Pokèmon: Requiem for Revenge [Remix]

[Tha Legend]

I woke up, knocked the dust off my fic, and managed to get it away from the singing fat lady that kept trying to stick a fork in it. I hope you like.
~Legend~

[Tha Legend]

Sometimes writing is just hard...

I mean, I've been slipping on my fic (see my sig, please) because I have the outline of the plot, but I want to make the implementation plausible. I usually only have an hour to write everyday. I sneak on here during breaks at work, and when I go home, I have to help my wife (she's VERY pregnant, i.e. 7.5 months.) I try to do the best with what I have, but I try to post teasers if I take a long time. Also, I was told when I first started that posts don't come easy, I have been fortunate to get the replies I have, but that is all neither here or there.

I try to read and reply to fics that I see have a low post count because everybody needs a little help sometimes.

The major problem with me is writers block. It's frustrating to know how something is supposed to go, but not know how to get it there.

Okay, that's it. I apologize for the erratic post, but my words don't work so well right now.

~Legend~

[Tha Legend]

<<<+++Spoiler+++>>>


















I do use one legendary pokemon, The Deliverer.
I have to use it, but it won't appear until the climax, and it'll be gone before the denoument.

~Legend~

[Tha Legend]

This is a revision of a revised fic of the fic I tried earlier. I noticed the chapter quality eroded as I wrote and so I decided to spruce it up before continuing. It’s actually a job, this thing was 34 pages in Word at the end of chapter 7! For the sake of the website that is graciously hosting this story, I deleted the first version before I posted this one.

Rated R for violence, adult language, and a scant few sexual situations, but no actual depictions.

While only a few parts of the Ru/Sa story are used, be aware that there are spoilers. Also, the pokè-battling is a little light while I lay the groundwork, but don't worry, it’ll come.
Oh and get this, Chapter titles in the long Japanese format.

[note:] I realized that "faint attack" is really a feint attack thanks to the recent Sneasel episdoe of the anime.
<><><><>

Chapter 1: Family ties: The Sad Story of a Fatherless Trainer.

<><><><>

The bare, gnarled, branches of an aged oak tree tapped rhythmically against the window of a brick apartment building. Darkness pervaded the room inside; save a single sliver of moonlight cast on the foot of a twin-size bed. Various moving boxes were scattered around the stark surroundings.
“Hoot hoot,” a pokèmon’s call echoed through the night and into the near-empty room. Underneath the covers, a young boy trembled anxiously in the fetal position. With the click of a flashlight, the boy’s features became visible. His face was pale, with fair, clear, skin. His hair was very blonde, nearly white, in fact. His long, wispy bangs draped over his face. Ice-blue eyes reflected the meager illumination from the weakening bulb.

With a weak flicker, the flashlight suddenly gave out. The covers slowly parted enough for the boy’s head to appear. Three-thirty, he sighed inwardly as he stared at his porygon digital alarm clock. He slowly settled back under his blanket and sighed.

He couldn’t sleep. Tomorrow, he and his mother would be moving to Littleroot town in the Hoenn Region. His father would be there, finally giving him his chance to show his father just what he thought of him: how much he hated him. The hatred was blight on his soul. It made his vision swim with a red haze as images of the latest of his father’s sporadic visits barged into his mind like an unwelcome guest.

<><><>

“One day, I know you’ll be a great pokèmon trainer, Cloud.”

His father’s coarse voice grated against his senses. Cloud groaned inwardly as his father mussed his hair with one large hand. His father was a tall and muscular man. He stood almost six feet-two with hard, narrow, eyes that always made him seem like he was focused on something. Unfortunately, that something never seemed to involve Cloud or his mom.

Just then, his mother appeared at the door. She was a slender, attractive, woman. Her five foot four inch frame seemed to glide as she approached. Her walk conveyed a deep-rooted sense of grace and poise. Her shiny, brown, hair fell to her shoulders. She smiled as she called to Cloud in her deep and throaty voice.

“Cloud, time for you to take a bath.”
He gratefully obliged. He had had enough of his father for one day anyway. As he neared her, Cloud noticed that the hurt look wavering in her eyes belied the easy smile that she wore. From his vantage point, it seem as though it was forced.

Cloud cast his eyes downward as he worriedly walked past her, and waited just inside the doorway. He watched quietly as his father neared his mother with a cautionary air.

“Things are looking good at the league,” said Cloud’s father flatly as though he were dictating a letter to her. Cloud quaked with anger. He had been out for so long, and now it was as if he was giving a half-hearted attempt at making small talk.

“How are things at home, Norman?” His mother’s retort was icy and pointed. She glared at him with an expression mixed with hurt, anger, and confusion. Her whole face was a contradiction. Her eyes were sad but her mouth was angry.

“Damn it, Luna! Not this again,” Norman snapped back at her. He sighed deliberately as unclenched his fists and wrung the bridge of his nose with his right hand. “You know I’m trying my best to provide for us! I don’t feel like hearing you ***** about everything when I’m busting my balls to provide for you and Cloud!” Luna was obviously taken aback by his bluntness. She paused a second to muster her anger once more.

“What are you providing, money?” Her body shuddered as though she could just as easily fly into a rage or break into sobs.
“Right now, our little boy is growing up without a father.” A small whimper fought it’s way to the surface. She didn’t want to cry, not in front of him.
“He needs you.” She paused and stepped towards him and gingerly rested a dainty hand on his chest. “I…need you.” She kissed him lightly on the mouth, and then again, harder, like a woman trying to grasp the last grains of sand before the hourglass that measured their marriage ran out. Despite her passion she couldn’t register any romantic feeling from the other end. Norman remained silent as Luna slowly drew back. She knew that her husband would never again be the man she married.

“I… I have to go now,” he paused and turned away from her. “I might be back later tonight, but don’t wait up for me.” His voice was stiff, and without emotion. He spoke without a backward glance, and strode off towards his motorcycle.
Luna sank slowly to the ground as he walked away. Her hand was outstretched and grasping as she tried to call for Norman, her husband, to come back to her. The only sound she made, however, was a low, gurgling sob, which intensified to a pain-laced wail as she fell to her hands and knees.

Cloud was also a mix of emotions. He was angry with his father for making his mother cry. He was sad because his mother was so unhappy, but mostly, he was confused. Not too long ago, his family was happy. A sudden, unexplained, rift had been torn between them, and he felt like he was nothing but an extra burden on his mother.

The fault, of course, was entirely his father’s. Lately, he had been secretive and reclusive. He never spent time at home anymore. He was always going to meetings trying to get funding for his gym. Tonight he was to be at a meeting with Devon Co., the pokèmon hardware supplier for the Johto/Kanto region.

Cloud watched with concern as his mother’s crying softened, and she began to collect herself. After a few minutes of straightening, primping, and brushing, she managed to only appear slightly disheveled. She stood and walked back toward the house, shakily, at first.

“Honey, why haven’t you taken your bath yet?” Luna rasped before a weak smile crossed her face. She hugged Cloud closely and gave him a quick peck on the forehead.
Without waiting for an answer, she continued.

“Let’s get you washed up and ready for supper.” She added lovingly. As she led him inside, Cloud knew, at that moment, his father would have to pay. And Cloud knew his dad would pay by being defeated, at his hands, in the thing that he had forsaken them for, pokèmon.

<><><>

A wild Dodrio’s herald of morning’s first golden light found Cloud curled tightly in a ball near the edge of his bed. The same golden light fell upon all the boxes that housed all his life’s possessions. A sudden clamor outside caused Cloud to rouse.

“Huh, What time is it,” muttered Cloud as he stirred from his fitful sleep. A soft knocking at the door caused him to drowsily acknowledge the agitator as his mother pushed it open.

“Good morning honey,” she said happily. “I tried to let you sleep in a little, but the movers are early. I need you to get dressed so we can get ready to go.” Cloud’s half-lucid mind was grateful that she had made no mention of his father. His whole day would be ruined if he had to think too much about him this early.
“Go,” he groaned groggily as he sat up.
“Y’know, Hoenn. We talked about it yesterday.”
“Oh… yeah,” he slurred. “Hoenn.”

<><><>

Norman sighed as he slumped at his cluttered desk. He was in the middle of stuffing his things into a box when his mind began to wander to his family. His work was so overwhelming he had to pull an all-nighter just to be ready to leave today, but he still couldn’t meet his wife and child’s at their move-in. He sighed wearily, and spun his chair around to look out of the window of his cramped office. Beneath him sprawled Indigo Plateau, the Kanto/ Johto region capitol.

The Kanto/Johto capitol city was a bustling metropolis; a place where the realized dreams of a few were spun into something more beautiful than the finest silk, but it was also the place where the broken dreams of many were used to pave the streets and thoroughfares.
The people here were shallow and superficial. They cared only about the latest fads and worshipping whomever held the illustrious title of pokèmon master. Norman was adamant that his dreams would not be trodden upon, whatever the cost. He would get back to the true essence of pokèmon. He would own his own gym. His moment of reflection left him oblivious to the shadowy figure behind him.

“Norman, Norman, Norman…” The man’s voice chided him coolly in a low, but confident voice. “You have no time to be daydreaming.” He brought his arms akimbo and his face became stern.
“The Boss needs you in Petalburg, yesterday!” This caused Norman to become visibly annoyed.

“Mitch,” replied Norman matter-of-factly as he stared out of his window. “Tell Archie that I don’t need his lap-dog barking out orders.” At that, Mitch’s eyes narrowed, and he reached inside of his coat. Without looking around, Norman regarded him again.

“I don’t see that as a wise move, my friend.” His warning was more sarcastic than amicable. “I am a Gym leader in every sense, but name.”
Growling, Mitch reluctantly let his hand fall from the sphere. “One day, my friend, you will push me too far.”
Norman didn’t even register his reply. His attention was on the small crowd gathering outside the building. As Mitch moved to see the window exploded into a million shards of glass, and a round object clattered to the floor and slid into the office door.
“The Friends of Pokèmon are taking a stand against the Pokèmon League’s cycle of oppression!” A man with a bullhorn yelled angrily at the building. The small mob behind him then commenced to pelt the building with pokèballs; just like the one that crashed through his window earlier.

<><><><>

Cloud steadied himself as the moving van sharply turned another corner. Cloud was in the back, and he was desperately clinging to one of the larger “kitchen” boxes. Movers, he thought to himself. These must be pokèmon drivers too.

After about thirty more minutes of jostling, and a few near rollovers the truck finally came to a stop. Cloud gratefully waited at the door as the back was opened up. He was overwhelmed by his first sight of stable land in hours, and happily jumped out to greet it. The fresh air filled his nostrils and brought Cloud a small sense of relief. He welcomed the change from the stale and musty smell of the moving van.

“This is our new house, honey,” Luna said happily. Cloud was impressed. This house was much larger than the two-bedroom apartment they had been occupied back in Azalea. A fresh coat of beige paint was a nice compliment to the cocoa-hued roof.
They seemed to be in a similar rural setting. Their house was flanked with half dozen or so small shrubs. In front was a large yard, and behind the house lay a dense forest. He didn’t have much more time to take in the surroundings, before Luna led/dragged him inside.

Inside, a pair of beefy-looking Machoke were effortlessly hefting the large boxes and placing them in the rooms that they were marked for.
“See, honey,” Luna said happily. “The pokèmon do all the work!”
“Great,” muttered Cloud half-heartedly. Unfazed, his mother continued the tour.

“I have a special surprise though,” his mother beamed. Go upstairs, and through the first door on the right.”

“Okay,” Cloud replied passively. He sped up the stairs with Luna close behind. After opening the door, Cloud was taken aback by the size of the bedroom that stood before him.

“Mom,” he asked in a bewildered tone. “Your bedroom is huge! I wonder what mine looks like.”

“This isn’t my bedroom,” Luna replied. “It’s yours. But don’t get too comfortable yet. Your father has a friend here in Littleroot. His name is Professor Birch, and he has a kid about your age, and…”
“Mom,” Cloud sighed loudly. He had just gotten off the truck. He didn’t feel like meeting anyone now.

“Go on,” prodded Luna. Her voice was a little sterner than before. “I’m sure they’d love to meet you.

“Mom, but…” he groaned again, but stopped short when he saw Luna’s eyes begin to tremble.
“I going,” he added, defeated. He couldn’t refuse her. He trudged slowly out the front door, and down the street. I can’t let her cry anymore, he thought to himself.

As Cloud walked, he noted how Littleroot different was from Azalea. While they were both quaint rural towns, his hometown was in the mountains. Littleroot was flat and grassy and the ground was less rocky. The people were also different. Azelea townsfolk were laid back and relaxed, but these people seemed to always be preparing for something. Maybe it was the house, but Littleroot had more of a homey feel to it. As he walked, he passed a few friendly-looking people playing with their pokèmon. It made him think of his dad.
I wish we could just go back to being happy, the thought pulsed in his mind.
I miss Dad.

Lost in thought, Cloud continued to amble down the road when the sounds of a pokèmon battle reached his ears. He immediately ran over to see what was happening. A middle-aged man and a cute girl were cornered against a large tree. Around them, a group of dark-colored, dog-like pokèmon yipped at them.

“Stay away,” warned the girl angrily. She moved closer to the man she was with.
She looked about Cloud’s age. Her waist-length, raven hair swished lightly about her back and shoulders as she sized up the attacking pokèmon. Her eyes were dark brown. They were so dark, in fact, that she appeared to have no irises.
The man was about three inches taller than his mom. He was of medium build, and sported a scraggily brown goatee. He wore a t-shirt and shorts. His brown hair was wild an unkempt-looking. He stood paralyzed with fear as the wild pokèmon surrounded them.
Noticing that the pokèmon were growing braver, and getting closer by the second, the girl grabbed the tote bag from the man’s hand. After fishing around inside for a few seconds, the girl produced a pokèball from the bag.
“Pokèball, go!”
The ball exploded in a flash of light when it landed, and what appeared to be a pokèmon stretched it’s legs. It was blue, with orange fins and gills, so Cloud assumed it was a water pokèmon. He watched helplessly as the situation escalated.
“Mudkip, use your tackle to keep them away!” the mudkip tensed with the order. Whenever one of the other pokèmon ventured close, it would charge and slam into them. Needless to say, this managed to tire the mudkip out rather quickly. In a matter of minutes, it was teetering wearily.

It can’t last too much longer, thought Cloud.
Just as he had predicted, a small group of the other pokèmon quickly finished it off with what seemed to be a bite attack. The mudkip collapsed in a heap, beaten. With a tinge of fear in her voice, she recalled the fainted mudkip. It’s form became encompassed in light as it was drawn back into it’s ball.

Just then, the reason the small dog pokèmon waited to attack came into view. A large, dark, wolf-esque pokèmon appeared. It’s nostrils flared as it gleamed its huge fangs malevolently. Cloud could only watch as the girl went for another pokèball. Before she could release the pokèmon, however, the large dark pokèmon lunged at her. She barely dodged the attack, but a second, much quicker attack sent the girl sprawling.

That attack seemed familiar, thought Cloud. It used feint attack!

Cloud didn’t see what happened immediately afterward though, because he was watching something else. A red and white pokèball burst from the satchel, and tumbled through the air. After what seemed like an eternity, it landed with a soft thud in a patch of grass.

A sudden, piercing, howl again commanded his attention. The pokèmon snarled and raised a large paw in preparation for the final strike!

I have to hurry! She doesn’t have much time!”

With no room for further contemplation, Cloud dove for the pokèball, and tossed it into the fray from his prone position.

“Go, Pokèmon!”
His voice startled the man, and caused him to pause on his way over to the injured girl. Cloud turned his attention back to the ball, or more correctly, what had come out of it. A strange, bird-like pokèmon had made it’s appearance. It was small, and it had orange and red feathers.
“Torchic-tor!” With a happy chirp, it exclaimed its name. This drew the attention of the wolf-pokèmon for the moment. It snarled viciously as it focused on the new target.

“Torchic, hmmm” said Cloud to himself. By it’s coloring I’d say it was a fire type.

Cloud didn’t have long to make acquaintances, though. The shadow ball the hostile pokèmon had been secretly charging weaved a jagged path towards Torchic, and the resulting explosion sent the chick pokèmon reeling backward.

“Torchiiiic!” It squealed in pain. It’s feet tore furrows in the ground during it’s desperate attempt to stop it’s skid. A few seconds after Torchic managed to stop, it shook off the pain, and recovered. Cloud clenched his teeth. Torchic was nowhere near as strong as the other pokèmon. His gut told him that best hope was to scare it off.
He hoped his gut was right. “Torchic, try an ember attack!” He tried to keep his anxiety from seeping into his voice.

To Cloud’s relief, the small bird began to spin quickly. The attack threw a carpet of smoldering flames between them and the smaller pokèmon. Their primitive fear of fire caused them to yelp in terror, and seemingly melt into the shadows as the retreated. The larger one, however, just lowered it’s head, folded it’s ears down, and growled menacingly as the fire danced in it’s yellow eyes.

“Good job,” Cloud said thankfully as the other pokèmon made off.
The wolf-like pokèmon, however, wasn’t as pleased. With an inhuman snarl it bounded into an attack, and caught Cloud and Torchic totally by surprise. Torchic’s body sailed limply through the air and slammed into a nearby tree before bouncing off, and tumbling into the grass. Cloud was frozen with shock.
“What,” gasped Cloud. “Takedown?”

