Defiance

by MateiFire

All I wanted was to become a Trainer. Mom said no. Now I've run away from home, got a fake identity, caught in a bet between 2 of the DexHolders, become a possible rival of a psycho bent on revenge, and hiding from the previous Champion on the Pokemon League. All of this because of one act of Defiance. World of PokeSpe.

4. Keep At It

Hey there, everyone. Welcome to Chapter 4 of Defiance. Like always, any real messages I want to share will be saved for the end, but as always, thanks for reading and reviewing!

DISCLAIMER:I don't own Pokémon, be it games, anime, or manga.

Chapter 4: Keep At It

January 22nd-Violet City Gym, Johto-2:55 PM

Zircon/Quartz's POV

I made the first move, "Pete, use Thundershock!"

"Spearow, dodge it!"

"Pete change it from 12 o'clock to 2!" The Thundershock's direction made arc and followed after the Spearow until it hit it dead on. What we lacked in power, we made up for in accuracy. Spearow hit the floor with swirls in its eyes. That's a win for us. Wow, the first Pokémon we've taken down, already finished. 'That was much easier than I expected,' I thought to myself.

Bird Keeper Abe returned his Spearow and pulled out another Pokéball. "Not bad kid, but we're not down yet, Spearow!" Another Spearow, huh. Well in that case, keep on going.

"Pete, one more Thundershock!" Pete charged up and shocked the second Spearow with the outcome being the same as that of the first. Well, type advantages really do matter a lot.

"Well, I'll be," Bird Keeper Abe said as he returned his second Spearow. "Well, you're pretty good for a newbie." He turned to his friend, "Hey Rod, don't underestimate this kid here! He knows what he's doing!"

"Is that so?" Rod replied as Pete and I walked over to the battlefield before him. "Well then, I guess I'll have to be the true test to see if he's ready for Falkner." He grabbed a Pokéball and threw it high into the air, "Pidgey, let's rock!"

Spearow's and Pidgey's. Hmm, where have I seen this before? Oh yeah, I was attacked by at least a hundred of them yesterday! "Pete, let's go!" Pete ran out quickly and was charging a Thundershock without any need of orders. Seems like we both got the rhythm of how things are going. "Thundershock!" Pete started sending shocks in all different directions.

"Pidgey, dodge them all with Double Team!" Pidgey sent out several images of itself as it navigated past the varied directions of Pete's Thundershock. As several of the images were hit, they fizzled out slowly leading to one leftover Pidgey managing to make it out. "Now, use Mud-Slap," Bird Keeper Rod shouted, seeing their chance. Pidgey used its wings to gust up some mud, which was soon hit right back at us.

'Mud-Slap is super-effective on us', I thought. 'We'll have to finish this, and fast.' Time to take out the big guns. "Pete, let's end this! Volt Tackle!" Pete began the charge as he dashed off at full speed. The cloak of electricity began, fading in and out of effectiveness. Come on, if there's a time for it to work, it's now! Pete ran straight into Pidgey, although I was unsure if Volt Tackle managed to be successful in its execution. From the smoke of the collision, Pete was panting as it stood up, while the Pidgey on the floor was out.

"Ah, come on," Rod exclaimed, seeing his only Pokémon Pidgey fainted and losing the match. He pulled out a Pokéball and returned his Pidgey as I went over to Pete to congratulate him and heal him with one of the Potions I bought earlier. "Well kid, looks like you got the skills to give you the right to take on Falkner. He's one tough Gym Leader, so I wish you luck."

I thanked both Abe and Rod for the words of encouragement and headed to the platform that would raise us to Falkner. Gold gave me a thumbs up and smiled before heading after me. I felt a surge of positivity right now. Both those matches were finished in a matter of minutes. I remember Gold urging me on due to my type advantage, but I didn't think it would help me out this much. As we got on the platform, I tried to calm my nerves as the true battle was about to begin, but this feeling of anxiousness wouldn't leave.

Upon reaching the top level, Falkner was once again on his knees, eyes closed, meditating on his side of the field. As I walked on to the field, he opened them as he gradually stood up and walked to his end of the field. "Quartz, I've been awaiting your challenge. I hope the battle we have will prove your title as Gold's apprentice." He took out two Pokéballs from the counter near him.

'So, I'm having a two against one battle, eh? I better be careful.' I looked over to Gold, who gave me a simple smile as he headed over to the spectator bleachers. Gone was the camera crew from Goldenrod Radio, as they got their story and had headed back about an hour ago. I saw Gold's expression quickly change as he sat down to one of seriousness and complete focus. It was different from the one when he was battling however. That time, he was completely focused and ready to react in a heartbeat. This time, as he sat, he seemed like he was ready to analyze everything as he observed the coming battle. "I'm ready when you are," I told Falkner, taking my place at my side of the battlefield.

Falkner looked down over at Pete and smiled before saying, "A Pichu, I see. Are we having a like-teacher, like-student moment here, with you starting off with a Pichu?"

"Well sorta," I admitted. "However, Pete here is the only Pokémon I have, so he's my only partner for this battle." Pete ran up, front and center, ready for battle.

"Oh, only Pichu?" Falkner asked curious. "Are you sure you'll be able to manage like that?"

I looked down at my electric rodent, whose cheeks were already sparking at the ready, "I believe in Pete. We'll take on whatever you've got together!"

Falkner smiled as he began to wind up the throw of his first Pokéball, "Allow me to show you that observing and being part of a Gym Battle are two different things! Pidgeotto, take to the skies!" He threw the ball, and out came his Pidgeotto, the evolved form of Pidgey. Its larger body and graceful flying was proving it would be a much bigger challenge than the Pidgey we faced below. "I'll give you the first move," Falkner finished, giving the signal for the match to begin to the referee on the side of the battlefield.

'Alright,' I thought, 'Let's get right on the offense.' "Pete, let's go, Thundershock, dead ahead!" Pete focused its electrical shock right in front of it. Spreading the shock won't help here; we'll need to hit it with full force if we want to take it down.

"Pidgeotto, fly up and dodge it!" Falkner called. His Pidgeotto flew way up high; avoiding the surge of electricity Pete was firing his way. In these circumstances, I would usually tell Pete to aim his Thundershock in its direction, however I don't think our range can reach that high. I guess I'll have to wait for him to come to me. "Pidgeotto, dive down and use Tackle!" Perfect. The bird dove down at a great speed and headed straight for Pete.

"Pete, dodge and jump on its back!" Pete dodged the Tackle and jumped on Pidgeotto's back. The bird tried to shake off the mouse but Pete held on tightly. "Use Thundershock, full force!" Hanging on, Pete was able to hit Pidgeotto with Thundershock from point-blank range, definitely causing some major damage.

"Pidgeotto, take evasive maneuvers, do whatever you can to shake it off!" Falkner yelled from the other side of the Gym.

Well, if you want to try that, then, "Pete, hang on no matter what techniques they use!" Hah, I dare you to try and shake us off. Before I made that necklace for Pete, the Everstone around his neck never left his hand no matter what came at him. When Pete intends to not let go, he'll never loosen his grip, despite anything trying to make do otherwise.

Seeing how futile it was to shake us off, Falkner decided it was time for a change in plans. "Pidgeotto, use Twister around yourself!" Pidgeotto starting creating the tornado, however it was forming it around itself, making itself the center of the tempest. However, unlike a normal Gust attack, Twister had a lot more debris, causing Pete to actually take damage, despite being in the storm. However, if Pete is taking damage from this storm, so is Pidgeotto.

"Pete, Thundershock him one more time!" With the damage we got before, coupled with Twister being a double-edged sword for Pidgeotto, I think we might be able to take it out with this next hit. Pete charged up and released a powerful Thundershock upon Pidgeotto. The lightning within the tornado made it seem even more like a storm, and with the lightning slowly subsiding, so did the tornado. Pete did a flip as he jumped off trying to stick the landing like an Olympian as Pidgeotto crashed into the ground, beak first, clearly out for the count. I called Pete over to administer a Potion before Falkner's second and final Pokémon came out.

Falkner returned his Pidgeotto, before getting ready for his second Pokémon, "I must admit Quartz, your Pichu has quite the tenacity. Keeping a firm grip, even within our Twister, and even beyond that, managing to pull an attack at the same time. I must say I'm impressed."

"Same here," I answered. "Using Twister on yourself in an attempt to make Pichu lose his grip, I have to admit, that was completely unexpected." Although it's weird commenting on a scene that just happened, if we're going to spend a couple minutes talking in between turns in battle, I'm all for it, it just means Pete's going to get a bit more time to recover.

"It seems that Gold is teaching you well," he responded calmly. Teaching me? This whole "protégé" ordeal started last night! The most he's done is teach me the Gym format.

