"Reports of strange disappearances have continued to pop up at various police stations around the Sinnoh Region. Authorities are looking into this matter, but they haven't found anything significant just yet."
~~~~~
"Today is the preliminaries!" Ash exclaimed, excited. "I can't wait to battle these trainers and get into the Champion's League!"
"I'm just as stoked!" Gary exclaimed, fist pumping. "I wonder what the trainers are like! The advertisement made them sound extremely strong."
"I hope they are. It'll be an exciting battle then." Ash said between bite of croissant.
"According to the guidebook, the Veilstone trainer is waiting at the newly constructed Battle Hall 5." Clemont informed the group. "Wow, this is very interesting. The benefactors of this tournament had new facilities constructed in all of the cities. They must have a lot of money to burn."
"Yeah they must." Gary said. "Can they share some of that with me?" The whole group laughed at this remark.
About 2 hours later, the gang was arriving at the front of Battle Hall 5. The building was grey and modern, with huge, soaring windows and a pine door.
"Wow this place is sweet." Ash said with a smile. The gang pulled the doors open to white marble floors and a large room. There were stone pillars arranged around the room, with a dark figure in a chair at the end. The stone pillars had detailed, snow-capped mountains etched into them, reminding Ash of Snowpoint City.
"Welcome to the Battle Hall 5. Who is challenging me?" A deep, gravely voice asked.
"Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town and Gary Oak of Pallet Town."
"Very well. Have you both competed in the Sinnoh League?"
"Yes." Ash replied.
"I did a few years ago." Gary said as well.
"Very good." The shadowed figure stood up and walked down the steps into the light. He was a large, muscular man with some sort of design embroidered on the front of his orange shirt. His eyes were black, and his hair was blonde. He looked strong.
"My name is Bane, and I'm Battle Hall 5's Battle Master. Prepare to fight." He pulled a pokeball off his belt, and Ash took his place. Gary would fight next.
"The battle between Ash of Pallet Town and Battle Master Bane will begin shortly! This is a three on three battle, and the battle will be over when either sides Pokémon are unable to continue! Remember that if the challenger loses today, they are disqualified from competing in the tournament!" Gary's eyes widened. He didn't know that at all. Naomi grabbed his hand in support.
"What?" Ash muttered. That was news to him. He just better not lose then.
"Trainers, bring out your first Pokémon!"
"Vulpix, lets go!" Ash releases Vulpix, who appeared out of her ball with a defiant shout.
"Acideon I choose you!" A dark purple figure appeared, with a cloud of black gas forming a mane around its neck. It's tail was long and waved about like a snake, with a dangerous point at the end. It's eyes were dark green with blood red rings around the pupils, and it had wickedly sharp teeth that were pulled up into a nasty growl. Surrounding the evolution was another lighter purple collection of smoke, and Ash could see figures forming and disappearing fluidly. Wicked, twisted figures.
"What the hell!" Gary exclaimed. "There's another evolution?!" Gary glanced at Clemont, who shrugged.
"A new evolution of Eevee? That's awesome." Ash exclaimed. But he was put off by the weird purple smoke and those figures. Vulpix glanced back at him, worried. "You're going to do amazing." Ash smiled at the small ice fox to reassure her.
"It must be a poison type. So this is like a poison type gym." Serena muttered. Bonnie nodded, watching intently.
"Battle begin!"
"Vulpix use ice beam!" Vulpix gathered a blue beam of energy in its mouth and shot it towards Acideon. The Pokémon didn't dodge, and stumbled slightly, but it was still alright.
"Acideon use Sludge Wave!" A huge wave of poisonous sludge raced towards Vulpix, so big that she didn't have anywhere to dodge. Vulpix was smashed with the wave, and thrown into a wall.
"Vulpix!" The wave disappeared and Vulpix stood up shakily. Except she was tinged purple. "Vulpix are you alright?!" Ash grit his teeth, she had gotten a bad hit, and got poisoned because of it.
"Vulpix!" She stomped a foot and ran back to the battlefield.
"Awesome! Use Avalanche!" Vulpix shouted and planted her feet, a huge collection of snow raising up above her. With another defiant yell, she released the snow, sending it flying dangerously at Acideon. The eeveelution was hit hard, and smashed into the ground. Vulpix trembled as the poison took affect.
"Acideon use Venoshock!" Flashes of purple energy exploded out of the snow pile and hit Vulpix, causing her to scream. When the move was over, Vulpix was laying on her side, defeated.
"Vulpix is unable to battle. Acideon wins!" Ash set his jaw and called Vulpix back.
"You did amazing." He said, returning the ball to his belt. He looked down at his best friend. "Ready buddy?" Pikachu's cheeks sparked and he jumped into battle.
"Alright!" Luca cheered. Pikachu was Ash's strongest pokemon.
"Acideon use Poison Fang!"
"Block it with Iron Tail!" Ash yelled. Pikachu jumped up and jerked his tail downwards as it turned silver. The motion made him flip in the air and meet Acideon with it, forcing Acideon to latch to his tail. "Iron tail!" Pikachu somersaulted once more, throwing Acideon off and to the ground, where a dust cloud exploded upwards. When it cleared, Acideon was beaten.
"Acideon is unable to battle, Pikachu is the winner!" Pikachu cheered as Bane called Acideon back.
"Drapion, lets go!" The scorpion Pokémon took the stage. "Night slash let's go!" Ash's eyes widened. The Drapion had the same gas spiraling around him, and the same red rings around his pupils. What is this?
