Thread: A Promise of Darkness

I started posting this a while ago but I lost my way on it. I think I've found my way again so here it is again.

I really don't like the title of this story but I'm having issues coming up with an alternative so it'll have to do. This is going to be a very dark and nasty story at points so consider yourself warned.

There's a wee bit of language, occasional violence and potentially distressing scenes.

Let's rate it PG-13

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A Promise of Darkness

Prologue

The early morning sun sat just above the peaks surrounding the famous, yet humbly so, town of Pallet. All over town the dew that had settled overnight on the early spring blooms reflected the sunlight, making the town glimmer.

Professor Samuel Oak, renowned professor in the pokémon field, especially in the Kanto region, had been awake hours before the first Dodrio’s call and now waited patiently at the gate of his laboratory for the arrival of Pallet town’s new trainers. The four youths would be receiving their starting pokémon from him to begin their journey towards whatever goal they had set themselves. He gave a small smile as two of them came sprinting excitedly towards him.
“Good morning Jason, good morning Kate.” He greeted the two thirteen year olds cordially. “All set to start are you?”
“Absolutely Professor!” Jason nodded eagerly. “I can’t wait to get going!” Despite his age, Jason was a very solidly built youth, an image that was in sharp contrast to his ‘gentle as a kitten’ nature. Jason’s dark brown hair sat in a random mess atop his head. His friend Kate had her own jet black hair tied back in a neat ponytail.
“Are you two going to be traveling together?” Oak asked.
“For a while at least.” Kate said calmly, removing her sunglasses and fixing him with a stunning emerald gaze. “We’ll see how it goes.”
Oak nodded in approval. “Ah! Here come the other two.”
Two more young males were coming towards them, not sprinting as Jason and Kate had done but there was a definite eagerness in their pace.
“Bill, Andrew.” The professor nodded to the two new arrivals and smiled warmly. “Okay, now that we’re all here let’s head inside.”

He led them to a large room that was cobalt blue from floor to ceiling and whose walls where lined with sophisticated looking equipment. In the centre of the room sat a small podium, upon which sat four gleaming red and white pokéballs. The four trainers gathered around it excitedly.
Oak stood by a computer near the wall. “This computer will randomly put your names into an order; this order will determine who gets to choose first. The pokémon choices are Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Vulpix.” He pressed a key and the four names were displayed, Jason first then Bill, Kate and finally Andrew.
Jason eagerly grabbed a pokéball from the podium. “I’m taking Charmander!” He exclaimed.
Bill reached out and picked up Bulbasaur’s pokéball. “Grass type for me.” He said coolly.
Kate sat contemplating for a moment and finally decided on Squirtle; Andrew took the remaining pokéball containing Vulpix.

Tracey, Professor Oak’s assistant, came into the room with four packages and handed one to each of the new trainers.
“In those packages,” Oak explained, “are your pokédex and six pokéballs to get you started.” He walked into an adjacent room and the others followed. The massive room was lined with shelves, most of them filled with pokéballs. Behind him came the collective gasp of the four trainers.
“Here is where all of the pokémon are stored when the trainers from Pallet Town catch them. The pokémon are allowed to roam free at the back of this lab. Just the pokéballs are kept here. And here are your shelves.” He gestured to four empty ones, each shelf containing hundreds of empty pokéball cavities.
The look on Jason’s face betrayed his intimidation.
“I have to fill all of them?”

Oak chuckled. “You’ve got many years ahead of you to do that, I wouldn’t let it worry you.”
“Could we see Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak’s shelves?” Bill asked curiously, referring to the two young pokémon masters that were idolized by all of the Pallet trainers.
The professor gave a small smile and led them to another series of shelves. All four trainers gave out vocal, awe inspired comments as they saw shelf after shelf of pokéballs under both masters’ names.
“Unreal.” Oak heard Andrew mutter.
“What you see there is fourteen years of dedicated pokémon training. “If your goal is to become a pokémon master as well, you could very well achieve something similar.” He hustled them from the room. “Come now you need to get going before it gets too much later into the day.”
He and Tracey walked the group to the gate.
“Good luck to all of you.” He said smiling.
“Remember, if things aren’t going your way, don’t get disheartened.” Tracey added. “Even masters have their bad days.”
“Keep in touch.” Oak said seriously. “I want to hear regular reports from you all on your progress.”
The four trainers headed away from Pallet town waving to the Professor and Tracey.
“What do you think?” Tracey asked as the trainers turned a corner and out of sight.
The Professor didn’t respond. He stood staring at the spot where the trainers had disappeared from view, looking deep in thought. Tracey studied his mentor quietly for a moment. Over the years the professor’s hair had turned completely white and wrinkles had gathered at the corners of his eyes, though this was a sign of the troubled times more than his age.

“It looks like Ash and Gary were right again this year.” Tracey said trying to get a response from his mentor.
“So it seems.” The Professor replied. “Speaking of which, we should call Ash and tell him the news.”
“Shall I go attend to the pokémon?”
Oak turned to his assistant. “No, you’d better come with me, if there’s any news it’s better that we both hear it directly.”

