Hoenn Harem *Author's Note*

««««--- Season 2 --- Sinnoh Sins ---»»»»



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Author’s Note:



Welcome to the beginning of the second season, you’ll notice several changes in the storyline since now it’s time for the Sinnoh Saga.



I hate having to use Part 1 and Part 2 once again, but the truth is that even if I’m not entirely sick of pokemon anymore, but I’m still very sick of BATTLES. I can’t avoid them in this chapter, so I prefer to leave the Oreburgh Gym battles for Part 2, instead of rushing them up. Maybe this will pass once Pokemon Platinum is out.



I wonder if people miss sex scenes, don’t worry I left Chapter 2 for that.



About cameos from old participants in the League, there aren’t any in this chapter or in the next, but they can appear after that, so start having ideas for what you might want to do, but I suggest waiting for the end of this chapter.




I hope everyone will enjoy this, but notice that there’s plenty of important info here to understand the next chapters.

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“Talking”

“Thinking or Telepathy”

*Mumble or Action*

“…” – Speechless or a moment of silence

"Official Announcement"

#Message#

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~*~*~*~*~ Chapter 1 – The Golden Badges ~*~*~*~*~



It was nearly 6:00 am when the purple headed trainer managed to return to her hometown. All around her, people still in their pajamas left their houses to see the huge aircraft landed in the middle of a backyard, her backyard.

As soon as Vi stepped inside she was greeted by her worried mother, who immediately hugged her and reassured that “everything was going to be all right”. Gary Oak was patiently waiting in the kitchen drinking a cup of hot tea and speaking with her father, they both interrupted the conversation when she entered the room.



“Where the Hell were you?? Everybody was worried sick!” shouted Keira annoyed.



“There was a wounded pokemon, I had to take him to a PokeCenter, what the fuck happened to Jack and Sam??” she answered nervously.



“Vanessa I know you're concerned about your friends but be polite, we have guests here.” complained her father keeping his temper.



“Oh, I apologize, good…morning professor, it’s an honor to meet you again, I just wish the situation was different…”



“Yes indeed, don’t worry about formalities, I know what it feels like to have close friends in danger. But actually we don’t know if they are in peril, all we know now is that they are both missing.

Jack disappeared in the middle of a mission assigned by the Hoenn Rangers, they are still searching the perimeter hoping to find him. Sam, on the other hand, seems to have ran away from home, he left a note saying he wanted more than just being champion like all others, we analyzed the note and it seems it really is his handwriting.” informed Gary.



“…”



“Recently every year champions seem to vanish or mysteriously die, that’s why we placed all current champions under surveillance. However, this year the pattern seems to be different, Jack did not win the League and as far as we know Sam left on his own. To be sure nothing else happens, all participants of the Hoenn League are being taken to one of our best facilities for a while. However, I already told your parents I had different intentions with you, I was hoping you could help us solve this mystery once and for all.” he continued.



“I would gladly help, but why me?”



“First, you’re a close friend of both missing trainers, which could be helpful…but mostly because right now you’re our best and only lead in the investigation on Team Genesis.”



“Team what? Never heard of those before.” asked the older sister.



“Six years ago the data on one of my best discoveries was stolen by Team Rocket, so I was put in charge of fixing the problem.



After that, we blackmailed a couple of “old friends” to give us inside information’s, with that we discovered that several children that went missing were being used as guinea pigs…most of them died.



We took their base down and found a prototype of a machine that was based on my research, but it obviously didn’t work correctly.



We were unable to apprehend the brains behind the operation and so we kept Team Rocket under higher surveillance during the next years. However…three years later with the tragic strike on the Hoenn League we were pretty sure of who was behind it, nobody else would gain anything with that.”



“Gain what?” asked Vi curious.



“Minions. They had obviously perfected the invention and were using the League to gather powerful young trainers. Again we infiltrated Team Rocket and discovered a file with data about an experiment called “Team Genesis”, I rather not discuss further details in here, this IS highly classified information.”



“We understand, but why our daughter?” asked her father.



“On September last year I was on a cruise heading towards Dewford Island. During the journey there was an accident, a young boy was suffocating, a purple haired lady tried to shout hoping for help, but before I could step forward someone else saved the boy. I didn’t recognize his face immediately, but it didn’t take long for me to realize it was Damien Kolt one of the missing champions. Later on I tried to approach him but the boy vanished once again. However, it seems that he kept a conversation with you before that. I didn’t interrogate you before because during the journey I was too busy trying to find Damien himself.



When I saw you at the League I recognized you instantly and I knew it couldn’t be just a coincidence, especially…because of that pokemon of yours.” said Gary looking at Ciarán.



“You’re right, I did contact Damien and I also met Nina Harper, she’s the one that gave me Ciarán…among other things.” answered Vi with bitterness.



“Nina Harper? I knew you might know a thing or two but I never thought you would be such a treasure chest. I’m also glad that it seems you’re not part of Team Rocket…but we would need to be fully sure…”



“My daughter is not a criminal!” immediately complained her mother.



“Please don’t be offended you must understand we can’t just take chances, but don’t worry the odds of her being part of Team Rocket is below 5%, so we’re not really worried.”



“I’m not, in fact, I’m a victim not a bad guy.”



“I see…if you stay with us and share your knowledge we promise they won’t hurt you, but we would need to keep you under constant watch.”



“So either I’m a Team Rocket grunt or not you gain new information’s, very smart of you.” Vi complained, somewhat annoyed of being under suspicion.



“Please don’t be offended, we’re just following the rules, in fact, I personally do trust you and I would like to keep you as my apprentice and sponsor you for the Sinnoh League.”



“…what?”



“Yes dear, the professor already explained us how it would be, he just forgot to mention this whole Team Rocket business…” commented the mother also somewhat annoyed.



“Let me explain. For a few years now we implanted a new training system for highly skilled trainers, every Elite is allowed to choose one apprentice and enter him or her for the Golden Badges Challenge. Basically you’ll go through all Gyms in one region but the battles there will be much harder than normal, if you succeed you’ll go straight into challenging the Elite Four and the current Champion…without having to battle in the League. I would also finance you all the way and help you with your training.”



“Seriously?? Come on that’s too good to be true, where’s the catch?” she asked.



*Gary laughs*



“Trust me my dear, it might sound easy but this process is at a much higher difficulty level than the average one. I see that you have the Beacon Badge around your neck, that means you already defeated Volkner in battle, he’s the strongest Gym Leader in Sinnoh and has been battling for much more years than you. So tell me…do you seriously believe he gave his best during that battle?”



“…No…I don’t think he did, actually I would like a rematch to feel like I really do deserve this badge.”



“And you will, if you accept my offer I’ll help you find your friends, guide you through the Sinnoh Gyms, upgrade your training skills and protect you from harm. But in return I would expect your best efforts and some help with the investigation. What do you think?”



“I think it’s still too good to be true, but if my parents don’t mind I would gladly accept the offer.”



“I don’t like these criminal issues, but you’re probably safer among the police and with the professor than here at home, plus we know it would be a waste to make such a great trainer stop chasing her dreams. You should go my dear, but we want you to call us every day and if something happens we’ll go to Sinnoh immediately.” said her father.



“Keira should also join the other competitors in our safe building for a while, I can call an escort to take her tomorrow.” added Gary.



“Sure why not.” she answered.



“So should I start packing up…?” asked Vi.



“Actually I would prefer if you didn’t, I have to be in Sinnoh by lunch time for an important interview, so if you could just pick anything essential and all your pokemon it would save us much time. But don’t worry, in this sponsor card you’ll receive a monthly payment of 100.000 coins, with an initial help of 200.000, it’s also your new I.D. card.

So I’m pretty sure that this is enough to cover any new clothes and items you might want to buy as soon as we arrive in Jubilife City.”



“Like I said…too good to be true…” joked the girl.



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~



The journey was rather long but comfortable, the girl fell asleep almost instantly after Gary explained some other details of her sponsorship.

Since he had an interview for a documentary at Jubilife TV, Vi had plenty of time to explore the city and shop, but she was surprised to see how many people recognized her from the Hoenn League and asked for autographs.



