Pokébook

So I did a bit of attention-paying to the storybook pace... We spent 32 posts in Goldenrod, counting the times when Kara and I were in Goldenrod and the others were headed that way. We spent Right around 11-15 in Ecruteak... Which means we're missing a major event like a rocket attack... So understand why this post is going where it is. Also, I can't force myself to write a longer post than this. Sowwy.

Tyler Cohen | 8:45AM | Ecruteak Plaza

"You guys will not believe what I did yesterday!" Jack ran up with Citrus right behind him, his chest heaving with heavy, 'I just ran all this way' breaths.

We all looked at him in a bit of shock. It was a wonder he hadn't disappeared, too. "Who the heck is this?" Jerri spoke up, pointing at Jack's face. Jack just squirmed a bit in his skin and took a step back from her finger, a bit unsure as to how to act.

"His name is Jack," Sam replied, her eyes downcast onto the ground. Though, it looked like she was watching my shoes for any signs of motion. Everyone just watched Sam for a moment, except for Jerri, who continued to watch Jack squirm. "He'll be traveling with us, Jerri."

Jerri nodded and looked at me with a kind smile. But it was a bit too...forced... It was as if she was trying to suddenly make up for leaving me all alone to rot in my sadness. But I reminded myself sternly that it was in the past...at least, that's what Morty had told me. Almost like he had been reading my mind. I turned back to Sam and watched her sadly, wondering what was on her mind. It couldn't be Abel still, could it? Or was he that far under her skin?

Maybe we should have stayed behind for a while longer... I kept worrying that Sam would've had some unfinished business at home, but just like before...it wasn't my place.

But maybe it wasn't about Sam at all... While the others were talking, I could do nothing but think about how much I wanted to avoid Olivine City... To avoid the truth.

And then, like an answer to an unsaid prayer, police sirens blared all around and the city gates were closed off. I jerked my head around to Jerri, who did the same towards me. She just shrugged and I looked around for an answer. A black truck swished by with BOMB SQUAD written on the side in an aggressive yellow paint. Suddenly, my eyes were the size of saucers because the BOMB SQUAD truck was speeding towards the gym.

"Oh God."

With that, I took off towards the gym at full speed, dropping my backpack in the middle of the road.

Max-

Max sat in a tree with his Eevee egg in his lap. He wished it would hatch already. As if the Eevee had gotten a psychic signal it began to shake then it shattered as the small Eevee popped out. Max expected it to be jittery like Kent’s but instead it yawned and curled up into a ball on his lap. Max smiled and pet the small Pokémon.

His sister Maxine was on the ground practicing her coordinators skills with her Skitty. Max knew everyone else had their individual tasks and battles to attend to and he knew he wouldn’t be seeing them for awhile.

That’s when Max heard a flapping noise. He looked up to see a large Pokemon coming in for a landing. It was a Dragonite. At first Max was confused. They weren’t indigenous to this area but then he saw the bag satchel across its shoulder and realized it was delivering mail. It handed Max a letter with its clawed hands and took off as soon as Max had taken it.

He looked at it for a moment and recognized the postage. “It’s from mom,” he called down to Maxine.
She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. “I thought she told us we were dead to her,” she said.
Max shrugged and opened the letter. He was going to jump down so his sister could read too but he didn’t want to wake his sleeping Eevee. So he decided to read it out loud.

Dear Max
I’ve sent this to you because you’re the responsible one. Well at least more responsibility then your sister. Anyway the other day some strange men came into the shop asking for you. I saw those bright scarlett letters on their chests and knew immediately they were those offal team rocket members they talk about on TV. They said that you and your friends were meddling in affairs you didn’t understand and if you didn’t back off people were going to get hurt. I didn’t understand what they meant but I believe it was a threat. Please come home I need to see that you are safe. Bring your sister as well.
Love Mom
Maxine pouted. “So should we go?”

“I guess but let’s hurry up and get there so we can appease her and get back.”

Maxine nodded. “Then lets fly,” She threw out her Pokeball and a Togekiss appeared. She hopped on. Max leapt from his perch and landed behind her.

“Take us home Toge,”The Togekiss took off into the air.

MooMoo Farm

We flew for a long time but then MooMoo farm came into view and I gasped.

The farm house was on fire and Miltank were running in all different directions in a panic as the fence was destroyed. In the front yard stood a tall man smiling up at us as he held Max’s mother in a chokehold. His hair was silver and slicked back. He wore all black with a single red R on his chest.

The Togekiss landed and Max prepared to throw a Pokeball. “If you want your mothers neck broken then summon your precious pokemon bt it won’t do you any good.”

Before max could react a Charizard swooped down from the sky and landed next to him.

“I love fire Pokemon. In my opinion they are the most destructive type. Because everything they touch burns."

The Charizard let out a stream of flame that set the family house on fire.

“Fire is fascinating really. You tell a Squirtle to use water gun and it splashes the opponent in the face with water and sure it hurts but it trickles away and it’s gone. Fire however continues to burn sustaining its own life by taking away another.”

“What do you want?” Max asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

Before he could answer, a Ambipom scurried up beside Max and snatched two Pokeballs from his pocket.

It scurried back to women with purple hair. It jumped onto her shoulder and handed her the Pokeballs with its handed tails.

“I grow weary of you fire fascination Dust.” She examined the two pokeballs. “A Kabuto and a Miltank. Not even worth stealing." She threw them to the side.

“ I will repeat. What do you want?” Max said.

The woman smiled. “Team Rocket has lost its potency thanks to two unnamed idiots who blunder every assignment given to them. Teams like Team Magma and Team Galactic are the ones to fear now and Team Rocket increasingly falls into absurdity. Well we plan on remedying that. We will stamp a mark across all the regions making sure that we are the ones to be feared and revered. Of course meddling kids like you and those other kids you travel with may get in our way and we want to make sure that you be good and stay out of our way. Of course we could crush you like ants but we’d rather not waste our time.”

The Charizard that Max had forgotten about rushed forward and scooped. Maxine up. Max turned to see the man was gone and his mother lay limp on the ground. The man was riding the Charizard. “I’d hate to have to burn up such a pretty girl so remember to not get in our way. Pass the message along to your meddling friends. The Charziard sent one last breath of fire that created a wall of flames between Max and the purple haired woman.

“Goodbye child” she said before walking away.”

Max jumped ran to his mother’s side but her pulse was gone. He wanted to cry but he had no time to. He ran to where the woman had tossed his pokeballs and grabbed them before jumping onto Maxine’s Togekiss. It took off into the air after the woman but she was gone and the Charizard was nowhere in site. Max looked back at his former home to see that the flames were organized into a shape. The flames that burned away his home was in the shape of a giant R.

Kent|12:00PM| Cianwood Pokemon center


“Wow, can you turn the volume up on that?” Kent was staring intensely at the TV screen. A Chansey pulled a remote out of it’s apron and blasted the volume.

“In recent news, there seems to be a large amount of terrorist activity over the last few days. The most notable would be the bomb scare at the Ecruteak gym. In the end it turned out to be safe, after a group of rookies were able to get in, and with the help of some for the Bomb squad, save Morty. One kid said, and we quote ‘The pwned their terrorist asses.’ Here is a picture of the group.”

Kent almost chocked on his soda when the brought up the picture. In the front was Sam, Kite and her Ryhorn. Behind her was Tyler, proudly patting Gumbo, with Jack and Citrus, and an unknown girl. Kent wasn’t sure to smile, be shocked, or be speechless. He smiled in shock, speechless. When Andrew sat down next to him he asked what was wrong, but the picture had changed so Kent dropped it. “I found a fly in my drink.” He laughed and turned back to the TV.

“And the last attack we have is that on the Famous Moo-Moo milk farm. A beloved Johto land mark,” Kent nearly crapped a communion cracker. He gulped. Max wasn’t in the last picture, and he knew that his family was at the farm. The screen cut to a birds eye view of the farm, before the attack. It looked peaceful, with grazing Miltank, and a happy, colorful house. With big, bold white letters saying “BEFORE” Kent Gulped as the screen went black for a moment. The screen cut to a the same picture, except blackened, and on fire. There was a large black R indented on the farm’s land. “There were a few casualties on the farm. It is unknown what happened to the Children, who were seen arriving onto the farm before it happened.”

