Chapter 2: Rocket Reborn
Review replies:
EightBitPixel: I made a mistake in the chapter regarding training and I edited it before anyone else read it, as soon as your message was relayed to me. There are twelve-year-old models for crying out loud, just chill out, and besides, Elesa is both a model and a gym leader at the time of the Unova Arc. So, I made her a model who worked her way up to Gym Leader.
Cedar-Wood Scyther: Thanks. I appreciate your faith, your follows, and your reviews. Please do recommend this story to other people.
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Ethan slipped on the wet rocks, nearly falling as Scyther stopped him with the back of one blade, Quiver keeping their surroundings lit up so that he could at least see where they were going. The damned cave was the last obstacle before he arrived at Azalea Town.
He cursed silently, holding onto Scyther's shoulder as he walked through the area, squinting as the rays of lights pierced through the cave. It had been five days since he had slept in a bed. He didn't mind roughing it, in fact he liked it. It was the unavailability of clean water at times to drink that had been the biggest problem.
He stumbled out of the exit, shielding his eyes with his right hand as the sun set in the area, walking down to the city through the downpour, the mud slippery and threatening to make him fall. He trudged through it, entering the canopied town of Azalea, the trees naturally growing over the small place. He forced his body to move towards the red roof, stepping through the open doors and walking to the counter slowly.
He recalled Scyther and Quiver and held both ultra-balls in one hand as the nurse turned towards him.
"Hi. We've been in the cave for the past three days. Could I get a room and some care for these two? We ran out of medicine two days ago." Ethan explained, his bones aching and his muscles screaming in protest even as he continued to stand.
"Of course. Scan your trainer card and the screen will show a room number. Just scan your card on the door as well to open it. We'll bring these two to your room as soon as they're ready." The nurse replied, taking both poke balls from him as he pulled the metal tag and nylon cord out, passing it over the reader and checking the room number.
He walked up slowly, each moment precise and deliberate so as to not waste what little energy he had. He found the room, 212, and scanned the tag again as it let him in, revealing as simple room, with a bed, a bathroom, a chair and poke ball receiver.
He sighed happily, ditching his bags and walking into the bathroom to shower. He removed his clothes, opening the shower for a burst of hot water, stepping in and slowly washing the grime of the past five days off as he contemplated his team.
He had a method of combatting grass types, bug types, ice types, steel types, dark and psychic types. He needed a way to fight more types. He thought for a minute, before adding ghost and fighting types to that list, considering that they would be in his way as gyms on the way to the Indigo Conference. Maybe a Misdreavus. They were common in the forests of Johto.
Ethan sighed, stepping out of the shower and drying off, wrapping the towel around himself as he pulled his night clothes out, half falling, half jumping onto the bed to sleep. He woke up a few minutes later as he heard a clicking noise. Then another.
He pulled his head up and looked around the room to find that both his ultra-balls were sitting in the poke ball receiver. He stood up slowly, walking unsteadily over to it and collecting them, going back to bed immediately as he found a note scribbled in the pad by the last tenant.
Ethan frowned, racking his brain trying to understand the contents of the sentence before he gave up. Sighing, he sat down as it hit him, giving him an idea for a response. He picked up the pen, scribbling something down and lying down, closing his eyes and falling asleep as dreams took over.
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Ethan was standing on a platform, facing a waterfall as a magnificent beast rose from its slumber, white wings, and aerodynamic body and blue spike like protrusions surrounding its eyes as it roared at him, staring into his eyes as its own began to glow blue.
'Child. You started off young, full of life, willing to endure pain, hardships, loss, and most of all the torture of time, to achieve your goals.' A voice sounded in Ethan's head as he nodded unconsciously, enraptured by the voice.
'Now your home is in danger. You risk losing this world, everything you know, to the one you despise even as he tries to wake my sibling. Will you stand by the sidelines and watch, or will you step forward and become a legend?' it asked as the scene blurred out of existence, being replaced by one where a large rainbow colored burred with magnificent orange plumage and a golden crest screeched at him, its beak pointed at him as flames gathered in its mouth, a young man riding on top of it, long red hair and a black jacket visible with his sneer.
"Destroy him!" the man shouted as the bird acknowledged the command, releasing rings of fire at him as he tried to move back, unable to do so as the fire approached, burning him.
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Ethan woke up with a start, sitting in the Pokémon center bed. His pillow and shirt were drenched with his own sweat as he breathed heavily, trying to calm down. That had been one hell of a freaky dream. He sighed, checking his watch: eight in the morning, as good of a time as any to start his day.
