As Nate, Iris and Hugh were just about to leave the city, having said goodbye to Rosa, Hugh noticed something and suddenly went into a rage as he yelled,
"Hey you!" Noticing their friend running, off, they noticed a group of Team Plasma grunts. "What the hell are you plotting?!"
"Huh? Nothing that concerns you. Why are you angry at us? Did we do something to ya?"
"You didn't do anything. Not to me at least, but I can never forgive Pokemon thieves like you! Feel my Brooklyn rage! Pyro, go get them!" Sending out his fire starter, the grunts were caught off guard, but were becoming defensive.
"You're quite an unruly trainer, but I don't like when I'm being messed with! Let's show them they've made a mistake!"
"Yeah, you've got some nerve! Watchog, go!" A female grunt sent out a normal type rodent.
"Garbodor, go!" A giant sentient piece of trash was sent out.
"Magneton, let's go!"
"Fraxure, get ready!" Her shiny dragon type, upon being summoned, growled at the enemies.
"Watchog, use Slam against Fraxure!"
"Counter with Brick Break!" While the Lookout Pokemon charged and jumped up into the air, the Axe Jaw Pokemon's tusks glowed white before he proceeded to swing said tusk into Watchog's stomach, causing the normal type to spit saliva from the force as it was pushed back into the grunt.
"Ah! This Pokemon I stole is worthless!"
"Don't worry, I'll beat them! Garbodor, Sludge Bomb!" While the poison type fired purple sludge from its arms, Nate countered,
"Block it then use Hyper Beam!" Moving in front of Fraxure, and thus taking the attack with no damage, the electric/steel type formed an orange ball of energy before firing a powerful beam blast which exploded upon contact with the giant Trash Heap Pokemon. Even though the Pokemon was moderately bulky, it stood there before falling back, having fainted from the immense damage.
"Ah! These past two years training it!" And to his left, the grunt's Liepard and Scrafty were knocked out as well by a double Hammer Arm. "You've got to be kidding me! Alright, we give up! But listen, just because you're strong doesn't mean you'll win the war! Team Plasma is looking for something! When we find it, that's when our secret weapon will be able to use its true power!" Throwing down a smoke bomb, the grunts vanished after it cleared.
"Dang." Hugh growled. "Thanks Pyro. Return." Once all their Pokemon have been returned, he turned to his friends.
"Thanks guys. Even though I could've handled them alone it's nice to have help."
"Hey, don't inflate your ego too big on us." Nate chuckled as he bumped his elbow into his best friend's ribs. "Otherwise your shoulders won't support your head."
"We'd have to use a Darmanitan to keep it up." Iris giggled. Hugh just grumbled from their teasing as he turned away.
"Whatever. Let's just get to the next city."
"Wait, instead of walking to the bridge, I've got a better idea." Iris suggested.
It didn't take as long as it could've for the three to reach Driftveil City in several days as they rode off the Marvelous Bridge on bikes, and came up to the harbor having city, the ocean port filled up. However, they were distracted when they saw two different Team Plasma grunts. One looked like the new paratrooper grunt, while the other was an old fashioned knight.
"C'mon, let's have fun stealing Pokemon together! Like we did before!" However, the old grunt looked conflicted.
"I can't. I've learned the hard way stealing is wrong. We can achieve our goal through more honest means!"
"Oh come on, it's too late to start acting all goody two-shoes now!" He then pushed the knight. "People don't understand our cause! What lengths we have to go to to reach it! Don't they call you a villain who was plotting world domination?! Even though you quit, people still shun you, right? So you might as well just come and steal Pokemon with us and take over the world! Those dastardly citizens will be groveling at our feet and saying how great we are!"
"I said I can't! My Lord N would feel sad. I can't do that to him." That enraged the paratrooper.
"N?! The king...what a joke! He's nothing more than a traitor! He disappeared and abandoned us when we needed him!"
"Shut up!" Hugh got off his bike and ran to punch the black clothed Plasma grunt off his feet.
"Hugh!" Iris called out, concerned.
"I've had enough of your squabbling you Team Plasma trash!"
"Ow! You're going to pay for that! You're lucky I'm not supposed to cause trouble. I'll get you next time!" He dashed off. "You're not getting away!" He tried running after the grunt, but Nate and Iris stopped him.
