A/N: Hello again everybody!
I've got some great news! I now have a beta reader, Flamewing98! Since he is proof reading all of my stories, they will be better written now. After just the first time, he picked out plenty of grammatical mistakes and awkward wording and even a small plot hole. Thanks to his watchful eye and helpful suggestions, I was able to fix my mistakes, making the story be a little more smooth.
Enough yammering, please enjoy and review!
Chapter Seven
"Yay, we're finally here!" Dawn happily sung out as she skipped off the magnet train and officially into Rota "That trip took forever."
"Dawn, wait up!" Gary panted as he struggled to carry all of her luggage down to her "This stuff is really heavy. And there's so much of it!" He stumbled a bit before regaining his balance and placed all of her stuff next to her.
"Oh don't whine, Gary." Misty scolded the crushed man after leaving the train too "Even Brock's not. Here, watch him take it like a man."
True to her word, Brock appeared a moment later, carrying an equal amount of luggage with ease, and doing so without complaining. Max walked out behind him in awe. He calmly and carefully made his way off the train, and placed the pile of suitcases down next to Misty, then kissed her hand.
"My lady, I am ever at your service."
"H-how Brock?" Gary gasped as he managed to crawl into a sitting position "How do you do it? You don't even date her."
"Easy my boy." Brock smirked "Practice. It gets easier after being dragged across the four regions and being forced to carry different women's shopping bags for hours on end."
"And I thought I was the master." Gary got on his knees and bowed to him "Truly, I am humbled. My only wish, is to be taught your ways, O wise one. I will spend the rest of my days devoted to learning from your teachings."
"And I, am willing to teach, young one. Arise, and be safe in the knowledge that you shall
be enlightened." Brock nodded his head sagely.
Dawn sighed at the ridiculous antics of her friend and boyfriend "Oh please." Dawn yanked Gary up off the ground "I swear, you guys need to stop being so dramatic. I'll bet you don't even realize how stupid you two look. And Gary, we definitely don't need another Brock."
"No!" Gary wept "Now I will never become wise in the master's ways!"
"Okay, I've had enough." Misty took out her trusty mallet and smashed them both over the head.
"It turns out," Brock cried in a mixture of pain and sadness "that I am not as wise as I thought!"
Misty and Dawn rolled their eyes as the fifth and final present member of the gang exited the train. May just sighed at the unusual sight, embarrassed by her friends.
"Good grief you guys, I can't take you anywhere."
"It doesn't really matter, May," Misty told her "seeing as how we get to spend a whole month just relaxing and playing with cute Pokemon!"
"True Misty, true." Dawn linked arms with her two best friends "Now let's go. The boys can handle our bags."
The girls walked off, ignoring the groans of protest coming from behind them.
A flock of Pidgey took of after a small Marill that wandered into their wake, and the girls walked along the streets, admiring the medieval scenery.
Rota was really a beautiful sight. It was a small town, and not too crowded either, with a large bridge connecting the castle town the mainland. The buildings gave off a homey, earthy feel to them, making the town feel like a peaceful part of nature. There were no skyscrapers or buildings that were too much taller than the rest making the town look less like a city. This made it feel and look less crowded. Outdoor cafes and small shops were common, with Pokemon scampering about and flora present in every aspect of life. They could be seen everywhere, whether it be at home, workplace, or roadsides.
The castle city was simple enough. It contained a small market and enough stores to make a venture out to the mainland unnecessary for the most part, but it obviously had less room in it. The residents liked to walk across the bridge and explore around the mainland every once and awhile to keep a sense of belonging with the other part of it.
However, the two main sections of the area, were even better. Even though people couldn't get inside the Tree of Beginning, it was a beautiful sight in the morning as the sun rose over it in the east. The second main attraction, which was quickly becoming world renowned, the brand new Royal Aura Resort. Named after the area's well known affiliation with the ancient legend, the hotel had many attractions that blended in with the look of the town to appease the citizens. It had a location on the beach along the lake reserved for customers, a massive library/computer room, and most famously, hundreds of different Pokemon to play with. From Buneary to Gyrados, the RA Resort has most known Pokemon for customers to enjoy time with, and everyone loved Pokemon.
