[Pokémon] Elite Army

Typically, storm clouds did not make their way up the towering geographic stature of Mount Silver, conveniently located at the center point of the Kanto and Johto region. Mount Silver held the moniker of being one of the toughest tests for any Trainer; to climb the mountainous structure with the high-leveled and high-powered Pokemon without losing your life proved your worthiness as an elite Trainer. Even so, a Trainer had to be a Champion or, at least, at some point have been Champion. No. Mount Silver was reserved for only Trainers who were had proved themselves formidable in their region. This evening, storm clouds had crept slowly towards the surrounding area of the mountain. The rain was but a drizzle, but the thunder and lightening hinted at ominous weather was sure to come.

Although the entire area was empty, the grasslands near the Silver Cave was occupied a by a very muscular man, accompanied by Machamp standing directly across from him. Both took a fighting stance as the weight of the rain picked up and lightning crackled once more about three miles away. With his body drenched in rain water, the man lifted his fists raring to go at the Pokemon. Despite the weather, the muscular man was shirtless and barefoot, only sporting a pair of cream dojo pants.

"Hunh!" the man shouted as he thrust his hand forward, as if to intimidate the Machamp. However, he simply dropped his hands, apparently exhausted from prior physical Training. "I'm very proud of you, Machamp," he said. "We've had many decades to train together. But now, I think it is time for me to hand up my gloves and retire from the Elite Four. My desire to battle is no longer there."

Machamp went into a resting position, lowering its bottom two arms as it walked over to its Trainer and stood beside him. Bruno had been a member of the Elite Four ever since he was a young man. He was now pushing fifty and his body grew weary of the many challenges that he faced, mentally and physically.

"We'll meet with the Conference tomorrow to finalize my retirement, 'Champ," Bruno chuckled heartily as he placed a hand on Machamp's back as the Pokemon cried out with joy. "Come on, let's go home before the weather gets really bad."

Bruno turned as he proceeded to walk towards the provided path down the mountain, but he was stopped in his tracks. His teeth bared as he stared into the faces a pack of Trainers, each wielding a plethora of Pokemon, eyes glowing in a bloodthirsty-red aura.

In the center of the group of Trainers stood a young man, arms folded, but his entire appearance was shielded by the night sky, as well as the now heavy rain. A chuckle escaped the man's mouth as he said, "Well, well... Don't tell me the great Bruno is giving up on the Elite Four. The fun hasn't even begun yet, I'm afraid."

Bruno scoffed as his Machamp stood in front of him, protecting its Trainer from danger if things got out of control. "That won't be the only thing you're afraid of if you're trying to make me flinch. I don't have time for childish games. I'm going to advise you to move or I will show you no mercy," Bruno said clinching his fists. A gentle giant by nature, Bruno had a keen sense of when things were troublesome.

The mysterious man stepped forward, a ghoulish cackle escaping his mouth as he said, "Mercy is a decision for you? No mercy is a way of life for us..." After the statement was completed, almost on command the group of Pokemon jumped at Machamp, as well as Bruno.


"Magmortar, Flame Burst!" shouted a young boy from the blue corner of the battlefield.

"Maaaaaah!" Magmortar shouted as he lifted his right cannon up and fired it at the opposition, an Electivire. A spherical flame attack fired out of Magmortar's cannon and impacted the Electivire's gut, sending flying, landing on the ground, defeated.

In the red corner stood the Gym Leader of Sunyshore City' Gym, Volkner. A groaned escaped his lips as he was defeated by the challenger.

Near the center of the battlefield stood a referee as he signaled in the challenger's direction, "Electivire is unable to battle. The victory goes to Auburn Tanner of Canalave City!"

Auburn grinned nonchalantly as he ran onto the field to high-five his Magmortar. "Alright, Magmortar!"

Magmortar cried out happily as Volkner met Auburn at the center of the battlefield.

"Congratulations, Auburn. You definitely are worthy of the Beacon Badge," Volkner said as he handed the hazel-eyed boy the final badge of the Sinnoh Region. "I guess you're ready to challenge the Elite Four now right?"

Auburn raised a brow at Volkner, after placing the badge in his backpack. He rubbed his dark brown hair for a moment as he seriously thought about, "To be honest... I just kind of decided on being a Pokemon Trainer for fun, y'know? I guess I'll battle the Elite Four, haha."

Volkner groaned as he scratched his forehead. A guy with little to no motivation about being the best Trainer defeated him in battle so easily. What was his secret? Nonetheless, Volkner chuckled it off and said, "Well, I would definitely recommend for you to do that."

"Speaking of the Elite Four..."

Auburn and Volkner turned to face one of the Gym Leader's assistants. The young man appeared to have a distraught and shocked, as if he lost a family member.

"What's up?" Volkner asked.

"I... have some very grave news to share with you both..."


