Pokémon: Storming Heaven's Gates

[Dark Sage]

Time's up!

Here are the answers: Pikachu, Caterpie, Metapod, Butterfree, Raticate, Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Haunter, Primeape, Krabby, Kingler, Muk, Pidgeotto, Pidgeot, Lapras, Tauros (thirty of them), Heracross, Snorlax, Noctowl, Totodile, Beedrill, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Bayleaf, Larvitar, Treeko, Grovyle, Sceptile, Taillow, Swellow, Snorunt, Glalie, Phanpy, Donphan, Torkoal, Corphish, Starly, Staravia, Aipom, Turtwig.

Some included Seaking (which was not official) and others included Togepi (which he rightfully won, but chose to let Misty have because it wanted to be with her). I did not penalize for these two answers.

Unfortunately, this question was too easy. I have a feeling one or two of the folks who got perfect scores cheated by going on Wikipedia (a website that I have never trusted). Thus, this is what we are going to do:

If you got a perfect score (you know who you are), answer the following anime-based questions. Whoever gets them all right first, will be the winner. Simple as that. If no one gets them all right, whoever gets the highest number wins. If that happens to be a tie, whoever answered first will be the winner.

Here we go:

1. Ash’s advancement in the first season of the series and the hero’s advancement in the first generation of the video games (Red, Blue, and Yellow) had one major difference. Name it. (Note: The fact that Giovanni used James and Jessie as stand-ins when Ash won the Earth Badge isn’t it. That event still happened in correct juxtaposition to the game.)

2. Two of Ash’s Pokemon win the distinction of being the only non-Legendary Pokemon in the series to defeat a Legendary Pokemon in a battle. Name the two Pokemon, and which Legendary they each triumphed over.

3. Two-part question: What was the name of the scientist who invented the PokeDex? What particular Pokemon line was he studying when Ash and party met him?

4. What is Ash’s continual problem whenever he meets a new female protagonist?

5. Who was the first trainer that Ash met who also had a Pikachu (at the time of the episode)?

6. What is the only video game to date that Ash has appeared in? (Note: This question is not as easy as you may think.)

Hopefully, these will be more of a challenge. So get cracking. As usual, PM me the answers.

- DS

[Shuppet Master]

Actually, Brian, if I am not mistaken, the plates' description says that if a Pokemo holds a plate, any moves of the corresponding type get a boost in power. I don't know how much of a boost, but I decided to equip my competitive Yanmega with the Stone Plate to boost his Ancientpower attack.

[Dark Sage]

We have a winner!

And here are the answers:

1. In the video game, the hero challenges Erika for the Rainbow Badge before challenging Sabrina for the Marsh Badge. In the anime, Ash challenged Sabrina before challenging Erika. (One answer was that the hero in the games had to challenge the Elite Four, while Ash had to compete in a tournament. I would have accepted that too, although it wasn't what I was looking for.)

2. Charizard defeated Articuno at the Battle Factory against Noland. Pikachu defeated Regice in Ash’s third battle against Brandon.

3. Prof. Westwood the 5th. It was the Slowpoke line.

4. When Ash met Misty, May, and Dawn, he destroyed their bicycles, and he still owes one to all three of them. It seems to be some sort of curse.

5. If you said Richie, you were wrong. In the episode “The Pi-Kahuna”, which occurred before he met Richie, Ash met a surfer named Victor, who had a much older and quite powerful Pikachu.

6. Although Ash was loosely based on the hero in Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue, and the hero in Pokemon Yellow was, in turn, based on him, the only video game to date that he has truly appeared in was Pokemon Puzzle League.

The winner likely knows who he is. We can hope to see his character in this fic at a later date.

[Shuppet Master]

Actually, not to rain on your parade, Brian, but if I recall, battling Erika before Sabrina isn't mandatory. You only need to visit Celadon to fight Giovanni in his base, get the Silph Scope, then use it to clear Pokemon Tower, and that will allow you to storm the Silph Building and fight Gio again, then Sabrina's gym opens up. The reason people say Erika is fought before Sabrina is because her badge is before Sabrina's in the status screen and because she's easier to beat than Sabrina is(she has only three Pokemon with a lower average level than Sabrina's team of five). It's possible to fight Sabrina before Erika, so that answer would not be a plausible answer.

Just wanted to let you know.

Also, Ash didn't destroy the bikes, Pikachu did. Dawn's bike was destroyed by Pikachu, who had been seperated from Ash, so Ash wasn't even around to see it happen! Don't flame me, though. I'm just trying to get the facts straight.

[Dark Sage]

Noted. But I cannot disqualify the winner on that technicallity, because he obviously knew the same thing.

The winner of the contest still phrased the answer in a way that was correct, so he is still the winner. He said that the order of the towns was reversed, not the Gyms, and I had to accept that, because it was also true. Even in the game, you cannot go to Saffron until you first go to Celadon.

[Shuppet Master]

Okay, that makes sense.

[Dark Sage]

A word of explanation.

In this fic, the move known as Last Resort will used differently than it is in the game. In the game, a Pokémon can only use it when it is all out of PP for all its other moves.

In this fic, it can only use it when it is, so to speak, at the end of its rope. Say, when it is both low in HP and suffering from a condition. Whether or not it can still use other moves does not make a difference.

Now that we’ve covered that…



I guess I should have known it might happen. When you’re looking for something – or someone – big, you tend to attract a lot of attention.

I get so caught up on how much I miss my dad, I always forget that the Twisting has affected many more people than myself. Some folks can’t hope for their family members to return – they have solid proof that their loved ones are dead, victims of this terrible curse.

I’m facing the result of such a tragedy now. And while his ultimate goals may come off as noble to some, his intentions are somewhat questionable.

I have to be careful… There’s no doubt that I have to beat this guy. But if I make a mistake, I might lose a potential ally, and make an enemy. And in these times, one needs all of the former and as few of the latter as he can possibly get.

CHAPTER FIVE



Competition

Surprisingly, the Twisting had led to an increase in the number of Pokémon Centers opening. Nurse Joy’s extended family never wanted for work in this day and age. And Centers opened in locations where they hadn’t been needed before. With younger trainers gone, a lot of trainers, such as Starbuck and Shadow, used motorcycles and similar vehicles for transport, and Centers opened on highway rest stops and road stops.

In the one on Route 59, Starbuck was on the phone and Joy was treating his Pokémon, while Shadow and Lisa were sitting at a table, with about twenty Pamtre Berries in front of them.

“Let’s face, it, Shadow,” said Lisa. “We have enough extra-dry fruit here to make a Muk beautiful…”

“You sure they don’t work on humans?” asked Shadow, picking one up.

“They might taste good,” replied Lisa, “but no… Some people have tried, trust me.”

Shadow sighed.

“Well, we might find a bakery that makes Poffin who’d be interested in buying them…” she said. “Other than that, I dunno…”

Starbuck was talking to Percival on the phone.

“Look, Percy,” he said. “I’m glad that you’re paying me again, but… You know, I really think we’re taking advantage of Shadow. You can’t expect her to help you find these things for free.”

Percival sighed.

“Well…” he said. “You know what they say, too many cooks spoil the broth…”

“Percy…” said Starbuck.

“Okay, okay…” replied Percival. “I’ll fax over the same contract I gave you, and she can sign it, assuming she wants to. But she’d better be able to make some useful contributions. I’m hesitant about trusting a woman who dresses in black leather shorts and a halter.”

“Trust me,” said Starbuck, “she’s a powerful trainer. She’ll help.”

“On a similar note,” said Percival, “I’m looking into another lead as we speak…”

“Pardon?” asked Starbuck.

“What, do you think I sit around all day hosting tea parties?” asked Percival. “I’m hard at work here. I’ve got linguists and translators in every library and archive in Toreen, looking for any mention of the word ‘Arceus’.

“And just today we might have found something. A book came up in Nutmeg City, and some of my men are working on a passage on it. We’ve only been able to translate a few key words so far, but one of them is ‘Arceus’, and one of them is ‘Meadow’.

“It might mean the Meadow Plate, the Plate that corresponds to Grass Pokémon.

“Another word we were able to translate was the word ‘Bunglewood’.”

Starbuck held his chin. The Bunglewood National Forest. It sure fit the description of a place where an ancient artifact could be kept. Unspoiled, vast woodlands, protected by national law from loggers and developers, a habitat for Pokémon… Not even the Pokémon Rangers who patrolled it regularly likely knew all its secrets…

“Percy…” said Starbuck, “the Bunglewood covers over a hundred square miles of woodland. If we had a few years, we might be able to search it all…”

“Not to worry,” said Percy. “My linguists are good at what they do. We’ll narrow it down by noon tomorrow at most. Just keep your cell phone on.

“I’ll get that contract over there. Talk to you later.”

* * * * * * * * * *

As Percival hung up the phone, Francis entered.

“Dinner is served, sir,” he said.

“Tell Bernadette to keep it warm in the oven for fifteen minutes,” said Percival, getting up. “I have to make a fax.”

As he left, Francis growled. He took out a cell phone, and hit a number.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, sir,” he said, “but your goose is cooked…”

He waited as someone answered.

“Yes, it’s me…” he said. “Yes, I’ve decided… Yes…

“Mmm, don’t worry… He keeps them in his safe, and I’ve seen him open it a hundred times. Once he has more of them, getting them will be a simple matter.

“Oh, don’t worry… I’ve known him all his life… He’s a moron…”

* * * * * * * * * *

As Starbuck turned away from the phone, he noticed someone at a nearby table looking at him, drinking from a mug of root beer.

The first thing Starbuck noticed were the scars. If this guy hadn’t been so young, it would have looked like he was a war veteran. He might have been considered handsome if not for the scars on his face.

Starbuck shook his head. It wasn’t all that uncommon, really. Dealing with wild Pokémon was dangerous these days. He had a few marks of his own to prove it that would never heal…

The youth watched him as he went back to the table where Shadow and his mother were sitting.

“Good news, Shadow,” he said. “Percy is sending over a contract…”

Shadow glared at him.

“He’s willing to pay you just as much as he’s paying me, so long as…”

“So I’ve been hired, without even applying,” interrupted Shadow. “I didn’t know that they had brought back the draft.”

“What?” asked Starbuck. “But…”

“You know, Starbuck…” said Shadow, “since we crossed paths, I’ve had to deal with crazy cults, crooks, mobsters, and a talking Vespiquen. Maybe your father liked living a crazy life, but this is all so sudden for me…”

Starbuck paused.

“I’m sorry…” he said. “Shadow, if you want to leave, you can go… You don’t have to…”

“I didn’t say I was going to!” she interrupted again.

She sighed.

“You know, Starbuck, sometimes I wonder what the point is…”

“The point?” he asked.

She lifted her arm. A scar of her own was there.

“See that?” she asked. “I got it when I tried to catch a really mean Onix.”

She stretched out her leg, showing another scar on her thigh.

“And I got this one from a Glameow. I had thought it was so cute at first…”

She grinned.

“I have a good one that I got from a wild Tauros, but I only show it to men who’ll sleep with me. Interested?”

“Will you get to the point?” shouted Starbuck.

He was a little worried. Had she been serious just then?

“What I mean is,” she muttered, “a Pokémon trainer these days knows that sooner or later she’s going to meet the one that has her name on it, and it won’t be pretty.”

She paused.

“Fine…” she said. “If the end result is going to be dying at the hands of some monster, I might as well have a good time doing it. Your friend can pay me if he wants…

“But keep this in mind, Starbuck… I don’t have any dreams of ending the Twisting… You can’t stop it any more than you can stop the rain.”

Starbuck looked at her.

He knew what she meant. She wasn’t in this because she wanted to make a difference. She thought that her position as a trainer was going to kill her someday…

…and she wanted to die in a blaze of glory…

He sighed again.

“Joy!” he shouted. “Are they almost done?”

“Like I said before, Starbuck,” called back Joy, “it’s gonna be a while! You ever get a bee sting? You know how hard such a wound is to heal? Well, two of your Pokémon look like they were stung by a whole beehive.”

Starbuck sighed again.

“We have to head for the Bunglewood tomorrow…” he said. “Let’s hope Percy gets some more info.”

* * * * * * * * * *

At eight PM that night, Jessica walked down a hallway of the Grasp building.

She had plans to make, and a lot of things to do.

She entered a very large room, that looked like a cross between a lab and a kitchen, spotlessly clean.

“Ah, Miss Jessica,” said a man in a white coat, “good to see you. The samples just arrived… I’m sure you’ll find them adequate…”

“No pesticides, right?” she asked, walking over to a table.

“Not even a small amount,” he replied.

She looked at the table, where there was a cornucopia of Berries of all shapes and sizes. She looked them over, as a shopper in a produce section might, looking for imperfections and blemishes.

If she was going to start growing these things in a large scale farming complex, she had to isolate any problems first.

At that moment, Anthony walked in.

“Jessica, may I have a word with you?” he asked.

“One minute!” she snapped. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

Anthony looked at the table.

“Interesting…” he said, looking at the Berries.

“Be careful,” warned Jessica. “They may look good, but if you aren’t a Pokémon, some of them might make you sick.”

“What’s this one?” he asked, picking up an oblong, fiery red Berry with bumps all over it.

“That’s a Spelon Berry,” she replied. “One of the spiciest Berries in existence.”

Anthony almost laughed.

“Oh, come on…” he said. “It can’t be THAT spicy…”

“Trust me…” said Jessica.

“Hey, I’m Italian!” laughed Anthony. “You’re talking to a guy who puts calamari on his linguini. I can tell spicy, because I’ve had the spiciest. Here, I’ll prove it…”

“Tony, I wouldn’t do that if I were…”

Too late…

In the next minute, Anthony had dropped the Berry and had run across the room, clutching his throat.

The man in the lab coat that Jessica had spoken to earlier walked up to her.

“Why is Anthony sucking on the ice maker?” he asked.

“Oh, the idiot didn’t believe that a Spelon was spicy,” said Jessica, “so he had to find out the hard way.”

“Why do you put up with that jerk?” asked the man.

“Clarence,” said Jessica with a sigh, “do you know why Team Galactic failed?”

“Because they tried to harness power they couldn’t possibly understand?” asked Clarence.

“Well, there’s that,” replied Jessica, “and the fact that they weren’t subtle. They were evil, and they broadcasted it.

“We need to hide behind a veil… Work behind a façade of business and finance. And Anthony knows how to maneuver in those worlds.

“Maybe he doesn’t know jack about Pokémon, but we need him to handle the front. If we are to complete our ultimate goals, we have to remain relatively concealed, until the time has come…

“…to strike…”

* * * * * * * * * *

Six AM, the next morning.

As Starbuck stepped out of the bathroom, he noticed that the strange youth with the scars was watching him.

Creepy… he thought.

Everyone else in the Center was still sleeping, except for loyal Chansey who was preparing Pokémon food. Starbuck and his two partners had to get an early start, but he figured he’d check his messages first. Percival likely would have left him a message if he had learned anything – Percival always got up at five o’ clock.

He turned on the computer, and sure enough, there was an e-mail from Percival.

Starbuck,

The translation is going slow, but we managed to figure out one other word: The word “Gilette”. I looked it up, and it seemed it was the name of a nobleman who lived in the area of the Bunglewood a thousand years ago.

That’s the only lead I have so far. Hope you can make something out of it.

Happy hunting.

- Percival

Starbuck wrote down a few names on a notepad.

As he went to wake up his mother and Shadow, he didn’t know that the scarred youth had taken the notebook from the computer. Starbuck had taken the top sheet, but the youth knew a little trick… He rubbed the next sheet with a blue pencil, and the indentation clearly spelled out the name “Gilette”.

After looking it up himself, he had made up his mind…

When Starbuck, Shadow, and Lisa drove away from the Center, down the highway, they didn’t know that someone was following them from a safe distance…

* * * * * * * * * *

Farther away from the shore, the trees became more numerous, and the terrain became hillier. The small group stopped at a small town to buy hamburgers and picnic supplies, thinking of barbecuing lunch when they got to their destination.

Soon, the trees gradually changed from average-sized to large-sized. As they rode down the tree-covered route, a smell of sap filled the air.

Soon, great redwoods loomed overhead, marking the border between municipal areas and the National Forest. The road through it was almost like a tunnel.

And there were Pokémon… They were scampering all over the place. Sentret scurried about, and Hoothoot perched in the trees. Spearow and the occasional Fearow flew overhead.

They stopped their bikes as they saw a very large tree, occupied by a cluster of Seedot, two Nuzleaf, and one Shiftry. The Shiftry was dozing on a branch, being a nocturnal Pokémon.

Shadow paused to swat a mosquito. Starbuck quickly handed her the insect repellant.

“Be careful, people,” he said. “Lots of pests in these woods. Fleas, ticks… And more dangerous things…”

They finally drove up to the true border… The Forest Gate, as it was called. The picnic area and the ranger station were outside of it… Once you went beyond the gate and into the forest proper, you’d be in a totally different world.

They parked their bikes, and went up to the ranger station. A sign was on the front door that said “Be back at” with a clock showing one o’clock.

“Eh, we have an hour,” said Shadow.

She pointed to a public grill.

“We have time.”

* * * * * * * * * *

As Starbuck flipped the burgers on the grill, Lisa tossed salad on a picnic table, while Shadow opened a bag of potato chips.

“Such a quiet place…” said Lisa. “You have to wonder what…”

A growling noise came from the bushes.

Everyone tensed.

A hostile Pokémon was bad news in this day.

The three trainers each chose a pokeball, and walked over to the bush. It was shaking.

A small form leapt out. It looked like a large hedgehog with buck teeth.

“Bidoof!” it squeaked.

Everyone laughed.

“False alarm…” muttered Starbuck, as the small creature scampered off.

Even a Twisted Bidoof was hardly a threat.

They turned back to the picnic area…

“HEY!” shouted Starbuck.

To his surprise, a short, chubby Pokémon was eating the hamburgers right off the grill.

“Oh, it’s a Munchlax!” shouted Shadow. “Those things do nothing but eat!”

“And usually, what they eat isn’t theirs…” added Starbuck.

Lisa lifted an eyebrow.

“Allow me…” she said.

She threw a pokeball.

In a burst of energy, a rotund, muscular Pokémon with a swirl on its chest appeared.

“Poliwrath!” it said, flexing its muscles.

“Go!” shouted Lisa. “Use Bubblebeam to get its attention!”

“Poliwrath,” it said. It leapt at Munchlax, and released a flow of bubbles, knocking the smaller Pokémon over.

“Munchlax!” said the Pokémon, getting up.

It turned to face Poliwrath. As Lisa had hoped, the ambush had awakened the fighter inside it.

It charged into Poliwrath, hitting it with a fierce Body Slam.

“Looks like we’ve got a live one here,” said Starbuck.

“Submission!” ordered Lisa.

Poliwrath charged at Munchlax, and hit it with a flurry of punches. Munchlax toppled over, and skidded ten feet…

Lisa drew an empty pokeball from her belt, and it grew to full size…

“GO!” she shouted, throwing it.

The pokeball opened, and Munchlax was drawn inside…

The pokeball shook, once… twice… three times…

It stopped.

Lisa caught the pokeball.

“Gotcha!” she said.

“All right, mom!” shouted Starbuck.

“Congratulations,” said a voice. “Although, I don’t envy you. You’re likely gonna have to open your own restaurant just to feed that Pokémon.”

They turned around, and saw the scarred youth standing there.

“Who the heck are you, anyway?” asked Starbuck. “For your information, my dad had a full-grown Snorlax, and he had no problem feeding it.”

“I’m Jamie,” he said. “Jamie Grant. And I know all about your dad, by the way. If you want my opinion, he’s likely on the ocean floor… Or at least whatever parts of him some wild Pokémon didn’t want…”

Starbuck glared at him with a look of anger.

“You have some nerve…” he said.

“And you have a lot of spine,” said Jamie. “I’ll tell you right now, you are NOT going in there to get the Meadow Plate.”

“And why not?” asked Starbuck.

“Because I am,” replied Jamie. “If anyone is going to use it, it’s gonna be me.”

Starbuck looked at him.

“There’s three of us and only one of you,” he said. “You can’t take us all. And besides, Arceus has chosen his representative.”

“Then maybe I just have to replace him,” said Jamie. “You think you know the truth, but only I know the truth.”

Starbuck looked at him.

“How about a little battle?” asked Jamie. “I’m certain that whoever is the better trainer deserves to go in there and get that Plate.”

Starbuck sighed.

“If that’s what it will take to knock some sense into you,” he said, “fine, I’ll battle you.”

“Let’s make it interesting,” said Jamie. “Only three Pokémon each. After all, I want to get this done with fast.”

“You got it,” said Starbuck.

“Starbuck…” said Lisa, “if you tire your Pokémon out, what will happen when we find the Guardian?”

Starbuck sighed.

“Then I’ll just have to be real careful…” he replied.

* * * * * * * * * *

Starbuck and Jamie stood apart from each other while Lisa and Shadow watched from a picnic table. Shadow was chewing on one of the burgers that the Munchlax hadn’t gotten to.

“How can you eat at a time like this?” asked Lisa.

Shadow looked at her.

“I’ve eaten through worse than this…” she said. “Besides, I’m really not worried… I know this guy’s type… He’s all talk and no talent.”

Jamie and Starbuck stared at each other.

Jamie made the first move.

“Kashi, go!” he shouted.

He threw a pokeball, and it burst open. The Pokémon that emerged was a green, leafy creature, about three feet tall, and somewhat bird-like in shape. It had blade-like leaves on its wrists that it bore in front of it like weapons.

A Grovyle, huh? thought Starbuck. And it seems this guy is the type who likes to nickname his Pokémon…

He picked up a pokeball and sighed.

It was tempting to use Blaziken, but he knew he might need his Fire Pokémon at full strength for the Guardian.

He threw the ball, and Dusk flew out.

Dusk glared at his foe.

“Go!” shouted Jeremie, “Leaf Blade!”

Kashi bore its wrist-blades, and they shone in the dim light of the forest. It leapt at Dusk, and tried to make a slice at the smaller Pokémon…

Dusk clearly knew what to do in that situation. He leapt out of the way, and Kashi fell with its face in the dirt.

Kashi got up and spit dirt out of its mouth. It was clearly angry now…

“Dusk, use Dark Pulse!” ordered Starbuck.

Dusk’s eyes glowed, and a wave of darkness undulated outward from him, striking the Grass Type and making it cringe.

“Are you gonna take that?” asked Jamie. “Show that thing how to really fight… Use Drain Punch!”

“Drain Punch?” said Shadow.

“Grovyle…” said Kashi.

It got up, and its fist glowed with golden energy. It lunged, and socked Dusk in the jaw. Energy flowed from the point of impact into Kashi’s fist, and then Kashi glowed.

“Heh, heh…” chuckled Jamie. “I taught it that… Drain Punch is a powerful Fighting move… Half of the health your Pokémon loses, mine gains!”

Starbuck frowned…

He knew what it did…

“Dusk, Payback!” he shouted.

“Huh?” said Jamie.

Dusk sparked with dark energy, and then lashed at Kashi with a blast of negative energy. The Grovyle hollered and tumbled over.

“Grovyle…” it grumbled, getting up.

Lovely… thought Starbuck. It’s getting mad… I think this might be the part of the fight where we find out just how well Jamie has adjusted to the Twisting…

Given all his scars, I’d say he hasn’t done that good a job…

“Kashi, Leaf Blade again!” shouted Jamie.

Kashi didn’t respond at first. Its eyes started to glow with incredible anger. Dusk stepped back with a look of fear on his face…

“Dusk, use Protect!” shouted Starbuck.

“Kashi, don’t do it!” screamed Jamie.

But there was no stopping the incredibly angry Grovyle. All of a sudden, the air was filled with a hurricane of buffeting foliage. Starbuck, Lisa, and Shadow shielded themselves from the onslaught…

When they looked, Dusk was standing surrounded by a sphere of energy, while Kashi was panting for breath. Green leaves were fluttering to the ground.



Continued…

[Dark Sage]

Continued from last post:



“Did I tell you to use Leaf Storm?” shouted Jamie. “Did I? Why don’t you ever listen?”

“Dusk…” said Starbuck. “Faint Attack.”

Dusk glowed with dark energy, and sped towards Kashi, delivering a fierce tackle to its mid-section. Kashi groaned, and fell on its back.

Starbuck paused to see if Kashi would get up or not, but it didn’t. It turned to energy and flew back to its pokeball.

“One round to me,” he said to Jamie. “Ready to give up and tell me what the heck we’re fighting for?”

Jamie recalled the Grovyle.

“Fat chance…” he said, taking another pokeball. “Rubira, go!”

He threw the pokeball, and another Pokémon flew out…

At first, the other three trainers thought it was a Roselia, but then they saw obvious differences. It was slightly bigger, its torso and flower-hands were shaped differently, its face had a mask-like shape over its eyes, and it had a mane of wispy, white hair on its scalp.

“What the…” said Shadow.

She took her PokéDex off her belt and pointed it at the odd Pokémon…

”Roserade,” it said, ”the Bouquet Pokémon. The evolved form of Roselia; with the movements of a dancer, it strikes with whips that are densely lined with poison thorns.”

“Terrific…” said Starbuck.

The Roserade grinned at Starbuck, and Dusk, and then raised its arms…

“What’s she doing?” asked Starbuck.

“It’s a male, for your information,” said Jamie. “And he just loves to dance. We call this the battle waltz. Music not required.”

Rubira started to spin a pirouette, and its pollen spewed a sweet smelling fragrance into the air…

Then it spun towards Dusk, and clobbered him on the noggin with a downward stroke. Dusk gave a cry of pain, and fell down.

Battle waltz? thought Starbuck. This is clearly Petal Dance… Powerful, but risky… Once it stops, it will be vulnerable.

“Dusk, use…”

Starbuck didn’t get a chance to finish. The Roserade tore into him again, and he tumbled backwards.

“Dusk!” shouted Starbuck.

The Umbreon groaned…

Starbuck sighed as Dusk vanished, retreating to his pokeball.

All, right, who to use next… he thought.

He took another pokeball.

I guess I don’t have a choice…

He threw it, and Dawn leapt out.

“Be careful, Dawn…” he said.

Rubira looked at the new foe, still in its powerful battle-dance. Its eyes narrowed…

It rushed towards Dawn.

“Psychic!” shouted Starbuck.

Dawn glowed with light, and fired a blast of mental energy at the dancing flower. Rubira screamed and toppled backwards, knocked out of its dance.

The Roserade slowly got up, and held its head, looking somewhat dizzy.

Good… thought Starbuck. That left it confused, and now I can…

Then he noticed that Rubira was chewing on something… Something that it had been holding in its left blossom all this time…

Starbuck’s eyes narrowed.

“How much you want to bet that’s a Persim Berry?” asked Shadow. “Maybe this Jamie is a little better at this than I gave him credit for…”

Rubira looked at Dawn again, and it was smiling again.

“Psychic again!” shouted Starbuck.

The Roserade screamed its name as another psionic wave plowed into it, throwing it backwards.

It groaned and got up…

“Rubira, Toxic…” ordered Jeremie.

“Oh no…” muttered Starbuck.

Rubira pointed its blossoms, and a spray of venomous pollen shot out of them, coating Dawn. Dawn coughed for a minute…

Then she whined a little. She looked sick.

Shadow looked worried.

“Can Dawn use her Synchronize ability?” she asked.

“I’m willing to wager Roserade is, like Roselia, a Grass/Poison Type,” said Lisa, “and a Poison Type can’t be poisoned.”

“You got it,” said Jeremie. “Now to finish the job… Rubira, Shadow Ball.”

Rubira put its blossoms together, and a ball of ghostly energy formed in them. It threw it at Dawn, and she hollered as the Ghost attack hit her.

Dawn got up, and weakly looked at her enemy.

“I’d say your Espeon is about ready to throw in the towel,” said Jamie.

“I agree,” said Starbuck, “and that gives her an opportunity.

“Dawn, use Last Resort.”

“HUH?” shouted Jamie.

Dawn’s eyes glowed with fire…

She sped towards the Roserade like a lightning bolt, colliding with it in a reckless crash. Rubira screamed bloody murder, and flew into the air before crashing to the ground, its petals and vines wrinkled and mussed.

“Espeon…” groaned Dawn.

She flopped to the ground too.

Both Pokémon turned to energy, and flew back to their pokeballs.

“All right Starbuck…” growled Jamie. “I’ll admit that you are good… I wasn’t going to use my best Pokémon, but it seems I have to…”

He threw out a third pokeball.

“Go, Sheba!” he shouted.

The pokeball slowly opened…

The Pokémon that emerged was an impressive figure. It was humanoid, and about four feet tall. Its features suggested some sort of dog or wolf, and its skin was shiny and metallic.

It turned to face Starbuck, and assumed a fighting stance.

“No way!” shouted Starbuck. “You actually caught a Lucario?”

“Nope…” said Jamie. “I hatched her from an egg as a Riolu. She’s been with me a very long time…

“Well? What are you waiting for?”

Starbuck slowly took another pokeball. He had heard stories of Lucario, extremely rare Pokémon known for their incredible intelligence and loyalty. There were even stories of one specimen who could communicate with humans via telepathy…

Bottom line, it was an exceptional Pokémon.

His pokeball opened, and Blaziken emerged. He still believed he could win this battle, but he likely would have to find a Center before making the trek into the woods.

The two Fighters glared at each other for a few seconds…

“Sheba, Extremespeed!” shouted Jamie.

Sheba ran towards Blaziken, turning into a blur. Blaziken had no time to dodge before it felt the Lucario’s fist against its chin. It stumbled backwards.

“Blaziken…” it growled.

“Blaziken, punish it with a Flamethrower!” shouted Starbuck.

Blaziken blew a stream of flame from its beak. The Lucario shielded itself with its arm, but the flame still licked at its metal hide.

Sheba started to sweat as it looked at Blaziken. (How can a Steel Pokémon sweat? thought Starbuck.)

“Sheba, Dragon Pulse!” shouted Jamie.

“Huh?” said Starbuck.

Sheba’s eyes flashed with light. It held up its hands, and an orb of flaming, blue energy appeared between its palms.

“Blaziken, run for cover!” shouted Starbuck.

Sheba blasted the bolt of blue fire, and Blaziken dove out of the way. The draconic attack sailed over it, hitting the ground, and leaving a scorched patch of grass.

“Your Blaziken is really good at dodging attacks, huh?” asked Jamie. “Well here’s something it can’t dodge. Sheba, Aura Sphere.”

“Blaziken?” said Blaziken, getting up.

Sheba put her hands together, and a globe of golden energy formed in them. Much quicker than before, it hurled the globe at Blaziken, striking it in the stomach. Blaziken groaned, and fell on its seat.

I’ve got to do something… thought Starbuck. I can’t lose…

“Blaziken, get up!” he shouted.

“Blaziken,” replied Blaziken.

It slammed its hands into the ground, propelling itself onto its feet.

It wasn’t about to quit yet.

Starbuck grinned. This Pokémon was just as tough as its parents…

“Blaziken, hit that Lucario with Brick Break!” ordered Starbuck.

Blaziken charged at its opponent, and delivered a savage chop to its chest. The Lucario screamed and fell over.

Sheba clutched her chest in pain, as she slowly got up.

Starbuck grinned again. He could finish this in one swift stroke…

“Blaziken… Sky Uppercut…” he said.

“Lucario…” muttered Sheba in fear.

Blaziken glowed with energy as it crouched down to deliver the blow. It propelled itself up in a spinning motion, punching its opponent squarely on the chin on the way up. Sheba was knocked upwards as Blaziken followed through, and fell flat on her back.

“Lucario…” groaned Sheba, weakly.

Blaziken landed on its feet.

“Blaziken…” it said, looking at its fallen foe.

“NO! Sheba!” shouted Jamie.

He ran to the fallen Lucario, and kneeled beside it.

Tears started to fall down his cheeks as he lifted up her pokeball, and she vanished into it.

Starbuck stared at the trainer.

Maybe I misjudged him… a little… he thought. But I still want to know what this was all about…

He watched as Jamie went to another table and sat down.

“So what is all this about, Jamie?” he asked.

“What do you care?” he asked. “You won… So go and get the Plate if you think you can…”

“Why did you want it so badly?” asked Starbuck.

Jamie sighed.

“Starbuck…” he muttered. “Those three Pokémon you used weren’t Twisted… I could tell…

“Do you ever have nightmares about the Twisting eventually infecting them?”

Starbuck was about to say something, but he stopped short.

“You do, don’t you?” asked Jamie. “I have them all the time concerning Sheba. She and Rubira are the only Pokémon I have that don’t have it…

“You think you can find Arceus and get him to make it go away. I know better… Arceus is a fairy tale…

“And I know what the real cause is…”

* * * * * * * * * *

Jessica sat at her desk at her office, looking at some computer files.

