Within the hour they had reached Lillycove city and were seated around the giant meeting table in the pokemon fan club. Hanzaemon had explained his position to the assembled trainers but many still had their doubts.
“How do we know we can trust you?” Asked the snide boy with green hair who seemed to do nothing but argue with anything Hanzaemon put forward.
“We can because he helped cleaned out the Kelsiv region, remember when they were over-run by Team Rocket? He rallied all the gym leaders and crushed them.” Replied one of the trainers who were now on his side. By the end of the discussion Hanzaemon had almost all of the Trainers on his side, those who he couldn’t argue into joining his cause left. When it was past midnight the twenty-five trainers held their first meeting of  ‘Operation overthrow’.
“So what do we actually plan to do?” Asked one of the trainers.
“The plan, my friends is to totally get rid of all these pokemon extortionists by any means” Hanzaemon replied, Sapphire shuffled uncomfortably in her seat.” What is it?”
“Well,” Sapphire hesitated. “Some of us think that your methods are a bit… Extreme; I think we should engage them in pokemon battles to shift them out of the major cities and towns.”
“What happens when they re-group and come back with superior numbers?” Retorted Hanzaemon. “Will they care about little pokemon battles? No! They will rampage through the cities and take everything back – we may have some tough pokemon like Dave’s Flygon, Sapphire’s Charizard and Sunder’s clone of mew two but if they come back they will bring tougher pokemon – and clones of tougher pokemon; think of it; Rayquazas, Ho-ohs, Lugias and Dragonite dominating the skies –Donphan like tanks, Ryhorn, copies of the legendary Johoto dogs ruling the ground and who can imagine the seas…”
A few trainers gasped at the thought; Hoenn would be squashed flat within days, but then:
“These guys are not like Team Rocket, they don’t want to just be cruel to pokemon, they have other plans– Team Aqua and Team Magma will never work together as they have opposite aims and if you take one group out will the other stop their activities? No, they will expand with no rival to their aims.” One of the more intelligent trainers pointed out. Most of the trainers nodded in agreement.
“I’m not saying that’s what these guys will do but this is what they could do, who actually knows everything about these guys?” Hanzaemon looked around; nobody raised his or her hand. “Exactly, we have no idea what they will do. Perhaps they will team up to beat us then go their separate ways.” Murmurs rippled through the assembly. “Listen, in my opinion we have two plans of action; you can either come with me and we can crush these thugs or you can stay here and pick little fights with them and get nothing sorted out, either way, with or without your help I am going to stop them no matter what the cost.”
“Well, I don’t know about you guys but I trust him,” Sapphire shouted above the noise “I’m going to help him; I don’t want Hoenn to become ruled by fear and violence but I guess the only way to get things done is by being violent in return – it’s time for us, the trainers of Hoenn to rise up and fight for our pokemon friends.”
“But I think,” Yelled a sandy haired guy. “We should let Team Magma and Team Aqua fight each other then pick off the surviving team while it is weak.”
“We mustn’t do that!” Squealed a girl with black spiked hair and an Eevee.
“Yeah, think of all the innocent people and pokemon who will get hurt in the cross fire.” Said another trainer.
“That’s why I say we should strike now and clean them out before anyone gets badly hurt.” Explained Hanzaemon who was now pretty much exhausted from over two hours of solid argument.
“Sure its all good making plans and saying we should attack but when?” Questioned the sandy haired guy. As if in answer the door of the fan club exploded in a ball of fire and everyone jumped from his or her seat in surprise. The frontal wall of the club was broken down by a heavy hit from some large object exposing the trainers to the early morning cityscape, an oversized Golem, a Ho-oh and a practical army of people clad in Team Magma uniforms.
“Oh Sh…” Began Hanzaemon, but he was interrupted by the sound of a loudhailer clicking.
“Pokemon fans, we have no problem with you but one amongst your number has been terrorising the Magmas for far too long. Hand him over now and we wont have to hurt you.” Shouted the voice over the loudhailer.
“Well, nice knowing you Hanzy, see you later…” Said the sandy haired guy slapping Hanzaemon on the shoulder.
“No,” Sapphire retorted. “We stand and fight, the time for sitting back is over.”
“We don’t stand a dog in hell’s chance against that lot!”
“You have ten seconds,” The voice over the speaker shouted. “Then we come in, and we all know you don’t want that.”
“If we rally together we can do it,” Insisted Sapphire as the trainers shook their heads. “I know we can!”
“No,” Said Hanzaemon. He stood up and pointed at the back door. “You should all get out while you can. This is my battle, my problem, I didn’t mean to drag you all into it.” Sapphire stood in front of him clutching her pokeballs.
“It’s too late, you already did.” She turned to the amassed trainers. “Cowards, leave now – those who want to save not just Hanzaemon but want to help free the pokemon world, stay.” There was a mass hurry towards the door leaving only Hanzaemon, Sapphire and five other trainers to face Team Magma’s wrath.
“Here we come!” Boomed the voice. The sound of hurried footsteps came rapidly towards the decimated clubhouse.
“Now is as good a time as any,” Smiled Hanzaemon holding out four of his pokeballs. The others looked at him. “How many pokemon can you control at once? We will need as many as possible to get through this” A shadow ball smashed a ceiling light above them showering them in glass.
“I can just about control three.” Murmured Sapphire.
“I struggle with one!” Exclaimed a younger trainer and another nodded in agreement.
“No time! Get ready to fight!” Shouted the girl with spiked black hair as a wheel of fire landed near their feet.

The five magma grunts had their orders, go in there and search and interrogate the terrified kids and find out where this Hanzaemon character was. They had no idea that they would be facing a group of determined defenders.

