“Hello and welcome to the wide world of Poke’mon”. Just a little disclaimer here: while Poke’mon, Ruroni Kenshin, and their characters aren’t copyrighted to me, characters such as “Landon” and “Zeru” are. In this story, you’ll join our young hero, Landon, in his epic and unusual journey in the world of Poke’mon. Equipped with a magical bell, he and his friends must stare down the face of evil, win every challenge, make new friends, and claw their way to the top. But can they stop the ultimate evil that threatens their world? There are many twists and surprises, so you have to keep reading if you really want to “Catch ‘em all!” in:
            
         Poke'mon X
 

      
(Last time we left our heroes, they were walking from the sweet-scented Wood Town and headed towards the heart of Petalburg Woods. With Landon’s hopes sand dreams high on winning his first badge, he can hardly wait to see the beautiful gym of Rustborro city.) Landon, May, and Zeru walked along the dirt trail leading through the Petalburg woods. Landon’s face was covered with a determined and overjoyed smile, but May and Zeru didn’t seem as happy. The sun rose up on them quickly as it forced its rays into the cracks between the trees’ leaves. Zeru put his hands in his pockets, closed his eyes, and frowned after he let out a, “Hmph!” May was panting a let her arms hang at her sides. “Landon, I wanna’ stop and take a break now.” She complained. “We can’t stop and take a break; we have to hurry and get to Rustboro City.” He grinned and started to slowly pull away from them. He was careful not to bump his sleeping Mudkip off his shoulder while he marched excitedly. “ But Lan; we’ve been moving non-stop ever since yesterday afternoon!” May wailed, her aching legs begging for a break. “If we stopped every single time you wanted us to, we’d never get there.” Landon said, still keeping a pleasant voice like his dad. “Zeru, tell him our feet are hurting and we want to stop.” “Fine; you stop, but whenever I’m on a mission, I try to get to it as quickly as possible.” He told May. “YOU’RE IMPOSSIBLE!” May shouted and caused some of the Tailow to flutter out of the trees. Zeru frowned at them both. He was just a little tired of walking, but knew May would go on and on if she didn’t take a break. “Let’s just take a quick rest stop, Landon, and we’ll pick up as soon as she’s done.” He suggested in a “final” tone of voice.

      
“Fine then, we’ll take a rest stop.” Landon let out a disappointed sigh. He slowed to a stop by a tree lying on its side (someone had obviously cut it down and left it). He sat on it and set Toya in his lap to stroke her back out of boredom. “About time; thanks, Zeru,” May smiled, but Zeru shrugged. “I didn’t really do it because you were tired. I’ve seen you hold an argument.” He said. Without much more, he sat down on the other end of the log. “Oh, be like that! It’s not my fault—I have needs too.” May sat between them with her arms folded. “I have a need for her to be quiet. Her body may be tired, but her mouth never takes a rest.” Zeru thought to himself. Landon could feel Toya start to awaken from his massaging her. May pulled out the field guide and started flipping through the pages. “Who knows how long this place stretches out. It could be days before we get out.” She said aridly, “According to this map….” “Who’s that?” Landon stood up abruptly, letting Toya jump to the ground. May and Zeru looked up to see what he was looking at. In the distance, someone was rushing towards them in a mad hurry. The woman wore a sunflower yellow kimono splashed with white and a black sash; her hair was long and black and her eyes burned the color of amber. She was panting while she ran the fastest she could in her kimono.

 

                    Theme Song: Pocket Monsters X(treme)

Running at

The speed of sound

What adventures can be found?

Traveling the world all around

As fate just spins it upside-down

Little monsters

Everywhere

Find a knew one and I’m there

Victory is just for fun

There’s no stoppin’ till I’m number one

 

Crys-tal,

Clear, and Shadow

Three lights—

That fight the way

Protect those legendary

Is my destiny!



Poke’mon X

(Poke’mon X)

Leading the way

Is my sweet victory

Poke’mon X

(Poke’mon X)

A mystery

Behind each one we see

 

Poke’—mon X

(Ex—Ex)

This journey I’ll run

Has only begun!!

