Chapter 4
"Beach Blanket Blastoise"
Founja Jungle, Lental
After a long and rough day yesterday, Ashley and Davey headed to the Pokémon Center. The Pokémon Center rested in a selected location in the middle of a jungle on Belusylva Island. Luckily, it wasn't too far from the Elsewhere Forest, so Ashley and Davey were close enough to the airport. Unlike most Pokémon Centers, this one had a nice cozy cabin theme.
Pokémon Centers are essential to Trainers, as they provide many facilities, such as healing stations and trading outposts. A unique feature that was exclusive to some regions was Pokémon Centers, which host Pokémon Mart, so trainers can buy supplies when necessary. Pokémon Centers are usually found in highly populated areas, though sometimes can be found in remote areas in the wilderness. Trainers and their own Pokémon can often be seen hanging around in Pokémon Centers, offering general advice and information on the events in the town or area it is situated in. Sometimes they may even ask for a battle request or trading.
Davey and Ashley were waiting at the front desk for their Pokémon to be finished healing. The Pokémon Center jingle goes off, and Nurse Roy comes out of a room with a mini hospital bed suited for Pokémon. Laying on top of the bed was Ashley's Piplup and Davey's Eevee, over to the side was Deerling's Pokéball. The Pokémon had been refreshed and were now healthy. "We've restored your Pokémon to full health! Thank you for visiting the Pokémon Center. You're welcome to stay as long as you like." The nurse said. He was wearing scrubs and doctor gloves. Right alongside him was Blissey.
Eevee jumps into Davey's arms, and the two cuddle as Ashley grabs Piplup and puts Deerling's Pokéball away. The nurse bows as a sign of respect, and Ashley and Davey bow back at him. "Thank you!"
"Who's that Pokémon?" Ashley asks as she looks at Blissey. She takes out her Pokédex and scans Blissey, hoping to get more information on her.
Blissey happily smiles at Ashley as she points the Pokédex in front of her to scan her so the Pokédex can read. "Blissey, the Happiness Pokémon, a Normal Type. Whenever a Blissey finds a weakened Pokémon, it will share its egg and offer its care until the other Pokémon is all better." The Pokédex informs. Ashley puts her Pokédex away, feeling like she got all the information she needed from her.
"Blissey is my special helper here at the Pokémon Center." Roy explains.
Davey turns to Ashley. "You see, depending on the region, Nurse Joy will have a special assistant helping them out. However, in some regions like Orre or Fiore, there will be a Nurse Roy helming the Pokémon Center instead of a Joy. As for their assistant Pokémon, for example in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh it's Chansey, or in Galar it's the male and female forms of Indeedee. The Partner Pokémon for Nurse Joy or Roy varies depending on the region."
Thanks to his smartphone, Davey was able to show Ashley a picture lineup of all the Nurse Joys and Roy's. It shocks Ashley, because they all looked eerily identical. "How is this possible? All the Roys look the same, and all the Joys look the same! They all look alike!"
"Oh." Nurse Roy butts into the conversation and looks at the phone. "Well, some of those Roys are my twin brothers, brothers, half brothers, cousins, uncles and dads!" He says it so willingly.
"This doesn't make any sense, but oh well!" She shrugs.
An attractive lady with blonde hair and a Croconaw runs up to Nurse Roy with a Pokéball in her hand. "Nurse, do you think you can look after my-" She couldn't finish her sentence, as Nurse Roy grabs her hand and gets down on her knee. It looks as if he was about to propose. "Uh what are you doing...?" She asks.
"Listen, you can call me Roy, but if you want, I can call you by your name." Blissey grabs Nurse Roy by the ears using her right arm, and drags him away. While she uses her other hand to grab the girl, her Pokémon follows them. She was going to help the girl out, though she mostly wants the nurse to stop his terrible flirting.
Ashley and Davey watch away, feeling shame and embarrassment. "What just happened?" Ashley asks.
"I'm not so sure…" Davey replies. They watch them until they leave the room. Suddenly a thought pops into Davey's head. He snaps his fingers. "Oh right! We need to call the Professor and tell him about what I saw!"
"Right." Ashley nods.
The duo heads over to one of the computers, and they video call Professor Moss. Processor Moss appears on screen. They talk to the Professor a bit, explaining the things that happened to them while they were in Lental, but it just makes the curious Professor ask more questions. "So a mysterious fog took you away Davey?"
"Yeah!" Davey explains, nodding his head. "And when I was there, I saw all four different seasonal forms of Sawsbuck."
The Professor was shocked. "Wait really?"
"Yeah! It was a beautiful experience!"
"What about you Ashley, could you see anything regarding Sawsbuck?"
Ashley shakes her head no. "Nope. It was all Davey."
Davey was disappointed he wasn't able to get any evidence about what he saw, so he hopes he will believe him when he tells them about it. "Sadly… Because my phone died, I wasn't able to see anything…"
"That's okay Davey! I trust all my students 100%, and I believe you did see Sawsbuck! What's important is that both you and Ashley experienced something new today!"
He was happy the Professor was so lenient and relaxed, unlike his teachers back at his other schools or his strict dad. He looks down at Eevee, wanting to show it off to the Professor. Davey looks down at Eevee. "But if it wasn't for me being swept away by that fog, I wouldn't have met this Eevee!"
