"Wes?" Rui murmured. They had parked the motorcycle, and were now approaching the decidedly dilapidated town. "You… gonna be OK?"
"Yeah," Wes nodded. "Honestly, it kinda feels like I'm returning home. Which I basically am, really."
"OK," nodded Rui. "Wow, that tower out in the desert, though… what do you think that's about?" she asked.
Wes shrugged. "No idea," he replied. "That one construction worker did mention it'd have a colosseum at the top. Could be some kind of battle facility."
As they talked, they arrived in Pyrite Town. The buildings were shabbily slapped together and shoddily maintained. The ground was filthy. The air seemed a little dirty, even. Wes could see a large dome-shaped building off in the distance, albeit with pieces torn off, and in front of that, what appeared to be some sort of windmill. More to the point, however, an argument was occurring right before their eyes.
"Awww, Mr. Johnson, give a man a break here," whined a man with green hair who looked close to Wes's age. "I keep telling you, I don't know anything."
"That better be true, Cail," the police officer responded warningly. "If you're trying to con me, I'll know about it!"
Cail gasped. "Why, Mr. Johnson, sir, I'm offended! I wouldn't dream of lying to you! You've got to believe me, right?"
"Alright, fine," relented Johnson. "I'll let you off easy today. See ya!"
"See ya," Cail responded, watching Johnson walk confidently down the streets as though he owned them, which Wes suspected he in fact did not. Sure enough, once Johnson was out of sight and earshot, Cail's innocent look gave way to a smug smirk. "Heh. What a nitwit," he chuckled. "Of course I haven't got anything to tell you!" Then he noticed Wes and Rui, who had been looking at him. "The hell are you looking at?" he demanded. "I haven't seen your faces around these parts. What are you, tourists? If you don't want to get hurt, you should get lost, and quick. For the good of your health. Heheh."
Wes smirked. "Why, Cail, I'm offended," he replied. "Haven't seen my face around these parts? You sure about that?"
"What are you- wait a sec," Cail murmured. "…Wes? Is that you?"
"It's been a while, huh?" said Wes.
"Damn straight," nodded Cail, shaking Wes's hand. "I ain't seen you since Gonzap recruited you into Snagem. How's that going? I heard about the hideout blowing up."
"I'll go you one better- I made the hideout blow up," Wes smirked.
"You're kidding me!" said Cail. "Thought you had a good gig there."
Wes shrugged. "What can I say? Conscience started getting to me. Oh, yes- Cail, this is Rui, she's traveling with me. We're kinda working together to save some Pokémon, it's a long story. Rui, this is Cail, we were next door neighbors growing up. Cail, they still call you the gatekeeper of Pyrite?"
"Damn straight they do," Cail grinned proudly. "Friggin' Johnson, though, nosing into my business every other day…"
"Johnson, huh?" grinned Wes. "Some things never change, I see. So, Cail, you seen any shady characters coming in here today?"
"Yeah, and how," nodded Cail. "Bunch of 'em. Three weirdos dressed in red, green, and blue. Two oddly dressed dudes… and, oh, yeah, this freakishly tall guy dressed like a Nugget, with an afro the size and color scheme of an Electrode, I shit you not."
"Yeah, that's them, alright," Wes nodded. "Appreciate it, man. See you around."
"Back at you, man," nodded Cail as Wes and Rui started to walk away.
"Just hope next time we meet I won't need to bring bail money!" Wes called back. Cail laughed at this.
"Wow," Rui remarked. "You two go way back, don't you?"
"Oh, yeah," nodded Wes. "Cail was my best friend growing up. Alright, yeah, police headquarters is right here," he added, leading the way to a green building. "If Pyrite's police force is how I remember it, they won't be much help, but it's better than nothing."
As they entered the building, however, someone collided with both Wes and Rui from behind. He didn't knock them over, but he did push them forward somewhat, catching the attention of the police chief nearby. "Owowowow…" groaned the man- who, upon Wes turning around to look, was Officer Johnson himself. "I'm sorry, chief, but there's trouble afoot!" exclaimed a dazed Johnson. "I'm hearing talk that thugs have been witnessed using strange Pokémon, and you're not the chief," Johnson added upon getting a proper look at Wes. "Why are you not the chief?"
"Because I am," replied the chief, as he approached them. The man, in Johnson's defense, was dressed somewhat similarly to Wes, with a blue overcoat, and even his silver hair, one could argue, bore a slight similarity to Wes's hair. "That story's nothing new, Johnson. I've heard about it over and over already."
"…Oh," Johnson finished lamely. "Well… you two!" he added, turning back to Wes and Rui, clearly intent on changing the subject. "I am Johnson- I'm the law around here. It's my job to uphold the peace in this town."
