Chapter quicklink:
Chapter 1 - The introduction of Red Eyes
Chapter 2 - The city of perfection
Chapter 3 - The unforgiving sands
Chapter 4 - Friend or rogue?
Chapter 5 - The untested experiments
Chapter 6 - Briefing the boss
Chapter 7 - Pride left in the rubble
Chapter 8 - Constant motion
Chapter 9 - Winning a losing battle
Chapter 10 - Pit of shadows

Specials:
Cipher timeline - The history of the sinister criminal syndicate

Series quicklink:
Story 1 - Monster of Humankind
Story 2 - Black Sands of Orre
Story 3 - Deny Your Place, Deny Your Life

Luke - Red
Kid - Brown
Kurt - Gray
Guard - Silver
Tom - Green

----------------------
Chapter 1 - The introduction of Red Eyes

"NO!!!!! Salamence!!!"
Dropping his ultra ball, the trainer dropped to his knees, sobbing into his hands at the sight of his lifeless Salamence.
"Return, Articuno." Articuno returned to his master ball. I was grinning. "As promised. Hand the ball over."
"You're a monster!!!"
"Thank you." He didn't have it in him to just give away his Salamence. "...Ha. Fine. I'll let you off...but you've got to give me every penny you've got."

He was gambling his pokemon. He was just a kid...how was he supposed to know what he was doing? That was about the only kindness I had in me. Shaking, he gave me every penny he had, and quickly ran away. But Orre's a big place...by the time he would get to Phenac City, his precious Salamence would be in Snagem's hands.

My phone rang, to which I answered.
"Red Eyes."
"We want you back here. Now."
"Fine." I hung up. I stepped on my bike and headed to Pyrite Town.

My name's Luke. I'm a member of Team Snagem...but an agent of the former Cipher. I have knowledge in stealing pokemon from their trainers, and as a result turning them into shadow pokemon.

After Cipher died, everyone thought the world was free...but Gonzap wasn't the end of Snagem. They're everywhere. They elected me as their leader, but after betraying them once, I was brought back. Now nobody trusts me. I'm alone with 500 Snagem members behind me. Heh...

They call me the most heartless of all Snagems, a human demon. That's why they call me Red Eyes. I can see where that analogy comes in...but one day they'll thank me. One day...

I arrived in the now heavily guarded Pyrite Town. 2 guards stood in my way.
"Password and ID."
I showed them my card. "Padlock." They let me through.

Pyrite was now more run down than usual. Drugs were now being produced that not only allowed a pokemon's soul to turn dark, but a human's. This had become a phenomena. It gave man more pleasure than eating chicken after eating gruel for 2 months (and trust me, that's a lot). But one couldn't just buy it...people worked slaves for this drug. And once they took it...

Ugh...anyway.

I arrived on the top floor of the new Snagem hideout that had been established.
"You're early."
"You said you needed me immediately. What do you want?"
"There's a couple of Harmony's in Phenac City. We want you to take them down."
"You're asking me to go alone?"
"Hell no! Chuck and Dereck are going with you."

My jaw just dropped. Chuck and Dereck were the new guys. But they suck! They can't do anything right! So my plan was just to ditch them. I'd rather do it on my own.
"Fine," I said. "I'll go."
"Good." As I walked to the door, his voice stopped me again. "Luke?"
I turned round in disgust. "What?"
"Any mercy, and you're dead."

0% chance of either happening.

Team Harmony is a group of freedom fighters trying to rid the world of us. Their latest idea is a pathetic protest against the shadow factory in Pyrite. We're just going to eliminate them, one by one...

But with the leadership we have, I think everybody knows it's me who will lead us to victory.

This message was edited by Relmutsie AN on Oct 13 2008.

This message was edited by Relmutsie AN on Oct 13 2008.

Second chapter. This isn't my best work, but it leaves a pretty good cliff hanger...

This story has very light bad language until I'm told otherwise.

Luke - Red
Emma - Fuchsia
Kurt - Gray
Harmony member (all of them) - Blue

-------------------
Chapter 2 - The city of perfection

I entered Phenac City. It was exactly how I remembered it...blue skies, blue water, sunshine, clean floors...I threw up in my mouth a bit, but at the same time I felt...whatever. Anyway, I started to walk down to the pokemon center. Articuno wasn't hurt, but the others were battered. So I started walking...

