Pokemon: Way of Life Chapter 56

Hi all,

Here's the next chapter. Freya makes her debut in an official match and the team arrives at the Pokemopolis ruins.

5th December

The next morning, the group said goodbye to Kylie and Marcus and continued their journey towards the Pokemopolis Ruins. It was particularly cold that morning, so they dressed in their warmest clothing and hoped it would warm up as the day progressed. Lucas wore his usual clothing, as he generated enough heat while running. The main road beside them was quite busy, with several vehicles passing in either direction.

It seemed that not only humans were on the move. The group spotted an unusually high number of wild Pokémon, thankfully the majority of them didn't bother them. It was a surreal start to the day. Nothing of note happened until mid-morning when Giru returned from his mission to investigate the bandit situation.

"Giru!" The robot appeared at Lucas' side, so he called for a short break. Shelly parked on the side of the road and everyone hopped off to stretch their legs.

"So what's going on?" Lucas asked the robot.

"Giru!" The robot pointed to the forest and gestured with his hands. Lucas interpreted it as Giru had found a bandit encampment in the forest. He was surprised that they would be so bold to place themselves so close to the highway, as there were still some Rangers patrolling the road occasionally. However, the bandits were adaptable, and became highly mobile, so they could pack up and leave at a moment's notice.

"What's going on?" Faith asked as she handed over a bottle of water.

Lucas took a long drink before replying. "Last night, I sent Giru on a mission to search for a bandit encampment. He says there is one in the forest, but I'm not sure of the exact location."

"He said?" Faith looked at Giru with doubt.

"There is an entire language contained within his name. You just have to interpret the inflexions."

"Giru!"

Faith nodded, "I think I understand him now. He just said you're an idiot."

"Anyways," Lucas said seriously. "If there are bandits in the area, we may encounter them today if they are out searching the roads for more victims. What if they want to do more than just steal our possessions? We have you and Misty in the group so I don't want to take any risks. I think I have to take pre-emptive action."

"What do you mean?" Jason asked.

"I was thinking of having Giru lead me to their encampment," Lucas said. "Then I may cause some mayhem to scare them off. I have enough strength to manage it with you-know-what."

"That's a stupid idea," Faith said flatly.

"Yep. Totally moronic," Misty agreed.

"I think you just want an excuse to show off," Jason chuckled.

"Not at all," Lucas protested. "I have the group's safety in mind."

"Why don't you call the police?" Faith asked, glaring at her boyfriend.

"But that sounds so boring," Lucas sighed, increasing Faith's anger further.

Lucas relented, taking out his phone before his girlfriend got violent. "Giru, do you know the coordinates?"

Giru displayed the information on the phone, and he memorised it before calling the emergency number.

"You have reached the Police helpline. What is the nature of your emergency?"

"Hello. My name is Lucas Walker, and I spotted a bandit's encampment while travelling on the road. I met some fellow travellers who encountered a pair of bandits around the same area as well."

"Where is your location?"

"I am travelling on the main road between Viridian City and the Pokemopolis Ruins. I have the coordinates for the encampment's location."

"That would help a lot. What is it?"

Lucas gave the coordinates and the operator asked several more questions, which Lucas answered without giving away that it was Giru who discovered the encampment. It was too bothersome to explain. The operator told him she would send a team to investigate the encampment. She advised him to stay put for the rest of the day in the meantime. Lucas hung up the phone with a grimace.

"She has a point," Misty sighed. "Besides, with how cold it is, I don't mind stopping for the day. Isn't the camping ground nearby? Why don't we camp there?"

Lucas clicked his tongue in annoyance. They were already on a tight schedule to reach Mulberry City before Christmas Day, but they could make up for it easily enough. His Acceleration skill continued to increase every day, and he had plenty of aura to continue running for a prolonged period of time.

"Okay," Lucas nodded. "The camping ground is about three kilometres away. Since it's the only one around for the next forty to fifty kilometres, then it will be a good idea to stop there. However, we need to be careful. Just because the camping grounds are enclosed, it doesn't mean that it is safe from bandits."

