The Dragon's Calling
Chapter 1
Bishies Anyone ?
And so I walked along the dark hall, still soaked from the swim I just took. My Pokemon had carried me most of the way, but a sudden wave came out of nowhere, crashing down on the both of us. I choked and gagged as I washed up on shore. My Pokemon, Lapras, was nowhere to be found. All I remember was hearing Tiger screaming my name, and her shaky hand reaching out for me. Of course, I reached for it. But the tide pulled me away, almost as if it were jealous, attempting to take me as it's own. I had washed up on this strange island. I have no idea where I am, or where I'm headed. I just entered an old-looking building, hoping someone was in it. But all it was... was a dark, dank hallway crawling with Seviper and Rattata, no doubt. All I know... is that this place has a certain ...familiarity to it.
My boots thudded across the ground, making wet, disgusting plopping noises as I pulled them back up to keep my pace. They were wet with sea water, making them heavier than usual. My blue jeans were wet too... along with my white t-shirt. With my luck, some old pervert would be living here, on this island. He'd ask me to come in and change while he goes to get some tea. And then he'd-...no. This isn't the time to be thinking such things. I have to find out where I am. Figure out what I'm going to do. I see a door. Would this lead me to someplace important ? Or... perhaps someplace so insignificant that even the gods themselves, if there were any, had forsaken it ? I wasn't to know until I saw for myself. And so I continued on, eyes darting back and forth, looking for anything... any sign of human life. A cell phone. A shoe. Hell... even a pair of underwear would suffice. Anything that would show... that there were people here... or at least... had been here.
My heart was racing as I got closer and closer to the door. I stepped closer, and reached out for it. Another step. Then another. And then... a scratching noise. What was it ? Was it a Rattata ? Or... was someone following me ? I didn't have the nerve to look. I just continued onward, finally stopping at the door, a sweaty, nervous hand on the handle. Should I pull ? Or shouldn't I. Should I stay, and see what's past the door? Or should I turn and run back outside, in hopes that Tiger was there looking for me ? Times like these make me wish I had a boyfriend.
I cursed as I used what little of a thought process I had, just to make up my mind on a simple dilemma. I groaned, pulling the door, and stepping back, having a bright light flash in my eyes. The glare made me wince as I shielded my eyes against it. I looked up. Blue sky. White clouds. I was outside again. But...this was new. I had never experienced this before. With the rest feeling so familiar, I suddenly gather a sense of foreboding. But...that could just be the fifty story skyscraper that's about thirteen yards away from me.
Suddenly I was overcome with hysteric emotions. Fear. Excitement. Sadness. Anger. These emotions welled up inside of me, tugging at my throat, trying to release a scream. I choked again, but I managed to fight it back as I stared at the skyscraper. It was huge. Forget fifty story. It had to be at least sixty. Tops. I made my way towards it, my eyes fixated warily upon the huge doors, which, in themselves, created a feeling of insecurity inside me as they got bigger and bigger with each step I took. I gulped. I whimpered. And then I grabbed one of the massive handles with both hands. I tugged. Hard. Harder. Even harder. Finally, it budged. I pulled on it to create enough of a space for me to slip through. And I did. Great. More darkness. I wish this place would make up it's mind.
I walked forward once more, this time with my eyes on what looked like a vine-covered staircase. I approached it. I could feel eyes watching me in the darkness, and I could sense the presence of other beings. But something urged me forward. Something told me to climb the stairs. Suddenly, I heard my name. It was a whisper...but the fact that I was even hearing another being speak... that's what was so creepy. I glanced around, but I saw no one. Just darkness. And I heard silence. Silence, except for the scraping of claws against the rocky floor. Silence, except for a distant, high-pitched cry. Just WHAT have I gotten myself into ?
But before I could figure that out, something hurtled towards me. All I saw was a mixture of yellow and green, along with that same high-pitched cry.
And so she awoke, body jerking upward as she panted heavily, sweat dripping from her forehead, dripping from her nose and staining the blanket on top of her. Sarah. An eighteen year old girl, who, only a year ago, started her Pokemon journey with her childhood friends, Tiger and Jason. Lately she had been having an odd dream. She didn't know why. She just figured it was some sort of past life catching up with her, or...something. But...that didn't keep her from feeling scared...or telling her friends about the dream they all somehow seem to share.
