10: A Message

Pikachu

I woke up on Friday morning to a loud blaring noise and Red's hand smacking the alarm clock a moment later but I wasn't angry or even sad that I was pulled out of my dreams. I wasn't sore, I didn't feel exhausted; I felt rested enough to get up and not even feel as tired as I had been a few days before.

I was excited.

From the moment I opened my eyes, I knew what day it was. The others felt just as anxious as me and for good reason. We were finally going to see who we were going to battle next week and I jumped up to my paws as Red grumpily tried to untangle himself from the confines of the sheets.

When he finally got up and we completed our morning routine, we walked out of the room but didn't stop by the elevator immediately. Instead, we went to Blue's room and he let us in a few seconds after Red had knocked. "I'm surprised you actually got up on time today," Blue told us as we entered and I noticed his jacket hanging off the back of a chair that was in front of a bowl of half-eaten cereal. He glanced towards the alarm clock in his room. "You're even ten minutes early."

Red didn't reply and I jumped off of his shoulder to greet Jolteon with tiny sparks that he returned.

Machamp was sitting on the couch with Alakazam and the television on some soap opera and the two briefly glanced at Red then at me. "So, how did it go?" I heard Machamp ask as he turned his gaze back to the television.

I knew he didn't really care what happened between my trainer and White, but I decided to humor him and jumped up onto the couch behind the two and sat down when Jolteon went to sit next to Blue. "Well enough. Blue and Ethan almost interrupted the breakfast date, though," I answered.

"We did try to keep them in the rooms as long as possible," Alakazam said, his legs crossed. "I still don't understand why it's such a big secret."

I shrugged. "Espeon says that Red will tell him when he's ready, or something like that." I looked behind us to see that Blue was still getting ready to go as Red impatiently sat in a chair.

"She's right, you know. It's none of our business what they want to do," Machamp told me and I looked back at him, seeing he was looking towards me. "As you can see, humans are complicated things."

"You know this show isn't real, right?"

He ignored me as he slammed two of his fists together. "Now, we machamp are proud pokemon! We fight for love! The female chooses the strongest male to mate with and that's it! Simple and effective!"

I rolled my eyes. "If you call wrestling fighting, then suit yourself."

"Barbaric sort of way to choose a mate, that is," Alakazam mumbled under his breath. "The two most intelligent in our species get together and stay that way for life. If the smartest one is female, she chooses whomever she decides to mate with. The same applies to the males."

"I'm gonna go visit someone else now," I said as the two began to argue about how to gain a female's trust and attention.

I jumped off the couch with ease and heard Pidgeot sigh from the sliding door. "Thanks. You made them start to argue again and now nothing will stop them," she told me.

I grinned. "You're welcome." I sat down beside her, warming my fur in the sunlight. "O.G.A.D. is a success so far. Red and White are starting to like each other, I think."

Pidgeot smirked. "I thought you didn't care about that. What changed your mind?"

"Well Red's… different around her. He's happy when they're together and he actually talks to her, too."

"Impressive." She chuckled. "Blue's starting to notice, too. He asked us the other day if something was going on between those two. If I knew better, I think he's jealous he's not getting all of the attention anymore."

I laughed. "He would be." We both glanced behind as Blue finally finished getting ready and grabbed his pokeballs.

"I'm glad you changed your mind, Pikachu. Tell Espeon I said hello." She ruffled her feathers as she gave me a challenging grin. "If we battle, we won't go easy on any of you."

My cheeks sparked. "You forget I can beat you and Gyarados any time!"

"You'd be surprised how much we've trained, Pikachu." Then she disappeared back into her pokeball.

"Let's go already!" I heard Blue say and Red quirked a brow as he watched Blue open the door, standing out in the hall with his arms dramatically motioning for the elevator. "Waiting on you now, come on."

Red glanced at me, jerked his head a little towards the door to tell me it was time to go and I jumped onto his shoulder with ease as we headed out.

We met up with Ethan as he entered the elevator on our way down. The younger trainer was pumped full of energy and Blue quickly reminded him that battles wouldn't start until Monday, though that didn't disappoint Ethan and he just smiled. I rolled my eyes at him but I couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. Monday was a whole weekend away, not even including the rest of today, which had just started! I pouted enough for the humans to notice and Ethan laughed, glad he wasn't alone and could share his impatience with someone.

