Chapter Six: Under Threat

It was another miserable day in Blackthorn City. Storm clouds had rolled over the city overnight, cutting out the powerlines and causing severe damage to many of the buildings. The clouds still hung over the city, but the lightning and thunder had long since passed. Now there was only rain, but that itself was a problem. The grounds were already soaked – they could not absorb any more rain. Continuous rain would lead to problematic flooding.

Although the city was built into the side of a mountain, some of the buildings were prone to floods. The pool in front of the Dragon's Den was partly to blame for this. Large amounts of rain often caused the pond to overflow, and bucket loads of water would pour out the side and into the local households. Flooding wasn't the only problem Blackthorn faced – earthquakes and landslides in summer and avalanches in winter also caused major problems. Fortunately, such disasters did not occur frequently.

Clair ducked inside the den, removing her cape. She dried it off as best as she could then put it back on again. The Dragon's Den was not only her home, but also her number one training spot. Dragon tamers from Johto and Kanto came here to hone their skills, hoping they could one day become the world's greatest Dragon Master. She often mocked the trainers – none of them could ever hope to come close to her level.

So it was no surprise that more than half the population of Blackthorn disliked Clair. She was respected, but not popular. Even the trainers she had selected for her gym weren't fond of her. But she didn't care. She was powerful. They were not. They just had to accept that. She looked around the cave, searching for her next victim. Two young female identical twins caught her eye. Clea and Gil. The twins each had a Dratini in their possession. The Dratini's should've evolved by now, but they hadn't. Clair suspected it was because Clea and Gil were lousy dragon tamers. In fact, Clair was convinced they were the weakest of the dragon tamers within Blackthorn, a statement she often liked to rub in their faces.

"You two. Come over here now," Clair called out, pointing a finger in their direction.

The two twins were standing on one of the upper levels of the den. Upon hearing their names, their eyes widened when they noticed Clair looking at them. They exchanged a nod and came down the steps, and walked over to answer Clair's summons.

"What do you want Clair?" Clea said, flicking a strand of brown hair away from her face.

"We battled you yesterday and the day before that. Why can't you pick on somebody else?" Gil whined.

Smirking, Clair tossed her ponytail over her shoulder. "You don't have to battle me – but if you don't, I'm not going to let you back in here to train," she stated smugly.

The twins exchanged bitter looks. Clair knew that expression all too well. It meant they were not at all pleased and thought her demands were unfair. "Fine. But you don't have go so tough on us. We didn't even have a chance to attack in the last match," Clea complained, pouting.

Clair crossed her arms over her shoulder and snorted. "I'm a Gym Leader and a Dragon Master. I am not going to go easy on you," she said. "I don't go easy on anyone. Show me how much you have improved." She reached down to her pokebelt and threw out her mascot Pokemon, Kingdra. The water dragon jumped into the pond of water and glared at the two twins.

The twins threw their pokeballs at the ground. A twin pair of Dratini's appeared, and the two dove into the water. Other wild Dratini called the pond their home, but always stayed out of the battles. "Kingdra, again?" Gil said. "That's not fair!"

"Quit being such babies and show me you are worthy enough to call yourselves dragon tamers," Clair snapped. "Kingdra, use Dragon Pulse!" A purple beam of dark energy burst from the Kingdra's mouth, striking one of the Dratini. The Dratini fainted immediately. It was a well known fact dragons were super strong against their own type.

Gil muttered and retrieved her fainted Dratini. Clea stepped forward. "Dratini, use Dragon Tail!"

"Kingdra, dodge!"

Kingdra easily evaded the physical blow and retaliated with another powerful beam of Dragon Pulse. The Dratini fainted and the battle was over as quickly as it had begun. Clair smirked. "I see not much has changed. You are both still weak and you will remain weak. You have no right to call yourselves dragon tamers."

"You haven't even evolved your Dragonair's yet, so you can't complain about us being weak!" Gil protested.

"Gil!" Clea scolded.

So, the twins thought they could insult her Pokemon? Clair stepped forward. "I'll have you know I am purposely preventing my twin Dragonair's from evolving." That was a lie. Her Dragonair's hadn't yet reached the required experience to evolve into a Dragonite. She knew she could eventually reach that level – just not right now. "Get out of here."

Shooting Clair hateful looks, the twins retreated from the cave with their fainted Dratini's back in their pokeballs. She recalled her Kingdra back to its pokeball and did a victory dance in celebration of her brilliance. So what if she was hated? She was the best. Well, second best. Lance was the only trainer she could not beat, not even when he was at his worst.