Her green eyes fell upon her friend, Tiger. Her hair was short, tomboy-ish. Her blue eyes were currently closed, but it was obvious her eyes were darting around. She must be having that same dream again. The one she's been having ever since they started this journey. Sarah heard a whine escape the blue-haired girl's lips as she gripped tightly onto the blankets that were wrapped around her, obviously frightened of something, though she smiled when she saw Tiger's Pichu curled up under her friend's arm, snoring away as it's sleep bubble grew smaller, and then blew back up again. Those two had been together ever since this journey started, though Sarah didn't exactly know how long they had been together. But Pichu had always been a comfort for Tiger, even when she couldn't be. At least she knew, though, that Tiger had something she could turn to for comfort. All Tiger had told them about her relationship with Pichu, was that it was the only friend she had until she met Sarah and Jason.
Sarah shook her head and pulled a strand of her brown hair out of her face as her eyes traveled to the other side of her, where her other friend, Jason, slept. He snored a bit and buried his face into the pillow, muttering swears as he idly batted at something invisible in the darkness. His hair was short as well, a dark violet in color. His black eyes fluttered open for a moment, but then closed again as he turned around, his face no longer visible to Sarah. He continued to mumble in his sleep, kicking a bit, and almost hitting his pokemon, Duskull. Duskull he had caught as his first Pokemon from one of Tiger's borrowed Pokeballs, using Tiger's Pichu. They hadn't been together long, but they shared a tight-knit friendship, just as Tiger had with her Pichu. Sarah jumped when he let out a deep-throated snore, murmuring something that sounded like "Bitch.", before falling silent again.
Sarah blinked and looked down at her own Pokemon in her lap. It was a Dratini. The greyish-blue Pokemon also had it's own special meaning to Sarah. It was a reminder of her brother that had died years ago trying to quell the rage of a rampaging Gyarados. He had told her to take the ball from his belt and run as far away as she could. She hadn't know it at the time, but thinking back on the image that had engraved itself into her mind, thinking back, and looking at those blue eyes that pleaded for her to leave. The look in her brother's eyes showed that he knew he wasn't going to survive. But he reassured her anyway that once things were done and taken care of, they'd have a nice cup of tea along with an all-out pocky-fest and anime marathon. She sighed and looked down at the slender dragon before her. It was ... all she had to remind her of him. Of her brother.
She shook her head once more and picked her Dratini up in her arms. It squeaked, but did not wake up, so she laid it down on the bed and covered it up. She got to her feet, stretching as she walked over to a window. They had stayed overnight in the Weather Institute on Route 119. The group had just left Mauville City after getting the Dynamo Badge. They had all beaten Watson, of course. He wasn't that difficult...aside from the fact that all of his Pokemon were also part Steel instead of just Lightning, which the kind man at the front of the gym forgot to say. They all managed, however, and were soon on their way to Route 118, with Sarah's Lapras to Surf them across the water. They had traveled through thick, tangled grass, and up a hill, having to battle trainer after trainer on their way. They didn't complain, though. It was a chance to level up their pokemon. Jason's Cacnea evolved into a Cacturne, and Tiger's Combusken into Blaziken. That was proof that all that training was worthwhile.
After their obscurely enjoyable trip from Route 118 to Route 119, they came across the Weather Institution, where scientists were studying a Pokemon called Castform which changed the weather... an odd little Pokemon to be sure. And it HAD changed the weather. From sunny...to dark and gloomy and finally to extremely wet. The damned thing had made it rain. Just their luck. They had been traveling most of the week, only to find out the only reason it rained was because some scientists were trying to learn about a new Pokemon.
As an apology the scientists had said they could spend the night and rest instead of trying to set up camp on the soggy ground after a hard rain. They had gladly taken the offer. They were tired of sleeping on the ground after traveling for almost seven days straight without a decent shower or bath, let alone food that wasn't cooked in a make-shift pot or over a rock. Tiger's cooking was great, but there was only so much you could make with berries, salt, pepper and dried milk.
Taking things back to the kids, Tiger awoke not much longer, waking up the same as Sarah. Her body jolted upright as sweat poured from her face. She had that dream again. The same one. And they seemed relatively the same, though they seemed to take place in different areas. Sarah's takes place in some sort of giant tower, while Tiger's takes place in an underwater cave. And Jason's is in some deep mountain cave somewhere. The dreams were the reason they all started this journey. They wanted answers. And so the three of them set out to start their trek through the Hoenn region, keeping their eyes open for anything that seemed even remotely like their dreams. But so far, no luck. They all have five badges, six Pokemon and no leads onto what's going on.
