Chapter 104 - Identical Twin Sisters Appeared!

"What! The rocket grunts and the wood gecko clan are nowhere to be found!?"

While waiting for the injured Latias and Treecko to be treated with their injuries, Micah told to his fellow travelling friends of what he found out at the Petalburg woods.

"Then there is one possibility of what happened then.." Said Rize to his friends with a serious looking face and his friends were just as serious as him as if they all have the same thought of what happened to the rocket grunts and the wood gecko clan. Rize and Micah have the same assumption of what happened except for Rin.

"Team Rocket's fellow members must have came and rescued the grunts that we have defeated and they also defeated the whole Grovyles and Treeckos of the wood gecko clan. That explains the heavily wounded Treecko that you found."

"But then why did the rest of the wood gecko clan were not in the area?" Asked Rin.

"They might have been captured by them." Rize answered to her question with a confident tone, after all he's the one that knew Team Rocket most than Micah and Rin. "Team Rocket's mission and vision was after all to create the most powerful Pokemon army to rule over the world in their hands."

The nurse came out of the treating room and told Rize and his friends that the Pokemon they asked to take care of has been completely healed and they just have to take a little time of sleep. Rize and his friends came into the resting room where Latias and Treecko were resting.

"Poor little Treecko, what will its life be from now that its whole clan are gone. It is an orphan now." Rin took a sympathy to the little green gecko Pokemon that was sleeping soundly probably due to the effect of the medicine.

"I couldn't believe that a mere teenage Trainer could have caught one of the legendary Eon Duo! It was hard enough to have found it, let alone capture it." The nurse of the Pokemon Centre that took care of Latias and Treecko asked to Rize and friends simply out of curiosity and amazement.

"Err.. no, that's not it. Latias is not my Pokemon. I didn't capture it."

"What kind of Pokemon is Latias actually?" Rin asked while in the same time tooking out of her Pokedex to see wether she could get any information of Latias.

"Latias the Eon Pokemon. It is a Dragon and Psychic type Pokemon. Its body is covered with a down that can reflect light in such a way that it becomes invisible."

"That's the only information it have?" Rin shut down her Pokedex and put it back unto a pocket in her bag unsatisfied. On the other hand, Micah who just heard that Latias is a Dragon type Pokemon took an immediate interest on Latias.

"Latias.. at last I found a Dragon type Pokemon from Hoenn, and a Legendary even!"

"So how did you found this Latias?" The nurse continued her question. Micah and Rin was also curious of Rizes' relation with Latias and so he told them the story of what happened four years back at Hoenn. The great incident of a clash between two of the greatest Legendary Pokemon in Hoenn, Kyogre and Groudon.

"So that's how it goes.."

"Whaw.. so you're involved in that incident! I never knew I gotta befriended an awesome friend like you Rize!" Micah was amazed by Rize's story and he really wanted to go to the Sky Pillar hoping that he would meet with Rayquaza, Hoenn's strongest Dragon and Legendary Pokemon.

==========

Meanwhile, inside of a black helicopter that was flying high on the sky of Petalburg city a conversation takes place.

"Darn! How could we got defeated by mere teens and lost track of Latias!" One of the grunts grumbled and complained.

"We better report this situation to Sir Canis Majoris."

The rocket grunts made a call from their helicopter to their leader and after a few moments of waiting, the call finally connected and they told him the report of their failed mission.

"Forget Latias for now and head to the Desert Ruins! After all, if we succeeded on getting what we want at the Desert Ruins, Latias, no every Legendary Pokemon in this whole world will be ours! And that means our vision of dominating the world will be accomplished! Now go!"

"Roger!"

And the line of the call disconnected and the helicopter made a radical turn of their routes and head on to their new destination, the Desert Ruins.

==========

Treecko slowly regained its consciousness and opened its eyes wide and found that it was in an unknown area. It immediately got up from the bed probably out of fear and started to look around to find out where it was really at.

"Treecko! You're awake." Rize greeted the little gecko Pokemon that was just awaken from its sleep and somehow Treecko was relieved and started to calmed down after greeted by Rize. It got down by jumping from the bed and came to Rize shooking on his legs panicly as if trying to tell him something but Rize and his friends have no idea of what it was saying as they don't understand Pokemon's speech.

