Pokemon Fight Back

Well, it's that time again, when I get that urge to write something. I have absolutely no clue as to what to write right now. So therefore, the next chapter will be completely, 100% off the top of my head, which are usually the best chapters (take note of chapter 18, which was written under the exact same circumstances). In either case, after skimming over where I left off in chapter 23, I'm about ready to slam chapter 24 on paper. The question is... what the fuck am I gonna do. God damnit this sounds like an advertisement of some sort. If anyone who reads this meets me in person, cuff me upside the head please.

Chapter 24: The Warning

Eric woke up at about 5:00 in the morning. He couldn't explain why, but he woke up simply shuddering for no apparent reason. Looking blearily at the clock, he tried to lie down again. Feeling that he wouldn't be able to get to sleep again, he decided to give his Pokemon a quick training session before taking out that damn gym.

Struggling out of bed, he grabbed his backpack and headed outside. The pokecenter attendant greeted him with a good morning, while Eric just nodded his head and stepped outside. The sun's rays had just began to appear over the horizon, and the ground was still covered with dew. To begin with, he released Quake, Florin, Juggernaut, and Snorlax. He felt that Forsaken couldn't do too much, since he was wasted so miserably last time.

"Ok crew.", began Eric. "It be time to up your agility to begin with, and I'll ponder a method of wasting psychics."

The Pokemon just looked at him strangely, wondering what to do.

"First off, Quake, whip some rocks at that bird's nest up there.", said Eric, pointing towards a nest up in a nearby tree.

"Nid.", said Quake, whipping a rock at the nest, which instantly fell to the ground, smashing the eggs inside upon landing. Immediately, the Spearow that owned the nest started to screech and swoop down towards him.

"Now, don't attack him, just dodge him until you get better at it.", said Eric. "That thing's so fucking weak, it couldn't hurt you if you paid it to."

"Nidor.", said Quake in understanding, trying to dodge to the side, but getting nailed by the Spearow. Being many, MANY times higher leveled, he hardly felt it.

"Florin, you whip your vines at some random bugs, and do it FAST!", said Eric, pointing towards a pile of bushes.

Similar instructions ensued for the remaining Pokemon. Eric quickly found out what skills Stampede already knew, that being stomp, tail whip, and tackle. Not the best selection, so Eric decided to teach the little (read big) fella the skill skull bash that he obtained earlier from Jane. At that point, he began to smash down small trees, and some which were actually pretty big, with his head.

"I love that skill already.", said Eric. "But how does one waste an extremely smart, psychic Pokemon?"

After about twenty minutes of pondering various techniques, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Quake had gotten pissed of at this Spearow by now, whacked it unconscious to the side, and in it's boredom, helped kick down the tree that Stampede was working on.

"Hello, it would appear that you've learned that skill we've been waiting for.", said Eric enthusiastically. "IT IS TIME! Come to me Quake."

"Nid?", said Quake, wandering over curiously. Eric dug deep in to his bag, where he kept the moonstone that had been with him since Mount Moon. Laying it on the ground in front of Quake, Quake sniffed the glowing object, and finally tried to step on it. Upon touching it, he began to glow immensely, and began to evolve before Eric's eyes. Several moments later, Eric was left with a massive Nidoking standing before him.

"Quake, you look better than ever.", said Eric, kicking aside the now non-glowing moonstone.

"NIDO!", said Quake, who felt more power surging through him than ever before. Instantly, he walked up to a massive tree, and proceeded to kick it as hard as he could. The tree itself did not fall over, but snapped in half where Quake had kicked it.

"Sweet.", said Eric. "That stupid moonstone finally served its purpose."

Moments later, an excellent idea struck Eric. The perfect way to defeat a super-intelligent Pokemon. Through sheer brute force! It is known that the other side of the coin from intelligence is power. Therefore, he must be more harsh this next time if he plans to win. Instantly, he gathered his Pokemon back up, healed them (not that the damn Spearow did much damage, but they were probably a little worn out), and took off to the gym next door. Upon bursting through the doors, he ran forward, whacking into one of the translucent walls. The trainer who he fought before was watching this, and kinda giggled at Eric's fumbling.

"DAMNIT!", shouted Eric. "I hate this gym!"

"Tough.", said someone from down a hallway. Turning towards the person who bested him before, Eric walked up to him.

"Let's rock.", said Eric, pulling out Florin's pokeball.

