A Time For Change...

~~~CHAPTER ONE~~~
vs. Hitmonlee​

A bead of sweat started to appear on Katsuya’s forehead, as the heat of the battle started to get to him. Kaze’s Flamethrower attack might have had something to do with it, as a red-hot blast of flames shot out from his mouth, aimed at his opponent. The opponent in this case was a Hitmonlee, the brown bodied Kicking Pokémon whose legs were strong enough to reportedly cause lethal blows to those that encountered it. This Hitmonlee used its legs in another way, however, as it countered the move nimbly, with its trainer calling for a Hi Jump Kick. Both Kat and Kaze were caught off guard as the Hitmonlee jumped in to the air, stretching out one leg ready to connect with Kaze; to make things worse, the Hitmonlee’s accuracy was spot on, connecting with Kaze right in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

“Kaze! Come on buddy, get up, you can pull through this!”

The opposing trainer was impressed by Kat’s dedication to his Pokémon – he had misjudged him at first sight. Not many people took Kat seriously, though: his odd dress sense, which often saw him match two completely contrasting bright colours, was bad enough in making him seem a bit of an oddball. Coupled with his manic hair (which at the moment was spiked up), showing off all the various colours highlighted in it, the teenager was not the type of trainer that many would normally fear. In battle though, any type of belief that Kat would be a walkover was quickly dispelled, especially when he had his Magmar on his side. The Spitfire Pokémon, affectionately called “Kaze” by Katsuya, had been his starter Pokémon, constantly by his side from the day the two first met each other. Kat had spent a long time training Kaze to be the best that he could be, symbolised (in his mind, at least) by the size of the flame burning on the end of Kaze’s tail. Stood tall, Kaze’s red and yellow flame-like body was an imposing figure, and one that most trainers were mightily impressed with – a strong Pokémon raised by an equally strong Pokémon Trainer.

Right now though, Kaze wasn’t looking so imposing, as he struggled to his feet. Still, the fact that he had taken the Hi Jump Kick and managed to get back up was impressive, but the wear and tear of the battle was starting to show. Kaze was breathing heavily and some scratches and grazes had appeared on his chest – but this wasn’t to say the opponent’s Hitmonlee was free from damage, as it too was showing signs of some damage, particularly where an Ember attack had caught it in the chest earlier in the battle, leaving a black mark present. Still, it certainly looked like it was coming off the better so far in this contest, and its trainer was looking confident that he was going to come out on top.

“Hitmonlee, it’s time to finish him off – take him out with Close Combat!”

This was the last thing Kat needed to hear: he knew that the barrage of attacks coming from Close Combat would well and truly wipe out Kaze from this battle and possibly even leave him with other injuries. The Hitmonlee began to charge towards Kaze, meaning Kat only had a split second left to try and make a command that would keep him in this battle. Then, it hit him: Close Combat required the opponent to be able to see what it was trying to hit, so therefore...

“Kaze, you’ve got to use Smokescreen now to try and dodge this attack!”

Kaze’s panting stopped briefly as he breathed in as hard as he could. A plume of black smoke came out of his mouth and started to fill the area around him, making the visibility drop to almost zero. The Hitmonlee, however, was committed to the attack, charging in to the smoke; Kat could hear the Pokémon’s powerful legs swing in the smoke, actually beginning to make it clear as it tried to find Kaze amongst the haze. A couple of seconds passed, feeling like an eternity for Kat, as he waited and hoped that Kaze had managed to dodge the attacks. Then, the Hitmonlee burst forth from the black cloud, looking round in a confused manner, obviously wondering where its target had gone. As the Smokescreen began to clear, Kat saw out of the corner of his eye the unmistakeable flame on the back of Kaze’s tail: his Pokémon was still standing, and out of the Hitmonlee’s sight.

“Great job Kaze,” Kat shouted towards his Pokémon, the delight that his plan had gone well obvious in his voice, “now let’s bring this one home with a Flamethrower!”

The Hitmonlee spun round, having seen where Kat was calling out to – but all it could see was a column of flames heading towards it. This time, there was no response from either Pokémon or trainer – Kat’s plan had worked and caught both of them completely off guard, meaning that by now it was too late to dodge the attack. The Flamethrower caught Hitmonlee directly in the chest, and the power of the flames lifted it up in to the air and across the meadow that the battle was taking place in. Confident that his attack had dealt the winning blow, Kaze closed his mouth and the flames almost immediately died out, leaving only his tail flame – which was now burning even brighter, red and orange embers dancing away from it in anticipation of victory. Hitmonlee landed hard on the ground, bouncing a couple of times as its legs flailed wildly. An even bigger black scorch mark was on its chest, while other parts were battered and bruised from the landing.

“No, Hitmonlee!” The opposing trainer called out, looking frantically as his Pokémon lay on the floor, obviously unable to battle any longer. “Argh...you win...Hitmonlee, return!” The trainer pulled out Hitmonlee’s Poké Ball and recalled his Pokémon, the red beam enveloping Hitmonlee before drawing it back in to the capsule. Kat breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the battle was over: it had been tough, but once again Kaze had come out on top. A smile spread across Kat’s face, and he rushed over to congratulate his Pokémon.

“Great job Kaze, you were awesome out there!” Kat exclaimed as he patted Kaze on the back. Suddenly, Kaze lurched forward, crashing down hard on to his knees, wincing in pain.

“...mar...” The weak cry coming from his Pokémon alarmed Kat. He knew that the battle had been tough, but Kaze had been in ones like this before and never shown so much of a reaction after the battle was over. He knew that he had to get him to a Pokémon Centre as quick as possible for a check-up, and to make sure that he wasn’t suffering from any serious injuries. The problem was...where was the nearest Pokémon Centre? Kat had no idea: he had been wandering through this meadow on the way to Viridian City, but he was neither sure of his location in proximity to the major city, or to the same town from which he had travelled from. He certainly couldn’t see Viridian on the horizon, so he figured that trying to head there was out of the question, given the fact that this could be a serious emergency. Thinking quickly, he recalled Kaze to his Poké Ball and ran over to the other trainer.

“Hey, excuse me – do you know where there’s a Pokémon Centre nearby? I only know of the one in Viridian City, but I don’t know if that’s close enough to get there any time soon.” The worry in Kat’s voice was obvious, and the other trainer responded quickly, pointing to the west as he did so.

“If you head down there, you’ll reach part of the Viridian Forest. There’s a small clearing that leads to this little place called Cyan Town, there’s a Pokémon Centre there. I hope your Magmar is okay, and thanks for the great battle – I certainly learned a lot from it!”

The opposing trainer offered Kat his hand and smiled; Kat responded by shaking the trainer’s hand and thanking him for the tip off. Kat then took off as fast as he could across the meadow, racing to get to the clearing in the forest. It was an unseasonably warm day, and with few clouds in the sky, the sun was beating down on Kat, and he was beginning to feel the effects of it. Wiping sweat from his forehead, he didn’t stop running as he took his heavy leather jacket off and flung it over his shoulder in an attempt to cool himself down. After what seemed like an age, he reached the forest and found what he assumed to be the clearing in question. While the path was clear of trees, those around it gave a good coverage of shade and therefore meant that Kat was able to cool himself down a bit.

“This place had better be open,” Kat thought to himself, “or else I’m seriously in trouble.” Katsuya started to jog down the path, noting a post listing the fact that Cyan Town was 2km down the path. Thankfully, the path seemed to be heading in a straight line, so Kat assumed that he didn’t need to worry about getting lost. As the shade increased, blocking the light, he had to make sure that he didn’t trip over anything on the floor, meaning he had to leap over some branches and stones dotted across the path. Suddenly, a flash of light caught Kat from the corner of his eye; it was blindingly bright and almost seemed to have a green tinge to it. Kat shut his eyes and stopped running to try and protect himself from the light – but just as quickly as it had appeared, the light had disappeared. Kat opened his eyes, and found that the shade had disappeared slightly: indeed, it was back to the amount of light from when he had entered the forest. His brow furrowed as he wondered what had just happened, but any confusion disappeared as he realised he still had to get to Cyan Town as quickly as he could. As he continued on, he saw something that seriously confused him.

“Cyan Town: 2km”

It was the same post that he had seen a minute or so before. Now Kat was seriously wondering what was going on. He hadn’t made a wrong turn, had he? Kat looked round at his surroundings. He hadn’t been looking around to be fair, instead focusing on the ground to avoid tripping over. Maybe when that light had hit him, he had turned around in his confusion? But then why was the sign pointing in the same direction as before? Nothing was making sense, but even with the confusion starting to really work him up, Kat knew that he still had to get help for Kaze – so he figured that the best course of action was to keep on going to Cyan Town. This time though, he kept his eyes peeled to make sure he definitely was going in the right direction. He recognised one rather large stone in the path from earlier...this was definitely the way he had travelled minutes before. All of a sudden, the same light flicked in front of his eyes. Kat stopped dead in his tracks and looked around, trying to find the source. He looked to his right: that was when he saw it. Something flashing in the bushes, emitting the light – but before Kat could do anything about it, the light got too bright and he had to shield his eyes. Kat tried to stumble towards it, but within a few seconds, the light had disappeared.

“Wh-what?” Kat exclaimed when he opened his eyes. He looked around to see that he was right back where he started, under the shade of the trees. After a few steps forward, he saw the same route marker post in the side of the clearing, confirming his return; something was going on, and it was something to do with whatever was making that light. Any thoughts about trying to get help for Kaze went out of the window – especially because there was no way he was going to make it to this town if this light kept on sending him back to the front of the clearing. With this in mind, Kat decided to take alternative action, heading in to the right hand side of the forest, slowly creeping through it in an attempt to avoid the light by sticking off the clearing. Ducking under outstretched branches, making sure that there weren’t any wild Pokémon that he would possibly disturb, Katsuya seemed to be making good progress.

Suddenly, the light flickered in front of his eyes. This time though, he could see exactly where it was coming from: a small cluster of bushes seemed to be housing whatever was making this light. Kat was not going to let it get away this time, as he broke out in to a mad dash, racing through the undergrowth as the light grew in intensity. As his eyes started to sting from the exposure, Kat leapt through the air, diving in to the bushes without thought for his own safety. His face was scratched by twigs and thorns, as he tried desperately to use his hands to protect his eyes. He landed on the floor and looked up immediately, as the light struck him with its full strength...and yet he could see perfectly fine. It was almost like the light had enveloped him and that all his surroundings were the same. That was the point that Kat realised what he was now facing.

The small Pokémon was levitating in the air, looking directly at Kat with large blue eyes, encircled with black rings. Its diminutive body had a green tinge to it, with only the blue tips of its antennae and its translucent wings being of a different colour. It was silent, with only the sound of its light breathing matching Kat’s heavier gasps of air. The trainer’s mind was racing, as he realised that he was face to face with a legendary Pokémon.

“...Celebi...”

“Bii, bii!” Celebi called out in response to its name, before it floated backwards away from Kat. The light began to die down, and in a flash it had disappeared. Their surroundings had changed to some degree: there seemed to be more trees, the bushes had disappeared, and most notably there was now a small campfire in front of Kat. That was useful, however, for Kat, as otherwise he would have been unable to see – it was now night, and through the bit of the sky he could see through the canopy, there were an abundance of stars. Katsuya pushed himself up to his feet, brushing himself off as he tried to work out where exactly he was. Celebi was still looking at him, and Kat looked back at the legendary Pokémon with intrigue and wonder – he knew that the likelihood of any trainer ever seeing one was slim to none. There he was, stood opposite one...

“Good job, Celebi.” Kat froze as he heard the gruff voice come from behind him, and a hand came to rest on his shoulder. “Sorry about the rough landing, kid.”

 

