A/N: Sorry 'bout the wait; there were a few kinks to work out. Thanks once again to Cheetah Inferno for not only doing the beta, but helping me work out some of said kinks.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon; it belongs to Nintendo, Gamefreak, etc. All of the OCs and the Doren region, however, are mine.
"You should have taken care of this before we left!" Helen scolded.
"I didn't think of it back then," Zane said defensively.
Helen crossed her arms. "You would have saved us both a lot of aggravation."
"Just shut up and help me, would you?"
"No way! Do it yourself."
"Why should I?"
"So that you actually learn something," Helen responded. "This way, maybe you'll remember to double-check your supplies before we leave town, not out in the middle of the road!"
"Fine, fine," Zane grumbled, "I'll check my bag myself."
Zane knelt down, set his backpack on the rocky ground and opened it up. He immediately cursed his haste in packing; the inside of his backpack was a jumbled mess. Making sure he had everything would take a while, even if he had two arms to work with.
"Wraith, give me a hand, would ya?" Zane said, opening the Pokeball fastened to his belt while gesturing at his backpack. The small Cyndaquil, after appearing, walked swiftly over to Zane's backpack and stuck its head in the open compartment.
"No, that's not what I meant," Zane corrected, laughing a little as Wraith began to flail his small, stubby arms and legs wildly. "Just get stuff out of the backpack and bring it over to me so I can see what we have."
A soft cry of "Cyndaquil," so soft Zane thought he might have imagined it, emitted from his backpack, and Wraith ran back over to him, holding a Pokeball in its hands. The Cyndaquil set the Pokeball down and panted a little, though it still stood unnervingly still.
"Okay," Zane said, wondering just how much help Wraith was going to be. "That's one Pokeball. What else have we got?"
"You might want to keep that Pokeball out, Zane," Helen advised, kneeling down beside him.
"Huh? Why shou-"
"Look!" Helen interrupted, putting her hand over Zane's mouth and forcing his gaze toward the grass in front of them.
About ten feet away from where Zane and Helen were kneeling, a long, purple, snakelike Pokemon had slithered out of the grass to drink from a small pool. It had a yellow rattle on its tail and a slightly lighter yellow band around its neck. Its cold, lidless eyes scanned the area as it sipped water from the pool.
"All right," Zane said, keeping his voice low to avoid disturbing the Pokemon. "So, I'm supposed to catch it, right?"
"That would be the idea," Helen responded.
"So I just throw the Pokeball at it, and I'm done, right?" Zane asked.
"Actually," Helen corrected, "you need to weaken it first. Get Wraith to wear it down, then throw the Pokeball, and hope you get-"
A sharp cry of "Ekansss!" split the air, as the snakelike Pokemon suddenly caught sight of Zane, Helen, and Wraith. It raised its head and began to slither towards them.
"Wraith, tackle it!" Zane commanded, backing up to maintain distance between himself and the Ekans.
Wraith rolled into a ball and rolled quickly towards the Ekans, slamming hard into the base of its body. The Ekans winced in pain and retreated a few inches before launching a spray of clear liquid from its mouth. The acid landed on Wraith, who winced as small parts of its fur turned black.
"Keep tackling it, Wraith!" Zane encouraged.
Wraith nodded and charged the Ekans again, rolling into a ball as it closed in. Once within striking distance, Wraith jumped, using its momentum to launch it up to Ekans' eye level. From there, Wrath planted its feet on Ekans' head, jumped again, curled into a ball, and slammed its small body into the snake Pokemon's face, landing right between the eyes.
The Ekans cried out in pain and nearly planted its face in the ground. Zane grinned. One more tackle, and the Pokemon would probably faint. Then it was his for the taking!
"Wraith, one more-" Zane suddenly stopped. "Helen, what are you doing?"
Helen had taken an empty Pokeball from her belt and raised it over her head.
"Sorry, Zane. Opportunity knocked." Helen said playfully. With a swift, fluid motion, she flung the Pokeball straight at the Ekans's neck.
The Pokeball hit the Ekans just as Wraith was about to attempt another tackle, causing the confused Cyndaquil to roll dangerously close to the pond where the Ekans had been drinking earlier. The Pokeball wiggled for a second, as though the Ekans was still struggling to get out, and then came to a stop with a loud click.
