Today we see the conclusion of the V. Seth battle. All eyes are in the sky as Charizard takes on the stone dinosaur.
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Chapter 4: Leak
Chimchar sat in his trainer's lap as Tyler watched his mother. Flannery rested her elbows on their kitchen table with her fingers intertangled while her right foot tapped relentlessly on the warped wooden floor. The clock on the wall ticked and tocked; each passing second seemed to take hours. From across the table, the wide eyes of her son and his pokemon remained fixated.
Outside their house, her two macargoes rolled around, tucked inside their shells. Her camerupt and torkoal slept. Rapidash blew small embers at falling leaves and Ninetales sat on the roof, keeping a vigilant eye out for anyone approaching.
"Mommy?" Tyler rested his chin on Chimchar's head. "Why are you so mad at uncle Zack?"
"I'm not-!" She took a deep breath. "Sorry, sweetie. I'm not mad, I'm worried. He could get us all into a lot of trouble."
"All of us? Why?"
"Imchar, Im?"
"Your uncle got into a fight with some bad people and bad people do very mean things to not only you, but your whole family."
The phone rang.
"Why mommy?
Flannery hurried. "Some people are evil." She snatched the receiver. "Ploss residence!"
"Madeline? Thank God! This is Wendy Gerv!"
"What is it? Is Zack ok?"
"No! Some men are here and-!" A loud noise from Wendy's side drowned her out. "-your husband just-!" Static followed and lingered.
"Wendy? WENDY!"
"Mommy, what's wrong?" Tyler yelled.
Flannery threw on her coat and grabbed her pokeball belt. "We're going, now!"
"But-!"
"Now!" She yanked up her son and ordered Chimchar onto her shoulders. Flinging the back door open, she yelled to all of her pokemon and recalled all but Rapidash.
"Mommy, where are we going?"
She threw her son and Chimchar on before mounting the fire horse. "We are going to get Daddy and uncle Zack!" She kicked Rapidash and the pokemon burst into a full sprint. She whispered, "…and maybe have to leave here forever."
***
"Dave, hand over those orbs."
"Why should I?"
"Because if you don't, I'm going to have to hurt you."
There was a long pause as Dave and Charizard hovered over the ocean and stared at the annoying boy, a pest of a trainer named Banov. The kid's brown eyes and brown seemed to add to the seriousness of his threat, which made Dave and Charizard laugh harder. He laughed so hard, the priceless red and blue orbs from Mt. Pyre almost fell out of his pocket.
He zipped up the pouch on his jacket. "Do you… Really think I was going to hand them over with your petty threat?"
"No, I didn't expect you to. But you can't blame me for trying!" At that moment, the aerodactyl Banov rode gave a huge bust of speed and smacked Charizard.
The dragon gripped Aerodactyl's wings and let out a hasty flamethrower. The attack swept over trainer and pokemon. Banov and his pokemon shook off the attack. Before Charizard struck again, Aerodactyl released an ear-piercing screech. Dave and his pokemon fell back, but quickly recovered and attacked.
Aerodactyl shot straight up when a stream of fire flew at him. He made a U-turn and dive-bombed back down. A roar and a fire blast stopped him in his tracks.
The fire-comet hit and Charizard zoomed in, his claws aimed at Aerodactyl's neck. His foe's wing blocked the attack. The dragon, with a claw around Aerodactyl's wing, gave a snarl and rocketed up, pulling the dinosaur with him.
Charizard grabbed his foe with both claws and then pulled him down. Then they swung up. Then back down. Again and again they spun in a wheel, going faster and faster until the dragon aimed down and gave a mighty thrash of his wings. The two shot towards the water.
Aerodactyl released another ear-paining screech. It forced blood out of his foes' brains. The two yelled and the smooth descent turned into a tumble. Charizard let out a roar that made a crater in the water and pulled all four battlers up.
The stone dinosaur quickly struck with his wing and broke free. He snapped at the dragon's wing and dug his talons into the orange flesh. He then shot into the air, scratching with its spined tail as he flew.
Charizard snarled and released another roar. The dinosaur let loose a glass-shattering screech. In that moment, Charizard flew in an arc and got above him.
Before his foe could chase, the dragon slammed him from his blind spot.
