Seraphine Kent's Story

Seraphina walked down the steps of the plane onto the island with her charmander. She looked around. There were Pidgeots flying overhead while a couple of ratatas scurried past her. She knew without a doubt that this is where she wanted to be. But she knew that she first had to pass the test to get in. She looked around and saw a big sign that said "testing this way -->". She smiled, stood upright and walked in the direction the sign pointed.

"OHAYO, MINNA!" shouted the voice of a young brunette woman standing at the front of the room as she greeted the new class. She was clearly feeling very energetic, though she would prefer the term "genki." "Welcome to the Academy! I, Touko-sensei, will be one of your many teachers as you learn how to take care of your new friends, how to take shelter and other survival skills, and even learn a thing or two about how to battle and win. Now, please take your assigned seats. The written portion of the exam will be about 2 hours long and will measure how much knowledge you have going in. After that, we'll have a brief recess, followed by a practical exam that will test your battling skills. You'll be going one-on-one with our staff and each other, so be sure to fight as hard as you can so we can get an accurate reading!"

"Now, before we start, there are a few rules. No looking up the answers, of course. I have a psychic-type in the next room, he'll know if you try anything," she grinned mischievously. "When the timer stops, you are to stop IMMEDIATELY. Any snacks you brought in will be confiscated and eaten by me while you take your test." One boy groaned and handed over a half-eaten chocolate bar, which she took with a big smile before putting it in her black vest. "Thanks for being honest! I'll save some for you, I promise." Her white baseball cap with a pink Pokeball design on the front left just enough room for a voluminous ponytail that bounced up and down as she nodded, counting the contraband. A soda pop? SCORE.

She kicked up her hiking boots, resting them on the desk as she set an egg timer and took out a high-tech device, about the size of a smartphone. "Everyone ready? Got your pencils sharpened and all that? Then...begin!"

Seraphine took a deep breath and braced herself for an extremely hard test as she flipped to the first page. She read the first question carefully. "What types of pokemon are strong against fire?" She smirked, fire pokemon were her specialty. "Water, ground and rock." she wrote in messy handwriting. The rest of the test wasn't too hard but she tripped up on some of the more complicated ones like "Which out of these moves is best against Geodude? A. Surf B. Thunderbolt C. Psybeam or D. Ember" She chose Surf, hoping it was right. She noticed she was one of the first ones to finish, so she got up and handed in her test confidently. Then, she went back in her seat to await the next part of the exam.

DING! The timer went off. "All right. Pencils down and pass 'em forward. You'll get your results in at most a day, because we're good like that!" Touko grinned. "Now, it's time for the best part...the battles! We went and drew up a list of pairings for the class. In case of an odd number, one of you will be lucky enough to battle me! The lists are on the bulletin board there, so please don't push each other or anything."

When Seraphine got to see her pairing, she was in for a shock...she got Touko as her sparring partner! "All right, everyone got a partner? Let's set out to the practice fields, then!" As the students filed out two by two, the young brunette glanced over at the list, then back to Seraphine with an excited smile on her face, bouncing on the balls of her feet even.

When Seraphine saw that she was paired with the proctor, she got really nervous, but swallowed it quickly. Hopefully she would go easy on her and Cinder. They had been training for weeks for this match. She looked over at Touko. She was so excited she couldn't help but smile excitedly back.

"Looks like we're sparring!" Then she turned to her pokemon.

"Ok Cinder. We've been practicing this for weeks. We can do this." She wasn't sure whether she was convincing Cinder or herself. But Cinder just replied with a cheerful "Char!" and she made her way toward the ring where she and Touko would spar.

"All right. You ready, Seraphine? This will be a three on three singles match! A Charmander...let's go, Drifter!" A blue jellyfish with a glorious mustache came out, floating in midair like it would in the deep seas. She didn't expect the new student to actually win, as this was a mere test of one's capability. Instead, she would be graded on how quickly and well she chose moves, how she adapted to the battle, even if the sheer difference in levels was insurmountable.

