The Legend of Ahri
Chapter 1
Ahri awoke to the rhythmic sound of footsteps banging louder and louder with each second as someone raced up the stairs. She groaned and rolled over, pulling her blanket in a protective cocoon in a vain attempt to block her from the world shattering idea that someone was about to run into her room to wake her up. However the thought got through and forced her back to reality. Ahri's bright blue eyes jolt open with both excitement and dread as she remembered what day it was.
"Happy Birthday!", her big sister Courtney yelled at the top of her lungs as she threw open the bedroom door and launched herself across the small room onto the bed, pinning Ahri down. Courtney's faithful pokemon partner, Pidgeotto, gracefully flew into the room behind her, squawking and chirping with each wingbeat. It fluttered around the room a couple times until finally landing on the headboard and pecked Ahri playfully on the mimicked it's trainer's wild rambunctiousness perfectly.
"Umph umf uvv mm", Ahri mumbled as she tried worm out from underneath her older sister. But Courtney just tightened her grip.
"What was that?"she asked. But before Ahri could even attempt to mumble out words Courtney interrupted. "Mom! She won't get up!`` she yelled and started tickling the side of Ahri's neck. It was the only spot she could reach but it worked all the same. She could suddenly hear the sound of footsteps making their way up the stairs again.
"Happy Birthday!", their mother shouted as she ran into Ahri's already crowded room and threw herself onto the bed, grabbing her daughters and expertly pinning them both down. Her trusted Delcatty pranced in the room behind her and mewed sweetly at all the excitement.
"Now I know my girls aren't going to let their breakfast, which I worked so hard on...", Ahri could have sworn that she saw flames shoot through her eyes. "...get cold", Claire finished. Claire was a passionate woman. Always putting her heart and soul into her work at the Pokemon Center. She had her first child, Courtney, in her late twenties with a man whose name wasn't worth remembering and adopted Ahri a few years later.
By this time Ahri had managed to free herself from her cocoon. "Well I'd be ready by now if I wasn't squished between two Wailord", she said with a smile and ducked her head back down into the half rolled blanket. Claire and Courtney both squealed at the remark and tried to poke and prod their hands into the blanket far enough to tickle the girl.
After a sufficient amount of tickling, Claire stood and motioned for Delcatty who gracefully leapt into her trainer's arms. "Happy birthday sweety", Claire said looking back to Ahri. Her warm words spread through the room like a wave.
"Today's a big day ladies", Claire continued, "so get dressed and come eat your breakfast. We leave in an hour", she finished and disappeared around the corner with her pokemon. Courtney giggled at the reminder and hopped out of the bed. Ahri felt lost and even a little confused. "Hey", she said to her sister before she could leave the room. "What's going on today?", she was a little embarrassed that she need to ask.
"Ughhh, seriously?", Courtney asked in disbelief. Ahri just stared at her. "Todays the yearly flying type tournament", ya slowpoke", she teased. Ahri couldn't contain her excitement as her sister's words jogged her memory.
"Oh snap I forgot!", Ahri squealed and jumped out of bed. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that her older was already dressed.
"Hurry up let's go!", Courtney shouted just before vanishing from sight with her bird pokemon. Ahri dashed to her closet to grab her favorite black polo with the four white ribbons that run down the middle. After a few minutes of searching and realizing that it was missing she opted for her second favorite, a blue t-shirt with a green Serperior that wrapped itself along the middle. After putting on her leggings, black skirt, and shoes, her stomach kindly reminded her that breakfast was waiting downstairs.
"Hey Mom, have you seen my black polo with the white ribbons?", Ahri asked once entering the kitchen and sitting down at the table. Courtney was flicking little pieces of toast to her Pidgeotto. Ahri was still pretty jealous of her sisters pokemon. She could tell that her and her partner really cared for one another. Which is what Ahri wanted more than anything. A jolt of excitement ran through Ahri's veins as she realized that she's now ten years old. The minimum age required in order to care for pokemon. A smile shot across her face as she started eating her breakfast.