~~~CHAPTER TWO~~~
vs. Celebi​

Katsuya broke free from the man’s grip in panic, spinning round as he moved away to see the tall figure responsible for the hand. At first glimpse, he looked to be a fair bit older than Kat, probably in his thirties, wearing a shoddy brown jacket over a dirty white t-shirt (encrusted with dirt and dust) and trousers. He had a shock of white hair and a black tattoo over his right eye in the shape of a crescent moon – to say that he looked odd was an understatement. Kat knew that he couldn’t exactly pass judgement on that, given the way that he chose to present himself to people, but the fact was that this guy looked scary as well. Kat stumbled backwards over a rock as he tried to get away though, landing hard on the floor. Still somewhat in shock, he attempted to scramble away as soon as he landed. The man shook his head and started to walk towards Kat, as Celebi flew up next to his side.

“Hey, look, I’m not here to hurt you. Celebi has brought you here because I asked it to – well, not you particularly, but a trainer that was strong enough to help me.” The man looked stopped and smiled at Kat, as Celebi flitted happily around him. Kat found himself pushed up against a tree, unable to move any further, effectively forcing him to deal with the man. Kat tried to regain his composure, fear and shock having taken hold of him.

“Who are you? Where are we? What’s go—“

“Whoah, settle down. I’ll answer everything, just come over and sit by the fire. I’ve got some food and supplies there. Just...keep your voice down, alright? We can’t let them hear us.” The man nodded at Kat, walking back towards the campfire and picking up a dusty, tattered old satchel that was on the floor as he did so. Kat’s gut instinct was to run as far away from this guy as possible, but since he had no idea exactly where he was, that might not be the wisest thing to do. Against all his better judgements, Kat stood up and followed the man to the campfire, sitting down on a nearby rock that would act as a good enough seat for now. The man was busy preparing what appeared to be a soup over the campfire, as he added a number of different herbs and ingredients to the mix, stirring it before he too sat down. Celebi, meanwhile, landed close to the man, but seemed to also keep its distance.

“Alright, kid, before I start answering any of your questions, you’re going to answer some of mine. Might not seem fair, but you’re gonna learn pretty quickly that fair doesn’t really come in to things here – at least not at this moment in time. So, you tell me who you are, where you came from, all that stuff. Go.”

The man looked at Kat, who seemed to be a bit taken aback but the sudden line of questioning. An uncomfortable silence followed, before Kat decided to break it with his answers. “My name is Katsuya, although everyone calls me Kat. I’m from a little town in Johto near Ecruteak City, it’s—“

“No, that’s all I need to know, the fact you’re from Johto. So you’ve probably been to the Ilex Forest at some point in your life, probably one of the reasons why Celebi decided that it would choose you. Next question, what Pokémon do you have?” The man pointed at the three Poké Balls on Kat’s belt as he did so, his direct questioning only seeming to be ever more threatening given the tone of his voice.

“Erm...well there’s Tasuka, my Flaaffy, then I have my Starly – she’s called Chikato. Then there’s my Magmar, Ka—oh man, I forgot!” Kat exclaimed, pulling Kaze’s Poké Ball from his belt in horror. “Kaze, he’s hurt, we had a battle a—“

Before Kat could finish, the man had grabbed hold of him, putting his hand across Kat’s mouth. Kat struggled but the man would not let go, and Kat’s protestations were getting him nowhere with the man’s hand blocking out the sound. The man’s eyes darted around the forest that surrounded them, obviously watching for something. Kat stopped struggling as he realised that, for now at least, he wasn’t in any harm, and after a few more seconds the man released him – although to say that he didn’t look happy would be an understatement.

“I told you to keep quiet, didn’t I? If they find out we’re camping out here then we’re in serious trouble, especially with Celebi here!”

“Look, I’m sorry, okay, but...Kaze, he’s hurt, he needs to get to a Pokémon Centre, that’s why we were trying to get to Cyan Town in the first place. Celebi kept on moving me backwards to the entrance of the forest though, I couldn’t get anywhere!”

The man shook his head, then a finger at Kat, as he stirred the soup one more time.”No, Celebi did not move you backwards, it shifted you backwards...in time. Celebi is a legendary Pokémon who moves itself – and people – through time. Hence why you’re here, we’re in the exact same place you were from whenever you turned up, it just looks a little different because of the time lapse.” As he said this, the man took a small stone bowl out of his satchel and scooped some of the soup out of the pot. Holding the bowl in one hand, he pushed the button on Kaze’s Poké Ball and released the Magmar. When the white light subsided from Kaze’s release, it was obvious that he was still in a large amount of pain; the flame on his tail was nowhere near as big as it should be and he was breathing erratically.

“Kaze, buddy...” Kat’s voice quivered as he rubbed his Pokémon on the back. He was seriously worried about the condition he was in, as he looked to be in a much worse state than he was just a few minutes before. Of course, if what this guy was saying were true, those “few minutes” could have been any time given the way Celebi had sent Kat through time. The man finished stirring the soup in the bowl, before walking over to Kaze. Both Kat and Celebi watched intently as the man helped Kaze drink the soup, before motioning to Kat to send Kaze back in to his Poké Ball. Kat did so and then stopped to think about what had just happened. He had let a relative stranger – indeed, a man whose name and motives he had no idea about – give his Pokémon a bowl of “soup” that could in fact be anything. He had done nothing to stop it...but why? There was something about this man that made Kat think that he could be trusted: the fact that Celebi seemed to be working alongside him was perhaps one such reason. When Kat looked up from the ball, the man was gesturing a bowl of the soup to him.

“It’s a revitalising soup; it works for both Pokémon and humans. It’s really tasty too, it’s a recipe passed down from my ancestors. Time travel takes a lot out of you, especially when you do it several times in one day – I know that from experience. Now, after you take this, there’s just one more question I have to ask, and I know it’s going to sound like a bit of an odd one, but it’s vitally important.” Kat nodded as he took the bowl from the man; the smell wafted up and immediately sent Kat’s senses wild, as the herbs and spices tingled in his nostrils. After blowing on the soup to cool it down, he took a sip, and the taste was just as glorious as the smell. Kat could see exactly what the man meant when he said that it was revitalising; in many ways, he hadn’t felt as alive as he did at that exact moment in time.

“Oh man, this is so good, what’s in it?” Kat exclaimed after taking another sip of the soup. The man chuckled lightly, before looking back at Kat.

“No, sorry, secret recipe and it’s going to stay that way. Besides, I said that I was one the asking the question...so here it is. When are you from?”

Kat was taken aback by the oddly posed question. It took him a moment to put two and two together and realise that, given Celebi’s habit of time travelling, it very well might be a relevant question. “Well...I guess when I’m from would be 2010...” Kat shrugged his shoulders – he figured that this was what the man wanted to know, although that was easier said than done given the number of questions that had been fired off at him.