Dave saw Banov whispering something to his pokemon and the dinosaur took off towards land. "Drawing me to land where you'll get an advantage? Why should I play along?" He grinned under his red hood. "Unlike you, I have no NEED for this fight. If you plan to leave me unattended like this, then I'll just make off with my prize!" He looked at Charizard. "If we can get these back to Wallace and Russell soon, they may still hold up their end of the deal. Our whole family'll be free."
Aerodactyl stopped as Charizard to flew in the direction of Mt. Chimney. The dinosaur remained hovering in the air. As his foes began to fade, Banov ordered a charge.
Dave heard them approach. His dragon released a fire stream, but Aerodactyl curved straight up and dodged. The dinosaur U-turned again and shot down.
"Another dive-bomb? Well, this time it won't work. Charizard, move forward, but try to angle yourself up."
The dragon shot up at a steady angle, slowly gaining altitude as it left Aerodactyl's attack range. The dinosaur abandoned the attack and gave chase.
"Good, now use flamethrower; at will!" Dave's dragon fired randomly at his foe. Only some hit, but the need to dodge slowed the dinosaur.
"Supersonic!" Out of his stone mouth came a constant, boggling noise. As Aerodactyl drew closer, the sound rattled Dave and his dragon's minds more and more.
"Charizard, forget the upward angle! Just go straight forward, and focus everything on speed!"
The fire dragon shot forward. The stone pterodactyl continued. Aerodactyl angled up and down and side to side, keeping Charizard from escaping in any direction other than the ones Banov wanted. After a few moments, they reached forest-covered land.
"Ah, so you pushed me here anyway. Pretty good. But I'm tired of running!" Charizard U-turned and dove straight into Aerodactyl. He smashed the dinosaur head first. As his foe staggered in the air, the dragon dove into the woods below. Once there, he blew a flamethrower that only scathed the dinosaur. Charizard glided to a different spot. Aerodactyl shot down for an earthquake.
A flamethrower blew out of his mouth and struck Aerodactyl dead-on. The dinosaur pulled up and waved supersonic throughout the forest. Charizard flew throughout the woods, launching flamethrowers whenever he could. Each time, it drew the boy and the dinosaur's attention.
"Damn that kid." Dave brought his pokemon to a halt as they hid in the thicket. He slowly took the orbs out of his pocket. He stared at them and his Charizard. "I'll surrender myself."
"Arizar?"
"No, I'm not confused," Dave laughed. "If I accept surrender on the condition you go free, you can fly these back to Mt. Chimney before he realizes I don't have them."
They covered their ears as a wave of supersonic passed over them.
"Char! Charizard!"
"Now who's being crazy?" He shook his head. "We don't have time for honor! I swore to Flannery and Craig we'd do this!"
"Char! Charrrrr!"
Dave grabbed his pokemon's shoulders. "I never loved you! I never loved any of my pokemon! You never loved me! None of you did! You were all tools for me and I was the guiding hand for you! Now listen to me, you bonehead!"
"CHAR! CHAR! IZ! ARD!" His trainer smiled and sighed as another wave of supersonic assaulted them.
"If you're in, then let's do it."
Dave pocketed the orbs and jumped on to Charizard's back. The duo shot out behind the dinosaur. Aerodactyl caught them and unleashed a high-pitched screech as the dragon let loose a primal roar. The two circled each other before slamming skull to skull.
For ten whole seconds, they danced in the air, collided heads, drew back, danced, and collided again. Their flesh bled. Their skulls cracked. They continued. The assault lasted until both trainers ordered them to stop and descend. Dave aimed for the forest. Banov ordered an earthquake.
The quake uprooted trees as it rippled through the forest and struck Charizard. The dragon flew up.
"Charizard, flamethrower!"
"Aerodactyl, rock slide!"
Fire blasted down. Rocks shot up. Both missed, but only the rocks came back down. The stones rained from above and pummeled the dragon and his trainer. Aerodactyl shot into Charizard's gut then bit his leg. The dragon roared and knocked the stone beast back.
Both pokemon hovered over the ground. Charizard zoomed forward, firing a fast-moving flamethrower. Aerodactyl shot up to avoid the flames, but Dave read his foe and Charizard struck as he curved up to follow.
The two shot up with inches separating them. The fire dragon immolated his arm with blue dragon fire and threw it into his foe. Aerodactyl cried out until his trainer yelled, "Double-team!"
