A Stealthy Challenge
Alec's POV
The group had stopped by a river so Ash could take the opportunity to train. "Froakie, use Water Pulse, let's go!" Ash commanded. Froakie fired his water orb at the tree Ash decided to use as training. "Yeah, that was great," Ash commented.
[Could be better,] Froakie admitted.
"Next up, it's you Pikachu. Thunderbolt, let's go!" Ash said. Pikachu used Thunderbolt on the same tree.
"Pikachu and Froakie are really fired up, aren't they?" Bonnie stated.
[We'll we're pretty good motivators,] Ethan commented.
"What makes you say that?" Alec asked.
"Keep it up! You look great!" Serena told Ash and his Pokémon.
[What's… Bonnie! Something's coming this way! Down the river!] Dedenne told Bonnie. Alec and Ethan looked as well and saw something floating in the river.
"Look! Something's floating this way!" Bonnie warned the group. As the object got closer, it turned out to be two someones. A boy in a ninja costume who was holding on to his Greninja. Greninja looked seriously wounded and appeared to be poisoned.
"It's Sanpei!" Ash shouted. He, Froakie and Pikachu dove into the water to get him out.
"Blubber, help them out!" Alec shouted as he threw out his Walrein. Ash grabbed Sanpei as Blubber floated up to put Greninja on his back. The two swam back to shore and Alec and Clemont saw to what they could do for Greninja as Ash tried to wake up Sanpei. Clemont gave Greninja as Pecha Berry to cure the poison and Alec gave him a Sitrus Berry.
"Yeah! He's awake!" Alec heard Bonnie say. He turned around and saw Sanpei starting to move.
"Where's Greninja?" he asked Ash when he saw him.
"Hey don't worry. Look behind you," Ash told Sanpei. He turned and saw Greninja, who was starting to get his strength back.
"He's had a Pecha and Sitrus Berry so that should help," Alec told Sanpei.
"Who are you?" Sanpei asked and Alec could detect the suspicion in his voice.
"I'm Alec, and this is Ethan," Alec introduced himself.
[Calm down Sanpei, I'm fine,] Greninja said.
"Well, at least you're feeling better Greninja," Sanpei said, hearing Greninja's reassuring tone. "Thanks for helping you four," Sanpei said to everyone but Alec. Alec decided not to tell Sanpei that his Pokémon pulled Greninja out of the water.
"No prob, but Alec helped too. It was his Walrein that pulled Greninja out of the water," Ash said, also noticing that Sanpei didn't thank him.
"Well, thanks I guess," Sanpei said to Alec, but Alec could tell that Sanpei didn't trust him.
"So Sanpei is that…" Ash started, looking at Greninja curiously.
"Yep. My Frogadier evolved into Greninja," Sanpei said.
[Congratulations,] Froakie said to Greninja.
[Thank you,] Greninja responded.
"Sanpei, how was Greninja poisoned in the first place?" Clemont asked.
"Are you sure we can trust him?" Sanpei asked the group, looking at Alec with suspicion.
"There you are," a voice suddenly called out. Looking at the river the same voice said, "Ninja Water Spout," as the water spout appeared and a person wearing a Shiftry mask and a Barbaracle appeared from it.
"There they are. Those two are the ones who attacked us," Sanpei said.
"Those two?" Ash asked.
"Indeed, and soon the Secret Scroll will be mine. Barbaracle, Razor Shell!" the man ordered.
"Root, Leaf Blade!" Alec shouted as he threw the Poké Ball. Root came out and the two attacks clashed.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt now!" Ash shouted. Pikachu's attack hit its mark, but Barbaracle shrugged it off like it was nothing.
"But how?! It looks fine!" Serena said in shock.
"Barbaracle must have trained to resist electric type attack," Alec guessed.
"I have no idea what's going on, but we need to get out of here!" Clemont said.
Sanpei looked at Alec suspiciously before saying, "Alright. Ninja Leaf Shroud!" A tornado appeared where they were standing and before long the group was in the nearby forest.
"Good thing we got out of there," Bonnie said.
"Who was that guy?" Ash asked Sanpei.
"What did he mean by 'Secret Scroll'?" Clemont asked.
"Are we sure we can trust him?" Sanpei asked the group, looking at Alec.
"What's wrong with Alec?" Serena asked.
"It's okay Serena. After what you've gone through, I'm not surprised he doesn't trust me. I don't trust him either," Alec stated. The two glared at each other before Sanpei gave in.
"Well, he already knows I have it, so I might as well show you all," Sanpei said. "He meant this," he told the group as he pulled out the scroll. "This scroll has to be delivered, and it has to be done before sundown. That is my mission. Sizo sent me, he's a master ninja and my trainer too. He gave me this assignment and while I was on route, that man with the Barbaracle intercepted us. We tried to fight him, but Greninja was hit with Poison Jab," Sanpei explained and Alec shivered when he heard Poison Jab.
