Chapter 4: Rooftop Battle Pt. 2
"That's more like it!" Dragonair turned and narrowed its eyes at the water attacks which continued to assault the ever-weakening shield.
"Twister!" Aiden called out.
The Protect spell broke just as Dragonair began to execute the swirling attack. Both beams of water pressed forward but were caught up in the vortex of Dragonair's attack creating what looked like a watery tornado. The onslaught of the water finally ceased from the source and the morphed silhouettes of the attackers from Aiden's perspective could be seen through the waterspout. But being concerned with them was not his main focus. He had to figure out what to do with the water that was left over. And he just how to do that.
"Now, Dragonair! It's time to use Shock Wave!"
A gentle yellow glow from inside the vortex revealed for an instant the form of the dragon Pokémon as it released a charge of electricity into the waterspout. Burst after burst of super charged electrons ionized the water creating a swirling water vortex with ever-increasing spiraling electricity coursing through every molecule of water. An innumerable amount of bolts of the yellow energy licked the outside of the vortex as it continued to increase in intensity. The air around the vortex was tense and filled with static and every contender on that rooftop could feel the hairs of their bodies standing on end.
"Maranda, and your companions, you all picked the wrong person to mess with!" Though he could not discern the other attackers clearly, and for that matter Maranda herself, Aiden could somehow sense their presence and their fear at this dominate display of power. He could not help but smirk a bit as his gaze shifted and focused on the attack that lay swirling practically at his feet. He had practiced combining attacks before with his Pokémon to create devastating combos but he had only mastered a few. This one certainly would have to be written in his book. But it would need an appropriate name. He thought for a moment about how it was created and what it was now and then he was struck with the perfect name for this new combo. "Dragonair! It's time! Secret technique, Shock Wave Vortex!"
The roar of the attack as well as the crackle from the sheer amount of electrical energy jolting through the water twister was nigh deafening. Splashes of water sloshed out from the swirling vortex covering any on the roof in a mist that almost blinded the eyes. The swirling mass began to slowly move towards the targets and as it was sent on course Dragonair emerged from the top of the cyclone and swooped down next to his master as the pair of them watched the outcome. A small, deep-ingrained furrow was left in the roof where its destructive power cut through.
With the sheer magnitude of such a destructive combo only the most skilled trainer could evade. It would take either a Pokémon master to disperse such an attack and neutralize it completely or it would take a miracle.
The massive attack converged on Aiden's opponents with a mighty crash. Suddenly, the yellow glow from the electricity that flowed through the tornado began to rapidly disappear and converge on a single point beyond the watery twister. Then the water of the mighty beast seemed to be getting sucked out of it and drawn to a different point. At last, the darkened silhouette of another Pokémon dove on into the remaining cyclone and before Aiden could get a handle on what was happening a focused blast of wind shot out from the cyclone dispersing the remainder of the power left in it. The immense radiation of wind from the dispelled cyclone spewed what little water remained in it outward in a 360 degree sphere drafting the entire rooftop and coating everything in small droplets of water.
Shielding his eyes with his arms Aiden asked in great confusion, "What the…! What's going on?" As the intensity slowly started to lessen slightly he was able to finally see with greater clarity the figures before him who had defied his combined attack combination. Where the cyclone once had been was the kneeling and wearied form of Maranda's Clefairy. Behind the pink fluff were two other Pokémon Aiden recognized as Lanturn and Poliwrath. Though slightly obscured from the Pokémon that were before them, Aiden was able to see enough of a glance of the two unknown assailants that his eyes widend in sudden recognition of at least one of them. "You…! I remember you from earlier today! You were in that group harassing Vivian!"
"You mean… her!" Emerging from the shadows of the rooftop stair tower was the figure of another man. He was tall but he was also big bellied. His stance was slumped like the rest of his facial features and his short brown hair barely touch his rather large ears. The most prominent feature on his face was his large nose which looked like more of a beak than a nose. Held out in front of him was the bound up form of Vivian. "Here, Randy, catch!" He tossed Vivian forcibly to another member of their group.
"Vivian!" Aiden spoke her name in relief but froze when he saw and recognized the face of the third man of this trio of newcomers. That's him! Nicho… Jon… Aiden's eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched along with his hands and his breathing became a great deal more labored. His voice echoed a deeper and much darker tone as he growled out, "You…! You have a lot of nerve showing your face here!"
