***Okay some of you know that I have a poll up, but many or you don't or haven't checked it. For anyone reading this story, who would like to see me write a Pokemon Anime Rewrite in the future at some point, please answer this question in a review. I need actual word feedback for the question I've decided, since a poll isn't as helpful as I thought in this case and people who don't have a profile on here can't participate in those.
***The question is: If I do the Rewrite, would you prefer that Ash caught all the pokemon to aid him in becoming a Pokemon Master (the whole gotta catch'em all thing would make more sense then)? Or not have him catch all the pokemon? I do have a plan for the managing and the use of the pokemon for fair battling and everything, so really it just comes down to the face value preference of having all the pokemon show up under Ash's care or not. He will actually being studying pokemon more as well.
Tell me what you think.
Day Count: 162 (before the events of this chapter)
Okay Guys the date for the chapter after this is going to possibly pushed back a bit. It's the last few weeks of the semester for me and exams, projects, and tests are running rampant. So here's the thing, expect the next chapter to be up sometime between now and the 4th of May. I will of course tell you all if something else pops up. After school's done, I can maybe even go back to something like a chapter every week or week and a half since it'll be Summer.
Thanks for your patience! Enjoy! :D
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Normal Talk
Thoughts
Lucario talking unless stated otherwise
Zoroark talking unless stated otherwise
Mienshao talking unless stated otherwise
Let the journey continue...
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
"Computer, give me an inventory of the newest additions to the cargo hold."
"Understood… Processing… One Regirock, native to Hoenn. Two Regice, one native to Kanto, one native to Hoenn. Two Registeel, one native to Kanto, one native to Hoenn. Five Latios… Six Latias…"
"Marvelous. Display statistics and current condition of the pokemon."
"Understood, master."
A blue floating digital display appeared before Lawrence and he could see that everything in his cargo hold slash display room was confined and properly restrained.
"Very good. We're ready to move out towards the location of our next target. Computer, scan the earth for any sign of geothermal activity, signs of large accumulations of clouds, as well as the current location of any substantial ozone holes."
"Scanning, Categorizing, Filing… Signs of large cloud formations? Negative. Ozone hole locations found. Signs of ozone size decreasing in any of those locations? Negative. Signs of geothermal activity? Positive. Listing coordinates."
"Thank you computer." Lawrence smiled with pleasure and leaned back in his chair. He flipped and played with his Mew card in his free hand while he waited.
"Coordinates are within a couple miles of our current location… scanning rock thickness within five mile radius… Pocket of air, gas, and lava located. Percent chance that the location listed is Terra Cave… ninety five percent."
Lawrence leaned back up and stored his Mew card safety away before grabbing the controls. "This capture will require a little more finesse." He pushed the large floating fortress forward using his controls and flicked a few switches. "Aural and visible spectrum cloaking device, engaged. Engine, statistics, please."
"ninety eight percent charge, structure sound, temperature in the safe range."
"Good. Time to Journey to the Center of the Earth…" Lawrence steered his now invisible fortress towards the coordinates set out on his display. After a moment, he felt the controls list hard in his hands, letting him know he'd flown into the thermal zone. He glanced over at his chess board crisscrossed by a grid and then nodded back at the display in front of him. "Deploy earth harpoons."
"Yes sir."
Two plates in the bottom of the fortress clicked and slid open to reveal two sharp and very large harpoon like weapons. Blue electricity charged over them and started to super-heat the tips. Lawrence smirked and clicked a single button. The harpoons fired down towards the surface of the earth which was a rocky place covered in red clay and plants which were steadily browning in the heat. The weapons sliced right through the rock and stone on the surface like butter, disappearing deep into the small dark holes they'd made.
Several minutes passed before Lawrence picked up a small seismic event on his display. The harpoons had detonated. Seconds after that, the seismic event paused and then grew and grew until a massive form burst through the ground, making Taillow and Swellow, roosting in the spruce and pine trees around the edge of the large basin, take to the air in fright. Rocks hissed and bubbled, the air wavered and distorted the view, and the sun beat down stronger than before, evaporating the tiny clouds that had tried to hang onto existence.
Groudon threw back his head and roared violently, making lava drip and fly off him. His dark markings flashed a bright blue right before he fired a Solarbeam into someplace into the sky, trying to hit his aggressor.
Lawrence looked over again at his board and saw a small red piece shaped like Groudon appear. "The earth's shaker and mover. No one is quite sure if there is one Groudon or many… Thus is the question with most legendary pokemon…"
Lawrence banked his fortress to the side slightly to avoid a stray Solarbeam. The collector clicked a couple buttons. "Shift the ring collection system to slot W.S.210C."
"Sending command. Command and action send and completed. Slot W.S.210C selected and prepared for use."
Lawrence smiled slightly and clicked several keys on a keyboard before pressing a large blue button on his desk. The cannon below his ship fired and three large square shaped rings which were white as porcelain flew towards Groudon; two flew to be in front and behind the continent pokemon and the third looped around the middle making the general shape of a cube. A blue shield of energy formed between the gaps and Groudon screeched in rage before firing off an Eruption attack, filling the container with lava, fire and smoke; none of it escaped the cube and merely doubled back on Groudon himself and started to cool rapidly. A large cocoon of dark volcanic rock soon solidified within the container. The Groudon was reeled in and soon floated into the fortress' cargo hold.
Lawrence let out a breath of awe and excitement before speaking. "Computer, check statistics of the new addition."
"Yes sir… Scanning… Calculating… the subject is in a state of suspended animation due to the rock it formed and the cooling agents in the rings you selected. Heart-rate and other vitals are stable and secure."
Lawrence let out a pleased sigh. "That was much easier than I thought it would be. Any signs of increased cloud formation?"
"Gathering sources… Scanning instruments… There is a notable monsoon that is occurring in the Southern Sea of Sinnoh."
Lawrence glanced down at his board as Groudon's piece was swallowed up by the small piece shaped like his fortress. A new piece appeared in the shape of Kyogre.
"Set course for Southern Sinnoh."
"Setting coordinates. Please relax and enjoy the trip, master."
"Oh I shall. I think I'll go look about at my current collection…"
Lawrence flicked a single switch and his chair slipped down into the darkness to stop on the floor below where his prizes were.
zzz-A few miles from the Kalos League-zzz
He could see the League building from his hidden place in the forest nearby. Most Leagues were built up on mountains or hills, very difficult places to reach. In this way the heads of the regions and the unity of the world could be protected from large frontal assaults. It was no coincidence they were built in these elaborated and isolated places. The one downfall was that being on a hilltop or mountain made it possibly easier in some places to spot the League from a great distance.
Silver's grey eyes glinted in the little light that came into the darkness of the woods. He was supposed to be attacking more of his… friends, but he was fairly certain that Giovanni would accept him attacking another League building… yet…
AZ's words still haunted his mind. His thoughts were halted before they got too far, by the sound of a twig snapping. Silver's Gengar phased up from the ground beside him, facing behind his master, before firing a Dark Pulse into the shadows. Silver heard a shout of surprise before he tossed four more pokeballs, releasing Feraligator, Ursaring, Rhyperior, and Alakazam.
"Psychic, Hyperbeam, Rock Blast, Hydropump!" Silver snapped quickly.
Feraligator and Ursaring opened their mouths to fire off their attacks, Rhyperior aimed his arm cannon to use Rock Blast and Alakazam crossed his spoons before letting his eyes glow blue.
Trees were blasted away, and several G-men were scattered. Steven's Metagross tilted sideways to block a Hyperbeam from striking his trainer, Will did several backwards cartwheels to escape the rocks that Rhyperior fired, while his Mr. Mime set up several shields of Reflect and Light Screen, blocking the rest of Feraligator's Hydropump and any spare rocks left over. Karren braced herself behind a large boulder as her Umbreon dashed froward, ignoring the Psychic energy, Silver's Alakazam was trying to use on anything that got too close.
Silver growled as he saw His Gengar start to battle with the extra G-men's weaker group of pokemon, his Rhyperior lock arms with Steven's Metagross, his Feraligator trying to get close enough to Mr. Mime to Crunch it, and his Alakazam dodging Umbreon's Shadow balls and Dark Pulses before getting struck by a Feint Attack. Ursaring bashed Umbreon in the side with a surprise Hammer Arm at that very moment.
