Chapter 14

Prodigy of A Legend

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Time: 6:37 p.m.

Location: Route 307

Forest near Mt. Hayashi

Yards from the spring

"-… Hey Miles, are we there yet?-" Lee asked tapping Miles on the top of his head with his paw.

"No Lee…" Mile groaned lowering his head, half of him hoping to make Lee fall off of his head.

"Have you ever considered getting that runt a muzzle?" Kris sighed walking past the known to argue trainer and pokemon. "His barking is starting to give me a headache."

That earned Kris a death glare from the young fighting pokemon, "-How about you say that to my face?-"

It had been quite a few hours since the group of two preteens and rowdy Riolu had separated paths from Vergil Price, keeping to the path that the crazy driver had suggested that the three should take to get to Gardner City…

… only thing was, Price kind of underestimating the distance from where he had dropped them off to the spring. For hours the group had been walking on the dirt covered road, and for those same hours, Lee kept asking the same question over and over again, taking a few breaks from that to bark at Kris for insulting him.

To make matters worse, the forest wasn't only a haven for thieving pokemon, but also bug and bird types… not the sort of thing that either of the pre-teens wanted to deal with, especially with the sun beginning to set in the distance. "Seriously, why don't you put that runt back in his pokeball?"

"-Heh! Like I'd actually be able to be trapped in something like that!-" Lee barked with a few taps on his chest, his nose pointed upwards in pride. "-Even if ya did get me in there, I wouldn't be in there for long!-"

"Can you two just be quiet for five minutes?!?" Miles shouted stopping in his tracks. "I think we might be lost…"

"That's impossible, we've been on the path ever since we left Mr. Price," Kris retorted stepping in front of Miles. "Besides, he said it would take a few hours to reach that spring."

"… Few hours yes… but not six!" Miles growled with a blood vessel appearing on his face. "That's why I'm saying we're lost!"

"We followed Mr. Price's instructions," Kris snarled, narrowing her eyes at Miles.

Miles slapped his forehead, getting ready to slam his head into a nearby tree just out of frustration, "… call me crazy, but the impression that I got from Mr. Price, I got the feeling that he was a few DVDs short of a box set!"

"-Hmm… isn't it usually the other way around?-" Lee questioned with a few question marks appearing over his head.

"Lee, what are you talking about?" Miles hissed slightly at his pokemon.

"-Well, when arguing about directions, doesn't the guy usually say that they know where they're going?-" Lee pointed out with a grin appearing on the Riolu's face, while a sweatdrop appeared on the side of Miles's head. "-And doesn't the girl usually insist that they're lost? It's like a role reversal!-"

'… how the hell does he learn this stuff?' Miles thought to himself before he shook his head.

"I'm really getting tired of his yapping," Kris growled pointing at Lee.

"-Ya wanna say that again?-" Lee warned.

"Oh for the love of…" Miles groaned with a slap to his forehead. "Not this again, this has been going on for…"

SPLOOSH!

"… huh?" Miles questioned turning slightly down the road.

"-Miles? What was that?-" Lee asked with a few question marks over his head.

The sweatdrop just grew a tad bit bigger on Miles's head, once again surprised that his starter pokemon knew about a classic argument topic but didn't know what a splash was, "That was a splash…"

"-…and what's a splash?-" the Riolu on Miles's head asked again, blinking a few times.

"See, we must be near the spring," Kris stated with her tongue sticking out at Miles before she began to run ahead. "We just needed to walk a couple more yards, and we would've made it! Race ya!"

"-I'll take ya up on that!-" Lee barked with a great leap from Miles's head. "-Besides, I want to see this splash! Maybe it's something to eat!-"

Miles couldn't help but lower his head at the two racing to the spring, he could simply turn around… just walk away from this and head back home…

"-HEY! Hurry up Slowpoke!-"

Ah who was he kidding? If Miles's ran, he'd probably get a body slam from his father when he got home and then kick him out of the house for some other reason.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Time: 6:45 p.m.

Location: Route 307

Forest near Mt. Hayashi

Mountain Spring

From the large mountainside, the forest abound the mountain was lush and full of pine and maple trees that managed to block out most of the sunlight save for the small patches of clearing that allowed the light to pour into the forest… such was the case for the area around the natural spring. With the grass greener around the area, the trees seemed to allow enough light to sparkle into the water, creating an aura around area.