Kent tuned out after that. He wasn’t sure how to react to it. Ru-Ru was doing the same, feeling Kent’s emotions, but not sure how to react to them. He finally snapped out of it when Andrew punched him. ‘DUDE!!! Come on!” Kent looked over, sleepily and pissed. “Look over there,” Andrew whispered. In the back of the center, barley visible, but full clear, Chuck. The Cianwood gym leader had snuck in to get his Pokemon, so not to be swamped with battle requests. Kent got up and began to sneak over to him, Andrew close behind.


~~~~~~~

“Dammit, someone beat us to the punch,” Kent whispered before popping out of hiding.

“We-We-Well, I guess we can wa-wait,” Andrew said. He took the Pokeballs off his belt and examined them all carefully. “I still need to decide which to use. I am having doubts.”

“I think I got my team worked out…I just hope they are good to go,” Kent said. Both of them walked into the DoJo to see the referee spouting the normal rules and they sat down. A tall kid with jet black hair stood confidently at one end. He was holding a dusk ball. On a wrist band he had two more, specific types, but they were too small and far away to make out.

Chuck let out a battle cry and, no pun in tended, chucked a Pokeball onto the field. The challenger did the same. The both exploded in a bright light, revealing a Hitmonlee and a Skarmory. The challenger smiled and called out the first attack. “Skarmory, Ice Armor!” The bird gave out a grinding cry and released a powerful burst of icy wind, before the attack could escape it swallowed it whole. The steel armor around it erupted in a blast of icy spikes. It charged forward, making an Ice/Steel Wing combo. The Hitmonlee jumped to dodge and extended its leg extended out and slammed down on Skarmory’s wing. The ice exploded on contact and it began to spin out of control. Hitmonlee fell, its leg hurt for the ice.

The Skarmory wasted no time getting back in, and went in with a speedy drill peck attack. Hitmonlee jumped up again, this time followed by Skarmory. Flew up next to it and grabbed him with its wings. It flew up into the air and dropped Hitmonlee, following it down with another drill peck and steel wing. He was helpless, being pushed down by the bird.

Chuck called out a muffled command, Kent recognized the move instantly. Hitmonlee’s body was covered in a redish-green tint right before it fell to the ground, barley holding on to consciousness. It tossed the Skarmory into the air and gave it one more kick. It was useless, though, the next minute it came in with a steel wing and took Hitmonlee out.

Chuck returned his Pokemon and grabbed another. A Monferno jumped onto the field, with a cheerfully-serious face. It looked at Skarmory and gave a snide grin. Skarmory was still covered, though not entirely, with it’s ice armor, and Monferno aimed to change that, fast. The little monkey gave another shriek and a burst of flame went straight towards Skarmory. The ice evaporated on contact, sizzling to a steam. Skarmory fell to the ground, the suddenly loss in weight shocking it.

Monferno took the moment and jumped on top of it, dual fiery fists ready to pound it. The bird fell to the ground but picked it self up, but in no shape to fly. Monferno backed up and its entire body was covered in flames before turning into a wheel and blasting forward. Skarmory tried to fly but was blasted backwards by the attack. Skarmory was returned and the challenger let loose a Poliwrath in its place. Classic type advantage use.

Both charged in, no real attacks, just a fist fight. Block, Block, dodge, block, hit. Hit. Hit. Hit. Pow. Screech. Thud. Groan. Block. Hit. It went on until they both charged in with a mach punch. They hit each other at the same time and went backwards. Both battlers kept on solemn faces as they called out their attacks.

Both attacked at once., bubble beam versus Flamethrower. A cloud of steam blew from the attack, leaving a heavy mist around the field. There were sounds of a fist fight within, as the trainers blindly called out moves. There was a bright light from with in and then both the Pokemon flew out of the steam, matching Mach Punch attacks.

The Monferno popped up and charged towards the Poliwrath. The challenger called out a Hydro pump. The second Monferno got to Poliwrath his entire body exploded with a gusher of water. Monferno was blasted backwards and into the air. Its limp Body fell to the ground, it’s fists still glowing from its attempt at a mach punch. Chuck yelled something strange and Monferno woke up and with all its available power fell on top of Poliwrath and finished it off with a booming thunder punch.

“Good job, Cody. But Luck doesn’t get you everywhere,” Chuck said and grabbed his final Pokeball. Cody did the same.

Kent almost crapped another communion cracker. Cody has released something Kent thought he would never see, a Gible. Kent, for a brief moment, expected it to run over and bite him on the head, to be Fang and to have him back. The moment passed when he was this Gible was different. It seemed so solemn, so unhappy, too serious. It looked like a thing that just wanted to fight, and never stop fighting.

Chuck brought out a Berloom. This dude was all over the place with his Pokemon. He charged in with a Drain Punch, Gible just dodged it and jumped into the air. Kent almost missed the next part when he blinked. Gible turned into a shinnying silver and did the same attack swallow power up as Skarmory. Its fins sprouted out further, and flames covered it’s body.

Cody called out the simple command. “Iron Rush.” Gible suddenly disappeared out of nowhere Berloom crushed before the eye could see it.

~~~~~

Andrew gulped. He was down to his final Pokemon. It was his Seel, and Chuck still had two left. His Kirlia easily has taken out a Hitmontop, but was helpless when an Infernape had taken it out right away, and rendered Butterfly useless as well.

Seel was already taking a beating in the first minute into the battle. Andrew was as a loss for what to do. “Use Ice Drill!” Andrew called. Kent sneered a bit. He didn’t like it when people used combo names for their attacks. It seemed to dishonorable, but he couldn’t do jack about it.

Seel jumped into the air and it’s horn spun on its axis, right through an ice beam. Seel’s body was covered in a light Ice skin and His horn was turning into a giant ice spear. Infernape tried to jump in the air to dodge, but the giant spear of a horn caught it. Up into the air, over the field and another Icebeam to finish it off.

Andrew jumped in to the air with a small cheer. Just one left. Chuck let loose a Poliwrath and Andrew smiled. “Take down and Horndrill, while that spear is still cold!”

Poliwrath charged forward and grabbed the ice spear. He snapped it two times, dual ice daggers, if you would. Seal jumped backwards as Poliwrath stabbed at him. Seel Went in with a take down and was able to knock the daggers away. It then jumped into the air with an aqua Jet, frozen with an Ice beam. The hallow tube of ice propelled it right towards Poliwrath, and with a horn drill knocked it back a good few yards. It wasted no time to finish him off with a take down., Andrew had won.

“Well then, Kent, you ready?” Andrew asked with a big grin.

Kent nodded wearily. He was still unsure about weather or not his team could do it. But it was time to dive into the crevasse. He couldn’t go up without going below his comfort zone. Ru-Ru jumped onto his shoulder and the two of them walked up to Chuck. The Referee did the normal jibber jabber and Kent randomly picked out a Pokeball. Before the he released his first Pokemon he had a sudden flash back. Gible. He saw Gible again.

When Kent had decided to go on a journey Gible was pumped. He had always been the runt of his litter, it was why Kent got him, they didn’t think Gible would last more than a month. But it had, Kent had made sure of it. It had never been a happy Pokemon…it was cold from birth. The experience of near death, and pain for its first bits of life had left it scarred, angry. Most Gible weren’t exactly playful, or nice, at birth, it took a special hand, a kind parent to make them so.

Kent had made sure not to raise it as a killing machine. But Cody…the way that Gible moved, he could tell just how ruthless a trainer he was. Kent wouldn’t lose where that sort of trainer had won.

“Gliscor, you get in there!” Gliscor stood proudly on the field, facing a large, calm looking Primape. It was weird…it just seemed so un Primape like. Kent shrugged and threw out a command. Gliscor’s fangs light a flame and it charged towards Primape. It ducked and matched the fire fang with a fire punch, making Gliscor crash.

Primape charged towards Gliscor and Grabbed it by the tail, throwing it back across the field. Glide tried to pull into the air mid fall, it’s wings began to glow for a moment and it flew back into the air. It had used Sky Attack to get away but had to fall back down right away, unable to move for awhile. Primape ran back over and began throwing wild punches at Gliscor.

Gliscor began to groan and collapsed in pain, still hanging onto consciousness. Gliscor scurried to escape and jumped into the air, it looked to Kent and winked. Its wings began to pump like mad, stirring up the dirt field, making a sand storm below. Gliscor darted inside with a burst of speed.

“Use Poison Cross!” Kent called. “Gliscor light the sand storm up with a purple light and Primape rolled off the field. Gliscor flew into the air as the storm died. It panted for awhile and then finally fell, unconscious. Kent brought him back and threw Veon’s Pokeball down.

Kent saw the Monferno out again and smiled. “Use Discharge!” Kent called and Veon readied. His body charged and sparks flew around it. Veon called out and sent a bang all around the field. Monferno attempted to dig its way out but was just too late. “Pin Missile and Swift!” Kent continued. Monferno jumped into the air and let out a ball of fire. The swift cut through the flame, letting the spikes through to Monferno. It dove down to the ground to avoid the barrage and began to dig. Veon tensed and pressed its head to the ground. His ears popped up from time to time but nothing happened. Veon waited carefully and suddenly sent a signal beam at the ground. Monferno was blown back into its hole before it could attack Veon.

Monferno let out a flamethrower and Veon was blinded. The Monkey took the moment and jumped out and charged a Mach Punch. Veon blinked and went in with quick attack. Monferno missed as Veon slid underneath it before letting out a thunder shock. Monferno fell. Two points for Kent.

Chuck threw out his final Pokemon, Gallade. Ru-Ru lit up upon seeing one of its evolutions and almost ran onto the field. Gallade came in fast with a Leaf Blade attack, its sword like arm glowing. Veon ducked underneath him and bite into Gallade’s leg. Gallade collapsed and Veon spun and wiped out a swift. Gallade jumped into the air and did a black flip over Veon, coming down with an Arm thrust. Veon hit the ground hard. “Jol…Jolteon,” it said and collapsed.

Ru-RU looked at Gallade in awe. It seemed so hopeful to become one, Kent hardly noticed it, intensely focused on his battle. Ru-Ru pulled at Kent and pointed to the field. Kent shock his head and grabbed his trusted Pokemon Pokeball. “Mamo! Finish off this fool!” Kent called and released a Pokeball. “Pooooooli!! Croak!”

Kent gave a shocked look and checked to see the Pokeball in his hand. Marked with a water drop. “Dammit,” Kent whispered. He turned to Poli and sent out a Hyper Voice, though be grudgingly. The attack bounced off Gallade like weak wind.


