• Total party wipeout…that’s what it was called.

    A tragic incident when a Pokemon trainer’s entire team of Pokemon is wiped out…usually when a total party wipeout happened the trainer could rush their Pokemon to the center and have them saved, usually when a Pokemon was beaten the trainer ended the match in time where they’d simply be injured…unconscious. For the first time in Johto League history, there was a trainer who didn’t stop it in time. Elite Four member Lance remembered it well, an incredibly talented battler. With determination, heart, and strategy, this boy took his team and breezed through his teammates. However, against the might of Lance’s Dragonites, his team fell.

    This boy was Penelope (Preferred name Pen) Hellbourne. However, the boy was too ruthless, too stubborn. It wasn’t a bad trait though; he just had an undying trust in the strength of his team and his strategy he believed they’d pull through anything. He was too confident though, and his whole team perished from that battle.

    Pen sighed. He never got over that incident…those three words…Total Party Wipeout…he remembered well. First went Judie, sweet Judie. Judie was one of his first Pokemon in Joto region. He was still sad over the loss of the Caterpie Rey Rey and spotted her. He was cocky after the win in the Kanto League. He had a breeze beating the Johto league, except Lance…poor little Clementine was the last one. It was Clem versus Lance’s Charizard, all or nothing. Everyone else was bleeding badly, he had to hurry. He pushed Clementine more and more. “Come on Clem, you can do it!! Come on, hurry! We can get the others healed, please Clem! Hit it with Rollout again!”

    Poor little Clementine….she got burned…not even Lance could see what was happening…the fire wouldn’t go out…Clementine suffocated and burned…Pen’s confidence shattered. He caused the death of six great teammates. For a good long time he couldn’t look any of his remaining Pokemon in the face, holed up in his room. What could he do? Moe was a breeder, she loved doing it. Pen, however, all he had was battling. It was all he craved, he tried to do contests but it wasn’t the same. Pen hated the contests; it gave off only the illusion of what battling gave. Pen craved battling; he and his Pokemon loved it. The thrill, the rush, the clash between two minds and their Pokemon; Speed, power, strategy, they all came together in a heated duel. It was…addicting. Not then though, Pen couldn’t take the risk. Every battle was heated and ruthless, he couldn’t hold back. Moe came to him one day. “Come on, let’s take on the Hoenn League, Pen.”, she said through his bedroom door.

    “Pen...your Pokemon miss you. You may have lost faith in yourself, but they haven’t. Come on, those six wouldn’t want you to be like this, you seem ruthless but it’s because you push all your Pokemon. They know you push them because you know they can be the best. What happened was tragic Pen, we all know, but don’t let that shake who you are. “

    Pen sighed, “I can’t do it Moe…I just….I know I’ll cause more death… I know it… how much more blood must I have on my hands for my own confidence?” Then Pen felt a scratching at his door from Musashi, his Scyther.

    “Master...it is all right. You are Pen Hellbourne, Pokemon master. Your undying faith in your team gives us the strength to fight on where other Pokemon would fall. Take on the Hoenn challenge, show everyone how great you are…if anything…do it for those that died in Johto. Do it for Judie, Sheldon, TC, Kirby, Randy, and Clementine. Beat the Leagues for them, in their memory.”

    Pen stood up and slid his Pokemon master shirt on, slipped his backpack, glasses, and hat on. They were all right, without battling and pushing his team past the limit he has nothing! So many others could fall back on something, but Pen never gave up because becoming a Pokemon master was what his dream was. “Moe…let’s go to Hoenn…and kick its a**!”

    Pen finally won his confidence back, taking on the Hoenn League. There were more deaths, but through them he kept fighting. Pen was flowing with confidence and had Moe come to Unova. Pen was shocked at little Ferrovax's ruthlessness, it was horrifying. Pen failed to beat Alder before Moe challenged him, fortunately all his team survived. He tried his best to comfort her.

    “Hey hey Moe, it’s ok. He just…has problems…but with love you can get him to calm down, you should just…keep him from battling.” He said. “If you want, I can take care of him. Maybe I can train it out of him if you want… just an option. It’s much better than the…alternative…”

    A knock came to Pen’s door.

    “Penelope Hellbourne?”

    “Pen, yes.”

    “I heard you had a very…unfortunate accident at the Johto league a while back.”

    Pen clutched his chest, remembering the total party wipeout.

    “Yes….and I don’t care to speak of such traumatic experiences, especially with a tuxedo wearing shitberg stranger.”

    "No need to be hostile. My name is Blackstone.”

    “Nice name.” Pen interrupted with snark.

    “Yes. Anywaym I want to inform you that your team, or at least some of the stronger ones, can be brought back, if you would be willing to cooperate with us.”

    Pen’s eyes widened, brought back? Clem and the others? “H…how? Please tell me.”

    “It’s experimental, but if you would hand over some of you current team, we could use their DNA to bring back living tissue.”

    Now that gave Pen pause. He loved the idea of seeing the others again, but to release the current ones he had? He couldn’t. “I’m sorry Mister Blackstone. I appreciate your offer…I really do…but those deaths…they happened. I can’t change my past, that event changed me, molded me into who I am now. I’ve moved on, and I know they’re happy in the afterlife, looking down on me. I’m sorry I’ll have to decline.” He closed the door.

    The next morning was horrifying. He rushed to Moe’s house “Moe! They’re gone! Musashi, Jean, and Avenger! They’ve been Pokenapped! That..that man Blackstone..he must have taken them!.”