Chapter 2 has arrived and the third is in the works. Here, we'll get a brief view into the past as well as the foreshadowing of the first major fight scene.

Chapter 2: Risking Promulgation

Dave Scern dropped his bowl into the drying rack. "It's been two days,…" He gave a disgruntled sigh. "… Vincent, and they haven't found him yet." Slowly, he walked through his small house towards a room that his son and brother-in-law shared. "Knock, knock."

"Go away," came a sneer.

Opening the door slowly, Dave found his brother-in-law sprawled out on his bed, tossing a pokeball up and down in the air. The scowl on Craig's face told Dave he wanted to be alone. "Just hold out until Monday. Lose today, lose tomorrow, then you should be in the clear."

"Easy for you to say. You aren't grounded for doing the right thing! You aren't stuck being useless when your family is going broke! You aren't under the order of your slowpoke of a brother-in-law!"

Dave sighed. "You're right, I'm not. What I am, is someone who 'has a good intuition' about how a crime syndicate thinks. I am the person who's responsible for you. I am the person who would very willingly fight off the army of an entire continent for you, your sister, my son, and all of our pokemon. Though, like any law-abiding citizen, I hope I'll never have a reason to."

Craig stared at the ceiling and tossed his weavile's pokeball up and down. "I was supposed to have made $24 by now. Mr. Gerv was going to pay me $10 more to mow his lawn."

"Beth will be around Monday."

He caught his pokeball and clamped his hand down. "Not everything has hidden meanings, Vincent! I like helping our family have money! I like that a week of doing odd jobs can get us food!"

"…But you won't be around on Monday if you don't stay hidden." His brother-in-law bit his lip. "I know what'll happen if you go to the Gerv's."

"No, you don't."

"Did I ever tell you the time a friend of mine lost his skarmory while we were out 'hunting'?"

"Maybe." Craig crossed his arms. "You've told me so many stories, it's hard to keep track."

Dave grabbed a hoodie off the floor and threw it. "Put that on, we're going up."

***

"…and now Tyler's upside down!" Flannery playfully yelled as she held her son up by his feet in their backyard. The boy laughed and giggled while his chimchar jumped and clapped his hands on top of his mother's lazy camerupt. "Now Tyler's right side up! And now Tyler's upside down!"

"Hahahaha!" Tyler cracked open his eyes. "Daddy! Uncle Zack! Help me! Mommy's got me!"

"Uncle Zack…?" Flannery stopped flipping her son.

"Uh oh," Dave mocked. "I guess that means daddy'll have to save you." Grabbing Tyler from his wife, he spun him around and let him hug him. "But… Oh no!"

"Oh no, what?"

Dave put on a mischievous smile. "I'm on mommy's side!" He dipped Tyler. "One… two…" He tossed him into the air. "…meatballs!" He caught his laughing son and dipped him down again. "One… two…" He tossed his son. "…purple!" When He caught him again, Flannery grabbed Dave's shoulder. "Alright, big guy," Dave put him down and ruffled his hair.

After Tyler's moans and complaints finished, Flannery whispered, "Where are you taking him?"

"To the workshop. There's a story he needs to hear."

"I thought you were going out looking for customers. You finished your last order yesterday."

He looked into her eyes and smiled an empty smile. "I know. Believe me, I know. But this is more important and it'll only take twenty minutes."

Flannery took a breath and nodded. "Zack, leave your charizard here." Her brother, with his head buried under a hood, tossed her a pokeball. "Ok. Twenty minutes and not a second more."

Dave smiled and called out his own charizard. "Alright, boy, you're taking two up."

"Char!" He roared as they climbed on.

"You ready?"

Craig nodded, "Ready."

"Then let's go!" At his trainer's word, Charizard expanded his wings and slowly flapped them until he rose from the ground. Then he shot like a bullet into the air.

***

A young Dave Scern, wearing the red and black attire of a Team Magma grunt, sped through a forest. To his right, two other Magma grunts ran with him.

"Scern, burn through that fence up ahead," the slightly bulky boy farthest to his right ordered.

"Sure, Alex. And then I'll set off everyone's alarm clock to make sure they know we're here. Just fly us over."

"Idiot, their cameras'll spot that easier."