Now, the large pokèmon leveled it’s malicious gaze at Cloud. With another quick lunge, it slammed him forcefully to the ground. The wind exploded from his lungs when his back made contact with the hard earth. The only sound he managed was a desperate wheeze as an exquisite pain blossomed in his chest. The large pokèmon glared down at the human it had trapped beneath it’s paw, and almost seemed to smile. It would finish this one slowly and savor it’s pain before dispatching the others.

The pokèmon’s maw gaped open as it readied itself to maim the foolish human child, but a sudden sound caused the pokèmon’s ears to perk up in surprise. Without further warning, a hot tongue of reddish-orange flame raked across it’s back.

“Amazing,” Cloud barely heard the man exclaim over the ringing in his ears. “It used flamethrower on that Mightyena.”
Burned and confused, the mightyena yelped in pain and darted quickly back into the forest, leaving the still stunned Cloud to greedily suck in air. After reclaiming his bearings, Cloud shakily rose to a sitting position.

“Are you okay, young man,” asked the older man as he approached. He held the girl’s limp body gingerly in his arms.
After a few seconds, Cloud made a dazed reply.
“Sure, Mr. Jigglypuff,” he slurred. “I’d love to hear another song.” A goofy smile crept across his face, and he promptly fainted. Before the man could rouse Cloud, a faint cry caught his attention.

“Tor…Chic!” The pokèmon Cloud had used earlier collapsed in a heap. The man sighed wearily as he wondered how to rectify this triple casualty.

<><><><><><><><><><>
“AAAAHHH!”
Cloud jumped awake. His breath came as rapid panting as he remembered what was about to happen before he blacked out. Noticing that his surroundings were different, he fell back into simple confusion.
“Huh,” he asked confusedly. “Where am I?” He blinked, and then squinted as his eyes attempted to adjust to the light. Soon, three figures shifted slowly into focus.

“You’re in your room. Don’t sit up too quickly,” Luna’s voice said worriedly. “That takedown really took a lot out of you. You’ve been out for almost two days.” Cloud grunted and slowly propped himself up on his hands.

“I see- Our hero has finally come around,” said the man from before.

“Whatever,” Cloud replied wistfully. He finally focused on the cute girl from before. Her face wore a look of concern causing him to smile weakly for a moment.

“So,” began Cloud. “It’s a good thing that I came by.” She opened her mouth to speak, but he interrupted her.
“You should have known better than to bother a pack o dark pokèmon like that. You’re to cute to go out from doing something that stupid.” The girl’s face flushed bright red, and then her brow furrowed in anger. Once again, she opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off. This time it was by Luna.

“I have to apologize for my son, Bailey, Elle.” She nodded at each respectively. “He’s usually not such a jerk until after he’s been introduced. I guess he gets it from his father.” Cloud winced at this barbed remark.
The man, Bailey, nodded, and then turned to Cloud.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “My name is Prof. Bailey Birch, and this is my daughter.” He extended a hand in the girl’s direction. “This is Elle.”

“Hey,” Cloud looked in her direction. “Why were you blushing earlier? Were ou gonna kiss me or something?” With a growl, Elle stood up, and neared the bed, and leaned forward.”
“Just on the cheek please. We just met.” Cloud closed his eyes and a sly smile played on his face.

“Jerk!”
The resounding slap made Mrs. Birch fall flat on her butt from the other side of the bedroom door.

<><><>

[The Prophet]

Yay! It's back! And good, as always. I see you're putting a bit more backstory to Norman's alliance... and what's going to go on with the Friends of Pokémon, anyway?

[DannyBoy]

I am glad your continuing your fic. I always liked it and I am very happy you decided to re start this. This chapters eems really good and it is part realistic with the whole fatherless child. You did good witht he emotion of Cloud and I like that since I can relate to that. You did good with description and length. I can't wait for the next chapter. Keep it up!

[Tha Legend]

Here's Chapter 2, again...

I've been busy. I'll try to post more later. I know I've said this before, but now it's different. I've finally refined the ending so it should be going smoother now.

~Legend~

Pokèmon : Requiem for Revenge Chapter 2:
A Onesided Battle: Norman Defeats the Tiny Challenger.

<><><><>

The glass doors of the foreboding pokèmon gym slid open quickly, causing Wally to jump. He fingered his lone pokèball nervously as he slowly ventured inside the darkened building.

I didn't know that gyms were so creepy inside," he shuddered inwardly as he cautiously made his way to the unlit battling arena.

Inside his office, Norman, the gym leader was taking a call.
"The timetable's been accelerated," a thick Scottish accent boomed over the speaker. "I dena wan any complications."

"Archie, these things take time," Norman replied. "I still have to run my gym." The speaker fell silent for a moment, and then Archie's voice exploded over the phone in reply.

"I gave ye tha gym, and if ye dinna watch yer tone I'll shew ye just how easy it is t' replace ye!" Norman growled silently. How long will that hang over me, he wondered.

"I'll take ye silence t' mean ye understand. Don't cross me, Ridley." A loud click on the other end signified that the conversation was over.

"Dammit!" Norman growled as he slammed his fist on the phone. “My dream was never supposed to be like this!” With an angry sweep of his arm, he sent all of his desk ornaments clattering to the marble floor.

<><><><><><><>

"Umm, hello," Wally's meek voice echoed off of the stark walls. He
cautiously scanned the shadowy arena for any signs of life. A
sudden click and the whoosh of a set of sliding doors managed to
startle the boy so much that he fell backwards.

"Challenger," A deep, raspy, voice resounded through the room. "Do you wish to battle for a Balance Gym Badge?"

"Y...yes," replied Wally sheepishly.

Norman chuckled softly as he sized his adversary up. The kid was waifishly thin. His drab clothes seemed to hang off of his small body. His face was thin and pointed. His prominent cheekbones seemed to jut out even farther when framed by his wild mane of forest-green hair. His trainer's belt was empty, but he has clutching a single generic-looking pokèball. Even in it's smaller, storage mode, it filled his palm enough to obscure most of his slender fingers.

"We'll use just one pokèmon. No time limit!" With that, the harsh
arena lights ramped up, and flooded the room with strong, glaring, white
light.

Let's see if this little one can lighten my mood.

Norman casually tossed his pokèball into the middle of the room. With an
explosion of light, a large blue pokèmon appeared. It spread it’s large, trunk-like arms wide as it bellowed to make it’s presence known.

"LAX!"

Wally cringed at the sight of the imposing pokèmon and threw his pokèball weakly towards the snorlax. It barely made it to the edge of the ring before it fell to the floor, and burst open in a flourish of light.

"Ralts!" The new pokèmon squeaked it’s name as it appeared.

"Do your best, Ralts." Wally said shakily. Ralts regarded her trainer worriedly. If he was scared, she would help him out. Wally's managed a weak smile as Ralts linked to him psychicly. Don't worry, I'll try my best if you help me.

Wally's smile quickly morphed into a grimace as he remembered about the other pokèmon. Ralts' mouth opened in shock as she turned around to see a wall of blubber falling from the sky in her direction.

Before she could be engulfed in Snorlax's girth, her form winked out and appeared in the middle of the arena.

Interesting. Norman smiled. Maybe I'll finally get to see a decent
challenger.

"T...that's not fair," stuttered Wally. "You didn't tell us you were
starting."

"Them's the breaks, kid," came Norman's gravelly reply.

[I]Jerk, Ralts growled. Focusing itself, it's body was
momentarily encompassed in a soothing blue light. Immediately, Wally felt his apprehension fade.

"Ralt's, double team!" Norman was pleasantly surprised by Wally's
sudden change in tone.

Ralt's complied with a quick split into four, and flanked the Snorlax
in a half-moon.

"Snorlax, Yawn!" Norman was impressed, but hardly flustered. Snorlax opened it's mouth wide. It's loud yawn shook the walls as it resonated through the gym. The gang of Ralts each patted their mouths as they yawned daintily.

"Ralts, let's make this a slumber party, hypnosis!" Nodding, the four pokèmon clasped their hands together and concentrated. The air rippled around the Snorlax, and it yawned again. After a few seconds of stretching, it rubbed it's belly lazily.

Before Ralts could finish the job, She and her clones hung their
head, and the ripples stopped.

Ralt's wake up! Wally tried to rouse his pokèmon.

Wally, she replied dreamily. So...sleepy.

"Body Slam! Take out the two directly behind you," Norman commanded. Snorlax fixed his sights on the said Ralts', and flopped down. On contact, they winked out of existence.

"Okay, Now the left one!"

Norman’s smug smile faded in disappointment as the last clone dissolved into nothing.

I’m sorry, Wally.

"Amateur, your battle's finished," said Norman in a hollow voice. "Throw in the towel now, or else!"

Wally was harried with worry. Ralts, what should I do?
Don't ever give up, Wally! Wally nodded solemnly.

"We won't give up!" Wally yelled over. A smug smile crept across
Norman's face.

"Your niavete is touching, but your pokèmon will pay for your
stupidity." His voice was low and dangerous sounding.

"Big finish, Snorlax!"

Snorlax squared up to the still sleeping form of Ralts. It's
club-like fist began to bristle with energy. A dull, slow, warbling
droned as a huge amount of chi coalesced around Snorlax's arm.

Ralts

"Do it." The huge pokèmon then exploded forward with impossible speed and smashed it's large fist into Ralts. Time seemed to stop at the moment of impact. Everything was momentarily washed out in a bright flash of red before Ralts was thrown forcefully backward.

When Wally’s sight returned, His pokèmon was whimpering weakly from a newly formed crater in the wall.

"Ralts, No!" Wally ran towards his pokèmon. Ralts seemed to ooze from the depression and into his arms.

"Haha, welcome to pokèmon training, kid!" Norman's cutting laughter caused Wally grit his teeth as he ran from the gym. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he apologized to his best friend.

Don't be sad, Wally. Thank you for never giving up on me.

Inside, Norman's haughty laughter had long since subsided.

"This victory left me feeling empty. I tire of defeating inept
trainers." He recalled his pokèmon.

"This was not my dream." He murmured as he trudged slowly back into his office.

Outside, a short, curvy figure garbed in deep maroon and crimson looked through the window. Her brown, almond-shaped eyes softened through her face-obscuring mask.

"Interesting," said a female low, throaty voice. "If worse comes to worst, I hope my hunch is right." She quickly jumped straight upwards, and disappeared.

[Tha Legend]

Pokèmon: Requiem for Revenge
Chapter 3

Cloud Meets His Pokèmon Partner: Showdown at the Lab

<><><><>
Author’s Notes:
Guess what, Cloud finally gets his starter! For everyone who's reading, thanks. I'll be caught up soon.

~Legend~
<><><><>

Cloud stared blankly at the clock on his wall. It was a simple pokèmon league analog model that the Indigo league gave all their payroll trainers. His dad had given it to him after they moved out of Azelea.

Dad

Cloud twinged as he felt bile rise up to his throat. It’s been two days, jerk. How come you haven’t even called once? He growled and brushed the clock from the wall with an angry swipe. The sudden clatter brought Luna running.

“Cloud, Cloud, what happened,” She asked as she entered the room.

“I just knocked the clock down,” he sighed. “I’m just bored.” At this, Luna smiled. She walked closer, picked up the clock, and sat down on his bed.

“I know you’re sick of studying, but it’s very important, if you want to be a good trainer, Cloud.”

He quietly exhaled an exasperated sigh. He was only doing this for revenge. He had been studying Professor Birch’s pokèdex, an electronic field guide, All day. Luna thought that he should be familiar with the kinds of pokèmon around Littleroot.

“Well I have news for you,” she exclaimed happily. “The professor called and asked if you could come over to his lab for the afternoon.” Cloud jumped at the chance to get out of study.

“Okay, Mom. Bye” He bolted for the door and in moments he was downstairs and headed for the door.

Freedom smelled good to Cloud and he was so happy, he accidentally let the door slam behind him, garnering a stern “Cloud” from Luna. It was a bright, sunny, Saturday, and he had the whole afternoon to just chill with Prof. Birch, but Elle would be there too. He paused at that thought.

I wonder if she has a boyfriend, he thought to himself. Well, I’ll fix that. Pushing it out of his mind for now, he sprinted up to the Littleroot Pokèmon Research Facility, a half-sphere building with stark-white walls. Cloud casually neared the large vault door at the front entrance, unaware of the surprise that awaited him on the other side.

“AHHH!” What appeared to be a skinny kid in a lab coat bolted through the front door of the lab trailing fire and smoke. A few seconds behind him , Elle appeared.

“Charles!” she yelled after the still shrieking boy. “Stop, drop, and roll!” Apparently he hadn’t heard her. He began to run in circles.

“Mudkip, mud shot!” Elle exclaimed as she tossed her pokèball forward. After a small burst of light, Mudkip appeared. Mudkip opened her mouth and a torrent of mud exploded from her gullet and slammed into Charles. The force knocked him on his back and slid until he crashed into a tree.

“Charles, are you okay,” Elle asked worriedly as she approached Melvin. Noticing his glasses beside him, she daintily picked them up, and wiped some of the mud off.

“Mmmokay,” garbled Charles in reply. His senses then returned, and he quickly became rigid and even more disheveled than before. He stiffly replaced his glasses, but they were still obscured by mud.

“I meant to say ‘water gun’,” she said sheepishly. “I guess I panicked.” She smiled nervously

“N-no, you s-saved me, T-thanks” Charles stuttered back in a high-pitched, whiny voice. Cloud noticed he was blushing intensely. Cloud decided he should go introduce himself.

“Elle,” he called out as he ran up. “What’s up?” Elle looked around to him, and twinged with annoyance.

“Cloud…Hi…” Cloud sensed her reluctance to talk.

“I’m sorry about the other day.” His face became solemn. “I guess my joke didn’t go over so well.” A look of shock crossed Elle’s face momentarily. Could I have misjudged him? After a moment of awkward silence, she slowly extended her hand.

“I accept,” He clasped her hand in his as they shook. “Thanks for saving me and my dad.”

Charles began to tremble as he watched what was going on. What is he doing, fumed Charles silently. Alielle Birch had been his secret crush since preschool, and there was no way he was going to let some stupid, white-haired newcomer usurp him. He slowly rose to his feet. Cloud noticed and extended a friendly hand.

“Hi, My name’s Cloud, Cloud Ridley.” Charles begrudgingly took his hand, and gave it an abrupt jostle.

“Melvin,” he said curtly. Cloud failed to notice Charles’s narrowed eyes through his filthy glasses.

“Oh…kay… Chuck.” He turned to speak to Elle, but Charles wasn’t finished.

Charles fumed. “It’s Charles, not Chuck.

“Sure thing, Chuck.” Cloud turned back to Elle. “Mom said your dad wanted to see me.”

“Oh yeah,” She turned back to the lab. “Follow me.” Without another word, Cloud and Elle strolled back towards the lab. Melvin could only stand and seethe as he watched them go.

<><><><>

Inside the lab, Prof. Birch hovered over a pokèball wearing a look of concern.

“Dad,” said Elle as she came in. “Cloud’s here!” Prof. Birch looked overjoyed as he made his way over to Cloud.

“A peculiar situation…” he trailed off. “Most peculiar. The Torchic you battled with earlier won’t obey at all.” As if on cue, the pokèball they had been watching began to teeter. In an explosion of light, Torchic appeared.

“Oh no,” yelped Elle fearfully. She dived across the room, and underneath the nearby table.

“Torchic,” it chirped in an irritated tone as it scanned the room. It’s eyes glowed an unholy red, and Prof. Birch and Charles cowered with Elle as the pokèmon leered angrily at them.

“Hey, it’s that torchic,” exclaimed Cloud happily. He neared the torchic, and it immediately lost all signs of malevolence. Torchic hopped down from the table, and began to nuzzle Cloud’s leg. Elle scrambled from the table frantically, and behind her father.

“Amazing,” said Prof. Birch from behind the lab table.

“Cloud… I think you should back away from that pokèmon.” Elle cringed behind Prof. Birch.

“What, why,” asked Cloud incredulously. He picked the torchic up, and presented it to them. “See, the little guy’s harmless.” This caused them all to jump.

“I won’t let you hurt Alielle,” a familiar, high-pitched voice shrieked. Cloud looked back to see Charles standing in the doorway. His wet, muddy clothes clung to his thin frame. His cobalt hair was matted and clumped with mud. He glowered at Cloud through muddy glasses with his green eyes.

“What are you talking about? Are you crazy,” asked Cloud. “Here.” He tried to hand the pokèmon to one of the Birches, but they kept shying away. Torchic wore a peeved expression.

“I won’t let you, and that demon pokèmon hurt them,” spat Charles vehemently. He leveled a muck-encrusted pokèball at Cloud.

“Let’s take this outside, loser!”

<><><><>

“I don’t even wanna fight you,” Cloud growled as they want outside. Torchic chirped happily and bounced behind them. Once they managed to get far enough away from the lab, Charles stopped.

“We’ll each use one pokèmon.” Charles tossed his pokèball in front of him. Out of the ensuing light, a green, lizard-like, pokèmon stretched in the midday sun.

“Treecko!” Noticing this new pokèmon, Torchic narrowed it’s beady eyes, and they took on a red hue. It ran up to stand protectively in front of Cloud while it squared off against this new adversary.

“I guess I’ll use this Torchic,” said Cloud. Just then, the Birches managed to garner enough courage to venture outside.

“Cloud,” yelled Elle. “That pokèmon is wild! It’s attacked three of my Dad’s assistants, and a Nurse Joy with no provocation!” Cloud smiled. They all must be crazy. This pokèmon is as sweet and unimposing as a pokèmon can be. I mean, no pokèmon ever attacks a pokèmon nurse.

