Hey all, I'm back with another update for Rise to the Challenge. No excuse once again as to why this took some time, but I made up for it with a 25 page chapter. So sit back and enjoy it. I'll also display the character popularity results at the end of the chapter and leave up the poll on my page so you can see for yourself to see that it's 100% accurate.
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon. I own the OCs (Tom, Sparks, Sully, Eric, Roy, Alice, Langdon, Pierce, Clint), this story, and the idea of the story.
Chapter Summary: Team Plasma successfully steals the skull from the Nacrene City museum and head to their rendezvous point. However, they are setting up to encounter any form of resistance that will try to take the skull back. Meanwhile, Lenora enlists Tom and his friends to help retrieve the skull.
Bold- Message Bulletins/PA System/Plaques/Books
Italics- Thoughts/Letters/Flashbacks
Bold Italics- TV/Radio/Pokedex (AKA Dexter) Descriptions/Xtransreceiver Messages/ Xtransreceiver Conversations
Team Plasma had successfully stolen the skull of the dragon fossil and was making their way back to the rendezvous point. Leading the group was Pierce, followed by Liam and then Melanie. They shoved and weaved between tourists to escape from Lenora and the trainers accompanying her with many of the grunts close behind. Pierce glanced at his watch and determined that they were right on schedule and could expect to be at the rendezvous point in twenty minutes if they weren't confronted by authorities. Turning to the others behind them, Pierce decided to have them pick up the pace.
"Pick up the pace, let's go!" Pierce barked.
"No need to yell, Pierce. I'm sure that our grunts have enough smarts to run in a situation like this," Liam replied with a smile.
"Liam, shut up. Now's not the time for a wiseass remark."
"Okay Langdon."
Pierce fought back the urge to slug Liam right there and continued running. He could see the exit straight ahead and prepared to burst through the doors. The doors grew closer and closer and finally, they were within arm's reach and Pierce and Liam charged towards them. The doors flew open as they collided with them and allowed the wave of Team Plasma grunts to flood out and into the street. Pierce waited for Liam to exit before plucking another smoke bomb and detonating it in the entrance way before continuing outside. The smoke bomb exploded and a thick cloud of black smoke filled the hall and blew outside.
Pierce coughed as he stumbled into the bright sunlight and almost tripped as he went down the stairs. He looked up and felt his stomach drop as he saw the person in front of him. King N was in front of him battling having a battle with two people. His mind froze and he began to wonder what the king was doing out in the open when he was supposed to be back at the base. N glanced back him briefly and he could see the knowing look in his eye. Pierce maintained eye contact with N as he started to run off to catch up with the other grunts. He then glanced to the boy and girl that N was talking to and could see the boy's eyes wide with surprise.
It got even worse when the boy took a couple of steps towards away from N, as if he was about to chase after him.
"Damn-it, not now, not when things are going this smooth," Pierce muttered.
He rounded the corner and bolted down the road as fast as he could and he could see Liam and Melanie in the rear of the group. Pierce managed to catch up with the pair of them quick and glanced over his shoulder again, garnering Melanie's attention.
"Pierce, what's wrong?" Melanie asked, "are we still being chased?"
"We're still being chased, but I'm more concerned with what King N is doing here," Pierce replied.
"What do you mean?"
"He wasn't supposed to be with us at all during the raid. He was supposed to be back at base."
"Ah, let the king have his fun," Liam said with a laugh, "he could use some sunlight. Have you seen how pale he is?"
"Dots, what did you do?" Pierce asked, glaring at Liam.
"Teenagers need some form of entertainment so they don't get bored. All I had to do was give our king a little incentive and boy howdy did it work!"
"Do you enjoy making our lives a living hell?"
"Is that a trick question?"
Pierce shook his head and dropped the conversation to which Liam cackled as they continued their run towards the woods.
Tom, Hayley and N had been battling so N could see how their Pokémon felt about them since their last encounter. So far, Hayley and N had been battling for a while with her Pignite against his Timburr. Their fight had been going on a little longer than N expected compared to the last time back in Accumula Town before he met Tom. At this rate, he wasn't going to be battling Tom any time soon. Although he was focused on the battle, he was curious to how the grunts were holding up after getting the skull.
"I wonder how this skull will help us," N thought. "From what I read in that book that Melanie helped me find, I don't think it's the dragon we're looking for."
N was broken from his thoughts when Hayley ordered her Pignite to strike Timburr with Arm Thrust. The brutal thrust plunged into Timburr's stomach and sent him skidding back to recuperate from the jolting attack. N was about to order his next attack but stopped when the doors to the museum burst open and the large group of Team Plasma grunts led by Pierce and Liam sprinted out. Smoke billowed from a smoke grenade that Pierce dropped to conceal their escape. The surprising action halted the battle as Hayley and Tom looked at the situation develop before them.
N locked eyes with Pierce and watched him as he chased after Liam, Melanie and the others. He could tell that they were successful with their mission and now it was his turn to delay Hayley and Tom from trying to intercept them. When Pierce vanished from sight, N prepared to start the battle again but noticed Tom starting to walk after them.
"Tom, where are you going? We have yet to battle," N said as he looked at him.
"What was that all about?" Tom asked as he looked back at him.
"It doesn't matter. The authorities will take care of them, so don't worry about it."
Tom opened his mouth to argue but stopped when he saw a dark skinned woman with teal hair bolt out of the gym with Kenta, Corey, Vanessa and Elliott behind her. They continued down the road to the intersection and looked around frantically. Using this as an excuse to get away from N, Tom hurried over to catch up to them. The group was panting as they looked around for Team Plasma.
"Guys, what just happened?" Tom asked as he hurried over to them.
"Team Plasma… stole… a skull… from an exhibit," Kenta gasped out.
"How'd that happen?"
"They used smokescreen as a diversion," Corey replied shaking his head.
As Tom collected answers from his friends, a man with green eyes, brown hair came up to them. He was dressed in rather flamboyant clothes that made Tom and Corey raise a brow. Not paying much mind to it, they decided to ask the man in front of them if he saw Team Plasma.
"Good day, Lenora. Find any good fossils lately?" The man asked.
Lenora's eyes widened and a smile graced her lips as she identified the man in front of her.
"This is a surprise visit! Are you suffering from artist's block again?" Lenora replied.
Lenora turned to the trainers beside her and put her hands on her hips.