But a hand grasped my shoulder.
"Hey mister, who are..." I turned around, scowling. "...I haven't seen you around here before..."
"Yeah, now you know why."
"What's your name?"
"Luke." I started to walk away.

But she followed me!
"How did you get those red highlights in your hair?"
"Dye."
"Why are your eyes so red?"
"I was born this way."
"Where are you from?"
"Pyrite Town."

It went on like this for about 30 seconds. I entered the pokemon center and asked the nurse to heal my pokemon.
"What pok..." I turned around, narrowing my eyes.
"Look, I don't know who you are..."
"Emma."
"Emma...why the hell are you following me?"
"You seem cool..."

I sighed. Now I was pissed.
"Do you want to see how cool I really am?"
"Yeah!"
I grabbed my pokemon. "Follow me."

I left the pokemon center and picked up my phone to call Kurt.
"Where are they?"
"By the colloseum. There's 3 of them."
"Got it." I hung up. "Come on."

I walked up to the Harmony members.
"Well, look who it is!"
"It's a Snagem!"
"Aren't you observant."
"What're you doing on peace turf?"
"I've come for you." I threw my master ball and summoned Articuno.
"Heh heh...so it's a battle you want."
"Me against all of you."
"...You're serious?"
"Our 3 pokemon against your 3 pokemon?"
"That's what I said."
"Heh..."
"Just one more thing." The girl looked at me. "The winner gets the opponent's pokemon."
"Huh! Typical Snagem attitude!"
"Fine! Rhypherior, Seviper, Mantine, go!" They threw their pokeballs and summoned their pokemon. Time for the retaliation...

"Typhlosion, Luxray, come forth!"
Emma seemed impressed by my pokemon. She must have thought I was joking, because her face was beaming. I was determined to wipe that pathetic smile off her face.

"Sheer cold that Rhypherior!"
Articuno struck Rhypherior and knocked it out...cold...
"Thunderbolt the Mantine!"
Luxray charged at Mantine and left it...thunderstruck...how it survived, I still have no idea.

"Grr! Seviper, use poison fang on his Typhlosion!"
I laughed. It was the most pathetic thing I'd seen in a while. Seviper bit Typhlosion of course, but it did next to no damage...it didn't even poison him.
"...Mantine, use waterfall on it!"
Now that wiped the smile off MY face...it did a lot more damage, but Typhlosion still managed to hang on.

Perfect.
"Blast burn the Seviper!"
As expected, blast burn harshly struck Seviper and knocked it out. It went down in flames...ok, no more metaphors.
"Now ice beam the Mantine!"
It was down and out. A battle won against 3 harmonys...and no casualties. I returned the pokemon to their pokeballs.

"How could this be?!"
"You were too weak." I smirked. "Now hand them over."
"You Snagem scum are all the same!"
"You send your reinforcements and I'll send mine."

The harmonys ran away, leaving their pokeballs behind them. I walked over to pick them up.
"What're you doing?!"
I turned around, holding them up to her face. "These are mine."
"You can't be serious!"
"But I am." I started to walk away. She followed me again.
"You've got to give them back!"

I turned around, screaming.
"What the hell is your problem?!"
"What's YOUR problem?!"
"Right now, you! Stop following me! These are mine! Accept it or leave!" I started to walk faster.

But her hand was grasping mine. Now when I say grasp, I mean crush. It was like having your hand held between 2 bricks. I looked into her face...
"I MEAN IT!!!"

This message was edited by Relmutsie AN on Apr 25 2008.

It's really good!i love how you've made it seem like the main character, who, imo is pretty bad, thinks he's a real good, tough guy! and it's really well written! keep it up! and i love the color coordination for diff characters. but gold is a bit too bright, test with some easy to see colors before posting maybe.

Yeah, just editted that now. XD

I don't know why that happened, it seemed to be fine on my other one. =/ Oh well, maybe I'm colour blind lol.

Introduction of our next main character...in the form of a cliffhanger.

Luke - Red
Emma - Fuchsia
Police officers (both) - Navy
Salesman - Olive
Rider - Brown
New character - Teal (ain't I mean?)

