PD: Sorry for the long wait between chapter uploads, things have been slow and it doesn't look like it'll go faster anytime soon. Now, this chapter has an optional theme that can be played to enhance immersion. Since it's optional, you don't have to play it as it won't affect the story at all. As with all songs, I don't own them. Look for the number next to any sentence or paragraph to know when to play it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Optional Song: Encounter! Team Plasma! Pokemon Black 2 & White 2 OST (1)
Enter Jade, 3rd Commander of the PCU!
The early morning light peaks through the curtains of our heroes' sleepy, quiet hotel room. The start of yet another day is upon them and using its lustrous arms, the sun awakens Kibou from his deep slumber. His baby blue eyes open up slowly, being greeted to the blinding light and upon doing so, they instinctively close in response to the bright stimuli. His eyes don't stay closed for too long though, as this kind of wake-up call is one that he's used to back at home and is no different here aside from the fact that he's not waking up to the smell of sprinkled sea salt and sweet berries wafting through the air. As his head lifts up off the ground and his body positions itself in the light, gleaming sparkles dance off his fine, fuzzy fur. He may not have bathed in a few days but his naturally shiny fur resists the discoloration that accompanies being filthy, and though he's not filthy, he isn't squeaky clean either. One long yawn and stretching out of his entire body across the shag carpet of the hotel room and he's ready to face whatever this day has to offer. He floats up into the air, looking at the bed in the middle of the room situated up against the wall. The hotel room itself is nothing special; a simple room with a decently sized flat screen TV on the wall in front of him; below it is a small shelf with a few movies stored on it along with a DVD player; a few bookcases to the right of this TV where next to it is a reading lamp and comfy looking chair for reading said books in; to his left, the window where sunlight funnels in and a beautiful view of the beach below can be seen; to his right, he can see the closed door leading out into the hallway of their room. Emma put her bags on the hooks that are built into the back of the door; tucked away near the right corner is the door to the tiny bathroom; finally, on the left side of the bed is a small desk with room for a laptop on it. It has an alarm clock and small lamp there already, but those are useless to him. There's not much else in this room to take note of, especially since he's not going to be staying here for much longer.
He turns his body to face the bed where both Plush and Emma are currently sleeping. He opted to sleep on the floor even though the bed would've been a much more comfortable place but Plush had complained and didn't wanna have him sleeping next to him as he didn't wanna end up in an embarrassing position if the two ended up shifting places during the night. Of course, this didn't bother the little feline Pokemon too much, as there have been many times in the past where he fell asleep in places that were significantly more uncomfortable to him compared to the shag carpet he slept on last night. None of this matters now as it's the morning and both Plush and Emma have to wake up. They still need to get to Goldenrod City and find her grandparents; it could take hours since Goldenrod City is quite big and Kibou is no stranger to its sheer size due to visiting it with his parents in the past. He floats over the bed, does a loop-de-loop in the air and drops his entire body on it. The sudden vibration generated startles Plush awake. "HOLY SHIT WE'RE BEING ATTACKED!" his scratchy yet panic filled voice booms and he jumps off the bed, ready to fight whoever it was that broke in. Though his vision is foggy and he's dazed from the sudden wake-up, he realizes through it all that nobody broke in and the entire room is quite calm. "W-what…? W-where's the intruders?"
Kibou giggles at his confusion though decides it's best to put his concern at ease. "Don't worry, there aren't any bad guys in here… unless you consider me jumping on the bed to be a 'bad guy'."
He yawns for a second and quickly shows his annoyance. "Are you crazy? I thought someone had blown the door down or something and we were about to be captured by those people from a few days ago!" he shakes his head dismissing it. "You just don't get it… Why do I even try…"
"Hey, don't be upset… I didn't know that would've done that… I thought maybe it would just wake you and Emma up." He taps his paws together anxiously and his ears droop down a bit. Thinking of it after the fact makes him understand how Plush could see it like that, though it's too late to change what he did. "I'm sorry, I won't do something like that again."
His tone doesn't sound as accepting of the apology as he was hoping for it to be. "I sure hope you won't, because next time I might just pull my gun out on you and accidentally shoot you. I don't think we need to deal with something like that considering what we promised each other last night…"
The loud voices of these two Pokemon awaken Emma from her sleep as well. "Geez…. Could… could the two of you get any louder…? It's still early and I'm not used to waking up at… a time like this." Her voice also sounds scratchy, groggy, tired, and a bit out of it.