He shows Professor Moss the Eevee. The first thing he noticed was Eevee's haircut, as well as its tail. The most surprising thing about it was seeing Davey holding a Pokémon. "I see you got over your Poképhobia! Your Eevee looks like a perfectly healthy girl!"
Davey and Eevee both blush and smile. "Thank you Professor! I haven't quite got over my Poképhobia. But there's something about this Eevee that just clicks with me. By the way, there's something remarkable about this Eevee that I need to tell you about."
"Oh and what is it?" This peaks the Professor's interest.
"You see, my Eevee can use Fire, Water and Electric-type moves. I don't know why or how, but I've just been calling them Sizzly Slide, Bounce Bubble and Buzzy Buzz. Those are the names I came up with for them!"
"They sound like something that a kid would come up with…" Ashley mumbles.
"Shut up, they're wholesome!"
This news surprises the Professor. He tries to get an even close look at Eevee, trying to figure out what was so special about it. But there was little to no room to decipher the differences between the normal Eevee and Davey's Eevee. "That's quite the "unique" Eevee, you caught there Davey. I'd like to do some more research on it when you get back. As for how it can use those moves, I'm not sure. I know Eevee has unstable genetic makeup, but coincidentally using the same type of attacks as its Kantonian evolutionary lines is mysterious." The Professor was thinking, putting Ashley to sleep. The Professor continues to think about it, trying to come up with a solution for this mystery.
Davey hears Ashley snoring and nudges her to wake her up. "Wake up!"
Ashley wakes up thanks to Davey's nudge and shakes her head. "How long was I asleep for? Sorry this was getting boring."
"I'd like to do some studying on your Eevee to figure out what's going on with it, sometime. I hope you wouldn't mind…" He might not find something out about Eevee today, but that didn't mean he was ready to give up.
"Not at all!"
"Oh yeah, I forgot!" The Professor remembers. "While you are there, I have another assignment for the two of you."
"Another assignment!?" Ashley and Davey both spoke. Ashley said it in a disappointing tone; while Davey said it in a more energetic tone.
"I've gotten a report from a fellow Professor here at the Academy, that one of his research fellows, Blastoise, is acting very erratically." The Professor starts. "The names of the students are Yuki and Celine, and if you want to find them, they'll be on Blushing Beach. It's a small island there on Lental. Here is a video they sent me." He grabs his tablet and then goes to a video that shows Yuki's Blastoise going manic. It was a short video, so the video loops.
"What's wrong with it?" A confused Ashley asks. "Why are its eyes red?"
Davey put the pieces together as he analyzes every frame of the video. "That has to be a Shadow Pokemon!" Davey steps back a bit, after realizing that that was a shadow Pokemon in the video. Hearing about Shadow Pokemon brought back bad memories from his past. He didn't want to tell anyone about his traumatic childhood, so Davey shakes it off.
"A what?"
"A Shadow Pokemon! They first appeared in Orre years ago. They're Pokemon that have had their hearts closed and corrupted by a dark aura, which causes them to do malicious things." Davey explains. He uses his Rotom Phone to show her examples of the Orre Region, as well as more various examples of Shadow Pokemon.
"Okay, Mr. Exposition, if you know so much about all this, why are you in the Normal Class?"
"That's… a long story." Davey gets nervous, anxiously avoiding the question.
Ashley kept thinking. "So if these Pokemon are more dangerous, why are you sending two teenagers out there to confront them?" She asks, making a good point.
"While you're not wrong Ashley, all I want you two to do is see if you can get a sample of that Shadow Aura. I would like to study it and see what it is about the aura that causes Pokemon to act the way it does. These Shadow Pokemon seem way more vicious compared to the ones that appeared in Orre years ago. Besides, your fellow Academy peers could use your help."
"Fine." Ashley agrees to help, but she wasn't thrilled about it. Ashley turns her head and sees something was off about Davey, but she kept it to herself.
Blushing Beach, Lental
Celine, her Sliggoo nicknamed Goona and Yuki, have been hiding behind a rock for a few minutes now. Goona was attached to Celine's arms, just vibing about, but worried for her trainer's safety. Yuki was worried about his partner too, as he sneaked quick little peeks to see how Blastoise was doing. He was freaking out. "We were supposed to be here trying to grab an Illumina orb for Professor Maple and having fun, but instead we have to worry about a possessed Pokemon!" He starts pulling out his hair.
"Shut up Celine! Blastoise is not possessed!"
"Well, there's something going on with your Pokemon, Celine. And it's not normal."
Yuki didn't want to give up hope. "There has to be something we can do to stop Blastoise."
"You can try using another one of your Pokemon!"
"That's a great idea!" He grabs one of his Pokeballs and taps the center of it. However, the Pokeball wouldn't respond at all. He worries. "What in the hell is going on? Why isn't my Poke Ball working?"
Celine decided to try it out too, and she got the same response with one of her Poke Balls. "Mines aren't working either."
"Something has to be going on."
Blastoise peaks from around the corner. He turns around and points his cannons at the trio. He roars. Yuki and Celine turn around and face the mischievous Pokemon. They huddle together and scream.