Politoad jumped into the air as Gallade charged it with a Night Slash, unsure what to do. Kent groaned, Poli was useless, so weak…so not Gible. Dammit, stop thinking that, Kent. Ru-Ru pointed towards the field and did a jump. Kent ignored it and called for Poli to keep dodging attacks, hoping to tire it off. “Sorry Ru, too late.”

Ru-Ru gave a pout and touched Kent on his Forehead. One word flew to him. “Natural.” Kent gave a surprised look at Ru-Ru, who was giving a weak smile, that one word had exhausted it. What just happened? Had Ralts spoke to him? Wasn’t so out of the blue, it could sense emotions, a word being passed was not too outlandish. Ru-Ru pointed back to the field and jumped. Poli was still rolling and dodging, though it was getting tired quicker.

He remembered where he had gotten Poli…. The Pokedome! Poli was trained to be strong on its own, without the power of attacks. It was not going to win with moves, it was going to win with speed and tactics.

“Poli, Stop dodging, wait for my word,” Kent called out. Poli nodded and stood its ground. Gallade charged forward with a Zen head butt. Poli kept its ground as it got closer. “Now, grab it!” Poli smacked his hands onto Gallade’s head and it stopped in place. Poli lifted it and threw it to the side. “Now, chase it and give it a nice tackle!” Politoad dashed away and fell on top of Gallade. Ru-Ru winced as its evolution being taken down.

~~~~~~

“So, where to?” Andrew asked. Kent shrugged and admired his badge. He was going to need to fill those two missed spots. He knew he could take on Morty now. He wasn’t alone, not anymore. And he didn’t mean Andrew, he had a team. His Pokemon had helped him, for once.

“No clue, man,” Kent replied. “I know that I want to find that Cody kid, though.”

“Yeah, that kid is good, a battle with him would be awesome,” Andrew said.

“Heh, great time to come out.” Kent and Andrew turned around to see Cody behind them. He had his Gible out next to him, with the same Skarmory. “And to think, I was on my way to Olivine.”

Kent looked at the Gible again, and it gave him a glare, as if ready to bit his head. And not playfully, either. “So, you want a battle?” Cody asked with a smile, somewhat friendly.

Kent nodded and grabbed Mamo and Lax’s Pokeballs. “Four Versus Four. We choose four match ups. After each we return the Pokemon and pick a new one.”” Kent said simply and jumped up.

Cody nodded. “Skarmory, you’re up first.” Skarmory flew across the beach, a good distance away from Kent. He threw down Glide’s Pokeball. “Glissssss!”

The two flyers flew into the sky. Gliscor went in with a Fire Fang and Skarmory matched it with a drill peck. They matched each other, neither of them budging at all. They hung the air for awhile. Glide went in with a metal Claw, making Skarmory plummet. It flew down and bit into the metal skin with a thunder fang . Skarmory cried out and flew into the air, and hit Gliscor with a mad Steel Wing. Gliscor fell to the ground in a heap and Skarmory hit it with another drill peck. Gliscor was done. Skarmory limped backwards. Its leg still hurt from the spackle with Monferno. Why would he let out an injured Pokemon like that?

Kent sighed. He returned Gliscor and sent out Munchlax. Cody with a Sudowoodo.

“Sudowoodo, Self Destruct,” Cody said. Sudowoodo ran toward Munchlax and bear hugged it. Munchlax panicked for a moment, then smelled something. Before it could investigate Sudowoodo blasted itself and Munchlax flew towards Kent. Kent gave Cody a look. “Why would you do that?” Kent asked with a laugh.

Cody just gestured to Sudowoodo, who was holding up half of some sort of berry. It has barley escaped because of it. Cody smirked. Kent went wide eyed. He wasn’t sure weather to be mad, impressed or disappointed., His Pokemon had been one hit K.Oed for Christ’s shake.

Kent sighed and pulled Mamoswine out. He had to win all of them…he had too. Before he could though Ralts appeared on the field with a beaming smile. Kent glared at the smiling baby, too late to withdrawal him.

Cody let a Luxio out into the field. It smiled happily. Wow, that did not fit the other Pokemon. All of them seemed more like soldiers, this one seemed like a baby. Luxio went in with a night slash right away, Ralts unable to dodge took the hit straight on. Dammit.

Luxio ran toward Ralts again an hit him with a crunch. Ralts cried in pain and collapsed for a moment. Kent was about to return him to his Pokeball when he began to glow. Ralts popped into the air and charged towards Luxio, his head glowing bring ripples of pink as he ran. Luxio jumped into the air, but Ralts chased him and propelled into the air. Ralts fell on top of it like a bullet. Luxio wasn’t done, though. It let out a wild discharge when it fell.

Ralts fell backwards. Luxio wearily purred and stood up. Ralts got up, Kent was about to return it, it couldn’t win. But before he could Cody made Luxio charge Ralts. Luxio slashed at Ralts and knocked it over. It was panting like mad and looked ready to die. It kept going at Ralts, who was down and ready to go back, but it would not let up. Cody would not let up. Kent finally got Ralts away.

‘Well, I guess that’s it,” Cody said with a wild grin and let Skarmory out again.

“Wait, we got one more, man!” Kent screamed. He was too pissed not to let all he had at his last Pokemon. Mamo was going to crush him. He couldn’t get away with hurting Ralts like that.

“Eh, already won, why bother, eh?” Cody smirked and hopped on top of Skarmory. “Besides, you gave up when you returned a conscious Pokemon. Idiot.” Andrew screamed a request but Cody didn’t even responded and just flew away

“Maybe it’s just me,” Kent said. “But I am going to take down that asshole.”

Andrew nodded. “First one to eight badges gets to take on that asshole, deal?” Kent nodded. “Deal/ But you know this means we’re rivals too, right?”

Andrew nodded. “Gla-Gla-Glad to have ya as one.”

Tyler Cohen | Outside the Ecruteak Gym | 9:00 AM

"You have to let us in!" I basically screamed at the guard, ready to break my way in.

"Son, I understand that your cousin is in there and that he may be in potential danger, but I just can't let you through." The bomb squad guard hid his eyes behind thick aviator sunglasses with an intercom system strapped to his head. I grimaced and backed away, my heart sinking miles underground. The man checked something on his handheld and shook his head. "We have very capable men on the inside handling the situation!"

"But..but Morty..."

Before I could argue, the sound of whirring machinery broke through the sirens, sending the blares down an octave before shutting off completely. The guards looked away from the door, looking for the source of the power outage. And that's when I took my chance. Subtly, I pulled out Haunter's pokeball and released him behind me, hiding him between Sam, Jerri and me. Under my breath, I gave a simple command. "Hypnosis."

Haunter followed along with the game and poked its head out beside my shoulder, blasting the two guards with his sleep-inducing rays. That's when we all took our chances. Without a word, we all stormed inside the gym, halting in the main room at the sound of quick, popping words. In the center of the floor was an enormous hole. The smell of burning wood overpowered every other sense. And, hanging on for dear life from the broken planks were two burly BOMB SQUAD guards. They heard us come near and looked around for their saviors...or assassins. But they were too scared to say a word.

So all four of us heaved on the guards, pulling them to safety on the more stable flooring. Once they were both safe and had their breath back, they looked us over a bit hesitantly. "You four aren't with the terrorists, are you..." We all shook our heads and the guard nodded, looked to his partner, and then nodded once more. "We're no match for this group... They took us by force using Pokemon and sophisticated explosives." He shook his head. "You have to stop them."

"Cracking grievously under this grave estate, are we Morty?!" The strange female voice snapped in the empty room like dry wood in a fire. All six of us on the main floor looked down into the dark basement below, watching the scene unfold.

She gave out a light, airy chuckle and released a Pokemon in front of Morty. "Don't fear, friend, for you are the first of many." Below, a Ninetales growled and Morty gave off a scream, engulfed in searing flames. I looked at Jerri and Jerri looked at me and we both ran to the back of the gym with the others following us. And in the back was the stairwell that led into the sub-basement of the gym.

Down the stairs we all ran until we came into the generator room where goons in white masks and black cloaks strapped bombs to the walls. Sam glared at me, wanting to stop them, but... "I have to save Morty!"

"Would you rather save Morty or the entire town?!"

...and I choked.

I wasn't so heroic with my loved ones on the line. But Jack spoke up and shook his head, pointing ahead to the basement. "You and Jerri will go save Morty. We'll take care of the bombers."

We all nodded together and split paths.

_______ _______

Crawdaunt slammed down the steel door with a great wail and blasted out a heart-stopping Water Pulse into the Ninetales' face. The fox pokemon flew backwards with a growl and slammed into the wall. Distracted from her work, a girl in a white mask turned around, tilting her head creepily to look at the two of us. "What pressing agenda must you possess to interrupt my grievous business?"

Jerri released Haunter into the air and the girl in the mask clicked her tongue. "Tisk, tisk, tisk." She turned her head back to Ninetales and said something in a foreign language, French maybe, and the Ninetales turned back to the now-unconscious Morty, dragging him off into the shadows. I started to dash after him, but she stopped me with a Houndoom right in front of me, snarling and ready to bite my head off. I grimaced and stood down, realizing that, if I were to play this game, I'd have to play by her rules.

"Understand this, children: you are interfering with Graaave ordeals and you may very well perish in the process of your advancement." She took a step back, releasing a Banette in front of Jerri's Haunter. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have terror to inflict." She snapped her fingers and her Pokemon took battle stances as she vanished into the shadows.

