Cherish the Moments [PG-13]

TPJerematic · 10th May 2009, 05:18 PM

THIS THREAD IS NOT BEING UPDATED

CtM has been we written and has moved to a new thread viewable by the link in my sig below.

Cherish The Moments

Welcome to my story.

This story is rated PG-13 for some coarse language, mild violence and mild romantic themes.

This story follows 2 gym leaders and 3 friends who receive 4 rare pokemon and are tasked to find out where they came from.

This Pokémon Story takes place in the (clearly made up) Actopon Region of the Pokémon world

Map of the Actopon Region

List of Cities and Gyms in the Actopon Region:

Actopon Pokémon League Elite Four and Champion

Actopon Pokemon League Infomation

List of Small Towns/Areas:

DISCLAIMER: POKÉMON IS NOT MINE; THIS STORY IS. I AM ALLOWED TO USE POKÉMON AS LONG I SAY THAT THEY BELONG TO NINTENDO/GAME FREAK, HOWEVER THE STORY, CHARATERS AND REGION BELONG TO ME.

****Special Thanks to the Buraddo_Aipom of Serebiiforums.com for the beta-ing of this Story
****Special Thanks also to Skiyomi of Serebiiforums.com for the banner in my sig

Chapter List:

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 12.5

Chapter 13

Character Biographies:

Stephen Warren (Joint Möbius Gym Leader)

Jessica (Joint Möbius Gym Leader)

Sam Nagato (Pokémon Trainer)

Alvin O'Brien (Research Assistant)

Prologue

The Gym Leader sat slumped on a chair, overlooking the battlefield as one of his trainees battled the challenger to his gym. He sat with a tired look on his face, closing his eyes he listened to the commands the trainers were giving their Pokémon.

“Drifloon, use Shadow Ball on that Yanmega!” The challenger called out to his Pokémon.

The floating Pokémon responded and fired off the dark ball of shadowy gloop at the gym trainer’s Pokémon, knocking it back a few feet. The gym trainer - knowing his second Pokémon was more than capable of countering the Drifloon - called out to the Yanmega to use U-Turn to do some damage to the Drifloon while switching out. The gym leader rolled his closed eyes at his trainee’s bad choice.

Idiot, He thought to himself, unaware of the Pokémon in the room behind to him using her psychic abilities to read his thoughts. Why would he: A, teach that Pokémon a physical move then, B, use it to escape when he could clearly beat it with what he had? the Gym Leader asked rhetorically.

“Go, Electabuzz!” The gym trainer called as he tossed the Great Ball out onto the battlefield, releasing his Pokémon. The Gym Leader’s expression didn’t change and his eyes didn’t open.

There is no excuse for failing now, the gym leader thought. The Electabuzz launched a Thunder Punch at the Drifloon, knocking it out in one shot - as this took place, a Pokémon teleported next to the Leader’s chair.

“So he actually managed to take the Drifloon down then,” the Gardevoir muttered to the Gym Leader. Opening his eyes, the Gym Leader looked at the Gardevoir next to him and slowly nodded. Looking down at the battlefield, the Pokémon and Human saw the challenger toss a Pokéball onto the field and out came the challengers final Pokémon for the 2-on-2 practice battle - an Onix.

“Ready Onix?” The trainer shouted up to the giant Pokémon on the field, who roared back in confirmation.

“Electabuzz, use Ice Punch!” The gym trainer called out, with the Electabuzz responding appropriately, hitting the Onix hard. The Gym Leader’s face showed a little shock. That Electabuzz should have knocked that Onix a lot harder. The massive Pokémon was barely fazed and struck back with a powerful earthquake, knocking the Electabuzz back against the trainee. That sent them flying back slamming against the trembling wall.

The Gym Leader and Gardevoir acted as if nothing was even happening, and with their experience, this was a pretty mild quake. However, this caused the Gym Leader to sit up and focus; expecting the worse, he might actually HAVE to battle the challenger. Looking down, he saw the trainee release the Yanmega onto the battlefield, into the expected stone edge from the Onix.

“Looks like we’re up, Jessica,” The Gym Leader moaned as he stood up, with the Yanmega being knocked out on the battlefield below him.

“What’s the bet that he doesn’t understand the gym rules?” He asked the Gardevoir walking beside him down to the field.

“No idea Stephen, but to be honest, I don’t care; I just want a good battle,” The Gardevoir simply answered. “What three are you taking out? I’m using Abigail, Sparky and Chimecho.” She sighed while looking though a small pile of Pokéballs, Great Balls and Ultra Balls, picking out the three that contained the Pokémon she wanted to use for the upcoming battle. Stephen shrugged and took three Pokéballs out of his pocket. However, they were not normal looking Pokéballs - one was a Premier Ball, another a Luxury Ball, while the third was a rare Cherish Ball.

“The usual,” He plainly said. “You ready to battle Jess?” The door to the battlefield opened and the two trainers walked out on to the field.

“Hello young trainer, how have you been finding our gym trainees? Good?” Stephen rattled off with a slightly bored tone to his voice. “Now that you have defeated the four trainees of this gym I accept your challenge to the Möbius gym.”

The young trainer’s eyes gleamed with anticipation and he listened intently to the Gym Leader’s words.

“Here are the rules for the battle: It will be a six-on-six double battle - me and my joint leader with use three each and you will use six, and wherever possible all sides must have two Pokémon on the field,” Stephen yawned “Sorry. Both the challenger and Gym Leaders will be allowed to switch Pokémon at any point during the battle.”

“Wait ... what?” the challenger queried. “Normally the Gym Leaders are not allowed to change Pokémon during battle, why can you?”

Stephen rolled his eyes and stuck his hand out to Jessica who, rolling her eyes as well, put a 10 Pokénote into his hand, which Stephen pocketed. “It's because this gym does not have a specific type. As a result, unlike say a water type gym, we don’t have many Pokémon with similar moves and abilities. Consequently in order for us to give you a fair battle worthy of earning a badge we must be able to switch and counter you Pokémon in the same way you will to ours.” Stephen looked at the clock above the referee’s podium and nodded to the referee who was standing on podium to be ready. “Are you ready?”

“Y-yes sir and ma’am.” The challenger said to Stephen and Jessica.

“Both challenger and Gym leader release your Pokémon on to the battle field and prepare for battle!” The referee called out holding up a red and green flag, red for the Gym Leaders and green for the challenger.

The challenger threw two Pokéballs out onto the battlefield releasing an Exploud and an Omastar.

“Go Abigail!” Jessica called out while tossing the Pokéball from her hand onto the field.

“And go Arkbird!” Stephen called out while tossing the Cherish Ball onto the field. The challenger’s face showed the classic confused look all the challengers at the gym have when battling the leaders. Few of them are used to battling a Gym Leader who has nicknamed their Pokémon. The challenger looked at the balls as they opened releasing the Pokémon held within, in this case Jessica's Absol and Stephen’s Togekiss.

“Begin the battle!” The referee called out to the three trainers on the battlefield.

“Exploud use Screech on the Absol and Omastar use Rock Blast on the Togekiss!” The challenger called out to his Pokémon.

“Arkbird use Aura Sphere on the Omastar, fast!” Stephen called out to the Togekiss.

“And Abigail use Night Slash on the Exploud!” Jessica called out to the Absol. The two Gym Leaders’ Pokémon attacked before the challenger’s could even move. Arkbird fired off a glowing ball of energy at the Omastar who just seemed to stand there, unable to move as the ball hit the Pokémon square in the face. It was sent flying backwards against the wall behind the challenger. A second after Arkbird moved, Abigail moved too, jumping into the air as the scythe on the side of her head glowed with a black light. With a flick of her head Abigail sent a dark edge towards the unwitting Exploud, who, like the Omastar next to him, was sent flying backwards, slamming against the wall behind the challenger. Both the Exploud and Omastar were out cold.

“The challenger’s Pokémon are unable to battle!” the referee called out while holding a red flag out on the side of the two Gym Leaders.

“Oh wow, Exploud and Omastar return.” The trainer held both the Pokémon’s Pokéballs and a red light glowed on both of them as they returned to the Pokéballs containment.

“Sorry guys.” The trainer apologised to the Pokéballs as he put them back while getting two more balls. “Go Bagon and Blastoise!” The trainer called out while throwing out the two Pokéballs on to the field.

“Ready Jess?” Stephen asked while looking across at his fellow Gym Leader, who nodded in reply and looked out knowing exactly what move both Stephen and herself were going to use.

“Arkbird use Air Slash on the Bagon!” Stephen called out with a slight sadness in his voice.

“And use Night Slash on Blastoise Abigail!” Jessica told her Absol while trying to add some excitement to the battle.

“Blastoise use Withdraw and Bagon use Headbutt on the Absol!” The trainer desperately called out to his Pokémon, knowing that they were too slow to react in time to stop the attacks from the Gym Leaders Pokémon from hitting. Arkbird’s wings flapped strongly, causing the air to slice across the battlefield. It hit the Bagon trying to ram Abigail with its head, knocking the small dragon to the floor. As the Blastoise tried to tuck into its shell Abigail’s dark attack hit incredibly hard, even more than any of her attacks. Both of the challenger’s Pokémon again fell with only one hit.

“Both the challengers Pokémon are unable to battle,” The referee declared while holding up the red flag. The challenger returned both Pokémon to their Pokéballs.

“I withdraw,” The challenger stated, “I cannot beat you.”

“Oh well, you tried,” Jessica told the challenger, walking up to him as Abigail walked back to its trainer. “You need to train your Pokémon to a higher level and focus on their defences - any thoughts Stephen?”

The words fell on empty space. Stephen had begun to walk off into the back room, yawning. “Okay then, we await your next challenge.” Jessica said with a rushed tone, looking around, trying to get Stephen to stay, but it was too late - the challenger had already turned and left the room with his head held low.

“STEPHEN!!” Jessica yelled out and chased the gym leader into the back room.

Legacy · 10th May 2009, 05:24 PM

nice start to this, im excited to check this out!

TPJerematic · 11th May 2009, 12:33 PM

Glad you like it. Any other thoughts about it?

Blondie · 11th May 2009, 01:15 PM

Hey I like the maps and background info you give us..thats a great idea really helps the context of the story.

Overall, good battle sesquence and well written, keep it up!

*Flaze* · 11th May 2009, 01:31 PM

Wow that was a nice start for your fic, and the maps and town names sure are unique

TPJerematic · 15th May 2009, 11:25 AM

Chapter 1

“It’s a beautiful morning!” The young boy sang while dancing down the road, much to the humour of the two people walking with him. Sam is a normal thirteen-year-old boy: lively, energetic, care free, and a little stupid. Coming from the Kanto region, Sam's a budding Pokémon trainer in his third year of training. After receiving a Charmander from Professor Oak in Pallet Town when he was ten, Sam progressed though both the Kanto and Johto regions, finishing in the top 16 in both League Championships. After deciding he needed a change of pace and location, Sam came to the Actopon region to challenge the Pokémon League of the region.

“What are you on about? It’s, like, seven in the morning. Stop doing that, you’re giving me a headache,” The much older boy moaned at Sam as he loped down the road.

“Oh stop complaining Alvin; I just wanted to get to the next city so I can earn another badge!” Sam shouted back to Alvin, who was walking quite a way behind him now.

Alvin is a twenty-two-year-old Pokémon Researcher who works with Professor Aspen, the head Pokémon researcher for the Actopon region. He preferred to study Pokémon rather than going out to become a trainer. He was commissioned by the Professor to fill a Pokédex for the Actopon region. However, he was beginning to regret accepting the offer to travel with this young trainer... and his own sister, who was now pushing him to catch up with Sam.

“HURRY UP YOU SLOWPOKE!” Alvin’s sister Kei, who was now pushing even harder, shouted up to her brother. Kei's a ten-year-old Pokémon Trainer who received her first Pokémon, a Squirtle, from Professor Aspen only two months ago. She looks up to her brother for advice and support. However, she has a fierce independent streak which gets her into trouble. Despite that, she is very kind hearted. When she was growing up she always wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a Pokémon League Champion.

“So... what city are we headed to and how far is it?” Sam inquired to a wall of groaning from Alvin.

“For the last time,” Alvin stated, “we are going to Redux City, home of the Möbius Gym and badge. ‘Kay? And if I’m right we will be there within half an hour.” Alvin sighed.

“Who is the gym leader and what’s their speciality type?” Kei asked herself aloud. “I might challenge the gym for some practice.” As she said this her hand dove into her backpack, pulling out the official League Guidebook. She promptly started flicking through the book to the relevant page. Alvin however, was far ahead of her. He was also wrong... deliberately, because he liked to tease his little sister sometimes.

“The Möbius gym has gotten a new leader this year, so that book wouldn't tell you much.” Alvin simply pulled the book out of Kei’s hands before she could read it and put it deep in his own bag.

Can’t wait to see the look on both of their faces when they see the leaders of the gym. Tee hee, he thought to himself.

***

After arriving in Redux City, the three friends firstly stopped off in the local Pokémon Centre to heal up their Pokémon. After having a quick bite to eat while their Pokémon rested, they made their way round the city to the Möbius Gym. It, to their surprise, was closed at one in the afternoon. Sam inspected the sign hung on the door handle.

“Gym’s closed for the day; three boring battles made the leaders really hungry, they may be back later. Signed, the Gym Leaders,” Sam read the elegantly written sign and visibly became annoyed. “What the crap?! They can’t just close the gym ‘cause they’re bored!” Sam looked to his right and saw a couple sitting at a table outside of the Möbius Café which was located next to the gym. One of them had something to drink; the other was reading a broadsheet newspaper that obscured most of themselves, leaving only what appeared to be the fingers of two green-gloved hands holding the newspaper up.

“Maybe those two may know where the Gym Leaders are?” Sam walked in the direction of the two people.

“Oh genius Sam, just brilliant,” Kei sarcastically growled, “you’re going to bother that couple who are trying to have lunch JUST because you are desperate for a battle.” Kei stormed off after Sam, much to Alvin’s amusement, who pursued to see the humour that was sure to follow.

