Pokemon Adventures: Soul Ch03 Listen to your Heart!

Chapter 3: Enter, Heart!

The sun was shining brightly over the Jubilife City, as people littered the streets. It is always busy during the day, and even more so at night. Tourists from other regions come to Jubalife for the attractions and the fun activities, but most of the visitors that come here are new trainers. They come to visit the Pokemon Trainer School to learn more about pokemon battles.

I walked down the streets, searching for the pokemon center. I kept my hood on in case those weird men from the night before were lurking around. I thought about the masked man I battled earlier this morning. He still had 5 more pokemon…and we barely took down one. In fact, we merely crippled it.

Many thoughts were running through my head. How could I have done better? Did I push my pokemon too hard in their first battle? Will they take a while to recover? I glanced down at my waist to look inside their pokeballs. Sableye and Emperor were fast asleep.

Man I worked them too hard and put them in so much danger…and still, they were more than ready to lay their lives on the line for my sake. They battled exceptionally despite their disadvantages, I am proud to have them on my team I thought to myself.

I continued searching for a pokemon center, passing by many families with their children, along with thousands of couples eating ice cream. Many people were also playing games and training their pokemon. Hmph! who needs all that nonsense, I thought, all I need is strength! The power to crush anyone who gets in my way!

I suddenly bumped into a kid while I was walking.

"'Scuse me sir!" cried a little girl. She had short brown hair that barely passed her ears, and a blue clip keeping her bangs out of her face. She also had giant brown eyes, and rosy red cheeks. I partially turned my head to see that there were two more kids approaching me.

"Mister, mister! We can see your pokeballs on your waist! Are you a trainer?" asked the boy. He had jet black hair and was wearing a white t-shirt with red shorts. He was also wearing a red and white cap laid firmly on his head, shifted backwards.

"Oh! Can we play with your pokemon mister!?" said the other girl. This girl had long white hair and green eyes, but her eyes are what stood out the most. They were pretty much half shut, but it appeared as if she were always sad, despite her small smile.

The three kids gathered around me, laughing and giggling pulling on my pants leg.

I let out a sigh, "No, I'm busy…they are injured and I need a pokemon center," I said in an annoyed tone.

"Oh! Mister we know where it is! We can take ya there if you want!" said the girl.

The three of them whined and groaned, pulling my hand to follow them. Do I trust them? Just 'cause they are kids doesn't mean they can't be tricked into leading me somewhere. However, I was a bit lost and did need the help, since I never really explored Jubalife City without Prof. Rowan before.

"Hey! You guys! We should ask for something in return! Yea he has to give us something!" said the boy. Their eager little eyes all turned to me, looking for some sort of reward.

"Hmph…I'll let you be my friend, and i'll buy you guys ice-cream or somethin', deal?" I said reluctantly. They all cheered and skipped as they led me to the center.

We eventually stopped by a store and bought some ice cream. As I traveled with them, I found out that they were orphans that were staying with their step mother. She was sick at home, but the doctor said she just needed some rest. They talked about how they were scared of losing her, and how great of a mom she's been to them. They eventually became comfortable enough with me to introduce themselves. The girl with the brown hair was Lani and the one whom looked sad was Susan. The boy's name was Peter.

I took a liking to the kids, and wound up talking with them more. "Cherish your step mom always, ok? She sounds like a nice lady…" I said.

"Yeah! She helps us make all sorts of goodies like cupcakes and cookies! And she lets us eat them all!" Peter replied.

They were having a grand time, just by being near me. I understood them completely, knowing the pain of loss, and by not having real parents.

Lani, Peter and Susan eventually brought me to the pokemon center. On the outside it looked pretty small, but when we walked through the sliding doors, it was huge! There was hundreds of people running about, and lounging in the dining areas. Television sets were on all over the place, and the nurses were taking care of pokemon left and right. The pokemart was in the center too, so I wound up stocking up on potions and other healing items.

The kids said their good byes and wound up leaving me, something about the street lights turning on; they also managed to get me to agree with getting on television and battling for them live. They told me that they lived in the Little Rock Nursery School for Orphans, and to call them whenever I could, and talk about my adventures. I don't know why, but I wound up getting attached to them and accepted all of their requests.

I watched them leave the entrance of the pokemon center, as they rounded the street corner to go home. I let out a sigh, and turned around. I walked over to a pretty woman with blonde hair who was sitting behind the Help Desk.

"Nurse, my pokemon are worn out, can you please look at them for me?" I placed my pokeballs in a tray.

