Thank you for the feedback for the last chapter. I like reading everyone's ideas on where they think the story is headed. I'll admit some of your ideas sound better than mine. As for some your questions, I'll most likely answer it in a subtle way at some point. So, if there's something that's unclear to you that you reviewed, it'll probably be resolved in the next few chapters.
Enjoy this overdue chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters.
Chapter 16
The group of Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, May, and Brock had exited a cave leading to Oreburgh City, the next destination in their journey. They had awakened early in the morning in hopes of arriving in the city before it was time for breakfast. To Ash's delight, the sun was barely shining over the mountains, so he felt they were making good time. Contrarily to the trainer's thoughts, though, May and Dawn were greatly upset they had to wake up early. It took Ash roughly ten minutes to fully wake up them up, and when he did, he received an earful from each girl saying some very unpleasant things. However, the girls were glancing at the city in front of them with admiring eyes, thinking they would not have seen this view if they had slept in. Even though it was early in the morning, Oreburgh looked so lively with workers in comparison with Jubilife City which was a tourist attraction.
Ash remembered his first time seeing Oreburgh City. He thought the vibrant and energetic mining town was very different from any other place he had visited in Sinnoh as it was blessed with precious natural resources, and he believed the people were very fortunate to live there. Ash turned to see the group staring at what he knew to be the museum where some of the exhibits of the coal mine were examined. It was not until Dawn spoke that his thoughts were broken.
"Is that the gym over there?" She said pointing to a large building across from the museum. It had a huge Poké ball in front of it. "I mean, it looks like one to me."
"Yeah, that's definitely it over there," Brock replied earnestly.
"Brock used to be a gym leader, Dawn," May added, smiling at her friend. "So, you can believe him when he says it is."
"Oh, that's so cool!" Dawn exclaimed, looking at the breeder with admiration. "I would've never guessed you were one. Why did you stop?"
"Well, I didn't really stop, but I'm taking a break to find something special. You see after I battled Ash a few years ago, it opened my eyes to new possibilities, and I just decided it was time to go on my own journey and find that one thing I could be passionate about like he was," he happily answered. "My brother has taken over for now, so I left it in good hands."
Before the blue-haired teen could respond, Ash interjected his thoughts.
"As much I would like to reminisce, we should probably start walking towards the gym," he commented. "I would like to face the gym leader as soon as possible."
"That's our Ash," May said coyly while crossing her arms. "Only thinking about battling gyms. Shouldn't we have breakfast first before we do anything?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty hungry myself," Dawn chimed in, gripping her stomach. "You woke us up really early today, so you owe us that much."
"You all can go eat, and I'll meet you at the Pokémon Centre when I finish my battle."
They saw Ash and Pikachu began walking ahead of them, quickly leaving them behind.
"Sheesh, why is he in such a rush?" Dawn asked confusingly as she watched the trainer distance himself. "It's not like it's going anywhere, right?"
"True, but Ash is very persistent and impatient when it comes to gym battles," Brock answered. He slightly chuckled before continuing. "I guess it's fair that you both skip breakfast for now. He did rush when you had to get to your contest yesterday."
"But there's a certain time we have to register by, so it's different fro—,"
"Brock does have a point," May interrupted the blunette politely. "We can wait to eat for a little bit until Ash beats the gym leader."
"It was your suggestion, though," Dawn thought curiously. "There's no doubt she really does like him if she's willing to skip meals."
"O-Okay," Brock said in surprise, thinking it was odd for May to hold off on eating. He looked in Ash's direction and noticed he was getting farther away from them. "If that's the case, we should probably catch up with them. They're walking pretty fast."
"Right," both girls said in unison.
"Excuse me," said a stern voice from behind, stopping the group. The trio turned around and saw an older man smiling at them. He was wearing kaki pants with a nice dress shirt and shoes, a white lab coat over his suit that matched his short, white beard, and a pair of reading glasses in the shirt-pocket. The trio noticed he was carrying a large bag on his back and a suitcase in each hand. "I just arrived in the city and was wondering if you could point me to the Oreburgh Museum…?"