"You've got it.", said the trainer, pulling out Alakazam's pokeball. "Go Alakazam. Prepare for another ass-kicking." *

"Kazam!", said the Alakazam, looking at Eric.

"Go Florin!", said Eric. "Slow that bugger down!"

"Venu!" said Florin, spraying the Alakazam with some strange powder, which caused the Alakazam to cough and look sick.

"What the hell did you do?", said the trainer.

"Poison is so very very sweet.", said Eric. "If you don't like it, tough."

"Alakazam!", shouted the trainer. "Hurt that plant!"

"Ala!", said the Alakazam, blasting a wave of psychic energy at Florin, who quickly ducked underneath it.

"Drop that bugger!", said Eric.

"FLOR!", shouted Florin, wrapping its vines around the Alakazam's neck, yanking them as tight as he could. The Alakazam now began to try to cough, but had absolutely no air passing through its throat. It instantly blasted Florin with psychic energy again, which drove Florin back several feet. This didn't benefit the Alakazam much, since it as well was yanked in that direction, slamming into the ground. It's mind getting hazy from the lack of oxygen, it struggled to get up, but fell to the ground once again.

"That's fucking cheap!", shouted the trainer.

"If you don't like it, you can kick your Alakazam into unconsciousness to make it go faster.", said Eric.

"WHAT?", shouted the trainer.

"Fine, I'll do it.", said Eric, stepping forward and kicking the Alakazam in the face as hard as he could. The Alakazam's jaw broke, spilling it's blood onto the ground and dropping unconscious.

"ACK!", shouted the trainer. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"

At that, the trainer lunged at Eric. At this point, Eric sidestepped the infuriated trainer and stuck his leg out. The trainer tripped over the leg and fell forward. Ahh, those translucent walls. They come in handy sometimes, don't they? The trainer flew forward, smashing his face into the wall, coincidentally the same wall that Snorlax had bent all to hell the previous day. Eric just smiled as the trainer struggled to his feet, feeling his face, trying to wipe the blood from it. Eric shook his head, taking note that the trainer's back was to him. Eric silently walked up and stuck his foot up. Kicking forward sharply into the trainer's back, the trainer flew forward once again, smashing his head once again into the wall. At this point, the trainer just fell backwards onto the ground. A loud clump was heard as the trainer's head slammed onto the floor. Blood began to flow from the trainer's face into his now open mouth. Bubbles of air escaped from his half blood-filled mouth, while the remaining blood drained into his throat. Moments later, the bubbling air stopped completely.

"Jackass.", said Eric, turning to the now somewhat injured Florin, who was still strangling the obviously dead Alakazam.

"Back Florin.", said Eric. "We've done our job here today."

"Ven.", said Florin, unwrapping his vines and returning to the pokeball. At this, Eric released Quake. Eric merely pointed at the wall, through which he could see the gym leader. Quake began to kick furiously at the wall, causing several crack to form. Releasing Juggernaut, he motioned Quake out of the way. Juggernaut looked at where Eric was pointing and smashed his weight into the wall, which bent inwards, starting to crumble away. After several kicks from Quake, they had a hole large enough to walk through. **

"Noone is to question brute force.", said Eric towards the several trainers staring at him in disbelief. Immediately, they turned and ran in fear of what might happen to themselves.

"You show much strength.", said the gym leader. "But it will take more than that to defeat me."

"Oh, don't you worry.", said Eric. "Plenty more where that came from."

"We'll see.", said the gym leader. "My name is Koga. Let's see how you deal with poisonous Pokemon."

"Pretty damn good!", said Eric. "Snorlax, return. Quake, let's get ready to rumble."

"NIDO!", shouted Quake in anticipation.

"Oh crap.", said Koga. "Well, there are other techniques other than poison that will defeat you."

"Such as?", asked Eric.

"Such as... ummm... CHEAPNESS!", said Koga. "Go Wheezing!"

"That's it?!?", stammered Eric. "Quake, boot that bugger back into last week."

"Nido!", said Quake, getting ready to kick.

"Wheez.", said Wheezing, spewing out a black, inky cloud before Quake could execute the kick. Quake kicked alright, only it was three feet to the left of where Wheezing was.

"Bahahahaha!", said Koga. "Cheapness rules."

"Fine, then I'll out-cheap you.", said Eric, pulling out Juggernaut's pokeball. "Go Juggernaut!"

