Hello everyone,
For those of you who read both of my active stories, and have read past stories, you'll see that the stories will have certain themes that coincide with each other that particular week. So I have decided that my work bleeds into one another.
Is this a fair assessment? Do you guys see the same themes with the stories in that week?
Anyway, on to the chapter.
Follow me on instagram at wtmcdonaldauthor!
Reminder of pokemon and names:
Hashirama aka Hashi - Hariyama.
Minato - Hypno.
Madara - Arcanine.
Shika - Absol.
Asuma - Ursaring.
Tobirama aka Tobi - Gyarados.
Sakura - Drakloak.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"Breaking news! Footage has been leaked on the pokenet of Ace Trainer Brawly murdering his superior officer, Troy, who has defeated two elite four members in the past! The league has confirmed its legitimacy. Out of respect for Troy, we will not be broadcasting the video. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, and pokemon."
I knew it would happen, but actually watching the news claim that you are a murderer hurt. Well it wasn't a claim, it was true. But surely the context mattered, right? I was tricked.
Doesn't matter, the law wouldn't care. I should have confirmed Team Rocket's video was legitimate. I sealed my fate.
"As you may know, Brawly's father runs the gym in Dewford Town. He has denied to speak to anyone on the subject. Although Hoenn has agreed to turn Brawly over to Kanto if detained."
Well that was not surprising.
"You shouldn't listen to it." Sierra said from the entrance of the kitchen, where I stood.
"Why?" I asked, curious.
"It'll only upset you more." She answered, as she moved towards me. She put a hand on my arm when she reached me.
I wanted to feel disgust. I wanted to rip it off of me.
But I couldn't. I couldn't help but believe her when she said she didn't know what Team Rocket had planned for me. So I allowed her to touch me. I even allowed her to hug me. But at the same time, I did not touch her back, I did not hug her back.
"For what it's worth. I'm sorry." Sierra claimed.
It's not worth much. I couldn't help but think.
She has been telling the truth. Minato's told me.
How could you know? I wondered. She was dark adapted, and covered in dark pokemon.
She has allowed it, since ...Troy.
I frowned, as if my pokemon could see my face. Why are you just now telling me? I asked. I couldn't help that my anger bled into the question.
I had to be sure. Minato answered.
I couldn't help it, but a weight lifted off of my shoulders then. Sierra hadn't lied to me. Someone hadn't lied to me. That was ...a nice change of pace. I brought my arm over her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. She melted into it, and wrapped both of her arms around my ribs.
The physical contact was therapeutic.
"What are we going to do now?" Sierra asked.
"Expose it all." I answered.
"How do you plan on doing it?" The artificial voice of Mark asked. We stood in Sierra's underground room, discussing what exactly I meant by 'Expose it all'.
"I think we start by releasing a video." I told the AI. "Could you get past the League's Porygon and push it through the net?" I asked.
"Psh. Is that it?" Mark replied confidently. "I wouldn't even have to. Release it, and people would do your work for you. It'll be all over the dark web, saved into thumbdrives by teenagers to show to their friends, you name it."
That was easier than I expected. I thought it would have been impossible, with how the League monitors the web.
"Well then let's get to it." I said, clapping my hands and looking around.
"Wait wait." Sierra said. "We're forgetting something very important here."
I turned to where she sat next to the cocoon form of Yveltal. "What is that?" I asked. I just knew it would throw a wrench in my plans.
"I'm the only person on the planet that has the resources to do this, aka Mark. Giovanni will know immediately." Sierra said.
"So. Doesn't Team Rocket think I'm on their side?" I asked, perhaps a little too prematurely.
Sierra gave me a look. "You plan on telling the truth, right? About everything? Team Rocket won't like that. If you make this video, we'll be on our own." She retorted.
Immediately, I knew that was what I wanted. I didn't want to have to choose a side between Team Rocket or the League, or myself. I had been choosing lesser evils since I came into this world, and I was done.
"I'm fine with it. But this is your AI. Your life Sierra. I don't want to make you choo…"
"Shut up, Brawly. I'm done watching my life's work being used to conquer worlds. I'm done being manipulated by Giovanni. I'm all the way in." Sierra interrupted me. "But we'll have to disappear. They know this location."
"Where will we go?" I asked, hoping that she already had safehouses set up.
"Do you prefer the beach, or the mountains?" Sierra asked with a grin.
