-Chapter XV: An Electric Aura-

-Aaron-

He awoke to the sound of a snapping branch. As soon as he realized he had fallen asleep, he chastised himself. He was in hostile territory. Sleep was a luxury, and definitely not something he could afford right now. He crouched low to the branch he was perched on and looked at the forest floor. His cheeks sparked slightly, hinting at his anxiousness.

He saw some leaves rustle in a straight path, followed by rapid footsteps. Before he could register what it was, he was slammed into the trunk of the tree, with the Grovyle from before staring him down, his hand on his throat. "You really thought you could outrun me?"

Aaron didn't talk, instead, he observed any possible ways out of this situation. There were no thick branches in the immediate vicinity, and the Grovyle's eyes glowed with anger. He clenched down harder and raised his other arm, the three leaves lining up and elongating into a glowing leaf blade. "Why did you attack us? Are you working with Victor?"

Upon hearing that name, he used discharge, using all of his electricity, causing the Grovyle to let go and retreat off of the branch. He caught his breath from the massive discharge and used agility to vanish into the shadows again. He landed on the forest floor with hardly a sound and took off. He used agility once more and zoomed through the forest so fast he kicked up a mini whirlwind when he passed through a patch of leaves.

He focused on hiding out until the Grovyle gave up on chasing him. Everyone else he had escaped had given up. Sometimes it took a couple days, even a week, but they always did. He didn't anticipate tripping and tumbling for ten feet while eating rotting leaves. A grass knot had grown instantaneously, and when he looked up, the Grovyle was towering over him, crossing his arms. "You're not faster than me."

Aaron got up and brushed himself off. "Alright, fine. What do you want?"

"I asked you first," the Grovyle said. "Who are you working for?"

"I work alone," Aaron snapped back.

The Grovyle scrunched his eyebrows and frowned. "You're a rogue?"

"Yeah. I don't necessarily like exploration teams, alright? So leave me alone."

"Hmph. You've had a rough experience, huh?" the Grovyle leaned into a chair that was made from leaves and vines. "What did they do that made you mad enough that you attack anyone you see?"

"Nothing. I was never part of an exploration team." He decided to be somewhat honest. Judging by the way this Grovyle displayed himself so carelessly, he was pretty sure that he would lose if they were to fight. He didn't want to find out what this grass-type was capable of if he cut loose, if what he saw earlier was any indication.

The Grovyle nodded slowly. "I see… Perhaps an 'Exploration Team' did something horrible to you at one point… Perhaps they took the life of someone close to you."

"What's it to you?" He scowled and crossed his arms.

"Honestly, it means nothing to me. I've dealt with plenty of death in my lifetime. And you attacked us without warning. Good reason or not, I don't take kindly to that. And yet you have the same enemy we do. Mordred, or Victor, whoever's in charge of this criminal organization." He paused, then continued. "How much progress have you made?"

"I would've found out everything I needed to know, if you two hadn't butted in and stopped me!"

"So… you've made no progress?"

"I would've! I could have gotten everything I needed to know out of those three!"

"You would have killed them," he replied.

"They deserve it for what they did! They joined a group responsible for the massacre of hundreds across the continent and surrounding islands!"

"That is no reason to make yourself an outlaw in the process. What will that accomplish? Your ultimate goal is to find Victor, obviously. If you had to stay on the run from the police while trying to hunt down Victor, then that would only make things harder for you."

Aaron wanted to argue, but this Grovyle had guessed everything about him spot-on.

He arched an eyebrow at the grass-type, and noticed strange, pitch-black markings on both of his arms, almost like tattoos… Or brands. "Who are you to lecture me? How do you know what being an outlaw is like?"

The Grovyle narrowed his eyes and leaned forward in his plant chair. "You're looking at Grovyle... the Time Gear Thief. The one that took the Time Gears two years ago."

Aaron reeled back with shock. "You're-?! You're the Grovyle?!"

He nodded. "Yes."

Aaron quickly returned to his original expression. "But... I thought that you were from the future."