"Yeah, I know," grinned Wes. "I take it you don't remember me, Johnson?"
"Wha- well, I'll be damned," chuckled the chief. "Little Wesley. I ain't seen you in years. I hope you're done with the whole shoplifting and pickpocketing thing you had going on?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," Wes nodded. "Me and my friend here, we actually came here because we're trying to help out with this strange Pokémon thing that's happening."
"Good, good," nodded the chief. "So who is your friend here, anyway?"
"I'm Rui," replied Rui.
"Chief Sherles," responded the chief. "The pleasure's all mine. I see you've met Johnson already. Or as we call him around here, that nitwit Johnson."
Rui frowned. "Isn't that a bit harsh?" she asked.
"It really, really isn't," Wes assured her. "If anything, Sherles is going easy on him."
"OK… well, what about the strange Pokémon?" asked Rui. "We heard that some shady guys came into town?"
"That don't narrow it down much," sighed Sherles. "Half the folks in town are what you'd call shady. We did get two guys in here a few minutes ago, though. Turned themselves in for swiping a hovercar. One of them's wearing this weird bumpy hat, and the other's got no sleeves on his shirt."
"That sounds familiar," Wes remarked. "Can we see them?"
"Go right ahead," nodded Sherles, gesturing to a door to Wes's right. Wes led the way through it, and sure enough, the first jail cell that they saw had two very familiar occupants.
"Wh-what?!" Folly exclaimed. "Not you two again! Listen, you guys gotta promise us you won't tell Miror B. we're hiding out here, OK?"
"You're hiding out here?" Wes repeated. "That's why you turned yourselves in for stealing that hovercar?"
"Yeah," sighed Trudly. "We blew our last chance when we failed to stop you guys. So we turned ourselves in for stealing that hovercar, and, well, here we are. And you want to know what really sucks? We didn't even actually steal the car! Folly bought it! But yeah, we're safer if we stay here."
"OK, so, you want us to keep your secret?" Rui said to Trudly and Folly. "Maybe we will. But see, we're actually looking for your boss. You maybe want to tell us where we can find him?"
"What's in it for us?" demanded Folly.
"We keep quiet is what's in it for you," retorted Wes.
"Pfft," snorted Trudly. "I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night. "So, what, we tell you where Miror B. is so you can find him, and you don't tell him where we are? So what if we don't tell you? How are you gonna spill the beans if you need our help to find him in the first place? To whom are you gonna spill those beans, hmm?"
"Who says we need your help?" smirked Rui. "Pyrite's not a big town, and Wes here knows it like the back of his hand. He was born and raised here. Surely it won't be too hard for us to simply… stumble upon Miror B. After all, how could we miss him? You can see that afro from space. And when we do stumble upon him, if you haven't helped us with said stumbling, well, I'm afraid there's not much that'll stop us from letting slip exactly where you guys can be found."
Trudly and Folly exchanged nervous looks. "OK, alright, we'll talk," Folly said nervously. "Look, we don't know where exactly the hideout is- boss was supposed to fill us in on that when we got here, but then you guys kinda threw a Mankey wrench in the works there."
"Not sorry for that, for the record," interrupted Wes.
"The key lies with the Pyrite Colosseum," Trudly explained. "That's the key to our plan. That's all we know, we swear. If you snoop around there, I'm sure you'll be able to make your way to Miror B. The boss's hints can be cryptic, but he's never steered us wrong yet."
"He only gives you cryptic hints?" asked Wes skeptically.
"He claims it's just in case we get caught and interrogated," explained Trudly. "Minimizes the chance we can be squeezed for any valuable information."
"Oh, he's good," murmured Rui.
"So yeah- the colosseum," stated Folly. "And I think he said something about Duking, too."
"Duking?" repeated Wes. "There's no way. Duking wouldn't be involved in something that shady."
"All we know is what the boss told us," shrugged Trudly. "So… you'll keep quiet about where we are?"
"Fine," stated Wes, before wheeling around and storming out of the building.
"Wes?" Rui said as she caught up to him. "Who's Duking? What's all that about?"
Wes stopped. "Duking is… he's like, the mayor of Pyrite, except he doesn't have actual authority, and there's no election, either. But that's the closest thing I can think of. He's this very well-respected guy. Big guy- huge muscles. Always has this cute little Plusle with him, too- very stark contrast, but it gets the point across- he's kind of a gentle giant, I suppose you could say. Big, huge, hulking guy, looks like he could snap you in two, and odds are he really could, but odds also are he wouldn't dare. He's pretty much what Johnson tries to make himself out to be."
At that point, they arrived at a small building. On the wall was a stylized letter G made to resemble a Poké Ball. "This is the place," Wes stated, strolling inside.
