5 Years Gone By Part-4 Final!

Cherrygrove was livelier than ever, but this was on the surface. A course of underhanded events had taken place here in the city—notably, the disappearance of children from Roy's school, or just children in general.

These kidnappings weren't random. The authorities investigated thoroughly and concluded that these were kids with high scores. Not just high scores, but high combat scores regarding basic pokemon battles.

The authorities patrolling the city had more than quadrupled. The parents of these missing kids were making a fuss constantly. They believed that the police weren't trying hard enough to find their kids.

The situation got so bad that they called several detectives to solve these cases. These events had all happened two years ago, but since Roy's first test back then—five years had passed. Roy was currently thirteen and he frowned when he recalled these events.

"Some of the kids were even poisoned to death by the assailant and not taken. They say it was from poisonous bites or usually poisonous gas." Roy was also worried about this because the kids that were attacked were the ones who were about to start their journey.

These kids were usually thirteen to fourteen years of age. They were still called kids at thirteen and fourteen, but they were called young adults at fifteen.

However, Roy was cautious, so he asked his parents if he could take one of their pokemon with him to school when he went. They, of course, agreed instantly; without even having to think about it. Both his parent also gave his brother and sister one of their pokemon for protection.

They all hid these Poké Balls in their pockets, reducing them to their shrunken forms. Roy and his siblings were given one pokemon each to choose from. Roy and his sibling were turning fourteen in 2 weeks.

There was a special competition coming up for the students across Johto. This was a battle competition supported by the Pokemon Alliance. Everyone was shocked, this was the first time in history that the Pokemon Alliance was hosting such an event for youngsters.

Only students with the best scores were allowed to participate. These special competitions were being held in Johto, Kanto, Sinnoh, and Hoenn. The influence of the Pokemon Alliance wasn't so strong in the regions across the sea.

Fortunately, Roy and his sibling were chosen. There were exactly 256 kids chosen for this battle competition across the region. There were only 17 kids from his school picked for this competition, which could be considered a decent number.

The most unfortunate thing was that only the top 32 would receive rewards. The others would get nothing in return. The top 3 received the best rewards, followed by the top 5, and the top 10 last. From 11 to 32, they would receive rewards as well, but not on the same as the ladder.

Roy only knew that one of the rewards for the top 32 was a pokemon guaranteed. As for the rules, he knew that the battle would be random battles. The participants would need to pick 3 random pokemon from a large box.

This bit of information was leaked by someone.

Roy was sitting at the table in the kitchen reading a book about other regions, such as Unova. This was one of his favorite regions. As for his brother and sister, they were watching a Poké Cup tournament taking place on tv in the living room.

"Almost about that time, that Emoji-headed fella said my Quest system would activate when my journey started." He knew his journey would begin when he was fifteen. Roy was also aware that he would receive a starter pack once the system was activated.

Roy closed his book and stood up before going into the living room.

"Come on, dodge, don't let him hit with such strong attacks!" Troy yelled and said.

"Hehe, he can't move as fast anymore, he's been paralyzed!" Diana laughed and jeered. Through an app, she had bet all of her allowance on the woman battling.

"Jolteon is already fast enough, what idiot would need Thunder Wave on it?" Troy was furious, he was about to lose all of his money. He somewhat wished he could smack this woman on the screen, it didn't make sense to him.

"Through paralyzes, she can run circles around him. She can't risk him using agility or some other stat-changing move to 1up her, hmph!" Diana was all smiles, if the woman won the match, she would win 52,000 Poké dollars.

This was because she staked all her winning on this person since the start of the tournament!

"What? Diana, you're actually about to win?" Roy was surprised. He didn't bother with these bets because he would rather not risk it.

"Of course, I'll save this money for my journey. I heard raising pokemon can be quite costly, so I need to be prepared." Diana smiled with conviction.

Roy looked at Troy, his expression was very unsightly. He turned towards the screen and saw that Jolteon was up against a Hitmonchan, but it could no longer keep up or retaliate against it.

In no time, Hitmonchan was worn down and defeated. Hitmonchan was taking those thunderbolts fairly well at first due to its high Special Defense stat.

With its Mach punches and its ability Iron Fist, it was a dangerous foe for Jolteon. However, things turned for worse when it was paralyzed, it could still move fast with its Bullet punch and Mach Punch but only in quick bursts.

Afterward, it was fair game for Jolteon to beat down on without it having the ability to retaliate.

"Nooo!" Troy's expression sank, he had lost all of his savings just like that!

"Hahahaha! I'm in the money!" Diana roared in laughter.

Kids could indeed bet, but only through their parents. Diana's ₽5,000 had turned into a whopping ₽52,000!

Roy sighed. He didn't dare to bet like this in fear of losing everything he staked, but his sister was too audacious.

"Congratulations, Diana." Roy was amazed and congratulated her.

"Thanks, big brother. Chances make champions and I'm all for chances, hehe!" Diana was ecstatic about her winnings—the greater to risk the bigger the reward she always thought.

"What is going on? What is the ruckus all about?" Royce came in after hearing the loud cheers and grieving voices from the other room.