--------------
Chapter 3 - The unforgiving sands

Needless to say, I was pissed. Looking at her face, she was turning bright red.

"Let go..."
"You're not leaving with those pokeballs!!!"
"I am."
"No you're not!!!"
"Let go."
"No! Give me those pokeballs!!!"
"Last chance...let go..."
"You'll have to hit me first!!!"
"You asked for it..."

Oh yes she did. I hit her...HARD...and knocked her out...COLD. Fine. BOOM HEADSHOT! 5 seconds after I realised what I'd done, I realised I wouldn't get away with it. Just my luck...police officers were headed my way.
"CRAP."
I picked her up and threw her onto my bike before the 2 officers could see. They walked over to me...
"Good morning, sir. Have you seen a pokemon thief around here?"
"...Uh...no." PHEW.
"Ok. Where are you headed?"
I looked back at Emma and looked at her ID. She lived in Agate Village.
"I'm headed to Agate Village to drop my friend off."
"Oh, I see."
"Hold on a second..." Uh-oh. "What's up with her?"
"Uh...she fell asleep on the way here..."
"Oh, ok. You have yourselves a good day."

The officers walked away. I'd like to comment on how gullible the officers of Phenac City are. If anyone looked as suspicious as me, you would flood them with questions and ask for their ID. Anyway...

I started riding back to Pyrite Town. But there was a damn sandstorm on the way. So I had to stop at the Outskirt Stand...I needed supplies anyway. I was thinking of leaving the girl outside...but then she'd probably die. So I picked her up and sat her down inside. People were looking at me like I was some kind of murderer. Their expressions aside, I went up to the counter.
"10 ultra balls and a hyper potion please..."
"Potions don't work on humans, pal." He pointed at Emma. I looked back at her, then at the guy who was serving me.
"She's sleeping..."
"I believe you."
"In fact...you got food?"
"Chips."
"Get us both a plate." I paid him and walked back to the table.

I snapped my fingers in her face. She'd been out long enough.
"...Huh...?"
"I told you I'd take them."
"...Where are we?"
"Outskirt Stand."
"Where are we going?"
"Pyrite Town."
"Why?"
"You never stop asking questions, do you?" The waiter came round and gave us our chips. "Eat up."
"...Did you pay for this?"
"Just don't blow my cover...now listen. I'm going back to Pyrite to complete this mission and get a new one. Truthfully, you slowed me down. Now you have 2 choices...you can follow me, chase adventure, all that crap. Or you can go back to Phenac City, forget about me, and shut up...and live your own life."
She picked up a chip and ate it. "That's hard..."
"It's up to you..."
"...I could do with adventure."

I took a look at her closely for the first time. Her hair was long and curly, blonde with brown highlights...her eyes were green...she was alright...but she had this beautiful face, which I thought would only get her in trouble...heh...I guess it did, because guess what I said next.
"Ok, you can come with me."

After we'd finished the chips and talked about some pokemon stuff, she broke into different conversation.
"So...who are you anyway? And what's a Snagem?"
"I'm a former Cipher member who turned into the leader of Team Snagem. Cipher was a group that locked the hearts of innocent pokemon to turn them into shadow pokemon."
"That's horrible!"
"Well I still do it. I'll tell you later. Team Snagem is a group that steals pokemon from their opponents...as you've just seen."
"But why?"
"Because they've got nothing better to do. But me..."
"Why do you do it?"
"I do it solely to create shadow pokemon to..."
"...To what?"
My voice turned into a whisper. "...To overthrow the Snagems."

Suddenly, a rider ran in. He was out of breath, clearly, as he put his hands on his lap, and bent down to catch some air. Despite this, he still managed to shout...
"ROGUES!!!"
"Damn it! We haven't got our guns!"
"What're we going to do?!"
"...Are there any pokemon trainers in here?"

Emma looked straight at me.
"You have to do it!"
"...I'm not about to get mugged anyway."

I stood up.
"I'll do it."
"Thank you! Thank you!!!" I ran outside to meet the rogues.
"Wait for me!" She ran after me...

But outside, there was sand everywhere, except in the wind. I realised quickly that the sandstorm had stopped...I looked at the rogues, and immediately knew who it was.
"...Dude..."
"...Crap, it's you..."

