A/N: Hey everyone! Surprise! I got a chapter done early! Now there are two main reasons for this. For starters, this was kind of a short chapter to write out. Secondly, next chapter is going to take me a bit to write due to story reasons and other fics I'm going to be busy updating soon. Next chapter most likely won't be for another two months. Hope you enjoy this chapter until then, because it brings back two characters we haven't seen in awhile.
"Come on Ryo! This way, hurry!"
"For the love of Arceus, would you stop calling me Ryo?!"
Kaitlyn didn't seem to hear Ryota as she ran around and looked at Coumarine City in awe. The busy streets and the beauty of the city were dazzling in her eyes. She didn't even care about what a scene she was making.
Ryota on the other hand was far from happy. Ever since he had met Kaitlyn in the dessert, she had stuck to him like glue. She had been dragging him all over the city since yesterday. And far too often her running around blindly had gotten the two of them lost in the large city. How the Johto champion could be this much of a ditz was beyond his comprehension.
After a lot of running around, Ryota and Kaitlyn had now found themselves in the downtown area of the city. It seemed to be where most of the city's pokemon battles took place. Roughnecks and other lowlifes could be seen sitting around.
Ryota made sure to be cautious in such a dangerous area. He was confident he had the skills to take on any of these trainers in a one on one fight. But if they all surrounded him and Kaitlyn, the two of them could be in trouble. And what did Kaitlyn make of the situation? She walked along with a carefree smile on her face, not a care in the world about the possible criminal trainers around them.
As Ryota glanced around at the roughnecks eyeing them, namely Kaitlyn. There were more male players than female players in PWO, so that made her a prime target in their eyes. There was no way they could know she was a champion. It wasn't like she was showing off her champion's bracelet… wait a minute.
Looking at Kaitlyn's wrist, Ryota noticed Kaitlyn hadn't made any attempt to conceal the accessory. She still had on her sleeveless shirt, making the bracelet easy to spot.
'Idiot!' Ryota screamed in his mind as he facepalmed himself. 'What the hell goes on in that girl's head?!'
There wasn't any time to think of an answer as Ryota and Kaitlyn soon found themselves surrounded by the criminal players. A bald guy with a jacket that made him look like he belonged in a biker gang walked through the wall of players, shooting a menacing grin at the two trainers.
"Well lookie what we have here boys. A champion walking right up to us. And she's a chick too."
Kaitlyn didn't seem to notice the malice coming from the players around her. She smiled and waved at the crowd. "Hello boys. Are you guys fans of mine?"
"You cannot seriously be this dense." Ryota said.
The head of the gang cracked his knuckles. "You up for a battle girlie? You and your boyfriend there against all of us, how about it?"
"If you don't want to, we could always drag you off somewhere and let you have some alone time with us." another one of them added with a snicker.
Kaitlyn blinked in surprise. "All of you? Are you guys really that weak that you need a handicap that big to make it a fair fight? If you want, I could help train you guys so you won't be so weak. And about the alone time thing… sorry, but you're not my type."
"What did you say?!" the boss growled. "That's it! You are so dead!"
He quickly sent a battle request to Kaitlyn with a battle royale style. Not giving one care about the danger she was in, Kaitlyn pressed the accept tab right away.
Ryota sighed as he and Kaitlyn stood back to back. "You do realize these guys are trying to kill us, right?"
"Really?" Kaitlyn asked innocently. "I know they look mean, but they could be really nice guys."
"Get her boys!"
Kaitlyn and Ryota didn't have much more time to talk as the players around them all sent out their pokemon to attack.
-Three minutes later-
Moans and groans filled the area as the thugs that had attacked Ryota and Kaitlyn laid on the ground, utterly defeated. Ryota wiped the sweat from his forehead, while Kaitlyn stretched her arms out in a carefree manner.
"Thanks for the battle boys." Kaitlyn said with a smile as she waved goodbye and walked away with Ryota. "Let's do it again sometime."
"How… How the hell is she that strong?" one of the thugs asked weakly.
"They both took us out like it was nothing." another one of them said.
Ryota sighed as he and Kaitlyn walked away. "Are we done now? I'd like to get going to the next town."
"Aw, come on Ryo. There's still tons of stuff to do here." Kaitlyn argued.
"Would you give the whole Ryo thing a rest?"
"Don't you like it?"
"No!"
"Then why didn't you say anything?"
Ryota stared at Kaitlyn with a deadpanned expression. He groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Remind me again why I'm traveling with you?"
"Because we're friends" Kaitlyn said with an innocent smile.
'This girl actually makes me miss Misaki.' Ryota silently thought. The idea scared him slightly as a shiver went down his spine.
