Disclaimer: I, Bombadeus, hereby declare that I do not own the rights to the pokemon franchise. I only own my OCs and this story.

Chapter 12: Surprise, Surprise

Extra Notes:

"Human Speech"

"Telepathic Speech"

"Thought Speech"

[Pokemon speech]

It was the final match of the "Fighting-Type Pokemon Regional Tournament". Jared was able to survive the previous rounds, barely, and had reached the final battle between him and the mystery pokemon. But for the meantime, he took a trip to the Pokemon Center to get healed up. Unwittingly to him, a mysterious cloaked figure had been trailing him ever since he left the stadium.

"Hello?" Jared said as he walked through the front doors of the Pokemon Center.

He noticed that the Pokemon Center was just like what you'd see in the game for the Sinnoh region. The main desk with Nurse Joy and the pokemon healing machine behind it, the pokemon transfer box system to the right of the main desk, a bookcase to the left, and other things that didn't seem too relevant to be remarked. But what he did notice was that the entire place was empty, probably because everyone was at the tournament.

Nurse Joy had her back turned towards Jared. She seemed to be too busy on the computer to look at him. "Welcome to our Pokemon Center," she began. "We can heal your Pokemon to full health. Shall we heal your Pokemon?"

"Uhhh, sure…. There's just one problem though." Jared was kind of freaked out at the 'we' part. Who else was here other than her?

"And what problem would that- *gasp*" When she turned around to see the problem, she instantly recognizes what he meant.

"You're the talking Lucario, Jared! The one in the tournament! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the final match?" Jared sighed.

"Well, I only have about ten minutes before the final round starts, so I thought I could get healed up before then." She nodded.

"I understand. You sure did take a beating during your previous fight with that Machamp." They both laughed, though Jared's was more of an uneasy one.

"Yeah, I know. So about that healing?"

"Oh right. Now, if you will just return yourself to your pokeball."

"I… I didn't… bring it with me," Jared lied. "I left with my trainer."

"Oh, in that case, come with me to the back." She pointed towards the door to the left of the room, which would be impossible to see if this was the videogame. Jared nodded and followed her through the doors.

As the two walked through the doors, the mysterious cloaked figure stepped into the Pokemon Center. The cloaked figure looked around to see if it could find Jared, but no such luck. He and Nurse Joy had disappeared before it could find them.

"Damn, lost him," the mysterious figure thought. "I thought he walked in here. Master isn't going to like this…" The mysterious figure quickly exited the building and continued its search.

Meanwhile, at Jared's location…

Jared and Nurse Joy were walking down a long corridor with many doors on either side. He was amazed at the many rooms that the Pokemon Center held.

"I never knew that the Pokemon Center was so big on the inside." He said, trying to strike up a conversation with the nurse.

"You've never been in a Pokemon Center before?" She asked.

He shook his head. "There was never really a need to. By the way, what's with all these doors? There's so many of them."

"The rooms are used for wild pokemon that trainers find along the way that are hurt, or a place for rent if trainers don't wish to camp in the wilderness."

"Does the rent cost any money?"

"Oh yes, tons."

Jared's eyes widen. "What do you mean by tons?!"

"Well how else would the Pokemon Center stay up and running?" She laughed nonchalantly, as if this was a regular thing. "Well, here's the healing room."

They walked into a room full of advance medical machinery that Jared thought to be very fascinating, but wondered if they'd work on him. He was still part human yet also part pokemon, so he believed that he'd be okay, maybe not, but still be alive at least. Nurse Joy motioned him to some sort of healing chamber in the middle of the room. He nodded and got inside on the chamber.

"So how long will this take?" He asked.

"Well…" Nurse Joy contemplated about the answer to Jared's question. "If you only have a few bruises and scratches, I'd say about thirty seconds or so."

"I have two broken ribs, and maybe even some brain damage. Will this thing really heal me in a few seconds?"

"Oh…" She thought about it again. "In that case, about ten minutes."

"Really?" Nurse Joy nodded and started to close the chamber.

"Wow, technology here sure is amazing." He thought. "I wonder if there's one for people who are 100% human…"

The chamber started to fill with a strange liquid that Jared believed to be a full restore formula of some sort. A respirator dropped down from the top of the chamber and attached itself to his face, allowing him to breathe when the formula filled in the entire chamber. In a few seconds, after the chamber was filled, Jared started to doze off.

"I wonder how everyone else is doing…" He soon fell asleep.