“Let’s start this battle off right,” yelled Charles. “Quick attack!” With a nod, Treecko seemed to wink out of sight as it began it’s attack. Torchic was taken by surprise by the grass pokèmon’s superior speed. Torchic growled as it was knocked backwards by the pre-emptive strike.

“Torchic, ummm peck it or something to throw off it’s rhythm.” Cloud already realized his pokèmon was much slower than it’s opponent. He had to get it on equal footing.

Torchic bounded towards Treecko. It snarled as it made an attempt at striking the treecko with his small beak. Unfortunately, Treecko lazily dodged the frenzied assault.

Damn, growled Cloud internally. I don’t know half of Torchic’s attacks. This makes the speed advantage even more painful. Cloud cringed as the treecko slammed his tail down on Torchic after effortlessly dodging another futile peck attempt.

“Bing,” a loud chime, and a computerized voice from Cloud’s right front pocket caught his attention. {Treecko, } the voice said. {The wood gecko pokèmon. It uses hooks on its feet to scale walls. If another pokèmon glares at it, it will glower right back and stand it’s ground.}

Pokèdex! realization suddenly exploded in his mind. He fished Prof. Birch’s pokèdex out of his pocket. With a light hum, it displayed Torchic’s movepool.

{Torchic, the flame chick pokèmon. This pokèmon is warm when you hug it. It can breathe fire with a temperature exceeding 1800 F. It will follow it’s trainer no matter where it goes.}

“Torchic, “ Cloud’s voice caused Torchic to look up. It flew backwards as it caught Treecko’s tail full-force in the face. After a small flight, it bounced a few times and skidded to a halt. Slowly, it rose to it’s feet.

“Okay, Torchic, get ready!” the chick pokèmon steeled itself as the Treecko neared to finish it. As the grass lizard brought it’s tail up to strike, Cloud saw his chance.

“Sand attack!” Torchic dug it’s claws into the soft earth, and flung a clump of dirt at Treecko. It stumbled backwards and wiped it’s eyes frantically.

“Good Job,” said Cloud in a relieved voice.

“What!” exclaimed Charles in disbelief. “My strategy’s perfect. That pokèmon should be unconscious!”

“It’s okay,” Cloud said with a snide confidence in his voice. “ I’m just a better trainer. Fire spin, now!”

Torchic inhaled deeply, and breathed a swirling tongue of flames that quickly surrounded the grass pokèmon. Treecko anxiously scanned the surrounding inferno.

“Calm down, Treecko,” Charles reassured his pokèmon over the roar of the flames. “We can still win!”

“Right,” scoffed Cloud. “Finish it with slash attack!” Melvin just watched as Torchic dove into the fiery vortex with it’s claw extended. Once Torchic had fully committed to it’s attack, Charles shouted one last command.

“Treecko, bullet seed attack!” As the torchic burst through the wall of flames, Treecko flared with an aura of green. It spit a barrage of tiny black seeds at the approaching pokèmon with the force of a automatic weapon. Torchic squealed as it caught the full force of the attack. It fell backwards, carried by the constant impact of the seeds, until it crashed to the ground, defeated.

“What the…” Cloud was shocked. I was sure he had that match won.

“I guess the better trainer came out on top,” Charles adopted the sarcastic tone Cloud had used earlier. He flashed a goofy grin that only managed to infuriate Cloud more.

“Leave the battling to the trainers…kid.” Before Cloud could answer, Elle spoke up.

“Is it… Is it over?” She and the professor walked cautiously up to the battlefield.

“You did well against Charles,” added Prof. Birch. “He’s been training for two months now, and he’s been helping me for years. You’re… you’re very skilled.” Those facts made Cloud feel a little better.

“Torchic,” he exclaimed, remembering the little chick pokèmon. He sprinted over to it’s inert body. “I’m sorry little guy. The professor’s gonna take good care of you.”

“Actually,” interjected the professor. “I think it’s better that you take Torchic.”

“What,” replied Cloud. “I thought you were studying this Torchic.”

“I feel as though… We can figure out this pokèmon better if,” he paused, seemingly fishing for a reason I study how it reacts to a compatible… trainer.”

“Are you sure,” asked Cloud.

“Please… Please take it. You’ll be doing me a great favor, right Elle?” Elle edged away from the approaching Charles.

“We’d love to get rid of i-“ she paused. “any… any doubt that it has the most compatible trainer, ummm, available.” She smiled nervously and took a large step backwards.

“I’ll take good care of it then,” Cloud exclaimed happily. He turned and ran off towards home. Mom should have some medicine at home. This pokèmon will help me defeat my father… someday

As Cloud disappeared, a crazy glint alit in Charles’ eyes. You’ll never win her, Melvin snickered to himself. She belongs to ME!

Unknown to all, the shadowy female watched silently from a nearby tree. She watched intently as Cloud neared his home.

“Hmmmm he shows promise, as well.”

<><><><>

[Tha Legend]

Author's Notes:
Not much to change in 4 either. I may get another chapter up tonight as well.

<><><><>

Pokèmon: Requiem For Revenge

Chapter 4: A Blazing Battle: Cloud’s Journey Begins.

<><><><>
Norman shifted uneasily as the limousine pulled up to the front of his gym. Rumor had it that Archie was a gangster. The only thing Norman knew was that Archie had put him in his own gym in two months. He’d placed a request with the Indigo League Headquarters almost three years ago. Whatever he did, Archie obviously had the power and connections to make things happen. The dark window of the sleek black car slid down as soon as the car came to a stop.

“Norman, old friend.” The voice was definitely not Archie’s Scottish drawl. The voice held a haughty sense of confidence.

“Mitch,” growled Norman. “I thought Archie was coming.”

Mitch scoffed in reply. “Like he’d waste his time on a peon like you. Archie is an important man. Way too important for the likes of –“ He was cut off by a pair of throwing daggers puncturing the roof of the car and the seat beside him.”

“What the hell,” yelled Norman.

A short, masked, blood-red garbed figure leapt from the roof of the gym and landed silently beside them. In seconds, Mitch and Norman were facing the figure, pokèballs in hand.

“So, Archie wasn’t coming after all,” The figure said with a tinge of disappointment. “Pity, I guess I’ll have to be content for now with dispatching you two lackeys. With a flourish, the figure produced two pokèballs.

“Do not underestimate me, fool!” Mitch’s blue business suit swished as he tossed his pokèball at the figure. The light from within became the steel-bug type, scizor.

“Scizor,” it growled. Sparks flew around it as it slid its metallic arms across each other to sharpen it’s pincers.

“Go Tauros,” Norman tossed a pokèball. The raging bull pokèmon quickly appeared. It snorted it’s anger and stamped it’s foot.

Wordlessly, the figure threw it’s pokèmon into battle.

“Sable,” a dark-colored pokèmon with various crystals embedded in it cried out it’s name and bared it’s sharp claws.

“Camerupt!” The volcanic bactrian gushed molten rock as it roared it’s own greeting.

“So, this must be the infamous Maxie everyone’s been talking about,” chuckled Mitch. I’ll be able to name my reward if I dispatch him. He looked over at Norman.
“I’ll handle him, alone.”

“Fine,” replied Norman. Without any protest, he recalled Tauros.

Mitch threw another pokèball into battle. A large green and blue dragonfly pokèmon appeared.

“Flygon,” It growled. It flitted over to square off with the opposing pokèmon.

“Flygon, the one on the left! Sand Tomb!” Flygon darted over to Sableye, sending a rooster-tail of dust high into the air. Before Sableye could react, Flygon had whipped up a pair of dust dervishes. The small tornadoes ducked behind Sableye, and converged on it, trapping it in a larger tornado.

“Sable,” Sableye screeched in pain.

“Camerupt, Sableye, get ready,” Maxie said in a low, calm voice.

“Fool,” Mitch smiled. “Scizor, Fury cutter! Take out the sableye!”

“ZOR!” Scizor exploded forward. It beat it’s wings furiously as it bore down on the cyclone with it’s pincers open and extended. It disappeared into the vortex, and then, all was silent.

“My turn,” Maxie said coolly. “Sableye, Shadow Ball, Flygon.”

“This is the Maxie that everyone’s so afraid of,” lauged Mitch. “What a rookie mistake. I bet Scizor’s cut that sableye to ribbons by now.

“L-look,” stammered Norman. Mitch looked back at the tornado. A foreboding purple glow began to emit from the twister, and caused it to wobble unstably. Suddenly, a pokèmon cry sliced through the air.

“Scizor!”

The tornado exploded out of existence, and Mitch’s scizor was thrown back so forcefully that it crashed into Mitch’s limo, and sent that into the front of the gym. The stuttering whine of Sableye’s charging attack brought everyone’s attention back to it.

“Flygon, dodge it,” Mitch yelled in a panic.

As if on cue, Sableye released it’s attack. It zigzagged quickly through the air towards Flygon. When it came close, Flygon bolted to escape, but the sableye was ready. Sableye raised it’s claws and the shadow ball shook the earth as it blew up and threw the flygon to the ground. It didn’t get back up.

“That’s too bad,” said Maxie smugly. “Camerupt didn’t get to play.” Maxie recalled the sableye and camerupt.

“Tell Archie I won’t let him go through with his plans.”

Maxie jumped up into the air and disappeared into nothingness. Mitch and Norman had no time to ponder the situation, because Norman’s snorlax snatched them up and dragged them away.

“Snorlax,” Mitch growled. “Why did you…” The roar of the gasoline in Mitch’s car exploding rocked the gym to its foundation, and threw Snorlax to the ground.

“My… my gym…” Norman said in a hollow voice.

<><><><>
On the television, an aerial view of Petalburg from the news chopper came into view before being obscured by the station logo.

[This is Evergrande News Network with a special news bulletin. Today, the terrorist known only as Maxie made his presence known in Petalburg city with a massive explosion that caused massive damage to the gym and the surrounding buildings. Our star reporter, Naomi Kobayashi, is on the scene live with the latest.]

Suddenly, the camera cut to Naomi, She was a woman of average height. She was dressed in a casual orange, crew-neck, t-shirt and an navy colored denim vest. She also wore a pair of denim Capri pants. Her cyan hair swept her shoulders, with two buds of coiled, braided hair on top in a cat-ear-like fashion.

“This is Naomi Kobayashi with an ENN exclusive. Here we have Norman Ridley, the Petalburg City gym leader. Here are his comments on the utter destruction of his livelihood.” She pushed the mike towards him.

“M-m-my… my gym,” Norman stammered in a defeated voice. Cloud walked into the living room. He had been training around the outskirts of town with Torchic.

“Mom, what’s that,” Cloud asked as he flopped down on the couch.

{We’ll keep you updated on any new developments.} Luna clicked of the TV.

Luna’s face took on a look of concern. “It’s your father.”

Dad Cloud growled inwardly. What did that jerk do now. He remained silent.

“There was some kind of attack on the gym today. It’s been badly damaged,” Luna continued. She pulled Cloud close to her and began to weep.

“I’m so glad he’s okay,” she sobbed. “I don’t know what I’d have done if we’d lost him.”

Inside, Cloud could taste contempt rising in his throat. Why did his mother care so much for a man that so obviously only cared for himself. He was even more furious than before. Why did his father hurt Luna so much?

“I want you to go see him,” Luna suggested. Her voice was becoming clearer now.

“But I…” Cloud immediately began to express his reluctance, but Luna cut him off.

“Please, baby. We haven’t even heard from him since …” she trailed off and buried her face in her hands.

After a few seconds, he conceded. Cloud was helpless against her tears, and so, he was reluctantly outfitted with a bag containing some camping supplies.

“Mom,” Cloud asked in bewilderment. “What’s all this? How long have you had this ready”

“It’s a three-day walk to Petalburg, dear.” Luna replied, but ignored his second question. “It’ll be like a mini-pokèmon journey.”

He groaned as he shifted the bag’s weight on his shoulders. He had no plans of going on any stupid journey, especially one that would take him anywhere near his dad. He didn’t want to be a trainer. He only accepted Torchic to crush his father, that and she was kinda cute. He started on his way out the door.

What more could go wrong today?

“One more thing, baby“ Luna called to him, and he turned to her. “The professor wanted you to come over to his lab before you leave. He has a reward for you.

Reward, Cloud thought. I thought Torchic was my reward. He turned again to go.

“Bye, Mom.” He managed two steps before he was again swept up in his mother’s loving arms.

“I love you, Cloud.” Luna’s voice trembled on the verge of tears. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”

“Mom!”

“Promise!”

“Okay, okay, I promise,” he relented. He leaned back and gave her a quick peck on her left cheek. Luna smiled and loosened her arms. Without another word, he left.

<><><><><>

The sun was beginning it’s descent into the west when Cloud approached the lab. The vaulted door swung open as he neared it, and he cautiously entered.

“Cloud.” Prof. Birch’s voice came from behind as he crossed the threshold of the door, startling him. He wheeled around and quickly produced Torchic’s pokèball..

“Whoa, you can put that away, it’s just me,” Prof. Birch chuckled, but he still cringed. He motioned Cloud to sit at a nearby table, and then he joined him.

“Your mother says you’ll be checking up on your father in Petalburg,” Prof. Birch ventured. Cloud nodded hesitantly.

“It’s about three days walk from here,” Cloud added.

“There are many things that could go wrong in three days, so I promised your mother that I would give you anything I could to make this excursion as safe as possible.”

With that, the professor slid a belt with a few pouches on it across the table.

“Inside you’ll find some pokeballs, medicine, and other supplies.” After Cloud had taken the belt, Prof. Birch continued.

“I also have a new model of pokèdex, called the pokenav.” He produced a cell-phone shaped device. “It has an excellent tutorial program, to tell you how to use it’s many useful features.” Cloud accepted this gift as well.

“Thanks, professor,” Cloud replied gratefully. He started to stand, but the professor motioned for him to wait, and spoke again.

“There’s just one last thing you need,” he declared. “A traveling partner.”

Without missing a beat, Alielle appeared already decked out in similar gear.

“So,” she smiled as she talked. “Let’s get this pokèmon journey started.”

<><><><><>

[Tha Legend]

Okay, Now onto the first introduction of the sirens. I didn't change alot, but in two chappys, It'll be all new.

~Legend~

<><><><><>

Pokèmon: Requiem for Revenge Chapter 5

Sultry Sirens: An Unexpected Attack!

<><><><><>

Cloud shuffled lazily along the dirt path that led to the next town; his travel partner, Elle, was happily bouncing about in comparison. They had managed to make it a few miles from Littleroot and the sun was just beginning to sink into the mountains to the west.

“I’m so excited,” she squealed. “This is like a mini journey or something.”

Cloud growled softly to himself. He had told her at least twenty times already.
Twenty-one, he immediately corrected himself.

“This isn’t some stupid pokèmon journey,” he seethed. “We’re not training, and I’m going back home as soon as I make sure my dad’s still breathing.”

The curtness of his declaration made Elle pause. The smile melted from her face as she turned to confront him.

“What’s so bad about a trainer journey,” she asked in a pained voice. “Don’t you like pokèmon? After all, your father’s a gym leader. Training’s in your blood.” Cloud’s ice-blue eyes narrowed at the mention of his dad. After inhaling a sharp breath through his gritted teeth, he barked a harsh reply.

“I’m nothing like my father! Pokèmon trainers only use pokèmon to escape their responsibilities.” Elle took a step back.

“Pokèmon are our friends. We learn about life, and how to coexist-“

“How,” Cloud cut her off. “By enslaving them? By using them to settle disputes? Children our age use pokèmon as an excuse to abandon schooling. No one cares about a trainer’s family when they leave. They just expect them to happily conform to the propaganda spoon-fed to them by the Pokèmon League just to line their pockets.”

Elle was silent. She’d never met anyone so bitter and jaded. She was so dazed by his powerful feelings on the subject that she didn’t notice he had already continued along the path.

“Hey, wait up!” She sprinted behind him. A blue pair of eyes watched intently from the late-afternoon shadows..

“Awww,” a bouncy, juvenile voice exclaimed. “What a cute lil’ tiff.”

“Who cares? When are we gonna get to fight the little punks, ” asked another voice. This one was much harder, and only held faint hints of feminism.

“Patience,” a third voice ordered coolly. “We’ll wait for nightfall.”

<><><><><><>

The setting of the sun quickly drenched the forest with an inky darkness. Cloud wordlessly trudged through the underbrush, staring off into the intermittent night sky visible through the forest canopy.

“Aren’t we going to make camp? I’m tired.” Elle grumbled wearily from behind.

“It’s too dark to even get firewood anyway, “ Cloud replied impatiently.
We’re gonna need to keep going until we reach a clearing, he added inwardly.

“But it’s late,” Elle whined. “Do you even know where we’re headed?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Cloud scoffed. “We’re nearly-“

“ Back home in Loserville.” A gruff woman’s voice interrupted him from behind. They both wheeled around to face the newcomer.

Three cute, teenaged girls appeared from the shadows. A spotlight shone on them from nowhere and gave Cloud a chance to size them up.

The one on the left was about Elle’s height, but obviously older. She wore a patent-leather, blue tank-top emblazoned with a stark, white, letter ‘A’ with a matching short skirt and matching thigh-high stiletto boots. Her blonde hair was pulled back into two ponytails, and her blue eyes sparkled with a mix of childish mischief, and hard malevolence.

“Hi,” she said in a perky, bubbly voice. “My name is Azura, and me, Jada, and Ruby, wanna see your pokèmon.”

“You idiot,” growled the girl on the right, the one who spoke earlier. “We’re gonna steal their pokèmon!”

