Chapter 26: “…”

A few hours had passed since Gray's Pokémon stopped their training session. The morning sun was shining brighter than before, almost as if it was gazing down at Gray and his team of Pokémon.

Gray was currently seated on a bench lazily watching over Spearow and Yanma who were both lying on the ground, tired beyond belief. He had already checked up on Elekid and Kakuna, and he didn't bother going to check up on Magikarp; he trusted Malamar to do his assigned task prudently.

"You're this tired? We've been on our break for quite a while and you guys are still this tired? With this kind of stamina or lack thereof, you won't be able to come out on top in a protracted battle. Especially you Yanma. I thought you would be better, especially when you consider your display of strength in Viridian Forest." Gray taunted, but only heard a disgruntled grunt from him.

Spearow had already faced this kind of treatment beforehand, and whilst he didn't care too much, Gray's words still managed to hurt his pride, and bruise his ego.

"We will start training again in a minute or so, be ready for that."

Gray stood and walked toward Elekid and Kakuna.

The duo was in much better condition than the previous two. They were both sitting comfortably upon a tree branch roughly 10 feet above ground; the tree's leaves also provided good shade for the duo.

"Great job both of you. You met my expectations for the day. One piece of advice I have for you Kakuna is on how to harden your exterior shell. Coat it with (Aura) and concentrate most of it where the strike lands, it will help to block most of the damage."

Kakuna softly screeched, indicating he understood Gray's point. He then suddenly shone, as (Aura) fulgurated from his body.

"Now, don't mistake it for [Harden]. The move [Harden] amplifies the shell's durability, but coating it with (Aura) will simply make the shell like a metal balloon. The attack would bounce off your shell and protect your body."

Gray calmly said, speaking from his past experiences. Going out on a journey at a young age did wonders. Couple that with his knowledge of different moves and species and he was like a living cheat code.

"(Aura) is much more concentrated than (Energy) that you would use for typical abilities like [String Shot] or [Tackle]. Advanced moves like [Strength] or [Thunderbolt] use (Aura) to maximize their full capacity."

Hearing Gray's explanation of (Aura) and (Energy), the two Pokémon started to ponder how strong they would be if they used (Aura) instead of (Energy). They also wondered if they had the capability of using (Aura).

Their minds began to run through the possibilities like wheels on a newly refurbished road, and after seeing them zoning out, Gray decided to leave to make an announcement to all of his Pokémon.

"Alright, break's over. Time to begin again. We won't be stopping our training session until the sun is down so brace yourselves."

"Train until you cannot anymore. Train until your tears have run out. Train until you start sweating blood, only then will we be done." Gray spoke softly, but his words reached every one of his Pokémon, filling them with dread and excitement for their new training regimen.

They were dreading the pain that was inevitable but excited to see the fruits of their labor when it was all said and done. Gray had ignited a passion within all of them, even the somewhat pugnacious Yanma.

Seeing what his little pep talk had done Gray smiled slightly, he then called them all up and explained what they would be doing.

"Kakuna, Spearow, you two will be partners this round. Spearow will still have his restrictions. Kakuna you on the other hand need to train your ability to evade, especially without using cheap tricks like [String Shot], otherwise you might find a hole through your shell. We don't want a premature evolution now do we?"

"Elekid, Yanma, you two will battle it out with one another. A speedster versus a speedster."

"To truly hone your craft you two will duke it out, pushing each other's limits far beyond what any other Pokémon could do. Elekid, same restrictions as last time, Yanma you will have a different restriction. For the entirety of the battle, you may not use (Energy) to boost your speed."

"Also, you both will be unable to block attacks. You will only be allowed to dodge them, this will force you to find ways to evade even seemingly impossible attacks."

"Magikarp and Malamar, you two will be doing the same thing. However, this time go harder on her. Make use of her potential to grasp things quickly. She can handle it."

The groups made themselves comfortable before splitting up and training. Meanwhile, Gray went to a nearby tree and stayed under the shade.

"It's already 11 in the morning, so we have 8 hours until it's completely dark. Coupling the breaks in between, it should amount to around 7 hours of training. Though, I still need to get some things for their dinner."

Gray softly said, grabbing his things and leaving. But before he did, he left Malamar in charge of the group.

-o-

[Pokémon POV]

Malamar stood upright, watching over Gray's new batch of Pokémon in distaste.

"All of you are pathetic. If you were to fight my generation in our early stages, we would annihilate you. You guys weren't even strong enough to protect Gray from being captured, I had to come and save all of you." Malamar sneered as he racked his eyes over Gray's current Pokémon.

"If you're so incredible why didn't Gray take you on his journey?" Spearow mocked Malamar, pissing him off.

A scowl quickly made its way to Malamar's face as he offered a proposal to the rest of the Pokémon.

"If you guys are so confident in your abilities let's see how you fare."

The entire team suddenly lost their sense of sight. The team felt the despair of the likes they had never before encountered, Malamar was like a beacon, but instead of a shining beacon of light, he was like a beacon of the void, letting darkness encompass their surroundings.