"There you are, Clair!"

Clair spun around annoyed she had been interrupted during her self-praising session. A male wearing red and black clothing stood at the entrance, running a hand nervously through his pitch black hair. She recognized him as Mike – the final gym trainer in her gym. He was probably the only person in Blackthorn, aside from her grandfather and cousin Lance that actually liked her. Some labelled his admiration as a crush, but that was just wild gossip. "What do you want, Mike?"

"Poke Mart… it's been raided!"

"What?" The Blackthorn Poke Mart raided? That wasn't possible. Hardly anyone came to this city because it was such a difficult place to get to. Only the strongest of trainers made it here. "Impossible."

"Come and see it for yourself." Mike headed back outside and Clair quickly chased after him, cape flapping behind her. It was darker now than it had been moments ago. It seemed as if another storm had come through. A breeze blew through the city, so strong it almost knocked her off her feet. She quickly regained her composure and followed Mike towards the Poke Mart.

Mike was correct. The place had been totally thrashed. How could it be something like this could happen in such a few short moments? There had been no signs of any problems before. The shelves had fallen and all stocked items sprawled out on the ground. Hundreds, no, thousands of dollars lay before her feet damaged beyond repair. Whoever had done this… knew exactly what they were doing.

She turned to the cashier, a young female assistant. The girl cowered behind the register, as if afraid the thief had returned. "What happened here?" Clair demanded.

The girl peeked over the register, sobbing. "It was a man… he was dressed in black clothes… he wore a hat with a skull cross on it…" She took in a deep breath and continued. "He got mad because we didn't have a rope… and thrashed the place…" The girl broke down in sobs.

Tapping her foot on the ground, Clair gave the girl an irritated look. "Did he say where he went? Speak girl."

"He said… he said they were going towards the Dragon's Den…"

Dragon's Den. She had just exited the place and had seen no signs of any intruders. Besides, the old man guarding the den would've notified her of any suspicious behaviour. She looked around the shop again, taking in all the damage. But then again, someone who had done this much damage would have no problem forcing their way into the Dragon's Den.

Without saying another word, she dashed outside, Mike following close behind. It was raining very hard now. It was almost impossible to see anything, but she knew her way to the Dragon's Den even with her eyes closed, having walked that path many times. She took that path again, jumped into the pond and swam across.

Once inside, she darted her eyes around the cave, looking for a suspicious character. The den was quiet now. Completely silent. That made her nervous. Even if there were no trainers around, she could always hear the sounds of Dratini playing around in the pool. But there was nothing. Had the Dratini sensed danger?

And what of her grandfather? He spent most of his life at home, studying dragon lore and his visions. But she could not hear him. Perhaps he was still asleep? "I'm going to check up on my grandfather. You stay here and keep guard. Call out if you see anyone." Mike nodded. Clair hurried over to her house.

She was surprised to find the door unlocked. Pushing it open, she stepped inside and looked around. The broken photo frame of Lance and his team was still on the floor. Clair carefully stepped around it and called out her grandfather's name. Nothing. No response at all. Fortunately, the house seemed untouched.

She looked around some more then froze in place upon hearing a tapping noise coming from one of the rooms. Her grandfather's room to be precise. "Grandfather?" she called out again, ramming against the door with her shoulder. The door opened and she stumbled inside and found her grandfather tied to a chair, arms and legs held by a rope. There was a white tape over his mouth preventing him from making any audible noise. Her jaw dropped open.

Rushing over to her grandfather, she removed the tape and started to loosen the rope. "Clair! Thank goodness you are all right," he said, in between heavy gasps.

She threw the rope onto the ground and kicked it away. "What happened?"

"This man burst in through the doors, demanding to know where the sacred Dratini was," the old man explained, hanging his head down. "I could not stop him from locating the dragon."

"The sacred Dratini is gone?" Clair almost shrieked. The Dratini was seen as special because it knew a move no other Dratini knew. She also had a different colour; her skin wasn't blue like the others, but rather a bright shade of pink. Her grandfather called it a shiny, an exceptionally rare Pokemon.

Clair had wanted it for herself, but the man had said no. She had even tried stealing it one day out of jealous rage. That action had her temporarily replaced by her grandfather himself for a week while she had to read books on becoming a better trainer. After that, she had tried to convince she didn't need another Dratini; besides, pink totally wasn't her colour. The Dratini would be given to someone who had earned it. She had scoffed at that. Her grandfather probably wanted to keep it for himself and had thought up that lame excuse, but she could not be angry at him now.

