Chapter 2 - A Legendary Meeting?

Sheila made the long trek to Ecruteak city, it took her just under 2 weeks. Very few pokemon came near her after the tauros incident. Not that Sheila could blame them; she had been obviously upset ever since her second pokemon abandoned her. Needless to say, losing two pokemon in the first week of her trainer's career had gotten Sheila more than a bit down. Not even the random trainer that passed her by would challenge her.

Something profound in her persona had changed, and not for the better. It was as if every living creature could sense the dark aura around her and stepped out of the way accordingly. It wasn't just the fact that two of her pokemon had decided to leave her.

The dream was shattered. You know the one; start off with one abnormally strong pokemon, raise it, make a few friends, beat the gyms, become league champion. 'Gotta Catch Em All' and whatnot. That was the true issue Sheila was having difficulty with; the fact that the life of a trainer isn't all glamour and fun.

Or easy.

Sheila found herself wandering around town, steering clear of the gym and all trainers. Now wasn't the time to battle, it was time to reflect. Eventually Sheila made it to a giant tower; old and rusted, but magnificent nonetheless. A rather creepy looking old man stood just outside the entrance.

Garbed in a tattered brown cloak and robes, he looked like a druid from a cheesy witchcraft flick, and not the town elder. His back was arched with age, but he still stood an impressive six feet. Upon sighting Sheila he pulled his cloak hood back and closed the gap to greet her.

"Good morning to you, young lass" he cheerfully exclaimed.

"Hi" was her only response. She really didn't feel like talking.

"Is that all you can say to an old man with nobody to keep him company? Aye lass, you must be in a foul temperament if that is the case" the old man declared. "You must be here to search for the legendary dogs. All trainers that come this way try their luck to catch one of the legendary trio."

"No. I'm not here to chase after some fairy tale. I'm here to get the gym badge, and then I'll be on my way out of here."

"Hehehe... Determined young lass, aren't ya?" the old man remarked. "I guess that means you won't be needing this" he said as he pulled out a purple pokeball.

"What kind of ball is that? I've never seen anything like it before" Sheila asked, even while examining the ball. It was a deep royal purple with gold trimming, and the traditional black outline of a circle at the opening was instead a gold lion-esque figure on its hind paws seemingly clawing at an unseen enemy, much like the banners of feudal England.

"That my dear is a pokeball" the man replied.

Sheila pondered that statement for a moment, furrowing her brow in confusion. The man took note of this, but did not say anything.

"What makes this pokeball so special?" she asked.

"Hohoho... Lassy I didn't say it was special. You just assumed it because it looks that way" the old man scolded, "but this ball will change your life. That I can guarantee..." and with that the old man began strolling down the path back to the center of Ecruteak. As the man distanced himself from Sheila, a fog that seemingly came from nowhere thickened.

Well that was weird.

She nonchalantly dropped the ball in her pants pocket and continued her previous wandering.

Sheila found herself strangely drawn to the dilapidated tower. It had obviously seen better days, but there was still something quite remarkable about the structure.

As she approached the tower, it became increasingly noticeable that there was once a great battle fought on the ancient grounds. Though for the most part worn away, scorch marks were still visible, most likely from a high powered fire or electric attack. Every now and then Sheila could make out the faint outlines of claw marks. GIANT claw marks.

They were fresh.

She ran up to the closest pair of claw marks, which happened to be on a wall just inside of the hulk of the tower. Paw prints the same size of the claw marks on the wall littered the area. Sheila followed them around a long winding path through the burned out building, completely losing track of time.

She lost the tracks after an abrupt corner, and failed to notice any signs of the large pokemon's path.

"Damn..."

"Ranger, come on out and help me track this thing" Sheila said out loud to nobody in particular. She tossed the pokeball containing the cubone and Ranger materialized as expected. After assessing the situation for a couple minutes, Ranger squawked in glee.

He had found the tracks had disappeared just as Sheila had; but what she had failed to notice was the soft dirt surrounding the last set of paw prints. To any experienced hunter or tracker, this would be a sure sign of a critter tunneling down and covering its tracks.

Unfortunately Sheila was not an experienced tracker. After looking around in frustration for a couple minutes, Sheila just sat down and told Ranger that she had no idea what he was trying to say. Ranger simply sighed in disappointment and then began to dig around the last paw prints, right in the soft dirt. It didn't take much longer for Sheila to figure out what was going on.

