It was our third day of traveling around Dewford Island. Amber was still with us and it was nice having her company. We were currently making our way through a forest in order to reach the Granite Cave.

"So when our parents traveled here, they had an interesting time." I said, recalling a story that my dad had told me of his time there.

"Yeah, I remember my mom telling me about it." Megan added.

"What happened?" Amber asked.

"Well, they met Steven in the cave, who helped them get to safety in the end. But I'm skipping some parts. They also ended up running into Team Rocket." I said.

"They ended up split into groups with Team Rocket, you mean." Megan corrected.

"Yeah, they did. Team Rocket was causing trouble like always and ended up disturbing the Arons, who inhabit the cave. And that's where Steven comes into play. Once our parents and Team Rocket were able to find the actual exit, Steven helped to keep the Arons from attacking them. The Arons didn't appreciate the disturbance to their home."

"Oh, wow! That's cool, how they got to meet Steven. I'm surprised that your parents could work with Team Rocket. But they were a lot different back then...not like how it is now. It's really amazing how Steven kept the Arons from harming them, too." said Jason.

"And it's amazing to hear of Master Ketchum's stories from when he was younger. I know of his bravery and strength, but it's nice to hear tales of when he was around our ages." Amber added.

She then questioned, "Adam, where did you go this morning? I woke up and you weren't in my tent and you didn't come back until breakfast."

"Yeah, I've noticed that you've done that a few times before, ever since I've begun traveling with you and Jason." Megan added.

I couldn't exactly tell my friends the truth. The truth of how I'd been leaving to practice controlling my Aura. I had been keeping that a secret.

"I go for walks some mornings. I like seeing the sunrise and early morning, before everything is awake and moving. It's a nice way to start my day." I replied.

I hated lying to my friends, but I didn't want them to know the truth.

Eventually, we came to a clearing and we could see the mouth of the cave. As we got closer to the opening, we spotted a familiar face. Trevor was standing there.

"Trevor, what are you doing here?" I asked as we stopped beside him.

"I'm hunting for an Aron to catch." he replied.

"We're exploring some places on the island that my dad has visited on his journeys and Granite Cave is one of them. Wanna join us?"

"Sure,"

So Trevor tagged along with us as we entered the cave.

As we entered, Eevee whimpered softly and curled into Megan's arms, hiding her face.

"It's okay, Eevee. I've got you." Megan said softly, stroking Eevee's fur.

"Eevee's scared of the dark?" Amber asked, confused by the actions that Eevee had displayed.

"Yes. You see, when I first found Eevee, she was trapped in a dark, tight space and she couldn't get out. She was crying for help and I heard her and saved her, rescuing her from that darkness."

"That makes sense. I'm glad that you saved her."

"I am, too. She's the best."

I then spoke up and said, "Trevor, if you want to catch an Aron, you need to make sure to only focus on one and not agitate the others, or they'll attack together and overwhelm you. It happened to my dad."

"Thanks for the tip."

As we walked, I noticed a lot of tunnels.

"There are more tunnels now than when our parents were here." Megan commented.

"The Aron population must have really grown over the years. They likely needed to dig new tunnels in order to live happily." I added.

But after walking for quite a while, we had yet to see any Arons.

"We haven't seen even one Aron yet. That's odd." Trevor said.

"Yeah. If the population did grow, we should've seen at least one by now." Jason added.

Before any of us could say anything else, faints voices caught our attention.

We carefully made our way towards the voices and hid behind a corner as two male Team Rocket grunts in white unifroms came into view.

"These Arons are going to help us out a ton." one said.

I glanced at Trevor and saw a glare come over his face as he reached for a Pokeball. Trevor's need for revenge against Team Rocket was about to overcome any rational thinking.

"We need to take them out." Trevor whispered.

I nodded and motioned for everyone to move out from hiding.

"Pikachu, you know what to do." I muttered as we jumped out.

The grunts were startled and cried out as Pikachu released a Thunderbolt. The two crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

"We should be careful. There may be more grunts throughout the tunnels." Amber said.

"Those grunts were talking about capturing Arons, so Amber is probably right, considering that they would need the numbers to capture all of the Arons. That also explains why we haven't seen any Arons yet. Team Rocket has them all captured!" Megan realized, putting everything together.

