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[Pokémon] The Retelling of Pokémon Colosseum

bobandbill

one more time
16,891
Posts
16
Years
I laughed out loud again! This fanfic is GOOD. You switched font right at the end for some reason though.

The Miror B. battle is next...I want to see what Wes makes of the Ludicolo extravaganza.
Cheers again. The 'change of font' was probably a 'transfer' mishap when I used the good lod 'copy and paste' method from one forum to this one - the other uses a different text font, so for some reason or another the last bit remained so... only smaller...

As for Miror B - well, that's not for a good while yet. Haven't even gotten up to him yet after chapter 9 (although pretty close now) - I've gone more in-depth into other aspects (meaning more jokes! and explanations!) and Miror B isn't until the end of the events of Pyrite... never fear, there are a few scenes involving him here and there for exta measure. :)

Ok, the bell's about to ring(I snuck on here at school) and read the prologue and part of chapter one. Really nice...I like how Willie named his Zigzagoon after Mewtwo and Moltres...I think I might just do that myself.

Great so far...I'll try to read the rest when I get home.
Thanks. Good that you've enjoyed it thus far.

Here's the next chapter people - that shall 'explain' a few events and devleop a few more NPC's. Also, everyone's favourite Officer Johnson shall reappear. Let's get to it.

***

Chapter 5 – The Stench of Pyrite Town



Wes yawned as he woke up, groggily sitting up as his bed creaked nosily in response and stretching his arms out. Unknown to him, he had bumped an alarm clock off the desk besides him onto Umbreon who yelped and jumped a metre into the air as the clock rung obnoxiously loud.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Wes sleepily. Umbreon glared at Wes.

"Hungry?" asked Wes. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a can of food for his Pokémon he had picked up at the shops back in Phenac. "Here you are," he offered, placing it by Umbreon.

"Um... Umbreon!" (Um… that's not it, but good enough!) he said happily, as he deftly bit open the can and started eating. Meanwhile, Rui also sat up and rubbed her eyes as she looked at Wes from her bed on the other side of the room.

"Sleep well?" asked Wes.

"Sleep well?" she asked back with an eye roll. "What with you snoring and that bloke next door talking in his sleep…"

"Umm… sorry…" Wes apologised. He scratched his head and tried to remember the last time someone commented on his sleeping behaviour. "But what do you mean someone was talking in their sleep?"

"Uh huh. Something about a Zigzagoon using Tackle… but I took care of him," grinned Rui.

"Espeon!" (You bet she did! Poor guy…) yawned Espeon, waking up and slowly stretching out his legs. Seeing Umbreon eating, he used his psychic powers to get a can of Poke food from Wes' bag to float to him. He neatly separated lid from can, and discarded the lid in a nearby bin.

"Sure whatever, serve yourself…" mumbled Wes. He decided that he really didn't want to know what Rui did to the sleep talker next door for the moment. He was simply too tired at the moment to worry about that.

"What's the time?" he asked Rui.

"Well, it's…" Rui began, consulting her watch, "almost eleven o'clock," she answered mildly.

Wes sat upright. "Eleven o'clock?"

"Uh huh. Guess yesterday's… occurrences really took it out of us."

"Fair enough. Man, I'm hungry…" muttered Wes, watching Espeon and Umbreon chow down their food. "I guess Makuhita and Croconaw are also hungry. What say you give them a formal welcome, Espeon and Umbreon?"

"Umbreon…" (Fine… hope they're not all crazy like before,) said Umbreon, as Wes took two Poké Balls off his belt and glanced at them for a short moment. He then directed them towards the ground, and pressed the button on the red-white colour split that decorated the spherical capsule. Multicoloured beams of light shot out of the Poké Balls, travelling in a jagged line towards the ground, illuminating the room. Upon contact with the ground, the beams of light diverted into two separate 3D shapes. Almost instantly, Makuhita and Croconaw emerged from the kaleidoscope of coloured illuminations that had materialised on the floor.

"Esp?" (Why does he always try to make that process exceedingly spectacular?)

Wes ignored this comment and observed the two Shadow Pokémon. He was still uneasy about them, especially as Makuhita had attacked him before he was snagged. Then again, Makuhita didn't seem that aggressive against him right now. Perhaps attacking trainers was a concept that Shadow Pokémon didn't disrespect in their altered state. Wes shuddered. Just how did Snagem make Shadow Pokémon anyway? And where?

Meanwhile, Makuhita glared around at his surroundings. Upon seeing Croconaw, it gave a low grow. The blue wide crocodile stared coldly down at the stouter Makuhita in response.

"Strange…" muttered Rui.

"What is?" asked Wes.

"Makuhita's aura seems slightly smaller than before… or maybe I'm just imagining it."

"Maku! Hita Hita!" (How dare you glare at me! I am far stronger than you!) shouted Makuhita loudly, waving his arms in the air menacingly.

"Croc-naw," (I have no interest in what you say,) sniffed Croconaw disdainfully.

"His aura is smaller? Maybe… I guess we'll have to wait and see, but one never knows…" Wes trailed off uncertainly.

"What do you think… could they become… normal again?" asked Rui.

"Maku!" (You're just jealous of my strength!)

"Croc? Croconaw?" (What's there to be jealous of? Your stupid squinty eyes, or your exceedingly large mass?)

"MAKU!" (That's IT!) cried Makuhita, launching himself at Croconaw. Croconaw deftly dodged the attack, but Makuhita anticipated this and quickly changed direction, charging at Croconaw. Just before a full-on brawl ensured, both Pokémon found themselves frozen on the spot.

"Espeon…" (Behave, you two,) warned Espeon sternly.

"Maybe… but it's probably too early to tell. However there's the fact that you can discern Shadow Pokémon from normal ones, which means the shadow process is imperfect. And who's to say that the shadow process is permanent?" said an oblivious Wes.

"I hope that's the case," replied an equally ignorant Rui, not noticing the scuffle between Wes's new Shadow Pokémon.

"Maku!" (Stupid Espeon! Can't you let me finish him?) Makuhita said. He tried to shake his fist at the Psychic type.

"Croc…" (Quiet, you annoying incompetent thing,) Croconaw said with a sniff.

"Umbreon, Umbreon?" (Why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends…?) the Dark type tried to reason. The off-key singing from the Pokémon did attract Wes' attention again, who knelt down and turned to them.

"Hello, you two. As you may have guessed, I'm your new trainer. This is Espeon and Umbreon," he said, nodding to Espeon and Umbreon. He tried a smile, but it fell slightly when Makuhita responded by giving Espeon a death stare, and Croconaw folded his arms and looked the other way. Espeon gave Wes a look of mild amusement.

"Umb...Umbreon!" (Oh calm down... you're all acting like new born Bonsly!)

"Croc!" (You can talk, Mr. Moan-a-lot!) retorted Croconaw. Umbreon growled in response.

Wes sensed something was not right. He knew his own Pokémon well enough to get the gist of what they were saying - Espeon in particular was quite the translator being a Psychic Pokémon. And although he was unfamiliar with Makuhita and Croconaw, he knew that his new Pokémon wouldn't be winning the Nobel Prize for Peace anytime soon.

"I guess I'll have to resort to the language of all Pokémon then," he said, grabbing his bag. "Hungry?" he asked Makuhita and Croconaw, as he pulled out another couple of cans of food. Immediately the tension in the air evaporated, as Croconaw and Makuhita promptly forgot about their argument.

"Maku? Hita hit!" (Food? Stupid Trudly never fed me!) Makuhita exclaimed, grabbing the can and squeezing it until the lid popped off. "Makuhita," (And he wondered why I kept punching him,) he added.

"Croc Naw!" (Finally somebody's talking sense here!)

Wes smiled. He knew just how to solve a quarrel between Pokémon. He turned to Rui as Makuhita and Croconaw quickly finished their meals.

"How about we go for a late breakfast?" he asked.

"I was waiting for you to say that," said Rui. "Although wouldn't it be an early lunch?"

"No, I still say it's called breakfast," claimed Wes, recalling his Shadow Pokémon into his Poké Balls, not quite trusting them to walk the streets of Pyrite without causing mayhem. After all, they were Shadow Pokémon, and he didn't want the goons from Cipher to see either of them in his possession.

"What's wrong with calling it lunch? It's late enough as it is," queried Rui, as they left the abandoned hotel.

"What about… 'brunch'?" offered Wes.

"'Brunch'? That doesn't sound appealing at all!"

***

Yet again, Pyrite town presented problems to Wes and Rui. Wes resorted to using his Pokémon to help search for a place to eat. They had split up with Rui and Espeon one way, and Wes and Umbreon the other way. They met up outside a closed Poké Mart with a sign on the door proclaiming that the owner had 'Gone Fishing' - where the owner would fish in the desert Wes had no idea. It didn't seem that he would be back yet at any rate.

"Any luck?" asked Wes.

"No," replied Rui. Wes noted that Rui was strangely distracted by a tall nearby lamppost randomly placed in the middle of town.

"What's up with this place?" grumbled Wes. "No restaurants, no fast food takeaways - heck, there's not even a shoddy kebab stand in sight!"

"Let's ask," decided Rui, walking towards a bystander with his hands in his pockets. "Excuse me…" she began.

"ARRGH! Get away from me!" the man shouted, running several paces away from the girl. "You're trying to hit me up for money, aren't you?" he accused.

"Umm… no, I just want to know…" continued Rui, slightly frightened by this outburst herself.

"Well I'm NOT giving anyone any more money!" declared the man, running off. Rui blinked.

Just then, the old woman that had chased them the night previous opened her door to her house, shouted "Stop trying to sell me money!" and slammed the door shut.

"This town is… weird," exclaimed Rui.

"Espeon," (This region is weird,) Espeon corrected.

"It seems most people here are on edge. I don't particularly blame them - judging the mess this town is in - and the police service…" Wes said, referring to Johnson. "Is there anyone who is in charge here?" he wondered.

"Hey! I found a place!" declared Rui, reading a sign by a house near the town's entrance. Wes went up to the notice which stated in large print:


PYRITE'S MOTHER'S FORTUNE TELLING
Have your future told - if you dare…

Special deal - free meal* with first reading
*meal may be of questionable quality and variable quantity


Wes scrutinised the sign. Frankly he did not go into the mysteries of the future all that much - especially after Espeon had once told him he would have been a good violinist. How very wrong was he. He also didn't like the sound of the disclaimer at the bottom of the sign, but a meal was a meal.

"Espeon…" (I HAD told him 'guitarist', not 'violinist', but how he misunderstood me…) moaned Espeon, reading Wes's thoughts, but commenting to no one in particular.

Rui was much more positive about the find, taken in by the mysterious dark interior of the house she could see through the windows.

"Doesn't this look great? A meal and entertainment!" exclaimed Rui excitedly.

"Umm, yeah, sure - seems, um, ok…" muttered Wes, unable to cover up his lack of enthusiasm. Rui ignored this as she entered the house.

"GADZOOKS! Who dare enters this place?" demanded an elderly lady, clad in a brown cloak and overly-large glasses.

"Great, another weirdo…" muttered Wes. The woman noticed Wes, and stared at him, before letting loose a few profound metaphors.

"To find what you seek, you must first stop looking," she declared.

"Uh-huh…" said Wes, unconvinced. "What about an Itemfinder?" challenged Wes.

"Umm… And to be truly strong, one must be truly weak!" stated the woman, avoiding Wes's question.

"Uh-huh. Sure…" said Wes, with a look of disbelief on his face. Personally, he thought, to be strong, it takes a lot of training and perseverance. Or have a really powerful Pokémon. That also works.

"Night is day, and gravity pulls things up," continued the prophetic woman.

"What?" retorted Wes.

"Shh, Wes, she's a clairvoyant - she knows what she's saying," whispered Rui. "We're here for the special deal…" she said, more loudly to the woman.

"Indeed. Welcome to my humble house. Please, sit down and eat." The woman nodded to two chairs, which Wes strangely did not remember seeing before. He shrugged off that fact and sat down and devoured the offered meal of eggs and bacon, followed by a few croissants. The food was sufficient enough for both the hungry teens.

"Yes, you see, one seems to get more customers in this town if you offer food…" said the woman. "And one gets a more accurate reading if the customer is satisfied."

"Sounds about right," agreed Rui, feeling better already.

"Hmm… do any of you have any psychic Pokémon?" queried the woman.

"Espeon!" (That's me!) exclaimed Espeon, who trotted forward and jumped elegantly onto the table with an air of superiority. Umbreon merely glared.

"Aha! I knew I felt some other presence here…" mumbled the woman, holding her forehead dramatically. "Now before we begin…" the woman coughed and made the 'give-me-money' hand sign.

At least she has her priorities set straight, reflected Wes, slightly amused as he paid the wrinkled hag, who scrutinised the amount given to her. Satisfied, she promptly pulled a crystal ball out of nowhere and set it on the table.

"Is that a giant pearl?" asked Rui, amazed at the size of the colossal shiny object.

"Yes. It was found nearby here with a deceased Spoink - works better that way," stated the woman mildly. "Now, both of you, hands on the pearl. Do you mind if I, ahem, use your Espeon for this? Only one gets a better reading with one's psychic Pokémon helping and all."

Wes shrugged - he didn't particularly mind. He and Rui placed their hands on the smooth cold pearl.

"Through the power of the great Mew, I utter the words of great magical power: Abra, Kadabra, Alakazam!" cried the woman. Wes raised an eyebrow at the choice of words claimed to be words of 'power'. Then he jumped - the pearl's see-through surface was suddenly clouded with swirling shapes.

"Hmm…" muttered the woman. She suddenly gave a loud gasp.

"What is it?" asked Rui curiously.

"Umm… oh, you will meet a tall dark stranger," said the seer weakly. "Umm… that is all… you may leave now."

Outside, Wes and Rui looked at each other. "That was a waste of a 'reading', but at least we ate well!" declared Wes.

"I'm a bit disappointed with it," agreed Rui, as they went into town to explore, and hopefully solve the trouble with Cipher.

Inside the diviner's house however, the woman was still staring at the pearl, seemingly trying to recover the secrets it held.

"So, they stand a decent chance to clear up this nasty business in this town," muttered the woman to the empty air. "So be it - and I do hope they succeed…"

***

Unaware of the fortune-teller's knowledge of their quest, they walked on back through the town to their hotel rooms for a short rest. The hotel keeper was still absent.

"What shall we do now?" asked Rui. "Ask people about Team Cipher?

"Are you crazy? Nobody marches up to someone asking if they know anything about a criminal gang! What if they are part of Team Cipher? We might as well tie ourselves in a sack, paint it bright orange and go up to them shouting 'Look at me! We have your Shadow Pokémon!'"

