Well in this Chapter we deal with Clembot. I wanted to get a little bit darker with what could've happened in a situation like this and it was really fun coming up with this idea.
As always I hope you enjoy :)
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKEMON
Chapter 8: A Shocking Development.
Clemont froze in the moment, the secret he'd been trying to hide from the group for so long had just been blurted out without a care in the world.
"We might as well tell them, I mean they were going to find out eventually," said Bonnie shrugging. She really didn't like keeping secrets from them even though she only met the group not too long ago, she was growing to really like them.
"Okay fine, I guess you're right," said Clemont slumping down into his chair with a defeated look on his face. "It's true, I am the Lumiose Gym Leader." It felt good to finally say those words out loud. But the group still had loads of questions for him.
"So, what's the deal with the gym then, how can people challenge it if you're not there?" asked Kenji crossing his arms. That was his main curiosity, he didn't really mind the four badge rule but, how were people being able to challenge the gym if Clemont himself wasn't there. He could remember when he first got to the gym some people saying that they were able to challenge the gym but got beaten badly.
"Yeah, and why four badges?" asked Serena with a puzzled look.
"I promise I will tell you everything just hear me out," Clemont started. "It's sort of a long story, but here it is."
"As a gym leader I didn't have as much free time as I wanted to invent and tinker with things, so I did the only thing I could think of, I built something to help me. A robot.
"Woah, a robot?" questioned Ash. All of this seemed like straight out of s science fiction movie.
"Yeah, I built the artificial intelligence from the ground up, I built it to run the gym so I could have more time to do the things I really loved." He said with a sigh. "But it all changed the day I finally tested it."
"I was having a practice match with some of my pokemon, and a stray electric attack hit it that seemed to alter its programing, it went completely haywire and kicked me out of my own gym because I didn't have any badges. I can't even get inside to shut it down."
"But when Garchomp went wild, you were able to get into Lumiose Tower that way," added Kenji.
"That's true, and I was able to get in once before as well, but it seems that Clembot has taken control of all the electric type pokemon at the gym and had them attack me. After learning that I wanted to re program it, it proceeded to put the entire tower on lockdown, and I haven't been able to get back in since," said Clemont. "Clembot sealed all direct passageways to the gym. Only someone with four official gym badges can get inside."
"Wait you named it Clembot?" Kenji said giving a slight smirk, Serena then nudged him slightly and he dropped his look.
"Yeah, I know," it's a little silly, Clemont said sheepishly.
"So why the four gym badge rule," asked Ash.
"Well, I put that as a suggestion in the programing of the AI, because my gym is in Lumiose City a lot of new trainers come through here and most of them don't put up much of a challenge, but since it went haywire it must have written it as an actual rule.
I wanted to battle strong challengers who would come at me knowing I was an electric type gym leader so they could develop strategies around that fact, I thought if I could overcome all those strong trainers, it would make me a better gym leader."
"So, why didn't you say anything?" asked Kenji.
"How could I," started Clemont. "Getting kicked out of my own gym because of the robot that I built, using my own pokemon against me. I felt so ashamed, I didn't feel like telling anybody, not even my dad," Clemont said hanging his head in defeat.
"Well, there's got to be some way to get in there," said Kenji putting his hand to his chin in deep thought.
"How about we go to Prism Tower and check the place out," said Ash standing up, "there's gotta be a way inside."
"We can check but I don't think Clembot would've left any backdoor way in."
"It can't hurt to check," said Kenji getting up as he and the others headed off to the gym.
The group had made their way to the tower and were checking out the exterior of the building. Clemont was right, every single access point had been sealed off and had special locks put on. Pikachu even tried shocking the terminals in hopes of shorting out the system, but nothing seemed to work.
"Clemont, can you try hacking into the main terminal for the locks," asked Kenji.
"I can try but Clembot has undoubtedly encrypted the passcodes on it, although, I haven't tried since I got kicked out the first time."
"Well, we gotta start somewhere," Kenji said as they headed towards the back of the building.
They came to a large metal door with an access panel on the outside of it. Clemont hooked up his backpack to it and started making inputs on his keyboard, he sighed in frustration.
"Any luck?" asked Serena. All of this science computer stuff was way over her head, but she was determined to help however she could.
"No not at all, even if I were able to get into this door there is another door behind this one with a separate lock on it, I don't think we're getting in this way," Clemont said with a disheartened voice.
Then in a flash of light, Scyther popped out of its pokeball looking very frustrated. It glared at Clemont and then proceeded to make massive cuts in the metal door, its sharp blades cutting through it, making it seem like paper, it then made its way inside where it proceeded to smash through the second door as well. The group was stunned in silence at this, Kenji's Scyther certainly wasn't very subtle.
Scyther came out of the building, gave a low hiss and snorted at Clemont. It didn't understand why these humans didn't just break down the door in the first place. It seemed like a pretty straight forward problem, it just got sick of waiting for them to figure it out, so it took matters into its own hands.
"Umm thank you Scyther," Kenji said wide eyed at the situation, not really sure how to react. He couldn't argue with the results it produced.