Misty Ketchum, Ash Ketchum’s wife and the gym leader of Cerulean City answered the call. Her face broke into a wide smile when she saw the Professor and Tracey.
“Hello Misty.” Oak said genially. “How are things at the gym?”
“Everything’s fine here at the moment I guess. All the gym leaders have been pulled out of operations for now to give us time to focus on our gym duties.”
Oak nodded. “I heard about that. It’s been disturbingly quiet in most of the Kanto area lately.”
Misty’s face darkened slightly. “Yeah, it’s making me nervous to be perfectly honest. I’m concerned that something really big is about to happen.” Her face darkened further and a cold fury burned in her eyes. “Ash is as busy as hell, and the lack of action is only making his workload larger, not smaller. We’ve barely seen each other at all in the last two months.”
Oak nodded solemnly. “It must be very hard on you.”
Misty sighed. “That’s life I suppose. It’d be nice if I could see some sort of end in sight but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen anytime soon. Hang on, I think I hear Ash coming.” She turned her attention off screen for a moment. “Ash honey, Professor Oak’s on the phone. Here he comes Professor; I hope I’ll see you both soon.”
“Goodbye Misty.” Oak replied. Misty rose from the chair and was replaced by Ash who was grinning broadly but couldn’t hide the tiredness in his eyes. His untidy black hair had not changed from his youth nor had his clothing really. He still frequented a tight black t-shirt but had replaced the blue jacket with white sleeves with a collared black open vest bordered with red; his open fingered gloves too were now black with red wrists.

“How are you Professor, Tracey?” He said jovially. “I assume you’re calling to inform me about the new trainers?”
Oak nodded. “I am indeed.”
“And?”
The professor sighed. “We rigged the system so that Jason would get first choice and, as you and Gary both predicted, he chose Charmander.”
Ash clapped his hands together. “Excellent. What were the excitement levels like?”
“Jason was definitely the most enthusiastic.” Tracey said. “He was a bit daunted by all the empty slots on his pokéball storage shelf but when we showed the trainers yours and Gary’s shelves, the determination in his eyes was unmistakable.”
Ash nodded. “He’s a real potential just like Gary and I said. What were the other pairings?”
“Bill went second and chose Bulbasaur, then Kate took Squirtle leaving Andrew with Vulpix.”
Ash tapped a finger against his lips. “Hmm I picked Bill taking Squirtle but those pairings are pretty good anyway.” He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote the pairings down. “I’ll pass this info on to Gary when I see him.”
“Speaking of Gary…” Oak trailed off hopefully, wanting any information on his grandson.
Ash sighed. “I wish I could tell you something Professor, anything, but I can’t, his location and current mission is maximum security information. All I can say is that he should be back by the end of the month. I’m sorry I can’t say more…”
Oak nodded. “I understand. Any theories on the inactivity?”
Ash scowled. “Several. All of them aren’t very nice. Team Rocket hasn’t been this quiet in years, not since they started going all out with these massive operations. It’s really disconcerting and the team is in overdrive trying to figure out what the hell is going on.”
“What about Carrada?”
Ash’s scowl darkened. “That slimy bastard gave us the slip again; our agents lost him near Vermillion City, he always seems to be one step ahead of us. Still, I suppose that’s why he’s a high ranking Rocket agent. How’s everything there?”
“Everything’s fine here, yours and Gary’s pokémon are better than any security system I could come up with; anything unwanted wouldn’t be able to get ten meters into the property by air, land, water or even underground.”
Ash nodded. “Good. And the underground refuge shelters?”
“I check the entrances everyday to make sure they aren’t obstructed.” Tracey said. “The pokémon are keeping a constant vigil on them too.”
“Excellent, let me know at once if anything changes. I’ll only be here for another day or so but if you contact Misty she can get any messages to me pretty quickly.”
“Where are you off to this time?” Tracey inquired.
Ash ran a hand over his face. “I’ve got a few top secret affairs to take care of and then depending on how events play out I might be in Viridian City. With the next championships only three months away I’ve got to help organize security for that plus Giovanni, the Viridian Gym leader is holding some special conference or dinner or something along those lines next week for pokémon trainers who have got their minimum eight badges and are waiting for the championships to begin.”
“Sounds like he’s almost inviting Team Rocket to crash the party.” Tracey said.
“Yeah well everyone’s trying their best to keep things as normal as possible even with the high probability of Rocket interference.” He looked to his right to something off screen. “Look, you guys’ll have to excuse me, as I said I’ve only got about two more days here with Misty and even with that I’m having to juggle time around work so I’m trying to make the most of it.”
Oak smiled. “Go ahead Ash, thanks for the info.”
“Take care of yourselves.” Ash hung up and Tracey watched as Professor Oak stared at the blank screen, again deep in thought.

