The Legend Of Leonardo: A Pokemon Story

Chapter 10- Battling...for food and a badge

Makuhita pulled me towards them, a bit of fear dancing at her eyes.

"What's wrong, guys?" I asked as soon as I got to them. Ash stepped away from the screen, and the face I saw belonged to Roxanne. Even she looked concerned.

"Leo, I got some bad news."

"Oh yeah, what is it?"

"Team Rocket broke in to Professor Birch's lab. They stole his research on the weird stones you found. We sent in samples, and he's been examining them himself. The team at the Mossdeep Space Center found that the rock wasn't exactly from Earth. It's from space."

"And?"

"Well, Team Rocket took them, and their planning to find all the pieces to it. They think that the rocks are broken pieces of an ancient meteorite. Legend around Hoenn says that Rayquaza can Mega Evolve with all those shards put together. Summoning Rayquaza may be... catastrophic, to say the least."

"What are you saying, then?" I asked, starting to grow more worried.

"The shard that you sent to Mossdeep is safe, but I don't know if you are. Team Rocket may come after you for information. Anyways, I wish you all luck on your journey, and stay vigilant. I have to go, there's a challenger coming." Roxanne ended the call abruptly.

I thought about what she had said, and with increasing anxiety. Should we stay here and risk our safety just so I can challenge a gym? I turned to Ash and Brock.

"What should we do?"

"First off, they're bound to know where we found the other shards. I think that we're strong enough to hold our own if they come for us," Ash said.

"Brock?"

"I agree with Ash. Team Rocket may not be the most skilled band of criminals, but they've managed to raise a lot of trouble. I think that something like Team Rocket shouldn't keep you from challenging Wattson, Leo." With that, our conversation was over. Ash and I left to train, while Brock stayed behind. We went behind Brock's back and told his Croagunk to make sure Brock didn't do anything stupid while we were gone.

Ash and I found a nice place under Cycling Road to have a practice battle. We started off with speed training, since Wattson was sure to have lots of fast electric types.

"Hey Ash, can you have Pikachu use Quick Attack on my Pokemon? I want them to get good dodging practice."

"Sure thing," he replied, setting up for the training. Pikachu dismounted from Ash's shoulder and landed on the ground. I let all my Pokemon out from their Pokeballs.

"First up is Aron." Aron bounded forward and stood across from Pikachu. I knelt down to the metal-headed Pokemon. "Okay, you're gonna try and dodge Pikachu's attacks. Remember, use your weight to your advantage. Stay balanced, and don't get settled easily." I stood up and faced Ash.

"Ready, Leo?"

"Yup!" Pikachu charged at Aron with blinding speed. My eyes had trouble trying to keep up with the yellow blur racing towards Aron. Aron stepped out of the way at the last moment, but Pikachu managed to land a glancing blow.

"Get ready again Aron," I said. Pikachu came zooming in again, and this time Aron was ready. Aron jumped lightly out of Pikachu's path, and before Pikachu could figure out what happened, Aron used a soft Headbutt on Pikachu, trying to best create an actual battle sequence without causing too much damage.

"Awesome job, buddy. Let's drill that one more time." Pikachu charged at Aron once more, and tried coming from a different side. Aron went on the offensive and attempted to intercept Pikachu with a Metal Claw. Pikachu adapted quickly and changed his direction slightly.