Story Notes:
Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon
The First Badge
"So, where to?" Kazamaru walks next to the rest of the group as they head down the road leaving Canalave city. Xylina is riding on Vecransyh's back and Stratos is walking along side his mother smiling happily as they walk. Drake looks back to him with a light smile,
"We're going to head down this route to Jubilife city then we need to head down to Sandgem town for a quick visit to the Professor of Sinnoh. He should be able to set us straight on the way we should go." The group stops when they reach a long stretch of water with a large city in the distance on the other side. Vecransyh raises an eyebrow as he looks at the blocked path,
"Well now what do we do?" Drake responds by tossing a pokeball and in a flash Arcanine is standing in front of everyone wagging his tail,
"Hello everyone. Need something?" Drake nods and points to the roadblock,
"Feel like a jump?" Arcanine looks behind himself to the water and walks over to it. He looks to the other side and to the left and right before licking one of his paws and holding it up to the wind,
"Well, the wind resistance is pretty light so I should be able to do it. I'll have to take two trips. One with two and the other I'm sure I can manage three." A few minutes later Vecransyh, Kaza and Latias are on Arcanine's back and he begins backing up before running forward in a burst of speed. Right as he hits the water's edge he leaps into the air and lands solidly on the other side. The three jump off of him and he does a second carrying Stratos and Drake over. Xylina is floating next to Vecransyh as she had floated over the stretch of water before the first jump. Arcanine lies down in front of his passengers, "There was more resistance then I thought so the jumps took a lot out of me..." Drake smiles and takes out his ball,
"Don't worry. Go ahead and rest a while." With that, Arcanine disappears into his pokeball and the group heads through the transfer building to Jubilife city. As the group heads down the street of the city Kaza looks up at all of the tall buildings,
"So... from here we go to Sandgem. But..." Kaza blinks, "Where's Scarlet?" Vecransyh turns to him and shrugs before patting him on the shoulder,
"Don't worry about it. She should be in one of the cities ahead..." Suddenly there is a voice in front of them,
"Or I'm right here." Kaza turns his head towards the voice and his expression turns to one of pure joy when he sees Scarlet smiling at everyone followed by her Gardevoir, "Gardevoir tells me you two had a good time on the ship Kaza. I'm glad you didn't just mope around." Kaza smiles and scratches his head,
"Yeah well, thought I'd at least enjoy myself." Scarlet jumps as she looks down at Stratos who is eying her and her Gardevoir with slight fear and curiosity,
"Daddy...? Who's this?" Drake reaches down and hoists his son up onto his shoulders,
"This is Scarlet. She's a good friend of Kaza's." Stratos lets out a happy yelp,
"Hi miss Scarlet! I'm Stratos!" Scarlet smiles,
"Very nice to meet you Stratos... Did you call Drake 'Daddy?'" Drake smiles lightly,
"Me and Latias found him as an egg a while back and he finally hatched after about a year and a half." Gardevoir looks stunned,
"But... Lucario's eggs hatch fairly quickly!" She tilts her head, "He is a Lucario right? Why doesn't he have the four dreadlocks?" Latias shrugs,
"He is a Lucario and he hatched without the dreadlocks. We had him checked out at a Pokemon center and he's a perfectly healthy baby." After a short amount of catching up, the now seven head south out of Jubilife and begin walking down the trail to Sandgem town. After rounding a corner a girl suddenly bolts out in front of them and slams into Drake, who doesn't move and his solid stance simply deflects the girl sending her flying backwards onto her backside. The girl wears a white beanie with half of a pokeball design on it, a white scarf and a short red dress along with her pink boots and has a large white bag slung across her back. Her blue hair shines lightly in the sunlight along with her light legs. She looks about the same age as Kazamaru and Vecransyh and she stands up rubbing her backside,
"What was that for you jerk?!" Drake raises an eyebrow as he tilts his head to the girl and takes off his hat bowing slightly with his hair shining in the sunlight. He looks up at the girl with a slight smile on his face making her blush,
"My apologies but I do believe that it was you who ran into me. Are you hurt?"
"Uh... N-no... I'm fine. My name's Dawn." Each of the group members introduces themselves to Dawn, "I'm sorry but I really have to be going. My grandfather is working in his lab and he asked for my assistance distributing the Pokemon to the new trainers." She bows slightly and rushes away into a large building on the other side of the Pokemon center. Drake smiles as he watches the girl throw open the door to the lab,
"So... she's the granddaughter of Professor Rowan." Latias looks over at him,
"You know her?"
