Pokémon XD Special

A Shocking Encounter

"Magnificent. Yes, truly magnificent." Mt. Battle Master Battlus praised. "You being so young, may not understand how I can be so happy about losing."
"Not really, no."
"Well, I'm delighted, even ecstatic, that someone so young as you could defeat me. Congratulations. Here are your Poké Coupons for clearing Area 10."
"Thank you."
"Promise me you'll keep getting stronger and better. I hope you'll betray my expectations by surpassing them!"
The boy smiled and turned around. "Abra, bring me back to the reception hall."
Abra did as it was asked and used Teleport to bring both itself and the young trainer back down.

The young trainer was soon asked to pay a visit to an elderly couple in Agate Village.

---

"Eagun, you asked for help?"
"Ah, Michael. Yes, yes. Come in. We have some troubles with our TV. We tried to come up with different solutions to hopefully solve it, but alas, nothing seems to work. Even Pikachu wasn't able to fix it."
"You didn't use any electric attacks, did you?"
"Bigga, bigga..."
Michael sighed and entered the living room where he approached their television.

After examining every component, the damaged bits had to be replaced and everything was good to go.
"There. All done."
"Thank you, dear." Beluh said. "Now I won't have to listen to this man's complaints about it anymore."
???: "Grandma, I couldn't find the spare batteries where you told me they were. You must've... Oh? Who's this?"
A young woman with long, orange hair and blue eyes, somewhere in her mid-twenties, came walking down the stairs.
"Dear! Sorry for not telling you about our guest. This is Michael."
"The boy who took down Cipher two years ago, hoho." Eagun added proudly.
"Hm? You?" She asked while facing Michael. She examined him and shrugged.
"What?"
"Nothing. I just didn't expect you to be this young or small."
'I-...'
"Anyways, you did good. I thought me and my former friend had wiped them out for good that time."
"Wait... You were involved with the first Shadow Pokémon incident?!"
"Yes. Before I went abroad for some time, we fought them and defeated their boss, arresting him and brought them justice to safe Orre. My friend did the battling and snagging. I was able to distinguish Shadow Pokémon from the regular ones. My name is Rui."
"Rui, huh? Wait... you can what?! Oh, I... It's an honour to meet you."
Rui giggled. "Honour? No need for that. We're equals." She winked after saying that.
'I guess.'
"Let's have some tea~." Beluh said as she smiled. "We can catch up on everything in the meantime."
Rui didn't seem too happy about the idea of talking about those events, but agreed to it nevertheless.

---

"I have to admit; that's kind of impressive."
'Does she really mean that?"
"By the way. When I arrived at Gateon Port, I heard some rumours about that island of yours."
"Rumours? What did they say?"
"Nothing much. They were more speculations of those people. Some were speaking about human movements being seen."
'Is someone at Citadark Isle?' Michael thought. "But there hasn't been anyone in the last two years, right?"
"So they say. I didn't see anything when the ship I was on navigated past it, so I can't be your witness."
There was a silence. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts.
The silence was eventually broken by Michael's P⭐DA which notified him of something.
"What is it?" Eagun asked when he saw Michael frown at his device.
"There's something odd about this e-mail. It doesn't tell me the name of its sender."
"...What does it say?"
Michael started reading the message to them. "Greetings. It has been a while, hasn't it? I have had the urge to battle you again ever since our last confrontation. I hope you are willing to accept my challenge. I'm waiting for you at Citadark Isle."
Eagun groaned.
"Any idea of who it can be?" Rui questioned.
"Only some. ...I'll go."
"Are you sure?"
Michael waited before answering. "Yes. I'm sure."
"Okay. But make some preparations before going and... good luck."

---

- Citadark Isle -

Michael stepped out of the Robo Kyogre and looked up to the rocks at the top. The only question he had was who his challenger was.