"We have to get out of here!" Celine shouts. Celine and Yuki get up and run as Blastoise launches its cannons at the students and starts blasting shadow pellets at the duo, causing explosions and dust clouds. Despite being slow, Blastoise starts chasing after the two students.
Blastoise chases the students deep into the jungle. The two needed a fast escape from the monster's sight, so they wouldn't get caught. Celine notices that, and she surveys the area around her. "We need to hide somewhere." She informs her friend.
"But Blastoise!"
"The Blastoise you love and know is out of commission." Celine replies. Blastoise roars and looks at the duo's feet and prepares her cannons. Blastoise launches another shadow pellet attack at the duo, causing another explosion, but this time it makes the duo jump into the air. They land behind a tree nearby, out of Blastoise sight. This confuses Blastoise as she looks around the area. But much to his dismay, he couldn't find them. So he left.
The two fell pretty hard, but luckily enough, the fall wasn't too much. "Are you okay, Goona?" Celine asks. Goona nods her head as Celine hugs her partner Pokemon and cries. "I'm so glad you're alright." Celine turns her head to see if Blastoise was still around, but it wasn't. "Looks like Blastoise is gone.
Yuki grabs Celine by the shirt and starts shaking her. "Gone? We need to find Blastoise and save it!"
"I know that, Yuki. But what in the world can we possibly do? It's not like we have a Shadow Purifier anywhere around here."
Yuki sighs. "I know. But I miss Blastoise and want my buddy back with me again."
"Hey, we're going to save Blastoise! Didn't Professor Maple say she informed two students; who were in Lental about the situation?" She consoles her by putting her right hand on Yuki's shoulder. "So we just have to be patient and wait for them."
Yuki brushes off Celine's hand. He shakes his head and stands up. "No, I'm tired of waiting. I can't just stand idly by and watch my Blastoise be mind controlled by darkness."
A mysterious young adult approaches them. The unique thing about this girl was that she had a long braid ponytail tied together by a plastic Dustox hair clip. On her jacket, she had an emblem with an X. Her partner Pokemon wraps her tentacles around her for a bit, before deciding to stand by her right side. She wore a yellow tie, just like Yuki did, but hers had a star on it.
"I think I can be of assistance." She smirks as she approaches the two duo. Her Toedscruel comes from behind her. "Need a hand?" She winks and holds her right hand out. She also had a wide smile on her face. Her smile was both cunning and friendly. Celine and Yuki were surprised to see her and look at one another. "I think I might know where Blastoise is…"She winks.
Ashley and Davey have arrived on Blushing Beach, which has a mighty green forest with thick tropical trees, branching paths and sandy beach. It was a cute little island with only one Pokemon Center, but thriving with lots of Pokemon. Ashley and Davey walking on the sands of the beach. Both hold onto the straps of their backpacks, with Davey holding Eevee and Piplup nesting onto Ashley's right shoulder.
Davey's mind has been racing about Shadow Pokemon since they left the Founja Jungle. Ashley didn't want to bug Davey about it, but she didn't like seeing her friend feel down. "Is everything okay?" She asks.
Davey freezes. "Uh, yeah… Everything is fine. I just have a lot on my mind!"
"Right…"
All of a sudden, Ashley and Davey feel a sudden breeze as the trees start to sway back and forth.
The duo begins to feel a slight breeze, a hasty change from the hot weather from earlier. "Ashley, does it feel cold to you all of a sudden?" Davey asks his partner.
Ashley nods. "Yeah, it does."
A horde of Pokemon, which consisted of a Zangoose, Seviper, Bellossom, Inkay, Pyukumuku, Machamp and Stunfisk, jumped out of bushes and surrounded Davey and Ashley. Each one of them was surrounded in a dark aura, with their eyes now red. Meaning they have been turned into Shadow Pokemon.
Davey clings onto Ashley and shakes. "Save me Ashley!"
"Dude, you have a Pokemon of your own!"
"I know, but I'm scared." Davey starts crying. He sees his life beginning to flash right before his eyes. "I'm going to die!"
"You're not going to die! Davey, you can battle it yourself!"
"I-I-I-I don't wanna have a Pokemon battle. What if a Pokemon touches me and I die?" He expresses. Davey holds on tightly to Eevee.
"You're literally being dramatic." She rolls her eyes. She looks down at Piplup and grabs Deerling's Poke Ball. "You ready to do this thing Piplup?" She asks. Piplup nods and jumps out of Ashley's arms. The proud penguin was ready to rumble.
Ashley presses the center of the device, but nothing happens. "What the?" She asks. She continuously pressed it, but nothing was happening. "Why isn't my Poke Ball working?"
The Shadow Pokemon launches an attack at the duo, causing an explosion made out of dust clouds and knocking Ashley and Davey back. Some dust got in both of their lungs, making them cough. "Why didn't you send out Deerling?" Davey asks.
"It's Poke Ball didn't work." She tries again to demonstrate it to Davey, and he catches on. "I don't know what's going on."
Davey thought for a second. "Something doesn't seem right-" Before he could say anything, the Shadow Pokemon were preparing to launch another attack.
