Pokemon: The Dark Side Chronicles

Chapter 4

May was in a cold sweat. She wondered how her day could have turned so wrong. She stepped out early from the Pokemon Center in Rustboro City that morning to train with Blaziken. She was in-between contests and wanted to try a new combination she came up with the night before. She was hardly in the park for five minutes when two motorcycles noisily appeared in front of her. A tall haired guy named Chopper and a blue haired girl named Tyra circled her and threatened to take her out. They were both dressed all in black with a V on their chests. There was no getting around them and there wasn't an Officer Jenny in sight. She had no choice but to battle them one on two. She kicked herself for only taking Blaziken with her but never expected being attacked. Now her favorite Pokemon was locked in battle with a Golem and a Cloyster and was tiring quickly.

"Just my luck, they both have the advantage over Blaziken," May said.

"Wouldn't have mattered," Chopper said, cockily. "We would have beaten you anyway."

"No doubt," Tyra added. "I think it's time we end this, Chopper."

"Agreed."

Blaziken was huffing and puffing. He'd been holding his own so far but didn't look like he could last much longer.

One on one, we could have taken them, but not like this, May thought. Doesn't matter now. I have to do this. I can't let them hurt Blaziken.

Golem stuck his hand into the ground and used a rock throw. Blaziken dodged to his left and Cloyster advanced toward it to use clamp. Blaziken narrowly dodged Cloyster's shell and countered with double kick. Golem rushed between them and used defense curl. Blaziken nailed Golem with two swift kicks to its abdomen that knocked it back a couple inches but did no more than that.

"Double kick would have been much more effective had Golem not raised its defense," May said. "Those guys are good. I can tell they've been battling together for a long time."

Golem rubbed its stomach. It was clear that the double kick had more of an effect than was first thought. Cloyster went in front of it.

"Golem should hang back for a minute to rest up," Tyra said. "Cloyster and I are more than a match for her."

"Sure thing," Chopper replied. "But remember, we have only so much time before Officer Jenny and her boy scouts arrive. We can't let The Vexus get comprised."

"Then I guess I should stop playing around!" Tyra pointed at Blaziken. "Cloyster, ice beam!"

A surge of ice was emitted from Cloyster that Blaziken narrowly avoided.

"Ember, Blaziken!" May yelled.

Blaziken covered Cloyster in small flames that slowed it down but ultimately shook off.

"That won't work against my Cloyster," Tyra said . "Don't you even know about type effectiveness? Now Cloyster, hydro pump!"

Blaziken dodged the first high pressure surge of water, but was nicked by the one that followed it. He stumbled when he landed but before he could recover, Golem smashed into him with a tackle. Blaziken skidded past May. Distraught, she went to him and lifted his head up.

"Are you okay, Blaziken?" she asked. He nodded. "I don't know why they're after us but we can't let them win." Blaziken held her hand and nodded again before standing.

"Is this farce of a battle still going on?" Chopper said, annoyed. "We've got better things to do than play with you all day."

"Give her a break," Tyra said. "She lasted a lot longer than Ash did."

"What did you say?" May said sternly.

Chopper smirked. "The Ketchum punk. He tried to put up a fight but not even he could stand up to The Vexus."

"So you guys were behind it!" May gritted her teeth. "Damn both of you!"

"Not us personally but whatever. Of course, now that you know our secret, we can't let you live."

"Not like you were going to live anyway," Tyra said. "This way makes it a lot more inter—"

"Shut up!" Dawn roared. "I've heard enough from you. You're going down if it's the last thing I do!"

"We can help you with that. Golem, rock throw!"

"Cloyster, ice beam!"

Projectiles of rock and ice went flying toward Blaziken. He dodged the ice beam while skillfully smashing the boulders with double kick.

"Enough of this crap. Tyra, keep Cloyster back so Golem can bring him to his knees with rock tomb!" Cloyster retreated as Golem punched several large rocks out of the ground. "Now it's time for your buri—"

"Blaziken, sand attack!" May yelled.

Blaziken used the fragments of the rocks it punched to blind Golem, Cloyster and their masters."

"Now finish Golem with high jump kick!"

"What! That loser can do that!"