"You okay Alec?" Bonnie asked, seeing Alec's response.
"I'm good," Alec answered, but feeling a little worried.
"I don't know why he's after the Secret Scroll, but I have to get it to my destination," Sanpei finished. "Now, I'd better be on my way."
"I wanna go with you," Ash told Sanpei.
[Yeah, we can help,] Pikachu added.
[What do you say?] Froakie asked Greninja.
[I don't see a problem,] Greninja replied.
"I appreciate the thought, but we were given the mission. We can do this ourselves," Sanpei said.
"What do you mean? I can't leave my friend in danger," Ash told him.
"He's right. And there's strength in numbers," Serena added.
"And Alec's a super-strong trainer. He could probably bet that masked ninja easily," Bonnie stated.
"They're right," Clemont said to Sanpei.
"If you four are going, then I will as well. As Bonnie said, I'm the strongest one here," Alec told the group.
"Kay, you can come. But promise me when things go wrong, you'll take care of yourselves first," Sanpei requested.
"Promise. Let's go," Ash said as he was about to take off.
"Hold on," Clemont said and Ash stopped to listen. "First things first, we need a plan to deal with that masked ninja," Clemont told the group.
"But what?" Serena asked.
"First, we need to distract and confuse Sanpei's pursuers. That's really important. Which means, the future is now thanks to science! Clemontic Gear on!" Clemont said as he pulled out robots that looked like the group, including Sanpei. Anticipating this situation, I proceeded to invent this very machine. I call it: The Robo Step-by-Step!" Clemont explained. "They want to use ninja techniques, so we'll counter them using science."
The machine then headed off in a direction that would look like they were heading for the destination. "We'd better get moving. That won't fool him for long," Alec stated. The group nodded and headed off in another direction.
After a while, Sanpei checked the map he was given. "This is where we are. And this is the manor," Sanpei said, pointing to the two locations.
"That means we'll have to wind around this way," Clemont said, pointing to a road.
"But if we do that, then there's no way we'll get there before the sun goes down," Sanpei pointed out.
"And you won't be able to deliver the scroll on time," Serena added.
"We could fly. Alec still has Flame," Bonnie said.
"But Flame is the only flying Pokémon I have. And he can carry up to three people max but even that's pushing it. And if this masked ninja has any brains, he'll have some way of knocking Pokémon out of the sky. That would just separate us," Alec pointed out.
"Are there any shortcuts?" Ash asked.
"There's one, but I can't take you there. I'd worry about all of you," Sanpei answered.
"Don't worry. We can handle it, no matter what," Ash said confidently.
[We've faced things you could dream of,] Pikachu stated.
[I believe in us,] Froakie added.
"It will be a breeze, don't you think Dedenne?" Bonnie asked.
[We can do it,] Dedenne said.
"Then we'd better get moving," Alec told the group.
"Agreed," Clemont added.
"Alright then, let's go," Sanpei said.
The group ended up going along the side of a cliff that Sanpei said was a path that ninja's used often. While Alec, Ash, Sanpei, and Serena were able to balance enough to walk across, Clemont and Bonnie were crawling. Alec was behind Sanpei with the rest of the group behind him and Ash bringing up the rear. Ethan had hopped onto Alec's shoulder and Root was walking right behind Alec, putting his claws into the cliff to help stabilize himself. Alec then heard screaming and saw Serena and Clemont were falling after a bit of the path fell off. "Ethan! Psychic!" Alec shouted. Ethan's eyes glowed blue and stopped their descent. They were pulled back up and Alec grabbed onto Serena while Root grabbed Clemont. After they were back on the platform, Ethan used Psychic to bring Bonnie and Ash across.
Once they were off the sides, Sanpei headed to a cave. "This cave leads to the other side," he told the group.
"Awesome! Let's do it!" Ash said. The group headed in with Ethan providing the group with light. It turned out that the cave sloped down to the base, so they wouldn't be far from the manor once they got out.
[Intruders. Intruders. Intruders. Intruders,] something started chanting. Looking at the top of the cave, the group saw a swarm of Golbat.
"Oh no! What are they going to do?" Bonnie asked fearfully.
"We've wandered into their territory, and Golbat can be pretty nasty," Alec said.
"What are we going to do?" Serena asked fearfully. The Golbat then started firing off Air Slashes at the group.
"Root, Dragon Claw and Aerial Ace! Ethan, Psychic!" Alec shouted. Root jumped into the air hitting multiple Golbats with Dragon Claw and slamming into others with Aerial Ace. Ethan used Psychic and managed to send some Golbat's into each other while trying to cover Root.