"I'm sure its somewhere around here", Claire said as she started cleaning up dishes. "I'll help you find it later. Now hurry up and eat. We're leaving soon", and with that she was off with the hustle and bustle or her morning routine.
"Are you excited?", Ahri asked she sister as she shoved food into her mouth.
"Um duh", Courtney responded with her usual amount of sass and tossed her partner the rest of her toast.
" I am kinda nervous though", Courtney added as she motioned Pidgeotto to land on her extended forearm. After a moment she dropped her arm and the pokemon automatically took to the air.
Ahri could see the strong friendship between the two. She had seen their bond grow over the last few weeks in preparation for the tournament. They were battling other trainers in their spare time and practicing new moves every chance they got. They battled so much that her Pidgey ended up evolving into Pidgeotto. Ahri couldn't help but admire her older sister and couldn't wait to get a pokemon of her own.
Just as the two girls were finishing their breakfast and going over Courtney's battle plan, Claire entered the room in a rush.
"Ok, you two ready? Lets go.", she shouted and with everyone all packed and ready, Claire and Courtney withdrew their pokemon and followed Ahri out the door.
"Wait Ahri", Claire said.
Ahri stopped and turned back to look at her mother.
Claire handed her a brand new backpack. "I got you a new one. Your old backpack was falling apart" Claire said as Ahri looked over it.
"It's so fancy, thank you" Ahri said with a smile. Her old bag was indeed falling apart. She had had it for as long as she can remember, since she was adopted. Ahri couldn't remember anything before being adopted. It was like she had just woken up and day and there was Claire and Courtney.
The bag was primarily black with white outlining and pockets. Lots and lots of pockets. It reminded her of a camping or hiking backpack. It had tough fabric that felt indestructible and soft and comfy at the same time.
"You're welcome. I already packed some stuff in there for you today." Claire said as Ahri started to look in it. Claire stopped her and helped swing it over Ahri's shoulders.
"What did you pack?" Ahri asked while adjusted it. She wasn't a part of the tournament so she really didn't need to take anything.
"Just a few things we might need. Don't worry you can go through it later. We're running late, let's go let's go." Claire said with a wink and the three of them left for the Junior's Flying Tournament. Ahri looked back at the house she happily lived at for the last few years. Little did she know that would be the last time she would ever see it.
They arrived to the stadium just in time. It was alive with all kinds of people and pokemon. Ahri was amazed with all the different kinds of flying pokemon that were zooming, flapping, and fluttering around everywhere. She was completely overjoyed.
"Ok", Claire turned to the two sisters, Ahri looked at her mother, the sunlight hit her long light brown hair, illuminating it. Ahri knew she was adopted but she was always jealous of her sister for how much she looked like their mother.
"Well this is it", Claire added, "Go sign in over there sweety". She pointed to the registration booth and gave her eldest daughter a hug and a kiss on the forehead. "We'll be rooting for you", Claire said.
"You better not lose", Ahri added with a smirk.
"Thanks!", Courtney yelled back at then as she was already running to sign in.
"Ready to go sit down?", Claire asked Ahri. She nodded and did a little hop to adjust her backpack and followed her mother to the stands.
It took a little while to find their seats. There were so many people that Ahri almost got separated from her mother a few times and had to dash to catch up. Their seats were nice. Right in the middle of the stadium. Not too high up to where you can't see or hear the battle but just close enough to see the entire field. Ahri could feel the excitement all around her.
"You think she and Pidgeotto have a chance?", Ahri asked her mother once they sat down.
"It's going to be tough.", Claire said after sitting down. "Did you see all the competition when we walked in?" she asked.
Ahri's eyes lit up. "I saw so many different Pokemon! There was a Swanna, Skarmory, and a Butterfree...", she started listing all the pokemon she saw when they walking into the stadium."...it was sooo cute and the Skarmory was really cool. But none of them are a match for Courtney.", she added with a smile.