Hanzaemon surveyed the team that would be battling the Magma hoard; most of these kids barely had pokemon they could call their own but out of the seven trainers who stood by him they had fourteen monsters active and under full command, he himself was in control of his Machamp, Hitmonlee, Scyther and Sneasel.
The five Magma interrogators dashed into the wreckage and were quite unprepared for the small force of defenders waiting for them and drew their pokemon hastily.
The defence was faced with a Magmar, a Magcargo, a Weezing, a Machoke and a Kabutops.
“He’s mine!” Shouted Hanzaemon pointing at the grunt he had faced the other day, his comrades nodded and selected their own targets, and the battle for liberty and freedom of pokemon had begun.
“So, we meet again. What did I say would happen if we met again?” Hanzaemon said in greeting and strode towards his opponent.
“Get lost man! We got at least twenty others who can come and cream you; you can’t survive. Team Magma will win.”
“Enough talk, let us battle” Hanzaemon’s pokemon formed a barrier in front of him, the grunt nodded and he and a fellow produced two pokeballs each.
“Go Houndoom! Go Graveler!” Shouted Hanzaemon’s old enemy.
“Go Charmander! Go Golbat!” Shouted his companion.
“Sneasel, on the Golbat; use your icy claws against it as they are super effective. Scyther, on the Houndoom; avoid the fire and keep swiping and cutting him until it gives up. Hitmonlee, take the Charmander and Machamp take the Graveler” Hanzaemon thought towards his pokemon and as they picked up the wave of thought they split the barrier in front of their trainer and charged into the attack. Sycther leapt and buzzed it’s tiny wings, propelling itself towards it’s victim, Hitmonlee’s foot struck like a snake and hit the Charmander full in the stomach causing the little lizard to curl up on the floor.
“How did he order them to move so quick?!” Shouted one of Hanzaemon’s opponents.
“Houndoom! Flame the bug down!” Yelled the Magma grunt as Hanzaemon’s Sneasel swiped at the Golbat who took off and hung upside down from the ceiling and went to sleep. The Houndoom responded way too slowly and jumped back with a cut across its nose from Scyther’s wild swipe. The Graveler locked grip with Machamp and there they stood using all their strength to force each other down. The battles of the other trainers raged around them but it was as if an impenetrable bubble had gone around the two Magma Grunts and Hanzaemon.
“Charmander! Get the hell up!” Shouted the Grunt as the little Charmander lay on the floor winded. Hanzaemon’s Sneasel who was bored with the sleeping Golbat crossed the battle and decided to help Scyther with the Houndoom. The Houndoom looked wildly around trying to spot the opponent who was poking, stabbing and cutting him but he just couldn’t see him as Scyther leapt, rolled and ducked. The Houndoom was so occupied with Scyther that he didn’t see Sneasel as he walked up to him. The next thing the Houndoom remembered was seeing Sneasel’s feet and having a splitting headache.
“This is hopeless!” Yelled a Magma grunt across the room as his Quilava went flying through a window propelled by Sapphire’s Charizard. “Call back up!” One of the grunts broke from the battle and ran outside to gather reinforcements. The defenders were busy mopping up the remaining enemies when nine more opponents joined the battle followed by a Magma executive.
“Pokemon trainers!” Shouted the executive as the battle picked up tempo by the new enemies sending out their pokemon. “Surrender now and we may be merciful!”
As if in answer Hanzaemon’s Machamp threw the weakened Graveler over the man’s head. “Out of the way fools!” The executive called to his men who were surrounding Hanzaemon and his team. “Only I take down Hanzaemon!”
The Executive walked calmly towards Hanzaemon as the battle continued and Hanzaemon summoned his pokemon back to their pokeballs.
“Lets do this the old fashioned way” Said Hanzaemon placing his right hand on a sheathed sword.
“Certainly we can play chess.” Said the man in the Magma uniform. Hanzaemon looked dumbfounded.
“I meant swords you idiot, a duel, to the death!”
“Wouldn’t you prefer chess? It’s safer after all”
“No, I would prefer…” Too late Hanzaemon saw the trick and gritted his teeth against the pain as his opponent’s sword sliced into his left arm. Hanzaemon drew his sword and dropped on one knee parrying his opponent’s next swing. He pushed up with his blade and jumped up causing his opponent to stagger back and trip over a stray Pikachu. Cursing the Pikachu the Magma executive quickly jumped to his feet and parried a thrust from Hanzaemon, half turned and brought his blade down in a clumsy arc which missed Hanzaemon completely and left his side unguarded which Hanzaemon took advantage of and plunged his sword into the Magma executive’s side. The man screamed as Hanzaemon pulled the blade out of him and a torrent of blood erupted from the wound. He let his sword drop from his hand and fell backwards. Hanzaemon caught his arm and lowered him to the floor.
“I’m sorry…” Gasped the Magma executive bleeding heavily from his wound. “I never meant to… Hurt anyone… I… Just did what I was told… I… I… never thought…” Then he died. Hanzaemon wiped a tear from his eye and turned back to the battle, there was no time for wasted tears. Things were going well for the defenders. The Magma’s had lost all heart once they saw their leader fall and wanted to get out as quickly as possible. They deployed a smokescreen and fled from the battle taking their fallen comrade with them.
“Should we follow them?” Shouted a guy with bright pink hair and a Murkrow on his shoulder.
“Freeze police!” Shouted a voice from outside and a foul smelling fog filled the house. By the time the trainers had stopped coughing and had cleared their eyes they were surrounded by a barrier of police officers.
“Err, maybe not this time…” Said a shocked Hanzaemon.
“Put your hands in the air! Don’t try anything!” Instructed a burly looking officer. The ring of officers tightened and closed in as the trainers raised their hands. “Cuff them and take them away, they are spending a few nights in cells.”
“Officer, you are making a big mistake…” Began Hanzaemon but was cut short by the officer.
“You’re that vigilante? You’re going to be spending a lot longer in jail that I thought”
The trainers were roughly cuffed and their protests silenced as they were hauled off to the Rustboro holding cells.

