Welcome to chapter 3. Today we see into Craig's past as well as Dave's. You'll see a much darker side then the anime and games present, so be warned.

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Chapter 3: Street Brawl

Craig Moore, a 13 year old boy anxiously sat outside a hospital door. His white shirt pressed against the sneasel he tightly clutched. "Why didn't they tell me? Why did they keep this from me?"

"Sneasel snea." The black imp hugged him back.

"Do you really want an answer?"

Craig glanced up. An old doctor stared back down. "What?"

"Do you really want the answer?"

He stood, Sneasel hopped down. "Yes!" He grabbed the man's wrists. "Yes, I do!"

He shook his wrists free. "They didn't want you involved."

"But, I'm their family!"

"That's why your sister wanted you to stay out of it. The way Elite Admin Dave Scern looks at you, you might as well be his brother too. Unfortunately, you're in this now."

"What do I do?"

"Sneasel? Sneasel sel?" The black imp waived his arms.

"Get tougher, fast. Being the little brother of a traitor gym leader and the soon-to-be brother-in-law of an elite admin won't save you. But you have a nice crew now; a charmeleon, a murkrow, and a sneasel."

"Wh… what?"

"You'll get some time to adjust to this life, maybe more than most. Also, if Dave or Flannery wants you on a particular mission or for a particular role in your squad, you've got it. But, because you have that protection, you also get harder missions."

"What if I don't want to-."

The doctor threw his hand over Craig's face. He struggled. Sneasel slashed at the man's arm. The doctor tensed but kept his hand there. "Please stop! I'm doing this for your own good."

Craig and his pokemon calmed down. The doctor removed his hand.

"Do not ever, EVER say what you were about to say or anything like it! Even you will be killed. Just let your sister and her fiancé look out for you, don't boost that they're doing it, and you'll live." The doctor's pager went off. "Err… I have to go. Remember what I said and hopefully, I'll never have to see you in here again."

The old man departed, leaving Craig and Sneasel to stare at each other. Before they could say anything, the door across the hall opened. The black imp snarled and Craig grabbed a chair to fight as the most fearsome person they ever met stepped through the door.

His red hair fell down to his neck as his broad shoulders lay hidden under a black cape. The crisp, crimson uniform he wore amplified the intimidation in his eyes. As his steel black boots moved across the floor with ease, he ignored the boy.

"You! This is all your-!"

"Craig, stop!" Flannery burst through the doorway and caught the chair as her brother swung it, her leg desperately holding back Sneasel. "I'm so, so sorry, Maxie, sir. My brother is under a lot of stress and isn't thinking straight."

Maxie just kept walking down the hall.

"Damn, it Craig! What the hell were you thinking?"

Craig and Sneasel glared at her. "What the hell were YOU thinking? How could you get us involved in this?"

Flannery slowly sat down and put her head in her hands. Her many ponytails dripped over her face. "I had to because of Dave."

"Are you serious? I'm going to kill that-!"

"No! It's not like that! When Dave killed our grandfather and saved me, he let me decide. He let me decide everything. If I picked to leave, he would leave..." She motioned her head about the room. "We'd take you with us and he'd fight them all off. If I decided to stay, we'd have a perfect life if Magma wins, but we'll be living in Hell if Aqua does."

She sighed and looked at her brother. "What staying also meant was that I could keep you out of this. Whether Magma won or lost, if you weren't involved, at least you'd be safe."

***

"…at least you'd be safe." His sister's words fueled him as he fought Team Aqua grunts. Boys and girls his age fell at his pokemon's hands and to his orders. All throughout the weather station, he heard the sounds of battle and the saw the sights of death. Red Red jackets covered half the corpses in the room while blue bandannas and striped shirts covered the other half.

"Craig, duck!"

The boy shot his head down as several spikes of ice flew over him. He felt a sudden jerk on his neck and then it disappeared. Patting his head, he turned and found an icicle pinning the hood of his uniform to a wall.

He released his charmeleon and ordered her flamethrower. Through cross fire and rubble, her attack struck his foe's cloyster. Craig and Charmeleon hurried in as the purple clam launched an ice beam.

"Flamethrower!" Charmeleon's blaze blocked the beam. Craig tackled the Aqua grunt.

The orange lizard and purple clam fought with random attacks as their trainers traded blow for blow. Craig struck his foe in the jaw. His foe came back with a kick to the side. Craig threw his own kick to the ribs. The Aqua head butted him in the face and followed with a series of punches. Craig countered with a knee to the gut.