As if he heard nothing, Nicho or Jon turned to Maranda and spoke to her. "Sorry that we're late. But we were… uh… delayed."
"Oh! That's all right, Nicho! I'm just glad that you're here!" Maranda said enthusiastically as she ran to his side. She leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek out of her gratitude.
"Don't you ignore me, you spineless coward!"
Maranda turned towards the one who was holding Vivian and addressed him. "Great job, Sven! If anyone could have broken up that attack it would have been you!"
"Huh? Sven? Could it be…?" Aiden focused his gaze upon the other man whom he had just casually glanced at before. He studied his features carefully and mentally tried to align a picture of someone else he knew. Could it be… Larson? The picture of the one named Larson and this current person named Sven slowly began to level side by side and suddenly Aiden recognized this aged Sven as the same person he had known before!
"When you're a genius, it's easy," came his cocky remark from the skinny dark blond haired kid. Like Jon, Sven also had a rather big nose but he had ears that protruded farther from his head than Jon. His placid smile matched his attitude that Aiden had remembered him always having. But Aiden knew that Sven's smile was greatly deceiving, whether Sven realized it or not.
"Jon… Larson… Maranda…" Aiden spoke darkly. "The old group reunited once again."
Sven turned his gaze upon the one who had spoken his other name. "We meet again, Aiden. I hardly recognized you now after you left our group so long ago."
"Don't even pretend like you missed me! You and Jon never liked me! You would only talk sarcastically to me and you'd always try to belittle whatever I tried to do! And, Jon," Aiden said turning to the other person, "You hardly ever spoke to me. I cannot remember a time when you actually talked to me on your own and not through another person. You didn't have the balls; you weren't man enough to face me with your problems. Instead you simply ran off letting Maranda here try to patch things up. Looks like things haven't changed much since I left."
"That is merely your own opinion," Sven replied nonchalantly. "I don't really expect you to understand the logic of my genius."
"Then perhaps as a 'genius' you'd like to explain to me how you stopped my attack?" Aiden said with a degree of sarcasm behind his voice. A "genius" my butt…
"Certainly," Sven said almost gratefully. "If it will put your mind at ease…"
Aiden growled as the blood in his veins began to boil from the sarcasm that flowed like honey from his mouth. It took all of his effort, his self control not to charge at Sven and rip out his tongue.
"There was no way that any one of our Pokémon alone could have stopped or even repelled your combination attack. But if it was a combination of three attacks then three Pokémon was all it would take. First off, my Lanturn has the special ability to absorb any electrical attacks into that yellow bulb coming off of his head. So the electrical energy from your attack was drained away giving my own Pokémon a boost in power."
"I see…" Aiden focused on the blue and yellow Pokémon. That explains why all the electricity was drawn to a single point.
"Then, Randy's Poliwrath here was able to draw off the water element due to its special ability. But we still had to deal with the cyclone. It occurred to me once your Dragonair escaped from the top of the cyclone that there must be an 'eye' to your storm. A calm spot. And thanks to boost in power, my Lanturn was able to pierce through the cyclone and unleash the attack Hidden Power to dissipate the remnants of your combo attack. Pretty cool, huh?"
Aiden's angered sneer slowly changed into a gentle chuckle. "Yeah, maybe if I were a novice trainer."
"Oh, come now. Don't be like that," Sven said tauntingly.
"You are on thin ice, pal!" Aiden sneered.
"Don't listen to him. He's just mad that he was beaten," Jon sneered.
"What'd you just say?"
"I said that you've been beaten!" Jon repeated. "And that you could never defeat us all in battle."
The other kid then spoke up. "I warned you not to mess with members of Team Rocket! And now we'll make you regret it!" The kid forcibly grabbed a bunch of Vivian's hair and held her out just enough so that Aiden could see what was going on.
"What are you doing? Let her go!" Aiden screamed.
"I would but only if you gave me something in return," Randy answered.
"What could I possibly have that you'd…" Even as the words left his mouth his mind suddenly vibrated with the exact same words spoken by Sven.
"Your Pokémon," Sven said simply.
"Wha… Why?" Aiden asked with confusion. "Why would you want them?"
