Welcome back to another chapter of Immunity!
Also, I'm sorry for the wait on this chapter, I have been busy lately, so I could not work on it.
Chapter 5: A Bone to Pick
Unknown location
"Where are you, you little pest!"
A man wearing a uniform sporting a red "R" was navigating the forest in search of a Pokémon, it had been causing troubles for Team Rocket as it would always jam the gears in their machines. Team Rocket really needed to be more organized. The man then spotted a small brown tail sticking out of a bush, it seemed his target wasn't being very smart.
"There you are you punk." He said in a sinister tone before he reached out his hand to grab the tail, but his hand was then slapped by a small white object! "Ouch!" he yelled, grabbing his hand that was now sporting a very noticeable bruise on it. Angrily, he took out a Pokeball and released its contents, "Golbat go!."
A bat-like creature with a huge jaw emerged from the sphere, it was Golbat, the Bat Pokémon. "Golbat! Go find that troublemaker and rid the world of it!" the man shouted angrily. Golbat nodded, and went off to go and find the said Pokémon.
3 hours passed and the mysterious Pokémon was no where to be found, Golbat solemnly returned to its trainer. "Did you find it?" the Golbat shook its head. "Ugh, you're useless! Work harder next time!" he said returning Golbat to its Pokeball. He looked at the small object with sadness in his eyes.
"Is this really the right way?" he thought to himself.
6 days later, Monday, July 14th, 2005 8:09 am, Azalea Town.
The group, now composed of six people are preparing to leave Azalea Town, where they had spent the night in its local Pokemon center. The girls had bunked in one room while the boys were in the other. Khoury didn't exactly sleep well due to Vincent snickering and telling his roommates jokes all night. Khoury was one to sleep on time and not get distracted, so because of that, Khoury was having trouble adjusting to traveling with an older boy who acted like an adult during the day, but was less mature than a 10-year-old at night.
Lyra had a bit of trouble adjusting as well, but her exposure therapy had started and was showing positive effects on her. She had mostly warmed up to Feraligatr to the point where she wouldn't have a bad reaction when it was out, but she still wasn't completely comfortable with touching it.
There were good moments too though, both of the new additions got along with everyone and were comfortable with being their companions. Vincent behaved around them (at least, during the day) and even told them a few of his GOOD jokes, which he only tells to people he likes.
After 6 days of traveling, the friends were now exiting Azalea town, which is home to one of the regions 8 gyms. Since Lyra had already defeated the gym leader, there was no need to make a visit to it. They were now journeying through Ilex Forest, which is a place where the trees are so packed together, that it almost looks like it's night time inside the forest. That's why the group had bought flashlights before entering the woods.
"I remember the first time me and Lyra went through here. It was... a memorable experience." Khoury said as he recollected his memories of the mysterious forest.
"I was legit terrified." Lyra said.
Casey looked at Lyra in disbelief, "YOU were terrified? I was TEN when I first went through this stupid forest! I didn't even bring a flashlight!"
"Oof, well, it's honestly really easy to just not think about how dark it is for me," Jimmy elaborated, "But that's just me."
Casey looked at Jimmy in disbelief, "Where can I get this legendary mindset of yours?"
"You can buy it from the Devon Corporation for $39.99 plus shipping and handling" Jimmy said jokingly.
"Gotcha." Casey answered
The group continued through the dark forest. The dark woods concealed the culprits of all the noise in the forest. the buzzing of the Ledyba, along with the occasional hoot of a Noctowl made the forest sound so alive.
Eventually, the group noticed an area that wasn't as dark as the rest of the forest. Curious, they made their way to a clearing. At the center of the clearing was a medium-sized structure, which a majority of the group recognized immediately.
"Ah, that's the Ilex forest shrine, they say Celebi comes here sometimes," Khoury said, expressing his knowledge.
"Celebi?" Lyra said, looking it up in her Pokedex, in spite of having traveled the forest before, she and Khoury hadn't come across the shrine before. Maybe it was just bad luck.
"Celebi, the Time Travel Pokémon. This grass-type wanders across time. Grass and trees flourish in the forests in which it has appeared." The Pokedex said.