"We don't have time Davey!" Ashley grabs Davey by the arm, and the two run off.
The Shadow Pokemon's combined attack lands and hits the two trainers. Davey and Ashley knock into a nearby tree. The tree shakes, and a Gligar lands on top of Davey's head. Davey feels the weight of someone on top of him. It was quite the unsettling feeling.
Ashley laughs. "Davey, there's a Gliglar on your head."
Davey looks up and sees Gligar staring at him. Laughing and sticking his tongue out. Davey starts to feel dizzy. His anxiety was beginning to get to him. "I feel like I'm seeing things." Davey wraps his arms around himself and passes out.
The horde of Shadow Pokemon approaches the duo again. Ashley grabs Davey by the shirt and shakes him. "Wake up man, we might die." She repeatedly slaps him.
Davey wakes up. "Did a handsome strong man just hit me?" He blushes, daydreaming of a hunk hitting him.
"No! Pull yourself together man!" Ashley shouts.
Ashley and Davey turn as the Shadow Pokemon glare at them. Davey and Ashley hug each other as they scream in peril. Gligar, in wanting to protect Davey, glides into the air. Gligar's claws glow in a stunning light. It slashes several of the Shadow Pokemon one by one in an 'X'-like fashion.
Gligar flies away and then faces them upfront. Gligar opens its mouth and shrieks loudly, causing white shock waves to come out. The Shadow Pokemon that could hold their ears as the loud noise began bothering them.
Ashley nods her head at Piplup, and Piplup does the same. Ashley balls up her fist and calls out an attack. "Piplup, use Bubble." Piplup takes in a deep breath and spits out various bubbles at the enemy target. The bubbles land and hit the horde of Shadow Pokemon. "Come on." Ashley grabs Davey's arm again, and they run off. Using their past attacks as a distraction to take off. But the Pokemon horde simply weren't ready to give up the good fight, and they roared.
After walking around the island for several minutes, they arrive on the beach. They see a Blastoise walking around. The skies were beginning to look like a ring of fire as the sun started to set. Davey and Ashley look at each other, as Davey recognizes that the Blastoise must belong to one of the other two students on Lental. "That must be that Blastoise."
"What Blastoise?"
"The one we're looking for!" Davey facepalms.
"Oh… right."
"I don't see what Zack sees in you."
"There's a lot he sees in me." She winks.
Davey rolls his eyes. "You're insufferable." Davey thinks for a second. "If Blastoise is here, then that must mean its trainer must not be too far from here."
"You're not wrong, but what are we going to do about it?"
"I don't know Ashley." Davey responds. "What can we do?"
Ashley looks up at Davey's head and sees Gligar sitting there. It was funny how Davey didn't feel a thing. Davey sees Ashley laughing, and it upsets him. "Why are you laughing?"
"Because Gligar is still on your head!"
"WHAT?!" Davey runs around until Gligar finally falls off his head. He freaks out and hides behind Ashley. "Get away from me, get away from me, get away from me!" He repeats as he shakes.
"Boy, you need to get yourself together." Ashley and Piplup shrug.
Eevee worries for her trainer and comforts her. Eevee rubs her head up against Davey, and he pets her. "Don't worry Eevee, everything is fine. I just don't know why that Gligar is stalking me." Gligar dances and laughs. But deep down, Gligar wanted Davey to give it attention without freaking out.
Davey hears something. It was the sound of someone running, the steps of their shoes brushing up the grass and crunching the various branches scattered across the ground. He then hears the steps of two more people.
"Blastoise!" The person cries out. It was Yuki.
"Yuki, get back here! That wasn't part of the plan!" Celine responds. She stopped as she was soon out of breath. Behind her was Kimberly, who stopped too. Yuki, Celine and Kimberly had talked a while in the forest, trying to come up with a plan to stop Blastoise. But as you could see, the plan stopped as soon as Yuki heard the cries of agony in his partner Pokemon.
Blastoise could sense Yuki and look at him. Yuki stops and stares at Blastoise. The two share a quick moment, as they just keep staring at each other. "You don't have to do this Blastoise." He slowly walks up to Blastoise, not wanting to get hurt. "Whatever has gotten into you, I know what we could-" Before he could stop, Blastoise roared.
The sun finally set, and it was now the start of civil dawn. Blastoise looks up into the sky and aims its cannons up into the air. This time Blastoise does something unique, as it shoots out one big purple ball from its cannon. Pellets come from out of the ball, and start shooting like firecrackers. Each one aiming in a different direction.
Yuki was scared, as one of the pellets came in his direction. "Yuki! Watch out!" Celine grabs Yuki, and the two land on the ground. They got up and saw as one of the pellets came towards them, and they hugged each other. They scream in fear.
Kimberly acts fast, seeing as the two students were in danger. "Toedscruel use Protect." Kimberly orders. Toedscruel jumps in front of the group and creates a blue hive-like force field that shields Kimberly's group. One of the pellets hit the force field and quickly dissolved, not even leaving a scratch on it. Several more bullets hit the force field, and they too dissolve.
One of the bullets in the sky was getting ready to hit Davey and Ashley. Davey and Eevee, scared out of their minds, hold onto each other as Gligar is prepared to fight. Ashley was ready to take action, and her chance in stance proved that. "I don't have time to sit here and not do anything. Piplup use Bubble!"
