Swear warning in the second half of this chapter! This chapter has 2 optional themes, "Team Neo-Plasma's Theme: Remastered - Pokemon Black 2 & White 2" and "Team Neo Plasma Battle Theme - Pokemon BW2: Arrangement" The first song plays when you see (1), the second song plays when you see (2), and both stop when you see (0). Hope you enjoy and feel free to leave a friendly reveiw!
Team Proto Atomic Plasma!?
Little clouds of dust poof out from under his shoes as Milo walks into Floccesy Town, a sleepy little village containing only a few houses, an old bell town behind the Pokemon Center, a small park with only a couple of benches, and a couple of warehouses at the very northern fringe of the town with a small delivery truck parked inside one of them. The drastic difference in how this town developed makes it look rural in comparison to his hometown of Aspertia City. As he walks, his rival, Butch, catches up with him and runs past, shunting him aside in the process. Luckily, Milo had the foresight and heard him coming up quickly mere moments before and this little push merely throws his balance off slightly as he stumbles to the right a little. He's in a hurry for some reason, running straight into the Pokemon center, almost taking out the automatic doors in the process. He shakes his head back and forth slowly. Watching his "rival" scamper into the Pokemon center in such a hurry only further cements the fact that he's nothing but a wannabe winner who won't get anywhere until he drops his attitude and ego.
He takes a breath in and exhales slowly. He's firmly in adventure territory now after getting through Route 19 for the very first time. He slowly goes past the Pokemon center as he thinks about his next choice of action, considering that it would be a good idea to maybe heal Snivy before continuing on further ahead. He trusts his little grass-snake Pokemon to be able to handle any situation, but like he said to him before, he too shouldn't be afraid to rest and take a breather if need be. No use trying to go after something that he and his Pokemon can't physically reach if they're all weak and too tired to do so, and this finalizes his decision to turn towards the building and enter, only to have his rival end up right in his face once again. His arrogant blue eyes strike an annoyed glare at him alongside his frustrated tone. "Whaddaya think you're doing you moron? Get the hell out of my way!" he puts his right hand on his chest and firmly pushes him back to allow himself to leave. He stumbles back, trying to resist his push, but he has to concede and let him go, watching him run off towards the warehouses at the northern part of town and taking a right turn, disappearing from sight.
"Such a rude, annoying pest." he mumbles under his breath before turning his attention back to the Pokemon Center and stepping in front of the automatic doors so they can open and let him inside. The inside of the Pokemon Center is exactly the same as it was in Aspertia City, nothing about the layout is different which is something that every Pokemon Center in every region has opted to do. This is a major convenience, he won't have to wander around and waste time looking for Nurse Joy so she can heal his Pokemon and be on his way to where he must go next. He walks up to the counter and pulls out the Pokeball containing Snivy from his bag with his right hand, being careful not to let the bag open up too much lest Mew will be exposed to anyone close enough to see her. "Please heal my Pokemon. Thanks." He places it there in front of her and waits for her to heal them.
She didn't even get a chance to greet or offer him the healing service, something that she was completely caught off-guard by. "O-oh, umm… well, I guess that answers the question!" She grabs the Pokeball with her right hand, brings it over to the healing machine behind her, places it in the center, and activates it by pressing a green button. A misty green glow envelopes the Pokeball and a bunch of colored lights flash a few times on the screen above the machine for a few seconds before stopping and giving an all-clear to take the Pokeball out. She does exactly that and puts it back on the counter, allowing him to grab it and put it back in his bag, but he doesn't do that just yet as he still has Mew in there and doesn't want to accidentally reveal her to anyone, so he simply walks out of the Pokemon center with the Pokeball in his hand.
Upon getting outside, he quickly pans his eyes across everything in sight and pulls his bag forward onto his stomach, opens it up, and Mew immediately flies out of it. "Finally! I feel like it's been ages since I was able to come out of there."
He puts the ball in the bag, zips it up partially with his left hand, and pushes it back to its original position on his back. "Sorry, there's just too many people around that I don't trust."
She frowns. "Maybe you should give them all a chance." she realizes this includes the bad people and amends this statement. "I mean, give all the people who aren't bad a chance. Surely not everyone has bad intentions around here, right?"
He drops his head a little and the brim of his hat covers his eyes. "Easy now, Mew. There are plenty of bad people here and they can even be your closest neighbor. One moment they're nice and friendly, and suddenly, they have you held at knifepoint demanding you to hand over your cash or Pokemon to them."
Her eyes droop, worried about that kind of outlook. "Milo, you're making me worried that you think everyone is evil and wants to do bad things."
"Who knows…? People are bad not by choice, but because it's easier to be a jerk than it is to be nice." He grabs the brim of his hat with his right hand and pushes it up a little, allowing his brown eyes to be seen once again, looking right at her. "You do have a point though, not everyone is inherently bad. I just don't trust anyone, you know that better than anyone else."
She nods. "I know." She looks towards the direction that Butch ran off to. "Speaking of bad people… that boy has quite a temper and it worries me. I know you almost hit him, I heard everything that happened."
His eyes sharpen and his face scrunches up, disgusted to hear about him again and his tone makes this clear. "Forget about him. Sooner or later, he'll leave us alone once he realizes he's not getting his way. If he doesn't, I'll set him straight."
Her tone softens, not wanting to have a conflict happen between him and Butch. "Milo… please… don't hurt him. He might be annoying, but he doesn't deserve to be hurt."