"O-Oh, well, we also just arrived, so we don't really know where it is," Brock clarified, returning the old man's politeness. "Sorry we're not much help."
"Oh, that's quite alright," the old man grinned while shaking his head. "I should apologize for thinking you were natives and jumping to conclusions. Well, I'll see if I can find it on my way to the Pokémon Centre." He walked past the trio before continuing. "You kids be safe, okay?"
"W-Wait," Dawn called out. "We can help you find the museum if you want…?"
The old man had a surprised expression from the girl's outburst, but it changed into a warming smile after hearing her proposal.
"Normally, I wouldn't want to bother youngsters with my troubles, but these cases are heavy for an old, broken man like myself," he mentioned as he turned to face them. After hearing the bags were heavy, the group could see his arms were shaking. "If you all don't mind, I would be delighted if you could grab these suitcases."
"No problem," Dawn said as she paced to him and grabbed one from the stranger. She almost dropped it as she received it. "Holy crap! This thing is heavy. It's like if he's carrying rocks in here," she thought while tightening her grip to lift the suitcase. "No wonder he has broken bones."
"I can take the bag off your back, and my friend can take your other suitcase," Brock offered. He gently helped the old man remove the bag while May grabbed the other suitcase. As Brock and May stepped away to give the man space, the breeder whispered to her. "One of us should meet up with Ash, so we'll help this guy get to the Pokémon Centre and then you can head off to the gym. Dawn and I will help him find the museum. Sound good?"
May briefly glanced at her friend before nodding. She was going to offer help to the elder man before Dawn said anything but was torn between meeting up with Ash and assisting the stranger, so the compromise that Brock gave her a sense of relief. May was going to aide in some way and be able to see Ash's match.
"Oh, you all are too kind," the old man exclaimed as he stretched his body. "I'm too old for this kind of stuff, but I don't trust the young people in my department to deliver such important work." He laughed slightly as he rubbed his beard. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Cole."
May, Dawn, and Brock greeted Cole and introduced themselves respectfully.
"It's nice to meet all of you," Cole said smiling. "I am really grateful to have run into you all."
"If you don't mind me asking," Brock inclined nicely. He struggled to stand up straight as he spoke. "What do you have in your luggage? It's pretty heavy."
"Rocks."
"I knew it!"
Everyone turned to Dawn after hearing her outburst. She laughed nervously as she scratched her cheek.
"Sorry," she said in between laughs. "I just kinda thought that's what was in here…"
"Why are carrying rocks with you?" May questioned, turning back to Cole.
"They're fossils to be exact," he explained. Cole noticed the teens interested expressions and grinned as he pressed on. "Yes, fossils from Pokémon who lived way before our time. I'm supposed to deliver them to a man named Roark in the museum, so he could study them. Normally, they wouldn't be so heavy, but we haven't fully excavated them from the ground minerals because we lack the tools back in our lab, so they still have weight to them."
"Well, we don't mind helping you find this guy to give him the fossils," Dawn said.
"Yeah, we'd be happy to help," Brock added. "We'll stop by the Pokémon Centre first to get something to eat, and then we'll look for the museum together."
"A splendid idea," Cole said happily.
"In the meantime, would you mind telling us more about these fossils?"
"Not at all, young man. I was thinking it was the least I could do since you're being so nice."
With that, the elder man began describing the different kinds of Pokémon the fossils were rumored to be as they headed towards the city.
XxXxXxX
Ash and Pikachu slowly approached the doors to the gym after leaving their friends behind. They noted they were not being followed and thought they should just face the gym leader. They did not want to waste any more time.
"It shouldn't take long to win, Pikachu."
"Pi pika?"
"Yeah, I only want to use one Pokémon, so we can meet up with everyone else quickly."
Just as the gym doors opened, Ash and Pikachu opened their eyes slightly in surprise when they saw Roark walking with Paul in their direction. Paul saw the duo and walked ahead of the gym leader to meet them. He had a serious expression as he stood in front of Ash and Pikachu.
"Are you here to challenge the gym?" He asked bluntly.
