Pokemon Violet IC

"Eh, Dratini would be good if I could learn how to use him. I tried to have it use outrage, but it hurt itself instead. It was so strange." The he paused. Draco got a great idea! This guy was obviously a good trainer and could teach him many things about his Pokemon. Who knows? Maybe he could become a good trainer too.

"Cool!" he began "Ironically enough, I'm heading that way too. Maybe we could go together?" hopefully this would work.

---

Cyril was red as a beet now. He took a deep breath, and tried to compose himself. He looked up at Isra's pretty face and smiled awkwardly.

"I was just trying to say...um...hi! Yeah hi!" he began, chuckling "I'm Cyril." he slowly began to gain his confidence back an inkling or two "What's your name?"

Israh nodded, "I'm Israh, and this is my partner, Riffraff." The Cubone held his bone into the air, and gave an acknowledging wave. Like Israh, his face was painted with intricate designs. In reality, Israh didn't enjoy greetings so much. It was always too awkward, she didn't know the people she spoke to, half the time. That was why she didn't know anyone aside from her parents in Snowpoint City. It didn't help that you couldn't see her face, either. People were afraid of someone if they couldn't see their face. Even with her markings, which didn't hide her face, people sometimes still saw Israh as a terrifying figure. It was always how people saw something.

"Well, I'll see you at Celestic city, get a bike and meet me at the pokemon center there. I have some things to do first. We'll travel together after that." Red smiled, and nodded his head before once again walking outside, and taking his folding bike out of his backpack. He looked to the sky once again.

No legendary this time.

He couldn't help but wonder if that Rayquaza was a sign...

He then hopped on his bike, and took off. As he rode, he passed a few other trainers, none being much of a challenge. A simple focus energy and tackle defeated their pokemon and they dropped like flies.

It's not like it was his idea to fight anyway. He was out and on a mission...


"GRA!" Something came from the ground and hit the back tire of Red's bike knocking him to the ground. He looked up, seeing a Sandile and Gible standing there with anger in their faces. He must've intruded on their territory. Red stood up and backed away. "Look, guys, I'm sorry. I'll get out of here just leave me be an I'll-" Red began, raising his hands, only to be interrupted by a loud "CRAW!" As Thanatos jumped out of his backpack.

"GRA!" The Gible snarled, and tackled the Deino with great power, sending the Deino to the ground. That Gible was FAST. "Thanatos, counter with Dark pulse, take that Gible out so you only have one problem!" Red yelled to his friend. The Deino growled, and released the dragon type move. Because of it's ability, the Gible was send the ground, out cold. The Sandile, in a fit of rage seeing it's friend be defeated, launched itself at the Deino and bit down on it's neck. The attack wasn't very effective because it was a dark type move, but Thanatos was nearly out from the tackle the Gible had given him. "Thanatos!" Red yelled in fear. "Use Dragon rage. End this before that Sandile does you!" The Deino struggled, but released the wave of rage onto the Sandile, knocking it out.

Red ran to his heavily injured started, scooping it up in his arms.

"Are you okay?" He said to it. The Deino cooed weakly, and seemed alright enough to stand. However, it wouldn't last another fight like this. Red looked over to the two unconscious pokemon, and reached into his back, pulling out two pokeballs and his pokedex.

"Gible, the Land Shark Pokemon. Gibles nest in horizontal holes warmed by geothermal heat. Foes who get too close can expect to be pounced on and bitten."

"Sandile, the Desert Croc Pokemon. Sandile moves along below the sand's surface, except for its nose and eyes. A dark membrane shields its eyes from the sun."


So that explains why he didn't see them, and why they attacked. Red walked to the downed pokemon and touched the Gible with the pokeball. It wiggled once, twice, and tree times before letting out a light ding to signify it's capture. Red repeated the process with the Sandile. Once they were both captured, he released the pokemon from their pokeballs and revived the two. As they came to, then seemed more mellow then before, and a lot more friendly. He and Deino had earned their respect. He used super potion on his Deino, and sat down cross legged with his new pokemon surrounding him.

"So what should I call you?" he said, picking up the Sandile and holding it at arms length.. It wiggled in his hands and seemed to almost laugh. Red then began to tickle the little reptile until is was laughing so hard it was nearly breathless. It laughed loudly as if the ground would quake. "That's it!" Red exclaimed. "I'll call you Quake!" The Sandile grinned as Red set it down. He then looked to the Gible. "And I can't forget about you..." he said, picking the Gible up. It wiggled like the Sandile, and leaded in and bit Red's head. Thanatos laughed, as he did the same thing. "You seemed to really have some fire in your eyes when you attacked... How about... Crossfire! Yeah, that's it!" Red said. The Gible squeezed his head before letting go and dropping down to his lap, it nodded it's head... body in approval of it's name.