Kagutsuchi sat comfortably as he looked at a screen showing a view of Coumarine City. He watched through the eyes of his puppet, who would soon begin their test run. It was a perfect target with such a wide amount of players. Sure some innocents would die, but what would that matter to him?
But best of all, the player tracking system showed that both Ryota and a region champion were in the city somewhere as well.
"I wonder how well she'll do against two powerful trainers?" Kagutsuchi asked himself as he toyed around with his menu and deactivated the safety net around Coumarine City. "Time to find out."
He watched as she hovered in the air on top of her Dragonite. It really was a beautiful system. Take over the trainer's mind, and the pokemon obey just as well. "Now then, show these players what you can do."
The girl stared down at the city with a blank expression on her face. There was no emotion present whatsoever. She pointed down at the city. "Dragonite, use hyper beam."
The dragon type fired its attack from its mouth down at the city. A huge explosion occurred in the area it struck. Screams and yells of panic flooded the area.
"Showtime." Kagutsuchi grinned.
"What the hell was that?!" Ryota exclaimed as he felt the ground shake slightly. Looking over into the distance, he could see smoke rising into the air. Whatever was going on, it wasn't good.
"We need to hurry." Kaitlyn said. Ryota nodded and the two of them sprinted towards the area.
As they ran, Ryota couldn't help but wonder how any damage to the city could have been done in the first place. The system should prevent killing players and any serious damage to the city. There was only one explanation and he knew it.
'Kagutsuchi…' Ryota growled. 'That bastard is going to pay'
Ryota and Kaitlyn ran past the hordes of players running in the opposite direction. They turned the corner and finally arrived at the site of the explosion just now. Standing in the center of the street all alone was a player dressed in a black cloak. The shadow from the hood made it hard to make out their face. A Dragonite flew at the player's side.
Grabbing a pokeball from his belt, Ryota stepped forward. "Kaitlyn, let me handle this."
Kaitlyn noticed the seriousness in Ryota's eyes. She nodded her head and took a step back. Ryota and the mystery trainer stared each other down.
"Why don't you take off that cloak and show us your face, Kagutsuchi?" Ryota glared. After a few seconds of silence, the figure removed their hood, but it wasn't who Ryota was expecting.
The trainer was female. She had brown hair that went down to about her shoulders. Her eyes were an azure blue. But the part that made Ryota uneasy was the lack of emotion in her expression.
"Who the hell are you?" Ryota asked.
The girl simply responded by ordering her pokemon to attack. "Dragonite, use thunderbolt."
Ryota quickly threw out his pokeball and brought out his Garchomp. The pokemon stood in front of Ryota and took the thunderbolt attack full force, completely negating it due to its ground typing.
"Garchomp, use dragon claw!" Ryota ordered. Garchomp quickly obeyed and rushed at Dragonite and its trainer.
"Dragon pulse" the mystery trainer commanded. Dragonite fired a blast of energy at Garchomp, but it managed to dodge with its speed and closed in on Dragonite. Its claw was veiled in an emerald light as it struck it. Dragonite roared in pain from the attack as it was pushed back slightly.
"Grab it."
Ryota and Garchomp both gasped as Dragonite reached out and grabbed hold of Garchomp. It held its opponent in a tight grip and took off into the sky. Once it was high enough, it threw Garchomp down with a violent amount of force.
"Hyper beam."
Dragonite aimed its attack directly at Garchomp as the ground type plummeted towards the ground. The attack slammed into it and sent Garchomp crashing into the ground painfully. As the smoke cleared, Ryota could see Garchomp's HP go down into the red. In addition, the Dragonite had grabbed its trainer and was flying away.
"Hold it!" Ryota shouted.
"Pidgeot, use hurricane!"
Ryota felt the wind rush past him as a Pidgeot flew into the air and towards Dragonite. It summoned a powerful gusty wind. Dragonite was unable to dodge effectively while holding its trainer and took the attack full force. It descended towards a bridge in the distance. Ryota turned around to see Kaitlyn giving him a wink, implying that the Pidgeot was hers. Usually he would have told off Kaitlyn for butting in, but he knew that the mystery trainer would have gotten away if she hadn't had her Pidgeot attack just then. He returned Garchomp to its pokeball and took off after the trainer with the Dragonite. Kaitlyn ran by his side.
As the ran towards the bridge, Ryota saw the monorail come rolling by. The Dragonite landed on the monorail as it passed under the bridge. Throwing caution to the wind, Ryota jumped off the side of the bridge and landed on top of the monorail with a roll.
"Ryo!" Kaitlyn called out as she stood on the bridge, too late to get on the train. She quickly got on her Pidgeot, and the two of them took off after the monorail.