"Hello," said a very large, muscular man sitting behind the desk. Wes and Rui found themselves directly in front of him- it was truly a very small house. "The name's Duking. I run the colosseum here- oh! Wait a minute, Wes, is that you?"
"In the flesh," smirked Wes. "Good to see you again, Duking."
"Well, welcome back to Pyrite, lad," Duking said with a small grin, though he didn't sound nearly as happy as he tried to make himself sound. "It's been years! I remember when your parents had me babysit you! Oh, man… I'd love to catch up, man, but I'm actually pretty busy at the moment."
"Listen, Duking," said Wes. "I heard something about how you might be involved in something shady involving the Colosseum-"
"I said I'm busy!" Duking interrupted, banging his fists on the desk. After taking a deep breath, he spoke up again. "Sorry… I'm sorry… just… under a lot of stress here. Got a colosseum to manage."
"Riiiiight," Wes nodded, eyeing Duking curiously. "I'll just… yeah." Then, his eyes lit up as he spotted one of the bookcases up against the back wall. "Ohoho, now this I remember," Wes grinned. As he approached the bookcase, a young boy standing before it spoke up.
"Uh, um- I'm the lookout!" he stammers. "Nobody is supposed to get by me! There's certainly nothing special behind the bookshelf!"
Wes and Rui exchanged grins, before the former reached for a small, inconspicuous button on the side of the bookcase. Sure enough, once he pressed it, the bookcase slid aside, revealing a doorway.
"Whoa!" Rui murmured, peering inside. "What's this?"
"Duking accidentally discovered this small cave right behind his house," Wes explained. "So he made that secret bookcase door to hide it. He used to babysit more or less everyone's kids back in the day, so he let us use this cave as kind of a clubhouse. It was really cool." Inside the cave, there were some kids talking in hushed voices. Wes caught the phrase "Snag them back from the criminals", and looked intrigued, but before he could investigate, he heard someone storming into the house. Wes and Rui wheeled around, and spotted a silver-haired teenager standing before Duking's desk.
"Duking!" the teen exclaimed. "How much more are you gonna take from Miror B. and his stooges?! They are using you and the colosseum! What the hell's the matter with you, man? Have they sucked the spirit right out of you?!" As he spoke, he slapped both hands down on the desk, which made a much less impressive sound than Duking's fists have done. Duking said nothing, looking away, not daring to meet the teenager's eyes. "Tch," the teenager sighed in disgust. "So you just clam up. I've lost faith in you!" With that, he wheeled around and stormed out.
"…What was that all about?" murmured Rui.
"That was Silva, Duking's friend," whispered the young boy who seemed to suck at being a lookout. "But he looked so angry…"
Unable to figure anything else out, Wes and Rui departed from Duking's house. They recalled what Trudly and Folly said about the Colosseum, and so they headed north. But once they approached a section of street with two yellow circles painted on the pavement, one inside the other, Rui froze. "Wes… it was here in this square I saw that strange Pokémon," she murmured. "I tried leaving town afterwards, and that's where Trudly and Folly grabbed me. We should be careful."
Wes nodded. "Yeah. Even at the best of times, there's nothing normal about this town. This is called Duel Square, by the way," he added. "It's all about Pokémon battling in Duel Square."
At that moment, a provocatively dressed woman approached Wes. She looked a little older than Rui, but it was at Wes she was looking. "Ooh, look what we have here," she said. "You're quite the hottie. Why don't you lose that wallflower with you and be my sweetie?"
"Wha- who are you to call me a wallflower?" Rui exclaimed. "What about me makes me a wallflower?"
"Ahaha!" laughed the woman. "Look at her, she's all serious! Uncool!"
"Yeah, I'm gonna need you to apologize to her," Wes said.
"Oh, relax," the woman retorted. "I'm only teasing out of boredom. A guy like you, you're not to my taste."
"What did you just say?!" Rui exploded. "Wes-"
"I'm on it," Wes nodded, Poké Balls already in hand. "Croconaw! Umbreon!"
"Hah! Zubat! Gulpin!" exclaimed the woman, sending out a pair of Poison-types.
Two Shadow Rushes and one Bite later, the woman bitterly withdrew her unconscious Pokémon, eyeing Croconaw warily, for the Water-type seemed to be eyeing her in turn, only with a hungry look. "Why so serious?" she grumbled. "What kind of a man battles a frail girl like me without easing up? You're not gonna win the hearts of girls that way."
Don't be so sure, Rui thought to herself, still looking at Wes.
Meanwhile, one of the other people standing around Duel Square approached Wes. He wore a blue coat, and on his head was a red bandana. "Hey," he said. "That was some pretty cool fighting right there. So, yeah- this is Duel Square."
"Oh, I know," nodded Wes. "I grew up on these streets. So I'm guessing we're about to battle, yeah?"
