The Magnificent Seven

The X

x + x= 2x
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    ~This story is about a 19 year old boy, Xander Exen, who is called up by an elite underground gang to help stop a rising evil in the three regions. It is set 10 years after Brendan Birch defeats the Elite Four of Hoenn.~

    Chapter One: E-Mail
    Xander had been up all night, working on the Saffron City Pok?mon Center's computer. He'd been catching up on his Pok?dex updates, editing his trainer profile on the Pok?mon League's website, commenting on recent tournaments on the chat boards, and now he was working on his e-mails.
    No-one else was in the lobby of the Center, as it was late at night. They had all returned to their rooms, and the employees had left for the night, apart from the night-shift nurse, just in case a trainer had been out looking for nocturnal Pok?mon. The only light source in the room was the PC moniter Xander was using. The sound of his fingers clacking on the keys of the keyboard echoed through the center.
    Xander was in the middle of composing an e-mail to his father, telling him to keep an eye on his Pikachu, and telling him he'd be back around mid-summer to pay the family a visit. Suddenly, a soft tone sounded from the computer, causing Xander to jump slightly, as he hadn't expected it, what with it being so quiet. A small Chansey icon appeared in the bottom right corner of the screen, carrying an envelope. Above it were the words- 'You have a new e-mail'.
    Quickly, Xander finished off his e-mail to his father, anxious to see who would e-mail him at... he glanced at the clock, having not checked it since he began his work... 2 o'clock in the morning. He pointed his cursor at the Chansey and it opened up:

    From: Kate Foster ([email protected])
    To: Xander Exen ([email protected])
    Subject: Your 'talents'
    Dear Mr Exen,
    My colleagues and I have noticed your talent as a trainer of Pok?mon. Your recent performance in the Viridian Cup impressed us, and we were hoping you could join us for a 'chat' about your Pok?mon. Come to Vermillion Port on Friday of this week if you wish to meet us...
     
    Sounds good so far! Keep it up. I like how you described what he was doing on the computer, it's different then what I'm used to reading. Very good!

    I can't what until the next chapter. :)
     
    Ok, I've decided to continue. I was going to wait for more opinions, but I'm too anxious! (Sorry if there's a lot of mistakes... I nearly finished it, then I accidently deleted it)

    Chapter Two: Time To Go
    Xander read the e-mail over as thoroughly as he could. The he re-read it. The he re-read it again, and did this until he was sure he had read everything. It didn't make any sense to him... Why would he be singled out for his skills? Xander thought back to the Viridian Cup. He'd came 7th out of 50 trainers. Not a bad result, but if this group really were interested in powerful Pok?mon, why didn't they contact Kerry Birch, the winner of the tournament? She was a lot more powerful than he was. In fact, she had been the one to put him out of that tournament. Her and her Espeon. Other doubts formed in his mind, too. Was this a hoax? Could it just be a spam e-mail circulating the Internet? Xander wasn't sure, but he wasn't going to leave the subject alone until he knew what was going on.

    He began to fill in the address box, so he could send a response, but he could hardly keep his eyes open. It was now nearly 3am... Maybe this could wait until the morning. Xander rose up from the comfortable armchair he'd been sitting in for the past five or six hours, carefully tapped a few keys to turn the PC off, said goodnight to the night-nurse, and then slowly walked up the stairs to his room on the third floor. When he reached the room, he slowly pushed the door ajar, trying not to creak the hinges, so that he wouldn't wake his Ampharos, Laurie, from her sleep. He quietly pulled of his jeans and t-shirt, and climbed into bed, with Laurie curled up at his feet.