“It’s amazing.” Tracey said to break the silence. “We’re almost in a full on war with Team Rocket but young trainers are still willing to go out and venture through the world on pokémon journeys.”
“It’s like Ash said.” Oak replied still staring blankly. “Everyone’s trying to keep things as normal as possible in a time of turmoil.” He was silent for a moment. “It is dangerous for the young trainers to be out there though; perhaps we should send the new Pallet trainers a strong pokémon to accompany them. I’m sure Ash and Gary wouldn’t mind donating a few of their pokémon to the cause.”
Tracey sighed. “If only we could go back to how it was even seven years ago. I’d feel a whole lot better about sending inexperienced trainers out on their own.”
Oak nodded. “Indeed. However these times will provide the trainers with some extremely difficult challenges and will definitely show us who the future pokémon masters will be.”

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The writing's not brilliant I know.

This seems *very* familiar. Have you posted it before or am I just having deja vu?

Errr, Blacky...first line of his post...

"I started posting this a while ago but I lost my way on it. I think I've found my way again so here it is again."

Still very good K2. And great to have you back on the writing field

lol Blackjack, yes I have posted this before, it fell off after 3 chapters I believe.

Damian: I'm as bored as sin and currently in a pokemon groove so i figure it's time for a return. It'll keep me doing something while I await the approaching date of my departure for the land of the rising sun.

*blush* Sorry, was tired as hell when I read it.

Um...in that case, did you change anything? If not, I'd prefer you go back and find the old topic for it.

No real need to do that even if there's no change. If he wants to, then sure, but otherwise - it's not like this forum is so full of posts that we need to worry about some minor cases of duplication.

Sorry it's taken so long. A mixture of stormy weather and borrowing a copy of Animal Crossing from my friend ^_^
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Chapter 1

Jason sighed in relief as the cool air conditioning flooded over him and the sliding doors to the pokémon centre in Viridian City slid closed, blocking the heat of the late afternoon sun. He wiped the sweat off his brow with his arm and walked towards the desk, Kate following closely behind.
“It feels like summer is here already!” He said to Nurse Joy as he placed three pokéballs on the desk. Kate placed four beside his. “Could you heal our pokémon please?”
The pokémon nurse smiled and placed the trainer’s pokéballs on separate trays.
“Sure thing. You two are from Pallet town aren’t you?”
“Uh… yeah.” Jason said incredulously. “How’d you know that?”
“Professor Oak asked me to keep an eye out for you. The other two trainers were here yesterday, they headed for Pewter City this morning. Anyway Professor Oak wanted me to get you to call him as soon as you got in. There are phones on the wall over there.” She indicated to a row of green phone booths and then retreated through a door, carrying their pokéballs.

Jason raised an eyebrow at Kate. “What do you think he wants?”
The other shrugged. “Beats me. He did tell us to report in regularly. Maybe he’s just making sure that we do.”
The two wandered over to the phones and dialed the lab’s number. Tracey’s face appeared after a few rings.
“Oh hi guys!” He said cheerfully. “I’m glad to see you’re ok, we were starting to worry.”
“Nurse Joy told us to call Professor Oak.” Jason explained.
“Yeah, I’ll get to that in a second. Professor Oak is out at the moment, he wanted me to get a list of the pokémon you’ve caught.”
“I’ve caught a Nidoran, a Spearow and a Weedle.” Kate said beaming.
“I’ve got a Bellsprout and a Pidgey.” Jason said. “It’s a pity that Nurse Joy has our pokémon, my Pidgey is super tough and has these weird markings. I’ll have to show it to you later.”
Tracey raised an eyebrow. “Sounds interesting. I’d like to see that. But now onto business. The Professor and I are concerned about your well being with Team Rocket running around like they are so we’ve decided to send you a little security. I’m about to send both of you a pokémon each from either Gary or Ash’s collection. We’ve explained the situation to them so you’ll have no problems with them not obeying you.”
Jason’s eyes grew wide, something Tracey obviously saw. “It’s absolutely imperative that you understand that these pokémon are for your defense only. You aren’t to use these pokémon in normal pokémon battles. As such they won’t count in the six pokémon limit.”
There was a small crackling sound and a pokéball materialized in a slot beside the phone.
“That one’s Kate’s.” Tracey explained. “Yours is coming now.”
Another pokéball appeared and Jason removed it from the slot.
“Now you both understand what I’ve told you?” Tracey asked sternly. “You may not be aware of this but Professor Oak can sometimes have a nasty temper. If he hears that you’re using those pokémon for anything other than defense then I wouldn’t want to be you in that situation.”
Jason nodded firmly. “We understand.”
Tracey smiled. “Good luck guys. Call us whenever you can so that we know you’re ok.”