Chapter 3

The cell was dark and damp. Hanzaemon had no idea how long he had been there; all he knew was that he was being held without trial, he was in a cell alone and the police had taken everything apart from his clothes. A mirrored wall covered one side of his cell and he knew that they were watching his every move. He tried using his ESP ability to find his pokemon but they were out of his range. All seemed pretty much hopeless. As he sat in the corner brooding the door opened and a uniformed officer walked into the cell.
“Morning sir” Said the police officer cheerfully as Hanzaemon stood up.
“Is it? I have no idea what time or date it is.”
“That’s the whole point of interrogation, we leave you disorientated and confused to get answers from you.”
“Right… Well, you haven’t asked a question yet.” Pointed out Hanzaemon. The officer smiled and nodded.
“Indeed we haven’t but now is the time for your questions, go ahead and ask”
“Okay, how long have I been here?” Asked Hanzaemon as the officer took a notebook from his pocket and placed a pen against the page. He looked up from his page after writing something down.
“How long? I would say around three days”
“Right… Where are my friends?” He was getting annoyed at the officer who he could see was writing down every word he was saying.
“They are around, but in separate cells. Can’t have people like you scheming together,” Then he shrugged. “Two have been let go already.”
“Why are you treating us like criminals? We are helping the law as they aren’t doing a very good job of it!”
“We are treating you like criminals because you are stirring up trouble. As for not doing out job properly, tell me where we are going wrong.”
“Letting illegal cloning facilities carry on, allowing power stimulating drugs to be sold and produced, not catching thieves and black market traders. I know these things are going on, I have seen them with my own eyes.”
“And how,” Mused the officer, stroking his eyebrow with his pen, “have you seen these illegal activities?” Hanzaemon sighed.
“I have broken into a…” He began.
“Aha! Breaking and entering…”
“No wait! I infiltrated a cloning facility by disguising as a…”
“False identity…”
“And I shut down the cloning vats for good…”
“Industrial Sabotage…”
“And I got a confession from scientists…”
“Torture…”
“I pretended to help black marketers but then shut down their operation…”
“Receiving stolen goods…”
Hanzaemon slammed his fist against the table in rage.
“Are you here to help or criticize me?” Hanzaemon asked.
“Now, now surely you know that you are under surveillance, if you tried anything you would be locked up permanently”
“Look, I want a fair trial – I am doing a good thing, I am defeating extortionists”
The officer leaned in close to Hanzaemon so that only he could hear.
“I know, but all the officers are being bribed by the gangs.”
“So how will I get out?” Hanzaemon replied as the officer sat back in his chair.
“All of the officers who are usually behind screen are off on their lunch break now, we are only on camera. In a minute I am going to get up and pretend to get violent with you – push me down and take my keys.” Hanzaemon looked at the officer amazed, his hardened features dissolved. “You’re doing the right thing Hanzaemon, it’s just that… The police aren’t what they used to be. I’m sure you understand.”
Hanzaemon stood up and looked the officer in the eyes. “It’ll be okay, once the gangs are out of the way your job can be like how it used to be. By the way do you have the key to where my stuff is?”
The officer nodded and pointed to the bunch of keys on his belt.
“Okay, time to act,” The officer said cheerfully as he waved his arms around angrily. “Make a show for the camera Hanzaemon. Once you get out of the cell go to the left – your friends are in cells nearby”
“Okay man, I’ll try not to hurt you” Hanzaemon laughed as the officer dived across the table and held his collar. He grabbed the officer’s wrist and pulled it off.
“On second thought you had better knock me out. If they come and I’m okay it’ll look even more suspicious.”
“Okay, it’s on your head though buddy,” Said Hanzaemon as he slid his hand down to the officer’s armpit and held his wrist with the other. He slid the arm over his shoulder and flipped the officer over onto the concrete floor. “You okay?” The officer groaned in reply. Hanzaemon removed the key and fled the cell. Thankfully his interrogating officer was right about the lunch break; the corridor was deserted. He turned left as advised and began to look for his companions. It was rather easy to find them all he had to do was look through the barred window at the cell door then match the cell number with the key number. Soon enough Hanzaemon’s companions were free.
“Where’s all our stuff?” Asked the black haired girl called Chen.
“The guy didn’t specify but I have a key for it.” Replied Hanzaemon
“Good, cause I want my baby Eevee back. She gets all upset if I’m not with her”
“Big whoop; my Murkrow will go on a killing spree if he even suspects I’m in trouble” Retorted the pink haired guy who went by the obviously fake name of ‘Dude’.
“Shut up guys!” Whispered Sapphire. “You want the guards to come and get us?”
The group rounded a corner and saw a door labelled ‘Lock up’.
“I guess this is where our stuff is” Squealed Chen in excitement.
“Nah… Its where they keep the food” Replied Dude sarcastically.
“Really?” Asked Sunder who was the guy who owned a clone of mew two.
“No,” Answered Hanzaemon. ”He was joking. This is where our stuff is”
Hanzaemon flicked through the keys until he came to one labelled ‘Lock up’ and put the key in the lock. He turned it and the door opened noiselessly. Damn, he thought, I was expecting it be harder than this.
“Isn’t this a bit easy?” Asked Dude loudly.
“Shut up!” Replied Sapphire “At least we are here!”
“No, Dude is right,” Interjected Hanzaemon “This is all too easy.”
He turned and ducked his head just in time as a figure clad entirely in black swung his fist at the spot where Hanzaemon’s head was; Hanzaemon caught the figure by the arm and pulled him towards him and caught his assailant in the groin with his knee. The figure groaned and fell heavily to the floor.
“Who the hell is that?” Squeaked Chen as Hanzaemon sat on the defeated foe.
“I haven’t a clue but I will find out,” Hanzaemon replied as he pulled off the guy’s hood, the guy looked unremarkable and had no clear signs of who he was. “Who are you and who do you work for?”
“Aqua!” The guy gasped in reply. “I was sent to bust you out”
“Team Aqua wanted to bust me out? Why? And why did you try and attack me?”
“Because you killed that Magma executive and because I thought you were a guard. Can you get off me please? You’re rupturing my spleen.” Hanzaemon got off of the man and helped him up.
“So, can you get my friends out too?”
“That was the plan, we wanted to get you all out”
“Excuse me,” Asked Sapphire. “How did you get in anyway? And who are you?”
“Trade secret sweetheart,” Smiled the man tapping his nose. “Lets get your gear and get out, by the way; you can call me Garth.” He said gesturing toward the door. The group walked into the item lockup to find dazzling sunlight – one of the walls was missing.
“How the hell did you do that?” Gaped Chen pointing to the absent wall.
“Easy as pie” replied their newfound friend.
“Pies are pretty difficult to make” Sapphire pointed out as she put on her backpack.
“True… okay, judge for yourself then; I got my Exploud to stand near the wall then I got my Mr. Mime to make a barrier around it. Using jump leads from my car, which I connected to the barrier via paperclips Exploud’s soundproof expanded to make the barrier totally soundproof. Then I told him to use uproar. The wall came down and nobody is any the wiser!”
“That’s pretty clever” Stated Sunder.
“Hey… Wasn’t there something like that on TV?” Enquired Dude as his Murkrow cawed and sat on his shoulder.
“Maybe… Anyway, we are wasting time! Lets get out of here before someone sees you are gone!”
“What about guards in the grounds?” Asked Sapphire.
“See for yourself babe” Replied Garth pointing outside. The group walked over to the gap to see a run down back alley with overflowing trash cans and graffiti on the walls.
“What the hell?” Were Chen’s words.
“This isn’t a high security prison, this is only a low security holding place. Come on guys we need to get a move on!” The group dashed out and was soon stood outside the office for Devon Corporation out of breath. Rustboro city hadn’t changed very much in the last few years, it was still a rather large city with very little people in it so nobody paid any attention to the group as they sat on the front steps of Devon and caught their breath.
“Okay, we wait for the chopper just outside the city in about ten minutes.”
“Why ten minutes?” Enquired Sapphire.
“I wasn’t expecting to find you so early” Shrugged the Aqua infiltrator.
“Why does Team Aqua want to rescue me?” Asked Hanzaemon.
“I don’t really know, I mean you have caused us a lot of problems but the boss wants to talk to you. Maybe he thinks your opinion is wrong and wants to correct you, or maybe he wants to hire you. I don’t really know. All I know is I get paid.”
“Live for profit? Sad criminal life.” Said Sapphire with her eyebrow raised.
“Hey, nobody is telling you to stay babe, you can go if you want” Said Garth pointedly.
“Wherever Hanzaemon goes, I go.” Pouted Sapphire, everybody in the group waited for somebody to make a humorous comment, Dude broke the silence.
“Wouldn’t like to be him in the bathroom” Breathed Dude, Sapphire rounded on him.
“Dude, I haven’t met any other guys with pink hair, what’s your problem?”
“Oh, insults hmm?” Retorted Dude; these two obviously had a history of remarks about each other. “What about the time you had that boyfriend who wore pink shirts?”
Sapphire blushed “He put his shirts in the wrong wash!”
“As much as I would love to listen to this,” Garth interjected. “We have to go. Come on.”
As the group headed north to get the helicopter Hanzaemon questioned Sapphire about her remark, to which she blushed and said that she had mean it in a friend kind of way.
“Chopper Ho!” Shouted Garth as they reached the clearing; a helicopter was hovering just above, a rope ladder dropped from the helicopter and three Magma grunts slid down taking the group totally by surprise, they drew their pokeballs and sent out a Magmar, a Loudred and a Weezing.
“Sorry guys…” Said Garth wretchedly as he grabbed hold of the rope ladder. “They paid me.”
Hanzaemon, Sunder and Sapphire looked at their ex-friend in shock then they heard a cough behind them, they turned to see Chen with a knife against her throat; the knife was being held by Dude!
“They paid me too,” Dude said with gritted teeth. “And it was a lot of money. I never liked you guys anyway; if you had gone out with me Sapphire things wouldn’t be like this.” The helicopter buzzed, gained height and eventually disappeared over the mountain.
“Dude!” Sapphire sighed miserably. “Let Chen go, she is crying.” True to Sapphire’s word Chen had dissolved into tears. She looked into Dude’s cold eyes and searched for sympathy. Dude shook his head and threw Chen to one side; she fell heavily and sat on the grass wiping her eyes.
“Weak woman,” Growled Dude reaching for his pokeballs. “Not like you Sapphire, you can fight until you drop, that’s what I like about you.”
“You can go to hell Dude, I never loved you and I never will and after this stunt you can forget it totally! I will never be your girlfriend.”
“It won’t matter one way or the other Sapphire; once we have defeated you all in battle and the Magmas have Hanzaemon I can do what I want to you.”
“Shut up and fight like a man!” Shouted Sapphire sending out her Charizard. Hanzaemon quickly sent out his Machamp and his Scyther.
“Sunder! Go look after Chen, I’ll handle these guys.”
“Okay chief!” barked Sunder.
Scyther flexed his blades as he saw his opponents and felt a familiar rage grip him – the cooling, soothing human wave of thought billowed into his mind; but instead of telling him to keep his head it was telling him the opposite. Scyther remembered the days of his youth, the hunt, the kill; he smiled inside and leapt into a rage-induced fury.
The Charizard spat a fireball at the Typhlosion causing it to spark and it’s flames to leap higher; Dude laughed. “Come on Sapphire! You’re giving my pokemon more fuel to play with.” Sapphire merely grinned and instructed her Charizard to fan the flames with its wings; the flames leapt even higher on the opponent.
Scyther sliced the Weezing clumsily in half causing a huge cloud of gas to explode but the bug didn’t care, it was already in a state of blind rage – it latched onto the Loudred with it’s razor sharp scythes and commenced brutally savaging it.
Hanzaemon didn’t need to see the battle as he could roughly plot where an opponent was using his ESP he ordered his Machamp to hang back and cover its eyes against the smog.
The Typhlosion was saturated in flame, it could not possibly absorb any more but Charizard kept on hitting him with additional flames. For the first time ever the Typhlosion felt a need to discharge its fire but Dude was stood there laughing. Typhlosion shut its eyes to the heat and keeled over, his flames discharging.
“Hey!” Shouted Dude in genuine shock. “What happen?”
“I guess you should fight fire with fire” Shrugged Sapphire.
“Duck!” Shouted Sunder to which Hanzaemon and Sapphire hit the floor. A wave of psychic energy cut through the air at head height causing three Magma grunts, Dude, Sapphire’s Charizard, Hanzaemon’s pokemon and the Magma’s pokemon to pass out; Sunder strode forward with his mew two clone hovering behind him.
“Lucky we ducked,” Noted Sapphire, Sunder nodded. “How long are they out for?”
“About an hour then they will have splitting headaches, sorry about the Charizard Sapphire and err… Sorry for taking out your Scyther and Machamp.”
“It’s okay Sunder,” Shrugged Hanzaemon as he and Sapphire returned their pokemon to their balls. “I was wondering how I was going to stop Scyther anyway.”
The three nodded in agreement and Sapphire applied a revive to her Charizard.
“Is she okay?” Asked Sapphire pointing to Chen who was resting on the grass.
“She’s a bit shocked, but she’ll be okay”
“Good,” Replied Hanzaemon with a strange glint in his eye. “Make preparations, we attack Magma HQ tonight.”

