Chapter 4: The Facade is Broken

I braced for impact. As I ducked my head down, I heard a distinctive THUD come from a few feet in front of me, but I paid no attention to it. After several seconds, I realized that I hadn't been hit by the Hyper Beam. I looked up and noticed a large, gray tail in my face. My eyes followed the tail up towards its body. It was a Pokémon; a Rhydon to be specific. And it was blocking the Nidoking's Hyper Beam with its arms, which were held up vertically in front of its body.

"Well, are you just going to sit there or are you going to move?" I heard a slightly sarcastic, slightly annoyed voice ask me. I looked to my right and noticed a young man who appeared to be only a couple of years older than me. He was standing calmly, although his arms crossed impatiently and he had a distinctive scowl on his face. He was wearing a white knit hat, despite the warm weather, which contrasted oddly with his jet black hair.

"My Rhydon can't block that Hyper Beam forever," the young man commented, distinct annoyance in his voice. I continued to stare at him for a moment, confused as to what was happening, until I noticed that the boy's Rhydon was getting pushed back, ever so slightly, by the force of the Hyper Beam.

I sprang into action. I grabbed Chikorita's unconscious body and rolled to my right. I had barely made it out of the way before the young man directed his Rhydon into action. The Rhydon stepped aside as the Hyper Beam blasted into the cliff face behind it, sending dust flying into the air It then furled its eyebrows, leering at the Nidoking. Temporarily taken aback by the Scary Face attack, Nidoking hesitated, confused.

"Now's our chance, Rhydon! Take Down!" the young man commanded. His Rhydon lumbered towards the Nidoking, who was still dealing with the effects of the Scary Face attack. Rhydon's body became outlined in a white light. As Rhydon neared its target, Nidoking snapped out of its daze, kneeling down and flipping Rhydon over it. Rhydon slammed into a tree, snapping the tree in half. Taking its opportunity to escape, the Nidoking ran off into the trees.

As Rhydon struggled to get up, the young man cursed under his breath, in obvious frustration at the skirmish's outcome. He returned his Rhydon to its Poké Ball, and began heading off in the direction that the Nidoking had disappeared in.

"Wait!" I yelled out to him as he neared the tree line. "Where are you going?"

The young man stopped and I heard him groan in annoyance. Without turning around, he answered my question. "It's none of your business."

"You're going after that Nidoking, aren't you?" I asked, putting together the fact that he was heading in the direction the Nidoking had escaped towards, and that fact that he had been frustrated that he had been defeated by it.

The young man sighed. "Yes."

For a moment, I couldn't help but be in awe at either his bravery, or his foolhardiness━I couldn't decide which. "Why?" I asked him, putting no effort towards masking my surprise.

Once again, the young man groaned. His tone came across as obviously annoyed. "Look, kid. I don't know if you noticed, but that Nidoking was strong. As in, unnaturally strong."

"First off, I'm not a kid," I replied, my tone rising in response to his attitude. "I'm 16. And secondly, what do you mean by 'unnaturally strong'?"

He stopped, turning slowly. "Unnaturally strong. As in...someone made it that strong. Someone like...Team Rocket." He emphasized those last two words.

When the young man said those two words, chills were sent down my spine. Everyone in Johto knew who Team Rocket was. 3 years ago, they had run rampant in the neighboring Kanto region. More or less just thugs out for money, they bullied, harassed, and robbed innocent citizens. They even ran brutal experiments on Pokémon, putting them through excruciating pain, with the goal of making them into mindless, emotionless fighting machines. To Team Rocket, Pokémon were simply tools for business. Disgusting. Thankfully some trainer, known only by the anonymous name dubbed to him by the media, "Red", put an end to Team Rocket's tirade of tyranny.

Now, I had heard rumors of Team Rocket resurfacing, but this was the first actual instance to happen directly to me. In the time leading up to me starting my journey, there had been reports of Team Rocket sightings throughout the Johto region, but for the most part, nothing concrete. The police refused to believe Team Rocket had returned, and had denied the truthfulness of these reports multiple times. That was a few months ago, though. Since then, there'd been no news on Team Rocket. But that Nidoking...it was unusually strong. And seeing a wild Pokémon, in this area, that was that strong...it did send up some red flags.

The young man shook me from my thoughts. "Hey, space cadet. You in there?" he asked sarcastically.

"I still can't believe you're going after that Nidoking. Why not call the authorities?" I asked him.

The young man actually managed a laugh. "The authorities wouldn't do anything. It's just a wild Pokémon, and it's not like it's rampaging through downtown Goldenrod City or something. This is rural Johto. And even if I told them it was Team Rocket's work, well━I've tried that. And nobody listens. The police just want to sweep the whole issue of Team Rocket under the rug; ignore it. After what happened in Kanto, after how a teenaged boy did what an entire regional police force couldn't? Yeah. They don't want to get involved. They don't want to get embarrassed like Kanto's police force did."

I stood, silently, contemplating what the young man was saying. Noticing my silence, he continued. "And what if that Nidoking hurts somebody? You saw what it was going to do to you, had I not intervened." He paused for a moment, obvious anguish on his face. "I don't want to see anyone get hurt because of Team Rocket. Too many people got hurt last time Team Rocket ran rampant in Kanto. And I'm not about to let that happen again. I don't care what the rest of the region thinks, I know what's going on underneath this facade of utopia we have here━I know that action needs to be taken. And I'm not about to stand around and wait for someone to do the job for me."

