The Pidgeotto moved so fast he seemingly teleported away from each of the falling rocks.

"Gust!"

"Otto!" The Pidgeotto shouted as he blasted Lavitar who tried to hold his position.

"Sandstorm!"

"Steel wing!"

Before Lavitar could unleash his attack, Pidgeotto's wings turned to metal and smashed Lavitar back in front of Alex.

"Lavitar!" Alex shouted.

"Lavitar is unable to battle." The ref said.

"Lavitar return, you got one of his pokemon."

"Alex." He heard , turning to see them.

"Takeru? Guys?"

"Alex got here first , no way." Jack said.

"Hey, we still have a battle." Falkner said.

"Right, we can talk after this , I choose you Totodile!"

Alex's shiny Totodile came out and danced around happily.

"A Totodile, interesting choice." Walker said.

"Alex, Totodile, do your best!" Quinn shouted.

"If you couldn't beat me with a rock type, what chance do you have with a water type. Pidgeotto use Gust!"

"Keep doing what you're doing." Alex said.

Much to Falker's surprise, the blasts of wind Pidgeotto unleashed went past Totodile as he kept dancing around.

"Water gun!" Totodile opened his mouth and unleashed a blast of water at Pidgeotto.

"Agility!" Alex shouted.

The group saw again just how fast Pidgeotto was, Jack in particular.

"Wing attack!"

"Down and up." Alex said.

"Down and up?" Falkner said.

The others were also confused by this, but Takeru looked closer as he saw Totodile limbo backwards, Pidgeotto narrowly missing him. Totodile extended himself up again at Pidgeotto's side, his eyes glowing for a moment.

"Leer." Takeru said quietly.

"Gust."

"Water gun on the ground!"

Totodile leapt up and blasted the ground with water as wind hit him and the water. It carried the two up.

"Agility!" Falkner shouted only to have the water in the air smack into Pidgeotto's eyes.

"Huh?"

Totodile came down and landed on Pidgeotto's back.

"Ice fang!"

Totodile opened his mouth wide and revealed his now icy fangs before snapping them around Pidgeotto's neck.

Pidgeotto thrashed and tried to shake Totodile off, but he coudldn't. Pidgeotto crashed into the ground with swirly eyes.

"Pidgeotto is unable to battle, the winner is challenger Alex."

"Awww." Falkner said.

"Well, everything you'd expect from the son of a champion." Walker said.

"Huh?" Takeru said hearing this.

Alex seemed almost freaked out by this.

"Ahhh, well. We did it Totodile, no need to hear anything else." Alex said as he and Totodile approached Falkner.

"Here's your badge." Falkner said handing it to Alex.

"I'm next." Jack said as Falkner's students turned to him.

"Who are you?" Falkner asked.

"I'm Jack, I'm here to battle you."

"Ahh it seems you have another challenger son." Walker said.

Falkner gave a serious look as he turned to Jack.

"I'm ready to battle you right now!"

"Falkner, wouldn't it be a good idea to go to the pokemon center first." Walker said.

Falkner sweat dropped.

"Right."

Falkner left the gym with Jack giving a disappointed expression.

"You'l have to excuse my son, he's new to being a gym leader."

"Walker, it's been a while."

"Takeru, it has."

"Lord Shiba." Kaoru said.

"Ahh yes, I haven't forgotten you sister either. So these must be your samurai."

"We are his retainers." Arkanes said.

"I heard about Bagu town, horrible things. They were fortunate you were there. So one of your retainers here is a trainer."

"I am." Jack said.

"Well when my son get's back you can battle him."

"Congratulations Alex." Jack heard from Arkanes, the others facing him.

"Totodile beat a Pidgeotto, that's no simple thing to do." Emily said.

"Eh if you battled Walker you would have lost." Takeru said, Jack taking note of this.

"Ehhh I wasn't that good. He's exaggerating." Walker said.

"Could I battle you?" Jack asked.

The others turned to Jack.

"What?" Walker said.

"You use to be the gym leader, couldn't you host the battle."

"Jack." Takeru said in concern.

"It would be nice to have one final go, why not. Challenge accepted." Walker said.

Kaoru looked just as concerned for Jack as Takeru.

"What is he thinking?"

Takeru looked at Alex.

"I think I know." Takeru said.

"The battle between gym leader Walker and challenger Jack will now begin. Leader Walker will use one pokemon, challenger Jack may use up to three."

"I don't need three. Go Spearow!" Jack shouted as Spearow came out and flew over him.

"A Spearow a, alright go Skarmory!"

"Skarmory!" Kaoru said in concern.

"Now he's done it." Takeru said.

Jack and Spearow were also a little afraid as they saw the very large metal bird come out of Walker's pokeball.

Arkanes, Alex, Emily, and Quinn all sweat dropped.

"Oh boy."