As the Aqua staggered, Craig swung a haymaker that knocked him to the ground. He jumped on top of the boy and started choking the life out of him. Then the foes got a close look at each other.

"Craig? Craig… Moore?" the Aqua gasped.

"Mitchell Fazner?" Craig relaxed his grip. "Good God." Images of swinging on a swing set and playing tag after school flooded Craig's mind. He slowly removed his hands from Mitchell's throat and turned to order Charmeleon to stop.

When he turned, he saw Mitchell's hand swinging a sharp rock. Craig grabbed the arm with only moments to spare. As he wrestled with it, Mitchell choked him. The Aqua put everything into the attack. Craig felt his life slipping away. Then a stream of fire struck Mitchell from behind.

"At least you'd be safe."

The boy lost his grip and Craig broke free. He stole the stone from Mitchell's hand and drove it into the Aqua's skull. As his foe fell, he ordered a finishing blow to the cloyster. Once the clam slipped into unconsciousness, Craig and Charmeleon re-entered the fray, backing up the other Magmas and keeping Flannery's words in his mind.

Charizard's fire blazed into the cluster of pokemon. The vibrava and purugly blasted back with dragon breath and thunderbolt but caught the tail end of the flame. The machoke took the night slash in the forearm and tossed Weavile to the ground.

Buneary bounced into the air and aimed at Charizard as grumpig and metang attacked with twin invisible psychic blasts. The orange dragon braced herself. As the blows struck, she slammed the ground. The earthquake shook all but the buneary who stuck from above.

Weavile cut into Machoke with an aerial ace. The blue fighter countered with a powerful cross chop that sent the imp flying into a random window. Machoke and Grumpig burst into the house after him.

"Weavile!" Craig threw out his honchkrow. "Charizard, body slam! Honckrow, faint attack!"

"Sir, this isn't wise," Grunt Weltsa whispered. "We are invading and damaging private property. This is against Elite Admin Mars's orders."

"Silence! The boy has defied and questioned the guiding force of Galactic! Men, attack!"

Inside the house, Weavile desperately ducked and weaved as the machoke threw his fists and the grumpig blasted shock waves. The house residence screamed and held their young close. The black imp took blows bit by bit. Inside, he couldn't maneuver well. He made a dart for the streets.

Honchkrow struck Buneary and turned invisible again. Vibrava recovered from Charizard's slam and ripped up the ground to send rocks sliding. The dragon darted into the air as Craig ducked and rolled. Metang prepared another psychic. Honchkrow attacked it before it could fire.

Before the black crow could fade again, Purugly attacked with thunderbolt. Shocked and paralyzed, Honchkrow fell to the metang's bullet punch.

Charizard blasted fire at Metang. The machine let out a metal roar until Vibrava created a sandstorm. The pebbles absorbed the fire and pelted everything on the street. Windows broke and they scraped away house siding. The dragon dove in and scooped her trainer onto her back. She rose just above the houses.

Craig recalled Honchkrow. Weavile used an ice punch on Vibrava only to be struck from behind by a shock wave. The imp quickly faded before another attack fired. Charizard glowed orange and the sandstorm faded. As the sand fell, air molecules bounded together and created a magnifying effect for the sun's rays. Weavile struck machoke and disappeared as Charizard's flamethrower knocked the fighter out.

"Another sand storm quickly!" Seth yelled. "Grumpig, focus blast!"

Vibrava began flapping his little wings. Purugly fell to Charizard's flamethrowers. Weavile appeared to strike Vibrava. Before the imp could attack, Grumpig blasted concentrated power out of his fist. The focus blast struck and knocked Weavile unconscious. Another sand storm began and unbounded the air molecules.

Metang and Grumpig launched invisible psychic attacks at Charizard. The orange dragon roared in pain before she fell from the air.

Seth pointed towards a house. "Vibrava fire a hyper beam there!"

Craig held on tight to his pokemon as the people in the home screamed and cowered. A large yellow beam fired and, just as planned, the attack struck Charizard in the spot she hit the ground.

"Charizard…," Craig moaned.

"CRAIG!" Beth and her shinx ran into the maelstrom of dust and pebbles.

"Restrain her! Die down the sandstorm!" Two of the Galactics caught Beth by her shoulders. Vibrava ended his sandstorm and caught Shinx in a sand tomb.