Everyone agreed, and so they quickly returned to the road and continued travelling until they spotted the walled camping grounds up ahead. It was located on the eastern side of the road, closer to the forest. A small dirt trail branched off from the main road and led directly to it.

Inside, the space was occupied by a number of tents, as others seemingly had the same idea of stopping for the day. There was a cabin in the far corner, which must have belonged to the person who looked after the camping grounds. A water tank was located towards the middle, available for everyone if they needed to stock up. In addition, there was a sheltered area where firewood was stored, which was free for travellers to use at the camping ground.

Several fires were set up outside the travellers' tents, with people roasting food over them, giving off a cosy atmosphere. There was even a stage where a Pokemon match was currently in progress. Lucas was interested, but the trainers looked far above his level, so he wasn't getting a match from them. Maybe there would be other trainers arriving later for him to battle against.

They set up their tents and Lucas built a fire which was lit by Imara with a single blast of Ember.

Jason prepared some meat skewers and they watched the other campers while they were roasting them over the fire. A few more travellers arrived while they ate their lunch, and Lucas spotted a couple of trainers around his age. Deciding to see if any were interested in a Pokemon battle, Lucas walked over and greeted them.

One trainer, a short guy named Maxwell agreed to the challenge, and they stepped up to the stage. Fortunately, this was a sanctioned Pokemon League stage, with camera equipment set up to record the trainer's battles. An old retired Ranger named Sam acted as the referee. He was also the caretaker for the camping grounds.

Jason set up his camera and started the live stream. They had scheduled to do one today anyway, so it was good timing. This way, his followers got to see him in action.

Lucas lined up opposite his opponent, and Sam summoned an Alakazam to raise a barrier around the stage. This was to protect spectators watching the battle.

"So, how many Pokemon do you want to use?" Lucas asked. "As you can see, I have five Pokemon with me."

"Let's go with a one-to-one battle," Maxwell said. "One of my Pokemon is carrying a slight injury, and another is still a baby Pokemon. So I only have one viable option."

"Since that is the case," Lucas said. "I will choose my Pokemon first to make it fairer. No need for a coin toss. How much do you want to bet?"

"Five hundred Pokedollars."

Once the match conditions were set, Lucas looked at his Pokemon, trying to decide who to choose. They all looked eager for a fight. However, since Freya had not been in an official battle yet, he decided to go with her so she could get some experience. Furthermore, he promised to show her off more to his followers.

'I will defeat this opponent to defend our honour.' Freya said as she stepped onto the stage, looking determined.

'No fair, I want a fight.' Max protested.

"You will get a turn later when more people show up," Lucas assured him. "I can't just rely on Dante to beat you up to help you enter the pre-evolution state."

Max was speechless. Apparently, he still had some trauma from last night.

Maxwell summoned a Vulpix onto the stage. Lucas admired the Pokemon with envy, as it was one of his favourites. Vulpix would have been his next choice if he did not have Imara. To find out what he was up against, Lucas examined the Pokemon's parameters.

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Pokemon: Vulpix | Gender: F | Type: Fire | Potential: B |

Second Stage: The Pokemon has gone through its second growth.

Description: At the time of birth, it has just one tail. The tail splits from its tip as it grows older.

Stats

Level: 14 | HP:170 | Aura: 310 |

Attack: 50 | Defence: 61 | Sp Att: 82 | Sp Def: 71 | Speed: 88 |

Traits

Fast Reflexes - The Pokemon has trained itself extensively to react quickly in battle.

Special Ability

Flash Fire - When a Pokémon with Flash Fire is hit by a Fire-type move, it does not deal damage but instead raises the power of the bearer's Fire-type moves by 50% for the duration of a battle.

=====

Vulpix had a type advantage, so he had to avoid getting hit too often. She had quite a variety of moves, including several of the fire type. Flame Charge was probably the most troublesome of these moves. It was an egg move that every time she used it, her speed increased by one stage. He was certain Maxwell would use this tactic because it was so effective. Obviously, if he were in a similar situation, he would do the same. Another annoying move was Spite, which reduced the opponent's aura by a certain amount. It wasn't that bad in a single battle, but if the match was drawn out, it could become an issue.