“This is insane, I figured people only paid attention to the League in their own region, now I’m feeling bad about not watching the other ones this year. Their champs could pass right by me and I wouldn’t even recognize them.” said the girl leaving a shop with her new outfit; unlike the older one she now had a modern denim skirt with black leggings underneath, large sportive boots, fingerless gloves and a simple top.



“What’s insane it’s the time we’re wasting here, we should either be trying to find Jack and Sam or preparing for the new battles.” complained Ciarán.



“Nobody is more worried about them than I am, but Professor Gary is the best chance we have to rescue them, without him we can’t do anything. Plus if I don’t get my mind out of all of this I might go mad…”



“Interesting specimen you have there and it seems you’re both talking by telepathy, that only makes it all the more interesting.” said someone behind her.



“How could you know that?” she asked, turning around to see the person.



It was a young man around her own age and height, he had dark green hair and a pair of unusual glasses, his clothes were somewhat preppy but fitted him well, the most noticeable characteristic was a metallic device in his left arm, like a large robotic bracelet.



“It was either that or you were talking to yourself, plus you showed on the League that could use telepathy with that thing several times.” he answered.



“First, he’s not a thing; and second, who are you? Your face seems strangely familiar…”



“You don’t know me? Well that’s offensive, I know exactly who you are…” he complained, touching his device so that a holographic document appeared in middle air, “…Vanessa Parker, age 19, strategical trainer, finished her graduation only after gaining 2 of her 9 badges, won first place in the Orange Division of the Hoenn League, lost against the final Elite by only one pokemon. You seem to have a preference for canines and felines, your battle style is based on taking advantage over situations, it’s crude and depends too much on luck. Am I wrong?” teased the stranger reading the info out loud.



“Just who the fuck are you anyways?” she asked annoyed.



“I did my homework, if you want to know who I am you should do yours as well. But if you want a battle I’ll gladly accept.” he said, adjusting his glasses.



“Fight him, we haven’t had a decent battle since the League.” suggested Ciarán.



“Very well, if you want to battle us let’s go outside, we can’t do it inside the mall.” dared the girl.



“If you insist.”



~*~*~*~*~



“This place should do it. Let’s have a two versus two battle, the loser will have to reward the winner with something valuable.” proposed the stranger, after stopping in a small fallow terrain near an abandoned building.



“Fine. I’ll use my Houndoom and my…Ciarán…” she announced, noticing that she had no idea of what species the pokemon was after his evolution.



“If that’s the case, I’ll choose my Gallade and my Claydol, go boys…this should be easy.” he declared, unleashing both his pokemon.



The female trainer was satisfied with his choices, but his conviction was making her uncomfortable, nobody would pick pokemon with Type disadvantage unless they were planning something.



Without giving him time to make the first move she ordered them to strike immediately, but she was surprised when the opponents avoid all attacks easily, returning to their original positions without breaking a sweat.



She tried again with a Blast Burn from Haru, but the opponents didn’t even move, defending themselves with Protect.



“This isn’t good, but it’s not normal either…it’s as if they knew all my moves…” thought the girl, before being interrupted by a massive Psychic strike from both adversaries, throwing Haru and Ciarán into the ground.



“WHAT?? Both of them have the Dark type, they should be immune to Psychic moves…I’m not liking this at all…”



“Aren’t rare attacks interesting, I saw you using plenty of them during your matches, so how does my Miracle Eye feel? Not comfortable I bet.” joked the male trainer.



“Miracle Eye? None of those should be able to use that attack, unless…” rationalized Vi.



“You only realized that now how pitiful, there are only four famous trainers who managed to use the Type Switch Technique;



Gary Oak, the creator of this training method, but he barely uses it nowadays.



Gabriel Bass, a deceased champion, that bastard overused the technique to the point of winning the League with only four pokemon, I find it ironic that it was him who died of cancer in the end.



Me, the best trainer in this area, having mastered it almost to perfection.



And you…a newbie that has no idea what she’s doing, I even doubt you read the entire thesis, I’d bet my Gallade in saying that you haven’t even bothered to open the fourth volume. In my opinion you’re worst that Gabriel himself.” he explained.



“…”



“Let’s just battle, then we’ll see who’s the newbie. Ciarán use Thunder on the Gallade.” thought the girl to avoid making her opponent aware of the strategy.



The pokemon switched into his Jolteon form and attacked, but the opponent easily avoided the attack. After that Haru attacked him with Crunch without any orders, but still he missed.



“How is this possible…they couldn’t guess any of these moves unless they read my mind and even if they could do that they still had to read Haru’s mind as well. This guy would be the best trainer in the world if that was the case.”



“What’s the matter? Afraid that I might be reading your thoughts…don’t battle Psychic pokemon unless you’re prepared for anything.” he teased.



“Actually I don’t think this is something related to the Psychic Type at all, Ciarán strike the Claydol with Confuse Ray, Haru after that do all you want with the Gallade.”



The strategy was effective, giving the Gallade his first wounds, but suddenly the girl felt a strange Déjà vu. She had seen this before, his face, this place, those pokemon. It was just like in her vision given to her by the Gardevoir and so she knew exactly what was about to happen.



“HARU USE PROTECT NOW!”



A large explosion covered the arena without harming the trainers but destroying everything in sight, the Claydol had been taught to destroy himself whenever he felt himself as being useless.



After the dust settled all they could see was both fainted opponents with Haru and Ciarán still standing, but the battle wasn’t over yet. Quickly a Gallade jumped from under the ground, striking down Ciarán without mercy. Vi could see the face of the stranger, he was delighted to see that his trap had worked, but his facial expression changed when he saw another Ciarán appearing in battle, making the Gallade being taken down by a Shadow Ball from the mutated pokemon simultaneously with a Fire Blast from the Houndoom.



“You’re not the only one who can use Substitute.” she teased.



“…”



“This is impossible…my strategy was flawless…the percentage of striking was 99,9%...” he mumbled still gazing at the arena.



“I noticed you were making the Claydol use Detect to avoid attacks after you told me you could teach miscellaneous moves like me. And since you know so much about Telepathy I figured both your pokemon could communicate with each other, so while the Claydol was quietly detecting moves the Gallade could attack.

I also noticed that it was extremely stupid of you to simply explode everything, you probably used dig or teleport to save the Gallade leaving a fallen Substitute behind to confuse me.” she explained proud of herself for outsmarting him.



“But still how could you possibly know that my Claydol would use Explosion and it was impossible for you to know where my Gallade would strike with Dig, that combination of Teleport, Substitute and Shadow Ball was far too perfect, even for a mutated creature!”



“Yeah well…a magician never reveals his tricks.” joked Vi, now realizing that if it wasn’t for the vision she would have easily lost, without that she could never warn Ciarán about what to do in time.



“I don’t understand how you did it but I will. Here take this, see you soon.” he said, throwing her a large pokeball and walking away upset.



“…”



“What’s that?” asked Ciarán.



“I don’t know I’ve never seen one of these before…” answered the trainer, staring at the strange purple ball.



*Pokenav rings*



“Vanessa? It’s professor Gary, where are you?”



“Oh, hi professor, I’m near the mall, I was challenged for a battle.”



“I see, I should have warned you not to battle before we reach my research headquarters, but don’t worry it’s my fault. Nevertheless…so did you win?”



“Yeah, it was hard but I managed to defeat the guy.”



“That’s my girl. Listen, are you done shopping or is there anything you still need to do here in Jubilife?”



“Not really, I think I got everything I need for now.”



“Great. Please come to the aircraft, it’s time to move on for Oreburgh City, I need to get you ready for the first Gym.”



“Ok professor, I’ll be right there.”



*hangs up*



“Come Ciarán, time to go.”



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~



Three hours later in the Oak Research Corporation Oreburgh Headquarters.



“This is a Master Ball, they’re pretty rare, almost as hard to find as a Legendary Pokemon. Either your opponent enjoyed the battle immensely or he got a serious crush on you.” joked Gary, examining the prize of the battle.



“A Master Ball?? I thought those were only a legend, I mean come on, the rumors say a person could capture Arceus with one of those.” answered his new apprentice.



“Hypothetically speaking, Arceus IS a pokemon, hence there’s a possibility he could be captured, but I seriously doubt that the creature that created this reality would allow himself to be hit by a Master Ball.”



“…”



“You gotta be kidding…you’re telling me this ugly purple ball here can capture any pokemon, including legendaries like God himself…?”



