Pokemon Legacy
The following day, Nathan and his friends arrived in a town smaller than Violet Town called Noahberg. This town was next to the ocean, and as such, there was a market place dedicated to selling various different types of fish and other seafood. There was also naturally a pier next to the ocean with a building for boats to dock in.
But that didn't matter as our heroes were here for Dana's next gym battle, not sight-seeing. However, when Jason spotted the aforementioned marketplace, his eyes went wide, his mouth starting to drool as he said, "You guys go ahead. I need to, uh... do something... yeah..."
Dana pulled on the boy's collar and sighed, "First we'll go to the Center and have our Pokemon healed. Then you can shop to your heart's content," Jason blinking and saying, "Oh yeah," pulling out of Pokeballs and saying, "Sorry, guys, I almost forgot about you."
With that, the group entered as Dana stared with shock at this center's nurse. This particular nurse had the short sleeves of her nurse outfit ripped off, was wearing a pair of grey genes, had other parts of her outfit ripped, black eyeliner and spiked blue hair. She was also chewing bubble gum at the time as she held her hands against her hips, blowing a bubble and popping it before spitting the gum into a trash bin next to her.
"Oh, hey there," she said, "Welcome to the Noahberg Center and stuff. I'm Nurse Punk. What have you got for me?"
Jason and Dana were in shock, but Nathan just felt relieved that this nurse wasn't a cold bitch to them. He also liked how she didn't conform to the usual dress code the last two nurses had gone for.
After a few seconds of staring, Dana shook her head and said, "We need our Pokemon healed," as Punk nodded and said, "Alright, give em here and I'll take em to the back to have em, like, healed and stuff," Dana and Jason nervously placing their balls on the table, Nathan rolling his eyes and handing his over without any hesitation.
As Punk went into the back, Nathan stared at the others, raised an eyebrow and said, "You guys look like you've just seen a ghost," Dana folding her arms and replying, "I just thought all nurses wore the proper dress code," Nathan saying, "That's a little judgemental," Jason shrugging and saying, "Whatever, at least we got descent service this time."
As soon as the Pokemon were healed, the group was off to the gym as Jason headed toward the marketplace to look at the seafood, summoning Mighty and Carmen to help him choose the right ones to use as ingredients. Of course, they didn't provide a whole lot of help as they figured every choice was a good one.
Nathan and Dana walked up to the local gym as Dana reached to open the door, noticing it wasn't opening as she blinked, her eyes going wide. Nathan noticed a slip of paper on the door and tapped Dana on the shoulder, pointing up at the note as she looked at it.
"I'm sorry, but the owner of this gym is currently unavailable," Dana read aloud, "We're not sure when he'll return, but we advise you wait until he's back."
Dana had a look of disappointment as Nathan shrugged and said, "It's okay, Dana. I'm sure he'll be back later today. You can use this time to train your Pokemon."
At that moment, a middle-aged man walked by and looked at the two asking, "Are you here for one of those gym battle things?" the two turning around and nodding as Dana asked, "Are you the gym leader?" the bystander shaking his head and replying, "Oh no, but I do know he left somewhere a couple of days ago. He still hasn't come back yet."
Silence filled the area for a few seconds before Nathan asked, "Do you know where he went?" the stranger shrugging and shaking his head saying, "I just saw him leaving the gym and exiting Noahberg. I have no idea where he went. I'm not even big on Pokemon, so I couldn't care less."
With that, Dana let out a sigh and looked down with disappointment, Nathan patting her on the shoulder. At this exact moment, Jason showed up with a bag full of seafood but was surprised to see his friends standing outside of the gym. But before he could ask, Nathan directed his attention toward the sign.
Looking over it, Jason blinked and said, "Well, that's a shame. I wonder where he could have gone," as at that moment, a little girl walked up to the three and said, "I know where he went."
The two turned as Dana smiled sweetly and said, "Why, hello there, little girl. Who are you?" the girl replying, "My name's Cassie! I'm the gym leader's daughter!" grinning with pride as Dana's eyes went wide, rather surprised by this. Even Nathan couldn't quite hide his shock right now as the girl continued, "Before Daddy left, he said he was going to Green City for a business trip, whatever that is."
"Oh, okay," Jason replied, nodding before adding, "Makes sense... did he say when he'd get back?"
Cassie thought about that for a while before replying, "He said he'd be gone for a month," before looking down and saying, "It's gonna be hard without him. Mommy's not as cool as Daddy," Nathan blinking before saying, "Thanks, Cassie," the girl smiling and saying, "You're welcome."
With that, the trio walked away from the area as Nathan said, "That doesn't add up at all," Dana asking, "Why? It sounds logical to me," Nathan shaking his head and saying, "No, I remember the ad for the challenge specifically saying that gym leaders are not allowed to be away from their posts for more than five days. If he was truly called away on business, his boss would make sure he didn't stay away longer than that. I get the strange feeling that Team Shadow is involved with this and is probably exploiting his skills for their own selfish benefit. Trust me, I know them, they would go that far."