After announcing the rules, Sam lowered his flag to start the match.

'Destructo Disk.' Lucas immediately ordered.

It was important not to let the opponent get off a Flame Charge, otherwise, it could quickly snowball into a situation where she increased her speed to six stages, which would render Freya pretty helpless.

Freya released a spinning disk of dark energy and flung it at her opponent. It caught Vulpix off guard as expected, who was about to execute a Flame Charge. There were gasps from the audience, as they had not seen the move before.

It looked like the disk would strike Vulpix as it spun through the air. It was only at the last second that she managed to duck beneath it. However, the disk clipped the top of her ear, shaving off the tip, which caused Vulpix to yelp in surprise.

5 Damage dealt to Vulpix.

HP: 165/170

Lucas was disappointed. As it was an unknown move, he wanted to make the most of it since he knew Maxwell wouldn’t be caught off guard again. Despite that, he was still on the offensive and needed to take advantage of the situation while he could.

'Quick Attack.'

Freya launched herself off one foot and accelerated towards Vulpix. The opponent recovered from the previous attack and leapt to the side to dodge the attack. Freya flared her wings, halting her momentum, before using her footwork to change direction quickly, pursuing her opponent.

'Night Blades.'

In a flash, Freya unleashed two razor-sharp blade beams that were rocketed towards her opponent at high speed. In an unexpected move, Vulpix turned around and sped forward with a Quick Attack, barely slipping under the two beams. A double screech was heard as they struck the stage.

'Double team.' Lucas said quickly.

Freya made a copy of herself behind her and substituted with it in the nick of time. The copy was destroyed, but the move was cancelled. Freya stepped to the side as Vulpix's momentum sent her forward a few metres. Freya rushed forward to pursue her, not giving her opponent any breathing room.

'Destructo Disk.'

Freya released another spinning disk as Vulpix turned to face her opponent. She raised her forelegs and attempted to catch the disk. As the attack impacted Vulpix's claws, it made grinding noises from the friction. In a valiant effort, Vulpix threw the disk upwards, but she didn't escape unscathed. The disk grazed her leg, leaving a small wound behind

21 Damage dealt to Vulpix.

HP: 144/170

Vulpix ignored the wound and stayed focused on the fight, executing a hasty Disable at her trainer's behest. Maxwell sacrificed her defence against Freya's next attack to remove the dangerous move from play.

Destructo Disk has been disabled for a short time.

Lucas had already ordered Freya to execute a Quick Attack, and she slammed into the helpless Vulpix and sent her sprawling.

41 Damage dealt to Vulpix.

HP: 103/170

It was not long before Vulpix regained his balance and got up, rolling quickly out of the way of Freya's Night Blades that followed on from her last move. There were a few sparks of fire that appeared from Vulpix's mouth as she prepared to execute a fire move. The attack, however, wasn't aimed at Freya at all. She aimed the Ember directly at her foot, but it didn't hurt her. Instead, it activated her special ability.

Vulpix has been hit with a fire-type move. Flash Fire has been activated.

Fire-type damage is boosted by 50%.

Flash Fire was a very exploitable ability. It didn't matter if the user used the fire move on itself, it activated regardless. Meaning that all fire-type Pokemon with the special ability received an easy fifty per cent boost to their fire-type moves that lasted the rest of the battle. Furthermore, Vulpix was immune to fire damage, so she didn't hurt herself in the process. It was a dangerous combination. Even more so for Freya, who was weak to fire.

For a moment, Lucas considered using Baton Pass. This was an unusual move that was only usable under very specific conditions. The user had to have a teammate standing on the sidelines and not transferred in via their Pokeball. It would switch the Pokemon into battle, and if there was more than one Pokemon on the sidelines, it would pick one at random.

Additionally, it passed on stat changes to the Pokemon tagged in, both good and bad. It was a valuable move, and some trainers based their entire strategy around it, coming up with some incredible combinations. Lucas was interested in Freya learning some stat-enhancing moves to benefit from the move as well. The only downside is that per the Pokemon League's rules, it was only allowed to be used once per Pokemon, per match.

