Chapter 8: Training Session


Green decided that being in a cell wasn't so bad. He got fed at least and the two who had delivered his food had been entertaining.

"No, you can't just eat the prisoner's food!" The blonde exclaimed at his black-haired friend. "You ate just before anyway!" He slipped the metal tray through a slot located at the bottom of the cell door.

Green got up and picked it up before retreating back to the corner he had been previously. His body was turned to face the door so that he could watch the duo as he ate. He was bored anyway.

"Aww but P-"

The blonde covered the guy's mouth and looked rattled. "Don't just say my name so casually in front of people! You're supposed to call me Shinx. Don't you ever listen when I'm talking?! HEY, stop eating and pay attention Riolu."

It was obvious that the two had taken fake names as Pokemon but as to why, Green really didn't have the slightest clue.

Another person came to join the two and to the Gym Leader's dismay, it was 'O'.

"Huh, I didn't know that the both of you were on feeding duty." O said.

'Shinx's' face went a little red before he explained, "Technically Riolu is but I…"

"Decided to come with him, right? Don't be ashamed. You're not going to get in trouble or anything and especially not by me."

Shinx nodded and grabbed Riolu by the collar before dragging the guy off with him. "Well, he and I should be going now." He didn't wait for an answer and rushed off in a haste, obviously embarrassed.

They had been wearing a scarf each. How odd, what a funny pair.

O turned his attention back to Green who was looking back while eating. "So how are you holding up? Has your stay been cosy?"

The brunet chewed and swallowed before replying, "Yup, this place is a five-star hotel."

For whatever reason, he opted to stay on the floor when there was a bed and chair in there with him. On Mt Silver, he would sometimes stay the night and had to make do with sleeping on the floor. There had been blankets up there at least and a warm fire.

"That's great to hear!"

O turned to face to the side, his front to the way he came in. After a moment he said in a different tone of voice, one of seriousness, "The security camera in here has no audio. There isn't a camera in your cell." He then turned back to his position before, his whole body facing towards the cell.

"Well, I best be going! I'll visit you again soon to see how you're doing." There was a wink before he left.

'What the actual hell…' This was the only thing on Green's mind and he questioned if O was a friend or a foe.


White and Bianca closed the café extremely early so that they and the rest of the Team Grey could head to the Pokemon Centre together. There, the two retrieved their Pokemon from a PC. While White retrieved a full team of six, Bianca only took out her much favoured Musharna.

White's team consisted of a Liepard, Swanna, Gothorita, Lampent, Mienfoo and a Druddigon. Her team wasn't as type balanced as Black's mixed types of Serperior, Pignite, Dewott, Unfezant, Zebstrika and Haxorus. White hadn't been focused on types in her trainer days though but her team worked for her back then surprisingly well in battle.

While Hugh discussed things over with the nurse there, Red and the rest were reclining on sofas.

"So I was thinking that we get my Unfezant to fly around above the Plasma Frigate with a camera secured to him to film. That way, we might see something useful." Black suggested.

"For safety, my Swanna can go too just in case your bird gets seen and attacked." White suggested helpfully.

"I like this plan! After we do what we need to here then we could do that." Bianca agreed with a bright smile.

The three turned to Red who gave a nod but didn't say anything.

Hugh came back then saying, "We can head to one of the rooms now. None of them are in use, surprisingly."

So the small group headed up the stairs and went down through an elevator to the lower levels. There, they let out their Pokemon.

Red was far away from the others and he was talking to his and Green's Pokemon about the situation clearly so they all understood perfectly.

"If you guys want, I can move you to a PC." He was addressing Green's three; Eevee, Pidgeot and Arcanine. "Since I'm not your trainer, it wouldn't be right if I used you three. Well, I'm sure that this is what you guys are thinking anyway."

Eevee came forward, acting as the leader over the other two. She shook her head and puffed out her chest proudly as if to say, 'Use us, we want to fight with you to get Green back as much as you do.'

Red was good at understanding Pokemon, even if he couldn't understand their general language and he looked surprised but then grinned. Of course they would want to fight with him, they adored Green and had taken a liking to him as well.

