The Power Within [Pokemon Fic (R for safety)]

[Cxjenious]

Keep up the good work. I like the gore. Makes it seem a lot more real. Can't wait till the next chapter!

[Powarun]

okay, thanks for the amnesia part, was very curious what that meant at work. THe evil thing is I want to say a chinisese thingy where there is a curse upon 3 people, one can't see one can't speak and one can't hear. I also am thinking that Rage is their grandfather for some reason, the more I see clues put together.

[Whisper in the Wind]

ah, no, not following the chinese curse thingy.

To Cxjenious: Thanks

*Well, these are sorta SPOILERS*

Latianne, Rage, Rayquaza and Kerri will be playing huge parts later on

[Trip]

Ick. I hate blood and guts. But, I skipped those paragraphs and the rest of it was pretty good. Can't wait for more.

- Trip

[Whisper in the Wind]

Well, Kiddy's reinstalled his word etc and will get started on 9 *agains* tonight, hopefulyl posted by sunday

[DannyBoy]

Finally caught up! Sorry for not replying lately. Been really busy the past week and stuff...But good chapters. I loved the latest one. I love blood and gore! Its the best! This is a dark fic in some aspects and I love it!I hope this continues to get darker and gorer! < duno if that a word But keep it up!

[Whisper in the Wind]

thanks Immortal

I probs wont post 9 today, since it hasn't been proofread or compelteld yet, although I'll hopefulyl complete it today

[Whisper in the Wind]

Well, I doubted I could but I got it done Enjoy

(By the way, the title, don't ask, its a bit dogey and implies stuff but meh, was best i could think of, if you can think of better, please post it)

Chapter 9: Way of the Ninja; Path of the Trainer

‘You will never need to recognize yourself’ - Believe, Disturbed

An imperial yellow glow came at dawn as the sun rose, its light beaming through the gaps in the mountain range. The heat finally beamed to the outside of the Ninja’s cave. Micky lay on a cameo green hammock. His hair was still soaked in blood from the previous day, as were his clothes. As the light finally went upon his face the warmth woke him from his slumber. He blinked and as the light filled his eyes he turned, finally throwing himself out of the hammock, slightly harming his chest wound. He stroked back his hair, rough from the dried blood that occupied it. He looked over towards the cave. Outside it lay Scyther. Although armless he still survived, the Ninja saved his life, although Micky didn’t understand why, he believed the Pokemon deserved to die. Scyther’s body lay still except from his chest, moving with each breath. Micky approached him, fighting the temptation to strangle the mantis in his sleep. He approached the Ninja’s cave. He saw the Ninja’s Pokemon laying on the ground. Weezing taped up with bandage, Machamp lay on his back, his four arms covering his many bandages, Muk laying as a pile of ooze, her eyes closed and finally, on top of Koga’s bunk lay Nincada, the tiny little bug, his dark black eyes open, glaring at Micky as he approached. “Koga” Micky said loudly as he reached his hand out to shake the ninja awake. Before his hand even connected with Koga’s body he was already locked in some form of arm breaker. “Ninja’s never sleep?” Micky hissed in pain. Koga let his grip immediately after seeing who it was, allowing Micky to drop to his knee’s before scrambling back up, rubbing his left shoulder.

“Never wake a Ninja.” Koga spoke viciously.

“I’ll remember that next time” Micky said sarcastically, a small smirk forming on his face.

“What you want this early?” Koga questioned Micky as he slung his blanket off of his bed, revealing a purple robe.

“Well, I wanna get back to civilisation as soon as possible, and if anyone knows where I was, its you.”

“I can’t let you return yet. You have no control over that Scyther.” Micky didn’t understand this. He thought Koga was going to let it go, or keep him for himself. Since Micky told him what happened when he fought Scyther he had been acting strange about it.

“But, I can’t keep that thing, its psychotic” Micky protested. He had gathered he was a Pokemon trainer, and he knew Scyther was a powerful Pokemon, yet, he still didn’t want him. He didn’t trust him and probably never would.

“Kid” Koga shouted loudly, making Muk, Weezing and Machamp stir from their sleep however still leaving Scyther still remained snoozing. “That creature can’t be let back into the wild, and by right, he should be yours” Koga said in a much lighter voice. “He is yours, and I’m gonna make sure you can control him.” With that Koga slung himself out of bed, Nincada hopping off as well.

“But, but..” Micky tried to think of a way to contest this but it was too early for him to think of an excuse. “Well, where can I wash my hair?” By now Koga had already began to make his way out of the cave, Micky following close behind.

“There’s a waterfall down there” Koga said, pointing to his right which was north.

“Waterfall?” Micky questioned. Although he couldn’t remember his past, his name or anything like that, he still remembered how to live life ‘hygienically’. “Please tell me you have a toilet” Micky said fearfully, realising that if this man cleaned himself in a waterfall he probably done his business in the woods.

“Yeah!” Micky sighed in relief. Koga smiled. “Everywhere is toilet” he said smirking, waving his arm across the entire mountain range.

“Your kidding right?” Micky gulped in disbelief.

“I’m afraid not Kid.” Koga let out a small chuckle seeing as he was used to this way of life.

“Know what. I’m gonna go to the waterfall” Micky said sarcastically, heading north in his tattered clothing, not expecting a towel. Trainer instinct told him he should go with his Pokeball belt but laziness said different. He marched down a sandy path in anger, his messy hair dragging in the air behind him.

It was about a ten minute walk before Micky finally found it. A clear fall of water came crashing down to a river, leading to another waterfall that fell into a cave. Micky wasn’t in the mood for exploring where it led to so he removed his tattered shirt and walked under the fall. The water was cold, however the weight of the fall was enough to remove most of the dried blood from his head, letting a small red trail go down the river. He shook his head side to side letting his hair sling either way, shaking off some of the water as he brushed it out with his hands. His body was soaked, some leaking to his trousers as he lay his tattered shirt in the water, trying to soak out the blood. He looked to his left. The waterfall was near to the cave entrance, although it was quite a way down to the actual entrance itself. He looked over, his curiosity practically begging him to go inside but his common sense saying ‘you’d be an idiot if you did.’

****

Purity still wasn’t sure what to do. She was crying all through the night in guilt. Even in her dreams she saw sick images such as Micky’s corpse being mangled. She knew it was her duty to call Micky’s father and after all, his number was in Micky’s mobile, but she didn’t know if she could do it. How would he react? She blamed herself, it was her fault for taking him out there, no matter how others tried to convince her to believe differently. She lay, eyes staring at the ceiling upon the top bunk of a hard Rustboro Pokemon Center bed. She closed her eyes, thinking what to do.

Eventually she slid out of bed to Micky’s bag. She closed her eye’s once more and took in a deep breath before reaching to the bag pocket to pick up Micky’s silver cell phone. She turned it on, shuddering as it beeped hello. Entering the phone book she scrolled down to dad as a tear trickled down her cheek. She gulped as she hit the green call button and place the phone to her left ear, sitting down on the lower bed as she did. She felt sick at the pit of her stomach with each ring. She shuddered as she heard a voice grunt “Hello” at the other end and prepared to tell Micky’s father what happened.

“Is that Mr Hardy?” Purity voice was filled with fear and was a chillingly silent.

“Yes, who’s speaking” He demanded.

“I, I.” She paused. She regained her composure and focused. “I’m Purity Campbell, I was with your son”

“Oh god, please don’t tell me he got you pregnant.” Purity stopped and thought on this. How could his father think so little of him.

“No no. I was with him on Route 115 and…” She stopped to regain her composure again. “..And there was this Scyther, and it…” She couldn’t continue and she broke down into tears and slid to the floor. “And, he’s missing” she gasped with a last breath before fully breaking down into tears.

“He’s dead?” Micky’s father gasped.

“I don’t know” she moaned back, shaking her head, her eyes turning red from the tears.

“Where are you?” He sounded absolutely fine, the small tint of fear completely gone from his voice.

“Rustboro” she said, still broken with guilt.

“Ok, bye” he replied with anger. Purity turned off the phone and dropped it to her side before curling up into the foetal position rubbing her tears into her knee’s.

****

Micky’s father clenched the black plastic phone in his fist, clenching it tighter and tighter as the vein on his forehead starting to throb. He closed his eye’s and thought for a moment before throwing the phone at a large glass picture on the wall. He burst into tears and slammed his body onto the sofa. His only proper family was dead, at least that’s what he thought. He tugged at his thick dark brown hair in rage before standing up again, kicking over a small table that he used for placing his beers. It crashed down hard, one of its legs snapping as it did. He growled loudly and stomped around before collapsing to his knees in front of the shattered picture

It was a picture of the entire family, just before Kerri and his wife left. Micky was just at baby, a tiny little pink blob wrapped in a white blanket. Kerri was only eleven, a short girl with blonde hair, navy blue eyes and tanned skin, smiling, holding Micky in her arms. David, Micky’s father stood next to his wife, holding her at his side. Her hair was long Raven Black, her eyes Navy blue like her daughters. David then looked at himself. A chubby yet built man standing almost a foot above his wife and daughter. His face smiling, not showing his teeth. His nose pointy leading up to his two brown eyes, no moustache back then, and only recently he removed it again. He broke into another bunch of tears as he remembered the happy days and realised how they’d never return.

****

“A call for you Miss Hardy” a blonde man in a cotton white shirt spoke, entering Kerri’s room. Kerri reached for her pen and notepad.

‘Who is it?’

“It’s your father’ he said, holding a portable white phone in his hand.”

‘What does he want?’

“He says its really important. He says to give the phone to you?” They both didn’t know why. She couldn’t speak. Still she reached her hand out for the phone and placed it to her ear.

“Kerri, is that you” her father said. “Press a button if it is.” She pressed a the keypad making a beeping sound. “Ok, Kerri, I know we aren’t exactly a great family but I feel I should tell you this personally.” Kerri braced herself, she couldn’t think what it could be, although deep down, she knew it had to be about Micky, the only common interest they had. “Its about your bother…” Kerri’s heart stopped. Micky was her only proper friend, considering everyone else in her mental home weren‘t stable enough to befriend. “He’s, he’s..” David couldn’t bring himself to say it but Kerri knew, she just needed those final words to confirm it. “He’s dead…” She could hear him on the other end breaking into tears and she did as well. “Look, Kerri, I got some business to take care of, but after that I’m gonna come visit.” Kerri couldn’t believe it, but she was glad he was going to visit, she needed comfort.

****

Micky returned to the cave finding Scyther was now awake hovering about still armless. Upon seeing Micky he hissed. Koga was sorting out the scythe-like arms. “No Scyther” Koga grunted as the giant mantis hovered out of Micky’s way. “Good to see you return Kid” Koga said with a smile emerging on his face.

“It is?”

Koga chuckled. “Well Kid, at least you have a sense of humour, but we need to start training you so you can handle Scyther over here.” He motioned his hand to Scyther. Scyther just glared back evilly at Micky. Although in his own way, he respected Micky, he still hated him and couldn‘t wait until his scythes returned to him.

“Training?” Micky thought he’d just teach him ways to control Scyther’s anger, not train him.

“Well, if you’re gonna need to be as good as you were last night to survive against Scyther should he attack you, and since you told me it wasn’t you, I know you have the ability to do it, you just need to know how.” Micky saw sense in this, and honestly, he thought it would be cool to be able to do something like that. He totally forgot about the lack of civilisation and smirked.

“Well, lets get started then” Micky said in a cocky tone.

“Very well, you three, keep an eye on the cave and Scyther” he said to Weezing, Muk and Machamp. “Kotaro, come with me.” The tiny bug known as a ‘Nincada’ chased after his master and scurried as fast as he could. “Kid, grab your Pokeball belt.” Micky done as he was told, although he couldn’t understand why he needed it.

Koga led Micky down a long mud path for hours. Micky could feel his legs were used to this kind of hike although he didn’t know why. Micky’s belt dragged along the ground, not to Micky’s notice. He was more concerned with the fog that began to surround them as they went further down the long downhill path. “Koga, I hate to be a whiney bitch, but, where the hell are we heading?”

“We are heading to my secret training grounds” Koga replied in a clam deep voice.

“Can’t we go to your well known training grounds? Walking is getting boring, and hard to see, and did I mention boring?” Micky replied in a whiney tone.

“Patience is one of the key things a trainer must master.”

“Can’t I just be the violent kind?” Micky’s voice continued to be whiney.

“Well, we’re here Kid” he said, halting. In the corner of Micky’s eye he could see the tiny bug Nincada in the corner of his eye as well as mud hanging off the edge of his black Pokemon belt.

“This is it?” Micky looked around. Through the fog he could make out a green Pokemon Battlefield of finely cut grass surrounded by tall yellow stalks reaching up to Micky’s height. The muddy pathway led directly to it and it appeared that Koga had edited the environment for this. “Wow, this was so not what I expected” Micky said sarcastically.

Koga let out a small laugh before heading towards the tall stalks, sticking his hand in and retrieving two thick sticks about the length of a sword. He tossed one to Micky who tried to catch it but ended up dropping it to the ground, picking it up from the grassy floor again. “And I’m suppose to do what with this?” Micky started shaking his head as if to say ‘You fool Koga.’

“You’re suppose to do this” Koga said, using his stick to hit Micky sideways in the ribs. Micky barely saw it coming and as soon as the stick connected with his body he grasped at his ribs in pain.

“Ow, Ow, ****ing hell! What the **** was that for? Dammit that hurts!” Micky said gasping for air as he dropped to one knee.

“You’re never gonna stop Scyther with reactions like that” Koga said laughing.

“It’s not funny, it hurts a lot” Micky hissed.

“Oh come on you oversized baby.” Micky took offence to this and the thought what would a ninja do, and he done just that. The stick was in hand and with Koga distracted by laughter Micky pounced on the opportunity and went to slam his stick into Koga’s leg. To Micky’s surprise Koga was ready for this. He jumped over the stick before kicking it out of his hand. “Well, you tried. But look at me. With consistent training, I think I can make you somewhat decent as a fighter.” Micky didn’t know whether to take this as an insult or a compliment. Still, he got to his stick again and started to face off with Koga again.

****

David left his house. He phoned into work saying he had ‘An important family issue to solve’ and so far had told no-one aside from Kerri about what had happened. He strutted confidently through Lilycove towards the docks. It was the busy time of day, David had to push and shove through the crowds in the streets until he finally reached the large Lilycove Dock. A huge building capable of holding at least four first class cruises as well as many minor boats. As he entered he saw a huge line of people queuing for the SS Anne, one of the largest Cruisers in the world. To her side was the SS Tidal, another large Cruiser, still smaller than the SS Anne but she wasn’t as queued. Her next voyage was to Slateport City, although it’s a long trip its nothing compared to her normal trips from region to region. Her job was minor and most people would make the drive, unfortunately David‘s car was being engineered and he was left with few choices.

The luxury liner was expensive to board, yet to David, cost meant nothing to him, he was one of the best paid lawyers in the world, hired by many infamous companies like Team Rocket and the Uma Corporation as a defence lawyer. Although the liner offered many activities, David’s mind was set, he wouldn’t accept any distractions. He was imprisoned in thought that his son was missing, most likely dead.

****

Purity hadn’t left Rustboro since returning there with the police. She couldn’t get over the fact that Micky was probably dead. Her focus on competing in the Pokemon League had faded away in guilt. Angel had been picking up on this. She couldn’t hear Micky’s thoughts anymore. She couldn’t figure out why. She was beginning to accept the fact that he could be dead, just like Purity. Even Professor Birch couldn’t help her, no matter how hard he tried. For the first time she was experiencing guilt and sadness, and she didn’t like the way it felt.

****

Hours had passed as night began to fall, Micky’s body was sore and bruised and he was yet to get the upper hand against Koga, no matter how much progress Koga had claimed he made. The scarlet sun beamed over the grassy field, the fog now cleared but to little use as the ball in the sky made it‘s way down. “Well, lets call it a day Kid” Koga said offering his hand to help Micky off the ground.

“Thanks” Micky said, blinking as he moved feeling the bruises cause him pain. “One thing Koga...”

“Yes Kid?”

“What is he good for?” Micky said looking towards the Nincada known as Kotaro. “I mean, just look at him, all I gotta do is step on him and he dies.”

Koga laughed. “Go ahead” he said motioning his hand to Kotaro.

“Seriously” Micky said sarcastically.

“No, go on.” Micky thought for a moment before going to step on him. “Harden Kotaro” Koga shouted. Just as Micky’s foot was about to crush the little creature his body glowed gold. Micky stomped down and it felt like he’d stepped on a very hard rock, much to Micky’s discomfort as he fell down sideways as his ankle slid sideways.

“Ok, point taken” Micky replied sarcastically as he got back to a vertical standing.

The two marched back towards the cave, Kotaro following close behind. It was only when carrying his Pokeball Belt that he hadn’t used it that he bothered to ask “Koga, why’d you get me to bring this?” Micky held up the Pokeball belt, indicating attention to it.

“Was hoping to start training your Pokemon to expand their move pools as well as a technique called ‘Toxic.’ Of course, you were so slow today we didn’t have time.”

“Toxic?” Micky had never heard of this move before and was curious to see what it was like.

“Yes, Toxic, a technique perfected on Fuma Ninja Pokemon for generations. Very deadly. Almost any Pokemon can master it, however it takes much time and patience, just like it will to make you able to control Scyther.”

“Again, can’t you just control Scy?”

“Sorry Kid, he is rightfully yours, and I refuse to take him from you.” Micky sighed and gave up the conversation, knowing he wouldn’t be able to convince Koga to take him. Maybe he feared Scyther, or maybe he truly believed Micky was the right trainer for Scyther, or maybe it was something to do with some ninja code of honour, still he’d given up on thinking about it.

****

Micky woke from his sleep. He heard what sounded like rustling but could see nothing. The sky was purest black, stars hidden under clouds. He titled his head to his left. A light was in the distance, in the direction of the training ground. Scyther was gone, as he checked for Koga and the other Pokemon belonging to Koga were gone as well. Micky grabbed his Pokeball belt and tied it around his waist and started to run down the muddy path heading towards the light that seemed so distant.

As Micky charged down the path he felt the wind against his face as he started to slide down the steep slope. The light was much closer now. He could make out three human like figures in the distance, as well as a floating blur that he assumed was Weezing. Maybe a twenty minute run was left and then he would be there, asking why Koga was up so late. As he got closer he saw what was happening. He could see Scyther wrapped in a metal suit all over except his wings and scythes which were gleaming in the fires light that was at the centre of the battlefield. Opposite him stood Machamp, all four arms holding a sword each, his body covered in a metal armour coat just like Scyther. “Keep this clean you two, remember, this is just training, not a proper fight.” With that Machamp leaped over the fire towards the mantis, his right upper arm swinging its sword at Scyther’s head. Scyther retaliated with a block from his left scythe whilst taking Machamp off of his feet with his right scythe, the blade not cutting into the metal armour. “Machamp, I’m disappointed, one point to Scyther.” Scyther flew a small distance from Machamp triumphantly. Machamp nipped up from the ground and turned his body to Scyther, growling, clearly not liking being tripped so easily. He done a little show boating, twirling his blades, drawing Scyther’s attention to the upper right and lower left blades, slowly making his way towards Scyther without him noticing, Scyther’s focus drawn to the twirling blades that even dazzled Micky.