Seth made his way across the street and onto the property where Craig and Charizard lay motionless. The residence of the home timidly stepped back as he grabbed the boy by the collar. "I was going to make this simple, heretic, but you forced me to do this." Craig could barely keep his eyes open. "Where do I, a holy soldier of Team Galactic, know you fro-?"

"Ahhh!" "Garrr!" "Uhhhhh!" "Rava!" "Meta!" "PIGGG!"

Seth spun his head. In the middle of a mess of collapsed grunts and pokemon stood a snarling tiger striped canine. From down the street, a man with brown hair, a scar running down his back, and a green jacket roared, "Let him go, NOW!"

Dave Scern stared across the room. Ten squads of Magmas stood at his back, ready and waiting to engage the Team Aqua grunts and the admin that led them.

"So, my old friend, Dave Scern, finally got promoted." The Aqua admin brushed his brown hair out of his eyes. His followers behind him clutched their pokeballs, but nothing more. "And at the tender age of 18. Sounds like someone I know."

"Why thank you, Jose Diverentio." Dave bowed his head ever so slightly as his eyes shot from side to side. "I owe it all to you. I'll admit my tactics aren't as top notch as other admins. For some reason, though, I can always see through the mind of the proclaimed Genius of Aqua."

"So, Maxie promoted you because you are the only non-elite admin who can go against me on even terms? I am flattered but also surprised. I guess I'm just used to Archie having higher standards."

The Aquas snickered as the Magmas became edgy. Dave held out his hand and they held their poise. "Enough banter. I don't know why you came to this museum and I don't care why you took so many hostages." He thumbed to a corner of the room where four Aqua grunts and their pokemon kept fancy-dressed patrons huddled together on the ground with their hands on their heads.

"Your point, Dave?"

"Leave whatever you've taken so far, don't take anything else, and get out of here. Do that and we won't harm you." He glanced at the base of a statue of an ancient boat. "We'll even clean up those two dead bodies for you."

Jose pondered his offer. "As much as I'd love to play a large role in popping your admin cherry, you make a fair offer. Very well, we will depart." Grunts from both sides stared at him. "The police are on their way, slow as usual. Taking the time to defeat you will leave us weak by the time they arrive. So, we shall leave the bad taste in your mouth. Aquas, depart!"

"But, sir!" a young Aqua grunt spoke out. His admin grabbed a pokeball. "He killed my brother! We can wi-!" A red blur zoomed by him. "Gahh!"

Jose recalled his scizor as the grunt fell with a slit throat. "Could you clean that up too?"

"Sure."

No sooner did he answer, then dozens of smoke bombs exploded. When everything cleared the only blue uniform left belonged to the dead grunt. Dave shouted, "I want thunder waves thirty seconds ago! Mightyena and houndooms, NOW! Look for a bomb, anything! Kill the cameras and get the tapes!"

Pokemon of all types launched thunder waves up and down the walls and across the floors and ceilings.

"Cameras are already killed, sir!"

"No bombs, sir! The building's clean!"

"Sir, my men report the tapes are gone and the security system is completely disabled!"

Dave rubbed his chin. He looked over at the hostages still cowering and motioned for a blonde, female high grunt.

"Yes, Admin Scern?"

"You're good cop, Debra." He led her over to the hostages.

"LISTEN UP!" The socialites cringed. "Jose isn't stupid or a coward! He got what he wanted already! What did he take?" No one said a word. They all sat terrified and shaking. "We're getting this, one way or another!" Out of two pokeballs came a charmeleon and a ninetails. Debra gripped a ball on her belt.

"Talk or people start dying!" No one spoke out. "Charmeleon, flamethrower!"

The hostages cried out as charmeleon launched a blaze. With only a moment to spare, a floating clay statue took the attack and shielded them.

"Jesus, Dave!" Debra shouted. "My claydol and I can't stop you every time you blow your fuse like this!" Calmly, she knelt down beside a young man and removed her hood, letting her shiny, soft hair fall gracefully past her neck.

She smiled and brushed some of her hair away from her eyes. "I'm really sorry he did that." Her eyes glanced down and then back at him. "But he needs to know and he's like a big brother to me. I hate seeing him so high strung."

"I… under… stand."

Her smile widened. "Thank you."

"That g… guy. The aqua admin."

Dave marched forward, scaring the boy. "What about Jose?"

The young man cringed as Debra shot up and put herself between Dave and him. "He didn't take anything! Honest!"

