Life is slowly going back to normal, but for now I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Aiden looked at his opponent with his heart beating with excitement, he looked around the field and saw that it looked like a grassy field for the most part, however the ground was an unnatural purple in color. The leaking barrels of some unknown purple substance that peppered the field were most likely the cause of that, whatever it was was something Aiden did not want to know.
"Welcome back to the Indigo League Tournament!" Mauro greeted. "It's been quite a busy day here, but thankfully we're ready to wind things down here with our final battle for the day!"
"But just because we've reached our last battle, that doesn't mean there won't be any action today! Well... with one of the trainers we have today, I hope it'll be interesting..." Corey added, his enthusiasm fading as he looked towards Aiden.
"Hey, there's no reason for that kind of attitude, these trainers worked hard to get here."
"Yeah, yeah, I get that. But people watch for the excitement and, let's be honest here, every battle that that boy, Aiden, has been in so far has been an absolute snoozer! Either the kid's too strong for his own good, or the gym leaders of this region need to step it up!"
"Regardless of my colleague's bitter attitude, to close of our side of the show today we have Aiden, who has steamrolled his way through his previous opponents without even breaking much of a sweat! Against him we have Angelo, a solid competitor from Castelia City in the Unova region who's been rather lax about even competing."
"Well this kid's about to get a call from a friend of mine named 'reality check'!" Corey proclaimed, leaning back in his seat and raising his feet onto the announce desk. "Anyway, tell me about this field they'll be battling on, I don't think we've seen it yet."
"Fine..." Mauro grumbled. "They'll be battling on the Corrosive Field, this one's a bit of a tricky one if you're not careful, and it can be especially troublesome if you struggle against Poison."
"With a lot of these fields being able to change in some way, I'm worried that this toxic cesspool of a field can somehow become even worse." Corey commented, rolling his eyes.
"Well we're going to have to watch and see how our trainers can use this field."
From down on the field, Angelo got his pokeball ready, a confident grin already on his face. The two trainers sent out their stating pokemon, with Aiden's Day form Lycanroc pitted against Angelo's Absol.
"And here we go!"
Once the two pokemon touched the toxic ground, steam billowed out from underneath their feet as the two pokemon winced in pain.
"Lycanroc, are you okay?!" Aiden asked in shock.
"There's the first surprise with this field!" Mauro announced. "The toxic chemicals that have seeped into the ground have made the ground hazardous to the touch, so whenever a pokemon is sent out onto the field, it'll receive damage equal to that of Stealth Rocks, though with Poison type damage instead."
"So basically if Toxic Spikes did damage along with poisoning its target?" Corey asked.
"Essentially." The announcer replied.
"Absol, Sucker Punch!"
The Disaster Pokemon's claw began to glow as it prepared to lunge forward, though it didn't actually launch an attack...
"Nice try." Aiden called out. "But I wasn't planning to attack. Use Stealth Rocks!"
The Wolf pokemon snarled as the stones along its collar blasted out in front of it, breaking into small, razor sharp pieces on Absol's side of the arena before the stones seemed to turn invisible. Once the stones had vanished, a new set began to rapidly grow around Lycanroc's neck.
"Not bad, did you know I would start off with that move?" Angelo asked.
"Nah, just figured that Stealth Rocks would help. But if I wanted to do damage, I could do this! Lycanrock, Accelrock!"
Lycanroc's body began to glow white as it charged forward, zig-zagging around the field before crashing into Absol, knocking the Dark type back a bit. However, Angelo looked rather pleased...
"Thanks for getting in close! Absol, Night Slash!"
Absol's eyes sharpened just as it's horn began to glow dark purple. With a quick lunge forward, Absol was able slash Lycanroc across its face and abdomen. The force of the attack caused the Rock type to get knocked back and roll across the polluted ground before finally coming to a stop. The Wolf slowly but surely was able to get back to it's feet, though with it's left eye closed from pain and it's legs visibly shaking.