"Alright guys... I'll have you looked over at the Pokemon center... Return." He said, hold out the two pokeballs and returning the two pokemon. He looked at Deino too. "I gotta return you too. You've had enough battling for a little bit. Take a break." He said, returning the Deino to it's luxury ball.


He picked up his bike from it's fallen position, and placed the pokeballs inside his backpack, and was back on the road.


Next stop, Celestic city.

Draco smiled and watched the man walk away. Luckily, he already had a foldable bike that his father had given him a while back. he unfolded the bike and rode to the Pokemart, where he got a few potions and some regular Pokeballs, with one premier ball. He gave the lady a bundle of Pokedollars that his father had given him and left the mart. When he got outside, he took out the Premier ball, and looked down at the Dratini, who looked happily up at him.

"I'll call you Ladon." he said "after the drgaon from Greek Mythology." he opened the pokeball, and Ladon was absorbed in a soft red light without a fight. he looked down at the ball happily, then unfolded his bike from out for his backpack and rode off in the presumed direction that Red went.

The ride was smooth, without much of a hassle, until something fell out of a tree and landed in front of the bike. Draco had to slam on the bike's breaks, and nearly went sailing through the air. In front of him was a Pineco. He flipped the Pokedex open and scanned the creature.

Pineco, the bagworm Pokemon. It looks just like a pinecone. Its shell protects it from bird Pokémon that peck it by mistake. The Pineco was angry; that was obvious. This tree must have belonged to it. Well, Draco only knew one thing to do when he saw a Pokemon; battle it.



"Go, Ladon!" Draco called out, throwing the Pokeball. Ladon erupted from the object in a blast of red, ready to battle. Draco scanned it with the Pokedex and got its moveset.

"Hm... extremespeed!" Ladon moved faster than the eye could see and smashed into the Pineco, sending it reeling backwards towards a tree. It regained it's balance, however, and went flying at Ladon while spinning like a top. The rapid spin hit Ladon and scratched him up some, but there was no major damage.

"Retaliate with, um... thunder wave!" Dratini hit Pineco with a blast of blue electricity, but nothing happened. The Pineco had somehow shielded itself from damage! It looked at Ladon with anger, and began to launch spikes at it; pin missile. Ladon took several direct hits, but by hit four, was ready.

"Extremespeed!" Ladon launched itself at the Pineco and sent it sprawling before it could set its protect up. it hit the ground and seemed to almost deflate, not quite knocked out, but close.

"Now I should...um...throw a Pokeball!" Draco grabbed a red pokeball from his pack and let it fly towards the Pineco. It opened just before getting to it, and absorbed the Pineco in a blast of red light. Three wiggles later and the Pineco was caught. Draco jumped up and down in happiness, nearly falling over his bike. He caught his first Pokemon!"


---

"So, um, where are you heading next, Israh?" Cyril asked awkwardly, not sure what to say. Ditto wanted to laugh so hard, but didn't want to be a jerk either. Meanwhile, Bernard examined his new bronze Pokedex closely, flipping through a few pages. He scanned Lennie;

Nosepass, the Compass Pokemon. Its magnetic nose always faces north and draws iron objects to its body to protect itself better.

"So that explains why the old coot is always facing North." Bernard chuckled, patting Lennie on the head.

Israh frowned, "Well, I know the Professor wanted us to go and battle the gym leaders, but at present, I feel compelled to go to Mt. Coronet and train. Don't ask me why, but I feel like there's something I'm supposed to be searching for." She sighed, "Of course, I never know what it is until I find it. Sometimes it leads to disaster, like when Team Rocket jumped me, or it might lead me to another pokemon, like how I met Wraith. Regardless, I tend to wander into situations without even knowing what I'm getting into. Don't ask me how it works, I'd rather not think about what the aura is trying to tell me."

"Welcome to the Celestic City Pokemon center. How can I help you?" the Nurse joy said, smiling. "Please look over my pokemon, I want to make sure they're at full health before I begin to train." Red said, pushing his pokeballs over to the nurse. Joy smiled and took the pokeballs and placed them on some sort of machine. They began to light up a few times as energy was transfered to them. After a few seconds, the nurse took the pokeballs off of the machine and handed them back to Red. "Thank you for waiting. Have a nice day!" she said. Red gave a small smile and took his pokeballs back, placing them in his bag.