"So this Pokémon can really travel through time?" Lyra asked, finding the matter hard to believe.
"Call it a bunch of garbage, but its true." Marina said.
"Wow, that's so cool!" Lyra said.
"Just wait until she finds out about Jirachi." Khoury mumbled low enough so that nobody could hear.
Just then, they heard a rustle in the bushes, curious, the group walked over to the noise until a tiny creature walked out. It was only a little over a foot tall, with brown skin and a very defining skull worn on its head. One would consider the creature to be cute, but one look from its piercing gaze was enough to unsettle the team. Lyra took out her Pokedex for a second time that day and scanned the creature.
"Cubone, the Lonely Pokémon. If this ground type is sad or lonely, the skull it wears emits a plaintive and mournful sound."
Lyra scrolled on the entry for more information and found something shocking; "Um, Cubone isn't actually native to Johto."
"I know, its very strange that one would be here." Khoury said, "maybe it was released into the forest by a trainer."
"Or maybe it came from Kanto through Tohjo Falls." Vincent suggested, not realizing how absurd his proposition was.
"Vincent, that has to be, one of the dumbest things you have ever said. Get some common sense for once." Jimmy said.
"Harsh!" the other boy retaliated.
Lyra tried to approach the small creature, but she was stopped by Khoury; "Lyra, Cubone are naturally suspicious Pokémon, we would have to earn its trust first in order to approach it." he said.
Lyra nodded, understanding, "Well, it looks a little worn out, do you think it will trust us if we give it some food and a place to rest?"
"I think that's the best option we have if we want it to trust us." her best friend said.
Lyra took her backpack off of her shoulders and got a few berries of assorted types out before setting them down a few feet away from the Cubone. While she was closer to the Pokémon, she noticed that half of its bone club was missing. Shaking the detail away, she stepped back a few feet so that she wasn't in Cubone's way. The Lonely Pokémon gave the berries a quick look and then fixed its blank stare at Lyra as it walked towards the food. Slowly, without ever taking its eyes off of Lyra, the ground type picked up a berry off of the ground and stuck it underneath the skull it was wearing, presumably into its mouth. After chewing and swallowing the berry, the Lonely Pokémon picked up the other berries and rushed back into the forest.
"Hey!" Lyra yelled.
"Lyra don't, if you want to get closer to it, maybe we should just leave it be for now. Since you fed it, there's a chance Cubone will follow us." Khoury said.
Lyra sighed in defeat, beaten by logic once again.
"Dang, he's really smart." Vincent mumbled.
"Maybe you can learn a thing or two from him." Jimmy replied.
"Why are you so mean to meeee?" Vincent whined.
"Alright that's it, Jimmy, Vincent, cut it out." Marina stepped between the two boys.
"We're just messing around Marina." Jimmy said.
"Yeah, I know Jimmy doesn't mean the stuff he said." said Vincent.
"Oh, well... sorry about that." Marina said, slightly embarrassed.
Jimmy was slightly confused by Marina's behavior, "That's strange, Marina knows that me and Vincent like to joke around. Why would she suddenly get so defensive about that if she knows how we are. It's probably nothing, so I'll drop it for now."
The group continued their trek through the forest, using their flashlights to navigate through the dark woodland. As they were walking, they would regularly converse with each other and make jokes; Marina was currently being a little quieter than normal, along with having a very uncomfortable look on her face. This did not go unnoticed by her two long-time friends however.
"Psst, Vincent, have you noticed that Marina is being a little quieter than normal?" Jimmy asked his male friend in low voice.
"I have, it's unlike her to be this way, I wonder what's bothering her." Vincent answered.
"She started acting this way when we were joking around with each other." Jimmy said, "do you think it may have something to do with that?"
"I'm not sure, but we shouldn't bug her about it, maybe she'll tell us about it some other time." Vincent said.
Jimmy nodded and everyone went back to their normal conversations. The group didn't notice a pair of blue eyes staring at them from behind, before whatever they belonged to disappeared into the darkness.