"Trainers, this is Burgh. He may not look it, but he's the Castelia City gym leader," Lenora said nodding at Burgh.
The gang looked at Burgh who smiled and waved at them. They were silent as they observed him for a moment, but they were all thinking along similar lines. He definitely did not look like a gym leader at all.
"Eh, just looking for a change of pace," Burgh replied with a shrug to Lenora's earlier question. "Seems hectic or something around here. What's up?"
"What's up?" Lenora repeated looking cross once again. "Someone just walked away with an exhibit! That's what's up!"
Sirens were wailing in the distance as police cars began to make their way to the museum. Knowing she would have to explain what happened, Lenora came to a decision. Glancing at the trainers by her, she observed them for a minute. They all looked fairly strong and they were most likely there to challenge her for the Basic Badge. She turned to them and rested her hands on her hips.
"Which of you is in charge here?" Lenora asked.
"That'd be me," Tom said as he raised a hand.
"What's your name?"
"Tom Sandbourne."
"Alright, Tom, listen up. This is what we'll do. As much as I want to take matters into my own hands to catch those thieves, I have to stay here and talk to the authorities. In the meantime, I'd like to ask you and your friends to give me a hand."
"We can help you out, no problem."
"Burgh, I want you to help them out. Take Tom and his friend to search the Pinwheel Forest. I'm positive that's where they went. I'm counting on you all."
Lenora hurried back down the road and to the museum where the patrol cars had stopped. Burgh nodded to himself and glanced at Tom and his friends.
"Tom, is it? Are you raring up to round up some robbers?" Burgh asked.
"Was that a trick question?" Elliott replied.
Burgh chuckled at Elliott's response and started to run down the road to the forest. Tom hurried after him with Corey, Kenta, Elliott and Vanessa following close behind. Each of them was ready to dish out some swift justice to Team Plasma for stealing the skull.
Pierce, Melanie and Liam were sweating profusely after running from the museum and deep into the forest. They had made it to the rendezvous point and were preparing to fall back to the base after getting full accountability of their group. Langdon walked up to Pierce and Liam after seeing they had the entire group they took. He was pleased that they hadn't lost anyone yet as it could have compromised their position to the authorities.
"Do you have the skull?" Langdon asked Pierce.
"Yes sir," Pierce replied pulling the skull out of the bag he had.
Langdon took the skull and observed it for a minute before giving it back to Pierce to put in his bag. When Pierce put the skull away, Langdon asked the next question.
"Were you followed?" Langdon asked.
"I kept looking back as we were running to see if anyone was chasing us. I didn't see anybody, but I wouldn't risk it. I would suggest getting out of here and back to base," Pierce answered.
"I see. I want to know who we may be dealing with. We have the numbers on our side, but I want to see this threat that may be pursuing us. If we keep moving, they can track us back to the base and that's the last thing I want to do."
"What do you want to do then, sir?"
"I want you, Liam and Melanie to split up the grunts we have and place them around the forest. Ambush anyone that may be looking for us to stop them."
"Got it."
Pierce motioned for Melanie and Liam to come to him. Melanie hurried over while Liam took his time with a smirk on his face. Pierce was already frustrated with Liam for persuading N to come with them on the mission, but he pushed it aside long enough to explain the plan to the two of them.
"What's going on?" Melanie asked kneeling down.
"New plan. Langdon wants us to hold our ground and fend off any people pursuing us. He wants to see this threat we may be dealing with," Pierce replied.
"That sounds boring. I say we keep running and get back to base. We'll be on our home turf and can have some real fun with them there," Liam said, loud enough for Langdon to hear.
"Liam, shut the hell up. Now, Langdon wants us to take some of the grunts here and take defensive positions around the forest so we can ambush those that are following us. Once we take care of them we'll head back to base."
"Does that mean we're in charge of our own groups?" Melanie asked with a nervous tone.
"Yes. So I suggest you find your courage and prepare to fight back."
Pierce stood up and slung the bag over his shoulders and walked over to the large mass of grunts. He gave a sharp whistle and gathered their attention. Melanie and Liam stood beside him as he got ready to inform them of the updated plans. Liam put his hands in the pockets and looked up at the treetops with a bored look while Melanie was fidgeting with obvious nervousness.
"There's been a change of plans. We're going to split all of you up into groups to eliminate any threat of pursuers by ambushing them here in the forest. You'll be taking orders from the squad leaders. The squad leaders are me, Melanie and Liam. There will be about five to six of you per group. Divide yourselves up evenly and we can get going," Pierce explained.
The grunts obeyed the order without question and lined up in front of Liam, Melanie and Pierce. After they all divvied up, Pierce turned to Melanie and Liam to give them the last bit of advice.
"Tell your squads that if they are defeated by the threat to fall back to the base by using smokescreen as concealment. That's the contingency plan for everybody," Pierce said before walking over to his group.
"Sheesh, he is becoming Langdon Junior with that bossy attitude," Liam said with a snort.
Liam walked over to his group with little enthusiasm to explain the contingency plan and then move out to their desired position. Melanie swallowed the lump in her throat and glanced back at Langdon who took a moment to give her an expecting look. She did her best to steady her nerves and went over to her group.
"Alright guys, follow me to our new position," Melanie said with as much confidence as she could.
She could see the unmotivated looks on their faces and was sure that they were not thrilled to be following her orders. She couldn't blame them either since she knew that she wasn't cut out for the job like Pierce and Liam were. Trying to shake the feeling of being useless, she stood erect and displayed as much false confidence that she could and marched her team to their new position.
While Melanie and Liam escorted their teams to their respective areas, Langdon pulled Pierce aside to talk with him.
"I want your team to stay nearby me so you can pull back and give me the skull should you have to," Langdon said looking down at him.
"Yes sir," Pierce nodded as he walked back over to his team to have them spread out.
Langdon turned on his heel and walked towards his hiding area deeper in the forest. He told Pierce where his location was and now he had to sit and play the waiting game.
Burgh had led Tom and the gang into the forest and they were standing on the road that had multiple trails leading off of it. The trails vanished into the thicket of trees, buckthorn, bushes and tall grass, making it a twisted labyrinth that would take one deep into the forest and more than likely get them lost. Burgh turned back to the group after they stopped as he looked down the road and at the trails.