Plush and Kibou apologize to her at the same time, saying the same thing and while it weirds them out initially, they push past it. Emma on the other hand, kicks the blanket off her body and hops out of bed on the right side as that's the side she was sleeping on. She stretches her body out and yawns for a few seconds before rubbing her eyes a little. "Aaahhhh…. I feel like I haven't had a sleep like that in a long time."
"Same here, though something tells me this is the last time I'll ever get to sleep like that for a long time…" says Plush, him yawning as well and stretching his body out to rid himself of the remaining sleepiness within him.
She looks at the clock on the nightstand. "8 am huh? I could've sworn it was earlier than that." she's surprised to have woken up at roughly the same time she wakes up everyday when at home. "I guess I slept so well that it felt earlier than what it actually is."
Kibou, for once, asks her something that makes sense. "While it's still early, shouldn't we get ready to travel to Goldenrod City so we can find your grandparents?"
She's a bit surprised that he was the one to ask this. Normally he asks about playing or exploring the places they've ended up at, but not this time. A giant hotel like this and he remembers something important that he could've easily ignored. "We could, though I don't see any rush to get out of here. The PCU isn't anywhere near here and nobody knows we're here so we can take it slowly. I can't argue against getting there faster than intended; We'll be in a safe spot with less chances for the PCU to find us."
Plush doesn't wanna end up being found by the PCU and believes that it's better if they leave now. "I'd say we get going soon, I don't wanna find out if those guys are here or not, Mommy."
She quickly dusts herself off; she's fully clothed and fairly clean. "I was thinking about taking a shower before we left… whatever, I don't think another day will hurt." She goes over to the door to their room and grabs her bags off the hooks, putting them on her back. "I don't know what lies ahead, and I don't suppose both of you know either?" The two Pokemon don't respond to her, telling her what she already knows. "I see. We'll just have to be ready for anything." She goes over to the door and places her right hand on the doorknob while turning it slightly to open it up. "You two coming?"
The two Pokemon immediately jump up and follow her. She closes the door behind her, locking it with the room key she had in her right pocket and they walk all the way down the hall, heading to the right when they reach the end to find the elevators. Emma presses the button to call it and it arrives about 4 seconds later. The steel doors open up and they all enter, Emma pressing the button for the first floor lobby causing the doors to close. The elevator begins moving down, the lights above the door showing the floor they're on lighting up from the 5th to the 4th, then the 3rd, the 2nd, and finally the 1st floor. The doors open up once again and they all leave, heading for the front desk to leave their room key behind as they don't need it anymore. From there, Emma pushes open the doors to Olivine City, immediately being hit with the smell of sea salt and sand the moment she steps foot outside. "Alright, Plush, Kibou, we're going to head north as that's the only way we can get to Goldenrod City. We'll walk through routes 39 and 38, pass through Ecruteak City, head south on route 37 and 36, cut through the National Park, and finally, continue heading south on route 35 until we reach Goldenrod. We've got quite the ways to go, so I'm hoping we don't encounter the PCU along the way."
Plush walks up to Emma's feet and looks up at her. "Mommy, can you carry me? I don't wanna become tired from walking in the event we have to fight someone. I can't really walk too far by myself…"
"Of course, I'll hold you for a bit though I would like you to get more exercise since it will help with your low stamina. It's not good if you can't run or walk very far because in the future, you're going to be doing tons of that with me."
"Yeah… I guess I could get some exercise then…" he's a bit ashamed at her for calling him out on being a bit out of shape even if it's not his fault. His brown cheeks slowly turn a light shade of red as he tries to hide his head in the fur on his chest while she picks him up with both her hands and situates him against her chest, being held by her right arm.
The three walk through Olivine city for a while before eventually coming across the entrance to Route 39. The start of their journey to reach Goldenrod City begins now, and with no knowledge on what might lie ahead, slight worry in the back of their minds, they take the first step forwards and stare ahead at the rather long, grass filled, tree and small cliff lined route. The path below them is made of dirt and the skies above are blue with a few cirrus clouds flying high overhead. It's a beautiful day in hell as with each step they take, the world around them continues to lose more and more innocent people and Pokemon. The three are slightly aware of this, knowing firsthand what this team is doing and that there's nothing that can be done currently to stop them. They put this thought out of their mind, salvation isn't too far away as long as they don't encounter them at any point during their journey as they walk onward. The lush, green leaves of the trees lining this path sway in the gentle breeze blowing across the route; Vivid green grasses also dance along to the rhythm of the wind, swaying joyfully while basking in the bright light from the burning hot star above.
