The Butterfly Effect

Steven and his team slowly walked towards route 3, they were officially heading towards Mt.Moon. Steven and his team were very excited to get to the cave as they were bustling with excitement over the possibility of a new teammate. Steven was planning on catching a zubat or golbat in this cave and raising it into a crobat, this would be a good cover for a flying and a poison type as well as good team experience in facing aerial opponents. Steven and his team walked up to the guards standing in front of the front of route 3. Unlike in the game, where an npc wouldn't let you pass because you hadn't passed Brock's gym, the entrance to route 3 was actually being blocked off by a couple of Officer Jenny's. Apparently they've had inexperienced trainers go missing in this area recently and they were now required by the league to make sure that trainers have at least passed Brock's gym challenge if they wished to go through Mt.Moon. Steven walked up to one of the Officer Jenny and handed her the pewter city gym badge as confirmation that he had beaten brock. The Officer Jenny gave him a simple head nod and then opened a small gate. Steven and his team swiftly headed on to route 3 as they started preparing themselves. This gate and this route had a secret name among trainers who traversed it, Gate Before The Gauntlet. This description was actually underselling it a bit.

This route was a very long route in comparison to all the other routes in the area, and it never got easier, so a lot of the time trainers would have to spend months in the gauntlet. The so called 'Gauntlet' was first the route 3 trainers, the whole route up till mount moon was packed with trainers who wanted to train before mt.moon. These trainers would often fight each other and as this was a specialized area for trainers to fight in, there were unspoken rules that meant you could never not accept a challenge, even if it was 2 or 3 teams vs 1. As Steven walked forward into the route, before even taking 5 steps into the route suddenly 7 other trainers came up and blocked his path.

The first to speak up was wearing dark colours but none of his clothes had brands on them, giving him a mysterious look, like an assassin. He said to Steven,"I'm sorry but if you wanna go any further you gonna have to beat all of us." All the trainers pulled out their pokeballs from their wastes, belts, or jackets and held them in their hands, ready to throw out their team members to participate in an exciting battle! Everyone was tense waiting to see what steven would do, would he back off or would he accept?

Steven for his part had stopped and hadn't done anything noteworthy up until this point. Then he slowly reached down to his belt and simply pressed the 4 buttons in a slow, deliberate manner to show that he would be using everything all at once. All the trainers who saw this instantly started grabbing the 1 or 2 other pokemon in their team and slowly started releasing their own teams. Steven does get confused as the man in black never releases anything other than 2 koffing, but doesn't really question it. He seemed to be leading these other trainers but his own pokemon didn't even look that strong, which was unusual. Steven made a mental note of him in case he became important later. It had to be said that after all the tense days that Steven spent in the forest battling and killing, while dancing with death, his battle sense grew exponentially and now he noticed that when he would look at people he started watching their behaviors, patterns, and their vocal inflections. Steven was starting to study people, and he was starting to do it unconsciously, categorizing people based on their suspicion and danger levels. The man in black was slowly starting to bring warning signs to Steven's mind, warning him of danger.

All the trainers sent out their pokemon and this scene was very similar to steven, with 20+ pokemon versus 3 or 4, it seemed steven was destined for these kinds of fights. Suddenly the man in black yelled,"Koffing, Smokescreen!" and the battle was on. All the trainers started giving attacks to their pokemon, and steven quickly hid his presence as much as he could, getting out of the way of the attacks. He didn't say anything to his team other than,'Go.' His pokemon all dashed towards their opponents all charging different attacks, ready to engage in a glorious battle.

==Team Rocket Hideout #74==

A man was standing before another man while bowing his head in submission and fear. His left leg was in a cast and it seemed he had trouble breathing due to the injury in his stomach. However the man who stood before the bowing man didn't seem to care about the injuries the other had been inflicted with, looking rather angry at the report he was hearing.

The man who was bowing was dressed in all black with the exception of the giant red letter R on his uniform. He quickly stated to the other man,"Boss, I am sorry I have no more information, everything that happened is the absolute truth. I have no idea how, but that young boy is the very same person that stopped us in Viridian Forest and somehow has a connection with Lance of the Elite 4."

The boss suddenly stood up at these words in a fit of anger, and he grabbed the man by his shirt, screaming out,"You are all so pathetic! Letting a young, new trainer beat you as if he was swatting a fly! I do not believe you all weren't just cowards! Yet here you stand, with this report of heresy at best. Fine, What is his name, do you at least know that?"