“Stop showing off Machamp” Koga said, not impressed by Machamp’s skills, however all the Pokemon seemed to be, their eye’s focused on Machamp’s twirling blades. In one swift movement Machamp threw his lower right blade at Scyther who blocked it quickly but didn’t have time to block the upper left one which connected with his stomach armour. Machamp charged in then, his upper right blade knocking the two scythe‘s down as the lower left blade cracked into Scyther‘s metal helmet, making a loud bang before sending Scyther to the ground, his scythe’s holding the back of his helmet, the sheer force of the two metals connecting being enough to send a sharp pain through his head. “Impressive Machamp, two points.”

“Now, this sword fight’s cool and shit, but why are you doing it?” Micky asked, making all the Pokemon and Koga turn their heads swiftly to see Micky emerge from the shadows.

“Why aren’t you asleep?”

“What you think I came here to ask you?” Micky laughed.

“Hmm, Machamp, help Scyther up” Koga ordered turning his head to Machamp who done as he was told, tossing his blades into the tall grass.

“And another thing, why’d you give Scyther back his Scythe’s?”

“He needs to re-adjust to using them if he’s going to be a good Pokemon for you.”

“Um, haven’t I stated before, I don’t want that psycho?” This was a rhetorical question but Koga just let out a laugh.

“I’m afraid you have no choice Kid. Scyther is yours and you will take care of him just like he will take care of you.” Micky didn’t like hearing this although Scyther’s eyes seemed to say ‘fine.’

“Scyther is a psychotic bastard, I am not trusting him to take care of me.”

“Kid, you don’t understand do you. He may hate you for defeating him, however he has a respect for you. You spared his life and he owes it to you. Although Scyther may be an angry Pokemon, they live by a code that they always keep to, he will protect you with his life. You only have to worry about him being brain washed, which is were you taking care of him comes in.”

“But...” Micky really didn’t like this situation, he had Latianne to take care of him but there was no way of convincing Koga of this.

“Just accept it Kid” Koga ordered. Koga’s voice was commanding, he clearly would make a great dictator, though it didn‘t seem like his style.

“Uh, whatever.” Micky had given up all hope for arguing with Koga, he knew there was no way he could win. Scyther hovered over to Micky and landed about a foot in front of him. His beady eye’s glaring through his metal helmet. Micky looked him directly in the eye and at that very moment, Micky knew Koga was right, Scyther would defend him with his life, he could see it in the eyes of the psychotic mantis. They served as a window into his mind. Micky smirked, raising his eyebrow slightly. “So Scy, we cool then?” Micky asked. Scyther nodded. “Well, wanna meet my Pokemon team then?” At that very moment Micky realised, he didn’t know what his team was. He only knew there were three. He didn’t want to seem like an idiot in front of Scyther however so he removed the three Pokeballs in his hand and threw them towards the battlefield. Micky stared in awe at his Pokemon. A beautiful butterfly formed, her wings sparkling a purple, a pony that had a flame-like mane and tail to match as well as a large wasp with sharp pointy stingers, gleaming in the light of the fire like Scyther’s blades did. Micky didn’t know what they were called however, he’d forgotten. “Um, Koga, a lil help here, what they called?”

Koga chuckled. “The wasp is Beedrill, the Butterfly is Butterfree and the horse is Ponyta.”

“Ah” Micky nodded. “Scy, meet Beedrill, Butterfree and Ponyta.”

Scyther glared at them all, intimidating them. “Scy” he hissed loudly, as if he was telling them not to mess with him.

“Free!” The Butterfree cried in retaliation, making sure Scyther knew she wouldn’t be intimidated.

“Free, that was it, I called you Free” Micky shouted, some of his memory coming back. At that moment Beedrill and Ponyta realised he had forgotten everything although their suspicions had aroused when he couldn’t remember what his Pokemon were. Both Micky’s Pokemon started praying that Micky had no memory of their nicknames. Micky pointed to Beedrill who started to shiver, hoping Micky had forgotten what he called him. “And I called you…” Micky said trailing off into thought. “It began with Pi, or Sti or something, it was um?” Beedrill looked at him as if to say ‘please give up’ but then it clicked. “Sting! That was it.” Even Koga laughed at the name. “Damn that sounds crap.” Beedrill let out a cry of glee. “But, since you seem to like, I’ll continue calling you it.” Beedrill couldn’t believe what he’d heard. Micky misinterpreted his happiness and on the spur of the moment, in fury, Beedrill charged forward stinger first ready to hurt Micky. Unlike Free, he was not ok with an absolutely unoriginal name and his rage got the best of him. Scyther stepped in immediately, his left Scythe blocking the stinger. “Whoa, Scyther, don’t kill him, all he was doing was just coming to hug me.” Beedrill and Scyther both knew he wasn’t but Scyther done as he was ordered and didn’t attack the angry wasp.

“Well, this re-union is nice n’ all but we have some training to do” Koga shouted loudly. Ponyta turned to Koga, thankful that he’d interfered before Micky remembered what he called her.

The night of training continued, Muk was teaching Ponyta how to do a Flamethrower, a long blast of flames, apparently more effective than the fire balls of an ember. Beedrill and Weezing were practicing a move Koga called ‘Sludge Bomb’ which involve spraying out a large blob of purple ooze that stank worse than Muk herself. Scyther continued to fight with Machamp sword to scythe whilst Butterfree tutored Nincada the move Silver Wind, one of Micky’s favoured moves. Micky sat on the ground next to Koga, encouraging his Pokemon with comments such as “Your doing great” or “That looked well good.” Koga was silent during all of this which unnerved Micky. He wasn‘t giving out any “You can do better“ or “Stop showing off“ comments to any of the Pokemon.

“What’s up with you now Koga?” Micky asked, finally bringing up enough courage to ask however his voice still sounded scared.

“I’m thinking” Koga replied in a fearsome, deep voice.

“About what?” Micky asked as he realised it could be the giant mantis. “Scyther?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Are you thinking about why he was so violent.”

“No, I already know why! I’m thinking about the past we have…”

“Whoa, wait, you knew that psycho before it went on a killing spree?” Micky said in shock, his eyes opened wide. “Why did it go killing people anyways?”

“It was recently escaped from the Uma Corporation. They were going to kill him for failing to kill me”

“What, you mean that thing is an assassin?”

“Yes, it is, born for that purpose. In the past two years it has successfully killed eight Fuma Ninja’s.” Koga turned to Micky, his eyes piercing his mind. “One of them my brother.”

“That thing killed your brother?” Micky said in shock pointing to Scyther. “And you didn’t kill him, in fact you put his scythe’s back on.”

“Yes. He was following his trainer’s orders.”

“Still…Wait, you say Fuma Ninja’s?” Micky suddenly remembered what his Pokedex had said about Beedrill. “You mean, you’re the guy who brought Beedrill’s over here?”

“I’ve done a lot more than that” Koga chuckled.

“Such as?” Micky started rolling his hands asking for input.

“I was the gym leader of Fuschia City, was in the Elite four of Kanto and I was the leader of the Fuma clan”

“You were a gym leader?”

“Yes.”

“Cool, but what was the Fuma clan?”

Koga’s eyes rolled to his side as he flashed back into his memory. “Four-hundred years ago, a Ninja clan formed, promising to protect all the Pokemon of the world. My family formed this clan. We perfected a deadly technique, ‘Toxic’, and with this technique we came into control of Fuschia gym. A hundred years ago, the Uma Corp began. They began in Fuschia city, but now they are a well known world wide organisation. What people don’t know, even oblivious to many of its employee’s, is its dark underbelly. They take part in many illegal activities. Pokemon stealing, murder and worst of all, Genetic Engineering. As soon as we learned of this we became determined to stop them. A secret war raged until twenty years ago when we made a mistake. We bombed a building of innocent employees and since then we’ve been on the run from the law as well as the Uma Corporation. I left my daughter, Janine, in control of our gym and haven’t spoken to her since. The Fuma clan’s favoured Pokemon, Beedrill came with us. The death of their trainers set them free as one by one, assassins like Scyther over there, took member after member to their graves. As far as I know, I’m the last one left.”

“Whoa...” Micky said stunned, unable to think of anything else. Koga’s life was unbelievable. “So, why did you spare Scyther’s life?”

“Although he has tried to kill me, and has killed many of my friends, the Fuma clan was built to protect all Pokemon, and that is what I shall do.” In a way it made sense to Micky but I another way it didn’t. Still, he could see this was breaking Koga on the inside and he left the discussion as it was.

****

Morning light broke. Micky’s father had stayed in a Mauville hotel the night. He slept in the clothes he wore on his way to Slateport, a change of clothes not available to him. He ordered a Taxi to Rustboro City Police Station, his mind focused on one thing. Upon his arrival he exited the yellow taxi and stepped forward to the double doors of the huge building. A giant, navy blue skyscraper, the best in Hoenn. A small Jail kept at the roof, training near the middle and the bulk of the force close to the bottom. White automatic double doors opened for David as he walked forward into the main reception, a giant grey room floored with turquoise marble leading to a black desk with a ginger haired women at the front. “Hi, I’m David Hardy, I’m here about my son.”

“Your son?” The receptionist wasn’t sure who he was on about.

“He’s missing, thought to be dead….”

“Oh” she said, remembering the mentioning of a Hardy in the missing files. “I’m sorry sir, we haven’t found him yet.” The receptionist felt guilty about not realising immediately.

“Yes, and what are you doing to find him?”

“Well, we have several squads out searching for him, and it was on the news” she replied quickly and desperately.

“OH YEAH, THAT’S WORKING SO WELL” he shouted in anger. Some security guards started to approach, seeing that David could lose his cool at any moment. “Oh, and what are you guys gonna do?” he asked sarcastically.

“Sir, calm down, we are on your side.”

“YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN. MY SON’S BODY IS OUT THERE SOMEWHERE AND YOU GUYS CAN’T EVEN FIND IT.” On the spur of the moment David’s anger took over him and he swung his right fist at one of the officers, knocking him to the ground in one blow. He then elbowed the other in the nose causing him to bleed as more officers approached. The fight soon ended, he got one more punch in before he was locked to the ground in a hammerlock and was soon arrested and being dragged kicking. He used his phone call to talk to his daughter, telling her his situation before being interviewed by an attorney. Purity was called of the incident as well, which really didn’t help her get over her guilt at all.

****

Purity didn’t sleep the previous night, it showed in eyes. Her usually calm, sky blue eyes were a lot duller wile her blood vessels had become more visible, a petrified appearance. She didn’t yawn, it was guilt keeping her up and she didn’t feel the urge to sleep. When she finally reached the upper levels of the skyscraper, she was led to a white interview room where she met face to face with Micky’s father, all that stood in between them was bullet proof glass.

“So you’re the whore who got my son killed?” David’s left eye was black from the trip up there, thought it was hidden from Purity’s view due to the way he titled his head.

“Look I’m sorry, but you think Micky would want you getting yourself arrested?”

“You think Micky liked being killed because of some whore?”

“Look I’m sorry and…” She couldn’t think what to say, she knew it was hurt fault no matter how much she tried to convince herself it wasn’t. Right then she burst into tears and ran out of the room, unable to talk to him anymore.

****

A week or so had past. Micky’s father remained in prison due to constantly attacking the guards. Purity had given up Pokemon training and was back at home, still living with her Pokemon as pets as well as her parents. During the week Micky had made much progress as along with his Beedrill. The other Pokemon had finally learned toxic. Scyther, Nincada and Micky had been getting along well to, learning moves from each other, Micky had even picked up how to do techniques from them so he could tutor other Pokemon it. More importantly, Micky had much more enhanced senses and abilities. The week of hard training with only five hours sleep a night paid off. He was going to face Koga one on one. The agreement was, if he could take Koga off his feet just once, Koga would believe he can handle Scyther long enough to withdrawn him back to his Pokeball should he be brainwashed.

The warm Hoenn sun beamed light across the mountain range. The training ground lit up all over, the Pokemon taking shade in front of the tall grass, just out of the suns reach as the prepared to watch Micky and Koga fight. “Are you ready” Koga said in a deep voice. He wore a white robe tied with a black belt around the waist. He held a kendo stick in hand.

“You bet” Micky smirked, slamming his Kendo stick at his palm. He wore the same clothes he’d been wearing all week. He had cleaned them everyday however, finally getting rid of the blood stains. His hair was tied in a ponytail at the back, stretching down to his waist with two curtains dropping at each end, one that was red and one that was blonde. He shook his head to lose his last trail of thought before charging at Koga, his Kendo stick drawn back as he went to crash it into Koga’s skull. In one movement Koga had ducked under this and thrown Micky over his shoulder. Micky had been training a lot for events such as this and using Koga’s back as though it were a floor he flipped himself forward, landing on his feet. Koga, being an experienced Ninja, knew not to turn his back on an opponent and turned immediately, before he’d even straightened his back out. Micky went for a kick to the head with is right leg but Koga just blocked it and grabbed it with his free hand. He went for a sweep with his Kendo stick however Micky jumped this and landed a kick right to the back of Koga’s head. Koga dropped his Kendo stick and grabbed his head. He’d underestimated Micky and never saw it coming, yet he stayed footed. Micky landed on his side after planting the kick but nipped up again and started to attack with his Kendo stick. Koga was caught in the ribs with the first shot but soon started to block with his arms and legs. His flexibility allowing him to block each and every hit until he finally caught it in both hands and broke it in two with his knee and then held the two as weapons.

“Shit!” Micky shouted backing off quickly. His gaze turned to Koga’s former kendo stick in the corner of his eye as he rolled forward to grab it. The two continued fighting. Neither of the two making any progress on each other until Micky got a small shot in, a shot to the ankle. The small distraction was enough for Micky to take advantage and hit Koga in the back of his head before doing a grounded sweep sending Koga face first to the ground. Although Koga sprung up in only a second later he felt a sense of accomplishment, he managed to get the advantage over a Ninja leader, something for him to be proud of, even though had it been a real fight he’d have been dead a moment later.

“Impressive he said” rubbing his head in disappointment and pain. “But you know had that been a real fight I’d have killed you before you’d even started.”

“Yeah yeah.” Although Micky knew it was true but he had an ego and wanted to defend it.

“Well, as I agreed, I will take you back to where I found you, hopefully it’ll bring back memories.” Micky had the same hope. “Just one thing, I’m sure you’ve noticed I’ve made good friends with, ‘Sting’ as you call him” he said, using sarcasm fingers as he mentioned Micky’s Beedrill’s name. “And I know you like Kotaro…”

“Yeah…”

“So…I was thinking, do you want to trade?”

“Trade, as in you keep Beedrill and I keep Nincada?”

“Yeah” Koga said with a smile on his face. He’d never really built a bond with Kotaro, he was a newly born Pokemon, only a few months old, and Kotaro didn’t seem to like Koga’s training style.

“Um, what you think Sting?” Micky looked towards Beedrill who was hovering in the shade. He seemed to like the idea, for one, Koga didn’t think Beedrill liked being called ‘Sting’, also he preferred Koga’s style of training, he knew what he was doing whilst Micky hadn’t a clue. “He seems to like the idea, yeah sure, why not?” Koga laughed in glee.

“Great, I’ll give you his Pokeball then, come back with me to the cave.”

They made their way to the cave, a long walk for the humans but not for Micky’s Pokemon however, all, including Beedrill, were returned to their Pokeballs except Scyther who remained hovering, still not possessing a Pokeball. Upon their return, Koga entered the cave an exited with two Pokeballs. He returned Nincada to his Pokeball and handed the other to Micky. “Use that for Scyther” Koga said. He done just this, withdrawing Scyther, still suited in his armour coat, into the Pokeball. “Never remove that Metal Coat until he evolves. His body isn’t fully functional, the coat keeps him stable.”

“Ok, got it, don’t get rid of the coat.”

“And now for the trade” Koga smirked. Micky removed Beedrill’s Pokeball and handed it to Koga in his right hand and accepted Kotaro’s in his left. He attached it to his belt where Beedrill’s place was and took a last look at Beedrill’s Pokeball before seeing him released from his Pokeball. He waved goodbye before turning away and walking.

“Hey, wait a min, I don’t know where I’m going?” Micky said, realising what an idiot he appeared to be. Koga just laughed.

“Follow me” he said, still laughing, waving his hand to motion Micky to follow. A twenty minute walk finally led them to a flat stone ground soaked in dried blood. “This is it.”

“Um, this isn’t what I expected?” Micky said confused, expecting to be closer to a city.

“Well, over there” Koga pointed to the north “is Fallarbor Town.” He pointed to the south afterwards and said “And down there is Rustboro City, have fun Kid” he said smirking and tapping Micky on the shoulder. Micky just watched him walk away into the distance, wandering what to do, whether to go north or south, still not sure of who he was.

‘Pain I felt so long ago, I don't remember’ - Remember, Disturbed

Author Notes: Well, less gore than 8, a bit more action IMO, my longest chapter yet. David’s reaction was a bit like my reaction when I heard my dad was dead which was the main basis. First there was just a shocked reaction but as soon as it sunk in I went mental, just like David. When’s Micky getting back his memory though (And both lyrics are from the album for anyone wandering).

[DannyBoy]

That was a very very long chapter! Very interesting to. The beginning was my favorite with the discussion of Scyther. Description was good and do I even need to mention length. THis took me a good deal of time to read and it was good and it didn't get to boring or drag on. keep it up!

[Chris 2.1]

Hey i'm here. The chapters you've posted are very lengthly and good in description. The amnesia subplot is excellent, one thing i was going to include in my own fic. Have you...by chance...seen series1 of 24?

My only nag....Micky's team is Ponyta, Butterfree,Beedrill and Scyther, right? Well it's a big pro-bug isn't it? IE: it's unbalanced and a Fire or rock type would slaughter it. Well, he did do well at the Gym though.

Keep it up.

[Whisper in the Wind]

Thanks. He done terible in the gym, it was the tournament he done well in. Yes, he is a bit of a buggy team so far (Nincada and Beedrill trade remember) however, it will change in the future, don't worry Besides, he's a beginner, give him a break

[Trip]

Well, I thought it was better. I hate gore, so that's an instant plus. Umm... just curious, when will he get his memory back? The amnesia subplot is more annoying than interesting to me.

- Trip

[Dragonfree]

Ooh. I personally think that was your best chapter yet. I loved the talk about Scyther, Koga's story, and, of course, the way Micky got Scyther (had to work a lot to). The characters' reactions were very realistic, too. Great.

And not that many spelling errors, either.