Crawdaunt and Haunter glared at the two enemies and readied for orders. The tension grew in the room and I nearly choked on the pressure. My head was spinning as I thought about losing Morty, but I had to keep myself in check. I had to prevail. I pointed my hand dead into Houndoom's face and gave the darkest order of my life: "Destroy him."

Crawdaunt opened his claws and lunged forward, tearing into the Houndoom like wrapping paper. Spouts of water and fire shot in every direction as they tumbled in close-combat with one another. And just when I thought Crawdaunt had Houndoom down for the death, the black dog gave Crawdaunt a take-down into the wall, cracking open the threshold between the gym and the aquifer outside. And quickly, the floor began to flood with water. Houndoom leaped back to avoid a geyser of water, but Crawdaunt expected it and rammed his skull with a Crabhammer. K-O'd, Houndoom fell to the floor.

I pulled Crawdaunt back into his Pokeball and trudged forward, splashing in the deepening water. But I stopped, looking back at Jerri, who was still fighting the Banette. "Go on," she shouted, "go save Morty and I'll help the others!" I nodded and ran on into the shadows, losing my way once I came into a black-as-death hallway. Just the sound of running water disturbed the ghastly silence. I released Haunter and instinctively, he flashed the hallway into a bit more light, but only a few meters in front of us. And we walked on.

The corridor curved along beneath the gym, stretching on, at least in my memory, to a large chamber where Morty trained his team. The chamber was supposedly connected with the burned tower, and it always freaked me out so badly that I had never gone into it. Until now. Now was different.

After an eternity, I stopped sloshing in the water when I heard Morty talking back to the masked woman.

"You won't get away with this. You know that."

The woman gave a dark laugh. "I already have, Morty. That initial bomb on the main floor of the gym was enough both to send you tumbling into my trap and send Jhoto and Kanto into chaos."

Morty said nothing.

"And to think what people will do when we attack again..." She laughed, assuring me that she was insane. "And then again," she cackled, "and again!"

There was the sound of moving rock before something hit the ground. I ran into the chamber to see Morty standing over the masked woman in a fighting pose that said he just swept her feet. I ran into the large room and stood beside Morty as the masked girl looked up. She cursed under her breath and scrambled to her feet. "So you took out Houndoom, did you?" She cackled again. "That's nothing. I still won this round!"

Releasing Ninetales between herself and Morty and me, she yelled out, "Flash!" and disappeared in the blinding light. As I looked up when the blindness left me, I saw an escape rope slithering up through a hole in the ceiling.

"She's escaping through the burned tower," Morty said, squinting through the lingering sting of light. He looked across to me and smiled. "Let's go help the others."

Jack Preston
Ecruteak City Gym Generator Room
10:14 am

Back in the generator room, Sam was looking at each wall-bound bomb in turn. Jack, meanwhile, was looking around at all the Electrode that were wandering vaguely about.
"What are they doing in a Ghost-type Gym?" he whispered to Sam.
"It's a generator room, duh," she muttered. "They've probably been attracted here by the electrical pulses."
An Electrode rolled past Jack and bumped into a wall. Jack barely had time to notice a black device on the Pokemon's rear (he assumed it was its rear - it could have been almost any part of the spherical creature) before it turned and began rolling in a different direction.

"Get over here!" Sam whispered loudly. She was inspecting a black box on the boiler that stood out from the rest. Jack ran over and squinted at it as well. The black box looked like the standard time bomb Jack had seen in movies, with a digital display on the left-hand side that currently read 3:14, though as he watched it ticked down to 3:13. Then 3:12. Unlike the bombs he'd seen on television, however, this one was neatly packed into the black box, without wires flailing about every which way.

"Right," he said, trying to stay calm. "We've got... three minutes... to defuse this thing. Any ideas?"
"I don't know," Sam muttered. She inspected every side of the box that wasn't stuck fast to the wall. "There aren't any buttons or anything on it. Just the time display and these lights."
A row of red lights adorned the right-hand side of the black cube. A couple flickered occasionally, but for the most part they gave a solid red glow. Citrus, above Jack's head, muttered something in its own unknown language and floated down towards the box, hovering in front of Jack's face. Jack nodded.
"You're the best hope we've got, Citrus," he said. "Hop in and see if you can disable this thing."

Citrus turned and vanished into the box. 2:37... 2:36... 2:35... 2:36... wait, what? Jack and Sam stared at the digital screen as the timer began ticking rapidly back up. 4:56, 8:21, 50:03. Jack smiled in relief.
"Great, Citrus!" he called.
Sam, meanwhile, had found an Electrode that was sitting stock still in place, and was taking the opportunity to inspect the black device on its back. Kite poked its face at the box - almost immediately, its eyes came unfocussed and it began stumbling about, tripping over its own feet after a few seconds and dropping to the floor.
"Kite, what the -" Sam lifted the Bagon, whose fall seemed to have knocked the sense back into it. A horrible sense of comprehension dawned on Sam as she turned and stared at the Electrode herd.
"They're being controlled," she said. "Jack, my God, they're being controlled! Those... things!" She lunged at the nearest Electrode and tried to yank the black device off. The orb-shaped monster spun around: an angry face now glared at Sam - next second she was on her back, having been knocked down by a point-blank Sonicboom. She jumped to her feet defensively, but the Electrode, having taken care of the immediate threat, had gone back to idly rolling about.

"I think this one with the timer is the master... thing," Jack said as Sam stomped back to where he was standing. "If we can deactivate it, it should neutralise all the others..."
Sam clearly wasn't listening: she was scrambling for her Pokedex, muttering. "Why would they be brainwashing Electrode anyway?" she panted, finally grabbing her device and pointing it at one of the rolling balls.
Electrode, an Electric Pokemon, it beeped. Evolves from Voltorb. Known locations: most generators and power plants. Known attacks: Sonicboom, Explosion.
Sam just stared at Jack as realisation came to both of them.
"Holy Arceus..." Jack muttered. "The one thing they could have done to make their act of terror even worse... to abuse Pokemon like this..."
He clenched his fist, and his teeth were bared in a scowl; even Sam almost looked unnerved... almost. Before he could say any more, the box behind him pinged.

The digital display was now blank. Citrus floated from the box: if there was any change to its facial expression, it might have been looking a little... victorious.
"Citrus..." Jack muttered. "Citrus, you're amazing!" His jubilant grin lasted about a second. The Electrode, now able to think for themselves again, were swarming around the two untrusted humans. Jack stepped forward to shield Sam, but she pushed him aside and stood firm beside him. They reached for their Poke Balls - but there was no need. Citrus hovered high above the scene, sparking with Discharge energy, and throwing it at each Electrode in turn.

Though no Electrode seemed harmed by the shock, each one was silent for a moment, and then the confident-looking grin so common to its species returned.
"I've heard electric Pokemon can communicate like this!" Sam exclaimed to Jack under her breath. "I've never seen it in action before, though."
The Electrode group continued to swarm around the two trainers, however. Citrus floated quickly over to the door and called out to Jack. After a few seconds of mindblank, Jack clicked.
"Oh, right!" He took Sam's arm. "Come on. The Electrode are gonna follow us out of here."
"The Electrode are gonna stay here," a new voice growled from behind Citrus, who squealed and moved rapidly back to Jack.


That's intended to be Craig, but if he's not supposed to be encountered yet it can be some generic Gravedigger.

Samuelle Park - Ecruteak Gym's Generator Room, 10:25 AM

Sam's head spun from the pokemon abuse, but it wasn't just that. No, she couldn't quite understand why Tyler and Jerri were so stubborn. One life against one thousand, and they chose one? What was wrong with them? Fury drugged her with adrenaline, making Sam more pumped than she ever felt all her life.

"The Electrode are gonna stay here," a new voice growled from behind Citrus.

Sam didn't wait. There was no time to. Every minute the Electrodes stayed, they suffered, and the town was in danger. Each moment they stayed here was a new risk.

"Jack, go! I'll take this guy on my own." Sam clenched her fists and blocked the man from getting too close to Jack or Citrus.

"But Sam, he's -" Jack began.

"I said go! We don't have time for this," Sam snapped. Kite stepped in front of Sam, and she released Blaze and Piplup to the field as well. Rhyhorn roared. She didn't care for tournament rules right now. Terrorists always skirted on the other wide of the law, so why shouldn't she? It would be to her disadvantage if she didn't.

"Sam -" Jack tried again, but this time Sam gave him a pleading look. He needed to set his priorities straight.

"Get them out of here first," she said quietly. "You can come back later -"

The man in front of Sam snickered quietly, mocking and reminiscent of the man from the elite four when Abel first appeared before him.

"Get out of my way, little girl. I don't want to hurt you."

"You're not hurting anyone," Sam said. "Jack, leave. Now."

Jack finally took a step back, then another, then another. And away he went, his footsteps pattering against the concrete floor. Even though the Electrodes were gone, their faint buzzing filled the air anyway, literally charging it with electricity.

"Move."

Sam grit her teeth. Shook her head no. Hopefully her entire team would be able to handle this madman in front of her. They had to. There were four against one. "I can't," she said.

