Hey guys! I figured I'd get in one chapter before I go on a mission trip for a week. Plus, it's been a while, and I've kept you waiting. Enjoy!
P.S. I do not own Pokemon.
Last time, Hikari and Bianca managed to beat back a pair of Team Plasma goons with a little help from the local Pokemon. But our young Trainer believes that this past incident was only the beginning…
Bianca and I headed back to Fennel's place after the incident with Team Plasma. As thanks for helping her get the Dream Mist, Fennel upgraded our X-transceivers with a C-Gear, which would allow us to talk to Trainers around the world! Her assistant also gave me a Pal Pad so I could write down someone's contact information. After saying good-bye to the scientist, I was feeling run down after a long day. I headed back to the Pokemon Center so my Pokemon and I could rest up for our trip to Nacrene City.
The next day, I was woken up by Oshawott (again), and after breakfast, I finally left Striaton City. As I walked down Route 3, I kept my eyes open for any Team Plasma members. Yesterday's incident with Munna made me realize that Team Plasma was a bigger threat than I had originally thought, so I had to keep my guard up.
Suddenly, a voice called out to me. "Hikari, stop!" I whirled around, Poke Ball in hand, only to see that it wasn't Team Plasma, but Cheren.
"Oh, hey Cheren! You scared me," I sighed. Then I noticed that he was looking at me with an intense expression. "Um, what's up? It's been a few days since we saw each other, huh?"
Cheren nodded. "Yes, it has been a while. I heard that you have also gotten the Trio Badge. Now that we both have one, let's see which of us is stronger! Go, Snivy!" He then grabbed a Poke Ball from his belt and threw it, revealing the Grass Snake Pokemon.
I smiled. "Sounds like fun, pal. I'm in! Let's do it, Pansear!" I also threw a Poke Ball, and the High Temp Pokemon appeared.
Hikari vs Cheren!
Hikari is challenged by Pokemon Trainer Cheren!
"Use Growth!" Cheren started off. Snivy planted its feet firmly on the ground and tiny orbs of light flowed into his body.
"Incinerate 'im, Pansear!" I ordered. Pansear shot off the small jet of flame. Not only did it hit Snivy and cause quite a bit of damage, but it burned up a Sitrus Berry the Pokemon was holding. "Alright, good job!" I complimented my partner.
"Pan, pansear! (Thanks, Hikari!)" Pansear said happily.
Cheren was already looking frustrated. "Ugh! You chose a good move, as usual," he muttered. "Leaf Tornado!" Suddenly, many razor-sharp leaves were being pulled into a small twister. The twister tore across the ground until it struck Pansear, sending it flying.
Wow, that's a strong move! I thought as I looked on. It seemed Cheren's Pokemon had gotten much stronger since our first battle back home. This was not the time to hold back. "Fury Swipes, now!" Pansear stood up and leapt at its opponent claws a-swiping, but Snivy just managed to dodge.
I then saw Cheren smirk and push his glasses up his nose. That was never a good sign. "Snivy, use Wrap!" Vines shot out from Snivy's back and wrapped around Pansear, preventing it from moving. "Now Leaf Tornado!" Once again, the attack hit Pansear, and it fell, unable to fight anymore.
Pansear fainted!
"Pansear, return!" I recalled my defeated Pokemon, and then pulled out another ball. "You're tough Cheren, but can Snivy stand up to this? Get 'em, Patrat!" The Scout Pokemon shot out of the ball, ready for action. "Use Bide!"
"Leaf Tornado!" Cheren shouted immediately. The attack hit Patrat, but the glow that surrounded it only grew brighter. The bespectacled Trainer quickly used a Potion on Snivy, hoping it would be enough to help it survive the next move. The light shot out in all directions, and Snivy flew backwards until it landed unconscious at its Trainer's feet.
The foe's Snivy fainted!
For some odd reason, I suddenly got the feeling I was being watched. I glanced around, but all I saw was a Pidove perched in a tree before it took off in flight. I just shook my head, feeling a little stupid, and turned my attention back to the battle.