Chapter 4

The four trainers decided to hole up for the day in a hotel before attacking the Magma HQ by the cover of night. Hanzaemon decided to use the few hours of rest to clean himself up. For the first time in weeks he washed and showered then allowed Chen to cut and colour his hair so it resembled some of it’s former purple glory. After this clean up and a couple hours sleep he felt the world of difference and was totally refreshed. The group then made planes for their attack against the Magma stronghold.
“So what exactly are we attacking?” Asked Hanzaemon to his friends.
“It’s a practical fortress,” Replied Sunder showing Hanzaemon a photograph. “It’s also on top of a mountain.”
“It’s no worse than the Rocket’s underground complex under Queenston in Kelsiv”
“True but there are only four of us against a stronghold” Noted Sapphire, Hanzaemon nodded in agreement.
“What pokemon do we have?” Asked Hanzaemon. “We will need some heavy assault to take the frontal battlements.”
“I have a Charizard, Kadabra, Lapras, Clefairy, Zapdos and Dratini.” Replied Sapphire looking at her pokeballs.
“Swampert, Mew two, Snorelax and a Lugia” Shrugged Sunder.
“I have my baby Eevee,” Said Chen. She paused and everyone looked at her. “And I have Articuno, Dragonite, Milotic, Regice and Mew,” Everybody looked at her with shocked expressions on their faces. “What? They love me lots and lots.”
“I guess we never figured you had such powerful pokemon Chen,” Replied Hanzaemon as the others nodded in agreement. “Well I have Machamp, Hitmonlee, Scyther, Riachu and Sneasel. My monsters aren’t strong enough to take the battlements – I guess you guys have to take them out and handle the frontal defence; once the battlements come down I will go inside the fortress and find the Magma boss and take him down for good.”
“When do we attack?” Asked Sunder.
“In about three hours,” Answered Hanzaemon. “Sapphire, any chance you can evolve your Dratini? And Chen, can you evolve your Eevee?”
“I’ll try my hardest.” Vowed Sapphire.
“But baby Eevee… She looks so cute as she is…” Argued Chen. Suddenly her Eevee began to glow and in the rays of the setting sun she transformed into an Espeon. “Okay, so she looks cuter now… But still…”
“Here is the plan,” Stated Hanzaemon pointing at the aerial photograph of the Magma’s fortress. “We do an air assault on the northern wall, then hit it with everything else we have – Once the wall falls Sapphire takes the eastern flank, Sunder takes the western flank and I move in covered by Chen’s pokemon and make my way inside. You guys stay outside and take out the remaining guards while I go and take out the boss. Any questions?” Nobody raised a question, it was all clear in their minds that they were making a last ditch assault on their enemy which could potentially go wrong but they all trusted Hanzaemon’s judgement.
There was a knock at the hotel room door which cause the trainers to jump in fright then the door splintered and fell apart to reveal two Magma grunts and a Machoke.
“Knock, knock” Said one of the grunts.
“We are here to take the girl, Sapphire,” Growled the other. “We know she’s here – that dude with the pink hair said she was.”
“Where is he?” Asked Chen.
“Ha! We aren’t going to tell you that!” Laughed one of the grunts.
“Yeah,” Said the other who was grinning stupidly. “Even if we told you, you wouldn’t be able to get into the Magma’s HQ anyway.”
“Uh… we let it slip.”
“Damn… Well it wont matter once we get the girl and get out.”
“Your right… Attack!” With that the Machoke leapt forward but his charge was cut short by a blast of psychic energy from Chen’s Espeon.
“Damn!” Shouted the grunt, returning the Machoke to his pokeball. “We’ll get you next time!” Then the two grunts disappeared in a cloud of smoke leaving behind the debris that was formerly a door.
“What was that about?” Asked Sapphire after the smoke had cleared.
“I guess they wanted to take you to get at Hanzaemon.” Replied Sunder. For the first time since he had met her Hanzaemon took a proper look at Sapphire. He realised then that she was without a doubt one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen and realised that by being with her he had placed her in grave danger.
“We attack now, let’s pursue these guys, I don’t want them causing us any more trouble.” Stated Hanzaemon, his companions gasped at him.
“But it isn’t dark now!” Squealed Chen. “They would see us coming!”
“I don’t care, get ready to move out guys. For glory, for freedom we go to war; let’s show them what real trainers are made of!”.