He stepped out of bed and went to the shower, changing and washing up, heading out of the room with his Ultra Balls at hand. He made his way into the cafeteria, eating a hearty breakfast with Scyther and Quiver as he left, making his way around town to see what was going on.
He saw the opening of a well, and he could make out a young girl crying at the edge. He walked up to her, bending down and placing one hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, what's wrong? Why are you crying? Did someone hurt you?" he asked, nearly falling back as she hugged him suddenly.
"T-t-these m-m-mean-n p-p-peop-ple t-took my g-grandp-pa i-into the w-well." She stammered, crying as she let go of Ethan.
"Then I'll go and get him back. Don't worry." He stood up, smiling as the girl brushed her tears away, staring at him as he walked to the ladder, climbing down it slowly as the rungs creaked beneath him. He climbed down, standing quietly in the center of the well as he examined his surroundings, light streaming in from above.
There were caves connected to the well from the North, and he could hear voices coming from them. He walked with his back against the well walls to the opening and took a chance, peering in. Roaming about inside with dozens of Slowpoke cages and various blades, knives and even a guillotine or two, were men in black uniforms with a scarlet R on their chests, black caps covering their hair, the peaks casting shadows over their faces. Ethan ducked back and pressed himself flat against the wall as two of the men walked into the room, talking.
"So, I say to the sly bastard, you can't come here and trick my wife into loaning you money we'll never get back from you! And then I tossed my Golbat onto him. You should have seen the cheapskate's face. Then again, there was a Golbat on it." One of them laughed as he turned around.
"Hey! What's a kid doing down here? You lost kiddo? Did you fall down the well?" one of them asked as Ethan nodded slowly, reaching for his ultra-balls which were conveniently on the back of his belt.
"Okay, let's help you onto the ladder." The other man said, turning towards the first man as they turned away for a second to move towards the ladder.
Ethan heaved a sigh of relief as Quiver body slammed the first man, knocking him out silently, clapping a paw over the other's mouth and repeatedly hitting him like a whack a mole. Quiver jumped to the floor as the second man collapsed again, returning to Ethan's side as he held his breath.
He reached for the other ultra-ball, letting Scyther out.
"Stun Spore the whole place." Ethan whispered as Scyther position the opening in its arm in the opening to the caves and slowly but surely golden powder spread into the air, assisted by Scyther's wings to go in the correct direction. A few minutes passed and soon Scyther stepped back as Ethan drew his mask over his mouth to prevent any spores from paralyzing him and called Quiver back. Quiver wasn't immune to Scyther's stun spore and he had no way of assuring that the spores didn't affect Quiver.
He walked into a cave full of frozen rocket grunts, making his way through it to the end where he could see two people holding cloths to their mouths. One in a standard Rocket Uniform, with white gloves going down to his elbows, and white boots, green hair, green eyes, and a permanent sneer. The other was about his age, red hair, a sneer, and a black jacket. The enemy from his dream.
He walked through the cave as the one with green hair called out a Golbat, blowing away all the spores as he noticed the boy with a Scyther approaching, a mask drawn over his mouth as he trudged through the cave.
"What's a kid doing here?" the boy with red hair sneered, turning towards him.
"Just give me the little girl's grandfather, the man you took hostage, and I'll leave. I may report your little racket to the police, but I'll leave." Ethan replied as the man with green hair smirked at him.
"And what makes you think we'd do that?" He replied, holding his arm out as the Golbat flew back to him.
"Because if you don't, I'll kick your asses in a battle and then I will actually kick your asses, maybe even toss in a few harder hits to a place people like to keep safe to keep you writhing on the floor until the police arrive." Ethan replied, hoping that the charade he was putting on would work.
"Like hell. Do you even know who I am?" The man in the rocket suit asked, staring at Ethan with a look of disgust on his face.
Ethan gritted his teeth, racking his brain and trying to think. The scarlet R was the symbol of Team Rocket an organization disbanded by the current Indigo Champion Red, three years ago when he had been Ethan's age. Ethan tried to remember the news reports on it that he had sat in the lounge watching as a twelve-year-old. There were four people who wore white, the high ups. There was Petrol – or was it Petrel? This wasn't him; he was too tall. There was a woman, and there was another man, but he was a proper executive. He was Giovanni's number two. Ethan couldn't remember his name, but it wasn't him either because he had blue hair. There was one who was named after a subatomic particle. Was it Electron? No, too long. Neutron? No. So that left….
"You're Team Rocket Executive Proton. Arrested twice for public violence, before you joined team Rocket at the time of its founding. You, Petrel and two others were the original four underlings of Giovanni. I don't know who you are kid, but I know that I can stick to my earlier statement." Ethan replied, silently praying to Arceus that he hadn't mixed them up.