"Well, I've heard about her. She's supposed to be an incredibly powerful trainer." After a few moments the group starts walking again and they quickly approach the lab and enter it. The lab's walls are covered in beeping machines and around them are a few scientists apparently running tests. Up ahead them is a man with white hair and an impressive mustache talking to Dawn. Xylina floats off of Vecransyh's back and over to the Professor as the others walk up to him as well. The Professor turns his head when he sees the ghost and company approaching him and Dawn follows his gaze,
"Hey guys! Didn't know you guys where new to Pokemon." Kaza shakes his head as he looks at the girl,
"Trust me, we're not new." Professor Rowan looks at them all with a stern expression,
"Then would you mind telling me what you are all doing here?" Xylina floats up to him and looks him in the eyes,
"We're here for information about Sinnoh," Rowan lays a finger on Xylina's forehead pushing her away from his face,
"I see. Well, I suppose I have enough time to mark important spots on a map for you all. I'm afraid I can't be of much more help at the moment as I'm preparing for the new trainers to arrive. Excuse me I'll do it now." Rowan disappears into a back room and Xylina looks over to Dawn,
"He's kinda mean." Dawn giggles,
"He seems that way but he's a really nice guy once you get to know him. So tell me more about your guy's group while we wait." Drake clears his throat but Kaza bursts in front of him,
"Okay! Well, we just got here yesterday from Kanto where we all participated in the Pokemon league!" Dawn blinks and looks over at Vecransyh before walking up to him and moving her face dangerously close to his,
"I watched the Kanto tournaments on TV. I thought you all looked familiar and now I remember seeing you guys battling." Vecransyh is blushing brightly,
"Uhh... yeah."
"And I also saw you save your Pokemon from an attack. Pretty reckless Vec." Xylina floats over next to Vecransyh and lays her hand on Vecransyh's shoulder,
"Well yeah, it was reckless but because that attack would have been and instant death on my part Vec decided that my life was more important then his own and he stepped in at the last second." Dawn moves her face away from Vecransyh's with a light smile on her face,
"Nothing wrong with sacrifice for a loved one." Vecransyh blinks,
"Uhh... how do you know?" Dawn giggles,
"It wasn't obvious? There were signs. And I read her lips when you sat down after your speech; which was one of the greatest things I've ever heard. Heartwarming." She turns her head to look at Xylina with a smile,
"He's the kind of guy I'm looking for. If you hadn't gotten to him first I'd make sure he'd be mine." Xylina giggles and wraps her arms around Vec's neck as he blushes brightly,
"Don't worry, there's someone out there for everyone." Dawn smiles and after a few more stories Rowan appears from the back room carrying a folded map in his hand,
"Here you are." He hands the map to Kaza, who grins and holds up a peace-sign,
"Sweet! Thanks!" Kaza opens the map and begins looking at it while Drake tips his hat to the Professor,
"Thank you, Professor Rowan." Rowan gives him a very slight smile,
"You are very welcome young man. Now I must get ready for the new trainers so if you could all be on your way..." Vec nods,
"Thanks again Prof." After saying goodbye to Dawn the group heads up to Jubilife where Kaza takes out the map as they walk,
"The first Gym is east of here and it's..." Vec looks back at him,
"What's up Kaza?"
"Oreburgh city..." They all stop and turn to him as Kaza stops walking staring at the space on the map marked Oreburgh gym. Scarlet lays a hand on his shoulder,
"You okay hun?" Kazamaru looks up at her from the map,
"I get to battle my big brother after all this time." Vecransyh looks at him with a stunned expression,
"I didn't know you had family here!" Kaza grins,
"You never asked. Let's go get our first badges!" After a short walk down route 203 the seven head into a dark cave but the trail is straight and the light at the end of the short tunnel is easily visible. Soon after exiting the cave the group is approached by a young trainer tossing a pokeball up into the air and catching it again,
"Any one of you guys fancy a battle?" Stratos gives the boy an excited look,
"I wanna battle!! Can I?! Can I?!?!" Drake leans down to his son and pats him on the head,
"Sorry Stratos, not this time." The boy looks around to each of them and points to Kaza,
"You. I wanna battle you!" Kazamaru grins,
"Bring it." Kaza and the boy stand across from each other after a few moments and the boy takes out a pokeball giving Kaza an embarrassed look,
"I've only got one Pokemon so... one on one okay?" Kaza nods and takes out his own pokeball,
"That's fine. I'm curious to see what kinds of Pokemon are here in Sinnoh." Kaza throws his pokeball and Piloswine emerges in a flash of light. The mammoth makes a loud roar and the boy smiles confidently,
"Looks like you're pretty experienced!!"