We walked out the doors a few minutes later and at about halfway to the stadium, I heard a distant shout. I thought I recognized the voice so I looked around but blinked when I couldn't see anyone. When I heard it again, I turned my head behind us as the boys kept walking, and finally a few blocks away from us, I could see White running to catch up.

She seemed to pick up the pace when she finally saw us and a little ways behind her, I watched Black struggle to keep up. I tapped Red's cheek and he glanced at me then paused to turn around to see what I was pointing at.

He finally stopped and waited for her to catch up while Ethan and Blue did the same when they realized we weren't immediately behind them anymore. "You guys walk too fast," White panted when she finally caught up and stopped beside us. She tried to catch her breath, both of her hands on her sides as she winced slightly.

"You could eat more bananas if your sides hurt," Ethan piped up and grinned as she glared at him. "I mean, you'd have to eat a lot, but it would help!"

"That's a myth and I don't like bananas," she answered. She caught her breath shortly after and by the time Black finally caught up to us, we barely let him rest until we started to walk again.

"No fair," he said as he trailed behind. "You let her catch her breath!"

"You're the one who sucks at running, not me," White said and laughed as he made a rude gesture at her.

As we neared the stadium, I noticed Red was sticking to her side and I smiled as he kept stealing glances at her and even walked closest to the street so she wouldn't have to. I jumped off soon and walked behind them on all four of my paws to observe them while rolling my eyes. When had he become such a gentleman? He never would have done that for Leaf, despite how close the two were.

I watched White for a moment, then glanced between her and my trainer. I knew she wasn't short by any means, but walking next to my trainer made it seem like she was. I briefly wondered if Red was going to grow even taller than he already was. If I looked close enough now, it looked to me that Red would grow taller than Blue and I snickered at the thought. Blue had always been taller than Red by at least a few millimeters and bragged about it but now he hardly ever mentioned it when he realized Red was catching up.

We arrived at the already full stadium shortly after, grateful we avoided any unnecessary spectators since we were running a little late and we immediately went for the conference room we had been in before. It was already full; the other champions were all inside and I felt thankful the director wasn't there yet.

We sat down near the back again, then I glanced down a few rows as I spotted Brendan tapping his foot beside Dawn and when she said something to him that I couldn't hear, he sighed and leaned back in his seat. He seemed to be impatient and being stuck in a stuffy room was not part of his plan.

"I hope we get to battle each other," Blue suddenly said and grinned at Red when he lifted his head. "I'm ready to finally beat you!"

Red gave him a raised brow instead.

"Me first!" Ethan interrupted.

"Not this again," White mumbled, mostly to herself as the doors opened loudly.

We all turned around to see the director come in but he didn't descend the steps and apologized for his tardiness. "Everyone, follow me, we will find out in the arena who you will battle!" he called out and I let out a sigh. I hadn't expected this to be a public event again.

Red seemed to feel the same but he got up anyway. We were anxious to find out who we were going to battle first and if finding out meant going out in the field again, then we would comply.

Everyone stopped near the doors to the field and the director turned to face the group. "I'll be out there and when I say 'meet your champions,' all of you walk out together and then gather to the center of the field!" he shouted above the noise, looking excited as well. "I'm just as anxious as all of you are to see who battles who and who is first!"

Then he turned around and walked out onto the field, being handed a microphone on the way out. "Welcome to the final day of the Gym Leader Circuit!" his booming voice said over the intercoms, followed by massive cheering from the entire stadium. "I want to congratulate all of the trainers that have participated in this tournament and to those who managed to make it this far!" He paused and I could see him looking around at all of the spectators as the cheering began again. "Today we will see who triumphs over the rest!" He motioned towards a screen near him as it flashed the pictures of the gym leaders that were competing today. After a brief moment, the screen went dark and he said, "Next week, we get into the champion rounds, and let me tell you, those are all very exciting battles to witness! Wouldn't you all agree?"

"He's milking this too much," I heard White say and then snickered as Red nodded once.

"Why don't we all greet them one more time? Meet our champions!" He motioned dramatically towards the doors as they opened automatically.

I could barely tell who was screaming what, but I could hear all of the trainer's names coming from someone and I waved when I heard someone call my name as well. We stopped in the middle of the field just like we were told and the director walked in front of the group. "Please take a look at the screens and we will all find out who battles first!"