"Well, as you can see…" Burgh began as he gestured to the trails around him, "there are two ways out of the forest. These trails that lead deeper into the forest for trainers to train and catch Pokémon and then the paved road here that gives way to a bigger dirt trail a couple hundred meters down."
"So it's the point of no return then?" Elliott asked as she crossed her arms. "Great, I always wanted to get lost in a forest."
"You won't get lost because I've come up with a strategy to keep us from getting lost," Tom said. "We'll split up into buddy teams to provide support to one another. If what Burgh said was true, we should be able to create a choke point to pin these jokers inside and take the skull back."
"Good idea," Burgh said with a nod. "I'll go down the paved road here. Who's coming with me?"
"I'll go," Kenta said as he walked over to Burgh.
Kenta and Burgh stood side by side to make the first group. Vanessa turned to Elliott and nodded at her as they stood together, leaving Tom and Corey to form the final group. Once the groups were set and ready to go, Tom gave them the contingency plan.
"Back each other up if you encounter any of those guys. When you win your battle and they try to run away, do not chase after them. Let them go and keep searching for the ring leader for the skull. Once you have cleared your area or need to stop because you and your teams can't continue, fall back to Nacrene City but notify us with your Xtransreceiver," Tom instructed as he looked around at them.
"Got it," Kenta said with a nod.
When everything was explained, the groups separated and went down their respective trails. Vanessa and Elliott took the dirt trail to the left and vanished into the trees. Kenta and Burgh walked down the paved road to the next main trail and Tom and Corey went to the unmarked trail off to the left of the paved road.
"How strong do you think these guys are?" Corey asked as he glanced at Tom.
"I'm not sure, but if it's anything like I experienced in the past with Team Rocket and Team Galactic, these guys should be the weak runts. I'm willing to bet their ring leaders are very strong, so be on your guard," Tom replied.
"Alright, bro."
Kenta and Burgh stumbled upon the dirt trail that connected to the paved road. They had followed it for almost ten minutes and had yet to find any Team Plasma grunts in the process. Their search was going too smoothly and that alone made Burgh maintain his guard. Kenta was also alert for any surprises that may be lurking in the trees. In all the movies he had seen, any time that an attack or a search seemed to be going well, it would always lead to an ambush of some sort. Kenta wasn't sure how strong Burgh was or what type of Pokémon he used for the matter, but he felt comfortable with being partnered up with a gym leader.
"Where do you think they are?" Kenta whispered.
"I'm not sure," Burgh answered with a shake of his head, "but I do not like this silence."
"I know what you mean. It's like we're being lured into a trap or something."
"Indeed."
Kenta and Burgh stopped for a moment to survey the area. Any form of disturbance to the surrounding area could provide to be a clue to track down Team Plasma. A branch snapped from the thicket of trees in front of them and they both drew a Poké Ball from their belts. Kenta summoned Stan and Burgh released his ball and a tall Pokémon stood before him. Curious to what the new Pokémon before him was, Kenta pulled out his Pokedex to identify it.
"Leavanny, the nurturing Pokémon and Sewaddle's final evolutionary form. When Leavanny finds a small Pokémon it makes clothing for it with its arm cutters, using leaves and sticky silk," Dexter informed.
Kenta gave a satisfied nod and the identified Pokémon and tucked his Pokedex away. He looked at Burgh and saw that he was motioning for them to move closer to the source of the noise to investigate it. He nodded back and had Stan move forward as he followed close behind.
"Stan, use Bonemerang on those branches in front of us," Kenta whispered.
Stan nodded and hurled his bone at the large clusters of sticks. Multiple cracks sounded around the trees as Stan's bone cut through the sticks. He caught his bone as it came back and had a satisfied look after looking at the path he cut for his master.
"Thanks buddy," Kenta said as he rubbed Stan's head.
Burgh and Kenta crept forward through the new path that Stan had made, all the while keeping their eyes peeled for any movement. Finally, they got a break. In front of them was a group of grunts that were looking at them with glares. Obviously they weren't too happy with being found. Standing behind the grunts was another member that had a bag slung on his shoulders.
"Team Plasma, hold your ground!" The grunt with the bag yelled.
"Understood, Pierce!" They chorused.
"Which one of you has the skull?" Kenta asked as he glared at them.
"If you want it, come and get it," Pierce answered.
"Kenta, we do this as a team. Don't fall for those taunts," Burgh said.
Kenta nodded and pointed at the first two grunts that stood in front of him and Burgh. The grunts summoned their own Pokémon and prepared to battle. Burgh stood beside Kenta, ready to give Leavanny orders to engage.
"Let's go!" Kenta said and Stan jumped at the Pokémon with Leavanny beside him.
Vanessa and Elliott had barely been on their path for ten minutes and they had already come across some Team Plasma grunts. So far they had made mincemeat out of the grunts and were progressing quite nicely down the trail to that would eventually box in the ring leaders if Tom was right. They both had been keeping score on who was in the lead and so far they were tied with each of them taking two grunts. Elliott had been using her Sawk, Ace, and Vanessa had used her Glaceon, Crystal to do their bidding.
One thing that was bothering the both of them was that each time they tried to get an answer from the grunts was that they would use smokescreen to run away after being defeated. Elliott lost her cool with their last grunt and almost gave chase but stopped when Vanessa had Glaceon freeze the ground in front of her, making her slip. She glared back at Vanessa who had a teasing smirk on her face and giggled at the little spill she took.
"That wasn't funny!" Elliott hissed.
"Oh lighten up," Vanessa replied as she rolled her eyes.
Elliott scrambled to her feet and stomped over to Vanessa with a heated look in her eyes. Vanessa raised a brow at Elliott's comical anger as she pointed a finger in her face.
"Don't do that again!" Elliott yelled.
"Elliott, it was just a joke. This is exactly what all of us keep telling you. You need a better sense of humor," Vanessa replied as she continued walking down the trail.
"Well I'm sorry if my humor doesn't match everyone else's!"
Vanessa opened her mouth to retort but stopped when she spotted another member from Team Plasma from the trees. She hurried to hide behind a tree with Elliott doing the same with the one beside her. Vanessa peered around the tree and could see the member a little easier. Her eyes widened in surprise when she recognized the member was none other than Melanie. The same member she fought a little over a week ago. She wasn't sure what Melanie's purpose was, but if it was similar to last time, then it was possible she was one of the ring leaders.
"I think that girl there is the ring leader of the group," Vanessa whispered.
