Chapter 3: Big trouble in little Lumiose
"Riolu, force palm!"
"Ok Pikachu dodge it quick and counter with iron tail!"
Riolu raised its paw, now coated in a radiant yellow aura and charged forward. In time with ash's call Pikachu nimbly leaped to the side and used its momentum to bring down a devastating iron tail, sending a dazed Riolu crashing to the ground.
Jack bit his lip, Riolu was getting beaten up pretty badly at this rate they'd be finished in a matter of minutes.
"Riolu get up, cmon buddy you've got this!" He cried.
Meeting its trainers gaze the small aura Pokémon raised itself steadily to a standing position,
"Don't count us out yet ash we've still got some fight left in us." Jack called over to the boy standing at the opposite end of the field.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Replied ash nodding at his Pikachu who began to irradiate powerful waves of electrical energy.
"Ok then Riolu let's try this again, Force palm!"
Riolu charged yet again at Pikachu who primed itself to leap away,
"Dodge it Pikachu and use-" Ash began to shout all too late.
"Alright Riolu grab hold of Pikachu's tail!"
With that Riolu pivoted on its heel catching hold of Pikachu by its tail, raising its glowing paw as it did so.
"NOW FORCE PALM!"
The attack connected with a shockwave which scattered dust around the area and blew both Pokémon backwards into the dirt. Both trainers called a plea to their partners to get up and slowly but surely both Pokémon struggled to their feet.
Unfortunately for Jack Pikachu was faster.
"Now buddy let's wrap this up with a thunderbolt!"
Riolu tried in vain to evade the attack as the cascading beam of electricity engulfed his tiny form and caused him to cry out a singular and continuous "Rarrrghh" in pain.
And with that he dropped to the ground.
Clemont rushed forward "Riolu is unable to battle, that means the winner is Ash."
Jack hurried toward his fallen Pokémon muttering thanks before returning it to its Pokeball and turning his face to Ash who was now had Pikachu safely back on his shoulder and was standing over him.
"Hey man that was a good battle, you're not half bad for a beginner." Ash stated as he to Jack's hand to help him up
"Likewise" replied Jack, "that was amazing how'd you learn to battle like that?"
"Eh, I've been in the game a long time" Ash shrugged, "couple of league circuits y'know the usual."
"Woah" Jack said, utterly in awe "that's awesome dude, I can't wait to see what you can do at a Pokémon league!"
"Ok ok calm it fanboy." Ash laughed "you'll find out soon enough, cos I wanna battle you right there."
"You bet."
"Hey guys" chipped in Bonnie, whose presence the pair had completely disregarded until that point. "Hate to get in the way of a budding bromance, but don't you think we should all be getting home maybe?" She said gesturing at the clock hanging precariously over the door to the pokecenter.
She was of course right, glancing up Jack saw it was already late into the night, he'd been so enthralled in his debut battle he'd completely forgot to not only tell his Mother he'd be staying another day in Lumiose but also to get home in the first place.
"Guess you're right Bonnie." He responded with a grin "big day tomorrow!"
:***:
Jack winced in the brilliant glare of the morning sun as he stepped down from his apartment door allowing it to slide shut with a soft 'click' behind him. It was indeed another glorious day in the city (as most days often were in the central-most part of Kalos) the noted as he pulled his trusty and well worn cap over his eyes to shield them from the continued assault from the sun, basking mix of light summer breeze and earthy scent blowing over from the arid desert west of where he now stood allowing it to linger around his face as he stepped out onto the busy street outside before pivoting left on his heel and setting off at a leisurely pace.
The Professor's lab seemed to reflect his cheerful mood with the morning rays accentuating the delicate and rustic architecture Jack had previously recognised but not taken time to fully appreciate, inside the bookshelves seemed to burst with all the colours of their paged contents and the whir of complex machinery sounded more like a relaxing chorus than a drawling continuous growl.
Ash Clemont and Bonnie were already waiting for him as agreed in the professors study huddled around a fierce shark like Pokémon with a peculiar contraption around its neck.