"Not bad, huh?" Angelo asked.
"Amazing!" Corey proclaimed. "He let his opponent get in close before nailing them with a nasty hit!"
"So, do you think that this battle will be dull?" Mauro asked.
"If it keeps up this pace, then not a chance!"
"I admit it, you got me." Aiden replied. "But now I'll have to pay you back!"
"Really? Well show me what you got!"
"Stone Edge!" Both trainers commanded.
Lycanroc's collar stones broke off of its body and split into small pieces, just like when it used Stealth Rocks. Absol's horn began to glow white as dark purple stones formed from energy that seemed to emerge from the appendage. With a roar from both pokemon, the attacks were launched, some stones colliding with each other and exploding on contact, while others were able to slip by and slice into the two beasts.
Once the two attacks finished, both pokemon stood still, the only movement the two made were their heavy breathing until both collapsed, unable to battle any further.
"Wow!" Mauro announced, a double knockout to start this battle! These two may be more even than we may have anticipated!"
"Alright, alright, you got some skills." Angelo admitted. "But let's see how you deal with this!"
The two sent out their next pokemon, with Angelo using a Flygon to go against Aiden's Arcanine. Just as the two pokemon before it, the tainted earth seemed to harm Arcanine, though Flygon avoided the damage thanks to its ability to fly.
"And we move on to a type disadvantage against Aiden." Corey said. "Think he'll find some way to win?"
"I wouldn't put it past him!"
With his excitement now showing on his face, Aiden made his next move. "Arcanine, get in close with Extreme Speed!"
The canine pokemon dashed forward, zigzagging just as Lycanroc had towards it's opponent. Aiden could see Angelo getting ready to call out an attack...
"Now switch to Will-O-Wisp!"
The speed in which Angelo's expression changed from smug confidence to panic made Aiden laugh to himself. Arcanine's eyes began to glow white as it exhaled several small bluish-white orbs of fire. The close distance between the two pokemon allowed the flames to hit Flygon easily, burning the dragon.
"Ah man, no!" Angelo groaned. "Flygon, use Dragon Tail to get that Arcanine out of here!"
Despite the pain from it's burns, the Mystic pokemon swung it's large tail and battered the Fire type. In an instant, Arcanine converted back into the whitish-blue flash of light and zipped back into it's pokeball.
"Smart move!" Mauro nodded. "If you can't damage your opponent, try to force a switch into something more manageable."
"Yeah, but Angelo doesn't get to choose what he faces, Aiden could pick something that checks or perfectly counters Flygon, especially with a burn." Corey added.
Aiden looked at Arcanine's pokeball, he couldn't sent it back into the fight no matter how much he wanted to with the red flashing light in it's center prevented it from activating properly.
'What do I do now? I know he's going to send out his Empoleon at some point, it's his ace after all and Electivire has the best chance of taking it on. Lycanroc is down but he wouldn't be able to do much here. I know Flygon can learn fire type moves too and both of my last two pokemon are weak to that type, just my luck for choosing not to use Lapras for this battle... I guess this is my best bet!'
With a deep breath to calm himself down, Aiden sent out a Torterra. Despite the stinging pain of touching the corrupted ground, the Continent pokemon looked back at its trainer with a trusting look.
"You think using a grass type will save you? Well we planned for that!" Angelo boasted. "Flygon, Flamethrower!"
'I knew it! Gotta act fast...'
"Torterra, take the hit and use Leech Seed!"
"You're gonna have your pokemon take it?!" Angelo asked in disbelief.
Torterra stomped on the ground, ducking it's head to the side and using its massive shell as a sort of shield to block the super-effective attack. While it did not block all of the damage, it allowed the Grass pokemon to take the hit with minimal damage, which it showed off with a bellowing roar at its foe. Shaking it's body to rattle the large tree on its back, launching seeds that wrapped around Flygon's body, draining more of its energy and transferring it into Torterra, healing the damage dealt from the burning attack.