The man shrugged and threw out a pokeball, from which smoke came out. A smoke bomb shaped like a pokeball? Sam collapsed into a violent coughing fit, covered by a purple haze of smoke. She couldn't see and her eyes stung so bad. Just then, she heard a most terrifying roar.

"Tyyyyyyy!"

It happened so quick. She heard her Pokemon wailing, and when the smoke cleared Blaze and Piplup were already knocked out by the huge dinosaur in front of her. Sam covered her mouth with the back of one hand, swallowing down the rest of the coughs and choking on them.

How could that thing have gotten to her Pokemon so quickly?

Shelgon and Rhyhorn seemed to have held out, thanks to their armor, but neither looked very good either. Sam blanched. What was that thing?

"Shelgon, Dragonbreath! Rhyhorn, use megahorn!"

Shelgon let loose a huge plume of purple flame at the same time Rhyhorn lunged at the massive Pokemon. The madman simply chuckled as his pokemon flung Rhyhorn away, as if Rhyhorn was some Jigglypuff. Sam cried out as Rhyhorn smashed against the wall and collapsed to the floor in a weak heap.

Surprisingly, Kite's attack worked beautifully, causing the large Pokemon to collapse to the ground in a groaning heap. Kite was, however, considerably weaker than before. Sam ran to her Pokemon and hugged it as best she could, murmuring discreet reassurances and holding back tears.

"You did a good job, Kite. You did great -"

"Really, is that all you have?"

And when Sam looked up, she almost fainted. Fear numbed her body, and she felt Kite quake under her. Another one of the large Pokemon they had just beaten was before them. Sam slunk in front of Kite, quivering.

"No. You're not touching Kite," she said.

He shrugged as his monster of a Pokemon lifted one great paw to strike Sam. Then, a weak attack struck it between the eyes, and it went loopy, and paused.

"Sam, are you all right?" Was that Tyler? Or Jack? Maybe even Jerri? Sam couldn't quite tell. She was too afraid to look away from the dinosaur in front of her, and she simply couldn't move for fear of being unable to protect Kite from a killing blow. Cold hands grabbed at her wrist, trying to yank her off Kite, but Sam refused to budge.

"Sam, we need to get you and your Pokemon out of here! Where are your Pokeballs? Come on!"

Sam couldn't, she couldn't move. Couldn't let anything hurt Kite. Attacks were being hurled at the masked man's Pokemon, but nothing seemed to affect it. Nothing. Sam's eyes caught her Pokemon strewn across the floor. She was a bad trainer. A terrible trainer.

The tears fell, one by one, then in a stream.

"Sam! Please!"

Finally she was dragged out of there, vision still glazed over with tears. Her Pokemon. Her darling Pokemon. Did someone remember to bring them?

"Kite..." she muttered.

Then, nothing but blackness.

Tyler Cohen | Generator Room

"Tarrr!" Crawdaunt busted through the door with a Surf wave, knocking Tyranitar back several yards. The enraged dino forced its way back through the water, taking a hard swipe at Crawdaunt. But Sam was escaping with Morty and I couldn't let this joker hurt anyone. Crawdaunt rammed the beast against the wall and it gave out an ear-piercing wail before slamming Crawdaunt right back with much more force.

And my heart sank because I started wondering if Crawdaunt could do it alone.

But I had no one else.

And everyone... everything was suddenly resting on my shoulders.

So, "Crawdaunt!" I yelled out and grabbed Haunter's Pokeball from my belt. Before I could release him, a white flash erupted from my side, releasing Horsey into the water. Its eyes were locked dead-onto Tyranitar without a hint of fear or hesitation. Without any orders, it swam beneath the currents and blasted several rings of Water Pulses around Tyranitar, putting it in a daze. The horrible beast swung a rocky arm down into the flood waters and sent poor Horsey flying for its life into the electricity-filled air.

"Tyranitar, finish them all off with Thunderbolt..." The masked man took a step onto Tyranitar's tail to get out of the water just before the dino released lightning into the air. And, as my focus blurred and everything flashed blue, I fell into the shocking flood beneath me, half-knocked out. But the sudden cry of a Horsey--not in danger or in panic, but in power, shook me out of my dizzying state. I reached out and grabbed onto the handle of some lever and pulled myself up above the current just as a white flash engulfed Horsey. With a brilliant wail, it began to grow, spikes growing out of its back and its voice deepening. And, even before the Pokemon took its new shape, it blasted out a newly-attained Dragonbreath attack, sending Tyranitar against the wall in a fit of purple fire.

The man on his back wailed and squeezed out from behind it, pulling a small, yellow diamond from his pocket. "You're a joke! You think that you'll survive this attack? Hah!" The man threw the yellow crystal into the unconscious Tyranitar's mouth, bringing him back to full power before my own eyes. I swallowed a hard lump in my throat as the goliath stood up, towering over Crawdaunt, Seadra, and me. "Tyranitar, use Hyper Beam on the generators and blow this place to hell."

I tried to step back, but lost my balance under the still-foggy sting of the thunderbolt. When I looked up again, Tyranitar was charging for the Hyper Beam while Crawdaunt and Seadra gave off a double-powered blast of Water Pulse. The beast fell back, turning its head to its own trainer before releasing the blast just beneath his feet. The room shook with the ground-breaking power and the rock beneath the man's feet fell apart, sending him down into the tunnels below. As the water began to drain from the room, the dazed Tyranitar fell through the hole as well, giving off a fatal roar as he plummeted down into the abyss. And over the sound of the falling torrent, I heard footsteps echoing in the hall.

In through the door came Jerri with a terrified look on her face. "The woman's Pokemon... They just disappeared!"

I opened my mouth to say something, but stopped instantly when more of the floor began to fall apart. "Let's go! It's not safe in here!" I reached out and grabbed Jerri by the hand, recalling both of my Pokemon before running for the door. But like a bolt of lightning, Shelgon popped into my head. I turned around, looking around the room until I saw it: a huge white rock just sitting in the corner, protected from everything...

"Go on, Jerri. I have to save him..."

As Jerri ran out, I ran back in, hopping over the missing pieces of floor until I got to Shelgon's shell. I reached down to grab it to attention, but out from its shell blasted a plume of purple fire. "Shelgon!"

I screamed, half in fear and half in shock. "It's me! Tyler!" And just like that, two yellow eyes appeared from within the darkness of the shell. "We have to get out of here! Sam's waiting..."

A piece of floor fell through to the tunnels below. "Shell?"

I adjusted my footing and pointed to the escape. "Let's go!"

Shelgon bounced from its perched place and bounded out the door. I stepped off to follow him in a sprint, but suddenly lost all control of where I was going.

There was no floor beneath me.

So I shot out a hand to grab anything I could and held on for dear life to the cables hanging out from the generators.

And the game began: How long could Tyler Cohen survive?

Kent| Cianwood Pokemon Center| 5:25pm

Kent was sitting in the Pokemon Center, again. He was going to be staying there for a little while longer. He wanted to train a bit. Use the island as a way to connect with his Pokemon, and grow closer. He had even gotten an invite from Chuck to join his school while he was staying there. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to take up the offer, but he was thinking about it.

The thing was Kent just couldn’t think about it. The only thing on his mind was that Cody kid. His Pokemon, that Skarmory, you could see the singe mark on its leg, it was limping, and he didn’t even care. He didn’t care about how it was injured. He didn’t hesitate to have his Sudowoodo blow itself up to win. He Didn’t care about it getting hurt on his word.

And the Luxio. The Luxio. It seemed so innocent, so baby like. And…what did Cody do? He turned it into a killing machine. He could see Ru was down. He could see Kent trying to return him. But he kept having Luxio attack, ruthlessly. He could see Luxio was in bad shape, how it was in pain, but he didn’t care.

Most of all though it was the Gible. He could forget everything else, he could push it away, except for the Gible. It was just driving him mad…making him insane. How could he raise a Pokemon like that? How could he turn something that with just a bit of effort could be a sweet, loving thing, and turn it into a killing machine? Something driven by blood. It disgusted Kent.

But at the same time it made him…he didn’t know what it made him feel. He was already sad about Gible. He knew it was the right thing to do but…he needed to see him. But how….Oh right, a phone. Duh.

Kent got up and found a pay phone in the corner. He dialed up and got the number for the Pokedome. He wasn’t sure what to do from there though. Who had taken Gible? He eventually just said ”An old dude with a Polwrath,” and they redirected him to a guy named Magnus. Go figure.

“Hello, who is this?” Kent recognized the voice instantly. It was old, yet youthful. With a wisdom, strict yet friendly. Kent didn’t know how to describe it other than like a grand father.

“Yes…um this is Kent Walker.” Silence hung for awhile. “I think you have my Gible?”

“AH…Gible!” Magnus cheered. “Oh Gible, tee-hee, has been absolutely wonderful here. He has been just wonderful at the soccer games. And his speed in phenomenal. And…oh let me get him!”

Kent waited on the phone for a moment, in the background Magnus was running around and shifting through something. “Gaaaaaab!” Kent almost squealed. That was Gible alright…but something was off. Magnus came back and said he Gible would be right over in a moment. There were some heavy steps and then a lazy voice came on. “Gaaaaaaaaaaab. Gab-Gab.”

“Gible, it’s me, Kent,” Kent said hopefully. There was a slight murmur for a second but no response. “Gible?”

“Gab..Gab-Gab. Gabite. Ite.” Kent dropped the phones….Gible had evolved…Kent had missed a monumental moment for Gible. And…now it didn’t even seem to be the same. That lazy manner, the forgetting who he was. That wasn’t Gible…it couldn’t be his Gible.. could it? Had leaving Fang made it forget him? Had he wanted Kent to stay with him?

