Taking Over the Shadows

Chapter 3

Author's Note: Wow. Okay. So I had this planned out for a while now, I just hadn't gotten around to actually writing it. But now I am!

Key:

Thoughts

Dead language

Memories

xXxXx- line break or time skip.

XxXxX- point of view switch

Onwards we go!

xXxXx

"Hello kids. How are you?" Professor Elm looked up from his research as the six kids entered the building.

Ethan came bouncing over to one of the chairs. "We're good. We found this really cool shop that is opening up in Johto. We got a sneak peek!"

"That sounds like fun." Professor Oak wandered into the room from the little kitchenette. "Hey Ash, Gary."

"Gramps! What are you doing here?" Gary asked in surprise. Ash nodded his head in greeting.

The other kids called out greetings as they settled into chairs.

Professor Oak smiled at his grandson. "I just came by to compare some notes. Now all of you seem to have something on your minds. Spill."

Ethan opened his mouth but a knock on the door stopped him from talking. The store keeper they had met stood a little uncertainly in the doorway.

Ash stood and went to greet her. "Donmi right? Is something wrong?"

Gary and Silver exchanged a quick look. Ash remembered her name?

The woman smiled. "You remembered my name! I'm flattered. Nothing's wrong I was just wondering if I could ask Professor Elm some questions."

"Questions about what?" Gary's harsh voice cut through.

Donmi looked over at him, smile still friendly, and met his suspicious glare. "About Eggs. One of my friends recently got one from his Pokémon. It's his first Egg, so I was wondering if there was something special he should be doing."

Professor Elm's face lit up. "Well! I can certainly tell you what I know." He quickly led the smiling woman into one of his research rooms.

Leaf looked over at Gary. "What's your problem?"

He glared after Donmi. "I don't trust her. Something seems…dangerous about her."

"I agree. We should keep an eye on her." Silver spoke up from where he leaned against the wall.

"Well, I think she seems nice." Lyra piped up, Ethan and Leaf nodding in agreement.

Ash remained quiet, pulling his base ball cap lower over his eyes. He jumped in surprise when a Gengar's laugh sounded from behind him.

All of the kids grabbed for their Poke Balls, but before they could Donmi called out.

"Glyusp, don't play around. If we were at home or the shop, then it would be fine. But we're guests here." She walked into the room and stood with an eyebrow quirked at the Pokémon.

He floated over and pretended to hang from her shoulder. She smiled ruefully down at him before turning to the others in the room. "My apologies. Glyusp loves to prank people."

"It's fine." Ash spoke quietly, keeping his eyes carefully hidden.

Donmi looked over them all one more time before shrugging and turning to Professor Elm, who had followed her out of the room. "Thank you for the information. I'll make sure my friend gets it."

"Feel free to come by again if you want more information. It's a pleasure to talk to someone who understands Pokémon so well." The Professor replied.

"Oh! That reminds me." She turned to the kids and retrieved something form her bag. "I wanted to give these to you six. They're free passes to my bike park when it opens. You've done so much for these two regions, I figured this was the least I could do." She glanced at her Gengar when it insistently tugged on her arm. "I suppose I have to go now. I wouldn't want to let Glyusp get to bored. Good bye."

Swiftly she exited the building and disappeared from sight.

Everyone was left blinking at her sudden departure.

"Well." Ethan said, seeming a little dazed. "She's like a whirlwind, isn't she?"

Ash went to shut the door, a small smile of amusement on his face. Just before the door closed, he noticed someone standing on the edge of the town. Quickly, he yanked the door back open, growling as he grabbed a Poke Ball from his belt.

Then he froze in confusion.

At the edge of the town, a Rocket Grunt had released an Ekans. The Grunt handed the snake Pokémon what looked like three letters, then the Poke Ball it had been released from. The Grunt then glanced at Ash and pointed towards him before leaving. The Ekans watched the Grunt leave then slithered over to Ash, offering what it carried to him.

There were three letters, one addressed to the two professors, one to all of the six kids, and one to Ash alone.