"This is how pathetic you all are. Hehehe!" Malamar cackled in sadistic glee.

Spearow, the Pokémon that initially instigated Malamar, was laying on the ground shaking in fear and distress.

Elekid was on his knees desperately gasping for air, losing his sight made him panic as he had just encountered a Legendary Pokémon.

Kakuna's shell trembled maniacally, he was shaking uncontrollably akin to that of the shaking of an earthquake.

Magikarp, however, was unlike her regular regal behavior. She flopped around like a Magikarp out of the water, unfit for her royal-like appearing

Yanma was buzzing in fear, desperately trying to escape the all-encompassing darkness, however, it seemed like lady luck did not look kindly upon him today. No matter what he tried to do, the darkness continued to swallow him.

"Hehehe…" Malamar continued his sinister laughter, finding their desperation amusing, he basked in their despair, seemingly happy with his actions.

Out of all of Gray's Pokémon that were trained in the prior region, Malamar was the most dangerous. Not for its strength, though it did boast that as well. However, he was Gray's most dangerous Pokémon because of his personality. He enjoyed seeing people suffer. He thrived when people were afraid. He took pleasure in being the cause of chaos.

Archer had purposefully given Gray Malamar, not because he knew it could teleport. No, he gave him Malamar because he knew that it would be the hardest Pokémon to control, which would only serve to get Gray into more trouble; something he would find amusing.

With a swift motion, their sight gradually came back. However, Malamar's laugh continued to echo in the deepest part of their mind.

Silence. There was a long pause before Malamar finally spoke, and it spoke in a deep, baritone voice, unlike his usual pitch.

"Look at your pitiful state. I didn't even need to lift a finger to defeat you, you are by far the most pathetic Pokémon I have come across. When met with an obstacle you all succumb to your fear instead of fighting back. Your will was dimmed too easily by my darkness." Malamar sneered, venom dripping from every word.

"I don't even know why Gray wasted his precious time on giving you attention. Why bother if we are much better than all of you?"

"You lot don't even begin to compare to the rest of his monsters," Malamar spoke much more softly this time, reminiscing about a certain blue Pokémon.

Most of the team didn't speak to Malamar after that out of fear, and slight awe.

Magikarp on the other hand gazed at Malamar in interest and awe. Amazed by what he could do just by flexing his power.

-o-

In a tall and extravagant castle, 4 people were currently speaking on a pressing issue.

"They've returned, and to think so soon after their defeat." A beautiful red-haired woman commented, her cold voice complimented her mask of indifference, but if you paid enough attention you could detect a slight amount of apprehension in her voice.

"Gahaha! Those bunch of villains sure do have guts! This time won't change a thing however, they will repeat the same thing as before, and fall as easily!" A muscular man laughed, as a wild grin formed on his face.

"Tch, those pests sure are like cockroaches. They never die easily and come back after a while!" A slouching old woman sneered, as a ghostly figure floated above her with a smirk.

"They think because he's gone they have been given a chance to rise to power once more. We don't know how powerful their organization is currently, we must be cautious and make sure we don't let them run amok as they once did. We would never be able to face him if we did." A tall, orange-haired handsome man spoke softly, and methodically. If one looked at his outfit they would classify it as eccentric, he wore a jumpsuit coupled with a cape of all things.

"Too true Lance! We should strike them down and make sure they cannot rise up once again!" The muscular man laughed, but you could see a cold look that would be sure to send shivers down your spine. Almost as if there was a more sinister undertone to him.

"You should take this more seriously Bruno, now isn't the time for games. We should find their base of operation and swiftly deal with them." The red-haired woman spoke.

"Now, now, play nice children. We don't need internal conflict, our quarrel should be with Team Rocket, not ourselves."

"Good point Agatha, after looking over Team Rocket's actions I've come up with two main objectives. One is to find evidence to bring that man in, and the second is to make sure we stop any Team Rocket activities and interrogate their members."

"After confiding with some of my contacts I've found out that there were two former gym leaders on the scene who we can question about T.R.."

"It seems like we do have some sort of evidence, thank you, Lorelei. Call the two immediately for questioning." Lance spoke to the other 3 members.

Once Lance finished his speech a gust of wind howled in the back.

A plot to take down the greatest threat to the Kanto region had just been formed by the region's protectors.

This was the calm before the inevitable storm. A storm that would either harmlessly pass by the region, or a storm that would ravage the entirety of Kanto. The future was now in the hands of these 4 legendary Pokémon trainers.

As those 4 left, a lone man could be seen sitting atop an icy throne with a Pokéball in hand at the top of a vast mountain.

"Finally… 151 out of 151…"

"…"

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The End of Chapter 26: "…"

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A/N: 2k words again. Back to back 2k words. Shout out to the boy @Envious_ for editing.

Also I felt so edgy writing this chapter. I hate writing characters like Gray and Malamar lol.