"How do you know?" Elliott replied.
"I fought her last week with Eri in Striaton City and she was the one in charge of the group there."
"Alright. What do you want to do?"
"We'll take her together. She's outnumbered and if memory serves me right, she's terrified of battling, so we lucked out."
Elliott nodded and followed Vanessa's lead as she stepped out from behind the tree. The two of them walked up to Melanie and managed to get her attention as they continued towards her. Melanie stood up and had a smirk plastered on her face. Her confidence wasn't too strong, but it wasn't stopping her from trying to appear more confident than she was. When she saw the two trainers get closer to her, she opened her mouth to taunt them.
"Well look who's here!" Melanie said, "I see you both made quick work of my squad."
"Aw put a cork in it!" Elliott retorted, "are you the ring leader or not?"
"Did you not hear me say that you made quick work of my squad?"
Elliott's face reddened a little bit as she had failed to hear that first bit. Melanie smirked at Elliott before looking at the other trainer in front of her.
"I didn't think I'd be seeing you again anytime soon… Melanie, is it?" Vanessa said as she looked up at her.
Melanie's focus went up when she heard that voice. It sounded similar to the one she heard almost a week ago when she and Pierce botched the attempt of freeing some Pokémon that they stole. When she saw Vanessa's face and her ice blue eyes bearing into her, all the confidence she had was shattered. She knew she was facing a strong trainer as she had taken out one of Pierce's Pokémon which is not an easy thing to do.
"You again!" Melanie sneered.
"Yup, little ole' me," Vanessa replied with a smirk. "So, Melanie, do you have the skull that you jerks stole earlier?"
"Maybe I do and maybe I don't."
"Wait, why did I even ask that? Of course you don't have it. They wouldn't give you an important job like that. Especially after you failed that task last week."
"Shut up!"
Melanie was now angered at the little jab that Vanessa dealt her. She wasn't sure why, but she pulled out her Poké Ball to release her first Pokémon. This time she was eager to battle and prove Vanessa wrong about not being assigned an important job. Her determination made Vanessa raise a brow in surprise as she, too, got ready to battle. Vanessa looked down at Crystal and nodded at Melanie. Getting the message, Crystal ran into the clearing to start the battle. Melanie threw her Poké Ball into the clearing and it opened with a crack, allowing her first Pokémon to materialize before her. The white glow vanished and revealed a Pokémon that looked similar to Elliott's Scraggy.
"A Scrafty!" Elliott said with some surprise.
"That's right!" Melanie said, "Scrafty, use High Jump Kick!"
Vanessa had to do a double take at how quick Scrafty moved after receiving the order. He vanished upon hearing it and was right beside Crystal the next second with his leg straight out, ready to collide with her side. Crystal gave a loud cry of pain after being hit with the attack and landed gingerly a few feet away. The devastating hit made Vanessa growl and retaliate back.
"Hang in there, Crystal! Use Ice Ball!" Vanessa barked.
Crystal shook off the pain and opened her mouth and a large solid ball of ice started to take shape. Once the ball finished forming, she sent it right at Scrafty. Thinking quickly, Melanie had her next move pop into her head and she was growing a little excited at being able to fight back.
"Dodge and use Chip Away!" Melanie countered back.
Scrafty sidestepped the first ball of ice and began dashing at Crystal. Crystal kept sending the consecutive Ice Ball attack at Scrafty. Each ball of ice got bigger and stronger to the point that Scrafty would not be able to dodge with ease.
"Scrafty, use Chip Away on the ice!" Melanie ordered.
Scrafty jumped up and gave a volley of punches on the ball of ice with rapid speed, shattering it with ease. Needless to say, Vanessa was surprised at the sudden turn around that Melanie was showing since their last encounter.
"Finish it with High Jump Kick!" Melanie yelled.
Scrafty began descending on Crystal with his leg extended, ready to hit her once again. However, Vanessa was ready for that and had Crystal dodge just in time. Scrafty hit the ground and fell to a fetal position in serious pain after missing his target. Vanessa took the chance to have Crystal land a hit on Scrafty.
"Use Aurora Beam!" Vanessa yelled.
A neon colored beam was sent from Crystal and went straight for Scrafty. The attack hit him head on and sent him airborne. Scrafty went spiraling headfirst into a tree and hit the ground with a hard thud. Once he failed to get up, Melanie recalled him to his Poké Ball and readied her next Pokémon. She released her next ball and it opened. This time a large shape started to form and in its place stood a large Pokémon with red gem like stone attached to it.
"Gigalith, use Sandstorm!" Melanie ordered.
Gigalith's eyes glowed red for a brief moment and the wind started to kick up. Dust began to swirl and started to cover the area in a thick veil of sand. The condition change made this a lot harder for Vanessa to see Gigalith as he seemed to vanish in the sandstorm.
"Crystal, get ready to move!" Vanessa warned.
"Not going to happen! Gigalith, use Stone Edge!" Melanie yelled.
Gigalith gave a roar and two rings of sharp stones appeared around his body as he got ready to unleash them on Crystal. Crystal, who had no visibility could not see or tell when the attack was coming and prepared to move at the first sign she saw. Gigalith stomped his front feet into the ground and sent the stones soaring at Crystal. All that was heard was the pained cry of Crystal as the stones pelted her with pinpoint accuracy. The sandstorm subsided and Crystal was lying on her side, defeated from the powerful attack.
"So who's next?" Melanie asked with a smirk, looking between Vanessa and Elliott.
Her newfound confidence was making her feel good and she was eager to continue the battle for once in her life.
"Let's see if you can handle me," Elliott said as she and Ace stepped forward.
"Bring it on."
Vanessa recalled Crystal to her Poké Ball and tagged Elliott's hand to switch out of the battle.
On Tom and Corey's end, being the strongest of their group, they had successfully pushed through the grunts that were in their path. Corey had the majority of wins as he, Crusader and Admiral took out grunt after grunt. Tom had stayed back and let Corey have his fun to get his win streak up after losing to Trent in the tournament. Corey had taken out the sixth grunt in their path and was beginning to wonder if there was a ring leader in the group they were fighting.
"Tom, not that I'm not enjoying dealing ass kicking's to these guys, but where is the ring leader?" Corey asked.
"I'm not sure. I imagine they'd be near their team," Tom replied with a shrug as he and Sparks looked around.
"A ring leader you say?" A new voice kicked in.
