In our last episode, we got to meet the future challengers for the Island of Challenge. We got to witness their spectacular battles against Professor Lennox. Soon, they'll be heading to the Insulae Region. And they'll get to witness what's in store for them.
No one's POV
"So, I am going to be having a team that assists me in the Insulae Region? Not just for recording and stuff?" asked Seth.
"Yes, they're three people in a team plus a Rotom. This does not include you," said the assistant he was following.
"Another question, how come Professor Lennox isn't here?"
"He's attending to another star."
"Forgot, there's more than one."
"Um hm. Anyways, here's the room. They'll be introducing themselves."
The assistant opened the door and left. Seth walked into the room and saw three people and one Rotom drone.
There was a young man who looked about Seth's age. He wore a brown shirt, brown suit and brown pants. He had a pair of glasses that had bright black eyes behind them. His hair was also brown.
"Wait, you look a lot like the Professor."
"Yeah, I'm his son. My name is Hick- wait no, my name is Connor Lennox. My dad's name is Hickory Lennox."
"I thought Lennox was his first name."
Connor shrugged. "Different people think different things."
"My name is Theodore Hill, call me Theo. I'm your backpacker." The speaker's voice sounded rough but friendly. The speaker was a tall and burly man with jeans and a plain white shirt. He had a shaggy beard and even shaggier blonde hair. But his blue eyes were friendly and bright.
"What does that mean?"
"I'm going to be carrying our supplies in a backpack. I can also cook."
"Everything? That seems like a lot."
Theo laughed. "It's fine. I climbed up the side of Mt. Coronet on a thousand poké dare. With a bag that had forty pounds of lead."
"Wow. I'm Seth Grey. Former title holder of the Voyanna City tournament winner."
"Impressive, who took your title?"
"Some dude named Aaron Wesker. My only consolation was when someone stole the title from him."
Theo nodded as the last person came up. He was wearing blue pants, a red shirt, and a red jacket that had the Pokéstar logo on the back. He also wore a hat with the same logo as well.
"I'm Darreth Brown. I'm going to be your cameraman when we reach the island."
"And I'm Roto Drone 072!" came a cheery voice.
"Nice to meet you all. When do we leave?" asked Seth.
"The plane will arrive in an hour. We might as well get to know each other better," said Connor.
"Oh, did I have to tell you about the time in the Barius City battle house when I was against some guy with this crazy Yanmega, it was amazing. I started off with my Vaporeon-"
Aaron Wesker was talking to his own team about the time he became the title holder of the Voyana City tournament.
His own team involved Clara Sanderson, a young woman his age with yellow and blue hair, a yellow hoodie with the words Electric on it, and a blue bracelet. She had a Pachurisu sitting on her shoulder. Her job was just to be his partner/friend, since only having people around you doing jobs could get lonely.
There was Thomas Slynel, Aaron's backpacker. He wore a black and white optical illusion long sleeved shirt and sweatpants. He was about twenty-three and seemed to have an interest in everything.
Finally there was Brad Smith the cameraman. He wore the customary blue pants, red jacket and hat. As well as wearing a white shirt.
Finally there was Roto Drone 056, who liked to brag about his roles in the Noivernman movies.
"I didn't want to risk him switching out and effectively wasting one of my switch ins, but his Ambipom was starting to wear down Milotic, despite her move Recover."
"What did you do then?" asked Thomas.
"Well I had to go for a risky move. I knew that it couldn't do much without its tails, so I had Milotic stand her guard as the Ambipom came again with Double Hit. Milotic then weaved under the attack and used Ice Beam. The attack frosted over one of his hands. But as I said, it was a risky move, and the other hand hit Milotic."
"Oh, then what happened? Did she faint?" asked Clara.
"Almost, but she was able to take out the Ambipom since the extra weight made him less able to dodge. He then sent out a Salazzle. Normally, it would be a bad move, but my Milotic was already severely weakened."
"So it just fainted your Milotic?"
