Welcome to Gaia! ::

*Hunter looks about the island slowly*
Me: Yeah, there didn't appear to be anything around. If there was something here it was cleaned up thoroughly..

On a mid-sized island near the fringe of the Orange Archipelago, Thard is finally meeting with Amarube and Yura.

Yura began the conversation. "So, Mr. Verad, Ames tells us you have something to discuss?"
"That's right. I'd like your Gang to team up with Aqua agai-"
"Absolutely not!" Amarube interrupted.
I scowled at him for a moment and continued, "Team up with Aqua against Archie's forces."
"We're not interested in allying our Gang with you do-gooders," Yura said coldly.
"The Legendary Brilliance Gang will exact vengence on that son of a Bidoof on our terms," Amarube added.
"You tried that once and spent a month in captivity with your Gang acting as Archie's puppet," I countered.
"We acted too rashly," Yura responded, "So this time our vengence will be slow and painful. He no longer has access to our funding so the Hoenn National Guard will soon slip from his control."
"And without the military," Amarube said with a cruel glint in his eye, "we will tear his precious Team to shreds.
"He may have lost your support, but he's far from vulnerable. Archie still has not only his own Team, but also the entire roster of Team Clone at his disposal. And I think he may have struck a deal with Cyrus. No, his power is still growing. Archie cannot be stopped by either of our teams alone."
"Enough," Amarube decreed, "You're wasting your breath, Thorn. That you leave here alive is yesterday's debt repaid. Be gone from my sight."
I turned to leave, but stopped long enough to say, "I hope for all our sakes that you change your mind."
Yura whispered something to Amarube, but the man remained silent. I'd done all I could and still failed to secure the alliance.

*Ike had taken the rest of Aqua back to the HQ. Half of this decision was based on the fact of their lack of contact with the Brilliance Gang, and the other half was his concern about Lugia. Usually, while inside a pokeball, a pokemon would only shake the ball while poisoned. Lugia, though, was not. Ike couldn't give an explanation for why Lugia's ball was acting so weird.*

Ike: *Walks past Ginji with a wave, but takes a step to the side when he coughs.* Hey.. How're you and your sister?

*Ike walks over to the couch but doesn't sit down. He puts his hands in his pockets and looks up, out the window. There was something about the dark evening waters that got to him.*
Ike: Yeah. I hope Archie was caught in the explosion... *sighs, then looks down at Ginji* Has any of your Pokemon been acting strangely lately?

Ike: *Laughs a little. It seemed each trainer in Aqua had at least one Pokemon that was stubborn or a trouble maker, or both. Ike raised both his eyebrows and took a breath, his face was baffled.* Perhaps Pokeballs really can malfunction?

Cody walked into the room and let out a big sigh. "It took me a couple days, but I finally finished the mission. I hope someone enjoys reading it. It isn't as good as Thard's but I tried." Cody then decided to shoot Kwchups a message.

I'm back. Tropius is in its pokeball on the table in the common room. I'm going to bed. Thanks again.

-Cody
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MISSION- Down, but not Out!
Team MegaTsunami will stop at nothing to eliminate 100% of Team Aqua. Archie has sent his Admins out to destroy any family or friends you have. Go seek out your friends and family to protect them from harm. If there are none, fight along-side Team Rag-Tag. Your loved ones, after all, have no idea what's coming to them. (You will face two Tsunami grunts (each with 1 to 4 pokémon), one Legendary Brilliance Peon with 1 to 4 pokémon, your clone from Team Clone who will use 3 to 6 of your pokémon's clones, and either Tsunami Admin Shelly or Tsunami Admin Matt. (Refer to the team information sheet for the Admins' pokémon. They will use at least three pokémon from that list, and may have unlisted pokémon.) Please note: The higher your rank, the more difficult this mission will be for you.)

Pokemon:
1 Non-legendary Pokemon allowed at your rank.