The screen went blank and Jason turned to Kate with a raised eyebrow. Kate shrugged in response.
“I guess we should have a look at what we were sent so we can think quickly if we need to use them.” Jason said slowly.
“In other words ‘I wanna look! I wanna look!’” Kate said with a grin.
Jason grinned back and released the pokémon from the pokéball he held in his hand. The grin was replaced instantly with a hanging jaw. A towering mass of fur and claws stared down at him.
Jason sat down heavily and gaped, trying to make his voice work.
“U-Ursaring…” He squeaked weakly.
The giant bear pokémon looked around briefly, blinked and then took a step towards Jason and poked the pokéball in his hand with a large claw. The pokémon phased into red light and disappeared back into the ball.
Kate looked down at the pokéball she held in a trembling hand.
“Um… I’m not sure if I want to know what’s in this.”
Jason slumped in his chair and waved a weak hand in her direction. “Better to know now than to have to deal with the surprise when we’re under attack.”
Kate nodded and dropped the pokéball onto the ground. The sound that emitted from Jason’s throat was akin to that made by a mouse being stepped on. Kate stared up in terror at the giant Feraligator and it stared curiously back at her. Suddenly it lurched forward, shoving its muzzle against her hair and snuffled for a few moments. It raised itself back up apparently satisfied and returned itself to its pokéball.
Jason ran a trembling hand through his hair. “Um… does the fact that they’ve given us really powerful pokémon worry you at all?”
Kate slowly bent down and picked Feraligator’s pokéball off the floor. She stared at it contemplating what it meant. “Maybe they know more about what’s going on than the public does about Team Rocket.” She said thoughtfully. “Maybe they think we’re in direct danger for some reason.” She looked up at Jason. “I can understand why they gave us the pokémon but…I’m worried about why they gave us ones that are obviously really powerful.”

From the balcony of the pokémon center that evening the two watched the arrival of pokémon trainers to a special function at a hotel beside the pokémon center. Their hopes of catching a glimpse of the trainers’ pokémon however, went unfulfilled. After having their pokémon returned to them they retired to the beds provided by the pokémon center.

They had barely closed their eyes when they were awoken by a loud commotion filtering through the windows. The two raced out to the front of the pokémon center where Nurse Joy and several other trainers already stood watching a battle unfold outside the hotel.
“What’s going on?” Kate asked.
“Team Rocket.” Nurse Joy replied grimly.
Two police officers stood facing up against a group of three black-clad figures with a scarlet ‘R’ painted on their chest. In front of them two large Arcanines stood ready. The three figures each threw a pokéball and two Raticates and a Vaporeon emerged.
Without waiting for a command the Raticates shot forward, each one heading to one of the Arcanines who stood ready to take the direct hit. When they were inches from the huge fire dogs they disappeared simultaneously, presumably in a quick attack and Jason didn’t dare blink. The Raticates’ maneuver divided the attention of the Arcanines and one of the Rockets took advantage of the confusion and ordered the Vaporeon to use a hydro pump. The Vaporeon stepped forward and sent a powerful blast of water directly at one of the Arcanines. The huge beast gave a great yelp and tumbled backwards, propelled by the blast. It came to a stop and struggled to its feet standing only momentarily before the Raticates hit it from either side. The huge dog slumped to the ground and blacked out.

The second Arcanine had attempted a take-down on the Vaporeon but the nimbler water pokémon dodged the attack, launching a jet of water at its opponent. The Arcanine deftly dodged but with its attention focused on the Vaporeon it didn’t notice the Raticates until they sunk their enormous teeth into its hide. The Arcanine shook them off, yelping wildly and then slumped to the ground bleeding heavily. Without warning Nurse Joy suddenly stepped forward and launched a pokéball.
“Take out that Vaporeon!” She yelled fiercely. “Use thunderpunch!”
A Raichu erupted from the pokéball and launched itself with amazing speed at the Vaporeon. The Vaporeon had barely crouched in preparation to spring clear when the Raichu’s fist slammed into its neck and electricity coursed over its body. The water pokémon screamed in agony as the Raichu continued to pulse electricity through its system.
“Look out! Use agility!” Nurse Joy called.
The Raichu looked up and barely avoided the incoming Raticate. Using its impressive speed the Raichu dodged behind the Raticate and leapt onto its back, releasing a powerful thunder attack. The Raticate slumped to the ground and the Raichu leapt up into battle stance. The next attack happened so fast that Jason was taken completely by surprise. The Hitmonchan seemed to come out of nowhere and connected with a powerful hook that hit the Raichu in the side of the head. The electric type staggered from the force of the blow and hit the ground, out cold.

A tall man with a commanding presence stepped forward addressing the Rocket members. He was wearing a black tuxedo with a carnation in the pocket of his jacket. His eyes burned with a furious rage. Jason immediately recognised him as the Viridian City gym leader, Giovanni.
“How dare you?” The cold fury in Giovanni’s voice seemed to freeze the air around him. “How dare you come here and attempt to steal pokémon from under my nose?”
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a pokéball, hurling it towards the Hitmonchan. A Nidoking emerged and immediately began bearing down on the fighting type. Before the Hitmonchan could respond it found itself in the grip of the Nidoking. The huge ground type threw the fighting type with all of its might and the Hitmonchan hit the pavement hard and stopped moving. Suddenly from the shadows a new pokéball flew into the battleground and landed at the feet of the Nidoking. Before it could react, the Snorlax that emerged hit it solidly in the head with a megapunch. The Nidoking staggered from the blow but righted itself and turned to face its opponent again. The Snorlax’s hyper beam hit it solidly in the chest and it crashed to the pavement and lay still.