Ru came over to him and tugged at his sleeve, pointing at the phone. Muffled voices were coming out of it, but Kent could careless at this point. He sat back down and just cried.

Samuelle Park - Ecruteak Hospital, 11 AM

Something about the hospital frayed Sam's nerves. It wasn't just the white-washed walls, or the constant beeping of the machines hooked up to people. No. It was everything. The stink of old people, the bitterness of medicine, the undecided soft-yet-hard bed. Cold sweat all over her.

She still heard the monstrous Pokemon roaring in her ears, and she clamped her hands over them, shook her head no. No, that monster was gone. Gone and far away. Sam let her hand drop over the side of the bed in an attempt to feel Kite's reassuring shell.

A nudge came, but definitely not one from Kite. It was cold and rough, rocky. Rhyhorn. Never mind, though. Sam patted Rhyhorn absent-mindedly before swinging her hand to and fro, searching for Kite.

She didn't find him. Sam sat up straight and glanced over the edge of the bed. Rhyhorn gave her the most pitiful look. Her other Pokeballs rested on the bedside table beside her. She counted them.

One, two, plus the egg. Plus Rhyhorn.

That left one Pokemon unaccounted for.

Sam looked around wildly, and, finding no one, she jumped out of bed, flinching when the cold tiles greeted her feet. But there was no time for being picky. Sam put on the fuzzy slippers beside her bed, muttering an apology to whoever owned the slippers, and tore through the ward, ripping open curtains and crawling under beds.

"Kite? Kite? KITE?!"

"Hey! Watch it, kid!"

Eventually a nurse, complete with thick makeup and a plastic smile, came up to Sam, took her by the arm. "Miss? I'm afraid you'll have to stop disturbing the other patients -"

Sam shook her head, tears lining her eyes. "You don't understand -"

"We never do," muttered the nurse. The smile stayed on her face anyway. "Come on! Let's calm down first. Deep breaths, deep breaths -"

"I'm fine," Sam yanked her arm away from the nurse's grip. The nurse's hand was icy, almost dead. Sam backed up a few steps and almost tripped over Rhyhorn. The Pokemon glared at the nurse, and the Chansey accompanying said nurse, before glancing at Sam with pleading eyes.

This time, Sam understood. Kite had been left behind. Outside the window, the glass pane showed a crumbling gym.

"Miss, please."

Sam nodded numbly, allowed the nurse to take her back. Kite was in the gym when it crumbled. Kite was...no. No. Sam couldn't accept that. Just as the nurse motioned for Sam to sit down, the younger girl scooped up all her pokeballs, as well as the egg, before dashing out of the ward. The nurse screamed after her, Rhyhorn's heavy footsteps followed her.

Never mind that the wind was cold. Never mind she was only wearing a hospital gown. Never mind the fuzzy slippers. No one cared about the strange glances she got.

Kite could still be alive, and that was what mattered. She had to know for sure.

Samuelle Park - Crumbly Ecruteak Gym, 11:09 AM

Drip, drip, drip.

Leaky pipes.

Splash, splash, crunch.

Her footsteps on puddles and gravel.

"Sheeeeeell."

Kite.

Sam treaded through the maze as carefully as she could. Her slippers were wet from stepping on all the puddles of water lying around, and it was a terrible feeling. Wet slippers. Ew. Cold and slimy. Sam shivered and pressed on anyway.

"Kite?"

"Sheeell!" came the reply.

Yeap, Kite was here. And he was alive. Sam had almost screamed for joy when she heard Kite's first cry, but now, she thought Kite sounded ominous. Charmander led the way, his burning tail lighting up the cavernous gym. Rhyhorn plodded along beside Sam, weary and quiet at the same time.

Sam reached down to touch Rhyhorn, just to reassure herself that her Pokemon were really there with her.

After a final descent down creaky stairs, they found Kite, huddled in a corner.

"Kite?"

Yellow eyes opened from the darkness of the shell. "Sheeell." But despite Sam's open arms, Kite didn't come running to her. Sam wasn't sure she wanted to approach Kite - the ground beneath him looked shaky.

"Kite, c'mere." Sam knelt down and tried to coax Kite to coming closer by widening her arms. No effect.

"Sheeeell?" Kite glanced at the darkness behind him.

"It's all right," Sam whispered.

"Sam?! Is that you? Anyone?"

Sam recognized that voice all too well. She froze. It had come from the darkness beyond.

"Tyler?" she squeaked.

"Help - argh!"

Sam's heart pounded in her chest, drowning out every other sound in the room. When she looked down on the floor between her and the darkness beyond Kite, all she saw were cracks and more cracks. She froze. Could she risk it? Could she? She glanced at Kite. It would be foolish to try without getting outside help.

"HELP!"

But Tyler might not last longer either. Sam shut her eyes, hugged Rhyhorn one last time and wished to God she had gotten a grass Pokemon. Vine whip would be so useful right now. But she didn't, so she contented herself with edging across the wall towards the darkness. Soon enough, she saw Tyler, the lone splotch of color in the unending darkness below, hanging on to a frayed wire.

"Tyler," she gasped. But how to help him? Only one way. She leaned over the darkness as far as she dared and held out her arm, reaching for him as he grabbed wildly for her hand.

Something snapped again, and Sam glanced at the cable holding Tyler. It wasn't the one that snapped...but how long before it did? She reached out, farther, just a little bit farther - one more inch...

And his icy, sweaty palm caught her equally frigid one.

Got him. Now to haul him on to solid ground. But how? She certainly wasn't strong enough. Would adrenaline hold out?

Tyler Cohen | Crumbly Ecruteak Gym | 11:11AM

"Dear God, Sam," I coughed, straining to keep my hand on hers, "don't. Let. Go."

Sam tried to pull up on me and I reached out for a piece of floor to help pull up my weight, but lost my grip as the rock crumbled away. And down it fell with a curse under my breath. Sam kept her grip steady, but I could tell she wasn't strong enough to support us both. I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes, focusing on getting out.

Just when I flexed my muscles to pull up, my focus shattered into a thousand directions as a misery-shriek swelled from down below. I winced and shouted to Sam over the wail, closing my eyes. "What...What time is it??" Her grip loosened under the pressure of the sound and she gave out a loud grunt as she yelled back over the noise.

"It's just after eleven...Why??"

I groaned as my ears began to split, shaking my head. "Just hang on! It's... It's wake-up time for the ghosts!"

And from down below came a shriek, two shrieks, five, six, nine, dozens of shrieks from Ghastlys. A gust of wind pushed up and I could smell the water down below along with...blood? And it was like the world was telling me to die. "Oh God, Sam, don't let g-..."

And Sam, Sam lost her balance.

There was a sudden moment of shits and fucks before we both began to fall.

So I did what any hero about to meet his death would do: I closed my eyes and grabbed onto Sam to protect her from the impact of the stone floor below.

And I started counting down.

And my life flashed in front of my eyelids and I just couldn't bear the thought of dying so soon.

"GhaaaaAAAA!" cried out a voice and I opened my eyes as the shrieks came up from below again, this time surrounding Sam and I. And her screams and my own screams melded together with the ghostly screams below, but in the mix of screams and fear, the wind stopped blowing around us. And there was darkness. Just darkness.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
Ecruteak Gym (outside) | 11:45AM

"Now, could you tell us what exactly happened here?" The news team from Goldenrod Channel 9 was there, sticking microphones and cameras in our faces. Sam and I stayed towards the back with Morty while Jack and Jerri fielded the questions.

Jack gave a huge grin and pumped his fist into the air. "We pwned their terrorist asses!" The news team gave a roaring chuckle and scribbled and flashed and kept asking questions.

Morty sat down in front of Sam and I and smiled gently. "I guess you two had quite a scare in the catacombs."

I looked up from my cold compress to Morty and gave him a look that death couldn't compare to. He threw up his hands defensively, giving a soft chuckle. "I'm just saying... It's not everyday that you petition the Ecruteak spirits to teleport you from their home." He grinned. "But it also says a lot about the potential of both of you as trainers."

Sam looked up when he said trainer, her eyes buggy and wide. "Kite... Where's Kite?!"

Morty put a hand on her shoulder and nodded. "We got him. Don't worry. He was a bit shaken up at first after seeing you two fall into the cavern, but he recovered as soon as he saw you."

Sam nodded and laid back against the wall of the gym, giving off a sigh. I realized then that I owed my life to Sam...somewhat. I owed more of it to the Ghastly underground. I slowly stood to my feet and wobbled against the wall until I had balance, but the reporters stormed me before I could stand up straight.

"Is it true that you solely took on both terrorists and won?"

"Is it true that you saved a Shelgon and the day at the same time?"

"Is it true that you proposed to Ms. Park while in the catacombs?!"

Well, somewhere between the dizziness, the delusion, and the noise of the reporters, my common sense took a vacation.

So I reared back and punched out one of the reporters, knocking him flat on his back. "NO." And since that was all I had to say about it, I went off from the group to breathe.

Ten minutes later, I heard Morty silence the reporters and politely ask them to go home. Only one cameraman stayed, and that was the one who had stayed quiet the whole time. "I just want a group photo," he said, and since he was old and didn't look like he would survive until the next photo-opportunity, we agreed to pose for him. We each had one Pokemon out when he took the shot, and we all pretended to smile big for him.

"Smile big for mommy, Tyler!"

After the flash, I puked.

Jack Preston
Ecruteak City
12:00 am