This message was edited by Relmutsie AN on May 28 2008.

This is getting REALLY good Luke, keep it up!

The cliffhanger at the end of this chapter is a result of my laziness. Deal.

So this is the grand unveiling of 2 new characters. Before you ask, yes, they are obviously based off of neoseeker members.

Luke - Red
Emma - Fuchsia
Zach - Teal
Jorge - Brown
Salesman - Olive
Rogues (all of them) - Aqua

--------------
Chapter 4 - Friend or rogue?

"Zach...you're a ROGUE?"
"Well it's better than being a Snagem, isn't it?"
"Except we don't do everything for money."
"You do it for the sake of doing it? That's so much better, Luke."
"Not me..."
"What the hell's going on out here?!" The salesman ran outside, fat as he may be...SORRY.

I looked at him, then back at Zach.
"Clearly we've both changed too much."
"How do you know this guy, Luke?"
"Who the hell are you?"
"I knew Zach from the Cipher days...we were like the best of friends. But the absence of shadow pokemon clearly changed his attitude."
"Absence?! Hell no!" Zach threw a poke ball to the ground and summoned a purple Charizard with red eyes.
"XD 023...heh." I pulled out a great ball. "And I've still got 075 with me."
"You're not going to battle are you...?"
"Let them battle! Rogues deserve every bit of punishment they get!"

I was getting annoyed with everyone watching us...
"Zach...I don't care about what happens to Snagem. I'm the one who wants to take them down..."
"A likely story..."
"Why do you think I snag so many pokemon? Why do you think all of those pokemon are shadow pokemon?"
"...You what?"
"You want to eliminate them too...right?"

We both fell silent for a minute. He took off his goggles and revealed his flashy green eyes.
"You're not suggesting..." I nodded at him. "Hm..."

At that moment, the rider from before walked past us.
"This is a touching moment..."

I looked at him, with a mask covering his face.
"I know your voice..."
"It's you!"
The rider started to run, but I grabbed his arm and pinned him up against the stand.
"Since when did you become such a pussy, Jorge?" I ripped the mask off his face.
"I'm not your slave anymore, Luke..."
"Luke! Put him down!"
"Not in the way you're thinking..."
"What?!"
"Nobody gives Cipher away and gets away with it!"

Jorge's eyes were now filled with shock and fear. The fear probably came from Zach holding a knife...

But then, a new round of rogues showed up, and the group Zach came with joined them. They were all in their own uniform, and stood in line to try to take us out. Emma was the first to notice.
"Luke!!!"

I spun around, as well as everyone else, turning their attention towards the group of rogues. I let go of Jorge.
"This doesn't look good..."
"Like hell it doesn't...guys, what're you doing?"
"You look perfectly settled with your Snagem boy."
"You can't be serious!"
"Sorry Zach...you broke the rules. Now you pay the price."

The Charizard that Zach summoned was now growling. I could feel that a roar was about to slip out, because the rogues all held out pokeballs.
"Guys...! Help!"

I ran over to Zach and threw my great ball to the ground, and summoned Umbreon.
"2 against 6? Come on..."
"He's right..."
"Let's send more!"
I summoned Luxray as Zach summoned Flygon.

"You still won't beat us."
"I haven't sent mine out yet!"
Jorge then, all of a sudden, summoned Swampert and Infernape.

"You still won't..."
"Just shut up and throw your balls!"

They summoned their pokemon. They had a team of Seviper, Gengar, Wailmer, Alakazam, Magmar and Loudred.
"You can't be serious..."
"I have to admit, you had me worried!"
"Any requests, scum?"
"You know my request! Winner gets the opponent's pokemon!"
"Bring it on! You will never beat us!"
"Use your pokemon and not your mouth!"
The battle started. They all had determination on their face...even though you couldn't see it.

The sandstorm had started again.
"Crap...!"
"This won't change a thing! Luxray, thunderbolt on that Wailmer!"
It hit and knocked out the Wailmer. The dude really didn't train his pokemon well...

"Flygon...Dragon Claw on the Loudred!"
Flygon swept over and violently slashed Loudred. Loudred was getting weaker...but not weak enough.