"This is unbelievable, ladies and gentlemen!" Corey proclaimed. "In all my years I don't think I've ever seen a trainer order their pokemon to take a direct super-effective attack like that!"
"And that defensive move just might leave Flygon open to a counterattack!" Mauro added.
"Now Torterra, Seed Bomb!"
Torterra shook its massive body, rustling the tree again. The plant began to glow a light purple as large seeds that also seemed to be glowing the sickly color bombarded the Dragon. Aiden's eyes widened in shock and even a bit of horror when Flygon seemed to mostly brush off the bombardment, appearing to be damaged more by its burns and Leech Seed more than anything else.
"B-but how?!" The boy asked. "Seed Bomb should be effective against a Ground and Dragon pokemon like Flygon!"
"Ohh, there's the field finally taking another effect!" Mauro commented. "As you can see, this field is essentially a corrupted grassland, so grass type attacks become tainted by the waste, causing them to deal poison type damage alongside the usual grass type. So unfortunately for Aiden, that Seed Bomb won't be doing as much as it normally would to Flygon!"
"Does that mean Aiden's chances of winning are as tainted as this field? Let's keep watching and find out!" Corey added, getting handed some popcorn and soda from a League staff member.
"...Are you gonna share those?"
'Great! Now what do I do?! Seed Bomb was the only move I can use safely to do any real damage. Earthquake won't do anything and Crunch is too risky...'
"Just hold on a little bit longer! You got this, Flygon!" Angelo cheered, Aiden listened in and could hear Flygon's labored breaths under the sizzling of it's burns.
"Just a little more, use Seed Bomb one more time!"
"Stop them, Flygon! Use Flamethrower!"
Flygon prepared to unleash another wave of fire at the Continent pokemon, but the pain it was going through with both its burns and its energy being drained by the Seeds stunned it just long enough for the Seed Bombs to land, finally taking Flygon down for the count.
"Ouch! And that's why we be careful with chemical burns!" Corey joked. With his pokemon down, now it was Angelo's turn to think.
'So his Grass moves are Poison too, so now they won't work on Empoleon, but he probably has Earthquake so that's not a good idea. Same thing goes for my other Fire type, especially since he's clearly trained it to take some mid-level moves of that type. I wonder if I can try using the field to my advantage, or use some other moves to make things easier.'
"Alright, then let's try this! Dusclops, I choose you!"
The Ghost pokemon landed onto the corrupted field, it's typing allowing it to take little damage from the field but normal damage from the Stealth Rocks set up earlier.
'Another pokemon that Poison attacks won't do well against, so Seed Bomb won't work.' Aiden thought. "Torterra, use Leech Seed!"
"Use Gravity!"
The Beckon pokemon allowed itself to get tangled in the growing stems of the Leech Seed as it's eye began to glow. The field itself suddenly began to rumble under the increasing gravitational force, the barrels of chemicals crushed as easily as soda cans and the grass pressed into the dirt with so much power that the chemicals that saturated it seemed to evaporate, coating the field in a sickly pinkish-purple mist. This toxic air seeped into the airways of both pokemon, poisoning them both!
"Woah!" Angelo called out. "I just did that to make some of my moves more accurate! What happened?!"
"Didn't think we'd get a field transition!" Mauro stated. "This is now a Corrosive Mist Field and with a change in scenery, there are a change in rules. Let's see if these two can adjust to their new environment!"
"If the field changed then I hope this works! Torterra, Seed Bomb!"
Much to Aiden's relief, the Seed Bomb attack didn't appear to be affected by the field, with the Ghost pokemon taking the full force of the attack and coughing in pain from the toxic air.
"Hang in there, Dusclops! Use Possess!"
The Beckon pokemon's eyes began to change from a deep red to a dark grey as it's formed changed to a black mass that sped towards Torterra, enveloping the Continent pokemon before either it or Aiden could react, covering it's body in a black cloak. The shape of the Grass pokemon's body began to contort and bend in a manner that looked physically impossible, especially for something the size of Torterra, causing the beast to cry out in agony. Once Dusclops was finished assaulting it's prey, the cloak jumped off of Torterra's head, converting itself back into its normal form and leaving its victim writhing.