[Powarun]

Wow, never saw Scyther getting his scythes back coming. This was a really good chapter, a bit surpised though that David didn't smash the phone this time. You did a very good job with the way Scyther, a rather common pokemon to have in a fic, being able to be earned rather than just caught. And you also caught me off gaurd since I thought Koga would evolve it first. And I feel Koga didn't even give his Nincada enough work, at least wait for it to evolve.

[Whisper in the Wind]

Thanks for your comments. Anyways, Chapter 10 is finished, but nowhere near as good as chapter 9 IMO but we can get the story back on track with it

As far as the Nincada thing went, I'd planend from the start for Micky to get one and I saw Koga as the way to get him, plus I never really liked Beedrill so I done a nice trade off *As you can guess from the point I done his Pokedex entry I came up with the idea*

ANyways, expect Chapter 10 on Sunday

[Whisper in the Wind]

Chapter 10: Re-Union

‘I tried to kill the pain but only brought more’ - Evanescence, Tourniquet.

Kerri remained sitting curled up in a ball surrounded by her padded room, feeling that life was not worthwhile. She blamed herself for her family falling apart. It was her fault that her mother got killed. Now she felt it was her fault that Micky left to become a trainer and was probably laying face down in a ditch somewhere, and now her father was locked up in prison and it was all her fault, well at least that’s what she thought. She’d sharpened her pencil to the point it could break the skin and prepared to take her life. She hid behind her table, out of the doctors view and pulled back the pencil, ready to stab her left wrist vein. She sobbed a last tear before jamming the pencil down through her vein. Blood started to squirt from around the pencil, all over the white floor . She removed the blood-soaked pencil and dropped it on the floor. She started to feel numb all over her left arm as the blood started to drain from her. She grabbed the white bars that covered the window and looked over at Shoal Cave in the distance. She’d seen a magnificent bird there once. Ice blue feathers, a dark grey parrot like beak, a snow white breast, stunning red eyes, topped by three dark ice blue feathers. A long magnificent tail that’s trailed through the sky behind its dark grey legs, clawed at the end. She was hoping to see that magnificent bird again, before she died. She placed her hand through the bars and touched the window, soaking it in the crimson that leaked from her wrist.

****

Micky stood gazing over at the sea. He saw some white birds flying in a flock in the distance as the sun shimmered over the ocean. He still had no idea which way to go. South was Rustboro City and North was Fallarbor Town. He sat for a moment, glancing in each direction before he remembered something. By the waterfall was a cave that intrigued Micky. He gave into his cat-like curiosity and shouted “**** it, cave it is” to himself as he began running over towards the waterfall.

The water crashed down hard on the river bank, white foamy water at the base of the waterfall forming from the impact. Micky brushed his hand through the clear water and then stroked back his hair, darkening it in the moisture. The crash of the waterfall covered a rustling sound in the background, however, in a split moment Micky noticed it, jumping to his feet and turning to see a yellow rodent in front of him which somehow looked strangely familiar. He stood about one foot in the air, his ears twitching. They were tipped at the end in black, his eyes beady and black. His cheeks were a rosy red, his nose black and shaped like that of a cats. He dropped to all fours revealing his tail. A yellow tail spiked in the shape of a thunderbolt, chestnut brown fur at its base. His back was striped in chestnut brown fur as well. He started to run forward to Micky, his tail dragging along the ground in a line. He stood at Micky’s feet and then put himself back onto all fours, glaring up at Micky. “Pika! Pika!” he shouted in a loud cute voice.

“What what?” Micky said, not understanding what the little rodent wanted.

“Pika-Pi” he shouted again, pointing his left paw towards the waterfall that led into the cave.

“Hey little rodent!” He shouted. “There is no way I’m committing suicide ‘cause a tiny rat told me to” Micky said, his interpretation being the rodent challenging him to jump down the waterfall.

“PI-KA-CHU!!!!!” the rodent shouted at the top of his lungs, pausing in between each syllable.

“Saying it loudly and slowly does not make it any easier to understand dip-shit” Micky shouted back at the creature, frustrated with the rodent.

“Pika-pi” the rodent replied.

“Get a new vocabulary” Micky shouted back angrily.

“PIKA” the rodent shouted back.

“No!”

“Pika!”

“NO!” Micky shouted back louder and angrier, turning his back to the creature who just ran in a circle in front of him. “Please-****-Off-Little-Annoying-Rodent” Micky shouted back, pausing in between each word.

“Pika” the little rodent shouted back shaking his head.

“Don’t make me set Scyther on you!” Micky shouted, reaching for his Pokeball. The rodent saw Micky’s hand reach for that Pokeball and seeing that the only way he could get Micky to follow him, he quickly leaped up, grabbing the ball from his belt and dashing off to the edge of the Waterfall. “No little Rodent, come on, I didn’t mean it, come on, give me back Scyther, hey, I’ll you what, if you come with me to Fallarbor, I’ll get you a Pokeball and catch you, how’s that sound?” Micky was fearful of losing what was most likely his most powerful Pokemon. The little rodent just shook his head and dived into the river, being dragged down the waterfall. Micky let out a small sob.

“****ing Rat” Micky shouted grumpily, shaking his head and running towards the water drop, diving in and being taken down by the waterfall.

****

Purity still hadn’t got over the fact that she’d led someone to what was probably his death, she feared she never would. She still had Micky’s bag. It lay in the corner of her room. She would have given it to Micky’s father but since he was in prison, she doubted it would be a good idea, considering the objects inside would probably get stolen. The one that attracted her attention the most was the golden Pokeball, hidden in a pocket inside the bag. She wondered where Micky got it. She noticed that Micky had plenty of money from his trainer card, still, she’d never seen anything like that Pokeball before and it looked well beyond his price range. As tempting as it was to take it, she resisted the temptation, the guilt of getting him killed was bad enough, let alone the guilt of stealing a Pokeball from a dead person. She figured that it could be used in his grave if they couldn’t find his body. She slumped back on her bed, her elegant fox Ninetales to her side. She rubbed Ninetales’s soft silky crème fur in her palm, encouraging her warm fire fox to jump up to her side. She did just that allowing herself to be used like a teddy bear for comfort, Purity stroking her from her warm body to her elegant tail, the warm crème split into nine, giving her the specie name.

All of Purity’s belonging from her Pokemon adventure were upon an oak shelf. Her black Pokeball belt with her five gym badges attached to it. Her trainer card laying flat on the shelf, her red Pokedex, now useless, standing upright, opened along with her bag.

****

Micky got washed up onto a rocky bank, well, it felt like a rocky bank. Only a small crack of light broke from the gap that Micky was washed through, still, not enough for Micky to make out where he was. “Little Rodent?” Micky’s shout echoed throughout the cave, any person in there would have heard it. Micky could here some flapping in the distance before he heard the cute voice of the rodent.

“Pika-Pi” He shouted loudly over to Micky.

“Thingy, come on, gimme back my Pokeball” Micky shouted back desperately. He started to crawl in the direction of the rodent’s voice. Micky could see a small light form in the rodent’s direction until it became a fully glowing white light. He could make out the rodent’s thunderbolt like tail, glowing a brilliant white. From this glow Micky could make out some of the rodent’s yellow body. He could see the Pokeball he was after being held tightly in his mouth. “Come on yellow thing, gimme back my Scyther” he said desperately, his hand out hoping for the ball to be dropped onto it. Instead the little creature placed it into his hands and ran off. Micky climbed to his feet and chased after the rodent, unsure of where he was going, only knowing that he had few choices left and only one led to him getting back his Scyther.

The rodent led him deep into the cave. Micky could make out several Pokemon in the shadows, fortunately, they seemed to ignore the rodent and Micky’s presence. He tripped several times, one time was over something moving, probably a Pokemon, fortunately it didn’t react, it just groaned. The little rodent was still running ahead, letting out “Pika” every now and then to make Micky catch up. He eventually saw the mouse stop, eventually catching up to him.

“Ok give me back ball now!” Micky shouted into the rodent’s ear.

His ear twitched and he let out a “Pi-Ka-Chu” as he pointed his finger forward. Micky looked at what he was pointing at and saw a long cliff-face heading downwards. He saw something, a large glowing yellow object, spiky in shape, un moving.

“Um, you want me to do what?”

“Pika-Pi.” He pointed again, drawing Micky’s attention to a girl, lying dead next to the glowing object.

“Sorry little bugger, I don’t raise the dead” Micky said, not shocked at all, seeming to have memories of worse.

“Pika” the rodent said running down some sort of ledge towards the girl. Micky chased after him, determined to get back his Scyther. When he finally caught up to him, the rodent was holding the girls hand, ignoring the Pokeball that he’d stolen, dropping it to the ground. Micky re-attached it to his belt and turned away, climbing up the cliff face. “Pika pi” the rodent shouted.

“What, sorry dude, I refuse to carry a dead person, and to be honest, that glowing object is really creeping me out.”

“Pika Pi” the rodent replied. Micky walked back to him and knelt down beside him.

“Look little Rodent, I’m sorry if this was your trainer, I’m sorry she’s dead, and I’m sorry, well I’m sorry for everything, but do me a favour and **** off, please!” The rodent grabbed Micky’s hand and place it onto the girls. He could make out the girls figure, she was thin, probably younger than him. She was wearing a white shirt and what appeared to be jeans. Her hair was a long blonde, getting over his hands. But then he realised why the rodent had made him touch this dead girls neck. She wasn’t dead at all, she was alive, he could feel her neck throb. “****” Micky shouted in shock as he felt her neck throb. “Um, what do I do, she not dead, she, dead, but like not, dead? What the **** am I saying, that makes no sense.” Micky was confused, he didn’t know what he was doing, he’d never paid attention in medical class.

“Pika Pi.” Although Micky didn’t understand he guess it was something along the lines of ‘I’m a Pokemon, how do you expect me to know?’

“Um, CPR, aint that it?” He shouted. He remembered something to do with punching people’s chests. “Um, know, that’s to wake dead people up, um, its…” Micky strained his thought and slammed his fist against the glowing spiky object beside him. He heard the object grunt. “Oh, ****, **** **** **** **** **** ****” Micky shouted, seeing the object starting to move. “Um, the girl” he shouted, slinging the girl over his shoulder and running up a pathway.

The creature started to unfold. Its wings were a bright electric yellow, spiky in shape, beneath it, its feathers were a pure black. Its eyes opened, revealing a sickening dead white, lined with black around it entering a pure black centre. Its beak was a long, orange spiky point, looking capable of ripping through flesh with one swipe. It started to move forward on its orange clawed feet, warning off Micky and the girl he was carrying. As it saw them start to leave, the creature curled back up into its spiky ball shape.

Micky charged forward, unsure of where he was going. He was just following the rodent in whatever direction he went. The cave seemed to be an endless circle. Pokemon that lurked in the shadows hissing at Micky and the mouse for awakening whatever the creature was. “PIKA” the rodent shouted, being a long way ahead of Micky, trying to encourage him to catch up. The rodent clearly didn’t know where he was going. He led Micky through bumpy paths sending him falling. Fortunately the unconscious girl took most of the falls when ever he tripped. The rodent’s tail gave out little light, only enough for Micky to make out the path he was taking and the figures of the Pokemon looking on. The little rodent finally led Micky out of the cave. The light hurt Micky’s eyes as he squinted. He’d adjusted to the dimness of the cave, the sun bore down too brightly as Micky dropped to the ground, dropping the girl on her back as he did.

****

Shane glanced at his Dynamo Pokemon badge that clipped nicely to his jacket. He brushed back his spiky black hair and let out a smirk as he headed towards the cave known as Fiery Path, hoping to get a new addition to his team. He wore crème-brown trousers, grass stains covering much of the left leg from his training with Grovyle, the evolved form of his Treecko. He wore a navy blue short sleeved shirt, a camouflage vest atop it. His Pokeball belt was black, tied around the waist, three Pokeballs attached. He had a brown bag slung over one shoulder. He slowly made his way to the caves entrance. The cave itself was the inside of a volcano known as Mount Chimney. Inside was the home to many fire Pokemon. Deep inside rivers of lava flowed, the veins of Mount Chimney giving the cave the name Fiery Path. Shane slowly removed a flash light from his bag, flicking it on as he took his first step inside the cave. The air was much different than on the outside. It smelt thicker, smog like. Shane could feel the water droplets in the air, any water inside the cave had surely evaporated from the heat. He couldn’t make out much in the cave, the flash light was too small to light up much more than the ground he was about to tread on.

Shane heard a small rustle. He turned his flashlight to its source as fast as he could but saw nothing. He heard the rustle again. He turned the flashlight again, still no sign of where the movement came from. Nervously, he made his way forward again. The rustle continued, Shane kept turning to see where it came from but to no avail. Eventually, he was drawn to a passage way. Smoke was rising from the ground which felt rough, like it were a sandy path. His flashlight started to flicker. Micky tried to smack it stable again with his hands but failed to influence it in anyway as it finally went off, leaving Shane in dark. He held his hands out, rubbing them against the cave walls, trying to keep himself in a straight line. He felt something brush across his leg. He quickly slammed himself to the walls edge, trying to stay out of the way of whatever had rushed past him. He heard something cry “BEE!!” and on instinct reached for his bag and removed his Pokedex. As he flicked it open the small light it cave out revealed enough for him to see something right in front of him. He backed away quickly, sliding on his ass through the sandy trail. The creature started to step forward, stepping on the buttons of Shane’s Pokedex.

“Ok, get away or I’ll get my Pokemon on you” he said in a threatening voice, reaching for one of his Pokeballs. The creature started to growl, small drips of fire started to fall to the ground from the creatures mouth. Shane kept backing away, his right hand clenching the metal sphere in his hand tightly, tapping the activation button, ready to defend himself should the creature attack him. He brought himself to his feet quickly and started to run. He could hear the creature charging behind him. He turned his head to his behind, seeing the figure of the creature still charging after him. He went to open his Pokeball but caught a glimpse of something in the corner of his eye as he turned his attention to the amazing sight in front of him.

****

Kerri gripped the white bars tightly, feeling her body go numb. She pressed her head in between the two bars, tears running from her eyes. She suddenly felt the urge to look away and threw herself onto her bed, bleeding red onto the blankets. She didn’t know why but she covered her eyes. She heard a huge explosion to her side soon after. A beam of light crashed through the padded walls. Kerri prepared herself for whatever was going to come through the gap in her wall. She expected the creature from her nightmares, the one that killed her mother. However the head that stuck itself through the wall was not the sick twisted face of Rayquaza. Instead, she saw a cute little head pop over. The creature’s sapphire eyes looking so innocent and caring, the golden fur that sat atop her head making her look like an Angel.

Latianne started to speak to Kerri in her mind.
‘Come on Kerri, the doctors will be coming through there soon’

‘Who are you?’

‘Well, your brother calls me Angel.’

‘You know Micky?’

‘Yes, now come on!’

Kerri took her chances with the creature, trusting what she said. She jumped onto the Pokemon, gripping her neck, staining it with the blood from her wrists. Latianne flew off before any of the doctors could break through the door. All they found was a lot of wreckage and blood.

****

Shane stood in awe. What appeared to be an endless river of lava washed along in front of him. It glowed majestically, lighting up everything near it. The heat was practically unbearable however, making Shane cover his eyes and try to turn from it. He was met by the creature that was chasing him. The Pokemon stood about two feet in the air. He had a small tail, small legs and small arms, all the same length as each other. Much of the creatures body was a light red, all of it except his stomach and lips which were a light yellow. The creatures eyes were white centred with black. His head was puffed up in bulges as though it were popcorn building up inside a bag. His claws were white, three on each hand and foot. The creature opened his mouth. “Magby!” he shouted, trying to force Shane to back away. Shane done just that but also threw his Pokeball to the ground. He was after another member of his team and now was the time to get him.

“Grovyle, Go!” Shane shouted at the top of his lungs. The white glow started to form into the shape of a gecko. Upon Grovyle’s wrists were three turquoise leaves, two sticking in opposing directions, one staying straight above his arms. Much of Grovyle’s skin was a light green, starting from his streamline head to his two-toed feet. Grovyle’s eyes were a sickening yellow, a tiny black dot were his pupils were. At the top of his head started a long turquoise mane that stretched all the way past his tail. His tail itself was like two long turquoise leaves, stretching long behind him, slightly tapping the ground. Underneath the chin of Grovyle started an orange coloured skin, travelling all the way down to his stomach which then rounded, one green line through it. Grovyle hissed at creature that stood before him. The two were of similar height, however, Grovyle was the quicker of the two, starting the battle off by jumping over the creature, stepping over his head as a taunt.

“Grovyle, Slam that thing with your tail.” Grovyle’s leafy tail hardened as he twirled to hit the creature across the face. A loud slap-like sound emitted as the tail of Grovyle connected with the odd shaped head of the creature. The creature retaliated simply by jumping onto Grovyle’s back. Grovyle tried to shake him off but as he did one, his left arm caught on fire. “Grovyle, Leaf Blade” Shane shouted. Grovyle stalled for time, letting the leaves on his wrist catch on fire before slinging his fists sideways, intentionally missing the creature with his fists, letting the flaming leaves slash along the creatures face, drawing red blood as he did. The creature fell to his ass as Grovyle tried to shake the flames off of his body, eventually successful when he rolled on the ground. “Nice work Grovyle, now Zubat, go!” From Shane’s Pokeball a bat came. It had small wings, lined with lavender on the inside. Most of the bats body was a dark purple. He had two small fox-like ears, lined with the same lavender as its wings on the inside. The bat had a thin body leading down to two small feeler like legs, not capable of anything more than feeling what it touched. The creature relied on sound to determine where she was going. She opened her mouth to let out a supersonic pulse and sensed where the creature was. She bore four sharp teeth inside a pure black mouth that dribbled a purple acid in place of saliva.

“Zubat, Poison Fang!” The bat charged forward, fangs out as far as they could go, secreting a purple liquid from inside her gums. As she went to clamp down on the opposing Pokemon, he just dodged out of the way, releasing a fire ball from his mouth at the back of Zubat. She let out a huge cry as the flames started to burn her skin. Seeing his fellow Pokemon in trouble, Grovyle threw himself at the back of the fire breathing foe, sending him to the floor face first. Pouncing on her opportunity, Zubat slammed her body into the back of the creature before biting into the creature’s neck as though she were a vampire, sinking the poison into the blood stream of the strange creature. Shane pulled a Pokeball out of his bag and threw it at the weird creatures head, sucking him into the sphere. The ball rocked three times on the ground before it finally sparked, indicating that it had locked the creature in. Shane then withdrew his other two Pokemon, placing them onto his Pokeball belt with his newest team member.