"You must… not do anything rash, Clair… Your place is at the gym."

"I need to find the Dratini."

He shook his head. "You must inform Lance."

It always came back to Lance. Just because he was the Champion did not mean he got to play hero all the time. She was just as deserving of that title. "He doesn't need to do everything. You can trust me to do the right thing!" Clair spat. "I am strong enough to handle this!"

"Go back to the gym, Clair."

She clenched her jaw. "Why don't you trust me? Is it because I haven't passed your stupid test yet? Is that it?" she retorted, her irritation growing at a rapid pace. Or was it because she was a female? All her ancestors that had risen to the ranks of Dragon Master had been male. She was the only female to achieve that rank, or at least was close to it. Her grandfather did not reply. "Fine. I'll go back to the gym since that's the only thing you think I'm capable of doing!" she spluttered.

She spun around on her heel and stormed out of the building.

.

To reach the next city, Lyra had to take the path through Union Cave. Fortunately, it was easy to get through even without knowing Flash. There were a few bothersome fire and ground trainers in the way, but Totodile handled it well. Of course, before she had even thought about entering the cave, she had to finish her business with the Fisherman Henry. The battle had been short, but the fisherman's attitude had not improved at all. So much for battling to calm the mind, she thought.

Now she was out of the cave and she was glad for that. Her Pokemon had once again gotten stronger; Starly had learnt Wing Attack and Gible had learnt Dragon Rage, a powerful early move which took out a large chunk of health from the opponent no matter what type they were. Gible still had his problems, but he seemed less likely to cause trouble the more experience he obtained.

Fortunately, Azalea Town was cooler than Cherrygrove City, but it was still warm. At least she didn't have to wipe away sweat beads from her face every few seconds. The town was much smaller than Violet City and there was less to do. She had bypassed a well earlier which was blocked by some weird guy dressed in black with a pirate hat.

Aside from the well, the only other place worth visiting was Charcoal Kiln, Kurt's House and the gym obviously. Charcoal didn't sound like something she needed at the moment though as her bag was full of stuff already. That reminded her she needed to store her egg at the Pokemon Centre to retrieve later. But before doing that, she headed to Kurt's House.

"Hello?" she said, tapping on the door.

The door opened a few seconds later an elderly man walked out. "You are here to turn apricots into pokeballs, aren't you? I would love to assist but I'm afraid I have an emergency to attend do," he said, stepping outside. He closed the door then looked her up and down. "Say… you look like a fine trainer. You might be able to help me. A group of criminals have taken over the Slowpoke Well. They're cutting off the tails of the innocent Pokemon. They must be stopped at once. Meet me at the well when you are ready and we'll take them on together." Before she could get another word in, the old man hobbled away and towards the Slowpoke Well.

"Cutting off Slowpoke Tails? What sort of horrible person would do such a thing?" she said, looking at her Totodile. Totodile looked angry, a soft growl escaping through his throat. "We'll go to the Pokemon Centre first." There was one more trade she wanted to do. The Slowpoke Well sounded dangerous. She wanted to heal her team up before entering.

She headed up to the trading place upstairs and placed her Zubat in the machine. The trading screen came up and she searched for Hoenn Pokemon. A number of interesting Pokemon caught her eye, but it was the Bagon, another dragon type, that captured her interest. She didn't know what it was, but she felt drawn to the reptilian looking Pokemon. Pokemon with scales and talons appealed to her greatly. A girl called May was offering one up for trade willing to accept anything in return.

"Bye bye Zubat!" she said almost tearfully, as she agreed to make the trade.

She hoped Bagon was less trouble than Gible otherwise she'd never get anywhere.

.

Training her Bagon should've been her first task, but Lyra was eager to solve the problem down at the Slowpoke Well. Besides, there should be some Pokemon to train against down there anyway so Bagon would get the experience it desperately needed. She climbed down the ladder, touched the floor and noticed Kurt leaning against the stone wall. He was groaning and rubbing his back.

He turned to her now, relieved she was there. "I chased down one of the grunts and unfortunately I took a fall. I'll need some time to recover, so you'll have to go inside and investigate for me," Kurt said.

Go into a deeper part of the well all by herself to face off against some criminals? That didn't sound wise, but Kurt wasn't looking too good. She glanced down at Toto and put on a brave face. Of course she wasn't alone. She had her Pokemon with her. She stepped inside and was instantly overcome by a powerful feeling of disgust.