"Not at first, he used Nasty Plot before attacking with Sludge Bomb."
"Ouch, doesn't Nasty Plot raise a Pokémon's special attack stat by a lot?" asked Thomas.
"Yeah, but I had two more Pokémon while he had two as well. I sent out my Donophan next. I used Rollout to try and hit the Salazzle since it's a pretty fast move. But the Salazzle was fast as well."
"Did you manage to hit?" asked Thomas.
"It took a while, and Donophan was pretty worn down by Salazzle's Flamethrower and Dragon Pulse. But after Donophan managed to get a hit in, he was able to chain it with an Earthquake."
"Sounds exciting, but the battle would be cooler if we were actually there, instead of it being oral," said Clara.
"Yeah, but it's like a radio show." argued Thomas.
"Not exactly, a radio report would have been made at the time of the battle, with a reporter being there live. This is just a recap of the battle," said Brad.
"Oh, I get it," said Thomas. "Anyways, please continue."
"He sent out his Vaporeon next. I decided to use one of my switches and !swapped into my Mienshao. The remainder of the battle was difficult, I almost lost even. His Vaporeon's Scald burned Mienshao, and he also used Wish a lot. But with Mienshao's Drain Punch, he was able to outlast Vaporeon and win."
"Wow, that must have been a difficult battle," said Thomas in awe.
"Yeah, but my Pokémon did it. We made a good team."
"Where are they now?" asked Clara.
"With my family."
056 flew up into everyone's faces. "That's nice and all, but did I ever tell you about my role in Noivernman Returns? Or about my upcoming role in Noivernman: Age of Metangman?
Clara sighed. "Here we go again."
Jax Ambrose was playing chess against his partner Camilla. She had long, perfect, auburn hair, and bright green eyes. She wore red lipstick and wore a short, red and orange dress with a skirt.
She was in the middle of telling Jax a story about the time she starred in the movie, A Heart Journey.
"Of course, a big problem I had with my role in the movie is the fact that the person I was supposed to fall in love with, for the sake of the plot of course, wasn't even that attractive." she gave Jax a pointed look, which he didn't catch.
Valdez, who was watching, trying to understand why chess was so interesting, caught Camilla's look. He looked up at Jax and saw that he was completely oblivious to what she was hinting at. He tugged on his arm to get attention.
"Hey Valdez! I'm playing chess right now. Why don't you play with Mack or something? I'll play with you later."
Mack looked up at the mention of his name. Mack was a sturdy man with oddly stiff shoulders. He wore a leather jacket and jeans, his short black hair neatly trimmed. He was the backpacker of the group.
"I have lots of card tricks just waiting for you to see!"
Valdez decided that now wasn't the time. He went off to see Mack's interesting card tricks.
Jax continued his match against Camilla. He moved his Nidoqueen upwards on the board and put Camilla's Nidoking in check. She moved her bishop to block off his Nidoqueen and smiled, daring him to try and take her Bisharp.
A buzzing sound filled Jax's ears, and he turned to see Roto drone 099 filming him. He also saw Sophia, their camerawoman, fiddling around with her own camera.
She wore the usual hat and jacket, but wore a black dress and had her brown ponytail pulled through her hat.
"Um, can you guys not record this?" asked Jax.
"I'm perfectly fine being in the spotlight," said Camilla as she captured his Palossand.
"Oh come on." groaned Jax as he realized his mistake. He quickly got to work on trying to trap her Nidoqueen.
The match started to heat up as Camilla sacrificed her Nidoqueen to take Jax's own Nidoqueen. He managed to fork a Palossand and a Bisharp with his Rapidash, and happily knocked over the Bisharp as Camilla moved her Palossand away.
"Tensions rise as they quickly take out each other's Pokémon. Who will win?" announced Sophia, her camera pointed at the board.
Jax looked over at his pieces. He had one Palossand, a Rapidash, his Nidoking, three Pawniards, and a Bisharp. Camilla on the other hand had two Palossand, her Nidoking, four Pawniards, and a Bisharp.
