Death of a friend

“I, Arthur Kiles hereby resign as Unova’s League Champion,” a young boy of thirteen said in front of millions of people that filled stadium. Silence filled the arena for what seemed like an eternity, as the teen allowed his words sink into effect. Arthur turned to leave for the stadium entrance only to be stopped by a shout from his opponent.

“Why?” shouted the now former champion’s opponent. Rage filled the eyes of the wild haired trainer as he stood with a young Larvesta

“You already know the reason Alder,” Arthur tiredly replied as he regarded the far too young fire type.

That fateful day was over two years ago for the former champion. Now Arthur sat atop a rocky shelf overlooking a natural amphitheater-like cave. In the center stood a man giving a speech about Pokémon liberation to thousands of followers. Arthur had heard the speech before from other speakers but he could tell that this man was lying, and that very thought made the teen’s blood boil.

The brown haired trainer pressed a button on his throat mic and called out to another member of his team. “Captain, pulse your aura a few times so I can see where you’re at.”

Arthur closed his eyes and allowed the aura of the room to fill his senses. The whole room fell dark as thousands of flames of varying shades filled in place of the inhabitances. Away from the crowd of little flickering lights pulsed a tiny flame that belonged to a Lucario. Arthur opened his eyes to abandon the aura sight to see his Pokémon’s position nestled in a darkened crag close to the back of the cave.

“Are you getting a good feed Captain?” Arthur asked

A short grunt issued itself across the radio. The trainer understood the confirmation from the Lucario even though he didn’t fully understand what the steel type said. He reached for his own camcorder that remained perched upon a nearby bolder and adjusted the zoom to better record the man speaking. Arthur knew this budding group was called Team Plasma and while they posed to liberate and free Pokémon he knew their motives were far more sinister. For the sake of the entire Unova region, the ex-champion was gathering evidence to stop them from turning into a threat like team Rocket. So far all he managed to get a hold of was a few speeches and a private conversation the man had with one of his subordinates.

“… and so my friends we have our salvation,” the man’s voice echoed in the cave as a young greened haired boy was usurer to his side. “When this lad comes of age he will lead us to true Pokémon liberation.”

Arthur waited for the man to make his exit before he issued a command though his radio. “Captain, I think we have all that we need to put that man behind bars. Let us start making our way out of here.”

Arthur grabbed the camera, switching it off before turning to an orange and cream colored fairy-like creature hovering behind him.

“Is our exit out of here clear, Nicole?” he asked the Victini.

~no we’ve been discovered~ Arthur heard within his mind, the diminutive fairy using telepathy to speak.

“What, how?” Arthur asked while he stored the camera in one of the many pockets of his long coat.

~I’m not sure maybe they used a psychic type to find us, but they are on their way here, ~ she responded

“Captain, get over to us now!” Arthur ordered, dashing for the tunnel that led him up to the shelf, “Nicole lets go.

“Bisharp, Slash,”

Arthur felt himself being pulled back by a powerful psychic force as a near invisible attack cut through the front of his coat. Overbalanced, Arthur fell back away from the blade covered Pokémon.

“Nicole, flame…” Arthur managed to say before a ball of fire much larger than the attack he had in mind sailed over his head. He threw his arms up to shield his face from the Searing Shot, Nicole’s signature move next to her V-create. The ball of fire erupted upon the stupefied Bisharp, blasting the Pokémon back into the wall unconscious. Heat and fire washed over Arthur as well but was spared the same fate as the Bisharp thanks to his heavy canvas coat.

“Damn it Nicole, I was too close for that one,” Arthur yelled patting his still smoking sleeves.

~It would not have fainted with a Flame Burst and you would have had to dodge another slash whilst on your back, ~ she responded

Arthur returned to his feet seeing the Bisharp had indeed been defeated in one shot. Turning back to the exit he saw the owner of the defeated Bisharp standing between him and the opening to the tunnel. The man that faced Arthur was easily a head taller than he was and garbed in a black body suit and mask that covered the lower half of his face.

“Nicole is this the one who detected…” Arthur managed to say before being interrupted by the ninja

“Yes I saw your pitiful attempt at stealth, thou using your Victini to detect when you were detected was unique,” The ninja gloated, “your lucario is being dealt with, but your Victini would be quite the boon for our operation.”