Sarah looked over her shoulder and to Tiger, who was already on her feet, rubbing her eyes. "Nnngh." She whined a bit and stretched, falling back onto the bed. "Sleep. Must sleep. "
"Tiger." Sarah said, with an amused smirk, turning on her heels to face her blue-haired friend. "You just woke up. You zonked out the instant you made contact with the bed."
"Shut up." Came an annoyed growl from the girl. "Evil...dreams...stupid...water...oh !" She shot up and walked over to her friend, suddenly wide awake it seemed. "Remember how I told you I had this...choking feeling, like I couldn't breathe?"
"In the dream? Yeah." Sarah nodded, folding her arms and listening intently. They always shared their dreams if anything new happened, and it seemed that Tiger had obviously had come across something different in her dream. Usually she felt like she couldn't breath underwater, as if the salty liquid was running down her throat and suffocating her. So she couldn't make it very far without the unidentifiable Pokemon helping her. She always explained it as a long, snake-like creature. But it was always shadowed over so she couldn't tell just exactly what kind of Pokemon it was, or even if it was a Pokemon at all. But from what Tiger was explaining to her, she could suddenly breath when she was thrown into the water, and she managed to swim into the cave without the Pokemon's help. This was definitely a change. Just as Sarah had gotten further in her dream that night, Tiger did as well.
And no sooner had that thought run through her mind, Jason had fallen off of the bed with a loud swear, colliding with the tile floor and getting into a wrestling match with the tangled white sheets. "Ah, dammit! Ugh ! This sucks ! Ayah ! Nnngh. Shit !" The violet haired boy managed to get his head loose and he sleepily examined his surroundings, twitching as his Duskull tried to help pull him free, which only made matters worse. "Ah. Duskull. Don' worry 'bout it." He grumbled and, after another five minutes of struggling, managed to pull himself free of his fabric prison, climbing to his feet and grabbing his shirt, tugging it on. "Okay. These fucking dreams have got to go. I just ran into a weird looking Pokemon. I have NO idea what it is."
"So you ran into a Pokemon too ?" Tiger inquired, looking at him chibi-ishly.
"Hai. Damn thing kept pushing me further and further into the cave." He grumbled and stretched, leaning against the bedpost.
"Did you catch what it looked like ?" Tiger asked, tugging on her shoes.
"Didn't I just say I had NO idea what it was ? It was all...covered in shadows. Like a silhouette. I couldn't see what it was, dammit." Jason snapped, once again in a bad mood. Tiger always did say he had the temper of a Primeape. Then again, this was Tiger talking. She'd say just about anything. That is, as long as she was on a sugar high. And both Jason and Sarah agreed that Tiger was ALWAYS on a sugar high, despite whether or not she had access to the white granular sweetness or not.
"Sorry !" Tiger said with a whine, hiding behind Sarah and peeking over her shoulder. "Rew. You need to find a way to minimize that short temper of yours."
"I don't have a short temper !" Jason roared, throwing his hands up in the air. And, on cue, Duskull rolled it's eyes and thwacked him with a pillow, chuckling at the glare it received from its trainer before floating over to Jason's backpack and diving into it. "...hey ! Duskull ! Get out of there !" Jason growled and ran over to his pack, rummaging through it to find his pokemon. It wasn't there, however. It had already snuck out with a box of candy and was snickering as it hovered out of his reach, nonchalantly snacking on the sweet, sugary goodness it had in its possession.
"Jason : 0. Duskull : 274." Sarah said, resulting in a giggle from her friend Tiger. Duskull was a mischievous little thing. Perhaps even worse than Tiger's Pichu...or Tiger herself. Sarah was still mentally debating on which one got into more trouble.
Sarah, however, blinked when she heard a soft cooing noise, and the sound of sheets rustling. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Dratini stirring from its sleep. Sarah turned around and walked over to the bed, patting it on the head. "Morning, Dratini." The pokemon cooed and allowed itself to be picked up, cuddling into the trainer's arms.
The purple-haired trainer stretched and scratched the back of his head as he picked up his backpack. "Well we'd best get out of here. Fortree city isn't too far away from here, is it?"
Sarah gave a 'one moment' gesture with her finger and pulled out her PokeNav, checking out the World Map. She narrowed her eyes as she pin-pointed their current position before giving a nod. "Yeah, according to this we're almost there. I'd say about another day's worth of traveling and we should reach the city by nightfall."