"Y y yeah, thanks Scyther," Clemont said nervously, why didn't Kenji's Scyther like him, it was like it had it out for him. He had already apologized several times for the incident in Santalune Forest, but it didn't seem to help. Scyther gave him another glare as Kenji returned it back to its pokeball.
"Well, we're in, let's go," said Ash being the first one into the building. The rest of the group followed suit.
The group crept quietly down a dark hallway. Kenji had let out Charmander to use its tail flame as a light.
"So, Clemont, what kind of pokemon did Clembot send after you, asked Ash.
"Well, mostly likely, we will probably run into magnemite and magneton, there's quite a few of them around the building helping power the place, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few other types as well, we seem to get some strays that wander in once in a while to feed off of the excess electricity from the generators here, Clemont said as they made their way down the hallway.
Almost as if on cue, a lone magnemite rounded the corner. It seemed to be tasked with investigating whatever made the loud noise that Scyther made getting into the building. The group ducked behind a corner, staying out of view of it. "Hurry we have to stop it, if we don't, it will alert the others," Clemont said in a low voice.
"Charmander, get ready to use flamethrower," Kenji said, Charmander got in a ready stance. Kenji then banged on the wall, making a little bit of noise, enough for the magnemite to notice, it started to make its way over to the corner the group were hiding behind.
"Wait for it..." Kenji said softly, waiting for just the right moment to surprise the magnemite…
"Now!"
Charmander leaped out from behind the corner they were hiding behind and roasted the floating steel type who fell with a thud. "Alright, way to go Charmander," said Kenji.
They then heard an angry screeching sound, a magneton had rounded the corner spotting the group and launched a thunderbolt at them.
"Quick Pikachu, use thunderbolt!" called out Ash, Pikachu released its own thunderbolt and the two attacks collided midair creating an explosion.
"Hurry lets go," Clemont said seeing a chance to escape. The group then ran down the hallway and shoved themselves into a supply closet. They could hear the hum of the magneton hovering nearby, searching for them. As it left the group breathing a sigh of relief.
Serena immediately realized that she and Ash were practically inches apart from each other in the cramped hiding spot, causing her face to turn pink. She'd normally welcome the interaction, but this was a little more of a desperate situation.
"We need a distraction," said Ash, cracking the door looking out to see if the coast was clear.
"I agree," said Clemont, "I need to get to my workshop so I can override Clembot's programing, we'll never get there with the other pokemon patrolling the place."
"I'll go, I have Charmander with me, we'll make a distraction," said Kenji with Charmander nodding in agreement. Its super effective fire moves would be great against the Magnemite and Magneton. "The rest of you stay with Clemont and make sure he can do what he needs to do to get Clembot back in working order."
"You got it Kenji," said Ash.
"Yeah, leave it to us," added Serena. This seemed like the best option, since if needed, Serena had Fenniken another fire type that could easily defend itself against any more Magnemite or Magneton that might appear, and Ash had Pikachu who wasn't affected that much by electrical attacks.
The group all nodded in agreement. "Here, take this," Clemont said handing Kenji an earpiece, its hooked up to my pokegear so we can stay in contact." Kenji nodded putting in the earpiece, then peered out the closet door and slowly made his way out down the hallway. They were going to wait until Kenji started his distraction to leave the closet.
Kenji and Charmander made their way down a couple hallways unseen, he was wondering what to do to cause a big enough distraction that would cause all the other pokemon to come right to him.
"Hey Clemont, can you hear me?" Kenji asked into the earpiece.
"Yeah, I read you loud and clear," Clemont responded.
"Can you direct me to the gym battlefield?" he asked.
"Sure, I can send it to your pokegear, what are you going to do?" he asked.
"Well, I figure that that's the best place to cause a big scene, and its far enough away from where you guys are to give you some time in case things don't work out." Kenji whispered. His pokedex vibrated receiving the directions from Clemont. Kenji and Charmander then proceeded to make their way towards the battlefield.
The group sat inside the supply closet still squished together. Bonnie then accidentally knocked over a bottle as they were shuffling around making a loud noise as other items fell from shelves with loud thuds. The group went silent, and their faces turned pale. They could swear they heard the humming sound of magneton approaching.
Kenji walked through a set of doors revealing a large open battlefield. It was dark with only a few beams of light coming through a few windows. He and Charmander stepped onto the battlefield looking around wondering what they could use as their distraction.
A spotlight lit up with a loud bang, with Kenji immediately getting startled looking over, it appeared to be a tall figure around 6 ft with a slender body and a round head, its eyes began to flicker. It was hung up in the air hanging from cables and appeared to be partially disassembled. It seemed to have all kinds of thick wires plugged into the back of it leading off to a large electrical box. This had to be Clembot Kenji thought.
The robot began to twitch erratically with sparks coming from parts of its body as if it was shorting out. "I I intruder, Al al alert," it said in a low mechanical tone, the voice echoed throughout the large open room.
"Why are you doing this, Clembot!" shouted out Kenji. Kenji couldn't believe he was trying to reason with the strange mechanical figure.
"M m maker wanted to t t turn off Clembot," it stuttered out in between its erratic gestures.
"You've got to stop, people need to be able to challenge the gym."
"All un un unworthy… n n need four badges, m m maker said o o only w w wanted to fight s s strong challengers."