Toedscruel's shield dissolves, as there were no bullets flying in their direction. The group heard the sounds of people coming from the other side, and they turned in that direction. Kimberly notices they were Pokemon Academy students due to the two wearing uniforms. "Huh? Students… and they're Normal Class students." She could tell they were normal class students by the red tie they were wearing. Each grade at the Academy was represented by the tie the student wore. Red for Normal, Yellow for Great, Green for Ultra and Blue for Master.
Kimberly takes another closer look and sees Davey. "Davey? What are you doing here?"
Piplup takes in a deep breath and spits out several bubbles. But the bubbles end up being destroyed by the pellet, and the pellet hits Piplup, sending it flying aback. Two more pellets flew in the direction of Davey's group, ready to strike at them. Ashley rushes in to the aid of Piplup. "Piplup! Are you okay?" Ashley runs over to Piplup and looks after her, but luckily Piplup hadn't taken too much damage.
Piplup lets out a cheery cry, giving Ashley the signal that it was alright. "I'm glad you're okay Piplup!" Ashley hugs Piplup for a quick second before she looks up. "But we shouldn't be celebrating too soon." Ashley shields Piplup by using her head.
Davey stands there as if he was frozen in time. He didn't know what to do. What should I do? He looks at both Eevee and Gligar, knowing that they could protect him. But he is still too afraid to have a Pokemon battle. Gligar and Eevee both know they could protect Davey and Ashley, as they both grab Davey's pants. He smiles at them and gets serious. "I know that with my friends by my side, I can protect them." He says. "Gligar use X-Scissor, Eevee use Buzzy Buzz!" Davey orders. Ashley and Piplup were shocked to see Davey command the two Pokemon to attack in a battle.
Gligar creates a light blue X made out of aura that slices one of the shadow pellets in half, while Eevee's body becomes engulfed in electricity and aims it at one of the pellets, destroying it when it lands. "We did it!" Davey, Gligar and Eevee cheer as they dance around. Gligar and Eevee jump into Davey's arms, and he hugs both of them. At first he was shocked to see that he hugged Gligar, and wanted to freak out, but he didn't. They embraced further.
Davey grabs a small jar and uses it to catch some shadow debris still in the air. He managed to get an awful lot. Once he grabs enough of it, he closes the jar and shuts it tight. "Mission complete." He says to himself as he puts the jar away.
Now that there were no more Shadow Pellets, Ashley felt safe to get up with Piplup in her arms. "Wow, I'm surprised you actually did that…"
"I know, I was too. But as soon as I saw my friends in danger, I knew I had to take action."
Ashley laughs as she grabs Davey by the neck and gives him a noogie. "Oh you're such a nerd! That was one of the corniest things I ever heard."
"And you're a loser." The two laugh.
Blastoise continues to roar. "Blastoise!" Yuki gets off Celine and stands facing his partner Pokemon. His eyes became moist, trying his best to hold back his tears. He spreads his arms out, so he wouldn't seem threatening. He steps up a bit to Blastoise, but the shadows around it enlarge and get thicker. Blastoise charges at Yuki with full force.
"YUKI!" Celine screams; showing concern for her friend as she was on edge. She felt like the worst was about to happen. Everyone else was concerned, as they all stood there and watched.
Yuki slides backwards a tad bit. "I'm not giving up on you, Blastoise. No matter what!" He had determination in his eyes, a sharp look full of confidence. He thought back to the day he first met Blastoise as a Squirtle. "When I found you that day, I promised you that I would always be by your side no matter what!"
-FLASHBACK-
Years ago, it was raining outside in a lush green forest near the campgrounds of one of the Pokemon Academy Preparation Camps. With a damp smell and harsh moss covered on the trees, a young ten year old Yuki was running in the forest with his two friends Harold and Sloan. Solan was running next to her Zubat, and Harold was standing next to his Durant. The children were trying their hardest to hurry up and find some sort of nearby shelter, but the downpour from the rain was getting in their way. Luckily, they had their raincoats on.
Sloan
"We have to hurry to the mess hall guys before we get in trouble!" Sloan says.
"Yeah! If we don't hurry up, Scoutmaster Kaleb will chew us out!" Harold replies.
They continue to run, but stop as soon as they hear the sounds of a crying Pokemon. "What was that?" Harold asks.
They turn their heads to see the sight of a trio of Scythers, each of varying sizes, torturing a baby Squirtle with their Scythes. Squirtle cries as it had bruises and scratches all over its body, but mostly on its shell.
Yuki seethes at the sight. His blood boils as he clenches his fits. He grins. "Leave Squirtle alone!" He shouts. He bends down and grabs a nearby rock. He throws the rock far enough so it wouldn't hit them. But instead warm them. The Sycther hiss at the trio, and instead of retaliating, they fly off.
"And don't come back!" Sloan shouts.
Yuki rushes to the aid of Squirtle. He bends down to grab Squirtle and hold it in his arms. "Are you okay?"