"Hugh, you promised you wouldn't directly attack them!" Nate called him out.
"Remember what Roxie said!" Iris pleaded. It took a while, but he eventually calmed down, if still greatly irritated.
"Sorry. It's just...ugh! They were getting so annoying!" Turning to the knight, he approached him. "Tell me, what do you know of a purrloin stolen from five years ago?!"
"Hey man, I haven't even joined Team Plasma from that far back! So I don't know anything!" Unable to get the information he wanted, Hugh grunted at the knight before walking away, looking out to the ocean.
"Sorry about Hugh. Your team screwed him over." Nate said before realizing something. "Wait, so you didn't want to do crimes with that guy?"
"No. We used to be friends when we were both on the team. But two years ago, the group split. Two factions where one follows N as the true king, and the other that follows Ghetsis. N still wants to save Pokemon while Ghetsis just wants to take over the world. You can hear the rest of the story in our home. We live just by the gym."
"Wait." Hugh came out of his thoughts and walked to the knight. "You mean there's a bunch of you in this city?"
"Um...yeah?" The anger prone teen said nothing as he stormed off to his bike, and rode off.
"You probably shouldn't have said that." Iris sighed. "Now he's likely going to beat everyone there to get some answers."
"Oh no, we need to stop him!" Getting onto Nate's bike behind the teen, the three chased after him. "Wait, we have a short cut! Go right!" following his advice, they went through the woods which were filled with trees, but not enough to be considered dangerous. Eventually, they reached the place where they saw someone in a brown coat. "Sir! Sir!" He called out to his boss. The old man noticed his call and watched the teens stop in front of him.
"James, what is it?"
"There's someone coming! He's friends with these people, and they're cool, but this guy that's coming is angry and wants answers, and he get violent if necessary!"
"Let me handle this person. I'll handle him if needed."
"Don't hurt him, please." Nate requested. "He's normally not violent, and he has a reason for his anger."
"Sir, it's him!" James pointed as Hugh approached them.
"You! You're one of those sages! Tell me what I want to know!"
"You're interested in Team Plasma, are you? If I tell you everything I know, then will you promise not to be violent?"
"I don't want everything you know. Just one thing. What do you know of a purrloin that was stolen five years ago?"
"I'm afraid I cannot say. However, there is something I can offer, if you're willing to accept."
"What could you possibly have if it isn't a purrloin or information about it?" Hugh scoffed.
"A battle if at least to placate your anger."
"Beating a sage?" The teen darkly chuckled with a grim smirk. "I guess showing you what for will be some good stress relief." He held up a Pokeball. "Prepare yourself."
"Let us begin. Stoutland, go!"
"Pyro, go get them!" Once the two were brought out, the normal type growled at the fire starter, attempting to intimidate Pyro.
"Use Take Down." Charging ahead, this reminded Hugh of Watchog and Fraxure and he grinned even more.
"Hammer Arm!" With his right arm glowing white, the Mega Fire Pig Pokemon punched against the normal type, completely stopping the Big-Hearted Pokemon despite having weakened strength. Stoutland didn't make a noise as it simply collapsed onto the ground, fainted from the super effective damage. The sage returned him and sent out his second Pokemon.
"Swoobat, go!" It was dark blue bat with light blue fur from its previous evolution, had black wings and feet, along with a pink tail. "Use Air Slash!" With glowing wings, Swoobat flapped its wings sending out blades of energy right at the Avianoid Pokemon.
"Dodge and use Ice Beam!" Getting out of the way thanks to its enhanced speed, the flying/psychic type fired a zigzagging beam of icy energy which hit Courting Pokemon head on, causing it to screech in pain before falling to the ground covered in ice, defeated.
"You are quite strong." Rood said as he returned his Pokemon, Hugh doing the same as well. "Tell me, did that help?" Hugh sighed.
"Well, I guess I don't have an incredible to punch anyone in Team Plasma now, so yeah, I'm good."
"Good. Come inside, and I'll tell you all what I know." He and James went in, along with the boys and Iris. Inside were two grunts with a galvantula and and a herdier, along with a hiker caring for a scraggy.
"I used to be of the seven sages. My name is Rood. In Driftveil is where everyone of the old Team Plasma lives."