"So, you did your homework during our last reign. Well, I'll enjoy decapitating you now. Someone who isn't engulfed in the darkness of ignorance like the rest of his region. Well… then again, they do say ignorance is bliss, so I can understand why Johto is still going about their normal business as if nothing has happened. Then again, nothing has happened yet has it?" Proton pondered, placing one hand on his chin and one foot on a rock, bending slightly and looking down.
"Oh, make your bloody mind up!" Ethan shouted, tossing out Quiver's ultra-ball, the air now cleared of spores as Scyther targeted the Golbat, a match of velocity, Proton's face twisting into a sneer.
"Koffing! Whip this runt's ass!" Proton replied, tossing another poke ball into the air as a large purple spherical Pokémon came out, each breath releasing noxious gases.
Ethan made sure that his mask was over his mouth and his nose as he shouted out to Scyther and Quiver.
"You want to strike with a whip? Then we'll take the whip from you and hit you with it! Reverse maneuvers!" Ethan yelled across the room even as Koffing kept pumping out its gases, filling the air around it as they started to diffuse before Scyther disappeared in a blur, forming a twister around Koffing and trapping the gases inside as they affected Golbat, Koffing of course being immune to its own gases.
Ethan whipped out his phone while Proton was preoccupied battling him, texting as fast as he could to the one person who he knew who would know the answer to the question, knowing he would reply in an instant, chewing his lip anxiously as the phone vibrated in his hand.
"Quiver! Get in there!" he shouted as the Quilava barked, curling up and catching fire as it rolled into the twister as the oxygenated air spread the fire quickly, causing Koffing to visibly sag from the heat.
Then the twister blew up as Scyther stepped out and backed up, pulling Quiver with him. The flames wouldn't have come in contact with the noxious, and extremely flammable gases if he had maintained the twister. The force of the wind would have kept the flames in the form of the twister, and kept the gases at bay.
When the dust cleared, Golbat was lying flat on the ground, unconscious, as was Koffing. Proton gritted his teeth, and surprisingly, smiled.
"Finally, a strong opponent! But then again, these aren't my primary Pokémon. Still, good for his age. Silver. Let's see you battle him. I have to give a report to the boss before he can decide your position."
The boy in black, Silver, sneered, stepping forward. Proton released a Gastly, then motioning for the Pokemon to go to Silver.
"Kill him, you worthless little trash heap!" Proton shouted as the Gastly turned towards its trainer. "Silver, make the damn thing fight!"
"Hypnosis!" Gastly shot forward, taking Silver by surprise and turning into vapors, entering through his nose and mouth, knocking him out before doing the same to Proton and turning towards him.
"Hey bro! I'm just here for a little girl's grandfather! I'm not going to do anything to you!" Ethan spurted out quickly, raising his palms as he walked towards the exit at the back slowly Scyther and Quiver keeping an eye on the ghost as he entered the back cavern, finding a man tied and gagged in the back. He reached for his gag, pulling it out and letting it fall as he could feel his own thoughts being pushed into a corner as an alien presence pushed its way into his mind, causing him to fall down, his head outside the cavern door where his Pokémon could see it. He couldn't do anything, but he could still see what was happening.
Scyther leaped up at the ghost, cutting through its body with one blade and landing to see that nothing had happened, surprised. Then Quiver let loose an intense stream of flames, causing the Gastly to go up in vapors, the attack on his mind ceasing.
Ethan stood up and helped the man out as a voice sounded in his head, sounding somewhat chagrined.
"You are different. You are not like green hair?" It asked as Ethan nodded in the direction of the ghost.
"I don't know what that is like, teamwork." It continued, stopping and receding to talk to Quiver as the fire type stood on its hind legs momentarily, staring at the ghost before the voice came back to him.
"You want a ghost to join you." It remarked, an air of purpose in its mental voice as it physically grinned.
"Don't tell me you want to come with me? Not after what the other idiot put you through. Don't you have a grudge against humans by now?" Ethan replied, surprised. The last unfairly treated Pokémon professor Elm had brought to the lab was a Totodile. Every time it saw a human, including the professor, it clasped its jaws around their legs. That went on for a good two months before it started to ease up. It had taken four years for it to become comfortable around humans. Now the Feraligatr was one of Elm's best companions. But that had taken four years.
"I have a grudge against the man, against his companions. But you are not the man. I talked to your… friends, as I see they are to you, and you to them. You seem like a good person. Why not?" it replied, turning towards him and cackling.
