SKYRIDGE: Ted's Story - Redemption

[BlueNostalgia]

So, what's really awkward is that I actually haven't posted in so long that they deleted the old thread, which I can't really blame them for to be honset :S I really hope I'm not violating some kind of rule by reposting this, but whatever.

I guess this is just to prove I'm not dead or anything. I went through a bit of a rough patch there, between girlfriends and potentially fatal diseases in the family and exams and stuff, but my exams are drawing to a close and the first proper chapter of Redmption is coming sometime this weekend, after which I intend to update once a week like I did before.

I'm really really sorry that it's taken me this long. Also, as for the summary of Liberation; it turns out it's the most tedious thing to write ever '_' But I WILL get it done sometime before the second chapter is posted so that anyone who wants to read won't have too much to catch up on.

I suppose I have to repost the Prologue now.. :L

MAJOR EDIT:
So at long last, over ten months after the completion of Liberation, Skyridge is up and running just the way I want it to be. New chapters will be posted every Sunday, but most importantly, the summary for the Skyridge series in the Author's Atlas is finally completed! If you want to read Redemption but can't be bothered to go through (the rather lengthy) Liberation first (which is totally understandable; the first fifteen chapters or so are pretty rubbish anyway), then go to the link below!

SKYRIDGE: The Story so far

The thread linked to above is essentially just a wealth of information for readers of Skyridge. It contains chapter summaries, character summaries, and everything else you could need about everything that's happened in Skyridge so far, including this very fic. So if you have already read some of Redemption but you stopped reading for a while, or even if you want to just refresh your memory about something, you can go to that thread and it's all there for you. When I post new chapters, I will also post a Summary of the last week's chapter on the summary thread, so essentially, you can be completly up to date with the entire Skyridge story simply by reading the Author's Atlas thread above and the most recent chapter I posted.

Anyway, enjoy the fic, and don't forget to tell me what you think!



Contents
Prologue: The Day the Fuse Blew
Chapter One: Intruder
Chapter Two: Bright Spark
Chapter Three: Awakened Memories
Chapter Four: The Berserk Serum
Chapter Five: The Secret of the Temple
Chapter Six: Decisions


Skyridge
Ted's Story
Redemption

Prologue: The Day the Fuse Blew
It took him a minute to come to, and when he finally did he had no idea what had happened. He looked around, finding himself back on the surface; the forest floor. He turned to see that his Pokémon were mostly unharmed, although Electabuzz’z arm appeared to be broken, and Magnezone was unconscious. He returned them both, leaving just Manectric, who, much like himself had managed to get out of the collapsing base unscathed other than a few bruises and cuts here and there.

Just as he thought he had somehow survived he heard the sound, the deafening boom of a Hyper Beam attack, ten times larger and infinitely more powerful than usual. Alexander had gone ahead with the plan then.

Alexander; the man who had given him hell for nearly two years now. He looked around to see that the Grunts who had mocked him earlier had been crushed in the rubble during their feeble attempts to escape. He didn’t want to be that kind of person anymore, but he couldn’t help sneering to himself.

He looked up, gazing at the beast he had helped to create, its head just visible in the distance through the clearing above him, peeking out from the trees. It was already heading south towards the city. He remembered the plan. Alexander’s words rang in his head once again.

“Even if they somehow manage to defeat it, it won’t matter, I’ve personally trained it myself to use Explosion just before it's about to lose.”

“This isn’t what we signed up for… Is it boy?” He grumbled in his somewhat nasally voice, turning to Manectric, who replied with a simple growl, unable to take his eyes off the skyscraper-sized Tyranitar.

Looking back up himself, Christopher tore off his Rocket cap and allowed his long, black hair to fall back over his eyes; the Grunts weren’t around to mock him anymore.

He watched as a flurry of various powerful attacks hit Tyranitar from the south. He could go to them; he could still help, he could make up for all the wrong he’d done. He began to run in the direction of the battlefield but stopped again almost instantly.

He must have been unconscious for longer than he’d thought, because apparently Tyranitar was already damaged enough to give up. He watched as the monster gave one last mighty roar before it began to topple, and it could no longer be seen through the jungle; he was too late.

There was no point in trying to help them now. They’d know it was going to explode and they’d know there was nothing they could do but get away, wouldn’t they? He didn’t have time to think about it now; he needed to escape himself.

Christopher released his newest Pokémon; one he had gotten from the Unova region when his squad had gone training there a few weeks ago. He jumped onto the powerful Zebstrika as it began to gallop, doing his best to brace his ears for the mighty destruction that would come any minute now.

 

[Thundagere]

My face in the last two minutes:

(Writer's Workshop, hmm, no new chapters...WAIT A SECOND. COULD IT BE? IT IS!)
Glad to see Skyridge is back up!

 

[Flaze]

Well it's nice to have you back.

 

[Rob Anybody]

YAY! HE'S BACK!!! please don't do that to us again (puppy dog look). Seriously though it's great to see you back and raring to go.