"I know that, stupidhead!" Azura stuck out her tongue at her sister.

"Stupid," the girl yelled incredulously. "Why I oughta!" She angrily pantomimed rolling up her sleeves.

At this, Cloud and Elle tensed, and reached for their pokèballs. The girl who had just spoken was much taller. Cloud guessed about six feet even. She wore a long, blue, leather coat draped over her shoulders like a cape. Underneath, she seemed to be wearing a blue leotard with a white ‘A’ on her chest. Her long, muscular legs terminated at a pair of black chukka boots. Her short, black hair poked out from under her blue saucer cap with a white ‘A’ on it’s front, slightly obscuring her wild, green, eyes.

“Jada, Azura!” The third woman regarded the first two in a harsh tone. She was of average-height, and wore a blue business blazer with no blouse and decorative, platinum, “A” on the lapel with a matching skirt. Her fiery, red, hair was pulled back into a conservative French braid. The blue-rimmed glasses she wore only intensified the fact that her eyes were a strange red color. It gave her the appearance of true evil. With a velvety, deep voice she nearly sang.

“Abandon your hope, for it is in vain.
The Sirens have has come to bring,” she cleched her fist. “The pain.”

Hopping forward, Azura continued the verse.
“Our beauty, unmatched. Our skill, first rate.
Our squad, Team Aqua. Your chances, not great.”

Jada stepped forward, and completed the rhyme in a scowling voice.
“With the strength of the surf, with the power of the squall
We’ll crush all comers, pokèmon, and all…”

Cloud was awestruck, while Elle was dumbstruck.

“I didn’t know the Village People were that hard up for cash,” Elle quipped. This managed to severely piss off Jada and she whipped out a pokèball.

Snapping out of the lull of nubile, young women in skin-tight outfits, Cloud finally spoke up. “We don’t wanna fight you guys.”

“Oh,” Ruby regarded him over the top of her glasses. “That’s anticlimactic, but much smarter.” she added in mock disappointment. She placed one hand on her hip, and extended an open palm. “Hand ‘em over then.”

“Hand what over?”

“Your pokèmon.”

A perturbed look crossed Elle’s face. “You were serious about that?”

Jada released a frustrated sigh and tossed her pokeball forward. In a flash of light, Sharpedo, the voracious pokèmon, appeared. “Don’t give me a reason…” she trailed off, leaving the threat open.

As soon as her sharpedo announced it’s appearance with a roar, Cloud’s lone pokèball began to wobble on his belt. Before he could stop her, Torchic exploded from the ball and took up a protective position in front of her trainer.
“Tor…chic,” she growled angrily.

“The hotshot trainer uses a fire type,” Jada purred. “Why don’t you take the first shot, big man?” Cloud raised his pokènav to get a reading off of the sharpedo.

{Sharpedo, the voracious pokèmon. A single pokèmon of this species can rend the flesh from an adult kangashan in five minutes with it’s sharp teeth. If it ever loses a tooth, two grow in to take it’s place. It’s skin is like sandpaper and hurts to touch.}

Better make this good, he thought to himself.
“Torchic, use Slash attach!” Torchic mustered the most ferocious growl she could and charged the sharpedo. When she managed to reach it, sharpedo just leisurely dodged her attack.

“Is that all the power you have,” Jada snorted. “Sharpedo, use Water Pulse! Don’t waste any time on this small fry!” Sharpedo gaped it’s jagged mouth open. A strong blast of water burst from it towards Torchic. At the last moment, however, Cloud’s pokèmon managed to slip away.

Interesting, thought Ruby. She watched, enthralled by the tiny pokèmon as it continued to dodge Sharpedo’s Water Pulses. Maybe this trainer is better than we thought.

I’m losing, again, thought Cloud. This trainer is way outta my league. Torchic and I have only been together for one day. He knew what he had to do.

“Torchic, return.” His sigh was one of abject dejection as the red capture beam pulled Torchic back into her ball. He shifted his gaze at Jada as he spoke.
“There’s no way I can beat you guys,” he said reluctantly.

“So,” giggled Azura. “We get your kyoot lil’ pokèmon, right?” Cloud paused, then hung his head for a minute.

“Cloud,” said Elle in a worried voice. She moved closer to him, and, without warning, he seized her hand, making a peculiar tingling sensation dance up her arm and across her face.

“No,”

It was barely audible. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as Cloud ran away dragging Elle with him. The Sirens weren’t able to react due to pure shock as the pair disappeared into the forest.

“What the!” Jada yelled. “I’m gonna murder those shrimps!” She started out behind them, but a calm hand on her shoulder stopped her cold.

“Let them go for now, sister,” Ruby said. “We’ll see them again. We have other company“ She motioned to a movement in the trees that had caught her attention.

“Somebody’s spying, tee hee,” Azura tittered in a sing-song voice.

Jada nodded towards the bushes, and her sharpedo sprang into action with a quick slash attack. The bushes fell away to reveal a startled young woman crouching on the ground. She was about the same height as Azura. Her skin, however, was a deep cocoa color. Her narrow, coffee-colored eyes slowly took in the scene. Her black hair fell to her shoulders in bouncy ringlets. She slowly stood up showing off her athletic body.

“Who are you,” Jada demanded harshly. Instead of answering, the girl stared at her blankly.
“Say something…” Her voice hardened as her anger quickly blossomed into rage.
“ANSWER ME!”

After blinking a few times, the girl finally spoke.

“I just love those boots,” she said in a light voice to Azura.

“Mine?”
The girl nodded.

“Where did you get them?”

“These old things? I’ve had ‘em for years.” She turned to the side so the girl could see them better.

“But they’re so cute,” The girl squealed. “And I would just-“

“ENOUGH,” screamed Jada. “You’re gonna pay for pissing me off!”

“Oh,” the girl replied. “My name is Lenette. Are you going to battle with me? I warn you.” Lenette plucked a pokèball from her belt. “I’m pretty good, and my pokèmon are pretty tough.” She tossed the pokèball forward, and a black, canine pokèmon appeared.

“Hound,” rasped the pokèmon. Lenette kneeled down to give her pokèmon a quick, loving squeeze.

“Do your best, Houndour.”

“Hound,” Houndour replied happily. Jada found the whole display to be supremely amusing. She beckoned her pokèmon to her with a quick gesture. Sharpedo charged Houndour and slammed into him, causing him to crash into a nearby bush.

“Gonna feel that in the morning,” giggled Azura. Ruby regarded her with a cold glower and gave her a quick smack on the back of the head.

“Quiet,” Ruby snarled. Azura managed to keep her reply down to a whimper.

Lenette glared at her opponent. “You don’t fight fair.” She lowered her head and an evil smile played on her lips. “Houndour,” she said in a low, dangerous-sounding voice. “Double team attack.”

Her whole demeanor changed, thought Ruby. Strange.

Houndour exploded from the bushes. In midair, he split into five mirror-images, and they quickly managed to surround Sharpedo.

“Will-o-Wisp.”

The houndour expelled a searing tongue of flame that snaked it’s way underneath the water pokèmon. Without warning, the flames flared up in an orb of fire. The blazing sphere quickly grew in size and then swirled into nothing. Sharpedo grimaced and convulsed as the extensive burns laced it’s skin.

How could that attack be so powerful, thought Jada. It doesn’t make any sense! Her frustration quickly mounted and began to boil over. She growled furiously. “Sharpedo,” she shrieked. “Finish this runt now! HYPER BEAM!”

Sharpedo gaped his toothy jaws wide. Golden energy began to coalesce in Sharpedo’s mouth. A high-pitched whine grew in amplitude until it drowned out all the other ambient sounds.

“It’s over now,” Jada’s declaration was peppered with a haughty, malicious, chuckle.

“That’s my line,” smiled Lenette.

<><><><><><>

“Cloud,” Elle panted. “I think we can stop running now.” Cloud continued to pull her behind him for a few more steps before eventually stopping.

“I think you’re-“ A large explosion from behind cut him off. The sound of the forest-pokèmon scurrying for safety afterward was nearly as loud.

“What was that,” he gasped, still out of breath. Elle responded with a quick shrug.

“We gotta get- outta here,” she added. She whipped out her pokènav, and pressed a few buttons. “Devon Co. Sat-Nav says there should be a small pond a mile and a half in that direction.” She pointed at an opening between some trees.

“Lead the way, mistress,” joked Cloud. She huffed as he followed her deeper into the forest.

“This journey’s starting to get really exciting!”

“IT’S NOT A JOURNEY!”

“Man, you sure have issues, guy.”

<><><><><><><>

[Tha Legend]

You read right, after this, I'll be finished with the rehash. Keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter. It'll be a little familiar for the people that read the first posting, but the story is in a totally different direction now.

~Legend~

Chapter 6:
<><><><><><><><>

Author’s Notes:
Here’s Chapter 6, finally. This chapter has a lot of Archie speaking, so read his parts phonetically as I tried to capture his accent. If it’s too hard to understand, I’ll change it, just PM me about the incoherence, please don’t post.

<><><><><><><><>

Mitch plodded reluctantly towards the seaside cavern that housed the Team Aqua headquarters. The mouth of the cave was left unguarded so as not to attract suspicion, but the base was far from defenseless. As Mitch walked down the corridor to the hidden door that served as the main entrance, he noted the gligar and crobat that roosted on the various stalactites. These pokèmon weren’t wild, however. They were trained to react to an ultrasonic signal with such speed and power that anyone would be ripped to shreds before they could even release a pokèmon.

They wouldn’t sic them on me... Would they? he pondered. He knew Archie was furious with the entire Petalburg debacle, and was out for blood, and there was no telling what punishment he would face inside. Upon reaching the door, Mitch pondered making a run for his life.

No, he sighed inwardly.
He knew too much about the team’s operations to ever hope to be forgotten about. If he had the presence to show up, maybe he could appeal to Archie’s humanity. As farfetched as that sounded, it seemed to be his only choice. He tapped out the enabling code on the four rocks jutting from the wall, and a small screen with a keypad on it slid out from the rock to his right. He placed his left hand on the screen and it was bathed in a blue light. As he prepared to key in the opening a smooth as glass female voice wafted over his shoulder.

“So this is a dead man walking,” Ruby said sarcastically. Mitch’s body tensed and he turned to face her.

“I hate it when you do that,” he growled. He cautiously scanned the cave.
“Where are your sis…” he trailed of as two hands rested on his shoulders.

“We heard about Petalburg,” Jada sneered on his right side.

“KABOOM!” Azura added goofily, and then broke into giggles.

“If that’s it, I’ll key my code before the door times out,” Mitch grunted a stern reply. If he took too long to enter the final code, the door would close back up into the rock and have to be reenabled from the inside. He angrily entered his code and the wall slid open with a hiss.

Inside, the base defied expectations. The vast caverns were flooded with artificial light. There were various alcoves in which all the major facets of outside society were represented. Shops, eateries, berthing areas, and recreational facilities were all there. In a large stadium in a far grotto, the unmistakable sounds of pokèmon battling rang in his ears.

“I can’t believe he came back,” a contemptuous remark came from nowhere, and Mitch angrily whirled to face his those who mocked him, but they where impossible to pick out from everyone else. It was bad enough he still had to explain himself to Archie. He made his way to the main office amid the hushed sneers and shocked, sideways glances.

<><><><><><>

“Tell tha sunvab*tch I’ll deal with heem later,” bellowed Archie. He wrung his hands as he slumped back into his chair.

I have to send a strong message, he said inwardly. It’s time to teach them the consequences of failure. He quickly dialed a number in on the speakerphone on his desk.
“What we talked aboot earlier, make it so.” He said flatly. There was no reply.

<><><><><><><>

Archie looked out over the teeming masses. A small smile managed to turn the corners of his mouth as he watched them, his disciples. They needed the direction only he could give them.
They were like mareep, flocking together to follow because they had almost no minds of their own. He looked to his sides. He was flanked by some of the finest officers anyone could ever hope to lead, but in the end, they were still merely mindless pawns, all eagerly conforming to his will.
He cleared his throat, and prepared to address them. There was a serious issue to deal with during this fireside chat.

Tonight, they would learn the price of his displeasure.

“M’ loyal supportars, tonight is th’ beginning of a vary important time in history. The warld has become a cesspool. Evil abounds from th’ seashar, to th’ farests. Wickedness promulgates from the mountains to th’ desert. It threatens t’ swalla us up like a landslide, burying all those ye’ know an’ love with th’ muck of iniquity.”

He paused and swept the room with a knowing smile. He liked to give them a chance to stew in the thought of the nigh insurmountable evils of the world.

As malleable as a ditto,[I] He thought smugly. He was careful to keep a somber face. He had to keep their feelings in his control. After a few of them became visibly disturbed, he continued.

“D’ not fear m’ friends, far thar is hope far salvation.” He put on his best endearing smile.
“Thar will come a time when a great flood will wash th’ warld clean. Th’ pure water will rise as high as th’ highest mountain, and purge th’ world of all it’s sorrows. Th’ only ones that will get t’ thrive in th’ new paradise that we will create are the ones that manage t’ separate themselves from the transgressions of the non-belivers.” He looked out over them. They all wore the glimmer of pure, childlike hope that only he could foster in their hearts.

“I want t’ bring that new warld inta existence far all a’ ye. Using ma’ vast fartune, ah am sarchin’ far th’ Deliverer. Th’ one pokèmon who will bring us outta th’ dark time, and inta th’ light.”

Like clockwork, the cheers of the crowd surged up to greet him at the podium. Archie reveled in their worship. Now that he had them safely under the blanket of his influence, he needed to place a little fear in their hearts. His face grew somber again, and his voice boomed in a deep basso tone.

“As I’ve said befar, ah can’t find th’ Deliverer wi’out yar help.” He shot a condemning look out across the audience, causing some of them to cringe.
”Tonight, one uh ye has failed me. That failure has impeded th’ realization of our parfect warld. One of ye has fargotten th’ way. T’day we will test that parson’s faith in a trial b’ water.”

Mitch squirmed uneasily in his chair. [I]Trial By Water, he thought to himself.

He was fearful for a good reason. The Trial by Water was a direct endurance match. Whoever could hold their breath the longest was obviously favored by the Deliverer, whose element was water. The trial would be against Archie himself, and no one has ever survived the trial but him, let alone won.

Archie hopped down from the podium to the cavern floor. With a quick gesture, he ripped his jacket off, revealing his broad, sculpted body. Red hairs formed a thick patch on his chest and his powerful muscles, previously obscured by his deceptively cut suits glistened in the fluorescent lights.

Mitch was then approached by two grunts. He knew why they had come, but he wanted to preserve his final shreds of dignity.

“I can go on my own,” he scowled as he jerked his arm away from one of them. He removed his shirt and jacket. His lean body seemed waifish when compared to Archie’s statuesque frame.

Suddenly, the floor parted beside them. With the dull whirring of hydraulics, a large, transparent, water-filled pool rose to a height of twelve feet. After it locked into place. A pair of blue-hooded figures walked slowly up to each of them. Without any other words, they were lead to twin walkways on either side of the pool. After stopping them both on the overhanging platforms, the hooded figures said a small litany for each one.

“May th’ Deliverer protect ye,” Archie yelled over to his comrade-turned adversary followed by a smug grin. Mitch only glared as hatred tinted his vision with a red haze. After the hooded Aquas were clear. The platforms began to slowly lower into the water.

Just keep your head, and you have a chance, Mitch did his best to encourage himself. As the water slid over his head, he blinked a few times before his eyes managed to adjust. Archie still wore his confident smirk.

After two minute or so, (They seemed to take forever.) Mitch decided to try to occupy his mind with things other than his self-preservation instinct
The square root of 1 is 1…
The square root of 2 is 1.414…
The square root of 3 is 1.732…
The square root of 4 is… His eyes focused again on Archie and derailed his train of thought.

Why in blazes is he smiling like that,

The answer came to him in the form of a hard impact to his stomach that caused him to expel his air supply in a futile attempt to scream. The water seared his lungs as it quickly took the air’s place, and he sputtered and attempted to make a break for the surface. Unfortunately, his legs felt cemented to the floor of the pool.

What…What’s happening, Mitch’s mind raced frantically as the true horror of his situation descended upon him like a crushing wave of darkness.
Can’t… end… like… he was unable to finish his final thought as he was engulfed by oblivion.

After Mitch’s limp body slowly rose, Archie casually broke the surface. With a solemn expression, he dragged Mitch to the edge and hoisted him onto the platform before exiting himself and loudly proclaiming,”

“Th’ Deliverah, has spoken!”

<><><><><><><>

[Tha Legend]

Pokèmon: Requiem for Revenge Chapter 7

Little Girl Lost: A New Trainer Appears

Author's Notes:
this is a long read, so, i'll keep my yapping short. This is a 90 percent new chapter. I didn't get to do everything I wanted, but it got to e about 5 or so pages in Word @ 10 pt. veranda so I decided to break at the most suspnseful part near the middle.

~Legend~

<><><><><><><><>

Dad…

Cloud stumbled blindly through the dark. He could have sworn that his father was just there. He groped around the nothingness until he managed to find purchase on what seemed to be a human arm. As he moved closer, he discovered the familiar scent of his mother’s perfume.

“Mom,” he said happily.

Upon hearing his voice, She turned to face him, and her face became illuminated with a dim, mysterious light. Instead of her usual smile, her face was pale and her expression was a mix of pain and shock.

“Norman… why,” She said in a hollow voice. “I… love you.”

Cloud was aghast when she began gurgling. Tiny rivulets of blood began to trickle from the corners of her mouth, and she began to sway unsteadily.