The nurse looked at the pokemon, and gasped. "Oh my…! These pokemon look exhausted! You need to take care of them better! What's wrong with you!" she said grabbing them up and rushing into the next room, closely followed by a Chansey.

I shrugged and went to take a seat in the corner, near one of the televisions. I turned to look at the screen, and a woman was speaking. Someone who was nearby happened to be watching the t.v. as well, and they raised the volume.

The anchor-woman came blaring in, "This just in! Right outside Jubilife city is a huge detonation site, allegedly there was an explosion, due to heavy artillery catching fire. About twenty Syndicate thugs were found near the location lying unconscious, awaiting police. Officials only had this to say-"

The view shifted over to a male police officer, "The reason for the fire is unknown, but we did find illegal weaponry stored deeper in the remains of this cave. They were gonna use it as a form of storage to keep their smuggled goods, and sell them at their convenience. Somehow they were thwarted and struck down. We have evidence that a fight took place, so this wasn't the means of poorly handled equipment. This means someone came by and stopped them, but we have no idea who, as no clues was left behind. So for now we are certain we are dealing with an unnamed vigilante."

The reporter returned to the screen, "That was live at the outskirts of Jubilife city, we are still unaware as to how and why this happened, but we are happy that these Syndicate thugs were brought to justice. Will this vigilante show up again in time of need? Either way we'll get the story here first! On to other news for today…"

Hmph…vigilante, huh? I thought to myself. Is that what they call someone like me? I didn't really care for what Syndicate was planning; it was just unforgivable as to how they attacked my Sableye. They had no regards to her life, so I taught them a painful lesson, which I luckily got out of alive.

"Your pokemon are ready sir! The piplup was pretty hurt, but your Sableye oddly appeared to be fine! Anyway, there is a room ready for you to rest in for a while, with pokemon food for them. First door on your right, please help yourself!" said Nurse Joy as she brought me my pokemon.

I went into the room and locked the door, and released Emperor and Sableye from their pokeballs. I thought about why Sableye was perfectly healed up, but I neglected to ask. They stretched and yawned, eating the food on the bed.

"Can you both…still talk?" I asked.

Emperor looked at me with a snotty face "I don't know can you still breathe?" he laughed.

Sableye giggled as she ate.

"How are you guys able to communicate with me? and why now all of a sudden?" I questioned sternly.

Both pokemon looked at each other and shrugged.

"We tried speaking to the nurses, but they just kept gawking at my "beautifully colored feathers" and kept rubbing my head. Seems only you can really listen to us," Emperor said annoyed.

Sableye floated up to me, "We've known you for a while and—well, you were so cool this morning that I kinda felt like we bonded! Maybe that's got something to do with it?" she placed her head on my chest, hugging me.

"Yeah, I felt like losing was impossible, the way you barked out those orders so confidently and how we took down the bad guys! Man I felt like such a bad ass!" said Emperor as he was jumping on the bed, shadow boxing and flipping as if he were dodging something.

I get it, so somehow when I further my bond with my pokemon, I can hear them speak. But how? When did I acquire such an ability? I thought.

"Unanswered questions will have to remain unanswered for now. First things first, We have to talk about the sinnoh league challenge…" I pulled out my map and laid it out on the bed. Sableye and Emperor huddled around me.

"Oreburgh City is 10 minutes from here; all we have to do is pass through Oreburgh Gate. We will go there, defeat Roark, and move on back here to spend the night. I would say training is in order, but the battle we had was more than enough of a warm up. So, by watching you guys in that battle, I know what you guys can do and how well you can handle yourselves,"

I looked up at Emperor and Sableye. They were listening attentively.

"I don't think I need to say it, but if you listen to my commands without hesitation, success will follow us. As a team, as a unit, we can carry out our missions quickly and precisely. I will listen to any and all of your requests, and I will answer to those requests as best as possible. Of course, I am team leader, and Emperor here will be team captain. So if we are ever to separate, Emperor will take command, is that clear?" I asked them.

They both nodded.

"Good, also from now on, Sableye's code name will be Huntress, and we will refer to her as such."

Huntress giggled at the name, "Oh my! How vicious! You try to make me sound so murderous! Do I look scary enough to pull off that name?" she giggled.

Emperor laughed, "No way! That's too good! Huntress? There is no hunter instinct inside of her haha!"