Though for all of it's wondrous scenes now, Rota wasn't always as nice. Centuries ago, Abigar, leader of the red auras, and his legions of red aura users attempted to wrest Rota, the heart of the Aura Guardian's, from them. They had conquered the Pewter, Celadon, and Cerulean territories in the attempt of cutting them off from any outside members of the Guardians. The leader of the Guardians, Brigadier Jarrek, massed Guardian forces at Cameron Palace, their main headquarters. The red aura users assaulted the castle with legions of men over twice as large as the Guardians. The death count was staggering, most of the casualties occurring to the Guardians, whose size dropped to not even a quarter of their original number. Sir Aaron, the Lieutenant Commander, seeing the destruction brought upon his order, was unable to continue his mission of guarding the queen, and raced off to the Tree of Beginning to beg the legendary Pokemon Mew to help save his kin. Unfortunately for the young guardian of aura, Abigar had followed him along with his most powerful warriors, and attacked him and Mew. They were barely able to fend them off, eventually sealing themselves in the inner chamber of the tree, while Abigar and his warriors tried to force their way in. Before they could, Mew came up with a solution. He told Aaron that the only way to save his kin was for the young Guardian to supply him with all of his aura, so he could regain his power for a short moment, allowing him to stop the fighting. Aaron readily agreed, and used himself as a sacrifice to save hundreds of lives as Abigar and his men burst into the room. As Aaron died, Mew used his power to seal Abigar and his men away into the Reverse World, where Giratina watches over them today, and to influence the warring aura users minds, convincing themselves that they don't need to fight anymore. The red aura users quickly retreated, and they left Rota, and the territories they had occupied, to leave for their home in Orre. Arceus was displeased with them for attacking what he considered sacred ground, and along the way, he to called upon Rayquaza to create a massive storm at sea, killing most of the red aura users as well.
Both factions of aura users were low in numbers, and oppression from a world who now feared the use of aura made it so neither of their number would ever reach as high as it was. The remaining Aura Guardians were banished from Rota and they were forced to occupy an abandoned Sinnoan military outpost on Iron Island. There, they were able to set up their own relatively thriving, although secluded, community, where they were able to survive. Their enemies, however, were not as lucky.
The red aura users made it back to Orre, where they learned that the people had already been warned of the danger they posed. The people of Orre were already a paranoid and suspicious people, so they feared the aura users immensely. They immediately created a type of unwritten rule, one where they would kill any aura user on site. Forced to live a nomadic life in the desert, the red aura users couldn't regain the numbers they once held either.
Both sides of the aura couldn't thrive like they once had, and lived in anonymity for a thousand years until modern days, where users found that the world had all but forgotten about them, and their powers were only myth. Some members were able to infiltrate society and stay hidden, where some still reside.
Ironically, the citizens of Rota have an interesting custom. Even though the fear of aura was prevalent among the populace, Queen Rin recognized Sir Aaron's sacrifice and created an event to honor him, which she dubbed the Tournament of Aura. Sir Aaron passed into local legend as the savior of Rota.
At first, it was just an annual ball. As the years passed, it evolved from just a ball to a Pokemon tournament followed by the celebratory ball. The champion of the tournament would be named the "True Guardian of Aura". The name was chosen by someone who was secretly an Aura Guardian to help dilute negative feelings towards aura. his ploy worked, and the hatred of aura users slowly began to lose it's hold in Kanto, but only Kanto. Since the other regions lacked an aura themed celebration, they remained hostile towards aura users, even though the hostility laid in a small percentage of people who still believed the legends.
However, the Aura Guardian's still couldn't show themselves for fear of the other regions, and the red aura users couldn't get out a large group of users out of Orre because they would be killed by the locals. They remained to live in anonymity.
"Hello, and welcome to the Royal Aura Resort! My name is Rachel, how may I help you?"
"Hello. We're here to check in, ma'am" Misty said as she, May, Max, and Dawn walked through the automatic doors revealing the luxurious interior of the hotel lobby.
"Very good. What name is the reservation under?" The receptionist asked.
"Waterflower."
"Okay," She typed the name into her computer "However, it says here that the reservation is for five people."
"Oh, well, the other two are bringing our luggage." Dawn giggled "They'll be here any time now, and we have all the tickets with us."