She looked at a file for a person named Mandy Evans. The file was marked “Extra Confidential.”

She frowned. She typed in a password, and the file opened.

“Hmm…” she muttered. “It is tempting… But do I really want to give Mandy a second chance after what she did?”

She thought for a minute. She typed a command and the file closed.

“I’ll hold off on her until I need to bring out the big guns.”

She looked at another file, one that didn’t have as much security.

The name on it was Leo Solsby.

“Hmm… Why not?” she said.

She thought for a minute.

“But first, we’d best find out how my other allies are doing…”

She picked up her phone and dialed a number.

She listened as it rang.

“Fort Mallone Army Base,” said a receptionist’s voice. “How may I direct your call?”

* * * * * * * * * *

“You know…” muttered Jamie, “at first, I didn’t really think that the Twisting was that bad a thing, really. It made trainers get tougher, and at least now kids have to finish elementary school before they try to make it as one…”

Everyone gave him dirty looks.

“But I learned firsthand how it changed the world…” he continued. “The world is a dirty place, festering from mankind’s vile influence…

“My mom was an environmental scientist… She was exposed to a polluted lake, and later came down with cancer. She died when I was thirteen…

“My dad… What happened to him, I have nightmares about that too…

“You see, in Sinnoh, there are three lakes, and each of them is the home of an ancient Pokémon… I don’t know their names, but some call them the Mirages of Sinnoh.

“They’re the embodiments of Knowledge, Willpower, and Emotion… They can control these factors in humans and Pokémon alike…

“And they caused the Twisting.”

As he said this, Lisa glared at him.

She opened her journal, and turned a few pages. On one page were sketches of three small, fairy-like Pokémon, each one with two tails and a hood over its eyes…

No… thought Lisa.

“My dad…” said Jamie. “He was a powerful Pokémon Ranger. He went to Lake Valor to find one of these Mirages…

“They found his body the next morning, torn apart by some beast. His stylus was lying beside him, broken in half.”

“You see people, the Mirages put a curse on mankind, using their powers over emotion to infuse their rage at the way people treated Pokémon into the Pokémon species itself.

“The only way they’ll ever forgive humanity and have mercy is if humankind atones for its sins towards Pokémon and makes amends. If not, it will continue to worsen, until the human race is eliminated…”

“So why do you want the Meadow Plate so much?” asked Starbuck.

“To find the only one who can help!” shouted Jeremie. “The world is a mess, corrupted by pollution, and that’s what made the Mirages angry. Industry and carelessness have raped nature, and hurt Pokémon.

“The problem is too widespread for it to be fixed by humans alone, even if someone could get them to care.

“But one Pokémon can help… I’ve heard stories that the inscriptions on Meadow Plate can lead a trainer to Shaymin…”

“Shaymin?” asked Shadow.

Lisa looked at him. She started leafing through the journal again.

“According to legend…” said Jeremie, “somewhere, beyond the horizon, lies Flower Paradise, a hidden valley where the air and soil is perfectly clean, untouched by the spoils of humanity. A beautiful garden where the scent of fragrant blossoms is almost intoxicating.

“And naturally, in this Pokémon Garden of Eden, the Twisting has no power.

“It is in this place where you can find Shaymin, the Gratitude Pokémon…

“Legends say its power over nature is incredible… Its mere presence can turn a landfill into a healthy field of flowers. Or a stagnant, polluted lake into a living reservoir of sweet, fresh water.

“If I could capture Shaymin… The things I could do… My own scars might never go away, but its healing abilities could mend the scars that humans have inflicted on Earth, the sores of pollution that made the Mirages angry in the first place…

“Maybe then… Maybe then the three of them would finally have mercy and lift their curse…”

There was along pause.

“And how exactly did you form this theory?” asked Lisa. “What facts do you have to back it up? I have to admit, it is an interesting one.”

“I… have my sources…” he replied.

“Jamie, look…” said Starbuck. “You have your theory, I have mine… It isn’t like we can’t both pursue our goals.

“Why don’t you just tag along when we actually go in there? You have a camera, I presume?”

“Yeah…” he muttered.

“Well, I won’t actually give you the Plate if we manage to get it,” replied Starbuck, “but you can photograph it, study it, or copy anything you want from it before we send it to my own… source. You’re sure to be able to use that…”

Jamie looked at him for a second.

“I guess that’s as good a deal as I’ll ever get…” he said.

“Now…” said Starbuck. “We just need information on this Gilette thing. If whoever runs this station could get here, we could…”

They were interrupted by the sound of a motor, coming from inside the Forest Gate…

An ATV drove out, ridden by a man in Ranger clothing.

He stopped and took off his helmet. He was a burley man about thirty, with a full head of hair, and a thick moustache.

He looked at everyone.

“Uh, hi…” he said. “There a problem here?”

* * * * * * * * * *

In Blueberry Cove, the Rose Garden restaurant had a bit of significance to Lisa…

Her first meal at the very expensive and fancy place was a luncheon she had with her future husband. But although she thought he was, at that point, confessing his love to her, there was actually a sinister plot behind it. A crook named Rush Devlin wanted something that Ishmael had, and needed to get Lisa out of the way. So he forged a love letter telling her to meet him at the restaurant.

Ishmael defeated Rush, and made it on time to the restaurant. He even managed to pay for lunch with some money from a recent windfall he had just gotten. But Lisa was disappointed that is wasn’t the intimate meeting she had hoped for.

Several years later, Ishmael invited her to dinner there for real… And it was then that he proposed.

The Rose Garden was so pricey, most folks could only afford to go there on very special occasions. Lunch was a little cheaper than dinner, so those special occasions happened more on this time of the day…

Some men, like the one leaving right now with his date, could afford to come more often.

About thirty years old, he was incredibly tall – that was the first thing you noticed when you looked at him. About six-foot-six and very fit, though not too muscular. He wore a black tuxedo, and also wore black combat boots, to hide the embarrassing fact that his pant legs were too short. (He could get his clothes custom-tailored but he considered that demeaning.) He had a disarming smile, bright, blue eyes, and very long, blonde hair.

The woman with him was much shorter than he was, but she didn’t mind. She wore a black dress and a fur stole.

“You make me feel like a princess, Leo,” she said as they walked out. “So many men these days don’t know how to treat a lady.”

“Heh, chivalry isn’t dead, Marissa,” he said, putting his arms around her. “Now why don’t we…”

He heard a beeping.

He frowned. He took a cell phone out of his pocket and looked at it.

The letters “RR” were on the screen.

“Oh, dear…” he said. “It’s my pager… Something urgent…”

“Oh, poo…” said Marissa sadly.

Leo kissed her.

“I’ll call you tomorrow…” he said. “Your husband will still be in Kanto, I assume? You take the limo… There’ll be a taxi here any minute.”

Leo frowned again as the limo drove off.

Okay, Jessica… he said. If you’re going to interrupt my date, it better be important…

* * * * * * * * * *

“Listen, Mr. Conrad,” said the Ranger, “you’re free to go into the forest… And you’re free to hunt for wild Pokémon if that’s what strikes you fancy… But between you and me, Gilette Caste is not the best place to do that in.”

“Look…. Paul was it?” said Starbuck. “All I want is some information about this… Gilette Castle.”

He looked at the machine in the corner where the pokeballs containing Dawn, Dusk, Blaziken, and Jeremie’s Pokémon were glowing with energy. It wasn’t as good as Nurse Joy’s healing, but it would do.

“Okay…” muttered Paul. “First, the concrete facts… One thousand years ago, some guy named Lord Gilette built a mansion of some sort in the middle of the Bunglewood.

“After he lived there five years or so, they found him dead, apparently poisoned. No one knows who killed him.

“That’s all the facts we know.

“Now we get into the legends.

“Legends say that Lord Gilette was a nasty guy who hated people. So he made his house in an isolated area. His only friends were the flowering plants he grew in his garden.

“He got a little crazy, and started talking to them. And then he started to wonder why they never talked back.

“People say that Lord Gilette wanted his blossoms and flowers to live like people did. So he unwisely fertilized his garden with an enchanted herb called demon’s root…

“It made his plants come to life all right… But they turned against him and killed him.”

“That’s ridiculous!” said Shadow.

“I know it’s ridiculous!” replied Paul. “It’s completely absurd. The more likely theory is, he raised Grass Pokemon, but he abused them, and they’re the ones who killed him.

“I’ve tried to explore that old ruin several times, and weird things have happened that have prevented me each time… Sometimes the vines on the walls come to life… Other times the grass and the shrubs seem to move and block my path. I try hacking through them, but they grow back in an instant.”

He sighed.

“Whatever is in there doesn’t want anyone in. It might be possible to burn my way in, but if I started a fire in this place…”

“…it wouldn’t sit well with your colleges,” said Starbuck. “Can you draw us a map?”

“Starbuck…” said Shadow. “If a Ranger can’t get in, how are we going to? We certainly aren’t going to burn our way in.”

“Oh, I have a feeling they’ll let us in…” said Starbuck.

“Sure, I’ll draw you a map…” muttered Paul, “but don’t say I didn’t warn you…”

* * * * * * * * * *

Twenty minutes later, Starbuck took a deep breath.

With his mother, Shadow, and Jamie behind him, he walked through the Forest Gate.

He didn’t notice that a vehicle pulled up to the picnic area just as they vanished into the forest. It was a green Jeep, that appeared to be military issue.

The driver was a young soldier in a standard uniform. The two stripes pointing upward on his shoulders indicated his rank as Corporal.

In the passenger’s seat was a woman dressed in a much different uniform. Her top was khaki, and her pants were the camouflage colors of fatigues. She wore tall, black boots that looked expensive. She also wore sunglasses, and a beret. Her long, blonde hair was tied in a ponytail.

On the beret and her shoulders was a silver badge shaped like a cluster of leaves – indication of the rank of Major.

She removed the sunglasses, revealing deep, sea-green eyes.

“Lovely…” she said. “They’ve already gone in…”

“Should we go in after them, ma’am?” asked the driver.

“Please…” she replied. “I just had this uniform dry cleaned.

“We’ll wait for them to come back out and deal with them then… We have the time…”


Coming up next:

A lot has been revealed. Does Jamie’s theory hold any amount of truth, or has he been misled?

Who is this odd Leo character? And who is this odd military figure? What are their connections to Rocket Reborn?

And what is Percival’s butler plotting?

Answers will come soon. In the meantime, our group will meet the Guardian of the Meadow Plate next chapter, only to find that it will refuse to battle Starbuck. It has someone else in mind for its opponent.

The road towards Arceus stands ready to be blazed. Stay tuned.

[Shuppet Master]

Ah ha, so my user characters makes the scene early. Interesting. I was surprised you kept some of the stuff I had put in, Brian. (To be honest, I had ripped the theory from FFX, so shoot me not Brian.)

Nice battle, though. Lucario is one of my favorite Pokemon, and everything was envisioned. I can't wait to see this new Guardian and the whole castle adventure.

EDIT: I had a hard time pressing the edit key since my comp is being very user-unfriendly. First my TV cable receiver, then this.

I forgot comments on a few things.

First off, whoa! I wasn't expecting Shadow to be such a slut! I guess the Twisting twisted more than the Pokemon, heh heh. But then, Shadow does emit a "bad girl" image, so I'm not complaining. I wasn't expecting this story to be a Mario Party.

Second...who says that even a Twisted Bidoof is no threat? Get it to full fury and you might find that your arm has become the next feast for Bidoof's big buck-teeth! Haven't you ever seen a violent beaver before?

Finally, the only thing I have against this chapter is what you had Jamie say. First he says about Starbuck's comment on Arceus's representative...

(a) “Then maybe I just have to replace him,”

And then he says...

(b) I know better… Arceus is a fairy tale…

Uh, what? If (b) is true, then why did he say (a)? Was it to throw off Starbuck, or just a retort? Because if I thought Arceus was a myth, then I wouldn't go trying to replace his champion. Just a little illogic there.

[Jeff]

Oohh, minor plothole. Of course he could have said that even without believing in Arcues, he could have meant it sarcastically.

I'm glad you decided to do a sequel, I really enjoyed pokemonese and so far I'm enjoying this one too. Other than titling Chapter 3 as Chapter 2 and calling Starbuck Ishmael a few times in the first chapter, I haven't caught too many errors so good job on that. Also, it does seem to parallel pokemonese a bit, male protagonist, female sidekick, Lisa provides all the answers. Of course Shadow is no Lisa, especially with that comment, and there are plenty of other differences to set this apart from pokemonese so it still feels fresh. Keep up the good work, I look forward to the next chapter!

[Dark Sage]

Jamie's most likely opinion on Arceus's existence is, it isn't that he isn't willing to believe in him, but he has a hard time putting faith in things that there's little solid proof of. So what he said at first was mostly just his excuse for wanting Starbuck out of the way.

Yes, Shadow has a bad girl image, and she tries hard to keep it. It's her gimmick, so to speak. Whether that makes her a slut or not, that's a matter of opinion. However, if there's one thing I want to avoid above all else, it's making her a clone of Lisa from Pokemonese. Shadow may be following Starbuck for now, but she isn't going to follow like some blind lapdog. She's a strong woman, and she'll prove it to anyone who gets in her way, Starbuck included.

[Shuppet Master]

I understand completely. If I had a fanfiction pet peeve, it would be authors who clone their characters for the sequels to their stories because they have no inspiration or are too lazy to be original.

In one story I know, one character is a violent ninja girl who pretends to be a assassin. In a story I am working on, her daughter is also a ninja, but I am trying hard not to make her a clone of her mom, a violent she-dog who would behead you if you looked at her funny. She may have her mother's blood and clan tradition, but she is not going to act like a crazy ninja.

It's nice to see the female lead of a sequel be completely different, and the "naughty girl" is something I haven't expected you to do, Brian. Great job.

BTW, will we ever hear of Shadow's background? If not, no skin off my teeth. History should only be given for the curious, what's in the present and future is usually more important.

[ssj4supernerd]

I don't know if it has already appeared, but I want Skuntank!!!

Anywas, it was a good chapter, and I hope Jamie is right about the mirages. If a Pokemon is behind the Twisting(I don't if it all has been explained yet, argh!)I think I now who, and I do hope that if Arceus doesn't appear, Giratina does.

[Chris 2.1]

Read the latest chapter and I'm really impressed. DS you've proven to be a mature and respectable author here by really really pushing your limits as a writer and it really showed in Ch5.

I liked the chapter because it sets up the next one; it builds up the anticipation and I for one am really excited. The character of Jamie was a perfect way to remind us of the Twisting and what it can do - I hope we see more of him.

The concept of Shaymin was also interesting. The plates having different uses brought a very well recieved conflict into everything. Shadow, in my opinion, is no slut just because of her words, but again you made her out to be just as oily and witty as she was when we first met her.

One thing to suggest: I'd rather see a big, fierce 1-1 match than a 3-3 that fels rushed! Often we don't see much of the Pokemon's abilities and strengths but in a simple 1-1 we can see hpw versatile Pokemon are over a longer period.

Great work. I look forward to Ch6.

[Dark Sage]

Thank you for the kind words, Chris. There'll be a few one-on-one battles. In fact, there'll be a very good one in the chapter after the next.

Supernerd, I have planned for at least one trainer to use Skuntank. As for Giratina, I'm keeping closemouthed about that one, as well as to what role any Legendary Pokemon will play. For all you know, Giratina may be the one who's really responsible for the Twisting, and the finale of this fic will end in a climatic battle between him and the heroes.

Or maybe I'm lying to throw you off. The one responsible could just as easily be Cresselia. Or someone from an earlier generation. You never know...

[Hinoryu]

... Okay, sorry, but an evil Cresselia would be just about the most hilarious/awesome thing ever. Seriously. If I didn't already have two projects I was stuck on, I'd start writing that too.

[Shuppet Master]

Come on, guys, let's not speculate until we get some ideas. But Giratina does sound like a good choice for the lord of Pokemon Hell. After all, it's a ghost dragon which is connected to the underworld.

EDIT: Sorry, I know speculation is an important part of life.

[ssj4supernerd]

Darkrai seems more fit for that job imo o.o


But then again, we can't rule out the evil Oddish...

[Dark Sage]

Those who know of my work think of me as a Pokémon researcher. In other words, I’m an intellectual among the Pokémon community. Trainers are fond of me… They come to me with scrolls, books, and artifacts that they find in old ruins and caves, knowing that I’m always in the market for them.

It’s rare that I get into a Pokémon battle with another trainer, and I don’t relish the thought. I’m no spring chicken anymore…

And despite all the dangerous things I did when Ishmael and I were young… I never, ever entered a battle with stakes such as this.

But maybe I have to. If what that Vespiquen said is true, Starbuck isn’t the only representative. Somewhere behind the clouds, Arceus is watching, and he’s counting on all three of us…

Like I said, I’m more brain than anything else. But some say that the brain is sort of like a muscle… And any type of muscle can be used in a fight…

CHAPTER SIX



Refresher

Every trainer knew that forested areas were good places to catch Pokémon. The more unspoiled and wild the forest was, the better.

As the three partners and their reluctant guest wandered through the dense forest, trying hard to keep on the path and swatting mosquitoes that the repellant didn’t stop, they looked to the sides every now and then, either in response to a noise, or at the sight of some rustling in the underbrush.

As the group stopped to rest, Starbuck leaned against a big rock, and took a pair of binoculars out of his pack. He scanned the area off to the side.

A few Pokémon were scurrying about…

Sentret… Pidgey… Caterpie… Bidoof…

“Hmm…” he muttered. “Nothing really worth catching here…”

Then the lenses of the binoculars were blocked.

He looked up, and to his surprise, a Pokémon was two feet in front of him, looking him in the face.

“Shroomish!” the little mushroom squeaked.

“Uhm… Hullo…” said Starbuck. “What are you…”

“AH!” shouted Shadow. “Is that a Shroomish?”

“What?” said Starbuck.

“Hands off, Starbuck!” shouted Shadow. “That Pokémon is mine!”

“Shroomish!” shrieked the little Pokémon, as Shadow rushed towards it.

It turned and hopped away as Shadow rushed towards it.

“No! Wait!” shouted Shadow. “Please! Give me a chance, will you?”

Starbuck, Lisa, and Jamie watched as she chased the Shroomish into the woods.

“I say we leave without her,” muttered Jamie.

“Won’t do any good,” replied Starbuck. “She always leaves a trail of breadcrumbs.”

* * * * * * * * * *

In a very classy penthouse apartment in Blueberry Cove, the very tall man in the black tuxedo sighed as he tossed his jacket on the couch. He sat down, and took off those combat boots. They weren’t very comfortable, but getting custom-tailored pants to match his size would be embarrassing.

He looked at his television set.

Most folks would grab the remote at this point, but he had other things to do. He tapped a pin on his lapel, a shiny red pin shaped like the letters “RR”.

The TV flashed on. Jessica’s face appeared on the screen.

“This better be good, Jess,” he said. “I had to send a beautiful girl home early from our luncheon to see what this was all about.”

“Business before pleasure, Leo,” said Jessica. “I need your talents at the moment. There’s a trainer who’s becoming a problem.”

“So what do you want this time?” asked Leo. “You want his Pokémon crippled? You want him to get a few bruises?”

“No…” said Jessica. “I just want him to learn a little respect.

“You can win a simple Pokémon battle against someone with much less experience, can you?”

“Don’t you trust me, Jess?” he asked.

“I don’t trust anyone, Leo,” she replied. “That’s why I’m still in control of this operation.

“I’ll send you a text message once I find out where he is. Someone else is meeting with him soon, although I doubt she’ll have any success using her methods.

“Leave Starbuck in the same condition as one of James Bond’s martinis…

“Shaken, but not stirred…”

* * * * * * * * * *

After waiting ten minutes, Starbuck, Lisa, and Jamie saw Shadow walk back, out of breath, and looking very disappointed.

“It got away, huh?” asked Starbuck.

Shadow nodded.

“How could something with such little legs move so fast?” she moaned.

“Shadow…” said Lisa. “Why the sudden interest in catching a Shroomish?”

“I… uh…” muttered Shadow. “Aw, you’ll laugh…”

“No we won’t,” said Starbuck.

Shadow sighed.

“When I was a little girl,” muttered Shadow, “when I grew up in an orphanage, the staff kept two Pokémon. One was a Chansey to help the nurse. And the other was a Breloom for security.

“I was… very close to that Breloom… It was a friend of sorts…

“When I left, I was so sad to have to say goodbye…

“Ever since I left the orphanage, I’ve been trying to catch a Shroomish that I could raise into a Breloom, one that would be just as much a friend as that security guard I left behind.”

She sat down.

“A pipe dream, isn’t it?” she said with a chuckle. “Even if I do catch one, the Twisting will probably make it anything but friendly…”

They looked at Shadow.

Then she got up.

“But if you tell anyone, I’ll pound you!” she shouted.

“Easy!” said Starbuck. “I won’t tell anyone that you’re a softie.”

Shadow sighed again.

“Anyway…” she said, “when I was chasing it, I passed something that you might want to look at…”

* * * * * * * * * *

Five minutes later, they were standing behind a statue of a Golem.

Well, they assumed it was a statue. It might have been a real one once that was preserved somehow after it had died. It was impossible to say.

At any rate, the Golem statue – they were trying very hard to assume that was the case – was in a kneeling position, as if praying to something. What was really remarkable was its back. The stone had been sanded completely smooth in the central area, and letters in a strange alphabet were carved on the smooth surface.

“That ranger didn’t mention this,” muttered Starbuck. “Well, I don’t understand a word of it.”

“What about you?” asked Shadow, motioning to Lisa. “You’re the professor…”

“I’m not a linguist,” replied Lisa. “When I have a book or scroll that’s written in an obscure language, I send it to a linguist…

“Most of this writing is Greek to me…”

She touched three odd symbols on the top.

“But these symbols I do know about… They date back to the Renaissance… They’re alchemic symbols…

“For Ice… Stone… and Steel…”

The three younger trainers looked at each other.

“Maybe this is about the Regis?” asked Starbuck.

Lisa shrugged.

“It would seem so…” she said. “Unless you can think of another way that Ice, Rock, and Steel Pokémon were connected.”

Starbuck opened his knapsack and took something out. It looked like a large sheet of wax paper.

“What are you doing?” asked Shadow.

Starbuck covered the engraving with the paper.

“Since taking this statue with us is out of the question,” he said, “I can make a chalk rubbing. We’ll send it to Percival, and like mom just said, a real linguist can make it out. I doubt this has any bearing on the Meadow Plate anyway.”

He carefully rubbed the paper with a special piece of chalk, and the runes were traced on the surface of the paper.

“This is getting weirder and weirder…” he muttered. “Lets all hope that Rayquaza doesn’t decide to pay a visit before this is over…”

“Bite your tongue!” said Jamie, shivering. “The last time he decided to fly down, the Elite Four had to team up to convince him to go home!”

“I know…” said Lisa.

She sighed.

“And we never found out just what had made him so mad. In order for Rayquaza to emerge from the ozone, it takes a tremendous amount of energy to be unleashed on the surface. Legend says he was the one who halted the great battle between Groudon and Kyogre that almost tore the Earth apart.”

“How do you know all this?” asked Jamie.

“Hello?” said Starbuck. “Expert on Legendary Pokémon, remember?”

He folded up the rubbing, and placed it in the knapsack.

“Come on… I want to find Gilette Castle before dark, at least.”

* * * * * * * * * *

As they transversed through the forest, three particular Pokémon were on Starbuck’s mind…

The three monoliths, Regice, Regirock, and Registeel.

Although classified as Legendary Pokémon, they were a strange group to say the least.

Perhaps they were best known for their involvement with the Frontier Brain, Brandon the Pyramid King. Brandon was somewhat of an archeologist, who loved ancient cultures and structures. He spent most of his free time exploring old ruins and other places that most folks had forgotten, and as a trainer had found several rare Pokémon while doing so.

During his exploration, he had tamed all three of the Legendary Regis, and he used them liberally on his team, making him the most powerful Frontier Brain, and indeed one of the most powerful trainers in the world.

But there were still some odd things about this situation. Many other strong trainers (including Ash Ketchum, who had battled Brandon three times) reported being attacked by one of the three Regis. If these were the ones owned by Brandon, they were certainly not fighting under his order.

And Starbuck’s father saw the three Regis as well, again with Brandon nowhere in sight. Gestalt had captured Regirock and Regice, and used them to blackmail Registeel into guarding the front door of his compound. Fortunately, an ally recognized the Pokémon, and convinced it to let them by, and later helped it free its friends.

So what was the deal with the Regis? Perhaps they were not unique at all, and were simply incredibly, incredibly rare Pokémon that were created in sets of three. The key word was “created”. The idea of these living statues siring young seemed too farfetched to believe.

But then, who or what created them?

As Starbuck thought this last thought, he came to a sudden halt.

Through the thick trees ahead of him, obscured by a canopy of leaves, through a rusty steel gate, was a manor house made of stone. It looked like it should have fallen to pieces ages ago, and the only thing holding it together were the vines that seemed to cover every inch of it.

“Everyone be careful,” whispered Starbuck.

He pushed the gate open, and it swung inward with a creek.

He was surprised as dozens of little creatures scampered away as he looked in. They squeaked as he looked around.

Oddish. Not exactly the most threatening Pokémon, but not harmless…

They looked at the front entrance, which was covered with a thick layer of vines and creepers.

“Heh,” said Shadow, with a chuckle. “That ranger was right… You’d need some serious fire to burn through that… Or some Agent Orange…”

Then, with a rustling, the vines started to move. They retracted, sinking into the ground, leaving a doorway whose door had long since rotted away.

“Yep…” said Starbuck. “I thought they’d let us in…”

“Uh, guys…” said Jamie. “How do we know that once we go in, those vines won’t reach out and grab us, and then pull our brains out through our nostrils, and…”

They looked at him.

“You know, Jamie,” said Starbuck, “I think you watch WAY too much television, pal… Come on, you want to see the Meadow Plate or don’t you?”

* * * * * * * * * *

Meanwhile, the woman in the military uniform was still waiting, sitting at one of the tables at the picnic area. Her driver had left to get take-out from a fried chicken place a mile back.

She was talking on a cell phone.

“Listen…” she said. “I kind of missed him, so I’m going to have to stay here a little longer. Just cancel my appointments if you can, and if you can’t, reschedule them.”

She listened.

“You’re right, this is a big pain in the ass, and I don’t know why Volmer is so interested in this all of a sudden. What you gonna do, huh?”

She paused again.

“Yeah, yeah… And by the way, if that jerk with the toupee comes by again with another dumb sales pitch, tell him to go to Hell, will you? I’m tired of being polite.”

She hung up.

She turned her head, and saw a Bellsprout looking at her.

“Beat it,” she said, sternly.

The Bellsprout trembled, and ran away.

* * * * * * * * * *

Starbuck couldn’t believe it…

This manor house was the first house he’d ever been in where you needed to mow the lawn on the inside. Every room was overgrown with creepers and weeds, many of them covered with thorns. The place was dark, lit only by the sunlight that came in through windows and holes in the ceiling. Stagnant water dripped from other holes, giving the place a dank smell…

The smell was dank, but sort of earthy and dusty… Like compost…

“Are any of these plants poisonous?” asked Shadow.

“Actually, of all the ones I can identify,” muttered Lisa, “I can’t find one that isn’t…”

She pointed.

“Look at that…”

She was pointing to a large bush with dull, green leaves, bell-shaped, purple flowers, and shiny, black berries.

“Belladonna,” she said, with a shiver. “A plant so toxic, it’s known as ‘deadly nightshade’.”

“As long as we don’t actually eat any of these plants, we’ll be fine,” said Starbuck.

They entered a large room that may once have been a study. There was more light here, given the large skylight and a very large window leading to a courtyard.

Rotting furniture that may once have been expensive stood next to pedestals that now held nothing. A bookshelf stood, but its books had long ago rotted to dust.

Over a fireplace was the one intact artifact they had seen yet. A painting… A portrait of a man who seemed to be in his fifties. He was a stern-faced, unfriendly-looking fellow with burnsides on each side of his face, his hair slate grey.

Starbuck went up to the portrait. He wiped some scum off the nameplate.

“Lord Mason Gilette,” he said. “Whoever owns this place now has kept his painting in good repair…

“But is it out of respect, or as a trophy?”

“Roselia!” said a voice.

“Who said that?” said Shadow.

“Roselia!”

Everyone looked around. That time it sounded like two voices.

“Be careful…” said Starbuck.

His warning had come a little too late. They were surrounded.

It didn’t make sense to any of them. The twenty Roselia that were in the room right now must have disguised themselves as the other weeds and shrubs before they had come in. That was the only way to explain it, even though none of them had ever heard of Roselia doing that.

“So now what?” asked Shadow.

“We do whatever they say,” said Lisa, holding up her hands. “You know as well as I do that these Pokémon are poisonous, and getting to a hospital from here would be an exercise in futility.”

The three younger trainers sighed, and held their hands up. The flower fairies turned towards the window, and it opened.

“Roselia!” they said, nudging the humans.

“You want us to go out there?” asked Starbuck.

They nudged them more, and they didn’t dare disagree. They walked out the huge window, into a courtyard.

The courtyard was more overgrown than the rest of the house. Vines, creepers, and bushes covered very old statues depicting winged cherubs and nymphs, in a place where a garden might have once been.

As the four humans walked forward, the vegetation parted, letting them walk forward…

It opened into a wide clearing of sorts, with a stone patio floor. In the center was a stone fountain, the only thing that seemed to be in good repair. The statue consisted of a basin of water, in the middle of which was a nude, marble statue of a woman, pouring water from a vase in her right arm.

Sitting on her arm was someone who seemed to be in authority. A Roserade, about half-again the size of Rubira, was looking at them.

“So, you’ve arrived,” said a female voice.

The voice seemed to come from the Roserade, and was powerful and demanding.

“Uhm…” muttered Starbuck, lowering his hands. “I guess you’re…”

“Keep them up until you’re permitted to lower them,” demanded the Pokémon.

“Sorry,” said Starbuck, raising his arms again. “Look, I take it since you can talk you’re the same deal as that Vespiquen… We just want…”

“Yes, news has spread,” said the Roserade. “The possibility of our task nearing completion has excited the Guardians…

“Even though we know it may mean our doom…”

“Doom?” asked Shadow.

There was a long pause.

“This place is just like that island,” muttered Lisa. “The Meadow Plate protects the Pokémon in this manor from the Twisting…”

Roserade nodded.

She motioned, pointing down. The humans sighed, and lowered their arms.

“Look…” said Jamie, “there’s no need to fight…”

He took a pokeball off his belt.

“Look, I’ve got someone you’ll like…”

In a flash of light, Rubira appeared.

The bigger Roserade glared at Rubira. Rubira cowered in fright.

“ROSERADE!” shouted the Guardian.

Rubira vanished in a burst of energy, and flew back to its pokeball.

“Fool,” said the Roserade. “You can’t flatter me with a member of my own kind. I don’t respond to flattery…”

“I’m sorry…” squeaked Jamie. “Don’t hurt me…”

“As for you, Starbuck, you may have won the Insect Plate, but the road ahead is long and arduous. If the Guardians are to give up their Plates and surrender to the Twisting, due to some human’s promise that he’ll restore the world to normal, his worth must be proven on a constant basis.”

“I’ll battle you,” said Starbuck. “I know the consequences for losing…”

“No,” said Roserade. “I will not battle you… I will test the company you keep… After all, when Arceus made his decision, you were not the sole one chosen…”

She turned to Shadow and Lisa. She rubbed her chin with her hand (or rather, the flower that served as one).

“You!” she said, pointing to Lisa.

“Me?” said Lisa.

“You will be my opponent,” said Roserade.

“Mom! No!” shouted Starbuck.

He ran up to her.

“Mom, please…” he pleaded. “You realize this will be a Pokémon Dare…”

“I have made my decision,” said Roserade. “If she refuses, you all will leave here with nothing but a slow-acting poison in your systems.”

Starbuck glared at the Pokémon with a look of anger.

“Why?” he snarled. “What right do you have to enforce such cruel rules?”

“The right given by Arceus,” replied Roserade.

There was silence for a few seconds. Starbuck couldn’t argue that it was a pretty high authority.

“Listen closely, Starbuck,” said Roserade. “I’ll explain this as simply as I can.

“Arceus is… a god. And unlike the gods that the mythologies of your race’s cultures have created, he has always been very aloof. He rarely ever makes requests to mortals, and you can count on one hand the times he ever made a request to a human.

“When you set foot on Sweetwater, you made a petition to Arceus. You were requesting the position as his representative. A human asking him for such a position is unheard of.

“But for reasons that none of us can hope to understand, he not only listened to your petition, he accepted it.