Back at the Tournament…

The mysterious cloaked figure that was following Jared before was walking near the back of the tournament stadium. The figure continued walking till it stopped near a door that said "Employees only." It opened the door and walked through. Once inside, the figure resumed walking till it reached another door that held the tournament owner's office. It knocked twice, waiting for a response.

"Come in," said a man behind the door.

The cloaked figure, doing what it was told, opened the door and was greeted by a fat man sitting in a dimly lit room. The room itself was a little small, with two open windows in the back showing a starry night sky. The fat man was sitting behind a cluttered desk, full of trays upon trays of food. He was still eating, making a mess everywhere.

"Ah, you're here," the fat man said between mouthfuls of food. "Did you find what the Lucario was up too?"

The figure shook its head.

"Ah, blast it all. Fine, but one more mess up, and I'll be eating you for breakfast tomorrow, you hear!" The figure nodded vigorously.

"Good, now leave me. I'm expecting my fifth dinner to arrive shortly." The figure bowed slightly and left the room.

After a few moments outside of its master's room, anger swelled up in the figure. Out of a fit of rage, it punched a nearby wall, making a large hole. It huffed, letting the pain from its fist numb the pain from its failure. Suddenly, the cloaked figure heard footsteps from behind. It threw a blind punch, but the person the figure tried to hit caught the fist.

"So this is the so called mysterious pokemon," said the fist catcher. "In truth, I thought you'd be taller up close, but I guess not.

The cloaked figure, now obviously known as the mysterious pokemon, raised its head to see who was talking. The perpetrator was a boy in his teens. He was wearing black jeans, a yellow t-shirt, a crimson sweatshirt, and most noticeably, bandages wrapped around his head that covered his left eye. It was Jared in his human form, but the pokemon didn't know that.

"Taking your anger out on the building isn't a good idea." The pokemon tried a roundhouse kick to Jared's head but he moved back. It then tried to knock him down with a low kick, but he jumped out of the way and kicked the cloaked figure in the stomach.

The pokemon hunched over in pain. It's been a while since anyone had stuck it. Jared on the other hand was unscathed and was leaning over the downed figure. He held out his hand.

"Come on, grab my hand," he said. "It's not fair to take you out while you're down. Plus you've got a big match ahead of you."

The mystery pokemon looked up at him, then to his hand, and then back at him. It never would have thought a human could be kind-hearted. Throughout its entire life, people always treated it like an object, and never another living being. The pokemon took his hand and got up. Jared brushed off some dust off of its cloak and patted it down.

"There you are. You should be ready to fight that Lucario now." Suddenly, an announcement came.

"Attention all fighters in the final round, please report to your side of the arena. The final match is about to begin."

"Well speak of the devil," Jared said. "Go on ahead. I'll see you at the match."

And with that, Jared walked down the hallway, waving goodbye to the mystery pokemon. The pokemon waved back, hoping to see the teen in the crowds cheering for it.

At the arena…

It was the same set up as the other fights. There was a cheering crowd, the announcer in the middle of the ring waiting for the signal to announce his lines, and the fighters themselves at their respectable corners. But this time, the crowd seems to be bigger than ever. It seems everyone wanted seats to see the reigning champion fight the lucky newbie with their own eyes.

The fighters themselves though were looking towards the crowds to find the people they know. Jared easily spotted his friends, who were in front row seats. Zach and Gem were waving and cheering while Daryl gave him a thumbs up. Jared tried to do the same, but it was difficult with having no thumbs in the first place. The mystery pokemon on the other hand was having a hard time trying to find the teen it fought before.

"Where is he?" The mystery pokemon thought. "I thought he'd be here."

"Oh don't worry, he's here all right." The mystery pokemon looked in the direction of whoever said that. It was its opponent, Jared.

[How did you…] The mystery pokemon wondered how the Lucario knew about the teen from earlier.

"If you're wondering how I know, I tell you during our fight. But for now, focus, he's watching you know…" This got the mystery pokemon's attention. It nodded and was firmly determined on getting the information out of him.

In a few minutes, the crowd calmed down to small whispers when the announcer grabbed the microphone. He took a deep breath and exclaimed, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the final round of the 'Fighting-Type Pokemon Regional Tournament'. Tonight, we have the best of the best with us right here, right now. In the red corner, we have greatest of fighters, the one who has defeated the strongest of the strong in every region, the reigning champion!" Unmistakably, the crowd cheered loudly for the champion.