Plush randomly has a thought come to his mind and he decides to ask Emma. "Hey, mommy? What're your grandparents like? Are they nice?"
She chuckles for a second. "I think you'll like them quite a bit, Plush. I have no memories of them that can be considered bad, only happy, joyful times with them. I used to see them all the time as a little kid, and they'd always have a present or treats ready for me when I came over." She sighs sadly. "Those were good days… I sometimes wish I could travel back in time to relive through them again." Plush looks up at her and notices her heavy eyes. "Everything was better 10 years ago. No war, no… Pc whatever they're called… Pokemon were allowed to roam free and be with their owners. We used to have things like the Pokemon League and Pokemon Gym challenges. People called "Pokemon Trainers" would pride themselves in bringing their trained Pokemon to these places with one purpose: winning a gym badge. My grandparents were accomplished Pokemon Trainers back in the day and they'd always tell me stories of their adventures on the gym challenge… I'm no trainer, but I would've loved to at least try to experience the thrill of a fun, challenging opponent in a Pokemon Battle." Her quiet voice stops.
He isn't too keen on whatever she's talking about, especially the Gym Challenge and Pokemon Battles. "I-I probably wouldn't be useful for anything like that since I have a 1 in all my stats… I don't even know if I can get stronger because of that…"
"Plush…" she looks down at him while petting him with her left hand gently. "I wouldn't care if it was with you or some other Pokemon. We could've tried, we could've at least gotten to see what it was like. It might not have been for you but how many that you know can say they tried?" she sighs again. "It doesn't matter now, we're all in turmoil because of the war. I hope my grandparents are okay and still have their treasured Pokemon…"
Kibou notices how upset she is and tries to cheer her up by floating in front of her and giving her encouraging words. "Hey! C'mon! It's not all that bad! Look around at where we've been! Olivine City was really nice and fun, Route 39 is calm and refreshing, and we've got so much adventure in front of us!" his attempts, while strong in enthusiasm, aren't too effective.
"It's not that, Kibou. It's the fact that sweet, kind, and gentle Pokemon like you and Plush aren't allowed to live just because someone doesn't like you all. It isn't fair, we're all suffering because of them and it's forced both sides to use drastic measures." Her words silence him.
They continue walking along the path, passing by the messy, ravaged Moomoo Farm on their left. The grass here is overgrown due to having nothing to graze on and keep its length in check; the little farmhouse all the way near the cliff before the route bends right appears to have been attacked and abandoned many years ago with vines growing all over the house; a massive hole is in the right side and the roof has collapsed in on itself, allowing sunlight to nourish and nurture the plants that are now overtaking what's left of the structure; to the left of the house is the barn and it fares no better shape than the house, having a hole in the side, roof caved in, and vines growing all over it in the same manner. Emma gets a shiver down her spine and sympathizes with the ones who owned the farm despite never meeting them. Kibou, however, floats ahead of her and lands on the side of the slowly rotting, wooden fence that was situated to keep what can only be assumed to be, Miltank, inside the farm property and away from danger. His ears droop down as far as they can go, same for his tail which goes completely limp as he hangs on the fence. His parents had brought him here many times in the past and memories of drinking moo moo milk come to mind. Emma walks up next to him and lays her left hand across the side of the fence on his right side. "I'm guessing you've visited this place in the past?"
"Yeah… my parents would always bring me here whenever we visited Johto. The milk from all the Miltank here was absolutely amazing and I loved it. I couldn't resist it and we'd all drink a bottle fresh from the nice man and woman who used to live here. I even got to play with the little girls that lived with them too." his voice is lower than usual. He's quite upset with what's happened to this place.
"Whatever this place was, someone didn't like it and destroyed it… I can only guess those PCU guys did this." Says Plush with a bit of anger in his voice. The people here were just farmers with two kids and those monsters destroyed their lives, maybe even killing all of them as well.