The young man turned and began to walk off into the woods. His speech had risen my emotions to a fever pitch. "So you're going to fight an organization full of evil, heartless, and merciless criminals━by yourself?! One man against an army?! Do you realize how idiotic that sounds? You're digging your own grave, man."

He froze in his tracks. Whirling around, he stormed towards me. For a brief moment, I thought he was going to start beating me up. Instead, he fished into his pocket, the dark scowl still on his face, and pulled out a yellow-colored berry.

He handed me the berry. "Look, man. Take this Sitrus Berry. It'll help heal your Chikorita."

I looked at him, obviously surprised. This act of kindness completely contradicted everything he had said and done leading up to it. "Wow. Thanks, man. But━"

The young man cut me off. "Just take it," He said, his scowl becoming even darker. "And don't you ever, ever, tell me what to do, again. You don't know my life, you don't know who I am, and most of all, you don't know what I've been through." With the satisfaction that he had gotten his point across, he turned and left, his brisk pace signalling the finality of our conversation.

I had no idea what to think of this guy. First, he was a jerk. Then, he was nice. And to wrap things up, he was a jerk again. But before I could let him leave, there was one last thing I needed to say. "Wait! I'm Chris. Who are you?"

Without even stopping, he uttered one word. "Sebastian."

As I neared our campsite, Pidgey, Espeon, and Cyndaquil came rushing towards me. The joy on their faces at seeing me return was wonderful, and actually managed to help calm me down a little after my harrowing encounter with Nidoking and that guy, Sebastian. Once they noticed Chikorita's unconscious body in my arms, however, their joy quickly turned to fear and distress.

As I laid Chikorita down on my sleeping bag, I was surprised at how much my other Pokémon, especially Cyndaquil, came to her aid. After the morning's fight, I was surprised at how much Cyndaquil wanted to help. He went into my backpack and got out a potion for me, then fed Chikorita the Sitrus Berry while I patched up her wounds. Satisfied that she was fine for the time being, I decided to organize a small game.

I pulled out my Frisbee from my bag, and took Espeon and Pidgey away from Chikorita. Cyndaquil elected to stay and watch over her. "Alright, guys," I told Espeon and Pidgey. "This is a Frisbee. What I'm going to do is throw it as far as I can, and you guys are going to try and catch it."

Espeon and Pidgey looked at each other as if this was the easiest game they'd ever seen. "But there's a catch━you have to play fair and square. No attacks, nothing but your raw, natural ability. Got it?" They looked a little surprised, but decided they could both handle it.

Pidgey stepped up first. "Alrighty then, you ready?" I asked him. He nodded, showing signs of obvious confidence. "Well, then, here goes!"

I threw the Frisbee about 50 yards, catching a nice drift of wind. Pidgey took to the air, quickly closing in on the flying object. Right as he neared it, however, it ceased its forward movement and abruptly began coming back towards me. At his close proximity, and not used to the mechanics of flight unique to Frisbees, Pidgey was knocked square in the face by it. In his confusion, he lost the air under his wings. As he was dropping towards the ground quickly, I nearly had a heart attack until he caught himself, mere inches above the ground.

Pidgey flew over towards the Frisbee, which was now laying on the ground, picked it up, and brought it back to me. As he landed in front of me, I noticed he had a red mark on his face the size of the Frisbee. I struggled to keep a straight face. In between chuckles, I told him, "You see? Not as easy as it looks."

Noticing his embarrassment, as well as the fact that Espeon was chuckling alongside me, I consoled Pidgey. "Hey, don't worry about," I told him. "It was your first try. I can guarantee you Espeon won't do any better," I said as I teasingly elbowed Espeon.

Ceasing his chuckling, Espeon looked at me, taken aback. Eager to prove his abilities, he stepped up. I threw the Frisbee, and he took off after it. Having seen Pidgey's failure to catch the Frisbee, he took a slightly more cautious approach to catching the Frisbee. As he neared it, I noticed him pause for a brief moment, then jump to the left. For a split second, I wondered why he had done that; then the winds shifted, and the Frisbee sailed right into his awaiting mouth.

I stared in complete shock. Had he gotten lucky, or was there something to it? "Wait a second," I told Pidgey as I reached into my bag and pulled out my Pokédex. Scrolling to Espeon's data entry, I noticed something that stuck out to me: Its fur is so sensitive, it can sense minute shifts in the air and predict the weather.

"You sly Vulpix, you," I told Espeon when he returned with the Frisbee. "You used your fur to sense when the wind was going to change, didn't you?"

Espeon gasped in surprise, then lowered his head, trying in vain to hold back a smile. I rubbed the top of his head. "It's OK, buddy, you just have a natural ability that gives you an advantage, that's all."

We played with the Frisbee for a while longer, until Chikorita woke up around midday. The potion and Sitrus Berry had done wonders, for now she was up and moving around, feeling little pain.

"Well, I guess it's time to continue onwards toward Violet City, then, right?" I said to all my Pokémon. Unanimously, they let out cries of approval. I packed up all my bags, and returned everyone to their Poké Balls. After my eventful morning, I really appreciated the calmness of the moment. And as I continued northward towards Violet City, I even found myself smiling.