“You three were granted a task by the Alpha Pokémon, and now you must follow his will, and follow his rules. If you refuse, there will be divine consequences.

“That is how it will be. You cannot accept such a role and then not follow through with it.

“You brought it on yourself.”

Lisa held her son by the shoulders.

“Looks like I don’t have much choice,” she said. “She’s right, of course… If we were truly given Arceus’s favor, we have to do what we’re told.”

“So being representatives is like divine slavery,” muttered Shadow, crossing her arms. “Swell…”

“Don’t worry, Shadow,” said Lisa. “I’m certain there’ll be restitution at the end…”

She paused.

Maybe even Ishmael… she thought.

Starbuck bowed his head.

“You sure you’re up to this?” he asked.

“I was a trainer too, and I can still throw down,” said Lisa. “I can’t promise a big victory… But I can promise my best…”

She turned to Roserade.

“Okay,” she said. “I’m game if you are…”

Roserade leapt off of the statue and onto the floor of the patio. Lisa was taller than she was, but the Pokémon was still more intimidating.

“Then let’s begin,” she said. “Four Pokémon apiece. Choose wisely…”

Lisa looked at the pokeballs on her belt.

Grass Pokémon… she thought. Using Poliwrath would be asking to lose… And Sudowoodo wouldn’t cut it either. Guess I’ve got them picked out already.

* * * * * * * * * *

At the picnic area, the woman and her aide were eating the take-out in silence. She was very upset at him at the moment for forgetting napkins.

At the same moment, both of them reached for the last piece of chicken.

“Uhm…” he said. “Ro-sham-bo you for the last piece?”

She sighed, and they held up their fists.

They shook twice…

Her fist stayed closed, his hand spread open.

“Heh,” he chuckled. “Paper beats rock!”

“This isn’t a rock,” she replied. “This is my fist.”

She glared at him.

“So, do I get the last piece?” she asked.

He knew better than to answer that. He simply leaned his head on his hands as she took it.

Then there was rustling behind her…

She looked, and saw three Pokémon behind her. Two Bellsprout and one Weepinbell.

“I do not like repeating myself…” she growled. “SCRAM!”

The three Grass Pokémon fled into the underbrush.

* * * * * * * * * *

Lisa had faced quite a few opponents in her time… But she had to admit, not many of them were Pokémon themselves.

And she knew she wasn’t nearly as good a trainer as her husband or her son. That was likely why she had been captured in Darcaven in the first place.

But at least now she hadn’t been ambushed, and she had a few supporters behind her.

Sure, her brain was much stronger than her body… But a Pokémon trainer needed smarts… A smart trainer built strong Pokémon. That was a fact.



Continued…

[Dark Sage]

Continued from last post:



Roserade lifted her right arm, and a pokeball hovered over her blossom.

“I choose… Vileplume!” she shouted.

In a burst of energy, a very large Pokémon, about the size of Lisa, appeared in front of her. It looked like a huge flower, with giant petals, and dull colors. Its face was almost hidden under the petals. A terrible stench wafted over the garden. The Roselia who were watching didn’t seem to mind, but Starbuck, Shadow, and Jamie held their noses.

“And I thought flowers were supposed to smell nice,” muttered Jamie.

“Some flowers are pollinated by flies, not bees,” said Starbuck, “so they have to smell bad to attract them.”

Lisa took a pokeball of her own.

“I chose… Shiftry!” she shouted.

She threw the pokeball, and it burst open. A Pokémon she had caught as a Seedot during her adventures with Ishmael so long ago leapt out of the pokeball. Starbuck knew this Pokémon well. It had babysat for him when he was just a toddler. Although Shiftry was nicknamed the Wicked Pokémon, this one was anything but.

“Lovely,” said Shadow. “Grass against Grass. There’s no telling how this will turn out…”

“No…” replied Starbuck. “Mom made a smart move…”

Shiftry and Vileplume looked at each other…

“Shiftry, Fake Out,” said Lisa.

Shiftry ran up to Vileplume and gave it a whack with its leafy palm. Vileplume staggered backwards, stunned a little.

“Good!” said Shadow. “Shiftry bought itself a few seconds…”

“Yeah, and I think I know what mom’s gonna do next…” said Starbuck.

“Shiftry, use Extrasensory!” shouted Lisa.

“Shiftry…” mumbled Shiftry, as its eyes glowed with blue energy.

A wave of powerful, Psychic energy shot from its forehead, striking the huge flower. Vileplume shrieked and fell backwards.

“Not bad,” said Roserade, as Vileplume picked itself up. “You obviously remembered that my Pokémon was part Poison.

“But that will work against you as well, for yours is part Grass.

“Vileplume, use Sludge Bomb.”

Vileplume bent over, and shot a glob of black goo from the center of its blossom. Shiftry groaned as it was showered in the concentrated toxin.

Shiftry paused for a minute and held its stomach.

“Oh no…” said Starbuck. “I think it’s been poisoned…”

“Shiftry, use Nasty Plot,” said Lisa.

Shiftry grumbled, as it started to fill its head with sinister thoughts. It started to glow with energy.

“It won’t help you,” said Roserade. “Vileplume, use Acid.”

Vileplume bent over again, and sprayed a cloud of corrosive gas at Shiftry. Shiftry groaned again…

“Shiftry, use Payback!” shouted Lisa.

“Huh?” said Roserade.

Shiftry glowed with darkness. Fueled by the pain of the last attack, it rushed Vileplume and slashed at it with a claw that was energized with negative energy. Vileplume fell over again.

Shiftry panted and held it chest. The poison was starting to take its toll.

Vileplume got up again.

“Sludge Bomb again!” ordered Roserade.

“Extrasensory again!” shouted Lisa.

Vileplume’s glob of poison shot at Shiftry, but this time, Shiftry’s wave of mental energy blasted it apart, and then struck the huge flower. Vileplume toppled over, and collapsed into energy. It flew back to its pokeball.

“Good job, Shiftry!” shouted Starbuck.

“Shiftry…” mumbled Shiftry.

“Again, not bad,” said Roserade, as a second pokeball appeared in her hand.

She threw it.

“But your Shiftry will be out of its league against this one…”

The pokeball burst open…

The Pokémon that emerged looked like a tall, thin, walking cactus, with a peaked hat and spines all over. It had two beady eyes, and a mouth full of needle-sharp thorns that served as teeth.

“Cacturne!” it laughed.

“Great…” muttered Shadow. “That thing is part Dark. Shiftry’s powers are almost useless.”

Lisa started to sweat…

“Shiftry…” she said. “Put all your energy into a Leaf Storm!”

“Shiftry!” shouted the Pokémon.

The name of the attack fit it perfectly. In the next instant, the whole area was covered in a storm of razor sharp, buffeting leaves. Cacturne shielded itself from the onslaught as Shiftry strained to keep it up…

Finally, as the foliage settled on the ground, Cacturne looked at Shiftry. It had a few cuts and scrapes, but it was more or less unharmed. Shiftry, on the other hand, was about ready to pass out from exhaustion.

Cacturne simply walked up to Shiftry and pushed it over, and Shiftry collapsed. It turned into energy and retreated to its pokeball.

“Well, they’re tied…” muttered Jamie. “Let’s hope your mom has someone better.”

Lisa looked at one pokeball on her belt. Then she reconsidered and took another one.

“Go, Xatu!” she shouted, throwing it.

The pokeball opened, and a tall Pokémon appeared. It was a humanoid bird, with Native American features, Its body feathers arranged to look similar to a long, decorated robe. It stood perfectly still while looking at Cacturne.

Roserade laughed.

“You send a Psychic Pokémon out against a Dark Type?” she said. “Arceus clearly made a mistake…”

“Xatu, use Miracle Eye,” said Lisa.

Roserade stopped laughing. Xatu’s eyes glowed green, and Cacturne glowed with a green aura. It flinched and held its chest.

“Miracle Eye?” asked Jamie. “What does that do?”

“It removes a Dark Pokémon’s immunity to Psychic attacks,” said Shadow. “Right now, Cacturne has no more resistance to Psychic powers than a Normal Type.”

“And since Xatu is a Flyer, it has a clear advantage now,” said Starbuck. “Go mom…”

“We’ll see about that,” said Roserade. “Cacturne, Faint Attack.”

Cacturne glowed with a dark aura. It lunged at Xatu, and swiped with its claws. Xatu didn’t flinch, even though the Dark attack should have hurt it.

“Xatu, use Psychic,” said Lisa.

Xatu’s eyes glowed, and a wave of energy shot towards the cactus Pokémon. Cacturne screamed its name, held its head, and fell to its knees, as if it couldn’t stand the pain. And who could blame it? It likely wasn’t used to being a victim of Psychic attacks.

“Wait for it…” said Roserade.

Wait for it? thought Lisa. What are they up to?

“Psychic again,” she said.

Xatu’s eyes glowed again.

“Cacturne, Sucker Punch,” said Roserade.

Before Xatu could make the attack, Cacturne leapt at it, and socked it in the stomach with its thorny fist. Again, the Flyer didn’t seem to react to the pain at all.

The Psychic went through, however, and Cacturne was thrown backwards towards its master.

Roserade growled. It was clear that she was getting angry…

“Cacturne, use Hyper Beam!” she shouted.

Everyone gasped.

No… thought Starbuck. That will smash Xatu flat…

Cacturne started to glow with energy…

“Xatu, use Me First,” said Lisa.

“Me First?” said Starbuck, Shadow, and Jamie at once.

Then, to everyone’s surprise, before Cacturne could fire its Hyper Beam, Xatu shot a Hyper Beam of its own, plowing into its opponent’s chest. Cacturne flew backwards, and fell against the fountain statue with a splat.

It turned into energy, and flew back to its pokeball.

“Me First?” said Shadow. “I’ve never heard of that move…”

“I have to admit, I’m clueless,” said Starbuck.

“Me First can be very useful if used right,” replied Lisa, with a smile. “When an opposing Pokémon tries to make an attack, the Pokémon using Me First strikes first, using the same attack its foe is preparing to use, with fifty percent more power.”

“Genius,” said Roserade. “Arceus clearly did not make a mistake…”

A new pokeball appeared in her hand.

“But it only gets harder from here on.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Back at the picnic area, the woman in the uniform was killing time doing a crossword puzzle.

She tapped her fingers on the table as she considered one of them.

“Stuck on one of them?” asked her aid.

“As if you could get it,” she muttered.

“Try me,” he said.

“Fine,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Six letters, first letter is V, for ‘God of fire’.”

“Vulcan,” he replied.

She looked at him, and then looked at the puzzle.

“Uhm, yeah…” she muttered. “That fits…”

“You’re welcome…” the aide grumbled, crossing his arms.

As she wrote in the answer, she heard noises behind her.

She looked around, and saw no less than seven Pokémon watching her. Four Bellsprout, two Weepinbell, and one Victreebel.

“That does it!” she shouted, getting up. “I’m itching for some action anyway…”

She lifted up her shirt, revealing a belt with six pokeballs on it. She chose one…

She hurled it, and a large Swellow loomed over the Grass Pokémon…

* * * * * * * * * *

Roserade threw her third pokeball.

“I choose Tangrowth!” she shouted.

The pokeball opened, and a Pokémon emerged that was, well, weird. It was over six feet tall, and looked like a large, hulking pile of wound up vines, with two eyes peering out of it. It had two floppy arms, and two stubby feet. It suggested nothing less than a mass of vines that was heaped up like a plate of spaghetti.

“Tangrowth?” muttered Starbuck, taking his PokéDex out of the holder.

He pointed it at the strange Pokémon.

”Tangrowth,” it said, ”the Vine Pokémon. The evolved form of Tangela. It ensnares prey by extending arms made of vines. Losing arms to predators does not trouble it.”

“Now that we’re informed,” said Roserade, “Tangrowth, Sunny Day.”

“Tangrowth,” muttered the Pokémon.

It raised its arms, and the clouds parted. The sun started to beat down heavily on the garden, and the Roselia watching cooed happily. Starbuck, Shadow, and Jamie wiped sweat off their foreheads.

“Xatu, Psychic,” said Lisa.

Xatu launched a new mental assault at the larger Pokémon. Tangrowth mumbled a little, but it was clear that it was made of tougher stuff than Cacturne was.

“Tangrowth… Ancientpower,” said Roserade.

Oh… No… thought Starbuck.

Tangrowth mumbled again. It raised its arms…

“Xatu, get out of the way!” shouted Lisa.

Xatu snapped out the trance it was in, and watched as its foe summoned four boulders from out of the ground…

Xatu chirped, and moved for the first time. It tried to dodge as the rocks flew towards it, but they plowed into it, and it fell with its face to the floor.

Lisa sighed as Xatu retreated to its pokeball.

“You did good, Xatu…” she said.

She picked up another pokeball.

Going to have to take a chance, she thought.

She threw it.

“Ampharos, go!” she shouted.

Starbuck knew the Pokémon that came out this time. Like Shiftry, it was one of his mother’s oldest Pokémon, which she had captured during her adventures with his father. The Electric Type was one of her most powerful fighters, and while Tangrowth had Type advantage now, Ampharos did have a little surprise.

Roserade’s eyes narrowed.

“Ampharos, use Thunder Wave!” ordered Lisa.

Ampharos put its hands together, and shot a blast of electricity at the walking mass of vegetation. Tangrowth groaned, as its muscles (assuming it had any) started to stiffen and lock…

“Yes!” shouted Starbuck. “Ampharos paralyzed it!”

“As if,” said Roserade.

“Tangrowth…” said the Pokémon.

It glowed with energy, and then straightened up, and stretched out it’s arms.

“What’s happening?” asked Starbuck.

“Tangrowth’s ability is a powerful one called Leaf Guard,” said Roselia. “When the sun is bright, like that caused by Sunny Day’s effect, and it is inflicted by paralysis, poison, or anything that might hinder it, it is immediately cured.

“Guess you found that out the hard way.

“Now… Tangrowth… Use Wring Out!”

“Tangrowth!” it shouted.

Its two arms stretched towards Ampharos, and wrapped around it. Ampharos screamed as it started to crush the life out of it.

“Wring Out?” said Shadow. “I never heard of that one either…

“Wring Out does damage based on how hurt the victim is,” replied Starbuck. “The less it’s hurt, the more damage it does. And since Ampharos hadn’t been wounded yet at all…”

Ampharos screamed and burst free.

“Ampharos, Thunder!” shouted Lisa.

Thunder rolled, and a lightning bold blasted out of the blue, striking Tangrowth. It hollered and fell backwards.

It got up, a little singed, with smoke coming from where the bolt had hit…

“Ampharos, hit it hard with Signal Beam!” shouted Lisa.

“Tangrowth?” said the Grass-Type, getting frightened.

Ampharos’s two eyes glowed, the left eye glowing red and the right green. Two rays shot out, spiraling around each other, striking Tangrowth in the center and seemingly burning its sinewy skin. Tangrowth hollered in pain.

“Enough,” said Roserade. “Tangrowth, finish off that thing with Solarbeam.”

“Tangrowth…” it growled.

“No!” shouted Lisa. “Ampharos…”

Ampharos never had a chance. Solarbeam worked a lot quicker when Sunny Day was in effect. Before Lisa could shout a warning, a beam of pure, burning sunlight struck Ampharos, throwing it backwards and knocking it out cold.

As Ampharos retreated to its pokeball, Tangrowth gasped for breath.

“One Pokémon left, Lisa,” said Roserade.

Lisa lifted another pokeball and closed her eyes.

I’ll put all my faith in you, she said.

She threw it.

“I choose you!” she shouted. “Go, Monferno!”

The pokeball opened, and a small Pokémon leapt out. It looked like a monkey with a burning tail, and a serious expression on its face.

Starbuck was surprised. He knew that his mother had received a Chimchar from a breeder in Sinnoh a few months ago, but he hadn’t seen it evolve into its second form.

Tangrowth looked a bit worried now…

“Monferno, Flamethrower,” said Lisa.

The primate hopped to the side, and then breathed a steady stream of flames at the bigger Pokémon. Tangrowth groaned, as the fire scorched its vines, which were already smoldering from the Signal Beam.

Tangrowth was a mess. It looked like it was barely able to hold itself together at this point.

“Enough,” said Roserade. “Tangrowth, return.”

Tangrowth vanished, and retreated to its pokeball.

“What?” said Lisa. “You forfeit?”

Roserade stepped forward with a smug smirk.

“No…” she said. “Only Tangrowth does. I want to finish your Monferno myself…

“My mother, the previous Guardian of this Plate, raised me tenderly from a bud. She prepared me for my eventual task, and always told me to test my abilities… No test is greater for a Grass Pokémon than that of a Fire one.

“So let the true duel commence…”

She glowed, and then two sinewy roots shot out of her hips. They reached out to each side, and burst into the ground, sending up a shower of rocks, pebbles, and soil.

“That’s one powerful Ingrain,” said Jamie.

“And she’s in it until the end now,” said Starbuck. “No turning back…”

“Ah…” said Roserade. “Do you know how it feels, Lisa? To have the water and nutrients of the soil fed right into you through your spine? It can be invigorating…”

“Animal life has benefits too,” said Lisa. “Monferno, use Blaze Kick!”

Monferno lunged at the flower fairy, foot first…

“Energy Ball!” shouted Roserade.

She shot a ball of green, pulsing light at Monferno, and he groaned as it hit him. He fell on his back.

He got up with a sneer on his face.

“Flamethrower again!” said Lisa.

Roserade shielded herself as the fire licked at her leaves and petals. She started to sweat, but she showed no signs of falling yet.

She put her hands together.

“Shadow Ball!” she shouted.

Monferno watched as she prepared to fire an orb of crackling, ghostly energy…

As she threw it, he leapt out of the way, and it left a black mark on the floor.

That Ingrain has a definite weakness, thought Lisa. She’s stuck in one spot, and has almost no maneuverability, giving my Pokémon one advantage… Maybe if Monferno could get close and grapple…

“Monferno, Fury Swipes,” she said.

“Monferno!” it shouted.

It leapt, and as Lisa had predicted, she had no way to dodge. Monferno clawed and scratched at her face and chest, leaving deep gashes in her soft flesh.

Roserade snarled, and pushed it off of her. She fired another Shadow Ball, and Monferno fell down again.

“Monferno…” he moaned.

“Oh… no…” said Starbuck.

Roserade grinned.

She turned to Lisa.

“Well…” she said.

And then everyone was startled as Monferno started to glow.

They watched, as it was enveloped in bright light. It started to increase in size, slowly, as it stood on its feet…

In a burst of light, the monkey had been replaced by a slim, muscular gorilla with orange fur, flaming hair, and an angry expression.

“It evolved!” gasped Shadow.

The newly evolved Pokémon growled at Roserade.

“Okay… Infernape…” said Lisa. “Use Close Combat!”

Infernape lunged at Roserade, and started punching her mercilessly. She bobbed up and down, held up by her two roots like she was a punching bag.

Now Roserade was more of a mess than Tangrowth had been. Both of her eyes were blackened, and the sap that served as her blood was running out of her mouth and several gashes.

She looked at Infernape.

“Leaf Storm!” she shouted.

In the next instant, the whole place erupted into a blizzard of leaves and foliage, just as it had when Shiftry had tried to use the same move. The humans could barely see the two Pokémon through the maelstrom…

When the storm subsided, both Pokémon were gasping for breath. It was clear now that whoever could make the next attack would win.

“Flamethrower!” urged Lisa.

“Infernape…” said the Pokémon, as he prepared to make the attack.

Roserade put her hands together, and prepared to fire another Shadow Ball. Everyone watched nervously…

Then Roserade screamed as the fire plowed into her.

She collapsed, as the roots pulled free and withered.

“All right mom…” muttered Starbuck.

Lisa returned Infernape to its pokeball.

She walked up to her fallen foe.

“Roserade?” she said.

“No more…” said the Pokémon. “I yield… The Meadow Plate is yours…”

She weakly pointed to the statue, where a green tablet was now resting on the nymph’s shoulder.

Starbuck walked up, and lifted it off the statue.

“I can offer a little help to your next destination as well,” sighed Roserade. “Look for information… On someone named Malavus.”

“Malavus?” asked Starbuck.

“It’s all the information I can give you,” sighed Roserade. “All I can say now is good luck.

“Go… Don’t come back… The Twisting will descend on us soon…”

And then she fell asleep, snoring loudly. The other Roselia looked at their leader sadly.

“I feel dirty,” said Starbuck. “In more ways than one.”

“Let’s get out of this forest,” said Jamie. “If I don’t get poison ivy before the day is out, it’s gonna be a miracle. And remember, you promised to let me study that Plate.”

The Roselia stepped aside as they walked out. They waved goodbye sadly as they left.

* * * * * * * * * *

A short time later…

The woman in uniform was considering a pokeball as she waited. The newly-caught Bellsprout was a bonus, she guessed, so at least this trip wouldn’t be a total loss.

She stood up and took notice as Starbuck, Lisa, Shadow, and Jamie stepped out of the Forest Gate.

“So…” she snapped. “You’re finally back… What the heck were you doing in there? Was there a Pokémon you had to catch that was going out of style?”

Starbuck groaned. He rolled his eyes, knowing that the conversation that had started was going to be anything but pleasant…

If there was one person he did not want to deal with right now…

It was Major Jane.


Coming up next:

More happens, as the search for this strange Malavus is on. We find out who Major Jane is, and the team takes some time to hunt for rare Pokémon. Plus, Rocket Reborn becomes more of a threat, as Leo shows up to bother Starbuck.

Stay tuned.

[Chris 2.1]

Just finished reading it. While it was a good ending to the two-chapter arc for the Meadow Plate I think I enjoyed the last chapter more. This felt very similar to the Vespiquen plot, battling a big Pokemon who had a team of their type. It wasn't as exciting and fuelled as other chapters.

The description of the house was good, really got a feel for the environment and the Roselia emerging from the overgrowth was interesting. I'm surprised Roserade was the Guardian - I expected a Sceptile for some reason.

Lisa battling was a nice change but I didn't feel much difference to her battling style than Starbuck's or anybody elses for that matter. I think a key to this sort of storyline is to ensure that you do make battles different; would a grass type Pokemon battle differently to a poison type? Do some Pokemon all-out-fight, do they evade or stat boost, do they set an elaborate strategy?

Otherwise they become uninteresting. I expected, as a grass type, Roserade may be healing a lot more or evading. The description is improving a lot since Pokemonese and even the earlier chapters.

Another thing to mention; I didn't understand the scene with the lady waiting for Ishmael etc, but I recognized that it was important to the story. I'm intrigued about it, and even moreso about Ishmael himself. When will we hear from him? Or anything about his whereabouts?

The fic is moving nicely; how many plates do they have now? 3? Also how big are they roughly? Do they carry them around or are they sent to Percival?

Great work overall though. Just watch out with the battles because they're very technical and nitpicky. People are constantly explaining everything to everyone and it seems like your merely advertising the 4th Generation; most Pokemon descriptions are no more in depth then their standard appearence. I know Tangrowth is blue and I know it has red shoes, but how far do the arms go into its body? Are they perhaps merely thickened vines or has muscle formed? Do the vines move, etc? I really think this is an area for improvement since the matches feel detached.

Like I said I'm surprised we're on Chapter 6 - the fic has progressed a lot. Looking forward to the next chapter as always.

[Dark Sage]

Good to hear from you, Chris. You raised some good points...

The description of the house was good, really got a feel for the environment and the Roselia emerging from the overgrowth was interesting. I'm surprised Roserade was the Guardian - I expected a Sceptile for some reason.

I considered a Sceptile, but when designing some major characters, I decided that a very important character would have one later in the story, so I decided to go with a Roserade here.

Lisa battling was a nice change but I didn't feel much difference to her battling style than Starbuck's or anybody elses for that matter. I think a key to this sort of storyline is to ensure that you do make battles different; would a grass type Pokemon battle differently to a poison type? Do some Pokemon all-out-fight, do they evade or stat boost, do they set an elaborate strategy?

Yes, each Guardian will have his own unique strategy. These Pokemon are smarter than common members of their species, and they know how to use their abilities to the fullest. (Without giving anything away, one Guardian is not even of the same Type as the Plate it guards corresponds to. Why? Arceus has his reasons...)

Another thing to mention; I didn't understand the scene with the lady waiting for Ishmael etc, but I recognized that it was important to the story. I'm intrigued about it, and even moreso about Ishmael himself. When will we hear from him? Or anything about his whereabouts?

No comment. I am keeping entirely silent about Ishmael's fate and where exactly he is now. Whether he will play a major role in this story or not, only time will tell. As for the lady in the military uniform, more on her next chapter.

The fic is moving nicely; how many plates do they have now? 3? Also how big are they roughly? Do they carry them around or are they sent to Percival?

As of right now, the Flame, Splash, Insect, and Meadow Plates are in the hands of the protagonists. Percival had the Flame Plate to begin with. A Plate is about the size of a textbook and weighs about five pounds. Starbuck sends them to Percival so he can study them and get more information, using the same technology that allows trainers to transport Pokemon.

I promise to improve the battle scenes more as I get better. Next chapter, there will be a battle in which each trainer will simply use one Pokemon apiece, which gives me more freedom of description. In any case, thanks for writing. I'll see you then.

[Chris 2.1]

These Pokemon are smarter than common members of their species, and they know how to use their abilities to the fullest.

I had to highlight this since I felt Roserade had her blonde moments, one being she was telling everyone which attacks she was using. Does a Pokemon need to do that?

one Guardian is not even of the same Type as the Plate it guards corresponds to

I was going to wonder if this was a possible scenario. And I couldn't think of a pheesable reason why it would work, so this quote has me very intrigued.

I forgot about the Flame Plate. Thanks for reminding me!

Whether he will play a major role in this story or not, only time will tell

Come on, you won't go through all this and not have Ishmael be alive or in the fic :p

Awaiting the next chapter!

[ssj4supernerd]

I liked this chapter. Lisa battling was indeed cool, although I mus say that poison was a bit too much. A lot of grass types are part Poison, but you could also, if Starbuck and co. refuse, had them choked with vines or something like that. xD

[Shuppet Master]

Finally the story gets updated! The only nitpick is that you called Roserade "Roselia" in her line. Oops.

It was sort of nice how Jamie tried to flatter the Guardian and failed, and how Roserade threatened to poison them all if the challenge was refused. Seems like the heroes are in it for the long haul, huh?

Grass Pokemon are my favorites, so I was enjoyed the chapter. The sudden evolution of Monferno was surprising, though.

Can't wait for the next chapter.

[Dark Sage]

Twice now, I’ve dealt with someone working for Rocket Reborn, a group headed, apparently, by the daughter of Ash’s old foes (the term is used loosely), James and Jesse.

I should be as lucky as Ash. It seems that while the two trainers who always tried to steal his Pikachu were rather incompetent as criminals, their offspring would have made them very proud.

I have yet to meet Jessica in person, or know just what her group is up too, other than the fact that she seems to want the Plates as much as I do, and that she’s murdered three Guardians in her attempts to gain them.

Well, maybe her parents wouldn’t be so proud. They weren’t killers. Well, at least that was never proven.

I’m about to deal with another member of her group now, and this might prove to be harder than before…

I’m only accepting his challenge because he might know something that I want to know…

CHAPTER SEVEN



Reminder

Starbuck sighed.

He looked at the young woman in the military uniform… A blonde, blue-eyed, busty woman who would have been very attractive if she didn’t always scowl.

There were so many mysteries in the Pokémon world, and he was looking at one of them…

Since Pokémon training became popular, there were two groups that every trainer had to be familiar with. You could be sure that in every place where trainers congregated, a Pokémon Center would be found, and Nurse Joy would be there, ready to greet anyone who came in with a sweet smile.

You could also be sure that in every town and city where Pokémon were known, the police department would have Officer Jenny on duty, ready to uphold the law should the criminal element threaten.

When one thought about it, these two women… Or groups of women… Were rather odd. Clearly, there were several of each of them, and they were identical in every way. When you saw two members of the group together (multiple Joys and Jennys were only seen at large Pokémon events) one would assume they were identical twins, perfectly alike in every detail.

Ash’s ally and friend Brock claimed he had ways to tell them apart, citing things like different perfume and scented shampoo preferences, but to anyone else, one Joy was no different than the next.

What was the secret behind the nurses and the officers? If you asked them, the answer was simple: They were each members of extended families whose female members all took the same occupations.

However, Joy and Jenny did have detractors, and some nasty rumors did spread. One rumor that started – maybe by Rocket or another of those Teams – stated that the original Joy and Jenny were the true sisters, and they had cloned themselves long ago in some hidden genetics lab. To this day, these “mothers” of the two groups still create their clones from a secret location, Joy sending one of hers out whenever a new Center must be built, and Jenny sending one out when crime rates are high.

It seems a sinister plot, so these same detractors pointed to the possibility that the Joys and Jennys were ultimately up to no good, and were working towards some notorious long-term plan. However, this was very hard to believe when you spoke to one of them. No one had ever seen a Joy who wasn’t as sweet as cherry pie, and Jenny was pretty friendly too, unless you were on the wrong side of the law.

But even so… How did you explain Major Jane?

About five years ago, the first one of these sisters (again, that was what they claimed) showed up, and one of them always showed up when the army was involved with Pokémon. They were trainers themselves, favoring much more heavy-duty Pokémon than Joy or Jenny, and they were certainly not as friendly as Joy or Jenny. As high-ranking officers (as their name implied, they each held the rank of Major), they commanded a great deal of authority in the military, and rumors were running rampant. Some said that that the Janes were training whole armies of Pokémon that could be used during wartime, should it ever be necessary.

Of course, the presentation of this figure brought up a lot of questions. Why was every Jane the same rank? No one, not even someone who had undergone officer training, ever started as a Major. But as far as was known, none of these sisters held the rank of Lieutenant or Captain. Nor were any Janes of a higher rank ever encountered, which seemed weird at best. The only officer in the army who does not seek to increase his rank is the one who holds the rank of Army Chief of Staff General (better known as four-star General), the highest rank an officer could achieve in a time of peace. So why had no Jane attempted to take the test for Lieutenant Colonel?

Perhaps the test was harder than training Pokémon. But dealing with these overstuffed soldiers was hard for anyone, unless you knew how to do so.

And Starbuck was not going to let himself be intimidated…

“What do you want, Jane?” he asked.

“Major Jane, if you don’t mind,” she replied. “I hear you’ve been digging up artifacts, Conrad.”

“Jane, each… artifact I have I was given to me,” said Starbuck. “I did not steal them, nor did I take them from any private land. They were not military property, so I fail to see why it’s any business of yours.”

“It is my business, although I’m not about to tell you why,” said Jane. “I’m giving you a cease and desist right now, Conrad! You are to hand over the Meadow Plate right now, and stop any activity involving these Plates. That’s an order!”

Starbuck chuckled.

“You’re ordering me to cease and desist…” he said with a laugh. “Boy, that’s funny, really…”

He walked up to her, and stared her in the face.

“Jane, listen…” he said. “That cluster of gold leaves you have might give you authority over military personnel, but I don’t ever remember joining the army myself. And I don’t intend to. You have no right to give me orders.

“So until my draft notice comes, unless you can produce some written, authorized proof that the Plates are military property – and I know you can’t – I’m free to tell you to take your damn orders and stick them where the sun don’t shine.”

Jane looked at him nervously. Starbuck backed away from her.

“Guys, let’s go…” he said to his companions.

“Conrad, get back here!” shouted Jane.

“Go to Hell, Jane!” said Starbuck.

Jane seethed in anger.

“Uh, ma’am,” said Jane’s aide. “I’m afraid he’s right… I was going to say something before, but it really wasn’t my place… We really don’t have authority over civilian matters… And if we try to force him, we’ll get in big trouble.”

Jane growled and clenched her fist.

“I hate civilians…” she muttered.

“We should have the draft, you know… We’d teach disrespectful punks like that a lesson…”

“Uhm, ma’am,” said the aide. “If we had the draft, the government wouldn’t be able to start offensive actions that the public didn’t approve of, and the military wouldn’t even get as much funding as it does now.”

“Johnson…” said Jane, looking at him, “let me give you a tip… When speaking to a superior officer, saying something smart is almost as bad as saying something stupid…”

She sighed.

“It seems this whole trip has been a colossal waste…” she said, reaching into her pocket. “And I so wanted to go to my yoga class today…”

She took out a cell phone.

“Volmer’s gonna have a fit…”

“Ma’am, if I may be frank,” said the aide, rather annoyed, “I’ll work as your assistant, but we are entering very dangerous territory. What you just did over there already broke three regulations regarding dealing with civilians. If you do anything that warrants a court martial, do not expect me to testify in your defense.”

Jane sighed.

“I won’t expect you to,” she muttered.