Due to Treecko's loud noise, Latias too awaken from her sleep and was glad to see Rize and the others in the room. Treecko was very glad as well and it immediately talked with Latias to tell her the things that Rize and the others could not understand.

After finished talking with Latias, Latias then started to send signals with her psychic power to Rizes' Pokedex to communicate with him.

"TREECKO SAID THAT A BLACK FLYING OBJECT LIKE CAME AND RESCUED THE VILLAINS AND DEFEATED THE WHOLE GECKO CLAN AND THEY ARE ALL WAS CAPTURED BY THEM EXCEPT FOR HIM. HE WAS ABLE TO ESCAPE BECAUSE ONE OF THE GROVYLE PROTECTED HIM AND TOLD HIM TO RUN AND FIND YOU FOR HELP. NOW THAT HE HAVE FOUND YOU HE WANTED TO GET STRONGER IN ORDER TO RESCUE HIS FELLOW CLANS AND FAMILIES SO HE WANTED TO BE TRAINED BY A POKEMON TRAINER AND THAT IS YOU, RIZE."

"So that's the case huh Treecko?" Rize understood the case well and he took out a Pokeball from his pocket and enlarged it. "Alright then, come with me Treecko:" He said that while tapping Treecko with his Pokeball and the Pokeball automatically opened itself due to its middle button was pressed and made contact with a Pokemon and it absorbed Treecko and since Treecko made no resistance at all and the capture was immediately sealed and successful.

"I'll train you to get stronger and I promise that we'll save your clan!"

And so Rize and the others decided to leave the Pokemon Centre and continue their journey to the Desert Ruins. They thanked the nurse and told the nurse to keep this matter a secret. Latias too decided to go along with Rize but she did not want to get inside a Pokeball and so she hid her presence by becoming invisible by putting a down on her body to reflect light just like what the Pokedex said.

Due to the sun was setting soon, they decided to stay in the city and do some training at an open public battle field of the city for the rest of the day before continuing the journey early in the morning tomorrow. Micah reminded Rize of his personal work out training in order to improve his own physical body and ability but amazingly now he did not complain at all of doing it.

Finished of his own training, he sent out his two party Pokemon that he got with him which were Aron and Treecko. He scanned Treecko with his Pokedex to see the stats. moves and power level of his new acquired Treecko.

"This Treecko is strong, even stronger than Aron in stats. It just have to learn more powerful moves." Rize said it insensitively out loud in front of his Pokemon and he did not know that Aron became very upset from hearing it. First it was already upset enough by itself due to always losing its battle lately and now that it hears its own Trainer saying this just made it even more depressed.

Rize trained his Pokemon according to his usual training menu daily while his friends were doing their own stuffs. Rin was playing with her two Pokemon to deepen their bond and friendship while Micah was sitting peacefully leaning towards the wall reading a book that he brought. Latias was nowhere to be seen as she hide her presence.

Rize soon noticed that his Aron was not like its usual self during the training and he came to it and bended his knees to lower himself to be on almost the same height to Aron to ask what's wrong. Aron did not answer and bowed his head down with its eyes closed. Rize would not be able to understand its speech even if it try to communicate its problem.

"Maybe it's just exhausted." His female friend came up with that assumption as she saw what was going on at Rize's area.

"But I don't think that's the issue here.."

Suddenly, two identical looking girl came into the battlefield where Rize was training. They both have the same long hair length and colour with identical clothing as well and their height was also the same. Their height was much shorter even compared to Rin which indicates that their age might be around 11 to 12. As soon as they saw that there are people in the battlefield they got excited and asked a question to them. "Which of you here is a Pokemon Trainer?"

"I am.." answered Rize slowly with a blank look. "Ehm.. are you girls twins?"

"Oh yes we are! And we are going to be the best double battler in the city! Come and have a battle with us!" They eagerly and boldly challenged Rize to a double battle despite of Rize's age to be much older than them. Rize thought that it was a very good opportunity for training both his party Pokemon and gladly accept the challenge.

They each get to their respective position for the battle and as Aron and Treecko were already out of their Pokeballs, they stand front to Rize and next to each other preparing for the opponent to appear.