"Did you see the Aerodactyl?", Claire asked, not even trying to hide her grin.
Ahri's jaw dropped in disbelief and almost fell out of her chair. "There's an Aerodactyl here?", she asked. Ahri was starting to think it was a joke. She had always wanted to see a revived fossil pokemon. Just as she was about to ask her mother a bunch of follow up questions, she was interrupted by the stadium's announcer.
"Ladies and gentlemen!", the voice boomed. "Welcome to this years Junior's flying type Tournament! It looks like we have a lot of great contestants this year. I can't wait to see them in action!", the stadium lit up with cheers, roars, and squawks.
Suddenly Claire turned to her daughter. "Oh, I'm going to run to the concession stand real quick before your sister's battle starts. Do you want anything?", She spoke quickly.
"Just some chocolate, please", Ahri responded curiously . She noticed that her mother was starting to breathe like she had just finished working out.
"Ok, back in a bit", Claire said after popping out of her seat, leaving Ahri to watch the first match alone.
"First the backpack and now this", she thought. They passed like three concession stands on the way up to their seats. Ahri looked at the black and white backpack her mother gave her. It wasn't even her normal bag she used for school. This one was new. It had all kinds of different pockets and straps. It was the the type of backpack you would see on campers and hikers. Ahri loved the black and white design it had though as it would match almost all of her outfits.
"Why did she make me bring this?", Ahri thought as she looked at the bag. It was made of though fabric and noticed it had a little weight to it. She didn't even know what her mother had packed in it. She scanned the surrounding people and didn't see anyone else a bag like hers. She started for the buckle that held down the main flap but before she could open it up and see what was inside she was interrupted by the announcer again.
"Ok let's get this show on the road!", the voice boomed throughout the stadium. "First up we have Joseph vs Lucy". As soon as the announcer mentioned their names, the trainers tossed out their pokeballs. First out came Lucy's purple Crobat followed by Joseph's Swanna.
"Ready? Go!", shouted the announcer, causing the stadium to erupt in cheers and sending chills down Ahri's spine. This was her first actual pokemon tournament.
The battle was over in a matter of seconds. First Swanna burst into the air and fired a bubblebeam at the purple four-winged bat. Crobat dodged it with ease and flew towards swanna at blinding speed. Its immediately used cross poison, forming an X with it's two front wings as it slashed Swanna, sending the bird pokemon to the ground.
"Oh my goodness that Crobat is ruthless!", boomed the announcer. There was a pause in all the stadium's deafening noise as everyone looked to the Swanna in the middle of the field. It laid in the center of the field and bobbed its head back and forth in disorientation. The Swanna instantly vanished into a thin white line as it's trainer withdrew it from the battle.
"And that's all folks! Swanna is down for the count. Making the winners Lucy and Crobat!", everyone cheered at the announcers words. "The next battle starts in 10 minutes and it's Courtney vs Daniel!".
Ahri started looking around for her mother when she realized that she hadn't returned from the concession stands yet and was starting to get worried that she was going to miss Courtney's battle. Just as she was about to stand to go look for her mom the announcer's voice cut her off again.
"Ok, up next we have Courtney vs Daniel", the stadium went wild. Once again, right as their names were announced, the two trainers entered the field and tossed out their pokeballs and released their pokemon partners. Courtney sent out her Pidgeotto first which was followed by Daniel's Masquerain.
"Oh wow, this is going to be easy for them", Ahri thought to herself after looking the bug pokemon over.
"Ready? Go!", the announcer's voice boomed throughout the stadium again. Courtney didn't waste anytime. Ahri saw her sister shout something and Pidgeotto disappeared into a quick attack. Masquerain was hit hard seemingly out of nowhere and sent flying. Pidgeotto, being just as determined as it's trainer, also wasted no time. Without even waiting for a command from Courtney, Pidgeotto flew toward it's opponent. It closed the distance with ease and hit Masquerain with a devastating wing attack.