"Ick," Jack muttered, turning away from Tyler's gruesome scene. He'd summoned all of his Pokemon from their Balls when he was escorting the Electrode herd away from the terrorists, and although Niles had been too excited and Kingston too distant to be of any help, Citrus' communicative sparks and Fists' strength had made the whole "herding the lot out to Route 37" process much easier.

Jack now stood near the Gym doors as the reporters swarmed Sam and Tyler. Where the hell is Kent? he wondered. I'm probably the only one who actually misses the guy. He sat down and idly put a hand on the Pokemon next to him - spiky... rocky... it was Kingston. He was given about a second to register this before the Pokemon slammed into him. He was almost launched into the air before rolling along the ground for a few metres. He finally managed to struggle to his feet.

"Kingston... what the hell?" he shouted. The Pupitar's eyes narrowed.
"Tarrr!" it growled.
Before Jack could say anything else, Fists stomped in front of him and faced the Pupitar.
"Heeta!" it shouted. The Pupitar responded by charging at the Makuhita. Soon, the two Pokemon were locked in a wrestling match, each pushing against the other. Jack immediately got as far between them as possible and started trying to push them apart while Citrus kept Niles away from the brawl. Jack hoped to Arceus the reporters wouldn't take any notice of this - as if to spite him, they all surrounded him again.

"Are these your Pokemon? Did you come by them legitimately?" "Have you trained them to fight one another so viciously?" "What the hell is that sparky-looking thing with the Totodile?"
"Go away... no... I don't want to answer your questions... will you leave... me... ALONE!!" Jack screamed the last word and everyone fell silent. Gradually, the media dispersed amid mutters of "that little psychopath should be stripped of his Trainer's Card" and the like. Jack fell back onto the now-very-weak wall of the Gym and sighed.

"Ok. Now, you lot -" he began. Fists nodded with a smile, Citrus floated nearby and Niles had fallen asleep after the excitement - Jack kept forgetting he was only a day old. Kingston, however, was nowhere to be found.
"Jesus Christ..." he muttered, holding out Fists' and Niles' Balls for them to return to. "Kingstooon!" He swore under his breath. Citrus gasped.

Kent| 1:00 am| Cianwood Pokemon Center|

Kent was tiredly flipped through the channels. It was late and everyone in the center was asleep, Kent couldn’t sleep, though. He was watching episodes of some old crappy sitcom, it was about a kid who got turned into a Bellsprout, or something.

Kent was starting to fall asleep when a buzz cut through the entire center, he looked up lazily to see a group of people at the door. A Chansey ran over and let them in, the group all sat down on a couch. Kent, who was too tired to think properly just stared at them for awhile, trying to see if he knew them. He felt like he did.

One of them glanced over at the insane looking Kent and laughed. “Kent, is that you?” The other two turned around and Kent snapped back into reality. Jack, Sam, and Tyler were all over there. Kent sighed to himself briefly before walking over Sam and Tyler were far from welcoming, they seemed as if they had enjoyed their vacation away from him. Even if it involved a terrorist attack.

Jack started jabbering on about their story. About the terrorist attack. Where they found the bomb squad guys in the middle of the floor, and had to split up to save Morty. All the electrode in the basment, rigged to blow at once, How Sam had taken on one of the Grave members on her own, and Tyler had taken on one too. About how after they had lost Tyler and shelgon and Sam went in and saved them, and then a group of Gastly saved them. Then the poparatzi. “But I do have a big question for you, kent.”

Kent popped his head up, he hadn’t been paying full attention. Jack grabbed a premiere ball from his belt and studied it. “You ever raised Pupitar?”

Kent nodded. He Hadn’t raised as many of them as other Pokemon, but a decent amount, at least. He dove into his bag and pulled out an old journal. “When I was a kid I always wanted a Pokedex, but my dad said I needed to be older to get one. So I deicded to make my own Pokedex. We saw a lot of Pokemon on the farm, wild, from the daycares, special orders, rich people who needed a place to dump their kid’s ponyta a week after their birthday.” Kent flipped to a section labeled “Tar.” “I abbreviated the Pokemon by their evolution chain’s common name. Here is Pupitar’s pages.”

Kent read line for line. “Pupitar, an agitated Pokemon. When they evolve from Larvitar they greatly grow in size, though it does not show. Their body is crammed into the shell of a Pupitar, with no room, and thin air, high insulation, and a bad smell. During the long period of time from Pupitar to Tyranitar their body grows, but the shell stays the same size the entire time, until it breaks upon evolution. For this reason they are very found of breaking things, in an attempt to crack open their shell.

“Upon evolution they are extremely agitated, still, and out of anger they prefer to break things. This behavior lasts for at least three weeks before they calm.”

Jack looked away. ‘So, basically it evolved for me, and it thinks that it is my fault that it is there?” kent nodded numbly. “Sorry dude.” Jack nodded and put the Pokeball away. Jack asked if he could see the journal for a second. “So I guess this explains why Kingston ran away earlier. We found him making a tunnel outside.”

Kent chuckled a bit. “Yeah, their favorite thing is mountains.”Jack put down the book, and before Kent could get to it Sam grabbed it.

“I’m not letting you hold out any more info on Kite,” Kent smiled.

‘So, you found out about the little no eating thing?” Sam glared at him. “Hey, you never asked. Not my fault you were too prideful to ask someone who has raised dozens of them.”

Kent began to talk about what he had seen. About the day at the Safari zone, and Andrew and Cody. The triple battles at Cianwood, and he even showed them the cool badge he had gotten. Jack and Sam talked about how Morty had given them his badge for their excellent work at his gym. Kent resistred the urge to tell them then it wasn’t a real badge, then. Ru suddenly appeared. He had wandered off somewhere for the last hour or so. It poofed up on to Kent’s lap. Sam giggled a bit. Ru Didn’t exactly fit with Kent, but he didn’t care. Ru was cool with him.

Kent looked over to Tyler. He seemed off. He Hadn’t said a word the whole time, he looked stressed as if getting here had been a walk on his knees through a bed of spikes. He shrugged it off. “So, did you guys go to Olivine to get a badge?” Tyler winced. Sam and Jack shock their heads, not wanting to say anything. Kent would ask Jack later, again.

“Well, just so you know. Chuck isn’t a piece of cake to battle. So be ready for a challenge.”

Max| Sky| 3:00am

Max searched the sky for hours in a vain attempt to catch up with the two Team Rocket members but they were gone and nowhere to be seen. It didn’t help that Togekiss didn’t listen to him and made whining noises. Max decided that he would never find the Team Rocket goons at this rate so he decided to head back and find the others. Maybe they could help him. He suspected they were still in Ecruteak City so he headed back to the town. That’s when Togekiss bucked him off and he fell face first into the dirt as the Pokémon took off in a completely different direction.

Max sighed and got up. He’d have to walk to Ecruteak City from here. Max walked forward at a brisk pace. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed something following him. He looked around but there was nothing there. As if the world wanted to make Max miserable the heavens opened up and dumped buckets of water on him as it started to rain. He squinted through the rain his eyes scanned further in all direction and he saw a Quagsire peering out at him from behind him. When it saw him it sent a stream of compacted water the slammed into Max’s chest. He slid through the mud and spit out a mouthful of water. That’s when an idea came to him. He remembered how the Charizard had created so much fire. The next time Max was going to go up against the Team Rocket members he would have a water type Pokémon. Kabuto could learn water type moves but that wouldn’t be enough against something like Charizard.

“Lady I choose you,” Max yelled and threw out his pokeball. Lady burst of her ball with a cackle. I did waist time.

“Lady use counfuse way,” Max said but the attack didn’t seem to affect it and it sent another blast of water at us. “Lady use Psybeam.” She did and the beam of energy slammed into the Quagsire and his body seemed to absorb it.

I tossed out another Pokeball “MilkDud use Stomp,” as soon as MilkDud burst from her ball she complied and slamed her hoof down on the Quagsire. “Lady use Psybeam again,” Max yelled. The attack hit the Pokemon head in the head and it became unconscious.

Max smiled he was on step closer to becoming stronger and stopping Team Rocket. HE tossed a empty ball and it slapped the Quagsire before consuming it. The ball shook back and forth a little before settling. I picked up the ball.

“I’m going to call you jello and you’re going to help me take down Team Rocket. Lady cackled and hovered by my side. “Yes lady you’ll get a crack at them too,” Max said. Max decided to take a nap and continue a little later. So he leaned again a tree and closed his eyes. It was day time when he woke up he was surprised he slepped so long. He made lady and MilkDud return to their balls and he moved on towards Ecruteak City.

Ecruteak City| 3:20pm

When he got there he found the city abuzz when he asked what happened, the townspeople told him about the terrorist attack and how a group of brave trainers came to the rescue. He asked where the trainers were but they had already left.

Max decided to stay and train a little using his full new team. He decided to name his Kabuto ShellShock. He pit them against eachother and trained untill they got tired. They were tired so Max took them to the PokeCenter to be healed because Max planned on getting a badge while he was here. Testing his skills against a gym leader would prepare him for his battle with Team Rocket. To my dismay the gym leader was still recovering from almost dying and he wasn't taking challenges. So I had to leave and set out to find the others.

Kent|8:10am| Cianwood Pokemon center