 

                    Episode 8: Clash of Infamous Teams

      
“Ohaa…” The woman blinked when she saw the trio of kids staring at her. Her eyes darted from Landon’s sword to Toya back and forth continuously. “Haaa…!” She smiled. The woman came to a halt in front of him, grasping him by the hands. “Uh,” Landon stepped back, a little scared of the strange lady. “Excuse me, sir, but are you a swordsman and Poke’mon Trainer?” she asked him breathlessly. “Uh… A Poke’mon Trainer, yes, but I’m not much of a swordsman.” Landon told the lady. “But you carry a sword at your belt. You must be a valiant swordsman.” “Valiant?” May and Zeru sweated anime style. “Please, you have to help me, little boy; some bad men are after me and they won’t leave me alone.” The lady stated and the three blinked. “There you are, Ms. Itzono.” A voice from above sounded. Landon, May, Zeru, and Toya looked up into the canopy of trees, frowning. The leaves rustled and swayed before two figures jumped out onto the ground, grinning. The two men were definitely strong and sturdy with green, piercing eyes and short black beards. They were both sporting the same type of uniform: A jail-striped shirt, blue jeans, and a blue bandana around their heads with weird white marking in the middle. It was a circle with a pointed tip and bone-ends at the bottom. They both had swords at their belts, but were double-edged instead of like Landon’s single-edge.

      
“Who are they?” May asked. “Oh, really, Ms. Itzono; seeking protection from some little kids must mean you’re really desperate person.” The one on the right said. “Who are you and what do you want?” May asked a little more sternly and forcefully. “Who are we? We’re known as the infamous Team Aqua, lovers of anything related to the sea. These matters don’t involve small children like you, so why don’t you just run off somewhere?” The two grunts said together. “I don’t know what the problem is, that I don’t, but I’m sure we can work this out reasonably.” Landon smiled at them. He didn’t fully understand the situation, but he could sense a bad feeling from the two grunts. “You ought not to get into matters that don’t concern you, kid.” The Aqua grunt on the right said. “We’re telling you one last time to clear out!” “Sorry, but that ain’t gonna’ happen.” Zeru suddenly said and stepped in front of Ms. Itzono, “I never thought I’d actually get to meet someone from Team Aqua before. But here you are, alive and annoying.” “You’ve heard of these thugs before?” May asked. Something about the word “thug” triggered an angry emotion inside the two grunts. “We are not thugs!” “Too bad you didn’t listen to our warnings and leave.” As soon as they reached for the hilt of their swords, Landon’s eyes flickered dangerously. His personality quickly jumped from being calm and collected to deadly and dangerous. Light from the sun reflected from the gleaming metal of the blade being pulled from the sheath. The urge—the reaction he had to the sound of swords—was too overwhelming for him to ignore; the sound of rapid beating feet came from him as he dashed forward. The two grunts tried to unsheathe the rest of their swords, but were a fraction of a second too late. Landon’s reaction was quick just like his mother’s, but his attitude matched his father’s; with his sword still in the sheath, he pulled it from his belt and struck the two grunts in their stomachs.

      
“Ack!” “Ughn!” The two grunts grunted with their eyes trembling. The wind was knocked right from their throats, leaving them gasping for air. It was only a matter of moments before they dropped to the grass like lifeless dummies. “I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to hurt you too bad! I hope you’ll be okay!” And just like that, Landon’s personality jumped back to being calm and cool. Ms. Itzono blinked in astonishment, “Now he’s concerned for them? But just a second ago, he was like a viscous warrior.” Her voice barely rose above a squeak, but was still comprehendible. “Yeah, he’s been working on trying not to do that. He used to do it a lot when he was little. Something about promising his mother he wouldn’t use that sword unless provoked or something else along those lines.” May told her. Ms. Itzono stepped up to Landon with a flabbergasted expression. Landon placed the Sakaba-tou back to his belt. He looked up to the lady with an expression that was just as surprised as hers. “I…I thought you said you weren’t a swordsman!” Ms. Itzono exclaimed. “…I’m not much of a swordsman. And I didn’t do all this on purpose—ack!” “Oh, thank you, Mr. Swordsman!” Suddenly, Ms. Itzono brought him into a bone-crushing hug, constricting his airway. She seemed to be oblivious to the fact that he couldn’t breath with her doing that. Toya leapt off her trainer’s head and onto Zeru’s shoulder in order to prevent the lady from smashing her. “Please, stop it; you’re cutting off my circulation!” Landon coughed.

 