Squirtle tenses up. It hides inside its shell. Yuki smiles. "Look, I know that I'm just a stranger, but I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure you get back to tip top shape." Hearing Yuki pour his heart out makes Squirtle take his head out of its own shell. Squirtle still felt the aching pain. It closes on its eyes as a side effect.
Yuki looks Squirtle right in the eye. "I promise Squirtle, that I will never leave you. I'll stay by your side 24/7 until you get better." Yuki hugs Squirtle, and the two cry. Even though they just met, Squirtle felt a sense of hospitality with the young boy.
Yuki brought himself back to the present day. His memories of Blastoise, both the good and bad times, brought up all sorts of emotions. Some that he thought he kept locked up forever. But the memory of when he first met Blastoise was what punched him in the gut. "And ever since that day, we have stood by each other's side. We graduated from the Preparation Camp together, battled many people, both friends and foe alike, we've done almost everything together, and I'm not going to give up on you no matter what!" Yuki starts crying.
Blastoise felt something. An internal struggle began to get to him. His true side tries his best to resist the corrupted shadows, but it was just getting too overwhelming.
Blastoise releases a wave of shadow aura. "I refuse to give up!" Yuki closes his eyes.
Everyone jumps into the call of action to save Yuki.
"Eevee use Buzzy Buzz, Gligar use Screech!"
"Piplup, use Bubble!"
"Toedscruel use Sludge Bomb!"
"Gonna use Dragon Pulse!"
Each of the Pokemon prepares their attacks and launches them at Blastoise. Blastoise roars. The attacks land, but due to the strong nature of corruption, the attacks barely do anything. It shrugs the attacks off. Instead of causing damage to Blastoise, all it does is make it angrier. Blastoise creates a ball made from the essence of its darkness. Blastoise jumps up and throws the ball on the ground. It blows it, causing yet another explosion. Once the dust settles, it causes them all to cough. Luckily, it didn't do much damage to anyone.
Yuki gets up from the ground and runs towards Blastoise. Yuki hugs Blastoise. "No matter what you do Blastoise, I will stand by your side." Yuki cries into Blastoise's chest. Unexpectedly, a mysterious green light appears in the sky.
"What is that?" Celine asks.
They all turned their attention to up in the sky in awe, wondering what was about to happen. The greenlight dissolves, revealing itself to be none other than the mythical Pokemon, Celebi. Everyone was shocked to see Celebi.
"Well, I'll be damned." Kimberly swears.
"That's-that's Celebi!" Davey was so stunned that he was unable to speak or react normally. His heart stopped as he stood there rooted in the sand. His eyes widened as he had to blink twice to make sure he was seeing as he was seeing.
Celebi's body glows light green as waves of light green energy come out of it and into the sky. Sparkling powder comes from out of the rings, and heals everyone, all across the Lental Region, including Blastoise, who is now back to normal.
"Blastoise, you're okay!" Yuki says. Blastoise hugs Yuki with a tight grip. It cried as it was happy to return to its old self. "I'm glad to have you back, Blastoise. But can you please not hug me so tight?" Blastoise felt bad, and let's go of Yuki.
Yuki looks at Celebi. "Thank you Celebi." Celebi smiles, waves and flies off, leaving a trail of sparkles behind. Yuki was happy, and so was Blastoise as the two continued to hug each other. "I bet you're hungry." Yuki reaches into his pocket and pulls out a Supreme Spring Pokepuff. Blastoise munches on it while Yuki watches.
Ashley and Davey were happy to see Yuki and Blastoise doing better. "We're glad you're Blastoise is doing alright, sucks we didn't get to do much." Ashley says as she and Davey walk up to them, holding their partner Pokemon in their hands, with Gligar next to Davey. Seeing them reminded them of how close a trainer and Pokemon could be, something they both hoped to strive for with their own Pokemon.
"No worries, it's the thought that counts." Yuki says. Yuki gets up. "My name is Yuki, it's nice to meet you. And this is Celine, my Research Task Partner." Yuki points to Celine as she walks over towards them. Yuki rests his right hand on Celine's shoulder.
"Hiya" Celine greets and nods. Gonna climbs up on Celine's shoulder and waves.
"Same to you too! I'm Ashley, and this nerd over here is Davey."
"Hey!" Davey was pissed at Ashley's insulting introduction. It was embarrassing for him. No matter how true the comment was.
"It's true, you are a nerd." Ashley responds. She truly didn't care, but simultaneously she was just fooling around. It was a comment that wasn't made to be taken seriously. Despite the nature of the comment, Celine and Yuki chuckle a bit. But it was mostly because of Ashley's playful personality.
Davey pouts. "Whatever." Davey responds. "Though it's great to meet more upperclassmen. Besides Ashey's boyfriend Zack and our friend Cole, we haven't met many."
"I'll admit, when I heard from Professor Maple that two Normal Class students were sent to help us, I was worried. But after seeing you two in action, I can tell you two have a lot of potential." Yuki explains.
Davey blushes. "Thank you! That means a lot coming from true Ultra Class students." Davey could tell they were Ultra Class students because of the ties they were wearing. Hearing the admiration of two upper-class students gave him a sense of pride and accompaniment.
Ashley shrugs. "I mean, I don't see the big deal. Zack is an Ultra Class student." She felt the need to defend her boyfriend, feeling like Davey was personally insulting him.