"It feels so good to be back in the big city."

Skyler Freeman had just completed the Unova Gym challenge, defeating the Opelucid Gym leader, Drayden, after a challenging Gym Match. Now, he was heading home to see his mother, as he had been gone for almost a year and a half now on his journey to becoming Champion.

Castelia City was the biggest city in the entire world, yet Skyler felt like every single person here knew him. Many Trainers had came out of the big city, but none had the determination and focus of Skyler. Many felt that Skyler would be the greatest western Trainer, but only time would tell.

Finally making it to his parents condominium, the black-haired boy entered the living room semi-shouting, "Mooom! I'm hooome!" He walked around, and entered the kitchen. "Mom?" She was no where to be found. He noticed a note on the refrigerator and clipped it off the magnet:

"Sky, I'll be back later on tonight. I'm out with Ricky! Love you!"

Skyler scoffed, crumpling up the note as he tossed it in the trash. "I guess this Ricky is pretty impressive," he said, expressing his distaste for his mother dating someone other than his father. "Well... I might as well relax and catch up on the news. I have no idea what's been going on in the world."

He walked into the living room and sat on the couch, glancing at the stack of newspapers on the coffee table as the television turned on. Skyler's mother knew her son all to well, as he was an avid newspaper reader. As he flipped through the paper, Skyler paused his reading as the appeal of the words 'breaking news' caught his attention. He turned up the volume before reading the side scroll at the bottom of the screen, his jaw subtly dropping.


"Yes, Katie! I told you I was going to kick butt! I made quick work of the Hoenn just like that! It wouldn't be efficient if it wasn't Jasmine Matthews! What's that noise? Oh, I'm just flying thousands of feet above the ground. I told you! It's one of the benefits of having a big Pidgeot!"

The blonde beamed through her words as her blue eyes glanced down at the city of Petalburg as she rode on her Pidgeot. She, too, had just defeated the final Gym Leader of her region, Wallace of the Sootoplis Gym and was prepared to rest for a month before taking on the challenge of defeating the Hoenn Elite Four.

"Just... hurry your butt to Petalburg so that we can catch up and battle! Wait, where are you now anyway?" Katie said, as she held on tight to Pidgeot's neck as she swooped downward preparing to land in front of the Pokemon Center. "Go ahead and land girl, you need your rest!" Jasmine said to Pidgeot.

Once she landed, Jasmine took out Pidgeot's Pokeball and returned her to her Pokeball, while remaining on the phone with her apparent close friend.

"Yeah, I actually just landed in Petalburg. I'll probably just walk the rest of the way to Oldale. It's only a few miles down the route if you remember, you stranger. Oh yeah, I forgot, you're too good to get your feet dirty anymore. Shut up!" Jasmine laughed as she headed east, walking down the path provided for travelers.

Conversation continued on steadily, ranging from the subjects of battling to what was going on in each other's life. Being a sixteen-year-old girl, life was slowly evolving before Jasmine's eyes and she was not sure if she was ready for it yet. But she did not want to think about growing up so quickly. She was still a teenager after all.

"So, what's going on in Kanto? Wait... what? No... You can't be serious!" Jasmine stopped in her track and placed her free hand on her forehead before covering her mouth. "Oh my goodness... That's so... devastating..."


The murder of Bruno shocked the entire Pokemon World with news that had never been heard before. People were so used to hearing powerful Trainers overcome the forces of evil on almost an annual occasion. Of course, with most of the world's major crime syndicates disbanded, the world was much more peaceful than ever before. But Bruno's assassination appeared to be the first shot in a series of attacks.

On television screens across the world, Professor Rowan, senior representative for the Pokemon Conference, took the liberty of announcing the details of the horrible occurrence at the Indigo Plateau:

"Ladies and gentleman, I stand before you today with terrible, terrible news. Our colleague... a great man, a great friend, a great hero... Bruno, of the Kanto Elite Four was murdered approximately twelve hours ago atop Mount Silver. The scars and bruises on his body are evident that this attack was a Pokemon on human attack, but we all know that Bruno was... an excellent Trainer. He could defend himself from wild Pokemon. This attack, however, was not wild. It is to my understanding by the Pokemon Police Department that this attack, indeed, was human led and controlled. The biggest and perhaps sickest indicator of this would be..." Rowan sighed as he took a breath, taken aback by the visual that he saw of Bruno. "...There was an 'R'... painted in his blood across his left breast."

Murmur expanded across not only the crowd of the Indigo Plateau, but the world as well. What exactly was R? Many people immediately related the bloody R to Team Rocket, but Rowan immediately shot that thought down.

"Before anyone jumps to any conclusions, our Police Department has remained adamant that Team Rocket is no longer a threat in our world and have been disbanded for many years now. We believe that it is a cover up for a new organization. But for now, we will not worry about that. Today is a day for reminiscing and honoring one of the greatest men to ever walk the face of the Earth. Thank you."