He gives her a more serious look, a few creases on his face appearing as his tone also gets slightly deeper. "What if he decides to try and kidnap you by capturing you with a Pokeball or something similar? You'd be fine with him getting away with that?"
She looks away, tapping her paws together. The thought of being caught by him sounds mildly scary and she can't fathom to think what he might do to her. "N-no… that's different." She puffs her right cheek out a little and crosses her arms. "I wouldn't let him catch me no matter how much he tries…"
He chuckles and gently punches his left palm with his right fist, making a tiny "pap!" in the process. "Okay, so if he does try, then I'm allowed to beat his idiotic brain into the ground, right?"
It's a difficult situation, if this were to happen, having him physically attacking her kidnapper would stop them for sure, but she doesn't want to see that kind of violence and conflict since it can become bloody and cause someone to die if it goes too far without anyone stopping it. She looks in different directions away from him, trying to think if it'd be okay for him to do so, the promise she made him make coming to mind. She shakes her head 'no'. "You promised to not hurt anyone, that means you can't even if someone were to hurt or catch me."
He knows of this promise very well, there's no use trying to create reasons to use violence when it probably won't get him anywhere, let alone make her scared that something horrible could happen. His serious expression lightens up and his monotone voice returns. "I know about my promise. You don't have to worry about me not refraining from beating someone up, however, I want to make an exception to this if that's okay with you."
"An exception? What kind of exception?" she tilts her head to right a little, ever so slightly confused.
"If we encounter anyone being a jerk to anyone besides me and we can do something to stop it, I should be allowed to punch first and ask questions later, but only if we actually witness it happen."
She thinks about it for a moment. Bad people do deserve to be punished for their actions if caught in the act. "I guess I can allow that, but only one punch. I don't want you getting into fights with anyone! Nothing is solved with violence!"
He smirks a little, glad to compromise on this. He gets to hurt evil jerks, she doesn't have to worry about fistfights. "Deal."
Suddenly, from the roof of the Pokemon Center, someone calls out to him, male and old sounding. "HEY! YOU THERE!" which prompts him to look up to see who it is. He's actually ever so slightly surprised and impressed to see someone on the roof considering how high up it is, and the question of how they even got up there comes to mind. He watches as they run to the edge and leap off, having absolutely no fear of breaking their bones or hurting themselves and he lands on the ground 14 feet in front of him, not even visibly affected by the landing. They turn around and walk up to him. "Well, now, what do we have here?" His tone, while having tons of energy, is old and rustic sounding.
This person is a slightly older man with flaming red and orange long hair tied into a ponytail. He has grey eyes, thick dark brown eyebrows, has a necklace of Pokeballs around his neck, a tan cloak with rippled, white pants, and sandals on his feet. Milo recognizes who this man is and his sudden, unexpected appearance before him slightly surprises him. He smiles at him, a radiant smile befitting of an ex-champion. "I couldn't help but notice you coming out of there, and for some reason, I had this feeling that you're a little bit more than meets the eye." He gets a slight rise of the boy's right eyebrow, and he realizes that he's gone ahead and skipped his introductions. "Oh, excuse me… I'm sorry, I was just too excited to come down and talk." he holds his right hand out for him to shake, which he does, dropping both of their hands to their sides after shaking them for a few seconds. "Name's Alder, "I'm the Former Champion of this region. As I was saying, I couldn't help but notice you and-" He notices his Mew, something he didn't notice before. "Well, wouldja look at that. It's not every day you come across something like that."
Even though he's a former champion, Milo doesn't quite trust him, and grabs hold of her with both hands, pulling her up against his chest to prevent him from doing anything to her. This protective action doesn't surprise him one bit. "Hmm… I see…" He scans the two of them, starting at the top of his head and working his way down. "Mmhm! You have potential for sure. Don't mind me, I'm not going to touch your Pokemon or do anything to them, although, I think I can help you tap into the potential that you possess." His tone gets a little deeper, delving into a bit of his life story. "You see, I used to be a young Trainer like you. I traveled around the region looking for the most powerful, skilled people that I could battle in the pursuit of strength. It wasn't until my starter Pokemon unfortunately died of a horrible illness did I realize that there was more to being a Trainer than brute strength. I began to travel around aimlessly after their passing, in pursuit of something else that would make me realize these new ideals. I was eventually asked formally by the Elite Four to become the Champion." he looks away for a moment. "Some say that I was never a Champion to begin with, but if that's true, then why did the Elite Four consider asking me in-person to become exactly that?" he shrugs his shoulders, looking back at him. "Ah well… Champion or not, I came to learn the purpose of my existence is to be teaching youngsters to unleash their potential, that is, if they have any." He raises his left hand and points at him, which makes his right foot move backward, causing his body to turn and angle itself away from him. His tone returns to the old, rustic sound it had before. "Now, I've spoken for far too long. Why don't you tell me about who you are?" he drops his hand to his side.
He straightens himself out, not really wanting to tell a brand-new acquaintance about his upbringing especially since he doesn't want any pity or sympathy from it. In his eyes, he doesn't deserve anything, and all that matters to him is his goal. "You can call me "Milo". I'm on a quest to assist Professor Juniper with her research while also trying to reach the Elite Four in hopes of becoming the champion."
