Chapter 5:

Location: Lavaridge Town's Hotsprings

A blue-eyed boy stumbled weakly towards the Hotsprings that Lavaridge Town was prominent for. He needed help, desperately and he needed it, now. His older sister was forcefully being taken away by an outlandish individual in a mask. He knew that people were after him because of his possession over the Legendary Pokemon, Mewtwo. How they came about this information was unknown to him. Consequently, there was a struggle and with his sister's help, he had managed to escape but in the process, getting caught herself. Another wave of tears threatened to blur his vision once again as he staggered towards his destination, like a drunken person.

"Sonny, are you alright?" an old woman snapped when she caught sight of him.

The boy looked up apprehensively at her but did not reply.

The old woman sighed loudly. "I ain't gonna eat you, boy. You look like you need treatment. You're badly injured."

Finally as fatigue overcame his small body, did he spoke.

"I need to see Flannery, please…" His voice faltered as it trailed off.

The boy had already lost consciousness and sank to the ground, Mewtwo's pokéball safely tucked within his shirt on a necklace.

Location: Petalburg City's Gym

"This is an unofficial one-on-one battle between Max and Gary Oak. With no time limit, let the battle begin!"

Norman had volunteered to be the referee of the match.

The two challengers had stepped up onto the battlefield, with courtesy of Norman's very own gym arena.

Max threw out a pokéball. "Kirlia, let's go!"

"Kirlia?" Ash repeated, looking bewildered. "Is it what I think it is?"

May giggled and nodded. "Yup, the very same Ralts that Max found near the lake on the way to Sootopolis City. It evolved during one of the occasions that the two of them were training with Dad."

Ash's face broke into a wide grin and he called out, "Good going there, Max!"

The younger boy gave him, a thumbs-up in response.

"A psychic-type, huh?" Gary smirked as he depressed the button on his own pokéball to enlarge it. "Well then, Sneasel, you're up!"

The appearance of the dark and ice type pokemon made everyone gasp.

"Would you look at that?" May exclaimed.

"He caught a Sneasel of a different colour," Ash remarked.

The Sneasel which had emerged from Gary's pokéball was in fact of a different color as compared to the normal black colored pokemon. Gary's one was pink.

"Both pokemon are so cute," Caroline cooed.

"But this could be bad for Max. He's up against a dark-type. Psychic moves will have no effect on a Sneasel," May said. "Especially one like Gary's."

Ash did not say anything. He hated to admit it but May was right. Knowing Gary, his Sneasel would definitely be well-trained, after having been battling with him at the Silver Conference. Gary always meant business particularly if he was involved in a pokemon battle.
"I'll let you do the first strike, Max," Gary called out.

Max nodded. "Let's go, Kirlia! Start off with Fire punch!"

Ash almost fell off the bench when he heard that. "Can Kirlia even do that?"

"Max taught it other attacks besides just psychic-type attacks in order to make up for its apparent weakness."

"Sneasel, jump and dodge that. Then use shadow ball!" Gary yelled.

Kirlia was about to execute that flaming punch but Sneasel was too quick for it. As a result, Kirlia missed its target completely. The sly grin of Sneasel came back as it went in for the kill and threw the dark-type move at Max's pokemon.

"Use teleport quick, Kirlia!" Max called out, acting quickly.

Kirlia was able to get out of harm's way, just in time as the big ball of darkness hurtled through the air and crashed onto the ground, with startling impact.

Max gritted his teeth as he thought about what would have happened if that was a direct hit.

"That would have taken Kirlia out," May gasped.

Ash made a rude noise and leaned forward in his seat. "Hey Max, you gotta do offensive! No one's going to win if you just keep dodging attacks!"

"I know that, Ash but that Sneasel's too fast for us…" Max muttered. "I've gotta do something to hold it down for a moment. Then we can get a clean shot at it."

"Sneasel, use faint attack, go!"

The pokemon disappeared, taking both Max and his Kirlia by surprise.

"Where'd it go?"

Unexpectedly, the dark type pokemon appeared behind the psychic pokemon and did a direct hit. Kirlia went flying.

"I've never seen a faint attack like that before!" May remarked.

"Gary's pokemon never fails to surprise me," Ash muttered.

"Kirlia, hang in there!" Max urged. "Try to stand up!"

"Sneasel, finish it off with blizzard, go!" Gary ordered mercilessly.

This was also another unfortunate hit, what's more with the most powerful ice-type attack. Kirlia was knocked unconscious, almost instantaneously.

"Kirlia has been defeated. The winner of this battle is Gary!" Norman announced.

"You did great, Kirlia. Thank you," Max said as he recalled it back into its pokéball, just as Gary withdrew his.

"That was an outstanding battle you put out, Max!" Gary told him, as the two of them shook hands. "I'm sure you'll be an excellent pokemon trainer."

Max grinned at him. "Thanks. You sure did a great job yourself, Gary."

"Comes' with tons of training, practice battles and experience of battling with other trainers, Max," the older boy replied, winking.

Location: Silver Town on the foot of Mount Silver

"Mr. Goodshow, sir, it seems that someone has requested for you, who goes by the name of Dylan," Assistant Joshua told Charles.

"Ah yes, there was an allusion by Lance's call earlier that day," he said, nodding. "Yes, please do allow him in."

"At once, Mr. Goodshow," the younger man bowed slightly.

Within a few minutes, Dylan came in, closing the door behind him. Charles scrutinized him and motioned him to take seat across his desk.