"It's nice to see you, too, Paul," Ash responded, ignoring his initial question. He grinned at the purple-haired teen when he spoke. "And yeah, we are. I'm guessing you've already won…?"
"It wasn't too hard."
"I had you sweating there for a second," Roark said, interrupting their conversation. Ash saw he was wearing his usual mining outfit and wondered if everyone he met wore the same clothes every day. It would not be unusual since he did the same thing. "You must be one of Paul's friends. I'm Roark, the Oreburgh Gym Leader."
"We're not friends," Paul stated, watching Ash introduce himself and shake hands with Roark. "And I was only sweating because it was hot in there, not because you had me on the ropes."
"If you say so," the gym leader replied. He turned to Ash and smirked. "So, I'm guessing you're a challenger, then. If you are, we can battle right now if you want?"
"Yeah, we're ready if you are," Ash said confidently.
"It would be a one-on-one match since most of my Pokémon are still recovering from their earlier match. Is that alright?"
"That's fine by me."
Ash, along with Pikachu, began following Roark further into the building to the battlefield, leaving the purple-haired teen.
"Hold on," Paul stated, causing them to stop and turn around. "May I be allowed to watch the match between you and this fool?" He asked the red-haired man.
Roark viewed him for a second before responding. "Sure, I don't mind if Ash doesn't," he said. "What do you think?"
"It's fine with me," Ash shrugged dismissively. "I don't see the harm."
"Good," Paul smirked. "I just want to see if your win against me was a fluke."
"It wasn't, but you can still watch how a real trainer battles."
Paul frowned angrily.
"H-How about we head to start the battle, huh?" Roark laughed nervously. There was a lot of tension between the two trainers and knew he should stop the banter before it got out of hand. "There definitely not friends."
XxXxXxX
"Are you sure you don't want to stop at the Pokémon Centre? We can take break and eat breakfast like you all wanted to."
"We're okay, Professor Cole," May declined politely. She addressed him respectfully after he had mentioned he was well-known geology professor from the Johto Region. After asking a couple of people where the museum was, the group discovered it was a few blocks past the Pokémon Centre and right across from the Pokémon Gym. May thought she would be able to help Cole with everything then head straight to the gym. "We can eat after we help you get to the museum."
"Okay, if you insist…"
It took them another five minutes to reach their destination. They were tiredly standing in front of the glass building in awe. It was very tall, and the windows were glistening from the sun's reflection. Professor Cole put his hands on his hips and smiled.
"Here we are, youngsters," the professor said, still glancing at the building in triumph. "I can't thank you enough for your assistance today."
"Not a problem," Brock said while catching his breath. Carrying both Cole's bag and his own were challenging. "Glad we were able to help you in some way."
"Yeah, we're just happy you got here without any problems," Dawn huffed, wiping away some sweat from her forehead.
The old man laughed heartedly.
"You're all too modest," he commented. He then walked over to each of them and took his luggage from each of them. Cole shook each of their hands and stepped away. "Thank you very much for all your help. I can handle it from here. I owe you all a great deal that I promise I will repay one day."
May, Dawn, and Brock gently smiled and watched the elder man walk through the open glass doors into the building. They rested for a couple minutes while they admired the museum furtherly. They noticed that the entire place was essentially glass, which they believed to have a purpose but could not figure out what. Dawn broke the silence after another minute of resting.
"Well, we did our good dead for the day," She exclaimed happily as she gave her friends a thumbs up. "And it only cost us breakfast…sadly."
"Don't worry," Brock reassured, regaining some his energy. "I have some snacks we can eat until we find a place. They should keep us full for a while."
"Perfect!" The blue-haired teen clasped her hands in gratitude. "We should have them while we head over to the Pokémon Gym. I'm pretty sure Ash has already started, right?"
After hearing Dawn's comments, May perked up, turned around, and started heading towards the gym.
"Come on, you guys," she told them as she jogged. "We don't want to miss his first gym battle in the Sinnoh Region!"
"No need to worry, May," Dawn said, following closely behind. She realized they were not going to eat those snacks but decided to let it go for now. "I'm sure the match is still going on. We'll be able to make it in time."