"If you can't last a day without screwing anything up, or possessing anyone who I don't tell you to for that matter, you can say goodbye to your chances of coming with me." Ethan replied as the ghost nodded, following him as he brought the old man to Scyther.
"Bud, set him free, will you?" he asked as he turned towards them.
"Gastly will be with us for a day, and if we like him, he comes with us." Ethan told them as Scyther made quick work of the ropes, helping the man as they made for the ladder, staring at the police ring above them, guns pointed at them from above.
"SURRENDER NOW OR WE WILL SHOOT!" one man shouted through a megaphone until he noticed the little girl Ethan had talked to earlier tapping him on the shoulder and whispering in his ear.
"MY MISTAKE. WE WILL SEND DOWN A HITMONLEE FOR THE SENIOR CITIZEN. YOUNG MAN, CAN YOU CLIMB UP THE LADDER?" he shouted again as Ethan covered his ears with his hands, cringing at the volume of the sound.
"I CAN IF YOU CAN STOP SHOUTING DOWN A MEGAPHONE! YOU'RE MAKING MY EARS BLEED!" he shouted back, recalling Scyther and Quiver after rubbing the latter on the back and fist/blade-side bumping the former.
He grabbed a hold of the lower rungs, pulling himself up slowly as a Hitmonlee jumped down into the well, picking the old man up and carrying him up to the ground in one jump. He made it to the top, puling himself over the top as Gastly followed him.
"Sir, is this your Gastly?" one of the officers asked, raising a dart gun at it.
"Um… trial before capture, but shoot it anyways." Ethan replied mischievously, smiling as the man shrugged and shot a tranquilizer dart at the ghost, his mouth falling open as the dart passed through its body and buried itself in a tree.
"Sorry, I just thought you needed to know that physical attacks can't hurt ghosts. Your Taser might have worked if I had needed it though." Ethan remarked, slipping his hands into his pockets and staring at the man.
"Come with me kid. We're going to need an account of what happened." The senior officer said, putting one hand over Ethan's shoulder and steering him away.
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"So, you're saying that Team Rocket is back, and fully operational, with a new high-up?" the sheriff sighed, leaning back in his chair.
"How many times am I going to repeat myself!" Ethan replied, more than a bit pissed off at having being seated in the interrogation room, with his hands cuffed to the table after his first account.
"What proof do you have, other than the two people you claim are lying in the well, because we never found them." The cop replied, picking up his Taser and tossing it into the air, missing the catch as another voice came from down the hall.
"I can vouch for him." Professor Elm said, panting as he put his hands on his knees, bending down to catch his breath, a Totodile sticking its head out of his backpack, its body deep green. An Espeon appeared next to the professor presumably how he got to Azalea, and yet he was out of breath. Man, he was out of shape.
"Sheriff I need to speak with him!" Elm panted as the man nodded, unlocking Ethan as he rubbed his wrists, walking away, Elm taking his place.
"I'm going to cut to the chase." Elm wheezed, placing both hands on the table. "This little guy's discoloration is too strong. I want to see if that affects him. And besides, Croconaw can be dangerous if they aren't trained properly, and I'm not much of a trainer."
Ethan raised an eyebrow at the last statement. "Didn't you rehabilitate a wild Totodile with a grudge into a Feraligatr?"
"That was mostly with your older sister's help." Elm replied, waving his hands in the air. "Anyway, take him and report to me."
"Professor, I have to worry about him keeping up with my team. I already have someone new to train." Ethan replied.
"Does this mean I'm coming with you?" Gastly interjected as Ethan twitched.
"If you shut up and let me finish a conversation right now, fine." Ethan replied, turning back to Elm.
"Don't worry about him being on par with your team, he's just about to evolve. We found him with a Nidoran herd near Cherrygrove a few days after he ran away, joining in their daily battles and training. And it paid off for him. He'll evolve within a day."
Elm picked up the docile Pokémon, handing him over to Ethan as it hugged him, staring up at him with its big eyes wide and its mouth open.
"Toto. Dile?" it asked, hugging him as Ethan smiled, reaching for a poke ball. He found only an ultra-ball, again, one of Lucy's gifts, and sighed, tapping the baby gator on the snout with it as it sucked him in, capturing him.
He looked down at his shirt, examining the small paint stain that Elm didn't notice.
"Thanks for getting me out anyways. And for the new Pokémon. I might need a water type at some point." He stood up, shaking Elm's hand as he turned around and tossed his other Ultra Ball at the Gastly, capturing it as its eyes widened.