"Lance must have spoken to you about these unnatural episodes, I presume?" he asked the twenty-year-old.

Dylan nodded.

"Then I shall come straight to the point," the President of the Pokemon League said. "As of late, I have made special arrangements for Gym Leaders to be placed under the security of professional trainers, in other words, officers. We are currently shorthanded in the Johto region therefore I have already informed your charge ahead of time before your arrival here. Your charge is none other than Clair, Lance's cousin."

"I see. May I ask how many Leaders have already disappeared presently?" Dylan asked.

"Six that we know of, five of the Kanto's Leaders and the other is as you know, located in Hoenn's Mossdeep City."

Charles noticed that a fleeting expression of anger crossed the Champion's face before it disappeared.

"Is that something bothering you, Dylan?"

The young man blinked and shook his head quickly. "No, no. I'm fine."

"Those twins are your cousins, isn't it?" the old man spoke up suddenly.

At this, Dylan's head snapped up and his startling green eyes met Charles's.

"That's why you came here, isn't it? To get them back?" Charles's voice was kind.

Dylan nodded wordlessly.

"Don't worry, we're all in this together, Dylan. Gym Leaders are also people who are loved and have families and friends. No matter what the situation is, we'll get them back."

The old man knew what hope was when he saw it and he saw it in the boy.

"You're strong, Dylan and you possess a certain strength that not everyone has. Use it to protect the ones you love," Jane's grandfather continued, still in that calm tone.

The twenty-year-old finally smiled, a small smile and he nodded again.

"I will," he said quietly. "Protect my family and friends."

Location: Lavaridge Town's Gym

"I'll be the judge of this open and unofficial match between Jane Cruise and the Gym Leader, Flannery," Flannery's grandfather announced at the judge's podium. "With no time limit to this battle, let's begin the match."

"As the Gym Leader, don't expect me to go easy on you," Flannery called out.

Jane smirked. "I never did."

"I've recently been training with this pokemon so I wish to test its strength in a pokemon battle," Flannery said as she chose a pokéball from her belt. "Flareon, come on out!"

With a flourish, Jane wielded her own pokéball. "Guess, I'll just fight fire with fire. Go!"

Jane's Charizard materialized and it gave a feral roar.

"Amazing! A Charizard!" Flannery exclaimed. "Jane, you must have trained it really well. It looks so formidable."

Jane folded her arms and nodded her thanks.

"We'll start things of with a flamethrower, Flareon!" Flannery called out.

"Fly up and dodge that," Jane commanded. "And then use hyper beam."

Flannery's eyes widened. Her adversary that stood before her was unlike the girl, she was before. The Jane now, looked utterly ruthless but fervent in battle.

"Flareon, use quick attack to dodge it!"

The fire-type pokemon just managed to do so but the blow of the powerful normal attack, sent her poor Flareon soaring.

Flannery gritted her teeth as she risked another glance at Jane.

She's so powerful…

"Charizard, dive and go straight into aerial ace," Jane instructed, without even blinking.

From that angle, the airborne Flareon could hardly even dodge anything as Charizard accomplished a direct hit. By this time, Flannery's pokemon was definitely weak and injured.

The Gym Leader knew that she had to gamble on the outcome of this battle. She had to risk it.

"Flareon, overheat, go!"

Fortunately, the fierce fire-attack hit its target although it was slightly off the mark. Charizard's left wing was injured, denying it the freedom of the skies as it descended slowly to the ground.

"Right then, Charizard use the remaining momentum and finish it with earthquake!"

"An earthquake?" Flannery cried out, taken aback.

The cataclysmic ground movement was more than enough to knock Flareon out cold.

"Flareon is unable to battle and the winner of this round goes to Jane!"

Flannery returned her pokemon back to its pokéball.

"Awesome moves, Jane! I mean, a fire pokemon with a selection of attacks from the diverse groups, just incredible!" Flannery blurted out.

Jane looked up and gave her, a lopsided grin.

"Thanks Flannery but really Charizard deserves all the praise. He has been with me since I started my journey as a baby Charmander."

She started to take out her first-aid kit from her lilac daypack.

Flannery blinked as she stared at what the nineteen-year-old was doing, suddenly noticing that Charizard was not yet recalled into its own pokéball.

"What are you doing, Jane?"

The younger girl looked up and smiled. "You mean this? I'm going to fix Charizard's wing."

"Why don't you just take it to the Pokemon Centre so that Nurse Joy can treat it?" Flannery suggested.

Jane shook her head. "Thanks but I rather take care of my pokemon's health on my own. Besides, I used to take a Pokemon First-Aid course before, conducted by the Cherrygrove City's Nurse Joy."

"You are just simply full of surprises, aren't you, Jane?" Mr. Moore remarked, smiling with approval.

"Yeah," Flannery agreed, laughing.

Jane blushed but continued working on her pokemon's wound. "I'm just as a regular trainer as they come."

Flannery stroke Charizard's head. "Sorry about that, Charizard."

It growled softly in response.

"You know, Flannery. I could treat your Flareon for you, if you want me to."

The other girl's eyes widened. "You would?"

Jane grinned and nodded. "After I'm done with Charizard's here, then I'll get started on yours."

"Sure, thanks a bunch!" Flannery replied, returning Jane's smile.

As the Gym Leader of Lavaridge Town watched on, she could understand why Jane's pokemon cherished her as much as they did, adore her. For some reason, Flannery felt that she reminded her of Ash Ketchum.