"I am. But I'm back. Now the reason I'm telling you this isn't to prove my point about how strong I am. It was to get your attention. And I am telling the truth about who I am. However, I am still talking to you for one reason; You and I are similar."

He arched an eyebrow. "How so?"

He chuckled lightly. "Well, for one, you've got spunk. And the drive to take down anyone if they stand in your way. That's a good quality to have. But in moderation. It's good for accomplishing goals in minimal time. But, as demonstrated earlier, it gets you into trouble with other pokémon that weren't in your way at all... if you don't control it."

Aaron was suddenly nervous. This guy was a legend. He was both famous and infamous. He was known for stealing the time gears, but not a lot of pokémon knew that it was to fix a broken future. But he was reported to work alone due to his speed and strength… Until Team Firestorm came along and the two leaders helped him complete his 'mission'. He'd read up on them after the fact. They were really good people, constantly hunting outlaws every day. They'd gained such a reputation over the past year and a half that there probably wasn't a single experienced outlaw that didn't know who they were. For a while he had considered joining them. He figured it'd be good for getting leads on the Mafia while completing missions. But he decided against it. He worked better alone, anyways.

"So…" Grovyle's voice pierced his thoughts, drawing him back to reality. "Who is Victor, exactly? I heard that he was the leader of the Mafia."

"You heard right. He's the head honcho of the biggest criminal organization on Immanis. But what's your beef with him?"

"Mordred killed some of my friend's teammates. Four of them, to be precise."

"Who's your friend?" Then he recalled the Swampert from earlier. A Swampert… with a team... With Grovyle. Don't tell me…!

"His name is Connor. Leader of Team Firestorm." Grovyle confirmed. Aaron clenched his fist as electricity crackled from his cheeks. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I should've known!

Grovyle smirked and stood up as the vines forming the reclining chair retreated into the ground. "Well, this has been fun. But I've got to get back-"

"Wait." Aaron held his hand out in front of him, making Grovyle pause.

Aaron bit his lip slightly and shook his head. "N-never mind. Forget it." What're you doing? Just let him go! They'll leave me alone if I don't bother them.

"You know…" Grovyle turned slowly towards him. "Their team doesn't have an electric type, and we could use your skills during the fight."

"Fight?"

"Yes. We plan to bring the fight to them once we're stronger. It shouldn't be but a couple weeks."

Aaron bit back a laugh. These guys really think they can take them on? They're just a bunch of kids!

"And how old are you, exactly?" A new voice resonated from his right, and he nearly shot a thunderbolt. A Ralts levitated a couple inches off of the ground, like a ghost. Grovyle seemed to know her, which made him less prone to shooting again, but Aaron could feel the power coming off of her skin. Her aura was more powerful than anyone he had ever met.

"I'm twenty… In my species' years."

Her mouth downturned with disgust. "Let's go, Grovyle. We don't need his help."

"Wait a second," he exclaimed. "You can't just show up, ask how old I am, then leave like I'm nothing!"

"That's exactly what I'm doing. Are you gonna try and stop me?"

"Well… No, but-"

"If you refuse to fight, then you have no business on our team."

Wait… she's a part of Team Firestorm?

She nodded slowly, and a small smile formed underneath her green hair/helmet thing, which was covering her eyes. "Fight me, if you want to join us."

He shook his head. "Listen, I think you're mistaken. I don't want to be on any team. I work alone."

"Dawn, chill out. That's my call." Connor, the Swampert from earlier, dropped to the ground from out of nowhere, a purple glow fading around his head fins. "And besides… he might be telling the truth about working alone. He did own that Scrafty earlier, and got Grovyle really good with a thunderbolt."

"That was after I knocked the Shiftry out," Grovyle added.

"No. I can feel his desires. He wants to join our team, but he wants to be able to act on his own at the same time." The Ralts spoke as if he weren't there, which made him mad.

"If he's on our team, he needs to abide by our rules. No acting out by himself unless we say he can." Connor replied.

"Then it's out of the question," Aaron said. "I don't take orders very well. Especially not from exploration teams."