Lucas decided against switching Freya out. This was her first official match after all, and it would cheapen the victory if she didn't finish the opponent off herself.

As the match progressed, the two Pokemon began to trade off attacks between one another. Freya continued to pursue Vulpix while trying to avoid the fire attacks that her opponent was using against her. They both took some damage, but Freya was only hit once. Even so, it still reduced her HP by a significant amount.

Vulpix managed to get off a Flame Charge, which increased her speed by one stage. Technically, she was now quicker than Freya on paper, but it didn't consider Freya's ability to move around the stage. Her wings were not just for show. Even though they could not be used for sustained flight, they were still incredibly useful as they enabled her to change her speed on a dime. It allowed her to be more reckless, as she could bail out of attacks or change directions easily. It wasn't perfect by any means, as Lucas had just begun training her to use it. However, it allowed her to avoid attacks that would have hit her otherwise.

Freya's victory was assured when her Destructo Disk came off cooldown from Disable. After using a Double Team to avoid an attack, she surprised Vulpix by releasing the spinning disk at close range. This left the Pokemon unable to dodge the move completely. It grazed her leg again but opened up a deeper wound this time that affected her ability to move.

44 Damage dealt to Vulpix.

HP: 36/170

As soon as Vulpix placed her injured leg on the ground, she flinched. She could not react in time when Freya executed a Quick Attack, sending her sprawling from the impact.

41 Damage dealt to Vulpix.

Vulpix has fainted.

"Victory belongs to Lucas and his Scyther," Sam said, raising his flag. "Both trainers meet in the middle and shake hands to commiserate on a good match."

There was polite applause from the crowd, but they seemed subdued from witnessing the original move in action. It was undoubtedly a dangerous move as it could potentially do serious damage, but it could be argued that all offensive moves were the same. The move it was based on, Night Slash, was a case in point. However, it wasn't all-powerful.

Vulpix's claws caught it the second time Freya used it, so it could be blocked. It depended on the Pokemon's reaction speed and durability. He could see it removing some parts of a Pokemon, so it could be potentially gruesome. However, Pokemon were a hardy species, and limbs and such could be reattached without any adverse effects in the long term.

Lucas walked forward to exchange a handshake with Maxwell, who was upset with the outcome.

"What is that move called?" Maxwell asked as he crouched down to inspect Vulpix's wound.

"Desructo Disk," Lucas said, patting Freya on the shoulder. "My Pokemon learned how to manipulate energy. Originally, this move was Night Slash. I don't know how she got the idea to turn the attack into a spinning disk of death, but it is certainly effective."

Sam caught the tail-end of his words as he came forward to meet them. "I will need to flag this video and show it to the powers that be at the Pokemon League. All modified moves must be approved for use in official matches. They don't have to be registered, so you can keep them relatively secret. We can go outside so I can record them in private. Do you have any other Pokemon with modified moves?"

"Um," Lucas looked back at his other Pokemon. "All my Pokemon have modified moves."

"Really?" Sam exclaimed. "That's really impressive for an Advanced Student Trainer. Normally you don't see modified moves appearing before the Elite level."

"Eh, it was something I was interested in, so I had my Pokemon put a lot of work into it," Lucas shrugged.

"I will need to document all of the modified moves," Sam said.

"All right," Lucas said with a sigh.

Before following Sam, he looked at the gains he had received from the match.

=====

Congratulations!

The player has won the trainer battle!

Lucas has earned 121 experience and 10 trainer points.

Title: Unstoppable has increased; +34% exp gain.

Freya has earned 100% of the experience: 91 experience.

=====

It was only then that he remembered that Freya still had a lot of experience in her cache. He spent all of it and she reached level fourteen. The five AP went into HP, bringing it up to two hundred and fifteen. He wanted to increase her attack as well, so he considered using the coins he earned from gambling at Arceus' Emporium to buy some Mighty Candy. There were enough coins to buy twenty of them. However, he also needed them for Dante. It wasn't urgent. His other Pokemon needed some of their stats shored up as well, so he could wait until he had more coins.