Rewards:
Up to P$20,000, and a choice of a Destiny Knot, Rainbow Pokéblock, or an evolution-inducing held item (e.g. Dubious Disk or Metal Coat)
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"I'm going to start it tonight and hopefully finish it tomorrow. Thanks a lot Kwchups. I want to rank up so bad. I need two more rank-ups before I can start evolving my pokemon. They are sooo ready." Cody laughed and walked to his room. He grabbed a basket-full of Sitrus berries he found outside the base and found the nearest teleport-pad. Cody found himself outside the base somewhere. All he knew is he was surrounded by trees so obviously he was in the right place. "Let's go Tropius." Cody said as he threw the pokeball into the air. The big, white light disappeared and Tropius appeared. He turned to the pokemon and fed it a Sitrus berry. “You ready?” he asked after Tropius had finished. It shook its head and Cody hopped on its back. Tropius took off into the sky and soon they were over the water. It was late, but Cody figured Richard, his best friend, would still be up so he whipped out his TADS.

Hey, I need you to get out of your house as soon as you can. There are people after you. If you stay where you’re at, you will be in danger. Meet me in the forest.

-Cody

He closed his TADS and they took off in the direction of Pewter City. The sun was rising by the time they reached the Viridian Forest. Cody took out his binoculars and looked down. He finally saw Richard in the woods surrounded by three LBG peons. “Not cool,” Cody said and looked at Tropius. They swooped down and landed next to the crowd. “I’m guessing the party’s all here and I wasn’t invited?” Cody said and pulled out a pokeball. At this point Richard had already whipped out his Froslass. The peons had brought out an Electabuzz, a Roserade, and a Luxray. Cody brought out Baltoy and sent in Tropius.

Luxray started off with Thunder Fang on Tropius. It took off into the sky, but was still hit by Thunder Fang. It took the damage, but was still able to get into the sky. Electabuzz used Thunder Punch on it, but missed completely. Froslass used Ice Fang on Roserade. One good hit and Roserade was almost out. Roserade came back with a Magical Leaf to Baltoy, but it dodged and used Earthquake. Electabuzz and Luxray took serious damage. The damage was enough to knock out Roserade. Froslass only took a little bit of damage. Then Tropius hit the ground hard with an Earthquake. Everyone on the field was out except Froslass and Tropius. The grunts weren’t done though.

They sent out a Flareon, a Crobat, and a Garchomp. Cody sent out Plusle. Crobat took to the sky automatically. Froslass used Ice Fang on Garchomp knocking it out, but when Garchomp came back with Dragon Rush, Froslass was done. Richard returned her and sent out Milotic. Plusle attacked Flareon with Thunderbolt and it came back with a Flamethrower. Plusle dodged, barely. Crobat swooped down and hit Milotic. Then she came back with a vicious Ice Beam, followed by another Thunderbolt from Plusle. Crobat was out. Garchomp used Earthquake and hit everyone. Plusle and Flareon were out. Tropius hit Garchomp with Magical Leaf and knocked it out. Tropius was the only one left. Cody fed it another Sitrus berry before the grunts sent out their last pokemon.

They sent out Toxicroak, Drapion, and Hippowdon. Cody sent out Cyndaquail and Richard sent out Salamence. Salamence attacked Drapion with Flamethrower. The giant scorpion tried to block the attack but failed. The flames enveloped him, but he managed to come out of it and attacked with Earthquake. Cyndaquail jumped on Salamence’s back and they took into the sky with Tropius. Then, Tropius started to absorb sunlight. Hippowdon’ Sand Stream whipped up a sandstorm. It then used Curse. Toxicroak jumped into the air to hit Tropius, but fell short. Salamence come down with Aerial Ace on Toxicroak, followed by Tropius using the same attack on Drapion. Both pokemon were out. Cyndaquail used Flamethrower on Hippowdon, but the attack didn’t do much. Hippowdon came back with an even stronger Earthquake, and knocked Cyndaquail out. Salamence hit Hippowdon with Dragon Claw and Tropius let all of his energy go into one big Solarbeam. The grunts were out of pokemon. “You win this time, but ultimately, you can’t beat the LBG,” said one. Then they both ran out of the forest.

Cody and Richard both ran to the Pewter City Pokemon Center. Cody removed his Aqua headband before busting through the door. They received a warm welcome from the Nurse Joy and Chansey on duty. The duo handed over their pokeballs and sat down in relief. Cody looked over at Richard and explained the situation. “Basically, Archie, from the OLD Team Aqua has formed a new team with his old Admins. Now, the people who were after you were from a whole different team. They are the Legendary Brilliance Gang, who have apparently teamed up with Archie’s new team, Mega Tsunami. They are all going after Team Aqua and their friends or families. What they don’t know is we have been sent out as a team to protect the ones we care about, hence, the text message. I don’t know how they found you in the forest, but if you stick with me, you won’t have to worry about them.” Before Richard could respond, Chansey had brought them their pokemon. Cody stood up, took the pokeballs, and thanked them both for their support.