"That's for taking hold of my head." Ethan whispered to the ball as it clicked, signifying the ghosts capture. Ethan smiled, clipping it to his belt and walking out to the streets, breathing in the fresh air as he walked through the streets, until he felt a little girl pushing against his leg.
"Hey mister. My grandpa wants to talk to you!" she said, then Ethan realized she was the same little girl from earlier, nodding and following her to a house on the outskirts of the town, a few apricorn trees growing outside by a pile of logs.
The door opened and the same old man stepped back, though now he looked much better.
"Come in. My name is Kurt. Just Kurt. I make poke balls." He introduced himself as Ethan stepped inside, ducking to avoid hitting the door frame.
"Okay then. I'm Ethan Photon, trainer with a goal." Ethan replied, shaking Kurt's hand as his granddaughter closed the door.
"Thank you for saving me." Kurt said quietly as he brewed a kettle of tea, pouring a cup out for Ethan and one for himself.
"No problem." Ethan replied, turning towards the glass display cases and examining the custom poke balls.
"Do you want custom poke balls? I make them out of apricorns. Then I varnish them with more readily available materials." Kurt asked out of the blue, turning towards him. "Though any I make from now on will be using my new materials."
"I don't want any new ones, thanks. People keep giving me Ultra Balls on every occasion." Ethan replied as a thought came to his head. "Actually, can you customize some of my Ultra balls?"
"What would you like done?" Kurt asked, getting straight to business.
"Could you redo the lines on them by type color? And could you make them luminous and iridescent?" Ethan asked, unclipping the four spheres.
"That's easy, I can have them for you in a few hours." he replied, accepting the four ultra-balls as Ethan released his Pokémon out the window, gesturing for a minute to them.
"Do you have any way of telling which one belongs to which?" Ethan asked as the man put them down in his workshop.
"Yes, my machine scans them and tells me what Pokémon is stored in them. What do you want?" he asked, picking up a notepad.
"Well, I think the one with a Quilava in it should be Scarlet lined, the one with my Scyther should be forest green, the one with Gastly deep purple, and the one with Totodile should be Cyan." Ethan said as Kurt noted it down and shooed him out.
Ethan sighed, walking with his Pokémon over to a small pond by Kurt's house.
"Bath time for all of you. I know you don't like water that much Quiver, but it isn't even as deep as you if you stand on your hind legs." Ethan said as Quiver tentatively stepped into the pond, Totodile jumping in and swimming around as Scyther lay down in the water and floated around. Gastly just floated around, mainly because he was made of vapors.
Ethan watched as the paint washed off of Totodile, revealing a perfectly normal and healthy Pokémon which was about to evolve. Ethan stepped back as an ever stone fell of Totodile's back, presumably hidden behind a fin, as it started glowing.
Ethan covered his eyes as the glow expanded, dying down after a while and revealing a Croconaw.
"Sweet." Ethan grinned as the Croconaw walked up to him, nuzzling his leg. Elm really didn't know what he was talking about regarding these ones. Or this one was just extremely docile.
"Seriously though guys, clean up now." Ethan remarked as they all started cleaning up, Gastly even ducking through the water to clean itself. Though how that worked Ethan had no idea.
"So… Gastly, do you want a name?" he asked, turning towards the Pokémon as the ghost nodded.
"Um… how about Specter?" he asked as the ghost cackled and nodded.
"Ok, for our new recruits, Croconaw and Specter, I'll give you a name when you evolve Croconaw, I have one that'll suit you as a Feraligatr, and you're a part of the pack now. You harm one of us, or someone I care about, you're out. And Specter. If you possess me, you're out. My mind is my own sanctuary. Slowly I will accept your presence there. But not a big possessive presence mind you." Ethan explained as he turned towards the house as the door opened.
Kurt's granddaughter exited carrying four Ultra balls, and walked over to him, giving them to him.
"How much?" Ethan asked, taking out the wallet in which he kept his winnings.
"Grandpa says this batch is free. After these ones you'll have to pay though. These are for saving him." She replied as he put his wallet away and called back his Pokémon.
"Tell him I say thanks. I'm going to go challenge the gym." Ethan said, as she nodded and walked back, he himself getting up and heading in the opposite direction. He examined the ultra-balls, transfixed on their glow and luster when he crashed into a tree. He straightened himself out, brushing his jacket off and walking on to the gym building. It was in the southern part of the town, a large emporium style building where the leader Bugsy displayed bug types he had caught.
Ethan walked inside, opening the door as he entered the dark room. He stood there, waiting as the lights didn't come on. He had the feeling that there was something behind him, but he couldn't tell what. He turned around slowly, trying to spot it when it jumped on him, pinning him against the floor and hissing.