Jax focused on taking out her pieces. Camilla easily countered his moves and defended her pieces. She put his Nidoking in check with both Palossands and her Bisharp. He saw an opportunity and captured one of her Palossands.
She smiled. "Bad play."
In a few short moves, she captured his Palossand and Rapidash while cornering his Bisharp. She evolved her Pawniards into Bisharps and soon trapped his Nidoking.
"Checkmate."
"Wow, you're actually really good."
Camilla gasped and gave him an embarrassed look. "Oh my, I forgot to tell you I once won a chess tournament in Cronariya City."
Zeke Enator was sitting on a chair whistling to himself as he read a book. Gahoole was next to him snoozing on top of a desk.
"Can you keep it down Zeke? I'm trying to win here!" asked Cyrus. Cyrus Scott was Zeke's partner and was slightly younger than him. He was quite upbeat and wore a green, blue, yellow, orange, and red splattered shirt. He wore a fedora and had strange white hair.
"Yeah! I need to focus so that I can beat Cyrus!" shouted Carolina. She was a tall and strong lady who believed in working out. She wore a blue tracksuit and black sweatpants. She wore a gray beanie on her short blue hair. She is the backpacker of the squad.
Zeke stood up and watched what they were doing. They were playing a mobile game against each other. The game involved dragging cards with various Pokémon on them to try and destroy the opponent's castle. He watched as a Golurk on screen was taken down by a horde of Fraxures, who immediately charged towards Cyrus' fort.
"Honestly, I think Carolina's going to win. She has some pretty good cards, but so does Cyrus. I shouldn't forget that she's evolved most of her cards, like her horde of Fraxures," said Zeke. Voicing his thoughts.
A Sudowoodo appeared and rolled down the path into the Fraxures, severely weakening them. A Dragonite appeared and started picking off the rest of the Fraxures.
"Nah, you should see Cyrus' deck," said Elliot. Walking up to view the game.
Elliot Eastwood was a short man, dressed in the normal cameraman clothing. He wore jeans and a white vest as well. He had short brown hair and black eyes.
"Wanna bet?" asked Zeke. "Two hundred Poké."
Elliot snorted. "I make that much in two hours. Five hundred."
"Okay."
They watched as Carolina dropped down a Dragapult, who shot Dreepys at the Dragonite. Cyrus dropped a Kleavor and an Octillery to counter the Pokémon. Carolina watched as the two Pokémon started to advance.
"What's wrong? Out of energy?"
She said nothing and waited for the Kleavor and Octillery to get close. Then with rapid speed, she dropped an Electrode, a horde of Fraxures, and smiled as the Kleavor was taken down.
"Okay. But-"
Carolina then dropped a maxed out Reshiram after her energy bar became full. The Reshiram roared and marched through the field.
"How did you get that?"
"I pulled from a master pack before pouring all my upgrade orbs into it."
Elliot stared in disbelief as Cyrus tried to beat the legendary by placing another Kleavor and a Dragonite. They were both taken out by the Reshiram. It made it to Cyrus' first fort and destroyed it. Soon, Carolina had won.
Zeke smiled as Elliot pulled out his wallet and handed Zeke his five hundred Poké. Zeke put the cash in his pocket and smiled. "So, wanna make another bet?"
Elliot gave a tight smile. "No thanks, unless I'm betting in favor of Carolina."
"So, I won four games out of seven. That means I get to pick one of your cards," said Carolina.
"Fine, a deal's a deal."
"Then I choose your Golurk."
"What, that's-"
"You made the deal."
Cyrus groaned as he initiated the trade between them. He gave her his Golurk card. He put away his phone and sulked on the couch.
Zeke chuckled and flopped back onto his chair. He resumed whistling as he picked up his book.
An attendant walked into the room. "The plane is descending to the loading area for transport. Follow me everyone."