"Torterra, hang in there! Use Crunch!"
Collecting itself just long enough, Torterra lunged forward and sank it's massive jaws into Dusclops, who was unable to move away with its attack leaving it in close range. The combination of of the super effective attack, the Leech Seed and the poisonous air caused the Beckon pokemon to lose consciousness, calling out its name in a slow, low-pitched moan.
However, once Torterra released it's target from its mouth, the poison sapped away the last of its energy, causing the large pokemon to collapse in a heap along with Dusclops.
"Another double knockout! Aiden has the lead with three against Angelo's last two pokemon! Can Angelo mount a comeback, or is this battle heading towards a victory for Aiden?" Mauro announced.
"If we get more double knockouts then it's definitely looking to be the latter."
Without a moment of hesitation, Aiden sent his Arcanine back out into the battle whereas Angelo sent out a Flareon. The smaller Fire pokemon taking a particularly hard hit from the Stealth Rocks. However, just as the pokemon that fought before them, the mist poisoned the two
"Hmm, looks like we had the same idea in mind." Angelo pondered, to which Aiden gave him a curious look.
"Maybe, it depends on what you think I'm trying to do with this move. Arcanine, Morning Sun!"
"Oh no you don't! Flareon, Flare Blitz!"
A ray of sunlight shone down from the now setting sun, making the purple mist of the field turn into almost a light lavender as the light washed over the canine, restoring some of it's strength as the Flame pokemon's body was cloaked in it's namesake as orange as the sky above. With a sudden dash, Flareon charged at the much larger pokemon, the intense heat of its attack causing the toxins in the mist to spark and pop, powering up the attack even further.
"It won't matter how much you heal either!" Angelo added. "My Flareon has Guts for its ability, so this attack is gonna hit hard, with or without the type resistance!"
Aiden kept a stern look on his face as the Flare Blitz drew closer and closer to his Arcanine. When the attack finally did connect, an explosion rocked the entire field for just a singular moment before all of the flames were absorbed into Arcanine's body, leaving the larger fighter unharmed.
"Wait WHAT?!" Angelo shouted. "How?!"
"Arcanine's ability is Flash Fire, so any fire move you try is useless. Now let's fight back with this; Arcanine, Extreme Speed!"
With a strike too fast for anyone to see, Flareon was knocked back to its trainer's side of the field, the damage from the poison only making it's damage from the attack worse.
"Use Quick Attack to get in close!" Angelo ordered.
'Going back in close? What is he planning?' Aiden thought. "Keep your eyes peeled, Arcanine!"
The canine stood firm as the Flame pokemon zigzagged around the arena, steadily drawing closer to its foe.
"Now switch it up with Façade!" Angelo commanded.
"Façade?!"
Flareon began to glow in a white and orange aura as it charged at Arcanine in a surprisingly slow move that the larger pokemon was easily able to evade with a jump backwards.
"Huh... well that was anticlimacti-" Corey was about to say before Flareon rolled the moment it touched the ground again, breaking out into a full blown sprint and bashing Arcanine in the head, jumping off after the hit and landing a fair distance away.
The canine pokemon was left choking on the toxic air after the attack, it's ears drooping and a low whine croaking out of its throat.
"Now it's weak, and since we cant use fire attacks, let's finish it with Superpower!"
"Come on Arcanine! If we're going down then we have to go down fighting! Flare Blitz!"
The two fire type pokemon became emblazoned in two different auras, one of actual fire burning intensely off of Arcanine, with the air practically exploding like fireworks around it. With Flareon, it's aura was a dark red and the muscles of its body swelled up ever so slightly before the two ran at each other at a breakneck speed.