The Rocket members returned their fallen pokémon and the Raticate that was still standing as a new figure emerged from the shadows grinning maliciously.
Nurse Joy swore violently under her breath causing Jason to start and stare at her in amazement. The word she had just uttered was certainly not one used in any form of civilised conversation, nor was it something that he’d ever expect the normally upbeat nurse to say.
“I should have known that you’d be here Carrada.” Giovanni spat. His voice was laced with pure hatred.
“Well I could hardly pass up this lovely opportunity could I?” The other replied, still grinning. “I mean, you basically invited Team Rocket to do this by pulling all these wonderfully skilled trainers here.”
“You’re leaving here with nothing!” Giovanni yelled hurling a new pokéball. The Machamp had barely emerged before the Snorlax hit it with a megapunch, leapt into the air and slammed down on top of it. Giovanni returned the stunned pokémon and glared at Carrada.
“Care to try for third time lucky?” Carrada asked sweetly.
“My turn!” Came a new voice. “Ice beam!”
A beam of ice shot out of the darkness and hit the Snorlax dead on, engulfing it in a prison of ice. Suddenly a Nidoqueen charged for the frozen pokémon with its head lowered and slammed into it, shattering the ice and causing the Snorlax to tumble away.
“Finish it with hyper beam!” The voice commanded. The Nidoqueen complied with a powerful blast that drove the Snorlax back against the wall.
Carrada returned his Snorlax as a cloaked and hooded figure emerged from the shadows.
“Shall we dance Carrada?” The figure said.
“I was wondering what happened to you.” Carrada grinned maliciously and hurled another pokéball. A Meganium emerged with a triumphant call.
“Ice beam!” The cloaked trainer called.
The Nidoqueen fired a second ice beam but the Meganium easily leapt clear. Without a single command from its trainer the Meganium sent vine whips out, caught the Nidoqueen and hauled it off the ground. The Nidoqueen thrashed in the grip of the vine whips as the Meganium pummeled it with razor leaves. The Nidoqueen screamed in pain and suddenly dissolved into scarlet light as the trainer recalled it. Seconds later a Fearow emerged in the air above the Meganium.
Carrada recalled his grass type. “Enough of this.” He said impatiently. “I have places to be.” He held out a new pokéball and a Cloyster emerged.
Nurse Joy uttered a profanity worse than the first one.

With speed that Jason was sure was impossible, the Cloyster fired an aurora beam at the Fearow as the flying type dived towards it. The Fearow was recalled before the beam hit and yet another pokémon emerged. Jason inhaled sharply and felt Kate grab his arm in surprise. An Absol stood facing the Cloyster. Absols weren’t found anywhere near Kanto or Johto. Whoever this trainer was, he had traveled a long way.
“Slash it!” The trainer called.
The Absol charged forward and swiped its blade down the opening of the clamshell pokémon but again with speed that was surely impossible, the Cloyster acted clamping its shell shut and trapping the blade of the Absol. The Cloyster had obviously been charging an aurora beam while its shell was closed because as soon as it opened the Absol was engulfed in the colorful beam. The trainer recalled it and replaced it with an Umbreon.
“Faint attack!”
The Umbreon disappeared from sight and the Cloyster clamped its shell shut again. Spikes began flying out in every direction and with a yelp of pain the Umbreon reappeared and began to limp away from the water type. The trainer recalled it, no new pokémon followed in its wake.
Carrada smiled. “Next time perhaps. For now you’ll have to excuse me. I have some new pokémon to admire.”
In the commotion of the battle Jason hadn’t noticed that the other Team Rocket members had slipped away. Carrada returned his Cloyster and called out a Pidgeot. A wave of anger rushed through Jason and he stepped forward and hurled Ursaring’s pokéball.
“Stop him Ursaring!” He called.
The bear pokémon let loose an enraged roar and charged straight for the Pidgeot and Carrada.
“Ursaring stop!” The unnamed trainer commanded pulling back his hood. “Let them go.”
The Ursaring took one look at the trainer and obeyed but continued to snarl at Carrada.
“Team Rocket rules Kanto.” Carrada said as his Pidgeot took flight. “And always will as long as cowards like you are all there is to protect it.”
The Pidgeot quickly ascended leaving disheartened trainers far below it. But Jason barely noticed as he stared open mouthed at the trainer who was now being swamped by the media.
“Jason.” Kate whispered in awe as she too stared. “It’s Gary Oak.”
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So far, so boring. But there is cool stuff! Lots of cool, dark and very nasty stuff.

I've just wrote some cool stuff for this that I want to get up to so here's the next chapter. The cool stuff is a few more chapters away but interesting things happen in between so don't worry.