"Need I remind you that we only defeated Aggron because of her ability "prankster", her will-o-wisp, and her night shade attack. She dished out just as much, if not more, damage than you did. All you did was blindly fire bubble beams into a crowd, which was again just to set up her night shades. From what I can tell she did most of the work." I said coolly.

Huntress giggled again, and Emperor scratched his head blushing.

"Well then now that's settled, it's time we headed over to Oreburgh gate..." I said, as we left the room.

-Oreburgh gate, half hour later

As I approached Oreburgh gate, with Emperor by my side, we could see a crowd of people standing at the steps.

"Wonder what's goin on?" said Emperor.

"Probably something not worth our time…" I retorted, as I flipped my hoodie up.

As we got closer we could hear girls squealing and some dudes laughing, and in the center of the crowd was some pompous looking kid, wearing a huge grin on his face. He had a black and bandanna on, and a black shirt over a long sleeved white shirt. The right shoulder of the black shirt was completely ripped off, and the hems of the long sleeve shirt's arms were torn and tattered as well.

I was about to walk past him, when I heard one of the girls say "OH wow! I can't believe you beat Roark so easily! You must be a great trainer!" I stopped and smirked.

"Yea well I walked in there and walked out like a boss! He couldn't handle my power! Shoulda seen how I just rocked his jaw!" said the kid show boating, "Heh! He didn't even see me coming! I hope all the sinnoh gym leaders aren't like that loser. I need a challenge, or else I'm gonna walk right through them all!"

I turned to face the crowd; I was standing over them on the steps.

"Hey, you! Loser with the stupid grin, you beat Roark huh?" I said mockingly.

The crowd grew quite, and the kid turned to look at me with a frown. He turned to face me with a scowl on his face, revealing that he wore a huge chain on his pants.

"Yea that's right, I have my first gym badge to show for it! Why? You have a bone to pick with me or something?" he said turning around as he began walking up the steps.

"Why, of course not, I'm just a rookie on his way to challenge the same gym! So I couldn't help but wonder,"

I started walking down the steps toward him with a grin on my face,

"If I could beat the loser that beat him, I shouldn't have a problem beating him."

The grin on my face completely disappeared as we were staring each other eye to eye, right up in each other's face.

"You got some ballz callin me out like that in front of my peeps, like some kind of big shot,"

he looked down at Emperor, who was also wearing a face of determination.

"Heh, you haven't even evolved your starter yet! And you think you can take me? What an amateur!" he laughed, his crew started laughing with him.

"All I see is a punk who can talk a big game and nothing to back it up…" I said coolly.

Emperor laughed, and the crowd went "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH."

The kid became infuriated.

"Two vs Two singles battle right now! Winner is decided when there are no usable pokemon left!" he started walking to the open field and stood there waiting for me.

Ok, so if he just got a gym badge then his pokemon must be pretty high leveled. His pokemon most likely consist of a fighting and/or ground type based on how easy he made the battle sound, since Roark has rock type pokemon, I thought to myself.

"So choose your first pokemon! We go till one is unable to battle, and no switchin mid round! Monferno, Let's beat this kid's face in"

The boy threw a ball into the field. The ball popped open, and in a puff of smoke his monferno appeared. It ran into the center of the field, jumping around energetically, making wheels of flames by flipping around in the air. The crowd of kids surrounded us, talking in anticipation for a good battle, whilst enjoying Monferno's Spectacle.

"Emperor, it's time to show him why you are far superior than any king…" I said snidely.

"Watch me closely," Emperor said as he walked onto the field, "Or you might miss me wash this kid in a heartbeat." Emperor calmly approached Monferno, and they stood facing each other, glaring into the others eyes.

A girl from the crowed stepped forward; holding up a scarf, "Both players ready?" said a cute girl.

"By the way, what's your name?" asked the boy.

"It's common courtesy to offer your own name before asking someone else's" I said with a smirk.

The boy grit his teeth in frustration and threw out a fist, "The name's Heart, and I am the best student to walk out of the Jubalife Trainer School in five years!" he said with a cool grin holding up a thumbs-up.

I glared at him, making eye contact, "My name is unimportant, just like you" I said coolly.

"BEGIN" yelled the girl swishing the scarf down to signal the start.

"Monferno he has type advantage, but it's weak! Mach punch, go!" Heart called out.

Monferno rushed forward with great speed. Emperor was able to narrowly dodge the full force of the attack, but monferno quickly re-adjusted its speed and punched Emperor in the stomach. Emperor was sent flying backwards, barely able to stand up from the power of that blow.

