They were launched into the sky by a jet of water. The beach sinked into itself as they flew, Red announced in shock as they realized the cause, "Kyogr..!"
The giant sea pokemon that emerged from under the beach shut his jaws around the trio before Red could finish. The trainers within the giant sea pokemon continued their descent deeper into him.
An unnatural blinding light emerged from deep within the giant blue pokemon forcing them to shut their eyes. Their voices inside were also drowned by the sound of wind as they got closer to the light. They were being sucked towards the light.
Red was greeted by the sound of running water, wind and view of the blue sky when he finally opened his eyes. However it was no time to appreciate the view, he was still in a free fall. He quickly reached his belt to pull out a pokeball. "GYARA...!" He howled in a panic.
The pokeball he launched hit the pond below, soon after a large figure shot out from underneath. The atrocious pokemon, Gyarados bounced up to reach his trainer. Red immediately grabbed onto the fin on the back of Gyara. The water-flying pokemon crashed into the water creating a huge wave.
As the wave died down, Red took heavy breaths trying to calm himself down. "G-Good job, Gyara." Gyara the Gyarados.
He finally had time to fully comprehend his surroundings, the running water sound came from the waterfall behind his back. The pond beneath him appeared to be quite deep however it wasn't large in area. The pond was surrounded by a rocky mountain terrain. More importantly, he noticed the sun was shining brightly in the sky even though it was setting just a few minutes back, on the beach. There was no rain either.
Red felt a sudden deja vu once he finished looking around.
A giant automaton landed close to him on the rocky terrain by the pond. "Golurk, thank you." Goh thanked his pokemon. Red had already whipped out his pokedex out of habit to learn more about this automaton pokemon.
'Some say that ancient people invented Golurk to serve as a laborer. It follows its master's orders faithfully.'
He also noticed that this Golurk was far larger than any regular pokemon of the same species.
"Goh. are you guys alright?" Red called out. Goh nodded in response, "I'm fine but Ash and Pikachu are knocked out. He took a huge hit from the jet of water on the beach."
"Where are we anyway..." Goh pondered as he looked around. Red suddenly felt a sharp pain shoot up in his head. He realized this place had some relation to the memories he forgot.
"You are 3389 light-years away from where you were." The voice didn't have a source. It was being transmitted directly into their minds. The voice was cold and deep, it didn't carry any expression of the speaker. It was the same voice they had heard back on the beach. Before they could even express their surprise they suddenly felt the presence of another trainer.
The person who appeared in front of him had a tall figure. They wore simple black tank top which appeared quite ragged, their black jeans were in a similar condition. A deep red jacket buttoned around their neck was fluttering in the wind behind them like a cape. The baseball cap on the head was faded, it was impossible to make out what the initial design was. Their face was rugged and unkept. Long hair escaped from under his cap and the facial hair covering most of his face made it hard to read their expression.
All that could be inferred was from the crimson eyes that shone brightly under his cap, he had a serious expression.
"I brought you here...to finish where we previously left" The voice continued giving them information as the caped-trainer adjusted his gloves. His mouth hadn't moved even as the words were being spoken.
The pain in Red's head grew sharper. All his pokemon shook violently within their pokeballs, they recognized this man. Gyarados' expression grew scarier as he roared "GYARADOSSS!".
"Who are you?"
Goh asked the question, the man's expression only slightly varied as he looked at the puzzled look even on Red's face. The voice answered in the same tone, "Looks like you forgot Red...you can just call me Smoke."
"Introductions aside..." The thin cracks that ran across the man's body shone bright red as if he had furnace within his body. He thrust his right hand towards Red while pointing. "We have a battle to finish", the icy tone now carried a sense of urgency.
"Marshadow" the deep voice uttered the name of 'Gloomdweller Pokemon'. A short ghost-fighting pokemon emerged from within the man's shadow. The short pokemon's eyes shone as he scanned his surroundings quickly.
Red held the side of his arm to control the shivers that ran across his body. He had whipped out the Pokedex again to learn about the mythical pokemon standing in front of him.
'It slips into the shadows of others and mimics their powers and movements. As it improves, it becomes stronger than those it's imitating.'