"Thank you." Rachel took the tickets from Dawn and scanned them "Alright then, here are your keys. They will remain functional for the one month that you are allowed here. If you want to stay longer, you will need to fill out an expense form. For future reference, they are located at this desk. Thank you and have a great stay!"
The girls thanked her before going off to find the lost Brock and Gary. After walking around for about ten minutes, they started to get annoyed.
"Where the heck are they!?" Misty exclaimed "Leave them alone for a little bit and they take off like a couple of Poochyena off their leash!"
"Calm down, Misty," May attempted to calm down the redhead "I'm sure they have a perfectly good explanation."
"Yeah Misty," Dawn added, trying to help May "I'm sure they're just lost or something."
"Hmm… I guess so." Misty puffed as she continued searching the route
"Augh!"
A cry of pain sounded from one of the alleys, followed by a soft crash.
"What was that?" May questioned timidly.
"Hey," Dawn shouted before taking off in the direction of the sound "that sounded like Gary!"
"Dawn, get back here!" Misty yelled before running after her.
"Guys!" May was worried now. She didn't know whether or not to go after her friends. However, after she heard another cry of pain, she decided to risk it and try and help.
Dawn was first to the alley, followed closely by Misty, then May. In the alley, Gary was lying on the ground with the suitcases scattered on the ground behind him. Dawn ran over to him and helped him up.
"Gary! What on earth happened to you?!"
"Ugh, I'm fine," Gary coughed "a Team Rocket grunt tried to steal my Pokemon from me, and when he realized that I don't have any on me, he was going to kill me before Brock intervened and chased him off. As far as I know, Brock could still be on the guy somewhere."
The girls gasped in fear. There was a Team rocket grunt on the loose? May especially was scared, and she clung onto Misty's arm for comfort.
"How do you know that he was part of Team Rocket?" May asked.
Gary brushed his pants off "When he attacked me, his coat opened a bit and I could see the red R on his shirt. Only Team Rocket Grunts wear that R."
Just then, Brock ran back from the other end of the alley, panting heavily.
"Gary!" He yelled as he ran over to the young man "Are you okay?"
"Don't worry about me," Gary waved off his concern "Did you get him?"
"No, I couldn't catch him, but if you're okay, we can go and find him and turn him into the police."
"Go after him?" Dawn and May exclaimed in unison.
"What are you thinking?"
"You could get hurt!"
"But if we don't go after him now, he could hurt other people." Brock explained.
"Yeah," Gary added "We need to do this to protect others."
However the girls were still apprehensive. After some thought, Misty gave her opinion "You guys are being hasty. You have no real reason to go after this guy, other than you just want to protect others. While I understand, it's a job for the police. Let's just go find an Officer Jenny and you can give her a description."
Gary and Brock sighed. She was right.
"Fine," Brock said "let's go find a Jenny. I don't know why I didn't think of it in the first place. She's gorgeous."
"Sure." Gary gave Dawn a hug "Whatever you want baby."
He pulled her in for a kiss, earning a groan from Misty.
"Come on guys, stay focused. It's bad enough I have to keep Brock in check."
Gary and Dawn just laughed, and they all went off to find a Jenny.
The grunt, whose name was Clive, was trying to make his way through the crowd undetected. He hung his head low, and looked at the ground.
He knew that he had just made a huge mistake. The boss had given explicit orders to leave the guests alone, and he had just attacked and threatened Gary Oak. He had gotten caught up in the heat of the moment when he saw him and, expecting the young Pokemon professor to have rare Pokemon on his person, jumped him while he was taking a shortcut through an alley, trying to move the suitcases faster. Unfortunately, he had no Pokemon on him, so he panicked, and in his haste, he tried to kill him. But before he could, a strange man ran towards him, releasing a strong looking Sudowoodo, and scared him off. He ran away, but the man pursued, still looking extremely angry. He finally was able to lose him in a crowd at the marketplace.
He made his way through the mass of people and turned around once he was absolutely certain that he wasn't being followed. He walked through the town, and eventually came to the Royal Aura Resort. Going into the main lobby, he first walked over to pair of security guards standing by a door marked, 'employees only'.