"I hope we d—"
CRACK
The trio stopped in their tracks and quickly turned around after hearing loud glass break from the building they recently left. They gazed at the top of the museum where they saw large pieces of shattered glass dangerously falling from the air. Amid the disaster, a large grey Pokémon flew into the sky.
"RARR!"
"That's an Aerodactyl!" Brock recognized.
"I-It doesn't look too friendly if you ask me," Dawn nervously noted. She could see a menacing look across the Pokémon's face. She saw the giant Pokémon circle the museum a few times before noticing a dark-purple ball form in its mouth. "I think it's gonna attack!"
"ARR!" The Aerodactyl roared as it fired a powerful beam towards the building, causing an explosion and a fire inside museum.
"That was a Hyper Beam!"
"And a pretty strong one at that," May fearfully stated. She saw the Pokémon circle the building once more before quickly soaring away from it and nosediving towards them at an incredible speed. "Run!"
The trio swiftly turned and desperately tried running away. Realizing it was pointless, though, May, Dawn, and Brock rapidly dove to the ground just before the Aerodactyl collided with them. They slowly lifted their heads to see it sail towards the Pokémon Gym.
"What was that all about?" Dawn thought out loud as she stood and wiped her clothes.
"There's time for to think about that," May determined anxiously. "It's headed towards the gym, and Ash doesn't know about it! We have to go now!"
Brock and Dawn both nodded.
"Yeah, let's g—,"
"Stop! Thieves!" Yelped a familiar voice.
They looked behind only to see Professor Cole chasing three recognizable faces holding the luggage that they helped the old man recently bring.
"Team Rocket!" Brock called out, stopping Jessie, James, and Meowth in their tracks.
"We should've known you were behind this!" May said angrily.
The three criminals were surprised at first, but they simply smirked as they viewed them. Jessie briefly brushed her hair before she began their motto.
"Listen, is that a voice I hear," she said cockily.
"It's speaking to me loud and clear," James chimed in coolly.
"On the wind!"
"Past the stars!"
"In your ea—AAHH," was all Meowth could get out before being tackled by Professor Cole. "Someone get dis geezer off me!"
"Give me back the fossils you stole," Cole demanded. He wrestled with Meowth until James pulled him off and threw him to the ground.
"I told you we should've tied him up," Jesse said crossing her arms. "He interrupted our new motto in front of the twerps."
"But he seemed like a defenseless old man," James stated innocently. "How was I supposed to know he was so violent…?"
"Never mind dat," Meowth said while wiping himself. "We got to get outta here before Officer Jenny shows up wit back-up."
"Not to mention that nasty Aerodactyl could come back any minute, too," James said a little scared.
"They're the people Ash was talking about. They're the ones that hurt Pikachu," Dawn deduced. "So, you're the ones who let out that Aerodactyl that's causing destruction!"
Meowth, Jessie, and James just turned and stared at the blunette in confusion.
"Oh, great another one…you must be a new twerp 'cause I've never seen you before," Jessie concluded frustratingly. She then gave Dawn an irritated expression as she spoke. "And don't go blaming us for criminal stuff we didn't do!"
"Yeah, we only stole the fossils from this old man," James added in defense.
"Not dat we weren't gonna try to steal Aerodactyl," Meowth interjected simply. "But someone else beat us to it."
"Who did?!"
"Like we'd tell you," Jessie replied coldly to Brock.
"Yeah, and we couldn't tell you if we wanted to," James grinned and shrugged. "She disappeared before we could get a good look her."
"She?" Brock questioned.
"Liars!"
"No, I'm sad to say he's right, May," Professor Cole said as he struggled to get up from the ground. "I had just entered the building when these three, disguised as guards, ambushed me. I chased them all the way down to the Pokémon laboratory where we found all the researchers out cold on the floor!" He coughed slightly before continuing. "We watched quietly as a woman with a Gengar confused the Aerodactyl. That's why it went on a rampage!" May, Dawn, and Brock were in disbelief from what they were hearing. "And just before I could confront her, she teleported with his Gengar!"
"That's when we decided to get out of there," Jessie decided to finish. "We knew it was gonna get crazy, so we ran out of there as fast as we could. Sure enough, that fossil monster attacked the museum without a care in the world."