"All right, all right then!" interrupted Rui. "I get the picture. But how are going to find out about them?" she demanded.

"By being subtle and not arousing attention," answered Wes. "We'll just go sightseeing in the town-" Rui smirked at the thought that Pyrite had much to 'sightsee' "-for now, and see what we can pick up about Cipher the safe way. Listen to talk on the street, and lie low for the time being. Besides, I've worked with Team Snagem - I know how to do these things," stated Wes.

"Fair enough - but what are we going to 'sightsee' today?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess we could have a look at the windmill and the Colosseum here. That should take up whatever is left of the day," offered Wes.

"Ok then - lead the way, Wes," commanded Rui jokingly. They walked out only for the two to be met by a shapely female teenager who eyed Wes approvingly.

"Look what we have here. You're quite the hottie! Why not lose that wallflower with you and be my sweetie?" drawled the female. Wes with unease stepped back at this sudden approach, when Rui charged forward glaring at this newcomer.

"Wait a second! Who are you to call me a wallflower? What makes me a wallflower?" she demanded.

"Aha! She's all serious! Uncool! I'm only teasing out of boredom. A guy like him - not my taste," mocked the teen.

Hey, not your taste? Wes thought impulsively.

"Gah! What is it with you? He's my… I mean Wes! Be a man - stomp her down!" shouted Rui.

"Stomp? Who, me?" retorted the newcomer. "Ahaha! That's a laugh! I'll go easy on you... Hang on, where'd he go?" asked the girl. Rui turned - there was no sign of Wes, who had evidently chosen this moment to leave the dispute. Frowning furiously, she turned around, abruptly kicked the girl in the leg and marched off through a Pokémon battle, ignoring the cries of protest from the trainers and Pokémon alike.

"Hey! What's that for?" demanded the girl, but Rui was already well on her way to the windmill.

***

She perfectly intercepted Wes at the entrance of the windmill, both of them arriving at the same time.

"Why did you leave then?" asked Rui, grabbing Wes' arm.

"Umm… well, you see…" began Wes, wondering if Rui would let go or kick him if he said something else had caught his interest. He had a feeling it would be the latter.

Luckily for Wes they were suddenly interrupted by some off-key singing emitted from the windmill. Wary of the slow-moving blades of the windmill, they entered.

"Thirty long years I've spun these gears! Thirty more years I'll spin some more!" sung an aged grey-haired worker. His clothes were dirty and in tatters. Behind him a large arrangement of gears were spinning in an almost hypnotic fashion, the man controlling them with grubby hands.

"Umbre…Umbre…Umbre…" (Round and round and round…) muttered the Dark type Pokémon, moving his head in circles while trying to keep up with the speed of the gears.

The off-key singing worker then noticed the two newcomers and literally jumped at them in greeting.

"Hello! They call me the Chief around here! I monitor the gears here in the windmill!" boomed the employee.

"Erm, hello," Rui said uncertainly.

"Come on, put some 'oomph' in that 'hello'!" demanded the man. "And remember, it's CHIEF!" He then turned to Wes, cutting off any protest from Rui. "Welcome to the windmill!" he repeated, and he offering his hand for a handshake. Almost instantly, he pulled the hand back giving Wes no time to move.

"Hahaha, TOO SLOW!" laughed the man heartily, as if that was the most original and funniest joke in the world. Wes and Rui exchanged glances, and Espeon tilted his head as he regarded the so-called Chief. He then glanced at Umbreon, who was still observing the moving gears.

"Espi Espeon?" (Don't you pay attention to anything that happens?) scorned Espeon.

"Umbreon," (Hey, simple minds are easily amused,) Umbreon said, before turning back to the gears. Espeon sighed and gave Umbreon a push. With a squeak of surprise, Umbreon found himself seated upon the gears and rotating at an incredible speed.

"Umbre!" (Arrgh! Getmeoffgetmeoffgetmeoff!) cried the Pokémon. Espeon merely laughed to himself and watched in amusement.

"Hey, are you interested in a job here?" asked the man suddenly.

"Not really," admitted Wes.

"Chief," added Rui hastily.

"Of course not! It takes a real expert to control these gears!" boasted the man, pointing at himself with an air of pride. "If you change your mind 'bout having a career in gear spinning though, try for this job after twenty years of experience or so!" boomed the worker. To Wes's and Rui's dismay, he began to sing again.

"Thirty long years of cranking gears, thirty more years I'll spin some more…"

Covering their ears, Wes and Rui walked out, with Espeon trotting behind.

"Umbre!" (Hey, don't leave me!) cried Umbreon. Just then, the Chief increased the speed of the machinery. With a cry, Umbreon went flying off the gears, through the door, narrowly missed one of the blades of the windmill, and mercifully had his landing softened by an unknowing Espeon.

"Espi!" (Arrgh! Get off of me!) cried the startled Pokémon, as Umbreon staggered to his feet.

"Umbre-Umbreon!" (Well it's your fault… ah, look at all the colours! Wee!) replied the dizzy Pokémon, stumbling into Espeon again. Wes heard the commotion, and seeing the two Pokémon, laughed.

"Oh dear, you two keep getting tangled up in something don't you? Well, I'm not letting you cross the bridge in that state," Wes told them, tilting his head in the direction of a shaky looking bridge of dubious quality. With that, he pulled out two Luxury Balls and returned Espeon and Umbreon to them, to the protests of both Pokémon.

"Where did you get those?" asked Rui in awe of the glittering Luxury balls. They were the image of comfort for Pokémon belonging to trainers – basically a better version of the Poké Ball - but these were rare for any part of the Pokémon region, let alone Orre.

"I got them a while after I got those two," responded Wes. "I had to… well, I mean, it cost me a fortune," he added quickly, catching himself; he wasn't keen on getting lectured on things done in the past again. "Come on, let's go see the Colosseum - with luck maybe we can catch some battles," urged Wes, never one for waiting around too long.

***

The bridge was in fact rather stable, if only a bit wobbly. Wes strode confidently across it with Rui following, with a bit less poise.

"Scared?" asked Wes, smiling at Rui's worried look.

"Well I wouldn't be if I could at least see what's underneath me!" confessed Rui, as she safely reached the other side. She was right - whatever was underneath the bridge was hidden in the pitch-black void. Wes peered down the crevasse in awe of the sheer depth of it.

"There's a town down there," said a person standing nearby, approaching the two curious travellers.

"A town?" repeated Rui doubtfully.

"No, no, I'm not crazy," denied the man hurriedly, seeing Rui's and Wes's faces. "There really is a town down there - it's called 'The Under'."

"Pretty bad name," observed Wes.

"Makes sense though," said Rui, risking a look down the crevasse.

"You see, Pyrite was an old mining town," explained the man. "But that was years ago - now there's nothing left down there. However some people decided to stay down there. What's it like down there is anyone's guess…" he muttered, before walking off.

"Do you think there is a town down there? Who would live there?" Rui asked Wes.

"Hobos," Wes absentmindedly answered. After a moment of staring at the invisible crack in the ground, he raised his hands to his mouth and hollered 'Echo!'. The sound bounced off the rocky walls, giving a ghostly feel as the word came back to them and faded into the darkness below.

Echo.

Echo.

Echo.

Then a new sound emerged from below.

Shut up…

Shut up…

Shut up…

"Guess he was right," said Wes.

***

They next explored the town's Colosseum. Inside the run-down building was a small reception area blocking off the entrance to the main battle arena. At least the floor was tiled, but the colour of them appeared to have faded away, and through the entry to the Colosseum Wes spied a run-down battle arena with patches missing from the roof of the building.

"Seems it's closed for the day," said Wes dejectedly.

This was confirmed a moment later as Wes overheard a conversation between a receptionist and a large towering man.

"So the next tournament will be on in three days, right?" asked the lady.

"I guess so. But I don't like this business. What with all the rumours and all… Well, I'd better be going," replied the muscular man with a grim frown plastered on his face.

"So will I. See you later, Duking."

The man named Duking turned around and seeing Wes gave an even bigger frown before leaving. Wes returned the favour despite the man's superior size. He would have matched Gonzap in stature, Wes mused. The lady left a moment later, leaving Wes and Rui alone save for a random bystander left in the reception area.

"Nothing here - I think we'll go back for now," offered Rui. Just then, the bystander approached them. The tall ungainly man stumbled over to them, a large grin upon his face.

"Ya knowy that big guy there? Yah, he's Duking," he slurred.

"Are you drunk?" asked Rui, as the smell of alcohol reached her.

"That's a silly-hilly question. I never drinks da stuffs," denied the man, before he staggered and crashed into a wall. "Okay, maybes a littles bits…" he confessed.

"Yeah, well, good for you," replied Wes.

"Yar, Duking runs the colomesum thingy," added the man.

"Really?" asked Wes. "That's interesting… do you think I should try this tournament? After all, they did mention that something strange is going on…" he questioned Rui.

"I hope we don't have to stay in this dump for so long," replied Rui.

"Yar know, if you zoant to comply - I mean compel - I mean compliss… compete! That's the word… anyways, you sees Duking, and he'll makis it alls," stuttered the drunk.

"Well, thank you," said Wes politely.

"No problem-ey. Yes, Duking is da owner, and he had somnething to do with weighthifting as well. He could mift an entire Snorlax!" insisted the man.

"Somehow I doubt that… strong as he seems," answered Rui.

"Well maybe a Pichu… I wish I could wins this… you know, the the the thingy…the…"

"What?" asked Wes, slightly annoyed now.

"Ah yes, the liage cash prize but espicallys the strongily Pokémon they gave you…" blabbed the man, still unable to form words properly. His face suddenly brightened up. "Do you livey in a house? I livey in a house."

"Pokémon?" asked Rui, ignoring the man's ramblings.

"Cash prize?" asked Wes.

"Oh yess, they gvve pokemans to winners recently. They was said to be straighter and butter... Cail won it last. Stupid Cail and his win-win Mc victories..."

"What?" asked Rui, confused.

"I think he meant 'stronger and better'," guessed Wes. "What about the money?" he added, before getting a poke from Rui.

"Oh, it's three grand… or four grand, or something-and-rather." Wes's eyes light up. "'Coursa, the entry cost is five hundred smazzules…" added the man, to Wes's dismay, who assumed 'smazzules' meant 'money'.

"Well let's go," said Rui. "Cail is that guy by the town's entrance, right? Let's ask him about it."

"Ok. Thanks, man," said Wes as he bade the drunken man goodbye. "I doubt it could be a Shadow, but it might mean something big is going on…"

"Hey, I know who you are!" proclaimed the drunk. Wes froze. If he knew what he did to Team's Snagem's base then it's bad news for me.

"…You're what's-his-face… I nows! Superman!" stated the drunk, still finding it hard to walk or talk straight.

"Okay…" said Wes relieved and annoyed at the same time. He and Rui continued on their way back to the entrance of the town to confront Cail.

"Bust gets meself hime," said the man, before falling unconscious on the spot - alcohol had gotten the better of him. It was just as well, as in his past state he would have never been able to cross the bridge without falling.

***

"Hey look, the shop's open now," remarked Wes as they neared the Poke Mart on their way back to the hotel.

"Better go there later though," commented Rui, noticing the long line of customers by the shop.

'Hey, HEY! You two! Stop walking through the square!" shouted a bystander.

"Oh, sorry," apologised Wes. He and Rui had walked right through the middle of a large painted circle were some Pokémon trainers were jeering at each other, occasionally having battles. Rui noticed that she had earlier walked through here as well after she had kicked that girl in the shin, and blushed slightly at the memory.

"Yes - sorry for that. I'll try to pay more attention," vowed Rui.

"Hey, come on now - that isn't how you apologise here!" retorted the man. Seeing Wes's and Rui's faces, he continued, "Are you new here?"

Wes nodded. "Yes - we've come for - umm, for a short while. Just arrived yesterday…"

"Oh well. Well, this is what we call Pyrite Square - or Duel Square. Here is where the Pokémon battlers turn up. And if something happens that somebody doesn't disagree with something - it's resolved with a wager and a battle," explained the man.

"And interrupting our battles by walking through the middle is one of those disagreeable things," added another nearby person, none too friendly.

Wes grinned - he was familiar with the ways of street life, especially the 'codes of law', as they were commonly known as in such towns across various regions, especially in Orre. He hadn't encountered it for a while, as he had been with Team Snagem until recently and so had avoided towns like Pyrite, but it came rushing back to him.

"What can I say?" Wes shrugged. "I'll battle then - how much are the wagers here?"

"Oh, about three hundred - plus any extra from the crowd if they're impressed," answered the man with a grin.

"You're on," said Wes. When wagers and battle were concerned, he didn't care about the price, especially as he ended up winning more often than not. Noticing that Rui was confused, he moved to reassure her. "Never mind - it's just a battle," he reassured. "Better just stay to the sides and watch - I'll win soon enough. Then we'll use the winnings for dinner," he instructed confidently. Rui nodded and moved off as Wes walked into one half of the circle - the man into the other.

"My name's Vant by the way. Yours?" asked his opponent, taking off a gray jacket.

"Wes."

"Ok. I'll even give you an advantage - three Pokémon for you, two for me, though you can only have two out at one time. Double battle. Agreed?" challenged Vant.

Wes grinned even more - clearly Vant was confident of a win. "All right then, your loss. Go, Umbreon and Espeon!" he cried, sending out his respective Pokémon.

"Nice Pokémon," remarked Vant. "Go, Zigzagoon and Misdreavus!"

Zigzagoon, the ever-so-common normal type gave a small growl anticipating the battle. However, Wes surveyed the Misdreavus, which would normally be considered more of a threat. Ghost-types were generally tough fighters, and as a rule they were not to be underestimated. This particular Pokémon was made up of a levitating black and purple head and neck - the typical scary look ghost types had. It oddly enough also had a necklace around its neck, which twirled around the neck of the Pokémon.

"Zigza!" (We'll beat you smelly Pokémon!)

"Es? Espeon, Es?" (Smelly? You're original with your taunts, aren't you?) ridiculed Espeon.

"Misdreavus." (You have no chance of winning…) giggled the Misdreavus softly in a bone-chilling way.

"Umbre…" (Ok-ay then… you might be disappointed though,) retorted Umbreon.

"Zigzagoon, start off with a Tackle on Espeon!" declared Vant after the Pokémon had finished taunting each other. The small Pokémon charged forward at a quick speed towards Espeon, or as quickly as its short stubby legs would allow it at any rate.

"Block it, Umbreon!" countered Wes, without missing a beat. Umbreon intercepted Zigzagoon's run with ease, and roughly bumped it back into the opposite direction. Wes decided to go quickly on the counter-attack, when suddenly he and Vant were interrupted by Rui.