"Sorry, but that was all me," I told him. "I have yet to get a proper lesson with Gold-san yet." I looked at Gold on the sidelines who was looking rather annoyed at his lack of recognition.

"Is that so?" he inquired, before turning back to the battle. "In any case, here's my final Pokémon!" He threw his Pokéball into the air. Please, by some miracle, don't be Skarmory. "Skarmory!" Damn it! The metal bird that served as Falkner's trump card that we just saw Gold take on was now our opponent that stood between the badge and us. "You can make the first move," Falkner finished as he watched behind his Skarmory.

'Brute force won't win against his Skarmory,' I thought to myself. 'I need some sort of strategy.' Easier said than done, despite some lucky strikes here and there, Pete and I kind of relied on brute strength. Yeah, weird coming from a Pichu, eh? Then again, we've only had 3 real battles up 'til this point, so planning really wasn't something we practiced. "Pichu, use continuous Thundershocks at Skarmory!" Pichu ran up towards Skarmory firing several blasts of electricity, constantly in several directions. The constant electricity started to make it hard for Skarmory to dodge with certain jolts just missing Skarmory.

"Skarmory, blow it back and ascend to the sky!" Falkner called out. The metallic bird flapped its wings and caused a powerful gust of wind to blow back Pete, attacks and all. As Pete got back up, Skarmory was already high in the air, like before, out of reach of a Thundershock. With Thundershock out of the question, I guess we'll have to-

"Waiting for me to come to you?" Falkner said, literally finishing my thoughts. He smiled seeing the shock in my face. "You didn't really think I'd make the same mistake twice, coming in close so you could easily get in range." Truthfully speaking, I really thought he might be willing to risk making the same motion, I mean how else is he going to attack me? "Skarmory, Rock Slide!" Oh yeah, I kind of forgot that it knew that. Several boulders of varying sizes were created from pure energy around Skarmory before falling down upon the field where Pete stood.

"Pete, run as fast as you can, dodge the rocks!" I called out. Pete then swerved back and forth as it moved out of the way of one rock to dodge another one currently falling. Thankfully, Pete has always been rather agile and was able to dodge all the boulders.

"Skarmory, don't let up, continue the Rock Slide," Falkner called out. The onslaught of falling rocks continued with no real end to be seen.

"Pete, keep it up! Keep dodging!" This cat and mouse game, or rather bird and mouse continued, as Pete continued to dodge rocks that continued to fall from the sky.

"What's your plan, Quartz?" Falkner asked as the scene continued on the field, "You can only dodge for so long, and if you can't find a way to hit us, you're out of luck." I hate to admit it, but he'd right. Eventually there will be no where for Pete to run as rocks are constantly falling and there's no way we can reach Skarmory when it's so high up. I watched the scene before I finally began to see a pattern.

"Pete, climb up the rocks!" I yelled out. The rocks may have kept falling, but not all at the same time or speed. With the correct amount of speed and agility, Pete could jump from rock to rock and eventually climb up to where Skarmory was in Thundershock range. Pete began jumping from rock to rock and after a few quick turns in which direction to jump, it was at equal latitude with the bird. "Now, Thundershock!" With the distance reduced, Pete firing a Thundershock right at the Skarmory. The bird moved glided a few feet to the left dodging our attack.

"Skarmory, throw the rocks over towards Pichu, instead of the ground!" Falkner called out. The course of the boulders shifted from falling to being thrown threw the air.

"Pete, bounce off the surface of each rock to get closer to Skarmory!" Pete began jumping off each rock, only staying on for a second before the next rock came to be the new foothold. Eventually, Pete landed on Skarmory's back, same situation as before. "Now hold on, and use Thundershock!" The continuous shocks began just like last time, except this time, there wasn't a Twister to cause a chaotic whirlwind in the middle of the field.

"Skarmory, dive down and throw it off you!" Falkner called before looking back at me. "Skarmory is far faster than Pidgeotto, no matter how much you hang on, you're falling off this time." Faster, eh. I guess we'll have to change that.

"Pete, use Thunder Wave and jump off!" Pete gave a weaker electric charge than the blast of electrical power it gave before and jumped off as Skarmory was nearing the ground. As the Thunder Wave hit, Skarmory started to fly at a much smaller altitude than before. Thunder Wave may not deal damage, but it causes some paralysis and makes a Pokémon slower than before. Skarmory won't be flying at top speed anymore for the rest of this match. However, as Skarmory seemed to be running out of steam, so did Pete. While Pete didn't take any real physical damage, the constant running from Rock Slide was started to make his movements sloppy.

"Skarmory, use Steel Wing!" Falkner called out. Skarmory's wings began to glow before Skarmory felt a jolt of electricity and stopped its attack midway. The effects of out Thunder Wave were kicking in.

"Pete, Thundershock!" With Skarmory feeling the effects of paralysis, Thundershock was easily fast enough to reach it before it could really take off into the skies and leave our range. The metal bird took the shock and lost even more altitude, just barely being above ground level. Since Skarmory is pretty much guaranteed to be in our range, there's two ways of how I can proceed: the safe but extended way or the risky but quick way. The first method would to keep Pete at a distance and use Thundershock every time paralysis kicks in, however, the battle would take much longer that way, and I can't guarantee Pete being able to dodge Skarmory's advances that long as we wait for the chance of paralysis. The second strategy is to just go in with Volt Tackle and finish this match in one hit. The only problem there is our chance of success. 50/50 odds aren't all that reliable. If we fail, after factoring the recoil, all it should take is one hit to take us out. As I saw Pete breathing heavily with fire in his eyes, I decided that we had to take a chance. "All or nothing, Pete!" I called, "Volt Tackle!"

As Pete began the lightning tackle, Falkner continued to call to his Skarmory. "Skarmory, shake it off! Fly out of its range!" However, the paralysis gods, praise be to Raikou, seemed to be in my favor, and Skarmory continued to stay in place.

'Perfect, we got a still target, now all Pete needs to do is to execute Volt Tackle correctly.' My partner charged at full speed towards Skarmory, completely enveloped in lightning and eventually collided with it. However, upon collision, the electricity around him fizzled out, ineffective. With no power behind the Tackle, Pete bounced off the metal bird and fell back with more damage taken than dealt. What was worse was that Skarmory was starting to get back into gear.

"Alright Skarmory, push them back with Metal Sound!" The bird gave an irritating screech that pushed Pete off the ground and sent him flying to the other side of the field. "Now finish it with Flash Cannon!" Following the shriek was a silver energy blast fired from the metallic bird's mouth. As the blast surrounded Pete, all I could do was watch and wait for the end result. From the smoke Pete fell, and upon reaching the floor was out for the count.

"Pete!" I called as I ran over to his side on the field. He was okay, but rather disappointed in the loss. I tried to put him back inside his Pokéball, but he decided he was well enough to walk. Falkner withdrew his Skarmory as he walked over to us.

"A pretty good battle I must say," he began, "However, what happened with your last attack?"

"Volt Tackle is usually our ace in the hole," I explained. "However, we haven't gotten around to perfecting the ultimate technique. Its success rate is at about 50%."

"I see," Falkner responded. "May I offer some advice then? Learn to wield a weapon before bringing it into battle, or it will only be a hindrance rather than an asset." I thanked him for the battle and the advice before looking over to the stands. Gold exhaled and looked up, seeming to be deep in thought. After a second he got up and walked over to me. As we began to take the platform back to the bottom, Falkner called out one last thing, "Also, be aware how much your Pichu can do alone! I look forward to our next battle!" We headed towards the platform we went up on and headed back down. We exited the Gym and headed to the Pokémon Center, all the while without either Gold or myself saying a word.

---

As I handed Pete off to Nurse Joy to be checked on, Gold finally broke the silence, "So, how do you think that went?"

"You saw how it went, I Iost." I told him, the meaning of those final two words finally dawning on me.

"I don't mean that, I mean how do you feel about the outcome of the match?" he asked, his face more serious than I've ever seen on him before.

"I-I-I don't really know," I answered. "After the first two matches against the Gym Trainers, I felt pretty confident, but now, I don't know what to think."

Gold's face lightened up and said, "Well, I guess at least we learned not to underestimate someone just based on type advantage." I looked at him with a confused look. We? "Hey, I kinda pushed you into a difficult battle you weren't ready for right out of the gate, so we both can learn from this." He sat down at one of the couches of the waiting room and shrugged, "We'll just need to do some training and get you better prepared for next time." He gave me a grin and a thumbs up.

"I guess so," I answered with no enthusiasm. I didn't think a loss would affect me this much. All the energy I had from winning those two previous battles was gone, now replaced with disappointment. I heard Nurse Joy call my name and I went to pick up Pete, with the same dissatisfaction looming around him as well.