The guards, recognizing him, as they were required to know all of the stationed grunts by name and face, allowed him to pass. Taking this as a sign that nobody knew about his incident with Oak, he heaved a sigh of relief, then entered.
He went through the doorway, and walked down the stairwell with a long concrete hallway inside. At the end was another door, without guards, but had a thumbprint scanner instead.
He scanned his thumb and opened the door, which led to some sort of lounge.
What made it odd was the fact that it was it was filled with Team Rocket grunts bearing AR-15's and assortments of knives. This was a dangerous combination with the alcohol that seemed to be flowing like a river.
However, no one got too violent, as fear of Giovanni's new "security guards" had everyone on edge. Giovanni brought them in suddenly for the resort, and on their first day, they killed eighteen grunts. The reason? They weren't productive enough. It didn't help that none of the executives bashed an eyelash about it.
So, obviously, there were lots of rumors floating around about them, creating a feeling of distrust among the Team Rocket members. Though no one wanted to ask any questions for fear of being disposed of themselves.
Clive spotted one of his drinking buddies sitting at a table, and walked over to him.
"Hey Alex," Clive pulled out a seat and sat down "what's new?"
Alex took a drag on his cigarette before answering "Nothing much. Proton wants us to move more shipments tomorrow before the Galactics can. Rotten little punks should stay in Sinnoh where they belong."
"I know," Clive took his cigarette and took a puff to calm his nerves before handing it back to avoid a dispute "they make so much work for us. I joined Team Rocket to steal Pokemon, not move crates."
"What're ya gonna do?" Alex asked "Best to just keep a low profile and do what you're told. Especially with these new guards Giovanni has."
"Tell me about it. I heard they're Orrean mercenaries or something. I hate Orreans. They creep me out."
"I heard that they're not technically Orreans. Steele told me that they were nomads, no actual Orre citizens."
"Either way," Clive stood up "I hope the boss gets rid of them soon. I'm gonna go get a beer. Be back in a sec."
Alex gave a halfhearted wave as he took another drag as his eyes started to glaze over from the mix of nicotine and large amount of alcohol he consumed.
Clive walked over to the bar.
"Hey, gimme a beer, now." He demanded.
"Yeah yeah." The bartender responded "Just gimme your name."
"Clive Armonni."
"Clive, huh? Just gimme a sec." The bartender went in the back.
Clive grumbled at this "I don't have a sec. Just get me my beer."
As he waited, he started to get an uneasy feeling. He should've known that he couldn't get away with ignoring the boss's orders. "What's taking so long?" He fussed, trying to squash the feeling. However, the feeling was intensified as one of the guards seemed to listen to his earpiece before making his way over to him.
"Clive Armonni?" The guard had a deep, menacing voice.
"Y-yeah. What's it to ya?"
"Proton would like to see you. You will come with me."
Clive was visibly sweating now, but he had no choice as he followed the guard across the lounge, into another hallway, and through a small security gate.
"Please remove all of your weapons before entering the office." The guard told him.
Trembling, he removed his sidearm and knife and placed them in a basket in front of the stationed guard.
"Enter." The guard told him.
Clive was about ready to pass out with fear. The punishments for disobeying orders could range to anything from extra work without pay, flogging, or even death. And it didn't help that Proton was known to punish just for the sadistic fun of it.
He went through the office door, stopped, and saluted in front of the desk in the middle of the room.
Giovanni wheeled around in the chair, causing Clive to actually gasp in surprise. His fear rose to new heights as his imagination went into overdrive.
"G-Giovanni sir," He managed to stutter out "what are you doing here?"
Giovanni gave him a smile "Overseeing my greatest triumph. After all, if you want something done right, do it yourself."
Clive, who didn't let himself say anything else for fear of angering the head boss, nodded.
"Now, you might wonder why I asked you here. You see, I have a fairly large group of Rocket members in the resort. One of them happened to see you following a Mr. Gary Oak into an alley, then watched you attack him. Is this true?" It was more of a statement than a question.
"Yes sir." He mumbled begrudgingly. There was no point in lying. It would make the punishment so much worse.