"Wes - the Misdreavus - it's… it's… SHADOW!!!" cried Rui, to the dismay of the spectators who covered their ears in pain at the volume of Rui's screech.

"Shadow? What?" asked Wes. Another Shadow Pokémon? What's going on?

"Bugger - how did you know it was a Shadow?" asked Vant. "I was planning on giving him a surprise…Never mind - I'll win anyway! Misdreavus, Shadow Ball on Espeon!"

The black and purple ghost type gave a hiss and gave a midair somersault, summoning a black sphere of energy. In a matter of seconds the black blob had grown to the size of the ghost Pokémon, spinning in front of Misdreavus. Suddenly it flew at an astonishing pace towards Espeon.

"Quick, dodge!" cried Wes, still distracted by the news that Misdreavus was a Shadow Pokémon. However Espeon was caught out by the attack before it could jump to safety and cried out in pain as the ball of dark energy engulfed him, before dissipating away.

"Misdreavus!" (Haha, direct hit! No chance!) Rui gave out another gasp.

"Wes, Misdreavus's aura… it's turned… red?" shouted Rui confused at this change.

Vant smiled. "Zigzagoon, use Tackle again!" he commanded.

"Umbreon - block it!" shouted Wes. Umbreon dived right in front of the smaller Pokémon and blocked it again.

"Now - Misdreavus - Shadow Rush!" yelled Vant. With a sense of despair, Wes realised that Zigzagoon's attack was a trick - with Umbreon pulled in, Espeon was left exposed.

"Espeon, Confusion!" ordered Wes, hoping to make Misdreavus reel back in pain of the psychic attack. Espeon tilted his head and directed its psychic power at the charging Misdreavus, scoring a direct hit. Despite this however the Shadow Misdreavus continued and made direct contact with Espeon with its charge, knocking it out.

Wes was shocked. "But it was… Espeon damaged it…"

"Ah yes, but it was in Hyper state," pointed out Vant. "You may not know it, but if a Shadow Pokémon enters that state, it gets stronger and doesn't notice much, such as an attack. That's why she went going, and as she was in Hyper State; its attack was more powerful. You've got a long way to go to beating me!" taunted Vant. "All in this instruction manual," he added, waving a 'How to Care for Your Shadow Pokémon' pamphlet at them.

Wes frowned - he remembered now. Shadow Pokémon tended to do that sometimes. But Vant seemed to know too much about Shadow Pokémon, and the fact he had one was frankly suspicious. Team Snagem people knew about such technicalities, but the general public should – by all rights – know only that Shadow Pokémon existed. Wes decided to venture the dangerous option.

"Do you work for Cipher?" Wes asked. The crowd began jeering, bored by the conversation and eager instead to watch a battle.

"Cipher? Who are they? No, my Shadow Pokémon was a prize. Since I won the Colosseum challenge and all," explained Vant.

"Wait, hang on a second… the Pokémon prize you get… is a Shadow Pokémon?" asked Wes.

"Oh sure. Most of us have one now though," claimed Vant. Many of the bystanders nodded their agreement. Rui looked shocked at this new development. "But hey - stop talking, and get on with it!" urged Vant.

"Um… sure," answered Wes. So Team Cipher has multiple Shadow Pokémon… and they give them away to strong trainers? Something's wrong… very wrong… Wes thought, before shaking his head. Snap out of it… I need to win this and get that Misdreavus… who should I use? Makuhita may hurt someone in his rage. Like myself. And I don't want that…and the Croconaw isn't much better but at least it wasn't trying to punch the first thing it saw.

"Go, Croconaw!" he commanded. He threw the Poké Ball out onto the field, and Croconaw emerged, giving a rough growl and kicking up dirt.

"Croc!" (A Zigzagoon? Pfft!) stated Croconaw, glaring arrogantly at the opposition.

"Okay, Croconaw… try a Water Gun!" ventured Wes.

Croconaw stared at Wes blankly.

"Umbre…" (Oh dear - you can't do that?)

"Cro! Croconaw! Naw!" (Quiet! I cannot remember such a move! Your trainer's probably crazy!) Croconaw yelled as it made a rude gesture at Umbreon.

"Umbreon!" (Don't you DARE insult Wes!)

"Calm down, you two! You don't know Water Gun?" asked Wes. Croconaw shrugged as he dodged an attack from Zigzagoon and managed to swipe it with its claws.

"Okay then, follow up with another Scratch!" urged Wes. Croconaw gave the same blank look.

"But you…" began Wes, glancing at his P*DA to see Croconaw's attacks. The gadget quickly scanned Croconaw with a red ray, and returned the results of the analysis as Croconaw blinked in annoyance. "Hey - only one attack? Oh well… Croconaw, Shadow Rush on the Misdreavus, Umbreon, Bite on Zigzagoon!"

"Dodge it, Zigzagoon!" cried Vant, but Umbreon's attack was too quick as he bit Zigzagoon in the leg and tossed him away into a wall. Meanwhile, Croconaw lumbered forward and charged right at Misdreavus. His target gave a ghostly laugh and disappeared, reappearing behind Croconaw before it used a Shadow Rush of its own. Laughing, it gave a wicked grin as Croconaw fell down from the impact.

"You have a Shadow Pokémon too?" asked Vant, confused. "Never mind - it's doesn't seem to know anything but Shadow Rush, so it's no match for my one! Misdreavus, finish it!" instructed Vant. Misdreavus gave another ghostly laugh as it fired up another pulsing Shadow Ball.

"Umbre!" (Get up, Croconaw!) cried Umbreon. Noticing that Croconaw was too limp to move, he shook his head and decided to take matters in his own hands. He charged at the Zigzagoon head on.

Wes realised what was going on. "Ok then. Croconaw! Jump up and get near Zigzagoon!" he urged desperately.

At Wes's order, Croconaw struggled and jumped a short distance into the air and landed clumsily on his feet, lumbering towards Zigzagoon unsteadily. The movement distracted Misdreavus, and delayed its attack as it turned directly towards Croconaw. Meanwhile the hurt Zigzagoon tried its best to limp away from Umbreon, but Umbreon anticipated the Pokémon's weak effort and picked it up between his teeth like a rag doll. It then in one movement sprang in front of Croconaw.

"Croc…" (You're risking yourself to protect me?) asked Croconaw in surprise, stopping short.

Umbreon gave a muffled response, due to Zigzagoon's leg being in his mouth, but Croconaw got the gist of the reply. Croconaw nodded his head and assumed a battle pose.

Vant nodded his head in acknowledgement of the move. "Nice idea. Misdreavus, hold back the attack!"

But Misdreavus was too enraged as it fired the ball of energy. It struck Zigzagoon directly, narrowly missing Umbreon. The raccoon Pokémon gave a small weak yelp of pain - normal types could survive ghost-typed attacks, but from such close range from an angry Shadow Pokémon, it didn't stand a chance. Misdreavus gave a look which might be interpreted as a twinge of regret, but it quickly vanished as it glared angrily at Umbreon and Croconaw.

"Zigza…" (But why…) it moaned, before fainting. Vant shakily returned it to its Poké Ball.

"Wes… now Croconaw's aura turned red!" said Rui warningly.

"Must be in hyper state then…" muttered Wes, making the link. "Umbreon! Croconaw? Ready to win?"

"Umbreon!" (Oh yes - this'll be revenge for hurting Espeon!)

"Croc Naw!" (Gonna smash that ghost!)

"Good - Croconaw - Shadow Rush!" instructed Wes. Misdreavus laughed, and merely relied on its previous tactic of disappearing once the Croconaw got close. It soon emerged behind it as Croconaw snorted angrily and turned around.

"Now, Umbreon!" shouted Wes. Misdreavus felt the teeth of Umbreon in the back of its neck and shrieked in pain. He held on for a few seconds, before letting go, just a split second before Croconaw clashed with Misdreavus head on with a Shadow Rush attack from the opposite direction. The Ghost Pokémon gave another cry of pain as it fell to the crowd limply, losing its levitating ability. It was still in the battle, but only just as it struggled to rise from the ground.

"I think that's enough…" began Vant conceding defeat, but stopped mid-sentence as he noticed what Wes was doing. A few of the more attentive members of the crowd also looked puzzled as Wes removed a Poké Ball from the machine upon his arm, and then gasped as he threw the Poké Ball…

…right at Misdreavus.

As the ball made contact, Misdreavus was sucked into the small capsule and the ball started wobbling. A few seconds later, it stopped and as the ball gave a small flash, it came to rest.

Wes moved to bend down and pick it up. As he stood up, he noticed that all of the audience were staring at him, especially Vant who had an angry scowl on his face. It dawned on Wes that maybe snagging someone's Pokémon in a public place was not the best idea - especially an innocent person's Pokémon. He smiled weakly at the crowd.

"Guess the wager's off, then?" he asked. Then, to Rui, he added "Run!"

***

Johnson was glad with himself. He had successfully kept Pyrite in order single-handedly for another day, defeating numerous ruffians and scoundrels alike – he didn't even have to fight them, as they had cowered away in fright of his sparking blue police uniform. Not to mention that he had told off that small kid who had dropped a small apple core. Oh, that boy sure did get a good lecture on money and littering…

The police officer walked up to a small statue lying in disarray by the sides of the main pathway. He looked around carefully before speaking to it.

"So, do you know what happened yesterday in the Poké Mart at five pm?" he demanded.

The statue unsurprisingly was silent.

"Oh yeah? Nothing to say?" persisted the officer. A person walking past glanced at him, rolled his eyes, and walked off.

The statue remained quiet.

"Well, I'll let you off. I'm watching you though!" said Johnson, brushing his hands. Yep, I sure am the best policeman around here, he thought to himself. He began to walk off to harass another piece of rubbish, when he noticed a pebble shaking on the ground.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Johnson. The pebble to his horror ignored him and started shaking harder, and even jumped a few centimetres from the ground. Johnson realised that the ground was shaking as well, before falling to his knees.

Then he heard a noise from behind him - quiet at first, before it grew louder. He turned to see two people being chased by a mob down the street. Unintelligible words were shouted in his direction - something about 'stealing', 'Snagem', and 'kill him'.

Johnson put on a brave face and stood up straight, facing the angry mob which had been gaining on the two victims. He raised a hand towards them.

"Stop!" he shouted.

A moment later, the mob collided with him, and the world went topsy-turvy.

***

"Sorry for causing the mess and all. It's my fault," began Wes.

He and Rui were now in a prison cell. They had been caught by the crowd, who had gone mad in anger and outrage at him. If there was a golden rule in the Pokémon world it was this - never, ever get caught stealing someone's Pokémon. That's why Rui and Wes had been chased, mistaken for part of Team Snagem. And, as Wes grimly thought, who would believe that they had done it for a good purpose, not a bad one?

They had been in the lead but already that had been shortened significantly. Wes had recalled his Pokémon to his Poké Balls - he knew that they would be no match for an angry mob after that battle. They were caught by the crowd near the entrance - Wes vividly remembered that the inept Johnson had been caught up by the mob as well, and unsurprisingly was also a victim of the mob's rage.

He and Rui had gained a few bruises in the first few seconds, but luckily before it got any worse, Wes faintly recalled a man commanding 'Stop!" in such a way it had froze everyone in their tracks. Then everyone had shifted away quietly and quickly. Wes didn't remember much after that, only that now they were imprisoned, and would now have a criminal record added to their names. It looked like it was all over.

"Never mind - it's not your fault," sighed Rui softly. "Remember - we're in this together," she added more firmly, giving a weak smile to Wes. Wes returned it and squeezed her hand - more to comfort her than himself, of course.

Wes's Pokémon had been confiscated and placed in the police force's hands - Wes was surprised that there was actually a 'force' that kept the town in order. Seems it had finally made itself evident – just as well for them then, but maybe not for the not-so-distant future.

"Well, looks like it's all over, unfortunately," Wes sighed. "So much for us stopping Team Snagem and Cipher… man," Wes chuckled. "If one heard our story…"

"Oh, I'm listening," a voice sounded from the darkness of the shadows surrounding the cell. Wes jumped up in surprise, trying to make out the shape before him. "So, you know something about Snagem and Cipher, eh?"

***





That's it for the chapter.

For those who have played the game - did you expect the last part to happen? Hehe, I'm somewhat deviated a fair bit from the game's plot now. :)

Anyway, the spoiler on events, characters, and all that jazz:
Spoiler:

Reply on thoughts, and I'll be back soon!
 
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625
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I love reading this fanfic (as I am a HUGE fan of the Colosseum/XD games). It's great that you gave each pokemon their own personality. Also, I liked that Croconaw was the first Johto pokemon Wes saw (it was mine to in the game :)). I hope you put up more soon!!
 

Minos Yewman

Banned
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  • Seen Apr 11, 2012
That chapter was good too, I liked the mob chase lots and I also like it how all the different pokémon have their own personality. However there are 48 shadow pokemon and plusle so if they are each going to have a unique personality, it could get confusing.
The only mistake I spotted was this:

encountered it for a while, as he had been with Team Snagem for a while

You used 'for a while' twice in a short sentance. This doesn't sound good. Try something like:

encountered it for a while, as he had been with Team Snagem until recently

Other than that, very good! Keep it up!
 

Sydian

fake your death.
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Very nice. ;D It's so funny...I'm funny at school, but that's only cause I can do funny voices and accents...and I can't put that into writing, so I think I'll stick to dread. xD


Anyway...I found some little things...

"What's up with this place?" grumbled Wes. "No restaurants, no fast food takeaways - heck, there's not even a shoddy kebab stand in sight!"

Do you mean 'kabob'? Of course, if you're in Australia then maybe it's something over there. X.x But...just something I wondered about. Same with shoddy...I don't know what that means either.

"Gah! What is it with you? He's my… I mean Wes! Be a man - stomp her down!" shouted Rui.

"Stamp? Who, me?" retorted the newcomer. "Ahaha! That's a laugh! I'll go easy on you... Hang on, where'd he go?" asked the girl. Rui turned - there was no sign of Wes, who had evidently chosen this moment to leave the dispute. Frowning furiously, she turned around, abruptly kicked the girl in the leg and marched off through a Pokemon battle, ignoring the cries of protest from the trainers and Pokemon alike.

I notice you use 'stomp' when Rui is talking to the chick, but when that girl repeats it, she says 'stamp'. Try keeping it the same word...especially if someone is quoting another person. ^^

Ha, I'm still at school. -sneaky-
 
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Espreon

Lord of the Nagas
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Same with shoddy...I don't know what that means either.

Shoddy is not exactly exlusive to Australian English, its a synonym for poor quality.