"Heh, you really have been around this block before," grinned the man. "Name's Divel."
"Wes," replied Wes. "So let's do this, then!"
"Yeah! That's what I like to hear," grinned Divel, already throwing his only two Poké Balls. "Go, Psyduck! And go, Quagsire!" he exclaimed.
Both Poké Balls unleashed their respective Water-type occupants onto the battlefield, and as they appeared, Rui's eyes widened. "Wes- the Quagsire!" she gasped. "It's got that aura!"
"Wha- oh, come on," grumbled Wes. Stealing them from the bad guys was one thing, but from just some average street Trainer in Pyrite? How would he get away with that one? "OK… Espeon, Makuhita, go!" he exclaimed, throwing a pair of Poké Balls himself. "Espeon, Confusion on Quagsire! Makuhita, use Shadow Rush on Psyduck!"
"Ooh, you got one of those too, huh?" smirked Divel. "Quagsire, fight its Shadow Rush with your Shadow Rush! Psyduck, intercept Confusion with your Confusion!"
Instead of moving, however, Quagsire simply stood in place and shouted. "Quaa-aa-aaaag!" she exclaimed, sounding about as furious as anyone has ever heard a Quagsire get.
"Wes- now its aura is red!" Rui exclaimed incredulously. "What's going on?"
"Aw, dammit, it's in Hyper Mode again!" grumbled Divel as Espeon managed to land Confusion- Psyduck wasn't quick enough, and wound up using Confusion only after Espeon had done so. "Use Surf!"
"Quaaaaagsiiiiiire!" Quagsire bellowed, shaking her head rebelliously. Instead of using Surf, she instead turned on Psyduck and landed a Slam attack, which knocked the Duck Pokémon clean out.
"Whoa!" Rui exclaimed. "It attacked its teammate!"
"Quagsire, focus!" Divel exclaimed. "Hit them both with Surf right this instant!"
"Quagsire Quagsire Quagsire!" Quagsire shouted, now ramming into Divel, beyond all reason.
"Wes, go for it now!" Rui urged him. "Before it hurts someone!"
"Oh, fine," sighed Wes. He shuddered to think what the people would think of him doing this, but he knew it was the right thing to do. Before Divel knew what was happening, his Quagsire was getting sucked into a Great Ball-turned-Snag Ball, and had been caught by the opposition. And it probably didn't help that he watched the Great Ball fly into Wes's hand. "OK, look-" Wes began.
"Thank you!" Divel exclaimed. "If you tried to pull that on Psyduck I'd be trying to run you out of town right about now, but that stupid Quagsire! Oh my Mew! Friggin' Hyper Mode- it's more trouble than it's worth. And I was told this was some new, powerful kind of Pokémon that was better than ordinary kinds… what a freaking ripoff! Some prize! Keep it, it's yours."
Wes was understandably surprised by this, but that paled in comparison to what happened next. "Here," a man about Wes's age said, handing him a Poké Ball. "My Noctowl's in the same boat as what's-his-face's Quagsire there. I can't control the thing, and that weird Shadow Rush move it has, it's weak as hell when a Noctowl uses it. You want it, it's yours."
"Yeah, take my Flaaffy- please," added a young woman. And it didn't end there.
"Got room for my Skiploom?"
"Please, get this Slugma out of my sight!"
"And this Misdreavus!"
"Wow," Wes remarked as he walked away from Duel Square. After everyone had willingly surrendered their odd Pokémon to Wes, they had all then challenged him to battle. Wes used mainly Espeon, Umbreon, Makuhita, and Croconaw in those battles, and in the process, found that Croconaw could now use Scary Face and Surf, and that Makuhita could now use Focus Energy and Vital Throw. Moreover, his new Quagsire didn't seem to know Surf or Slam, contrary to what seemed to be the case in the battle against Divel. Wes found the newer Pokémon to be just as challenging to control as their previous Trainers did. "That… went better than I could've hoped, in all honesty."
"Yeah," agreed Rui. "So, how are you gonna handle them all?" she added.
"Right now, I'm gonna deposit all the new ones in the PC, take it a little slowly," Wes responded. "Careful," he added, as they approached a narrow bridge spanning a wide gorge that was so deep, they couldn't see the bottom.
"Whoa!" Rui murmured, peering nervously into the chasm. "It's so deep!"
"Yeah, back in the day, we'd always speculate on what might be at the bottom of this gorge," Wes explained. "Some people say it's bottomless. Others say it leads to some underground city, and I've even heard a rumor it leads to some secret colosseum with insanely strong Trainers and Pokémon." He chuckled at this. "I can't believe some of the stuff we believed back then. Alright, here it is," he stated- for they'd stepped off the bridge, and were now at the Colosseum.
