Upon A New Horizon Part XI
Upon arriving in Shalour City, the limousine parked outside the local Pokémon Center, the students immediately getting out and rushed in through the automatic doors
“We need help!” Rachel yelled before the local Nurse Joy could spot them and the injured Riolu Katie was carrying in her arms.
“Nurse Joy! You’ve got to help! Please!” Katie begged. “We’ve found this wild Riolu injured in the middle of the woods!”
“Oh my! What happened to it?” Nurse Joy asked in concern upon seeing the wounds on its arms and body.
“We…” Alicia stopped herself before giving Katie the opportunity to answer the question. She knew the two of them have a bond similar to her and Anubis.
“We don’t know…” Katie answered slowly. “We’ve found it stumbling around like this. From the looks of its injuries, we think a poacher must have tried to capture it through inhumane means.”
Nurse Joy took the injured Riolu in her arms, nodding along to Katie’s statement.
“The poor thing must have been through a lot.” She spoke softly.“If it wasn’t for you it might be….”
Katie’s breath hitched in her throat, her heart practically breaking at the possibility of what would have happened if she, Alicia and Anubis hadn’t found the Riolu in time.
“We’ll prepare everything right away to make sure this Riolu will be up on its feet in no time.” Nurse Joy spoke to her partner Pokémon Wigglytuff.
“Wiggly!” The assistant nurse Pokémon chirped.
They were about to enter through the door behind the counter when suddenly Katie spoke up.
“W-wait! C-could I maybe stay at its bedside once it’s settled in the recovery room?” She asked hastily.
Nurse Joy nodded, understanding.
“Of course.” She smiled. “We just need to tend to its wounds right away. We will let you know what it’s ready for visitors.”
“Wigglytuff.” Wigglytuff chimes in.
The gang sighed in relief upon hearing the good news about the Riolu and its soon to be recovering.
As both Joy and her Wigglytuff take the Riolu to the emergency room, Katie slumped onto a bench, instinctively pulling out her Pikachu plushie to calm her nerves.
“I hope they find the poacher who caused these wounds.” Alicia growled.
“Lucario!” Anubis growled in response.
Katie anxiously took several breaths, squeezing her plushie close to settle her rapidly beating her heart. In the back of her mind, she could… sense the Riolu’s aura, feeling its own anxiety as well as its own from the wounds.
“I know it's not going to help, Kate but maybe a Pokémon Battle could change the mood?” Rachel asked.
“I'm…. unsure if I should battle right now with this rage inside of me.” Alicia said.
“I-I don’t think I'm in the mood to train right now either.” Katie managed to speak. “Not when that Riolu is in immediate care. I-I can’t even help but fear for the worse if we hadn’t found it in time.
Arturo sighed. “If everyone is alright with it I will battle with Rachel outside while you wait here.”
“Of course.” Ms. Azur replied. “I will personally watch over the battle. I’m certain everyone else will be fine waiting inside?”
“I’m staying here and emotionally supporting Katie as much as I can right now.” Alicia said.
“Cario!” Anubis agreed to stay with his Trainer.
“I-I think I should stay here t-too.” Meadow stammered.
Ms. Azur nodded in understanding as she, Rachel and Arturo went outside.
Alicia slumped down against the wall, exhausted and stressed out about the poor Riolu. Meanwhile, Katie was still anxious about the Riolu’s well-being as Meadow tried to calm her down. Nalu got out of her PokéBall and rested on Katie’s lap in an effort to comfort her trainer.
“Excuse me, are any of you alright?” A soft and polite feminine voice spoke up.
The girls lifted their heads up to notice a young lady with lightly tanned skin, purple hair plaited into a braid and violet-blue eyes, dressed in an ice petal purple dress over powder blue leggings approaching them. Perched on her lap was a shiny Espurr and pushing the wheelchair from behind is a Floragato.
Upon seeing the girl, Meadow looked as if she knew her, stuttering out, “S-S-Sophia?”
“You know her?” Katie asked.
“S-she’s my r-roommate.” Meadow confirmed.
Alicia's Zorua walked up to the Floragato, shapeshifting into a Floragato itself with his Illusion ability, scaring the Grass-Type Pokémon.
“Trix, don't scare it please.” Alicia sighed before she walked up to her Zorua, still transformed into a Floragato before it was picked up by his trainer Alicia and turned back to a Zorua once more.