The battle seemed to be as close to even as one trainer against three could be; Silver didn't count the pathetic attempts by the grunt G-men. At least it seemed even until the earth under Silver started to shake and quiver; before Feraligator could turn to run towards his endangered master, Jasmine's Steelix had wrapped itself around the powerful and rogue trainer. Jasmine was resting on Steelix's head.
"Stand-down, Silver," Steven stated simply as Steelix started to squeeze a bit harder, constricting Silver's chest. "Silver! Tell your pokemon to stand down!" Steven finally yelled.
Steelix continued to tighten around Silver's chest and body and he could feel the air leaving his lungs and his bones starting to creak in protest. His five pokemon all continued to growl at their opponents even if they were warily eyeing their trapped trainer worriedly.
"You're under arrest for your crimes against the League, but we've been given the authority to use deadly force if necessary. Under article five section ten of the Region League's Union agreement, a trainer's pokeman act as a threat of deadly force. If the trainer does not command them to stand-down it is seen as a threat against the authorities present," Karren stated effortlessly.
Silver gave them all a dark glare, but said nothing as Steelix's coils tightened further.
"Silver?"
Silver didn't reply and let her talk.
"Please stand-down…"
"You don't want to have to wash my remains off your Steelix?" Silver asked darkly and sarcastically.
"No… We know… We know about Giovanni threatening you."
Silver's face went slack at Jasmine's words.
In truth, Jasmine didn't know much about what Giovanni had over Silver… For all anyone knew he was doing this all for fun… except… Jasmine and the others who were his closest friends, knew he wasn't like this anymore. Hopefully he'd trust them.
"What is he threatening me with?" Silver asked carefully.
Well so much for that hope. Jasmine thought sadly before trying to extend her bluff, hoping she was correct in her next assumption.
"Your sons…"
Silver took in a deep breath of air. How he wanted to stop fighting. How he wanted things to go back to how they were. He couldn't help but wonder what Gold was thinking about him, Crystal, Yellow… What would Blue or Green… or even Red say? Especially since he was using Blue's Rhyperior to aid him in his actions. The last thoughts he had were of AZ's words and then the faces of Paul and Reggie when they were much younger.
"Feraligator, Ursaring, Gengar, Alakazam, Rhyperior… stand-down."
His pokemon stopped growling and immediately relaxed their tense muscles. Steelix relaxed his grip just enough for a G-man to walk over and pull the pokemon's poke balls from Silver's jacket and return them. Silver's pokemon were placed in a special case to make sure they couldn't escape from their balls themselves and, slowly, Steelix relaxed his coils so that a couple men could cuff Silver's hands behind his back.
"Sylvester Rocketto-" a G-man started, but was interrupted by Silver.
"It's Rebolledo, not Rocketto," Silver almost snarled.
For some reason, that made Jasmine immensely relieved to hear him say that.
"Sylvester Rebolledo, you are under arrest for Assault with a pokemon, Grand Theft, and Trespassing on League grounds."
Silver didn't speak at all after that. He just let the G-men, Elites, gym leader, and ex-champion lead him away.
He didn't care too much about his future, wether anyone ever knew the true extent of why he'd done what he'd done or not. He'd tell them what he did know about Giovanni's plans and maybe get less jail time and maybe they'd find some kind of proof that he'd been threatened.
That was all meaningless though. All Silver cared about was that his pokemon would all be okay and that his sons would stay safe…
zzz- Ash's and Leaf's groups-zzz
"They really seem to be enjoying themselves," Max pointed out as everyone walked across the dusty road. Ash and Leaf's groups were walking down route thirteen, watching as Ash's Garchomp and Krookadile, Iris' Gabite, and Ritchie's Gabite, leapt, swam, and dove through the sands on either side of the pathway.
"I'm glad that so many of you now have the ability to Mega Evolve pokemon. Regardless of the outcome of the Tournament, Charizard and I will have many new opponents to one day defeat," Alain stated simply.
"I would like to see how my Mega Pidgeot did against your Charizard," Ash spoke up. "I can imagine that Pidgeot's even faster than ever."
"Or our Charizards could do battle once more. Mine still is itching for retribution from last time," Alain returned.
"I wonder if I'll be able to find a Charmander somewhere…" Iris mused. "They're pretty rare in the wild…"
"Hey guys?"
Everyone looked over at Brendan.
"Yeah, Brendan?" May asked.
"Wasn't there two Gabites and one Garchomp a minute ago?"
Everyone looked back out at the sands and indeed saw two Garchomps and one Gabite instead of what had been there before.
"Wait a sec…" Iris mumbled and then blinked in surprise. "My Gabite evolved!?"
"How can you tell it's not Ritchie's?" Mairin asked.
"Because, my Gabite is female and that Garchomp has no knick in her dorsal fin," Iris answered.
"Congratulations, Iris," Cilan spoke up and squeezed her hand slightly. Iris smiled at him broadly.
"I keep saying that they need to do something with this place…" Calem spoke up after looking around the desert-like expanse. "I mean I know a few species of ground types and fire types like this place, but a good portion of it isn't even used by pokemon. I think it'd make a wicked skating park or something."
"Clefaaable." Calem's Clefable cheered as she walked beside her trainer.
"Hmmm… I kinda could picture that," Marina mused. Her Ditto, named Squish, shifted on her shoulder before leaping into the air to change into a Gabite so that he could dip and dive through the earth with the other four ground types.
"What types of pokemon do live around here?" Leaf asked in sudden curiosity. "I have a variety of pokemon from different regions, but this is the first time I've visited Kalos. I was finishing up with gathering data on most of the pokemon in the Unovan pokedex before the Master Challenge letters were sent."
"Well not much. There's Dugtrio, Trapinch, Graveler, Slugma and-" Trevor started
Max noticed a large mass of pokemon swimming through the sand behind the Garchomps, Gabite, Krookadile and Ditto. "Gible!"
Trevor blinked, "How'd you know?" He glanced over after Shauna started to giggle. "Oh."
"Hmm…" Leaf hummed.
"I can transfer the bare minimum info to you about the pokemon I've seen in Kalos. It'll only show their image, what types of moves they can learn naturally, and where they're generally located," Trevor offered.
Leaf thought for a second before nodding. "Normally I like to figure these things out on my own, but that technically is minimal information and I can discover the rest by actually physically scanning the pokemon myself or capturing it… just like I'm going to do for one of those Gible."
"Another Gible?" Chili asked in surprise.
"Garchomp are very loyal and very powerful dragon types even if they have quadruple weakness to ice moves," Iris stated.
"If you're very careful, you can help train a Garchomp to learn several moves that cover it's weaknesses. For example, Fire fang, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Poison Jab, and even Iron tail, Metal Claw, or Iron head if you're patient enough with them. That takes care of Ice and Fairy types, then of course dragons are weak to dragon moves…" Ash stated.
As if Garchomp was listening in on Ash's explanation, he leapt out of the air and fired a Flamethrower from his maw, into the sky.
"And they can fly slash hover… whatever you call it," Leaf shrugged. She pulled out a poke ball and eyed the many tiny fins that were following after Ash's Garchomp and the other dragons in the ground with Ditto. She finally picked one which looked to be female.
"Come on out, Granbull!" Leaf shouted and released the fairy type bruiser. He swung his arms to stretch a bit before bellowing. "Go get that Gible, use Dig and then Play Rough!"
Granbull barked and then dug into the earth. Most everyone stopped on the road so that they could wait for Leaf to finish capturing the pokemon. The two Garchomps, Krookadile, Gabite, Ditto, and the rest of the Gible stopped to watch too as Granbull burst up through the earth punching the targeted Gible into the air. It flailed a bit before peaking it's ascent and starting to fall. Gible then focused its energy and turned its head crest into solid steel, preforming Iron head.
Leaf clicked her tongue. She had wanted Granbull to use Ice fang as the Gible fell back down into her pokemon's range, but that wouldn't do much good against an Iron head. It'd shatter the ice on Granbull's tusks before it could do damage to Gible. Plan B it was then.
"Use Fire fang!"
The flame coated tusks crashed against Gible's iron hard head, causing sparks to fly before starting to actually melt through the steel energy on Gible's head. The dragon type yelped before she was covered in a flash of flames and tossed to the side in a heap.