Red and I glanced up at the nearest screen, spotting his picture among the others when suddenly the pictures moved towards the middle of the screen. Then two pictures appeared on either side of the screen with a big orange "V.S." in the middle, and I pouted. We weren't the first ones to battle but I could see Nate grin suddenly and Dawn remained as calm as ever from beside Brendan.

"On Monday, our first battle will be between Dawn and Nate! Next up!" As the screen did the same animation, I pouted at the end of it immediately. Still wasn't us but someone we knew was up there. "Diantha versus Blue!"

Blue grinned fiercely beside us, glancing towards the woman close by as she smirked as well, the two ready to battle each other immediately.

"The final battle on Monday will be between…" The director waited for the pictures to show and then he shouted, "Black and Brendan!"

I whined instantly. I wanted to battle on the first day but Red didn't give anything away for others to know he was also disappointed. Not only would we not battle Blue, but we weren't even going to battle on the first day. y hoped that we wouldn't be battling on Friday—I couldn't wait that long!

The director moved on, not noticing any of our dilemmas. "On Wednesday, our first battle will be Steven and Lance!"

Lance's cape seemed to blow slightly in the wind as soon as his name was called and he shared a look with Steven, the two giving each other polite yet challenging nods.

I paid attention to the screen again and watched as two blacked-out images flipped to the screens again and I grinned the instant I saw Red's stoic face with a smiling blond girl on the other side.

"The second match: Red versus Serena!"

At least we finally knew who we were battling! Excitement coursed through me and I let out a couple of sparks as Red and Serena met each other's eyes. She looked nervous but she smiled at us anyhow.

Ethan, on the other hand, didn't even bother to hide his disappointment when he wasn't called to battle Blue or Red and pouted as White's face came up next with Rosa's as the last match of the day on Wednesday. "I have to wait until Friday? Aw, man!" he mumbled to us and I laughed at him as White and Rosa grinned at each other and even gave each other a fist-bump. I'm glad someone was happy about who they were battling and I was eager to watch their match if they were this excited.

I laughed harder when we found out he would be the final match of the first round on Friday against Calem, who also seemed upset he had to wait that long too, but when the two met each other's eyes, they gave off a challenging look that seemed to wipe away any displeasure.

After a few more minutes of loud cheering and the director talking, we were allowed to go back inside, and once the doors closed behind us. Red purposefully slowed down as the others went ahead, loud chatter and bickering among them although Brendan rushed down a hall towards the stairs. "Dad's the first battle today, gotta go!" he shouted to the rest of us. Then he looked at Red. "I'll be in the box and I'll save you a seat!" Then he waved before he disappeared up the stairs.

I glanced at Red curiously when he started to follow him. Had they been messaging each other without us knowing again? Maybe he hadn't been lying to us before when he had been messaging someone else, maybe that person really had been Brendan. It made me feel guilty that I thought he had been lying to us, but I quickly go over it when I grew excited.

I wanted to watch a battle! It would be fun, especially if the match was between strong trainers! I smiled at him and gave him a thumbs-up as we headed for the stairs.

"And remember we have to pick up Gramps tonight too!" Blue called after us and Red nodded as he turned around to leave.

"Have fun!" White shouted with a smile, waving as she dashed outside.

I felt excited again, my tail almost wagging as I smiled at him. "We get to see Professor Oak again?" I asked. The older man was incredible plus he always spoiled us with extra treats every time we saw him. Maybe he was bringing some with him! My mouth watered and Red seemed to know what I was thinking about when he rolled his eyes at me.

He took a few steps forward to catch up to Brendan but as we finished climbing the stairs and went for the hallway towards a door that led to the box overlooking the field, a large hand slapped itself onto Red's empty shoulder and we both flinched. I hissed the instant I saw Giovanni remove his hand, raising his hat slightly to see Red properly. "I need to speak with you," he told us. "Now." Then he turned and walked towards an empty hallway and entered the closest room to us.

I glanced at Red and shook my head rapidly. I didn't trust him and neither did Red, but he gritted his teeth together before he glanced towards the doors the others had gone through and then reluctantly followed him. "I'm pretty sure we meant to wait for a phone call, Red! Not go into a room alone with Giovanni!" I tried to tell him, language barriers be damned.

Any excitement and giddy joy I had felt just a few seconds earlier vanished immediately. I jumped off of Red's shoulder and made sure to stay right beside him as we opened the door to the room Giovanni had gone into. I could see Red's fingers inching towards the other's pokeballs as well, ready to fight if need be as we entered the room and closed the door behind us.