He puts both of his hands on his hips, throws his head back, and begins laughing loudly. His voice echoes throughout the whole town, and he laughs for a solid 10 seconds uninterrupted. He stops, leans in, and places his right hand on his shoulder. "Now that's quite an important quest for someone of your age to be undertaking. Your journey will be nothing short of difficult, and at times, you may think about giving up or going back home. Maybe it's because you can't beat a gym leader, perhaps your Pokemon don't want to listen to you, or your rival might finally manage to get the better of you, but the most important thing here is to keep going no matter what happens!" He takes his hand off his shoulder and turns his back to him. "I have just the thing to show you just what kind of potential you have that's standing right in front of you. My house is a short walk down this way." he points with his left hand down towards a specific house where the front yard resembles a miniature Pokemon Battlefield etched into the ground. "Come! I shall give you a little bit of training to push you beyond your current limits!"
He starts walking towards the direction of his house and while a little hesitant, follows him, keeping Mew held tightly in his grasp against his chest. So far, he's has been quite friendly with him and considering his intentions are to help him out with his journey, he feels that perhaps he can trust him a little bit. He surely isn't anything like that clown, Butch, and he clearly knows much more than he could ever hope to know in his lifetime, so he has all the right reasons to let his guard down a little. He follows him and he turns left, going through a little wooden fence that's lacking a door, arriving at his home. He stops right in front of the door and looks over his right shoulder. "Here we. I hope you're ready, because this should be enough to test your skills as a Trainer." His right hand grabs the knob to turn it and open the door, allowing both of them to go inside.
He closes the door behind him and immediately notices that his house is quite small and bare. It can barely even be called a house, looking much closer to an indoor shrine if anything. On the ground in front of him are a bunch of cushions to sit on with two wooden tables on either side of the room. A few feet away from this, two kids who look to be in Middle School who were talking to each other now focusing their attention on Alder's return. The boy comes up to him. "Sir, you've returned!" he notices Milo standing behind him. "Oh, you've brought another person! Are we going to train with them?"
The girl comes up, noticing him as well. "Hey, that person looks really tough. Do you think the training we'll do will help them?"
He chuckles. "Good eyes, Bella, but the training you two have taken would easily be snuffed by this fellow here. Instead, we're going to do something different. Consider this as a test to see if the fruits of your training are finally paying off." he looks over his right shoulder at him. "Milo, battle with them. These two are exceptionally skilled and should prove to be a decent challenge for you." he winks with his right eye and smiles wide. "Do your best, no matter if you win or lose!"
He looks at the two children, if they're as strong as he's been led to believe, then it'll prove to be good training for Snivy. He lets out an extremely small smile and a tiny spark shines off of his dark brown iris. "Alright, I'm game." he releases Mew from his grasp, allowing her to float up next to him while he reaches into his bag to pull out Snivy's Pokeball with his right hand. He looks up at them. "Who's first?"
The boy steps forward. "I'm Calem, and I'll be your opponent first. Your partner is Snivy, so they should have no difficulty against my Panpour." he puts up his left index finger in front of his face and wags it. "Don't be fooled though, because I'm not going to just let you win just because you have the advantage over it!"
He lets out a single chuckle, amused with his enthusiasm. "We'll see."
Alder claps his hands together once. "Alright! You two can walk up there to have your battle while we sit back and watch." He points to the slightly raised part of the floor where there's enough space for them to duke it out.
Milo and Calem both walk up and take their places on opposite sides of the room away from the others. Mew flies over to her partner and lands on his right shoulder to watch what happens, having yet to be put into battle due to the fear that her presence might cause issues, but nobody here is reacting to her, which is something he makes a mental note of. "Strange, nobody seems to realize I have an insanely rare mythical Pokemon by my side. Better yet, how did this boy know that I chose Snivy as my "Starter" Pokemon?" while it's quite strange, he has a battle at hand to take care of and can't be focusing on such trivial questions. He raises his right hand into the air and hurls Snivy's Pokeball towards the ground, taking initiative to start the battle. The ball bounces off the ground once and comes to a smooth stop, opening up and allowing the grass-snake Pokemon to appear, cloaked in a bright blue light for a few seconds before it shatters like glass to reveal what was hiding underneath.
"Sniiiiivy!" The little Pokemon yells happily at the top of its lungs, raring and eager to go for another round of battling. His Pokeball bounces off the ground and back into his Trainer's hand.
"Alright Panpour, let's show them what we've got!" Calem says as he tosses his Pokeball towards the ground, bouncing off the ground 5 times before stopping and opening up to reveal their Pokemon. Just like with Snivy, a bright blue light cloaks the Pokemon underneath for a few seconds before shattering to reveal it. This Pokemon stands on two legs with three toed feet, has oval eyes that are closed, large ears with light blue insides, and a small, black nose. The top of its head has a crest that resembles a water fountain spewing water out and looks damp. Its body has frilly blue markings on its neck and shoulders, two fingerless hands save for small thumbs, a long tail with a clover shaped tip, and on its face and the rest of its body that isn't blue, it's colored cream.
"Panpour!" Little water type, simian-looking Pokemon yells, also raring and ready to go. Just like how Snivy's Pokeball returned to its Trainer, the same goes for Panpour's ball.
"Okay! Use Leer on that Snivy!" he commands and Panpour's eyes take on a sharp, threatening look. A bright spark comes off of them and Snivy is slightly started by this, having a light blue aura surround him for a few seconds to indicate the drop in defense he's suffered.
"Do the same thing." Milo tells him, and with twice as much vigor put into his Leer, he casts an aggressive, dangerous gaze upon the water monkey. They actually take a few steps back, a bit fearful of the little grass snake Pokemon's powerful gaze as the same blue aura surrounds them and drops their defense as well. He smiles and snickers in response to this, knowing that he has the advantage even with a defense drop.