The six friends stopped to have lunch in the middle of the forest, setting up lanterns so they could see. Nothing came to bother them while they were eating, only the sound of the Pokemon was heard. After eating, the group packed up and started to brave the rest of the dark woods.
Eventually, after a bit of walking, a light was seen that was not generated from their flashlights. Curious, the group crept towards the direction the light was coming from until they saw a man surrounded by a few set up lanterns. He was around six feet tall and was wearing a black uniform, it only took a second to figure out who this guy was.
Jimmy ushered everyone behind a nearby bush and watched behind it. The man appeared to be waiting patiently, for what though, was anybody's guess.
After a few minutes of waiting, three Pokemon came into view, a green and brown Pokemon with a mushroom cap for the top of its head, a somewhat transparent Pokemon that loosely resembled a puppet, and a white and black Pokemon that somewhat resembled a head. Upon closer inspection, the last Pokemon had a colorful stone attached to its forehead, but nobody from the group could make out what it was.
Lyra took out her Pokedex, making sure to shut off the volume first, and scanned each Pokemon.
Lyra scanned the mushroom-looking Pokemon first: "Breloom, the Mushroom Pokemon, and the evolved form of Shroomish. This Grass/Fighting type scatters poisonous spores and throws powerful punches while its foe is hampered by inhaled spores."
Next, the obvious ghost-type was scanned, "Banette, the Marionette Pokemon, and the evolved form of Shuppet. This Pokemon developed from an abandoned doll that amassed a grudge. It is often seen in dark alleys."
Then finally, the Pokémon with the weird stone on its forehead was scanned with the Pokedex, "Glalie, the face Pokémon, and the evolved form of Snorunt. This ice-type can instantly freeze moisture in the atmosphere. It uses this power to freeze its foes.
"I've never seen those types of Pokémon before." Lyra whispered, "are they not native to Johto?"
Jimmy answered her, "They're from Hoenn, but I'm not sure why that Glalie has that stone on its head."
Khoury tried to get a closer look, but the Pokémon was too far away from him so he couldn't make an accurate analysis. The group started quietly conversing with each other, deciding whether or not they should confront the Rocket agent.
"I say, we go and take him out!" It'll be 6 vs. 1 anyway." Vincent suggested to his friends.
"Then we won't get anything out of him, I say we wait and see what he's doing before deciding on anything else." Marina came up with her own solution to counter Vincent's.
"Bah! Okay, let's take a vote! Anyone who votes for my awesome plan says "Aye", and anyone voting for Marina's stupid plan says "Nay". Anyone who has a different idea doesn't say anything. Understood? Let's vote."
Do I even need to tell you that only one person said "Aye"?
After Vincent complained a little bit, the group started examining the scene once more. But instead of three Pokémon out, there were four. The newcomer was a bulky blue Pokémon. Lyra took out her Pokedex again and read the entry.
"Swampert, the Mud Fish Pokémon, and the final evolved form of Mudkip. The arms of the water/ground-type are as hard as rock. With one swing, it can break a boulder to pieces."
"That's one of the starter Pokémon from the Hoenn region." Jimmy said, "It's weird to see a member of Team Rocket using a starter."
"Who knows? Maybe he started his journey in Littleroot Town and received Mudkip before he joined Team Rocket." Marina theorized.
"Maybe, but you can also find starters in the wild. They're rare, but you can still find then." Vincent said something smart for once.
Suddenly, the man started speaking, the group lowered their voices and listened in on the conversation.
"None of you have found that brat yet? Ugh, you're all so useless! You better hope Golbat and Hariyama had better luck or you all are in for a beating!" The man yelled angrily as the Pokémon all looked down, ashamed of themselves.
The group all watched in anger after seeing the man's attitude, this was the reason they hated Team Rocket so much in the first place: they treated all Pokémon like garbage, not caring about their feelings. Casey had to resist the urge to go and punch the creep where he stood. There were still unanswered questions however, who was the "brat" that the man was looking for? What could they have possibly done?
Suddenly, a large bat-looking creature entered the area, which the group all recognized as a Golbat since it was native to the region. Lyra flinched when she saw the large poison/flying-type, but she kept her cool. Curiously, Golbat's mouth was closed instead of open, as if it was trying to keep something in.