The lights came on to reveal what Ethan thought was an Ariados, a large red arachnid, or rather spider, with yellow and black legs.
"Spindle! Off!" a voice sounded through the room as the bug leapt off Ethan's chest in the direction of the sound.
Ethan stood up slowly, brushing his shirt off and turning towards the voice. There was a woman standing there with a clipboard, the Ariados, Spindle, standing next to her. Ethan walked up to the counter as she slipped behind it, starting up her computer.
"Sorry, this bloody thing always takes ages to start up. I assume you're here to challenge Bugsy?" she asked, opening the schedule.
"Yep." Ethan replied, his hand steady over his belt as he waited for the man he knew as Bugsy to appear.
"Okay, go on through the web maze. Bugsy is at the end. You know the rules, right?" she asked, turning towards him with a quizzical look.
"I do, but could you remind me once again?" Ethan asked, curious.
"Make your way through the maze. If a gym trainer sees you, you fight them. No turning back. Make your way to Bugsy using the spider mechanisms on the synthetic webs." She instructed, reading off the screen and shooing him in the direction of a line of trees at the back.
Ethan walked towards them, slipping through the gap in the middle and stopping in his tracks. He could see a massive trench in the floor, more like a pit, around ten meters by ten meters by ten meters. He started to sweat as he saw how he would cross it. There were thick ropes fixed between each of the ends, divided by trees, some of which had no tension at all, some of which did. And there were levers to control that. And there was a spider for him to stand on as it moved along a path he wouldn't understand.
Ethan held his breath, stepping onto the spider as it moved forward until the left branch, turning and moving forward. He froze as the spider didn't turn right again, realizing it was because of the slacked line. The spider just followed every twist and turn. Ethan nearly fell of as it docked on the partition in front of him. He stepped off to a cut off area, trees with no gaps around him and a red lever next to him.
Ethan examined the webs, noting which the red cords were and formulating a plan before he decided to tackle the actual maze. He wrapped both hands around the red lever and pulled, which moved the lever smoothly, tightening every red cord as far as he pulled it. Ethan stepped onto the spider as it carried him down, then to the left, to the central cord, then down and to the left again, which the correct way around was right and then right. He pulled to a stop at a section, stepping off and immediately being stopped by a little kid in a straw hat, white shorts and a blue shirt.
"I'm bug catcher Finicky. Fight me." The boy said.
Ethan smiled at the boy's name, but nodded never the less and readied himself to fight. He would have to save Quiver and Scyther, Scyther being the only one with speed to match his kin, for the endgame against Bugsy. He tossed out Specter's ultra-ball, the iridescent violet lines transfixing his gaze for a moment until the actual ghost formed.
The young kid threw out a little green spider, which if Ethan remembered correctly was a Spinarak. They evolved into Ariados. He gritted his teeth, thinking first. What did Specter even know?
"Hey. What do you know for moves? I can't exactly fight if I don't know." Ethan remarked, having felt the tiny communicative touch of Specter's mind.
"I can put people to sleep. I can launch orbs of my own energy at them. I can launch a wave of telekinetic energy." Specter replied, happy at the mental contact.
"So, hypnosis, shadow ball and psychic. Good enough. Launch a shadow ball at this guy and see how tough he is" Ethan replied, his golden eyes fixed on the young trainer as he shouted orders to his Spinarak.
The bug shot out web threads at Specter as the ghost sensibly avoided them, not revealing that physical attacks would do nothing anyway. An orb of ghostly energy, the same shade of violet as Specter's body, formed in front of him and he let it loose, striking the immobile Spinarak and knocking it back into the trees.
"My turf." The kid smirked, "Spinarak, String Shot and Bite, Poison it while you're at it."
The little bug chittered, launching a web through Specter and latching it onto the wall to its surprise, being flung through the air towards Specter, who immediately launched a psychic attack, knocking the bug back like it was on a bungee cord, as it once again rebounded due to the strong silken threads.
This time Specter launched a series of shadow balls at its face, not very strong ones, but consecutive, repeatedly knocking it back as it let the bug pass through its body, breathing in the poisonous vapors as it slammed into a wall, collapsing onto the ground.
"Guess I don't have to worry about you catching up as much as I thought I would." Ethan remarked as he recalled Specter, standing up and shaking the boy's hand before moving back to the blue lever. He pulled it as one cord slackened, the other tightening, giving him passage to the next level.
