The First Coalition

"Here, eat well."

Erika told the trainer as she places two trays on top of the table, it was for Yoake and Gardevoir, who've recently woke up after smelling the aroma of today's breakfast from her room.

"Thanks." Yoake thanked her, Gardevoir was about to thank her as well but due to the language barrier between the two, she decided to give a smile and nod.

Erika smiled at the two and began to drink some hot water. The two were eating a very traditional breakfast of Kanto, hot rice in a bowl, a newly cracked egg so they can put the yolk on the rice and mix it, some soy sauce, and salmon.

While the two eat their breakfast, they heard a doorbell from the front door.

"I'll get it," Erika said as she stands up and headed to the front door.

She walked to the front door and opened it. She was greeted by three familiar people, one has black messy spiky hair, the other one was blonde with a side-swipe quiff, and the third one has orange short hair.

"Long time no see, Erika." greeted by the orange-haired. Erika was so shocked to see the three, she immediately hugged the orange-haired and the one with the black hair.

"I miss you two rascals," Erika repeated, after telling her statement to the three, she withdraws from the hug and immediately welcomed them to her home.

"Well, come in everyone, we're just having breakfast." Erika welcomed them. The three removed their shoes and followed her, as they walk in, the first thing they saw was the trainer and the Gardevoir, eating their breakfast. The two were busy eating to the point they ignored the three familiar people coming in.

"Wait… is that?" Misty, upon seeing the trainer, asked Erika in disbelief. The maiden nodded to the question.

"Eyyy my man, wassup!" The blonde greeted the trainer.

Yoake, after hearing the familiar voice, stopped eating and looked at the blonde hair fellow, it was none other than Ellix, the Vermillion Electric-type specialist, and with him was Brock and Misty.

"Hey Ellix, wassup!" Yoake greeted him as well. The two were friends at this point due to how they have a similar habit, life, and issues surrounding them. Besides Ren, he was one of the first friends he ever had after leaving his hermit life.

After greeting his friend, he also noticed Brock and Misty and decided to greet them as well and invited them to their breakfast.

"Brock and Misty right? You guys wanna eat?" Yoake asked the two.

"Nah, I'm already full." Misty declined Yoake's invitation since she already ate breakfast earlier, and the same goes for Brock.

"Well, I'm guessing you already know all about us since you know… our bios are on the internet," Brock stated. The trainer raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

"Nope, I only use the internet to gather information about Pokemon and strategies," Yoake said. This cause an awkward moment between the two, since Brock witnessed a lot of trainers already know him beforehand but this was very different. From the first day they met, the trainer wasn't keen on knowing him more but was more focused on to quickly win and get the badge.

"I see… not bad," Brock was impressed by the trainer, usually, people his age use the internet to gather data from others by online dating, watch videos, and the laughs but this trainer is out of the ordinary.

"Now, let's get this settle with. Erika, what do you want us to talk about?" Misty scoffed as she breaks the awkward silence in the room. She pans out to the maiden, which she looked at Yoake.

"Okay, Mister Katsuragi and Gardevoir, can you two go to your room?" Erika politely asked the two. They were confused about what was going on but since Yoake was indebted to Erika'a kindness in saving him, he decided to listen and followed her orders.

The two quickly finished their meal, Gardevoir was about to take the trays to the kitchen but Erika insisted that she'll handle it. They went to their separate room and didn't bother to listen to whatever the specialist would say.

"Why didn't you let them stay?" Misty asked Erika in curiosity.

"It's something very urgent and it's better for them to not know," Erika stated. Her words raised the eyebrows of the other specialist and made them think of the said urgency.

"And that is?" Brock asked the Maiden, on which she gulped and uttered the phrase that will shock the room.

"Team Rocket is back."

"How? Didn't they disband six years ago?" Misty doubted the maiden's words as she was worried about this as well.

"Three years ago to be exact." The Maiden corrected her.