Red then watched Giovanni as he seemed to look around, almost nervously checking to make sure that we were all alone. I frowned at that. Nothing made him nervous, he was always a confident man and so sure of himself, he would laugh even if something went wrong with his carefully laid-out plans. Finally satisfied after checking the room, he turned to face us. "What do you know about the Shadow Triad?" he asked after a moment of tense silence.

Red's brows furrowed together. He didn't answer, just watching Giovanni irritably frown at him.

"I'm certain you've noticed the bisharp watching your every move, haven't you?"

My cheeks began to spark. How did he know that? How could he possibly know about Bisharp? Then I felt worried and as fast as the sparks had come, they faded away. Had we been watched this whole time and not even noticed? I briefly looked at Red, but he didn't remove his eyes from the man in front of us.

When he realized Red wouldn't speak, Giovanni let out a quiet noise of indignation. "They came back last night and after what happened the first time I came to you in the middle of the night… let's just say I don't want a repeat of that."

I watched him as he leaned against the wall farthest from us, cautious of any sudden movements from the ex-mafia leader.

"They again asked for Team Rocket to join them but then warned me to stay away from the arena on Monday. I'm not sure what they're up to, they would not divulge that information to me."

Red frowned at him. Why would they warn him to stay away on Monday? I gulped quietly as I heard Giovanni let out a long and tired sigh.

He got off the wall and started to head for the door, but stopped when he was right next to Red, though neither of them made a move to turn to the other. "Tell your new friends. I trust you can figure out what they plan and why they want Team Rocket's help so much." He then adjusted his hat to the way it was before and he stepped outside, letting the door close behind him.

Red let out a breath he'd been holding and I looked up at him in worry. He looked troubled then finally he nodded at me and I followed him out of the stadium in a rush, forgetting all about Brendan and meeting him in the viewing box. We needed to tell someone—anyone who knew about the Shadow Triad and tell them the threat they had given Giovanni.

We were outside in seconds and I didn't expect to see others still here. Rosa, Nate, Black and White were standing near Serena and Blue was scowling at Ethan as the younger trainer held Calem's arm, whose blue sleeve was pulled up a little so the other could investigate the strange black bracelet around his wrist closely. "Hey, Red! Look at this!" he called and dragged his poor captive with him, causing him to nearly trip over his own feet.

Serena was with them, laughing as she watched and nodded at White. Her own arm was out so the other four could look at the thick bracelet. "Yeah, a couple can. The only one that can that I know off the top of my head is Audino, though," she told her.

"That's so cool," Nate said as Serena lowered her arm.

I tilted my head. Only one can what? Ethan reached us shortly and we glanced at the bracelet when he shoved it into our faces and I noticed it had a strange and colorful stone embedded into it. "Red, guess what this is!" he shouted excitedly.

My trainer looked at it and confused about Ethan's excitement, he shook his head.

"This is a key stone," Calem said and pulled his arm free. He lowered his sleeve. "I'm Calem, by the way." He paused and rubbed the back of his head as he grew embarrassed. "You… probably knew that already, huh?" When Red said nothing, he smiled. "Do you know what a key stone is?"

Red and I both shook our heads.

Blue came to stand beside Calem and nodded towards the key stone. "I never actually saw a mega evolution in person when I was in Kalos," he explained. "A keystone is a special gem that allows a pokemon to evolve one more stage after their final one, that is if the pokemon has their own corresponding stone." He grinned at Red's widened eyes. "You need to leave your mountain more and learn these things."

"Only a few pokemon can mega evolve, though," Serena said as she came to stand beside Calem. "You can also only do it once per battle. You need to have a close bond with your pokemon and they need to have their own mega stone, too."

"It used to only be exclusive to Kalos until someone in Hoenn started to discover that there are stones there too," Blue added, looking at the rest of us. "Most likely, Brendan, Wallace and Steven will all be able to mega evolve their pokemon, too."

Rosa looked excited, then looked at Serena. "Do you think that maybe Emboar can mega evolve, too?" she asked hopefully.

"No, but maybe in the future someone will discover their mega stone," she replied.

Rosa shrugged. "Oh well, worth a shot."

"Can you show us a mega evolution?" Black asked hopefully.

She turned to him with a mischievous look. "I'm sure if you wait for Blue and Diantha to battle, you will see one."

I didn't want to wait that long either, but we had no other choice if they weren't willing to show off their mega evolution skills.