      
The four talked while they walked on through Petalburg Woods. Toya had now rejoined her trainer and curled up underneath his pony-tail. Landon gave a bit more distance between himself and Ms. Itzono. To tell the truth, he didn’t really like her much. “My name is Rika Itzono and I’m a representative of Rustborro’s Devon Company.” Ms. Itzono told them. “Let me guess: that’s why those thugs were chasing after you?” Zeru asked her. “Yeah, that’s why Team Aqua was after me. You see, I hold some secret documents on a project Devon is working on. I have to try and get them to Rustborro City. I’ve come all the way from Evergrande City and that’s how Team Aqua had a chance to catch up with me.” “Some secret documents, huh? What kind of documents?” Landon wondered, still keeping his distance from the lady. “Sorry, but I don’t think I can discuss that.” “Why not? My grandfather, Mr. Takashi, works there.” He told her, lifting up his bangs to reveal the black Devon company headband around his head. “…Oh, so you must be Landon Himura, grandson of the research team leader.” Ms. Itzono stated. Mr. Takashi wasn’t really Landon’s grandfather, but rather a really close friend of the family. He spent so much time with Landon that he gained that nickname. “Well, even so, I still can’t tell you what these documents are. If the information was to leak out, who knows who could use it for their selfish needs?” Ms. Itzono told them. “How about we make a deal with you?” Zeru spoke. Ms. Itzono looked at him with the slightest of interest. “Look, it’s obvious that Team Aqua, and possibly other criminal organizations, will be after those documents you hold. People like that don’t normally tend to give up until they’ve gotten what they want.” “What’s your point?” She asked him. Zeru let out an annoyed sigh. Sweating anime style, he pointed his finger to her, “Why don’t you let us—” He pointed to himself “—take those documents to Rustborro City?” “But Zeru, if we have the documents, Team Aqua’s going to be after us.” May stated, unsure about Zeru’s decision. “Do you have to contradict everything I say?!” He shouted back at her. “I see; we’re more likely to be able to defend ourselves, whereas Ms. Itzono would have a tougher time. Am I right?” Landon pointed out, scratching his cheek. “Yeah…That would pose a problem…and it’s a shame I didn’t think of that earlier.” Ms. Itzono glanced up at the sky. She tapped her chin, coming to a stop. The kids stopped as well, turning to her. “…If you feel that strongly about it, then I guess you can take it. I also guess I’ll let you use your connection with Mr. Takashi as an excuse to get in.” Ms. Itzono reached into the big sleeves of her Kimono and pulled a small circular item. It looked like a girl’s compact mirror except for a fancy red letter “D” in the middle. “That’s it? Team Aqua is after that little thing?” May looked at the item skeptically. “Size doesn’t matter, little miss.” Ms. Itzono told her. Landon took the secret document case from her and slipped it into his backpack.

      
“Hold it right there!” A familiar voice shot through the air. Suddenly, a par of small black spheres fell from the tops of the trees; upon contact with the ground, they exploded in a fury of black smoke. “Hey!” The group coughed as they tried to wave the smoke away. “Are they at it again?” Ms. Itzono asked, thinking that it was Team Aqua again. “This is the eighth episode, isn’t it, sis? You’d think they’d know our pattern or something by now.” “Maybe we’re just not leaving a good enough impression on them. We could use something to jazz up our bland entrances.” When the smoke cleared, Landon, May, Zeru, Toya, and Ms. Itzono looked up to see Team Darkhorn in the treetops. Their arms were folded and they were both sporting grins. “Don’t you ever leave us alone?” “I guess they haven’t been paying attention to us after all.” Tsubimi shook her head. (Background turns into a vast night jungle scene) “A stealth like dark, we’re shadows of the night.” “Blanketing over those who do things right.” –Yoshimari and Tsubimi performed a series of back flips—“Where treasure glitters, we’re there to claim.” “To higher riches, we’ll surely aim.” (Background turns to the picture of a triceratops in its Jurassic environment) Yoshimari and Tsubimi came to a stop, back to back, with their arms folded. “Tsubimi!” “Yoshimari!” “We’re Team Darkhorn, the pirate thieves.” “Don’t mess with us; you’re out of your league!” “I’ll drive them away. Go, Torchic!” May tossed the orange poke’ball to the ground and it burst open with a white light before returning to its owner. “Torchic—chic!” Torchic stretched its petite wings. “Torchic, use your Ember attack!” The fire-chick Poke’mon opened its beak and spat out a burst of minute cinders at Team Darkhorn. “Ooohaa!” Yoshimari and Tsubimi leaned to either side and let the rain of tiny flames pass by them. “Why don’t you just go bug someone else for a change?” May asked. “We would if we could—trust me! But, we can’t, so we’ll make it simple.” Yoshimari pointed at her, “Hand over the EX Poke’mon and we’ll be glad to leave you alone.”

 

      
There was a rapid patting sound that Landon and Zeru could hear coming faintly from the distance. Their ears perked to try and determine what directions the footsteps were coming from. “Can you hear it, Toya?” Landon asked his Poke’mon and she nodded with the same curious air. Without much warning, the steps grew louder very quickly—they were headed straight for May! “MAY!!” Zeru turned to her, but was too slow. All May could do was give a look of surprise and confusion as she was lifted off her feet. She could feel a pair of arms binding her own arms and neck, but couldn’t do a thing about it. The figure holding her came to an abrupt stop. He was strongly built with a muscular shape to his body. He wore the Team Aqua uniform and was yet another member with a sword at his belt. “When they sent me on this mission, I didn’t know my opponents were going to be mere kids.” He said, grinning maniacally. “You’ve come here with a definite purpose, that you have. What do you want with us?” Landon tried to sound calm, but could feel that alter personality of his slowly breaking from the seriousness of the situation. His eyes slowly flickered back and forth with a dangerous spark. “That hair…and those eyes…Archie was right on this one—he does look like the Batosi.” The Aqua member said more to himself, but everyone heard anyway. “And what am I? Invisible?”