Suddenly, two Aerodactyls appeared and flew in opposite directions. Now high in the sky, the two mounted dinosaurs shot up and over Charizard. One dropped down and Charizard attacked him with a flamethrower. But the real one attacked with his talons before the blaze could hit the illusion.
The dragon fired a wide fire blast after the two. The attack swept over both revealing the true one and forced the dinosaur to make a dive-bomb attack. The dragon flew at him and lowered his head. Just before impact, Charizard strafed to the side and grabbed Aerodactyl's talons. With a heavy flap of his wings the dragon overpowered the dinosaur. They spun in circles before shooting straight down with Aerodactyl's head against Charizard's crotch.
He threw the stone pokemon into the earth and glided some distance away before landing. Dinosaur and trainer lay motionless only for a moment before they rose again, hovering above ground weakly. All four sneered. The dinosaur opened his mouth and fired a large yellow beam.
Charizard barely dodged the hyper beam and used the explosion to launch into air. From the tree-line he struck with a flamethrower. Aerodactyl let out a weak screech that blurred the dragon's vision. The dinosaur rushed forward and clawed into the dragon with his wings. Charizard snapped at the air aimlessly, hitting nothing.
Aerodactyl bit into one of his wings and his vision cleared. Charizard blasted a flamethrower that hit dead-on. The dinosaur staggered above the ground. The dragon landed again and Dave hopped off.
"Charizard, fire spin!" The dragon made circles with his neck while releasing a stream of fire. Once the flames trapped their foes, Dave shouted, "Good. Now, use blast burn! Finish this!"
The orange fire dragon opened his mouth. Red and orange energy gathered into a ball. In the fire spin, the dinosaur could already feel the heat.
"Aerodactyl, earthquake!" The dinosaur struck his head into the earth. The ripples knocked Charizard off balance and cracked several of Dave's bones. Dave screamed as a tiny sun flew over Aerodactyl and his trainer's heads.
Dave dropped to his knees next to his dragon and gripped his broken ribs. The dinosaur flew out of the fire spin and hovered above the ground.
"Are you finished?" Banov breathed heavily as he spoke.
"No!" Dave shouted. He leapt onto Charizard's back, writhing as he landed.
"You can't be serious."
"I am!"
Charizard rushed forward and ripped his claws into Aerodactyl. Dave cringed from his own attack. His foe fired a weak hyper beam that struck the dragon's chest.
"Come on, Dave!"
Images of Flannery, Craig, and all of their pokemon flooded the mind of the Demon of Magma. "Blast burn!"
Charizard shot into the air. Suspended above his foe, he unleashed a gigantic ball of fire. The heat alone ignited the ground and the stone dinosaur desperately flew out of the way. Banov dodged the attack, but the air burned his pokemon as a huge bonfire erupted out of the earth.
The fire dragon flew through the fire and attacked with his jaws and claws. Before Aerodactyl could react, Charizard darted back into the flames.
"Use supersonic!" The dinosaur screeched at the fire. Two charizards emerged.
Twin dragons whizzed around the dinosaur and attacked. Aerodactyl spun like a windmill into the ground, spraying a barrage of rocks that dispersed the illusion and struck the real one.
The stone dinosaur rushed forward and dug his wings into his foe. From point blank range, meters above the earth, Aerodactyl blasted a yellow beam that knocked Dave Scern and Charizard into unconsciousness.
"And I find you all guilty!" At those words, Aerodactyl shot back to the ground and caused another earth-shaking impact.
The skuntanks screamed and collapsed as more houses crumbled. People fell. Dave's body shot down into a split and leaned forward, using an arm for balance while the other held Craig. When the shockwaves passed, he dashed to the officers and their over-turned cars.
"Stop him, hurry!" He shook the injured sergeant.
"With what? We don't have the power to beat an aerodactyl!"
Seth flew down the street, spinning his dinosaur and knocking up sharp stones at the police officers. The sergeant pushed Dave and Craig out of the way as the stone edge collided with the vehicles and impaled several officers.
"No!" Craig shouted. His brother-in-law carried him to the Gerv's house as a news van pulled up behind the damaged squad cars.
"Sam, watch him!"
Aerodactyl rose into the sky, readying another attack.
"What are you going to do?" Mr. Gerv asked weakly.
Without giving a reply, Dave turned and ran into the street. He reached down to his belt and grabbed his forth and final pokeball. "We have to use physical attacks only." He could hear the complaints emanating from the ball. Aerodactyl dove in for a third earthquake. "Then we'll find a way! Go, Charizard!"