For the two trainers, time almost felt like it was at a standstill when the attacks collided, the toxic air was now more polluted as smoke now filled the arena. Even after two full minutes, the smoke did not clear completely, instead settling into the mist though being clear enough for those on the field to see that both pokemon were knocked out.
"Is it over?" Corey asked. "I can't see from our announcer's booth..."
"I'm receiving word from our staff close to the field that both Angelo's Flareon and Aiden's Arcanine have knocked each other out. Angelo is down to his last pokemon!"
"Another double knockout and with one trainer down to his last pokemon." Corey noted with a shake of his head. "Things aren't looking so good for Angelo, but I'll admit, this battle has definitely kept me interested!"
From back down on the field, Angelo recalled his Flareon back into its ball, after a deep breath he looked right at Aiden. It was still tough for them to actually see each other but they both knew their eyes were locked.
"You knew I was going to use this next pokemon, so let's see if you can handle it! Empoleon, it's up to you!"
With a confident toss of his pokeball, Angelo's Empoleon landed onto the field with an aura of power emanating from it. With its Steel typing, the mist's poisoning effects failed to work. Aiden could also spot a faint glimmer from the neck of Empoleon...
'What is that?' He thought. 'It might be some Mystic Water but I can't see clearly enough to confirm it. I can sent out Electivire to try and end this quickly but Angelo has thrown me for a loop before, his Empoleon might be prepared for Electric attacks. Plus this field will end up making things harder for Electivire anyway... Alright, I've made my choice!'
With his strategy now made up, Aiden sent out his penultimate pokemon: a Scizor.
"I've just received word that Aiden has chosen to use his Scizor to go against Angelo's Empoleon." Mauro explained. "These two seem to really enjoy using pokemon of the same type against each other."
"Are they trying to drag this out and use ineffective moves against each other?" Corey pondered. "Because that's honestly dumb..."
"Why don't we just watch what happens..."
"Didn't think you'd use a Scizor against my Empoleon." Angelo said, raising his eyebrow in intrigue.
"I wanted to save the best for last." Aiden responded. "But for now; Scizor, use Defog!"
The Pincer pokemon crossed its arms and stopped its wings from moving before swiping at the air with enough force to completely clear the toxic mist from the field and wipe it from existence!
"Ah, good, now we can see!" Mauro sighed in relief.
"Yeah, but now field effects have been nullified. They'll basically be battling on a plain, boring field." Corey groaned.
"So that's what you wanted to do." Angelo nodded. "Now you're gonna try to weaken Empoleon for your last pokemon, but I won't let you! Show 'em Empoleon!"
Aiden then saw the item dangling from the Emperor pokemon's neck and his heart nearly stopped when he recognized it as a piece of Waterium Z that his opponent activated with a Mega Z-Ring.
"Is it a waste to use this right now? Maybe, but who cares! We're gonna go all out with this! Ready, Empoleon? Use Hydro Vortex!"
With a roar, Empoleon summoned a large wave of water from what appeared to be nowhere that flooded the field before suddenly pulling Scizor into a whirlpool that battered and shredded the Bug pokemon, spinning it around as it went along with the current. Empoleon then leaped skyward, then diving into the center of the whirlpool, spinning in the opposite direction like a drill. Once it entered the water, the whirlpool exploded in a gigantic burst that evaporated all of the water instantly and left Scizor knocked out on the ground.
"That was absolutely insane!" Corey shouted from the announce booth. "I've never seen a Z-Move up close, and I wasn't even close!"
"That attack was very impressive, and with it, Angelo has officially tied things up. It's all down to this folks! What will Aiden's last pokemon be?"
'Man, I didn't expect a Z-Crystal. Now its up to Electivire and even if it was a Z-move his Empoleon must be crazy strong if it knocked out Scizor that easily. But Electivire is just as strong!'
"Alright, this is it!" Aiden said as he sent out his starter pokemon. The Thunderbolt pokemon roared as it beat its chest in a rhythm only matched by a Rillaboom before it looked at Empoleon right in the eyes, neither pokemon appearing to back down.