"Ah Jack welcome." The professor said appearing from behind the behemoth, "come on in I'm almost done here, and if my calculations are correct we're about to witness something spectacular!"
Needing no further invitation Jack stepped forward and joined the fray.
"So what exactly is it you're working on professor sycamore?" Clemont asked.
"This my dear Clemont is the very fruit of my research here, you see it is my belief that Pokémon long ago had yet another evolutionary stage or rather mega evolution we do not see today, but my investigations suggest that it may be possible to unlock this secret yet again!" exclaimed the professor with such gusto it was hard not to be captivated by his words.
"Awesome!" They all cried "can we see it now please professor? Won't you let us see it?"
"Well all the preparations are in place so of course I'd be happy to let you witness it." He said
At that moment three rather odd looking scientists strode into the room with a hefty box which they opened to reveal two perfectly spherical patterned stones.
"Ah good." said the professor, " now Garchomp." he addressed the huge shark like Pokémon this time "if you're ready."
"Garchomp Gar Gar"
With that the professor accepted the box from the odd looking scientists and after taking the two stones carefully in his hands, fixed them one after the other to the strange contraption around Garchomp's neck as well as to a spherical bracelet he withdrew from a set of draws under his cluttered desk.
"Now allow me, Professor Augustine Sycamore, to introduce you to my life's work." He announced to the room despite it only being occupied by a handful of people.
He now raised the hand in which he held the bracelet.
"Garchomp, if you would, MEGA EVOLVE."
As the professor said this light burst from both stones in a spectral explosion, arching through the air to form a bridge between Professor and Pokémon.
Garchomp then cried out as it began to glow with a mysterious purple aura which engulfed the Pokémon momentarily before dissipating to reveal to the crowd again Garchomp, only now even more monstrously fearsome and from what Jack could tell exponentially more deadly, with its almost Fin like arms being swapped now for two hulking cleavers coloured with a forewarning much like the startling jaws which were lined with rows of pointed teeth.
"Garr." it bellowed in a deep gravelly tone of voice.
At this Sycamore merely collapsed into the chair situated conveniently behind him before breaking into a series of whooping laughs as the actualisation of his achievements set in.
"Its beautiful." he incoherently mumbled to himself as he ran his fingers through messy black locks. "we did it.. we actually pulled it off!"
"Yes." a new voice said malice evident in every syllable, "Very impressive Professor, very impressive indeed."
At this Jack and his friends swiftly turned, only to be blinded by a flurry of white as three lab-coats floated gracefully through the air to land at the feet of the three scientists, who as it turned out were not scientists at all but a man, a woman and two Pokémon: one balancing precariously on top of the other like a strange organic totem pole.
Lab-coats had been replaced by strangely striking white and black uniforms with a red R plastered on the front, the man had short purple hair whilst the woman's was a sickening pink curled into a precise loop. The two Pokémon (which the Pokédex identified as a Meowth and a Wobbufet) disentangled themselves and now stood in position in front of their accomplices.
"Prepare for trouble." The woman exclaimed
"And make it double." the man quipped
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all people within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jesse"
"James"
"Team rocket blasts off at the speed of light."
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Team rocket, not you guys again." Sighed Ash Clemont and Bonnie in unison.
"Fret not twerp" said the man known as James "we come only for the power the Professor has so kindly demonstrated, hand over Garchomp now and we can bring the power of mega evolution back to its rightful place in the possession of team rocket."
"And then we'll finally be the boss's top dogs" the Meowth added
Hold on, Jack thought to himself, a talking Meowth. How is that even possible?
Jack did not have time to voice this question as to his left Ash replied with a shout of "help you guys? no way, now get lost!"
"suit yourself twerp." Jesse cackled as she produced a strange looking cubic device from her pocket which she threw with laser like accuracy straight at Garchomp. Garchomp recoiled as the cube bound itself to its neck and began to glow with an ominous red light.
Garchomp exploded with rage.
The last thing Jack remembered was being flung backwards alongside his friends into a heavy bookshelf by the force of Garchomp releasing an eruption of energy straight at team rocket.
