Pokemon: The Dark Side Chronicles

Chapter 2

Samurai darted into the Viridian Forest. He leaned against a tree, huffing and puffing. He slowly caught his breath. His recent failure to kill Dawn replayed constantly in his mind. He held his head and screamed. Turning, he punched the tree he leaned on until his hand bled.

"I can't believe it!" he shouted. "I can't believe I lost!"

A giggle caught his attention, which turned into a laughter that reverberated in his ears. There was no sanctuary, it surrounded him completely.

"Who's there!" he shouted. "Show yourself!"

Silence followed, and Samurai breathed a sigh of relief until he heard, "Looks like you haven't changed a bit."

Behind him was a woman dressed all in black like he was, except her pants were much shorter, and carried a backpack behind her. Her long, pink her gleamed under the moonlight, giving her an almost angel like glow.

Samurai frowned. "What the hell do you want, Whitney?"

Her face was plastered with a childlike innocence that was filled with hypocrisy. "I came to check on you. I heard about your defeat."

"H-How do you know about that?"

"Come now, Samurai. You should know by now how the organization operates."

He grunted. "It was just a minor setback. I'll get the girly girl for sure next time."

"Oh really." Whitney strutted toward him, wagging her finger. "Word is our superior is not too happy about your failure."

Samurai gulped. "H-He's not."

"Not at all. In fact, I hear he's quite furious. You know how his temper is." Samurai turned away from her. There was almost no color left on his face, and he did not want her to know it. "Which brings me to why I'm here. Looks like the boss wants me to bring you in. He wants to reprimand you…in person."

Samurai's hands were latched to his head again and he screamed, "No! Not now! I almost had her! I'd do anything for one more chance!"

"Anything? Really, now." Whitney folded her arms. "Okay Samurai, I'll help you out."

"You? Help me?"

"Listen, if you don't want my help, that's fine. I'll just have to escort you to the boss. Your choice."

Samurai paused and then let out a deep breath. "Fine. I accept."

"Good boy." She took off her backpack and tossed it to him.

He opened it and frowned. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Be careful how you use them. If you lose this time, you have nowhere to come back to. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah." Whitney turned and Samurai laid his hand on her shoulder. "You never said what you wanted in return."

Whitney shrugged him off. "We'll settle it later. Ta-ta."

She walked into the darkness of the bushes and was quickly out of sight. Samurai clenched his fists and stared into the sky.

"I won't fail. Not again…never again!"

"See you later, Officer Jenny," Brock said, opening the front door to his house.

"Bye, Brock," she replied. "I hope I'll have something positive to report to you soon."

"Just say when. We'll go over the details over dinner, perhaps?" He winked.

"Goodbye, Brock." She winked back.

He closed the front door and went into the living room. Dawn was on his sofa sitting next to Empoleon. He was nibbling at Pokemon snacks Brock gave him. Dawn's right hand shook. The cup of tea she held rattled against the saucer beneath it.

"You okay, Dawn?" he asked.

"Um…yeah," Dawn replied. She realized her hand was shaking so she laid her cup on the coffee table. "So he's still out there."

"Officer Jenny said she will use the full resources of the Pewter City police to find him. By now, I guess he's probable nowhere near the city."

"Who is he, anyway?"

"His name is Samurai. I don't know anything else about the guy, though. Ash and Misty met him in the Viridian Forest before I met them. I recognized him from a picture Ash showed me once."

"Did something bad happen between them?"

"Can't say. He never really said anything about the guy."

"Remember what he said before? He did something to Ash and he also mentioned others were involved. Why would anyone want to hurt Ash?"

Brock sat on the chair adjacent to her. "I wish I had the answer." He scratched his chin. "Something sinister is going on and Ash was a victim of it."

Dawn stared at the floor. "And now they want to kill me."