"Yup." The boy throws his pokeball releasing a blue from-lizard with black markings on his body and a large red orb on his throat. The frog lets out a loud rabbit as it strikes a battle pose, "Let's go!" The Toxicroak rushes at Piloswine and leaps into the air to avoid a powerful ice beam. Then Piloswine jumps back to avoid a focus punch thrown down towards the ground making a decent-sized crater in the ground from the impact, "Earthquake!!" Piloswine jumps and lands hard on the ground making a large earthquake that shakes the entire battlefield cracking the ground and making sharp shards of earth stick up everywhere. Toxicroak loses his footing and slips onto the sharp rocks. He jumps back up and lunges at Piloswine landing a powerful Brick Break on the top of his head but gets blasted by an ice beam in return sending him crashing to the ground in a block of ice. The block shatters as it hits the ground and the frog stands looking fairly chilled, "Finish it with Take down!!" Piloswine lunges at Toxicroak but it jumps onto his back and lands another solid Brick Break that makes Piloswine roar in pain before he collapses onto the ground sideways. Toxicroak leaps off of him and folds his arms with a proud look on his face before receiving a full-body ice beam leaving him a block of ice where he stands. The boy takes out his pokeball and Toxicroak disappears into it,
"Dang, almost got ya. He's always had a confidence problem." The two battlers walk to the center of their battle area and shake hands,
"Didn't know what to expect from a Pokemon I've never seen before." The boy laughs,
"Well I'll be seein ya. I'm on my way to my next badge. That leader's no pushover but you should be fine. My name's Kyle by the way. Hope we meet again and have another good battle." Kaza nods,
"As do I." After a goodbye to Kyle the group heads into the mountain city. Kaza looks around, "I'm surprised how little this place as changed." Scarlet sets a hand on his shoulder,
"And now this is where your rise to the Pokemon league begins." Kaza grins and the group walks over to the large building with the orange roof. Shortly after they walk through the door the seven are approached by a figure in a gold trimmed grey jacket, the same color pants, black boots and a red miner's hat on his crimson hair. The figure smiles lightly as he sees them enter,
"Hello everyone, are you all here for badges?" Vecransyh grins,
"Yup! Starting our Sinnoh challenge. Could you tell us where the leader is, miss?" Roark blinks,
"Umm... I'm a guy and I'm also the gym leader. My name is Roark... Ah!" Roark spots Kaza smiling at him from next to Scarlet, "Hey!! Little bro! How've you been?!" Kaza grins as the two brothers tap fists,
"Training hard as always. Here for a badge too." Roark raises an eyebrow,
"Oh really? Well, no special treatment for family members so you're not gonna win little bro." Roark claps his hands together as he looks around at everyone, "Now then. Who's going first?" Kaza leans back against the wall scowling at his brother,
"I'll go last."
Drake takes the first battle and makes quick work of the gym leader using only Roze against his Golem, Steelix and Rampardos taking them down with only a single attack each. Drake goes back to rejoin Latias and the rest and after securing his Coal badge into his jacket. After a quick run to the Pokemon center by Roark Vecransyh stands across from him with Xylina floating faithfully by his side as always. Roark has all of his Pokemon standing behind him and his Steelix is in the center of the field ready for combat. Vecransyh looks down at his pokeball and grins before releasing Banette onto the field. He looks up at his opponent and back at Vecransyh,
"So... this is my opponent?" Vecransyh nods, "Fantastic... All righty! Leave it to me!" Banette is then enshrouded in darkness as he chants and Steelix' body slightly darkens. Banette looks a little winded as he strikes a battle pose, "Now we can begin!" Steelix slams his head down on the ghost but he slides to the side and lands a Sucker-punch on the serpent before leaping into the air and raining down shadow balls while the Steelix continues to look like it's suffering from something inside of it. Banette lands in from of the Steelix and is slammed in the side by the Steelix' head sending him crashing into a wall. Steelix then collapses onto the ground. Roark blinks as Banette walks back onto the field,
"Why did he just faint right there?! You didn't do hardly any damage to him!" Banette lets out an evil cackle,
"I sacrifices half of my energy to curse him. I knew I was no match for something like that so I did what I had to..." Just as Banette finishes his sentence he's sent flying backwards by Rampardos into a wall. Banette scowls, "Dude! Party foul!" He then falls unconscious and returns to his pokeball,
"Don't worry Banette you got one of 'em." Vecransyh takes out a second pokeball and releases Drifblim from it. Drifblim hovers and dodged out of the way of an oncoming Rampardos. Drifblim releases a wave of psychic energy but Rampardos barrels into him knocking all of the wind out of the balloon and leaving him flat on the ground. Drifblim returns to his pokeball. Rampardos then roars in pain but shakes it off. "Aftermath did a little damage but not enough... Xylina! I'm counting on you!" The ghost smiles brightly as she floats ahead of Vecransyh with a serious expression on her face. She makes quick work of the weakened Rampardos with rapid-fire successions of ice beams and soon afterwards, Xylina and Golem are nearing the end of their battle. Xylina is tired and so is Golem as they continue attacking each other. Suddenly Golem begins to glow brightly and Xylina is caught in a massive explosion that covers the field in black smoke. They hear Roark through the smoke,
"Well crap. Look like you win. Beat Xylina though." As the smoke clears Roark makes a stupid look as he sees Xylina unharmed by the blast, "Oh my god I forgot that normal doesn't effect ghost..." Xylina giggles,
"It was also six on three so your odds of winning were pretty low after your Rampardos got frozen pretty thoroughly."
