A/N: Hello, minna! Uhm, I must have posted this story before but deleted it immediately when I found out some of its very grave grammatical errors, but here it is again! Revamped and reedited. Well, as much as I could. I really like this plotline and I want to make it work and finish this story. So, without further ado, join me on this bumpy ride. Let's do this!
Disclaimer: I. Own. Nothing. So please don't sue me! I play Pokémon Go if that's any consolation. I started off with Bulbasaur and I like him very much despite all the hate (*^ω^*)
Prologue
The world crashed beneath her feet. It was hopeless. She was too young, too small to make a difference. She felt her heart clench in anxiety and apprehension. It's all a mess.
The ground shook, the waves clashed at the shore mercilessly. She fought the urge to wince when the weather took another turn completely for the hundredth time. Rain pounded on her scalp and skin underneath her long sleeve shirt. The rawness and slight blister that was scorched by the searing heat not a moment ago made it all the more painful. It was the least of her worries though.
From behind her, just beside the ajar double glass doors was the frantic voice of their city's Gym Leader, discussing the plan of action with the Hoenn Champion. She knew it was hopeless though. There's nothing they could do but evacuate; leave their home behind. She just hoped that her parents were safe.
Eyeing the top of the cape, seeming like a foreboding castle that overlooked the whole city, her house stood like a resilient warrior, refusing to bow despite of the crumbling scene that occurred under its feet. She got separated from her parents. They were up there, probably bracing themselves for the end that was sure to come. Her father would rather die than leave his life's work, her mother wouldn't leave him alone. She wanted to go up there; she wanted to convince them that staying wouldn't save them anything.
She instinctively covered her ears when the raging blue beast roared, booming like thunder when it echoed in the storms, only so much closer. She heard myths and legends about it, regarding it as one of the reputable deities that controlled the weather. It brought rain and good harvest to Hoenn and its people just as it was believed to be the creator of the seas and oceans. But now, seeing Kyogre in the flesh at the heart of their city, the girl could not fathom how something so destructive and horrendous be considered by their ancestors as anything but.
She felt the weather shift again, the pouring rain sizzling to a sudden halt and then replaced by the intense heat from the sun. No doubt caused by the presence of the towering red creature that bellowed its response to its opponent, shaking the earth in its wake.
The girl didn't know why, of all other places to pick its fight, the two legendries chose Sootopolis City as its arena. They could've chosen a location remote from civilization to avoid further destruction than simply uncontrollable shifting of the weather and clash of land and water.
The day had started out rather well. The sun was on its normal position as the times her parents allowed her to play with Wallace's pokémon. She was quite familiar with all of them, having spent the entirety of her childhood seeing them train and battle against opposing experienced trainers. Wallace is an excellent Gym Leader, considering the fact that the Sootopolis Gym was the eighth and final gym to face before a trainer could head off to Ever Grande City to challenge the Elite Four. She was nine, old enough next year to start her own journey just like her older siblings and she was more than thrilled at the thought of having her own friend and ally while traveling the region.
It all began heading south when she felt herself sweating despite inside the usually cool Water-type Gym. She could almost taste the dehydration in the air and the intense heat made her eyes glossy and her head pounding in a frantic beat. Then in an instant, the sky started to darken and rain lashed heavily, huge drops of water drumming all roofs. The ache in her head only increased, not taking the swift change of temperature good at all. As if things couldn't get any worse, Kyogre appeared out of nowhere, slamming the underwater entrance to their city a little too wide to accommodate its size, angry and vicious. And like hell rising from the underworld, Groudon followed after, magma pooling beneath its feet to create a miniature island in the middle of the lake at the center of the crater that was Sootopolis City, and its mood was not any less different from the former's.
They battled for the control of the weather; draught and drizzle. She felt the ground shook once again as waves from the normally serene lake crashed at the shore, some large enough to swallow a house, and swallow it did. Wallace's Water Type pokémon protected the Gym, the lowest structure in the whole city. It was a relief no one got hurt yet. Wallace and Steven must have decided that abandoning the city was their best bet to get everyone to safety. The Gym trainers were already herding the civilians to a small clearing while they threw their pokéballs to the air and released their Water and Flying Type pokémon to help them get away from the chaos and head to the mainland, or anywhere really. Anywhere was safer than the battlefield where two god-like creatures waged war for domination and control.
She eyed the house above the cape again. She could spot her parents' bedroom from where she was, almost sure that her mother and father were watching her and the battle between the massive pokémon, almost sure that her mother was calling for her to join them inside the false safety the walls of their house offered.
Fire rose from the ground, waves were scalded by the blaze yet refused to be overpowered by its ultimate nemesis. The weather was chaotic. Her head was pounding. The moment she snapped her head away from the view of her house to the two combating creatures was the moment Kyogre chose to whip a humungous wave and send it to the Continent Pokémon, at which the latter evenly answered with a draught powered Solar Beam. She blanched then and there, her commonly pale complexion turning ghostly ashen.