Her smile was contagious, and the question was a little funny. "The beach, of course." I told her, as if it was a given.
"Good! Mountains it is."
When Sierra said mountains, she meant it.
When one thought of a safehouse, you might picture a ragged old shack tucked away in a mountain valley. That's what I thought when she mentioned the mountains.
I didn't know she would literally mean inside a mountain.
The sun did little to warm my skin, it was so cold. The wind whipped against me, promising to chap my face unless I got in cover soon. I didn't have to wait long.
Sierra walked up to a rocky face, didn't even have to knock on the rocks or something cool. Instead, the rock slid back into itself about four feet, and then slid off to the side. Obviously this base was linked to Mark, and he had complete control over the door.
When we walked inside, I could hardly believe my eyes. The peak of the mountain was practically hollow. The floor was completely smooth rock, so smooth I thought it was stained concrete for a moment. The walls were not nearly as smooth.
At the floor level it was probably forty feet in diameter, and narrowed as it got higher. Although the ceiling reached about another forty feet into the air. And it was a comfortable seventy two degrees inside.
"How the fuck did you manage this?" I wondered in awe as the door slid shut behind me.
"This is the first thing I do when we come to a new world. My steelix clears the rock out. Mark buys what he needs to build everything and ships it to a random location. I intercept the equipment and bring it here. All he needs after that is a few pokemon to do some heavy lifting. He has a couple of bots he can control. How long did it take you sweetie?" Sierra explained.
"Three weeks, forty three minutes, and eleven seconds." Mark answered. He was bragging, and everyone knew it.
"No wonder you took over the world." I muttered as I looked around the place.
In one corner, an exact replica of her bed at her house sat next to a full bath. The only thing that had any privacy was the toilet.
"It was designed for one, obviously. I didn't expect to…"
"It's perfect." I interrupted, saving her the embarrassment of explaining. I didn't think I was ready to hear her say anything else anyway.
I set the briefcase in my hands on the ground.
"Let's get started."
The light behind the camera was blinding, but I didn't let it affect me too much.
"Hello world. My name is Brawly. I am currently extremely popular on the news and internet for reasons that I'll get to. However what you won't know, is the full story. So here it is, how I went from a sixteen year old kid with one pokemon, to the most wanted terrorist of all time in under a year." I began.
And then I told my story, completely raw and from my mouth. I began with how I captured Hashi, trained him, and left in the middle of the night. I told them of my first defeat to Brandon, and my capture of Tsunade. I revealed my journey to Berry Forest, where I captured Minato.
I described my run in with a skarmory, and how it cost the guard of Berry Forests life. I went over my first meeting with Troy. I told them my first thoughts on his ginger red hair even.
I told them every single detail about how I went on to Cinnabar Island after that. Even my battle with Blaine and my procurement of my third pokemon Madara. The secret to evolving growlithe into arcanine. I told them of how Blaine threatened my life after I revealed the secrets of the fire stone.
I revealed my flight from Cinnabar, scared and angry of Blaine.
I told them of Mewtwo, and the death of Tsunade.
I revealed everything. My relationship to Professor Oak. My gym battles, my first run in with Team Rocket and how I fought alongside Troy and Brock.
I detailed the people and pokemon I killed along the way too. That part was particularly painful to admit.
I was completely truthful about the research Professor Oak and I did on Mega Evolution. And even how that evolved into me needing to defeat my fifth and sixth badges. I told my perspective on Clair's battle. I told of the deal made with the League.
I snitched on it all.
I revealed my mission to infiltrate Team Rocket, and how terrible it went.
I admitted to killing Troy. I confessed how terribly racked with guilt I was and that I would have to live with my actions.
And finally, I told them that Giovanni was the leader of Team Rocket.
"Now that you know my story, you might understand why I have done what I have done. Maybe you'll understand the reasonings for what comes next. My future actions will be in the hopes of a better future, where the League doesn't suppress information and strong arm its trainers into compliance. They'll label me a monster, just know that I do it all for you."
Oak POV:
"They'll label me a monster, just know that I do it all for you."
At that very moment, I realized that I had failed once again. I, more than anyone alive, should have known what would happen. I should have pressed Gary as to why Brawly left him bloody on my lawn.
I felt sorrow that I hadn't felt in a long time run through me. I had to sit down.