"Moping around here won't do a thing," Gold said, hopping off the couch and walking over to me. "You just have to keep at it and never give up. Let's get to training!" He grabbed my arm and dragged his discouraged student over to Route 32 as Pete scurried along behind us.

Upon reaching Route 32, I remembered yesterday and wondered what his brilliant plan was. "So, am I attacking hordes of Pidgey's again?"

"That would have been my first plan, yes, but I think we need to think outside the box this time around. So, any ideas?"

Excuse me? "Um, Gold-san, aren't you the teacher here?" I asked him.

"Well, yeah," he began, "but as we both know, teaching isn't exactly my forte. Also, I don't own a 'Training for Dummies' book to fall back on, so all I've got is personal experience and my personal experience isn't really made for normal Trainers as yourself, since in my case it was only a couple of months or so before I had to save all of Johto and stuff."

"Right…" Totally not helping my mood, Gold, not helping at all.

"Oh," he exclaimed, "Did Falkner give you any pointers? Usually Gym Leaders give some advice to losing Trainers to help them improve."

"Well, kinda." He did say some stuff, but he wasn't exactly clear on what exactly he was trying to say.

"What do you mean?"

"He said something about learning to use a weapon or it'll be a hindrance or something, it wasn't really all that clear."

"So he's speaking in Super Serious Gal language, eh?" Gold said, scratching his head. "You got any context to help me out here?"

"I was telling him about how Volt Tackle is like a 50/50 chance move in our case, and he responded with that, so does he mean like perfect Volt Tackle or something?"

"That's a good idea!" Gold said, "However, I'm not exactly sure how to teach you."

"What do you mean, your Pichu knows Volt Tackle, right? Can't you teach Pete?" I asked, with a cry of agreement from Pete below me.

"The thing is, Pibu learning Super Rising Thunder, or Volt Tackle in your case, was only possible due to the extra electrical power we received from Raikou at the time. Even after practicing it with him, he only truly mastered it when Yel-" Gold stopped mid-sentence. He grinned and ran back into the city, "I gotta make a phone call, train here on your own for a bit, I'll be right back!" Couldn't he just use his PokéGear? I was going to ask him but before I could, he was already out of reach. I guess it's just Pete and me then.

Gold's POV

I ran out into town PokéGear in hand, making sure Quartz wasn't anywhere in sight. After seeing the look in his eyes, I knew the best course of action to take at this time was to leave him alone for a bit. The first time a Trainer loses always marks an important step in their development. I remember my first real loss, back at Ecruteak City against Silver. While I bounced back fast, the circumstances were once again, different from what Quartz is experiencing right now. In any case, the only real plan of action was to let Quartz get back up on his own. However, that didn't mean I shouldn't get working on the next step.

I pulled out my PokéGear and went through my contacts. The bet Crys and I set up was me teaching Quartz the ropes, but there was no rule forbidding me from getting some additional 'teaching assistants' if you will. So, who was the best choice? Usually, I'd just call Silver, being the two of us are pals and such, but Silver's avoided getting involved in any of our bets since last time… Okay, so we caused some property damage, accidentally blew a hole in the local jail, and had to clean up and track down some criminals. Big deal, but no, apparently that was too much for him.

With Silver not being an option, my best choice would probably Senior Red, and probably also Senior Yellow for good measure. They both had Pikachu's and mastered Volt Tackle, so they'd be ideal for the job. However, Super Serious Gal is always telling me to stop asking our seniors for favors, but this is something they specialize at, so I guess this can be counted as an exception. I found Red's number, and clicked video call as I waited for the leader of the DexHolders to pick up.

Red's POV

I was strolling through the streets of Viridian City headed to the local art studio where Yellow worked at. She wouldn't get off for at least another hour, but I preferred getting there early when I picked her up just to see how she was doing. I was about halfway there when I heard my PokéGear ring and I answered to a hasty Gold.

"Senior Red! Hey, glad I could reach you! What's up?" he said extremely fast, his face obviously showing there was an ulterior motive to this call.

"I was just walking over to the art studio to pick up Yellow." I decided to make this quick and asked the obvious question, "Gold, don't take this the wrong way, but is there something you need from me?"

"What, I can't just-" I gave him a stern look, telling him to cut the act. "Okay, when's the soonest time you can get to Johto?"

"Well, I do have a Magnet Train pass, so an hour or two, but Yellow and I were planning to go out when her shift en-"

"You can bring her with you," Gold interrupted. "I got this kid with a Pichu who needs a bit of help mastering Volt Tackle, and I thought since you helped me last time, you could kinda help me this time as well," he asked shyly scratching the back of his neck.

"So, you want me to help you train Quartz?" I responded watching his surprised reaction to my knowledge of his new student.

"H-how'd you know about-"

"The entirety of the DexHolders knows about your new student and the bet you got going on with Crystal. She told Silver and he told Blue, and once something gets to Blue, within minutes, everyone knows about it," I explained to him. His jaw dropped in disbelief. "Yeah, she already started up a betting pool among us DexHolders on how long he'll last, and the general consensus is that he won't be able to make it come the Pokémon League next year."

"Well, what's your opinion?" he asked me hopefully.

"Well, I haven't tossed my hat in the ring yet," I told him. "I tend to reserve judgment until I meet-"

"All the more reason to come," Gold yelled, jumping at the chance. "Get to know the kid you're all betting on. Trust me on this one, he won't disappoint." He gave me a big grin, trying to seal the deal here.

"Wouldn't this be breaking the rules of the bet you and Crystal have got going?" I was starting to run out of plausible excuses.

"Oh that," he laughed. "Don't worry about it. I've always found some sort of loophole in these bets I have with Crys. She never said anything about getting help, so she can't really say I'm breaking the rules."

While his offer seemed like a good idea, I couldn't really just change my plans at a drop of a hat. Well, I can, considering being a Trainer as a profession gives you a pretty open schedule, but Yellow actually has a job, and getting her to come without warning isn't so easy to pull off. "Gold, I'll have to hold off on an answer for now. I'm going to check with Yellow, then I'll get back to you. You cool with that?"

"Oh yeah, perfectly fine!" he said back. "All right then, I hope to see you soon!" Immediately after saying that, he hung up on the video call, in as much of a rush as he was upon the beginning of the call. 'For the love of Mew, Gold is truly a difficult guy to figure out.'

Within another half hour, I made it to the art studio where Yellow worked at, Viridian Designs. I walked in and saw Yellow in the middle of a lesson, teaching a class to paint a picture of a forest, presumably the Viridian Forest, and how to add certain Pokémon here and there, such as Caterpie and Weedle. As small and delicate as she looked, as she painted, you could feel the confidence she exuded over her class. I waved and sat down at an easel near the back and waited for her. Usually, I would have joined in on the lesson but I was a bit late today. ChuChu ran up to me from the front of the class and greeted me as she continued to teach. I sent out Pika to play with ChuChu as I watched the rest of the lesson.

Upon finishing her lesson, I walked up to her and gave her a kiss as she was putting away her apron and getting her coat. "Great lesson, Yells," I told her, trying to hold off on asking her about Johto, "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, " she said, putting on her yellow sweater and red scarf, "Just let me stop by my house so I can pack."

"Pack? What for?" I asked, not really hiding my intentions.

"We're going to Johto for a couple days, aren't we?" she asked me. Before I could ask her how she knew, she gave me a smile and showed me her PokeGear's latest messages. "Gold texted me. Based on your surprised face, I'm guessing right after he called you. He really covers all his bases, doesn't he?"

"We don't have to go, it's just Gold asking for a favor. Besides, don't you have-" I tried to protest.

"I checked with my boss," she told me. "I've saved up a bit of vacation time." She smiled and looked up at me, "Besides, we could use a vacation for just the two of us, right?"

"Yeah," I said back, smiling, "I guess we could." Ever since Yellow and I started going out a few years back, we haven't really done much with all that's going on. Yellow's got her job at the studio and also volunteers most of her weekends watching over the Viridian Forest, while my schedule usually just fluctuates based on what challenges I can get or interviews and the like, being a former League Champion and one of the few who have defeated the Elite Four and Champion after they were re-established. Even after I moved to Viridian, since the rest of us Senior DexHolders lived here, we haven't really been able to have a date with just the two of us. Most of our dates have either been doubles with Green and Blue, or interrupted by fans who'd recognize us as members of the DexHolders. So in a way, I guess we could both use this an excuse for a vacation. We decided to split up in order to pack before meeting up again at the Viridian Pokémon Center before heading to Saffron.