They all got up and put away their things. Zeke returned Gahoole to his pokéball and followed the rest of them out of the room. They went into a narrow hallway and continued for some time until they reached a big room near the end of the headquarters. There were two other groups of people.
Seth's group walked in and Seth immediately stopped at the sight of Aaron.
"I remember you. You're the one who took my title at the Voyana tournament."
"I also remember you. You're the one who defeated me at All-Stars," said Aaron.
"Why don't we settle this with a Pokémon battle?"
"It wouldn't be fair if someone chose a starter with a type advantage."
"Well, I chose Popplio."
"And I chose Chespin."
"Then it's settled."
"Yeah."
They stood there, unsure of how to end their encounter. Thankfully, Jax was the one who broke the ever increasing tension.
"Hey! Unlike you two, we've never met. My name is Jax, and this is my team. Camilla, Sophia, and Mack." he pointed at each of them in turn.
"Holy heck you're tall!" exclaimed Seth.
"Eh, that wasn't my doing."
"My name's Seth Grey, with an e. These guys are my team. Connor Lennox, Theo Hill, and Darreth Brown."
"And my name's Aaron Wesker. Over there is Clara, Thomas, and Brad."
Roto Drone flew up. "Don't forget me! I'm Roto Drone 056. Known for my amazing roles in recording the Noivernman films!"
Seth looked at the drone. "Never heard of you."
With that he walked off back to his group, leaving the Roto Drone stunned.
Aaron laughed. "Come on 056, let's get you to somewhere low so you won't get seriously damaged when you crash from shock."
"How dare you! That is undisciplined behavior for someone as important as me! Do you hear me? Undisciplined!"
Jax chuckled and walked up to Zeke. "I believe we haven't met before. My name is Jax. And over there are my team members Camilla, Sophia, and Mack."
"My name's Zeke Enator"
"I'm Cyrus Scott."
"And I'm Elliot Eastwood."
"I thought there were supposed to be four people and a Roto Drone," said Jax, confused.
"Yea, Carolina just went to jog through some of the hallways. She'll be back by the time the plane comes in. Had to apparently get some exercise after beating me in a game," said Cyrus bitterly.
"Well, nice meeting all of you. I better get back to my team now," said Jax.
Jax walked back to his place and sat next to Mack. Mack tapped him and pulled out a stack of cards. Prompting him to pick one. As he read Jax's mind and pulled out the same card Jax had chosen, Carolina jogged in with Professor Lennox.
As the Professor walked up to a stage in the back of the room, Connor waved to him. The Professor waved back and smiled before addressing everyone from the stage.
"Welcome current and future movie and TV stars-"
Zeke raised his hand. "Aren't we technically already TV stars since you're secretly recording us."
The Professor awkwardly coughed into his hand. "We don't talk about that. Anyways, the plane has arrived and will be dropping you off at the Insulae Region. As mentioned before, you'll be challenging eighteen gyms on the island, one for each type. On the island, the fun will truly begin. Let us depart!"
Everyone got up and filed out of the door. They made it outside and saw a huge private plane labeled Pokéstar Studios.
"That's a big private plane." noted Aaron.
Sophia laughed. "We practically see this on a daily basis. Especially when you're a camerawoman."
"Hey, how come we never got to see Director Munroe?" asked Jax.
"Oh, he's very busy with other movie productions. Like Colony." answered the Professor.
"What's it about?" asked Seth.
"I'm afraid you'll have to wait for the trailers."
"Bummer."
They all continued onto the plane. They took their seats at random. Theo said that they might as well use this opportunity to meet new people since they're going to be in their teams for the entire time on the island.
The plane went down the runway and soon flew up into the air. Seth looked out the window and marveled at the view as they ascended. He turned to Clara, who was sitting next to them.
"I think I saw someone recording us." whispered Seth.
"They'll be doing that a lot."
And that's the end of the chapter! Compared to Pokémon Society, chapter lengths will be shorter. But not too short in which everything will seem rushed. Things on the Insulae Region will make longer chapters.
