Chapter 4
The next day, Black Jack was standing at the end of the boat as it was coming towards one of the Seveii Islands. With a bottle of beer in hand, he looked at the beautiful horizon with the island coming into view. "Land ahoy," he whispered softly to himself.
It was late in the morning; a number people and pokemon were still sleeping in their respective cabins. One of the passengers, Black Jack, on the other hand, never slept a wink as usual, highly cautious of the dangers that may come to him and his niece.
"Can't sleep a wink again, I see," a young girl's voice said.
Black Jack didn't bother to turn around; he knew that someone was walking up from behind before she even spoke.
"Cassandra," Black Jack said as she stood next to him.
"You're very protective of her, aren't you?" she asked noticing why he is.
"I'm her uncle," Black Jack replied. "Pure and simple."
"You haven't changed a little since I first met you. Just my opinion but you ought to sleep sometime."
Black Jack let out a small sigh and Cassandra noticed how uncomfortable he was feeling. "Not that it's any of my business but do you… suffer from insomnia?" she asked as she turned her head towards him.
"It's not that… it's just that every time I sleep, I don't get any pleasant or forgotten dreams… just nightmares," he said. He then turned his head towards her. "They say that you can control your dreams, I can't. I don't know if they're messages or something."
"Sonya and I talk about our dreams a lot and we come up with some theories that they might be telling us. Why don't you tell me what you used to dream about?" she asked.
Black Jack slowly shook his head in response.
Suddenly, a 'ding-dong' sound came from a speaker close to them. "Attention all passengers," a man's voice said. "We are getting close to One Island of the Seveii Islands and we'll be arriving in an hour's time. We'll be announcing our arrival when we do. Thank you."
A click was then heard signalling that the announcement was finished. "I hope the cubs have woken up," Black Jack said as he made his way to the cabins. "Catch you later."
He walked into the halls of the cabins, searching for the room that Alice and her friends were sleeping in. He saw one of the cabin doors opening and Keith exiting with his usual attire on. "Morning, Black Jack," he said, fully awakened. "It's a good thing that you're here,
"Let me guess, Jerry again?" Black Jack asked in a dull tone.
"Yep, this time he's oversleeping. We're doing everything we can to wake him up. We ought to get a klaxon for him," he continued as Black Jack followed him back into his room. Upon entry, they saw Alice shaking Jerry about trying to wake him because of the announcement made earlier. They knew that a number of people would be getting in their way of their morning rituals such as eating breakfast.
"Morning, Alice," Black Jack said catching his niece's attention.
"Morning, uncle," Alice said taking a step back thinking of another solution of how to wake up her slumbering friend. Black Jack looked down on him with sadistic smile on his face.
"Go ahead and have breakfast, kids. Let me handle this," Black Jack said as he continued looking down on the underdog. Confused of what their mentor wanted to do, Alice and Keith left the room.
As they left, Black Jack took his glove off one of his hands and placed it in his pocket. He then pulled Jerry's shirt up showing only his chest and belly before raising his hand up into the air. Outside the room, a huge and loud slap was heard followed by Jerry's screams of pain.
An hour later, the cruise ship arrived at the docks of One Island. Black Jack and his associates were making their way towards the exit with Jerry still holding onto his hurt chest after taking a stinging slap from his boss. As they got off the ship, they saw two people that Prof. Oak and Kesner are familiar with. One had a grey buttoned t-shirt, a pair of brown trousers, black shoes and curly brown hair. His name was Bill, a fellow pokemon researcher who once saw a mysterious pokemon near his lighthouse years ago. The other had a red sweater with a shirt underneath, blue trousers and brown shoes, bushy eyebrows and grey shoulder length hair. His name was Spencer Hale, another pokemon researcher who mysteriously disappeared in a labyrinth but soon came back due to mysterious happenings somewhere else.
"Ah! Spencer and Bill!" Prof Oak said in a welcoming tone. "How have you two been?"
"Brilliant, professor," Spencer said shaking his hand. "And have we got a lot to show you."
"And you're associates, I believe," Bill said, noticing Black Jack and the others standing behind Prof. Oak.
"Ah, yes," Oak said realising this. "Let me introduce you two to everyone."
After introducing them to everyone, even though Bill have met Brock and Ash in the past, he asked how they would get to their research site. "We have a few boats waiting for us down at Kindle Road. Our research site is at Mt. Ember," Bill replied.
"Yes, and I'm sure that you will like what we discovered," Spencer continued. "Please, if you follow us."
After taking a long trip down a river and path of Kindle Road, they made their way towards a huge rocky and grassy mountain where a number of hot springs were placed in various parts of it. There were several tents and equipment placed outside the mountain. There was also a cave where another bunch of equipment was placed. "Here we are," Spencer said upon arrival. "Welcome to Mt. Ember."
Everyone, apart from Black Jack, looked at the mountain in amazement. "Jeez," he thought to himself. "Haven't they seen a mountain before?"
"Hey, do you have beer around here?" he asked.
"Unfortunately, no," Bill said. "We only have enough food for tonight. Someone from a nearby village will be coming tomorrow with the goods, you may ask him then."