“Don’t you touch Nicole,” Arthur responded whilst pressing a button on his belt releasing the rest of his team; a Floatzal named Link, and a Glaceon named Jack. The ninja responded with the summoning of a pair of Lieperds.

“Both of you use fake out!” he commanded.

“Jack, Link intercept the Lieperds with protect, Nicole Searing Shot,” Arthur countered. The Glaceon and Flotzal raised green barriers blocking the movement of the Lieperds while Nicole charged the same attack she used on the Bisharp. Movement caught Arthur’s attention as the fireball exploded upon the two cats; Captain had scaled the wall up to the shelf where the battle took place. As the smoke cleared both cats looked a little worse for wear but still stood, the barriers Jack and Link raised held up against the blast of the fire ball negating any damage it might have caused.

“Jack, use Ice Shard, Link, use Aqua jet, finish them,” Arthur quickly added before the man could issue a command. The priority attacks smashed into the weary Lieperds fainting them before they could regroup for another attack. Arthur turned to Captain to see his friend beaten up but still in a condition to battle.

“I hope you didn’t have too much trouble getting up here,” Arthur said as two more ninjas appeared upon the shelf behind his group. Arthur’s Pokémon back up onto Arthur surrounding him protectively. The two new ninja summoned forth another Bisharp and an Escavalier while the final ninja brought forth his last pokeball and summoned a Hydreigon.

Arthur smirked when he saw the Hydreigon, “Link, Ice fang, Jack Ice beam, drop that dragon. Captain use close combat on the Bisharp, Nicole please use flame burst on the bug.”

The sea weasel dash forward and latched to one of the Hydreigon’s heads while Jack fired a potent beam of cold at the belly of the dragon. Captain charged the Bisharp assaulting it with a heavy barrage of punches but being mindful of the many sharp blades that covered the human shaped Pokémon. Nicole fired a small but concentrated ball of fire at the armored bug. From there however the battle went far from Arthur’s favor. The Hydreigon took both of the ice attacks in stride as blue berry juice dripped from its center head’s mouth, a Yache berry. The Bisharp managed to slip a few attacks in before it fell to the onslaught of punches that Captain threw, red lines of blood painted upon his chest as the Bisharp fell away. The Escavalier raised a barrier to ward of the super effective attack, but Nicole kept the barrage of fire attacks until the barrier shattered melting the armor of the bug fainting it. The hydreigon gripped Link by the waist, ripping him from the head he latched onto and flung him into the wall of the cave. Link crumpled into an unmoving heap.

“Link!” Arthur called out but the Floatzal didn’t stir, “Jack, use blizzard!”

The Glaceon summoned up a torrent of ice and snow and released it at the Dragon. The Hydreigon countered with its own torrent of fire as the blizzard closed in. Fire met ice in a burst of steam but as Jack was recovering from the excursion of the attack the Hydreigon charged the glaceon. Jack was caught up by the leg with a powerful crunch from the center mouth; his flailing kept the other heads from finding purchase upon his pale blue body. The dragon gave a shake of its head to still the Glaceon but Jack managed to fire the strongest attack in his arsenal, Shear Cold. Arthur watched as the dragon froze from the powerful attack but he looked on in horror as Jack’s leg gave away from the eon’s body. Rushing forward Arthur caught Jack in his arms before returning the injured Glaceon to its ball. Arthur knew that the ball would lock Jack into stasis to keep him from bleeding out.

“Nicole, clear the path we’ve tarried here long enough.” Arthur said charging for the exit. The ninja was about to move to intercept but was gripped by Nicole’s psychic and slammed into the ground. The Trainer ran to his still unmoving Floatzel to see that he was still breathing but very weak. Nicole raised an inferno around the two ninjas trapping them in place as Arthur returned Link to his ball.

“Captain lets go the way is clear,” Arthur called to his Lucario. Captain ran to Arthur’s side holding the ruined remains of the expert belt he wore. Arthur took the tattered belt and ran down the tunnel Captain and Nicole close behind.

“Captain, collapse the tunnel,” Arthur ordered as soon as the three of them where clear. Captain fired an aura sphere into the ceiling of the tunnel shattering the rock causing a localized cave-in sealing the entrance of the tunnel. Arthur tore off down another passage having mapped out the cave system to memory before setting out on his mission. The group rounded a corner to see the exit of to the cave, daylight streaming through the entrance.