“Mom!” His voice strained with fear. The soft light immediately became harsh and Cloud could now see the gaping hole in her chest. Blood poured from the wound and a horrible wheezing sound became apparent.

“I love you…”

Her mouth began to pour blood and she collapsed. Obscured by her body until now, Norman leveled a hard, steely gaze at his son. His hand and clothes were covered with blood, and in his grip a bloody mass of flesh and bones pulsed, her heart!

“Why,” shrieked Cloud.

In reply, Norman crushed the heart in his hand. It gushed blood with a sickening squelch. He then presented the mangled organ in an outstretched palm, and unceremoniously dropped it on Luna’s prone body.

“No…” It came first in a trembling voice, then a shout.

“NO!”

Consumed with rage, Cloud charged his father. He knew he couldn’t beat him, but he didn’t care. He had to make him pay. With a guttural wail, he screamed his outrage.

“I HATE YOU!”

<><><><><><><><><><>

“I HATE YOU!” Cloud jumped awake yelling at the top of his lungs, jarring Elle awake, and causing her to fall off of a nearby couch.

“I hate you,” Cloud repeated again breathlessly.

His head jerked around frantically. Instead of vague darkness, there was the clean, stark surroundings of a medical center. The simple, yet comfy chairs peppered around the pokèmon center lobby area were a popular safe haven for weary travelers. Various other trainers glowered angrily at him for his emotional outburst.

Oldale pokèmon center he sighed inwardly. Just… a dream.

“Cloud!”

Without warning, he was yanked him up by his collar in a rather abrupt manner.

“Why are you screaming like that? You scared the crap outta me!”

After receiving no reply, she looked him squarely in the eyes and found something there she didn’t expect, fear. She loosened her grip, and Cloud fell back down to the sitting position. Afterwhich he brushed her hand away curtly.

“I-I had a bad dream,” Cloud looked away with a sullen expression. “It’s nothing.” He stood up grabbed his nearby backpack, and stalked away.

“Weird,” breathed Elle in surprise. That guy’s got more issues than a newsstand.

Cloud’s hard facade quickly fell away as he neared the vidphone. With a trembling hand, he slid his account card in the slot and dialed his mother’s number.

Ring…

“Don’t be stupid Cloud,” he told himself half-heartedly. “She’s okay.”

Ring…

[Ring…

“I hope….”

<><><><><><><><><><>

”Here we are, Oldale,” Lenette said with a slightly displeased tone. “I can’t believe you’ve never left your hometown before. It’s a good thing I found you out in the forest. You could have been wandering for days that far from the trail.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Charles adjusted his glasses. “Thanks.” He started to walk off.

“Wait,” she yelled after him. She ran to catch up to him. “I guess I’ll walk you to the pokècenter,” she added. “I wouldn’t want to just leave you somewhere.”

Charles opened his mouth to protest, but Lenette silenced him with a light tap to the jaw with a loosely clenched fist. This managed to produce a goofy smile on his face for a minute.

“If you’re looking for someone, they’re probably there.”

Let’s add this up, he thought to himself. I can stay with this cute girl, or I can wander around this town by myself, and Alielle will probably get away.

“Okay,” his face lightened. They started off down the main street. While they walked, Charles noted how the quaint houses all seemed to be as old as the surroundings themselves. The forest edged very close to this sleepy hamlet, and the buildings all seemed as though they were planted vice built. They were all sided with a drab, earthy stucco, and their roofs sported bright pastel colors like the blooms of the surrounding wildflowers.

Charles tried to keep his mind on Elle, but the morning sun gave Lenette a very appealing glow. He couldn’t keep from staring at her mahogany skin. As they walked, his thoughts grew darker, and more carnal in nature.

Besides one teenage boy’s hormones, the morning also brought out the Oldale residents en masse. Armed with various gardening utensils, they performed their daily maintenance on their flowerbeds. One lady accompanied by a pair of sunflora spoke as they passed.

“Young people, could I trouble ya for a minute? My pokèmon and I need help weeding this garden, and my old back ain’t what it used t’ be” Her voice was cordial, and she chuckled a bit at her own predicament.

Charles sighed and his shoulders slumped. “Lady, we really-“

“Would love to lend you a hand,” Lenette interrupted. She grabbed Charles’ shirt gingerly. “Your friends probably aren’t even awake yet.” Rendered powerless by the merest of casual contacts on her part, he quickly conceded, and followed wordlessly.

<><><><><><><><><>


Ring

“C’mon,” Cloud growled as the phone went unanswered. A slender hand reached past him and hung up.

“Hi, I brought our stuff” Elle chirped after Cloud spun around to glare at her. Before he could yell at her, another female hand touched his shoulder. This time, Cloud refused to acknowledge.

“Can ask you something?” The lilt of her voice hovered between hopeful and distraught.

After a quick obliging nod from Elle, the young woman came around Cloud to talk to them both. She looked about their age, and Cloud’s height. Her waist length, violet hair was in obvious disarray, and she had attempted to tie it all back with a tattered blue scarf. Her magenta eyes seemed dim and full of sorrow. Elle noticed that she forced her expression into a happier one before she spoke.

“My name is Mara. I’m very far from home. I really miss my family, and I have no way to contact them.” She paused, leaving the question unsaid.

Cloud looked at Elle. He could tell by her expression that she wanted him to do something. A grimace flashed momentarily across his face, and after a moment, he sighed and grabbed his calling card from the slot on the vidphone he had been using.

“Make it quick.” He shoved his card in her direction.

Mara happily accepted, and, after a gracious bow, she bounded off to another vidphone on the other side of the room.

“Ah, Cloud, that was sweet,” Elle cooed, and Cloud rolled his eyes.

At the other phone, Mara spoke cautiously in hushed tones. On the screen, an elderly couple conversed with her.

“I’m in Oldale,” she said. She went silent for a moment before her emotions overcame her.

“Gramma, Granpa, I’m scared. I don’t know how long I can keep the star away from them.” she buried her face in her shirtsleeve, and began to cry softly.

“Mara, you have to protect the star.” Her grandfather replied gravely.

Her grandmother moved a little closer to the screen. “Those animals killed your parents trying to get them. We can’t let them accomplish their goals.”

After a few more sobs, Mara nodded.

“I’ll try my best.”

“Try to find the man called Maxie,” Her grandfather added. “He may be he best one to help.”

“I just hope I don’t run into them before then,” Mara said hopefully. “I lo-“

The screen winked out when a hand clicked the phone off. Mara turned around to a man wearing a blue kerchief, and a black trench coat. He had a questionable-looking teal mustache and a gaudy pair of gold-rimmed glasses. Mara gasped, she hadn’t even sensed he had been standing over her!

“I’m hurt.” The man’s voice was sarcastic, but it held undertones of malice. “I thought we had something special.”

Cloud narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he gazed at the scene that was unfolding across the room.

“Mara doesn’t seem to be happy about that guy that just came up,” He mentioned to Elle.

“I think she needs some company,” Elle suggested. They grabbed their bags and started over towards her.

“Did you reach anyone at home?” Elle sat down beside her, and the guy backed off reluctantly. Mara nodded, and a small smile began to grow on her face.

“Yeah,” Cloud said as he came up on the other side. “How was everyone doing?” The man turned around quickly, and brushed past Cloud angrily, and Cloud shuddered at the sight of the stache, and sat down on Mara’s other side.

“Thank you,” Mara sighed in relief, but her expression instantly darkened again. “But he’ll be back.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Cloud smiled.

“Who was that guy,” asked Elle. Mara sighed a heavy sigh before she answered.

“I don’t his name. He works for Team Aqua.”

“We ran into them before we got here,” said Cloud. “They wanted to steal our pokèmon.”

“I wish it was just that,” Mara said sadly. “I-“she paused.

“It’s okay,” Elle said reassuringly. “You can tell us.”

“No,” Mara shook her head adamantly. “It’s my issue and I have to deal with it myself.”

“That’s silly,” Elle replied. “We can help you out.” She paused for emphasis. “Right, Cloud?”

Cloud remained silent. Apparently the ceiling tiles had never been properly inventoried in this pokècenter. Elle pressed on, trying not to let her annoyance show.

“I mean you would be safer with a group. Tell her, Cloud” she added pointedly.

Silence.

“That wouldn’t be very smart,” warned Mara. “The Aquas have been known to be very ruthless and dangerous.” She looked back at the blank screen. “I couldn’t bear to cause any more sorrow because of my actions.” Elle was now giving Cloud the 1000-watt “do the right thing” glare.

It was inevitable that he succumbed to her. With a sharp breath, he braced himself for what he was about to say.

“Mara, you have to come with us on our-” He gritted his teeth for the last part.

“journey.”

Elle’s eyes lit up. “Really,” she quickly got up and gave Cloud a big hug.

“I’m so glad!” Cloud winced. “Our journey’s gonna be so much better with another buddy.”

“Stop it,” growled Cloud angrily, but he knewhe'd never hear the end of this.

<><><><><><><><>

[Tha Legend]

Pokèmon: Requiem for Revenge Chapter 8

<><><><><><><><>

Charles paused for a few seconds to rest on the wall of the old lady’s gardening shed. He wiped a dirt-encrusted hand across his brow and sighed.

“Having fun,” asked Lenette lightly. Her presence made him forget about the fact that she had gotten him into this. He leaned his back on the wall and sighed again before he answered.

“I just came from the back 40,” he said jokingly. “But really, it feels like I weeded the entire forest.”

“A good deed never hurt anyone,” Lenette chuckled. Anyway, those old overalls make you look kinda rugged.” Charles felt his face tingle and grow hot. He hoped that he wasn’t blushing, but before he could continue his conversation, the old lady and her pokèmon came around the other side of the shed.

“Thank you for all your help,” she beamed. My sunflora and I haven’t med any young people as nice as you two in a long time.”

“Flora,” the pokèmon chimed in happily.

“I’d like to give you two a special reward for helping me.” She reached into a pocket on her overalls.

“Oh no, ma’am,” Lenette said before she could produce the reward. “Just helping you is reward enough.”

The old woman shook her head. “Nonsense,” she said. “Work deserves compensation.” She pulled two small metallic cubes from her pocket.
“These are TM’s.” She gave one to Lenette. It had a stamp on it that said “50.”

“Is this…” She paused to remember which number 50 corresponded to. “This is overheat! It’s impossible to find these!” She turned to Charles. He had just received his reward. “What’d you get?”

“I’d rather not say.”

Lenette turned to the old woman, but she just shrugged. “My grandson works for the Pokèmon Friend magazine. He’s always giving me things.” She pulled a handful of TM cubes from her pocket.

“Ice Beam, Calm Mind,… Dragon Claw!” Lenette could hardly believe it.

“They’re all different.” The woman put the TM’s back in her pocket. “I just use them as rewards. I have no other use for them because I’m not a trainer.” Lenette turned back to Charles, but he had already removed his overalls and was washing his hands.

“YOU,” Lenette yelled as she ran up to him. “Tell me, NOW!” Charles cringed at the approaching teenage female, and shuddered with wide-eyed fear.

<><><><><><>

Cloud blinked and held his hand over his eyes as he and his companions stepped outside. The morning sun was bright, and a sweet summer breeze wafted past their noses. Behind him, Mara and Elle had become fast friends, and their giggling caused him to look back with curiosity.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” Elle replied in a slightly annoyed voice. She covered her mouth as she whispered something to Mara followed by more giggling by both of them.

“Whatever,” breathed Cloud angrily, and he walked off. A quick glance backwards revealed that they were pointing in his direction, and laughing, but they stayed far back enough to keep him in the dark about what they were saying. He growled, and looked ahead again.

“Damn,” a voice from an alleyway caught his attention. “I had hoped she would be alone, but I guess I’ll handle you punks too!” The Aqua from before stepped out in front of Cloud.

“You,” Cloud hissed. “Somebody should let you know that your mustache makes you look like a dumbass!” Cloud’s face hardened. “Leave Mara alone, whoever you are!” He stood a little taller. “We’re not gonna let you hurt her.”

The man reached into his jacket. “You little f-ck!” his voice pushed through his clenched teeth. Cloud reached for his solitary pokèball. The man smiled, and he searched his jacket for something.

“My name is Matt,” he produced a chromed pistol. “Say goodbye!” With that he fired.

Time seemed to stutter as the muzzle of the gun exploded with light. Cloud dove to the ground, but as soon as he did he remembered about the girls behind him.

“Elle!” He lay prone, and helpless as the scene played out in front of him.

Mara saw the gun. It brought back her painful memories of home.

<><><><><>
The sun was strong on that day as well.

Mara was fishing on the shore by her parent’s shrine near Mossdeep city when they came. They asked about the star, and she played dumb, as she was told. It didn’t take long for Matt to lose his scant patience.

“I’m not going to ask you again, you little b-tch! Give me the star!” Matt snatched Mara’s up by her collar. She remained silent.

Matt shuddered with anger at the girl’s refusal to comply.
“Maybe you fail to understand.” He pulled her so close that his mustache brushed her face. “I will kill you.”

Mara was defiant. “I won’t let you get the star. I don’t care if you kill me.” She spat in his face, and he threw her down vehemently.

“Fine,” he wiped his face and flicked the saliva to the ground. He produced a pistol and trained it on her. “I’ll find the star on my own!”

“Mara!” A woman shrieked Mara’s name and came running up. A man came up after her.

“Mama, Papa! Stay back,” Mara pleaded, but her parents continued to near them.

“You, what are you doing,” Mara’s father bellowed. “If you have a problem, you speak to me! Leave my family out of this!”

Matt pointed the gun at the man, but instead of cowering, he just sneered. “Thank you for the offer,” he smiled, and a pair of burly Aqua’s came out of nowhere and seized Mara’s parents. “But your daughter is helping me already.” He turned back to Mara with his gun still aimed at her father.

“Go get the star, or I’ll kill ‘em.”

“Don’t do it Mara! He’ll kill us all if he gets the star anyway,” her father pleaded.

Mara shut her eyes tightly. After willing herself to move. She started off towards the shrine. She took another glance back and her mother mouthed the words “I love you.”

Tears streamed down her face as she rode the family’s starmie towards the mainland. In her pack rested their family’s most prized possession, The Star of the Ocean. The report of two gunshots echoed from the island, and Mara buried her face in her arms, and cried.

<><><><><><><><>

It happened in an instant. Mara made a last-ditch dive and knocked Elle to the ground. The sound of the gunshot made Torchic appear.

“Torchic!” she growled.

A quick ember attack caused Matt to drop his gun in shock and take a few steps back. He leered at Torchic, but knew he wouldn’t be able to get to the gun with that pokèmon in the way. Cloud glared angrily at Matt, but a shrill female scream commanded everyone’s attention

“Cloud!”

Cloud looked back to check on the girls. Elle was crying, and they were both soaked with blood and more was pooling around them. Mara was lying facedown on top of Elle. Her back gushed blood from the entry wound, but the majority of the blood was coming from the another wound, which was obscured by their body position.

“Graveller, get rid of that little pest!” Cloud turned back to Matt. He had called out a pokèmon!

“Was that a gunshot?” a man asked as he came running out of one of the nearby buildings.

“Call somebody,” screeched Elle as Mara lay dying in her arms. “Somebody help her!”

I gotta get rid of this guy, Cloud thought to himself. A large group of people was already forming. He stood up, but his body was trembling. He closed his eyes and willed himself to focus.

“Rollout!” Matt was definitely not planning on waiting for Cloud to get ready. His graveller tucked in it’s arms and legs, and began to tumble forwards into a roll. The craggy pokèmon picked up an insane amount of speed as it barreled towards Torchic.

“Torchiiiic!” Cloud’s eyes opened to the sight of his pokèmon crashing through a window of a nearby shop. Cloud immediately ran over to check on her.

“Torchic, are you okay? Whoa!”

He barely dodged the large column of flame that burst from the mangled storefront. When Cloud lowered his arms from their protective stance, the jagged edges of the window were burnished and smoothed from the heat.

Torchic hopped through the window. Her feathers were matted with blood, and her right wing seemed twisted in an unnatural position. She was panting heavily, and the eye she still had open glowed an unholy crimson. A low growl started in her throat and exploded into a startlingly blood-curdling war-cry.

“TORCHIIIIIC!” She called out to the graveller, and it circled around to make another run. Torchic inhaled sharply and expelled an impressive tongue of flame that impacted with the graveller and streamed around it, but Graveller stayed on course.

“The fire isn’t doing anything,” yelled Cloud! “Torchic, dodge!” the warning remained unheeded as Torchic continued to pour on the flames until the sickening crack of Graveller scoring a direct hit signaled her attack’s end.

“Torchic! No!” Cloud screamed as Torchic smacked a wall with what sounded like a squish and a thud.

“Tor-chic,” she made a weak cry and seemed to stick to the wall as the momentum from her slamming into it dissipated. She then slid slowly down to crumple in a bloody, broken heap at the bottom. The world went silent as Torchic lay motionless, save a spastic twitch of her injured wing.

“Now take care of that little punk,” fumed Matt, and he pointed at Cloud.

“Hey! You can’t do that!” A yell came from the crowd. Cloud turned and jumped just in time to miss Graveller’s attack. It crashed into the wall he had just been standing in front of, sending shards of brick flying. In what almost seemed like a deliberate pace the rock pokèmon simply rolled back from the impression in the wall and started at Cloud again, only faster.

“Sh-t,” Cloud barely managed to dodge again. He panted hard as Graveller pushed itself out of another crater. He coughed as the red dust from the damaged walls choked him, and he struggled to his feet again.