"If that's how you all feel…"

Pidgeot stretched out his wings and nodded while Arcanine gave a proud roar of determination.

"Then I guess you guys are a part of my team."

Eevee made a happy sound before climbing up Red and taking a seat on one of his shoulders. She didn't find him as comfortable as Green but he would do, for now. Pikachu came over and also climbed up Red but sat on the opposite shoulder.

With a small smile, Red decided that it would take time for both of his shoulders being weighed down but perhaps, if Green was rescued quickly, then he wouldn't have to get used to it.

After observing Zebstrika practising his move Flame Charge, it seemed that Arcanine wanted to learn the move too. Red watched in an amused fashion as Arcanine walked over to Black, dwarfing the poor trainer who turned around nervously. The Pokemon was quite intimidating but really, he had a kind heart and wasn't bad at all.

"Ugh, Red? Help?"

With an inward laugh, the Kanto Champion made his way over and petted Arcanine on the head who seemed to be smiling. "He wants you to teach him Flame Charge."

Black faltered before gaining confidence. "Oh, it's a pretty useful move to know and easy to learn." He directed his eyes to the orange Pokemon and told him, "Basically, you coat yourself in fire and ram into a Pokemon or an object."

With a decisive nod, Arcanine started into a run before shrouding himself in red flames and ran into a practise dummy which was thrown back from his power.

"Perfect, you're a quick learner!" Black called to him with a thumbs up.

The big Pokemon came back over and unexpectedly licked the brunet's face who broke out into joyous laughter and playfully pushed him away. "Aw, eww! Stop, please! That- haha –tickles!"


Hugh watched the events that played out with an amused smile but it went sombre when he got a call on his Pokegear.

"Yes?"

"You're not going to like this but the ship is moving." Someone said on the other line, talking in a hushed manner as if it would be bad if they were loud. Their voice was male and rushed.

"That isn't good. Where's it heading?"

"D- I mean Riolu thinks that we're moving towards that tournament place. I'm sorry but I'm not sure what it's called, our map is useless and has no names. Trust Riolu to buy the cheapest one and not even look at its quality, hmph."

"I think it's called the P-W-T, Pokemon-World-Tournament. Well, thanks for your help."

"Mmm, well stay smart and stay safe. Seeya."

When the call ended, Hugh jumped when the two girls sneaked up on him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Who was that?" White asked curiously.

"A friend with valuable information."

"Which is?"

"Our next destination is PWT."


"Silver, I feel like I'm going to die."

In the duo's room, Gold was sitting on his bed and leaning over a bucket. Previously he had thrown up his lunch. The poor guy sometimes got motion sickness on boats and he prayed that the Plasma Frigate would arrive at PWT soon.

Silver didn't even glance over when he said, "I told you not to eat when we started moving but did you listen to me? No." He was standing in front of a mirror and tying his dark-red hair into a ponytail with a black hair-tie.

Neither of the two were dressed in their Plasma uniforms and were in casual clothes. Once they reached the dock of PWT then they would get changed.

Once the small task was done, Silver settled on his bed and started reading some book. The cover pictured a silver shape and a gold one that appeared to be two Pokemon. On closer inspection, they looked like Lugia and Ho-Oh, both of which were owned by the duo.

A while ago, the two had headed to the Bell Tower where Ho-Oh had been summoned by the Rainbow Wing and fought by Gold who in the end, caught the legendary. Later on, they travelled to the Whirl Islands and summoned Lugia with the Silver Wing. There, Gold had allowed Silver to challenge Lugia despite being the one who had obtained the two summoning items. After a difficult battle, Silver had successfully succeeded in capturing Lugia.

Out of the blue, Gold said something that made Silver freeze up.

"You look good, with your hair up like that."

Grey eyes looked over at the now red-faced boy slowly.

"Oh my fu- did I really just say that? What the hell! I didn't mean to say it, I swear! I'm going crazy from throwing up so much, it's frying my brain! What I said before sounded like a girl-thing to say…"

Silver wasn't sure how to react after hearing such a strange compliment. Gold hardly ever said a thing about his appearance and it wasn't a very Gold-like thing to talk about. Perhaps that was why there was a small pink tinge on the red-head's cheeks.