Red turned and walked back outside of the pokemon center, released his pokemon allowing them out of their pokeballs. Crossfire went over to Deino and Sandile followed in suit. They seemed to converse for a moment, before the Deino nodded.

"You guys will be getting trained very soon. We have a gym battle coming up, so we need to be ready. However, we're waiting for Draco. When he gets here, training will begin."

Israh seemed to think for a moment, before shaking her head, "Well, never mind, forget what I said, Hearthome City has a Ghost-type gym, right? I'll go there, I have to train Wraith, and Riffraff needs to learn how to fight Ghost-types using only Bone Club, he doesn't really know any other move that would affect a Ghost-type. We barely managed to fend off Team Rocket, even with the assistance of others. I don't plan on us becoming dependent on other trainers to fight our battles for us. Next time their leader shows his face, I want to make sure he remembers what happens when he tries to mess with me and my pokemon." Israh tightened a hand on the strap of her purse, and realized she was getting angry again. "I'm sorry, Cyril, but I have to go, I don't think I have the patience to talk right now." With this, she began to walk away.

"You know what, Draco can join in when he gets here." Red said. "Quake, Thanatos, Crossfire, follow me." he continued, motioning for his pokemon to follow. The Gible looked at Sandile and shrugged. Following their trainer.

"Gible, I want you and Deino to sparr, and get creative. The enemy wont always fight fair. Sandile, you're with me." The Deino and Gible nodded, and began to fight one another, before the Deino tried a tackle. The Gible opened it's massive jaws and allowed the front half of the Deino to be enveloped in his maw, and then threw the Deino the ground. "I'l going to leave some supplies here for you two to use if one of you gets too hurt." Red said, placing a few potions and revives on the sidelines near the two battling pokemon.

"Alright, Quake. Lets get to work. There's a steam nearby that we will train by." Red declared. The Sandile, look up at it's trainer with large eyes. Sandiles were afraid of water and weak to it. "San! Sa!" The Sandile pleaded. "Don't worry about it Sandile. By the time we're finished, trainers will be confusing you for a Feraligatr." Red said, kneeling down. "Don't be scared." The Sandile slowly, but surly walked to Red, and crawled into his arms. "Lets go." Red said, and carried the Sandile off.

Meanwhile with Thanatos and Crossfire...

"He seems nice enough, but I dont completely trust him yet." Crossfire said, sending out a dragon rage at his new friend. The Deino, known as Thanatos, rolled to the side to avoid the rage wave. "Give it time, he will gain your trust." the Deino said back. "I hope you're right." Crossfire said, and then kicked sand at the Deino in an effort to lower it's accuracy with a sand attack. The sand hit home on the Deino, but it seemed to have no effect. "What are you?!" Crossfire exclaimed seeing it's attack did nothing. "I'm a Deino. I'm blind." Thanatos said back, and then charged in with a tackle.

With Red and Quake...

"Alright, easy does it. Just inch your way into the water." Red said. He was now in his swimming trunks and in the stream. His Sandile was on shore, afriad to go in the water. "C'mon! The water's fine!" Red yelled to the little crocodile. With that, the Sandile wadded into the water. "There we go! Now swim to me." Red prompted. The sandile took a few steps closer, before his foot found only water and he fell in. He didn't like this one bit. He surfaced with his noes and eyes sticking above the water, and hauled it to Red in fear of something attacking him from below. "Hey, hey, you did it... Calm down Quake." Red said, petting the crocodile. Quake then looked around, he was in the middle of the river, and he made in unscathed!

"SAN!" He cried, then jumped out of Red's arms and swam to the bottom of the river and stayed there for a minute or so before coming back up for air. "San!" Red smiled, and splashed water at the little crocodile, who retaliated with equal ferocity using it's tail.

Now Red had to do this with Gible and these two could start taking water attacks like any pokemon without a weakness to one.

"Hey! Wait up!" Cyril ran down the street after Israh, seeing that his boobishness around her was obviously driving her away. Why did he have to be a stupid boy? Girls didn't act like this around good-looking guys! He grabbed her by the shoulder and yelled "Wait! Don't go yet!" That's when he noticed his mistake. He had just grabbed a girl against her will; a girl with a very angry-looking cubone. He closed his eyes to shield himself from the impending pepper spray when Bernard approached Israh from the other side and shot Cyril a death look, who jumped back, surprised. Bernard then turned to Israh and smiled.

