Annnddd, here's Chapter 3. Do enjoy!

The Downfall of Battle Club

Chapter 3

.:. Battle Club .:.

He said we were going to stop Giovanni; a man I had only just met, but in the short time that I've known him, he instantly become someone of great importance, possessing a different level of charisma and confidence that could shudder any other man.

Still stunned from earlier, reality felt as if it was looming in another dimension. I had barely moved around my apartment; rather, I sat up straight on my sofa with my mind overwhelmed with thoughts. My eyes shook with every distant sound and my hands shook anxiously as time went on.

Paul, he said his name was. A whole two years since the ban on Pokémon and he's the only person I've met with the courage to stand up against Giovanni. It took long enough, but I was just happy that I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"Are you ready, Pikachu?" I said to my Pokémon. After explaining my encounter with the purple-haired boy, my Pikachu couldn't do anything but feel anxious for me. Giovanni was always on the lookout for those trying to fight back against his policies. This could've just been another trap.

"Pi-Pika…"

Still, faithful as my friend was, he nodded as a reply, jumping into a backpack and zipping himself up. I reached into my pocket, pulling out the note from Paul where a scribbled time and location were quickly written down.

"Eight-thirty at the old Viridian City Pokémon Centre…" I quietly said to myself, raising a questionable eyebrow at the piece of paper. From what I knew, the old Pokémon Centre in Viridian City was one of the first Pokémon Centres I visited on my journey; I guess the nostalgia wouldn't be quite the same. After the ban on Pokémon, it was left abandoned; the entire building was considered 'unsafe' for refurbishment, and it's just been left to rot.

As I closed the door to my apartment, basking within the majesty of the moon, I shuddered. It was a ground-breaking moment, I remember. If it was a trap, I would never come back to my home ever again, but if Paul was telling the truth about how he wished to end the New World, then the first steps I took that day were the most defining and important paces I've ever taken.

Viridian City never was the friendliest place, especially at night. The lack of Pokémon on the streets didn't really help that fact. Every now and then, you'd get someone following you, probably someone working for Giovanni. Sometimes you'd even get a Pokémon fight in some alley where money and bets were placed on the winning Pokémon – these meetings never lasted long, and before even they could realise, they were behind bars for battling with Pokémon.

"Cold…" I quietly said to myself, standing at the forefront of the old Viridian City Pokémon Centre. It was falling apart, fast. The windows were boarded up, and the door was sealed shut with planks of wood with a spray-painted message on the side reading:

'WELCOME TO THE NEW WORLD'

I felt intimidated and a cold, slithering feel slid down my spine. Of all the places, what made Paul pick this one? The building didn't look in shape, and there's a huge giveaway spray-painted on the side!

I pouted. It must've been a trap. Meeting someone like Paul today was simply too good to be true. Or did I imagine the whole thing? My brain wouldn't have done such a thing to me.

I sighed, turning away from the old Pokémon Centre where I couldn't help but feel rather disappointed.

"It's over, Pikachu, we're going ho-"

"Psst. Ash!" a voice hissed from the back of the building. I jerked my head up, throwing my eyes left and right in hopes of attaching my gaze to the voice. After a short while, a figure came from behind the Pokémon Centre, throwing his purple hair back and pulling a charming smile.

"Paul! I-"

"Keep the noise down, will you?!" he hissed, quickly looking around, soon regaining that smile of his. I smiled back, more relieved than happy that I wasn't dreaming. "Kind of glad you showed up, Ash," he said to me. "Part of me thought you wouldn't show up."

I managed to pull a smile. For a moment, I was surprised that I was going to show up.

"But before we go down, there's something extremely important I need to tell you," Paul said, placing a hand against my shoulder and leading me to a bench just a few metres from the Pokémon Centre. Directly above me, a streetlight was close to giving way; it's flickering light struggling on for dear life. I was tempted to take my Pikachu out to meet Paul, but feeling the temperature and the idea that Giovanni had his spies out at night as well, I felt I could restrain my patience a little longer.

After a short while, he began to speak. "Over the time of today, I was able to find more people like us, three to be exact. More like-minded people that could help us in bringing back Pokémon."