Roark returns to the Pokemon center only to have his ass handed to him by Scarlet and after another trip to the Pokemon center he stands across from his brother,
"Good luck brother. You'll need it" Kaza smirks,
"I'm tired of my family looking down at me like a failure!! I'll show you!! I'll show you all!!!" Drake smiles lightly,
"I see why he had such a superiority complex before." Vec turns to him,
"What do you mean?"
"Well, his family must have always viewed him as an inferior trainer to them which might be why he left the Sinnoh region and went to Johto. He'll win. He has too much riding on this match to lose." Roark releases his Steelix from his pokeball and the serpent roars at the trainer,
"Fine Kaza but this is the big leagues now. You're in Sinnoh so things won't be easy, especially for you." Kazamaru growls and throws a pokeball releasing his Camerupt in a flash of light,
"SHUT UP!!!! ERUPTION!!!!!" Roark staggers back as the giant camel fires boulders of burning rock from the craters on his back that bury the head of the serpent and fall on every joint of the serpent's body leaving it unconscious, "I'M NOT A KID ANYMORE AND I'LL PROVE IT TO YOU!!!!!!" Roark releases his Golem that makes quick work of Camerupt with Earthquake and physical attacks. Roark smirks,
"You've still got a lot to learn." Kaza returns his Camerupt and releases his Aggron in a flash of light Aggron roars at Roark glaring at the trainer. Roark smiles slightly as he gazes up at the blue triceratops, "So... you evolved your starter?"
"AND NOW HE WILL FINISH YOU!!!! THE POKEMON YOU CALLED WORTHLESS IS GOING TO BRING YOU DOWN BROTHER!!!!" Golem starts to roll quickly towards Aggron who, having an already deep hatred of Roark, simply lands a brutal focus punch that stops the Golem in its tracks. Kaza smirks, "See?" Golem then starts to glow brightly before exploding. As the smoke clears Aggron looks fairly beaten up by the intense blast. Roark releases his Rampardos onto the field and it roars at Aggron. Aggron stands weakly and looks towards the Pokemon remembering battling him over and over again in his youth only to fail time and time again. Aggron's hand becomes coated in bright silver energy and he punches into Rampardos' head as he rushes towards him. The impact is a stale-mate and both Pokemon fall unable to continue. There is a silence before Aggron weakly stands and snorts releasing grey smoke from his nostrils as he glares at the shocked trainer. Aggron and Rampardos return to their pokeballs and the two battlers walk to the center. Kaza looks up to his brother's face because Roark is taller then him and he sees his brother softly smile,
"I always knew you'd become stronger then me if I pushed you hard enough. I always had faith in you Kaza." Kaza and Roark join hands then go into a hug. After the hug is over Roark lays a hand on his brother's shoulder, "I have a request of you Kaza."
"What is it?"
"Now that you have this power I want you to take down father. He's had his title as strongest in our family for much to long and I think you're the one who needs to take it from him. And... I'm sorry for everything. Always being so hard on you." Kaza nods with a smile,
"Don't worry. I know you went well I just never knew it till now. So anyway... you ever get a girlfriend?" Roark shakes his head,
"Nah, girls just aren't interested in the first gym leader. It's that way across the board for all the regions." (Brock) Kazamaru grins,
"That's too bad... Scarlet!!" Scarlet walks over to him and tilts her head,
"What?"
"Roark, this is my girlfriend." Roark looks upon Scarlet and blushes,
"Damn. Good on ya bro!" He then hands his brother the Coal badge with a happy grin. After saying their goodbyes to Roark the group heads to the local Pokemon center for the night awaiting the next day where they would make the trip towards their next badges.
