"SHE WHAT?" Michael snarled at the Pokémon Gear, while flying atop his Dragonite away from Kingston Castle. at first for his home in Parlor Town but now changing course for the Pokémon League HQ for an unexpected confrontation.
"I know you're upset" Leonard spoke softly on the other line, petrified of the torrent of rage the Champion was becoming.
"Upset doesn't BEGIN to describe it, Leonard! How could she do this?"
"Cameron did what she thought was right" the lawyer tried to explain. "Look, before you go off and do anything rash, why don't you try listening to her rationale?"
"Her rationale for letting one of the Syndicate's most dangerous leaders off the hook?" Michael demanded.
"He's not being set free. He's going to be sent to a rehabilitation center once we've gotten the information we need from him."
"Leonard" Michael growled, "how could you guys have done this to me? To Arcana? TO EVERYONE?!"
"We didn't do anything to Arcana" Leonard explained. "Cameron did what she felt was right and took the initiative. If you've got a problem, you have to take it up with her."
"OH BELIEVE ME, I WILL!" Michael roared, before ending the call and turning to Rhaegar. "Get us to the HQ, Rhaegar!" The Dragonite nodded and veered off course for The Ranch and flew with thunderous force towards the Pokémon League HQ. Michael's head was swirling with ideas of rage, frustration and above all else, fear. This was the kind of thickheaded decision that could define Arcana for the next generation. And it was made by one of the few people in the world that he still trusted. How could I have let this happen? How could she be so shortsighted? He could feel the pain inside of him growing, but right now, he knew his body was running on pure adrenaline. He would make it to the HQ to get his answers from Cameron.
Michael's Dragonite flew like a rocket down towards the small field in front of the Pokémon League HQ, a plain white building with wide windows and a wide enough roof to land plenty of Flying Pokémon on there if the Elite Four and the Champion were ever needed to fly off in an emergency. He could see someone sitting on the roof, but was focused on his landing as he saw both Chris and Mark hurrying up to Rhaegar as the Dragon Pokémon landed. Chris, as was to be expected, was the first to make his way over to Michael.
"Where is she?" Michael asked impatiently. "Where?!"
"Mike" Chris said calmly to his cousin, "you have to calm down."
"CALM DOWN?!" Michael bellowed, causing Chris and Mark to jump at their friend's rage. "Do you not realize what's going to come of this? How careless and stupid of a decision this was?"
"Mike" Mark said, echoing Chris, "you really need to calm down. Remember the Fury."
"The Fury that is going to descend on every single person in Arcana because of this?" Michael retorted.
"Why is that, Mike?" a voice called from above. Michael glared at the roof and saw Cameron standing there, looking down at him. "As far as I'm concerned, I managed to stop Arcana from sliding into chaos."
"You bought five minutes of peace for another year of war?" Michael replied, with Chris and Mark standing between him and Cameron.
"What war?" Cameron responded coldly. "There is no war, Mike. The Syndicate doesn't have the strength to fight back anymore. Cassius is a lone wolf. The people of Arcana see only one real danger in their region, and it doesn't come from anyone from the Syndicate."
"Cam!" Mark replied. "There's no-"
"No" Michael said, having eclipsed his boiling point. "Now I want to know. Cam. Who is the real danger in Arcana?"
Cameron folded her arms. "Do you not realize how petulant you're acting right now? You're out there trying to refight a war that's been over for a very long time. People are sick of hearing about war. It's time to spread a new message about peace. And it's becoming increasingly clear to me and to the rest of the region that you aren't a leader for times of peace."
Michael's eyes widened after his cousin's scathing remark. Michael was trying to make sense of Cameron's actions, to understand why she did what she did. But whenever he did, he could only picture this as something far more malicious than it really was. She's only doing this for herself.
"This is about you doing something to cover yourself, isn't it?" Michael accused.
Cameron turned away. "Someone has to be thinking about Arcana's future."
Chris seemed shocked by his sister's declaration. "Cam. How could you?"
"How could I?" Cameron repeated. "How could I? How could you? Mike is out there making blunders on national television and you're still going to defend him?"