"Alakazam, use hypnosis on the Luxray!"
"Oh for the love of..."
Luxray suddenly fell asleep as result of the hypnotic waves.

"Screw this!"
"What're you doing?"
"Spiritomb, use shadow storm! Now!"
Spiritomb's eyes glowed a blood red as it prepared itself for a shadow attack. It paused briefly as its purple body turned black.

"What's it doing?!"
"It's going into hyper mode!"

Spiritomb charged up all its shadow energy, and...

This message was edited by Relmutsie AN on May 28 2008.

Nice cliff-hanger, Luke.

And yes, I am the not-so-brave Jorge.

Yay

I know the 6 vs. 6 thing is a bit farfetch'd (har har), so reassure yourself that you won't see it again.

I'll also be adding a chapter index to the first post soon. Easy navigation ftw. Ok, here we go!

Luke - Red
Emma - Fuchsia
Zach - Teal
Jorge - Brown
Rogues (all of them) - Aqua
Salesman - Olive
Kid trainer - Green


------------
Chapter 5 - The untested experiments

Spiritomb let loose a large, purple storm, striking the Alakazam and Seviper, which in turn knocked them both out.

"Nice!"
"What the hell was that?!"
"That's a shadow pokemon..."
"Don't tell me it took you this long to realise it!"

"Gengar, use dream eater on the Luxray!"
Gengar did so and knocked Luxray out. The saddest sight for me was that he didn't know he fainted...

"Infernape, use flare blitz on the Gengar!"
I don't know why he did what he did, but he did, and what he did was weaken Gengar. Maybe it was going slightly smooth...

"Magmar, fire blast that demon of a Spiritomb!"
It was a good strike, because Spiritomb almost fainted. But shadow pokemon are stronger than they thought.

"Charizard, shadow sky!"
"...You what?"

The skies above the Outskirt Stand turned purple as a flourescent rain of the same colour lightly fell from it.

"...What's going on...?"

Shadow sky had never been used by an XD experiment before. So when the rain turned a dark shade of red and black, I didn't know what to expect.

A drop of the rain landed on Spiritomb, and it immediately felt critically ill.

"Spiritomb...?"

My words nullified as the rain started to absolutely pour from the sky. All of the pokemon on the field fainted.

"What the hell was that?!?!?!"
"Everybody inside! Now!"
"Disperse!!! Everybody go back to HQ!"

As everyone took their pokemon back, I pushed everybody inside, but I couldn't help listening to what the rogues were saying.
"HQ?" I whispered.

When everybody was inside, the salesman shut the door.
"Nobody is to step outside until the weather clears!"
"Luke...will that rain effect humans too?"
"The original shadow sky never effected a human's health...but even this one, I'm not sure..."

I quickly looked over at Zach.
"And you! You knew this would be different with XD pokemon! What the hell were you thinking?!"
"I didn't know it would be TOTALLY different!"
"So you decided to test run in a battle situation. That's so like you!"
"You shut up! At least I had the balls to actually do something!"
"Why don't you all shut up?"

I walked up to the trainer and his father.
"Excuse me?"
"This is all your fault anyway. Didn't you guys create shadow pokemon?"

I laughed and slammed the table. Everybody in the stand jumped.
"That's none of your business, kid." I walked away and looked at Zach. "You're never going to do that again, are you, Zach?"

Zach scowled at me and shook his head. Jorge and Emma each had a look of fear on their faces, while Zach continued to scowl. I looked around at everyone, the trainers at the tables, the customers, the salesman and even his assistant...they were all looking at me.

"It's clearing up..."
I looked out of the window. The sky turned gold as a majestic bird flew towards the stand. There was shock in my eyes as I rushed out to see it.

It was beautiful.

"You again..."

The giant bird looked down at me quickly and flew across the desert. The sky cleared immediately and turned light blue, and the only remains of the gold colour was the intense shine that came from the sun. It was a sign alright...

That was the third time I had seen Ho-oh.

"We're not finished with you."
"But I'm finished with you."
"Get back in here!"

I did so as the customers all stood up as if to revolt.
"We don't want you here any longer."
"I don't want to be here either. It was your choice to keep me here."
"Regardless, you're going to leave."
"Excuse me, good sir, but you seem to leave the impression that I actually give a crap."

