Foul Play

<Previous Arc - Next Arc>

Our heroes start the arc along with the other members of Candy's Special Defenders team, Heron, Bash, Hannah and Vespa riding on a rainbow squad of Skarmory on their way to the Pokemon League: The Formian organisation acting as the region's defence and policing force.

Theo, Kenny and Brandi visit the League's museum where our heroes learn about the meteorite which would have destroyed all of Formia had it not been for an elite group of trainers known as the “First Four” who came to the region's defence many years ago.

Candy then gathers our heroes along with Bash, Heron, Hannah and the mysterious Vespa in the office of General Phillips - the head of the Formian military division of the Pokemon League. Candy reveals her concerns of corruption in the League and her belief that evil teams are purposefully not being dealt with. She has formed the Special Defenders as her way to fight back and strike out against evil in the Formian region independently. She shows the gathered trainers three of General Phillips' top secret files each pertaining to an evil team:

* Team Nautilus, the pirates who attacked Surfloat and stole the precious tome from the ChUrch of SlaSlo,
* Team Mystic, a team of Poke-powered terrorists hell-bend on ending the suppression of their kind, led by the enigmatic Fray, and
* Team Hellsing, a team formed to oppress Poképowereds by any means necessary.

Kenny, Theo and Brandi, already with a vested interest to pursue Team Nautilus for the stolen ChUrch tome and the information it might contain regarding the King's Rock, decide to follow up on the Nautilus document. It details the pirates' plans to attack the lavish cross-region super train, the Nidorient Express.

Suddenly, General Phillips returns unexpectedly to his office while Candy and the Special Defenders are still perusing the classified documents. The stunned Philips locks them all in a freezer of his friend's - Jockey the Ursaring's - udon restaurant, called Ursaring Udon, until he can figure out what to do with them. In the freezer Vespa reveals themselves to be none other than Adri Formonsk, Theo's scholastic rival, and the one who had delivered the stolen ChUrch tome to Team Nautilus in Surfloat. Adri explains their actions, claiming Nautilus had offered information on their father, Jay Silver, in exchange for the tome, but had double crossed them after the hand-off.

Phillips eventually returns and expresses sympathy for Candy's cause. Phillips is willing to aid the Special Defenders as long as he can do so without being traced back to them. The reconciliatory mood is shattered, however, when Brandi spies her mother, Whiskey, in the Pokemon League main stadium. On a podium, Seto Kappa announces the demonstration of Kappa Corp's Extreme Ball that he never managed with Gary on Surfloat beach. The ball is so powerful, he claims, that even a Mart-owner with zero Pokemon experience like Whiskey could catch an unstoppable creature and he intends to demonstrate just this fact. The floor of the stadium parts to reveal a monstrous Hydreigon. Whiskey cowers beneath its towering form. The Special Defenders leap into action. Brandi and Wimpy defy the odds and successfully confront the Hydreigon directly whilst Theo helps the timid Bash secure Seto Kappa's Extreme Ball and catch the beast within it.

Meanwhile, Kenny's volatile poke-powers manifest in a way he doesn't intend and he ends up transporting his consciousness onto the Team Nautilus' ship. In an ethereal state he observes the captain of the Nautilus ship, Alyza, known as the Queen Of The Sea, threatening Gary Smoke into joining the pirates of the ship with their assault of the Nidorient Express. Kenny returns to his senses, terrified of his lack of control, but he is comforted by Bowtie the Rowlet who evolves into a Dartrix as the pair cement their bond.

Some time later the gang gathers with Candy and General Phillips in Jockey's udon restaurant. Bash, Heron and the Hydreigon they captured in the Extreme Ball are nowhere to be found. Candy and a passionate Hannah decide to investigate Seto Kappa and Kappa Corp in Tapu Dhabi City, leaving Brandi, Kenny, Theo and Adri on the tail of Team Nautilus ready to board the Nidorient Express at the station of Pyranile Town. Their next adventure beckons.