"You expect me to believe that?" His eyes shot daggers. "Oh, I get it. You're a sleeper for Aqua. You're what Jose left behind!" Dave turned to his pokemon. "Ninetales, swift!"

"NO!" a woman screamed. "No! Don't kill my boy!" She hugged him tightly and turned to Debra. "Please, stop him! All the Admin did was walk over to where he was standing when you walked in! Honest, that's all he did! The high grunts kept us huddled here!"

Dave crossed his arms. "Say I believe you. What direction did he come from?" The woman motioned her head towards the opposite wall. He walked over to the entrance that Jose used. "Any twists or turns?" he demanded.

"N… no! Just straight through!"

Dave mimicked Jose's path, eying everything. He walked past maps of the undersea world, fossils, and an ancient scroll. Before he got to where he found Jose, he stopped at a painting. It depicted a crew inside the very first undersea vessel. Dave read the caption underneath the painting.

"Cazzon de Fross, painted 'Return from the Depth' with incredible accuracy. He kept the entire crew in the moldy vessel the second it emerged from the waves. All present had to remain absolutely still for the hours it to too paint this masterpiece." He looked up. "There!" He pointed to a tiny piece of mold in the picture. "Bastard must have glanced at this for less then second. Spent the rest of time as a diversion."

He glanced about the room. All of his men stood ready for his next order. "You five! I want all of you taking pictures of this thing from every angle! Get the tags and the museum's descriptions! Which high grunts have pokemon with water or ice attacks?" Several stepped forward. "Release them!"

Out of pokeballs came a rhydon, an absol, and a miltank. At a wave of Dave's hand, the other high grunts formed a perimeter around all the hostages. He recalled Charmeleon and Ninetales. Debra stepped back, still smiling at the boy.

"Kill them all."

The powerful blasts of water and storms of bone-shattering ice drowned out the screaming. As quickly as it began, the attacks ended.

"Everyone out!"

***

"Um, Dave? Can I ask you something?" a grunt with dyed blue hair asked as the force of Magmas fled through the forest.

"Go ahead, Razek."

"Why'd you let Aqua go but waste fire power on those hostages? Show and I were hoping for a battle."

"You're an idiot."

"Maybe if you'd finally promote me I'd learn some advanced stuff."

"Not for that. You don't care about losing your… Never mind. We've been having this talk since I was your head grunt. The reason why I killed the hostages is so people will think Aqua did it and be mad at them."

"Why not have people know we saved them?"

"For more troops. People might support what they favor, but they'll definitely take action against what they hate."

"Is this what you were telling me about during that mission at Fallarbor?"

Dave turned to the 15 year old and smiled. "Yup. It's not what happened, it's what appeared to have happened."

"Who do you think you are?" Seth spat.

"His brother-in-law!" Dave came closer, glaring at Seth with a killer's eyes. "I'm not going to say this again!"

"I won't listen then, either!" He grabbed a pokeball. "Go, hitmonchan! Mach punch!"

As sooner as the brown boxer appeared, he struck Arcanine with a powerful jab.

"Now, thunder pun-!"

"Dodge! Extremspeed!"

His electric fist couldn't hit air before a blur struck him and sent him flying down the street. Only scrapping against concrete stopped him. Hitmonchan staggered up slowly only to feel fiery jaws around his neck.

Dave counted to two. "Let him go, girl!"

Arcanine dropped her foe the exact moment the flames burned into his throat.

As Hitmonchan fell, the ex-Magma stared at the Galactic. "You're next."

Seth stared back. "I know you too, don't I?"

"Doubt it. I remember who my customers are and I'm not that social. Arcanine!" He motioned his head towards Seth and Craig.

"Go, Probopass!" A floating rock head formed in front of him. "Let's see your physical attacker get through him!"

Arcanine disgruntledly lowered her head as Dave recalled her. "Go, Houndoom!" When the black dog appeared beside him, he knelt down and whispered, "We have to fake this. You know what I need you to do."

"Doom..." his dog moaned. "DOOM!" he roared.

"Houndoom, faint attack!"

Houndoom faded from sight as Seth laughed.

"I will not be caught by that again! Earthquake!"

"Destiny bond!"

As the ground shook and the homes around Seth collapsed, Houndoom glowed black from the middle of the road and purposely tensed every muscle in his body. The shockwaves ripped through the demon canine as Probopass glowed with the same black aura. When the shock passed, both pokemon fell.