"Pokeball, go!" Leaf cocked her arm back and tossed the sphere expertly. It smacked the side of Gible's temple before sucking the dragon inside. It shook once and then dinged as a critical capture.
"Nice one, Leaf," Jimmy congratulated.
"Yeah, it wasn't too bad…" Gary drawled. Leaf had returned Granbull and retrieved her new Gible, with Ash's Garchomp's help, by the time she turned to give Gary a glare for his comment.
"Would you like me to tell them about…" Leaf trailed off.
Gary studied her face for a moment before some hidden realization struck him. "You wouldn't! You swore Leaf! That was the condition to me telling you about that… incident."
"Then don't mock my abilities again," Leaf stated simply as everyone started to walk again.
Gary opened his mouth once, twice and then grumbled something incoherent before crossing his arms and pouting slightly.
"Oh you've got to tell me about whatever it is! Please!? Leaf come on!" Ash spoke up and started practically begging. "It's gotta be good if it made Gary shut up like that."
"Hey!" Gary yelped and snatched Ash's hat off his head. "We will not discuss this, we will never discuss this!"
Ash's arm whipped out and grabbed his hat from Gary's hand before the other trainer could blink. He put his hat back on. "Oh I'll find out… eventually."
"And me."
"Yep."
Gary glared back behind him, knowing he'd heard Drew and Paul's voices.
"Do they do this all the time?" Assunta whispered to Ritchie.
"They do it a lot… but at least it shows they care."
"It must drive you nuts."
"You have no idea."
The group of friends continued to talk and chat and even gripe a bit as they continued along the path towards Lumiose. They were soon able to spot the Prism Tower in the distance.
zz
"This place never settles down, huh?" Brendan questioned as the two groups entered the north west entrance of Lumiose city.
"Yeah it's the largest city in Kalos. I hardly ever is very quiet," Mairin perked up.
"So the plan is to visit here some again and then head out towards Laverre city, right?" Brock asked and looked at his group of friends.
Everyone in Ash's group nodded.
"I think we may do that as well. Perhaps we'll be fortunate enough to run into Solidad's group again once we start off that direction," Astrid offered.
Her friends nodded in agreement.
Ash grinned excitedly. "So we split up for now to train or do whatever, right?"
Misty went to open her mouth, but Ash had already dashed off.
"Why do I bother?" Misty sighed, but couldn't hide the smile on her lips.
"I think Ash has gotten faster. You think his aura really got stronger and he can do that whenever?" Max asked.
The others all looked at each other and shrugged.
"We haven't actually asked him. You know, since we didn't want to bring up his father on accident," May replied with a small frown.
"That was my mindset," Drew added.
Misty frowned. "Do you think he's holding that in?"
"Most likely," Gary answered.
Everyone was silent for a minute before Dawn broke the silence, not liking everyone being sad. "Hey how about we walk around and looked at shops? Misty, Iris, May?" She looked over at the other girls in the other group to open the invitation to them as well.
"I'm going to go with Drew to the Sushi High Roller restaurant. They have double battles and I could use some practice in that kind of battle," May replied and linked arms with Drew.
"That sounds fun," Ritchie replied and grinned.
"I wish to come as well," Assunta seconded and stood next to Ritchie, making them both shift awkwardly at the subconscious gesture.
"That place also does Triple and Rotation battles…" Paul trailed off and walked over to the four with his hands in his pockets.
"I wanna go see where Ash disappeared to!" Mairin declared and ran off in the direction that Ash had vanished.
"Mairin, wait!" Alain groaned slightly as he watched his friend run off.
"You an only child?" Astrid smirked.
"Yes, why?"
"Good, because you don't have the patience to have a little sister, even if you have the heart," Astrid answered and then flushed slightly from the last comment, though Alain didn't act like he'd heard…
"We'll go make sure Ash doesn't get himself into something, Misty, don't worry," Brock spoke up and nodded. Max, Brendan, and Samurai all nodded in agreement.
"Yeah me too-aclk!" Gary yelped out when Leaf grabbed the back of his shirt collar.
"Oh no you don't. We need to talk…" Leaf stumbled on her words. "Alone."
Gary backed up and bit and looked around like a trapped animal before resting his gaze back on Leaf. "What, you going to have me offed or something?"
Leaf steamed before snatching his arm and dragging the researcher off. "You are so dumb, Gary!"
Everyone blinked in amusement or confusion as the two disappeared.
"So whipped."
"I agree."
May gave her boyfriend and disapproving glance and Dawn sighed in amusement at Paul.
Eventually everyone settled down and moved off to their own destinations. Jimmy was drug off by Marina to go shopping, the poor boy yelling and calling for help the whole way, while Vincent followed after them with suspicion. Cilan, Chili, and Cress went off to find Siebald's restaurant and see if they could get in to see the man himself. Iris, Dawn, and Misty went off to find someplace to shop or train or something; they weren't too sure what to do until Trevor, Shauna, Tierno, and Calem stated that they were heading off to visit Professor Sycamore. Leaf and Gary had dropped off the face of the planet and Paul, Drew, May, Ritchie, and Assunta had gone off to battle at the Sushi High Roller. Max, Brock, Alain, Mairin, Astrid, Brendan, and Samurai had gone to find where Ash had vanished to and hopefully train with him when they got there.
zzz-Jimmy, Marina, Vincent-zzz
"Marina! Marina, slow down! I'm- I'm going to trip!" Jimmy yelled out in slight fear as Marina drug him at an impressive speed down one of the avenues. He tripped and fumbled slightly over his own feet as she continued to pull.
"Where are we going, Marina?" Vincent asked calmly, trying to vie for attention from his crush.
"To the Boutique Couture of course! You have to be stylish enough to even enter the shop!" Marina declared happily.
"What makes you think you'll get in?" Jimmy ask in confusion with his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Marina froze and she looked down at Jimmy in irritation. "Excuse me? I'm a pokemon idol!" She then hissed under her breath. "And the Master's daughter if you've forgotten."
Jimmy sweatdropped in nervousness. "Oh right of course…"
"Geez Jimmy. I can't believe you didn't remember that," Vincent said slyly.
Jimmy cast a slightly annoyed glance at his friend, before Marina continued.
"You two on the other hand will have to behave and hope that me saying that you're with me will be enough," Marina stated.
Jimmy had an annoyed squiggle appear above his head while Vincent laughed a bit nervously.
"Anything for you, Marina," Vincent replied calmly.
Marina smiled and turned to walk towards the doors of the Boutique. A young female attendant was standing there smiling at them.
"Can I help you?"
Marina nodded happily and passed the girl her pokedex. The attendant looked over it and nodded before glancing at the two boys.
"They're with me," Marina smiled brightly.
The attendant nodded. "Okay, I suppose." She looked back at Marina. " Enjoy your time, Miss Andreatto."
Marina thanked the girl and then drug Jimmy inside, while Vincent followed dutifully behind.
"See, look at all the wonderful clothes and things!" Marina declared and finally let go of Jimmy.
"That's really great, Marina, but why did you bring us?" Jimmy asked.
Marina smiled sneakily and a shadow formed on her face. "Because, I want to see how you'd look if you actually cared about your appearance at all, Schemmel…"
Jimmy started to sweat profusely. "Excuse me?" He finished with a squeak.
"You heard me," Marina answered briskly and started to grab up and few things. She turned to face the boys and moved to hand her cargo over to Jimmy.
"NO! NO! I WILL NOT WEAR A FEDORA!" Jimmy yelled out as Marina started to chase the fleeing boy out of the store.
"Oh come on…!" Marina whined out. She snatched one of her poke balls. "Fla-fla, Thunder wave!"
"Flaaaaffy!" The pokemon called out and then zapped Jimmy in the small of his back. The boy fell flat on his face and moaned.
Vincent stood stock still, looking slightly horrified.
"Vincent, if you'd be a dear and drag him back over towards the changing rooms. I want to lock him in one with these clothes," Marina asked sweetly.
Vincent sweatdropped and looked down at Jimmy who was giving him a dark glare.
"Don't you do it. I swear to Arceus, Vincent I will hunt you down."
"Vincent, sweetie!"
"Vincent!"
"Darling…"
Vincent gulped and turned his back on Jimmy. "Uh, anything for you, Marina my dear."