The humming began to get louder as the group shrunk back as far as they could into the supply closet hoping that the Magneton would just ignore them. They saw a red glow illuminate the room from the window, it was right outside, the humming seemed to fade away and the light disappeared. Clemont slowly stepped forward and put his ear up to the door, an eerie silence fell over the small room as they waited.
BANG!…
A loud thud was sounded as the magneton struck the door with its body, throwing Clemont back into the others in shock. The red light shone brightly in the room, and the humming sound intensified to a point where they could feel the sound in their chests. Magneton peered into the window of the closet, its lit-up eyes locked on to the 4 individuals hiding inside of it, the electric pokemon then proceeded to make several screeching sounds as if calling out to someone.
Pretty soon a couple more magnemite appeared. The light inside the closet began to flicker on and off with the presence of the three electric types. Serena's eyes widened as she clutched Ash's arm for safety.
"Kenji, hurry up, you gotta do something!" Clemont shouted.
Kenji's heart began to race, he could hear the cries for help from his friends in his earpiece, he racked his brain on what to do. He searched his memory for anything to help him in this situation, anything.
Maybe he could attack the robot, but he wasn't sure that would stop the other pokemon's assault, his mind began to wander, and thought of old sci fi movies that dealt with AI and robots that he and his dad used to watch, and like a thunderbolt to the head, he got an idea, it was a long shot, but it just might work.
BANG!…BANG!…BANG! The three pokemon began to slam themselves in rapid succession against the door, causing Bonnie and Serena to let out a scream.
"Come on Kenji Think of something!" shouted Ash. He was really starting to get nervous.
The pokemon were starting to make large dents in the thick metal door causing it to bend at the edges. The pokemon could now peer inside the door having bent it so far off of the frame. The pokemon's eyes shone a bright red with intent but seemed mindless at the same time, making loud mechanical screeching, clicking, and whirring noises as they tried to barge their way in.
"Clembot" Kenji shouted, "how do you know if a challenger is strong" he asked quickly. Charmander looked nervous hearing the cries for help as well.
" T t trainer must have f f four badges s s," Clembot sparked out.
"But what if the trainer is already strong without four badges," Kenji shouted back.
"If trainer is w w without four badges t t then trainer is n n not strong."
The 3 pokemon then backed away from the door and floated into a formation and started to strain floating in place, energy started to surge from them as they directed it at the door, the metal door started to creak and groan under the pressure.
"A trainer doesn't have to have four badges to be strong," Kenji said trying to speak faster, "you won't know they are strong for absolute certain until you battle them, right?"
"THEY'RE OPENING THE DOOR, DO SOMETHING NOW KENJI!" shouted Clemont holding Bonnie close to him. Serena buried her face into Ash's shoulder in a panic, as the door began to separate from the frame. The three pokemon used their magnetic abilities to rip the door off of the hinges.
Clembot began to twitch not saying anything, as if thinking this over in its head.
"I f f find your statement to be p p plausible," it finally said. Giving a head jerk.
"KENJI!" All four of them shouted. As the door was ripped off and thrown to the side and the three pokemon started to make their way up to them, the humming intensified, the light bulbs shattered, and they began to spark getting ready to attack.
"Then to prove I'm strong, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A GYM BATTLE!"
He didn't know if what he said would work, all he could do was wait for the robot to make its decision, he was preparing to make a break for it and go back and save them. But then a large spark came from Clembot and jerked around a bit before exclaiming.
"I accept y y your challenge," The rest of the gym lights came on with a loud bang.
The three electric pokemon were right in front of them, the loud humming intensified as they inched closer. Serena shut her eyes with her face buried into Ash's shoulder as the bright red light from their eyes lit up the room.
The humming then suddenly stopped, the three pokemon seemed to twitch as if receiving a message, their eyes went from bright red to a dull white and they floated out of the room and down the hallway.
Moments after, Kenji and Charmander looked over to see two Magenmite and a Magneton come floating in from the hallway into the battlefield room where Kenji had entered. Kenji heard sighs of relief in the headset.
As Serena opened her eyes, she found that Ash had wrapped his arms around her in a protective hug. She blushed a bit as he looked into her eyes, seeming to forget that she was in any danger, but only for a moment.
"You okay Serena?" he asked. His face began to heat up as he looked into her eyes. They were really close together and he started to get that tight feeling in his chest again.
She then began to well up with tears, as the realization came flooding in of what they had just gone through and buried her face into his chest sobbing. "That was so scary," she cried out. He didn't say anything, he just held her in a tight embrace.
Bonnie did the same with Clemont, having his own pokemon turn on them like that was not something they wanted to experience ever again. "Are you guys, okay?" Clemont heard in his headset.
"Yeah," he said panting, "we're okay, whatever you did, keep it up, we're headed up to my workshop."
Kenji and Charmander gave out a huge sigh of relief, which was cut short by Clembot's mechanical voice.
"This w w will b three on three match, the ch ch challenger can make substitutions, t t the gym leader will not."