 

[BlueNostalgia]

I'm ever so glad to see the response to my 'return' :L As promised, here's Chapter One. My appologies in advance; it's somewhat of a catch up chapter just to help any new readers get into the swing of things. I hope it's not too much of a disappointment. I hope to update once a week like before from here on, and I also hope for the chapters to be slightly longer than this one and the others from Liberation, but we'll see.

Now, you've all waited long enough, I think :L


Chapter One: Intruder
The summit of the mountain exploded with psychic energy as Ted was hurtled against a rugged boulder. Picking himself up as quickly as he could, he looked round only to watch the very same attack that had just hit him hurtling towards Ledge, who was already injured. “Ledge look out!” he screamed, but it was too late, and Ledge was send gliding along the ground, nearly falling off of the mountain. The monster walked towards his now unconscious body, blades raised and primed with energy.

“No no NO!” screamed Ted, pulling out his Pokéball and returning Link just seconds before he plunged his sword-like arms into Ledge’s chest. Another failed training session. He pulled out his Xtransceiver.

“Ugh… Penny?”

“Yeah Ted?” Penny sounded cheerful as always; her Ranger training had been going much better than his own attempts to control Link.

“It uh… It happened again…”

“Oh for goodness sake Ted!” She sounded like she was a strange combination of annoyed and humoured. “Right, I’ll go get someone to get you now.”

“Thanks.” he laughed awkwardly, hanging up. He looked around him. This marked the fourteenth mountain summit they’d practically obliterated trying to get Link to obey orders since what everyone was now referring to as ‘T-Day’.

The country had actually recovered reasonably quickly since a massive mutated Tyranitar had exploded, blowing a massive crater in the land where Fuchsia City and the entire Safari Zone used to be. The reconstruction of Cinnabar Island had become top priority for the government to give the people of Fuchsia new homes, but for now they were all staying in the Indigo Plateau. The fact that the annual League tournament had been cancelled this year had presented the opportunity to use the massive complex for other purposes, such as intense training in preparation for the upcoming war, and giving thousands of people temporary homes.

The day had been traumatising for everyone; Ted’s Aerodactyl, Fang, had died, which was the reason (along with Ledge’s current unconsciousness) they were now stranded on top of the mountain. One of Ted’s other Pokémon, Ralf the Venusaur, had also been causing problems since T-Day. Ralf had been refusing to participate in any form of training since, seeming to have succumbed to some kind of guilt ridden depression over Fang’s death.

Ted himself had suffered a serious wound, the stitches for which only came out about a week ago. All other injuries, however, were miraculously quite minor, with two exceptions. Morgan’s fall to the ground after receiving a chest full of shrapnel mid flight had required a grand total of one hundred and forty seven stitches scattered in various locations throughout his body. His ribs and limbs had healed up quickly though, and none of the scarring was too bad. Kurt had been prone to blackouts for a week or so afterwards as his blood started to bring itself back up to a normal amount, but he seemed to be fine now.

As for the Rockets, they had disappeared. Despite their very best efforts, no-one could find any evidence as to their whereabouts. The only clue they had was Xatu’s word that he had sensed a Rocket carrier ship leaving for Hoenn with what was assumed to be the captured Zapdos on board, but that had been over a month ago now and there was no evidence to suggest it had stayed in Hoenn for any length of time. Regardless, it was now the sixteenth of June; fifty two days since T-Day, and there had been no sign of Team Rocket whatsoever.

Ted heard wings flapping somewhere behind him. Turning round, he groaned. Of all the people Penny could have sent…

“You never got that disaster controlled yet?” barked Adam.

“No sir.” muttered Ted sarcastically. Since T-Day the members of Skyridge had been doing almost nothing but training, and Ted had gotten to know everyone a lot better, which was really nice, except for in Adam’s case.

“It should be put down, it’s no better than some Rocket scum experiment.” said Adam, obviously trying to elicit an angry response from Ted; Adam was still dead set that Ted was too young and not nearly good enough to be on the league at all.

“It’s not his fault; he can’t control what he’s doing.” Ted snapped in response. It was true too, Link’s facial expression when he went on one of his ‘sprees’ was always just as horrified as those present to see it.

“Well whatever, if you’d just hurry up and hand him over to a half decent trainer, I’m sure I could get some reins on him.”

“Oh whatever Adam…” grumbled Ted as he hoisted Ledge’s unconscious body onto Adam’s Staraptor. Scarlet, Ted’s Vulpix and first Pokémon, nudged at Ted’s feet; she hated when him and Adam fought, which was becoming a much more frequent occurrence. Ted hoisted her onto his shoulder. “You okay girl?” he whispered in her ear. “Come on; let’s go back, we’ll take the rest of the day off okay?” Scarlet responded with a soft purr as Ted climbed onto Staraptor himself.

It was only a short trip south back to the Skyridge Mountain itself, only two minutes or so. As they glided along, Ted couldn’t help but miss Fang a little. If there was anything Ted had fallen in love with above all else since becoming a Pokémon Trainer, it was flying, and Fang had been a fantastic ally too, not to mention a good friend.

