Disclaimer: For what it’s worth, I don’t own pokemon. I own the fic though.

OOC: Okay thanks for the reviews (the entire grand total of seven of them =P) and sorry for the big hurkin’ delay. A few of you attached reviews to the end of my last fics and a couple of you mailed me. Thanks, many thanks. Hopefully, this chapter has improved from the last and brought me closer to the level I wish to achieve. (Pokemon Masters level, I know the hope is faint but it’s there if you look through Hubble and magnify it a few zillion times.) To answer some of the questions collected from the reviews. The writing of this story was sparked by Pokemon Masters. It’s damn good, I want to be that damn good and I’m fairly determined to get there. The style of the story (surreal/darkish) is such because I simply like darkish/surreal more than any other anime fic style, especially for stuff like digimon and pokemon that have so much unrealized potential. Someone asked about the fighting style. No, it really doesn’t sound like a classical pokemon battle descriptions now that you mention it. I believe when I was writing it, it was sort of a cross between DBZ, Gundam Wing and a hint of chinese movie swordplay. =P The plot though, is original. This is not my first fic. I’ve written some other universes, was in a few digimon interactive fics and wrote a huge amount of Starfox universe. However, this is my first serious pokemon fic. Anyhow, I’ve tried to address a lot of the concerns from various reviews. I’ll try to extend the description of the setting introduce characters better and do some extra development for the ones already in here. And more dialogue as well hopefully. That may take practice though, dialogues are a weak spot of mine. Anyhoo, on to my usual training philosophy intro and story…

*** Part IV: Tides ***

The world to him was simply a plane of darkness and it had been so for the past uncounted days. Physical unconsciousness did not bring Kleym’s bodily functions to a halt. Nor did it, to the functions of his mind. His state brought on dreams in that dark landscape of his mind. Dreams of the past that he could only barely recognized. Sometimes, they brought on slight physical movement. Fluttering eyes, twitching fingers. However, the grip of injury and a few drugs applied him as he rested and healed always prevented full surfacing into awareness again. This time however he was coming far closer to his mind’s goal than he had since he had fallen.

A dream ended as unclearly as it had begun. Dark eyes opened and the Pokemon Master awoke.

"Huh?"

Kleym remembered nothing of it but took stock of his surroundings immediately. He was on a bed in a small room. The base of the room and the floor were stone. Just about everything else was made of wood. The walls were of interlaced logs, roughly cut and the resulting surface polished as best as it would. Cleaned regularly too as the few cracks between the pieces held no apparent insectoid inhabitants. The roof was similarly done except with flat boards for the very good reason that someone probably had to walk around on the floor above without tearing a foot to shreds. The only window was a framework of wood with no glass but a paperish substance covering it as a substitute. The door was also made of wood with a simple wooden bolt which was not in place. The only other things in the room were a small stove with glowing embers within for warmth, a small table and a chair upon which were his black cloak and shirt. Both of them had been heavily burned but apparently, some black cloth had been used to patch them up, almost seamlessly at that. The front medallion was visible from where he lay, the familiar sigil of his guild finely carved into it. If his host was someone that mattered in the grand scheme of things, he or she would already know where he was from if not who exactly he was. His small travelling pack and surprisingly enough, his sword were there as well, sitting on the table. Blade was not here.

Cautiously, he rose to a sitting position and discovered bandages around the burn he had received however long ago it was. Taking a look underneath, he discovered himself mostly healed, lengthening the time his stay must have taken. In any case, if he was ready to move a few days back, he was definitely ready now. He was being hunted and staying in a place like this, he may as well be a rodent in broad daylight. First however, he wanted to meet his hosts. Now that he thought of it, he vaguely remembered several shapes moving in as he toppled.

Getting up fully, he tested his ability to walk. After a few seconds of lightheadedness, he had regained balance. He did not remove the bandages just yet but put on the familiar clothes over them as he would any normal morning that he might wake and grabbed his pack as well, forcing himself not to panic without Blade beside him. His strongest point as a Pokemon Master of course, was the deadly team he and Blade made. However, even when separated, he wasn’t totally defenseless. Kleym fastened his sword belt around him and drew his sword. Once he was satisfied it had not been tampered with, he replaced in his sheath and opened the door.