"Let's go sister!" The elder one said to her younger twin and the latter responded with a zealous "yes!"

"We forgot to introduce ourselves. I'm Vicky the elder and she's Vidie the younger."

"Okay.. but how am I able to discern which of you are Vicky or Vidie?"

"Oh you'll be able to along with time." Said one of the twins, not sure which one was talking tough and they each sent out their respective Pokemon from inside their Pokeballs and a little similar looking Pokemon appeared. It was almost like the twin and it is identical in shapes and looks but only that it was able to be discerned by their colours. One have red and the other is blue on their ears, cheeks, pawns and tail but their body is mostly yellow in colour.
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"What a cute and charming Pokemon they have! Even their Pokemon are twins!" Just like any normal girls who are attracted to cute and adorable Pokemon, Rin too was instantly attracted by them and she took her Pokedex to scan and get on information and as she did so, Micah get on to her side to see and hear what the dexter have to say about those Pokemon foreign to him.

"Plusle the Cheering Pokemon. It is an Electric type. It cheers on friends with pom-poms made of sparks. It drains power from telephone poles."

"Minun the Cheering Pokemon. It is an Electric type. It cheers on friends. If its friends are losing, its body lets off more and more sparks."

She shut her Pokedex off and put it back. "Maybe I should get a pair myself."

"Okay, so it's Plusle and Minun combination huh? This should be easy. Besides they're just little girls." Rize thought to himself that it will be an easy match and this reminded him of his battle four years ago at the Hoenn Junior League competition where he got to battle a Plusle and Minun too in double battle back then and now he have grown up and become much stronger too.

"Well you twins can have the first call." Rize confidently gave the honour of starting the first move of the battle to the two little twins. The two girls did not hesitate to take this opportunity and called for their moves.

"Plusle use Helping Hand!"

Pom-poms made of sparks appeared on both of Plusle's hands and it clapped its hand making a beautiful sparkling sparks of electricity as the hands clapped and it greatly boosted its partner's attack power.

"Now Minun, you use Thunder Bolt on Treecko!"

Blast of a strong electric current was was loosed at Treecko but Treecko calmly with its eyes even closed jumped and avoided the electric blast. Its speed was already fast in the first place and in addition, Minun's Thunder Bolt attack was just quite slow itself too.

Rize was still going easy on them and did not call for any attack, instead he asked them to try harder to get a hit on his fast Treecko. "Come on, you gotta try harder than that to beat me."

"Well in that case, use Thunder Bolt on Aron!"

The blast of electric current was now aimed towards Aron but Aron did not move to avoid it. It looks like it was surprised of the attack and was not ready to react let alone dodging it.

"Aron what are you doing?! Quick dodge it!" Rize shouted his command, afraid that his little Aron would get shocked by the attack.

Treecko knew that he would not be able to push Aron aside due to its heavy body for it so it initiatively get in to the front of Aron taking the charge of the attack in replace of Aron. As a result of the attack, Treecko became paralysed and lost its agile movement. It can barely stand up on its own how in the world are it going to run around dodging attacks. Seeing his new friend took the attack for him, Aron did not feel grateful at all but instead it felt that it have been underestimated and it thought that Treecko looked to it as a weakling and it even got more upset of itself.

"Aron! Treecko is paralysed and it can't move as freely as it could. Use Rock Slide to finish the battle now!"

However, Aron did not respond to the command and stay still on its spot. Rize and his friends were surprised and confused. "What happened to Aron?"

"In that case, Treecko you use Bullet Seed on Minun!"

Treecko immediately responded and shoots seeds as if those were bullets shot by a machine gun towards the little Minun but its partner Plusle got in front of it and used Protect to cover both of them from the attack.

"Don't underestimate us just because we're younger than you." Said both of the twins together.

"This is bad. If this is the case I might lose to this little girls.. that's a humiliation!"

"Come on Rize! You can do it!" Rin cheered for him from beside the battlefield line. Micah commented that this battle have become a two on one since Aron was not willing to participate in the battle and it would be hard for Treecko alone given that it was already paralysed and Rize and Treecko were still new to each other.

"Our turn again! Double Swift attack!"