"The ones who want to liberate Pokemon? Just regular Pokemon thieves compared to the new faction?" Hugh accused.
"No. We don't steal anymore. We no longer see Pokemon as just tools, and we take care of the Pokemon separated from their trainers, as a way to atone for our sins."
"You know what would really atone? Is if you actually returned them instead of keeping them like the thieves you are!" The angry teen yelled at the old man.
"We couldn't return them all. Some of the people we stole from went somewhere else and couldn't find them, so the Pokemon we couldn't return we took in. Tell me, who might you be, a boy with a passion of rage?"
"I'm Hugh Brooks from Aspertia City. Your group stole my little sister's purrloin five years ago. I was the pathetic brother who couldn't stop you. Separated? What a joke! YOU were the thieves who STOLE them in the first place!" Rood simply looked down in shame.
"My sincerest apologies."
"You're sorry? Like that means anything?! That's it?! I'll never forgive any of you for taking my sister's pet!" The Plasma knights looked uncomfortable.
"While our apologies may not solve anything, you can't move forward unless you acknowledge that holding a grudge is pointless and apologize for treating us harshly." That just set Hugh off even more.
"Enough with this stupidity! Apologizing won't bring purrloin back! I'll crush every single member of Team Plasma if I have too!"
"Hugh! How about we go train or something?" Iris tried calming him down. "There's nothing left for you here."
"Fine." The boiling teen growled as he was lead by the champion out of the building.
"I'm sorry Rood. Hugh is a man of action. Words aren't useful unless it helps him finds what he's looking for."
"I could see that. You and Iris seem to be good friends of him though. Take care of him. He's a teenager with a good heart, but a clouded mind." Nate nodded.
"Understood." The teen left the building. Since Hugh was too angry to be around aside from venting his rage, Nate decided to head into the gym. An attendant noticed him enter.
"You here for the gym challenge?"
"Yes."
"What badge will Clay be?"
"He'll be my fifth badge."
"Okay then, just wait here while everything will be set up." For 15 minutes, Nate read a magazine about agriculture and five steps on how to make your own food too, which a big man stepped up.
"Are ya the trainer who's a hankering to tussle with me?" He spoke in a Texan accent. Nate looked up to see a large cowboy. He stood up.
"Yes sir. Nate Wayland.
"Clay Horton, pleasure's all mine. Come with me." Leading Nate, the gym leader lead them down an elevator that descended down into the darkness, a light bulb keeping it from being pitch black. Once they reached down to a certain level and trekked down a tunnel, Clay used an axe to press a button, opening up two sliding doors that revealed a battle field in a room made entirely of hollowed out earth, with scaffolds providing the necessary light.
"All right, time to see what this little doggy brought. Ya ready son?!"
"You bet I am!" Nate grinned with anticipation. A miner was the referee.
"Alright! The battle between Nate the challenger and Clay the gym leader is about to get underway! Each side will have six Pokémon, and the battle is over when all six are unable to continue! Only the challenger may substitute Pokémon! Let the battle begin!"
"Hippowdon, let's get to work!" Clay's first Pokemon was a brown hippo with holes in its body. As the ground type roared, sand shot from said holes and partially obscured the battle field and the two Pokemon. "How ya like them apples?! Hippowdon can instantly create a sandstorm without havin' ta do a single move!"
"Yeah?! Well it ain't even gonna have a move! Hydro, let's go! Hydro Pump!" Expelling water from his mouth, the powerful torrent indeed hit the Heavyweight Pokemon with enough force to push it back even though it was quite heavy weight. With a heavy grown, Hippowdon was on its side in one move.
"Hippowdon is unable to battle! The winner is Hydro!"
"Well I'll be, you came to down all ten, didn't ya?! But don't think water is all it's going to take to wash us away! Seismitoad, let's get to work!" A giant, blue frog like Pokemon with light blue bumps all over it appeared, appearing rather top heavy over its small legs. While Hydro was distracted by the sandstorm and the life orb he wore around his neck, he ordered, "Use Earth Power!" Raising his arms up, he slammed them down into the ground, causing it to crack and have golden yellow light shine through it. The power shining through managing to damage the water type as he groaned from the exposure.
"Hydro, return!" Nate withdrew his Pokemon. "Nice start. You'll get to shine again. Flygon, let's go!" Clay grinned upon seeing another ground type.