Smoke's command got transmitted to his head, "Marshadow, Shadow Sneak..."
The short fighter disappeared in a dark puff of smoke instantly. He appeared behind the giant automaton pokemon in a similar puff of smoke, he struck a quick jab on the giant's back. Golurk kneeled to the super effective blow but he moved quickly, he swung his arm in an inhumane manner towards his own back grabbing Marshadow.
"Tch, that Shadow Sneak didn't hit him hard enough." This time it was not the icy deep voice, this sound was higher and sounded like a voice of a child. The tone was full of expression, any one could sense the irritation oozing from the voice. It hadn't come from the man, it came from a pokemon. From the gloomdweller pokemon.
Goh and Red got temporarily distracted due to speech from a pokemon. The ghost fighter continued in annoyance as he glanced at Gyara, "Intimidate huh..." earning a growl from the water-flying type.
"Don't get surprised over every little thing, you fools!" Marshadow cried out towards Red and Goh.
"Marshadow...", the deep voice warned. "Don't stop me Smoke, they don't even realize that you are intentionally letting them hear your attack commands even though you don't need to...let's just finish them fast."
The realization that came from Marshadow's words snapped Red and Goh back to their senses. Did Smoke want a fair fight? Is that why they could hear his commands? Red wondered.
"Gyara Bite!" Red called. The atrocious pokemon shot towards his target imitating a compressed spring with his jaw wide open.
"Time to go now..." Marshadow grinned mischievously, again left only a puff of smoke behind. Gyarados missed his mark as he shut his jaw at the smoke. Goh quickly scanned the area for the short fighter, before warning the giant automaton, "To your left Golurk, Flash Canon!"
Red had seen it too, when Marshadow used Shadow Sneak a shadow slid across the ground through which the ghost fighter travelled. Goh's warning was based on this observation.
The gloomdweller shot from within the shadow along with a smoke cloud and launched towards Golurk. The giant pokemon was ready this time. "GOLLLL..." A machine like voice rang out before a silver beam was shot from his eyes towards the incoming threat. Marshadow's expression changed quickly as he crossed his arms mid air to block. The Flash Canon pushed him to the ground causing a blast.
"That barely scratched", he stood his ground as he announced while dusting off his arms. Smoke's expression grew into a glare as the deep voice spoke out, "Don't fool around Marshadow."
The ghost fighter nodded with a sigh. The next command issued was by the deep voice as Smoke pointed at Gyara, "Drain Punch."
Marshadow charged into a dash in a curve as energy gathered into his fist. He moved quickly towards Gyara giving no chance to retaliate. "Use Surf to guard", Red advised as he pointed at the pond below Gyara.
The atrocious pokemon swung his tail up in front of himself creating a massive wall of water. The drain punch blasted the water away making it rain all across the area. However the water wall had managed to stop the ghost fighter's momentum. "Follow up Hydropump!" Red gave his next command.
"GYARA...DOOS", the atrocious pokemon shot a beam of high speed water with maximum power. "Copycat", Marshadow reacted on instinct. A huge wave of water emerged in front of the gloomdweller pokemon. The Hydropump was blocked by the Copycat of Surf as Marshadow slipped back to Smoke.
"GAHAHA...did you see that? Both of you come at me" Marshadow challenged loudly. Goh and Red took the bait.
"Shadow Punch, Golurk!"
"Bite, Gyara!"
"Spectral Thief"
Golurk moved first. His right fist launched out of his arm with a jet propelling it forward. Marshadow moved out of the way as he dived into multiple shadows across the terrain. He moved from a rock's shadow to a tree's then to another rock. He nimbly reached the automaton pokemon's shadow.
Gyara came charging at that moment, he bared his fangs as he leaped across the pond onto the rocky terrain. At that moment a horde of ghosts blasted out of Golurk's shadow. Golurk was shoved by the super effective move towards the water-flying pokemon. While Marshadow took shelter behind the giant, Golurk was struck by Gyara's bite due to the sudden collision.
"GOLURK...!" Goh cried out as he ran towards his pokemon. Red clenched his fist into a rock as he grit his teeth. Smoke was in complete control, Marshadow was effectively dodging and attacking while using the terrain.