“I must apologise,” the man said with a hint of remorse in his voice, “as it is not in my nature to lie, but I am afraid that I have done so. Given your answer to my last question, I must ask you another two, but I shall keep them brief. The first is whether or not you have heard of a group called the Council of Viridian?” Now, the man’s voice was deadly serious, and he looked at Kat with a burning intensity. Kat racked his brains, setting the bowl of soup down on a nearby stone as he did so; he didn’t remember that name from any type of history lesson at school...but saying that, he didn’t really pay too much attention in history. He didn’t pay much attention in school, to be fair, but that wasn’t exactly a pressing matter at the moment. To the best of his knowledge, this “Council of Viridian” was nothing that he had heard of.

“No, I—“

“What about the Templars?” The man didn’t give Kat a chance to explain his answer, instead immediately firing off the next question with the same amount of seriousness as the one preceding it. This time, though, Kat knew exactly who the man was talking about. The Templars were, according to the information he had been taught, an ancient group of people dedicated to the welfare of Pokémon, who had defended them when the time was necessary to do so.

“Yeah, everyone has heard about the Templars!” Kat said happily, oddly proud to be able to answer the man’s question so positively. Another silence followed though, and it became obvious that the man wanted to hear more this time, rather than cutting Katsuya off so quickly like the last time. “Erm...well, yeah, they told us the Templars were these people who worshipped and dedicated their lives to Pokémon—“

“Hm, that’s good then. The timeline hasn’t been altered yet, as far as I can tell...” The man scratched his head, before he tilted his head back and downed the remainder of his bowl of soup. His face became almost serene for a moment, before it snapped back to the seriousness that Kat had become so used to during this odd conversation the two were having. “So, I guess it’s time for me to tell you what’s going on here. My name is Tsure...and I am a Templar.”

This took Kat completely by surprise; everything that he had been taught said that the Templars had been around hundreds of years before, but he had never heard of any in them in the modern day. Tsure seemed to have expected this reaction from Kat, though, and continued to explain the situation with quite some vigour in his voice.

“You’ve probably been told that the Templars disbanded many, many years ago, but you would be wrong in believing that. The Templars have been around for over a millennia, sometimes in public knowledge and sometimes in secret, but we have always been active in our beliefs and our dedication to Pokémon. This, at times, has involved us having to fight against those who go against our beliefs.” Having said this, Tsure paused, reaching in to his satchel before producing a tattered old scroll. Tightly and intricately bound, Tsure carefully released the paper before passing it on to Kat. The teenager looked at the scroll, although it was difficult to make it out given the faded lettering, matched with an almost illegible font. From what he could make out, it was some type of official notice; the only thing that he could make out for definite was the sign at the bottom, a stamp signed by the “Council of Viridian”.

“What is this?” Kat said, brazenly swinging the hand that held the piece of paper up in the air. Tsure let out something resembling a hiss, before gripping Kat’s hand tightly, carefully removing the piece of paper as Kat released his grip on it. Tsure shot Kat a glare as he took the binds and began to roll the scroll back up, making sure not to cause it any damage.

“This scroll is centuries old, I hope you know. Any damage that could be caused to it would be irreparable.”

“C-centuries?” Kat said incredulously, obviously shocked by Tsure’s claim. Tsure snorted some laughter as he placed the scroll back in to his satchel, making sure to seal the bag up so that no further damage could be caused to it.

“Yes, it’s from the 18th century if you must know. I suppose now would be the ideal time to tell you that we’re in 1743.” When this bombshell hit Katsuya, he very nearly fell backwards off the stone he was sat on. How could they be in 1743? Celebi surely couldn’t have sent him back nearly 300 years, could it? Kat went to say something, but Tsure cut him off before he had a chance to say anything. “Look, I know that it’s a lot to take in, but we don’t have time for you to start asking too many questions about this. It’s nearly dawn and we’re gonna have to clean this place up and then move out within the next half an hour. That scroll was an order by the Council of Viridian calling for the immediate capture and enslavement of all Pokémon, whether they were owned by trainers or not, for the betterment of humankind.”

“What do you mean, enslavement?”

“The Council of Viridian wished to harness the powers of Pokémon for their own good – using fire-type Pokémon as a form of heat energy, flying-type Pokémon only to forage and as a mode of transportation...I could go on but I think you get the picture. The Council did not care for the lives or wellbeing of any Pokémon, and only for themselves. This, of course, meant that they came in to conflict with the Templars. There were many clashes between ourselves and the Council of Viridian, and we came out victorious, striking this whole horrible tragedy against the livelihood of Pokémon from history.” Tsure’s anger seemed to be rising the more he spoke, with Kat noticing that his fists were clenching. Lines began to appear on his face, the tattoo beginning to crumple in to an undistinguishable mess as his complexion turned red with rage.

Kat was naturally horrified by what he was being told; he couldn’t believe that people would be that cruel to Pokémon to use them solely for their own benefit. An act of cruelty like that was something he couldn’t even comprehend; especially given how much he loved his own Pokémon. To him, they were like members of his family.

“Recently, however, there have been...problems. All the records of the Council of Viridian were held in our vaults, unable to be accessed by the world. During my time period, however, things have begun to change: people suddenly seemed to begin to know about the Council. The news has begun to spread like wildfire. I took it upon myself to investigate the matter, and realised that all the scrolls bar the one in that satchel had been stolen – it was, to put it in terminology you might understand, an “inside job”. One of my fellow Templars stole the information and appears to be working alongside the Council of Viridian as we speak, in this part of the timeline. I do not know how this person has travelled through time; I only know that I sought out Celebi to send me here.”

“So...why did I end up here?” Kat asked, still trying to take all the information in. Tsure pointed over at Celebi in response, before continuing to speak.

“It appears that the Council of Viridian has grown considerably in strength, perhaps as a result of the information gathered by whoever this rogue Templar is. As such, the Templars in this timeline have been unable to defeat the Council of Viridian – indeed, they have been mostly defeated. With this in mind, I have attempted to fight against the Council by myself, using the information that I am aware of...but their numbers are too many and too strong. I therefore asked Celebi to find trainers who were of a virtuous nature, who were strong enough to aid me in defeating the Council. So far, however, those who have attempted to aid me have been unsuccessful and have been defeated themselves, forcing a retreat and allowing the Council to further establish their tyrannous rule. My fear is that if the Council are not defeated soon, then the very fabric of time could be drastically altered, effecting the lives of both humans and Pokémon in the future – in your future. Celebi appears to believe that you may be able to help us in our fight against the Council...if you are willing to help me.”

Tsure stopped speaking, the colour fading from his face as he appeared to become calmer. Kat found that his right leg was shaking uncontrollably; he didn’t know if this was from nerves or from anger. Everything that he had been told was far from easy to take in, but the stories of betrayal and cruelty were playing heavily on his mind. How could he turn Tsure’s offer down? He couldn’t stand up for people who were using Pokémon as slaves, who were as selfish as this Council appeared to be...but it was a lot of responsibility for such a novice trainer like himself. Were his Pokémon up for such a task? Kat’s fingers rolled across the three Poké Balls on his belt – and that was when he knew what his answer would be. He couldn’t stand for a world where his friends were treated with such contempt by humans.

“I’m in. I’ll help you, whatever it takes.”

Tsure nodded his thanks, and Kat gave a dry smile back to the older man. Tsure lifted up some dirt from the ground and threw in on the fire, effectively putting it out within seconds. Both trainers stood up and, in the shadow of the night, shook hands. Celebi flitted up in the air next to Tsure, and the Templar bowed to the legendary Pokémon, before he turned to Kat. In the darkness, Kat couldn’t make out Tsure’s face very well, but he appeared to have a wide grin on his face.

“Let’s go, Katsuya.”