"I'm sorry about my friend over there." he said, leaning in "Between you and me, he thinks you're cute".

"Hey! I did not say that!" Cyril yelled, blushing. Bernard smiled and then stepped back from Israh.

"Name's Bernard. Nice to meet you." he extended a hand to her and then said "You know, my friend here Cyril and I are heading to Hearthome City as well. Perhaps we could all go together?"

Israh frowned, thinking. She didn't know so much about Cyril, but she was familiar with Bernard already; he and his Nosepass Lennie had helped her and Riffraff fight Team Rocket, and they would have been finished without him. She didn't want to rely on others too much, but she was clearly aware that Bernard was a friend. She weighed the pros and cons of traveling with Cyril and Bernard. Bernard was a nice person, and Israh knew she could probably trust him. She didn't know too much about Cyril, though. When he had grabbed her shoulder, she had been prepared to fight him tooth and nail, and Riffraff had seemed to consider attacking as well, it wasn't too hard to figure out. Israh didn't like being touched by other people. Pokemon were perfectly fine, but something about physical contact with another human being aside from her parents felt oddly disturbing to her. She didn't like shaking hands, and she barely stopped herself from flinching if someone congratulated her with a pat on the back. Still, though, Cyril seemed to regret what he did, and she couldn't say he had been thinking clearly.

She then made up her mind, "All right, then, I'll travel with you guys, but please, no touching, even shaking hands still bugs me these days."

"Okay... I suppose everyone's different." Bernard put his hand back down by his side and said "Well, we'd best get a move on if we want to get to Hearthome City! Is everyone ready to go?"

"Not, quite." a deep, Russian-sounding voice penetrated the calm. A man wearing a furry black longcoat and a matching hat with a red R on it stepped out from the trees. He was a scruffy-looking man, with a large, full black beard and moustache that was beginning to grey and a full head of salt and pepper hair. His skin was a dark Caucasian color. He raised his hands as he walked towards Israh, to show that he meant no harm.

"Are you Israh," the man asked.

"What's it to you?" Cyril yelled awkwardly. The man shot him a look and Cyril nearly jumped out of his skin.

"I am Norman." the man said to Israh "One of the Team Rocket executives for this region. I have a gift for you from Shaun".

Israh's eyes narrowed at the mention of Shaun, "What game is your leader playing? I cannot be won over by gifts, and I have already told you that I will not join Team Rocket. Did my pokemon and I not make that clear?" Riffraff held out his bone threateningly, as though prepared to strike without hesitation, if Norman tried to attempt anything. In addition, Israh could also feel vibes of anger coming from Wraith's pokeball. Team Rocket stirred up the worst in Israh, and her pokemon, it seemed.

Norman chuckled a little and patted the Cubone on the head.

"How cute, a Cubone." he laughed before turning back to Israh "Shaun is not as terrible as he seems. He likes to make his opponents stronger so that they are a challenge to him when he battles them." Norman ruffled through his pockets and pulled out a white CD case, handing it to Israh.

"This is a TM, or technical machine." he said "You can put it into any DVD player and it will teach your Pokemon a move. This particular one contains blizzard, an ice-type move. Suddenly, a radio on Norman's hip blared to life and he picked it up.

"Norman here. Yeah, m-hm.. ok good. I'm on my way!" He turned back to Israh, said a quick "farewell", and ran off towards town.

"Wonder where he's going." Bernard muttered, his eyes not leaving the man until he was out of sight. "So, are you going to use that thing?"

Israh frowned, "I don't think he was lying, unfortunately. Even a thief cannot see himself as a bad person, although he may very well know what he is doing is wrong. Shaun appears to be one who enjoys a challenge, and until Riffraff learned how to use Bone Club, he was unable to do damage to Ghost-types. Shaun used a Duskull, which is immune to Ground-types, and if it had not been for Wraith, I would have lost, and Shaun had given the order to have me killed. Blizzard is a powerful move, and it can do damage to Ghost-types, as well as critical hits on most pokemon with type advantages over Ground-types. As much as I hate to say it, Blizzard would quite easily enhance Riffraff's performance in battle."

She looked down at Riffraff, "I would use it, but I won't teach Riffraff Blizzard unless he consents to it." The Cubone, with his painted skull, glared at where Norman had vanished. Clearly, being called 'cute' by people he didn't like was considered an insult. Without even looking at Israh, he gave a single nod. "All right, then, but if you learn this, you'll forget how to use the move Tail Whip, are you sure?" Riffraff gave another nod. Israh frowned, before her face fixed into an intense and determined expression, "Let's teach him that helping his enemies is a mistake."