"We are a team, Cam!" Chris fired back. "I told you before, we all succeed as a team or we all fail as a team."
"How can a team function when it's leader has his head in the clouds?" Cameron replied.
Michael nearly broke through Mark's grip on him, but continued to fume out of reach of her. "You think I have my head in the clouds because the Syndicate is readying for their next move?"
"THEY HAVE NO MOVES!" Cameron exploded. "There is nothing that the Syndicate can do to Arcana that is anything drastic! The only real threat to Arcana is a Champion who sees enemies in every shadow!"
Michael could feel his heart ready to burst. He began to slump on Mark. "Cameron...you...you have..."
"Mike?" Mark asked his friend.
Cameron folded her arms. "What now?"
Michael made one final defiant stand without Mark's help. "Whatever happens in Arcana because of this is on your hands!" Michael spat out, before collapsing on the ground.
"MIKE!" Chris cried out, falling down towards his cousin's side.
Lizzie, who had heard the altercation from inside the HQ, hurried outside to oversee Michael's situation. "What happened?"
Chris glared at his sister, who refused to look at Michael, now wheezing in Mark and Lizzie's arms. "Take Mike inside and get Celebi out for him. I'll contact Julia and tell her to come if she can." As Mark and Lizzie led Michael back inside to lay down, Rhaegar followed them inside, grunting in worry for his trainer. When the four vanished inside the HQ, Chris shook his head at his sister. "What were you thinking?"
Cameron stood, her back to her brother, looking out into the distance. "I did what needed to be done. If Michael went through with the trial, Claude would have picked him apart piece by painful piece until Cassius was cleared of all charges. This way, Cassius admits to wrong doing and gets taken off the streets for at least a few months. I've bought time."
"You haven't bought anything accept some good things for yourself" Chris told his sister coldly.
"You can call it whatever you want" Cameron hissed. "I don't care."
"Of course you don't" Chris replied. "Can't you see that what you're doing is going to tear us apart?"
"What Mike is doing has already done that!" Cameron snapped. "We're all going down because he still believes there's a war to fight. It's almost as if Walter O'Hara is right about him."
Chris was speechless. Michael's chief lieutenant, his closest confidant, had turned on him. And it seemed she had no regrets over it. Disgusted with his sister, Chris walked away from her. "Before you go and absolve yourself of all part in this, ask yourself this question. Who did you really do it for? Did you do it for Arcana? Did you do it for Mike? Did you do it for our family? Or did you do it for yourself?" When Cameron did not immediately respond, Chris headed back into the HQ to contact Julia to let her know of Michael's condition, leaving his sister out alone with her thoughts.
{Meanwhile}
Despite adding two new Pokémon to his and Addison's team, Ryan was coming to the realization as he and his friends made their way towards Terra Town, that he would be entering his battle with Greg in his gym at a decided disadvantage. Of his current team of five Pokémon, Sparks and Cinder were at a severe type disadvantage to Greg's powerful Ground Type Pokémon. And while Marahute was unaffected by Ground Pokémon's powerful attacks, she would be exposed to counterattacks with sub type attacks such as Rock or Ice. That left only his two least experienced Pokémon to be used in battle alongside her: his young Sandshrew and his newly acquired Ralts. He figured that Greg would certainly force him to keep thinking on his feet for his gym battles, as he had during his battles with Tori and Erin. But he wasn't afraid of this, though, because he was beginning to see that he did his best battling when he was forced to think on his feet.
While they made their way from Kingston Castle to Terra Town, Holly was beginning to realize the depth of her crush on a certain green bandanna wearing trainer. Ever since they had shared their dance at the Ball, she was becoming more and more drawn to Ryan, even though he was seemingly oblivious to her budding affection. She had thought that by displaying her feelings more subtly would give the boy a hint of how she was feeling, but she now believed that a more hands on approach was needed towards getting Ryan to notice her. She would wait for the right moment to woo the trainer into her arms, no matter how long it would take.