Jimmy's teeth clenched. "I'll get you for this. Both of you!" Jimmy sweat dropped when he realized that his Typhlosion had let himself out and was grinning goofily at him and giggling at his misfortune. "Traitor."
zzz-Cilan, Cress, Chili-zzz
"The idea of even getting to see Siebold is making my heart beat faster," Cress spoke up as the three brothers walked along.
"Indeed! I can especially understand why for you, Cress, since he is indeed a water type specialist," Cilan responded.
"He's amazing in all sense of the word!" Chili grinned and pumped his fists.
Cilan and Cress chuckled light-heartedly at Chili's ever present fervor and continued until they were at the door to the restaurant. To say there was a line was a severe understatement.
"Ah man," Chili muttered.
Cress was about to try and calm his brother, before all three caught the voices from a group of young trainers near the door. They looked to be about eleven or twelve years of age.
"Did you see how she just walked up and challenged him?"
"Who does she think she is? He's busy making food for his costumers and looking after the other chefs and sous-chefs."
"He's like super out of her league."
"But did you see it?"
"See what?"
"The tip of that whip thing she had? She has a key stone!"
"No way!"
"Yeah, I know that's what I saw. It wasn't round, but it was a keystone fitted to the tip of that whip."
Cilan, Cress, and Chili all glanced at each other in surprise. Could it be?
They walked forward and against their normal tendencies they nudged past some people to get a look inside the restaurant. It didn't seem like the line was actually a line after all but a mass wanting to see what was going on.
"I'm afraid I'm quite busy right now."
"What, are you frightened?"
Cilan, Cress, and Chili gasped when they saw who it was. It was none other than Morana the ice trainer that had once tried to take possession of their gym, only to be defeated at last by Cilan on Paladin Island. She was glaring at Siebold who was looking at her evenly. He had on his normal wear with the addition of his chef's hat; it seemed Morana had literally interrupted whatever he'd been doing.
"Don't think your taunts and petty words will change the fact that I am busy, young lady." Siebold took off his hat and continued to look at her with an undaunted expression.
Morana grumbled. "If you can't back up your title then it shouldn't belong to you."
"Yeah that tactic sure worked when you were defeated by Cilan!"
Everyone turned and looked to see Cilan and Cress sweating a bit nervously at their brother, Chili's, outburst.
"Is this what you do with your time? Go around trying to take people's gyms and titles for yourself because you don't won't to work for them on your own!?" Chili declared.
Cress had planned to intervene but hearing what Chili had said had actually made since. Though Chili was letting his emotions get a little out of control, he was thinking clearly and he'd made a good point. He'd also obviously struck a nerve.
Morana's face turned red and she pointed at the three brothers with her whip. "You!"
Cilan frowned and nodded. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Morana. How has Abomasnow been doing?"
"Oh don't give me that," she hissed.
"Cilan, Cress, Chili, the gym leaders of the Striation city gym. A pleasure to meet you three in person. I heard from some of the others that you three have taken on the Master Challenge?" Siebold asked with a smile.
The others in the restaurant started to murmur after a couple people gasped.
Cress smiled and bowed. "Yes we have. We've been traveling with Ash and his many friends to learn more about our pokemon and ourselves."
Siebold nodded. "Ah yes, Ash. I remember him. It seems you three are doing well."
"You three little boys got into the Master Challenge?" Morana questioned angrily.
Chili whispered to Cress. "When is she going to realize that we weren't and we aren't little boys, even to her? I mean how much older than us is she, five, at the most?"
Cress smiled and only shrugged.
"Yes we did. Are you part of the Challenge?" Cilan asked politely. Though he didn't favor the woman all that much, Cilan wouldn't deny her curtesy. Little did he know, he'd said the wrong thing.
"I should have, but apparently I didn't meet the League's standards…" She growled.
Chili narrowed his eyes and Cress hummed to himself. It even more evidence that what Chili had stated was correct. She really did want to take away something from someone else so that she didn't have to work for it; in return she had no claim to her own name.
"That's a shame." Cilan nodded.
Morana suddenly smiled. "I think I distinctly remember saying something to you last, Cilan Griffith… That the next time I saw you, I'd beat you?"
Cilan blinked. "Well I suppose. I do think I recall something like that."
Morana smirked and looked over Cress and Chili too. "Very well. I challenge you all again, for the possession of your gym."
Chili's face immediately turned red. "You're crazy! No way. We aren't going through that again! It's our home too ya know!?"
Cress shook his head. "I agree with my brother. Last time was a close enough call."
"Indeed." Cilan nodded.
Morana narrowed her eyes at Chili. "You chickening out this time, boys?"
Chili stood up straighter and the red came away from his face. "No, we aren't, but we will not play your game again."
Cress smiled proudly to himself. He and Chili as well as Cilan had grown much during this journey.
"Ugh!" Morana growled.
"However…" Cilan began with a smile and drew Morana's attention. The Connoisseur had a competitive gleam in his eyes. "If you would like to merely battle us for the sake of a battle then I'm sure my brother's will agree. A six on six battle. Six of your pokemon and two from each of us. We wanted to train while in Lumoise and indeed our other allies and friends are doing the same as we speak. What do you say?"
Morana grumbled something under her breath and then nodded, while still glaring at Cilan. "Very well, so long as I get to destroy, you."
Cilan nodded in determination. "I've only gotten stronger, Morana and the same goes for my brothers."
Morana rolled her eyes. "Whatever, let's get to the field already."
Siebold frowned a bit but then smiled and nodded. "Come then, we'll go to my personal field out back."
Chili, Cress, and Cilan had to remember how to breathe.
"Did I say something, wrong?" Siebold questioned somewhat innocently.
"Nothing, nothing, nothing," Cilan waved his hands quickly.
Siebold smiled again and then led Morana, the Straition brothers, and practically a quarter of the population of Lumoise through his restaurant and to his personal battlefield behind it. A sous-chef offered to be referee.
The Striation brothers went to one side and Morana went to the other.
"This battle will be between the Striation brothers of the Striation gym and Morana Jiménez of Sangem town. This will be a Multi-battle with a two per trainer versus six per trainer full party battle and there will be no substitutions. The pokemon must continue to fight until it can fight no longer. Mega evolution is allowed since all trainers have the option or ability to use a mega evolved pokemon! The limiting rule of one mega evolution per battle is active." The sous-chef sweat dropped. "That was a mouthful." He muttered to himself. "Both sides choose your first pokemon!"
Cilan nodded to his brothers before stepping forward first. "Grotle, let's go!"
His poke ball spun and then opened to reveal the second stage grass starter for Sinnoh.
"Grotle!" Grotle cried out and ruffled her foliage.
Morana huffed and tossed her own sphere. "Avalugg!"
Avalugg appeared and then crashed down onto the field with a thunderous bang. He was a tad bigger than the normal Avalugg and Grotle blinked in slight surprise.
"Avalugg, use Ice ball, now!"
Avalugg let out a bellow and started to charge the ball of ice in it's mouth. After a brief moment, it fired the first shot of ice at it's opponent.
Cilan smiled and nodded. "Grotle, Charge ahead with Rock Climb and use the move that Ash's Feraligator was kind enough to teach you!"
"Grotle!" Grotle called out and charged as her claws became longer and gave her greater traction.
"You're just going to charge right through that Ice ball?" Morana asked in confusion.
Cilan nodded. "I learned from Ash that Grotle is much slower than Turtwig, so working on Grotle's defense was paramount! Sometimes power is indeed the best way to go. it's when you only rely on it and it alone, that you run into trouble."
Grotle crashed through the weakest of the Ice balls and headbutted Avalugg just as it was charging up the second sphere, sending ice, from the pokemon's head, shattering and sailing through the air as it glittered in the light. Grotle's body turned a dark red and she slammed her head into Avalugg's head again, causing the second sphere of ice to detonate.
Both pokemon slid back from the impact and a brief cloud of smoke was whisked away from the attacks colliding.
Avalugg had some ice missing from the side of his head and some scratches in other places, while Grotle had a few scuff marks on her head.
Morana blinked in shock when she noticed her pokemon's legs trembling slightly. "What did you do?"
"We used Superpower," Cilan replied.
Morana grit her teeth and the grinned. "Recover."