“Trix, now’s not the time to be playing pranks with your illusions by turning into people and their Pokémon.” Katie groaned. “Not when I’m worried sick about that Riolu.”
“I’m so sorry for his behavour.” Alicia apologized to Sophia before sitting down on the chair next to Katie.
“It’s no trouble.” Sophia said in assurance. “What is this about a Riolu?”
“A-Alicia and Katie found a wild Riolu injured in the w-w-woods.” Meadow explained.
“And from the looks of its injuries, a poacher must have tried to catch it.” Katie concluded.
“Th-that’s awful!” Sophia gasped in horror.
“Espurr…” The Espurr spoke while the Floragato meowed in anger.
“Let's hope Riolu survives.” Alicia answered the question. “I hope whoever did this will face karma!”
Anubis growled, sending aura punching in the air.
“I most certainly hope so.” Sophia sighed in sympathy. “It’s just horrible how there are such people like that out there. I just don’t understand who would do such a thing to a Pokémon, especially one so young as a Riolu.”
“To think we had enough evil in the world dealing with people like Team Rocket or even Team Plasma…!” Katie spoke through clenched teeth. “If not just petty poachers, it’s even worse there’s a possibility that there are members who have not moved on and are still causing difficulties for people and Pokémon alike!”
She could still remember the news report about at least three remaining Team Rocket members causing damage at the Fuchsia City Gym. And she could still feel the Riolu’s pain from the injuries it had sustained from whoever was heartlessly responsible for them through its aura.
“I know we can’t take justice into our hands, but I can’t stand the idea of not being able to do anything about it!” She practically shouted in frustration.
“My dad did justice once when he was still a member of the Elite Four.” Alicia remembered. “He and Lance entered a supposedly little antique shop but it hid the hideout of Team Rocket before they split up.”
“I believe I’ve once heard that Lance once investigated Team Magma’s schemes by infiltrating their mobile base in disguise as one of their Grunts.” Sophia said. “And there is some mention that a former member named Brodie, who has skills to disguise himself as anyone and is partnered with a Ditto, is still on the run from the law.”
“D-d-did they catch him yet?” Meadow asked nervously.
Sophia shook her head. “Not yet. He’s been rather difficult to apprehend.”
“Espurr.” Her Espurr spoke.
As they spoke to change the mood, Rachel and her newly evolved Raboot entered the Pokémon Center with Arturo and his Absol following after them with their teacher Ms. Azur.
“Ah! Mademoiselle Sophia, I didn’t expect you to be here.” Ms. Azur said. “I take it you’re here to see the finals before your Gym Challenge with Monsieur Grant?”
“Oui, Ms. Azur.” Sophia replied. “My aunt managed to convince my parents to pull a few strings to provide me a backstage V.I.P pass to watch the finals from backstage.”
“Espurr.” Espurr purred as Floragato meowed.
The lamp above the door leading to the surgery room opens up.
“Looks like Nurse Joy is done.” Alicia sighed in relief as she spotted the healthy looking Riolu sitting on the tray with a small bandage on his arm where the wound was before.
Katie cautiously approaches, trying to hard to scare the wild Pokémon after what had happened in the woods.
“Riolu?” The Riolu looked up at her in curiosity.
“How are you feeling, Riolu?” Katie asked.
It stood up from the tray Wigglytuff pushed before its eyes fell on the bandaid and Katie’s smile.
“Riolu!” Confident it jumped down, letting out a few punches before it noticed Anubis and the Aura surrounding him.
The curious Riolu ran over towards Anubis, eyes wide with wonder.
Rachel peered down as she noticed something, asking, “Is it me or is there something kinda… different about its eyes?”
“They’re not red.” Alicia mentions.
“I must say I have never seen any Riolus that actually have purple eyes before in my life.” Sophia said.
“Maybe its a genetic defect?” Arturo pointed out before showing more Pokémon on his Smart Rotom device, with different colored eyes, bodies or even markings.
“Y-you mean like a p-p-pink Butterfree?” Meadow asked.
Arturo nodded. “Yes, like us humans, Pokémon can look different too.”
“I wouldn’t get past that horrible poacher if that was the reason why they were after the little guy.” Katie scowled.
