15. A Menace Arrives

Alex and Megan were arriving back at the Azelf dorm after their fourth date. By now they were officially a couple, boyfriend and girlfriend, in cahoots. They had just been to see Durant Man which had been a funny and clever movie but now the sun was setting, it was getting extremely cold and the pair were soon back, inside their warm dorm.

"Oh hang on," Alex said, before he went to his room, "I forgot, Bella wanted to show me some ideas she'd drawn up for doubles. Do you know where she keeps her notes?"

"Follow me." Megan said, gesturing Alex towards her room. A girls room. Oddly enough, it was nothing like he'd expected. Having never entered a girls room before, he'd been anticipating pink walls, several make up stands, hundreds of wardrobes and... well he didn't really know what. All that Alex knew was that, in all honesty, it was hardly different to his own room, just a few girly touches here and there.

"Where's Bella?" Alex asked.

"Probably in the library working." Megan guessed. "She keeps her notes in that closet over there." She pointed past a bed, which Alex presumed to be Bella's, at a large wooden closet in the corner of the room.

"Thanks." Alex said, walking over to where Megan was pointing and placing one hand on the handle. Just as he was about to open it, Bella and Lucy walked into the room, with Bella clutching a textbook.

"Oh hey." Bella said before abruptly stopping in her tracks. "What are you doing?"

"Just getting those notes you told me about." Alex explained, pulling the door open.

"No!" she yelled, dropping her textbook and leaping over her bed to shove Alex out of the way but it was too late. The door of the closet swung open and out of it tumbled far too many papers to count. As Alex shook off Bella's brutal attack, he glanced at the papers that were all over the floor. He gasped a little.

They were notes, diagrams, mind maps, brainstorms all about how to defeat him. Carefully annotated drawings of Marowak, the stance it took, the manoeuvres it was known to use and any weaknesses it might have. Oddly enough, there was also a drawing just of him. This had to have taken many hours of hard work to do all of this. It was no wonder she hated losing so much as she clearly out in a lot of time preparing to battle him.

"Wow." Megan said. "That is a lot notes."

"It's not what it looks like!" Bella insisted. She was completely red in the face and been well and truly thrown. She was no longer the confident and headstrong girl that Alex was used to, she had quickly turned to desperation.

"It looks like you really, really want to beat me in a battle."

"Well then it's exactly what it looks like."

"What else would it have looked like?"

"Nothing." She said, extremely quickly. It was just as Alex had expected. Bella was completely off her rocker.

"C'mon, let's clean up this mess." Alex grinned. Megan and Lucy seemed to also find the situation as amusing as Alex did, the three of them all stifling their laughs as they collected up the papers. Bella was the fastest at doing so, sweeping several papers at once into her arms, getting them out of sight as quickly as possible. Every now and then, Alex would point out a mistake that she had made but she remained quiet until they'd cleared up everything

"How's your double battle practice going?" Bella asked, changing the subject before any more comments could be made about it.

"Um, good I guess." Lucy shrugged.

"Progress is steady." Megan said.

"But strong." Lucy added. All of a sudden, Alex had a brainwave.

"Hey, why don't we have a practice battle together?" he said, getting excited about the prospect.

"Great idea!" Bella said and without even letting her friends talk about the matter, she shepherded them just outside the Azelf dorm, a suitable place for a battle. With the sunset basking them in an orange glow, the four trainers sent out their chosen Pokémon.

"Go!" They all said in unison as their Pokémon hit the field. As planned, Bella and Alex were using Lucario and Marowak. Megan and Lucy were using Quagsire and Aipom respectively. Megan's Quagsire had the calmest, most relaxed face imaginable whereas Lucy's Aipom was hopping around on its hand of a tail, wearing a mischievous grin and laughing almost constantly.

"Ladies first." Alex gestured.

"With pleasure." Megan grinned. She may have been his girlfriend, but they weren't going to go easy on each other. Their relationship was very competitive. "Quagsire use Scald!"

"Headbutt!" Alex ordered. As Marowak recklessly charged at its attacker, Lucario waited in the wings just as they had rehearsed. Meanwhile Quagsire opened its mouth and from the gaping hole came a rush of boiling hot water, aimed directly at Alex's Pokémon.

"Quick Attack now!" Bella cried at the perfect time for Lucario to swoop in and move Marowak out of harm's way.

"Now Aipom, Swift!" Lucy retorted. Lucy's purple monkey swung its tail, shooting shining yellow stars which connected with both of the opposing Pokémon, leaving Marowak a sitting duck to the Scald attack. Fortunately, it didn't get burned.