"Now," Meowth announced after Jessie finished. "We're just gonna head out wit dese fossils that we stole an—,"
"No! Please stop them, youngsters," Professor Cole pleaded to May, Dawn, and Brock. "They're important relics of history that we need to conserve. I beg you to stop them before they get away…"
"Don't worry, professor," Brock reassured as he clenched his fists. "We weren't going to let them leave with anything they stole."
"Yeah, leave it to us," Dawn stepped forward and pulled out a Poké ball. She briefly turned to May and whispered. "Ash can take care of himself. Right now, we have to focus on stopping Team Rocket."
May glanced at Dawn and nodded.
"I know, but something doesn't feel right," the brunette responded uneasily. "Do you think it's a coincidence that Aerodactyl just happened to fly towards the Pokémon Gym when there was a city nearby, or attack us for that matter?"
"I-I don't know," Dawn replied honestly. She looked towards Team Rocket and the museum's fire getting bigger. "That's something we can think about later. We need to beat them and try putting out that fire until help arrives. There's people out-cold in that building that need help."
Suddenly, they noticed the clear blue skies we slowly being covered by dark, ominous clouds. The once bright, sunny, day was now gray and dull in a matter of seconds. The wind had picked up immensely which caused everyone to shield their eyes from the dust it was picking up. Rain began to pour fiercely, and loud thundering could be heard close by. This scene seemed very familiar to the heroes. It quickly occurred to May where they had witnessed something similar.
"Guys!" She screamed, realizing that the difficult weather would make it harder to hear. "This is the same thing that happened when we were waiting for Ash to come back from the port!"
"Stop your jabbering," Jessie yelled to them as she threw a Poké ball in the air. "Go, Dustox!"
"Go, Cacnea!" James followed suit.
"I choose you, Forretress!"
"Go, Piplup!"
"Help us out, Squirtle!" May called out lastly. She briefly looked towards the gym before focusing on Team Rocket. "I can't shake this uneasy feeling…"
XxXxXxX
"Rampardos, use Head Smash before it can recover!"
"Nice try, Roark," Ash complimented. "But it's not gonna be enough. Dodge and use Focus Blast, Scraggy!"
"Scrag," the little Pokémon said as it pulled up its pants. It saw Rampardos charging at an incredible speed and waited until the last second before jumping over the Rock-type. As Scraggy was flipping, it brought its hands together to form a small yellow orb that began growing bigger with each second. When the ball was larger than Scraggy's body, it brutally launched it towards Rampardos' back for a direct hit.
"PAR!" Cried the Pokémon in pain. It fell to its knees before falling to the ground with swirls in its eyes.
"No, Rampardos!" Roark exclaimed concerningly.
The referee noticed the Pokémon had fainted and called the match.
"Rampardos is unable to battle. The winner of the match is Ash Ketchum and his Scraggy!"
Roark sighed in disappointment as he recalled his fallen Pokémon. Losing two matches in a row did not give him a good feeling. He shook off his initial thoughts and walked to Ash, who was petting his victorious Pokémon.
"That was a good match, Ash," the Oreburgh Gym Leader said when was next to him. "I am honored to present you this Coal Badge. Take it as symbol of your win here today at the Oreburgh City Pokémon Gym."
Ash graciously accepted the badge from Roark and showed it to Scraggy. The Fighting-type lifted its arms in excitement, which caused its baggy pants to fall. It quickly lifted them up and smiled sheepishly. Ash laughed before speaking.
"I'm happy for you, too," he said while pulling out a Poké ball. "You deserve nice rest."
"Scrag!" Scraggy stated happily before it disappeared.
"You were smart to use a Fighting move against Rampardos," Paul said, approaching Ash and Roark. "I'll admit I did something similar during my match." He stood with his hands in his pockets in front of Ash. "I've never seen that Pokémon before, but I can tell it was trained well. I won't underestimate you the next time we battle…and I'll be sure to go all out."
Ash grinned and crossed his arms. "Good," he replied as Pikachu mimicked his actions on the trainer's shoulder. "It should be more interesting the next time, then."