* * * * * * * * * *

Night descended. A waxing moon loomed over the Pokémon Center, a sign that the full moon would shine tomorrow night.

Jamie looked closely at the Meadow Plate. It had odd runes of some sort carved into it, but he couldn’t read them.

“Well?” asked Starbuck, who was sitting across the table from him.

Jamie aimed his camera over the Plate, and snapped a photo with it.

“I have a linguist of my own,” he said with a sigh. “If the writing on this thing can lead to Shaymin at all, I might have a chance.”

Shadow got up and turned to Starbuck.

“I need a hot shower after being in that forest so long,” she said. “Want to join me?”

Starbuck was startled. He looked up at her.

Shadow winked, and walked to the showers.

Starbuck shook his head. This flirting was getting out of hand.

“Well…” said Jamie, “I’ve wasted enough time with you weirdoes… Listen, if you happen to find Arceus, tell him I said hi.”

“We’ll be sure to,” said Starbuck, as Jamie headed for the exit.

* * * * * * * * * *

Percival looked at the two items that Starbuck had just sent over – the Meadow Plate and the chalk rubbing from the Golem statue.

“Excellent, Mr. Conrad,” he said, looking at the rubbing. “Although I can’t seem to recognize this language myself…”

“It might be a clue,” said Starbuck over the video phone. “Surely, there must be someone who can translate it.”

“Possibly…” said Percival. “It may take some time, however.”

“I have something else for you to look up,” said Starbuck. “The word ‘Malavus’.”

“Malavus?” asked Percival.

“The Guardian said it was all the information she could give us,” said Starbuck. “Listen, Percy, Shadow, mom, and I are going to head to Macintosh Forest tomorrow. There are some rumors that some rare Pokémon are popping up there lately.”

“Macintosh Forest,” muttered Percy. “Isn’t that where…”

“Mom and dad met?” asked Starbuck. “Yeah… It’s near Opal Ridge, where dad grew up…

“But anyway, I’ll keep my cell phone on… You know the number…”

As Starbuck hung up, Percival rubbed his chin. Francis walked into the room.

“Your brandy, sir,” said Francis, holding him a glass.

“Thank you…” muttered Percival.

As Percival sipped the drink, he noticed Francis looking at the Meadow Plate.

“What?” asked Percival.

“Nothing,” said Francis, walking away.

“Nothing that you’d understand, you brat…” he whispered. “Another two-thousand paid to those kids to get a piece of rock, I assume… You’ll regret it soon, I promise you that…”

* * * * * * * * * *

The sun rose, until it was high in the sky, and two motorcycles holding three trainers rode down the path into Macintosh Forest.

Macintosh Forest… It was a much smaller and friendlier forest than the Bunglewood, and one with a strange history behind it that was known to all the trainers who hunted here.

The legend varied, depending on who told it. According to most, two-hundred years ago, it had been a vast, carefully maintained apple orchard, which grew some of the sweetest, most delicious apples in all of Toreen. But a Pokémon trainer who visited the place did something wrong. What did he do? Well, that depended on who was telling the story. The simplest version stated that he brought a Pokémon with a very powerful version of the Sweet Scent ability. A more dramatic version claimed he knew dark magic, and cast some sort of spell the wrong way. Whatever the case, the orchard was invaded by a swarm of wild Caterpie, who decimated the orchard in only two days.

Today, the apple trees bore fruit again, but the apples were tart and sour, and the undergrowth had turned the place into a wilderness. The Caterpie were gone, but plenty of other Pokémon common to forests lived here… Bug and Grass Pokémon especially. Some could be found that were exceptionally rare.

“Okay,” said Starbuck. “If you see a trophy Pokémon, concentrate on it, and…”

“I know how to catch Pokémon!” interrupted Shadow.

Lisa took out a pokeball, and opened it. A small creature leapt out.

It was the Munchlax she had caught at the Bunglewood. It laughed, and ran towards a group of apples that had fallen off a tree.

“Why’d you bring that?” asked Starbuck.

“Thought I’d start training it,” replied Lisa. “You know that if a Munchlax is treated right, it grows up into a big, strong Snorlax.”

Starbuck didn’t see the Buneary crawl out of his motorcycle basket. It hopped down, and watched them curiously.

Munchlax hungrily chewed on the apples, as Starbuck checked his equipment.

“Munchlax?” it said, pausing.

It looked up.

“Munchlax…” it said in awe.

Everyone looked up…

Perched in a tall tree was the most beautiful Pokémon they had ever seen. It was clearly feminine, and was shaped like a large bird, with wings, a crest, and a tail shaped like crescents. It was colored in every hue of the rainbow.

Starbuck quickly grabbed a pokeball from his belt.

“Starbuck, no!” whispered his mother. “She’ll never let you battle her. Take a picture! Take a picture before she decides to fly away!”

Starbuck reluctantly took his camera off his belt and aimed the lens. The Pokémon looked at him and smiled slightly. It was almost as if it liked having its picture taken.

After he snapped the picture, the Pokémon gave a cry in a musical tone, and then flew from its perch, leaving a trail of rainbow colors in its wake. They watched it fly away, until after a minute, it was gone.

“What was it?” asked Shadow, in wonder.

“Cresselia,” replied Lisa. “A unique Pokémon said to embody the spirit of the moon.”

“Why didn’t you let me try to catch it?” asked Starbuck. “It was… beautiful…”

“Yes, beautiful,” said Lisa. “But trying would have been pointless. Trainers have tried to capture Cresselia for years. She always flees whenever someone tries.

“It isn’t because she’s a coward. According to legend, she wants the perfect trainer.

“It’s said that she’s like the mythical unicorn. She’ll only submit to a virgin maiden with a pure heart. One who’s also a Pokémon trainer, of course.”

“Heh…” chuckled Starbuck. “Well, I guess that’s the last we’ll see of her…”

Shadow looked in the direction where Cresselia had gone.

“Come on guys…” she muttered. “We have Pokémon to root out…”

* * * * * * * * * *

The group had decided to work separately for a while. Starbuck had gone in one direction with his mother, while Shadow had gone off alone.

Starbuck scanned the area with binoculars.

“Not much…” he said. “Kricketot… Taillow…”

He looked at a tree where some slashes had been made on the bark, as if by a sword.

He made a face. Most likely a Farfetch’d had been here recently, but it was gone now. He would have loved a Farfetch’d…

“Gotta be some around here we can…” he said.

He paused.

“Mom… Don’t move…”

Twenty feet in front of him was a small Pokémon that looked like a blue, two-foot long scorpion with no pincers.

Starbuck knew this Pokémon species. It was a rare Pokémon called Skorupi. While it wasn’t very powerful, it could evolve into a Drapion, which was incredibly powerful.

He stared the Pokémon in the eye. He slowly reached for a pokeball…

With one swift motion, he threw it, and Dawn leapt out.

“Skorupi!” exclaimed the Bug.

“Dawn, use Swift!” shouted Starbuck.

“Starbuck…” said Lisa, looking up.

The Espeon meowed, and flicked her tail forward, sending a shower of shimmering stars at the smaller Pokémon. The Skorupi cringed and backed up.

But it wasn’t about to give up. The Bug flicked its tail forward, and a volley of needle-sharp Pin Missiles shot at Dawn. She winced in pain as they stabbed into her fur.

“Uh, Starbuck…” said Lisa, still looking up.

“Swift again!” shouted Starbuck.

Again, the star shower shot at the small Pokémon, and it groaned. It stumbled, and fell on one leg.

“Pokeball, go!” shouted Starbuck.

He threw a pokeball at the Skorupi, and it opened, drawing it inside.

Starbuck tensed as the pokeball shook once, twice, three times…

It stopped, and was still.

“Yes!” he shouted. “I caught a Skorupi!”

“Congratulations!” shouted his mother. “Now pick it and Dawn up, and lets amscray!”

“Huh?” said Starbuck.

Lisa pointed up into the branches of the tree they were under. Starbuck slowly looked up…

Hanging amid the branches were several Pokémon that looked like large pine cones with eyes, and they were swaying, no doubt from the fighting.

“Pineco!” said one of them.

“Pineco!” said the other ones.

“Oh no…” muttered Starbuck. “RUN!”

He grabbed the pokeball, and Dawn leapt into his hands. He and Lisa ran as the Pineco fell, and explosions tore through the underbrush.

* * * * * * * * * *

Shadow was walking through a section of tall weeds, with her Gengar floating behind her.

“Gengar,” said the Ghost.

“A Pokémon is nearby?” she asked.

“Gengar,” it said, nodding.

The weeds started to rustle…

Shadow was shocked when she saw what walked out of the weeds.

Ever since she had left the orphanage and started as a Pokémon trainer, she had wanted so much to capture a Shroomish. One that she could raise into a Breloom that would be just like her close friend at the orphanage…

She had tried to, several times. The one in the Bunglewood had been her tenth try.

Now, another Shroomish was looking her in the eye, and this one was unlike all the rest. Most Shroomish had spots and undersides that were green. But this one had spots and an underside that was orange.

She had heard stories about rare mutations that caused Pokémon to be born with different colors than others, but this was the first time she had seen one.

The Shroomish looked at her as she looked in pure amazement.

“Shroomish!” it said.

“You… you aren’t going to run?” she asked. “You want to stay and battle?”

“Shroomish,” it replied.

A sudden feeling of joy overcame Shadow.

“You heard it, Gengar!” she shouted.

Gengar floated towards the Shroomish, glaring it in the face. Shadow had never seen anything like this. Most Pokémon were afraid of Ghost Pokémon, but this was one brave little mushroom.

The Shroomish bent over, and a wave of energy was seemingly sucked out of Gengar. Shadow recognized the move – it was Mega Drain. But it could do little; Gengar was half Poison.

“Be easy on it, Gengar,” she said. “Use Lick.”

Gengar flew up to the smaller Pokémon, and licked it with its huge tongue.

Then it spit something out of its mouth, and made a face.

“BLECH!” it shouted.

Shadow figured that Shroomish were clearly not an edible fungus.

“It’s okay, Gengar, we’ve done enough,” she said. “Use Hypnosis.”

Gengar spit on the ground again. Then its eyes glowed with a demonic light, and it stared into Shoomish’s eyes without blinking. Shroomish gave out a small cry, and then fell fast asleep.

Shadow grabbed an empty pokeball, and threw it at the Shroomish. It opened, and it was drawn inside…

It shook… Once, twice, thrice…

It was still.

“YES!” cried Shadow, as the pokeball flew back to her hand. “You’re mine, Shroomish! After so long, I finally have you…”

She sighed.

“You’re gonna like it, I promise…”

Gengar floated up to her with its tongue sticking out.

“Bleah, bleah, bleah…” it groaned.

“Okay!” said Shadow. “So it wasn’t the brightest idea… I’ll get you some mouthwash when we get back to the center.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Where Starbuck and Shadow had parked their motorcycles, a third, much more expensive motorcycle pulled up beside them.

The rider removed his helmet, which didn’t match the rest of his clothing at all. He still wore the same formalwear. He had tried often to wear casual clothes, but he simply didn’t feel right.

He took a cell phone out of his pocket.

“You sure they’re in there, Jess?” he said into it.

“Positive,” came the reply. “You know what to do, Leo.”

“Look…” said Leo. “While I’m at it I could always inflict some more lasting damage… Their bikes are right here, and it wouldn’t take much to…”

“I don’t want Starbuck taken out yet, Leo,” replied Jessica. “Remember, shaken, not stirred. We lose him at this point, we lose an asset.

“Just do your job…”

* * * * * * * * * *

“What sort of strange twist of natural evolution would create a Pokémon that was prone to blowing up?” asked Starbuck.

“The Pokémon world has a lot of weirdness in it,” said Lisa with a sigh. “Take Nosepass for example…”

“Nosepass?” asked Starbuck. “I fought a guy who used one of those… It is kinda weird…”

“One anthropologist I do business with has many theories of Pokémon evolution,” continued Lisa. “He believes that Geodude and Nosepass share the same ancestor. However, the line that would evolve into Nosepass were somehow mutated by powerful magnetic fields, becoming a separate species that were, in effect, living compasses.”

They walked into a clearing, where Shadow was waiting with a big smile on her face.

“Looks like someone made a good catch,” said Starbuck.

“I’m the happiest trainer in the world right now,” beamed Shadow. “I can’t think of a single thing that could ruin this day.”

“Let’s see…” said a voice. “It could cloud up and rain, a rampaging Salamence could come through here…

“Or you might finally be arrested for wearing that ridiculous outfit.”

They turned towards the voice, and saw Leo leaning against a tree.

“Who the heck are you?” asked Starbuck. “A basketball player?”

Leo chuckled.

“Right…” he said. “Like I haven’t heard that one before…”

Shadow glared at him.

“What the heck is wrong with the way I dress?” she asked.

He shrugged.

“Well, I never found the leather-clad biker chick look attractive,” he said. “Frankly, I know of only two reasons why you would dress like that…

“You’re either a rebel… Or a whore…”

Shadow was about to throw herself at him, but Lisa held up her hand.

“Calm down,” said Lisa. “I have a feeling he’s more dangerous than he looks… Notice his lapel pin…”

They did notice it. A gold-plated pin shaped like the letters “RR”.

“I’m guessing that stands for Rocket Reborn,” said Starbuck. “Pardon me if I tell you that if you’re looking for trouble, you’d best find it elsewhere…”

Leo tossed a pokeball into the air and caught it.

“Who’s looking for trouble?” he asked. “I’m just looking for a friendly battle… Trainers still do that these days, right?”

“Why should I trust anything you say?” asked Starbuck. “You guys tried to kill my mother!”

“Mmm, I wasn’t involved with that…” said Leo. “Just because I’m part of a group doesn’t mean I’m in on every activity…”

Starbuck looked at him.

“You’ve also murdered the Guardians of three of Arceus’s Plates…”

“Not involved in that either,” said Leo. “Not yet, at least. No idea what they want with the Plates, and it isn’t my place to ask…”

“Look, buddy…” said Starbuck. “Do you even have a name?”

“Call me Leo,” he said. “Everyone does.”

“Why should I trust you when you say you want a friendly battle?” asked Starbuck. “How do I know there won’t be some ugly strings attached?”

Leo tossed the pokeball again, and caught it. He looked at Starbuck.

“Okay, here’s some motivation…” he said.

He paused.

“Five years ago, shortly before he disappeared, your father encountered a member of our team.”

“WHAT?” shouted Starbuck.

Leo tossed the pokeball again and looked at him.

“Where is he, you dirty…” he started.

“Sorry, that’s all you get,” said Leo. “I’ll tell you what I know after you battle me. You don’t even have to win… But until you grant me a Pokémon battle, I’m not telling you anything.”

“Starbuck, he might be lying,” said Lisa.

Starbuck looked down.

That was indeed a very likely possibility…

But if this guy actually did have information about his father… And would tell it to him, win or lose…

“All right, Leo, fine…” said Starbuck. “But keep one thing in mind…

“You only have six Pokémon… Even if you defeat all of mine, my mother and Shadow have twelve more… So if you even think about going back on your word…”

“I’ll make it even easier for you,” said Leo. “I can’t stay with you guys forever… I made reservations at a place for later, and I have a beautiful lady that I don’t want to disappoint.”

He held the pokeball out in front of him.

“So let’s keep it simple… One-on-one. You send out your best, I’ll send out mine…”

Starbuck looked at him.

“You’re on…” he muttered.

“Then let’s start, shall we…” said Leo.

He kissed the pokeball.

Then he hurled it.

“Meet my two tons of terror!” he shouted. “Go, Rhyperior!”

The pokeball burst open, and a huge Pokémon started to form from out of it.

Starbuck was startled at the sight of the huge monster. It was even taller than Leo by about a foot, and also about five feet wide. It seemed to be covered entirely with unhewn, rocky armor, and a long drill protruded from between its eyes.

“HROAR!” it bellowed.

“Rhyperior?” said Shadow, in awe. “What the Hell is that?

“Besides trouble…”

She took her PokéDex off her belt and pointed it at the thing.

”Rhyperior,” it said. ”The Drill Pokémon. The evolved form of Rhydon; It puts rocks in holes in its palms and uses its muscles to shoot them. Geodude are shot at rare times.”

Evolved form of Rhydon, huh? thought Starbuck, nervously. Then it’s clearly part Rock and part Ground. Ludicolo might be able to take it… But then, maybe Blaziken has a better chance with some Fighting moves…

“Uh, Starbuck, can you hurry up?” asked Leo. “This guy tends to get angry when there’s no one for him to fight.”

“Rhyperior…” grumbled the huge Pokémon.

“All right!” shouted Starbuck. “I’ve got someone who can take on that big lummox…

“Blaziken, go!”

He threw his pokeball, and Blaziken appeared in a burst of flame. It turned to its foe and formed a fighting stance.

“Don’t let its size intimidate you, Blaziken…” said Starbuck. “I’ll wager its bark is worse than its bite…”

Rhyperior let out a great roar, and Blaziken and Starbuck staggered backwards.

“Okay…” muttered Starbuck. “So its breath is worse than its bark… Don’t let that intimidate you either.”

“Blaziken,” muttered the Fighter.

“I’ll give you a free shot, Blaziken,” said Leo, with a sinister grin. “Come on!”

“Blaziken, use Brick Break!” shouted Starbuck.

Blaziken lunged at the larger Pokémon, and slammed its fists into its stony hide. One, two, three blows fell, and dust flew from the point of impact.

Rhyperior chuckled. It shoved Blaziken with a simple push from its palm, and it fell over.

“What the heck?” said Starbuck, as Blaziken got up.

Blaziken looked at its foe angrily…

“Blaziken, Sky Uppercut!” shouted Starbuck.

Blaziken leapt up, clocking Rhyperior in the chin on the way up. The huge Pokémon staggered backwards…

But it kept its footing. It retained its smile as Blaziken landed back on its feet.

“What’s going on?” muttered Starbuck. “That’s a Rock Pokémon… It should be weak against Fighting attacks…”

“Technically, it is,” said Leo. “But roughly half of all Rhyperior have an ability that only this species can have.

“It’s called Solid Rock. Simply put, attacks against it that do extra damage don’t do as much extra damage as they normally would.

“The actual numbers are like this: An attack that is normally two times as effective is only 1.33% as effective, while an attack that is normally four times as effective is only 2.66% effective.”

“I’m guessing you got all A’s in math,” muttered Starbuck.

“I had private tutors,” said Leo. “Add to this resistance the fact that Rhyperior was pretty much built to take punishment, and you have a Pokémon that’s very hard to hurt…

“In fact, he’s almost as good at taking punishment… As he is at dishing it out…”

Uh oh… thought Starbuck.

“Rhyperior, use Stone Edge!” shouted Leo.

Rhyperior growled. It formed its fist into a ball, and stony spikes sprouted from it, forming a nasty mace-like weapon…

Before either Blaziken or its master could react, its foe smashed its fist into its stomach. Blaziken gave a cry of pain and was thrown backwards.

“Blaziken!” shouted Starbuck.

Blaziken got up, holding its stomach and panting for breath.

“Blaziken…” it muttered, with a look of anger in it eyes. “Blaziken…”

“Try Brick Break again!” said Starbuck. “You have to just keep hitting it until it falls down!”

“Blaziken…” growled Blaziken, glaring at Rhyperior.

Rhyperior chuckled, it looked at Blaziken, as if to say, “I dare you”.

Blaziken apparently decided to take the dare. It charged at Rhyperior fist first, and hit it in the chest with a crunch so solid that every human present had to brace themselves.

When they looked again, Blaziken was standing over Rhyperior, who had fallen over, and was panting for breath.

Rhyperior sat up. It felt its chest, which had a very large crack in it.

“Rhyperior…” it grumbled.

A look of absolute rage appeared in the larger Pokémon’s eyes. It had just realized that its enemy had actually managed to hurt it…

Rhyperior gave Blaziken a shove with both hands, and pushed it back. Then it pulled itself up.

“Rhyperior, Earthquake,” said Leo.

“Oh no…” said Starbuck.

Rhyperior raised its fist up high, and it glowed with red energy. Then it slammed its fist down into the ground, and the whole forest shook. Leo had time to brace himself, but Starbuck, Lisa, and Shadow were knocked down, while the actual target of the attack was thrown ten feet.

Blaziken coughed for a second…

It slowly got up, clutching its chest.

“I surrender!” shouted Starbuck. “Blaziken, return!”

He tried to recall Blaziken, but as he tried to use the pokeball, Blaziken swatted the beam aside, refusing to come back.

“Blaziken, stop!” said Starbuck. “Please, your ribs might be busted… You can’t beat it!”

“Your Blaziken is just like your father, Starbuck…” said Leo. “Stubborn… Even if it knows it can’t beat Rhyperior, it won’t give up…

“Some might say that’s admirable… Others would say it’s stupid…

“But it seems I have to teach it a lesson… I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this…

“Rhyperior… Finish it with Rock Wrecker.”

“Huh?” said Starbuck.

He had never heard of a move called Rock Wrecker, but just from hearing the name, he knew he wasn’t going to like it…

Rhyperior glowed with green energy, and its right fist grew to twice its size, becoming more like a boulder than a fist…

Blaziken screamed in pain as the powerful fist slammed into its torso, throwing it all the way back to Starbuck.

“Blaziken!” shouted Starbuck. “Speak to me!”

Blaziken only managed a weak moan.

Starbuck looked at Leo and his Pokémon with anger as he finally recalled Blaziken. At least that last move seemed to tire out Rhyperior a great deal. The goliath was the one panting for breath now.

Leo held up his pokeball and Rhyperior was sucked back into it.

The two trainers stared at each other for a long time.

Starbuck was about to say something, but Leo spoke first.

“Five years ago, your father showed up at one of our research labs,” he said. “We were developing our own version of the Night Balls that had been abandoned by a previous researcher.

“Your father wanted the secret of the Night Ball’s technology. The one in charge was not impressed by your father’s history or his accomplishments. A Pokémon battle broke out.”

“Who won?” asked Starbuck.

“You father did,” replied Leo. “That stupid scientist was humiliated beyond belief. In order to hide his shame, he told your father to help himself. So he copied the blueprints for the Night Ball from the computer, then deleted them, and then incinerated the backup files and the hard copies.

“Then he left. I assume that scientist was punished for letting the project be ruined, but I don’t know how.”

“So where’s my father?” shouted Starbuck.

“Hell if I know,” said Leo, with a shrug. “Rocket Reborn never saw him again. Whatever happened to him, rest assured that we had nothing to do with it…

“But take my advice, Starbuck… Take some advice from someone who once depended on his parents on everything, only to nearly be ruined because of it…

“Accept the fact that your father is most likely dead, and then let go… Because if you continue to hold onto false hopes, they will only lead you to disaster.”

He took a card out of his pocket and tossed it to Shadow.

“As for you,” he said, “Rocket Reborn is always looking for trainers with your image… If you want more than these guys can offer you, call that number. They’ll take a message for me.”

He started to walk away.

“Consider this battle a reminder, Starbuck,” he said. “Rocket Reborn isn’t going to go away. Wherever you go, we’ll be there. Team Rocket may have been our inspiration…

“But it was far from our equal…”

The next minute he was out of sight.

Starbuck clenched his fist in anger. Shadow looked at the card in disgust.

“As if…” she said.

She was about to throw it away, when Starbuck caught her arm.

“Gimme,” he said, taking the card. “Come on, I gotta get Blaziken to the Center…”

As they walked towards their bikes, he hit a number on his mobile.

“Percy?” he said. “Yeah, it’s me… I have a number for you to trace…”

* * * * * * * * * *

“So what’s the prognosis, Jenny?” asked Starbuck.

“What did it get into a fight with, a bulldozer?” asked the nurse.

“A Rhyperior,” replied Starbuck. “Are its ribs broken?”

“Thankfully, no,” replied Jenny, “but after I mend the bruises, I’d keep him out of fights for about two days.

“A Rhyperior, huh? Mmm, those guys are bad news… Thankfully, they’re incredibly rare. A Rhydon can only evolve into one under very special conditions.

“Anyway, come back for Blaziken in the morning. It should be on its feet by then.”

Starbuck sighed, and walked back to a table where Lisa and Shadow were sitting. Off to the side, the rest of their Pokémon were eating from bowls of food that Joy had provided – except for Magmortar, whom Shadow hadn’t let out of its pokeball.

“So doesn’t Magmortar eat?” asked Starbuck.

“It doesn’t eat organic food,” replied Shadow. “You have to feed it rock… Flammable, igneous rock or coal. Its metabolism is like a furnace that needs fuel to run. Fortunately, it doesn’t have eat very often.”

“Night Balls…” muttered Lisa. “Why the heck would your father need those?”

“What are they?” asked Starbuck.

“A failed experiment that some scientist thought up,” said Lisa. “You know what Dusk Balls are, right?”

“Yeah,” said Shadow. “When you use them at night or in dark areas, they’re better than Ultra Balls.”

Lisa sighed.

“One scientist tried to improve the formula,” she said. “Night Balls would be twice as effective as Dusk Balls.

“But there was a problem. Any light at all would ruin their functioning, making them no better than normal pokeballs. Even moonlight and starlight ruined the benefit.

“They couldn’t even be used underground… If a trainer used a flashlight to explore a cave, it would ruin the Ball’s usefulness.

“The first scientist who started the project tried to correct the problem, but it was no use. He eventually cancelled it. I have no idea why Rocket Reborn would start it again, and even less of an idea why your father would want it.”

“Starbuck! Telephone!” shouted Joy.

“Hold that thought,” said Starbuck.

He went over to the video phone, where Percival’s face, looking very nervous, was on again.

“Hello Conrad,” he said. “I have a few items of news you might be interested in.”

“Did you trace that number?” asked Starbuck.

“I didn’t need to,” replied Percival. “It was in the phone book.

“That phone number is the number of the front desk of the Pleasure Garden… It’s an… uhm… Erotic club of sorts in Blueberry Cove…”

“A topless bar?” asked Starbuck.

“Yes, that’s one to put it,” replied Leo. “But it isn’t the sort of place that caters to Joe Sixpack. It’s a very exclusive club. The two-hundred dollar entrance fee ensures that no riff-raff get in.

“It may be that Rocket Reborn actually owns the place. And given the rumors of the folks that go there, they may be more powerful than we believed.”

“Who is rumored to go there?” asked Starbuck.

“The mayor of Blueberry Cove, for one,” replied Percival. “Not to mention the president of Xenex Electronics.”

Starbuck let out a low whistle.

Leo hadn’t been a grunt. As far as Rocket Reborn went, he was high on the totem pole.

“Let’s put that aside for now,” said Percival. “I also discovered what Malavus means.”

“I’m all ears,” said Starbuck.

“Okay,” he replied, “but I gotta warn you, this is kinda weird…”

“Percy, we’re dealing with talking Pokémon,” said Starbuck. “How much weirder can it get?”

Percival cleared his throat.

“Blueberry Cove has always been a mercantile city,” he started. “It was built over a very large series of caverns that were never fully explored.

“Superstition had always told stories of strange creatures living in these caverns, and most folks gave them a wide berth. Whenever someone actually went down there, he came back telling stories of shadows in the darkness, and strange, inhuman eyes staring from dark pits. Some said there were ghosts… Others said there were dark fairies.

“Anyway, about one-hundred and fifty years ago, the sanitary conditions of Blueberry Cove became a problem. The makeshift plumbing they had was getting to be too primitive. They decided to start a project to convert the caverns into a proper sewer system.

“And a man named Joseph Malavus was selected as the head foreman of this project.

“Malavus was a typical hard worker, who didn’t take any excuses. And his beliefs regarding the supernatural were that it was all hogwash. Anyone who told him that the caverns were dangerous, especially the workers he hired, were told to be silent. He was going to complete this project, ghosts or no ghosts.

“And he did a very good job. No ghosts seemed to bother the construction process, and the sewers started to take shape. Building them took a long time, of course. After ten years, the Blueberry Cove sewers neared completion.

“The last thing Malavus needed to do was to seal the boundaries from the sewers from the rest of the cavern complex. But when he did, the strange creatures that had been haunting the caverns finally decided to confront him.

“Malavus called them gnomes, describing them as ugly little men with wrinkly skin. Only one of them – the apparent leader – could speak, and it wanted to make an offer with the foreman.

“The leader wanted to offer their services in a way. He and the rest of these, uhm, gnomes, would clean, fix, and maintain the sewers for the city, saving the town government a great deal of money.

“They asked for only one thing in return… That the boundaries wouldn’t be sealed, and that no-one would venture past them, unless they were coming by an authority greater than human.”

Starbuck raised an eyebrow.

“Now…” said Percival, “it was a strange request, but Malavus thought this was a very tempting offer. He agreed to it, thinking that if these creatures were lying or were planning something sinister, he could exterminate them like vermin.

“Well, a few months passed, and the sewers started to become operational. And when an inspection was done, the mysterious creatures had been good to their word. The system had been cleaned as well as a sewer could, several cracks had been patched, and various other jobs had been done.

“Anyway, this deal still stands, a secret that the city has. Even today, when a group of punks enter the sewers and writes graffiti on the walls, it never lasts more than a few days. Malavus’s odd benefactors wash it off quickly. And the sewer is in better working order than most city sewers.”

Starbuck held his chin.

“And these… gnomes haven’t asked for anything else?” he asked.

“Not a thing,” said Percival with a shrug.

“How did you find this out?” asked Starbuck. “I’d think that the local government of Blueberry Cove wouldn’t like people to know that their sewer system maintenance is being done by earth spirits.”

Percival gave a nervous chuckle.

“Don’t go spreading this around…” he said, “but for this project, I’m employing a… er… computer hacker… It isn’t truly legal… but as the old saying goes, in order to make a few omelets, you have to break a few eggs.”

Starbuck sighed.

“Any news on that chalk rubbing?” he asked.

“That’s a puzzle,” sighed Percival. “I’m sending copies to linguists everywhere. I’m calling in favors to experts on Rock, Ice, and Steel Pokémon, including the Regis.

“Don’t spread this around, but that includes a few celebrities. I sent a message to the current leadership of the Snowpoint City Gym. Candice’s apprentice is running things now, and she might know something.

“As might Brandon…”

“You know Brandon?” asked Starbuck in surprise.

“Again, don’t go spreading it around…” muttered Percival. “Yes, I know him… He doesn’t travel as much as he used to, but the Battle Pyramid is still standing tall…”

“Well, keep on it…” said Starbuck. “We’ll look into these… gnomes…”

* * * * * * * * * *

“Perfect…” muttered Shadow. “We get to go sewer swimming…”

“Look people,” said Starbuck. “these ‘gnomes’ must have been some sort of Pokémon. And since one of them spoke to the guy, one of them could talk. That means that it was a Guardian.

“If no-one is allowed past the boundary unless they have an authority greater than humanity…”

“It means they’re waiting for someone sent by Arceus…” muttered Lisa.

There was a long pause.

“Only thing we have to figure out is,” she continued, “what sort of Pokémon might be mistaken for gnomes…”

“Makuhita?” asked Shadow.

“Doubtful,” said Starbuck. “They’d have been guarding the Fist Plate, and Rocket already has that one…”

“Sableye?” asked Shadow.

“Now that might make more sense…” said Starbuck.

Lisa shivered.

“Mom, what?” asked Starbuck.

“Your father and I…” she said. “We had a… bad experience with a Sableye… It was the leader of a group of Ghost Pokémon that attacked us…

“He never captured his Duskull – it asked to go with him to get away from that Sableye.”

“Hey, don’t worry…” said Starbuck. “I’m not afraid of Ghost Pokémon.”

None of them knew that Leo had been lying when he said he had a date tonight. He was still keeping an eye on Starbuck, using a listening device outside the Center to eavesdrop on their conversation.

He spoke into a headset he was wearing.

“Hey, Jess, you getting this?” he asked.

In her office in Blueberry Cove, Jessica massaged her Persian behind the ears.

“Every word,” she said. “Darn, I knew there was a Plate somewhere in this city… Who would have thought the sewers?”

“You going to send someone down there?” asked Leo.

Jessica thought for a minute.

“Nah, too dirty,” she said. “Listen Leo, get out of there… Starbuck likely wants to tear you a new one for what you did to his best Pokémon, and as much as you’d like to believe otherwise, Rhyperior is not invincible.”

Jessica hung up.

She looked out at the skyline through the window of her office.

She opened the bottom drawer of her desk, and took something out. It was a strange machine of some sort… It looked like a foot-long, cylindrical device made of metal.

She slid the device on her left hand and turned it two inches clockwise, and it clicked into place. The odd device now made her arm look like a weapon.

She aimed it at the Persian.

“Bang! You’re dead!” she said with a laugh.

She chuckled as the Pokémon purred. It knew she would never truly use that device on it.