Alicia agreed with Katie, frowning in anger too. “I don’t know if it’s okay to let the Riolu back in the wild with the possibility of it getting hurt or worse captured.”
“And there’s no guarantee they will capture the poachers.” Rachel sadly admitted.
“Raboot…” Her Raboot agreed.
While Nurse Joy calls the local police station the Riolu tries to train with Anubis, yet the latter dodged the punches and simply walked away. The Riolu tries to follow him but winces as his bad arm was acting up.
“Oh! Careful!” Katie gasped as she held the Riolu steady. “Just because Nurse Joy patched up, that doesn't mean you’re in any condition to train or fight.”
“Riolu…” The Riolu groaned.
“I think we should stay here until his arm is fully healed.” Alicia suggested understanding why Anubis dodged Riolu’s moves and didn’t strike back.
“Lucario!” Anubis agreed.
Katie picks the Riolu up in her arms, surprisingly the feisty Pokémon didn’t resist as he begrudgingly held still. He practically seemed even docile close to her.
Just then Meadow just noticed the Raboot next to Rachel and wonders if her Scorbunny has evolved.
“D-d-did your Scorbunny actually evolved, Rachel?” Meadow asked.
“Sobble…” Sobble whimpered.
“He sure did after Arturo’s Absol almost defeated it.” Rachel explained sweatdroppingly.
“Oh wow, I’ve been waiting to see an evolved Galarian starter Pokémon in person for a while.” Sophia commented, getting out a teal Smart Rotom Phone to look up on Raboot’s PokéDex entry. “Let’s see… Raboot…”
“Raboot, the Rabbit Pokémon, a Fire-type and the evolved form of Scorbunny. Thanks to its soft and fluffy fur, Raboot can easily heat up its fire energy and produce flames with more power.”
“And you have a Floragato.” Katie observed. “You were the same girl with that Sprigatito who defeated that student with Grookey, aren’t you?
Sophia smiled nervously. “Yeah, that was me…”
“Let’s see what the PokéDex says about Floragato.” Arturo grabbed his Smart Rotom Device to scan the Grass-Type Pokémon standing next to Sophia.
Floragato, the Grass Cat Pokémon, a Grass-Type and the evolved form of Sprigatito. Floragato deftly wields the vine hidden beneath its long fur, slamming the hard flower bud against its opponents.”
“Kinda similar to Aki’s scallops, Floragato used a weapon on his own too.” Rachel chuckled.
“Her.” Sophia corrected. “My Floragato is female.”
Rachel sweatdropped. “Oh! Sorry.”
“To be fair, I couldn’t figure out if Floragato was male or female.” Alicia admitted.
“Not all Pokémon have visible signs to reveal their genders.” Arturo explained. “As you can see the tip of an Eevee’s tail just like Meadow’s, it is in the shape of a heart that shows she’s female.”
“Similar to female Pikachu. Their tailend is shaped like a heart.” Alicia added in.
“I believe a male Torchic has a small spot near its tail if I’m not mistaken.” Katie added in.
The gang continue to speak about the knowledge they know so far they didn’t release the Wild Riolu wasn’t sitting on Katie’s lap anymore.
“Wait… what?!” Katie gasped.
“Where did it go?” Alicia wondered, scanning the entire room.
“Riolu!” Katie called out frantically. “Where are you? Where’d you?!”
Anubis looked as well, using his Aura ability to search for the missing Riolu.
“Geez, I know that Riolus are said to be fast, but how could it have run off so fast?!” Rachel claimed.
“Well, not only Riolus are fast their evolution Lucario and they’re trainer’s too I guess?” Arturo mentioned as Alicia and Anubis rushed outside the Pokémon Center into the forest to search for the missing Riolu.
Katie wasn’t far behind as she followed them into the forest.
“Should we follow them?” Arturo asked?
“We should. We’re going to need to split up just in case.” Sophia answered. She looks down at the shiny Espurr on her lap.
Arturo and Rachel nodded in agreement to split up before running into the woods, following their friends.
##########################################################
“The little guy couldn’t have gone off too far in his condition!” Katie panted.
Alicia stayed quiet just like her Lucario Anubis. Both closed their eyes, using their aura to find the path the Riolu must have taken.
Seeing what they were doing, Katie did the same, trying to focus. She had felt the Riolu’s Aura before, she could do it again. Right?