“Hold it right there, kid!” Matt’s order caused Cloud to pause.

“Oh my God! He’s got a gun,” someone shouted. Matt had decided to retrieve the pistol while everyone’s attention was diverted. He chuckled as he made a jerking motion to direct Cloud to raise his hands. Cloud grudgingly complied.

Matt made a self-confident laugh as everyone looked on helplessly. “Now you’re gonna stand there and die.” He laughed again. “Or I’m gonna shoot you, and your other friends.”

A man looked like he was about to try something, but Matt swept the pistol over the crowd, getting his message across. He looked back at his pokèmon. It was rolling in a tight circle to build speed.

“Finish him!”

Cloud cringed and closed his eyes, but the attack never landed. A reddish yellow blur streaked over and collided with the graveller at the last minute. It hit another wall and it’s arms and legs came untucked. It tried to move, but it’s appendages wouldn’t respond. Graveller slumped in it’s place and groaned it’s name painfully.

“Dammit!” Matt tried to get a bead on the blur, but it rocketed away from the downed graveller and slammed into his abdomen. He flew backwards, and landed hard on his back with a pained wheeze. A few people dove on him, but no one touched the gun.

The blur flew back over to Cloud, and stopped. Everyone gasped as they had their first glimpse of the mysterious pokèmon. It was small, about thigh-height to Cloud. It was yellow and red and strangely familiar. It looked like Torchic, but it had arms and legs terminating in sharp claws. Cloud clumsily fished his pokèdex from his pocket, and aimed it at the new pokèmon.

{Combusken: the double kick pokèmon. Using it's powerful legs, it can run for days without stopping, and it’s fists can shatter solid marble with a single strike. It is the evolved form of Torchic.}

“Torchic… evolved?” Cloud was awestruck before he remembered Mara. He had to find out how she was doing!

<><><><><><><><><>

Author's Notes: Yep, I decided to put em at the end this time. Does anyone actually still read this? I don't mean to complain, but the read count only goes up when I click on the story to post. Even if you aren't reading I'm still going to finish, eventually, but a simple word of encouragement would really make me feel better.

~Legend~

[Tha Legend]

Author's Notes:
Two chapters in one day! Three chappys in one week! I'm on fire! For the two of you who read the last chapter before I posted this one, thanks.
~Legend~

<><><><><><><><><>
Chapter 9:

Goodbye Oldale: Our Future Awaits

<><><><><><><><><>

“Ralts, use confusion!” Wally ordered. His small pokèmon happily obliged, and used it’s psychic powers to make the opposing zigzagoon mistake a large rock for her. The zigzagoon trainer cringed as her pokèmon crashed into it, and slump to the ground, defeated.

How was that, Wally, asked Ralts over their psychic bond. He smiled as he walked over to her.

“That was great Ralts,” he said happily. “You’ve gotten really strong.”

I just want to make you happy, Wally. She smiled as Wally scooped her up for a congratulatory hug.

“At this rate, we’ll be ready to go back to that gym.” He set Ralts back down, and clenched his fist. “And this time, we’ll win!”

The other trainer came up to Wally clutching her pokèball. “You’re really good, you should try to enter the tournament.”

“Thanks, Aimee,” Wally replied, blushing a little. “I don’t know, though. My parent’s would never let me leave Petalburg on my own.” His face fell a little.

“That’s too bad,” Aimee said sweetly. “If you ever get to go though,” she kissed him quickly on the cheek. “Let me know, you’re kinda cute.” With that, she skipped off.

“Okay,” Wally said absently. As he watched her go, he thought about how much better his life was since he found Ralts.

I love you too, Wally.

<><><><><><><><><>

Charles ran as fast as he could. He ignored the angry glares, and chiding of the hospital personnel as he tore though the hallways. He had to get to Elle. He had to make sure she was okay.

“338, 339, 340!”

He burst through the door. Inside, Cloud and Elle glowered angrily at him, but remained silent. They stood solemnly around a bed with a girl he had never met before, and she looked to be in bad shape. As he tried to catch his breath in as silent a way as possible, he noticed her eyes slowly flutter open.

“Alielle,”

Mara’s weak voice caught everyone by surprise. Elle turned to her and clasped her hands gingerly, but securely.

“Mara, I’m glad to see you’re awake.” Elle was smiling, but tears began to run down her cheeks. Mara’s magenta eyes dimmed as she seemed to look past Elle into space.

“I- I don’t have much time,” She forced through the lump in her own throat. “I wanted to ask you to do something for me.” Elle shook her head.

“No, Mara, we’re buddies. You’re gonna go on our journey together!” She was crying harder now. “You can do whatever you need to with us!” Mara smiled, and turned to Cloud.

“My bag, do you have it?” Cloud nodded and handed it to her. She fished through it for a second, and offered Cloud a small box.

“Cloud,” Mara was crying and smiling now. “I was supposed to give this to a man called Maxie. Please don’t open it, and don’t let anyone know you have it.”

“Mara, I-“

“Please,” Her voice grew more hollow by the minute. Cloud frowned, but he took the box, and slipped it in his pocket.

"Thanks," She let her hand linger on his. “It seems kinda silly now, but I always thought you were cute. That’s why I asked for your help.” Cloud's face grew dark with self-hatred.

“Mara, I should have saved you. I should have-”

Mara shook her head. “I wish we could have journeyed together. I’ll dream about that while I… sleep.” Cloud was speechless. He looked down at his shoes.

Mara produced a blue pokèball and handed it to Elle. “This is my only pokèmon, Superstar. He’s really strong.” Elle was openly crying, but she accepted the ball.

“Don’t cry Elle, You’re the closest thing I ever had to a sister. I thank you for-“

Her words ceased, and the room was drowned out by the shrill beep of the heart monitor. Elle pulled Mara’s now limp arm to her face and wept loudly. Cloud looked at Mara. Her eyes seemed empty, and she looked like a totally different person. He knew he shouldn’t look, but he couldn’t stop staring at her. He felt like she was just going to wake up.

She didn’t the hospital personnel rushed in a few seconds later. They tried to revive her, but Cloud was barely lucid enough to pay attention to what they were doing.

Everyone around me is unhappy.

No matter where I am, I can’t keep anyone from having to cry.

Cloud could faintly remember being led out of the room, but there was one image that stood out in his mind. The image of her body covered by a white sheet burned into his psyche.

<><><><><><>

Cloud stared blankly as Elle sadly filled in Charles and Lenette. In his hands, he held the box she had given him. He kept playing the morning back in his mind. Every time he remembered Mara’s life draining from her and soaking into the ground, he got angrier.

“Cloud,” Elle asked worriedly. After he failed to answer, she asked a little louder.

“Cloud!” The pain in her voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He acknowledged her and she continued.

“What should we do, Cloud? This has gone so bad.”

“I say you both go home,” suggested Lenette. “There’s no way you can travel after this.”

Charles nodded. “It’s not safe to travel with this hanging over you. Maybe in about a year or so-“

“I made a promise.” Cloud finally spoke.

“What,” They asked incredulously. “You can’t possibly..”

“I told my Mom that I would check on my Dad, and I promised Mara-“

“Cloud’s right,” Elle added. “We can’t let Mara down.”

“Alielle, don’t get drawn into this!” Charles placed his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off.

<><><><><><><>

The tone was somber and hearts were heavy as the group parted ways at the outskirts of Oldale. The afternoon sun was just beginning to turn red, and the forest pokemon were doing some last-minute foraging before nightfall.

“I guess this is goodbye then,” Lenette said flatly. She turned to go. After a few steps, she turned around again.

“Make sure you take care of those two, Chuck.” Charles smiled for a moment, but his expression quickly soured.

“It’s CHARLES!” He turned back to Elle and Cloud only to find they had already started walking towards Petalburg.

“Hey guys! WAIT UP!”

<><><><><><><><>

~Legend~

[Tha Legend]

Pokèmon: Requiem for Revenge Chapter 10

Cloud’s Delimna : A Trainer’s Fall from the Light

<><><><><><><><>

Luna clicked on the television. It threw a soft white light on the otherwise darkened room. She sighed listlessly as she flipped through the channels. It had been two days since Cloud and the Professor’s daughter had gone on their trek to Petalburg. She looked up at the clock.

“10:57,” she said breathlessly. “I guess I’ll check out the news.” With a press of a button, The Evergrande News Network logo appeared on the screen, and was replaced with an anchor and the words “Pokèmon Battle Turns Deadly in Oldale” on the bottom.

"This is ENN with our top stories at the top of the hour with your host, Gary Greenwood." Luna leaned closer to the television and turned up the volume. Grainy footage of a man firing a gun at a group of children flashed on the screen, and Gary continued.

"The amateur footage you are watching is of a pokèmon battle earlier today that escalated into something much worse." The anchor shifted his weight and continued. "Here we see a man we have in custody, Matt Mitchell." A small window with a mugshot of Matt appeared in the corner "He is believed to have ties to the mysterious Team Aqua, brandishing a gun and pointing it at a large crowd of people after tragically murdering this young girl whose identity has been withheld."

Gary turned to his left, and the camera angle widened to reveal a young man who seemed to be in his twenties. Underneath his yellow beanie, emblazoned with the red letters “F.O.P.”, he had brown, wavy hair that reached past his shoulders, and a scruffy-looking goatee. He dressed very casually in an unbuttoned blue chambray shirt, with a yellow tee underneath.

Gary continued. "With us we have Brendan Rogers, Chairman of the fringe group, Friends of pokèmon, who are accused of various counts of eco-terrorism." The man chuckled softly and blinked his brown eyes.

"None of which have been proven to be us conclusively," he replied. "I’m here to explain how pokèmon training contributes to the overall degradation of our species as a whole.

We battle pokèmon to sate our ancient, bloodthirsty natures. If you look on the tape. This torchic is severely injured, but yet it’s trainer doesn’t recall it. It’s very obvious that this trainer has bought into the lies perpetuated by the league about winning at any cost. He pretends to care for his pokèmon, thereby fooling them with what we like to call 'emotional blackmail,' and they risk their lives countless times for a hollow congratulation from their trainer, and a severe emotional battering if they fail.

These pokèmon are in turn bullied to capture other pokèmon, and create an illusion of power for their trainer, which impresses other people, who seek to emulate these 'pokèmon slavers' you like to call 'trainers,' perpetuating the vicious cycle. This causes more and more pokèmon to be imprisoned in pokèballs, or poached, or worse." he left the interpretation open.

"How does your organization tie into this tapestry you’ve woven for us," Gary asked with a touch of sarcasm. Brendan scoffed, and then he replied in a matter-of-factly tone.

"We at the Friends of Pokèmon believe that all imprisonment of pokèmon should be abolished. Pokèmon are sentient creatures, and deserve the same rights and freedoms as we do. We will not stop until we make this dream real, whatever the cost."

The camera angle widened again, and on Gary's right, there was a man dressed in a dark, expensive, business suit. He was clean-shaved and his black hair was smoothed back with gel.

"And here we have Jack Yothers, a public affairs director for the Pokèmon league. He is here to give the league’s view of this incident." Jack cleared his throat before he began. His voice was deep and smooth, showing that he was experienced in his work.

"What we have here is a very regrettable case of one man using pokèmon in a very terrible way. If you look here, you can see that the young trainer had no opportunity to recall his injured pokèmon."

Luna squinted and leaned forward before her eyes flew open in shock.

“Cloud!”

<><><><><><><><>

Cloud was walking about twenty feet in front of his friends when he felt a tingle that made him pause.

“Cloud, what’s wrong,” asked Elle. Cloud shook his head.

“Nothing.”

“I know,” Charles replied. “The idea hit you that we should make camp instead of walking all freakin night!” Cloud sighed and blew one of his bangs from in front of his eyes.

“He’s right, Cloud. We can’t walk all night, again.” Elle’s voice was still a little hoarse from earlier today. Cloud noticed this and realized that they all needed a rest.

“Go ahead and set up,” he said without turning around. “I’ll get firewood.”

“Cloud,” Elle began, but Charles silenced her with a hand on her shoulder.

“He needs time to work some stuff out.”

<><><><><><>

Cloud stalked through the forest with his arms full of firewood. He didn’t care where he was going. All he knew was that Mara was dead. He had just met her, and now she was gone forever. A loud click and a whirring sound startled him, until he realized that Combusken had come out of her pokèball again. He turned and kneeled down to his pokèmon.

“I almost lost you today too,” He gave a half-hearted smile as he stroked her comb.

“Comb,” She said sadly, and cocked her head to the side.

“Everyone around me suffers,” he said flatly. “They all want to help me, but I just cause them all sorrow.”

“Comb,” she purred reassuringly. She reached her arms up and embraced cloud in a surprisingly strong hug.

“Thanks buddy,” Cloud gasped short of breath. He dropped the sticks he was carrying. “I needed that.” He stood up. “Let’s go back with this firewood. I could use a little shut-eye.”

“Busken!” Combusken happily agreed, and they both started through the foliage. She picked up some timber on the way. After a while, Cloud spoke again.

“Combusken.”

“Ken.”

“Do you remember how to get back to camp?”

“Comb…”

“Uh oh…”

“I know the way, punk!” a rough female voice came from behind them. Cloud wheeled around to see the siren Jada standing in front of him. On her face, she wore a sneer of malice. In her hand, she had a pokèball at the ready.

“You!” Cloud snarled with extreme fury. He threw his firewood to the ground again. “How DARE you show your face!”

“How dare you get Matt arrested,” she shot back. “I want the star now, and then I’ll feed you to my pokèmon!”

“You b-tch!” Cloud hissed. “You picked the wrong day to cross me, Combusken!” he pointed at Jada. Combusken looked at him confused for a second, but Cloud pointed again sternly.

“Ah, a pokèmon battle,” Jada said haughtily. “I hope you don’t run away like-“ Her statement was cut off by Combusken’s quick kick to the stomach. She doubled over in excruciating pain.

“Why did you hold back,” Cloud growled. Jada was busy vomiting blood.

“What-what was that,” she gasped angrily. “That wasn’t fair.”

“Maybe I’m done playing fair,” Cloud said coldly. He produced the gun from before from his pocket. He’d had it the whole time!

<><><><><><><>

Author's Notes: Damn! I'm in almost as much suspense as you are because i'm writing these as I go. This should be the last chapter for today, but I'll post more soon.

~Legend~

[Tha Legend]

Pokèmon Requiem for Revenge

Chapter 11:

****, Jada growled inwardly. She couldn’t believe that some little kid got the drop on her.

Cloud clenched his teeth and squinted his eyes. His memories of this morning assaulted him in the form of stinging hot tears. They welled in his eyes and began to stream down his face.

“Did you know her,” he scowled at Jada as she kneeled at the other end of the gun.

“What,” she asked incredulously, “Who”

Cloud gritted his teeth and steadied the gun with his other hand, and Jada tensed.

“Did you know her,” His voiced cracked as he asked her again.

“The girl,” Jada replied with a hint of realization softening her voice. “No.”

“He killed her,” Cloud added in a strained voice. “He killed her and he was gonna kill everybody!”

Jada’s mind raced. I’ve gotta turn this around. she sized Cloud up. He can’t do it. He’s gonna lose it any minute. Then I’ll have my chance. With that, an idea began forming in her mind.

It’s not fair!/[I] Cloud could barely piece together a coherent thought. His mind was filled with the painful images from earlier. He could see Mara bleeding, her life ebbing from her while that bastard waved his gun. His growing sadness began to give way to a new emotion.

[I] All it’ll take is a little prodding, Jada thought confidently. She raised her hands, and let her pokèball fall to the ground. Cloud tensed again, but she reassured him.

“I’m just standing up, kid. No need to get jumpy.”

“How do you sleep at night when you people do things like this,” Cloud asked.

“Things like what?’ You don’t even know what we’re trying to accomplish, do you.”
Cloud faltered, and Jada noted this happily. She ramped up her verbal assault.

“How do you know Matt wasn’t acting on his own? What if we were trying to help every living thing on the planet?”

Cloud finally found his footing in the conversation. “He killed her! You tried to steal our pokèmon, and you threatened me!” He was yelling now. The gun waved unsteadily as he spoke.

“Sometimes bad things happen for the greater good.” Jada’s voice was sterner now. A small smile crossed her face. “How long had you known your friend?” She took a small step forward.

“Shutup!” Cloud yelled. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“That long, huh?” She inched closer as she spoke. “How do you know that she hadn’t stolen the star from us?”

“Shutup!” He didn’t notice that Jada was less than twelve feet away.

“Now you wanna shoot me,” she asked angrily as she took a few regular-sized steps forward. “You can’t say that you’re any better than Matt! I didn’t shoot your little girlfriend!”

“SHUTUP!” Cloud had reached his breaking point. With a snarl he raised the gun, and squeezed. As soon as the gun fired, Cloud dropped it in shock. His face twisted with horror, and he began to back away slowly.

“I’m sorry,” his voice came in a squeak. “I didn’t mean to…”

<><><><><><><><>

“I wonder what’s taking Cloud so long,” Elle shivered, and Charles shrugged. “He should have been back by-“

A loud report echoed through the night.

“What was that,” Charles gasped. “It sounded like a-“

“A gunshot,” Elle finished his statement for him. “Cloud!” She stood up quickly. “We don’t know where Cloud is!”

“Pokèball, go!” The darkened campsite was momentarily bathed with light as Charles released a pokèmon. Elle gaped in disbelief.

“I didn’t know you had a new pokèmon!”