"Well. I thought I said that I wanted no one to hassle any of the guests at any point or time, period. Why did you not listen to my very simple instruction? I didn't want to make any of the guests think that there was a Team Rocket presence, but you have made that difficult. Luckily, I have a solution that we both should agree to."
This didn't sound good to Clive, and a thin bead of sweat appeared on his forehead "Wha-what is it?"
"You will give yourself into police custody and tell them that you found that uniform abandoned in an alley, which they will believe because there have been no previous cells of Team Rocket confirmed yet, so they'll think that it was a deserting grunt or something like that. And I, in return, will not kill you."
"Deal!" Clive hastily agreed. He thought for sure that Giovanni's appearance would mean certain doom for him, so he took the opportunity to live immediately.
"Very good." Giovanni smiled "And for the record, if you try to run, just know that there's no place you can hide where my new guards can't find you."
Clive gulped "Y-yes sir! I'll leave immediately sir."
"Good, now get out of my sight!"
Clive scrambled out of the room on his way to the police station. There was no way he was going to disobey this order.
"Yes Officer Jenny, I'm sure it was Team Rocket," Gary told the skeptical officer "would I tell you if I weren't sure?"
Jenny was indeed skeptical. After all, there hadn't ever been any real sightings of Team Rocket in a while, and almost never in Rota.
"I guess not Mr. Oak." She said "since you are Professor Oak's grandson, I suppose I'll have to trust you."
Gary, Brock, Misty, May, Max, and Dawn had found the nearest police station, and Gary and Brock were describing the criminal to a Jenny.
"It was near the Royal Aura Resort," Brock added "I chased him, but I lost him near the marketplace."
"Alright," Jenny picked up her radio "I'll put out an APB out on this man, and hopefully we can find him soon. Thank you for your cooperation."
Jenny stood up and grabbed her gear before heading towards the exit. Before she left, a man matching the description walked in.
"That's the man who attacked me, Officer Jenny!" Gary yelled.
Jenny pulled out her 9mm Sig, and pointed it at him.
"Sir, don't move!"
He looked at her and stopped moving.
"Get on the ground and put your hands on your head!"
He complied, and laid down putting his hands on the back of his head. Jenny pointed to another officer, who cuffed him while Jenny kept him at gunpoint to make sure he didn't attack the arresting officer. He stood him up, and moved him to a holding cell while reading him his rights.
Clive however, was not completely silent "That was kinda unnecessary. I came here to turn myself in."
Jenny was baffled. Criminals usually don't just offer themselves to the law.
"But, why?"
"Because I feel awful. I was desperate, and I thought that he might have some Pokemon that I could sell on the black market. But I panicked and tried to kill him, which I feel horrible about. I figured that it would be best if I just turned myself in."
Gary was not going to let it go that easily "Well then why do you have a Team Rocket uniform underneath your coat?"
Clive took off his coat to show the uniform "I found this during the winter when I was searching for somewhere warm to stay while it got cold out. This uniform saved my life, so I got attached to it."
Everyone sighed in relief. It seemed that there really wasn't a Team Rocket presence after all.
"While that's all well and good," Officer Jenny stated "your still under arrest for the attempted murder and robbery of Gary Oak."
"I know, and I admit to it, and I'm gonna plead guilty in court. I just want to pay for my crimes. I deserve it."
Jenny shook her head in wonder at the rare scene before turning back to Gary and co.
"Well, it looks like this is all wrapped up. Why don't you all go enjoy your vacation now?"
Max pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as they shone with light "He must have been scared of us. We're the best!"
"Excellent idea," Brock piped up, ignoring Max and trying to help with the tension everyone (mostly May) was feeling "come on, we still need to move all of these suitcases anyway."
"Okay." Gary reluctantly agreed. He thought that there was more to it than that, but he didn't want to ruin May's time. He wanted to help her, for Ash. "Let's all go and try and enjoy ourselves. We still have the month to relax."
Everyone chorused in agreement, and they made their way back to the resort to enjoy a well deserved vacation.
A/N: This one was almost twice as long as the last one!
Now, I just feel like saying that I've really got the plot in my head now. I started this story without a clear plot in mind, kind of a see where it takes me deal.
This should help some with my writers block, so the next chapter might be a little earlier than this one.
See y'all later
DarkLucario98