"See ya got a purdy Flygon! Nice! Shame we got ta trash it! Hydro Pump!" Using Samurott's same move, he expelled a whole bunch of water that caught the ground/dragon type off guard as she screeched from the force, though she didn't go down.
"Counter with Giga Drain!" Her wings glowing bright green, she shot lasers that sapped the Vibration Pokemon's health, and due to the 4X weakness to grass moves, Seismitoad fell to the ground on his back, moaning from feeling so weak.
"Seismitoad is unable to battle! The winner is Flygon!"
"Hahaha, nice work there! Seismitoad, return! Steelix, let's get to work!" Nate was intimidated when he saw the giant 30 feet long ground/steel type snake.
"Use Bulldoze!" Flying towards the ground, the Mystic Pokemon landed with such force waves of energy rippled through the ground, disrupting Steelix's point of contact with the ground, but he wasn't offput too bad with the damage.
"Counter with Iron Tail!" His tail a glowing white, the Iron Snake Pokemon swatted Flygon away, treating her like she was just a fly."
"Giga Drain!" While Steelix couldn't do anything to keep his health from being drained, the move didn't seem to have too much of an effect.
"Iron Tail, again!" With a swipe of his tail, he smacked Flygon into one of the natural earthen walls, and fell to the ground, defeated.
"Flygon is unable to battle! The winner is Steelix!"
"Haha, that's how it's done!" Clay laughed.
"Flygon, return. You did good. Rest now. Hydro, you're up again!" Returning to the field, though uncomfortable to be back in the sandstorm, Nate ordered, "Hydro Pump!" Firing another blast of water, the torrent overwhelmed even the mighty Iron Snake as he shook and roared in discomfort until he fell down, smashing into the ground unconscious.
"Aw shucks. Steelix, return. Ya done good pardner. Rest now. Excadrill, let's get to work!" Another ground/steel type, but this one was like a mole. "Use Drill Run!" Shaping himself into a drill, he charged and spun like a drill faster than Nate could figure Hydro could use Hydro Pump, though not a counter.
"X-Scissor!" Indeed, Excadrill drew out his swords faster than the blink of an eye, and thus had blocked Excadrill's attack, though the life orb did drain his health. The steel claws and glowing scallop swords caused sparks to fly from the friction. With how brightly the life orb was glowing, it appeared that the item was putting a constant drain on the Discipline Pokemon. However, this appeared to have helped because Hydro started to glow as his Torrent ability began to activate. "Go, Hydro Pump!" Producing water from his mouth, a giant geyser of clear liquid exploded between the two, surprising all but Nate. Once the water spread out enough, it revealed that the Subterranian Pokemon was knocked out.
"Excadrill is unable to battle! The winner is Hydro!" Nate noticed that his starter, while more powerful, was panting from having to hold back such a strong offense.
"Looks like your water type is near his last leg! Time to put your li'l Hydro out of his misery! Krookodile, let's get to work!" Nate started to become worried for his starter.
"Krookodile!" The ground/dark type shouted.
"Use Scald!" Similar to Hydro Pump, the Discipline Pokemon spewed out a stream of water, only it was now boiling.
"Evade with Dig!" With his claws, the Intimidation Pokemon dug into the ground before the water type attack tagged him. By the time Hydro noticed where Krookodile burst out of the ground, he was already too late as he was rammed into by the ground type, grunting from the impact before falling to the ground defeated.
"Hydro is unable to battle! The winner is Krookodile!"
"Hydro, return. You were awesome. Take a good rest. Sigilyph, let's go!" Once the flying/psychic type was out, Nate ordered, "Use Psycho Shift!" Once the Flame Orb on Sigilyph took effect and burnt the Pokemon, it glowed pink, and thus causing Krookodile to glow pink before the ground/dark type combusted with flame, making it roar in shocked pain.
"No! Counter with Stone Edge!"
"Dodge it!" Flying up, Sigilyph easily evaded the incoming rocks, though not completely as some of them tagged the flying type. "Now use Ice Beam!" After attacking the ground/dark type with a super effective ice move, it appeared that Krookodile was getting ready to attack again when his burn stopped him. Sigilyph was also burned, though not hindered too badly. "Ice Beam, again!" The last attack did it, forcing the Intimidation Pokemon to faint with ice covering his body. The burn hurt the flying/psychic type again.