"Have you found it?" the man asked simply.
The Bat Pokémon opened its mouth and out tumbled a small, brown creature with a white object in its hand.
Everyone in the group almost gasped when they saw the tiny Pokémon. It was a Cubone, and not just any Cubone, the same one they saw earlier today, they could tell be the chipped bone it was holding. The little guy look battered and bruised, maybe from fighting that Golbat.
"Thought you could run from me did you?" The man spat at the Lonely Pokémon distastefully. "Don't worry, in spite of you being a massive nuisance for years now, I'll make sure your death goes by real quick." He said with obvious sarcasm in his voice, although, it did sound a little forced.
"They want to kill Cubone? I won't allow that! Let's go fight hi-" Lyra began.
"Hold your Ponytas! We can't just attack him like that!" Khoury spoke in a hushed tone, holding her back in the process. "Does anyone have a ghost-type Pokémon we can use?" he asked.
"I have a Mismagius, but we shouldn't be using ghost-types even if they can turn invisible, that Banette is also a ghost-type so it may be able to detect any Ghost Pokémon in the area." Marina said, shutting down Khoury's idea, "Maybe we can use a fast Pokémon instead."
"That's not a bad idea Marina, we're lucky that Golbat isn't a Crobat or we'd be in serious trouble concerning speed." Jimmy said.
"I have Electibuzz, its pretty fast." Casey said.
"But at the same time, we need something small." Khoury said, "When it comes to fast Pokémon, Sneasel is the best I got, but we are open to other suggestions in case we have a better option."
While they were conversing about which Pokémon to use, the group surprisingly didn't notice a large presence walk up behind them...
"Oof!"
Naturally, if you were kicked very hard when you weren't expecting it, you'd be hurt too. It's not everyday a powerful fighting-type decides to kick a human with all of their might, but when they do, it hurts.
A lot.
Anyway, the group were kicked very harshly by a large creature, revealing their location to the Rocket agent, who immediately turned his attention toward them.
"What are you kids doing here?" He said in a harsh voice.
"I don't know, what are YOU doing here?" Vincent said rudely.
"Don't "I don't know" me. Answer my question before my Hariyama kicks you all again." The man reiterated his question.
The group turned around to see the Pokémon that had revealed their location the Rocket agent, which Jimmy and his three childhood friends identified as a Hariyama. Hariyama were very large and bulky fighting-type Pokémon, but they were also ridiculously slow, which balanced out their power and durability.
If there's a Pokémon larger than a normal human being could be, a certain someone will naturally have a bad reaction.
Lyra had gotten surprisingly comfortable to Marina's Feraligatr in the short time that the group had spent with each other, but it could not prepare her for the huge menace that stood in front of her now. Her face turned pale as soon as she saw the 7 1/2 foot tall Hariyama that was standing very close to her. Lyra's breathing began to quicken as fear seeped through her mind.
Khoury was able to take note of this however and put his hand on hid best friend's shoulder for reassurance, causing her to turn to face him. She forced a smile at him, slightly reassured but she was still deathly afraid
Jimmy (who had also noticed Lyra's reaction to the Hariyama),knowing that they had to get out of their current situation so that Lyra's condition couldn't get worse, answered the man's question; "We apologize for the intrusion, me and my team just happened to notice you and your Pokémon, we have never seen them before aside from your Golbat.
Jimmy's story would make sense to a lot of people, it's true that the Rocket agent's team is mostly made up of Hoenn Pokémon, so one would expect people to Johto to not know them. Unfortunately for our team of heroes, the man wasn't easily fooled.
"You all are too old to be hiding in a bush just to see Pokémon you've never seen before. Besides, no one would stick around a member of Team Rocket even if their life depended on it without a good reason. I'll ask again: why are you here?" The man said.
Jimmy shut up after that.
"That's what I thought, it's a shame that today's society is filled with wannabe heroes who think they can take down huge criminal organizations like Team Rocket. Maybe it's time I give you a reality slap, Team Rocket is not a joke, it's the real deal." The Rocket agent said to them menacingly. Then he turned to the Arm Thrust Pokémon (Hariyama), "Hariyama, use..." he hesitated, "...use Wake-up Slap."
