[Oddish Hills-3:16 PM]
"Great, another battle," Jenna sighed. "I guess your gonna be proven after this one, young fella."
"FA-iry!" Clefairy responded, as if to remind Jenna to keep her promise.
"Yeah," Jenna replied in a daze, taking a seat alongside Kendra at a distance far enough to avoid the battlers.
The crowd gathered around once more, having dispersed momentarily after the little altercation with the thief at the Pokemon mart. Unfortunately for Aadon, everyone enjoyed watching his problems, but nobody enjoyed taking them on themselves.
No, this little battle belonged to him.
"Let's raise a little bet," Ryan grinned. "If our bro Harry wins, we get Chansey."
"And if I win?" Aadon asked, rather confident of his Paras, who lay still and prepared for battle. "Maybe you'll explain why you're after Chansey in the first place!"
"Maybe," Jen scoffed, avoiding eye contact and staring off into space, which Jenna immediately noticed.
"Graveler, let's give these people a show!" Harrison yelled cheerfully as he threw his Pokeball to the ground. With a click and a flash, there stood bipedal and boulder-like object with eyes just as radiant as its owner.
The Rock type and the Grass focused on each other, clearly ready to engage in battle.
"Good luck, Aadon!" Kendra cheered.
"Tackle attack, Graveler!" Harrison ordered, seizing the first move by quick surprise. Fortunately for Paras, the spacing was enough to evade the attack with ease.
"Slash," Aadon commanded. Paras scrambled to Graveler's front side, striking with a powerful Slash. The attack did little to affect the Rock type as Paras bounced away in retreat, creating distance.
"Take Down!" Harrison ordered quickly. Graveler charged forward at the retreating Paras, hitting the Grass type across the left flank and propelling the Pokemon into a skid across the ground. The attack managed to gather some "oohs" and "ahhs" from the still crowd.
"Get up and follow up with another Slash, quick!" Aadon shouted as the Grass-Bug Pokemon shot up from its skidding position rapidly, crawling forward at a fast speed.
"That creature is really quick," Ryan noted.
"I just hate Bug types," Jen said with a unusually pale face, making Ryan sigh with embarrassment.
"Grab that Paras!" Harrison grinned. As Paras jumped up for the attack in close proximity, Graveler utilized its long back arms to grab hold of the Grass type.
"Ah boy," Jenna groaned.
"Change your move to Leech Life!" Aadon ordered. Still within the grasp of Graveler, Paras latched its mouth to Graveler, attempting to drain energy from the Rock type.
"What?" Harrison said, somewhat confused.
"Ew!" said Jen fearfully.
"Uh, Aadon," mumbled Kendra. "I don't think-"
"Got you!" Aadon grinned.
Right away, Paras leaped backwards of its own accord and began to run back and forth. The Grass type whined in disgust, spitting out pebbles left and right.
"I don't think that was a really good idea," Harrison groaned. "That doesn't look fun."
"PARAS! PARAS! PARAS!"
Suddenly, Aadon was smacked in the back of his head by Jenna. "Ow! What the heck!"
"You don't use a Bug type move against a Rock type, Slowpoke for brains!" Jenna yelled annoyingly.
"Clefairy!" agreed the Normal type.
"Gosh, sorry!" Aadon whined. "You okay, Paras?"
"Paras!" the Grass type exclaimed, ready to battle.
"Rock Throw!" Harrison commanded. Several of the bystanders backed away as Graveler took up a mound of hard dirt from the ground and propelled it towards Paras.
"Dodge, Paras!" Aadon ordered rather calmly. Paras made an evasive movement to the left, narrowly avoiding the hard dirt that scattered around the spectators when it came crashing down, creating a cloud of visible dust for a short time.
"Stun Spore threw the dust cloud!" Aadon ordered as Paras fired a cloud of yellow mist into the cloud of dist, the two foggy particles dancing around effortlessly together in the air.
"Step back Graveler!" Harrison yelled. Much to his surprise, Graveler could not step back. "I said step back!"
"Grav..."
Abruptly, the Rock type begin to emitted an air of static around it.