“I think it’s time I got to know young Starbuck on a more personal level,” she said with a sigh. “Know thine enemy…

“Now who said that?”

She shrugged as she removed the strange device.

Maybe she would get to use it for real tomorrow.


Coming up next…

A trip to Blueberry Cove starts out on the wrong foot as Lisa has to deal with a crisis on the outskirts of town, one that brings back a terrible memory. Being in the city doesn’t help much, as the place has changed since Ishmael’s sister was the Gym Leader. And Jessica decides to confront Starbuck personally for the first time. More will be revealed, but more questions will arise. Don’t miss “At the Hub”, coming soon.

[Shuppet Master]

Well, that went out pretty badly for Starbuck, getting his best Pokemon disabled for two days. And now we have the inevitable confrontation with the hero and villian. I can't wait.

[Dark Sage]

We’ve gotten a new clue that might lead to a new Plate. And it involves going straight to the heart… Into Blueberry Cove.

All nations have their crown. In Toreen, it seems this city is the place where journeys both begin and end, where the concrete canyons hide all manners of wonders.

My father had a history with this town… It seems I’m going to start part of mine there.

I can only hope for the best. Because while this city holds allies, I’m almost certain that it holds enemies as well…

CHAPTER EIGHT



At the Hub

Starbuck found it hard to sleep that night. The fact that Blaziken was hurt bothered him, for one. But he was planning to swap Pokémon anyway. Fighters weren’t very good against Ghosts, assuming that was what these “gnomes” truly were.

He lay in bed thinking about Blueberry Cove, a city he tended to spend a lot of time in. He really didn’t have a choice. In Toreen, Pokémon trainers came to Blueberry Cove. It was unavoidable.

When his father was starting his Pokémon journey, back when there was no Twisting, his father’s older sister Ophelia – Starbuck’s aunt – was the Gym Leader of Blueberry Cove. And everyone in the city was afraid of her. Few trainers who were seen going into her Gym were ever seen coming out, and rumors ran like wildfire about what had become of them.

If a trainer dared to challenge her, he’d realize he’d made a mistake. The inside of Ophelia’s Gym had an evil temple motif, with Ophelia dressed as an evil priestess and her assistants as demonic handmaidens. She delighted in informing the trainers that losing would mean their doom.

It was an act, but she was good at it. The reason the trainers she defeated weren’t seen again was because she owned a Hypno – not used in battle – who hypnotized them, erasing their memories of the encounter, and then using Teleport to send them home.

If they happened to win, Ophelia used bribery, offering them very powerful TMs along with the Badge, to keep silent about the Gym. It was too good an offer to turn down.

Ophelia was retired now, and an apprentice had taken over as Gym Leader…

She was someone else who went way back with Ishmael Conrad…

Starbuck tossed in his sleep. Maybe he would give her a call in the morning. If he was going to search the sewers, he’d need all the help he could get…

* * * * * * * * * *

Morning came, as it always did. The Twisting may have covered the world, but it couldn’t stop the sun from rising.

After buttermilk pancakes and a thank you to Nurse Joy, two motorcycles carrying three passengers sped down the highway towards the destination. The three trainers saw a few odd sights on the way down the highway. A rare, wild Kangaskhan peered over the bushes on the side. Starbuck was tempted to pull over to attempt to capture it, but it hopped away as they slowed down.

At noon, they stopped at a roadside burger joint, for a break and a bite to eat.

“So…” muttered Shadow. “Why do suppose your dad wanted those Night Balls?”

Starbuck paused for a minute.

“You know…” he said, as a light came on in his head, “according to one legend, Giratina’s home is in a world on the reverse side of ours. Maybe it’s a realm of eternal night. You don’t suppose…”

Suddenly, a look of fright appeared on Lisa’s face.

“Yeah!” said Shadow, getting excited. “Maybe your dad found Giratina and bagged it!”

“Or maybe he tried to capture it,” muttered Lisa. “And…”

“Mom, don’t talk like that!” said Starbuck. “We have to keep thinking that dad is alive!

“Besides… You saw Giratina with your own eyes, and you’re still here.”

Lisa didn’t respond. She bit into her hamburger and chewed slowly.

Yes, I saw Giratina, she thought. I found its lair, I tried to capture it…

And a foolish mistake on my part nearly cost me my life…

* * * * * * * * * *

A meal of hamburgers and French fries later, the two bikes sped down the highway. They passed a sign that said “Blueberry Cove City Limits: 2 Miles”.

“Almost there!” shouted Starbuck, as a construction site ahead.

As the site came into view, Starbuck wondered what was being built.

Then he wondered why emergency flares were lit on the road in front of him.

They came to a stop. On the side of the road was a sign that said: “Future Sight of Hudson Windworks Power Plant.

Starbuck looked and saw a group of construction workers on the side of the road. Officer Jenny was there too, with an Arcanine by her side.

Starbuck and Lisa got off the bike and walked up to where everyone was watching the construction site with a look of worry.

“What’s happening, Jenny?” asked Starbuck.

“An Aggron,” she replied. “We don’t know how it got here… It probably came down from the mountains. But it came here with a serious case of the munchies. To an Aggron, a construction site is a buffet.”

Lisa adjusted her glasses and looked where they were looking.

It was an Aggron all right, a rather big one, chewing on a metal girder the way a child would eat a candy bar.

“Any ideas on how to subdue it?” asked Lisa.

“That would be like trying to subdue a tank,” said Shadow, looking at the huge monster in awe.

“Well…” said Jenny.

She lifted up a capsule containing a green liquid.

“We have this… It’s a solution that can put a Pokémon made of inorganic matter – like a Steel Pokémon – to sleep for an hour. But the problem is, it has to be ingested.”

“In other words, you have to make it eat it,” said Starbuck. “That should be easy…”

“Thus the problem,” replied Jenny. “And we don’t have any Pokémon that are strong enough to beat one that powerful the old fashioned way.”

“Why can’t you use a tranquilizer dart?” asked Shadow.

“Darts don’t tend to work on Pokémon that are made of metal, Shadow,” said Lisa. “Jenny, give me the capsule. I’ve dealt with this species before.”

“You sure?” asked Jenny.

“Are you crazy?” asked Shadow. “Didn’t you hear her? It’s hungry! It might have a hard time telling the difference between you and a Slim Jim…”

“Don’t worry,” said Lisa, taking the capsule. “Aggron don’t eat flesh. They only eat metal and ore.”

She took a pokeball off her belt and looked at it.

“Poliwrath, come out,” she said.

In a burst of watery energy, a large, broad, blue, muscular Pokémon with a spiral on its belly appeared.

“Come on…” she said.

She nervously walked towards the huge Pokémon, and Poliwrath followed.

She hadn’t told Shadow the full truth. The full truth was, most Aggron didn’t eat flesh.

When she and Ishmael were fighting Gestalt, they were also fighting Team Chaos. After causing them a lot of trouble, they were captured by the organization, and sentenced to die. Team Chaos had a means of execution that had two goals – terrifying the victims, and entertaining the witnesses.

It was fairly straightforward. The victims were fed to a very powerful Aggron named Grendel, named appropriately after the ogre from the legend of Beowulf. The leader of Chaos had discovered that if an Aggron were trained the right way, it could indeed turn carnivorous.

Lisa’s memories of that horrible encounter that they had barely escaped from were playing back before her eyes. This wasn’t Grendel – that Aggron had been euthanized – but this was still an Aggron.

Lisa walked up to the large Pokémon, who was in the process of chomping on steel cables like it was licorice. It didn’t seem to notice her at the moment.

“Uh… hungry fellah?” she asked.

The Aggron looked at her. It growled slightly, and then went back to its meal.

Maybe I need to really get its attention, thought Lisa.

“Poliwrath… Use Hydro Pump.”

Poliwrath nodded. It took a step forward, and a blast of water shot from the spiral on its stomach.

Aggron roared as the attack soaked it. It turned to the Water Pokémon and its trainer and glared at them angrily.

“Get out of the way!” shouted Lisa.

Aggron swung around 180 degrees, attempting to hit the Poliwrath with its tail. Poliwrath ducked out of the way, dodging the Iron Tail.

“Quick, while its back is turned…” said Lisa. “Use Dynamicpunch.”

“Poliwrath…” said the Pokémon.

Poliwrath slammed its fist hard into Aggron’s steel hide. Aggron roared again…

Then it held its head, and staggered to maintain its footing. The powerful attack had left it dizzy.

“Aggron…” it muttered.

“Now…” said Lisa.

Poliwrath held out its hands, and Lisa stepped on them. It gave Lisa a boost, and she grabbed hold of one of its horns. Then she shoved the capsule down the beast’s throat.

“All right mom!” shouted Starbuck.

At this point, Lisa realized there was a flaw in that part of her plan. In order to keep from falling, she had grabbed onto the Aggron’s horns…

And the chemical was working quickly. It was already starting to fall asleep. It took her less than a second to figure out that she’d be smashed flat if it fell forwards.

Aggron started to teeter…

“Poliwrath!” shouted Lisa’s Pokemon.

It rushed up and gave Aggron a powerful shove in the chest with its shoulder. It collapsed on its back.

“Thanks…” muttered Lisa.

“Mom!” shouted Starbuck, as he, Shadow, and Jenny ran up.

“I’m all right…” muttered Lisa, “but I’m never doing that again…”

“Well…” said Jenny, “as soon as the crane gets here, we can carry this guy back to the mountains…”

“Hello?” said Lisa.

She looked at a spot on the left side of Aggron’s chest, where she had fallen on it.

There was a design painted on it. It looked like a rhinoceros’s head.

Jenny looked at it.

“A Pokémon tattoo…” she said. “Suddenly, I get the feeling that this is no wild Pokémon.”

“You can tattoo a Pokémon?” asked Starbuck.

“Yeah, it’s a new fad,” said Jenny. “And if you want it done, you have to go to a Pokémon tattoo artist. A guy who does tattoos for humans can’t do it for Pokémon.”

Starbuck took out his cell phone.

He was definitely calling that Gym Leader now…

Something was uncouth about this whole thing…

* * * * * * * * * *

In Blueberry Cove City Park, two men were sitting on a park bench. One was broad and muscular. The other was a bit slimmer. Both of them were wearing grey trenchcoats and battered hats.

“Man, I wish I’d brought a magazine…” muttered the smaller one.

“Will you shut up?” asked the bigger one. “The boss-lady tells us to wait here, so we wait here.”

There was a short pause.

“Uh, Rhino…” said the smaller one. “Ain’t you a little worried about the big guy wandering off like that?”

“Eh, he always wanders off,” replied the big one. “He’s always come back before…”

“Well, what happens if Jenny gets to him?”

“No problem,” said Rhino. “She’ll let him go into the hills, and he’ll find his way back home. It’s as simple as that.”

“Yeah, well…” muttered the smaller guy. “I’d be a little concerned if a two-ton, seven-foot-tall Pokémon were loose, and…”

He stopped.

“Hey, look…”

Ten feet in front of them was a very small Pokémon. It was the size of a small child, with a head full of green hair that covered its eyes, and a body that resembled a nightgown.

It looked at them.

“Ralts?” it said.

“Hey… Rhino…” he said. “You think that’s a guy Ralts or a girl Ralts?”

“Hard to say,” replied Rhino. “What difference does it make?”

The man took a pokeball out of his coat.

“Jessica told me something about these things… About how you could do something with male ones that you couldn’t do with female ones. Make them far more powerful…”

Rhino looked at him.

He took a pokeball out of his own coat.

Both pokeballs burst open, and a Hitmonchan and a Raticate leapt out.

“RALTS!” screamed the Pokémon. “Ralts, Ralts, Ralts!”

Then it ran… Right into the arms of someone who had just run up.

The two men looked up and saw who was holding the Ralts. It was a woman who seemed about forty, still with an attractive figure, with dark hair tied in a long ponytail. She wore riding pants and a vest over a polar shirt.

“Hey, hands off, sister!” said Rhino. “We saw it first!”

“Look pal, this is my Ralts,” she said.

“I don’t see your name on it,” said Rhino, with a grin.

The woman frowned.

“Don’t you clowns know who I am?” she asked. “I’m the Gym Leader of this town.”

“Look, lady,” said Rhino, moving his jacket aside.

He moved it aside just enough so she could see the gun that was there.

“…we don’t care if you’re the gym teacher. You either hand over that thing and scram, or…”

Two pokeballs fell out of the woman’s vest.

“Huh?” said Rhino.

* * * * * * * * * *

Five minutes later…

The two thugs, the Hitmonchan and the Raticate, and a Nidorino and a Spearow were lying on the ground in a daze. The trainer was still holding the Ralts, while a Gardevoir and a Gallade stood in front of her.

“Now, class…” she said. “What have we learned today?”

“We learned not to mess with crazy chicks…” groaned Rhino.

“Look, I don’t feel like messing with any red tape,” she said. “So if you two get lost right now, I won’t call the police. But maybe you’ll learn that you can’t help yourself to a trainer’s Pokémon.”

The two thugs groaned as they got up, and they shambled off.

Celeste sighed as she sat down on the bench.

She looked at the two fully-evolved Pokémon.

The Gallade was, by far the younger Pokémon (in fact, it was the Gardevoir’s son).

The Gardevoir, on the other hand… It had been with her since the beginning…

Way back when she was a kid, she was a young hooligan on the wrong side of the tracks. She wanted to be a Pokémon trainer, but she couldn’t afford the registration. So she broke into the Opal Ridge Center and stole a Ralts. It was the only Pokémon she could grab before the alarm went off.

Ishmael cornered her later, and challenged her to a battle, and she actually beat him. It seemed that the Ralts had accepted her as its trainer.

But Ishmael beat her the next time… And all the times afterwards.

Their relationship ebbed and flowed. They were both rivals and allies at times. And eventually, they teamed up for the final assault against Gestalt.

Later, Ophelia took her under her wing as her apprentice, and she surpassed the others. Now she had inherited the role of Gym Leader…

…and she was actually waiting for her old rival’s son. It was strange how things had come full circle.

She was nervous as she saw Lisa walk up with Starbuck. She knew her too well. Shadow, she only knew from watching a few events. Starbuck she had watched grow up.

“Hi, Celeste,” said Starbuck. “Any trouble?”

“Just had to deal with some buzzards,” she replied.

“Gardevoir,” said the older Pokémon.

“Gallade,” said its offspring.

“Uh, yeah…” said Celeste. “Any idea what they just said?”

“You’re confusing me with my father, Celeste,” sighed Starbuck. “I can’t understand Pokémon as well as he could…”

Truthfully, he couldn’t understand Pokémonese at all, but there was no sense in coming right out and saying it.

“So,” said Celeste, crossing her legs, “something about a tattoo?”

“A Pokémon tattoo,” said Lisa. “One on an Aggron. Whoever owns this Pokémon has a lot to answer for.”

Celeste rubbed her chin.

“Come with me,” she said.

* * * * * * * * * *

In the upscale part of town, there was the Blueberry Cove Mall, an enormous shopping center. There were stores devoted to both Pokémon and humans.

The whole top floor was one business: Morrison’s Pokémon Beauty Salon.

“We’re gonna find what we need in a clip joint?” asked Shadow, as they approached the entrance.

“This place does more than give Pokémon haircuts,” said Celeste. “It gives them manicures, massages, tanning treatments, and various other beauty treatments. Including Pokémon tattoos.”

Celeste waved to the doorman as they walked in. Various Pokémon were being worked on by beauticians around the large, spacious room. A Delcatty was having its fur groomed, while a Weavile was having its claws filed (Starbuck couldn’t help but chuckle a little at this.)

Celeste pointed to their goal at the far end. A trainer nervously watched as a muscular man used a tattoo pen to draw something on the arm of a Machamp who was seated in a chair. It didn’t seem to hurt the Machamp much, which came as no surprise to Starbuck and his allies. Machamp could take pain.

Eventually, the artist finished, and started wrapping the arm in a bandage.

“Okay,” he said, “it will be sore for a few days, but that’s usually the case. Don’t let him get into any fights until it heals.”

“Thanks,” said the trainer.

As the trainer left with the Machamp, the tattoo artist turned towards the trainers who were watching him. He was a bulky man with a neatly trimmed, black beard, and a big smile.

“Hey, Celeste,” he said. “How ya doin’? What can I do for ya?”

“I was hoping you could help me, Giorgio,” she replied. “Did someone come in recently with an Aggron?”

“Aggron…” said Giorgio. “Mmm, yeah, about four months ago. Wanted me to put a rhinoceros’s face on its chest.”

“You have a good memory,” said Lisa.

“Hey, I’m a tattoo artist,” said Giorgio. “I gotta have a good memory!

“Anyway, this guy is a real seedy character… He had a friend with him, and the friend called him Rhino. But he paid cash. No way to trace it.”

“Are Pokémon tattoos common these days?” asked Starbuck.

“Not as common as you might think,” said Giorgio. “Most trainers want them for Pokémon that pride themselves on being tough. Like Rock, Steel, and Fighting Pokémon.

“And there’s a problem. If a Pokémon evolves, a tattoo vanishes when it transforms into its new body. So a trainer never wastes money having a Pokémon tattooed unless it’s in its final form.”

Starbuck sighed.

“So what do we do now?” he asked.

“I suppose we could ask around for a trainer named Rhino,” said Celeste. “There can’t be that many guys with that name.”

* * * * * * * * * *

One hour later, Starbuck, Shadow, and Lisa were outside of the Blueberry Cove Gym, having left Celeste to look a few things up.

“The mystery deepens…” said Starbuck.

“Want to shed some light on it?” said a voice in front of them.

They slowly looked up.

In front of them was a young woman, in her twenties, dressed in a leather, form-fitting suit. Her right hand was hidden behind her back.

Starbuck recognized her at once. From the bank…

“JESSICA!” he shouted.

“Yeah, Starbuck, it’s me…” sighed Jessica. “How awfully perceptive of you…”

“Look, Jess,” growled Starbuck, “if you want a fight…”

“Fight?” asked Jessica. “I don’t want to fight… I just want a friendly conversation…”

“Yeah, and that’s why you kidnapped my mother!” shouted Starbuck.

“Stand back, Starbuck,” said Shadow, “I’ll handle this bitch…”

She grabbed a pokeball off her belt.

“Magmortar, go!” she shouted.

Magmortar burst out of its pokeball, and roared.

Jessica’s hand flew from behind her back. A strange device was fitted over her hand, making it resemble a weapon.

A beam of pure energy blasted from it, hitting Magmortar…

When the smoke cleared, everyone gasped. The energy had seemingly encased Magmortar in some sort of shell of metal.

Jessica pointed the device menacingly.

“Anyone else want to try?” she sneered. “Anyone else want a petrified Pokémon?”

“Wait a minute…” muttered Lisa. “I recognize that weapon…”

“Keep going…” said Jessica.

“It belonged to Hunter J,” said Lisa, “the notorious thief and poacher…”

“And…” chuckled Jessica. “Keep going…”

Lisa paused.

“It was on the news, so long ago…” said Lisa. “When she was finally captured for the last time… They found her, tied up, beaten within an inch of her life, next to the burning, ruined remains of her ship, with everything she owned stolen… But she refused to tell the police who had done it to her.”

Jessica chuckled again.

“Yes…” she said. “It was a mystery…”

She sat down on the park bench behind her.

“Who handed the terrible Hunter J the humiliating defeat that ruined her and led to her end?

“You’re looking at her.”

“You gotta be kidding,” said Starbuck. “You would have been only eighteen years old!”

“Let me explain,” said Jessica. “When I broke out of that orphanage with only the clothes on my back and a stray Meowth as my only Pokémon, I had big plans. I wanted, like most trainers, to be the greatest Pokémon trainer.

“So I decided to take a different route than most.

“While most beginning trainers were wasting their time hunting for Rattata and Pidgey, I was more daring. I braved dark caves and foreboding mountains where usually, only more experienced trainers dared to go. As a result, by taking many risks and enduring several hardships, I assembled a powerful team almost from the start.

“I took advantage of Pokémon Centers, where trainers were fed for free. When I got money, I spent nearly all of it on pokeballs and potions, leaving nothing for myself. Nurse Joy worried for me when she saw my clothes and shoes wearing out, but when I truly needed them, I could easily shoplift some inexpensive clothing from thrift stores.

“So while the public saw a dirty street rat on the outside, my poverty hid a powerful trainer…

“My ultimate goal was to vindicate my parents… To create an organization that would not only equal Team Rocket, but be its superior…”

She sighed.

“But organizations… even little ones… cost money… They cost lots of money to get off the ground…”

She smirked.

“And then, then, on the plains outside of Jubilife City one day, my ship came in. I ran afoul of Hunter J.

“I had just defeated an average trainer in a standard battle, when she showed up in that huge airship of hers. She took a liking to my strongest Pokémon. I won’t tell you what species it was – I still have it, and you might meet it later.

“But anyway, as my opponent fled, she tried to steal my Pokémon, saying it would be worth a fortune. But I wasn’t about to let myself be robbed. I fought back, and I fought back hard. And Hunter J was surprised when she realized that she faced a formidable foe.

“When her Drapion fell, she became angry…

“And when her Salamence collapsed, she turned from angry, to frightened.

“She screamed for her henchmen, but when they saw their boss defeated, they turned tail and fled in fear. I told her that she was alone, and that a Pokémon that could knock out a Salamence could likely kill a human.

“Then Hunter J gave up the last of her pride. Realizing I was going to kill her, she fell to her knees, sobbing, and begged for her life. It was pitiful.

“I told her she thought herself so good at gauging the value of the Pokémon she stole… How much was her own life worth? I told her I would spare her hide if she handed over everything of value she had with her.

“She called me a wicked little girl… But she had no choice. I found some restraints, bound her to a nearby tree, and cleaned out her airship of every bit of wealth and technology that I could fit on her biggest transport. I found a great deal of stolen Pokémon too, but those I put outside next to her. I would let them return to their rightful owners.

“Once I was done, I programmed the airship’s engine auto-destruct sequence, and took off. As I had hoped, the fire and smoke that resulted was seen from Jubilife, and it didn’t take long for Officer Jenny to find Hunter J, still trussed to that tree. The reason she never told anyone who defeated her was because she was too embarrassed to admit she was beaten by an eighteen-year-old.

“I didn’t lose any sleep over it. No-one would have criticized me for taking down such a merciless outlaw.”

“But you robbed her,” interrupted Starbuck. “Criminals have rights too, you know?”

“Is there really anything wrong with one thief robbing another?” asked Jessica. “The Pokémon she stole all went back to their proper owners. I didn’t hurt any honest folks by doing it.

“Anyway, as J was rotting in jail, the wealth I took from her helped me start Rocket Reborn. I started my own gang… It grew… And the rest is history.”

“So what’s you’re goal now, Jessica?” asked Starbuck. “You’ve killed three of the Guardians on your own quest to gain the Plates…”

“Oh, aren’t we touchy,” said Jessica. “Well, if you don’t want the Guardians to be killed, Starbuck, listen to my offer…”

“Offer?” asked Starbuck.

“Yes, offer,” replied Jessica. “We both want the Plates, and you’re the chosen one now. You can get them easier than I can. But I still have four of them, and you need all of them to reach Arceus.

“We don’t have to foes, you know… We can…”

“Oh, go suck a lemon,” said Starbuck. “I’m not helping you with whatever mad plan you have in mind.”

Jessica sighed.

“Well…” she said, “at least I tried… But I’ll keep in touch… If you change your mind, the members of Rocket Reborn will be all over the place…

“I wish I could stay, but I have an interview to do…”

She started to walk away.

“HEY!” shouted Shadow. “What about Magmortar?”

Jessica looked over her shoulder.

“Oh, ask Officer Jenny,” she muttered. “She’ll know what to do…”

Shadow growled, and reached for another pokeball.

“Shadow…” muttered Lisa. “Unless you want another one of your Pokémon in the same condition as Magmortar, I suggest you let her go…”

Shadow sighed.

* * * * * * * * *

One hour later…

At the BCPD station, Magmortar was in a room behind a glass wall, while Officer Jenny was working some controls. She pushed some buttons, and several showers of chemicals rained down on it.

“Are you sure this will work?” asked Shadow.

“If that was truly Hunter J’s flash blaster, I’m positive,” said Jenny. “Before J was caught, we recovered several of her frozen victims, and we quickly developed this chemical. It melts that shell like a hot knife through butter.”

The trainers could see that it was working. Steam was starting to rise.

Then the last of the hard shell shattered, and Magmortar roared in anger before falling to its knees.

“It’s gonna be a little stiff for about two hours,” said Jenny. “Until then, anyone want lunch? The station commissary should be open about now…”

“Couldn’t hurt…” muttered Shadow.

* * * * * * * * * *

Meanwhile, in her office at the Grasp Building, Jessica was looking at a resume, while Lorenzo stood by. The applicant was sitting in front of her deck.

“So, Miss, uhm, Kitsune,” she said. “Your record as a Pokémon trainer seems pretty good… But how are your own skills?”

She looked at the applicant. It was a young woman with dark hair, dressed in a black martial arts uniform with a red sash. A black bandana was around her head. She was visibly nervous.

“Well, uhm…” she said. “I’ve mastered several forms of martial arts, including Karate, Hapkido, Southern Boxing…”

“I see…” muttered Jessica. “Well, look, the Kunoichi warrior thing isn’t really the angle we’re trying to present. Our taste in female trainers is more along the lines of Battle Girls. But anyway, if we ever have a need for one, we’ll call you.”

Kitsune’s head drooped. She got up.

“Lorenzo,” said Jessica, turning to him. “You still looking into the Nexus Rod? We’re still gonna need it…”

A light flashed in Kitsune’s eyes.

“Uhm, Miss Jessica,” she said, turning around. “To prove that I would be a great asset to your organization, I would gladly attempt to get you this… Nexus Rod, free of charge.”

Jessica rubbed her chin.

“Free, huh?” she said with a grin. “Hmm… That’s just the kind of fee I like…”

She looked at Kitsune.

“Lorenzo! Have Miss Kitsune briefed.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Lorenzo.

* * * * * * * * * *

The food at the police station commissary wasn’t anything to write home about, but at least it was free.

As Starbuck, Shadow, and Lisa munched on egg salad sandwiches and potato chips, Starbuck’s cell phone rang.

He looked at it. It was Percival.

He answered it.

“Talk to me,” he said.

“Good news, Conrad,” he said. “I have an update on that rubbing you took from that statue. A call came in from Snowpoint.”

“Candice’s apprentice was able to decipher it?” asked Starbuck.

“No,” said Percival. “Candice herself looked at it, and she recognized one word. But it might be a very important one.

“Now, I don’t trust Candice much myself. She claimed to be a mistress of Ice Pokémon, even though her strongest Pokémon was a Medicham, which wasn’t Ice at all…

“Anyway, the word she recognized was this: Regigigas.”

“What the heck is that?” asked Starbuck.

“Well, here’s what she told me,” said Percival. “Snowpoint has a temple of sorts. It’s been there since before the city existed. Only those with permission from Sinnoh’s Elite Four are allowed to enter. Ancient legend stated that it held the power of Rock, Steel, and Ice inside. Candice has permission, but she’s never gone in, claiming a conflict of interests.

“Those who actually went in reported rare and powerful Pokémon…

“And those who made it to the deepest level reported a strange sight… A huge statue of a weird Pokémon. A hulking thing that radiated an aura of strength. Whatever purpose it had, no-one knew…

“Until one very powerful trainer went in, and emerged saying that the statue was Regigigas, a powerful Pokémon. He had captured it after a long and taxing battle.

“However, he wouldn’t share it with anyone.

“Candice searched for information on Regigigas, and found nothing. She met that trainer a year later, and he said he had set Regigigas free. He didn’t know where it went.

“But anyway, Candice says she will enter the temple herself now, and study the glyphs on the walls. She will help unravel the rest of the writing on the rubbing.”

“Okay…” said Starbuck. “Thanks Percy…”

He hung up.

“Mom, what do you know about a Pokémon called Regigigas?”

Lisa thought for a minute.

“I… heard the name before…” she said. “But I never found any real information about it.”

“Swell…” sighed Starbuck.

He wiped his face with a napkin.

“Everybody, make sure you’re Pokémon are ready,” he said. “We’re going sewer swimming.”

“You mean?” asked Shadow.

“Yep,” said Starbuck. “We’re going to go find that Plate.

“And I, for one, ain’t afraid of no Ghosts…”

* * * * * * * * * *

As Starbuck and his allies switched their Pokémon one last time…

The ninja girl known as Kitsune materialized in the center of Horsea Seaport.

She looked out to the bay, towards the island where Ishmael Conrad had acquired his Duskull…

Pasqualie Island…

Also known as the Isle of the Cursed.


Coming up next…

It’s a trek below the bowels of Blueberry Cove for… Well, is it the Spooky Plate? Perhaps… Or is it something else entirely? The strange Pokémon that guard this Plate have a few surprises, and the one that the Guardian chooses for its opponent may not be prepared for all of them.

Don’t miss “Deep Down Below”, coming up next.

[Shuppet Master]

Glad you updated your Pokemon story, Brian!

This was really a great set-up. No battles, but you had Pokemon action, which is great. I can't wait to learn more about that mysterious rhino.

And what happened to Pokemon Hunter J was poetic justice. Maybe we'll learn more about Jessica and her "mad plan."

And as for the sewer excursion...if I know you, and I do, you'll surprise us with the unexpected.

[The Blue Avenger]

I don't think I've posted here yet, but I've been reading this all along. I'm digging it so far - the plot got set up early, and you wasted no time diving headfirst into the action. Aside from a few typos/missing words here or there, I'm not noticing anything major on the grammatical front either. I like the use of a Rocket organization as the villains, incidentally; while some of the teams later on were interesting, none of them can hold a candle to Rocket. The members of RR, so far, have all been pretty interesting characters as well.

This recent chapter was, as Shuppet Master says, interesting even without a Pokemon match. A lot of backstory set up, and some new intriguing mysteries. I wonder if the guy who captured Regigigas wasn't Ishmael, actually - he seems the sort to go after as many legendaries as he could (Regigigas, Giratina), and if he was in Sinnoh, then that would explain why he's missing - that's pretty far away. But I'm probably waaaay off.

[Dark Sage]

Ishmael was the trainer who captured Regigigas? An interesting theory. If it's true, Ishmael might have had a reason for searching out incredibly powerful Pokemon. But I won't give anything away yet.

Yes, I agree that Team Rocket is the greatest team. Every team that has come after them has been upstarts. That is why James and Jesse have been trailing Ash and company since the beginning of the anime, and most likely will until the end. And that is why I chose their daughter as the primary villain in this fic.

By the way, I will mention that ninja girl character that Jessica just hired. She won't appear again until the chapter after next. However... Ten brownie points to anyone who can guess what species of Pokemon is the ace member of her team.

[Dark Sage]

Ever hear of a movie called Angels with Dirty Faces? It’s an old movie starring Humphrey Boggart. It starts out with two childhood friends that rob a railroad car. One gets caught, the other escapes. The one who is caught spends time in reform school, and them becomes a notorious gangster. The one who escapes becomes a priest. The movie is all about the priest trying to find some bit of goodness in the old friend he once knew.

Neither one of them are played by Bogie. He’s someone else in the movie.

Why do I mention this? Starbuck, his mother and I, are on a quest seeking out servants of Arceus. One might say that these special Pokémon, being servants of a god, are angels in mortal form.

But if this Pokémon is indeed an angel…

…it certainly has a dirty face. In more ways than one.

And I hope that my skill as a trainer is enough to clean up this mess.

CHAPTER NINE



Deep Down Below

Kitsune sighed as she surveyed the seaport, and the notorious island out off about a mile.

Her life was very complex. All she had wanted two years ago, when she had turned sweet sixteen, were the car keys, and a nice party…

She had never asked to become a mercenary assassin, but fate intervened.

According to family legend, something her own father didn’t tell her until her sixteenth birthday, her great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was one of the greatest practitioners of Ninjitsu that there was. He never actually married…

But he did have a son. The legend says that he was seduced by a kitsune spirit, a mischievous nature spirit in the form of a fox who had assumed the form of a woman. The spirit gave him the child to raise, and when the child came of age, his father taught him the family profession. It became a tradition, of a family with the blood of spirits.

It wasn’t until her own sixteenth birthday that Kitsune learned that her father was a practitioner of Ninjitsu. The profession wasn’t truly forced upon her, but she decided to honor her father’s wishes. Who was she to stand in the way of her family tradition?

Of course, some changes were made. There had always been a great many differences between the Kunoichi and the male Ninja. While the Kunoichi might well be quite capable in a fight, she was only supposed to do so if she was in danger of being caught. She specialized in using disguise, poison, and using her gender to her advantage. The usual strategy was to pose as prostitutes, entertainers, fortunetellers, and the like, so the victim wouldn’t know he was in danger until she slipped a dagger between his ribs.