Kent was shaken awake in three separate steps. Step one, Ru began to stir in his own make shift, pillow beg and teleported into Kent’s own pillow. The boy just stirred a bit and yawned again. Step B was Munchlax popping out of his Pokeball and jumping onto the bed. It groaned under the weight and the baby-load Pokemon began to pull at Kent’s leg. He kicked it away and tried to fall back asleep. Finally a third Pokeball opened and a large mammoth appeared. It licked Kent and the massive tongue lifted him into the air, and onto the beast’s back. He still wasn’t awake, but close enough. Jack drifted out of his bed as well, Rotom floating around his head.

Tyler and Sam came out of another room, with another girl, Jerri. Kent didn’t know who the hell she was, but she was apparently friends with Tyler, according to Jack. The group had reluctantly let Kent in, only because of his food and money. Kent was ready for the day. He had his badge and a few days until they were leaving go enjoy the beach, the sun, and train.

They all sat down, Kent whipping up some Pokemon food for the mini army they now had. Tyler ordered them all breakfast, even though Kent was paying for it. They gorged on Pancakes and waffles, French toast and cereal. It was good and filling. And by the end Kent was pumped. He charged out with his Pokemon and began calling out commands.

“Mamo, use ice shard on Munchlax. Munchlax, keep up your defense. “Glide, I want you to just keep flying. Twist and dive all you can! And Veon, use discharge on Poli. Poli, dodge it!”

The three groups kept doing this for the longest time. Munchlax and Mamo switching it around to Munchlax using Zen head butt on it. Kent was just sitting there when Jack came over. Kent collapsed on the and with him. Jack rolled two Pokeballs into the sand. Fists and a new face emerged. A small, baby faced Tootadile smiled and danced a small jig. Tyler and Sam appeared, Jerri coming in a second later. Tyler was in the water right away. He looked bald, his hair camouflaged in the water. Crauwdaunt, Piplup and Seadra were all happily swimming in the water, looking right at home. It seemed so fun and relaxing.

Kent saw Jack and his Pokemon relaxing in the sand, Sam and Tyler playing in the sand with their’s. Jerri lounging next to them. He turned to his working punch. In the hot sun pounding away. Poli was staring at the water, drawn to it. Mamo panted, glancing at the shade. Kent sighed, feeling so guilty.

“Team! Break! Take some time off and play! You got the ocean all around you!”

For the tournament listed below, I already drew up the chart and have the outcomes listed Here


Tyler Cohen | Aboard The Santa Olivia | 9:45PM

Dim chandeliers lit the ballroom.

On seven enormous tables sat a feast fit for British kings. Sam and Jack and Jerri all sat around the banquet tables, stuffing their faces with anything they could get their hands on. Everything was free; complementary on behalf of the unannounced danger on the voyage. And they were all happy together just to be dry and out of the Olivine storms. After all, it wasn't every day that I just mysteriously showed up with four tickets to one of the finest ships in the Tohjo continent. Anything to get them out of Olivine, I figured.

It just...wasn't time.

And I had time to think, of course, on the voyage. So while the others were at dinner, I sat on the upper deck under the rain shelter with nothing but the splash of mist on my face to keep me awake and out of my mind's shadows.

On far-off waves, unknown Pokemon cried out in a foreign tongue. Lightning flashed off in the distance and dozens of red beams of light flashed from beneath the waves as a school of Tentacool escaped the rugged ledges of the Whirl Islands.

That was why I loved water Pokemon, I assumed. Just for their undying motivation to survive. Or maybe it was that they didn't need light to understand their place in the world.

My hand ran across the chilly steel of the bench railing and I folded my legs under me while I pulled on a rain jacket. Blue eyes rose to the black sky as lightning flashed and revealed a soaring Pokemon in the midst of the rain.

"Lrooogyaaa..." it cried out and, in the silhouette the lightning created, it spun down into the waves, vanishing without a trace. Thunder rolled in the distance and the dim blue lights overhead on the deck flickered off. It was just me in the dark and the rain and the static in the air.

I rose to my feet and took two steps forward, pulling the hood over my head as I peered down into the waves below. The disturbed, crashing black waves roiled beneath the edge of the ship and gave off a low tumbling sound as the vessel moved forward. Something moved beneath the waves and, instinctively, I took a step up onto the railing to get a better look.

"You're not gonna jump, are ya?"

My muscles lurched at the disruption; my hands gripped the railing until they were frosty white without blood. I turned my head and squinted through the hazy air into the face of the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. She took a step forward, pulling on a sweatshirt over her black cocktail dress. When she lifted her eyes back to mine, she smiled and my heart skipped beats until it was at double-time.

Snow blond hair fell to her shoulders, offset by two gray stars in her eyes. Her skin was a delicate glassy white and her lips were painted a dark blue and she wore matching jewelry on her neck, ears, and fingers.

As she stepped forward once more, I suddenly remembered her question among the rushing heat in my face. So I gathered my composure silently and looked deliberately into her eyes. "Of course not..." My voice was empty, almost as dark as the waves and the sky.

She giggled and stood beside me, peering out into the bleak horizon. "You wouldn't be the first to want to go diving into a school of Carvhana." Her lips pursed into a delicate smile, but she shook her head. Was a stranger confiding suicide plans to me? "When it's all too much, you know?"

I stepped down from the railing and silently nodded, dropping my eyes to the wet wooden floor beneath us. A waterfall of hair fell down in front of them and I forced a half-smile with a deep breath. "I understand more than you'd believe," I said, and looked back to her eyes through the cascade of blue in front of me; then she smiled again.

"Why would you hide those beautiful blue eyes behind anything?" She stepped forward and brushed my bangs from my face, smiling so uniquely at me. Her hand lingered just slightly on my cheek before she gracefully retracted it, nodding. "My name is Sierra."

The most beautiful name in the cosmos, manifest before me and touched my face. Oh God.

I hesitated, but gathered myself through the knot in my throat and smiled. "My name is Tyler. Tyler Cohen."

She moved over to the railing, peering down again into the roiling waves. "That is a very calming name, almost like it belongs in the peaceful northern seas." I pulled up my straying eyes and smiled in reply to her compliment, nodding.

"So is Sierra..."

She slyly peered up from the waves and nodded, putting her hand over my own. Of course it was fast and unexpected, but I didn't care. "You're sweet," she said, watching the waves in my eyes for a change, almost like she anticipated something great to come out of me. "I don't meet many sweet boys anymore," she whispered, and moved just a bit closer to me, just enough to touch shoulders.

And she leaned in, slowly, and I did the same until we were mere inches apart. And though it was so soon and though nothing gave a hint as to what we both felt, a kiss just seemed like the right move to make.

And she stopped moving, waiting for me to make the final move; and when I moved in to my first kiss, just as our lips had barely touched, the intercom blared behind us and startled Sierra out of the moment.

"We will arrive in Cianwood City in five minutes. Please gather your belongings and prepare for docking."

Sierra placed a hand over her heard and looked up from the floor with a startled, breathy smile on her face. "I... I need to go," she huffed out, composing herself and giving me a quick peck on the cheek before running off down the deck towards the main hall.

And when she was out of hearing, seeing, and feeling distance, I fell back onto the soaked wooden bench to stop my head from spinning.

The chances of seeing her again were so slim on such a big ship; and the chances of meeting anyone so knock-out gorgeous again in my life were so small... I had to find her.

I let my head droop to the side and scanned the slippery wooden floor with longing eyes. Any kind of answ-...

And I leaned down, picking up a registration card with Sierra's picture on it.

Sierra Stone | Santa Olivia Tourney | Cianwood City

Dear God.

In the morning... A tournament. Sierra.

Dear God.

__ __ __ __ __

Tourney Entry Desk | 10:20PM

"Yes, we have four spots remaining for our tournament." The old woman looked up from her paperwork, placing a pen behind her ear, hidden in a mess of rusty red hair. "Would you like to register yourself?"

I nodded and handed her my trainer card, taking a look around the room for Sierra. "Actually, ma'am..." I fished around in my pocket for my Pokegear, taking it out to display digital copies of Jerri's, Jack's, and Sam's trainer cards. "All four of us want to be registered!"

The woman lifted her eyebrows and shrugged, taking down the information. "I've never had the final spots fill up together before, but...okay." Her northern accent was harsh in my ears, but it didn't matter. This was sure to get me a chance to see Sierra again.

"Tyler!" I turned my head around to Jerri, Sam, and Jack all standing behind me. I turned around, angling my arms to hide the registration desk behind me. "What are you doing here, Ty?"

I looked at their faces one by one and smiled sheepishly, sighing out the anxiety. "I'm registering us for the tournament! We just took the last spots."

Jack raised an eyebrow and angled his head to look at the woman writing things down. "Wadda we get if we win?"

I arched an eyebrow and turned around to the woman, relaying the question in a vacant stare.

"Oh! The grand prize is a Dragonair bred specifically for universal combat."

And no one in the group said a word.

Sam jerked the four of us into a huddle and whispered. "So we're all entering this tournament?" We all nodded. "And we all want the Dragonair?" We all nodded once again. Sam grinned and shook her head. "Then that makes us all rivals."

__ __ __ __ __

Aaaand the time lapse is CLOSED.