Summary: Just as things rise, they must also fall eventually. That is the case here. After an unnamed group took over the Kanto and Johto and defeated Red he has gone missing, either voluntarily or not. With the Indigo League in the clutches of darkness, they are forced to end The League and training entirely. However, Professor Elm and his merry group of researchers, made up of old and new trainers alike, are dragged into the "war" and realize it's up to them to find Red, the only person who can fix all of this, and put and end to the turmoil in the sister regions before it spreads.
Rating: T, for violence and some shipping, as well as dark themes.
Warning: Character death ahead. Proceed with caution.
A/N: 10/15/11
Hey, guys! Thanks for checking out the story. I'm going through a bit of Writer's Block with my other Fic right now (I can't word this one little part right) so I figured I should start a new Fic and give something else a try.
This story isn't really a journey Fic. It could be considered one, but journeying isn't the point in this Fic. It'll have a few canon characters from some of the Pokémon games, just so you know. I tried really hard to keep this as in character as I could and I think I did pretty well. Hopefully that aspect is okay.
Unlike my other Fic, this one isn't very "drabble-like" and it changes point-of-view occasionally, but it'll always be 3rd person.
I'm also accepting OC's. I'd prefer not to post the form on here, so you can request the form through PM or mention it in a review and I'll be sure to send it to you. For now, I'm not opening up very much of the plot and just introducing characters. I'd like to accept many different types of OC's, both good and evil. I'd rather not take hordes of companions – villains are much appreciated!
By the way, please excuse the perverseness of one particular scene in this… I couldn't resist…
Anyways, I won't be putting up many more A/N's this long. Sorry, guys! Enjoy!
Lyra stared down at the podium, reading the words on the sheets in front of her automatically, with no meaning or purpose to them. In her view, she may as well have been reading a random list of words. The unconnected drawl she was delivering may not have been very appropriate considering the thousands – millions, even – of people watching on their television, or even the twenty-one sitting right in front of her, but she didn't care. She sure as hell knew she wouldn't want to be hearing this if she was them.
After she finished, she continued to stare down at the papers in front of her and shut her eyes. From here on, she needed no script.
"If anyone opposes to this idea, speak now."
The room stayed silent as the most powerful trainers out there – The Kanto -Johto or Indigo League – looked at each other with uncertainty written on all of their faces.
The current Champion nodded and set her papers down, looking to Lance for her next move. The older man shrugged from his seat and shook his head subtly. Lyra grimaced.
"Well, then…" she looked up to the trainers, her workmates and close friends, and nodded. "No need for formalities, I'd say. We've come to the conclusion that Johto and Kanto are in a state of trouble that no one here can solve… Only one person could, but he's- "She stopped in her tracks and cleared her throat awkwardly. "A-Anyways, we all know the league cannot function properly right now. We have to cool down a bit and take away from our training efforts and come up with new ways to get rid of the slowly growing threat in our land. From this day forward…"
She took a slight pause to take a shaky breath. When the last six words of her speech came out, her voice became weak and cracked.
"The Pokémon League is officially over."
._._.
All was silent on that calm autumn night in New Bark Town. The quaint town stood completely still, the only disturbance coming from the wind when it shook up the crisp maroon and brown leaves that formed a mosaic on the freshly cut grass. The sky was completely clear, void of any clouds and completely showing the twilit sky, and the stars one could only see in the countryside were slowly fading.
A lone girl sat on the edge of the lake by her house, watching the sunset with half-lidded eyes. Lying to her left with an even greater tired expression was her mother's Slowpoke, who was slowly curling and uncurling his tail. They had been sitting in complete silence for hours, Slowpoke only sitting with her because it was calmer being around her than his powerhouse of a trainer, the girl sitting there because she was too weary of the events about to occur today to fall asleep. They had both spent close to the entire night there, and now the sun was close to rising and the girl new she had to get back home. She let out a deep, slow sigh and started to stand, giving Slowpoke a cringe-like smile.
"Well Marlin, time to go," she said flatly, "I've got things to do today and mom will kill me if I let you stay here."
"Slooow…" Marlin's voice was low and yawn-like as he stood up slowly, looking up at his companion lazily as if to say, "you're the dominate one here – carry me home."
The strawberry blond girl smirked down at the slowpoke and picked the light pink Pokémon up and into her arms, cringing at how heavy Marlin had gotten.