Blaziken leapt above the sand attack, spun in the air and came down with a powerful, aura enveloped kick. Chopper yelled at Golem to dodge but it was blinded and did not know where to move to. Blaziken's kick made a direct hit to Golem's head that knocked the Pokemon into the air. Chopper could do nothing as his Golem went airborne before landing on top of him. Both Pokemon and trainer were out cold.

"I knew you could do it," May cheered.

Blaziken responded with a thumbs up. Cloyster suddenly charged toward him. May yelled at him to dodge and once again managed to do so.

"I was hoping you'd do that," Tyra said.

Cloyster went right past Blaziken and stopped in front of May. The young Pokemon trainer was horrified as she looked up at the Pokemon whose intentions were visible in its eyes.

"Cloyster, use clamp!" Tyra yelled.

"Blazi—" May began, but could say no more before Cloyster grabbed her between its shell and squeezed hard. May screamed and Blaziken furiously charged to his master's aid. He leapt into the air for another high jump kick but Tyra recalled Cloyster before it could hit. May fell to the ground and was motionless.

"Looks like my job here is done," Tyra said. She took one look at Chopper and shook her head. "How you were ever the old bike gang's leader, I'll never know."

She retreated to her bike. Blaziken was tending to May, who was unconscious. He roared loudly, his eyes covered in flames. He wanted so badly to chase down Tyra and make her pay for what she did but he did not want to leave May's side. Tyra looked back with a smug expression as she sped off. Not long afterwards, the sound of sirens could be heard approaching. Blaziken held May close to him. He wished she would tell him what to do but she did not respond.

He wondered if she ever would.

"Hey, Brock," Dawn said, entering his hospital room. She had a vase of hibiscus flowers and sat it on the table adjacent to his bed. There was another vase of flowers already there. Dawn giggled.

"I see Officer Jenny was already here," Dawn said.

"How'd you know?" Brock said, laughing embarrassingly. "She didn't leave a card."

"I didn't. I do now, though."

They both laughed.

"You ready to get out, today?"

"I guess so. It's been a quick two days. Can't say I didn't mind the rest…" A nurse passed by the doorway and waved. Brock waved back. "…or the cute nurses."

"I wonder what Jenny would think about that."

Brock gulped and they both laughed.

"Should we be laughing, though," Dawn said. "Considering everything that has happened."

"I know what you mean," Brock replied. "We almost died back in Viridian Forest."

"Samurai wanted me dead enough to destroy the entire forest and even kill himself and his Pokemon. And I still don't know why."

"He mentioned The Vexus. The group he was part of probably sent him after you. Unfortunately, that means even though Samurai is dead, this is not over yet. It's possible more of them will come after you."

"I just hope Officer Jenny and the rest of the police can track them down."

"After what happened to the Viridian Forest, getting them is a top priority. Don't worry about it too much."

"Yeah."

Dawn thought back to Ash. He was the reason she was in Kanto to begin with. She was so filled with grief after he died, yet since she had been in Kanto, there had been one attack after the other. She didn't even have time to grieve properly for him. With The Vexus still out there, she still might not. If she did run into them again, she was determined to get some answers, especially about Ash. Samurai mentioned Ash the first time she fought him, and if he followed the orders of The Vexus, there was a good chance they had something to do with Ash's death, too. She wanted to make sure, because if they did, she was going to make them pay. However, she knew she would need more than Empoleon. As much as she loved him, she would not be able to take on an entire organization with just one Pokemon. She needed more and knew just where to go to get them.

"After we leave today, are we heading to Pallet Town?" Dawn asked.

"I was going to rest up at home and head out tomorrow," Brock replied. "Why?"

"I haven't met Ash's mom since I've been in Kanto. I want to offer her my condolences. Also, I want to speak with Professor Oak about something."

Brock rubbed his chin. "I see. Come meet me in two hours. I should be ready then."

"Gotcha."

Dawn trained with Empoleon in a nearby park to pass the time. She was shocked when he destroyed a tree with one hydro pump. He had come a long way since being a Piplup. She missed the way he was, she and Piplup travelled together for years. She always imagined him being the way he was forever. However, she was thankful that he did double evolve. Without the extra power, she would not have beaten Samurai and his Mega Pinsir.