"Greninja, Smokescreen!" Sanpei shouted. Greninja shot out smoke that blinded the Golbat, but they continued to fire off Air Slash. When Alec exited the cave, he found Sanpei, Ash, and their Pokémon, but Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie were missing.
Something then crashed behind the group and they turned to see Barbaracle. "Hand over the Secret Scroll at once," the masked ninja demanded calmly.
"We're not handing over anything!" Ash shouted.
"Hold on. Leave this to me and go find everyone else," Sanpei told Ash and Alec.
"No. We aren't leaving you alone," Ash stated.
"We can win, but we're going to have to do it as a team," Alec added.
"Use Double Team!" Ash and Sanpei shouted. Multiple Greninja's and Froakie's appeared around Barbaracle.
"Use Water Shuriken!" Sanpei ordered.
"Use Water Pulse!" Ash commanded. Barbaracle jumped into the air to dodge causing the attacks from the water types to hit each other.
"Leaf Blade!" Alec shouted. Root ran up to Barbaracle while he was still in the air and hit him multiple times.
"Keep up the attack with Electro Ball!" Ash commanded.
"Block it with Razor Shell!" the masked ninja shouted. Barbaracle's attack sliced through the attack effortlessly. Two nets then appeared out of nowhere and tried to grab Pikachu and Ethan, but they jumped out of the way.
"What was that?" Ash asked.
"More enemies?" Sanpei wondered. Looking up the cliff, everyone saw Team Rocket on the top, holding two net launchers.
"Team Rocket! What do you want this time?!" Ash asked.
"If you have to ask, you're even dumber than you look. Their is on rest for the wicked when it comes to catching Pikachu and Umbreon," James said.
"Of course, that means you," Meowth said as he fired the nets again. Then the masked ninja and Barbaracle jumped in front of the net and cut it with their sword and Razor Shell respectively.
"Out of the way ninja brat!" Jessie shouted.
"We want them, not you. Stay out of this," the masked ninja demanded.
"We want Pikachu and Umbreon. Take your scroll, it means nothing to us," James said.
"Now Wobbuffet, teach them a lesson they won't forget," Jessie ordered.
"I want in too. My Fury Swipes is going to show you!" Meowth shouted.
"Block them with Razor Shell," the masked ninja ordered.
"Root, use Leaf Blade!" Alec shouted. The two attacks hit both Pokémon sending them back.
"Froakie, Water Pulse!" Ash ordered.
"Greninja, Water Shuriken!" Sanpei commanded. Greninja threw four of the throwing stars that surrounded Froakie's Water Pulse and the attack sent Team Rocket into a blastoff.
"Now, let's finish where we left off," the masked ninja said, turning toward the group.
"Wait. Why did you two help us out?" Sanpei questioned.
"My reasons are my own. Barbaracle, Poison Jab!" the masked ninja shouted. Alec shuddered when he saw the poison type move, but he was thankfully prepared for it. Barbaracle ran straight toward Greninja, who dodged Barbaracle's attack.
"Froakie, Double Team!" Ash shouted. A bunch of Froakies appeared around Barbaracle, distracting him. "Froakie, use Cut! Pikachu, Iron Tail!" Ash commanded.
"Barbaracle, Mud Slap!" the masked ninja ordered. Barbaracle slammed his lower arms into the ground causing muddy brown water to erupt nearby and blinded Pikachu and Greninja while sending Froakie into a nearby boulder.
"Root, Leaf Blade!" Alec commanded.
"Razor Shell!" the masked ninja ordered. The two Pokémon clashed back and forth with neither side gaining an advantage. "Poison Jab!"
"Brick Break!" Alec shouted. Once again the two Pokémon clashed with their moves, but Barbaracle was able to get an opening on Root and slammed Poison Jab into his chest. Root was thrown back to Alec, poisoned. "Ethan, Dark Pulse!" Alec commanded.
"Dodge and use Razor Shell!" the masked ninja called out. Barbaracle dodged Ethan's attack and slammed Razor Shell into the moonlight Pokémon multiple times.
"Ethan! Root! Can you two still battle?" Alec asked.
[I… don't… think… I can,] Root answered.
[Sure, once I can get back up,] Ethan said, but stumbled to his side.
"I say this is over. Barbaracle, Poison Jab," the masked ninja commanded.
"You want to harm them, you'll have to go through me!" Alec shouted as he stood in front of his Pokémon.
[Alec, no!] Ethan shouted.
[You won't harm them!] someone shouted. Just as Barbaracle was about to strike, a Pokémon undergoing evolution jumped in front of Barbaracle's attack.
