Chapter 3
That night, Black Jack was walking around the streets of Phanec City, carrying an opened bottle of beer. He stopped for a brief moment, then he walked round a corner, into a dark alley… and tossed a man in a Team Dark uniform out of it.
"Congratulations," Black Jack said walking up to the Team Dark grunt. "You've found Black Jack."
"We, Team Dark, are going to end your game and your lives," the grunt said, putting on a determined face.
"The punk for your boss started this whole thing," Black Jack replied smugly. "So, I'll do the ending for him. But first, I want you to deliver a message for me."
He took out the crystal out of his pocket and showed it to him. "Tell him that I have something that he wants. If he wants it back, tell him to meet me outside Phanec City tomorrow afternoon… alone."
He kicked him in the shins. "Ow!" the grunt muttered feeling the pain.
"Now get outta here if you don't wanna get battered," Black Jack snarled.
The grunt quickly got up and ran out of the scene. As he did, Black Jack knew that someone was spying on him. No, he made that three.
"Alright, you two, I know that you're not playing 'I spy'" he said as he looked at the direction of the people spying on him. As he expected, three familiar figures came out of the darkness. They were none other than Ash, Pikachu and Wes.
"What are you planning, Black Jack?" Ash asked suspiciously.
Black Jack tossed the crystal into the air and confidently caught it. "I can tell that they want this crystal," he replied. "If they want it back they're gonna have to take it from me."
"I don't like the looks of this one bit," Wes replied. "You said to get the leader to come alone but I know that he's gonna have something up his sleeve."
"Maybe," Black Jack replied. "But he's gonna get a blasting when he does. Now let's get back to the PC… your girlfriends must be thinking about wrapping you guys with warm blankets, it is a cold night, y'know."
Tints of pink appeared on Ash and Wes's faces thinking about Black Jack's sudden remark. "Hey, wait a minute," Wes said in denial. "Rui and I are not what you think."
"That's what they all say," Black Jack mumbled while sniggering.
The next morning Black Jack, Ash, Pikachu and Wes stood outside Phanec City, waiting for the Team Dark Leader to arrive. Their other teammates were told to stay behind at the pokemon center. As they waited, they spotted a helicopter flying down towards them. "Here he comes," Black Jack whispered.
The helicopter landed a distance away from Black Jack and his teammates, while they waited for the Team Dark leader to come out of the vehicle. A man wearing jumped out of the helicopter wearing a posh red jacket and a black suit underneath.
"Humph. I thought you didn't have any guts, punk," Black Jack said confidently with a small smirk on his face.
The leader showed a small smirk of his own. "Black Jack, Ash Ketchum and Wes. At last we meet," he said. "But, for your information, my name is not 'punk', it's Lawrence Garther."
"I don't care," Black Jack said bitterly. "I'm getting pretty tired of beating up of your low-graded flunkies."
"Yes, I'm sure," Lawrence replied. "I understand that you wanted to see…"
"Shut it," Black Jack snarled, replacing his smirk with an expressionless face. "I'm not done yet so don't interrupt me. I got a… proposal for ya."
He took out the Solar Crystal out of his pocket. "I have here what you have been looking for," he said. "I suggest that you set up a little battle between three of your best and me, Wes and Ketchum. If your team wins, you can have this crystal and you can do whatever you want without us interfering. If my team wins, then Team Dark is history."
Ash was about to step forward to convince Black Jack to take back the challenge he made but Wes held his hand up to stop him. "Very interesting proposal indeed, Mr. Black Jack," Lawrence replied. "But how about it if we raise the stakes up a little bit?"
"Listenin'" Black Jack replied, now with a suspicious look on his face.
"Observe," Lawrence said as he snapped his fingers. A small mechanical sphere flew out of the helicopter and made a large electronic screen appear underneath it. It showed that the pokemon center was being attacked by the Team Dark grunts and the other team members struggled to fight back but to no avail, much to Ash and Wes's shock.
Black Jack's eyes narrowed as the Solar Crystal in his hand started to glow as it absorbed the rays of the sun. He looked at the object and aimed it at the orb and shot out a powerful beam, making the sphere explode on impact. He could tell that neither Ash or Wes wanted to see that.
Black Jack gnarled his teeth, as he turned round towards his two teammates. "You two, get back to Phanec City, the other guys need you."
"We have to hurry," Ash said as he and Wes ran back to the city.
Black Jack turned his attention back to Lawrence. "You creep," he growled.
"Aren't you going to kill me?" Lawrence asked curiously, looking at the crystal.
"Humph. I'd rather torture you than kill you."
"I wouldn't be so foolish if I were you, Black Jack," Lawrence replied. "But since you want to make a challenge for high stakes, I propose that I use six of my pokemon while you and your other two teammates use two pokemon each, shouldn't be a problem considering that you were a Hoenn League champ. I'll be stating the rules and matches, should you have any interests in arriving at my base."
"Stakes?" Black Jack snarled.
Lawrence gave a small snigger. "Beat me in the battle and I'll release your friends and Team Dark will disband as promised, but fail and not only that the crystal will belong to me but I'll rule the world, your cohorts will remain in my hands and you'll also be joining them."
"Done," Black Jack snarled with narrowed eyes.
"Excellent. Meet me at my main base tomorrow afternoon. This will give you and your comrades enough time to practice for our upcoming match… I'll be doing some training as well."
Lawrence let out another small snigger as he noticed Black Jack's hatred towards him. "Don't blame me for turning this game around," he said.
He turned round and started walking back to his helicopter as Black Jack watched him leave, but Lawrence stopped and turned his attention to his upcoming opponent again. "Something has occurred to me," he said. "After all this time, Black Jack doesn't have Team Dark by the throat… Team Dark has you by the throat."
Black Jack's fists shook with anger as he saw Lawrence getting inside his helicopter holding his neck, representing what he said.
Black Jack immediately made his way back to Phanec City but as he reached his destination, he discovered that some of his teammates were missing. The only teammates that were not captured were Ash, Wes, Mecha and Isaac.
"What happened?" Black Jack asked.
"Our teammates have been captured," Isaac replied in a down tone. "I'm sorry."
"When Wes and Ash got back, those brats made their exit," Mecha said.
Black Jack turned his attention to Ash, Pikachu and Wes, who were looking at the debris of the pokemon center. It was obvious to Black Jack what they were thinking about… they felt that they've let their loved ones down but somehow, someway, they were going to find them and rescue them.
Black Jack spotted some steel bars and looked at them with sinister looking eyes as he took off his sunglasses. "Lawrence… you're gonna be held accountable for your actions," he thought.
Next episode: Looks like Black Jack has a plan in his upcoming battle against Team Dark. What exactly is his plan?
More coming! Reviews please!