"Both of you, shut it," the lean young grunt in the middle ordered. They continued running. "Dave, have Vulpix dig a hole under the fence. Alex, you and I are going to make a fake leaf storm."

"Gotcha."

"Ok, Vick."

The three stopped at the edge of the forest and pinned their backs to trees. Thirty yards away a barbed wire fence stood in the half-moon light. On more than one metal stake, night-vision cameras silently swayed back and forth. Alex grumbled inaudibly.

Vick caught the others' attention with a wave and a whisper. "Pokemon out on three… two… one… now."

Four pokeballs shot open the moment the cameras pointed away from them. Before the three trainers stood a steel bird, a grass brontosaurus, a small fire fox, and a feminine grass gnome.

"Alex," Vick whispered, "get your skarmory to start a small whirlwind and then have it pick up speed. Your tropious and my roselia will shoot a lot of razor leaves gently until there's one slapped against each camera. Dave, head over there," Vick pointed several dozen yards away. "and have Vulpix dig a tunnel to behind the fence."

The trio went into action. The wind of skarmory's attack sent razor sharp leaves flying harmlessly over the camera lenses while Dave's vulpix dug and dug for several minutes until it peaked its head up behind the metal gate. As guards came out to investigate, the fire fox let out a low cooing noise.

"Everyone in." Trainers recalled pokemon as Vick led the three boys into a hole that they needed to squeeze themselves to crawl through. Alex entered last to pull fake grass over the hole with his feet.

Inside the tiny underground passage, they tucked their hands in and inched their way, single file, through total darkness. While crawling, they slowed their breathing and clenched their throats whenever dust entered. By practice and good fortune, Vick brought them to Dave's vulpix, who gave him a silent all clear signal and led them up.

Once on the surface again, Dave recalled his pokemon and they made haste across the grounds. They arrived at an electronic key door, which Alex quickly hacked, and Vick dashed into the large, grey building followed by his teammates. With confidence and precision, they flew through the corridors and stairwells of the building, ducking by each camera with stealth and eventually finding a door marked "Restricted."

Vick nodded at Dave and Alex. All three held out two pokeballs; only Vick released one. Out of it came a large, deformed, purple mouse. "Loudred, hyper beam." The three trainers jumped back as huge beam of yellow light blasted through the door.

Screams came from the other side. The Magma grunts pressed through the smoke. Dave released his torchic and magby while his teammates released their pokemon and attacked. The orange chicken and fire imp blasted targets left and right with streams of fire. Men and women fell to the blaze before they knew what hit them or why.

The dust cleared with a whirlwind from Alex's skarmory.

Vick recalled his pokemon. "Alex, guard duty. Dave, your with my on the system. We need the lab's data in five minutes." Dave recalled his pokemon and followed Vick past several corpses towards the central computer system. Alex ordered his skarmory and tropious by the blown open door.

"Alex, seal the emergency exit too!"

"Don't tell me what to do, Scern!"

"Then do your damn job!

"Both of you, shut it!" Vick began hacking the computer's mainframe. "Make sure the security system notices your hacking."

"On it." Dave sloppily hacked a file stored in a different section of the system. "Ok, the protection program's on to me. I can keep it occupied for thirty seconds."

"Only need twenty. Go for forty-five."

The time passed.

Dave took a deep breath. "That's time. Silent alarms should be going off."

"Good job. Help me watch for disruptions in my data feed."

"Yeah, yeah,…" Dave said with a sigh.

"Something eating you, Scern? You can usually put up with Alex more than this."

He took a deep breath. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yeah."

"How much do you know about girls?"

Vick threw his hand over his own mouth as he laughed. "You've got a crush? On who? Someone in our squad? Is it Debra? No, Isabelle!"

"Vick, it's-."

"No, I got it! Heather! Man, Sam is not going to let you have his sister that easily."

"Vick, it's about Sarah."

He snorted. "Sarah? Our head grunt, Sarah?"

Dave nodded.

"She's our leader and 17. That's five years on you. Also, there's her boyfriend. Sorry, you aren't getting her."

"That's not it." Dave spoke as he typed. "The other day, I found her shaken up after Elite Admin Jay's announcement. I asked her what the matter was and all she did was cry quietly for like five minutes."