"Jeez, boy," she said with a slight laugh, "You've been packing on the weight since mom retired, haven't you?"
"Slowpooke" he drawled, shutting his eyes and falling asleep.
The girl let out a sigh and rolled her eyes even if Marlin couldn't see it. She glanced back at the clear blue water that shone with the golden light of a new day longingly once more before turning on her heel and heading back home.
._._.
"Lee, I told you not to go outside."
Tisa Leif, a relatively young-looking woman in her late thirties, looked up from her spot on the couch to glare at her daughter, scowling darkly.
Lee rolled her eyes and shrugged, walking up to the couch and flopping onto it with a loud breath.
"Well, you know I can't stay in when I can't sleep," she said airily, pushing a strand of strawberry blond hair from her face. Her mother didn't take the excuse at all, and continued to glare at her.
"I don't care whether you like sleeping or not," she said slowly, "You know things aren't same these days so you better avoid going out unprotected and without anyone to help you."
"Mom, I'm almost fifteen." Lee scowled back at her mother and patted Slowpoke on the head. "I can take care of myself, hence the fact that I'll be going on an observational study with Professor Elm and Gyro today. You said I could go, remember?"
"I know I said that," Tisa responded patiently, trying her hardest not to blow up at her, "but that's because you're being accompanied by experienced trainers and you should be safe." Her cerulean eyes flickered up to meet her daughter's own blue orbs and she held them there, immediately creating huge tension in the room. "But you were gone all alone out there for hours and you weren't safe…"
"But I wasn't alone, Ma," Lee said with fake brightness, doing anything to lessen the moodiness between them. "I had Marlin with me, see?"
At the sound of his nickname, the Slowpoke opened up an eye and let out a low, throaty sound and wobbled out of Lee's arms, trying to leave the conversation as soon as possible. He didn't realize he was elevated from the ground however, and wobbled right off of the edge of the couch and onto the wood floor with a thump. Lee and her mother chuckled to themselves as Marlin shook his head and kept on going crawling impossibly slow, as if nothing happened, and the tenseness between them was soon gone. Lee grinned at her mother as if to assure her that she would be fine.
"Don't worry," she said, "I'll be fine, 'kay? Just… relax for once. Everything is all right."
"Whatever," Tisa muttered darkly, "I'm just down because you have to be the one comforting in this situation. A bit ironic, in a sense, but okay. You start getting ready – Elm wants you at his lab by seven o'clock sharp."
._._.
"Ah, Professor! Don't push it like that!"
"What do you mean, Lyra? I'm positive I'm doing it right!"
"Uh, no… I don't think you-"
"Don't worry, girl, I'm doing this right! See, I just tip it like this, and it goes right-"
"Professor Elm, it's going to-!"
"OH! Darn, it spilled everywhere!"
Lyra let out a groan. "I'll get the mop… Jeez, Elm. I told you that weird 'beaker drainer' was nothing but trouble."
"Seemed like a good idea when I bought it," Professor Elm said with a sigh. "Maybe I just don't know how to use it right?"
Elm looked down at the spilled chemicals with a worried expression, oblivious to the eye roll Lyra had shot him while she opened up the supply closet on the other side of the room. Once she found the mop she handed it to Professor Elm and headed back to the small table her bag rested on to fetch her Meganium's Pokéball.
"It's called tipping a beaker over and taking the contents out manually," Lyra said flatly, hiding a small grin as she dug through her unorganized mess of a bag. Professor Elm shook his head as she wiped the floor clean with difficulty. The green liquid for the potion he was making didn't get off of floors – especially the lab's crystalline white ones – easily.
"It's not that simple," he explained as he swabbed at the puddle slowly. "You see, sometimes beakers can contain poisonous material that shouldn't be so close to a human's body. Disposing of it can be quite tricky if you do it manually. Same with boiling substances. I mean, if you had to hold a burning hot glass full of chemicals and get rid of its contents by hand you could get hurt. These babies do it for you, and all you have to do is tip this lever! It's genius!"
Lyra sighed as she tossed her Pokéball up into the air once and shoved it into her overall's pocket.
"Whatever you say, Professor…"
Just then, the doors to the lab opened and in came a tall, scrawny girl with an overly packed rucksack, her pinkish-orangeish hair messy and in her face, covering her excited blue eyes slightly. Lyra looked up from her bag and nodded at the girl, smiling brightly,
"Yo, Brock-o-Lee!" she called loudly. "Good to see someone of youth in this lab for once!"