"The young fella paralyzed the Graveler through the dust cloud," Jenna said in awe. "And if it wasn't enough that Graveler couldn't even get a whiff of the Stun Spore in the dust around the field of battle, the big guy was too Slowpoke to dodge it!"
"Wow," Kendra said in amazement.
"Bullet Seed!" Aadon ordered as the dust cleared. Paras inched with great rapidity towards the paralyzed Graveler, mouth emitting a white beam. "Now!"
The Grass type slugged sphere-like projectiles of Grass-type energy at a quick and energetic pace, hitting the immobile Rock type with great force.
"Tackle! You can do it, Graveler!" Harrison ordered. The Rock type Pokemon's eyes shot open as it charged at the vulnerable Paras, knocking the Grass type backwards.
Fortunately, Paras did not lose balance, and skipped forward to retaliate on command. "Bullet Seed!"
Again, the Grass-Bug type fired seeds of energy at Graveler, hitting the Pokemon with improved precision.
The cheers of the crowd grew louder, its size now having doubled. People of all ages stood all around town, their movement having come to a complete still.
"Pa-Paras..."
"Gra-veler..."
"Fight through the Bullet Seed!" Harrison ordered with a grin. "Full power Take Down!"
"Full power, Paras!" Aadon smirked, allowing the duel of strength to continue.
Though they were extremely exhausted, neither Paras nor Graveler wanted to concede defeat to the other. Despite the disadvantage, the sturdy Rock type put up a persistent effort in an attempt to seize the win. Paras fought back with equal force, firing energy projectiles at a consistent pace to match the force of Graveler's Take Down.
"It looks like they're actually enjoying this," Ryan said, his mouth wide open. "Like they have a respect for each other."
"And you know what they say about trainers and their Pokemon reflecting their emotions," Jen added. "I haven't seen Harrison this happy in a long time."
"Be this battle as it may, I'll be Wormadamed if Paras' Grass type advantage doesn't take its toll!"
"PAAAR!"
"GRAVELER!"
The force of the attack had generated too much energy to be contained, resulting in a small explosion with a force powerful enough to knock Paras several feet backwards. The agile Grass type maintained balance on the way down, landing as straight as possible. The fatigue seemed evident on landing as Paras struggled to stay up until the winner could be decided.
When the smoke dissipated, Graveler stood tall, weak but ready to continue.
The crowd stood in silence, waiting for the next clash.
Then, with a grand smile, the Rock type Pokemon fell to the floor.
"Aw man!" Harrison frowned.
"Harry lost!" Jen groaned.
"Aw man," Ryan grumbled,"we lost the bet!"
"Wow!" Kendra cheered as the crowd went wild.
"Well, I'll be a Mankey's uncle," Jenna said, shocked. "He actually went out and did it. I got nothing left to say him!"
"Take a good rest," Aadon said to his Paras as he returned the Grass type to its capsule. For a split second, Aadon could have sworn he had seen Paras collapse as the light engulfed the Grass type. This made him smile. "Paras really tried hard."
Harrison approached Aadon-smiling with joy-and shook his hand. "That was a really awesome battle. You're Paras is really amazing!"
As much as Aadon wanted to be a humble person, it seemed difficult during moments of praise. "You're a great battler too! I would've lost if Paras hadn't been a Grass type."
"Don't think of it so objectively, kiddo," Jenna smiled, walking up to the two of them. "Speaking of objects, we made somewhat of a little bargain."
"Yeah, but I kind of wish it wasn't true," Harrison frowned, putting his head down.
"Don't tell em'!" Jen spat.
"We don't have much of a choice-Mia is running out of time."
"Who?" asked Kendra, joining the group of friends.
"Let's talk about this at my inn," Jenna said as she looked upon a crowd of viewers who did not seem like they would disperse anytime soon. The sun seemed to shine brighter than ever as the evening approached, but the winds had accumulated into a gust during the battle.
"You have an inn?" Aadon smiled.
"Sure do," Jenna grinned back. "I got a question for you. Where did your Paras learn Bullet Seed?"
"It's a long story about an old friend," Aadon responded. "Maybe I'll tell you sometime soon."
"Please don't," Jen said with a grunt.
"Don't worry about her," Ryan whispered. "She likes to hold grudges about everything.