Chapter 5

The group of friends hid in the cluster of trees that stood before the Magma stronghold, the battlements stretched almost to the sky and were topped with five foot spikes should anyone happen to climb them. Adrenaline pumped through the four trainers as they prepared for the air assault on the fortress. Charizard, Zapdos, Mew Two, Lugia, Articuno, Dragonite and Mew were released from their balls and pointed in the correct direction.
Lugia soared ahead with Zapdos and Articuno in tow; as the wall neared Lugia released an aero blast at the lower sections causing the stone to chip before pulling up and turning around for another attack. Following suit Articuno opened its mouth and blasted the same spot with ice; then Zapdos smashed the icy stones apart with a well-aimed thunderbolt. Chen’s Dragonite then hit the crumbling stone with a hyper beam causing the wall section to collapse inwards. Meanwhile Mew and Mew Two Casually caught the falling guards with their psychic grip and gently lowered them to the ground. The effect of the battlements coming down was electric – Magma grunts poured out and released their pokemon in a bid to stop the attackers.
“Let’s do this!” Shouted Hanzaemon above the noise and charged at the gap. “Leeroy Jenkins!”
Hanzaemon had no time to stop and help his friends battle as he had his own mission to do. He ran through the hole in the battlements and ducked just in time as a knocked out Magma grunt flew over his head propelled by one of his comrade’s monsters. As he darted down the red-carpeted halls of the Magma fortress he stopped, sent out his Scyther and drew his katana; he meant business. He saw the door up ahead labelled “Bosses Quarters” and sped up, his Scyther in tow. He burst through the paper sliding door and he stopped out of breath. Sat on a throne in front of him was the Magma boss Maxi and stood behind him was the pink haired Dude.
“Well well, we were expecting you” Mused Maxi looking at Hanzaemon coolly as he breathed raggedly to catch his breath.
“See? Didn’t I tell you boss?” Exclaimed Dude. “That guy will do anything for that girl.”
“Yes, I knew he would have his weak spot somewhere but did you just do it for the girl?” Asked Maxi looking towards Hanzaemon who had caught his breath and was raised and ready for combat.
“No,” Said Hanzaemon bluntly. “I have come to bring you to justice.”
“Ah yes, you have caused me far too much trouble – all of those millions I have lost due to my cloning facilities being shut down and my scientists damaged and it’s all because of you, because you came to Hoenn. Well, it ends here, now, today!” With that Maxi clapped his hands and a small battalion of guards burst into the room armed with katanas. “Prepare to die Hanzaemon.”
The ten guards horribly underestimated Hanzaemon and stepped in forgetting to guard themselves, resulting in four of them being dead before they could raise their swords. Scyther’s eyes were red with rage; nobody dares lay a hand on his human without losing a few fingers first. Hanzaemon had no time to compliment his pokemon as he ducked a wild swing from one of the guards and drove his katana into the attacker’s chest; he withdrew his sword and sliced at another opponent’s arm scoring a deep gouge along the arm. Scyther had entered that place again, the place of blind rage, he heard the screams for mercy, he felt the pathetic pokes of the swords but he didn’t care. Hanzaemon only needed to kill one guard – his trusted companion handled all the rest.
Maxi raised himself onto his feet and surveyed the mess – his formerly pure white Persian carpet was now bright red with blood.
“I’m surrounded by fools!” He growled reaching into his belt. “If you want something done right you have to do it yourself!” He threw the pokeball into the air releasing a Moltres into the room; all of the carpets and flags along the walls burst into flame. Hanzaemon quickly returned his Scyther and sent out his Riachu.
“Moltres! Head butt the little rat!” Yelled Maxi.
“Stay put,” Thought Hanzaemon as the flaming bird drew closer. “It can’t hurt you.”
As the Moltres accelerated towards the Riachu it noticed something strange; why was the little rat see through? Moltres passed straight through the Riachu and collided with a concrete wall at top speed causing it’s spinal column to be broken in several places. There was a sickening crunch and the bird flopped heavily to the floor setting several of the guard’s bodies on fire as it died.
“You killed my Moltres!” Yelled Maxi grabbing another pokeball, this time deploying a Groudon, Hanzaemon drew another pokeball and deployed his Machamp.
“Earthquake!” Ordered Maxi. The Groudon jumped into the air and smashed its fists into the ground causing a shockwave that made the walls begin to crumble and parts of the ceiling drop down. The trainers retained their footing and Hanzaemon ordered his Machamp to move forward.
“Throw flaming rocks at him!” Yelled Maxi at his burly protector who instantly grabbed a piece of fallen ceiling and hurled it towards the oncoming Machamp – the piece of ceiling stone caught fire in mid air and landed just behind Machamp with a thunderous crash; Machamp crossed one set of his muscular arms over his body as he charged in order to avoid the oncoming barrage of rocks. A few tiny fragments of hot rock pelted his muscles but he cared not as he drew closer to his adversary, he lowered his head and performed a diving tackle that floored the beast. The Groudon roared in surprise and tried to claw the powerfully built pokemon off of him but Machamp laid into him with fists of malice and left him bleeding and cowering on the floor. Maxi growled and returned his pokemon, Hanzaemon followed suit.
“Go Arcanine!” Bawled the Magma Boss as Hanzaemon set out his Hitmonlee.
Hitmonlee let loose as flurry of kicks toward the flaming dog and at each kick the Arcanine leapt back. Hanzaemon’s monster unleashed a deliberately long and low kick, which snaked under the Arcanine and collided with a pillar supporting the ceiling. The pillar crumbled and fell bringing down most of the ceiling with it – only by leaping and dodging did the trainers survive the falling stone.
“Arcanine! Watch out!” Roared Maxi who had stopped giving orders when the ceiling had began to fall but the orders were too little too late as Hanzaemon had already ordered Hitmonlee to take down the opponent; the Arcanine flew past Maxi and collided with the throne, setting it on fire immediately.
The two trainers surveyed the decimated room around them, the bodies of the guards and the dead Moltres, the fire licking up all of the woodwork and the night sky above them, which was full of battling pokemon. Maxi pulled a fighting spear off of the rack behind the blazing inferno of his throne and turned to face his opponent.
“Stupid pokemon, they can’t do anything right.” Maxi exclaimed as he twirled the spear in his hand. Hanzaemon drew his katana and faced Maxi.
“You reign of terror ends here Maxi.”
“Never! A fool like you will never kill me.”
“I will bring you down for the good of pokemon everywhere.”
“If you kill me you will be more of a monster than I was,” Exclaimed Maxi. “Yes, I admit I manipulated pokemon for my own ends but who ever got anywhere with pokemon they had raised on their own? Who ever got anywhere with normal pokemon they had caught in the wild? Who ever showed off their perfectly ordinary pokemon? Times have changed Hanzaemon and you should change with it, it’s not like the old days.”
“What do you mean the old days? The days of Red have passed; the days of Gold have passed but now it is the time for Hanzaemon. I stand against your insane plots to harm pokemon for profit.”
“Then you will die like the fool you are!” Yelled Maxi lowering his spear and charging at Hanzaemon across the flames. Hanzaemon side stepped his opponent’s charge and spun around and quickly ducked the thrust of Maxi’s spear; he sliced at the shaft of the spear almost cutting it in half. Maxi let go of the spear and seized one of the katanas off of the floor, pressing Hanzaemon with precise stabs and strokes that he narrowly deflected. The roles of the combatants quickly swapped as they stood in the middle of the roaring hellhole, which was formerly a meeting room. As one pressed the attack the other moved onto the defensive and as the other slowed down their attacks the defender quickly rose and attacked causing the tired attacker to defend and parry.
As the flames covered the ornate wooden carvings on the walls of the room thick smog began to build up causing the warring men to cough and splutter and let their guard down. The severely weakened ceiling caved in raising a choking white dust which temporarily blinded the combatants; Hanzaemon regained his eyesight first and pressed the advantage by plunging his blade into Maxi’s chest. Maxi went totally still and dropped his sword; his hand feeling along the blade, which had gone straight through his stomach and out the other side.
“Ah,” He said, not feeling the pain yet. “I lost,” He looked blankly at Hanzaemon and a few tears streamed down his cheeks. “What horrible things have I done?” He fell backwards, Hanzaemon’s sword leaving him.
“I’m sorry Maxi, you left me no choice.” Replied Hanzaemon wiping a tear from his own face.
“To think… How careless… I was…I caused… so much pain… suffering… I deserve…” Maxi reached out to the now empty sky and fell into death, Dude, who was hiding behind the throne for the whole battle quickly darted forward.
“Listen,” He said urgently to Hanzaemon. “The Aquas are after Sapphire too, it’s the only way they can bargin with you. Maxi is dead which puts me in control of Team Magma; get Sapphire and bring her…” He was cut short as he too had a blade stuck through his stomach; Dude dropped the knife he had intended to stab Hanzaemon with and plummeted backwards, landing in a pool of blood.
“Why?” Asked Dude to the sky.
“You were planning to kill me.” Replied Hanzaemon blandly.
“Yes,” He smiled as he shut his eyes against the pain in his abdomen. “Hoenn was so much better before you interfered. Before nobody was dieing but look now…”
The sounds of battle outside had stopped; it was obvious that one side had claimed victory.
“I never wanted to hurt anyone, I wanted to protect pokemon everywhere.”
“…” Began Dude but he died before he could get out his final say.
Hanzaemon looked at the destruction and the bodies around him; this isn’t what he had wanted… Why had it gone so wrong? His thoughts were interrupted by footsteps heading his way, he turned to see Chen supporting a badly wounded Sunder on her shoulder.
“Is he okay?” Asked Hanzaemon, Chen shook her head and gazed into Hanzaemon’s eyes. “What is it?”
“They took her, they took Sapphire.” She squealed in reply.
“Who did?” Growled Hanzaemon.
“Team Aqua… They plan to kill her.”

Chapter 6

Hanzaemon looked at Chen in disbelief, but he knew what she was saying was true.
“How did they get her?” He asked. Chen Gently laid Sunder down on the filthy floor and explained.
“We were in the heat of battle when we heard shouting behind us. Apparently someone had told the Aquas what was going on and they decided to help us take down the Magmas – we would have lost if they hadn’t shown up. Anyhow, they backed us up until the perimeter defences were down then their head honcho sent out his Lugia, grabbed Sapphire and flew off. We desperately asked what they were planning but they said that they were going to kill her, and then they left.”
Hanzaemon looked down at his feet; he had put Sapphire in this position, she had been dragged into this because she had trusted his judgment.
“Man, I am so sorry, but we can’t take on the Aquas… We are tired and weak and their base as all the way at the cove to the east.” Said Sunder desolately from the floor and Hanzaemon shook his head.
“I’m going, I got her into this and I’ll get her out.”
“What?” Shouted Sunder as the flames in the room began to die down.
“That’s suicide!” Squealed Chen.
“Today is a good day to die,” Shrugged Hanzaemon. “Have any of you got a flying pokemon I can borrow?” Chen slowly reached into her pocket and withdrew a pokeball and held it out to Hanzaemon; He already knew what was in it.
“Get back to a city and gather all the help you can, I will need it if my plan goes to the dogs.” He shouted as he mounted the pokemon.
“I’ll pray for your safety!” Shouted Chen after the departing Charizard.
But Hanzaemon was too high to hear what she was saying, much like his Scyther he felt a buzzing inside him, an instinct driving him on; more blood would be spilled this night.