It didn't stand a chance. The bug pokemon was out cold before it even hit the ground. Ahri wondered why it was even entered into the tournament in the first place. Everyone knows that bug types are weak against flying types.
"And Pidgeotto is the winner!", the announcer called out once seeing Daniel withdraw his pokemon. "Great Scott! This battle was quicker than the last one!", he called out.
While the announcer went over the details for the next match, Ahri stood and looked around for her mother who still hadn't returned. Ahri figured she had bought too much junk food like last time and may need help carrying it all as well as not wanting her to miss Courtney's next match. So she decided to go find her.
Ahri made her way through the busy crowd of both people and pokemon. Once reaching the concession stands she heard the next batting starting. She was a little sad she was missing the battle but knew her sister wasn't in it so it was ok. Ahri scanned the crowded lines and tables for her mother and couldn't find her.
Starting to worry, she decided to wander around to try and find her mom. After searching for a few minutes she finally found Claire towards the entrance of the stadium. She was speaking to a man who Ahri had never seen before. He was a tall, fair-skinned guy with dark auburn spiked hair and wore blue jeans with a black t-shirt with a large gold N printed in the middle of it. Ahri thought he was bad news from the moment she saw him. She could tell that her mother didn't even like talking to the guy.
Claire noticed her daughter staring at them and said something to the man. They shook hands and parted ways. As the guy turned he looked at Ahri and gave her a wink and disappeared behind a corner. What a creep, she thought.
"Who was that?", Ahri asked Claire once they caught up to one another.
"Oh, just an old co-worker. We were just catching up. Sorry for taking so long", she said warmly. "Here ya go", she added and handed Ahri a chocolate bar. Ahri noticed that she didn't buy anything for herself.
"Thanks", she said after taking the candybar. She could hear the two pokemon battling in the field and the crowd going wild. "Are you ok?", Ahri asked.
"Yeah, of course.", Claire answered. "Why", asked curiously.
Ahri hesitated for a second. "Well you've been acting weird. You missed Courtney's first battle for a candybar and...", she wanted to go on her was cut off by a deafening clash from the field.
"What an amazing steel wing!", yelled the announcer.
"Hey where's your backpack?", Claire asked once the noise died down.
Ahri was starting to get annoyed. She felt like she was being dismissed. "It's at our seats and thats another thing", her tone matched her attitude. "Why do I have to lug around a backpack? You didn't make Courtney bring one", Ahri added.
Claire hugged her daughter. "I'm sorry sweety. I've been so busy today. The backpack has your birthday present in it and I wanted it to be a surprise.", Claire said warmly. Ahri smiled and felt silly for worrying.
"And I still want it to be a surprise so don't open it until the tournament is over.", she said with a smile. "Now tell me what I missed", she added as they walked back to their seats.
They reached their seats just as the current battle was ending. As soon as she sat down, Claire dropped the backpack into Ahri's lap. "Don't peek in it", she said with a wink.
"Welcome to the simi-finals everyone!", the aouncer began, sending sheers and roars through the stadium. "Next up we have the two rising stars! It's Courtney vs Lucy! Pidgeotto vs Crobat! Who will go to the finals? Let's find out!"
Ahri and her mother cheered as loud as they could once Courtney entered the field and released her Pidgeotto. Lucy entered next with her Crobat. The two pokemon flew toward each other and around in circles playfully. Ahri could tell they were excited about the upcoming battle and were wishing each other good luck.
"Ready? Go!", boom the announcer's voice.
Courtney reacted first and shouted something to her partner. Pidgeotto started with a quick attack. He disappeared in an instant and appeared in front of his opponent. Crobat was barely about to dodge the hit at the last second. With one swift motion it swooped above Pidgeotto and brought its wings down in an X hit Pidgeotto it cross poison. Ahri could hear yells and gasps from the spectators. The tenacious bird was thrown down by the impact but was able to recover just before hitting the ground.