Cody and Richard both brought out their flying pokemon. He gave Richard a Sitrus berry. “Give that to Salamence. I don’t really have any kind of treats or food, so that’s going to have to do for now.” Cody gave a berry to Tropius and watched Richard give his to Salamence. Cody climbed on the back of Tropius and headed for home. All of a sudden his TADS vibrated. He was expecting something from one of the team members. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the glowing screen. The message was from a blocked number. He flipped it open and read the message aloud to himself.

That was a bad idea, and to think you were considered a smart person. Well you just ruined that. Now we’ve got your little buddies from Rag-Tag. Hurry, time is running out...

Cody closed his TADS and looked over at Richard. He was oblivious to what just happened. He didn’t know the severity of the current situation. Cody knew what Rag-Tag was like. They were good kids, but they had a big mouth when it came to standing up for themselves. He decided to bring Richard in on this one. “I might need your help.” Cody said. Then he realized that probably wasn’t the best way to start this conversation. “ Team Mega Tsunami has more of my friends, but I’m going to need your help. There are too many of them for me to take by myself, and their pokemon are too strong to be taken out by their hostages,” he said. Cody was contemplating whether or not it was a good idea to bring Richard into this situation, but he couldn’t take back what he had just said. “Count me in. Anything I can do to repay you for saving me back there.”

Cody just nodded and brought out his TADS again. It was time to trace the message back to its origin. He waited a couple minutes and finally received a message holding the coordinates of their next destination. Unfortunately, it was a little bit too close to home. The message had originated from a little island about thirty miles off the coast of Aquos Island. Cody would lead Tropius about five or ten miles away from the island and finally land on the island where Team Mega Tsunami was holding Rag-Tag. Cody turned to Richard and decided to tell him the rest of the story and how he fit into all of this mess.

It was getting late and the sun was starting to set by the time they reached Aquos Island. “You know what to do Tropius,” Cody said as Tropius changed his direction. He looked over at Richard. He looked confused, but decided not to ask any questions. Another couple minutes passed, and they finally reached the island. Cody brought out his TADS again. It started to beep and got louder as they got closer. As soon as they got close to the water, Totodile popped out of his pokeball and dove in. He immediately took off toward the shore. Cody and Richard landed on the shore and returned their pokemon. Cody’s TADS started beeping wildly. He looked around for any signs of life. He saw a few Corsola and Krabby by the water’s edge, but nothing else. There was a forest that he realized seemed to cover the island’s whole interior. Amazingly enough, the signal was coming from inside the forest. Not like that surprised him. Cody anxiously entered the forest with Richard and Totodile behind him.

All of a sudden a wild Swablu flew out of the forest and ran directly into Cody. He figured that would be a perfect battle for Totodile. Swablu attacked first with Fury Attack. Totodile shot a Water Gun in Swablu’s direction. The pokemon tried to dodge, but got hit in the wing, which sent it spiraling to the ground. It got back up and charged at Totodile, but he jumped and got it with Bite. That almost knocked it out so Cody sent out a pokeball. It shook once. Twice. Three times. It clicked and Cody had a new companion.

Soon he came across what had sent the message. He examined the device thoroughly. It seemed to be a remake of the Aqua TADS, obviously made by Mega Tsunami. He picked it up and a net enveloped the group. Then a door opened underneath them and the net dropped through the hatch. They slid down a chute and eventually landed in a well-lit room next to Team Rag-Tag’s Kurtis and Dakota. “Fancy seeing you guys here,” Cody laughed. Totodile bit through the rope to free them and Rag-Tag. Just then Mega Tsunami Admin Shelly walked through an iron door followed by two grunts. “Oh, now that’s just not cool.” Cody said and pulled out a pokeball. The two grunts stepped up first, then Richard stepped up beside him.