"Our organization is in the collection sort of business and your Pokémon would make fine members of Team Rocket. The mere facts that your Pokémon held off two water attacks for so long and that it took three of our own Pokémon to stop one attack from you is proof enough. And besides, that dragon Pokémon sells for a pretty high price. But it might be slightly lower due to whatever illness is causing its skin to be discolored," explained Sven.
"Huh? It was you…" Aiden huffed in surprise.
"Hmm? What are you talking about?" Sven asked.
"You don't appreciate my unusual colored Pokémon?"
Sven shook his head. "Heck no! Any Pokémon who is not colored like the rest of its species is plagued with some kind of disease and should be dealt with as a disease."
Dragonair growled fiercely at the comment. If it was not for Aiden telling him to calm down it probably would have attacked. "Sounds to me like you've seen something like this before," Aiden asked probing deeper into this development.
"Yeah! I had an Espeon once who was colored this ugly green puke color rather than its normal color. It refused to listen to anything I told it and I was always made fun of because of it. I never won a single battle with it. All it'd do would just roll over and play dead. And I couldn't sell the darn thing so there was only one thing to do with it. Get rid of it."
The more Sven spoke the more angered Aiden became. He clenched his fists as the alley scene replayed in his mind. It made more sense now. The damage to the alley walls and the carnage must have been a result of Sven punishment for Espeon's failure as his Pokémon, which means that Sven's partner through the entire alley ordeal must have been either Jon or the other kid on the roof.
"But your dragon Pokémon, despite its disease, would go for a pretty good price regardless of how…"
"That enough!" Aiden interrupted. "You left your best friend to die in that alley! With help from Jon, no doubt, you two beat it down into submission and left it to die! That is unforgivable!"
"What?" Sven feigned innocence. "I certainly didn't have any help from Jon. Besides, it's not like these things are capable of emotions, not like humans are anyways. Pokémon are merely tools of warfare and a way to satisfy the human need for destruction. Why else would they show Pokémon battles on TV and why else would people want to become Pokémon trainers? Why did you become a trainer despite your parents' wishes?"
"I… uh…" Aiden stumbled for the words to say and in reality there was a degree of truth in what Sven was saying. The grueling battles portrayed on television had always sparked excitement in the spectators and in himself. There was something about watching the mayhem of a battle and the chaos that ensued that seemed to settle a desire in his heart and in no doubt the hearts of all watching. The sense of excitement of watching an intense battle was unparalleled second only to actually being the competitor in such a battle. All the emotions, the adrenaline, the rush — that is one of the many reasons people become Pokémon trainers.
"You don't have an answer to that because you know that deep in your heart what I'm telling you is the truth," Sven continued to prove his point. "They are merely tools of warfare to satisfy our desire for destruction and mayhem.
"No… You're wrong…" Aiden gazed back at Sven with his eyes narrowed. "They are so much more than just tools or weapons. They are living creatures capable of so much more than just destruction. Pokémon have become some of the greatest companions one could ever have."
"But they are nothing in comparison to having human friends. They cannot show love and affection the way humans can. They cannot show friendship and loyalty the way humans can. They are far less superior than humans are and when it comes down to it, one person is far better than having hundreds of Pokémon. But you should know all about being without a human companion, right?"
"You… Listen to yourself spout such self-righteous crap about humans having such superior qualities like love and friendship and loyalty and yet, you treat your own Pokémon with such disrespect and cruelty! You just contradicted everything that you've just said!" Aiden could not help but scoff at such a blatant display of hypocrisy. "I see now by your own actions what you are and not what you pretend to be."
For the first time since their encounter Sven was not able to come up with any sarcastic remark in reply. And anything he would have said was cut off when Aiden spoke up.
"But right now I'm more focused on rescuing Vivian and settling things once and for all with Maranda." His attention now centered on Maranda. "What I desire most is for you to leave me and those around me alone. Maranda, I don't know what caused you to get involved in this but I'm sure you know that something is not right here. Whether you joined Team Rocket because Jon was in it or because of Sven or because of whatever reason you should know that this is wrong. I don't know why you joined them. You were never like this when we were together and it hurts me to see what you've become."
Aiden lowered his head and dropped his eyes. "I know that you said that you didn't care what I did or what I became, but that doesn't change the fact that I still care what you do with your life. Your past does not matter as much as your present and future. The moment you think that no one cares about your future is the moment that you make mistakes you'll regret for the rest of your life."