"Krookodile, return! Ya did great pardner. Rest now. Looks like I'm down to my last Pokemon, but I ain't going to be a yellow belly by surrendering! Golurk, let's get to work!" The Pokemon looked like an ancient golem machine similar to a suit of armor, colored teal with yellow swirls on its elbows and forearms, along with brown metallic bands on said forearms and ankles. A crack is glowing on its chest, partially kept together by a brown seal. "Shadow Punch!"
"Dodge and use Psycho Shift!" While Golurk was able to throw a grey fist of energy, the Avianoid Pokemon was able to share its burn with the Automaton Pokemon before the punch came back and finished off, sending Sigilyph to the ground.
"Sigilyph is unable to battle! The winner is Golurk!"
"Sigilyph, return. Thanks so much. Have a nice rest. Scrafty, let's go!" Sending out his Hoodlum Pokemon, whom wore a Rocky Helmet, he ordered,
"Zen Head-butt!"
"Counter with Hammer Arm!" Even though the burn hurt it, the didn't show Automaton Pokemon anything as it ran forward with a glowing white arm, towering over the practically three feet tall Hoodlum by six feet. Scrafty jumped up, and the two collided with clear struggle from both sides. Golurk did win the clash with sending the fighting/dark type flying, tumbling and grunting across the ground, but the damage of the attack, rocky helmet and burn did amount to great accumulation as it dropped to one knee with a groan of its name. After Scrafty got up, Nate commanded,
"Crunch!" Jumping onto Golurk's arm, he bit down on the giant's arm, and despite his smaller size, wrestled it to the ground. It was defeated.
"Golurk is unable to battle! The winner is Scrafty, and thus the victor of this match is Nate the challenger!"
"Yeah! Thanks Scrafty!" Nate congratulated his friend, running to the Hoodlum Pokemon. He simply laughed while tapping his helmet.
"Man oh man! It feels good to go all hog wild, don't it?!" Clay called to him happily as he returned his Golurk. "Thought for sure my Golurk would stamp him out, but your Scrafty sure is tough. But you yerself? Yer really somethin' else! Tis hard finding trainers who can pack a punch and take it as well nowadays. Here, take this!" Clay handed Nate the Quake Badge.
"Thanks Clay. I have a friend who's just as tough as me. He'll be itching for a challenge real soon.
"Well that sounds like a done deal. But in the meantime while my Pokemon rest up and yours as well, enjoy the rest of the day." Nate nodded to his recommendation, a grin on his face. Soon afterwards, Nate and Clay came out to see Hugh and Iris, just about to head in themselves.
"Nate? Did you challenge Clay just now?" The dragon tamer asked.
"Yeah, I just won my fifth badge." Nate showed it to them.
"Figured you could do it. Half your team can easily beat ground types." Hugh playfully scoffed at. Then he remembered something. "Wait, I've heard something about you Clay. Why? Why have you forgiven Team Plasma?"
"Hmph! There's always room for folks to grow and change, ain't there? And, if ya only go after what you think is right, ya might end up rejectin' all thoughts and opinions other than yer own. That's mighty dangerous." The gym leader explained. Hugh hummed in contemplation about this.
"Is that one of those compromises adults are supposed to make? Well, whatever! I'm going to fight Team Plasma!"
"Hmph, do as you reckon. Just be sure to only fight the actual scalawags in yer pursuit. Anyways, I've gots something to show ya'll." After Clay and Nate dropped their fainted Pokemon at the Center, the four walked together to the Southern part of the city. "Ya ever hear of the Pokemon World Tournament? Trainers from the four corners gather on up to see who's the roughest toughest ace-high trainer is.
"I bet you could win that Iris." Nate encouraged, though that only embarrassed the girl as she awkwardly laughed.
"Don't be silly. There's no way I could stand up to the likes of Steven or Cynthia.
"Wha, our li'l champion having a case of yellowbelly?" Clay guffawed to her even more embarrassment. "You'll never know till you take a whack at it. Aw, here we are!" They've reached their destination. The Pokemon World Tournament.
A/N: review please. Are you liking the story or not? Please tell me.