He slumped down to the ground, rubbing his sweating eyebrow clean. He saw bubbles start to form at the surface of the lava river. As one bubble popped a new one formed. They started to pop and form faster and faster until Shane saw something rise. Its body was a rounded orange-yellow shape, rising from the ground. Two large flame like wings rose from the lava, yellow and orange feathered with flames. The creature rose its long rooster like neck from the lava revealing a slender long beak attached to a small rounded head. A mane of fire trailing down its neck. It turned it’s attention to Shane. The creature started to flap it’s huge wings, lava dripping down it’s body, splashing onto the lava river below. Eventually, two long legs were revealed from the flames. A dark orange in colour, three claws on each foot. Shane thought more lava was going to fall but it turned out to be its tail, a long yellow line of fur, seemingly on fire. It’s eyes pierced through Shane’s body as he slowly backed away. Shane wasted no time in running down the path he came from, trying to get away from the giant flaming bird. He picked up his Pokedex from the sandy path and headed into the pitch black.

****

Micky had followed the rodent down the side of a mountain, the girl slung over his shoulder. He didn’t know why he was still bothering with the rodent. Maybe he felt sorry for him or maybe he was attracted to the girl. Either way, he was following the yellow mouse down a long path. He saw a sign saying ‘Route 114’ but it was a long time ago and he was probably off of it. Micky was starting to tire. He was in good shape but he was not used to carrying people as he hiked, and he was nowhere near muscular. “Please let me sit down, your trainer’s heavy” Micky moaned to the mouse that charged ahead of him. The rodent just ignored him, continuing to run ahead. “Hey, don’t blank me!” Micky shouted, annoyed that the rodent has ignored him previously.

“Pika Pika” he shouted back.

“Look, why don’t you evolve, and carry her?” Micky shouted back sarcastically.

“Pika!” The rodent proceeded to run ahead of him again as Micky followed. Eventually, the rodent stopped, letting him rest. The rodent brought him a berry of some kind, probably a token of thanks. Micky accepted it, enjoying its sweet taste. The girl started to stir, tossing and turning and making small noises. Micky didn’t know what to think of this but the rodent simply ran over to her, tapping her, trying to get her conscious.

“Come on thingy. We better get her to a hospital or something, she starting to spasm.” Micky slung her over his shoulder again. “Come on, you lead the way, I got amnesia, I dunno where I’m going.” The little rodent ran ahead of Micky, leading him along the path further. It was at least a thirty minute run before Micky finally saw signs of civilisation. A wooden bridge went over a river leading out of the mountain side, probably connected to the waterfall that Micky came from initially. Beyond that bridge Micky could see some sort of town. “Nice work rat, you finally done something right.” The yellow mouse seemed to take offence to Micky’s comment and shocked him slightly, making him drop the girl as he did. The girl’s head hit the ground head first, not that Micky noticed, he was too busy fiddling with his left index finger where the rodent had shocked him. “You little shit” Micky shouted, only just noticing the girl starting to move. “Crap, she waking up!” Micky shouted, dropping to his knee’s to try and wake her up.

“Pika Pi” the little rodent shouted, probably saying something along the lines of ‘thank you captain obvious.’ Micky started to slap the side of her face, trying to get her to wake faster. As her eye’s opened she noticed Micky slapping her. She hit him as hard as she could with her right fist, thinking he was attacking her. Micky fell to his side grabbing his left cheek as the girl got up and grabbed her rodent and started to run. The rodent slithered out of her arms and ran back to Micky, checking on him.

“Pikachu, come on” the girl shouted in a soft worried voice.

“Pika” the rodent named Pikachu shouted in defiance.

“Why aren’t you coming?”

Micky shoved the Pikachu out of his way. “’Cause bitch, I was dumb enough to save your life” Micky shouted, grabbing his cheek in pain. “Ah ****, you got a strong right hand” he shouted again, spitting in pain.

“Wait, you saved me?” she said, her voice now confused.

“Yes” Micky growled. “Hence me saying, I was dumb enough to save you.” Micky turned his attention to Pikachu. “God, I can’t believe you wanted me to save this bitch” Micky shouted. Pikachu seemed to take offence and bit him in the ankle. “****!” Micky cursed, kicking at the rodent, checking where he‘d bit, fortunately not seeing any blood rising to the surface.

“Pikachu stop” the girl cried out. Under orders the rodent left Micky and ran over to his trainers side.

“Ok, that’s it little Rodent” Micky shouted, pointing to the Pikachu. He bent down to grab his ankle. “I swear to you, one of these days, I’m gonna kill you!” Micky threatened.

“Ok, calm down, sorry for punching you, I thought you were like, trying to do something to me” the girl shouted, frustrated at the little battle that was going on I front of her. “I’m Karen Parkerson” sticking out her arm, for a hand shake. Micky just ignored it.

“I’m, um” Micky started to think, trying to bring back memories of his name. “I dunno, for the past week I been referred to as Kid. That’s about all I know” he said bluntly, still gripping his cheek.

“You don’t know your name?” Karen giggled.

“I got amnesia ok?” Micky growled.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Karen said, shocked.

“Yes, I am” Micky said angrily. “Anyway, what was with you and the unconsciousness-ness?” Micky asked, getting himself into a tongue twister.

“Well, I saw that glowing object, and when I went down to it, some floating rock down something to me, and then, I like, fell asleep” she said, not sure herself.

“Great, fricking great, I carried a sleeping girl out of a cave thinking she was dying” Micky said, banging his hand against his head in anger.

“Look, come with me to Fallarbor, we can find out who you are and stuff” she smirked.

“Whatever” Micky said, not bothered.

****

Latianne landed outside Professor Birch’s lab with Kerri on her back. Latianne’s fur coat was soaked in the blood of Kerri. She’d tried to stop the bleeding but to no avail. Fortunately, she knew Birch would be able to help. She indicated to Kerri to go into the lab and spoke to Birch through her mind, telling him what had happened.

“Why did you do this to yourself?” Birch questioned, his hand covering the wound, squeezing tightly. Kerri tried to do some signs to tell him what happened but Birch failed to understand. Eventually Latianne explained she was a mute. “So your Micky’s brother?” Birch asked, bandaging her wrist at the same time. Kerri nodded. “I know you must think he’s dead, but Latianne has assured me that she’s positive he’s alive, she just can’t locate him because he doesn’t seem to know who he is.” Kerri sighed in relief, it seemed like a plausible excuse for why Micky was missing.

****

“Hi, I’m looking for the missing people’s department” Micky said bluntly to the receptionist at the Fallarbor police station.

“Do you want to report a missing person? If you do can you fill out this form” the receptionist said handing a paper and pen to Micky. “You have to wait for them to have been missing for twenty four hours however.”

“No” Micky said, dropping the pen and paper to the counter. “I am a missing person, I wanna report me being alive!”

“Ok, what’s your name?”

“I don’t know!” Micky shouted desperately. “I got amnesia.”

“Ok, do you know what the situation was when you went missing?”

“Yeah, it had something to do with a Scyther.”

“Wait, you say a Scyther?”

“No, I said a Pikachu, what do you think I said?” Micky growled sarcastically. The women picked up a phone and started to talk to someone on the other end, saying she thinks she’s found the boy who got killed, and he hasn’t been killed.

****

Night was about to fall, Micky and Karen just sat around on the ground. All of Micky’s Pokemon were out of there balls, the same with Karen’s. Micky recognised her Pokemon from somewhere, but he still couldn’t figure it out. She had some sort of duck Pokemon as well as the little rodent known as Pikachu. The duck flew about, his outer feathers were a pale brown, under his wings and at his breast were crème feathers. His beak was a duck bill where he carried a leek. Micky was asked to wait there by someone apparently. He still had no idea why but he agreed, curious to see who it was that wanted to see him. In time a yellow taxi pulled up next to them. Micky got to his feet, ready to greet whoever it was. All of his Pokemon stood still, waiting to see who it was, Ponyta and Butterfree having a decent idea of who it was. Karen got to her feet and stood beside Micky, coming up to just under his shoulder. The door opened. Micky saw one leg come out first. Slightly tanned before another came out. A girl exited and Micky recognised her immediately, feeling memories start to come back. The girl smiled and hugged Micky as hard as she could, feeling all the guilt leaving her. “I was so worried ‘bout you Micky” she said happily, almost in tears of joy.

Micky hugged her back. “God that’s right, I‘m called Micky” he said, finally remembering who he was. He left the hug and turned to his Ponyta. “And your Strider” he said smirking. Ponyta shook her head as if to say ‘You had to remember didn’t you.’ Everything started to flow back to Micky. Purity picked up two bags from the backseat of the taxi and handed one to Micky. “I’m guessing this is mine” Micky said sarcastically, feeling a little overwhelmed as his memory started to come back.

“Yeah” she smirked. “I’m guessing you found him?” Purity said turning her attention to Karen.

“Actually, he found me” she smirked back.

“No, actually, that annoying rat over there” Micky interrupted, pointing to Pikachu “found me and dragged me through a cave until I found her” Micky said, pointing to Karen.

“So, why didn’t you tell someone sooner?” Purity asked, trying to figure out why Micky didn’t just go to a police station immediately, instead of waiting a week.

“Well, I got a bit of memory loss, of course, seeing you brought back quite a bit” he smiled. He could see the tear of joy in Purity’s eye but then felt his mind go numb.

‘Welcome back’ he heard a voice say in his head, immediately realising who it was as everything started to flow back.

‘Hi Angel’ he thought to himself.

‘Was worried about you.’

‘Yeah, I was worried about me to.’

‘I’m with your sister, I’ll see you soon.’

Micky rummaged through his bag until he found his cell phone. He flicked through his phone book until he found home and clicked call. The phone continued to ring until it finally came to the answer phone. The joy of memory all went when he thought to himself the possibilities of what had happened to his father. He hid his sad emotions from the girls however and just placed his phone back into his bag, claiming he was checking on his messages.

The group spent the night in the Fallarbor Pokemon Center, Micky laying on the top bunk thinking, hearing the girls snores which didn’t help him get back to sleep. It was nice to finally have a change of clothes and a proper shower, his hair feeling so much cleaner after using shampoo in a shower rather than rubbing his hands through his hair under a waterfall. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on sleep, however, all through the night, the whereabouts of his father bothered him. He conversed with Latianne all through the night in his mind, trying to learn every little detail, but even Latianne wasn’t sure of what had happened to his father. In time his mind finally drifted into unconsciousness as his body prepared for the next day.

‘It’s bugging me, grating me and twisting me around’ - Muse, Hysteria.

Well, amnesia sub-plot is over *Be happy Trip* and the trainer story continues. If you haven’t guessed, those three birds will have a big part to play later on. Karen is going to be a permanent part of my fic (Based on the 1st proper follower of my Fic Shiny May) and there’s still a few more characters to be introduced. Micky’s rival Shane makes his 2nd appearance and Micky now has an annoyance with him (Pikachu and Micky, the hate relationship ). Over all, this chapter was more of a filler/explanation chapter than anything, sorry about that, nowhere near as good as its previous which was one of my favs. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it.

[Powarun]

I thought that this chapter was pretty good. The pika part was really funny In my opinion. It was neat seeing how the legendary trio are making their rounds in Hoen, and in the proper places, exept Zapdos. Keep up the good work and keep posting.

[Whisper in the Wind]

thanks. I was going for humoru with Micky and Pikachu, after that it sorta went downhill

As for Zappy, theres no electric cave....and I think soemone would notice that a large bird was in new mauvile

[Dragonfree]

Sorry, I've been busy...

Anyway, it's as great as ever. I loved the Pikachu part, Micky is always as realistic. Nice how he got his memory back.

[Chris 2.1]

Yea Oni, great work here. Umm here's some advice. Try not to chop it up as much. One part was only two paragraphs. Of course, you have cliffhangers, but too many of those makes the fic bounce around and it loses the dramatic tensiony stuff. My old fic, The Indigo Road, was like that, and I was often told it was unprofessional. The two Shane parts could have been put together, as with Kerri's.

Overall though, the description is brilliant, the Legendary Trio are coming together and Micky has a rival ^^. Great job.

[Whisper in the Wind]

Ok, I'll try not to chop up the chaps as much. That chap was kinda one of those ones where on a tv show theres like 4 focus points and they keep going from one to the other. Shane was Micky's rival before anyway....

[Chris 2.1]

No sweat, you get chapters like that anyway, and sometimes you only have one focal point for a chapter. Keep the good work up.

[Whisper in the Wind]

yeah, my current chapter seems to have only 1 focus. I'm onto my 3rd page (font: Times New Roman size: 10)

I got fic of the week

[Whisper in the Wind]

Chapter 11: A Trip to Lavaridge

‘I see the future and the future is bleeding’ - New Abortion, Slipknot

Micky’s eye’s started to blink open. He heard the spray of the shower, the water droplets pounding against the tiled floor, wondering which of the two girls was in there. He rolled to his right, the blanket sliding off of him as he went hurdling to the ground, landing with a hard thump. “****!” he screamed loudly, shooting pains in his back. Purity started to stir upon hearing the loud thump, finding Micky laying there on the ground, rolling around grasping his back in pain.

She smiled. “De-ja-vu” she smirked, climbing out of her bed to help him up.

“From now on, you sleep on top bunk” Micky growled through his teeth, grabbing below his neck tightly.

“Keep it down” Karen moaned grumpily, clearly still tired. It took Micky a few moments to realise that if she wasn’t in the shower, and Purity wasn’t, then who was?

“Wait, Karen, if you’re here, who’s in there?” Micky said confused, pointing his finger to the door that led to the shower.

“Some guy who was here last night” she mumbled, dropping her head into the pillow, her blonde hair in a squashed mess, nothing like Purity‘s which was still as perfect as normal, somehow the only one of the three capable of not getting bed head. Micky rolled his eyes practically telling himself ‘duh, its not like we own this room.’ Micky reached under Purity’s bed, grabbing his black bag, removing a set of clothes. Black trousers, two white striping on each side, a black shirt, a white dragon in print upon it. Two white fishnet wrist bands, stretching from the wrist to the top of the arms and his black cap, all in his arms, waiting for the bathroom to be empty so he could get dressed.

****

Micky’s Pokeball belt tied tightly around his waist, his hair dropping down just below his shoulders, his back pack in his right hand, hanging by its strap. The four red and white orbs, Strider, Scy, Kotaro, Free all ready for activation. Micky knowing which ball contained which Pokemon. Fallarbor Town, although large, was nowhere near the size of Lilycove, most likely half the size. There was no Pokemon gym here, in fact, very little to do with Pokemon training. However, Pokemon Contests were a big thing here.

The group were heading to Karen’s house for lunch. Too far for the group to have journeyed to the previous day, quite a walk away, on the edge of the town, several miles from the Pokemon Center. The walk there was interesting though. Micky passed several trainers with their Pokemon. Although tempted to challenge them to battles he could tell they were contest trainers just by their style. They would train with their Pokemon, co-ordinating their moves, controlling them with Pokeblocks, the equivalent of Candy to Pokemon.

About an hour later they finally arrived at Karen’s house. It was further out of Fallarbor than Micky initially thought, a good couple of hour trip down Route 113. The house itself was more of a cottage. Only one floor however very large, probably as large as his home back in Lilycove had they placed both floors next to each other. The outside was painted in white, thick black planks of wood for decoration on the outside like that of a Tudor house. The roof was thatched with brown straw, a chimney puffing smoke out from the roof. The front garden was fenced by a small hedge. More of a boundary marker than something to keep people out. The front garden had many berry plants growing. Micky recognised some of the berries however many were new to him. From his understanding they‘d construct their own blocks for their Pokemon using berries, either way, Micky was tempted to try a few though being pulled towards the door by Purity was enough to stop him. Karen rang the door bell as a loud chime emitted. A women answered. About as tall as Karen, her hair was black, a lot like Micky‘s, a deep dark colour. Her eyes were blue, standing out from her hair. Too bright a colour to go well with her hair. She didn’t look like Karen’s mother but Micky guessed she was considering the hug Karen gave her. Micky and Purity greeted her with a handshake after being introduced and followed behind Karen into the house.

The inside of the house was floored with dark oak wood. The walls were painted in light uplifting colours. Yellows and orange down the hallways. In the living room the walls were painted in Sky Blue. The room itself was cosy. A fire burning on one side. Two sofa’s, both crème with brown pillows upon them. The room had several large pictures. Micky could tell immediately it was people from Karen’s family. Her mother was in one, next to a Ponyta similar to Micky’s. Gold and Silver Trophy’s were inside a chestnut brown Mahogany Case. A silver lock on the right hand side opened it, the front guarded by thick see-through glass. Micky was tempted to open it but knew it would be rude of him and resisted the temptation to take a first hand look at the Trophy’s. He slung himself onto one of the sofa’s next to Karen.

“I’ll be right back” the women said to the group, disappearing into what Micky guessed was the kitchen. There was a nice smell coming from the room she entered. It smelt like a roast chicken with all the trimmings. Micky was mentally licking his lips at the thought of this, forgetting his worries about his father that he’d kept in so tightly from the girls.

“Take it that’s your mum” Micky said, leaning over to Karen.

“Yeah” she replied bluntly.

“You look nothing like her” Micky whispered, making sure her mother didn’t over hear.

“Don’t be so rude” Purity said loudly, slapping the back of Micky’s head, not so much to hurt him as to say don’t do that.

“Yeah, I’m adopted” Karen replied.

“Ah!” Micky said, everything making sense now. “So, who’s trophy’s are those?” Micky said pointing to the Trophy cabinet.

“They’re mine” a low mans voice said from behind Micky, making him jump to his feet, all that training with Koga sharpening his senses a little too much. “Calm down kid” the man chuckled. Micky guessed he was Karen’s father, since he didn’t look anything like her as well. He was about six foot tall. His hair a thick ginger mess. His eyes were brown, welcoming in their own way. He was quite large, a jolly fat man look. He was wearing jeans and a white tank top that revealed his very hairy arms and he was stained in some form of oil.

“Dad, get dressed properly” Karen moaned at him.

“I will, I was just outside sorting out the car.”

‘That explains the oil and the sweat smell Micky thought to himself.’

“So, what are these trophy’s for?” Micky questioned.

“Pokemon Co-ordination.”

“You’re a Pokemon Co-ordinator?” Micky asked.

“Well, I was. I’ve stopped now. Leaving it to my son and daughter now.” It took Micky a moment to figure out that Karen must have been a co-ordinator and took him several moments to realise she had a brother.

“Wait, you have a brother?” Micky said turning to Karen.

She sighed a “Yeah” showing her distain for him.

“Yeah, he’s in his room. Karen, why don’t you introduce them before lunch.” Karen sighed and got up, heading out of the lounge, Micky and Purity following behind on instinct. Karen led them through the hallways again until the reached a white door marked with a red sign. In white it said ‘Trespassers will be shot, survivors will be shot again.’ Not exactly welcoming but Karen walked in without knocking anyway.

“Hi Mark” she said grumpily. A boy of similar height to Micky stood in front of them. He looked to be the same age. His skin a pale white, creepy, seemingly like he was dead. His hair was a short jet black. His eyes were brown, quite similar to his fathers. He looked like he was related to Karen’s parents. He was wearing a black shirt, grey sweats and white sneakers. His room had posters all over it of music bands. Drowning Pool, Metallica, Slipknot, however, one thing caught his attention. Something that looked like a punching bag. It was about five feet tall, a purple-blue colour. It was rounded at the top, getting thinner as it got down to the bottom. Micky couldn’t help himself. He approached it.