"Let's do it, Drifter! Wash it away with Surf!"

Overkill? Quite possibly. But you didn't exactly want a student to break the grading scale by actually WINNING the battle.

"I just brought Cinder! She can take on anything!"

Seraphine tried to think quick. The Surf would extinguish her fire pokemon and it would all be over.

"CINDER! DODGE THE WAVE!"

But Cinder wasn't quick enough and the wave crashed down on her charmander. After the water was out of the arena she saw Cinder lying on the ground.

"Cinder! Can you still fight?"

Cinder got up shakily.

"OK Cinder! Lets try to do some damage with a tackle!"

The exhausted charmander gave a look of determination and charged towards the opposing pokemon.

Jellicent, as a ghost-type, easily floated out of the way. "Well done to survive a hit like that! I would have thought for sure that would have wiped it out in one hit!" Touko seemed genuinely impressed, but a little terrified that Seraphine was willing to push her Pokemon this far.

"Seraphine. I love your spirit. But you have to know when to quit! Recall your Charmander before it gets seriously hurt!" A tear fell down the brunette's cheek, seeing any creature in such agony yet being forced to continue. "Finish it with Energy Ball!" The grass-type attack was intentionally called as a cherry tap to finish the job.

Seraphine looked disappointed. She didn't want the battle to be over this quickly, and it wasn't in her favor. Defeated she pulled out a pokeball and said

"Cinder, return!"

The pokeball shot out a beam and pulled Cinder inside for some much needed rest. After Cinder was inside, she whispered "Good work. Get some rest, you've earned it"

Then she turned to Touko and said "Nice moves. I hope to be as great of a trainer as you one day."

"They're using them..."

Domingo was watching the fight from behind the bushes, hidden from view. With each attack he watched the two trainers make, it drove him further into anger and hatred for humans. This...this wasn't any better than what the Psychic Rebellion was trying to do years before.

"This is slavery..."

When the Jellicent used Surf on the Charmander so easily, he had to turn away from the brutality of it. If he was in that Jellicent's position, he would've smirked as he washed the Charmander out of the battle. But watching this...that wasn't Jellicent making that decision on it's own. That was the human controlling it's actions, bringing forth those kind of abilities out of it. She was taking away it's free will.

Meanwhile, the other girl pushed the Charmander on, seemingly forcing it to stand up and continue to fight. It didn't nearly have enough experience to fight such a strong water type just yet. The stupid human girl should've known that she wouldn't win this one, but she wanted the Charmander to fight for her anyway? Domingo's rage intensified.

"There's the prison..."

An all too familiar red orb was in the red-headed girl's hand, calling the Charmander back to it’s cage. With a red beam of light, the Charmander was gone, taken from the ground it stood. He wanted to save it...to bring the Charmander back with him. He could teach the Charmander to be stronger...to resist the humans. Maybe Crimson could teach it some fire moves and until it got strong enough to defend itself, he could protect the Charmander. But...

"What are you going to do about it?"

Domingo turned back to the field where the two trainers fought. The red-haired one still had the Pokeball containing the Charmander inside. The one with the hat still had Jellicent out, awaiting the response of its master. If there was a time to be a hero, now was it.

"Dobro," he whispered behind him to the nearly seven foot Pangoro who was hiding in the thick trees behind him, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Dobro responded curtly. He wasn't sure why they were doing this. Domingo seemed...irrational. Dobro had just been relaxing for the morning before continuing their morning routine when Domingo had called upon him, asking for Dobro to follow. Dobro readily agreed. As they walked to the spot they currently were at, Domingo explained the situation to him.

"You're going to rescue a Pokemon?" he had gaped at his companion, who had never had an idea like this.

"Yeah," was all Domingo said.

"Like...a captured Pokemon..."

"Uh-huh."