Addison, completely oblivious to Holly's feelings towards her best friend, was focused on mentoring Ryan on his upcoming battle against Greg in Terra Town. While she had been hopeful of finding some kind of Water or Grass Type Pokémon for Ryan to add to his team for use in battle, they had failed to come up with any. As a result, she began to formulate some kind of strategy for Ryan to use for when their team arrived in town for Ryan's 3rd Gym Battle.
The three came to a stop on the road when they saw Terra Town in person. The village was filled with buildings largely made of stone and clay, even the Pokémon Center and Gym were made in this fashion. But the village was split into three separate sections. The highest and most visible section of Terra Town was where the Gym was located. Perched high on a hill that overlooked the rest of Terra Town, the Colosseum where Greg tested Arcana's Pokémon Trainers loomed like a seat where a King would oversee his subjects. Also in the highest section were the Terra Town Café, where the workers in town would spend their evenings or lunch breaks, regrouping themselves after long and arduous days of hard work in the hot sun in the lower sects of the town. The second section was the residential area. Here was where the locals of Terra Town lived their simple lives, most of whom worked in the third section of the town, but the Pokémon Center and Terra Town Hotel were also located here, capable of housing trainers after their long journeys for the evening. The third section, far to the bottom of Terra Town, was still under construction. Under the watchful eye of Timaeus Corporation, construction unions were building up more affordable housing for the people of Terra Town, as well as a shopping district that might help bring the sleepy town to life as it's rivals in Taghwan City and Alchemiburg were.
Leading into Terra Town itself was a long rope bridge, heavily reinforced thanks to the careful and watchful eyes of Greg and the others who maintained the village. As Ryan and his friends crossed the bridge, they saw a huge elevator that reached the side of the cliff and would bring down to the lowest levels of Terra Town any and all construction materials or machinery needed to build up the village. When Ryan stopped to admire the elevator bringing down a huge crane that would be used to help build more buildings for those in Arcana who needed it, his friends had to shake him out of his stupor and bring him back into the village itself.
"Whew" Holly said, as the three finally finished crossing the bridge, wiping sweat off of her brow. "It's a scorcher today."
"They say" Addison read from her Pokédex App, "that this is because all of the buildings are made with light-colored clays and stones, which reflects the light from the sun and in turn makes us absorb more of it so long as we're wearing dark clothing."
"But we're not wearing that dark of clothing" Ryan insisted, he too wiping sweat out of his eyes.
"It's darker than the clay" Addison explained. "Ergo, it draws in more sunlight, even that which is reflected off the buildings." She looked towards the highest part of the village and saw the Terra Town Cafe. "Maybe we should get ourselves some Lemonades or something to help cool down. At least before you guys go to the Gym."
"You guys go on without me" Ryan said. "I want to go and size myself up against Greg at the Gym. You know, to see how tough he really is."
Addison and Holly looked to each other and shrugged. "Suit yourself. We'll buy you one anyway. Come find us in the Terra Town Café when you're finished." When the two had trotted off towards the Café, Ryan called out his Sandshrew and looked towards him. "Okay, Sandshrew. Now is the time I start to use you in some battles. Are you ready for a Gym Battle?"
The Sandshrew eyed him curiously, before happily nodding. Together, Ryan and his Pokémon made their way to the immense Terra Colosseum, where Greg was no doubt waiting for them. He soon found an unexpected problem. He and his Pokémon skidded to a halt when they saw a huge boulder blocking the way into the Colosseum. He looked past the boulder and tried to see if someone was there.
"Hello?" Ryan called inside, but no one answered. Ryan tried to push the boulder, but could barely make it budge. His Sandshrew did his best to try and push the boulder, but even together, they failed to move the boulder out of place. He and his Pokémon retreated backwards and called up to anyone at the Colosseum.
"Hello? There's a boulder in the way of the gym" he called to anyone who was above them. But when no one answered, Ryan turned towards his Pokémon. "What do you think, Sandshrew?" The Pokémon began to scratch itself in the belly and moan to itself. "I think we've got a bit of a problem. But maybe someone in town will know how to break through here." Ryan and his Pokémon then hurried back towards the Terra Town Café to meet with Addison and Holly.