“Lucario!” Anubis chose the right path, jumping over rocks and boulders to follow the Riolus scent.
“Whoa! Hey! Wait up!” Katie protested. “I’m not really equipped for this kind of thing like rock jumping!”
“We can walk around them.” Alicia suggested. “That’s just the way Anubis likes to travel.”
Both the girls took the path around the rocks to meet up with Anubis at the top.
“Lu! Lucario!” Anubis barked at the two students to show them the Riolu they were searching for.
The good news was that the wild Riolu wasn’t in any trouble as he was punching at a boulder. But… something strange was about to happen as the small Fighting-type was cupping his paws together in the same fashion as a Lucario is about to use…
“Is that Aura Sphere?” Alicia gasped.
As if in answer, the Riolu shot out an Aura Sphere at the boulder… only to miss its mark and ended up breaking off a tree branch from a tree.
“Looks like it.” Katie said, dumbfounded. “But how is that even possible?! A Riolu can’t learn Aura Sphere until it evolves into the Lucario stage!”
“Lucario…” Anubis didn’t seem impressed about the Aura Sphere like his Trainer Alicia and her friend Katie does. “Lu!”
Quite the opposite. Anubis jumped up and used Aura Sphere on the same boulder the wild Riolu tried to hit.
“CARIO!” The boulder breaks into dozens of tiny stone pieces.
“Riolu!” The Riolu gasped before looking up at the Lucario in admiration. “Riolu!”
“Lucario!” Anubis barked.
“You know, I’m starting to think… maybe that’s why the poacher that injured the little guy was after him.” Katie said slowly. “A Riolu that knows Aura Sphere so soon is quite a rarity.”
“I know Riolu can learn the move Aura Sphere but can’t control them very well like their evolution Lucario.” Alicia mentions.
Katie slowly approaches the Riolu, impressed and awed by what she had seen despite the lack of his control of Aura Sphere.
“You’re really something, Riolu, but you really shouldn’t have ran off like that when you still need to heal properly.” She said. “Especially when whoever had did this to you is still out there somewhere.”
“Lucario! Lucario!” Anubis scoldingly barked at the Riolu.
“Hey, I got an idea!” Alicia spoke up, surprising Katie and the two Pokémon.
“Huh? Really? What?” Katie inquired.
“You and Riolu share the same Aura me and Anubis share.” Alicia mentioned. “And from the looks of it this Riolu would like to travel with you.”
Katie turns to look at the Riolu, who looked back at her.
“Riolu?” The Fighting-Type looked her in the eyes, sparkling with excitement before all of the sudden, a car appeared.
“What in the…?” Katie muttered.
“Lucario!” Anubis growled.
At that moment, Rachel and Meadow arrived.
“Hey, guys!” Rachel yelled before she and Meadow noticed the car. “What did we miss? What’s going on?”
“Raboot!” Raboot grunted, getting into a defensive stance.
“Sobble…” Sobble whimpered while hiding under Meadow’s hair, turning invisible while Eevee growled.
“E-Eevee? Sobble? Wh-what’s wrong?” Meadow stammered in concern.
“Something’s not right…” Katie muttered as an uncomfortable Riolu took cautiously steps away from the sight of the car.
“Yeah, something is off with that logo.” Alicia agrees.
Meadow looked at the “G” logo on the car before her eyes widened in horror.
“I-it c-c-can’t be!” She stuttered in frighted realization.
She knew where that logo was coming from and what harm it could do.
“G-g-g-girls! That belongs to someone from T-T-Team G-G-Galactic!” Meadow cried frantically.
Katie and Alicia gasped in horror upon hearing this.
“That team of weirdos that worked for that psycho, Cilas, who tried to take over Sinnoh?” Rachel asked in disbelief.
“Team Galactic? In the Kalos Region?!” Katie gasped. “B-but I-I thought they had disbanded after their leader went missing!”
Anubis growled as did Riolu as all four doors of the car swung open at once.
Three of the passengers wear a grey and black uniform, long leggings and white boots. The “G” logo standing for Team Galactic is printed on the chest area of the uniform.
The last passenger to leave the car was an older man, wearing a white lab coat above his own Team Galactic uniform, dark grey pants and grey shoes. His hair is colored in a faint purple unlike the grunts' light blue hair.