He stepped on the bug tentatively as it set off, nearly dropping him as it made its way to the end of the maze. He stepped off it sighing as he noticed the next web, much more intricate. Then a man brushed past him and he noticed the closed for renovation sign, go left written under it.
Ethan looked to the left, and spotting an open door, walked down it to find himself facing a door made of what looked like honey. He pushed the doors to no avail as the honey vibrated, his hand pushing into it and through it. Ethan stared at it before it clicked, and he pushed his entire body through the actual honey wall, falling out on the other side.
"Oh, thank god, someone figured it out! Now I don't owe Marlene 4000 p." A springy voice came from the other end of the room.
Ethan stood up and looked forward to see a young man in a green safari uniform sitting in a tree juggling poke balls and one great ball.
"Okay then, scan your trainer id here, cause you forgot to do that at the entrance, and then we can fight, four on four." Bugsy said, still juggling the poke balls.
Ethan turned around, scanning his trainer ID chipset next to the door as the screens on their left lit up. The left one bore the words 'Ethan Photon vs. Bugsay, the right one bore the health counters for the current Pokémon and the Pokémon count.
"How about six on four?" Ethan asked, as Bugsy turned towards the keyboard.
"Bloody Gengar, this thing keeps screwing with me!" he shouted, hitting the keyboard with his fist as he fixed it, the left display now reading 'Ethan Photon vs. Bugsy Bagperson', "Sure, whatever you want."
"Commence!" Bugsy shouted as he tossed out the great ball first, revealing a Scyther.
Ethan reached for Quiver's ultra-ball, but Scyther's was shaking and was about to fall of his belt so he picked it instead.
"You have a Scyther?" Bugsy asked as Ethan nodded. "First match up is Scyther vs. Scyther, honor battle, no orders from us."
Ethan shrugged in reply and tossed out Scyther, the bug appearing in battle position on the field. He stood back as Bugsy whistled for the battle to start and stepped back, watching as the two Scyther's let all hell (of their level of course) loose, attacking each other with blades, heads, wings, legs, everything. Ethan stared at it, never having seen as swift of a battle as this, nor this much dedication to the cause of victory from both sides. Ethan sighed, settling against the wall as Bugsy walked to him and sat down.
"Magnificent, isn't it? It's already been going on for half an hour." he remarked dreamily as Ethan snapped towards him, checking his watch. It had been two hours since he had entered the gym.
"Damn." Ethan replied simply, turning back towards the battle, taking his phone out and recording bits and pieces of the duel, generally when it looked like he was about to gain the upper hand.
He pulled his hoodie off, the air in the room getting warmer. He remembered the strap on his arm as he examined it. It was a medical band, made of metal with a blue diamond in it, the words Anemia and B- engraved in it after his name. To be fair, he didn't really need one, but still.
He sat there staring at the two Scyther's have it out on the battle field for around and hour when one of them struck the other under the chin with a blade and sent it flying to the other side of the room, knocking it out before collapsing as well.
Ethan raised his Ultra Ball, sighing as he noted that he had still lost the first matchup, when the beam of red light sucked in the victorious Scyther.
"Damn. You fought well. You should be proud." Ethan whispered to the Ultra-Ball, readying his next one, Croconaw's ball. It would put him at a disadvantage, but he didn't mind that.
He tossed out the ball as Bugsy did the same, letting Croconaw and a Butterfree out.
"Croconaw, I explained maneuver trap shot to you right?" Ethan asked, his muscles tense as the gator moved its snout up and down.
"Well then let's engage it!" He finished as Butterfree soared through the air at Croconaw, who promptly stepped to one side and clamped its jaws around the butterfly Pokémon, releasing jets of water at it while it was stuck there four or five times before letting it go.
"There you go. Butterfree, silver wind!" Bugsy shouted as it fluttered away weakly, flapping its wings and releasing silvery powder into the air as it impacted against Croconaw, its tough hide protecting it from most of the damage.
"Croconaw, bite then trap shot again!" Ethan shouted as the gator bit into the butterfly, clamping its jaws shut and holding it in place as it once again shot jets of water at the bug, knocking it out slowly.
Croconaw sagged momentarily, more than a little bit tired, and poisoned as Ethan realized. Nothing lethal, just enough to slowly knock it out. The only Pokémon that could kill using poison would be the Nidoking/Queen line.
Bugsy tossed out a Beedrill, the rapidly moving Pokémon suddenly attacking Croconaw.
"BITE IT!" Ethan shouted as Croconaw complied, trapping one side of the bee Pokémon's body, the other side jabbing Croconaw with the drills until it fainted.