Back on topic and to the author: I love how this is unfolding but I was dissapointed with Wes going up to the blue guy, but its just a personal preferance as I like the Cyndaquil line the best. Other than that great work! In fact its so great once I find my iPod I will copy these as text files and put them on my iPod so I can read it on the go!
 

Sydian

fake your death.
33,379
Posts
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Shoddy is not exactly exlusive to Australian English, its a synonym for poor quality.

Back on topic and to the author: I love how this is unfolding but I was dissapointed with Wes going up to the blue guy, but its just a personal preferance as I like the Cyndaquil line the best. Other than that great work! In fact its so great once I find my iPod I will copy these as text files and put them on my iPod so I can read it on the go!

Oh, ok then.

Yeah, I was hoping for Quilava, but I like Croconaw just as much. <3

My first file...I walked out of the mayor's house and said, "Hey! A green guy! LETS TALK TO HIM!!!" xD So I ended up with Bayleef...and I've only done Croconaw once. He always died. X.x So I haven't chosen him ever since. Always Quilava. ;D

Back on topic, I think I might do the same thing Espreon is doing with the iPod. Luckily, I know where mine is. 8D
 

bobandbill

one more time
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I love reading this fanfic (as I am a HUGE fan of the Colosseum/XD games). It's great that you gave each pokemon their own personality. Also, I liked that Croconaw was the first Johto pokemon Wes saw (it was mine to in the game :)). I hope you put up more soon!!
Thanks. Probably will put the next chapter up tomorrow.
That chapter was good too, I liked the mob chase lots and I also like it how all the different pokémon have their own personality. However there are 48 shadow pokemon and plusle so if they are each going to have a unique personality, it could get confusing.
The only mistake I spotted was this:

You used 'for a while' twice in a short sentance. This doesn't sound good. Try something like:

Other than that, very good! Keep it up!
Cheers once again, and also for pointing out the mistake.
On the 'personality' thing - I'm not going to give every Shadow Pokemon a personality in this. Would be confusing for yuo the readers and me as well, hard to keep track off, and not sure I could come up with 49 differing personalities so easily... plus there's no point. As a result, only some will get some personalities, or more 'minor' roles in the story. There will be a fair few by the end of it neverthelessl however...
Same goes for the battles - am doing a fair few of them, but a fair bit later, I will... sidestep the task of doing twenty or single battles in a row, without 'summerising' them to boot (in a few chapters time yet mind). It'll take too long, too much and would get repetetive...

Very nice. ;D It's so funny...I'm funny at school, but that's only cause I can do funny voices and accents...and I can't put that into writing, so I think I'll stick to dread. xD

Anyway...I found some little things...

Do you mean 'kabob'? Of course, if you're in Australia then maybe it's something over there. X.x But...just something I wondered about. Same with shoddy...I don't know what that means either.

I notice you use 'stomp' when Rui is talking to the chick, but when that girl repeats it, she says 'stamp'. Try keeping it the same word...especially if someone is quoting another person. ^^

Ha, I'm still at school. -sneaky-
Thanks again! Glad you liked it.
Shoddy has already been mentioned, but kebab seems to be another way of saying 'kebob' - it's how it's spelt in Australia. (insert Wikipedia entry here saying so :) ). Only really known as Kebab in Australia...
I am writing this in 'Australian-English'... for instance, 'centre' = 'center'. So if you're not Australian... too bad. ;) Good that you point out things like this though, if I do get the spelling wrong. Such as stomp =/= stamp - thanks for that.

I did also, in my first go, talk to the green guy, because he was there and all... silly position of the mayor house right by the exit...
Shoddy is not exactly exlusive to Australian English, its a synonym for poor quality.

Back on topic and to the author: I love how this is unfolding but I was dissapointed with Wes going up to the blue guy, but its just a personal preferance as I like the Cyndaquil line the best. Other than that great work! In fact its so great once I find my iPod I will copy these as text files and put them on my iPod so I can read it on the go!
Yeah, thanks for clearing up 'shoddy', Espreon. :)
I'm a Totodile-line fan over Cyndaquil line IMO, though I like them all. Thanks for the comments everyone!

In the next chapter, there will be a character rarely touched upon in the game which will get more of a role in this story. A fair bit of 'original' (ie not in the game) stuff in there, as well as a 'retake' of a cutscene, which is info-giving and plot advancing somewhat and all that jazz... oh, and a reference to Pikmin 2. :) As well as a pastry/pastry-related-item.
 

Minos Yewman

Banned
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  • Seen Apr 11, 2012
I went for Quilava too. My friend gave me the game as he had got stuck on Evice. Therefore, I was determined to beat the game. With my friends well of knowledge, I discovered that the three troops had different ones so I went for my favourite: Quilava (not actually my favourite, but its cute before it evolves to Quilava and Typhlosion is cool)
Anyway, I think I'd better start looking for these pastrys.

On an unrelated note, I know it as 'Kebab' even though I'm English. I don't know why, I've always called it that :)
 

bobandbill

one more time
16,891
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Here's the next chapter.

This chapter is somewhat more serious than previous ones - mostly a plot setting chapter. It's advisable to read everyting in detail, as a few rather subtle jokes may be missed...

***


***
Chapter 6 - Prison Cells



"Who… are you?" asked Wes, still peering at the man to get a better look. Suddenly the room was flooded with light. Wes covered his eyes and grunted a little as the pain of burning retinas slowly subsided. His eyes recovered in due course, and a moment later he was able to look up to see the stranger's face.

The man before him was aged. Wes guessed that he was in his fifties, maybe even his sixties. The evidence that the man had passed his use-by date was evident in his gray, disappearing hair and a thick bushy pale-gray moustache that looked as though a thunderstorm had recently passed through that region. However, this man's frame did not in the slightest suggest that he was old and frail - everything about his posture said that here was a man not to be messed with.

"Err... hi there," Rui said as she fiddled with her fingers subconsciously.

"So, what's with this stuff you've been talking about Team Snagem, eh?" replied the man gruffly, ignoring Rui's attempt at a friendly greeting. "You do know that stealing other people's Pokémon is a criminal offence, hm?"

"Well, you see…" began Wes, only for Rui to intervene.

"Well, two days ago I was walking in Pyrite town because I was on a bus trip and I was to see my grandparents - they live in a tree - and then I saw this Pokémon and it had an aura and it was scary and purple and then I said something and then two people chased me and I collided with a- well never mind about that - they caught me and kidnapped me and put me in a sack and they took me to Phenac city where Wes - that's him - he rescued me and he used to work with Snagem but he's good now and then we saw the mayor of Phenac city and we said he would help us and then later we saw Team Snagem people and then Wes beat them and their Pokémon went boom and then I was angry at someone - funny, I don't remember much then - and then we went back to the mayor's house and we saw a crazy man who had a lot of hair and he danced a lot and had salsa music and he said we worked for team Cipher and then the two people who kidnapped me were there and they battled Wes and he won because he's a wonner - I mean winner - and then Wes snagged a Shadow Pokémon - they are the Pokémon with the funny aura - and then we left for Pyrite and battled some guy who spoke random things and…"

"Slow down Rui…" interrupted Wes.

"… and then Wes battled him as well and he also had a Shadow Pokémon and Wes snagged it too and it was odd that Team Cipher - whoever they are - have two Shadow Pokémon so we went to Pyrite and the next day - that's today - we walked around and then Wes battled a trainer and he also had a Shadow Pokémon and I went 'SHADOW!!!'. And Wes snagged it and then they chased us and now we're in jail and please don't reprehend us because I hate getting reprehended and what would my parents say and we didn't want to steal Pokémon but it was Shadow and we're trying to stop Cipher, and… yeah."

Wes sighed as Rui panted after her long speech. The man's face was warped into confusion as he tried to figure out what Rui actually said. Wes would have laughed at the situation were they not in a jail cell that smelt worse than Pyrite's streets.

"All right then…" said the man at length. "Might as well give you a chance to properly tell me your side of it," he said, as Rui blushed at this remark, "because from what I can make out of that tale, it's an interesting one. Not to mention that the fact that you having the Snag machine that's gone missing from Team Snagem's base is intriguing. Come to my office." He unlocked the jail door, and motioned for Wes and Rui to follow him.

"Name's Sherles, by the way. I'm the sheriff of this dismal excuse of a town," he added.

***

After a lengthy interrogation involving a lot of talking, questioning and the occasional toilet break, Sherles was satisfied with the tale.

"Well," he began, sticking his head into the room after having left for a coffee, "looks like your story holds. I've contacted some, ahem, people in Phenac and the Outskirt Stand, and it seems that there's truth in it. Ah, who did you say kidnapped you, young lady?"

"Oh, their names were Folly and Trudly," she answered.

"Yes, that's right. My memory sometimes fails me…" trailed off Sherles. Wes doubted that there was anything wrong with his memory, and his thoughts were confirmed when two men walked through the door, with Sherles in tow.

"I'm telling ya, we didn't do nothing…. YOU!" gasped Folly, seeing Wes and Rui. Trudly and Folly were escorted by Sherles into the room. Sherles gave Folly an amused look.

"I mean… YOU…. Um… aren't you on T.V. or something?" stuttered Folly weakly.

"Hello, Folly," replied Rui, grinning. Folly frowned, and then winced as Trudly whacked him in the head.

"Why couldn't you keep your trap shut…" began Trudly.

"Quiet!" commanded Sherles in a no-nonsense voice. Trudly and Folly immediately fell silent. "Now," he continued, "I want you to tell me all you know about Snagem and Cipher. Spill the beans!"

"Um… but we don't have anything to tell you about Cipher or Snagem or Miror B…" began Trudly.

"Aha! So Miror B's on this, is he?" advanced Sherles. It was Trudly's time to receive a knock on the head.

"You know of Miror B?" Wes asked Sherles suddenly, confused. "But I thought…"

"Well, that's where you're wrong, son. And from your story, it seems much worse. However," said Sherles, turning to Folly and Trudly with a small smile appearing on his face, "we can start fixing things by turning these two in. I guess Miror B will be displeased to hear that you have failed him."

"OK WE GIVE IN!" cried Folly and Trudly as one.

"Please don't do that!" pleaded Folly in desperation.

"All right, alright, calm down…" reassured Sherles. "You'll be kept here and we'll keep it quiet - only you've got to tell us about Cipher and Snagem, and anything else relevant. Or else," he finished. Folly and Trudly nodded. They may have the intellectual capabilities of a Magikarp between them, but they understood a threat when they heard one.

With that, Sherles led Folly and Trudly out of the room back into their cells. He returned a few minutes later.

"Interestingly enough, those two had turned themselves in for stealing a vehicle. Despite the fact it belonged to them, they insisted upon being arrested so it was obvious they were frightened of failing Miror B... so, where to begin. You know that Snagem steal Pokémon, and that they turn them into Shadow Pokémon, right?" began Sherles, wasting no time.

"Yes, although I don't know how or anything like that," Wes said.

"Well, here's a shock for you - it's actually Cipher that does the whole shadowing process."

It took a moment for the news to sink in for Wes. "But that can't be right…" he begun, scratching his head as he mulled this news. "I mean… even Gonzap said…"

"Ah, that's the thing," continued Sherles. "You see, the police service near Team Snagem's base actually caught one of the higher-ranking officials of Snagem - partly thanks to you, might I add. Didn't want to talk much, from what I heard - although after getting some truth serum, he opened up pretty quickly."

Wes raised an eyebrow. Truth serum potion was known to be created from acids produced by the poisonous plant Pokémon Gloom. It was also known to be only used for high-profile cases, due to the possibility of side effects taken place, such as nausea, loss of bone density and uncontrollable episodes of impromptu break dancing.

"Anyway," continued Sherles, "it turns out that instead of acquiring Pokémon themselves to make into Shadow Pokémon, this Cipher group had a partnership with Team Snagem who did that job for them. You didn't know, because you were just a… grunt, let's say, and Snagem kept this information from all but the most trusted."

"Who the hell are Cipher anyway, then?" Wes asked.

"Unfortunately, we don't know," sighed Sherles. "They've just... appeared out of the blue. However it seems that they've been biding their time and only chose to appear now, giving Shadow Pokémon left right and centre. Why I don't know, and how they managed to hide resources from us is also a mystery. And all this time we've thought that Snagem were doing small-time stuff - oh sure," he added, seeing Wes's face grow in puzzlement, "we thought they might be making Shadow Pokémon – and everyone suspected it, but we couldn't find any evidence. Seems that it had lied with Cipher all this time."

"Fair enough," began Rui, "But why do innocent people have Shadow Pokémon?"

"Well, recently, Team Cipher moved into Pyrite, along with Miror B, who might be a high-ranking official, or even the boss, I don't know. Things changed then." Sherles' face was for a moment sad. "Cipher hides somewhere so we can't find them, yet they've practically taken over the town. And Duking's never been the same since as the Colosseum's gone out of his hands, and all I've got is that idiot Johnson."

Just then, 'that idiot Johnson' burst into the room and collided with Sherles, Rui and Wes - an impressive effort considering they had been in different parts of the rooms. Johnson leapt to his feet and turned to Wes.

"Owowow… I'm sorry boss, but there's trouble afoot! There's talk of thieving of Pokémon and Shadow Pokémon and I hurt my head because people ran over me…. HUH? You're not the chief…" commented Johnson, realizing that he was talking to a complete stranger. He stared at Wes in astonishment, who stared back in annoyance as he picked himself off the ground.

"I'm right here Johnson… I've heard it over and over again already. Where were you anyway?" said an annoyed Sherles.

"Oh chief, there you are! You're such a kidder. Ahaha. Well, I had been talking to a stat… I mean, the Poké Mart owner, when…" began the officer uncertainly.

"Quiet, Johnson."

"Sorry, sir."

"Now, these two people are the ones who got arrested over the alleged stealing. But they've been cleared."

"Who?"

Sherles sighed.

***

"So, they're good guys. Or are they bad?"

"NO! I told you for the twelfth time!" cried Sherles. Wes and Rui were currently watching the whole conversation from a couch for the last half-hour, seeing just how far Johnson's thinking capabilities stretched. It wasn't very far; Wes mused that had one compared it to a gap between a train and a station platform, Johnson would have tripped long before he managed to get out of his house.

"So they are bad?"

Sherles slapped his own head in exasperation.

Eventually though, after another pain-stalking hour filled with sock puppets and verbal threats, the man soon comprehended the situation to a satisfactory level.

"So… what's going to happen with Wes and Rui?" asked Johnson.

"Wow, Johnson. I'm impressed. An intelligent question," muttered Sherles under his breath.

"What was that, boss?"

