Chapter 20: Gemstone

I woke up early in the morning on the second day of the tournament. I let Kai sleep in my hotel bed, I know she really needed a good rest. I had spent the majority of last night treating some bad wounds on her. Her back was the worst of all, covered in deep, scarlet gashes. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it is they did to her. I disinfected them and then bandaged them up. What did they do to her?

I paced back and forth in my room. I kept thinking about what I saw. They used Celebi to make it so that they could win easier. The machine seemed to suck Celebi's energy, then use it to cure status ailments. However, it seemed poison was only slowed, as opposed to all other negative effects, which were gone completely: Confusion, Paralysis. I had yet to see it done with Infatuations, Burns, or Freezings, but I bet it could cure those too.

I know what happened to Celebi, but what about the rest? Zapdos? Moltres? Articuno? Darkrai? Genesect? Reshiram? Zekrom? It all just puzzled me.

I grabbed my brown cloak and put it over my usual clothes and silently left the room. I knew Kai needed to rest. From the way she looked, I could tell she was tired and needed to sleep more than anything.

I made my way down towards the stadium. People were already filling in. I knew the first match was going to begin soon. It was Michael's match.

I hadn't seen my friend since the tournament began. I knew he was busy trying to find out more information about Team Cataclysm. I needed to find him. He was up against Lady Sapphire next, so he would need to know what I found out.

I walked around the underground of the stadium. It was really extensive. I knew his battle was very soon. I kept walking until I spotted the familiar spiky red hair. I walked up to him.

"Michael, I have something important to tell you" I said approaching him

"Does it have anything to do with how Team Cataclysm royals were somehow able to completely avoid status ailments? Cuz I'd love to hear it if it is" he responded

"So you were paying attention..." I said. "Good. I found Celebi. She's in some sort of machine... They're using it to send these... invisible beams that heal their Pokemon."

"I see..." Michael said, thinking over what he just heard. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to beat Lady Sapphire with brute force then. Not a problem. I'll only need Ursaring, maybe Espeon. Shouldn't need to use Electrode, Walrein, or Flygon." He said it with such confidence.

"How can you be so confident?" I asked him.

"Simple" he replied, with as much confidence as ever "My Pokemon have been through a lot. I know that. I believe in them now more than ever."

Michael turned around and began to walk towards the entrance.

"Oh, hey Michael" I called after him

"Yeah?" he turned around

"They can't seem to fully eliminate poison" I told him.

"Good to know" he said, exiting the tunnel, ready for his big fight. The first of many.

The battle started off intensely. Michael had out his Ursaring, just like he told me he would. Lady Sapphire sent out her Grumpig. However, Grumpig was only able to land one Psychic attack. Ursaring swiftly took it out with one powerful Return attack. I could tell this battle was going to be good.

Lady Sapphire next sent out her Delcatty. Delcatty shot a beam of blue lightning at Ursaring, a good Shock Wave attack. However, Delcatty just couldn't handle Ursaring's raw power. Before Delcatty could land another hit, Ursaring's arm began glowing white and he slammed it down right on top of Delcatty. One Hammer Arm was all it took.

Next Lady Sapphire sent out a Manectric. Again, it really wasn't much against Michael's Ursaring. Ursaring disappeared, then reappeared behind Manectric and delivered a powerful punch to him. It was one hell of a Faint Attack. Manectric, who seemed to be already badly damaged from one single attack, turned around and let loose a large bolt of electricity. This Thunder had been the most powerful attack Lady Sapphire had displayed yet. That wasn't saying much though. Yes it was a powerful attack, but Ursaring broke right through it. Ursaring then charged right at Manectric and tackled him full-force. I could tell that Ursaring really loved Michael. Its Return attack wouldn't be that powerful if he didn't. Manectric went down and Lady Sapphire recalled him.