His half-lidded, dreamy eyes peer through a pair of small, round red colored glasses that were perched on the bridge of his nose.
“We found the Riolu, Sir Charon.” One of the grunts said, holding a strange device in his hand.
“Excellent.” The man smirked. “But try to contain it with care unlike last time.”
“Last time…?” Katie echoed before she felt a great anger brewing inside her. “So it’s YOU who had injured that Riolu!”
“Lucario…” Anubis growled in anger as well but awaits his Trainer’s command before he could strike down the Grunt’s Pokémon they released from their PokéBalls.
“You sleazy old Seviper!” Rachel bristled. “Who do you think you are attacking innocent wild Pokémon?! Much less a baby one like a Riolu?!”
The old man laughed, devilishly before answering Rachel’s question. “My name? You want to know my name? Please as if a puny little student like you could defeat me and my grunts.”
“H-his name is Charon.” Meadow spoke. “He is a mad scientist who works for Team Galactic. After the disappearance of their leader, he had been on the run from the law as most of its members were arrested.”
“I don’t care who he works for or what he is.” Alicia yelled furiously before she turned to Charon and the Grunts. “All I know is you are hurting this innocent Riolu just because it has different colored eyes!”
“Yes, yes, I’m well aware of the bizarre genetics, young lady, but that’s not why I’m trying to capture it.” Charon sneered. “You see, a Riolu that has learned Aura Sphere despite it has yet to evolve is quite a fascinating phenomenon and I have every intention of exploiting this unique Pokémon to revive Team Galactic in my own vision!”
“And that’s the reason why you hurt it?!” Rachel couldn’t hold back her anger. “Just to revive an evil corporation?!”
“Raboot!” Her Raboot kicked a small pebble up with his foot ready to strike at any minute if his trainer allowed it.
“We have enough evil as it is with poachers and people who abuse Pokémon, abandoning them or even using them to hurt others…” Katie said slowly yet coldly. “But… what you’re doing by hunting down a young Pokémon and use it as a tool for you vile benefits and not even caring about its well-being in inexcusable!”
Her face hardened into pure rage, as though she couldn’t hold herself any long.
“And I will NEVER forgive such people like YOU!” She shouted.
Alicia looked at Katie in clear shock. She had never seen Katie this angry before. Not even towards that day in Mrs. Kay’s classroom when she stood up to Thomas and his roommates.
Charon just laughed in Katie’s face with a smug smile on his face “Take care of these students will ya?” before her commanded the three grunts to summon their Pokémon.
“Yessir!” One of the Galactic Grunts said before he tossed his PokéBall up to release his own Pokémon.
“Stunky!” The Skunk Pokémon cried out.
“Nalu! I choose you!” Katie yelled as she threw the Dive Ball.
“Anubis assist her!” Alicia ordered her Lucario to help Katie’s Popplio during the Pokémon battle.
“We’re gonna make you kids wish you stayed at your school!” A female Grunt sneered, throwing a PokéBall, releasing her own Pokémon. “Go! Dustox!”
“Dustox!” The moth-like Pokémon fluttered beside the Stunky.
“You too Golbat!” the third Team Galactic Grunt grunted, sending out a Golbat.
“Raboot! You’d better get out there and help Nalu and Anubis kick those Galacta-Goons’ butts!” Rachel declared, pointing at the Grunts’ Pokémon.
“Raboot!” Raboot hopped forward to stand at Anubis’s side.
“Dustox! Use Tackle attack!” The female Grunt ordered.
“Stunky! Use Poison Gas!” The male Grunt yelled out.
“Golbat! Use Poison Fang!” The second male Grunt shouted.
“Nalu! Dodge Dustox’s Tackle and use Bubblebeam!” Katie cried.
“Pop!” Nalu quickly evaded the tackling Dustox and pelted it with a stream of bubbles.
“Flamethrower, Raboot!” Rachel yelled as Raboot blew a stream of fire at Golbat as the Flying and Poison type frantically tried to avoid getting hot wings so to speak.
“Anubis, use Aura Sphere on Stunky!” Alicia ordered her Lucario as a small blue ball of aura energy formed between his paws, growing larger and larger with each second before it was released onto the Skunk Pokémon defeating it with one move.
“That massive Aura Sphere is incredible, Ali.” Katie commented as the Riolu watched on in awe at the size of the Aura Sphere.
