In our previous episode, our challenger started their journeys and became much more familiar with their Pokémon. They fought battles, did training, and much else. It also seems one of our teams has had a nasty run in with a group of Beedrill. I wonder how that will turn out.

Team Katsuya

"Torchic, I choose you! Use Ember!"

Katsuya's Torchic appeared from its pokéball and leapt at the Beedrills, shooting fire. The Pokémon reared backwards, avoiding the hot flames before rushing in with Poison Sting.

Katsuya's Torchic was thrown backward, hurt by the attack. Katsuya gritted his teeth and called his Pokémon to retreat and go for a ranged approach.

He and Torchic were entering a forest as the Beedrills tailed them. Looking around, he saw that the forest was perfect for a little Pokémon like his Torchic.

"Hide among the trees and pepper them with Ember!"

His Torchic leapt for the trees, his little feet already moving before he hit the ground. He raced around a tree as a Beedrill rushed forward and used Fury Cutter, chipping away at the bark. Torchic popped out and shot a fireball before ducking behind the tree again.

However, another Beedrill flanked him from the left and attacked with Twineedle. Katsuya's Torchic was thrown back as he shook, the poison affecting him.

"Dang it! It doesn't matter that Torchic has the advantage. It's three fully evolved Pokémon versus one! If only that Kendra- It's not my style but we have to run! Return, Torchic!"

The moment his Torchic was safely in its ball, he ran. He leapt over a fallen log as he sped through the forest, branches slapping him as he did.

He heard a loud crunching to his right and headed over there. He caught a flash of blue and made it over to Kendra.

"There you are!" he said indignantly. "A deaf person could hear you bumbling through the woods! Where were you? I could've used your help!"

"W-well…" stuttered Kendra. "I didn't expect you to fight them! Besides, Amphithere's grass type attacks will barely hurt them since they're bug and poison types."

"And that's why grass type Pokémon are terrible!" shouted Katsuya.

The three Beedrills were closing in on them. Kendra looked around and saw that the forest sloped downwards off to the right. She turned around and slid down the hill in an epic style as two Beedrills flew over her.

It was an epic dodge, until her foot got caught under a root. She flipped over and fell on her face, her ankle almost twisting. She hit the ground with a hard stop and a yell before slowly getting up and rubbing her face in pain.

Katusya slid to a stop next to her. He looked at the map and turned around, still continuing on to the gym.

"Nice one Kendra. You really did good there."

Kendra sighed and got to her feet. Why did she have to be stuck with Katsuya?

She muttered about rigged shows and started following him when she heard the buzzing again. She turned around, and saw the Beedrills were circling around, looking for them.

"I'll be fine," she muttered. "Just stay quiet, move slowly, and-"

"Can you catch up?" asked Katsuya. "You really just want to sabotage me don't you?"

All three Beedrills snapped around, locking their beady red eyes on her.

Again, why did she have to be on the same team with Katsuya?

Team Regional

Claire and Zeke were crouched in the tall grass, their Pokémon with them. They were tailing a Pokémon that had caught Zeke's attention. He'd recognized it as a Pokémon from his home region, but the name was slipping away from him.

"It was slightly purple for sure, and bird-like. I recognized its call."

"All right, Natsu and I will keep an eye out for this mystery Pokémon," said Claire. Natsu nodded his head, climbing onto Claire's shoulder and looked around.

"Thanks Claire, it should be easy to spot in this yellow grass. But I wonder what Pokémon it could be? The name's slipping away from me."

Suddenly, they heard a shrill cry. Zeke and Claire froze and crouched down to the ground, trying to pinpoint where the sound came from.

Ga'hoole cocked his head and pointed his wing in a certain direction. Claire slowly stood up and started in that direction.

Nestled among the leaves were pale, lavender fathers. Claire crouched back down to the ground, the grass slightly rustling under her weight.

"I think I saw it," said Claire, barely making a sound. "It's too far away for our Pokémon to rush it without it flying away."