Both Plusle and Minun shoots rapids of star-shaped bullet and both Aron and Treecko were hit by it. It was not so much for Aron due to its Steel and Rock type but it was quite a damage to reckon with for Treecko.

"I'm not going to lose to little girls. Treecko use Quick Attack on Minun, quick!" With fiery spirit, Rize commanded its Treecko to summon all its might and strength to use its Quick Attack. It was very hard to do so in a paralysed state but remembering its aim to become stronger and save its clan members, it unleashed everything it have unto the attack and successfully made contact and Minun was immediately knocked out.

"Impossible!" Both the girls could not believe that Minun was defeated by just one attack.

"Don't lose the momentum and use Pound on Plusle now!"

Plusle was still in shock by seeing its partner defeated with one blow and it couldn't react to Treecko's close range Pound attack and was knocked out as well.

"You're awesome Treecko! You defeated them both on your own even in a paralysed state!" Rize praised his new obtained Pokemon for its ability but little do he know that it just made his other Pokemon's psychological condition even worse.

The two girls returned their fainted Pokemon into their balls. "Phew.. It was tough to battle with a senior trainer after all."

"You girls are not bad.. have you gotten the Gym badge of this city yet?"

"Of course we have. Tadaa..!" Both showed their Junior Stone Badge that they got by defeating the Rustboro Gym.

"So did you girls are on your journey as well?" Rin came walking closer and asked the two little girl her question. "Ah by the way I haven't introduce myself. I'm Rin from Littleroot Town." Followed by that Micah then also introduced himself. "I'm Micah. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too brothers and sister. We're the twin sister Vicky and Vidie. We lived in this city and we are not on our journey because our parents did not allow us to, especially our dad.."

"He must be worried about you." Said Rin somehow as if she understand those feelings. "Well you will have your turn when you have grown up more~"

"Yes and we're patiently waiting for that day to come! Anyway it's almost seven and the sky is getting dark, we have to get home or else dad will scold us and we won't be able to play outside anymore. Byee~" They left hurriedly as they spoke and not for long they are already out of sight.

"Rize, I think you better solve Aron's problem. I've been observing it for a while and there sure was something wrong with it." Micah said to Rize and they turned their heads to the little iron armor Pokemon who is standing alone at the corner of the field, gloomy.

Chapter 103 - An old Rival in Rustboro City!

Rize was immediately cured from the poison inside of his body from consuming the Pecha berry that was served by one of the Treecko from the wood gecko clan. Afterall, the Petalburg wood is their territory and habitat  so they knew best of its features.

"Thanks.. I feel much better.." Rize thanked his friends and the little wild Treecko for the Pecha berry.

"You still need to rest before we can continue our journey tough." Suggested Rin but Rize objected her suggestion saying that they have to leave the wood immediately as he was concerned of Latias' health and safety. Team Rocket might be back soon with even more in number of their troops.

Micah agreed to Rize's suggestion and he added, "We need to get the police to arrest the unconscious Rocket grunts we defeated as soon as possible too before they regained their senses and escape."

So the three of them immediately left the Petalburg wood and departed from the wood gecko clan Pokemon. One of the Grovyle that seems to be the leader led them the way to the exit of the wood that lead to the entrance of the route that leads to Rustboro city.

Since Latias was still unconscious and it would certainly caught the public's attention to see a Latias being carried by mere humans, Rize decided to keep Latias inside of his Pokeball so that he can bring Latias to the Pokemon Centre at Rustboro city to be healed up.

Upon seeing Latias being kept inside the small ball and left with Rize and his friends, one of the little Treecko that has always been serving and keeping an eye for Latias looks pretty sad and unhappy by their leaving.

Rize forced himself to walk as fast as he could since he still could not run yet due to his weakened body. Micah then started to open a conversation to him.

"So Rize, how did you get to know this Legendary Dragon type Pokemon Latias?"

Rize smiled as Micah's question brings his thought to remembrance of the incidents that happened four years ago that made him to meet with Latias and he answered, "It's a very long story.. anyway how did you manage to defeat the three other Rocket grunts in such a short time?"

"Keh, those Rocket rats are nothing, they're not so tough." Micah answered as if boasting of his skills.