With a rocky ledge behind the spring, a small tree was beginning its life around the water, obviously becoming healthy due to the abundance of nutrients and water, and the spring itself was quite beautiful, looked as though the touch of modern man had yet to stain this pure pristine beauty…

"-Is this a splash?-" Lee announced skidding at the edge of the spring, looking into the puddle to see his reflection.

… Let's see how long that lasts shall we?

"Damn it… that's… a fast little pup…" Kris panted out of breath just getting into the spring area trying to keep up with the speedy fighting pokemon.

Blinking a few times at the blue pokemon in the water a few times, Lee slowly brought his paw up to the water, as did the weird blue pokemon in it. While this was going on, Miles was slowly walking into the spring area, taking note of the trees, shrubs, the spring, the fact that Kris was now laying on the ground trying to catch her breath and Lee looking in the water as if he just discovered gold or something like that…

'My luck's not that good…' Miles thought with a slap to his head as he slowly sat down on the rather cool grass. That's when he turned to the tired out Kris, "… You okay over there?"

"What's… it to… you?" Kris panted finally getting the energy to sit up, sending a glare towards Miles as she pulled off her hat to wipe her brow.

"Yeesh, I was just curious," Miles replied as he took his backpack off his shoulders in order to at least get ready for the long night. After quite a few good hours of walking, this seemed a good enough time as any to get the camping materials, and truth be told the pair of energy bars that he and Kris (some of Miles's bar he gave to quiet Lee down, but that didn't last long) wouldn't keep the hunger at bay.

SPLOOSH!

Miles turned his head towards Lee, who was at the spring, taking a few swipes at the water with his paw. 'Well… as long as he isn't causing trouble or drowning…'

"-Hmm…-" Lee muttered standing up at the edge, rubbing the red scarf around his thin neck at the weird creature in the water. "-… whatever this thing is, I do have to say this… it does have style and looks like a handsome devil…-"

A large sweatdrop rolled down Miles's head as he overheard the confusing Riolu's self-monologue, this trip wasn't going to turn normal any time soon… And Miles would have to spend some time and talk to Lee about some fundamentals, starting with reflections.

But with a shake of his head, Miles simply turned his attention to Kris, who had some how managed to inch herself to a nearby tree, leaning up against its base while writing in a small green book vigorously. Occasionally Kris would look up from the book, casting a bored and somewhat annoyed look at Miles…

"-Miles! Miles!-"

With a shake of his head, Miles turned slightly to the side to see that Lee's attention was no longer at the water. In fact, the young fighting type pokemon was now standing next to Miles with a goofy grin on his face, "… Okay, what'd you do now?"

"-Heh…-" Lee chuckled rubbing the bridge of his nose. "-I finally came up with names for Butterfree and that trouble making pup!-"

'You're a trouble making pup,' Miles thought before he slapped his forehead. "And didn't we go through this already?"

"-Hey, when it comes to names, I'm the king!-" Lee laughed with a few taps to his chest. "-Anyway, for Butterfree I was thinking…-"

"I already came up with names," Miles interrupted digging back into his backpack, not noticing that Lee was blinking at him.

"-…what?-" Lee questioned.

Pulling out a few instant meals from the backpack, Miles turned to see that Lee's arms were shaking slightly. "Huh? Oh yeah, I decided to name Butterfree, Jasmine… for a bug, she's not that bad. And as for the thief… And no, I don't mean you Lee, I'm talking about that Poochyena. I've decided to call him Flay, mainly because he flailed a lot when you fought him, just with a little spice to it…"

"-… you… you named them without telling me!?!-" Lee barked leaping at Miles, fire burning in the Riolu's eyes.

"WHAT THE!?!" Miles shouted before Lee crashed into him, making the trainer roll backwards with the Riolu trying to strangle his trainer…

Or that's what it looked like to Kris, "… idiots…"

After a few minutes of playful fighting and applying some bandages to the idiotic Trainer and fighting pokemon, the group of three sat around a small portable lamp (it was still light out so it wasn't on, at least not yet) slowly munching on the portable dinner that while Miles and Lee fought was cooking itself.