The atmosphere changed when Gold promptly started vomiting into his bucket which made Silver scrunch his nose up in subtle disgust. He couldn't work out whether this was the cause of good luck or bad luck.


When the ship had started moving, Green had felt a thick amount of dread. Where was this ship going? To an even bigger base? Would the others know where he was when they found that the ship had gone? Perhaps Green would never be found and rescued but a part of him didn't mind. As long as everyone else was safe, as long as Red was… Huh, how come Green's thoughts always came back to the guy? It was strange but perhaps it was because Red was his best friend… Well, that is if their friendship was mended. They had talked about the past together before and mistakes but that was only a few times. Green had yet to find out why Red disappeared to Mt Silver but he had a few ideas. Perhaps it was Green's fault, he had been an asshole in the past after-all. Red and he still had a lot of things to talk about but it had never been the right time.

"Hey, what's got you in a daze?"

O had come back for yet another chat.

"What the hell do you want?! Go away." Green was not in the mood.

"Oh, I think you'll like what I'm about to tell you." He beckoned Green to stand up and come closer.

After a moment's hesitation, the brunet did as he asked and came right up to the bars. He was taller than O and had a stronger build.

"Do you like riddles?" O asked but he didn't wait for a reply. "I love them and I can't get enough of them! So, I'm gonna give you one to work out."

Green raised an eyebrow and grumpily mumbled, "Fine."

"The thing that people fear most is liars. Liars can trick people into doing bad things and getting hurt. Some lies are harmful but some can be life-saving. In a life or death situation between a person who doesn't lie and a liar, chances are that the person who isn't a liar will die. So I wonder if you can tell if I'm a liar?" It hadn't sounded like a traditional riddle but something else. "Am I a liar, Green?"

He then proceeded to do an action that made the brunet freeze. He ran his fingers along Green's neck before withdrawing and adding, "I hope you choose wisely." Then, he left.

Flooded with confusion, Green moved away from the bars and stumbled back to his usual corner. He rubbed his neck where O had touched him and was surprised when he found a small slip of paper there. In elegant, small writing read 'I'm a friend, not an enemy'.

Green wasn't sure what to think but his gut told him to believe O or, he wanted to believe him at least but could he risk it? For now, he was going to be cautious of him.


"Pearl, what do you think we should do?"

The two Team Plasma members adorned in scarves were talking in hushed tones on the deck of the ship, alone.

"D- Riolu! Call me Shinx! What if someone were to have heard?" The blonde replied, irritated. "And no, don't apologise. What's done is done, just be more careful!"

It was night-time and stars glittered on the sea's calm surface, rippling from the waves created by the cruising ship.

They were trainers from Sinnoh and not at all true Team Plasma members at all. Infiltrating the group had been the easy part, figuring out how to stop their plans was the complete opposite. It didn't help finding out that Johto Champion Gold was working for this horrible group or that Kanto Gym Leader Green had been captured. No, things really weren't going well at all. What had Green even been doing in this region in the first place? It was a complete mystery. No one from Kanto had contacted the rebel group. So far, the group consisted of three Sinnoh trainers, including 'Riolu' and 'Shinx', two from Hoenn and a bunch of Pokemon Rangers.

"Anyway, there's not much we can do… We just have to hang in there I guess and wait until the right chance to do something!"

The blue-eyed boy nodded in agreement before stuffing a muffin in his mouth.

"Where the heck did you even get that?"

"Kitchen."

"You really are a ninja when it comes to food."


"Guns? Why ever would Team Plasma need such things?"

Colress and a select few Plasma grunts were conversing deep in the confines of the ship. "That much is quite obvious. Why harm the Pokemon you are trying to free when the selfish humans can be taken down with one simple click? Lord Ghetsis and I have been discussing this topic for a while now and he's the one who came up with the idea."