The subordinate, still struggling to breath due to the slight blood loss in his stomach area, responds in a fearful tone,"Yes sir! I know his first name is Steven and If I am not wrong he should be headed to his first Gym challenge which is Brock!"

The boss sneered at him, responding,"If he is already so powerful, that means he will defeat Brock fairly easily and move on to… Mount Moon." The boss who had been holding the mans shirt collar quickly dropped him and the man fell onto his injured leg, however he did not cry out in pain, he loved his keeping his life after all. The boss quickly started to think about what exactly was going on in Mt.Moon right now…

"Fuck!!" The boss screamed as he punched through his solid mahogany desk.

The man was extremely taken aback and asked in as calm a voice as he could muster,"b-Boss! What's wrong sir!"

The Boss didn't answer and whipped out his phone, dialing a number he didn't think he would ever dial again. The phone rang for what seemed like ages to the injured man and then when the boss was starting to get irritated the phone on the other line was picked up.

"So, I see you have called Giovanni." Said a young, haughty voice on the other line.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Yes.." Giovanni smeared right back through the phone,"such a pleasure talking once again to the traitor who took half my men and then fled to another continent.." Giovanni's voice was poisonous with hate as he spoke to the apparent "ally" on the other side.

The other side suddenly clicked their tongue and said,"You called me Giovanni, what do you want?"

Giovanni was willing to let go something substantial or else it wouldn't get this fellows attention and so he paused and then after a moment smiled wickedly, causing the viewing injured man to shiver in fear. He pursed his lips and said,"I have a young trainer that killed over 300 of my men and injured countless more, he has foiled numerous plans and he is a pest that must be eliminated.."

The man on the end actually sounded surprised and asked,"Over 300?"

Giovanni chuckled and replied,"Yes, and that's honestly just the bodies we've identified so far, it'll take a diamond class cleanup effort in that forest."

The person on the other side gulped audibly and then hesitantly asked," "He" actually gave the ok on that?"

"He was the one who called it in.." Giovanni lamented

The other side took a deep breath and asked,"Ok, this kid is dangerous, got it. Now, why the call?"

Giovanni grinned, in his mind he was slowly preparing his hook bait, and with this image he said,"He is currently on his way to Mt.Moon where we are conducting tests on the moon stone mythology along with the clefairy in the area for "him". With how many times he has foiled my plans, I have no doubt that he is on a direct course with the team in the area."

The other side sucked in a sharp breath and said,"Ok, since you know I am near the area, you want me to rush over and make sure this kid does not foil the plans again… I will do this Giovanni for "him" but you know as well as I, every favor begets a favor, so, what is your offer?"

Giovanni smiled as he threw out the bait and its hook, waiting for the fish to bite as he said with a sinister voice,"I will forgive your little lover, permanently and on top of that, give a blessing."

The other side was silent for a long time, whether shock, or surprise was up to the person to decide. After waiting 40 seconds Giovanni heard the other voice say,"The deal is accepted, a favor begets a favor, and a debt is a debt, the golden crown shines upon us all."

Giovanni had a wretched smile as he replied,"The gold crown sees the binding of equals. Now, make sure those plans are not disrupted! I need to return to my main project!"

The other line chuckled at this and sarcastically said,"Still working on the mewtwo project huh? No matter how hard you work for that, it wont happen old man, give up and do something actually productive. Otherwise, you'll have another person who will backstab you soon enough." After he said that he hung up, infuriating Giovanni.

He was so mad he crushed the phone in his hand, cursing under his breath,"One day, you will die by my hand, Cyrus!"

–

Brock looked at his pokemon as he held several books that looked slightly worn sitting around him. His little brother, one of many, is sitting in his lap as he looks over what was in front of him.

The curious boy, Tommy, asked Brock,"Big brother, what is all this?"

Brock let out a sigh and said,"Well, today I battled a trainer and his pokemon pulled out moves I had only seen top tier experts produce and I was so curious about him and how his pokemon got like that."

The boy smiled and asked,"You talked to the strong guy?"

Brock responds with,"Yes, except he didn't say anything and didn't answer any questions I asked him, only handed me this sealed letter and a few books in an old bag. But I haven't opened any of it yet."

The boy made a face and asked,"Well, when its my birthday I always read the card first, so big brother should definitely read the letter first!"

