Obsidian Dreams (PG-13 to R as of now)

[D3L3T3D]

A few guidelines before starting.

My character, Leon, is looseley based off of myself, and the character I play in the games. This story does not take place in the time when ELon started, more rather, random events he encounters around Kanto and such. Think of it like a graphic novel (like the Pokemon Adventures comic series)without the comic part.

Be warned, i tend to drag out some chapters more than I should, but hopefully, descriptive adhectives paint a pretty picture for you.

One more note. The places this comic takes place in are very loosely based off of the games. Otherwise, it's a completely different lookign place, and yet the same old..place...you get it. Very dark compared to the real thing, too.

Enjoy.
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Chapter 1: Late Call

The quivering, high pitched voice of the cell phone ripped through the late night air, awakening Leon from a sweet dream. He sat up, groaning and blinking his eyes, freeing them of any sleep. What the hell? Who in the right mind would call me this late at night? Leon thought to himself, furiously picking up his silver cell phone, flipping it open. A bright blue light emanated from the small screen as Leon pressed an oddly shaped button to answer it.

"Hello?" Leon's tone was not the least bit pleasant, and still heavily laden with the grogginess of sleep.

"Leon? I'm sorry to awaken you so late at night..." came a sweet female voice from the silver plastic phone.

Mary. Sam's granddaughter. Leon glanced over to an alarm clock on a nearby nightstand. "Mary, it's three int he morning. Why are you calling so late?"

"Early," Mary corrected him. Was she trying to piss him off and make him hang up?
"Whatever. Why are you calling me so early then?"
"Obviously you aren't a morning person."
"Stop toying with me."
"Alright, alright. Grandpa told me to call you. It's about that Team Rocket experiment you found out about last week."

Leon about hung up. Why not wait until the morni--never mind. It was morning, and Mary would most certainly correct him there. He decided to stay neutral on this one.
"The experiment plans on that Gyarados?"
"Yes. Apparrently, it's not just about the Gyarados. Grandpa went into town to investigate for himself, and he wants you to meet him at the casino."

Leon blinked. The what?
"The Casino? What, he wanna discuss this over a game of blackjack?"
"Very funny, Leon. No, rumor has it that the Team Rocket HQ is there. Please...wake up and get your *** down there!"
"Alright, alright, ma'am. Anything else while I'm at it? Coffee?"

A click and a dial tone was heard. Leon cursed to himself, hung up, and went to get a shower and get dressed.
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Minutes later, he left his apartment building and walked the brightly-lit streets of the city of Celadon. It had never occured to him before that aybe Team Rocket had a headquarters in the basement of a casino. Weren't all of the Kanto & Johto casinos owned by Donald Trump?
The thought of Donald Trump as the Rocket leader crossed his mind, and he laughed it off.

Leon crossed a busy street, cursing at a taxi cab driver who nearly mowed him over. He had reached the casino. Thousands of lights flashed and buzzed, creating an artificial warmth radiating from underneath the overhanging display. He saw his friend and boss, Samuel Oak, wearing a long black coat, standing just outside the sliding glass doors, smoking a smoldering cigarette. Sam obviously did not see Leon, as his back was turned.

"That stuff'll kill you, Sam." Leon said as he approached his boss.
Oak cursed as he dropped the cigarette and burned his hand. Turning around, he looked somewhat angry.
"****, boy, you can't sneak up on someone like that! Give me a heart attack, won't you?"
"Again i don't think I'd be the heart attack's cause. Why did you have your eccentric granddaughter call me at three in the morning?"

Oak put his hands into the pockets of his coat. "A friend of mine told me the headquarters was here. I figured we could sneak around, looking for it, and get in and find out what they're doing to those poor Pok?mon."

Leon rolled his eyes. "Clich?."

They entered the casino, and the security guards standing outside didn't give a second glance.

 

[D3L3T3D]

Chapter 2: Into the Darkness

Leon and Sam walked through the brightly lit hall of the casino-hotel. They had dealt with Team Rocket a few years before--they both knew where the entrance was. Leon donned a pair of sunglasses before they had reached a grand staircase leading upstairs. They walked up to a landing and stood between two potted plants, waiting for some people to disappear from their sight.

"If my memory serves," Oak said, examining the wall, "the entrance will be around here. Got the key?"

Leon produced a small black key with a red "R" on it from his pocket, and felt the wall behind the plant. His fingers ran across a chunk in the wall--a keyhole. Leon inserted they key and turned it.