The two trainers stared at each other intensely until they heard doors to gym open harshly. They turned to see a dark-haired woman, wearing a similar mining outfit as Roark, panting severely. Tiredly, yet eagerly, she ran towards them in a hurry.
"Roark!" She called out desperately. "There's a problem at the museum! You need to get there as soon as possible!"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down," Roark stated calmly while raising his hands. "What kind of problem are we talking about?"
BOOM
Everyone heard the explosion and looked around to see where it was coming from.
"What was that?" Paul questioned.
"It's the Aerodactyl we revived a few days ago," the woman finally said. "It got out!"
"What? How?!" Roark said in shock. Not even waiting for a response, he ran past the worker and towards the exit.
"This sounds like Team Rocket's doing again," Ash thought. He whispered to Pikachu. "Follow him to make sure he's alright. Okay, buddy?"
Pikachu nodded and leaped from the trainer's shoulder to go along with Roark.
Ash turned to Paul who was trying to assess the situation. "We should follow him, too. He doesn't have any Pokémon left to take down the Aerodactyl if he has to."
Paul glanced at Ash seriously for a few seconds before responding. "As much as I hate to admit, you're right. He doesn't have any Pokémon left to take down the Aerodactyl, and I doubt your little Pikachu will be enough."
Ash was going to argue about Pikachu, but thought it was not worth it right now.
"Good. Let's head—,"
"RAAR!"
They quickly glanced up to view the cause of the sound and noticed that the building was shaking tremendously. Ash's eyes widened when he realized what was happening.
"Move!" He shouted at Paul. The raven-haired trainer grabbed the woman and dove to the ground on top of her to shield her while Paul rapidly dove in the opposite direction of the pair. At that moment, a dark-purple beam pierced and destroyed the roof and field where they were recently standing, causing a large explosion. Dust covered the entire battlefield which was making it difficult to see anything. Ash thought this would be the perfect to check on the worker he was protecting, so he lifted his head to look at the woman and spoke gently. "You okay?" Ash asked concernedly. He noticed she only had small cut on her forehead above her left eyebrow.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," she replied weakly while rubbing her head.
"That's good," Ash relaxed, slowly standing up. He helped her stand and checked on his old friend. "Paul! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he heard the trainer say. "Murkrow, blow this dust away!"
"Mur!"
Suddenly, Ash felt the woman hang onto his arm as the gust of wind aggressively cleared the smoke from the air. He could see Paul and noticed he had a few scratches on his face.
"ARRA!"
Both trainers saw the Aerodactyl descending into the building through the hole it made in the ceiling with the Hyper Beam. They saw it slowly flap its wings and land gently across from them on the battlefield. Surprisingly, rain began to pour harshly through the roof of the gym and great thundering echoed through the building.
"Does this seem familiar to you, Ash Ketchum?" An angelic feminine voice resonated frighteningly. A figure mysteriously appeared from behind the Aerodactyl, and Ash's body tensed when he saw the person's eyes; they were clear, white eyes with no pupils that reminded him of the hooded figure from a few days ago. However, everything else about this person was different to Ash. He noted this individual covered only her nose and mouth with a mask that was marked with an "X" across it and allowed the black cloak to hang like a long cape. He could see her long silver hair drape to the sides of her beautiful face that complimented her empty eyes. It clashed with her black skin-tight bodysuit that came down to her upper thighs, black opera gloves, and knee-high boots. The trainer considered her gorgeous figure for a second before realizing the peril they were in.
"Paul, I need you to listen to me," Ash decided to make a move before anything began. "I need you to take this woman and leave to find Roark. He could be in danger."
"No way," he replied arrogantly, enlarging a Poké ball. "I have a score to settle with that Aerodactyl. Not to mention that lady next to it seems to be controlling it."
"Listen!" Ash frustratingly demanded. "I can stall them for a while, but I need you to leave and find the other Pokémon that she came with. It could be more dangerous than the Aerodactyl!"
Paul slightly flinched and looked surprisingly at Ash. "What other Pokémon?"