“Cool, you got a punching bag” he shouted. Mark was about to say something but before he could Micky was testing it out. He smashed it hard with his right fist. It dropped down onto its back before shooting back up and colliding with Micky’s crotch. He fell to the ground, grasping his privates in pain. “Your punching bag attacked me” he growled, hardly able to breath with such a winded feeling. It only took him a moment to realise it must have been a Pokemon and it was only a moment later that he got confirmation.

“WAA-BAA” the creature shouted. His eyes opening to reveal two tiny black dots. Nothing compared to his huge mouth which revealed a massive rosy pink tongue.

“Let me guess” Micky said sarcastically, feeling out of breath from the pain he was feeling at his privates. “Woba the Punching bag Pokemon” he said sarcastically.

“Actually he’s a Wobbuffet.”

“Whatever the hell he is, I demand vengeance” Micky shouted, bringing himself to his feet and running at the Wobbuffet, kicking him in the head. Wobbuffet just fell onto his back and sprung back up, head butting Micky in the groin again. Micky grasp his privates again, jumping up and down in pain, making sure he didn’t fall to the ground.

“Ok, stop” Mark said. “Your not gonna harm him more than he harms you. He‘s got a unique way of doing double the damage inflicted against him back at the aggressor.”

“What the hell did you say?” Micky said, confused at what Mark had just blabbed.

“Anything you can do he can do better” Mark replied bluntly.

“Oh really?” Micky said, as though it were a challenge. Micky approached Wobbuffet once more and punched him in the head. As he saw Wobbuffet drop to the ground he jumped out of the way, letting Wobbuffet miss him. “Ah, in your face punching bag” Micky laughed, aggressively pointing his finger at Wobbuffet’s head. Wobbuffet, seeing an opportunity to inflict pain back at Micky opened up his wide mouth and clamped down on Micky’s finger. Micky cried out in pain, trying to push Wobbuffet off of his finger. Wobbuffet refused to relinquish his finger until Mark told him to. Micky jumped away from Wobbuffet, shaking his finger, still grasping his privates in pain at the same time. Purity slapped him on the back of his head. Not so much to inflict pain yet again, still just a ‘Stop being a twat’ slap.

“Do you mind Purity, I’m in enough pain as it is” Micky snarled at her.

“You quite done hitting Wobbuffet?” Mark asked sarcastically, finding humour in Micky’s stupidity.

“Yeah yeah” he growled, dropping to the ground on his ass.

“Ignore my idiotic friend here” Purity said, putting her hand out to Mark. “I’m Purity.”

He shook her hand. “Pretty name” he replied. Karen shook her head in disgust, seeing her brother had taken interest to Purity. Micky would have as well, but he was to focused with himself and the punching bag like Wobbuffet.

After about ten minutes of introductions and evil stares Karen, Micky, Purity, Mark were all downstairs again, all sat at a long wooden table. The surface was smooth, well carved, only broken by the navy blue table mats that lay in front of each of the teenagers. Micky sat facing Purity, Karen and Mark growling at each other across the table. Micky was sat next to Karen, not particularly comfortable since Pikachu was at her feet, his tail brushing against Micky’s trousers, unnerving him. Karen’s mother started to advance from the door, a large silver plate holding a golden brown turkey. Behind her, Karen’s father advanced, two plates, one in each hand, the trimmings of what looked to be a delicious roast. “Wow, this looks delicious” Purity shouted enthusiastically. “How long did it take you Mrs…um” Purity trailed off.

“Parkerson” Karen’s mum interrupted, taking a seat at the far end of the table, her husband seating soon after her on the opposite end. “But just call me Anna.”

“Ok Anna” Purity smiled. “So how long did this take?” she asked quizzically, looking in awe at the golden brown turkey, sweet smelling smoke rising from it. Karen’s father went up to it with a knife a fork in his hands, starting to cut it apart.

“A while, she’s a real perfectionist when it comes to food, so, what do you kids want?” Karen‘s father said, cutting into the side of the turkey.

“I’ll have a leg dad” Mark said immediately.

“Mark, let our guests choose first.” Micky had recently noticed Mark’s interest in Purity, an immediate sense of competition fell over him, even though he didn’t even really know if he liked her at all, it was a “She was my friend first!” thing, and after all, she had almost got him killed, she owed him big time and deserting him for some idiotic freak seemed a little bit harsh. Still, Micky felt he had an enemy now.

“I’ll have a leg please.” Micky in Mark’s direction, trying to spite him.

“Ok then.” Micky soon received the turkey leg, much to Marks distain. Karen took the other leg, just to annoy her brother, although Purity was reluctant to choose before him, showing her interest in him as well.

It took almost an hour before the group had finished everything. Micky and Mark had started an unofficial ‘Who can eat more contest’, Micky losing by several potatoes. He was now fighting the urge to burp, Mark looking pretty satisfied with himself, glaring evilly into Micky’s eyes, almost telling him ‘You can’t win.’ Karen and Mark helped take away the plates whilst Micky got out of his seat, trying to shake off the stuffed stomach feeling he had. Purity started stroking Pikachu, tickling his rosy cheek, much to Pikachu‘s delight. Both Karen’s parents had disappeared into the kitchen to help their children leaving only Micky, Purity, Pikachu and Wobbuffet in the room. Micky was tempted to take a seat and just rest but Wobbuffet’s eyes were glaring at him, making him feel uncomfortable and distracting his attention way too much for him to lay comfortably.

****

The four of them sat in Karen’s garden. The time nearly three in the afternoon, the sun pounding brightly on the soft green grass. All the Pokemon were out of their Pokeballs. Scy was off doing his own thing, far from Micky’s view, whilst Kotaro, Free and Strider were playing some form of tag game with Kirlia, Ninetales, Bellossom, Pikachu and Farfetch’d. Wobbuffet and Micky were participating in a staring contest, neither of them taking their eyes off of each other. Mark was busy trying to charm Purity, Karen was keeping her eyes on the Pokemon, occasionally turning to the group, ashamed to look at them. She could sense some sort of rivalry building between Mark and Micky, in a way she was glad it was happening. She didn’t like her brother because he always seemed to be the favourite. He was her parent’s real son, he was always better at contests, he was always the smarter one at school, he was older and got more privileges. She also had some distain for Purity as well. She seemed like a total slut to her, always confused as to how her parent’s named her. She also disliked Micky as well. He always acted like a total idiot, although she was starting to believe it was natural and not just some façade, but the worst bit was he hated Pikachu. However, she did like him for carrying her out of that cave after a Pokemon had put her to sleep, so, in a way, he was still her favourite which really said a lot for her opinions on Purity and Mark.

As night began to fall, Micky and Wobbuffet were still left staring each other. Micky eyes telling the story, looking bored and in pain with red blood vessels clearly visible. The Pokemon had returned from the game, now laying down, resting their bodies. Scy was still out doing his own thing. Purity was still leading Mark on, much to Karen’s distain, no matter how little she liked him she would‘ve hated her brother to be involved with Purity. The group were now focused on Micky and Wobbuffet. “Micky” Karen shouted loudly, sarcastically singing his name as she did.

“What?” Micky growled, not even slightly moving his head.

“Dinner time is soon, and the amount of food you ate today, I’m guessing you like my mum’s cooking.”

“I’ll eat when I beat Wobby here” Micky replied, still in a grumpy growling voice.

Purity wondered over to Karen a whispered in her ear “That’s not gonna get his attention.” She then wondered directly behind him and grinned, enjoying her idea. “Micky” she shouted, enticing Karen, Mark and the Pokemon to see what her plan was.

“What Purity?”

“Turn around.” Mark and Karen let out sighs of disappointment, expecting something better.

“No” Micky replied bluntly.

“Pikachu, come here, help me get Micky to turn around” she said, slapping her knee to get Pikachu to run over to her. Pikachu started to advance to her.

“You really think your gonna get me to turn around just to see that annoying yellow rat?” he spat sarcastically.

“Hey Pikachu, give me back my bra” she shouted in desperation. It only took Micky half a second to turn and another half to realise he was a total idiot for turning. She smirked evilly. “Got ya.” Micky shook his head in disgust with himself. Mark seemed to find humour in falling for it as well.

“Whore” he spat evilly. He then turned his attention to Wobbuffet. “And you Wobby, I’m gonna beat you at something one of these days” he shouted aggressively, poking him. Wobbuffet poked back harder, living up to his competitive personality. “And you Pikachu” he said turning to the yellow rodent. “I’m gonna do something to you” he spat. “Just don’t know what” he said evilly, getting to his feet and walking back into Karen’s house, annoyed that the last few hours he’d spent in the staring contest with Wobbuffet had been wasted. Purity felt a little bit guilty considering how long Micky had spent on that staring contest but she knew it was for the best since he stood no chance of winning.

****

The group stayed for the night. Micky and Mark sharing one room, Karen and Purity in another, neither Micky or Karen pleased with the arrangement. Micky was busy trying to shake off the bloated feeling from the amazing dinner the group had as he lay on the soft mattress. The bed was cool, the window had been open all day, finally closed at Micky’s request. “You like her don’t you?” Mark said, half chuckling it. Micky stirred for a bit, taking a moment to figure out what he was saying.

“Who?” Micky replied, knowing he was on about Purity, still, feeling he should make sure.

“You know you idiot” Mark replied sarcastically. “Karen, you got the hots for her, I can tell.” Micky took a few moments to take this in. He was busy trying to come up with a reason for not liking Purity as he spoke, it took him several seconds to finally reply, all the proof Mark needed to believe Micky fancied Karen. “See, I knew it. You fancy my sis.”

“I..” Micky really hadn’t the mental capacity to think up an answer quickly enough so he just stopped there, laying back on the pillow. He could here Mark laughing through the night under his blanket, finding humour in believing that Micky fancied his sister.

****

Micky dressed himself. From what the radio had said the previous night it was going to be a warm day, and he dressed appropriately. He wore a long sleeve fishnet shirt, basically a thin laying of red over his skin which was half visible through the netting. He stuck with his normal red striped trousers and tied his hair back in a pony tail. Mark was half dressed, a tank top and white boxers. His hair was a scruffy mess from the previous night, he’d probably slept funny. He barged into the on-suite shower before Micky, not showing any courtesy. Micky was stuck in an uncomfortable position, with the ever annoying Wobbuffet in the same room. He decided not to bother waiting for Mark to complete his morning routines and wondered out into the hallway. No one else was awake. Just Micky. He could hear the girls, a light snoring, cute in a way, coming from their room. Micky wondered further, looking in around in the lounge. Still no sign of anyone. He flicked on the television, lowering the volume as soon as he could so that he didn’t wake anyone.

“This is Channel Four news. Today, the world renown Captain Stern has set off on an Expedition to find the entrance to the legendary Sky Pillar” a news reporter announced. It changed from the reporter to footage of Captain Stern speaking. He was by no means a clean cut man. He looked nothing like a sea captain. He had half shaven rugged facial hair around his chin and cheeks. His hair was a mess, much like Marks when he had just woken up and he wore thick black glasses, making him look like a total nerd.

“Yes, it has long been argued whether we should search for this beast’s lair” he spoke in a low powerful voice, making up for his wimpy looks. “However, I believe that if we can harness the power this creature possesses, it would be for the better of the world. I think he would be a solution for the global warming that we have felt recently, and judging by scientists calculations, if we don’t do something soon, the ice caps could melt, causing global floods. Legend says that Rayquaza has the power to control the weather, as written in the prehistoric legends of Kyogre and Groudon, Rayquaza was the one who controlled the immense weather effects these beasts put upon this world and sent them away. If we can raise him again, I believe he can stop the global warming that is sure to get worse.” This program was intriguing Micky quite a bit. A legendary Pokemon being searched for. Sounded like a worthwhile project. “We are going to receive funding from the Uma Corporation and hope to begin our search in a months time.” Micky couldn’t shake the name ‘Uma Corporation’ out of his head. It sounded familiar but he couldn’t think where. He just figured it was something that he still hadn’t remembered from the amnesia.

The broadcast turned back to the reporter. “In other news, preparations for Pokemon International One Hundred have begun. The president of the Pokemon International has promised this to be the greatest spectacle the world has ever seen. If the last one’s is any indication it truly will be. The one held five years ago at the Indigo Plateau of Kanto was voted the best so far in the five hundred year history of Pokemon International. The event, due to be held at Ever Grande City will be the largest ever. It will be done over a two month period, twice as long as all the others. Entrants are required to have obtained all eight badges of either the regions of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Baxton, Cyare, Meier or Sheddon. Just like all the other Pokemon Internationals, this one will have all three tournaments. Singles Battles, Double Battles and Partnership Battles.” Micky stopped paying attention there, sensing something in the room. He turned to see Pikachu glaring at him from his shoulder. He leaped off of the sofa, making Pikachu giggle. He was so uncomfortable with the situation that he flicked off the television and wondered off towards Mark‘s room, snarling at the rat.

****

Micky and Purity set off again, leaving behind Mark and Karen after an amazing breakfast. They told their plans to the Parkersons before leaving, Purity giving off another flirt to Mark, much to Micky’s distain. Micky gave the middle finger to Pikachu and Wobbuffet when no one was looking before they left. The two of the decided to take the cable car route to Chimney Village and then take a hike down to Lavaridge Town where Micky would attempt his second go in a Pokemon Gym for his first badge whilst Purity went for her sixth badge, clearly out of Micky’s league training wise. Micky was determined to collect all eight of the Hoenn Region gym badges by next year when the Pokemon International came along. If there ever was an opportunity to prove to his father that being a Pokemon Trainer was right for him, it was at the Pokemon International One Hundred.

The route started to get dirty. Micky and Purity had to trudge through ash soaked grass fields. The ash most likely a side effect of being so close to a volcano. It was a very depressive site. Tree’s soaked in grey fields of smelly ash, no sign of trainers or Pokemon. Micky was starting to see Purity’s reasons for wanting to go through the mountain range. Micky was hoping to see some Pokemon, nice additions to his team of four before he challenged the Fire Gym of Lavaridge. He still had no idea how he was going to manage this. He knew all of his bugs would be extra weak to the flames of the fire gym and Strider had no real advantage in there either. From what Purity had told him, a good strong Water type or Rock type would be his best bet. He’d been looking over his Pokemon’s moves. Scy was probably his best sided with Free. He still intended on using Strider, knowing she could do with some more experience and was the only Pokemon not at a disadvantage. Micky and Purity had barely said a word to each other since leaving Karen’s home. There was just nothing to speak about. Micky was a bit jealous of Purity’s flirting and he was pretty sure Purity could sense that. It was an awkward situation to be in. Micky only finding comfort in the fact that it could just be his imagination that she could sense his jealousy.

The cable car ride was worse. At least when they were walking they were actually doing something. Now they were trapped together in a cramped box for about twenty minutes with nothing but some weird music in the background that was driving Micky to the point that he wanted to jump out of the car and fall to his death. “So…” Micky trailed off, trying to get Purity to say something.

“So…” she said rolling her eyes as if to say ‘this situation is bad enough as it is, don’t make it worse.’

“You like Mark then?” he said, not so much in a tone of interest, more of a ‘I don’t care this is just for conversation’ tone.

“Not particularly” she giggled. “It’s fun to lead guys on” she smirked. “You fancy Karen from what I’m told” she giggled. Micky felt like slapping himself for not arguing with Mark the previous night. In a way, he thought it was a good thing. It made it seem like he wasn’t interested in her, lifting that awkward ‘I have the hot’s for you’ situation.

“A bit” Micky said, just to convince her he was interested in Karen and not her. She just giggled, shaking her head.

“Stupid little Micky” she smirked in a patronising tone. Micky raised his eyebrow in confusion. “Why didn’t you ask her to come along with us then?”

“Well, um..” Micky was starting to see that lying wasn’t really working for him. “Well, she’s a Pokemon Co-ordinator, and plus I hate that Pikachu.” Seemed like a plausible excuse.

“Whatever” she chuckled. The conversation continued in a similar fashion, making the twenty minute journey go so much faster. As they exited the cable car they could smell the change in the air. They could smell a sweet scent. Almost uplifting. The ash was so much cleaner up here, almost soothing. Much nicer than the thick smog that clogged up much of Route 113. The town look like it was made of chocolate. The buildings were all made of wood, or at least what looked like wood. The ground was flat made of brown and black rock with some sand paths spread around. What appeared to be the Pokemon Centre was more of a weird hotel. All towns are required to have a Pokemon Centre but this town seemed to be having a laugh. It was just a tall brown building with ‘Pokemon Centre’ painted in black on a sign just outside of it. Still, Purity and Micky made their way to it. The door wasn’t even automatic. It was a basic wooden door. When they went in they were in for a big shock. It was just as nice as the Rustboro Pokemon Centre. The floor was tiled in white, shimmering clean. The walls had many paintings over a light red wallpaper. An uplifting atmosphere. A pretty blonde nurse sat watching a television. Micky was about to speak but Purity stopped him. “Down boy” she giggled in a whisper to his ear seeing his immediate attraction to the nurse. “Let me do the talking” she whispered. “Excuse me” she said loudly to the nurse.

“Oh, hi” she replied. Clearly not having to have done anything all day. She made her way to Purity. “How can I help you?” she asked.

“We’re Pokemon Trainers, we were hoping to get a room here” she said bluntly.

“Ah. We rarely ever have Pokemon trainers come by here. There’s very little use for a trainer that this town has. You two are the only one’s who have come by here in a week” she said. “Anyway, you can take a look at the rooms, decide which ones you want.” She pointed to a red door near the back. Micky and Purity made their way through it. A staircase led them up to three different floors, each floor having four rooms each. They both selected top floor rooms. Micky dumped his bag In the room, taking only a jacket, his Pokemon belt and his trainer card. He knocked at Purity’s room, trying to get her to leave her room. He found her on the phone. She waved at him to go away which he did. She came out of her room about a minute later.

They planned to check out the town for anything interesting. The town was pretty useless to Pokemon Trainers. More of a stop over or holiday place. There was only one thing of interest. The Mount Chimney Lava lake. Just as it sounds. A Lake of Lava where the volcano could erupt at any time. It had been dormant for almost a thousand years, yet it still, it was clearly active. The lava bubbling, heat rising in smoke clouds. It was an interesting sight for both Micky and Purity. “An ideal training ground” she smirked. Micky hadn’t much of a clue what she was on about and just looked at her strangely. “Around here” she said. “Its rugged, its bumpy, absolutely perfect for training.”

“I guess” Micky said shrugging his shoulders.

“Well come on then, lets train them. After all, that’s why your with me isn’t it. So I can teach you how to be a good Pokemon Trainer. Why your travelling with me aint it?” Well, it was half true what she said. He was travelling with her for that reason. He was also travelling with her because he was attracted to her but he wasn’t going to just straight out say that.