This earned the boy a hit to the head from Jen. "Ouch! Sorry!"
And so, the group, now including Jenna's Rapidash, Clefairy, Aadon, Jenna, Kendra, and the "Ridin Rhyhorns" made their way to Jenna's inn at the center of Oddish Hills.
[Saffron City-4:50 PM]
Dr. Ronkowski, accompanied by two men in beige hoods, found himself being forcefully dragged somewhere upstairs.
"Hopefully you're taking me to a room quite brighter and cheery than this one," Dr. Ronkowski joked, but to no response from the grunts.
The end of the stairs coincided with a doorway, presumably locked. One of the grunts let go of the shackled Dr. Ronkowski and went over to the door to unlock it with a key of some sorts, while the other grunt freed Dr. Ronkowski.
"We're sorry it has to be this way," the grunt said in a very genuine tone. "You know something we don't, and if you would just tell us, we'd let you go."
"Even if I were to tell you, what you're getting yourself into would be far too dangerous," Dr. Ronkowski sighed. "I'm sorry I'll have to share such such secrets."
Both Dr. Ronkowski and the grunt turned their heads to face an opening doorway. Had bright light been the only thing the old scientist sought after a little over a week of imprisonment, his wish had be fulfilled.
A bright light pierced Dr. Ronkowski's eyes, forcing him to squint to better adjust to his surroundings. Human anatomy would have told him to keep one eye shut in order to help both adjust to the surroundings, but he was no doctor.
"Ah yes, quite bright," Dr. Ronkowski noted as he was helped by the grunts to a round table in front of him with a magnificent wooden chair. When the scientist had arranged himself comfortably, his adjusting eyes saw a middle-aged man about Dr. Ronkowski's age in a brown business suit walking over to the table. As Dr. Ronkowski's eyes adjusted, he noted the bright light had come from a majestic chandelier above their single table, which was quite small when compared to the size of the entire room.
The man sat himself down, and Dr. Ronkowski knew immediately who it was. Behind the man stood two grunts, who pushed him into his chair.
"You have to help me!" the man pleaded. "They've taken Silph Scope, and they're going to steal all the Master Balls!"
"Felix Silph, the son of the late founder and owner of Silph Co.?" Dr. Ronkowski asked rhetorically, his eyes full of concern, now reaching out to Felix's hand.
"They're going to use the Master Balls and then they're going to kill me!" Felix cried. "You have to help!"
"What do I do?" Dr. Ronkowski said desperately. "Have they hurt you, Sir?"
"Man, you are a sucker for sad-sack routines," Felix suddenly uttered, chuckling slowly. "HahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA! Did you really think I meant any of that?"
"I had a feeling," Dr. Ronkowski sighed. "Especially after your past attempt to take over the Silph Co. empire using the help of Team Rocket."
"It's all in the name of business and profits," Felix grimaced. "Pokemon don't make the world go round. Money made off of using Pokemon does."
"I'm not sure your father felt the same way," Dr. Ronkowski commented.
"Yeah, well what do you know about how he felt?" Felix scoffed, avoiding eye contact.
"He actually looks somewhat hurt by those remarks," Dr. Ronkowski thought.
"Now I'm sure you have a lot of questions," Felix continued, rather calm, "but before you ask, let me give you a statement you may not very much like to hear."
"What's that?" Dr. Ronkowski.
"Your adopted son is out looking for you," Felix grinned smugly. "With a 'wittle Clefairy by his side. And he's headed to Vermillion City right now, the heart of the Indigo Science convention where your wife is going as well."
"What the?" was all Dr. Ronkowski could say before his face displayed a look of horror and shock. However, the aged scientist regained his composure. "He'll do alright."
"What makes you so sure?" Felix smirked. "He won't even survive another encounter with Nero or Octavia, two of Cloak's top generals."
"What does this Cloak want from me?" Dr. Ronkowski asked calmly.
"Oh I think you know that from your past involvements with Team Rocket," chuckled Felix, "but let me narrate the story for you. They funded your little ambition to bend nature's laws, and in return you helped them use the shadow cipher to create their perfect machines."
"You don't have to narrate what I already do," Dr. Ronkowski said while looking down at this hands.