"Don't be afraid of them, Panpour! We can still win even if the odds are stacked against us! Run up to them and Scratch them to show that we mean business!" He commands them again, and Panpour, while a little intimidated, follows the command and runs at Snivy. Despite not having any fingers or claws, three long, white, sharp claws come out from the top of its hand and a quick swipe leaves a bright yellow flash, indicating a Critical Hit, and he slides across the floor a few feet back towards Milo, leaving three nasty, shallow scratch marks on his stomach.
"Sniiiiiii…!" he growls in a slightly frustrated tone, and without commands from his trainer, he takes a couple steps towards his opponent and sprouts two vines out from his shoulders, having suddenly learned a brand-new move in the form of "Vine Whip" in a matter of seconds. He raises both of his hands into the air and then whips them down, both vines following the same exact motion, slapping and smacking the Water-Type Pokemon painfully in the face and stomach. A loud crack accompanies the hits and Panpour yelps a little from the pain, being super effective and causing tons of damage.
"Ah! Panpour!" His left hand reaches out to them despite not being close enough to touch. He looks at Milo, who has a completely unimpressed and bored expression. "You're really good at this, Mister… but we're not done!"
A gleam comes off his eyes. "Yes you are. I suggest going back to school." The moment he finishes saying this, another whip crack is heard, and the boy's Panpour is sent flying a few feet into the air, landing on the ground a few inches away from the boy's shoes. His mouth drops open slightly, shocked by the fact that without even issuing a command to him, Snivy had used Vine Whip again all on its own to effectively end the battle. He's speechless, unable to process both the statement that Milo made and the fact that his Pokemon had been defeated with insane speed.
Snivy crosses his arms and looks away, almost as if it was saying "Hmph!" like it wasn't even a challenge to it at all. After a few seconds, he walks over to Milo and looks at him, waiting for his approval on his performance. He crouches down and gives him his left fist, which he looks at in a confused manner for a few seconds before curling their little grass hand into a makeshift fist to give him a fist bump with. "Not bad, you even learned a new move as well. Let's keep this momentum going."
He nods his head in agreement. "Sniii-snivy!"
Alder, on the other hand, was satisfied by this display. "Wah hah! Not bad, Milo! I had all the belief that you'd be able to beat little old Calem here. However, your next opponent, Bella, is ready to go."
Calem calls his Panpour back into its Pokeball. "You did really good, but it looks like we have a long road to go before we're able to beat someone like that. We'll get there, don't you worry!" he puts the Pokeball into his pocket and walks down to stand next to Alder, but as he does, he takes on a somewhat sad expression.
He notices this. "Hey, you okay? Don't take it too harshly, remember what I said about Pokemon battles?"
He nods. "I do, but, what that guy said… it was…"
"Don't worry, I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it."
Bella takes the center stage, walking up the steps and taking a stand where Calem was mere moments ago. "I will be your second opponent. Do not expect me to take your skills lightly as Calem wrongfully did."
Snivy turns around, ready to battle once more, but right before she sends her Pokemon out, Alder interrupts them. "Wait!" All 3 of them look at him, curious to know why he's suddenly stopped. His right hand is on his chin and his eyes are closed, thinking for a few moments. His tone adds to his pensive actions. "I was just thinking…" He takes his hand off his chin, opens his eyes, and looks right at Milo. "Snivy's trust in you is already great enough to the point that it believes it can handle battles on its own if need be. It also appears to be quite strong as well, so, what if you used your other Pokemon?"
His eyes widen slightly. "My other Pokemon?" He can't be talking about anyone else besides Mew, but he's never sent her out into a battle, let alone ever seen her battle other Pokemon on her own accord. He'd be safer continuing to battle with Snivy, and at a later time, see if she'd be willing to take part in battles herself after doing some light training to get her into battling shape. "I… I don't know about that."
"Aww c'mon, I'm sure everything will be fine. No matter what happens, win or lose, the experience is what makes it important in the end. Trust me, you may be surprised by what happens." he gives him a little thumbs up. "If anything happens to them, I'll make sure they're back in tip-top shape in no time."
He looks down at the ground for a few moments before letting out a small sigh, not having much of a choice. If he is going to get her used to battles, now's the time to get her in there to experience it for herself. He looks over to his partner who sits on his shoulder. "I know you aren't one for these types of things, but, just this once, will you partake in a battle?"
She puts her right paw up to her lips and thinks about it for a few moments. "Hmm, I guess one battle couldn't hurt. If I do get hurt, do you promise to take care of me?"
He nods. "Always."
She jumps off his shoulder and slowly floats down towards the ground, landing next to Snivy. "A-alright… my first battle with Milo… I hope we can win…"
Snivy looks at her slyly. "Sni-snivy! Snniiiiiiiii…" and whatever it was that he said causes her to blush lightly.
"Y-yeah, thanks… but I'm still not anything like that!" She averts her gaze towards the ground, his comment not helping her to relax and compose herself for something she never thought she'd end up participating in.
Milo pulls out Snivy's Pokeball and returns him to it, a red light shooting out of the button and encapsulating his body for a second before turning him into glowing red matter and sucking him inside to be kept until next time. He puts the ball back in his bag and notices that Mew is shaking slightly, which worries him greatly even if he knows she has significantly more power than any Pokemon some school kid can send out. In her current condition, she might actually be making herself unknowingly weaker by allowing such anxiety to take partial control of her, so He crouches down next to her and does his best to try and relieve her of this. "Mew, listen to me carefully, okay?"