“Excuse me,” Sam asked, approaching the couple, “could you help me?”

The two people seemed not to respond, this really annoyed Sam, who repeated his question as he got to the table and stopped. Unknown to him, the Gardevoirs’ eyes, from behind the newspaper, gave off a subtle light blue glow, as did the three Pokéballs on Sam’s belt, which was barely noticeable in the bright daylight.

“Yes little boy, what do you want?” The man sitting next to his partner sipped his drink.

“I would like to know where the Möbius Gym Leaders are so I can challenge them to a Pokémon battle for the Möbius badge!” Sam declared while putting both hands on to table. “However, they seem to have gone out to lunch. Would you know where they are?” Sam waited for a reply.

While he was talking, the Gardevoir behind the newspaper was psychicly scanning the Pokéballs, looking at what Pokémon were contained inside, their moves, and training strengths. She then telepathically transmitted this information to the man sitting next to her. He was less than impressed.

“Look, and trust me on this, don’t waste your time,” the man bluntly told Sam, whose face showed more than a little shock. “You wouldn’t last more than five minutes in that Gym and your Pokémon don’t deserve to suffer.”

“How do you know that?!” Sam retorted, still a little shocked. Both Alvin and Kei had caught up to Sam and were just listening to the exchange taking place.

“Well, as you ask, I know that you wouldn’t stand a chance in that Gym because,” the man pulled down the newspaper from in front of the Gardevoir, showing her face, “my friend here looked at your Pokémon and they are far too weak to be able to battle the Gym Leaders. On top of that, you only have three Pokémon and the rules for the Gym state that you need six to battle the Gym Leaders.”

A look of confusion drifted across Sam’s face upon hearing the word 'leaders.' He knew that Gyms only ever had one Gym Leader. However, the man speaking to him didn’t seem to notice and kept talking.

“I also know that the Gym Leaders won’t battle you because-” he was cut off as the Gardevoir finished the sentence.

“-you interrupted our lunch!” The Gardevoir said with a flourish and promptly picked up the newspaper and continued to read it. At the same time the man sat back and sipped more from his drink while looking at the stunned faces of Sam and Kei. The man smiled at this.

After several minutes of Sam and Kei standing with their mouths open in shock, Alvin finally broke up, laughing at the two kids.

“HAHA, I wish I had a video camera!” Alvin giggled, pushing past the two stunned kids he walked up the man. “How are you, Stephen?” Alvin asked, pulling up a chair and promptly falling onto it.
Stephen looked at Alvin and smiled to himself, it had been a while since he had last seen his friend and was glad that Alvin finally got out of the lab to see the region he had been studying for the last five years.

“Bored and,” Stephen looked at Sam and Kei, he recognised Alvin's sister but had no idea who the kid next to her was. But if he was travelling with Alvin he must be somewhat good. Stephen continued, “Surprised they are still staring at poor Jess as if she’s some kind of freak.” Stephen took a drink from his glass. “So why are you out here in the real world? You normally spend all your time in the lab back in Redwell with Aspen.”

“This is why,” Alvin said as he pulled out the Pokédex. “Aspen’s got me doing the yearly species count. Well, by me I mean Kei and, of course, by Kei I mean me.” Alvin slouched back in the chair and closed his eyes. “Do you think we should explain what’s going on to those two?” Alvin lazily asked, pointing in Sam and Kei’s direction.

“Jess, I think the kids have been shocked long enough now,” Stephen said to Jessica, who had now finished her newspaper and was quietly sipping her drink while staring into the eyes of Sam and Kei. “Want to explain it to them?”

“Suppose so,” Jessica said back. “Take a seat and I’ll tell you.”

As she said this two chairs were pulled to the table by psychic energy. Sam and Kei sat down. “Let me first clear up that, yes I am a Pokémon, yes I am talking and no it’s not a psychic trick. Any questions?”
“Erm, yes,” Sam asked in a slightly stuttered and quieted voice. “How?”

“I learned the same way you did,” Jessica explained. “In a school.”

“With a bunch of 5 year old kids!” Stephen interrupted with a smile.

“Thanks.” Jessica sarcastically said back, scowling at Stephen, before restoring her composure. She smiled and continued her explanation. “That’s pretty much it about the speaking, reading and,” taking the sign from the gym door that Sam still had in his hands, “writing. I’m also the joint leader of the Möbius gym.”

Kei took the league guide book from Alvin’s bag and flicked to the page about the Möbius gym. She recoiled with surprised when she saw what was written. “So you’re a Pokémon-Pokémon trainer?” Kei asked.

“Yes.” Jessica responded, finishing her drink, “Surprising isn’t it?” Jessica paid the bill for hers and Stephen’s lunch. “So what are we doing now?” she queried to Stephen who was already standing up, chatting intently with Alvin.

“Well I’m too depressed to battle anymore today and I want to show Alvin the Pokémon back at the house,” Stephen told Jessica. “You two can come along as well if you want.” The two kids shrugged, picked up their bags, and followed Stephen, Jessica and Alvin.

***

Stephen and Jessica lead Alvin, Sam and Kei back to their house on the outskirts of the city. After walking down the drive they came to a small, unassuming house, however, it was the land behind the house that impressed Sam and Kei. Fifty acres of Pokémon ranch, filled with a variety of Pokémon being cared for by the staff from the Möbius gym. Jessica led Alvin, Sam and Kei around to the ranch to show them all the Pokémon that were being cared for while Stephen went into the house to answer a phone call from the Pokémon league.

Jessica showed all the types of Pokémon that the league sent to them to take care of so that they can be released back into the wild once they are fit and strong enough to take care of themselves.

“WOW, look at all the cute Pokémon!” Kei shouted out, as Jessica led the three to the area near the house used to take care of the baby Pokémon.

“Cleffa, Pichu, Magby, Elekid and even Eevee’s!” Kei tried to run into the pen but was restrained by Jessica and Alvin.

“You can’t just run in there!” They both shouted at Kei, pulling her back.

“These are very young Pokémon and are not all that comfortable around humans.” Jessica explained. “They even attack Stephen sometimes.”
“Talking about him,” Sam said, “where did he go?” Sam looked at the house to see Stephen leaving with a serious look on his face.

“What did the league want?” Jessica asked with a slightly worried tone to her voice. She knew that look well; he always had it when he was faced with some bad news.

“They have asked me to take care of some special Pokémon; I’ll explain inside.” Stephen turned around and returned to the house with Jessica in close pursuit. Alvin and Sam followed Jessica inside, with Kei reluctantly leaving the cute baby Pokémon to join them in the house.

“What did the league want?” Jessica repeated her question. As Alvin, Sam, and Kei entered the house they saw Stephen sitting on a chair at the dining table with four Cherish Balls on his desk.

“These four balls were dropped off at the Pokémon League donation office,” Stephen started to explain to Jessica the details of what the league had said to him over the phone, “and the league has asked me to find out what Pokémon are inside and moreover where they came from.”

“So what’s the problem with that?” Sam chimed in, “If that’s all they want you to do, it shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“You don’t understand,” Stephen answered holding up one of the balls, “these are Cherish Balls. They are extremely rare; in my entire eighteen year Pokémon training career I have only ever had two of them.” He flashed his belt showing one of the aforementioned Cherish Balls. “One contains Arkbird, my treasured Togekiss; the other is empty, waiting for the perfect Pokémon to be housed in it.”

A look of mild shock spread across Alvin, Sam and Kei’s faces. “So why would a trainer with four of the damn things leave them at the league to be released?” Stephen asked putting down the ball with the others, staring at them with the same serious look on his face.

“Do you know what Pokémon are in them?” Kei asked. “That could explain why they were dropped off.”
“The problem is,” Jessica answered, “that Cherish Balls are normally used to capture a rare Pokémon due to the rarity of the ball. So Stephen doesn’t want to release a possibly rare Pokémon, who could be scared and run off.”

Kei walked up to the table and picked up the four Cherish Balls. “Well there’s no point just staring at them.” Kei said as she walked towards the door. “If you won’t find out what Pokémon are hidden inside these balls, I will!” With a flourish she walked out the door.

Stephen gave Alvin a withering stare, “Is she always that hot-headed?” He asked chasing after Kei before Alvin could answer.

“Go Pokéball!” Kei shouted as she prepared to throw one of the Cherish Balls. Stephen grabbed her arm at the last minute, stopping the ball from being thrown. He hastily took it from her.

“Kei, I know you’re excited to know what Pokémon are in these balls,” Stephen condescendingly told Kei, “but we don’t know what is inside of them.” Stephen took the remaining three balls off Kei. Turning to his left he asked Jessica, “Are you ready to restrain what comes out of here?”

“As I’ll ever be!” Jessica responded cheerfully readying herself.

“Cherish ball go!” Stephen called out, tossing the ball forward. There was a flash of light and the ball opened, releasing the Pokémon inside. Once the flash had died down, five jaws hit the floor in shock as they saw the Pokémon before them.

Legacy · 19th May 2009, 06:01 PM

very nice chapter! don't worry once people start readin' it'll gain more readers. good description and nice dialogue between characters...keep it up

TPJerematic · 21st May 2009, 06:28 AM

I've decided to post chapter 2 a day early. Hoping for some readers and repliers really :P.

Enjoy.

Chapter 2

“That’s a Latias!” Stephen finally said after realising what Pokémon was floating in the air in front of the group. The Latias called out and flew at Stephen, knocking him to the floor. Jessica prepared to attack, but stopped when she saw that all the Latias was doing was licking her friend's face.

“HA HA, she likes you!” Jessica laughed at Stephen, who was trying to fight the Pokémon off.

“So that’s a Latias then?!” Alvin excitedly said, opening his Pokédex and pointing it at the Latias who was still gleefully licking Stephen's face.

“Latias, the Eon Pokémon,” the Pokédex said in a slightly electronic, female voice, “Latias is highly intelligent and sensitive to the emotions of people. Its body is covered with a down that can refract light so that it appears invisible.”

Alvin clicked though the pages on information on Latias.

“Something isn’t right,” Jessica commented, stretching her arms to roughly the size of the Latias, who was now just sitting on Stephen stomach. She cooed as he stroked behind her ears. “From what I can remember, Latias are supposed to be a metre and a half long but she can’t be more than half of that.”

“She must be a baby then,” Stephen said. He stood up while Latias played with Sam and Kei, “which is a little odd.” He took the three remaining Cherish Balls and activated them. “And if I think correctly, these will contain babies too.”

Tossing the three balls forward, the Pokémon stored within them were released. After the light dispersed it became clear just how odd the situation was.

“A Suicune, Deoxys, and Darkrai?!” Alvin exclaimed while pointing the Pokédex at the three Pokémon. “Don’t tell me these are babies too?!”

Even as he said this the three Pokémon followed Latias’s actions and proceeded to jump onto Stephen, all hugging him and licking his face.

Alvin started with Suicune, moving on to Deoxys, and then Darkrai with the Pokédex.

“Suicune, the Aurora Pokémon. Suicune is said to be the incarnation of the north wind. It races around the world to purify filthy, murky water.”

“Deoxys, the DNA Pokémon. It is currently in Speed Form. Deoxys emerged from a virus that fell to earth in a meteor. In this form, its body is configured for superior agility and speed, however it can change into three other forms in the right conditions.”

“Darkrai, the Pitch-Black Pokémon. Darkrai has the ability to make sleeping people and Pokémon see vivid nightmares. It is most active during nights with a full moon.”

Alvin looked at the heights that the Pokédex said the Pokémon were supposed to have.

“Two, one point seven, and one and a half metres,” Alvin muttered to himself, looking up at the three Pokémon - they were off Stephen and now played with Sam, Kei, and the Latias.

“These are all definitely Baby Pokémon too,” Alvin continued, looking at Stephen who was looking intensely at the Cherish Balls. “They are too small to be fully grown.”

“So the plot thickens,” Stephen said in a slightly sinister tone. “Now we are asking why would someone drop off four rare Cherish Balls with not only four Legendary Pokémon inside, but baby legendaries just to be released?” He shook his head. “I don’t understand the mentality of someone doing that.”

The Alvin, Jessica, and Stephen looked over at the four Pokémon who were being petted by Sam and Kei.

Stephen walked up to them, dropping the Cherish Balls next to Kei along with his Luxury Ball. “I’ll leave these four Pokémon’s Cherish Balls with you Kei - when they get tired just return them and bring them in.”

Kei picked up the four balls then looked up at Stephen, she picked up the Luxury Ball.

“What’s this Pokéball for?” Kei enquired, holding the Luxury Ball separate from the Cherish Balls.

“That’s Forseti, my Lucario,” Stephen said, “Just in case anything happens while me, Jess, and Alvin are inside talking to the League about those four. Just tell him to use Extreme Speed and Blaze Kick.”

“Okey Dokie!” Kei laughed as the Suicune nuzzled up against her arm.

“I’ll take care of him,” Sam said, taking the Luxury Ball off Kei, “This is a Gym Pokémon, and unlike these guys, I don’t think he’ll want you petting him.”

***

Back in the house Jessica had set up the video link with the Pokémon League so that they could discuss what they wanted Stephen to do with the Pokémon contained within the Cherish Balls.

“Hello Jessica and Stephen how are you?” the man who filled the screen asked. “Oh, and is that Alvin there? I wonder what Professor Aspen asked him to do that caused him to end up in Redux City?”

“We’re fine, Mike, thanks.” Jessica responded. “And Alvin’s here with his sister and a trainer from the Kanto region filling a Pokédex for Aspen.”

“We have news on the four Cherish Balls I was sent?” Stephen strode across to the middle of the room so that he would be in the middle of the screen at the Pokémon League office. “They contain very rare Pokémon like we thought, but...”

“But what?” Mike said leaning back on his chair.