Chapter 7

Hanzaemon urged the Charizard into its top speed as they headed east; thick black clouds covered the night sky obscuring the stars and thick raindrops began to fall, on the horizon a loud thunder flash pierced the night. Beneath him the sea was rough and choppy but he saw the cave opening that was the entrance to the Aqua’s hidden fortress. He pushed the Charizard into a dive and drew his katana; the dried blood on its metallic surface was swept away. He held on tight as the Charizard drew in its wings and span through the cave entrance at high speed. Hanzaemon leapt off of the dragon and held his sword forward prepared for the attack but there was nobody to meet his charge. Above the sound of the storm raging outside all Hanzaemon could hear was echoes of the thunder. All of the lights were on but there were no guards; Charizard landed beside him and Hanzaemon returned it to its pokeball, he then deployed his Sneasel and Hitmonlee and began to walk into the heart of the Aqua’s subterranean base; after clearing the main sentry post he came to a long corridor which sloped downhill, the floor covered by a aqua blue carpet. His footsteps echoed down the hallway as his brain struggled to find an explanation; he had been expecting a huge onslaught of Team Aqua’s soldiers.
He reached the end of the stone cavern and found a huge steel door, which was unlabelled and went inside. The room was pitch black but he could hear breathing coming from above.
“I know you are…” Hanzaemon began to call out but the lights were switched on suddenly revealing a giant water filled pokemon battle arena.
“Aha!” Came a voice from over the other side of the room. “I was expecting you.”
“Are you the boss of Team Aqua?” Shouted Hanzaemon. A man with a beard and goatee stepped out of the shadows across the pokemon arena.
“Indeed, I am Archie; leader of the Aquas.”
“I was expecting more guards.” Noted Hanzaemon; Archie laughed and stepped into full view.
“A real man doesn’t have to hide behind guards, you should know that Hanzaemon; I have had my eye on you for quite a while and I know you are a true warrior.”
“Thanks, but I don’t need compliments from the likes of you.”
Archie looked offended but then broke into a wide mouthed smile.
“Come on, you have us wrong. All we plan to do is make the world a safe and clean place for pokemon to live in.”
“Even if it means hurting innocent lives? Have you see first hand how the DNA is ripped from pokemon and used to pull together some horrific monster? All of the trainers whose pokemon are stolen then sold to fund your laboratories? You may well have been protecting pokemon at one point but you have crossed the line.”
“Enough of this hearsay,” Archie brushed the comments aside and reached for his pokeballs. “I say we settle this through words of a battle.”
“You got that right” Replied Hanzaemon.
Archie threw his first pokeball into the air and deployed a Kyogre into the water filled arena; Hanzaemon, realising that he had no water based pokemon ordered his active Sneasel to start freezing a corner of the pool and moved his Hitmonlee to the edge of the arena. Archie’s Kyogre leapt into the air and fired a beam of ice toward Hanzaemon’s Hitmonlee; Hitmonlee reacted smoothly by pulling a break dancing windmill, which caused the beam of ice to shatter before it made contact; the Kyogre sat above the water and Hitmonlee aimed a kick at its foe but missed as the Kyogre dived back under water. Sneasel had just finished constructing an icy platform, which Hanzaemon ordered his Hitmonlee to jump onto. The Hitmonlee landed effortlessly on the ice and began to slide gently. The Kyogre burst through part of the platform sending bits of broken ice flying into the air; the Kyogre hesitated as it wasn’t expecting the icy barrier and attempted to pull back under the surface but its head was stuck. As it struggled Hitmonlee pulled its foot back and unleashed a flying kick towards the ensnared enemy; Kyogre howled in confusion and rage as Hitmonlee pounded its head with a barrage of kicks, with a loud cracking noise Kyogre forced its head back down under the water. The platform split and formed dozens of icebergs that began to float around the pool arena. Hitmonlee stood shakily on an iceberg as Archie’s Kyogre began to circle him; Kyogre leapt above the water and blasted the spot where Hitmonlee was a few seconds ago but Hitmonlee had already leapt onto another iceberg.
“Behind you!” Yelled Archie to his confused pokemon as Hanzaemon’s Hitmonlee leapt from iceberg to iceberg. The Kyogre turned dumbly and came face to face with Hitmonlee’s foot. Kyogre dived once more before Hitmonlee could attack again.
“Wait where you are.” Though Hanzaemon towards his pokemon. Hitmonlee stopped looking for Kyogre and sat down on the iceberg.
“Now!” Shouted Archie and Kyogre burst above the surface carrying the iceberg on his back.
“Now!” Thought Hanzaemon and his Hitmonlee jumped onto Kyogre’s head and jumped off of it like a springboard. Hitmonlee turned in mid jump and pelted Kyogre in the face with dozens of kicks before crashing into the metal bar on the side of the battle arena. Kyogre sank beneath the surface of the pool as Hitmonlee held onto the bar – after a few seconds Archie cursed and pulled out another pokeball.
“Damn, the stupid thing is knocked out…” He returned his Kyogre to its pokeball as Hanzaemon returned Hitmonlee to his.
Archie then sent out a Blastoise as Hanzaemon deployed his Scyther onto one of the icebergs. The Blastoise landed heavily into the pool causing a large wave to unsettle the icebergs, Scyther only managed to stay above the surface by quickly hopping across several of the icy platforms; Hanzaemon used his ESP to order his Sneasel to create more ice by the corner of the pool as his Scyther bounded around dodging the powerful bursts of water being shot from Blastoise’s cannons.
“You got him on the run!” Shouted Archie to Blastoise. “Keep the water coming!”
Blastoise began to pump water out of its cannons thick and fast as Scyther leapt and pirouetted across the icebergs – suddenly a loud clicking sound came from Blastoise and its cannons stopped firing. “Quick, reload before he…” but Scyther had taken the opportunity to leap on its foe’s head with its razor sharp blades pointing downwards. Blastoise roared with pain and flung its head back to dislodge the Scyther that was savaging its head but to no avail; Scyther had his blades dug in particularly deep and was twisting them in an attempt to get them even deeper. The pool water began to turn red with blood and that was when Blastoise decided to dive deep beneath the surface; blinded with pain Archie’s Blastoise submerged itself; Scyther let go of its foe and swam to the nearest iceberg. Blastoise burst from the surface with its head covered in deep gashes and lunged at Scyther as he was trying to mount the iceberg. At the last possible second Scyther saw its foe and leapt into the air causing the rage induced Blastoise to collide with the ice; the Blastoise’s toughened head smashed straight through the ice with no difficulty whatsoever but its head was presented with a much less pliant object – the concrete base of the arena. Archie’s Blastoise was knocked backwards by the force of the blow and it rolled over and floated on the surface bleeding badly.
“Damned pathetic, weak willed pokemon” Muttered Archie withdrawing his Blastoise and producing another ball and sending out a Sharpedo into the blood enriched pool water as Hanzaemon ordered his Sneasel to leap onto the new ice platform it had just constructed – once it made contact the Sharpedo went into a blood frenzy and leapt towards Sneasel with every intention of tearing the warm blooded monster apart and feeding on its tasty flesh. It was stopped in mid launch by a blast of freezing cold air; Sharpedo fell back into the water frozen solid by Sneasel’s quick ice beam. Archie ignored his frozen pokemon and deployed another.
“Go Lugia!” Shouted Archie.
A gloomy and depressing air filled the room as Hanzaemon sent out his Riachu who hovered over the water; Lugia dived into the depths of the pool and Archie looked at Hanzaemon pleadingly.
“Please don’t,” He begged but Riachu’s tail had already touched the water. A surge of electricity, a screech and the smell of barbecued chicken rose. Lugia’s corpse bobbed just above the surface of the water before sinking back into the depths “Oh my God! You killed my Lugia!” Screamed Archie furiously.
“I didn’t kill it, my pokemon did.”
“That’s it, I’m usually a level heading guy but now your girlfriend is dead!”
“So you haven’t killed her yet?”
Archie clicked his fingers and a metal cover slid quickly over the pool, he jumped onto it and began to stride towards Hanzaemon; Hanzaemon followed suit and the two met in the middle.
“The girl is a bargaining chip in our little game, but now we get serious.” Stated Archie.
“Just give her back and disband Team Aqua; those are my terms.”
“Well listen to mine,” Retorted Archie, his eyes glowing with rage. “You get your sorry ass out of Hoenn this instant and the girl gets freed otherwise I clap my hands and you get mobbed by my guards then we break your arms and legs and you can watch us kill the girl.”
“I thought you were a ‘real man’ as you put it when we first met.”
Archie’s eyes narrowed to slits at the insult to his manhood.
“I’m going to kick your ass all the way back to where you came from,” He growled and he pulled two battle katanas off of his back. “A fight to the death, right here, right now.”
“Tell me where Sapphire is first,” Replied Hanzaemon drawing out his own sword. Archie put one hand to his lips and whistled a single tone; at the sound a cage was lowered from the ceiling inside which a very terrified looking Sapphire sat covered in chains. “Now you are defiantly going to die,” Stated Hanzaemon twirling his katana in his right hand then holding the hilt with both hands. “Bring it!”