After taking a few bites, Kris raised an eyebrow at both Miles and Lee, who both shot glares at each other for a few seconds, "… you two, do you usually act like this?"

Miles put his meal down in front of him, making sure that Lee was too preoccupied with his own meal so he wouldn't have to worry about his food getting stolen. "Well, normally we don't fight, but Lee does tend to get into a lot of trouble…"

"-Humph!-" Lee scoffed to the side while munching on his poke-chow.

"A troublemaker?" Kris muttered, her eyes dulling slightly before she shot a single cold statement at Miles, "Some trainer. You can't even tame your pokemon to follow your orders."

"Oh, and you're some master trainer, I suppose?" Miles retorted before taking an angry bite from his food. Miles couldn't help but take note that Lee was snickering at the comments. 'We're talking about you, ya little pain…'

"I wouldn't say master," Kris replied crossing her arms. "But I do know a few things about taming pokemon."

That's when something hit Miles, making the forced trainer look at Kris with a raised eyebrow, "Say, I didn't ask this before, but, are you a trainer?"

"Well… In a sense," Kris replied reaching for the back of her belt. With a pair of clicks, Kris lifted up two pokeballs, only they seemed to have a dark purple shade to them for some reason or another as well as having…

"... Stickers?" Miles thought as a large bead of sweat appeared on the back of his head. "With the way you talked, I'd figure you'd have more than just two…"

"I do, you idiot," Kris spat back tossing the two pokeballs up in the air a few times. "The others are back at home, I just don't go anywhere without these two. And they were with me when I was taken by surprise, so the others are back with my mom in Domon City."

"Well, uh, I'm sorry," Miles replied lowering his head, his hair covering his eyes. "I didn't know…"

"Why are you acting like someone died?" Kris questioned making Miles blink a few times in confusion. "We're on our way to Domon City anyway, so it's not like it's a big deal."

"… alright," Miles sighed rolling his eyes. 'If she has pokemon, she should be able to make it to Domon City on her own. Why the heck did Cruz even suggest that we travel…'

SPLASH!

"Huh?" Miles and Kris questioned turning towards the spring, Lee on the other hand, well, he was still a little steamed at the fact that his names were ignored.

Slowly, popping up from the spring was a small blue mudfish like pokemon with a pair of three whiskers on the side of its face with a large fin on top of its head and as well as a fin like tail. "Mud?"

"… okay, well, now we know what that splash was," Miles muttered before turning back to his meal.

"-… that's a splash?-" Lee questioned starting to head to the weird pokemon. "-Wow! It looks just like a pokemon!-"

"… that's because it IS a pokemon," Miles sighed rolling his eyes at Lee.

"-Sweet! I call dibs to name this guy!-" Lee barked out waving his arms about in front of the confused mudfish pokemon.

"Lee… I'm not catching him," Miles replied taking a bite from the sandwich he had.

"-What?!? Why not?-" Lee protested waving his arms at his trainer. "-You got to name the other two! So it's only fair that I get to name this guy!-"

'… Okay, these two are actually arguing with each other,' Kris rolled her eyes at the two, taking note that Lee was bouncing around Miles now. "I better be careful, I might just start arguing with Yurii and Drano…"

"-Fine! If you're not going to catch him,-" Lee shouted clipping off one of the empty pokeballs off the back of Miles's belt. "-Then I'll do it myself again!-"

"What the?!" Miles shouted tossing his food to the side, and lunged at Lee, "You're not doing that again!"

"… Again, what?" Kris questioned watching Miles skid on the wet grass as Lee leapt into the air at the last second.

Spitting out some of the grass that got caught his mouth, Miles turned towards Kris… Unaware that Lee was standing on Miles's back, "A couple of days ago, Lee pulled this stunt before and he managed to catch me a Caterpie…"

"Your pokemon… caught another?" Kris asked, not sure if she ever heard of such a thing before hand.

"-Enough of this gibber-jabber!-" Lee howled spinning his arm around with the pokeball in it. "-We're catching this splash!-"

"… I've got to start teaching him fundamentals," Miles moaned with a slap to his forehead.

However, Lee was more preoccupied with trying to get Miles another companion, "-Pokeball… ready, g…-"

"Halt!"

