Chapter 17: Raising Hope

Thanks to Lola's evolution, I had an easy time clearing the path to the top of the building, despite running into a few more grunts along the way. When I finally reached the top floor, I found a strange scene. A man was hog-tied to a chair in the middle of the room. The walls were the color of the night sky, faint lights flickering on them to represent stars. Two pokemon, a Clefairy and a Buneary, cowered in a corner. And standing between me and the man, turning in surprise at the door suddenly opening, was a woman in a skin-tight bodysuit.

"Uh...I seem to have interrupted something private, I'll just go back the way I came." I said awkwardly, backing up to the door. The woman regained her composure, glaring daggers at me.

"Stop right there!" she commanded sharply. "I don't know how you got up here, but we've gone to far for a sniveling brat like you to ruin our plans!"

"Brat? What are you, blind? I'm 18!" I asked, feeling slightly offended. Now that the shock of the situation was fading I took a better look at the woman. She was obviously a Galactic higher up, since she had purple hair in a bun rather than the electric blue wigs all the grunts ran around in. The fabric over her left leg had been cut off, exposing her skin up the mid-thigh.

"Whatever, I'm just going to crush you." she spat, releasing a Zubat.

"Sure you don't want to finish your lap dance first?" I taunted, returning Lola and letting Lin out. The Geodude stared around the room, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"I was not- oh to hell with this, Zubat! Giga Drain!" she yelled.

Lin was distracted by her inspection of the room, letting the attack hit home. She was encased in sickly green energy, large chunks of which flew across the room into the enemy Zubat. Giga Drain!? I thought. How the hell can a Zubat learn that!? "Lin!" I shouted in alarm, rushing to her side. She coughed slightly and shook her head. A quick glance at the PokeTech confirmed, she was alive, though only barely. Probably because Zubat isn't a grass-type I thought, relief flooding through me. "Got it in you for one move?" I asked.

"Yep." she replied, getting up and facing her hovering adversary. "Alright then, end this with Rock Throw!" I called. She dug her hands into the floor, picking up a fairly large chunk of concrete and tossing it like a wad of paper at the Zubat. It tried to fly out of the way, but Lin had lots of practice hitting flying-types with that move and it was crushed.

"Useless thing." the woman spat, recalling it from under the stone. "It's unfitting of someone like me, Commander Jupiter."

I snorted loudly before bursting into laughter. "Jupiter? That's your code name? Oh man, that has got to be the worst planet name for a chick. Don't you know it's a gas giant? That means your calling yourself fat and bloaty!" I bent over from the force of my laughter, Lin joining in weakly. "Oh, sorry girl." I said, wiping a tear from my eye before I recalled the injured rock-type.

If Jupiter was mad before, she was absolutely livid now. "How dare you! That's it, I don't care anymore! I'm putting an end to you right now! Stuntank!" she cried, tossing another pokeball. The large skunk pokemon emerged, looking rather vicious. The large tail it had had while a Stunky had merged with the hair along its back, giving it a ridge-like mohawk. Growling, it took a defensive stance.

"Poison/dark-type huh? No problem." I said, releasing Armstrong. The Machop spotted his opponent immediately, flexing his muscles. "Oh good. A challenge." he grinned.

"Stuntank use Smokescreen! Hide in the shadows!" Jupiter barked. The purple skunk took a deep breath before expelling a black cloud of smoke, hiding it and everyone else from view.

I smirked and looked down at Armstrong. "You've got this right?" I asked.

"Absolutely. It'll be a good fight." he replied, closing his eyes. We were quiet for a long time, listening intently. Finally, a small click came from our left and Armstrongs eyes shot open. "Karate Chop!" I yelled and he leaped into the fog, bringing his hand down directly on the Stuntanks head. It yowled in pain, thrashing around and dispersing most of the smoke.

"What!? How!?" Jupiter cried, eyes brimming with rage. "How could you see?"

"We didn't." I explained. "Armstrongs ability is No Guard. He can't miss, and can't dodge. In order to survive he had to become the ultimate fighter." The Machop grinned, raising his hand in a "come on" gesture.

"Ultimate fighter, huh? Well we know how to take care of them." Jupiter boasted. The Stuntank inhaled again, bloating up slightly.