The wall ahead of them opened in the middle, revealing...

"A storage lift?" Leon raised an eyebrow and looked at Oak. "They may have realized that we had the key, and turned it into a storage facility." He hran one of his black gloved hands across a nearby crate. "These things haven't been touched in some time." He held up a dusty finger.

Oak nodded and pressed a "CLOSE DOOR" button on the nearby elevator panel. The doors closed on command, and Oak pressed a button labeled "B4F." No response. "B1F." Nothing. Oak sighed and pressed "B2F". The elevator jerked as it slowly made its descent into the void of the dark elevator shaft.

Leon sighed. Hopefully, whatever Team Rocket was doing wasn't irreversible. But then again..DNA Experiments on powerhouses like Gyarados...
A hope would be insignificant.

The metallic doors slid open, revealing a storage and equipment room. Leon and Sam looked around the room for anything they could use--a map, access cards, uniforms..something. Leon had vivid memories of his past as they scavenged for items...

Leon dashed around the corner, his poor Wartortle struggling to keep up. The alarms buzzed in his ears and echoed throughout the halls of the Team Rocket base. Though he was wearing a Team Rocket grunt uniform, he had been recognized as an imposter, and was being hunted.
Suddenly, the hallway ahead was blocked off by grunts. Turning around, Leon found the same on he hallway behind him. All of them inched in closer...

"Enough!" A deep, male voice broke outr over the mob's noise. All of the grunts ahead quieted down, and allowed a man dressed in a crisp black suit to walk through. The man had finely greased hair, slicked back. He had his left hand inside his coat, extracting--Leon did a double take--a black handgun. He clicked the gun. "I could kill you now, Leon. You ruined our plans at Mt. Moon...you stopped us from sinking the St. Anne...and now you have the nerve to break into my home...tsk tsk."
Leon was sweating. he was scared senseless. The man knew this.
"I won't kill you. Yuo deserve to live. I like a kid who would dare to face an entire team of elite trainers. If you join us, you'll stay safe. If not, I'll leave you to milady here."
The man stepped aside, and a gigantic Pok?mon stepped foreward. It was a large, teal, reptilian beast.
"Now, I suggest you take the safe way out if you don't want to be Nidoqueen food."
Leon looked at his Wartortle, and they both nodded at each other in understanding. Gathering his courage, Leon spat out poisonous-sounding words.
"Giovanni...you can try to kill me, but I won't take it lying down.
The man nodded. "So be it."

Oak started chuckling to himself. "****ed idiots left a few access keycards here." He tossed Leon one of the green laminated cards.
Leon smiled. "They never expected us to take the storage lift."
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A redheaded woman sat slouched in an executive's padded chair, her back to an ornately designed maple desk. The woman skillfully twirled a black pistol on her gloved fingers. A Rocket grunt stepped into her office.
"Pardon me, ma'am. Two intruders have entered the base via the storage lift. An older man and a teenager. I think the teenager is the young man your uncle blacklisted a few years back."
The woman did not turn ehr chair around, which had its back facing the door. The woman only raised an eyebrow, and replied, "Let them come. Captre the old man, bring me the teenager. I'll kill him myself." She brought the gun down to fit snugly in her left palm.
"Yes, ma'am." The grunt left the room, shutting the door beind him.

The woman sat up from her slouched position, and turned her chair around to face the desk."So, Leon. You're back for more?"
She brought the gun down to pint at a target on the wall, and clicked the gun.
"You'll regret ever doing what you did to me years ago. And you'll regret halting my uncle's project..."
She fired the gun, which could be heard throughout B4f.

 

[Obsidian Blade]

Nice! You've got great description in there, and the whole thing's got a lovely flow. I like this new version of Oak too, he's always so machine-like in most fics. Good to see him on the scene rather than standing in his lab waiting to offer some more Pok?mon to random newbie trainers.

I caught a few spelling/grammar mistakes, "Who in the right mind would call me this late at night?" being one, but there wasn't anything really big and I was happy to see that your choice of tense was consistent. I don't like the way you used the quote tags though, yeah, it was meant to show that Leon was remembering but why not use the more standard (and considerably more professional looking) italic font? Because you said " Leon had vivid memories of his past as they scavenged for items..." there's no way a reader isn't going to realise that those are his memories, so no need for something so big and obvious.

I caught quite a lot of Leon's personality through what you've written so far, although Oak is still something of a mystery. I know only a little bit about him, so you might want to try and convey some more of his personality in the next few chapters.