Vick looked up from his programming. "What'd she do after the five minutes?"

"She just looked at me and told me that there are things that can break a girl's spirit forever. Things that girl'll never get over. Then she hugged me tightly and begged me to promise never to do that." Dave began another program to confuse the system.

"Did she say anything else?"

"She kept saying how his laugh was like a rusty nail scraping a train track. What was she talking about?"

"Did you promise her?"

"Yeah."

"Good."

"So… what was she talking about?"

"Team Magma Grunt Dave Scern." Vick barked.

"Ye… Yes, 2nd Grunt Vick Zyte?"

"It's good that you promised her. Now drop it."

"GUYS, WE HAVE COMPANY!"

"Crap! Dave, help Alex! Take Quilava!" Vick tossed him a pokeball.

Dave leapt away from the central computer and towards the battle. Alex's pokemon exchanged razor leaves and steel wings with the beams and mega punches of the guards' glalie, lunatone, and medicham. Releasing Quilava, Torchic, and Vulpix, Dave joined the battle with fire blazing.

The guard's pokemon doubled their efforts to fight back while the three guards attacked the two boys. The first grabbed Dave by the wrist and pinned him against the wall. "Stop this now, kid, and we'll go easy on- Gahhh!" Alex stabbed him in the side with a broken piece of metal.

A swift elbow knocked Alex back and knocked out two of his teeth. Dave grabbed the metal and jammed it into the man's throat. The others gasped as he fell. Their pokemon battled again, exchanging blow after blow in a desperate battle. Without the ruthlessness and cunning Dave and Alex ordered from their pokemon, the guards' pokemon fell and they followed. Once the last guard died, the Magma's pokemon panted and heaved. They moved slowly and looked to their trainers.

"Good job." Dave began recalling his pokemon.

"Like wise." Alex recalled his tropious and then aimed his skarmory's pokeball, but the beam wouldn't fire. "What the?"

"Good mean look. Now, Grimer, thunder!"

The three turned in time to see a guard standing in the emergency exit and beside a pile of sludge that launching last thunder Skarmory would ever see.

"So what happened next?" Craig asked from the edge of his seat.

Dave stared at the ceiling of his workshop. "We killed the guard and his grimer." He looked back at Craig. "Do you understand what I'm talking about now? Little mistakes have big consequences."

"Yeah… But there's a difference. Alex was just being lazy. I'm trying to make sure we have food."

"Nobility doesn't lessen consequences."

The teen squeezed his pant legs. "Alright. You win. I'll stay put."

Nodding, Dave rounded up his pokemon and recalled all but Charizard. "Climb aboard."

Craig covered his head with his hoodie and the two mounted the orange dragon. Charizard slowly and heavily flapped his wings before he took off and flew down the mountain.

***

"Zack should be alright now." Dave slipped on a green coat as his son played in the next room with Chimchar. "I told him a story and it's been ten minutes since we heard a peep out of him. I'd say he got the message."

"That's good." Flannery kissed him on the cheek. "I was worried. He's become real agitated since he can't go to the Gerv's today."

"He'll live." He kissed her back. "I'll be back tonight with a…" He knocked on the wood door frame. "…new list of orders."

"Good luck, honey." Flannery closed the door slowly once he departed. "Well, Tyler, it looks like it's just you, me, our pokemon, and uncle Zack."

"Let's play with uncle Zack!"

"Chim! Chim!" The fire monkey clapped his hands.

"Alright, you two." She picked them up and carried the two to Craig and Tyler's room. "Knock, knock." Quietly, Flannery opened the door a crack. She saw a mound curled up underneath blankets. "Oops," she whispered. "Looks like uncle Zack is asleep."

"Mommy?"

"Yes, baby?"

"Did you get a bidoof?"

"Um… no."

He giggled. "Did daddy get a bidoof?"

"I doubt it, no."

His chimchar joined in and began clapping. "Did uncle Zack get a bidoof?"

"No. Honey, what's gotten into you?"

"Because there's a bidoof in my room." Tyler and his fire monkey broke out laughing.

"What?" Flannery immediately put her son and his pokemon down and yelled for Ninetales. She burst open the door only to find a simple, beaver-like pokemon sitting clueless in the middle of the room. She turned to her fire fox. "Hypnosis."