Chapter 2

The media swarmed around Giovanni and Gary Oak and as the famous Pallet trainer spoke, his eyes drifted up to Nurse Joy’s and then flicked very briefly to Jason and Kate before his entire attention returned to the press. From the corner of his eye Jason saw Nurse Joy give Gary a subtle nod.
The pokémon nurse turned to the two new trainers and started herding them back inside.
“Come on, get inside, you don’t want your faces in the paper with an incident like this.”
Jason returned the ursaring which attracted the attention of a few photographers and cameramen who whirled around to capture the face of the trainer on film. Nurse Joy jumped in front of him and shoved him inside.

“Damn press.” She muttered, scowling out the door. She turned to Jason and Kate. “I’d tell you to go to bed but by the looks on your faces I can see that that’s hardly going to happen. Besides I’d say that Gary will want to talk to you once he’s done out there.” She flashed another dark look out towards the media before disappearing into a room behind the counter. Moments later several chansey charged through the doors wheeling the wounded arcanines on stretchers.

Jason and Kate moved towards a small glass coffee table and sunk down into the comfortable chairs surrounding it. Several of the other trainers joined them.
“Well.” Jason said after a few minutes silence. “I guess that explains why Professor Oak and Tracey gave us those pokémon.”
“Also explains why the minimum age requirement got shifted up three years.” Kate replied.
“Yeah, but that’s only in Pallet Town.” Jason pointed out. “That’s Professor Oak’s policy, not the league policy.”
“So you guys are thirteen and you’ve only just started training?” One of the other trainers asked. “Why didn’t you just register somewhere else on your tenth birthday?”
Kate gave him a cold stare. “Professor Oak obviously had good reason to change the policy, Pallet Town trusts him and it would be insulting to him if we registered somewhere else.”
The trainer turned away and muttered something about “hicks”.
“You want to repeat that so we can all hear you?” Jason said raising himself and his voice angrily.
“Hey cut it out!” Nurse Joy snapped moving quickly over to the group. “Tempers are stretched enough around here as they are.”

Several of the trainers muttered apologies and announced they were going to bed leaving Jason, Kate and two others sitting around the coffee table.
One of the trainers stood up and walked over to the window and watched the media continue to harass Giovanni, Gary and the police.
“When you see it on TV it doesn’t really seem real.” She said with a sigh. “Seeing it happen right in front of me brings it to a whole new level. League sanctioned battles are carefully monitored so that the pokémon aren’t in any real danger. But what happened tonight… that was a street fight with no rules and showing mercy is the quickest way to lose.” The trainer wandered back over to the seats and sat down heavily. “All those trainers lost pokémon tonight because of Team Rocket. What happens if it’s me next time?” She shuddered. “It scares me just thinking about it.”

The doors to the pokémon center slid open and Gary Oak stepped inside, walking immediately over to the counter. Nurse Joy met him there and took his pokéballs.
“How are the arcanines?” Jason heard him ask.
“They’ll live.” Nurse Joy said heavily.
“And the raichu?” .
“He’s fine.” She replied. “Just a bruised head.”
“And ego.” Gary added. The nurse nodded in agreement and started heading into the back room.
“I’m not in any real hurry Joy.” Gary called after her. “If you still have more urgent patients.” The Pallet trainer turned and headed towards the four trainers still sitting at the coffee table and sat himself down with them.
“Well that was a more interesting night than I had planned on having.” Gary said, leaning forward to pull the coffee table towards him. He leaned back and put his feet up on it.
“So Jason.” He said, turning to the young trainer who jumped at the sound of his name. “Would you care to explain how you came into possession of my ursaring?”
“Um… Tracey sent it to me… as protection. Professor Oak wanted us to have a strong pokémon each in case we had to defend ourselves.”
Gary’s eyes twinkled. “Correct me if I’m wrong but from where I was standing it didn’t look like Carrada or his pidgeot were attacking you.”
Jason dropped his head and muttered something incomprehensible.

Gary turned to the two non-pallet trainers. “Could you guys excuse us?” He asked politely. “I’d like to chat to these two alone.”
The boy nodded and got up heading for the bedroom but the girl, who had been staring open mouthed at him, squeaked “Autograph?”
Gary took the pen and paper in her hands and scribbled his signature on it. The girl took it back and scampered from the room.

“So have you got one of my pokémon as well?” He asked, turning to Kate.
“Um… I don’t know if it’s yours…” She trailed off nervously.
“Well let’s see it then.” Gary gestured to the floor.
Kate fumbled with the pokéball and released the feraligator.
Gary’s eyebrows came up and he let out a groan. “They didn’t!”
“I can give it back if you don’t want me to have it.” Kate said quickly.
Gary held his head in one of his hands. “It’s not mine.” He said in a defeated tone. “It’s Ash’s. I hope this is just a bad joke of Grandpa’s.”
“Um… why would it be a joke?”
Gary cleared his throat and tried to look serious. “This feraligator has a habit that it picked up when it was a totodile and never got rid of. When it was a totodile I guess it was cute but… when this pokémon wins a fight it likes to… dance. You don’t have to believe me.” He said when he saw the looks they gave him. “But you deserve to be warned because it’s not pretty when it happens. Recall it before it gets bored and gives you a demonstration.”
Kate did as instructed. Nurse Joy came over with a tray of cold drinks and sat down herself.
“Um… Mr. Oak?” Jason asked timidly.
“Call me Gary kid.”
“Um… Gary… excuse me for being so blunt but… how can you be so calm after you just had your ass handed to you?” Gary’s eyebrows came up and Kate cleared her throat in embarrassment. “Three of your pokémon got taken out by that Cloyster with absolutely no effort at all!” Jason continued, exasperated by Gary’s calm expression. “How can you sit there and not be angry about it?”