The hallway he stepped went pretty far in either direction. Two rooms on the left side like his before ending with a flight of stairs which turned a right angle to the left almost immediately, rising to the top floor. The stairs there were dark but the rest of the hall was well lighted by the large, open windows that lined the other side of the hall and presumably by the unlit lamps that lined the walls. Through the windows, he could see the bare trees of the Viridian Forest in late winter. The climate here was warm so the air wasn’t excessively cold, just chill and no snow littered the ground. The trees only leafed in the warmer, wetter seasons but most of the underbrush continued to grow year round. The other end of the hall led to a few more rooms, all with closed doors like those on the opposite end and then turning the corner.

Deciding to leave the second floor alone for now, he walked with his usual almost inaudible tread down the stone floor and stepped around the corner. This appeared to be another stretch of the building he was in. Rooms again lined one side of the hallway. These were slightly larger but one of the doors was left slightly ajar and it was apparent that bunks were within. Quarters for the lower class of this area’s inhabitants. As he cleared this stretch, he arrived at a set of wooden doors, slightly ajar and entered a larger room with a counter at one side, a large fireplace and several long wooden tables lined with simple chairs. The mess hall of whatever establishment he was in. Its windows were small and lined the top of the room’s sides on three walls, the final one being the one which led to the kitchen and the quarters. Another set of doors opposite the ones he had entered in were closed but the wooden bar was not in place. He stepped up and pushed them open to enter the yard.

---

The moment the foreign man awoke, one of the students’ Venonat had already informed its trainer who promptly informed him of this news. He had expected him to wake tomorrow, around the early morning hours but obviously, this man had some heightened resistance to sleep spore. That and his companion found with him as he stumbled blindly through the forest that night as well as the all too recognizable sigil of TR on his medallion proved he was no simple man. His students knew little of the outside world, certainly nothing of any training guilds or circles. Devoted to their studies here, the orphans here only received news when the occasional traveler happened by and needed a place to stay the night. He on contrast, knew everything that his students did not. He knew all too much of the events of this world but he loathed to reveal that to anyone. The old man had had enough of the fighting.

Those native here knew little else and ignorance was their bliss. Boredom was not a problem for those who knew nothing else. Certainly games were played often after classes were done. With both boys and girls residing here, the occasional prank was hard to prevent too. He also had no doubt some of the older ones had slept with each other before. This was of course, supposed to be against the rules but as time wore on and the original students grew into their late teens, he could not bring himself to stop them. Now was a time where he was worrying of how to let them go as they aged some more.

Now, there was another problem. His students were human beings. And humanity had a sad truth, a craving for violence. Their new guest brought his companion with him. The Scizor was a thing of beauty but carried with it, a vile of taint and ugliness as well. Perhaps half the inhabitants here had pokemon companions. This was an encouraged thing, humanity was meant to live with these mysterious creatures. However, the pokemon here ranged from Venonat to Parasect. Each of them had unique abilities from Venonat’s radar eyes to spot termites and vermin to Parasect’s medicinal properties.

The Scizor was different. It was a purebred warrior. It had no value in medicine. Its sole purpose was destruction and death and it did so with shocking efficiency. It had awaken within two hours of its collapse and if it were not his sense to accommodate it with its master, it might have torn the place down in blind rage. As it was, it was confused enough to lash out when it awoke. It brushed off the student’s pokemon’s weaker sleep powders until Laura arrived and her Parasect’s much stronger spores were able to affect it. Even then, its resistance was so strong that it was only enough to calm it down enough to realize its master was safe and not dead. It was a topic talked of for the rest of the night and he no idea what seeing pokemon battle for real might do to his students. Undoubtedly, many would grow weary of this place. They would have knowledge of something that seemed so much more exciting than simple study in medicine.

The next morning, the Scizor had left the room and building by itself and there it was in the woods, practicing its art. Its deadly, killing art. It whizzed through the forest in fighters steps and flight-paths. It was obvious that it was trained to an extremely high level. The Scizor could hardly be followed by the eye and the sound it made has it blazed among the dry canopy branches invoked awe from those who watched after their set of classes or studies. By night, it would retreat soundlessly into its master’s room and sleep a light sleep. As soon as anyone so much as opened the door a crack, whichever eye was turned towards the door would open. This obviously caused a fair amount of unease to anyone at the door since they had probably witnessed the thing destroy several fully grown oaks a few hours before so after the first night, no one but those responsible for changing the stranger’s bandages approached the door.

Thus it had gone for many days…

Master Alaind heard a sound behind him and turned around. The man had recovered and was standing behind him.

"Hmmm? Ah! You have awoken, sir. Are you feeling well?"

"I’m…fine…" The man began. Obviously, getting seriously injured and then getting found and nursed back to health by someone he did not know was not something that happened to him before and he was unsure of what to do now.