Ted looked up at the sky. Due to the extreme lack of information on the Rockets at the moment, several other points of interest that had previously been brushed to the side due to more pressing matters had been questioned more frequently. One of these points was the weather. At first Ted had been the only one to notice it, but soon the whole League, and others, had realised that the weather was suspiciously good, even considering the current season. Of course, the reason for this anomaly couldn’t be revealed to the public, but it had become a point of concern for the media too, and it was frequently talked about on the news. It hadn’t rained in over two months, and the country was starting to suffer for it. Nothing could be done about it until the Rockets were found and Zapdos was freed though.

Another matter crept into Ted’s mind as they landed back on the ledge of Skyridge Mountain. Skyridge had been on the news countless times now; they were a well known force at this stage and had the full backing of the public, and yet people were still unaware as to where their headquarters was situated. A secret is a secret, but what’s more, the mountains north of Kanto had never been explored even for hundreds of thousands of years before Skyridge arrive there, but why not? The psychic force that subtly expelled any desire by anyone to want to come to this region was still a mystery. The only reason the founding members of Skyridge were able to get through was because of Kurt’s Xatu, who now watched over the region from Sunset Summit. Having had a terrible encounter with some kind of unknown Pokémon a few years ago, the original members of Skyridge had never been back to the mystery shrouded temple from which the psychic repellent seemed to emanate from since, but as the Unown that lived there became more and more restless, it was beginning to look like this was going to have to change soon…

“No luck this time, huh?” Ted turned to see Carly, the unofficial but obvious leader of the League of Skyridge.

“No, unfortunately not.” laughed Ted. “I’m starting to worry though; maybe he just can’t be controlled at all… Is Ledge okay?”

“Oh don’t be silly, we’ll work something out. And of course he is silly, he just needs a little bit of rest. You’ve been focusing too hard on Link over the past few days; why not take a break and train some of your other Pokémon for a while. Maybe it’ll be good for Link too!”

“Yeah, yeah alright, maybe.” Ted smiled at her. She has a charming way of always making you feel better no matter how obvious it was that things weren’t going to fix themselves or that something was your fault.

“I don’t, uh, I don’t suppose you’ve talked to Alice yet, have you?” she said in a low voice so that the surrounding villagers couldn’t hear.

“Oh, uhm, no…” There had been a bit of an ‘incident’ with Alice six days ago. She had asked to meet him on the upper ridge of the mountain to ‘talk’. She had essentially confessed her ‘feelings’ for him and tried to kiss him, and when he tumbled backwards off the rock he’d been sitting on when she did, the whole affair ended in tears. She and Ted hadn’t spoken since. “I don’t know what to do Carly!” whispered Ted. “I mean, she’s nice and all, but she’s nearly four years older than me, and-”

“And you have a thing for Penny anyway, right?”

“Shut up, that’s not it.” Ted blushed. It had recently become obvious, too, that his feelings for Penny weren’t as much of a secret as he’d have liked them to be, except to, thankfully, Penny herself.

A flash of pale pink caught Ted’s eye from the rugged steps that wrapped around the mountain up to the upper ledge, but when he turned to see what it was it was gone. Ted’s attention was almost immediately taken by something else entirely, turning back round at the sound of Carly’s gasp.

The whole mountain fell silent. The villagers dropped what they were doing, the League members lined up beside Carly, and everyone was staring at the same spot.

“Um, hello…” muttered Christopher, staring at the ground.

 

[AetherX]

So great to see you back with a new chapter! It's exciting to be reintroduced to these characters again, I think I've missed them. I can't wait for the story to get going again, this is one of my favorites.

 

[Flaze]

AWESOME

That was honestly the best way I could have seen it coming I mean it doesn't even feel like a continuation more like one of those movies that ends and then the sequel begins around the time it left off in. It was a good way to reintroduce the characters though the beginning training session seemed a bit rush.

Also I definitely would've liked to see the Alice and Ted scene but I guess there was a reason for you to not include it here so I shouldn't dwell into it. And now Christopher has come in too so he might actually be an even more important character than before.

 

[Akimbo]

yay! skyridge is back, its been so long
oh well, great chapter, but i have to agree with stellar haze i would've liked to have seen the ted and alice scene

 

[BlueNostalgia]

So I have two pieces of good news, however, most of you are going to partially see one of them as bad news

So the good news is that I have managed to get my life into a state that I honestly think that, from here on out, I should be able to post a new chapter every Sunday! I hope that's okay; what I think I'm going to do is make Redemption have fewer chapters than Liberation, but also have the chapters to be slightly longer; does that sound okay?

An the other good news is that I've finally finished the plot summary for Liberation on the Author's Atlas! All that's left to be done are the character summaries, which I intend to do gradually throughout the week; they shouldn't take too long. What this DOES mean, however, is that I haven't been able to complete an actual chapter for this week... :L sorry! Next week, and every week afterwards unless I have very good reason, I pinky promise.