Tom and Corey turned to the source of a voice and saw a tall brown haired boy with freckles wearing the Team Plasma uniform. Just by looking at him, Tom and Corey were having a hard time trying to take him seriously.
"Are you the ring leader for these clowns?" Tom asked.
"Clowns? That's a new one, but to answer your question, I am the ring leader for this team of grunts you've been kicking around," the boy replied.
"So there's more than one ring leader?" Corey asked.
"That's correct. I'm actually surprised that a pretty boy like you was able to think that quickly."
Corey grimaced at the comment and was itching to battle this next guy. He was hoping he would provide some sort of challenge as the grunts had been very boring with their lack of power.
"So which of two was the one who took out my men? Was it you, Mr. Shades?" The boy asked, looking at Corey.
"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't," Corey answered with a shrug, "would you care to find out?"
"Ah, so it was you! Atta boy, just fight, fight, fight!"
"What's your name?" Tom asked.
"Liam, since you asked nicely," Liam replied with a cheery smile.
"Well, Liam, where is the skull?" Corey asked.
Liam cocked his head to the side and began to walk around the clearing, not answering Corey's question. When he didn't receive a response, Corey asked him again. Once again his question was ignored and Corey was starting to get a little impatient.
"I guess I retract that statement about you being smart," Liam said with a grin, "as you can see in my clearly empty hands, I don't have it!"
"Then which one of you jokers has it?" Tom pried.
"That would be Pierce. Although he may have given it to our boss."
"Where is your boss?"
"He's back that way."
Liam jerked his thumb in the direction behind him and Tom started running in that direction with Corey close behind. However, that wasn't to be as Liam had summoned his first Pokémon to stand in front of them. The glow vanished and it revealed a Tyranitar standing tall.
"Now, that's not nice," Liam said. "You grant my men the luxury of a battle but you can't spare some time for me? Coming to think of it, I didn't give you permission to leave."
"We don't have time for you," Tom replied, glaring back at him.
"Tom, go on ahead. I'll take him on and catch up in a bit," Corey said as he took a step towards Liam.
"Are you sure?"
"Bro, I'm on a winning streak here. I want to keep that going as long as possible."
Tom nodded and ran around Tyranitar and continued in the direction to where Liam said his boss was. Corey turned back to Liam and had Crusader ready to go against Liam's Tyranitar. He could see the cheeky look on Liam's face and he clapped his hands.
"Ah, thank you Mr. Shades! I'm so glad you took time out of your schedule to battle me!" Liam said.
Corey watched as Tyranitar walked over to Liam, his feet making the ground shake a little wih each step.
"Yeah, no problem. Just be sure to put up a good fight," Corey replied with a smirk.
"Oh, well, let's hope I meet your standards."
Tom and Sparks continued their run to the area where Liam said his boss was at. He wasn't sure how strong the boss was, but he wasn't going to take any chances. He had to be sure not to underestimate the boss since he would more than likely be very strong. Tom jumped over a bush and landed on a dirt slope and let it carry him down. Sparks landed by his feet moments later and he looked around to try and find any other Team Plasma members.
"Do you sense anything, Sparks?" Tom asked as he looked down at him.
"Rai," Sparks replied as he shook his head.
"Maybe that guy was lying."
"I see that runt decided to defy the orders once again," A deep voice said.
Tom turned to the source of the voice and could see a tall man appear from the trees. He had clean cut black hair that was turning grey with age and onyx black eyes. His uniform was similar to the other Team Plasma members, but his tabard was black and red. He was also wearing a brown duster over his uniform.
"So you're the big cheese of all the clowns here?" Tom asked, glaring at him.
"Interesting choice of words, boy," the man replied as he reached into his duster.
"Who are you anyway?"
"Langdon Gardner."
Tom glanced at Langdon's hand as it remained buried in the duster. He wasn't sure what Langdon was going to do, but he was very cautious of the man before him.
"Let me ask you something," Tom said as he took his eyes off of Langdon's hand. "What do you aim to do with an old skull?"
"I'm sure by now that you probably know our goal of Pokémon liberation?" Langdon replied.
"Yeah, but what's that have to do with it?"
"You'll find out soon enough. Now, how about you entertain me a bit? Judging by your confidence and your commanding presence, I'm sure you're the leader of your friends?"
"You guessed right."
Langdon smirked and pulled out a Poké Ball, ready to engage the leader of his opposing force. He was curious to the power that the boy in front of him had and was ready to test him. He threw his ball into the air and it opened with a loud crack, allowing a large white glow to materialize before him. The glow vanished and in its place stood a Drapion. The intimidating Pokémon clicked its pincers as it glared down at Tom and Sparks.
"Sparks, you're up," Tom said as he looked down at him.
Sparks nodded and ran down out into the field to face Drapion. Electricity crackled as it emitted from his cheeks as he glared at the large Pokémon. Langdon chuckled at seeing the tiny confident Pokémon prepared to take any challenge presented.
"What's your name, boy?" Langdon asked.
"Tom Sandbourne," Tom replied.
The second the words left his mouth, Tom could have sworn he saw a flicker of anger in Langdon's eyes. Langdon's look became more focused as he got ready to start the battle.
"Drapion, use Pin Missile!" Langdon ordered.
Kenta and Burgh had made slow but steady progress against their group of Team Plasma members. Their teamwork had been exceptional and because of that, each of them had taken out an even number of members a piece and were now taking on the ring leader of the group, Pierce. Kenta and Burgh had done a considerable amount of damage against Pierce by taking out his Houndoom and then Burgh had his Leavanny get a lucky hit on his Swampert which took him out.
"Give up yet?" Kenta asked with a smirk.
"You're strong, I'll give you that," Pierce replied. "I will not let you take this skull though."
Pierce had recalled Swampert to his Poké Ball and got ready to execute his next strategy. He reached for his belt to appear he was getting his next Pokémon ready, but was truly preparing to follow the contingency plan he had set up. Quick as a flash, Pierce swiped his smoke grenade and triggered it before throwing it into the center of the clearing. His hands then went for his next item being a flash grenade and he then threw that one. The sudden action caught Kenta and Burgh off guard as they were blinded by a flash of light.