Cilan and his brothers opened their mouths in surprise along with Grotle, as Avalugg's body glowed golden and the ice that was missing, was replaced.
"I've learned some ways to increase my chances of winning. You won't win, this time, Cilan," Morana mocked. "Ice beam!"
Avalugg opened his mouth again and started to charge the attack.
"Use Rock Climb to dodge!" Cilan snapped.
Grotle jumped away from the Ice beam as it struck the place she'd been and started to follow her. She ran and jumped and leapt out of the way as it tried to snag her and unfortunately, it did. Grotle cried out when her left side was frozen over with a thin sheet of ice. She tripped and slid across the dirt floor.
"Grotle!" Cilan shouted.
"Use, Ice beam, once more!" Morana called out.
"Grotle, use Sunny day, into the beam!" Cilan yelled.
"What!?" Cress, Chili, Morana and a few other people cried out.
Grotle opened her own mouth and fired a ball of bright energy towards the beam of ice that was coming. Though the Sunny day, merely passed through the attack and did nothing to stop the move's momentum, it did melt away much of it's coldness. By the time it hit, Grotle, it was like cold slush rather than frigid ice. Grotle stood and shook off the slush before growling.
"Are you nuts or something?" Morana asked hotly. "Who fires a Sunny day as an attack?"
Cilan chuckled to himself. "I think I'm starting to understand why Ash gets short with people sometimes." He then answered Morana, "A friend of mine taught me to always think outside the box, right Grotle?"
Grotle wagged her tail and chirped happily at him before bursting into a bright white form and starting to grow.
"Grotle!?" Cilan asked in surprise as his pokemon changed. The light twisted and turned and grew until it burst away, leaving behind a Torterra.
"Torterra!"
"Congratulations, brother!" Cress exclaimed happily.
"Great work, both of you!" Chili grinned and gave a double thumbs up.
"Avalugg, use Blizzard!"
Cilan thrust out his hand. "Torterra, now, use Frenzy Plant!" Torterra roared before she pounded the earth powerfully after rearing up. Cracks formed in the ground and large vines erupted forth, blocking the Blizzard from striking Torterra as well as appearing behind Avalugg and twisted around his body and legs before lifting him in the air.
"No!" Morana called out in aggravation. "Use Ice beam, while Torterra can't move!"
Avalugg squirmed a bit before stopping and trying to aim the newly building attack in his mouth.
"Defensive position, until you can recover enough of your strength." Cilan nodded as Torterra squatted a bit, tilted her rear up slight and tucked her head so that her chin was almost touching her underbelly. The only things visible were her large shell and the rough armor on the crown of her head. The Ice beam struck, freezing a path from her head to the middle of her body before striking the side of the battle field behind the pokemon, barely missing some people. A sous-chef released a Mr. Mime after that, to protect the crowd.
Torterra came out of her defense position and stamped her feet, breaking off at least two thirds of the ice that was stuck on her body and tree.
"Torterra, use Rock Tomb!" Torterra opened her mouth and formed a large boulder, covered in silver light. She fired.
"Use Recover!" Morana yelped out, but was too late to save her pokemon. Avalugg had only started to charge up his golden energy before his face met the stone and his eyes turned to swirls.
"Avalugg is unable to battle, please choose your next pokemon, Morana!"
Morana growled and returned her downed pokemon as the Frenzy Plant vines dried out and were eventually blown away by the wind.
"Mamoswine!"
Her pokemon appeared in a flash of light and stamped the ground with one foot before letting out a rumbling cry.
"Use Ice fang!" Morana growled and pointed at the waiting Torterra.
Mamoswine roared and started stampeding towards Torterra as its tusks glowed blue with ice energy.
"Meet that with Superpower!" Cilan called out and swung his arm. Torterra's claws once more grew longer and she charged with Rock Climb as her body took on the same red hue as before.
The two very large pokemon crashed into each other, causing red and blue energy to fan out into flares of power when they collided. They grunted and pushed against each other powerfully.
"Use Ice shard!"
"No!" Cilan cried out. Torterra wailed as the shards of ice pelted her at close range, since they'd been formed in Mamoswine's mouth as they'd struggled. Torterra whined before falling to her knees with swirls in her eyes.
"Torterra is unable to battle, Striation brothers, choose your next pokemon!"
Cilan returned his friend and thanked her before nodding to Chili. Chili walked up and took a shrunken poke ball from his waist. It enlarged in his hand and he smirked.
"Things will end differently, this time." Chili tossed the poke ball, come on out, pal!"
Simisear appeared in a shower of embers and cried out his name at the ready.
Morana smirked. "Finally evolved him, hm? I suspect you all did so at the same time… and you call me predictable."
Chili frowned. "Simisear was strong as a Pansear and he's even stronger and smarter now! So is his trainer. Let's go, Fire Punch!" Chili yelled and punched forward with one fist.
Simisear cried out its name and ran forward as fast as it could before his fist caught fire.
"Stop him! Use Earth power!"
Mamoswine reared and stomped the ground. This caused massive geysers of earth to spout out from the dirt in front of him, blocking off Simisear's charge.
"Jump now, Simisear!" Chili cried out. Simisear leapt into the air and went right over the geysers before they'd reached full height. He came down hard on Mamoswine's head, slamming his still flaming fist into the ground and ice type's skull.
Mamoswine cried out in pain and fell to one knee.
"What!? That attack shouldn't have been so powerful!" Morana cried out.
Chili only snickered and pointed up.
Morana blinked and looked up only to have to shield her eyes from the light above the field.
"Torterra's Sunny Day was still in play. After it went through your Ice beam, it naturally bounced back towards the sky as it generally is supposed to. Speaking of which, Simisear, we won't have any help from the sun anymore, so be mindful."
"Simi!"
Morana ground her teeth angrily. "Mamoswine, Double hit!"
Mamoswine's body started to glow a bright yellow before running forwards.
"Meet it with Power-up Punch!"
Simisear cocked back his arm and built up strength as Mamoswine came closer and closer. He almost had to cross his eyes by the time he swung forward and threw his weight into the attack. Mamoswine was forced to halt as the shock wave of power surged through him from the punch as did the power of Mamoswine's attack did into Simisear.
"Solarbeam!" Chili cried out.
Simisear started to charge up the beam in the other hand, not used in the punch.
"Earthquake!"
Mamoswine didn't have the time to rear to start the attack, so he used the slightly quicker method. His eyes started to glow and the earth started to shake as Simisear brought his second arm forward and fired the beam.
An explosion of smoke and fire resulted from the attack and everyone waited patiently to see what had happened.
Siebold released a Pelipper he owned and the bird flapped his wings to make the smoke clear. In the center of the field, Simisear was panting and Mamoswine was out cold.
"Mamoswine is unable to battle-"
"Simisear too," Chili interrupted.
"Hm?" The ref asked.
Chili smiled a bit sadly. "Simisear did great, but he's very tired and I don't want him to be hurt. I forfeit him."
The ref nodded. "Very well, Simisear and Mamoswine are unable to battle, both sides, please choose your next pokemon."
Chili thanked and returned Simisear and he turned to see his brothers smiling in approval at Chili's decision. Cress passed his brother to take his place after placing a hand on the other's shoulder.
What none of the brothers knew was that Siebold was smiling largely; some of his assistants and sous-chefs were wondering if he was okay.
"Glalie!"
"Simipour, let's go!"
Glalie appeared and droned out its name and narrowed it's eyes at Simipour when the monkey saluted the crowd and got into fighting position.
"Simipour, use Work up!" Simipour pounded his fists into the ground and started to have somewhat of a temper-tantrum before letting out a calming breath once it was done.
"Ice shard!" Glalie obeyed his mistress and started to rapidly fire shards of ice at his opponent.
"Acrobatics to dodge!"
Simipour chirped and then started to jump, run, dodge, duck and flip to avoid every shard that came close. He ended up balancing on one of his hands with his feet in the air. "Simi-pourrr!"
Morana hissed under her breath. "Double team!"
"Use Double team as well!"
Glalie and Simipour's forms split into many and started to appear and disappear around one another.
"Freeze dry / Power-up Punch!" Both trainers yelled out.