"I think Jack's in a bit over his head." Arkanes said.

"Jack do your best!" Quinn shouted.

"Alright Spearow use Peck."

"Agility."

As Spearow flew at Skarmory , the massive metal bird moved even faster than Pidgeotto, getting behind Spearow.

"Air cutter."

Skarmory hit Spearow and smashed him into the ground with his talons.

"Spearow!"

Spearow grunted as he tried to get up.

"Furry attack!"

"Steel wing."

Spearow flew up and hit Skarmory several times to no effect before Skarmory smashed Spearow back into the ground.

"Spearow!"

"Spearow is unable to battle."

"We've still got it." Walker said as Skarmory flew over him again.

"Spearow return, ok we can still do this. Go Trunks!"

"Rio!" Trunks shouted as he came out.

"Trunks use Quick attack."

"Agility."

The two moved incredibly fast, Trunks trying to his Skarmory and Skarmory avoiding Trunks.

"Metal claw."

Skarmory slashed Trunks back as Trunks stumbled.

"Force Palm!"

"Steel wing."

Skarmory smashed Riolu's arms back before before hitting him.

"Air cutter."

Skarmory slashed Riolu repeatedly before he fell to the ground.

"Trunks!"

"Riolu is unable to battle, the winner is leader Walker."

"Ohh geez." Kaoru said.

Jack was shaken by what just happened.

"Trunks return."

Walker approached him.

"Son, there's no need to feel any shame. There's a reason I stopped and let my son take over for me."

"Thank you for battling with me."

After a trip to the pokemon center. The group returned to the Shiba estate.

Jack went to his quarters to think things over.

Alex and Takeru went outside.

"Have you been doing what I told you?" Takeru asked.

"Of course, what about you?"

"I was hoping since we're here we could have another lesson."

Alex smiled as he got into a fighting stance.

"Let's see it then."

The two began sparring intensely with each other, after a while of martial arts. They switched to kenjutsu. Unknown to them, Hikoma was watching, watching with great concern.

Jack was with Spearow and Trunks.

Both had sad looks on their faces.

"Guys, it wasn't your fault."

"You're right, it was yours." Jack heard turning to see Kaoru standing there.

"Kaoru."

"That was stupid, challenging a gym leader like Walker on your first go. If you had just waited for Falkner you might have won. How impatient are you."

"I wasn't impatient. I, I knew how good he was. After I found out he helped train Takeru."

"If you knew that, then why did you do it!?"

Jack gave a hard look.

"Because of Alex ok."

"What?"

"When I saw Alex beat Falkner, I thought maybe if I could beat his dad, I'd , I don't know out do him. I thought it would make me a better trainer."

"That wasn't very smart."

"It wasn't." Jack said.

"So tomorrow you're going to battle Falkner."

"….No."

"What?" Kaoru said.

"I want to battle him again."

"…." Kaoru held her face.

"You get to be a freaking samurai, and I don't. There's no justice."

"Maybe it's not the smart thing to do, but I feel like I need to do it."

Kaoru shook her head.

"And here I was thinking you might actually learn from your mistakes."

"I was hoping Takeru could help me train, seeing as he's already won the Johto league."

"My Onii-Chan is busy, what he does with that Alex guy I don't know. But it's taking up his time."

"Really?" Jack thought about what he should do next.

"Wait, what about Arkanes." He said getting up.

Arkanes was in his quarters reading from his E-reader.

"Another Cersei chapter! Come on Martin R.R George I don't care about Cersei!"

He heard a knock on his slider door.

"Arkanes." He heard.

"Jack?"

"I was wondering if I could ask you a for a favor."

"What?"

"I know you competed in the Hoenn league and."

"You'd like some help after what happened today?"

Jack sweat dropped.

"Yes."

Arkanes looked at the chapter of the Challenge of Crowns novel he was reading and sweat dropped.

"Sure."

The two went to another outside area of the estate.

Jack had Spearow and Trunks out while Arkanes had Electivire and Swellow out.

"Now from what I saw you have one chance with that Skarmory, the Blackthorn style."

"Huh?" Jack said.

"Don't you know your history, during one of the civil wars the Daimyo Asami was facing Daimyo Tatsumi who had three times his numbers. Rather than face Tatsumai head on, Asamai spent weeks weakening his opponent's position. Sending his stealthiest men to raid his camp, burning his supplies, lure small groups of his men into ambushes where they were all annihilated. He kept wearing down his force until finally at Blackthorn city they battled and Asamai smashed Tatsumai's army."

Jack and his pokemon gave confused expressions as Arkanes sighed.

"His Skarmory is the bigger army, your Spearow is the guerrilla warfare and Trunks is the battle."

"So you want Spearow to wear down Skarmory with Leer and Growl, then have Trunks beat him down."