An odd move to use, but a fitting one for the situation.
Hariyama raised it's hand and began to bring it down on the group.
But it never got the chance.
The fighting-type grimaced as if it were in pain and cancelled it's attack, angrily, it turned around to face its opponent. However, nothing was there.
Then it felt a sharp pain on it's backside again, Hariyama turned around and saw a very strange looking bird creature.
Marina smirked and spoke to the new Pokémon, "Thanks Xatu, I knew I could count on you!" she then turned to her teammates, "Quick! Send out a Pokémon to defend yourself!"
Everyone took out a Pokeball and released their contents.
Out of Jimmy's ball came a Camerupt, a Ground/Fire Pokémon.
Out of Vincent's was a Magnezone, a Steel/Electric type.
Casey's ball contained an Electrike, an electric type.
Khoury's ball had a Sneasel, a dark/ice type.
Someone was missing though.
Everyone looked towards Lyra, she was still in a mental shock so she was slightly behind. Suddenly realizing what they were doing, Lyra took out her own Pokeball.
Then she felt something tap her leg. Lyra looked down and saw the Cubone from earlier. It was putting on a determined face, maybe it wanted to fight.
"Do you want to fight Cubone?" She asked the small creature. The ground-type nodded its head and turned around, ready to battle. Lyra didn't want Cubone to fight since it looked a little worn out, but she knew that there was no deterring the spirit of the Lonely Pokémon.
The Rocket agent gritted his teeth and looked at his opponents angrily, "six against one, real fair. No matter, I will defeat you all no matter what the odds are!"
"Show us!" Jimmy shouted confidently.
The Rocket grunt commanded his Pokémon to attack the group and our heroes began to fight back. Something surprising was the fact that most of his Pokémon were battling without orders from the grunt, which would make them incredibly talented. The only one that was receiving commands was Golbat, who he had decided to battle Lyra and Cubone with.
Lyra very quickly checked her Pokedex on what moves Cubone knew and frowned in dissatisfaction, Cubone only knew one move that could actually damage the Golbat
"Golbat, use Sludge Bomb to end this quickly," the man said simply.
The Bat Pokémon created a huge glob of purple liquid and launched it at the ground-type.
"Dodge and use headbutt!" Lyra called out.
Cubone obeyed and nimbly dodged the Sludge Bomb, then it launched itself in the air to Headbutt its opponent. Much to Lyra and Cubone's dismay, the Golbat easily dodged the attack and Cubone tumbled to the ground. Lyra grimaced when she saw this, it seemed that brute strength wasn't going to win them this battle.
Lyra didn't have a plan to defeat the Poison/flying type, so she decided to play defense until something came to her mind.
"Use Crunch!" The grunt called out.
"Dodge it!" Lyra commanded the ground-type.
Golbat swooped down in an attempt to attack Cubone with Crunch, but the Lonely Pokémon rolled out of the way, causing Golbat to smash itself on the ground. A lightbulb went off in the teenage girl's head when this happened.
"That's right! Flying types can be affected by ground type attacks when they are on the ground!" Lyra thought to herself, having a "EUREKA!" moment.
"Use Bone Club before it can get back up!" Lyra commanded Cubone.
"Get out of there!" Golbat's trainer commanded.
Cubone readied its club to strike its foe, but the quick Golbat was able to escape and leave in time and take flight again. Lyra frowned, she knew that the Rocket Grunt would make an effort to not give her that window of opportunity again, so she would have to rethink her strategy for the time being.
Before that could happen however, Golbat's trainer issued another command, "Use Shadow Ball." Shadow Ball is a long-ranged attack, which made it obvious that the Rocket grunt was trying to avoid getting in close proximity to the ground.
Golbat created a glowing ball of dark energy and launched it in Cubone's direction.
"Dodge it!" she ordered Cubone.
Just as Cubone dodged, an idea came to Lyra's mind a second too late, she could use Cubone's bone to knock Golbat's ranged attacks back! With this in mind, as well as the other tactic of getting Golbat on the ground, Lyra could now formulate a strategy.