The salesman then shut up completely.
"Zach, are you coming with me?"
"I'll start up my bike."
"Jorge, are you coming with me?"
"...I don't see why not."
"Emma...are you..."
"...I..."
"You'd be safer here, dear."
"I know. But I don't care about that either."

I smirked as they left. I was about to follow when the salesman's voice stopped me.
"Regardless of everything you've done today, everybody here thinks..."

"My good sir...everybody KNOWS that I am the monster of humankind."

This message was edited by Relmutsie AN on May 22 2008.

This is where you can grab a few clues about Red Eyes (my character) and Kurt.

Luke - Red
Emma - Fuchsia
Zach - Teal
Jorge - Brown
Kurt - Gray
Tom - Green
-----------------
Chapter 6 - Briefing the boss

We raced swiftly across the desert. We had to race because in all the excitement at the outpost, I forgot that Kurt was waiting for me. Although I felt uncomfortable with Emma's arms around my waist, I kept driving. I thought, maybe I should buy her a bike...but then I thought, I already bought her lunch, why the HELL am I even CONSIDERING...UGH, GOD...anyway...

We parked just outside of Pyrite.
"You guys wait here."
"Why?"
"Are you residents of Pyrite?"
"No."
"No..."
"I'm from Agate Village..."

We all looked at her disgustedly. She retreated back into her silence as I kept arguing with Zach and Jorge. Eventually they bought it and I approached the guards for approval.
"Agate Village?"

I entered the Snagem HQ and as I entered the meeting room, they all turned to me like I ordered Pidgeys to crap all over the building.
"What the hell took you so long?"
"Sandstorm. I thought I'd stop for a bite to eat..."
"When I say I want you back here, I MEAN I want you back here."
"And when I say there's a sandstorm, you're supposed to listen."
"You forget your place."
"No Kurt, you forgot YOUR place before I hired you. Maybe a half-eaten Spearow might jog your memory..."
"How dare you!"
"I demand release from Team Snagem."

They were secretly shocked. They tried their hardest to keep straight faces, but I could just tell they were crapping their saggy panties.
"...You know the rules..."
"I WROTE the rules."
"You have to do one more mission for us before you can be released from Team Snagem."
"And allow me to illustrate my mission, JUST for you, Kurt."

I slammed a piece of paper on the table in front of Kurt, showing a picture of the 5 legendary birds.
"Moltres and Zapdos. The Harmonys have them in Phenac. I'm going to snag them."
"No way...we can't even do that!"
"Then it's a good thing we're completely differently skilled people, isn't it?"

I stood back, folding my arms in a smug way as they all stared at me. Kurt was still looking at the picture.
"What do you have to say about that?"
"...You have 3 days."

I smirked as the others were fuming. I held my hand up to the breast of my black Snagem jacket...and ripped the badge off of it. I slammed it onto the table.
"Give this to your next victim...I'll make sure he'll be the last."

I walked out of the door, the shock still present in the room. Kurt was now looking at my badge, his eyes soaked in fear.

I approached Emma, Zach and Jorge, slowly.
"How did it go?"
"We're going to Phenac City."
"Why?"

I got on my bike and fiercly started it up.
"To complete my final mission."

Surprisingly, she didn't ask any questions after that. Zach and Jorge started their bikes as Emma jumped onto mine and put her arms around my waist again. I looked back at her, as she gripped me as tightly as she could. Her face now looked as if she was about to burst into a thousand apologies. She thought I was going to raise hell in front of her. Instead, I smirked and whispered...
"I am SO getting you a new bike."

This message was edited by Relmutsie AN on May 22 2008.

This is the beginning of the final mission. A point was brought up to me the other night that story is flowing pretty fast. You can see I both acknowledged and ignored that point after you've read this chapter.

Luke - Red
Emma - Fuchsia
Zach - Teal
Jorge - Brown
Nurse Joy - Orange
News reporter - Olive
Kurt - Gray
Tom - Green
Harmony member (all of them) - Blue

--------------
Chapter 7 - Pride left in the rubble

Upon arriving in Phenac City, it was obvious to me, and it was obvious to anyone.

The place was empty.
"What the hell...?"
"What's going on, Luke?"
"The stadium...?!"

BOOM!