---

January 22nd, Route 32-Johto 5:00 PM

Zircon/Quartz's POV

After Gold dashed back into Violet, I decided to just go for a walk with Pete to try and clear my head. Although losing to Falkner should have been expected, being a Gym Battle so soon after beginning, it still was extremely frustrating to fully grasp the entire situation immediately. In the end, although Gold had pressured me into diving headfirst, part of it was my fault, too. I had gotten a bit too overconfident after taking down the Gym Trainers with nothing but a type advantage and took a huge gamble during our battle that led to our defeat. I've been kicking a rock around in circles for a while now, trying to think of what I should do next when I felt a shock up my arm.

I looked down to see Pete, trying to snap me back into reality and pretending to box some imaginary opponent, the fire in his eyes actually burning brighter then before. I smiled and watched his cheeks spark, determined to get stronger. 'That's right,' I thought, 'A defeat was bound to come sooner or later, but what truly matters is getting back up and not giving up.'

I knelt down and ruffled Pete's fur. "Thanks buddy, you really knocked me out of my funk." Pete squeaked happily, ready to get back out there. "I'm not sure what Gold-san went to go do, but it seems to have to do with perfecting Volt Tackle, so for the meantime, let's get down to some hardcore training!" I ran out with Pete coming right after me.

However, unlike last time, there wasn't a flock of Pidgey or Spearow out to kill me, so I actually had to go looking for trouble. Unfortunately, the local wild Pokémon were pretty calm today, with most of them running away or avoiding us entirely. I couldn't walk too far into the Route, I wouldn't want to get out of reach of Gold-san or a Pokémon Center within walking distance. Even so, having wild Pokémon to come out and fight us wasn't really happening.

I stumbled upon some cave-like old buildings nearby. If I remember correctly, I remember seeing a program on the Ruins of Alph, which were the ancient ruins of what scientists believe to be an old civilization. The place seemed to be clear, I'm guessing the researchers went home for the day. I tried to steer clear of caves, because I've heard of rumors of these tunnels collapsing without warning. I was about to give up and turn back when I saw a small green bird Pokémon land directly in front of us.

"All right, Pete, we won't let this one get away!" I called out, getting the bird's attention that looked in my direction. "Pete, Thundershock!" Pete sent out a jolt of electricity that seemed to finally get the bird to get serous. The bird's eyes glowed as it controlled some rocks and threw them in our general vicinity. 'A Psychic type,' I thought to myself. "Pete, you okay?" Pete looked back, easily clearing any of the debris from the psychic bird. The bird decided to make a break for it and started flying away. "No, don't go!" I yelled after it. That was finally my chance to get some experience in. The bird glanced back in my direction, but upon looking forward, it crashed into a nearby tree.

"This is our chance," I called out. "Thunder Wave!" Pete paralyzed the bird that was now hopping around in random directions. I was about to call for Pete to land the final blow when I realized I had another option to use: catch it! Adding another member to our squad could certainly help in our rematch against Falkner! I grabbed a Pokéball from my bag and threw it at the bird, making sure my aim was on target. Wouldn't want to waste 200 Pokébucks, now would we? Bull's eye! The ball sucked up the green bird and wobbled a bit before stopping. Success! I ran up and picked up the ball. "All right, I caught a uh…"

Come to think of it, I didn't know what this thing was called. I sent it out to get a good look at it. It was round and green, and about the size of my head, probably a bit smaller. It had a lone red feather on its head and red tail feathers. Its wings were red and yellow, and besides that, it was a basic bird Pokémon. "Well, whatever you are," I said to it, "Welcome to the team!" Pete also gave the bird a welcoming hand-er paw-wing shake. The bird looked at us with a blank stare before flying in a random direction before crashing into a pole. "Hey, wait up!" I ran after my new recruit, making sure it didn't stray too far. 'Great, I get a flying type Pokémon, and it can't even fly straight,' I thought to myself. My bird fell and ended up into guess who, Gold-san's arms, who just happened to be coming back from Violet City.

"Gold-san!" I called out to him. "Thanks for catching, um, well it doesn't have a name yet, but thanks!"

"Uh, sure," Gold said, a bit confused. "What's up with the Natu?"

"Is that what it's called, a Natu?" Well, that was interesting information. At least I got a name for this before I can come up with my own nickname. "It's my latest partner," I told him. "I caught it while you were gone!"

Gold smiled and looked at the small bird and looked up at me. "Well, looks like you got yourself your first capture! That's another milestone!" He reached out his fist and offered me a fist bump that I gladly reciprocated.

"So Gold-san," I asked, "You said this was called a Natu, do you know a lot about this Pokémon?"

"Actually, I do," he said as if it was something uncommon for him to know. He's a DexHolder, shouldn't he be an expert on this? "Crys has had one on her team for quite some time before she evolved it into a Xatu." So, I've got its evolution's name as well. "Here, my PokéDex has got the entrees on this species filled out already." As I took the PokéDex from him and read the entrees on both Natu and Xatu, he mumbled to himself, "Well, I can't get Super Serious Gal to help us train this Natu…"

"Wow!" I exclaimed, "It says here that Xatu can see the future!" I picked up my bird and lifted it up. "This little guy is a visionary!" That's a good idea! I lowered it and looked at it at eye level, "You know what, that's what I'll call you! Visionary the Natu, Arie for short!" The Natu, now known as Arie, just stared at me with a blank expression.

"Visionary, huh," Gold said as I put Arie down and started to heal his Paralysis and wounds, "It's a…unique name to say the least," he said. Gold looked at his PokéDex before continuing to fill me in with information on my new companion. "Well, for starters, it says here that Arie here is a male." Good, getting a clear gender is good start. "As for its battle abilities, you probably noticed that it is a Psychic-Flying dual type combination," he said as I nodded, exactly what I was thinking. "Lastly, " he read, "according to the PokéDex, it says that its current moveset consists of Confusion, Air Cutter, and whoa, Future Sight already." He looked up at the two of us and gave us a huge grin, "Seems like a powerful addition to the team!"

"You hear that, Arie," I told him, "You've got great potential!" Pete chirped in as well while Arie just looked off into the distance. After figuring this out, I remembered that Gold disappeared without a trace a moment ago. "Hey Gold-san," I inquired, "why did you go off into Violet earlier?"

Gold gave us an even bigger grin as he said, "Well, you see, I remembered how Pibu eventually perfected Volt Tackle as well as who actually helped me realize the name of this move in the first place." He looked at his PokéGear and kept his smile and continued, "And according to this text, it seems those two people are coming to help us out! Quartz, get ready because it a couple hours, you will be meeting…"

Meanwhile…

Saffron City-Kanto 5:00 PM

Normal POV

In a cemetery on the edge of Saffron City, the Trainer who recently almost wrecked the Saffron Gym, Leader and all, knelt before two graves. This black haired Trainer, known as Garnet, opened his eyes and got up as he looked upon the names on the graves, Daisuke and Clara Fukushi. He looked at his PokéGear, noticing it to be almost time for the next Magnet Train to come by. He turned and drew a Pokéball from his belt and was about to send out his Pokémon before looking back to another grave, far separate from the others. This grave wasn't like the others with a tombstone and a name, but rather a patch of ground with just a small rock signifying a grave.

"Not yet…" he said with a low voice, before he turned back and sent out a blue dragon that he hopped on and flew into the main city.

Red's POV

"Come on Yells, we're going to miss the train," I called out to her. We took a tad longer than we anticipated in getting ready and by the time we flew to Saffron, we were cutting it pretty close to the 5:15 train. I packed light and only needed to bring my backpack, but for some reason, Yellow managed to pack an entire suitcase. "How long do you think we're going for?" I had asked her as we dashed to make the soon to be departing train.

"We're going to see Gold," she said. "If the time it took him to master Blast Burn is any indication, this is going to take a lot longer than we think."

"Ah, I forgot to think about that," I said facepalming, "I might have to head back and get some more stuff later on in the week. Anyway, let's go, the train's leaving any minute now." We flashed our Magnet Train passes chasing after Pika and ChuChu who ran past the gate before getting on the train and plopping down into the first seats we could find. "We just made it," I breathed as Yellow laughed lightly and Pika and ChuChu jumped onto our laps.

I heard a man clear his throat and looked up at the person across from us. His hair was a darker shade of black than my own, and his eyes a deeper hue of red as well. However, that's where the similarities ended. A scar over his left eye and right cheek covered his face and he looked as if he were suited for battle, and more than a typical Pokémon battle at that. I myself thought Yells and I were on vacation, so instead of wearing my typical outfit, I left my sleeveless red jacket and hat at home, hoping it would help keep me from being recognized. I threw on a red jacket with yellow flame accents since it was winter and tied a yellow band around a tear in the left sleeve. Yellow dressed the same as usual, but also brought a red scarf and yellow jacket.

"Sorry, man," I told him as I got up, "Is someone sitting here? We were kind of in a rush, so we just dropped into the first seats we could find. I hope we weren't disturbing you."