“Thanks to our training.” Alicia smiled before she communicated with her Lucario Anubis to use Flash Cannon on Golbat.
“Nalu! Use Water Gun on Stunky!” Katie shouted as Nalu blasted the skunk-like Pokémon with full blast of water from her mouth.
“Flamethrower on Dustox, Raboot!” Rachel smirked, knowing that Fire-type moves are super effective against Bug-types.
All three Grunts gasped in horror once all of their Pokémon were defeated by a bunch of students.
“Class dismissed.” Katie said coldly.
Charon on the other hand growled in anger. How could his minions lose to a group of academy junior students?!
“You idiots!” He yelled “Can’t you even do one thing right?!”
“W-we’re sorry, sir.” The female Grunt apologized. “These… students are actually a lot stronger than we had anticipated.”
“Duh! One of the students is the daughter of a former Elite Four member!” Rachel yelled.
Charon scowled. “I couldn’t care less if you even have any connections to any of the Champions!”
“Well, you should!” Meadow screamed.
“Leon — the Champion of my home region — believes we all have great potential to become great Pokémon Trainers someday!” Katie declared. “And I know that he believes that we will always make the right choice to protect those who can’t protect themselves and always do the right thing! And protecting Pokémon from scum like you is living proof that we care about them! That’s what he sees in us!”
As Charon wanted to respond, Anubis stood in front of him, protecting his trainer and her friends as well as the Riolu.
“So, would you like to know what it feels to be hit by an Aura Sphere?” Alicia smirkingly asked.
Just then, Charon got out a remote control and pushed a button. All of a sudden, a strange device flew out of the car, heading towards Riolu. It suddenly formed into a cage and trapped Riolu inside.
“Wait, what?!” Rachel exclaimed in shock.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Alicia growled before Charon grabbed the cage.
But before he could run for the car, Anubis leapt over him and landed in front of Charon, barricading him from the car.
But then Charon started to run in the opposite direction.
“Get back here!” Katie demanded as she ran after him.
“Popplio!” Nalu barked angrily, following her trainer.
Without a second thought, Alicia and Anubis followed after them.
“We need to stop him before he can get away, Meadow!” Rachel explained.
“R-right!” Meadow nodded.
Just as they were about to go after their friends, Sophia and Arturo arrived with Ms. Azur and the local Officer Jenny.
“Ms. Azur!” Rachel exclaimed.
“Thank goodness you’re all aright!” Ms. Azur said. “What’s happening?! Sophia and Arturo informed us that you all went into the forest when Riolu ran off, looking for it!”
“It seems like they want to use that Riolu to revive Team Galactic.” Rachel explained to Officer Jenny.
“A-a-and Charon caught Riolu, trying to get away but Katie and Alicia went after him!” Meadow concluded worryingly.
“We will find them and rescue the Riolu.” Officer Jenny said, writing everything down before going after the students.
#########################################################
Katie, Alicia, Nalu and Anubis were in hot pursuit of Charon as he fled further into the woods, the cage containing the Riolu and his age slowing him down.
“Riolu!” Riolu growled, punching the cage to free himself. “Riolu!”
“You won’t get away from us!” Katie shouted furiously. “Just give up and let Riolu go!”
“Never!” Charon panted in exhaustion as he carried the cage under his arm, while trying to avoid the Fighting-Type Pokémon’s punches as well as the Water Gun the Popplio fired at him.
He soon fled inside a cave and ran down a tunnel. He soon reached an area filled with multiple tunnels. Getting an idea, he ran down one tunnel. When he was halfway down, he got out a PokéBall and threw it to summon his recently evolved Bronzong.
“Bronzong! Use confusion to create a cave-in to barricade the entrance of the tunnel!” Charon ordered. “Cave-in the rest to cover my tracks and confuse the meddling brats who are after me!”
The Steel and Psychic type surrounded itself with purple psychic energy, manipulating multiple rocks to fall from the ceiling. The rocks piled up and sealed all of the tunnels shut.
“That should buy me enough time to escape and make my plans.” Charon smirked as he recalled Brozong and began to walk down the tunnel, taking all the time he wanted without any need to run anymore.
However, what he failed to notice was that Riolu had his eyes closed, trying to use his Aura to reach out to Katie.