"You were badly burned when we found you at our entrance. And only semi-conscious, so you may not remember it. Your Scizor is in the woods." Alaind turned towards the woods only to see a streak fly down. Apparently, the two were in better communication than he thought because the man had made no apparent move to recall his partner. Though the two had not been communication for probably longer than they had been since they first started battling together. "My, your Scizor is well trained." He commented, turning back.

The man’s caution returned after some brief joy in reunion with his friend. "How long have I been in this place?"

Alaind tilted his head in thought. "Hmmm, I’d say around two weeks now. And my name is Alaind.

"I see…" The man did not offer his own name to those who had rescued him and healed him. In fact though, Kleym sensed what the old man in the robes desperately wanted. His involvement in the outside world had caused enough trouble.

"Teacher, teacher!" One of Alaind’s younger students came running up.

The young ones were something he had experience dealing with. His straight face turned into a smile as he turned to face his student. Alaind turned back from a mysterious man, hiding from his violent past into the sweet old man he had been for the past decade.

"Yes, Toma. What is it?"

"Two grownups at the front gate want in. They say they want to see you!"

That was odd. Alaind thought. He didn’t have many visitors out here and the peddlers usually came alone. But when he turned back to his guest, the man and the Scizor were both gone.

"Stay here." He ordered, his face going straight again. Alaind strode down the dirt path to the front entrance. The student holding the door stood aside from the wooden gate as he arrived. The trees rustled softly in the breeze. The birds were all gone. Two figures stood at the entrance and a large Charizard towered over the wooden fence. The two were apparently men, dressed in blue robes, hat and veil concealing both of them. The taller of the two had a blade at his side, the other appeared unarmed.

"What can I do for you sirs?" He inquired politely and hoped they were simply here to ask for directions or something.

"You have a man and a Scizor on your premises?" It was apparent he had made a mistake as the shorter one spoke for she was a woman. Well, so much for asking directions. He tried to keep his expression the same as before as he formulated an answer.

"He was last seen in black cloak and…"

The taller one’s voice trailed off as he looked behind Alaind. Alaind turned around himself and found what he’d half expected. The strange man stood behind him, leaned against the wall of the storage shed. He remembered back when he still fought, the mysterious people all had a habit of appearing like this. So much for formulating an answer. He opened his mouth in an attempt to plead at least.

"You are not welcome here." He said simply.

"Oh?" The man said. He might’ve been confused or he might’ve been amused.

"This is a place of peace, there are children here, don’t involve this place. I’ll fight you someplace else."

"Heh! Since when did the Talamis Rai give a damn about children?! Nightflame, flamethrower!" The charizard responded and let loose a giant stream of flame. <I>A strong attack.</I> Alaind thought as his subconscious caused him to automatically stay, watch and analyze the battle. <I>With a four times weakness to fire, that Scizor’s going to be knocked out at least as hard as last time.</I> He thought as the Scizor moved in to protect its master. Amazingly enough, the thing grabbed his trainer and got out of there as the flames struck, charring the ground. Fortunately, nothing was there to be ignited.

<I>Fast…</I>

"Listen, you keep that up, innocent people are going to get hurt! The clans have always kept the fighting around the trainers, not around normal people. And these are children here!"

"Just like you to use children as a shield!" A rather lame comeback but it worked. The Charizard dashed forward in a body slam attack. The Scizor braced itself and stopped the Charizard in its tracks.

<I>Strong…</I>

"What?!" Now it appeared the man in black was totally frustrated with the woman. "It was you who started this! I’m the one who said not to fight here!" And meanwhile, the other man in blue had just crossed his arms and was leaning against the gate watching. From his posture, he might very well have had an amused expression on his face.

The Charizard spun with lightning speed for a devastating wing attack. There was a blur and a crash and storage shed was left in rubble, the Charizard’s wing tearing into the wood. As the smoke cleared though, it was apparent the Scizor hadn’t taken that hit and was high above the Charizard, coming down with both metal claws out in front. It caught the Charizard, landed on the ground and then flipped the Charizard, tossing it high. Recovering well, the Charizard hovered low in the air and attacked with flamethrower, roasting what was left of the shed and the ground around it. The Scizor dodged easily and then dodged again as the Charizard hit the turf with a mega kick. Spinning around faster than the eye could follow, the Scizor was behind the Charizard, delivering a single, mighty slash. There was the sound of smashing bone as the Charizard roared, fell and landed unconscious from one hit.

