A Chance Encounter
A Pokémon Fan-Fiction
By Hoenn Master
"Sometimes it is difficult to know for certain when love begins; it is far easier to know that it has begun"- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A.N.
This is my first time trying to write in the third person limited, so go easy on me please. I would just like to take this time and say that the sheer amount of Yuri in Skyla's section of FF.N, is nothing short of appalling. This story will be the first of many straight Skyla stories, and I hope that I can start a trend in the right direction.
In the Unova region, there are many events, each varying in scale and grandeur, when the topic of Independence Day is brought up in any conversation. Even the Gym Leaders, who are well acquainted with each other, and rarely on bad footing, have a friendly rivalry when it comes to the matter of an Independence Day celebration. Each Leader had their own event that they themselves participated in, and presided over. Some, like Elesa, had large, elaborate, and expensive celebrations held, and parties that lasted far into the night. Others, the ones who lived in the smaller cities, decided to hold competitions of strength, skill, and intelligence for man and Pokémon alike.
In the city of Mistralton where Leader Skyla, a new leader who had taken over for her father just two months prior to Independence Day at the age of eighteen, had been planning to host a very unique event: An airshow, followed by an air race, that went from Mistralton to Nimbassa city, and back again. When Skyla announced this idea to the general public, people from across the entire region became excited to see the spectacle of an air race, as it was, 'a novel idea for a new Gym Leader to begin her career with a bang'. This, is where our story begins.
"I want a check on all of every plane's systems, and I want it done today! I don't need a malfunctioning plane during the show! We only have two more weeks!" A red haired and rather eccentrically dressed woman barked, causing her Gym assistants to wince, and return to work, from which they had been taking a liberal break; no doubt assuming that their new Leader would go easy on them because she was still new to her position. "Now I see why dad was so hard on the Gym Trainers; he needed to be to get anything done!" The woman's thoughts were broken into, however, when one of the older Gym Trainers and mechanics, walked up behind Skyla, and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Miss Skyla, you won't get any respect from the trainers that way; though, I confess, that they needed that little wake up call," the mechanic said after Skyla had turned around to face him.
"… I just want to run this Gym as well as my father did, but I don't know how I'm going to handle all of this pressure; I mean, with everything going on, I'm a little… Overwhelmed," Skyla murmured after a short silence, turning away from Cliff, and shrugging her shoulders slightly.
"I have absolute confidence in your leading abilities, Miss Skyla. Just remember, don't overwork yourself, and you'll be fine," Cliff comforted, resting his hand on Skyla's shoulder for a moment, and then walking away, leaving Skyla to her thoughts. However, Skyla barely felt the gesture of kindness, as she was too wrapped in her thoughts and worries to notice.
Skyla walked back to her office in the rear of the hanger, still wrapped up in her emotions and worries and simply sat at her desk, mulling over how best to proceed with her plans, and trying to get a grip on her wayward emotions. After what seemed to be only a few minutes, Skyla checked the clock, and was surprised to find that it was already eight o'clock in the evening!
"It couldn't have been two hours, could it?" Skyla mused, standing up from her chair, and heading for the door to close the Gym for the night; however, the Gym's video-phone began to ring loudly from its perch on the wall opposite her desk, forcing Skyla to change direction, and answer it. When Skyla picked up the receiver, and had turned on the video feed, she was greeted by a young man, who couldn't be over twenty-five, starring straight into her face with an emotionless mask, and a background displaying a comfortable living-room: Pokemon occasionally darting across it.
"Hello, would this happen to be the Mistralton airport? And if so, may I speak to Leader Skyla? It's urgent," The clean shaven, blonde haired, light blue eyed man said in a light baritone; not quite bass, but certainly not tenor either.
"Yes, this is the gym, and yes, this is Leader Skyla, how can I help you?" Skyla said, nonplussed as to what this man could want, and how he could have obtained the Gym's number: "He must've called the Pokémon Center and had his call redirected," Skyla thought as she sat down in the wooden chair propped up against a desk below the phone.
"Ah, thank you for your time, Miss Skyla. I promise to make this as expedient as possible: It is my understanding that you are to have an air show in two weeks; am I correct?" the man said politely, getting straight to the point. He sat comfortably back into his chair, and sipped from a glass of water, waiting for a response from the somewhat taken aback Leader.
Recovering swiftly, Skyla responded enthusiastically, "You are correct; however, if you wish to participate, I'll need your name, the type of aircraft you are going to enter, the pilot of the plane, and when you will be arriving."
"Ah, of course: My name is Richard Brown: pilot, rancher, and historian. I am entering a Republic P-47D-25 Thunderbolt from Hoenn, and, if you will allow me to intrude upon your hospitality, I shall arrive at your airport in two days," Richard stated, placing his glass down, and leaning forward to rest his arms upon the table beneath the phone unit.
Skyla sat back in her chair at those words, shocked at the speed of his response, and the fact that such a rare plane would be in her airshow. Finally finding her voice, she stammered, "N-no, that is enough. Thank you very much!... Though, I am wondering, why do you want to come over to Unova and display your plane at an event that shouldn't mean much to you, being from Hoenn and all?"
"I happen to have business in Unova at the present time," Richard started, straightening his relaxed posture, and the tone of his voice betraying a deep set passion, "and I thought-" Richard continued, leaning closer to the screen, voice dropping in volume, "-that my plane deserves to fly over its homeland once again, just as it did seventy years ago. Don't you agree Miss Skyla?" Richard finished, once again relaxing his posture in one of a comfortable conversation, and not one of secretive planning.
Skyla simply stared forward at the screen, equal parts ecstatic at the prospect of seeing such a rare plane in close quarters, and suspicion at this Richard's cryptic answer.
"I agree completely, Mister Brown; I will expect you two days from now, on Saturday, June the twenty-third," Skyla said, writing down the date on a notepad on the phone-desk specifically for that purpose, and making a mental note to question this... Richard, further.
"Thank you very much, Miss Skyla; I hope have a proper conversation with you when I arrive. And thank you for your generosity," Richard concluded, hanging up his end of the line, causing the screen to go blank.
Skyla only hesitated for a few moments lost in thought about this strange man that clearly had some other agenda working at the moment, as the thought that someone coming all the way from Hoenn, just to display an aircraft, was ludicrous.
"Well, I'll just have to wait and see what this, Richard, does then it's not like he would be able to do much out here; he would have gone to Nimbassa for that," Skyla wondered while walking to the doors and locking them securely. "Still, I've only a P-47 in seventy year old pictures my grandfather had, and I am curious to see what they look like up close and personal."
Finishing her task, Skyla left the Gym, and headed up to her dormitory on the upper floor of the hanger, and after she had changed into her sleeping clothes, promptly fell asleep, the stresses of the day forgotten, and dreamless sleep welcomed her.
A.N.
If anyone likes what they see, then please tell me so in a review! Also, I have a poll up on my profile to see what the public opinion is about Skyla's pages around here. Have a look!
Signed: Hoenn Master, forever a patriot.