Swaying someone's opinion was easy for Colress because he had a way with words and how he bended them to manipulate whomever he liked. Unfortunately, this didn't work on everyone he had ever come across like that stubborn boy, Lack-Two. That boy knew where the DNA-Splicers were but wouldn't talk. Well, Colress had faith that the item would show up eventually when they were truly needed.

"There's a shipment of them where we're heading. Convenient, huh? So get everyone ready to fight. If we don't take the guns then some lowly worms will anyway so we're doing the world a favour."

What twisted lies, even Colress thought this and these were his own words. He didn't like guns, they were cowardly weapons but he knew that Team Plasma were short on trainers who were actually decent at battling.

In the new world, such weapons would no longer be needed or made. For now, they were the only option. Killing for the sake of the world? How cruel. Still, he would continue working for Team Plasma because he served no other purpose in the world. No one else appreciated just how intellectual he was. He would make sure to modify the guns to stun rather than kill to show that yes, he still had some humanity left within him.


Red awoke to a cool nose nudging his cheek and blurrily, he registered the colour yellow. Pikachu, of course. "Is it time?" He whispered so softly that only the electric type's sensitive hearing would be able to pick it up.

With a slight nod, Pikachu confirmed.

It was early in the morning and time to set things into motion.

"Let's go then."

Under the night's lingering darkness, the duo made their way through the city and slipped through as many non-populated areas as they could. Pikachu led the way while Red followed, his face shadowed by his hood. No emotion showed on his face as if he were void of it yet inside, determination fuelled his every movement. Alone, he and the Pokemon accompanying him would find the Plasma Frigate. Yes, it sounded impulsive but it was for the best. This time Red wouldn't hold back and would use all six Pokemon at once if he had to.

As a Champion, it was his duty to help whomever needed it but as a human-being, he was just fighting to save a friend whom he was afraid to ever part with.

He doubted that Black or the others would forgive him for running off on his own but he wasn't looking for their forgiveness nor would he apologise. They weren't like him, they hadn't taken down Team Rocket or breeze through the Elite Four. They hadn't fought their best friend and they hadn't become the Champion of their region. They hadn't felt the emptiness or loneliness that such a journey brought or the growing hole forming in their hearts. They hadn't been secluded from all human contact for a couple of years, losing time in the process.

Once at the sea, Red grabbed a Pokeball and sent out Green's Pidgeot. "To find Green, we need to head to a place in that direction. Please, go as fast as you can."

With a bow of the head and caw, the bird lowered himself so Red and Pikachu could get on. Once both were still, the flying-type spread out his wings and with a few flaps, rose into the air and sped off at a tremendous speed. Though it was night, Red and Pikachu had a way of getting around that little problem. Pikachu, with his entire body consumed in light from Flash, sat on top of Pidgeot's head. Not that the bird needed light with his keen sight but still, the help was welcomed.

Such a thing might have sounded heroic but Red felt that his reason for risking so much for Green was entirely selfish. Losing him would mean that everything was finally gone. Fragments had broken away a long time ago that could never be fixed. Red had lost himself long ago and it was as if Green was his only last anchor to this world. Not even his mother seemed important anymore or back in the past.

'Just please be ok, Green. If you're hurt or… worse then I'm not sure if I can hold onto myself any longer.'

As they travelled across the sea, Red's hand unconsciously slipped into the pouch pocket of his hoodie where the egg was still being kept and almost instantly, a strange feeling washed over him and he was somewhere else entirely.

The area was rocky but had signs of a great battle that had taken place moments ago. There were bodies of humans and Pokemon but at the heart of it all was a body adorned in red that made the trainer's blood run cold.

It was himself with bloody wounds littered in his pale flesh. His chest ceased to move but before he could get closer, the area dissolved and warped into another place.

His eyesight was starting to get blurry but he seemed to be in a hospital and in front of him was a hospital bed. A boy who had an uncanny resemblance to Black lay there, breathing softly and asleep.

A strange feeling washed over Red, like this guy was important somehow or more like he possessed something.

But the feeling faded quickly and he felt indifferent about the guy again.

