Kurt's house is much more different than the house that used to be Mark's. For one thing, super surround sound stereos and a wide screen television the size of his wall sits around the room. R&B pop plays through the new stereo and his fully stocked bar houses fair drinks for those that are old enough. Mik has no problem chugging down a few swigs. Kurt calls his place the bachelor pad where the coolest parties of Indigo happen and it is true. Every party to ever happen takes place at his house. Not only is the inside jam blasting with fun, the outside holds a Jacuzzi and full length swimming pool with all the essentials. Pool parties, raves, Kurt had them all.
But the music is turned down and the strobe lights are off to have a serious meeting for once at his house.
"Hey, these pretzels are good."
"A host must make his guests happy at all time so they come back." That was true also, Kurt is the greatest of hosts.
Instead of chairs and sofas, the living room is filled with bean bag couches, enough for everyone. Kurt calls this the �chill out' room. They all sit in a circle around the pretzels and chips and soda and listen to Mark start the meeting.
"Ok, we had our first encounter this morning and I don't think it went well at all. The enemy already knows who we are and that makes us easy targets."
"It's all your fault for picking this place as headquarters," Clark throws in.
Ignoring him, Mark continues. "What happened can't be changed. Now is the time for immediate action if we are to continue participation in this war. We must..." He stops short and freezes in the middle of his sentence. He looks around the room at each person, counting off the people in his head. Then his eyebrows furrow and he questions, "Where is Mallard?"
Odd, no one even thought of the good professor missing from this meeting.
"I thought someone told him to meet here."
"Not me."
"I haven't seen Mallard since the guy from Trainer showed up. Last I saw him was in the house... oh my...." Patricia slows her words and she realizes where their professor last was.
Mark can't possibly believe it. "No... no. This can't be. Someone got him out of the house during the fire, right? Anyone? This is not right. This can't be right."
Like a ton of bricks being crashed into by a freight train, it hit all Team Elite members just what has happened. Mallard was stuck in the second floor of the house and probably couldn't do anything to get away. Not even one day into the war and they have lost their professor.
For the first time since Jack met her, Patricia wasn't smiling but the exact opposite. She is to be the most affected by this dramatic turn of events because she is the one who nursed and cared for him. She can't take this damage and leaves the room to hide in another.
Mark followers to calm her down. They only go to a room across from the �chill out' room so everyone can still hear them talk.
Patricia collapses on a blue covered bed, weeping her eyes out. "I couldn't do it." She sobs.
"You did all you could do. There was no way to prevent this." Mark tries to hug her for comfort but she resists and continues to cry. "Don't let his death bring you down."
"I already am. You brought me here *SOB* to save people and heal them from injury. I'm not doing that job when it counts the most. *SNIFF* I should have stayed with him instead of going outside with you guys. I might have saved him."
"But more chance of losing two instead of one."
She breaks from the tears and turns to anger and regret. "I went in during that fire, you know what I saved? My nurse things and clothes. I could have easily went up the floor to grab Mallard but I saved MY stuff for ME. You have no idea what that makes me feel inside." She goes back to crying. "I am supposed to help other people; instead, I helped myself."
Moment of silence............................................
The meeting returns to normal; not really normal but as much as possible. Patricia was told to take a walk to cool off from the emotion while the rest talk about plans.
"We've been hit hard. This war was a mistake for Mallard but not for us. We will live and triumph and defeat the other teams. For Mallard. For all the Elites. His memory will live on in our radios and the Pokedex's he gave us. His spirit will help us win in times when we need it."
Kurt butts in. "Great, great. We can respect our losses later. Like in the classic World War II, time moves on no matter who dies. It does not stop. We need to figure out what this map leads us to and continue."
Not what some people wanted to hear but he makes a good point. Team Trainer has a copy of their map from the camera picture and they are behind them. It's catch-up time.
The tube is now open and the map is out along with another piece o paper that Voodoo never touched. The map is placed in the middle of the circle of elites and Mark holds the other paper.
"So you've accomplished the first challenge. Congratulations! But it is not over yet. On the map is a location where you will need to go and get your orb. Find the destination located by a red star and obtain the orb. Your color is Gold."