“That ugly purple ball, unlike all the others is powerful enough to force all cells with pokemon DNA to be locked inside of it. It doesn’t depend on a weakened state to overpower the specimen, it simply vacuums the entire body and forces submission by imprisoning it cell by cell. It might sound painful but it isn’t, it’s just frustrating for the pokemon, nobody enjoys being taken down without a fight.” explained the professor.



“I see…I seriously doubt I’ll use it, but I’ll keep it for an emergency.” declared Vi, her dislike for Pokeballs had diminished, but it wasn’t fully forgotten.



“That’s a wise decision. But now it’s time to get into more serious issues, please follow me.”



The Headquarters seemed to be an average large modern building when viewed from the outside, what most people didn’t know was that it contained several underground floors, making it one of the largest constructions in the Sinnoh region. However, only people with access could enter the UG levels (as they called it, UG meaning Under Ground).



As the elevator reached the third UG level, a large room with miscellaneous medical devises mostly used in PokeCenters appeared. The girl was astounded with not only the size of it, but also by the quantity and variety of equipment and personnel, it was at least 5 times bigger than the medical area in the Day Care Center of Jack’s family, which was one of the largest in the Hoenn Region.



“Wow, what do you people do with all this? There are more machines here than in all PokeCenters together.”



“That’s because this room was financed by all Pokemon Healings Centers in Sinnoh. Here is where we investigate and develop cures for deadly pokemon diseases.” informed Gary.



“Cool…so it was you guys that discovered the vaccine against the bacterial infection that was affecting water pokemon. It was all over the news.”



“Yes that was us, but water pollution is increasing greatly it wouldn’t surprise me if new infections appeared soon. However, we’re now focusing on a much greater issue, one that might concern you and your pokemon.”



“Me? Seriously? They seem fine…”



“During our battle in the League you said you followed my old discoveries about teaching pokemon abilities that didn’t belong to their type. But I wonder, did you read the fourth volume of that thesis?”



“That question again, the guy that challenged me asked the same thing. My school’s library only had three of them, was the last one all that important? The third volume pretty much concluded the essentials, I think…”



“Well, the first volume explained the theory in general, the second focused on Types and Moves and the third on training methods. However, several years later I published a final edition about the side effects.”



“Side effects…?” asked the trainer, suddenly feeling nervous and irresponsible.



“Yes, at first the theory seemed to be almost flawless, it was a hard method to apply but it worked almost perfectly. Nevertheless, after long periods of time, pokemon that constantly used moves that didn’t match their type began to develop abnormalities in the genetic material of new cells. Those transformed cells started to display traits of uncontrolled growth, invasion, and sometimes metastasis, leading the diseased pokemon to an 80% probability of death.”



“You mean…”



“Yes, my training method causes cancer if used on a long term basis.”



“…”



“That’s why I abandoned that discovery years ago and focused on new subjects, I learned that mother nature knows what she’s doing, we shouldn’t play with it.”



“…wait…you’re telling me…I gave cancer to my pokemon…?” she mumbled extremely nervous.



“Please calm down my dear. You’re a new trainer, it takes several years for this to happen, I doubt any of your pokemon are diseased but we need to check, that’s why we’re here. I’m mostly worried about the three pokemon that belonged to Gabriel, unlike you he did know everything, he just didn’t care about consequences.”



“This can’t be happening…first I lose my friends…and now all my pokemon might die…”



“Vanessa calm yourself, what is done is done, let’s focus on the future. There is another matter I would like to discuss with you. That pokemon of yours, Ciarán, the one that can shift into any type. Unlike pokemon that were trained with my method, he was born with it, he can change his cells into any type he wants. I wonder if by studding him we could increase our knowledge about this subject.”



“Do as you wish…just please don’t hurt any of them…I need to lay down. But what I don’t get is…if you knew this from the start why did you make me your apprentice, there’s no way I can battle again after knowing this.”



“Oh yes there is, you’re too stunned right now to hear anything else. Please go the fourth floor upwards, in there you’ll find a room with your name. Take a long nap and please stop worrying so much. Meanwhile, I’ll be here testing all of your pokemon, just leave their pokeballs with me.”



“I wouldn’t be able to rest…if it’s not a bother I’d like to stay here but just lay down on that bench over there for a while. You’ll also probably need my help to control some of my pokemon, some of them aren’t very cooperative with strangers.”



“Very well then, go take a break and leave it to me.”



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~



Two days passed, it almost lunch time but the trainer was far too focused to thing about food. Gary had told her that even thou all of her pokemon were fine, there was no way they could keep on having the same battle method.



She was now faced with a new challenge, before going into the Oreburgh Gym she had to decide on which 6 pokemon to use and all of those had to replace their current moves with appropriate ones.



Ciarán and Haru were the only exceptions; The first one after several tests showed that his cells were far too different from normal ones, being able to change the existing ones instead of creating transformed new ones, so he couldn’t be affected by cellular diseases. And Haru simply because he always refused to learn new moves with the help of his trainer, all of his attacks were already according to his type.



Because of this she had to re-write all of her strategies and that took time. She had already decided to keep Aster, the Ninetails, in the party, not as a Fire specialist but as a strategist with mostly moves to confuse the opponents or to help his partners.



It occurred to her that it would be wrong to be use pokemon that were brand new parents, she was about to begin a large journey and that would make them lose most of their offspring’s childhood. So Luna, Shade, Helios, Ray and Roxy were out of the game for a while. Haru just didn’t care about such things.



That didn’t give her much choice, she had the Shinx, Zero, who proved to be very powerful for his age on his battle against Volkner, but he required plenty of training. Still, she decided to keep him for the journey.



With two left, Spike would be an obvious choice, but she wasn’t very happy about that. Since he was her first pokemon, he was exposed to the training ever since he was a pup, Gary said everything should be fine if she replaced the moves, but the girl was still feeling guilty about using him in fights so often. However, she had no choice, there was nobody that could replace him and he would never accept staying behind.



The final one was the biggest problem, now she had only Blossom the Snubbull, which was useless in battles, a fragile Zigzagoon named Cappucino and a bunch of little Growlithes, Houndours, Meowths, Skittys and Electrikes. All of them absolutely out of the question.



For the Gym she decided to use Shade, the Persian, as the sixth member, but then she would leave her behind. Keeping only five pokemon.



Gary told her she could leave one old move in each of them, just like he used his Umbreon only during Leagues, so the girl could use surprise moves only for emergencies.



She didn’t like the idea, but just to be sure she decided to keep only Aster with Destiny Bond.



After finally finishing the list of chosen pokemon and new moves, she headed towards the second UG level, were she would use any TM or HM available to immediately retrain her pokemon. After that it was time for her first Gym battle in the Sinnoh region.



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--------------- End of Part 1 ---------------



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Vi stood in the lab looking at her pokemon, they were being taught new moves with the use of automatic TM machines. The girl seemed lifeless and her face was pale from the lack of sleep.



“Is everything ok?” asked Gary.



“Yeah…I’m just wondering why I don’t care.”



“What?” asked the professor.



“I used to hate things like this, pokeballs, brainwashing mechanisms, storage computer boxes, anything that made pokemon look like mechanical toys. But now…why can’t I hate it?”



“Well…maybe you realized that nowadays all those things respect and are harmless to all species.”



“No…that’s not it.”



“…”



“Are you sure you want to battle at the Gym today? You don’t seem healthy.”



“Are there any news about Jack or Sam?” she asked, still focusing her eyes towards the same place.



“No…we still don’t know anything new about their disappearance.”



“Then I do want to battle. What else would I do?”



“…”



“We’ll find them don’t worry.”



“Have you read my report professor?” she asked somewhat coldly.



“Yes I did, I imagine it was hard for you describing everything that happened on your journey with such detail. But I thank you for it. We gained important knowledge about several subjects.”



“If you read it how can you tell me not to worry…?”



“…”



“I’m sorry professor, I didn’t mean to be rude. I guess I’m just cranky from the insomnia.” she apologized.



“We will find them. I give you my word.” said Gary with determination, noticing that the girl answered only with a small uncertain smile. “Your pokemon seem to be ready, do you want to train them a little more or do you prefer to go?” he added.