Gary smiled, leaned back in his chair and sipped his drink. “You’ll learn as you travel kid that part of pokémon training is being able to lose with dignity.” He looked directly at Jason. “Don’t assume I’m not angry or at least upset with my loss, because I am, but there are two reasons why I’m not showing that anger. Firstly because any energy required to show that anger has been drained from me by having to deal with those leeches from the media and secondly, without David Carrada around, what do I achieve by having a tantrum and throwing chairs around?”
He picked at a loose thread in the chair. “Ash Ketchum and I both hold the rank of Pokémon Master but I can guarantee you that neither of us would have that if all we had ever done was win. The first time Ash and I faced off against each other, I won. Ash went away from that battle and learned from it, the next time we faced he beat me and from that defeat I learned things that I might not have learned if I had won that match.”

“The greatest lessons are learned in defeat.” Nurse Joy said smiling. “It never ceases to amaze me that you and Ash were once fierce rivals. I’ve never seen a closer pair of friends.”
Gary smiled. “Yeah well even before he defeated me at the Silver Convention I began to realize how much we had in common and that we could learn a lot more from each other if we put everything behind us and tried to be friends. Turns out that without trying very hard we turned into best friends.” He turned back to Jason. “My loss against Carrada tonight was because I recognised that my opponent had the upper hand. His pokémon were fresh and ready for combat, mine were worn out from constant battles fought on my way to Viridian. If I had never lost a match before, how would I have known the limits of my pokémon? It won’t be the last time that I battle Carrada, nor will it be my last loss against him, he may be a member of Team Rocket but he too has a true understanding about his pokémon and their limits. If you want to become a master you’ll need to learn to have the same kind of friendship with your pokémon and that losing isn’t bad, sometimes it’s actually better than winning because you can learn so much more from it.” He took another drink from his glass. “Of course, I don’t want to be telling you how to train pokémon, that’s part of the process of becoming a master, you have to discover for yourself the best way to train.”

Gary took his feet off the coffee table and leaned forward with an excited gleam in his eyes. “So, let’s see what you’ve caught so far.”
“I seem to recall,” Nurse Joy said with a smile, “A young pokémon trainer, many years ago, telling off another trainer, right here in this very pokémon center, for showing off their pokémon because it was amateurish to do so.”
Gary blushed and grinned sheepishly. “What a silly notion that is.”
Jason’s pidgey materialized in front of him and Gary’s eyebrows came up.
“Now that’s an interesting looking pidgey.” He patted his knee and the pokémon obligingly hopped along the table and came to rest on the pokémon master’s leg. Gary studied it intently, instead of the cream crests above the eyes that were standard for a pidgey, this pidgey sported jet black ones. Together with the black markings beneath the eyes it gave the appearance that the pokémon was wearing a robber’s mask.
“I nicknamed it Bandit.” Jason said proudly.
“Have you battled with it yet?” Gary asked, stroking the pidgey’s chest.
Jason shook his head. “Not yet, but it took my charmander to the point of exhaustion before I was able to successfully catch it. It took two tries before it stayed in the pokéball.”
“Sounds like a real winner.” Gary said, impressed.
“I hope it keeps those markings when it evolves.”
“You never know kid.” Gary replied. “That’s one mystery of evolution that I doubt will ever be solved. Sometimes pokémon with markings like this keep them when they evolve, sometimes they don’t.” He gently scratched the pokémon on the head. “It was very nice to meet you Bandit.”
The pidgey gave a happy ‘chirrup’ before Jason returned it to its ball.

For another hour the four sat together talking, the two young trainers showing off their pokémon and reliving their captures while the two adults provided them with a genuinely interested audience. Finally Jason and Kate showed signs of exhaustion and Nurse Joy harried them to bed. As the two new trainers entered the common sleeping area, Joy and Gary began talking intently in undertones. Neither trainer thought much on it as sleep embraced them all too quickly.