"Enough…" came the shouting voice of Sven. He strutted quickly over towards Randy and took possession of Vivian and proceeded to walk her to the edge of the roof. "You have two choices: 1) You give up your Pokémon to us and Vivian goes free or 2) you fight us and watch as this girl plunges to her death. What's it gonna be, hero?"
Aiden's eyes widened in horror at the lengths that he was willing to go through in order to get what was never meant to be his. But the look on Vivian's face worried Aiden even more. Her face was construed in sheer terror and she was weeping tears of great anguish and distress. The tape across her mouth prevented her from screaming, but her face spoke volumes enough.
"You wouldn't dare…" Aiden challenged. He soon regretted it when Sven firmly griped one of her arms and slowly inched her closer to the edge until one of her feet was dangling over the streets below.
"W-Wait!" Aiden stammered unbelieving that Sven would actually do it. "Take it easy! Don't hurt her!"
"Then give me what I want!" Sven yelled.
"That's enough, Sven!"
Surprised at the new voice, Sven turned around to see that it was Maranda who was trying to stop him.
"What? Maranda? What are you doing?"
"That's enough, Sven! There's no need to put her in harm's way. This has gone on long enough. And we have plenty of other Pokémon from the festival to satisfy the higher ups and get enough money for ourselves as well."
Aiden cocked his head to the side. They have plenty of other Pokémon? What's that supposed to mean…? Huh? Of course! I can't believe I couldn't see it before! They must have been running some kind of kiosk in Saffron's festival where they were able to collect other trainers Pokémon and are planning to sell them for a profit! Hmph… A classic black-market move. Well, not while I'm around. He continued to watch as Sven, Jon, Maranda, and the other trainer began to argued things out. Now's my chance that they are all distracted.
Slyly, Aiden reached with his right hand for a Pokéball on his belt and unhitched it silently and then lowered his hand back to his side, fisting the Pokéball tightly. He pursed his lips and made ready a whistle that would gain their attention. The moment of attack was critical to the success of seeing Vivian to safety and the timing had to be perfect. He was about to make his move when suddenly Sven lost his grip on Vivian and she started her slow descent to her death.
"Vivian!" Aiden growled at the carelessness of Sven. Aiden narrowed his gaze at Sven feeling the anger well up inside of himself to the point where he felt as if he would explode. "You fool! I'll make you paaaay!" he screamed up into the air and his body suddenly began to glow with an eerie black aura. Suddenly the sky began to darken with murky clouds shielding what little sun was left from reached them. Then in the blink of an eye the aura surrounding Aiden channeled up and behind Aiden and descended into the alley in between the PokéMart and the adjacent building. A brilliant flash of black light outlined with white illuminated the entire scene behind Aiden catching the eyes of not only Maranda, Jon, and Sven but also of those around the building who were witnessing the rooftop commotion and the sudden darkening of the sky. The booming sound of the black light disappeared as suddenly as it appeared and a new sound echoed through the air as the roar of a mighty dragon waking from its slumber. The screams from some of the people below evidenced that something had happened and that it was not good.
Jon, Maranda, Sven, and the other trainer looked at each other with expressions of confusion and fear at what the commotion below was all about. Sven's curiosity got the better of him and he leaned over the edge where he had dropped Vivian to catch a glimpse of the disturbance. At the exact moment he peered over a shadowy blur flew upwards right in front of him throwing him backwards. A rush of wind and a column of fire accompanied the unknown blur as it zoomed in the air towards Aiden. Fire streaked behind the shadow as it made a couple of passes around and behind Aiden before slowing down finally allowing everyone to see its physical form.
The creature landed in front of and to Aiden's right side and took shape as the mighty third evolutionary form of Charmander; however, it did not take on the appearance of its others species. Its outer skin shimmered like it did in the second form but the color of its skin shimmered with a midnight black hue. With its body standing erect it towered nearly six feet tall, a great deal taller than other Pokémon of its species. His wings were extended nearly to half span revealing the dark red color of its normally teal-green wings. Against the darkened sky the flame on the end of its black tail burned brightly with an ethereal glow and his eyes narrowed and glowed with the same fury as its tail. It huffed two small columns of fire from its nostrils and then gave a mighty roar that shook the entire rooftop and rang in the ears of those people close enough to it. Now they had done it. They had unleashed the beast.