 

~~~CHAPTER THREE~~~
vs. Weezing & Lickitung​

Having silently crept through the Viridian Forest, Katsuya found himself perched on a knoll, lying next to Tsure in the grass. Celebi had travelled to another time, with Tsure explaining that this not only protected the legendary Pokémon, but also allowed it to find more trainers who could help take on the Council. Kat was unclear as to why they were lying on the knoll for so long – it had been at least a couple of hours. Tsure had told him that they had to be completely silent once they left the forest, in case the Council were listening in, so he wasn’t able to ask him why they were still there. Kat wasn’t exactly sure how the Council were meant to hear them anyway, given their relative distance from the field below them, but he figured that it was in his better judgement to listen to what Tsure said. So instead, the two just lay there in silence, until Tsure started frantically motioning at Kat with his hand, still not making a sound.

It didn’t take Kat long to realise that Tsure was telling him to look down below them; when he did so, he saw a sight that shocked and appalled him. A cartel of about ten people, all dressed in expensive looking purple robes, was leading a group of Pokémon through the field. Some were chained together, some were in cages (drawn by chained-together Stantler and Rapidash), and they were all of different species. Only one Pokémon remained free, a Loudred that was also wearing the same purple robes as the humans: it was at this point that Kat realised why they had to be so quiet. Loudred’s ears were well known for their sensitive hearing, along with the ability to amplify sounds to ridiculous levels. It was clear to Katsuya that it was being used for this purpose by the Council. Whether it had been coerced or forced in to helping the Council, he was unclear of, but that wasn’t something he wanted to ponder at that point in time.

“Everyone, silence.” One of the group spoke out to the others; Kat noticed that his robes were slightly different to the rest, having an extra red lining and a red hood on the back. He figured that this signalled some higher authority to the rest of the Council members; the man seemed to be fairly old, certainly older than Tsure. He had a grey beard and glasses perched on the end of his nose, with only a small amount of greying hair left on his head. As silence descended upon the group, the Loudred took a few steps forward, before it began to look around the field, obviously trying to listen out for other Pokémon. Kat made sure to remain perfectly still so as to avoid detection, and after some tense seconds passed, the Loudred nodded over at the leader of the group.

“It appears that Loudred has no found any other Pokémon in this particular field! What a pity...group, proceed on to Viridian City.”

The man snapped his fingers, and immediately the train started moving again. Kat’s fists clenched as he saw the caged Pokémon, trapped and barely able to move; several of them looked to be injured and in need of food and attention. One Primeape seemed to be unconscious in the cage, yet there seemed to be a total lack of regard for this from any of the Council members. Suddenly, the Loudred stopped, spinning around 180 degrees to look at some grass. From Kat’s vantage point, he could see something vaguely rustling in the grass; he hoped that it would start to head the other way or avoid detection, but any hope he had suddenly disappeared.

“LOUDRED!” was the cry from the Big Voice Pokémon; immediately, the train stopped and the figure leading them walked up to Loudred. Human and Pokémon seemed to almost be in conversation, when suddenly from the grass burst an Arcanine and two younger Growlithe. The three fire types looked at the train of Pokémon with a look of bewilderment on their faces. The leader of the group, meanwhile, let out an ominous chuckle, before pointing at some of the fellow Council members.

“Thames, Ross, Alfred. Capture those Pokémon and meet us back at the fortress, we will see you there. Be prompt.”

“Yes, Lord Isaac.” The three men produced some odd looking Poké Balls from their robes; Kat could make out some black and purple markings on them – they were nothing like any Poké Ball he had seen before. The Arcanine and Growlithe’s seemed to be taken aback by this development, but did not seem to be ready to run yet. Instead, one of the Growlithe seemed to be looking quite intensely over at the cages. At that point, Kat noticed that there was another Arcanine in one of the cages, making him begin to wonder if they were some kind of family. It made sense for them not to run if they were trying to break it out...but judging from what Tsure had told Kat so far about the Council, that wasn’t something that was going to happen easily.

“Hold it right there!” Kat’s head shot upwards as he realised that Tsure had stood up, casting an imposing figure with the sun beating down against his back. The assorted Council members all turned to look up at him, although Kat remained on the floor in hiding. He could hear the man identified as “Lord Isaac” chuckling again.

“Oh, look, it’s the Templar, trying to stop us once again. How pathetic – look, gentlemen, he cannot even find any more fools to try and help him fight us!” This was the moment Kat chose to leap to his feet, standing up next to Tsure. He was going to make a stand and he was going to make it now, next to Tsure – he had seen more than enough to rile him up to this point. “Oh, I was mistaken, it seems. He does have someone to fall alongside him. Hmph. Gentlemen, I am sure you will have no problems in destroying these two pathetic examples before you take those three creatures. Onwards!”

Tsure turned to Kat as the group started to get on their way again. “Kid...Katsuya, this isn’t going to be an easy battle. They are well trained and they are dangerous, they will not rest until we are defeated. They wish to take those Pokémon and we must defend them to our last. Now, let us battle!” With that war cry, Tsure leapt off the knoll and landed opposite the three Council trainers; Kat followed his lead, jumping down next to Tsure, digging his feet in to the ground to avoid falling over upon his landing.

“Pokémon, go!” The three trainers sent a total of five of the odd looking Poké Balls in to the air; when they opened, the Pokémon that appeared from them were a Machamp, Golbat, Marowak, Weezing and a Lickitung. All of them were strong Pokémon that could very easily pose a strong threat on their own, let alone when they were all grouped together like this. Kat pulled all three balls from his belt and ordered his Pokémon out, fully aware that Kaze might still be injured if he hadn’t recovered properly with the help of Tsure’s soup. Chikato and Tasuka appeared first, both looking ready for a battle. Kat bit down on his lip from nerves as Kaze popped out from his ball – and to his relief, he looked more than prepared for this battle.

“You three,” Tsure pointed at the Council members, rage flowing through his words, “will be defeated and learn the error of your ways! Go, Blaziken, Dewgong and Lunatone!” Kat watched as Tsure’s three Pokémon appeared upon command; all three looked to be very strong and obviously in the top percentage of their species. As he looked at Tsure again, Kat noticed the moon shaped tattoo once more, and began to wonder if it had anything to do with the Lunatone that Tsure had just called out to battle. Any questions like that could wait though – now it was time to battle.

“Weezing, choke them out with a Smog attack!”

Kat looked on as the Weezing let out a huge plume of choking, exhaust-like smog from the larger head’s mouth, heading right in the direction of Tsure’s and his own six Pokémon. He quickly had an idea to counter it, though, and the battle was well and truly on.

“Chikato, use Whirlwind, blow away all that Smog!” Kat nodded at his Starly, as she flew in to the sky, flapping her wings with a huge ferocity in order to pick up the wind enough to blow away the Smog. The attack seemed to work well, blowing away most of the choking, carcinogenic gas from the battlefield. As it drifted away, however, Kat realised that it had also worked as a distraction: while the Arcanine and the Growlithe’s were trying to break towards the rapidly moving cartel, the Marowak launched a Bonemerang attack, catching the Arcanine hard in the ribs and sending it sprawling to the ground. When one of the Growlithe’s stopped to try and go aid its family member, it was caught by the rebounding Bonemerang in the skull, causing the Puppy Pokémon to yelp out in pain before collapsing to the ground. Only one of the family remained standing, and it looked positively terrified. Both Kat and Tsure grimaced, before the Templar turned to Kat.

“This will not work if we do not try and pick off our opponent’s one by one. Three trainers against one is a better advantage than six Pokémon against five – especially given the fact that your Pokémon are not yet all fully evolved.” Kat nodded as Tsure, knowing that what he was saying was unmistakably true. “You focus on the trainer who owns the Weezing and the Lickitung – your Pokémon must try to defeat them. I shall take on the other two trainers and their Pokémon.” With that, Tsure rushed over to the side, ordering his three Pokémon to launch their own attacks on the three Council Pokémon left. Immediately, the battlefield had changed, with Kat and his opposing Council member effectively having their own section of the field to battle in. The man looked slightly older than Kat, probably in his mid-twenties, and had a fierce expression on his face; his scowl only highlighted by his shaven head, a feature he shared with the two other men they were battling. Kat assumed that was part of the pre-requisite to being a member of this Council.

“Hm. Weezing, use Smokescreen!”

Kat’s train of thought was interrupted by the command, although he wondered why the man would use an attack so similar to Smog, especially as that had failed to make a significant impact on the battle. Furthermore, as the black smoke began to fill the field, Kat was aware that apart from impeding the ability to see the opponent at that moment, there were no other side effects to Smokescreen, unlike Smog’s poisonous nature.

“Chikato, use Whirlw—wait,” Kat began to order his Starly to use the same attack, when he suddenly realised that the Smokescreen was beginning to fade from the origin point. This made no sense to Kat, as he could hear the Weezing still exhaling the cloud of smoke. The answer to his confusion came as the Lickitung blew the cloud apart, in the middle of a potentially hugely damaging Rollout attack – heading right towards Tasuka.

“Tasuka, look out, it’s gonna hit you!” That was the best warning Kat could give his Flaaffy, but it seemed to be too late as the Lickitung continued to pick up speed and forced, rolling along the grass, cutting a trail in the field floor as it did so. At the last possible second, Tasuka found himself suddenly being shoved out of the way of the Lickitung’s attack as Kaze dived through the air, opting to take the blow from the move himself over his fellow Pokémon. The blow connected directly in Kaze’s chest, and the Magmar crumpled to the ground, audibly gasping for air. The Lickitung, meanwhile, kept on rolling, picking up momentum and speed from smashing in to Kaze – Kat watched as it began to loop round in a semi-circle, heading right back towards Kaze and Tasuka. He didn’t need to order a command this time though, as Tasuka got in front of Kaze, obviously ready to protect him; a dazzling shower of blue sparks suddenly began to shoot out from Tasuka’s tail, all aimed at the Lickitung. The sparks connected with the Lickitung, and began to encircle the fast moving pink ball rolling along the floor. After a few seconds, the ball shape suddenly disappeared, as the Lickitung fell flat on its face, struggling to move, smaller blue sparks shooting from its body.