"But...isn't that against the rules? I thought you was gonna stick with the Isle Defender's rules while we were here"

"No, it's not," he turned to stare at Dobro, "The Isle Defenders were created to rescue Pokemon. When the Psychic Rebellion had set up the work camps, we considered that slavery, did we not?"

"Yeah."

"So how is this any different? The humans are capturing Pokemon and using them to fight their battles. That's slavery."

Dobro had scratched his head, "In a way, I guess. But wasn't Crimson a human once? Doesn't that make him the enemy by your logic?"

"Crimson has no memory of being a human. That's different. Besides, he did save us all. I'd say anything wrong he did as a human can be forgiven now."

"Still, why are you decidin' this now? You never wanted to do this when we first got here."

"Didn't think about it then," was all Domingo had responded with, ending the conversation there.

Dobro had to admit. Domingo was acting weird today. Not only was his partner very much sporadic today, he seemed to look a little bit different...like his features were darker somehow. But he decided it must've been the shadows of the trees playing tricks on his eyes.

Domingo was his best friend. He would never ask him to do anything if it weren't for the right reasons. Dobro believed in that.

That was why he stood in the shadow of the trees, waiting for Domingo to give the command to go. He'd never fought a Pokemon controlled by a human before, but the thought of a new kind of fight was enough to give him enough determination to follow through with Domingo's plan.

"Now!"

With a mighty roar, Dobro barreled out from behind the tree line, gunning straight for the Jellicent. Hit fast and hit hard... He decided that he would tear this thing apart with Crunch, a vicious bite that would hopefully hurt the Ghostly Water Type, being that it was charged with Dark type and all. He knew the plan, however. It wasn't whether he defeated this Jellicent or not that mattered. He only had to distract the trainer with the white hat long enough for Domingo to do what he had to and leave. Then, he would escape when he got the chance to. It wasn't how he preferred to do things, but it was what Domingo needed to do. And he would respect that wish...

"Now's your chance...

While all the attention was on Dobro, Domingo the Samurott charged forth, quickly and with authority. If Seraphine chose to look his way, she would see a dark blue blur with an unnatural black ring around it's eyes charging towards her. Rather than attack her, like she might expect, he lowered his horn, raising it at just the right time to knock the Pokeball containing the Charmander out of her hand. In the same fluid motion, he leapt forward and snatched the Pokeball right out of the air with his mouth. Landing gracefully, he made his way back into the forest as fast as he could, not caring what kind of mess he left behind him.

Seraphine was finishing her conversation with the other trainer. She could only hope to be that good. Then again, it was probably a lost cause considering the Jellicent was a Water/Ghost type and all she had were fire and normal type moves. She shouldn't have pushed Cinder that hard but she just... couldn't lose without a chance of retaliation.

As she was contemplating this, she saw a blur. One moment, she had Cinder's pokeball. The next, it was snatched out of the air by... something. She stood in shock for a moment before running after whatever it was.

"NO! Cinder! Give me back my friend!" But she was too slow. They had taken her pokemon, her friend. Now she would never get into the academy. She fell to her knees and cried, defeated.

"...my friend!"

The anguish in those words were enough to freeze Dobro in place. A sick, tingling feeling rolled down his spine as he looked back towards the girl. She was...crying? Dobro looked in confusion at the pure emotion on her face. From what he'd gathered, humans were not known for their compassion. They were brutal trainers who worked the Pokemon they owned to the bone in order to propel their own success. Dobro believed that for about as long as he'd been around. He was the good guy. He was the savior. He was an Isle Defender.

And yet, here they were...Dobro was the bad guy. The human was the good guy. He'd never pictured himself this way before, but looking at it the way it seemed, he couldn't picture anything else.

Something's wrong here.

Shaken to his core, Dobro took a step back before launching himself into the trees. He started running towards the rendezvous point. He needed to talk to Domingo. He needed to figure out what was going on...