I couldn't help but pull the widest grin I could muster. I'd rarely felt this kind of happiness and glee over the last couple of years. I guess I was happy that Paul was being serious with me earlier, but hearing that there are others only makes it better.

"That's great," I managed to say, rather unconvincingly in my eyes.

"There's just one problem, though. I don't trust them," he blurted out, facing away from me.

From the short time that I've actually known Paul, I gathered that he's fairly complex when it comes to human understandings. Saying you don't trust the people who are going to help you change the world?! Seriously?!

"Excuse me, Paul, may I ask you something?" I later asked.

"Of course you can, Ash. Ask me anything; after all, we're partners in this little group of ours," he said to me just as a smile crawled onto my face.

"Umm, why would you ask for help from people you don't trust?"

He chuckled a little from my comment, facing me for the first time since we sat down. "It's a little more complex than that, Ash. Firstly, they have no idea that we're both partners in this – all they think is that I'm the mastermind behind the end of the New World! You're on the same ranks as they are, as far as they're concerned," he explained. "And that… that's where the trust issue comes in. If someone finds out about us or puts one of us to the wall, it's going to be me getting into trouble, me in the firing line, me against Giovanni. All it takes is one rat, just one, and everything falls apart. Which is why I came up with a plan."

"You're willing to take the blame for me if something happens-?" I said, a little astounded.

Paul ignored me and breathed for a moment. "You're the only one I trust, Ash. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I don't want any rats in my club. For as long as this operation is intact, my name that you and everyone else will refer to me as… is John Brontos-"

Instantly, my mind clicked. I never wanted someone to tell Giovanni of our 'club', as Paul put it, but the name he chose sounded remarkably familiar to me.

"John Brontos… lives next door to me," I slowly said to Paul who merely nodded. Within the next few moments, I put together Paul's plan and why it worked so well. By using the name John, Paul is able to stay safe. If some authorities or spies come to the door of my next-door neighbour, then we'll know we have a traitor- "John's an innocent old man, though!" I burst out, interrupting my own trail of thought. "How could we frame an innocent old man?!"

"Keep the noise down, will you? And if you see anyone come to the door of John, then all we'll have to do is find out which one of them bastards betrayed us!" He sounded a little mad, not to mention a little proud of his Anti- Traitor– Plan.

Even I could begin to understand the benefits against the cons. Poor John, though. Poor guy won't have a clue what's going on. Paul, on the other hand, looks as if he's been planning the whole thing through.

"You're the only one I properly trust, Ash," he said, facing dead-on into the darkness. "The other three took more persuasion, were more careful, and none of them had the passion you had, Ash. That's why I need you especially if we're going to make a difference."

I smiled. Although it felt great to be special, I felt a little pity on the other three. He was quick to judge, but I hoped that his opinion would change.

"So that's the plan. As for what we will be doing down there, I'll explain once we meet the others," Paul said. "Just remember not to call me by the name 'Paul'. It's John."

I nodded, and in a short while, I followed Paul to the back of the Pokémon Centre where he pulled a dislodged plank of wood from the back of the building, where we climbed into the old Pokémon Centre.

On what seemed like a pretty long staircase, the infinite number of cobwebs and clouds of dust were something I should've expected after wondering illegally into an abandoned building. Eventually, my eyes caught the attention of a door at the end of the staircase with a bright light bordering it.

Paul looked at me once more the moment we stopped at the door, smiling at me before we pulled open the door.

A blast of white morphed into a simple room with the light shining down from the ceiling. In the corner, many broken chairs and tables along with old hospital equipment looked out of use with the dust piling up at an exponential rate. There was an extremely small window where a flicker of light was able to find its way into the basement. And then, I noticed the three people Paul had mentioned – our weapons in the fight against Giovanni.

Standing in the centre of the room, three more males stood with their arms folded, standing in a direct line with expressionless faces; one with green hair, one with chestnut-coloured hair, and one with a red headband.

"Gentleman, gentleman," Paul cheerfully said, walking to the back of the three males and placing an arm around their shoulders. "This here is Ash. Be friendly with him. He's the one I mentioned earlier, so be nice and get acquainted."