The two were already seated in the Café, drinking from large bottles of lemonade and sharing some with their Eevees. Holly's Eevee's fur began to frizz and puff out because of the heat, while Addison's lapped up Lemonade as if it were going out of style. The two seemed surprised that Ryan was back so soon, but nevertheless Holly handed him a Lemonade for himself and his Pokémon to share.
"We thought we would find you readying for your Gym Battle" Holly said.
"What happened?" Addison asked.
"There's some kind of boulder in front of the Gym" Ryan explained to the girls. "I can't get inside."
"That's odd" Holly replied. "You'd think Greg would want to have trainers to battle him."
Ryan was about to reply, when a small group of trainers made their way for the Terra Town Café from the Terra Colosseum. One of the trainers, a few years older than him, sighed to his friends. "I didn't think Greg would be so strong. I thought all that work I put in training my Pokémon would make a difference."
"It's not your fault" his friend told him. "He's just that strong."
Ryan turned to them. "Excuse me, but my Pokémon and I couldn't get into the Colosseum at all. How did you guys?"
They looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "You want to challenge the Gym?"
Ryan nodded. "Yeah. Greg's next on my list of Gym Badges to obtain, but we couldn't get past that boulder."
The trainer laughed. "Sorry kid, but you need to make your team a little stronger before you go and face him."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Holly snapped.
"That means" the trainer said, "that if your friend wants to challenge Greg, he's just going to have to get stronger. If you cant even move that boulder, you won't stand a chance against Greg." With that, the trainers entered the Café to get themselves drinks to cool down.
Ryan shook his head in frustration. "You've got to be kidding me. I need to go start lifting weights to push that boulder over?"
"It only it was that easy kid" a voice called to him. Ryan turned and saw a large man walking towards the Café from the Construction Zones. He had a thick black and gray beard, wore a dirty white muscle shirt and a pair of scrappy and torn jeans. Though he was clearly a much older man, he looked as if he were capable of moving and pushing things with his own immense physical strength. "The boulder that sits in front of our Gym isn't just a test of strength. It stands as a firm lesson to trainers who aren't good enough to keep progressing. A lesson I'm afraid you haven't learned yet."
"I can learn it!" Ryan insisted.
"Yeah" Holly echoed him.
"I'm not afraid to learn whatever lesson that rock has for me" Ryan proclaimed.
The old worker shook his head. "Man, kid. You have a long way to go. The lesson doesn't come from the boulder. It comes from inside yourself. Greg can't be beaten by someone who relies purely on luck and strategy, kid." He eyed the boy and nodded. "Heh heh! By the look on your face, you've gotten your Gym Badges through sheer luck and quick thinking."
"Is that a bad thing?" Ryan questioned. "I think being able to think on your feet is important."
"And it might very well be" the old man said, making his way over towards the inner part of the Café. "But let me ask you this: do you think that those are the only ways you can win?" With that, the old man entered the Cafe to get himself a drink for his evening.
Ryan lowered his head, confused by his message. What did he mean? Doesn't winning mean that my way worked?
"What a strange man" Holly spoke up, trying to brush her Eevee's fur more to refine it. "What did he mean by what he said?"
"It's clear that he thinks you could use a little bit of training" Addison told Ryan.
"Do you think I could use it?" Ryan asked her.
"I don't see how training could hurt" Addison said, taking a sip from her Lemonade before her Eevee could drink all of it. "Especially since of your three Pokemon to take part in Gym Battles, two of them won't be of much use to you in the upcoming battle."
Ryan sighed. "Maybe you're right. But where would I go from here?"
"Maybe you should ask an expert" Holly suggested, as the old construction worker came out of the Cafe, with a six pack of Soda Pops in his hands. When she gestured towards him, Ryan spun around and got out of his chair, with his Sandshrew close behind him.
"So you think I could use some training?" Ryan asked the old construction worker.