"Oh my god!!!"
"Come on!"

We started running to the Phenac stadium, which was now rubble, in the hope that there were some survivors. But there were clear survivors, as Moltres and Zapdos emerged from the pile of rubble. We stopped running...

Articuno's master ball was glowing light blue. He could feel it; there was more to come.
"What's up with Articuno?"
"Nothing..."

The screech from both birds was deafening. It was no wonder the city was empty. They had all taken refuge in their homes and local buildings. It was for safety's sake that we had to do the same.

"In the pokemon center! Quick, before they see us!"

We all ran inside the pokemon center, but inside, we saw that they hadn't taken refuge in their homes after all. There was a huge uproar inside as everybody was clearly shocked at the events...though clearly nobody understood what exactly was going on.
"If everybody could please calm down, there is an announcement on the TV!"

They did so as Nurse Joy turned on the TV and turned up the volume. That annoying as hell jingle signified that the news was starting.
"This is an emergency report! Chaos has broke out in Phenac City as the local stadium has been destroyed! We've been trying to send cameras into the area, but they have been destroyed completely on sight!"
"Is that...?"
"We're asking anybody who knows what's going on to call us!"

Nurse Joy turned off the TV.
"Does anybody know what's out there?"
"Get me a phone." I said, emerging from the back.

Everybody looked at me, all seeming confused.
"What do you know?"
"I said get me a phone."

She followed my instructions and I dialed the number of the news station.
"Hello?"

Nurse Joy turned the TV back on.
"I know what's going on. There's a Moltres and Zapdos being used by Team Harmony out there."
"No way..."
"Ok, thank you very much."
"No, put me on air."
"...Ok...?"

"Huh? We now bring you a live report from a man who calls himself...Red Eyes...?"
"Boss! Luke's on TV!"

"To everyone in the region of Orre...my name is Luke. But you shall all refer to me as Red Eyes. Right now in the city of Phenac, there is a Moltres and Zapdos, awaiting the cry from my Articuno. They are being used by Team Harmony. In just a matter of minutes, I am going to capture them. You just watch. You need not fear these birds of legend...for soon, they shall be mine."

I hung up as I left the building, with only Emma following my trail.
"Luke...why are you doing this?!"
"In a few minutes, their cry is going to summon Lugia! When that happens, they'll do much more than what's just happened!"
"But...why capture them?"
"This is my final mission. If I snag these two...then I'll be free from the rule of those bastards."

Just at that moment, my phone rang. I answered it.
"There's a camera being flown in. Make it clear as to what Team Snagem does."

I hung up immediately. Kurt's last attempt to control me was the exact opposite of what I was going to do. I crushed my phone in anger.
"I'll make it clear to you what I mean when I say NO!"

I threw my master ball in the air to summon Articuno.

But soonafter I threw an ultra ball at Moltres, while it was distracted by Articuno. The ultra ball fell on the ground before me, as it shook once...

Twice...

Three times...

"Now you're mine..."

I picked up the ball as it sat still.
"You son of a..."
"How dare you!!!"
"You'll never get away with this!"

I smirked and threw off my jacket as my eyes glowed as red as a demon's.
"I'll get away with all 3 of them in my pocket!"

This message was edited by Relmutsie AN on May 22 2008.

I'm still going a bit too fast, but I want to get this over with.

By the way, I'd like to advertise the joint story by me and Eclipse, No roads left to run. It's in writers lounge, I think you'll enjoy it.

Anyway, onto the story. Chapter name comes from the Dream Theater song.

Luke - Red
Emma - Fucshia
Harmony member (all of them) - Blue
--------------------
Chapter 8 - Constant motion

"You beat us the first time...but our Zapdos is stronger than your Articuno!"
"You're the same people?" I growled, frowning. "Didn't you learn your lesson the first time?!"
"Shut up! We won't let you get away this time! I'll have revenge for my Rhyperior!!!"

"Articuno, use agility!"
"Zapdos, use thunder!"
Luckily for Articuno, a sandstorm had just started, and thus thunder was not able to strike.

"Use ice beam on Zapdos!"
Articuno fired a blast of frost at the Zapdos, cutting its health to just over half.

"Ha! Go, Ninetales! Flamethrower on Articuno!"
"Zapdos, thunder once more!"