---

Domingo didn't stop running until he looked back a few minutes later and realized he wasn't being followed. Sighing, he slowed his pace to a simple trot, but kept mindful of the two humans possibly being on his tail. He didn't exactly make the cleanest of getaways and left a massive path for them to follow. If he moved quietly and discreetly enough, the trail would be harder and harder to follow until...it was gone. Only then would he say he lost them.

The trees surrounding the human facility began to thin out and the plains started forming around him. This would also be a very dangerous spot of travel as there weren't many trees to hide behind out here. He would be exposed until he reached the rendezvous point: the mountains.

But there was one advantage to being in the plain. He casually sidestepped off the path and continued to stroll towards the mountain range. This way, they couldn't follow any tracks he may have left behind...or at least not totally. They could put two and two together and figure out where he was going, but by then it'd be too late. He'd have already done his job.

As Seraphine sat there crying with her head in her hands, all she could think about was the day she first got Cinder.

It was her tenth birthday. She had been brought up by two former trainers, now retired. They showed her pictures and told her stories from their training days and told her how they met. Her mom loved water pokemon, her dad grass. A bully with a camerupt had decided that her dad was a good target. He nearly one hit ko'ed all of her dad's grass pokemon. Her mom saw what was going on and decided to step in. With one surf from her marshtomp, the bully's pokemon was defeated. They became friends that day, and eventually more. Her parents had tried to teach her that fire pokemon were bad, but she wouldn't listen. "All they do is burn things down", they would say. "Nothing good comes out of fire." However, she never listened to them. In fact, it was this very thing that made her want to prove that fire pokemon were good. She wanted to prove that they had souls, that they had feelings like any other being. So she begged and begged her parents for a fire pokemon. Finally, on her tenth birthday, they caved and got her a charmander. She instantly felt a connection to this baby charmander and promised to always do right by it.

Did she do right by Cinder today? She had pushed her really hard. But she knew that if Cinder didn't want to fight anymore, she would have told Seraphine. The look on her face would not have been one of determination when she tackled, would it? She instantly felt guilt and regret. Did she make herself lose her pokemon? No, those bastards that took it made her lose it. The guilt and regret she felt instantly fueled her anger. She got up and started formulating a plan. Whatever took Cinder would be long gone, but maybe if she could find someone with a flying type willing to take her with them, she could catch up to whatever it was.

She turned around and spotted Touko there with her water/ghost type on the ground, tending to it. Maybe she could help.

"Hey Touko! Can you help me get Cinder back? Do you have a flying type that can chase down the thing that took Cinder?"

Touko just stood there stunned as the Pokemon seemed to be on a mission. The Crunch would hurt, but it wasn't a knockout blow. Bulky water-types like Jellicent were naturally skilled at absorbing damage. Of greater concern was the fact that a Pokemon was abducted from its Trainer. Some nasty flashbacks to Anistar City in flames later, she knew what needed to happen.

"No flying types, but I got the next best thing. Here kid, catch!" As she was petting Drifter, knowing it would take more than one super-effective hit to bring it down, she tossed a Poke Ball at Seraphine. "It's my Volcarona. It's a loaner, but it's a Fire-type. I think you two will get along fine. It knows Bug Buzz and Fire Blast for stab moves, Whirlwind for utility, Psychic and Giga Drain for coverage, and Quiver Dance to boost up and proceed to kick every available ass."

But she wasn't done explaining things yet. "Students, get inside, there might be more! Teachers, pair off! Nobody gets caught out by themselves!" Touko barked commands like the experienced field general she was, relying on her well-honed instincts and the occasional hard lesson at the hands of a Gym Leader to make the right call. "Seraphine, you're with me. It's time to start your own adventure as a Trainer. Maybe not how either of us planned it, but that's the first thing you learn...nothing goes exactly the way you plan it. Now let's get your partner Cinder back! Iku ze!"