"Dodge it!" Pikachu jumped out of the way, causing Drapion to miss. "Use thunderbolt!" Pikachu jumped up and let the lightning explode from his cheeks, hitting Drapion and causing him to seize a bit.
"Cross Poison!"
"Iron Tail!"
The two pokemon battled it out with their respective moves, neither one getting a hit. They jumped away from each other and narrowed their eyes.
"Night Slash!"
"Use Quick Attack to get in close, then hit it with Electro Ball!" Pikachu managed to get behind Drapion's defenses and unleashed the move. Drapion's Night Slash faded as it spun into the wall.
"Drapion is unable to battle, Pikachu wins!"
"Awesome job Pikachu!" Pikachu yelled happily, and returned to the battlefield in front of Ash.
"Toxicroak lets go!" The fighting and poison type appeared from its pokeball. It had the same red rings and purple gas as the first two Pokémon. Ash didn't think about it again.
"Pikachu Quick Attack into Iron Tail!" Pikachu obeyed, racing towards Toxicroak.
"Draw it in, then hit it with Sucker Punch!" Ash's eyes widened as he watched.
"Pikachu dodge that!" He yelled. Pikachu couldn't however, the command was too late. Toxicroak slammed Pikachu's chest with its fist, sending him flying back into Ash.
"Fuck!" Ash exclaimed painfully as Pikachu slammed into his chest and knocked him over. Ash managed to keep his arms around Pikachu though, cushioning the blow. Pikachu stumbled off of Ash, almost drunkenly making his way back to the battlefield.
"Watch it!" Ash snapped.
"Sorry Ash, but that's battling." Ash glared at Bane, but didn't say anything else.
"He's right, but seriously. Even with that same move, Toxicroak shouldn't have hit Pikachu into Ash, that's too much accuracy and power." Clemont muttered to the others. "There's something weird going on here."
"I'll say. That smoke is creepy." Serena muttered.
"Pikachu can you still battle?" Pikachu was busted up pretty badly, but he turned his head and nodded, a fiery determination present in his eyes. "Use Thunderbolt!"
"Dodge it!" Toxicroak jumped out of the way ridiculously fast. "Sludge Bomb!"
"Hit it back with Iron Tail, then use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu slammed the sludge bomb back towards Toxicroak, who dodged in time to be hit with a huge jolt of electricity that was being fired from Pikachu. Toxicroak started seizing, and then he fell.
"Toxicroak is unable to battle, Pikachu wins! That means the match goes to Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!" Ash smiled, happy he won. Pikachu cheered and trotted back to Ash, jumping onto his shoulder and nuzzling him.
"Toxicroak return!" Bane replaced Toxicroak's ball on his belt and walked to the center. Ash met him there, shaking his hand.
"Congratulations on your win here today. I have your stamp to show that you have defeated me." Ash nodded and pulled out the book he was given at the Pokémon center yesterday. Bane flipped to page 5 and stamped it. It was a huge purple 5 with poison drips illustrated coming off the bottom.
"Thank you very much." Ash replied. He closed the book and returned it to his jacket pocket. Bane nodded and walked towards the back.
"Gary Oak, we will battle in one hour. I need to heal my Pokémon." Gary nodded, and the gang returned to the lobby to wait.
~~~
That night Gary and Ash were celebrating their wins at the first Battle Hall, excited for what's to come. "Those Pokémon were unnaturally strong." Clemont said. The mood of the gang shifted.
"I know. It was weird battling them. I saw figures in the smoke that was around them." Ash replied.
"Me too. Those things in the smoke were sick and twisted." Gary said.
"Really?" Bonnie asked, her eyes widened. Gary and Ash nodded. Luca looked disgusted.
"That smoke was weird and scary." Serena said. Korrina and Naomi nodded.
"I wonder what happened to them?" Ash asked. Clemont shrugged.
"Maybe it's a phenomenon with poison types. I've heard of something similar happening once before. But it was in a fantasy book I read when I was younger."
"What was it about?"
"A giant, vicious, mythical Pokémon called Fieronite who lived in the mountains. It would steal Pokémon and make them evil, and sometimes trainers would be taken as well. When they came out, they had purple smoke around them and red-ringed eyes, and were possessed by the evil spirits Fieronite summoned."
"I've heard of that myth." Serena said. "Fieronite is some sort of Satan-like Pokémon. It's the ultimate rival of the living world."
"Yeah. But Fieronite is a myth. There have been no reports or signs of anything remotely related to what the myth describes." Clemont said. He glanced at the clock. "I'm gonna go to sleep, it's late." With that, Clemont and Korrina stood up and walked out. The others followed his example, until it was just Serena and Ash left.
"What's up?" He asked. Serena looked worried.
"Oh nothing." Serena smiled and kissed his cheek. "Should we go upstairs?" Ash nodded and followed her out.
~~
"Ahh!" Serena sat up in bed, breathing heavily and sweating. She was trembling from the dream she just had.
"Serena?" Ash murmured. He blinked his eyes open and looked at her, seeing her shake. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"I had a bad dream." Serena muttered. "You looked like those Pokémon today, and you didn't remember me or anybody, and you were about to hurt us. It was terrifying." Serena started crying.
"Hey hey hey, I'm alright I promise. And I would never hurt you." He pulled her close and laid them back down, cradling her until she fell back asleep.
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Hey guys haha
I know I know. I'm so sorry about the hiatus. I had advanced camp and no cell service the last month and a half, and I finally had a day off at this internship. Hopefully I can update more now that I'm not in the middle of Fort Knox and I have internet.
Are you guys still liking the story?
Vote and comment!