"First both your pokemon will need to learn a new move. Spearow will have to learn Agility and Trunks must learn Thunder Punch if you want to take down Skarmory."

"That does sound like a solid plan." Jack said.

Spearow looked at Swellow before the two flew up.

"To learn agility, Spearow is going to need to increase his flight speed. Have him try to keep up with Swellow."

Jack went over to Spearow and told him as such, Spearow nodding as Swellow flew into the air with Spearow trying to keep up with him.

Jack and Arkanes set up two dummies as Trunks watched Electivire tapped his fists together before they surged with electricity. Electivire leapt forward and smashed the dummy apart with his fists.

Trunks watched closely. Minutes began to pass as Spearow did his best to keep up with Swellow.

Jack used his brush to paint a few vines into the air at him, Spearow doing his best to dodge them while still flying fast.

He also painted some vines around Trunk's arms to try and restrain him. Doing so would force him to get stronger.

They kept training for several hours.

Takeru and Alex stopped to take a breather.

"You're pretty good at Kenjutsu."

"Yeah a real samurai."

"Careful who you say that around , Hikoma might get a bit touchy about it. Alex, back at the gym, Walker said something about you being the son of a champion. What did he mean by that?"

Alex looked nervous as he sweat dropped.

"Nothing, it was a figure of speech, my dad just use to be a really good trainer around these parts."

"What was his name?"

"Ahhh you wouldn't know him." Alex said. Takeru noticed Alex seemed a little evasive about it.

"Alex I don't think I ever found out where you're from."

"I told you I'm part Johto, Kanto, and Kalos."

"But where were you born?"

"Alola."

"….Alola?" Takeru said in confusion.

"My parents met there at an academy. My dad was raised in Kanto with his brother and my mom in Kalos."

"I can see why you want to get back to your roots."

"It's not just that."

"What?"

Alex's expression changed a little.

"My older brother and sister are kind of a big deal in Alola. What they do and all, but it's not only that. My brother entered and won the Alolan league when he was nineteen, my sister became Alolan Queen when she was eighteen. I haven't done anything yet." Alex's head raised and looked up at the sky.

"This is my chance to make something of myself."

Takeru understood the desire of living up to those who came before them.

"I hope you get what you're looking for."

Jack was still with Arkanes training Spearow and Trunks.

Neither had shown the moves they were trying to learn, much to Jack's frustration.

"Come on!" He shouted sitting down.

"Maybe you should consider battling Falkner instead of Walker."

"…Maybe..'Sigh' I just feel like if I do that I'll be accepting defeat in a way."

"Sometimes it's best to know when you can't win a battle."

"But what happened when there's no other option."

Arkanes sat back down beside him.

"Do you remember any of the stories your dad you to tell you about his time as a Dekaranger."

"Yeah, all the time." Jack said.

"Mine too, did he ever tell you about the time they battled the Crobat mutant."

"Oh right, the one who took blood from young girls and turned it into gold." Jack said.

"My dad said him and your dad took him together, my dad slashing at his chest while your dad shot his wings, forcing him down."

"My dad did love guns, almost as much as hand to hand combat. Neither was that useful to samurai training though." Jack said.

"Did you ever think about becoming a Dekaranger like our parents."

"I remember when I turned eight, my dad wanted to impress my friends so he activated his dekaranger armor. Hearing all the stories, it was something I considered. But my mom was always there to remind me I was a samurai not a dekaranger."

"My dad was a samurai and a dekaranger. Though I guess he was never a Shinkenger."

"At least he chose his path. The Dekarangers could probably fight the Gedoshu just as well as we can."

"Maybe, but the Shinkengers have always done so. I'm proud to be part of it."

"I know I have to do this, I saw what those Gedoshu will do. But when I grew up, I wanted to be just like my dad. Until I realized something. Most of those stories came before I was born. It seemed like after my mom had me, his priorities shifted. He stopped being a field operative and became a commander. He spent more time with me and my mother. I realized that what he did as a Dekaranger wasn't his whole life, I realized that's what I wanted, to live beyond that."

"You can still do that Jack."

Jack looked over at his pokemon.

"I can try." He said getting up before he continued training with his pokemon.

Arkanes and his pokemon were watching them.

"I don't think they need us anymore." Arkanes said getting up.

Unknown to the two and their pokemon, Kaoru had overheard them with Chikorita.

She watched Jack as he continued to train.

Author's note

So Jack's first gym battle didn't go so well, there's always next chapter

Onto more important things, I got some big news, I will be entering active duty on September 30th of this year, which means starting September 30th updates will probably come much slower, and I may even have to temporarily stop writing this story until I'm properly adjusted at my base.

It is also likely this will be my last fanfiction ever, but you never know what might happen, I'm just glad I was able to finish my last story

So until next time,

Please review, comment, suggest, or ask(VIA PM)