"Well, that's more than lucky."
"Which explains why you have a bottle of beer in Jerry's bag, right?" Cassandra said as she looked at a particular object sticking out of her friend's bag.
"We'll show you around this place tomorrow," Spencer said. "For now, we'll settle into our rooms. I'm sure you all can use a good rest after travelling all day."
"Do we get free food?" Jerry asked, feeling very tired.
"Jerry!" Alice complained, not pleased with that question.
"Of course, you are our guests," Bill said.
"Yes!" Jerry yelled happily as he lifted his fist up into the air. He lost his balance and almost fell to the ground but Black Jack caught him.
"Careful son, that's dangerous!" Black Jack warned. "You were to break and spill my beer!"
That night after finishing off their last meal of the day, Black Jack and his associates, human and pokemon, sat around a campfire, a distance away from the mountain. They had been chatting over their past adventures, discoveries and others for a while until Alice came up with an idea.
"Hey uncle, shall we tell some ghost stories?" Alice asked.
" Alice? Ghost stories?" Max asked curiously.
"Uncle Jack, I and our pokemon tell our ghost stories a lot every time we set up camp at night," Alice replied.
"Well, I can see that you've set a campfire… so it is fitting," Prof. Kesner said nervously. "I think I'll pass." He stood up and made his way back to his tent.
"I think I'll pass too. I think I'll go for a walk," Black Jack said as he got to his feet and walked away leaving them puzzled.
"Black Jack? Afraid of ghost stories?" Max asked curiously.
"Most unlikely, Max," Ash said. "Most unlikely."
Black Jack made his way towards the mountain and spotted a man in a security outfit guarding a cave where lamps were placed around it. "No lift. Well, it's a good thing if they don't to disturb any pokemon so they must've used some flying pokemon to bring them up here," Black Jack thought to himself as he started climbing up until he reached the cave and walked towards the guard while taking out a bottle of his favourite drink out of his jacket.
"Halt!" a security guard as he held up a torch towards Black Jack. "Who goes there!"
"Evening, soldier," Black Jack said as he held up his hand to keep the light from blinding him. "Put your torch down, it's only me."
"Oh, Mr. Black Jack," the guard said as he withdrew his torch. "What are you doing here?"
"Just taking a walk. Alice and the other cubs are back there telling some ghost stories."
"You don't like ghost stories?" the guard asked, sounding quite surprised.
"Of course I do," Black Jack replied after taking the bottle top off with his teeth and spitting it out. "I've heard a lot of them in my time but the one I have in mind might scare the hell out of you and leave you little bit sick. Take ten, soldier."
"But sir, I'm on duty. My shift isn't over yet."
"I won't say anything if you won't."
He offered his opened beer to the guard, which he declined to. "I don't drink," he said as he held up his hand.
Black Jack downed another gulp of his drink down his throat. "The reason why I say that my story will make you sick because it actually happened," he said, beginning his story. "How do I know? Because me and my boys were there. What were we doing there? Doing stuff that people would find sickening. Those moments brought out a side inside of us… a 'Black Jack' side... a side that scares even me.
"There were those good times, when we wanted… no, we craved of taking another man or pokemon and breaking his insides, listening to their agonising screams until they pass out… only to recover again so we can break them even more."
While Black Jack spoke those words there was a feel of ecstasy in his voice. The way he spoke made the guard shook with fear and a small sweat drop slowly ran down the side of his face.
"Moment no.1. It was me versus Ash Ketchum at the Hoenn League Championships five years ago. It was my Salamence and his Meganium. Salamence was shooting flamethrower attacks at her and she was dodging each one. After dodging a lot of them, she got tired and began to move slowly. But this side of ours, no, we didn't want to give her a five minute break, we wanted to break every bone and organ in her body. So Salamence dived down, picked her up and took her high in the sky… and then dropped her onto the hard grounds of the stadium like a crate falling from the top of a building. Now that… was a huge rush…"
-Flashback-
It was at the Hoenn League Stadium, five years ago, where Black Jack and Ash fought against each other in their younger days. Black Jack was wearing his usual attire that time while Ash was wearing a black t-shirt with a blue sleeveless sweater over it, blue thick trousers, black and blue trainers, trainer gloves and an official pokemon league hat.
Salamence flew high in the skies and shot out countless Flamethrowers, only to have Meganium dodge each and every one of them. "Meganium!" Ash cried. "Razor Leaf attack!"
Meganium shot out her Razor Leaf attack from underneath the petals of her neck but Salamence shot out his flamethrower again and burned them to a crisp. "No!" Ash cried.
As Salamence continued using his Flamethrower attack, Black Jack noticed that Meganium was getting tired out caused by limitless dodging. "Now, Salamence!" Black Jack yelled. "Seismic Toss attack now!"
"Meganium!' Ash cried as Salamence was diving down at Meganium. "Dodge out of the way!"
But Meganium was too tired to move as Salamence swooped down, grabbed and lifted her up high in the air of a hundred feet. Salamence was holding her around her middle and everyone knew what was coming next.
Upon seeing that, Ash became desperate to save Meganium from getting hurt. "Black Jack, don't do this!" he cried. "I don't want Meganium hurt this way!"