Cheren grimaced as he recalled his Pokemon. "With my knowledge, I can bring out the best in my Pokemon! Purrloin, come on out!" He threw another Poke Ball, and a Purrloin took the field. "Torment!" The Devious Pokemon turned and teasingly shook its rear end at Patrat, greatly irritating it.
"Try to ignore it, Patrat! Use Sand-attack!" Patrat immediately began digging, sending dirt in Purrloin's direction. The opposing Pokemon hissed and blinked furiously as the dirt hit its face.
"Fury Swipes!" Cheren commanded. Purrloin rushed forward and tried to scratch Patrat, but its accuracy was thrown off by the Sand-attack, and Patrat easily avoided the claws.
"Nice dodge, Patrat! Now Tackle!" The Scout Pokemon turned and Tackled its opponent, sending it sliding back toward Cheren.
"Use Assist!" Purrloin shakily got up and used Growth from Snivy's arsenal.
"Oh no ya don't! Tackle 'em again, Patrat!" Patrat charged forward, but instead of slamming into Purrloin, it bit it! "Hey! What're ya doing?!"
"You honestly didn't know?" Cheren asked. "Torment is a move that prevents the opponent from using the same move twice in a row."
Whoops! I thought. And that Bite attack didn't do much good, either.
"Fury Swipes again!" Purrloin started scratching Patrat like crazy.
"Now use Tackle!" I said, figuring it was safe since it used Bite last time. This time, Patrat successfully Tackled Purrloin, and the Devious Pokemon was down for the count.
The foe's Purrloin fainted!
Hikari defeated Pokemon Trainer Cheren!
"Alright! Good job, Patrat!" I said as I knelt down and hugged Patrat.
"Patrat! (Thanks!)" it said as it returned the hug as best it could.
I looked up when I heard Cheren recall his Pokemon. He then looked at me with a frustrated expression. "Why do you keep beating me? We have the same number of Gym Badges. We should be equals in strength…"
"I'm not really sure how to answer that," I said honestly. "I just put all my faith into my Pokemon and charge right in."
Cheren's face softened when I said that, and he nodded in understanding. "I see. So that's how you battle."
"Out of the way!" a voice shouted. Then I felt myself being roughly shoved aside. Two figures dressed in gray ran past us, and my bet was it was Team Plasma.
Cheren cocked an eyebrow as he saw the figures race down the road. "What was that about?" Then two more people ran up to us: Bianca and a little girl from the Day Care Center I passed earlier. "Bianca? Why are you running?"
"Hey! Where were those people headed?" the blonde Trainer panted.
"That way," Cheren answered, pointing in the direction they had gone in. "But… why are you running now?"
"Oh, seriously! They run so fast!" Bianca sighed as she bent over with her hands on her knees.
The little girl tugged at Bianca's skirt, tears welling up in her eyes. "Miss… Oh… My Pokemon?" she managed to say before she started crying.
Bianca knelt down and patted the girl's head. "It'll be OK. It'll be OK. Don't cry," she said soothingly.
I placed a hand on her shoulder and looked her straight in the eye. "Bianca, really, why were you running?" I asked seriously.
Bianca stood up straight and looked at me and Cheren frantically. "You have to hear this! Those people stole this girl's Pokemon!" she cried.
I just won my bet. "You should have spoken up sooner!" Cheren and I exclaimed. I turned to my friend. "Cheren, those guys are from Team Plasma. We're gonna get that Pokemon back."
Cheren nodded and then turned to Bianca. "Bianca! Stay by the girl's side." And the two of us took off down Route 3.
After we had gone a ways, we saw that the path had split. "Uh-oh, which way did they go?" I muttered as I looked back and forth.
"Pidove! (I know!)" a voice chirped. I looked up to see that Pidove from earlier. I instinctively whipped out my Pokedex.
"Pidove, the Tiny Pigeon Pokemon. Each follows its Trainer's orders as best it can, but they sometimes fail to understand complicated commands."
"Can you tell us where they went, Pidove?" I called up to it.
"Pi! Pi pidove! (Sure! Follow me!)" Pidove responded before flying away with Cheren and I right behind it. Eventually, Pidove landed at the entrance to a small cave. "(They went into Wellspring Cave. It's a dead end)," it explained. I translated for Cheren, who just gave me a weird look before reaching into his bag.