People in the homes cried and screamed to get out as dust flew everywhere. Dave recalled his houndoom and ran into the cloud. Seth coughed and wheezed before feeling an impact and screaming in pain. Dave opened his fist and grabbed Craig.

"What… going on?" the teen moaned.

"I'm getting you out of here," Dave whispered. He recalled his brother-in-law's pokemon. "Try not to breathe the dust."

He ran out with Craig in his arms only to hear a girl cry, "DUCK!" He tucked and rolled as two purple arms swung and jumped back when a scorpion slammed her tail into the ground. The blow left a hole in the street.

"Drapion!" She yelled.

"This fight is over!" Dave shouted. "I have my brother-in-law! I don't care about you anymore!" He heard sirens in the distance and rolled his eyes.

"It's not over until I have answers! I know both of you from somewhere! Where?"

"I don't know!"

Seth glared at him and then at Beth, holding onto her father. "Let's see if she knows!"

"No, stop!"

"Drapion, rock tomb!"

Dave released one arm and flung open a pokeball. "Sludge bombs, Torkoal!" The instant Torkoal appeared, he launched large clumps of slime at the rocks. All but one rock fell. "Grrr! Hyper beam, quick!"

A blast of yellow energy blasted through the boulder, reduced it to dust, and blew away part of the Gerv's house. Mr. Gerv, Beth, and Shinx remained unharmed.

"Now, Drapion, while he's tired! Cross poison!"

Two slimy claws struck the turtle with very heavy force. Torkoal staggered back and launched a powerful flamethrower. The scorpion barely endured the blow and came in for another strike. Torkoal smiled and began a deep breath.

"Iron defense!" Dave shouted.

"Koal?" Torkoal turned at raised an eyebrow. While turned, the scorpion struck and landed him on his back.

"Damn it, Torkoal, listen to me! Rest!"

The scorpion dashed in as the turtle dozed off and began sleep eating. Drapion picked him up into the air.

"Gyro ball!"

Torkoal opened his eyes and tucked his limbs in his shell. He shot fire to spin himself, tangling Drapion's arms and striking her hard when she released him.

"Finish it with fire blast!"

A long, five pointed comet of fire blasted out of Torkoal's mouth and swept over Drapion. The scorpion collapsed, exhausted as Craig woke up and seven police cars arrived on the scene.

"What in blazes is going on here!" an old, strong sergeant yelled.

Craig saw the cops, saw the wreckage, and he began to panic. "Oh my god! D-!"

Dave clamped his hand over Craig's mouth as the Galactic raised an eyebrow. "Officers! That man…" he pointed at Seth. "…and his fellow terrorists attacked the people on this street and tried to kidnap my brother-in-law! I did my best to restrain him without harming people or property!"

Seth growled. "That's a lie! You only cared about the boy and his girlfriend! I saw your tactics, you cared less then I did!"

"That's the lie!" a man from one of the collapsed homes shouted. He held his bloody, broken arm as he spoke. "Those people in the white and black suites attacked Mr. Gerv!" He motioned his head toward his injured neighbor. "The boy fought back against them when they threatened him!" He looked at Dave. "Cared less than him, my rump! That guy in the green even tried to spare that bastard's pokemon!"

"Their sandstorm destroyed our house!"

"The man in white's earthquake collapsed ours! Please help, my wife is hurt!"

"They were going to blast our home with a hyper beam for no reason! The boy and his pokemon dove in the way and took the attack! Help him! That brave young man could be seriously injured!"

"I've heard enough!" the sergeant bellowed. "Men, get to work!"

Seth stepped back as the police went into action; helping the injured and releasing skuntanks to restrain the Galactic. "No! I am Seth Grands! I am a holy soldier for Team Galactic!"

"Tell it to the judge, bucko," one of the officers spat.

"The judge?" Seth's eyes twitched. "WHO ARE YOU HERETICS TO JUDGE ME?" He grabbed the ultraball on his belt. "IT IS I WHO WILL JUDGE YOU!" The stone pokemon appeared and used his wings to cause a massive earthquake.

As people, pokemon, and homes fell, Dave stood with his mouth agape. "…that pokemon."

Seth jumped onto the back off his aerodactyl as he flew into the sky. "…And I find you all, guilty!"

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What is the meaning of Aerodactyl to Dave? Will the good people of Celestic Town survive? Stay tuned to find out.

Also, in case you were worried, this is not the final battle.