"Aha, so you did have something that could counter my Empoleon!" Angelo began. "Or so you thought! My Empoleon is strong enough to handle any electric pokemon that comes our way and we'll show you with this! Empoleon, Aqua Jet!"
The Emperor pokemon cloaked itself in more water from nowhere and with a leap, Empoleon landed on the ground and used it to slide forward on its belly, colliding with Electivire's legs, causing it to fall to its knees.
"Now end this with Hydro Cannon!"
"Block it, Electivire!"
The water pokemon's eyes began to glow cerulean blue as Electivire brought its arms in front of its face. Suddenly, a torrent of water erupted from Empoleon's beak with such force that the water resembled a dam bursting.
"Holy smokes! Look at the sheer power of that attack!" Mauro exclaimed.
Once the attack finally ended, Empoleon smirked and looked down upon Electivire with a pompous pose. The electric pokemon remained on its knees, its hair covering its eyes as it lowered its arms slowly.
"E-Electivire?" Aiden asked nervously.
The Thunderbolt pokemon roared in anger as it rose to its feet, now glowering at Empoleon, who looked on in both awe and horror.
"What?!" Angelo called out in disbelief.
"I'll be honest Angelo, you almost had me going there for a second! But we didn't get this far just to go down that easily. you're no doubt one of the toughest trainers I've faced so far, but we're just as tough! Electivire, show him how tough we are with that special combo we practiced!" Aiden exclaimed.
"Special combo?!" Angelo and the announcers said almost simultaneously, with varying emotions.
"Ready Electivire? Let's do it; Thunder Breaker!"
With a powerful roar, Electivire reached out and grabbed Empoleon's head, shocking it with an electrical discharge from the palm of the Thunderbolt pokemon's hand before absolutely battering it with an intense Close Combat before delivering a chokeslam to the water pokemon with enough force to have it bounce on the ground. Electivire then slammed its fists together, forming a chain of electricity and shocking Empoleon enough for it to get launched back to Angelo, completely wiped out from the battle and unable to even stand back up.
"What an absolutely astonishing move! Our winner is Aiden!" Mauro proclaimed.
"What did he call that move? Thunder Breaker? I gotta see that again on the replay!" Corey added.
Angelo recalled his Empoleon, more awestruck at the attack than losing the battle while Aiden breathed a sigh of relief.
"That last attack was totally wicked!" Angelo praised as he and Aiden headed back to the hotel, the moon had begun to rise and it's nearly full form illuminated the sky. :You gotta show me how you did that!"
"Haha, sorry, trade secret!" Aiden replied. "Tell you what though, I'll train with you and help you make your own combo move."
"Wicked!" Angelo said in excitement before his expression changed to a more serious one as he began to look around. "Wait... did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Aiden asked, now looking around as well, now noticing that he and his new friend were alone...
Suddenly, the sound of a chainsaw revving up caught them by surprise as the silhouette of a four-legged beast lunged at them from above a single red light focused on them. The two boys jumped out of the way fast enough to avoid being shredded.
"What the heck is that?!" Angelo shouted.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's not a pokemon and it wants us out of the picture!"
The two sent out a pokemon they did not use during their battle, with Aiden using his Lapras and Angelo using a Pangoro.
The beast silently lunged again with knife-like claws at Lapras.
"Brick Break!"
Angelo's Pangoro swiftly delivered a swift chop to the enemy, alerting the boys to the fact that whatever was attacking them was some sort of machine. The machine was knocked away a fair bit, but was able to recover fairly quickly and launch some sort of projectile at the boys.
"Lapras, use Water Pulse!"
The Transport pokemon launched the attack at the ground, creating a barrier that blocked the projectiles and caused them to fall to the ground with an audible clanking sound.
"That thing's serious about wanting us gone!" Angelo said in a panic.
The robot dashed at Pangoro and quickly defeated it with a series of slashes with its claws and a chainsaw that the boys noticed was connected to its tail.