The grunts started out with Lombre and Staryu. Cody sent out Treecko and Richard sent out Swalot. Treecko jumped at Staryu and latched on, using Giga Drain. Staryu then came back with a swift attack on Treecko. Lombre launched a Water Pulse at Swalot, but it didn’t do much. Swalot realized what he had to do and used Stockpile. Treecko got close to Staryu and hit it hard with Bullet Seed, almost knocking it out. Staryu hit Treecko with a Confusion causing moderate damage. Lombre hit Swalot with another Water Pulse, but still didn’t do much, and again Swalot used Stockpile. Treecko hit Staryu with a quick attack and knocked it out. The grunt sent out a Corsola. Lombre sent out an Ice Beam and hit Treecko hard, almost sending it out of the battle. It recovered latched onto Corsola and used Giga Drain again, recovering some HP. Corsola turned to Swalot and used Confusion, doing a good amount of damage. Then Lombre shot an Ice Beam in Treecko’s direction. Using Double Team, it managed to avoid the attack. Swalot turned to Lombre and hit it with a Sludge Bomb attack, causing a bad poison. The condition took its toll and Treecko finished off Lombre with a Slam attack. Corsola used another Ice Beam and caught Treecko off guard, knocking it out. The grunt sent out Marshtomp and Cody responded with Totodile. Swalot used Body Slam on Marshtomp, doing some damage, but not enough to make a big difference. Totodile hit Corsola with Hydro Pump, knocking it out. The second Grunt fell back, out of the battle. Marshtomp used Mud Shot and hit Totodile, but not hard. Swalot used Sludge Bomb and almost knocked the foe out. Totodile hit Marshtomp hard with a Crunch attack and made it faint.

Richard threw Cody a Max Revive and a Hyper potion. He used the Max Revive on Treecko and healed Totodile completely with the Hyper Potion. “Good job guys.” He said, but was interrupted by Shelly. “That was a commendable effort, for a twerp like you and his buddy, but all good times come to an end eventually,” she said. The iron door opened again and Cody’s clone entered the room with a pokeball in his hand. “Who is this?” Cody asked in astonishment. “This is a genetic replica of you. It knows all of your moves and all of your weaknesses. He will use the evolved versions of your pokemon against you.”

The clone stepped up beside Shelly and they both sent out Pokemon. Shelly sent out Walrein first and the Clone sent out Claydol. Richard sent out Salamence and Cody responded with Totodile. Salamence attacked first with Flamethrower on Walrein. Totodile attacked Claydol with Hydro Pump. Both of the foe’s first pokemon were almost out. This round was almost guaranteed until Claydol used Earthquake and Walrein used Ice Beam. Totodile hopped on Salamence’s back and they lifted off the ground, but Walrein’s Ice Beam hit the dragon’s wings and made it fall. Earthquake hit both pokemon and caused severe damage to both of them, knocking both Totodile and Walrein out. Shelly returned Walrein and Cody returned Totodile.

She sent out Sharpedo and I sent out Treecko. Salamence hit Claydol with a strong Dragon Claw, knocking it out and Treecko hit Sharpedo with Quick Attack, only to be hurt by its Rough Skin ability. The Clone sent out Sceptile and hit Salamence with False Swipe, knocking it down into a critical health zone. Sharpedo attacked Salamence with Ice Fang and knocked it out. Richard sent out Froslass and attacked Sceptile with Ice Shard. Treecko attacked Sharpedo with Bullet Seed and caused serious damage. Sceptile attacked with Leaf Storm and hit Treecko hard, also lowering its own Special Attack stat immensely. Sharpedo rushed at Treecko and hit it with Take-Down, completely knocking it out and also causing severe damage to itself.

I sent out Plusle and attacked Sharpedo with Thunderbolt. Sharpedo was completely unable to battle. Shelly sent out Crawdaunt and attacked Plusle with Crabhammer. Froslass got lucky and hit Sceptile with Blizzard, making it incapable of going on any longer. The Clone sent out his third pokemon, Quilava and attacked Froslass with Flame Wheel giving it a burn. Froslass took the damage from the burn and hit Quilava with Water Pulse. It recovered from the attack, came out confused. Plusle used Thunderbolt again on Crawdaunt, but missed and hit the confused Quilava instead. Crawdaunt used Night Slash on Froslass, knocking it out of the battle. Richard sent out Milotic and attacked Quilava with Hydro Pump. The flame pokemon hit the wall ad fell to the ground in defeat. Plusle used Thunderbolt to seal Crawdaunt’s fate. Shelly sent out Ludicolo and the Clone sent out Bayleef. Plusle hit Bayleef with Quick Attack. It wasn’t a very strong hit, because Bayleef jumped back into the battle and hit Milotic hard with Razor Leaf. Ludicolo used Earthquake and knocked out Plusle. He also caused a lot of damage to Milotic and Bayleef.