The funeral for Bruno was held at the Indigo Plateau about a week later, as Bruno did not have a family to immediately call 'family'. However, he did express, while he was alive, his love for all so the organizers of his funeral allowed a capacity crowd of people to attend the emotional ceremony. There were thousands of people, who could not get in, crowded around the stadium outside, watching the jumbo screen on display atop the entrance of the stadium.

After the ceremony, people from all stretches of life stood outside the stadium as the pallbearers carted Bruno's body away. Dressed in casual black attire, Auburn, who had made his way all the way from the north, watched in silent sorrow as he tried to ponder who would want to kill such a great man and how did they do it. Exhaling through his nose, Auburn glanced yonder and saw some blonde girl going berserk on top of one of the pedestals that a Nidoking statue was planted on. "Seriously?" Auburn thought to himself.

"We can't just sit here and accept this! We need to act! Bruno is gone! We can't just sit here crying and boohooing! We have to act! For Bruno's sake! Who's with me?" Jasmine said, pumping her fist in the air. Several people scolded her for being so... outrageous in her efforts for activism. Likewise, someone called security as an officer escorted, well, forced her off the pedestal by grabbing her by the arms. "C'mon, lemme go! I can say whatever I wanna say!"

Auburn watched with a confused, but amused expression on his face as he watched the girl. "Well, I admire her enthusiasm."

"I actually agree with her," said a voice from beside Auburn. "I'm Skyler. Sky for short."

Auburn turned to face the person beside him and nodded saying, "Auburn. Yeah, but the people need to mourn, right? I mean... I looked up to Bruno so I'm sad that he's gone."

"True," the young man said. "I suppose you're right. But now that the funeral is over, it may just be time to do something about it. How many times has the Pokemon Conference actually done something about crime syndicates? Team Rocket, Neo Team Rocket, Team Magma, Team Aqua, Team Galactic, Team Plasma... what do they all have in common?"

"Horribly cliche names and tacky outfits?" Auburn said with sincerity in his voice.

Skyler sighed and shook his head, "No. They each were defeated by a group of Trainers. Ordinary Trainers at that. Do you see where I'm getting at?"

Auburn made the 'oh-I-get-it' face as he snapped his fingers and pointed at the slightly taller guy, "Oh! I get it! You want us to form a team with horribly cliche names and tacky outfits!"

"Nevermind... I..."

"I'm just fooling, man," Auburn grinned and jabbed Skyler in the shoulder. "Loosen up. I like to make light of situations sometimes. It's hit or miss, though." He chuckled as he nodded in the direction of where Jasmine was thrown out. "You think we should see where her head is on this?"

"It wouldn't hurt to find out," Skyler said with a hint of question in his voice.


"So basically... you want to form an army of Trainers?"

The sun had set on the Indigo Plateau area. Most of the mourners had gone home, but Auburn, Skyler, and Jasmine were resting hear the northern entry to the Victory Road Cavern.

"Pretty much," Skyler stated, folding his arms. "It kind of hit me when I heard you up there... going ballistic. But, something needs to be done about this right now. The Pokemon Conference isn't going to do anything. And most of the Champions and Elite Four members are all selfish people anyway."

Auburn shrugged, "Eh... I mean, I don't think that us three could do much damage. Think about it... whoever or whatever got to Bruno, there had to be a group of them. We need more than just us three."

"Well," Jasmine butted in. "That's where recruitment comes in."

"Who's going to be willing to stop there journey for something like this?" Auburn retaliated. "It's true what you say about the Elite Four, about some of them being selfish, but let's face it, Trainers are selfish as well. Not everyone was lined up to stop Team Galactic a few years back in Sinnoh."

"As far as I'm concerned, we don't need those people," Skyler said. "We need Trainers who think like us. Trainers who put others before themselves."

"Right... who's to say that this isn't the first of many attacks?" Jasmine said. "Bruno didn't do anything to anyone so it's definitely not a random attack."

"True," Auburn stroked his chin. "Six or seven people should be enough for us to do some damage. I say we go to the biggest cities around... locate some Trainers and win them over."

"Celadon... Goldenrod... etc." Skyler added.

Jasmine nodded, "Makes sense. So.... how are we going to travel?"

"Don't worry about that," Auburn grinned. "I know a guy..."

It was not much, but a youthful flame was born on this day. Auburn Tanner of Canalave City, Skyler Freeman of Castelia City, Jasmine Matthews of Oldale Town: all were more than able Trainers when it came to potentially becoming challengers to the Champion, but they elected to put their dreams on hold for the sake of the protection of the Pokemon world. Could this group of Trainers influence others to join organization? Or are they on their own in their suspicions?

Next Time: Episode 2 - Tick Tock!

​