The one to the Professors and the kids said basically the same thing:

Hello. I am the new leader of Team Rocket. There will be quite a few changes being made to the Team. I plan on making this Team feared again. We do not plan to go after the Legendary Pokémon at this point. That is part of what got the Team into all that trouble in the first place. By the time three months are up, we will once again be the top Team in both Johto and Kanto. So Professors/ Pokédex Kids, I thought it fair to warn you.

From your Friendly Enemy.

The one that was written to Ash was different:

Hello Red. I do hope that you will take care of this Ekans. It is a rather shy Pokémon. The Poke Ball it is holding is the one it was caught in. I had one of the Grunts catch it, so it will not be linked back to me. I will say this, I dislike it when Pokémon are mistreated. It leads to useless Pokémon. Another thing that Rocket has done wrong so far. I plan to change it. No ten year old rookie will be able to take us down. We will not hold back- well, at least not as much- against rookie trainers as was done for you and the others. Rocket was soft before. It will not be again.

From the new Leader of Team Rocket.

"Well, that was unexpected." Ash said as he put the letter away and bent down to examine the Pokémon that had been given to him by his enemy.

xXxXx

Donmi smiled as she watched, hidden from view in the trees, Ash gently examine the Ekans. She pulled her phone out and dialed a number.

"Klade? Time for you to go meet your kiddies. Step five is approaching fast."

"Got it."

The call ended quickly and Donmi vanished from the town.

XxXxX

Dawn, Lucas, and Barry were all chatting quietly while they ate lunch at one of their favorite cafes when a tall man suddenly came up, spun a chair around and sat down at their table.

An Eevee riding on his shoulder expertly managed to remain there. When the man started to greet them and suddenly fell asleep, the Eevee seemed to sigh before quickly biting his ear and waking him up. The man shook his head to clear it. "Sorry about that. I just stopped by here to inform the three of you of something important."

The Pokédex kids looked at the man suspiciously. Barry was the one that spoke up. "And what would that be?"

The man had a manic grin on his face. "My name's Klade. I'm the new leader of Team Solar, previously known as Team Galactic. Don't piss me off."

With that he stood up and left, leaving three speechless kids behind.

Klade stroked Aeon's head as he walked along and pulled out his phone. "Hey Dovan. I stirred up the hornets neat over here. Isn't it about time you do the same?"

XxXxX

"Yeah yeah. I sent the Grunt out with the letter earlier. Got to go." Dovan quickly hung up the phone and returned to watching his Egg. Then he swore and dialed a number. "Narcissa? You didn't happen to send your Grunt this morning did you?"

Swearing answered him on the other end.

xXxXx

"What do the two of you want?" Brendan 'Ruby' growled at the two Grunts that had just arrived at Professor Birch's Lab.

The two Grunts, one from each of the Hoenn's most infamous Teams continued glaring at each other for a moment before each of them held out two letters at the same time, causing them to quietly growl at each other. May 'Sapphire' rolled her eyes before taking the letters from each of them.

Each of the Grunts had a letter for the Professor. The Aqua Grunt had a letter addressed to Sapphire and the one from Team Magma had a letter addressed to Ruby.

Once the Grunts were sure that the letters had been delivered, they left. Though they did not get far before a battle erupted between them.

The professor's basically informed him that both Teams were under new management, and that he should expect to see the Teams around more often. Things like that.

The letters addressed to the kids had one line each.

May's: Meet me at the Lilycove Department Store. We need to talk.

Brendan's: Come to the Battle Frontier in Lilycove. I'll be there.

"What the heck?" Brendan flipped the letter over to check for any other writing, but it was blank. He glanced up at his friend.

May smiled, rather amused by it all. "It would seem that the new leaders want to meet us in person. Where do you have to go?"

"Lilycove."

"Hmm, me too." She looked over her shoulder at the Professor. "Well, Professor, I suppose we'll be going."

Professor Birch looked at them, worry clear in his eyes. "Be careful you two."

xXxXx

May entered the department store and spotted a couple of Team Aqua Grunts. Figuring they would know where their mysterious new leader was, she wandered over.

When one of the Grunts spotted her, they screeched, releasing a Mightyena that automatically began to charge towards her.

Before May was able to release one of her own Pokémon, the Mightyena was floating in the air, not moving at all.