Kitsune used such methods from time to time… But she also used more straightforward ones, to adjust to the modern times. Being a Pokémon trainer helped as well, as it was a form of combat that she had taken to easily.

And Rocket Reborn seemed a chance for a job opportunity that would be profitable for someone like her. Where else could an assassin who was trained with Pokémon succeed?

She looked towards a large tavern near the docks.

One part of any Ninja’s training was gathering information, so that was the right place to start.

* * * * * * * * * *

“So now what?” asked Shadow.

She, Starbuck, and Lisa were standing in a drainage ditch, in front of a very large grate. The entrance to the sewer was behind the grate, although you’d likely need a pair of jaws of life to remove it.

“How are we supposed to get in?” she asked. “Officer Jenny will throw our butts in jail if she catches us ripping open city property.”

“All taken care of, Shadow,” said Lisa, holding up a pokeball.

She flicked her wrist, and her Xatu emerged from the sphere.

“Xatu,” she said, “Teleport us to the other side of the grate.”

“Xatu,” it said. Its eyes glowed with golden energy.

The Pokémon and the three trainers vanished in a burst of light…

A second later, they were a hundred feet away, standing on a ledge above a drainage ditch, inside the sewer.

“How about some light?” asked Shadow.

Lisa took a flashlight out of her satchel, and shined it down the tunnel, down a long corridor of darkness.

“Must go on for miles,” muttered Shadow. “We could be down here wandering, looking for these ‘gnomes’ for years.”

“Don’t worry,” said Starbuck. “I brought someone who can help…”

His own pokeball opened, and a ghostly form took shape.

His Dusknoir appeared in front of him.

“What’d you bring him for?” asked Shadow, nervously. She had remembered, not too fondly, facing Starbuck’s Dusknoir in several of her battles against him.

“For several reasons,” said Starbuck. “One, if we’re going up against Ghost Pokémon, another Ghost is a potent weapon. Two, this guy can guide us through dark places more easily.

“Three, Dusknoir here can sense supernatural auras, and he’ll be able to detect any unusual Pokémon activity.

“Dusknoir… We’re looking for a community of Pokémon, possibly Ghost Pokémon. Can you detect any sizeable groups of Pokémon of that Type?”

Dusknoir held its chin and concentrated.

“Dusknoir,” it said, shaking its head.

“No Ghost Pokémon?” said Lisa.

“Well…” said Starbuck. “Can you detect any sizeable groups of Pokémon?”

“Dusknoir,” it said, nodding.

“Great,” said Starbuck. “Lead us to them.”

Dusknoir’s single eye glowed, and it started to float down the corridor. The three trainers followed it.

* * * * * * * * * *

Kitsune sighed.

Almost everyone in the roughneck bar she was in was as much as a mercenary as she was. Most of these folks couldn’t be trusted. But then, someone in her line of work wasn’t used to trusting others. She sipped from a cup of hot lemon tea (she was too young for the beer everyone else was drinking), while watching for an opportunity.

“Hey, missy,” said a voice.

She looked up, and saw a man about forty years old, bulky and muscular, wearing a sweater, jeans, and a wool hat. A typical-looking Chatot was perched on his shoulder.

“You seem out of place here,” he said. “Something tells me you’re looking for something.”

“I suppose you’re the font of information around this town?” asked Kitsune.

“Me?” replied man, sitting down. “No, I’m just a fisherman, really. But I keep my ears open, so I know things that some people shouldn’t…”

“Shouldn’t,” chirped the Chatot. “Things that shouldn’t be.”

Kitsune looked at the Pokémon. She knew that Chatot were able to mimic human speech, but that was certainly interesting.

“Oh, don’t mind him,” said the man. “My name is Hank, by the way.”

“So, Hank,” said Kitsune. “I’m basically looking for information, and then transport, to the Isle of the Cursed.”

“Looking to hunt for Ghost Pokémon, missy?” he asked.

“I’m more interested in the temple that some folks have reported at the center of the island,” said Kitsune.

Hank looked at her strangely.

“Yo, Lenny?” he said, shouting towards the barkeeper. “How about fixing up some of those special nachos of yours?”

He turned to Kitsune.

“I’ll tell you about the temple,” he said with a sigh. “I’ll even take you to the island if you want, for a price…

“But… If you want to go, I must insist on being paid in advance…”

* * * * * * * * * *

When you’re a Pokémon trainer, searching through dark caves for your quarry is a part of life.

But the three trainers didn’t like the place they were in now at all.

With Dusknoir guiding them, they were now up to their knees in stagnant water, wading through dark tunnels. The light from Lisa’s flashlight cast eerie shadows on the wall.

Even worse, Pokémon of the most undesirable sort scurried past them at times. Rattata and Raticate (two Pokémon that Shadow didn’t like in the least) popped up at random times. But they stayed away from the light.

“What an interesting smell you’ve discovered,” said Shadow, as the water started to get deeper.

“Look there!” shouted Lisa.

Everyone looked up ahead, as a small form darted across ahead of them.

They walked forward, and into a huge chamber, where dirty water poured into a large lake from pipes above.

“Dusknoir…” said the Ghost.

“I think we’re getting close…” said Lisa.

Dusknoir turned to a small alcove. In it, there was a small passageway, about four feet high and three wide, just small enough for them to crawl through.

“Dusknoir,” it said.

“And inconspicuous entrance,” said Starbuck. “Easy for a small Pokémon to come and go through… But one that would give most humans trouble…”

“And one that a fat human would find impossible,” added Lisa.

She pointed her flashlight into the tunnel.

“This isn’t going to be pleasant people,” she said.

“Like we’re gonna get any less dirty?” asked Shadow.

She got down and crawled into the entrance. Starbuck recalled Dusknoir to its pokeball, and followed. Lisa went behind, grumbling that she was getting too old for this.

* * * * * * * * * *

Hank drained the beer from his glass.

“You see, missy,” he said. “The Isle of the Cursed has never been exactly a picnic spot. Even before the Twisting, the Ghost Pokémon there were hostile to humans.

“But they were stronger than your average Ghost. So once in a while, a very brave trainer would go there to capture one of these superior specimens. Ever hear of Ishmael Conrad, the guy who deep-sixed Gestalt?”

Kitsune nodded.

“He got a Duskull there himself, but anyway…

“When the Twisting struck, only the bravest of the brave dared go there anymore. And then reports of the temple in the middle of the island surfaced.

“We only know about the outside of the temple. It has a strange message written above the entrance that anyone can read, no matter what his native language is.

“It reads as follows: ‘Let the three servants of the Master, whose names are Darkness, Destruction, and Death, lead the way’.”

“Death,” chirped the Chatot. “Temple brings only death…”

“He’s right,” said Hank. “We only know of the outside of the temple, because so far, anyone who has gone inside has never come out.

“As your elder, missy, I give you advice. You’re a young, beautiful girl. You have your whole life ahead of you. Think of your future. Don’t throw your life away over dreams of treasure or glory. Odds are, you’ll just perish in that cursed place.”

Kitsune sighed.

She had a little more information than he did about what was in that temple, actually… Jessica’s information wasn’t complete, but she wouldn’t be going in unprepared.

“I have to go there,” she said.

Hank sighed.

“Then I’ll gladly transport you,” he muttered. “But once again, I insist on payment in advance.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you…”

* * * * * * * * * *

Starbuck had, at this point, realized that when you were chosen as the emissary of a god, even then there would be dirty work.

He and his two partners seemed to crawling through a very long pipe, which was slippery and full of slimy residue, which they really hoped was mud.

“See anything, Shadow?” asked Starbuck. “I figure with a name like yours, you can see in the dark.”

“Yeah, Starbuck,” said Shadow. “I can. I can see a whole lot of dark.”

They continued to crawl forward.

“Man…” muttered Shadow. “Forget showers. I’m gonna need a bath once this is…

“Starbuck!”

“What?” he shouted.

“I’m falling!” she screamed. “This pipe has a slant in it!”

Shadow tried to get a grip, but it was no use. The pipe was too slippery.

Starbuck lunged forward and grabbed her legs.

“I’ve got you!” he shouted.

Then they both started to slide forward.

“Now who’s got me?” he thought, panicking. “MOM!”

Lisa grabbed onto his legs, but even she couldn’t provide enough of an anchor. The three trainers all screamed as Shadow dragged them down, and they started to slide down the incline, into darkness.

After a few seconds, they fell out of the pipe, and landed with a splash into a lake of muddy water.

Lisa slowly sat up.

“Are we alive or dead?” she asked.

“Someone’s hands are on my…” shouted Shadow.

“Sorry…” said Starbuck.

Shadow sat up. She was covered in mud from head to toe. She didn’t know how this could get worse.

Then she realized how it could…

“Guys…” she muttered.

“Huh?” said Starbuck, wiping mud from his eyes.

Standing on the shore of the muddy lake, watching them, was a mob of small creatures, each one just over two feet high. They were humanoid and toad-like, with wrinkled, blue skin, pouches on their cheeks, and small claws.

“Croagunk,” said one of them.

“Croagunk,” said another.

“Okay…” said Starbuck, standing up. “You guys have us outnumbered…

“But we have you outsized…

“Croagunk, huh? You know, just looking at you folks, I see how you might be mistaken for gnomes…”

He pulled his PokéDex out of his belt, and was relieved to see that it wasn’t damaged. He pointed it at the creatures.

“Croagunk,” it said. “The Toxic Mouth Pokémon. Its cheeks hold poison sacs. It tries to catch its foes off guard to jab them with toxic fingers.”

“Poison Pokémon?” said Shadow. “Lovely…”

Starbuck pushed a button on the device.

“Croagunk are a hybrid of Poison and Fighting Pokémon,” it said.

“Is that so?” said Starbuck. “Getting past these guys should be no problem…”

He tossed a pokeball towards the shore. It opened, and Dawn leapt out.

“Espeon!” she hissed.

The Croagunk took one look, and then fled down the tunnel behind them.

Starbuck waded onto the shore, and picked up Dawn.

“They know better than to mess with a Psychic,” he said. “Let’s follow them and find the head honcho.”

Once on the shore, they found that the smell was even worse. Trash and residue were piled up everywhere in this cavernous area.

“I know these guys clean the sewer,” said Lisa, “but do they have to bring all the trash to their lair?”

“I guess so,” replied Starbuck.

They heard the small Pokémon ahead of them.

“Croagunk, Croagunk, Croagunk, Croagunk…” they were saying, almost as if they were chanting.

“What in the world?” asked Shadow.

They entered another large chamber, which was the messiest yet. It was as if this was a dumping ground for years worth of junk. And not all of it was stuff that you’d find in the sewers. There was a lot of strange objects. Lunch boxes, toys of all types, socks… In one corner there was a pile of metal objects. (Shadow looked closely – they were keys.)

At least thirty Croagunk were there. And in the center of the chamber, there was a throne of sorts, which seemed to also be made of junk. Sitting on it was a Pokémon that looked similar to a Croagunk, but taller, more muscular, and with more pronounced features.

“If I knew you were coming,” it said in a low, croaking tone, “I would have cleaned up!”

“What on Earth…” muttered Starbuck. He pointed the PokéDex.

“Toxicroak,” it said. “The evolved form of Croagunk. Its knuckle claws secrete a toxin so vile that even a scratch could prove fatal.”

“Is this the place I think it is?” asked Lisa.

Toxicroak nodded, and got up.

“It’s one of the places where lost things go to,” it said. “Ever lose something, never find it again, and wonder where it went? Those things have to go somewhere… This is one of those places…

“We look after the Toxic Plate, but we’re also in charge of looking through the things that wind up here. You see, many of Arceus’s belongings have been separated from him over the aeons, but not just anyone can use such artifacts. Eventually, these thieves either store their spoils, or throw them away.

“And should they ever be lost, perhaps we’ll get lucky, and they’ll come to us. Then Arceus would one day get his property back.”

“Have you ever gotten anything that belonged to him?” asked Starbuck.

“NO!” shouted the Toxicroak. “All we ever get are broken toys, useless appliances, misplaced keys… An 8-track cassette player appeared down here the other day, I think its owner lost it on purpose. Worst of all are socks. They never match! Why do humans always lose ONE sock? Why can’t they ever lose a pair?”

“Believe me, buddy,” said Starbuck, “it’s a mystery to us too.”

“I’d almost say that, of all of Arceus’s servants, I have the worst job,” said Toxicroak. “But I am the Guardian of the Toxic Plate as well.

“I know that you’ve triumphed over two Guardians already, so Arceus must have chose right, however…

“I’m bound by oath not to simply give you the Plate until you earned it.

“So who wants to battle?”

“I’ll be glad to,” said Starbuck. “I can…”

“Starbuck?” said Shadow. “A word?”

Starbuck looked at her.

“One minute,” he said to the Pokémon.

The three trainers got into a huddle.

“Starbuck, I want to get this done with, find the way out, and get cleaned up as soon as possible,” she said. “And I think I can get this battle done faster.”

“Are you sure?” asked Starbuck.

“Are you kidding?” asked Shadow. “This guy is half-Poison, and half-Fighting. And his Pokémon are all likely Poison too. My team has a Psychic on it, as well as a Ghost/Poison Type who knows Psychic. I’ll cream him in no time.”

Toxicroak was listening, and smirking slightly.

“Okay, Shadow,” said Starbuck, “but be careful. This is a Pokémon dare, you know. And you heard what the PokéDex said. Toxicroak’s poison is incredibly dangerous.”

“Well then…” said Lisa. “I’m just gonna have to be very careful.”

“Oh, I won’t poison her if she loses,” said Toxicroak. “I’m not a killer. I might knock her senseless with a Focus Blast, but she’ll live.”

Shadow looked at him. She gulped. She had seen Focus Blast used. It was the second most powerful Fighting move known, second only to Superpower.

“I’m not afraid of you,” she said. “How many Pokémon?”

Toxicroak gestured, and three pokeballs appeared between its fingers.

“Four,” it said. “Let’s see if you last long enough to use all of them.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Hank’s fishing boat was a modest vessel. Kitsune studied it intently as he unloaded a few crates.

“It’s an easy ship to pilot, actually,” he said. “A four-year-old child could do it.”

Excellent, thought Kitsune.

“Anyway,” he said, walking over to her, “like I said, I need payment in advance. I don’t expect you to survive.”

A tear fell down Kitsune’s face.

“I appreciate you for doing this,” she said, sadly. “So thank you… I guess I won’t have a chance to tell you again…”

She reached out and hugged him.

“There, there,” he said. “It isn’t too late, you know… You can still…”

And then he felt two small pricks, and a burning sensation started to spread over him.

He let go of her and clutched his chest.

“What’s happening…” he said.

Then he collapsed.

Kitsune looked at her hand, where two iron fingernails were strapped onto her index and middle finger with leather bands. The neko-te, the favored weapon of the Kunoichi.

He’d wake up in six hours, with a bad headache. Someone would probably find him and take him to the hospital by then. The important part was, she didn’t have to pay him, and she’d have done her business and be out of Horsea Seaport before he or Officer Jenny came looking for her.

She quickly got on the boat and started it up.

* * * * * * * * * *

As Starbuck and Lisa watched from the sidelines, and the mob of Croagunk watched from the perimeter, Shadow and Toxicroak faced each other.

Toxicroak eyed Shadow, its cheek sacs slowly expanding and contracting.

“Let’s get this started, huh?” it said. “I’ll even show you my Pokémon first…”

It threw a pokeball.

“Come on out, Swalot!”

The pokeball opened, and a Pokémon emerged… Or rather oozed out. All of the trainers present had seen this one before. It looked similar to the more common Muk, but had a more solid form, with a diamond-shaped pattern around its body and odd-looking tendrils on its upper lip.

Shadow reached for one of her own pokeballs.

She knew that Gallade was likely her most powerful weapon in this battle… So she was going to save it for last.

“Houndoom, go!” she shouted.

She threw the pokeball, and the vicious hellhound leapt out, and gave a howl. It looked at Swalot and snarled. Swalot just gave it an odd look.

“Go!” shouted Shadow. “Hit it with Beat Up!”

Houndoom leapt at the ooze creature, and started pummeling it with its paws.

“This gives your Pokémon one shot for Houndoom, and one shot for each Pokémon I’ve got in reserve!”

Swalot grunted a little, but the pummeling wasn’t making much progress against its semi-liquid skin. Eventually, Swalot simply pushed Houndoom away.

“Let me show you a real attack,” said Toxicroak. “Swalot, use Gunk Shot.”

“Huh?” said Shadow.



Continued…

[Dark Sage]

Continued from last post:



Swalot swallowed hard, and then vomited a stream of vile sludge at Houndoom, striking it and thoroughly soaking it. Houndoom yelped as the toxin seeped into its skin.

“Ga-ross!” shouted Shadow.

“Houndoom…” muttered Houndoom.

Toxicroak grinned.

“Swalot, use Stockpile,” it said.

Swalot opened its mouth wide, and sucked in a mass of dirt and dust from the arena floor.

“This is bad,” said Lisa. “It’s obviously preparing to either use Swallow or Spit Up. The first will heal it, the other will hurt Houndoom. Shadow has to try to take Swalot out before it powers itself up too much.”

“Houndoom, Fire Fang!” shouted Shadow.

Flames appeared in Houndoom’s jaws. It lunged at Swalot, and sank its burning fangs into its fluid form.

Swalot groaned. It was clear that the bite had a lasting effect.

“It’s burned!” laughed Starbuck. “Now they’re even!”

“Stockpile again!” shouted Toxicroak.

Swalot pushed Houndoom away again, and then sucked in more of the ammunition. It started to swell a little…

“Flamethrower!” shouted Shadow.

Houndoom roared, and shot a stream of flames at Swalot…

But Swalot was apparently ready. It simply collapsed to the side, and the flames shot over it.

“No…” said Shadow.

“Stockpile one more time,” said Toxicroak.

Once more, Swalot, inhaled deeply…

“Flamethrower again!” yelled Shadow.

Houndoom shot its flames again, and this time, it didn’t miss, hitting the blob dead-center.

Swalot groaned. Its skin was scorched and burnt.

“Attack with Spit Up!” shouted Toxicroak.

Swalot took another deep breath, and then blasted a wave of mud and grit at Houndoom, knocking it over.

“Houndoom…” it moaned, trying to get up.

And then it collapsed.

“Okay, this could be harder than I thought…” said Shadow.

She held up her pokeball, and recalled Houndoom.

She chose another one.

“Gengar, go!” she shouted.

The pokeball opened, and Gengar leapt out.

“Gengar!” it laughed.

“Swalot?” said the Pokémon in front of it.

“Finish off that blob!” shouted Shadow. “Psychic attack!”

Gengar unleashed a wave of pure mental energy, and Swalot cringed in pain. Then it collapsed in a heap.

Toxicroak frowned, and recalled Swalot.

“Well, they’re tied,” said Starbuck. “At least that’s something.”

“Oh?” chuckled Toxicroak, choosing a new pokeball. “The world of Pokémon is full of mysteries… You never know what’s coming next… And when one Pokémon falls, you can be sure a better one is right behind it!

“I choose… Skuntank!”

The pokeball opened, and a new Pokémon leapt out. It was a skunk of sorts, with purple fur and a very large tail. A vile stench emitted from it.

“Guess what?” said Toxicroak. “Skuntank is a Poison/Dark Pokémon. So it really isn’t afraid of your Gengar.”

Poison/Dark? thought Shadow. Then Gengar has only one move that can really hurt it… But I’d best save it until I’ve inflicted some wounds on it…

“Skuntank, Smokescreen,” ordered Toxicroak.

Skuntank lifted up its tail, and a blast of black smoke shot forward. Shadow and her Pokémon coughed.

Shadow paused for a minute, waiting for her opponent to decide.

“Skuntank, Flamethrower,” it said.

“Gengar, Sucker Punch!” she shouted.

“Gengar…” it said.

It flew at the skunk, and delivered a flurry of dark punches,

“Skuntank…” growled the skunk.

Then it remembered its master’s command, and blew a shot of flames at the Ghost. Gengar made a painful grimace as it was hit by them, but it was nothing it hadn’t experienced before.

“Gengar, Night Shade,” ordered Shadow.

“Gengar!” laughed the Ghost. Its eyes glowed with dark energy, and it blasted a beam of pure, dark energy at Skuntank.

But the skunk quickly shook it off. It glared at Gengar, its eyes glowing red.

“Skuntank, Night Slash,” said Toxicroak.

Skuntank growled. It actually leapt at Gengar, and raked a glowing claw against it. Gengar howled as the Dark energy cut into it.

It’s now or never, thought Shadow.

“Gengar, use Explosion!” she shouted.

“Gengar…” said Gengar.

It started to glow with burning energy.

“She’s gotta be kidding…” said Starbuck.

“No she isn’t,” said Lisa. “Brace yourself…”

Skuntank cowered in panic. The Croagunk ran for cover, hiding behind the piles of junk.

The Explosion seemingly consumed both combatants, and threw both Shadow and Toxicroak on their behinds.

When the smoke cleared, both Gengar and Skuntank were lying on the floor of the arena, both of them out cold.

Toxicroak got up, and recalled Skuntank.

“Not bad,” it said. “But let’s see how you do against something… Bigger.”

As Shadow recalled Gengar, Toxicroak produced a new pokeball.

“I choose… Drapion!” it shouted.

The Pokémon that emerged from the pokeball was indeed bigger. In fact, it was as tall as Shadow. It suggested a monstrous scorpion with armor plating, and an angry-looking face.

“This is gonna be hard…” said Shadow.

* * * * * * * * * *

Kitsune chewed on beef jerky – the only food that Hank seemed to have stocked – as she piloted the boat towards the island.

Jessica had told her that a trainer of some sort was guarding the temple’s inner sanctum. All she had to do was get by him, via means fair or foul, and secure the Nexus Rod. Jessica had even given her a few things that she thought would help, although exactly how a sapphire pendant could help, she didn’t know. As a bribe, perhaps?

A fog started to approach as she got closer to the island.

“Yeah, yeah,” she said. “Trying to scare me away, huh? Well, it’s not working… I’ve dealt with Ghost-infested places before.

“I’ve been through training… There’s not a lot that can scare me…”

She didn’t know that someone was listening.

She also didn’t know how many times this listener had heard that very same phrase before…

* * * * * * * * * *

“You know, pal,” said Shadow, palming another pokeball, “you seem to have a thing for ugly Pokémon.”

Toxicroak frowned and crossed its arms.

“You ever hear the expression that beauty is only skin-deep?” it croaked. “Well so is ugliness. Now are you going to send out your next Pokémon, or should I send Drapion after you?”

Shadow grunted, and threw her pokeball.

In a burst of flame, Magmortar appeared.

“Think Magmortar can take that thing down?” asked Starbuck.

“Don’t know,” said Lisa. “Drapion is also Poison/Dark. That means its only real weakness is Ground attacks. This Guardian is showing some very clever strategy in its choices.

“Of course, should it come to a conflict between it and Shadow’s Gallade, I don’t see how Shadow could lose. A Poison/Fighting hybrid is a severe disadvantage against a Psychic.”

“Drapion, use Cross Poison,” said Toxicroak.

“Drapion…” growled the large Pokémon.

“Aw no…” muttered Starbuck. “Watch out, Magmortar!”

Drapion made two savage slashes in the air with its claw, seemingly forming an x-shaped scar in mid air. The scar turned into a blast of purple energy that shot towards the Fire Pokémon.

Magmortar winced in pain…

‘Cross Poison is a deadly move when a Drapion uses it,” said Lisa. “It’s a move that can strike vital areas, doing extra damage more often than most moves. And Drapion has the Sniper ability, so when it uses a move that does that, it does even more damage. This Guardian is awfully clever.”

Starbuck sighed. He often wished his mother wasn’t as smart as she was.

“Magmortar, Lava Plume!” shouted Shadow.

Magmortar roared, and a volley of flaming missiles shot from its claw. Drapion covered its face as the fiery ammunition burst on its armor.

It glared at its foe with a look of anger.

“Big Pokémon tend to be strong, but they have a disadvantage,” said Shadow. “They’re easy targets!”

“Maybe when it comes to attacks like that,” replied Toxicroak. “But let’s see how well Magmortar does up close and personal.

“Drapion, Slash.”

Drapion lunged at Magmortar, and swiped across its chest with its right pincer. Magmortar winced, and staggered back, but barely had time to do anything before it repeated the move with its left pincer.

Magmortar panted for breath. It fell on one knee.

“Poison Fang!” shouted Toxicroak.

Drapion bore its fangs. It drooled over Magmortar…

“MAGMORTAR!” shouted the Pokémon.

With a swift thrust of its arm, it caught its foe by the neck, just as its fangs were a foot from its own.

Magmortar struggled for a few seconds. Venom from Drapion’s fangs dripped on its chest. It slowly raised its other hand…

“Drapion?” said Drapion.

A powerful Flamethrower shot from Magmortar’s claw, and Drapion tumbled ten feet backwards.

Drapion slowly got up. It was clearly more angry than ever.

“Drapion, Hyper Beam,” said Toxicroak.

“Not this again!” shouted Shadow. “Magmortar, use your own Hyper Beam!”

Drapion opened its jaws, and energy started to build in them. Magmortar put its claws together, and the same type of energy started to build.

“Uh, mom?” said Starbuck. “Hit the dirt…”

In the next moment, the whole lair was lit up by a blinding flash, as the two mega-powerful attacks shot from each Pokémon towards the other. No creature in the chamber could see, but they could hear two separate screams of pain, evidence that both blasts had hit home.

Starbuck looked up. The Croagunk peeked out of the hiding places they had run to. Shadow and Toxicroak were looking at each other with angry expressions, and both Drapion and Magmortar were lying on the ground.

“Good grief, are they both out?” asked Lisa.

“Two double-KOs in one battle?” asked Starbuck. “This is crazy!”

“Don’t worry,” said Lisa. “Toxicroak has to fight now, and Shadow still has Gallade. She’s gonna win.”

Both the unconscious Pokémon were recalled.

“You heard the lady, frog-face,” said Lisa. “Step up here, and lets see if you can last longer than a minute.”

Toxicroak chuckled and stepped to the center of the arena. It cracked its knuckles.

“Why not?” it said. “I haven’t been in a good brawl for some time…

“But as a wise Pokémon once said…

“He who counts his chickens before they are hatched gets scrambled eggs.”

“What wise Pokémon said that?” asked Shadow.

Toxicroak chuckled.

“Me,” it said.

“Whatever,” muttered Shadow. “Gallade, go!”

She threw her pokeball, and the tall, Pokémon swordsman appeared, brandishing its blades.

“Gallade,” it said, looking Toxicroak in the eye.

Toxicroak grinned, then it closed its eyes, and a soft, violet glow started to surround it.

“What the?” said Starbuck. “Is that Protect?”

“I don’t think so…” said Lisa.

“Let’s take it down!” shouted Lisa. “Use Psychic!”

Gallade’s eyes glowed. A wave of energy fired from its forehead, striking Toxicroak in the head.

The three humans expected it slam into the hybrid with the force of a sledgehammer. But to their surprise it didn’t. In fact, Toxicroak barely even moved.

It opened its eyes, still grinning.

“What in blazes?” said Shadow. “It didn’t hurt it?”

“Oh, it did,” said Toxicroak. “About as much as an insect bite might have…”

“How…” said Shadow, opening her eyes wide.

“Should I tell them, fellahs?” it said.

The Croagunk all around started to croak in a tone that was clearly some sort of mocking laugh. It was as if Shadow had been played for a fool the whole time.

“Very well, I’ll tell her,” said Toxicroak. “Every Guardian of the Toxic Plate from my ancestor on knew that Psychic Pokémon were a threat…

“So we all developed a defense against them. A special Pokémon attack that is almost unheard of. I used it just then before your Gallade attacked.

“It’s called Paradox. For as long as it’s in effect, the user’s vulnerabilities turn to resistances.”

“That means…” muttered Starbuck.

“Toxicroak had a double vulnerability to Psychic attacks,” said Lisa. “Now, it’s doubly resistant to them.”

“But if you think I only know defensive moves,” said Toxicroak, “you’re quite wrong!”

“Gallade!” screamed Shadow. “Quick, try to use Slash!”

As Gallade raised his blade, Toxicroak lifted its fist and rushed at Gallade in a blur. It socked Gallade with a sound that resembled a rush of air, and Gallade fell on its back.

“That was a Vacuum Wave…” said Lisa. “It’s a rare move that lets a Pokémon always outdraw its opponent. Gallade is in trouble.”

“Want more?” said Toxicroak, motioning for Gallade to get up. “Come on, get up…”

Gallade angrily got up. Its eyes glowed with fury.

Starbuck was worried. Clearly, unlike Magmortar, Gallade had not escaped the Twisting.

Gallade didn’t wait for an order from Shadow, instead lunging at Toxicroak and slashing with its swords. Toxicroak dodged most of them, until one particularly savage slice cut across its chest.

Toxicroak only smiled as it wiped blood from the wound.

“You know what they say,” it said, “what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.”

It leapt at Gallade, and then struck it in the mid-torso, jabbing with its knuckles, quickly in fast succession. Gallade staggered backwards.

Then it groaned and held the wound.

“No…” said Lisa. “That was a Poison Jab. Gallade took a bad hit.”

And I might be next, thought Shadow. What do I do? With that Paradox move, this guy might be invincible…

She paused.

She looked at Gallade.

Or is he? I don’t think he told an outright lie… But maybe he didn’t tell the whole truth…

That Paradox move seems pretty powerful… It must have a catch…

And I think I know what it is!

“Gallade, listen to me!” she shouted. “Attack with Close Combat!”

“Gallade?” it said.

“Huh?” said Toxicroak.

“Gallade!” growled Gallade.

It lunged at Toxicroak, and a flurry of slams, kicks, and headbutts followed. It gave a mighty slam, and Toxicroak was hurled against its throne with a splat.

“Heh, heh,” chuckled Lisa. “Paradox has a downside, doesn’t it? It may turn your weaknesses into strengths, but at the same time, it turns your strengths into weaknesses! Am I right?”

“Yeah, you’re right…” grumbled Toxicroak, getting up. “Most folks don’t pick up on that.”

“And Gallade is a hybrid too… Psychic/Fighting, meaning it can use Fighting moves as easy as it can use Psychic ones.”

“Yeah?” said Toxicroak. “Well, I know a few myself, and your Gallade is going to find that out firsthand…”

It threw back its hand, and it started to glow…

“Gallade, hit the ground!” shouted Shadow.

Both Gallade and Shadow dove for cover as a beam of energy shot from Toxicroak’s fist, sailing over them.

“Nice try,” said Shadow, “but I can recognize a Focus Blast when I see one. You want to know why?”

“I’m all ears…” muttered Toxicroak.

Gallade got to its feet.

“I’ll show you…” said Shadow. “Gallade, use your own Focus Blast.”

“Uh… oh…” said Toxicroak.

“Gallade…” said Gallade, as its eyes glowed with fiery light.

A blast of pure light shot from its arms, and Toxicroak screamed in pain.

It collapsed at the foot of its throne.

“All right, all right!” it moaned. “Uncle!”

The Croagunk watching bowed their heads sadly.

Toxicroak shook its head.

“I guess I knew it would come to this, someday…” it said.

It gave the throne a shove, and it tipped over. Another Plate, this one colored purple, was underneath.

“I can’t give you much more help, but…”

It rubbed its chin.

“Actually, I can… Don’t leave Blueberry Cove right away.”

“Huh?” asked Starbuck.

“Just take the Plate,” muttered Toxicroak. “And to prove there’s no hard feelings, you three can also have back everything that you’ve lost.”

Then to the three humans, everything went dark.

* * * * * * * * * *

When they opened their eyes, they were sitting in the middle of Blueberry Cove Park. And several people were staring at them.

They realized that they were still covered with filth. It was embarrassing.

Starbuck looked, and saw the Toxic Plate, on top of a small pile of what looked like junk that had come from that chamber.

“Well,” he muttered, picking it up, “we’ve got it… But what’s all this stuff.”

Shadow gave a cry of surprise. She picked something out of the pile. It was an old, stuffed, toy elf – very old and worn.

“Mr. Tumnus!” she shouted. “I had him when I was a child… I thought I had lost him forever…”

She hugged the doll closely.

Starbuck and Lisa were suddenly very interested in this pile of things. They started looking through them.

They were amazed. There was a robot action figure that Starbuck had had ages ago, along with a thermos he had brought to school. Lisa found a diary that she had thought was stolen by some cruel boys…

The most valuable thing here gave them pause. It was a mother-of-pearl comb that Ishmael had given her, which she had lost on a vacation.

The Toxicroak had truly given them everything they had lost over their lives…

A thought came to Starbuck. That Toxicroak hadn’t mentioned his father at all.