"It's fine, no one's sitting there, " he said softly. I sat back down slowly and looked back at the guy who was watching us closely. As the train ticket collector walked by, I decided to break the silence as he handed the train guy a ticket while we showed him our passes.

"A ticket, eh? Not many people travel using the Magnet Train with a one way ticket rather than a pass, you on vacation or something?"

"No," he said, "I'm not a fan of public transportation. I usually ride my Pokémon, however I just flew all the way from Unova and I thought I'd give my Pokémon a rest."

"That's nice," Yellow smiled. "So, I guess that you're a Trainer?"

"Yes, that's true," he said before looking us straight in the eye. "Speaking of which, are you Red Akairo and Amarillo del-"

"SHHHHH!" I quickly whispered to him. "We're trying to not get noticed if you know what I mean."

"I told you that disguise wouldn't work," Yellow whispered to me, "Your hair sticks out like a sore thumb!"

"Look man," I bargained with him, "What do you want, an autograph or something, just don't blow our cover, we're just trying to take a vacation."

"It's fine, I'll keep it down. No need for panic," he said as he looked out the window.

We breathed a sigh of relief, "Thanks, that was a close one. So, why are you headed to Johto?" I asked, hoping to keep a pleasant conversation to pass the time.

"I'm looking for someone," he said closing his eyes, brow furrowing. "In fact, maybe you can help me. I'm looking for Carr, one of the former Three Beasts of Team Rocket. Based on a lead of mine, he's in a prison in Johto. Do you perhaps know which city he's in?"

"Depends," I told him, as my demeanor got serious as Yellow looked along getting nervous. "Who's asking?"

He pulled out a badge from his pocket, "International Police."

I lightened up, "Oh, ok then. In that case, I'm not sure which city, but I'm pretty sure Gold knows. We're actually meeting up with him, you want to come with us?"

"I would like that very much, thank you, Mr. Akairo and Miss Verde," he said as the train began to stop as we reached Goldenrod Station.

"Call me Yellow Viridian, " Yellow told him

"As for me, just call me Red," I told him. "So, what's your name?"

"Fukushi, Garnet Fukushi, he said as the doors opened.

Zircon/ Quartz's POV

"WHAT?" I screamed as Gold told me who was coming. "You mean the Red and Yellow?"

"Well, yeah," Gold said casually checking his PokéGear. "Since Red and Yellow helped Pibu master Volt Tackle, I felt it only natural if they help us out with our predicament here."

"I can't believe I'm meeting the leader of the DexHolders," I said, completely ignoring Gold.

"Since when is Red-san our leader?" Gold asked. "I don't remember us having this election. If anything, I think I'm just as qualified if not higher."

"On TV, it usually labels him as leader," I told him. "Probably just as a placeholder or something, don't worry about it."

"Yeah, sure…" Gold mumbled looking in another direction. He's definitely not forgetting about it. He shook his head before looking back at me, much brighter, "Well, let's train for the meantime!" He motioned toward Arie, "Let's give Arie here his debut battle! You're going to use him for your rematch against Falkner, aren't you?"

I hadn't really given it much thought, but I guess bringing in Arie for round 2 wouldn't be so bad an idea. "Arie, let's give it a try, front and center!" Arie flew on top of my head. "Hey, Arie," I whispered as the small bird looked up. "Front and center means on the battlefield, not me." Arie chirped before flying over to the battlefield. "Looking good, all right we're ready!"

"We'll practice aerial combat first," Gold said, reaching for a Pokéball. "There's no doubt aerial combat will be an essential part of Arie's battle style. So, Togebo, let's give 'em a little lesson, shall we?" He threw his Pokéball up in the air and out emerged the familiar bird-fairy Pokémon of his. It looked at me before turning to Gold, confused. "Oh yeah, Togebo, he's out student now, so let's take it easy."

"All right Arie, fly up!" My small bird flapped his tiny wings before finally achieving flight. Togebo soared up and faced off against it.

"Quartz, you make the first move," Gold called out. "I show you guys how to dodge mid-air while getting in close."

"Arie, Air Cutter!" Arie blew several spirals of pressurized wind at Togebo.

"All right Togebo, dod-"Gold started before the spirals blew right past Togebo, none of them even close to hitting its mark. "Hey Quartz, I can't really show you how to dodge if your moves don't even try to hit."

"Uh yeah, sure!" I looked up at Arie who was staring at Togebo. Is it bad at aiming? It took Pete and I around a half a year to perfect our pinpointing accuracy, but Arie's aim was below average at best. "Arie, one more time, dead ahead!" Arie once again blasted the spirals of air at Togebo, this time, with a much higher precision.

"There we go, " Gold called up to his Togebo. "Charge in and dodge!" Togebo flew right at us and turned sideways as the Air Cutters flew by it. "Now you try!, Togebo, Air Slash!" Togebo flapped several blades of air at Arie.

"Okay Arie, dodge! " Arie flew away from the attack, but unlike Gold and Togebo, instead of dodging them while advancing, it just flew off to the side. Unfortunately, one blade hit Arie on the side causing it to fall down. "Arie, keep flying!" I yelled its way. It seems Arie wasn't the best at flying, so speed wasn't going to be an effective tactic. Time for plan B.

"Here is comes again, Air Slash!" Gold called from below the battle in the air.

"Arie, Confusion!" I yelled. Arie's eyes glowed as a couple of the blades of air stopped in place before turning and flying in different directions.

"Ah, Confusion, I guess that's an effective way of blocking as well," Gold said watching. "I guess it makes sense if Arie can't fly that fast. Togebo dodge!" Togebo began to fly before the turning Air Slashes flew past it.

"Arie, you have to aim the move back at Togebo!" I yelled frustrated. It ended up going like this for over an hour. Arie would attack, missing completely, I'd give it more specific directions, where its second attack would go more on target, where Gold would dodge it, rinse and repeat. Arie eventually started to look tired, so I called it down for a break. Arie landed next to me and started pecking at the ground. "Arie, in the skies against another flying type, you have to always have your eye on the opponent because they're always moving." Arie looked up, not at me, but at Pete, who looked back confused. "Come on Arie, look at me," I said before it turned its head in my direction. Gold called back Togebo before checking his PokéGear.

"Well, a rough start," he said, "but nothing we can't fix with some practice. "Let's take a break. I got a text from Red just now, says he and Yellow made it to Goldenrod about ten minutes or so ago, they should be almost here if they're coming by flying. As he finished three shapes appeared overhead. One was a Butterfree, another an Aerodactyl, and lastly a blue dragon, whose species I didn't know. Each of the Pokémon dropped off a person. Off of the Butterfree was a blonde girl, looked about my age or so, and from Aerodactyl a man with black spiky hair. Both of them had a Pikachu hop on their shoulder, the girl's Pikachu with a flower in its fur. Off the dragon, was a guy with hair as black and as spiky (if not more) as the first guy hopped off behind them. They returned their Pokémon before walking towards us. I returned Arie as they reached us, getting up, and looking at Gold to see what to say.

"Well, we're here, " the first guy with spiky hair said. He turned to Gold and held out his hand, "Hey Gold, how ya doing?"

"Great, " Gold greeted, "Thanks for coming Red-san! Let me introduce you to Quartz." Gold using honorifics? Gold may say he doesn't think Red's their leader, but from his attitude I can tell, official title or no, Red is treated as the leader.

Red looked over at me, head to toe, before smiling and waving. "Hey, the name's Red, Red Akairo." He stuck out his hand.

I grabbed his hand immediately and shook it nervously, "Q-Qu-Quartz, nice to meet you," I stammered. Red: the leader of the DexHolders, Champion between regions of Kanto and Johto, I was shaking his hand!

"Calm down, kid," Red said laughing. "You've already met Gold and Crystal, I'd imagine you'd be used to meeting us DexHolders. Speaking of which, this is Yellow."

The blonde girl walked up and stuck out her hand, "Nice to meet you, I'm Yellow Viridian." I shook her hand trying to act less like an obsessed fanboy. She turned to Gold, "Gold, how is Ami-chan doing?"

"She's doing fine, last time I checked, Yellow-san" he responded. "I last ran into her about a month ago in Olivine." OK, two things. One, did Gold say Yellow-SAN? She's older than him? She doesn't look any older than I am, and she's older than him?! Second, who's the third guy behind them?

At least one of my questions was answered with, "So, Red-san, who's the guy with you?"

"Oh him," Red said looking back at the guy as he walked up, "This is Garnet, we met him on the train ride here."

The man walked slowly, looking at the two of us before looking at me, giving me a hard look. His face was his most intimidating feature, with scars that looked like he'd been through some rough stuff throughout his life. His dark red eyes seemed to be staring into my soul, as if I had taken something from him. "Uh, h-hi," I managed to make out. He ignored me and set his gaze on Gold.