"The reason that you're here should be very clear then, " Felix responded quickly. "You know something Cloak doesn't know about the old formula, and you're going to tell us about it."
"What do you get out of this?" Dr. Ronkowski questioned.
"Profit and glory," Felix smirked. "I'm earning a major sum of the profits. Oh, the money people will pay to use or abuse technologies like ciphers. And let's not forget the glory that will be brought back to Silph Co. We'll be the largest empire in not just Kanto, but in all the world!"
"If this is how you intend to earn your glory!" Dr. Ronkowski laughed, mostly when he thought of the very paradox of driving the earning of glory through fear.
"Now, back to your cell then," Felix stood up. "Take him back to his cell, guards."
As Dr. Ronkowski walked back to his cell, he could only think of his traveling son, adopted or not. "Be careful Aadon."
[Alder Pass-8:57 PM]
Having stored all of their Pokemon with the exception of Jenna's Rapidash-the mode of transportation for the female travelers-the trainers had set out to
"We have to get to Mia fast," Ryan said rather quickly. "I don't know how long she's going to hold up so well!"
"You've said that 100 times," Jenna grumbled from the back of her Rapidash, the Fire type also looking quite annoyed. "Complaining will not get us to the cave she is in any faster. I Know my way around here, so stay calm."
"Neigh," Rapidash commented.
"Let's get there fast so we can fix things," Aadon stated as he walked alongside the cart carrying Jen and Kendra, a bit close to the left side of the forested path.
"Be careful. There's a ledge there," Jenna warned, making Aadon skip away slightly.
Aadon noticed both Kendra and Jen seemed awfully quiet, so he asked. "You guys okay?"
"Do I look okay?!" Jen jumped up, making Aadon go pale.
"Whoa, sis!" Harrison and Ryan exclaimed.
"Jeez, calm down," Aadon shot back, giving Jen a light shove.
"S-sorry," Jen said rather quietly, taking Aadon by surprise. "I-I'm just afraid of the dark and Ghost type Pokemon."
Looking towards Jen, Aadon tried his best to comfort her. "I've been there. Imagine dealing with a Ghost type Pokemon that tries to scare your pants off everyday."
"You?" Jen asked, a little curious.
"Yeah," Aadon sighed, gazing at the clear and starry night sky. The whole situation reminded Aadon of not more than a week ago when he had decided to run away from home and decided to explore Pokemon tower in pursuit of the claw marks the perpetrator had left at the scene of the crime.
"Cool," Jen smiled. "Thanks."
His thoughts fell down to reality when he saw that the energetically happy Kendra had been completely quiet the whole time. "Kendra, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I know why Jen is scared, but what about you?" Harrison questioned.
"Go on, you can tell the Ridin' Rhyhorns," Ryan urged, rather comically.
"Are you still on that?" Aadon sighed.
"It's a good name!" Ryan shouted in defense.
"Hah, well it's nothing," said Kendra, half smiling. "I just got a little headache. I guess it's the whole vibe of this place."
"Vibe?" Jenna questioned. "Ya a Psychic Pokemon now, Kendra?"
"I don't know what she means, but I don't like the energy of this place either," Aadon added. "I don't what to call it-the vibe I guess."
"Well some traders at the inn were having some small talk about it," Ryan remembered.
While his siblings and his unlikely new friends talked away about things to eat, a bored Ryan couldn't help but overhear a loud conversation at a table not too far down the inn.
"So ya gone and went to Vermillion City to sell yer stock at the port?"
"Whatever I could sell. It seems there hasn't been a moment where I haven't lost some of my crop without any means of explanation."
"Don't ya tell me you mean Alder Pass?!" I steer clear as much as possible."
"I wanna, but it saves me so much time and money to go through Alder Pass, Ghost Pokemon or not."
"I hear of stray orb-things just flying through the air and crashing into trees! Why would ya even go that way?!"
"I don't know about that one. I haven't seen anything that peculiar yet, but I've heard of it. The only thing that really scares me are the poachers traveling with nasty Pokemon by their side. Those poor Pokemon."
"Poachers? Ghosts?" Ryan thought. "Mia."