If you're new to Skyridge, I recomend that you now go and check out the Author's Atlas summary of Liberation and read through the Chapter summaries; it shouldn't take you too long. What I'd then suggest is that you don't read up on anything else until it actually comes up in Redemption. What I mean by that, for example, is that every time a character appears, go and read the summary for that character. That way, you're learning about the fic as you read it instead of being expected to store up all this information at once.

So that's all I have to say at the minute; I really am sorry about not having a chapter this week you could always go to the Author's Atlas and recap your memories to make up for it?

Here's the link for the summary of Liberation: http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/f512/skyridge-teds-story-liberation-summary-118338/

 

[Rob Anybody]

Sorry I'm late, now to business. Good to see Link still has homicidal tendencies because if it was left out it would have felt rushed. I agree with Haze in that Alice finally told Ted her feelings, but it should have been a scene. Also I don't mind the length of the story, as long as it is at least engrossing as Liberation. P.s. if Ted doesn't have a thing for Penny, then I'm a rabid Bidoof.

 

[Marcat]

YES! Skyridge is back! Along with the fact that my mid-term exams are up, you sir, have made my day.

This is a really great beginning you have here. I liked how you tied a great deal of loose ends from the first book in here. The return of Christopher, Link's pychotic killing sprees, Alice's feelings for Ted and Ted and Penny's relationship. Taking care of this many plot points from that many angles of the previous story tells me that you were very organised and precise, a quality that every good writer should have.

I look forward to the next chapters.

 

[Safe]

YES! Skyridge is back! Along with the fact that my mid-term exams are up, you sir, have made my day.

This is a really great beginning you have here. I liked how you tied a great deal of loose ends from the first book in here. The return of Christopher, Link's pychotic killing sprees, Alice's feelings for Ted and Ted and Penny's relationship. Taking care of this many plot points from that many angles of the previous story tells me that you were very organised and precise, a quality that every good writer should have.

I look forward to the next chapters.

What he said... literally everything he said... yeah I'm that lazy!

 

[BlueNostalgia]

Hey guys!

So as promised, here's the new chapter. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten as many of the Character summaries done as I'd of liked to, but hopefully a few of them will be going up later on tonight anyway. I'll do the League, Penny, and Christopher, and from then on I'll add new summaries every time a character debuts or returns in Redmption. From then on, I'll hopefully update those summaries as Redemption progresses.

I've also decided that I'm going to (try :S) to make a brief, simple map of the Skyridge area just in Paint or something, just so that newbies can get a grip of what the setting of a large portion of the fic is actually like without me having to write a new description for it somewhere in Redemption. I'll let you all know when I've done that.

One last thing; this chapter's a little longer than most of the chapters in Liberation, but if it's too long, or even still too short, just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Anyway, here's Chapter Two!


Chapter Two – Bright Spark
The silence was ridiculously intense. All eyes were on Christopher; because of the news, even the villagers of Skyridge knew who he was. Electric type specialist, and one of Team Rocket’s fifty commanders, Christopher Marcus Peterson wasn’t exactly welcome at Skyridge. Scarlet clambered on to Ted’s shoulder, afraid.

“What the hell do you want.” growled Ledge.

“I, uh, I just-” Ledge didn’t give him a chance to finish.

“Do you know what? I don’t even care, you’re scum, and I’m gonna go ahead and just finish you off right now.” barked Ledge, pulling two Pokéballs off of his belt, walking towards the cowering young man.

“Ledge. LEDGE!” yelled Carly. Ted was scared; Ledge was usually very kind hearted a calm. Ledge stopped and turned to her. “Think of everything he’s done.” he whispered, so quietly it was almost simply mouthed.

“Ledge, calm down, he’s clearly here for a reason, let’s hear what he has to say.” Ledge backed off without another word, but the scowl he wore didn’t leave his face for the rest of the confrontation.

“Speak. First of all, how did you find us?” asked Kurt in his deep, wise voice.

“Uhm, about that…” Christopher muttered, kicking at the ground awkwardly. “It’s Kurt, right? I’m… I’m really sorry; could you come here, just a minute?”

Adam allowed a booming laugh to escape before containing himself again. “Really? Do you really think we’re gonna fall for that?” The arrogance in his voice made Ted want to punch him.

“Oh, I guess… Sorry… That was stupid of me.” Christopher looked genuinely frightened. Ted stepped forward and faced the others, with Christopher behind him.

“Look, I know that you have more of a history with Christopher than the rest of us do Ledge.” Ted began, before turning to everyone else. “But on T-Day, he helped us to escape. It was all very manic and rushed, but he did, I was there. Now I don’t know why he did it or why he’s here, but just let him speak okay?” Ted turned back to Christopher. “Chris; can I call you Chris? Tell us everything, start from T-Day, take your time, and don’t miss anything.” He tried his best to give a sympathetic smile, but all he could think about was the memory of Link’s that had been shown to him telepathically during which Christopher had ordered the brutal murder of Link’s mother, laughing.

