Eric's peaceful training trip was interrupted when a Nidoking rammed through a wall and appeared in front of him. The Nidoking looked furious and disoriented as it shook its head and roared in anger.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that its eyes were deep red. Eric felt something unusual about this Nidoking, so he immediately scanned its data.
Pokémon: Nidoking (Anomalous State)
Gender: Male
Level: 37
Type: Ground/Poison
Ability: Poison Point
Held Item: None
Potential: Deep Green (#Error#)
Eric frowned, looking at its stats. Something was very wrong.
"Haunter, take this one seriously. Don't let your guard down."
"Haunt"
The Nidoking phased out of its confusion and noticed Eric's group. He didn't hesitate before immediately rushing towards them, as if it had no thoughts besides attacking whatever it could see
'It's fast. But a frontal attack like this won't work.'
"Haunter, Shadow Ball!"
Haunter had started creating the projectile even before Eric commanded. Just like before, Ghost-type energy surged in the environment as the Shadow Ball condensed in front of him.
Nidoking hadn't even covered half the distance between them before it was struck by it and sent flying, slamming its back against the rocky wall.
But much to Eric and Haunter's surprise, the Nidoking shook it off and got up.
Ever since Haunter reached the intermediate level, no Pokémon of the same tier had been able to withstand even one of his attacks. Even the Golem from before was only one level lower than the Nidoking in front of them, but it was defeated in one blow. Yet, this Nidoking barely looked phased.
Nidoking stomped on the ground, causing the floor to shake slightly, as it opened its mouth and unleashed a blast of fire towards Haunter. Simultaneously, the ground in front of it tore apart in a line, advancing towards Eric.
It was the move, Earth Power!
Haunter blocked the flamethrower with a Ghost Ball, and Poliwhirl stood in front of Eric and used Brick Break on the ground to counter the Earth Power coming towards them.
"Haunter, keep attacking it with Shadow Ball! It is still at the intermediate level. No matter how unusual, there is no way a Pokémon of that level can easily take your attacks."
"Haunt!"
As Eric expected, Nidoking eventually lost after taking a barrage of Shadow Balls from Haunter.
But it still took four attacks to take it down, which was very impressive, but also felt unnatural. As if the Nidoking was pushing its body beyond what its limits would allow.
And those red eyes...
"Haunter, scout ahead a little. We'll move more carefully from here on out."
Eric said as he held Growlithe tighter in his arms. He still hadn't grown enough to be sent inside a Poké Ball, so Eric had to be extra careful about his safety.
---
On a different section of the mountain from where Eric was, 2 men dressed in all-black uniforms were crouching in front of a group of cages that held Pokémon. If you look at them from the front, you could see a red 'R' on their uniforms.
One of the men opened a cage to let out a Sandshrew.
The Sandshrew immediately tried to attack the man but was restrained by an Arbok that wrapped its tail around it.
"You look high-spirited. That's good. Keep that same energy after this."
The man smirked as he took out a syringe and injected something into the Pokémon.
Sandshrew screamed in pain as the Arbok let it go. Its body began to change as it grew spikes on its back. There was no evolution light, but the Sandshrew had painfully evolved into a Sandslash, and its eyes had become a bloody red.
"Let's see if it works this time."
The other man said as he operated a nearby machine and observed the Sandslash.
As he pulled a lever on the machine, Sandlash screamed, looking even more in pain. It held its head with its hands and looked disoriented, as if it were fighting a battle with itself to remain in control.
Its eyes switched between red and a normal color, but eventually settled on red as it looked at the rocket member with madness in its eyes.
"Looks like this one's a failure as well. Arbok, subdue it. Don't let it run away like that Nidoking."
"Arrbok!"
The two Pokémon clashed, but Sandslash wasn't Arbok's match even after powering up and was suffocated by its tail till it passed out. Then the man threw Sandslash back into its cage.
"What do we do now? We've trained more than 30 times, yet each of them was a failure. I'm afraid Officer Viper won't be happy with this result."
"There is nothing that we can do. Besides, it's that damn Viper's experiment. It's his fault that it isn't working properly."
"You know that bastard doesn't think that way. To him, it doesn't matter why we failed or whose fault it was. Just that we didn't achieve what he wanted. He's totally crazy!"
Sigh. "Why is my luck so bad to be stuck with such a crazy superior. I would've been a Captain by now under anyone else."
The grunt said as he opened the cage of yet another Pokémon. It was time for another trial run.
---
"Looks like you were right. There are traces of Team Rocket activity here."
Said a woman in a blue uniform with teal hair as she looked at a young man behind her.
"I was just lucky to find a trail, Miss Jenny. It wasn't anything impressive." The man spoke in a calm, polite voice. He was dressed in a similar blue uniform, the trademark of the league police; his facial features were sharp, and his hair was a dual tone of black with red ends.
"Bahaha, don't be like that, Kai. You should never diminish your accomplishments."
A burly police officer next to Kai said as he patted Kai's back. But the force behind his arms was so much that it pushed Kai forward
"Stop it, you brute. You're hurting the kid. How is it that after so many years, you still have no control over that ridiculous strength of yours?"
A scrawny-looking officer in glasses commented from behind in irritation.
"Bahaha! It is you lot that needs to toughen up! Don't underestimate the value of muscles!"
"Tch- That's just the problem with you muscle heads. Always thinkin-"
"Alright, that's enough, you two! We don't have time for another one of your arguments. Focus on the mission at hand."
Officer Jenny cut in before these 2 entered into an argument, which historically could go for hours. And they didn't have time for that.
"Hm? There is someone ahead."
She suddenly commented after noticing her Arcanine gave a signal.
The group carefully made its way forward and soon came upon a young boy dressed in a black jacket and grey pants, commanding a Haunter and a Fearow to take on a horde of Pokémon. There was a Poliwhirl at his side, and he was holding a baby Growlithe.
The group observed as Haunter blasted away the opposing Pokémon with one move.
"Damn!" The musclehead officer commented. The scrawny officer adjusted his glasses as he instantly went into analysis mode.
"He's quite strong." Kai narrowed his eyes.
The group then made its way towards Eric, who also noticed them.
'The League Police? Why were they here?'
He looked in their direction curiously. What did they want from him?
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