“We should go, the new moves I gave them are pretty basic, they shouldn’t have problems with them.”



“You’re the boss.” teased Gary knowing she would regret that decision.



~*~*~*~



A few minutes had passed and they were now walking on the streets of Oreburgh towards the Gym. However, the silence was awkward and none said a word after leaving the building.



“So…can I know how this new battles are different from the classic challenges?” asked the trainer, knowing that the awkwardness was her fault.



“Finally! I was beginning to believe you weren’t going to ask about that. Well it’s actually very simple, who was the first Gym Leader you faced?”



“It was Roxanne from Hoenn.”



“Ah, the Rock Type teacher, she’s a wonderful lady. So was the battle easy?”



“Kinda, I seriously dislike battling against Rock pokemon but with a few strategies I defeated both her pokemon at first.”



“Roxanne is one of the best specialists in that Type and yet you defeated her easily, she’s been in that Gym fighting everyday for years and still newbie’s beat her. Don’t you find that awkward?”



“…I never thought about it, does she lose on purpose or something?”



“Never. All Gym Leaders face the same problem, at first they are trainers like all others, but by fighting countless times everyday it’s impossible not to become stronger. And then if they become far too powerful most trainers can’t defeat them and eventually nobody will enter their Gym. They own businesses, they can’t afford to lose customers.”



“No offence but that’s kinda offensive, they stay weak just to make money? People would just need to train harder to defeat them, why would they patronize us?”



“Don’t get me wrong, none of them would ever do such a thing, but the truth is nowadays most Gym Leaders are almost as strong as we Elite Members are and trainers need to have official battles during all of their learning stages, not just when they reach the top. That’s why there are advisable circuits inside every region, that way trainers know which Gyms they should challenge according to their level.



That doesn’t mean Roxanne is weaker than the others in Hoenn, she’s simply the most qualified to teach and battle beginners. However, nobody is obliged to follow the normal order of Gym’s, but most Leaders won’t go easy on trainers that decided to skip a few cities. Basically it’s like climbing up stairs step by step.”



“I guess you’re right, if I didn’t get the satisfaction of winning badges I don’t know if I wouldn’t have decided to quit. But it still feels wrong for them to pretend to be weaker than what they really are, it’s just fake.” complained Vi.



“They never fake anything, they don’t throw battles and they don’t pretend to be weaker. In every single battle they give their best using all strategies and knowledge they know. However, that doesn’t mean they have to use their top ranked pokemon…”



“Oh I see…so they battle hard but with pokemon that have appropriate levels for new trainers.”



“Yes that’s one of the most common techniques, by doing that they constantly collect new pokemon from the Type used in the Gym. Others may do other things like using less pokemon against all from the opponent or leaving the leadership of the Gym whenever they feel too strong. That last one is what happened at the Dewford Gym owned by your friend Sam, he became a Gym Leader because his brother Brawly wanted stronger battles.”



“When I was a kid I wanted to become a Gym Leader…now I’m thinking I’ll just stick with being a trainer, the idea of having to adjust myself for a bunch of noobs isn’t very…pleasing.”



“Being a teacher isn’t an easy job not everybody was born for it, but perhaps you’ll change your mind in the future, in my opinion you could actually turn out to be a great Gym Leader.”



“…Nah!” she joked smiling.



“It’s good to see you in a positive mood again.” Gary commented.



“…”



“You shouldn’t bottle up your feelings so much, they’ll just eat you inside.” he added.



“I know…but how am I suppose to release feeling that even I don’t recognize…” mumbled the girl.



“How deep…where did you read that in a cheesy valentine’s day card?” mocked a familiar voice.



“You again!” said the girl almost barking the words.



In front of the Gym was the young man she faced in Jubilife and by his side was another familiar face with a cheery Pikachu by his side. The doors behind them seemed to be locked and the building was empty.



“Hey Gary what’s up? Hello Vanessa, it’s nice to see you again.” greeted Ash.



“Good afternoon Ash, apparently our apprentices already met each other…”



“What? This guy was sponsored too?” she asked with dislike, there was something about him in that moment that somehow annoyed her instantly.



“You still don’t know who I am? Pff and you call yourself a trainer?” he complained.



“I had better things to do than researching your ugly face on the internet.” retaliated the girl.



“Like what? Giving head to the professor? No wonder you got your ass sponsored…”



“SHOW SOME FREAKING RESPECT YOU UNGRATEFUL BRAT!” shouted Ash slapping the back of the kid’s head violently.



“I see you changed since our last battle, you used to be such a polite and mature person. Vanessa this is Max, he just won the Johto League and was sponsored by Ash. Max this is Vanessa she almost won the Hoenn League and is now my apprentice.” introduced Gary.



“Almost…wow, I’m impressed.” answered Max rolling his eyes.



“She went further on the Hoenn League than you did jerk, you didn’t make it pass Gary! Plus she just kicked your ass didn’t she?” teased Ash.



“Oh screw you, you’re lucky I never got to battle you!”



“I could defeat you with a leg behind my back, I’m a freaking Pokemon Master so you better stick that up your nerdy head!” he complained hitting him again but softer, “I apologize for my apprentice he’s been in a bad mood for a while now.”



“That’s ok, I apologize for mine as well.” answered Gary.



“Me? What did I do?” Vi asked.



“You started it, plus you should always try to know your opponents, especially if they are famous champions, it’s disappointing knowing you didn’t pay any attention to the other Leagues.”



“I’m sorry…It won’t happen again.”



“You better be.” said Max.



“I WASN’T APOLOGIZING TO YOU FUCKFACE!”



“Pikachu Thunderbolt!” commanded Ash to his pokemon, making both young trainers become crispy brown statues. “It’s time for both of you to chill, seriously Max what’s wrong with you today? You’re so much…better than this!”



“…”



“…I’m sorry.” he finally said.



“You better be.” thought the girl to herself, not wanting to get shocked again.



~*~*~*~*~



“How can we be sure the Gym will even open today?” asked Vi bored of waiting outside.



“It will, we warned the Gym Leader we were coming today. It isn’t like him to ditch important battles.” explained Gary with confidence in his words.



“Ok…but can I ask something?” she asked after noticing Max and Ash walking away towards a coffee shop.



“Of course.”



“What’s his deal? Is Max always like this or is it just because I defeated him? He wasn’t so arrogant last time.”



“So you want to gossip at a time like this? No questions about the battle ahead?” joked the professor.



“Of course I have questions about the battle, but I doubt any of them will matter so I prefer to simply have an idle chit chat for now.”



“I see, anyways all I’m allowed to say is that the Gym Leader is a Rock Type Challenger, you will have to see the rest for yourself.”



“I hate Rock Types…” she declared rolling her eyes.



“You don’t have to like them to beat them…but it is good for you to try and understand why you hate something before judging them.”



“Are we talking about Pokemon or Max?” she asked laughing.



“I don’t know what happened during your battle against him, but today you both seemed to show hate at first sight towards each other, I wonder why…me and Ash even thought you two had potential to become a great team.”



“Team? No way, I already have team mates I would never replace them for someone like him.”



“…”



“What?” asked the trainer looking at Gary’s awkward smile.



“Please don’t be offended but from what I know you haven’t had a team yet…you had companions. Have you ever battled together? Where your goals the same?”



“…”



“We all gave our best to enter the League, we all wanted to win and helped each other get stronger, isn’t that a team?” she asked, wondering how in a few seconds the conversation turned into the last subject she wanted to discuss.



“If you all had ended up on the same division what do you think would have happened?” interrogated the older man, not willing to miss a chance of entering an interesting debate.



“…All of us wanted to win desperately…I guess we would have fought against each other.”



“Would your friendship survive that?”



“…How can you even ask that…?”



“It seems to me your depression during these last days isn’t just related to their disappearance, you knew something would happen, you knew something was wrong. So what I need you to wonder is – if you three really where a team why did you split so easily after the League, why did you avoid each other after facing the last challenge…was your friendship really that deep?”



“I don’t freaking need to wonder about that, we ARE friends now and forever and I know they both feel the same. We may not have a perfect friendship but we would do anything for each other even if that meant sacrificing our goals.” she said quickly almost shouting.



“Yes…that’s what I feared.”



“What?”



“There is something that always bugged me about this whole subject, I wanted to discuss this with you but I wanted to see your reaction first.”