“Uh, yeah, sure…” Chris looked up at Ted with eyes ridden with apology, and Ted couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He remembered the way the other Rockets, including his inferiors and Alexander himself, had pushed him around. Somehow, Ted just knew that this was not a man but a boy, who had never really felt accepted anywhere.

“On T-day…” he began, brushing his long, black fringe out of his eye. “After I helped you guys escape, I got knocked out. I don’t know how I survived the collapse of the building, but I managed to get out before I got crushed, but not in time to do anything about Tyranitar… I used my Zebstrika to escape before the explosion, but I didn’t realise until afterwards that I had lost my communicator. I’m an Electric-type specialist, so I don’t really have any flying types, and Zebstrika was too tired… My other Pokémon were injured, but I’d have been arrested if I had gone into any Pokémon centres. What I did have though, was, well…” He looked at Kurt. “Alexander, uhm… Alexander had me install a tracking device in the side of your neck while we had you held captive…”

Carly’s mouth dropper, Alice’s eyes widened in fear, Ledge and Adam gave off low growls simultaneously, Morgan yelled. “What!? Are you telling us that Team Rocket know where we are!?”

“What? Oh! No! Sorry, no, they don’t.” Everyone gave a simultaneous sigh of relief. “My Magnezone is the only one who can sense where it is with its magnetism… But my Magnezone was badly injured; I had to steal medicine periodically over the course of two weeks to bring it back to health, and then of course there was the journey here itself through the mountains, that’s why it’s taken me so long to reach you all…” His voice trailed off towards the end of the last sentence as he looked up, desperate for some kind of approval.

Suddenly his eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry.” he spluttered, somewhat pathetically. “I know I’ve done terrible things, especially to you Ledge, but… I was afraid. I had always had a bad life, I had always been picked on, and Nighthawk just offered me the chance to be a part of something, something special… And then when that all went wrong, I had nowhere else to go, I was going to… I was going to kill myself, but then… Proton…” He wiped his eyes. “Proton came to me and offered me the chance to become a commander of the new Team Rocket, and, I thought I could be important again, but…”

“But you were weak, unwanted, and useless; you could never impress your superiors…” It was Morgan speaking, solemnly, staring down at the ground. Morgan was a bit of a loser, he was quirky, eccentric, and got a little bit too excited about bugs and nerdy things, but Ted had never really thought about how this could have affected him before his life at Skyridge.

Ted turned back to Chris. “Who’s Nighthawk?”

“That story’s for another time Ted.” muttered Carly. “It was before you came to Skyridge and it’s all over now, it doesn’t matter at the moment.” Ted was somewhat shocked; why had he not been told about this? He had thought he’d been at Skyridge long enough to know mostly everything about it, and that they wouldn’t keep anything from him, but apparently he had been wrong.

“I want to help!” cried Christopher, perhaps a little too loudly, ruining the effect a little. Everyone turned back to him. “All I’ve ever done his hurt, torture, kidnap, scheme, and…” He looked at Ledge. “Kill…” he whispered. “But I want that to change. What you guys are doing… Alexander needs to be stopped. Nighthawk was nothing to him, neither was Proton. He intends to do a lot of very bad things… Now, I was only a Commander, but I can still provide you with a lot of information, and I know I’m weird and stuff but I am a good trainer, and…”

Nothing could have prepared Ted for what happened next, despite the direction the conversation had been going in. Christopher got down on one knee and bowed his head. “With the most humble, apologetic condolences…” He spoke with a slightly wavering confidence. “I pledge my allegiance, if you’ll have me, to the League of Skyridge.”

There was a few seconds of silence; everyone looked around, stunned. “Are you serious?” muttered Alice in exasperation.

“I want a chance to redeem myself…” whispered Christopher, looking up again.

“You’ve gotta be joking.” boomed Adam with a sarcastic chuckle. “How stupid do you think we are?” He began a poor impression of Christopher that involved making him sound like a crying three year old. “Oh I’m an old Team Rocket commander who’s sorry, please let me join your team so that I can learn all about you and definitely not report every single thing back to my superiors!” The impersonation ended. “This is stupid, just kill him already.” he laughed.

“Those in favour of accepting Christopher to the League of Skyridge raise your hands.” said Carly, raising her hand. Kurt and Morgan also raised their hands.

“Wh- What?” cried Adam.

Ledge turned to Carly, his scowl turning into a look of horror. “You can’t be serious!?”

“Those against, raise your hands.” she said. Ledge and Adam’s hands shot up, Alice raised hers slowly.

“Oh yeah, great, of course, it’s left to Ted, well that’s just great.” roared Adam in sarcastic anger.

“Well Ted? Adam’s right, it’s up to you. Don’t feel like you’re under any pressure, you’ve been here long enough to be warranted a proper member of the League of Skyridge, and your contribution is just important as anyone else’s.” said Kurt calmly.

Ted looked at Christopher. On one hand, he knew that Christopher had done truly terrible things. He didn’t know what had happened between Christopher and Ledge, but whatever it was, it was enough to turn the usually collected, laid back Ledge into a heartless, angry beast at the sheer mention of it. Chris was also responsible for many other things, including partially the stated Link was in. But on the other hand, Ted couldn’t help but understand how Chris felt; all he wanted was to be special, to be given a chance to make something of himself.