"O-okay…"
"Take a deep breath in, hold it for a few seconds, and then exhale." She takes his advice and takes as deep of a breath as she physically can, holds it for roughly 11 seconds, and then slowly releases it, calming her down quite a bit, stopping her body from shaking and making her senses sharpen and improve vastly. Alder is slightly surprised by this, not expecting him to have been able to make his Pokemon go from leg shaking anxious to calm and relaxed in a matter of mere seconds. He wasn't expecting him to be that observant and notice her anxious demeanor before the battle began, but he did and took care of it.
Bella, who had been waiting for a while, decides to speak up. "Can we start now, mister?"
He stands up off the ground. "Go ahead."
She smiles and pulls her Pokeball out from her School jacket using her left hand. "Finally! Okay, Pansear, let's win this thing!" She throws the Pokeball towards the ground and it bounces 4 times before coming to a rolling stop and opening up to allow the Pokemon to come out. The bright blue glow shatters after a few seconds and what it reveals is a Pokemon highly similar in appearance to Panpour, only this one's eyes are open to show that it has a black pupil. The crest on its head is in the shape of a flame and faintly glows as if a flame was ignited inside of it. It has orange coloring in its ears, its face, arms and shoulders are cream colored, while the rest of its body is colored red. Finally, it has an arrowhead-shaped tip on its tail.
"Pansear!" it says, ready to battle with all its got, but if it knew what was coming, it would probably have second thoughts about going toe-to-toe with Mew as its Pokeball bounces back to its Trainer.
"Since Calem took the first attack in the last battle, I'll be courteous and allow you the first attack, mister." She says. While this is a nice, polite gesture, it only solidifies what's about to happen to her Pokemon.
He knows this is a foolish decision and gives her the opportunity to take it back. "Are you sure you want me to attack first? I highly suggest you to be the one to attack first." She shakes her head, "no", and he shrugs his shoulders. "Oh well." he pulls his Super Pokedex out of his left jacket pocket with his left hand and it immediately scans Mew, showing him what moves she knows. "Huh, she's got three moves like Snivy, but she's only level 5…" he closes it and puts it back. "Okay Mew, try using Confusion!"
"I'll try!" She gazes at her Pansear opponent, and her crystal, baby blue eyes suddenly start glowing bright pink, her entire body quickly becoming surrounded with a thin, glowing, pink outline. She lifts both of her paws up into the air over her head and a small space in front of her bends and warps due to her psychic energy, and she throws both of her paws out in front of her as far as she can stretch them out. An invisible force rapidly flies through the air straight into Pansear's body and upon making contact with them, a small, bright blast of pink aura comes forth and tosses them into the air, sending them flying at a high speed past Bella and into the wall behind where she's standing. The attack was strong enough to completely knock out the opponent in one hit.
Pansear falls off the wall and onto the ground, swirls in its eyes, not moving at all and completely fainted. Bella's eyes are wide, and her pupils are the size of dots, shocked and stunned at what she witnessed happen to her Pokemon. Calem and Alder are equally shocked as well, neither of them was expecting something like that to happen. Mew, on the other hand, is starting to freak out about what she did. "Oh no! Did I overdo it!? I didn't seriously injure them, right? I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt them like that. I-" She stops talking as Milo crouches down and gently picks her up off the floor to hold and calm down.
"Shhh… You didn't hurt them too bad, your attack was simply too strong for them to handle and they fainted to it. You just won your first battle, you know that?" he says while petting her gently to try and make her relax.
"I-I did? I-I did! I… I actually did it!' Her eyes start shimmering. "Wow! That wasn't too bad after all." She suddenly crashes, her head slumping into his chest. The sudden adrenaline rush from her first battle was a little too much for her to handle, riling her up so much that her body couldn't take it and she fainted.
He can't help but smile slightly, she always was one to hype herself up over these things. Meanwhile, Bella picked up her Pansear while Milo was doing his thing with Mew. Her Pokemon, while it fainted, comes to and though not in any shape to battle, it quickly becomes alert and looks up at her. "There, there… I know you didn't even get to use any of your moves, but you're still really good no matter what."
Alder starts clapping his hands repeatedly. "Now that was just beautiful." he stops and walks up the steps to go over to Milo. "I thought the trust between you and Snivy was strong, but right before your Pokemon used its move, I felt this incredibly powerful sensation in the air surrounding you two. I've never felt anything like it before, and I've battled at least a hundred trainers whose bonds with their Pokemon were impeccable and inseparable. You've got something truly special with this little pink Pokemon, and it can only get stronger from here on out." He starts scratching his chin lightly with his right hand. "Who knows… with a bond like that, you might have a solid chance of completing that quest."
Calem comes up to him as well. "Mister, you're above and beyond what me or Bella have managed to achieve. Please, keep striving to improve the bonds between you and your Pokemon."
Bella chimes in too. "That's right. All Pokemon grow stronger with love, care, and compassion. Anyone who raises their Pokemon in any other way will never be able to realize their true potential and forever be left behind those that do."
Suddenly, with no warning, the front door blasts open and in the doorway blocking the sunlight is Butch. Milo immediately responds to his entrance by hiding Mew under part of his jacket to prevent him from seeing her, and luckily, he didn't notice this as he slowly walks towards Alder, a confident, tough-guy stride in his steps. "I finally found you. I knew there was someone super strong somewhere around here, I heard rumors about it all the time back when I was in school, and now I can finally say those rumors are true!"
