This chapter will feature the return of a character who hasn't appeared in a while, enjoy!


Our main trio were heading out onto Route 8, it was a bright and clear day. There wasn't a sandstorm on the route today, making it easier for people to go through it.

"Wait so where's the next gym?" Diego asked.

"Saffron City, we're headed there anyway and we should be there by nightfall." Renée answered. "In the meantime it would be cool to see what kind of pokemon are around here."

"How did this route become a desert again?" Julia asked.

"I think the professor said that a bunch of violent pokemon like Machamp, Rhydon, and Tyranitar caused a bunch of rock slides which practically destroyed the entire route. The terrain attracted more Tyranitar and with all of the sandstorm that started because of their Sand Stream ability, caused the route to turn into a desert. All the pokemon that use to live here moved to Route 9, but a lot of new pokemon moved in, and I'm gonna catch one of them!" Diego said, a look of excitement grew on his face with his last statement.

"Wait, what's that over there?" Renée announced, she pointed towards a brown and black pokemon that was digging in the sand. It pulled out a round red and orange stone, Julia scanned the pokemon with her pokedex.

'Sandile, the Desert Croc pokemon: It moves along below the sand's surface, except for its nose and eyes. A dark membrane shields it's eyes from the sun.'

"Pretty cool. Sandile, you're mine!" Diego exclaimed, getting the Sandile's attention. The Desert Croc tried digging itself back into the sand with its treasure to get away, but just as the pokedex said, it's eyes and nose were above ground.

Diego threw his pokeball at the Sandile, but the wild pokemon leaped out of the sand, it's tail glowing silver. It smacked the pokeball with its tail, breaking it, this frustrated Diego.

"Hey! I have to pay for those things!" Diego said, sending out his Golbat to fight the Sandile. While the battle took place, the group was being watched...

"Target acquired, waiting for moment to strike..."


The battle between Golbat and Sandile took a while, Sandile proved to be a rather strong adversary, hitting Golbat with a rather surprising array of attacks including Iron Tail and Thunder Fang. Ultimately though, Diego managed to capture the Sandile.

"Finally... you're mine Sandile!" Diego said, clutching the pokeball he used to capture Sandile in his hand. Julia picked up the object that Sandile was holding and inspected it, she saw a connection between the object and her sister's Ampharosite.

"Guys look! The Sandile had a Mega Stone!" Julia announced.

"Did you say 'Mega Stone'?!" Someone shouted, the group turned to see Yuki running towards them. "I've been looking for a Mega Stone for ages! Please tell me it's an Altarianite!" Yuki pleaded. Renée took a close look at the stone.

"Why do you need a Mega Stone so badly?" Diego asked.

"I need it for a new contest appeal. Using Mega Evolution during a Contest can make your appeal just awe inspiring! But I need an Altarianite, once I evolve my Swablu then I'm one step closer to being a contest queen!" Yuki explained.

"Sorry Yuki, this looks more like Charizardite, Charizardite Y to be precise." Renée said.

"Aww man, I guess I'll have to look somewhere else." Yuki pouted.

"What we're you doing here anyway Yuki?" Diego asked.

"Oh, I was just practicing with my new pokemon. I have a Swablu, just like I said, and I was training it with my newly caught Oddish.

As the conversation went on, whoever was watching the group earlier was about to make his move.

"Unknown civilian in contact with targets. Adding civilian to target list due to association with main targets. Initiating attack!" It said before pouncing on the gourmet of them, the unknown individual revealed itself to be the RM-24i. Diego saw the RM leaping towards them. Out of sheer instinct, Diego gave the machine a hard kick to its face! The kick sent the RM a few feet away from them.

"What in the world is that thing?!" Yuki yelled in shock.

"I don't know, but it definitely isn't friendly!" Julia added.

"How did you know that thing was going to attack?" Renée asked.

"I didn't, I just saw that mutt coming towards us and I just acted on my instinct. I'm not too fond of dogs... your Growlithe is cool though." Diego explained.

"Assessing threat levels." RM said in his usual mechanical tone. "Multiple strikes!"

The RM leaped for Diego, however the group sent out some of their pokemon to defend themselves. Diego had his Charmeleon, Renée used her Larvesta, Julia used her Jigglypuff, and Yuki used Ember (her Vulpix).