Jason awoke the following morning to someone’s insistent shaking. He opened his eyes and saw Kate’s emerald eyes carrying a slightly worried look.
“You wanted to see Gary angry?” She asked, turning to look in the direction of the foyer of the pokémon center.
“What’s happened?” He asked, quickly sitting up.
Kate shook her head. “I don’t know yet, but Gary is furious about something.”
Jason quickly got changed and the two walked out into the foyer where Gary Oak was stalking the length of the room with an angry scowl fixed on his face as he read the morning newspaper.
Off to one side, wearing an expression of forced calm, stood Giovanni.
“I can certainly understand their angle as far as I’m concerned but what they’re saying about you is completely baseless.” Giovanni said with a slight edge in his voice.
“Even what they’re suggesting about you is ridiculous.” Gary snapped. “Surely we can sue them for defamation or something?”
Giovanni shrugged. “You could try but it will probably cause you more problems because the papers will come after you for vengeance.” The gym leader sighed. “You should know by now, Mr. Oak, that I’ve resigned to the fact that their accusations towards me will never cease no matter how hard I try to prove them otherwise. My advice to you would be to leave this for a day so you can calm and collect yourself. Let’s go and see Mr. Ketchum as planned and deal with that first, then we’ll deal with this with a statement to the press or something similar. I’ve dealt with the press for many years; allow me to guide you with my own experiences.”
Gary stopped pacing and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re right of course, as usual. I don’t suppose you know where Ash is?”
Giovanni shook his head. “His wife will be able to contact him for us though so I’d suggest we make for Cerulean City.”

Gary nodded then looked up, finally noticing Jason and Kate watching the conversation.
“Oh, sorry guys I didn’t realize you were there. Giovanni, these are two of Pallet Town’s new trainers, Jason and Kate.”
“Ah yes, the boy with the Ursaring I believe.” Giovanni said amusedly, shaking Jason’s hand. “Very brave of you Jason but I would suggest a number of years of training before taking on the likes of Mr. Carrada again.” He turned to Kate and did a mild double-take. He crouched down in front of her. “My dear,” he said silkily, taking her hand, “I would be committing a most heinous crime if I did not mention the breathtaking spectacle that is your emerald gaze.” He brought her hand up and kissed it lightly.
Kate went bright red and uttered a breathless thank you.

“Shit.” Gary said suddenly. “Gio, block the kids! Joy! Get out here!”
Gary leapt in front of Jason and Giovanni smoothly rose and stepped in front of Kate as members of the media began shoving their way into the pokémon center.
“Can we get the kids to another room?” Gary asked quietly.
“Not worth the risk.” Giovanni replied, glaring at the photographers as they took shot after shot of Gary and himself and tried in vain to get shots of Jason and Kate. “Keep your faces hidden both of you.” He said sharply over the increasing noise.
“Giovanni!” One of the press shouted. “Do you have any comments on the claims in this morning’s paper that you are still affiliated with Team Rocket?”
“Gary!” Another shouted. “What do you have to say about suggestions that you are in league with Giovanni as an agent of Team Rocket?”
Jason and Kate exchanged glances, no wonder the two were on edge. Nurse Joy appeared behind them with a blanket. “Cover your heads with that.” She ordered. “And don’t move!”
As the two ducked under the blanket, more questions were being fired at Gary and Giovanni.
“Who are the children?” Jason heard one call. “And why are you hiding their identities?”
“The children have nothing to do with this at all!” Nurse Joy snapped. “Now remove yourselves from my pokémon center!” This command was immediately followed by sounds of struggling and many cries of “Chansey!” could be heard.

“Don’t remove the blanket.” Giovanni’s voice said calmly, as he guided them across the floor. Behind them a door shut and the blanket was removed.
Jason and Kate found themselves in a small windowless room with Gary, Giovanni and Nurse Joy standing around them.
“Well now what?” Gary asked.
“Surely there’s a back way out of this center?” Giovanni asked Joy.
The nurse nodded. “There is, but they’ll have it covered. I could send some chansey out first to make sure it’s clear and then sneak these two out but there’s no guarantee that we’ll find all the photographers.”
Giovanni sighed. “It’s the best option we have.” He turned to Gary. “You and I will head out the front door and give the press a few useless comments to distract them while Joy smuggles these two out the back.”
“Give me a few minutes to clear the back.” Joy said before leaving the room.
Giovanni pulled out a notepad and pen and began scribbling on it.
“Here.” He said, tearing the page from the notepad and handing it to Jason. “Follow these instructions to get out of the city and on your way to Pewter city. If Gary and I do our part right, then you shouldn’t be seen or followed by any of the press.”
Nurse joy opened the door and handed Jason and Kate their backpacks. “We should move quickly. The chansey have secured the back area but I don’t know for how long.”
“We’ll go first.” Giovanni said, stepping past Joy and into the foyer. “Come on Gary, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner you can give your report.”

Nurse Joy watched the two make their way towards the entrance and then turned to the two young trainers.
“We’ll move fast to minimize the chance of you being seen.” She said seriously.
As they moved swiftly to the back door, Jason glanced towards the entrance and saw a line of chansey blocking the doorway to prevent the press from entering.
Nurse Joy hustled them out the back door.
“Get out of the city as quickly as you can.” She ordered. Then she smiled warmly. “Good luck on your journeys.” The door snapped shut, leaving Jason and Kate staring at it in bewilderment.
“What the hell just happened?” Jason asked.
Kate shrugged. “I have no idea. But let’s get out of here before we get seen by anyone.”
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I guess this is character development and stuff... not completely boring but not really all that interesting either.