"I don't think, kid" the old man replied. "I know. You're not the first here to come and train his Pokémon, thinking all he needed to do was think of some clever way to get around all his troubles. If you truly want to rise to the level of a true Pokémon Master, you need to train yourself to face what is ultimately inevitable."
"And where do I get this training?"
The old man looked down into the construction zones below. "The same place we all do." With that, he made his way back down the slopes towards the Construction Yard. Ryan looked back at the girls. Both were urging him on to follow him. Confused, but determined to see this through to it's conclusion, Ryan followed the old man down into the third section of the village.
{Meanwhile}
A big and burly man with long black hair pushed his way through the doors that led to the Meeting Chambers of the Syndicate in their Fortress atop Mt. Heatmor. He had a wide jaw and prodigious strength, but also a pair of steely cold eyes that could pierce anyone who wasn't already intimidated of him. In his hands, he carried a burlap sack in his hands, filled with something that the Syndicate desperately needed. In the Meeting Room were Elezar, Jocelyn, Nadine and The Grand Master, who's piercing eyes noticed his arrival the instant the door opened, while the others remained more loose about his return.
"Victor" Nadine remarked respectfully. "You have returned to us."
"Victor" Jocelyn nodded plainly.
"I trust your mission was a successful one, Victor?" Elezar asked.
Victor snickered coldly. "And then some, Elezar. It truly is a shame how little background checks the Queensbury Space Program does to make their astronauts safe. If it did it's job, I might have had a harder time getting what we needed." Upon recognizing the two eyes as cold as ice staring down at him, the Syndicate's Lead Snatcher fell to his knees. "Grand Master?! It is an honor to be in your presence!"
I trust you have succeeded where others have failed?
"Indeed I have, Grand Master" he said, placing the sack on the table in front of his colleagues. The sack opened partially, revealing a small pink and red stone that fell out and appeared in front of the group. The three other Syndicate Admins were stunned by the revelation of Victor's success.
"Is that-" Jocelyn remarked, almost frightened of the power.
"Can it be?" Nadine asked.
"Crimson Stones" Elezar remarked. "And they're just the same as the one we lost in Cassius's first lab." He looked towards Victor. "You've passed even my own lofty expectations of you, Victor. You deserve a reward for your services."
With these Crimson Moon Stones in our possession, we will soon begin to mass produce the brands that Cassius worked so hard to produce. How many did you bring?
"Over a hundred, Grand Master" Victor postured. "If we can manage to streamline the process, we could have an army of Crimson Branded soldiers loyal to us in a matter of minutes!" He looked towards Nadine. "I haven't received any progress reports, Nadine. Have we been bringing in enough potential trainers for us to Brand?"
"Lily and Lena and their combined incompetence has dampened our work" Nadine hissed, "but a successful capture of the Pocus Town Ferry brought in about 30 or 40 usable recruits."
"And more will come" Elezar spoke softly. "Thanks to the work of our agents, the Elite Four and the Champion are beginning to splinter away from one another. And from their splintering will rise the new Syndicate, more powerful and dangerous than the last. When the Champion is no longer able or asked to protect his beloved region, we will strike. And anyone whom we deem acceptable will be brought in for their Branding. It is only a matter of time."
"We still need Cassius in order to operate the Branding Machines" Nadine warned.
The one you call Cassius will soon be returned to us.
"Claude has successfully manipulated the prosecution into thinking that Michael is too unstable to focus on trial on" Elezar grinned.
The boy may be unstable, but instability can lead to uncontrollable power. Can he and his Crimson Fury be contained?
"So long as Courtney does her job" Elezar insisted, "the Champion won't even factor into the equation."
"Then I can return to my passion, Elezar?" Victor asked.
The Leader of the Syndicate nodded. "Indeed. We've compiled a list of trainers I'd like you to observe. Nadine has Lily and Lena scouting out a handful of targets as we speak. But until such a time when Arcana is no longer subject to the will of Michael Kingston, we need to keep our actions discreet and quiet. We cannot afford any mistakes, here."
Victor nodded. "Consider it done. I'll begin my own search immediately." With that, Victor bowed before Elezar and The Grand Master and departed to resume his favorite pastime: Battling and Snatching Trainers.
