Falkner couldn't believe it. All the respect he'd had for his former colleagues had dissipated and become anger. They were fools. He hated them. He hated them so much for prolonging the war. Everyone knew Tohjo would eventually win but to him...they'd already lost.
Too many were gone: his father, Surge, Pryce, Lance and more citizens than he could name. Falkner loathed that region so he made a promise. It was what his father would want him to do, to bring storms to the region of islands, and he could do it. The guardians were flying-types after all and possessed the power to stop Tohjo's suffering, and maybe the power to end his.
It would not just be vengeance. It would be justice. Ice, lightning and fire would rain down on Tohjo's enemies and he would be a saviour. Falkner knew that it wouldn't resurrect the dead but he felt that it would at least allow them to rest in peace.
Falkner stood at the edge of the field of cinders that used to be full of golden trees and in between the two burnt towers as he awaited the two legendaries. Surely they would answer his call; it was for the sake of Johto.
The air was still in anticipation but the sky was grim and grey. Ecruteak City was now a ghost town but even then all the spiritual energy had left with that coward Morty, leaving nothing but a lonely husk in the stead of a once cheerful place.
Falkner spared a moment and looked over to the abandoned gym. The ghost-type specialist had yearned for the League to surrender, to hide from the looming tragedy, but they'd all dismissed him. They'd been too determined to win but Falkner knew that Morty's warning had cemented itself into the mind every member, no-one could fully ignore the seer's premonitions.
Blue hair fell over Falkner's enraged eyes and his hands clutched his black coat. He turned in defiance and repeated the names of the dead therapeutically under his breath to remind him of what he was striving for.
He whispered their names to himself, "Father, Lance, Pryce..." but then he faltered. A strong wind had picked up and whistled past him. The gusts grew in intensity and the air seemed to be spiralling upwards. The sun was hidden by the smoky clouds but the creatures that flew down were even more radiant to Falkner's entranced eyes.
Every beat of Ho-oh and Lugia's wings sent blasts of air shooting through the empty streets and the trees quivered under the legendaries' sheer power. Falkner looked up and met their eyes. An understanding passed through the three of them and he laughed in honest joy at what he saw. If only his father was here.
The two let out magnificent cries and they, along with Falkner's triumphant laughter, filled the cold silence of Ecruteak City. He'd done it. He was going to end this infernal war and save Tohjo!
Falkner stepped forwards as Lugia and Ho-oh descended slowly, hovering above the ash-littered earth before the trainer.
"Ho-oh! Lugia! Mighty guardians of Johto and Kanto, together we'll end this war and save our people! Fire, lightning and ice will destroy Hoenn and we will unleash a storm that will never..." Somehow, amongst the howling winds and roaring legendaries, Falkner heard a van drive up to the city centre.
He wheeled around the air became thick with the rage felt by him and the Pokémon he'd connected with. The winds blew more ferociously and battered the vehicle but the gym leader stood adamantly in the wild gusts and glared at the man coming his way. He watched the driver shield his old face from the sharp rushes while his white lab coat and greying hair billowed violently as he exited his van.
"Falkner, you must stop this madness at once! Think about what this would mean for our world!" the professor shouted above the rising storm.
"Samuel! How dare you try stop me!" Falkner bellowed, "I thought after Pryce and Lance you'd want this war to end!"
Professor Oak's face was distraught as he met Falkner's furious blue eyes, "Of course I want the war to end, but utter destruction is never the answer!"
Two others had exited the van and ran forwards to Oak's side. Falkner's face twitched angrily in recognition as the two young women stopped at the sight of the two flying-types hovering powerfully behind him. They both wore coats that covered their iconic outfits but Whitney's pink bunches and Janine's purple spikes were all too visible.
"Falkner, please don't do this!" Whitney cried, her tears being blown away in the savage winds.
"We were all hurt but this can't be the answer. This won't end in victory for any side!" Janine joined the pleading but it all fell on deaf ears. The Pokémon behind Falkner, with the power flaps of their wings stirring up the storm, stood there as his motivation and his bereavement stood as his protection, so their voices couldn't penetrate his heart.
"I'm not backing down! Not when I'm so close to finishing this once and for all. I've lost too much to give up at this point!" his voice cracked with emotion on the final sentence so he tore his eyes away from Janine and Whitney's faces of despair.
He focused on Oak and glared at the researcher with unbelievable venom, "I always knew you'd betray us." Falkner spat then he turned his back of the three of them. He looked up determinedly to the legendary Pokémon.