"SNOR!", shouted Juggernaut, appearing beside Eric... taking up much of the room.

"And what is this rotund fella gonna do to me?", asked Koga.

"Roll in that general direction!", shouted Eric, pointing towards the dark cloud, behind which Koga was standing.

"Oh damnit.", said Koga, watching Juggernaut slowly steamroll towards him. "I'm out! Call him off!"

"But this is so fun.", said Eric. "Speed 'er up Juggernaut."

"Snor.", said Juggernaut, rolling faster. At this point, he was backing Koga and his Pokemon into a corner, through which they couldn't get around. At that, Juggernaut's head and legs slammed into the wall, crushing them outwards, but stopping him eventually, about five feet from the trapped gym leader.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!", shouted Koga. "I remain undefeated."

"Sno!", said Juggernaut in a bit of pain, not expecting to hit the wall, what with it being translucent and all.

"Smash harder!", shouted Eric. "Turn your head so your shoulder plows through the wall!"

"Snor!", shouted Juggernaut in comprehension. Rolling back several feet, Juggernaut plowed his weight back into the corner with all his strength (which is quite a bit, given that he has to move that weight everywhere). The walls bent outwards, giving Koga about a square foot of room inside the corner in which to remain alive. By this point, the Wheezing had been mashed into the wall, and had simply popped under the extreme pressure. An inky mess was now left on the wall where what was left remained. Snorlax rolled back one more time.

"I'll pay you!", shouted Koga. But it came out more like "I'll pay y...". At this point, Juggernaut plowed back into the corner, completely smashing through the translucent walls, rolling several feet, and bumping gently into another translucent wall behind that.

"Return Juggernaut.", said Eric. "I have a feeling we've won the battle."

Upon Juggernaut's return, Eric noted that an unusually large, red, bone-filled stain was left on the ground underneath where he was. Scooping into the pocket of the now torn, bloodied shirt which covered some of the stain, Eric removed the gym leader's badge. Looking around, he noticed that all of the other trainers had fled in utter fear. Luckily, because of the translucent walls, noone had been able to clearly identify him. In either case, it was no longer safe here. Eric took this notion to mind and jogged back to the pokecenter after recalling his Pokemon.

At this point, the time was already 7:30 in the morning, and Jane was sitting in the pokecenter.

"What have you been up to?", asked Jane.

"Training my Pokemon.", said Eric. "Finally evolved Quake."

"Nice.", said Jane. "And I found out who's false teeth those were that we found yesterday."

"Really... who?", asked Eric, looking around behind him nervously.

"The warden's...", started Jane. "He gave me the HM of strength for their return. And what the hell are you so nervous about?"

"Nothing... nothing.", said Eric. "But for completely unrelated reasons, can we leave town, like... now?"

"Should I ask why?", asked Jane.

"Could you not?", said Eric. "Just grab Tsunami and float us the fuck out of here."

"Ok...", said Jane curiously, grabbing her bike. Eric grabbed his and they headed to the water's edge. Upon releasing Tsunami, they climbed aboard and began to float off.

As they drifted off into the distance, Jane could swear she heard police sirens in the distance.

"Did you beat the gym at least?", asked Jane.

"Oh yeah.", said Eric. "You don't have to worry about that."

"So why did we leave so soon?", asked Jane, prodding for more information.

"We just did.", said Eric. "I was tired of that place. Also, the police might be looking for someone fitting my description for some unknown reason."

"Again... should I ask why?", asked Jane.

"Could you not again?", replied Eric.

"Fine, fine.", said Jane. "Where are we going?"

"Cinnibar island!", said Eric. "I hear the next gym is there."

"Cinnibar it is.", said Jane. "Tsunami! South by southwest!"

"Lapras.", said Tsunami, shifting his direction slightly.

Several battles with random trainers later, whom were all taken care of by either Tsunami or Florin, they arrived at some small islands. The day getting towards 4:00 pm by now, they didn't want to be caught in the dark in the caves. Rushing through, they heard a familiar voice upon wandering through the exit.

"Prepare for doom."

"Or leave the room... cave... whatever."

"We were leaving the cave anyway.", said Eric.

"That's right.", said Jane. "So will you kindly split then?"

"Uhhh... said the unknown voice.

"No!", said Squirt. "Do the rest of the song guys."

"Damn.", said Eric.

"To unite evil in all it's glory."