“Well the four Pokémon are a Latias, Suicune, Deoxys and Darkrai.” As Stephen said this, Mike sat upright with shock in his eyes. “But that’s not the end of it, from what we have gathered, these are Baby Pokémon.”

“NO WAY, that’s impossible!” Mike shouted at the screen. Then he smirked. “Prove it.”

“Give me a second and I’ll bring them in,” Jessica said, leaving the room. After a few seconds she returned with the four Pokémon standing next to her. “See, they are too small, I’m 1.6 metres tall and these Pokémon should be around the same height.”

“Moreover, they act like Baby Pokémon,” Alvin chipped in, “they are very friendly, especially with Stephen.”

While Alvin was saying this, the Latias had landed on Stephens head and the Suicune was rubbing its head against his left leg, while the Deoxys sat on the floor next to his right. Darkrai was the only one absent from the group, choosing to stand in a darkened corner of the room.

“So why would someone drop them off here?” Mike asked while leaning back on his chair. He tapped his fingers together.

“That’s what we were wondering, it makes very little sense as to why someone would drop off these Pokémon to be released,” Stephen stated, taking the Latias off his head and putting her down on the floor in front of him. “So what do you suggest we do?” Stephen asked as Kei walked in with Sam and gave Stephen the Cherish Balls.

“Well,” Mike said with a slight authoritarian tone, “that’s why I'm glad you called so soon; we want to ask you to do a mission for us. We know that the Pokémon contained in those Pokéballs where found and caught in the Actopon region. As a result, we would like you to travel around the region and try to find the places they were caught at and release them there so that they can go back to their original environments.” Mike leaned on the desk seemingly staring down on the five people in the room.

“Mission? What the heck do you mean by that?” Stephen was taken aback by the offer, “You are aware I'm a Gym Leader, I cannot just up sticks and leave.” He looked across at Jessica with the same look on his face that he had earlier on when he first received the Cherish Balls.

“Yeah, but there are two of you” Mike stated, looking across the screen at Jessica. “Jess can take care of the gym while you’re doing this for us.” The mood in the room changed drastically as Jessica’s face darkened and she became angry at the comment.

“You know that would NEVER happen!” Jessica growled through gritted teeth as she clenched her fists and scowled at the screen, “Wherever Stephen goes, I go. Don’t ever try to fob me off.”

Stephen put his arm around Jessica to try to calm her down.

“As if I would go on a journey without my buddy,” Stephen soothingly said to Jessica who released her fists and relaxed, smiling. “We have an emergency plan for the gym in situations where I’m unavailable,” Stephen said to Mike who was still leaning on his desk. “Jack’s trained enough to take over as leader; it’ll be fine, he can still use the Möbius Gym Rules.” Stephen looked across at Alvin, Kei, and Sam, “and in fact, those three can help me and Jess. Won’t you guys?”

“Sure!” Kei shouted out gleefully while stroking the Deoxys’s head. It began making bizarre, yet charming, electronic purring sound. “So long as I get to spend more time with the cute Pokémon, I don’t care.” Alvin and Sam just stood there, looked at each other, and shrugged their shoulders.

“Excellent. Well I’ll inform the League about the changes at the Möbius Gym and you two can go and do this for us,” Mike said writing down what he had to do. “Thank you, I'm sure those Pokémon will appreciate it.” The screen went blank as Mike terminated the connection.

“Thank you,” Jessica said in a calm voice, hugging Stephen tightly. “Thanks for standing up for me and calming me down.” She let go and headed to leave the room. “I'm going to get the old gear out of the wardrobe and get ready for a good old adventure!”

“Sorry about not asking you before saying that,” Stephen apologised to Alvin and Sam as he activated the Cherish Balls. “Return!” He called out while holding out one of the balls. Darkrai was pulled back into the Cherish Ball.

“491,” Stephen muttered as he put a sticker with that number on the ball. He repeated this for the other three balls, labelling them with the Pokémon’s National Pokédex listing.

“No problem,” Alvin and Sam said in almost perfect harmony, laughing moments later because of it.

“The more the merrier!” Sam said with a happy tone in his voice and a smile on his face. “However, I would like to challenge the Möbius Gym Leaders to a battle, just to see how you guys battle.”

“Sure, but it won’t be an official battle,” Stephen replied, “and you and Kei can battle together against me and Jess.” Stephen put the Cherish Balls on the table and picked up his own Cherish, Luxury, and Premier balls he uses for gym challenges. “Once we’re ready we’ll head on over to the gym and we can have our battle, because I would like to see the skills you have used to get eighteen badges.”

“You mean two,” Kei said with a confused look, grabbing Sam’s badge case opening it, “See.”

“I competed in the Kanto and Johto Leagues, Kei,” Sam said with an annoyed tone to his voice, taking back his badge case, “so I have the sixteen badges from those gyms.”

“Ha, ha,” Alvin laughed at the two kids, shaking his head. Turning to Stephen he said, “Well me and these two will head over to the gym now and wait there for you.”

“Here,” Stephen threw a small bunch of keys to the gym to Alvin, who barely caught them, “let yourselves in and give those to Jack; he’ll know what it means.” Alvin nodded and left the house.

***

After about half an hour Alvin, Sam and Kei where sitting at the tables outside of the Möbius cafe looking back in the direction of the house wondering what was taking Stephen and Jessica so long. However they didn’t have much longer to wait, in less than a minute they heard a bell ringing and Jessica shot round the corner on a bicycle wearing, much to their surprise, safety gear and, moreover, clothes.

“WEEEEEEEEEE!” Jessica shouted out as she hammered past the group, turning at speed she skidded around and headed back towards the group who are now moving on their chairs ready to take evasive action if necessary. Jessica hit the brakes, causing the rear tyre to screech and leave a long black trail of rubber behind it. “HI GUYS!” She shouted getting off the bike, turning her head she saw Stephen, “oh nice of you to join us.” Stephen was steadily making his way towards the cafe. After a minute Stephen eventually caught up.

“Blah, blah, blah,” Stephen rolled his eyes as he got off the bicycle, “I just didn’t want to wear myself out.” He took off his helmet putting it on the seat of his bicycle. “Are you two ready?” he beckoned to Sam and Kei who nodded in reply standing up grabbing their bags.

“Sure are!” Kei excitedly said, “This will be my first battle against a gym leader.” She headed towards the gym walking in the doors.

“Excited much?” Jessica laughed heading in after Kei, while Stephen secured their bicycles against the gym wall.

“Come on then, this will be the last time I battle in here for a good while.” Stephen lead Sam and Alvin into the Möbius gym, “Please make it a good finale.”

“Can I just ask something?” Sam enquired as he entered the gym, “why was Jessica wearing clothes?”

“Sam, you can’t just ask things like that!” Alvin retorted.

“It’s ok!” Jessica cheerfully said from next to the door behind Alvin and Sam causing them to jump, much to Kei’s joy. “I wear clothes ‘cause, they make me appear and feel like a normal trainer, and they make me look cool.”

“Anyway,” Stephen walked across the battle field towards the end where the gym leaders stand with Jessica close behind, “Let’s get this started.” Stephen leaned towards Jessica’s head “What’s the bet that they don’t understand the gym rules.” He whispered to Jessica as they got to the end of the field.

“I’ve already told Kei,” Jessica stuck her tongue out at Stephen, “so you’re not getting any more money out of me.” Stephen looked across the field to see Kei explaining the rules to Sam. As this was happening the referee walked out onto the field and to his podium. The referee looked towards Stephen who gave a small wink, he looked back and Jessica who nodded in agreement.

“So, are you ready?” Stephen called out across the battlefield to Sam and Kei who were still talking.

“Yep, we sure are.” Sam called back, and he and Kei took a Pokéball off their belts activating them.

“Both challenger and Gym leader release your Pokémon on to the battle field and prepare for battle.” The referee called out holding up a red and green flag, red for the gym leaders and green for Sam and Kei.

“Go Pikachu,” Sam commanded as he threw the Pokéball he was holding out onto the field, “Torkoal on the field” Kei called out tossing her Pokéball forward.

“Nice, good Pokémon,” Stephen commented, “Go Arkbird,” Stephen tossed the cherish ball into the air, “And go Abigail.” Jessica called as she threw a Pokéball onto the field.

“Battle begin.” the referee called out pulling both flags down.

“Pikachu use Volt Tackle on the Togekiss!” Sam shouted with a slight smug look on his face; “Torkoal use Stealth Rock” Kei called out. “Damn! Arkbird use Air Slash on the Torkoal.” Stephen said with a slight panic in his voice, “Abigail use Stone Edge on Torkoal ... oh.” Jessica realised her mistake too late. Sam’s Pikachu charged at Arkbird glowing with yellow electric charge “pika, pika, pika, pika, pika, pika, PIKAAAACHU!” Pikachu yelled as it slammed into Arkbird, knocking it up and crashing it against the ceiling while falling back down, with a slight cringe as the Pikachu suffered damage back. Arkbird however pushed back and flew towards Kei’s Torkoal building up energy in its wings. Suddenly, Arkbird stopped forcing the energy stored up forward with a strong flap of his wings sending a slice of air forward while recoiling backwards, returning to float in front of Stephen. The slice cuts across the Torkoal who cried out while shivering and closing its eyes. Kei’s Torkoal showed signs of fatigue while staring down Abigail who was now towering over him as her scythe glowed and the ground trembled sending up stones which battered Torkoal who couldn’t withstand the attack and fell to the floor.

“Torkoal is unable to battle.” The referee declared holding up the red flag.

“Torkoal return,” Kei held up the Pokéball and Torkoal disappeared back into the ball, “You’re up Sudowoodo!” Kei threw her next Pokéball onto the field.

“Well your doing better than I have experienced for a while.” Stephen said with a smile creeping across his face, “However you are down one Pokémon.”

“Arkbird use Aura Sphere on that Sudowoodo.” Stephen called out, “Pikachu cover him with another Volt Tackle on Arkbird.” Sam ordered his Pokémon. “Hmm, Abigail use Night Slash on the Pikachu,” Jessica took a little time to think her move though, “Sudowoodo HAMMER ARM!!!” Kei shouted pointing at Abigail. In an exact copy of the first move Sam’s Pikachu charged at Arkbird slamming it against the ceiling, but this time the Togekiss didn’t fight back rather he just fell from the ceiling back down to the battle field with a thump. While this was happening Abigail’s scythe glowed with a dark light watching Sam’s Pikachu suffer again from the recoil of using Volt Tackle before jumping into the air and flicking her head sending a black edge slicing towards the tired Pikachu knocking it to the floor. Landing next to the fallen Arkbird, but there was no time to rest and Kei’s Sudowoodo charged at Abigail slamming her powerfully with his arm knocking her to the floor. “Come on Abigail hold on!” Jessica desperately called to the stricken Absol; however it was in vain as she collapsed.

“The challengers Pikachu and the gym leaders Togekiss and Absol are unable to battle.” The referee held up both the green and red flags.

“Pikachu return,” Sam called out holding his Pokéball “Good work; have a nice rest.” Sam put Pikachu’s Pokéball back on his belt taking the next one and tossing it onto the field, “Snorlax, you’re up next.” The giant Pokémon roared as it was released from its ball.

“Arkbird return,” Stephen held up Arkbirds cherish ball, “I’m very sorry buddy, we’re not used to this sort of battle, it’s a nice change. You rest up now.” Stephen threw a luxury ball out on to the field, “Forseti go!” The luxury ball opened releasing a Lucario who growled at the Snorlax.

“Abigail return,” Jessica held up the Pokéball and Abigail came back, “good work, you rest now.” She pulled another Pokéball from her belt throwing it onto the field “you’re up Sparky.” A Rotom was released from the Pokéball making the sound of electrical discharge.

Stephen looked across at Jess, “Will-O-Wisp?” Jess nodded in reply.

“Sparky use WOW on that Snorlax,” Jessica commanded while pointing at the giant slovenly Pokémon who looked like it was about to fall asleep at any moment, “Forseti use close combat on Sudowoodo.” Stephen clenched his fists and glared across the battlefield.

Both the gym leaders Pokémon leapt forward within milliseconds of each other not even giving Sam and Kei a chance to give their commands. Sparky glowed a ghostly fiery blue, and shot off five flaming blue orbs at the Snorlax who had barely moved. The orbs vapourized as they hit the Snorlax causing burns to appear on its body. As this was happening Forseti had landed directly in front of Sudowoodo and with a sly smile pounded it with a series of powerful punches knocking it to the floor.

“SUDOWOODO!” Kei called out with a choke in her voice holding up its Pokéball “Return.”

“Snorlax use curse” Sam commanded with a panicky tone desperate to do something. The giant Pokémon glowed with a ghostly purple light. “SNORLAAAAAAAAX” the giant Pokémon yelled, much to Jessicas shock as she was now standing eyes wide open and mouth ajar. “...lax” the Snorlax grimaced as it was hurt by the burn.

“The challengers Sudowoodo is unable to battle” the referee declared holding up the red flag

“Jess ... are you ok?” Stephen looked across at Jessica who was still in a state of shock.

“Sorry.” Jessica regained her composure, “Yeah, let’s go.”

“Eevee on the field” Kei was unenthusiastic as she tossed her last Pokéball onto the field. “Good luck with that.”

“Don’t be so down Kei, we can still win.” Sam stared down the gym leaders two Pokémon “Snorlax body slam on that smug Lucario, his defences should be lower after that Close Combat.”

“Eevee, do something,” Kei struggled to think of a move “Erm, Tackle Rotom?”

“Sparky don’t let it even move,” Jessica giggled quietly to herself at Kei’s bad decision, “Use Thunderbolt and finish it.”

“Forseti use Close Combat on Snorlax.” Stephen was desperately hoping for the battle to continue.