“Yeah, I guess so” he replied.

“Well, you were saying about Solarbeam. Lets see if we can teach your Pokemon it then.” Purity proceeded to throw a Pokeball to the ground, releasing Bellossom. The weird plant like Pokemon that he could swear was wearing a Hawaiian Grass Skirt. Micky threw all four of his Pokeballs to the ground, releasing all four of his Pokemon. “Well, they are all potential Solarbeam users” she said. “Whether they have the mental capacity to learn it or not is another thing though.” Not a complete compliment and considering they were the first words she’d said to Scy he wasn’t particularly happy. She was under the impression this Scyther wasn’t the one that was trying to kill him and was in fact one that saved Micky. There was no way she’d travel with Micky knowing he wielded that psychotic creature. If it hadn’t been for Koga Micky wouldn’t have kept it anyway, neither were big fans of Scy, but, due to the charade Micky had to act like he liked this ‘Life Saving’ Pokemon.

****

It was long and tiring trying to teach it to them. Free seemed to pick it up quickly and had the hang of it. She blasted apart rocks with the powerful beam of light. Kotaro has some idea of what he was doing. His Solarbeam couldn’t break rocks, but he could put dents into them. Strider had only mustered up enough strength to leave a black mark on the practice rocks. Scy, on the other hand, refused to even try, eventually being returned to his Pokeball. The night was falling, both Micky and Purity eventually deciding it wasn’t light enough for the Pokemon to be able to continue, sunlight being the power source of Solarbeam.

They headed back to the practically empty Pokemon Center. The nurse was still watching television, barely greeting them, just put up her hand in a ‘hey.’ Micky waved Purity good night and slung himself onto the bottom bunk of one of the two bunk beds. He drifted into a deep sleep with ease.

Everything started to look hazy. Grey smoke seemed to cloud the grass field which he stood upon. Why Micky was there he didn’t know. He looked around. Nothing, no one except the fog. He reached for his Pokeball belt only to find it wasn’t there. He was still In the same clothes. The red fish net shirt and the black trousers striped with red. On instinct he started to walk forward, well, at least what he thought was forward. He blinked and everything changed. The fields, the smoke, it was all gone. He was in a wooden room. It was large, the size of the bottom floor of a house. It was made entirely of wood. The floor, the walls, everything. There was a table, a water stain upon it. He looked around. Nothing to be seen, not even a door. He step towards the walls, starting to grab at them, scraping at the surface. He turned away from it and immediately a person appeared. His heart jumped and he slammed himself against the wall, trying to create some distance between the two. The person stood at almost seven feet tall. Micky could see nothing. A black hockey mask covering the person’s face. Cold white eyes were visible through the peepholes of the mask. Micky could tell immediately that this person was a man just through his cold stare. White scars were painted on the black mask, looking to be designed for intimidation. This man hid his body under a large purple cloak that hung off of his body, forming rolls. He could see three large bulges where his hand was, hidden under a black glove, the other hand just the same. The cold eyes went from the sick white to the glowing red.

“Michael Hardy” he said in a deep low voice, sending chills down Micky’s spine. He slowly slid to the ground, through fear and astonishment. The man looked down to him. “You have a very big role to play in the future. You and I, we will change his world, together…” he trailed off. He raised his right hand slowly. Micky started to rise up, being lifted telekinetically until he wasn’t even touching the ground. “Do you understand?” he snarled in a much more threatening voice.

“Who, who, who are you?” Micky stuttered fearfully, his eyes widening in terror.

“In time you will know..” he growled. He then proceeded to thrust his left hand forward, sending Micky through the wooden walls.

Micky awoke from his sleep, sitting up so fast that he ended up slamming his head on the bottom of the upper bunk. He fell back onto the bed, his head in pain, yet he was so short of breathe that he couldn’t even gasp a curse word. He gripped his head in pain and rolled to his side. Landing on his knee’s on the floor. He looked up, brushing his hair to the side, allowing him to see properly. Morning light beamed through the white curtains. “I slept that long?” he gasped, still out of breathe from the dream. He heard a knock at his door.

“Are you alright?” Micky sighed in relief. Purity’s sweet voice seeming to make the whole dream disappear.

“Yeah” Micky gasped.

“Ok, get dressed, I wanna make it to Lavaridge soon” she shouted.

“Ok!” he shouted back to her, heading towards the shower.

****

Micky put the dream behind him, classifying it as just another nightmare. The day was going to be cooler than the previous one. He dressed himself in black trousers, double-striped with white. He wore a white shirt, a dragon imprint in black. He had a long wristband of black along his arm, stretching from the starts of his fingers until out of sight under the short sleeves of the t-shirt. It was made like it were a thick spider web, huge gaps visible, worn for fashion and not for function. On his right arm he put a white elbow support on, his arm aching from sleeping uncomfortably. He shook his head like a dog to get rid of the water in his hair before picking up his bag and carrying it out of the door and down to the lobby of the Pokemon Center. Purity was waiting for him at the bottom. A different nurse sitting at the bottom. The two of them sitting on a green sofa watching the television. Micky slung down next to Purity. Much of the space on the sofa was taken, he was very cramped up next to her. Micky felt strangely calm being so close to her. Maybe it was something in her perfume. He could smell a lemon scent in her hair, a soothing rush through his brain. Micky turned his attention to the television. It was on the Pokemon Battle Network. They were watching the World Pokemon Federation. Arguably the most famous and greatest division of a Pokemon Trainer League aside from the official ones that took place every five years. It was places like this that money was to be made out of being a good trainer, and good money it was. The W.P.F was one of the most recognised organisations. Many winners of the Pokemon Leagues joined this federation. This was the kind of place Micky wanted to end up in. Earning great money, living the high life, and doing something that he was beginning to love.

“And we prepare to watch what is bound to be a brilliant much for the W.P.F Heavyweight Single’s title.” Micky knew what this meant. It would always be a one Pokemon on one Pokemon battle, except in the cases of the team battles. There were two divisions. Cruiserweight division. Where all Pokemon must weigh two hundred pounds or less, and the heavyweight division, were all weights were legal. The heavyweight division usually being the main highlight of any organisation similar to this. “Tonight, we see Necromancer’s Gengar, known as Poltergeist, take on Johnny Conqueror’s Slaking, known as Ace.” the announcer continued. Micky hadn’t watched this program in ages, not since he was a young child. Still, he didn’t want to see other people living out what he wanted to do, he wanted to do it himself. He nudged Purity. She took the hint and got up. The two of them said goodbye to the nurse and headed out of the door. Micky heard a sick gong come from the television. It was a church bell sound, edited to sound sicker and more freaky. Micky felt it in his spine, the sound really freaking him out, making him think about his strange dream again, almost like the two were related somehow. He looked at the television screen to see the entire thing was black, probably some sort of effect they done for the entrance. He shook his head to get the thought out of his head and stepped out of the Pokemon Centre, following Purity.

****

Micky and Purity had made their way down about half of the mountain side. Still, Micky hadn’t seen a single Pokemon. He was starting to get desperate. If the gym leader requested a four on four Pokemon battle he had no idea how he would do it. The mountain was very steep. The only way to keep balance was to use the many rocks that littered the steep grey slope. The air was much clearer than up at Chimney Village. Micky guessed it was the wind blowing the ash away. “Purity” he shouted down to the cute girl who was charging her way down the mountain side.

“What?”

“Can I take a rest?”

“Fine!” she shouted. Micky slumped down on top of a rock. “I’ll see you at Lavaridge Pokemon Centre.” She laughed and then continued to run. Micky slowly pulled himself to his tired feet and slowly stumbled down the side of the cliff. Purity seeming to be miles ahead.

Finally, very slowly, Micky had made his way nearly to the bottom of the slope. He could see Purity quite a way ahead, talking to someone. It wasn’t too long before Micky could see what was going on. Purity pulled a Pokeball from her belt and through it to the air, it landed hard to the ground and fro within came her nine tailed fox. Her opponent turned, and Micky recognised him immediately, no blur of amnesia at all. “Wait a sec Purity” he shouted.

“Purity?” the guy smirked sarcastically.

“Yes Purity” she spat back. The guy raised his eyebrow in sarcasm, looking at her dress style. A mini skirt and a shirt cut at the belly button, didn’t quite spell the name Purity.

“Shano is my rival” Micky shouted, jumping down the last ten feet of the slope.

“Micky” Shane said rising his eyebrow at him.

“Shaneo you ugly ****-tard, how’s you bin? Still a total piece of crap when it comes to pokemon?” he smirked, so comfortable with talking to him that way, probably the fact that he was the closest thing to a rival Micky had, and it was pretty standard to talk crap to your rival.

“Well, that’s settle this with a battle then” he smirked, a Pokeball in his hand. Micky grabbed a Pokeball from his belt, knowing it was Scy. “One on One ok with you then?”

“You bet” Micky growled. He was thinking of this as an opportunity to impress Purity. The both of them threw their Pokeballs at the same time. Scy exited Micky’s Pokeball whilst an odd shaped red reptile exited Shane’s. His head was weird bulges, like popcorn bubbling up inside his head. Micky was regretting his choice in Pokemon, seeing that Shane’s choice was a fire type.

“Magby” the creature shouted.

“Scy” was the growl Magby received in return.

“Scy, hit that ugly bitch with a slash” Micky shouted.

“Magby, flamethrower!” Scy flew towards Magby as the weird creature sprayed a long twirl of red flames at Scy. He barely dodged it but was distracted too much to hit Magby with his Scythes. Instead he just crashed into Magby with his back sending the two to the ground. Scy flew to the air as fast as he could whilst Magby nipped up like Micky usually did when he was knocked to the ground. The two Pokemon faced off again, waiting for orders from their trainers.

“Scy, Fury Cutter!” Micky shouted loudly. Scy flew at Magby with both scythes glinting like the metal coat he was wearing. Scy jammed his left scythe forward, Magby, moved to his side but was caught in the back by Scy’s left scythe. Blood started to draw from Magby’s back as he yelped in pain. Scy then flew up high, right scythe dripping with blood, his left scythe drawn, ready to be soaked just like his right. Magby dropped to his knee’s, and looked up to Shane, almost begging him to return him to his Pokeball.

“Magby!” Shane shouted, as he saw the sun shining from behind Scyther’s body, gleaming onto Magby’s face. Scy’s eyes glinted evilly as he dove down, left scythe pointed sharply, aiming for the chest as he dove down, at lightning fast pace. Magby rolled out of the way on instinct, Scy’s blade jamming into the ground, half way deep into the soil. He was stuck. His scythe‘s weren’t at full strength yet, he still hadn‘t adjusted to the metal coat holding his arms together and he was struggling to move his scythe out of the dirt. “Magby, Flamethrower” Shane shouted.

“Scy!” Micky cried out, “Endure” he screamed, not able to think of any other move. Scy clenched his eyes shut as the flames over came him. Scy’s skin started to melt into the steel. He was unable to breath. What was only a few seconds seemed like years. Finally Magby stopped breathing out the flames and caught his breath, revealing a charred Scyther. His entire body was scarred in black, except on the opposite side of Magby, which was still green and silver, although partially charred.

“Magby, another flamethrower!” Shane shouted.

“Scy! Get out of there” Micky shouted. Scy was trying to get his scythe out of the ground but to no avail. The heat overcame him again as he lost all consciousness. When Magby stopped breathing out the flames Scyther was half laying on the ground, only being slightly held up by his scythe which was still stuck in the ground. Micky withdrew him to his Pokeball in surprise. “****” he spat. “Damn it!”

Shane smirked evilly. “I see that you still suck at Pokemon training.”

“So, you beat me once, I beat you once” Micky said cockily. “Next time I’ll beat you Shaneo, trust me!” Micky growled.

Purity shook her head. “Come on Micky” she said grabbing his arm, dragging him out of his stare of with Shane, knowing that if this went any further it‘d be another battle, and Micky had to keep his Pokemon ready for Lavaridge Gym if he stood any chance.

****

They arrived at the Lavaridge Pokemon Center. Micky was anxious to get Scy healed before taking on the Lavaridge gym leader. The plan was in fact to be in Mauville city by the end of the day. Micky was unsure if he would be ready for the gym leader in time. He was trying to think of a way to beat a fire gym leader with only two bugs and a fire horse. He took a step into the Pokemon Center, Pokeball in hand and hoped he would be ready.

‘I just don't wanna stay and wait for a wonder’ - The Rasmus, In the Shadows

*Yawns* Another slow boring chapter. Well, a build up to the end already (Pokemon League, got the final battle all in my head and everything). Anyways. I assure you the next chapter will finally be back onto the battles etc.

[Loupeitak]

XD loved the part about the Wobbufet. It was great! U poke he pokes harder. U punch he bounces back at you harder. XD

Anyway, this was kind of a boring chappy. But it had a battle and that got me to get up (if u knoe what i mean)

Keep up the great work

[Whisper in the Wind]

yay, another reader . Yeah the chapter was a bit boring, but the next I hope to be more action packed. I think I might be cramming two gym battles into one chap, if not it'll be in 2 chaps back to back.

[drizzt]

I actually liked the chapter and didn't find it boring at all. It as really good like all your other chapters. Keep at it.

[Whisper in the Wind]

Yay another reader, I'm getting mroe and more

Well, I found it a bit boring but I'm glad you liked it. I'll probs start on chap 12 tommorow since I spent much of today unconsicous

[Celebrity_Fanatic]

Hello, its me, i fianally caught up with the story, liked the part with Wobbert update soon

[Dragonfree]

It's so long, I'm still somewhere in the middle of it, but I really like the chapter so far. Wobbuffet is funny.

[Whisper in the Wind]

lol, everyone loves Wobby. Yeah, you got quite some catching up to do Dragonfree

[DannyBoy]

“Hey Pikachu, give me back my bra” she shouted in desperation. It only took Micky half a second to turn and another half to realise he was a total idiot for turning. She smirked evilly. “Got ya.”

Between Wobba and this I laughed. Pretty good chapter and it was really really long and I never thought it would end! But its all good! Longer the better as long as you keep readers interested which you kept me interested. Keep it up!

[Whisper in the Wind]

thanks immortal.

By the way, can anyone tell me the name of the fire badge of hoenn?

[Powarun]

YEah Wobby was pretty cool, just about as cool as Brit Chris's bad chef wobbuffet. And I think Micky can run a mile (Kilometer for you other people) faster than Wobby. Someday though Pika better get whats coming for him, maybe Micky should evolve the dang thing, or pull off its tail.

[Whisper in the Wind]

ooo, I like the idea of Micky evolving Pikachu to annoy him

Side Note: I figured out the gym badges name (thanks to serebii) its the heat badge

[Whisper in the Wind]

yeah, Pika will get what is coming to him Someday...

[Whisper in the Wind]

Chapter 12: Overwhelming Odds

‘Do I have the strength, to know where I’ll go?’ - Metallica, Frantic

“I’m afraid he will be In the Pokeheal for at least the rest of the day” the nurse said to the distraught Micky.

“But, we need to be in Mauville City by the end of today” Purity interrupted. Micky still couldn’t see why Purity wanted to be in Mauville so badly but Micky wasn‘t going to protest against it.

“Well, we could send your Pokemon to the Mauville Pokemon Centre once he's healed...assuming you’d be able to pick it up..” the nurse trailed off raising her eyebrow.

“Yeah we can, come on Micky, we got a gym to beat” Purity said quickly, dragging Micky away from the counter by his hand.

Purity had already arranged the gym battles in advance for the two of them. Micky was to participate in a four on four originally, fortunately, he managed to arrange it so it was a three on three after explaining his situation. Purity was going to participate first though, a four on four battle. Micky took a seat before the crowds would gather. He had a nice position, front row centre, perfect view of the battlefield, probably the best place to be in the very large arena. This gym would probably be able to hold some Pokemon league qualifier matches, judging by it's size. The field itself was the size of a football pitch. It was brown rock, much like that of Chimney Village. There were many holes in it, steam rising from each one. The gym leader was a pretty girl named Flannery, probably about nineteen or so, about six foot tall. She had sort of a rock girl look. Wearing jeans, ripped at the knee’s and a black t shirt cut at the belly button, a fire symbol on the chest. She was a fiery red head, most likely dyed to suit the gyms fire specialty. It was tied up like it were flames, raise high above her head, eventually dropping down to her shoulders at the ends.

Crowds gathered and within the half hour building up to the match. The gym leader, known as Flannery, played to the crowd, waving to them and blowing kisses, even throwing her green jacket into the crowd where a few people fought over it. She was clearly a very popular gym leader, attractive, young, and most likely a brilliant trainer. Micky watched closely, hoping to find a weakness in Flannery’s battle style to even up the odds prior to his battle. It was really his only advantage. The bulk of his team was bug types, much like her's being fire types, so the fact hat being a single-typed gym leader gave Micky no advantage. The only hope he had was to learn her style of battling and counter it, if that was even possible.

Purity entered, Pokeballs already in hand. A few guys whistled, annoying Micky in a way, but he held in his anger at their behaviour and stayed focused. “The following contest will be a four on four Pokemon battle for the Heat badge. The challenger is allowed to switch between her Pokemon, however the gym leader is not. There will be no time limit to this match!” an announcer called into his microphone. “Trainers, select your Pokemon!” he said. Both Flannery and Purity grabbed a Pokeball and readied it. “Go!” he shouted as the two Pokeballs flew into the battlefield. Purity’s ball exploded in a huge flash of blue see-through light forming into a long snake of about fourteen foot. As it started to clear, the creature started to coil herself, eventually standing her head about seven foot into the air, using the other half of her long streamline body as balance. The creature was clean light crème all over. Two pale red long ears draped from either side of her snake like head, almost like curtains of skin, laying on the ground and the bottom. At her tail was four peacock like feathers, coloured in turquoise, lightened with a shimmering red, scaled in red and blue, like that of a snake, linking slowly to the end of her long body. Her eyes were pure black all over, coated with red. A long crème point stuck up her head and two red curls rose from above her eyes, decorating above her head, though they probably also served a purpose at the same time.

Flannery had released a small white camel. The same specie Micky had faced In the Premier ball tournament. A small yellow camel, shaped almost like a toy horse. The hump of her back coloured with dots of green, a small tuff of fur on the roof of her head. A Numel. This one was slightly larger than the last Micky had seen. Her eyes stared into the crowd, looking around. There was a few seconds gap between the release of the Pokemon and the battle beginning. Both trainers Pokeballs rolling back to their feet, both of them picking their balls up and placing them on their belts. Numel looked around at the crowd, locking eyes with Micky for a split second before focusing on her opponent.

“Milotic” Purity shouted. “Water Gun!” The creature opened her mouth, a thick slit across the front of her face for a mouth that had no teeth, as far as Micky could tell there was no tongue, it was just a black emptiness, until a blue spray of water came flying out towards Numel. The tiny yellow camel dived out of the way, narrowly avoiding the spray which drained into the holes on battlefield. Milotic started to sliver her body forward, slowly crawling her way towards the Numel who was cowering in the corner of the battlefield, awaiting an order.