He's not too happy about his house being barged into. "And who might you be? I don't know if we've met before."
He strikes a very proud stance. "Me? I shouldn't need any introduction if you knew who I was. I am the one and only Butch! A trainer of rare and difficult to obtain Pokemon! I will defeat anyone who stands in my way, gather all the gym badges, and become the Unova Region's Champion!" he notices Milo is in this little group's company. "Oh? I see Milo has been roped into something far beyond his capabilities as a mere trainer of common Pokemon. You still owe me that rematch, I've gotten significantly stronger since we last met." he pulls out his Zorua's Pokeball from the belt around his waist, holding it in his right hand. "Let's go. You and me, right here, right now! I'll make you wish you never talked to me again after all those years!"
Alder puts his hand up to hold him right there and stop him. "Now you hold it here, son. I can tell you're quite the feisty one, but your match with him will come later." He looks over his left shoulder at Milo. "Always remember what you learned here today and strive to further deepen it. The next time we meet, I expect great things from you, that is, if we ever meet again."
He understands clearly and considering how this seems to be the last thing for him to say to him as a sendoff of sorts, he takes it as his cue to leave now while he can. He quickly walks around everyone and gets out of there, having managed to keep Mew a secret from Butch once again, closing the door behind him as he walks out into the bright sunlight once more. His eyes forcibly close themselves a little, having adjusted to the darker lighting within Alder's house, causing them to sting in response to how bright it is outside. It only lasts for a few annoying moments, and he's able to slowly open them back up as they quickly re-adjust to the environment. Now firmly outside, he parts his jacket a bit and checks on Mew, who had woken up at some point during that little pow-wow. She immediately flies out into the sunlight, stretching her body out for a few seconds and acting as if she was never in a battle to begin with.
Knowing that she's okay, he's ready to continue on his quest. There isn't much else in this town that's worth his time, and to his left, the entrance to Route 20 lays in wait for him to head towards to continue his journey. He quickly adjusts his jacket, straightening it out and dusting it off a couple of times, getting ready to continue when he starts hearing the sound of a man's voice coming from up ahead. He's yelling at the top of his lungs in a panicked manner, and he comes into view running towards the town from further down the route. He notices Milo and stops yelling, running for him as fast as he can, and when he finally gets to him, he's nearly out of breath. While he's not happy to have strangers approaching him, he can tell that something is wrong and perhaps he should intervene if he can.
"Gahh…. I… I don't know what I'm gonna do!" he says with desperation in his voice, trying to catch his breath but it's not coming to him.
"What happened? Is something wrong?" he says, ready to help at any moment's notice.
"Yes… it's… it's these men… they're terrorizing my farm… My Mareep, they provide Wool and other commodities to the region… They…. They're…"
He doesn't let him finish, both of his hands tighten into fists and the first thing that comes to mind is those criminals he's been hearing about on the news online. His tone deepens and carries aggression in it. "Where's your farm!? I'll stop them!"
He points down towards the route. "It's about 300 yards from the edge of town…"
He wastes absolutely no time and takes off, his feet planting themselves into the dirt to push him into Route 20 and towards the farm. In his chest, a burning anger has risen and instead of words, he's going to make sure he lays someone down in a body bag if need be. Nobody will get away with terrorizing an innocent person, let alone terrorizing Pokemon while they're at it. Mew follows him close by, worried that something terrible is about to happen that could get them both hurt and in trouble. "Milo! What are we going to do when we get there!?"
He doesn't say anything, grabs the brim of his hat with his left hand and yanks it down over his eyes, almost completely covering his face and casting a dark shadow over it. In almost no time flat, he's crossed 300 yards and skids to a stop at the entrance to Floccesy Ranch, an expansive, humble farm that, as explained before by the farmer who was seeking his help, provides goods and commodities to the rest of Unova. A place like this has no right to be targeted by the scum of the earth, and as the dirt cloud that was kicked up by his sudden, sliding stop settles down, he can hear the screams of both men and a single woman not far from where he's standing, causing his already tight fists to become even tighter, making the whites of his knuckles visible.
He walks through the entrance of the farm and follows the sound of these screams, getting louder and louder with every step he takes. The trees on both sides of this path give way and about 70 feet from where he is, 4 men in strange black outfits are assaulting a poor woman, trying to steal something from her hands. He watches as he pries it from her and the moment she falls to the floor, the one who got what he was looking for steps back and the other 3 start piling up on her and kicking her. Mew sees this, gasps, and puts both of her paws up over her mouth, her eyes going wide and pupils shrinking in response.
His lips part ways and he growls as his teeth grind against each other as he bears witness to criminals at their worst in-action. Not wanting to be witness to this for another second, he lunges for the one who stole whatever it was from the woman, his back completely turned on him, completely unaware of his fast-approaching presence. He runs right up to him and tackles him in the back with his right shoulder, making him yelp in pain as he's shoved onto the ground. He immediately follows this up by grabbing the delinquent by his neck with his right hand, holding him up in front of him so he can squarely smash his fist deep into his left cheek, the hit making him spit in his face while nearly dislocating his jaw, which makes him fall over once again.
He wipes the spit droplets off with the back of his left hand and notices the object they stole had been dropped and he grabs it before they can get up, stashing it away quickly in the right pocket on his jacket. His rash, unruly actions catch the attention of the other members of this little gang, because they stop attacking the lady and focus on him. (1) The one he tackled and punched stands up, rubbing his cheek with his left hand, face beat read and fuming about what happened. He growls, which eventually turns into a full-on scream as he furiously walks over to and gets right in his face, a few seconds away from wanting to kill the boy who had hurt him. "YOU! DO YOU HAVE A DEATHWISH!? BECAUSE I CAN EASILY FULFILL THAT RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!"