Once again Forseti and Sparky moved off within milliseconds of each other, Sparky firing off a stream of electricity at the hapless Eevee sending it flying backwards, into Kei knocking them both to the floor. Forseti set upon Snorlax pounding it with a series of rapid and powerful punches, however this didn’t seem to faze the Snorlax who simply stood up and fell on top of Forseti. It took more than a minute for the Snorlax to stand back up again and Forseti regained its composure and very slowly moved away clearly in significant pain. The Snorlax once again grimaced as it was hurt by the burns on its body.

“The challengers Eevee is unable to battle, the challenger Kei is out of the battle.” The referee held up the red flag once again.

“Sparky Thunderbolt Snorlax” Jessica called out, “Forseti use Close Combat again.” Stephen said in unison with Jessica.

“Snorlax use Crunch on Rotom.” Sam was hoping that it tactic had worked. Much to his relief it did.

Sparky moved off like it has before however it was not accompanied by Forseti who was just standing unable to move. Sparky fired off a stream of electric charge at the Snorlax who once again barely noticed the attack; however it seemed to look a lot weaker. It responded by roaring out and charged out at Sparky with surprising abruptness and with teeth glowing with dark energy sunk them into the Rotom who recoiled back from the hit falling to the floor filling the room with the sound of crackling electricity.

“The gym leader’s Rotom is unable to battle!” The referee was starting to let the excitement of the battle get to him; it had been a while since a challenger had forced one of the leaders to their last Pokémon.

“Sparky return,” Jessica held up the Pokéball and the Rotom disappeared back into the ball, “that was rough, have a good rest.” Jessica took the last Pokéball from her belt. “I cannot remember the last time I was in this tight a spot.” She threw the Pokéball onto the field. “Chimecho, you’re finally getting to battle.” The ball opened revealing the small floating Pokémon.

“Snorlax, you ok?” Sam asked to which the Pokémon roared in return, “Good, use Crunch on that Chimecho.”

“Forseti, try to move.” Stephen was desperately calling out to his Pokémon, just short of running out and helping his off the battle field, however he knew that his Lucario was too headstrong and wouldn’t let him try. “Use Close Combat on Snorlax.”

“Don’t worry Forseti, Chimecho use Heal Bell.” Jessica called out to which the floating bell seemed to cheer.

Forseti tried to move first but once again was unable to, the Chimecho had by now floated up to the ceiling of the gym and tinkled the bell on it head sending out a pleasant soothing sound out over the battle field. However it was too late for Forseti who despite being cured of the paralysis had moved too early and was unable to do anything about it. As the Chimecho floated back down to the battle field Snorlax was standing in front of it and as with Rotom sunk its teeth into the opposing Pokémon. The Chimecho didn’t stand a chance and fell to the floor.

“The gym leader’s Chimecho is unable to battle! Gym Leader Jessica is out of the battle!” The referee was barely able to contain his excitement. He held up the green flag as Jessica returned the Chimecho to its Pokéball.

“You did your best; hopefully Forseti can end that Snorlax now.” Jessica looked across at Stephen, “It’s all up to you now.” Jessica slipped her arm around Stephen’s shoulders, “good luck.”

“Forseti another Close Combat, if you please” Stephen made a sweeping gesture with his arm in an almost bowing movement as Forseti once again pounded away with its fists finally knocking the Snorlax out, with Forseti not far behind as he collapsed with exhaustion.

“The challengers Snorlax is unable to battle and the gym leaders Lucario is unfit to battle” the referee held up both flags as the two Pokémon were withdrawn to their Pokéballs.

“Great work as always Snorlax,” Sam changed to his final Pokéball, “It’s all up to you, let’s win this.” Sam fumbled the Pokéball onto the field in his excitement. Opening up it revealed a Drifloon who like the Chimecho before just floated there.

“I can’t remember the last time I had such an exciting battle, let alone be taken down to my final Pokémon,” Stephen put the luxury ball back on his belt taking the premier ball next to it and throwing it into the air with grace. “Angel, come on out.” The premier ball opened while flying up releasing a Milotic who ‘flew’ around the battle field and its opponent Drifloon who was still floating there simply ignoring the serpentine Pokémon.

By this time both Kei and Jessica had left the battle field and were sitting on the side lines watching intently, with Alvin, who wasn’t. He was using the Pokédex to collect information on the gym leaders Pokémon for later study.

“So what do you think will happen next?” Kei asked Jessica who looked at the two Pokémon on either side of the battlefield. She smiled in response.

“The exact same thing.” Jess leant back putting her hands behind her head and relaxed.

“Are you ready Sam,” Stephen called out to the young trainer who was now realising the dire situation he had found himself in. “I expect the same level of battling you have shown throughout this match. Don’t quit on me now!”

“Use Hypnosis” Both Stephen and Sam shouted out the commands simultaneously with their Pokémon responding promptly. Milotic moved first with her eyes glowing with an eerie light sending out waves of psychic energy toward the balloon Pokémon, who simply floated up and out of the way before gliding towards the Milotic, staring her right in the face and with his eyes glowing with a similar light sent out waves of psychic energy at the Pokémon who fell to the floor fast asleep.

“Good shot,” Stephen dejectedly moaned as he looked at his Milotic slumped on the floor curled up.

“Darn straight!” Sam excitedly hopped from one foot to the other in anticipation, “Drifloon use Shadow Ball repeatedly on Milotic, we’re so close to winning.” The Drifloon responded firing a string of ghostly gloopy balls of ‘stuff’ which repeated slammed against the sleeping Milotic who was knocked around the battlefield sleeping all the time. After 5 hits the referee held up the green flag.

“Not yet,” Stephen beckoned to the referee to put the flag down, “she’s not finished yet.” The Milotic woke up yawning, showing very few signs of the repeated battering she had received from the shadow balls; she looked around to gather her bearings then focused on small purple balloon. “Angel, have fun with Hydro Pump.” Stephen smiled and watched as the Milotic blasted away with a powerful jet of water knocking the Drifloon to the floor.

The referee red up the red flag, “The challenger’s Drifloon is unable to battle, Challenger Sam is out of the battle, the Gym Leader’s Stephen and Jessica win.” The referee put the flags down and walked over to Stephen who had returned Angel to its premier ball and was now standing shaking his head.

“I really thought he was going to beat me.” Stephen looked across to the referee who was walking over to him.

“Do you want these?” The referee held two Möbius badges in his hands which Stephen took reluctantly.

“I really thought they’d actually beat us.” He looked down at the badges which are shaped like a Möbius strip then across to the bench where Kei, Jessica and Alvin were sitting with Sam standing holding his Drifloon’s Pokéball in his hands “I had better give these to them, they did give us the best battle we have experienced for a long time.”

Stephen walked across to the group who were all talking with a quiet tone, except of Jessica who was sitting quietly waiting for Stephen to give Sam and Kei their little surprise.

“When you two are done, I have something I would like to give you.” Stephen had the hand with the badges behind his back. “That was one of the best battles we have experienced over the last few weeks. So in recognition of your talent and skill as Pokémon trainers, even though you didn’t win the battle, I present you both with the Möbius badge.” Stephen handed out the two badges to Sam and Kei who both stood there with a dumbfounded look on their faces. “Before you say anything, I lied about the match not being badge claimable. I didn’t want you to panic and try too hard, just battle in your styles.” Sam and Kei looked across to Jessica who nodded and smiled and Alvin who was clapping his hands.

“Yes, I won the Möbius badge!” Kei and Sam cheered while hi-fiving each other.

“Well done you two,” Alvin said while walking over to the group, “So what are your plans now Stephen and Jess?”

“Well,” Jessica looked over at Stephen who was looking at the other badges Sam had while talking about the battles he had and the leaders of the gyms, “we’re coming with you three. It’ll be great!”

TPJerematic · 28th May 2009, 07:10 PM

Awwwwww come on. A week and no replies. Jeez.

Oh well here is chapter three.

Chapter 3

After the gym battle the group split up in order to get ready to leave Redux City. Jessica gave Alvin, Sam and Kei a chance to go to the Pokémart and Pokémon Centre to stock up on supplies and heal up their Pokémon so that they’ll be ready to leave early the next day.

“Oh, while you’re around town, go visit the bike shop.” Jessica called across to Alvin, Kei and Sam as they were walking off, “It’s just round the corner and you can get a bike each. It will make it a lot easier for us to cover the distances between the cities.” Jessica fumbled around in her jacket pocket pulling out what looked like a credit card. “Just charge it to the league.”

While the other three were getting ready Jessica and Stephen returned to the house to get ready themselves.

Stephen went to the lounge and picked up a cell phone and promptly found the number of Professor Aspen. He hit the dial button and put the phone to his ear. The phone rang for a few seconds before someone picked up.

“’Sup Professor Aspen, its Stephen here” Stephen had a nervous smile on his face, he hated calling people on the phone, “I’ve got a couple of things to ask.”

“Yes, I thought you would” the deep slightly menacing voice on the end of the phone said, “Alvin sent me the data on the four Pokémon.” Stephen rolled his eyes as the smile on his face disappeared. “It’s a very odd situation I grant you. I’m glad Alvin was there when it happened, I would not have trusted anyone else with that task.” Stephen heard a keyboard faintly clicking in the background.

“We, me and Jessica, are going off to find where those Pokémon came from.” Stephen explained, “And you’re right about Alvin. I wouldn’t have asked anyone else to help. So we’re going to team up to help research these four before I release them.” Stephen winced at the clumsiness of his words and at the long pause that followed; Jessica could just be seen giggling quietly to herself round the corner.

After what seemed like an age of Professor Aspen pondering to himself he finally responded. “Excellent, your experience of Pokémon will help Alvin, Kei and Sam greatly and with Jessica being, well Jessica, I’m sure you will have no problem finding out all you need to know. Good luck.” With that Professor Aspen cut the line and Stephen's phone went dead, leaving him slightly confused.

“Why did he say anything about the kids?” Stephen asked the thin air in front of him, not realising Jessica was listening in. “That said, that Sam was a very strong trainer, utterly showed Arkbird up.” He slumped back with his hands behind his head. “It might be worth spending a little time with him refining his skills.”

Jessica walked in on Stephen's musings with a small smile, she liked Stephen when he was in this sort of happy mood, it had been too long since he had enjoyed a battle, let alone want to help the trainer. “Do you want to get ready now or keep talking to yourself like a madman?” Stephen shook his head and got up and left the room with Jessica.

They made their way to their rather large bedroom, which was filled with items Stephen and Jessica collected during their journeys, against the back wall were two small single beds with night tables separating them, looking across at plate glass windows that allowed anyone lying in the beds to view the ranch. Stephen walked over to the far bed and got on his hands and knees and crawled under one of the beds, while Jessica sat on the other.

“Don’t just sit there.” Stephen called out from under the bed, to which Jessica groaned before standing up and opening her wardrobe.

After looking under his bed Stephen pulled out an object. “Oh wow, it’s been a while since I have used this.” Stephen spoke with glee in his voice while holding up a small beige backpack. The backpack was covered in a multitude of pockets each of which had a small stylised Pokéball logo on them. Jessica turned and laughed; she shook her head and went back to rummaging through her wardrobe looking for her gear.

Stephen opened the bag and checked in the various pockets and compartments. “Everything’s still here, even my ....... JESSICA!” Jessica winced as Stephen shouted at her, she slowly turned around to see Stephen staring at her with an annoyed expression on his face as he held the bag in such a way that the Pokéball compartment was visible.

“Jess,” Stephen’s voice returned to its normal quiet state, “where is it?”

“Where is what?” Jessica answered nonchalantly while putting on a puppy dog expression.

“Jess,” Stephen dropped the bag to the floor and walked over to Jessica who was still holding that expression, “where is it?”

“What?” Jessica slowly tried to edge toward the door as a slight smile broke across her face. However her escape attempt was short lived as Stephen blocked her path with his arm.

“My other Cherish Ball, where is it?” Stephen stared deep in to Jessica’s scarlet eyes with his own deep blue eyes.

“It’s in the safe,” Jessica giggled, “anyway, are you going to let those four out?” She motioned towards the cherish balls which contained the 4 baby legendaries. Stephen walked over to the balls picking them up rolling one of them in his hand.

“No,” Stephen stared at the ball in his hand, “I don’t want to get attached to them, I’m only going to release them soon anyway.” Stephen put the cherish ball down, and went back to searching for his gear. Jessica took them off the night stand and released the Pokémon inside onto her bed. The Latias, Suicune, Darkrai and Deoxys all started to play on the soft bed, before seeing Stephen who was back to crawling under his bed pulling out his exploration gear and jumping. It was a couple of minutes before Stephen came to his senses.

“OK OK, I get the point, get off me.” Stephen complained as he fought off the young Pokémon, “you lot can stay out of the balls tonight.” Stephen got up and grabbed a couple of blankets from the bottom of his wardrobe and led the Pokémon downstairs to the lounge where Sam, Kei and Alvin were going to sleep for the night.

“Hope you don’t mind some company tonight,” Stephen asked as he opened the door letting the four Pokémon in to the room.

“Yay!” Kei exclaimed with a whispered voice, grabbing the blankets off Stephen and laying them next to her sleeping bag, “It’ll be fun to sleep with the cute Pokémon.” Kei beckoned the four Pokémon over to her as she wrapped a blanket around them.

Alvin laughed and shook his head before looking across to Stephen. “They’ll be fine, what time will we be leaving tomorrow?” Alvin picked up his watch and started to fiddle with it.

“And how far is it to the next city?” Sam piped in, “in fact what is the next city?”

Stephen sighed “We will be leaving around eight tomorrow, we’ve got quite a distance to cover, around 30 miles, until we get to Rockmount city.” As he was talking Alvin set the alarm on the watch and Sam and Kei fell back against their pillows closing their eyes. “That’s not the worst of it, a lot of the route is up hill. So you’ll be glad you have those bikes.” this caused a collective groan from the three who were now all lying down getting ready to sleep. Stephen flicked off the light and started to close the door, “See you in the morning.” After the low moans and grunts in reply he closed the door and when back upstairs.

After half an hour of finding their gear and reminiscing Stephen and Jessica were finally ready for their next journey. Both of them put the Pokéballs they were going to take with them on their belts.