Maybe that meant his father wasn’t lost… Maybe Ishmael Conrad, wherever he was, knew exactly where he was.

Starbuck sighed.

“I kinda feel sorry for Toxicroak,” he said, picking up the Toxic Plate. “He and his servants have no protection from the Twisting any more…”

There was a long pause.

“We’ll be sad later…” said Shadow. “Now, we need a shower. Or twelve…”

* * * * * * * * * *

Kitsune climbed out of the boat that had moored in a small inlet on the island that was her destination.

She looked around at the infamous Isle of the Cursed. It wasn’t as if she expected a welcoming committee, but the place didn’t look too friendly. The whole place was covered with fog, and the only vegetation was brown shrubs, and twisted, dead trees.

She placed her mask over the lower part of her face.

“Hank was right,” she said. “This is no place for a picnic.”



Coming up next:

The best things in life are free… But everything else costs money.

We move away from Starbuck and company, and follow Kitsune as she makes her way towards her goal at the center of the Isle of the Cursed, where she meets an enigmatic trainer known only as the Taker. Will she get what she came for, or will her bones join those of the other victims of this forsaken place?

Be here to see…

[Shuppet Master]

This was a great pre-birthday gift, Brian, and I'm glad you haven't forgotten this story.

So, the next Plate was the Toxic Plate, huh? After watching Brock's Croagunk in "Steamboat Willies", this was a fun chapter. And Shadow had her first Guardian battle. Nice fan-made move to counter the effects of Toxicroak's biggest weakness, but he didn't account for the fact that Gallade was a fighting type as well.

I wonder what Toxicroak meant by not leaving Blueberry Cove. I mean, isn't Toxicroak and his gang going to be hostile now that the Twisting will find them? I know that nobody would be insane enough to do what the heroes had to, but since those poison forgs were the maintainers of the sewers... well, let me put it this way; Blueberry Cove may become less healthy if the Twisting isn't cured ASAP.

Kitsune's origins were interesting, and I can't wait to see this filler "episode" where she might have to battle a cursed trainer on the island. BTW, I'm curious - is the Spooky Plate on the Isle of the Cursed? (PM me with the answer so you don't spoil anything - this is the only spoiler I'm asking for.)

You fooled us there, Brian. When you said "this angel has a dirty face" and gnomes, I thought about the Guardian of the Earth Plate and a ground-type Pokemon team, but it should have come to me -> Sewers = Poison Pokemon.

Croagunk is my second favorite Poison Pokemon, Arbok will always be my lover in that type.

[Dark Sage]

When you ask a typical teenage girl what she wants to be when she grows up, her answer depends on her level of intelligence and maturity.

If both of them of them are low, she might dream of becoming a model… Not knowing that unless you’re on the same level that Cindy Crawford was in her heyday, it’s a thankless and tiring career that goes nowhere.

If both are high, she might have more sense, and think about a better profession, which is good… The fields of law and medicine always need more women.

I’ll wager even money that no girl ever dreams of being a ninja assassin when she grows up… But that was the career I followed.

My name is Kitsune… Pokémon trainer, Kunoichi, and if this job goes well, Rocket Reborn’s newest recruit…

No problem…

I may not have expected the life of a ninja… But I learned very quickly…

CHAPTER TEN



The Trial of the Taker

Kitsune surveyed the area in front of her.

The land beyond the beach was full of dead trees, odd-looking shrubs, and was covered by a lingering fog. The same fog was above her, obscuring the sky.

She wasn’t surprised, and very few trainers would be. This sort of environment was typical for a place inhabited by Ghost Pokémon.

She looked into the fog, and several sets of eyes peered out, looking at her. Some of them looked normal, others were just single eyes (Those would be Duskull, she thought) and some glittered like facets of gems. (Sableye, definitely, she thought.)

She glared back at them, and her eyes narrowed above her mask.

They’re waiting for me to make the first move, she thought. They’ll rush me as soon as I send out a Pokémon…

Well, they’re in for a surprise…

She tensed. A pokeball was hidden up her sleeve, and it had a Pokémon inside that was a powerful weapon against Ghosts…

Not a Dark Pokémon… They’d likely be expecting that, and would have thought up a strategy to deal with them…

Kitsune crossed her arms over her chest…

Then she opened them with a flourish, and the pokeball shot out. It burst open…

“GO! Miltank!” she shouted.

The Pokémon that appeared was indeed a Miltank. The rare breed resembling a pink cow standing on its hind legs, with a long, knobbed tail.

A haunting laughter echoed from the fog in front of them. Miltank looked rather annoyed.

“Wait for it…” said Kitsune. “Wait for it…”

Then “it” came. A gaggle of Ghost Pokémon flew out at them. Gastly, Haunter, Duskull, two Sableye, and even one Dusclops.

“Miltank, charge and use Return,” ordered Kitsune.

Miltank got down on all fours and rushed at the Ghosts, causing them to laugh more. What happened next took them all totally by surprise. Miltank swung with its hoof, striking several of them at once with an audible smack.

The Ghosts that it hit hollered in both pain and surprise. How could that have hurt them?

“Return again!” shouted Kitsune.

Miltank swung again at the side it hadn’t hit, causing more screams.

The Ghosts looked at Miltank angrily. They weren’t laughing any more.

Then most of them floated up, out of its reach, leaving only the Dusclops (the leader, it seemed).

Dusclops and Miltank stared at each other…

So what are you gong to do? thought Kitsune. You’re a wild Pokémon… You never got any TMs… You likely don’t know that many moves that can hurt a Normal Pokémon.

Dusclops motioned with its arms, egging Miltank on.

“Miltank…” growled Miltank.

“Body Slam,” said Kitsune.

Miltank leapt at the Dusclops, and crashed into it, smashing it against the ground. The Ghost groaned in pain…

But then, its fist became surrounded by an aura of black energy. It socked Miltank right in the udder. Miltank groaned.

Nuts, thought Kitsune. That was Payback. Better end this fast…

“Hyper Beam!” she shouted.

“MILTANK!” shouted the Pokémon.

Her eyes glowed, and a burning beam of energy shot from its mouth, striking the Duskull in the chest. It flew backwards and vanished into the fog.

Miltank took some deep breaths. Kitsune looked up, and saw the Ghosts flying away. Clearly they were afraid.

In front of her, the fog parted. She walked towards the center of the island with Miltank beside her.

* * * * * * * * *

In the Blueberry Cove Pokémon Center, Starbuck was just finished sending the Toxic Plate to Percival as Shadow walked out of the women’s dorms, wearing a bathrobe and drying her hair with a towel.

“I’ve taken about eight showers and I still feel soiled,” she grumbled. “I’ve never seen so much dirt.”

“I reckon it’s gonna get dirtier before it gets cleaner,” said a voice from one of the tables. “Full moon tonight…”

Starbuck and Shadow looked towards the table, and saw someone they hadn’t seen before. It was a man who looked about forty, with blonde hair and a thick moustache, wearing a plaid shirt and jeans.

Next to him was a Carnivine, and he was engaged in a game of sorts with the Grass Pokémon. He’d take a peanut from a dish on the table and flick it into the air, and the Carnivine would catch it in its jaws.

“Uhm, hullo,” said Starbuck, as they walked over to the table. “Who’re you?”

“I’m Charles,” said the man. “Don’t call me Charlie unless you’re willing to fight.

“Anyway, you might say I’m a guy who’s been a lot of places and seen a lot of things…”

He flicked another peanut, and the Carnivine caught it.

“So what’s so special about a full moon?” asked Shadow.

“In this city,” said Charles, “that’s when the Midnight Peddler comes out to sell his wares…”

Starbuck and Shadow looked at him.

“Uh…” said Starbuck.

* * * * * * * * * *

The Ghosts didn’t bother Shadow as she made her way to the center of the island, but they were watching her. She saw them hovering overhead, like vultures waiting for a starving animal to drop.

She didn’t like it. It was as if they were waiting to finish her off once something else was done with her.

The fog parted again, and she saw the infamous temple in a large clearing up ahead.

It was constructed of marble – black marble – and the entrance was flanked by pillars.

Above the entrance was a frightening-looking base-relief. Two monsters were in the picture, two strange-looking Pokémon that were apparently Dragon-Types. One of them was humanoid (more or less) with a long neck and a long tail. The other stood on four legs, and had spires jutting out from all over its body.

But these two Pokémon were not in a good situation in this scene. A dark cloud was above them, raining down bolts of some sort of energy, causing them to writhe in pain.

Above the frightening scene was a message that Kitsune could clearly read:

Let the three servants of the Master, whose names are Darkness, Destruction, and Death, lead the way.

“An evil temple with a curse posted above the entrance,” she said. “Well, that never stopped Indiana Jones…

“Miltank, return…”

Miltank retreated into its pokeball, and Kitsune carefully walked inside, into a long hallway.

It was a long, spotless hallway, made of stone and lit by odd crystals in the ceiling. A stone door was at the far end.

She paused, feeling the air… No ninja with the right to be called by the name would ever be killed by a trap. They were trained to sense them, using all seven of their senses.

Yes, there were seven. Most folks only counted sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. There were actually two others: sense of temperature, which was the ability to detect changes in heat and cold, and sense of equilibrium, which was the ability to detect changes in balance.

Ninja could use these to detect the slightest draft, or the slightest slant on the floor. Along with other acute senses, being able to notice these things often set a good assassin apart from a dead one.

However, she couldn’t sense any traps, so she carefully ventured forward.

She made her way up to the stone door and put her ear against it.

Then, she leapt back as it swung open.

“Stop sneaking around like a thief and come in,” demanded a powerful voice. “I saw you coming before you reached the beach.”

Kitsune quickly drew the katana blade from the sheath on her back.

“Who’s there?” she said, walking inside.

She entered a large, sinister-looking chamber. At the far end was an altar of sorts. Two braziers flanked it, lit by burning embers. A pedestal was off to the side, holding a very large book, and a quill pen in an ink well. A large, ceramic urn was in front of the altar.

Standing on the altar was a man in very outdated clothing. It resembled the armor of the Spanish conquistadors, made of either brass or bronze. (Kitsune wondered how he could wear armor that heavy, unless it was just plating.) He also wore a mask that covered his entire face, also made of the same metal.

“And just who are you?” asked Kitsune.

“I am the Taker,” said the man. “I take what others can give…

“And you’d best be prepared to do so, if you want to leave alive…”

* * * * * * * * * *

“Okay, Charles,” said Starbuck, “you piqued my curiosity… Who is this Midnight Peddler?”

Charles tossed another peanut to his Carnivine.

“If you’re out on the street under a full moon at the stroke of midnight,” said Charles, “the first thing you’ll hear is a set of squeaky wheels. Then he’ll come out of the gloom… A peddler in a dark cloak, pulling an old fashioned cart.

“He’s dressed all in black. His hands are visible, and his fingernails are long and sharp. His eyes are hidden beneath the hood of his cloak, but you can see that he has a very strong chin. And he speaks with an accent that no-one can ever identify.

“His cart has all sorts of odd items on it, and he always has a Pokémon with him. It’s not always the same Pokémon, but it’s usually a species that only comes out at night.

“Anyway, those who have the courage to talk to him say that he’s very talkative. And he seems to know more about the one speaking to him than he should. He knows what exploits you’ve been on recently… No-one knows where he learns these things…

“Now… If you ask him about himself, he’ll insist that he’s nothing more than a peddler… He’ll even sell the stuff on his cart if that’s what you want…

“And that’s where it gets interesting…”

“What do you mean?” asked Shadow, getting nervous.

“Everyone who has claimed to buy something from the Peddler never stays in Blueberry Cove long,” said Charles. “Within a few days, something makes them leave, seeking new things.

“It was said that Calamity Jane met him when she was a teenager, and what she bought from him made her one of the best trainers in Toreen.

“But it’s also said that Jimmy Green met him once…”

“Holy…” said Starbuck.

Jimmy Green was Toreen’s biggest mobster during the 1960’s. He was thought to be responsible for over three dozen murders. He was eventually caught, but was only tried and convicted of two of them, which he had apparently committed personally. The victims had been his wife and her lover, whom he had caught together.

“So what you’re saying is,” said Starbuck, “the Midnight Peddler can lead people to big things… But not necessarily good ones.”

Charles nodded.

“Folks say that he is a messenger of Fate itself,” said Charles, “and that if you’re brave enough to do business with him, Fate will intervene for you…

“For better… or for worse…

“You two kids have a good night now…”

He held up a pokeball, and the Carnivine was drawn inside. Then he got up, and walked towards the door.

“Heh,” said Shadow. “He’s pulling our chain! It’s nothing more than an urban legend…”

Starbuck rubbed his chin.

“Is it?” he asked.

He looked at the clock…

* * * * * * * * * *

Kitsune held her sword menacingly in front of her.

“Listen, ‘Taker’,” she said, “why should I give you anything?”

“I’m just doing my job, young lady,” said the Taker. “You want access to the inner sanctum, and the ones in charge demand a price.

“I was surprised you even got this far, to tell the truth. How did your Miltank defeat all those Ghost Pokémon?”

“If you must know, my Miltank has an ability called Scrappy,” said Kitsune, “making it the perfect Pokémon for use against Ghosts. Its Normal attacks work against Ghosts because of it. However, Ghost attacks still can’t hurt Miltank.

“Now I’ll ask you again… Why should I give you anything?”

The Taker chuckled.

Then Kitsune screamed as the whole floor beneath her seemed to vanish. She was standing in mid-air above a chasm that seemed to plunge deep into the earth.

It took her a few seconds to realize that she wasn’t falling.

“All I’ve done this time,” said the Taker, “was make the floor of this temple transparent. I could have made it vanish, causing you to fall to your doom.

“Legends say that the abyss below this temple is a passage right into Hades… And it may well be.

“And that is just what I will do if you do not put that sword away this instant.”

Kitsune nervously sheathed the sword. The floor reappeared.

She realized now the gravity of this situation. This Taker commanded very powerful magic.

“Don’t think you can simply leap to this altar and think it’s a safe spot,” said the Taker. “This lair has several features that I could use to strike you down long before you ever reached me.

“And if by some miracle, you managed to defeat me, that would not open the door to the inner sanctum that you seek. No-one can access its treasures unless they pay the fee.”

Kitsune sighed.

“So just what are you?” she asked. “A wizard? A demon of some sort?”

“I’m a servant of a very powerful being,” said the Taker. “One whose mind is so alien and complex, that to glimpse into it is to invite insanity.”

“All right, Taker,” she said. “How much?”

“There are three Payments,” said the Taker. “Things come in threes in this world. First, I require a Payment of Wealth. Something of sufficient monetary value.”

He pointed to urn.

“Simply put it in there.”

A realization came to Kitsune. This was why Jessica had given her that sapphire pendant.

She took it out of her pouch and tossed it into the urn.

“That is sufficient,” he said. “Next, I require a Payment of Knowledge.”

He pointed to the book on the pedestal.

“Simply write down the most useful thing you know.”

Kitsune walked up to the book and picked up the quill pen. She thought for a minute.

“Who else is going to read this?” she asked.

“Only my employer,” said the Taker.

“And who would that be?” she asked.

The Taker didn’t answer.

Kitsune thought again.

She knew a lot of important things, but she would be marked for death if she revealed most of the secrets she had been entrusted with…

Then she smirked.

There was nothing that said she couldn’t reveal Jessica’s secrets. And she had told her one of them.

She quickly wrote it down.

“That is sufficient,” said the Taker.

“Now, you are a trainer, are you not?”

“Yes,” said Kitsune.

The Taker gestured, and three pokeballs appeared in his hand.

“You’re challenging me?” asked Kitsune.

“Yes,” said the Taker. “You see, the last payment is a Payment of Vitality. As you spend it in this battle, I will collect it.”

What does he mean? thought Kitsune. It isn’t like I’m going to be the one fighting…

“All right,” she said. “Like you said, I am a trainer…”

She grabbed one of her pokeballs.

“So let’s throw down! Just remember, pal… In ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’, the Devil loses.”

The Taker chuckled as he chose one of his pokeballs.

He hurled the pokeball, and it flew towards Kitsune, trailing a stream of fire.

The pokeball opened.

“I choose… Lickilicky!” he shouted.

The Pokémon that appeared was five feet tall, stout, and chubby. It had pink skin, and a very long tongue.

Kitsune had heard of this before – the very rare evolution of Lickitung. But now that she actually saw it, she almost laughed.

“Heh, heh,” she chuckled. “Bet that guy is really good at licking lollypops…”

“Do you find my Pokémon amusing young lady?!” boomed the Taker.

“Uhm, no!” gulped Kitsune.

She took a pokeball of her own.

“I choose… Noctowl!”

She threw the pokeball, and a much more familiar Pokémon flew out. It was the evolved form of Hoothoot, a large owl with a five-foot wingspan.

“Noctowl!” it screeched.

“Not bad…” said the Taker, as Noctowl took to the air.

“Lickilicky… Use Power Whip.”

Lickilicky’s tongue lashed out like a whip, striking Noctowl in midair. Noctowl screeched…

And at the same time, Kitsune felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. She clutched it.

It was as if that attack had hit her as well as her Pokémon…

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“Payment of Vitality,” said the Taker. “The magical properties of this shrine make Pokémon battles more serious business.

“As your Pokémon are hurt, you’ll lose as much energy as they do.”

“And if I lose the battle?” asked Kitsune, not really wanting to know.

“Then you lose all your energy,” said the Taker. “I leave you with nothing left.”

Kitsune started to sweat. She realized she had just wagered her life on this battle…

So losing wasn’t an option.

“Attack!” she shouted. “Zen Headbutt!”

Noctowl glowed with energy, and it flew into Lickilicky, slamming into its ample gut head-first. Lickilicky gasped and fell on its behind.

“Good effort!” laughed the Taker. “But it’s going to take more than that.

“Lickilicky’s hide is like rubber. It can bounce back from all but the strongest blows.

“And I’m going to show you another of its talents…

Lickilicky, use Toxic.”

“Huh?” said Kitsune.

Lickilicky blew a raspberry at Noctowl, splattering it with foul saliva.

Noctowl groaned and fell to the ground. Then Kitsune felt sick to her stomach. She felt like throwing up.

“Another rule of this battle,” said the Taker. “A trainer suffers from all adverse effects of her Pokémon. Your Noctowl is poisoned, so the same venom has infected your veins.”

Kitsune started to sweat heavily…

But under her mask, she grinned.

“Noctowl…” she said. “Use Psycho Shift.”

“Huh?” said the Taker.

Noctowl’s eyes glowed with a sinister light. It stood up, and then Lickilicky clutched its stomach in pain.

“Ergh!” groaned the Taker, clutching his own stomach.

“Your own medicine tastes bad, doesn’t it?” asked Kitsune. “Psycho Shift lets Noctowl transfer the poison in its system to its opponent. As a result, I transferred the poison in mine to you.

“I think I’m getting the hang of this!”

“Clever…” muttered the Taker.

“Noctowl… Air Slash!” shouted Kitsune.

Noctowl flew into the air and whipped its wings forward, sending a blade of air forward. Lickilicky cringed under it.

“Lickilicky, Refresh,” said the Taker.

Lickilicky glowed with energy, and sparkles of light surrounded it. Kitsune recognized the move. It was flushing the poison from its system.

“Take Down!” shouted Kitsune.

Noctowl made a flying swoop at Lickilicky…

“Thunderbolt!” shouted the Taker.

An aura of electricity surrounded Lickilicky, and lightning struck the Flyer. Both it and Kitsune screamed.

Noctowl hovered in mid-air for a minute. Its tail feathers were burnt, and it was a little stunned…

But it remembered its master’s command. It swooped, and plowed into Lickilicky. The long-tongued Pokémon tumbled backwards and didn’t move.

The Taker growled. He held up his pokeball and recalled Lickilicky.

“First round to me,” said Kitsune.

“But how much pain can you endure?” asked the Taker, taking another pokeball.

“Kingler, go!”

He threw the pokeball, and the huge crab-like Pokémon appeared from out of it.

“Kingler, Brine,” ordered the Taker.

“Kingler…” growled the Water-Type.

It raised its claw, and a powerful jet of water shot at Noctowl. Noctowl was thrown against the wall, and crashed.

The force of her Pokémon being knocked out hit Kitsune like a hammer. She was knocked over on her behind.

She groaned.

“Kingler… Return…” she muttered.

* * * * * * * * * *

Starbuck was sitting in front of the television at the Pokémon Center, looking at the TV Guide. His mother walked up.

“Anything good on tonight?” she asked.

“Uh…” said Starbuck. “There’s an Outer Limits marathon starting in fifteen minutes. I figure I might watch at least some of it.”

His mother looked at him.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to stay up so you can go out to look for that Midnight Peddler person,” she asked.

“Maybe,” he replied.

“Starbuck,” she said, “I’ve been from one side of Toreen to another, and seen lots of strange things, but you can’t expect me to believe in magic.”

“Why not?” asked Starbuck. “How can you explain some of the things that we’ve seen so far? Talking Pokémon, servants of the gods… Is that not magic?

“Can the things that some powerful Pokémon do be described as anything but magic?”

Lisa just looked at him. That was always a touchy subject for her.

“Besides mom…” said Starbuck, “if I go look for the Midnight Peddler, and it turns out he doesn’t exist, I won’t be any worse off than I was before. You can’t deny that.”

“No…” said his mother. “I guess I can’t…

“But be careful, okay?”

* * * * * * * * * *

Kitsune’s second pokeball burst open.

The new Pokémon was humanoid, with a thin torso and arms, and thick legs. Its legs and part of its head were pink, suggesting a skullcap and trousers.

“Medicham!” it said.

“A Fighter?” laughed the Taker. “Hand-to-hand attacks are suicide against a Kingler’s crushing pincers.”

“Kingler…” said the crab, snapping its claws.

“My Medicham doesn’t have to get close to your Kingler to hurt it,” said Kitsune. “Medicham, Psychic.”

Medicham’s eyes glowed, and a wave of energy shot at Kingler like a ripple. The crab groaned in pain.

“Keeping your distance, huh?” asked the Taker. “Fine with me…

“Kingler… Ancientpower!”

Kingler glowed, and waved its claw. The floor rumbled, and Medicham nervously looked around…

A group of boulders tore out of the floor, and flew towards Medicham.

“Medicham, jump!” shouted Kitsune.

Medicham leapt up, and landed on one of the flying boulders just as it hurtled towards it.

It got the idea. It deftly leapt from one boulder to the next, towards its foe.

“Kingler?” said the crab.

Medicham cleared the last boulder, and smashed its foot into Kingler with a Hi Jump Kick, knocking it over.

The Taker growled and held his chest.

“Kingler, Crabhammer!” he ordered.

Kingler whacked Medicham with its pincer, and the Fighter tumbled backwards. Kitsune held her chest again.

Medicham got to its feet.

“Time to cook this crab,” said Kitsune. “Medicham, Focus Blast.”

Medicham put its hands together, and in a move reminiscent of Goku’s Ka-me-ha-me-ha, fired a burning blast of energy at Kingler. Kingler screamed and toppled backwards.

The Taker looked at Kitsune in silence for a few seconds. He held up the pokeball and recalled Kingler.

“I must say,” he said, “you are the first worthy challenge I’ve had in years… Most folks who come here are nothing more than greedy treasure hunters without any talent at all. But you, young lady, I can see that you are above and beyond them. This is sort of… refreshing, actually…

“Time to unveil my best Pokémon. Only one of my opponents ever lasted long enough to face it, and even he fell before it…”

He threw his third pokeball.

“I choose Tauros!”

The pokeball burst open, and a large, hulking Pokémon appeared. It was a rare breed, but one that was well-known (mostly due to the fact that Ash Ketchum had captured a whole heard of them in his journeys), a powerful bull, four feet tall at the shoulder.

Kitsune flinched. This Pokémon was the male equivalent of Miltank, but unlike her Pokémon, this species was known for having a rotten temper.

“Tauros, Flamethrower,” ordered the Taker.

Tauros blew steam from its nostrils. It exhaled a stream of flames, striking Medicham. Medicham hollered, and Kitsune strained and sweat.

“Medicham, try a Hi Jump Kick!” shouted Kitsune.

Medicham leapt up, and aimed a kick at Tauros.

“Tauros, Giga Impact!” shouted the Taker.

“WHAT?” gasped Kitsune.

Tauros glowed with fiery energy, and charged at Medicham. Medicham couldn’t do anything – it was caught completely off-guard. The bull slammed into it in the middle of its leap, throwing it ten feet.

Kitsune screamed and was thrown off her feet as well.

She gasped for breath and looked up. Medicham was out cold. She groaned and got up.

She pointed her pokeball, and recalled Medicham.

He had saved his best Pokémon for last… But she had done the same…

She threw her third pokeball.

“Ninetales, go!” she shouted.

In a burst of energy, an incredibly beautiful Pokémon appeared. It was a gorgeous fox, with nine large tales, glowing with golden energy.

“A Fox Pokémon in the hands of a trainer named Kitsune,” said the Taker. “Cute.”

“We’ll see how cute it is after it uses Nasty Plot,” said Kitsune.

Ninetales growled a little, and glowed with purple energy.

“Tauros, Take Down,” said the Taker.

Steam blew from the bull’s nostrils again. It charged at Ninetales…

Ninetales braced itself just in time to take the blow. Kitsune braced herself too. She shook in pain and sweat stained her headband.

“Flamethrower,” she commanded.

“Ninetales blew flames at point-blank range at its foe, and Tauros bellowed. It stumbled backwards.

“Tauros…” it groaned.

“Ninetales… Flare Blitz,” said Kitsune.

Ninetales’s eyes burned with fire. It charged at Tauros, and became shrouded with flames. It was a practical fireball when it hit, and a flaming burst erupted in the center of the shrine.

When both trainers could see again, they could barely believe what they were seeing. Both Pokémon were still standing.

I have to use its most powerful attack, thought Kitsune. I have to hope that it will be enough…

“Tauros, Giga Impact!” shouted the Taker.

Tauros glowed with energy flames again, and prepared to charge…

“Ninetales…” said Kitsune. “Use Overheat.”

“Huh?” said the Taker.

In the next second, the whole chamber erupted in an inferno. Tauros roared, and the Taker screamed.

When the fires died down, Ninetales was panting for breath, its fire extinguished. But the severely burned Tauros was lying on its side, and the Taker was down on one knee.

Kitsune felt energy returning to her.

The Taker sighed.

“You are victorious…” he muttered.

The stone wall behind him opened, revealing a secret chamber within.

“All three Payments have been made…” he said. “You may take whatever you desire from the inner sanctum.”

Kitsune didn’t say anything. She simply walked up onto the altar, past him, and through the opening.

Inside the room was a treasure hunter’s dream. There was gold jewelry, antique vases brimming with coins and gems, precious goblets, golden harps… Truly, it was a king’s ransom.

However, she remembered Jessica’s warnings. She wasn’t to get greedy in this place, because as tempting as these treasure were, all of it was cursed.

As the Taker watched from the door, she looked around until she found what she was looking for. She picked it up.

It was a golden rod, about three feet long and three inches thick. On one end was a glowing white orb in the shape of a perfect sphere, about the size of a baseball. On the other end was a glowing, white gemstone, slightly bigger.

“The Nexus Rod?” she asked.

The Taker nodded.

“And I can take this?”

“I said anything,” said the Taker.

“But be warned…

“My employer stole that artifact from its rightful owner, and only the magic of this shrine keeps his agents from reclaiming it. Should you take it, my employer will do nothing to protect you from his wrath.”

Kitsune smirked.

Then I’d best give it to Jessica ASAP, she thought.

She didn’t say any more. She tucked the Rod into her belt, and fled the chamber the way she came.

* * * * * * * * * *

Nine PM.

Jessica and Lorenzo watched as Kitsune placed the Rod on the desk in front of them.

“I have done as you requested,” she said, bowing. “I have delivered the artifact. I trust this proves my competence…”

“I dunno,” said Jessica, offhand, picking it up. “I was kinda hoping for it sooner…

“Well, go home for now… We have your number. If we decide to hire you, we may have some jobs that you can handle.”

As Kitsune left, Jessica turned to a safe on the wall and opened it.

“IF we decide to hire her?” asked Lorenzo. “Why the Hell wouldn’t we? Kitsune did an excellent job!”

“True,” said Jessica, with a smirk. “She’s clearly one of our best prospects yet. But if she knows we think that, she might ask for more money.”

Jessica put the Rod in the safe, and closed it.

“Well, we have a key part of our plan, but we need information we don’t have yet before we can use it…

“Until then, maybe we should concentrate on Starbuck again…”

“We could have Leo fight him again,” suggested Lorenzo.

“Naw, too repetitive…” said Jessica.

She thought for a minute.

“Lorenzo, want to go out to get pizza?” she asked.

“Are you asking me out?” he said with a chuckle.

“No…” she said. “I just happen to know a place that makes really good pizza…

“And where we can find someone who fits our needs.

“After all, they say that when you need a big job done… Hire a professional…”



And on that ominous message, we bring this chapter to a close.

Next chapter, Starbuck goes out in search for the enigmatic Midnight Peddler. But that’s not all. Once again, he’s bothered by Major Jane, whose mysterious agenda can’t spell good news.

The quest continues… Stay tuned.

[Shuppet Master]

You just gave me an idea for a story where a Kangaskhan trainer(Kangaskhan has Scrappy too) defeats a dangerous Mismagius and captures it by using Kangaskhan's Mega Punch.

This was a great chapter. It didn't forget about the main characters, but it put them on the backburner as we focus on this new character, Kitsune.

Funny that she has a Ninetales, just like Starbuck's dad...

Anyways, it was a nice filler and hopefully we'll see this Midnight Peddler and learn more about General Jane. (Jane, Jenny, Joy, this is quite an interesting set of women. )

[Dark Sage]

The member of Rocket Reborn that is introduced in this chapter is named after my adorable niece, who was born sixteen days ago, at nine pounds, eight ounces, and healthy.

I’d like everyone to give their blessings to little Sophia Corvello, and best of luck for the future.



It’s almost midnight.

Midnight has always been a special time. Folks often had superstitions about it. Often bad ones. The world of Pokémon is no different.

Some folks say that Rotom haunt certain electrical appliances. If your television turns on by itself at midnight, do not go near it. If you do, the Rotom will come out and attack you, with a spell of paralysis that will leave you at its mercy until dawn.

Others say that on midnights in winter, certain Pokémon that are both Ghost and Ice haunt the night, and they delight in freezing victims solid and laughing at them as they shiver to death.

And one cannot deny reports of some folks falling into nightmares that they take weeks to wake up from. In their groans in their sleep, they rant things about some terrifying Pokémon that’s holding them prisoner. The identity of this creature is a mystery.

Why am I out at night alone? Good question. I’m dedicated, maybe that’s it.

But I’m still wary of the Witching Hour…

CHAPTER ELEVEN



The Witching Hour

Where do you go in Blueberry Cove to get pizza?

Well, if you wanted it fast, there were a slew of fast-food places that fit the bill. But if you wanted good pizza, anyone would tell you that Antonio’s was the best.

Most people went there for the pizza. Jessica and Lorenzo were going there for that and something else.

It was nine-thirty when they walked in, and as always, the smell of marinara sauce and oregano were hanging in the air. The place had the relaxing atmosphere that was typical of most Italian places.

“Hey, Jessica!” said the jovial waiter in the dining room. “What can I get for you this evening, eh?”

“We’d like a large with double anchovies, Giorgio,” said Jessica. “And please, we’ll seat ourselves.”

Giorgio nodded. He turned to a waitress, a young woman with dark hair in a blouse and a short skirt.

He nodded, she nodded back, and she walked into the kitchen.

“Double anchovies?” asked Lorenzo, as they sat down. “That’s disgusting.”

“It’s code, genius,” said Jessica. “No-one in her right mind ever orders it, so in a minute or two…”

Her cell phone rang. She answered it.

“Talk to me, Sophia,” she said.

“Hey, Jessica,” said the waitress’s voice. “I’m in the kitchen. First of all, can I put any real orders for you two?”

“Pepperoni and mushrooms,” said Jessica. “Now look, I have an important job.”

“Easy to do,” said Sophia. “You want someone dead or just brought in?”

“Neither, yet,” said Jessica. “I want young Starbuck tested, under more adverse conditions than he’s used to. I want to see how much of a threat he truly is. If he can think on his feet in a difficult situation, we’ve got a viable threat.

“I want you to meet up with him… And then treat him to one of your specials of the day.”

“And throw it in his face, right?” laughed Sophia.

“Exactly,” said Jessica. “He’s been a tough customer so far, so I’m willing to pay the fee for a potential threat.

“Just be sure to win, or this potential threat might turn into a dangerous threat.”