"We're going to head down this route to Jubilife city then we need to head down to Sandgem town for a quick visit to the Professor of Sinnoh. He should be able to set us straight on the way we should go." The group stops when they reach a long stretch of water with a large city in the distance on the other side. Vecransyh raises an eyebrow as he looks at the blocked path,
"Well now what do we do?" Drake responds by tossing a pokeball and in a flash Arcanine is standing in front of everyone wagging his tail,
"Hello everyone. Need something?" Drake nods and points to the roadblock,
"Feel like a jump?" Arcanine looks behind himself to the water and walks over to it. He looks to the other side and to the left and right before licking one of his paws and holding it up to the wind,
"Well, the wind resistance is pretty light so I should be able to do it. I'll have to take two trips. One with two and the other I'm sure I can manage three." A few minutes later Vecransyh, Kaza and Latias are on Arcanine's back and he begins backing up before running forward in a burst of speed. Right as he hits the water's edge he leaps into the air and lands solidly on the other side. The three jump off of him and he does a second carrying Stratos and Drake over. Xylina is floating next to Vecransyh as she had floated over the stretch of water before the first jump. Arcanine lies down in front of his passengers, "There was more resistance then I thought so the jumps took a lot out of me..." Drake smiles and takes out his ball,
"Don't worry. Go ahead and rest a while." With that, Arcanine disappears into his pokeball and the group heads through the transfer building to Jubilife city. As the group heads down the street of the city Kaza looks up at all of the tall buildings,
"So... from here we go to Sandgem. But..." Kaza blinks, "Where's Scarlet?" Vecransyh turns to him and shrugs before patting him on the shoulder,
"Don't worry about it. She should be in one of the cities ahead..." Suddenly there is a voice in front of them,
"Or I'm right here." Kaza turns his head towards the voice and his expression turns to one of pure joy when he sees Scarlet smiling at everyone followed by her Gardevoir, "Gardevoir tells me you two had a good time on the ship Kaza. I'm glad you didn't just mope around." Kaza smiles and scratches his head,
"Yeah well, thought I'd at least enjoy myself." Scarlet jumps as she looks down at Stratos who is eying her and her Gardevoir with slight fear and curiosity,
"Daddy...? Who's this?" Drake reaches down and hoists his son up onto his shoulders,
"This is Scarlet. She's a good friend of Kaza's." Stratos lets out a happy yelp,
"Hi miss Scarlet! I'm Stratos!" Scarlet smiles,
"Very nice to meet you Stratos... Did you call Drake 'Daddy?'" Drake smiles lightly,
"Me and Latias found him as an egg a while back and he finally hatched after about a year and a half." Gardevoir looks stunned,
"But... Lucario's eggs hatch fairly quickly!" She tilts her head, "He is a Lucario right? Why doesn't he have the four dreadlocks?" Latias shrugs,
"He is a Lucario and he hatched without the dreadlocks. We had him checked out at a Pokemon center and he's a perfectly healthy baby." After a short amount of catching up, the now seven head south out of Jubilife and begin walking down the trail to Sandgem town. After rounding a corner a girl suddenly bolts out in front of them and slams into Drake, who doesn't move and his solid stance simply deflects the girl sending her flying backwards onto her backside. The girl wears a white beanie with half of a pokeball design on it, a white scarf and a short red dress along with her pink boots and has a large white bag slung across her back. Her blue hair shines lightly in the sunlight along with her light legs. She looks about the same age as Kazamaru and Vecransyh and she stands up rubbing her backside,
"What was that for you jerk?!" Drake raises an eyebrow as he tilts his head to the girl and takes off his hat bowing slightly with his hair shining in the sunlight. He looks up at the girl with a slight smile on his face making her blush,
"My apologies but I do believe that it was you who ran into me. Are you hurt?"
"Uh... N-no... I'm fine. My name's Dawn." Each of the group members introduces themselves to Dawn, "I'm sorry but I really have to be going. My grandfather is working in his lab and he asked for my assistance distributing the Pokemon to the new trainers." She bows slightly and rushes away into a large building on the other side of the Pokemon center. Drake smiles as he watches the girl throw open the door to the lab,
"So... she's the granddaughter of Professor Rowan." Latias looks over at him,
"You know her?"