{Meanwhile}
Ryan and his Sandshrew followed the old man down into the Construction Yard, their determination to reach the levels of strength needed to move their way through to Greg's Gym. He didn't care as long as it took, but he would work to make himself and his Pokémon stronger. As he reached the yard, he saw a huge area that reminded him of a jungle gym of sorts, with steep slopes resembling slides, counterweight measures and runways that also evoked memories of an airport strip.
Upon seeing he was not returning to the Construction Yard alone, the old man turned around to address Ryan. "So, you see that you need to become stronger?"
Ryan nodded. "I want to be able to become stronger."
"Why is that?"
Ryan paused. He had never even thought of that. "I-I-I don't know."
"Hmmm. You don't know." The old man sighed. "It's fine. It takes a lot to find out why becoming stronger matters. But before you can truly become strong, you need to understand why it all matters."
"Why do people want to become strong?" Ryan asked him.
"Many reasons" the man told him. "But you can't just copy someone else's reason, otherwise you're on borrowed strength. But more on that later, kid. Right now, I have a mission for you to do." He walked over to a pile of work supplies and picked up a huge backpack with a funnel on the bottom. He then returned to Ryan's side and handed it over to him. Ryan took it, but collapsed on top of it because of it's immense weight.
"This weighs a ton" Ryan remarked.
"Becoming strong isn't an easy task" the man explained, picking up the bag and putting it on Ryan's back. "That pack is filled with a special soil that can make a more arid place like this more fertile. And the woman who wants to have a house here, would like a garden around this entire property. Therefore, to appease her and to try to build yourself up in strength, I want you to jog across the perimeter on multiple laps until the pack is empty."
"How long will that take?"
"It depends" the man told his new trainee. He then looked down towards the Sandshrew by Ryan's side. "I haven't forgotten about you, little fella." He then pointed towards the little foundation that they were building around the woman's house. Within the foundation were several boulders that were keeping the foundation in place while they looked over the blueprints for the new house. "I want you to move those that big boulder in the corner of the area all around the foundation in one cycle."
The Sandshrew looked towards Ryan, but Ryan nodded at him, prompting the little Ground Pokémon to walk over towards the foundation and start pushing the boulders. The Sandshrew tried to push it over, but he flipped over the rock.
"Once you boys are finished, I'll share a Pop with you" the man said, heading off towards.
Ryan sighed and looked towards Sandshrew. "Looks like we got our work cut out for us."
The Sandshrew climbed back over the rock and did his best to keep pushing the rocks, including pushing with his arms and his back and even trying with his head, but the boulder wasn't moving. Ryan began to run laps around the property, hoping that the soil would fall out quickly. But after he ran three laps around the foundation, nothing had fallen from the funnel.
How is this going to make me stronger? Ryan asked himself angrily. He nevertheless kept going. Lap after lap after lap. He ran across the property nearly 20 times before skidding to a stop, when he saw that nothing was coming out. He looked over toward his Sandshrew, who was still pushing himself to get the boulder to move even an inch. Ryan put the backpack of soil down and sat on top of it, wondering how his Sandshrew could still be trying to push the boulder.
The Pokémon, after flipping over the rock for what may very well have been a fifth time, looked back towards his trainer. He hopped over towards Ryan and began to sniff him. Ryan pet the Sandshrew atop his head. "What the heck are we going to do?" He was about to pull the Pokémon onto his lap to pet him as he used to, when the Sandshrew rolled out of his hands. To Ryan's surprise, the Pokémon returned to his work, trying his hardest to push the boulder over and over once more. Ryan watched in awe as the Sandshrew finally push the boulder a slight space forward.
Ryan was astonished. His Pokémon had spent the last several minutes struggling to get even the simplest job done, but he kept working through it until it finally started to get some work done. Rejuvenated by his Pokémon's determination, Ryan picked up the immeasurably heavy bag and soon began to resume his jogging. After making another three laps, he finally saw the first blotch of soil drop behind him.