"We need to find them and put a stop to this Aron poaching." Trevor announced.

We all agreed, but then I glanced at the grunts.

"What should we do with them?" I asked.

Trevor looked down at the two men in disgust. "I should finish them off for good."

"Don't, Trevor. Don't become a monster like them."

"Why in the world would you defend them? After everything that Team Rocket has done to your family, you defend them?! Don't you hate them as much as I do?" Trevor asked in disbelief.

"I'm not defending them, but killing is a path that we don't...CAN'T take. That's the darkest path, which we have to avoid, or else we're no better than them. We can avenge all of the pain and hate they've caused by putting them behind bars once and for all."

Trevor stared at me for a moment and sighed. "Fine."

As we continued on, we found a tunnel to the side of the cave that was different from the others.

"This is freshly dug and the sides are smoother. No Pokemon could make this, so it has to be man-made. This has to be Team Rocket's tunnel that they made to get inside, so that they could avoid any suspicion." Jason said.

"So if we follow this tunnel, we'll find Team Rocket." Amber said as we walked into the tunnel.

As we walked, there were still no Arons, but we were approaching a light at the end.

"Are we simply walking to our deaths?" Megan questioned.

"We're walking to the fight. We have to be ready for anything." I said.

"We're here for the Arons. To free them from Team Rocket." Jason added.

As we walked out of the tunnel, we were back in the forest. Soon, we came to a clearing where a Pokemon Hunter's airship had landed with a big red 'R' on each side. A group of four grunts in black uniforms stood there, talking to one another, alongside a large group of Arons with glowing red eyes.

"The Arons are being mind-controlled. The arm cannons can either turn a Pokemon to a statue or control their mind." I whispered.

"It was smart to turn half of the Arons to stone and the others being mind-controlled to stand guard. No one will get past us." one grunt said to another.

"We need to get onto the ship and release the Arons, as well as free the ones from the mind control." Amber whispered.

"There are too many grunts and Arons guarding the ships." Jason said.

"There's no other way inside, though. We'll have to fight." I said.

"Adam's right. We fight our way inside." Trevor said.

Amber grabbed my arm and Megan grabbed Trevor's, since they were closer to us.

"Guys, just think. We need a plan. We aren't strong enough to fight our way in and we're greatly outnumbered. Think before you act, remember?" Jason said.

"But what else can we do?" I asked.

"How about having one person sneak inside the ship while the rest of us battle the grunts and Arons to keep them occupied?" Jason suggested.

"I'll go inside." Trevor said, wasting no time to volunteer. "Hopefully, I'll get a shot at that hunter, too. It may be the one that captured Nikki."

"Focus on the plan and free the Arons first, Trevor. Then do whatever else needs to be done." I said.

He nodded and we threw our Pokeballs.

"Feraligatr, use Hydro Pump!" I cried, wanting to knock the Arons out quickly. I knew that they were weak against water.

It would now be a fair fight, since the grunts would have to use their own Pokemon. Jason had chosen Taillow, Megan had Torchic, and Amber was using Rapidash.

The grunts released a Poochyena, a Golbat, a Magnemite, and a Pinsir.

"Use Ember, Torchic!"

"Hydro Pump!" I cried.

"Use Fire Spin, Rapidash!"

"Quick Attack, Taillow!"

... ...

"STOP!" a voice shouted during the middle of the battle.

The grunts turned and we did too, towards the ramp that led into the ship. I knew that Pokemon Hunter standing at the bottom of the ramp all too well: Paul. He was wearing the usual Pokemon Hunter outfit: a red jumpsuit with a long black coat over it. He also had special goggles over his eyes, and an arm cannon like all hunters wore.

I felt anger as I saw Paul. I was seeing my dad's nemesis yet again, the man that had almost been killed by my dad last year, but my dad had shown mercy. Paul had managed to escape and rejoin Team Rocket.

"Return to the ship for an immediate take-off." Paul commanded to the grunts who were still in the caves, speaking into his communicator.

"You kids may have caught us by surprise, but I still have half of the Arons captured, which are inside the ship." Paul said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Wanna bet?" Trevor's voice said from behind him.

Trevor stood at the top of the ship's ramp with the now free Arons behind him, who looked very angry at being captured.

"Sorry for taking so long, but it was a chore to remove all of the glass cases that they were in." said Trevor.