"To destroy good in some way gory."

"Who's the new singer?", asked Eric.

"You'll find out in a fucking minute.", said Squirt.

"To steal Pokemon for no good reason."

"To commit ourselves to things like treason."

"William."

"Jamie."

"Works not bad with the song.", said Eric.

"Team Ricochet blasts off out of sight."

"Squirt, that's right."

"So who's the new guy?", asked Jane.

"None of your fucking business!", shouted Jamie. "You destroyed my best friend! You will pay for that!"

At this point, Jamie pulled out the stiletto that Eric had dropped before. Just before she charged towards Eric, William put his arm out in front of her, stopping her rampage.

"They can out-strength you, and probably out-swift you.", said William. "We have to go about killing them in a different manner."

"This sounds pleasant.", said Jane. "You wanna battle? Let' do this thing."

"Not here, and not now.", said Squirt. "You caused quite a stir inside of Team Ricochet with that last slaying."

"I was defending a friend!", said Eric.

"After almost killing her.", said Jamie.

"But I saved her life afterwards, according to the hospital.", started Eric. "I'm allowed to make mistakes."

"What's your opinion new guy?", asked Jane.

"Uhh, I'm just learning the details about this inside this conversation right now.", replied William.

"And how the hell did you manage to snag this particular position in Team Ricochet to begin with?", asked Jane.

"I'm the only person alive who actually witnessed Bill kill our head doctor.", said William. "I gave them information as to which direction he left for, an accurate description, and so forth. For that, they promoted me to the active theft team."

"The att, huh?", said Eric. "I thought you said 'pro'-mote, note 'de'-mote."

"Don't mock our team.", said Squirt. "We're here only to give you a warning."

"And what would that be?", asked Eric.

"If you ever set foot on Team Ricochet property again, any member of Team Ricochet has been given permission to kill you on sight.", replied Jamie.

"So why don't you?", asked Eric, getting into a defensive stance after realizing the stupidity of that question.

"Ease up a bit.", said William. "Right now, we're on uncharted territory, and don't know our way around quite yet. You'd win in a second. On OUR territory, you will die."

"Can you feel the love?", said Eric.

"I feel so warm and fuzzy inside.", said Jane.

"This is your only warning.", said Squirt, stepping back onto his driftwood raft that was beached nearby. With a kick from William, the trio sailed off into the distance in the direction of Fuchsia.

"Words of joy and rapture are spread further than ever.", said Eric sarcastically.

"This could cause problems.", said Jane. "Which territory is their territory?"

"Who knows.", said Eric. "But after Cinnibar, we'll split back to Pallet town and figure it out from there.

After a quick sail, including several simpleton battles, and a mess of Tentacool and Tentacruel (of which Jane decided to catch one of, and promptly name 'Insanity'), they arrived at Cinnibar island at about 9:00 pm. Falling asleep shortly afterwards, Eric pondered the reason why he woke up so early last night to begin with, and whether it would happen again tonight. Little did he know that at that exact moment that he had awoken with a shudder the previous night, Kris had arrived in Pallet town, and was frantically knocking on the door of Professor Pine.

At this particular moment, Professor Pine was going over the circumstances in his mind, deciding upon the best plan of action from this point onward. From what he had heard, it was only the violent Team Ricochet that was being slaughtered. Should he alert the police, or let her continue to destroy Team Ricochet, which had been his absolute hatred from when he started studying Pokemon. Kris had become so exhausted from the trek that he had slept the entire day. Professor Pine had kept him in his care, and planned to keep him there until he decided what to do with the issue at hand.

* : Well, I'm pretty sure that one or several of them use psychic Pokemon. I'm not completely sure, but I think it's a mix of psychic/poison type. Since I don't have a walkthrough, and have already finished the game, I can't check too terribly easily. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, they use psychic and poison type Pokemon.

** : I'm cutting through the battles, and hell, that's what I would do, purely to throw some fear into the competition. If they fear you, that's WAY over half the battle already.

Will Professor Pine tell the police? Will William be as ruthless as Joseph? If time is merely a concept, does that mean that our existance inside this time is only a concept as well? Will Team Ricochet kill Eric or Jane? What of Vladmere?

Answers to much of these in the coming chapters, which is getting even nearer to the climactic final battles of the Elite Four. I have vague plan of what the final battle will entail, but the rest shall be formed by the chapters yet to come.

Kabutroid