      
“Huh?” “Haaaaaaaa!” He came from out of nowhere; Zeru went rushing forward with his fist drawn back for a heavy punch. But instead of looking worried, the Aqua member laughed a little. “A bit of a fool, aren’t you?” DUFF! “Ack!” Zeru’s eyes suddenly widened as he came to a very abrupt stop. The wind was sucked from his throat in just a matter of seconds. He looked down to see a giant fist plunged into his stomach. His enemy flipped him over onto the ground with absolutely no effort at all. “Ha! Listen, kid, I’m an Aqua Fortress Man—I can’t be defeated by a mere kid, no matter how strong you may be.” He spat. The Aqua then looked to Landon, who was giving him a venomous look. “I want to fight you, Himura, for you have stained the name of Team Aqua by defeating my comrades. And if you don’t, this girl is target practice.” He patted his sword. “Landon, Zeru, help me!” May screamed. “Torchic-tor!” Torchic raised the temperature around its body by opening its mouth—it was about to strike with a burst of flames—but Landon shook his head. “I know you want to help, but I think May would like it better if you weren’t in danger.” He told it, then looked back up to the ‘Aqua Fortress’. “You know my name. I think it’s only proper that I know yours.” “I’m called ‘K’, the Brick, and I’m paid to crush anyone who opposes Team Aqua. But I don’t want a Poke’mon battle from you, I want to test the protégé of the great ‘Himura, the Batosi’.” “Is that your only reason?” Landon asked him in a sort of dangerous voice. The thought of his friends being in danger made it a lot tougher for him to jump at the chance to fight, “Who my father was has absolutely nothing to do with who I am. But if that’s why you want to fight me, I’ll do it for my friends. Toya, I want you to help Torchic protect Ms. Itzono—” “Hey, we’re still up here in case you didn’t notice!” Tsubimi shouted down from the trees above, “We started this, so let’s finish it.” “Can you take a number or something?” Landon shat at them with those eyes and they jumped just minutely. Toya and Torchic scampered over to Ms. Itzono to protect her, but Torchic never took its eyes off of its trainer. “May…go sock it to em’…Lan.” Zeru coughed, shakily getting to his feet. He struggled to try and gather more air into his lungs, but it pained him to breathe deeply. “Then let it begin. I’ll teach you to meddle in Team Aqua’s affairs!” ‘K’ carelessly tossed May aside and she landed next to Zeru. “Oooo!” She rubbed her bottom, “Okay, Landon; Kick that guy’s butt! Kick it or I’ll kick yours!” “Yeah, no pressure,” Landon said, though his expression was way too serious for sarcasm. Ms. Itzono looked at the two fighters skeptically. “Landon may have been able to wipe out two grunts, but he doesn’t stand a chance against an ‘Aqua Fortress’.” She thought to herself.

      
“I’m ready when you are.” Landon closed his eyes. He seemed calm, but there was still an angry shake in his voice. Now that May was released, he didn’t seem as worried and drove most of his anger away. But still, ‘K’ could grab her again if he tried to run and who knows what he would do then. He had to fight and there was no way out of it. “Then let’s do it!” SHIIINGG! ‘K’ withdrew his sword from the sheath and charged recklessly with it held over his head. CLAAANG!! The sound of clashing metal echoed through the trees; Landon had waited for the last moment to draw his sword and locked himself into a power struggle. His expression was serious, but not at all shocked at how close the sword was to him. In the past, Kenshin had used a real sword on Landon to trigger the swordsman inside him. Not that he was pleased about the situation; he was just glad to be prepared for such a thing. “Not bad,” ‘K’ grinned at him. The two leapt away from each other before rushing up again. The clang of their weapons repeatedly beat the air, neither of the combatants breaking a sweat. “You’re not bad for a kid” ‘K’ brought his sword down on the Sakaba-tou. Landon carefully analyzed every thrust and swing of his opponent just like his parents taught him. He only cut it close once on a thrust to his shoulder. The Aqua member forced his sword forward in such a rush that Landon had only seconds to react. A strong wisp of wind sped through the air, followed by a harsh silence. May, Zeru, and Ms. Itzono were only able to gaze with their mouths hanging open and their eyes trembling. The Sakaba-tou had fallen to the grass with a definite thud.

 

Fast Fact Quiz: Does Landon know the Hetan-mitsurugi style of Swordsmanship? If you can’t guess, find out at the end of this Chapter!