"That's gotta hurt!", yelled the announcer. Ahri could tell he was hurt by the way it was frantically flapping it's wings trying to stay airborne, clearly poisoned. She looked up to see Pidgeotto dodge a massive spray of purple liquid that Crobat shot at him.
"Oh! Pidgeotto was barely able to evade that venoshock! This battle almost just ended folks.", said the announcer. Pidgeotto was high above the field at this point, trying to keep its distance from the Crobat. "Gust!", shouted Courtney. Pidgeotto flexed his wings and brought them together to send out a huge blast of wind at his opponent, sending to reeling through the air.
Pidgeotto dove forward and tucked his wings in and let gravity pull him into a nosedive. Crobat never saw it coming. Pidgeotto slammed his wing attack into the purple bat like a missile, sending it straight into the ground throwing a dust cloud into the air.
"Was that a wing attack or what?!", yelled the announcer. "Is Crobat out for the count?".
The poison was starting to take its toll on Pidgeotto and forced him to land and rest while his opponent recovered. The stadium went silent while everyone waited to see what would happen next. "Pidgeotto move!", Courtney's voice echoed through the stadium. A dark purple beam of bubbly venom shot straight out of the dust cloud and hit the exhausted bird. The blast sent him into the side of the field where laid dazed and confused.
"And Crobat ends the match with a devastating venoshock!", yelled the announcer. The entire stadium lit up with cheers and roars for both pokemon as they were withdrawn into their pokeballs. Ahri felt proud of both her sister and her partner for battling so hard against a fully evolved Crobat, no easy feat.
"It's ok", Claire said while still clapping while the trainers exited the field. "She made it to the simi-finals". She gave a loud whistle once Courtney disappeared from the field. "Shall we go meet her in the Recovery Center before the finals start?", Claire asked Ahri. Her smile was all she needed to answer. Ahri hopped up with her mother, grabbed her backpack,and together they went to meet her sister.
As they made their way to the recovery center the two talked about Pidgeotto's battle and all the different kinds of pokemon that were at the tournament. Ahri had noticed that the atmosphere had changed after leaving the stands. Everyone was moving much more quickly and frantically than before. She noticed more and more people wearing the black shirts with the gold N in the center of it but ended up dismissing the thought as she talked to her mom.
It wasn't long before they reached the recovery center. Once walking in the saw Courtney sitting at one of the tables talking to her last opponent, Lucy, who was holding her purple bat in her lap. Ahri didn't realize how large the bat was until seeing it up close.
"That was really fun", said Courtney as she petted her pokemon. Pidgeotto sat perched on Courtney's shoulder. The four were so calm and collected that one would have never known that they were just in an intense battle.
"I know right!", said Lucy as she pushed a lock of her long black curly hair out of her face. She looked a few years older that Courtney. "Well it was nice talking to you. I gotta go get ready for the next match". She stood and let Crobat take to the air.
"Good luck!", shouted Courtney along with Pidgeotto's big squawk as the left.
"Ya'll did so great out there!", said Ahri a little too loudly as she ran up to greet the two. She reached up and gave Pidgeotto a little boop on the beak with her finger.
"Good job, sweety", Claire said as she hugged her daughter and petted Pidgeotto. "How's the little guy doing?", she asked.
"He's ok. The nurse said that he's just fine and that pokemon are used to battling real hard like that all the time. He just needs to rest", she let Pidgeotto step up onto her forearm. "So he's just gonna chill inside his pokeball for a while". Courtney took the green and brown nest ball out of her pocket and withdrew Pidgeotto. The three immediately started talking about Courtney's battle.
"Pidgeotto was clearly the better flyer." said Claire.
"Really?", asked Courtney.
"Definitely", Ahri chimed in before Claire could. "Crobat had to use his poison type attacks because it could barely keep up with Pidgeotto in the air.", she added with a smile. Ahri loved talking about battling.
"Very good", Claire said to Ahri and turned to her eldest. "If Pidgeotto hadn't have been poisoned and forced to land, it would've won.", she added with a smile.