A few more electric type pokemon seemed to find their way into the battlefield, there were a few more Magnemite and Magneton, a couple Elektrike, Voltorb, Electrode, Heliolisk, shinx, and an Elekid. They all stood behind the robot as if they were all the pokemon Clembot had at its disposal. Their eyes glowed white and stood completely still as if they were under a spell.
"Alright Charmander you ready?" he said looking down at the lizard in determination, "we just gotta keep this up long enough to give Clemont time to reboot it." "Char" Charmander said, making a fist stepping in front of Kenji.
A magnemite then flew down and floated in front of the robot. A small drone then hovered off to the side and loudly proclaimed, "battle begin" in a mechanical voice.
Clembot's eyes glowed bright white as did the magnemite's as it charged in unleashing a thundershock.
"Dodge it Charmander, and use flamethrower!" Charmander shot forth a powerful stream of fire at the floating magnemite, but it was able to dodge it. It sent out more electric attacks after the fire lizard but was also unable to make contact.
"Charmander, use smokescreen!" The thick black smoke filled up the arena, Kenji was getting quite successful at employing this strategy with Charmander, but then Charmander was sent flying back from taking a hard hit.
"But how!?" questioned Kenji. He glanced at his pokedex entry for magnemite, reading that they can sense electric currents running through the air making them able to sense their prey in the dark. "Oh, great," Kenji groaned.
Magnemite began flying around rapidly making the smokescreen disappear and started swooping down fast trying to slam into Charmander. The magnemite then floated right above the Charmander and dove down attempting to crush it into the ground.
"Dodge it and use flamethrower!" Charmander then jumped out of the way and unleashed its attack striking it as the magnemite slammed itself into the ground making an indent in the floor. After the attack, magnemite began to float around erratically, and the light behind its eye flickered and shut off as it fell to the ground with a loud thud.
The elekid that was standing behind Clembot, ran forward retrieving the fainted pokemon and took it back to its side. A magneton then floated forward to take its place.
"Great job Charmander, can you keep going?" "Char" it said nodding. "Then let's keep up the pressure, use flamethrower!" The Magneton moved swiftly out of the way, being much faster than the previous magnemite, it shot off a thunderbolt hitting Charmander before it could realize where it had moved to. It winced in pain as the electricity coursed through its body.
The two pokemon went back and forth for a while trading blows neither one giving in. But they were clearly getting tired. Magneton shot off another thunderbolt in Charmander's direction.
"Use dragon breath!" a purple flame met the electric attack in mid air and it became a struggle of which move was stronger. Charmander was giving everything it had into this attack, it started to strain as the thunderbolt grew closer.
"You can do it Charmander, I believe in you!" Kenji shouted in support. Charmander gritted its teeth and unleashed all it had after hearing its trainers' words. It then began to glow white, it started to grow a bit larger in size, and a small horn started to grow out of the back of its head and turned a darker shade of an orangish red color.
"Woah, Charmander," Kenji said stunned as he stared wide eyed at the evolution taking place in front of him. He was bursting with pride at his partner, they had worked so hard to get to this point. It had evolved into a Charmeleon.
Charmeleon's attack then grew in size, and its flame took the shape of a dragon made of blue and purple fire and shot forward at the magneton who was quickly enveloped in the attack, causing a big explosion. Kenji's pokedex dinged indicating that Charmander had learned dragon rage along with a few other new moves.
"That's great Charmeleon perfect timing." Kenji said pumping his fist into the air.
Charmeleon turned, giving its trainer a big grin.
The Magneton floated in the air stunned by the powerful attack.
"Let's Finish this one up with flamethrower!"
Charmeleon took a deep breath and shot forth a larger, more powerful flame than it ever had as a Charmander and hit the stunned Magneton, it floated around a bit, and with the light behind its eyes shutting off it fell to the ground.
Once again, the elekid ran forth and collected the downed pokemon, it seemed to stop for a moment and eyed Kenji and Charmeleon, its eyes flickering as if the spell it was under was weakened for a moment. It then ran back off behind Clembot returning to its original position. The Heleolisk stepped forward and took a ready position.
Kenji proceeded to scan the new pokemon. "Heliolisk, the Generator Pokémon and the evolved form of Helioptile. Heliolisk produces enough electricity to power a large building and recharges by spreading its frills." Kenji took note of its typing being an electric and normal type, he thought for a second and came up with a game plan.
Clemont led the others down a hall and up a flight of stairs, they came upon a set of doors that were locked.
"There's no electronic lock, I can't hack my way into this one," Clemont said with a sigh. It seemed almost too good to be true that they would be able to get inside without any more obstacles.
"That's okay we got this," said Ash turning to Pikachu, "use iron tail!" Pikachu struck the middle of the doors flinging them open. "Great work buddy," Ash said as Pikachu climbed back up on his shoulder.
The group ran inside, it was a large room filled with all sorts of computers, tools, workbenches, and wires hanging all over the place. There was a computer in the corner with a bunch of thick wires leading into terminals hooked up to the computer. Clemont went over and turned on the monitor.
"So, what is this?" asked Serena as she marveled at the large computer tower before them.
"This essentially acts as Clembot's brain and is controlled from this terminal," Clemont said making inputs into the computer. "I should be able to reboot Clembot from here with no problem reverting it back to an older AI file before it went haywire."