"Then we'll get closer."

They quietly and quickly moved towards the Pokémon, the grass rustling as they moved. Zeke held up a hand to stop multiple times, thanking god that the Roto Drones were silent.

He slightly stood up, watching the Pokémon carefully. It had moved somewhat since they started tailing it, but it didn't seem to notice they were here. Zeke moved forward as a soft wind rustled the grass for him.

"There it is Ga'hoole! Use Tackle!"

The Pokémon turned around in surprise and leapt into the air, taking off with its slender wings. The Pokémon was an Oricorio, one that was in its Sensu form. Ga'hoole was already in the air before it and slammed head first into the Pokémon.

"I was right!" shouted Zeke. "Leafage!"

"Natsu, use Ember!"

The Oricorio whipped its wings around and used Air Cutter. The powerful wind attack sliced through the flames and the leaves, rendering both attacks useless.

"It knows Air Cutter already!" said Claire. "Get ready Natsu, this could be a more challenging fight."

The Oricorio waved its wings around and swept a talon forward, moving it in a circle. A harsh wind started flaring around it as it started a slow dance.

"Get back Ga'hoole! It's using its signature move!"

A burst of ghostly energy exploded from the wings of the Oricorio. Ga'hoole leapt back and used Leafage, cutting through the attack and hitting the Pokémon. It vanished from behind the purple cloud and leapt at Ga'hoole, its wings posed to attack.

"Get it Natsu!"

Natsu leapt forward and attacked with Scratch, knocking the Oricorio away. It landed gracefully and whipped its wings around, ready to continue fighting.

"Try this! Smokescreen!'

Natsu breathed a cloud of smoke that enveloped the Oricorio, preventing it from seeing. Claire looked to Zeke and pointed at the enshrouded Pokémon.

"Attack it with Leafage! It won't see it coming."

"I see your logic," said Zeke. "Leafage isn't bright like Ember, so it won't be able to see the attack through the smoke. Use Leafage!"

Ga'hoole fired a flurry of leaves that flew through the clouds and hit the Oricorio. The Oricorio was thrown back and slid backwards.

"All right!" shouted Claire. "While it's unsteady, let loose!"

The Oricorio turned and started to flee, flapping its wings as it escaped.

"Follow it!" said Zeke as all four of them ran after the Pokémon.

It flew down a hill and continued running. Zeke, being ahead of Claire, stopped suddenly to her surprise.

"What's wrong?" asked Claire.

"Look at the view!" said Zeke.

Below them was a huge expanse of yellow and lavender flowers. Claire couldn't help but gaze upon. But she looked to where she saw the Oricorio and pointed at it.

"We can't let it get away. You wanted to catch it right?"

"Oh it's not running away," said Zeke. "Watch."

The Oricorio stooped down and started drinking from a yellow flower. It started glowing white as its form shifted. Gone was its lavender color and sleek wings. It know sported a more cheery attitude as it waved its pom-poms around. Ready to fight.

"Now we engage," said Zeke. "Leafage!"

"Natsu, use Smokescreen and then Scratch!"

Natsu created a stream of smoke as he slid down the hill, followed by Ga'hoole's leaves. The Oricorio dodged the leaves and charged up Revelation Dance. The smoke wafted over the field as Natsu approached, and the Oricorio lost sight of him.

Despite this, the Oricorio still fired its attack, not caring if it hit. With a flash of electricity, the entire cloud lit up before the Oricorio used Air Cutter, directly hitting Natsu.

Claire gasped, realizing the Oricorio's brilliance and why it changed forms. "Natsu! Are you okay?"

Her Charmander gave a weak groan as Ga'hoole rushed in. The Oricorio turned around and waved its pom-poms, firing slashes of air. Ga'hoole flew over them and glowed with a ghostly energy and used Astonish, creating a grotesque projection of himself.

"All right! A new move," cheered Zeke. "It looks like you caught the Oricorio off guard! It isn't responding! Use Tackle while you can!"