Seraphine smiled as she caught the pokeball. She listened to Touko as she explained its moveset. She must have been training it for a really long time for it to know all those moves. She put the pokeball in her backpack as Touko directed everyone. Then Touko turned to her and said she was going on an adventure. She stood there in shock for a second as she took in the new information. This day was not going as planned. But she wanted Cinder back, and if this was the only way, then this was what she had to do. She would have to attend the academy later.

"Alright, let's go!" She ran out the door and started looking for the direction whatever it was that stole her Cinder went.

"You made it."

Panting heavily, Domingo looked up at the mountains above him. Their shadows draped across this side of the plain and it was a welcoming feeling to step into them. The air was cool here without the sun to bring it warmth. Dead ahead of him was a gap in the mountains, a narrow road that wound around the steep slopes. He'd made it, indeed.

He took one more glance at the plain, surprised that none of the humans were in sight. He didn't exactly make the cleanest of getaways and probably left a huge hole in the treeline for them to follow to the plain. Did his diversion attempt help him better than he thought it did? Or were they just hesitant to pursue?

It didn't matter. Right now, he needed to continue. He walked through the entrance to the pass, noting the surface change immediately from grass to rock. The path trudged uphill and rounded the mountainside to the left. Domingo knew on the other end of that was the rendezvous point. He hoped Dobro was already there.

---

Dobro sat quietly on the rendezvous point, contemplating what to do about his best friend. Was it right to trust his initial instinct? Team Justice had done some collateral today. He saw that the moment he lay eyes on the crying girl. He felt the guilt immediately and it followed him all the way here. Even now, he couldn't escape the girl's desolate cry.

He heard footsteps making their way up the trail. That must be Domingo, he thought as he got up and dusted himself off. Sure enought, the dark blue Samurott trotted into view, carrying the Pokeball with him. Dobro immediately approached him.He wasn't going to bead around the bush with him this time.

"What was that?"

Domingo gave a puzzled look as he set down the Pokeball to speak, "What was what?"

"You know what! That stunt that we pulled down in the human area. You brand new shiny red orb you got there," he pointed at the Pokeball as he said this and went on, "We just stole from a couple of humans who seemed really torn about you taking their Pokemon."

Domingo snorted, "Well, no one would be all smiles if they found their important stuff gone. But there is no physical attachment between a human and a Pokemon. We're only their battle dummies."

"That's not the message I got out of it. Seriously, did you not hear that girl's cry of anguish as you took her, and I quote, 'friend'? Friend, Domingo. I heard friend. That's what we are."

Dobro went on, "And do you know what'll happen when the other humans find out that one of their Pokemon were stolen? Domingo, they could send a whole army after us, y'know."

Domingo scoffed," We've fought an army before."

Dobro glared at him," Yeah, when we had an army of our own. Right now, it's just the two of us. And even if we manage to get TeaM PerSisTenCe to help us, that's still 7 versus however many humans they have down there with however many Pokemon battling on their side."

"We have Crimson."

"Crimson's...unique, I know. But still, he's only one Pokemon. Besides, I don't think he'd agree with what we're doing right here. I don't even see why you're so complacent with this."

Domingo launched himself forward and stared Dobro dead in the eye. "I have watched the way humans treat us like they do for too long. I can't bear it. I'm going to do something about it. If you're truly my friend, you'd back me up. If you don't want to back me up, then STAY OUT OF MY WAY!"

It was at this moment that Dobro noticed the black circles around Domingo's eyes. This wasn't right, he thought. Something had him that was affecting his behavior. This was when he knew what he had to do. As the Samurott picked up the Pokeball and started trotting up the road again, he stopped him once more. "Domingo, what's going on? You've been acting different since this morning. It's like you've let this human slavery thing possess you. This isn't the Domingo I know. The Domingo I know stands for the Isle Defenders. The Domingo I know protects the Pokemon he knows and loves and does so with passion. The Domingo I know..." he stood face to face with the Samurott, "...would NOT yell at me like that."