With a powerful roar the orange dragon emerged. The deafening sound made the stone dinosaur flinch in fear and abort his attack. Seth sneered at his pokemon. "Idiot! He's all bark!"
Dave mounted his pokemon. With a slow, powerful flap, Charizard rose and then sped into the air. "Steel wing!"
"Double-edge!"
Orange wings turned into metal and collided with the thick skull of the dinosaur. Aerodactyl continued forward. Charizard staggered back. The dinosaur spun around and struck the dragon with his stone wing. Aerodactyl flew up, U-turned, and went in for another attack.
Charizard let out a large cloud of smoke into his foe's path. The dinosaur and his trainer closed their eyes and wheezed when they flew threw it. The dragon darted up and shot into Aerodactyl.
"Brick break!"
The fire dragon wound up his short arm and swung. Aerodactyl quickly blocked with his wing and bit into Charizard's neck with electrified fangs. The dragon roared as his claws turned to metal. Acting fast, Charizard dug them into the dinosaur's neck and pulled him off.
High in the sky, they circled each other. Seth called out, "Whoever you are, you are no match for the holy strength of Team Galactic! Surrender now and my interrogation of you and your brother-in-law will be easy!"
Dave spat. "Holy strength? Let me guess, you terrorists have some noble cause!"
"We are not terrorists! We save this world while others destroy it! Others like you! Aerodactyl, double-edge!"
***
Down below, a rapidash arrived on the scene carrying a panicked mother with red hair and her brown-haired son. The fire horse hurried through a drove of people who stared up at the battle and past a slick-dressed news reporter and her camera man. She galloped over the destroyed road and towards the Gerv house.
Holding her son, the woman jumped down. "Zack! Oh my god, what happened?"
Beth held Craig up on the stoop of their destroyed home. "I don't know, Mrs. Ploss! One minute my dad…" She motioned her head to the man who sat clutching his chest next to a middle-aged woman with blonde hair. "…was telling Zack to get inside, the next minute those guys attacked him! They threatened Zack and- Mr. Ploss!"
Flannery, Tyler, Chimchar, and Rapidash immediately looked up at the battle. Charizard and Aerodactyl traded blows again and again with the stone dinosaur's strikes over powering the fire dragon's. People all around pointed and gasped as the news crew aimed a camera and the woman shouted the events as they happened.
Craig leaned on Beth and groaned, "Madeline, he's holding back, isn't he?"
Flannery nodded.
"What?" Beth almost fell backwards. "Why on Earth isn't he attacking with everything?"
Flannery gritted her teeth. "Just trust him!"
"Mommy, she's right! Daddy's losing!"
"Chim!" The fire monkey violently clapped his hands.
Zack squeezed his fist. "Vincent… needs us to do something! Can we give him a sunny day so he 'gets' a fire boost?"
Beth smiled. "That's a great idea! Yeah, he probably isn't using fire against a rock type because-!"
"No!" Flannery watched as Aerodactyl used aerial ace to deflect Charizard's iron tail. The dinosaur attacked with electrified fangs. "That wouldn't be enough! If he has to do this, it has to be done this way!"
Tears fell down Tyler's cheeks. "But, mommy…!"
"Chim! Chim chim!" Chimchar clapped harder. Energy formed in his palms.
Flannery grabbed her crying son. "Tyler, listen to me! Your father-!"
"Daddy's the bestest! We have to hewlp him!"
"Tyler!"
"Chim chim chim chim chimchimchimchim!" The energy grew.
"He needs our HEWLP!"
"CHIMCHAR!" The monkey launched a blue bolt into the sky.
***
Charizard recovered from the last wing attack and followed it with a body slam. The dinosaur dodged and cut into his skin with stone talons. At the end of his tail, the fire grew larger.
"Your pokemon is weak!" Seth ordered Aerodactyl to hover above Dave and Charizard. "Whoever you are, it doesn't matter if you die! You are unworthy of being noticed by Team Galactic! Aerodactyl, finish this with a good double-edge!"
Aerodactyl shot towards Charizard as the dragon braced himself. At that second, a blue bolt struck the fire pokemon and his muscles bulked.
Dave's eyes widened. "Helping hand… FIRE BLAST!"
At point blank, a mammoth star erupted from the dragon. The blaze engulfed his foe and blasted him away.