"Hey!" Zane said angrily. "You stole my Ekans!"
"It wasn't yours," Helen said factually, "so it's not technically 'stealing'."
"That doesn't matter!" Zane persisted, walking over to Wraith and picking the Cyndaquil up. "You didn't do any work for that Ekans; you just waltzed in and took it!"
"You were going to knock it out," Helen replied, as though that statement explained everything.
"So?" Zane challenged.
"So," Helen explained, "you don't throw Pokeballs at a knocked out Pokemon. It's just not fair to them."
"Oh, you're one to talk about-" Zane began, but something caught his eye. "Helen, Pokeballs don't float, do they?"
"Of course not," Helen answered. "Why are you ask… what the…?"
Helen turned her gaze to stare at the Pokeball she had thrown. To her surprise, it was no longer on the ground.
"All right, Zane, what did you do with it?" Helen asked sternly.
"Nothing," Zane replied. "Look up a little!"
Helen lifted her eyes slightly and slugged herself in the arm to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Her Pokeball was about twelve feet away now, floating in midair. It paused for a second, as though it was thinking, then began to float away quickly.
"Hey!" Helen shouted. "Come back with that!"
The Pokeball stopped and turned around as the air around it warped and began to turn jet black. The blackness quickly assumed the form of a man. He was wearing a jet-black uniform consisting of leather boots and gloves, and a shirt and pants that appeared to be covered with plates of armor. A black, featureless mask obscured his face, while a large black hood covered the back of his head and neck. On the chest plate of his armor-like shirt was a symbol of a hollow white circle, the inside of which seemed blacker than his uniform.
"I'm sorry," said the man, his voice deep, "but this Pokeball and its contents are now the property of Team Eclipse. Now run along, there's nothing more to see here," he added, waving his hand dismissively.
"I don't think so!" Zane said. "That Ekans is mine!"
"Actually," Helen corrected, "it's mine."
"Well, whatever." Zane said. "We're still not gonna let you take it!"
The black-clothed man laughed cruelly. "How typical. We'll do this the hard way, then." He removed a plate of armor from his left arm, revealing a single Pokeball resting on a strap around his arm. He removed the Pokeball from its resting place and tossed it into the air.
"Go, Nidoran!"
The Pokeball opened in a flash of light, revealing a small pink Pokemon with large ears and a prominent horn protruding from its forehead.
"Doraaan!" the Pokemon snarled, lowering its head at Zane and scratching the ground, as though it planned to charge.
Zane set down Wraith and stepped back. "Go get 'em, Wraith!" The Cyndaquil nodded and stepped forward, answering Nidoran's growl with a quiet "Quil."
The black-clothed man looked down at Wraith and paused. For a long moment he just stood there, staring at the small silver and white Cyndaquil and the blue flames spouting from its back. Seeing his distraction, Zane decided to make the first move.
"Wraith, tackle!"
Wraith curled into a ball and rolled into the Nidoran, pounding it hard in the side. Nidoran didn't as much as flinch; it was completely frozen, waiting for orders.
The black-clothed man laughed. "Well, well, we think we're tricky, do we? Nidoran, focus energy!"
Nidoran closed its eyes and flexed a little. Every muscle in the Pokemon's body grew noticeably tenser, as though it was a coiled-up spring that someone was holding down.
Zane laughed, largely out of nervousness. "That's it? Pathetic. Wraith, use tackle again, and hit 'em hard this time!"
Once again, Wraith curled into a ball. The little Cyndaquil rolled up to Nidoran, circled it a few times to get momentum, and then slammed into its back, causing it to stumble and fall. Wraith uncurled itself and stood, swaying slightly, to face its now prone opponent.
"Good job, Wraith!" Zane called. "Hit 'em again, while he's down!"
Wraith nodded and ran towards the Nidoran, who was breathing heavily.
"Now, Nidoran! Double kick!" called the black-clothed man.
Just as Wraith closed in on Nidoran, the Pokemon flipped itself over and slammed its feet into Wraith. First the front feet, then the back feet collided with the Cyndaquil's body, driving it into the dirt. After a painfully long second, Wraith coughed, and then rose shakily to its feet.
"Wraith!" Zane called. "Are you okay?"
The Cyndaquil nodded and gave a harsh "Quil" in response.