Ga'hoole folded his wings and became a ball. He dropped down from the sky and slammed into the Oricorio, knocking it backwards. Natsu got to his feet and rushed forward, not wanting to be bested by a wild Pokémon. He opened his mouth and fired an Ember straight at the Oricorio, burning it.

"All right," said Zeke, putting down the backpack he was carrying. He pulled out a pokéball and caught up to his Pokémon. "You better have an encore cause this fight is over!"

Claire slapped her face at Zeke's one liner. However, the Oricorio did have a last performance. It pom-poms flashed with electricity as it used Revelation Dance, blasting the two Pokemon with its move.

"Ga'hoole! You good buddy?" shouted Zeke as his Rowlet was thrown backwards. "That's it, I'll end this for you!"

He threw the pokéball at the Oricorio and pulled it inside without a hitch. It hit the ground and shook a few times before flashing.

"There we go," said Zeke, picking up the pokéball. He looked over to Claire, who was spraying the two Pokémon with potions.

"Are they okay?" asked Zeke.

"Yeah," said Claire, "That was a good match huh?"

The two Pokémon nodded. Natsu looked eager for more as he stared at Zeke's pokéball eagerly. Ga'hoole however, looked ready to doze off.

"You're right, but now we have a good addition to the team. We're going to take the flying gym by storm."

Team One

"So Alicia, I have a question." said Seth, trying to spark a conversation. Inwardly he chastised himself for trying to talk to someone like her, he was probably only going to make a fool out of himself. But he had to look good for his mom and sister so why not?

"I don't want to hear it. I'm tired of your childish jokes and puns. All it does is make you look like a fool."

"It's a real question this time."

Alicia paused her walking and turned around. "And what makes you think I have to answer your question."

"Don't I guess," said Seth, stretching and giving a yawn. "Not like it's my problem."

"Fine, what do you want to tell me so badly?"

"I was wondering about your life, before you came here of course. Specifically, I want to talk about friends."

"Yes, I know what you're thinking," said Alicia, starting to get annoyed. "You think that because I'm so rich, I don't have any friends because I spend all my time in my mansion, doing whatever pleases me because my life is so full of expensive stuff that I couldn't care less about other people. That's what you think."

Seth sighed, exasperated. "No, I was just wondering because some people might think only to be your friend because you're so rich. Y'know?"

"Of course I do! I'm irresistible, everyone likes me."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," muttered Seth.

"But of course, you're right for once. I do exercise caution when choosing friends. You can't buy friends, anyone who is 'bought' isn't loyal. But this conversation bores me. If you're hoping to be friends with me, then I'm sorry but I decline. I only need you so people can call this a fair challenge. I'd easily beat them two on one."

"Sure," said Seth as they continued walking.

They were entering a forest area. The trees around them thickened as they entered the thickage.

"If we continue at this pace, we should reach the rock type gym tomorrow morning," said Seth. "But it's becoming evening right now, and I'm tired. We should set up camp."

Alicia pulled out her phone. Seth raised an eyebrow as he didn't recognize the model. She caught him staring and smiled.

"Oh, my phone? It's better than whatever I13X Deluxe you could buy."

"What?" asked Seth incredulously. "That's literally the best phone that currently exists!"

"Well you should know that my father had made for me a custom phone, created by his best engineers. It outperforms other models my a wide margin. Certainly better than whatever your father could get you."

Seth stiffened at her words. "Look, I get it, you're rich. Big deal! Now can you stop blathering like a spoiled brat about whatever new toy your dad got you!"

Alicia was taken aback by his harsh tone. "What's gotten into you?"

Seth turned away. "You wouldn't understand."

With that, he turned around and started walking off.

"Hey! You don't just dismiss me like that! Do you know who you're talking to?"

"A spoiled brat. That's who I'm talking to."

Alicia clenched her fists. "You better get back here! You can't just talk to me and then dismiss me like that!"