Otherwise, lovely start! Keep it up!

 

[D3L3T3D]

Alright. Thanks for the criticism. I do think in one of the comics, Oak was on-scene. And i kinda adapted the personality for him, because in Pokemon Adventures, he was not exactly a nice guy, especially to Red at first.

Yea, i make grammatical errors, but i am somewhat of a newbie writer. So bear with me. :p

Anyway, onward!!
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Chapter 3: Jumping the Gun

Leon and Sam snuck down a dimly lit corridor lined with various potted plants and closed, locked doors. Leon chuckled to himself. The most notoorious criminals in Kanto, and they still decorated the place with various plants and paintings. Leon wondered if Team Rocket pulled a heist at the Pewter Museum of Art & Natural History recently.

Sam walked over to a glass sliding door and peered in. Leon raised an eyebrow at his partner and walked over to join him.
They peered into a sort of laboratory, with gigantic pods in it, each filled with certain Pok?mon. They all floated in a transparent green liqiod, being fed and kept alive via various tubes and wires. Leon pulled the door handle, and to his suprise, it was unlocked. He and Sam stepped in, examining the tubes.

"So...it wasn't just a plan. They were acting on it." Sam said, lighting up a cigarette.
"And there's their Gyarados." Leon said, pointing at an unconscious Gyarados in a transparent tank. "I don't think these are legit, either. Like any other incident with Team Rocket, these are probably stolen."

Sam walked up to a certain tank with bits of debris floating in it. It seemed like the debris were forming out of the water itself...
He picked up a nearby notebook, and found it was a progress report on that very tube.
Mewtwo, Mk. II
Since original experiment failed and was terminated, we once again try to create the ultimate Pok?mon to pull off our most hienous crimes. We still search for the original DNA that created Mewtwo (the DNA of Mew) with no avail. Current experiment uses DNA from various Pok?mon indigenous to Kanto, in hopes of creating one without weakness, and with unrivaled strength...
"So clich?." Sam said, taking a deep breath of his cigarette.
Leon looked up at his comrade. "What's clich??"
Sam showed him the notebook. "The same old ploy to create an all-powerful monstrosity to pull off crimes with." He sighed, releasing smoke from his lungs. "Didn't they learn anything from the first one's rampage?"

"Not hardly, but then, we have different leadership now." came a female voice from behind them.

Sam and Leon turned around to see a redheaded woman dressed in black, holding a pistol in her gloved hands. She smiled at them, brushing a loose lock of curly orange hair out of her face. "My uncle couldn't handle the pressure. Says he quit because some kid led the cops to find him, and thus be able to ID him, finally, as the Rocket kingpin. And you fit the kid's description. You've aged." Her voice was desceptively sweet.


Sam scowled. "You seem to have aged yourself, Kelsey. What are you now, eighteen?"
The girl gasped sarcastically. "Well. The old man remembers me. Imagine that."
"How could I forget babysitting one of my oldest colleagues' most spoiled nieces?" Sam said, still scowling. One could tell he was bitter.
"Well, if it helps, Sammy, I'm still spoiled. And check it out, now i have my own lackeys!" As she said this, seven or more grunts rushed into the room and formed a line next to their leader.
Kelsey lowered her gun, pointing it at Leon. "You know, Uncle Gio was merciful, seeing as he could not kill a twelve year old boy. However, I am not him, and you are no longer twelve. Now, boys, what brings you to my place of buisness?"

Leon did not flinch when the gun was pointed at him, and still not fazed when it made that distinct clicking sound. "We heard things about animal cruelty happening here. Now, we can see that it is so much more than that. You know unregistered DNA testing and cloning is against the law."

Kelsy "tsk-tsk"ed at Leon. "Yes, but laws are made to be broken, aren't they? Actually, they're more of guidelines than actual rules. And anyway..." She pointed the gun at Sam. "..we can't do much without Mew. And I hear...tha you know where it is, Sammy."

Sam said nothing, did nothing, except puffed his cigarette.
Kelsey giggled and shot the white cancer stick out of the old man's mouth. "Alright, boys. Take these two to quarantine. I have a meeting to get back to, and when I'm done, I'll deal with them accordingly."

She exited the room, laughing, as Leon and Sam were surrounded by grunts.

 

[D3L3T3D]

Chapter 4: Seeking Redhead, Female, Great Personality, Armed & Dangerous

Leon, thinking quickly, swiped a Pok?ball hanging on the magnetic strip on his right pant leg and released the Pok?mon inside. The Pok?ball opened with a puff of pink smoke and out came a tall, burly-looking Blastoise. The large turtle Pok?mon let out a warcry and batted the grunts aside.