:***:
Serena simply hated riding Rhyhorn. Clambering back into the saddle as her mother shouted words of encouragement she tried yet again to get the large boulder of a Pokémon to move. She had no such luck.
Yet again she found herself face down on the ground after being thrown straight forwards out of the saddle. standing yet again, she made her way over to her mother who was leaning looking pleased over a makeshift wooden fence,
"You're getting better at this Serena, keep it up!"
"Doesn't feel like it mom, it feels like bruised elbows and a grazed face." She replied
"All part of the learning curve" said her mom with a grin "come on then let's get home we can work on it again tomorrow."
Turning to look at the green pasture where the saddled Rhyhorn now sat grazing Serena wished otherwise.
:***:
"Aipom arm go!" Jack faintly heard Clemont yell as he dazedly came to his senses again. The first thing he noticed was he was trapped, second thing he noticed was Ash had gone, third thing was the strange purple arm extending from Clemonts back which now wrestled with the rubble piled on his chest.
When he'd finally managed - with the help of Clemont - to free himself he learned that after the commotion ash had recklessly ran after Garchomp, who (as they could see through a Lumiose news live feed on Clemont's 'Clemontic gear backpack') was now perched atop the upmost point of Lumiose city's prism tower.
"We've got to go and help" Jack demanded, getting to his feet and with that they all set off toward prism tower.
Following the path of carnage and after pushing through the gathering crowd of concerned onlookers they found ash and Pikachu at the base of the tower wrestling with a door that seemed to be sealed tightly shut.
"Stupid thing won't budge" Ash complained giving the door another tug "do any of you happen to know the gym leader? maybe they can open up this door."
Strangely Clemont and Bonnie exchanged a quick glance before Clemont stepped forward and said "sorry no, but I could try to hack it with my Clemontic gear."
"Fine by me" said ash stepping aside to let Clemont pass,
Minutes went by until Clemont stepped back wiping his brow as the door swung open, ash and Jack rushed inside and were about to be followed by Clemont and Bonnie when a tremendous roar echoed from above and rubble cascaded from the top of the tower to shower the doorway, blocking it off from the outside world and sealing Ash and Jack inside.
"Guess it's just you and me then." Jack said
"Yeah" ash replied in hush tones "let's get going quickly then."
They climbed and climbed what felt like 4000 indistinguishable flights of stairs until they finally reached a solid metal doorway which unlike the last opened with ease into a nauseating drop which made jacks knees weak and his head spin.
"Guess we're out here from now on." ash said gesturing to a nearby ladder running the rest of the way up prism tower.
"Are you insane?" Asked Jack in disbelief "it's way too risky."
"Not when Garchomp is still up there in pain." Ash retorted and choosing not to argue with Ash, Jack started to climb.
Panting from exhaustion Jack stretched out his hand to clasp ash's and haul his friend up over the ledge, there a mere 12 ft away stood the towering figure of Garchomp writhing in agony and clawing at its makeshift collar, all the while edging dangerously closer to the edge.
"Garchomp" ash called out as he and Jack advanced forward "you've got to listen to me, fight it Garchomp please"
Garchomp turned to face them head on before releasing a devastating hyper beam which the two boys had to dive to avoid. Jack sensed it wouldn't be so easy to get rid of the collar and readied Riolu's Pokeball from his belt.
"Ok Riolu come on out"
A flash of light and Riolu appeared upon the metal plating of the the tower with a light thud as ash called Pikachu from his shoulder.
"Ok Pikachu use quick attack and aim for the collar" ash commanded
"Riolu cover Pikachu with a double team"
Dozens of Riolu clones sprung up in the area and charged as Pikachu streaked ahead of the pack being easily swatted away like a fly as a Hyperbeam dealt with the double team.
"Alright let's try again" Jack said meeting ash's gaze
"Pikachu iron tail toward Riolu let's go!"
"Riolu, concentrate then force palm straight towards Garchomp!"
The manoeuvre was foolhardy yes but for a split second it seemed to have worked, Pikachu shot forward with a blast of energy as Riolu propelled it with a powerful force palm, Pikachu then turning in mid air to bring down a hardened iron tail on Garchomp's collar shattering it into pieces.