Ethan recalled Croconaw, whispering to the ultra-ball as he clipped it to his belt and reached for another, this time bringing Specter out as the ball of ghostly vapors chuckled.
"I don't really know what to do, so just do what you need to do." Ethan sighed as the ghost did a back flip, floating over to the Beedrill and entering through its nostrils to infiltrate and knock it out as the bug Pokémon writhed momentarily, dancing like a puppet before collapsing as vapors exploded out of it. That had never happened before.
Ethan stared at it as a clawed hand emerged from the Beedrill. Specter had evolved. Then it collapsed. Ethan sighed, calling Specter back as the bug type disappeared in a flash of pink light to match his scarlet. Ethan pressed the last ultra-ball against his forehead momentarily as the button was pressed, turning it around and releasing it onto the field as Quiver yawned, surprised as flames exited its maw.
He looked up lazily to see a large red spider, quiet like that one from earlier, an Ariados.
"Burn it and get back!" Ethan shouted as Quiver used a new move, lava erupting from his back as it fell onto the Ariados, burning it severely as it wriggled out of the spray and then glared at Quiver yawned again, the bug in its line of fire this time. A minute later, Ariados was recalled for too many burns collapsing. Ethan grinned from tooth to tooth. Quiver had picked up Lava Plume.
Ethan sighed as Bugsy released his next Pokémon, a large white ball.
"Cascoon! Kill that fire type!" Bugsy shouted as Ethan pressed one hand against his face, the irony of that statement evident. Cascoon was the Pokémon that could do nothing except harden. And it was immobile as well.
"Quiver, do what you will." Ethan remarked as Quiver walked up to Cascoon, raising its front paws and batting Cascoon left and right like a balloon or a beach ball.
"Okay, not that. I meant knock him out!" Ethan shouted as Quiver seemed to laugh and lay down on top of Cascoon, flames exiting its back, before knocking it out with a few quick attacks.
"That was fine. See while that was entertaining, this is still a battle. We do kind of have to take care of things." Ethan remarked as Bugsy tossed forward a white ball with a red rim where the seal was. Premier balls were rare, and honestly, I wasn't even sure what the distinction between a premier ball and an ordinary pokeball was.
A large purple Pokémon with a black belly appeared, angry looking with two large horns on its head; the megapede Pokémon, Scolipede.
"Oh Darkrai!" Ethan exclaimed as he stared at the eight-foot two bug, its eyes locking onto his as he gave him a death stare.
"You're not at as much of a disadvantage as you think you are." Bugsy sighed, binding his hands as he shouted an order to the megapede Pokémon.
"Use horn attack!" Bugsy shouted as the Pokémon turned towards him and walked up to him, turning around and sitting on him.
"You see." Bugsy deadpanned as Ethan failed to hold back a laugh.
"Just take the badge before Scolipede does the same to you." Bugsy raised an arm to try and push Scolipede off, the bug clearly not putting all of its weight on the gym leader.
Ethan nodded, recalling Quiver and walked to the counter, taking the badge and setting his trainer ID in the machine and walking onto it. He stepped off, removing his tag and slinging it around his neck again as he examined the engraved badge in it, smiling as he raised one arm in salutation and left, leaving Bugsy to deal with his rampant Scolipede.
He walked out the door, sighing as the cool night air shifted his hair, stopping and staring at the stars. He turned towards the Pokémon center, reaching for a poke ball as something knocked him down.
"Again!?" Ethan shouted as he stood up, helping a man in karate robes up.
"You have to help me!" the man began.
"What's wrong?" Ethan asked, immediately serious.
"I know it sounds farfetched, but I lost a FarFetch'd."
"Brilliant, I'll meet you at the forest." Ethan replied hastily as he noted someone with red hair and a black jacket walking by.
Ethan ran up to the boy, placing one hand on his shoulder as the red head lashed out and tried to punch him in the face as he ducked.
"Hey! Who the hell are you?" Ethan confronted him as the boy glared at him in reply, reaching for a poke ball and enlarging it.
"What does it matter to you. You're just going to report me to the authorities." He sneered.
"You're a kid, like me. You're underage. You can change your life. What are you doing with scum like them!" I vaguely gestured in the direction of the Slowpoke Well, in reference to the earlier incident.
"I need them right now." He gave me a harsh look, pale eyes settling on me. "Team Rocket will be reborn. Giovanni will be back."
"You never answered my original question. I'm not going to turn you in." I crossed my arms, looking at him. Silence reigned supreme for a few moments as he stopped, having turned to face Ilex Forest. A few leaves blew across the road in the gentle breeze before he spoke up, uttering three words before departing.
"Silver. Silver Maho."