“Who are you taking?” Stephen asked Jessica who was seemingly struggling to only pick six.

“Not a clue yet,” Jessica responded while staring down at the Pokéballs, great balls, ultra balls and a few others that covered her bed. Picking one of the Pokéballs up and placing it on her belt Jessica said “Well Ray is coming with me no matter what.” Ray is an Empoleon which Jessica received as a Piplup for her starter when she started her first journey. “And I have to take Abigail; I’d be lost without her.” Jessica clicked her Absol’s Pokéball onto her belt. Jessica looked across to a great ball that was obscured by her pillow, “I forgot about you.” Jessica clicked the ball onto her belt, “You’ll be perfect for those times the computers at the Pokémon centres annoy the hell out of me Hakha.” Hakha is a Porygon-Z that Jessica caught as a Porygon during her journey around Kanto, it was well known for ‘playing’ with computers. “Oh there’s my Safari Ball, what did I catch with it?” Jessica mused as she held the ball up. “Ah yes, it’s Magik, forgot about him” Magik is Jessica’s Breloom which she caught as a Shroomish in the Pastoria Great Marsh in Sinnoh. Jessica finally grabbed a repeat ball “I had better take you too Blobby, it’s nice to play mimic sometimes.” Blobby is one of Jessica’s 50 or so ditto, but it’s the only one she uses for battles, the rest just have a good time being rented out to trainers.

Jessica placed her belt on top of her gear and swept the remainder of the Pokéballs off her bed into a storage box and placed it outside of the room by the door with a note to release the Pokémon into the ranch for the next few weeks

“Which Pokémon are you taking?” Jessica asked as she sat down on her bed, looking across to Stephen’s belt she was worried by the bareness of it.

Stephen, who was now lying on his bed, rolled over and looked at Jessica. “Arkbird,” he simply responded, “Oh and you” he smiled at Jessica, before rolling back over and closing his eyes, “I want it to be similar to when we started in Kanto” Jessica smiled and walked over to sit on the edge of Stephen’s bed turning the light off. “You remember? I went out there with only Arkbird and you, and even then it wasn’t an easy start.” Jessica giggled in response.

“How many attempts did we have at the first gym leader? ‘Bout four or five.” Jessica smiled at the memory. “Of course I beat him first time round.” Jessica poked Stephen’s arm, “and why do you think that was?” Jessica turned so she could see Stephen’s face.

“You were able to defeat the gym because you actually bothered to research the leader and his strategy.” Stephen laughed, then pushed Jessica off his bed, curled up and closed his eyes. “Good night Jessica, see you in the morning.” Jessica giggled, picked herself off the floor and dusted herself off.

“Goodnight” Jessica smiled and leant over Stephen’s bed until her face was hovering just above his. She sighed and pulled away. She then pulled the blanket over Stephen before crawling into her own bed and falling asleep.

***

Stephen‘s eyes jarred open, wincing in pain at the sound of the alarm clock going off. Reaching across he was only just able to shut the blaring noise off before slumping back into the bed and closing his eyes.

“Hey, get up!” A voice shouted from the foot of Stephen’s bed once again forcing his eyes open. He looked down to see Jessica standing with her hands on her hips. “We’ve got to go.”

“I know,” Stephen complained as he dragged himself slowly out of the bed, “are the other three up yet? Or are you just abusing me at the moment?”

“You for now,” Jessica grabbed her gear and headed for the door. “Let’s go and surprise the others.” Stephen picked up his gear and quietly followed Jessica down to the lounge. Unfortunately for Stephen the surprise would be for him.

Once Stephen and Jessica got to the door they stopped and Stephen slowly opened it. As soon as the door was open enough the Latias, who was hiding behind one of the chairs jumped up and flew at Stephen, knocking him to the floor.

Stephen moaned and returned the Latias to its cherish ball. “It is far too early for that.” Stephen held up the remained three cherish balls and returned the Suicune, Deoxys and Darkrai. “Are you three all set to go?” Stephen asked and Alvin, Sam and Kei stood up.

“Oh yeah, ready and raring to go.” Sam said as he headed for the door.

After half an hour of Alvin, Sam, Kei and Jessica getting the bikes ready and Stephen leaving the house, ranch and instructions for the temporary gym leader, the five trainers saddled onto their bikes and prepared to leave.

Alvin and Sam had the map out and were arguing over which route to take, while Kei watched on giggling quietly to herself.

Stephen looked back at the house he had lived in for the last 8 years while serving as gym leader. “It’ll be nice to leave this place so I can finally get back on the open road.” Stephen said with a slight sad look in his eyes. “Still, I’m going to miss being here.” Jessica patted Stephen on the shoulder

“Come on, stop reminiscing and let’s get going!” Jessica said in her own cheery way, “Although, I wouldn’t let those two lead the way.” Jessica pointed towards Alvin and Sam who were still arguing over which route to take.

“Not going to be a problem Jess.” Stephen jokingly commented as he slowly rode up to Alvin and Sam. “HEY!” Stephen shouted so he could be heard over the arguing, causing Alvin and Sam to stop and turn to face Stephen. “Good. Now I have you attention, I’ll be able to show you which way we are going to go.” Stephen reached across so he could trace a path on the map. “This is the best route to Rockmount City. It’s only 35 miles and avoids the worse of the steep roads. There are even a few good places to look for Pokémon if you want to catch some for the gym battle.” Stephen looked around to check if Kei and Jessica were ready as Alvin put the map away.

“If everyone is ready I think it’s time to leave.” Stephen stated to which the other four nodded in agreement. “Ok let’s go!” and with that the five trainers set off on their bikes.

***

After 2 hours of riding on the route between Redux and Rockmount city the group found themselves at the base of Rock Mountain.

“YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!” Sam shouted across at Stephen from his bike, which had taken a bit of a beating over the last two hours. Sam regained a little composure, “That, is a manic hill. We are not going to be able to cycle up that.”

Jessica rolled her eyes and got off her bike and sat on the grass on the side of the road. “Well not NOW of course, we’ve be going for the last 2 hours.” She pulled a clear box, filled with food, out of her bag.

“Cool, lunch time.” Kei cheerfully said as she carefully laid her bike on the ground next to Jessica’s. Unlike Sam, Kei had been very careful not to do any damage to her new bike. “What do you have to eat Jessica?” Jessica looked across at Kei with a mouth full of sandwich and mumbled unintelligibly.

Kei laughed at Jessica. “You shouldn’t talk with your mouth full” Kei sarcastically said while wagging a finger at Jessica, “it’s not very good manners.” Kei plonked herself next to Jessica and grabbed a sandwich and promptly started to eat up.

As this was happening Stephen and Alvin where sitting under a tree quite a distance away from the picnic looking at one of the cherish balls containing the baby legendary Pokémon.

“Whose is it?” Alvin asked Stephen who was staring intently at the ball.

“Darkrai’s,” Came the one word reply from Stephen. “Can I borrow your Pokédex for a moment?” Alvin fished the small device out of his bag, “It would be nice to know a little more about it.”

“Him,” Alvin said and he passed Stephen the Pokédex, “you mean him right, not IT.”

“Bit presumptive, aren’t you?” Stephen opened the Pokédex and found Darkrai's page. “Wow there is a lot of information here, more than I’ve ever seen in a Pokédex.” Stephen poked Alvin who had drifted off watching his sister talking to Jessica and Sam. “What’s the deal?”

“Hmmmm, oh yeah, that’s a research Pokédex. Has more data than the standard one given to trainers, it’s full of info we might need on the field.” Alvin explained as Stephen flicked through the reams of data. “What are you looking for?”

“Attacks, abilities, that sort of stuff.” Stephen replied picking up the cherish ball with his free hand, “Darkrai come on out.” The cherish ball opened releasing the Pokémon held within who sat to the left of Stephen copying the way he was sitting.

“Hi Darkrai, how are you feeling?” Stephen asked the Pokémon next to him so simply stared back with a quizzical look in its eyes. “Nothing, huh? Only to be expected you are still young.” Stephen looked across at Alvin, “There goes my first plan, just ask them where they came from.” Alvin laughed shaking his head. “Do you want to get a closer look at it?” Stephen looked to his left to see that the Darkrai had disappeared. “Bugger, where did he go?” Alvin simply pointed up and Stephen followed the line to see the Darkrai standing on a branch above him sticking its tongue out. “We are not here to play; we need to know a little bit more about you, so come down here so we can get a closer look.” The Darkrai jumped off the branch landing a couple of meters away from Stephen. “Good, now.....” Stephen trailed off as he saw the dark Pokémon start to run away from him and Alvin. After running a few meters the Darkrai turned around to see Stephen holding up the cherish ball from which it came.

“Why?” Alvin pulled Stephen's arm down, “He just wants to play.”

“I'm not here to bond; I'm here to find out information about this Pokémon then release it.” Stephen bit his lip and turned his head away slightly as to hide the sadness in his eyes from Alvin. “Darkrai, please come back here so we can take a closer look at you.” Stephen beckoned the Darkrai to come back, the Pokémon reluctantly agreed and came back to Stephen sitting in front of him. “Good. Now, Alvin and I are just going to have a look at you so we can get some data. Just relax.” Stephen put his hand on the Pokémon’s shoulder and immediately it started to rub its cheek on Stephen’s hand. Stephen tried to remove his hand but the Pokémon grabbed his arm and closed its eyes while laying its head on Stephen’s hand.

Alvin decided it would be better not to comment on the tear he saw run down Stephen’s face but rather get on with the task of recording as much of the data about the Darkrai as he could while it was asleep. For a good 15 minutes neither of them talked and Stephen barely moved, however his mind was racing. He was torn over what he should do with the four baby Pokémon we had been given by the league. I cannot bond with them, they are not mine to keep and train. Yet they seem to want to bond with me, probably because they are so young, they just want a parent to care for them. Another tear ran down his cheek. Damn, I have to keep myself together. Stephen looked across to Jessica, Sam and Kei who had finished their lunch.

Sam lay back staring at the sky, that lunch had done wonders for his motivation. Suddenly he felt something slam into his back then retreat back down into the ground. Sam jumped up and stared at the ground, only seeing a small hole where whatever had attacked him retreated down. Sam looked across to find Kei and Jessica locked in a conversation about something girly, but he knew better than to disturb them. So Sam grabbed a Pokéball off his belt activating it.

“Go Pikachu,” Sam let the ball open in his hand releasing the little yellow mouse. “Can you take a look down that hole?” the Pikachu nervously walked up to the small hole in the ground and peered in.

“Pika!” The Pikachu shook his head and moved back.

“Is there something down there you don’t like the look of?” Sam asked the Pokémon who was glancing around nervously.

“Chu, Pika Pikachu!” Pikachu responded nodding. Then, out of the blue, Pikachu was thrown up into the air, landing on its back with a thud. Sam spun around to see a small brown cylinder with two small black eyes and a red nose poking out of the ground.

“Diglett dig.” The Pokémon in the ground said with an angry tone to its voice. Sam’s Pikachu got off its back and walked over to the Diglett and tried to talk to it, the Diglett simply ducked back underground, went between Pikachu's legs and once again knocked it flying. Pikachu got back up, only this time the red pouches on its cheeks were sparking with electricity. Sam ran around behind his Pokémon.

“Looks like this guy isn’t going to play fair, so let’s teach him a lesson.” Sam was completely focused on the Diglett in front on him, unaware that the other four where watching but keeping their distance. “Okay Pikachu use Iron Tail.” Pikachu responded and jumped into the air its tail glowing with a silvery light before rolling over in mid air and slamming it against the Diglett. However this didn’t happen. Pikachu landed in the ground with a thump and the Diglett was nowhere to be seen. “Pikachu be careful, that Diglett is underground.” Pikachu nodded and pricked its ears up trying to hear the Diglett moving underground. Sam quickly changed his mind and held up Pikachu’s Pokéball.

“Pikachu return,” Pikachu disappeared in a flash of red light. Sam changed to another Pokéball, “go Drifloon.” The purple balloon Pokémon came out of its Pokéball and floated above the hole where the Diglett had been. Without warning the Diglett remerged forcing its head up against what it thought would be a Pikachu, but only hit thin air. “Ha, got you now. Drifloon use Hypnosis” Drifloon’s eyes glowed with an eerie light, sending out waves of psychic energy toward the Pokémon half buried in the ground who simply took them and fell asleep. “Excellent, now use Shadow Ball Drifloon.” Drifloon responded firing off one ball of shadowy goop at the sleeping Pokémon hitting hard. “And another one, but be careful.” Sam’s Drifloon once again fired a ball of shadowy goop this time he made sure not to do too much damage. Sam activated an empty Pokéball. “Good job it looks a bit weaker now. Go Pokéball” Sam threw the Pokéball at the sleeping Diglett, the ball hit and bounced off opening up. The Pokémon disappeared into the ball with a bright flash of light and the ball closed dropping to the floor. Sam looked on nervously as the Pokéball shook violently, then it shook again with noticeably less energy, the ball shook for a third time with even less movement. Sam bit his lower lip, hoping that the ball would stay closed. The Pokéball then clicked and stopped showing any signs of the Diglett inside trying to escape. Sam walked over and picked up the Pokéball, cheered and returned his Drifloon to its Pokéball. “Thank you Drifloon, when we get to the next city you’ll be getting a treat.” Jessica and Kei walked over congratulating Sam on capturing the Diglett.

“So what are you going to name him?” Jessica asked Sam as he put his new Diglett’s Pokéball on his belt.

“Diglett, of course, that’s what he is called.” Sam shrugged off the comment which annoyed Jessica.

“SO, what you have called me, HUH?” Jessica angrily growled at Sam who recoiled in shock and stammered in response. Stephen placed his hand on Jessica’s shoulder.

“Calm down Jess.” Stephen said in a soothing voice, “Don’t get so personal.” Stephen looked across at Sam, “she does have a point though, you should give your Pokémon names. It helps you bond better with them, and it makes them feel closer to their trainer.” Sam nodded in response.