“No problem, Jess,” said Sophia. “These battles are right up my alley. And they’re fun too!”

None of them knew that someone was listening.

A man with red hair was sitting in a dark corner, and he could hear the conversation through a tapped line…

* * * * * * * * * *

It was ten minutes to midnight. Clouds blew past the full moon.

Starbuck walked down the street of the main thoroughfare, slowly whistling.

He heard a rustle behind him. He spun around.

Sitting there was that Buneary, looking at him.

“Oh, it’s you,” he muttered, grabbing hold of his hat. “Going to try to get another one?”

The Buneary shook its head.

“So what do you want?” said Starbuck. “Come to watch? I don’t even know if this guy is real or not…”

“Buneary,” said the Pokémon.

He sighed.

“Some people say that legends are only as real as people make them,” he muttered. “If enough people believe that there’s a Midnight Peddler, sooner or later someone’s gonna meet some guy selling watches some night, and say that he saw the Midnight Peddler, and the legend will grow, and…”

He was cut off by a chime in the distance.

A clock tower on the other side of the city had struck midnight.

Starbuck stood in silence as the twelve chimes rang out. As they did, a creeping fog started to rise.

As the twelfth chime faded away, he heard a strange creaking noise coming out of the fog. He turned to face it, debating whether or not he should turn and run.

A man came out of the fog, pulling a cart with a squeaky wheel. He was exactly as Charles had described him – dressed all in black, with long fingernails on his hands, his eyes covered by a dark hood, with a very strong chin visible under the hood.

On the cart, which seemed to contain all matter of odd items, was perched a Murkrow, one that had purple feathers.

A Shiny… thought Starbuck.

The man stopped, and set his cart down.

“You seem troubled, my friend,” he said, in an odd accent. “Something seems to be on your mind…”

“A lot’s on my mind,” said Starbuck. “I suppose you’re the Midnight Peddler?”

“Midnight Peddler?” said the man. “Well… It is midnight, and I am a peddler… I suppose I fit the description…

“But the night does tell me things, young one…”

He looked at Starbuck.

“You have the face of a boy who has lost someone he loves, yes? Someone who misses that person very much…”

“Why, yes!” said Starbuck. “Do you know anything about my father?”

“Nevermore,” squawked the Murkrow.

“Quiet!” shouted the Peddler.

“You must excuse my friend. He says that a lot. I think that word is all he knows.

“Sadly, I know not where any lost fathers are. But is your father truly lost, or is he somewhere close?”

Starbuck sighed.

He glanced at the cart. It seemed to have things in it that were unusual, but not too expensive. Fancy plates, cups, jewelry.

And several blocks of…

“What the?” he said, picking up a small item. It looked like a small, chocolate sponge cake, but seemed a bit stale.

“You interested in that?” asked the Peddler.

“This is Old Gâteau,” said Starbuck.

“That it is,” said the Peddler. “It can cure a Pokémon of any affliction.”

“You’ve got a ton of it here!” exclaimed Starbuck. “You can’t just go into a store and buy Old Gâteau! It manifests occasionally in places that are haunted by Ghost Pokémon.”

“Nevermore,” said the Murkrow.

“My boy,” said the Peddler, “you can get more of it, and more things provided by Ghosts, if you were to take my advice…”

They looked at each other for a few minutes.

Starbuck reached into his pocket and took out a dollar. He placed it in the Peddler’s hand.

“Make sure you and everyone with you has at least one Ghost in your party on the night after a day when one of you defeats a Pokémon that you have never seen before.

“Walk to the north. Keep walking. Do not speak. You and your friends must be silent until you get there.”

“Get where?” asked Starbuck.

The Peddler chuckled.

“Trust me…” he said. “Once you reach it, you’ll know… That’s all you must do, if you hope to find what you need to find…”

He lifted up the handles of his cart, and started to walk away.

“Good luck, my friend…”

* * * * * * * * * *

“See you tomorrow, Antonio,” said Sophia.

Sophia sighed, and prepared to go home. Working as both a waitress and a bounty hunter for Rocket Reborn were both tiring, but she liked to think she was good at both jobs. She would hunt down Starbuck in the morning.

She started to walk down the street to the bus stop.

“Hey, babe,” said a voice.

She was startled to see that man with the red hair beside her.

“Damien?” she said, angrily. “What do you want?”

“Still spunky as ever,” he replied. “I like that. I missed you darling.”

“Don’t call me ‘darling’,” she scowled. “And the judge says you aren’t allowed within a hundred and fifty feet of me, so get lost!”

“I’ve changed, baby!” said Damien.

She glared at him.

“Okay, the truth is, I’ve got a new Pokémon, and it’s really powerful. I can help you take out that Starbuck guy.”

Sofia sighed.

“NO,” she said. “And don’t call me ‘baby’ either.”

“You think you can beat Ishmael’s kid on your own?” asked Damien. “He’s better than you’ll ever be.”

“And you think you’re better than him?” asked Sofia.

The bus drove up.

“Unless your new Pokémon is some Legendary, I truly doubt that. Now scram!”

She got on the bus.

As the bus drove away, Damien chuckled.

“How little you know, Sofia,” he said. “How little you know… You’re gonna be begging me to join Rocket Reborn when you find out what I can do…”

* * * * * * * * * *

“Buneary,” said the Pokémon.

“Look,” said Starbuck, “if you think you’re gonna swipe this hat this time, you are sadly mistaken. My Pokémon aren’t tired now, and…”

“Buneary…” said the Pokémon, sounding a little nervous.

Starbuck looked ahead of him. Someone was watching him from around the corner…

Someone wearing a beret.

“HEY!” shouted Starbuck.

The watcher ducked into the alley. Starbuck followed, but didn’t run. He knew that she had gone into a dead end.

He turned into the alley, and as he expected, Major Jane was there.

“Oh, darn,” said Jane. “You cornered me… Guess I’m gonna have to fight my way out.”

“Look Jane…” said Starbuck. “Uhm… Are you even the same one who I spoke to the other day?”

“Does it matter?” said Jane.

“Whatever the army wants with me, I want no part of it!” shouted Starbuck.

“I’m on a pass,” said Jane. “Tonight, I’m just a trainer…”

She held up a pokeball.

“So are you gonna run from this, or are you gonna defend yourself? I warn you, the Twisting hit this one pretty hard…”

Starbuck frowned. Where were the MPs when you needed them?

Jane threw the pokeball, and it burst open…

The Pokémon that appeared out of it could best be described as hulking. It was four feet high at the shoulder, but broad and long, with a large, rectangular, steel plate covering its face, containing tusks and sharp teeth.

Starbuck laughed.

“A Bastiodon?” he said. “Please, I have someone who will smash through its armor like tinfoil…”

He threw his own pokeball, and Blaziken leapt out.

“So predictable,” said Jane. “Bastiodon, use Metal Sound.”

“Huh?” said Starbuck.

Suddenly, a horrible noise started to fill the air, like a low-pitched drone coming from the Fossil. Both Starbuck and Blaziken covered their ears.

Buneary yelped, and then took off in the opposite direction.

“While it’s distracted!” shouted Jane. “Use Swagger!”

“Swagger?” said Starbuck. “Wait a minute…”

Bastiodon growled, and breathed a puff of white smoke, that drifted towards Blaziken, hitting it just as it uncovered its ears.

“Blaziken…” growled Blaziken, angrily.

“Swagger will actually make your Pokémon stronger…” said Jane, “but it does so by enraging it. Your Blaziken is so mad right now, it can barely see straight. It’s just as likely to punch the wall as it is to attack my Pokémon.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Starbuck. “Blaziken, smash that Fossil with Brick Break!”

Blaziken roared, and leapt at Bastiodon, savagely striking it on the faceplate with the callous of its hand. Bastiodon groaned, and a large crack appeared on the faceplate.

“Bastiodon, Metal Burst,” said Jane.

“Huh?” said Starbuck. “Metal Burst?”

“Bastiodon!” roared the Fossil. Its whole body glowed, and then a burst of metal shrapnel erupted from it, striking Blaziken and throwing the Fighter backwards.

“Metal Burst is used in response to an attack,” said Jane, “and hurts Bastiodon’s opponent twice as much as it was hurt.

“Starting to get the gist of Bastiodon’s strategy yet, Starbuck? The harder you hit it, the harder it will hit back.”

She’s right, thought Starbuck. This is clearly a defensive strategy… I need time to think…

Blaziken got up, panting for breath.

Fortunately, Blaziken isn’t Twisted. He won’t give in to rage as easy as her Pokémon will.

“Wait for it to move, Blaziken,” he said. “We don’t need another one of those…”

“Bastiodon, use Taunt,” said Jane.

“Bastiodon…” grumbled the Pokémon.

Oh no! thought Starbuck. That’ll just make Blaziken angrier!

Another Metal Burst at this point may be too much to take…

Unless…

Unless it takes that thing out in one blow.

He had to think fast. Bastiodon was already taunting Blaziken in Pokémonese, and Blaziken was getting madder by the second.

“She wants an attack?” said Starbuck. “Then let it have one… Use Focus Blast.”

“Blaziken…” said Blaziken, starting to sweat.

It put its hands together, and a glowing orb formed in-between them.

“Focus Blast?” shouted Jane. “What? WAIT! Since when can it…”

Blaziken threw its hands forward, and a blast of pure light shot at the Bastiodon. There was a scream as the blast connected.

When the dust cleared, Bastiodon was, amazingly, still standing.

“Metal Burst!” shouted Jane.

There was a long pause.

“Bastiodon…” groaned the Pokémon.

Then it toppled over with a crash.

“Well, what do you know?” said Starbuck. “Like a real dinosaur… Took it a few seconds to reach its brain.”

Jane scowled at him as she held up the pokeball, and Bastiodon retreated.

“Okay, Jane,” said Starbuck, “now it looks like you’re really cornered. Want to tell me why you’re so interested in me?”

Jane simply stepped backwards, made a jump, and vanished into the ground.

Starbuck ran up to where she had been.

There was a manhole opening. She did have an escape route after all.

No way was he following her. He had gone through enough sewers lately.

Meanwhile, below, Jane was seething in anger.

“Stupid Volmer,” she said, looking at the pokeball. “He wouldn’t know a good Pokémon if it bit him in the ass…

“Ah, well… If Starbuck goes to the MPs, it’s his word against mine.

“Now how do I get out of here?”

She smirked. She had another defense if Starbuck complained to anyone in the high command, and she thought Starbuck knew it…

* * * * * * * * * *

The next morning.

“I still say we should report this,” said Lisa. “Talk to a Lieutenant Colonel, anyone who outranks her.”

“Mom, think about it,” said Starbuck. “We tell some officer that Major Jane did something wrong. Know what he’s gonna ask?

“He’s gonna ask which Major Jane. And frankly, I can’t tell them apart any better than I can tell two Joys or two Jennys apart.

“I suppose they must have some way of doing it in the army, but once they ask that question, our complaint will be dead.”

“He’s got a point,” said Shadow. “But… You don’t suppose there might be someone in charge of the Janes?”

“What do you mean?” asked Starbuck.

“Well,” said Starbuck, “I figure that all of the Janes might be part of one military project. And all projects in the military have someone in charge, right? The Janes must answer to someone. It might not even be a Jane.

“And for all we know, they’re up to no good.”

“That’s all we need,” said Starbuck. “Conspiracy theories.”

“This isn’t a criminal organization we’re talking about, Shadow,” said Lisa. “This is the army… The government.”

She sighed.

“Our tax dollars at work…”

Starbuck stared into space for a minute…

“The Third Reich…” he muttered.

“The Nazis?” asked Shadow.

“Look,” said Starbuck. “Hitler was insane, and in his delusions, he funded many expeditions to find artifacts that were mentioned in legends and myths. He thought in his madness that magical power could make an army unstoppable.

“Ever see the Indiana Jones movies? As you recall, in two of them, the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail were both being sought by the Nazis. The movies were fiction, but in reality, Hitler would have loved to find such things.

“Do you suppose… Bear with me now… That a military power is trying to harness the power of Arceus?”

There was dead silence in the room.

“An army with Arceus’s support would be unstoppable,” said Lisa.

She shook her head.

“No! It’s just too farfetched!”

“Let’s hope so,” said Starbuck, as the video phone turned on.

“Ah, Starbuck,” said Percival, as his face came on the screen. “I read your text message, interesting stuff, very interesting…”

“I know,” said Starbuck. “He said it had something to do with Ghost Pokémon.”

“Yes…” said Percival. “It might well lead to the Spooky Plate, although I must say, those instructions he gave are pretty spooky indeed.

“So what are you planning?”

“Well, according to him, we have to do this on a night after a day in which one of us defeats a Pokémon that we haven’t seen before,” said Starbuck. “A tall order, because we’ve seen hundreds. But we’re just going to accept every challenge we can, and we may yet find one.”

“Very good,” said Percival. “Keep me informed.”

He hung up.

“You have a Ghost Pokémon, mom?” he asked Lisa.

“I have a Misdreavus,” said Lisa, holding up a pokeball. “I never spent much time training it, but at least it’s a Ghost.”

“Then let’s start battling!” said Shadow. “I’m itching to get dirty anyway…”

* * * * * * * * * *

“Gallade, Psycho Cut!” shouted Shadow.

Gallade slashed at the Floatzel, and it groaned before collapsing.

The Floatzel’s trainer didn’t stay for long. She recalled her Pokémon and fled.

Starbuck sighed. He looked around at everyone in the City Park.

“Okay…” he muttered. “All three of us have battled once, and so far, the rarest thing we’ve seen was a Wigglytuff.

“Are there any good trainers in Blueberry?”

They heard a chuckle behind them.

They turned around, and saw Sophia standing there.

“Hey, handsome,” he said. “You want a good trainer?”

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Sophia,” she said. “And I’m always up for a battle…”

“Fine,” said Starbuck, holding up a pokeball. “Let’s throw down.”

“I dunno…” said Sophia. “We’re all experienced trainers, after all. A regular battle would be kinda boring after all we’ve done, wouldn’t you say?

“What say we have one that’s more fun? One with a little spice? A little pizzazz?”

“You don’t mean…” muttered Starbuck. “A Pokémon Dare?”

“Of course not, handsome!” laughed Sophia. “Perish the thought.

“I was thinking along the lines of a Chosen One Battle.”

Starbuck just looked at her.

“Uhm, I’m not familiar with that,” he said.

“Okay, let me explain the rules,” said Sophia.

“Each trainer uses three Pokémon. Still with me? Good.

“Before the battle starts, each trainer chooses the three Pokémon beforehand. Then, he tells his opponent the identities of those three Pokémon.

“Then comes the fun part. Whenever either trainer must send out a Pokémon, he doesn’t choose it. His opponent chooses one of his Pokémon for him.

“One other thing. You aren’t allowed to switch Pokémon until the one currently on the field is unable to battle.

“Cool, huh.”

Starbuck looked at her strangely.

“Maybe I should get a hot dog while you’re deciding…” said Shadow.

She personally had found the whole thing bizarre, and thought Starbuck would be nuts to accept.

“I accept!” said Starbuck.

Oh, he’s nuts… thought Starbuck.

Sophia smirked a little.

Then prepare to lose, Starbuck, she thought. I practically invented this type of battle…



Coming up next:

It’s two powerful battles in one chapter! First, Starbuck faces Sophia in this Chosen One Battle, where quite possibly anything could happen. Then, Sophia’s ex takes on Shadow, and he has a deadly surprise up his sleeve. Prepare for trouble and make it double, coming soon.

[Shuppet Master]

Well, I finished reading a "Let's Play" walkthrough for Ultima IX, and got the crazy idea of an Ultima / Pokemon crossover with Dawn becoming the Avatar, but enough of that.

This was a pretty cool chapter. The Midnight Peddler chat, and thoughts that the Spooky Plate is the next target, a Major Jane being defeated by Starbuck and a possibility that the army is corrupt, and now we have a new variation on Pokemon combat. This is getting more and more awesome!

Keep it up Brian.

PS: One mistake, you accidently put Starbuck's name in one of Shadow's lines of dialogue during the talk about the Janes. Fix that.

[Dark Sage]

What was the common thread when facing Team Rocket? It’s simple… Their teams, more often than not, came in twos.

James and Jesse were the most obvious example. Butch and Cassidy were another. There were other duos, like Anne and Oakley (two girls, a departure from the norm).

At times, Rocket would have a very powerful trainer work alone or have one lead a small army, like the case of the Iron Masked Marauder or Captain Phantom. But these individuals started off strong only to crash and burn.

Why such emphasis on the number two? Well, maybe they felt that one member working alone would be a sitting duck, and that more than two would be a group that couldn’t get along. Too many cooks spoil the broth, as they say…

So far, I’ve only seen single members of Rocket Reborn. But this time, I have a feeling that my opponent might have support.

It may be time to prepare for trouble, and make it double, once again…

CHAPTER TWELVE



Unfriendly Air

“Okay, let me explain the rules.

“Each trainer uses three Pokémon. Still with me? Good.

“Before the battle starts, each trainer chooses the three Pokémon beforehand. Then, he tells his opponent the identities of those three Pokémon.

“Then comes the fun part. Whenever either trainer must send out a Pokémon, he doesn’t choose it. His opponent chooses one of his Pokémon for him.

“One other thing. You aren’t allowed to switch Pokémon until the one currently on the field is unable to battle.

“Cool, huh?”

It didn’t sound like the typical run-o-the-mill battle, that was for sure. But Starbuck reasoned that so long as Sofia was under the same condition that he was under, it might be doable.

“Give me a minute to decide…” he said.

Sofia grinned. She fingered three pokeballs.

Take as long as you like, she thought. What you don’t know is, you can’t win…

When you hear what my Pokémon are, you’ll likely try to choose one that your Pokémon will have Type advantage against, or one that you don’t think can hurt yours.

But whatever Pokémon of mine you choose, you’ll come out badly in the end. These three Pokémon were specifically selected and trained for Chosen One battles. Quite simply, no matter what Pokémon you have, they’ll have an answer for everything.

“All right, Sophia, I’ve made up my mind,” he said. “I’ll be using Espeon, Donphan, and Luxray.”

Sophia held up her own pokeballs.

“And I’ll be using Nidoqueen, Purugly, and Exploud,” she said.

“Uhm… Interesting choices…” said Starbuck.

“Then let’s rock-paper-scissors to see who chooses first,” said Sophia.

“Do you feel it, Shadow?” asked Lisa.

“What?” said Shadow.

“There’s an odd feeling in the air…” said Lisa. “It’s like something’s on fire… And there’s smoke in the air… But there’s clearly no smoke… Not even a barbecue grill going.”

“Come to think of it…” said Shadow. “That is kind of what it feels like…”

Sitting and watching with some interest, was Sofia’s ex, Damien. He was going to watch the battle and see what happened for now. If his ex-wife won, fine… If she lost, he’d rush in like Sir Galahad and bail her out.

He took a pokeball off of his belt. It was a Timer Ball. He had caught this Pokémon after a very long battle. It hadn’t been the type that would be tamed by a trainer who didn’t prove his worth and then some.

It wasn’t Twisted. If it had been, it likely would have killed him…

In the meantime, Starbuck’s hand had opened up paper, while Sofia’s had closed rock.

“Okay,” said Starbuck. “I choose your Purugly.”

“Okay, handsome,” she replied. “Then I choose your Donphan.”

Starbuck gave an odd look. Both of them lifted their pokeballs.

They threw. Starbuck’s Donphan leapt out. From Sofia’s pokeball came a large, sassy-looking grey cat.

“Let’s get this party started!” shouted Starbuck. “Donphan, flatten it with a Rollout!”

Donphan trumpeted, and curled up into a ball. It started to roll towards Purugly.

“Purugly, Assist,” said Sofia.

“Oh, no…” said Lisa.

Purugly meowed and opened its jaws. A blast of intense cold, clearly a Blizzard, shot towards Donphan, stopping it in its tracks.

“I know this move,” said Lisa. “That Delcatty that worked for Gestalt used it. Purugly can use any move that another member of Sofia’s team can use.”

Donphan snorted, clearly annoyed. It curled up again, and bowled towards Purugly, crashing into the smaller Pokémon.

Sofia frowned.

“Purugly, Payback,” she said.

Purugly bore its claw, and it glowed with shadowy energy. It made a slash, and Donphan toppled backwards.

Donphan shook its head to get the haze out of it, and got back up.

“Donphan, use Giga Impact!” shouted Starbuck.

Sofia’s eyes opened wide. Donphan glowed with energy, and then started to charge at Purugly.

“Assist again!” shouted Sophia.

As Donphan charged, Purugly glowed with red energy…

As Donphan hit, both Pokémon were sent hurtling from the point of impact in a tremendous burst.

“Donphan…” groaned Donphan.

“Purugly…” moaned the cat.

And then they both collapsed.

“What happened?” said Shadow.

“Seems that the Assist used the move Counter,” said Lisa. “Both of them took damage, and they were both knocked out.”

Sofia started to clap.

“Good show, good show,” she said.

Both Pokémon were recalled.

“And seeing how my Pokémon bit the dust first, I think it’s my turn to choose… I think I’ll choose your Luxray.”

Starbuck paused for a minute.

Nidoqueen can be seriously dangerous, he thought. I should know. I’d best save that one for Dawn.

“I choose your Exploud,” he said.

Two more pokeballs flew out, and Luxray emerged out of one of them. From the other, a mean looking Pokémon that was five feet tall, with pipes on its head, with a huge mouth appeared.

“Luxray, start off with a Charge,” said Starbuck.

Luxray closed its eyes, and its fur sparked with electricity. It started to store energy.

“Getting juiced up?” said Sofia. “Exploud, use Earthquake.”

Starbuck and Luxray both opened their eyes as Exploud stomped its foot into the ground, and the whole park shook. Luxray screamed, and was thrown five feet.

“Trying to play dirty, huh?” shouted Starbuck, as Luxray got up. “Luxray, give it a Thunder Fang!”

Luxray growled. As Exploud prepared for another Earthquake, it leapt at the bigger Pokémon, and made a tackle. It sunk its fangs into one of the Exploud’s pipes, sending a surge of electricity through the bigger creature. Exploud bellowed.

“Now hang on!” shouted Starbuck.

“Exploud, Hyper Voice!” shouted Sofia.

Everyone covered their ears as Exploud let out a scream, sending waves of sound out in all directions. A car alarm went off behind them. Luxray was thrown from his foe.

“Thunderbolt!” shouted Starbuck.

“Luxray!” shouted the Pokémon, as it blasted a bolt of concentrated electricity. Exploud groaned, but stayed standing.

“Earthquake again!” said Sofia.

Exploud stomped its foot down, and this time, the tremor was too much for Luxray to take. It collapsed, having been shaken too much by the two intense Ground attacks.

Starbuck frowned, and recalled Luxray.

“Well, you only have one Pokémon left,” said Sofia.

“Indeed,” said Starbuck. “Dawn, go!”

He threw out the pokeball, and the small Espeon leapt out.

“Exploud, Crunch,” said Sofia.

Starbuck lifted an eyebrow. Exploud growled, and rushed at the small Pokémon.

“Dawn, use Psychic,” he said.

As Exploud rushed at Dawn, she blasted a beam of mental energy, hitting it squarely on the forehead. Exploud groaned, and then collapsed, well before it reached Dawn.

Crunch? thought Starbuck. I’m beginning to get the idea. This battle wasn’t supposed to be for fun… Sofia’s Pokémon are trained for these Chosen One battles…

He looked at his mother and Shadow.

Better end this as fast as I can.

Sofia took out her final pokeball.

“Nidoqueen,” she said, “I choose you!”

The Pokémon that came out was one of the most powerful Poison-Types known to exist. The dinosaur-like creature, vaguely feminine in shape, with powerful muscles, stood almost five feet tall. It growled, and glared at Dawn.

“Well, at least Starbuck has Type advantage,” said Shadow.

“Let’s hope that’s enough…” muttered Lisa. “Nidoqueen is one tough nut to crack.”

“Dawn, use Psychic again!” shouted Starbuck.

Dawn shot her psychic wave again, and Nidoqueen clutched its head, as if a headache was starting to form. It growled.

“Nidoqueen, use Earth Power,” said Sofia.

Nidoqueen’s eyes glowed. It raised its hand, and the ground literally erupted around Dawn. She squeaked in fright, and tried to get clear, but the geysers of burning soil honed in on her.

Dawn stopped for a minute to catch her breath.

“You’ve got her now!” said Sofia. “Use Superpower!”

Dawn’s eyes widened in fear, as Nidoqueen created a ball of energy in its hands…

It hurled the glowing orb at Dawn, but at the last moment, Dawn collapsed, hitting the dirt. The orb sailed over her, making a large crater right behind her.

“All right!” shouted Shadow.

Now Nidoqueen was the one who looked tired. It held its chest and tried to catch its breath for a minute.

“Dawn, use Morning Sun,” said Starbuck.

Dawn got up, and the sun reflected on her silvery coat. The solar rays quickly started to heal her.

“Now, Psybeam!”

Dawn shot a beam of energy, striking Nidoqueen in the skull. Nidoqueen screamed in pain, and staggered around in place.

“It’s confused!” shouted Shadow. “Now’s your chance, Starbuck, finish it off!”

“All right!” shouted Starbuck. “Dawn, take it down with a Hyper Beam!”

The Espeon leapt up, and shot a blast of pure energy from her mouth, hitting Nidoqueen in the chest. Nidoqueen staggered back three steps, and then collapsed to the ground with a crash.

“NO!” shouted Sofia, falling to her knees. “How could I… How could I lose a Chosen One battle?”

“You just did,” said Starbuck. “Now, are you going to tell us who you’re working for? Are you another member of Rocket Reborn?”

“Get your hands off my wife!” shouted a voice.

Everyone looked up, and saw Damien there, frowning in a threatening manner.

“What?” said Starbuck. “If you were to look, buddy, you’d see that I was nowhere near your wife.”

“And she’s NOT your wife anymore!” shouted Sofia. “How many times do I have to tell you not to come near me, Damien? The judge says a hundred and fifty feet!”

“Oh, dear…” said Lisa. “THAT old problem…”

“You said it,” said Sofia. “I gave this creep the best years of my life, and he not only cheats on me, he steals my hard-earned money to support his girlfriend. He is beneath contempt.”

Shadow frowned.

“That is quite possibly the worst thing I have ever heard,” she said.

“Yeah, well, I told you that Starbuck was better than you,” said Damien. “And since you couldn’t beat him, I feel like taking him on myself.”

Before Starbuck could answer, Shadow stepped in.

“Stand aside,” she said. “I’m gonna show this two-timer that he can’t treat women that way. I’m gonna battle him.”

“Well, why not?” asked Damien. “So long as my new Pokémon gets to strut his stuff…”
“Strange…” said Lisa. “That odd feeling in the air seems to have gotten a great deal worse all of a sudden…”

* * * * * * * * * *

Jessica sat at her desk, looking at a file on the computer.

She had been looking at the same file for a long time. It was a picture of a young, very muscular woman dressed in a halter top, skirt, and fur boots – the traditional clothing of the Battle Girls.

She sighed.

She had finally made her decision. She picked up the phone.

“Digger?” she said into it.

“Yeah, boss?” said the voice on the other end.

“How’s Mandy doing?” she asked. “I take it you’re taking good care of her.”

“She’s doing all right,” said the voice. “I’m not having any problems, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Good,” said Jessica. “I want to see you at six tonight. I think it might be time to give Mandy another chance.

“If she accepts it, that it.”

* * * * * * * * * *

“Shadow, was it?” asked Damien, palming a pokeball. “Well, you do look nice… I might be interested in a little one-on-one after this battle is over…”

“You’re dreaming, creep,” said Shadow. “Just send out a Pokémon so I can flatten it!”

“Well, certainly,” said Damien. “I’ll start with something easy…

“I choose… Psyduck!”

He threw the pokeball, and the familiar-looking, confused-looking duck appeared.

“Huh?” said Starbuck. “He’s starting out with a weakling?”

“Damien is notorious for putting his opponents into a false sense of security,” said Sofia.

Hey… thought Shadow, reaching for a pokeball. This may be just the right time to break out the newest member of my team.

She threw a pokeball.

“Go, Shroomish!” she said.

The pokeball opened, and the little mushroom appeared.

“Shroomish, use Growth!” said Shadow.

Shroomish glowed, and then grew to twice its size.

“Wasting your time on enhancing moves?” said Damien. “I concentrate on offensive ones. Psyduck, Water Pulse.”

Psyduck opened its bill, and shot a blast of water at the Shroomish. But it didn’t seem to bother the mushroom much.

“Shroomish, Mega Drain,” said Shadow.

Shroomish glowed again, and drew glowing motes out of Psyduck and into itself. Psyduck groaned as the nutrients were literally sucked out of its body.

“Psyduck, Confusion,” said Damien.

Psyduck’s eyes glowed, and a wave of energy shot at the Grass Type. Shroomish closed its eyes in pain.

“Mega Drain again!” shouted Shadow.

Once again, Shroomish repeated the trick, sucking the moisture out of Psyduck. The fowl groaned again.

“Now, finish it with a Headbutt!” shouted Shadow.

Shroomish scurried towards Psyduck as fast as its little legs would go, and rammed into its stomach with its top. Psyduck toppled over on its back.

Damien chuckled. He recalled Psyduck.

“Not bad,” he said. “Not bad at all…

“But enough practice…”

He threw a second pokeball.

“I choose… Torkoal!”

The pokeball opened, and a much larger Pokémon appeared. It looked like a large, fiery turtle, with white smoke pouring out of its shell.

“Hey!” shouted Shadow.

“Torkoal…” shouted Damien, “use Heat Wave!”

Before Shadow could do anything, a wave of intense heat shot from the Torkoal. Shroomish flopped down, burnt severely by the sudden attack.

Now in a rage, Shadow recalled Shroomish.

“Okay,” she said. “Now I’m angry. Go, Gengar!”

She threw the pokeball, and Gengar leapt out.

“Take down that turtle!” she shouted. “Night Shade!”

Gengar blasted a bolt of inky blackness, and it struck the fiery reptile. Torkoal groaned.

“Torkoal, Flamethrower!” shouted Damien.

Torkoal opened its jaws, and exhaled a blast of fire. Gengar just grinned, and dodged the blast in mid-air.

The Ghost lifted its arms and blew a raspberry at the Fire Type.

“Torkoal!” growled Torkoal.

“That’s showing it!” said Shadow. “Now, use Dark Pulse!”

Gengar’s eyes glowed with evil light, and it cast a wave of sinister blackness at its foe. Torkoal cringed.

“Heat Wave again!” ordered Damien.

Gengar shielded itself as the blast of flame wafted towards it.

The Ghost frowned, but it was far from out. It was just angrier, in fact.

“Wait for it…” said Shadow.

“Gengar…” said the Ghost.

“Torkoal, Overheat!” said Damien.

“Go!” shouted Shadow. “Sucker Punch!”

As Torkoal prepared to fire a super-intense blast of heat, Gengar flew at it and delivered a mighty punch charged with negative energy to its chin. Torkoal groaned, and collapsed on its stomach.

“Learned your lesson yet?” asked Shadow. “You aren’t even much of a trainer.”

Damien recalled Torkoal.

“On the contrary…” he said. “I’m a great trainer…”

He held up his third pokeball.

“Who but a great trainer could have captured the specimen that I hold here? The one that will defeat you and send you crying to your mommy?

“The one that will have my wife over there begging me to accept me back and join Rocket Reborn!”

“So you are from Rocket!” shouted Starbuck.

“Uh…” said Sofia, nervously.

“Quiet!” shouted Damien. “Time to unleash my ultimate Pokémon…

“Go, I choose you!”

He threw it, and it burst open in an explosion of fire… A wave of intense heat covered the whole area…

The Pokémon that appeared was five feet tall at the shoulder, and stood on all fours. Its body looked like it was made of heated rock and magma. Its head had a large, toothy mouth, downward-curving horns, and eyes that glowed like embers.

It opened its mouth and let out a hoarse roar. It took two steps forward, and its footprints melted the ground.

“Ladies and gentlemen…” said Damien. “I give you… Heatran.”



The goal to find a Pokémon that they haven’t seen before has certainly been met, but can Shadow possibly defeat this monster in front of her? It’s going to be hard, that’s for sure, but she must defeat it to have any chance of finding the Spooky Plate. And hat of the Spooky Plate? And what will Jessica’s next move be now that Sofia has failed? Don’t miss the next chapter…

[Shuppet Master]

Holy ****.

Well, Heatran DOES count as a Pokemon never seen before, because few people ever saw it - if you played the games, it doesn't appear until the rock was stolen from the volcano.

But that thing is a biatch to catch - it did a lot of damage to my Pokemon.

Well, go Shadow!

Nice to see you updating again, Brian.