“Do you know something new?”



“It’s not new…I just don’t think you noticed it. What I mean is…why are you here? Why were you cured? Why is everything so clean and tidy?”



“I’m not stupid, I wondered about that, I guess those kidnapping freaks feel that I’m unworthy since I lost.”



“That may explain why you are here, not why you were cured.”



“The Gardevoir is my friend, it was her way of thanking me.”



“I don’t think so, that pokemon must have been allowed by someone. I know you’re not stupid, you know all this you just don’t want to face the truth yet.”



“…what truth?” she asked staring at her feet trying to ignore her own ideas.



“All other disappearances where bloody or awkward, but this year everything is so simple, no signs of any resistance as if your friends didn’t fight back…so either they wanted to go…or they had reasons not to resist, it’s just like you said “you’d do anything for each other”.”



“…”



“You know that don’t you…that’s why you’re like this, if you die trying to rescue them their efforts would be useless, they want you to live your life not waste it on them. Isn’t that right?”



“…”



“I knew something was wrong even before Jack told me he had made a deal with Damien…it’s as if we were marked by those freaks ever since we met them. I knew entering the League was a risk since all disappearances were linked to it, but back than nobody cared, we never spoke of this but we all knew none of us was willing to waste a chance to conquer our dreams because of some weird psychos.”



“You should have searched for help right after the incident at the springs.” answered the professor.



“And say what? A chick that disappeared years ago raped me in my dreams and I woke up with a curse that kills everyone I share fluids with…the cops would have laughed in our faces!”



“Good point.”



“If only I had forced Jack to tell me what his deal with Damien was…why did I listen to him? How did he make me believe everything was ok when I knew it wasn’t? What if that idiot got himself into trouble to save me or Sam? What if he traded his freedom for mine…?”



“…You know, after your friend lost the battle against me his Alakazam told me a message using telepathy…he said these exact words…



“my master thanks you for blocking this place against outside access this way nobody can intercept this message. Please listen carefully the ex champion Damien Kolt is alive and is part of something called Team Genesis, he’ll take my master away and he asks you to take care of the girl with purple hair. No matter what, please don’t let them take her and don’t let her run after my master, he begs you to protect her and the blue headed jerk.”



I wanted to ask if I could do something to help him, but before I opened my mouth he said out lout…”



“…I knew from the start I didn’t stand a chance, I was doomed to lose but my friends still have a chance to win.” interrupted Vi finishing what he wanted to say, “after I watched his battle that phrase gave me the creeps, it was weird of him to say this after being defeated especially since he knew Sam had already won the League…



But why didn’t you tell me about the message before, all this time you knew for sure it was Damien’s fault and pretended to know nothing! Why didn’t you protect Jack??”



“Yes I did, we warned the Hoenn Rangers and watched over him but he vanished under our noses. I didn’t tell you before because first I wanted to lose all my suspicions about you, but now I want you to know the truth…you’re right Jack Foster most likely did trade his freedom for yours, he wants you to be safe and doesn’t want you to risk yourself for him. So I need you to wake up and decide what to do, with this sponsorship I can protect you and make you stronger but I will not allow you to run after them like an idiot, I know you feel guilty and useless for doing nothing to prevent what happened but acting recklessly will not be the answer.”



“…what should I do? Just sit and wait?” she asked with no life in her voice.



“That’s up to you to decide. But first I need you to understand that you won’t accomplish anything all by yourself.”



“…”



“I hate to be bothering you even further but there’s something else upsetting me about all this.”



“Sam.” she answered, with a lot more strength on her voice.



“Exactly.”



“It upsets me knowing that I spent so much time with him and yet I know almost nothing about the guy. He became very distant during the League, he hardly even spoke with us…I figured he was only nervous since he really needed to win but what if those freaks did something to him? The league, his battles, the letter he left behind…none of them match the Sam I thought I knew…”



“So you think something might have forced him to change?”



“I don’t know, Sam always seemed to be the type of person that was only truly happy when doing nothing, you know a laid-back type. This cold guy obsessed with winning and battling isn’t the friend I used to have…but people do change, maybe he did run away from home…”



“Or not…I’m sorry but this conversation will have to wait, the Gym Leader is coming.” said Gary staring at the person running towards them.



“Good Afternoon…I’m sorry I’m late…someone robbed the museum…I just came from there…” said the red haired man out of breath.



“Robbed? What do you mean robbed? Why wasn’t I informed?” questioned the professor somewhat angry since the museum belonged to him.



“I haven’t reported the incident to the police yet, I wanted you to see it first.”



“…Why?” he asked intrigued.



“You’ll see…trust me, but first let’s have the battles I promised, don’t worry about the museum right now it’s open and working, I doubt someone will even notice the robbery.”



“Roark seriously, the battles can be delayed, how can you be so casual about such a serious matter? The people in there might be in danger.”



“It’s fine, I doubt the robbery was today it could have been months ago for all we know, someone replaced a few precious items with fake ones, there were no deaths or property damage…in fact, it was so well done that it’s almost as if a ghost did it.”



“Cool…” said Vi distracting her mind from her problems for a while.



“No, not cool at all. What did they steal?”



“You’ll see later, I prefer to battle the youngsters right now and take you there afterwards, if we go now they’ll probably end up waiting for days until the investigation is over.”



“Oh for the love of…fine just make it as quick as possible.” Gary complained.



“Whassup Roark?” joked Ash approaching them with Max.



“Hello Ash, that must be Max no? And this cute girl right here must be Vanessa…nice to meet you all, I’m Roark the Oreburgh Gym Leader.” he said smiling gently, the man had a very youthful appearance for his age but his dirty clothes made him look like an old mining worker.



“What’s our challenge?” asked Max quickly.



“How about being polite first? It’s a pleasure to meet you sir.” she argued.



“Everyone seems to be in such a hurry today…ok here’s your challenge, to make this quicker I’ll battle you both together, each of you will use only a total of three pokemon and send only one into battle, basically it will be a double match but against only one opponent each time.”



“What?” asked the girl.



“Didn’t you get it? He wants us to battle together against him, 2 vs 1, seriously do I need to battle with this brickhead?” complained Max.



“I got that part you dick, what I’m asking is what’s with all this?”



“We never got to discuss that part, each Gym Leader will give you a different challenge to test you, it’s up to them to decide what they want as the rules.” explained her tutor.



“You didn’t know that? You’re such a…” joked Max before getting his mouth covered with Ash’s hands.



“Roark seriously, can’t you give these two a different challenge? It’s like asking a Seviper and a Zangoose to work together!”



“Wait Ash this might actually be a good idea, let’s see if they can set apart their differences in order to win…” commented Gary.



“Teamwork huh?” she asked with a little sarcasm.



“Exactly.”



~*~*~*~*~*~



A few minutes had passed, that time was used only to open the Gym and prepare the arena. Both Max and Vi were busy deciding which pokemon to use, Roark was giving some tips to the referee and Ash and Gary were sitting on the benches talking.



“I doubt they’re ready for this, both of them are sore and focused on personal issues, they can’t beat Roark unless they set their minds fully on the battle.” commented Ash.



“I know. I have to admit that I doubt they’ll win, Vanessa didn’t even bother to train her pokemon with their new attacks, she needs a slight slap in the face to wake up.” complained Gary.



“Max seriously believes that spending all night studying more about Rock Types and watching battles from Roark is enough to win, these two have so much to learn it’s frustrating.”



“Even thou we told them the Golden Badges are a whole new level they are facing this as if it was just another Gym Battle, I’m glad we came to Roark first he’s a great example of what they should expect in the future.”



“That reminds me…what should we do after this Gary? Normally we would just let them on their own while they travel in Sinnoh but this year that would be like throwing them into the sharks…look at what happened with Daren.”



“…I know. I hate having to do this but we’ll need to babysit them, it’s better to just take them from Gym to Gym and simultaneously continue with the investigation. Anyways I doubt Vanessa would be willing to go on a journey and forget about her friends, it’s better to give priority to finding all missing trainers and ending this once and for all.” answered Gary with conviction.



“I agree, but then why take them to the Gyms? The truth is we would be much more productive if we focused only on the clues we have so far, training them will take a lot of time.”