After what seemed like an eternity of digging, Sheila and Ranger managed to reach the end of the soft dirt. This end turned out to be the beginning of a cavern. Low slung and lined with stalactites, the ceiling loomed ominously in the shadows that come with being underground. Sheila hopped down the hole and dropped the six feet to the cavern floor. The elongated forms of the stalactites hung mere inches above Sheila's head, and caused her to crawl on her hands and knees in some spots.

The paw prints resumed on the ground in front of her, so Sheila and Ranger followed them with zeal. They followed the tracks deeper into the cavern, the light fading into the increasing height of the ceiling with every step. Sheila could only hear the faint pitter-patter of her own feet (Ranger moved a bit more silently) but Ranger once again proved his tracking skills as his tiny ears slanted up.

He had heard a noise. His ears pricked to the back, indicating he sensed danger. Sheila missed this minute detail and plodded forward, oblivious to the imminent danger. The screeching and squawking soon became apparent to her, but by then it was too late.

It is difficult to see potential threats in the dark. The pitch black ambiance the cavern had taken on made it nigh impossible to see say, a hostile pokemon ten feet to the front. Sheila was looking forward but she didn't see the source of the noises. She told herself that it was just because it was dark in the cave.

Had she ever studied up on the habits of cave dwelling animals, she would have certainly known that not all pokemon stand on the ground. One such example is the zubat family. Zubats (and their evolutions) often perch on the ceiling of caves. They are also known to attack intruders en masse when disturbed. The bats not eight feet fluttering above Sheila and Ranger were no exception. They detected the human/cubone party upon their entry into the cavern, breaking their slumber. A rather large golbat sounded off the attack with an ear piercing screech. The first attack came in the form of a leech life attack by a zubat. It dived down at Sheila, intending to suck her life force from her until she was no more.

It is most fortunate for Sheila that Ranger saw this attack coming and drew it off with a leer attack. Dazed momentarily, the zubat altered its path towards the new challenger. The second attack came in the form of a supersonic blast behind the cubone. The attack left Ranger more than a little confused as he headbutted Sheila instead of the intended zubat.

Shelia grunted a loud "UMPGH" before being knocked to the ground by the cubone's attack.

"What are you DOING Ranger! We need to take care of the golbat first! Headbutt!" she cried.

Ranger snapped out of his confusion and did as asked. The golbat took the headbutt and quickly struck back with a wicked wing attack before Ranger even reached the ground. The cubone landed less than gracefully, tumbling backwards three times before skidding to a stop. The fight was quickly becoming serious.

"Argh... Ranger you gave a good try, but you just aren't equipped for this.." Sheila returned Ranger and pulled out M-40's pokeball. Two zubats tackled her to the ground before she could release the magnemite, causing her to drop the ball on the ground. The fall caused the pokeball to open anyway, releasing M-40 onto the battleground. Sheila stood a good chance now. At least that is what she thought.

"Lets rock it M-40, thundershock the closest zubat!" There was an audible thud as M-40 complied and the zubat fell to the ground, out of the fight. That's one down... There are just so many!

The female golbat was a good leader. Enraged at the KO of one in her pack, she flew in to cause the magnemite pain. She recalled defeating the last intruder to the cave, an abra: she had used a ferocious bite attack, one of her strongest moves. The queen golbat intended to do the same to M-40. The magnemite sensed this attack long before the golbat came within striking distance. She shot out a thundershock to ward the queen golbat off. The queen deftly whirled around the electric attack in a dazzling display of aerial maneuverability; she was no amateur in the art of battle. The clockwise spiral dive she was in brought her face to face with the accursed magnemite. Her open jaws clamped down upon the hapless bucket of bolts that was M-40 with enough force to drop a graveler dead in its tracks.

M-40 was not a graveler. She was a magnemite, half steel and half electric. If M-40 had not been a bucket of bolts then she surely would have fainted from the mighty dark attack. She merely took the initial damage, regained her senses, and sent a powerful blast of electricity through the offending queen bat. It was enough to convince the queen to arrest her attack. She took once more to the air, letting loose a sharp wind in the process. The air cutter buffeted M-40 around like a bit of paper in a tornado. The determined little magnemite floated above the grounded when the wind died down, but just barely. Being outnumbered had significant drawbacks, proven by a leech life performed by yet another zubat. This one was the pride and joy of the entire zubat pack. Instead of the normal purple/blue coloring, he had a dark green pigmentation, with bright red along the underside of his wings. More important than his colorings, he was the prince of the pack: the son of the queen.