“Numel, Rock Tomb!” Flannery shouted. Micky had seen this move before. A deadly trap, although Milotic seemed to large to be trapped as easily as Free was. Numel, ran close towards Milotic, dodging a second and third Water Gun before leaping into the air, over Milotic’s streamline body, landing hard on the other end. The ground seemed to bulge below her body, Milotic rolled to her side as some lumps of rock crumbling over the surface, breaking the originally smooth rock battlefield. Numel charged forward head first, knocking one of the broken rocks into the neck of Milotic, making the crowd roar for Flannery. Milotic slithered towards the battlefield edges, away from the centre and more in the direction of the crowd, trying to shake off the pain she felt from the shot she took to the neck. “Numel, tackle!”

The tiny camel charged towards Milotic, her head lowered as though she was going for a double-edge. “Milotic, Iron Tail!” Milotic threw her body up ready to attack as the tiny camel went running right underneath her, making her jam in shock, tripping slightly and losing focus. Milotic recovered quickly as she dropped to the ground, making herself spin her long slender body from her belly to her tip which began shimmering in silver before she struck Numel hard with the tip of her hardened tail, sending the tiny Camel into the crowd. Flannery knew if her Pokemon did not return to the battlefield by the count of ten she would be counted out. Flannery doubted if Numel was even conscious after being hit so hard. Still, the camel showed heart, slowly clambering out of the masses, trudging down the steps. The announcer had reached a count of nine, both Purity and Flannery knew there was no way Numel would make it onto the field in the next count, and she didn’t. The announcer ordered a bell ring to indicate the elimination of Numel, much to the crowds dismay. Flannery returned her camel to her Pokeball and then threw another to the battlefield.

From within the Pokeball came a similar Camel, though much larger. His body stood about two metres In the air, two grey volcano shaped humps on his back. His entire body was covered in red hair, except on his sides. Each side of his body had three circular patterns of pale blue. His eyes were glum, appearing so drowse that he looked ready for a nice long sleep. Around his face was a large brown nose and mouth, both of which mixed into each other like a normal camels face. “Erupt!” he groaned as he waddled his large body side to side.

“Milotic, return” Purity cried out, withdrawing her long snake like creature to her Pokeball, knowing she needed to rest her as much as she could. She threw another towards the field. Her fire fox Ninetales formed, pacing backwards and forwards gracefully, her eyes focused on her foe. “Ninetales, Will-o-Wisp!” Purity cried out. The large camel just looked glumly as his foe charged forward. Ninetales opened her mouth, moaning something along the lines of “tails” before breathing out a pumpkin shaped fireball towards her foe, who was showing no signs of trying to dodge the attack.

“Camerupt!” Flannery shouted. The pumpkin shaped ball of flames crashed into the head of Camerupt, still he showed no sign of reaction as the ball broke, tiny fire balls floated in the air around Camerupt, until, finally they exploded, spraying flames all over Camerupt’s face. “Amnesia!” With that, Micky could see it in the dull eyes of the camel. Camerupt rolled his eye’s into the back of his head before blinking, his eyes facing forward again. Micky guessed that this move makes the Pokemon forget any pain it’s in, though he doubted that it was able to do anything about the actual damage caused. “Now Camerupt, Earthquake!” Flannery cried out. Camerupt took his front legs off of the ground before crashing them back onto the battlefield. A long line of cracks started to form in a zig zag line, heading towards Ninetales. Ninetales tried to jump out of the way but was taken off of her feet by the breaking rocks that sprung off of the battlefield.

Ninetales lay on the ground, her left fore leg bleeding, not a good sign. “Ninetales, Quick Attack!” Micky watched as Ninetales clambered to her feet slowly, picking her spot before making a quick dash across the battle field, colliding into the side of Camerupt who had barely moved since being released from his Pokeball, and showing no signs of wanting to change that and ended up allowing Ninetales to knock into his side. Camerupt practically shrugged it off, as though he hadn’t been hit.

“Camerupt!” Flannery called out loudly. “Eruption!” she shouted. Camerupt closed his eyes shut, his body seeming to grow fatter before taking one deep breathe in. His body went completely thin for a moment as large balls of fire started to explode out of his two humps, liquid magma dripping down his sides as more and more balls of fire came out. His body relaxed again, dripping with liquid magma as the balls of fire came crashing down onto the battlefield, several landing hard onto Ninetales. She was soon buried underneath three flaming balls. They were like burning rocks, almost like another version of Rock Tomb only a lot deadlier. Ninetales moaned loudly as the final explosions of the miniature Armageddon ended. Now all that was heard was the announcers count. There was a space of about three seconds in between each count until he finally reached the count of ten. He signalled to the person controlling the bell as it sounded, indicating Ninetales’s loss. Purity returned Ninetales to her Pokeball, leaving the heap of burning rocks to cave in where Ninetales once was.

Purity took a deep thought as to which Pokemon she was going to use now. She was considering Milotic again, since she had the powerful water attacks, and unlike Numel, this Camerupt didn’t like to jump around trying to avoid the hits. On the other hand she could also use Kirlia, a powerful psychic. No matter what, she didn’t want to have to resort to Bellossom who would most likely be destroyed with one hit, being so fragile to fire. She knew time was counting down on her. Flannery opened her mouth and cockily shouted “We aint got all day girl!” Purity made her choice. She grabbed the a Pokeball and hurled it towards the battlefield, thinking to herself if her choice would pay off.

****

Kerri sat on the roof of Professor Birch’s Laboratory, Latianne by her side. She was where she had always wanted to be. She loved Pokemon, and now she was with them. She wasn’t trapped in some padded room, or tied in a strap jacket. She was free. She could wonder through Littleroot Town whenever she wanted. Best of all, she had someone to talk to. Latianne. They could speak through mind, no need for pen or paper, no need for sign language, all thought. She hadn’t been this happy since the day she won her first gym badge. Latianne was in tune with Micky’s mind, almost keeping an eye on him. Latianne and Kerri would help Birch out with the Pokemon, caring for them, keeping their eyes on some of the eggs, even a little bit of research help. Kerri was even considering trying to become a Pokemon trainer again, maybe if she could some how legally be freed from the Mossdeep Sanatorium. Until then she’d just befriend the many Pokemon she was surrounded by, her favourite obviously being Latianne.

‘Is Micky ok?’ Kerri thought to herself, locking eyes with Latianne.

‘Don’t worry, he’s ok.’

‘What’s he doing?’

‘Watching a battle, well, I think so, I’m just going by his thoughts.’

‘Is he battling?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘I wish I could read minds like you can…’ Kerri thought. She turned her eyes away from Latianne and focused on working at the lab again.

‘It isn't all it's cracked up to be.’

‘Still...ever since I was a little girl I dreamed of being psychic. I always admired those who were, just watching how close they were to their Pokemon just because they simply had the power to communicate with them.’ She sighed in thought, just imagining it as well as wondering what Micky was up to.

****

Purity’s Pokeball sprung open, a red glow forming. Both the crowd and Flannery gasped in shock at Purity’s choice. She had chosen Bellossom, the strange looking flower Pokemon. Micky stood up, wanting to shout to Purity “Why did you choose her?” but before he could Purity had already ordered Bellossom to use Petal Dance. The grass skirt lower body started flash between silver-blue and silver-purple before Bellossom jumped up, firing two leaves from beneath which also glowed between the silvery colours.

“Camerupt, Eruption!” Again, the large camel seemed to get bloated but before he could even send out his burning rocks of Armageddon, he was hit by the first set of leaves. Small tears in his skin could be seen as blood started to leak out from beneath his thick fur. Bellossom sent out another set of leaves which again connected with the large camel. Micky heard him groan in pain as he began to move properly for the first time. “Camerupt! Earthquake!” Flannery ordered, fear in her voice, knowing that Camerupt was weakening. Camerupt tried to leap into the air but was caught in the face by one of the leaves sent from under the glowing skirt of Bellossom. He fell to his side, most likely from shock rather than pain. He rolled to his side and eventually back onto his feet, shaking his head to rid the cobwebs of shock out of his brain.

“Bell-a!” Bellossom cried in her cute light voice.

“Bellossom, Sludge Bomb!”

“Camerupt, Overheat!” Flannery cried. Bellossom squirted purple ooze from the two flowers on her head and in a big splatter it collided with Camerupt’s body. Camerupt stood still for a moment, focusing his mind. He began to glow a fiery red and within a moment he spewed a long trail of flames towards Bellossom who was frozen to the spot in fear. The flames went right into her, a silhouette of her figure visible through the thick flames. The attack lasted only a few seconds but as soon as the flames had cleared Bellossom was visible underneath, flailing around, her body on fire. She rolled to the ground, a feeble attempt at clearing the flames. “Now, Stomp!” Flannery shouted. Camerupt made his way over to Bellossom and took a leap into the air before landing feet first on the burning flower. Purity withdrew her to the Pokeball rather than waiting for the count to begin, knowing Bellossom, even if she could stand after the count of ten, had little chance of survival. It counted as a forfeit when returning a Pokemon to its Pokeball during a count so the bell sounded to indicate the loss. Two Pokemon had fallen two this Camerupt and she knew it was time to get a type advantage and threw her Milotic’s Pokeball to the battlefield.

“Milotic! Hit that thing with a Hydro Pump!” Purity ordered. Camerupt knew he couldn’t move in time to avoid this so instead he braced himself for what would be a very painful attack. A couple of bubbles emerged from Milotic’s mouth as water started to dribble from the crack in her mouth. Milotic’s eyes closed, Micky could see her body moving as the water was climbing up her throat. She snapped her eyes open and took one last aim on her target before unleashing a thick spray of water, much wider than a water gun, much faster than a water gun, and far more powerful than a water gun. Camerupt’s eyes were closed tight as the water collided with his already bleeding body. He stood his ground, groaning in pain as he endured second after second of the Hydro Pump. After ten or so seconds he was finally released. He tilted from side to side for a few moments before finally collapsing onto his right side, unconscious. A smile formed on Purity’s pretty face, she’d evened up the odds. Flannery sighed and returned her Camerupt to his Pokeball. She frowned at Purity and threw a Pokeball toward her Milotic.

From within the Pokeball came a slug that appeared to be made of lava. His entire body was glowing red, his body a widening at the bottom as though it were lava spilt from a cup. He had a sick sadistic grin on his face, two red lumps dripping from either side of his mouth. His eyes were glowing yellow, sick beady black pupils. Upon his back was a grey rock shell, just like that of a snails, marked with dents that formed fossil style circles. A small flame rose from his neck, in between his head and shell. “Magcargo!” Flannery shouted out to the red blob. “Fire Blast!” The rocky shell on the back of Magcargo’s body glowed red before he breathed out a thick fire ball. The fire ball rolled along the ground like it were a football. As it collided with Milotic, it exploded into an X shape of flames. Milotic’s sight was blinded by the flames and she failed to see Magcargo’s next move. Without order, just through instinct, Magcargo fired a beam of white light. It took no time to collide with Milotic’s body. The attack only lasted a second but the damage was done. Milotic fell to the ground, rolling in pain. Milotic moaned a whale like cry as the announcer began to count her out.

“Come on Milotic, get back up!” Purity cried in desperation. “Please!” she shouted once more. The announcer reached a count of six before Milotic finally raised her head up.

“Rock Slide!” Flannery cried.

Almost a split second later, through instinct, Purity screamed “Protect!” Magcargo fired rocks from his mouth towards Milotic. The snake like water Pokemon covered her body in what looked to be a see-through blue coat. The rocks broke as they collided with the protective force field. “Ok, now, Water Gun!” As quickly as possible, Milotic released a thin spray of water from her mouth, connecting with the sadistic face of Magcargo who’s eyes were clenched in pain as he was soaked. Milotic took another deep breathe before spraying another load of water at her foe.

“Return!” Flannery shouted, forfeiting her Magcargo, knowing that something as slow as a slug wouldn’t be able to dodge any more water attacks and only had one option, to endure them, which he was failing to do. “Go, Torkoal!” she shouted soon afterwards, throwing her Pokeball to the battlefields centre. From within came a large tortoise, about half a metre in height, similar in diameter to Camerupt. Her body was a fiery orange, five claws on each toe, shimmering white. Her skin was scaly with lines of grey-black. She possessed a tortoise like face and she breathed white smoke from her nostrils. Her shell was a coal black where there were four glowing red stones indented on her shell surrounding her centre which was a hole, similar to a volcano. Smoke was also rising from within her shell as well, escaping from what acted like a chimney, the volcano hole upon her back. She opened her eyes, a glowing red evil peepers. She groaned angrily as more and more white smoke escaped from her body. “Smokescreen!” Flannery shouted. More and more white smoke escaped from her Pokemon's body until all that was visible was a black outline of where Torkoal’s body was. The entire battlefield was hidden, Purity was coughing as the smoke started to cover where she was. Even area’s of the crowd suffered the smoke, including Micky who had already covered his face with his sleeve.

“Twister!” Purity shouted, choking out her order. Milotic’s silhouette began to spin. A tornado shape started to form within the smoke, much to the crowds relief as all the smoke that steamed from Torkoal’s body was poured into this twister. The tornado grew stronger and stronger, wind was picking up within the arena, cold and strong. “Now, finish the job!” Milotic leaped out from the Twister, seeming to back flip onto a landing as the tornado moved forward towards Torkoal, sweeping her off her feet and slinging her across the battlefield, her body dragging along the ground as she rolled.

The Torkoal swung her body to her side and got back to her feet, shaking her head violently, regaining focus. “Torkoal, Smog!” Torkoal puffed up her cheeks before blowing out. Out of her mouth and hole atop her shell came purple smoke, much like that of the smokescreen, only this was poisonous. Fans switched on to blow the smoke away from the crowd and towards the battlefield, still, Micky covered his mouth just in case, since he was so close.

“Milotic, blow it away with a Hydro Pump!” Milotic took a deep breath in but as she went to fire out water, nothing came out, just air and a tiny spit. She tried again but failed to conjure up anything. The smog came closer to her and soon she was being choked by the poisonous purple gas. Her moans were heard throughout the gym and by the time the smoke had cleared she was laying unconscious on the ground, being counted out. She failed to hear Purity begging for her to get up and was counted as unconscious, the bell sounding to indicate her loss. It was now down to a one on one. Kirlia verses Torkoal. Purity withdrew her Milotic and threw Kirlia’s Pokeball towards the battlefield.

Kirlia stood at about three feet in height. She had thin legs of alien green, what appeared to be a skirt, which was actually her scaly skin flapped in both directions, a pale white. Her body was of the same colour, tiny in size. Two handless arms stood out on either side, leading from the shoulders to a thin neck. Her head was shaped as a sphere, two brown-red eyes gleaming around the arena. She had a helmet like cover around her spherical head, two sides dropping down over her ears, similar colour as her legs. She had two blood red antennas that stuck out from either side of her head like another set of ears. Micky assumed they were used for emitting psychic pulses after Purity had shouted “Kirlia, Psychic!” which caused her two blood red sensors began to glow white as Torkoal began to rise from the ground. The tortoise looked around desperately, totally scared out of her mind, never having experienced this type of attack before.

“Torkoal, flamethrower!” Torkoal took a deep breath in, still being levitated in the air.

“Light Screen Kirlia!” Purity shouted. Her sensors stopped glowing white and began to glow purple. Torkoal was dropped to the ground, losing balance and stumbling as she fired flames at Kirlia. A ball of see-through purple surrounded Kirlia’s body, the screen about one foot away from her body on all sides. The flames clashed with the purple Light Screen and bounced off, firing towards the ceiling, a black burn mark was left as a result. “Ok, now, Hypnosis!” Kirlia’s antenna’s began to glow white again, her eye’s glowing a sick red, enticing Torkoal’s focus.

Torkoal started to rock side to side, her mind going numb. Her eyes slowly closed and she fell to the floor head first. “Torkoal! Sleep Talk!” Whether she heard the order from Flannery or not wasn’t obvious but her mouth began to move, practically kissing the battlefield as her tongue wiped on sand. She slowly brought herself to her feet, still snoozing. She breathed out fire balls into random directions, an ember attack. Any time it came close to Kirlia it reflected off of her Light Screen.

“Kirlia, Hidden Power!” Kirlia’s entire body began to glow a blinding white. Micky shielded his eyes, but moved his hand just enough to see Kirlia fire a beam of light from her head at Torkoal, sending her flying to Flannery’s feet. A splash of water was left at the end of it, Torkoal lying unconscious at Flannery’s feet. The young gym leader dropped to her feet and held her tortoise by her head, trying to bring her conscious again but to no avail, finally ending with Torkoal being counted out as the bell sounded. Flannery sighed and withdrew her Torkoal back to her Pokeball and re-attached it to her waist.

A person behind her handed her a small black box, much like the kind of box you’d store jewellery. Purity was busy hugging her Kirlia in celebration, as Flannery started to walk towards the battlefield centre, box in her left hand. She snapped it open. Micky stood on his feet and looked in, taking a direct look at the beautiful object. It was no bigger than a buttercup flower. It was shaped like a flame, the bulk of it was made of a shiny ruby, around its edges it was golden, it was a Hoenn gym badge. One of the eight required for entering the Pokemon League of Hoenn or the Pokemon International, something Micky was determined to be a part of. Micky was now looking forward to his gym battle, an opportunity to win a precious jewel such as the heat badge that Purity was being presented with. She removed a black case, similar to the one containing the heat badge. Inside Micky could see five badges all lined next to each other as she placed the sixth into the box. She had two more badges to go, whilst Micky still hadn’t even received his first badge. He’d found only weakness in Flannery’s fighting style. Her Pokemon lacked speed and that would be his one advantage; his bugs could outrun her fire types. He shook his head and walked off, heading towards the outside, ready to congratulate Purity on her hard fought victory.

****

There was a large pool made of slate stone outside the Pokemon Center. Smoke was rising from the pool, giving it a clouded look. It was open to anyone within the community and their Pokemon, seemed like a good idea to Micky, his Pokemon were resting inside and by it, Ponyta not wishing to dip into the Water and Nincada and Free resting on the soaked sides. Micky patted his Ponyta on her head as he walked over to check on his Pokemon. The old couple who were there before had left, it was now empty aside from Micky’s Pokemon and now Purity’s, the one’s who were still conscious, Kirlia, Milotic and Bellossom, Ninetales completely out of it. The others just injured, resting their wounds in the pool. It was only a few moments later before Purity had dived in, she’d disappeared into a changing room and was out within a few moments in a black bikini, jumping into the pool alongside her Milotic. “These people are right, this is relaxing!” she shouted in glee, partially from her victory and partially from being in the warm pool. Micky just shook his head and petted his Ponyta, thinking to himself ‘you got the best chance of all of us in our match.’