"I call fib," Jenna scoffed. "Ghost Pokemon aren't usually malevolent unless provoked 'round these parts. They do some of these things, but ya rarely see it happen."
"Phew," the others sighed.
"Poachers are real though," Jenna said immediately after, making the others go pale. "Skin mostly Ekans and Arbok for profit."
"Poachers?!" Ryan shivered. "And we came this way with Mia why?"
"To escape those goons, remember?" Jen responded, somewhat annoyed.
"Not to mention we left Mia behind with Nurse Joy to get help," Harrison added.
"Shush!" replied Ryan and Jen in unison.
While the Rhyhorn trio bickered and Kendra sat quietly in the cart behind guided by Jenna and her Rapidash, Aadon's bad feelings seemed to be getting much worse. Perhaps he had hallucinated these feelings from paranoia. He looked over at Kendra, who seemed to be fine despite her supposed migraine.
Aadon's fears came to be realized when he looked up to see a dark orb flying in the sky.
The orb came flying with rapidity a naked eye could miss in a blink, and left behind the noise of a large explosion not too far off from where Aadon and his friends were. Now hiding under a tree with Ryan and Jen, Aadon and the two siblings could only watch as dust accumulated in the air and the earth shook around them.
The starry night had broken into a nightmare of dark energy. To Aadon, it almost felt like the end times because of the area's seclusion from civilization.
"I'm scared," Jen cried, sobbing into Ryan's arms.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine!" Jenna yelled from ahead, moving behind a tree to the left of the path as another explosion came rattling in the distance, the elderly lady escorting the frightened Harrison and Kendra.
"Hey, watch the ledge!" Aadon yelled, noticing the wooden cart was a little too close to the edge for comfort.
Suddenly, another explosion shattered the sound barrier of the area around them, this time several flurries of dark energy striking closer than ever before. No time could understandable be more unsuitable to ask questions, but Aadon could not help but wonder why this was happening to them.
His ears ringed in pain, and he could barely make out the shouting and crying of his friends around him. He had nothing to lose. He just wanted them to be safe.
"Please, Arceus," he pleaded in his mind, giving up all logical thought.
"It's g-going to be o-o-ok," Ryan tried to comfort his sister as best as he could.
Suddenly, as the thunderous noise filled the sky, a huge explosion occurred so quickly, Aadon's eyes shut closed as he flew backwards due to the force of the explosion.
His ears ringed in pain, and he could barely make out the shouting and crying of his friends around him.
With little awareness of being consciousness, Aadon felt like he had shifted into some place between his dreams and reality as he felt himself being dragged across dirt by several hands. His vision blurred in and out, and he heard voices of concern around him. Just two voices.
After what seemed like an hour, Aadon's hearing and vision returned slowly but surely.
He could make out two voice, but they seemed to be echoing from far away.
Struggling to get up, Aadon turned on to his stomach, hoping to push off the ground.
"Stay down," Ryan muttered from above him as he felt a strong tap to his back. Looking up, Aadon saw a visibly shaken-up Ryan and shuddering Jen on their knees, obviously watching out for something.
The sound of forceful footsteps inched closer, before slowing down in frequency, to what Aadon could make out as going from running to walking very slowly.
"Whoever it is, they're cautious about something," Aadon thought, still in a daze but wide awake.
"Poachers?" Jen whispered to Ryan rather rhetorically. Her brother responded with a small shrug.
"Where are the others?" Aadon asked in a quiet voice.
"I-I don't know," Ryan responded, still quivering considerably.
"But-" Aadon was interrupted by a wavering finger from Jen as both siblings turned their attention to the sounds of the footsteps in the still night, now close enough to be no more than several feet away.
"Squad 6 to command, we've done our part in the area," a voice said over what Aadon believed to be a communicator, followed by static.
"Roger that, squad 6," said the communicator. "One more sweep to be sure. The leader wants to make sure they didn't cut through the farming towns."
"Hear you loud and clear," the voice replied with a sigh. "Over and out."
"Gengarrr!" a non-human voice hissed.
"Should we do it?" a different voice asked, making Aadon all the more curious to steal a closer look.
"I think we should. My Gengar needs some game to hunt."
"GENGARRR!"