"Orbs. The importance of the orb is another challenge in itself. Every team gets one and each orb is a different color. The purpose of keeping your orb is to insure that you win the war. You cannot win the war unless you have your orb."
"A team may steal orbs at their disposal. If a team controls a certain number of orbs, then they win automatically but only if they still have their own. The number to obtain is a percentage of the total about of orbs which has yet to be determined as the War Administrators and still accepting teams."
"If you lose your orb and it has not been claimed by another team, the orb location will be announced over the news after a five day waiting period. At that time, any team may claim it. Each orb is powered by nuclear energy inside and the orb itself is indestructible being made from a diamond like alloy. In the middle is a transmitter that sends a signal to our satellite and from there to the War League Head Office."
"Now go find your orb and never show this map to anyone but your own team. You don't know who may be lurking in the shadows."
The team sighs from that last paragraph. Trainer already has beaten them to a very important part of the war and if they lose the orb to a team who has been here since the beginning, who knows how many they have and this one more orb might be the last one to obtain.
Turning to the map, the large red star highlights in Vermillion City, specifically the harbor section. The notes in the sideline in red ink show a number �741' which is probably the number of a building or mailbox. Whatever the case, they first need to get to Vermillion Harbor and find that orb.
The mode of transportation is the helicopter. This time, they only need to take two of them. Clark is chosen to stay behind to watch the news report just in case they don't make it back in time to watch it. It will probably be a hour flight there and if light resistance then they can easily make it back before then.
The team splits in two; Jack, Al and Kurt in one and Patricia, Mark, Kurt and Mik in the other. The only problem is Patricia isn't getting in.
"I'm not going," Patricia says.
"Why not?"
"Everything is so confusing. I don't understand this war that much and what to do."
"We'll help you with that. We are all just as confused as you are."
Clark shouts from nearby. "Some more than others." He points at Mik.
"Oh, he is so getting a beating when we get back." Mik frowns raising his fist at Clark.
"Patricia, I need you to come. What if I start to feel sick from the poison again. I need you to help heal me. Please."
She thinks about the situation and her duty of protection. "Yes, to help people is what I do." She smiles her famous big smile and bounces her jolly self on the second helicopter. That's when the team of seven hovers up and flies away.
"Kid, you haven't done anything yet." Kurt asks Al the serious questions. "Why are you even on this team."
Al looks at Jack to see him watching the outside. "I'm here to watch Jack and make sure he comes back. And I have helped with Roselia �cause you guys haven't seen it before."
"That's true. You have Pokemon, right?"
"Yes."
"Good. I hope they're strong because if this war gets any worse, we will need all the help we can get."
Silence controls the rest of the trip for helicopter one. There is the noise of the helicopter, but there is silence in talking. Jack takes this time to think and watch the ground and look at it's unique beauty. The Pokemon and the trees and landscape all live as one and when the towns appear below, even they are fun to look at from this height. The townspeople would look above to try and see who is in the helicopter; maybe it might be someone famous. Then they read the side, �Indigo Elites' and know who it is.
The good hour of quiet flight is over and the two helicopters near the harbor of Vermillion City. From above, they could see the whole city, even the Gym where Jack won his Thunder Badge from his journey. He remembers his visit here and the adventure he had but now he has a new one to take in mind.
There are rows by rows of buildings and warehouses made of aluminum siding and some with brick lined across the harbor below. Numerous piers and tall cranes and half a dozen cargo ships make this harbor home. The long boxes and crates are grabbed off the ships and put onto platforms and then moved to the eighteen wheeler trucks and finally to the buyers destination. A harbor is constantly busy all year, with no breaks in sight. At the left end of the harbor is the Vermillion Harbor Police Station, ready to be dispatched in a calls notice.
Kurt points down. "Look, there." Jack and Al position to see where he is pointing. "Those cars around that one warehouse. That might be it."
A static voice comes over the intercom to the pilot. "H one, this is H two. Mark says to find a spot to land away from the warehouse."
The pilot responds, "Kurt says it's the one with the cars around it."
"Ok." He pauses to discuss with Mark. "He says it confirms with the map, that's the place. We're going to land north, you take south."