***
"WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?"
"We hewlped him, mommy!" Tyler and Chimchar jumped up and down. "We hewlped him!"
***
Surrounded by a crowd, a woman with neck-length dark green hair spoke into the camera. "This is amazing! At the last moment, the man with the charizard used a fire blast that caught the terrorist by complete surprise! Was that his plan all along?"
Screams came from the crowd. "Oh my god! The terrorist and his aerodactyl survived and are attacking!"
***
Seth rode Aerodactyl in for another strike. "You won't surprise me again!"
Charizard sneered. He swooped out of the way and fired off a huge flamethrower as he flew. The dinosaur couldn't stop and went directly into the blaze. Seth and his pokemon turned their heads. As they endured the blaze, Dave and Charizard flew above them. Dragonic energy formed in the fire pokemon's throat.
The Galactic looked around hastily. "Where are they? Where are they hid-!" Charizard's dragon pulse cut him off. Seth and Aerodactyl screamed.
Dave glanced around the town below. "Impact point? Where's a good impact point?" His eyes stopped at the ancient crater. But it lay outside their landing range. "Let's get them that way!" Charizard nodded.
The dragon's arm glowed with a multi-colored dragon fire and dove in. The dinosaur spun and folded his wings to shield himself but the flaming claw pushed through his defenses. The flames spread over the dinosaur as Charizard drove his claw deeper and deeper. Aerodactyl braved the fire and bit down with electricity. Charizard pulled back.
"YOU'RE MAKING ME MAD!" Seth bared his teeth.
With a smirk and a wave, Charizard folded in his wings and plummeted feet first.
"DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY! GIGA IMPACT!" Aerodactyl took a deep breath and pushed into a dive-bomb.
The dinosaur closed in. Moment by moment the distance between them shrunk. Seth laughed like a psychotic while Dave wore an evil grin.
"Fire spin! Trap him!" The orange dragon spun his neck in circles as he unleashed fire. The spiral trapped his foe in a blazing tunnel.
"THIS CANNOT STOP A HOLY SOLDIER!"
"Now!" Charizard continued the fire spin as he opened his wings and slowed drastically.
Aerodactyl staggered left and right as the tunnel's walls shifted. The dragon soared all around him, twisting his head as he flew. The dinosaur found himself trapped in a sphere of fire.
"AN AERIAL FIRE SPIN? IMPOSSIBLE!"
Charizard flew several yards away and took in the sunlight. His body glowed a greenish-yellow. At Dave's order, a solarbeam blasted out of his mouth and into the sphere. The attack rocketed the dinosaur out of the fire and over the crater.
***
As the beam knocked the dinosaur above the crater, several officers, the on-lookers, and the news crew hurried to ground zero. Flannery picked up her excited son and his ecstatic chimchar and handed them to Wendy. "Please take them home." Her friend nodded as Flannery whispered to her brother. "Stay at home. Don't answer anyone's questions until we get there. Not even the police's."
Craig nodded slowly. His sister leapt onto Rapidash and sped off towards the battle.
***
"Seismic toss!"
The fire dragon flew right above the stone dinosaur and grabbed his talons in his claws. Charizard locked his mighty legs around his foe's neck, pinning Seth's body between both pokemon and the Galactic's head against his crotch. The dragon flew up. Then down. Then up. Then down.
Charizard flew faster and faster until he reached the apex of his speed and dive-bombed. Aerodactyl flapped wildly, but the dragon's knees on his wing joints stopped their movements. As the air rushed by Seth, he struggled in vain for his last pokeball. In the next moment, Charizard threw his foe into the crater and pulled up. Aerodactyl belly-flopped into the earth and immediately passed out.
Seth limped across the ground. His broken bones caused him agony with every move he made.
Above the Galactic, Dave and Charizard swooped down and landed at the edge of the decline. An audience of policemen, civilians, and a news crew arrived some distance behind them and surrounded the large hole. The ex-Magma and his dragon glared solely at their foe as he slowly recalled Aerodactyl and grabbed the final pokeball on his belt. Out of the sphere emerged a small white person with a green hat with two red protrusions.
"Ralts…" Seth weakly gripped the small pokemon. "…use…"
"Fire spin!"
Before the Galactic could react, he and his ralts found themselves trapped in a spiral of fire.