Yet again, the surroundings changed only to reveal Black himself standing in front of a white-furred Pokemon that appeared to be a Legendary if their magnificent appearance was anything to go by.

None of this was really making any sense… Did his future demise and Black tie together somehow? Like if Black woke the Pokemon then he would die? No, it didn't seem to be right at all but it was a possibility.

As if surfacing from water, Red was back to reality. It was rather remarkable that he hadn't plummeted down into the awaiting waves below. Perhaps that how vision thing had occurred in a single second? Possibly. He didn't understand how seeing the future worked but it obviously bent some rules.

With a shake of the head, Red cleared his mind. It was time to focus on what was truly important, not some vision of his death. So what if he was going to die soon? Everyone did eventually. That was just a part of life.

If Green had heard him say that, then he would have thrown a fit for sure…

"Pikaaa!"

At the insistent cry, Red cast his eyes into the horizon. There was light up ahead but not from the rising sun. Either the ship or the city was starting to come into view.

His heart skipped a beat. Huh?

Never had he ever been this nervous about something before. Ok, back when he was first fighting Team Rocket he had been this way but it was odd feeling this way again. It had been ages and was almost alien to him. Usually he didn't feel much of anything…

His hands were trembling ever so slightly but not from nerves. He was ready to fight and he was sure the Pokemon with him were too.

Because Green was someone worth fighting for, no matter how sappy that sounded. Sure, he was a jerk but under all his unpleasantness was a kind heart that wasn't often seen.

'I just hope this isn't all for nothing…'


Black stirred awake to someone nudging his shoulder.

"Ughhhh… whaaaaat?"

He turned over so his back was facing whoever it was but yet again, more nudging and harder this time.

"Red's gone!"

His chestnut eyes snapped open and he sat up so fast that he nearly fell over. Luckily, Hugh grabbed his shoulders and steadied him before letting go. By the looks of the darkness out the window, it was barely morning.

"What?! Why, where?!"

Yep, he needed some coffee right about now.

Hugh shrugged and replied, "How the heck am I supposed to know?! I woke up 'cause my phone buzzed in my pocket and I saw that he wasn't around! It's like-" He quickly checked his phone. "-three in the morning! What a crazy time it is to just go out for a walk, huh? Even he isn't that strange. So, I decided that he musta run off or something! Trust a Kanto trainer to do something like that!"

Black ran a hand through his hair stressfully. Damnit, they were all supposed to go after Green together. Things were already starting to fall apart and Red was all alone! What if he got seriously hurt? No one else would be around to help him.

"Black, deep breaths."

"Huh?"

Without really realizing, the brunet had been breathing rapidly and sweating. Hugh looked concerned and he was frowning sympathetically. "We'll catch up to him. He's a Champion, as if he would go down so easily."

But Green had been captured…

"Seriously, Red isn't an idiot. He defeated those Team Rocket guys after-all so Team Plasma won't be too difficult for him…" But Black could hear the slight doubt in Hugh's voice. "Just try to chill, alright? I'll go wake the girls so we can all leave as soon as possible."

Black watched him rush off and sighed. He didn't get why Red would just leave without warning anyone. Perhaps he preferred to operate alone though? Still, it was pretty upsetting… But then again, he had no clue how Red's mind ticked. Abandoning friends could have seemed quite normal to him. Really, were all Champions so impulsive? Black sure as hell didn't want to become one. Not that he was interested in battling but still! Yeah, totally not interested after all the chaos in the past few days! Yep.

Ok, so maybe he was a little curious to see if he could make it to the end… heh. Though he doubted himself. Photography was all that had mattered to him in the past few years so his skills in battle would probably had been forgotten since his trainer days. In short, he would need to do a lot of training if he ever wanted to make his way to the top and he still wasn't sure if attempting it was really the right move.

No, none of this mattered! Geez, distracted much? He really was spacey after waking up.

'Time to get ready to leave I guess… Is it too hopeful to think that we'll actually catch up to Red before something bad happens? Hmm…'

There was no way they would make it in time because what they were fearing was already unfolding. If only things had gone differently.