They both became silent. Dawn didn't know what to say let alone think. So much had been happening so quickly. It was hard just to keep up, let alone sort out her feelings. Just a few days ago, she was preparing to head to the Johto region. It would have been her second attempt at winning a major league tournament. She was so excited. Piplup was the only Pokemon she planned to take with her. The rest she would catch and train as she travelled, just as he did. She was almost out the door when she got that phone call. She wished she had missed it. Hearing from Brock again after a couple years was great but when he gave her the news, it was like the world had been turned upside down. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense. After finally mustering up the courage to come to Kanto, now she had to deal with a strange young man who she had never met suddenly wanting to kill her. And almost did. This new revelation was almost too much too bear. Thinking about it, a new emotion bubbled to the surface. She clenched her fists tightly, her brow furrowed, her eyes narrowed. She snapped out of it only when Empoleon laid his wing on her shoulder. Dawn calmed down and petted him gently.

"Thanks, Pip…I mean Empoleon," Dawn said. "This will take some getting used to."

"You've got a very special Pokemon," Brock said. He got a Pokemon treat and held it out for Empoleon, who happily swallowed it. "I'll have to do a paper on him for school."

"The way Piplup evolved into Empoleon…you said it was a double evolution?"

Brock nodded. "It's an extremely rare form of evolution. Through sheer will, Piplup forced himself to evolve twice in one go."

"I didn't know that was possible."

"Officially, no. There is a theory on double evolutions occurring in one out of every ten million Pokemon, but no one has ever seen it."

"But I don't understand how he evolved. He refused to evolve before, remember? And then I used the stone Nurse Joy gave me to—"

"But your life was not in serious danger before." Dawn rubbed her waist. She was okay now, but the pain she felt from Pinsir's attack was fresh in her mind. "Piplup couldn't beat Pinsir so when he saw you were about to lose your life, he made himself evolve." He rubbed his chin. "There's a possibility that refusing to evolve before, combined with Piplup's desire to save you, led to the double evolution to occur." He scurried to his desk and picked up a pen and notepad. "Interesting…"

"Is that true, Empoleon?" Dawn asked, rubbing his head. "I wish I could rest you on my lap like before, but you're a little too big now."

Empoleon screeched and playfully rubbed his head against Dawn's chest.

"Hey, Dawn," Brock said. "I'm heading to Pallet Town soon. Ash's mom is expecting me."

"I remember when you mentioned that yesterday."

"After what happened last night, I think it is best that we go together. There's no telling where Samurai is now. I wouldn't want him coming after you alone."

Dawn nodded. She did not feel like travelling. She'd prefer to wrap herself in her sheets and lie in bed all day. However, with Samurai on the loose, she could not risk being by herself.

"When are we heading out?"

"In an hour. We have a long walk ahead of us."

"Okay." She turned to Empoleon. "We'd better go get ready."

Dawn leapt off the sofa, followed closely by Empoleon, and went to her room to change. Brock glumly approached a desk in his living room and pulled open a drawer.

"I thought my battling days were behind me," he said to himself. "You're all I have left, but you'll have to do." He pulled out a pokeball and stuffed it in his pants pocket. "I might have lost you Ash but I won't lose Dawn too. I owe you that much, buddy."

Dawn, Empoleon and Brock went past the sign welcoming newcomers to Pewter City. Brock walked with a brisk stride. Dawn and Empoleon were behind him. Her brow was covered in sweat and the distance between her and Brock slowly increased.

"Hey, brock," Dawn said. "You mind slowing down a little?" He did not answer. "Brock, did you hear me?" He still did not respond. Dawn let out a deep breath. She turned to her left and said, "Officer Jenny, why are you walking around without any clo—"

"Where! Where!" Brock said. He turned his neck back and forth so quickly Dawn thought it would snap. Seeing that Officer Jenny was nowhere around, Brock folded his arms and sternly told Dawn, "What did you do that for?"

"I've been trying to talk to you but you weren't listening," Dawn said. "You're walking too quickly. We can barely keep up."

Empoleon screeched his agreement. Brock scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry about that. I was trying to get to Ash's place as quickly as possible because…"

Dawn raised her hand to stop him. "I understand why but if we are being followed, tiring ourselves out won't help."

Brock closed his eyes and grinned. "I guess you're right."

Dawn walked ahead of him. "So where are we heading to now?"

"The Viridian Forest."

"That's the place with the bug Pokemon, right?"

"Uh-huh. From there we head past Viridian City before getting to Pallet Town."

"What's Pallet Town like."