Terrain...?
A sudden thought struck Red's mind. "Gyara, Hyper Beam!"
Marshadow just gave him a puzzled look, "You forgot the basics of type matchups?". The atrocious pokemon acted without questioning.
"GYARA!" He fired an orange beam with a massive roar. The attack passed right through Marshadow as normal type moves do not effect ghost types. The beam however hit its mark, the ground beneath Marshadow's feet.
A deep trench was left around Marshadow as water from the pond quickly filled it up. "W-What's this?" Marshadow stammered. However Smoke's eyes only slowly began showing excitement, the corners of his mouth rose into a thin smile.
"We can't match Marshadow while using shadows on land, but water is our terrain." Red announced with a grin. "Gyar..." Gyara growled in agreement. The dragon like water pokemon took deep breaths still recovering his stamina from using Hyper Beam.
"Marshadow use Shadow Sneak", the ghost fighter wasn't slowed by the water. His shadow shot from under his feet towards Gyara. Red jumped from Gyara's back onto a nearby stone platform before he gave his next command.
"Dive! Gyara recover underwater"
Before Marshadow teleported using a puff of smoke the atrocious pokemon had taken shelter underwater taking his trainer's advise. "Ah-", Marshadow's expression changed into a rage when he failed to catch the water-flying type.
Red could feel a smile growing on his face, "Bite Gyara!"
"RADOS", Gyara charged with confidence underwater. The serpentine pokemon swam deceptively faster. Smoke didn't appeared worried, he carefully plotted out his next move. "Marshadow keep dodging using Shadow Sneak."
"Hah! Easy for you to say..", the gloomdweller snapped back at the cold voice. Marshadow disappeared before Gyara landed his move. However Marshadow couldn't escape.
Gyara shot towards Marshadow's next position by watching the shadow. He snapped his jaw at the ghost fighter as he appeared in a puff of smoke. "GAAAHHH!", Marshadow cried out when he took the super effective damage. He was trapped by Gyara's fangs.
"Drain Punch!" Smoke's command carried more intensity as he pointed at Marshadow's target. The little fighter executed the command even through the pain. He landed a massive hit into the mountain wall from top of which the river flowed. The impact dislodged the boulders from the top of the wall as they began falling towards both the pokemon.
Gyara could easily swim out of the way. However Smoke had another plan which Red only realized a moment too late, "GYARA MOVE!"
"SPECTRAL THIEF!"
The gloomdweller's energy shot up immediately. Blue spirit flames rose from his knuckles, the flames on his head turned into a shade of green while violently dancing. He forcefully pulled his body out of Gyara's grip while not minding the damage took in that process. The falling boulder had cast a massive shadow around the atrocious pokemon. Smoke's plan involved using that shadow as the boulder fell.
Marshadow disappeared into the black pool now surrounding Gyara. Several glowing eyes appeared within the black pool before Gyara could even move. Once Gyara reacted to Red's voice several thousand spirits explosively emerged out of the shadow. The massive body of the water-flying type was no longer visible behind the crowd of spirits attacking him.
"GYAARRRRRRRRR!", the atrocious pokemon roared in pain as Red could only watch.
As the final blow the boulder crashed into the water-flying type. Gyarados had fainted to that hit as he lay still on the water.
Marshadow took a stand on top the boulder with a smug look accompanying his victory. "Heh, too easy."
"NOT YET!" The voice came from behind Smoke. The voice belonged to the boy with a Pikachu, he announced while riding on the back of a giant Golurk. It belonged to Ash Ketchum.
The massive automaton pokemon moved like a rocket by turning his upper body into a massive jet. He clenched his fists hard and held them like a ram while charging towards the short fighter. Goh encouraged Golurk from his back, "GOOOOOO! GOLURK!"
"Eh, Eh-", Marshadow had no time to react.
The massive pokemon crashed into the boulder creating a humongous dust cloud. The impact broke the mountain wall while sending Marshadow flying towards the sky.
"Marshadow...", The deep voice had voiced concern for the first time during this battle.
Within the dust cloud a sudden ray of light broke through. "Pikachu let's go!"