"And in the blue corner, is the steel-will fighter that survived some of the best fighters from around the world, Jared the Lucario!" Most of the crowd cheered, but not all of it. Not until Daryl gave the rest of them a wicked glare to cheer as loud as they did for the champion.

"All right know that we've introduced the fighters, let's get ready to rumble!" The bell had rung, and the fighters took their places. Jared held a defensive stance, hands up in front balled up into fists and his feet on their toes. The mystery pokemon, still in its cloak, stood there waiting for Jared to make a move.

Jared did make the first move. He threw a shadow ball straight at the mystery pokemon to distract it. When its attention was toward the shadow ball, Jared ran towards it as well. The mystery pokemon sidestepped to dodge the shadow ball, but Jared suddenly got behind and kicked the mystery pokemon towards his attack, making them collide.

A smoke cloud appeared in the collision, covering most of the field. Jared was blinded by the cloud, unable to see anything. And the cheering crowd dwindled his hearing, so the only sense he could rely on was smell. He took a big whiff and coughed. The smoke was too thick on his sensitive nose, so Jared had no chose but to wait for the smoke to clear.

A few moments of waiting, he was struck in the back by a strong kick. He landed on his face on the hard floor of the ring. He tried getting back up but was pinned down again by another strong kick. Thinking of a way to escape he rolled out of the way to avoid another kick to the head, only to get grabbed in the neck. He was lifted off the floor and was brought faced to face with the mystery pokemon. The pokemon raised its free hand and brought in down, striking the smoky air. The force from its free hand dispelled the smoke cloud, revealing Jared struggling in its grip to the crowds.

The crowd gasped to find the Lucario in the mystery pokemon's grip. They saw him thrashing about and desperate for air. The more he moved, the more the mystery pokemon tightened its hold on his neck.

[Alright, I'm only going to say this once,] the mystery pokemon began. [Who is the teen I met earlier, and how do you know him.]

Jared, near unconsciousness, whispered, "He's… a friend of…mine. His name… name is…" he closed his eyes and went limp.

[Darn it, he's done.] The mystery pokemon drew back its arm and was about to toss Jared across the ring. But in the middle of its throw, Jared's eyes opened and he took a hold of the mystery pokemon's cloak. The cloak was ripped away from the pokemon when it finally tossed him and the crowd had gasped once more.

Jared landed perfectly sound and looked up to see what kind of pokemon he has been fighting all this time. The pokemon's body was mostly red with accents of beige, yellow, and gray. Behind its head, were beige, hair-like feathers that continued downward and surrounded its chest. It had a small red face with a V-shaped crest on its head. Its eyes were semicircular with yellow sclera and blue irises, and its mouth was similar to a hook beak. It had featherless, gray hands with three fingers each and its wrists had wristband-like markings. Its lower body had strong, muscular legs covered with red feathers, and shaggy yellow feathers at the bottom of its legs. The pokemon was a Blaziken, a very angry Blaziken.

Jared straightened up and backed up a little, with the Blaziken's cloak still in his hand. The Blaziken walked forward, fury in its eyes, and tufts of fire jetting out from its wrists and ankles. In a flash, the Blaziken jumped forward and blazed kicked Jared right in the face. His entire head was engulfed in flames, as he fell on his back rolling in pain.

"Ahhhhhh! My face! It feels like it's melting off!" Jared continued rolling around, rousing the crowd to laugh at his pain. Even the Blaziken was laughing a bit, okay not a bit but a lot. It was hugging its stomach in hilarity, unfocused on the fight entirely.

This was Jared's chance. He got up as best as he could, with his head still on fire, and charged straight at the Blaziken. And because it was still distracted from laughing, Jared had no reason to miss. He head-butted the blaze pokemon right in the chest and sent it back a good few feet. Its chest feathers snuffed out the flames, but he felt something more, something soft. He shook off the thought and paid attention to fight, not wanting to not nod off again.

The Blaziken recovered from its hit and stared right into Jared's eyes. It grinned and spit out something, perhaps blood. [You're the second individual to ever hit me in a while. Congrats.]

Jared ginned back and nodded. "Well, guess it's time to get serious, huh?"

They both agreed it was time to go all out. The Blaziken got into its own fighting stance, finally getting into the fight for the first time. Jared took his own stance, fists up likes a boxer's and hopping a little. In a moment's notice, they both charged. Fists connecting with fists, kicks connecting kicks, they were seemingly on even terms. But Jared started to slow down. Every once in a while he would get punched and kicked in the face or stomach.