Chapter 8

The sound of metal against metal filled the arena as the two men danced the dance of the sword – A single wrong step could cost one of them their life as they battled furiously. Hanzaemon thrust his blade forward at Archie’s chest; Archie swung the sword in his right hand in front of his torso and deflected the stab while bringing the sword in his left hand into a swinging arc which Hanzaemon side stepped and sliced his blade upwards at Archie’s neck but Archie stepped back and caught Hanzaemon’s blade between a cross made from his two katanas.
“You fight well,” Commented Archie as he thrust his left hand sword at Hanzaemon which he easily deflected. “Good opponents are hard to come by.”
“Again, I don’t need compliments from you,” Replied Hanzaemon parrying a blow from Archie’s right sword and ducked a swing from the left one. “Let Sapphire go.”
“And then what?” Asked Archie deflecting another thrust from Hanzaemon and slicing upwards at his foe.
“You disband Team Aqua and leave Hoenn forever.” Replied Hanzaemon swatting Archie’s slice aside.
“Never!” Shouted Archie stretching his arms to his sides and leaving himself unguarded. “Team Aqua will live forev…” Archie leapt back with a huge gash across his face; his blood gently pattered against the metal cover over the pool and he raised a hand to the wound. “You just crossed the line Hanzaemon!” He shouted. Archie quickly re sheathed his katanas and clapped his hands together. “Now, you die for real!”
A battalion of Team Aqua grunts piled into the arena room, some with pokemon others with guns; they took positions around the arena, totally surrounding the two men.
“My quarrel is with your leader, not with you,” Hanzaemon announced to the hoard and pointing his katana in their direction. “Let us be and we will finish our discussion.”
“Don’t listen to him!” Yelled Archie to his team as they muttered amongst themselves. “Kill him now!”
The sound of countless guns being cocked and loaded echoed around the vast chamber.
“Great,” Though Hanzaemon as the gun-wielding criminals took aim at him. “Such a lousy way to die.” He opened his eyes and faced his death – he wanted to spit in Death’s empty eye socket when the time came; but instead of the red hot pain of bullets he heard a shout from the cavern entrance and what seemed like an entire army of pokemon trainers burst into the vast room; at the very front was none other than Chen and Sunder. The Aqua grunts cursed loudly and reached for their pokeballs as the trainers deployed flocks of monsters to face them.
“Hanzaemon!” Shouted Sunder as he deployed his Mew Two. “Sorry we’re late!”
“What are you guys doing here?” Roared back Hanzaemon with delight as his companions fought the Aquas.
“No… No!” Shouted Archie as his team members fell back under the weight of the attackers unexpected force. He turned and faced Hanzaemon with a baleful look in his eyes and seized his katanas once more. “This little upset in the plan means nothing, once I kill you all will be as it was”
Archie leapt towards Hanzaemon with his katanas pointed directly at his adversary; Hanzaemon narrowly deflected the charge with a wild sweep of his sword.
“I’m going to cut you up so small that the worms won’t even need to chew.” Growled Archie pushing Hanzaemon’s sword aside with his left handed blade and slicing at him with the right; only by jumping back did Hanzaemon save himself from death, he counted himself lucky as his T-shirt fell off of his back. He span around as quickly as possible, making Archie step aside and slammed the handle of his katana into the side of Archie’s head; his foe staggered from the blow and steadied himself on one of the metal bars surrounding the arena.
Archie paused for breath, his facial wound dripping blood and his sweat joining the blood on the floor. He dropped one of the katanas to the floor and held the other double handed over his head.
“You have caused far too many problems for me to let you live.” Gasped Archie as the pokemon trainers battled around the arena.
“Archie, don’t make me kill you – far too much blood has been shed tonight.”
“We can’t settle this any other way,” Growled the Aqua boss; Hanzaemon nodded in agreement. “Let’s settle this in an unarmed fight; if I win you leave here forever, you win, I leave.”
“You got yourself a deal,” Replied Hanzaemon; both men re sheathed their katanas and stood before each other. “But you have to let the girl go either way.”
“You got it,” Answered Archie as he took a Kung fu stance and wiping the sweat and blood from his brow. “Now bring it.”
Hanzaemon took his tae kwon do stance and the two opponents edged towards each other – Archie swept his fist forward at Hanzaemon’s face which he avoided by performing a turning kick which Archie side stepped and took hold of his opponent’s leg and twisted the foot in the opposite direction. To avoid having his foot broken Hanzaemon followed the twist by bringing his whole body around with the turn causing the heel of his other foot to collide with the back of Archie’s head; Archie lost his balance and let go. Hanzaemon fell to the floor closely followed by Archie who had slipped on a puddle of blood. A defeated Ryhorn hit the metal cover of the arena; its weight worked against it and it broke through the metal and sank beneath the surface. Archie grunted in pain and scrambled to his feet as Hanzaemon climbed up.
The two surveyed the battle that raged around them and temporarily stopped fighting.
“Is this what it was like?” Mused Archie as Chen’s Espeon knocked out an Aqua’s Golem.
“What like?” Asked Hanzaemon as he walked with Archie towards the edge of the pokemon arena.
“The battles of old, when trainers fought against injustice?” He surveyed the chaos around him. “So much harm? So much agony?”
“They are protecting what they love,” Replied Hanzaemon as they took hold of the metal railing. “And love is a strong emotion.”
“Love is for the weak,” Laughed Archie as he watched a trainer embrace a knocked out pokemon in the midst of the battle. “Power is all people need.”
Hanzaemon shook his head and faced Archie. “Without love people and pokemon would not live in harmony together, don’t you see? By craving for power you have made so many suffer; why not end this madness now?”
Archie sighed and adjusted his bandana; a look of understanding crossing his features.
“You know, your right… What we did to pokemon is wrong. All those experiments and DNA extraction… The time has come for change,” Archie wiped a tear from his eye and held out his arms. “Let’s make peace.”
Archie held Hanzaemon in a friendly embrace and pulled back with a smile. Hanzaemon gasped when he suddenly felt the sharp, cold sensation in his back and ran a hand along the handle of the dagger protruding from his back.
“So much for a warrior!” Laughed Archie as Hanzaemon’s eyes welled with tears.
Through the pain Hanzaemon wrenched the dagger from his back and charged towards his false friend. Archie took a step back in surprise and fell straight through the hole in the metal covering, and then he laughed as Hanzaemon collapsed beside the edge.
“Well, I’m wet and you’re dieing,” He mused as he bled freely from the wound on his face and treaded water. “Any last words?”
“Just one,” Hanzaemon said through gritted teeth. “Jaws.”
“Say what?” Asked Archie in surprise but he had already guessed it; a sharp set of teeth had dug itself into his leg. “Ohhhhh, you utter bas…” He began before his defrosted Sharpedo began to devour him.
Hanzaemon looked away from the monster consuming a monster and tried to get to his feet. He saw Sapphire in her cage, her beautiful blue eyes welling with tears as she looked at the battle; the energy had left him, he had fought for too long but he had to get Sapphire out even if it killed him. He dragged himself across the metal floor as the battle raged on, the wound in his back causing him to slow down substantially. He reached the cage and pulled himself up against the bars; Sapphire looked at him through the bars and her eyes lit up with hope as he tugged feebly at the padlocked door. He fell back on his behind and wondered what to do, and then it hit him. He deployed his Sneasel and ordered him to freeze the lock then he deployed Sapphire’s Charizard and told it to melt the lock off. The battle was drawing to a close as Hanzaemon entered the cage and followed the same procedure with the locks that ensnared Sapphire. As soon as she was freed from her bonds they embraced.
“Hanzaemon,” Mumbled Sapphire weakly as he wept on her shoulder. “Are you crying?”
“A warrior never cries” Replied Hanzaemon before fainting in her arms.