A bunch of red X's appeared on the screen. "What does that mean?" asked Ash.
It's not letting me reboot the system! it's stating that nothing can be done while Clembot is in battle mode."
"So does that mean..." started Bonnie.
"That Kenji will have to beat Clembot in order for me to reboot the system," Clemont finished. "Did you hear that Kenji?" asked Clemont into his earpiece.
"Yeah, loud and clear," Kenji responded. "I only need to defeat one more pokemon and the win will be mine," he said confidently.
"What is the last pokemon that Clembot has chosen," asked Clemont.
"A heliolisk," Kenji stated. Clemont gasped at this.
"Do not, under any circumstances underestimate Heliolisk, it's my strongest pokemon," said Clemont with a worried tone. The others gasped at hearing this.
"Woah, really?" Kenji said starting to rethink his strategy. His original plan was pretty risky, it seemed like he would need a powerhouse of a pokemon to deal with this.
"Hey Charmeleon, take a break," Kenji said, Charmeleon stepped back next to Kenji, who had a serious look on his face. "Go Scyther!"
Scyther appeared from its pokeball with a mighty roar banging its blades together. It caught a glimpse of its opponent and smiled in delight.
"Don't underestimate this one Scyther," Clemont says that it isn't meant to be taken lightly, Kenji said eyeing the bug. Scyther seemed to roll its eyes, what does that kid with glasses know, this big yellow lizard wouldn't know what hit it, it thought. It had to prove itself after the loss at the last gym battle it was in.
"How do we know when we can reboot the system?" asked Ash.
"I can actually pull up a live feed of the battlefield and monitor it from here," said Clemont hitting a few switches. A live stream of the battlefield came on the screen before them. "All we can do is wait," said Clemont softly.
"Kenji's got this," said Ash putting a hand on Clemont's shoulder.
"I hope so," Clemont said as he looked at his heliolisk on the screen.
It was a stare down, the two pokemon eyed each other, waiting for one to make the first move. Then the Heliolisk took off running in zig zag patterns up to Scyther, who took off into the air.
Heliolisk's tail glowed green using dragon tail. "Use close combat!" Kenji had been wanting to try out this new move for Scyther, he had bought a few Tm's at the pokemon Center in Lumiose City before they set off and was looking forward to using it on a strong pokemon.
The two pokemon traded blows back and forth, each taking their own far share of hits, with Scyther striking the final blow sending Heliolisk down to the ground. The heliolisk looked exhausted from all the super effective hits, after all close combat was a fighting type move, and Heliolisk being part normal type was having a hard time.
"Double team, Scyther and use x-scizor!"
But it didn't listen, it used double team but began to charge up an air slash attack instead.
"Scyther, what are you doing!?" Shouted Kenji.
Scyther and its copies flew above Heliolisk surrounding it and charged up its attack, but just before it could launch its attack, Heliolisk stood up and opened up the frills around its neck and shot up a ball of energy that began to shock all of the copies of Scyther making them disappear leaving the real one remaining taking the full force of its attack.
It seemed to be draining energy from Scyther and returning it back into Heliolisk, who was starting to look rejuvenated. Scyther then dropped out of the air, falling down and was slow to get up.
"Hey Clemont, you got any idea what move it just used?" Kenji asked.
"That was parabolic charge," said Clemont sitting forward in his chair, "it's an electric attack that covers a wide area that also drains off the energy from its opponent and it restores the user's health as well.
"Oh no," Kenji said realizing the uphill battle he was about to face. Heliolisk was looking good as new and Scyther could barely stand after one hit. The tables were turning against Kenji now.
Before he could think anymore, Heliolisk struck the ground splitting it open causing large rocks to shoot up from the field towards Scyther. Scyther's eyes widened at the oncoming attack.
"NO SCYTHER!" Kenji shouted. Stone edge was a powerful rock type attack and the type of attack Scyther was most weak too. Before he knew it Scyther's body hit the gym floor with swirls in its eyes out cold.
Kenji groaned as he returned Scyther, just how many times was it going to underestimate its opponent and not listen to him, he wondered putting his pokeball away. He thought for a moment about his next pokemon choice, not wanting to be at a huge type disadvantage, he made his decision.
"Charmeleon, you ready to get back out there?" Charmeleon gave a determined grunt stepping forward taking its position.
"Wow his Charmander evolved," said Bonnie wide eyed, "I didn't even notice."
"Yeah, neither did I," said Serena taking notice as well, wondering when her own fire type would evolve.
"Hopefully it has what it takes," said Clemont still sporting a worried look.
"Charmeleon get in close and use slash!" Charmeleon took off, much quicker now after evolving, it ran up and struck the yellow lizard a few times as the lizard blocked it with dragon tail. It was quite clever using its tail almost as a sword, this was a pretty neat idea that Kenji thought he might use someday.
"Charmeleon use dig!" With its newly learned attack, we might be able to make a dent in it, thought Kenji as Charmeleon dug underground quickly.
Heliolisk then stamped its foot on the ground making the ground shake violently, causing Charmeleon to come flying up out of the ground, landing with a hard thud and was slow to get up.
"That was the move bulldoze!" exclaimed Clemont, "I never taught it that move!"