"Froakie?!" Ash asked in surprise. When the light cleared, Froakie had been replaced with Frogadier. "Froakie, you just evolved!"
[I had to,] Frogadier said.
"Even if Froakie did evolve it's still no match for us. Barbaracle, Razor Shell!" the masked ninja ordered.
"Now, Frogadier, use Cut!" Ash commanded. The two moves clashed and ended in a tie. While that happened, Alec gave Root a Pecha berry for the poison and it had immediate effects.
[Alright, time for payback,] Root said once he stood back up.
"Use Poison Jab!" the masked ninja commanded.
"Now Frogadier, use Aerial Ace!" Ash commanded. Frogadier managed to avoid Barbaracle's attack and slammed the flying type move onto his head.
"Root, Leaf Blade!" Alec shouted. Root swooped in and hit Barbaracle multiple times doing massive damage.
[Thanks for the assist,] Frogadier said.
[I did that because I was ordered to, not because I wanted to,] Root stated.
[Okay…] Frogadier said, unsure on how to respond to that, but Alec just shrugged.
"Had enough?" Ash asked.
Barbaracle slowly stood up as the masked ninja smiled. "Alright then, time for Ninja Leaf Shroud," he said. A tornado of dust appeared and when it cleared, the masked ninja and Barbaracle were gone. "Alright, now go to the manor. There you will discover the whereabouts of your friends," the masked ninja's voice said.
"Alright, let's go to the manor," Sanpei said.
"But what if it's a trap?" Ash asked.
"Then we spring it," Alec said as Ethan finally recovered and hopped onto Alec's shoulders. "Besides, something tells me whoever that masked ninja was, he's done messing with us," Alec added.
It didn't take the three trainers and their Pokémon to reach the manor and they started to look around. "Excuse me? I, Sanpei, have arrived," Sanpei announced.
[Hello?] Pikachu asked.
"Hey is anyone here?" Ash asked.
"I don't see anyone," Alec stated.
"I've come to deliver the Secret Scroll," Sanpei announced.
"Hello! Look over here!" Bonnie's voice called out. The group turned around and saw Serena, Clemont and Bonnie on one of the building's porches.
[Hey everyone!] Dedenne said.
"Hi Ash. Hi Alec. Hi Sanpei," Bonnie greeted.
"Hey guys. You alright?" Serena asked.
"Welcome," Clemont greeted.
"How in the world did you three get here?! Are you okay?" Alec asked, surprised.
The group then heard laughter behind them and the masked ninja and his Barbaracle appeared. Alec, Ash, Sanpei, and their Pokémon shifted into battle positions. "I'm most impressed you made it all the way here," the masked ninja stated. "Well done Sanpei," he congratulated as he pulled off his mask.
"Huh? Saizo?" Sanpei asked in surprise.
"Okay, someone care to explain what's going on here?" Alec asked.
"Sanpei, open the scroll," Saizo said, ignoring Alec.
Sanpei did so and the scroll was blank. "There's nothing written on there?" Ash asked in surprise.
"No way. Master, what is this all about?" Sanpei asked.
"I was testing you," Saizo explained.
"'Testing me'?" Sanpei asked.
"You are a ninja who went on a training journey, so I thought I should give you a test to see just how much you've grown," Saizo explained.
"Saizo didn't want to put us in any trouble that would put us in harm's way, so he brought us over here to the manor. Though we weren't able to find you two," Clemont added, referring to Ash and Alec with the last part.
"As long as you three are okay, then it works out," Alec said with a sigh of relief.
"Whether it's blank or not, I still delivered the Secret Scroll on time. Which means our mission is now complete," Sanpei said, giving the scroll to Saizo.
"You overcame many obstacles with your friends, and even learned to trust someone new. And I saw it all with my very own eyes. I'll make a full report, directly to the village elder," Saizo told Sanpei.
"That's great! Thank you so very much," Sanpei said.
[Alright!] Greninja shouted.
Serena then saw Frogadier. "Is that who I think it is?" Serena asked.
"Of course! Ash's Froakie must have evolved!" Clemont said excitedly.
"Aw, I wanted to see that," Bonnie complained. "I know, you can go back to being Froakie, then I can watch you evolve!"
"That's not how it works Bonnie," Alec told her gently.
"Um, Alec, what's going on with Root?" Ash asked, pointing to the Sceptile standing by a nearby wall, trying not to look like he was watching the group.
"Ignore him, Root's not exactly the social type," Alec stated as he returned Root to his ball.
"Sanpei, since your mission is all done, what do you say?" Ash asked, getting into a battle stance.
"You're one then," Sanpei said.
"This time, I'll win. We'll give it our all, right Frogadier?" Ash asked.
[You bet,] Frogadier answered.
Alec watched the two battle, and was glad that things turned out alright.