Brock ruffled tommy's hair and said,"Ok, bud, I'll read it aloud so you can follow along!" Brock opened the letter and narrated its contents after he cleared his throat. "Hello Brock, my name is Steven and I have a unique ability. I cannot speak to a disease but this has allowed my mind to process information differently, making it so I can telepathically communicate with people through my pokemon. I can also telepathically speak to my pokemon!"

Brock was shocked when he read that and Tommy just said,"He's so cool!"

Brock, stunned, just continued,"I'll be straight, with no disrespect intended, I do not think being a gym leader is the right position for you." Brock was outraged upon reading this, forgetting Tommy as he continued reading,"For starters, you specialize in rock types, a very strong early tier pokemon type, average in most aspects for pokemon holding this type, with a few exceptions. Very easy to catch, however extremely challenging to train to sufficient levels. You may be offended but this is just the average for the rock type, and frankly you don't even utilize the rock type's most important attribute! Defense! Your geodude and Onix are all good pokemon, they are properly trained, that I can see well enough. However, I noticed in all your fights you tended to use your geodudes like they were actual cannonballs meant to just tackle them with a hard body, and your Onix, while being a little speedy, pales in comparison to pokemon built for speed! You have trained your pokemon to be aggressive in attack while compromising all the defense, and that is the main reason that my physic type, who was weaker than your Onix, could so handily defeat you. You did not even qualify as a beginner trainer in my eyes…."

Brock started to cry in indignation but continued reading, completely forgetting about Tommy, who was now quietly sitting on his brother's lap. "However, that does not mean you are without hope. You have raised your pokemon extremely well, and my eyes tell me you have a special talent, and that is breeding and raising pokemon!"

Brock was startled upon reading this and suddenly stood up, forcing Tommy off him, but not realizing it, continued reading aloud,"The way your pokemon fight, while wrong, shows that you have a high degree of excellence in this field and its possible you have not fully realized it. I wish for you to realize that dream. Attached is a book that will be available to most researchers soon who study breeding and raising pokemon, however this one is my personal notebook, so it is much more detailed and has ideas for the future. The second book is actually an incomplete thesis on what I like to call Egg Moves are Inherited & the third book is an even more initial draft on an idea I have no idea how to prove called "Abilities". This one is hard for me too and will soon get posted as research material in about a month to Poka Republica Scientifica for the many people specialized in the field to start working on it, so don't feel pressured. I see greatness in you, and I know that you have things you must protect as well. Your dad, I know."

Brock audibly gasped and even Tommy's eyes widened at this revelation. This was not a good subject for his brother! Brock, not sure what emotion to feel, simply continued,"You took over the gym because he skipped out on you and your siblings and you took over to provide for them. I understand, and I will not ask you to work for free. On the back of this note is the email and cells of both Professor Oak and Professor Elm, call oak first and tell him I am recommending you to be the first member of "Pokemon Boundless Research"."

Brock almost lost control of his legs when he read that. He didn't care for most things but even he knew that "Boundless Research Group" led by its mysterious leader was a new but overbearing force that was already making enormous waves in the gym and competitive circles. He was a gym leader and had access to certain information afterall!! This boy is inviting him to this prestigious group!?

Brock weakly continued reading,"I have taken the liberty to buy the land your home is on and someone will arrive to sign the land over to you to officially own. On top of this, I will give you a healthy starting pay of 120,000 Pokedollars a year with plenty of room to grow should you make contributions. When you contact oak, tell him to give you at least 20,000 pokedollars to leave with someone you trust so your siblings are well taken care of. If you accept, start reading over the material, form some ideas, call oak and then elm, and start heading over to pallet town to start on a brand new journey!"

Brock finally dropped the letter and sank to his knees onto the floor, weak in the knees thinking about how he had somehow gotten the attention of such a big shot.

Tommy was crying and Brock just now noticed, quickly running up to him, asking fervently,"What wrong tommy!?"

Tommy cried and laughed at the same time and said,"Big brother has been blessed by Arceus! How could I not be happy for my big brother!?"

Brock stared at Tommy for a moment, then hugged him and picked him up while gaining strength in his legs. In this moment, Brock saw the happiness that this boon had given his sibling, it had given him hope, and now, they were both walking towards the living, a new purpose in their minds.

Brock swung open the door to all his siblings sitting in the living room playing around with each other and said with confidence in his voice,"Brothers and sisters, I have great news!"