By the time their vision returned, smoke had covered the entire clearing and Pierce was long gone. Thinking quickly, Kenta summoned his Jolteon, Ace, to have him track down Pierce's scent. Ace gave a bark and dashed off through the smoke after picking up Pierce's trail. Kenta and Burgh followed Ace through the smoke and into the thicket of branches and trees. They were not going to let Pierce get away that easily and they had Ace to be sure of that.
"Nice thinking, Kenta," Burgh said with a smile.
"Thanks. I'm glad I was able to think of that quickly," Kenta replied as they jumped over a downed tree.
Melanie was now at the end of her rope and was preparing to follow the contingency plan that Pierce had set up to fall back to the base. She had lost Scrafty, Gigalith, and Woobat. The last Pokémon she had at her disposal was Herdier and he was on his last legs. Vanessa and Elliott had worked in a very suitable tag battle against her and managed to get her down to her last Pokémon. However, Melanie had done some damage to them as well. She successfully took down Vanessa's Glaceon and Flygon by using Gigalith and then she took down Elliott's Sawk with her Woobat. So far, despite being on the losing edge of this battle, Melanie had felt elated at being able to finally fight back and find some form of confidence.
At the moment, Melanie was battling Elliott again who had come out using her Timburr, Stronghold. Melanie knew she would not win this battle and was having Herdier dodge every attack from Stronghold.
"Stronghold, use Force Palm!" Elliott yelled.
Stronghold jumped at Herdier and successfully cornered him into a tree. He pressed his palm on Herdier's side and at first, nothing happened. Then without warning, Herdier was launched into the air and sent into the tree from the powerful force that came from the attack. Herdier slid down to the ground and collapsed, clearly defeated. Elliott gave a loud whoop of excitement and punched the air with. So far she had been on an impressive winning streak against the Team Plasma grunts and now she just helped Vanessa seal their last victory of the day by defeating Melanie.
Melanie recalled Herdier to his ball and tucked it away. As she got ready to move, Vanessa and Elliott hurried over to stop her. Acting quickly, Melanie triggered the smoke grenade and ran into the woods as fast as she could. Her sudden flight made Elliott dash after her as she tried to intercept her before she fled. This did not work out the way that Elliott hoped. The main reason was because of Vanessa. Vanessa hurried after her and tackled her to the ground to stop her from pursuing Melanie deeper into the forest.
"Let go of me! We can get her and ask her questions to figure out what is so important about that stupid skull!" Elliott sputtered as she tried to shake Vanessa off.
"Elliott, we can't do that! Tom told us not to pursue any of them if they ran!" Vanessa grunted out as she continued to hold Elliott down.
"We can still get her, she's not that fast!"
"Elliott! We are not in the condition to battle right now! We're down a few Pokémon and if we chase her it leaves us susceptible to another ambush! Use your head!"
Elliott's struggling died down a little bit until she finally stopped and relaxed against Vanessa's hold. Before she let go of Elliott, Vanessa wanted to be sure Elliott was calm and wouldn't try anything stupid.
"Are you done now?" Vanessa asked calmly.
"Yeah, I'm good," Elliott sighed.
Vanessa got off of Elliott and allowed her to stand up. Elliott shook off the dirt that got on her and looked over at Timburr who appeared exhausted from the battling he had done. She walked over to him with a large grin and held her hand up for a high five which Timburr happily returned. Elliott gasped in surprise as Timburr started to glow white and began to grow before her eyes. He was evolving! Timburr's size grew and his body began to appear more defined with definite muscle. When the glow vanished, in its place was another Pokémon that had a similar resemblance. Elliott pulled out her Pokedex to identify her newly evolved Pokémon.
"Gurdurr, the muscular Pokémon and the evolved form of Timburr. Gurdurr trains its muscles by carrying a steel beam. With its amazing strength, even professional wrestlers can't move it," Dexter informed.
Elliott cheered in excitement and hugged Stronghold as tight as she could. Stronghold wrapped his arms around Elliott and she was thrilled at the amount of strength she could feel in the embrace. With her newly evolved Gurdurr, she would without a doubt be able to beat Lenora with ease if what the Pokedex told her was true.
"Congrats, Elliott," Vanessa said with a smile.
"Thanks!" Elliott replied as Stronghold released her. "Let's get out of here."
"Right behind you."
Elliott returned Stronghold to his ball and started to follow Vanessa back down the trail where they came.
Corey was still waging his battle against Liam and was having fun. He found that Liam was fairly strong to be a grunt in Team Plasma. The Pokémon that he had seen so far proved that he should have been higher in rank, but something must have prevented him from excelling in the rankings. Corey had Admiral going against Liam's Tyranitar in hopes to end the battle. Beating Liam would put him at seven wins straight and that was a definite plus to his day.
"Admiral, use Hydro Pump!" Corey yelled.
"Tyranitar, counter it with Dark Pulse!" Liam hollered.
Admiral's mouth opened wide and a large jet of water went soaring at Tyranitar. Tyranitar mimicked Admiral's movement and opened his mouth. A dark purple and black spiraling energy left his mouth to intercept Admiral's attack. Both attacks collided, but Tyranitar's Dark Pulse continued its projected path and hit Admiral in the chest, sending him into the ground. This caught Corey by surprise since each time that happened during the fight, the attacks ended with a draw. Now it seemed as though Admiral was losing his strength a lot quicker for going against a pseudo-legendary.
"Get up, Admiral!" Corey urged.
"Tyranitar, end it with Stone Edge," Liam said as he looked at Corey.
Tyranitar gave a roar as two rings of sharp stones appeared around his body and prepared to launch at Admiral. Admiral heard Corey's encouraging words and managed to push himself to his feet gingerly. He glared at Tyranitar and wanted nothing more than to take him down and prove he was the better of the two of them. Power began to surge through his veins and he was suddenly surrounded in a dark blue aura.
"Torrent!" Corey thought with surprise and then smirked. He just won this fight.
"Alright, Admiral, hit him with everything you got!" Corey shouted.
Admiral's mouth opened once again, this time, however, something else happened. The move that he released was not Hydro Pump, but something else a lot stronger. A bright blue flash of light built in front of Admiral's beak and a large ball of rotating water began to form. Finally, he shot the ball at Tyranitar and it had rotating streaks of water following it as it. The powerful ball crashed into Tyranitar's. The attack was so strong that it forced Tyranitar to stop his attack in surprise and he stood still for a long time, as if trying to comprehend what just happened. Tyranitar fell forward with a thundering crash, shaking the ground a little bit as he hit the ground.