One picked himself up and released a Rhydon. Leon smirked. "Stupid Move."
Leon's blastoise fired a Water Pulse shot at the Rhydon, knocking it halfway across the room. Its hide seemd to be weakened, blistered by the water blast.
Leon looked up at his Pok?mon. "Great work, Sheldon." In reply, the brute nodded, and growled at the others.

A grunt stood up and flipped the Pok?mon off. "You think a bit of water'll keep us down?"

Leon chuckled. "No. But..." He took up another Pok?ball and released a towering orange dragon Pok?mon. A raging flame spouted form his tail, and large batlike wings extended to full length. He let ojut a more feral roar than the Blastoise before did.
"Boys, meet my buddy Huma. In case you're a complete idiot, Huma is a Charizard. They can make you into a human barbecue in seconds, and those claws cut mighty deep. If you don't want to die, let us pass."

The grunds cowered along a far wall, and Leon returned his Blastoise to its ball.
Sam laughed. "Great one, Leon." He lit yet another cigarette and dashed out of the room. Leon backed out, himself, and returned Huma to his ball.

Sam and Leon ran down the hallway until they saw a room with all glass windows, and what looked like a meeting room inside. Leon remembered that room...

Givanni did not battle Leon right away. In fact, he grabbed him by the collar and made him walk with him. After a while, he let Leon's collar free, trusting the boy. While Leon could have run, he did not want to get shot.
They had reached a glass-windowed room, what looked like a meeting room in the building where his dad worked.
Giovanni gently opened the door and herded Leon into it.
Giovanni walked over to a large executive's chair and sat down in it, folding his arms. "Sit down, please."
Leon reluctantly took a seat in a lesser chair at the table.

Giovanni sighed. "You are a brave little man. You have the audacity to stop my grunts from achieving their goals in a few places, then infiltrate my place of buisness. Again, I commend such bravery."
Leon nodded.

Giovanni extracted the black handgun from his coat, examining it. Leon jumped when he saw it. What was he gonna do with that?
The tall man placed the gun gently on the table. "Again, I'm not going to kill you. I have a niece, who lives with em ebcause her parents died in a Moltres rampage. And I love working with children. I was a teacher at some point...high school...english."
Leon couldn't believe it. Him? Giovanni? Teacher? No, better yet--Giovanni, a soft spot for kids?

Giovanni chuckled. "Tell you what. I want a challenge in my next endeavor. I want to battle you. If you win, I'll give you a little device we swiped from Silph Co. that could aide you when you come to stop me again. If you lose..Well, I'll let the spirits of Lavender Tower take you."
Leon couldn't believe this. How lame was this?

Little did he know, Gio was planning to kill him later...

Leon peered into the glass room. The redhead sat facign a computer screen, her back to the door.
Now was his chance. He opened the door...

...and heard a metallic click. Kelsey had swiveled her chair around to face Leon and point a gun at him.
"Hello, Leon." she said, smiling her flirty smile.
"Hello, Kelsey. Wanna kill me now?"
She nodded. "Oh yes. But I wanna have a bit of fun first. Uncle Gio?"
Kelsey moved her chair aside, and on the computer screen was Giovanni's face. He was grinning menacingly. "Well, Leon. Long time no see. You've grown."
"Cut the chat, Gio. Let's get this over with." He held his arms out wide. "Kill me, Kelsey."
She shook her head. "Oh no. not yet. I have a little deal-ee-o for you. Battle me."

Leon rolled his eyes, and put the hood of his blue sweatshirt down, revealing spiky brown hair. "Not this crap again. Gio, did you put her up to this?"

Kelsey shook her head. "Completely my idea. See, i am a much better battler then Uncle Gio was. I'll battle you...for your life. If I win, I get the gun, and you can...well...die. If you win, you get the gun, and can do the likewise to me."

Leon didn't like this. "And if I refuse?"
Kelsey laughed. "You can't. See, I've rigged a bomb in B4F. If you refuse, I can jsut walk away...get out...and blow you and everyone in this casino to high heaven. But its much more detailed than I want to explain. And by the way, your friend is a bit tied up right now, so don't bother having him help you."

Leon looked behind him, and saw Sam with two grunts holding him i place, his hands bound tightly behind his back. Two guns were on his head. "Do the battle, Leon. It's better that one or two of us dies than hundreds."