Chapter 11: "The Bracelets"

Rose opened her bedroom door walks inside her bedroom. She has some new items she got a couple of days ago. She has a big picture of a Latios and Latias on the wall to her left. She has a laptop on top of a desk with a chair under it at her left. Her big, blue diamond is sitting upside-down on her sleeping mat.

The Riolu walks to her desk. She moves her chair out of the way and reaches under her desk to grab a small, white box with vertical red stripes and a red ribbon on top. She then placed her chair back and walked out of the room.

When Rose walks back in the hall, she sees the Pikachu and Chimchar standing their, staring at the gift box in her paws.

The electric-type was the first to ask, "Soooooooo, what is it."

"Is it a batch of cookies? If so, can I have some?" asked a mouth watered Mike as he greedily tries to grab the lid, only to hve his monkey hands smacked by a single paw, really hard. "OW!" he grimaced in pain.

"Nobody but Lee opens this box first," Rose informed.

"But what's inside it?" asked Sam.

"You'll find out when he opens it."

Neither of them noticed that there is another small, black camera hanging on top of the wall at the end of the hallway. Darkrai floats in his dark camera room, looking at the screen with the three Team Arc members.

He snickered, "Well... isn't that sweet."

He brings his right hand out in front of him and forms a purple orb above it. The orb shows a familiar, shiny Mienshao's face. Darkrai speaks, "Moh Wan, is the team on their way, yet?"

"Yes, sir," the shiny fighting-type. "They should be there in about five minutes."

"Good," he replied. Darkrai then thought of something that kept on his mind. "Hey, by the way, do you know your name sounds kind of like 'Moron'?"

"What?!" In response, Moh Wan's face turns red in annoyance and started yelling. "Oh, come on! Don't tell me that you're making fun of my name, too! Heck, even my own grandson and students made fun of me! It's 'Moh Wan', not 'Moron'! And also-"

"Alright! I get it!" the Pitch Black Pokémon said. "I'll call you again later."

"Moron" cooled off before clearing his throat and laughs nervously, "Sorry. Rough day. See you later." The purple orb vanished.

"Sheesh, was his rough day include being called 'Moron' all day?" he said to himself.

Everyone else hangs out in Wushao's bedroom. Wushao and Lee stands behind the open window at the end of the room. They tell them about a new security system they installed a week ago.

Wushao was the first to speak, "So, ever since a gang of burglars invaded our home, Lee and I thought about buying a state-of-the-art security system to make sure no trespassers will ever break in again. After we got one from the store, and installed it. Then we gave the code to everyone we trust deeply."

"Intriguing," said Heat, sitting on the edge of the large bed with Cream, Flame, and Ruckus. Blast, TJ, and Snowy sits on the floor behind it. Flame is nudging his head against the annoyed cream-colored Eevee with hearts for eyes while the old Herdier is sleeping and snoring. Lee notices that. Before he could clear his throat loudly, they all heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," said Wushao.

The Riolu, Chimchar, and Pikachu came into the room.

"Hey, guys. Sorry for taking a while," Rose apologized.

"No need for apologies, young Rose," said Wushao. "I can see the 'excuse' in your hands." He pointed to the ribbon-wrapped present in her paws.

"Uh, yeah," she glanced at the present before walking over to Lee. She holds up the gift to his face, "Here, Lee."

"Is that for me?" asked the Mienfoo.

"Well, technically, it's for all five of us." A sweat drop glides down her face, "I guess I should've told Sam and Mike that."

"I knew there'd be cookies in there..." Mike whispered to the Pikachu beside him. Sam gave him a weird look.

Lee takes the present and shakes it a little to hear what's inside. He asked, "What is it?"

"Open it," Rose suggested.

As he lifts up the lid and threw it at a random place, Lee looks inside to see five objects nearly wrapped in blue tissue paper. He reaches into the box, causing a sound of the paper rustling.

As he reaches out, he holds five bead friendship bracelets, one of them gold-colored and the others are indigo, red, pink, and green. Each bracelet also has their names engraved on the beads.

"Wow," he said, "these look really cool!"

"They're special friendship bracelets, the Riolu explains. "When you wear one of these, you'll never ever feel alone... Also, they glow in the dark."

"Nice. Where'd you get these?"

"Why does it matter? Here, guys, put 'em on."