"Good," Zane continued. "Can you do one more tackle?"
Wraith nodded again.
"Then do it!"
With a quiet "Quil", Wraith forced itself forward, running towards Nidoran for all it was worth. The black-clothed man chuckled.
"Nidoran, double kick again!" he commanded.
"Wraith, dodge!" Zane cried hurriedly, hoping that his Cyndaquil would hear him.
With a cry, Nidoran launched two powerful kicks from its back legs. Wraith was ready this time, however. The Cyndaquil rolled away from the attacks with almost unnatural speed, and then slammed into the side of Nidoran's head... Hard.
The black-clothed man cursed as his Nidoran fell limply to the ground. Taking the Pokeball with Ekans in it, he threw it at Helen's feet.
"Very well," the black-clothed man spat, "take your Ekans. It's not the only one around here, I suppose." His masked face turned to Zane.
"We'll be watching you," he snarled as he disappeared into the air he had come from.
Zane stood and stared at where the man had been standing, completely ignoring Wraith, who had fallen over on the spot once the man had left.
"Who was that?" Zane wondered aloud. "And what did that stuff he said about 'Team Eclipse', or whatever, mean?"
"No clue," Helen answered, "but at least he's gone. Anyway, shouldn't you be worrying about Wraith?"
"Right," Zane said, walking over to his Cyndaquil. Kneeling down beside Wraith, he began looking for areas where the Cyndaquil had been hurt. Wraith, feeling his hand on its fur, looked up at him.
"Cynda, Cyndaquil," it whispered, almost apologetically.
"Shut up," Zane said in as friendly a way as it is possible to say 'shut up'. "Just relax for a little and I'll fix you up."
"So I guess we'll be here a while?" Helen asked.
"Probably," Zane answered. "Now give me a hand, will you?"
Helen smiled. For once, she actually felt like helping Zane out.
"Okay," she said in her usual, playful tone, "but just this once."
The black-clothed man, exhausted from running, stumbled into a large metal-walled lab. The room's walls were completely bare, and the only clutter in the room was a stack of papers that had fallen off the lone desk centered in the back of the room. All around the room were lab machines, busily computing important data. Flickering light bulbs lodged in the ceiling flooded the room with a dim, haunting blue light.
A man with dark brown hair, a dull gray lab coat, and black gloves stood with his back to the entrance and the black-cloaked man who had just barged in. Though his face was not visible, he radiated an aura of impatience and cruelty.
The black-clothed man shuddered beneath his uniform. He could only hope the doctor was in a good mood today.
"Well, don't just stand there," said the man in the lab coat. "Report, peon."
"W-well, D-d-doctor Sacrypt-" the Eclipse peon stuttered.
"Stop stuttering and report ," Doctor Sacrypt snarled, still not bothering to turn and face the peon he was addressing. "Do you have the Pokemon I told you to bring or not?"
"I'm afraid not, sir," said the Eclipse peon, doing everything he could to keep from stuttering, "but I do have some news…"
"Then OUT WITH IT!" Sacrypt shouted. Despite the anger obvious in his voice, the Doctor's body remained incredibly relaxed.
"I-it appears, sir, that the one of the Necros rejects has survived," the Eclipse peon stammered.
Sacrypt's voice dropped to almost a whisper. "Are you absolutely certain of this, peon?"
"Y-y-yes, sir," came the reply.
"Very well," Sacrypt said, his voice returning to its normal pitch, which was something akin to the sound of water dripping in a cave. "This is unexpected, but we will find a way around it. The superior will not be pleased, but I believe I can convince her that this is to our advantage." Sacrypt turned to face the peon. The sunglasses covering his eyes appeared to be pools of utter darkness in the lab's dim light.
"And as for you…" Sacrypt said calmly, gesturing towards the left side of the room.
Quicker than the Eclipse peon could move, a two-foot-long shard of ice shot from the top right corner of the room and embedded itself in his heart. A savage-looking Dewgong, barely visible in the room's dim, flickering light, worked its way out of the corner to stand beside Sacrypt.
"Gong" it growled menacingly.
The Eclipse peon was dead before he hit the floor.
Doctor Sacrypt gazed at the corpse lying at his feet and finished his thought.
"... you will no longer be reporting to me."