"Small. Quiet. Peaceful. A lot like your hometown."

"I guess I'll feel right at home. I wanted to go there with you guys after Sinnoh, but then, you know."

"Yeah."

"I've been so busy since then. Going from contest to contest. I cried a river when I won the Sinnoh Grand Festival. Then I won Johto after that."

"Ash and I saw it on TV. He was very proud of you."

Dawn nodded. "I ran into him a couple times in the past few years. Going from region to region, competing in tournaments, can be trying. It's even harder to stay in touch with anyone. If I wasn't home when you called, who knows when I would have…well."

Dawn and Brock walked in silence until they got to the north entrance of Viridian Forest. They entered through the glass doors and into the air conditioned building that was a treat after all that walking. Brock bought a couple sodas and they drank them while a seated at a bench. The moment they were done, they were up and out of the building and into the Viridian Forest.

"You're not afraid of bugs, are you?" Brock asked.

"Are you kidding?" Dawn replied. "I'm too old for that."

Brock grinned. "Misty was scared to death of bugs. She had a hard time coming through here with Ash after they first met."

"I see."

"Well, let's get going. We still have a long way to go before Pallet town."

"Right."

Brock led the way with Dawn right behind. Something told her to look back. She wasn't sure what, it was just a feeling. She saw Officer Jenny hurriedly rushing into the building. She looked frantic. Dawn tugged at Brock's arm and said, "Hey, Officer Jenny is…"

Dawn, Empoleon and Brock were rocked off their feet and landed hard against the ground. The tall grass did little to break their fall. Dawn woozily got to her knees. She felt blood trickle down her face from a gash on her cheek. Behind her, the Viridian Forest north entrance was half destroyed and engulfed in flames. The inferno started to spread into the forest.

"Empoleon, use water gun to douse the flames!"

Her faithful Pokemon sprayed the flames with a burst of water out of his mouth. Dawn meanwhile went over to Brock and shook him but he did not respond.

"Please Brock, you've gotta get up!" Dawn pleaded. First he grunted and then he coughed. "Thank goodness!" She slung his left arm over her neck and tried to stand him up but could not. "Help me Brock!"

"Y-Yeah."

With Dawn's help, Brock stood upright. Together, they slowly made their way away from the enflamed entrance to a clearing. The ground shook as a second explosion almost knocked them off their feet again. Dawn rested Brock against a tree and searched ahead. She gasped. The southern entrance was also in ruins.

"No way out," Dawn said to herself.

"You're right!"

Dawn's eyes were fixed ahead of her. Emerging out of the smoke that bellowed from the flames was Samurai, grinning from ear to ear. Dawn retreated to the center of the clearing and called Empoleon to her.

"So, honey, you like what I've done with the place," he said, approaching her.

"Stop right there!" Dawn said. "If you don't, I'll…"

Samurai stopped advancing. "Oh no. I hope the girlie girl in the pink skirt doesn't hurt me. Ha!"

"Empoleon, get ready!" Empoleon hopped ahead of her and screeched loudly.

"That thing again," Samurai said after yawning.

"He was more than enough the last time!"

"Well that was then…" He pulled out a pokeball from his pocket. "…and this is now!"

He tossed the pokeball ahead of him and out of it emerged a Pokemon that looked like Pinsir but was noticeably different. It was bigger, had longer limbs, bigger pincers, and a pair of wings. Dawn took a step back, mouth agape.

"What is that thing?" she finally asked.

"Pinsir's ultimate form."

"Ultimate form? What are you talking about? Pinsir can't evolve!"

"Shows what you know. With a special stone, a Pinsir can be made to mega evolve into a Pokemon far more powerful than it was before! Allow me to introduce you to Mega Pinsir!"

Dawn gritted her teeth. She looked behind her to where Brock was. He was in no shape to help. Once again, she was on her own, this time against a Pokemon she had never before seen.

"Empoleon, it's up to us," Dawn said. "We took him down before, and we'll do it again!"

Empoleon nodded and fiercely stared down Mega Pinsir who roared in response.

Samurai laughed hysterically. "Get ready Dawn for the fight of your life. Only one of us is leaving alive!"

To be continued…