"Well, I've heard about her. She's supposed to be an incredibly powerful trainer." After a few moments the group starts walking again and they quickly approach the lab and enter it. The lab's walls are covered in beeping machines and around them are a few scientists apparently running tests. Up ahead them is a man with white hair and an impressive mustache talking to Dawn. Xylina floats off of Vecransyh's back and over to the Professor as the others walk up to him as well. The Professor turns his head when he sees the ghost and company approaching him and Dawn follows his gaze,
"Hey guys! Didn't know you guys where new to Pokemon." Kaza shakes his head as he looks at the girl,
"Trust me, we're not new." Professor Rowan looks at them all with a stern expression,
"Then would you mind telling me what you are all doing here?" Xylina floats up to him and looks him in the eyes,
"We're here for information about Sinnoh," Rowan lays a finger on Xylina's forehead pushing her away from his face,
"I see. Well, I suppose I have enough time to mark important spots on a map for you all. I'm afraid I can't be of much more help at the moment as I'm preparing for the new trainers to arrive. Excuse me I'll do it now." Rowan disappears into a back room and Xylina looks over to Dawn,
"He's kinda mean." Dawn giggles,
"He seems that way but he's a really nice guy once you get to know him. So tell me more about your guy's group while we wait." Drake clears his throat but Kaza bursts in front of him,
"Okay! Well, we just got here yesterday from Kanto where we all participated in the Pokemon league!" Dawn blinks and looks over at Vecransyh before walking up to him and moving her face dangerously close to his,
"I watched the Kanto tournaments on TV. I thought you all looked familiar and now I remember seeing you guys battling." Vecransyh is blushing brightly,
"Uhh... yeah."
"And I also saw you save your Pokemon from an attack. Pretty reckless Vec." Xylina floats over next to Vecransyh and lays her hand on Vecransyh's shoulder,
"Well yeah, it was reckless but because that attack would have been and instant death on my part Vec decided that my life was more important then his own and he stepped in at the last second." Dawn moves her face away from Vecransyh's with a light smile on her face,
"Nothing wrong with sacrifice for a loved one." Vecransyh blinks,
"Uhh... how do you know?" Dawn giggles,
"It wasn't obvious? There were signs. And I read her lips when you sat down after your speech; which was one of the greatest things I've ever heard. Heartwarming." She turns her head to look at Xylina with a smile,
"He's the kind of guy I'm looking for. If you hadn't gotten to him first I'd make sure he'd be mine." Xylina giggles and wraps her arms around Vec's neck as he blushes brightly,
"Don't worry, there's someone out there for everyone." Dawn smiles and after a few more stories Rowan appears from the back room carrying a folded map in his hand,
"Here you are." He hands the map to Kaza, who grins and holds up a peace-sign,
"Sweet! Thanks!" Kaza opens the map and begins looking at it while Drake tips his hat to the Professor,
"Thank you, Professor Rowan." Rowan gives him a very slight smile,
"You are very welcome young man. Now I must get ready for the new trainers so if you could all be on your way..." Vec nods,
"Thanks again Prof." After saying goodbye to Dawn the group heads up to Jubilife where Kaza takes out the map as they walk,
"The first Gym is east of here and it's..." Vec looks back at him,
"What's up Kaza?"
"Oreburgh city..." They all stop and turn to him as Kaza stops walking staring at the space on the map marked Oreburgh gym. Scarlet lays a hand on his shoulder,
"You okay hun?" Kazamaru looks up at her from the map,
"I get to battle my big brother after all this time." Vecransyh looks at him with a stunned expression,
"I didn't know you had family here!" Kaza grins,
"You never asked. Let's go get our first badges!" After a short walk down route 203 the seven head into a dark cave but the trail is straight and the light at the end of the short tunnel is easily visible. Soon after exiting the cave the group is approached by a young trainer tossing a pokeball up into the air and catching it again,
"Any one of you guys fancy a battle?" Stratos gives the boy an excited look,
"I wanna battle!! Can I?! Can I?!?!" Drake leans down to his son and pats him on the head,
"Sorry Stratos, not this time." The boy looks around to each of them and points to Kaza,
"You. I wanna battle you!" Kazamaru grins,
"Bring it." Kaza and the boy stand across from each other after a few moments and the boy takes out a pokeball giving Kaza an embarrassed look,
"I've only got one Pokemon so... one on one okay?" Kaza nods and takes out his own pokeball,
"That's fine. I'm curious to see what kinds of Pokemon are here in Sinnoh." Kaza throws his pokeball and Piloswine emerges in a flash of light. The mammoth makes a loud roar and the boy smiles confidently,
"Looks like you're pretty experienced!!"