After a few minutes, I learnt quite a lot about the three males and even about Paul- I mean, John. They weren't really as untrustworthy as he tried to convey, though. They all seemed like reasonable people, just like myself and the purple-haired boy in a sense that they all loathed Giovanni just as much as I did. Over the last two years, they've been living in the same conditions, feeling the same animosity, the same hate and disgust for the New World.

The green-haired one was Drew, a former Pokémon Co-ordinator; now, working at some rip-off burger franchise. Claiming to still retain his self-proclaimed 'charm', Drew's been in about thirty to forty jobs since the New World began, from club singer to bartender to actor – he's been it all.

And then there was Tracey, who really didn't talk that much. Former Pokémon Watcher and Pokémon genius; whilst we were all protesting on the streets, he's been at the computers, rallying people and spreading the facts. He's a 'behind the scenes' kind of person, if there ever was one.

Kenny was the chestnut-haired one, the youngest out of all of us, and just like Drew, a former Pokémon Co-ordinator. Things happened back in his hometown of Sinnoh and he was forced to move here, but not without having some very strong connections in that distant region.

Even Paul was able to give a little more information on his past, and I was honestly surprised. He knows a lot about Giovanni, but that's mostly due to where he works. He's one of Giovanni's gardeners for his mansion in the Kanto region; a dangerous and odd job for someone who's fighting against the man. I did find it pretty funny how, if we were to strike it big in the world, it'll all because of his gardener.

The four men including the purple-haired boy, when put in one room, looked like an opportunity in the making. Our skills when pitted against Giovanni brought a smile to my face. I couldn't have honestly been happier, and yet, Paul still didn't trust them – not like he trusted me, at least. Why, though? They all seemed like decent people, all in favour of defeating Giovanni, so why not trust them?

"Now, onto why I've brought you here," Paul eventually said, walking under the spotlight. "The facts have been faced, and I conclude that the five of us won't do much if we storm into Giovanni's house demanding our Pokémon back. No, that won't work. Plus I may get fired."

Drew smirked. "I know that feeling," he said, flicking his hair.

"…I wouldn't advise doing anything irrational," Tracey said, slightly worried.

"So what else do you have in mind, John?" Kenny asked. I was quite surprised that they bought into all that alias thing.

Paul/John smiled. "We're not going to do anything until the opportunity arrives. We're a small group of five so there's very little we can do anyway. We're just a pathetic little organisation who Giovanni will dismiss, but that's only for a short while. Soon, we will come out of our hiding places and make a dent on the world."

In hindsight, the dent we made on the world since that day was something I bet only Paul could've expected.

"I assume you all brought your Pokémon, as I asked?" Paul said, retrieving a Pokéball from behind his back.

I paused for a moment, remembering that Pikachu was with me the whole time. I lifted him out of the bag where he quickly analysed the old Viridian City Pokémon Centre with just as much nostalgia as I did. Having been patient and quiet for the whole time, my Electric-Type looked a little too happy to be out of the house without much fear of being in danger.

"Pikachuu," Pikachu cheered, leaping to my shoulder.

Almost immediately after, four more bursts of light came from the Pokéballs of Kenny, Drew, Tracey and Paul, each revealing an Empoleon, a Roserade, a Scyther and an Electivire, respectively. Naturally, each of the four Pokémon were just as excited about being in the open as my Pikachu was.

"And now, we battle-"

"What?!" I blurted, immediately covering my hand against my mouth.

"Well, yeah. That's why I asked for your Pokémon to come to," Paul replied, leaning an arm against his Electivire. "Don't think we'll get very far if we just sit here and complain. So let's battle. C'mon, Ash. We'll make it me and you!"

Indeed, as you would probably have guessed, my heart was in my mouth at this point. It felt strange, but it didn't feel unwelcoming. I'd barely felt the adrenaline, the excitement of battling in the last couple of years.

"A real-life Pokémon Trainer battle… never really my preferred area of Pokémon training, but I'm not complaining!" Drew cheered, brimming a smile as we all moved old objects to the side of the basement, rather carelessly, albeit.