"A coward like you couldn't scratch me if they even wanted to." He pushes the criminal back as hard as he can with only his right hand, which makes him stumble and almost fall a third time if it wasn't for the fact his buddies were standing behind him to catch him. They stop him from falling, help him regain his balance, and he comes back at him, pushing him back with what he thinks is twice the force he was pushed with. He nearly loses his balance from this but manages to keep it together. "Fucking pathetic, why don't you go terrorize someone of your own size?"
"Keep talking and I'll make that trap of yours shut itself permanently! You just screwed with your worst nightmare, LITTLE BOY! Our goals are far beyond your understanding, and if anyone's stupid enough to intervene like you are, they'll end up lying on the ground like that woman over there!" he motions with his head towards the woman on the ground, who was beaten so bad that she's stopped moving and making sounds.
"Try Me." He invites in a low, deep, monotone voice without thinking. The veins in his hands are bulging out slightly from under his skin and underneath the brim of his hat, his expression is one that would strike fear into the hearts of even the toughest people in the region. In the background hidden in the leaves of the nearby trees, Mew watches on, terrified that a full-blown fistfight is about to break out and even more terrified at the thought of them defeating her friend, because not only would they probably steal everything he has, but also leave him to essentially die if they seriously injure him. She wants to do something, make a distraction or use her psychic powers to assist him in some way, but she's too scared to do anything and can only watch in fearful silence in the hopes that he won't lose.
His tone alone is enough to make all of them lurch back away from him, afraid that he might completely thrash all of them, but the one that got his jaw adjusted comes up with a solution. "Alright then, hotshot. You wanna fight Team Proto Atomic Plasma? You've got it. If you lose, don't feel bad. Your Pokemon will be in a much better place with us than if they're stuck with you controlling them." (0)
"Getting to kick you in the nuts is the only way that'll make any Pokemon happy with someone like you." He rips Snivy's Pokeball out of his bag using his right hand, holding it close to his chest once it's out. His opponent tears his Pokeball off of the belt attached to his waist and stares right at the brim of his hat, just itching and ready to start this battle. They both stand directly in front of each other, and without either side blinking their eyes, they both toss their Pokeballs straight up in the air above their heads, getting back as fast as they can to make space for their Pokemon to fight in. The criminal's Pokeball hits the ground first, opening up and casting a bright blue ray of energy out on the ground, materializing the Pokemon inside and after a few seconds, it shatters and reveals what it is as the Pokeball bounces up and back to his hand. This Pokemon resembles a feline with mostly purple fur all over its body and stands on 4 legs. There are fur tufts on its ears and cheeks, and on its head, there are violet markings above its green colored eyes. It has a tiny nose attached to its cream-colored muzzle, and on various spots on its body, there are cream markings, mainly above its eyes, on its neck, shoulders, front arms, and hind paws. Finally, its tail is similar in appearance to a scythe.
(2) "Purrrrloin!" They meow, sitting on their hind legs in wait for their opponent to show up, and mere moments later, their Pokeball lands on the ground to open up and allow them to enter the fray.
"Sniiiiiivvvvy!" He's almost just as angry and furious with these criminals as his Trainer is, which manifests itself in a bright, red, glowing aura of power surrounding him for a few seconds, increasing the strength of his attack.
The criminal wastes absolutely no time, wanting to get rid of the "little boy" in front of him so he and his gang can finish what they started. "Hit that stupid grass Pokemon with a Fake-Out, and then finish them off with Scratch! Do it now!" He orders angrily, and surprisingly, they obey their puppet master's influence. His Purrloin stands up off its hind legs and runs at Snivy on all fours, closing the rather small distance between the two of them quickly, jumping up into the air right before coming into contact with them.
"Brace yourself for the shockwave, counter with Vine Whip…!" He utters angrily through clenched teeth. He's seen the Fake-Out into another move combo before and it won't work on him. Snivy tightens his entire body up and as Purrloin falls down towards it, they clap their front paws together right in front of him, making a small shockwave that would normally make a Pokemon flinch and lower their defenses momentarily, but thanks to his instruction, the pressure created from the wave simply blows the leaf on his tail back a little as it passes over him, nullifying the part of the attack that would make him flinch. With an opportunity presenting itself and before their opponent can use their combo move, a small vine sprouts out from his right shoulder and flicks itself across the feline Pokemon's face, leaving a nasty red mark from the impact. Unlike his battle with Calem, the criminal's Purrloin immediately retreats away to avoid getting attacked another time with the vine that currently hangs over Snivy's head. "Smart little bastard…" Milo mutters under his breath, furiously annoyed by this as he could've quickly ended this if they just stayed right there.
Snivy's entire body seethes and shakes angrily, ready to take down his opponent, noticing that while they ran away, they had a slight limp in their steps. "Sniiiii! IVVVYYYY!" He stomps his right foot on the ground and makes a tiny cloud of dust float into the air, not kidding around with this battle and wanting it to end so these criminals can't hurt anyone anymore.
In the back, Mew continues to watch the entire quarrel unfolds right before her eyes. Her right paw is in front of her nose and her tail rapidly swings back and forth anxiously. "C'mon Milo… win this thing!" As much as she didn't want to see something like this happen, she roots for his victory so that everything can go back to being happy and fun like it was before.