I sighed. "Didn't I just say that he can't miss? Smokescreen isn't going to help here."

"This isn't smokescreen, idiot." Jupiter sneered. "Stuntank, Poison Gas!" The pokemon exhaled, another cloud pouring from its maw, this time a sickly purple. I quickly covered my nose with the front of my shirt, eyes tearing up slightly.

Armstrong merely looked annoyed. "Using poison? Disgusting. A true warrior fights with his own strength, not relying on cheep tricks!" He shot forward, landing another chop on the Stuntanks side, knocking it back a few feet. It hissed, swiping at him with a claw. The attack looked weird, like the smokescreen from before had somehow latched itself onto Stuntanks claw. The blow hit Armstrong in the ribs, but didn't seem o faze him much. He retaliated with another Karate Chop, then fell to his knees, the poison taking its toll.

"Hold on buddy." I called, voice muffled by my t-shirt. I returned him to his pokeball, quickly grabbing another one. I didn't want to endanger another pokemon to the toxic smoke, but I knew just the person to get rid of it. "Sora, come on out! Blow this gas away!"

Sora popped out in a burst of red light, already taking flight. She hovered near the ceiling, out of reach of the gas. Flapping her wings feircely, she blew the gas back, causing it to evaporate.

"Don't just stand there Stuntank, use Night Slash!" Jupiter shrieked. The large skunk launched itself into the air incredibly high, swiping with a claw coated with the same black smoke from before. No, not smoke I thought, Energy. It's dark energy. Sora was knocked down, hitting the floor pretty hard. The Stuntank looked no better, having to take a knee when it came back down, clearly exhausted from its fight with Armstrong.

"Sora, finish it off quick! Wing Attack!" I ordered. Sora obeyed, taking off once again and slamming into Stuntanks side with all she had, wings glowing brightly. At first it seemed like the bulky pokemon was still in the fight, swaying unsteadily. Finally, it fell over, knocked out cold. "Great job girl!" I cheered before turning towards Jupiter.

"I can't believe this! How can I loose to this insignificant little-!" she swore, recalling her fallen pokemon. "I'm done. This operation is a loss. Out of my way."

"Seriously? Like I'm going to let you walk out of this place, no harm done?" I asked sarcastically. "No, by now the cops are on their way. You're going to jail."

"I see." Jupiter muttered. "And what about them?" she asked pointing over her shoulder at the old man and the two captive pokemon. Their breathing was heavy, their skin a slightly purple color. "They've been in the poison to long, they'll die without medical attention." Jupiter explained. "So what are you going to do, rescue them or stop me? Bye." she called, staking back to an exit. I cursed under my breath and ran over to the old man, untying the ropes. When that was done I sent out Lola. "Grab him." I said, pointing to the old man while I retrieved the two pokemon from the corner. I sprayed each of them with an Antidote from my bag, pausing only to use another one on Armstrong before making my way out of the building.

"Sora, take off and find the nearest hospital or ambulance. Anything that can help this guy." I said as we crashed through the exit. Following the gray bird, Lola and I managed to find a police car a short distance away. "Hey!" I called. "This guy needs help!"

A quick and thorough interrogation later, the man was on his way to a hospital, and the two pokemon to the center. I explained the situation to the cops, including a description of Jupiter. When it was all done, I heard a voice call out to me. Turning around, I saw Looker, back in his trench coat, walking over.

"Hey, did you manage to get 'em?" I asked.

"No, the punks managed to give us the slip." Looker spat. "We did get some nice info though. They couldn't wipe their drives in time, got all kinds of interesting stuff. I can't give out all the details, something about ancient pokemon. Anyway, thanks for all your hard work, I heard about that fight with Jupiter. Looks like I was wrong about you kid."

"Yeah, no shit." I muttered. "You've got some kind of obsession with Team Galactic, don't you? What's your beef? Other than the stupid uniforms I mean."

Lookers face fell a bit. "I used to have a Croagunk as a partner. Let's just leave it at that." he growled, walking away without waiting for a comment.

"Wow, that's actually pretty depressing." Lola said.

"No kidding." I agreed, turning back towards town. "Let's get out of here."