"Err, nothing. Anyway, it is a big dilemma… on the one hand; Wes did destroy the Team Snagem building, putting many people's lives at risk, and was caught in the act of stealing someone's Pokémon, a high court offence no matter which way you look at it. Pity that Pyrite has no real legal system to speak of."

Wes gulped.

"However… we may drop charges, IF he and Rui agree to help us on this case regarding Cipher. After all, they did get told some classified information." Sherles gave Wes a long deep stare, which Wes matched.

"Oh, no need to bother, boss. Me and my trusty Magikarp will save the day!" Johnson announced loudly. Needless to say, neither Sherles nor Wes bothered to point out that a Pokémon that only knows Splash would probably not be able to stand up to a single ruffian, let alone two criminal syndicates.

"Well, I guess that we have no other choice, do we?" answered Wes at length.

"Good. Welcome aboard," replied Sherles, glancing through the small window. "We do have one glaringly large problem however. It seems that the townspeople want justice of some sort… we can't just simply drop charges and set you free, as you'll won't be much help here if half the town wants to kill you… I mean, just run you out of town," he added, seeing Rui's horrified face.

"Maybe... they should give everyone a BIG hug and say sorry over some hot chocolate? Usually works," offered Johnson.

"Johnson?" Sherles sighed.

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

"Maybe…" Rui said. "Maybe we can convince them that we're innocent."

"How?"

***

Outside the prison, a large crowd was gathering despite an impending storm cloud looming over Pyrite. News of the theft of Vant's Pokémon had spread and soon enough everyone who had heard the story had come to the initial hearing.

Initial hearings in Pyrite town involved a summary of what the offending party was charged with, often accompanied with overly loud booing from the audience. Then the audience would decide what the harshest penalty could be given for the offender if proven guilty. The person would be sent to court in a few days time, and in the meanwhile kept in dull shabby prisons with nothing to accompany them but the occasional Rattata which scourged the town for scraps. Leastways, it was intended that they would go to jail for a few days – sometimes the people who had been convicted of harsh crimes didn't make it there directly.

To the dismay of some who lived in Pyrite, the death penalty was considered null and void but many older ones still remained.

"I hope they get all that they deserved," muttered Vant to someone who was the kind to be only seen when something interesting was happening.

"What's the maximum punishment?" he asked.

"Loss of a limb," replied Vant.

"Ouch." A moment of reflection insured. "Which one?"

"Oh… probably the left arm, since it's the one with that strange machine upon it."

"Hmm, I see. In that case, I call dibs on it."

"No way - I called for it first!" cried another. Soon enough, the whole crowd was arguing over Wes' left arm - not even a loud cry of 'Stop selling me arms!' from the paranoid lady down the street calmed them down.

The appearance of Sherles did however. Wes, looking from a window within the police station, noted that Sherles held the town's respect, which was further proof that the old man knew what he was doing as sheriff.

"People, lend me your ears," he said gruffly as he looked down at the crowd from the front steps.

"Eh, wot?" asked one. "Tis' attached to me, they are."

"It was a figure of speech, son," said Sherles coldly. The man mumbled something and then shut up as Sherles continued to stare at him.

"Now then, I know why you are here. The answer to why and how this injustice came to be," several cheered for a few seconds, and then piped down, "is right…there." Sherles pointed to two Pokémon which walked out of the prison office next to him. The whole town stared intently at the two in confusion.

"Now!" said Sherles, but the crowd ignored his sudden command. Instead they found themselves staring at the Pokémon themselves, before their eyes were forced towards the heavens. As the two Pokémon merged powers, they directed their own focus towards the sky. Gradually, distortions of the air dissected the hanging clouds, resulting in giant waves of colour rippling across the dark night sky. The stars glistened in the light show, enhanced by a drizzle of rain which resulted from the merging of clouds.

"Ohhhhh… shiny…" droned the crowd as one. Sherles observed the light show in silent awe. A few minutes later, the rippling slowly ceased as the two Pokémon collapsed to the ground out of exhaustion. Soon after, the large crowd broke out of its trace.

"Wha… where am I?" muttered one.

"Strange… I feel that I should be… angry about losing something…" said Vant. "But that's silly - hmm, I don't remember anything since this afternoon…"

"I have a strange lust for someone's left arm…" remarked another.

After a few murmurs of confusion, the crowd fell silent as they tried to figure out where they were, and then why they were gathered around the prison in the rain. They mused over this while Sherles ushered the two Pokémon by the prison back inside.

"Hey, let's go eat some quiche," one suggested at length.

"I like quiche!" agreed another.

The crowd soon wandered off to get some quiche - an idea that greatly appealed to the citizens of Pyrite. Quiche was the town's emblem, as the original founders of the town hadn't been able to think of anything more relevant to use.

Meanwhile, Wes recalled his Espeon, while Sherles recalled his Psychic Pokémon, an Alakazam.

"I must say, your Espeon was quite good at holding out for so long. Must have been quite a drain on them to convince the whole town that you and Rui never existed," commented Sherles with respect.

"I can say the same thing about your Alakazam," replied Wes. "I think they'll just need a good night rest."

"Wasn't my idea great, Wes? To wipe the town's memories? I hope they're all right but… both the town and Espeon, I mean," Rui said.

"Um, yeah, great idea. I'm sure they'll be fine," comforted Wes, as Rui beamed happily.

"Umbre…" (They don't know half of it…) commented Umbreon to himself, recalling that Espeon had done the same thing to Rui, who did not seem to recollect the event. He looked over Espeon until he was satisfied to see that the strain had not been too much on his brother.

***

"Strange… did you see that?" comment a young woman from a window in a tall building. She rubbed her eyes and stared at the sky, certain that she had seen a glimpse of bright lights fade away a mere moment ago.

"What? No, I didn't. Be quiet, Ferma - you might interrupt… him, and we want that promotion, remember?" hushed the other. They glanced to see if he heard, but Miror B was too absorbed in his dancing. From a nearby radio a loud salsa beat played, which it had done for the last hour. However neither minded; in fact it strangely hadn't even come close to sounding bland yet.

Suddenly, a large TV behind them that occupied the width and length of one of the walls gave a few beeps, and then flickered.

"Great! That's probably him!" cried Miror B. "Quick - song change!" Silently, the second female by the name of Reath walked over to the nearby radio and with a sigh changed the song to a tune that was a mix of meditation and typical elevator music. It strangely gave a peaceful yet catchy sound compared to the once upbeat party-like atmosphere.

Miror B nodded his appreciation at the song change. He grabbed a remote from a table and selected a button which turned the television screen red for a brief flash before it faded away into a blurry transmission of a man. He wore a red, skirt-like thing, had long white hair and had the appearance of an ugly, poisonous flower.

He was the same man who Wes had bumped into outside the mayor's house in Phenac city.

"I trust things are going according to plan, Miror B?" he asked with a frown.

"Oh yes, Master Nascour," answered Miror B, nodding enthusiastically in time to the music. "Our plan is coming along in a lovely peachy-lemon way."

"Eh, what was that? And what's with the happy music?" asked Nascour. He shifted uneasily, while Miror B continued to groove slightly.

"Honestly, don't you ever have to not have things spelt out to you in a means other than depressive?" replied Miror B. He used the remote to change the music to something more suiting to Nascour's taste, a darker tone of music engulfing the room. Ferma and Reath shivered, but Nascour seemed to enjoy it more.

"We have broken Duking's spirit. We can do as we please at the Colosseum without his meddling. And now we've given Shadow Pokémon on the sly to challenge winners for gathering data," translated Miror B in a bored drone.

"Good. Others also appear to be doing their part to implement their plan. Our Shadow Pokémon plan is falling to place quickly, and the final phase is not far off. Ein for instance has managed to turn even more into Shadow Pokémon. Oh, and your Shadow Pokémon is due tomorrow - I hope you… enjoy it."

"Fwhohoho - this is perking up my spirit, baby! Oh, I almost fell like… dancing! It's afro-tastic!" cried Miror B, before pulling of a dance move, making Reath, Ferma and Nascour cringe. Worse yet, he even began to hum the tune of 'You should be dancing' by the Bee Gees - many a person who heard a rendition of that song by Miror B ended up having the tune stuck in their head for days.

"Save your dancing and your singing until our plan succeeds, please," interrupted Nascour hastily. "Besides, we've had a minor setback, as I'm sure you know."

Miror B snorted. "If you call Team Snagem's base blowing up a minor setback, I suppose you're right…" he muttered. "All over the news! It even replaced the regular culture section I liked to listen to..."

"Anyway, reports are that he was a former Team Snagem member, by the name of Wes. He destroyed one Snag Machine, and stole the other, so until we regain it, we basically cannot rely on Team Snagem. A major problem, as I'm sure you'll agree."

"Oh, whatever. I actually encountered him," continued Miror B to himself. "But what about my-"

"WHAT!?" shouted Nascour, making every hair in Miror B's almighty afro quiver in fear. "Why did you not capture him? You stupid, music obsessed…"

"Erm, when I said 'I', I meant 'Folly and Trudly', sir," said Miror B hurriedly. "I wouldn't let him walk away, knowing how dangerous he is to our project, of course."

Nascour scrutinised Miror B for a moment, then seemed to accept his explanation grudgingly.

"But what of them? Were they successful? I'm guessing not, considering otherwise you would have mentioned it by now."

Miror B smiled uneasily. "I do not know - I have not heard back from them since yesterday. I did, um, hear, that that girl they said they had had, um, escaped with Wes…"

Nascour's face was one of displeasure and distaste, as if he had bitten into an overly-bitter Durin berry. "This will not do. Firstly, the man who destroyed Snagem's base has escaped, and worse, that girl who can somehow see shadow Pokémon is with him? What if they discover us next? What's more, I have not heard from Bluno either…"

"Well, I - I mean, my assistants - have told me an accurate description of the two…"

"Really? That's something I suppose…" growled Nascour. "I likely won't get a good one from Gonzap for a while unless I'm lucky after all. Do share."

"Well... what did they say..." Miror B put a hand to his chin and pretended to try to recall what he knew perfectly well. "He's kinda thin... if he is then he should use a bit of food - who can dance when they're so undernourished? Okay, okay…" muttered Miror B as Nascour shot a warning look. "Well, he's got the Snag machine, he's a teenager - probably in his later teens. He had white streaks on his face, has a stylish blue coat - I don't think it would rival my snazzy outfit, wouldn't you think? ...Nascour, are you alright?"

Nascour's face had turned white, and his lips trembled slightly. I saw someone just like that outside the mayor's office myself, he thought. And that girl that was with him would have been…

"Damn it!" Nascour said aloud, before realising Miror B was still listening. If he had known, he would have had the rebel imprisoned instead of deciding to say some stupid sentence to keep up the illusion of being intimidating and save himself from speaking to others unnecessary… no, Nascour had the opportunity to turn him in and have Cipher's problem's averted. A chance gone begging.

"Oh, never mind Miror B… carry on…" he stammered, before aborting the televised transmission to Miror B's bemusement.

Well, obviously the boss couldn't have done anything about it - I assume he realized who they were, Nascour thought to himself as he breathed deeply to collect his thoughts. After all, it would have raised a few eyebrows - too many eyebrows. That girl would have no doubt cried about being kidnapped, and although people may not question arrests in say Pyrite, they do in blasted Phenac. Still, I must warn the others, and make measures for myself… I'm not going under, and neither is Team Cipher, not now!

Meanwhile, Miror B was continuing staring at the screen in bemusement.

Oh well, he shrugged. Not my problem that he's weird. Probably not in the position to call anyone else weird, but he certainly is.

"Ferma! Reath! I shall soon return to my hideout with my Pokémon. You keep things in order for then - make sure you give out the next Shadow Pokémon for the upcoming Colosseum battle. But first… we dance!"

Ferma and Reath sighed as Miror B turned on the music to full blast, and started tapping away. They retreated to another room quietly, so not to disturb the man.

"At least those two fools are out of the picture for now!" whispered Ferma to Reath. "I bet they did something stupid like drive off a cliff."

"Yes, great news. At this rate, promotion to their position will be a cinch!"

"Indeed... although this Admin is quite strange, it'd be no doubt useful to be his most useful underlings..."

Miror B, meanwhile, twirled one of his many Ludicolo about the room, ignorant of his two whispering underlings.

Who cares about that silly boy and girl anyway? Or the project? he thought to himself, trying to dispel his fears. They'll never find us here… and even if they were, they're not going to stop me dancing.

And so he danced.

***



There's the chapter. Anyone spot the Pikmin 2 reference? (Assuming you've played it...)

As for the characters not seen before:
Spoiler:
 
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Espreon

Lord of the Nagas
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Anyone spot the Pikmin 2 reference? (Assuming you've played it...)

Uh no, and I have played it numerous times (but not recently), same with the original Pikmin. Nice chapter.

To anyone who did not understand what impromptu means: It means unschedueled, unexpected.

Bobandbill, maybe I should be your dictionary for the people who don't know what certain words mean.
 

bobandbill

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Uh no, and I have played it numerous times (but not recently), same with the original Pikmin. Nice chapter.

To anyone who did not understand what impromptu means: It means unschedueled, unexpected.

Bobandbill, maybe I should be your dictionary for the people who don't know what certain words mean.
Yep, that's what impromptu means. From now on, you shall be known as 'Espreon the unoffical dictionary'. ;)
Anyway good that you liked this chapter as well. :)

As for the Pikmin reference - well, let's just say it isn't the most obvious one. If anyone thinks they know - take a stab!
Next chapter in the 'fast posting' process shall come in 2-3 days, just so you people know.And if you want anything 'explained' - post away!
 

Espreon

Lord of the Nagas
520
Posts
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  • Seen Mar 16, 2011
Yep, that's what impromptu means. From now on, you shall be known as 'Espreon the unoffical dictionary'. ;)
Anyway good that you liked this chapter as well. :)

As for the Pikmin reference - well, let's just say it isn't the most obvious one. If anyone thinks they know - take a stab!
Next chapter in the 'fast posting' process shall come in 2-3 days, just so you people know.And if you want anything 'explained' - post away!

Yays! I am the unofficial dictionary! Could you tell me who said the Pikmin2 line in Pikmin2?
 

bobandbill

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Well, I'll sit on the refernce for a bit longer - up until the posting of chapter 8 if someone else can get it. Oh, and there is another one in this chapter as well, just so you know.

Anyways, here it is!


***


***

Chapter 7 - Gotta Snag Them All​



Wes was in one of the drab streets of Pyrite. He glanced about as he walked through. He didn't know what it was that he wanted to find, but still he looked. Not watching where he was going, he walked straight into a lamppost. Wes looked at it - strangely, the light bulb looked just like Miror B's afro, and the lamppost was covered in a purple and black aura.