Speaking of, Katie, Alicia and their Pokémon reached the tunnel chamber, shocked to see all of the tunnels were sealed shut by piles of rocks.
“I guessed he would use a Psychic -Type Pokémon to block the entrances of the cave.” Alicia growled. “And he must have blocked off all of the tunnels in hopes of confusing us into taking the wrong one to buy himself enough time to escape.”
Katie didn’t answer as she closed her eyes, trying to focus on sensing Riolu's Aura.
“Riou… please help me find you…”
A soft blue aura surrounded her and… her eyes shot open.
“There!” She cried, pointing at a tunnel to the left. “They went down that one!”
Anubis fired an Aura Sphere to blast away the rocks barricading the path, shattering the pile before he and the girls ran down the tunnel.
Alicia closed her eyes for just a second but it was enough for her to feel the Aura of the Riolu like Katie did before.
“They must be close.” Alicia heard Anubis speaking telepathy through his own Aura “I sense them behind this boulder.”
As Alicia and Katie opened their eyes, there was indeed a boulder blocking their path further into the cave.
Truly moved by a Pokémon as Alicia ordered her Lucario to use Aura Sphere once more before they get further into the cave to find the Team Galactic scientist Charon running towards the two students and their Pokémon. A colony of agitated Zubats were flying after him, implying he must have disturbed their sleep.
“Out of the way!” He screamed in terror, still holding the cage with the Riolu inside in his hands as before accidentally bumping against a boulder, dropping not only the cage but something else too.
“The remote for the cage!” Katie cried.
Realizing he had dropped the key to the cage, Charon tries to make a diving grab for it. Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough when Anubis used a Bone Rush to break the device.
“NOOO!!!” Charon shouted in horror.
The cage instantly shattered to useless pieces of metal as the Riolu instinctively ran up to Katie and leapt up into her arms.
“Riolu!” Katie laughed in relief, hugging Riolu. “You’re okay! I’m so glad!”
“Ri! Riolu!” Riolu barked happily.
“You brats! That Riolu is MINE! I won’t allow such meddlers like you interfere with my plans!” Charon snarled, getting out a PokéBall and throwing it. “Go! Toxicroak!”
“We will see about that!” Alicia declared. Telepathically, she ordered Anubis to use Aura Sphere on Toxicroak.
“Nalu! Use Bubblebeam!” Katie ordered.
Just as Nalu was about to assist Anubis, Riolu suddenly jumps out of the surprised Katie’s arms, preparing to fire his own Aura Sphere.
All three Pokémon fired their attacks and… miraculously, Riolu’s Aura Sphere hit its mark as all three attacks struck Toxicroak, throwing it back.
“No! Toxicroak!” Charon yelled in horror after the three moves defeated his Pokémon.
All three Pokémon and the two students shout the evil scientist a glare. Charon nervously backs away when he hears some flapping of wings.
“Oh no! Not again!” Charon gulped as he returned his fainted Pokémon before running away from the colony of Zubats coming from depths of the cave.
Panicking, Charon fled back towards the entrance of the cave, running outside right back to where he started, the angry Zubats not far behind. As he frantically glances back to see if the Flying and Poison types were still after him, he failed to notice a small rock in front of him, tripping over it. He fell forward and fell flat on his front as the Zubats flew past over him, disappearing over the trees.
Groaning, Charon lifted his head up and was alarmed to see a very stern-looking Officer Jenny standing over him, arms crossed and her loyal Manectric at her side, growling at him.
Not far behind the officer was Ms. Azur and her students while Katie, Alicia, their Pokémon and Riolu calmly walked out of the cave behind Charon.
“Oh no…!” Charon groaned as Officer Jenny handcuffed the scientist.
“Dr. Charon of Team Galactic from the Sinnoh Region, you are under arrest for poaching Pokémon and evading the law!” Jenny declared.
Charon wanted to argue about those statements, even going so far as to order his assistants to use their Pokémon to give him a headstart to flee. As he was yet to notice the three Team Galactic Grunts being handcuffed by Officer Jenny, with their PokéBalls right in her hand to speak.
Unwillingly, he gave up, accepting his defeat once again as he walked inside the police car belonging to the International Police while the three grunts followed him. Each grunt looked more reluctantly defeated than the other.