"Anyway, we're going to go have some lunch," Calem said and glanced at Ethan with a small smirk. "I look forward to our battle, Ethan. Bonne chance, mon ami." He turned around and walked away with Serena beside him.

I watched them disappear down the street and heard Nate ask, "What did he say? What did that mean?"

"He said, 'good luck, my friend,'" Blue answered and we all looked at him in shock. He understood that? He blinked in confusion and gave us an uneasy smile. "What?"

"How do you know that?" Ethan demanded.

He looked between Red and Ethan then sighed. "Why are you and Red surprised? I studied in Kalos for a few months! I didn't go there for a vacation! You two should remember that!" I looked at Red. It didn't seem like he remembered either and Blue sighed at us when he figured that out. "You two have the memory of a magikarp."

"You've been to Kalos? I've always wanted to go there," Rosa said.

As they started to discuss where they wanted to go, Red remained quiet and watched them all with his mouth set in a thin line. I scowled. He better not be thinking about not telling them what Giovanni said! He seemed to sense my glare and he looked at me with a little hesitance then sighed in defeat. I huffed with victory then pointed at them. "Better tell them before I make you get Espeon out and have her tell everyone!" I scolded him.

"Anyway, why are you even out here? I thought you wanted to watch the final matches today with Brendan. You two are like best buddies now," Blue accused and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Is someone jealous?" White teased, laughing as Blue's face turned slightly pink.

"No!"

Red ignored them briefly as he looked at me, seemingly understanding what I had tried to tell him and frowned a little before he turned back to the others again. "Giovanni gave me new information," he answered.

Blue turned to him right away and if one looked closely, he was worried. "Wait, when did he do that? Did he call you last night?" he asked.

Red shook his head and looked towards the doors to the stadium.

"Just now?"

"What did he say?" White questioned.

Red was quiet for a moment before he answered, "The Shadow Triad visited him again. Warned him to stay away from the stadium on Monday."

"Why?"

When he shook his head again, she shifted uneasily on her feet. "That's not a good sign."

"No, it isn't. Maybe… maybe we should tell the director," Rosa told us. I nodded in agreement. Someone else besides us should know about the potential danger they posed.

Black pulled out a pokeball. "Cofagrigus and I can find—what?" he asked as White glared at him. "Oh—oh, come on! Cofagrigus is good at pinpointing any ill will towards anyone! You know this!"

"But why Cofagrigus!" White shouted.

"Yeah, he's a little… creepy," Nate admitted and smiled as Black sighed.

"And what? You guys are going to use psychics? What's a psychic-type gonna do? They can't find dark-types and guess what a bisharp is?" He motioned towards the stadium, pokeball still in his hand. "But oh no, better not think about doing anything bad! Watch out, Reunclius is gonna read my mind!"

"Hey! Reunclius can do so much more than just read minds!" White retorted.

"Like what?" Black challenged and White narrowed her eyes at him.

"Hey, guys, stop arguing!" Rosa interjected and jumped between the two of them. Then she looked at White and Nate and said, "Cofagrigus is our best bet! Ghost-types are really good at finding any ill desires! And his cookies are amazing!"

"See!" Black shouted, looking straight at his twin as she huffed in objection. "What did I tell you?"

I looked at Red, who looked just as confused as Blue and Ethan, but we all remained quiet at the bickering Unovan champions.

I sighed after a while and stopped moving briefly when my ears twitched. I looked towards the street and looked around cautiously, thinking I'd heard something scraping across the ground. I frowned a little as I searched the direction the noise had come from but when Red picked me up, I felt grateful that we were retreating back into the stadium. I had no doubts in my mind that the noise had come from a steel-type and one that was very good at making a quick getaway.

I glanced at Red as he eyed me worriedly, noticing my distraction. I just turned my eyes away from the door and he followed my gaze. He paused at the door for a moment and looked at the others as they continued inside. He looked back at the closing doors then turned around, running away in a few seconds. The others didn't even notice us run out, too distracted on trying to find the director.

I scowled immediately when we exited but jumped off of his shoulder to run next to him. "I didn't mean we should chase the danger!" I scolded but watched as he looked around carefully, his eyes scanning everything around us. "This is what gets us into trouble!"

I knew his mind was made up, though. Nothing I could say would deter him towards the safety of the stadium even if he could understand me. He was the kind of person to go after danger and if we could prevent it, he would go in without hesitation to stop it. Sometimes I just wish he would at least get some help before running head-first without thinking.