Spitting out the Pokeball once more, he gave a look of challenge, "What, I can't yell at you when you-"

Now! A few seconds after Domingo spat out the Pokeball, Dobro scooped it up with his hand and started running up the path. The surprising act caught Domingo off guard for a second. "Hey!" he called out and started giving chase. "Give it back. It's mine!"

"No it's not!" Dobro shot behind him and continued hurrying along the path as fast as he could. He needed to get to Crimson. Domingo wasn't himself. He was being controlled. And only Crimson would know how to turn him back as well as how to get this Pokeball back to the girl.

"Good job, Drifter. Return." The wounded Jellicent was still quite well able to take Touko and Seraphine around the island towards the mountains, not wishing to give away the fact that they were following by taking the water route. Plus the nice long soak would do the injured ghost-type some good.

"All right. This is the pass where I saw them disappear into the woods. We're going in after them. Whatever happens, stay close to me. If they find us, use Bug Buzz, that'll hit them both because it's a sound-based attack. I'll focus on the Samurott, it's a water-type and he can hit pretty hard. Stay close to me, all right? This is definitely a multi-battle situation."

Seraphine followed Touko closely, her hand on the pokeball in case she needed to summon the Volcanrona. She listened closely to what Touko said. A Samurott took Cinder? Those weren't indigenous to Kanto or Johto. It was also why she didn't know that Jellicent was also a ghost type. What would a pokemon want with her Cinder? She might be able to understand if it was a Charizard or maybe even another fire type. But what would a Water type want with her Charmander? She sighed and maintained her focus on the mission. They would get Cinder back, no matter what.

The young male had spotted several figures running, maybe 3 at the max. The male blinked for a moment, and beginning to scratch his head, so the male had began walking towards what had he have seen. It wasn't too long ago that the young trainer had arrived to the island, and already seeing random events happening.

The male yoshimune had begun to run towards something he had seen "Could it have been an academy student, or maybe someone a wild pokemon." A question had been wrapped around his head, as of what he was thinking had finally came up to his vision. An academy student, and right beside it was someone who could have been the same as he was.

"Hey!" he yelled loud enough for them to at least answer him from a decent distance.

Thwock! Thwock! Thwock!

At the edge of the mountains on the north side, right where the forest began, was a Chimchar. The Chimchar wasn’t acting like any ordinary Chimchar. In fact, it didn’t even seem to belong here. And he certainly didn’t seem to blend in. He seemed…odd at first glance, given what he was doing. But knowing his story would clue a bystander in on why that may be. It would appear to a great shock to any who’d heard his tale about how he came to existence, what adventures he’d already gone on, and what kind of enemies he’d fought and beaten (or been defeated by in some cases). In a sense, he just might be one of the most powerful Pokemon in existence…

And here he was…cutting down a tree.

He took a couple more practice swings against the tree with the Power Bat before truly taking aim. He aimed at the base and calculated. The tree wasn’t that thick, nor did it seem that heavy. It didn’t even look sturdy enough for climbing. And it would be perfect for firewood for the rest of the group. His Power Bat would have no problem with this one.

He swung. He put some power into the bat and watched with a giant whoosh! as the flames emanating from the bat went straight through the trunk. The tree began to fall, making a dull thud as it hit the ground. He quickly grabbed it and started dragging it towards base, away from the forest and into the mountains.

As he walked, he began to think about this world he inhabited. This was nothing like the Island of Mohka. While that island contained as much diversity on it as this one, the diversity itself was much larger and more spread out compared to here. But when an island is small, Mother Nature just makes due, he figured. Not too long a walk and he was at the camp they were setting up.

It was actually a very serene setting, one of the reasons why he’d chosen it. At the head of their camp was a spring sprouting from the rock. The water flowed straight through the camp and speared to feed off into some lake at the southern end. It was slightly enclosed with a couple exits leading north, west, and east. The south was cut off by the flowing river in between the rock walls, making a possible fourth exit should they need it. The actual base part of it was getting there. It was evident that Tag put his signature touch on the place, seeing the vines growing across the walls, and that five leaf beds were all in the corner, looking as comfortable as ever. A chest was set up on the opposite side of the room, in case they found something of worth.