Connor nodded. "Alright. Good luck, then." He began walking away. "Let's go guys."

The Ralts grabbed hold of their hands, and they all vanished in the blink of an eye.

He let out the breath he had been holding and shook with rage. I don't want to be a part of their team anyways. He scowled and held his hand out in front of him. They'd just reject me if they knew what I could do… It's only a matter of time.

Slowly, he focused his energy into his hand, and a small, electric-blue aura sphere levitated in front of him, illuminating the darkening forest. My electric aura… What makes me so different?

-Alice-

"You guys were gone for a while," Mirage said. "Did something happen?"

Grovyle shook his head slightly. "Nothing we couldn't handle." Alice sensed some unease coming from him, but his emotional mask was almost too good. His expression betrayed nothing. When he walked past, she noticed some holes in his leaf-hair, several dozen, the largest ones no bigger than a centimeter. "What happened to your hair?"

"I got hit with a thunderbolt. No big deal." Galvantula tilted his head with disbelief. "You? Hit with a thunderbolt? Who managed to do that? I know I could never dream of hitting you with a move like that!"

Connor intervened. "It was a Helioptile. It caught us by surprise. It was a group of the Mafia."

At the mention of that, Atlas perked up. "What did you do to them?"

"First we beat the crap out of them. Then we sent them to Magnezone's containment facility." He replied with a slight smile.

Jade sighed, and Atlas stood up from his resting position. "Why didn't you bring them back here? We could have had Roy interrogate them for information!"

"The Scolipede they interrogated gave up every bit of information he knew without a fight. They couldn't help us any more even if they wanted to." Dawn said.
"And what did you find out?" he questioned.

"That their base of operations is just southeast of Mt. Travail," Grovyle replied. "It's not even two days' walk from here."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's bring the fight to them while they least expect it!"

"No." They all turned to Jade, and her lip quivered, but her eyes remained as strong and intimidating as ever. Alice could feel her rage and anguish. During these past two days, she had come to have a newfound respect this ice type. Even though she seemed heartless, she truly cared about each and every member of this team. And her emotions… were a maelstrom of sadness, despair, anguish and rage. She had only felt pure happiness emanate from Jade once, and that was when they were talking about Nocturne after she blew up a mountain because she was mad about liking him.

"...We can't fight them, Atlas. Not head on."

He clenched his fists and turned to her. "Why not? We're healed now, and we have Vulcan on our side!"

"We also have four team members dead! Vincent, Rose, Magnus and Nocturne! They are gone! They each played a vital role in our team, and I will not let their sacrifices be in vain by condoning a suicidal mission!"

"Seriously? It's not suicidal! And even if it were, what are we supposed to do? Sit back and wait for them to find us? How is that honoring anyone's sacrifices? If we don't take them down, then they'll all have died for nothing! Nocturne, Vincent, Magnus and Rose!"

Alice could feel Jade's anger about to explode, so she calmly put her hand on Atlas' lower forearm. "Atlas… We will figure this out, one way or another… But I have to side with Jade on this one. She has a valid point. The Mafia is even stronger at their base. And the forces we fought at that village… That was nothing. Vincent told me all about it before he..." she teared up, and Atlas grimaced and embraced her gently. "I get it… I'm sorry… But I just… I'm sick of waiting around and being a coward. We have to stand up to them."

"I understand, I really do. They were all our friends. But right now, staying alive is what's important. Even if that means being a coward for a little while."

"Cowardice isn't how I do things, Alice."

"I know… But sometimes change is necessary… Like right now… I need you here, with me…"

She felt his pulse accelerate and his muscles contract for a moment as he took a deep breath. He picked her up with his lower arms and held her at eye level. "I promise… I won't let anything happen to you… as long as I live, I promise..."

"Atlas..." A smile forced itself onto her face as she leaned forward, closed her eyes and kissed him. For that moment, time seemed to stop. Nothing else mattered except him. She felt happiness radiate off of his skin as he embraced her gently with his upper arms while she stood on his lower hands to reach his head.