Next came Lady Sapphire's Altaria. The large blue bird with the cloud wings appeared, ready for battle. But, like its teammates before it, it didn't last long. Ursaring used Return again. The attack was so incredibly powerful. Altaria got up from the attack and fired a large ball of turquoise energy from her mouth. A good Dragon Pulse attack. But Ursaring just powered on through it, just like the rest of the attacks. Ursaring rushed up to Altaria and slashed at her. His Slash attack was very powerful. Altaria went down, just like the others.

It was really amazing, actually. Michael took out four of Lady Sapphire's Pokemon so very easily. This round was taking no time at all. Michael was doing exactly as he said he would. Brute force. Only using his Ursaring. It was incredible. Even as I watched it, I couldn't believe that he was doing it.

Now came the real challenging part of the battle. Lady Sapphire sent out her Cradily. Cradily and Ursaring glared at each other for a bit until Ursaring began to charge at him. Ursaring's arm glowed white, ready to deliver another Hammer Arm attack. However, something completely random happened. Ursaring tripped and fell flat on his face. He looked around and there he saw it: the grass at his feet had formed into a knot and caused him to trip. Cradily had used Grass Knot very discreetly, thus succeeding in what its other teammates couldn't: causing Ursaring a decent amount of damage. Ursaring got up, looking slightly embarrassed for having tripped. His arm glowed white again and he slammed it into Cradily. Cradily didn't seem to bothered by the attack. In fact, he retaliated by firing an Energy Ball at point blank range. Ursaring really seemed hurt by this attack. He stumbled backward, obviously in pain. He then disappeared and reappeared behind Cradily, delivering a powerful Faint Attack. Cradily retaliated instantly by summoning large ball of silver energy. He launched it right at Ursaring. Ursaring tried to charge right through it. He landed one more Hammer Arm right on Cradily, though AncientPower seemed to do quite a bit of damage to him. Lady Sapphire recalled Cradily. Amazingly, her best attempt so far. I couldn't tell if Michael was just that good, of Lady Sapphire was not really that good of a trainer.

Now came Lady Sapphire's final Pokemon. A Swampert, of all Pokemon. Ursaring charged, going to use another Return, but he never did make it. Swampert, in a show amazing strength, summoned a large wave of disgusting water came crashing down upon Ursaring. This Muddy Water attack was certainly very powerful. It actually made me think that Swampert was the only Pokemon Lady Sapphire raised well.

Michael recalled Ursaring and sent out Espeon, just as he said. Espeon came out, ready to fight. The two Pokemon stood and glared at each other, waiting for orders from their trainers.

Espeon sprung first, firing a powerful Shadow Ball attack. Swampert then pounded the ground, creating a shockwave that shook the whole arena. Espeon was smart enough to jump up into the air in order to dodge the massive Earthquake. Espeon landed as the Earthquake ended, then, he sent a powerful wave of psychic energy. The energy hit and enveloped Swampert. Then, by sheer will, Espeon made Swampert float up into the air, and then slammed him down on the ground hard. He did this several times until the Psychic attack ended. Swampert wasn't ready to give up yet, though. He opened his mouth and large balls of mud shot out right at Espeon. Espeon gracefully dodged them, then retaliated with another Shadow Ball. This one hit dead on. Swampert then got up and attacked with another massive Muddy Water. Espeon busted straight through the large, powerful murky wave and attacked with a powerful Hyper Beam attack. Swampert was hit and went down.

Michael just won the match, exactly as he said he would. Only using Ursaring and Espeon. It was actually quite amazing. I sat on the bench, looking at the screen from the underground portion of the arena. I couldn't help but let out a loud shout of victory. That was one Cataclysm Royal out of the competition. I know there still remained four more, and their leader, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.

Michael came through the tunnel, and I was there to greet him.

"Congratulations! Wow, I can't believe you won that easily!" I said, very excited by what I just witnessed.

"It was nothing really..." Michael said, modest as ever "My Pokemon did all the work. I didn't do much really..."