Shooting rays of beta waves from her eyes, Ninetales put the pokemon into a sleep. The white fox sniffed around for anything else and followed her nose underneath Craig's bed frame. She let out a bark as her trainer approached.

"Zack?" Flannery rubbed the blanket. He remained motionless. "Zack!" She ripped off the sheets and found nothing but a husk of pillows and clothes. Her eyes twanged.

She ripped his bed off the ground and exposed a hole in the floor. A hole big enough for a weavile and just barely big enough for a teenager to crawl through. "ZACK!"

***

Hundreds of yards away, Craig Moore popped his head out of the ground and found himself stuck. He turned to his weavile and scowled. "Very funny. Open up the ground."

The black imp snickered as he widened the hole.

"Now I see what makes my brother-in-law so crazy. If I had to that regularly, I'd go nuts."

"eavile."

"Yeah, it won't take her long will it? Beth's house's this way!" Craig broke into a run.

Weavile followed him down the main street and past the large, ancient crater in the middle of the town. They dashed past the small business district where Mr. Gerv's market lay and where many people went about their day. Ducking past the pokemon center and the trainers with injured pokemon that hurried inside, the two made it to the street the Gerv family called home. Hurrying down the road, they stopped in front of a two-story yellow house with a fenced-in yard and uncut grass. The house's owner stood on the front porch with his arms crossed. His daughter sat in a chair beside him with a light blue dog on her lap.

"Hey, Mr. Gerv. Hi, Beth." Craig waved and panted, unaware that a small group of people followed him from the business district.

"Weav. Weav," the black imp concurred as he panted.

Beth simpered. "Hi, Zack."

"Shinx!" Beth's pokemon barked.

The group of people turned the corner onto the street the Gervs lived on.

"What's the matter?" he asked Mr. Gerv, who wore a scowl. "I'm here on time."

"Zack, your sister called. She wants you to wait inside our house."

The people closed in on the Gervs' house.

Craig's face turned pale. "Whoa, whoa! You didn't tell her I was here, did you?"

"She guessed you'd be here."

"You don't know the whole story! I'm just trying to-!"

"I don't care what you are trying to do. Get inside, now."

"Not so fast!" a pompous voice yelled. "I need to talk to this boy!"

The hairs on Craig's neck rose as Beth jumped up and her shinx barked incessantly. Weavile's claws glowed with dark energy as pokemon and trainer turned and stared face-to-face with Seth Grands.

Behind the high grunt, five Galactics gripped their pokeballs. Mr. Gerv broke the tense silence. "Is there something you six want? You've been hovering around my store and the business strip for the past three days."

"And I knew it would pay off," Seth sneered.

"That wasn't an answer to my question."

"You dare interfere with Team Galactic?" In a flash, Seth released a purple and black pig. "Grumpig, shock wave that heretic!" Electricity blasted the old man.

"Daddy!"

"Shinx! Shinx!"

"Mr. Gerv! You bastard!"

"He was getting in the way of our pleasant discussion."

"Sir," Grunt Weltsa whispered. "was that wise? We aren't supposed to harm these people."

Seth glanced at Mr. Gerv clutching his chest and writhing. "He'll be fine."

Craig's teeth clenched. "You have ten seconds to get out of here!"

"Not before we talk, boy. Have we met before? This may be important to our activities."

"NO WE HAVEN'T!" His weavile knelt into an attack stance. "Eight seconds!"

Seth's comrades threw out their pokemon. A machoke, a metang, a vibrava, a buneary, and a purugly appeared on the battle field.

"Well, boy, how about the news? Were you ever in the news before?"

He tensed and tried his best to hold his poise. "NO! Five… I mean six seconds!"

Seth smirked. "Ah, so you have been in the news."

Neighbors peaked out their homes.

"Four!"

"Why were you in the news?"

"Three!" Craig called out Charizard beside Weavile.

"Did you save someone?"

"Two!" The pokemon charged their attacks.

"Did you embarrass yourself?"

"One!"

"Or are you a criminal?"

"Flamethrower! Ice punch!"

A battle is on the horizon. Will it end in defeat or victory for young Craig? Will the family secret be discovered? Stay tuned.