"We knew he had strength, so stand up! We need cover, use Mist now!" I exclaimed.

"Yea! I'm on it!" Emperor stammered, as he barely stood up. Emperor held out his wings and just like before, a huge mist covered the field.

"Cheap tricks won't help you win! Monferno use swords dance!"

Monferno began to glow as it focused its fighting stance, breathing steadily.

"Emperor, use your Bubble Beam! Hit him from all directions!"

Monferno began getting bombarded by a barrage of bubble beam blasts, unable to detect where the hits were coming from.

"Monferno! Use foresight!" Heart cried.

Monferno frantically scanned the area, and successfully located Emperor's whereabouts from within the mist.

"Now zero in on it with mach punch!" Heart said, grinning.

Monferno also grinned as it leaped at Emperor with full speed. Emperor was still air borne from his last bubble beam attack and was completely vulnerable!

"Emperor do a 360 degree spin and grab his arm!" I said quickly. Emperor narrowly escaped full damage from the mach punch, and successfully grabbed his arm and threw monferno toward the ground.

"Now use bubble beam and finish him with your peck attack!" I exclaimed.

Emperor sent Monferno crashing into the ground as he was bombarded with more bubbles, and then Emperor slammed into Monferno head on with his peck attack as he was on the ground.

"OOH OH GAH!" cried the monferno in pain.

It laid there unconscious, unable to get back up.

Emperor struggled to stand, as he was still hit with that powerful mach punch, not once but twice.

Emperor held up one of his wings, "YEA! Taken out like a friggin champ!" He exclaimed happily, as he started to glow.

"Woah!", "Ah!" the crowed was awed by Emperor's transformation, as he finally evolved into a Prinplup!

I opened my pokedex up to scan monferno's and prinplup's data. They were both now level 23, meaning Emperor gained a lot of exp. with that battle. His new moves were Metal Claw, and Drill Peck, and he still had bubble beam and mist.

"Great work Emperor, well played" I said commending his effort.

"Couldn't of done it without you, partner," he said in response as he returned to my side.

"Are you seriously injured?" I asked him, but I didn't kneel over to tend to his wounds.

"Nah I'm fine, just some love taps" Emperor responded with a grunt.

Heart was dumb struck as to how I won, "Aren't you gonna put your prinplup in its ball to rest?" he questioned angrily, as he retreated his fallen Monferno to its ball.

I shook my head no, "The pain he felt in this battle will serve as a reminder to his triumph, he will bear it like a trophy, and grow stronger in endurance by doing so." I said.

The crowd began to cheer for Heart, "C'mon Heart, knock out his next pokemon! He's not so tough! Remember, his prinplup can't fight anymore, which means if you knock out his next pokemon, you'll win for sure!" said the girl who started our match.

Heart nodded and threw his next pokeball into the field. With a puff of smoke, a Gible appeared. It stood still at first, but it suddenly stretched out its arms, and let out a loud roar.

"Ok Gible! We have to avenge monferno! We'll teach this jerk a thing or two about strategy!" Heart said anxiously.

Hmph another physically based pokemon, piece of cake I thought.

"Huntress, Let's end this!" I growled.

I threw Huntress' pokeball out, and with a puff of smoke, she appeared.

Huntress began floating around me playfully, "Hi Soul! Is this a battle?" she said in a cute voice.

"Yeah, hurry up and get in there…"

"Okay!" Huntress responded, saluting playfully, and she drifted onto the field.

"Battlers ready!?" said the girl again.

Heart and I were locked in a staring contest, neither of us dared to blink.

"Fight!" she exclaimed.

"Gible GO USE DIG!" Heart screamed.

"Huntress use will-o-wisp!" I responded hastily.

With blinding speed, Huntress appeared in front of Gible before it could even dig its funnel. She giggled as she let off her will-o-wisp attack, severely burning Gible at close range. Gible let out a loud screech in pain, and neglected to preform it's attack.

"No! Gible! What did you do?" Heart cried out angrily.

"I burned it, it will take damage passively, and it's attacking power will be greatly diminished…But I know a better use of your power! Huntress, use foul play!"

Huntress' claws enlarged themselves, and began to glow. She quickly flew over to Gible, and slammed her claw into Gible's chest. Gible's entire body was shaken by the impact; it almost appeared as though Huntress' claws pierced its stomach. Huntress let out a maniacal giggle, as Gible dropped to its knees before her.