"Thank you Mystic. If you would please continue holding it for a moment." A woman with startling eyes asked the Gardevoir that stood next to her. She turned to the Grunt. "What were you thinking?"

"That bitch came here to spy on us!" The Grunt yelled, glaring at May.

The woman's eyes flash as she slaps the Grunt on the back of the head. "I invited her here, you fool!" She turned to May and smiled. "Sorry about that Sapphire. He obviously wasn't listening when I told them we would be meeting you here." She walked by May and looped their arms together before heading to the elevator. "Now, since we're here, let's do some shopping. My name's Narcissa. I'm the new leader of Team Aqua. Don't worry; I didn't invite you here for a battle. Today is a day for introductions." She led May around the store, holding clothes up to get May's opinion or to see if they looked good on the girl.

The Grunts stayed a respectful distance away, amused with how their new leader had turned the girl into a confused, speechless mess.

XxXxX

Brendan growled and looked around the Battle Frontier one more time. As his eyes passed over the door for the fifth time, a Team Magma Grunt entered and made his way towards him.

"Um, apologies, the Leader…is otherwise occupied and unable to come meet you here. Perhaps ano- eep." The nervous Grunt squeaked when he noticed Brendan's fierce glare.

"Take me to him."

xXxXx

Brendan entered the room and spotted a man crouched over something in the center of the room.

"Hey-" Was all he got out before a Mightyena had him pinned to the wall, razor sharp teeth barely an inch from his throat.

"We're a bit busy right now. You should have rescheduled for another day." The voice that came from the man was so full of danger that Brendan paled. "But then, you like to be dangerous, don't you Ruby?" The man stood and turned around, his eyes focused on what was in his hands. "Might as well get the introductions out of the way. The Mightyena that's ready to eat your throat is Huchol. The Absol beside me is Nechol. This Egg is their child. My name is Dovan. I am the new leader of Team Magma. Now leave before Huchol gets irritated."

The Mightyena dropped and allowed Brendan to run out of the room. Dovan watched as the Poochyena finally broke through the Egg. "Welcome to the world Keese." He pulled out a phone and sent a quick message to Nicgoli. Your turn.

XxXxX

Nicgoli looked at the message and smirked. He approached the lab where both Professor Junipers lived and worked and knocked on the door.

The door was opened by Hilda 'White'. Nicgoli had a friendly smile on his face. "Hello, I have a letter for the two professors and the seven kids who brought down Team Plasma." He held out a letter and watched as the girl accepted it.

She quickly took the letter over to the group of kids and professors, forgetting to close the door. Nicgoli casually leaned against the doorframe and listened as the girl read the letter aloud.

"Hello. My name is Nicgoli. I am the new leader of Team Plasma. Changes will be made, and we will not allow ourselves to be beaten by children anymore. Now changes are coming to all of the regions. I am curious about what you will do." Hilda's expression became confused as she read the last line of the letter. "From the man at the door."

Everyone looked up at Nicgoli, whose expression had changed from friendly to cold and dangerous as he smirked at them. He gave them a little finger wave and turned to walk over to the Gothitelle that waited from him. He turned to look at them once more with a smirk before the Psychic Type teleported him out of there.

XxXxX

"Well that was fun." Nicgoli said as he entered the five way chat with the other new leaders. "It's on to step five tomorrow, correct?" He looked over at Donmi.

She smiled a cold smile that sent wonderful shivers down his back. "Correct. It's time to get rid of all those upstart teams that think they can take the place of ours. This is almost the last step of our grand plan. And it is the step that will take the longest."

"Only because it would be boring if we got rid of all the mini teams in one day." Klade commented as he ate a taco, working to keep it away from his Eevee.

Donmi looked over at Dovan. "You seem distracted. Did something happen?"

"My Egg hatched today. Everyone, meet Keese." He held up a Poochyena for all to see. Narcissa and Donmi cooed over the small pup.

"Perhaps you should see if you could come and visit me." Donmi said as she looked at the small Pokémon. "I want to meet Keese in person. So cute!"

Everyone laughed then continued to make plans to rid themselves of the nuisances of wannabes.

xXxXx

Author's Note: Well. Another chapter done. My arm hurts from typing. Let me know what you think and all that.

I am not a writer! I am a puppet controlled by fictional characters!