"Roger!"
The harbor has two spots with the large red H for helicopters to land on but Team Elite is in too much of a hurry to park so far away from the warehouse. They need to get in and out quick and unnoticed by the Harbor Police. The worst thing that could happen is getting caught and going to jail. That's much worse than losing the orb.
Jack, Kurt and Al land south and to the left of the building. The helicopter is actually almost on the edge of the dock where the ocean starts. Dock wood is meant to support a ton of weight so the helicopter would be fine. The three exit the copter and see the warehouse surrounded by a few cars.
"Wait." The pilot calls out. "I was just told to tell you to turn on the radios."
Kurt nods. "Ok, I'll turn mine on. We only need one." He flips the nob.
"...urt. Answer me. Kurt?"
"Yea, I'm here."
"What do you see?"
The trio sneaks forward and hides behind a crate marked �Bananas' on it. Kurt peaks over it.
"Three cars, two guards blocking a side door. This warehouse looks more like an airplane hanger the way the larger doors look."
"From our side, we have one guard and no cars. You must have the main entrance."
"Forget the chit-chat, the longer we delay, the less chance we have at getting the orb."
"Right."
Kurt moves to the side of the building, being followed by the rest of his squad. He cracks his knuckles and charges around the corner. Before Jack and Al could see what happened, Kurt has knocked the two guard to the ground and out like a light.
Jack commends, "Nice job."
"Thanks Jack. You two stay here and disable the cars."
There are two Honda Civics and one Corvette parked out front. The duplicate cars are the same and brand new while the Corvette is from the early 90's and the paint is wearing away.
"Shouldn't we stick together?" Al questions.
"If I get caught, Mark and the others are sneaking in from behind. Don't worry." Kurt kicks down the side door and comes in contact with some more people and he starts fighting it out.
Jack sends out Magneton and points to the window of the Corvette. "Nice car, but I have to do this.
Before any disablement, the large doors of the hanger pry open and the inside slowly becomes visible. Jack and Al freeze from the sudden action and most unexpected. Kurt rushes out from the side over to Jack and Al.
"That was my fault. Let's go." Kurt reaches for Jack but it's too late.
The doors have opened far enough that they could see inside and the people inside could see them. Everyone is frozen as they all get a look at the situation.
The building really is a hanger as the inside contains a small private plane directly in the middle and facing toward the ocean. The sides hold crates and boxes and toolkits. The back has stairs which move up to a second and third level which circumnavigates the hanger. On the third level in the back is a small building, probably where the paper work is kept. The hanger isn't as deep as it looked. Two doors in the back, one at top and one at the bottom give it away. That wall is only a divider between the hanger which means there is another room behind it.
The situation rises to a climax when the enemy steps forward yelling out. Jack and Magneton move forward ready to go. Soon, Kurt and Al join in the yell. Each side voices louder than the other and not one person can hear anything said. Only when a voice goes over the loud speaker, does the yelling quiet down.
It's a women's voice coming from the third story room. "Yes, thank you for stopping. Elite has showed up before we could leave."
Kurt steps forward and shouts, "Yea, this is our orb so stay away."
"I beg to differ." A familiar voice calls and Voodoo walks from behind the hanger wall. "Almost had the surprise on Trainer. Not this time." He sees the Corvette front window smashed in. "No. You break my car and die." His fast reflexes pull his bow and an arrow and he shoots it off in five seconds. The arrow whizzes past Jack's head, almost nailing him dead on. "Who was it?" He prepares another arrow and the trio ducks when...
"Voodoo, put the bow down." This time, a guys voice calls over the intercom.
Voodoo takes the time to look in the hanger at the third story room to see a group of people up there. Before he could look back, Kurt has rushed in and taken him down. Jack calls Magneton to shock the other guys and the collapse as well. The front is open and the three enter the hanger.
Pokemon out, Team Elite moves around to gain control. Fire flies left, electricity right. People fight on the stairs and the metal levels around the hanger.
After separating from the group, Jack looks around the right side for the enemy. A guy jumps from around the corner holding a wrench in his hand.
"Trainer will always win."
