AN: Hey there! So, I'm uploading this along-side chapter 13 for BBOH, but it's a side-story for Chapter 12: Pokeballs. Now, you don't need to have read that to understand this, but I would really appreciate it if you did. The characters are yet more leftovers from yet another scrapped story, but they're still lingering around, so I thought I'd bring them over for a cameo. Cheren is obviously Cheren, and Amelia is like the protagonist from BW became champion and then got into the movie business from B2W2. Sooo... Yeah! Really short (by my standards) one-shot running at just over 1K. Please, tell me what you think! /AN
"Cheren, move your lazy bum!" Amelia half-yelled, grabbing her old friend by his arm and bodily dragging him out of the PokeCenter, leaving a very confused Nurse Joy behind.
"Amelia, slow down!" Cheren yelped, trying to pry the brunette's hand off his elbow and failing miserably. He may have been a Gym Leader, but the budding movie star still had him beat in terms of physical fitness.
"You didn't see it Cher!" Which was kind of obvious really, but Cheren didn't think it wise to point that out. Amelia continued dragging him out past the northern edge of Iccirus City. She paused in the dragging however when the peak of the tower became visible through a gap in the trees. Stubbornly, she pointed. Cheren sighed and briefly pinched the bridge of his nose before focusing on the cloud-enshrouded peak.
"Amelia, I don't see-"
"Look closer!" Amelia growled, cutting the gym leader off before he could finish. Cheren squinted, trying to make out the peak through the low hanging clouds. He was about to turn to Amelia and tell her there was nothing there when he saw something shift. Something massive, arcing out over the edge of the tower, something long and sinuous and glinting emerald in the weak afternoon sun.
"I saw it coming down through the clouds." Amelia explained, grabbing a startled Cheren's elbow once more and tugging him towards the tower. "It looks like it might be some kind of dragon-type." She informed him. "I couldn't get an exact size from this distance, but I'm almost positive it's bigger than Reshiram." Cheren took a second to mentally measure the white dragon that travelled with Amelia in his mind. And shuddered.
"And you want to go after it?" He demanded, wondering briefly if the 2 years of peace and quiet had gone to his friend's head. Unfortunately, or maybe it actually was fortunate, Amelia didn't answer.
With Amelia almost flat-out running up the twisting pathways to the roof and Baby swinging her deadly razor tusks at any Pokémon not smart enough to get out of the way, the gym leader and the movie star reached the top of the tower in under twenty minutes.
"This stairway leads to the roof." Amelia huffed, clearing her throat as she tried to catch her breath. Cheren nodded, not even trying to speak around his burning lungs. Gym leader he may have been, but he was still a bookworm, and not at all cut out for the manic running about that Amelia seemed to do as a hobby.
"The air up here seems to be thinner than usual." Cheren said as he struggled to catch his breath. They really shouldn't have run. Amelia scoffed, but didn't try to deny his observation. Instead, she gestured to Baby, and the Haxorus tromped up behind her, one small forepaw gripping her trainer's shoulder as she growled at the opening.
"Let's go meet our visitor!" Amelia declared abruptly, striding up the last few steps and onto the roof, leaving Cheren to scramble after her.
It was huge. Cheren froze, staring up into an enormous yellow eye. An eye that was at least as large as his forearm was long. An eye that was set into an emerald-scaled head. A head that was big enough for Amelia and Cheren to sit on top of comfortably, and still have space. Not that that seemed to be a good idea. The muzzle full of sharp teeth could probably eat each of them in once bite. Out of the corner of his eye, Cheren saw Amelia slowly pulling out her Pokedex, holding it up so it could scan the serpentine Pokémon before them. Luminous yellow eyes shifted to stare at the girl, and the Pokémon growled softly, exposing serrated red teeth behind the white canines.
"It's not anything native." Amelia muttered after a few seconds. "I'll try with the National 'dex."
The device beeped as she switched modes, and the enormous head tilted quizzically. Cheren waited with baited breath until the device pinged happily, registering the sighting and downloading previously gathered data. "Well?" He prompted when Amelia remained silent.
"It's called Rayquaza." Amelia said softly. "A legendary Pokémon that flies through the ozone layer, circling the entire planet without resting. It rarely lands, and only then when it sinks into hibernation." Behind her, Baby's tail cut through the air, the 6-foot-tall dragon obviously nervous in the presence of her much larger fellow.
"Should we call Professor Juniper? Tell her about Rayquaza's arrival?" Cheren asked, not sure if his light-headedness was from the oddly thin air or from some kind of shock. "If it's planning on sleeping up here, we're going to have to make sure no one disturbs it and gets eaten." The massive head shifted again, and Cheren suddenly found the sharp gaze focusing on himself.
"They'd probably suffocate before they got eaten." Amelia commented, still reading the data in the Pokedex. "Rayquaza breathes ozone; that's why the air seems so thin up here."
"So let me get this straight." Cheren muttered. "We're standing on top of Dragonspiral Tower, no-one knows we're here, in a cloud of toxic gas, in front of a dragon that hasn't eaten in who-knows how long." Amelia shrugged.
"When you put it like that." She smirked, but Cheren saw her lean back slightly, Baby clutching the girl's shoulders in her claws. The gym leader nearly collapsed when the coiled green serpent snorted, blasting a cloud of the blue-tinged ozone at the two teens before the massive head rose up, up, and even further up. Cheren stumbled backwards, tripping over the rough stone bricks of the tower, and to his side, he saw Amelia falling into Baby's arms, the Haxorus curling protectively around her trainer. With a mighty roar that shook the very tower they stood on, Rayquaza's coiled muscles tensed, and the legendary serpent of the sky leapt into the air, twisting and slithering up and away. He flew above the clouds and was gone, leaving only a second echoing roar in his wake.
"I suppose he got annoyed with our interrupting his nap." Amelia commented from the depths of her little draconic cocoon. Cheren could only shake his head, staring up at the hole in the clouds the legendary Pokémon had made.
AN: Like I said, short, but it asked to be written. Um, I'd ask for you to please review, but I think I've pretty much given up. So, do whatever I suppose, and I hope you liked it. /AN