“Would you mind letting your Diglett out for me,” Alvin asked while holding up the Pokédex. “Let’s see what the ‘dex has to say about it.” Sam tossed the Pokéball forward releasing the Diglett who appeared to already be buried in the ground. “And while it is out, you can try and give him a name.”

“Diglett, the Mole Pokémon.” The Pokédex said in its slightly electronic voice, “Diglett burrows through the ground at a shallow depth. However its skin is very thin. If it is exposed to light, its blood heats up, causing it to grow weak.” Alvin scrolled to the page which showed the moves Sam’s Diglett knew.

“This Diglett knows the following moves” Alvin declared to the group. “Dig, obviously, Scratch, Sand Attack and ... Pursuit?” Alvin looked confused.

“That can’t be right.” Stephen said with a similar look on his face. “How can a Diglett know pursuit?”

“It could have belonged to a breeder who released it” Jessica cut in, “It is possible to breed certain moves onto certain Pokémon, and if I remember correctly a male Absol can breed with a female Dugtrio, and if the male Absol knows Pursuit the resultant child Diglett will as well.”

“That makes sense,” Alvin closed the Pokédex, “so what are you calling him Sam?”

“Chase,” Sam replied while returning the Diglett to its Pokéball, “I'm calling him Chase, because it’s rare for a Diglett to know Pursuit, which chases Pokémon who try to flee from it.”

Jessica looked down and shook her head. It’s a start but he has to get a lot better with the naming. She then looked across to Stephen who had picked up his bike and was leaning up against it before looking down at her wrist. Damn, where did I put my ... You forgot it didn’t you Jess. Jessica buried her face in her hands.

“Forgot your Pokétch Jess?” Stephen called over with laughter in his voice as he walked over pushing his bike. Jessica simply grumbled from behind her hands. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Stephen stopped next to Jessica who parted her fingers so she could see him. “Then you’ll be glad I brought this.” Stephen took out of his pocket a black Pokétch with a white wrist strap, which had Jessica’s name written on it.

Jessica took her hands down from her face and put the Pokétch on. “Where would I be without you?” Jessica gave Stephen a quick hug causing him to smile. Jessica looked at the Pokétch then turned to Alvin, Sam and Kei. “Hey guys, its 12:30 now,” Jessica waited for the three to stop moving so they could hear what she had to say. “If we hit the mountain now, we should make it to Rockmount City by about 5 p.m. give or take thirty minutes.” A low groan went through the three before Kei perked up.

“At least we will make it before the end of the day,” Kei cheerfully said, “that way I get to sleep in a bed.” Kei then jumped on her bike and sped off along the road up the mountain.

The other four just sighed climbed on their bikes a little bit slower and followed Kei up Rock Mountain.

***

Just as Jessica predicted the group arrived in Rockmount City at 5 p.m. however all five of them were tired out from the ride. After 10 minutes riding through the city they stopped in front of the Pokémon Centre.

“Finally,” Stephen groaned as he got off his bike, “I forgot how steep parts of that mountain were.” The other four got off their bikes and rubbed their aching muscles. Stephen beckoned Jessica, “Jess, you take Alvin and Kei and get us all a room. Sam and I will sort out the bikes.” Jessica nodded and led Alvin and Kei into the Pokémon Centre. Stephen picked up Jessica’s and Kei’s bikes and pushed them to the bike shed around the back of the building, Sam followed with his and Alvin’s bike in close pursuit.

“Stephen can I ask you something?” Sam said as they got to the bike shed.

“Sure, what’s on your mind?” Stephen replied while looking for a space to put the five bikes.

“It’s about when we were back in Redux and we first met,” Sam followed Stephen as he put his bike up against a railing, “you didn't take to me and Kei very well, but when you saw Alvin you started to be really nice to us. Why?”

Stephen smiled and shook his head while sorting out the lock of his bike, “Well,” Stephen replied, “Alvin is one of my best friends, and when I saw that you had dragged him out of the lab, I knew something must be good about you.”

“Oh, makes sense,” Sam replied shrugging his shoulders as he passed the lock through the spokes of his and Alvin’s front wheel. “How did you and Alvin meet?” Sam stumbled over his words as he quickly added “If you don’t mind me asking?”

Stephen laughed as he clicked the lock on the chain connecting the three bikes together, “I was six when Alvin was born, and he lived in the house next to mine so I spent a lot of my last four years in Janham Town with him. Even by the time he was four and I was preparing to leave he was desperate to learn about Pokémon, he would sit in my room trying to read the books and guides on Pokémon I had received before I started.” Stephen sat on the tarmac floor of the bike shed smiling to himself; it has been a while since he had thought about his childhood. “After I left he apparently stole all the books out of my room and read them non-stop for weeks.” Stephen looked across at Sam who was taken aback by the amount of things being told to him. “Sorry, I can get a little carried away when I start reminiscing.” Stephen stood up and walked with Sam back round to the front door of the Pokémon centre.

“The short version is that I trust Alvin a lot, and when I saw him I knew you had to be good.” Stephen looked down at his feet, “that and I was in a bad mood after three damn easy wins and I took it out on you.” He looked back up, “Being a gym leader can be as boring as hell, especially when it was forced on you, but that’s another story for later.” Stephen and Sam walked into the Pokémon centre and saw Jessica, Alvin and Kei talking and eating.

“Save us any?” Sam joked as he walked up to the table and sat down between Alvin and Kei to a plate of food and ravenously ate. Stephen followed but rather pulled up a chair and sat on the edge of the table and taking a sip from the drink Jessica had got for him.

Between mouthfuls of food Sam asked, “So what do we know about the Rockmount City Gym?”

“The Rockmount City Pokémon gym,” Kei read from the league guide book, to which Stephen mouthed along, “The rock type Mount Gym, which offers the Mountain Badge to successful challengers. The Gym Leader is Emma ‘the precious and diamond hard gym leader’.”

“Not very imaginative calling it the Mount Gym is it?” Sam retorted, and once again Stephen mouthed along much to Jessica’s amusement as she could barely stop herself from giggling.

“Been there, said that, need a t-shirt to finish the gag.” Stephen flatly replied, to which Jessica gave up and laughed, a lot. “Not that funny Jess.” However Jessica didn’t care as she still laughed. “Anyway, Emma is a pretty easy leader, although I would suggest changing your team around” Stephen continued, “Lose the Pikachu and Snorlax, Lead with Diglett and if possible retrieve a water, grass or fighting type from your storage.” Stephen sat back and took another sip of his drink.

Jessica finally recovered from her fit of hysterics and added “Emma normally has 4 Pokémon in her team to battle. She always leads with a Rampardos, and then follows with Graveler or Rhydon, then Shuckle and Aerodactyl. However the order is not always the same for those.”

The five finished up their meals and spilt up for a few hours to see the City before returning to the Pokémon Centre and heading to the room they were going to bunk in for the night. By 10 p.m. all but Sam were asleep, he was still reading the book on rock type Pokémon he had brought from a shop near the gym. Eventually he put the book down, laid back on his pillow and closed his eyes. Why do I feel so nervous? Sam thought to himself as he pulled the blanket over himself. It’s just a gym battle, I know what to do. On top of that it’s a rock type gym; the one back in Kanto was a breeze. Sam shook his head, no need to worry about that now I need to sleep, and with that Sam closed his eyes and forced himself to sleep.

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Hopefully i will get some reviews this time. Or a few of my lurker reader to reply please.

P.S. If you are interested and have some free time to battle. I have a team based on Cherish the Moments if you would like to challenge it.

Leave me a visitor message if you are interested.

*Jabberwocky* · 28th May 2009, 07:19 PM

Wow. This is awesome. I love your descriptions.

Legacy · 29th May 2009, 07:54 PM

Agreed, this is very fun to read. :)

Zephy · 29th May 2009, 08:40 PM

I like it! I like it a lot. (And I'm very happy with the inclusion of Möbius Strips. Loves it!) Usually I don't like reading long fics with a lot of battling but this one was actually quite good.

Ethan · 2nd June 2009, 01:22 AM

Good good .....

TPJerematic · 2nd June 2009, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by PADFOOT

Good good .....

do i detect a withheld BUT ....

Anyway, were there any parts of the story so far people have enjoyed. Or have any feelings about how it is beign developed.

Chapter 4 will be posted later in the week. (It is already written with 5, 6 and 7 as well as two character biographies but i don't want to overload the thread and scare off potential readers.)

TPJerematic · 4th June 2009, 06:29 PM

Here is Chapter 4 served up hot.

I like this chapter alot. There is a lot of action and some nice drama. reviews of this chapter would make my week.

So enjoy.

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Chapter 4

The five pairs of eyes in the room were jarred open at the sound of an explosion and subsequent rock slide. Stephen sat bolt upright with worry in his eyes while the other four, grumbling at the noise and the time of morning, pulled the blankets over themselves and nodded back off to sleep.

Stephen was about to yell at them to get up when he saw that it was 4:25 in the morning. So he quietly slipped out of bed, got dressed, grabbed Arkbird’s Cherish Ball and left the room. Well nearly left. As he was closing the door one of the baby legendary Pokémon Cherish Balls opened up, releasing the Suicune it held inside. Stephen rolled his eyes, grabbed the ball and returned the Suicune, who was now standing at Stephen’s heel. No time to argue, Stephen thought to himself, got to see what’s going on.

While walking out of the Pokémon Centre, Stephen saw numerous Chansey rushing around making space for any causalities from the mountain. Winding his way through the halls Stephen made his way to the front waiting room to see a frazzled Nurse Joy behind the counter.

Stephen walked over to the counter, “What just happened and how can I help?” Stephen asked the Joy behind the counter, who spun round and stared blankly at him for a second before responding.

“Huh, who are you ... oh sorry Stephen didn’t recognise you for a second there”, Nurse Joy stammered as the phone of the counter started to ring. “We have no idea, something blew up on the mountain side and caused a rock slide, we’re prepping for casualties and after I take this call we’ll see how many” Joy picked up the phone, “please be a low number, please” she whispered under her breath. After a minute of listening to the voice on the other end and taking notes she put the phone down and fell down onto her chair with her head buried in her hands.

“That cannot be good, can it?” Stephen leaned over to see the scribbled notes as Joy stood up brushing herself off. “Estimates of 20 to 30 trainers on the mountain at the time, roughly 6 or 7 in the area. Jeez don’t these kids EVER sleep.” Stephen stood back and headed towards the door, “Enough talking me thinks.” Stephen pointed towards the room in which he had been sleeping “If there are too many wake Jessica and Alvin, they can help.”

“Sure thing” Joy looked around watching her computer screens for any more information, “but where are you going?”

“Out onto the mountain.” Stephen replied and ran out of the Pokémon centre to see the true extent of what happened.

***

The city streets where thankfully empty however there was still a lot of activity going on around parts of the city. Stephen headed in the direction of the gym to see if Emma was up. She would, no doubt, be leading any rescue efforts. Stephen thought to himself as he ran towards to ever looming gym. Stephen activated Arkbird’s Cherish Ball and threw it into the air. “Arkbird I need you.” Stephen commanded as the ball opened releasing the Togekiss into the air, then falling back to Stephen’s outstretched hand. “Morning Arkbird, I need you to give me a heads up on the situation out on the mountain. When you are finished meet me at the gym.” Stephen called up to the Jubilee Pokémon who called out into the early morning sky then flew off in the direction of the mountain.

A few minutes later Stephen arrived at the gym to see the sort of activity he was expecting, after take a moment to catch his breath Stephen walked over to the group of seven trainers wearing protective clothing, hard hats and jackets with a Mount Gym Badge patch on the sleeve. One of the trainers at the back of the group saw Stephen approaching, recognising him immediately and stepping out of the way so he could get to Emma who was standing in front of the group. The leader of the Rockmount City gym Emma is a petite yet muscular woman who was more than capable of lifting more than her own body weight yet she still maintained her femininity, her short blond hair was spiked stiff and remained unmoving in the breeze. Emma was holding a pair of binoculars up to her eyes and was looking across the mountain at the location of the explosion.

“Damn, please don’t be the nest; I’ll give anything for it not to be the nest.” Emma talked to herself as Stephen drew level with her looking in the same direction. Emma recoiled as she saw a small white blip come into the binoculars view “Wait ... what’s that?” Emma focused on the blip while the trainers behind her spoke in hushed whispers. “What the hell, where did that Togekiss come from?” Emma took the binoculars from her eyes revealing her glittering green eyes.

“Yeah, I wonder”, Stephen spoke up as he turned his head to look at Emma who was visibly shocked and took a step back.

“What”, Emma shook her head then blinked a few times before looking back to still see Stephen standing in front of her. “What are you doing here?”

“Not important yet”, Stephen stared into her eyes as if mesmerised. Apparently her birth name was Gemma, and with eyes that look like emeralds I wouldn’t be surprised if that was true. Stephen snapped out of his little daydream and focused, “what is important is getting any trainers on that mountain off it and back to the Pokémon Centre.” Stephen looked up as he saw Arkbird coming towards the gym. He stuck out his arm to give Arkbird a perch, however it missed preferring to perch on his head; thankfully Togekiss don’t have claws.

Emma rolled her eyes and stroked Arkbird, “Nice to see you Arkbird, you will be of great use to us.” Emma looked around at the eight trainers in front of her. “Right Arkbird being here has changed our plans slightly”, Arkbird seeming enjoyed the attention as it called out into the sky “We are heading for the site of the explosion, the other teams can check the rest of the mountain”.

Stephen put his hand up, “You were talking about a nest earlier, what was that about?”

“There are nests of Graveler near the sight of the explosion”, Emma explained, “And I'm more than sure you can put two and two together.” Emma took a radio from one of the gym trainers and spoke into it, “This is Emerald 1 to all search teams, we will be searching around the nests, all other units report in order.” Emma waited for the other 5 teams to respond with their search routes. “This is Emerald 1 to all units, confirmed you are cleared to start your searches.” Emma turned to Stephen, “Quickly go into the gym and get kitted up.” Stephen nodded and briskly walked into the gym.