"What do you mean three years ago? Did they have a resurgence?" Brock asked her.

"Yes. I have a friend, who worked as one of the Kimono dancers in Johto, saw Team Rocket's resurgence just so they can find Giovanni but since Ethan and Lyra managed to stop them, they disbanded and never to be seen again, or so we thought." Erika explained to the three. This helped the three finally understand the events three years ago, but the worrying matter is Team Rocket's resurgence once more.

"Do we have any information about the newly formed team rocket?" Brock asked her, and in their horror, Erika shook her head.

"We don't know who their leader is and the reason for the resurgence, but the thing that I worried about the most is that they nearly killed Mister Kat- Yoake Katsuragi." Erika was worried about this very much.

"I must protect the trainer, and now with Team Rocket, and their silver lining acts, I have no choice but to ask you guys for some help," Erika asked the three in hopes of helping her throughout the trainer's journey.

"Leaf asked you to do that, right?" Misty asked the maiden, on which she nodded. Misty decided to join in since she was a friend to Leaf, and knowing the history between Leaf and Yoake, she has to comply.

"He helped me a lot last night, gonna have to protect a homie, you know." Ellix insisted.

Brock began to think for the moment since he knows the risk of clashing with Team Rocket. However, there was something that made Brock insists himself on helping them. Not only he has connections with Leaf but there was something he saw in the trainer, something very interesting, an unexplainable topic but he sees the potential for something great.

"There is something unique about him, but I couldn't tell it whether or not if it's the bond between him and his Pokemon or his skills and determination. I'm joining in." Brock agreed on joining them.

And so, the first coalition was formed.

"We got the gang back together huh?" Misty stated as the three are united once again, a similar mission was reemerged from the six years of silence, same enemy, same team, same cause but a different ending. Misty looked at the blonde and quickly asked him.

"I forgot to ask you this, aren't you the new guy?" Misty asked him, as this was the first time she saw him in person.

"Yup," Ellix answered her question.

"Unova right? I've heard that there are a lot of rich people there-." Misty was cut off as Brock hit her in the head, knowing that she was up to something.

"Ouch, what was that for?" Misty protested to Brock.

"Well, for the cities, then yes, but for the rural parts, probably balanced," Ellix answered her.

"There is one thing that is missing from us…" Erika stated. The two, Brock and Misty, know who Erika was referring to but knowing what happened to the person, they should silence themselves.

Ellix, who has no idea who they were referring to, decided to ask them in curiosity.

"Who?" Ellix asked. Erika wasn't keen on answering his question, and the two know it. Brock decided to answer the new guy's question.

"Blaine, he's the former fire-type specialist in Cinnabar Island. It's been three years since we haven't heard from him, until last year…" Brock took a deep breath and continued.

"He died from a heart attack last year, we tried bringing him into the hospital but he refused to," Erika stated as she walked away and left the three.

Gardevoir, who was peeking from her door, was listening to the four's conversation, saw the sadness in the three's face. She can tell that the person they mentioned was a dear friend, and losing them is something they deeply sorrowed for.

She took a deep breath, looked down on the floor, and finally, closed the door.

As the midday starts, the doorbell rang, and it seems that someone was outside. Erika, who recently cleaned the kitchen after serving her guest, walked to the door, and open it so she can see who the person was.

"Hi, how may I help you?" She kindly asked, she opened her eyes and saw it was a girl. She has white long hair, crystal blue eyes, wore a white hoodie, a denim skirt, and blue rubber shoes.

"Hi, My name is Ren Onigairu, and I'm a friend of Yoake Katsuragi. He texted me that he's currently here, May I?" Ren introduces herself to the specialist. Erika's assumption was right, and so, she allowed her.

"Sure, make yourself at home." Erika welcomed her, Ren thanked her as soon as she enters her house.

As she walks in, the three specialists quickly noticed her, knowing that she was a trainer just like Yoake, who competed with them for the past few days. Ren noticed them as well, she greeted them as they met before.