Charles snickered. “Let’s find Cloud.” He turned to his pokèmon. Zigzagoon stretched it’s back and grunted.

“Ready to go,” he asked.

“Zigzagoon,” it nodded in reply.

“Use Odor Sleuth.” He produced one of Cloud’s t-shirts. Zigzagoon took a deep sniff of the shirt, and lowered it’s nose to the ground. After sweeping it’s snout around for a few more seconds, Zigzagoon tore off into the night.

“Hey, Wait!” The two children rushed off through the underbrush after it.

<><><><><><><>

“I can’t believe you shot me.” Jada’s voice was flat, and her face wore a mask of shock. Cloud looked at the ground around her. The whole thing didn’t even seem real until he saw it.

Blood.

Cloud turned and ran.

He didn’t even recall Combusken. He had to get away- from everything.
I didn’t even mean to. I was just mad! His mind was a jumbled mess, but a single thought came bobbing to the surface. It was something that Jada had said.

”Now you wanna shoot me? “You can’t say you’re any better than Matt!”

His running slowed until his tears blurred his vision too much to see. He leaned on a tree and cried.

It felt like he had cried for hours before he heard voices.

“CLOUD!”

He looked up and vaguely made out the image of Elle walking up to him. She managed to get about six feet from him before she was stopped by Combusken. Combusken spread her arms, and shook her head.

“He’s just coming to grips with what happened today.” Charles placed a soothing hand on her shoulder. “Let’s give him some time.”

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Norman turned off the flood lighting at the huge breaker located on the wall. He sighed as he looked out over his temporary gym. Its walls were flat, cold, steel, and it had smooth rubber matting as its floor with a stark outline of a battling arena etched into it.

I hate this, He seethed.

Luckily, though that wasn’t the term Norman would use, Petalburg Pokècenter was large enough to have warranted a battle arena to be built onto it when it was founded. This served to provide the best place to relocate the town’s Gym matches until the gym was rebuilt.

Norman trudged slowly towards the exit. It had been a long day, filled with hollow, uninspiring matches. As he placed his hand on the doorknob to leave, a woman’s voice called to him, and he turned.

“I thought I told Archie not to send anymore of his goons here,” he spat vehemently.

“Your kid is headed here,” The woman, Ruby, said matter-of-factly as she stepped out of the shadows. “He’s become a problem.”

<><><><><><><><><><>

Author’s Notes: I hope this chapter stands up to the glowing reviews I received earlier. I really tried to keep you guessing.

~Legend~

[Tha Legend]

Pokèmon : Requiem For Revenge

Chapter 12: Petalburg at Last: A Father and Son Reunited.

<><><><><><><><><><>

“Petalburg City,” Charles exclaimed happily. “We finally made it. It had been two days since they left Oldale, and going had been very slow after the first night.

“We’re here,” added Elle in a similar tone. They stopped at a nearby road sign to plan their visit. Unfortunately, the group was incomplete.

“Cloud, we’re here,” Elle yelled backwards into the forest. A few seconds later, Combusken appeared nearly dragging a listless, despondent Cloud. Elle approached him worriedly, but Combusken’s icy glower stopped her cold.

“Okay,” Elle laughed nervously. “Cloud, you’ve been like this for two days. Do you feel like talking?”

“Whatever,” he answered curtly. After shaking off the barbed reply, she continued.

“I know you’re sad about Mara, but we’re in Petalburg now. We can fulfill our promise.” Cloud wordlessly produced a pokèball, and Combusken was turned into a flash of red light and drawn inside with a whoosh and a click.

He wants me to come closer, Elle’s thoughts perked up. That’s why he recalled his pokèmon. She began to walk closer to him, and he started towards her as well.

“I’m glad you’re finally coming around,” Elle replied happily. Cloud ignored her and continued on, brushing past her. He didn’t even turn back when he finally spoke.

“How well did we even know Mara,” came his pointed reply.

“I-well…” Elle was stymied.

“Let’s just go,” he said coldly. Elle wanted to get mad at him, but it felt wrong to. Charles came up behind her.

“He’s still got a lot to deal with.” He said quietly. “I’m sure you do too. When you’re ready, we can talk about it.”

“Thanks,” Elle replied. Wow, Charles has been so understanding through all this. He’s a great friend. A small smile appeared on her face. This made Charles smile as well, but for different reasons.

He’s doing all the work for me, Charles mused. She’ll be looking for a comforting shoulder soon as long as I keep up the sensitive act.

<><><><><><><><><><>

In a cluttered bedroom, a short, plump woman opened the door. She was careful not to step on any of the clothes strewn on the floor, and she was silent as she moved over to the bed where a small boy slept peacefully.

“Wally,” Wally’s mother chanted softly as she tried to rouse her child. She smiled as his green eyes fluttered open.

“Mom,” he asked dazedly as her form came slowly into focus.

“You’ve slept in today,” she responded. “You’re gym battle is today.”

“My gym battle,” he repeated in surprise, and sat up quickly. “What time is it?” He looked at the clock. His mother was happy to see her normally sickly child move with enthusiasm.

“Ten o’clock! I gotta get ready!” Wally buzzed around the room doing various things to prepare. In minutes, he was dressed, and he grabbed Ralt’s pokèball, and started for the door.

“Where are you going?” His mother’s question made him pause.

“To the Pokècenter,” he said hesitantly. “Why?”

“You’re not going anywhere without breakfast, and I hope you don’t think that you’re going to get out of this house without a bath.” She looked around. “And this room’s a mess.”

Wally sighed and slowly lowered his hand from the doorknob.

<><><><><><><><><><>

“Surskit, try a bubble attack against Igglybuff!”

Norman’s face contorted in disgust as another horribly under-trained pokèmon attempted to stand against his. No matter how weak a pokèmon he brought out, no trainer was able to give him a battle worth remembering.

The spindly bug pokèmon skittered into position, and spouted a stream of high speed bubbles from it’s mouth while Igglybuff bounced listlessly. At the last minute, Igglybuff flopped down on its side, and the frothy attack passed harmlessly over it.

“Man,” grumbled the young trainer as all his pokèmon’s attacks seemed to miss by some strange coincidence. The igglybuff slipped on a puddle from an earlier attack and fell as another blast of bubbles sailed past it.

“Igglybuff,” Norman growled in disgust. “Pound!”

Igglybuff stared off into space absently, apparently ignoring its trainer’s orders. The challenger, sensing the lull in the battle, attempted to profit from his opponent’s mistake.

“Surskit, Quick Attack, NOW!”

Surskit surged forward at its intended target. It’s thin legs flew at it bore down on the unaware pokèmon. A loud crack sounded as it made impact, and Surskit’s trainer pumped his fist in celebration of his obvious victory.

“Didn’t I tell you to Pound,” bellowed Norman. Igglybuff perked up at the repeated command, and turned.

“That’s not right,” the challenger gasped as the truth became evident. His pokèmon teetered dazedly. It appeared to have suffered a large amount of damage while the gym leader’s pokèmon was unfazed!

Igglybuff brought its tiny arms above its head, and paused. With a malevolent gleam in its cute eyes it dealt a crushing blow to the surskit, and rendered it a quivering mass of legs and bubbles.

‘”SURSKIT, NO!” The challenger shrieked as he ran up to check on his pokèmon. It groaned weakly as he scooped it into his arms.

“How could you be like that,” he sobbed as he glared at Norman. “That was cruel.” Norman closed his eyes for a moment before he made his icy reply.

“No kid, I’ve had my igglybuff for four years now.”

“Iggybuff,” his pokèmon chimed in happily.

“The only thing that was cruel was an idiot trainer sending in his freshly caught pokèmon against a Gym Leader as it’s first trainer battle.”

“H-how did you know,” the young trainer managed to stammer. Norman laughed at his question. It sounded creepy when compared to his harsh tone just seconds earlier.

“I’ve been training since before you were sh-tting your diapers kid. I think I know a just-caught pokèmon when I see one.” His face lost all emotion and he turned away from the trainer.

“Now get that pokèmon some attention outside, and don’t even bother trying another gym unless you get your head outta your –ss and do some training.”

Wordlessly, the trainer made his way outside of the arena. When the sliding doors whooshed closed, he recalled his igglybuff, and grumbled.

“Why am I constantly ridiculed by trifles, who do I have to kill to get a real challenge?”

<><><><><><><><><>

Cloud stepped into the pokecenter. Petalburg’s center was easily five times the size of Oldale’s, but it had the same subtle décor. It made his mind jump back to the hospital, but he fought of the wave of sadness with a surge of hatred. This was his father’s town. His father was the reason that he and his mother were even in Hoenn.

His thoughts were interrupted by a kid bolting past him and up to the head nurse at the reception desk.

“He-he…” the kid sobbed, unable to find the words to describe what happened. The Nurse shook her head, causing her bouncy red ringlets to flap like wings.

“Another one,” she said contritely to herself as she closed her sea-blue eyes. “We may have to start screening trainers.”

“Wow,” Charles brushed past Cloud to gawk. “What happened?”

“The league let the Gym Leader set up shop in our practice arena,” replied the nurse. “He’s way too powerful for all the neophyte trainer’s we get,” she cast down her gaze. “but they all want to try, and I’m afraid that just makes the leader more angry.”

“Now that’s what I call power,” swooned Charles.

“No it’s not,” Elle replied angrily. “That’s barbaric.” She looked the nurse squarely in the eye. “How can you let this go on?” the nurse shrugged.

“I can’t do anything. The order came directly from the league.”

“Let’s pay him a visit,” Cloud said emotionlessly. The Nurse made a motion to stop him, but the pokèball on his hip burst open, and Combusken growled at her menacingly as soon as she appeared.

“It’s okay he’s my…” he paused, until he was able to force the hurtful word past his throat.

“Dad.”

The nurse sighed and pointed him in the direction of the stadium. Elle and Charles wordlessly followed Cloud and Combusken through the sliding doors.

“Challenger, do you wish to battle for a balance gym badge,” Norman asked whenhe heard the doors open. After receiving no answer, he turned to see just whom had come to visit.

“Cloud,” his tone softened, and it seemed as though his smile would crack his stony face. Cloud acknowledged him with a quick nod. Norman began to walk over to his son with his arms outstretched.

“I’m here for Mom to see if you’re okay.” It took a great deal of restraint for Cloud to say that with a civil tongue. His true feelings strained against his very skin and threatened to rend him in pieces, but he remained in control.

“I see you have a pokèmon,” Norman beamed. “A tough-looking one to boot.” He finally reached for Cloud to hug him, but Combusken growled. “Still needs a little training I see,” he backed off slowly, and grinned.

“I knew you were a chip off of the old man’s block.” He swept an open palm past Elle and Charles. “These must be your friends,” he left their introductions up to Cloud, but sensing his reluctance, Elle took matters into her own hands.

“Hi,” she chirped. “I’m Alielle Birch. I think you know my father.”

A warm light of remembrance shone in Norman’s face. “Old Bailey,” he mused. “I remember when he was just a little crybaby.” Abruptly, ending his trip own trip down memory lane, he turned to Charles. “And this is…”

“Charles,” he responded. “I’m the professor’s aide.”

“That’s very-“ Norman was interrupted by the phone ringing. It was strange tone consisting of four sharp tones. Without a word, he ran over to the phone, an old analog type, and answered. Cloud strained to hear his conversation.

“I know,” Norman sighed into the handset. “I’ll take care of it.” He seemed to be very cross with the party on the other end.

“I said I’ll take care of it,” he said angrily, and slammed down the receiver. He smiled sheepishly, and approached the children again.

“League business,” he said uneasily. “I gotta do the insurance paperwork for the gym.” Cloud narrowed his eyes at this, but said nothing. Norman reached into his pocket, and after opening his wallet, fished out a thousand-pokècredit card.

“I’ll be taking care of some paperwork for the next hour or so.” His voice was unhappy. “Take this and get yourselves some grub. I know you must be hungry.” Cloud unenthusiastically accepted the card, and turned to go.

“I’ll watch your bags,” Norman added. “Just leave them here.”

They all obliged. Cloud recalled Combusken, and they eagerly left with the always-reluctant Cloud in tow. As soon as they had gone, Norman sensed a familiar presence.

“I told you to let me do this my way,” he snarled.

“You were dawdling,” Ruby shot back.

“He’s my son!” He turned to yell at her. In one fluid motion, he found himself bent over backwards with a serrated blade resting on his neck.

“Archie pays you to listen to orders, not give them,” She said through clenched teeth. “I could kill you right now and we’d just find some other stooge to sit up here and play Gym Leader.” She released him, and pushed him forward. He stood and rubbed his neck.

“Get the star now, or I’ll get it my own way.” She left the ultimate threat unsaid. Norman as silently fuming, but he did what he was told, and started in on the bags.

<><><><><><><><><><>

Cloud was also stewing, but for different reasons.

[/I] He didn’t even ask how Mom was doing, Jerk![/I] This thought reminded him that he hadn’t spoke to her in almost a week.

I have to talk to her, he thought. He reached for his bag to get his calling card.
[/I]D-mmit! It’s in the gym![/I] With a quick yank, he loosed his arms from his friends’ grasp, and they turned to question him.

“What now,” asked Charles impatiently.

“I need something from my bag,” Cloud replied flatly, and started back towardsthe makeshift gym.

“Okay, but be quick,” Charles yelled after him.

“I’m going too, then,” Elle told him. She set off after Cloud. Charles shrugged, but soon followed.

<><><><><><><><><><><>

[Tha Legend]

Pokèmon: Requiem for Revenge

Chapter 13: A Son’s Trust: Battle in the Petalburg Gym

<><><><><><><><><><><>

Norman was about halfway through Cloud’s bag when the doors slid open. In a purely reflexive move, he looked up to lock eyes with his son.

“C-Cloud,” he managed to stammer.

“What are you doing?” Cloud was furious. His clenched fists quivered with rage.

“This is adult business,” a deep woman’s voice came from nowhere. “He had tried to keep you safe, but you just had to come back.” A familiar woman fell from the ceiling in a crouching pose.

“You,” Cloud gasped. Ruby smiled and rose to a standing position.

“Ah, little Ridley, I have someone who’s been dying to see you,” She paused. “Almost.”

Cloud’s face paled as another familiar face came from behind a filing cabinet.

“You f-cking shot me in the arm, you little prick!” Jada’s eyes were wild with fury. She wore now wore her long trench coat in the traditional fashion instead of in her usual cape-like manner. The coat was cinched at the waist, and her left arm was out of it’s sleeve to serve as a rudimentary sling. She was about to speak again when the door slid open yet again.

“Cloud, we decided to-“ Elle trailed off. She recognized the two women.

“Team Aqua,” She said bitterly. She readied her two pokèballs.

“You wanna fight,” snarled Jada. “I’ll use you as a warmup for your boyfriend, here!” She tossed a pokeball with her good hand. “Go Sharpedo!”

Her pokèmon roared its animalistic greeting, and bared its jagged teeth menacingly. The doors slid open again.

“Pokèmon battle,” Charles grinned. ‘I’m game.” He tossed a pokèball forward and released Zigzagoon.

“Zigazgoon,” it yelped when it saw it’s opponent. Sharpedo flashed a toothy grin, and charged forward with its head lowered. Charles could only watch helplessly as his pokèmon was knocked clear of the battling ring to land limply beside him, the victim of a surprise Skull Bash attack

“It attacks on its own,” muttered Charles in disbelief.

“This is the big leagues, kid.” Jada’s voice was acidic. “Try to keep up.”

Charles recalled his felled pokèmon, and grimaced. “Go, pokèmon!”

“Treecko!” Treecko stretched happily. It had been a couple days since it had last battled. It’s gaze soon met it’s opponent’s, and it adopted as menacing a scowl as it could muster.

“Treecko, watch out!” Charles’ second pokèmon nearly shared his first one’s fate, but his warning allowed Treecko to just dodge.

“Counter with Bullet Seed attack!” Sharpedo skidded to a halt and made a quick turn. Treecko glowed with a green energy before firing off a volley of small black seeds like a machine gun.

Jada scoffed as the seeds quickly neared their target. Sharpedo simply gaped his maw wide, and swallowed the seeds. After a small belch, Sharpedo bolted at Treecko again.

That’s the most powerful grass attack Treecko knows, thought Charles worriedly. I guess that TM move is my last chance.

Treecko managed to dodge Sharpedo’s attack a second time.

“Treecko, Toxic attack!”

Treecko opened its mouth and hissed. A jet of black viscous fluid sprayed from strange glands under its tongue and into Sharpedo’s eyes. It began to with and convulse with pain as the concentrated venom began to immediately sap it’s strength.

“Direct hit,” Melvin cheered. “Go us! Go us!”

“Sh-t,” Jada seethed. Choice battle wouldn’t work for this. Playtime’s over, she thought as a plan began to form in her mind.

Meanwhile, Cloud was confronting his father.

“You’re with them,” his voice cracked as he drew ever closer to hysteria. Norman started to answer but Cloud silenced him with a dismissive sweep of his palm.

“This is why you abandoned me and Mom?” He snatched his bag back. “I hate you.’

Norman was shocked. He never wanted this! He wanted a Gym. He wanted fame as a great trainer, but not like this! His heart tore in two as his son’s word bore deep into his soul.

Cloud was surprised as well. He had often imagined the day when he would tell his father what he felt, but it had always seemed different in his mind. This didn’t feel empowering like he had imagined. It just felt empty. He finally knew why his mother stayed, she loved him, and, as much as Cloud hated to admit it, so did he.