Miles, Kris and Lee looked around trying to figure out where that voice came from, but that's when a small blue blur snapped into the pokeball that the small Riolu held in his paws, "-Ack!-"

The blur landed into the ground, making Miles sweatdrop at the sight of the very item that had snapped into the pokeball in Lee's paws, "A… a rose?"

"In the name of all beauty and justice," The voice sounded again, this time showing a rather distinct accent that sounded like it belonged to a rock star or someone fancy. "I shall not… will not… and cannot allow you to capture my Mudkip, Daigo."

"Please don't let it be another freak," Miles held his breath, hoping that his luck wouldn't hold true this time… but more than likely it would.

Stepping from forest's brush, a young man, possibly a year or two older than Miles appeared before Miles and Kris, his long bright blonde hair tailed to fall over his right shoulder. At least from his sharp tanned face, Miles could tell that this guy wasn't some freak like Cruz, and when compared to Cruz, this guy's clothing was rather normal.

Dressed in a baggy purple satin jacket and a black wife-beater shirt, this young man bent down to pick up the small mudfish pokemon (which was apparently known as a Mudkip), and smirked at the two teens. He was also wearing a pair of baggy black jeans that were rolled up to show that he was wearing a pair of black boots (which didn't seem to fit a guy dressed so fancily). While strapped to his back was a large guitar case that seemed to have a few extra pockets sewed into the fabric.

'At least he looks normal enough,' Miles thought standing up, getting Lee to fall off his back. 'Save for the guitar case…'

"-ACK!-"

"So, who the heck are you?" Kris asked crossing her arms at the blonde haired man.

"Oh, I beg pardon," the fancy dressed teen sighed back as his Mudkip did the same in the teen's arms. "In the rush of my pokemon almost being caught, I forgot to introduce myself."

Rubbing the back of his head, Miles waved his hand, "Sorry, I'm still trying to get Riolu trained to obey…"

That made the small scarf wearing Riolu fling his arms about in the air, the fire reappearing in his eyes, "-HEY! My name's Lee!-"

"Hmm, quite the rambunctious little pup you've got there," The blonde teen chuckled rubbing the top of his Mudkip's head, eliciting a small purr from the mudfish pokemon. "I'm glad that Daigo is more of the calm type, unlike that cold and calculating Treecko… but I have to say that Torchic did seem to have a cute persona…"

'… wait a minute…' Miles thought as he placed a hand on his chin.

"But hey! There should still be a Mudkip left…" Miles speculated as Valerie and Kurai sent each other wary looks. "I mean…it looks like you two got your pokemon from the Honen re…"

"Actually, Mudkip was taken first," Kurai answered pushing his hair antennae from out of his face. "You see, each year Serene town receives the original starter pokemon from the other regions. This year, it was from the Honen region, and Professor Pine's son was the first to grab a pokemon. In fact, he was the first to leave a few weeks ago…"

"Oh! This is my son," Duke introduced skidding behind Miles and placing his hands on Miles's shoulders. "Miles, say hello to the nice man!"

"…dad I'm not a little kid, I can introduce myself," Miles sighed making Professor Pine laugh.

"Ah, he reminds me of my own son," Pine laughed loudly rubbing his chin at Miles.

"Ah!" Miles eyes snapped open, and with a snap of his fingers, Miles's caught everyone's attention. "I think I know you!"

"Oh, do you now?" the blonde teen chuckled, messing with a strand of hair on the side of his head.

"You know a guy like this?" Kris asked, wondering what kind of people her traveling companion usually kept.

"Well, I don't know him directly," Miles replied rubbing the back of his head. "But, if I know what I'm thinking of is true, then this guy," Miles pointed towards the blonde haired teen, who was more and more intrigued by the situation at hand, "He's none other than the son of Professor Pine!"

"… who?" Kris asked with a few question marks popping over her head.

Ignoring Kris, Miles couldn't help but notice that the young man's face turned serious, his brow narrowing over his shaded glasses and his smiling face turning into a scowl. "… yes, indeed I am the son of Professor Pine, I am Vayne Pine."

That's when the Mudkip jumped a few times in Vayne's arms, softening the hard look on his face back to a soft grin, "Oh, and I didn't forget you… as I said before this is my Mudkip, Daigo…"

"… that's a weird name," Miles stated raising an eyebrow.

"-I think it sounds cool!-" Lee barked jumping onto Miles's shoulder.