"But Elites are better than trainers." Magneton floats in and zaps the guy with a strong electric blast. "I win." He turns on his radio. "Mark, the right side is clear."
"Ok Jack. Looks like we're about to round up the guys."
It takes a while to corral the enemy into the back. A total of ten Trainers were collected, each wearing the red bandana somewhere on their body.
Mark starts the interrogation while some of his team searches the hanger. "Hand over the picture.
Voodoo sighs, feeling naked without his bow that Al took. He hands over the picture.
"How long have you been here?"
The female voices, "You don't have to answer, my love."
"Don't worry, Sandy, they won't get anything from me."
On the contrary. Mark has the psychic ability and can invade the mind and probe for answers, He concentrates, closing his eyes in a deep thought then opening them with ease to stare at the jailed group.
"What's he doing, staring at me? That won't get me to answer."
Mark smiles and calms down. "You already have. Al, watch them. If one moves, hit �em with the bow."
"Ok."
The leader of the Elites calls everyone together from their search to a meeting in the middle.
"This is what I got. They've been here a couple hours and even with the map have yet to find it. Then I looked at the photo he took and remembered the map. In the bottom corner was the number 741 and the photo cut off that corner. If we find something with that number, we can get out of here."
Mik chuckles to himself. "You guys are lame. Look at the plane."
Easy enough, clearly written on the tail of the small plane is the number 741 in dark red paint.
Scottie points out, "How could they not check the plane? That's the obvious spot to look."
"They did, Voodoo's mind said they did."
Mark walks over to the plane with the steps leading up to the door. The rest of the team follows. Up the stairs and to the door, he checks the handle. It's locked. With closer inspection, the door seems to be scratched up like someone trying to pry open the door. That's not how planes close.
"We could get a wrench and break the window."
"No, I have a better idea." Mark pulls out a Pokeball and something comes out; Gengar. "Go in this plane and open the door."
"He's locked his keys in the car one too many times," Mik explains to everyone else and they smile at it.
Gengar fades in and soon enough, the door is open. Mark thanks his Pokemon and recalls him.
"Scottie, Mik, and I will search the plane. The rest of you go check on Al. Patricia, stay nearby in case I need you."
"Don't worry Mark, I'll help you." Patricia sits on the steps leading to the plane door while Kurt and Jack go to Al, the prison guard.
Sooner than expected, Al comes to them.
"Why aren't you watching the prisoners?" Kurt says.
Al replies, "I'm just a kid. They overpowered me, duh."
The three run around the large box to where the prisoners were being held but they have already disappeared.
Kurt gets on the radio, "Mark, Al let Trainer get away. We don't know where they are."
"Just stall them."
Above them, a sound like a crane moves. Jack looks up to see a box floating above them. Quickly, Jack grabs the other two and jumps out of the way as the box crashes down.
"You guys ok?" Jack gets the nod answers. "Good. I'll go to the top and stop the crane."
Kurt brushes off his clothes and counters by shaking his head. "No, let me do that. Someone go tell the pilot to get ready."
Good idea. Jack would go warn the pilot to get ready and have Al stay out of trouble. This kind of a fight is no place for a little kid to be mixed up in. The two of them move past the trouble with ease.
At the plane, Patricia is in a standoff with a Trainer.
"Get out of the way!"
She grabs the stair railings and grips hard to block any person trying to board the plane. "This doesn't belong to you."
"Wha? You say that with a smile..." The confused Trainer looks at her smiling face. "Fine. We'll do things the hard way."
At the same time, multiple occasions are happening.
Another Trainer walks to all the wheels of the plane and takes out the triangle blocks preventing the plane from moving.
The crane above has a larger box, a crate, and brings it near to Patricia.
Voodoo steps in and sends out a Skarmory. "Push the plane forward."
"Why do I have to stay here? I want to help." Al complains as the pilot starts up the engine.
Jack understands Al's need to helping. He joined to look after Jack, but now is when Jack needs to look after him. "This fight will get ugly, I can feel it. We're a new team going up against a long standing team. I think we will lose. Besides, they don't think you are any good and will only get in the way. I know you're better than they think but this is not the time to prove it."
"Jack, you know what's best. I'll be waiting."