“Treecko, No!” Charles groaned as his last pokèmon slumped in defeat. Sharpedo’s wild thrashing had proven unpredictable enough to catch Treecko off guard. Charles recalled his pokèmon.

Elle stepped up now with her pokèball at the ready. “Go, Supastar.”

With a flash of light, the starfish pokèmon appeared. It hovered a few inches off of the floor by spinning its second set of five arms like a propeller.

“Supastar, Rapid Spin Tackle attack!”

Both sets of Supastar’s arms began to spin in opposite directions until it became a blue blur.

“Sharpedo, Crunch that pest,” Jada commanded. Sharpedo wagged its head and winced. The poison had made it nearly impossible to see, and all that thrashing around had caused Sharpedo to lose its bearings.

Supastar darted through the air towards the opposing pokèmon and scored a painful gash right above Sharpedo’s left pectoral fin. Sharpedo groaned in agony, and Supastar gave it a little room to convulse.

After another roar of pain, Sharpedo’s angry, bloodshot eyes snapped open. It charged the starmie, and siezed it in its jagged jaws.

Supastar grunted painfully as Sharpedo’s teeth dug deeper into it. With a savage flip of it’s head, Sharpedo tossed Supastar like a ragdoll into the wall. Sensing her pokèmon’s fighting was through, Elle recalled Supastar into its pokèball.

I can’t send out Mudkip, Elle gritted her teeth. She’s nowhere near as powerful as this pokèmon. She lowered her head in defeat. Jada smiled and turned to Cloud and Norman.

“Kid,” she yelled. Cloud looked up, and she continued. “Fight me now, or your friends will suffer.” Cloud noted the look of desperate fierocity in her eyes. She would probably do anything to fight.

“Sister,” chided Ruby. “Keep your focus. We have a job to do.”

“No,” she snapped back angrily. “He will pay! Him and his pokèmon!” Cloud hadn’t noticed before, but he now saw that she was also hunched over a little. She was probably still nursing her abdomen from Combusken’s attack.

Cloud released Combusken from her ball.
How am I gonna beat a pokèmon that powerful.

“Busken,” Combusken sneered. She adopted a fighting stance and squared off with Sharpedo.

Sharpedo was still angry and confused. Without waiting for an order, it opened its mouth and charged.

“Double Kick, Now!”

Combusken began to spring on her toes in preparation. When Sharpedo got close enough, she let fly with two quick kicks. Sharpedo yelped as blood and teeth flew in all directions, it winced and backed off to ready itself for a new attack. It gnashed it’s jaws angrily, and new teeth pushed through it’s gums almost instantly.

Jada was growing impatient. “Sharpedo, Hyper beam!”

“What,” exclaimed pretty much everyone else.

“Sister, stand down,” barked Ruby, but Jada shook her head.

“No,” she shrieked. “This is OVER!”

Sharpedo began to focus its energy in a tight ball in front of its mouth. A loud, dull whirring sound began to ramp up to a deafening volume.

“Cloud,” Norman yelled. “You have to take that Sharpedo out! A hyper beam would level the whole Pokècenter! It’d kill us all!”

Cloud looked back at Sharpedo. The energy orb was pulsating! Jada laughed crazily and her eyes had a wild look to them.

“Cloud, NOW!”

Cloud nodded. “Combusken, Quick Attack!”

Combusken exploded towards Sharpedo in a blaze of speed. As the yellowish-orange blur closed the range between them, Sharpedo’s attack neared completion. At the second, Sharpedo strafed to the right, and Combusken sailed past to eventually skid to a halt about thirty feet later.

It’s over, Cloud thought to himself Everybody suffers because of me. he closed his eyes as the hyper beam surged towards them.

“Ralt’s, Protect!” Wally’s voice rang out. No one noticed the boy and his small pokèmon coming into the gym. Ralt’s glowed with an amber light, and the hyper beam was diverted, wedged apart by the tiny pokèmon, and it dissolved into nothingness. Sharpedo finally fainted, spent from a combination of poisoning, and exertion.

“No!” Jada was furious. She recalled Sharpedo.

“Good job, Ralts” Wally cheered.

“Don’t celebrate yet! My boss would be so mad if we let you go.” Azura hopped in through the window. Her boots found purchase on the floor, for a moment, and she fell flat on her face.

“About time,” Ruby sighed.

Azura quickly stood back up and laughed embarrassedly. “Let’s battle.” She tossed her pokèball forward. “Go Mr. Fishyface!”

The pokèball opened, and a huge serpentine pokèmon roared it’s greeting.

“Gya!”

“Uh oh,” Elle gulped. “Gyarados!” Cloud recalled Combusken, and flipped out his pokèdex.

{Gyarados: The Dragon Rage pokèmon.
Gyarados is notorious for it’s terrible tantrums, and has been known to destroy whole towns before its anger subsides. This is a very dangerous pokèmon and should only be approached in the wild by the most experienced of trainers.}

“Okay Mr. Fishyface, Smash that cute little pokèmon with Twister attack!”

“Gya!” Mr. Fishyface swiped it’s tail and created a small tornado. Ralts’ hair danced in the wind as the dervish weaved it’s way across the gym.

“Ralts, Double Team!”

Ralts nodded, and split into three copies of herself. One of the copies was immediately destroyed as the tornado ran through it, and smashed into the wall.

“Hey!” yelled Charles. “That almost hit us!” Elle smacked him in the back of the head.

“Where have you been? We almost got blasted with a Hyper Beam two minutes ago!”

Wally clenched his jaw. This battle’s too dangerous to finish here, he told Ralts over their psychic link. We gotta get away before we lose! He turned to Cloud.

“Get outta here!”

Cloud was totally taken by surprise, but Wally continued. “We can’t beat them! Get away! I can only hold them for a few minutes!”

“Cloud, let’s go!” Elle yanked him by the collar. He didn’t have a chance to protest as they made for the door.

“Hey, don’t go,” whined Azura. “I just got here!” She stomped angrily.

“Mr. Fishyface, Use Dragon Rage!”

“Ralts, Disable!”

While the gyarados collected its power, the twin ralts’ hair began to flare out as their bodies glowed with psychic power. The sirens, Mr. Fishyface, and Norman stood frozen in time. Wally closed his eyes, adding all his concentration to help Ralts maintain her psychic hold on them.

Cloud looked downcast as they fled.

I’m always being saved by somebody.

They’re gone, Wally Wally’s eyes snapped open after the psychic communiqué from Ralts.

“Okay,” he panted. “Ralts, let’s teleport!”

Okay, Wally I- Wally clutched his head as Ralts’ pain washed over him. Gyarados was too strong. It had broken the hold. Gyarados roared it’s anger and opened it’s mouth. Wally managed to recover just in time to see the vivid column of blue flame sprout from its mouth. Wally raised his arms to cover his face.

Mom, Ralts, I wish I had gotten to tell you both how much I loved you. Suddenly, Ralts’ psychic link manifested itself again.

Don’t give up.

<><><><><><><><><><><>

The sound of the roaring flames was replaced by rustling trees, and random pokèmon cries. Wally slowly lowered his arms and looked around.

“Am I… dead?” His memory kicked in. Teleport! Ralts! He looked around frantically for a moment before spotting her prone form a few feet away. He ran over to her and gingerly picked her up.

Now where are we? Wally looked around more carefully this time. He was surrounded by trees, and they all looked alike!

A sudden cry caught Wally by surprise, and he turned to face the noise.

“SKARRRR!”

<><><><><><><><><><>

[Tha Legend]

Pokèmon: Requiem for Revenge

Chapter 14: Aqua Rising : Another Piece of the Puzzle

Author’s Notes: More of Archie speaking here. Some questions you may have had before will be answered now, but new questions will arise. I hope you enjoy the latest installment at least half as much as I enjoyed writing it.

~Legend~

<><><><><><><><><><><>

“Your visitor has arrived, sir!” The Aqua foot soldier rendered a crisp salute as he came to a halt at the large mahogany desk. Archie gave him a quick “at ease” nod, and he crossed his palms behind his back.

“Shew him in.” Archie leaned back casually in his large, plush leather chair, as the skinny young man walked in. Archie noted that he didn’t show the trademark nervousness that he was accustomed to. It was refreshing.

Brendan swept his eyes cautiously about the office. It was decorated with various maritime fare. The most eye-catching of all was a large painting of a sailboat on the far wall. He stared in awe of it until Archie’s heavily accented voice yanked his attention away

“Mr. Rogers,” Archie began. He motioned toward a seat, and the man sat down.

“Brendan,” the man insisted, and he was instantly met with an incredulous glare from Archie.

“Mr. Rogers,” Archie repeated firmly. He steepled his fingers, tapped fingertips together, and continued. “Aye understand tha yer organization has come under fire far havin’ ‘differing views’ from th’ mainstream.”

“That’s correct, Mr.-” Brendan trailed off, uncertain of how to address the man.

“Archie,” Archie replied matter-of-factly.

“Archie,” Brendan finished. He leaned forward. “Why, Archie, does that interest you so much?”

Archie turned to his right and clapped twice. The large picture of his sailboat that covered the far wall began to scroll up, revealing a huge plasma screen. The lights in the office slowly ramped down, and a stirring aria began to waft through the room.

“Mr. Rogers, I am a man o’ many loves.” The plasma screen turned on and an image of Archie laughing came into view.

“Th’ one thing aye love more tha’ anything, is th’ ocean.” Pictures of Archie sailing, swimming, and playing with various water pokèmon accented this.

“Pokèmon, in ma opinion, are just as much a part a th’ ocean as th’ water.” The melody grew dark. Deeper violin tones began to take over for the higher trills of the flutes.

“It could be said tha’ aye care more tha’ the narmal parson. I am constantly looking far ways t’ protect th’ seas.” A picture came up of sailors from a submarine, the USS Aqua, boarding a fishing boat, then sinking it, leaving the fisherman to float.

“Aye want t’ help ya, Mr. Rogers. Aye want t’ be a friend t’ pokèmon.” The images of pokèmon began to flash on the screen.

“I know of your many business ties, Archie.” Brendan narrowed his eyes. “I know not all of them have been as innocent as what you have shown me.”

Archie nodded. “Alas, men must sometimes resart t’ less than legal means far tha greater good.” He shot a knowing look back to Brendan. “I’m sure ye know a this.”

This made Brendan nod solemnly. “Just what do you have in mind?”

Archie smiled. “This is tha biggest pokèball factry in th’ Hoenn region.” Onscreen, a large manufacturing plant came into view. “Everyday, this factory makes 10,000 pokèballs, an they are constantly resarchin’ new, more effective, methods a’ pokèmon imprisonment.”

“That’s in Slateprort,” Brendan replied. “What are you proposing we do?”

“I want ye t’ destroy it. My people can tell ye when th’ best time is, and we can make a suitable diversion far ye. We can e’en provide extra numbers far yer ranks.”

“This sounds too good to be true.” His voice was skeptical. “What do you gain from this?”

“Th’ knowledge tha’ thousands a’ pokèmon will remain free.” He extended his hand. “Do we hava deal?”

Brendan graciously accepted his hand. “You don’t know how much you’re helping us, Archie.”

“I’m helping maself by helping ye,” he replied. He watched with a smirk as the leader of the Friends of Pokèmon leave his office with a satisfied smile. Idiot, he thought snidely.

As soon as the door closed, it opened again, and a tall, muscular, black man wearing a sleeveless Aqua uniform gave a curt salute as he approached.

“Mason, aye assume ye heard our conversation?”

Mason nodded. “Permission to speak freely sir?” Archie nodded.

“You own that factory, sir. It provides ten percent of our total funding. Why would you destroy it?”

“This is chess, Mr. Mason, not checkers,” he laughed heartily. “ I have other interests in Slateport, and I’ll gladly sacrifice a’ rook to set up ma’ checkmate.”

Mason’s earpice beeped a shrill alarm, and he quickly came to attention.

“Sir, I have an rattata to deal with, sir!” Archie waved dismissively, and Mason dashed from the office.

Again in ma business are ye, Archie thought to himself. You’ll find Mason much harder t’ deal with than Mitch was.

<><><><><><><><>

The sun was sinking far into the west of Lillycove city. The quiet, seaside town lay unaware of the plans being made in her very proximity, but Archie wasn’t the only one making plans. Maxie tensed as the small Aqua entourage and their guest exited the cave.

“What do the Friends of Pokèmon have to do with this?”

“You’ll never find out,” a man’s deep voice boomed from behind. Maxie planted both hands and executed a swift mule kick. After the attacker was caught off guard, Maxie spun around, and made a quick hop into a nearby tree. After making a safe landing, Maxie turned to face the patrol. In the waning sunlight, the man’s features were visible. He was a dark-skinned man with a billowing head full of black, nappy hair. Maxie noted silently that this man was different from the usual grunts that patrolled here.

They must have detected me somehow, Maxie mused. I’ll have to be more careful in the future.

“I’d love to stay and chat,” Maxie quipped. “but it really is getting late.” As Maxie turned to escape, the guard spoke.

“Don’t leave on my account.” The man grunted with effort as he tossed a pokèball at Maxie. With a explosion of light, a pokèmon appeared, but it attacked before Maxie could make an I.D.

Of course the guard has a pokèmon, Maxie growled inwardly as the branch underfoot was quickly lopped off. Maxie made a silent landing on the rocky ground below.

“You’re no amateur,” The man applauded.

“Apparently you’re no ordinary peon,” Maxie shot back. With a flash of light, Camerupt appeared.

“So it’s a battle then.” The man’s pokèmon seemed to appear from nowhere.

“Gligar!” the bat-like pokèmon screeched.

“I don’t battle with someone who doesn’t know my name,” the man said smugly. He took a short bow. “My name is Mason.”

“Maxie,” Maxie retorted coldly. “I guess I’ll go first. Camerupt, Flamethrower!”

“RUPPPT!” A hot tongue of fire sprang from Camerupt’s mouth and snaked towards Mason’s Gligar, but it was easily dodged by the much quicker opponent.

“Gligar, Quick attack! Cover Camerupt’s face!” Maxie was dumstruck as the gligar bolted over to Camerupt and latched over its eyes. Camerupt bleated it’s discomfort and began to thrash around wildy as it attempted to free itself.

“Now use toxic!” Gligar’s tail pulled away momentarily before snapping forward and sinking its stinger into the side of Camerupt’s neck. With a final whip of it’s head, Camerupt managed to throw the gligar off, but it’s throat sported a sickly looking purple blotch.

“Camerupt, use takedown!” With a hoarse grunt, Camerupt bolted forward, but Gligar hopped up, dodging the attack, and placing some distance between them.

“Flamethrower, now,” Maxie ordered. Camerupt looked up and opened its mouth. As soon as a small flame jet came from it’s mouth, Camerupt began to wheeze violently. It collapsed on the ground and convulsed in pain.

“Your pokèmon is too slow to touch Gligar, and its throat is nearly swollen shut! It’s over, Maxie.” Mason’s haughty laugh made Maxie’s ears burn. Maxie angrily produced a pokèball and recalled Camerupt.

“You’re good.” Another pokèball opened with a flash. “I guess I’d better take off the kid gloves.”

“Ninetales!” The new pokèmon announced it had entered the fight. Its nine beautiful tails undulated in a hypnotic rhythm as it spread its forelegs, ready to attack.

“Ninetales, Use Imprision!”

Ninetales’ eyes glowed an eerie crimson and its psychic powers seized Gligar’s mind. Gligar was dazed momentarily, but quickly shook it off.

“Your mind-trick didn’t work,” Mason laughed arrogantly. “Gligar, Quick Attack again!”

Gligar rose up on its tail, but it looked back at it’s trainer confusedly. It had no idea what he meant.

“Ninetales, Quick attack!” Ninetales burred over and smashed into the still-distracted gligar sending it careening into a tree about twenty feet behind them. Gligar groaned and wearily peeled itself off of the foliage. On the ground, Ninetales was there, waiting.

“Try a Faint Attack!” Gligar was perplexed. It’s trainer kept asking it to use attacks that it didn’t know.

“Now you Faint Attack, Ninetales!”

“Nine!” Ninetales charged, but Gligar dodged on its own. It was tired of being hurt. Unfortunately, it missed the second strike because it came much quicker. Gligar slammed back into the trunk of the same tree.

“Now Ninetales, Fire Blast!” Ninetales gaped it’s jaws wide and a star-shaped column of flame leapt from it’s mouth and hammered into Gligar at point blank range. Gligar screeched in pain as its body was scorched and charred. It writhed in agony on the tree until the fire subsided, and its broken body fell limply to the ground.

“What the hell happened,” Mason growled as he recalled his pokemon. “Now you’re gonna get it.” He pulled another pokèball from his belt, but when he turned around, nobody was there.

“Another time then,” he stalked off angrily. Little did he know, he wasn’t alone, yet.

“Another time, indeed,” Maxie said with a tinge of respect before disappearing into the night.

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[DannyBoy]

OMG! You write a lot lol. Sorry for not replying just you update so fast and I been trying to catch up but then I have to go and I can't finish and I finally finished! Ok, so far this is really good. I really have seen a growth since you posted the other version and this one is good. I really liked the latest chapter. The battle was really well described and the pokemon were great since you don't really see them in many fics. The description is good to, like how you describe the towns. Sorry took so long again. Also when you got in your writing mode, you could have saved them and posted every other day or one a week IMO. Then you wouldn't had to worry to get a chapter out but still it was good. Also in chapter 8, it was sad with the battle and everything. Poor little Torchic. Now that I caught up, I hope to reply everytime you get a chapter. Sorry again. Keep it up!