"Hi everyone." She greeted, she waved her hand to them as she was being friendly to them.

"Hey… you must be Ren, right? Not bad for defeating my Gyarados with your Dodrio." Misty complimented her, the trainer giggled and thanked the specialist.

"You're way better than me, I was only lucky…" Ren tries to give an excuse as she doesn't want to be egotistical in front of them.

"Lucky? you're good, and besides Dugtrio is stronger than Gyarados." Misty argued with the trainer. Erika noticed that the trainer has met them before, and guessing that she is a tough opponent once they fought on the battlefield, probably even better than Yoake.

"Nah, Miss Erika, do you know where Yoake is?" Ren quickly looked at the grass specialist. Which she nodded.

"In the hallway, at the right-center door ." She pointed to the entrance at the right.

"Thanks." the trainer thanked the specialist as she walked to the hallway and followed what the specialist said. As she finds the door that leads to Yoake's room, she knocked on it to show respect and to ensure that there is someone behind it.

"Come in." a familiar voice groaned as it replies to her knock. The voice was none other than her rival, Yoake Katsuragi. She comes in and was greeted by the trainer, who was lying on the bed and was staring at the roof.

"I've received your message earlier, and I went in a hurry. So, what happened?" Ren stated. She was worried about the text she received earlier, even though he was her rival in the league, she sees her as a friend, and seeing her friend in a worried state, she came in very quickly. She walked near Yoake's bed, and notice that there was a stool near it, which she decided to sat on it, and places her bag on top of the near drawer.

"I don't know. All I know is that last night, I nearly got killed." Yoake told her. He can clearly remember what happened that night, the bullet piercing to his skin, the hope of dying in vain, the empty and cold look that the man gave him. It was a nightmare that came true, and no amount of dreams or hopeful thoughts can on top of it, he can only live on but the bitter memory was still there.

"By.. whom?" Ren worriedly asked him. Yoake fixed his position, laid his back on the headboard, and continued on his conversation with Ren.

"They wore a black uniform, and a mask to cover their mouth and nose, I couldn't tell who they are but all I know is that they were wearing a big red R pin," Yoake said in a stoic tone. Ren quickly noticed the iconic words on his statement, the big red 'R' pin, she realized that Yoake has stumbled upon the most dangerous group of people in their time.

"You… stumbled upon them…" Ren, who was shocked in disbelief, as she tries to not believe what happened to him but it was all too late, and the dominos that are about to take place has begun.

"Who?" Yoake curiously asked her.

"Team Rocket," Ren stated.

"I see, I'm guessing I'm one of their targets now, huh?" Yoake guessed as this struck a nerve on him, knowing that if he continues his adventure, he might get killed.

"Probably. This is the reason why you rarely see Pokemon trainers nowadays, it's because of them." Ren looked down on the floor after telling Yoake the reason for the big absence of trainers for the past years.

"Good thing you didn't got caught by them, right?" Yoake asked her in a more optimistic tone, but her face says something otherwise.

"Right?" Yoake repeated as his worries began to grow.

"I was walking to the train station alongside Haunter, and they were stalking me. I tried to hide and run away from them but it seems they keep on follow me. I've managed to hide from them, once I boarded the train heading toward Pallet City." She said as she continues to look down on the floor with her arms cross on top of her stomach.

"I'm guessing that they found out that I'm a Pokemon trainer, and they began to pursuit. I was lucky." Ren stated.

"Well, I gotta go now. I have to compete against Ellix." Ren stood up from the stool she was sitting at, grabbed her bag, and was planning her goodbye to her rival. Yoake was silent for the entire time and just stare at the wall in front of him.

As Ren opens the door, Yoake uttered the words, "Thanks, Ren."

"Any time." Ren smiled at her rival as she leaves the room. Closes the door behind her and walked to the hallway.

'Right, time to get the third badge.' Ren thought to herself as she looks at the specialist in the living room.

To be continued in Overdrive