"… of course you would," Miles sighed before rubbing Lee's head. "And I'm Miles Sabers, and this little blue pain is Lee."

"-Aw, ya know ya love me,-" Lee snickered poking Miles in the side of his face.

"And she's Kris," Miles bluntly stated casting a glance at the girl companion.

"I can introduce myself!" Kris spat back, sending a death glare at Miles.

Vayne seemed to chuckle loudly as he leaned up against a nearby tree, "Ah, ha ha ha, trouble in paradise, I assume?"

"Not this again," Miles growled with a slap to his forehead, getting a snicker from Lee. "It's not like that!"

"Heh, just messing with ya," Vayne chuckled allowing his Mudkip, Daigo, to climb on his shoulder as well. "Sabers… any relation to the new whacky assistant my old man hired last week?"

"… whacky assistant?" Miles questioned with a large sweatdrop appearing on the side of his head.

"Of course," Vayne chuckled crossing his arms with Daigo yawning loudly while getting a weird look from Lee. "If it's not his loud booming voice, then it's his continuous blunders, like the other day I heard from my old man that he spilt all the research papers that your whacky father all over the lab…"

"… I didn't think that my dad was that clumsy," Miles sighed rolling his eyes at the description of Duke's behavior. "He just seemed to be a bit crazier than that…"

"Is your dad really that bad?" Kris asked, actually taking an interest in the conversation.

"Well, considering that he drop kicks me in the mornings to wake me up," Miles counted off while scratching the back of Lee's head, getting a rapid tail wag from the fighting pokemon. "Hardly listen to me when I talked, compared me to my big brother, and was usually giving a speech… he's still not as bad as he was when he was in that coffee drinking phase…"

That sent a few shivers down Miles's spine, just remembering those times.

"Coffee phase?" Kris questioned with a few question marks appearing over her head.

"Well, at least he sounds more fun than my old man," Vayne chuckled pushing up his shades. "At least your old man doesn't want you to follow in his footsteps…" Shaking his head, Vayne's hair fluttered about in a somewhat tamed manner. "Uh, a-anyway, what're you two doing here?"

Miles looked around, with the outside lamp, sleeping bag and the tent (which was Kris's thanks to Cruz's spending spree of Miles's money), the forced trainer would've thought that it'd be obvious what the two were doing, "… we're camping here for the night."

"Ah! Excellent," Vayne chuckled. "It's certainly a beautiful night to do so. Clear sky, warm summer breeze, a beautiful spring nearby, and a young lass sleeping nearby… that spells a wonderful night!"

"I told you it's not like that," Miles replied with a large drop of sweat rolling down the side of his head.

"Couldn't help myself," Vayne commented with a shrug as he approached the camping lamp. "Anyway, would you two mind if I joined you tonight?"

"Can't camp by yourself?" Kris asked rubbing her forehead.

"Why spend the night alone," Vayne replied removing his guitar case and placing it on the ground behind him. "When you can spend the night in hopes of making new friends?"

"I got no problem with that," Miles stated turning towards Kris who was heading towards the tent. "What about you?"

"Does it look like I care?" Kris asked before zipping up the tent behind her.

"… Sometimes I wonder why I even bother," Miles sighed with a slap to his forehead.

"Hmm… you know, you two don't seem to be the kind of people to travel together," Vayne pointed out, slowly sliding down to sit down. With the guitar case propping him up, Vayne pulled out a small energy bar from his jacket's pocket. "I don't mean to pry mind you, but you two just don't seem to be the traveling pair…"

"… It's a long story," Miles replied as he took a seat on the grass across from Vayne.

"I'm not going anywhere," Vayne chuckled unwrapping the energy bar.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Time: 7:14 p.m.

Location: Route 307

Mt. Hayashi

Forest ???

Meanwhile, in another part of the night covered woods, two familiar Team Atmos grunts were trudging through the forest, "Um… let's see, we took a left from there… and then we went North, so we should be…" Ikki stated holding up a map while Lena walked ahead of him.

"Ikki… just admit we're lost," Lena sighed pushing a lowered branch out of her way.

"We're not lost," Ikki replied stopping in his tracks to get a better look at the map. "I know exactly where we're at and…"

WHACK!