I heard that scraping noise again and it seemed as though Red did as well and we both looked down the street across the parking lot towards the city. Past the many stalls and up the steep hill close to it, I could see Bisharp in full detail: piercing dark eyes stared straight at us and it seemed to smirk before it stood straight, turned around and started to flee into the crowds nearby.

Red wordlessly grabbed a pokeball and threw out Charizard. He jumped on his back and I followed just before Charizard took off, ignoring startled cries from nearby people and pokemon. I briefly looked back at the stadium as we flew quickly away and couldn't help but think about how angry the others would be when they learned what we were doing. I would be grateful for the lecture Lance would give Red for doing something stupid like this.

Pushing that thought aside, I looked back down at the ground and saw many pokemon with human as we flew past the stalls and over the hill, but none of them was the one we were searching for. I even saw another bisharp but it was clearly someone's pokemon and definitely not belonging to a ninja when it and the little girl it was with looked up in awe towards us.

I looked everywhere for the right bisharp then finally squinted towards the game stalls, seeing the flash of red and silver jumping over a startled human and escaped the crowds as it made a mad dash for the woods. "There!" I shouted and Charizard immediately chased after it.

It nimbly jumped over a bush as we flew quickly after it. Bisharp didn't seem to expect how fast Charizard flew and glanced back over its shoulder and then tried to pick up the pace, jumping into a tree to avoid physical contact with us. It was nimble, easily crossing tree branches and dodging various pokemon that stared after us as we chased it. It even did a front flip to dodge a Thunderbolt from yours truly and kept going strong.

When we got close enough again, Red nodded at me and I ran forward as fast as I could, my cheeks sparking. I jumped off of Charizard with a loud yell and a powerful Thunderbolt, intending on stopping Bisharp from getting too far away.

Bisharp let out a pained cry when it hit and fell to the ground, his body shaking and sparking as he pushed himself back up. I grinned as I landed on the ground with ease and heard Charizard land right behind me with a growl. "Hah! We caught you, sneaky little ninja dude!" I shouted at him. "Now you can tell us why you guys are watching us! So go on, spill!"

He looked back as Red slid off of Charizard's back and narrowed his own eyes. Bisharp glared for a bit before he smirked at us and managed to get up to his feet. I lost my smile and let sparks fly from my cheese again. Bisharp was paralyzed, what did he think he could do against two of us? "Just a little bit farther," he said and grinned as Charizard snarled.

"Oh, no you don't!" I snapped and started to run after him as he turned around and quickly started to run.

Charizard immediately followed us and used his wings to propel himself forward and lunge for Bisharp, his fist coated in fire with Fire Punch ready to strike. Bisharp tried to jump away but he went rigid as little sparks kept him immobile long enough for me to used Iron Tail and slam him back into the ground. Although it didn't do much damage, I knew that the impact on the ground had to hurt.

I sighed when it had fainted and then grinned at Charizard and I gave him a thumbs-up. "We make a good team, Charizard, don't we?" I asked but then I rolled my eyes as he snorted in response. Yeah, I knew we were going to easily win, too, but he could just lighten up at least a little bit. We finally caught our stalker, after all!

We both glanced at Red when he caught up and he frowned at it then looked around, likely looking for his trainer. I sniffed the air, trying to catch any abnormal scent but shook my head at Red when he glanced at me. He sighed and had turned to Charizard to get back onto his back and fly back, but we all froze when we heard someone laugh.

I looked around the area for the source, stiff and cautious. "You really are powerful, aren't you? Almost as strong as he is," the voice said.

Red frowned and I looked up, finally spotting the black-clad, white-haired human in the tree staring straight at us. There was another Bisharp beside him, quietly watching us and I gasped in shock. I had no idea that he was up there! How long had they been up there? Were they watching us the whole time?

My eyes widened as he took leisurely fell off of the tree and landed on the ground so fluidly, I knew he had done that kind of thing for years. Bisharp followed him and I wasn't as surprised as I should have been when he didn't make a sound upon landing. "You may know who we are by name only. We are the Shadow Triad, loyal followers of Lord Ghetsis," another voice said.

The fainted bisharp was recalled and I looked to our right, seeing another human putting the pokeball away. He had an absol beside him and where she had come from, I didn't know either. I tried to calm down when I noticed the third and final human appear behind us from the bushes with yet another bisharp and a banette floating beside him. We had been so intent on chasing down the one bisharp that we didn't even notice we were going right where they wanted us to be until it was too late.