Arthur leaned onto his knees panting as he looked to his friends. Nicole looked tired but Arthur knew that she could still floor a Dragonite with energy left to spare. Captain however had started to lag behind, his wounds started to take their toll. Arthur pulled a hyper potion from one of his many pockets and set to work on Captain. The potion took effect almost immediately, knitting the cuts on Captain’s chest.

~Arthur they’re coming, ~ Nicole warned.

“Just a minute I’m almost done,” Arthur responded as he tended to some of Captain’s deeper cuts.

An Explosion rocked overhead as a Focus Blast smashed into the ceiling above the trio. Nicole returned with a volley of Flame Bursts and Searing Shots at the approaching figures. Arthur looked to Captain to see that the potion bottle was empty but the Lucario was still short of breath. The trainer examined Captain’s body but found nothing wrong until the Lucario coughed weakly, blood spattering his lips, a pierced lung. Arthur reached for Captain’s ball when he felt a small pebble hit his head. Looking up Arthur saw the damage caused by the Focus Blast. A return volley of Dark pulses returned but the Victini merely swatted the attacks away deflecting them back or into the walls, Arthur could only watch in awe as he watched his second oldest friend work her magic. Nicole started to return fire but just as she started to charge a Searing Shot Arthur got hit in the shoulder by a sizeable rock. Arthur howled in pain as he was knocked to the ground and away from Captain.

“Tini!” Nicole screamed before a Hyper Beam blasted her in the chest, sending her sailing clear of the rock slide. Captain reacted by grabbing Arthur and throwing him clear. Arthur watched as his friend was buried by the rock slide. He scrambled to his feet in spite of the pain in his shoulder but before he could place himself back into danger a telekinetic force gripped him pulling him back out of the cave.

“Captain!” Arthur yelled as he fought the invisible force the held him, “Nicole let me go, I have to help him!”

~You can’t save him Arthur he’s… he’s gone Arthur, I’m sorry but he’s gone, ~ Nicole pleaded, the Victini just as sadden by the loss of Captain. Tears burned in Arthur’s eyes as he continued to fight but Nicole held him firm.

~Arthur we need to get Jack and Link to a Pokecenter or they will die, ~

Arthur finally relaxed as the truth sunk in the. Stasis feature on pokeballs were still new and eventually the internal cell will run out after a day of hard stasis. Fortunately the nearest town was only a few hours away. However Arthur needed to tend to injuries he and Nicole sustained. Arthur looked over his tiny friend applying a spray from a potion bottle to the injuries until he couldn’t find any more then gently running fingers though her fur he checked for more internal injuries.

“That hyper beam hit ya pretty hard but it didn’t do anything too long lasting,” Arthur assessed. Arthur knew that Nicole was tough but he still worried since Victinis are not indestructible. Removing his coat and shirt Arthur allowed Nicole to look over his shoulder. Arthur’s shoulder was badly bruised and had started to severely swell.

~Arthur this will hurt… a lot, ~ Nicole said as she gripped his shoulder with her telekinetic powers.

“How bad… Gah!” Arthur howled as bones were set back into proper order.

~Broken collar bone, and dislocated shoulder, ~ she recounted as Arthur clinched from the pain, ~ I’ll have to immobilize your arm. ~

The Victini sifted through the pockets Arthur’s coat until she found what she was looking for. She returned to Arthur with a large roll of tape and cloth bindings.

~ Arthur, I can’t pin your arm with you hunched over like that, ~ she said

Arthur nodded, willing his body to relax so Nicole could work. He winced at the gentle touch as she worked to pin his right arm but he kept still until she finished.

“Thank you Nicole,” Arthur said weakly as he retrieved his coat, using more will than stamina to move. Slowly the two made their way east toward Striaton City as rain started to gently drizzle. A few hours later the pair arrived at the Pokecenter of Striaton City. The young trainer slowly walked up to the counter, startling many of the patrons of the Center as well as the nurse who sat behind the counter with the appearance of a blood stained coat and bandaged arm. Arthur placed the two stasised balls on the counter before he started to pass out.

“Tini!” was all Arthur heard as he faded into darkness.

End Chapter One