When Sheila laid eyes upon this royal bat, she knew that she was in for a rough ride. M-40 once again filled the room with light from her electric bombardment, severely damaging the prince. The single attack was too much for the young prince. He plummeted to the ground, unconscious. The bats that could still fight converged upon the magnemite almost as one. In true swarm fashion, they bit, leeched, and swatted M-40 across the cave. She couldn't withstand anymore punishment and dropped to the ground. Sheila cursed and recalled her faithful pokemon.

Down to you Emerald, don't let me down! Sheila tossed her final pokemon out to defend herself from the swarm of bats. I shouldn't have come here so unprepared! I need to train a lot more.

Emerald materialized and quickly shot off a water gun at a zubat. The poor creature slammed mercilessly into the cavern wall, rendering it unconscious. The queen bat was furious at this point, losing another pack- mate to the two-legged intruder. The queen was smart; she wouldn't be the queen if she wasn't. The queen recognized the human as the leader of the intruding "pack". The zubat genome typically settled authoritative disputes between the leaders. It is for this reason that the queen hurtled at her best speed towards Sheila.

The giant golbat flew menacingly at Emerald's trainer. Emerald saw this threatening gesture and decided to protect her blonde-haired mistress. Sheila had been a compassionate trainer so far, and Emerald did not want to let her down. The shiny staryu summoned up all the strength she could muster and fired off a flurry of stars at the golbat. The golden stars flew into the queen, but they hardly fazed her. The attack continued.

In what seemed like an eternity but was only a few seconds in reality, the queen stretched her wings in front of her and prepared to decapitate the intruding human in a gruesome wing attack. She flew within a foot of Sheila and the girl fell onto her backside, spilling the contents of her pockets onto the ground.

"Confusion" a commanding voice boomed behind her. A purple aura surrounded the golbat queen and she slammed into the cavern wall. The queen was thoroughly trounced but not out of the battle yet. She slowly took to the skies. The espeon that threw the confusion attack launched a second of the same. The queen once again flew into the cavern wall. She didn't get back up.

With the defeat of their queen, the rest of the bat swarm retreated to the unseen depths of the caves. Sheila was still in shock from the near death experience, understandably, she stayed on the ground. A hand extended towards her face, an offering of assistance. She took the hand within her own and glanced up at the smiling face attached to it.

A young man of eighteen or so years hunched in front of her. He pulled her up to her feet and revealed his height of an impressive 6'2". He was darkly tanned and his short brown hair had a golden sheen to it, both signs of a lot of time in the sun. His apparel suggested prolonged exposure to the elements as well; he wore a simple pair of khaki shorts and a plain ribbed blue sleeveless shirt and a pair of ordinary brown shoes adorned his feet. He flashed a toothy smile and ran a hand through his nearly-buzzed hair.

"You ok there kid?" he asked.

Kid? He can't be more than two years older than me. How arrogant. "I'm fine" she replied with a glare while simultaneously returning Emerald to her pokeball. After a quick dusting of her pants, she started off towards the exit of the cave.

"I don't even get a 'thanks'? I just saved your butt back there!" the young man called after her. He happened to glance down and noticed a few items on the ground, including an ornate pokeball. This stuff must be that girl's. I wonder what is in this pokeball. He reached a lanky arm down and retrieved the gold-trimmed purple ball and released what was inside. He was more than shocked at what he found.

The pokeball was empty. Shrugging for his own benefit, he collected the various items on the ground and followed after the girl. He took three steps and felt a tug on his shirt. What does that infernal ninetails want this time...

"What is it Iris?"

The ninetails in question jaunted to the teen's right and yipped once. Now interested, the young man walked to where the ninetails was sitting patiently. Under a beautiful cream colored paw was a dark green wing. The ninetails lifted her paw to reveal the prince zubat just starting to recover from his fight earlier. Iris turned her head and licked the man's hand holding the purple pokeball and then looked down at the prince zubat.

"Ah... Iris you are such a clever girl" he cooed while scratching behind the fox's ears. He reached down and held the royal purple pokeball to the head of the zubat. The prince immediately turned to data in a flash of red. There was no struggle.

A/N: I was originally going to combine this chapter with the next, but I think that it came out to be much too long. I'm still working on chapter 3 anyways... I would really like some feedback on the story so far. I have a rough outline of where I'm going with this plot but what is interesting to me may not be to you, the reader. So hit that review button and tell me what you think.