Cody sent out Cyndaquil and used Flamethrower on Bayleef. Milotic followed up with an Ice Beam and knocked the grass-type out. The Clone sent out Feraligatr and attacked Cyndaquil with Aqua Tail. It tried to dodge and barely got swiped with the attack. Milotic attacked Ludicolo with Ice Beam. It sidestepped the attack and sent out a Hydro Pump on Cyndaquil. It jumped to avoid the attack, knowing that one hit would knock it out and hit Ludicolo with Quick Attack. Milotic used Iron Tail on Feraligatr and sent him flying, but he came back with a strong Slash attack. Milotic hit the floor hard, but managed to send off one last Ice Beam on Ludicolo. The combination water/grass-type hit the floor and slid. It tried to get up, but failed.

She sent out her last pokemon, Mightyena, which attacked Cyndaquil with Crunch, sending it out of the battle. Cody sent out Chikorita and used Sunny Day. Milotic attacked Mightyena with an Aqua Tail of her own, knocking it into Feraligatr. They both recovered and the Feraligatr attacked Milotic with Brick Break, knocking it out. Richard returned his pokemon and sent out Espeon, which attacked Mightyena with Return, causing a great deal of damage. Mightyena countered the attack with Frustration, also doing a reasonable amount of damage. Chikorita unleashed all it’s built up energy in a giant Solarbeam, completely enveloping Feraligatr’s body. When the attack was finished, the giant pokemon was reduced to nothing. The clone returned it and stepped back. Espeon dug underground as Mightyena jumped to attack it. It turned to Chikorita who sent out Razor Leaf. Mightyena fell to the ground, but got up quickly, only to be blind-sided with Dig from Espeon. This knocked out Shelly’s last pokemon. The team turned and tried to retreat, but Espeon used Psychic and stopped them in their tracks. It then used Confusion to wipe their memories and teleported everyone outside the room.

It was dark now and Cody was ready for a nice, long nap with his pokemon. “Thanks for helping us and stuff,” he heard. Cody turned around to see Kurtis and Dakota behind him. “Anytime guys,” he replied and stuck out his hand. Kurtis grasped it and they shook. Cody sent out Tropius. “Take them where they need to go and then go home,” he told the pokemon. It would be a while until the next time he saw Tropius. Cody brought out a couple Sitrus berries and handed them to Dakota. “Give these to Tropius when you get home, ok?” he asked. “Gotcha. Will do,” Dakota replied. The team climbed on Tropius’s back and they lifted into the sky. Cody waved and looked at Richard. “We should probably get going, don’t you think?” he asked. Richard looked at him and replied, “Yeah, let’s go. Espeon, do you think you could teleport us back to Pewter City?”

Espeon nodded. He looked at Richard and soon, the group had disappeared, leaving Shelly and Cody’s clone behind. They arrived in front of the Pewter City Pokemon Center. They entered and gave their pokemon to the Nurse Joy on duty. She gave a reassuring look, like she knew what we had been through. Like she was telling us that everything was over and it would all be ok. Chansey soon came out and gave us back our pokemon. They walked out of the Pokemon Center after thanking Nurse Joy. “Do you want to borrow Espeon to take you home?” Richard asked suddenly.
“Yeah, I guess so. He knows how to get home, right?” Cody replied.
“Yeah, he will be fine. You will have to give him coordinates to where you live. You have them right?” he asked.
“They are right here in my phone.” Cody opened his TADS and told Espeon the coordinates, then showed him the screen hoping he would understand. Espeon looked at Richard then looked at Cody. They disappeared and reappeared in the common room of the Aqua base. He gave Espeon his last Sitrus berry before he disappeared. Cody went outside and watched Tropius land. He held out the pokeball and returned the tired pokemon. Cody made his way back inside and set the pokeball on a table with a note attached.

Thanks for letting me use Tropius. I didn’t let him faint. He did VERY well flying me around as well as in battle. Thanks again.

-Cody