"Cubone, use Headbutt!" Lyra commanded.
"Shadow Ball again."
Cubone leaped up toward Golbat again while the bat Pokémon created another ball of ghastly energy to throw at the ground-type. But before the ghost-type attack hit, Lyra shouted another command: "Use Bone Club to deflect it!"
Cubone quickly hit the Shadow Ball with its bone, causing the ball of energy to ricochet back to its creator. The Shadow Ball hit Golbat, damaging and dazing it temporarily. Before it gained its focus back, it was knocked downwards toward the ground. Cubone had managed to strike Golbat with its headbutt attack from above while it was dazed. Golbat dropped to the ground forcefully, disrupting its balance once again.
"Now while it's on the ground, use Bone Club!" Lyra commanded.
Cubone dropped down to Golbat and struck it with its bone. With the added force of the extra altitude, and the type effectiveness on poison-types, the attack did a lot more damage than it should have.
"That's a lot of damage!" Jimmy said.
Dude, shut up.
The calm demeanor on the Rocket member's face faded, now he looked mad... boiling mad.
"Get up Golbat! Use Air Slash on that runt!" The Rocket commanded, unable to hide his wrath.
Golbat got up surprisingly quickly, indicating that it was probably trained very well, and quickly flapped its wings, creating waves of energy in Cubone's direction. Without any further hesitation, the Bat Pokémon launched the attack toward Cubone with incredible speed. Lyra nor Cubone had any time to react before the flying-type attack hit Cubone square in the face, sending it backward.
"Cubone!" Lyra cried out in worry.
Cubone took a second to sort itself out before getting up again, more determined than ever. It gave Lyra a look that told her it was still able to fight, to which the girl nodded in understanding.
"Golbat, use Sludge Bomb!" The Rocket commanded.
"Dodge the attack!" Lyra said to Cubone, knowing that Sludge Bomb could not be knocked back.
Cubone swiftly avoided the Sludge Bomb attack and awaited for Lyra's instructions. The said girl was anxiously waiting for what the Rocket's next attack would be.
But nothing came.
Both of them were silently watching their respective opponents carefully. Nobody wanted to make the next attack first.
...
...
Lyra felt some small relief that this was happening, Jimmy had contacted the police so if she could stall this out, then the man would be arrested without risking anything. Then she looked at the Lonely Pokémon, who was giving her the "What the heck?" look. She felt bad that Cubone wouldn't be getting the action that it wanted, but it was better to wait for the police.
Then a thought came to her, what if the man was trying to stall them out? Maybe HE called backup, like how they called the police. This guy was tough enough on his own, there was no way that they could handle an entire team of them with Pokémon of similar power.
She needed a plan before things got out of hand, she scanned her surroundings for anything Cubone could use, but there was nothing but grass and trees.
Then a risky idea came to her mind.
"Cubone, leap up and attack Golbat with Headbutt again!" She commanded the ground-type.
The man smirked and commanded his faithful flying/poison-type, "Fly up and use Crunch when it hits the ground!"
"Grab its foot!"
Golbat began to fly up, but Cubone managed to reach its foot and grabbed it. Then, the Lonely Pokémon threw the Poison/flying type to the ground with Cubone. following close behind. Since it was vulnerable again, Lyra commanded Cubone to attack Golbat with Bone Club again, which dealt super effective damage again.
Golbat struggled to get up this time, but still managed to take flight again. It's trainer couldn't believe that he was being beaten by a measly Cubone.
"Golbat, use Shadow Ball followed up by a Air slash!" The Rocket yelled angrily.
Golbat, in spite of it being worn-out, managed to create two concentrations of energy and fired them both at Cubone, the Shadow Ball first, and the Air Slash second.
"Deflect it!" Lyra commanded.
Cubone deflected the Shadow Ball towards the Air Slash, causing both attacks to collide, creating a miniature explosion. When the dust cleared, Golbat appeared with its mouth open wide, racing towards Cubone.