Dawn and Empoleon took a break from training. She bought some ice cream for the both of them and took a seat on a bench. Empoleon licked his ice cream at first and then stuck his beak into it and dug in. Dawn giggled, she thought it was adorable. Her ice cream was still in her hands. She had barely even touched it. She kept thinking about The Vexus and what was in store for her next. They were still out there, no doubt plotting to get her again. She was determined the next time not to be a victim. Whatever happened, she was going to come out on top, and would try to avoid anyone else getting hurt. Brock's injuries weren't serious but she could not allow that to happen to him again. She wanted to get stronger and was determined to do just that.

Dawn was lost in her thoughts and was snapped back to reality when Empoleon started pecking at her hand. Her ice cream had melted and dripped over her hand. Dawn laughed at herself and gave the rest of her ice cream to him. He happily ate it up.

Dawn looked at her watch. It was almost time to meet up with Brock.

"Let's go Empoleon," she said.

Dawn and Empoleon left the park and made their way across town to the hospital. By the time they got to Brock's room, his bag was already packed.

"You ready, Brock?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, let's go," Brock replied.

Brock, Dawn and Empoleon left the hospital and headed down the street. Dawn headed toward the road they had taken two days earlier but Brock turned to a different path.

"Isn't the bus station in that direction?" Dawn asked.

"We can't go that way. Remember, the Viridian Forest was destroyed and the police are still carrying out their investigation."

"Yeah, you're right."

"We'll just take a bus, instead. It'll be faster this way."

They got to the bus station and Brock bought their tickets. Luckily, the Pallet Town bus had just returned so they only had to wait a couple minutes. Empoleon hopped inside the bus with Dawn close behind him. Brock had one foot in when he was yanked outside. Dawn and Empoleon leapt out of the bus and found Officer Jenny.

"Woops, thought you might have been someone else," Dawn said sheepishly. "I'll give you guys your privacy."

"Wait, Dawn," Officer Jenny said. "You need to hear this, too."

The look on Officer Jenny's face was grave. "What's wrong?"

"There's been another attack. The Vexus was involved once more."

Dawn grunted. "What did they do?"

"It was in Rustboro City. Two members of The Vexus attacked a young girl about your age, Dawn."

"Oh, no. Why?"

"We don't know for sure, but we believe it's because of your connection to Ash."

"Was the girl who was attacked one of Ash's friends? Who was it?"

Officer Jenny paused and then said, "It was May."

"What? There's no way!"

"There were two of them. She managed to take one of them down. He's being questioned as we speak. Whatever he knows, we'll find out. However…"

"What else is wrong?"

"However, May was left in pretty bad shape. The truth is, she might not survive her injuries."

"Damn it!" Dawn yelled, punching the bus. "Why did this happen? Why is any of this happening?"

She was about to punch the bus again when Brock caught her fist. Tears had already begun to cover her cheeks.

"Calm down, Dawn," he said.

"How can I be calm? May might not survive, and for what? We don't even know why!"

"I know but…"

"Shouldn't you be angry, too? You travelled with her longer than I did."

"I am. Trust me, I am. But being angry isn't going to help right now. We have to think of the situation."

"What do you mean?"

"First Ash and Misty were killed, then you were attacked, now May. Someone is attacking those who travelled with Ash. It means there are others who are in danger right now."

"Wait, you mean…"

"Iris. We need to get in contact with her right away."

"We already tried," Officer Jenny said. "She is on a plane to Saffron City. Unfortunately, we've been unable to get through to her. Contact with the plane was lost."

"Does that mean they already got her?"

"I doubt it. There must be a technical issue. They'll be in Saffron soon enough and then we'll…"

Empoleon noisily interrupted and pulled at Dawn. She looked up and was instantly agape. She pointed at the sky.

"It's falling! It's falling!"

Brock and Officer Jenny looked up and were as astonished as Dawn was. A plane was on fire, its parts breaking off from the body. It fell to the ground right next to Mt. Moon and exploded so powerfully, they were rocked off their feet. They all looked in the direction of the crash and they witnessed a scene that was worse than Viridian Forest two days before. Plumes of smoke rose above the fires that had erupted all around the crash site. Dawn fell to her knees and wept.

"Not you too, Iris! Not you, too!"

To be continued…