With the lowered branch snapping back, the blow immediately got the large Team Atmos Grunt directly in the gut, knocking the air out of him, "OOF!"

"You've been saying that ever since we lost sight of those two runts!" Lena snarled pulling her hair.

"Urk!" Ikki took a few steps back, still reeling from the branch hitting him in the gut. "W-well, it's not my fault they caught a ride with someone…"

"No, but if you hadn't tripped over your own shoelaces," Lena growled crossing her arms at Ikki. "We might've at least known where they were going!"

"Well excuse me," Ikki sighed lowering his arms, "But if you at least gave me two minutes to tie my shoes…"

"We would've lost the two brats before we got lost in the woods," Lena replied, almost wishing she never really joined Team Atmos in the first place.

"Well, even if we did," Ikki replied picking up the map and tapping it on his chest. "All we have to do is make it to Gardner City, and then we'd just have to wait for the two to get there… then we can get that girl back."

"Which would be a good plan," Lena admitted rubbing her forehead a few times. "…if we knew where the hell we were going in the first place!"

"Hey, with this map," Ikki chuckled opening the map to get his bearings back. "We'll find our way to Gardner City in," That's when the large Team Atmos member noticed something about the map and immediately closed it. "… Like I was saying, we'll get there in no time…"

"…okay, you paused," Lena moaned narrowing her eyes at Ikki. "What's wrong?"

"Um, well," Ikki started to, but stopped again to tap his fingers a few times.

"Ikki, you can either tell me now," Lena chuckled cracking her knuckles as she slowly approached Ikki. "Or I can beat the answer out of ya."

"Uh, o-okay," Ikki gulped before raising his hands up. "B-But you have to promise me that you won't get mad…"

Lena stopped for a second, her glare continuing as she managed to mumble from her clenched jaw, "… Fine."

"I, uh, I kinda held the map upside down," Ikki chuckled rubbing the back of his head, a large sweatdrop rolling down the side of his head.

WHAM!

"URK!" With a powerful kick slammed into his gut, Ikki was propelled to the ground with Lena still holding her foot up from a powerful roundhouse kick she just delivered. And as Ikki slowly lifted his head up from the ground, he saw that the female Team Atmos Grunt was heading his way. "W-What happened to n-not getting mad?"

"Oh, I'm not mad," Lena replied with a smile… but instead of a warm smile, it was one that was as cold as ice. "I'm just happy, and I'm showing you affection… now, let me show you how else I show affection…"

"N-NOOOOOOO!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Time: 7:19

Location: Route 307

Forest near Mt. Hayashi

Mountain Spring – Campsite

"…did you just hear something?" Miles asked stopping from his story to look around.

"Nope," Vayne simply replied crumpling the empty energy bar wrapper in his hands before placing it into his jacket's pocket. "So anyway, Kris was kidnapped by these guys wearing white uniforms, and this guy named Cruz suggested you and her travel? I got the gist of it, right?"

"Yeah," Miles answered turning to see Daigo run off with Lee's red scarf in its mouth while the young fighting pokemon began to give chase after it. Miles couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, but then turned back to Vayne. "But, I have no clue as to who those people were, and Cruz was an even bigger mystery, even if he did help me out."

"Hmm…" Vayne rubbed his chin with his hand, trying to think. "Cruz… Cruz… I feel like I've heard that name beforehand."

"Any idea who he is?" Miles asked raising an eyebrow.

"I think I remember my old man reading an article about a man named Cruz," Vayne replied, his face hardening at the words 'old man' but then returned to its joyful nature. "But, what it was about I don't remember…"

"Could he be criminal or something?" Miles mumbled to himself, but then shook his head. "But that wouldn't make sense… why would he help?"

With a shrug of his shoulders, Vayne crossed his arms as Daigo ran behind him, trying to hide from Lee who was looking for his scarf back. "Well, I wouldn't know, but anyway, I think I do know who attacked you… ever hear of Team Atmos?"

"Well, a few times when I was in Burgundy Town," Miles replied rubbing his chin, until something struck him. "Wait a minute, do they have the same uniform? Do they have purple cloaks with fangs on them?"

"What?" Vayne questioned, a little confused from the strange question. "… Not that I think of… after all, the only things I know about Team Atmos is that they're ones for trouble and what they wear as uniforms."