"Yup." The boy throws his pokeball releasing a blue from-lizard with black markings on his body and a large red orb on his throat. The frog lets out a loud rabbit as it strikes a battle pose, "Let's go!" The Toxicroak rushes at Piloswine and leaps into the air to avoid a powerful ice beam. Then Piloswine jumps back to avoid a focus punch thrown down towards the ground making a decent-sized crater in the ground from the impact, "Earthquake!!" Piloswine jumps and lands hard on the ground making a large earthquake that shakes the entire battlefield cracking the ground and making sharp shards of earth stick up everywhere. Toxicroak loses his footing and slips onto the sharp rocks. He jumps back up and lunges at Piloswine landing a powerful Brick Break on the top of his head but gets blasted by an ice beam in return sending him crashing to the ground in a block of ice. The block shatters as it hits the ground and the frog stands looking fairly chilled, "Finish it with Take down!!" Piloswine lunges at Toxicroak but it jumps onto his back and lands another solid Brick Break that makes Piloswine roar in pain before he collapses onto the ground sideways. Toxicroak leaps off of him and folds his arms with a proud look on his face before receiving a full-body ice beam leaving him a block of ice where he stands. The boy takes out his pokeball and Toxicroak disappears into it,
"Dang, almost got ya. He's always had a confidence problem." The two battlers walk to the center of their battle area and shake hands,
"Didn't know what to expect from a Pokemon I've never seen before." The boy laughs,
"Well I'll be seein ya. I'm on my way to my next badge. That leader's no pushover but you should be fine. My name's Kyle by the way. Hope we meet again and have another good battle." Kaza nods,
"As do I." After a goodbye to Kyle the group heads into the mountain city. Kaza looks around, "I'm surprised how little this place as changed." Scarlet sets a hand on his shoulder,
"And now this is where your rise to the Pokemon league begins." Kaza grins and the group walks over to the large building with the orange roof. Shortly after they walk through the door the seven are approached by a figure in a gold trimmed grey jacket, the same color pants, black boots and a red miner's hat on his crimson hair. The figure smiles lightly as he sees them enter,
"Hello everyone, are you all here for badges?" Vecransyh grins,
"Yup! Starting our Sinnoh challenge. Could you tell us where the leader is, miss?" Roark blinks,
"Umm... I'm a guy and I'm also the gym leader. My name is Roark... Ah!" Roark spots Kaza smiling at him from next to Scarlet, "Hey!! Little bro! How've you been?!" Kaza grins as the two brothers tap fists,
"Training hard as always. Here for a badge too." Roark raises an eyebrow,
"Oh really? Well, no special treatment for family members so you're not gonna win little bro." Roark claps his hands together as he looks around at everyone, "Now then. Who's going first?" Kaza leans back against the wall scowling at his brother,
"I'll go last."
Drake takes the first battle and makes quick work of the gym leader using only Roze against his Golem, Steelix and Rampardos taking them down with only a single attack each. Drake goes back to rejoin Latias and the rest and after securing his Coal badge into his jacket. After a quick run to the Pokemon center by Roark Vecransyh stands across from him with Xylina floating faithfully by his side as always. Roark has all of his Pokemon standing behind him and his Steelix is in the center of the field ready for combat. Vecransyh looks down at his pokeball and grins before releasing Banette onto the field. He looks up at his opponent and back at Vecransyh,
"So... this is my opponent?" Vecransyh nods, "Fantastic... All righty! Leave it to me!" Banette is then enshrouded in darkness as he chants and Steelix' body slightly darkens. Banette looks a little winded as he strikes a battle pose, "Now we can begin!" Steelix slams his head down on the ghost but he slides to the side and lands a Sucker-punch on the serpent before leaping into the air and raining down shadow balls while the Steelix continues to look like it's suffering from something inside of it. Banette lands in from of the Steelix and is slammed in the side by the Steelix' head sending him crashing into a wall. Steelix then collapses onto the ground. Roark blinks as Banette walks back onto the field,
"Why did he just faint right there?! You didn't do hardly any damage to him!" Banette lets out an evil cackle,
"I sacrifices half of my energy to curse him. I knew I was no match for something like that so I did what I had to..." Just as Banette finishes his sentence he's sent flying backwards by Rampardos into a wall. Banette scowls, "Dude! Party foul!" He then falls unconscious and returns to his pokeball,
"Don't worry Banette you got one of 'em." Vecransyh takes out a second pokeball and releases Drifblim from it. Drifblim hovers and dodged out of the way of an oncoming Rampardos. Drifblim releases a wave of psychic energy but Rampardos barrels into him knocking all of the wind out of the balloon and leaving him flat on the ground. Drifblim returns to his pokeball. Rampardos then roars in pain but shakes it off. "Aftermath did a little damage but not enough... Xylina! I'm counting on you!" The ghost smiles brightly as she floats ahead of Vecransyh with a serious expression on her face. She makes quick work of the weakened Rampardos with rapid-fire successions of ice beams and soon afterwards, Xylina and Golem are nearing the end of their battle. Xylina is tired and so is Golem as they continue attacking each other. Suddenly Golem begins to glow brightly and Xylina is caught in a massive explosion that covers the field in black smoke. They hear Roark through the smoke,
"Well crap. Look like you win. Beat Xylina though." As the smoke clears Roark makes a stupid look as he sees Xylina unharmed by the blast, "Oh my god I forgot that normal doesn't effect ghost..." Xylina giggles,
"It was also six on three so your odds of winning were pretty low after your Rampardos got frozen pretty thoroughly."