"My Pokemon and I helped too, not to forget the wild Grovyles and Treeckos." Rin added as if to tell Rize that it was not only Micah who defeated the Rocket grunts and Rize was very surprised to hear that.

"What?! You helped too, Rin?"

"And what was that suppose to mean?" Rin was annoyed by Rize's question and reaction.

As they were talking along the way, they had come to the end of the Petalburg area and found the exit.

"Thanks Grovyle! We'll be back as soon as possible and in the mean time please keep an eye of the Rocket grunts that we left in the wood, okay!"

The Grovyle nodded and went head back into the deep green woods while the three young Trainers continue to their destination to Rustboro city and straight away went into the city's Pokemon Centre.

Micah decided to went ahead to the police station to lead the polices to arrest the rest of the Rocket grunts that they've defeated while Rize and Rin wen to the Pokemon Centre to get Latias and their own Pokemon to be treated.

The Pokemon Centre nurse gathered Rize's and Rin's Pokeballs and did a scanned check up to see the conditions of each Pokemon before they can proceed to give a treatment. To her surprise, there is one Pokemon that was in a very bad condition and need a special treatment right away and she was even more surprised when she found out that the Pokemon inside the Pokeball was a Legendary Pokemon.

"How could a young Trainer could have Latias in his possession?" The nurse wondered and curious to find out and asked the young Trainer that was seating at the waiting bench but prefer to keep quiet and not to be such a busybody. After all the recovery of this Legendary Pokemon is far more important than her curiosity.

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Meanwhile, Micah have told the case to the polices and were heading to the Petalburg wood with three police officers but when they have arrived, the Rocket grunts were nowhere to be found and there were only ropes that have been cut lying on the grass field. Not even any of the wood gecko Pokemon were to be found.

"This is weird. Where did all the Grovyles and Treeckos go? They couldn't have went somewhere and forgot to guard the grunts." Micah thought to himself on his head then his face started to change as he thought of something terrible that could have happened to the wood gecko clan.

======

At the Rustboro Pokemon Centre, the main entrance automatic door opened and young familiar Trainer stepped and headed to the reception counter probably to get his Pokemon healed up. The trainer have a black smooth straight hair with a black coat and black boots and walked pass by Rize's sitting bench.

It was natural for human to react and respond into something that moved and therefore when the automatic door opened and people came in, it always catches people's attention and so Rize saw the young fellow who just came in and walked pass by him.

"Schumi!"

Rize stood up and said out a loud the young fellow's name on reflect while Rin was totally clueless as she did not know who Schumi is.

Upon hearing his name pronounced, he turned his head towards where the sound came from.

"It's you." Just a plain reaction.

Rize was excited to see non other than his number one and oldest rival ever since his debut of becoming a Pokemon Trainer and setting off for a journey began. He was curious of how have this rival of his been doing and his progress so far.

"Ah! I remember now!" Rin stood up as well as she have just came out from her clueless mode.

"You're the one who Rize lost against in the Johto League Junior tournament a year ago."

"Who is this girl?" Asked Schumi but it looks like he was not really asking and was just asking to himself and he continue to walk to the reception counter.

"Hey wait Schumi, it's been a long time since we met. Why don't we sit for a while and have a chat."

"He really got a nice manner." said Rin to her friend.

"Bear with him, he's just that kind of person." replied Rize to his friend.

After handing his Pokemon to the nurse, Schumi turned back and surprisingly came to sit together with Rize and Rin.

"It sure has been a long time since we last met. I have just defeated the Rustboro Gym and got the badge. Now while waiting for my other Pokemon to get healed, why don't we have a small battle."

Schumi suggested for a battle with Rize but actually he was just curious and wanted to test and see how far have Rize improved and compare to him now.

Of course there was no reason for Rize not to agree for the battle but unfortunately he could not. His Aron was still being treated and he have no other Pokemon with him aside from Aron now.

"What's wrong? Don't tell me you're afraid..?" Schumi tried to provoke Rize to accept his battle suggestion and Rize was just silent until Rin was the one who told Schumi that his Pokemon was being treated at the time being so he could not battle.