Chapter 9

Hanzaemon woke with a start. His mind did a fast replay of the events of the previous night; could it have happened? He had managed to take down both Team Magma and Team Aqua… He looked at the sleeping figure of Sapphire beside him and smiled. He remembered loosely how she, Chen and Sunder had carried him from the Aqua’s cavern. The stormy night had gone and been replaced by the most beautiful sunny day; Wingul soared magnificently overhead while a fleet of Wailmer had swam past spouting jets of cool sea water over themselves. He remembered being flown to the hospital on the back of a Charizard and remembered Sapphire’s beautiful face telling him not to leave her; he remembered the look of absolute delight on her face when the doctor told her that the injury was minor and that he would live.
Sapphire stirred and opened her eyes.
“You okay?” She asked, yawning and stretching.
“Yeah, I’m fine… It just doesn’t seem real,” Replied Hanzaemon holding her in an embrace. “Everything seems too perfect to be real.”
“Go back to sleep babe,” Said Sapphire resting Hanzaemon’s head on her chest. “You are exhausted from last night’s fight.”
Hanzaemon slept for another few hours and when he woke he found Sapphire absent. He got up and pulled on his trousers and T-Shirt then headed downstairs where the house’s Jynx was making dinner. Hanzaemon ruffled his hair in an attempt to remember where he was but scrapped it when he couldn’t remember.
“Hey!” Chen squealed from across the room where she was feeding her Espeon. “You are awake!”
“What happened back there in the cave? Where did you guys come from?”
“When you said to rally support at the nearest town after you left the Magma base we went straight back to Lillycove and gathered the pokemon fan club together; once we told them what happened they were all ready to come and help you.”
“Where’s Sapphire? And where’s Sunder?”
“Sapphire went out a while ago and Sunder is just explaining to his mom why we are here.”
“Oh, this is his house?”
“Yes, we kind of hi-jacked it.” Chen replied as Sunder walked into the room.
“Hey man! Your up!” Called Sunder sitting down next to Chen. “You know we are gonna be very busy from now on making sure the Magmas or Aquas don’t pop up again.”
“You helped us wipe Hoenn clean of the scourge of pokemon extortionists.” Added Chen
“And we, the pokemon trainers society of Hoenn would be honoured if you would stay and help us keep it this way.”
Hanzaemon looked at Chen and Sunder and their eager faces, then he sighed.
“I can’t, I have caused far too much trouble. I must go.”
“What?” Cried Chen and Sunder at once looking at Hanzaemon with shock.
“A person like me will only be a liability to you, I have spilled far too much blood; albeit in the name of justice.” He turned and faced the door of the house.
“You can’t go!” Squealed Chen, her eyes full of tears; Sunder embraced her and comforted her.
“Some people can’t stay in one place, they travel like the wind. Hanzaemon is going to help other people stop pokemon extortionists in other countries.”
“I guess this is goodbye,” Moped Chen through tears and Hanzaemon opened the door of the house. “Be safe!”
Hanzaemon stopped half way out the door and looked at the sunset across the horizon and found an unexpected tear in his eye.
“Tell Sapphire I love her.” He whispered before he continued his walk to the dock. He had to get the next ship out of here – the police here were probably after his head for multiple homicides and too many deaths lay behind him. He walked inside the dock and looked at the ship that would be taking him back to his home in Kelsiv.
“Wait!” Called out a voice behind him. He turned and saw Sapphire, out of breath and standing before him carrying her backpack. “I’m going with you.”
“But I’m on the run, we would never be able to settle down, we would be constantly hounded by the law.”
“I don’t care,” Replied Sapphire planting a kiss on Hanzaemon’s cheek. “I love you too much to care.”
“Oh Sapphire…” He began but she put a finger to his lips.
“Not another word, we are going to Kelsiv and that is final.”
“Okay, but I have something I want to tell you.” He motioned for her to move closer and then kissed her passionately using both his lips and tongue. They pulled away after a minute looking slightly embarrassed.
“Well, well, well,” Came a cheery voice behind them. The two turned around to see Garth, the Magma – Aqua double agent. “Fancy seeing you two here.”
Hanzaemon smiled and nodded.
“What are you doing here Garth? Aren’t you out of work now that both Team Aqua and Magma have been dissolved? You are a filthy double agent.” Hanzaemon said, Garth laughed deeply in return.
“No way am I out of work – I’m not exactly a double agent; I work for one great organisation.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Demanded Sapphire; in reply Garth unzipped his jacket revealing a T-shirt that caused Hanzaemon to gasp.
“Oh yes, from the ground below to the stars above – Team Rocket rules you all!”
“How are Team Rocket involved?” Asked Hanzaemon dumbfounded.
“By wiping out two criminal empires you helped another one step right in and we have the ideal plan for taking over.”
“How… Why? What?” Jabbered Hanzaemon.
“The kid with the pink hair told us everything; you yourself came up with the master plan which Team Rocket plans to use – don’t you remember? ‘Think of it; Rayquazas, Ho-ohs, Lugias and Dragonite dominating the skies –Donphan like tanks, Ryhorn, copies of the legendary Johoto dogs ruling the ground and who can imagine the seas…’ Ha! Who can imagine the destruction? Nobody! Team Rocket will rise and dominate Hoenn!” Garth Revealed to Hanzaemon and Sapphire who stood aghast; Hanzaemon reacted swiftly and drew his katana.
“So kill me,” Leered Garth as Hanzaemon held the blade to Garth’s throat. “It won’t change the course of Team Rocket’s glorious takeover,” Hanzaemon re sheathed his sword and cursed. “But of course! You need to get lost quickly because the cops are after you for killing Archie and Maxi. You can’t stick around and spoil our plans. Later losers!” And with that Garth threw a number of smoke pellets to the ground and vanished leaving Hanzaemon unsure of what to do.
“I can’t leave now,” Said Hanzaemon to Sapphire. “I caused this mess and I need to help everyone here.”
“Listen, Chen and Sunder are plenty tough enough to handle this. We need to get out now so you don’t get arrested.”
“But this is Team Rocket… They aren’t the same as the Aquas or Magmas.”
“Listen,” Growled Sapphire playfully. “If you don’t get on that ship I will. You need a rest Hanzaemon – why don’t you relax for a while then come back?”
Hanzaemon sighed and let Sapphire lead him onto the ship. Oh he would be back all right, just sooner than anyone would have thought.