"C'mon Kibou, we can't stay here for too long." she takes her hand off the side of the fence and starts walking towards the bend in the route. He soon leaves the once glorious Moomoo Farm fence and catches up, trying to put the depressing thought out of his mind.
The three round the bend that turns Route 39 into Route 38, leading them into a somewhat wooded area not too far ahead. It's completely silent for a minute as Emma, Plush, and Kibou head towards the few trees growing in the middle of the route. The closer they get, the louder a new yet familiar voice becomes. Emma hears this and picks up her pace, curious to know whose voice it is. As she gets closer to the trees, she moves over to the right to pass one when what she sees makes her suddenly duck back to the left and up against the nearest tree to hide. Kibou doesn't notice this as he's too busy trying to use the surrounding scenery to distract his mind, and Emma, using her left hand, reaches out and grabs him, pulling him right next to Plush. He makes a high pitched whine as she pulls him in. "H-hey! What-"
She instantly covers his mouth to prevent him from being heard while hiding. Luckily for them, they were too busy talking to each other. Emma speaks to the two Pokemon in her arms quietly but with force in her voice. "Stay quiet! The damn PCU is literally up ahead here!"
Plush's eyes widen immensely in shock and he whispers to her. "What!? I thought they weren't in Johto!"
"I don't know! I didn't know they had a presence here! We can't get past unless we wanna get caught…"
"Great… we left home for nothing then…"
She shakes her head instantly. "Absolutely not! Had we stayed, we would've ended up being caught anyway. It's better that we're here now…" she carefully peaks her head out from behind the tree and sees 10 normal grunts in shiny black suits with a familiar symbol on them, while one of them is in a shiny jade-green colored suit with white highlights. She just barely recognizes this person from Sinnoh due to the 10 grunts blocking her view of him partially. She can't believe that she could encounter the same exact person in a completely different region; she quickly throws aside this shock and tries her best to hear what they're saying as it looks like they're addressing all of them.
(1) "Listen up well. We're going to clean out this route, Routes 39, 37, 36, and the National Park." He starts pointing at the various grunts. "I want you 2 to capture as many Pokemon on this one, you 2 to route 37, you 2 on route 36, and finally, the last 4 of you at the National Park." He stops pointing and places his hands on his hips. "When all of you have individually filled 5 capture gauntlets up, I want you to report to me in Olivine City so we can fill the truck and then capture any Pokemon that might be residing there. After that, we'll head south past the National Park and Goldenrod to see if we can navigate through Illex forest and ambush Azelea Town since we can't get through Union Cave as it collapsed during one of the other team's capture raids. Is that clear?"
All the grunts raise their hands up to the right sides of their heads, signifying they all understand. He goes to walk away when from the corner of his eyes, he notices Emma's head poking out from behind the tree 60 feet away from him and his capture team. He smiles slyly and speaks louder this time. "Oh yeah, it appears we have a bit of company in the form of a human girl hiding behind a tree behind all of you. Ignore the girl for now and get to capturing those Pokemon right away! The 2 that I said to stay on this route stay here. I might need assistance if this is what I think it is according to what capture team Omega had said when they came back in critical condition a few days ago." The grunts he told to go to the other route immediately run off to where they have to go, 2 of them passing Emma without batting an eye at her. The one in jade-green starts walking towards the trees where she, Plush, and Kibou are hiding after his grunts disappear from sight.
She notices him approaching and quickly ducks back behind the tree. Plush can sense that she's in a bit of a panicked state. "Mommy…"
She clenches her teeth hard. "Somehow they saw me…! Now what!?" there's no escape in this situation as all the other routes they could run to are now being occupied by the other PCU grunts. The only option she has is to reveal herself with Kibou and Plush in hand… maybe with a sheer stroke of luck, she could convince them to let them go even if the odds are well stacked against her in all forms. "No choice… I have no choice now!" She jumps out from behind the tree and stands there holding both the Mew and Eevee in a defensive position with both of them held as closer to her as possible.