"Your numbers are meaningless, I will obliterate your consciousness!" The machine threatened.

"What are you?!" Julia asked in a fearful tone.

"I am the RM-24i, a machine built for the sole purpose of defeating you."

"And what are you going to do once you finish your mission?" Diego asked, trying to confuse the beast.

"My orders are to detain you, once my objectives are completed I shall continue to follow the orders of my superiors."

"So you have no freedom?" Renée asked. The RM was silent for a moment before answering.

"Freedom... is only an idea. It is an idea for individuals who can not face the harsh truth that life is about following orders. But enough chat, face me!"

The RM attacked the four of them. The fought back with the strongest attacks that they had.

"Ember, hit it with the Mystery Flame!" Yuki ordered. Ember used Shadow Ball, sending out a purple orb of energy at the machine, then it used Flame Burst to propel the Shadow Ball at it faster. It also gave the attack a flaming aura.

"Superficial damage. Charge attack."

The RM charged at Larvesta, it's tail connected to its back, it then removed a chainsaw from its back. The chainsaw began to glow orange, it revved up the chainsaw and slashed at Larvesta with it. The attack didn't do any mortal damage to Larvesta, but it was still hurt badly.

"Is this all the human mind is capable of?" It asked the four of them huddled up together.

"What are we gonna do? This thing will rip our pokemon apart, and from the way he talks, I think we're next!" Julia said.

"If we combine our attacks together then we might have a chance." Yuki replied.

"Your plans are futile, you will fall." The RM said before revving up its chainsaw again.

"We're not done yet! Charneleon, hit that thing with a Draco Bullet!" Diego ordered.

"With our combination attack, we'll take you down!" Renée added. "Larvesta, use Flame Charge!"

The two Fire-type pokemon charged for RM, Charmeleon's fist was glowing with a powerful blue flame while Larvesta's entire body was on fire. The two attacks mixed together to form a blue and orange flaming rocket!

"Jigglypuff, use Disarming Voice!"

"Ember, use Extrasensory!"

The two attacks that had just been used mixed with the Draco Bullet / Flame Charge combo. The Disarming Voice added pink sound waves that added a sort of jetstream made of the pink waves. The Extrasensory attack gave the flames a rainbow aura that looked like it was warping reality itself. The attack looked absolutely breathtaking to see.

The combination attack made contact with the RM-24i, causing it to blast off miles away from Route 8. Yuki sighed in relief, thankful that she was safe.

"We did it, that robot is gone." Julia sighed.

"Who built that thing anyway?" Renée pondered.

"I don't know but whoever made it is as sick as a Garbodor." Diego answered.

"We should probably head to Saffron City now, if we're put here too long it'll get dark and this route goes below freezing after dark." Yuki noted. The four of them hurried over to Saffron City as fast as they could.


Meanwhile, in Saffron City, Jack had settled himself in the Pokemon Center for the night. He had just finished brushing his teeth when he received a message on his PokeNav.

The message read: 'I hope you're having fun on your journey. There's an event tomorrow called the Champions Festival that will take place in Saffron City. I was hoping to see you there but unfortunately I have a challenger wanting to battle me tomorrow, so the previous Champion of the Hoenn League will go in my place.

I'm sorry I won't be able to see you. Stay safe son. ~Dad

P.S.: Your mother and Sunny say hi.'

'So Mr. Stone is coming tomorrow? Maybe I can ask him to give something to my dad.' Jack thought to himself. He took out a pen and paper from his bag and began writing in it.


On Route 9, the RM had finally crash landed into the ground. It shook off its injuries and looked around. It saw a family of Hoothoot and Noctowl flying freely through the air and some Rattata running through the grass. All around it pokemon were roaming the route and communicating with each other peacefully.

"Is this... freedom?" The RM asked itself out loud, it seemed to be enjoying the natural peace. However the peace was broken when the RM received a message.

"Where are you, your mission should be completed by now."

"Admin Sirius... my mission ended in failure, the targets were too strong for me to defeat." RM answered hesitantly.

"Argh, we'll that figures. Return to base." Sirius stated.

"Affirmative." RM said monotonously, it began to head back to the TDS base, taking one last look at the peaceful scene in front of him.