"Hai. Sounds good little miss digital geek." Jason teased, grabbing his cap and putting it on Sarah's head, pulling it down over her eyes. He laughed and dodged a blind swipe from his partner and ran out the door out of harms way. Of course, Sarah WAS a 'digital geek' as Jason put it. She was always reading up on the latest technology breakthroughs, and, when bored, could be seen fiddling with her PokeNav.
"Oooooh. I swear I'm going to kick his ass one of these days. We'll prove that my dragon pokemon are stronger than his dark pokemon." Sarah growled and began scanning through the Match Call system to check on trainers they've already met. She swore that Isaac, a Pokemon Breeder they had met on their way to Verdanturf, was hitting on her. He stopped though when he got his butt whooped by Jason's Mawile.
"Uh. Hello. Note, Sarah, that not all your pokemon are dragon types, and not all his pokemon are dark types !" That was true, however. Sarah DID prefer dragon-type pokemon, like her Dratini, Shelgon and Vibrava, but she also liked a couple others, like Gardevoir, Lapras and Absol. That's why she had them in her team. Besides, she couldn't have ALL dragon-type pokemon. That would give her a serious disadvantage against ice and other dragon pokemon.
Jason, however, preferred pokemon of the dark element, such as his Sableye or Cacturne. Of course, he liked pokemon that seemed to be a little odd or scary-looking, like his Pupitar, or Mawile. Those seemed to be his favorite kind to train. He was a bit peeved, however, when Sarah had come back one day from scouting the path ahead, only to see that she had caught a Dark Pokemon he had pined over for a long time. Absol. She said she'd be willing to train if he could offer up his Gyarados. But, of course, he refused. Gyarados was a trusted partner of his. He wasn't about to separate with it.
Tiger, on the other hand, liked just about any kind of pokemon. Most of her team considered of the cutesy type, like her Skitty, Pichu, Espeon, Girafarig or Phanpy. But she had a hard-hitting Blaziken as well. But, despite her pokemons' all around cuteness factor, she had taught them some powerful moves, making them just as formidable as her friends' almost fully evolved teams. She was definitely proof that you didn't need to have fully evolved pokemon to have a strong team.
After about fifteen minutes of prep time, along with a quick breakfast, the trio were once again on their way to their next destination, Fortree city, where the Gym Leader, Winona, awaited the challenge of any trainer that dared face her in a battle. They had conquered five gyms so far. They only had three more to go. They were wondering, however, if they'd ever find a solution to their dilemma : Why exactly are the three of them having such strange dreams ?
Moving away from the main trio right now, we focus on another group of people traveling the same route. It was a group of three boys. And, for some reason, they seemed to be lost.
"Ray...please ! Will you slow down?" Came a gentle, though desperate voice from the shortest of the group. This boy's hair was multi-colored. Though, on him, it looked good. Blue hair with a mix of pink, yellow, and red bangs. Purple streaks from his bangs trailed from the top of his head in two strands of hair that trailed over his head and down. His soft, dark brown eyes were half closed due to dreariness and lack of sleep. He pleaded with the second tallest of the three, latching onto his arms in a childish manner. "Ray...please ! I'm tired ! We can search some more, later !"
"Fine, fine, Kaross. We'll give those weary feet of yours a rest." Said the second tallest teasingly, climbing down a shall hill to the area below before sitting beneath a tree. He watched as his friend slumped against a large rock, looking as if he was ready to nod off to sleep then and there. The man, Ray, was a handsome fellow, with light green hair. Yellow highlights started at the front of his forehead then curved outward and inward again, making a circle, and then became a straight line which traveled all the way to the back of his neck. His gentle golden eyes smiled over at his other friend, the tallest of the group. "Hey, Ronin. Think we'll ever find what we're searching for?"
"If destiny planned it, then yes. We will." Ronin was most definitely the most rugged looking of the three. His hair was short, spiked outwards in the back, and a light silver in color. His blue eyes were cold, and narrowed in a menacing manner as they glared over the area around them. "But don't wear yourself out. Our chances of finding what we're looking for are slim."
"Yes, yes. I know. And I hate pushing Kaross like that. I just want our search to end as soon as possible. Things are definitely going to get ugly if things progress as I believe they will." Ray nodded at his own words and glanced over at Kaross, who was most definitely sleeping like a baby. "Being together all the years we have, searching...you'd think we would have reached our goal by now." He heaved a sigh and stared up at the blue morning sky, closing his eyes and taking in the warm sunlight. "It certainly is a beautiful day."