"You did prepare a plan, right, John?" Tracey asked, looking back at the purple-haired individual. "If someone sees us, or we get caught…"

He only stared back at the former Pokémon Watcher, then finally, he spoke. "There is no plan. If we get caught, then it's over," he sternly said.

It didn't take us long to create a battlefield in the basement of the Pokémon Centre. I somehow imagined that this would be the moment the police come in and bust us all, like I hear on the news all the time. I could wake up the very next morning in a prison cell, but the moment Paul, or John as I was told to refer to him as, stood by the side of his incredible Electivire, I knew there was no turning back.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Paul said, shaking his hands out. "Ready, Ash?"

I smirked. "Ready… John…"

An electric atmosphere pulsated around the room. For a moment, I was worried that a flash of light would fly through a window and catch the attention of someone, perhaps even one of Giovanni's spies, but then came the first blow from the enemy Electivire.

"Electivire, Thunder!"

It didn't look as if he was going easy on me. Paul commanded his Pokémon and within a short moment, Electivire shot its tails out where energy channelled into an ever-growing ball of electricity, firing the powerful ball of volts at my Pikachu.

"Pikachu, jump!" I said, but I wasn't fast enough. The ball of energy crashed against my Pokémon like a sack of potatoes, throwing the Mouse Pokémon across the room. "Pikachu, are you okay?!" I said.

"Pikachuu," Pikachu said, rubbing the back of his head with a smile. Not battling for so long certainly reduced his endurance.

"In that case, Quick Attack!" I called out. Pikachu flashed forward in a blaze of light, completely deluding Paul's Electivire who stood trying to catch the electric mouse, but ultimately failing, feeling the full power of the Quick Attack as it threw his whole body back against the wall.

"Hmph. So that's how you want to play it, Ash?" Paul smiled. "Game on."

"Bring it!"

Watching from the sides with just exhilaration present on their faces, Drew, Tracey and Kenny constantly switched their gazes between my Pikachu and the Electivire, each Pokémon, although rusty and unpolished in their techniques, battling with the fervour only expected of a Pokémon longing to let loose since two years ago. Sparks flew all over the room, flashes of light crashing with the thunderstorms that began to brew outside, and eventually, one Pokémon left standing.

"Electiviireee!" Electivire cheered, raising both its arms in victory. Just a few metres away from him, Pikachu lay, worn down from the sheer power of Paul's Electivire.

I wasn't sad, though. I felt invigorated, as if a shot of ecstasy surged through my veins at an alarming rate, completely flooding my insides with the excitement and drug that I so needed and missed since two years ago. I stood there with a wide smile, looking up at Paul who had a grin just as wide as mine. The winner didn't matter; what mattered was that I was able to battle with my Pokémon for the first time in so long.

"It's good, isn't it, Ash?" he said, still retaining his gaze. "Pretty awesome feeling, huh?

I nodded, barely able to summon the words I needed.

"Yeah…" I finally murmured, softly.

Paul walked up to his Electivire, brushing his thick fur before placing him back in his ball, and then walking into the centre of the battlefield, facing the four of us.

"That's what we'll be doing for the next few weeks. Pokémon battles every week. But I'm going to lay down some rules before we continue," he began, pacing around the room.

"Firstly, this secret meeting is ours. You can't tell anyone about this place or what we do, or else we're dead. We work on the foundations of trust."

Trust… Paul's philosophy was that everything was down to trust.

"Secondly, any sign of emergency and we'll do exactly as I say. Understood?"

But he didn't trust the other three for some reason. Why, though?

"And thirdly, and finally, above all of the voices in this room, regardless of what you may believe or your Pokémon may think... feel free to cry and bitch all you want, but you must trust in me and you must believe in me!"

The four of us nodded.

"I guess you could call the very first meeting of the next best thing," Paul said.

We were the five catalysts that would truly make a dent on the world, fulfilling Paul's vision. I trusted him either way. Paul felt like a leader. A turning point; a blockade for Giovanni. Sure, we're nothing now, but I had a good feeling that that was all about to change.

"Gentleman, the revolution starts now! Welcome to the first ever Battle Club."