“I want these kids to learn that life doesn’t stop when problems appear, you should learn that too Ash, having a one-track mind only sets you back.”



“I’m gonna ignore that one just because the battle is starting.”



“I guess first I must introduce myself, both of you must know me as the Rock Type Gym Leader of the Sinnoh Region…but that’s only half right. On most my battles I fight the brand new trainers that arrive in this city, for newbie’s I use simple Rock Pokemon and for the ones that already have some experience I show them some of my well trained friends. But for the two of you I’ll give you a once in a lifetime experience, I’ll show you the final results of years of digging and battling. Prepare yourselves, because what you're about to fight is no longer part of this world…KABUTOPS I’ll start with you!”



“Kabutops? Those still exist?” wondered the girl surprised.



“Kabutops. A Rock/Water Pokemon that evolves from a Kabuto. This specimen is a fierce prehistoric predator, it’s claws are extremely sharp and the body is covered with a rock hard armor. It is weak against Grass, Electric, Ground and Fighting Moves. Kabutops can only be found inside Dome Fossils.” said a sexy female voice coming from the boy’s mechanical device, in the air was an hologram and info of the pokemon.



“That’s it? Nothing else?? Damn I should have suspected that Roark could be a prehistoric pokemon trainer I didn’t upload any special data about that subject…Go Gallade!” complained Max.



“Go Ciarán…Damn I hate having to use him so soon.”



“And they both send in some of their best pokemon…they should know better, this is Roark’s weakest “Elite” pokemon.” said Ash somewhat disappointed.



While Ciarán had turned into a Leafeon storing what it seemed to be a Solar Beam, the Gallade had begun a full frontal battle only to discover that the Kabutops claws were sharper than his blades. After a short battle between both pokemon the Gallade was ordered to teleport and attack from behind. However, as soon as Roark noticed what was happening he made his pokemon jump away, so while the Gallade reappeared he was hit by the huge Solarbeam that had been stored by the other player.



Afterwards when Vi and Ciarán were still both stunned from what they had done the Kabutops came back from the air attacking the mutant with a powerful X-Scissor attack, that unfortunately was enough to damage the pokemon into fainting. The Gallade did try to get up but his opponent refused to give him that opportunity, ending the first battle in a few minutes.



“They’re pretty much fucked aren’t they?” asked Ash.



“Pretty much.” answered Gary.



The second battle wasn’t much better, Vanessa used Haru and Max used a Metagross. They did manage to almost defeat the Kabutops with their powerful attacks but lost because they couldn’t coordinate any moves stepping in each other’s way every second. Using a Metal Sound attack was enough to leave both pokemon def and defenseless long enough for the living fossil to add a few new scars to their bodies.



“WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?? YOU NOTICED I WAS SENDING A FIRE BLAST FROM THE RIGHT!”



“My pokemon was at full speed with a 100 power Hammer Arm it’s fucking obvious that he needed that trajectory to achieve a 90% accuracy you dumbshit!”



“…nerd…” she mumbled annoyed.



“Amazing…could this suck even more?” complained Ash again.



“Pika pika…” said his pokemon, meaning “who knows…?”



“Those idiots had so many openings and opportunities that it makes me sick just thinking about it.” added Gary covering his face.



“Well kids this is your last chance, I have to say that I expected much more from you but you can still turn the situation around. Come back Kabutops, go Aerodactyl!”



“An Aerodactyl huh? Go Golduck.” said Max.



“…”



“Oh boy.” said Gary realizing what was happening, he had studied the pokemon of all missing trainers.



The girl just kept on staring calmly into the arena and both pokemon. However, it was obvious her mind was on a faraway place.



“Hey, pick a pokemon, we don’t have all day.” said the other trainer.



“…”



“I don’t think I can do this…I quit…” she declared quickly walking away towards the exit.



“…”



“WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?” shouted the boy angry after running outside as well.



“Not now…”



“NOT NOW? YOU JUST THREW AWAY MY CHANCE OF WINNING…LISTEN IF YOU WANNA QUIT THEN GO HOME, JUST DON’T STAND IN MY WAY!”



“Shut up you piece of shit mind your own business.”



“THIS IS MY BUSINESS! In case you haven’t noticed if we don’t win we don’t move on! It’s not some winy little bitch that will make be a loser again. If you wanna act like this than just do us all a favor and vanish!”



“I told you to shut up…” she mumbled before standing up and punching him in face.



“…”



“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to…” she tried to say after seeing blood running from his nose, but being interrupted by the feeling of a punch in her stomach.



“You son of a…”



“Tangrowth grab them with Vine Whip.” calmly commanded Gary throwing an Ultra Ball into the floor.



“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE TWO OF YOU??” shouted Ash angry staring at both stranded trainers.



“She started it…” mumbled Max.



“I’m talking about that battle! That has gotta be the worst battle I have ever seen! NEWBIES would have done better than you guys did!”



“It was mostly my fault, I couldn’t concentrate…” admitted the girl.



“I know exactly what happened but that is no excuse, you have the same problems you did before when you defeated Max and apparently that didn’t stop you back then. What you both did in there was a disgrace, if you want to continue being our sponsors you need to prove you’re worth it. We’ll give you two more tries, if you don’t defeat Roark by than we’ll be the ones that quit on you.” announced Gary coldly.



“What? Gary come on let’s not exaggerate…”



“Let’s go Ash, Roark will take us to the museum right now, meanwhile Tangrowth here will take you inside the gym. While you wait I suggest you both set your minds straight. Don’t release them no matter what Tangrowth.”



“But…” they both mumbled simultaneously.



“You’re both adults now, act like it.” finished the professor before walking away.



“…”



~*~*~*~*~



“You lied.” complained Ash.



“I wasn’t going to leave them alone you idiot, either they would kill each other or they could be attacked. Besides the museum is still opened I prefer to go once it’s closed.”



“Isn’t this illegal?” complained Roark. All three of them were inside the Gym’s security room watching both trainers on the video screens.



“Of course not, you own the Gym.” assured the professor.



“It looks a lot like stalking if you ask me.” joked Ash.



“I want to see if these two learned their lesson, making them believe they’re alone and desperate is the best way for that.”



“I still think it’s cruel, you know they both suffered a lot lately.”



“I went through a lot when my grandfather died too but that didn’t make give up on my dreams or act like an idiot during battles.”



“Gary…”



“It’s ok Ash you don’t need to say anything, I’m over it by now.”



“Yeah right, maybe you should try to act like an idiot too once in a while, at least they show feelings.”



“…”



“Hum…they’re finally saying something” interrupted Roark noticing the sudden bad vibe between both Elites.



~*~*~*~



“I’m sorry for acting like a jerk.” said Max out loud.



“…”



“Oh come on don’t look at me like that, believe it or not I’m normally quiet a gentleman.”



*Vi lifts an eyebrow*



“It’s true. You got on my nerves because of reasons that were far from being your fault, I shouldn’t have resented you for that.”



“I’m surprised you’re not bitching about us having only two more chances, but you’re right I’m sorry too, especially about your nose…” joked Vi.



“Don’t get cocky, I still hate you for making me look like an ass during the battle.”



“I know…I could’t get my friends out of my mind, they…”



“…disappeared. I know, I’m part of the investigation too, they explained me everything and asked me to join after Stark vanished.”



“Who?”



“Jeez seriously go study a little bit of current history, do you even watch the news? But fine, I’ll try to explain. Daren Stark was a trainer that participated on the Hoenn League the same year I did, he got famous for being unpredictable…insane if you ask me, his specialty was making his pokemon create dangerous situations without getting hurt, probably because he used to be part of a circus during his childhood. But that doesn’t matter, what you need to know is that he won the Yellow Division but lost against Paul, nobody knows why but Paul took him as his apprentice, later on during his travel in Sinnoh he vanished without a trace.”



“…Honestly? What surprises me more about that story is the fact that Paul actually had an apprentice…but what do you have to do with all that?”



“I was the last person Stark contacted, he called me to rant about how much this sponsorships suck and that I shouldn’t try to get one, apparently Paul and him weren’t getting along. He was reported missing two days after that, Gary and Ash wanted to know if I knew about any unusual activities and told me everything about Team Rockets experiments. But if you ask me the guilty one in this case is Paul himself, I which Gary and Ash would wake up and investigate him too.”