The criminal shakes his right fist. "Damn you! There's no way some kid is stronger than me!" there's desperation and disbelief in his voice over what had happened.
"Sucks to be you, now get outta my fucking sight. Finish this off!" He points his left index finger at the Purrloin and Snivy doesn't hesitate one bit to use the move, "Tackle", charging headfirst right into his opponent and knocking them up into the air, defeated and unable to battle. They fall to the ground in front of the loser, completely fainted and unmoving.
(0) "N-No way! That did NOT just happen!" His mouth drops to the floor. A hardened "criminal", losing to a mere kid of all things. The ultimate embarrassment, but worse, he has no more Pokemon that can fight.
Snivy rubs its hands together in a taunting manner, clearly saying that it's wiped its hands clean of this situation and is ready to take on anyone else foolish enough to challenge him. Unfortunately for this little Proto Atomic Plasma gang, they just lost the only thing they can use to make sure nobody stops them from completing their "Mission". The other three members standing behind the one whose gums are swelling up black and blue take a couple of steps back, realizing that they've got no choice but to physically fight Milo or run away. The criminal returns his Pokemon to his Pokeball and grits his teeth before speaking. "You little son of a bitch. You may not be Proto Atomic Plasma's public enemy number 1, but this little stunt you just pulled?" he starts laughing, but this irritates his jaw and gums, making him grasp it with his left hand, groaning in pain for a few seconds before continuing. "I would suggest always looking over your shoulder from now on. You never know who or what may be watching you from the shadows, waiting to strike when you least expect it." He stares at him for a moment, before he allows a twisted smile to slowly overcome his face. "As for this little mission, we've still won in the end. This was all just a distraction, for we knew someone would've been brought back by that washed up geezer. Deal with it, kid."
Suddenly, from the background, a 5th member comes running from one of the barns, carrying a net on his back filled with a whole bunch of Mareep that he managed to steal. While they might've lost the battle against Milo, they've won in the end as their theft had been successful. The one that got punched goes up to him and pushes him back one last time before he and the rest of his gang take off running, making their escape with their loot. Milo keeps his balance and quickly returns Snivy to his Pokeball, puts it back in his bag, and takes off after them, tailing them a bit too far behind to be able to stop them. He knows Mew is somewhere nearby and he yells out to her. "Stop them! Use your psychic abilities and trap them in place!" He doesn't know if she heard him, he's too focused on catching up to them in the hopes he can release the Mareep from their grim fate.
Mew, who had been watching everything from afar this whole time, turned herself invisible to avoid being seen by those evil people as they ran towards her and clearly heard what her friend had to say. She quickly flies into the air, her eyes fixated on the 5 Proto Plasma members who are running away from the horrid crimes they've just committed, not letting them out of her sight. She flies past them and using her psychic abilities, she creates a wall of psychic energy that they won't be able to get past, and all 5 of them run into it and fall on the ground, stopped dead in their tracks. The one carrying the net full of Mareep accidentally drops them and this allows all of them to run off towards Milo, who had just come upon them all dazed and confused on what they ran into. His right foot plants itself in front of his body, kicking up a cloud of dirt that floats over his shoe and slowly dissipates, rolling up the sleeves of his jacket as he prepares to beat all of them up. Mew notices this and makes the barrier disappear, allowing them to run away if need be, and he knows this well, and instead, allows them to run away since they've all been made an embarrassment of. "Run back to your little commander. If I see any of you again, I'll make sure that each of you leaves in a body bag."
All of them stand up in response to hearing this and run off down the route until disappearing from sight. He rolls his sleeves back down and exhales deeply. At his feet, 10 Mareep have huddled down next to him, scared out of their minds over what just happened. He looks down at all of them, none of them appear to be harmed or injured in any form, which is surprising considering those scumbags were willing to beat him up like they did to that poor woman because they were in their way. He slowly moves his feet and the Mareep disperse around him, and he starts walking back to the farm, a line of 10 bouncing, yellow wooled, docile Mareep following him on the way back. A few minutes later, he's back there and not only did the woman from before stand up with minor injuries, the farmer who had asked for his help had returned. When they see the boy walking towards them with their Pokemon, their faces beam with happiness and relief. The farmer goes up to him. "My god, I thought they managed to get away with them! You're a lifesaver, kiddo."
He's not happy that he didn't have any reliable source to protect himself and his Pokemon, and he isn't afraid to let him know. "You should consider yourself lucky. If nobody came to help, your Pokemon would've been gone forever. I suggest learning how to fight or getting a Pokemon of your own to protect the farm." he turns away a little. "Quite careless if you ask me to not have one already." he reaches into his right jacket pocket and pulls out the object that was stolen from before, holding it out to him. "I believe this belongs to you."
He's a little taken back by the blunt, cold suggestion. "O-Oh, y-yes... thank you so much."
He turns away and starts walking towards the exit of the farm. A bit of fatigue washes over him from all the events that just happened, and he has yet to even come close to mainland Unova. If this is what he's going to be dealing with on his journey, there's tons more violence and bloodshed to be found with Team Proto Atomic Plasma. As he walks onto Route 20, the name echoes in his mind. It can't be the same Team Plasma from years ago, Ghetsis was reportedly arrested and put under 24/7 surveillance at the International Police Headquarters where all the criminals are locked up. His face tightens up, thinking about who exactly would've revived such a team under a completely new name. "So much for a peaceful journey from point A to point B."
Team Plamsa has returned, only this time, they're even WORSE than before! Seeya in the next chapter!