They had only arrived yesterday and Crimson was already starting to call this place home.

He set down the Power Bat and grabbed a few stones in the corner, building a fire ring with them right next to the water’s edge. Chopping off the twigs first, he then proceeded to dismantle the tree stick by stick, log by log, until it was all in nice refined pieces. By that time, he heard footsteps coming from the east entrance. Looking back that way, he smiled when Tag came bursting through the entrance, carrying a pack. He’d obviously ran everywhere.

“Hey buddy. You look like you’ve been busy.”

“Yeah…” he managed between breaths, “But look…I got some…good food!” Opening the pack, he spilled out the contents, which were around seven apples, a couple Oran Berries, and a Pecha Berry.

Nodding in approval, Crimson motioned over for Tag to help him stack the firewood in the corner. As they were, they talked. “The place looks great, by the way.”

“Thanks!” the Turtwig smiled as he stacked a log and grabbed another stick, throwing it in its separate pile. “I couldn’t get Pert or Meryl to help me though. They were too busy being excited about exploring the island.”

“Where are they right now?”

“Well, it’s like I said. They couldn’t wait to start exploring the island.”

Crimson paused, a little disappointed. He was hoping they could make their first trek into the place together. But he dismissed the feeling. “They’ll be fine. They’ve got each other. That’s when they’re most powerful anyway. And Sarik?”

“Still on the mountain, keeping an eye out for anything heading our way.”

Still? Crimson stopped what he was doing at the mention of this. How long had he been at it? Granted, Sarik was the one with Power Scope, but even he needed to take a break at points. “I’ll go get him. He’s been at it a bit long. Keep an eye out here.”

He left the base by the east entrance, then made an immediate right. He started rounding his way up the mountain until he spotted the Squirtle, his eyes in the Scope, scanning the place below. When Crimson spoke, it was enough to make Sarik jump. “Y’know, you shouldn’t be up here too long. I mean, this view is a killer.”

Sarik squinted at him, “Har har. And who’s gonna watch the place in case we get ambushed or something?”

“Well we’ve been here a day. Perhaps there is no one who wants to ambush us…not yet anyway.”

“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be prepared.”

“True,” Crimson sat down next to him, “But everyone deserves rest, Sarik. Even you.”

The squirtle thought for a moment before setting the Power Scope down next to Crimson. Looking at Sarik’s face in the sunlight, Crimson could definitely tell he was tired.

“It’s still a great view, though,” Crimson commented.

Sarik nodded in agreement, “A look to die for.”

The two stared off at the scenery below them for a couple minutes, enjoying the moment. It was warm and breezy up there. The sun beat down from a horizontal angle, telling Crimson it was already afternoon. He sighed and patted Sarik on the knee. “Go down. I got this for now.”

“Alright,” the squirtle finally relented, scooting past Crimson’s position and started making his way down the mountain. Once Sarik was out of sight, Crimson reached for the Power Scope and started looking around the mountains. Immediately regretting his decision, Crimson began fumbling with the Power Scope controls, trying to make the image a little less grainy. It was hard since it wasn’t his device nor had he been taught the mechanisms or the switches or the hoo-dads and ting-thingys.

I guess Dr. Eckels was right when he said each piece of Tech he made was fine tuned for the individual…

Giving up on the project, he decided he would try to make out whatever he captured with his own eyes and logic. He kept searching through the Scope and immediately came across something.

“What in the…” Crimson let his words fall off as he tried to find the thing again. Retracing, he came back to the original point of view. Something blurry was moving across the mountainside. He couldn’t tell what. He pushed a few more knobs and levers and miraculously it made the image clearer.

It was Dobro and Domingo. They appeared to be running their way. And from what he could tell, Dobro was holding something. Crimson couldn’t quite make out what, but from the way they were running, it had to be something good.