Shock overcame me. Pressure was on, and I had 3 seconds to save myself. Articuno was fast enough to avoid thunder, but Ninetales would fire flamethrower just as Articuno had avoided it. It was all down to luck...

"Articuno! Dodge!"
Articuno avoided the thunder strike, but it was almost too late...the fire was about to be lit.

"Mantine, use water pulse and douse Ninetales' flamethrower!"

Now THAT came out of nowhere.
The fire that was headed towards Articuno had been doused by a stroke of water. I looked over at the Mantine that had been sent out by Emma.

"Where the hell did you get that from?"
"I stole it from your pocket while we were riding through the desert..."

Sweet but dirty. I shook my head, coming back to reality.

"Never mind! Keep that Ninetales busy while I finish off Zapdos!"
"Don't count on it!"

"Articuno, use mind reader!"
Articuno took aim on Zapdos. The Harmonys seemed confused as to what as I was doing, as was Emma.
"What're you up to..."
"You have one more move, scum!"

"Mantine, water pulse on Ninetales!"
Water pulse struck Ninetales and confused it. Lucky for me...one more move like they'd tried before, and it could kill me.

But they hadn't made their move yet.
"Zapdos, Ninetales, do the same thing you did last time!"
Zapdos summoned a bolt of thunder as Ninetales charged a flamethrower. However, instead of striking me, Ninetales fired flamethrower at Mantine.

"Mantine! Are you ok?!"
"Don't worry Emma! Fire can barely burn the skin of a water type!"

Emma nodded and turned back to the battle, as did I. Regardless of the fire, thunder was about to strike Articuno.

And it did. HARD.
"No! Articuno!"

The Articuno could barely stand up. It was about to fall to the ground...I didn't know what I cared about most. The battle, or...

No. I wasn't about to give up. Articuno had something in him, I knew it...
"Articuno, I know you're not about to accept defeat just yet!"
Articuno was stumbling, almost unable to support its weight. I could see his eyes closing, as if he were about to fall asleep.
"ARTICUNO!!!"

Articuno's eyes slowly opened. When they did, they were glowing red, as it boldly stood up, spreading its wings and emitting icy chills in the area around us. It was angered, but locked on and ready to attack.

I showed a smirk.
"This is your end, scum! Articuno, let's finish Zapdos off!

SHEER COLD!!!"

The cold air was almost unbearable for the trainers to handle, never mind the Zapdos that was about to be hit. Articuno cried as it fired sheer cold at Zapdos...

And it hit.

"Zapdos...no!"
"Mantine! Water pulse once more!"
"Ninetales...?!"
"Snag ball, go!"
"This can't..."

Zapdos fell from the sky to the ground, water pulse struck the confused Ninetales, fainting it, and the ultra ball I threw at Zapdos stopped shaking.

Mission accomplished.

"No...you...Snagem cannot be...they can't be this good...!"
"They're not...but I am!"
"...Fall back...!"

Just at that moment, a cry hailed from the sky. A familiar cry...one I had heard around the time of the first XD experiment.

Because it was the first XD experiment!

"It's Lugia!"
"FALL BACK!"
"Emma, get back inside!"

Everyone had now disappeared from the area...or, to be exact, the rubble that was formerly Phenac Colloseum.

I was now waiting for Lugia to land. It was exactly as everyone had feared. The 3 legendary birds had been summoned and their combined cries had, in turn, alerted Lugia. The only thing that could come from this situation was absolute destruction of the area...no, the city! There was nothing these 4 birds could not do together. Lugia had once been twisted by the full lock on its heart, but since being purified, it still had a knack for destruction.

But I was determined to stop it.

"Articuno, take this potion!"
I used a hyper potion on the Articuno and restored it to full health.

A huge shadow appeared in the sky, covering me, and even Articuno. I looked up at what should have been a brown, sandy sky, but instead I looked at the silver body of the fourth legendary bird.

It ceased flight and landed right before me.
Holding the pokeballs of Moltres and Zapdos before my face, I smirked.

"Then we battle for the freedom of our hearts."

Wow. The most gripping chapter yet.

This is the best Pokemon story ever. Especially cause there was a Pokemon show-story about every region but Orre (And Fiore) Region.