It was at that moment that the entire stadium started to shake. The stadium, the ground, even the very air felt like it was moving. The three grabbed on to each other and hid under the table. The tremors stopped after a few seconds and forced the three to run outside.
The stadium was in chaos. People were running and screaming while others were frantically withdrawing their pokemon from the sky. Ahri froze in both confusion and fear when she saw what everyone was looking at in the air. A giant purple scare seemed to stretch out through the sky above the stadium. It was as if something had been ripped right through the air.
"We gotta go now!", shouted Claire once seeing air-bornhole that was looming above them all. She grabbed both of her daughters hands and started running to the staidum's exit. Ahri was overwhelmed by the all the chaos and panic.
They were able to run about twenty feet before a deafening roar came through the scar in the sky. Suddenly a figure rushed out of the portal and slammed into the ground in front of the three. Ahri felt her mother's grip vanish as she was thrown off her feet by whatever fell in front of them.
Ahri forced her shaky legs to stand and tried to shield her eyes from all the dust and debris that was thrown into the air around her. Not able to see anything she outstretched an arm and felt something hard in front of her. A deafening roar cleared out the dust and almost knocked her off her feet again.
She wiped the tears from her dirty eyes to see what hand landed in front of her. Ahri recognized the massive white and purple outlined figure as Palkia, the legendary dragon pokemon who rules over space. It stood looking at the tear in the sky and let out a low growl. It didn't even seem to see her. Ahri felt something wiggle around from inside her backpack. She had almost forgotten that she was even wearing it.
She quickly dismissed the thought as Palkia gave out another roar towards the hole in the sky. There was suddenly a screech from the portal above the stadium. Ahri looked up to see a massive black and red bird pokemon with huge arm-like wings appeared from the portal. Something Ahri have never seen before.
"Ahri!", Courtney's familiar voice brought her back to the ground. She looked around to find her sister couldn't find her among the stadium's chaos. Pidgeotto flew and grabbed her shirt with his talons and led her to Courtney who was about 20 feet away.
"What is that?", Ahri asked once reuniting with her sister.
"Yveltal", said Courtney as she withdrew her pidgeotto back into his nestball. "But something is wrong with it", she added.
Ahri looked up at the legend and noticed exactly what she was talking about. Yveltal had thick black mist steaming out from all over its body, leaving a trail of black misty smoke throughout the sky.
All of a sudden Palkia screeched and took to the sky towards Yveltal. The two clashed in front of the portal, making it shimmer and close that sent a shockwave throughout the area. People were thrown off their feet and flying pokemon through the air are the two hit each other.
Palkia gave another roar as the two titans clashed in the sky. Ahri felt something move inside her backpack again as the legendary dragon let out a battle cry. Now she new she hadn't imagined it the first. "What the heck did mom put in there", she thought.
"There's mom!", Courtney pointed to the other side of the stadium where she and Delcatty were battling the man with spiky auburn hair. The man looked over at the two sisters as if he knew they were looking at him and smiled. He yelled something towards the sky and Yveltal immediately flew down towards the two sisters.
Ahri heard Claire scream something and almost out of nowhere Delcatty dashed between the girls at amazing speed. The agile pokemon pushed itself off Ahri into Courtney, separating the two.
Ahri looked up and tried to comprehend what was going on. Everything was happening so fast she was starting to think she was stuck in a bad dream. She could feel something wet running down her face as she looked up to see Yveltal charging a deep dark red ball of energy in front of him. She was suddenly overwhelmed by all kinds of different sounds. The sound of people running and screaming, her sister calling her name, her mother screaming "No!", the man yelling "Oblivion Wing", and lastly Palkia's deafening roar.
Everything was silenced by Palkia's roar. The legendary spatial pokemon flew down in front of Ahri in as she was thrown backwards. The last thing she saw before falling into a deep thick darkness was the blast from Yveltal's attack. Her final memory before succumbing to the darkness was something wiggling around in her backpack.