"Gah," spoke the lamppost grumpily. Wes took an uncertain step backwards, and suddenly he was falling, the ground parting behind his feet. Pyrite was gone and replaced by nothingness, save for the pastries floating around him.

"What the…" began Wes, before he felt something hit him in the head. "Ow!"

"Naughty words are bad," said the lamppost which had somehow joined Wes in his descent. Seemingly it was the one which had hit Wes.

"I guess I must be dreaming. Ow! What was that for?" cried Wes, as the object hit him again. The teenager rubbed his aching head and gazed at the attacker.

"Silence - you will bow down to me instead of being aware of being in a dream!" the lamppost boomed.

"What are you?" tried Wes, careful to choose his words.

"Luke, I am your Father!"

"But wait, I'm not Luke…" began Wes. "And don't tell me that you're my father!"

"Oh, yeah." A moment of silence followed. "I'm not your father… because YOU DON'T HAVE ONE!"

"No…no…" mumbled Wes, before he paused in thought. "Wait, I don't care about that."

"You don't?" the lamppost asked.

But Wes did not answer, for suddenly a large bear which had appeared wearing a top hat was shaking him, yelling 'wake up'...

***

"Wake up, youngster! How long do you sleep in bed for?" shouted Sherles in his rusty, gruff voice, as he roughly shook the startled teenager out of his slumber. Wes moaned before getting up. He rubbed his head, trying to get the remnants of what remained of his dream out of his memory.

"I was having a dream… what time is it?" he mumbled.

"5:30! Come on, look sharp!" replied Sherles, before marching off to his office. "We've got work to do!"

For crying out loud, it's 5:30! Nobody's supposed to be awake at this time! thought Wes grumpily to himself as he dragged himself out of a makeshift bed. After a quick check on Espeon who looked fully rested, he walked into the office where Sherles and Rui were waiting. Does 5:30 even exist?

"About time, you two…" huffed Sherles.

"Oh calm down," replied Rui. She clutched a mug filled with frothing, brown liquid in her hand. "Not everybody wakes up at the same time as you, and I'm sure we don't have to rush right now… Arrgh!" she cried, as she took a sip.

"What is it? Too hot?" asked Wes curiously.

"No - I thought this was hot chocolate!" cried Rui, turning to Johnson with a scowl.

"Er, sorry?" Johnson offered feebly.

"How the heck can you mistake coffee for chocolate… but wait - it smelled like chocolate!" she added, smelling the cup of questionable contents.

"Maybe I used both…" Johnson muttered as Rui took another sip.

"And it's salty! Don't tell me you didn't… oh." Rui trailed off upon seeing two identically sized and shaped tubs of white, grainy substances. "Never mind, I'll make myself another one…"

"Anyway," interrupted Sherles, "we have a lot of work to do with regaining those Shadow Pokémon."

"But aren't you forgetting something?" asked Wes, taking a bite from an apple. "We were kinda chased by the whole town, and stealing - I mean, snagging another Shadow Pokémon will just get the same result. And I'm not sure we want to go through that again…"

"Espeon!" (Too right! I still have a headache!) agreed Espeon, trotting through the door. He sniffed in distain at the thought of having to do the same again – even Psychic Pokémon had limitations.

"I haven't forgotten about that. No, after we go meet someone who may help us, you two are to try to regain as many Shadow Pokémon as you can, and see if you can locate Cipher's hideout, wherever that may be. Unfortunately, it seems that Folly and Trudly genuinely cannot remember where the hideout is located – my Alakazam made sure of that… Now, let's go!" ordered Sherles, before marching off outside with a spring in his step.

"Well, at least he's enthusiastic about the whole thing. Not really surprised about Folly and Trudly's forgetfulness… they don't seem much like criminals," remarked Wes. "Good ones, anyway."

"Espi Espeon! Espeon!" (They don't even know what Cipher's trying to do! A bit like how you didn't know anything about what Team Snagem were doing!)

"…Shut up," Wes retorted, feeling tired. He gave a sigh, and rubbed his forehead. What did I get myself into this? First I was with Team Snagem, and now I'm fighting two criminal syndicates!

"Hey, Wes, you're looking glum. Everything all right?" asked Rui.

"What? Oh, yes, just had a… bad dream," replied Wes tiredly.

Rui suddenly sprang forward and gave Wes a quick hug to comfort him, surprising both him and herself in part – she hadn't planned on doing so, but she felt it was the right thing to do.

"Suddenly, I feel much better now…" Wes mumbled.

"And Johnson, you come along too! You're helping Wes and Rui!" Sherles called from outside the door.

"Ok!" exclaimed Johnson happily as he followed Sherles out.

"What did he just say?" queried Wes. "Because I could have sworn that he said that Johnson was helping us."

"….Damn it!" remarked Rui.

***

"Want a blueberry muffin?" offered Johnson to Wes as they walked through Pyrite.

"…Yes," accepted Wes reluctantly. To say the least, Wes still felt rather dismayed by the fact that he would be stuck with Johnson for a while. He looked around carefully to check that a repeat of what happened in his dream was avoided, no matter how strange it was, and gave the lamppost a wide berth.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" called out Rui suddenly. Wes looked ahead. The man named Duking they saw at the Colosseum and a young teenager seemed to be arguing outside a house.

"Duking! How much more are you going to take from those people?" shouted the young man. He was short, yet he had a pose and stance that expressed power, and his head held high. His loud voice carried through the town and got the attention of the few others outside at this hour.

"That's… unexpected. There's trouble at the Colosseum - right? So who's causing it?" whispered Rui. "And who's that young fellow?"

"Oh, that's Silva," replied Johnson with a smile. Wes frowned – he still hadn't gotten quite used to the fact that Orre's citizens had odd names, or bluntly obvious ones. Silvia's name seemed to be of the latter kind give the boy's uncombed, silver hair.

"Look, it's not what you think…" replied Duking. Surprisingly, he looked meek despite his towering stature, and appeared intimidated by the average-sized Silva who looked as if he was about to explode in a rage of sheer fury.

"How can it not be how it seems? They're using you and the Colosseum! What's the matter with you? They suck the spirit out of you?"

Duking offered no reply, choosing instead to look at the ground.

"Tch. So you just clam up. I've lost faith in you!" shouted Silva, before running off past the group, ignoring Johnson's good-natured offer of a blueberry muffin. Sherles sighed and walked to Duking, then put a hand on his shoulder.

"Duking, I know that something's up, and in all honesty this just confirms it. Do you need any help?"

Duking sadly looked down at Sherles. "N…No, I… can't…I have to go to the Colosseum now. Don't… need help," muttered Duking, putting on a weak smile, before walking away with his head bent towards the ground.

"Oh dear…" began Rui. Sherles shook his head.

"I don't like this one bit. Normally Duking would not even let anyone intimidate him. But as Silva said, it seems the spirit has been sucked out of him. And I wouldn't be surprised if Miror B has something to do with this. Maybe they know a thing or two…" Sherles said, trailing off as he fell into deep thought.

"Who?" asked Rui.

"Oh, you'll see in a moment," replied Sherles, before approaching a locked door of the nearby house and began picking at the lock.

"Umm… sorry to intervene right here, but… what are you doing?" asked a worried Wes. He wasn't against picking locks in general, but a sheriff doing the sort didn't seem quite right.

"Relax. It's Duking's house," replied Sherles with a grin.

"Err… okay then?" Rui said, scratching her head.

"Espi!" (Let me help you with that,) offered Espeon, before making the lock click and the door open for Sherles.

"Why thank you," said Sherles, motioning for Wes and Rui to enter. They exchanged glances and peeked in. The main room greeted them - and strangely enough it was the only room in the house as well. Cramped walls ensured the size was modest at best, and dozens of pieces of furniture littered around the floor only served to add to the already-excessive 'cosiness' factor. There were a dozen mattresses laid next to each other; a sink, fridge, desk, bookshelves and even a toilet in the corner. Wes pinched himself as he looked around nervously.

One being was inside - a small child leaning against a bookshelf nearby, seemingly asleep on his feet.

"Aww, isn't he cute…" Rui said.

"Esp…" (Shh, you'll wake him,) warned Espeon, a bit unsure of the situation himself. Suddenly the kid woke up.

"Halt! Begone!" shouted the kid, alarmed to see strangers in his home.

"Espeon." (My bad.)

"You'll never get past me and find the secret switch upon the side of this bookshelf which is labelled 'secret switch' and enter the secret room behind it!" continued the kid, before he realised his error. "Not that there would be a secret room with anything of importance… oh, it's you," he added after trying to cover up his blunder, spotting Sherles.

"Young scallywag, don't you know anything about the art of concealment? The very fact that you positioned yourself by the secret entrance raises suspicion over why you would do such a thing! Tactics, child, tactics!" lectured Sherles.

"Yes, Sherles," said the child, not really sure what Sherles just said, but going along with it.

"What's going on?' asked Rui.

"Es, peon! Esp!" (Yeah, who the hell built such a bad house? And what's with the kid?)

"You'll see in a moment," replied Sherles mysteriously, looking at the side of the bookshelf. "Ah, here it is." Sherles pressed something on the side of the bookshelf, and stepped back as the bookshelf shifted to the right revealing a dark hole where it had been.

"Espi!" (Now that's high-tech! And odd too…)

"Umm… okay then… this is a weird house…" muttered Wes as they walked through. The narrow passageway was only mildly brightened up by the occasional lamp, each lamp mounted together with a picture of a Plusle. After a while the number of both lights and pictures added up into double figures.

"You like… Plusle?" asked Rui.

"Oh yes," replied the kid enthusiastically. "We all like him as he's daddy's Pokémon and he's very lovable and cute and cuddly and huggable and he's very sweet and his favourite food is potatoes and I love him and my father loves him the most and his name is Plus."

What an original name - Plus the Plusle, thought Wes to himself sarcastically. And that's why I stay as far away from nicknames as I can. Still, I've seen worse – I once met a Golduck called 'Yellow', because it had been called that as a Psyduck...

"When I grow up, I want to be a Plusle," continued the child.

"That's nice," said Rui absentmindedly.

"Espeon…" (He's going to be bitterly disappointed then...) Espeon remarked.

"Umbreon? Umb. Umbreon?" (Yeah, who wants to be a Plusle? That's stupid. Why not an Umbreon?)

Suddenly the passage brightened up considerably as it expanded outwards. A small cave-like room greeted them, a lower ceiling making them have to stoop to avoid bumping their heads. A small waterfall trickled down a wall into a pool of water at the end of the cosy cave.

Wes ignored the unique room however, and focused his attention on the occupants of the room - a bunch of kids. Two girls, maybe eight or nine years old at the most were chatting to each other, one in a light-blue dress, and the other in white. A boy with geeky-looking glasses, a few years older than the females, was seated in front of a computer. His eyes quickly darted from the screen to survey Wes and Rui, before they returned back to the computer.

"Hang on, Sherles - you've got kids helping you?"

"Hey, what's wrong with us?" retorted one of the girls, returning Wes's glares right back at him indignantly. "Who are you anyway - a friend of papa's?"

"No, they don't really know your father - nevertheless, they're here to help. Remember about the Team Snagem's base blowing up?" Sherles asked.

"Who doesn't? It's still all over the news," said the boy at the computer, sounding bored. "I wish the network people were better at their jobs..."

"Well, Wes here was the one who caused it all."

"He did?" exclaimed the boy with sudden interest, letting his attention of whatever was upon the computer screen lapse for now. "Wow!"

"Can I have your autograph?" asked one of the girls.

"Err… ok…" said Wes, unsure how to act with this sudden interest. The girl quickly tore a page out from a magazine about railway tracks and held it up, beaming brightly.

"Anyway," interrupted Sherles, "Rui here can actually identify Shadow Pokémon from normal Pokémon, and both she and Wes have got a few Shadow Pokémon."

"Oh, my. That's… amazing! But…" trailed off the boy, seeing the Snag machine on Wes's arm. "Is that…."

"Yes," answered Wes.

"Oh, that's great! Now we can hit them back!" he said.

"Calm down, Secc," said one of the girls. "And... what are Shadow Pokémon anyway?" Secc sighed.

"I've told you, Marcia, that they're Pokémon turned… bad by Cipher. And if we can get them back, we can make them good again... somehow… so how did all of this happen?"

Another long recount of the story began again for Wes and Rui, briefly going over what had happened over the last few days for the benefit of the children.

"So, you have - how many Shadow Pokémon?" Secc asked.

"Three - two from Cipher, and one from a civilian of Pyrite - Vant, I believe," Sherles said.

"Wait, you actually got one that had been given to… but how?"

"Well, luckily they escaped the wrath of Pyrite - with a bit of assistance from me, of course - we wiped their memories!" said Sherles, with more than a hint of pride in his voice.

"I see - with that Espeon here, you mean?" asked Secc, raising an eyebrow. Espeon also snorted, giving Sherles a confronting stare.

"Yes. Only, that's the problem - we can hardly expect to get all of the Shadow Pokémon in the same way, as the strain will be too hard on him and my Alakazam."

"And that's why you came here?" asked Secc.

"Yes."

"Ok, I'll see what I can do. You'll have to wait, though. Wes, can I see those Shadow Pokémon to check up on them? And Espeon too - I have an idea."

"Um, sure," answered Wes, surprised at the kid's sudden role of authority.

A long wait ensured, with Secc scrutinising every detail of Wes's newly gained Shadow Pokémon one by one, much to their displeasure.

"Maku! Hita Hita!" (Stop poking me! Stop it or I'll… OW!)

"Espi Espeon? Espeon," (Does being a Shadow Pokémon make you stupid as well as moody? Behave - he's trying to help you,) Espeon said as he gave Makuhita a short, sharp headache.

"Hita…" (Stupid Espeon and his psychic thingy…) grumbled Makuhita.

"Croconaw. Croc..." (Stop moaning, you fat lump. This is annoying though…)

"Misdre!" (Shut up, both of you!) cried Misdreavus in frustration at hearing the two bicker.

"Maku!" (You shut up!)

"Mis!" (No, you shut up!)

"Maku!" (You shut up!)

"Mis!" (You shut up!)

"Croc!" (Shut up, the both of you!)

"Maku!" (You shut up!)

"Mis!" (You shut up!)

"ESPEON!" (Everyone just SHUT THE HELL UP!) shouted Espeon suddenly, losing his patience. All the Pokémon fell silent and kept still obediently, as Secc analysed them and entered data into a computer.

"Esp." (Thank you,) added Espeon, surprised that his demand worked.

Meanwhile, Wes and Rui were forced to wait and be entertained by the two younger girls, as Sherles left to retrieve something from the police station.

"I want to play house," demanded Marcia, folding her arms and pouting.