Five minutes later Stephen re-emerged fully kitted up with protective clothing and a hard hat equipped with a torch. He walked up to the group who were ready to leave.

Emma beckoned for the group to move out, while walking Emma turned her head and called back down the line “Right listen up guys, is I'm sure you are aware these Graveler do not like their nest being approached, so be very careful and try to have as few Pokémon out as possible.” Emma then focused on Arkbird who was on Stephen’s hard hat as her walked right behind her. “Arkbird I need you to go up and give us an aerial view of the area, your job is to spot any trainers or Pokémon that are injured and lead us to them. Okay?” Arkbird nodded and flew up into the air and scanned the ground.

After 15 minutes of walking over the rough, churned up ground Arkbird called down to the group and flew down circling around and area around 50 meters from the group.

“AWESOME ARKBIRD!” Emma cupped her hands around her mouth as she shouted across the mountain. The group hurried across towards the site Arkbird had indicated, upon arrival they saw a young trainer who had his leg trapped under some rubble and has passed out. “Right”, Emma took charge and called over one of the trainers. “Jay I need you to get your Geodude to carry this trainer off the mountain and get him to the Pokémon Centre.” As she was instructing Jay, Stephen picked up the young trainer’s Pokédex opening it he checked to see how many Pokémon he had with him. Stephen looked at the Pokéballs connected to the trainers’ bag; they were all deactivated meaning that the Pokémon must be contained within.

“He has all his Pokémon with him”, Stephen commented as he gave the Pokédex to Jay. “Good luck.” Emma nodded to the group and they continued walking up the mountain.

***

Over the next 30 minutes the group found four more trainers as well as 2 critically injured Pokémon, who’s injuries were too much for the group to take care of on the mountain so were sent down to the Pokémon centre leaving Emma, Stephen and Arkbird to reach the Graveler nests.

“If it wasn’t so vital that we checked these nests I would have returned to base”, Emma moaned to Stephen as they slowly climbed a rock strewn part of the mountain.

Stephen pulled out the radio and put it to his mouth, “This is Stephen from Emerald 1 to all units, is there anyone near our grid co-ord? We are at co-ordinate C-4 on approach to the Graveler nests from South-southwest.” Stephen clipped the radio onto his belt and continued climbing while waiting for a response.

After a couple of minutes the radio crackled into life, Stephen and Emma stopped climbing so they could listen, “this is Emerald 4, we have some bad news, we are the only other team up on the mountain at the moment”, Emma softly groaned as she heard that, “and we are around 6 miles from your location and on top of that, we only have 3 people here, sorry.”

Stephen took the radio off his belt and once again put it up to his mouth. “Joy”, he sarcastically commented, “thanks anyway.” Stephen then changed the frequency. “This is Stephen from Emerald 1 to the Rockmount City Pokémon Centre are you receiving?” Stephen waited for a response.

“Hi, Stephen,” Jessica’s voice rang out over the radio, “Nice of you to call.”

Damn, Stephen winced upon hearing Jessica’s voice, “How bad is it down there?” He spoke into the radio fearing the response.

“Well it’s not pretty down here, the wards have been filling up something bad”, Jessica replied, “however there is very little stress and panic, we were able to keep on top of the casualties.” Another voice could be heard in the background over the radio however it was too indistinct to hear. “Yeah, thanks for reminding me,” Jessica said to the voice, “Stephen one of the Cherish Balls the league gave you is missing. Suicune’s to be precise. Do you know where you might have left it?”

Emma looked across at Stephen open mouthed as he rolled his eyes. “Yes I have it on me; it wouldn’t leave me alone when I tried to leave so I took it with me.” Stephen could sense the anger coming from Jessica even over the radio. “In my defence I was desperate to see what was going on. Anyway Emma and me are heading towards the Graveler nests, so I will need you on standby to help translate what’s going on. ‘Kay?”

“Fine, at least now we can stop searching for it.” Jessica droned over the radio, “We’ll leave you to get up to the nests, report when you get there.” with that the radio went dead. Stephen put the radio onto his belt and looked across to Emma who was still gawping at him.

“I’ll show you when we get onto flat ground.” Stephen calmly said and continued climbing.

***

Stephen and Emma climbed for another 25 minutes before finally reaching the Graveler nests. While hidden behind some large boulders Stephen showed Emma the Cherish Ball that contained the Suicune and explained what had happened and what the league had asked for him to do.

“So, that’s what’s going on”, Stephen put the Cherish Ball back, “Now what are we doing about these nests?” He peered around the boulder and scanned the large darkened nest below.

“Lucky bugger. Anyway”, Emma peered around the other side of the boulder, “it doesn’t look good down there. I count about 8 Graveler that exploded, and well over 30 Geodude that followed suit.” Emma pulled herself back round the boulder and tapped Stephen on the shoulder “It doesn’t seem right, there isn’t enough here to have caused this amount of damage.” Stephen turned and crouched behind the boulder. “This is the largest nest”, Emma continued “and look at the damage, something else must have been here at the time.”

Stephen shook his head, “Is there anything else that could have been in the area?”

“Highly unlikely”, Emma looked up trying to think, “Nothing gets near these nests, and they are very defensive.” She looked up seeing Arkbird nervously flying over the nests. “See, even Arkbird doesn’t feel comfortable flying over the nest, even when there are no Pokémon down there capable of attack.” Stephen followed Arkbird with his eyes, before whistling up to Arkbird. The Togekiss responded and flew in a roundabout way back to Stephen.

“Arkbird return,” Stephen held up Arkbird’s Cherish Ball and brought his Pokémon back to it. “You rest up; it’s been a long day already.” He clipped Arkbird’s Cherish Ball to his belt and picked up the radio. “Jess you there?” He asked into the radio.

“HI! What do you need Stephen?” the excited reply came from over the radio.

“Jess, have you been sitting in front of the radio for the last ...” Stephen looked at his watch, “30 minutes?”

“Yeah. What do you need?” the reply came with a much diluted tone.

“You to be ready for any translating” Stephen replied, “we’re at the nest and are ready to investigate.”

“Okay Stephen. However be careful, the sun will be up any minute now, try and move to the east and stay out of sight.” Jessica told Stephen and Emma over the radio. Stephen looked at his watch, it was only 6:20 a.m. but he was already exhausted. He followed Emma around the edge of the nest making sure that he stayed out of sight. They finally came to a stop at the eastern edge of the nest and looked from their new vantage point. Stephen and Emma scanned the nest trying to find something that might have caused the explosion. At that moment the first rays of sunlight crept over the mountain illuminating the nest in front of them, both Stephen and Emma knew what had happened.

“Where on earth did that Golem come from?!” Emma exclaimed under her breath whilst rubbing her eyes. “That is very surprising.” Stephen however didn’t care about the Golem, who was fully conscious and stalking around the nest; he was more concerned with the trainer with his 6 Pokémon who were unconscious in the middle of the nest.

“Found a bigger problem Emma”, Stephen pointed out the trainer; “Found a kid with 6 Pokémon, no doubt the cause of the explosions.” Emma turned to look across the nest to see what they could do. “He must have mistakenly wandered in and tried to defend himself, see anything Emma?” Emma pulled one of the Pokéballs off her belt.

“We are going to have to go down and rescue that trainer ASAP.” Emma plainly stated, “The other Pokémon will be awake as well soon and if that kid is still down there”, Emma shuddered “I really down want to think about that.”

“I have a plan,” Stephen tapped Emma on the shoulder, “I’ll run down into the nest and grab the trainer and run out through that gap.” Stephen pointed across the nest to a small opening behind the trainer away from most of the fainted Pokémon. “While I’m doing that you distract the Golem.” Emma reluctantly nodded; she knew that the only Pokémon Stephen had with him was Arkbird and a baby legendary. “I need to borrow your Shuckle as well.” Stephen took the Suicune’s Cherish Ball off his belt and hid it under some leaves as Emma gave him the mold Pokémon’s Pokéball. “Shuckle I need you,” Stephen quietly said as he opened the ball releasing the Pokémon, “Shuckle, there is a very important Pokéball under these leaves, I need you to guard it. Okay?” The Shuckle nodded. “Good. Now are you ready?” Stephen asked Emma as he stood up.

“This is insane, but our only choice.” Emma took a Great Ball of her belt and activated it. “Rhydon’s Hammer Arm should be enough.” Emma stood up and prepared to throw the Great Ball, while Stephen looked for the clearest route towards the trainer. “Three, two, one GO!” Emma said as she threw the Great Ball forward releasing the Rhydon contained within. Stephen waited a couple of seconds for the Golem to be significantly distracted before running out to the trainer. “Rhydon use Hammer Arm.” Emma called out to the Rhydon, who charged the giant weighty Golem his arm glowing with a brilliant light, the Golem had just enough time to turn around to see the Rhydon slamming its arm heavily onto its head causing it to crash to the ground.

While this was happening Stephen made his way to the unconscious trainer, he picked the trainer up and placed him on his shoulder. Stephen quickly looked around to ensure that there would be no obstruction for him to exit from the nest and return to retrieve the Pokémon.

By this time the Golem had pulled its head out of the ground and was now very angry, Emma knew it would only be a matter of time before the other Pokémon in the nest would start to wake up and join in on the fight. The Golem charged at Emma and her Pokémon, “Rhydon use Ice Punch, and aim for the head again.” The Rhydon roared and charged at the Golem, its clenched fist quickly becoming encased in ice. Just as the two Pokémon were about to collide a huge cloud of dust arouse. Rhydon appeared on the other side slightly dazed, it turned to look at Emma who was crouching close to the ground and beckoned Rhydon to do the same. “Rhydon keep your focus and hold that Ice Punch”, Emma shouted across to the Rhydon who nodded and waited for his next command. Emma put her hand to the ground; she had enough experience of Pokémon using Dig that she could estimate their position. “Rhydon hit the ground NOW!” Emma commanded her Pokémon who responded slamming its iced fist into the ground which seemed to roar back. Rhydon moved towards Emma as the Golem pulled itself out of the hole in the ground.

Stephen had now found his way out of the nest and the trainer was now resting on some flat ground out of sight of the nest. He then took the Pokéballs off the trainers’ belt and proceeded to run back into the nest to rescue the trainers stranded Pokémon. However Stephen had mistimed his run. As he ran to the Pokémon the Golem had got out of its hole and was turning around, and it saw Stephen before Emma and her Rhydon. Stephen looked up to see a Golem running him down with pure hatred in its eyes, he tried to move but slipped on a loose rock and landed heavily on his backside. Stephen tried to back away and Emma’s Rhydon gave chase to the Golem, however it was too fast and filled with too much rage. Stephen fumbled Arkbird Cherish Ball off his belt and activated it, but it was too late. SHIT, was all Stephen could think as he braced himself for the impact, an impact that never came.

“CUNE”, a voice roared over Stephen’s head. He looked up to see a blue streak fly over him and land mere meters in front of him and with it head pressed up against the Golem stopping it in his tracks. Stephen stared for a second amazed by the strength of the baby Pokémon in front of him. He came to his senses and tossed Arkbird’s Cherish Ball into the air.

“Arkbird push that Golem back” Stephen commanded as he got to his feet. Arkbird responded and slammed against the Golem pushing it back. Stephen grabbed Suicune and pulled it away allowing Arkbird a full view of the Golem to attack. “Now use Aura Sphere Arkbird” Stephen called out while holding Suicune back, the Pokémon by his side however had no interest sitting on the side lines. Arkbird growled at the Golem then opened its beak forming a glowing turquoise orb from it. The Golem growled back and started to charge, however it was stopped in its tracks when Arkbird fired off the orb which slammed forcefully against the Golem knocking it to the floor. After that it simply couldn’t get up. Stephen returned Arkbird, “Sorry about using you like that, you need to rest now.” Stephen put the Cherish Ball on his belt then walked back to where he had left Suicune’s Cherish Ball.

Emma looked up to see Stephen walking off with the Suicune by this side and couldn’t help but smile. That is just so fitting for him, of all the trainers I would have thought to end up with a legendary Pokémon he is first. She thought to herself as she picked up the radio and put it to her mouth as she returned her Rhydon.

Stephen took Suicune’s Cherish Ball from the pile of leaves it was left under while the Shuckle that had been left to guard it looked on with a dumb founded look on its face. Stephen shook his head and rolled his eyes. Dopey thing, he thought to himself, he turned to the Suicune who was sitting looking up at Stephen with an obedient look on its eyes. Stephen couldn’t help but laugh. “What are you doing?” he held up the Cherish Ball, “return Suicune.” He put the Cherish Ball back onto his belt, “I’ll let you have a bit more time to exercise later.” Stephen picked up Emma’s Shuckle and walked towards the rescued trainer.

***

“That was an amazingly powerful Aura Sphere,” Emma said to Stephen as she sat on a flat boulder watching over the Stephen and the still unconscious trainer to whom he was attending. “How did you manage to get it that strong?”

“A lot of work and a lot of experience against inexperienced trainers who challenged my ... me and Jessica’s gym.” Stephen finished bandaging up the trainers arm. He looked up to see Emma scanning the sky to the east. “What are you looking for?” He asked following her gaze.

“The chopper from the Davenport Central Pokémon Centre.” Emma flicked her eyes to look at Stephen hoping to see shock; however he just shrugged and turned to the trainer and pressed his first and middle fingers against the trainer’s neck to check his pulse. He then looked at his watch and started counting.

After a minute Stephen stopped and looked up at Emma “That won’t be a problem”, Stephen removed his fingers from the trainers neck and glanced to the east looking for the helicopter that was on its way. “His pulse is stable and has no broken bones. Air lifting won’t be a problem.” Emma closed her eyes and tilted her head back, relieved. She opened her eyes and looked east as a low pitched vibrating noise reached the mountain. In the distance Emma could faintly make out a small black dot from which the noise was emanating.