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8th December

The group continued their journey the following day. By moving slightly faster and extending the journey by two hours, they made up for lost time. They kept an eye on the news to see if the bandit encampment was mentioned, but there was nothing. It was strange as something like this wasn't usually hidden from the public. Something must have happened, or there was information the police wanted to keep quiet.

In terms of his Pokemon's training, there wasn't much progress. Duke learned Smokescreen.

It was interesting to note that Imara couldn't teach him the modified version. It was disappointing, but Duke could always modify his own version in the future. Who knows what he will come up with?

Max hadn't entered his pre-evolution stage yet. To push him over the edge, Max would have to engage in more trainer battles. He had theorised before that Max wasn't evolving because he enjoyed playing the baby due to his treatment at the hands of Team Rocket. If so, he wasn't sure what to do. He would give it another week before worrying about it further. Maybe he was just impatient.

One thing that his Pokemon accomplished was that they continued to work on their affinities while travelling. He saw no reason why they couldn't work on increasing them while they sat idle in the trailer. Sure, it was disruptive due to the trailer shaking, but they adapted well enough. Faith and Jason copied him, making their Pokemon work as well. Lucas was starting to see the benefits of keeping Pokemon in their habitat like Misty did. Her Pokemon spent the majority of their time in his habitat, with the exception Iroh. This meant that any training that didn't need supervision, they could do on their own and was not disrupted by having to travel.

Lucas still sent off Imara and Dante every morning to work with Poliwrath, along with Misty's Katara, who was in her pre-evolution stage. Lucas was thankful for the Pokemon's help, but he considered hiring a personal trainer to serve his Pokemon on-site at the habitat. Furthermore, he had an idea to expand the habitat to have its own healing facility for more debilitating injuries that couldn't be healed by potions alone. If he was stuck in the wilderness, without a Pokemon Centre nearby, it could be a lifesaver.

On the morning of the eighth, they set off for the final stretch of the journey to the Pokemopolis Ruins. It was only a few hours away, so they reached the road to the ruins by mid-morning. They could already see the sprawling ruins in the distance, and no picture on any website could do justice to the sheer scale of the place.

"It must be at least as big as Viridian City," Jason said in amazement. "And that's not including the town."

"No wonder it is still being explored to this day," Faith said. "Not just because of the sheer scale, but the ruins are incredibly unstable so they have to move very carefully to avoid destroying the ruins located underground."

"Most of the ruins are actually underground," Lucas nodded. "I wonder who had the idea to build a city beneath the ground. Was it to protect themselves from Pokemon?"

They continued to their destination. The town itself was laid out on the outer edges of the eastern side of the ruins, facing in their direction. There was a wall surrounding it, although it was not anywhere the same height as cities like Viridian City. It must be only twelve feet high at the most. Compared to people from the major cities and towns, the people out here were a lot tougher, and they were used to solving their own problems. In order to defend themselves from wild Pokemon attacks, they probably had plenty of strong Pokemon at their disposal.

The road got busier as they approached the front gate. There were several groups of people waiting in line to enter the town. Vehicles had to be parked outside in an allocated area, as the roads inside the town were too small to accommodate them. Thankfully, there was a Pokemon stable, so Lucas dropped Shelly off while the others waited in line. It looked like it had plenty of security, which was not a surprise since the area was notorious for bandits.

As the group progressed forward, they heard snippets of conversations from the people around them. One topic caught their interest. Apparently, there had been another sighting of another giant Pokemon. Whether the claim was true, or just a fabrication was yet to be determined.

"Isn't it funny that only one person sees the giant Pokemon every time?" Misty said sarcastically. "Considering they are rumoured to be three stories tall, you would think more people would see them."

"There must be some truth to the rumours," Faith protested. "Who knows what mysteries the ruins conceal?"

"I only believe in things I see," Misty shrugged.

They were met at the gate by security guards who performed a perfunctory inspection. They didn't have soldiers deployed here, as they were located primarily in major cities. Their biggest presence, however, was at the Kanto-Johto border. Although the two regions were in peacetime, you could never know when the leaders would do something stupid and a war would break out between the two. There was a small ranger and police station here, however.