"But I want to play shops!" argued the other girl.

"Aren't they basically the same game?" asked Rui quietly.

"No!" exclaimed both girls, turning simultaneously to gape at Rui.

"Ok, ok…I didn't play those games…" Rui hurriedly backed down.

"Wes, what do you want to play?" asked Marcia. "House or Shops?"

"I don't know, it's an impossible choice. House or Shops. I'll just have to hope that when I flip the coin it somehow explodes and kills me," replied Wes sarcastically. "Okay, Shops it is…" he continued, catching Rui's warning glare.

"Marcia, where's the thing?" asked Secc suddenly.

"It's on top of the thing next to the other thing!"

"…Where?" asked Secc. "Never mind, I see it," he remarked, rummaging through a pile of black books.

Sherles walked in at that moment, carrying a large cardboard box.

"Lots of Poké Balls here. Got a large supply too."

"But where did you get them?" asked Rui as she eyed the small red and white capsules. Wes' eyes widened as he ran to the box.

"Well, I am the Sherriff of Pyrite. I simply ordered some from Silph Co., and they came via the PC. There's some Great Balls there as well, which should make snagging even easier."

"That's great!" Wes said, holding them and peering at each one closely.

"And good timing too," added Secc. "I'm just about done now. Come over here - I'll explain. Wes, you might as well take back your Shadow Pokémon."

"Right," answered Wes, as he recalled his three Shadow Pokémon into their respective Poké Balls.

"Good," answered Sherles. "Sit up straight," he added to Marcia.

"Okay, first the Shadow Pokémon. From my observations, they've seemed to have been put under a lot of stress - maybe due to the process that made them into Shadow Pokémon. It's hard to pinpoint exactly, but I think that the door to their heart has been shut."

His statement received blank stares from all.

"Well, what I mean by that is, they've been pushed to their mental limits - maybe stressed out, or tortured," - Rui gave a gasp – "or something like that. Badly treated. Pokémon can be quite sensitive creatures and if ill-treated, can change their personality, mood or even their movesets."

"Too right," whispered Wes to Rui. "Espeon once didn't talk to me for three days after I had accidentally used the wrong type of shampoo on him…"

"Espeon!" (That shampoo smelled like rotten lemons! I stunk!)

"Umbre," (Yes, you certainly did,) snickered Umbreon.

"I think that's how they became Shadow Pokémon. These Pokémon have literally forgotten their normal moves, as Wes's P*DA shows, and instead only seem to know Shadow Rush - which is quite a powerful move actually. I guess it is what you could call a side effect of becoming a Shadow Pokémon…"

Man, that Secc knows his stuff... Wes thought to himself. What a nerd.

"Those poor things. I wonder what they went through," said Rui. "What about their auras?"

"Ah, good question. I guess Shadow Pokémon are more prone to anger - you could see how they behaved when I was examining them. As a result of being Shadow Pokémon, their emotions are easier to show themselves. In truth, all Pokémon - and people - give out an aura, only we can't see them. However, as Shadow Pokémon's auras would be bigger, it would be easier to notice."

"But why can I only see them?"

"I'm guessing that you are a, well, a rare case. I've heard that people have been able to see the auras of regular Pokémon, although they are few and far between. You probably can also, but not as well - and thus, why you can only see Shadow Pokémon's auras as they would technically be more visible and easier to see. It's only an educated guess, but it's the best I can come up with. I think it's the same deal when they enter 'Hyper State' - their emotions go off the edge, Shadow Rush gets stronger and they get even more dangerous. And as such their auras would be affected - hence the red colour."

Yep, he's a Pokémon nerd all right, Wes thought again, smiling slightly at the kid's rambling explanations.

"That's sounds about right - it was as if they went on fire," said Rui. "And when Misdreavus and Croconaw's auras went red, they seemed… angrier."

"Sounds feasible," offered Johnson. Wes was surprised that he comprehended all that information of all people, before realising that Johnson had been commenting on a book on UFO sightings he held in his hand.

"Anyway, I've checked all three, and I've managed to get a program up and running that checks to see how their emotional state is. It seems that Makuhita's and Croconaw are actually better than Misdreavus - maybe because you've had them for longer, and travelled with them. Some Pokémon thrive on just spending time with people - maybe Shadow Pokémon can make a recovery, provided they get treated well again."

"Aha!" cried Rui. "So if we get them happy, they'll recover?"

"That should be the case. It might be different for each Pokémon though, depending what they like, and how long it takes for them to recover. Maybe battles would help too? Pokémon tend to like battling... Anyway, I've added the program to your P*DA Wes, so you could get a rough judgement on how they are going in that respect. I wouldn't be surprised to see them slowly regain their moves as well."

"Ok then. I might have to use them in some battles and see if it makes a difference for them."

"Now, for snagging the other Shadow Pokémon without raising attention. As the memory-wipe thing worked, I think we might as well stick with that - and make it easier in the process."

"How?" Wes asked.

"Well, firstly, I took this Itemfinder here - we have dozens," said Secc. He picked up one of the objects which were commonly used to find items in a nearby radius. Trainers often used them to find objects dropped by other careless travellers, while they had a use to the general public of Pyrite in looking for stuff in trash. "I took it apart, gave it way more power, and changed the way the signal is transmitted. Now we attach it to Espeon here…" Secc put on a strap to the machine and attached it to Espeon's neck like a collar. "And he's good to go!"

"Wait, that's it?" asked Sherles curiously.

"Yep. All he has to do is focus on the transmitter with what he wants people to forget, and it should be transmitted in roughly a 200 metre radius around him, affecting everyone within that radius. I think you may have to battle for those Shadow Pokémon without Espeon however, Wes."

"What about us?" asked Wes. "Wouldn't we also get affected?"

"Not with this," responded Secc. "As you know, dark-type Pokémon share a sort of… 'immunity' to psychic powers, so you would say – their fighting style and tactics just outwit Psychic types."

"Umbre Umbreon!" (And being immune to psychic stuff annoys Espeon.) He stuck out his tongue at his brother who sniffed and turned away in reply.

"So, Umbreon, could you please assist me? Use Secret Power on these." Secc gestured at another bunch of Itemfinders.

"How did you know he knew that move?" asked Wes.

"Checked your P*DA."

"Fair enough."

"Umbre…" (Here goes…) Umbreon said, before focusing on the machines intently. For those who paid attention (which didn't include Johnson), small sparks seemed to travel from Umbreon into the Itemfinders, which shook for a moment before falling silent.

"Umbre?" (Did it work?)

"Only one way to find out - Espeon, try to communicate with one of us," commanded Wes, quick on the uptake. He grabbed one of the Itemfinders.

Espeon stared intently at the Itemfinders for a while, but nothing happened.

"Try using the transmitter," offered Secc. Espeon started to comment and it was only until Wes removed his Itemfinder that he could understand what Espeon was saying again.

"Espi! (That was what I was doing!)

"Great - it works!" exclaimed Secc once Wes relayed the answer. "For these I've made the signal weaker - it should only protect you if you are within a radius of a few metres. I'd suggest you'd stay away from people that you want to be affected. There's one for each of you," he added, giving one to each person in the room. "Now don't lose them!"

"Well, thanks for that, son," said Sherles sincerely. "You've done a good job, and with luck we can take down Cipher. By the way... what's happened with Duking?"

Secc's smile faded. "I don't know. But I think that it's Cipher that's making him act all different. I heard Silva shout at him about it too just before you came - normally Duking would have done something about it. That's why I'm helping, you know," he added.

"Well the sooner we can find where Cipher's hiding, the sooner we can help your dad. For now though, let's get those Shadow Pokémon!"

"Great! Let's go already!" cried Rui.

"What's the deal with Duking's house?" asked Wes as they stepped back outside.

"The same thing with everyone's house in this town," answered Sherles. "Yep - most people's homes in Pyrite are like this - it's all thanks to the Loan Sharks."

"The Loan Sharks?" Rui asked, interested.

"Yes - a bank business that also loaned money. Pyrite by all accounts should be better off than this - there was a lot of money to be made from the mining business back then. Many people when building their homes here needed to borrow money, and most chose the 'Happy Friendly Money Lenders' as the source."

"What went wrong?" asked Rui.

"They went under new management, and thus they changed to the name of Loan Sharks. Clearly the interest rates and conditions changed - by the end of it most could only afford their house by slapping everything together in one room."

"But wouldn't that be illegal to do that?" asked Wes. "Change the rates like that?"

"Yes, but we haven't been able to pin them down as of yet. It's one of the things that Duking has been fighting against. I remember him telling me that he had borrowed at something like five percent, only he found out that the interest rate was basically triple that, and that he could only make payments yearly - no earlier. When he went to them to tell them otherwise, they said 'no, you can't do that', and began to eat every part of his body."

"What?" Rui frowned.

"Not literally - it's a figure of speech."

"Oh." She grinned sheepishly.

"Anyway, good luck with getting those Shadow Pokémon. Johnson, you might as well make yourself useful - you watch for people acting suspiciously, and help Espeon if you can."

"Ok!"

"Espeon! Esp!" (I don't need help! Especially from him!) Espeon insisted.

"Well, I'm off - still have to see if there's a way to get into Team's Cipher's hideout."

"Ok Sherles - see you soon!" Wes called.

***

Over the next two days, Wes' Pokémon were hard at work as Wes went into battle after battle to root out a Shadow Pokémon. He stuck to a simple plan of finding someone who wanted to battle, luring them to a quieter place in town so that they would have less people to 'memory wipe', and commencing with a battle, usually pairing Umbreon with a Shadow Pokémon of his own. Meanwhile, Rui watched from the sides, keeping her eye on the opponent's Pokémon, while Johnson and Espeon also looked on.

Most of the town's trainers did not have a Shadow Pokémon, as they discovered while Wes tore through their Pokémon teams time and time again. They made the occasional trip to the Colosseum's healing machine to allow his Pokémon a rest every so often, ignoring Duking's suspicious stares while feeling sorry for the man. Wes mused as he watched Duking; if he could help people like this through his actions, well, maybe it would be worth the trouble and be a neat bonus to not being in jail.

The first Shadow Pokémon that Wes encountered was a Quagsire which belonged to a trainer by the name of Divel, who wore a classy bandana around his head. Wes had begun with Umbreon and Makuhita, the latter being the one to pulverise Divel's Psyduck with little effort as it spent most of the battle waddling about clutching its head and moaning. Rui had pointed out that Quagsire was a Shadow Pokémon the moment it had been released, as well as that it looked 'dumb and ugly too'. Even Wes had not been prepared for the Pokémon's look - a light-blue Pokémon with a blank stare, and extremely tiny eyes which gave it the appearance of someone born with the same amount of brain cells as Johnson.

"He's a Shadow Pokémon? Well, have a look at mine!" Divel cried in dismay as Quagsire took a heavy hit from Umbreon. "Quagsire - use Shadow Rush!"

"Quagsire!" (Dah, no, water is better!) Quagsire responded in a dumb voice before summoning water from the ground.

"What? No - not Surf!" cried Divel in despair as the Shadow Pokémon purposefully disobeyed him and formed the mass of water pouring from the ground into a wave, knocking over some spectators who were too slow to react.

"Espeon - use Light Screen!" ordered Wes. With everyone ducking for cover, nobody noticed Espeon summon a wall of light in front of Wes' Pokémon and divert the wave back onto Quagsire. Wes quickly slotted a Poké Ball into the Snag machine, and then successfully caught the weakened Quagsire. Espeon immediately focused his psychic prowess onto the transmitter, and in half a minute, part of the town of Pyrite was standing dazed and confused, no longer knowing who Wes was or what he did - nor for that matter why they were gathered around a battle area, hiding behind buildings and soaking wet.

The next Shadow encounter occurred soon afterwards, this time the opposing trainer being a young kid on roller blades continuously singing about how battles gave him a lot of joy and calling Wes a 'little boy'. Wes was bemused to why Cipher had given such an odd kid a Shadow Pokémon - despite having a decent Swablu that gave Makuhita a hard time with his flying-typed attacks, when commanding his Shadow Slugma to use Shadow Rush, he left his Igglybuff wide open to a powerful attack which sent the blob high into the air.

"Igglybuff!" (Help!) it cried, as a breeze picked up the light balloon-shaped Pokémon and carried it away from his trainer.

"Oh no - come back!" cried the boy as he ran after it. Espeon made sure that he didn't come back for his Slugma, as the sluggish flame waste of a fire-type charged at Umbreon at a surprisingly and ridiculously slow pace. The snag was relatively easy as the dim-witted Pokémon had nobody to instruct it.

Another Shadow Pokémon encounter occurred within the hour as a female trainer revealed her Shadow Skiploom which proved to be a far more formidable Pokémon this time around. The grass-flying type Pokémon lasted for far longer than the trainer's Oddish and Dustox, as Skiploom fired off Leech Seed in every direction it could, causing Wes's Pokémon to have a tough time as they were continuously drained of energy (along with a few unfortunate onlookers). Eventually though, Skiploom incredulously managed to accidentally Leech Seed itself. This was soon followed by Misdreavus Biting Skiploom's head, and Umbreon firing a Secret Power, and so Wes took the opportunity to snag the Pokémon. His opponent found herself congratulating Wes on his victory instead of strangling him for stealing her Pokémon, which she had promptly forgotten had ever existed.

Every so often, Wes made frequent trips with Rui, Johnson and Espeon to Duking's house and Secc, who analysed Wes's new Shadow Pokémon and uploaded them to Wes's P*DA's new program, dubbed the 'Shadow Metre'. It became increasingly clear that the more battles the Shadow Pokémon had with Wes, the happier they became as they slowly accepted Wes. Some started to regain their previous moves, which gave Wes more options to use in battles. As Wes's Pokémon count went past six, he was forced to leave some behind to be examined by Secc, and then put into the PC systems for the time being.

The rest of the Shadow Pokémon were quickly dealt with by Wes the next day with all of them seemingly severely angry with everything. The first obtained a Shadow Flaaffy. The normally mild-tempered Pokémon was much more vicious than what the sheep-like Pokémon would normally be like but this had made the battle easier as Flaaffy in its rage failed to look where it was charging and took out its own partner in Shroomish. It in turn released dust pollens which landed on the Shadow Pokémon, promptly making it fall asleep and allowing the snag to be a much simpler task.

Another Shadow Pokémon was a Noctowl - an overgrown bird Pokémon of the owl species - which had tried attacking several of the spectators during the battle. It then turned on its own trainer who clearly was unable to control his own Pokémon. He chose to run off. While he recalled his Ledyba and Wingull to their Poké Balls, he abandoned the angry Noctowl after it deflected his ball and swooped at the trainer. Wes after a long struggle managed to catch the violent Pokémon without having to use the Snag machine, but Espeon still gave the frightened onlookers a memory wipe, just in case.