“No! Not a Thunder Wave!” The Council member suddenly seemed to be a bit more stressed, obviously not having expected his Rollout attack to fail so early on. “Fine, Weezing, if you can’t blind them with any gas, then we’ll do it another way: use Sludge on that Flaaffy!”

Kat was quick to react though – he knew that suddenly he was gaining the upper hand in this battle, and he wasn’t going to let it slide. “Chikato, we’re not gonna let that happen – Quick Attack!” Kat looked on intently as Chikato tucked her wings in and went in to a rapid freefall, a white light almost coming off the intense aerodynamic efficiency she was achieving. She connected with the Weezing just in the nick of time, a split second before it launched the black, tar-like Sludge from its larger mouth. The insult was added to the injury; having attempted to target Tasuka, the Weezing had been knocked off center by Chikato’s attack, meaning that the Sludge actually hit the Lickitung in the face!

“Bullseye! Ha, that was awesome!” Kat yelled out ecstatically, knowing that the Lickitung was now both paralysed and short of sight. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed what was effectively a light show coming from Tsure’s Pokémon, as Psywave, Aurora Beam and Flamethrower attacks happened in stereo. The Aurora Beam and Flamethrower hit the Marowak and Machamp respectively, but the Golbat swiftly dodged out of the way of the Psywave; the attack carried on however, connecting with the final carriage of the group that was being drawn in to the forest. The carriage overturned, disconnecting it from the Stantler that were pulling it, and landed with an almighty crash on the floor; Kris figured that whatever Pokémon was inside there, it was certainly a big one. His attention was also drawn to the Arcanine and the Growlithe’s, with the two injured members of that “party” starting to get back to their feet, slowly moving in the direction of the forest. Kat immediately shot back to the battle in hand though when his opponent called his next attack.

“Weezing, we have to recover, aim for that Flaaffy again, but this time with Flamethrower!” Kat thought he spotted a nervous tremble in his opponent’s voice, which gave him something of a confidence boost – he was doing something right, at least. Still, the Flamethrower attack that had just been called threw Kat out a bit: he assumed that the Weezing had learned it via TM, although he wondered exactly how there were TMs in 1743 – it may have been due to the rogue Templar that Tsure had told him about. Kat noted that Kaze was back to his feet though, and that meant that he had the perfect counter.

“Alright, Kaze, we’re gonna show them a real Flamethrower! Send your attack in to the Weezing’s one!”

Kaze nodded, taking a deep breath in as he walked directly in to the incoming column of flames being exhaled from the Weezing’s mouth. Katsuya hoped that his gamble was about to pay off as a massive barrel of flames leapt from Kaze’s mouth, all aimed in to the opposing flames. The two attacks met each other directly, and the two Pokémon suddenly became locked in a battle to see whose breath would last out the longer. Kat grimaced as he saw his Pokémon start to clutch his side: he wondered if Kaze had been winded by the Rollout attack, which would obviously cause him to be seriously impeded in this battle. Suddenly, he got a reprieve, as a third Flamethrower attack suddenly appeared and struck the Weezing – thanks to Tsure’s Blaziken. Kaze’s Flamethrower was then able to break through, leaving Weezing severely toasted by the two powerful fire attacks. Kat had no time to celebrate though, as Kaze was just as quickly sent flying through the air by a huge Power Whip, courtesy of the Lickitung’s tongue. The Lickitung had managed to wipe clear its eyes, and fought through its paralysis to clock Kaze – but it still looked to be struggling to continue in the battle. Kat already knew exactly what he wanted to do with it though, and that would require the help of Chikato.

“Okay, Chikato, we’ve got to go with another Whirlwind and let’s send that Lickitung flying over to meet his other friends!” Chikato responded immediately, furiously flapping her small wings with a determined look on her face. The Council member tried to call an attack out of the Lickitung, but the effects of its paralysis had picked up again, meaning that it was unable to do anything but stand still and begin to get blown back along the ground by Chikato’s attack. Kat held on to Tasuka to make sure that he didn’t get blown away alongside the Lickitung; one more big gust of wind came from Chikato and up went the Lickitung, soaring through the sky. In many ways, if Kat squinted, it looked like a metaphorical flying pig – and one that was about to land directly on to the Golbat. The Bat Pokémon, having managed to survive quite well for most of the battle against Tsure’s Pokémon, suddenly found itself being struck from above. This in turn knocked it directly in to the path of a huge Blaze Kick courtesy of Blaziken. All five of the opposing Pokémon seemed to be effectively defeated, a fact that apparently did not escape them.

“Brother Ross,” shouted over one of the two Council members facing Tsure, finally allowing Kat to put a name to the person who he was fighting, “we must retreat! You know what you must do!”

The man now identified as Ross nodded at the other two men, before he turned to his Weezing. Still looking slightly charred from taking the two Flamethrower attacks, it hardly looked like it was able to battle for much longer – at least, that was Kat’s opinion.

“Weezing, use Explosion!”

That was not, however, what Kat had been expecting. The Weezing floated over closer to the centre of the field and began to glow white, signalling the Explosion was imminent. “Chikato,” Kat yelled out to his Pokémon, “you gotta take cover now!” It was all he could do before he dived to avoid the attack; out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chikato sweeping down to the floor, trying to take some cover behind some rocks. The Council members, meanwhile, were already running towards the forest, obviously having been prepared for this attack. A second or two later, a huge blast of heat and sound hit Kat; his ears screamed as the sound of the Explosion banged against his eardrums, while the heat generated from it danced on his skin. He desperately tried to cover his face and ears, as the second effect of the Explosion set in: huge amounts of smoke billowed towards him, covering Kat as he struggled to breathe. It was choking him, and tears began to stream from his eyes as his lungs started to burn from inhaling too much smoke. Desperately, he crawled along the floor, knowing that if he stayed low then there might be more air. His ears were ringing as he tried to breathe in to his jacket, hoping that it somehow protected him from inhaling more smoke.

Somehow, Kat managed to crawl far enough to a point where he could see the smoke beginning to thin out. He pushed himself to his feet, and finally managed to find some fresh air, breathing in desperately for the necessary oxygen. As he wiped his eyes clean, his mind skipped to the next thought – his Pokémon. Looking back in to the smoke cloud, he couldn’t make them out, although he still was taking in to account the fact that his vision had been severely compromised. He tried calling out, but he couldn’t hear his own voice, let alone any response from any of his three Pokémon. It took a few more seconds before he saw a very familiar pink and white figure through the smoke – it was definitely Tasuka. Kat rushed forward, back in to the smoke, lifting his Flaaffy up in to his arms, before rushing back out.

Tasuka was blinking a lot and coughed before he nuzzled up against Kat, but apart from this seemed to be relatively fine. That was one Pokémon down, but there were still two to take account for; Kat half wanted to run back in to the smoke to try and find Chikato and Kaze, but knew that inhaling more smoke wouldn’t help him in the long run. In the back of his mind, something clicked, as he remembered that Chikato had the “Keen Eye” ability, as people called it: she could see perfectly fine through the smoke caused by the explosion. Surely she’d have escaped it by now, then, unless she was hurt?

“Chikato! CHIKATO!” Kat screamed at the top of his lungs, but his voice was still dulled by the ringing in his ears. If she was responding, he wouldn’t be able to hear her; Kat simply had no idea about what to do. Then, he saw something glowing in the smoke, a bright white light that disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared. Kat wondered whether it might be Celebi, although the light created from it wasn’t quite right for it to be Celebi. In fact, the light would be the answer to one of Kat’s dilemmas, something he very quickly became aware of as out of the smoke flew Chikato. Except she wasn’t the same Chikato anymore...she was a Staravia.

“Chikato, you-you evolved? That’s awesome! You look so much...bigger and stronger than before, girl! Okay, look, we’ve got to get rid of this smoke, so use Whirlwind to send it skywards!”

Kat beamed proudly at the Pokémon he once saw as being small and frail, now looking considerably bigger and stronger. She flapped her wings and soared in to the sky; looking up at her, Kat felt a sense of immense pride. He wondered whether this was the sense of pride a parent had in a child, with the fact that he had looked after ever since he had bought her when she was just a few days old from the Pokémart playing on his mind. Here she was, powerful, no longer the child but instead seli-dependant, having managed to survive and navigate the Explosion attack by her own accord. The ferocity of the Whirlwind attack she was producing was equally impressive, and within a few seconds of the wind picking up, the smoke had cleared. What was left, however, was a scene that Kat certainly wasn’t expecting.

To begin with, there was no sight of any of the Council members, but equally, there was no sign of Tsure and any of his Pokémon. Kat wondered whether Tsure had given chance, or was hiding somewhere else – but as he looked around, he couldn’t see anything. Kaze too was missing, with only the two Growlithe left remaining in the field – both of which seemed to be badly hurt. Kat assumed that they had been caught up in the Explosion attack and hadn’t been able to get away, although where the Arcanine was, he had no idea. A thought crossed his mind: had the Council managed to nab the Arcanine and maybe even Kaze in the confusion? Kat panicked, desperately calling out for his Magmar to respond from somewhere, but there was no response that he could hear. Instead, the response came from somewhere else in the field – as a metal cage door went flying through the air. Kat watched the carriage with intense intrigue, wondering just what type of Pokémon was in there. Whatever it was, it was heavy and it was incredibly strong, given the distance that the door had just gone flying. The answer came in an all too worrying way: a Rhyhorn burst out from the carriage, immediately spotting Kat and charging in a furious rampage towards the trainer and his Pokémon.

“Oh,” Kat thought out loud, “that’s so not good.”

 