Glalie let fly the specialist ice type move and Simipour started swinging at his opponents with a glowing orange fist. By the time the copies had finished attacking and dodging and countering, Two Simipours remained and three Glalies were with them.
"Dispel Double team and focus on using Rock Tomb!"
Simipour's double faded out of existence as he formed a large stone in one hand.
"Glalie, Sheer cold!" Morana snapped, starting to get annoyed. Glalie opened his mouth as the absolutely frigid icy mist fled his maw and started to coat the field.
"Jump!" Cress snapped. Simipour continued to charge his attack before leaping into the air to avoid the spider webbing ice that was creeping across the ground towards where he's been. When the water type reached the peak of his jump, he chucked the Rock tomb he had, which crashed into Glalie's side and sent the pure ice type to the ground.
"Glalie get up and use Freeze dry again!"
Glalie struggled to get up and turned to fire the attack at Simipour. He focused a fine point of ice energy in his mouth and a wind of very fine icy crystals flew out in a misty stream towards Simipour.
"Finish this, Focus blast!" Cress declared. Simipour landed on the ground and slid to one knee because of the left over ice of Sheer cold. He used his new position to steady his aim and fire a ball of blue energy at Glalie. It shot through the middle of the Freeze dry attack, making it plume out around the sphere as it passed. It detonated in Glalie's face.
The smoke was cleared once more and Glalie was out cold. Simipour was still on one knee with a thin layer of ice on him. He stood and then shook violently to get most of the ice off his coat.
"Glalie is unable to battle, Morana choose your next pokemon!"
Morana silently returned Glalie and pulled out another sphere. "This is starting to become an annoyance. Do not think you have won yet. Cloyster!"
The bivalve fell onto the field and opened his shell just slightly so that he could peak at his opponent and give him a grin.
"Use Spikes." Cloyster laughed out loud and then fired several waves of spines about the field; the energy solidified and became sharp steel barbs endowed with ground typing.
Cress grimaced. That wouldn't hurt Simipour as much since he knew where to dodge to avoid the spikes at present, but one wrong move could be painful and any pokemon that was next on their team wouldn't know where the spikes were before they appeared for battle.
"Simipour, charge up another Focus blast," Cress commanded. Maybe if Simipour doesn't need to move much…
Simipour started to build the blue sphere in his hands again as Morana made her next request from her pokemon.
"Protect."
The blue sphere crashed into the green shield around Cloyster, whom had had to close his shell to activate the shield, and exploded without doing damage.
"Spike cannon."
Cloyster opened up his shell as his horn started to glow and the shield faded. He fired off five spikes that flew towards Simipour like missiles.
"Dodge the best you can and use Ice beam!"
Simipour cried out in understating and started to work at dodging the very fast moving spikes. He powered up his beam and dodged the first two, only to be hit by the last three as he let his beam fly. The attack struck the side of Cloyster's shell as he instinctively closed it to brace himself.
"Now Scald!"
Simipour altered his internal temperature and spewed a torrent of boiling water out of his mouth and at Cloyster, hitting the same spot he'd struck with the Ice beam.
"Charge! Us-"
"Cloyster, Shell smash, then Ice beam!"
Cress' eyes widened at his opponents command. Cloyster's shell glowed red and cracked; a large layer of the shell then exploded into pieces, making Cloyster look much smaller in general. He then built up energy on his horn and fired a beam of ice. Simipour had tried to run at Cloyster, knowing to use Power-up punch like his trainer had wanted before he'd been interrupted, but was struck midway to the bivalve while trying to miss a spike at the same time on the ground. He cried out before he was frozen solid and was knocked out of the game.
"Simipour is unable to battle, Striation brothers, choose your next pokemon."
Cress smiled and returned his partner proudly. He glanced back at his brothers and nodded before pulling out his second poke ball. "Bibarel, let's fight!"
Cress' Bibarel appeared on the field and flenched from landing on a few spikes. He moved aside and waved his arms happily at everyone.
Morana scoffed. "You're going to fight with that pokemon?"
Cress frowned angrily. "There's no need or necessity in putting down my friend. How about you save your judgement at least until after you've fought him."
"Bibarel!" Bibarel cried out and crashed his fists together.
"Fine! Cloyster, Shell Smash again!"
"Bibarel, Curse!"
Again, Cloyster's shell grew smaller and Bibarel's body glowed blue and purple.
"Cloyster, use Spike Cannon!"
Cloyster's horn started to glow white just as Bibarel charged.
"Use Superpower!"
Bibarel ran forward, ignoring the spikes getting in his feet and striking his body. His hard head slammed into Cloyster's body. The bivalve grimaced as he was tossed backwards and crashed onto his back.
Morana grumbled something under her breath and Cloyster started to glow white hot.
Cress stuttered. "Bibarel, get out of there!"
Bibarel turned to scrabble away but was caught in the blast from Explosion. He was tossed across the field as the Spikes were cleared by the shockwave of energy. The normal and water type struck the earth and rolled a bit before coming to a stop.
"Bibarel!" Cress cried out in worry and ran to the field as Morana returned her pokemon.
"Looks like a tie…" Morana muttered.
"Bibarel and Cloyster are unable to battle, both sides please choose your next pokemon!"
Chili growled as Cress comforted the very weak Bibarel and returned him. He looked at Cilan. "She just did that so she wouldn't have to admit his Bibarel was going to wipe the floor with Cloyster! She did that to really hurt Bibarel!"
Cilan frowned as his third brother walked back over to them. "It does seem that way. Explosion is a very powerful move and many don't find it to be very sporting, however, it's cleared by the League and can use used strategically. The side effects sadly can't be avoided."
"Bibarel did a good job, but it seems it's up to the two of you," Cress finished and then smiled.
"Don't worry, Cress. I won't let her hurt Bibarel like that and get away with it," Chili declared and moved out to the box in front of his other two brother's to take Cress' place.
"I'll admit, you three have gotten better…" Morana drawled. She smirked. "By the way… I did learn something from my battle with Cilan."
Chili seemed slightly surprised by that as Morana released her Abomasnow onto the field.
She continued smirking as she trailed her thumb and index finger down the length of her whip and tightly held the hard stone tip. "I've learned to work with my pokemon on a deeper level. Had I known that doing such a thing could make my pokemon even stronger, I would've done it a long time ago." She released the tip of the whip to let it crack in the air. The tip started to glow brightly and so did Abomasnow.
Before long, a bright orange flash of light revealed a Mega Abomasnow.
"Aboooma!"
Chili grit his teeth and then grinned cheekily. "You don't even know the half of it!" He pulled out a poke ball and tossed it. Blaziken appeared in mid-air, flipped and then landed gracefully on one foot.
"Blaziken!"
Chili closed his eyes and focused before throwing his arm out, to only rotate it to come back and touch the stone resting in his bow. "Blaziken, lend me your aura, mega evolve!" Chili had learned, like many from Ash within the last few days that mega evolution was a slight altering of the bond of aura that formed between all people and their pokemon. For a pokemon to mega evolve, they pulled out the inner reserves of power and mixed it with the energy stored in their mega stone. It was the link of the trainer to the pokemon that gave trained mega evolved pokemon a slightly larger power boost compared to wild pokemon that stumbled across the stones. The trainer surrendered some of their own aura, temporarily, during the battle.
Blaziken roared as his body was consumed with a bright orange light. When the light cleared, mega Blaziken had taken his place.
"Let's use, Fire punch, go!" Chili cheered and punched forward. His Blaziken literarily disappeared from sight before appearing in front of Abomasnow with his fist flickering with flames.
"Earthquake!"
Abomasnow roared as the earth started to shake.
"Switch to High Jump Kick!"
Blaziken shot into the air as his speed increased and helped him to miss Earthquake all together. He came back down like a comet with his foot outstretched to strike.
"Water pulse!"
"Huh!?" Chili cried out as Blaziken was struck with the pulse of clear water, disturbing his decent and causing him to crash into the ground. He tried to get back up but fumbled; his left leg seemed to be hurt. "Blaziken, are you okay!?"
"Blaze…" Blaziken grimaced.
"Water pulse again!" Morana commanded with a smirk on her face.
Abomasnow opened his mouth once more to form the large sphere of water.
"Think you can at least run?" Chili asked nervously. Blaziken nodded and pulled himself up slowly. "Use Flame Charge!"