"Yes! Way to go, Admiral!" Corey praised.
"Well look at that!" Liam said as he clapped enthusiastically. "You are a strong one! Keep that up and fight, fight, fight!"
Liam recalled Tyranitar to his ball and thumbed the last smoke grenade that dangled on his belt. He was mildly impressed with Corey's strength as a trainer.
"Tell me something. Are you the strongest of your group?" Liam asked.
"Maybe I am. What's it to you?" Corey replied as he returned Admiral to his ball.
"You beat me, and I'm one of the strongest, if not the strongest grunt that Team Plasma has. So you are obviously not one to handle people like me. If you are the strongest like you say, then you should be the one fighting my boss."
"Why's that?"
"Because the fight he is in with your friend right now makes us look like fresh novice trainers."
Corey's eyes widened when he heard that and was concerned with how Tom was holding up. He went to fight the boss and if Liam was right, Tom was in serious trouble. He took a step forward to try and gather more information, but failed. Liam had triggered his smoke grenade and tossed it to create concealment for his escape. Corey could hear Liam's laughter die away as he ran into the forest and out of sight.
"Damn-it," Corey muttered turning to the direction Tom ran off to earlier.
He started to run as fast as he could, desperate to get Tom and help him.
Tom was at the end of his rope after battling Langdon. The battle area that they occupied to fight was almost unrecognizable from earlier. All the trees, grass, sticks and bushes were gone. The field now had multiple craters, trees were split in half, some small flames burned on the ground. For the entirety of the fight, Tom was getting slaughtered by Langdon. He didn't even take out any of his Pokémon and Langdon was now working on taking out Sparks.
Tom switched Sparks out when he saw Drapion's capability and tried using Sully, Lucario and Snivy. Langdon had only used his Drapion and his Salamence. Salamence made easy work of Lucario and took him out with a single Flamethrower attack. Once Lucario was out of the fight, he switched back to Drapion and then used him to counter Sully and Snivy. Everything that Tom did in order to get into Drapion's guard or score a hit was countered with ease. Langdon had used Drapion's Pin Missile as an attack and a method of forcing Tom's Pokémon back if they got too close. He then used a deadly combination of Toxic Spikes and Cross Poison to deal major damage to Tom's team and easily took out Snivy.
The Toxic Spikes affected Sully when he was sent in to try and take out Drapion. He managed to hit Drapion with a few of his attacks, but they didn't do the damage that was needed to take Drapion down. Tom tried to have Sully use Flame Wheel to hit Drapion but was in for a bad surprise. Drapion ducked under the attack and used his tail to catch Sully as he soared over him. He held Sully in place and scored a direct hit on him with Cross Poison. The attack did major damage to Sully on contact. Sully was slammed into the ground and then hit with Pin Missile, taking him out of the fight.
Sparks was now on the defensive and trying to stay focused after being affected by the toxins from Toxic Spikes. Tom was having a little more success with Sparks as he was able to have him break free from Drapion using his electricity, but it was getting harder to do each time.
"Sparks, use Thunder Punch!" Tom yelled.
"Drapion, prepare to intercept," Langdon said.
Sparks got down on all fours and dashed at Drapion before leaping into the air. Electricity began to crackle around his paw as he prepared to deliver the strong attack. His eyes locked with Drapion's and he sent the most intimidating glare that he could at him. Sparks descended quickly and brought his fist back as he got ready to strike Drapion on the head. However, just like before, Langdon and Drapion were ready with their counter.
"Catch him now!" Langdon barked.
Drapion's pincers caught Sparks' body and pinned his paw to his side, successfully stopping his attack. Sparks began to struggle desperately to break free from Drapion's clutches, but it was proving to be futile.
"Sparks, use Thunder to break out!" Tom hollered.
"Cross Poison," Langdon said coldly.
Drapion's speed was more impressive as his arms crossed and a large purple X formed on them. The purple cross was sent at Sparks and crashed head into him. Sparks let out a loud cry of pain as the attack dealt major damage to him. Drapion brought his tail back and slammed Sparks into the ground. Sparks, weak from the damage he took, stood up and swayed but he could not hold it. He fell to his side and entered blissful unconsciousness.
Now Tom had one Pokémon left, but he was hesitant on sending it out. His last Pokémon was his strongest one, but from what he experienced as he battled Langdon, he saw that there was no way he could win. If anything, he would be able to take out Drapion and possibly draw with Salamance, but then he was not sure what other Pokémon Langdon had up his sleeve. With his confidence shattered, the only solution Tom could think of to get out of this situation was to surrender.
"Give up, boy," Langdon said as glared at Tom. "As you can see, you have no chance of beating me. You are on your last Pokémon and I still have all six of mine."
"I'm not going to let you take that skull," Tom said, defiance still evident in his voice.
"All talk. Surrender now and maybe I will spare you and let you keep your Pokémon. From what I can tell, your Pokémon are suffering under your care."
"Shut up. My Pokémon have remained loyal to me because I treat them as equals. No one knows that better than me!"
"You say that now, but how do you think this loss has affected them?"
"We've come back from losses in the past. This is just all part and parcel of being a trainer!"
"Except this time you will not be coming back. If you don't surrender now, I will take your Pokémon and release them."
Tom wanted to open his mouth to argue, but found he had nothing to say. Langdon was right and he hated admitting it. His fingers traced his last Poké Ball as he maintained eye contact with one of the strongest men he had ever faced in his life. Either way he looked at it, he had lost this battle.
"Combat ineffective," Tom thought as his fists shook with frustration.
"Choose wisely, boy," Langdon said as he crossed his arms.
Tom looked back up at Langdon with a defeated look on his face. His hand fell from his hip and hung limply by his side.
"I…" Tom began as he fell to his knees. "I surrender."
"At least you have the common sense to know when you are out of your league," Langdon said as he recalled Drapion to his ball.
Tom held up Sparks' ball and returned him to it. He had never experienced a loss that bad since he fought Lance at the Johto League. Langdon had proven to be a powerful trainer and was more than likely champion level with the amount of time it took him to decimate his team. He heard Langdon approaching him, but he didn't do anything to run. Langdon came to a stop a few feet in front of him and had his arms crossed as his eyes bore into him.
"You are a strong trainer, boy. It's a shame you don't share the same view as us as we could use more strong people like you to help us in our goal," Langdon said.