All seemed to be well until it wasn't.
Pikachu, carried forward further than anticipated by force palm toppled over the great frame of Garchomp and straight over the side of the tower. Ash realising what was about to happen sprinted towards it leaping over the edge himself in a futile effort to save his beloved partner.
Jack watched the events unfold in horror as he rushed to the ledge to see his friends fall in seemingly slow motion toward their doom. Then a flash of orange light and they were gone.
:***:
Ash had been sure he was about to die, although he wasn't at all concerned as he clutched Pikachu tight to his chest he was happy that his partner was here with him to the very end.
What he didn't anticipate was the air becoming slowly hotter and hotter before his feet touched solid ground once more and he walked away seemingly unharmed.
Turning to face his saviour, Ash's jaw dropped. there stood a Blaziken unlike any Blaziken he had ever seen; more refined and powerful with an apparent aura of unmatchable strength accompanied by a man wearing a mask bearing resemblance to his Pokémon companion.
Ash opened his mouth to thank them both but just like that in a flash of red and orange both were gone.
:***:
Upon returning to the lab they were greeted by a eternally grateful sycamore who treated them all to a complimentary dinner, although none of them much felt like eating anything after the days events before finally getting to the subject of Jack's Pokémon journey.
"So Jack seen as though you already managed to find yourself a Pokémon partner I won't need to go through the process of letting you select a starter Pokémon." He explained "therefore to my knowledge there remains only one thing left to do and that is to register you and ash here to compete in the upcoming Kalos league conference."
With that the professor took their Pokédex's and placed them into a machine which responded immediately with a display of each of their trainer profiles on a digitised screen before turning green.
"Alright we're good to go" said the professor before handing them a fancy looking case each which he explained was for gym badge storage.
"All I can do now is wish you the best of luck on your adventure, oh and please do try to have fun along the way!"
Stepping through the doors of the lab for the last time the group paused at the end of the pathway leading to the wide road that stretched far off into the distance both ways, left and right.
"So." Jack said trying to convey the thought which had been burning inside him to the rest of them "what now?"
"Isn't it obvious." Replied Ash Clemont and Bonnie in unison.
"we stick to together" said Bonnie
"We're a team" said Clemont
"If you'll have us along for the journey." Said Ash
"Guys, I wouldn't have it any other way, let's go see what Kalos has to offer!"
"Fro?"
They turned in surprise.
There sitting on the pathway behind them was a Froakie, the same one Jack could only presume that Ash had rescued the day before now recovered from its injuries. In front of it lay a Pokeball which it nudged forward before making eye contact with ash.
"You want to come along too Froakie?" ash questioned the small blue frog Pokémon
"Froakie fro." It confirmed
"Alright then!" Ash shouted in excitement "welcome to the team Froakie!"
He threw the Pokeball through the air as it collided with Froakie transporting it inside, shaking three times before becoming still with a final click.
"I just caught a Froakie!" Ash exclaimed as he turned to the rest of the group.
They all congratulated him on his capture before Jack interrupted "c'mon guys Kalos isn't going to see itself, race you there!"
"Race us where?"
"Anywhere, that's the fun bit!"
And with that they set off together
:***:
Sitting in bed that night Serena couldn't help but reflect on the scenes she had witnessed on the Lumiose news, less troubled by the events of the day but rather who they had involved. "That boy" she couldn't help but think to herself "it has to be him, there's no doubt about it." Turning on the bedside lamp she pulled open a drawer to reveal a neatly folded handkerchief, staring at it fondly as if reminiscing about a sweet memory. In that moment deciding if he was here in Kalos she would find him.
End of chapter 3
So, that's the end of the sort of prologue to the story and albeit it similar to the anime plot wise I figured you shouldn't fix what isn't broken as it was already pretty damn good. Anyway from now on it's mainly on the road Journeys where I intend to implement some of my own custom towns and cities if that's something you guys would like. Anyways feel free to leave a review if you've enjoyed it so far and yeah I'll see you in the next one.
Destros