"Gold Kaito, I presume," he said straightly.

"That's me," Gold said, "What's up?" His cheery disposition went away as this Garnet guy stared at him for a couple more seconds.

"I'd like to ask you some questions, if you don't mind," he said, straight out, as he walked over to the side of the Route.

"Chill out man," Gold said, shaking off the effect of having that guy stare at you before turning to me. "We can talk later, right now, I'm kinda training this kid here."

"Uh Gold," Red said quietly, tapping his shoulder. He leaned over and whispered something in his ear that made Gold jump and shiver.

Gold looked over his shoulder back at Garnet and quickly said, "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. You wanted to talk? Sure thing buddy, what about? Don't be shy, anything's fine!" I watched as Gold shook crazily in front of the man before him.

"Just a couple questions, nothing too serious." He said calmly. "But first, " he looked over to me, "you said you were training this kid, doing what exactly?"

"W-well, you see, "Gold made out, "His Pichu over here, is having some trouble mastering Volt Tackle, so I was trying to help him. " He motioned over to Red and Yellow, "That's why I called Red-san and Yellow-san for some help."

Garnet looked back at me, giving Pete and I a long, hard stare. Pete hid behind my leg, peeking over every couple seconds to see if he was still looking. He pulled out a Pokéball and summoned a green and white Pokémon with arms the seemed to have swords on its arms. "Have him practice with Kenshi for the time being. We'll talk as he trains."

"Uh, Mr. uh-Garnet, right," Gold said, "Quartz is kind of a new trainer, I don't think putting him against a Gallade is a proper training partner."

"Is that so," Garnet said, closing his eyes. He looked back at his Gallade. "Kenshi, training method 23." His Pokémon nodded before looking back at Pete and I. As he walked back toward Gold and the other two DexHolders, he said, "Don't worry, Kenshi is going to let you test out your attack power on him. He won't attack at all." I looked over to the swordsman-like Pokémon taking on a defensive stance, bracing itself for any attack that might come its way. Garnet looked over to Gold, "I hope this will suffice?"

"Yeah, sure," Gold said slowly, "Thanks."

"Compared to what you have done for all Trainers across the region, this is nothing," he said. "Besides, this way your student can train as we talk." He looked at Red and Yellow, "I would like it if you would join us." Red and Yellow nodded and the four of them began talking as I Iooked back at the Gallade, still bracing itself for an attack.

"Well Pete, you heard him," I told my partner, who was still hugging my leg. "This is a method to test out moves, so lets practice Volt Tackle!" Pete looked at me to make sure it was okay before running out in front of the Gallade. "VOLT TACKLE!"

Gold's POV

"So, what do you need, " I said slowly, "Officer," adding the title quickly.

"Well, I come to Johto in search of one of Team Rocket's 3 Beasts," he said. "The one known as Carr. Your seniors have mentioned that he is detained in a prison somewhere in Johto."

I looked at Red and Yellow before saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm not sure if I remember where he is. I mean, Silver's usually the one who keeps track of Team Rocket members. Which one was he again?"

Red stepped in, "He was the guy who tried reviving Team Rocket 5 years ago, before the 4 generals stepped in." Who? "The really short one?"

"Ohhhhh, Shrimpy!' Why didn't he say so? He knows I don't bother to learn the names of those Team Rocket lackeys. Hell, the only reason I know Giovanni's name is that he's Silver's pops. I turned to Garnet, "So, officer, you're looking for Shrimpy?"

"Uh, sure," he said. "Shrimpy."

"Oh, he's in the Ecruteak Penitentiary." I remember when all of them went to the separate jails, Silver wanted each of us to make sure we kept an eye on them to make sure they were locked up. Since I live in Goldenrod, I was in charge of making sure Shrimpy didn't manage to squeeze his way out some small hole in the wall or something. "However, the guards don't let just anyone see him. Even that International Police guy our juniors worked with, what was his name… Handsome-"

"Looker?" the gloomy cop asked me.

"Oh you know him? Well, even he didn't have the credentials to see him." I told him. "You gotta rank pretty high in the police force if you wanna talk to him."

"Don't worry about that." Tall, dark, and brooding told me as he walked over to where Quartz and the Gallade were training. "Looker's a good cop, he just a bit goofy for some of the more important jobs."

"Well then, I guess you gotta shot," I told him.

Red called behind him, "Do you want me to call another DexHolder to go with you? Carr's one of the sneakiest members of Team Rocket, he'll slip right through your fingers if you're not careful. I'll call Sil-"

"No." The cop looked back with eyes that could lower a Pokémon's defense stat several stages. "I prefer to work alone. Besides, I'm not that bad a Trainer myself." Damn, Scary Face ain't got nothing on this guy. Well, best not piss off the cop any further, so we ran after him as he returned to Quartz and his Gallade.

Zircon/ Quartz's POV

"One more time! Volt Tackle!" Pete ran at full speed cloaked in electricity before slamming into the Gallade. The Gallade nudged him off, another dud. Our success rate was actually getting worse. We tried like 10 times and only 1 time did it seem like a success, and even that time it seemed like Gallade was unaffected. How powerful was that thing?

"Alright Kenshi, time to go." I heard Garnet say as he returned to his Pokémon's side. "Kenshi, what's the status of his Volt Tackle?" His Gallade's eyes glowed for a second as it made eye contact with him before closing them and nodding. "You there," he said looking at me. "Your Pichu hesitates the final second before impact, causing the move to constantly fail. It seems this happens more often against stronger foes. If you want to master that move, you must get over that weakness."

"Pete, is that true?" I asked him as I knelt by him. Pete gave a small squeak in defeat, affirming his statement.

"Wait, you can communicate with Pokémon?" Yellow called as the 3 DexHolders ran up.

"No," Garnet said. "My Gallade here can connect our minds via a psychic link that lets us transfer thoughts as if we were speaking." He sent out the blue dragon he arrived on and pulled out Gallade's Pokéball.

'By the way, you there,' I heard a familiar voice in my head. 'I'm using Gallade's psychic powers to relay a message to you that I don't want the others to hear.' I looked up at Garnet who was staring intently at me. 'I can tell you're hiding something, and frankly, right now, I don't care what it is. However, if that secret ends up causing a problem that reaches me, I will find you and take you out. Remember that if you ever think of doing something stupid.' I stood up and tried to hide my fear as he then returned the Gallade to its Pokéball before surmounting the blue dragon.

"DexHolders, I thank you for your help," he said as his dragon started to flap its wings.

"If you got any more questions, don't be afraid to ask," Red said as he waved to the departing dragon.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said before flying off into the horizon on his dragon.

After he disappeared from view, Gold clapped his hands together, "Now that that's over with, Red-san, Yellow-san, can you help Quartz with what we set out to do today?"

"Um, Gold-san," I motioned over to Pete," I think we should call it for the day, Pete's kinda tired from the recoil of using Volt Tackle so many times in succession."

"I can help out with that," Yellow said as she knelt down beside Pete and touched him on the head. Slowly, Pete got up and seemed to be in top form, if not better.

"What happened?" I asked as Pete was dancing, full of energy.

"I was born with special powers gifted to me from the Viridian Forest," Yellow said as she lifted herself up. "I have the ability to heal and communicate with Pokémon. "

"Really?" Is that even possible?

"Yep, it's true," Red said, as he walked next to Yellow. I looked over to Gold who grinned, also confirming that it was true. "So," Red looked down at Pete and I, "Let's officially get started!" He looked behind him were the two Pikachu's were running about, "Pika, ChuChu, come here!" As the two electric mice ran by, he crouched down to give directions to them, "So, this is Quartz's Pichu, Pete." He motioned over to Pete who stopped dancing and hopped over to the evolved versions of himself. All three electric rodents looked back to Red, "Pete here is having trouble with Volt Tackle, so we're here to help him out! Pika how about we give him a demonstration on," he pointed to a boulder in the distance, "that boulder." The Pikachu ran extremely fast and was immediately surrounded by electricity as powerful as it was fast and crashed into the boulder. When the smoke from the explosion cleared, the Pikachu stood there while the boulder had been obliterated.

The other Pikachu, ChuChu looked over to Yellow, "Sorry, ChuChu, guess you'll have to show him next time."

Gold sent out his own Pichu, Pibu, and motioned for all 4 electric rodents to practice in the nearby grass. "Yellow," he asked, "Could you check on Quartz's Natu? It was acting weird when we were training earlier and I think there might be something we're not seeing."

"Sure," she smiled. She looked at me as I pulled out Arie's Pokéball.

I sent out Arie and watched as Yellow crouched down near him. "His name's Arie."