"No! Pangoro!"
Just as the enemy was preparing to use the chainsaw to finish Pangoro off, a voice called out from behind the two trainers.
"Shock Wave!"
A sudden bolt of blue lightning sped past the boys and zapped the mechanical menace, stunning it long enough the attackers to join the fray.
"Dr. Goff!" Aiden said in both relief and shock.
"Um, I'm sorry, but who are you?"
"He's my teacher from the Vermilion City Academy."
"Former teacher." Goff corrected. "I overheard some commotion and thought I would see what was going on."
The robot recovered and revved up its chainsaw before charging at Rotom.
"Discharge!" Goff called out. Rotom zipped up close to the mechanical mercenary and let loose a spherical wave of electricity, shocking the enemy again and damaging it enough for the red light to short circuit and turn off a few times before finally settling itself. With sparks crackling on its body at several points, the robot simply stared at the three for a moment before retreating into the shadows of the night.
"Whew, glad that's over!" Angelo sighed.
"Why did that thing even come after us?" Aiden asked.
"I fear it may have something to do with Team Dark Star." Goff answered, crossing his arms.
"You mean those guys that framed Jack as a criminal?"
"The very same. I've been assigned to watch over this tournament and make sure they don't try anything that would endanger the people here."
"No offense, but why would they send a teacher for this? Isn't this a job for the Officer Jenny's of the region?" Angelo pondered.
"To an extent, yes. But let's just say I have my own connection to the law, the Officer Jenny stationed here at the Indigo Plateau knows I'm here keeping watch."
"Well, if you say so..."
"So what makes you think Team Dark Star is behind this?"
"We have reports and records taken from their old base in Celadon City that show that they've been experimenting with a Mightyena that has been restructured into some sort of android." Goff explained as he went to go pick up one of the projectiles that the attacker launched. "Just as I expected, whatever attacked you used a special knife that has been a magma shard embedded within it."
"Magma shard?" Aiden asked.
"Yes, there's an old legend that the Magma Stone commonly associated with Heatran is actually a small chunk of a larger stone that comes from the Earth's core. This stone has eroded over time and created multiple Magma Stones, some of which have broken apart into smaller shards. It's possible that Team Dark Star is using these shards or have found some way to harness the heat of one into weaponry."
"This is making my brain hurt..." Angelo moaned.
"So are you saying that we may have been attacked by that android Mightyena?" Aiden asked.
"Perhaps, I don't know for sure if it was the Mightyena since we unfortunately don't have that much information on them yet. However, what we do know is that if they can turn one innocent pokemon into an android, then they can do it to others. What makes this more worrying is that sending just one member of their team to do something like this isn't how they operate, as they usually travel in groups of at least two."
"So there could be another one nearby?!"
"No, if there was then they would have already come. But I won't risk leaving you two alone, I'll escort you back to where the other trainers are and report this incident to the authorities."
"Thanks, Doc." Aiden said in relief, he couldn't help but smile, even after leaving the academy he still had his old teacher helping him out. As they walked to the hotel Aiden remembered the walk he and the rest of his old classmates took from the academy, through Diglett's Tunnel, and all the way to Pallet Town where he first received his Elekid.
He had grown so much since then, and experienced so many different things. But never anything like what just happened. He had had wild pokemon jump out and attack him before, but those were pokemon that could be fought off and beaten. Whatever attack the two boys was not only unrelenting in its attacks, it also seemed far more resilient as well. The fact that it attacked them when they only had one pokemon at full strength was also worrying...
But once the three approached the hotel, the fear and anxiety Aiden had faded away.
"Alright boys, you should be safe here." Goff began. It's extremely unlikely for anyone to try attacking you here, League staff and security will be on guard, especially when I notify them of this."
"Cool." Angelo said. "I'm gonna go grab some food and then I'm heading to bed because after that, I definitely need it."
"Yeah, that's an understatement." Aiden agreed.