"Wow, so has Clembot been doing training with your pokemon while you were away?" asked Ash.
"It appears so," said Clemont.
"Dragon rage!" shouted Kenji. Charmeleon launched its attack at Heliolisk, but swiftly dodged it and launched a wave of energy hitting Charmeleon. Its body crackled with electric energy making it hard to move freely. "Oh no its paralyzed," said Kenji.
Heliolisk then launched another parabolic charge, hitting the stunned Charmeleon, leaving the pokemon on the ground out cold.
Kenji returned Charmeleon to its pokeball with a sigh, "You were great out there Charmeleon, now take a good rest," Kenji said putting the pokeball away. He was down to his last pokemon. "Go, Azumarill!" The blue water type pokemon gave a happy cry upon coming out.
"He's down to his last pokemon and it's a water type, sighed Clemont, "the odds are stacked against him now."
"Don't worry, "Kenji can do this," Serena said, hoping her words would help Clemont's mood, but it didn't seem to help.
"Alright Azumarill, you ready to win?" "Azu" it replied confidently.
"Start off with aqua ring!" hopefully a steady stream of health would help in case it got hit too many times.
Heliolisk started launching thunderbolts towards Azumarill.
"Dodge them with aqua jet!" Azumarill took off like a speeding bullet, dodging the attacks left and right. "Now use hydro pump!" Azumarill shot a powerful jet of water at Heliolisk, striking it sending it summersaulting back.
Heliolisk tried to shoot off another parabolic charge attack, but hesitated, it started to spark a bit from being drenched in the water. Kenji, noticing this, and put a plan into action. Heliolisk then started to prepare again for another parabolic charge
"Here it comes, get ready!" Kenji shouted.
Heliolisk then launched its attack into the air, as it got ready to siphon off Azumarill's energy.
"Now, get up above it with aqua jet!" Kenji shouted. Azumarill shot up above the field looking down at the orb that was starting to charge up getting ready to be unleashed.
"Now send it back down with aqua tail!" Azumarill then struck the orb with its tail, sending it shooting down back at the shocked Heliolisk, as the attack connected, with the added water from earlier sent more electricity than the generator pokemon could handle, it stood there stunned and slow to get up.
"Now us superpower!" shouted Kenji.
As Heliolisk slowly stood back up it was met by a powerful super effective punch to the face, sending it straight to the ground, as the dust cleared it was revealed that Heliolisk was unconscious in a large crater.
"Three of the gym leader's pokemon have been defeated, making the winner of the match the challenger!" Sounded off the little drone off to the side. It then slowly flew over to Kenji, popping out a voltage badge and dropping it in Kenji's hand. "Oh, wow," Kenji beamed, too bad it wasn't an official gym match he thought, but those thoughts of victory were cut short, as Clembot began to short out again and the lights turned back off.
The four watching the monitor cheered in relief.
"Clemont, it's done, do your thing," Kenji said into his earpiece.
"I saw, great job, just leave the rest to me," he said as he started making inputs into the computer. Then all the Magnemite and Magneton's eyes suddenly lit up red and flew off quickly out of the battlefield room.
"Uh guys, I think you're going to have some company soon," Kenji said worryingly.
"It's gone back to its normal Security mode," said Clemont "I'm going to need a few minutes to reboot the system."
Clemont let his Bunnelby out, "I need you guys to buy me some time, those Magnemite and Magneton will be here any minute."
"We'll give you as long as you need," said Ash with Pikachu nodding as he brought out his Froakie.
Serena was a little apprehensive going up against those pokemon again. Ash seemed to detect her hesitation and went up next to her placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll be right beside you out there," he said with a sincere look in his eyes. This made Serena feel safer knowing that he'd be right there, he seemed to have that kind of effect on her lately. She nodded, bringing out her Fenniken.
The Magnemite and Magneton came flying around the corner with a loud electrical hum, and the group started attacking. Everyone was throwing everything they had at the onslaught of attacks coming from the group of electric types.
Clemont was frantically typing on his keyboard trying to get the reboot process going as quickly as possible.
The group was holding the advancing pokemon as best they could, even with Fenniken's fire attacks, Bunnelby's mud shot, Froakie's frubbles and Pikachu's neutral typing, they were starting to get overwhelmed. Eventually Fenniken and Froakie were knocked back, they were starting to get cornered Pikachu and Bunnelby couldn't keep it up much longer.
"Clemont, you almost done in there?!" shouted Ash.
"Just a few more moments!" he responded. He then received an error on the screen. "Aaaah! It needs a hard reset at the breaker!" Clemont shouted.
"Kenji can you hear me? Clemont shouted into his earpiece."
"Yeah, I hear you what's up,"
"I need to you perform a manual reset from the breaker that is plugged directly into the back of Clembot, can you do that?"
"Yeah, what am I looking for?" he said walking over to the robot, who wasn't moving, but was surrounded by the other electric type pokemon, their eyes still glowing white, the elekid stepped forward, who was giving him an intimidating growl, making Kenji hesitate, it started to wind up its arms spinning them quickly charging electricity.
"It should be a large red lever in the box that Clembot is plugged into, all you gotta do is flip that switch, it's the only switch in there," Clemont said as he looked back checking on the others.