Slowpoke were everywhere she looked, and every single one had a stump for a tail. Whoever had been behind this catastrophe certainly had a cruel and twisted mind. The pain the Slowpoke were feeling… it had to be horrible. She navigated around them carefully, making sure she did not accidentally run into one. The Slowpoke looked at her with sad, round eyes. Unable to look at them without feeling her heart break into two, Lyra pulled her gaze away focusing on the path ahead.

The cave was pretty bland aside from the Slowpoke. There was a large pool of water and a lot of stalagmites and stalactites everywhere. The criminals had to be hiding somewhere. Just to be prepared, she called out her other three Pokemon. Bagon, Gible and Toto huddled around her, while Starly sat on her head. Further up ahead, she could hear voices.

"…The Champion isn't here anymore … he must've escaped…"

"…Nevermind the Champion, he can't stop Team Rocket…"

"…Archer will be so pleased. Do you think he'll give us a raise?"

Team Rocket? As in, the same Team Rocket that terrorized them several years ago? Hadn't they been defeated by Red? It had been all over the news. Lyra crept forward, quickly ducking behind some stalagmites. Three male youths stepped into her view, all dressed completely in black uniforms. The trio each wore a black hat with a skull cross symbol emblazoned on the front. Gible made a funny noise. It sounded much like the sound one experienced when they were feeling really hungry. Lyra shut her eyes, hoping they would not notice her.

"Hey, did you hear that? Some funny rumbling noise. I think we're being followed," said the first, a short stocky male with black hair.

"I thought you took out the old geezer?" said the middle youth, with the ginger hair.

The third male, a youth with dirty blond hair answered. "I did. He fell. Perhaps he had an accomplice we weren't aware of?"

The stocky one spoke. "Nevermind. We'll find the intruder and we'll crush him." The other two males chuckled. The three moved together, weaving through the stalagmites with ease. Gible's stomach rumbled again, this time a little louder than before.

"There's that noise again! It's coming from over there!"

Lyra winced. They were done for now. She stood up from her hiding spot. The three rocket grunts stopped, looked at her than exchanged laughs. "Oh look, it's a little girl! Did you run away from your farm, girl?"

"She's a trainer. I can't believe they allow people as funny looking as that become trainers. What hole did you crawl out of?" said the ginger. He reached down and grabbed a pokeball and advanced towards her, giving her a sly look. "She doesn't look tough at all."

"Yeah, let's send this girl back to the farm."

Lyra glanced over her shoulder, searching for a possible escape route. There was only one she could see and that was the entrance. But she couldn't run – not now. She had promised to help Kurt. The Slowpoke relied on her. "I'm not a farm girl." As soon as she left this cave, she was totally going to update her look.

Each of the three male youths threw out their pokeballs. Two Rattata's and a Zubat appeared. Lyra's eyes widened. Three Pokemon all at once? "Farm girl looks shocked," the ginger said.

"That's not fair!" Lyra blurted out.

"We're Team Rocket. We don't play fair. You play by our rules," said the blonde. "So what's it going to be? Are you going to battle or are you too afraid to take us all on?"

She glanced down at the Pokemon. Gible, Bagon and Totodile all looked eager to battle. Starly licked her face indicating she wanted to fight too. "I accept your challenge," she said, trying to sound confident. But the truth was she felt quite nervous. The trio looked as if they had fought together as a team many times before. This was her first time. How would her team fare against this experienced triple team?

The stocky male spoke again, pulling Lyra out of her worries. "Farm girl has dragons. You think she's part of the infamous Blackthorn Dragon Clan?"

"Nah, she doesn't look half as dumb as they do," answered the blond. "But even if she has two dragons, she won't stand a chance against our combined power!" He pointed a finger at her, and grinned. "Don't go crying to your mummy when you lose," he jeered.

The ginger-headed boy spoke. "What's a little girl like you doing out here on your own anyway?"

She was beginning to tire of these insults. Farm girl. Little girl. She was neither of those things. She was a fourteen year old female who was going to be the Champion of Johto and Kanto. "The name is Lyra. I'm a trainer and I'm going to defeat you." She hoped she sounded intimidating, but the trio just laughed. Okay, she thought. That didn't work.

"You talk big for a girl. Can you back it up?" the stocky one taunted.

Lyra stepped forward, silently praying for a miraculous victory.