Lee laughed slightly at Professor Elm's exasperated look, and shrugged. "Hey there, Lyra," she said with a nod. "How have you been?"
"Eh, fine, I guess." She shrugged absently. "You know, since I had to step down from my position as champion it's been pretty dull. But what with all of the trouble cropping up around the place… and Red going missing…" she sighed loudly, and closed up her bag, pulling down on her big hat. "Well, it's not something we need to worry about ourselves, you know? Excited for the field day today?"
Lee nodded, setting her rucksack by Lyra's things. "You bet I am," she said, "I finally get a chance to leave this place for a few days… I'm pumped!"
Lyra could only grin widely. "Uh huh, me too." She turned towards the shelves of Pokéballs and walked over to them to unlock the glass container – a new feature they added after a certain redhead stole one of Elm's Pokémon. "It's been quite a long time since I journeyed around…"
Lee nodded. "Yeah, we've been stuck with you for far too long now. Don't you think you should start settling down, or something? Maybe find a boyfriend?"
Lyra blushed slightly and crossed her arms with a slight 'humph!'
"Where'd that come from anyways?" she said crankily. "You're acting like my mother, now! I'll stay home as long as I want! I don't want to get pulled back into all of that 'solitude' crap ever again!"
"It was just a suggestion," Lee said defensively, holding up her hands. "No need to freak out!"
"Well, it was a dumb suggestion," Lyra muttered with a pout. "Besides, you know nobody can go on journeys anymore. I may as well stay here and do nothing."
Professor Elm sighed as he washed out the mop and put it out to dry. "Teenagers…" He walked back inside and joined Lyra at her spot by the shelves, and looked up at the variety of Pokémon safely stored in it.
"Well, I want to get going soon, but it looks like everyone else is late, as per usual." Elm pursed his lips slightly and shrugged it off, turning to Lee and gesturing to her to join them.
"We may as well get you your new Pokémon now," he said as she walked up to them. "We can't have you running around the place 'Mon-less, of course!"
Lee shrugged, looking up at the racks of glistening Pokéballs thoughtfully. It was obvious she had always wanted a Pokémon of her own, but she never needed one. It wasn't like she could go on a journey anyways; the Pokémon League had shut down when she was around eleven. After that, no one really needed Pokémon so no one bothered to get any. The simple Rattata started to cost more than a Dratini once used to. Lee sure as hell couldn't afford that, so she was beyond happy to be getting one for free.
But with that…
"I dunno, Professor," she mumbled. "I don't think I should take one. Maybe I could use Marlin instead."
"Ah, c'mon Lee!" Lyra shook her head and pushed her closer to the Pokéballs. "We're going out to find new Pokémon; you can't take an old one like your mom's with you! He'll slow us down!"
"Yes, Slowpoke is almost as old as I am," Elm agreed with a chuckle. "Go ahead, girl. Just take one."
"Uh, okay…"
BAM!
The three jumped at the same time and looked towards the door that had been slammed open. In came a young boy with brown locks and bright green eyes followed by a stoic-looking girl with a slightly dark complexion and long black curls.
"Sorry I'm late!" the boy said loudly, almost shutting the door on the girl behind him. She scowled at him but it went unnoticed, so she just passed right by him and walked over to the professor and bowed in front of him.
"Please excuse my tardiness," she said in a soft voice. "I'm afraid I was held up by a certain obnoxious kid…"
"Cool it, Rhea," said boy laughed, waving her away. "You were the one who nearly flipped out and jumped into the river."
"Th-That was your fault!" Rhea said indignantly, pushing back her bangs. "I am not to blame for this boy's lackluster attitude, Professor. Excuse me, please."
"I-It's fine, really!" The professor held his hands up and waved them, smiling sheepishly. "I was just about to give Lee here her first Pokémon, you see? You're not so late! Now, Lee. Come over here and pick anything on the bottom shelf.
Lee only had to scan through the labels once before pointing right at it with a grin.
"I want that one," she said firmly.
Professor Elm flinched. "Uh… A-Are you sure…? You really don't have to choose that one, you know…"
Lee nodded. "Yup, I'm sure. I want that one!"
"U-Uh… okay…"