Scarlet purred in his ear. Turning his head, he could see her sad, terrified face. Scarlet had battled against Christopher several times now, and there was no doubt that he was powerful, but he had also previously come across as a very evil person. “What do you think girl?” whispered Ted so only she could hear. “Do you think he could be our ally?” Scarlet simply purred again, still a little afraid.

Ted knelt down so he could look Chris in the eye. There was sorrow, fear, and helplessness there, but most importantly, Ted could see unmistakable, genuine, repentance. Ted held out an arm. “You’ve got a long way to go before you’ll have made up for what you’ve done; you’d better work hard.”

Christopher’s face lit up with joy. “Thank you…” he whispered, taking Ted’s arm as he rose.

Ted turned to see Carly and Kurt, smiling at him. Alice rolled her eyes, giving him an odd look, before walking off. Morgan looked at Ted and shrugged before putting his thumbs up and giving a weird chuckle. Adam, after staring in disbelief for a few seconds, merely shook his head, grinning. “If we’re all dead in the morning, kid,” he started as he turned and began to walk away. “It’ll have been all your fault.”

Ledge however, stood and glared for a while at Christopher, before Kurt and Carly took him into the meeting room to give him an interview and other things. When they left, his glare was averted to Ted. The villagers began to disperse, but Ledge stayed, glaring the whole time, for a full minute.

Ted shrugged at him. “Everyone deserves a second chance Ledge.”

“I know, but he’s already had three of them.” Ledge growled in response. “I can’t believe you’d… After everything… Oh whatever.” grunted Ledge, turning and storming off.

Ted stood and watched him march back to the main cave where the League members’ rooms were. As the last of the crowd dispersed, only he and one other person were left.

“Well that went well.” said Penny, giving him an awkward smile as she slowly walked towards him. She always wore her ranger outfit now, accompanied by Sammy the Cubone, her partner, always following at her feet. Scarlet jumped off of Ted’s shoulder to play with him.

“Who’s Nighthawk?” muttered Ted. “Do you know anything about him? I assume it’s a guy…” They began to walk casually along the ridge.

“I don’t know, does it matter? Like Carly said, it’s all in the past now.”

“I’d just like to know is all…” If Ted was being honest with himself, he didn’t really care too much about who Nighthawk was, it was the fact that, after all this time, the League still hadn’t trusted him with everything.

“Don’t worry about it too much, okay?” she said, stopping Ted to look right at his face. He still hadn’t gotten used to her thought-stopping adorable smile that she frequently gave, and doubted he ever would. “Come on, I’ve got something to show you that might cheer you up.” she exclaimed as her smile grew wider. Ted followed her as she approached the steps that led to the upper ridge.

 

[Rob Anybody]

I don't suppose we'll see Link pop out of his ball to try killing Christopher? Not a bad filler, and now we have other things to think about ie Who is Nighthawk?, Is Alice still upset?, Will Link, Ledge and Adam team up to murder Chris?(Don't have to answer the last one )

 

[Marcat]

Nah, I don't think the league of Skyridge would team up to kill someone... even Chris. But, judging from the way many of the league reacted towards Chris's "Redemption", I'd like to see how it affects Ted's standing in Skyridge and his relations with the other members, especially Ledge.

 

[Flaze]

Looks like there's going to be some tension between Ledge and Ted now, too bad since they're like best friends. Ain't it weird how the outgoing and playful character is always the most violent when faced with something that bothered him in the past xD anyway I can't wait until Ted can finally be accepted by Adam the man really needs to chill out a little. It also seems like Alice has taken more a of a dislike to Ted after the failed confession overall Skyridge will have to solve their own problems before they worry about the problems of others and other groups.

 

[BlueNostalgia]

So, those character summaries, eh? Good aren't they?

They'll be out sometime this week, I promise! Sorry

Here's Chapter Three, glad you all seem to be liking it so far :3 Constructive criticism is in constant demand, if you've got something to say, good or bad, please don't hesitate.


Chapter Three: Awakened Memories
“Penny, what is it we’re going to see?” asked Ted as he followed her up the steps.

“Patience! You’ll see in just a minute!” she said as she sped up.

As Ted ascended the last few steps, he saw Jonny, Skyridge’s own Pokémon Ranger and Penny’s instructor, standing in the middle of the ledge, looking up at the sky. He still had the unshaven, rugged look, with his fingerless leather gloves and trademark lumberjack shirt. His partner, a Buizel, stood silently, imitating the collected coolness of Jonny.

“Hey Jonny!” said Penny as she approached him.

“Hey kid!” he replied. “Hey there Ted, how’s it going? Any luck with Link yet?”

“Uh, no, not yet…” muttered Ted. “But we’ll get there I guess!”

“Too right you will.” laughed Jonny. “Come over here, Penny and I found a little something that you might like.”