~~~CHAPTER FOUR~~~
vs. Rhyhorn & Growlithe​

The Rhyhorn was directly on a course to smash in to Kat and Tasuka and there was little that Kat could do apart from try to avoid it; while Chikato might be stronger, none of her moves would be powerful enough to take down a Rhyhorn by herself. Similarly, not one of Tasuka’s electric moves would be of any use in taking on the ground-type Pokémon heading towards him. Kat wondered what he could do, but quickly found out that he didn’t have to do anything: Kaze was going to do it for him. His Magmar rushed out from behind a rock, diving through the air, his fist adorned with a ball of fire and aiming straight at the Rhyhorn. The Fire Punch connected and sent the Rhyhorn tumbling, causing it to essentially barrel roll across the field, its horn tearing a huge chunk of earth out of the ground and sending it in to the air.

“Good timing there Kaze, that punch was great!” Kat yelled encouragingly at his Magmar, although looking at him, he realised that the previous battle had obviously worn him out, as he was breathing heavily and grazed along his back. He didn’t appear to have been too badly hurt, if at all, by the Explosion though, which was of some comfort to Katsuya, although whether or not that would matter if this battle went on too long was something worth dwelling on. Unfortunately, Kat didn’t have the time to dwell on anything right now, as the Rhyhorn was quickly back on its feet, staring daggers right at Kaze. Kat got ready to order Kaze to strike first, when he noticed something: the two Growlithe were potentially in danger of being caught in the crossfire of this battle, which was something Kat couldn’t let happen. He looked down at Tasuka and suddenly had an idea.

“Tasuka, listen buddy – there’s not much point you risking getting hurt by the Rhyhorn, so as soon as Kaze and this Rhyhorn get in to battle, you have to go and try and get those Growlithe as far away from the action as possible. Can you do that?”

The nod from his Flaaffy was all that Kat needed to know, before he turned to face Kaze again...except this time, he was seeing something very different to what he was used to seeing. A white light had enveloped Kaze, the same type of light that Kat had seen in the smoke. Instantly, he knew that Kaze was evolving; he watched as Kaze grew taller and larger. More spiked ridges running in two parallel sides down the entirety of his back appeared, while his hands turned in to larger claws, almost resembling a cannon in shape. Kat couldn’t believe his eyes as the light disappeared and he stared at his very own Magmortar: vivid red, yellow and pink colours all over his body, with searing hot flames dancing off his head and tail. How this could have happened without the use of a Magmarizer, though, was playing on Kat’s mind. Still, he wasn’t about to complain: the situation of this battle had just got a lot more even, despite both of the Pokémon he had involved in it being at a disadvantage to the Rhyhorn. A Staravia and Magmortar was a much more favourable situation to be in then a Starly and a weakened Magmar at the end of the day – now he just had to put that advantage in to action.

“Alright Kaze, let’s start this one off with Flamethrower!” Kat watched as Kaze’s left hand fully turned in to a cannon shape, and immediately a huge blast of fire came shooting out of it at tremendous speed. The Rhyhorn had no way of escaping the attack, but managed to stand its ground, keeping its head low so most of its rocky back took the brunt of the attack. It still looked furious at the situation, and stomped one huge foot on the ground; Kat presumed this meant it was ready to make another charge, unless he did something to stop it.

“Chikato...erm...I know, use Aerial Ace!”

It was the best attack that Kat could come up with in the circumstances, knowing that Kaze would need to recharge his fire for a period before he could launch another attack. He watched as his newly evolved Staravia performed a backflip in mid-air, the momentum of which caused white streaks to dance around her wings and body as she aimed directly at the Rhyhorn. This time, however, the wild Pokémon was ready to counter the move, and just as Chikato was about to make contact, it swung its horn up in to the air. The Horn Attack connected right in Chikato’s chest, sending her spiralling to the ground and obviously causing her some harm, as she let out a loud cry of pain as she landed. Kat was tempted to rush over to help her, but realised that this would put him directly in the path of the Rhyhorn. Worryingly, though, the Rhyhorn stomped the same foot two more times on the floor, before it began to approach the still grounded Chikato. It raised its foot again, and the horror dawned on Kat about what it was about to try and do.

“Chikato, move, quick, it’s going to use Stomp on you!” Kat could hardly bear to watch as the Rhyhorn teetered on its other three feet, obviously ready to put all its weight on this Stomp attack – something that Kat knew would cause serious harm and injury to Chikato. Kat was just as caught offguard as the Rhyhorn, however, by what was about to happen; Kaze suddenly appeared from under the Rhyhorn, having snuck up on it as it was focused on Chikato, before he unleashed a huge punch to the Rhyhorn’s unprotected underbelly. The Faint Attack worked a charm, sending the Rhyhorn toppling over backwards, causing it to flail wildly on its back as it tried to right itself. As soon as it did, it found itself being confronted with another flaming fist to the face courtesy of Kaze. Kat was surprised at just how aggressive Kaze was, but he knew that for all he was protective of Chikato, Kaze was equally so – possibly to an ever greater degree than Kat. He was the “big brother” of the little group, so to see Chikato in danger had obviously riled Kaze up, so much so that this was turning in to a type of slugfest between himself and the Rhyhorn.

Kat’s attention was suddenly shifted from this though, as he heard a frantic bleating come from the other side of the field. Having carefully dragged the two Growlithe to the side, Tasuka had suddenly come under attack from one of them, although it was only shooting out some very weak Ember attacks at Tasuka. It was standing in front of the other Growlithe, obviously trying to protect it: in many ways it was almost a parallel to the situation with Kaze and Chikato. Both Growlithe’s fur had been singed by the explosion, that so much was clear, and the one that was unconscious on the floor seemed to be only lightly breathing, something that worried Kat immensely. If the one trying to ward off Tasuka exerted itself too much, it too could be seriously injured, so he had to try and come up with a solution to the problem.

“Tasuka,” Kat called out to his Sheep Pokémon, “use Thunder Wave on the Growlithe!” Tasuka responded well, getting out of the Growlithe’s attack range before setting off the familiar blue sparks that it had used in the previous battle. The sparks connected with the Growlithe, and almost immediately its front legs gave way, the paralysis sinking in immediately. The Growlithe, to its credit, seemed to be trying to fight it though and indeed started trying to use Ember again. Kat sighed. He didn’t want to have to do this, but he knew that the only way to stop the Growlithe from hurting itself was to knock it out.

“Alright, we tried Tasuka...use a Tackle attack, but be careful, please!”

Tasuka bounded towards the Growlithe, tucking his head down to protect himself from injury. The Growlithe, unable to move from the paralysis, seemed to be wincing even before Tasuka barged in to it; Tasuka made sure to target the Growlithe’s side and not its head, but the force still sent the Puppy Pokémon backwards, causing it to slide across the grass. When it stopped moving, the blue sparks were the only signs of movement, apart from its chest slowly moving up and down. Kat felt guilty, but knew that the best chance the two Pokémon had of recovering was by resting and not being left on their own in the wild. From his pocket, he produced two Poké Balls, throwing them over to the Growlithe, watching them both connect and draw them in, ready for the capture.

Kat didn’t get to see whether or not they had been caught, however, as his attention was swiftly returned to the battle between Kaze and the Rhyhorn. The Rhyhorn was wildly throwing weak jabs with its horn at Kaze, who was managing to dodge them for the time being; Kat recognised this as a Fury Attack just as the Rhyhorn finally caught Kaze, landing a tough shot to the leg. Kaze dropped to the other leg, shouting out in pain and clutching the injured area – this, however, left him wide open for the Rhyhorn to land a much more powerful Horn Attack right to the upper chest, sending Kaze right back across the other side of the field, such was the ferocity. The Rhyhorn tossed its head back frantically though after landing the attack; Kat quickly realised that Kaze’s Flame Body ability had caused Rhyhorn to burn itself, with one side of its horn and face badly scorched and obviously causing it some pain. Still, this only seemed like a minor inconvenience to the Rhyhorn, although it seemed to be breathing heavily, obviously running low on stamina from the intense battle. This didn’t stop it from beginning to charge towards Kaze, rampaging across the field with its head ducked down.

“Kaze, it’s going to use Take Down! You’ve got to try and get out of the way!” The command was useless though, with Kaze struggling just to get to his feet at the time, let alone being in any state to dive out of the way of a Take Down attack. Kat quickly unclipped Kaze’s Poké Ball from his belt and was all set to recall him, when a glint of white light streaked in front of him. Kat’s eyes could hardly keep up with it, but his mind was quicker, as he realised that it was Chikato responsible for the light. She was using Quick Attack, and catching up with the Rhyhorn at a ridiculous pace: she aimed and connected directly with the area suffering from the burn, causing the Rhyhorn to stop and cry out loudly in pain. Chikato was knocked silly by slamming in to the rocky exterior of the Rhyhorn, twirling in mid-air, before she managed to recover enough to land safely on the floor.

“Great job Chikato, that was awesome! But if one of you is good enough to cause problems for this Rhyhorn, let’s see how it deals with you after a Double Team!”

Chikato responded instantly, and after focusing for a second, began to produce exact copies of herself. A flock of Staravia appeared and encircled the Rhyhorn, causing it to have no idea as to which one was actually Chikato. It charged at one which disappeared the second the Rhyhorn made “contact” with it, obviously one of the many copies; Kat couldn’t even begin to count them, guessing there were at least 20 copies given the size of the circle around the Rhyhorn. Again it tried to attack another copy, but noticeably its charges seemed to be a lot slower than before – the battle really was taking it out of the wild Pokémon, which meant that it was probably drawing to a close. Kat decided that he wasn’t going to draw out the inevitable; he had one combo that would finish this one off here and now.