"Arie, huh?" She closed her eyes and touched Arie's held and nodded every now and then, I'm guessing understanding whatever Arie's trying to say.

"Well?" Gold asked.

Yellow opened her eyes and looked at me and smiled. "It doesn't seem like it's anything major. Based on what I got, it seems your Natu has myopia."

Gold started crying, "I'm so sorry Quartz, I had no idea that your Natu had such a condition, we should get it to the Pokémon Center right away! We shouldn't have had it battle without checking if it was okay," he wiped his eyes. "How bad is it, Yellow-san?" Yellow looked at him confused.

Red rolled his eyes and looked at me, "Myopia means it's nearsighted. Your Natu's not in any danger."

I looked down at Natu who was looking at some random tree. "So, what you're saying is that Arie needs glasses?"

"That seems to be the gist of it," Red said, looking at Arie with a small smile on his face.

"Wait a second," Gold said, wiping off the rest of his tears, "Can't Yellow fix it with her powers?"

Yellow shook her head, "I tried, but it seems Natu's had this problem from birth. I can only heal Pokémon that have been injured from a battle or something of the sort."

As I took a look at Arie as he looked at me (at least I hope he was looking at me) I got an idea and went shuffling through my backpack. "Will this work?" as I pulled out the glasses I used before I switched to contacts. I kept them in case I lost my contacts, but if it could help Arie, then why not?

Red smiled and put them on Arie, "Only one way to find out." Arie blinked a couple times as the glasses were put on his face before chirping happy while flapping his wings while jumping up and down. "Seems like we have an answer," Red said as Arie flew up to his height. As the glasses fell off Arie, Red caught them and said, "Let me adjust these for Arie's head, so they don't fall off during battle," as he moved off to the side with Arie and tinkered with them for a while. "You should check with the Pokémon Center later, get a more exact prescription for the future."

As I looked over to Pete who was squeaking along with Pibu and the two Pikachu, and looked back at Red working with Arie's glasses, I teared up a bit. "Red-san, Yellow-san, both of you, thank you." Both of them smiled and as I looked up at Gold, I knew we were finally going to be getting somewhere.

---

Over the next couple of days, Yellow and Red helped Gold train me in preparation for my inevitable rematch with Falkner. Yellow and Red ended up staying at the same hotel Gold rented for me back several days ago. We ended up facing Pete against some of Gold's Pokémon in an attempt to get him to keep from hesitating when facing tougher opponents and with some pointers from Pika and ChuChu our success rate was getting higher with every passing attempt and after a while, we started practicing on boulders like we were shown that first time. As for Arie, after changing the lenses for a better prescription specified for him, Red modified my glasses into a pair of goggles that strapped to his face to keep them from falling off. With his sight no longer being a problem, I was able to practice aerial battling opponents of differing speeds, whether it was Gold and Togebo, Yellow and her Butterfree: Kitty, or Red and his Aerodactyl: Aero. They also gave Arie some help with flying on how to use the winds beneath his wings for easier soaring. We would train several hours a day, and then Gold and I would do some teacher-student training as Red and Yellow went out by themselves to enjoy their vacation time. With all this training, a victory in our rematch with Falkner felt more and more like a possibility and less like a dream. It could have gone like this forever and I would have been happy, but like all good things, they had to come to an end.

January 24th, Route 32-Johto 7:00 PM

BOOM! Pete did a backflip after jumping off a successful Volt Tackle against a boulder like the one Pika had showed back on day one. As the smoke cleared, about half the boulder was still there, but the amount of the boulder that was destroyed was enough to count it as a success.

"…and with that, we've brought the success percentage up to 80%!" Yellow called from over where Pete, Pibu, Pika and ChuChu were celebrating. Gold, Red, and I stopped our aerial training to see the power of the attack.

"Nice job, Pete!" I knelt down a gave him a fist bump. Arie flew down and gave him a nod. A small discharge of electricity came off of Pete giving the two of us a small shock as the three laughed before we decided to call it a day. We were heading back to town before Red asked me to stay back and train for a few minutes and Gold and Yellow went ahead of us.

"What's up, Red-san?" I asked, normally if it was just normal training, we could have just waiting until tomorrow.

"I wanted to test something out," he said pulling something out of his backpack. "Here," he handed me a CD of some sort.

"Uh, thanks, but I don't have a CD player," I told him, trying not to sound ungrateful.

Red laughed, "It's a TM, or Technical Machine for short. It teaches a Pokémon a move they might normally not learn naturally. This one here is special, and I think Pete here might be able to make good use of it. Just hold it next to Pete and the machine will flash and teach Pete the move."

"Okay, then." I had seen TM's for sale at the local PokéMart and knew how expensive they were, so I wasn't going to take this for granted. I knelt down and held it up to Pete as it glowed before it shattered and Pete glowed before he nodded confirming he got the move. "So, now what?" I asked Red.

"Let's test it out," he turned and pointed to a rock. "Fire it at that rock, and you'll see a new type of power you've never seen before.

I got up and nodded, "All right Pete use-"

January 25th, Violet City-Johto 12:30 AM

I couldn't sleep. After all that happened today, I was incredibly excited. Pete was reaching new heights I hadn't dreamed of, Arie was finally reaching his potential, and for the first time, we seemed like a legitimate team. Of course, I can't forget the help that Red and Yellow have been giving me over the past couple days. Well, Gold did invite them, so I can't forget his help as well. He is my teacher after all. Even if he isn't the best at this job, after the shaky initial startup, he really managed to get into the role of mentor.

I got up from my bed. We were actually staying at the Pokémon Center instead of camping outside for a change. The rooms were cheap but good enough that if we were close enough to one, we might as well use it compared to just roughing it. I decided if I can't sleep, I might as well go out for a walk. Pete and Arie were in their Pokéballs asleep, so I decided I'd leave them in the room while I go out and get some fresh air. I put on my coat, shoes, told Nurse Joy I'd be out for a few, and took a walk on the streets of Violet City. Eventually I ended up on the outskirts of Route 32, just outside Violet. I looked around where we trained for the past couple days particularly at the damaged boulders from numerous Volt Tackles.

I looked up at the sky and thought about how much had changed in the past couple days. As I zoned out I failed to see a small shadow of a Pokémon flying straight for me. I blinked out of my musing and saw a large bird Pokémon headed straight for me. I ran out of the way and ducked, bracing for some sort of impact, but all I ended up seeing the bird Pokémon landing on the floor, looking carefully at me. I walked up to it, making sure it wasn't trying to attack me. Out of all the bird Pokémon in the Kanto-Johto Regions that I knew of, this one seemed unlike any of them. It was blue with two large tail feathers being some of its more noticeable qualities. It motioned down for me to look down where I saw a note tied to its leg. I pointed to myself asking if it was for me as it nodded and I took the note. Upon taking the note, the bird took off, and based off my limited knowledge of Johto's geography, I'd say it was headed for New Bark. Since it was headed for me, that left only a few options. From what I knew, Mom didn't have a Pokémon like that on her team, and if she knew I had left, she'd have come looking herself and probably would have found me by now. As for big sis Jade, well based on what I know, she's never left Johto, and thus that being her Pokémon is impossible, so whose is it? I looked down at the note in my hands, being the only answer I had. I took a deep breath and opened it up. I took one look at the handwriting and noticed it immediately. DAD?!

Dear Son of Mine,

I bet you're surprised reading this letter, huh? I bet you didn't know your old man was a Pokémon Trainer as well! Well, not so much anymore, but back in the day, before I met your mother, I was a Trainer just like most kids, and a pretty good one if I may say so myself. Never as good as your mother, but that's beside the point. If you're reading this letter that means my Swellow found you after flying all the way from Hoenn. Knowing you, you've probably changed your appearance and everything, but Pokémon have that sixth sense that'll help them find you no matter how you change. Anyway, I see you finally seized the chance to run away and start your own adventure (I knew those home security cameras would come in handy)! Now, normally I'd tell your mother immediately, but I know how you feel, and how being cooped up in New Bark your entire young life just isn't good for you, while everyone you made friends with back all those years ago when you were at the Trainer's School have gone out and started their own adventures. So, I'll make an agreement with you. I'll keep this a secret until I return to Johto a week after I left, so Tuesday the 27th. I'm giving that much time to put as much distance between you and New Bark before your mother finds out. In any case, I wish you the best of luck. Remember, no matter how much this experience changes you, you'll always be Zircon Jacinth Idaisa to us. Just know I'm wishing you the best and if you can, try to send a signal back home, telling us you're OK.

Best of Luck,

Dad

I don't believe it! Dad knew about all of it, from Pete to my scheme to run away, all this time! However, he's giving me this chance, and I can't afford to waste it. I've got today and tomorrow before Tuesday, that's 2 days, 48 hours, that's how much time I have before Mom finds out and undoubtedly comes after me. That means by then, the least I can do is defeat Falkner and put some space between home and me. This is my one and only chance.