"Well we can always wait for your Pokemon. After all, I have nothing to do here while waiting for my Pokemon."

Not long after that, the nurse called for Rize and Rin as their Pokemon have been completely healed and recovered but not for Latias yet as her wounds and damaged were far greater.

"Alright, let's have our battle outside."

The three of them got outside unto the battle field facility that was provided by the Pokemon Centre for Trainers to have a practice battle and fortunately there was no one who booked the field.

Rize sent out his only Pokemon on his party, Aron, and Schumi was surprised yet confused as well to see Rize's Pokemon was still the same after a long time.

"Are you kidding me or underestimating me?"

"No, I'm serious." Answered Rize, "Come on."

Schumi returned the Pokeball he was holding and switched with other one from his belt. It looks like that he have a change of mind after seeing Rize using his little Aron.

"Not a bad time to test this one's potential and ability." He said to himself while throwing the semi red and white ball into the battlefield and small little that Rize have never ever encounter or see before appeared on the battlefield.


"What Pokemon is that?!" Both Rize and Rin have no idea of the new Pokemon that was in front of them and they each took their Pokedex to gain some light of information on this new Pokemon but both  their Pokedexes displayed the same result which was 'no data'.

Schumi smiled to himself upon seeing that Rize have no idea of his new Pokemon and what was even funnier was that even his Pokedex have no information about it too.

"Let me shed some light to you. This Pokemon is called Riolu. It just recently hatched from the egg that I obtained from my journey last year at the Sinnoh region."

"You got some guts to be using a newborn Pokemon against me." Remarked Rize after feeling to be taken lightly by his old rival.

"We'll see about that." Schumi grinned. "Come and attack!"

"This might be a good chance for a payback and to teach him a lesson." That's what Rize have thought in his mind. "Aron use Rock Slide!"

Rocks started to slide down from above towards the little Riolu but Schumi commanded to dodge the rocks and it did managed to dodge all the rocks completely unharmed with its agile movement.

"Force Palm."

Riolu dashed towards Aron and attacked with its flat tiny palm and Aron was pushed back from the power of the attack. Both Rize and Aron was surprised by the speed Riolu have shown them.

"Its fighting instinct and movement is remarkable, Riolu is a fighting type after all. It might be just a new born Pokemon but it have talent and great potential." Schumi bragged about his new Pokemon.

"It sure is fast and have good reflects but it will be no use against a sneak attack!"

That's what Rize thought in his mind so he commanded his Aron to go underground with Dig for a sneak attack from below the ground. Strangely, his rival don't look worried about it but instead was smiling.

Riolu closed its eyes as if to sense when and where Aron would appear for the sneak attack but what can it feel? The ground cracked open and Aron emerged to attack its opponent but it was somehow avoided as if its opponent knew exactly when Aron would attack.

"It failed?!"
"Force Palm!"

Once again Aron took the force from the tiny yet strong and firm palm of Riolu and its small but heavy body was pushed back even further than the previous attack.

"Just to let you know, Riolu can sense auras emitted from a living being so a sneak attack is useless against Riolu. Now to finish it, use Vacuum Wave!"

Riolu began to whirl its fists and send out a wave of pure vacuum towards Rize's little Aron. Rize commanded his Aron to dodge the attack but Aron was not able to move at all.

"It looks like your Aron was paralyzed by our Force Palm." Schumi explained the condition of Aron's status even tough Rize did not ask for it and the wave of pure vacuum hit through Aron cleanly and knocked out Aron instantly as it was extremely effective.

"Guess I won again."

 Rize was so much pissed by Schumi's arrogant claim of victory and he returned his fainted Pokemon into its ball. Schumi left him to collect his Pokemon that was being treated at the Pokemon Centre without saying a word at all.

"Rize!"

A shout was indicated to Rize from the direction outside of the Pokemon Centre's battle field ground and as Rize turned his head towards the direction of the shouter, he saw Micah was running in a hurry towards him and looked panic as well carrying a heavily injured little Treecko that have bruises all over its body.

"Micah! What happened?!" Asked Rize in respond of seeing the situation. Rin also ran towards Rize from her sitting spot while watching the battle between Rize and Schumi.

"This little one need to be treated immediately! I'll explain the story later."