Blaziken seemed to stand still before the viewer realized that he was now moving so fast, that he was leaving after images.
Abomasnow cried out in extreme pain as Blaziken crashed into his body, flames licking at his grass and ice covered form.
"Use Wood hammer!"
Abomasnow's arm started to glow dark green and he cocked back his arm to swing.
"Dodge it!"
Blaziken's form again remained behind as Abomasnow's arm swung through a mere image of what had been.
"Get on top of him and use Overheat!" Chili yelled out. Blaziken was suddenly on Abomasnow's back and his body was starting to glow orange.
"Sheer cold!" Morana cried out in desperation.
"NOW!" Chili roared. Blaziken's heat exploded out from him just as Abomasnow's cold clouds of icy mist escaped his body. The fire and ice met to form a massive mushroom cloud of steam. Through the white fog, you could see an orange and blue glow stacked on top of each other, switching between which was glowing brighter. After several minutes, Chili was starting to worry. "You can do it, Blaziken! Give it your all!"
"BLAZZZEEE!"
A new blast of heat echoed out and cleared away the steam. After it was all said and done, the mega evolved Blaziken was standing on top of the normal Abomasnow, whose eyes were in swirls.
Chili leapt into the air with pure joy. "Yeah! You beat that Sheer cold, Blaziken! You're the best!"
Blaziken smiled a bit with his beak before leaping off his downed opponent. He flipped in the air and landed on his trainer's side of the field, flinching when he landed a bit wrong on his hurt leg.
"Morana, Aboma-"
"I know!" Morana snapped and returned her pokemon. She growled and tossed her last sphere. "Aurorus, go."
"Psychic."
Chili gasped when his pokemon was picked up and thrown into the wall of the stadium, or at least, the barrier the Mr. Mime had made.
"Blaziken, Sky Uppercut!"
Blaziken is form again froze and remained there even when he was again visible as he gave Aurorus' chin and powerful uppercut. The after image didn't get the chance to vanish until the attack was halfway through.
"Earthquake!" Morana yelled in pure frustration. Blaziken's body was racked with the echoes of the ground attack when he'd jumped back to get distance from Aurorus for his next attack. Blaziken fell to his knees and then lost his mega evolution before he collapsed.
"Blaziken is unable-"
"Get on with it, come and meet your fate, Cilan!" Morana interrupted once more. Chili gave the young woman a hard look before returning his friend and stepping back to let Cilan take his place.
"Very well, Simisage, I need your help!"
Cilan's partner pokemon appeared and chattered happily at his trainer. Cilan positioned himself and then snapped his fingers loudly to gather everyone's attention.
"It's Evaluation time!"
Morana flushed in irritation as Cilan started to speak.
"Morana, you have grown stronger since our last meeting and I'm happy to see you have at least have to capacity to mega evolve. You've used a variety of strong ice type pokemon… as for your last choice…" Cilan eyed Aurorus carefully. "The tundra pokemon with the ability, Refrigerate. This ability allows Aurorus to turn it's normal type moves into ice type moves. It seems this is where you're still getting confused. Instead of trying to learn and change, you seem to feel the need to bend everyone else's perception to fit your own. In that way you very much match your pokemon's ability. If you can learn from mistakes and become more flexible and even closer to your pokemon then you will feel true fulfillment and drive to accomplish your own goals."
"Ice beam!"
Simisage squeaked and barely dodged by twirling into the air and balancing on his hand to avoid the beam. The Ice beam trailed across the earth and left a path of ice spires where it hit before exploding against the shield the Mr. Mime threw up.
Cilan's smiled turned into a serious frown. "Very well. Sometimes people must learn the hard way… or they don't learn at all…"
"Thunder wave!"
"Dig!"
Simisage plunged into the ground before the wave of static could touch him. Only then did Cilan realize he'd fallen into a trap.
"Earthquake!"
The earth rumbled and quaked powerfully and some people had to brace themselves to keep from falling over this time. Siebold gripped a nearby pillar and watched the earth seriously.
"Sage!" Simisage cried out and burst from the ground, with pain written on his face.
"Hyper beam, end them!"
Aurorus charged the normal-turned ice type move and let it fly. The beam screamed through the air towards the still air-born, Simisage.
"Rock Tomb Climb!"
Everyone in the arena looked at each other blankly and Cress and Chili eyed each other excitedly. They didn't notice Siebold edge closer until his voice caught their attention.
"What's Rock Tomb Climb? I thought I'd heard Grant mention it not too long ago…"
Cress and Chili looked over at their idol and Chili stuttered out an answer.
"It's a move combination that Ash came up with," Chili mentioned.
"Ash mentioned it to us when he found out all three of our pokemon, Simisage, Simisear, and Simipour, know Rock Tomb," Cress continued.
Siebold nodded in understanding and looked back to the field to make sure he could see this.
Simisage was surrounded by Rocks he'd formed and he jumped from one to the other to avoid the Hyper beam that tore through the grouping that had supported the grass type moments before.
"Power-up Punch!" Simisage cried out and smashed his glowing fist into the crown of Aurorus' head, causing the pokemon rear back in recoil from the blow, after Simisage's fist had left her head.
"Aurorus, use Avalanche!" Aurorus' eyes started to glow white and Cilan looked at Simisage.
"Alright, partner. It's time to use the move we've been working on ourselves. Simisage, use Substitute!"
Simisage focused and suddenly, his body disappeared in a puff of smoke, only to leave behind a short log with a leaf on it. The Avalanche fell.
Morana eyes opened wide in surprise, shock and resignation as Simisage reappeared with a Solarbeam already half charged in his hand.
"Solarbeam!" Cilan cried out and swung both arms wide.
Simisage threw the ball of solar energy. The attack hit Aurorus' chest with a bang and flash of light before the tundra pokemon cried out and toppled onto the ground.
"Aurorus is unable to battle, which means Morana is out of usable pokemon!"
Morana slid down to her rear as she returned her pokemon.
"So that means the Striation brothers are the winners!"
The crowd that had been watching erupted into cheers and whistles. Simisage ran over to Cilan after dispelling the the Substitute and glommed his trainer. Chili and Cress cheered and hugged their brother as well.
"I just don't understand…" Morana whispered.
Cilan eventually parted from his brothers and walked over to her with Simisage. The crowd was still talking excitedly about the battle that had just ended.
"You need to let go of what you thought you knew and start over. You're pokemon will be happier and so will you," Cilan spoke.
Morana glared up at him. "How do you know?"
Cilan frowned slightly. "Because, believe it or not… I have a friend that changed in a similar way. He used to abandon pokemon that were too weak for his liking. I've also seen people who are still stuck in their old ways… I know what both kinds look like and from what I've learned, I can honestly say that every person I've seen whose changed in the way my friend has has turned out much happier with themselves and in general."
Morana looked at him in slight confusion, conflict, and irritation, before she stood up and reached out a hand.
Cilan blinked and smiled and the shook it.
"Next time… I'll beat you." Morana then turned and walked out, though Cilan could've sworn he saw the hint of a smile trying to tug at her lips. She passed through the double doors and was gone.
"Alright everyone, the battle and show is over. Please do return to your seats or from where you came. I will have your food delivered to your table as quickly as possible," Siebold called out and everyone started to leave the stadium through the same double doors Morana had gone. The light of Cilan returning his Simisage caught Siebold's eye. He walked over to Cilan, Cress, and Chili before they could start to walk away.
"One moment."
The three brothers turned to see Siebold smiling at them. "I want to talk to you three about something very important. What would you say to me becoming your mentor?"
zzz-Iris, Dawn, Misty, Calem, Shauna, Trevor, Tierno-zzz
"Professor! It's us!" Shauna called out as the group of trainers made their way through the front door of the lab.
"How many pokemon do you think you've seen in your pokedex, Trevor?" Iris asked curiously when she noticed the young man fiddling with the device.
Trevor smiled and started to speak. "It took me a couple years to record at least basic data on all the the pokemon native to Kalos. I had started my journey a few years late since I'd mistakenly thought that you had to battle a lot to be a trainer. Regardless I was mostly done with Hoenn's pokedex and was planning on going to Kanto afterwards when the Master Challenge popped up. I felt I'd get to see all kinds of pokemon if I participated in something like that."
"That's actually a very smart idea," Misty replied.