The propeller of the helicopter whirls and twirls and the wind around picks up. If by now the police hasn't arrived, they never will.
Jack returns to the hanger to see the plane inching forward slightly and the crane dropping a crate. The crate crashing into the stairs and falls down it, forcing Patricia to move out of the way. Voodoo leaps over the broken wood pieces and heads for the door, easily opening it now since it was unlocked. He recalls Skarmory and pulls out his bow and arrow set and loads it facing the cockpit. A look to the top room, he can see Kurt taking over the crane but it's too late.
The female, Sandy, hops into the Corvette and moves it out of the way of the moving plane. Two other Trainer members go to the Hondas to move them.
The plane is three fourths the way out of the hanger and getting closer to the ocean. For in front of this hanger is the sea; the blue and green algae ocean. There is no way to stop the plane; no time to get the triangle blocks and try. Even if the keys were in the cockpit, Mik, Scottie nor Mark no how to operate. The only thing to do is roadblock it, and they are being moved right now.
Jack rushes over to one of the Hondas yet to move and pulls out the guy. The engine is on and the gas ready to go. Unfamiliar with the car at first, Jack gains the familiar style and becomes one with it. Gunning the engine, he pulls back, revs, does a quick burnout with the tires, causing smoke to fluster out from the wooden dock below, then he floors it at the plane.
Voodoo looks out the open door where he is still standing with the bow aimed. All people outside the plane look on with open eyes to see this daring try.
The car smashes head into the front wheel, barely getting under the belly of the plane. Jack has already vacated the vehicle, having little damage from scrapes. The car front curls in like an accordion, loosening the wheel exponentially. Still moving forward, the plane tries to carry on but the wheel gives in and collapses in on itself, causing the nose of the plane to fall forward and land at the edge of the dock just before the water.
Voodoo slips and jumps out the door to land hard on the ground. At the cockpit, Mik is hanging out the front window, being held on by an arm, begging him not to let go. For one second, Jack watches an object go into the water and glisten with gold as it falls in.
Gaining awareness, Jack backs away from the gas leaking car crushed under the fallen plane. He sees Mik being pulls back inside and soon after they bail from the door and hit the ground.
"You guys, we have to go. That isn't water under the plane." Jack shouts and the group goes to him away from the explosion waiting to happen.
Voodoo gets up and has help from his team mates. "You will not get away." He is handed a blue feather arrow with a special modified tip with time release on it. He fires into the sky and it soars over to the helicopter many meters away and nails it near the rotation device.
Jack stops as do the group behind him. "Nice shot."
The pilot talks to Al and he nods and quickly they vacate the helicopter. Getting far enough away, the arrow explodes slightly, causing enough damage to the rotator that the propeller comes loose and spins out of control around the dock. It slices around, nicking metal and finally ending in the water.
"This guy has good aim."
Mik agrees. "He said that in the plane when he had me, Scottie and Mark trapped. �Could take you all out' he says but didn't want to waste arrows when drowning could do us in. By the way, thanks to who stopped the plane."
Jack smiles...
"Oh shut up." Voodoo steps forward with his Trainer team behind him. "You're not getting out of here with that orb."
Patricia whispers, "But didn't it go..."
"Shhhh. Don't let them know."
Elite is going to play the pretend game. They don't have the orb, but Trainer thinks they do. This is quite a predicament. They can't give up what they don't have and if they tell them where it is, who know what will happen.
"This is how it's going to work." Sandy holds out her hands. "Give me the orb and you all live."
Without the slightest notice, a squad car pulls up to the commotion. Quickly, the officer gets out and draws his weapon. "Alright, everyone get down."
Voodoo shifts his bow to the car in response. "Cops! Elite is lucky this time. Guys, move back." Voodoo and Sandy walk under the broken plane while the rest of his team goes around.
"Hey, I said freeze."
Mark moves an inch and the officer points at him. "Whoa, we're the good guys. This is our hanger and they were vandalizing it."
"Oh. Wait here then. I have some questions."
"Sure will officer."