***
"Faster, Rapidash!" The fire horse bolted faster when her trainer saw Dave's audience. Flannery watched the seismic toss. She heard the order for a fire spin. She took a deep breath and yelled out for him.
***
"Charizard!" Their target began to shake and hyperventilate. "Finish this with blast-!"
Seth's face turned pale.
"VINCENT!"
Dave immediately tensed. His eyes darted around the crater's edge. Faking injury, he threw his right arm over his left rib and gritted his teeth. "…A blast of… fire…"
Seth chuckled. Charizard launched a fire blast just as the fire spin ended. The Galactic grabbed Ralts and dodged in the knick of time. Then he stood up and laughed. He laughed and laughed and laughed. He could feel his body crying out but he kept laughing. Dave, Charizard, and everyone around the crater stared at him with raised eyebrows and puzzled expressions.
"Alts! Ralts!" The chirping of his pokemon brought Seth back to reality.
"Flamethrower!"
Seth threw down a smokeball. "Teleport!"
The flames blew away the gas cloud to reveal nothing. A few able-bodied police officers made their way down to explore the area. Dave sighed and remained above with his arm holding his left rib. The crowd around him kept dead quiet, even when he slowly turned around.
Dave and Charizard jumped when they saw the crowd staring. The dragon lowered himself and spread his wings. The ex-Magma readied his legs to leap onto his pokemon. They both examined the audience left and right as they forced their breathing to keep steady. Then, the crowd reacted.
Everyone cheered. Roars of praise and screams of honors echoed up and down the crowd. Trainer and pokemon relaxed their bodies and looked at each other. Dave shrugged his shoulders. Charizard shrugged his. People all around closed in on the duo and began shaking their hands and patting their backs.
"Excuse me!" A sharply dressed woman with neck-length dark green hair pushed her way through the crowd. Behind her, a large man holding a camera and a microphone followed. 'SSN' lay written on both objects. "Move! Hey, out of my way! Watch those hands, bucko!" The woman made her way through the masses and to Dave.
She fixed her hair and grabbed the microphone. "Sir, I'm Shanice Branson and this is my cameraman, Jess Navillon. We're with the local branch of the Sinnoh News Network. Can you tell us a little about who you are and what happened up there?"
The crowd hushed as Shanice brought the mike to Dave's mouth. He smiled and shook his head. The reporters face turned pale.
"Um… are you sure you don't feel like commenting? There are a lot of people who would love to know about what just took place." Her voice became louder. "Maybe a loved one who wants to make sure you're alright?"
Dave remained silent as he and Charizard made their way through the crowd. He kept his hand on his rib as they found their way to a red haired woman beside a rapidash. With tears in her eyes, the woman ran forward, threw her arms around him, and kissed him. The crowd around them applauded as Shanice and Jess tried to follow.
"There you have it, ladies and gentlemen!" Shanice clenched her fist out of the camera's view. "The silent, modest hero is rewarded with a kiss from his beloved!"
Flannery cupped her hands over Dave's ear and whispered, "Keep smiling as I'm talking." She kept a warm expression on her face. "Do you have any idea what could happen now? Tyler could be taken away from us." Her husband kept a smile and playfully nodded his head. "We are going up now."
Dave laughed as Flannery pulled back and recalled Rapidash. With flirtatious looks, he picked her up wedding style and climbed on to Charizard. The crowd stepped back as the fire dragon gave huge slow flaps of his wings before lifting off the ground and flying off.
"And now they leave us!" Shanice could feel her blood boiling. "It's a wonder to everyone who they are!" She began to move her hand to give a signal, but a voice from the crowd stopped her.
"I know who he is!" The large crowd, Jess, and Shanice all turned to a modestly-dressed man with grey hair and a moustache. He leaned back and glanced around before saying, "His… uh… name is Vincent Ploss and that was his wife, Madeline. The guy's an independent metallurgist. He works in a shack up in the mountains. I must say, I never knew he could battle like that."
Shanice pushed her way up to him. "Why is it up in the mountains?"
"He says it's so he doesn't have to pay for zoning and business taxes. The town can't tax what's not in its boundaries."
"Is there anything else you can tell us about him?"
The man rubbed his chin. "He works with his wife and lives with her, their son, and her brother. They manage their business out of their home. That's where I always call to place an order. They like to be paid in cash. This sounds very sketchy, I know, but one cannot blame them. Their business is very small and they do not have much money. They probably want to deposit their payments right away for every cent of interest."