Jason's eyes went wide as he said, "You might be right," Dana replying, "I'm not sure," as Jason sighed, "Dana, do you really wanna stay here and wait for a whole month?" Dana shaking her head and saying, "Oh, god no. You're right. Besides, Green City is the next area. That won't take too long."
With that, the group was off again, this time headed toward Green City. It was at this exact moment that Jack finally arrived in Noahberg and grinned while looking around in search of the others, Oshawott clinging to his arm as he scowled and tried to shake the otter off but to no avail, the boy sighing.
"Alright, Nathan, there's a gym here," he muttered, "You must have been occupied by that," as he walked over to said gym and saw the note, his eyes going wide as he cursed to the heavens.
We now take you to Green city, a very big place with all kinds of life. There were crowd of people flooding the streets, going about daily activities, chatting, all sorts of things. The buildings were also a lot bigger than the ones in the towns and the city itself was very vast and wide with a lot to explore.
But wait, surely Nathan and his friends hadn't gotten here yet. And yes, they certainly hadn't, so why are we focusing on this location? Well, as it just so happens, the gym leader was here at this moment, walking toward a building with a black S as its logo.
The gym leader himself was a mildly muscular man with short black hair and a white T-shirt along with a pair of green exercise pants. Clearly this man worked out a lot. His name was Eric.
As the man entered the building, a young man sat behind a desk with his feet on it, the man reading a magazine when Eric walked over to him, the man looking up and nodding before pointing to the door next to him. Eric entered and found himself in a long hallway with all kinds of rooms. He immediately pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and looked at a few words written on it, nodding and putting it back in his pocket before making his way over to the last door.
Eric gave it a quick knock a woman inside said, "Come in," Eric opening the door and was rather surprised to see that this young woman had long violet hair, a tube top and a pair of shorts on, the man asking, "Hey, aren't you one of the elite four?"
The woman nodded and said, "Yeah, Rachel's the name. Glad to see you took me up on my offer, Eric," the man spellbound as he stood there staring for a few seconds, not sure how to respond to this.
After a few more seconds, he repeated, "You're a member of the elite four!" Rachel nodding and pulling out a cigarette before asking, "Yeah, what of it?" lighting the death stick and taking a quick drag of it as Eric remarked, "What are you doing associating yourself with Team Shadow!"
"What are you doing accepting an offer from Team Shadow?" Rachel remarked before blowing a smoke ring into Eric's face, the man coughing before saying, "That is a good point, I guess," as Rachel rolled her eyes and explained, "You guys have got Team Shadow all wrong. See, my new boss has big plans that'll change this world forever," then noticing Eric's look of scepticism added, "It's for the better," Eric saying, "Oh," and nodding his head in understanding.
"So, anyway," Rachel continued, "The boss's plan is one that'll truly make the world a better place. Not completely sure what it is, but our boss promises that it'll be much more effective than anything else done before," Rachel taking another drag of her cigarette, blowing up a bit of smoke before muttering, "I'm also getting paid a lot for this gig."
"I'm sorry, what was that last part?" Eric asked as Rachel shrugged and replied, "Nothing," before saying, "Look, Eric, you are a very strong man and so are your Pokemon. As such, we want you to help us move some precious cargo over to Oggenville," Eric nodding and replying, "You mean the next town over," Rachel smiling and replying, "Good to know we're on the same page here."
With that, Eric walked off and let out a sigh of relief thinking, 'Well, at least I'm doing good for the world, and this job will make me more than enough money to support my family. The Missus will be so proud.'
The man then walked over to the loading bay and noticed that there was a big truck in each and every parking spot. To make this even more insane, there were more than 100 huge crates and over 200 boxes to load up. This could very well have taken all week for the other Team Shadow agents. Luckily, Eric and his Pokemon were incredibly strong, so for them, this would only take a couple of days at the most.
As he held one up, he asked, "What's in these, exactly?" the Team Shadow agents shrugging as one said, "I have absolutely no idea," Eric setting the crate down in one truck before saying, "This'll take a good set of hands," throwing three Pokeballs forward, three strange-looking canines coming out.
One was a short creature with grey skin and pink veins coming from its body. It had a small purple nose and atop its head, a bulbous protrusion was extended outward. The same could be said for the back of its neck. This creature was known as Timburr.
Next to this one was another grey creature of the same variety only this one had a red nose and violet rings surrounding its shoulders, big forearms attached to them. The protrusions on this one's head weren't sticking out but rather they were upright, kind of like curly hair in a way. The creature also had a surprisingly thin mid-section followed by a large pair of thighs and legs but small, stubby feet. This was Gurdurr, the second form of Timburr.
The third being was a much older-looking tan creature with a small protrusion of skin coming up from the back of its head, much like a traditional Chinese ponytail. This one was almost twice the size of the other two and didn't have quite as many veins coming from its skin. It also had a bit of grey skin on its chin that more or less resembled a goatee and two purple rings surrounding its shoulders along with the biggest forearms of the trio. This was Conkeldurr, the third form of Timburr.