    Xander woke to find Laurie tugging at his bedsheets, trying to wake him up.
    "Hey... Laurie" said Xander, with a yawn. Sunlight was shining brightly through the small window. It must be about mid-day, Xander guessed. He sat on the edge of the bed, and patted his Ampharos on the gently on the head. Laurie let off a little cry of pleasure, then anxiously ran off to gather Xander's things for him. As he put on a fresh set of clothes, Xander thought about last night... He would have to continue his investigation... His thoughts were cut off as Laurie nudged him on the waist, his pack in her mouth.
    "Thanks Laurie" Xander said, smiling, "but we won't be needing that, just yet"

    Xander went downstairs, he was going to return the e-mail he had attempted to send last night, but a queue was forming on the seats next the the PC. There wasn't much chance he would get onto the computer for long enough to get some information today, so there was only one thing for it. He would have to just have to leave for Vermillion City today, otherwise he would miss the proposed date that was in the e-mail. Xander turned at the bottom of the stairs and returned to his room. Laurie jumped in excitment as he came in, the pack still dangling from her mouth.
    "Yep!" Xander said gleefully, "We're going now"

    He quickly gathered up his things- Pok?Nav, Pok?Dex, cell phone, and of course, his belt of Pok?mon. Xander turned to Laurie, with a black and yellow Ultra Ball in his hand.
    "You'll have to go back inside for a while, Laurie, but don't worry, once we're back on the road, you can walk out with me" A thin red beam shot out of the Pok?ball, and covered the Ampharos, causing it to disappear back inside the confinement of the ball. Xander pulled his pack back onto his shoulders, and walked down the stairs, into the lobby, where he payed his room fees, and a very large computer use bill. Once he'd rather reluctantly handed the cash over, he turned and went out of the large double doors which led onto the streets of Saffron City.
    "Ahh..." he sighed, "It's good to be back on the road"
     
    Raichu Master said:
    Nice! I'm really enjoying your fanfic. But I'm just curious, why an ampharos? Why not a charmander or something?
    Click to expand...
    Because that's his Pok?mon! He's an experience trainer, so if I was giving him a Charmander it would seem odd that he got to the quarter-finals of a tournament with a low-levelled Pok?mon.
     
    Chapter Three: Pok?mon Theft
    "No, Laurie... We're in a hurry, we can't stop to beat up Pidgeys!" Xander was walking at a quick pace along the road, Laurie toddling behind him. They'd stopped for a break earlier in the afternoon, but they'd got pre-occcupied trying to capture a wild Gloom. If they didn't keep going now, they'd never make it to Vermillion City on time.

    Suddenly, on the horizon, Xander could see a group of cloaked figures gathered round something on the ground. Xander quickened his pace again, until it was a brisk jog. Who were these people?
    "Hey!" he called to them, "What's up?" One of the men turned around, his cape blowing in the wind. Xander couldn't see his face, as a large hood covered his eyes and cast a shadow over his nose and mouth.
    "Nice Ampharos you have there, dude" the mysterious person said, nodding in the direction of Laurie who was standing behind Xander, trying not to get noticed.
    "Hand it over" he said, smirking.
    "You're kidding, right?" Xander said, trying to his best to laugh.
    "No, we aren't. We want it" ...another of the mysterious gang's members turned around.
    Well, I'm sorry, it is against Pok?mon League regulations that a Pok?mon should be take from its trainer, unless it's a trade."
    The whole group of people had taken their attention away from whatever was on the ground, and were now facing Xander, some grinning at his feeble attempts to defend his Ampharos using 'regulations'
    "Ok," said the guy who had first spoken to him, "We'll trade you for it then..."

    He flung a Pok?ball at Xander's feet. As Xander crouched down to open it, around half of the gang came towards Laurie. One pushed Xander right over onto his back as they charged towards her. Xander screamed in anger as they grabbed Laurie and started running off in the opposite direction. He lay there, for minutes, maybe even half an hour, on the verge of tears. They had stolen his Pok?mon. As he got to his feet, he noticed the Pok?ball that the leader of their gang had thrown to him. He rather reluctantly opened it, to find a flailing Magikarp inside. He returned it to the Pok?ball, and was about to throw it into the nearby river, when he suddenly felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.