Confused, Ted walked towards them. When he was nearly beside them and saw what was in Jonny’s hand, he stopped dead in his tracks. Ted didn’t know what it was that had made Penny think that this object would ‘cheer him up’, but it definitely didn’t. In fact, he was suddenly very, very scared. Scarlet looked at the object with a confused look on her face, seeming to recognise it vaguely.

“Where… Where did you get that?” he stammered in unbelief, his eyes as wide as they could go.

“We were using our skills as Rangers to help out for a while with the construction at Cinnabar, and we found it just lying about on the North-Western side of the island. It must be from your dad’s old lab, right?” Penny was smiling as she talked; she hadn’t yet realised that Ted was far from pleased.

“Get rid of it, now.” growled Ted.

“Wh- What?” Penny was still smiling, unsure of what was wrong.

“Do you have any idea what that is!?” yelled Ted.

“What’s going on, kid?” asked Jonny. “Tell us what this thing is.”

Ted snatched the heavily reinforced vial from Jonny’s hand, glaring at the double helix structure floating in the purple liquid contained inside. “It’s a Berserk Gene.”

“…A what?” asked Penny, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

“It’s essentially the blueprints for making a Mewtwo.”

“What…? Are you serious kid?” asked Jonny in shock.

“Well, surely that’s a good thing, right? Now we can maybe try to unlock the secrets of this gene and create another Mewtwo; it could help us!” said Penny, her smile returning.

“There’s a reason for why there was only one created...” said Ted, just loud enough for the other two to hear, as he continued to stare at the DNA.

“What do you mean…?” asked Penny.

“I was only five at the time, but I remember it very, very clearly, and my dad's filled me in on the details…”

“Remember what? Just spit it out kid!” cried Jonny, more excited than anything else.

“Surely you both know about the mystery of the Cinnabar Pokémon Lab, right?” asked Ted, finally breaking his gaze away from the vial.

“It was all covered up by the government, but being Walter Fox’s son, I know what happened. My dad, as a side job on his work with geology, fossils, and volcanic activity, helped out with what they called ‘The Genesis Project’. You’ve both heard the legend that Mew is supposedly the ancestor of all Pokémon?”

“Yeah.” replied Penny.”

“Well scientists had recently discovered that there’s possibly more to that theory than just myth. Until eleven years ago, scientists hadn’t even confirmed that Mew existed, but a group of field scientists in Hoenn discovered an eyelash containing Pokémon DNA that they couldn’t identify on Faraway Island.”

“How did they find a single eyelash?” laughed Jonny.

“It was a newly discovered island that appeared to be void of life other than plants, so they did a full investigation. Anyway, it’s irrelevant.” said Ted, slightly annoyed by Jonny’s comment. “They sent it over to the Lab in Cinnabar, the old Lab, because they are, or were, experts on Pokémon genetics.”

“What do you mean ‘were’…?” said Penny anxiously.

“I’m getting to that…” muttered Ted sombrely in response. “So the eyelash turned out to be the first evidence for Mew’s existence and obviously they started performing tests and stuff, when someone, my dad’s best friend actually, had an idea. They had been trying to develop the ability to clone Pokémon for some time, but if they could do it just once from this eyelash, and Mew truly was the ancestor of all Pokémon, then the secret to cloning would be unlocked.”

“Makes sense.” said Jonny, seeming to have realised how serious a story this was.

“So they tried, over and over, to successfully clone the eyelash, accidentally creating Ditto in the process.”

“I had always wondered if that was true!” Penny blurted out. “Sorry… Go on.”

“Yeah. Well anyway, eventually they successfully cloned something from the eyelash. Now I don’t know what it was that went wrong during the process, or even if it was actually an accident or not, but whatever that monster was, it wasn’t Mew. Thankfully, at this point, many scientists, including my father, decided to back out of the project. Upon seeing its power in a few simple tests, many began to disagree with the project, accepting that they were tampering with nature too much. The main body of geneticists within the lab, however, stayed to continue research and run tests on what they deemed to be ‘Mewtwo’, beginning to mass produce these ‘Berserk Genes’ from which they had cloned the first one.

But that’s when everything went wrong. No-one knows what actually happened. All I remember is waking up to a series of huge explosions; at first everyone was scared that there had been an eruption. My father had to rush out, rambling about something having gone wrong in the lab. It was derelict; it took them a few days to put all of the fires out and a lot of it, and the land around it, was so badly damaged, that entire sectors of the lab fell into the sea. Ridiculous amounts of data, technology, and research were lost, and all twenty-seven of the scientists that had remained on ‘The Genesis Project’ had been killed. Some of them had simply been caught in the fires, but others… Others had been torn to shreds, some had been blasted with massive amounts of energy, some impaled on objects that they couldn’t have been impaled on accidentally, others crushed by huge objects that had previously been firmly attached to the ground, and one guy… One guy’s head had exploded from the inside.”

Penny and Jonny were silent. All light heartedness had completely gone.