"Oh, I mean no disrespect to Zack. It's just that I'm used to hanging out with him. Besides, it's Zack. He's carefree, arrogant and distrustful."
"That's true, and I can't deny that. But at least he's hot and has a shiny Electivire." The starry eyed girl gushes and daydreams about her boyfriend.
Davey ignores Ashley. "Like I said, we couldn't do much, but I'm glad we could help, for a bit."
"It's no big deal. Seriously, if it wasn't for Celebi, all of us would be in trouble." Yuki explains.
Ashley starts to think. "You know, how did Blastoise even become a Shadow Pokemon?" It was a serious question that needed to be answered. Everyone looks at each other, because it was a good question, but no, they knew the answer.
"I don't know, it just sort of happened randomly." Yuki explains.
Celine begins thinking also. There was one idea she had in mind, but she wasn't sure if she should say it. But she says it anyway. "Maybe it was the work of the Order-"
Yuki hurries up and shuts that down, by covering Celine's mouth so he wouldn't talk. "Shh." He says. It became hard for Yuki to talk as he mumbled and struggled to breathe.
Ashley and Davey look at each other in confusion. "The Order?" Ashley asks.
"You have grown, haven't you Davey?" Ashley pops up from behind Davey, scarring both him and Ashley. Her Toedscruel was wrapped around her body. The two of them looked like a weird human-Pokemon fusion. It was strange as Kimberly stood there as if nothing was wrong, while Ashley and Davey were freaked out. "Is something wrong?"
"Who in the hell are you?" Ashley asks.
Before Kimberly could say anything, Davey rudely interrupted Ashley, who was still freaking out and mumbling. Davey calms down once he remembers who Kimberly was. "Kimberly, I haven't seen you in years!" Davey goes to give Kimberly a hug, but he is frightened by Toedscruel and backs away.
"Miss Kimberly." Yuki and Celine say as they bow to their superior.
They puzzled Ashley with their bowing. "Why are you two bowing? Is she like a princess or something?"
"Girl, show some respect! That's Miss Kimberly. The Dean of the Ultra Class." Yuki presents.
"The who-what now?" Ashley asks.
"The Dean of the Ultra Class. Yes, the school has a principal, but a dean represents each grade. There are four deans, each in charge of one of the four grades. The deans are strong, powerful trainers, and the students at the Academy respect them." Celine explains.
"I'm sorry to hear about your mom Davey, it must be hard not to have her around. She was a great person and researcher." Kimberly says.
Davey looks down and sighs. He figures that he might as well talk about with somebody, especially with Kimberly, someone he's known for practically his entire life. "Yeah, it's been really hard. And to tell you the truth, seeing so many Shadow Pokemon today reminded me of my mom. Before she disappeared, she was actually researching Shadow Pokemon. So it brought back so many memories."
Kimberly recognizes the boy was sad, and wanted to give him some sort of hope. "Hey, your dad is working hard to find her, so don't worry too much about it. He will!"
"Sure he will…" He responds.
Kimberly sees that standing next to Davey was an Eevee. This surprises her. But simultaneously, she gives Eevee a look like she's seen it before. "I see you caught yourself an Eevee." Kimberly gets down and looks at Eevee. She tries to pet it, but Eevee turns around and looks at Davey's chest. "I guess Eevee is shy."
"Eevee just needs more time to warm up to people, that's all."
Kimberly smiles. "I see you've also gotten over your fear of Pokemon!"
"Well no." Davey scratches the back of his head. "It's quite complicated."
Yuki's Rotom Phone begins ringing. "You have five hours to finish your assignment," bzztz, bzztz." The Rotom Phone informs Yuki.
"Oh no Celine, we have to go!" Yuki says. Celine nods at him, and the two start walking. Before they go off, Yuki and Celine turn to Davey and Ashley and nod. "It was nice meeting you, thank you for everything!" Yuki shouts.
"Let's be friends and hang out sometime! We'll see you at the Academy!" Celine shouts, and the two run off to finish their assignment. Davey and Ashley wave back with smiles on their faces.
"Well, at least we know that technology should be working now." Ashley speculates. She grabs a Poke ball, taps the center of it, and it becomes bigger. Which meant her theory was correct.
Gligar tugs on Davey's pants, trying to get his attention. "Is everything okay Gligar?" He asks. Gligar was grinning like a newborn baby who saw one of its parents for the first time. Davey quickly notices what was going on with Gligar as he grabs a Dusk Ball from his pocket. "You wanna come with me, do you?"
Gligar nods. Davey taps the center of the ball, and it becomes big. Davey bends down and hits Gligar on the head. The ball opens up and Gligar goes inside. The ball shakes once and stops as stars surround it. "I caught a Gligar!" Davey shouts as he throws his hands into the air. Eevee was happy for Davey, and so was Ashley.
"Congrats bro." Ashley playfully punches Davey in the arm.
"Gligar, I choose you!" He throws the ball up into the air, and Gligar comes out. Gligar lunges onto Davey's head and sticks his tongue out. "I guess I'm going to have to get used to this."