Ryota got to his feet as he stared at the trainer and Dragonite, the wind rushing past him due to the trains high speed threatening to blow him off. The Dragonite was clearly exhausted, that much was plain to see. But the girl didn't seem to have much fatigue. Her expression was still completely blank.
'It's like she's being controlled.' Ryota thought. Suddenly his eyes widened in realization. He shouted out into the air. "Alright, Kagutsuchi! I know you're behind this! Come out here!"
Soon Ryota heard a low chuckle, followed by a figure manifesting in the air next to the monorail, hovering midair as if he was a phantom. He had his mask on that he seemed to love wearing. "Very perceptive, Ryota. I'd expect nothing less from my own son."
"I'm not your son." Ryota growled. "What the hell is that trainer? Is she a player?"
"A very special player actually." Kagutsuchi smirked. "It's always nice to have a few cards left in hand to play. And it was so surprisingly easy to get her under my control. No resistance whatsoever."
"You bastard." Ryota glared. "Do you have ANY respect for human life?"
"Other than my own, not particularly." he replied. "Now then, I believe you were in the middle of a battle."
Ryota turned his attention back to his opponent and gasped as Dragonite's thunderbolt suddenly came for him. He jumped back, but couldn't evade the attack entirely. The electricity zapped him and made him fall over. Before he could reach for a pokeball, Dragonite flew towards him and threw a punch down at him. Ryota rolled out of the way, but didn't realize how little there was left of the monorail behind him. He fell over the side, barely saving himself by grabbing onto the edge. He hung on for dear life as the girl walked over and stood over him.
"Finish him." Kagutsuchi ordered.
As the girl prepared to press her foot onto Ryota's hand hanging onto the monorail, a sudden gust of wind blew her back. Both she and Ryota looked over to see Kaitlyn flying over to them. She jumped off Pidgeot and landed on the train. Ryota grabbed her hand as she reached it out and she helped pull him up.
"Are you okay, Ryo?" Kaitlyn asked.
"Yeah. Thanks." Ryota replied.
Kaitlyn looked over to Kagutsuchi floating in the air to the side of the monorail. "Who's that?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Ryota said.
"How interesting to see the Johto champion." Kagutsuchi grinned. "I do hope you've been enjoying the game I created."
Kaitlyn gasped as she stared at Kagutsuchi. "Hey, I recognize you! You're the creator of PWO!"
Kagutsuchi clapped his hands. "Correct. Let's give the girl a cookie. Quite the smart friend you've picked up Ryota."
Kaitlyn looked over at Ryota, wondering why Kagutsuchi seemed to be so familiar with him. Ryota took notice of this and shook his head.
"We can talk about it later." Ryota said, walking forward and grabbing a pokeball from his belt. "Right now, we need to deal with this."
It took a few seconds, but Kaitlyn nodded her head in agreement. The two trainers faced Kagutsuchi and the trainer under his control.
"I think we'll back off for now." Kagutsuchi said, floating over to the girl and her Dragonite. "This was a good test run anyway, and I got to see you again, Ryota. Until next time."
"Wait!" Ryota called out, but it was too late as Kagutsuchi vanished in a flash of light, along with his puppet and her Dragonite. He clenched his fists in frustration. Even now, Kagutsuchi was always one step ahead of him. He had gotten away again.
"Ryo…" Kaitlyn said. "Why did that guy seem so familiar with you?"
"… I don't want to talk about it." Ryota said grimly. He didn't really know why he said that to her. Why should he care about her opinion of him being the son of the creator of PWO? It wasn't like she mattered to him as a friend or anything.
Kaitlyn looked at Ryota, finally giving an understanding nod. "Okay then Ryo. If you don't want to talk about, then I won't pester you."
"Thanks." Ryota said.
Kaitlyn grinned at the black haired trainer. "You didn't object to me calling you Ryo all those times just now. I knew it, you do like that nickname!"
Ryota stared blankly at Kaitlyn before sighing to himself. "Just call me whatever you want. It's not like you'll listen if I say otherwise."
"Alright then!" Kaitlyn said with an ecstatic cheer. "Let's get going Ryo! Next stop is Shalour City!"
"But we'll never make it to a town before night if we leave now." Ryota argued.
Kaitlyn didn't seem to hear him as she jumped off the monorail and onto her Pidgeot. "Come on Ryo! Let's move out!"
Ryota sighed, but he couldn't help but chuckle at Kaitlyn's behavior as he threw out his Honchcrow and took off with Kaitlyn toward the next town.
A/N: Hope you all liked seeing Ryota and Kaitlyn again, plus the look at Kagutsuchi's new "puppet". Like I said up top, next chapter is most likely going to take me a bit, so hope you can all bear with me until then.