I managed to make it back to the bike shop while the sun was still up, but there was no way I was going to make it to Hearthome before nightfall. Hell, I probably couldn't make it to Mt. Coronet. Resigned to my fate, I rode my new bike back to the PokeCenter. After healing my team, I decided to go back to the restaurant from a few days ago, one last treat before heading out. We managed to grab the same seats as before, the team eating their food without a fuss while I picked at my spaghetti.

"Well, well, well, back again I see." I turned to see Cynthia walking over, sitting down across from me again. "What good timing, I wanted to find a good trainer like you."

"Yeah well you should keep looking." I grumbled. "Turns out I'm not the great trainer I thought I was."

Cynthia glanced around at the pokemon, eyes lingering on Rose. "Your Grotle didn't make it, did he?" she asked solemnly. I just nodded, pushing my food around with my fork. If I wasn't hungry before, this conversation definitely wasn't helping my appetite.

"That's a shame. He seemed really nice." Cynthia said. "Still, that doesn't make you a bad trainer. Who would have ever thought a grass-type would loos to another grass-type?"

I slammed my fists on the table. "Is there something you want, or can I just get back to my food? I really don't want to talk about Franklin right now."

I felt a tug on my pant-leg and looked down. Rose had walked over and was staring up at me. "I thought I told you to stop blaming yourself." she scolded. I sighed and turned back to Cynthia.

"My Roselia would like me to apologize." I said. "I shouldn't be so mad over it. It was an accident."

"You know, I was wondering what happened to put Gardenia in such a sad mood." Cynthia said. My curious look urged her to continue. "I visited the gym earlier today, hoping to catch up with Gardenia. She was happy enough to see me, but seemed out of it. She kept hugging her Turtwig, like it was a stuffed Teddiursa or something."

"Great, now I feel like crap because the gym leader is upset about killing Franklin." I muttered.

"And you should!" Cynthia shouted suddenly, catching me off guard. "How do you think your challenge affects other trainers Nick? Don't you think killing another trainers pokemon would upset them? Or did you think they would react like the wild pokemon, not caring about what happens?"

I stared down at my food, mulling over what she said. She's right I realized. I lost Brittany to a wild pokemon, there wasn't anyone else to be upset at. But Franklin was killed by Gardenia, someone who loves grass-types. She must be pretty upset. I looked back up at Cynthia. "Hey, I've got a favor to ask if that's fine with you." She nodded. "I've got to leave town early tomorrow, I don't have time to stop by the gym. Can you tell Gardenia I don't hold it against her? It was an accident, there was nothing we could have done. If she had held back, the win would have been empty, no challenge."

Cynthia smiled. "And there's the strong trainer I was talking about. Here." she reached into a bag I hadn't noticed her carrying and pulled out a large egg. There were marking on it in random red and blue triangles. "My Togekiss had an egg recently and I was looking for a good home for it since I don't really have time to raise it. I want you to have it."

I stared at the egg. "Why?" I asked. "You do realize you might be handing this Togepi to it's death, right?"

Cynthia nodded. "I know, but you really care about your pokemon. Your team behaves more like a small family than a group of fighters. I can't think of a better place for a young pokemon to grow up in." She nudged the egg towards me slightly before getting up. "Take care Nick." she called, walking away, leaving me with the egg.

Lin climbed up onto the seat where Cynthia had been, carefully prodding the egg. Lola quickly snatched it up, out of the Geodudes reach. "Oh no you don't!" she snapped. "I'm holding on to this until Nick decides what to do with it. I don't want you messing with it."

I stared at the Lopunny. "Wow, where did that come from?" I asked.

Lola looked down at the egg. "I was the oldest sibling in my family." she explained. "I had to watch my brothers and sisters all the time while Mom and Dad went out to gather food. Over time, you develop a protective side for all kids."

I shrugged, gathering my things. "Alright guys, we've got a rough day of traveling tomorrow, let's head back to the Center." We walked off down the street, and I watched the pokemon in front of me. Lin kept trying to get a good look at the egg, which Lola was easily keeping out of the small rock-types reach. Sora was trying to convince Lin to give up, while Armstrong and Mufasa silently walked ahead of the group. Rose picked up the rear, chuckling to herself as she watched Lins antics. You know, Cynthia's right I thought. We're more than a team. We're family.