This time, Seth turned around, angry written clearly on his face. "I suppose you're not used to it, too bad. I just did, and it was all caught on camera, even if they edit this out. I hope they don't though. That's what you get for dissing my late father!"

This time, Alicia paused. "Late- father?"

Seth didn't respond, only going deeper in the forest. Alicia wanted to be angry, but she couldn't anymore. There was nothing more she hated than admitting that something was her fault.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Seth ignored her and walked on, his hands in his pockets. Suddenly, they heard a loud crash coming from deeper into the forest.

"What was that?" asked Seth.

Alicia shrugged, so they headed separately into the forest. When they got there, they found a man facing down three Pokémon: a Graveler and two Lairons. They were all in a forest clearing, and the trees were damaged and the ground was torn up everywhere.

The man was wearing a grand costume. He had a white cape split down the middle from his neck with gold streaks of color all over it, zigzagging and intersecting with other lines. He wore a white long sleeved shirt with blue and black splotches over it, complete with a pair of white gloves. He had a royal purple fedora with a brown band in the middle. On the side were two blue crests, resembling a Gallade. We wore black shorts over white tights and black, gold studded boots.

"You Pokémon don't belong in this forest! You're ruining the ecosystem and are making a nuisance of yourselves! Go back to the cave you belong to!"

The Pokémon gave loud cries, ignoring what the man was saying and instead approaching him. The Pokémon all looked angry, and slightly crazed. The man sighed and pulled out a pokéball from a belt around his waist and threw it.

"I choose you, Keith!"

A grand Gallade appeared, his razor sharp arms clashing together as he landed on the ground, crossing his arm.

"His costume makes sense if you think about it," said Seth. "Those two look great together."

"All right Keith, let's take these guys out! No need to Mega Evolve, use Leaf Blade on the Graveler!"

Keith leapt forward as all three Pokémon charged at him. His arms glowed with green energy as he slashed the Graveler twice, sending it flying back, severely damaged. The Lairons hesitated and took a few steps back.

"The offer still stands," said the man, pointing is the direction of the supposed caves.

The two Lairons turned and ran, unwilling to fight the Gallade that had instantly defeated the Graveler. The man gave a satisfied nod and returned his Pokémon.

"You two over there," he said, turning to face Seth and Alicia. "You're Seth and Alicia right?"

"Of course," said Alicia. "Who else would we be?"

"I know a lot about you. My name is Ajax Kingstone. Along with my sister, Ariel Kingstone, we are the champions of this region. Well, this entire event that is."

"Cool," said Seth. "Must be very powerful trainers to be selected for this. What are you doing out here?"

"Well," said Ajax, tipping down his fedora. "I was notified by the rescue team that there was a feral Pokémon ravaging the caves. Because of this, rock and ground type Pokémon from the cave have been moving out into the forest. This however, is upsetting the ecosystem as they're picking fights with the pokémon that naturally live here. So I've taken it upon myself to defeat whatever is lurking around in the caves."

"Like a real champion," noted Seth.

"Exactly. Now you may be thinking that stuff like this naturally happens, and that everything will sort out by natural occurrence. But I don't think so."

"Why not?" asked Alicia. "This region isn't populated by a lot of people. Just research teams, Pokéstar Studios, and some other private businesses."

"The Pokémon is rumored to be a Barbaracle. If that's true, then that's even more suspicious. Barbaracles typically live in the designated yellow section, boarding close to the red zone. Same goes for Binacles. For one to venture this far and rampage in the cave, something's wrong."

"Well you do that," said Alicia, turning to walk away.

"Hey!" said Seth. "Don't just walk off like that, we should help!"

"Doesn't concern me."

"Two things," said Ajax. "First: This Pokémon means trouble, I don't expect you two to help. Second: You should be concerned. You have to go through the caves in order to make it to the next settlement, and the rock gym is also located in the caves. Be careful, I'm going on ahead."

He walked over to something hidden in leaves and pulled them off. The leaves were actually attached to a wire sheet, and it was covering a powerful red ATV.