To think we all had it under control, just a month ago. I had allowed him to distance himself from us. I thought the same thing he did. I thought it would be best for my family.
And yet, he is my family. To put yourself in such a position for my grandson. Such a selfless act.
The sound of the door slamming shut told me of how Daisy felt about the situation. The tear drops on the floor, leading outside, told me even more. She had been in a rage since hearing of Troy's death at Brawly's hand.
To know of the truth… That it was perhaps all my fault.
I had never felt so old before that moment.
"I have a debt to pay to you Brawly. I will see it paid."
Brody POV:
It had been a long time since I felt moisture fall down my cheeks. It was the first time I had allowed my wife to see it.
Kommo-o's anger almost overwhelmed my sadness. When I felt it, I allowed my own anger to take over. I was a part of the system that labeled my boy a traitor, a terrorist. Steven has already agreed to hand him over?
That was his last act as champion.
The thought took me by surprise. I hadn't considered pushing for the title since Blaziken had perished. But as I considered it, it felt right. I owed my son a debt. I owed the trainers like my son a debt.
And I would see it paid.
I reached for my pokegear. Years ago, in his grief, Steven put a policy in place to allow Gym Leaders the ability for a direct challenge, skipping the Elite Four of the Region. Wallace never bothered to repeal the order during his reign.
It took me a total of thirty minutes to fill out the paperwork.
Now we wait.
Brawly POV:
It was an impressive base, I'll give it to Colress. It wasn't even hidden either. We were so far north that it didn't need to be. There wasn't another settlement for a hundred miles.
"Remember, Genesect and Mega Metagross. Not to mention the ten other grunts in the base." Sierra's voice rang out from my ear piece.
"I haven't forgotten, love. Give me the countdown." I said while looking beside me.
Tobirama, my gyarados, Asuma, my ursaring, Madara, my arcanine, and Sakura, my drakloak all stood beside each other looking at the base in front of us. We didn't bother to stand anywhere but in plain sight. Hashi, in his mega form, and Minato stood on the other side of me.
3.
2.
1.
"Hyper Beam." I commanded.
Four yellow beams of destruction leapt from my pokemon and cleaved into the right side of the Team Rocket base. An entire wing was destroyed in a second. With no way of knowing how much death I just caused.
An identical set of hyper beams hit another wing of the base, wiping it off the face of the earth.
When I said scorched earth, I meant it.
"Recover, you all know what to do. Shika, you're with me." I said to the last pokemon beside me. She had all but demanded she be a part of this mission. She was just as angry as the rest of us.
Tobi roared, and dragon danced his way into the sky where he would attack whatever force came out of the base.
Sakura raced forward, disappearing from sight.
The heat coming off of Madara's form became unbearable, but he stayed beside me.
Asuma raced forward, preparing a move for the first sign of life.
Hashi set his feet, preparing to race towards the base.
Colress and his Metagross teleported on top of the roof of the base, just as they had the first time I had seen them.
"You don't learn do you?" Colress asked as he triggered the mega evolution for his Metagross.
"I guess not." I commented, a little uncaring.
When the psychic pressure from his Metagross hit us, nobody buckled. Not even myself. A massive shadow raced across the land, from the monstrosity in the sky.
Yveltal was no longer in his cocoon form.
Colress' smile turned into a look of terror.
It was my turn to smile. I turned to Madara, Minato, and Hashi. "Kill them." I commanded.
Hashi nodded towards me, and the ground cracked where he took off from. Madara's departure was much more graceful.
Hashi's kick shattered the protect the metagross rose. Now that we weren't worried about harming other pokemon too much, Hashi didn't have to hold back his strength. He was allowed to hit full force with his pure power ability.
I am convinced that nothing could withstand a full kick anywhere on their body from Hashi. It would pulverize anything.
And a protect from a mega metagross proved that to be true.
Hashi's right hand became covered in ghostly energies and he chopped down towards the metagross before it could react.
His arm was stopped by the purple carapace of a genesect.
Gotcha. I thought.
Hashi moved it up a gear, and his leg caught fire before sending a kick that the genesect couldn't dodge. If it did dodge, then the metagross would have to tank the blow.
The genesect split in half.
With one blow, Hashi had killed his first mythical pokemon.
Minato teleported behind the metagross with a shadowball in his hands in the same moment as Hashi's blaze kick connected.
The metagross tried to stop Minato with a burst of a psychic.