Seeing his partners out and about, Eric grinned and held his hands against his hips before saying, "Alright, men, let's get to work!" the Pokemon also picking up boxes and crates, helping Eric load them up as the Team Shadow Agents decided to sit back and let them do all the work. Clearly they were much more capable of this.
The following day by around noon, Nathan and the others arrived in Green City as they marvelled at the sights. Dana and Jason had never been to a city before, so this was all exciting for them. Nathan, having worked with Team Shadow once before, had been sent to a city or two over the past, but since it was always at night and for business-related issues, he never got to fully enjoy them.
"Oh my god, let's go to the mall!" Dana squealed as Jason replied, "I wanna check out one of these arcade things!" as Nathan sighed, "We can do all of that stuff when we've found the Green City gym leader."
Dana and Jason nodded before the size of the city hit them like a brick. This place was huge. The odds of finding this man were slim. Upon realizing this, the two groaned in agony as Nathan sighed, pinching his forehead.
Eventually, the two caved in as all three looked around the city, asking if any of them had seen the Green City gym leader, let alone knew what he looked like. As luck would have it, everyone knew of his image as gym leaders did have magazine articles dedicated to them, but none had really noticed the man's presence, well, at least this was the case in the Western sections of the city in which the group was checking.
"These people don't know anything!" Jason groaned, "Come on, we have until the end of the month! Let's just browse around and have fun," Nathan wanting to do that, sure, but also getting his priorities straight as he said, "We've only checked the Western sections. We still have the Eastern part of Green City and the middle sections."
Dana and Jason looked down, realizing that Nathan was completely focused on this and refused to argue further. After about an hour's worth of asking, they finally found a group of teens who happened to have seen the man.
"Eric went over to the loading bay," one of them said as another added, "You can find it in the lower North West portion," pointing in said direction as Nathan nodded, Dana bowing and saying, "Thank you."
"Don't mention it," one of the males said before adding, "In exchange for this, I'll just be taking your phone number," one of the girls smacking the back of his head and groaning, "Can you help one girl out without asking that?"
With that, the trio headed toward the loading bay and noticed a group of Team Shadow agents sitting around while a man not wearing a Team Shadow outfit loaded up boxes and crates along with three Pokemon. The group hid behind a bench nearby as Dana quickly pulled out her Pokedex looking over the information of the Pokemon and asked, "What does it mean when it says the other two are evolved forms?" Nathan replying, "Pokemon evolve if you train them long enough. Some can evolve through other methods, though."
He then turned his attention back to the man in white and said, "That must be Eric. He's not dressed like one of them," as Jason asked, "Does he even know he's helping a group of criminals load cargo?" Dana replying, "They must have tricked him. We'll have to get rid of them if we want to talk to him, though."
Looking at the agents, Nathan thought about a way to go about this without making too much of a stir as he sent out Sammy, Sammy noticing the agents and growling before Nathan placed his hand atop her head whispering, "Aim Mud Slap at the back of that one's head," Sammy nodding before ramming her claws into the concrete, scooping up a chunk of it and throwing it at the back of the agent's head, knocking him down as the other agents stared in shock.
They looked at where the chunk came from but saw no one there, the two trembling as they picking up their partner, running off to get him medical attention, not willing to stick around and have the same thing happen to them. Nathan pet Sammy on the head as the Drilbur giggled a bit, the boy returning the mole and nodding to the others, all three getting up and approaching Eric, the man looking and noticing the agents weren't there, blinking and figuring they'd gone to have an early lunch break. It wasn't like he had a reason to expect them to stick around since they weren't doing anything.
He was about to go back to work when Dana tapped him on the back, the man turning around and asking, "Excuse me, can I help you with something?" Dana nodding and replying, "Yeah, can you tell us why you're working for Team Shadow?"
Eric let out a sigh and replied, "Well, I guess I'm not surprised that someone's asking me about this," then nodded and added, "It is a very understandable question, but please listen to what I have to say before you comment further."
"We were gonna do that anyway," Nathan replied with a shrug, "We're not that dismissive," Jason nodding, though he honestly was planning to call bullshit on everything Eric would have said.
Eric let out a sigh and said, "Look, Team Shadow is a very misunderstood organization. What they're doing is meant to help the world, not harm it. I need to get more money for my family and if I need to help the world in order to do it, then it's definitely worth the time and effort," a proud grin on his face as Nathan slapped his forehead.
"You mean you actually fell for that?" Nathan remarked as Eric said, "Look, I know it sounds farfetched, but I could see it in Rachel's eyes when she told me this. I know it's gotta be true."
Of course, this was not true and the only reason he saw sincerity in Rachel's eyes was because she believed it too. Nonetheless, Nathan shook his head and sighed, "I once worked for Team Shadow against my will. I know they're lying to you," Eric retorting, "How do I know you're not lying to me about being an ex-Team Shadow member?"
Seeing as the kids weren't going to listen any further, Eric snapped his fingers as his Pokemon set down their cargo and said, "I'm sorry, kids, but if you're not going to accept my choice, I'm going to have to use force to get you to leave."