"You're the one that trained those amazing Pokemon!" I exclaimed "I've never seen an Ursaring take out that many Pokemon so easily. And Espeon, WOW, can he dodge attacks!"

"Well... Thanks." He said

"How did you get your Pokemon to be so amazing?" I asked him. If anyone was going to win this tournament, I think it would have been Michael. He rarely needed more than two Pokemon in a match. His team covered the weaknesses of the other members. On top of all that, they just seemed to attack and dodge so flawlessly.

"Like I've said..." Michael responded "My Pokemon have been through a lot. I know that what they've been through makes them better, stronger, more reliable."

"Michael..." I started

"Its fine..." he said. "I realize that, even though you've known me and been travelling with me for so long, you don't seem to know about me. Let me just explain it briefly. There was an organization in my home region of Orre called Cipher. Cipher are, to this day, considered one of the worst Crime Organizations in our world. More so than even the likes of Team Magma, Team Aqua, Team Plasma... What they did was considered cruel beyond even the measures of Team Rocket. They would steal the Pokemon of other people. Then, they created a process that removed all emotions except for those of hate and rage from the Pokemon and turned them into weapons. These Pokemon were called 'Shadow Pokemon.' There really was nothing else I could do except... This machine, the one I've worn around my arm... it... it allows me to break the connection that the Poke Ball forms between the Trainer and Pokemon. I can bypass that and take Pokemon from other trainers. I'm not proud of what I did... stealing so many Pokemon... but... it had to be done... in order to keep them safe... Then, then I was able to open the door to these Pokemon's hearts, giving them back their emotions and everything. I was able to do this to all of them... except one... You see, this one... this one was said to be completely lost, to forever spend its life as this... this horrible weapon... So, I carry him with me at all times. My Espeon and Flygon never suffered this fate, but Electrode, Walrein, and Ursaring have. They remember it well. They use this pain as fuel for their battling... it makes them better...And as for that one... that one that refuses to become a normal Pokemon... I know... I just know that, one day soon, I'll get through to it."

It was quite amazing actually. I had read about the Shadow Pokemon incident, although the region of Orre remained a complete mystery to me. This story though... I guess I could see why Michael's Pokemon could fight so well, because most of them fought much harder in their lives...

"And, what is that one Pokemon?" I asked him

"XD001" he replied. "A very dangerous Pokemon. I hope to never use it."

"I see..." I said, still a little confused.

"Now, on a more important note" he said "Let's go free Celebi, shall we?"

I led the way to where I had been the day before. I approached the door, Michael right behind me.

"Alright, here's the plan" Michael began. "First, I'm going to send in Electrode. I'll have him use Explosion. This will vacate the room completely. Then, we go in and get Celebi out. If we see any of the grunts in there, we should pull them aside and get the information about where the other Legendaries are. Ready?"

"Ready" I responded

As if on cue, Michael opened the door slightly and let the red beam of light from a Poke Ball loose in the next room. He then silently closed the door. About 30 seconds later, a loud, powerful explosion could be heard from the other side of the door. We hid ourselves behind the wall. Just as we thought, all the Cataclysm grunts came running out, coughing and choking from the smoke the attack caused. Michael grabbed one of the male grunts and pinned him against the wall.

"Where are the other Legendary Pokemon!?" Michael yelled in the young man's face

"Like hell if I'd know" the grunt sneered

"Tell me!" Michael yelled louder through the chaos

The grunt just laughed. He laughed.

"As if we'd know!" He yelled through his laughter "Only the Royals know that!"

"Damn..." Michael said. He threw the grunt to the floor and entered the room. I followed right behind him.

The center of the room where the machine was was completely ruined. The glass was cracked, all the monitors were shattered, and not much was left. Celebi floated in the small container. I picked it up, Celebi still inside. I struggled to open it, but I couldn't. Michael did the same. We didn't have enough time though. We didn't know if one of the Royals would come to see what was going on. We ran for it, Celebi in hand. Lord Diamond was in his match now, but looks like he wouldn't be getting any cures for his status ailments now that we just ruined their little scheme. The same applied to Count Silver, whose battle was later that day.