    "No, Xander, that's unnecessary, you shouldn't throw a Pok?mon away in a temper" He turned to find a young, fair-haired girl, about his own age behind him. She was beautiful. He dropped the Pok?ball onto the path, and tried to say something to the girl, but he was too angry to say a word.
    "I'm Kate, by the way"
     
    Chapter Four: Visit To The Boss
    "You're Kate?!" Xander gasped in suprise. "But the e-mail..."
    "I know!" she laughed, "I'm sorry if it seemed a bit too official but the boss makes me write like that..."
    Xander eyed her suspiciously, still a little confused. She seemed fine, but that gang had rocked his trust in people. Would he ever see Laurie again?

    His depressing thoughts were interuptted by Kate- "Well, I suppose now that I've found you, I can take you to see our group. But first, how about we battle, so I can see those Pok?mon of yours in action? I've heard you're Ampharos..." She was cut off as Xander started to rub at his eye.
    "You ok, hun?" Kate said.
    "Well, you see... These guys... They..." Xander found that he was finding it hard to talk about it. He had lost his best friend not even an hour ago. He would have to tell her.
    "They took her. They took my Ampharos..." Xander sat down on the grass again, trying not to make himself look stupid in front of such a cute girl. He continued to tell his story.

    Once he had finished, Kate gasped- "From what you'e told me, you encountered Team Snatch. No doubt about it. This is almost a coincendence..." Her clear blue eyes started to haze as she looked out along the road.
    "Huh? A coincidence?" Xander questioned. Had this happened to others?
    "I'll tell you once we get to Vermillion." she said. They got to their feet together and started to walk. It was getting late, and they would have to hurry.

    Travelling together with someone was very different to going alone. Xander had to make an effort to talk to Kate, with much difficulty, until he realised he actually had plenty of questions to ask.
    "Errr.... Kate, what exactly were you doing out here anyway?" he said, finally, after half an hour or so of silence.
    "There were reports that an Articuno feather had landed somewhere along this Route yesterday evening. It had been spotted by a hiker, and being a responsible citizen, he left it alone and got assistance from the authorities to help retrieve it. Our boss told me to get there before the police did, so we could take it in for research. I got to the place where it had been found, but by then it probably had been snapped up by the Police, and I saw you a couple of metres away, recognized you from the Virdian Cup and went over."
    Xander listened intently to Kate's story. Then he remembered. Those members of 'Team Snatch' had been gathered around something on the ground. The Articuno feather, perhaps?
    "Uhh... Kate?" Xander said, as he prepared himself to tell her his thoughts.
    "Yes, I know" she said, smiling, "We're here!"
    "Huh?" Xander mumbled, and turned round to see what she was looking at. It was Vermillion city, a mile or so in the distance.
    "We made it!" Kate exclaimed, breathing a sigh of relief. Xander decided to tell her about the feather later. He felt this would take more than a mile's walk to explain...

    Xander had only ever been to Vermillion City once before, when he challenged Lieutenant Surge, the previous gym leader of the Gym in this town. He had now retired, and passed on his legacy.
    "So..." he asked, turning to Kate "Where exactly are we going?"
    "To they gym, of course!" she said smiling.
    Xander didn't question her any further. They walked slowly through the streets, in the direction of the gym. Soon enough, they arrived. The building had changed since Xander first arrived at it, six years ago. There were no more electric emblems on the walls or sign, they had been replaced with dark eyes and shadows.
    "Let's go in!" Kate said, anxiously tugging at Xander's sleeve.
    "But I already have the Thunder Badge" Xander said, still admiring the grim designs on entrance of the gym.
    "Who said anything about a gym challenge?" she said, as if Xander knew exactly what they were here for.

    Kate pushed the large front door opened, and peered inside. A few rookies were battling with the gym's underlings, and up at the back, standing on a podium, watching what was going on around him, was a tall, stocky man with glasses.
    Xander followed carefully behind Kate as they walked through the battlefields up to the large podium at the back.
    Kate called out to the man- "Hey boss! I brought that Xander guy to see you!"
    "Excellent!" the man said, rubbing his hands together... "Let the games begin!"
     
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