I felt both relieved and nervous that we finally confirmed that Shadow Triad were the ones that had been stalking us. I didn't like the aura they gave out, it felt calculated and dangerous, completely different to the one I sensed from Giovanni. They weren't so overconfident like he was and they stayed a fair distance away so they would have time to be able to dodge attacks if needed. I knew we needed to keep a close watch on them; the way White and the others had talked about them made me nervous that they would be able to do whatever they wanted with ease.

Charizard let out a quiet snarl as the first Shadow member seemed to smirk from behind his mask. "You are quite the observant one to have seen Bisharp from so far away," he told us.

Red furrowed his brows, silent as he carefully started to reach behind him for another pokeball. I knew that we were strong but despite our strength, we were still outnumbered and we would need help.

"We have a message for you, the trainer who disbanded Team Rocket the first time," the second member said.

It was then when I realized why White had given us a warning not to go after them by ourselves and I wished we'd listened to them and stayed in the stadium to warn the director about the threat instead. When I heard Red suddenly let out a startled and pained cry, I felt my stomach drop and whirled around to see why.

I let out a hiss and let sparks fly out of my cheeks when I saw Bisharp directly behind my trainer. The bisharp behind us had finally noticed Red had been reaching for another pokeball and grabbed his wrist, twisted his arm cruelly then pinned it to his upper back. Charizard whipped his head behind as well, smoke rising from his nostrils when we saw the bisharp though Red did not struggle as the blade on his free arm was pressed up against Red's neck. As he kicked the back of his knees to force him to kneel onto the hard dirt, Bisharp told Charizard and I, "If you two know what is good for you, you will not attack."

Charizard hissed. "Let him go!" he snarled, though the Absol laughed at him.

"If either of you attack Bisharp, you harm your trainer. If you harm your trainer, you won't be able to participate in the tournament," she said, smiling triumphantly.

The first Shadow Triad member calmly walked to Red, knowing neither Charizard nor I could do a thing to stop him without getting Red hurt. I hissed again despite this. If I attacked the Bisharp that held Red, the blades on its stomach would cut into his arm even more than they already were or the one digging against his neck would go right through him. Seeing it pierce his skin even a little made sparks fly from my cheeks and smoke rise from Charizard's maw.

He squatted to his level, unfazed by my trainer's hateful glare. "Lord Ghetsis wishes you hadn't disbanded Team Rocket the first time," he said, "although he believes you to be useful, alongside other competitors."

Red winced when he tried to free his arm, the bisharp holding him simply dug the sharp end of his arm deeper against his neck, making a tiny trickle of blood fall. "What do you want?" he demanded.

"Lord Ghetsis knows the one called Giovanni has been relaying messages to you. We have thus forth determined he is a lost cause." He leaned closer so their faces were mere inches away from each other. "So this message is for you: stay out of our way. You do that, and we will leave you and those you love alone. Our ideals are for the greater good of the world, and we will not let anyone—champions or not—stop us this time."

Bisharp finally released Red, who nearly fell forward from the sudden release though he quickly got back to his feet, rubbing his shoulder. I tried not let relief fill me too fast; the Shadow Triad was still with us, surrounding us from going anywhere. However, their pokemon didn't seem to be that strong; they clearly got their way by using dirty and underhanded tricks to get what they wanted. Now was our chance to beat them!

I jumped in front of Red protectively while Charizard was instantly behind him, roaring at Bisharp as it jumped away to stand with its own trainer again. It seemed just as unfazed as the member did even. "You take those two, I'll take these two," I said as I hissed at Absol and the bisharp in front of us.

Charizard briefly nodded, keeping his eyes on Banette and the bisharp behind us. After a tense few seconds, Red finally directed us to use Flamethrower and Thunderbolt and we both let the attacks fly without hesitation. They were surprised how fast we attacked and I pouted when Absol protected herself with Protect. I jumped up to deflect a Metal Claw from the Bisharp with Iron Tail and jumped into the air, preparing another Thunderbolt.

"Sucker Punch, Absol!" Absol's trainer commanded and I yelped when the dark-type slammed her paws into me, stopping my attack as well. I winced as I landed on the ground, hearing the battle behind us still going on.

Then I looked to our right, my eyes widening when I saw the third member smirk and pointed his arm towards us. "Water Shuriken, Accelgor!"