“Chikato, use Aerial Ace – you know exactly where to target, too.” Kat was confident that this time, the Rhyhorn wouldn’t be able to counter the move. The copies disappeared, revealing Chikato to actually be behind the Rhyhorn, giving her an immediate surprise advantage. She flew in to the air, before performing the acrobatic backflip once again, just as the Rhyhorn turned around to see that the move was already in motion. Chikato slammed down on to the burn, nearly knocking the Rhyhorn over with the force she put in behind the move. Its head spinning, it stumbled across the floor before finally coming to a rest; it was understandably still quite angry, but seemed to be struggling to come up with the energy to fight. As its vision focused, it realised that stood in front of it was a fully upright and mobile Kaze, his cannon arm aimed directly at it.

“Kaze,” Kat yelled out triumphantly, knowing that this would be the decisive blow, “use Fire Blast!”

A huge ball of red and orange fire immediately leapt from Kaze’s cannon, with the fireball quickly taking the form of the Japanese word ”大” . The Rhyhorn seemed hardly able to move, let alone dodge the attack, meaning that it caught the wild Pokémon head on. The force knocked the Rhyhorn over on to its back, flames enveloping the rocky plates and ridges on the Pokémon, before quickly putting themselves out. The burn on its face and horn intensified, obviously causing further damage to the Pokémon. Kat watched as it rolled on to its side, preparing himself to call another move in case it did manage to get back on to its feet. Instead, the Pokémon just lay there, exhausted and battle scarred, black scorch marks across its back – it had been defeated.

“Awesome! Kaze, Chikato, you two did a great job, I’m so proud of you for taking on a Pokémon that size and with such an advantage over the two of you. Now...let’s see if we can add another new member to our team!”

Kat pulled out a Poké Ball from his pocket and raised it to the sky, before spinning it towards the Rhyhorn. The ball caught the Rhyhorn on its underbelly, the red beam from the ball encompassing the Pokémon before drawing it in. The ball snapped shut and began to wriggle; Kat just hoped that he had done enough. His mind was racing as he watched the ball move, well aware that the day was far from over: he had two other possible captures laying across from him in serious need of some form of medical attention, as well as being reunited with the two Arcanine that they were in some way linked to. The Council of Viridian had escaped with a group of Pokémon that needed saving – and where was Tsure? The Templar had disappeared after the Explosion, effectively leaving Kat on his own to battle the Rhyhorn and deal with the situation...the man was a mystery in many ways, yet he also intrigued Katsuya to a great degree. For now, though, his thoughts were focused on the Poké Ball, willing it to stay closed and not to break open.

[[[Summary:
Pokémon Attempted: Rhyhorn (Hard) + Growlithe x2 (Medium)
Recommended Length: 50k-70k
Actual Length: 68,968 characters]]]

 

Claiming plox. You'll see your grade... uh... NO LATER THAN THREE YEARS FROM NOW.

 

Overkill grade is overkill.

Introduction: It’s a battle. Not that original—but at the same time, it kicked things off, showed me your character, was actually a fun to read battle, and had a conclusion that moved me to read on. You fulfilled all of an introduction’s functions, and did so nicely. There weren’t any awkward transition issues present—the ideas flowed from battle to thoughts to historical information and back again. You also kicked off the first conflict right away. It seemed from your introduction that this would be a rather fast-paced ride—and it was. Kudos on all the concepts and ideas behind an introduction, as you applied them to this piece. They were all carried off.

I was, however, immediately struck by a certain degree of “awkward prose.” On a readerly basis, this often warns me away from continuing something; on a graderly basis, it makes me start the grade with the grammar section. One thing to consider is that your readers will judge whether or not they want to continue reading based upon their experiences with the introduction of a story. If you have three minutes to edit something, focus on the introduction and the conclusion of each section. (Obviously, you have more... but those are the most relevant areas. If you have a spiffy middle but an iffier kick-off and conclusion, it'll invalidate all the hard work on the writing in the middle.)

Plot: This’d probably be the gem of the story—plot being the “magnet” is good according to some people and meh according to others. Personally, if I have to choose between a story with a decent writing style and story with a decent plot, I’ll take the story that’s got the words to back up whatever it’s trying to say. (Actually, realistically, I’d skip the “decent” and go get something amazing off my bookshelf.) At the same time, though, plot is the most important part of an action-adventure story such as this. It’s good that you have it down.

At this point, I can’t offer direct criticism for the plot in and of itself. There aren’t many opportunities for you to have plot holes, and it does look like you have an explanation for every “odd” occurrence. (The Magmar’s evolution worried me momentarily, until you expressed Kat’s own confusion. This was a good move—you turned something that normally would have irritated readers beyond belief into something that hinted at a mystery.) You seem to have everything under your belt at this point.

Keep in mind, though, that the scope of a time-traveling, world-manipulating plot like this is huge. It also has to remain realistic to a certain degree, though. Deal with it accordingly. Don’t underplay the gravity of the situation; but also, don’t overplay it. Specific advice on how to do so is not something that will be useful to give, as I’m not fully informed about where you’re taking it. All I can say is: Be careful. You look like you’re doing it so far; just stick with it.

When it comes down to it, I enjoyed your plot. It is well-done and entertaining, and also combines a lot of time-honored ideas that are age-polished for a reason. Looks like it'll turn out to be pretty darn interesting to read.

Grammar/Detail: You were very strong when it comes to functions, but weak when it comes to the nuances of prose (flow, awkwardness, length). I really only have a few grammatical errors to focus on before I get into the nuances of sentence formulation. Kudos to you, by the by—this is the first BMGf grade I’ve done in which the writer’s been at the point that I can actually focus on the writing itself.

Before I start: I don’t think I’ve ever seen more exclamation points in 70k characters. Good heavens. Even if Kat isn’t the sort of guy to use an inside voice, it’d be a bit less traumatizing to the punctuation marks if you took an opportunity or two to point his volume out within the narrative. If you use them every time he speaks, it kinda blends into a vague annoyance. This compromises the primary function of an exclamation point. They're supposed to make a bit of an impression on the reader, which they can't do if you see 'em every which-where. Highlight any average shouting through descriptive methods; save the exclamation points for unusual situations.

First off: stood. I have no idea what you did. I didn’t see this happening with any other verbs, though, so I assume it’s just occurring because stand/stands/standing/stood is slightly irregular.

What you have here is the simple past, stood. Look at the first quote. It’s grammatically incorrect. The character, at this moment in the narrative, did not stand in the past—he, in immediate, current terms expressed via past tense, executed the act of standing repeatedly. Hence, “There he was, standing opposite.” This shows that he continues to stand. “Stood” limits the word to a “at one point stood for awhile” idea; you need a “was at that very moment standing.”

Second off: dialogue tags.

Remember that unless the word at the beginning of a dialogue tag happens to be a proper noun, it isn’t capitalized. When commas were involved, you did this correctly. Exclamation points, you fudged a bit. “The opposing” should be “the opposing.” You were fine on this, most of the time; watch them in the editing process.

Third off: keeping parallel structure in your lists. Watch for it.

In all technicality, this isn’t an example of “unparallel” structure. There is, however, a certain degree of awkwardness. This is because of a “they were all” occurring after two parallel “some were” statements. For a grammatical structure like this, removing the and and using a semi-colon after the parentheses might have been a more coherent approach. You did this quite a bit.

Now we get to the fun part. SENTENCE STRUCTURE.

It’s too long. This is weird for me to say, because I love long sentences, and writers who can pull of long sentences are always fun. In your case, you use so many long sentences that they’re no longer this remarkable feat of stealthy comma use and smart grammatical arrangement. The fun of BIG FREAKING SENTENCES is that they draw ideas together that need to be drawn together, and do so in a way that you read, ‘n think, WOW. I WOULD TAP THAT GRAMMAR.

What happens in a lot of your sentences, though, is that you tie things in that would make more impact with separation. The general outline for “sentence length → idea” correlation:

Short Sentence → Big Idea
Medium Sentence → Necessary, but not Huge OMGIMPACT Idea
Long Sentence → Superfluous Idea that you Just Want to Get Out There in an Effective, Interesting, and Convenient Way (Also, some people claim they're useful to strengthen points by making the reader reread something.... According to my English teacher. Most people seem to find rereading things more obnoxious than convincing, but hey.)

Short sentences leave the most subliminal impact on a reader and their reading experience. You have no short sentences. This means that when it comes to making a point about what’s happening in the story—whether you want to show that Kaze is incredibly injured by describing his physical condition, or whether you want to drive the whole AHAHA FLAMETHROWER VICTORY home—the remarkab…ility… of many situations is lost. Try to look at your completed sentences and consider whether or not it’s an idea you really want readers to take away from the story, an idea that needs to get out there but doesn’t deserve a huge amount of deliberation, or an idea that is more of a “transition.”

Your overuse of long sentences lead you into some frighteningly awkward phrasing. There are long, coherent sentences—and then there are long, confusing sentences. Much of the time, yours were the latter. Immediately, in the first paragraph, I was struck by how many ideas were squashed together and ordered in a way that made communication fuzzy.

“A bead of sweat started to appear on Katsuya’s forehead, as the heat of the battle started to get to him.”