"Be safe, boys!" Goff said, just as the two trainers were about to head inside, the teacher said one last thing. "Oh, and Aiden, congratulations on your victory!"
"Damn that cop!"
Typhoon slammed his fist on the table, spilling a cup of coffee that lay close to him.
"Calm down."
The Dark Star admin turned and saw Meridia looming over him, her presence making the man jump a bit.
"Just because the trainers walked away unscathed does not mean the test was a failure. We now have the data we need to begin mass production of the RM copies, speaking of which, did you think of a proper name for them yet?"
"No, I haven't thought of one yet."
"I see, then how about... Fenrir. I overheard some of the lab Rattata's wanting to use a more technical term but I like Fenrir so we'll go with that."
"Fine..." Typhoon grumbled.
"Now, the boss wanted to see me, so go spread the word about the name of our new toys."
The young man begrudgingly followed the orders of his associate, who casually sauntered off to Singularity's office. With a polite knock, the woman entered the room, where the Team Dark Star boss waited for her in his seat.
"Right on time as per usual." He greeted. Meridia silently sat down in the chair that sat opposite of the man, who casually had his hands folded on his desk. "It appears as though all of our plans are running smoothly."
"Does that mean that we can finally move on to the reason why I joined this organization in the first place?" The woman asked impatiently, a stern look in her eye.
"Patience. We need all personnel available when we make our move."
"And when are we going to make our move?! We have been sitting here like Psyduck waiting for your orders and all you've been doing is sitting here!" She snapped. "All I want is to see that man suffer!"
"And that time will come! Take a look at this." Singularity responded, sliding a piece of paper to the woman, who looked at it in confusion. "This is the schedule for the Hoenn League Champion's upcoming battles, one that will be coming up will have the Champion battling an old rival of his."
"Is this rival an agent of ours?"
"No, but my wife has predicted that the Champion will lose that battle." Singularity said, prompting a smirk from Meridia.
"But what does that have to do with us waiting to attack the Tournament here in Kanto?"
"His son, as you may be aware, is participating in the tournament alongside his companions. The day the Champion loses his title will be the day we strike. Because of the distance between Hoenn and Kanto, there is no feasible way he will be able to get there in time, even with the usage of Teleport or even an Eon Flute. He will watch as his son and his friends suffer while he will be left unable to do anything!" Singularity explained, this got Meridia to smile wickedly and laugh.
"Oh, how I misjudged you!" Meridia cackled. "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! I will await your order with bated breath!"
"I appreciate your enthusiasm, especially considering your relationship with the Champion and the boy."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about our connection, he seems to have forgotten about it long ago. Long enough for the boy to not even know was until I first spoke to him in Viridian Forest."
"I see. Well, then that leaves just one thing." Singularity stated. "I need a lock of your hair."
"...Excuse me? You have a wife..."
"Not like that, you fool!" Singularity retorted, a disgusted look plastered on his face. "This is one more project I am working on, I've already collected samples from the boy and the traitors. I needed one more sample so as not to waste any material being used."
"You are a very strange man, but since you are ensuring that the man I hate suffers..." Meridia sighed as she plucked a piece of her platinum blonde hair from her head and handed it to the man.
"Excellent. This meeting is adjourned."
Once Meridia left, Singularity pressed a button underneath his desk which opened a door to a secret room. The room had seven large pods full of a green substance bubbling inside, six of which had a large mass floating within them. The TDS boss placed Meridia's strand of hair within the empty tank and turned to a computer that was stationed closeby which had a message on the screen in bright green.
'DNA substance accepted'
After pressing a few keys, the man watched as the hair twitched a bit before sitting still. Some of the other masses twitched within their containers as well. An insane smile grew on his face as he continued to watch his work...
Thank you all for your continued patience with this story, I understand that it has been ongoing for quite a long time now but the action will pick up more in the coming chapters, especially with this tournament going into more important battles. I hope you all have enjoyed the chapter and will remain patient until the next one.