As soon as Norman got to town, he found a few Rocket Grunts waiting with a trio of Starraptors. Norman hopped on one of the creatures, and it rocketed off towards Snowpoint City, where he was needed by order of Shaun.


---

Snowpoint Temple, an hour later (this is not a timeskip)

Norman arrived at the Snowpoint temple in the cover of a blizzard. The temple was surrounded by Rocket Grunts and Shaun stood at the front, a servant bearing a red cushion on which three Pokeballs rested; a blue one, a red-orange one, and a slate grey one.

"My lord." Norman said, bowing slightly to Shaun.

"Shaun! How did it go?"

"The girl took the TM".

"Good. Now we may proceed with the mission". Shaun waved to a few other grunts, who made a circle around himself and Norman and began to walk into the temple. The slippery floors were melted down to the stone by a very angry-looking Ninetales, allowing easier access to the stairway. All of the wild Pokemon fled or were captured. Finally, the grunts, Shaun, and Norman arrived in the third floor of the basement, where a massive statue of a Pokemon stood.

"Bring me the Pokeballs." he said, beckoning to the servant. He took the multi-colored balls from his servant and opened each one. Regirock, Regice, and Registeel materialized in front of him, all of which were staring at the statue. Their eyes began to glow, and the statue's did took. Suddenly, the cavern begant o shake. The floor above caved in, along with a few collumns, and nearly crushed Shaun.

"Cave in!" someone called out.

"SHUT UP AND RELAX!" Norman screamed. But his yell was broken by a piercing roar as the statue came to life.



Regigigas appeared!

"Go, Zoroark!" Shaun threw a Pokeball and a fearsome-looking Zoroark appeared from it. Norman also threw a Pokeball, and from out of it came a Mamoswine, who roared in anger at the Regigigas, who looked back at it and roared louder. The hulking Regigigas reached down and grabbed the Mamoswine, squeezing the life out of it with crush grip. it squealed and cried out like an elephant.

"Icicle crash, Mamoswine!" Norman yelled. Mamoswine's eyes glowed blue, and several large, threatening-looking icicles fell from the ceiling and crashed down onto Regigigas, causing it to drop Mamoswine.

"Night Daze, Zoroark!" Shaun yelled. Zoroark summoned a ball of pure, coo blackness, and hurled it at Regigigas, catching it in the chest. it rocked back, but regained its balance and looked at Zoroark with pure rage. It's many eyes all glowed white, and it unleashed a hyper beam, which was so intense that Zoroark returned to its Pokeball before the damage to it could be seen. Shaun grimmaced, and Piloswine cried out in fear. This thing was tough.

"Stone edge, Mamoswine!" Mamoswine charged at Regigigas and smashed it with a rock-hard horn, causing it to rock back once more but regain its balance again. Shaun grabbed another Pokeball and threw it. "

"Cloyster!" he yelled. A very angry-looking Cloyster appeared, and Regigigas fired a hyper beam at it. Its shell closed the the blast harmlessly bounced off its shell. The CLoyster's shell opened and it smiled evilly at Regigigas.

"Rock blast Cloyster!" the Cloyster summoned five rocks from out of thin air and fired them at Regigigas, cashing it to stumble backwards again. Mamoswine fired a blizzard at the Regigigas, and its legs froze solid. one hydro pump from Cloyster later and Regigigas fell to its hands and knees. Shaun slowly walked towards it, telling Norman and Mamoswine to come as well incase Regigigas had more life in it. Regirock, Regice, and Registeel reappeared from out of the rubble and floated to Regigigas. It looked up at Shaun, and spoke in a rough, gravely voice;

"A hollow victory, Shaun." Regigigas said "You have won, but I will not go with you. You may catch me with any Pokeball you wish, but I will not fight for you".

"I don't want to catch you, Regigigas." Shaun said "I want the map". The Regigigas made a mechanical grinding noise, almost like a roar, and yelled;

"You can't have it!"

"Oh, but I will." Shaun smiled evilly and walked over to the wall, which was covered in ice. "Rock Blast, Cloyster!"

"No! Regirock, Regice, Registeel! Children! Stop him!" The three turned towards Shaun, but stopped. He was their master, so they would not attack him. The Cloyster fired its rocks and the ice on the wall shattered into a million tiny pieces. Behind the ice on the wall was a map of Unova, with several multicolored dots on it in different locations.