"Unleash your full power on Hoenn!" he commanded, "Fulfil your duties as guardians and avenge the fallen of Tohjo!"
Ho-oh and Lugia rose formidably and fear consumed Whitney and Professor Oak. They trembled as horrific images of their future flooded their mind, unable to do anything but watch in terror, but Janine furrowed her eyebrows together in anger.
The death of Falkner's father had unhinged him more than she or anyone had realised. With Whitney and Oak frozen in fear, only she and her training to stay focused could save the thousands of people Falkner's plan would ultimately cost.
She fluidly reached inside the deep pockets of her black trousers and threw out her shuriken pokéballs. A venomoth, weezing, ariados, arbok and crobat appeared in silent metallic flashes unique to Janine and her father. "Sludge bomb! Toxic! Poison jab! Coil!" Janine ordered and the corresponding Pokémon attacked.
Venomoth, Crobat and Weezing darted towards the two Tohjo legendaries, blasting Ho-oh and Lugia with poison and turning the swirling air around them toxic. The rainbow and diving Pokémon looked down to the trainer that had summoned them to see what he wished for them to do but just as Falkner began to cry out lividly against his so-called friend's actions, Ariados and Arbok lunged at him.
He tried to flail and fight the two poison-types off but Arbok had wrapped its lavender-coloured, serpentine body around him, trapping his arms and making him unable to attack, while Ariados' forelegs glowed sickly purple and struck him rapidly.
Janine had stayed a small way away from the fight as she surveyed the scene stiffly. She'd clenched her fists in frustration and wanted nothing more than to close her eyes or run away but she forced herself to keep focused. She tried to keep her purple eyes locked on the two dangerous Pokémon before her but she couldn't help but look to her friend.
She stiffened. Janine's eyes were wide and haunted as Falkner's eyes met hers. Ariados' poison jab slammed into his stomach and he finally collapsed onto the cobblestone street but the phantom of that stare, full of unbelievable betrayal and loathing, lingered in her mind for much longer. For a moment that seemed to last years to the Fuchsia Gym leader, that gaze was all she could see.
The bird-like Pokémon roared terribly and the resulting blasts of air hurled all of Janine's Pokémon to the ground as if they were no heavier than leaves but the two legendaries had lost the connection that had brought them there. There was a great flash of blinding light and when Oak, Whitney and Janine's eyes readjusted Ho-oh and Lugia had both disappeared. The poison in the air clouded the returning breezes so the final wisps of power left by the two legendary Pokémon danced around like a bitter performance.
Oak was the first out of the three to move again. The small sounds of his movement seemed to resonate enormously in the still city as he dug his pokégear out of his lab coat's pocket and reluctantly called the champion. Falkner couldn't get away with this, even if his endeavour had been a failure.
Every one of the researcher's movements was slow and seemed more suited to a machine than a human and when he spoke his voice was hollow. As he explained the situation over the device he looked to the city's only other occupants. Janine and Whitney's faces were grief-stricken. Whitney was crying and Janine had her hands clamped over her mouth as she repressed her own tears.
Another wave of guilt rushed over the Kanto professor. The call had been made but his hands were still shaking. The plateau had been the first straw but now he could hardly find any resolve left inside him. He no longer could convince himself that his actions behind the League's back were helping anyone.
The Indigo League had had no choice but to imprison Falkner for his attempts on the lives of everyone in Hoenn but the war had still raged on with great and numerous casualties on both sides. All wars inevitably end but the one between Tohjo and Hoenn had not ended with a victory for either region.
A stalemate had been reached. There weren't any options and neither side could surrender. Peace had failed and Hoenn had become desperate, it couldn't fight two regions simultaneously. Morty had been right and Tohjo was lost to the devastation brought about by the monsters of the sea and earth.
The number of deaths brought about on that one horrifying day was more than the war itself. Many good people lost their lives but many people were killed by the gangs rising to power. Anarchy had seeped into every city and every town yet there was nothing anyone could do about it.
And leading the onslaught, were the Zephyrs.
Hello and welcome to Pokémon Rust! I hope you enjoy this story but as a warning (in case you couldn't tell already) this is going to be a bit darker than most journeys through Johto you'll see.
P.S. Tohjo is the continent of Johto and Kanto
P.P.S. This is actually a redraft, I didn't steal Pokémon Rust, it is already mine. I just moved the neo-version to my own account.