Later that morning…

"WHAT?!"

We had just finished eating breakfast when I announced that I was ready to challenge Falkner once more.

"Are you sure?" Gold asked, "It hasn't even been a week yet, and you haven't fully mastered Volt Tackle."

"I'm sure." I looked him in the eyes and gave him a look that would convey that I was ready. He closed his eyes in acknowledgement and grinned.

"So, when do you want the match?"

"Tomorrow, I want one last day to train before it happens. I need to come up with strategies to counteract him and especially that Skarmory of his."

"All right, I'll call Falkner and make sure he's at the gym," Gold said, grabbing his PokéGear.

"Well, Red and I don't have to head back until Wednesday, so I guess we'll be able to watch your match," Yellow said.

"So," Red began, "with that in mind, how about we get to training!"

"Before that," Gold stuck out his hand, "I want to give something to Quartz." Give me something, what? Gold reached into his bag and pulled out a familiar item.

"A TM?"

"Yep," Gold smiled. "I was going to give this to you earlier, when you caught Arie, but it kind of slipped my mind with everything that went on, but with all the training you've done over the past couple days, you should be able to use this well."

I took the TM and checked what move it was. "Volt Switch? I thought you said you weren't going to teach me that until later?"

"I said I wouldn't teach you until you a second Pokémon where you could use it to switch out, and now with Arie, you've got 2 Pokémon." I knelt down and used the TM on Pete, thus adding Volt Switch to Pete's arsenal of moves. "Okay," Gold got up, "Now we train for tomorrow's match."

Instead of the basic training that we did the last couple of days, we decided on powering up Volt Tackle and how to use the newly acquired Volt Switch to make tactful switches between Pete and Arie in order to get the jump on Falkner. I had gotten rid of Thundershock in place of Volt Switch because although Volt Switch's secondary effect of switching out even when I don't want to switch out could be annoying, I felt Thunder Wave would be needed to slow down Skarmory. Therefore, learning how to use Volt Switch effectively and be able to switch between both Pokémon and strategies on the fly became the main focus of my training that day. By the end of the day, I truly felt like I was ready for my match tomorrow.

"Well Quartz," Gold began, "Even though Volt Tackle has yet to reach 100% accuracy, I think we've managed to come up with enough backup plans in order to not have to rely on it all that much."

"I'm actually excited to watch this match tomorrow," Red said, "what about you Yells?"

Yellow was about to answer, but then her PokéGear started to ring. "Just give me second." She answered her PokéGear, "Oh, hey Blue, what's up?" Just then a loud shriek came from Yellow's PokéGear that made Yellow pull it away from her ear before continuing. "Blue, what happened?...Okay, Blue, I'm going to need full sentences if I'm going to help…HE DID WHAT?...You're kidding, right?…Okay, I'm coming now, explain when I get there. Okay, bye!" She then looked at us and smiled apologetically, "I'm really sorry, but Blue needs me back at Kanto ASAP. By the way, Red, check your PokéGear, I have a feeling Green might need you as well."

Red pulled out his PokéGear, "What makes you say th-OH." He looked over at us and gave us the same apologetic smile, "Yeah, Yellow's right. We actually have to head back now. Sorry Quartz, we won't be able to see your match, but good luck!" Red and Yellow both sent out Aero and Kitty respectively and hurriedly went back to Violet to get their things before heading back to Kanto.

"What was that about?" I asked Gold after they were gone from view.

"Truth be told, I'm not sure, " Gold said. "However, Yellow was talking to Blue, so it could mean any number of things, good or bad." Gold turned to me, "In any case, you have a Gym Match tomorrow, so we should probably call it a day and get ready for tomorrow. We can worry about what happened afterward."

I thought about it before agreeing as we headed back to Violet City and got rooms at the local Pokémon Center. That night, I fell asleep, the only thing on my mind, tomorrow's Gym Match and its importance.

January 25th-Ecruteak City-Johto 5:00 PM

Normal POV

The Warden of Ecruteak Penitentiary walked into the jail, finally back from his business trip, confused as he saw the guards there, scared out of their minds. "What's going on, you all look like you've seen a Gastly? We live in Ecruteak, I thought you'd all be used to Ghost types."

"T-that's not it, sir," one of the guards spoke up. "It's that Trainer that's in the waiting room." He pointed to a black haired Trainer in the other room, his eyes closed, patiently waiting. "He's been coming here for the past 3 days, trying to see Carr."

"Well, did you tell him that no one's allowed back there?" he asked.

"Yeah, but he won't leave," another guard said. "None of us are brave enough to ask him to leave."

"You guys are hopeless," The Warden sighed, before walking out into the waiting room. "Hey, my guards are saying you want to talk to someone?"

Garnet opened his eyes and looked up, not getting up, "I'm here to speak with Carr of Team Rocket's 3 Beasts."

"I've heard," The Warden responded, "However, we don't just let anyone in there. Unless you've got a notice from the Pokémon Association or-"

"International Police, " Garnet said, standing up and pulling out his badge, "I'm here to speak with Carr to help with a lead on finding Giovanni."

"International Police, huh," the Warden said, looking at the man before him. "Let me see your badge for a second." He took the badge and checked it, "Seems legit. Well, I'm sorry, but no one's allowed back there unless-"he stopped as he eyes reached the ranking on his badge: superintendent. "Oh, I'm extremely sorry, I didn't know you were a superintendent," he said quickly, sweat dripping through his head in panic, "Right this way, sir." Garnet took back his badge and followed the Warden to the extreme lockdown area of the jail. Before opening the door, the Warden looked back to Garnet and said, "I'm really sorry about this, but I gotta accompany you back here." Garnet nodded in acknowledgement as the Warden opened the door and led him to the cell that held Carr. He was wearing black clothes, practically identical to those in Team Rocket, only missing the large red "R" on the front.

"What's going on," the short man turned to see the people visiting him, "To whom do I owe the pleasure?"

"He's International Police," the Warden told him as Garnet looked down at him. "He's got some questions for you."

"I've told you people before, "Carr said, irritated, "I don't know nothing about Giovanni. Last time I saw him was 5 years ago, when you arrested me."

Garnet pulled out a Pokéball when the Warden spoke up, "Whoa, what are you-"

"Don't worry," Garnet said softly, "I know what I'm doing." He sent out his Gallade. "Kenshi, read his mind." The swordsman-like Pokémon's eyes glowed as it looked at the scowling Team Rocket member. After a minute it looked at Garnet as he nodded and pulled out another Pokéball and sent out a Houndoom. "Kenshi relay the coordinates to Cerberus." His Gallade nodded before looking at the dog for a few seconds before the canine quickly ran out of the station.

"Wait, what's going on," the Warden watched as Garnet's Pokémon left the jail. "You come here saying you want to ask some questions, and next thing I know, you're sending out Pokémon, explain to me what is going on around here?"

"He has several Forretress out at the edge of the city, all with commands to blow this jail sky-high tonight. " Garnet said as Carr mouth dropped in shock. "My Houndoom is going to take them out." He returned his Gallade, saying, "I'm going to have to bring him to headquarters. Let's get this done, I've got until tomorrow night to report back and I'm already behind schedule."

"Y-yes sir," the Warden muttered as he looked at the man walking back to the main entrance as he called the guards to help handcuff Carr before taking him away.

---

Hey, once again, I apologize for the lack of updating this story. I got stuck on how to connect both Zircon/Quartz's side of the story and Garnet's and how to continue from there. In short, I was kinda focused on smaller details. From there, classes started to pile up work and before I knew it, it was time for finals.

Also, for this story, the Elite 4/ Champion for Kanto/Johto is a lot like the one in Hoenn, where there is a Pokémon League every 3 years and the winner gets to challenge the Elite 4 and Champion in order to become a Champion in their region. As before, having 8 badges allows you to skip the pre-lims. In this story, Red is one of the few to have defeated the Elite 4 and Lance since it was re-established in this fashion, giving him the title of champion between regions.

I've also made it that all the Kanto DexHolders live in Viridian seeing as Green and Yellow already live there and all of them are old enough to live on their own, I decided that Red and Blue would have moved there as well.

As for names: Red Akairo-aka is red in Japanese. As for Yellow, I've decided that for this story, in legal purposes, her name is the full Amarillo del Bosque Verde, but basically goes by Yellow Viridian as it sounds better as a last name and actually has a reason for later on.

For the next chapter, Zircon/Quartz's rematch with Falkner begins, with this match truly determining whether or not he's cut out to be a Trainer.

As always, any questions, suggestions, or reviews are highly appreciated. Thank you once again for reading or reviewing!

-MateiFire