The officer, in their usual slow nature, runs after the team evading them. Voodoo snaps his fingers and drops the fire into the gas under the plane. The gas ignites and the flame soars and as the fire lines to the engine and trapped by the space, the explosion snaps. The car bursts into flames and the front half of the plane turns to a crispy grey color.
The cop falls down from the blast, sighing from his failed chase. He turns around to see the other team leaving the area from the other side. "Hey, wait... aw forget it." He clicks on his walkie-talkie. We got a fire at 019. Send a fire truck and ambulance."
The second and last helicopter is parked on top of a large sky scraper building. All seven members of Elite and on of the pilots sit around the ground. The other pilot has left for the town to get gasoline for the helicopter. For the added weight of the people, they will need more energy to get the helicopter from here back home.
"So... what happens now?" Kurt asks.
Mark answers. "We wait for our pilot to return then we go back to Indigo."
"Why don't we go get the orb?"
"Let this investigation finish over there. We can't go until the police and fire department are gone. Plus we have, what, five days until it's announced over the news. We have time."
"Don't procrastinate now." Mik laughs at the memories, "You did that one time a couple months ago and it cost you."
"I remember, don't bring it up."
But Mik does anyway. "He told me everyday he was going to the movies to watch the latest thriller. I forgot which one. The day he finally went, the movie he wanted to see was taken out and he was in a bad mood all day. This doesn't compare to last year, oh, and the Christmas rush once, and..."
"That's enough. I'm the leader here, show some respect." Mark folds his arms in from disappointment. He wants to be treated as the leader, not as a member.
Kurt accidentally slips out, "But Shant was the real leader."
...Silence...
"Ok," Scottie yells out, "Who wants to spit off the building?"
Al raises his hand with a smile and follows Scottie to the side. Patricia shrugs and goes with them to watch.
"Kurt, Shant is not here. A real leader doesn't abandon his team and his friends."
"Yea, but..."
Jack checks into the talk. "Look, we need to work together. Forget who is what right now and concentrate on our mission at hand. We're stuck here until our ride is ready to go. Let's get to know one another then maybe we can work better as a team and accomplish our missions without a hitch. If we really are the Elites, then we should be win this war."
Mark nods, "For a guy that doesn't talk much, you got some good points." He gathers his team together and the information starts to flow.
Mark is the nephew of the retired Psychic Gym leader Sabrina, which is where he learned to get his psychic ability and his fascination for Psychic Pokemon. He has also joined many organization like a secret missions group that was responsible for stopping an Alakazam experiment and trying to terrorize cities. He's been an Elite since age twenty nine, holding the position for eight years now. His favorite things to do in life is practice with his Pokemon and help the league officials with their job. His personal life revolves around the Elite system and he uses his spare time to work around the stadium.
Scottie is the world traveler, having been in every league in the surrounding area. Although he hasn't beaten all the Gym leaders, he knows a person in every town and city. He grew up in a small town which he can't remember then moved to Lavender Town where his family still lives to the day. He has a story for each town and for each town an adventure happened. Through his travels is how he found Mark one day, helping a small tournament in Celadon City. There they met and hung out and became fast friends. He likes to mess around most of the time and have fun like a normal twenty-one year old adult would do. What he really wants to do is travel the world and see the things people can't imagine are out there.
Mik is grumpy and complains a lot. He is the oldest member of the Elites and the longest lasting member at that spanning over twenty years. Nobody knows much about his history and where he came from because he won't tell anyone. "I'm here now, why do ya' want to know my past?" he would say. Because of his age, he thinks he is wiser than most when he really doesn't have much of a clue to the younger generation taking over. When the new battle stadium technology was built in, he refused to step foot in the stadium for a whole year and delayed a match until the league forced him in or they'd have fired him. He loves the old way things used to be and now the battles are getting worse he says. He talks about retiring a lot nowadays and soon enough he will. This war will be his last great effort then he will retire to an island he already has planned to buy.