“Team Galactic is no more!” A policeman declared before he shut the door on Charon and the three Galactic Grunts, leaving them in the dark before the car drove away.
“That was exhausting but also satisfying to help out this wild Riolu.” Alicia sighed in relief from all the action she and her friends had to go through today.
Katie and the Riolu turned to each other, staring at one another. Katie knelt down to the Riolu’s level.
“Riolu… I don’t know what had happened to you before the whole fiasco with Team Galactic, but I want you to know that not all humans are bad and I don’t want people like Charon to define your views and opinions about humans.” Katie spoke. “Also, you’re very special and that Aura Sphere’s incredible. So… I was thinking… would you maybe like to join me on my journey to become a Pokémon Trainer? I’m sure we can learn, train and become stronger together. What do you say? Will you be part of my family?”
Riolu looked Katie in the eyes, sparkling in excitement as he agreed to become a new teammate for her Pokémon team.
“Riolu! Riolu! Riolu!” He jumped all excitingly while Alicia and Anubis smiled to see Katie getting her very own Riolu.
Katie smiled as she happily pulled out a Luxury Ball from out of her pocket, pressed the button to increase its proper size to capture her new Pokémon.
“Glad to have you onboard.” She spoke as she held the Luxury Ball out towards Riolu. Welcome to the family… Spirit.”
Eagerly, the newly dubbed Riolu fistbumped the button of the Luxury Ball, getting engulfed in a beam of red light and instantly gets pulled inside the Luxury Ball. The golden button faintly glowed and flickered red a few times until the ball clicked and the light faded, indicating that Riolu had been caught.
“Alright!” Katie cheered as she jumped up onto her feet, happily raising the Luxury Ball with her newly caught Pokémon inside aloft. “I caught my own Riou!”
“Pop! Popplio!” Nalu barked, clapping her flippers in celebration.
“Congratulations!” Alicia cheered.
“Lucario!” Anubis cheered as well.
“That’s amazing! A Riolu is such a reliable Pokémon to have in any trainer’s team.” Sophia commented as her Floragato meowed in agreement.
“Espurr.” Sophia’s Espurr purred.
“Thank you so much.” Katie smiled as she held the Luxury Ball close to her.
The Luxury Ball popped up after Katie pressed the button in the middle to release her newest team member Spirit the Riolu.
“Riolu!” Spirit leapt up onto her arms, hugging his new trainer.
“Spirit’s a very good name.” Arturo commented.
“I’ll say. It’s a lively one.” Rachel added.
“It sure suits the little guy.” Alicia smiled.
“Now that this whole mess with the poachers has been dealt with and we have a new friend in the making, perhaps we should prepare to have dinner and get some sleep to rest until tomorrow.” Ms. Azur suggested. “All of you had quite a busy day today.”
Alicia, Rachel, Katie, Meadow, Arturo and Sophia nod in agreement as they follow their teacher to the Pokémon Center they left before running after the former wild Riolu named Spirit.
As they left to take a ride back into town in Ms. Azur’s limousine, Rocket News pulled up in their truck, dismayed about missing the theater teacher once again.
“We missed them again!” Meowth sighed in regret.
“And we seemed to miss out on the scoop of the capture of the remaining Team Galactic members that were rumored to be hiding out in Kalos as well.” James groaned.
“There’s no fussing about it if we can’t send out the news first before another news channel does it first.” Jessie angrily slapped both James and Meowth on their head, leaving behind a huge bump on their heads.
“Well, since the finals are being held in Shalour City, perhaps we’ll have better luck getting an interview?” James suggested. “A student is said to have a challenge with the local Gym Leader anyway.”
Jessie grumbled in response before answering his question with a big smile on her face. “Sure thing but first!”
Out of nowhere, she grabbed a camera and pushed it in James’s arms while Meowth and Wobbuffet held the microphone all of the sudden.
“Let’s get this news started shall we?” Jessie said, dabbing her cheek with a powderpuff from her make-up kit.
“Aye-aye!” Meowth saluted. “And with Champion Leon hangin’ around in town for the finals, gettin’ an interview with him will be a shoe-in!”
James agreed with him. “Yes and maybe we get the chance to interview James Powell?”
“One step at a time.” Jessie stated. “Now let’s get this show on the road! Tomorrow’s a new day!”
“Wobbuffet!” Wobbuffet saluted.
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