The man stops walking when she pops out and he chuckles for a few seconds before smirking. This man is actually rather young looking for what he appears to be: a commander for this terrible team. His flowing, medium length blonde hair has a silky shine to it in the sunlight and his dark blue eyes have a cocky, confident, arrogant look to them; his skin reflects quite a bit of the sun off him as he's pale and is brightened by its rays. No doubt about it, he's a PCU commander as indicated by a special inscription under the symbol on the left side of his chest that says "3rd in Command." The young man speaks, his voice equally cocky and arrogant as his gaze. "Well well well… you've made a wise choice young lady. I won't have to rip up this barely classifiable line of trees to find you after all." His eyes widen slightly. "Oh, where are my manners… I apologize." He strikes a weird looking pose that can best be described as tacky and over the top. "I am Jade, the 3rd in command of the Pokemon Control Unit! My capturing skills are topped by nobody else in our team besides our lovely Crystal… but she's not here right now and sadly, won't be able to witness a glorious capture the likes of which modern art couldn't touch!"
His arrogance immediately tells her that there's no chance that convincing him will work, especially since he's a commander and wouldn't put his own title in jeopardy. "I guess it's time for plan B…" she bravely takes a few steps forwards.
Plush starts to squirm, same with Kibou. They don't know what she's planning and to them it looks like she's going to get them all captured "M-mommy! S-stop! We're gonna be taken away if you get too close!"
She whispers to them. "Shh… I've got this… We'll be able to get past this guy easily, he's too full of himself from what I've heard and seen."
Jade comes out of his pose and stands straight. He doesn't trust Emma not to do anything weird and he yells. "Stop where you are!"
She complies and freezes in place, allowing him to get a good look at her and the two Pokemon she's holding. His slight intrigue and wonder melts into surprise. "No way, you're the one who owns these two!?" his face scrunches up in anger knowing that the guards in Sinnoh should've found her smuggling these two Pokemon out. "I smell a loss of a job for those two in Sinnoh… but that has nothing to do with you because you're already done! Hand those two Pokemon over…" he rubs the fingers from his right hand under his nose a few times as he speaks. "...Is what I usually say in a situation like this, however, I think we can arrange for something a bit more fun!" he balls both hands up into fists, bringing his left one up in front of his chest while smiling. "Yes! Yes! We can most certainly make this that many times more fun!" he laughs for a few seconds before going back to being serious. "Since you've committed the high crime of smuggling Pokemon from one region to another, I really should just take them away, put you under arrest, and bring all of you to Unova to be tried in the highest courts." he puts his right hand in front of his face, waggling his finger back and forth slowly while his left hand lands on his hip. "Though, that's too boring for someone that owns Pokemon like these." he crosses his arms. "Instead, I've got a better idea. Capture team Omega said that one of these two Pokemon singlehandedly put all of them in critical condition. I won't make any guesses as to which of the two it was as it's very obvious to me… So, how about we have a little challenge between each other? Your two Pokemon at the same time against my Rhyperior?" he smirks in a mischievous and devious manner. "I want to see the power that Pokemon has for myself since he was able to put my team down with zero effort. If that's too difficult for your brains to understand, or too hard of a thing for your soft hearts to handle we can simply do the original plan and be a bunch of boring sissies!" he leans forwards slightly, tilting his head to the right a little, grinning wide and showing his teeth. "What do you say little girl, are you game or lame?"
Plush doesn't like Jade at all, he comes off as a bit scary and intimidating. "I-I don't like this… he's scary and dangerous, mommy…"
It's not like she has any choice at all in this manner. If she doesn't battle Jade, she'll lose both Plush and Kibou, but if she does, what kind of Rhyperior will he send out and can the two of them take it down? She shakes anxiously and nervously, trying to decide on what to do. With no other options available, she has to do it. It might not be the kind of battle she wanted to experience in her lifetime, but this battle will determine the fate of her life and the lives of her two Pokemon. "F-fine… I'll fight your Rhyperior, however, if I win, you let us go and tell all the other capture teams to leave us alone."
His face fires up with joy. "Deal. Now, I hope you aren't too complacent in your Pokemon because you will find that… unlike all the others you may have battled… our Pokemon are much stronger and harder to control." his cocky smirk continues to widen with the end of that statement.
The two children and their caretaker are faced with a tough opponent who will not only enslave them if they lose, but put their owner in a place worse than where they are right now. This is no time to hesitate, now is the time to fight!
PD: Tension... Tension... Much Tension... I don't expect the next chapter to be out anytime soon so I hope this is enough for now. I'm sorry to leave it on such a high note too, but that's just how it is sometimes. I hope you enjoyed and I'll seeya in the next chapter!