Patricia graduated from the top medical schools in both Kanto and Johto Leagues in both Pokemon and human fields, thus making her multi talented. A smile on her face and the love for all nature keeps her spirit going. She doesn't like battling because it turns people into monsters looking for aggression. She wanted to help people and fixing them up is the best way to do it. A small town of Portsmith is where her private Pokemon Center is located. The town also has a small hospital in case she needed to be called. The town is perfectly located outside a forest full of bug types that have poison and she can heal them all. With her practice in poison treatment, she created her own faster acting serum and to date, has cured all creatures that have been poisoned. Lately, Portsmith has had no visitors so when she got the call to join Team Elite from Mark, whom she had saved from poison once before, she knew she must help.
Al is the kid from Hoenn, the place where only Scottie has visited. His move from the Hoenn region to Johto was tough been when he met a resident master that defeated the Elites, this gave him a friend and hero to look up to. Al wants to be strong like Jack and be able to defend his family from Team Aqua. Aqua and Al's dad, Barry, had a bet and Barry lost. Since he wasn't able to pay, they were threatened and beaten until they gave up the money. So they moved to the quiet town in Cherrygrove City. Al has his own Pokemon but doesn't like showing them off. He only lets them out when the time is right. His goal from joining the war is to protect Jack and gain experience for himself so he can protect his father from Aqua before they find them and strike. They owe a lot of money.
Kurt is the youngest Elite in the history of the league. He received the position last year when Kat, the long haired women at the first meeting, retired for life. His favorite things to do is party with friends all night and have the time of a lifetime. He plays video games, he hangs with friends and goes to their parties, which aren't as strong as his but he manages to feel comfortable. His battling technique scares people the most with his unusual strategies and the way his Pokemon move with his words. His strong will and cool attitude surely give him to be the coolest guy out there. His birthplace was in Pallet Town but he didn't get his first Pokemon from the professor there. Instead, he went out and got his own just by throwing a Pokeball at it. That Poliwag, now a Poliwrath, is still his partner to this day.
Jack's home is on the path between Cerulean and Saffron City. It took him three years to defeat the Johto and Kanto league gyms and a while to get past the Elites, three of which are on this team. His style of battling is odd to most people as he uses the most unusual choices and the least popular Pokemon. "It's not the strength that counts, it's the heart" he would say. His favorite Pokemon of all time is Dratini and Dragonair, which he has one of each. His love for those two Pokemon refuses to let them evolve any higher. His original goal was to go and get all the badges and skip the Elites but pressure got to him and he did it anyway. When he moved to Cherrygrove City, he thought his adventure was over and the life of a small town was his. When Scottie, a guy he only met once, came to his house, a new adventure started. Now he wants to protect his family from the war and defend his friends to the end.
"What about Clark?" Mik grumbles sarcastically. "I know he's a screwball and nuts to the bone. Only cares about himself, that one."
"Don't forget his non-respect towards older people, eh Mik." Kurt nudges.
Mark smiles. "Alright, I'll say a few words. His father went crazy one night and his mother was scared and sent him to the crazy house. She didn't feel safe knowing her son, Clark was still home so she sent him to live with me. He may be sarcastic and hard to control and have no connection with the people he meets, but he knows a lot and is very smart. He observes everything, that is his nature as a Pokemon watcher. Hopefully he doesn't forget the news, which will be happening in an hour."
Nods go around the circle. Poor Mallard will never get to see Mary and the news again."
Kurt points to the pilot. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"
"Yea."
The pilot looks to Mark who nods. "Very well. My name is Chuck. Last name?" Mark shakes his head. "Ok. I've been a pilot for ten years now and I love this job and I hope I get to keep it. My wife and children would be disappointed to hear that I am doing this but Mark is the boss and if he wants to fly somewhere, I must take him. This is my job and I do it with honor. The one rule when I'm pilot, no food or drinks during the flight."
Mik yawns purposely loud.
"Right. I do spend some time at Kurt's parties, only by invite of course. Even at my mid thirties age, the party gets me going. I think that's all."
"That was good. Now that we know more about each other, let's keep it going."
The conversations last well overtime, even after the gasoline arrives. Maybe for once, now that they all know more about each other, they can understand and finally work together. This has been Jack's goal since they started.
With the helicopter boarded and the team squeezed in the back, they take off from the skyscraper and head back to Indigo, leaving Vermillion City for the day. They would have to come back later to get the orb and they must do it before the fifth day.