“…”



“So you have the same problem I do? Gary is right I shouldn’t have judged you without knowing you…”



“Actually you’re wrong, Stark isn’t my friend I hardly know him, he just called me because he knew I was begging Professor Oak to become his apprentice. My problems are…different, but don’t get me wrong I do wanna find the guy.”



“…Do you think we’ll find any of them?”



“I’m sure we will, but I’m afraid they might not be the same once we find them, from the files they found on Team Rocket’s Laboratory it seems they successfully managed to fuse pokemon with humans, if you ask me Team Rocket seems to gathering trainers to increase that thing called Team Genesis, basically a powerful group of hybrids.”



“Listen, that does make sense, but from what I’ve seen in person from these freaks they seem to be more worried in getting sex slaves then trainers.”



“I doubt that, they risk themselves a lot returning every year to same League, that’s because the best of the best can only be found in there.”



“I honestly don’t know which theory would actually be worst…”



“It doesn’t matter, trust me I’ve been around Ash for plenty of years now, they have a way of making everything work out perfectly in the end. I call it dumb luck mixed with good karma, there is no scientific explanation for how this group accomplishes all they do.”



*the girl slightly laughs*



“Listen, you’re not like me, your reasons are different but you shouldn’t take for granted this sponsorship, in the future we’ll most likely have to fight Team Rocket or maybe even those hybrids, the stronger you get the more odds of surviving you’ll have, if we act like we just did we’ll be killed or taken in seconds.”



“…I know…”



“I’ll be honest, I still don’t like you and I still somewhat hate you, but if we’re in this together we might as well at least prove to them we have potential.”



“Your arrogance annoys me but I still don’t get what you have against me, seriously.” complained Vi.



“Maybe I’ll tell you someday, right now we should focus on the present, do you still feel like quitting?”



“…No.”



~*~*~*~



“That was…quick.” said Ash surprised.



“I knew this would happen, Max isn’t stupid he knows he needs her help to win, manipulating her is a far better option than just upsetting her even further.” commented Gary.



“So…they didn’t learn anything?” asked Roark confused.



“Not really, she still doesn’t know what to do and follows any suggestions people give her and Max is still obsessed with winning no matter what. This will take time, but for now I’m happy to see them talking.”



“…We have a long road ahead of us don’t we?” asked the raven haired man stretching himself.



“Indeed. Until those two figure out what they wanna do with their lives we’re stuck with two mindless zombies.”



“I don’t think we should be watching this anymore, they’re talking about strategies, it wouldn’t be fair for them if I heard them.” interrupted the Gym Leader.



“Yes. Ash go to Gym and stay there watching over them, but don’t help them with their strategies you hear me. Meanwhile we’ll go to the museum, I guess I’ll have to make up an excuse to close it earlier.” ordered the professor.



“Dude I know you’re upset but it wouldn’t hurt you to be polite…” complained Ash pouting.



“…”



“…Pretty please?” moked Gary.



“You know you two haven’t changed a thing since you were kids…” added the older man before leaving the room.



~*~*~*~*~



Almost an hour later at the Oreburgh Fossil Museum.



“Roark…please tell me you didn’t make me send everyone home earlier for this…” threatened professor Oak.



“Trust me, these are fakes I’ve seen them millions of times so today I noticed that the light was shinning differently inside of them.” defended the red haired Gym Leader.



“…the light…inside of them…”



“Yes! Look at it! Before it was a purplish reflection…now it’s almost pink!”



“…”



“Don’t look at me like that, I know what I’m saying!”



“Roark these are the most well protected items in the entire museum, just by getting near the air around them this place would go into a lockdown. And yet you’re telling me someone got in here, stole them and replaced with identical replicas that are flawless except for how the light from the window shines on them. AND! Still had the time to play with our surveillance cameras erasing any suspicious images plus not leaving a single trace of evidence behind.”



“I know it sounds crazy but it’s true! Look if you turn your head to the left it even has some yellow tones, it never had any of those before!”



“I honestly feel like locking you in a madhouse right now.”



“Please Gary, you know how important these items are, if they really were stolen lord knows what someone might do. We should test them.”



“Test them? TEST THEM? You know what happens if these really are the real ones and we mess with them, there are only four left in the world if we do it we’ll have to destroy one of them again.”



“I know, but it’s the only way we’ll know for sure, if these are fakes and we don’t prove that then nothing will stop the criminals that did this, they could steal pretty much anything and get away with it!”



“This is insane…are you sure these are fakes?”



“60% sure.”



“60%?? You want me to destroy unique items when you're 40% uncertain??”



“It could be the light itself that is somewhat different…You know from the position of the sun or something…”



“That’s even more stupid, let’s just test it and go back, we have bigger issues to focus on. But if they turn out to be real I’m billing you for the price.”



“But each sphere costs around 100 million coins…”



“Exactly!”



~*~*~*~*~



Meanwhile inside the Gym.



“We should both attack by the right when he strikes the left…” suggested the girl.



“Boring…” joked Ash sitting in benches with his hat across the face on a sleeping position, next to him was his Pikachu and the large Tangrowth.



“You said all our strategies were boring! Try suggesting something effective instead of just whinning!” complained Max.



“I never said they were bad strategies, I just said they were boring for the viewers…you kids need to be more extravagant, spice it up a little!”



“Didn’t I tell you not to help them…” said an angry voice coming from the entrance of the building.



“Don’t worry…he didn’t help with anything…at all…” grunted both stranded trainers almost simultaneously.



“So do you both want to battle me today or shall we leave it for tomorrow?” asked Roark politely.



“We want to do it right now if possible.” suggested Max.



“I agree.” added the girl.



*Gary lifts an eyebrow*



“You do realize you two got your asses pretty much kicked no more than an hour ago…”



“Exactly, we need to clean our names right now.” answered the young man.



“If we go home and train we lose our opportunity to prove we’re strong enough already.” Vi added again.



“If you lose right now there goes one of your chances, you’re both sure about this?” asked the professor.



“Yes.”



“Fine by me, let’s give it another shot.” declared Roark walking to his position on the arena while the referee arrived.



“Ready for this?” asked Max to his provisory team mate.



“I didn’t almost reach the title of champion in one year for nothing.” she answered showing some long lost confidence.



“Yup, I didn’t win the Johto League to end it all in here.”



“Very well, did you heal your pokemon?” asked the challenger.



“Yes of course.”



“Then let’s get it started. This is time I’ll start with a different pokemon, good luck, go Omastar!”



*both trainers grin*



“Go Zero! Go Metagross! Use Thunder!”



The Metagross attacked immediately but not towards the opponent, striking the small Shinx instead. After that while Roark was still surprised Vanessa commanded a Discharge that electrified the adversary into defeat.



“Wow that attacked reached a power of almost 320, I hope we didn’t fry that poor creature, I don’t want to responsible for anyone’s extinction.” joked Max analyzing the battle with his device.



“Again, are you sure you didn’t help them…that looks suspiciously a lot like one of your own strategies…” complained Gary apprehensively.



“Nah, sure Max probably saw me increasing Pikachu’s electrical powers a few times but it was their idea. In case the opponent used a Rock/Water pokemon they decided they would both choose Electric users. Apparently that little Shinx can’t unleash any electricity unless he’s overcharged with energy and that makes him strike with double the usual power.”



“And with the type advantage it struck with even more damage, so basically with four times a normal Discharge does. Not bad.”



Meanwhile, back in the arena the small pokemon began to glow slowing growing up.



“Ah cool! I figured it would take much longer for you to evolve my love!” cheered the girl grabbing the brand new Luxio but getting static electricity all over her hair when he licked her cheeks.



“It seems I misjudged both you, but it’s too soon to celebrate GO KABUTOPS!”



“This guy again? Come back Zero, Ciarán replace him.”



“Go Gallade, avenge your name.”



Just like before the mutant became a Leafeon and began to charge a Solarbeam when the Gallade went into battle using only his blades against the sharp claws.



“Haven’t you tried this before…?” asked Roark confused.



The battle was exactly the same, but when it came to the part of the Gallade teleporting himself behind the Kabutops he grabbed him tightly instead of trying to strike. That caused the Solarbeam to strike directly into the stranded opponent causing him to faint immediately while the Gallade stood almost unharmed behind him.