"Okay gimme a second," said Kenji eyeing the elekid that was staring him down.
"We don't have any more time, we gotta do it now!" shouted Clemont.
Kenji gritted his teeth as he prepared himself, because this was probably going to hurt... Alot.
As quick as he could, he made a grab for the electrical box. He managed to open it, but the elekid launched an electric attack at him making Kenji drop to the ground writhing in pain. The Elekid continuously sent electricity coursing through Kenji's body.
The Magnemite and Magneton began to close in around the group slowly, all of their pokemon were exhausted with nothing left in the tank. "Serena, get behind me," said Ash throwing up his arm as a protective barrier. Serena held Fenniken in her arms tightly as she hid behind Ash.
Kenji looked up slowly, as the Elekid finally stopped shocking him, his body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds as he looked up at the lever, his whole body ached like he had run an entire marathon all in the span of five minutes. He felt a familiar tingling sensation in his hands once more along with the blurred vision. He slowly tried to reach his hand up to the lever but was met with another shock from the Elekid.
Kenji winced in pain again. The lever was right there, it was so close yet so far away, he had to get to it, his friends' lives were depending on it. As the Elekid continued to shock him, his vision was starting to go, and his body seemed to go numb, this was it. He mustered up what little strength he had left and made one final reach for the lever.
The Elekid stared at him with the empty white glow in its eyes as it watched this trainer suffer through the pain to help his friends. Its eyes then flickered off for a quick moment upon seeing Kenji's determination. It wasn't much, but it was all Kenji needed, he reached up and with all his might, he grabbed the lever and pulled down on it, it made a satisfying click as it was switched into place. Kenji's arm then went limp as he lost consciousness.
The error on Clemont's monitor went away. Clemont gave one final button push and all the power seemed to turn off at once, even the glow of the electric types faded away. The advancing Magnemite and Magneton seemed to shut off with the lights in their eyes going dark and dropping to the ground. An eerie calm washed over the group as they held their breath.
After a few moments, the power was restored. The whole building seemed to hum back to life. Clemont gave a huge sigh of relief slumping down into his chair. Ash and Serena looked around as the electric type pokemon seemed to stir, and Ash got ready for another fight.
But when the electric pokemon came to, they didn't really seem to take notice of them and just floated off out of the room. Ash and Serena then sat down with a sigh up against a wall with Serena resting her head on Ash's shoulder. After noticing this he found that tight feeling in his chest return, it seemed to only happen when Serena was around him.
"We did it Kenji!" exclaimed Clemont, but there was no response. "Kenji!?..."
Kenji saw nothing at first but after a few moments he could see something but wasn't sure what. It was something, someone? No... a pokemon? He then saw two wite glowing eyes turn and face him.
"Do not deviate from the path!" it shouted in a loud booming voice.
He caught a glimpse of the silhouette of the figure. Upon seeing it, it seemed to lunge forward at him causing Kenji to pass out.
Kenji's vision was blurry upon waking up, there was a bright light in his face, it took a few moments, but he realized that he was in a hospital bed. He looked around and saw Clemont with Bonnie asleep next to him, and Ash and Serena asleep as well, with Pikachu in Ash's lap and Serena resting her head on Ash's shoulder.
Kenji sat up, feeling a pounding in his head like he got hit by a wild Tauros. As he started to wake up, he heard a happy voice, "Charmeleon!" the fire lizard exclaimed, waking everyone up.
"Oh, good, you're awake," said Ash as they all rushed over to the bed.
Kenji then suddenly remembered the ordeal they had been through, he started to panic a bit. "Where's Clembot? Did it work? Were you able to reboot it?" He stammered out in confusion.
"Calm down," Serena said in a soothing voice, "everything is fine, she said smiling.
"Oh, good," said Kenji letting out a big sigh. "How long have I been here?" he asked, seeing the groups tired faces.
"You've been out for two days," said Ash, Kenji had a stunned look on his face. "But the doctors say you should make a full recovery," he said smiling.
"You guys stayed this whole time?" asked Kenji, moved by their concern for him.
"Yeah of course we did," Said Clemont smiling, "if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have my gym back. You have no idea how much this means to me." he said with a sincere smile.
"Wow you guys," Kenji said. He then noticed Charmeleon, who looked even more strung out than the others. "Hey Charmeleon, Kenji said rubbing its head softly.
"Charmeleon has been here the whole time, I don't think its slept yet," said Ash, "it even refused to go into its pokeball," he said chuckling a bit.
"Wow, Charmeleon," Kenji said smiling, "thanks for being here for me buddy," Charmeleon let out a happy growl and smiled, just glad its trainer was on the mend.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kenji spotted something next to the door to his room, an elekid standing in the doorway, with a shy look on its face.
It then came back to him, this must be the elekid who was electrocuting him while he was trying to reset the breaker.
The Elekid slowly walked into the room with its hands behind its back, it walked up to the bed and placed a single cookie next to Kenji's hand and gave Kenji a hopeful look.
"Is this for me?" Kenji Questioned.
"I think Elekid is trying to apologize to you for causing you so much pain," Serena said, getting a heartwarming smile on her face.