The yellow mouse pokemon flew out the dust cloud leaving a white streak behind him as he scaled the broken wall. He was wearing his trainer's cap. An aura had surrounded both the mouse pokemon and his trainer.
Pikachu shot right past the top and darted directly into the sky. The air around him changed. A massive charge had built up in this tiny mouse. The clouds turned dark as they gathered around him. Lightning shooting out of these clouds all gathered into the yellow mouse pokemon.
"1 Million Volt...no, 10 MILLION VOLT THUNDERBOLT!"
"PIKAAAAA..."
"THIS IS OUR FULL POWER!"
"...CHUUUUUUUUUU"
Pikachu shot a massive bolt of lightning while covered in a ball of pure electric power. The lightning split into 7 parts each with a different colour from a rainbow.
Marshadow looked up stunned from the mountain top. He had no means to dodge.
"CHANGE FORM! ZERAORA!" the deep voice commanded.
When the lightning bolts hit their mark everyone was blinded. A bright white explosion grew. A massive explosion could be heard even from miles of distance. The clouds in the sky had completely disappeared.
Suddenly every sound around them had died down once the explosion passed. Ash caught Pikachu in his arms as he dropped from above. Pikachu carefully placed the cap back on top of Ash's head.
Red had reached Gyara and was comforting his pokemon. Goh was the first to break silence, "Did we defeat him?"
Suddenly all sounds returned, the sound of wind and the sound of falling water. Red had noticed that the falling stream was much thinner now.
The cold voice returned, "Any lesser pokemon would have been defeated...that power is unbelievable."
All three trainers were back on alert as they heard those words. Ash was the first to notice on the top of now deformed mountain wall. A pokemon had stood up in the middle of the crater.
Electricity cracked around this pokemon, his fur had a brilliant shine as he jumped down in front of Smoke. "Somehow I survived."
The same high pitched voice. "Marshadow transformed... into Zeraora", Goh concluded while not being able to believe his own words.
"Volt Absorb ability, any normal pokemon's ability wouldn't be able to absorb something that powerful... unfortunately for you guys, I'm special", Zeraora showed them a toothy grin.
"Plasma Fists!"
Zeraora gathered all the energy he absorbed into his paws. "This is really the end."
A massive ball of high voltage electricity covered grew between his paws. He slammed it into the ground discharging all the energy. A massive wall of plasma grew outwards quickly reaching the three trainers.
Gyara jumped in front of Red to defend his trainer, Golurk did the same while spreading his arms wide. The three were too shocked to react properly. Goh could just close his eyes as the attack approached. Red tried to hold his ground as a heavy wind blew as the attack approached. Ash buckled down and turned his back to the attack while holding Pikachu tightly to protect him.
As the attack hit them they blacked out.
Moments later, Red slowly opened his eyes to face the aftermath. He felt his body ache all over from burns. He watched as Goh had tears in his eyes while trying to wake his Golurk up. The water from the pond had soaked the ground type automaton pokemon, therefore he wasn't immune to that electric type move. His glowing eyes flickered in and out as he laid sprawled out in the pond.
Red recalled Gyara had jumped in front him too. He reluctantly turned to see the condition of the water-flying type. The atrocious had taken severe damage from the four times super effective attack. He was considerably burned at several place by the lightning. He remained completely still.
Red found himself crawling towards Gyara while disregarding his own injuries, "G-Gyara... please be-" He couldn't finish without choking up.
Before he could reach Gyara someone stood in his way. Smoke stopped him. "Weak", the voice grew colder.
"Too weak, you couldn't even save your own pokemon even though you knew how bad electric attacks are for him." Those words pierced Red's heart. Smoke was right.
"I-I-", the deep voice stopped him, "You don't deserve to train him."
He bent down and calmly collected Gyara's pokeball from Red's belt. "W-Wait...", he cried out.
He then walked towards Goh and snatched his Golurk's pokeball. "W-What are-"
"A trainer's duty is to make sure they give best commands so pokemon can fight at their full potential."
The deep voice continued, "...but more importantly if a pokemon's injury in battle can be avoided a trainer should do his part and help them avoid it."
"You both fail as trainers." The voice slightly echoed as Smoke looked at Red and Goh.