But Madara was barreling into it with a sacred fire enhanced flare blitz.
It was simply overwhelmed.
Colress and the metagross faded from the world for a moment, as they tried to teleport out. But it was as if a force was keeping them from completing such a task. That force was Yveltal, still flying high above.
"Ah, ah, ah. You must stay, and fight." Yveltal's deep voice said in all of our minds.
Hashi capitalized on the opportunity, and punched a flame covered fist right into the face of the metagross. His fist sunk through, straight into its brain killing the psuedo-legendary pokemon.
It was only then that I noticed Tobirama fighting a Salamence in the air, and brutalizing it with dragon and ice moves.
It was brought down by an ice shard that pierced its chest from the other side of the base.
Minato teleported beside me, and grabbed my shoulder.
The world changed, and I was standing beside Colress. Knowing that it was coming, I acted quickly and lashed out with my foot.
Colress' knee buckled the wrong way and he fell on top of the roof of the base. "Ahhh." He cried out as his knee broke.
I couldn't help but think of how easy that had been, and reached to my waist where a pair of cuff's sat. I wrenched his hands behind his back and put them on the man.
Now that I was on top of the base, I could hear the absolute chaos that was happening below where Madara and Hashi had disappeared to. I didn't have to wait long before they showed back up on the roof, dripping in the blood of other pokemon.
Not long after that, all of the fighting below stopped. Sierra appeared next to me, along with her Malamar. An extremely useful pokemon, if I do say so myself.
"It's done." Sierra said.
I couldn't help but notice the mega band on her wrist. I was about to ask the question of what pokemon she had that could mega evolve when it became apparent.
An absol, mega absol, jumped onto the roof. I could feel the dark aura emanating from it whereI stood. Subconsciously I reached down and petted my own absol, who stared at Sierra's like it was a god.
I knew I hadn't met all of her pokemon, but that was one thing I did not expect.
"Let's get out of here."
"Ace trainers have apprehended the international criminal Colress, sources say the league successfully raided a base yesterday in the early morning…."
The broadcast faded off of the screen, according to plan.
My face filled the screen. It was the exact same setting and place that I had used to film my first video, where I told the world the truth.
"That is a lie." I watched myself say.
The screen flickered to footage of me putting cuffs on Colress.
"I left this footage taped to Colress' body when I left it outside of Ace Training headquarters." The video 'me' said. "I wanted to see if the League would do the right thing. Of course, they didn't. They tried to take the credit for all of my hard work. You're welcome Lance. I am doing your job for you."
The video 'me' winked at the camera and it faded to black.
Eventually the news broadcasted again, with the news anchor in a state of panic.
"Our apologies folks, it looks like we have just been the victim of a cyber attack by the international criminal Brawly…"
I changed the channel to another popular news channel.
"You're welcome Lance. I am doing your job for you."
I smiled as I watched Mark work.
"It is unprecedented, Sharon. I was at the coffee shop the other day, and overheard an argument between two trainers. One argued that Brawly was wronged by the league and should be pardoned. The other obviously disagreed. The point is that it resulted in a pokemon battle that the Brawly supporter won!"
"I know, Kevin. We are hearing stories like that across the regions. There is enormous support for Brawly on the pokenet. There are tons of blogs arguing in his favor. Some even think a pardon is due, if the video Brawly leaked is true. One thing is for certain, public support for the league is dropping, of that there is no doubt."
"Professor Oak has even come out in support for his old colleague, expressing gratitude for saving his grandson from such a burden. Remember Doris, that Bralwy claims to have only taken the mission so that Gary Oak didn't have to."
"A major story breaking. Hundreds of trainers ranging from twenty to forty have come out sharing similar stories to Brawly, who some are calling a hero. These stories paint the League in a very bad light. It seems there is more and more evidence to prove Brawly's claims to be true."
"Ho-oh only shows himself to pure hearted trainers, of that we know it is true. That is reason enough for me to believe Brawly."
"Giovanni is continuing to deny claims of his connection with Team Rocket. The League has opened an investigation into the issue, however."
A/N: Boom!
A short chapter, but it shows where we are going from here. Brawly and Sierra are off of the map. Professor Oak might have something up his sleeve.
Brody is challenging Steven for the champion title?!
Mark is working his magic with the cyber warfare.
What do we think?
Let's talk about it in the reviews!