The water-type move was unexpected and hit Charizard after he burned the bisharp beside Banette, sending him flying past me. "Charizard!" I cried, then hissed and let a Thunder fly towards the bug-type.

Briefly glancing back after cursing at the bug when it got back up, I saw that Bisharp faint and I could've sworn the sharp blades on its mid-section had melted a little. I quietly reminded myself never to piss off Charizard, shuddering slightly as the burned steel-type was recalled. Red reached back for another pokeball, seeing that yet another bisharp had been called out to help Absol and Accelgor. We were getting overwhelmed quickly, and in this fight, Snorlax would be the best help we could get—

"Shadow Ball, Banette!"

I spun around to try and deflect that attack as well before it hit me, but when I saw it fly towards Red instead, my heart skipped a beat. I cried out for him and while I was glad he tried to dodge the attack, he was too slow to avoid it completely. He rose both of his arms to block it as best he could from hitting his head, but it stunned him long enough for another Shadow Ball to hit his chest and flung him into the tree nearest to him like it was nothing.

I immediately abandoned the battle I was in, rushing over to him when I saw his head bounce off of the tree trunk, causing him stay on the ground. "Now isn't the time for a nap!" I shouted, shaking his shoulder to keep him up. It was a lost fight and he closed his eyes completely after a few moments, succumbing to unconsciousness. "Red, wake up!"

Charizard was in front of us two quickly and the Shadow Triad directly facing us now, though they made no move to attack again. "We will bring glory back to Team Plasma and Lord Ghetsis!" one of them said, but I couldn't tell which one.

The one in the middle hunched over a little, preparing to jump and the other two soon followed. "We will meet again," he said and as quick as a flash, they were gone, leaving nothing but the sounds of the forest behind.

Charizard roared, fanning his wings open to go after them but I grabbed his tail, causing him to look at me with fury. "What are you doing?! We need to go after them!" he snapped at me.

"We can't leave Red here like this!" I objected.

He let out a snarl and looked back at the trees the Shadow Triad had disappeared into and then finally quieted down, folding his wings against his back again.

I released a breath I'd been holding then looked back at Red in worry before trying to think of what to do. We were in the middle of the woods, far from the city and Charizard looked hurt as well and likely needed to rest before he could fly anywhere. Luckily it didn't seem like he'd injured anything major, but we didn't have any potions with us, we'd left everything back in our hotel room. We were stuck until either Red woke up or we could fly out of here.

I cursed under my breath and then tapped on the others pokeballs, knowing they would be able to help. Blastoise was beside Red in an instant, frowning at the cuts on his arm and gently ran his large paw over his arms. "What happened?" he demanded us.

I looked down at the ground as it became greener and gave Venusaur a grateful face as he used Grassy Terrain to help us slowly heal from our battle. "We were attacked by the Shadow Triad," I answered and looked back up at Blastoise as he carefully checked the back of Red's head to make sure there wasn't any injury there.

"Why didn't anyone bring us out to help then?" Espeon asked, scowling. "We could have helped!"

Charizard started to growl, causing them to look at him. "The cowards attacked him when he tried," he said.

Snorlax and Venusaur shared a look of concern. "They couldn't have been that strong," Snorlax said to us after a brief moment of silence.

I shook my head. "They weren't. We were outnumbered and they would have killed Red if we had done anything." I nodded towards Red and stared at his neck where the blade had pierced his skin. "They could still be here, they were waiting for us."

"So you all ran straight into a trap?" Venusaur asked and Charizard and I didn't answer, too guilty to acknowledge it.

We then looked straight at Red as he winced and opened his eyes then sat up slowly. He rubbed the back of his head and Blastoise helped him sit up a bit. Espeon's gem immediately began to glow and she asked, "Are you okay?"

Red nodded, then seemed to regret it immediately as he winced.

"You need to tell someone what happened, Red," Snorlax told him.

"I know," he muttered, glancing at the cuts on his arm.

Venusaur used a vine to help him up to his feet and once he was sure he would remain upright, he retracted said vine. "First, we have to clean up your arm before it gets infected," he told him.

I nodded in agreement. "Can you fly us back to the room, Charizard?" I asked, worried about how quiet he had gotten.

He nodded wordlessly and watched as Red recalled the others then lowered himself so he could get on to his back easily. I jumped up in front of our trainer as he took off.

We rode in uneasy silence all the way back to the hotel.