Kimberly's phone starts to ring. "I should take this. I'll see you two back at the Academy." Kimberly walks away and answers her phone. "Hello." She says.
Eevee glares at Kimberly as she watches her walk away. She shivers.
Castelia City, Unova
After a short-but-sweet flight, Davey and Ashley return to the Unova Region. They made it back to Unova in time, just to catch Professor Cotton, who was still at school. His office was a little empty, with not all the lights on. Minccino was sleeping on Cotton's desk as he looked at the whiteboard. "Here you go Professor!" Ashley hands the Professor the jar. which had a pinch of shadow Pokemon aura inside. Moving around and spinning like a merry go round.
"Thank you Ashley." Cotton responds. He bows to the two students and looks at the jar. He was intrigued by how mysterious it was. The jar starts to shake, which surprises the Professor. "Did the jar shake at all while you two had it?" He asks.
Ashley and Davey look at each other and shake their heads 'no'. "No Professor." Davey says.
Ashley agrees with Davey. "Yes, it just kind of stood there."
"Interesting. look into it, same with Eevee too." The Professor pets Eevee and she purrs. "Aren't you a good little girl?" He says. He starts to inspect the Eevee, and even he could tell there was something unique about it. But he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "You know Davey, I've met tons of Eevee's during my time as a Pokemon Professor, and there's something about this Eevee that seems strange. I would like to take a better look at it sometime. I wanna see what's so special about it."
"That's fine." Davey says.
"Now as for your grades…" The Professor begins thinking. Ashley and Davey look at their professor with anticipation. "You both get an A-" The Professor turns around and puts the jar on the desk. He gives the jar another quick glance. There was a where vibe he got from the jar, but he wasn't sure if the feeling was profound, so he just shrugs it off.
"WHAT?" Davey screams.
"Alright an A!" Ashley cheers.
"Why are you giving me an A- Professor?" Davey asks, feeling disappointed.
Professor Cotton smiles. "Well, you two did a good job, but I have to deduct points due to your failure to complete the previous assignment."
Davey sighs. "Okay, that makes sense…" He shrugs, but he wasn't happy about it. As the three continued to talk, the jar continued to shake, the shaking was getting more vigorous. Luckily, it didn't fall.
After parting ways, Davey rushes home so he could show his father the new developments that happened to him in the Lental Region. His father was in his study, talking on the phone and taking care of some serious business. "So the plan was a success then?" His father asks.
Davey bursts into the room. "Dad, I have something to show."
"Sorry." He puts one of his hands over his phone and gets up out of his chair. "Davey, this better be important, because I am in the middle of a serious phone call right no-" He stops as he looks at Davey's Eevee. He barely paid any attention to Gligar. "That Eevee…" All he could do was stare at Eevee.
"I caught Eevee and befriended this Gligar as well!" Davey explains.
"Interesting." Damon thinks.
"But you wanna know the unique thing about this Eevee, dad? It can use Fire, Water and Electric type attacks!" Davey explains. He picks up Eevee so his dad could get a better look at his Pokemon. "I've talked to Professor Cotton, and he said he's going to help do research on it."
Damon nods. "This Eevee sure does look special. So, we have to keep an eye on it. Okay Davey?" Damon starts to pet Eevee, and Eevee enjoys it, purring happily.
"Yes dad." Davey nods. He hadn't seen this side of his dad in a long time. It was both weird and strange. However, Davey didn't mind. Seeing his dad finally be happy instead of grumpy meant a lot to him. "But I'm still not over my fear of Pokemon."
"I mean, of course you aren't. You are a weakling after all." His dad insults him. Davey goes back to look down and sad. "Now I have to get back to work, so please get away from me."
"Okay, dad." Davey starts walking away.
"And remember Davey, take good care of that Eevee." Damon pushes Davey out of his room and shuts the door on his son's face.
Davey was confused, but to see that his father at least cared about Eevee, just as much as he did, gave Davey hope that things could work out between the two of them. "Did you hear that Eevee? My father is coming around, he at least cares about something related to me!" Davey says with so much joy in his voice. Eevee just raised her eyebrow, but understood Davey's happiness.
"I found it." Damon says over the phone. He sits back in his chair and puts his feet up on his desk. "Looks like all the pieces are coming together for our plan…"
Authors Note: Several months later, and we finally have Chapter 4 completed. This chapter took a while to get out, mostly because I wasn't sure what direction I wanted it to go in. But finally, I came up with something. But hey, at least Davey and Ashley finished their first Research Task assignment.
But this chapter asks some serious questions: Who caused the Pokemon to become Shadow Pokemon? What is the Order? What is it about this Eevee that makes it mysterious? And just where is Davey's mom?
Originally, this chapter was going to reveal a lot more, but I decided to cut some things so I wouldn't make things too obvious.
Also, I would like to thank SerpentFeather and Void eyes prominence dragon for submitting Yuki and Celine. Even though they made their debut in the last chapter, this chapter explores them some more.
I would also like to thank GowthertheGreat and shianen for submitting Harold and Sloan! This marks there first appearance in the story, even though it was in a flashback. But we'll see them some more.
I'm going to keep what Chapter 5 is about a secret, but do you have any theories? Here's a hint: Pokemon Battles.