"Excellent!" Shaun said, spinning around. he took out a master ball, and threw it at Regigigas. it was caught without a fight and he placed it on a pedestal in the center of the room. he turned to Regirock, Regice, and Registeel.

"Guard the building with your lives." he said to his Pokemon "Nobody gets in this room and nobody touches that Pokeball. Do you understand?" All three nodded, and Regice sailed up the stairs to the second basement. Registeel and Regirock seemed to argue for a bit, and Regirock ended up going up the stairs to the first basement floor and guarded it. Shaun took out a note pad and jotted down several of he locations, and then left, leaving Norman and his men to guard the building.

Now time to do some hunting.

---

Draco finally arrived in Celestic City and walked into the Pokemon center, where he let Dratini and Pineco out of their Pokeballs and sat down at a table. He flipped through a few trainer magazines and then walked over to a small cafe on the Pokemon center's second floor, where he released Pineco and Dratini from their Pokeballs and sat them next to him at a table. He got each of them some food and himself a sandwich and drink. He found it entertaining when Pineco tried to eat his pecha berry wrap. It apparently had a small mouth in its front and tried to bite it, but had trouble. So, Draco ended up hand-feeding it the wrap, which Dratini found rather comical.

Israh took out a strange device from her purse, "This thing is used for using TM's. Normally, I wouldn't rely on technology so much, but this makes teaching moves easier than looking for a DVD player. I think a lot of people actually have these." With this, she placed the disk in a slot, and pressed a button. She then took out Riffraff's silver pokeball, "Okay, it'll only take a minute." She said, as she ordered him to return. Once inside, she placed the Pokeball in a small slot on the machine, and used a tiny touch-screen to use the TM. There was a whirring sound, and then, the machine clicked. Israh took out the pokeball and then let Riffraff come out. She then removed the TM, which was now heavily dented, instantaneously tarnished. "Well, this won't work anymore." Israh observed, as she placed the ruined disk and the small machine back into her purse. She looked down at Riffraff, "So, do you know how to use Blizzard now?" She asked. Riffraff nodded, and turned around, unleashing a tiny puff of frozen wind, for emphasis. "Okay, then."

She turned to the others, "I know it's crazy, but this will give him an edge over pokemon that have a type advantage. Grass types will have some trouble when they see what he can do. Plus, it might make it easier for him to face Ice types-" She was going to say more, but was stopped short by a sudden wave of dread, as though something terrible were happening. She shuddered, "Okay, I know this is going to sound weird, but I think something really bad just happened. I don't think it's got anything to deal with Blizzard, but something's wrong. There's...been...a disturbance, or something!" What Israh didn't say was that many of her people were born with a powerful talent regarding the balance of nature, as well as a unique connection to the Pokemon world. Something had just tipped that scale, and it deeply disturbed her.


In the distance, from afar, a lone pokemon watched Israh. He could sense something bad was about to happen, a terrible disaster that would befall both humans and pokemon. He knew that the girl could sense it, too, although not as specific as his. A great being had been captured, and was being held against its will. Three followers who were loyal to it, were torn, being loyal to their master's captors as well. Absol was not sure what would happen next, but he knew that a disaster was coming. Normally, he would have taken matters upon himself, but this disaster was on a much larger scale. Absol was not sure if he could trust these humans quite yet. He would continue to follow, and watch the girl, from a distance. He was quiet. They would not even notice that he was there.

"Good job Crossfire! Quake will take your place. We have some private training to do. Thanatos, help Quake train. No dragon rages." Red said, walking over and placing the sandile in his arms down. It then crawled over the Deino and conversed for a minute. The Gible, on the other hand, walked over to his trainer and jumped into his arms and was carried away to the stream.

"Alright, Crossfire, I know you're weak to water, so we have to get you used to it. Once we get that done, you can start taking water attacks to strengthen yourself against them." The Gible nodded, and hopped down to the ground, looking a the water for a few moments before jumping in. Red was thrown aback by this. This Gible was a brave little landshark.

"Well I guess the pokedex was wrong... You must be a sharpedo..." Red joked, watching the fin speed around in the water... He couldn't help but think of sharpedos, as this Gible looked very similar.

"Alright, thats enough, you seem to have this down already. Lets take you back to the other two." Red said, calling back his landshark.

"Craws!" The Gible said, leaping out of the water and landing in Reds arms. He smiled, and brought it back to the other two.

"Alright fellas, we're gonna go and check to see if Draco's here yet, and get you all healed up." Red announced. His pokemon nodded, and returned to their pokeballs willingly.