"Wha-, But how can it do so much damage! It doesn't look very strong!" Heart said in confusion.

I began to smirk and Huntress drifted over back to my side.

"That's my power! To use your own against you! I'm just one tricky damsel!" Huntress said giggling. Of course no one else could hear her but myself, but I still wasn't going to explain the move to them.

"Maybe a third rate battler like yourself should do more research on pokemon abilities and combat strategy..." I said mockingly.

The atmosphere grew dense, since the home team was losing at the home game.

I looked around, with my hoodie still on, "What's the matter? No more cheers for your third rate champion? Don't make me laugh, victory has defeated you my friend!" I said, pointing at Heart.

"You and your pokemon were able to beat the Gym Leader, Roark, but you took that to the head and became confident!" I said snidely.

The crowd grew quiet as Huntress continued to hover by my side, and Emperor nodded in agreement. Heart clenched his fists, embracing what I was saying; he closed his eyes and grinned.

"You're right; I got a little cocky…But there is still a chance I can win! Gible and I have comeback from worse! You with me Gible?" Heart called out to Gible.

Gible steadily stood up, letting out a screech of agreement.

"Then Go! Use dig again!"

Gible immediately dug into the ground at a great pace.

"Here he comes, Huntress, get ready!" I said to her.

Huntress nodded and went back out to the center of the field, looking around waiting for Gible to resurface.

Suddenly, Gible came bursting out of the ground from behind!

"Huntress Watch out!" I cried out.

"Too late! Gible take it down!" Heart said with a grin.

Gible grabbed Huntress and slammed her into the ground, restraining her every movement. She was nowhere near strong enough to fight off the little dragon's strength!

"Did you forget? your attack strength has been weakened!" I declared.

"Yea I know! But I got a move that doesn't use attack strength! Just the might of a dragon! GO DRAGON RAGE!" Heart cried out.

Gible opened its mouth and let out a burst stream of destruction, erupting at point blank range.

"AHH!" cried Huntress, and a huge dust cloud kicked up from the beam's impact.

I shielded my eyes from the dust; you could hear the girls in the crowd squealing trying to keep their skirts from flying up.

The smoke steadily cleared and Gible was huffing and puffing, standing over a weakened Huntress. She steadily tried to get up, but she only moves fast when using non-aggressive moves, thanks to her prankster ability.

"Alright, Gible, one more time," Heart said happily, as it began charging up for a second attack.

Heart began to laugh, "It seems my negligence was my weakness, but it seems your overconfidence is yours"

Crap! What can I do? She can't take another one of those! I thought frantically to myself. Then I remembered what that nurse had said earlier…

FLASHBACK: "The Piplup was pretty hurt, but your Sableye oddly appeared to be fine!"

"Huntress, use Recover!" I cried out to her.

Huntress nodded, and she began to glow immediately recovering her health. Huntress was made healthy again, and was able to muster up the strength to run out of the blasts range.

"What!?" Heart exclaimed in a surprised tone.

"Quick, finish him with Foul Play!" I said quickly.

Gible was too weak to move out of the way, so Huntress quickly slammed her claws into him with tremendous force, knocking the pokemon out on the spot. Gible took the impact once again, and fell over from fatigue thanks to his burns.

I let out a sigh. Man that was to close, I thought. This kid is capable of dishing out some serious damage! If he fought like that from the beginning I don't know if I could have really won so easily…

Heart let out a sigh, and we both retreat our pokemon to their respective pokeballs. The crowd began to clap and cheer loudly, rushing to their champion's side. He let out a heartfelt laugh, as they said how cool he was and remained calm under the pressure.

"He's a worthy rival…" Emperor said with a calm expression.

I nodded in agreement with a smirk, "Yea, we definitely have to train harder, people like him are the only opponents we'll ever face."

Emperor and I stared at Heart through the crowed. I turned to Emperor, and gave him a nod so we could leave. As we began to walk away toward the gate, Heart broke away from his fans.

"Hey," he said, "you never did tell me your name."

I turned around and faced him, removing my hood out of respect.

"The name is Soul, and the next time we meet, I will surely pummel you into the ground, as I just did…" I said coolly.

Heart grinned, "The next time we meet, I will be fully synced with my team! I'ma make you wish you never taught me that little lesson, because we're gonna train hard to make you eat those words!"

Heart held out his fist in my direction. I smiled slightly, and gave him a fist bump. Emperor and I turned around in unison, and started walking up the steps to Oreburgh Gate, headed to my next challenge.