"Oh, well there's no need to apologize Elekid," said Kenji looking at the electric type. "I know you didn't really mean to hurt me he," said with a smile. "No hard feelings," Kenji said reaching out his fist for a fist bump.
The Elekid paused for a second staring at Kenji's outstretched fist. It thought for sure this kid would be mad at it after all the pain and trouble it had put him through, but still when he looked at the sincere expression in this kids' eyes, it could really feel that there was no ill will between them.
"Kid, Elekid!" it said happily, returning Kenji's fist bump and running off out of the room.
"I guess it just stopped by just to make sure you were okay," said Bonnie sadly.
"Well, the doctors said if everything checks out you should be able to leave tomorrow morning," said Ash, "then we can get our journey back on track," he said clenching his fist in excitement.
"I'm right there with you," Kenji said giving out a big yawn, "as soon as I take a nice long nap," he said chuckling.
"Alright, we'll let you get some rest, Serena said, "we'll be back in the morning," she said as the group gathered their things. They started to head out, but Clemont stayed behind.
"I'll be out in just a minute guys," he said. The group nodded and headed out, shutting the door behind him.
"Kenji, I want to seriously thank you for what you did to help me get my gym back," Clemont said sitting down next to the bed. "It really means a lot that you risked your life to help me fix my own mistake," Clemont said softly.
"Clemont, don't even worry about it," Kenji said smiling. "You're my friend, besides, I know you'd help me out if I were in a jam."
"Well, anyhow, I talked it over with my dad, and we both agreed, that we think you should have this, as thanks," he said placing something into Kenji's hand. Kenji brought his hand up to look at it, it was a voltage badge.
"But you're the gym leader," he said confused. "I beat Clembot, not you."
"Please Kenji, you've more than earned this badge, it's the least I could do after what you did for me."
"Wow Clemont," Kenji said stunned at his generosity, "thank you,"
"Alright, I'll let you get some rest," he said standing up, I'll see you in the morning."
"Oh, Clemont?" Kenji said as he started to make his way to the door.
"Yeah?" Clemont asked.
"Your Heliolisk is a pain to deal with," that's a great pokemon you got there, Kenji said grinning.
Clemont laughed a bit at the comment and left Kenji and Charmeleon to themselves. Kenji held up his second badge, as he and Charmeleon eyed it with pride. "Two down, six to go," he said eating the cookie Elekid gave him grinning. "Charrr," Charmeleon said in agreement.
He then had the vivid memory of his vision while he was passed out. Giving him a bit of a dizzy spell. He then remembered the silhouette of the figure he saw. He slowly got out of bed and went over and ripped a piece of paper off of the clipboard next to his bed and started to sketch out as best he could what he thought he saw. When he was finished, he got an uneasy feeling as he looked at his drawing.
As the group left the hospital, they were about to head to the pokemon center when Clemont chimed in, "why don't we just stay at our house tonight, there's plenty of room for all of us." "Oh, yea it will be like a big sleep over!" said Bonnie excitedly.
"Are you sure? we don't want to impose," said Serena sheepishly. She didn't mind sleeping at the pokemon center, anywhere was better than that hard hospital chair.
"Nonsense, you are both our guests," said Clemont grinning, and tonight I'm going to prepare a huge feast as thanks." This caught Ash's attention, the bland hospital food was really starting to get to him.
"Well how can we say no to that," he said chuckling to Serena, and with that the group set off to Clemont and Bonnie's house.
Clemont was true to his word, he prepared a huge feast with seemingly endless amounts of dishes with all the fixings. Serena tried to get him to let her help, but he was having none of it. Eventually Clemont did let her make a couple batches of cookies for the road.
Later that night, Bonnie and Serena had gone off to go to sleep their room and Clemont and Ash were getting ready to head off to sleep in Clemonts room.
"So, I expect you'll be wanting to challenge the Lumiose Gym soon," said Clemont looking up at his ceiling. He spent the entire first day Kenji was in the hospital reprogramming Clembot and making sure everything was in order. Including installing surge protectors and editing some of Clembot's Ai personality traits with a whole slew of safety precautions.
"Nah, I think I'll wait," said Ash.
"What really?" Why's that? I figured you'd be jumping at the chance to get another badge." Clemont said puzzled.
"Well, you said it yourself, you wanted challengers to have 4 badges to challenge you right?"
"Yeah, but that was just a suggestion I didn't mean for Clembot to take that note so literally, you can go ahead and challenge Clembot if you want to." he knew how crazy Ash could get with just the thought of having a gym battle.
"Well, Clembot isn't the one I want to fight, it's you I want to have a gym battle with." said Ash, "and if you originally wanted trainers to have four badges before challenging you, I'll just challenge you once I do that."
"Well, if that's what you want to do, that's fine with me," said Clemont sighing with a smile. "But I won't hold anything back against you,"
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Ash said smiling as the two drifted off to sleep.
And that is Clembot! i had a lot of fun coming up with these ideas
We also get a little more mystery about what is going on with Kenji
Next chapter will be a bit of aftermath of this chapter and then Clemont will catch a new pokemon a cannon one but under a little bit of different circumstances.
Thanks for the Read!