"Oh," Miles chuckled with a blush appearing on his face. "Sorry about that."

"Hey, no worries," Vayne replied taking a second to lean to the side to have Daigo jump over his guitar case with Lee right on his tail. "Heh, nice to see the two of them getting along together…"

"-Get back here you little thief!-" Lee barked trying to get a little faster than the Mudkip, it was a puzzler how the mudfish pokemon was able to out run him.

"… yeah, swimmingly," Miles sighed before lowering his head. "So, you said that Team Atmos cause trouble? Like what kinds?"

"Eh, well," Vayne said pulling his shades down to look at Miles. "There are a few rumors as to what Team Atmos does. According to reports, they've been known to attack factories known for pollution in Saora, destroying them either by literally destroying the source of pollution or revealing corporate data. But other reports have them depicted as thieves for technological equipment…"

"Environmental Heroes or Thieving Menaces," Miles simplified.

Vayne nodded in response, "I guess you could call them either. I mean they're not really hurting anyone, at least not in the articles I read."

"You seem to know a little bit about them," Miles pointed out with a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head.

"Well, when you grow up in Saora," Vayne explained lifting his arms up slightly. "You tend to learn a few things about what happens in the major cities. Anyway, this is the first I've ever heard of Team Atmos kidnapping someone… but from what you said, it couldn't be anyone else."

"So, where exactly do they stand?" Miles asked raising an eyebrow.

"Heh, sorry, but I wouldn't know," Vayne retorted. "You'd either have to ask their mysterious leader, or one of the three Admins that have been reported being seen."

"I'd rather not take my chances seeing them again," Miles replied.

"Good choice," Vayne chuckled. "But tell me… you mentioned those purple cloaks, may I ask why?"

"… You mean your dad didn't tell you?" Miles asked, blinking a few times.

"I don't like to keep communications with the old man except when I call my mom," Vayne replied, his face turning serious once again. "But now then, what does the old coot have to do with this anyway…"

"Well…" Miles started, getting ready to explain what had happened…

A few minutes later…

"…" Vayne had removed his glasses and turned to the side, after hearing what had happened, with Professor Pine bringing Lee's egg, how Miles and the other two starting trainers were attacked, and how Lee managed to save both Sealth and Phoenix. "… I see…"

"I apologize."

"Huh?" Miles asked.

"If it wasn't for my old man," Vayne spat to the side while casting a glance at Lee, who was currently waving his scarf in the air, finally getting it back. "And his research, then you wouldn't have dealt with that stuff…"

"True…" Miles stated, thinking that Vayne was right. "But still…"

"-But then you wouldn't have met me!-" Lee shouted jumping onto Miles's head with a grin on his face.

"… oh yeah, having this pain would've made the experience all worthwhile," Miles sighed as Daigo slowly trotted over to Vayne.

Vayne couldn't help but chuckle at this statement, allowing his Mudkip to jump into his lap, "Well, at least you're making the best of the situation."

"… that's one way to look at it," Miles replied before taking notice that Vayne scooped up Daigo in his arms and stood up. "You going to bed or something?"

"Nah," Vayne chuckled pushing up his glassed with his free hand. "I just decided on something that's all…"

"Oh, and what would that be?" Miles asked raising an eyebrow.

Lifting his hand into the air for a few seconds, Vayne pointed his finger towards Miles, "I've decided you and I… we're going to battle!"

"… wait what?" Miles asked blinking a few times.

0-0-0-0-0-0

Lee: -And the battle has begun!-

Miles: Seriously, where did this challenge come from?

Lee: -With his loyal sidekick, Miles, injured, the Great Fighter Lee stands up to take the challenge!-

Miles: Injured? What are you talking about? I'm perfectly fine?

Lee: -Will the Great Fighter Lee be able to maneuver his way to victory? Or will the Splash of Defeat be his only reward?-

Miles: Oh, sure, now you know what a splash is.

Lee: -Next time, Ultimate Fighter Lee: Final Episode – The Great Splash! Will I avenge Miles? Find out next time!-

Miles: …where do you learn these things?

Next time – Chapter 15: A New Style to Battle

Miles: At least its better than 'The Great Splash'.

Edit: 12/16/08 - Changed Asche Pine's name to Vayne Pine.