Once Red got to the front of the pokemon center, he stepped through the doors and immediately saw Draco. "Well, well, wel.. It's about time you showed. My pokemon are getting stronger without you."

"Disturbance...what do you-"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" a terrible wailing noise echoed from the Lost Tower, as if a Pokemon were crying loudly. The terrible cries tore through the air, sending wild Pokemon into a frenzy. Bernard grabbed his ears and looked over at Cyril, and then at Israh.

"What is that?" Bernard yelled.

"I think it's a Whismur!" Cyril cried out "They can scream louder than a jet plane!"

"We've got to stop it before it hurts something!" Bernard ran towards the tower, clutching his ears. He was nearly run over by a fleeing Gengar upon entering the tower, and ran up the old stone stairs to the second floor, where he found a tiny Whismur who was standing int front of a tomb stone. At that moment, Bernard understood. He ran over to the wild Whismur and hugged it. The Whismur stopped making noise, shocked by the act of love. Tears ran from its eyes and it hugged Bernard back with its stubby arms. Bernard stood up, the whimpering Whismur in his arms. He sat down in front of the tombstone, which had a stone Exploud carved into it. Whismur began to whimper softly and clung to Bernard's shirt.

"It's okay." he said to the little Whismur. "It's okay". he slowly stroked the back of the little Whismur's head, and it looked up at him and smiled like a little baby.

"Come with me/" he said, walking down the stone steps with the baby Whismur in his arms. It soon calmed down and drifted into a light sleep. He walked over to Israh and Cyril.

"Well, I think I just got a new Pokemon." he said.

---

"What cna i say?" Draco laughed, scratching the back of his head innocently "I got hungry!" He looked over at the Pineco, who took another bite of the wrap and bit Draco's finger. "So," Draco said, dropping the wrap and shaking his finger "can I get you and your Pokemon something?"

Israh looked first at the Exploud tombstone, and then at the sleeping Whismur, before nodding slowly, "It would appear to be so, fate seems to choose this path. But I still feel like something is wrong, as though something will soon occur. My premonitions are usually accurate, but..." She shook her head, "Never mind...I'd rather not think about it. You can't know until it actually happens." She looked at the Whismur again, "So, are you going to give him a nickname?" While she casually asked this, she was glancing at Riffraff, who stared at the tombstone. He seemed to know something, perhaps he had figured out why the Whismur was probably crying, too.

"Hm..." Bernard said, warmly smiling "I'll call him...Dess, short for decibel!" The Whismur slowly awoke and smiled up at Bernard. He snuggled back up against his chest and went back to sleep. Cyril walked up the steps and looked over at the little Whismur, smiling.

"So that little guy was making the noise, eh?" he giggled, but his smile faded away when he saw the tombstone. "Oh dear". He sat down next to Bernard, and Ditto slowly slithered off of his shoulder, where he moved to the tombstone and whimpered a bit. Cyril wanted to leave the tower and go on, but didn't want to kill this moment, so he sat there awkwardly.

Israh nodded at Bernard, and then began to watch Cyril, he also seemed to have an idea of why Dess had been crying. The Exploud had probably been the Whismur's mother, and this stone marked her grave. The greatest shock, however, was that Riffraff was not crying. It was inevitable that this would make him ponder about why his mother had died, but he did not allow himself to weep. Dess was in grief, and likely, had not lived with it as long as the Cubone. Riffraff didn't cry because it didn't hurt. He had too much of a soul and spirit to feel nothing. The reason there was an absence of tears was, amazingly, because he was being strong. He did not want to upset Dess. Israh, upon realizing this, gained even more respect for her partner. He didn't even know it himself, but Riffraff had a fierce warrior slumbering in his heart. It was her goal to awaken him.

She left Bernard and walked over to Cyril, where Riffraff was looking at the headstone close by. She would have said something, if she knew how to place it in words. Eventually, she just sighed, and looked back at the headstone. The tower was so powerful, like a presence in itself. It carried within it the swirling emotions of the deceased. She could feel it, as though they still breathed. It was eerie, but at the same time, peaceful, as though they were not troubled, but simply, asleep. It was a powerful feeling, as though she could somehow transcend the world around her.

Two days later

Bernard, Cyril and Israh finally arrived at the gateway to Hearthome city after two long days of trekking and training. Cyril grabbed both of the other two's hands and pulled then towards the gateway, not realizing that he grabbed Israh's hand for the first time.

Score!