Alaind’s eyes widened. That was some impressive show of power and skill. The man barely needed to give instructions to his Scizor, they could practically read each others’ minds. He looked around. Many of the children and teens were outside now and watching with awe. The

"Ahh…So you are indeed the legendary Kleym of Talamis. And I can see your reputation is well deserved. Shall we settle the second half of this battle outside?"

"And you are Shesta of Cerulean I presume. Very well." He replied, his face maintaining no expression. Here was the supposed cold hearted killer again.

The two stepped outside into the forest about a hundred paces from the wooden fence and gate. Kleym’s Scizor fell into combat stance, awaiting his opponent. Shesta smiled. A Scizor dropped down from the trees above.

<I>Another Scizor trainer!</I> Alaind thought at first. This was going to be interesting. Then, the old gut feeling from past pokemon battling experience came back just as his intense study of statistics had already done. Something was not right about that Scizor. He could tell Kleym though so as well but neither of them could put their finger on what it was. Was this trainer just known to be on par with the black cloaked warrior? Or was there something else that was eating at the strange man’s confidence?

The two Scizor began, dashing at each other full speed. There was a resounding ring of metal on metal. The two combatants skidded to a halt. Kleym’s turned around, intact. Shesta’s turned around, a scar in it’s right claw. This gave a pretty good idea of the relative skill levels at work. Shesta was strong but he couldn’t defeat Kleym.

The two Scizor closed in again, causing a blur in the air as their shimmering carapaces struck each other with metallic rings, slashing and parrying like sword masters. A few seconds into the fight, the black cloaked man’s Scizor got the first damaging hit in. Several more seconds of melee and another hit, followed by a third immediately after. The blue robed man’s Scizor stumbled back but quickly got back its balance, it had three tears in its armor.

"Impressive…but watch this."

The two Scizor went at it again. Within seconds, Kleym’s fighter was in position to land a blow to his opponent’s head.

"Imite!"

<I>What the hell?!</I>

The Scizor’s head turned into a Charizard’s and blew out a massive flamethrower. The normal Scizor dodged just in time to avoid getting a serious melt in its steel carapace. The melee continued as the transforming Scizor pursued a short distance. The Scizor made a kick, turning it into a Hitmonlee’s foot in midair, landing a solid hit to the Scizor. Doubly weak against a fighting move, the Scizor flew backwards, stopping as it crashed into the underbrush. The Scizor seemed to melt in place and slowly reformed into the blob of a Ditto.

"When I was little, I couldn’t decide which pokemon to catch and train. Then, I found Imite." Shesta said, smiling. "You lose this round, Kleym of Talamis."

Kleym smiled back. "Not quite yet. Blade!"

The Scizor responded instantly and was quickly at its master’s side. "Double Team."

Naturally, Blade responded and double teamed, projecting two dozen images of itself all around Shesta’s Ditto.

"Do what you want, it won’t help you. Imite, transform…"

---

Khyron’s ship bobbed slightly in the misty early morning waters in the Orange Islands. Few other passengers talked to him though many looked on him when they thought he wasn’t looking right back. The others talked around him when he was present, talked about him behind his back. He was a foreigner after all. In clothes know one knew the origin of and with a strange look about his eyes.

The ship drifted on silently. The fog was thickening. This was expected. Khyron smiled slightly as his vessel neared the island it was headed for. An unfortunate sacrifice but this vessel likely would not make it with too many people alive on it. He had to be tested before entering the Orange Islands to challenge whomever they had chosen as champion. The Azure, they had called themselves.

The vessel creaked and heaved as if from a slow but powerful wave. That was the cue. They were here. His Scizor, Red Comet, was immediately at his side. Ready for battle. With an almost casual, sidelong claw, he formed a hyperbeam and fired. The shot seared through the structure of the wooden carrack and hit a Starmie carrying its trainer. It was not heard from again. Three more leapt onto the deck from the water. The three Starmies and their trainers circled him cautiously. He spared little apparent attention to them, waiting calmly at the middle. His eyes barely following his trio of assailants. As the first one was behind him, the trainer struck. Exactly as Khyron knew she would. In a movement quicker than the eye could follow, the Starmie had slashed forward with Rapid Spin. The spinning saw was struck asunder easily by the Scizor. It fell to the ground, dead. The other two opened fire, or water rather with rapid-fire water gun strikes and did a grant total of poop to the Scizor except shove it back slightly. Those two offenders were finished with two quick attacks which put new meanings into the first word of their name.

Looking around, Khyron saw the carrack was no longer in any condition to keep going. A lone Scizor lifted off the wooden wreck and flew on towards the island it was headed for.