" I suppose it is." Ronin said with a bit of a grumble, not liking to admit such things externally. He reached to touch a flower beside him, but froze when he heard footsteps coming his way. "...do you hear that, Ray?"
"Yes..I do." The man stood up and walked over towards the direction of the sound, pushing back a couple of branches courtesy of the bushes that blocked their path. He peered towards the path they had been walking on and saw three trainers making their way along the dirt road that lead to their destination. "Hey, Ronin. Come look at this, will you?" He said, waving for the tallest to come over.
He nodded and walked over, glancing at the trainers coming in their direction. "I haven't seen a single trainer on this road all day. It's rare to find trainers traveling together, especially in a group of three, like that."
Their talking must have been awfully loud, because Kaross awoke from his slumber and rubbed his eyes, sleepily glancing around. "Wh-...what's going on, guys?" He asked, getting to his feet as he walked over to where they were. "...are those...trainers ?"
"No, Kaross." Ray said, rolling his eyes. "They're just wearing the pokebelts to establish a fashion statement."
"...you suck." Kaross said with a pout, before smiling and climbing up the small hill to the path. "Let's go talk to them !"
"Kaross ! Wait ! N-...damn." Ray shook his head at Kaross' enthusiasm to meet new people and motioned for Ronin to follow them.
"Ah, according to this, we've only got a few more miles to travel before we're at Fortree !" Sarah exclaimed triumphantly, grinning as she closed up her PokeNav once more. "Finally ! I can't wait to sleep in a Pokemon Center bed. Air conditioning. Fast food. Cute boys. Oh yeah."
"What, I'm not cute?" Jason asked, turning and walking backwards as he faced the girl that was only a couple yards behind him.
"Noooo. You're sexy." She teased, walking past and lightly petting him on the head before slowly jogging up towards Tiger. "You miss Pizza, I know you do !"
"Hai !" Tiger shouted in a jubilant tone. Tiger's love for pizza was legendary. Pizza and Pocky were her favorite foods in the world. And she wasn't ashamed to admit that fact. "Pizza ! The wonderful, pepperoni and cheese goodness ! ...and mushrooms ! Don't forget the mushrooms !" She giggled and spun around on one foot...right into the person in front of her. She fell backwards, feeling a quick pain run through her body, before it disappeared just as fast as it had come. "...owwiiieee..."
"Ah, are you alright?" Said a soft, gentle voice. Tiger looked up to see a boy at least her age standing over her, with blue hair and a mix of colors for his bangs. She blinked as he held out his hand to her. "Need some help getting up?"
"Ah..h-hai.." She said with a nod, letting him help her up. He must have screwed up trying to dye his hair. She though, examining said hair quite thoroughly.
"Is...something wrong?" He inquired, watching as his two friends walked up beside him.
"No, no." She said, shaking her head. "Did... I hurt you when I ran into you..uh..."
"Kaross. My name is Kaross." Said the boy with a smile. "And these are my friends, Ray and Ronin." He pointed to each as he said their names, both giving a small wave and a 'Hey' when their presence was made known.
Sarah had to keep herself from drooling. All the boys were...so hot. And her favorite kind of boys were the hot kind. Especially the really hot ones. And the two tallest ones were really, really hot. She smiled at the two, but noticed they didn't have any pokeballs.
"Are you three trainers? Why don't you have any pokeballs?" Jason asked, as if reading Sarah's mind.
"Ah, that's just the thing." Ray said with a smile. "We aren't trainers. We love pokemon, yes, but we don't have the time to spend training them."
"I see..." Jason said with a nod. "Anyway, we'd better get going. We're on our way to Fortree City, trying to get there by nightfall."
"Yeah, and we're cutting it pretty close as it is." Sarah nodded as well, checking her PokeNav once again, as she so ritualistically did. "Nice meeting you boys, though."
"Nice...seeing you..." Ray said blankly. They were certainly an odd group, to be sure. But he couldn't help but smile after the girl with the PokeNav. But... he blinked after they disappeared, and the girl and company were out of sight. They didn't get their names. Damn ! "Oh well." Ray shrugged and blinked once more. "Hey...why don't we follow them?"
Ronin tilted his head to the side slightly. "What ? Why ?"
"They're trainers ! Maybe we'll find what we're looking for if we follow them !" Ray said deviously, a small smirk on his lips.
"But...what about some rest? You said we could get a little rest !"
"You rested for five minutes, Kaross. Now shush. We give chase !" He laughed and ran down the path, leaving the other two confused. They followed, however, wondering what deviousness Ray could possibly be up to now.