He scaled down the mountainside, reaching the base in less than a quarter of the time it took to climb the place. Sarik was already taking a nap in his bed. Tag was putting some sticks into the makeshift fire pit. Pert and Meryl were back too, talking to each other in the corner. The two stood up when Crimson walked into the room.

“Sorry we ran off an explored without you, Crimson!” Pert chimed, “We couldn’t resist!”

“That’s okay, Pert,” he replied, “No harm, no foul.”

“But you’ve got to check out the island. Its soooooo cool!”

“It wasn’t that cool,” Meryl called from the back, “It was alright.”

“We will all explore together later,” Crimson explained, “Right now, we may have some guest coming.”

Sarik sat up at this. “Guests?” Everyone looked Crimson's way in interest.

Crimson nodded, “Dobro and Domingo. And it looks like they found something.”

A couple of murmurs and shocks spread through the group.

“Huh?”

“Already?”

“Wow! Good for them!”

Sarik made his way over to the rest of the group. “Were you able to find out what?”

Crimson could only shrug, holding the Power Scope out to him for taking. “No, sorry. It’s your device, not mine.”

A disgruntled squirtle yanked the Power Scope out of his hand and started moving levers and controls around. “Why didn’t you have it set to the AUTO function?”

“Wait, it has one of those?”

Rolling his eyes, Sarik went back to fixing his device while the other four eagerly awaited Dobro and Domingo’s arrival. Finally, they could hear footsteps running down the west entrance pathway.

“Here they come!” Crimson told the rest.

---

“Look out! He’s crazy!”

Those were the first words to appear from Dobro’s mouth as he ran in and started running around the base. Domingo appeared right behind him with the look of pure dark determination in his eye, chasing quickly behind. “Give it BACK, Dobro!”

The rest of the team was speechless as the two started making laps around the others. It was evident that Domingo was catching Dobro.

“Guys, what is going on?” Crimson called out to them.

At that moment, Domingo managed to hit Dobro in the foot, causing him to let go of whatever he was holding and have it go flying in the air. Crimson ran to the edge of the room and caught the thing before it smashed into the wall. Examining it closely, he realized it was a Pokeball. He could only assume what he saw.

“Did…did you guys actually go and take a human’s Pokemon?”

Dobro was panting, but he could manage words. “Yeah…we did…all his…idea…something…wrong with…” his voice trailed off.

It was Domingo, despite running, spoke with a clear voice. “Yeah. We did. But if only you were there to see how brutal they were being with it. It wasn’t right.”

Crimson stared into Domingo’s eyes. That black ring around them wasn’t familiar to him. “That shouldn’t matter. It’s not our place to interfere with the human activities. You know this. Besides, it may have been over exaggerated what you saw.”

“She said…friend…I couldn’t…” came Dobro weak interjection from the other end.

“No,” Domingo kept shaking his head, “I did a good thing. I promise you that.” With each step Domingo took towards Crimson, the warning bells got louder and louder. “It was all for him, I promise.”

“Domingo, are you okay? What's wrong, buddy?” was all Crimson could reply with.

And with that, Domingo seemed to explode. Ramming at Crimson full speed he’d managed to knock the Pokeball out of Crimson’s hands before Crimson could sidestep out of the way. Luckily, a moment before, he had called to Tag “Trip him up! Now!” The log had smashed into Domingo’s leg, tossing him back as he tried to catch the airborne Pokeball and failed.

The Pokeball itself flung across the room and hit the floor on the east side, hitting the button and releasing the Pokemon from beneath. Crimson was surprised to see a Charmander pop out of the ball and was curious as to what it would do in this situation. Looking over to Domingo to see that Tag had already effectively taken care of him by tying him up with one of the "decorational" vines. "You are fast, aren't you?"

The smile on Tag's face was all confirmation Crimson needed to hear. Now he could focus. Crimson approached the Charmander...slowly...

"Hey, buddy. You alright?"