The report gave a sly smile. "Thank you very much for your input, Mr…"
"Mr. Kennedy. Think nothing of it. It is a gentleman's duty to support one who has helped his own business." He gave a small laugh. "For his status, that man is quite blessed to have pokemon and a family like that."
Shanice turned back to Jess with a much wider, slier smile. "…And THERE you have it, ladies and gentlemen! This modest, salt of the earth family man is now the hero of the town! I only hope that we can all have another chance to learn more about him and how he found the strength and courage to save the day!" Below the camera's view, she gave a sliding motion with her hand. Jess cut the feed.
"We've waited a long time for something like this to come along." He lowered his camera.
"Yeah." Shanice handed him the mike. "And I can tell there's more to this than meets the eye. I'll find it out, though. I'll do anything for a good story."
***
Arcanince howled. A recovered houndoom howled. Charizard and Torkoal shot flamethrowers. Dave cringed.
"YOU IDOIT! YOU MORON! YOU STUPID, IGNORANT, PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A HUSBAND! DID YOU THINK AT ALL ABOUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN? IF YOU HAD USED BLAST BURN, EVERYONE WOULD HAVE ALREADY FIGURED IT OUT!"
Dave slowly looked up at his wife as she stared at him across the room of his metallurgy shack. He felt a knot in his stomach at the sight of her red, contorted, and tearful face. "Flannery, I-."
"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! WE COULD LOOSE EVERYTHING! WHAT ABOUT 'ONLY USE CHARIZARD'S PHYSICAL ATTACKS' CONFUSED YOU? "
"We won't lose anything!"
"Oh, we won't!" she mocked. She pulled a random pokeball off her belt and looked at it. "You hear that? Dave says we won't lose anything! And since Dave said it, I GUESS THAT MEANS IT'S TRUE! BECAUSE HE'S NEVER LIED TO ME!"
"FLANNERY!" He caught her shoulders. "I don't know where that helping hand came from, but it's a reason for Charizard's strength and it's the reason I survived! Put it in with blaze… it'll be enough!" Dave sighed. "If that hadn't happened, I would have died before using fire blast. And that double-edge would have killed me. You have to believe me. The only reason I used his special attacks was because I saw an excuse for his power."
His wife looked at him. The redness and contortions left. "It was from Chimchar." She threw her arms around him and held him tight. "Oh god, it was from our son's chimchar and I tried to stop him! If he had listened to me, you would be dead! I'm sorry, Dave! I… I'm so sorry!"
Dave held her tight as she cried into his shoulder. He let her tears soak into his jacket before saying, "I love you, Mrs. Flannery Scern."
She pulled her head up and wiped away her tears. "I love you too, Mr. Dave Scern."
They leaned in and shared a passionate kiss that held even as they moved into the back room where a worn cot lay.
***
Miles east of the stone shack above Celestic Town, in a secret base under The Café Cabin, Seth Grands continued his laugh as he deposited his last pokemon into the regeneration mechanism. "I knew I knew them! I knew I knew them!"
Alone in the hideout, he pulled himself, crude casts and all, to the base's computer. "Contact Commander Mars!" he laughed. While the signal linked up, Seth forced himself to cease his laughter. He settled for wearing an incessant smile.
A woman with wavy red hair appeared on the monitor. "High Grunt Seth Grands!" He smiled through her rage. "How dare you show your face! You completely disobeyed orders and abandoned your squad! You showed incompetence in a battle where you had the clear upper-hand! And you have ruined Team Galactic's reputation in the Mid-North of Sinnoh! I should have you executed for this! What do you have to say for yourself?"
Without dropping his grin, he replied, "Commander Mars, I request the Orion Squad."
Her eyes widened. "How dare you! You insignificant worm! You have ten seconds before I order the hunters to kill you! Ten! Nine!"
"Ten seconds…?" Seth raised an eyebrow.
"Eight! Seven!"
"I only need six words." He crossed his arms.
"Six! Five!"
"Dave Scern is in Celestic Town."
"… Go on."
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I have to credit a friend of mine, banov, as the flashback fight was from his fic. I just changed some things and cleaned up the writing.
For those of you who didn't like the lack of bad things in this flashback, fear not. The next chapter has the darkest, vilest, most horrible event in Dave's life shown. You WILL NOT want to miss it.