He threw both the pokeballs he collected into air, before Zeraora destroyed them with a Slash.
Red didn't have enough strength to shout, he could just watch as tears streamed down his eyes. Goh was in a similar condition.
He finally looked at Ash who was unconscious while covering Pikachu with his own body.
"What are you planning with this boy?" the thunderclap pokemon asked.
"His Pikachu's mysterious power... and he didn't even hesitate to jump in front of his pokemon. I will let him be for now"
"By the way this world is pretty interesting..." Zeraora mentioned. "They don't have their own Red."
The blood red eyes widened when they heard that news. Before he could say anything Smoke kneeled to the ground. The red cracks on his skin were emitting a violent red glow. Smoke opened his mouth for the first time as if he was screaming, but no sound came out.
"S-Smoke?!"
Zeraora panicked as he tried to support his trainer. He clicked his tongue, "Tch, we will continue again. We will heal your Gyarados and Golurk, they are coming with us"
He waved them good bye.
A bright light grew under the three trainers.
And they were back on the beach but none of them made a move. They had blacked out.
O - O - O
Venusaur and Pikachu walked across the beach.
They walked towards their trainer who was sitting cross-legged on the sand. Pika jumped onto his head. "Pika!"
The boy looked up at the mouse pokemon. His pokemon was trying to cheer him up. A sweet scent wafted the air. Saur was trying to help him relax as well. "Venu...saur", the grass type starter hummed.
Gyara was missing, Red had no way to find out where he was. "...but you guys are right, I won't give up."
He comforted both his pokemon while petting their heads.
"We will find him for sure", those words came from the first Alolan Champion. Ash had sneaked up on them before he even realized.
Ash had several bandage wrappings all over his body, Red was in a similar state after their previous battle. "We will leave for Kanto today, but we will never stop searching for him."
They had decided to part ways the previous night. Red wanted to explore Alola while Ash and Goh wanted to go back to being research assistants in Kanto.
Red stood up to face the boy talking to him. "Yeah", he smiled.
"Let's battle again sometime", Ash suggested. "I won't lose next time."
Red nodded, "Come at me."
Soon after Ash and Goh left on a plane to Kanto.
O - O - O
Red found his first hint to find Smoke only a week later.
Red had already began his journey to explore the Alola region, he was currently visiting a place called the Battle Tree located on the Poni Island.
The trainers were all going crazy over a video that was recently uploaded to the net. Red had decided to check it out.
The video was of a tall trainer. He still had the faded cap on his head but everything else was different. He was wearing fully sleeved black zipped sweater that covered the complete lower half of his face. The deep red jacket still flung by his neck like a cape. His ruby red eyes shone under his cap.
"Smoke?!" the thin cracks on his skin peeked from under the sweater across his cheeks.
He spoke but the voice was not his. It was a familiar arrogant high pitched voice.
"Hello pokemon trainers! I will get straight to the point."
"World's Strongest, that title is always appealing and I'm here to claim it."
"I will hold a tournament for all the trainers across the world, win the tournament and fight me."
"If you beat me you will have a chance to capture the legendary pokemon, Mew and I will grant any one of your wishes."
At this point the legendary psychic type had already entered scene and continued to hover beside Smoke.
"This is not a joke, as a way to demonstrate my power I have set a massive meteorite on a course towards the earth. It will destroy this planet when it hits." The voice explained something so serious in the same cheerful tone it had from the start of the video. It sent a shiver down Red's spine.
Professor Oak made an appearance at that point, "I have the world renowned pokemon researcher here who can vouch for that fact."
Professor Oak was nervous while standing in room with a black background, no one could figure out where he was exactly. He explained while holographic images popped up beside him, "The meteor approaching earth is absolutely real, I have verified it with my own eyes. It spans about 5 km in radius and will approach us in a month."
The video cut back to Smoke, "Thank you professor, very informative."
"You heard him you have a month to find me and defeat me. I will stop the meteor and also grant you any of your wishes." The tone turned much more serious.
"Tournament of the End, starts now!"
The video ended, the link to register and first round of the tournament were mentioned in the description of the video.
Red grit his teeth. This was his only chance to meet Smoke again.