(short post but I can't do much more without controlling israh)

Israh flinched and pulled her hand away quickly, unnerved by the touch on her hand. It wasn't simply because it made her uncomfortable, but most people needlessly worried if she was okay when they touched her hands, even by accident. She had an incredible sensitivity to temperatures, called Reynold's Syndrome, and it wasn't hard to tell, either. When it was cold, her joints turned blue, and even if the chill was mild, you could see that it bugged her hands. Even now, her nail beds, which should have been pink, were an odd shade of blue, and she could feel the cold in her fingers. Her mother had told her that when she was a baby, her hands and feet had felt like chips of ice. The true problem was that the weather was actually quite nice. She was also aware that her feet would be turning blue as well, or the soles, at least, would turn yellow. She wondered fleetingly if she should begin wearing shoes again, but decided against it. She would wait until they were in worse weather. She could handle stepping on rough terrain barefoot, her feet having thick un-feminine callouses on them. No doubt, though, Cyril would have noticed the unnatural cold, when her hands were supposed to be warm. The impressions left by his hand were not fading as quickly as they should, either. She now had white, finger-like markings on her palm and knuckles. She quickly hid her hands in her hoodie's pockets, hoping he wouldn't say anything.

"Well then," Cyril said "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" and he ran through the gate.


Red and Draco arrived at the Celsetic City gym early the next morning. As they walked in, they were greeted by a billowing cloud of intense heat. The gym was a square building in the middle of town, decorated like a Japanese Pagoda. Inside, the gym was taken up by a massive square lake, overflowing with boiling hot water, which generated clouds of deadly steam.

"Welcome to the gym." a feminine voice said. From out of a cloud of steam stepped a devilishly beautiful young woman with Dratini blue hair. She wore what looked like a suit of silver armor, along with a red cape. "I am Claire, the gym leader. I'm supposing that you gentlemen are wondering about the gym. Well, if you're not, I'll tell you anyways. This gym is a lake of boiling water, with the battlefield where you'll be battling me in the middle. To get to the field, you must navigate across the lake using these boats". she pointed to some rickety boats and then continued speaking "Other trainers will battle you to go on, and you will have to use your paddles to stay away from the clouds of steam, which will blind you and roast you alive. If you make it to the field, then we will battle. Good day gentlemen". With that, Claire vanished into the smoke cloud again and took off across the lake on a speedboat. Draco looked over at the boats, and walked over to them.

"These don't look very safe." he said, poking one with his foot.

(Red, i have to go for a bit, so you control Draco as they travel across the lake).

"Oh you have got to be kidding me..." Red mumbled. He now had to travel in a small and unsafe boat to fight stupid trainers who spent six out of seven days a week in this gym, through boiling hot water in order to get his first gym badge.

Seems legit.

"I think I went in the wrong building." Red said, turning around. "I'm trying to find a pokemon gym for beginners, not a suicide course." He said, and sighed. "Lets just get it over with." He mumbled, and climbed into the little dingy. "Get in." Red said flatly. "Fine..." Draco said, climbing in behind Red. Red grabbed a large metal paddle and gave it to Draco, before grabbing one of his own. "And we're off." Draco said.

"Our eyes have met! Lets battle!" A trainer shouted at Red from his boat. "How does this even WORK!" Draco said, exasperated. "Don't worry, I got this." Red said, before turning to look at the trainer. He glared hard into the trainer's eyes. His unnatural red eyes were like daggers, cutting into the other trainer and allowing the amount of hate and anger he had behind them to flow freely into him. The trainer was frozen from fear. He had challenged a very tall and intimidating young man to a battle, and this man would put every ounce of hatred he had for this world into it. The trainers pokemon would be beaten anyway, but with this trainer, he feared for their lives. "Nevermind! Move along!" The trainer said, shuddering and turning around in his boat.

"How did you do that?" Draco inquired, cocking his head to the left. "I've seen things." Red said back. "But that doesnt answer my questio-" Draco began. "I dont plan on answering your question. Lets just get this stupid gym over-with so we can move on to the next city. It smells like recycled water in here."

As the two progressed, Red simply rinsed and repeated his stare tactic to end the trainers ambitions to fight. He didnt need the experience anyway. He was ready to take on Claire and win.

The Dragon lady was un ahead anyway.

Red and Draco 'parked' the dingy and hopped out. Draco, happy to be on solid ground. "I've braved your gym, which the government should've shut down by now, to get to you. Claire, I challenge you to a battle!" Red roared, angry fire in his eyes.