First sentence. Your use of “as” as a connecting word creates some odd tense—it should be “had started,” because the “as” indicates causality, and generally throws things into perfect past (as opposed to simple past). At the same time, though, it reads awkwardly. If you say it out loud to yourself, you might sense that it feels a bit mechanical. Halted. Because of the “as,” the active tense is nullified, too, so the reader isn’t drawn directly into the immediate events. Saying instead, “The heat of the battle started to get to Katsuya, drawing a bead of sweat from his forehead,” or something less awkward, could help you out a lot. Watch for functions like causality words (as, because, therefore) and “be verbs” (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been) that take the immediacy out of your writing and tack on functionless gimmicks. Used occasionally, for the purpose of placing emphasis on the object instead of the subject, they can benefit writing—employed constantly, though, they just bog it down.

“The opponent in this case was a Hitmonlee, the brown bodied Kicking Pokémon whose legs were strong enough to reportedly cause lethal blows to those that encountered this.”

That sentence is unwieldy for a combination of reasons.

A) Some of the grammatical choices are not the best. They are not wrong, but they are also not good ideas, as it were.
B) There were a lot of unnecessary words.
C) The ideas combined in this sentence could be separated for the sake of clarity.

You have two basic options: break off the sentence after “Hitmonlee” and reword, or keep the entire thing as one and reword.

Step-by-step HOW TO EDIT, I suppose.

1. Eliminate the extras.
2. Give more importance to the leftovers.
3. Consider whether or not the idea could be expressed in more comprehensible terms (smaller sentences and/or more clearly defined clauses)

First matter of business… Look for clauses you could say with fewer words. Unless you have really darn good amazing words that are not necessary, but certainly awesome as heck, things that don’t need to be said shouldn’t be said.

Now, on that subject, what makes something a “necessity” to writing? This varies from author to author, obviously, and is probably something you should work out for yourself. For the sake of explanation, though, a basic outline would be something that…

• Demonstrates aspects of a character
• Builds an image that you want the reader to see
• Creates an impression you want the reader to have… impressed upon them
• Ties in plot
• Furthers the action in a particular scene
• I’m sure this list goes on

Everything in writing should have a purpose of some sort. This includes the individual words—anything that doesn’t lend to the sentence should be taken out, as it makes the sentence lend less to the story. The sentence in question has words that build an image—“the brown-bodied Kicking Pokémon”—and give an impression—“whose legs were strong enough to reportedly cause lethal blows”. However, there’s also a bit on there that doesn’t do anything—“to those that encountered this.” It’s a granted that it’s encountering something that it’s kicking; the only instance in which you’d keep a clarification like this would be if it were a picture of what that encounter might look like. Which it is not.

Part two: Make the most of what you have. The sentence is now… “The opponent in this case was a Hitmonlee, the brown bodied Kicking Pokémon whose legs were strong enough to reportedly cause lethal blows.” First off, check to see that things don’t sound… off. “reportedly” should go after “legs were” because it’s talking about the “strong enough,” not the ability to “cause lethal blows.” Additionally, you have a pretty useless “were” in here. “whose legs reportedly kicked with enough force to kill,” or something to that extent, switches out “were” for a stronger verb. This makes the sentence all-around more… useful. Also, there’s a hyphen in “brown-bodied.” You neglected it. Finally, because we’re talking about an unfamiliar character, “a” Hitmonlee, you want to carry that “a” over to replace “the” in “the brown-bodied.” The idea of a Hitmonlee is unfamiliar at the beginning of the sentence; it should stay that way throughout.

Third, examine the sentence for opportunities to cut down sentence length. Sometimes, you want to keep length—now that the clauses are less awkward, you could go either way. I honestly like this bit as a single sentence, now. When the other ideas were mussing it up, it was too awkward. This works. “The opponent in this case was a Hitmonlee, a brown-bodied Kicking Pokémon whose legs reportedly kicked with enough force to kill.” Splitting it in two remains an option; as does adding a bit more meat and length to the description. Remaining aware of the potential awkwardness is key, here.

An optional, but recommended “fourth step” would be to look it over and double-check for things you could improve on. “in this case was” contains a be verb that could stay as-is, or be spiffed up. It’s at your discretion, though. Do keep in mind that you need to watch carefully for your tense and voice, because it’s something you mix up pretty often.

Don’t edit like this with all your sentences, necessarily, but you should consider the goals of clarity and effectiveness when you first write everything up.

Details: At this point, your main concern with your details is giving them more impact by consolidating the prose. This, I dealt with in the grammar section. Aside from those bits, my only genuine concerns when it comes to your imagery are the occasional lapse into tell instead of show, and the application of word choice. You choose images to describe at keen places, and describe them decently when it comes to a basic level of mental imagery. When I dig into the details, though, word choice comes up quite a bit short. In a lot of places, the words can be “low-quality” words, and sometimes are not apt to the situation. Take greater deliberation in your choices. You might consider fishing around in a thesaurus a bit. Don’t necessarily grab the largest thing you see there; stick to words you know, and words that sound good to you and give the tone you want. At the same time, though, spend more time thinking about it. It’ll strengthen your writing.

All that said, your word choice was very well done during the conversations. It was only in battles that it lapsed. This is problematic, as the vast majority of the story = battling.

Take, for instance….

“The Council member suddenly seemed to be a bit more stressed, obviously not having expected his Rollout attack to fail so early on.”

There’s a bit of tell and not so much show in here (you tell me that the Council member is stressed, but don’t give me an image of how; this happened, like the word choice floopsies, in a lot of your battle scenes). So watch that. Also, though, your word choice for the telling has some weaknesses. “Suddenly,” “a bit,” “obviously,” “attack,” “fail,” and “early” are all words that don’t hold much bearing. That’s about a third of the sentence. All of these words could be replaced with better ones—or, even better, could be swapped idea-for-idea with a phrase that shows the tenor of the Council member’s reaction. His shoulders could droop and his face could tighten when the Lickitung flopped flat on its face—he could do anything, really. As long as we see him do something. After he’s done that, moving into the narrative interpretation of these pictures (obviously disappointed that his Rollout strategy had collapsed before he got to squish anything) would work better.

As a brief side note, you didn’t give the Pokémon a huge amount of description. Graders will usually ask you to. Your description is competent, so just include more of it when it comes to the Pokémon.

Battle: Aaagggghhhhhh, so much battling. ;-; I don’t think I’ve ever read more battling in a single fic. You’re lucky you write killer battles that tie into character development and plot progression, because otherwise, I’d probably start ranting about how action is no substitute for COLD, HARD SUBSTANCE.

I’m divided on how I feel about this. This piece consisted... probably 85% of battling. The originality, though, of that battling was phenomenal—varied attacks, actual innovative strategies, individual move/strategic styles, described moves, detailed reactions, realistic blow-by-blow impact…. This had it all, really. Not only did it contain all this—it worked to unveil plot points, build up characterization, and draw attention. You also managed to integrate all of this well enough that it wasn’t just a tack-on “orite, mai mon needz teh capturezorz” battle.

At the same time, it’s battling, and there are some keys to battling that you didn’t always pull off. At points, they felt a little less engaging than a battle generally works best as. Battles are action scenes—they’re built to numb the viewer’s mind and keep ‘em from pulling out. Some stealthily incorporate important bits throughout the explosions and flying cars, but the fact still remains that if there’s fighting going on, it should have a pretty consistent basic level of gravity. On the one hand, you did a good job of not making the entire fic feel like one massive climax, what with grand statements and melodramatic plot twists left and right. That would have been obnoxious. At the same time, though, the rising action rose and fell really unsteadily, almost in a way that seemed accidental, and never reached a high climax point. Sometimes, in the middle of one battle, you’d have me on the edge of my seat—and then the next minute, I’d be all, “Oh, okay then,” without feeling any sort of deliberate peak transition. Once some of the battles reached their end, there was almost a “Well. *shrug*” feel. Nothing really grand had happened. While this is certainly realistic to the Pokémon world, it doesn’t lend itself amazingly well to a piece of writing that has this much battling.

You obviously can't have a BIG MAJOR AWESOME THING in every battle. However, honing tension is going to do you a lot of good. This is something that can be pretty tricky for a lot of authors. Normally, with a layout utilizing so many battles, you’d need absurd levels of gimmicky stuff to put together. Because you actually worked in alternate uses for your battles (beyond the simple entertainment, KABLOOM levels), you have freer reign on how much tension you want to put in, and where it needs to be. Some battles, you can pull off writing with a pretty leisurely feel; others, you’ll need more intensity. Pick ‘n choose at your discretion; just keep it consistent. Working in some genuine, remarkable build/crest points is going to be something to consider seriously, though.

Basic methods to increase tension….

• Work on the sentence effectiveness tips I gave you earlier
• Deliberately short sentences for back-and-forth fighting exchanges
• More gravity lent to the description (hone in on details that create an atmosphere of fear and worry—the poison look of a Weezing, the limping gait of a recently-hit Pokémon, the halting breath of Kaze on the ground)
• Take a bit more time on some of the details, then make others whizz by

Length: ☺

Verdict: No qualms whatsoever. Rhyhorn, Growlithe, and Growlithe captured. Your biggest weakness is the writing itself—which, while certainly a flaw that should be addressed, doesn’t present itself in a way that makes your story unpalatable. It merely makes reading it less engrossing. When you start trying for higher levels, the graders will start demanding more from you in the aspect of prose quality—but for a Hard and two Mediums, you did splendidly. Plot and battles are your strong points, in a lot of ways. Use that to your advantage. AND GOOD JOB.