"My dream is to be a pokemon field researcher like Professor Birch. Leaf seems to have a similar dream since she's not much for lab work like Gary is," Trevor returned.
"Oh hello there everyone!" Sycamore called out as he walked into the room to greet them.
"Hello there, Professor," Calem spoke up.
"What can I do for you?"
Calem smiled. "We were just passing through and wanted to see how you were."
"Is that so?" Sycamore asked with a happy smile. "Why thank you." He thought for a second and then snapped his fingers. "That's right… I have something for you, Calem."
Calem seemed confused. "You do?"
Sycamore nodded. "Come this way."
The group of friends walked deeper into the lab as they approached the portion that housed trainer's pokemon. Sycamore stopped and picked up a poke ball on a nearby table. "Here."
Calem blinked. "Huh?"
Sycamore laughed. "Korrina sent this to me… I guess she was serious when she said it was a surprise." With that, the professor released the pokemon and revealed it to be a familiar looking Lucario.
Calem's mouth dropped open. "I… wait… why?"
Sycamore laughed. "She was thinking that you'd be a great trainer to take care of her partner's offspring."
Calem snapped his mouth closed and some hidden emotion flash through his eyes before he nodded. He presented a hand to Lucario. "Hello there, friend."
Lucario nodded and gripped the hand. "Luwaoo…"
"He's already been transferred to your ownership and everything, so no need to worry about it," Sycamore said. He glanced over the group who were watching their friend happily. Hmmm… maybe… Sycamore smiled and spoke up again, "Hey, you know… I have another group of left over starter pokemon from Kanto."
Tierno looked up in surprise. "Again? I thought when you gave Shauna, Trevor, and I, ours that those breeders would get the numbers right next time."
Sycamore sweatdropped. "Well sadly this sort of over-estimation happens a lot for many of the well known breeders around the world. It's better for the number to be over-estimated than under, so most often they'll send to extras to regions that don't normally have them. This way some trainers who're looking for something new or different can choose them. It kinda helps breed familiarity with other cultures as well. This year though, I have no new trainers coming for starters. Bonnie and Lyn were the only two. I still need to find homes for the Chespin and Froakie they didn't choose too, but I'm pretty certain I know a few people who are interested. For the Kanto starters on the other hand, I have nothing."
Misty blinked and listened closely as the professor talked. But Ash said that Professor Oak ran out of starters… why would the professor lie and say he only had Pikachu… Misty's eyes went wide as a stray memory came to her. Sammy? Could it be…?
"So regardless, what do you three girls say to taking them off my hands?" Sycamore finished and snapped Misty out of her thoughts.
Dawn grinned and looked at Iris and Misty who returned her excitement. "You better believe it!"
Sycamore smiled and turned to walk towards the enclosed reserve the lab supported. "Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander are in the atrium. This way."
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phew so yeah a long chapter and most of it was the six v six battle with Morana. Then you have Lawrence playing with fire and Silver giving in. What'd you guys think?
The next chapter will continue with what the other characters are doing in Lumoise as well as which pokemon Dawn, Misty, and Iris choose... not that it isn't somewhat obvious with deductive reasoning :P
Answers to Questions:
JordanMax: it's very interesting that Lance danced around the subject of Sird, Is it because die to what happened in the Manga and how Lance was and the whole Loreleli thing or is it another reason?
NoSignal: You'll have to wait and see... ;)
NoSignal to Samster687: Thank you so much for your praise and support. I'm so glad you're enjoying the story so much.
XxRav3nxX: Also what is going to happen with Lugia? Can't he like send a mental message or something to Ash saying Lawrence III has captured him and that he needs saving. Lastly I was re-reading some of my fav bits from throughout the series and I was reading about Ashs battle with Zach in the Unova Arc and if you have played the Alpha Sapphire or Omega Ruby Pokemon games then you know that Sceptile now has a mega evolution, so will Ashs Sceptile get a mega stone? I have mega Secptile in Alpha Sapphire and I must say it is pretty freaking awesome!
NoSignal: Sadly no, they are way too far apart to communicate at the time, plus Lugia is a bit trapped in a electrical cage of Lawrence's design. As for Ash's Sceptile, do not fear... Mega Sceptile will appear! Ha! A rhyme!
Legolas Dragon Ranger: I realized, when I went back to reread your other arcs, that there's actually very little involving the Team Rocket Executives, even though they are important members of Team Rocket. I hope there will be more with them in the future, especially Proton. Will there?
NoSignal: The Executives are very busy and often are actually in offices or bases overseeing things like Giovanni does. Vane is kinda the only upper that is still doing major field work since he hasn't been approved as a Top Executive by Giovanni yet. That and:
Yeah I plan on having them appear more in the future. There's only really three top executives since in my story, Petrel is in prison still. Vane is trying to become one like his father, Archer and mother, Ariana. Proton's one and Domino's gotten pretty close. All the others, like Chas, Jeremy, etc. are executives but not top executives. The top executives are busy managing lots of projects going on, like the scientists, Lawrence, and wherever Team Rocket is getting their vast amounts of primal stone from.
Great: Huh, so Ash had a talk with an immortal Lysander, I wonder is Robles Neikan, Aluid or a combination of both? I keep noticing that you only talk about 2 orbs of justice where I count 3, the one of the Swords of Justice, the one of the Sword of the Vale and the one here with Xerneas. Just saying. Anyway, Looking forward to more!
NoSignal: That is the grand question, huh? Also thank you for telling me about that mistake. I believe I fixed it in the chapter, tell me if I do that again. That could confuse people. There are indeed three orbs in Ash's possession and fourteen / fifteen in Team Rocket's... the reason for the slash will be explained later.
larrybraswell5: Question I am wondering if the crystal bonding (I guess) means ash technically caught mewtwo x
NoSignal: Nope not for this story. However, Mewtwo will always trust Ash and his friends more than anyone else in the world and would defend his life if it came down to it.
irritatedbookwor: Btw, has the gang found the next clue yet? And how far are they into their year-long quest? I..kinda lost track of the timeline. *Mareepish grin* My time-sense sucks. Royally.
The simplest is: how much did you rewrite, anyways? The only reason I'm asking is so I know how much to [re-]snitch!
I'm running short on space. More later?
NoSignal: Yes it's stated somewhere in the first chapters of the Kalos Arc, but it is probably easy to miss. As for the time passed, the top of the chapter shows the number of days that has passed since they left the Indigo Plateau after forming their teams.
I think I've rewritten up to the Kanto Arc List which separates the Intro from the Kanto portions of the First Arc. At some point, like when we're really coming close to the end of the story (The last few chapters of the Final Arc) I think I'll go back through a second time for them as well as continue re-writting/editing. My style of writting has changed a lot since then. In short as of now, I haven't re-written much. :)
I loved your theories and I think they make a lot of sense. I'd like to hear more so yeah.
That's all! Thanks so much for all your reviews and kind words! Check out the question I have you guys at the top of the chapter if you missed it. It's underlined, bolded, and italicized, soooo yeah.
I've decided to give you guys a list of the new pokemon caught after each chapter so that new pokemon aren't spoiled but you also can remember which pokemon are new and aren't on the list at the start of the Arc.
Ash: Honedge (male) / Hawlucha (male)(returned) / Phantump (male)
Brock: Carbink (seen as female)
Gary: Zangoose (male) / Fennekin (male)
Ritchie: Honedge (Edgar)(male)
Max: Drifloon (male)
May: Spritzee (?) / Helioptile (?)
Drew: Espurr (male) / Frogadier (male)
Paul: Chespin (male)
Cilan: Skiddo (male)
Iris: Amaura (?)
Cress: Wailmer (?) / Binacle (male)
zzz
Clemont: Luxray (male)(reclaimed)
Serena: Furfrou (female) / Slowpoke (?) / Pangoro (male)(returned)
zzz
Bonnie: Torchic/ Dedenne (male)(reclaimed)/ Flabebe (female)
Lyn: Pikachu (female)(previous) / Fennekin (male)
Calem: Lucario (male)
Leaf: Gible (female)
So there you are I hope this helps some :) If you ever need the full list, minus the newest additions, it's at the beginning of the Arc.
Follow, Fav, Review, and most importantly, Enjoy! :D
NoSignal, out!