“Mewtwo itself had gone missing… It was rumoured for a long time that it had fled to Cerulean Cave, but no-one dared to go in and find out. Not until Red beat the Indigo League that is… He went in, no-one dared to follow him, and he didn’t come back out for two days. At the end of those two days, Red is reported by eyewitnesses to have scrambled out of the cave with some kind of major wound to the chest, his Pikachu following behind him, the closest to fainting as anyone’s ever seen it. Seconds later, the cave collapsed. Mewtwo is presumed to be either dead or in Red’s possession, but no-one claims to have seen it since.

“A careful point was made of destroying the surviving Berserk Genes left from the old Lab as the new Lab was constructed, but apparently they missed one…” Ted finished, his voice trailing off as his sentence came to an end, reverting his gaze back to the Berserk Gene in his hand.

“How come you never mentioned any of this before?” asked Penny.

Ted shrugged. “It was never relevant. Anyway, this gene needs to be destroyed, properly.”

“Now hold on a second kid…” started Jonny calmly. “I know these genes ain’t gonna do anyone any good any time soon, but don’t you think you should look after it anyway? I mean, ‘s far as we know, it’s the only one in existence! It might be needed fer somethin’; at least show yer dad.”

“I dunno…” replied Ted. “That guy, the guy who had his head blown open from the inside… I mean, what kind of creature has the conscious to do that, never mind the power? Surely the last thing we want is another one roaming the world.”

“Well who knows? Maybe it can still be used somehow to make a Mew! I say give it to your dad Ted.” said Jonny.

“I agree with Jonny, Ted, it might be important; you never know when we’ll need it. What have you got to lose anyway?”

“My head, and the heads of those I love?” This reduced both Jonny and Penny into hysterics.

“Good point kid. Well still, I dunno, talk to Carly about it or something.” said Jonny. “Anyway, Penny, it’s probably nearly time that we should be heading off again.”

“Where are you guys going this time?” asked Ted. Jonny frequently took Penny off on what he called ‘field trips’, which almost always ended in life threatening, perilous situations from which they had to escape using nothing but their Capture Stylers and partners.

“Sinnoh; you know the way it’s been on the news a lot recently for the past few years that a whole bunch of Psyduck keep gathering in Route 210 with sore heads? We’re gonna look into why that keeps happening.”

“Oh, okay, well have fun then!” said Ted, trying to sound enthusiastic. It was pathetic, and he didn’t like to admit it to himself, but he hated it when Penny went away. Ledge was like a brother to him, and he’d been really close with Alice before ‘the incident’, but he could never talk to any of them like he could talk to Penny. Besides, it seemed as though Ledge was annoyed with him after his decision about Chris.

She hugged him. “Be good, keep up the good work, and get Link under control already!” She pulled away, giving him a light peck on the cheek (which never, no matter how many times it happened, failed to make Ted blush), before Jonny called in a Befriended Staraptor, and the pair of them took off.

In an odd coincidence, Carly appeared up the steps only a few seconds later. “Ted, there you are. I’ve called a meeting, which will not only be Chris’s induction meeting, but also a chance for us all to hear some information from him about Team Rocket, something we haven’t acquired any of in nearly two months.”

“Right, but, before we go, can I ask you about something?”

“Sure Ted, what’s up?”

He showed her the Berserk gene, giving her the shorter version of the story. Her face was filled with concern.

“Ted, if I’m being totally honest, you’re dad’s in no fit state to look after anything right now, never mind something so important that holds dark memories for him.” Walter Fox, Ted’s dad, had been in a state of shock after T-Day. He had only just barely escaped himself, only to find out immediately after that his son was still looking for him somewhere in Fuchsia. It being the second home he had to frantically escape from in the last ten years in combination with his constant, secret depression over the loss of his wife, Ted’s mother, just over ten years ago, his mental health had bean to deteriorate. “You should hold on to it, just for now.”

“What, why me?”

“Well you know more about it than any of the rest of us do, and besides, it at least partially belongs to your father.”

“I guess…”

“Anyway, come on, this meeting is going to be interesting.”

 

[Marcat]

Uh... wow?

My writer's sense is tingling, I sense a significant plot twist comin' up.

Kudos, on the great dialogue and the telling of the story. Very realistic and gives the impression of urgency and danger. However, I do find it farfetch'd that a scientist would tell his five year old son about a Top-Secret project that could possibly kill him and know all of the details in that gorey goodness. Sorry, but that simply didn't make sense.

Oh well, good chapter and keep up the good work.

 

[Flaze]

Well at least we got to learn more about Ted's backstory and secrets though now I'm curious about what will happen with the Berserk Gene. Anyway it's sad to hear what happened to Ted's father I can see how he would be so depressed but now it just seems like things are going to hell for Ted.

 

[Rob Anybody]

Well at least we got to learn more about Ted's backstory and secrets though now I'm curious about what will happen with the Berserk Gene. Anyway it's sad to hear what happened to Ted's father I can see how he would be so depressed but now it just seems like things are going to hell for Ted.

I agree, Ted just can't get a break anymore. Though now you have added a new mystery. Did he or Didn't he get Mewtwo?