As Michael and I ran, I caught a glimpse of the monitor showing the match. Lord Diamond had won with great ease. That was very unsettling. Now Team Cataclysm had four members in the next round.

We kept running, not really knowing where to go. There wasn't really anywhere to go until we could get Celebi out.

Then we saw him. Lord Diamond just strutting across the hall to another door, then entered it.

"Michael..." I said

"I know..." he responded "We should follow him"

And that's what we did.

We slowly opened the door so that we could just peer in. What we saw was very, very disturbing.

"Please, please you can't!" A young blonde woman cried. She lay on the ground, her blue dress deep blue dress ripped up. An hourglass shaped mask lay next to her. I then realized that this young woman, whose very beautiful features were twisted by tears and pain, was, in fact Lady Sapphire.

"You failed us." The cold voice of Catalyst said. "A Royal should not have lost so easily. You have disgraced us."

"No, no you can't! I've been loyal since the very beginning! Please!" Lady Sapphire begged

"No." Catalyst said. Short. Cold.

"No... No..." she cried. She then began to crawl towards someone else in the room. It was Master Black. In fact, they were all there. Lord Diamond, Master Black, Count Silver, and Red. Lady Sapphire, who looked so different without her mask, crawled up to Master Black and grabbed onto his sleeve, tears streaming down her face.

"Jared..." she said in almost a low whisper "Jared... please... you can't... you can't let them!"

"Lucy..." Master Black said. He couldn't respond anything else.

"Your services have been greatly appreciated to our cause, Lady Sapphire" Catalyst said "but you have failed us. And for that, you must be penalized. Red, if you would please."

"Of course" Red said. And then the most unexpected thing happened. Red opened the door that Michael and I were hiding behind and looked right at us.

"Thank you" he said, taking Celebi from us. We were so shocked. We had no idea what to do. He just, took Celebi's container, and walked right back to the meeting, as if we didn't matter at this point.

"Oh, and you two..." Red said "your meddling and snooping is quite annoying."

And with that we knocked out. I don't know how it happened. Maybe some sort of gas, but it happened. We didn't see it coming at all.

When I woke up, I was completely unharmed. Catalyst and the Royals were gone. All that was left was a young, blonde girl, not much older than myself, laying in the middle of the room. I crawled towards her to see what they did to her. She was motionless. The pain and tears seemed to be gone from her face. I checked her pulse. Still there. She was still breathing. At least they did kill her. But what did they do?

This girl that lay here, her beautiful dress in shreds, her mask gone from her. She lay there, practically naked, and alive. What did they do to her?

I saw her gently wake up. She looked at me with confusion.

"Well... who... who are you?" she asked me

"I'm- I'm Andrew. Don't you know me?" I asked her, remembering the time that she had knocked me out and taken Zapdos from right in front of me.

"I'm afraid not..." she said. Her voice wasn't that condescending tone it used to be. It was now rather sweet. She didn't seem like she was who I knew her to be.

"Well..." I asked her "who are you?"

"Me? Well, I'm Lucy" she responded. "I'm from Hoenn."

"Really? And, do you have an alias of any sort? Maybe one that has to do with Sapphires?" I asked

"No... although, I do love the deep blue of that jewel, but why would I be crazy enough to take on the name of one?" she retorted

"Can you tell me anything about Team Cataclysm then?" I asked, slightly impatient

"I've never heard of them... who are they? Do I need to watch out for them?" she asked, getting slightly worried.

Michael approached me groggily.

"What happened...?" he mumbled

"Well..." I said "they didn't kill her."

"Then what did they do to her?" Michael asked, still slightly dazed

"I-I think they took her memory"

A/N: Another chapter down! As always, I love your feedback, so please tell me how it is! Also, I didn't receive anything for the prequel between this chapter and the last one... so yeah, get on it people! Just PM me!