The Lonely Pokémon didn't have time to react before it was scooped up into the Bat Pokémon's mouth. It seemed that the grunt had commanded the Poison/flying-type to use Crunch during the explosion is it was trying its hardest to bite down on the Lonely Pokémon.
Lyra's mind raced for a plan as she knew that Cubone couldn't hold out forever in there. As she was thinking, she noticed how Golbat's flight was beginning to falter.
Another risky plan came to mind, but she didn't have any other options, "Cubone, force your weight downward!"
Cubone barely heard Lyra's command, but it still managed to understand and began pushing its weight.
Golbat winced and fought to stay afloat, but it couldn't and it fell to the ground.
"One last time! Bone Club!"
Golbat suddenly went limp with swirls in its eyes. It's mouth opened and an exhausted Cubone tiredly climbed out.
A wide smile spread across Lyra's face at the sight of her victory. Unable to contain her excitement, she ran over to Cubone, picked the little creature up, and hugged it tightly, even though it was covered in saliva.
"We did it Cubone! We actually did it!" She said excitedly to the tiny creature.
"Cubone!" The Lonely Pokémon exclaimed, it was clearly happy too.
Lyra turned her attention to the Rocket agent. Surprisingly, he wasn't mad at all. He looked... defeated? Sure, he was just beaten, but this wasn't normal Team Rocket behavior.
He took out a Pokeball and returned Golbat, "Come back Golbat."
Then he turned to his other Pokémon, they were all defeated by the rest of the Team. He sighed and returned them too.
He looked down and mumbled something.
"Um, sorry, I can't hear you." Lyra said to the man.
Her friends have now come over to the scene, watching the exchange very carefully.
"I don't understand." He said.
"Don't understand what?" Lyra asked.
"How could I lose? I've been with these Pokémon for years, you've only known Cubone for a few minutes. How could you, with your lack of experience, defeat me?" The man said.
Lyra thought for a moment, it was a difficult question that she was even pondering herself, but she eventually had an answer.
"The difference is that I believed in Cubone, and Cubone believed in me. I don't treat it like a tool like Team Rocket treats their Pokémon, Cubone is a living creature with special abilities. I knew we could beat Golbat not because of Cubone's experience with me or what the Pokedex says about its general power. Cubone's determination and willpower won it the battle today." Lyra said.
"Whoa, since when did you become someone to give advice?" Vincent asked.
"Since always Kolack." Lyra refuted.
Lyra turned her attention back to the man, "My point is that your relationship with your Pokémon matters the most. You can't just rely on brute strength when it comes to your Pokémon. Sometimes, a strong bond with your Pokémon can result in evolution."
The man looked up at the girl, clearly confused.
She gave one last smile and walked back to her friends, "I hope you find some use to my words!"
"Wait! What do you mean by evo-"
But she was already gone.
The Rocket Grunt sighed and looked down at Golbat's Pokeball, "Maybe I was wrong..."
He stood up and began walking in the opposite direction of where the group went. Before he disappeared into the darkness, he turned his head around one last time and smiled.
"Thank you."
"How'd you get so wise?" Vincent asked Lyra.
"I didn't, I was just repeating something Khoury said to me once." She answered.
"Oh, Khoury! Teach me your wisdom!" Vincent begged the younger boy.
"Sure, but only if you can grow a brain."
"...Dang ok."
Trainer Card: Vincent Kolack
Age: 18
Hometown: New Bark Town
Birthday: June 3rd
Height: 5'10
Blood Type: B
Eye Color: Light Brown
Hair Color: Light Brown
Trainer Class: Pokémon Trainer
Secondary Class: Pokémon Battler
Other Hobbies: Soccer, Basketball, Making a fool out of himself and others
Notable achievements: 2000 Silver Conference - Top 48
Special Conditions: n/a
Titles: n/a
Pokémon (on hand):
-Meganium(M)
-Quagsire(M)
-Poliwrath(F)
-Magnezone(Genderless)(Shiny)
-Golduck(M)
-Pinsir(F)
Poor Vincent, just wants a little brainpower... I feel him lol
See you all next time, hopefully, I'll have the next chapter up sooner than this one.