Roark returns to the Pokemon center only to have his ass handed to him by Scarlet and after another trip to the Pokemon center he stands across from his brother,
"Good luck brother. You'll need it" Kaza smirks,
"I'm tired of my family looking down at me like a failure!! I'll show you!! I'll show you all!!!" Drake smiles lightly,
"I see why he had such a superiority complex before." Vec turns to him,
"What do you mean?"
"Well, his family must have always viewed him as an inferior trainer to them which might be why he left the Sinnoh region and went to Johto. He'll win. He has too much riding on this match to lose." Roark releases his Steelix from his pokeball and the serpent roars at the trainer,
"Fine Kaza but this is the big leagues now. You're in Sinnoh so things won't be easy, especially for you." Kazamaru growls and throws a pokeball releasing his Camerupt in a flash of light,
"SHUT UP!!!! ERUPTION!!!!!" Roark staggers back as the giant camel fires boulders of burning rock from the craters on his back that bury the head of the serpent and fall on every joint of the serpent's body leaving it unconscious, "I'M NOT A KID ANYMORE AND I'LL PROVE IT TO YOU!!!!!!" Roark releases his Golem that makes quick work of Camerupt with Earthquake and physical attacks. Roark smirks,
"You've still got a lot to learn." Kaza returns his Camerupt and releases his Aggron in a flash of light Aggron roars at Roark glaring at the trainer. Roark smiles slightly as he gazes up at the blue triceratops, "So... you evolved your starter?"
"AND NOW HE WILL FINISH YOU!!!! THE POKEMON YOU CALLED WORTHLESS IS GOING TO BRING YOU DOWN BROTHER!!!!" Golem starts to roll quickly towards Aggron who, having an already deep hatred of Roark, simply lands a brutal focus punch that stops the Golem in its tracks. Kaza smirks, "See?" Golem then starts to glow brightly before exploding. As the smoke clears Aggron looks fairly beaten up by the intense blast. Roark releases his Rampardos onto the field and it roars at Aggron. Aggron stands weakly and looks towards the Pokemon remembering battling him over and over again in his youth only to fail time and time again. Aggron's hand becomes coated in bright silver energy and he punches into Rampardos' head as he rushes towards him. The impact is a stale-mate and both Pokemon fall unable to continue. There is a silence before Aggron weakly stands and snorts releasing grey smoke from his nostrils as he glares at the shocked trainer. Aggron and Rampardos return to their pokeballs and the two battlers walk to the center. Kaza looks up to his brother's face because Roark is taller then him and he sees his brother softly smile,
"I always knew you'd become stronger then me if I pushed you hard enough. I always had faith in you Kaza." Kaza and Roark join hands then go into a hug. After the hug is over Roark lays a hand on his brother's shoulder, "I have a request of you Kaza."
"What is it?"
"Now that you have this power I want you to take down father. He's had his title as strongest in our family for much to long and I think you're the one who needs to take it from him. And... I'm sorry for everything. Always being so hard on you." Kaza nods with a smile,
"Don't worry. I know you went well I just never knew it till now. So anyway... you ever get a girlfriend?" Roark shakes his head,
"Nah, girls just aren't interested in the first gym leader. It's that way across the board for all the regions." (Brock) Kazamaru grins,
"That's too bad... Scarlet!!" Scarlet walks over to him and tilts her head,
"What?"
"Roark, this is my girlfriend." Roark looks upon Scarlet and blushes,
"Damn. Good on ya bro!" He then hands his brother the Coal badge with a happy grin. After saying their goodbyes to Roark the group heads to the local Pokemon center for the night awaiting the next day where they would make the trip towards their next badges.