"I love you," he murmured while she rested her head on his shoulders.

"I love you too…" she replied without hesitation. That was their first official kiss, as much as she hated to admit it. None of the other members knew that as far as she knew. They had spent so much time alone together before this whole Mafia group came along, she figured that the team thought they were practically engaged. But he really liked to take these sort of things slow. And she didn't mind that. He wasn't the romantic type to begin with; His way of showing affection was teaching her how to fight. He even taught her how to use the different elemental punches, which wasn't all bad. But occasionally he would bring her a Gracidea flower from Sky Peak on a good day. His leg strength was so immense that he could scale the mountain in a matter of hours by leaping from cliff to cliff and climbing with his hands when there were no footholds. (AN: Machamp are pure muscles. Legs too.)

Amber came from the back of the group and spoke up, drawing her thoughts back to reality. "I need your attention, Team Firestorm. Dusk is approaching. Tyranitar, Celebi, Grovyle and Galvantula, will be in charge of temporary forest shelter. Please stand back."

They all nodded and got to work. At first, Alice was skeptical as to how effectively those three could make a shelter big enough for twenty some-odd pokémon. But boy, was she surprised. Tyranitar clenched his fist and slammed his foot into the ground, and four columns of stone four feet around shot up from the ground in front of them, about thirty feet from each other in a square. He waved his hand and the stone shifted and grew to form low arches connecting the fifteen-foot pillars. Grovyle leapt onto one of the pillars and tossed several dozen seeds into the soil around the columns of stone, and the soil erupted into a mass of branches and vines that intertwined and weaved themselves together, forming a solid wall in a matter of moments with a central exit covered by leafy tendrils. Galvantula was forming some sort of silk in between his pincer things near his mouth, but not really doing much else. The trees in the forest seemed to bend to Celebi's will, which was incredible to watch. With a wave of her arm, the trees closest to the stone and wood hut leaned closer and grew several more thick branches to support the arches of rock, almost like the forest was coming alive to help them.

Tyranitar used bulldoze in the center of the almost complete building, which surprised Alice at first. The ground around them shook and became uneven, and the shelter sunk into the ground about eight feet. He fired a dragon pulse through the dirt to form a perfectly smooth ramp leading to the now dugout room, like a fallout shelter. Celebi used Ancient power to move pebbles and larger stones together to form beds for everyone, and Grovyle grew grass along the beds to hold them together and provide cushioning, just like at the mountain hideout.

Galvantula smirked and held up a ball of string that was three feet in diameter. "Ha! That's the fastest I've done it yet!"

Mirage fluttered up to him with curiosity. "What's so special about it?"

"Check it," he replied as he unfurled the massive web. "Camouflage webbing." He fired three string shots around the forest seemingly at random, until they caught on trees and the webbing sailed through the air, draping over the shelter. Before her eyes, the hut vanished like an illusion, to the point that she could only see the entrance. Her eyes shot open at that amazing feat, and she turned to the yellow arthropod. "How did you do that?!"

"Camouflage, baby. It's a special webbing that bends light around whatever it's draped over!" Kinda like Latias and Latios!"

"Does it work on pokémon?"

He laughed. "You kiddin'? Of course it does! And it stops those pesky psychics from sensing you!"

"Oh." She couldn't help but smile, and Galvantula's eyebrows shot up. "...I think I know what you're thinking… And it's a terrible idea."

Alright guys! Chapter 15! More stuff is heating up! Alice has an idea, Aaron noped out of joining the team, they made another shelter in the forest, Dawn was being a little punk to Aaron, so much stuff! Goodness gracious! Anywho, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Go ahead and leave any questions, comments, concerns and theories in the form of a Review or PM! It is much appreciated!

Oh, and late happy Valentine's day, guys! I hope you guys had lots of chocolates and spent quality time with your bae, whether it is a girl, a guy, a pizza, a book, whatever! Rock whatever relationship you're in!

And Victor Vs. Amber battle is up on Firestorm Battle Royale. Much Love!

-PL