“Looks like the chopper’s here”. Emma got off the boulder and moved a small distance away from Stephen and the trainer. She pulled a flare gun out of a side pocket as well as two handheld flares. Emma waited until the helicopter was closer before firing the flare gun into the sky. The bright red flare shot up into the morning sky indicating the position of Stephen, Emma and the injured trainer. The helicopter made a correction to its heading and flew towards the flare. As soon as Emma could make out the cockpit she lit the other two flares, held them in separate hands and waved them with a sweeping motion above her head, crossing her arms.

Once the helicopter arrived at their position, Emma extinguished the flares and grabbed the radio. “DCPC Helicopter do you receive?” She asked into the radio and was greeted with an immediate response. “Good. We have an injured trainer, stable pulse, no apparent broken bones. Over.” The pilot and rescue crew had a quick discussion and informed Emma of the decision. Emma caught the attention of the pilot in the cockpit and pointed out the location of the trainer before walking over there.

“Stephen” Emma shouted over the roar of the helicopters rotor blades, “They are going to send down a man to pick up the trainer then a couple of ropes for us to latch onto. Okay.” Stephen nodded preferring not to shout over the noise from the helicopter. He looked up to see someone rappel down from the helicopter and land next to them.

“Is this the guy?” the crewman rhetorically asked as he walked up to the trainer, “Help me connect him to the harness.” Stephen held the trainer up as the crewman connected the trainer to his harness. “Clear to lift. Over.” The crewman shouted into his headset radio and was pulled up into the helicopter. A couple of ropes were sent down after and Stephen and Emma hooked themselves onto the harnesses and were pulled on board the helicopter.

***

The flight to Rockmount City was blissfully short. It was around 7:30 when the helicopter landed in a park near the Pokémon Centre. After helping the Chansey take the stretchers with the injured trainer and his Pokémon to the centre and ensuring that everyone he helped off the mountain were doing well he retreated back to the room in which he had awoken only three hours earlier. However he was completely exhausted, with a yawn he fell onto his bed, tangled himself up in the blankets and shut his eyes. Within seconds there was a knock on the door.

“Come in”, Stephen moaned into the pillow into which he had buried his face. The door slowly opened and Jessica peered round it before quietly coming into the room and sitting on the edge of the bed. She was wearing a pair of blue scrubs borrowed from the Pokémon Centre. An uncomfortable silence filled the room for a minute with neither Stephen nor Jessica talking. “Do you want anything Jess?” Stephen broke the silence with another moan into his pillow. Jessica tutted and got up to leave the room, however Stephen grabbed her hand and forced Jessica to sit back down. He lifted his face from the pillow and turned to look at Jessica’s face, “what did you want to say?” he asked with a more sympathetic tone to his voice. Jessica turned to hide her slightly pink blushing face. Stephen was still inadvertently holding her hand and she didn’t want him to let go. But Jessica wanted to get on with what she wanted to do; she gulped then turned to look at Stephen with a smile on her face.

“I just wanted to say”, Jessica nervously stammered her words while Stephen looked on, “that I’m proud of you.” Stephen smiled and closed his eyes. Jessica’s face went bright red as she looked on. Well done, you’ve made yourself sound like a complete idiot. She thought to herself while she waited for Stephen to respond.

“Thanks Jess”, Stephen replied with a smile on his face but his eyes remained closed, “that means a lot to me.” Stephen yawned and snuggled into his pillow. “Jess can you do a favour for me?”

“Sure, what do you need?” Jessica moved a little closer.

“Let the babies out for a while”, Stephen instructed, “take them to the park where the helicopter landed and let them roam for a while.” Jessica was about to respond when Stephen interrupted. “And don’t worry about people wanting to catch them. You do have 5 Pokémon with you to protect them.” Jessica smiled and shook her head.

Sometimes it’s scary just how well he knows me. She thought to herself, “Okay, I’ll do that for you.” She leaned over Stephen who was on the verge of falling asleep. “You get some rest.”

“Will do.” Stephen sleepily replied as he curled up before quickly falling asleep. Jessica leaned over his face to check if he was fully asleep before wrapping her arms around him, hugging him tightly. After a couple of minutes she pulled away and headed for the door, picking up the Cherish Balls. She left the room with a grin on her face usually only seen on an Electrode.

Jessica put the Cherish Balls in her bag and walked to the nurse’s changing rooms, where she got out of the scrubs she had been wearing for the last couple of hours back into her clothes, a pair of well worn gray demin jeans, which she wore under her natural gown, and a plain red short sleeved t-shirt which had holes in the front and back for her emotion sensing horns.

Jessica walked out of the Pokémon Centre, which was now a lot calmer, and headed towards the park where the helicopter from the Davenport Pokémon Centre has landed. When she arrived the park was empty. Excellent, no nosy trainers ... yet. Jessica thought to herself as she walked across the grass to the open field. She took the balls for her five Pokémon from her belt and released them one by one. She looked at the five and smiled, she then spoke in her Pokémon language (Hi guys and gals ... and blobby, whatever you decide to be today) the Ditto giggled at the remark. (I’m letting you lot have a nice day in the park,) Jessica continued with her five Pokémon listening intently (I’m also going to be releasing four baby Pokémon I need you to keep an eye out for, they need some play time to. So be nice ok.) The Pokémon in front of her nodded in reply. (Ray I need you to look after this Suicune), Jessica threw Suicune’s Cherish Ball forward releasing the Pokémon.

(Sure thing Gardevoir), The Empoleon responded, he hated referring to Jessica as Jessica, preferring to use her generic species name; (I’ll keep the little guy safe). With that Ray walked off with the Suicune at his side, who was asking a lot of questions about Stephen and Jessica.

(Abigail you will be looking after Darkrai), Jessica threw Darkrai’s Cherish Ball forward releasing him. (I’m sure you will have no problem keeping him safe.)

(Of course Master Jessica), The Absol responded. Unlike Ray, Abigail took great pride in being Jessica’s Pokémon, it did not matter to her that she was a Pokémon as well, Jessica was her trainer. (I’ll do my very best.) Abigail walked off with the Darkrai floating behind her quietly and nervously.

(Magik, you have a Deoxys to look after today), Jessica released the Deoxys from its Cherish Ball, (Be warned though, he is a quick one.)

(Not going to be a problem Jess...) The Breloom didn’t even get a chance to finish as the Deoxys picked him up and ran off at full tilt, before coming back a few seconds later. (Well, that was ... something.) Magik stopped for a second to regain his senses. (Anyway, like I was saying. It won’t be a problem Jessica. I’ll look after the big guy.) With that he walked off with the excited Deoxys who was barraging him with questions.

(And for you Hakha and Blobby, you get a cute Latias.) Jessica carefully released the Latias from her Cherish Ball. Jessica took a moment to stroke the floating Eon Pokémon, causing her to elicit a series of cooing noises, before continuing to talk to her Pokémon. (Be careful with this one, okay?)

(Yes. Master. Jessica.) The Porygon-Z responded slowly, each word spoken deliberately as if it was a sentence in itself. Although Hakha had no problems being owned by a Pokémon-Pokémon trainer it was still very reserved and spoke only when necessary. Blobby on the other hand was eager to get playing.

(Well if boring there is just going to guard I’ll play with her.) Blobby responded while stretching and contracting and generally bouncing around, which caused the young Latias to giggle. (We will have a lot of fun, won’t we?) The Ditto then transformed into the Latias who recoiled with surprise, before Blobby transformed back, which once again caused the Latias to giggle.

(Okay, you guys have fun, if you need me, I’ll be here relaxing.) Jessica told them before lying on the grass and looking up into the blue morning sky.

***

(This morning was very exciting.) The Suicune spoke with a rushed tone to his voice. (I was sitting in my ball when I heard, well felt, that Stephen was in danger.) Ray rolled his eyes and kept on walking to the small lake in the middle of the park. (Seriously, I sensed this danger and forced my way out of the ball, and charged towards this giant Golem and ... DUDE!) The Suicune stopped as it saw that Ray was no longer listening and preparing to dive into the lake.

(Yeah, so what, you did what any Pokémon does when their trainer is in mortal danger.) Ray replied without looking at the Suicune, who had walked next to him and was looking at the lake. (Now, time for a swim.) Ray jumped into the lake and swam to the middle before floating on his back and relaxing. Suicune followed and walked into a shallow part of the lake and splashed around; he looked to his left to see Darkrai and Abigail having a casual battle with a pair of Butterfree.

(For a couple of bugs you’re pretty strong), Abigail commented towards the two Butterfly Pokémon for their simultaneous Silver Wind attack, (Darkrai, why don’t you try and use your Dark Void attack to sleep these two.) Darkrai look on intently, curious to learn as much from the Absol next to him. However he was confused.

(What’s that? I’ve never heard of that move), Darkrai quizzically looked at Abigail who laughed to herself while shaking her head. She looked across towards the two Butterfree who were floating in the air waiting for Darkrai’s next move.

(I think we had better call it quits.) Abigail called to the Butterfree who nodded and flew off together. Abigail turned to Darkrai, (Let’s go over there and see what you can actually do.) She walked off towards a large Willow tree and sat in the shade it offered. Darkrai followed in silence waiting for more words of wisdom. (Try and think. Use any attacks you can on me.) Darkrai nodded and floated towards Abigail and sat next to her.

Darkrai focused but came up blank; he looked across the park from the tree under which was he sitting, to see Magik being pulled around by the Deoxys who, unlike the poor Breloom she was dragging, was having a brilliant time.

(OK OK. Can you please stop the running about? PLEASE!) Magik shouted to Deoxys who stopped suddenly sending Magik flying forward. (Very funny), Magik shouted back while on his short flight. He just had enough time to bring his short arms over his face before slamming against the ground. He looked up to see Deoxys standing over him. (Please tell me you’re finished.) The DNA Pokémon nodded and leant an arm to help Magik up. Magik dusted himself up and headed towards a berry tree covered with small red berries. Deoxys tried to follow but couldn’t help running ahead of Magik.

Magik picked two of the berries off the bush and offered one to the Deoxys. She took it and slowly took a bite out of it, before recoiling in disgust. (That was awful.) Deoxys complained to Magik who was pulling more berries off the bush as he stuffed them into his mouth. (How can you stand them, they’re so spicy.) Magik just shrugged his shoulders and continued to stuff berries into his mouth. (Different tastes for different Pokémon I suppose.) Deoxys looked across the park to see Latias, Hakha and Blobby playing close to Jessica. As if Latias was too nervous to leave the safety of a trainer.

Latias nuzzled against Blobby who rippled and transformed into Stephen, much to Latias’ joy as she charged and forced Blobby to the ground whilst licking his face. (YAY!) Latias gleefully cheered while she squeezed Blobby.

(You’re squashing me!) Blobby responded as he transformed back, stretched round and sat on Latias’ back. Blobby looked across to Hakha who was looking on with his usual blank stare. (Are you going to be boring?) Blobby shouted at Hakha, (or have a bit of fun for once.) Blobby stretched his face and stuck out his tongue.

(If. It. Will. Stop. You. Being. Annoying.) Hakha floated towards Latias and Blobby and “Sat” on her back. (Do. Not. Be. Too. Rough. Please.) Latias nodded, before rushing off causing Hakha to lose his balance and fall off. He landed on his head and fell onto his front. After regaining his composure Hakha got up and shook himself off. (You. Are. Not. Funny.) He shouted up to Latias and Blobby who were both giggling at Hakha. He floated off as Latias flew towards Jessica coming to a stop beside her, before dropping to the ground with a small yawn and falling into a light sleep.

“You tired after your play time then Latias?” Jessica jokingly asked Latias who mumbled and let out another yawn. Jessica stood up and stretched, letting out a small groan. She heard a barely concealed sigh behind her, turning around she saw Alvin standing with his hands on his hips.

“There is mud all over your back.” Alvin looked across towards the lake to see Ray and Suicune relaxing in the water. “If you don’t mind, could you help me collect some data on Suicune?”

“No, that’s fine”, Jessica replied as they walked off towards the lake. “I am a little worried about these four though.” Jessica looked around just in case Stephen had woken up and was in the park. “I don’t understand why he brought them with him. He could have, well really should have, left them back at the house while we found possible locations for their origin.” Jessica rubbed her left arm nervously. “I mean, he knows that Pokémon bond with whoever they are with when they are in their Pokéballs.”

“I suppose it’s to ensure that in the event that he, you, we find the place these four came from he would have them to hand.” Alvin suggested as he made his way to the Suicune, who was now out of the lake and lying on the grass. “Hey buddy, do you mind if we have a quick look at you?” Alvin asked the Suicune, who shook his head in reply. Alvin got out his Pokédex and started to scan Suicune.

“I’m just worried that when the time comes to release these guys, they will be too bonded to Stephen to leave.” Jessica mused aloud, “I was watching Blobby and Latias and when Blobby transformed into Stephen, Latias dove for him in the exact same manner she did when he first released her from the Cherish Ball.” Jessica sat on the ground next to Suicune and stroked his fur.

“I wouldn’t worry too much Jess.” Alvin said, “Stephen knows what he is doing.” Jessica nodded in reply. “Anyway there are other things for us to be doing right now. So if you could help me take a sample of this guy’s fur we can continue.” Jessica helped Alvin study Suicune for the next 15 minutes while the other Pokémon played.

Jessica stretched, “So where is Sam?” she asked Alvin, who was packing up his equipment.

“Still at the Pokémon Centre, I think he was trying to get a hold of Professor Oak.” Alvin replied, “I'm heading back there now, so I’ll check and I’ll see if he is going to battle the gym.” Alvin started to walk off. “I heard that it actually opened today.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Jessica replied, “Emma is built as tough as they come.”

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Just an FYI, i have made some updates to the base info at the top of the page concerning the Actopon Elite 4 and part of the Region called The Fox Archipelago. For clarity

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