All of Ash's friends and fans stood up and yelled out things in an attempt to stop Black Jack and Salamence finishing their attack such as, "Black Jack! Don't do this!"
"Wrong answer, people!" Black Jack yelled. "Salamence, say 'happy landings' to Meganium!"
Salamence released Meganium and she fell a hundred feet from the air! Ash could only watch in awe as one of his beloved pokemon crashed on the battlefield like a ton of bricks, much to the audience's shock.
-End Flashback-
"You see, when you have a fight or battle with us," Black Jack continued. "Nothing, NOTHING, is too violent. Some time after busting Meganium's insides, it was time for Ketchum's Pikachu and my Tyranitar… and the 'Black Jack' side of my boys and me were still growing.
"That little critter was using his quickness and electric attacks to beat him down but that wasn't enough. His momentum went against him when Tyranitar snatched his whole body and slammed him on the ground; the slam was so hard that he created a massive earthquake and a great big crack in the ground. The moral of this story is to do one to others before they do it to you."
-Flashback-
Going back five years again at the Hoenn League Championships event, the young Ash and Black Jack were on their last pokemon.
"Now get ready for a pounding of a lifetime!" Black Jack said. "Tyranitar! Dynamic Punch again!"
Tyranitar's clenched paw glowed as he looked at him with the intensity to beat him unmercifully. He rushed towards him, aiming his punch at the yellow rodent.
"Pikachu, dodge it!" Ash yelled.
Pikachu leapt into the air and was about land on Tyranitar but the opposition saw it coming. "Tyranitar grab it!" Black Jack ordered.
Tyranitar quickly stopped his Dynamic Punch attack to successfully grab Pikachu in mid-air.
"Now… Body Slam and Fissure attack!" Black Jack yelled.
"Fissure?" Ash cried, he knew that Fissure could knock out any pokemon… any pokemon.
"(Big one)!" Tyranitar roared as he held Pikachu as high as he could and then slammed him hard on the floor like he was nothing. The impact was so hard that it made a huge crack on the floor.
After the slam, Tyranitar looked down on Pikachu and smiled, thinking that he's knocked out. But to everyone's shock, Pikachu slowly started to get his feet. Unlike Tyranitar, he was battered and bruised. "I'm impressed, Pikachu," Black Jack said. "You do have a lot of guts."
-End Flashback-
"That Pikachu had a lot of guts in him. Hell, all of Ketchum's pokemon did. After the beating we gave them, it was the worst beating any six pokemon have ever received."
Black Jack looked at the surroundings around him, which consisted of various equipments that were used for research and saw one particular that he was mostly familiar with. "Hang on a second," he said as he walked over to a wooden box, took out a steel sledgehammer and walked back to the guard, showing it to him. "It was a sledgehammer, more or less the same size as this. After Chan got this Machamp broken in the leg and flat on his back, I took this sledgehammer and slammed it right onto his knee."
-Flashback-
It was a time when Black Jack and his associates travelled to the Orre region to disband a criminal organisation, Team Dark. In their final battle with Team Dark, Black Jack found vengeance after what Team Dark's masked Machamp did to him by 'killing' him.
He got Chan to hold him by his injured legs. His other comrades begged him not to hurt him this way but it was no use since Black Jack was so angry, so vengeful, so merciless and so aggressive that he raised the sledgehammer and slammed it right on top of Machamp's knee, shattering the bones and muscles inside while the Machamp screamed in pain.
-End Flashback-
"Y'know, that Machamp's leg could've broke like hell depended on it but that wasn't enough for me. I wanted his whole body to break. So I snatched him by waist, and I took him, and I slammed him as hard I could!" he said loudly as he motioned his hand as though he was slamming someone.
-Flashback-
It was moments after Black Jack injured the Machamp by the knee. He kicked him in the gut and grabbed him by the waist after the four armed psychopath got himself up despite his injury. He lifted him as high as he could and then slammed him through the steel floor, creating a huge hole in it as the mad Machamp fell to the lower floor, much to the shock of his team mates.
-End Flashback-
"Do you know what the scariest thing about this side of us is?" he asked now feeling relaxed. "Is that we like it. You may not like it but this is the side that helped save those kids years ago, this is the side that made Ketchum famous, this is the side that helped us crack Team Dark's skull… so the only thing left to worry about is whose insides…" he continued as he looked up at the full moon that hanged in the dark starry sky. "Are we gonna bust next?"
He began to walk away from the intimidated guard, still looking at the full moon. "I'm Black Jack. Evening, soldier," he said.
The guard was so petrified that he lost the feeling in his legs and fell on his backside as numerous cold sweats trickled down his face. "I hope it's not mine," he whimpered fearfully.
Some time later, Black Jack made his way back to the campsite where his associates were still telling their ghost stories. Alice saw him coming and walked over to him after seeing a small smile on his face. "Everything good, uncle?" she asked.
He looked at his niece and his smile became slightly bigger. "Never felt better," he said.
Next episode: Once again, Black Jack once again finds himself battling Team Ocean. But this time, Team Ocean is not alone.
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More coming! Reviews please!