"Well, as long as they're cornered, we may as well heal our Pokemon," he muttered as he let Snivy out of its ball and treated it with the Potions. I did the same with my Pokemon. "You're ready to go, right?"
I gave a quick nod. "Let's go." And Cheren dashed into the cave. I would've gone with him, but Oshawott, who was still out of his ball, grabbed my leg.
"Osha osha, osha oshawott? (You be careful, OK Hikari?)" he said.
I smiled and ruffled his fur. "'Course I'll be careful!" I said with a smile. I then stood up and the two of us walked into Wellspring Cave to confront Team Plasma for the second time in as many days.
We found Cheren and Snivy glaring at the two grunts, which I mentally labeled #1 and #2. They turned when he heard us coming. "Hikari! This bothersome bunch doesn't really listen to reason."
You can say that again, I thought to myself as I stood next to my friend.
Grunt #1 looked at us smugly while #2 watched from the sidelines. "That child cannot use a Pokemon to its full potential. Doesn't that make the Pokemon sad?" he said as he moved closer to us. "It's the same thing for all your Pokemon, so hand them to us now! Better yet… We'll just take them!" #1 reached out and tried to grab Oshawott, but all he got was a Water Gun to the face.
"Ha! Nice one buddy!" I laughed. "This should be a piece of cake!"
"Osha!" he said in agreement.
Hikari is challenged by Team Plasma Grunt!
Grunt #1 called out a Patrat. "Use Tackle!" The Pokemon rushed toward Oshawott.
This is gonna be way too easy! "Dodge, and use Razor Shell!" I commanded. Oshawott leapt up into the air and threw its shell, hitting its target with pinpoint accuracy. "Now Tackle!" The Sea Otter Pokemon Tackled Patrat hard, and it hit the ground.
Hikari defeated Team Plasma Grunt!
I gave a smug grin to Grunt #1 as he recalled his Pokemon. "Wha…? How could we lose when we have right on our side?!" he muttered in disbelief.
"More like wrong," I shot back.
Cheren stepped forward. "Not bad, Hikari," he said with a small smile. Then he walked over to the stunned grunt and picked up the other Poke Ball he had dropped, which most likely belonged to the little girl. "OK, go return the Pokemon to that girl."
"Can do," I said. But another voice interrupted just before I could leave.
"You don't need to return it!" I looked to see two more grunts (I'll call them #3 and #4) appear from the shadows. "How troublesome," #3 continued. "Not only do you fail to understand, but you actually got in our way, to boot."
"Yeah, it's a bad habit of mine," I cracked, earning an eye roll from Cheren.
"There's two of you, and two of us," Grunt #4 said. "We'll show you our combined power and teach you that we are right!" The two grunts took their positions opposite us.
Next to me, I could hear Cheren muttering to himself. "So there were more of them… Still, why are Pokemon robbers acting so self-righteous?"
"Cheren!" I said to catch his attention. "We've been friends our whole lives. We've got each other's back when it counts." I turned my head to face him and gave a confident smile. "Let's show them how it's done!"
"Right!" he responded as we took our battle positions. It must've been the dim light, but I thought I saw Cheren blush again.
Hikari and Cheren are challenged by Team Plasma Grunt and Team Plasma Grunt!
Like the grunt before them, our opponents both called out a Patrat to face Oshawott and Snivy.
Cheren was quick enough to make the first move. "Snivy, use Tackle!" The Grass Snake Pokemon rammed into one of the Patrat. (#4's, I think.)
"Leer!" Grunt #3 commanded.
"Bite!" Grunt #4 ordered. Both Pokemon responded accordingly, the first one leering at our Pokemon while the other tried to Bite Snivy, who slipped away quickly.
"Razor Shell!" Oshawott's scalchop was right on target as it hit Grunt #3's Patrat.
"Leaf Tornado!" Snivy managed to finish off its opponent with a Leaf Tornado, leaving just one Patrat left.
The foe's Patrat fainted!
"Bite!" Patrat leapt forward and bit Oshawott.