"Well that worked well." Alex said sarcastically. "Let's try a long range attack - Marowak use Bonemerang and follow it up with Bone Club!"

"Lucario, Aura Sphere and follow up with Force Palm!"

"Quagsire, Protect!" Alex saw what they were trying to do. With little to no practice in this format, the duo of girls were trying to make the battle two one on one battles to change the match to make it more favourable for them.

"Aipom catch the bone!" Lucy cried. Aipom cackled as it jumped, plucking Marowak's bone out of the air as if it were nothing.

"What?!" Alex said, stunned at what had just happened. "You can't do that!"

"Well we just did." Megan smirked as her own Pokémon got the upper hand over Lucario, blocking both attacks with Protect before using Scald for the second time, severely burning its foe.

"Well... give it back!"

"No."

"Marowak, get it!" This was the first time since his arrival at New Moon Academy that Alex was well and truly flustered. Now Aipom was running around, simply teasing Marowak by holding its prized weapon just out of its reach. If this carried on, he was going to lose this match.

"Lucario, help out!" Bella urged. Even whilst badly burned, Lucario could still battle and summoned a blue ball of light in the palm of its hand. Before it could fire the Aura Sphere attack, Megan intervened.

"Body Slam!" Quagsire lurched its body forwards, flattening Lucario as it sent its attack off but the contact had knocked it well off course. All four trainers stopped as the ball flew past all of them, colliding with something behind the Azelf dorm, out of sight. Whatever it was, it gave a sharp yelp when it was struck.

"Timeout." Alex said, returning his Pokémon. "I think that was a person you hit."

"Oh Arceus." Bella gasped as the others also returned they Pokémon. Secretly, Alex was happy to have cut the battle short. He and Bella were getting thrashed!

"Hey there, are you ok?" Alex said as the person came into view. He was dressed all in black, including a hood which made it difficult to see his face and he was hobbling around, shaking his foot.

"I'll be fine. It only caught my toe." His voice was deep and he had a very strange accent. Alex couldn't put a finger on where he was from.

"I don't think I've ever seen you before." Alex pointed out. "Are you from town?"

"No, I arrived recently." He replied.

"Huh." Alex mumbled. That was very strange. "So you're clearly not a student or a teacher and you're not from town. What are you doing on this remote island?"

"That's none of your business." He said, finally standing up straight. He was trying to look intimidating.

"And what were you doing snooping around back here?"

"If this is going to be a question game, then it'll be a two way street. You don't happen to know of any secrets that this island may hold?"

"Secrets?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "I think I get it. You're a treasure hunter. Or some kind of rare Pokémon collector. But whatever it is, it doesn't sound legal."

"And what if it isn't?" The man snarled. Just as Alex had suspected, this guy appeared to have a nasty side.

"Then we need to report you and turn you in to the police."

"I cannot let you do that." If it wasn't for Alex's quick reactions, the four teenagers could've been seriously hurt by the man's next move. He threw a Pokéball at them, revealing a Houndour which immediately breathed fire at its enemies. Fortunately, Alex managed to send out Litwick in time whose Flash Fire ability completely absorbed the attack, saving his friends from some serious harm.

"Hey, watch it!" Alex cried as the Houndour snapped its jaws viciously at him.

"Bite!" The man ordered. Houndour obeyed without question, barking angrily is it aimed its razor sharp teeth for Bella's fingertips

"Confuse Ray, quick!" Alex urged as his little candle responded, its eyes glowing yellow, leaving its opponent confused and dizzy which luckily meant that its jaws missed their mark.

"Smog!"

"Get clear!" Alex yelled as Houndour breathed a vile purple gas that was highly toxic in all directions. Bella, Megan and Lucy ran back to avoid inhaling the gas but Alex needed to stand his ground and fight.

"Snap out of this stupid confusion!" The man shrieked. Clearly, he didn't know how to treat a Pokémon.

"Use Hex!" Alex coughed through the smoke. Litwick was on the offensive in a flash, sending a ghostly gas towards Houndour which surrounded it before violently crushing down on the helpless Pokémon, pummelling it into the ground. "Throw it!" Litwick controlled the gas well, using it to pick up and Houndour and hurl it at the man.

"Urgh..." He groaned as his reactions proved to be slow when Houndour collided with his stomach. With Houndour now knocked out, the smog had cleared and Alex could breathe properly again.

"Alright, we're going to turn you in to the police." Alex said, returning the man's Houndour to its ball and pulling the man to his feet. "So you might as well confess now. Who are you and why are you here?"

"It doesn't matter that you've got me." He said through gritted teeth. "They are plenty more of us. They'll get the job done. You can't defeat the Darkness Warriors!"

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