So Jared kicked it up a notch. When the Blaziken threw a right hook, he caught it. The Blaziken then tried a left jab, but Jared caught that too. It tried struggling to get out Jared's grip, but to no avail, it could not escape his hold. At that moment, Jared opened his mouth, collecting a dark blue energy into a ball of circles and firing the move, Dark Pulse, as a beam. The beam hit the Blaziken at point blank range, damaging it, and making it fly across the ring when Jared let go.

The Blaziken got up quickly, unfazed by the attack. It dusted itself off and said, [you think an attack like that could work on me? Now it's my turn.]

The Blaziken opened its mouth and shot a torrent of flames. Jared ducked to the side to dodge the flames, but his tail was lit up like a candle.

"Ahhhhhh! Fuck, not again!" He hastily sat down and blew on his tail repeatedly, trying to blow down the flames.

The Blaziken smirked and launched another surge of fires. Jared saw this and rolled out of the way, smothering the fire on his tail at the same time. When he got back on his feet, he sent a barrage of shadow balls and focus blasts. The Blaziken dodged by using High Jump Kick, and landed right on Jared pinning him down on the floor.

[Looks like you're done for. How about you give up and tell me where your friend is at?] Jared got up the best he could, propping himself on his forearms.

"Jeez, why are you so fixated on him? Do you love him or something?" The Blaziken blushed, but Jared didn't notice.

[W-what!] The Blaziken started to stutter. [N-no I don't l-love him! H-he… I… just what to… thank him is all. Yeah, that's it… I want to thank him.]

"Really, that's all?"

"Yes!"

"In that case…" The Blaziken let its guard down the entire conversation, and Jared knew of this. In the time they were talking, he was devising a plan to collecting his strength and to use it all in one go.

Jared used the move Bulk Up, causing his muscles expanded exponentially. With his new found power he pushed the Blaziken over, pinning it with him on top. His hands were on its chest, and that cause Blaziken to moan in pleasure.

"What the…" Jared was confused for a moment. He squeezed something with his hands, feeling something soft yet firm. The Blaziken moaned slightly louder, and its eyes were filled with ecstasy.

[Please… don't stop…] Jared put two and two together and realized…

"Wait, you're female?" The Blaziken nodded.

Jared quickly jumped off the Blaziken, but she grabbed his hand and pulled him close. Really close. She smothered him in her breast, suffocating him through her feathers.

[You know, you ain't that bad looking, sugar.] She whispered in his ear, sending shivers through his spine.

When Jared finally got his head free from her chest he asked, "Since when do you act like this?"

[Honestly, I like guys who are forward. But I like to do most of the chasing.]

Jared felt as though he needed to escape. He sensed someone in the crowd was somehow upset towards him and knew that if he didn't do something, someone was going to die.

In the crowds…

"I'm going to kill that bitch!" Gem thought.

Back to the fight…

"Okay, I have no clue how this happened, but I need to get out of it. Perhaps I could persuade her somehow…"

He looked her directly in the eyes and smirked. "How about we make a deal?"

[What kind of deal?] She fluttered her eyes.

"Umm, if you we're to lose this fight, I could convince my trainer to bring you along on his journey. That way we could 'spend time together' if you catch my drift?" Jared hoped this would work. He's not really the best sweet-talker in his world.

[I like the sound of that, but I can't lose.] Jared raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

[You see, my master keeps me under heavy lock and key. I'm the only thing that's making him any profit. He'll never let me lose, let alone escape.]

Jared understood the situation well. "Don't worry. I got a few friends that could help you escape. But first things first, we're gonna have to finish our match. So just let me go and I'll relay the plan to you telepathically, got it?"

The Blaziken nodded. Once she loosened her grip on Jared, he swiftly slipped out and got to one side of the ring. The Blaziken got up as well and got to the other side.

"Alright, can you hear me?"

The Blaziken nodded once more.

"Good, now here's the plan…"

That should wrap things up till the next chapter. Anyway, review if you thought the chapter was any good and PM me if it could use any improvements. Now here are a few other things I'd like to talk about:

First of all, the promise of a webcomic may have to wait till the story is either done or half-way done. And that may be a long time from now, perhaps over five years at my writing pace unfortunately. Also, I need a few more things before I can actually start making the comic. Things I need would be a graphic touchscreen tablet like a cintiq or an alternative to a cintiq, and to improve my drawing skills.

Secondly, I started to play Skyrim once again and I'm addicted to it right now. I probably won't be able to increase chapter output any time soon.

And thirdly, I know I'm a little late on this but Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Alright that's about it, have good life!