They entered the town. The roads inside were probably half as wide as normal roads, and they weren't paved either. It looked more like a shanty town put together in haste, with some buildings looking shabby and in disrepair. There were some more modern buildings, like the Pokemon Centre, and other essential services. The town looked disorganised, with no structured road laid out, leading to smaller streets twisting together like a giant knot. It would be easy to get lost inside, but they found a vendor selling a map at the entrance.

They stopped at the Pokemon Centre and asked Nurse Dolor at the desk to recommend a place to stay. However, there were no rooms available, as people had arrived in droves because of the rumour about the giant Pokemon. As a result, they had to settle for staying at the Pokemon Center for the night.

They sat down to lunch at the cafeteria and discuss their plans for the rest of the day. It goes without saying that they wanted to explore the ruins right away, but you couldn't enter without permission. You had to pay a fee, and there were only so many people who could access it at a time, to protect the integrity of the ruins. So, they weren't even sure if they could enter today.

After lunch, they headed to the ruins entrance, where there was a tollgate where you could register to enter the ruins. As they walked, Lucas got a call from his grandfather.

"Lucas, how is it you can't keep your nose out of trouble?" Tobias accused him.

The words sounded harsh, but his grandfather sounded happy. "What are you talking about Grandad?"

"Are you alone? I will tell you because you are directly involved, but I need you to keep it secret from the others."

Lucas took the phone away from his ear. "Hey, guys. I will catch up with you in a second."

They looked curious, but they didn't question it and continued on. Only his Pokemon stayed by his side. Lucas stepped into a nearby alley and found nobody else around.

"Okay, I'm alone. What's going on?"

"You remember calling the police about the bandit encampment a few days ago?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it turns out that some Calamity members took up residence with the bandits. They scattered when they left their base behind and were waiting to rejoin the rest of the group after things had quieted down. The police caught them when they raided the town."

No way. There couldn't be such a coincidence, could there? Technically, the bandit encampment was located within Viridian Forest, but it was on the outer edges and a fair distance from the base.

"Did you find out anything?" Lucas asked urgently. It rankled him that the cult remained unpunished for such a heinous crime, so he was invested in bringing them to justice.

"They were not willing to talk," Tobias said grimly. "So, we resorted to some very questionable methods."

"What did you do?"

"We had a Psychic Pokemon read their mind," Tobias replied. "You don't need me to tell you what happens to human minds who suffer the effects of red energy, do you? Their minds deteriorated rather quickly. It took searching all their minds to get all the information we needed."

"They deserved it," Lucas said. "You are not getting into trouble for this are you?"

"No, the Prime Minister fully endorses my actions. If there are consequences, I will deal with them later," Tobias said flippantly.

"So, have you got information on the main body of the cult? The leaders?"

"Don't worry about it. Let's just say that the biggest law enforcement operation will go down soon, and that's all I can say."

"Well, it was a pleasure talking to you, Grandad."

"Wait. The actual reason I am calling is that there are still some stray members out there. Where are you at the moment?"

"At the Pokemopolis Ruins," Lucas replied.

"You need to be careful. There is a possibility that they have taken up residence in the town."

"I will be careful," Lucas assured him. He said goodbye and hung up the phone.

'Were you talking about the people who killed all those people?' Dante asked.

"Yes."

'Good. They deserve to be punished for their crimes. I wish I could smack a few around.'

As he was about to step out of the alleyway, he received a notification. Opening his menu, he saw that he had two messages waiting for him. The first one was simply about receiving three hundred experiences for discovering the town. The other one, though, was an eye-opener.

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Those with Evil Intentions.

Description: There are three Calamity members located somewhere in the town who are planning something nasty for the inhabitants. It is important to find them before their plans come to fruition and to remove them from the equation in whatever way you deem necessary.

Objective: Eliminate the threat to the town.

Reward: Ten thousand experience; +3 Charisma.

Time Limit: 4 hours

=====

Lucas looked at Dante. "You may get your wish after all."

So, what do you think? Can Lucas stop whatever plans the cult members have for the town?

Thanks for reading.