Mike, Sam, and TJ gathered around excitedly to get a bracelet. After receiving one, they all immediately put them on. Their eyes sparkled at the sight of the bracelets. Rose has the dark blue one, Mike gets the green one, Sam's is the pink one, TJ's is red, and Lee gets the shimmering golden one.

"Wow, these are awesome. Thanks, Rose," Lee said.

"Anything for a friend," she responded.

"Well, Rose," Wushao spoke, "you certainly know how to help a friend out."

Everyone else in the room watches the bands around their wrists in amazement (except Flame and Ruckus), especially Lee's.

Mike stares at his green bracelet with flames and compares it with Lee's gold one. Even though he's actually a green-lover, he likes Lee's a lot better. "Uh, Lee? Pal?"

"Yeah?" he answered without taking his eyes off bracelet.

"I know I like green, but ya mind if we trade?"

The fighting-type snapped out of occupation and faced the fire-type. "What?! NO!" he yelled.

"Oh, c'mon! Please?" Mike begs.

"No!"

"Can I at least wear it for a minute?"

"I said 'no'!"

Not wanting to give up, the Chimchar runs to his leader and snatches Lee's bracelet from his wrist.

"Hey! Give that back!" Lee tries to snatch his bracelet back by pulling it out of Mike's hands, but the fire-type yanks it back towards him.

After three seconds of yanking and screaming "MINE!" like three-year-olds, Lee kicks Mike in the groin and yanks his bracelet out of his hands. But the material slipped out from his own paws and flew out the window behind him. The gold bead bracelet landed softly on the darkened grass outside.

Lee peered down from the window and sees the gold beads sparking from the full moon hanging closley from the night sky. He groaned and said, "I'll be back."

The others watch the young Martial Arts Pokémon turn around and flee to the door. He hurriedly ran out as soon as he opens the door without closing it back.

"Well, Michael, what do you have to say to yourself?" asked Wushao before staring down at the young Chimchar, who is curling into a ball on the floor, covering his groin with his hands.

"Owww," he responded in pain.

Lee ran through the yard around the temple. He finally made it to where his bracelet fell. The beady band shimmers with the moonlight. He picks the object gleefully and puts it back on.

"Found your bracelet, Lee?"

Lee looks up at the window with Wushao's head hanging out.

"I sure did, Grandpa!" he responded as he raised one of his wrists up to show the gold bracelet wrapped around it.

"Good. You remembered the code to get in, right?"

"Yes," Lee nodded.

Mike's head randomly pops out of the window, "Ya know, Lee, if you don't want any hard feelings, you could trade bracelets with me. How 'bout it?"

Lee sighed in annoyance, "Grandpa, if you'd please..."

"Certainly," Wushao pulls the fire-type's head back and shuts the window onto his hands, not too hard, though.

"Youch!" Mike cried in pain. He brought his hands to his face. They quickly swelled up and turned bright red like an apple. He glares daggers at his former master.

"What?" he responds innocently. "At least you'll be able to grab more berries with hands that big on your journey."

Laughter was heard behind the two. Lee and Wushao started to laugh along. Mike's face turned red. Wushao then closes the window.

After laughing happily, Lee slowly starts to think sadly.

Despite that he's excited to save the world, Lee is still not sure about the journey. Not only he's going to be the leader of the next Team Arc, but he's also worried about Team Dark's leader, Juto, his cousin. They had fought a lot in the past, but now they have to battle for the sake of the world? And to think they'd actually be able to get along just this once.

Not only that, but his grandfather and Uncle "Moron"- um, Moh Wan- have also been bickering in the past. Why can't Lee have more loving relatives? And why is it that his grandfather is the only caring and mature one he has left? Lee frowned at those thoughts. He doesn't know what to do in the future.

As soon as Lee walks his way back to the front door, he hears a familiar warping sound. He silently walks behind the near corner edge of the temple takes a peep. He sees the new members of Team Dark emerging from the same purple void back at the stadium: Chris the Medicham, Brenda the Sandshrew, Janet the Emolga, and Tony the Meowth.

"Oh, no. What are they doing here?" Just then, Lee spots a missing member. "Wait, where's Juto?"

As soon as Lee mentions his cousin's name, he felt a finger tapping on his shoulder. The Mienfoo then quickly turns around, and then the next thing he knows, he found a fist colliding with his face.