She could've been thankful that the beam of condensed solar energy pierced through the destructive wall of water if it was canceled with the wave and be reduced to nothing but a passing light. It wasn't though. The beam headed directly at the house that sat on the cape she gazed not too long ago, obliterating it completely within seconds. Her heart skipped one, two—it felt like a hundred beats.
"NO!" Her scream pierced through the air as she run to the edge of the piece of land where the Gym was located. She was more than ready to swim the distance, desperate for the safety of her parents. She cried in frustration when a pair of arms encircled her waist and prevented her from plunging into the dangerous waters.
"Sshh," the man whispered in her ear, soothing her nerves but not calming the uncontrollable flow of her tears. She found comfort in his arms, wishing it was her mother holding her then, and it was her father who was whispering kind words to ease the hopelessness she felt. "It's going to be alright."
She hoped. She wished, more than anything.
"We have to go. It's not safe here," Wallace mumbled in her ear, still holding the struggling girl. He paused for a moment, not quite believing that those very words came out of his own mouth. Steven had scrambled away after the explosion, and helped the few remaining civilians to evacuate in panic of something else going off.
His city, the great Sootopolis City was being torn down to pieces, an event he never imagined could happen. But it was happening, and he watched as the city was slowly abolished by the sheer power of the very deities that they've worshipped. He'll be damned if he's not gonna save everyone he could.
It broke his heart to watch the little girl see her parents die with her own eyes, and while so young, but it hurt him even more to know that he could only do so much to prevent it from happening to anyone else. He hugged the little girl closer. He wished he could offer more comfort to her. She cried harder on his shoulder, soaking it with bitter tears.
"We have to go," he whispered when the ground shook again, more to himself than anyone else as if to remind him so. It's a good thing that most of the civilians had fled and away from the brisk of the chaos. He couldn't bear to watch anyone lose someone else again.
He shakily unclipped a pokéball from his waist and threw it in the air. The red and white orb soared at its peak and opened midcourse, emitting a flash of red light that slowly took a more solid form. The newly emerged pokémon let out a scream from its beak—a declaration of its presence—like it usually did considering its master's love of flashy battling. Right now though, there is no need to show off.
"Listen," he said to the sobbing girl, hiccupping through twisted lips. He looked down at her face and urged her to listen. He needed assurance, more so than her. "I need you to be brave. Ride Pelipper. She'll take you to Lylicove City. Find your sister and tell her what happened, okay?" he whispered to her very slowly, blue eyes peering in concern at her tearful heterochromatic ones. "You'll be safe, okay? Promise me that. Be brave."
She nodded. He gave her a comforting smile. He knew this is hard for her. This is hard for everybody. Heck, his city is being destroyed! No matter how much Steven told him that it wasn't his fault, he knew that he will bear the shame of failing as Sootopolis City's Gym Leader forever. He failed to protect his city.
"P-promise I'll s-see you again?" she asked between sniffs, wiping the raven strands stuck at her teary cheeks with her trembling hands. She looked at him with her innocent mismatched eyes full of hope, "I-I can't lose you too."
"It's alright," he mumbled, purposely not making a promise he's never sure to keep. He gestured Pelipper to come closer to the ground in which it immediately obeyed. He sat her at its back. "Take her to Lilycove City," he told the Water Bird pokémon.
Wallace watched as the Water Bird pokémon slowly ascended to the sky, taking the opposite direction of the fighting beasts. He could see her white-knuckle grip at his Pelipper's feathers, eyes still locked at his form for a boost of morale and surety that he wouldn't turn to ashes like her parents. She was strong willed and full of determination, just like her siblings.
For a lingering while, long after the girl was gone, Wallace watched as Kyogre and Groudon fought, marveling at their great display of power whilst his city crumbled. The wall of the crater that acted as the city's protective fence against dangerous wind storms and hurricanes had smudges of sooth and deep fissures that could collapse if to suffer another of even the slightest of tremor from the ground. The lower houses were mostly destroyed by the waves and those that were relatively higher from the water were dissolved by the lava that sprung from the crevices of the earth or smashed by the earthquakes. Biting his inner lip firmly, he casted a last glance at the city, at the two beasts that are concentrated on ripping each other a part. He threw Gyarados' pokéball and bid Sootopolis City—the city he grew up in, eventually lead, and failed to protect in the end—a saddened farewell.
A/N: I know it doesn't make sense but please bear with me. I mean, whatever happened here has nothing to do with the summary! But I promise this prologue will be explained in later chapters.
Here's a heads up in case you're wondering:
The setting of the whole story would be Hoenn and Hoenn only. There would be no megas or fairy-types because I still don't grasp that whole concept yet. You have to forgive me. I'll include the first to third gen only since those are the only ones that I know by heart. Gym Leaders and Elite Four are retained the same as the game but May and Brendan don't exist here.
Please review and tell me what you think! Thanks!