"You're surrounded, Paul. You have nowhere to go." I said.

Paul just smirked and stomped his foot twice on the ground. The ground split open beside him and his Aggron burst up from underneath, surprising everyone.

"Use Flash Cannon!" he yelled, before any of us could react. Aggron was quick to blast Trevor and the Arons unconscious before turning towards me and the others and doing the same.

Jason, Megan, and Amber collided with trees as we were all thrown backwards and we landed on the ground. I had been luckily enough to not hit a tree, but I laid on the ground, feeling the pain in my body. Our Pokemon had all been knocked out, too.

Aggron threw Trevor's unconscious body down beside me as the rest of the grunts arrived.

Paul looked at his Pokemon and simply said, "Kill them."

As Aggron began charging his Flash Cannon, I looked up in despair and screamed at the top of my lungs in resistance. As Aggron fired the attack, I felt something rush through my body...and then everything went black.

Normal POV

As the smoke cleared from Aggron's Flash Cannon, Paul stared in shock as he saw Adam standing inside of a blue dome of Aura with his eyes glowing blue and his hands extended outwards, protecting him and his friends.

Adam shouted in a fury, "Leave...my friends...ALONE!"

With that, the Aura dome exploded outwards, blasting Paul, his Aggron, and the grunts with its blue energy.

As the light faded, Adam collapsed to his hands and knees, weak from the amount of Aura that he had just used. The grunts were wounded and bleeding, Paul's Aggron was unconscious, and Paul had his goggles destroyed and the sleeves of his outfit were torn in some places. Even some trees had been knocked down from the blast's impact. But Adam had protected himself and his friends.

Paul grunted as he staggered to his feet and his grunts slowly got up. Adam weakly looked up at Paul and saw his robotic eye and his metal arms and hands through the tears of his clothes.

Adam was shocked at Paul's body, but he couldn't stop the words that came from his mouth at the sight of it. "Seems like you got what you deserved for siding with Team Rocket."

Paul looked down at Adam and painfully spoke, "You won't be so lucky next time. And your father is the reason why I now look this way. Tell him that he should've killed me in Johto when he had the chance."

With that, he and his grunts limped back to the ship and it took off, leaving the Arons, Adam, and the others behind.

A few minutes later, the others, their Pokemon, and the Arons woke up. Adam was grateful that they had been unconscious and hadn't seen him use his Aura.

"What happened?" Megan asked. "Where's Paul and Team Rocket? The ship is gone."

"I don't know. I just woke up a little before you guys and they weren't here anymore." Adam said, lying again.

After checking to make sure that everyone was okay, along with their Pokemon, the Arons were all reunited with one another.

"Would any of you be willing to join me? To help me destroy Team Rocket and get revenge on them for capturing you?" Trevor asked.

"The same thing for me. Would any of your join me?" Jason asked.

Two Arons stepped forward and they were easily caught. Jason removed his Pokedex and scanned his new Pokemon.

"Aron, the Iron Armor Pokemon. Aron has impressive defence power and eats iron ore in order to build up the metal in its body."

"Thanks for helping me fight Team Rocket. For now, I'm heading back to Dewford Town to challenge Brawly." Trevor said.

"We'll be traveling for a few more days, training for our gym battles and the girls' contest." Adam replied.

As Trevor turned to leave, he stopped and looked back, saying, "If I run into Team Rocket again, I'll show no mercy. So don't try to stop me. Nobody in the world will ever truly be safe until all of them are gone forever...gone for good, and you know that."

Adam knew that even if Trevor's words did hold some truth, he would never resort to killing. Yes, he believed that Team Rocket needed to be gone for good and not just imprisoned. The world would be safer, but killing couldn't be the only way to obtain that. His dad had always saved the world without spilling any blood and Adam had the same mindset.

Author's Note: Our heroes meet up with Trevor and they defeat Paul and Team Rocket, rescuing the Arons of Granite Cave, thanks to Adam's Aura powers, which he is still learning to control. Trevor and Jason also each catch an Aron for themselves.

However, Adam sees firsthand that Trevor's personality changes to something much darker around Team Rocket. Although Trevor wants to stop Team Rocket for good as much as Adam does, is his mindset really in the right place?

Let us know what you think and stay tuned for the girls' contest in the next chapter of Pokemon NG!