The last Shadow Pokémon Wes could find was a Shadow Furret. It belonged to Cail, the aggressive individual who had been standing by the front of the town's entrance when Wes and Rui arrived. Unlike the other trainers, Cail had seemed accepting that his Pokémon was snagged by Wes, saying that it was a waste of a Pokémon. Wes personally disagreed with this - the elongated white and brown ringed Pokémon had put up a decent fight, slashing at Wes's Pokémon with long, sharp claws. Cail had also confirmed that Cipher was indeed the people supplying Shadow Pokémon to winners of the Colosseum challenge, but refused to reveal more after seeing Wes snag the Furret.

Unfortunately for Cail Espeon still gave him a necessary memory wipe - Wes didn't want news of him and Rui's actions to leak.

Fortunately Wes also found out that only seven people had been given Shadow Pokémon thus far - meaning that for now he had all the Shadow Pokémon in Pyrite belonging to innocents.

"Well, that's a relief. So many battles… and some of the trainers believed that battling was a turn-based thing! What kind of a battle is it when you take turns? Almost like some game, not a battle!" Wes told Rui as they relaxed in Duking's cave-like room.

"Umbreon... Umbreon..." (You don't say… at least most of the battles were easy…)

"Espeon!" (At least it only took a couple pages of summarising!)

"Hita? Maku! Makuhita!" (You've had enough of battling? I want more battles! I shall defeat many more Pokémon!) shouted Makuhita in protest.

Suddenly, the power went out in the room, leaving all in pitch black.

"Power failure… that's never happened before," muttered Secc. "I'll get some candles going."

"Maku!" (I'll punch the darkness!)

"Help me!" a distant voice suddenly called from outside.

"Did you hear that?" asked Rui.

"Someone's in trouble!" cried Johnson. "I'LL SAVE YOOOUUU!" he shouted, running out of the room and straight into a wall, forgetting that he couldn't see anything. "Oww!"

"Guess we should go after him, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, right?" asked Wes.

"Probably."

"I hate babysitting that guy…" Wes sighed as he got to his feet.

"Espi esp..." (At least you didn't have him following you offering dumb advice all the time…) grumbled Espeon.

***

It turned out that the commotion had occurred inside the windmill. Wes immediately noticed that the windmill was not in operation when he walked in. He heard Rui gasp as they saw both a worker and 'Chief' - the gear spinning man – lying on the ground wheezing for air.

"What happened?" asked Sherles, who had reached the windmill first. Wes was amazed that the old man could run so fast. The Chief took a moment to catch his breath before launching into his explanation.

"I was spinning the gears, as I always do, when suddenly I was attacked, and knocked to the ground! When I came to, one of the gears were gone! Now I can't spin my gears anymore! I WANT MY GEAR BACK!" cried the 'Chief'. "Oh, and both the Colosseum and the town would be without power, I guess," he added as all stared at his outburst, "but what about ME?"

Duking then appeared, looking even more worried than usual. "What's going on?"

He slammed an arm against the door frame after the news was relayed to him. "I'm sorry I let this happen. Now the town and Colosseum suffers! Who did this?" he shouted, before catching notice of Wes standing next to Sherles. "Was it you, you suspicious runt?" he growled.

"No, he's innocent - Wes here is working for me," added Sherles hastily.

"It was… Silva, I'm afraid," said the Chief.

"It was - what? How could he?" cried Duking.

"I saw him with my own two ears," garbled Chief, frightened of Duking's face of rage. "He came in, attacked me, and took the gear while shouting anti-war slogans, and trying to explain himself."

"Such as?" prompted Sherles.

"He was ranting on about how the Colosseum can just close down or something, and that this is for the good of the town…"

"But why do this? This affects the whole town, damn it! And I'll be put under a lot of pressure if the Colosseum challenge can't go ahead tomorrow…"

"Since when?" asked Sherles curiously.

"Er… since recently," Duking answered, looking at his feet and shuffled them uneasily.

"Well, I think," began Chief, "that he wouldn't have done it unless he thought it was the right thing to do…. Silva wouldn't ever do such a thing normally, especially to you. No, I reckon he agonized over this and did it 'cause he thought it right. Why though is beyond me, and maybe he could have done it a bit less roughly… would you know why?" he asked Duking.

"Um, no…." began Duking, looking more nervous by the second.

"Err, Chief?" began Wes, piping up. "What if we just used one of the gears lying around the town? There's dozens, and some would probably fit…"

"NO!" shouted Chief, jumping up and down and making wild gestures. "I want MY gear back, not some crummy substitute!"

"Does it... really matter, Chief?" asked Sherles.

"YES!" he screamed.

"Ok, ok, calm down, I know how upset you are about losing your… gear, but sometimes we have to make… hang on, I'm getting a phone call," Sherles said, taking his P*DA out of his pocket and putting it next to his ear.

"What if… you spun the windmill by hand?" offered Johnson, trying to impress. Wes took one look at the heavy metal gears, and recalled how slowly the windmill had spun even with the help of machinery. It would be impossible to make the windmill's blades budge an inch.

"Johnson, who's using the family's brain cell at the moment?" asked Wes.

"Uh huh, who's this?" said Sherles through the P*DA. "The construction site...? What, oh that's good, we need that…. No, I know that your place isn't a tip… I know, I know. Someone will come to pick it up right away." At that, Sherles switched off the P*DA.

"It's the gear - seems that Silva let it roll all the way down the hill from Pyrite to the construction site. The guy there wants it out of there ASAP, and saw that the gear had some writing on it stating that it was the property of Pyrite."

"Hurrah! Let's go get it!" cried Chief.

"It's not going to be that easy…" said Sherles. "After all, it's a long trip uphill from there, and it'll take ages to get it back up here. It's rather heavy, remember?"

"I'll lug it back if it takes me all day!" Duking said confidently.

"Hey, Sherles, suppose I went to get it with the Zoomer? I'll just drag it back carefully. It'll be quicker and easier as well," Wes suggested.

"Good idea, Wes," replied Sherles.

"Really? You'd do that for me?" asked Duking. He paused for a moment. "Well… thanks."

"Think nothing of it," answered Wes. "I'll be back soon."

***

After a few hours of lugging the gear back to Pyrite, Wes tiredly unattached the gear from the Zoomer and rolled it back to the windmill. It had taken longer than he had expected - the Zoomer had been reduced to a far slower pace than what it could normally go at and the gear was enormous. It has been boiling hot in the desert too - the ground had shimmered in front of his eyes only a few metres before him. It was a wonder Silva managed to get it out of town in the first place.

However he was surprised to see that Duking was once again angry when he had arrived, glaring angrily at two new arrivals - two females of average height. One had an aggressive posture, while the other looked meeker.

"Look, we're just curious about when this windmill will get fixed. I know that some… people may not be happy if it doesn't get fixed," said a woman, with a hint of menace in her voice.

"Oh good, you're back!" exclaimed Rui, who a moment ago had been staring daggers at the two.

"There you are!" cried Duking happily. "See, I told you it's under control," he said to the two women. "Now you may leave."

"…Fine, whatever," said the woman. "Come, Ferma." They both began to leave. Ferma looked somewhat puzzled while Reath pretended to look laid back but failed to suppress the sense of annoyance showing through her forced smile.

"Hey, where's the gear?" asked Wes suddenly, noticing it was no longer next to him. Then the windmill started up - Chief had in his excitement already taken and fitted the gear.

"Woohoo! Thanks man - now I can spin these gears!" cried Chief happily, as he manned the machine that controlled the gears.

"Well, all's well that ends well," summed up Sherles, as Wes wondered how Chief had managed to lift such a heavy object by himself, never mind the fact that it had surely been too hot to handle by hand.

"Yes, the brave Johnson has solved the case of the Missing Gear!" boasted Johnson.

"Johnson, you didn't do anything."

'Um, well…"

"Even though the Chief was knocked out, I'll be spinning gears some more! Thirty long years of cranking gears, Thirty more years I'll spin some more…" began Chief with his off-key singing. "OH YEAH BABY! This is the way it should be! Thirty long years…" he continued, singing louder this time.

"Oh dear - once he's started, he'll never stop…" muttered Duking. "At least he's happy. I'll ask you to excuse my behaviour - you can be trusted. You have my sincere thanks."

"No problem," answered Wes, although he felt that it had been a bit of a trouble bringing back the gear. It was odd to be helping people, instead of helping Team Snagem, or helping only himself before... but the change felt nice.

"Anyway, I have a… favour to ask of you. You too, Sherles. Maybe it's best we go to my house…"

***

Outside the windmill, Ferma tugged Reath's arm. "Did you notice that guy with the gear?"

"Um, yes. Good looking or what?" Reath replied, distracted by some flies buzzing around her head.

"No, not that!" cried Ferma. "That guy was Wes!"

"Who?"

"The one who blew up Team's Snagem base!"

"Really? Are you sure?" Reath hissed. Ferma nodded. "Oh god… this is bad news… we've got to go to Miror B about this right away! We can't let the Shadow…."

"Shadow?" asked Johnson, popping up suddenly.

"Go away, nitwit," replied Reath.

"Not without making you forget!" Johnson waved his arms at the pair.

"…Whatever are you talking about?" asked a confused Ferma. "Can you let us go now?"

"Espeon - they know something! Wipe their minds!" Johnson ordered, now pointing at the Psychic type.

"Espi!" (Okay!)

"But you don't have an Espe…." began Reath, before her face went blank, as did Ferma's, as they found themselves staring into Espeon's glowing eyes.

"Espeon! I know it must be fun, but stop erasing people's minds!" shouted Wes from afar.

"Esp…" (But Johnson… oh, never mind…) Espeon said.

"Coming!" shouted Johnson, racing Espeon to Duking's house. As he left, Reath and Ferma came back to Earth.

"Reath… what are we doing here?" asked Ferma, confused.

"I don't know… something about the windmill, although it appears to be fine… whatever, let's go back," said Reath, not as worriedly as Ferma. "Hey, look, Johnson's dropped something," she pointed out as she went to pick it up. She shook the object and peered at it curiously. "A weird looking Itemfinder…"

"Maybe he tried to invent something smarter than himself," Ferma remarked, and laughed.

***

"So, what's the problem?" asked Sherles. Duking's children were seated next to Duking on the floor, while Wes, Rui, Duking and Sherles had seats. Johnson had been relegated to the floor as well by unanimous vote.

"I think you may know already," said Duking with a sigh. "I've been pressured by Miror B and his stooges. They've been… taking control of the Colosseum."

"I knew it!" exclaimed Sherles. "But… why have you done nothing about it yet? You're not the kind to be pushed around."

"It's because of Plusle," explained Duking, with a heavy sigh.

"Plusle?" asked Secc. "But what…"

"They took Plusle…" finished Duking.

***




Hope you enjoyed that. Sorry about the end - couldn't resist. :) The next chapter shall include a character that has featured once thus far before as well.



As for the events and characters in this chapter:

Spoiler:
 
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Sydian

fake your death.
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"OH YEAH BABY! This is the way it should be! Thirty long years…"

xD Oh my gosh.

I'll have to finish reading later, but this is great!

"Fair enough," began Rui, "But why do innocent people have Shadow Pokemon?"

Enough...

Oh, have you noticed...we're all moderators? I don't like April Fool's Day. X.x
 
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Espreon

Lord of the Nagas
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OK for those who did not know glum is a synonym for gloomy.

Nice chapter and I did see a couple of Pikmin 2 refrences this time.
 

bobandbill

one more time
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xD Oh my gosh.

I'll have to finish reading later, but this is great!



Enough...

Oh, have you noticed...we're all moderators? I don't like April Fool's Day. X.x
Enough mistake must have been a result of me changing a full stop to a comma via transferring... fixed. :)
Pity being a moderator = no powers... ah well.
OK for those who did not know glum is a synonym for gloomy.

Nice chapter and I did see a couple of Pikmin 2 refrences this time.
I'd think people would know what glum is... but maybe I'm wrong.
What Pikmin 2 references did you see? EDIT - yep, that's it. :) Now... any takers on the on in chapter 6?
Glad you both liked the chapter...
 
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Espreon

Lord of the Nagas
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I'd think people would know what glum is... but maybe I'm wrong.
What Pikmin 2 references did you see?
Glad you both liked the chapter...

The Loan Sharks thing and the Happy loan thing

In addition I did not know what glum meant, I originally guessed its meaning judging by the context it was used in and that the first 2 letters were the first 2 letters of gloom. When I looked it up to confirm it my guess was right. In fact your fanfic was the first time I saw/heard the word "glum" in it.
 
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Sydian

fake your death.
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Ok, now I finished the chapter.

It's so great how you think outside the box. I've always wondered about the Gear, too. You can't fit that in a bag. X.x Backaches!

Anyway, I love it...and I can't wait for Miror B.! Everyone has weird names...I thinked for most of my Colosseum files, my name was Seth and my partner was Anca. That's only cause I saw it in Nintendo Power and I thought they fit the description for the names, anyway. O_o

Can't wait to read more!

-Silver
 

Espreon

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How many more chapters should it be until we get to fighting Miror B.? And for that matter I can't wait til we get to purify Croconaw (Which should mean instant evolution into Feraligator), snag Entei and I also can't wait til we get to Lady Venus.

You don't intend to implement D/P evolutions of Wes' Pokes do you? Like if Wes finds a Dusk Stone and decides to use it on his (eventually to be) purified Misdrevous and have it evolve into Mismagius? I mean if Colosseum took place the time G/S/C and D/P (they occurred at around the same time) then Mismagius and other evolved forms of Gen 1 and Gen 2 and Gen 3 Pokes (that were introduced in D/P) would exist. I highly suggest you do this as it allows more originality to be produced.
 
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Sydian

fake your death.
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You don't intend to implement D/P evolutions of Wes' Pokes do you? Like if Wes finds a Dusk Stone and decides to use it on his (eventually to be) purified Misdrevous and have it evolve into Mismagius? I mean if Colosseum took place the time G/S/C and D/P (they occurred at around the same time) then Mismagius and other evolved forms of Gen 1 and Gen 2 and Gen 3 Pokes (that were introduced in D/P) would exist. I highly suggest you do this as it allows more originality to be produced.

Aside from me falling in love with Honchkrow, I've fallen for Mismagius, too. :3

But, considering that's not a part of the gameline...I dunno. D/P wasn't released when Colosseum came out...which would make it...akward. But, it's bobandbill's story, so whatever he so chooses, I'll like it anyway. ^^

And now I'm supposed to be making a vid about the state government. What the heck? I hate movie maker so far...X.x
 
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