"Water Gun!" Oshawott managed to shake off Patrat before shooting a stream of water at it. I look at Cheren, and he nodded.
"Double Tackle!" we commanded simultaneously. Both Pokemon ran toward Patrat and Tackled it, securing our victory.
The foe's Patrat fainted!
Hikari and Cheren defeated Team Plasma Grunt and Team Plasma Grunt!
All four grunts just looked at us with stern expressions. Then Grunt #3 spoke up. "In order to liberate Pokemon from foolish people, we will take their Pokemon!"
Cheren clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Whatever… What a waste of time. Come on, what reason could possibly justify stealing Pokemon from people?"
"Pokemon Trainers like you are making Pokemon suffer," Grunt #4 answered.
My eyes widened when he said that. "What do you mean, Trainers are making Pokemon suffer? I don't get that at all!" I shouted.
Then Grunt #2 spoke for the first time. "We'll give you back the Pokemon… But be aware of how this Pokemon suffers from being used by people."
"Someday, open your eyes to your own complicity," Grunt #1 said as he threw something to the ground. A large cloud of smoke burst out, causing Cheren and I to start coughing.
"Hold it! I'm *koff* not done with you *koff* yet!" I shouted in vain. When the smoke cleared, the grunts were gone. I clenched my fists and before I knew it, I was talking to myself. "Trainers bring out their Pokemon's strength. Pokemon believe in their Trainers and respond to that. I don't understand what about that makes Pokemon suffer!"
"Hikari?" I barely heard Cheren's voice before I felt his hand on my shoulder. "I don't understand it either, and quite frankly I don't want to understand those guys. Let's just go return the Pokemon, OK?"
I took a deep breath and nodded. "OK." After recalling our Pokemon, we left Wellspring Cave.
When we stepped outside, we came across Pidove again. It was sitting under a tree, nursing its wing. "Pidove? What happened?" I asked gently.
"(Well, those bad guys were gonna get away, so I tried to stop them for you, but I messed up and hurt my wing)," he told me.
"You… tried to help us?" I asked softly. Then I carefully picked up the Tiny Pigeon Pokemon. "Thank you." With Pidove in tow, Cheren and I walked back to the Pokemon Day Care Center where Bianca and the little girl were waiting. I placed Pidove on a bench, and then I reached into my vest pocket and pulled out the Poke Ball containing the girl's Pokemon. She gave a big smile as she took the ball from my hand.
Bianca dashed over and hugged me and Cheren. "You guys, thank you so much! The two of you got her Pokemon back! I'm lucky to have friends like you two!"
"Glad to hear it!" I laughed as Cheren and I pulled away from our friend. Once again, I could see Cheren blushing from the hug.
Then I felt something pulling at my arm. I looked down and saw the little girl. "Thank you, miss! Please take these as a thank-you present." She reached into her small bag and pulled out three pink Poke Balls.
Hikari obtained Heal Balls!
Bianca peaked over at the new balls I had received. "Ooh! Those are Heal Balls! They completely heal the captured Pokemon on the spot! How sweet of you!"
I knelt down to the girl's eye-level. "Thank you very much," I said with a smile. Then I remembered Pidove and I turned to the injured bird Pokemon. "Hey Pidove, would you like to join my team? I could use a Flying Pokemon."
"Pidove! (Yes!)" it answered happily before wincing in pain because of its wing.
"Don't worry, that'll go away in a minute," I said as I tapped Pidove's forehead with the Heal Ball. The ball opened, the bird went inside, and after wiggling around for a few seconds, it settled down.
Gotcha! Pidove was caught!
As I placed the rest of the Heal Balls into my bag, I felt someone holding my leg. It was another child from the Day Care. "Trainer! I wanna play with you!" she said.
"Hey Trainer! Have a battle with me!" a little boy called to me.
It seemed I had suddenly become popular with the children. My friends and I decided that we would spend the rest of the day playing with the children and Pokemon at the Pokemon Day Care Center.
And so Hikari has beaten Team Plasma again and gained a new Pokemon in the process. Surely more adventures will await her when she reaches Nacrene City! Stay tuned!