"No time to explain. You'll know when you find it," the Kanto native informed. He pulled out his own Poké ball and enlarged it. "Head to the museum where Roark said he was going."
Paul gritted his teeth but thought if Ash was really persistent and passionate about this, then it might be true. He swiftly returned Murkrow as he ran to Ash's side to grab the worker by the hand and race towards the exit, leaving Ash and the mysterious stranger alone.
"HAHAHAHA," the mysterious woman audaciously laughed while gripping her face, blushing deeply. "You're even more incredible than I remember!"
"Did she say 'remember'?" Ash noted. "Why did you send away your Gengar?"
"Oh, he's just a present for your friends at the museum," she exclaimed innocently, still gripping her flushed face with her right hand. She then pulled out a dark Poké ball with a black aura around it that Ash remembered the other trainer had. She casually threw it at Aerodactyl and instantly caught it. "It's going to be so much fun erasing you from existence!"
"I need to stop this woman right now. That would be one less trainer after us," Ash concluded in his head. "She did say 'remember,' and there's something about her that's really familiar, too. I can't wrap my head around it, but I know her." He shook his thoughts because now was not the right time to think about that. "Sorry, but I'm not going anywhere today."
"Ooh, please keep resisting. It's soo enticing and exciting to me!"
"You have issues."
"Maybe…" She replied honestly, smiling seductively as she threw the dark ball in the air. "But you won't have to worry about me when you die! Attack, Aerodactyl!"
"RAA!" Said the Pokémon when it appeared. It quickly engulfed itself in a light-purple aura and swiftly raced towards Ash.
"Stop it, Greninja!" The trainer commanded as he released the Water Pokémon. The blue frog appeared and hastily formed a Water Shuriken in each hand before aggressively firing them at the Aerodactyl, colliding and putting a stop to the Giga Impact.
"RAR!" The fossil Pokémon said while backing away to its new trainer.
The mysterious figure giggled.
"How about we get a little crazier?" She suggested.
"I didn't think you can," Ash looked at curiously.
"HAHAHA," she laughed while taking off one of her gloves. The silver-haired woman revealed a ring on her middle finger with a Key Stone attached to it. "It's a shame this will be our last meeting. We could've had so much fun together…oh well, I guess it's time to end this. Mega Evolve, Aerodactyl!"
Suddenly, a golden connection formed between the woman's stone on her finger and the fossil Pokémon's stone around its tail, which Ash barely observed when he saw the link. Aerodactyl yelled as it glowed and began transforming. Large, dark spikes developed along its tail and upper portions of its wings. They also extended to its ears, chin, and back where its original spine was. As the transformation finished, the Mega Aerodactyl roared loudly for everyone to hear to intimidate its opponents. Ash and Greninja did not flinch from the noise.
"I love your confidence, but it's pointless when you're not alive," the woman declared, lightly blushing. "Full power Giga Impact!"
Without hesitation, Mega Aerodactyl covered itself in the same light-purple aura as before but surrounding a larger area. It closed its wings and quickly dashed again towards Ash who was staring directly at it with a serious expression. Just as the attack was a few feet away, Greninja appeared unexpectedly in front of it and repelled the Mega Aerodactyl by immersing himself in a water vortex. This caused the Flying Pokémon to back away.
"That's twice someone has tried attacking me with their Pokémon," Ash stated calmly. "I have to say I'm not a fan of it, so I'm gonna put an end to this right now. Don't you agree, Greninja?"
In that moment, the water vortex around the Water-type increased in size and was spinning faster. The water then began surrounding only Greninja as the fin on its forehead turned a bright red. To the mysterious woman's surprise, the water shaped into a massive Water Shuriken on Greninja's back which finished the transformation.
"Like I said," Ash started as he clenched his fist in front of his face and smirked. "Not today."
And that's it for this chapter. Sorry I cut you all off right here, but the next chapter should finish this entire seen and clear up some stuff. Also, I know the layout for Oreburgh City may be a little different, but I did it for the purpose of the story.
Let me know what you all think. Did you like it? Dislike it? I enjoy the feedback.
Thanks, everyone. Happy holidays!
-RedHood06