“Impressive, the difference little things can do....” said the Gym leader.



“We got this idea from Tangrowth over there, being stranded for so long turned out to actually be useful.” said the young man.



“I won’t be fooled again, Aerodactyl it’s your turn.”



“Hey Max, let me do this one, I can take him down.”



“Fine with me, just don’t chicken out again.”



“Ciarán you know what to do, just follow my thoughts closely.”



The opponent began using an AncientPower to make the rocks in the arena fly towards the Leafeon, but with a strong Magical Leaf attack Ciarán managed to destroy all rocks into smaller harmless pieces. Annoyed the Aerodactyl tried a frontal strike with Bite but when he approached the opponent he jumped above his back and turned into a Glaceon. After being hit by an Ice Beam on both wings the mighty pokemon collapsed, becoming helpless to the slow and devastation Blizzard created by the victorious challenger.



“Aerodactyls seem to have such nasty tempers, they’ll even ignore their masters once they feel frustrated in battle. Ciarán fought an Aerodactyl hundreds of times but with his new abilities it’s even easier to win. Your pokemon is just like Gene…and Gene was just like Jack…ok now I don’t know where I’m getting with this…I’m feeling depressed again.”



“HEY DON’T LEAVE ME NOW HALF WAY THROUGH THE BATTLE!” shouted Max at the suddenly emo girl.



“These two seem completely different from before, finally we get to see again the trainers that fought us during the League… well almost.” commented Gary staring at them argue.



“Don’t you two begin to underestimate me, the next challenges won’t be easy. Meet Cradily, one of the rarest pokemon ever.” declared Roark, he was getting upset from loosing so easily three times in a row.



“Cradily. A Rock/Grass Pokemon, not much is known about this pokemon. This specimen used to live near watery places and so they developed strong roots to survive rough tides. They are weak against Steel, Ice, Fighting and Bug Moves.” explained the female mechanical voice.



“I guess we keep the same pokemon then, get ready this doesn’t seem easy.” said Max before beginning to battle.



Indeed it wasn’t an easy fight, the weird pokemon took several damaging moves from both opponents but that didn’t stop it from poisoning both of them with Acid, after that even with antidotes the opponents eventually fainted, leaving a damaged adversary standing on the field.



“I’m sorry, this Cradily uses the same poison it did hundreds of years ago, it can’t be healed with normal antidotes but don’t worry they’ll be fine once they wake up.” explained the Gym Leader.



“Damn it, we can’t let the next ones get poisoned…” said the girl.



“Leave it to me. Go Metagross use Meteor Mash!” commanded Max, defeating the poor Cradily that was unable to dodge the strike.



“A wise decision. You’re both close to victory but before that you still have two to go. Bastiodon time to fight!”



For the battle Max remained with the same pokemon but Vi had to make Haru enter the arena. Unlike the others this battle was long and slow, all pokemon had high defenses but the adversary seemed to be invulnerable showing almost no damage.

After a long time when both pokemon were near exhaustion they finally beat the opponent with a Fire Blast from the right and a simultaneous Hyper Beam from the left.



“Only one to go, you two can’t possibly be the same trainers I fought a few hours ago I haven’t been so close to defeat a long time. Rampardos my good friend you’re my last chance!”



*again both trainers grin*



“Moment of truth huh? Go Claydol take him out.”



“Come back Haru, Zero return to battle.”



“A Claydol and a Luxio…I hope those two aren’t underestimating the opponent, even I would have trouble defeating this pokemon.” mentioned Gary.



“Have some faith in them, they can’t be that stupid.” reassured Ash.



The Luxio began by using a Double Team to confuse the adversary that reacted by attacking all illusions, but it didn’t take long before Roark noticed that the Claydol had vanished leaving only a hole in the ground, commanding immediately his pokemon to stop the attack.



“Dig…do you kids know how many trainer tried that attack against me? Rampardos use Earthquake now.” he said somewhat disappointed.



“Yeah we know.” joked Max.



“That was never our plan.” added the girl when the Claydol reappeared in the arena with teleport while the ground continued to shake.



“What are you two up to…” wondered Roark until he saw the floor beneath his pokemon cracking and making him burried on a tight deep hole, leaving the Rampardos with only his head above the ground.



“Fossils are a very interesting specialization but they leave a huge flaw…there aren’t many out there to pick from.” began to explain the green haired young man.



“Asides from the ones you used there was only Armaldo left, that way we had time enough to develop strategies for each possible species.” said Vi.



“Rampardos are frightening opponents but without the use of their legs they are helpless. And so now it’s time for us to give the final blows.”



“That won’t be necessary, Rampardos return, you two have proven already you’re worthy of the Golden Coal Badge, in no more than an hour you managed to turn the situation entirely around. I have no problems in admitting that together you both defeated me on my best.”



“I’m so proud I could kiss them right now!” joked Ash.



“I knew they would win but I admit I figured it would take longer, they actually do make a good team.”



“Yeah but I think they only won because it was a two against one, I wonder if the result would have been the same if they were on their own.”



“We’ll see in the future, I doubt any of the other Gym Leaders will ask for similar challenges. But Ash now that it’s over there’s something I need you to see.”



“What?”



“Here.” said Gary showing the inside of a briefcase.



“But those are…”



“Fakes.” answered the professor.



~*~*~*~*~



“I’m amazed…really…you guys changed from day to night!” congratulated Ash.



“How do you two feel right now?” asked Gary proudly.



“A little better.” she answered holding the pure gold version of the Coal Badge in her fingers.



“I feel like battling more. Which one will be the next Gym?” asked Max.



“We have a lot to do before moving on to the next Gym, but it will be in Eterna City which means Gardenia is your next challenge. But right now we have something to show you…Ash.”



“Do you know what these are?” asked the pokemon master holding two large transparent spheres in his hands.



“Aurora Spheres. Magical items found a few years ago in the underground mines of Eterna City, the rumors say that they are capable of reflecting energy based attacks among themselves for eternity.” answered the boy with enthusiasm.



“Yeah, I heard someone sent a Thunderbolt into one of those spheres to test them, the electricity was immediately spread into the other four creating a powerful electrical barrier. They had to smash one sphere to break the cycle and stop the effects.” added the girl to prove he wasn’t the only one with knowledge about the subject.



“Very well and can you two guess who was the idiot that started that incident?” joked Gary rolling his eyes towards the man holding the spheres.



“How long are you gonna blame me for that? You know you wanted to test them as much as I did!”



“It doesn’t matter anymore, show them our current problem.”



“Fine, Pikachu use Thunderbolt on these things.” commanded Ash placing both spheres on the floor.



“…!”



“…What?” said both trainers looking at the remaining little crystals on the floor spread by a small explosion caused by the attack.



“Fakes.” answered Ash.



“The real ones were stolen from the museum and replaced with these, I doubt the thieves were after money since they took nothing else. Which leads us to believe they intend on using them – if they haven’t done it already.” explained the professor.



“You think they did this?” said Vi with bitterness on the word “they”.



“This crime was nearly flawless, if it wasn’t for Roark I wouldn’t even have suspected it, so there is a possibility that we’re facing criminals that are…unusual. But it’s too soon to make assumptions, we’ll be traveling towards Eterna City to uncover more clues.”



“What do you think someone might want to do with these?” wondered Max.



“From our tests we know these spheres create powerful energy barriers, but we only know for sure what happens with Thunderbolts, the truth is we have no idea what other attacks might do to them, we can only speculate. However, if you ask me whoever did this must want to protect something very important…” finished Gary



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~



Meanwhile, somewhere faraway Jack ran quickly through the dark woods around him hoping to find something or someone.



“I gotta get the Hell outta here, this fucking place can’t be very far from civilization.” he thought, desperately running in a straight line.



“…”



“There! A house!” he actually said out loud while approaching the building, “…No. This can’t be…I ran to the south how can this be possible…”



“Surprised? I told you running away would be useless, no matter where you go you’ll always end up here, I’m the only one that can leave this place.” explained Damien appearing on top of a tree.



“As if I would believe you!” shouted the angry young man beginning to run towards the east this time.



“Fine exhaust yourself all you want, you’ll have to give up eventually…” joked the telepath, laughing out loud afterwards.



------------------------------------------To be Continued-------------------------------------------------------------