Micky wondered off towards the Pokemon Center again, hoping to get an update on his Scyther’s condition. “Where you going Micky?” Purity asked, leaning on the pool’s edge.

“See if Scy’s ok” Micky said in a nervous tone of voice, knowing in only an hour or so he’d be facing Flannery.

“Nervous aren’t ya?” Purity said cockily.

“Yeah” Micky muttered.

“Nothing to be ashamed of” Purity giggled, guessing he was muttering because he felt it was a sign of weakness. “Come here” she giggled again. “Seriously, loosen up, relax a lil” she said. Micky wondered over to her, more lured to the fact that it was her than the idea of calming his nerves.

“What?” Micky muttered, not believing she could calm him down at all. He had a mental figure of himself in his head, shaking as though he were wrapped in a blanket of ice.

“Hop in, it’s well relaxing” she muttered. “Seriously!” Micky just shook his head.

“There is no way I’m getting my clothes soaked, I aint even got any swimming stuff” Micky said bluntly, breathing half a laugh.

“Oh come on” she shook her giggling. “You know you want to” she said in an enticing tone, still laughing her head off. Though it seemed like some kind of ‘Get in my bed’ invite it was mostly just a joke, the joy of winning making anything seem like entertainment. Micky still shook his head. This time it was more of a ‘I don’t wanna admit I like you’ argument than a ‘I don’t wanna get wet.’ Instead Micky just sat on the edge of it, his ass being slightly soaked. Purity laughed, she had an idea to get Micky into the pool, most likely a way that would take his mind off of the gym battle he would be having. She grabbed him by his hair and threw him in, sending in under the water on his back. Micky gasped for air and desperately pulled himself above the waters surface. He spat out water and then coughed, choking out the last drops before shaking his head like a dog trying to dry its hair. For a moment he actually liked it. He saw it as Purity showing she’d warmed up to him and felt they were good enough friends for her to do something incredibly annoying, but he soon shook that out of his head and began to moan about what she‘d done.

“What the hell are you doing?” Micky shouted at Purity who was laughing her head off.

“Laughing at you” she spoke as she continued to giggle. Micky slowly clambered his way out of the pool, Strider moving out of his way, wanting to avoid being splashed with any water. “Oh calm down Micky, it’s only water” she smirked. “And now you don’t need to worry about getting your clothes any wetter so you may as well stay in here.” In a way Micky saw sense in what she was saying, but he wasn't going to give in. He brushed his hair to one side and sat at one of the corners away from Purity. Purity’s idea had worked though, he’d totally forgotten about the gym battle, he was too busy being angry with her. Kotaro crawled by Micky’s side, letting out a small chirpy sound, another ‘Ha ha, you lost.’

“I don’t believe you sometimes” Micky said shaking his head at Purity.

“My idea worked though” she smirked cockily. Micky clapped sarcastically at her.

“Well done, bitch” he spat.

She just laughed it off shaking her head. “Takes one to know one” she giggled childishly.

****

Micky was shaken awake by Purity, he’d fell asleep next to pool, still fully clothed. “What” Micky moaned grumpily, his head hurting from sleeping oddly.

“Come on, you got a battle to go to” She said, slapping his face to wake him up, still looking as hot as ever in her bikini.

“What what?” Micky moaned, shaking his head and blinking his eyes.

“You against Flannery, you got about ten minutes to get dressed and get ready to battle her.” Micky was still figuring out what she was saying but he soon leaped up in shock.

“****!” he cursed loudly. “DAMN YOU! WHY'D YOU LET ME SLEEP!”

He quickly jumped into the changing room and dressed himself. He was dressed in plain black still trousers this time, still in a white shirt, only a different one, imprinted in black with a flame. He grabbed his Pokeball belt and withdrew all his Pokemon and rushed off towards the gym.

Upon entering he was greeted by the announcer and what seemed to be a warm welcome from the crowd, although he soon realised it was for Purity and not him by the whistles the guys made at her. When Flannery entered there was a much bigger roar for her. Micky blew his hair to his side and thought over his battle tactic in his head one last time. He grabbed the cold sphere that contained Strider from his belt. The announcer went through the standard stuff and finally, the moment came. “Trainers, select your Pokemon” he announced. It was the moment of truth for Micky. A chance to see if he was a worthy trainer. He hurled Strider’s Pokeball to the battlefield’s centre and watched as his fire pony took form. Opposite her was a Numel, smaller than the one Flannery used against Purity. Micky shook his head, wiping his hair behind his shoulder and glared at the battlefield.

“Numel, tackle!” Flannery shouted.

“Agility!” Micky shouted in response. With ease, Strider dodged Numel and raced around Numel. “Now, Take Down!” With all her strength she threw all her weight at the yellow camel. Numel’s ribs felt crushed as she rolled to escape a second hit from the pony. As Numel rolled onto her feet she was met with a kick to her small head. But she rolled back again, avoiding a second kick . “Flamethrower!” Strider sprayed fire into Numel, sending her further away. Micky’s confidence was building, Strider was ruling Flannery’s Numel with ease. “Another Take Down!” Micky ordered, wanting to keep the aggression on. She acted on it, crashing down on Numel yet again. The crowd cheered for Micky and Strider, liking their aggressive style. Even Purity and Flannery were impressed. Purity had never seen Micky battle before but she was wondering how someone with so little experience could be so dominating.

“Numel, Double-Ed…” Flannery trailed off as Ponyta knocked her down again. Strider hadn’t taken a hit yet Numel was barely able to crawl up by the count of six. As soon as she was back up she was knocked down again. “Ember!” Flannery cried. Strider dodged the fire ball with ease and rammed her head into Numel’s side, sending her to ground once more, scraping across the arena floor. “Screw it, return!” Flannery shouted, forfeiting her Numel, knowing there was no chance of Numel defeating Ponyta at the pace she was going at. “Well done” Flannery spat sarcastically, boiling up with rage, her face going as red as her fiery hair. “Go, Growlithe!” Flannery shouted, throwing a Pokeball towards Strider.

Out of the ball came a dog. Much of his fur was a fiery orange, marked with black tiger stripes on his back and legs. His face was like that of a dogs although his ears were a lot like a tigers. He had a crème-orange bushy tail, shaped like a flame. A large tuff of crème-orange hair was upon his chest and shaped like a flame on his head as well. He growled viciously at his foe, Strider, barking repeatedly.

“Growlithe, Agility!” Flannery shouted. Within moments Growlithe was dashing around the battlefield.

“Do Agility as well!” Micky shouted. It was soon becoming a speed competition between the two Pokemon. In time the two collided. Strider fell to the ground, shaking her head, trying to rid herself of the pain but Growlithe remained on his feet, growling.

“Crunch Growlithe!” Flannery shouted. The dog leaped upon Strider and bit at her neck. Growlithe tasted blood, however, he didn’t have that killer’s instinct, spitting the blood from his mouth and biting at another area.

“Strider, Quick Attack!” Micky shouted in desperation, feeling his momentum beginning to stop. Strider swung her body to knock Growlithe off and sprung to her feet, ramming head first into Growlithe’s side after an immediate turn. This only angered the dog further and he leaped into Strider, eventually biting at her right front leg, again, drawing blood. This time, he was in rage and continued to bite, ignoring his lack of a blood lust.

“Knock him back!” Micky shouted to Strider. She tried to attack but couldn’t get an aim on him, breathing fire all directions. She eventually shook him off and sprayed fire at him. He returned the blast twice as hard. Strider shook her head as she collapsed backwards. Slowly, she pulled herself back to her feet, bleeding from all over. “Quick Attack!” Micky ordered again. Again, Strider charged head first at the dog. Growlithe dodged the attack with ease and then tackled her legs, sending Strider back to the ground. With a small hiss of fire she distracted Growlithe enough hot bring herself to her feet.

“Return” Micky shouted, withdrawing his Pony back to her Pokemon, substituting her for Free, who he sent out immediately afterwards.

“You sure about that?” Flannery questioned cockily, seeing the flying bug was clearly weak to her fire type.

“She’s right, it’s not a good move, you should stick to Ponyta” Purity whispered behind him.

“Strider is getting her ass kicked” Micky whispered back to her. “She needs a rest.” Micky then turned his attention to the battle again. “Free! Stun Spore!” he shouted. Growlithe wasn’t even paying any attention to the battle, he was still stunned at Micky’s choice. The yellow dust secreted from Free’s wings as she flew over the dog. Growlithe’s bones started to stiffen as he inhaled the spores.

“Growl!” the dog moaned in a puppy like voice.

“Now, Double-Edge!” With the advantage of speed Free rammed her body into Growlithe’s side, knocking him to the ground. Without waiting for the order she prepared a Silver Wind, her wings glowing a light gold. Growlithe winced his eyes open to see the wings glowing. He knew what was coming and wouldn’t allow it. Ignoring his trainer he sprayed a flamethrower directly into the stomach of Free. She was knocked down to the ground in a second, her body burning. She was completely unconscious, not even moving a wince.

Grudgingly, Micky withdrew Free back to her Pokeball. Just like Purity, he was left with a tough decision. He could either send out his fresh Kotaro into a disadvantaged battle or he could send out Strider again who wasn’t fresh at all, in fact, he doubted she even had the strength to go on. He was wishing he still had Scy. He could handle this battle with ease, a combination of Power and Agility.

“Come on kid, we aint got all day!” Flannery shouted, smirking at how easily Free was defeated. He sighed and threw Kotaro’s Pokeball forward. As the tiny bug formed, some of the crowd began to laugh.

He could hear their whispers. ‘What an idiot’, ‘Does he even know what he’s doing?’, ‘He’s gonna get his ass kicked so bad!’ and stuff like that. Micky blocked them out from his mind, just focusing on Purity’s encouraging words. She was the only one in the arena who had any faith in him. Micky had never fought a battle with Kotaro, he had only helped him with practising whilst he was with Koga. This was his time to see if the two of them could work well as a team.

“Kid, you really don’t know what your doing do you?” Flannery smirked. “Growlithe, Flamethrower” she giggled. At least Free was fast and airborne, Kotaro was grounded and slow. The dog spewed his flames towards the bug, even in his own mind he was laughing, although this soon turned to horror as the flames went right into the bug but were soon reflected off, having had no effect. The crowd looked closer. They could see a see-through blue field about a centimetre from his body, a Protect. This only enraged Growlithe further and he sent a second flame at the tiny bug. In one moment, the bug leaped from his position and dodged the flames.

“Kotaro, Dig!” Instead of clawing a hole of his own he took advantage of the holes that spewed steam from the ground. Inside the hole was a large floor of warm sand that released steam. “Mind Reader!” Micky shouted to his bug. Kotaro heard the orders from above and focused his deep black eyes. He turned his senses to sonar and picked his spot. He walked just below Growlithe, a tiny bit behind him. He leaped into the air and dug into the ground that was above him. In a moment he had popped up underneath Growlithe, ramming his entire body into his stomach. Growlithe went flying into the air, shocked by the power of the creature. “Now, Shadow Ball!” Kotaro’s black eyes glowed a sick white as a small black sphere formed in front of him. Small jolts of purple electricity sparked within the ball before Kotaro sent it into Growlithe’s face. Unlike Free’s the ball exploded in his face. Just like Free’s, Growlithe seemed to be showing after effects, small purple jolts sparked off of him as he laid on the ground unconscious. The entire arena was silent in shock, all but the announcer who began to count out the dog. Flannery’s face was dropped with shock whilst Micky’s lit up with surprise.

The bell rang as the announcer reached ten, the unmoving Growlithe finally returned to his Pokeball by a gym leader shaking from shock. She removed a warm sphere from her belt, she was after a new tactic. She wasn’t going to try and burn this bug, she was going to crush it. She threw her Pokeball to the battlefield with all her might. From within, a Pokemon of around three feet tall came, a human shaped rooster. She had clawed dark brown feet like that of a rooster. Three long claws at the front, one small claw at the back. Above the dark brown ankles was thick fiery red feathered legs. At her waist began a sun yellow feathered upper body with two long arms on either side of the same colour. Three clawed fingers with a sharp thumb on either hand. Her face was also like that of a roistered. Sun yellow with three fiery red feather sticking on the top of her head. Burning orange eyes glared at the bug, a similar coloured small beak at the front. She hissed “Combust” at the bug before standing at a stance, right leg only tapping the ground, left leg purely being used as balance, arms up in a defensive karate stance.

“Combusken, Step on that bug!” Flannery shouted. The chicken looked at her trainer strangely, wondering why she didn’t order a fire attack. She then proceeded to do has her trainer had ordered and prepared to stomp her foot onto the bug.

“Harden!” Micky shouted, remembering how he had done that to the bug before. As Combusken’s dropped down to Kotaro’s back she was met by the tough solid body of Kotaro. She looked down, thinking she’d stepped on a rock but she still saw the bug glaring up at her. She then proceeded to keep on stomping on Kotaro in rage, but to no effect. When she finally gave up Kotaro pounced on the moment and sank his claws into her ankle, sending blood spraying from her right foot. Combusken fell to the floor, her cries like sounding like a horrible screech. He then leaped onto her back and jammed his right claw into her spine. Again, Combusken cried loudly. Flannery just stood in shock, her jaw dropped as far as it would go.

“Combusken..” Flannery trailed off slowly, looking into her Pokemon’s eyes as she started to fade away in the blood loss. The sun yellow feathers were drowned in blood stains as the announcer counted to eight. The crowd were still in pure shock as the announcer finally reached ten. The bell sounded.

Micky stood in shock still, taking a moment to let the victory sink in. He felt someone leap onto his back, screaming congratulations into his ear, Purity. Small smirk started to form on his face. “Ownage, Own-****ing-nage” he shouted loudly, gripping Purity’s head as he did. He couldn’t believe it. A victory against all odds. He stared directly into Flannery’s brown eyes, in his mind he was saying ‘And you thought I was an idiot.’ The two knew what he was saying. Flannery was in pure shock still as a man approached her from behind, the black box in hand. Micky smirked thinking about the shiny badge that lay inside.

It took Flannery quite some time to build up the strength to walk over to Micky who was currently picking up his Nincada, celebrating the victory, the two of them in a human to Pokemon argument of who thought Nincada was the greatest bug of all. Eventually, she finally walked over to him, still gazing into nothingness in her confusion and shock. As she handed Micky the box he flicked it open and smirked. A beautiful heat badge that he had earned. As he exited many people ran up to him, congratulating him on the amazing upset victory. He made his way to the Pokemon Center again, making sure Scy was going to be sent to the Mauville Pokemon Center later in the night.

****

“Mauville City, the gambling Centre of the world!” Micky shouted in glee.

“Yeah, and your to young to do anything” Purity giggled at him sarcastically.

“Well, I can always try, I hear they let off kids around here” Micky smirked back at her.

“Trust me Micky, your going to be too busy with the gym here.” She said, making sure he didn’t lose sight of the main purpose of coming their. “But I have a surprise for you” She sang mysteriously.

Micky truly was in for a surprise. When the two arrived at the Mauville Pokemon Center he was met but his worst enemy. Pikachu leaped up onto his shoulder and shouted “PIKA!” into his ear before being pushed off. Micky closed his eyes, praying not to see what he expected to see when he entered the Pokemon Center.

“WOBBA!” was shouted as a sarcastic greeting to him from Wobbuffet as Karen and Mark started to say their hellos to Purity and Micky.

“Your kidding me right?” Micky said at Purity. “Now I aint got a problem with Karen and, well, Mark, he bugs me but the thing I’m more worried about is these two!” Micky shouted, pointing at Wobbuffet and Pikachu. “Why did they have to bring Chu-Toy and Punching Bag!” Micky shouted in rage.

“What do you expect?” Mark laughed sarcastically at him. “I aint leaving Wobby behind.”

“Yeah, and I’m not leaving Pikachu behind” Karen shouted and Micky, although she gave him a look that said ‘I’m flattered that you like me but no thanks.’ Micky gave an evil glare to Purity which said ‘I can’t believe you told her that.’

It was definitely an uncomfortable night for all four of them. They all shared a room in the Center. Micky slept on the bottom bunk, below Mark. Purity slept opposite them on the lower bunk. Although she didn’t know it, Micky was staring at her, lost in thought as he did. Mark was oblivious to this, just like Micky, but he also was staring similarly, in awe of Purity’s perfection. He Micky sighed loudly and slammed his head onto the pillow, trying to go back to sleep, the box containing his Heat badge in hand. Mark, looked at her a bit longer before he finally collapsed unconscious. Wobbuffet was asleep in the room corner however Pikachu had watched the whole thing from Karen’s bunk, sitting next to her. He let out a small laugh, the two of them falling for the same girl. He got pleasure from imagining the two of them fighting over her, liking his sadistic sense of humour. He hated the both of them. Mark was always mean to his trainer Karen and Micky was just plain evil to him. Personally he felt them to fighting was something they deserved.

****

The prison warden opened David’s jail cell. David was to be released this morning, free to leave. He was informed of his sons survival. He blamed Micky for the situation eh was in. If it wasn’t for him leaving on his Pokemon journey and getting himself nearly killed he wouldn’t have lost his senses and attacked the police officers. He had an evil glare on his face as he coldly stared a hole through every prisoner and guard. All he had on his mind was making sure Micky would not continue his journey. He had ordered a taxi ahead. He’d heard that he was in Mauville city, so he ordered a taxi bound for Mauville. A vein was forming on his forehead just thinking about talking to Micky about it.

He arrived at the Mauville Pokemon Center at about eight in the morning. Micky, Purity, Karen, Wobbuffet and Mark were all still snoozing. Pikachu was awake however and ventured out of the room, travelling through the halls and eventually into the front room. David was sat there on the sofa, glaring back at him, waiting for his son to come out from his room. Pikachu stared back at him, his rosy red cheeks sparking electricity of anger and intimidation. He hissed before standing at a stance, ready to shock David should he approach him.

‘I’m the man, I’m the King, I’m the one that’s Pure Inside.’ - Soil, Halo.

Well, what will happened to Micky…I’m creating a bit of a rivalry between Mark and Micky. I’m also gonna turn Purity into a bit of a slut, basing it on two of my friends (No offence Ally and Emily :p well even though they will never see this, Ally as the personality basis and Emily as the dress basis). This chapter was a bit 00bered up on the battles but meh.

[DannyBoy]

That was a good chapter! Long, but very good! I liked the battle, it was done well. The descriptions of the attacks were good and I was surprised that Micky won, I was sure he would lose but still good that he won. Keep it up!

[Powarun]

Amazing, a bug, mind that a weak unevolved bug beats a fire chicken. Awsome. That was cool, loved it, now if only that bug would evolve into its two forms. Omi, it was a good chapter some spelling error, and loved the battles. Keep up the good work. And shall Pika choose to deal with Micky's dad instead of MIcky.

[Loupeitak]

Fantastic work. Keep it up (waits to see Nincada suddenly evolving)

btw the wobba part was funny. I laughed to the floor as i saw Wobbuffet...

When will he tell Purity he wants her ?