He folded the leaf disguise and hopped on the ATV before revving the engine and driving off.

"Come on," said Seth. "I'm sure he'll have taken care of the problem by the time we get there."

Team Distant Past

Diego and Jax were walking through the plain-like area. They were mountains in the distance, and it was slightly chilly.

Diego looked up into the sky, his Cyndaquil on his shoulder. "Looks like it's going to be dark soon. We should find a place to set up camp."

Jax nodded. "I checked out the two man tent, it's pretty easy to set up. It's also been a while since we ate lunch. I'll cook something when we set camp. There should be plenty firewood to set on fire with the help of our Pokémon."

"You can cook?"

"Only simple meals. That place looks nice and flat, let's set up camp there."

They headed over to the area and Jax set the backpack down. He and Diego had been alternating who would carry it.

They got the tent out and looked over the instructions. Jax had been right, it was pretty simple. They staked the tent down to the ground, stretching it out nice and flat. They inserted the poles, clipped them to place, and inserted them into the stakes.

Using the built in pulley system. The pulled on two ropes that were on opposite sides of each other. It took a bit of effort, but soon the tent was standing in a beautiful red glory.

"Looks good," said Diego, crawling in. "And comfortable too."

Diego crawled out of the tent and stood up. "There's two sleeping bags and two inflatable pillows. There's also a drop down curtain directly in the middle of the tent."

"Nice," said Jax. He was busy setting up the campfire. He had already arranged perfect straight blocks of wood together in a teepee.

"Where'd you get the wood from?" asked Diego.

"In the backpack. There's also a couple of fire starters in there, should help it start burning."

Diego nodded. He opened a small drawstring bag that was around his shoulder and showed Jax the contents. There was dry grass, twigs, and crumbled leaves.

"This should help as well," said Jax. "Just throw them inside the teepee and have Snivy set it on fire. I'm going to look through our ingredients."

"How do you know so much about this?"

"Boy scouts. I was in a troop for three years. Didn't go too far though."

Diego nodded. "I have a distant memory of something like this. Me and friends, spending time outside cmaping. Either way, you do what you need to do. Come on Snivy!"

Soon, they had a nice fire going, lighting up the rapidly darkening sky. Jax had an idea for a spicy curry, and they soon they were cooking. There was a small chopping board, so Jax left some berries there as he tended to the fire.

Diego was sitting near the tent, drinking from a water bottle as he watched Valdez and Snivy play. He glanced at the overhead drones. They were sure to stop soon. His sword was next to him inside of its scabbard. He ran a hand over it, deep in thought as nostalgia nagged at his subconcious.

Suddenly, he noticed something. He turned to where Jax had left the berries he planned on using and saw an Eevee creeping towards it.

Before he could do anything, it snatched up a berry and fled. Diego's intrest was peaked as he slowly got up.

He walked over to where the Eevee was running of, signalling to Jax that everything was fine. The Eevee didn't notice him and dove through a bush, causing Diego to crouch down and peep through the bush.

Inside a little hideout, was another Eevee. At this distance, Diego knew it was female, and the first one was male. The thieving Eevee dropped the berry in front of the female one and walked around her, swishing his tail as he puffed out his chest. The female Eevee gave the other on a happy growl and nuzzled him with her head, only adding to his preening.

Diego took a step back and turned around. "Jax, Snivy, Valdez!" he called. "Come quick!"

The two Eevee leapt out of the busy and looked at him warily. Jax and the two Pokémon arrived on the scene before they could flee.

"Found a pair of Eevee huh?" said Jax.

"Yeah I did. And I know exactly what my next Pokémon will be."

Trouble is already stirring on their first day, did Kendra and Katsuya escape the Beedrills unscathed? Will the Barbaracle prove a challenge for Ajax? And will Diego be sucsessful in catching his next Pokémon? So may questions! Good thin the answer will be on episode 5 of Island of Challenge!