Tom said nothing in return and was just waiting for Langdon to leave. Some rustling in the bushes caught his attention as three more grunts jumped from them. Langdon relaxed a little when he saw Liam, Pierce and Melanie all looking exhausted and roughed up.
"I take it you all lost?" Langdon asked.
"I had to fall back to protect the skull, sir," Pierce replied as he handed Langdon the bag.
Langdon took the bag and observed the skull for a bit. He turned to Melanie, Liam and Pierce and nodded towards the trees behind him. Getting the message, Liam and Melanie hurried off to get back to base. Pierce walked back to the trees to provide Langdon support if need be. As he waited for Langdon to put the skull away, he was surprised with what he saw next. Langdon dropped the skull in front of Tom, turned on his heel and walked away. He ignored Pierce's expression but stopped when Tom called out to him.
"After all of that, you give back the skull? You won!"
"So the dream we had won't become a reality then? What was the point of even stealing the skull?" Pierce asked as he looked at Langdon.
"It's irrelevant," Langdon replied leveling him with a stare. "We can afford to abandon the skull. After I took a second look at it, I was able to determine that it's not the skull of the legendary Pokémon for which Team Plasma is looking for. It's completely unrelated."
"You've got to be kidding me. So we just did all that for nothing?"
"Mind your tone. Ghetsis asked us to take it so we could use it to fulfill the king's agenda. We did our job, now it's time to give him the results."
Pierce closed his mouth and nodded, not wanting to test Langdon's patience. Langdon looked back at Tom and decided to give him a warning.
"Boy, let this loss be a warning to you. Never cross our path again or else I will finish what I started. Take that skull and get out of here."
With that, Langdon and Pierce walked into the trees and vanished from sight. Tom picked up the skull and held it in his hands. He sat with his back against the remains of a tree and continued staring at the skull. Setting the skull down, he took off his hat and ran his hands through his sweaty hair. He could hear hurried footsteps but found himself unable to acknowledge them. From the corner of his eye, he could see Burgh, Kenta and Corey surveying the damage done to the area. All of them were surprised to see the extent of it and then turned to see him sitting against the tree.
"Tom!" Kenta exclaimed as he hurried over to him.
Corey and Burgh walked over and could tell that Tom was experiencing shock from the battle. They squatted down in front of him and Corey waved a hand in front of Tom's eyes. When he didn't respond, Kenta tried getting his attention by saying his name again.
"Tom, talk to me man. What happened?" Kenta said as he put a hand on his shoulder.
Tom said nothing and only shook his head as a response.
And that's the chapter. Good lord that took a lot longer to write than I anticipated, but then again, I didn't want to take time to break this up into more parts as we've been in Nacrene City for too long. Next chapter the group faces Lenora for their next badge. I will try to update again either later this week or sometime next week. At this time, I have story shout outs, a personal question and the character popularity results under here. See you next time. -CaptainPrice
Battle Record: W/L/D (Wins/Losses/Draws) (A lot of these battles were won in this chapter because the grunts are weak, so everyone's battle record improved except for Tom's who only battled once)
Tom: 5:2:2 (Only battled Langdon and lost. Old record was 5:1:2)
Kenta: 8:2:0 (Split the grunts with Burgh and tag battled against Pierce winning. Old record was 5:2:0)
Corey: 9:1:1 (Battled all 6 grunts of Liam's group and Liam himself winning each fight. Old record was 2:1:1)
Elliott: 7:3:0 (Split grunts with Vanessa and tag battled against Melanie winning. Old record was 3:3:0)
Vanessa: 7:1:0 (Split grunts with Elliott and tag battled against Melanie winning. Old record was 3:1:0)
Question: Does Tom seem Mary Sueish? Reason I had one person tell me he seemed like that, but no one else has said anything. Personally I put him through the litmus test and he scored a solid non sue for everything that applied to him and what would happen to him later. I'm just curious.
Character Popularity Results for Rise to the Challenge: "Who is your favorite character and their Pokémon for the story Rise to the Challenge?"
Here are the results. I'm sad to say that some voters were biased as all the votes don't add up to a solid number. Voters could vote up to four characters and there were 18 voters, making it 72 tallies total, but I only counted 52. I was honestly surprised with the outcome as I expected it to be different. I'll show my predictions first and then the true results.
My Predictions:
1.) Kenta 2.) Langdon 3.) Elliott 4.) Tom 5.) Corey 6.) Vanessa 7.) Eri 8.) Pierce 9.) Liam 10.) Melanie 11.) Indigo 12.) Trent
True Results:
1st) Tom Sandbourne (Raichu (Sparks), Typhlosion (Sully), Lucario, Snivy) 10 votes/19%
2nd) Vanessa Blake (Glaceon (Crystal), Flygon (Sora), Salamence) 8 votes/15%
3rd) Kenta Hammer (Jolteon (Ace), Cubone/Marrowak (Stan), Ponyta) 6 votes/11%
4th) Tie: Langdon (Salamence)/ Elliott Kane (Scraggy (Shade), Timburr/Gurdurr (Stronghold), Sawk (Ace) 5 votes/9%
5th) Tie: Corey Spina (Empoleon (Admiral), Heracross (Crusader), Walrein)/ Pierce McCarty (Houndoom (Kuno), Arcanine) 4 votes/ 7%
6th) Three way tie: Eri Summer (Oshawott (Pino), Pidove (Kuu)/Trent Phoenix (Serperior, Altaria)/ Liam Emmerich (Tyraniar) 3 votes/ 5%
7th) Indigo Galaxia (Toxicroak, Luxray) 1 vote/ 1%
8th) Melanie Rhouth (Herdier, Woobat) 0 votes/ 0%
Story Shout Outs:
"Red Steel Travels" by An Anon Fellow
A new Trainers sets out to do what they all dream. Become the best Trainer there is. But is all as it seems?
"One Soul Two Visages" by Tendou Souji
Assigned a task by the goddess of death, Reaper saw fit to exploit a loophole during a bout of nonchalance. His opportunistic mind beckoning him, he broke down the barriers between dimensions and plucked out random soul to carry out the task in his place. A discover that everything is preordained shall be reached, for the soul's identity all but shatters the thought of chance.
"The Pokemon World League" by The Fan Fiction Writer
The elite echelon of the world's trainers gather to determine the very first World Champion. Rated T for safety, expect political undertones and themes. OC's readily accepted.