"Dad, guess who just got paid?" Diana chuckled and said.

"No way! Did you...win?" Royce was shocked. He had participated in these bets many times and had lost every single time. He couldn't even win one Poké dollar, thus he completely gave up on these tourney bets.

"That's right, I won ₽52,000 from the betting pool!" Diana had to stop smiling, her jaw was starting to hurt from doing it too long.

"Great, this is great! You'll be able to use that money on your journey soon to come!" Royce was happy for his daughter, the more competent they were; the more assured he was.

"Troy, it's okay, you can't always be a winner. Maybe next time." Royce gazed at his eldest son and sighed inwardly.

"I understand dad, but I will not participate in any of these bets anymore." Troy made a firm decision, he was done with these types of things.

"Haha, you and me both." Royce didn't fault his son for thinking this way, it was understandable.

"Roy, I assume you didn't participate at all, right?" Royce asked Roy curiously.

"Nope, I didn't participate." Roy shook his head, he wanted no dealing with these types of things. This was only because he couldn't tell who had the upper hand or not—if he was there in person he wouldn't mind betting.

"What's going on?" Right then, their mom walked through the front door.

Diana quickly explained what had happened and her mom was elated to hear it. She went over to cheer Troy up, but he had already recovered from his losses.

"Say, let's go to the Cherrygrove Pokemon Zoo." Diane suddenly thought, she wanted to spend some time out with her family while Royce was off work.

"Oh, that's a great idea. Are you guys up for it?" Royce turned to the trio and asked with a smile.

"Of course, let's go!" Diana hurriedly said. Not giving Roy or Troy time to say anything, but their answer was clear.

"Alright, everyone, get ready." Diane quickly went to change clothes.

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Far off in a dark alley, two characters dressed in all black could be seen lurking about. Their figure blended really well into the darkness, it was almost as if they were apart of it.

"We managed to capture several talented children so far, but there are still a good number of kids that need to be captured." This man was tall and had a deep voice.

"I know the perfect candidates we can capture next. They are siblings, they're all perfect candidates we can capture and add to the Team Rocket trials." This was a woman, but most could only see her silhouette as she didn't reveal her face.

"Ah, right, you mentioned this before. Didn't you say there was a set of triplets worth capturing?" The man's eyebrows rose with deep interest.

"Hehe, yes, I've been keeping an eye on them. This is especially so for the middle child, Roy. If we can capture them—we can force them to join and participate in the Team Rocket Island trials."

The woman said with confidence.

"Good, let's make a plan to capture the three, it shouldn't be a problem. Just like the rest, they can only be captured by us, no one can resist Team Rocket." The expression turned cold and his deepened.

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Meanwhile, Roy and his family were strolling around the Pokemon Zoo. There were Tauros, Miltank, Natu, and many more types of pokemon around.

Some pokemon voluntarily stayed in their confinements, while others simply couldn't escape. Some didn't care, since they were treated well and ate well. There were Pokemon that was too aggressive and couldn't be touched, while some could be played with and petted.

"Wow, look, that sheep is so cute. I prefer tough looking pokemon but I'll make the exception for this cute sheep." Diana pointed at a horde of Mareep gorging in their confinements.

"Hmm, not my type, but I wouldn't mind capturing it for my Pokedex if I had one." Troy wasn't that interested in this pokemon, but it would be a must-catch with a Pokedex.

Roy took a closer look at the Mareep.

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<Species: Mareep♀

<Type: Electric

<Level: 5

<Nature: Timid

<Aptitude: Shallow Yellow 🟡

<Ability: Static

<Moves: Tackle, Thunder Wave, Growl,

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The highest Mareep here in terms of aptitude was Shallow Yellow. There were a few that had Orange, but the vast majority had Red aptitudes.

"Good taste Sis, this pokemon is actually really good." Roy couldn't deny that Ampharos was an amazing pokemon, it was worth training up.

"I hope I can find one in the wild when my journey starts, that would be for the best." Diana could only sigh, it wasn't going to be easy finding her desired pokemon. She had a few pokemon in mind she wanted to form a team with.

"It might come earlier than you think." Roy hoped that the same horde of Mareep would still be on route 32. This was where they were in the game and the players could go here and pick one up to challenge the gym leader.

Roy took note to remember telling her this information before their journey began. This would serve as a great advantage against the likes of Falkner later.

"Look there, now that's a cool pokemon. That's something I would want to have on my team!" Troy smirked and pointed toward a group of pokemon.

They had a gray rocky exterior with several tough and even sharp edges to them. A sharp horn extended from the center of its face, as it gave off a menacing presence.

"Rhyhorn." Roy was in awe to see it personally, this thing looked like a mini tank than couldn't be trifled with.

Roy shook his head, if this place retained its game elements, then Troy wouldn't be able to get one until he reached Victory's Road or the Safari Zone.

"It does look amazing and menacing, I like it!" Diana nodded and approved.

They started to pet and play with the friendlier pokemon, such as Sentret and Bellsprout. There were more pokemon who were friendly, but all in all, they were having fun.